Of Devils and Reapers (Bleach/Highschool DxD)

Zap Rowsdower · Feb 23, 2021

So far so good, not much more to say there other than likes

Qudrim8054 · Mar 6, 2021

Tomorrow another chapter will be released on 1PM Eastern Time Zone.

Qudrim8054 · Mar 7, 2021

Hello there everyone and welcome to a new chapter. Now, this is admittedly my weakest chapter of the arc and I didn't have a lot of fun writing it because I got stuck on one section for a long time and got lost on how to end it, so I just abruptly ended the chapter. Aside from that this is also the second-to-last chapter of the first arc, after which there will be a long hiatus until I finish writing the drafts for the second arc. Now for the warning section.

Warning: This is a Mature rated story, as this is does have the ecchi elements and content of High School DxD, so expect nudity in this story. Also, because this is also a Bleach story, expect very gory and violent fight scenes. Also for those who haven't read my stories, while I may have an okay skill with dialogue and can write good exchanges, I am in real life a guy who swears a lot, which tends to heavily trickle into my works. I will try my best to downgrade it, but expect to see a lot of cursing. Readers' discretion is advised for all these elements.

Of Devils and Reapers

Volume 1: Red Dragon's Emperor's Awakening

Chapter 7: New Student Asia

Into the World of the Supernatural Arc

xxx

Opening Theme: Asterisk by Orange Range (use Bleach Opening 1 for audio)

It was early morning in the Kurosaki house and sounds of a fight were already echoing throughout the entire house, to the point that neighbors had opened up their windows and looked at the house with concern as screams and shouts came out of it alongside the sounds of physical fighting.

Eventually the noises stopped and inside the house both father and son were lying on the living room floor, each filled with bruises from a long fight that the two of them had. The two younger daughters had been there and were treating both of their injuries, but not before Karin had given her father several punches on the head for acting a complete idiot again.

After the two men had gotten their treatment for their injuries, it wasn't long before the argument started again. "You have to pay for this! You made a hole in Urahara's roof and you will be the one paying!" the black-haired father shouted angrily as he pressed a bill that the shopkeeper had sent him in his son's face.

"Well, I would have if you would give me a bigger allowance!" the teen screamed angrily.

"Ha! You better just find a job if you think I'll give you more than 30,000 Yen a month." his father retorted as he crossed his arms in front of his chest proudly over the small monthly allowance that he gave his son.

"I would have had a ton of work at the clinic if you would have allowed me to work there instead of having Karin and Yuzu do everything by themselves!" the teenager kept on screaming at his father's face over the whole work situation in the clinic, which was a constant argument around the house.

Isshin simply raised his chin up. "Well, the Kurosaki Clinic needs to make money, and for us to get customers we need people to know that not only they have a reliable doctor, but two super cute kids taking care of them as their nurses. Giving you that job would simply ruin the image we run!" he argued as he tried to excuse the fact that he didn't allow his son to work at the clinic as a nurse. However, because of that remark, the man received a powerful knee to the groin courtesy of his black-haired daughter, making fall to the ground as he grabbed the hurting area while his eyes widened in pain.

Karin clicked her tongue angrily. "See? It's because shit like this that I never bring my friends home, you damn asshole." she told her father with a deadpan tone to her voice as her expression seemed really furious with his remark, which was evident by the blush on her cheeks.

Ichigo then walked past his father while picking up and carrying his backpack over his shoulder as he went towards the kitchen table to eat breakfast. "Same." he said as he agreed with his younger sister. "He probably learned that from Urahara. He's just as shameless about his marketing." he said as he made sure to step on his father's head on the way.

The father quickly got up and waved his hands frantically. "I was kidding! I was kidding! I do that to protect Karin and Yuzu from danger by keeping them close to me! Sheesh, you kids are judgemental." he said with honesty as he rubbed the back of his head. "I protect Karin, Karin protects Yuzu and Yuzu keeps the moral high. Having you around would just be overkill." the doctor explained his actual reasoning to why he didn't hire his son to work at the clinic. "Besides, you have another job to do around town, Ichigo." he said as he looked at his son with a serious expression on his face, clearly referring to his son's work as a Substitute Shinigami.

The orange-haired adolescent turned his head and looked into his father's eyes with seriousness and understanding, knowing what he was talking about. A few seconds later he turned his head back and continued walking forward. "Still not paying Urahara's bill though." he said as he refused to pay for the ridiculous amount that the former Shinigami captain had decided to charge them, because the adolescent knew that the outrageous bill was just another way for Urahara to get his kicks.

Things have been doing pretty quietly at school after the whole Raynare affair. With a couple of days passing, the entire occult club had done their best to make sure that none of the priests who were captured remembered anything. By working with Kisuke Urahara, they managed to get into the police station, change the memories of both officers and excommunicated priests and tamper with the evidence so that anything considering the supernatural world would not be revealed at all to the humans.

So now Ichigo and Issei were once again sitting in class, waiting for the homeroom teacher to arrive and start the lesson. Currently Issei was talking to his perverted friends, obviously planning some sort of way to peep on girls again. If they tried anything, they would be caught anyway so he was sure that at least Issei was going to get his ass kicked by all the girls again, since Matsuda and Motohama would chicken out and throw their friend to the dogs.

After a few minutes of waiting, the homeroom teacher entered and everyone sat down quietly. "Okay students, settle down. Now before we start the day, I would like to introduce a new transfer student." the woman said as she looked over at the door. "You can come in now." she told whoever was outside of the classroom.

When the new student entered the classroom, Ichigo and Issei's jaws dropped at the sight of Asia, now wearing the Kuoh Academy school uniform instead of her old nun garb with a very big smile on her face. 'Asia? How did Urahara-san got her enrolled into our school so quickly? Did this one of his shday-as-shit tactics? Most probably.' the orange-haired teen thought to himself as he picked his jaw up from his desk and shook his head, simply happy to see the former nun so happy, still wearing a cross around her neck.

He then looked at his brown-haired friend, who had not really recovered from seeing the blonde teenager in their class. He could understand it, but he decided to stay quiet and let the former nun speak for herself.

The girl waved at the entire class. "Hello everyone, I'm Asia Argento. Nice to meet you all." she said in a sincere and incredibly friendly manner as she wore on her face a large smile that made her look like she was dazzling and radiating light from her body, which was something that the soul reaper admitted to himself that he was capable of using his angelic powers, which he was still improving on how to use with and without his Zanpakuto being released.

The girl then continued as all probably all of the boys in class had their eyes at her and some of the girls were intrigued and a bit jealous, though willing to give her a chance. Those who obviously had stuck their eyes on the girl the most were the Pervert Trio, with Issei still a bit shocked and without a perverted look on his face unlike the other two, who had expressions that made them look like complete pigs in the orange-haired teen's opinion.

"I'm a new foreign exchange student in this school and I pray to the Lord that all of you would welcome me here with open arms. I used to be home-schooled in a church, so this whole thing is a bit new to me." she continued to talk more about herself, not going into the full details of her past, which the orange-haired adolescent had been caught up on thanks to his perverted friend, but he noticed how sheepishly the girl was carrying herself as she rubbed the back of her head nervously. "I also currently live and work at Urahara Shoten, a store for common goods and candy, which is the cheapest common goods general-store in the entirety of Kuoh Town, with merchandise that varies to the smallest of gums and cigarette boxes to even tools for handiwork." she then suddenly started talking about all the information that she could about Urahara's Shop, talking about opening and closing ours, merchandise, prices and discounts.

Ichigo's left eye twitched as he realized immediately why she was suddenly babbling on about that store. 'That shady bastard! He's using her as free advertisement! Sending her to study in a high school just so that she can bring him more customers by association! That's has to be the most shameless thing that I've seen you doing, Urahara-san.' he thought to himself angrily from even thinking about his mentor's advertisement trick.

After the girl had introduced herself, she sat down one desk behind Issei with a big smile on her face and looked at him, while he gave her a nervous smile as he was still shocked from seeing her in his classroom and from the fact that he was probably receiving chills down his spine from the fact that he was so close to a cross, as he was a devil after all.

After that lessons throughout the day went on as normal and the orange-haired adolescent decided to keep watch on the blonde teen in case any of the other guys in class tried to do something funny towards the new students or if the girls would try to do something right under the teacher's nose in order to humiliate the blonde since it was her first day at school.

Some might say that that level of dedication of protection towards a new friends was just a bit too much and would be considered someone who is romantically interested in a girl to do. But Ichigo wasn't infatuated or had any romantic attraction towards Asia. Sure, he could admit that she was cute and pretty, but so was Orihime and nobody asked about whether or not they were dating. Well, there were a few girls here and there who asked that question here and there every so often. One was Tatsuki, some were just girls who wanted to ask him out and the last one was... someone who sent chills down his spine and wished to keep Asia away from that girl as much as possible.

As the first several classes passed by, Ichigo noticed how much the former nun was doing. She was answering so many of the questions that the teachers asked the class, showing how good her English was, showing more than adequate knowledge in mathematics and in general showed like she could be an acing student.

When recess started he saw that everyone in class had started to chat with the girl, to get to know her better. Surprisingly she seemed to become very much liked by all of the boys and girls who now surrounded her, with the boys seeing her naievity and cuteness as extremely attractive traits, while the girls seemed really fond of how caring, sweet and polite she was. At the back of the circle of classmates he saw Matsuda and Motohama talking aggressively with Issei, probably saying disgusting and perverted things about their new classmate.

Then Ichigo felt a chill down his spine and looked at the direction from where he sensed the one who caused this dreadful sensation. As a result he looked at the circle of classmates around Asia and then noticed that from behind her an evil presence was moving in on the former nun, probably intending on corrupting the girl's pureness. No way in hell that he was going to give that one the satisfaction.

Moving quickly, he got up from the desk and walked fast, grabbing and pulling his brown-haired friend by force away from the other two super perverts and pushed inside the circle, reaching the blonde girl when a dark beast with a pair of glasses was just a few meters away. He quickly used his other hand and grabbed the girl by the arm, dragging her away just in time. "Hey Asia, Issei and I are just going to go and talk to Tatsuki-san and Orihime-san. Want to come with us? Goodlet'sgo!" he told her while speaking very quickly as he dashed with the two adolescents right out of the classroom.

They stopped after running a bit into the hallway, with the taller of the three adolescents panted heavily as he was sweating buckets, much to the confusion of the blonde former nun and the brown-haired reincarnated devil. "Um... is everything okay, Ichigo? You just grabbed us both and started running like crazy." the reincarnated devil inquired as he seemed concerned for his friend.

The Substitute Shinigami then got up and wiped the sweat from his brow. "Sorry about that guys, but I had to do it. She almost reached Asia and I couldn't let that girl get a hold of her." he told his friend as he was still shaking when he was thinking about the person he had "rescued" the blonde from.

Issei's eyes widened as he realized what his friend was talking about and his body started to shake as well, looking as if a chill went down his spine. "Good call, Ichigo." he said with a scared tone as he wrapped his hand around the taller teen's shoulder and whispered in his ear so that Asia couldn't hear what they were walking about so that she wouldn't be tainted by filthy gossip and bad opinions of her friends on another person. Ichigo made his mind that he wanted the girl to be as objective as possible to anything. "The last thing we need is Kyuuru-san corrupting her." he told his orange-haired friend with approval of his the teen's actions.

While Issei was talking, Ichigo was nodding his head. "Yeah, who knows what kind of perverted ideas she would insert into Asia's head the moment she finds out how pure she is." he said with the most serious expression on his face that he could wear. "Kyuuru-san is almost as perverted as you and your two pervert friends, but she never gets called out on it since she's a girl." he whispered to the reincarnated devil's ear as his entire body shuttered and he instinctively put his hands over his crotch, remembering the perverted girl's skill to determine a man's manhood size just by a single glare. 'Plus she's even worse than Yoruichi-san.' he thought to himself as he remembered cerain "pranks" that the feline Shinigami had played on him, making his right eye go twitchy.

Meanwhile Asia looked confused and worried about how her two friends were acting and whispering between themselves as she touched her lower lip gently as she was slightly shaking, not knowing if to say anything. "Um... Issei-kun? Ichigo-kun?" she asked shyly as she tried to get their attention and talk to them.

However. another voice drowned hers. "Ah, it's great to catch you before recess is over, Argento-san." a slightly stiff yet incredibly polite voice was heard from behind the former nun, gaining the attention of all of the three teenagers. Two girls were standing now in front of the former nun, wearing the school uniforms in an exemplary fashion, with plenty of precision as to how to wear the uniforms down to the smallest detail.

The first girl who was the one more in front and had an aura of leader to her was a young bespectacled woman who was slight and a bit shorter than the brown-haired teenage boy. She had short, black hair that reached down to the back of her neck and was styled in a short bob cut, not to mention the fact that she had deep violet eyes.

The second one was a rather tall, bespectacled woman who might have been slightly taller that Issei himself and was a bit more curved than the first girl at certain areas. She had a long, straight black hair that extended down to the back of her knees and split bangs, revealing her brow. She was wearing the normal Kuoh Academy uniform in the same manner as the first girl and she was wearing a blue, semi-rimmed glasses with square lenses over her heterochromic eyes, with a violet left eye and a light-brown right eye.

Ichigo knew who those two well even if he had never met them before, and he could easily tell them by the stiffness and rigidness of their stances that their were standing in and by the stern and stoic expressions on their faces as those two were known for being very serious. These were the president and vice-president of the Student Council respectively. He could also sense some sort of energy from the both of them that felt familar, but he couldn't immediately put his finger on it, since sensing was one of his weakest skills.

The president of the student council gave the three a polite bow alongside her vice-president. "Hello there, Argento-san, Kurosaki-san, Hyoudou-san. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Sona Shitori, third-year student president of the Kuoh Academy's student council. The one next to me is my vice-president and also a third-year student, Tsubaki Shinra. I have decided to come in personally to greet you into our fine academy. If there is any problem that is making things difficult for you to adjust to our fine institute, please notify me." the shorter of the two third-year students said as a small smile appeared on her face as she spoke in a polite and considerate tone to her voice.

Asia smiled back and gave a bow of her own, showing that she was getting used to that particular custom of the Japanese culture. "It is a pleasure to meet you two, Sona-senpai. And please, call me Asia." she said as her smile was so big and bright that even if the two boys didn't see the expression, the reincarnated devil covered his eyes.

"She's so pure and cute that it's blinding." he said quietly as a river of tears came from his eyes and had a big grin on his face filled with joy, to which the orange-haired teen pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned.

"You're not wrong, but looking like this just makes you look weird." he said as he kept pinching the bridge of his nose.

The bespectacled president looked down at something and her body seemed to tense, as well as her voice-president's, a bead of sweat appearing on their brows. The orange-haired adolescent looked at Asia and notice that what their eyes were locked on the cross that was around the neck of the blonde Italian girl and that's when things seemed to click in his mind as to why he felt a familiar energy. 'So it's also them as well? Why hasn't Rias told us about her?' he thought to himself as his eyes locked on his tow senpais that were standing in front of Asia.

It took a few more moments before Sona and Tsubaki to regain themselves and give another bow as a small smile formed on the student council president's face. "It is a pleasure for me as well, Asia-san." she said as she then looked at the orange-haired boy and his brown-haired friend. It was very unsurprising to him that the moment that she looked at his face she looked slightly surprised herself, knowing that she just realized that he realized what she and probably her vice-president were. 'Yeah, I know.' were the words that he was thinking in his minds and were probably plastered all over his serious expression.

Though he did have to admit that it was his first "I know that you know" moment and it actually felt kind of cool. Was this how Urahara-san felt all the time?

Sona then bowed before the two of them with Tsubaki following suit while the shorter of the two had a small smile on her face. A tiny big wider than the one she gave Asia by just a few centimeters, but Ichigo did notice it. Perhaps it was the because she was now addressing another devil rather than a human with a cross around her neck? Or perhaps she was trying to force a smile around the reincarnated devil because of his lecherous nature? He didn't really know, but he simply looked at his two seniors with an eyebrow raised.

"It is certainly a pleasure to meet the two of you as well, Kurosaki-san and Hyoudou-san." she said in a polite manner as her tone felt friendly enough, but when she raised her head she started to look at him, her eyes moving from spot to spot as a scowl formed on her face. "Kurosaki-san, I notice that your vest is unbuttoned and that you're not wearing your tie." she said as her eyes narrowed while she looked him in the eyes.

He kept his eyebrow raised. "Yeah, so?" he asked as he knew that she was probably going to scold him for improperly wearing his uniform.

The shorter bespectacled girl sighed as she seemed to try and remain calm. "As the president of the student council, I would fondly appreciate it if you would follow this institute's dressing code. I like to keep standards high in every aspect of this school and I would appreciate if you do the same." she told him with a bit of a scolding and educating tone to her voice as her vice-president who stood hind her nodded her head silently.

He sighed and rubbed the back of his head as he glanced aside. "Yeah, yeah, I'll do my best." he said with a groan coming from his mouth, not even trying to make it sound like he was taking her request to heart, which the third-year student immediately realized and narrowed her eyes as she looked at him with a slight scowl on her face.

She then turned over to Issei with the same expression on her face, making him feel a bit tense. "Hyoudou-san, I would also like to congratulate you on joining the Occult Research Club. I will later come there to check on how the club is doing, as I do with every other club in this school, so I would appreciate if you could come to your club later on." she told him with a rather stoic tone to her voice, making her less able to read even for the orange-haired Shinigami. After finishing her sentence, the two third-year students walked pass by them.

Issei and Asia looked completely perplexed as the two of them watched their two senpais walking pass them while Ichigo simply watched them while having a more stoic expression on his face.

School day had finally ended and Issei and Ichigo headed towards the old school house, with the brown-haired devil pretty confused and concerned as to why the student council president would need to visit the Occult Research Club and afraid that he might accidentally let things slip that he was a devil, while his friend was not concerned at all about those subjects, knowing now that said president was a devil as well. However he was intrigued by the whole situation.

Asia, who had wanted to go and hang out with her friends before going to work at Urahara's shop had made a call to the shop owner and told him that she would come later, to which she was informed that it would be fine as long as she would get there not too late. Because of that she was walking alongside the two boys. On the way there they also saw that the rest of Ichigo's group were waiting for them, with the orange-haired girl waving to them the moment that she noticed the three.

"Kurosaki-kun! Hyoudou-kun! Asia-chan!" she shouted with glee as she had a giant smile plastered all over her face.

The three simply gave her less excited and more subdued waves as they reached the three humans. "Hey, glad you three could make it." the Substitute Shinigami said to his friends as he gave them a small smile of appreciation for their efforts. As he finished talking Chad simply nodded silently while Orihime's cheeks turned pink as she glanced aside.

Tatsuki waved off her close friend's words as she looked away and crossed her arms. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Just know that I have more to do now since I'm in charge of the Karate club." she told him as she frowned, probably not happy to give up on her favorite pastime to visit the Occult Research club. She then looked with a serious expression at her friend. "Though I can tell that it's something important if the entire student council was heading in that direction. So what's up?" she inquired.

"You'll see when we get there." he retorted as he started walking ahead of the others with his hands in his pockets.

This made the black-haired human to raise an eyebrow as she seemed even more interested after that answer. "Did the student council president found out about that the whole Occult Research Club are devils?" she asked nonchalantly as she kept her arms crossed in front of her chest. The question itself made Issei shiver and fear of what Buchou was going to do to him if she found out that he might have caused the secret of devils to leak.

'Noooo! I will never get to see Buchou's tits ever again!' he thought to himself as he was sweating buckets and lost all color while his eyes went blank and his jaw dropped and his hands where on his cheeks, his face showing pure horror, making the former nun to look at him with great concern.

Ichigo stopped and then turned his head slightly to look at his friend, carrying a stoic expression on his face, which showed that he was holding things close to his chest or that he was being serious and on-guard about something. "You'll see. Let's just go." he said as he then kept on walking, with everyone quickly following him.

Issei was extremely nervous. He had just heard that the entirety of the student body council had come to the old schoolhouse to meet with Buchou. He was concerned that somehow the head of the student council had discovered that the supernatural is real, which was certainly a possibility to him concerning how seriously Ichigo was taking this and not to mention the encounter earlier during school that he, Asia and Ichigo had with the third-year and her super hot, busty vice-president with really round, probably super bouncy and totally grope-able tits that if the opportunity was given he was for sure going to squeeze them as hard as he possibly cou-

Suddenly he yelped in pain as he received a powerful kick to the ass courtesy of Tatsuki, sending him flying forward and rolling straight to the door of the old schoolhouse. "Oh! What was that for, Tatsuki-san?" he asked as he hissed from the pain as he rubbed his butt cheeks after quickly getting up.

The tomboy snarled at him as she looked angry and was blushing vehemently. "You made you perverted piggish sounds, so I knew that you had perverted thoughts, therefore I kicked your ass, you damn pervert!" she shouted as she crossed her arms over her chest in a bit of a protective manner while her face became redder. "You better not have had perverted thoughts of me, or worse, Orihime! Do you hear me?!" she kept on shouting as she angrily accused him and threatened him.

Suddenly the door opened up and the one who stood in front of the entire group was none other than Kiba, who was having his usual charming smile on his face that made the brown-haired devil so jealous. 'Damn prince charming and his pretty face. Why is it that all the girls want him so badly and I have to get my shit kicked in by Tatsuki-san all the time?' he thought to himself as he kept rubbing his ass that still felt like it was on fire as he gave a look of annoyance towards the other devil.

"Good to see that you've finally arrive, Issei, everyone's been waiting for you to show up." he told his fellow reincarnated devil as he looked at him before looking over at the others, mostly the black-haired girl. "Tatsuki-chan, you're as spunky as ever. It certainly is heartwarming to see how protective you are of your friends." he told her kindly with a friendly and charming tone to his voice.

This made the human blush hard as she closed in within herself. "W-well, I don't need you to state the obvious, pretty-boy." she said rather silently and with a bit of shyness to her voice as she glanced her look aside for a couple of seconds. After those few seconds she stopped blushing and gave a determined look to the blonde pretty-boy. "Anyway, don't forget about our sparring match later on this week, okay? And remember that this time Rias-senpai won't be stopping us until there is a clear victor. Understand?" she said as she talked to him in a more harsher tone.

Issei then immediately looked over at the [Knight] of the Gremory peerage, who smirked while having this strange sense of competitive fire in his eyes, as if he was actually excited to do an activity with a girl, which Issei found to be shocking because Kiba never accepted to any girl who offered him to go on a date with him, which in itself was a mystery in and of itself to the pervert. "Oh, I'm sure Buchou won't mind. It's been a long time since I found someone who can surpass my speed, so I would really love to test my skills against yours, Tatsuki-chan." he said with a competitive passion to his words as his smirk turned into a grin.

This made the girl's eyes to suddenly widen as a small flush of red covered her cheeks as her jaw also fell slightly, surprised from the comeback that she received from the usually sweet pretty-boy of the school, not expecting this type of reaction from him. She then looked slightly away as her face turned ever more red. "I'm-I'm going to do my best to win." she once against spoke with a more subdued tone to her voice as she didn't look the devil directly in the eyes.

Despite how dense the member of the infamous "Pervert Trio" was, something finally managed to click in his head as his eyes widened with realization and disbelief. 'Woah, no way. Even Tatsuki-san likes Kiba?! What the hell?! That's totally not fair! He can even make the gruff and tough girls all mushy around him?! How does he do that?!' he thought to himself with jealousy as he looked at the exchange between the two.

He then looked over his orange-haired friend while keeping his stunned reaction on his face, to which said orange-haired teen noticed and raised his eyebrow. "Seriously, you only figured it out now?" he asked him out loud, which got the attention of everyone else.

"Figured what out?" the [Knight] asked as he looked at the two teenage boys.

Both of the teens didn't utter a single word, however they didn't have such a long time because an instant later Tatsuki walked past them nervously. "Nevermind,weshouldgetgoing!" she said quickly without any breath while her face was completely red as she pulled both of them by the arms and dragged them both into the old schoolhouse. The rest of the group that was left behind in that instant all reacted in different ways, with Kiba shrugging his shoulders with a small smirk on on his face, Chad being stoic as ever, Orihime giggling like a regular teenage girl and Asia simply looking perplexed. They then also entered the building not long afterwards.

When they finally entered the main hall of the old schoolhouse where the rest of the club members were, the entire group saw that true to what the black-haired tomboy said, the entire student council of Kuoh Academy were present inside the room alongside Buchou, Akeno and Koneko. Of course leading the group was none other than Sona Shitori, the head of the student council alongside her vice-president Tsubaki Shinra. However the second years also saw plenty of familiar faces among the group of the student council.

Buchou smirked as she saw them entering the room. "Well hello there, Issei. I was worried sick when it took you so long to get here, my precious [Pawn]. But of course it seemed you had to bring the whole gang, which is understandable." she told her servant with a warm and pleased voice as she then looked over to Asia. "And it's such a pleasant surprise to see that you could join us as well, Asia. I assumed that you would immediately go to Urahara Shoten to help out." she said to the former nun as she tried her best to show her friendly nature towards the girl.

Sona's eyes immediately widened in shock as she heard what Buchou had just told Asia. "Wait, Urahara Shoten? As in the shop of the Kisuke Urahara?" she asked as she looked at Buchou with shocked eyes filled with disbelief.

Buchou nodded with a confirming smirk on her face. "Yes, the very same." she said with a satisfied tone to her voice.

Issei then turned to look at all the hot girls around immediately recognized them all of the girls in the group, with the exception of Sona, Tsubaki and another girl, were second-year students. He also peeked on many of them alongside Matsuda and Motohama, though he himself didn't get to see too much because his pals were always blocking his view. Like the rest of the girls in the room, they were dressed in the Kuoh Academy uniform. He then also noticed that there was a guy there that he had seen in passing. Was he also a part of the student council?

Anyway, he then returned his focus back onto what really mattered, which were the girls. The first one that he had his eyes on was none other than the beautiful Momo Hanaki of class 2-C. She was around the same height as Sona was and she had blue-green eyes a unique and beautiful white hair that slightly curled down to the back of her back, with bangs covering her entire forehead in a bowl cut. That was even without him mentioning the many strands of hair that slightly curled down on the front rather than the back over both shoulders, leaving them a bit over her totally sweet-ass large melons that were resting on her chest. Seriously, those absolutely beautiful tits looked like they were totally in the Double D category! He could barely stop himself from perversely checking the girl out, but he managed to do so because this was most likely a serious matter and he didn't want to embarrass Buchou by acting like the perverted idiot that he was.

He then spotted a girl from the student council that he didn't really knew but he definitely recognized her as one of the many first-year students that he had peeped on with his two perverted friends. She was a bit short but also had long, brown hair tied together into two long pigtails. She also had some hair clips, long, striped green stockings as well as green eyes. When it came to breasts game, hers weren't that much bigger than Koneko's, but she still seemed pretty cute.

A third person that he definitely recognized was a friend of both Orihime and Tatsuki from class 2-B, the class that Raynare had went to when she was pretending to go by the name of Yuuma Amano. The girl's name was Tsubasa Yura and she was most likely the tallest girl of the group and she was maybe even taller than Ichigo himself. She had blue, shoulder-length hair as well as matching pair of eyes, not to mention the fact that she had a more pretty-boy type face rather than a more girlish type face. To be honest, it suited her more tomboyish personality, even if she herself was a more restrained and polite one than the fiery Tatsuki.

Another girl in the room was the ever energetic Tomoe Meguri from his and Ichigo's own class of 2-A. Despite not having a large bust and being one of the biggest hater of the Pervert Trio in the entire academy, Issei had to admit that she was still a very pretty girl with her shoulder-length, reddish-brown hair that was tied on both right and left sides of her head as ponytails, while also featuring swept bangs over her forehead and an Ahoge sticking out of her head upwards. She also had brown eyes which she was using to survey the brown-haired devil with suspicion as she seemed really unhappy to see him.

There was also another hot one with a large rack on her chest for him to look at. He didn't remember too much about her other than her name, which was Reya Kusaka, and the fact that she was one of the girls who always surrounded Kiba but never tried asking him out, waiting for another girl to do so and was accepting when he would say no. She had a long brown hair that ended in two short braids with blue ribbons tying them up, as well as a pair of matching brown eyes. Not to mention that she also wore a blue headband on her head.

Lastly was the sole guy in the entire student council who stood the closest to his president aside from the vice-president. He was a young man who was a few centimeters shorter than the brown-haired devil and he had a short and slightly messy blonde hair and grey eyes. He wore the standard academy outfit much like Issei and Ichigo, but he wore it without the blazer and the sleeves of his shirt were rolled up to the elbows. Issei knew that the guy was also a second year like himself, apparently also from class 2-C. If he could remember correctly, the guy's name was Saji Genshirou.

The first thing to happen in the meantime was that the two tomboys in the room immediately went to stand by each other's side, with Orihime standing next to them with a bright smile on her face. "Hey." the blue-haired girl was the first to say something.

"Hey, Tatsuki-san."

"Yo, what's up, Tsubasa-san?"

"Pretty good day. Got to kick Issei around for being a pervert." Tatsuki said nonchalantly even though a small smirk appeared on her face.

"Neat."

It was then that the orange-haired girl decided to chime-in into the conversation. "Tatsuki-san, don't you think that you're being too harsh on Hyoudou-kun?" she asked with a very caring voice.

"Nope." the two tomboys answered in unison as they both had wide smirks on their faces.

At that point Tomoe joined the conversation between the three girls. "Good, and you shouldn't. That guy is absolutely the worst, alongside his filthy pair of friends!" she said loudly and angrily as her voice was filled with a woman's scorn as she glared daggers at the young, brown-haired adolescent. "He's a filthy pervert and he deserves to be beaten up!" she declared as she voice her very "anti-Pervert Trio" opinion in front of everyone.

At this point both Buchou and Sona both cleared their throats to get everyone's attention, which worked as everyone in the room looked at them, including the very silent Ichigo and Chad, the former leaning against a wall while wearing a serious expression on his face and the latter was simply and silently standing at the front of the doorway.

"Ahem. Hello everyone and welcome for our first gathering." Buchou started talking as both she and the student Kaichou stood next to one another. "I know that we've all met before, but since several developments that occurred recently on my end, I've decided to have a little introduction with my new servant, Issei Hyoudou." she said in a refined yet welcoming tone to her beautiful and angelic voice of hers, which made him almost lose himself within that voice completely. However, he finally caught on as to how she referred to him that prevented him to let himself get lost in his wild thoughts as to what words he wanted to hear coming out in Buchou's lovely voice.

He then raised his hand up. "Um, Buchou... why did you just refer to me as your servant in front of everyone?" he asked her with a generally confused look on his face. He had suspected that because the student council president might be suspecting that the entire ORC were devils that Buchou would try her best to be discreet, but she wasn't.

"Because there is no need to be secretive." the orange-haired teenager then spoke up as he kept his gaze sharp. "Much like Rias-senpai, Sona-senpai is also a devil and I'm guessing that the entire student council are her peerage. Isn't that right?" he asked as his expressions remained completely stoic, showing almost no emotions as he looked over at the two third-years.

Kaichou then pushed up her glasses slightly while Buchou looked at the Substitute Shinigami with a surprised expression that was filling her whole face. Meanwhile both Issei and the other humans, with the exception of Chad who wore the same stoic and unreadable expression, had their eyes nearly burst out of their skulls while their jaws dropped. "NANI?!" they all shouted in unison as they were completely shocked upon hearing this. Only a few moments later did they all look back and forth between the orange-haired teenager and the two third-year girls.

"Wait, for real?!" the brown-haired pervert asked Buchou as he fixed his shocked expression on her.

Buchou simply nodded as she gestured towards Sona-Kaichou. "You may know her as Sona Shitori, but in reality her real name is Sona Sitri. She is a member of the devil house of Sitri, a house that possesses the title of "prince" in the underworld, which is higher in the demonic hierarchy compared to my family's "duke" title. Like myself, Sona is a High-Class devil and has a peerage of her own, that being the student council of Kuoh Academy." Buchou kept on explaining to everyone as she carried herself with a smile and talked in a respectable and dignified manner.

Sona-Kaichou then gave a bow to everyone as she wore a stoic expression on her face. "It is certainly a pleasure to meet you all." she said as she then glared at Ichigo. "I just wonder how you figured it out so easily, Kurosaki-san?" she inquired as her tone of voice showed genuine interest.

The orage-haired teen simply shrugged his shoulders. "At first something about you and Tsubaki-senpai felt off in a way that felt familiar, though that's because I'm mostly above average when it comes to reiatsu sensing. But it wasn't until I saw how your bodies reacted to the cross that is around Asia's neck that it clicked for me." the orange-haired teen spoke nonchalantly as he explained to Kaichou as to how he figured out that she was a devil, all the while his arms were crossed in front of his chest.

After getting a nod from the bespectacled high-class devil, it was then that Akeno clapped her hands. "Now then, we have decided to gather here to celebrate our dear Issei-kun becoming a member of the Gremory peerage, as well as accepting Asia-kun, Ichigo-kun, Orihime-kun, Sado-kun and Tatsuki-kun all becoming associates of ours." she explained with a big and courteous smile on her face while her eyes were closed. The brown-haired reincarnated-devil could thank his luck that Akeno-senpai was now so close to him and was acting like such a great senpai towards her kohai like himself, even though he was a mega perv.

He clapped his hands hands as tears started to run down like river in a comical fashion from his eyes. 'Dear God, thank you for giving me the chance to be so close to Akeno-senpai. I swear to use this advantage to fondle her magnificent oppai and squeeze them as hard as I possibly ca-' he prayed in his thoughts as he started to have dirty thoughts while visioning the beautiful devil naked as his arms were reaching towards her giant, round, bouncy, squishy, smooth-skinned bare breasts, only for the disappearing instantly as he felt a massive headache as a result of his prayer. 'OW! Shit, that really hurt!' he whined inside his thoughts to himself as he grabbed his head from the pain.

This headache was soon replaces by an even greater pain as he felt a sharp and extremely painful pain in his abdomen, which was also accommodated with a gag coming from his mouth making him look down only to see the tiny, white-haired, first-year girl's elbow first pushing against his stomach. "Koneko-chan... whhhhyy?" he asked as he was doubled over as he felt that her punch took the wind out of him.

"...Because your face had an awfully perverted look towards Akeno-senpai. This is your punishment for being a pervert, senpai." Koneko replied ti him as she spoke in her rather emotionless, deadpan and monotone way of speaking as she retracted her fist and he fell down on the ground, making a "THUD!" sound upon impact.

Immediately after the smallest girl of all the girls in the room started to walk back towards the sofa that she was sitting on, Tomoe quickly stomped her way towards the pervert and stood over his downed and agonized form looked down on him, all the while she had an outraged expression on her face. "Disgusting freak, you should be expelled!" she said loudly and furiously as she started to shout at him to show how offended and outraged she was, which was a stark contrast from the likes of Koneko-chan and Tatsuki-san, who constantly beat him up for being a pervert, or Buchou or Akeno-senpai, who didn't seem to mind and even encouraged him further.

"Hey Tomoe, I think he learned his lesson." the blue-haired Tsubasa tried to calm down the other girl from Kaichou's peerage, but there was no way that the brown-haired devil was going to learn his lesson.

He was going to be the Harem King, dammit! He was not the type of guy who would hide who he really was just to get a girl. It didn't matter to him how many times Tatsuki or Koneko would beat the crap out of him, he was going to become a high-class devil and gain his own peerage, which he would make into his own personal Harem.

A sigh then came out of the mouth of that Saji guy as he looked down on the groaning young man on the floor as he shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. "I don't get why all of you girls are even surprised? But to think that one of the three members of the school's "Pervert Trio" is not only a Devil, but shares the same role of [Pawn] with me makes tears of sadness wallow up in my eyes." he said with a defeated and saddened tone to his voice as his upper body body slumped forward with a depressed look on his face.

This made the brown-haired devil to get up immediately and get up in the blonde student council member's face. "What did you say, asshole? You wanna fight?" he angrily questioned as he bright up his left fist and his Sacred Gear appeared over it, showing that he was ready for a fight.

Saji smirked at him and simply shook his head by putting both hands on his waist. "It would simply be a waste of your time. When I was reincarnated, I took up 4 pawn pieces, which means I not only have more immediate power than devils who have 1 to 3 pawn pieces, but also means that I have more potential. A shameless sleazebag like you has no chance against me." he spoke to him in a condescending manner as he flashed a cocky, smug smirk.

The reaction from Sona-Kaicho was almost immediate as she looked at her [Pawn]. "Saji, you should always think before you speak. You may not always know all the fact and therefore should not judge simply by appearance." she scolded him, making the blonde flinch with concern. "And on that matter, when Hyoudou-san was reincarnated, it required 8 pawn pieces." she informed the teenage boy of her peerage while her tone continued to be by-the-numbers.

This made the eyes of all the members of the student council's eyes to widen, with the exception of vice-president Tsubaki, which meant that she also knew that face. But it took to 8 pawn pieces to bring him back from the dead? That meant that Buchou couldn't have any more [Pawns], and it was because of him.

"Woah." Tsubasa said while her voice showed barely any change while also raising an eyebrow, making her sounding almost monotonous.

"8 [Pawns]'s worth? The stinking pervert of all people?!" Tomoe said completely flabbergasted from hearing that fact, showing her anger and dislike of him instantly as the words came out of her mouth.

"This can't be real..." Saji said as he deflated upon hearing that fact as well, a sense of disbelief hitting him.

The reactions made Buchou chuckle as she then spoke up herself. "That is indeed the case. Because he possesses the Boosted Gear, his potential is undoubtedly incredible, but his body is so weak right now that not only he can not promote to [Queen], but his body can only handle the power of 1 pawn piece. The rest of that power is locked away inside of him by my magical seals." she explained as she also sent a jab his way about his weak body, making him weep in shame for being such a useless pawn.

Saji then sighed as he admitted his defeat for acting like an idiot. "Fine, I acted too arrogantly with you. Very well, I apologize." he said with reluctance in his tone, but that all seemed to disappeared as he then walked up to Asia. "Hey Asia, I want you to remember my name alright?" he requested as he cupped both of his hands around hers, making her blush. "If you ever need anything you need, don't ever shy away from me. I'll help you with anything." he told her as he shook her hands, making the brown-haired reincarnated devil to growl jealously.

Reacting quickly, Issei gently moved Asia aside and grabbed Saji's hand with his own and started to shake it, or more correctly to put a lot of his strength behind the grip to try and cause pain to the blonde reincarnated devil. "Hey, we didn't officially introduced ourselves. I'm Issei Hyoudou and it is definitely a pleasure to meet you, Genshirou Saji." he said as both of them looked at his other while grounding their teeth and straining fake smiles on their faces. "And if you try to make a move on Asia again, I'll cut your nuts off." he threatened while keeping on his fake smile.

But Saji reacted quickly and flipped the grip on Issei, as now he put a lot of force into the grip in an attempt to crush the teenage devils hand. "Oh please, the pleasure is all mine. And if you try to pull something perverted, I'll make your castration a public affair." he threatened Issei while keeping a fake smile of his own.

However, the two of them were then socked in the stomach as Tatsuki sent a powerful punch that doubled them over and winded the two devils with ease. They both disengaged from the situation as each stumbled backwards with barely any ability to breath from the pain.

At the end of that subject, Kaichou spoke up again and this time addressed Buchou immediately and with only after a pause of a few seconds. "Now that we got this out of the way, may I ask why do you have disclosed your identity to a group of human students, not to mention making them associates. May I ask why? Is there a reason that you did not try to recruit them to your peerage?" she inquired as she looked at Buchou with a stern yet interested tone to her voice and a matching expression on her face.

Buchou then looked at her as a smirk formed on her face. "Why certainly." she answered in a straight forward manner as she then looked over at Akeno-senpai. "Akeno, can you please go and bring out some tea?" she inquired as she kept on the small smirk on her face, which the black-haired senpai simply nodded.

"Right away, Buchou." she said as she walked out of the room gracefully and headed towards the kitchen area of the building.

When long-haired senpai left the room, Buchou then addressed the others in the room. "Hey girls, do you want to become a part of my peerage? How about you, Sado-san?" she asked the two human girls and well as Chad while still carrying a smile on her face, which was now less of a sly smirk and more of a genuine friendly smile.

The two girls gave Buchou a smile as they immediately seemed to have their answer. Tatsuki even shook her head as she closed her eyes for a few short moments. "Nah, I don't really want to become a devil. I'm good the way I am right now." she said with a resolute voice.

"And I would like to stay beside Kurosaki-kun, Tatsuki-san and Sado-kun. We've been working together as friends and as partners for the longest time, and I'd like it to continue on like it always does. But I am happy to be your friend as well, Rias-senpai, even though I refuse your offer as well." the beautiful, busty, orange-haired girl said with a happy and warm tone to her voice as there was a beautiful smile on her face before she started to chuckle sheepishly.

Chad himself didn't seem to move a muscle and simply gave a short reply. "No, thank you, senpai." he said in a very straightforward manner.

At that point Buchou turned to look back at Kaichou while she was still smiling. "There you have it, Sona. That's why I believe they would suit best as associates." she said nonchalantly as she summarized the exchange.

It was then that Kaichou looked over at Ichigo, her eyes narrowing. "And you refuse to become a member of Rias's peerage as well, Ichigo Kurosaki? I could sense a lot of power from both you and your friends, I would just like to know why you are merely associates." she inquired as her eyes kept their focus through her glasses on the orange-haired teen.

Ichigo simply sighed as he took out his strange medallion and pressed it against his chest, causing black tendrils to come out of it and wrap themselves around his frame for a few seconds before they disappeared to reveal his Shinigami shihakusho, which immediately made the eyes of Kaichou and vice-president Tsubaki to widen in shock. A moment afterward six pairs of white wings spread from Ichigo's back, a halo appeared above his head and a golden aura surrounded his frame and illuminated the room, making all the devils, including Issei himself, to shake uncontrollably as he felt as his body was screaming for him to run, but he was frozen in the spot in which he was standing in, sweating buckets.

"No way, a Shinigami and an angel?" Sona-Kaichou asked as she was sweating buckets like everyone else, until a few moments later the wings retracted back into the teenager's back and his aura disappeared, relieving the holy energy and sense of danger from all the devils in the room.

"Yeah, I'm a Substitute Shinigami and a Shinigami-Angel hybrid. Or would it be more correct to say that I'm a Nephilim with Shinigami and Hollow powers?" he asked as he seemed to ponder that point to himself while putting his thumb and index finger on his chin for a couple of seconds before looking stoically at the student council president. "Either way, me and my friends are a separate party who are willing to help our friends." he said as he then looked at his brown-haired friend and gave him a not and a reassuring smile.

"I see..." Kaichou said as she scratched her chin while also looking at the ground. Issei couldn't tell at all as to what that reaction meant, but he had hoped that his orange-haired friend could delve further into the details of his story so that he could learn more about how he became a death god. The brown-haired devil also knew that he wasn't the only one, as Buchou also showed a great amount of interest in that story. "And will you share with us how you got to where you are?" the bespectacled high-class devil asked as she had her arms crossed over her chest.

At that Ichigo simply glanced aside and chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well... it started near the beginning of Summer vacation of my last year in middle school when a Shinigami girl named Rukia came into my room because she sensed my spiritual pressure, and events rolled to the point that she was badly injured and was forced to transfer her powers to me." he started explaining as he skimmed over the initial event that started his adventures, with everyone in the room listening carefully.

He then shrugged his shoulders. "And then after that I started hunting Hollows for her for a few months, getting into some shenanigans here and there. Especially because she would have to push my soul out of my body all the time. One of the most embarrassing incidents was because of Urahara-san." he grumbled as he seemed to shudder as he remembered some sort of event that for some reason had a chill being sent down his spine.

Issei was more and more intrigued to find out about what one of his best friends had gone through, as he barely knew anything about being a devil, much less of what being a soul reaper included. The stories went on as he talked about fights that he had with different Hollows, with Orihime, Tatsuki and Chad cutting in and telling about their own incidents that got them involved with Ichigo's adventures. The most interesting one was when he revealed to them that their former classmate Uryu Ishida was actually an angel, and the most saddening story was about his fight with some Hollow named Grand Fisher, the murderer of Ichigo's mom, which ended with the creature running away back into the shadows. He couldn't stop rivers of tears from coming up from his eyes from hearing all of the amazing weight his friend was carrying on his shoulders and how painful this all must have been for him.

He looked around the room and saw how many of the others were reacting to the stories. Buchou was sitting quietly and trying to remain strong despite the fact that she was fighting any tears from swelling up. Sona Kaichou was still looking stern and stoic, but from time to time he noticed that she was shaking and bead of sweats appearing on her brow. Akeno and vice president Tsubaki both looked at the orange-haired teen with sad expressions, though Kaichou's vice-president's look a lot more restrained in comparison to Akeno. Koneko had stopped eating while looking at the Shinigami with barely showing any sadness at all, though it did seem to affect her in some way.

On the other hand, from what he could see, Kiba had a more stern and resolute face as his gaze hardened, which seemed very uncharacteristic of "Prince Charming". The girls on the student council were in tears when they heard the Grand Fisher story, when beforehand they were constantly going "Ooh" and "Ah" all the time, which made the reincarnated devil jealous of his friend. When he looked at Saji, however, it was like looking in the mirror. Both [Pawns] were sharing the same tearful expressions, which they both noticed upon looking at one another, making them weep even more.

"After that, Rukia was arrested and taken back to Soul Society to be executed. So I went along with Tatsuki, Orihime, Chad and Yoruichi-san into the Soul Society to save her, while Ishida had to stay behind because he couldn't have risked Heaven being accidentally involved. I still wonder why he and Michael never told me about devils and fallen angels?" Ichigo finished that sentence as he pondered to himself with the question that he asked aloud.

This actually got Issei thinking about such that question, and it seemed like even Buchou and Kaichou were starting to think about the possible answers to that as well. That was actually a good point, why was Ichigo, who was involved in the supernatural world for quite a while, not told about Devils when he clearly knew about angels? Maybe the thought never came to him and he just didn't ask? Naw, that would be a stupid way to explain it. A way to sweep things under the rug. But he admitted this was too complicated for an idiot like him.

Though at this point Buchou had managed to change the subject of the conversation to Asia and her admission into Kuoh Academy, so everyone raised a cup of tea and the brown-haired reincarnated devil had the eyes of everyone in the room focused on him. In the confusion he looked at Buchou. "Buchou, why are all of you looking at me?" he asked as he was looking rightfully nervous.

The first thing that Buchou did was smile. "We want you to say something, a speech to greet Asia into the academy." she said nonchalantly as he then felt more pressure on his shoulders, since he felt of the blonde former nun as a dear friend who needed protecting.

Then Ichigo, his good friend, spoke up. "Your the reason that she's not only alive, but now has friends that she could be happy with after what she's been through. It's all thanks to you, so say something, you big dolt." he said with a big smile on his face as he looked completely relaxed and laid back.

The brown-haired teen felt nervous as he looked around and saw some of the girls giving him the stink eye, mostly Koneko, Tomoe and Tatsuki, making him gulp fearfully as he knew the heavy importance of what he was going to say, especially since Ichigo just put so much pressure on him! 'What were you thinking, man? They're going to kill me if I say something stupid!' he thought to himself as he looked at the three girls.

However, when he then looked over at the nun, all his fear disappeared. He remembered the story she told him about how she was excommunicated, about how she felt so lonely for most of her life. He then remembered how he failed to protect her from Raynare, with the first confrontation ending with him having a hole in his stomach which the blonde healed. He was never going to be so weak that he couldn't protect her. She was his friend and he wanted to protect her deeply.

"Asia, now and always I stand by what I said to you at the fountain. I do consider you my friend and I will grow strong to protect you from anyone, just as I vow to grow strong to prove myself as someone worthy of being a member of Buchou's peerage. You are my good friend, Asia." he said from deep within his heart, each word genuine and filled with love and care and the desire of proving himself. He didn't feel any shame upon saying those things to her and he wanted Buchou to hear what he had to say, to prove to her that he was worthy of being her [Pawn].

There was a few moments of silence as everyone seemed to allow the words to sink in. Some were even shocked to hear that there was not a single perverted thought within his mind and his words came out as something a truly kind and friendly person would say. Then the brown-haired reincarnated devil heard clapping from several people, coming from none other than the reddish-brown haired girl, who did so reluctantly, from the black-haired human, who seemed pleasantly surprised and from the white-haired first-year girl, who still had a deadpan and emotionless expression on her face.

"I actually can't believe it. He talked to a girl without saying anything perverted. I never thought that something like that could be possible for him. Maybe he isn't as helpless after all?" Tomoe said as she was utterly shocked from the kind words that she had heard from one of the boys who was considered as one of the biggest pigs in the entire school while she continued to reluctantly clap.

"I'm really happy that there is at least one girl whom you don't want to treat solely as a fuck toy, Issei. I can finally see some of the young you in that black heart of yours." Tatsuki said with a grin on her face as she said both good and awful things about the teenage boy at the same time. Her clapping had more energy and was actually enthusiastic.

"...You're a perv, but you're also kind and have a big heart." Koneko said as her expression was stoic as ever while her clapping was just as deadpan as the look in her eyes.

Following those three, everyone else in the room started clapping and some of them even cheering, with the likes of Sona and her [Queen] being the most restrained out of the entire group, yet just as respectable in her claps as the red-haired High-class Devil.

That was just the beginning of their evening.

{To Be Continued]

xxx

Ending Theme: Happypeople by Skoop on Somebody (Bleach Ending 4 for audio)

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.....
And here is another chapter done and. While there are probably a lot of typos, I really don't care to correct them at the moment. Maybe another day, but right now not so much.

I also introduced the Sitri peerage in this arc since in the next arc they are going to have a big role in it. I really am thrilled right now to try and get to those points, but I can't pressure myself or I will burn out completely.

Well anyway, until the next chapter is out stay healthy, stay safe and have a great day.

👍

Qudrim8054 · Mar 20, 2021

Tomorrow the last chapter before the hiatus will be uploaded in 1PM Eastern Time Zone.

As for said hiatus, it is until I finish writing the next arc, which would be a while from now. Several months at least.

Qudrim8054 · Mar 21, 2021

Hey everyone and welcome to the last chapter of the first arc "Into the World of the Supernatural arc". Now, there are going to be more arcs and chapters, but I'm going to take hiatus whenever I finish an arc until I finish writing the next arc and publish it like I did with this arc.

Still, I hope you would enjoy this chapter. And now for the warning section.

Warning: This is a Mature rated story, as this is does have the ecchi elements and content of High School DxD, so expect nudity in this story. Also, because this is also a Bleach story, expect very gory and violent fight scenes. Also for those who haven't read my stories, while I may have an okay skill with dialogue and can write good exchanges, I am in real life a guy who swears a lot, which tends to heavily trickle into my works. I will try my best to downgrade it, but expect to see a lot of cursing. Readers' discretion is advised for all these elements.

Of Devils and Reapers

Volume 1: Red Dragon's Emperor's Awakening

Chapter 8: Issei Gets a Familiar

Into the World of the Supernatural Arc

It had been several days since the whole thing with meeting Sona, discovering that she was a devil and getting to know her own peerage. There was a tamed and decent celebration to even start a new friendship between the two peerages. However, it also included Ichigo and his friends, as well as Asia to sign an Associate contract in their own blood, something that surprised not only them, but also the new reincarnated devils in both peerages, as only the two high-class devils and their [Queens] knew about the Associate Contract.

In a quick summation, the Associate Contract was different to any contact that clients made with devils. It was a contract that spiritually aware humans with important connections signed a pact with a devil peerage that they would assist them using their connections and even fight alongside them if they had any powers that could help in a fight against monsters. In short, an associate of a devil peerage was more of an asset to be used in a time of need, and Ichigo Kurosaki, Orihime Inoue, Tatsuki Arisawa, Yatsura Sado and Asia Argento were most definitely powerful allies for anyone to have. Also they agreed to become associates since they refused to be reincarnated as Devils.

At the moment it was lunch break for the second-year students and Ichigo and Issei were sitting together at class and were talking together.

"So then I finally got to the client's apartment and was hoping to see some really hot babe to greet me," the brown-haired reincarnated devil told his story for his Shinigami-Angel hybrid friend as he was building up to some reveal in the story and was going on with the story.

"Of course, only a pervert like you would hope for something like that." the orange-haired teen said snarkily as he rolled his eyes and had his chin on his palm with an impatient look on his face, hoping that his friend would get to the point.

"And what do I get?" the devil asked with a slightly irritated and mostly horrified tone to his voice. "Some guy who was looking like some fucking Mister Olympia, body building motherfucker and was built like a human tank of pure muscle, wearing the pink getup of the magical girl from "Magical Girl Milky Spiral Seven"! Panties included!" he screamed with terror and utter disgust in his voice.

The soul reaper's face contorted into an expression of pure disgust as he gagged immediately as he started to imagine it in his very mind. He wasn't a pervert like his friend, but simply imagining an image like that burned his brown eyes with pain and agony as he now couldn't erase whatever image formed in his mind of an overly muscular giant of a man wearing the pink outfit of a magical girl. After nearly a minute of disgusted silence between the two, the soul reaper actually responded.

"God, I would gladly drink bleach right now just to erase that image." he said as tears flowed out like rivers from his eyes as his face was still stuck in an expression of utter disgust at what his devil friend had told him.

"Yeah... me to. I had to watch a marathon with him of the whole show afterwards. The guy is actually really nice, but I can't get over the outfit and cutesy behavior." Issei finished his sentence with a depressed tone as he slumped forward and started to cry just like Ichigo.

All of a sudden, out of nowhere, two feet slammed against the brown-haired teenage boy's head, sending him flying and crashing against the floor. When he got up, he saw Matsuda and Motohama glaring at him jealously while they had tears flooding out of their eyes. Ichigo just looked at the two newly arrived perverts and sighed in annoyance while also rolling his eyes with a annoyed expression. "Issei, you bastard!" the two other members of the Pervert Trio of Kuoh Academy shouted at their friend with jealousy filling their voice.

Issei sat up as he rubbed his right temple while also wincing in pain. "What the hell was that for?!" he asked loudly and very angrily as he glared daggers at his friends. "That hurts, you know!" he shouted at them with an angry expression on his face, as he was obviously fuming.

However his friends were fuming just as much. "How do you do that?! You somehow enter an exclusive clubs with super hot babes and leave nothing for us!" the shaved-head teen Matsuda shouted as the pair of perverts then raised their fists to start counting. "First are Rias Gremory and Akeno Himejima, two super hot senpais with super huge titties! What kind of horrific acts of depravity are you doing to them, huh?! Squeezing those jugs all day?" he questioned angrily as his face was read with anger and jealousy and frustration.

The four-eyed Motohama then spoke up next. "Then you have the super cute Koneko Toujo, the unofficial loli mascot of the school and you spend a lot of time with both the new hottie Asia Argento and Ichigo, who constantly hangs out with the super-hottie Inoue Orihime and that tight-ass Tatsuki Arisawa. You have to at least give us a girl or two." he said as steam filled his glasses while his face was also red with envy and rage over his lack of being around hot girls.

The orange-haired Nephilim simply sat on his chair and looked at the two super perverts with a deadpan expression on his face. "I'm right here, you know. And if Tatuski-san would hear you talking like that about her and Orihime, she would break every bone in you lower body." he spoke with a deadpan tone to his voice as he kept sitting in a laid back pose.

Ichigo's word caused all three members of the Pervert Trio to freeze in place and shake in their boots, especially Issei who knew just how much power that girl possessed if she could be compared to a [Rook] like Koneko. He knew that pissing someone that strong was a bad idea. However, something then popped into his mind as a sly smile appeared on his face.

He got up and got rid of the sly smile as he dusted himself off as he looked at his two very good friends and fellow super perverts. "Actually, in my activities as a member of the occult research club I got to meet plenty of hot chicks. In fact, I just remembered someone who I can definitely hook you two up with." he said as his smirk grew more sly.

Ichigo caught that and realized what his good friend was doing, as a smirk rose to his face as well, mostly out of disbelief and from imagining how funny it would actually be. "You're kidding me, right?" he asked out loud as he tried his best to stop himself from bursting out laughing.

However, none of the nuanced expression and their meaning was registered by the perverted brains of Matsuda and Motohama, who already had red cheeks and incredibly perverted expressions on their faces. "You mean it, Issei? If you do, then we'll let you into our infamous VIP peeping spot!" the glasses-wearing perv said with a gigantic grin on his face.

This statement made the pervy devil's eyes to widen massively and made his jaw fall down and hang there as blood then squirted from his nose, both nostrils. "You mean the legendary VIP peeping spot? The one that you found and is totally impossible to find?" he inquired with a gigantic and enthusiastic grin over his face, now more determined to make sure that he got to watch from that spot.

"Yeah bro, now tell us more about that babe!" Matsuda said while he was also drooling with anticipation to hear about the girl that the brown-haired teenager was about to tell them about. "Give us a chance to get some babes and we'll let you have all the view this time. Now give us the deets!" he pushed forward in order to get what he wanted from his friend.

Issei had a bead of sweat appear on his face as he glanced aside nervously as he remembered his last client. "Her name is Mil-tan and well... there is no doubt that she is a virgin." he spoke a bit silently as he had a forced smile on his face. He then looked back at his two super perverted friends as the nervous appearance disappeared. "Oh, and she's a gigantic fan of Magical Girl Milky Spiral Seven, so she's constantly wearing the costume." he told them some information about his latest client.

He then crossed his arms in front of his chest and smirked confidently as he looked at his friends. "Okay, I'll give her call at the end of the day and arrange a meeting in the coming days." he told them as then a perverted expression rose to his face as he started to have a nosebleed. "Now show me those VIP booby spot!" he demanded like a deranged, rabid, perverted animal.

The two other members of the Perverted Trio gave their friend a thumbs up as they also had a massive grin on their faces. "You've got it!" they said with great amount of enthusiasm as they then grabbed him and dragged him by the hands out of the classroom. "To the ladies' locker room!" they shouted out loud as they ran like maniacs.

Ichigo simply watched at everything with an expression of disbelief as he pulled out his phone and sighed. "I guess I'll start practicing an apology for Issei's perversion ahead of time," he talked to himself out loud as he called someone. "because it's going to end badly either way." he said as he put the phone next to his ear.

xxx

Opening Theme: Asterisk by Orange Range (use Bleach Opening 1 for audio)

The three perverts had their eyes locked on their targets with extremely perverted looks on their faces and blood running down from their nose as steam blew out of their ears. They were taking in a sight that any teenage boy would appreciate, but none would do the devious things that the know Pervert Trio of Kuoh Academy would do to get this desirable view. Right now they were hiding inside a locker in the girls' locker room. More specifically they were hiding in the girls' locker room of the first-year students.

From what little open lines they had to watch the girls, they could see everything clearly as they watched first-year girls changing clothes for their regular student uniform to gym clothes, which included very, very short pants that were probably as long as a guy's boxer shorts, but obviously longer than panties, and of short-sleeved t-shirts. Either way, perverts who loved and adored legs could have an entire buffet of legs just by looking at the long, well developed thighs of the first-years that the Pervert Trio were looking at with hungry eyes.

No, unlike the leg-loving or butt-loving types of pervs, Issei and his two perverted friends were the boob-loving type, and their eyes were eating up the scenery of beautiful younger girls removing their shirts, with some even removing their bras to switch to the white, short-sleeved t-shirts of the physical education class. They were drooling over all the boobs that they were seeings. There were girls who were more flat chested, those with with some more noticeable oppai and some with actual large buxom for the three guys to nosebleed from.

"So what do you think, Issei, isn't being a VIP awesome or what?" Matsuda whispered in Issei's left ear, like a devil sitting on his shoulder and encouraging him to indulge in his sinful perversion. It was quite ironic since Issei himself was an actual devil, an irony that didn't go unnoticed by the reincarnated devil, though it sure as shit didn't distract him from his indulgence of the breasts of the first-year girls in the locker room.

"Oh, you bet. I can't believe you bastards had been hogging such a wonderful place all for yourselves." the reincarnated devil whispered to both of his friends as his eyes were locked or a pair of exposed boobs of a girl, surprising him with how big they were for a first year student. His eyes were locked as he watched every bounce of those majestic jugs.

"Woah, no way. We've got a jackpot on the left." Motohama whispered as he pushed Issei slightly against Matsuda, to the point that the latter could no longer get to be part of the action, all the while the glasses-wearing pervert was drooling and bleeding heavily from his nose. Issei, out of curiosity, looked to where his friend was and much to his shock he recognized the girl they were now watching. It was none other than Koneko, the small, white-haired [Rook] of the Gremory peerage he was a part of and the unofficial loli mascot of the school.

Right now she was only wearing the shorts of the gym uniform on the bottom and was wearing only a bra on the top. The perverted devil looked at her now with all of his attention. 'I'm not really into lolis, but Koneko-chan is super cute and if I get a chance to see her oppai now, I could save the image in my mind and compare it to when she matures a little bit in a couple of years. Once she grows and her body actually develops more, I will have no problem of adding her to my harem and bang her.' he thought to himself as he kept his eyes focused on the white-haired girl.

It was then that he looked over at Motohama and saw how much his friend was drooling over the small first-year student. 'Oh right, I forgot that he was a lolicon.' he thought to himself as he looked back at where Koneko was at. Fortunately for him it was in the exact moment that she managed to unhook her bra, revealing her full bare upper body.

His face turned completely red at that moment as his eyes absorbed every single little detail of the girl's small body. Koneko really had a small body, similar to that of a child three years younger than her actual age, and it definitely showed in a lot of ways. She was not just really short in terms of height, her arms and legs were not very long in comparison to other first-year students. It also appeared to be the case with her bust, as her two exposed breasts were pretty small as well, which seemed to be rather appropriate for her physical appearance. However, Issei didn't think that it was totally bad, as it added more to her cuteness factor.

'Must focus! I have to save his image ingrained inside my brain, alongside Buchou's gloriously large and soft oppai!' he thought to himself as he ground his teeth and focused his mind on doing just that as he thought, imprinting the figure of the topless devil in his mind. Fortunately for him, he had managed to do that before she put on her shirt over her naked upper body and prepared to leave the locker room alongside her classmates.

Suddenly, much to the surprise of the brown-haired reincarnated devil, Koneko stopped in her place right in front of the exit door. 'Huh? Why isn't she leaving?' he thought as he saw that the white-haired loli turned around and went over to her locker and took out her phone. From what he could see, it seems like she was checking a quick message on her phone. Then he noticed the slight scowl forming on her face as she texted something on her phone before putting it back in the locker and closing it, only to then walk in the direction where the locker he and his friends were hiding in.

At that point Issei realized the reason and crawled into the back of the locker in horror. 'Oh no! She knows we're here!' he panicked inside his mind with terror at the thought that he had just pissed off a girl with super strength. Sure enough, a second later the girl punched the door of the locker in which the three perverts were hiding in, her fist piercing through the metal door and striking Motohama in the stomach, making him double over as he gasped in pain while his glasses cracked. 'Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit! How did she find us!' Issei kept on thinking as another punch punctured through the metal door and crashed into Matsuda's stomach, as he gasped in pain as well. Another second later and the hand grabbed onto the door and ripped it out of the locker with great force.

As the door was flung aside on the floor, making loud "CLANG!" noises as it bounced several times, he saw his two perverted friends whom he shared a strong bond of perversion with, fall down while groaning from the unimaginable pain. "Hey guys, are you alright?" he asked the two with a scared tone to his voice, only to look slightly up, which caused him to jump in terror to then try and crawl back, but he was up against the wall already. In front of him stood a small, white-haired devil who was glaring daggers at him with her expression seemingly almost the same as her usual emotionless one, but he noticed her eyebrows were lowered and her mouth was curved downwards in a frown to appear in an 'n' shape.

Issei could immediately feel the killing intent that was radiating from her in such a tremendous force that he knew that he would be beaten up horribly. However, he knew that one wrong word and she would literally kill him, as she was pissed off right now. "H-Hey there, Koneko-chan, n-nice seeing you here, hehehehe..." he said nervously as he was sweating bucking while his eyes were locked on his furious predator, waiting to pounce and rip him apart. As he could tell, her expression didn't change in the slightest.

Knowing that he was stuck in a very dangerous situation, he quickly started waving both of his hands nervously as he had a panicked expression on his face. "Wait, wait, wait! It wasn't my idea." he said as he spoke the truth this time, knowing that it originally wasn't his idea, but the idea of his two super perverted friends. He had hoped that saying something truthful was going to save his ass.

The white-haired [Rook] raised an eyebrow while she still frowned a little bit. "...Oh?" she inquired with a completely unconvinced tone to her deadpan, stoic and seemingly emotionless tone that she usually spoke with.

However, being unable to read the girl very well, Issei convinced himself that his somewhat worked and a nervous, apologetic and relived smile appeared on his face as he actually believed that he succeeded in calming down his fellow devil. "Yeah, it really wasn't! And I totally didn't see anything like your small and cute oppai." he spoke quickly and nervously, only for a horrified expression to appear on his face as he realized what he had just confessed to. 'Oh fuck, I just said too much!' he thought to himself in utter despair and horror as he knew that he was about to receive heavy and painful punishment from the girl.

Looking at him with the same unchanging expression of a small frown that barely could be noticed on her stoic face, she raised her hands to face height and cracked her knuckles as killing intent was oozing off of her small body in unfathomable amounts, all directed towards the perverted reincarnated devil. "...You'd wish you hadn't." she said with the same emotionless tone to her voice as she then cracked her knuckles once more.

She quickly grabbed the brown-haired [Pawn] by the collar of his shirt, pulled him out of the locker and slammed him on his back, making him gasp in pain as he spewed saliva from his mouth. As he looked up to the ceiling of the room with his eyes being blurry, he felt something on his chest, so he looked and watched as Koneko sat on top of his chest. 'This isn't really what I imagined when I thought of the first time I'd have a girl sitting on top of me!' he thought to himself in terror as immediately after he received a thunderous punch to the face, making his spew blood.

Koneko started to pummel him with all of her strength, holding nothing back, as the floor around them started to get filled with a mixture of Issei's saliva and blood as he was taking fist after fist to the face courtesy of the so called "unofficial loli mascot of the school", who rained her fists with great vengeance and furious anger. "POW!" and "BOOM!" sounds were heard repeatedly as the pained screams of Issei filled the room.

As Matsuda and Motohama witnessed the bloodbath, they quickly got up and decided to do the only thing that the two of them could think of when they usually got found out: run the fuck away. They immediately bolted towards the door and opened it in an attempt to run away from the room. "Sorry bro, but we don't want to be killed. Bye!" they told their friend who was screaming in utter agony as his face was being continuously bashed in by the white-hared girl.

However, unfortunately for them, as they opened the door and started running, their momentum was immediately halted as their faces crashed into two extended feet of two different people. As they fell down on their butts, the two pervs looked up to see both Ichigo and Tatsuki looking down on them as they lowered their raised legs and putting it on the ground. At that point things clicked together in the mind of the two members of the Pervert Trio and they pointed at Ichigo with a combination of both anger and terror.

"See, I told you they were there." the orange-haired teenager said to his friend completely nonchalantly while looking at the two members of the Pervert Trio who had escaped while their brown-haired friend was suffering the wrath of Koneko. He then walked pass them and stopped at the entrance of the room, seeing the bloodbath that was Koneko hammering devastating blow after devastating blow into the face of the perverted, brown-haired teenage boy. He winced and looked away as the cries of the reincarnated devil were heard.

Meanwhile the black-haired teenage girl looked down at the two perverts with sadistic grin on her face as she cracked her knuckles with anticipation filling her dark, invisible aura of her Reiatsu. "Jerking off while peeping on your kohai? You assholes certainly are gluttons for punishment." she told the two perverts with a sadistic, pissed off grin while veins throbbed on her forehead. She then started to beat the tar out of them, with the two teenagers screaming in pain as they two got the tart punched out of them by the pissed off tomboy who delivered the two karmic justice yet again.

A Few Hours Later, Occult Research Club Clubhouse,

Issei lied on the couch as his face was bloated and completely purple from the assault that he had received from the girl. He mumbled something that couldn't leave his lips because they grew so bloated that they were stuck, all the while the light of Twighlight Healing and of Shun Shun Rikka were healing his injured face.

"Don't worry, Hyoudou-kun, we'll heal you up completely in just a few seconds." the orange-haired girl said with a concerned and paniced look on her face as she tried to do her best to reverse the severe and grievous injuries that he had received all over his face from the beating that he took.

"Please don't die, Isse-san! Hang on in there!" Asia cried as she put more and more of her effort into her Sacred Gear, trying to quicken things up when it came to healing her dear friend.

Meanwhile, the rest of the ORC were in the room watching the healing and watching as all of the injuries and purple bumps that were filling every inch of the brown-haired devil's face disappear as if there never took place whatsoever, reverting his face to its normal appearance.

Among those who were watching was Koneko, who was eating some sugary treat while she had the regular deadpan and stoic expression that she constantly wore, the frown from before completely gone as the beating she gave the man calmed her down somewhat. "...You reap what you sow, senpai." she told Issei as she spoke in an emotionless manner, not showing any bit of sympathy for the guy she brutally beat up.

Ichigo and his friends were there as well, with the orange-haired shinigami himself crouching and looking at his friend who had finished being healed. Chad and Tatsuki were sitting on the sofas, with Tatsuki sitting next to Kiba while Chad sat next to Koneko. "You know, she's not exactly wrong, you damn perv." the black-haired human said as she frowned while looking at the perverted reincarnated devil.

The crimson-haired devil simply shook her head as she had several fingers touching her forehead as she sighed. "I still don't fully get why you have to go to such lengths and take so many risks just to see naked girls." she said with a rather exhausted tone to her voice as she then smirked and looked at her [Pawn]. "If you want to see a woman's naked body, I would gladly let you see mine if its just the two of us." she told him with a smile on her face as she meant those very words that she had just uttered.

This immediately caused Issei to gasp on shock and joy as he sat up and looked at his master with stars and tears in his eyes. "Seriously, Buchou? For real?!" he asked with perverted excitement and with a cheerful voice as he seemed that his spirit was lifted from the depths that it was in.

The white-haired devil then looked at the High-class devil as well with a slight frown on her face, just like when she glared at Issei in the locker room. "...Yeah, seriously, Buchou? For real?" she repeated the words that the brown-haired reincarnated devil just spoke and it was immediately noticeable in her voice that her tone was more deadpan and was filled with disbelief and disappointment.

The blonde nun turned at the crimson-haired woman with a jealous look in her eyes while tears filled them while also pinching Issei's cheeck. She then took a few steps back from Issei and grabbed her skirt as she began to cry. "Issei-san, if you are so desperate to see naked girls, then I-" she gave a cute cry while her voice was filled with jealously as she started pulling her skirt down with the intention of stripping in front of her friend and the one whom had gained her love. It didn't matter to her how embarrassing it was for her, she didn't want the crimson-haired devil to get an advantage over her in the pursuit of Issei's heart.

However, before she could do that, both Issei and Ichigo started waving their hands frantically as they both nearly went into a full blown panic attack, all the while the two other human girls were blushing like crazy to the point that their faces turned red. "Please don't push yourself like that, Asia-chan! I want to see naked girls, but it isn't like that with you, I swear!" the brown-haired reincarnated devil shouted in order to make her stop her attempt at stopping. Even though Issei immediately got a nosebleed from the thought of seeing the former nun naked, he still managed to stop himself, since he had a feeling that it wouldn't feel right in his conscience.

As she stopped what she started to do, the orange-haired soul reaper slammed his fist on his friend's head. "Look what your actions did! Now you nearly caused Asia-san to embarrass herself! Apologize!" he demanded of his devil friend as he then pointed over to the white-haired [Rook]. "And apologize to Koneko-chan too while you're at it!" he kept on with his demands as he himself quickly bowed before the tiny girl. "Koneko-chan, I apologize on Issei's behalf for being a perverted idiot!" he told her with an apologetic tone.

Issei quickly looked several times between his shinigami friend and the white-haired girl before he bowed while he was still on the floor. "I'm sorry for peeping on you and the rest of the girls in your class, Koneko-chan!" he shouted his apology as he tried to be as respectful as he could to his cute kohai.

Koneko simply looked at him with her more natural expression and emotionless look in her eyes, making her almost impossible to read. "...Sure, I forgive your stupid perverseness. ...But you're still the worst though." she told him nonchalantly with her stoic tone to her voice as she returned to eating her sweets.

When that deal had finally been settled, the High-class devil smirked and she put both of her hands on her waist. "Good. Now that that matter had been settled, let's get to the main topic of today's activity. "Tonight's the full moon and we are going to get Issei a familiar.

Those who either weren't a member of the ORC looked at the crimson-haired woman with confusion and extreme interest in what the third-year student said as all eyes were on her. "A familiar?" the brown-haired reincarnated devil asked as he as well as most of the other people in the room were surprised to hear about the existence of familiars. Sure, they knew what those things were from literature, TV and other forms of media, but they never imagined that they would ever hear about devils actually having familiars.

Then their attention shifted to Akeno when said long, black-haired third-year student and [Queen] of the Gremory peerage clapped her hands together once, only to then release some tiny Oni creatures in between her hands, which must have been her familiars, since that was the topic at discussion.

After that Rias once more spoke as she raised her left palm to face height and with a poof of smoke a red bat appeared above said palm. "Indeed, a familiar." she said as she lowered her hand and the bat was engulfed in smoke and with another poof transformed into a cute and busty girl, which shocked the reincarnated devil as he crawled a bit back and pointed at the womanly figure that the bat transformed into.

"That's the hot chick who gave me the flyers when I waited to begin my date with Raynare!" he said out loud with shock on his face.

The crimson-haired devil then chuckled as her familiar returned to its bat appearance. "Why yes it was. See, familiars are creatures who form pacts with devils and assist them by doing menial tasks such as handing flyers like you used to." she explained to her newest member of her peerage with a motherly smile on her face as she talked in a very educational tone, sounding very much like a sensei to Issei. "Familiars are a basic for a devil. They can be used for information transportation, menial tasks and to adapt for certain situations." she continued her explanation as she spoke with pride and confidence in her voice.

"...This is Shiro." Koneko said as she was now hugging a cat with a white fur. Everyone in the room from Ichigo's group, as well and the brown-haired [Pawn] gathered around the white-haired girl and their eyes were so wide and filled with stars that it was utterly impossible for either of them to not say "Aww...". Even Chad smiled, even if his expression was very much more tame than that of the rest of his friends.

"It's adorable! Must hug!" Orihime cried out loudly as she was held back and stopped from trying to squish the smaller girl in her hug by the large, brown-skinned man out of the understanding that that amount of overbearing affection wasn't the most comfortable for the tiny [Rook].

"Kawaii!" Tatsuki said as she had a look in her eyes that was very similar to that of her best friend, who was still trying to run and hug the smaller devil without any success.

"Man, I'm overwhelmed by this. You're just precious, Koneko-chan." the soul reaper said as he gave her a big and affectionate grin while also ruffling her hair, though he didn't notice that it made the girl's mouth turn into an "n" shape with an embarrassed frown.

"Too cute! I'll die from cuteness!" Issei declared as he gushed over the image in front of him of a cute girl hugging a cute cat in an adorable manner.

"...Yes, please die." Koneko retorted as she still kept on the slight frown still on her face, making the known pervert feel dejected.

After this exchange Kiba raised his hand with a smile on his face while his eyes were closed. He seemed eager and very friendly to the others in the room. It seemed that the reveal of everyone's familiars made him excited, especially when everyone adored little Shiro. "Mine is-"

"Ah, I don't want to know." the blonde teen started talking, but he was quickly interrupted by the [Pawn] of the peerage who without a second thought cut the blonde devil boy mid-sentence and rejected his offer to show what his familiar was in a pretty mean and dismissive way.

Kiba still wore the same expression on his face, but he looked completely dejected as well from this as he seemed to actually be upset and saddened by that rejection. "You're so cold..." he told Issei right after his fellow devil told him off like that. Because of how Issei acted towards the pretty-boy, the former a few seconds later received a punch on the head from Tatsuki, who looked a bit angry with the pervert.

"Hey, be nice, will ya, asshole?!" she told the brown-haired reincarnated-devil as she hit him on the head with her fist several more times. Once she had made sure to punish him, she turned to face Kiba and blushed slightly as she put each hand on the opposite elbow. "Hey, I wouldn't mind seeing your familiar, Kiba-san." she spoke with a gruff voice as she glanced aside so that she would appear less inclined to see her crush's familiar than she actually was, as an effort to hide her crush on the pretty-boy.

This made Kiba perk up as he now smiled with great enthusiasm. "Ah, thank you, Tatsuki-chan. My familiar is-" he started to talk once again as he, much like the president of the Occult Research Club, raised his hand with an open palm in order to present his familiar.

"Alright Bucho, the teleportation circle is ready and everything is set." before Kiba could finish his sentence and summon his familiar, he was cut short by the vice-president of the club, who informed the club president that the magic circle used for teleportation was ready, making the blonde feel dejected once more as this time he lowered his head and had a saddened tear come out of his right eye.

Rias then clapped her hands once as she smiled. "Thank you, Akeno." she told her second-in-command as she then turned to Ichigo with an apologetic expression on her face. "Sorry, but this is devil matters only. Unfortunately you and your friends can't join us this time." she apologized as she gave the orange-haired teenage boy a bow and while speaking with a sympathetic and apologetic tone. "I hope that you understand the reasoning." she told him as she straightened her back and stood firm as she waited for his response.

But much to what she had anticipated, the shinigami simply waved his hand dismissively before shrugging his shoulders. "Eh, don't worry about it." he told her nonchalantly as he leaned against the wall of the room while crossing his arms and looking at the crimson-haired devil in the eyes. "It's not like we have nothing to do. Asia-san needs to make sure Urahara-san doesn't do something shady to any customers and the rest of us have Hollows to hunt. Especially since that crazy Freed Sellzen is on the loose, as the souls he kills turn to Hollows out of desire for revenge." he informed the crimson-haired woman as he talked about other things that had to be done that was not currently connected to the ORC.

Upon mentioning the name of the crazed excommunicated exorcist Issei looked at the former nun with a worried look on his face. He was right to worry, as the blonde girl lowered her head and started to cry with regret and with fear. Regret for joining the maniac and the rogue fallen angel who were killing innocent people just to steal her Sacred Gear. The fear she felt was the fear of being targeted and hunted by the crazed exorcist.

Seeing how the mood in the room quickly shifted into a more melancholy one, the red-haired devil cleared her throat by coughing several times to gain everyone's attention, which managed to work quite well as everyone quickly shifted their attention to her, to which she just gave a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about that man. He is no threat to any of you and we will sort him out eventually." she told both to her peerage and the their none-devil friends as she walked to the red glowing circle of the Gremory house. "In the meantime, we devils have a manner of our own to deal with. Come on everybody." she said with a carefree and caring tone to her voice as she called to all of the members of her peerage to join her, which they slowly did.

All the devils in the room nodded as they walked towards the red circle in the center of the room. As they all stood in the middle of the transportation circle, they waved towards their friends outside of it, knowing that they would have to wait until tomorrow to see them once more. Kiba, who kept his wide smile on his face even chuckled with a bit of a dejected tone. "Sorry, Tatsuki-chan. Maybe I'll show you my familar next time." he told her with a friendly tone despite showing that he was a bit saddened to be the only devil to not show his familiar to everyone.

Then Rias raised her hand into the air and with a big grin on her face she declared with a tone that was filled with the excitement of a child "Let's go catch some familiars!", which made the orange-haired Substitute Shinigami slump forward as he had an expression of deadpan disbelief, only for the group to disappear in a bright red light.

When the red light disappeared, Issei looked around to see himself in an unknown location. It was a forest filled with trees so tall and so thick that they blocked the moonlight and made it pitch black. However, thanks to his demonic gift of night vision he could see everything perfectly clear with his eyes. He was honestly still a bit shocked from using the teleportation circle, as most of the time he used a bicycle as the main way of transportation to move around town. Man, he sucked balls.

"So what is this place, Buchou?" he asked his master with both great interest and confusion as he looked around at the very tall trees, trying to see their peak, but even the upper halves of the trees were so tall and the leaves across all the braces together created a sort of a very think layer that even the top of the trees were as hidden as the light of the moon itself. A true layer of separation from darkness and light, a true testament to devils if there ever was one.

The crimson-haired girl smiled confidently as she raised up a single finger and started speaking, addressing to her newest servant, her precious [Pawn]. "This is the familiar forest. Many creatures of many types live in this dimension after their ancient ancestors were either forced by demons into servitude or pledged their eternal loyalty to devils." she explained as she once more sounded like an educative sensei trying to pass on knowledge to her students, though right now it was only the [Pawn] who did not know this information. "Most of these were small and rather weak creatures, so they needed to pledge to the underworld for survival. However, sometimes there were very powerful creatures who just desired a peaceful inhabitant to have future generations in. That's something many of the old generation loves about the current truce with the angels and fallen angels." she kept on explaining as Issei and everyone else simply looked around, taking in the view.

"That's exactly it, lady Gremory." a voice echoed in the forest, which for a second startled the entire group as they looked around to see where the voice came from. The brown-haired teenager was nervous and confused, not sure what to expect in this forest or was the one who called them. "Up here!" the voice said as everyone looked up at one of the trees, where they saw a man standing on one of the branches. The brown-haired teenager could see several wrinkles on the man's face, but he was dressed like a teenager, even with a baseball cap that had been turned to face the other direction.

The man closed his right fist and pointed at himself using his thumb while carrying a proud smirk on his face. "My name is Zatouji from Madara Town! I'm a devil in training, aiming to become the familiar master! Gotta catch 'em all!" he declared with a youthful spirit and with a giant grin on his face, but the moment that Issei realized how similar it sounded to the main character of a certain kid's show, he slumped forward.

Looking over to his red-haired master, he straightened himself up and pointed at the man. "Hey, Buchou, who is this manchild of an old-fart?" he asked angrily as he didn't have any patience to find more similarities from the devil above them and the fictional character he was thinking about.

Rias kept a courteous and pleasant smile on her face as she gestured towards the man. "This is the familiar expert who watches over this forest. His name is Zatouji and he has all the information that you require on familiars." she explained to her newest servant as she then looked up to address the man personally. "Thank you for allowing us to come, Zatouji-sama. I have brought with me my servant that I contacted you about." she told the man while speaking in a friendly manner that also had an air of nobility to it, as expected of someone of her status.

The so-called familiar expect narrowed his eyes as he examined the teenage boy for a while as he seemed to try and get an impression of the young man. When he finished, he jumped off the tree and glided down after spreading his devil bat wings from his back. He landed right in front of the young man and started to examine him once more, this time getting up and close into his face, much to the brown-haired teenager's discomfort.

"Hmm... a dull face boy who possesses the Red Dragon Emperor, huh?" he said as he backed off a bit, but his comment slightly pissed off Issei as he wanted to punch the guy in the face for calling his face dull. The familiar expert then looked over at the high-class devil and gave her a thumbs up and a smirk. "Don't you worry, lady Gremory, I will find him the perfect familiar. I mean, you gotta catch 'em all!" he declared with confidence in his voice as he then started to walk ahead, with the entire group following him.

As everyone walked inside the tall, dark forest the man started to talk and go over explanations of familiars from various kinds. While he was explaining normal mundane facts, the crimson-haired woman addressed her [Pawn]. "Issei, I want you to remember that you are here to catch a familiar. Zatouji-sama could offer you a lot of great advice as to what could be the perfect familiar for you, and a familiar is a must for every devil. Therefore I want you to take this thing seriously and ask him for advice as many times as possible. We can only be here for a certain amount of time. Do you understand?" she spoke to him seriously as she underlined the importance of the whole thing to the reincarnated devil beside her.

Issei looked at her for a few seconds before nodding his head. "Yes, understood Buchou." he told her while the rest of the peerage looked at him as well, just listening to the conversation.

The self-proclaimed aspiring familiar master, who was leading the group ahead, turned his head and smiled at the brown-haired teen. "Yeah, come on and ask for some advice. It's an expert's job to guide the beginner." he told him with a friendly and inviting tone to his voice.

Giving a quick nod, the reincarnated-devil walked up to the man with a bit of shyness on his face, feeling a bit embarrassed to even ask for advice rather than looking for something he would have wanted for himself. "...Um... so... what kind of familiar would you recommend for me, Zatouji-sama?" he asked a bit awkwardly as he tried to swallow his pride by calling the man by the sama honorific.

The man simply smirked as he took out a catalog out of his pocket and opened it up. "That depends on exactly what type of familiar do you want. Do you wish for a strong one? A fast one? A fire type? A fairy type? Or maybe do you want one with poison?" he inquired as he skimmed through his catalog while he kept walking, which detailed the many familiars in the world.

Issei immediately gave the man a depressed look as he slumped forward. "Don't say scary stuff like poison type all of a sudden." he said with a hopeless tone as tears came out of his eyes like rivers.

After a few good seconds in which the familiar expert looked in his catalog, a smile rose to his face as he finally put his finger on one specific page. "There, that one's perfect for you, Red Dragon Emperor." he said while he glanced for a second at the brown-haired teen.

The [Pawn] simply gave him a confused look as he didn't even looked at the catalog page. "Why do you keep calling me that?" he inquired, completely unaware of why he was being referred to as "The Red Dragon Emperor" by the self-proclaimed aspiring familiar master.

Zatouji looked over at the teenage reincarnated-devil and raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Didn't your master tell you? The Boosted Gear was made from the dead and chopped up body of on of the strongest dragons in existence. They say his soul still resides in it." he explained to the young man, which caused the devil to shiver as he learned a bit more about his Sacred Gear. "Now come here and look at this beauty." Zatouji said as he had a giant grin on his face while his finger was still on the catalog.

The moment that he heard the word "beauty" being utter from the guy's mouth, steam erupted from the perverted devil's nose as he ran towards the man to look at the catalog page, hoping to see a super hot monster girl like in all those porn comics that he had collected. However, much to his horror, what he saw was an illustration of a ferocious dragon that took the entire page.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!" he screamed in terror at the top of his lungs as he pointed at the illustration as his eyes bugged out of their sockets and his face lost whole of its color as his jaw fell down limp. He felt a mixture of emotions from simply looking at the illustration, feeling as if it was going to jump out of the page and try to eat him, or kill him in a number of ways before eating him.

The familiar expert simply grinned. "That is my recommendation for you, beginner devil. One of the perfect matches for someone like you." he told him as he then returned to look at the illustration. "That is one of the five dragon kings, the only one still currently active and the only female of the five." he started to explain about the dragon that was drawn on the entire page. "She is a legendary dragon, the Chaos Karma Dragon Tiamat! She's so strong that you can consider her to be on par to a Maou." he declared as he was now speaking with an excited tone while having just as enthusiastic of an expression.

Issei fell down on the ground in a comedic fashion as it appeared like his soul was starting to leave his body out of sheer fear. He then got up and got into the guide's face. "ARE YOU. FUCKING. KIDDING ME?!" he screamed at the top of his lungs as he pointed at the dragon in the catalog. "That thing looks like the final boss of an RPG! It's like throwing me into the last dungeon while I'm just level 1! Do you even know the dictionary meaning of 'recommending'?!" he inquired angrily as he was fuming with anger and also showed terror at the thought of seeing that monster in the flesh.

However, the high-class crimsonette soon came closer and looked at the illustration in the catalog with plenty of interest about what had caused the argument between her servant and the familiar expert to start. After a few seconds of looking, she looked over at the older man wearing a younger man's outfit with a cheerful and inspired look on her face. "That's actually sounds really good. It seems like they would both get along since they are legendary dragons." she said cheerfully while having a big smile on her face.

Then the leader of the Gremory peerage and heiress to the House of Gremory looked over at her pawn with the same expression. "Issei, you are my adorable servant, so it might be acceptable if you could pull off taming that dragon." she said with a strict yet motivating tone to her voice, meaning every word of it.

The brown-haired reincarnated-devil slumped down again and cried rivers of tears from his eyes. "Buchou, it's impossible. I can tell from the illustration alone that I would not get along with that monster-er-errrrr..." he cried and whimpered his soul out in despair over his master's words of encouragement just now.

"Don't worry, Issei, you can do it, I believe in you. All you need is the belief and trust of your friends." the blonde-haired pretty-boy devil Kiba tried his best to cheer up and motivate his friend, all while speaking very calmly and with a smile on his face.

Issei then turned to look at the blonde man angrily. "Shut up, Kibaaaaa! You go catch it dammitttt!" the angry, fearful and depressed brown-haired young man cried out at the Gremory [Knight] as he kept on with his moaning and wailing, all the while the crimson-haired woman looked simply exhausted, the long-black-haired Akeno simply giggled at the display of the teen and the small Koneko simply looked at the exchange with a blank stare.

It took some period of time, but eventually Issei started taking in deep breaths as he tried to calm down and recompose so that he would continue with his attempt to find a familiar, remembering the important words that Rias had told him earlier. He didn't want to disappoint her, so he managed to muster everything he had to recompose.

Eventually he straightened up and took a few last breaths before looking back at everyone. "I'm... sorry about that. Let's continue to try and get me a familiar!" he said with a lot of excitement as he tried his best to find the most out of the situation that he was at.

This made the heiress of House Gremory to nod with a prideful smile of approval on her face as she looked at her precious [Pawn] as she crossed her arms under her ample breasts while the familiar expert simply started to burst out laughing. "Hahahaha! I like you, kid. You're here for the adventure and I will make sure that it is a memory that will forever be ingrained into your mind for a long time." he declared with excitement as he wrapped his arm around the brown-haired teen's shoulder as he continued to lead the group along the forest. "So what type of familiars do you want?" he asked the young man now with interest to hear what he had in mind.

"I want the beautiful girl type with hot, slender and smooth bodies with big oppai!" the reincarnated-devil said shamelessly as he had a perverted expression plastered all over his face with glee and pride.

Zatouji immediately pouted and gave a dismissive wave towards the young man. "Ah, this is why newbies don't understand a damn thing!" he declared with a disappointed tone to his voice as he then looked at the young reincarnated-devil. "If that's what you wanted, then Tiamat was he perfect choice! Not only is she is powerful beyond imagination, but she also possesses a human form of a woman with immaculate beauty!" he stated as he angrily punched the top of the young devil's head. "You must be a total idiot to give up something like that!" he said as he then moved on ahead while the brown-haired teen sulked.

He stood in his place as he cried when he imagined in his head how such a mighty and fierce dragon transforming into a beautiful woman with huge oppai with the same size as Rias's and Akeno's, all the while the club's vice president, the blonde teen and the young-looking teen passed by him. "...Suck it." the girl told him as she stopped and turned her head to look at her senpai, only to then walk away nonchalantly.

Akeno simply laughed as she looked at the white-haired Koneko. "Ara Ara, Koneko-chan. You certainly are feisty with Issei today." she said with an amuse tone as they two kept on walking.

"...Because he is the worst." she said casually as she simply ended that subject of conversation there.

Eventually, after some time walking as Zatouji explained more and more about familiars and recommended more monsters to Issei, such as a hydra for example, the group got out of the forest and reached an area that was exposed to the light of the moon. Receiving light into their eyes after staying in the darkness for so long wasn't the most pleasant experience, but it took only a few seconds for everyone to get accustomed to the moonlight in the sky. The area in which they were at now was a very large lake.

"Alright, everyone gather around and listen up. Seirei gather around this lake." the self-proclaimed aspiring familiar master stated as he stood the closest to the lake itself with a stoic and firm expression as he crossed his arms and his aura emitted power.

This actually weirded out the brown-haired pervert devil while he also stood behind the man and looked at him with a confused expression, not knowing what he was talking about. "Um... Seirei? What is that?" he inquired as he tried to figure out why the group's guide looked so damn intense while looking at a lake. He nervously wondered if the Seirei were also scary monsters like everything that he was recommended thus far.

The familiar expert then started to talk once more. "In this lake resides the race of the Water Seirei, Undine. Undine is a maiden of pure heart who doesn't just possess a beautiful beauty, she also possesses great strength and can heal a broken heart." he explained as his voice was now more relaxed and laid back. "But remember that an Undine will only submit to a devil whom she considers to be strong." he finished his explanation as he raised his finger to look as educative as possible.

Upon hearing this, the perverted [Pawn]'s eyes widened and his jaw fell limp while his tongue came out and he started to pant and drool with excitement over hearing this explanation over what the Undine was. 'Oh man, a cute, beautiful monster girl with a pure heart like Asia-san?! Holy molly, I want that!' he thought to himself as he because waaay too excited over seeing the monster in the lake. He then got stuck inside his mind as he went to his imagination spot where he imagined how the creature looked.

In his mind he imagined her to be a slender girl with a pale skin and a watery hair with a beautiful blue color and matching blue eyes. The imaginative figure also had a very voluptuous figure and a light-blue, translucent robe that didn't hide anything while adding some color. The imaginative personality that he gave her was that of a somewhat shy but willing to accept his perverse demands.

'Oh man, this is so awesome!' he thought to himself as he felt himself getting aroused. 'First I'll make her give me her thigh-pillow,' he thought as he imagined himself putting his head on top of the well defined and soft thighs of the figure that he imagined in his mind. 'then I'll make her clear my ear' he kept imagining as the moving picture in his mind shifted to the beautiful womanly figure gently inserting her tongue into his ear, passionately licking it. 'and then I will take her oppai!' he kept thinking perverted things to himself as he imagined himself squeezing the naked bare breasts of the woman in his imagination with his hands while putting both of her hard nipples into his mouth and sucking them while listening to the figure's blissful moans of passion.

"...Hey pervert, stop thinking with you junk. It's unpleasant." Koneko spoke with the same deadpan and stoic voice that she always used when talking, stopping the perverted devil's horny fantasies as he noticed that something, being his manhood, was pressuring against his pants, making him cover his groin while his face turned red.

He then looked over to his master with a question in mind. "Hey Buchou, since it would be my familiar, I can do whatever I want with it, right?" he asked with a hopeful tone, one that was solely planted into the hope that there would be "no sexual harassment" policy with familiars. That was going to ruin all of his fantasies for a hot monster girl joining his eventual harem.

The crimson-haired woman sighed and put her hand on her forehead for a few seconds as she was simply exasperated with her servant's sexual desires. She knew that she couldn't stop it and she found him really endearing, to the point that she even thought of trying to satisfy his perverted needs by letting him see her naked. Though despite how she looked on the outside, the request really didn't offend her on the inside. 'Then, why do I feel this strange emotion within my heart? Why am I so bothered by him wanting other girls?' she questioned herself before looking at her [Pawn] with a reinvigorated smile on her face. "Yes, do as you like. Since it will be your familiar, it will be okay." she spoke to the brown-haired teen with a jolly tone.

Hearing his master's words made the perverted reincarnated-devil to cry a river of tears made from the joy of the thought that his fantasies would become a reality. Suddenly a spot in the lake started glowing, which got the attention of the entire group as Zatouji pointed at it. "Look, the lake is glowing! That means a wild Undine is about to appear." he said as he had a smile of anticipation on his face, one that was only matched by Issei's perverted desires taking control.

From the glowing spot a figure started to emerge. At first it was merely a silhouette because the glow from the spot was so bright. Then, after a few seconds after that, a figure was starting to emerge, one with long, blue hair that reached across the entire back down to the pelvis and was sparkling in the light, causing Issei's eyes to widen with joy and anticipation.

The eyes of the entire Gremory peerage, with the exception of Koneko of course, widened with awe and fascination at the sight of this unique creature appearing out of a lake like in the old King Arthur myth. Such a creature was fascinating in the eyes of the blonde swordsman and in the myth-loving Rias and in the always smiling Akeno. They felt at awe at the aura that the mere presence of that creature was emitting from itself despite barely coming out of the water. The anticipation was killing them to, the wait to see such a familiar.

When the creature fully emerged out of the water, it had its back turned to everyone, but it was wearing a light-blue translucent robe on its body, just as the perverted teenager had imagined to himself. He became more excited and started to huff and puff more rapidly as he couldn't wait to see the face and full body of the woman that came out of the lake. Then something had hit him as he realized that even from behind, the shape and figure of the creature looked very... bulky. His eyes then widened in a horrified realization as he figured out why that was what he was seeing. "Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! Shit, shit, shit, shit shit, please prove me wrong, please prove me wrong, pleaseprovemewrongpleaseprovemewrong!" he started muttering to himself silently as his irises shrunk into pin pricks while his voice was filled with terror and draining hope as he put his hands on his head.

Sure enough, after the mumbling started the Undine started to turn around slowly, with all eyes focused on it, only to reveal a very muscular person with the face of a man, the body of a martial artist in training, a face full of scars and a huge pair of boobs. All color drained from the perverted, brown-haired teenage boy as his eyes turned blank and he was utterly speechless from the clashing image he had in mind and what was the appearance of the Undine in reality. His hands twitched as he jaw was left hanging and gagging sounds constantly came out of his throat as the image was saved in his mind, alongside the image of Mil-tan, the body building crossdresser.

"So that's an Undine? It certainly does look very impressing and strong. No wonder people call her body beautiful in a way. There is definitely a beauty to the strength that its muscles emanate." the high-class devil said with an analytical tone to her voice as she examined and inspected the creature that came out of the lake. While she was very impressed, on the inside she was happy that Issei's fantasies were crushed, but she didn't understood why and it confused her and saddened her. 'Do I hate Issei? No, that can't be right! He is my precious [Pawn]! So why am I glad that he didn't get what he wanted?' she thought to herself with a bit of melancholy to that last specific thought.

The familiar expert nodded in agreement as he had a grin on his face. "Indeed. The life of an Undine resolves around power, since they have to fight in order to get inside this lake and be apart of their society. Fighting with their fists and magical water powers are what they need to always improve. I'd say this female over there is an ultimate fighting maiden." he said with pride in his voice as he also seemed genuinely impressed with the manly-looking woman that came out of the lake.

"THAT'S THE FEMALE OF THIS SPECIES?! ARE YOU FUCKED?!" Issei screamed at the top of his lungs as his eyes now became bigger than dinner plates and his jaw dropped double the length than before as he froze completely while he looked at the muscular monster girl, who was flexing as it watched the group in an attempt to either impress or intimidate. Issei then fell to his knees as he started to cry a river of depressed tears once more. "Uooooooooooh... my fantasy sex dream is ruined..." he whispered with a depressed tone as he was on his knees weeping while nearly lifeless in a sense.

The white-haired girl simply stood next to him and gave him a stoic, cold glare. "...What a horrible day for devils everywhere." she spokes sarcastically while her deadpan tone seemingly had no emotions in it as she then shifted her glare back to the creature in order to observe it.

"Thank you, Koneko-chaaaan... Uooooo..." the perverted boy thanked his kohai's understanding comment, completely missing the point that it was a jab at his expense.

"...You really are the worst." she retorted back with her usual line as she continued to look at the Undine from the lake.

After seeing the lake-dwelling creature, the group returned to the towering forest and went deeper than where they had been at the start of their adventure to find Issei a familiar. They had been walking for a while both Issei constantly asked for more recommendations from the self-proclaimed aspiring familiar master, with all of the suggestions being some sort of monster that horrified the young man, making him more and more depressed as the night went on.

Eventually, after another monstrous suggestion that the brown-haired reincarnated devil disliked, he gave his crimson-haired master an annoyed and deadpan look as he pointed at the familiar expert. "Bucho, can I just punch this guy?" he asked with an annoyed tone, clearly meaning the words that he had just uttered.

The head of the Gremory peerage just shook her head. "No, Issei, you cannot." she told him as she crossed her arms under her chest again. "You just have to be patient and take his words and considerations seriously. I told you that a familiar is a serious business and someone like you with the Boosted Gear needs a powerful familiar." she explained with a lot of patience as she tried her best to make her servant see reason.

The teenage boy then slumped forward with a defeated look on his face. "Fiiine..." he groaned as he extended his word.

The group continued on walking in the deep forest, with everyone looking around to see if they could find any creatures with their eyes or other senses so that they could help Issei get his familiar. The most eager to do so were actually Rias and Kiba, with the former smiling and humming a song while she looked to the sides of the forest, while the latter simply had a big smile on his face. They were clearly enjoying themselves in the familiar forest.

Suddenly Zatouji stopped and raised his hand in a motion that told everyone to stop. They all looked at the man with the reversed cap with a confused expression, until they saw that he was looking up, so they also did the same and tried to see what he was looking at, with their heads trying to copy the direction that the familiar expert was looking.

"Do you hear that? Do you see it, lady Gremory?" he asked as he seemed to have become very intense at the moment, which concerned everyone. However, Issei walked next to him and saw that while their guide had a bead of sweat on his forehead, he also had an excited smile plastered all over his face.

"What is it, Zatouji-sama?" the heiress to the House of Gremory asked as she was also very intrigued at what the man was talking about.

The self-proclaimed familiar master then pointed up at one of the trees, to the point that it was around the deep hedge of the upper parts of the trees. With a bit of effort and focus from everyone, they finally saw what the man was talking about: it was a small, blue dragon with a white underbelly that was resting on one of the thick branches of that specific tree.

"What is that?" the browned-haired devil asked with an awe-struck expression on his face as he looked at the small creature licking a part of its back on the tree.

A chuckle came out of the familiar expert as he put both hands on his waist. "That, newbie, is my second best recommendation for you after Tiamat. This is a Sprite Dragon, a super rare dragon capable of shooting blue lightning. As I ca see it, it's a baby dragon, meaning that it's the perfect time to catch it." the man explained as he had a huge smile on his face while he spoke with a very excited tone. This was clearly a familiar that he was very giddy about seeing this particular creature.

"Blue lightning? Ooh... kinky. Sounds like something I would like." Akeno said with a chuckle coming out of her mouth a moment later, speaking with a very alluring voice.

The crimson-haired devil then addressed the guide with an intrigued look on her face. "Is it strong?" she inquired with a tone that matched the look in her interested eyes.

Zatouji nodded as the grin didn't leave his face. "Hell yeah it is. It's a top-tier class dragon when it reaches maturity. Not as strong as a dragon king, but still a very strong dragon that could be comparable to an Ultimate-class devil, even if mid-tier ones." he explained to the head of the Gremory peerage as he gave her a thumbs up.

Rias, upon hearing the answer, simply smirked as she looked at her servant while she had her arms crossed under her chest, one of her favorite postures apparently. "Issei." she called for him as she now had her mind set in agreement with the familiar expert as to what her servant needed to do next.

The perverted devil looked at his master and stood as straight as a soldier. "Yes, Buchou?!" he asked with a slightly alarmed tone, not knowing fully what to expect of the woman to tell him. He could tell just by the look on her face that she was serious, but also happy.

The crimson-haired third-year student at Kuoh Academy pointed at the sprite dragon on the tree. "I want you to make this dragon your familiar. As the wielder of the Boosted Gear, I believe that such a powerful familiar is perfect for you." she told him as her eyes then narrowed a bit and the smile widened. "Make that dragon your familiar. That's an order." she said sharply as she now stated the request as a direct order to her [Pawn]. Her eyes then changed directions as she once more looked at the dragon. "Its so small and so kawaii, and its scales are so beautiful, it makes me want to cry." she said with a big smile on her face as she was deeply moved by the majestic beauty of the baby dragon.

Seeing how the woman he was so grateful and constantly admired for her own beauty admiring the little dragon, Issei tried to convince himself further to try and accomplish this order that was given to him. 'Buchou seems to love this little guy. If I catch it and let her hug it a lot, I might be able to convince her to let me fondle her oppai.' he thought to himself as a determined and convinced expression filled his face as he also glared at the small dragon on the upper part of the very tall tree. He spread his devil wings from his back and formed the Boosted Gear on his left forearm and pointed at the direction of the creature. "Sprite dragon, I choose y-" he started his declaration to pick the small dragon as his familiar, but a surprised cry that came from his master stopped him.

"Huh? What is this?" Rias asked with a confused tone, making the reincarnated devil to turn and look at her, only to see her covered by a green sticky thing. Suddenly that same green, sticky substance started to fall from the tree tops all over the place, landing on Akeno and Koneko, as well as on the brown-haired teen, the blonde pretty-boy and on the familiar expert.

Everyone from the peerage wondered what that thing is, while the self-proclaimed aspiring familiar master stood next to Issei. "Tsk, slime. This type is a poison type and the most annoying one at that. A real pest most of the time." he said as he clicked his tongue and seemed displeased with the appearance of this slime creature.

Hearing that it was of the poison-type, the reincarnated devil started to get worried about his friends and for himself, not knowing what type of poison that thing could emit. He then looked at the man with a concerned and panicked expression on his face. "Zatouji-sama, that slime won't hurt anyone, right?" he asked with a bit of fear in his voice, unsure as to what would happen to his friends.

"Wha-? my clothes... their... their melting?!" the crimson-haired girl said with a shocked expression on her face as she started to blush like mad as the slime emitted some strange acid that ate through her school uniform within seconds, much to the surprise of everyone. This caused Issei to have a massive nosebleed as he saw that the clothes of his master and senpai were being melted to the point that he could see her underwear. Kiba felt bad, so he looked away like a gentleman.

"It kind of tickles and it certainly is slimy, but its also really embarrassing." the vice-president of the Occult Research Club said as her clothes were also being melted from the smile, Making the pervert's face turn as red as a tomato while his eyes turned as big as a dinner plate.

"...No..." the white-haired girl said with a slight whimper as she covered her private parts while her clothes were also being melted from the slime. However, when she saw that the brown-haired teenage boy was looking at all three girls with hungry, perverted eyes, she slammed her fist into his gut, doubling him over while also knocking the wind out of his lungs. "...Don't look." she told him with her usual tone of voice as she returned to cover her personal parts yet again.

Right as the youngest of the female devils started to walk away, a tentacle suddenly burst out of a tree and wrapped around her, causing her to gasp in surprise. Issei then looked as tentacles spread across his junior's loli body, reaching down to her most private parts and wrapping around them. Her legs, her butt, her little tiny oppai! His junior was being harassed and violated in ways that he wanted to violate. He then saw that both Rias and Akeno were caught by the tentacles and were being put through the same thing.

Issei looked at the scene with a massive nosebleed and an extremely perverted look all over his face. 'Oh hell yeah! This is amazing! Save. Every. Single. Moment. Into. My brain!' he thought to himself as he focused on imprinting the memory of the image of all the female members of the ORC being violated by slime and tentacles. 'The best thing about all of this is that they aren't really entering the hole between the legs. That hole will be reserved for me!' he thought to himself as he kept an extremely perverted look on his face.

As he listened and heard the distressed moans of the girls, he also heard a new explanation coming from the familiar expert. "These things don't have a name. At least not an official one." Zatouji-sama said as he looked at the scene himself with a nosebleed. "People just call them either Slime and Tentacle, or they just call them monsters. They usually work together to get their prey, with the slime only melting away the clothes of women, while the tentacles arouses them in order to feed on their womanly secretion. The easiest thing to do is just burn them and be done with it." he explained to the young, perverted devil as he seemed to talk in a professional way, despite looking completely unprofessional at the moment.

However, the brown-haired teen had stars in his eyes and he looked over at the now butt-naked president of the ORC. "Buchou, I want to make these creatures my familiars!" he declared with passion filling his voice as he clenched both hands into fists and held them close to his chest.

Upon hearing this, Rias simply sighed after a few moans from what the tentacles were doing to her, only to activate her aura, which removed the two types of pests off of her, to which she then started to burn them with fire magic or to utterly obliterate them with her power of destruction. While she didn't show it on her face, which had a stoic and patient look, on the inside she was fuming from being so humiliated by those two disgusting creatures.

Walking around naked towards her [Pawn], she caressed his cheek while he looked at horror as the slime and tentacles were being destroyed not only by the Crimson Princess of Destruction, but also by her [Queen] and [Rook], whom had managed to free themselves in a similar manner to the crimson-haired girl and were destroying the slime in every way they could imagine. "Issei, I love that passion that you're showing, but having a familiar is something extremely crucial and that's not a joke or fun and games. I need you to think about this carefully." she told him with a motherly tone as she kept one moving her hand gently across his cheek.

Nodding, Issei closed his eyes. "Alright, Buchou, I'll think carefully about it." he told her with a more serious tone to his voice as he was silent as he seemed like he was honestly thinking about it... for 3 seconds. Only after that short amount of time he opened his eyes with a declaration. "I've made up my mind. I want the slime and the tentacle as my familiars." he told her as genuinely as he possibly could, since he meant each of these words.

Sighing once more, The young woman tapped on his cheek lightly a few times with affection, though she that sigh sounded completely defeated. "As I thought." she said with a defeated and disappointed tone. Her eyes were then filled with fury as she turned around and fired a fire spell at one of the tentacles while Akeno was still burning more and more of the slime that was on the floor, much to Issei's horror. "You can't seem to make a logical choice by yourself, so I'll destroy these perverted pests to things easier for you." the crimson-haired devil declared as she burned more and more of the slime.

"NOOOO!" the perverted teen screamed at the top of his lungs with sadness and agony as he saw the only thing that he believed was perfect for his desire being burned left and right, when he noticed one last tentacle and slime behind him, so he decided to use his body as a shield in order to save them from the wrath of the girls.

Said three girls then walked up to him, with both Rias and Akeno completely unashamed of letting him see the both of them completely naked, while Koneko was doing her best to hide her most important private parts. "Issei, step aside. I need to burn those disgusting creatures." the [King] of the peerage spoke with anger and sternness in her voice as she glared down at him with a lot of anger and determination in her eyes, the same with her vice-president.

Quickly hugging them, the brown-haired pervert tried his best to defend the creatures. "No, Buchou, please. They are perfect for me, to allow me to see the beauty of the womanly body. The type of adventures I could have with them. I call them... Surataro and Shokushumaru." he said as tears of joy were coming from his eyes.

The High-class devil pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed with an annoyed tone, when suddenly the two creatures disappeared from Issei's side, much to everyone's shock, especially the teenage boy's. "I think I have a third option for everyone to be satisfied with." a new and unfamiliar voice said as everyone looked around to see who just said that.

The next thing they knew was that they saw a blonde man wearing a dark-green shihakusho, a black haori and a stripped green and white hat shading his eyes. In his hand he held a canister that contained the green creatures, much to everyone's shock and surprise. "I agree that these things will not suit the Red Dragon Emperor as familiars, but I was just dying to research them, so I decided to save their short lives and take them for myself." he told the group with a nonchalant, joking tone while carrying himself with a dumb grin on his face.

Immediately Rias and Akeno tried to cover as much of their private parts as they could, surprised to see the man. "Kisuke Urahara?!" the redhead asked with a shocked and surprised tone as she was blushing like crazy. "What are you doing here? How did you get here?!" she inquired while completely embarrassed from talking to the man while having no clothes.

At this question the man simply raised a finger. "The answer is simple. Buuut a magician never reveals his secrets, otherwise what's the fun in that. I must say though, this was a terrific learning experience." he said gleefully as he laughed out loud with a laid back attitude, which infuriated the girls.

Eventually, the party had to return to the human world with no familiar for Issei. It was all just a wasted effort. His spend the rest of his night sleeping in bed with tears coming like rivers from his eyes as he dreamed of Surataro and Shokushumaru melting the clothes of all the pretty girls in school, which were all the girls in school.

[Into the World of the Supernatural arc End]

{To Be Continued]

xxx

Ending Theme: Happypeople by Skoop on Somebody (Bleach Ending 4 for audio)

...
....
.....
And this is the last chapter of this arc. I loved writing this chapter and I hope hat this time it really showed, especially after the last chapter that was absolutely the worst (and Koneko is absolutely the best, by the way. In terms of sassyness and personality).

While yes, this is specifically just DXD this time, we got our favorite slimes saved by a mad scientist, oops sorry, an honest shopkeeper. So now we are going into an hiatus, I want to also add that the next arc will be completely original with no canon material from either shows and will take place before the Rizer arc.

Well, until we meet again some day, stay safe, stay healthy and have a great day.

🖖

Qudrim8054 · Jan 16, 2022

Hello, hello, hello everyone! I'm back with my story after so long, though I am sad to report that in the last year or so I only managed to write 4 new chapters for my story, after multiple writer's blocks and with my daily routine of working for 8 hours a day. I hope that when I continue writing this arc and the next one, I'll be able to do it quicker.

The writer's blocks themselves were not because I didn't know how wanted to progress the story. In fact, I have all of Volume 1 of the story stuck in my head, but the problem is that I can't put it on paper.

I have also in this past year read up until volume 21 of High School DxD (which I highly enjoyed) as well as watching all seasons of the anime (fuck DxD BorN! It skipped one of my favorite volumes, aka volume 5 and butchered volume 7!), so I have more knowledge on that. Anyway, onto the chapter itself.

Warning: This story is rated M for Mature. It contains foul language, heavy violence, nudity and eventually explicit sexual content. Viewers/readers' discretion is advised.

Of Devils and Reapers

Volume 1: Red Dragon Emperor's Awakening

Chapter 9: Issei Meets Stray Devils

Stray Devil Council Arc

The next day after the failed adventure in the forest and everyone were simply studying during their classroom. Ichigo had a feeling that something wasn't right, and his senses were going insane with the fact that he constantly felt Hollows across the city all day, even though he and his friends killed a few dozen last night while the devils had gone to get Issei a familiar, which he hadn't heard about yet and was quite interested.

He knew that there were probably so many ghosts right now who were suffering from those Hollows and he was stuck in class. The fact that he had stopped using equipment to push out his spiritual body out of his physical body had now showed the disadvantage at a time that there was an increase of Hollows in the town. It wasn't just Freed Sellzen anymore. Someone else appeared last night and somehow created more Hollows, someone with incredible power and could quite possibly be on a level of a Shinigami captain or slightly below. 'Tsk, the fact that Soul Society hasn't sent anyone to investigate is strange as well. Do they trust me that well to handle all of this insane shit on my own? I'm also watching Issei's back, so that makes it hard to do on its own. If Urahara wasn't such a lazy bastard, we could've had all of this under control. Or maybe it's Aizen's doing?' he thought to himself as he grabbed his head and tried to focus his thoughts.

He looked over at his devil friend and narrowed his eyes as he gave an annoyed look at the direction of said devil, who was seemingly napping on his desk with a perverts look on his face, no doubt fantasizing about something completely perverted that only a guy with a twisted, sex-obsessed mind like his could conjure up. It probably involved Rias-senpai as well, so the orange-haired boy wanted nothing to do with it.

Thinking for a few seconds, the Angel-Shinigami hybrid thought to himself as to what he should do about his friend. His head turned to look at the blonde former nun and saw that she was absorbed into the lesson with incredible diligence in her eyes to the point that stars were actually visible inside of them, while a big smile was plastered all over her face as she constantly switched from the board and the teacher's lecture to the pages of her notebook. She had been totally sucked into this class and was thoroughly enjoying it.

Sighing as his gaze returned to his own notebook, he saw that he had barely written down anything during the class. Well, it was his fault that he was too distracted with everything that was going on right now outside of the school. He knew that he couldn't save everyone, despite how powerful he had actually grew in the last 17 months, but his fists tightened as he thought about protecting as many innocent spirits as he could, as well as his closest friends. Then a few sentences started to echo inside of his mind, making his eyes go wide.

"Don't release Zangetsu in the world of the living, Ichigo. It could very much destroy it if you are not careful. And I don't want Aizen to know how strong you have gotten. It could force him to put everything into putting you under the effects of his Kyoka Suigetsu. So no matter what, don't release it from its sealed state." the words of shopkeeper and the former head of the Seireitei's Department of Research and Development echoed over and over in his mind as he ground his teeth with frustration as he looked down at his desk.

'Dammit, I hate to admit when he's right, but I can't deny it. I was told several times that even my Shikai release could destroy the world, and my Bankai would just be overkill on top of that. Even with the amount of control that I have, I can't just expect to rely on my raw power.' he thought to himself with anger and frustration as he admitted to himself that he had to rely on his current powers and whatever shinigami and angelic techniques he had learned so that he could focus on fighting in his sealed state.

The orange-haired hybrid was suddenly snapped out of his thoughts as he heard the school bell, which made him jump a bit. He looked at the clock and saw that it was time for lunch break to start. Not wasting any time at all, he immediately dashed out of the classroom and ran as fast as he could towards the stairs. When he got to the stairs he started running up the floors, aiming to go to the roof of the school.

'Now's my chance. I can take a break to take care of some Hollows. I can feel them across the entire city. It really is a serious situation nowadays. I just hope I can return to school in time.' he thought to himself as he reached his destination and kicked the door to the school roof open. He then took out his Substitute Shinigami badge and pressed it against his chest. Using his Fullbring ability to bring his sealed shinigami powers to the surface, black tendrils of energy wrapped around his body as he continued to run towards the rails of the roof.

He quickly reached the edge of the roof itself and in an instant he jumped from it. A second later, when he started to fall down, the tendrils stopped swarming his body and returned inside of his badge, putting his shihakusho on top of his school uniform, with the large, sealed Zangetsu on his back inside its sheath. His twelve angelic wings then sprang from his back majestically as he flapped them once to fly up and make sure that he was at a sufficient height so that no one from the school could see him.

After he had made sure that he far enough above the clouds, he stood on the air itself and closed his eyes, expanding his reiatsu sensing skills across the entire city, specifically searching for reiatsu and one that felt like a Hollow's. It didn't take long at all for him to find anything, as the closest Hollow was just a few short kilometers away.

Ichigo opened his eyes with steeled determination as he crouched down, forming thin reiatsu platforms under his feet to use Shunpo as a base for his movement. With a little bit more focus, he added in another two layers made of his own Hollow reiatsu to create a Sonido for added speed and Bringer Light for speed and distance, fusing them both with the base of Shunpo. Finally he formed small and thin layers of light behind each of his wings to use Hirenkyaku for a massive boost in distance covered.

Finally, after spending nearly 10 seconds in combining Shunpo, Sonido, Hirenkyaku and Bring Light into one single movement technique, he finally dashed forward, moving at a godly speed, wanting to make sure that he would reach the locations as fast as possible while covering as much ground as possible in a single step.

xxx

Opening Theme: Again by Yui (use Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood Opening 1 for audio)

School day had come and gone rather quickly for everyone who wasn't Ichigo, who kept on going throughout the day to fight more and more Hollows. His friends were alarmed that he went without them, but they remember that they too felt a massive power the night before which caused a massive increase of Hollow activity.

By the time that the Shinigami-Angel hybrid had finished school, he looked a bit tired, but also relieved and smiling, which caught the attention of the others, but they decided not to confront him about it just yet, as when they finished the last class and prepared to go each their own way to their clubs, they were informed by Rias's familiar that she requested everyone to meet her after the extracurricular activity in the old schoolhouse. At first Ichigo, Orihime, Tatsuki and Chad were concerned, but the familiar had calmed them down and explained that it was nothing but going over minor details over businesses that needed to be discussed upon.

Because of that, the group had decided to go to the old schoolhouse later on after they had finished everything they had to do within their own school clubs. When they had gotten there, they saw that all the devils had been sitting there, waiting for them to arrive, with Issei looking particularly exhausted and bruised for some reason, which made the the orange-haired teen to raise an eyebrow at the crimson-haired president of the Occult Research Club as everyone sat around a table that was organized.

Much to the surprise of the Hollow-hunting crew of Kuoh Town, on the table there was a set of highly decorated tea cups with a kettle filled with delicious-smelling tea in it, which the tall, long black-haired devil was serving with a particularly blissful expression on her face. "I have a few cups for you all. Please, we insist." she said joyfully as her eyes were closed and she had a wide smile on her face that made them almost all of them unsure of whether or not they should drink it. The exception was Orihime, who quickly grabbed a cup and drank slowly and politely in front of the devils.

When the girl was done, she slowly sighed with a smile on her face before putting the cup back on the table. She looked over at Akeno and gave her a bow with as she kept a smile on her face. "Thank you very much for the tea. It was delicious." she told the older high-schooler as she sat down on one of the couches next to the white-haired [Rook] of the Gremory peerage, who was busy holding a plate with few marshmallows on toothpicks with a cup of hot liquid chocolate on the side, making it a delicious and sugary fondue.

The white-haired girl immediately noticed that not only the orange-haired girl sat next to her, but that she was quite jumpy and giddy as well. It was quite obvious why she sat next to her, so the [Rook] got up from the couch as she held her plate and moved to another couch and sat next to the blonde-haired boy. She did all that while still having her neutral and almost emotionless expression on her face.

After seeing this, Tatsuki sighed tiredly as she went and sat next to her disappointed friend on the couch and patted her on the right shoulder. "There there," she said as the girl next to her had a comically exaggerated expression on her face while tears came from her overly large eyes. "you'll get to hug her someday, even though she's not a plushy." Tatsuki said as she rubbed her best friend's back.

"But she looks like one! She's so cute and cuddly!" Orihime cried in an overly dramatic fashion as she retorted to what her best friend said.

Ichigo look at the exchange and simply smiled as he rolled his eyes as he went to the couch and at on the other side of Orihime, which got her attention and got her to blush slightly and made Tatsuki raise an eyebrow at that. He then looked over as he saw Chad sitting next to Koneko and then looked over at Rias with a slightly more serious but still laid back attitude. "So before we speak about why we are here today, what happened to Issei?" he asked as he glanced over to the bruised and exhausted devil who had been sitting and still seemingly recuperating from something.

At that moment the blonde boy perked up and answered the question. "Ah, yes. We decided today that we should start training Issei-san seriously." he explained casually and with a casual manner as he had a big smile on his face. "As his trainer, I can say that his fighting instincts has improved slightly since his fight with Raynare, though it is still just a little bit above average for an athletic human." he continued speaking in his light-hearted tone and attitude as he explained to the devils' associates on how Issei was injured.

This made the brown-haired reincarnated devil to perk up as he raised his fist into the air and had a furious expression on his face. "How can you be so casual about nearly killing me with a wooden sword, you prince charming prick?!" he inquired furiously as he ranted at the only other boy in the ORC, as he then look at the hybrid soul reaper and pointed at the blonde. "Ichigo, don't you want to object to how they are treating me?!" he asked as his bared his teeth with thoughts of revenge on the pretty boy, who was honestly looking perplexed from the whole exchange.

The angel-shinigami hybrid simply raised an eyebrow as he looked at his friend. "Are you going to stop peeing on girls and be a pervert?" he asked casually as he looked at one of his best friend.

"What? Of course not!" Issei answered the questioned with anger still in his puzzled voice.

This made the orange-haired teenager smirk. "Well then, toughen him up however you like, Rias-senpai." he said nonchalantly as he waved his hand dismissively.

"...Good," the white-haired first-year student suddenly spoke up as she took one of the toothpicks with a marshmallow on it and and dipped it in the cup of melted chocolate that was on the plate. "because I'm going to do the training tomorrow." she told the group as she glared daggers at the brown-haired reincarnated devil.

Noticing this, Issei squealed like a girl and looked at Ichigo once more. "Ichigooooo, you're too meaaan... she's going to kill meeee..." he whimpered as rivers of tears poured out of his eyes.

This made the substitute shinigami to sigh as he looked over at Koneko, got up from the couch and walked to where she was. After reaching to the other couch he crouched down to the point that their eyes were at the same height, attempting to address her in a more symbolic position. "You won't kill Issei, right?" he asked in a very deep and concerned tone to his voice as he looked at his Kohai. "I know that what he did yesterday was wrong, but you already punished him enough for that. Try to at least help him get stronger, okay?" he tried talking to her in a caring and dignified manner, though it felt like was talking to one of his younger sisters.

The youngest girl in the room looked at the shinigami with an emotionless expression on her face for a few seconds, with the perverted reincarnated devil shaking in his boots while waiting for a reaction. "...Fine, I won't be too harsh on him in tomorrow's training session." she told her senpai with the same tone that she usually spoke in.

Feeling satisfied with the answer, Ichigo smiled and got up. "Good to hear, Koneko-chan. Thank you." he said as he spoke with genuine kindness to his voice, though it still bothered the girl somewhat that his tone was more of that of an older brother talking rather than one person to another. However, the girl decided not to press it further and returned to eating her treat.

In the meantime Ichigo had returned to the couch as he sat back next to Orihime, who had a shy smile on her face while her cheeks were slightly red and tried to cover her face so that he wouldn't notice, which made Tatsuki just sigh in defeat at the sight of her best friend acting like she did. "So, what did you want to talk to us about, Rias-senpai?" he asked the crimson-haired devil as he put both hands behind his head and lied back a bit on the couch.

Rias smiled as she help her cup of tea in her hand and held it in a refined manner. "As my familiar said, it is nothing urgent. It is important enough to ask you to come here, Ichigo, because it concerns something that is my duty to perform and I would like you to not intervene yourself in the matter." she explained briefly and generally as she spoke nonchalantly, showing complete calmness. "I just want to discuss about Shinigami and Devil territories considering the things we hunt. More specifically, I wish to talk about Stray Devils." she said as she took another sip of her tea calmly.

This made everyone look at her for different reason. The girl's peerage looked at her as she was the one leading the conversation, not very surprised that the topic came up. However Issei was the only one who was completely lost about the whole thing among the devils. "Ah... Buchou, what are Stray Devils?" he asked as he had a perplexed look on his face and he was interested but very concerned to learn about what stray devils were.

Ichigo and his closest friends also looked intrigued as he, Tatsuki and Chad raised an eyebrow upon hearing this term coming out of the mouth of the High-class devil as she seemed rather relaxed. Orihime looked just confused and lost as Issei was and she simply looked at her friends with a "huh?" expression on her face as she moved her head left and right from looking at her best friend and her crush over and over again.

"Yeah, pray tell, what exactly are Stray Devil?" the soul reaper inquired as he kept both hands behind his head, waiting for an explanation.

Rias smirked as she refilled her cup of tea while her peerage's [Queen] stood next to her. "It is a simple concept. One you are already somewhat familiar with with Hollows." she addressed the man as she continued to talk in a refined, calm and courteous manner. "While Hollows are dead souls that had become corrupted ad thus transform into monsters, Stray Devils are devils who left their masters to follow their own selfish desires, turning them into abominations of flesh. One of the duties that my peerage and I were given is to kill any of those strays when they are found." she explained to everyone who didn't know about the concept of Stray Devils what it meant exactly.

The brown-haired teenage reincarnated devil shuddered from the thought of ever facing some sort of abomination made of flesh and had the powers of devils. That was an experience that he didn't want to have, but it occurred to him that he wasn't going to have much choice in the matter.

Upon hearing this, the hybrid sat forward and put both of his elbows on his knees and crossed his fingers as he looked at the crimson-haired woman "That does sound similar to Hollows in concept, which means that the point you want to clarify to me that while I take down as many Hollows as I want or need to perform, I can't take down any stray devils while the opposite case is true to you, in which case you take down any stray devil that you meet while you are not allowed to fight a single Hollow." the orange-haired young man quickly deduced the content of the conversation and where it was heading seemingly without any difficulty.

This made the heir to the House of Gremory to blink several times with surprise, her eyes wide as she simply held her tea cup in her hand as there was a pause for a few seconds. Afterwards she put the cup back on a small plate on the table and lowered her head a tiny bit to hide the embarrassed blush on her cheeks. "Well yes... That's the point I was trying to gt to. I just wanted to keep the conversation longer and build up to so there would be a complete understanding of the situation. Didn't expect you to figure my request that easily." she muttered with her volume slightly lower than it usually was and a bit more aggressive, a sign that she was in fact embarrassed a bit.

The third-year student then took a few breaths to calm herself down a bit before looking at the orange-haired Substitute Shinigami with a courteous smile on her face as their eyes met. "Well, now that you get the point, I assume that we can agree to the terms that you will not hunt stray devils while my peerage and I will not hunt Hollows?" she inquired with a perky tone to her voice as he smile was actually quite wide.

Ichigo simply looked at the older student for a few seconds before giving a casual smirk and nodding his head. "Sure, I can agree to something like that." he told her as he once again put his hands behind his head and leaned backwards, which made Orihime blush to the point that her face turned completely red with how close he was to her.

Rias' smile widened slightly as she took another sip of her tea. "Spectacular. It is always a splendid occasion when we come to an agreement." she told the soul reaper as she seemed happy that things went the way that she had hopped.

A few short seconds of silence were then broken as Issei one again spoke up with a question yet again. "Sorry to ask, but I didn't really get the general explanation from earlier about stray devils. What does "leaving their master" means? Or what kind of monsters do they turn into?" he inquired as the second question came out of his throat with a more frightened tone as he shook a tiny bit as his own wild imagination went wild, and not in a good way.

Despite the brown-haired teen's expectation that his crimson-haired master would explain it to him in more details, it was his senpai Akeno who started talking and giving more of a thorough explanation about the subject at hand. "As explained by Buchou, there are devils who desire something that they do not believe that they possess under a peerage, so they mostly just renounce their master and run away." she explained as she raised her finger in an educative manner. "Because of the dangers of Devils to regular humans, the Underworld deactivates their evil pieces, if they have any, which both deforms them. Though that mostly works on devils who range in power from Low-class to Middle-class devils. More powerful devils are less affected by it." she explained in a very educative manner to the newest devil in the group, who simply nodded.

"...In some rarer and more serious cases, the stray devils even kill their master to gain their freedom." the white-haired [Rook] spoke up suddenly as her body seemed to shudder for a few moments with a fearful chill going down her spine, which everyone in the room noticed immediately, even the rather dense Issei. "...And when it comes to deforming, the process is even less effective on reincarnated devils, since the evil pieces are what turned them into devils. Most would think that it would be more effective, but it strangely isn't." she continued to go on, being more talkative than usual, which caught anyone who wasn't in the ORC for a while by surprise. Rias simply gave her a sympathetic look.

Upon hearing what Koneko said, Issei shook with a much more frightened expression on his face. "Killl... Their masters?" he asked with an obviously terrified tone to his voice, his mind going to his imagination spot, where instead of seeing the usual naked girls, he simply saw a dark landscape with his crimson-haired master lying dead on the floor in a pool of her own blood, causing him to immediately leave his own imagination spot and return to focus on the real world with a cold sweat running down his brow.

However, to relax the peerage's new member, Akeno simply chuckled cutely. "Oh relax, Issei-kun. As Koneko-chan said, these cases rarely occur, so there is a one percent chance that we'll ever meet a stray of that caliber." she tried her best to calm the teen down as she tried her best to reassure him about the lack of actual threats when it came to Stray Devils.

The high-class devil then nodded her head while still smiling nonchalantly. "That's right, the chances of ever meeting those types of stray devils are slim to none, so you don't have to worry about anything." she said as she refilled her cup of tea and drank from it as she seemed extremely comfortable and relaxed, despite the rather heavy topic. "Besides, we will all face strays together, so I'll make sure that nothing ever happens to my darling servants." she said reassuringly as the smile on her face grew even wider.

While listening to the entire conversation quietly the orange-haired teen got bored and then got up from the couch. "All right then, seems like our business here is done. I'll go check up on Asia to make sure that Urahara-san and Yoruichi-san haven't done anything that could be considered a corrupting influence for her." he said as he started to walk to the door of the room with his hands resting behind his head. He then stopped and turned his head to look over at best friend. "Don't worry, Issei, I'll tell her that you said "Hello" and that you miss her." he told this to his best friend with a small and warm smile on his face, only for the smile to disappear as he turned his head to the other side to look at the crimson-haired devil. "Senpai, if you get into trouble, try asking for help." he told her as his expression was a bit more stern, causing her to frown a bit from hearing that. "I may have agreed to not hunt strays, but my friends didn't. As humans, they will defend themselves from anything and could help you plenty if you just ask. Your power might not always be enough." he told her with a concerned and caring tone to his voice, yet still a stern one, which mostly just annoyed Rias as Ichigo finally walked out of the room.

After the hybrid had left the old schoolhouse, there was a bit of a silence as Rias seemed to actually think about the words that the shinigami had just spoken to her, despite the fact that it did hurt her pride a little bit. She gave a resigning sigh as she looked at the other humans in the room with a more calm and polite smile on her face. "Well, do you all agree with Ichigo? Will you help us if I ever ask for it?" she inquired as politely as she could from the three Hollow hunters.

There was a small pause as the humans in the room seemed to carefully think about the question, only for Orihime to raise her fingers in a victory pose and saluted the crimsonette. "Don't worry, Rias-senpai, we are combat ready to help you out. Just give us a call and we would be right by your side." she spoke up with excitement in her voice as she had a cheshire grin on her face, only to then look at her best friend, hoping for reinforcement. "Right, Tatsuki-san?" she asked said best friend with pleading eyes, looking like a puppy dog.

The black-haired girl tried to look aside for a few seconds, only to look back at her best friend back and forth a few times, only to finally give a defeated sigh. "Fiiine...we'll help if you call us." she said as she looked at high-class devil only to look at her orange-haired best friend with a sour look on her face. "Happy?" she asked Orihime, who quickly nodded her head rapidly.

Chad then looked at Rias and gave one nod with his head. "I agree. We will help if we are required." he spoke up as he then stopped speaking afterwards once again.

Upon hearing their answers, the crimson-haired devil smiled happily as she seemed relieved and joyful to hear that she had people who were willing to help her, even if she wasn't the one who would usually ask for help. "That's good to know." she said as she then put the tea cup and its plate on the table and got up. "Anyway, our business is over for tonight, you three can go back to your homes. My peerage and I have a stray to slay." she rhymes merrily and confidently as she had a small smirk on her face.

This got Issei's attention immediately as his body tensed and his expression turned into the tense and fearful one. "Wait, you brought up that subject to Ichigo because there is actually a stray devil that we need to take down tonight?" he asked with a nervous tone to his voice as he started sweating.

The high-class devil then looked at her [Pawn] with the same expression that she had a second ago and nodded without hesitation. "Indeed. We have a job to do, though it won't be very hard since all of us are going to go together." she told him as she walked up to him, got her face closer to his, to the point that he started blushing nervously as he looked into her beautiful blue eyes, only for her to playfully tap twice on his right cheek. "Don't be so nervous, Issei. With me around, that thing won't even lay a finger on you." she told him with a charmingly reassuring and slightly smug tone as she chuckled cutely.

In the meantime the humans also got up, with Tatsuki simply raising her hands up jokingly in an over the top fashion. "Whelp, you heard her, Orihime-san, our business is done. Let's go do some of our homework." she said as she casually walked towards the exit as she grabbed her friend's arm and dragged her with her, to which the orange-haired girl simpy shouted "Yippee!" as she was being dragged out of the room.

Upon seeing this display from the two human girls made the white-haired girl to roll her eyes while the black-haired third-year devil and the blonde-haired devil chuckled cutely at the sight of the "antics" between the two girls. Kiba then raised his hand and waved to the two girls. "Bye bye, Orihime-chan, bye bye, Tatsuki-chan." he said with a cheerful tone and a winsome smile on his face, making Tatsuki blush heavily as she pouted and mumbled something under her breath as she and her best friend went past the door.

Chad simply looked at things silently as he usually did, before going to the door himself, but not before he gave a respectful bow to his red-haired senpai. "May all of you have a safe hunt. Good night." he said calmly as he straightened himself up from the bow and left the room afterwards.

When the last of the humans left, Akeno immediately started to create a teleportation circle for the entire group. "Buchou," she spoke politely to her master and best friend as she gave a bow before beginning the process of activating the circle at the center of the room. "I'll make sure that we'll go directly outside of our target's location." she spoke with a rather straight-to business with a slight jovial and sadistic edge to her tone, which creeped Issei out.

After a few moments the red circle with the crest of the Gremory family lit up on the floor as the teleportation spell was complete. Rias smiled as she walked alongside Akeno to the center of the center and gestured everyone to come over with a smile on her face. "Well come on, everyone, we don't have all night to do this." she told them as everyone got up and walked towards the circle, with Issei being the most cautious and nervous of the group, since he had never fought a stray devil before. When they all stood in the circle, the brown-haired teen's vision was filled with a red-white light as the group was teleported.

When the light disappeared, the group found itself in a completely different place than they were a second ago, meaning that the teleportation spell that had been cast by the tall, black-haired devil was a success. Instead of being in the center of the main room of the old schoolhouse, the Gremory peerage found themselves outside of a two stories floor house that looked abandoned, with broken windows, dry and peeling wall paint, rotten wooden walls and even some plants crawling on the ruined walls.

Upon looking at the house, Issei felt a chill going down his spine as he felt very nervous about going inside that place. 'Whatever lives inside that shithole, I definitely don't want to come face to face with it.' he thought to himself as he was visibly sweating while looking at the house.

"Alright, let's go in. We have a job to do." Rias spoke up as she spoke up with a confident and an authoritative tone to her voice while walking up to the door of the house and pushed it open with a great amount of force, causing an echo to spread across the entire building within seconds while dust seemed to flow into the air as the push forced enough wind to deflect some of the dust that covered the walls with the peeling paint. The brown-haired reincarnated devil covered his nose as he smelled a foul smell in the air that he couldn't really put it into words, but it smelled of a mix of rotting wood, paint and blood.

Issei shuddered as he looked around and crossed his arms in front of his chest, putting each hand on the opposite shoulder as he looked around with fearful and concerned eyes, dread washing over his body every moment that he was inside the house. 'Man, this place is super creepy. Do we really need to be here? Why can't we just take this outside and kill the devil there? This whole place makes me want to puke.' he whined and complained to himself, not sharing his whining with his master out of fear as to how she would react.

He then looked over at the other members of the peerage and walked over to Kiba, getting his mouth closer to the other boy's ear to whisper in his ear. "Hey, pst, Kiba. Do we even know who the stray devil that we are hunting is?" he asked in a low whisper as he didn't really want to ask Rias, as she was simply examining the surroundings while standing with her legs wide, her hands on her waist and with a confident smirk on her face, completely sure of her own victory.

The boy immediately turned to him and with a big smile plastered over his pretty-boy face started explaining. "Oh, I don't really know anything about the devil we're hunting." he answered casually and speaking in a normal voice, with him outright admitting his lack of knowledge over his opponent.

"NANI?!" the brown-haired teen asked out loud in shock as he was surprised to hear the answer of his fellow devil, not expecting to hear that from the blonde boy. "Are you telling me that we are going in blind against an opponent that we know nothing about?!" he asked out loud with very visible and tangible fear in his voice while a river of tears came down from both of his eyes.

However, before the respond of the newest member of the peerage could resonate to much inside enemy territory, the crimson-haired devil immediately spoke up and out loud so that even the enemy inside the house would be able to hear her. "Of course not, Issei. I am very well informed about our target. Her name, which peerage she used to belong to, her ranking in the pyramid of devil power and status and her favorite habit." she explained without missing a bit as her pose didn't change in the slightest and kept her eyes straight. "Usually there are people who track down strays and give the location to a servant of the Gremory family, who passes the information down to me." she kept on explaining as her eyes moved around and then stuck on a certain location, before a frown rose to her face. "With this one it was quite easy for them to track her down, since she has a deplorable habit of killing and partially eating little kids. Isn't that right, Vizor?" she announced the name of the stray devil as her tone and expression turned dark and filled with anger at even speaking up the crime that the stray had committed.

Suddenly something flew towards the group at high speed, which Issei could barely register aside from the fact that it was not that big in size. The thing then crashed into a wooden pillar that was right on Issei's left and cracked it before falling down to the ground.

The brown-haired teen's eyes slowly looked to his left as they went down inch by inch, until he saw what had fallen on the floor. What was lying next to him was the bare naked upper half of what looked like a young boy who barely reached the double digits in age. He could see that the upper body was just the torso and above, with part of the right arm missing as if it was forcefully bitten off, the front of the torso looking ravaged and mauled with the boy's dried up blood coloring it completely red and with half of the face and skull having been bitten and chewed off in a very grotesque way.

The reincarnated devil's eyes widen in shock as he felt sick with a very strong urge to vomit as he fell down on his knees and started to puke out his guts from the disgusting sight that he had looked at. The rest of the peerage noticed it and everyone ran to his side and supported him, especially Rias, who now actually looked very concerned and worried for her [Pawn].

"What an honor it must be, to have the displeasure of seeing a disgusting peerage standing in my turf, being led by some peerage whore." a voice was heard from the direction where the body was throw at the pillar from, which made the rest of the peerage to stand up and glare at the spot which the voice came from.

Rias simply smirked as her dark-red aura of destructive demonic energy flared up around her, causing a bit of a breeze to blow inside the house. "Peerage whore? You certainly are confident in your abilities if you have the gall and audacity to refer to me as such. I guess we'll have to delay your death a little bit longer." she spoke up with sureness in herself and in her peerage as she then looked at the brown-haired teen as he was getting up. "Issei, you are inside enemy territory, you have my permission to promote." she said with a serious look in her eyes and an authoritative tone as she seemed to order her [Pawn] to do so.

Issei looked at her and immediately nodded as he slowly got up and manifested his Boosted Gear on his left arm. "Right, Buchou. {Promotion! [Rook]!} he shouted as his aura demonic aura changed into the shape of a rook piece and he got the powers of a [Rook].

[BOOST!]

The teenager's Sacred Gear screamed as it doubled his powers as he wiped his mouth clean with his right wrist and panted slightly. "Sorry for worrying you, Buchou. I don't want to be a hindrance." he said with a serious yet apologetic tone as he spoke to his crimson-haired master.

Rias simply allowed her aura to dissipate as she looked at her servant and gently put her hand on his left cheek and looked him in the eyes while giving him a comforting and caring smile, causing him to blush slightly. "You're not a burden, Issei. You are of equal importance to this peerage as any other member, so don't go and devalue yourself like that." she told him as she sensually rubbed her soft hand against his chin.

[BOOST!]

"Are you so smug that you are ignoring me, peerage whore? That is just the defining feature with you slavers, your arrogance." the female voice in the shadows spoke up yet again as a figure started to get down to the floor, finally being illuminated by the light, revealing a beautiful topless woman who also had a gigantic and monstrous lower half, consisting of what seemed like the body of a lion the size of an elephant and with a ton of unpleasant looking muscle mass.

Seeing the woman's form made the brown-haired pervert want to puke more, but he managed to prevent that and simply pointed at the woman and screamed with a horrified and disgusted look on his face "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!" as the gauntlet's gem glowed once again.

[BOOST!]

Rias turned around smirking as she crossed her hands in front of her chest and chuckled. "Please, you should know that your time is up. If you think that you can take on an entire peerage on your own, including two High-class devils, then you're the one who is arrogant." she told the stray devil with sureness as Kiba created two swords out of no where, one with the effects of fire and one with the effects of ice, while Koneko entered a fighting stance with a stoic and uninterested expression on her face.

Meanwhile, as the other two did their thing, Akeno covered her uniform with a yellow layer of energy, instantly replacing her school uniform with a white kimono with a red lower bottom to it, much to Issei's surprise. She then started to chuckle as she raised her open palm, electricity cackling violently between her fingers. "Fu fu fu fu fu, it seems like I have a target to correct." she said in a sweet and casual tone as an aura of electricity now cackled around her frame and lashed out on the surrounding area, making the brown-haired reincarnated devil extremely nervous to take a few steps back.

[EXPLOSION!]

Issei stopped the boosting effect and allowed the entire power to stockpile onto his body at once. The boosting was just a way to quickly increase his power, but the explosion was a way to encapsulate it into a state in which he had all of that power in effect to use it in a few ways like a super powerful single blow, like he did against Raynare. He also didn't need the effects of the boosting anyway, since he just double the power of a [Rook] piece three times.

After Rias's speech and the peerage preparing to fight the stray devil started to laugh out loud, confusing the crimson-haired teen. "Ha, ha ha ha! What a joke! Did you really think we wouldn't be prepared for a peerage's attack?! We were warned beforehand about you, Rias Gremory." she told the group as she kept on laughing madly as she also seemed as confident as the peerage were, which didn't really convince the peerage as they were still confident in their leader.

However, the crimson-haired teen blinked several times with a perplexed expression on her face. "Wait, we?" she asked, but was not given an answer from the stray, who immediately shouted something else.

"NOW!" was the word that the monstrous being screamed.

All of a sudden, webs sprang out from above the peerage, catching them by surprise as they didn't even get time to dodge, with the exception of Kiba who managed to react in time. Everyone were shocked to now be in a sticky web that they were having trouble ripping apart, but the most surprised was Rias herself. "Nani? This isn't right!" she said with a surprised and slightly concerned tone, as if something was irregular. Seeing his master and senpai with such an expression made the blonde devil charged in to cut the web.

But before he could reach the rest of the group, another stray devil landed between him and the others, making everyone's eyes widen in shock of what they were seeing, though Issei himself didn't know why they were shocked. Not that they had any time to be shocked. The devil, which had the naked upper body of a man and a lower body of a porcupine with frog legs crouched down and fired from its back a barrage of spiky thorns in an omni-directional manner. While Rias and Akeno released a wave of magical energy to repel some of the thorns and destroy the webs around while Kiba dodged as many as he could, the others weren't as lucky.

Issei and Koneko, who were still tied in the webs winced as the thorns scratched against their skins, opening several very small cuts that allowed blood to flow out from their bodies, much to their surprise, especially Issei's. 'Huh? I thought that [Rooks] like Koneko-chan are supposed to be super durable. Why are we injured? Shit! It hurts more than I thought.' he thought to himself as he ground his teeth.

Meanwhile, Kiba managed to dodge most of the projectiles, but some of them managed to hit him since he was reacting rather late to the attack and much to the surprise and pain of the peerage, some of the large thorns embedded themselves in the blonde teeage boy, impaling him through his right shin with two thorns while one scratched him in his left side below the ribs, making him bleed, while another impaled him in the left shoulder. He screamed in agony as blood came from the injuries and he fell down to the ground with a loud "THUD!" sound.

"Kiba!" everyone shouted in unison as they saw their friend fall to the ground, causing Rias to growl as she formed a ball of destruction and launched it at the stray devil with the lower body of the porcupine with the frog legs, whom immediately jumped away as the ball missed both him and Vizor, who tilted her head to evade the attack at the last moment, leaving her with a terrified expression on her face.

"Oh shit!" the gross-looking female stray shouted in a mixture of fear and surprise as she looked at the hole in the wall. "The boss never told me that that peerage whore was that dangerous!" she said out loud as he eyes went wide.

Hearing what the stray just said made the male stray with the porcupine lower body have his eyes pop out of his skull. "WHA! Vizor-san, you're not supposed to say that out loud!" he told her as he then saw a spark of electricity fly his way, which he didn't have time to move before it hit him and electrocuted him, causing the stray to scream in agony while the stream of electric energy was searing him alive.

The female stray looked at him, only to then look at the crimson-haired High-class devil, who had her face darkened by her hair, which was flowing slightly upward by her powerful demonic aura, while her [Queen] had a furious scowl on her face as a sadistic smile filled reached from one ear to another as she kept on shooting thunder magic from her left index and middle fingers, looking like a complete monster.

Issei was shaking with fear, not from the fact that he was stuck in a web and bleeding from very small cuts in his skin, wincing from a sensation that he was feeling from them, while next to him Koneko didn't react at all and looked as deadpan and bored as usual. No, he was afraid of the level of intensity that he was seeing in his two super-hot, caring, loving and very, very powerful senpais. He knew that they were powerful and he couldn't really sense their demonic energy, but he could feel the power emanating from the two.

'Oh man, this sucks so much balls. Ichigo must be having a blast right now.' he thought to himself in his moments of quaking in his boots.

At the same point in time, Ichigo's right eye twitched as he stood inside Urahara Shoten with what he had never thought he would ever see in such a shady shop that was run by the shadiest bastard to ever exist: customers.

From the entrance where he stood he saw a lot of teenagers form the Kuoh Academy, as in the boys and girls from his class with all of their friends, around the entire shop. They were checking out the candies that were on sale, the prices and some of the cute little trinkets that Urahara-san had put on sale. Of these were things that he invented and used Ichigo and his friends as test subjects to see what could be improved before putting it on the shelf. And those things most of the time exploded in Ichigo's face only because the blonde bastard wanted them to.

He was even surprised that red-haired brat Jinta was actually putting some work in explaining things to the customers as best as he could. He was swarmed by a group of several girls who thought that he was adorable and he didn't seem to mind that much. In fact, the little brat was smiling with confidence and blushing a few times. He was probably enjoying the attention way too much.

However, his eye was twitching because of where the entire gathering of people was around. Most of the students in his class were gathered around the cash register not just to purchase things, which all of them seemed to have done already, but there stayed there because of two reasons: Asia and Ururu.

Most of the boys and girls had seemed to have been talking to Asia, including Meguri-san from the Sitri peerage. Some other, including the obvious lolicon Motohama, were talking to Ururu, even though the girl was clearly only interested in selling them more cheap shit that Uraraha made in some science experience.

"So what do you like to eat sometime, Asia-chan?"

"Those clothes fit really well, Asia-chan."

"You wanna go eat ice cream sometime, Asia-chan?"

"You have a real cute and pure image to you. It makes you so blinding to look at, Asia-chan."

"Wanna catch a movie this Friday, Asia-chan?"

"Do you like my muscles, Asia-chan?"

"Would you want to come to my apartment sometime this week and do homework or play board games together, Asia-san?"

The large amount of boys who were surrounding the poor blonde former nun constantly and very shamelessly were trying to flirt with her or ask her out to a date. By now the orange-haired hybrid managed to count at least a dozen date request and even more flirtatious comments or compliments. The girl was clearly smiling with a bead of sweat on her brow as she tried to appear friendly, kind and welcoming in order to be an excellent worker in the shop, but she was obviously overwhelmed with all of the attention that she was getting from all of the boys, to the point that the girls that tried to gather around her either became jealous of her or simply angry with the boys for getting all the attention of the former nun.

Meanwhile, Ururu was doing much better with the customers that she had to deal with, which mostly included those who simply thought that she was "kawaii" for working at a shop at her age while doing it both so well and being so adorable while doing so. The perverted lolicons were simply huffing and drooling as they they stared at the girl with intense perverted gazes.

Then suddenly a black cat with amber eyes jumped on the counter, getting between all the customers to the two girls at the counters. That of course was Yoruichi in her cat form, now sitting on the counter silently as the amber eyes glared into the souls of each and every person that stood there, making things silent for a second. However...

"They have a cat too! It looks so cute!" Tomoe said while squealing at the sight of the black cat, looking very intent on petting the black animal. This got the tension coming from Yoruichi's glare to disperse as now the teenagers were observing the cat and whispering about how it seemed cute.

"Nya~" the black cat said with what seemed like a happy tone to the teenagers, which made the girls squee with excitement, as well as jump up in the air a few times.

"Kawaii!"

"He's adorable!"

"Let's pet him!"

Many girls screamed what they were saying only to then start petting the cat in several places, including the head, the back, behind the right ear and slightly below the left cheek, making said cat to lift its head slightly upward, only for the its amber eyes to spot Ichigo.

The orange-haired hybrid's eye kept twitching as he ground his teeth slightly at the sight of the girls petting the shinigami in disguise, knowing that Yoruichi simply allowed them to do that and encouraged it for her own personal amusement. What kind of trolling was she planning for this situation? He couldn't know for sure, but he knew that she had something fishy in mind.

The cat looked at him and gave him a wide and smug smirk, revealing her teeth to him as light reflected on her visible teeth, which even had a "DING!" sound effect to it, with the shinigami-angel hybrid knowing that for sure the cat was making an evil laugh inside her mind merely to screw with his mind for her amusement. The shinigami in cat disguise then returning her focus back to being petted, copying the purring sounds that cats made when they were feeling enjoyment from petting.

'You're absolutely terrible, Yoruichi-san.' the teen thought to himself as even his fingers were twitching and a vein was throbbing on his forehead. 'Issei must be having a blast right now'. he kept thinking to himself as he simply stood there silently at the entrance of the store.

Back at the fight with the strays, the webs that Issei and Koneko were still glued to were starting to change their color from pure white, like any other spider web, to a sickly shade of green, which worried the brown-haired teen. "What's going on now?! This doesn't look good at all! Buchou, Akeno-senpai, please free your hopeless kohai!" he requested from the two upperclasswomen with rivers of tears coming from his eyes and with a distressed tone to his voice, even though he requested simply to get some attention and love from said upperclasswomen.

The white-haired [Rook] simply looked at him and gave him an unimpressed stare. "...How pathetic." she said as she criticized the newly reincarnated devil as she tried to rip the webs apart with her brute strength, but unfortunately the webs were too sticky for her to rip and get out of.

Then a red blade flew over the head of the two incapacitated devils and cut the webs like it was a knife through butter, which made Issei look at the blonde teen, who was lying on the ground, wincing, groaning and even crying a bit from the immense pain pain from the injuries that he had suffered. "S-sorry for taking s-so long, Issei-san." he said as he then didn't move his body anymore while he was lying on the ground as blood slowly started to form a tiny pool around him, all the while he was panting heavily and sweating.

However, much to the Gremory [Rook] and the promoted [Rook]'s surprise, the webs caught fire, which very quickly reached them and set Koneko's shirt on fire as well as Issei's jacket. The promoted devil quickly threw the jacket off of him to the side and watched as it was burned to cinders, while the youngest devil in the peerage quickly unbuttoned her shirt and threw it to the side with an annoyed and irked expression on her face, leaving her only with her bra on.

Upon seeing his junior only in a bra, blood spurt out of the brown-haired teen's nose as a perverted smile appeared on his face, which the white-haired girl noticed and quickly used her arms to cover her chest. "...Don't look, perv." she said with a definitive warning to him as her cheeks turned red as she blushed with embarrassment.

The perverted devil then sheepishly rubbed the back of his head and chuckled nervously. "Sorry about that, Koneko-chan." he said apologetically to the girl as he tried not to anger her.

At the same time cries from the porcupine stray devil stopped and so did Akeno ceased her electric attack, allowing the charred, lifeless body of the monstrous-looking devil to fall to the ground with a loud "THUD!" while she simply gave out with a loud and aroused moan. "Oh yeeeesss~! This was so much fun." the black-haired devil said with a moan as she was simply drooling from her mouth, only to then point her fingers at the ceiling about the two members of her peerage that had just been released from the sticky webs. "How about I go for one more?" she asked herself slowly with a tone that was both heavily predatory and very much sexual. However, a few moments later she pointer her finger and changed the direction of her predatory glare towards the female stray devil and her fingers lit up with electricity. "Or should I go for you first. I don't mind, hehe~" the [Queen] of the peerage giggled as her cheeks were flushing as red as a tomato.

Issei looked at his senpai and he was feeling both an intense fear in his spine and a bump in his underwear. 'Damn, Akeno-senpai sure is terrifying... and extremely hot. I don't know if I want to bang her with all that crazy sadism that she's showing. though I wouldn't mind seeing and feeling her oppai...' he thought to himself as more blood started to run down from his nostrils while his body was shaking with fear and he had an expression that mixed perverted thoughts and fear on his face.

Koneko noticed this and elbowed him on the shin, making him yelp with surprise, but not cry in pain. "...Focus, creep." she told him while frowning at him, to which he simply chuckled nervously.

Suddenly Koneko's eyes widened slightly as she dashed towards where Kiba was lying, leaving the promoted [Pawn] perplexed, only to notice a few moments later that a third stray devil had jumped down aiming towards the injured blonde [Knight]. The third stray was a man with a lower body of a spider that was covered with a strange hair, some sort of spider fur thingy, the stray had two of his legs raised upwards, prepared to lower them with the intention of skewering Kiba, which didn't take Issei long to realize.

Acting quickly, the brown-haired teen ran as fast as he could while watching as his white-haired kohai got to Kiba first and put herself between him and the falling/launching stray. "Die!" the stray shouted as he tried to skewer both devils of the Gremory perage, but his spider legs were easily caught by the [Rook], who look unamused and bored as she did so like it was nothing. Honestly, for a girl with her level of strength, it probably was nothing.

Koneko held the creature in place and prevented him from escaping, which the stray tried his best to do, giving Issei enough time to reach there and hit the monster in the head while closing his eyes. The blow hit the spider-looking devil on the right temple and the force of that hit was so great that it first cracked open the skull of the man and killing him instantly, spraying blood all over Issei's fist, then the punch continued on and eventually its force popped the creature's head like grape, sending a ton of blood everywhere, from spraying it on Koneko and Kiba, to spreading it over the walls and floor.

Issei opened his eyes and looked in shock as he saw the dead body of the stray devil on the ground with blood coming out from the stump that was its neck, forming a pool of blood around the body. He then turned around, ran to another corner and started to voice while his body shook with disgust and horror as he realized that he had killed someone. 'This... this is the feeling of ending someone's life?' he thought to himself as flashes of his won death appeared in his mind, causing him to fall to his knees while tears came out from his eyes.

'It's horrible, it's so horrible. Even if he was a monster and an evil devil at heart, this feels so wrong. Why am I being so pathetic? How could Akeno-senpai do this so easily? Doesn't she feel bad for killing someone, even an enemy? Does Buchou?' he kept thinking to himself as he started panting heavily and was completely panicking before vomiting up once again.

Then he felt a light touch on his shoulder, on that felt comforting and warm. He turned his head to see Kiba, now carried by Koneko as they stood next to him with the former having a friendly and reassuring smile on his face while the latter looked at him with her regular expression. "It's alright, Issei-san. Killing someone is a hard thing to do that you will carry with yourself for your entire life. But you killed him to protect me, so you had a reason to do so." he reassured the new member of the peerage with comforting words that felt completely genuine. "Know that killing is something that is inevitable for devils. Just remember that it's necessary and sometimes the only thing you can do in a situation." he kept on talking to the Issei, trying his best to calm him down.

The brown-haired teen was silent for nearly 10 seconds, but eventually he nodded, wiped the vomit from his mouth and nodded with a more calm, yet still disturbed demeanor. "Okay, understood. Thank you for what you said, Kiba-san." he said as a small smile rose to his face, which the blonde boy responded by giving him a small smile and a thumbs up.

Meanwhile Rias and Akeno slowly walked towards the last remaining stray devil, who was shivering with a horrified expression on her face as she tried backing off while looking at the corpses of the two others who stood by her side. "Mizuki... Kane..." she whispered with clear fear in her voice from merely recognizing that her two male partners were dead.

"Speak up now." the crimson-haired teenager spoke authoritatively as she kept stepping forward with determination and anger filling her face. She was clearly upset by seeing Kiba getting as hurt as he did. She raised her had as a tiny orb made from the power of destruction was being formed in her hands while her blue eyes gave the stray an icy stare. "Stray devils never work together and most definitely never act in such a coordinated matter. Tell me who is the one who informed you of our arrival. Who are you working under?" she inquired as the orb grew bigger and a dark aura of destruction surrounded her.

Gulping at the horrifying sight of her opponent, Vizor decided not to give in to her fear. No, she had to protect something bigger than her. They gave her the right to act as she desired and they gave her the warnings about the Gremory peerage. Her mistake was that she underestimated them and thought that along with two other strays that she could defeat the peerage. She was wrong, but she was not going to let them take the fall for her mistake. Besides, she knew that she was going to die. If she was going to die, then she was going to choose how she died. And she chose to die defiant.

"Tsk, fuck you, peerage whore!" the female stray devil screamed defiantly as she opened her mouth and green energy quickly gathered in front of it. With a bellow, she launched a beam of green light that was aimed at the crimson-haired, High-class devil with the intention of killing her.

Rias simply clicked her tongue as she launched her own attack, which upon impact with the beam easily pushed it back and headed strait towards the user. The ball quickly erased the attack and hit the stray devil Vizor, reducing her into dust within a second, much to the shock of Issei, who was watching the clash between the two attacks, making him sweat buckets at the sight of the monstrous woman's death.

Then there was silence as the peerage recovered in the abandoned home from their fight.

Little did all of them know that this incident was just the beginning of a bigger conflict. One that would nearly cost them all their lives.

{To Be Continued]

xxx

Ending Theme: Life is Like a Boat by Rei Fu (use Bleach Ending 1 for audio)

And this was the first time that Issei met a stray devil. Unfortunately this fight is only the beginning for the Gremory peerage. Who is this strange boss whom the stray devil Vizor mentioned? What trouble could this be for our heroes? Find out on the next chapter of "Of Devils and Reapers"...

And so ends the first chapter of my new arc, which doesn't exist in the source material (obviously). While you may think that this is just going to be a boring filler arc, give the four chapters I already have a chance to change your mind about it.

Until them stay healthy, stay safe and have a nice day.

Qudrim8054 · Jan 30, 2022

Hello everyone and welcome for another chapter of Of Devils and Reapers. I hope you all have some patience, because this week is a behemoth of a chapter coming your way, and if you get tired or find it a slog, I can empathize. I spent months writing this and it was a massive pain. Though there are parts that I absolutely love in this chapter, I just have bad memories of trying to finish this chapter for months on end.

Anyway, time to get to this behemoth and I hope that you could enjoy this massive prep chapter into the first big action set pieces. So time for the content warning.

Warning: This story is rated M for Mature. It contains foul language, heavy violence, nudity and eventually explicit sexual content. Viewers/readers' discretion is advised.

Of Devils and Reapers

Volume 1: Red Dragon Emperor's Awakening

Chapter 10: A Plan For a New Situation

Stray Devil Council Arc

Issei opened his eyes a confused expression on her face. He couldn't recognize where he was standing and what was going on. Was he in the middle of a dream? He felt his body moving on his own and he couldn't understand why his body was moving without his consent.

Suddenly the white space around him started to contort and change, as well as the clothes that he himself was wearing, much to his confusion and concern. "Hey, hey, hey. Just what kind of dream is this?" he asked out loud as he looked around to see to which building the space was changing into. With time the space changes appeared more and more familiar to him as he started to get nervous, recognizing the place as the interior of a church. His eyes went wide with fear as he remembered Buchou's warning.

Surprisingly, he didn't feel anything in his body, as if he was a normal human being once again and not a devil, without the chill going down his spine whenever he was inside a church. He looked down at himself and immediately he became more confused than before as he saw that instead of his regular t-shirt and boxer shorts he was wearing a completely white suit. On his upper body the suit was composed of a pure-white, long-sleeved shirt with that was perfectly fitting the frame of his body and felt almost as smooth as silk, which made it even better for him. On top of the shirt was a pure-white jacket that was buttoned up and seemed just as smooth and tidy as the shirt underneath it. And he also noticed the white tie that he was wearing, which was perfectly matching the two other layers in terms of look and sensory feelings.

His pants, much like his shirt, buttoned jacket and tie, was pure-white, clutched perfectly to his physique perfectly and was so smooth and silky in its feeling that made it feel like it was out of this world and completely unreal. ...Well, it was unreal, since he was dreaming and this strangeness was just a weird dream that he was having. He looked further down and he saw that his shoes were the only thing that he was wearing that was not white, being black instead. His eyes were then blinded as the shoes were so polished that light reflected against them and blinded him, forcing him to raise his head and look straight.

But when he raised his head, his ears were bombarded with noise as on both of his sides stood two giant rows of people. So many faces that he tried to see if he was capable of finding familiar faces in there. It quickly clicked in his mind that all of the faces that he was seeing in the two rows belonged to either people he knew from school or were his friends and members of his family. He was sure because he noticed Matsuda and Motohama somewhere as well as almost every girl in school that he had peeped on with his two perverted friends.

"Rias-sama, you're amazing!" one of the girls in the row on his right shouted out loud, confusing him.

"Why did it have to be that filthy pervert, senpai?! You can do better than him!" a second girl next to the first one shouted as she obviously insulted Issei, making him lower his head slightly with shame.

'What's going on? It seems like there is some sort of wedding going on. Am I the groom? Who the hell is my bride then? Please tell me that it's not Kiba-san or Ichigo, because I'm not gay at all! I hope that it's also not Koneko-chan, because she is too young and small to be a bride! It would be bad of me as a senpai!' he thought to himself as he was looking straight and feeling himself getting more and more nervous, which was evident by the fact that he was starting to sweat, and sweat a lot.

"Issei," he suddenly heard the voice of his crimson-haired master coming from right next to him, surprising him a bit. He decided to look to his left, only to see that his senpai, his Buchou was wrapping her arm around his, wearing an ungodly beautiful white dress that fit her extremely curved physique to a T, showing the perfect shape of her oppai and waist, reaching down to the point that her feet were covered as well. How was she able to walk like this?! But more importantly was the fact that she was his bride! In his dream he was marrying Buchou, who he loved and lusted over so much. "I know that getting married is a big deal, but don't sweat about it too much." she spoke to him with a reassuring Buchou voice that she always had when she was talking to him. "You've got me by your side and together we will work through all the hardships." she told him with a big and joyful smile on her face.

He blushed upon hearing that as he heard more and more familiar voices from the crowd, so he decided to look around more. On the left row he noticed both of his perverted friends Matsuda and Motohama crying with tears and flailing their arms in rage.

"Dammit! For Issei, of all people to get married?! This ain't right dawg, I tell ya'!" Matsuda screamed as he was looking at the well dress pair walking down the aisle with an outraged tone to his voice.

"The fact that he's marrying a super hot, mega goddess super babe Rias Gremory, who has a godly figure of [B99-W58-H90 cm] is a crime! It's a conspiracy, I tell you! A conspiracy!" Motohama screamed as he was just as outraged as the shave-headed pervert by his side, making Issei smirking smugly towards the two of them, proud of the woman who was walking besides in the aisle.

The next people that he saw were both of his parents, both crying with pride and joy over seeing their son getting married. Even if it was a dream, Issei gave a small smile filled with a warm filling his stomach from seeing his parents so happy. "Issei, my first grandchild should be a girl!" his mother shouted towards him in a very embarrassing fashion, making Issei look at his parents with his jaw falling from hearing this.

His father meanwhile was crying rivers from his eyes, which he tried to rub away as he wasn't even looking at his son. "You've grown to be so splendid... My useless son who is a mass of sexual desire." he cried the words out with joy and pride in his son, still rubbing his eyes to try and wipe the tears away.

Issei blushed with utter embarrassment and shock. 'Is this what they really think of me? Why even say this shit out loud in my own wedding dream to Buchou?! That not supportive at all!' he thought as he looked away to try and find someone else and hear what they had to say, hoping it was more supportive than his parents' words.

He then saw another group, which consisted of Ichigo and his friends, as well as all of the members of the Occult Research Club. They were all dressed in fancy closed like he was, with the boys wearing tight, figure-fitting tuxedos with long-sleeved white undershirts under black jackets while also wearing white pants. The girls themselves were wearing dresses similar to Buchou's, signaling to him that they were acting as bridesmaids. Akeno-senpai and Orihime-san looked incredibly sexy in their dresses which, much like Buchou's, had an exquisite cleavage window to their large and very appealing oppai, making him drool a little bit.

On the other hand, there were Tatsuki-san and Koneko-chan, who were wearing much less revealing dresses and made them look pretty enough. Koneko-chan herself in that dress was as cute as a button, which he could resist looking at with non-lecherous eyes, which was unusual for him.

"Yo, Issei, way to go." the Ichigo in the dream said with a large, wide and warm smile while Orihime's arm was wrapped around his. "You finally managed to find a girl that loves you for who you are. I can't wait to your 100 anniversary." he said calmly yet also with a tone that was filled with pride in his best friend.

"You two are amazing!" Orihime said loudly as she waved her hand at the marring pair. "I wanna take the first baby pictures!" she declared with unadulterated joy in her voice as she then turned to Ichigo, blushed heavily for a little bit before giving him a peck on the cheek. After that she rushed Koneko-chan and hugged her tightly, which the white-haired devil didn't react too aside from rolling her eyes silently. "Isn't this a fantastic day, Koneko-chan?! Let's shout to Issei-san and Rias-senpai! HIP HIP HOORAY!" the bubbly, orange-haired girl asked the short girl as she was crying tears of happiness.

"...Hip hip hooray..." Koneko-chan spoke up with her usual apathetic tone of voice as she looked like she was simply accepting the inevitable of being hugged like the cute loli mascot that she was.

"Hey perv, you've got something special there. Try not to fuck it up." Tatsuki-san told him with a smile on her own as she congratulated the brown-haired devil in her own way, making Issei sweat with his upper body froze in fear as his legs simply continued walking.

"Congratulations, Issei." Kiba said as there was an entire crowd of beautiful girls forming an entire half-circle around the blonde boy, but were pushed back by the fact that the rest of the group was there. "I wish many millennias filled with happiness for you and Buchou." he said with a charming smile on his face, making all the girls around him to have their hearts filling their eyes. Oooouuu... Issei cried with jealousy as he saw how popular Kiba was with the girls. How he wanted that level of popularity outside of his dreams.

Akeno herself simply chuckled cutely. "Ara ara, I hope the best for the both of you, my best friend and my favorite kohai. Of course I would like to see the honeymoon tapes." she said slyly with a wink, which increased his motivation to experience his dream to the fullest and see how far he would go inside it.

It's not like he would ever get married to Buchou in real life, that would be completely absurd and would not work. Of course, that's because she probably didn't think about him in that way. She was most likely just entertaining him because he was endearing to her or something. But the moment he did try to cross the line in real life, she would reject him. She wouldn't kill him like Raynare did, but she would definitely tell him what she really thought about him. That's what scared him.

Suddenly a wind passed around him, turning everything from the church to all the people inside it into mist as he kept walking while keeping his arm wrapped around Buchou's. They continued walking in the darkness as he saw how the mist was changing completely to appear as a whole new building.

"We're here." the crimson-haired bride said as he saw that the two of them were heading towards a gigantic and completely shade love hotel that looked like a castle. It's size was so stupendous that Issei's eyes burst out of his sockets and his jaw dropped with shock at the fact that he was going into such a building.

'It looks shady as fuck! Why would my brain create such a huge place and make it look so irksome?! This is were I'll be making love with Buchou, for Mao sake! Who would my mind even place as the manager?!' he started raving his mind with questions as the pair reached the enormous doors, which opened up on their own.

As they walked in, the image that was presented before the eyes of the reincarnated devil shocked him. In the counter he saw none other than Asia-chan, Urahara-san and his multiple workers, with the beautiful and super cute former nun serving as the official face of the love hotel while the shopkeeper and his workers were simply waving their hands towards him casually, greeting him while they were literally laundering money in a machine right in front of him. They were printing monkey like goddamn crooks and doing so in the open!

'How goddamn shady do I think these guys are?!' Issei thought to himself as completely exasperated.

"Hello, Issei-san, Rias-senpai," Asia started talking casually while not noticing behind her the literal criminal activity as she began taking like a proper lady at the counter, giving the pair a nice and respectable bow with a smile on her face. "we've set up the best room for your wedding night. It is super fancy and it almost made me faint and I hopethatyourreallylikeitbecauseIworkedreallyhardtocleanit." the blonde girl started to talk as she went into complete motor mouth and blushed as she seemed to be very excited about it, which made Issei's heart skip a beat.

Suddenly the black cat raised its head and looked at the pair while the rest of the employees of Urahara Shoten were printing and counting the money they were launderign. "To sum her up: enjoy the room and happy baby making." he said to them so casually that simply hearing it made Issei blush a bit. Even if it was a dream, he was basically dreaming about getting married and maybe losing his virginity to Buchou. Still the best wet dream ever!

The Dream!Asia then gave a nod with a small smile on her face as she began to prey. "May the lord bless you two with a joyous union and that you may have many children together." she gave a small prayer and this made the reincarnated devil's heart skip a bit again.

'Ooouu... Asia-chan is so adorable.' he thought to himself as he closed his eyes to avoid the metaphorical brightness that she was illuminating from her frame.

It didn't take long for the two to arrive to their room, which was an extremely fancy-looking room with all sorts of eye-catching decorations that the brown-haired teen couldn't even begin to describe. He sat on the huge queen bed and felt the blankets and pillows, which was so silky smooth that it felt like he could stay on it forever. He also shook nervously as he heard the noise of water flowing from the room's shower, because Buchou was taking a shower in there, probably in preparations.

Preparations. This was were in his dream he was going to lose his virginity. It wasn't like he was really going to become a man, but this real felt so real thus far that maybe it would simulate in his mind everything. Maybe, just maybe, if he believed it hard enough, it would be true. At least that was what he was hoping.

The dream suddenly felt like it was going on fast forward, as he felt like the world was moving on fast forward. All noise and movement that was occurring in the room was happening so fast that he couldn't really figure out what was happening. He saw as there was a multitude of noises and then the crimson-haired teen came out of the shower, moving so fast that she looked like a blur in his eyes. A beautiful, naked blur that made him drool.

Suddenly, things started moving at a regular speed that his eyes could perceive everything coherently once more. This made his body jolt for a bit as he blinked quickly several times as he got confused as he looked around the room again, to make sure that his senses were acting correctly.

"Issei~" he heard Buchou addressing him in a seductive tone, which instinctively made him urn around with excitement, only to see his master, senpai and dream wife lying completely naked, showing her smooth skin and beautiful curved. And it was all for him.

Blood burst out of his nose immediately and he started to feeling dizzy very quickly from the amount of blood that was flowing out of his body simply from seeing the crimson-haired devil perfect soft oppai. His body immediately fell forward as he nearly reached her.

The woman simply smiled as she caressed his cheeks. "It's okay, Issei. We still have all night~" she kept talking in a seductive tone, making his eyes turn into hearts.

'This is really going to happen! Man this dream rocks!' he thought to himself as he sat up and put his hand on the imaginary image of the beautiful devil. 'This really is my only shot at this. If I actually try doing this in real life, Buchou would reject me and hate me. But here...' he kept thinking to himself as he closed his eyes and started moving his lips closer to hers, intending on kissing her.

Suddenly, everything turned into mist. The room, Buchou, everything turned into mist and faded away, much to Issei's confusion and shock as he opened his eyes and looked around. Now around him was no longer a luxurious bedroom in a shady and luxurious love motel, nor was it a gigantic cathedral holding a beautiful wedding ceremony, but a complete and utter darkness that even his own eyes couldn't see through.

"[Sorry to cut your wet dream short, but it seems that you're strong enough to finally communicate with me and I couldn't pass this opportunity.]"

"Huh?" Issei simply muttered in confusion as a bombastic voice echoed around him in all directions. It was honestly bizarre. He didn't recognize the voice at all and he was concerned that there was another voice in his head in the first place. He looked around, trying to find the source of the voice.

Suddenly, much to his fearful shock and surprise, the entire blackness lightened up with flames, surrounding him from all sides. He screamed like a little girl as he saw that everything was fire, fearing being burned to death by the flames that were surrounding him. However, after a few seconds he realized that he himself was not being set ablaze by those flames at all, which made him even more perplexed than frightened.

Suddenly in front of him the sea of flames was split in the middle, revealing a gigantic red dragon that was looking down at him with an examining eye. "WAAA! A dragon?! What is a dragon doing in my dream?! Please don't eat me!" the brown-haired devil started screaming in terror as he fell on his knees and bowed before the gigantic red lizard and begged for his life.

"[Eat you? You look so unappetizing. HAHAHAHAHA!]" the gigantic dragon started laughing out loud as he mocked the devil, who was still shaking in his boots. It took him a few seconds to stop and move on with what he actually wanted to say. "[No, no. I have been trying to contact you ever since you unlocked the ability to use the Boosted Gear, but I've only managed to do it now because you're not such a weakling as before.]" he explained to Issei with a calm tone to his bombastic tone as flames kept on raging around them.

The teenage boy tilted his head with a confused look on his face. "I don't really get it. How is there a dragon in my dream?!" the brown-haired devil as he was simply still too confused to fully realize what was going on.

"[What can I say? I just wanted to meet my new partner whom I will be fighting alongside with. If you don't realize it yet, just look at your left hand if you haven't figured out who I am. Until next time, partner.]" the dragon told him more without revealing any information before disappearing and causing the fire to go out, leaving a completely blank white space around him.

"Hey, wait!" Issei called out to the dragon as he extended his left arm to try to reach him, only for to catch the sight of his Boosted Gear activated and looking more draconic in appearance that it ever did.

With a scream he opened his eyes, grabbed his hand and felt his body jolting up as he sat on his bed, completely awake and now i shock from the dream that he had just experienced. He was suddenly no longer in the vast whiteness of his dream landscape or with a draconic left forearm, but simply sitting on the bed in his room holding to his left forearm, which looked completely the same as it usually did.

He was sweating buckets as he simply panted in a medium pace while lowering his hand and looking at it thoughtfully.

'What was that dream?' he asked himself mentally as he silently looked at his hand for a while before looking at the clock, showing that it was 4:22 AM, making his eyes go wide as he realized something. 'Oh crap, I'm going to be late!' he also said to himself internally as he quickly got up of bed.

xxx

Opening Theme: Again by Yui (use Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood Opening 1 for audio)

"And that's... *Huff*... 197... *Huff*... What the dragon... *Huff*... 198... *Huff*... Said... 199... 200..." the brown-haired reincarnated devil explained his very short conversation with the dragon in his dream to his crimson-haired master... while doing pushups with Koneko sitting on his back and eating her sugary treats with a complete stoic expression on her face as usual. When he finished 200, he collapsed on the ground and started to breath in as much air as his lungs could possibly take in, with the smaller girl not getting off his back.

Around him were also the rest of the members of the Occult Research Club, listening with great interest to every word that came out of his mouth. The perverted teen obviously dropped the whole wedding part of his dream to to not really upset the [King] of the peerage, so he just kept it to the point in which he had met the strange dragon.

Rias rubbed her chin as she tried to ponder on what her [Pawn] had just told her, and from the look in her eyes, it seemed rather obvious that she was taking every word and description that were told to her in the upmost seriousness. "It is strange, but not unheard of. Especially in cases of previous users of Boosted Gear and other Longinus users." she told the brown-haired reincarnated devil in a matter-of-fact manner while he looked into her eyes.

Meanwhile, Koneko had turned Issei's back into her new couch for the time being, sitting on it and enjoying a little kibi dango on a toothpick, which she put into her mouth while making a very cute "Nam" sound.

The one who then continued the explanation was not the crimson-haired High-class devil, but the long, black-haired Akeno, who seemed chipper as always with a big smile on her face. "Ara ara, Issei-kun, your memory seems to be a bit short. You see, some cases of Sacred Gears are said to have been forged with a creature's soul inside it when God created it. That is the case for the Longinus Sacred Gears, which are one of a kind objects that appear only with one person in a generation, like your Boosted Gear." she explained him with an educative onee-sama senpai tone to her voice that made Issei almost melt.

"So you're saying that the dragon is the spirit that is inside Boosted Gear? If I remember correctly, that familiar master guy said that my Boosted Gear is made from the body of the Red Dragon Emperor. You think that the dragon in my dream was him?" he inquired with a clearly interested tone, showing that he wanted to hear more about the subject and thus know more about Boosted Gear.

Akeno nodded once with assurance and confidence in her knowledge while keeping her sweet smile on her face. "Indeed that is the case. Boosted Gear has long been known to be a Longinus type, so by extension, it is one of a kind and has a soul inside it." she raised her finger as she continued her explanation about the red gauntlet. "It is also said in legends that past users were able to communicate with the spirit on a regular basis. If that is true, then you can have a mentor inside your head. I'd say that's pretty cool." she finished her explanation as she gave a small giggle.

A stupid smile then rose to the brown-haired devil's face. 'Oh man, Akeno sure is hot, and she giggles in such a seductive way. I can't stop myself from imagining her saying so many dirty stuff.' he thought to himself with a blush on his face while also wiggling his but from side to side.

Unfortunately for him, Koneko immediately noticed it, making her frown. The immediate reaction from the Gremory [Rook] was to slam her fist on his back as hard as she could, making a loud and painful "GAH!" sound burst out of his throat as he spewed some saliva and the ground beneath his body cracked.

"...You were having lecherous thoughts, senpai. It's disgusting, but not unexpected from you. That's why you had to be punished." she told him as she then continued to eat her kibi dango while Issei gargled in pain before his head slumped and hit the ground with an audible "THUD!" sound when it did.

Rias simply kept smiling as she seemed to have ignored the supposedly injured [Pawn] as she then started talking. "On another note, I have decided to ask for some help from Sona in dealing with our little stray problems." she said, which got everyone but the [Queen] of the peerage to look at her with a surprised look on their faces, the brown-haired pervert included.

"Huh?" the three other members said in unison as they asked.

The crimsonette then continued speaking as her smile turned into a small scowl. "After last night I'm quite bothered about the whole situation, since we never had stray devils cooperating to fight us, which means that this was organized. Furthermore, I do not want to involve Ichigo in this since I made him promise not to intervene, so the last thing I want is for him to think that I'm incompetent in protecting those whom I hold dear to me." she explained to her servants as she crossed her hands together. "Also, since the Sitri peerage are devils as well, it would be the most rational route to go to them for help." she went on as her scowl became a bit softer and her lips rose up a bit.

It was then that Akeno spoke up once more. "We have decided that the meeting will take place after school in the office of the student council, so please don't be late~." she said before walking closer to the downed Issei and kneeling in front of him. "Ara ara, Issei-kun, you look in quite a rough shape. Perhaps you should have Asia-chan next to you at all times if Koneko-chan keeps breaking your body like that~." she said teasingly, but he couldn't brush the thought that she was trying to tell him something, as much as he was a dense dunce.

He nodded before losing consciousness, his eyes looking like Xs.

And so a usual school day came and it went just as quickly. Issei obviously was healed by Asia before his first class and from then on he was nervous over the fact that Buchou believed that things escalated so badly that she needed Sona-Kaichou's help in dealing with stray devils. And to someone as useless as him, she was plenty powerful.

When the last lesson had ended has ended, he waited for some mostly everybody to leave the class as he put back his stuff into his bag and prepared himself mentally for the meeting, knowing that it was important now. He wanted to talk about it with Ichigo, but he knew that Buchou was going to get mad at him for it, so he decided against doing so.

Issei did his best to try and relax his mind about the meeting, but the nervousness and concerns about it constantly came back to the forefront of his mind. He knew what the subject would be about, but he also knew that he wouldn't understand a single thing from what was going to be said in it. 'Man, I'm going to have to ask a lot of questions throughout.' he thought to himself as he walked up the stairs, sweating.

Suddenly his mind managed to get a distraction from the concerns of the meeting when he also noticed Asia going up the stairs like he was, which made him wonder where she was going, mostly because it was on the opposite way from the exit, not to mention that she had to go to work after school at Urahara Shoten. Though according to Ichigo, she was only served as "fanservice customer bait" to attract clients and gain the shady shinigami more money. Man, no wonder the Urahara in his weird dream was so openly criminal.

"Asia-chan?" he said aloud with confusion in his voice, saying it just loud enough for the blonde former nun to hear him and turn around, looking him straight in the eyes when their gazes met.

"Issei-san? Where are you headed? Aren't you going to the old schoolhouse?" she asked with a perplexed tone as she also tried to realize why the two of them were going in the same direction, going up the same stairs to the same floor.

The brown-haired reincarnated devil simply raised his finger and pointed forward, on up since the two were still on the stairs. "Um, Buchou and the rest of the club are having a meeting with Sona-Kaicho and the rest of the student council. Where are you going, Asia-chan? Shouldn't you be going to work?" he asked her as he tilted his head to the side with a look that was just as confused as hers.

The girl's eyes widened upon hearing this. "R-really? I was informed by Meguri-san that Sona-Kaicho wanted to speak to me after school over something important." she told him as a bright and glimmering smile appeared on her face. "That's why I called Urahara-san and told him that I couldn't com to work today. He gave me his blessings and told me that he had a replacement in mind." she told him with a joyful and relieved tone to her voice as he mouth became triangular.

"Wait, do you know who's the replacement?" Issei asked her with an interested look in his eyes.

The former nun nervously made an "Um..." sound as she blushed and glanced aside with a bit of shame plastered over her face.

"You've got to be kidding me with this?"

Ichigo asked the blonde shinigami shopkeeper as they were standing on the roof of the building, right next to the hole that Ichigo did when he flew out of the shop during the night in which he saved Asia from Raynare's scheme. First sending his dad the damage bill was bad enough, but now having him repair it by himself was not what he wanted to do this afternoon. He wanted to do some club activity like a normal teenager, not work for a shady bastard like Urahara.

The man in the fishing hat, who was standing right next to the hole that the hybrid had created and right in front of said hybrid was waving his fan in front of his mouth, no doubt hiding an incredibly sly, devious and overtly satisfied grin on his smug face. He knew that the shopkeeper could get serious at the drop of a hat, but he rarely did with him. "Nope. You caused that hole and you're going to fix it." he told the Substitute Shinigami while he hid his smile while waving his fan, being completely nonchalant about the whole ordeal. "Since Asia is not available today and neither you nor Isshin want to pay the bill, you'll have to work the debt off." the former captain explained in a very jolly attitude as he continued waving the fan in front of his mouth.

Ichigo slumped his shoulders as he glared at the blonde man with a long face for a few seconds. "You're not going to let it slide, are you?" he inquired with a deadpan tone to his voice.

Urahara finally moved the fan from his face, revealing a wide smile going from ear to ear. "Nope." he said simply and with a lighthearted tone to his voice.

The orange-haired teen simply glared silently at the man for several seconds before finally relenting and picking up a toolbox. "Whelp, nothing I can do about it then. Let's just get this over with." he said as he went to work on the whole in the roof of Urahara Shoten.

Issei and Asia continued to the floor in which the office of the student council was in, along the way being joined by the rest of the Gremory peerage as Kiba and Koneko met them on the top floor not long after the two second-year students at Kuou Academy, all of them making their way to a large door that had an aura of heaviness to it. It made Issei gulp as he realized how even the door of the office of Sona-Kaicho had such a thick air around it.

They entered the room to see that the room itself was pretty big and had a large table with enough space for everyone to sit around. The room itself looked liked something that a regular school student council would use, rather than the whole Victorian aesthetic that the main room of the old schoolhouse that the Occult Research Club had.

Upon entering the room and focusing more on the people there than the surroundings, they saw that not only the crimson-haired devil and her raven-haired best friend were already in the room and seated at the other side of the table parallel to the president of the student council and her vice president, but also the entire student body council were also sitting around the table, all their eyes on the arriving group.

"Please, everyone, take a seat." the bespectacled leader of the Sitri peerage politely and stoically gestured to the arriving devils to sit down at the table with the rest, which they happily obliged. They all took spare chairs and sat around the table in different places. The white-haired [Rook] of the Gremory peerage sat to Akeno's right, while Issei sat next to Saji's right, with Asia sitting right next to the brown-haired devil, feeling the safest next to him. The blonde [Knight] sat next to the former nun with a big, warm, greeting smile on his face.

It was then that the [Knight] of the Sitri peerage crossed her arms in front of her chest and glared daggers at the perverted devil while raising an eyebrow. "So... What. Did he do?" the female devil with the brownish-red hair tied as picktails inquired with an accusing tone to her regularly upbeat tone of voice.

The Gremory [Pawn] simply blinked a few times as he pointed at himself. "Eh?" he asked with a dumb expression on his face while everyone else was looking at the two of them with confused looks.

The only [Knight] of the Sitri peerage then continued. "What did you," she started as she stood up and pointed at the newest reincarnated devil in both groups. "the slimy, perverted, disgusting pig do now?" she accused him, believing him to be the source of this meeting, which not only shocked Issei, but offended him as well.

He then got up and pointed back at the girl with the brownish-red pigtails. "Hey, I didn't do anything! Why do you think this is all my fault?" he asked angrily as he raised his voice at the second-year member of the student body council.

"It's general principle!" she screamed back at him and spat angrily.

"What does that even mean?!" he spat back, just as angry but also confused on top of that.

It was then that the tomboyish [Rook] of the Sitri peerage raised her hand while looking at the brown-haired teen. "I can answer that, Issei-san." she told him, which was enough to at least shut him up for now. "It was agreed among us of the second-year girls that whenever something bad happens, the ones responsible are always going to be the Pervert Trio, consisting of you and your two pervert friends." she explained as Issei's jaw dropped.

Ruruko, the first-year student of the Sitri peerage then crossed her arms in front of her chest, turned her head to the side and huffed. "And I think that it should stand for first-years as well. The locker room incident two days ago was enough evidence that you are a pig and an enemy to all women." the girl said with a fiery tone as she didn't even open her eyes.

"EHHHH?!" he shouted completely shocked and offended by this, as he couldn't even fathom why this was the case. He was never at fault for everything wrong!

"...Truly sage advice." Koneko said with her deadpan monotone while keeping a stoic expression, making it unclear whether or not she meant it or was being sarcastic about it. Not being capable of really reading the small girl's intentions in her voice, the reincarnated devil face-planted his face against the table with tears coming from his eyes.

It was then that the devilish crimson beauty spoke up with a refined and courteous tone. "Well, I can say for a fact that Issei had done nothing wrong." she told the girl of the Sitri peerage while speaking politely and having an amused smile on her face as she exonerated her [Pawn] from any guilt.

This made Issei raise his head, eyes still filled with tears as he looked as his beautiful master. This time, the tears that came down from his eyes like a pair of rivers were one of joy and relief. "Thaaaank you, Buchouuuu..." he said with a long drawl of his words with his tone exhibiting these emotions of happiness and relief that the woman he looked up to and lusted after the most didn't treat him in the same contempt as the other girls did.

Then Rias's smile disappeared as she looked at her fellow [King], the head of Kuhou Academy's student body council. "However, there is a situation that I must request your assistance with, Sona." she said with a little bit of urgency and adding a little bit of seriousness to her tone that made the atmosphere in the room heavier, at least metaphorically.

Sona took a slow breath and adjusted her glasses on her nose. When she opened her eyes, her look seemed to be the same as before, but to those who knew her really well could see a very small yet subtle change on her brow, in which it bent a few milemeters more than usual, meaning that she was not only a bit unnerved, but was going to give it more than just her full attention. "What is the problem, Rias? If it is severe enough to go with it directly to me rather than your associates aside from Argento-san means this is not only something that requires you to have someone with healing capabilities, but something that you do not wish to involve them in or go to your brother about." she spoke clearly and in a very perceptive manner, to the point that she entangled her own fingers and put her chin on them. "Tell me the details." she requested in a very stoic and distant tone as her face seemed to have no emotions in it.

However, Rias had kept a stoic face of her own as she prepared to go into the details. Kiba gulped as he prepared to hear about his own injury. They didn't have any luck in getting a way to heal him since last night and simply seared and disinfected the wound as much as possible. As a result he had been suffering from a limp and wincing throughout the entire day, taking

"We went to hunt a stray devil in an abandoned house, nothing out of the ordinary. However, our enemy not only knew who we were, but she was also not alone." Rias started the story as everyone listened quietly. No one tried to cut her during the story. Sona meanwhile simply raised an eyebrow to show that she was slightly surprised by the last line. "It was an ambush. We were attacked by multiple stray devils who were working together using their own attempt at strategy, injuring Kiba and nearly hurting Koneko and Issei as well." the crimson-haired woman explained as she bit her lip angrily and frustrated over the fight last night.

Upon hearing this, the entire student council raised their head, took it a bit back and gasped, Sona and Tsubaki included. The shock was completely evident on their, which was surprising coming from even the two usually stoic third-year students who were at the head of the council.

"What? But that's impossible! Aren't stray devils always work alone because their personal desires clash with those of other stray devils? It should be impossible for them to work together!" Saji said with a fearful and disbelieving tone to his voice as he inquired his master for answers, hoping that she had any logical answers to this claim.

Sona simply raised her hand, causing the boy to stop his panicking and remain silent instantly. Issei looked so impressed with the level of authority that the bespectacled girl managed to produce by simply raising her hand. 'I bet Buchou could also do the same to me. Man, High-class devils sure are scary.' he thought to himself as he gulped nervously.

The bob-cut, High-class devil then readjusted her glasses again before speaking. "There is an explanation to this, one that even I find hard to believe." she stated calmly as several beads of sweat were now appearing on her brow, her eyes focused constantly on her High-class compatriot. "I assume that you have had the same thought as well, Rias?" she inquired in a rhetorical manner as she once again crossed and entangled her fingers, which had very small, barely noticeable twitchy movement. Only Sona's [Queen] noticed it.

Rias nodded as the everyone looked at her and then Issei noticed that she also had beads of sweat on her brow. "Yes. The only possible thing that I imagine that could lead to such a possibility is that there is a stray devil strong enough to force his will over the other strays." she stated as she looked back at Sona unflinching.

Everyone in the room, with the exception of Rias and Sona had their mouth agape with surprise and their eyes widened with disbelief at what they had just heard. Issei couldn't really understand everything that was going on. He had just seen a stray for the first time yesterday and their were pretty powerful, at least to him. Then his eyes widened further when he realized what they just said meant.

"Hold on." Ruruko said as she got up and was shaking nervously. "If that's true, how far beyond them do you estimate that this leader stray is?" she asked with a quivering and cracking voice as she was starting to sweat. The rest of the members in both peerages had that same question in their mind, but the [Pawn] of the Sitri peerage was the first to ask the question.

The crimson-haired beauty simply sighed as she looked down at the table. "Honestly, we can't know for sure. He must be stronger than any other stray in the city, which isn't a high bar to pass," she started to explain her theory as to how strong their theoretical opponent might be. "therefore I believe that he might be at the minimum a bit under Tsubaki and at worst a little bit weaker than myself, Sona and Akeno." she finished her conjuncture as she raised her eyes up from the table.

There was a long silence after the High-class devil spoke as everyone were still digesting the information and the theoretical threat level that this might be for them. At this point everyone understood why Rias Gremory came to the Sitri peerage for air. If there was an attempt to organize the stray devils in Kuoh Town, then it would be bad not only for them, but most importantly for the human civilians and the secret existence of the supernatural. Asia herself was incredibly nervous and her body was shaking while her gaze had turned down. Issei noticed it and held her hand in order to reassure her, which caused her to feel more comfortable by squeezing his hand.

"Rias," the bob-cut leader of the student council said as her fingers were intertwined. "Why did you not inform Kurosaki-san in these developments? Not that Argento-san's Twilight Healing isn't incredibly valuable, but why not request Kurosaki-san's raw power to solve the issue quickly?" the third-year student inquired as she made a good point as to how to basically end the threat before it becomes a big deal.

Rias simply looked at Sona with a matching stoic expression before looking over at the former nun. "Asia-san, Kiba has been injured right leg last night and still hasn't fully healed yet. Since we would need his assistance tonight, would you mind healing him please?" she asked nicely with a friendly smile on her face. The healer looked at Issei for a second before looking back at the Devil with a determined face, her intentions made clear by her eyes alone. She got up, ran to where the blonde man sat and started using her Sacred Gear on his leg.

When the crimson-haired devil saw that her peerage's [Knight] was being healed, she returned her gaze towards the woman she considered her equal in status and in authority. "Ichigo is a shinigami. I made him swear not to interfere with our work of eliminating stray devils just as we won't be going on our own volition to fight hollows. Devils and shinigami deal with different creatures and thus I saw it appropriate that he would not interfere in our business." she explained her reasons calmly. She then took a sigh as she continued. "But he will break promise if he believed that we, or more specifically Issei, were in a life-threatening situation. The fact that there is a chance of it is what worries me." she explained further, only to then frown as she got up and slapped her hands on the table.

"I will not let Ichigo Kurosaki fight my battles. This is the matter of devils and we will handle it ourselves. This is why I decided to come to you for help. Let's work together to solve this problem. Whoever is trying to organize all the stray devils in this city will not stand a chance against both of us." she said with a bit of anger coming slipping into her voice as she talked directly to the head of the student council, making everyone else in the room to lean backwards and slumped into their chairs while she sat down once again.

There was a long silence as everyone in the room looked back and forth between the two [Kings], waiting for Sona to retort in any way to what Rias had just said. To everyone but the peerages' respected [Queens], there was a level of tension that prevented them from breaking the silence. It was honestly nerve-wracking. Meanwhile Asia used this time of silence to fully focus on healing the blonde devil with a focused determination in her eyes.

After more than a solid minute before Sona simply got up and walked to another corner of the room, where she opened a drawer and pulled out something that the members of the ORC didn't really get a good glimpse of. She then walked back to the table and spread the item at the center of it while still standing up, revealing it to be a map of the city. "If this is what you want, Rias, then our servants will split into groups and scour the city for whatever information they can about these attempts to organize the city's stray devils under a single banner." she said as she raised a finger and whispered some incantation before putting her finger at the center of the map, causing it to glow for a single second.

Immediately Saji raised his hand with a confused and nervous expression on his face. "But Sona-Kaicho, how are we supposed to scour the entire city in small groups? I know that we probably have days, if not weeks to d so, but what if we a small group is ambushed by the strays?" he inquired the leader of the Sitri peerage as everyone in the room internally agreed that he was asking good questions.

"It is possible, but it would require for some to stay behind to serve as reinforcement." Rias immediately somewhat answered the question as she started talking. "I believe that Akeno, Tsubaki, Sona and myself will stay here and follow you all from afar, and when we will keep tabs on the rest of you as you will split into groups and scout every abandoned area in the city in the coming days or weeks. That is the way that I think would cover the most ground. I believe that was your plan, Sona?" she explained her answer to the blonde [Pawn] of the Sitri group as she finally asked for a confirmation from the leader of said group.

Sona simply nodded in agreement and with confirmation. "Indeed. If we stay behind to supervise, then when one group gets ambushed then we can send up to three people as reinforcements." she said as her glare then turned to Saji, who straightened himself up when their eyes met. "And because we are the strongest in both groups, then our support will end the engagement quickly. Do you have any other questions, Saji?" she asked as she spoke in her usual stern and authoritative tone.

"Ah... nope." the blonde [Pawn] said as he put on a stupid smile on his face while chuckling nervously.

This got an approving nod from the head of the student body council as she then looked around at all of the devils from both peerages in the room, as well as the human former nun. "Excellent, then we can now start splitting you all into groups." she said as her gaze stopped when her eyes met Rias. "We will need to split the groups into having a way to cover for each other's weaknesses. However, I have a larger peerage than you do, Rias, making it not as simple as I would like. For example, you are missing one [Rook], one [Knight], no reliable [Bishops] and having a limit of only one [Pawn] while I have two [Bishops], one [Knight], one [Rook] and two [Pawns]." Sona stated as she put her hand on her chin and seemed to be deep in thought in an attempt to calculate how to separate the two peerages into teams.

Upon hearing that the High-class devil finished her sentence while her mind was still deep in pondering over the conundrum, Rias simply perked up. Her eyes drifted towards Issei and their gazes met. "Issei, you will keep Asia protected and by your side wherever you go, right?" she asked him as if it was something that was not completely obvious to her, simply baiting her servant with a seemingly unsure tone to her voice, which contradicted the smile on her face.

The brown-haired reincarnated devil's eyes immediately showed more determination as her swallowed the bait like a fish. "Of course, Buchou. Asia-chan is important to me. I will use all my power to protect her. So don't worry, Buchou, I won't let you down, I promise." he said with a completely determined and strong-willed voice that it sounded like he really meant every word and was going to follow up on that promise.

Hearing this made the blonde girl blush madly as she tried to focus harder on finishing healing up Kiba's injuries in order to block the thoughts from her mind, while the heir to the Gremory family suddenly felt an uncomfortable feeling in her heart which she couldn't understand or put to words. Despite those feelings that uneased her, she kept on smiling. But the female members of the Sitri peerage looked the most surprised, as Tomoe and Hanakai had a completely shocked and awed expression on their faces while Reya had a big smile on her face and Tsubasa merely smirked approvingly.

"Okay then, fair enough." she said as her eyes started darting around members of the room. "Now, since Issei is still inexperienced, is there anyone who wants to volunteer to help him protect Asia-san while you search for strays?" she inquired with the same perky smile on her face.

There were a few seconds of silence as the devils eyed at each other to see who was willing to go along with Issei and Asia. Saji looked over at the brown-haired teen and started to raise his hand up to volunteer, but then another hand darted up quickly, stopping him from fully raising his hand as he was surprised to see who it was, and he wasn't the only one.

All of the girl of the Sitri peerage, with the exception of Sona and her [Queen] had their eyes widen as they saw that the one who raised their arm was none other than the Sitri [Rook], Tsubasa. "I'll go. If Issei-san needs a spear while he plays the shield, then I'm willing to fight with him." she said casually with a small smirk on her face.

"What?! But he's a perverted pig." the reddish-brown haired, pig-tailed girl said with a surprised as she insulted the member of Kuoh Academy's Pervert Trio once again as she tried to comprehend Tsubasa's decision to go alongside said pervert.

Sona looked at her tomboyish, blue-haired [Rook] with her examining eyes and her stoic expression. "Are you sure you want to go along with Hyoudou-san and Argento-san?" she inquired with an impartial, sounding like she simply wanted to make sure that her servant was completely sure of her decision.

Tsubsa kept on smiling as she nodded. "Yes, I am sure." she retorted.

"Very well then." Sona said as she accepted the answer as she then pointed at a certain point on the map of Kuoh Town. "You three will go to the South-West, where there have been notes of a few abandoned houses in that area. I want you to investigate it and prepare for a fight in case you are ambushed." she instructed the two devils and the humans on where to go.

The three of the first scouting group simply gave a nod as Asia was doing the finishing touches on Kiba's wound. "Right." they all said in unison with determination in their eyes.

The crimson-hared devil then got up from her chair and started walking towards the map as well. "Sona, may I?" she asked her friend for permission to look at the map as well in order to have more information so that she would be capable of sending her own servants as well. As she looked at the map, she saw that there were areas that were specifically marked as being noted to be abandoned, giving her some ideas. After looking at the map for a few minutes she had decided on where to send a scout of her own.

"Kiba," she said calmly as she looked at her blonde-haired [Knight], who's body tensed slightly with a need to pay full attention when she called his name. "There is an industrial area in the North-East section of town which had one of the factories there become abandoned over a few cases of mysterious disappearances in the last month. I want you to check that out." she ordered her servant calmly and politely as she pointed at the spot in the map where the location of the factory was located.

The blonde teenager nodded as he seemed determined and resolute in his expression, a desire to do better than last night. "Of course, Buchou. I won't let you down." he told her as he clenched his hands into fists and put his hand over the healed area, remembering the injury from the previous night. The members of the Gremory peerage noticed this and understood why he felt like that, even though his crimson-haired leader didn't hold that against him.

Upon hearing this, the High-class devil walked to the second-year student and put a hand over his shoulder with a wide smile on her face. "I know you won't. As a member of my peerage, I wouldn't expect any less from you." she told him with pride and confidence beaming from her voice, which brought a smile and a bow from Kiba.

Then, after a second or two of silence, the bespectacled leader of the student body council chimed in into that particular conversation by clearing her throat, which got all eyes back on her. "Right." she said as she then looked at her white-haired [Bishop]. "Hanakai-san, you would join Youto-san and act as his ranged support while he acts as the offensive force. If Rias or I had another [Rook], we would have added them in with you, but I trust you enough to be capable of escaping or being good enough as a support role to not overburden him. Are you okay with that?" the bob-haircut woman asked her servant as she explained to her the role she needed to play in the scout team alongside Kiba.

The second-year curvaceous beauty lowered her head slight as a small smile rose to her lips and a light blush filled her cheeks. "A-alright, I'll do my best to help Youto-kun." she said timidly as she tried her best to hide her obvious crush on the pretty-boy. Seeing this got Issei jealous as he glared at Kiba, who just looked back at him and gave him a friendly smile, irritating him further.

Hearing this, the leader of the Sitri peerage nodded. "Good." she told her white-haired servant as she then looked at the only guy in her peerage, making him straighten up and tense his body when he noticed her eyes locked with his. "Saji-san, I want you to take Nimura-san with you to the North-West of the town to inspect several warehouses there that had sights of strange people in that area. I only put you two together because you are both [Pawns] and therefore could promote." she told the man as her eyes went over to look at the first-year student who served as her servant. "I trust you two to be safe and always keep your phones on you. Call me immediately when you are both in danger. Understand?" she finished giving orders to her two servants, to which both Saji and Ruruko nodded their head quickly.

Rias then started talking as well. "Which leaves the last team, which will go and check another area of abandoned warehouses by the old docks area." she said as she looked at her small, white-haired [Rook]. "Koneko, you wouldn't mind tagging along with Meguri-san and Kusaka-san, would you?" she asked the girl with a smile on her face, to which the younger highschooler looked as indifferent as ever.

"...Sure." Koneko said with the same emotionless tone as always.

Rias then looked at the two girls from her friend's peerage. "Now, can I trust you two to watch Koneko's back, even though she will be the role of the tank in this team?" she inquired as she seemed completely nonchalant with a small smile on her face, but the girls still sensed a bit of her demonic aura rising up. Most likely a trick of intimidation.

"Yeah, of course we will." the braided [Bishop] from the body council said with a smile on her face as there was a noticeable bead of sweat of her brow as she looked over at the white-haired first-year student. "I hope that we will have a wonderful partnership, Toujo-chan." she said politely and courtly as she gave Koneko a small bow.

At this point the intimidated but more perky Tomoe chimed in. "Yeah, totally! As you senpai, it's my job to watch your back and we will definitely have a lot of fun talking about girl stuff while kicking ass. What do you say?" she said with a big and enthusiastic smile while also sporting a small bead of sweat on her brow.

The [Rook] simply eyed the two girls stoically. "...Sure, whateves." she told the two of them as she took a bite out of the sugary treat that she was eating.

Upon hearing this, the crimsonette looked over at the head of the student body council and gave her a nod, to which the other High-class devil responded with a nod of her own before clearing her throat once more and getting everyone's attention. "Alright then. Now that we have selected our scouting teams, I require all of you to put your phones at the center of the table." she said as she made a gesture of extending her hands which gestured the request that she gave everyone in the room.

Simply shrugging and not putting to much effort about thinking about it, all the members of both peerages took out their smartphones and put them at the center of the long meeting table in a small pile, with the only exceptions were the [Kings] and [Queens] of the two peerages respectively. The bespectacled High-class devil the walked around the table to the point that she stood over the pile of phones and raised an hand right above it and started chanting, causing all the phones to glow in a light-blue light for a few seconds, making the groups raise an eyebrow.

When it was over, the third-year student looked at everyone else in the room as she began to explain what she had just done to their phones. "Now, what you saw was a simply yet effective spell." she said as she picked one of the phones as on the city map of Kuoh Town ten blue points appeared, which made most of the devils realize what it was. The only exceptions were Issei, Asia and Saji, who were still a big confused on what it meant. "Your phones are now trackers for Rias and myself to follow both you locations and your status." she started her explanation as she gave the most general explanation to the spell with an obvious intent of continuing with a deeper explanation.

The bob-cut haired woman didn't waste a single moment before she continued to explain the spell a little deeper. "The points represent health. Blue means that you are completely healthy and uninjured. Yellow dots means that you are slightly injured. Orange dots mean that you are injured to a degree that you are in a desperate need of reinforcements, with the red dots means that you are grievously injured to the point that you need immediate evacuation and healing. This is extremely simple to understand, but it is also crucial to remember because Rias and I will act according to the location and color of the dots." she finished her explanation about the colored dots that appeared on the map in the location of the school as the phones were returned to their respective owners.

"Now then," the crimson-haired devil started talking again. "you all have places to be and we should flush out and take care of this problem as soon as possible. Go out and do your best." she told the entire large group with seriousness to her voice, showing that this issue was serious for her as well as she was the one to give the order to spread out.

"Right." the devils of both peerages said in unison as they all got up and prepared to move to their respective scouting locations, determined to find and eliminate the stray devils.

Urahara Shoten,

Ichigo had spent quite a while in patching the whole that he had made to the shop's roof. He knew that because he had very little experience in doing such work that the patch would be rather clunky and aesthetically unappealing compared to what it was originally, but he knew that it didn't matter to him at the end as long as he managed to make it hold well enough and do its job.

He had been given the tools to do the work such as a hammer and nails, which were easy to use, while also helping him in a way in order to practice restraint using his physical force, even if he had enough practice with that. Still, not doing this kind of work at all was a bit hard as to how he needed to put the planks and hammering the nails in deep enough that it would hold and not fall into the hole. It was such a pain to do that his back was starting to ache.

"Yo, Ichigo." the orange-haired teen raised his head from his work as he heard a bit of a raspy, masculine voice to his left, seeing the black cat walking on the roof of the store with something on its back. Upon closer inspection, he managed to figure out that it was an apron. "Seems like the wooden planks have stopped falling in after half a dozen times, so I guess you finally figured out how to handle your wood." the talking cat said with a sly smirk on its face while its tone showed a sarcastic vibe to it.

The substitute shinigami simply frowned and pouted with blush covering his cheeks as he looked back at the plank that he was trying to not let the shinigami in animal form watch his reaction. "Yeah, yeah, real funny." he said with a bit of exasperation in his voice. After a few seconds of silence he gave a quick glance to the cat. "Why do you have an apron on your back while in cat form, anyway?" he asked as he continued doing his work while half-listening to the answer.

"This?" the cat asked as it looked over its back at the apron. "Just something I heard about that I intend to use for a little prank, nothing major." the shinigami in animal form said nonchalantly as it returned to stare at the orange-haired teen again, causing for another uninterrupted period of silence in which the teen continued hammering in on the nails to set the wooden plank in place. "Say... I'm planning to go to Soul Society during this weekend and I wondered if you wanted to join." the cat said as its facial expression seemed to be completely stoic, despite obviously holding underneath it a devilish scheme.

Hearing this caused the teenage boy to stop what he was doing and look at the cat once more with a perplexed and surprised expression on his face. "Wait, what did you just say, Yoruichi-san?" he asked as he tried to make sure that he had heard the request from the cat correctly.

"Just as I said." Yoruichi said with a smirk. "Wouldn't you want to say hello to all of your friends? To Rukia-chan and little Renji-san? How long has it been since any of them entered the world of the living or you went to Soul Society?" the cat inquired while wearing a cheeky grin on its face while the orange-haired teen started thinking about those questions seriously.

After a few moments of thinking about the questions, Ichigo decided to ask question of his own. "Why are you going to Soul Society anyway?" he asked with a suspicious tone to his voice, knowing that there was a hidden motive to the shinigami in cat form.

Yoruichi simply frowned at the question. "Really? After all those seventeen months you didn't think that they would want to know about your progress when it came to your powers and abilities? I simply go there every month to tell them a little bit about your progress." she explained while the masculine voice of her cat form came out of her mouth. "I usually go there to give the report because I am a former noble and because Kisuke doesn't need to take some time from his incredibly important Aizen contingencies." she explained calmly to the orange-haired hybrid, who had took the time to sit up with his legs and arms crossed to listen to her.

"And why do you need me to come with you this time? You know that I have school for the next few days." he retorted with a suspicious look on his face, still looking for the hidden motive behind the cat's words.

The black cat raised her front paw in a way that showed the gesture for two. "Two reasons, really. The first is the fact that you've finally learned how to use your angelic powers and I believe that the captain commander would like a personal demonstration of it." she told him with a masculine voice as she explained the first reason completely nonchalantly. "The second reason though?" she said as a sly grin appeared on her cat face, making Ichigo uncomfortable. " just need you to distract them so that I can, with the help of this lovely apron, set up my little prank for a certain handsome boyo. Probably would give Rukia a heart attack too. Now that would be a blast." she said with a more devilishly sly and jovial tone to her voice as her grin got wider, which seemed really bizarre on a cat's face.

The angel-shinigami hybrid gave a scowl upon hearing the hidden motive of the shinigami in cat form, expecting to hear something like that from her. "Do you seriously have no shame? You know that Byakuya is a widower who loves his wife, right? And you still try to seduce him? Why are you focusing on him so much?" he inquired with an offended and slightly angry tone to his own voice.

The cat gasped in an melodramatic fashion as to pretend that she was offended while putting her paw on the part of her chest. However, her way of delivering of the "hurt" tone it was so fake and obviously played intentionally bad that it wasn't even entertaining. "Why Ichigo, do you really think that badly of little ol' me?" she asked in a cutesy manner as the masculine voice of the cat form made the bad acting even more jarring. The hybrid simply kept scowling at her, raising an eyebrow to show that his answer to her answer was a positive one.

This made Yoruichi sigh as she dropped all pretenses and attempts to be funny or even rile up the teenager. "I'm not doing this for that reason, Ichigo." she said as she started explaining herself more to the teen. "If all I wanted was sex, I would go and play with Soi-Feng." she told him nonchalantly while smirking in her cat form for only a second, before dropping it quickly. "I respect the fact that Byakuya is loyal to his wife, so I'm just trying to break his stoic mask and get a true emotional reaction. It's a game, really. If he break, I win and he knows that." she went on to tell the hybrid why she had decided to do this type of "game", which the hybrid somewhat understood, but didn't like. Mostly because he fell into Yoruichi's traps many times in the past and got her a good laugh at his expense. "Although," the woman in cat body continued speaking. "if I do actually succeed in seducing him and something sexy does happen between us?" she started on a one last point as her cat tongue licked her lips with lustful anticipation. "It's going to be a big, fat bonus." she finished speaking as a little giggle left her lips.

The conversation between the two was suddenly interrupted by a powerful pressure that they sensed around them. Spiritual pressure. The two immediately raised their heads and their eyes widened with surprised as the energy had spread across the entire town. The pressure of the Reiatsu didn't do anything to the shinigami because of their power difference to the spiritual pressure, but it still felt alien and unknown to them.

After a few short seconds the pressure disappeared, which gave the cat time to speak. "Ichigo!" the cat said with surprise and urgency in her voice, gaining the attention of the teenager as he stood up. "I don't recognize this Reiatsu, so it could be related to Aizen somehow. It's not that strong, definitely above a lieutenant, but there is something strange about this as well that concerns me. If you're going to check it out, neither Kisuke nor I will stop you. Just tell us every bit of information you get out of it. Understood?" the shinigami in cat form told the orange-haired boy with serious tone to her voice.

The hybrid immediately took out his substitute shinigami medallion and pressed it against the center of his chest as black tendrils erupted from it and wrapped around his everything blow his neck in the black mass. In just five seconds, the black energy disappeared as the hybrid now wore his shinigami shihakusho and he put the medallion inside the clothes. "Yeah, on it. The bastard isn't leaving my sight." he said with sternness and determination in his tone as all of his twelve white angel wings spread out from his back. With just a single flap of all of his large wings in unison, he disappeared from the roof of the store.

Around the same time as that was going on, Kiba and Hanakai walked around one of the more run down and less prestigious areas in the town, which was an industrial area that had factories and warehouses of all shapes and sizes, with some being rather small buildings while others were absolutely massive.

The two looked around to see if there was anything unusual that could indicate that there was a stray devil in the area. All they could see around them were factories that had finished the working days in them and had closed up, which left the two of them to just walk around and talk.

"So, Hanakai-san," the blonde pretty-boy started a conversation with his scouting companion, who had constantly sent looks at him before blushing and looking away when they were silent. Hearing him call her immediately made her perk up with anticipation to hear his every word as the blush disappeared from her cheeks. "how do you like being Sona-senpai's servant? I heard that she treats her servants just as well as Buchou." he inquired with a genuinely interested look on his face while also giving the girl a warm and friendly smile.

The girl looked away and blushed as she started twiddling with her thumbs as she prepared to give the blonde devil teenage boy her answer. "Well, you heard correctly. Despite appearing seemingly cold and stoic, she cares deeply for every one of us and tries to do her best to make us feel more comfortable and more attuned with one another so that we will work like a well-oiled machine. The downside is that she is a perfectionists who desires excellence in everything, which can make our daily work at the council mentally draining." the white-haired second-year student explained about her master with a smile of pride plastered all over her face.

Hearing the last part of her sentence made Kiba raise an eyebrow. "Why's that?" he asked with curiosity.

Hanakai then raised her finger to face height as she started her explanation. "Well, we are always on a very tight schedule when it comes to our work. We also always have to double or even triple check every paper that we write, be it a student's record or the financial records of the student body council's treasury to see how much we have left and how will we decide to use it for future school activities." she told her crush as she talked in a very professional matter. "It's tough, but still satisfying when we finish it. And then there are the contracts that we perform as devils. There we are given free reign with our clients and nature of our contracts and she tries to intervene as little as possible. That's how we know that she trusts us." she finished her explanation as a joyful smile grew wider on her face.

Kiba chuckled as his smile grew wider. "Sounds like a pain, but if you like all of that hard work, then I only admire you for your diligence." he complimented her, making the white-haired [Bishop] of the Sitri peerage to blush heavily once again.

"Th-thank you, Youto-san." she stuttered a bit while thanking him as she twiddled her thumbs for a few seconds.

After nearly a minute in which they just walked around the area and looked to see any suspicious activity, they finally began another conversation. "Do you really think that we will be ambushed by stray devils here, Youto-san? What do you even expect these stray devils to be like? I have very little experience fighting, so sorry if I'm a bit nervous." the girl told him as she looked around at alleyways between the large buildings with a look of uncertainty and concern on her face.

At that point the two devils locked eyes as the blonde teenage boy gave her a trusting smile. "Whatever the case may be, I know that I can trust you to watch my back and you can trust me to watch yours." he told her with confidence in his voice, causing her to slightly gawk at him with surprise at his level of trust before giving a smile and a nod of her own, showing her determination to prove this trust to be founded.

Suddenly the two were then surprised as out from the streets, from under the guise of darkness came out a person and walked into the streets right in front of the two devils, getting their attentions immediately as they stopped. The figure that stood in front of them was a man who was really tall, really and had really wide shoulders, standing at 1.87 meters tall and had pale skin covered in scales like a reptile and a shaved head. His eyes had a yellow sclera and a red, snake-like irises, which made the two devils tense up as they felt uncomfortable under the man's watch.

The clothes that he was wearing were quite vibrant to say the least. He wore an emerald-green, long-sleeved t-shirt with scaly pattern that held extremely close to his very muscular upper body with a very big cleavage window going from the neck area to the center of the chest, revealing a lot of his firm chest muscles. Over that shirt he wore an open long-sleeved, hot-pink colored jacket with a pattern of yellow flames all over the sides and the sleeves of the jacket. He wore a pair of pants that were stuck close to his figure and had a pattern of pink hearts on it, which hid a pair of long, red stockings on his incredibly well-toned legs, which he wore a pair of black sports shoes.

Two swords suddenly burst from the ground as Kiba used his Sword Birth Sacred Gear. "This guy seems like trouble, Hanakai-san. He grabbed both short swords and pulled them out of the ground only to then crouch slightly as he entered a dual-sword fighting stance. "It would be wise of us to go at him with everything we've got from the very start, so don't be afraid to him with your strongest attacks." he told her as he squinted and focused his glare on the large man in front of them, who stood so casually with a nonchalant expression on his face.

Meanwhile Hanakai took a step back and raised her hands to chest height and extended them forward in the direction of the stray devil as demonic energy pulsed around them. "Right. Understood, Youto-san." she told him as a determined expression came to her face, showing her will to fight despite her lack of experience.

Upon seeing the two preparing to fight, the stray devil smirk and raised an eyebrow as he started slowly nodding. "Hm hm..." the man hummed to himself in a deep voice of satisfaction as his eyes moved around both the peerage devils, going from up and down their bodies. Seeing how the eyes of the stray moved made Kiba and Hanakai feel slightly uncomfortable, with the long, white-colored girl stopped channeling demonic energy in her hands and took a step back while sweating a bit.

"Um, Youto-san? What is he doing?" she asked her scouting companion nervously as her sight never left their enemy.

Kiba, on the other hand, looked completely calm with a serious expression on his face as his hands tightened around the handles of his swords. "He's obviously checking us out." he told her as he prepared himself to either initiate an attack or attempt to counter whatever their enemy was going to throw at them.

"In what regard?" the [Bishop] of the Sitri peerage inquired.

"My estimate is that he is trying to figure us out in terms of strength." the blonde [Knight] of the Gremory peerage answered her as his head then turned to her and he gave her a jovial smile. "Or he could just be checking us out for a more attraction based interest." he told her nonchalantly as he returned his sight, which returned to its more serious look, at the stray devil.

Hearing this made Hanakai blush as she covered her chest. "Wait, so is he checking out you or me?" she inquired as now she was feeling more embarrassed and uncomfortable with the whole thing.

"Maybe you, maybe me. Maybe even the both of us." Kiba casually answered her question, which made the girl turn as red as a tomato while steam comically erupted from her ears. Meanwhile, the muscular stray devil in front of the two simply stood there with his arms folded in front of his chest, with his smirk getting wider and more satisfied after hearing their conversation as he continued nodding his head slowly, which seemed more or less of a confirmation of the blonde's answer without even talking.

Suddenly, all tree devils felt an enormous pressure hit them out of nowhere, slamming Hanakai against the ground while Kiba and the stray fell on their knees, constantly pushing them further down. Kiba gritted his teeth and closed his eyes as he felt the pressure nearly breaking the bones in his body and feeling the air leaving his lungs with no room to breath whatsoever. Hanakai was crying, sweating buckets and desperately gasping for air as she felt her body being crushed by whatever wave of pressure that had hit all of them. Even the stray devil seemed like he was suffering an extreme amount of pain, unable to move his body despite his strong appearance.

For only a few seconds that pressure lasted. For only a few seconds the three had been crushed and suffocated under a massive amount of power that none of the three had ever felt in their entire lives. Both the [Knight] and [Bishop] of their respective peerages knew that their masters were strong, but even they were nothing in comparison to what had just hit them out of nowhere. For the world around them, for the stream of time itself, the spiritual pressure lasted for only a few short seconds. However, for the three devils it lasted like an eternity.

When the pressure stopped, the three started inhaling air slowly and then started panting heavily as they tried to get up from the ground, with their bodies drenched in sweat as they tried to regain their barrings. Kiba stuck his swords to the ground to support him. 'What was that? This pressure felt similar to what Tatsuki-chan can release, only stronger.' he thought to himself as he slowly got up and raised his swords while panting heavily.

The stray devil himself also slowly got up and panted heavily as he glared at the two with a now more serious expression filled with killing intent. A second later he crouched and pushed off the ground with his legs, causing the ground beneath to crack as he jumped high into the air and headed towards the two devils.

Acting quickly, the blonde [Knight] dropped both his swords and quickly picked up the white-haired [Bishop] of the Sitri peerage and jumped to the side, managing to evade the attack as the stray landed with a powerful punch to the ground that created an explosion powerful enough to create a shockwave that shook the area around him, pushing Kiba even further while he was in the air. At the same time, the explosion lifted up a heavy amount of dust and chunks of asphalt into the air.

Despite being pushed back, Kiba managed to land smoothly on the ground as he put down the blushing girl as he inspected the dust cloud in which their enemy had created as there was a bead of sweat on his brow as his glare intensified. "This power... this kind of feat is something I can see only [Rooks] like Koneko-chan performing." he said as he created two short swords using his Sacred Gear, holding each in one hand.

"Or Tsubasa-san." Hanakai said as she was still blushing slightly as she was glancing away from the pretty boy.

However, after the girl finished her sentence, there was a beat as they thought about both of their statements as they realized what this meant. "No... that shouldn't be possible." the white-haired girl spoke as the blonde boy's muscles tensed while her own body started shaking with concern and fear.

When the dust cleared, the man slowly walked out of a small crater that he made in the pavement, no longer having any killing intent in his eyes, but rather a determined expression that seemed eager for a fight. He took a few deep breaths before entering a fighting stance as his eyes were focused on the two.

"Nobu Nakagami, Stray Devil Council [Rook]." those were the only words that the man said with what seemed like a respectful tone as it seemed like he was trying to act like a warrior.

The blonde swordsman figured it out immediately as he also took a deep breath to calm his nerves and picked up both swords in his hands while crouching slightly into a combat stance of his own. "Kiba Youto, [Knight] of the Gremory peerage." he introduced himself to his foe with a dignified yet serious voice as he prepared for the oncoming clash.

Seeing how her crush quickly got his mind straight and stood up to the stray devil made the demonic magic wielding devil to muster up a little bit of courage as an aura of demonic energy surrounded her as she also looked at their adversary, if a lot more unsure about all of this. "M-Momo Hanakai, [Bishop] of the Sitri peerage." she introduced herself as she accepted that a clash was inevitable.

A little bit of time before Kiba and Hanakai met their stray devil opponent, another group had been reaching their destination in an area full of warehouses. According to the data there was one that had a connection to several missing cases and thus the usage of said warehouse had been stopped.

That was the place which Koneko, Meguri and Reya had been walking towards, since the smallest and youngest girl in the group had been leading them to that specific point, claiming that there was a smell of a devil inside it that made it stand out. While they were pretty close to the place, the [Knight] of the Sitri peerage didn't stop talking.

"So what kind of contracts do you usually have, Koneko-chan? I hope that it's not a bunch of pervy sex offenders or some messed up things like that. I mean, it used to be hard for me to get used to all the weird requests that some clients sent my way when I first started. You know, being a "good Christian girl" and all that jazz." the girl with the reddish-brown pigtails talked constantly in an attempt to have a conversation with the stoic first-year student, but without having much luck and thus resulted in her constantly talking.

"I mean, I do feel bad for getting my parents excommunicated when I got reincarnated into a devil, but they managed to forgive me for it." she continued talking as she brought up something rather personal to her history but she didn't seem too hung up about it. "I mean, ever since I turned into a devil I learned a lot about how to use a sword, especially badass katanas, nodachis, tantos and so on. I just really love medieval swords... from Japan of course." she said with a cat-like smile on her face as she finished her sentence.

While Tomoe was continuously talking the other two were constantly listening with varying level of interest and other emotions. Reya simply gave an amused smile as she gave a cute giggle with her hand over her mouth, finding the constant talk from her peerage and friend as she looked at the other girl. Meanwhile, Koneko kept looking ahead with an emotionless on her face as she just stayed silent and walked, not bothering much with the attempts of the pig-tailed girl to start a conversation.

"But the best thing about being reincarnated as a devil was that the language barrier completely shattered! I was in the position to learn basically every language in the world and understanding everything just made it easier for me. It definitely helped me expand my musical library. I mean, I love... no, I adore J-Pop, but have any of you ever listened to anything that wasn't J-Pop or K-Pop?" the reddish-brown haired girl asked with excitement in her voice as she as she comically raised her hands up in the air. "And ever since I got that client who wanted me to be the DJ in his parties? Oh boy, those things started booming. My client asks for something hardcore? I bring in the German heavy metal." she exclaimed as she took her tongue out and raised her fingers in that rocker attitude. "When he wants something catchy? I bring in some French rap." she told the two girl while beaming with confidence.

This made the white-haired [Rook] actually turn her head to her senpai. "...Seriously? Something like that actually exists? I get rap in English, but in French?" she asked with a deadpan tone that seemed to fit perfectly with her stoic and unreadable expression on her face. It was obvious that she said those words with disbelief and most likely meant what she said in a bad way.

"Yep, rap fits in every language." Tomoe said with a big grin and made a victory sign with her right index and middle finger as she giggled.

Suddenly the three were struck with a powerful wave of pressure that pushed them down with incredible force, shocking them all as they fell on the knees. Each one of them tried gasping for air with no success whatsoever, causing them to slowly suffocate as they tried to fight against the pressure, but couldn't move their bodies at all.

All three reincarnated devils tried to fight back, but the pressure kept pushing them down. 'This pressure... this unseen force... if I remember correctly, Arisawa-senpai called this reiatsu. But this feels completely different from what she was capable of emitting.' the white-haired [Rook] of the Gremory peerage thought to herself as she ground her teeth in an attempt to push herself, but it was not working.

And just as quickly as the pressure of the reiatsu came, it disappeared, shocking the three girl. They all slowly got up and panted heavily while sweating from the sensations that they felt from it. After getting up, the [Knight] of the Sitri peerage immediately fell down on the ground and continued to pant heavily, but only after a whiny groan left her throat. "Owww... that hurt so much. I thought I was gonna die." she said as she let out a tired and relieved groan immediately after. "I am so going to ask Kaicho to have a party after this whole mess is over." she said to herself as she stayed comfortably on the ground.

Suddenly the [Bishop] of the group touch the temples of the other two girls as she had a serious expression on her face. "I linked us all telepathically with my communication magic. I just sensed a spike of demonic energy from the warehouse that we were heading towards." Reya said to the others using telepathy granted to her by her unique magic, which got the attention of the other two girls.

Koneko sniffed the air for a second before looking at the girl with the brown braids ad nodded. "Yeah, I wanted to make sure that there is a devil in there, and there is definitely the scent of a devil coming from that warehouse." she told the older girl with her usual expression while talking through her thoughts, getting accustomed to the telepathic link between all three girls.

Upon hearing this, Tomoe jumped up with excitement. "Alright! Let's go and slice and dice some strays like fruit!" she also spoke with her thoughts as well.

"Hold on a moment, Meguri-chan." the braided girl stopped her more excited peerage member. "Did you remember to bring a sword with you?" she inquired with a patient tone as she looked with an examining eye at her friend.

Tomoe then smiled widely and nodded. "Yep, sure did." she said as out of nowhere and in a comedic fashion she took out a sheathed katana from behind her back, even though it wasn't there before. "I wouldn't go into a fight without a proper weapon to protect my delicate maidenhood from vile strays, pigs and perverts." she said as she unsheathed her blade and sliced the air several times comically.

The three then reached the warehouse in which they were headed to. Using her great strength, the small, white-haired [Rook] lifted the heavy metal door that stood in their way with little difficulty whatsoever, allowing them to enter the empty building that was filled with nothing but dust and webs all over it. Not ever old stored goods were there anymore.

Koneko sniffed the air with her nose for a few seconds, only for her expression to turn into a small frown as looked around, trying to find the enemy who was trying to ambush them. "...I can catch the enemy's scent, but it's spread all over this place. The smell of this stray devil even overpowers the smell of all the dust and mold around." she told her scouting companions as her eyes kept darting around the vast and empty building as moonlight entered from the hatches, fan and windows around the entire building.

The place was completely silent, with only wind from the outside blowing in making any sort of sound while dust was lighted as it was hovering around, which was visible because of all the moonlight entering the building. The three girls started to feel a bit uneasy and nervous, knowing that they were going to get into a fight, but were worried and alert as to when the enemy will strike them from the shadows.

"My oh my, what sweet and tasty looking group of corpses do I see in my little eye?" a smooth and seductive voice echoed around the whole building, which immediately alerted the three peerage devils and made them enter battle stances as Reya and Tomoe had a bead of sweat forming on their brow, all the while Koneko looked as stoic and cool-headed as ever. "It seems that he was right to say that you would willingly come after us, even would allow yourselves to get so easily ambushed just to meet us." the woman continued as an evil, mocking giggle echoed inside the building when she finished speaking.

Tomoe griped the handle of her katana tightly with both of her hands as she looked around. "Show yourself! You answer to both the Sitri and the Gremory peerages. You don't stand a chance, so why don't you come out where we can see you and surrender peacefully?" the second-year student and reincarnated devil inquired with a smirk filled with false bravado, both trying to intimidate the stray and make herself feel more confident and secure against the threat of whatever their opponents was going to be.

"Very well then, since you asked so nicely..." the voice echoed once more as suddenly from the ceiling they saw someone starting to climb down on some of the spider webs. They saw perfectly the woman who was going to confront them. It took nearly a minute for the stray devil's feet to touch the ground, in which during that time period she simply laughed quietly to herself while sharp sounds echoed around the warehouse, while the three girls from both peerages prepared themselves for a fight.

The woman who stood in front of them and was illuminated by the moonlight was a tall woman, standing at 1.78 meters tall. She had a heart-shaped face with a sharp chin and two slightly puffy cheeks, as well as a beautiful honey-blond hair that was tied behind her head like a ponytail, which reached down the center of her back. She was also wearing a beautiful formal evening gown that was colored hot-red that sat close to her hourglass figure, revealing her very ample breasts and very wide waist. She also wore a pair of black, shiny high heels on her slender feet.

However, her beauty was tarnished and turned into creepy and disgusting when her face had several small red eyes on each side where a pair of human eyes were. With the face being split in the middle by the bridge of her nose, each side had four red circular eyes, which if one was to draw a line to connect them, would create a perfect square. She also had four black and furry spider legs coming out from her back, two legs for each side, instead of a devil's usual small pair of bat wings. She stood with confidence as she put one hand on her waist and tilted said waist to the side as a smug, malicious and sadistic grin rose to her face.

"So what did the sister of the great Mao Lucifer and the sister of the great Mao Leviathan sent to face against me? Three little girls who are in a situation way over their tiny little heads?" the spider lady inquired with a mocking tone to her voice as she gave a noblewoman laugh to further mock the three.

Upon hearing this mocking statement, the shortest girl n the group had an even more noticeable frown on her face as she clenched her fists hard. Very hard. Almost enough to draw blood from her palms hard. "...We'll see who's in over her head after this little girl is going to smash you into a bloody pulp." she threatened the tall and voluptuous stray devil as she started getting more and more aggressive in her stance, showing more eagerness and desire to get into a fight, which alarmed the other two girls enough to take a few steps to the right with nervous expressions on their faces.

After taking a safe distance from the Gremory [Rook], Tomoe decided to take the lead over the conversation. "Alright lady, you answer to the Sitri and Gremory peerages. Who are you and are you the one who is organizing all the stray devils in Kuoh Town?" she inquired aggressively as she raised her katana in a fencing stance, ready to defend herself in case the woman tried anything funny.

However, the girl with the reddish-brown pigtails looked surprised as the blonde stray devil chuckled. "Me? Well, since you asked so nicely, I may just spill everything and see how afraid you'll all be." she boasted as she put one hand on the center of her chest. "My name is Maria Hidaka, and I am one of the five leaders of the Stray Devil Council." she declared her name and position as the eyes of the two girls from the Sitri peerage widened while the white-haired girl simply raised an eyebrow while still frowning.

'Council? A group of stray devils made a council? What the fuck does that even mean?!' the usually cheerful and assertive [Knight] asked inside her head as a few beads of sweat appeared on her brow.

Reya also seemed incredible concerned about what she had just heard and thoughts were also racing through her heads. 'This is bad. This is really bad. Everyone, we have to retreat and inform Kaichou and Rias-senpai about this development! We have to prob for a little more information and run away! Do you two understand?' she screamed in the heads of her comrades as she went into a full panic mode when she realized that they needed to inform the respective [Kings] of their peerages.

The white-haired [Rook] of the Gremory peerage didn't seem concerned at all as she then asked a question. "...Are we supposed to be intimidated? What even is this "organization" of yours?" she questioned with a deadpan tone as she showed no sign of fear, unlike Tomoe and Reya.

Seeing the defiance in the girl's eyes made the spider lady chuckle once more. "Well, we did overpower and made all the stray devils in this town to kneel before us, so I guess we are more than the likes of you can handle." she boasted in an attempt to intimidate the white-haired girl, which didn't seem to work because her expression didn't chance at all. "But anyway, we simply send our subordinates to do what they desire with their freedom. That's about it, aside from some ground rules to keep their egos in check and make sure that their actions keep the profile low." the woman kept talking as she walked from side to side while tilting her but a bit, just for her own personal enjoyment.

The three girls continued to stare as they bodies tensed up and they prepared to do anything at any moment. "We operate by using a tunnel system that we spent a long time digging across the entire city just in the form of a magical circle. I tell you, teleportation became much easier to use after that." she blonde stray continued her explain more about how the Stray Devil Council was operating and moving around within the boundaries of Kuoh Town, not at the least concerned about the fact that she was spilling the beans about her own organization.

At this point Reya interjected. "Wait a minute, why are you telling us so much about your organization? Aren't you afraid that we'll tell our peerage leaders about this?" She inquired with precaution in her voice as well as genuine interest in what actually made her so confident about blabbing so much.

Maria Hidaka then stopped and turned to face the three teenage girls as a dark, twisted and predatory grin appeared on her face. "Oh, it simple, really. I'm telling you all of this because none of you are leaving this place alive." she answered the question that the [Bishop] of the Sitri peerage asked her when the air inside the warehouse started becoming colder and colder while Maria pointed at Tomoe. "You remind me of my old master." she said as her grin disappeared and turned into a frown, as if a long nostalgic memory turned her attitude sour. "She thought that power was being in a position of power and authority in devil society, so her way of obtaining power was fucking her way to the top." she talked about the [King] of her old peerage with disdain in her voice. "Now I'm going to pound your face into a pile of flesh and blood, just like I did to my old master when I showed her what true power really is. Then I'll eat the little girl as a snack. How does that sound?" she threatened as her grin grew wider and an aura of demonic energy surrounded her frame while barring her fangs at the three girls.

It was then that Koneko just up into the air, launching herself at the stray devil while cocking her fist back with the intent of punching the spider woman. "I'm going to make you eat dirt and bury you six feet under! How's that for a snack, you old hag!" the white-haired reincarnated devil shouted with uncharacteristic fury that surprised and shocked the other two girls, as koneko let out a battle cry just as she was starting to descend from the air.

However, this didn't cause the stray to flinch. In fact, Maria simply gave a malicious smirk as she quickly dashed forward in speeds that surprised all three of the female devils, which only Tomoe could perfectly follow, allowing the blonde spider woman to reach the air-borne Koneko and making her gasp in surprise. Then, before Koneko could even react, a powerful uppercut smashed into her stomach.

The force of the punch caused the white-haired [Rook] of the Gremory peerage to cough up some blood as she gasped for air in pain as she was both winded instantly and sent flying backward and upwards into the section of the wall above the metal door of the warehouse. The impact with the wall created a large imprint as dust flew out forward and a loud "BOOM!" sound echoed around the entire warehouse. Meanwhile, the white-haired girl coughed up some saliva from the pain that she had from the impact, mixing in with the blood in her mouth.

The two girls from the Sitri peerage watched in utter disbelief as they saw the short, child-looking teen falling from the wall down into the ground face first, her body making a loud "THUD!" sound upon impact as more dust rose up into the air.

"This speed... that strength..." the reddish-brown haired [Knight] said in utter shock as her pupils shrank in fear and disbelief at what she had just saw.

However, the two didn't have too much time to digest what they just saw, as the blonde spider-looking stray devil pointed her left foot's toes in the direction of the two girls, causing large ice spikes to erupt from the ground and head towards them. Acting quickly, the girl with the pigtails pushed her friend to the side before jumping backwards, allowing the two to evade the incoming wave of ice spikes, which impaled the walls instead.

Reya's eyes widened like plates as she saw the ice spikes that impaled the wall as her whole body shuddered with fear in her eyes. "That magic power... no, only a [Queen] piece would have all of these qualities." she said with realization as she looked over at the stray devil, who just nonchalantly stood there calmly with confidence.

"Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding! That's right, girly! Ever since I was reincarnated, my Evil Piece was the [Queen]! Now you see how far I am above all of you?!" she boasted with maniacal laughter, which echoed around the entire empty factory so loudly that it seemed like the walls were shaking.

This got the attention of all three girls, including Koneko who was starting to push herself off the ground. "What?! But that's impossible!" Tomoe called out in disbelief as she knew a little piece of knowledge that should've contradicted that statement. "Whenever a devil is renounced as a stray devil, his or hers Evil Piece are deactivated! How do you still have yours activated?" the katana-wielding [Knight] asked as the grasp on her weapon's handle got tighter.

Hearing the question made the blonde stray devil to chuckle. "Let's just say that our boss knows a way to reactivate them." she told the three as she got into a combat stance, with the three girls following suit with looks of uncertainty and fear in those of the Sitri girls, while Koneko looked calmer before her charge, but still upset.

Saji and Ruruko were resting against the walls of two buildings in an alleyway as they were still recovering. They were just doing their jobs and exploring the area that they were given while having lovely little conversations to pass the time, when suddenly they were both hit with a powerful wave of pressure that slammed them both against the ground and gave them a loud of trouble with breathing, making them feel like they were being suffocated.

While the wave of pressure had only lasted a few seconds, for them it felt like an eternity. The fact that several minutes had passed since then and they were still sitting with their backs against a wall in an alleyway, panting and weaving heavily showed that they haven't fully recovered from it.

"Hey, Ruruko-chan... *huff*... are you alright?" Saji asked his kohai with ragged breaths as he was still sweating heavily from the effects of the pressure and power that the two felt a few minutes ago.

The girl smiled at him and weakly made a victory sign with her left hand. "Yeah... I think... *huff* most of my strength has returned. I think we can... *huff*... keep going." she said as she also panted heavily, but still got up as sh extended her hand towards her scouting partner. "What do you say, Gen-chan? Wanna make Kaicho proud?" she inquired with a warm smile on her face as she offered her hand.

The blonde [Pawn] smiled back at his compatriot and grabbed her hand, which then allowed her to pull him up. They both still panted a bit, but they seemed to have recovered enough to move on.

However, before they could take a single step out of the alleyway, they saw as five purple daggers of energy pierced the side of the wall that they stood next to. Seeing as the daggers were cackling with electricity and felt like it was filled with condensed demonic energy, the two [Pawns] of the Sitri peerage grabbed each other's shoulders and jumped at the othr direction, landing on the ground with a "THUD!" right as the five daggers blew up with a loud "BOOM!" sound and created five small yet powerful explosions that filled the air with electrcity while also sending piles of rubble over the two servants of the Sitri heir as they lied down on the ground.

The two quickly got up and looked at the place where the daggers were, now having a large hole in it in, making their eyes go wide. They gave each other a look before they dashed out of the alleyway that they rested at. They quickly started looking around to try and find the source of the daggers, but because they were panicking, they had little luck doing that, at least until...

"So the peerage around this town decided to send two love-birds as prey for my ambush? That's rather kind of whichever bitch sent you to your deaths." they heard a male voice coming from one of the rooftops around them, sothey turned to see a young man near his twenties crouching down with an eager smirk on his face. The man wasn't very tall, about as tall as Saji was, having a short and spiky dark-brown hair, a pair of blue eyes and three whiskers on each of his cheeks. His body though showed that he wasn't really that human anymore, as he seemed to look like a fusion of a jaguar and a human, having a long tail, his hands looking more of a fusion of human hands and paws, giving him large hands and very long claws. His legs were also a bit bent in the way that jaguar legs would be as he was sitting on the edge of the roof that he was on.

The man was not wearing much, just a pair of torn-up jeans that reached down his knees, as well as a short-sleeved, baige-colored t-shirt with a pattern of black flames all over it. As he looked down at the two members of the Sitri peerage with a cocky grin on his face as he licked his lips. "You two do look like a treat, though. I never ate a pair of love-birds before, so you might be tasty afterall." he said as he raised one hand and the claws started glowing purple with purple electricity as the five claws slowly elongated and shifted in shape into daggers.

Both Saji and Ruruko looked around to see where they could go to try and evade the watchful eye of the predator who ambushed them, only for Saji to glare at the man as the blonde teenage boy started speaking. "And who are you? Some cannibalistic stray devil? What is this organization that you're working for?" he questioned the young adult as his Sacred Gear formed on his left wrist, appearing as a small lizard with a slightly deformed face.

The stray kept smirking as he aimed the energy daggers that formed from his claws at the member of Kuoh Acadmy's student body council. "Oh, you trying to look tough in front of your little missy? Trying to get her all wet?" he mocked the boy's efforts to question him as he chuckled with an malicious and hungry look in his eyes and in his smirk. "Fine, I'm Yusuke Orojima, one of the five leaders of the Stray Devil Council." he introdued himself as he stood up and formed daggers from the claws of his other hand. "I actually like to think that there is one real boss while the rest of us are more of a decoration. However, the stubborn bastard is all like "Oh no, we are all of equal worth, I'm not special. I just wanna be so humble" and another bunch of crap like that." the stray devil started to go into a small rant as he appeared to mock one of the other leaders of the organization.

He then launched the daggers at the two [Pawns] of the Sitri peerage, but they ran out of the alleyway into the main sidewalk and ran across the street as there was a medium-sized explosion behind them as the got into the alleyway on the other side of the street. When they entered in, the tried catching their breath, but were stunned as the stray devil landed right in front of them. "Oh and by the way, that boss I mentioned? He knows how to reactivate deactivated Evil Pieces. I myself am a [Knight], so you can't escape me, my prey..." he stated with a hungry tone as his eyes focused on the first-year highschooler with the braids while he was also drooling from the mouth.

Saji growled and acted as quickly as he could, raising his hand and launching a line from his Sacred Gear, which attached itself to the shoulder of the stray devil, much to the target's confusion. Deciding no to let it stay on his body for long, the jaguar-looking stray devil's right claws glew purple as he cut the line off his shoulder. "Geez, what is that even supposed to be, blondie? A weakass atta- ACK!" he started insulting the teenager's ability, but before he could finish his sentence, Ruruko kicked him right in the nutts, causing him to fall as he grabbed his hurt genitals while the two [Pawns] ran across the street to the same alleywa that they were at before.

The young adult started to walk out of the alleyway just as his prey reached the end of the street, his eyes filled with fury. "I'll make you pay for that little nut kick, you stupid girl!" he declared as he prepared to pursue the pair. However, before he could really start, a hail of gunfire started aimed at all three devils, causing them all to hide behind the buildings that were forming the alleyway as they heard the loud sound of semi-automated gunfire was fired from the street itself by an unknown assailant. All three saw as bullets impacted the concrete of the walls of buildng which they hid behind, only for the bullets themselves to explode on contact, making their eyes go wide while they covered their ears.

It didn't take long before there was complete silence. Upon hearing that the hail of bullets stopped, both Saji and Ruruko, as well as the stray devil Ysuke Orojima took a peep out of their respective hiding spots as they looked at the street from where the sounds of bullets came from.

After a few seconds, they saw a silhouette was seen as it approached the light that came from the street lamps, making all three devils sweat nervously as they waited to see who the mysterious assailant was. Despite being able to see in the dark perfectly, they didn't fully left their heads exposed, so they could only see partially the details of the figure who was silhouetted.

Finally, after hearing a loading sound, most likely the shooter reloading whatever semi-automatic weapon that he had, he finally came into the light, revealing a young adult with white wearing the robes of a priest, holding an uzi in both his left and right hands, showing that he was armed to the teeth. But none of the three devils present knew that this man was already familiar to the Gremory peerage.

"WHAT'S UP, FUCKERS?!" Freed Selzen announced his arrival to the two devils from the Sitri peerage and one of the five leaders of the Stray Devil Council while shouting at the top of his lungs with the finess and maturity of an edgy 13-years old trying to sound cool but coming off as anything but.

Upon seeing the priest, this made Saji worried while Ruruko clicked her tongue with frustration. "Just great. Now we're being hunted by some messed-up cannibal stray and an exorcist? We really need to call Kaichou and get ourselves the ability to promote, Gen-chan." the girl told her scoutng partner, who nodded his head very quickly as he took out his phone. At the same time, she looked at the approaching exorcist with a determined glare. "Hey, who the hell are you?!" she asked the white-haired man as she hid in the alleyway.

The predatory stray devil growled as he glared daggers at the excommunicated priest. "Okay, time right the hell up! Why is there an exorcist ambushing me at my own ambush?!" he asked with fury in his eyes as he seemed to not be happy at becoming the prey at all.

Freed, however, simply had a joyous and malicious grin plastered all over his face. "Fuck you, that's why." he retorted with a cheeky and proud tone in his voice as he aimed both uzis at each side where the devils opposing one another were, ready to fire at them once more. "So what am I hunting and exorcising out of this sinful Earth tonight? On the left, a disgusting abomination that reveals the true nature of filthy devil scum to the rest of the world with a deformed look. On the right, a pair of disgusting lovey-dovey filthy putrid devils who desire to sick the air of this sinful country by fornicating publicaly. It would certainly be my pleasure to put all three of you heathens six feet under." he said with anticipation in his voice. "So which one of you wants to turn into the world's bloodiest swiss cheese first?" he asked with both mockery in his voice and malicious killing intent that was oozing off his frame.

"Don't take us lightly, you ugly jerk!" the fiesty brown-haired girl shouted at Freed with a red blush on her cheeks as Saji still was on the phone, waiting for his master to pick up, also blushing at what the exorcist accused them both of.

The stray devil Yusuke continued to snal at the exorcist. "You want to kill me? You can't kill me! I'm too fast for your little bullest!" he declared as he exited the alley that he hid in and stood face to face with the former holy man.

The white-haired excommunicated exorcist smirked as he aimed both guns at the devils that came out to face him. "Maybe you are faster than bullets, but both of these babies a uzi model TK-K12 with silver bullets with explosive mercury tips, with said ammunition drenched in holy water and blessed by a priest. Eventually even the fasted rabbit will get caught, bitch." he boasted as removed the safety of the guns and prepared to fire.

A red angry mark suddenly appeared on the forehead of the stray devil as he looked pissed. "Hey fuck you! Don't call me a bitch, bitch!" he yelled angrily as he pointed at the white-haired former holy man and started swearing at him.

"Fuck you, bitch. I'll call a filthy monster like you whatever I want." he retorted without fear in his voice as he kept his fingers close to the trigger, but didn't fire his guns just yet.

"Why you self-righteous scoundral! Stupid fuckass! You can't just barge into another man's hunt! That's not how it works and its not fair! So I'm gonna slice you to ribbons!" the stray shouted once again with the maturity of a child throwing a temper tantrum.

"Oh yeah, well I'm gonna fill your disgusting sinful existence with my holy lead, you nature-defiling abonimation. Because you suck!" Freed retorted back with the same level of maturity as the man in front of him.

"Nah uh!" the stray shouted.

"Yeah uh!" Freed retorted sassily.

Meanwhile Roruko looked at their enemies bickering like children as they were about to engage in combat with an expression of disbelief while Saji finally managed to get in contact with their master. 'Those two idiots look so pathetic, we can probably jut take them down while permorted.' she thought to herself with conflict belief in her words.

Pretty far from the four combatabts though still in the same area of the warehouses, stood a figure on the roof of one of the largest warehouses in the area, completely obscured by the shadows but still illuminated a bit by the moonlight. The figure was that of a man who looked into the distance in the direction that all four combatants were about to engage in battle.

"Well, would you look at that. Three devils and an exorcist are about to rumble." the man said as he held in his hand a sheathed katana in his left hand, which he let it lean on his left shoulder. "Fortunately for them, I'm the one doing the watching right now, so I'll let them fight in my my turf. First I'll watch the show, then I'll ask the questions." he said as he smirked to himself, revealing his very large teeth.

A few minutes has passed since the wave of reiatsu had hit the entirety of Kuoh Town, but Issei and Asia still haven't recovered from the effects of it. When the two of them and Tsubasa were hit with the wave of spiritual pressure, Asia and Issei nearly passed out from the sheer force and heaviness of the wave of pressure that sent them to the ground. None of the three were capable of breathing in those short few seconds, to the point that when it did stop, only the [Rook] of the Sitri peerage was capable to breath again thfor the next five seconds.

They were currently resting and catching their breath as Asia's breaths were shallow and she couldn't get back up, unlike the two devils.

"Asia-chan! Asia-chan! Are you alright?!" Issei asked with disturbance and anxiousness in his voice, fearing for her safety as he was kneeling in front of her and wiping the sweat from her brow while seeing as she was taking shallow breaths, while he was panting heavily and sweating just as much as her. The blue-haired girl simpy tried her best to help make the former nun feel comfortable and letting her body regain its strength.

"It's okay, take your time, Asia-san. It will all be okay. We will be by your side until you feel better." the boyish-looking teenage girl said to the former nun as she help her hand and then started to instructed her on taking deeper breaths, which the blonde was having a very hard time on doing.

"*Huff* Sorry. *Huff*... I just *huff*... can't... *huff*... breath..." Asia told them as it took her a lot of effort to even finish her sentence.

Looking at the state of the former nun, the blue-haired rook smirked as she then turned around and crouched down to the point that she was standing on one knee, which confused the brown-haired teen. Tsubasa then turned her head a bit to look at the blonde former nun with a big smile on her face. "You still need to rest and we still got some way until we reach the abandoned factory. How about I carry you on my back until you manage to catch your breath fully?" she asked with warmth in her voice before giving a light chuckle.

Asia gave her a smile of appreciation as she got on the taller teenage girl's back while continuing to let out shallow breaths while closing her eyes. "Thank you very much, Tsubasa-san." she said as she continued resting and regaining back her strength as Tsubasa got up and started walking around the area, looking around to see which of the factories they had to go inside of.

The two devils walked for a while while the blonde teenage girl rested on the back of the [Rook] of the Sitri peerage, with her breaths slowly becoming less and less shallow and more even in pace, showing that they she was starting to recover her breath, even if it was taking a few more minutes than they hoped for.

After about three minutes of walking with complete silence between one another, Issei finally turned to talk to his scouting compatriot. "Thank for helping us, Tsubasa-san." he thanked her with a genuine tone of appreciation to his voice as he gave her a friendly and completely unlecherous smile on his face.

Tsubasa looked back at him with a smile on her face as well. "You're welcome, Issei-san." she told him as she gave a glace towards the resting Asia as she looked back at the brown-haired boy. "When I heard what you said about protecting her and keeping her safe, it got me intrigued." she told him as she kept smiling. "I never really heard you talking about a girl without being a complete pervert. That's why I decided to come, to see how much you meant what you said. You know? "Talk the talk, walk the walk" and all that." she explained to him while constantly smiling as she addressed him.

Issei looked over at the former nun as he remembered the day that he spent hanging out with her, as flashes of they day appeared in his mind of them hanging out in the arcade, eating burgers together and taking pictures together. The things that didn't flashed in his mind was everything afterwards that was the entire night of fighting Reynare and the assault on the giant crater in the ground which was the result of Ichigo destroying the church. He lowered his head for a few seconds before ooking back at the blue-haired girl.

"Yeah, I care about her." he told her as he didn't have a smile on his face anymore, but a melancholic look on his face. "Asia-chan didn't have any friends before coming to Japan. I want to be her friends. I want to protect her and make her happy." he explained as he looked back at the former nun. "I'm not sure if I love her, but I also have strong feelings towards Buchou, even if I'm usually lecherous around her." he admitted while sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck and laughed nervously.

Tsubasa giggled at how the teenage boy finished his sentence. "Yeah, sounds like you." she said as they continued on walking as they tried to locate the abandoned factory that they needed to find and search. "That's another reason why I came along with you and Asia-san." she told Issei with a gentle smile on her face, which got the interest as he raised an eyebrow. "It's because that I look that much like a boy that you can't really perve on me." she joked jovially with a small grin on her face as she laughed a little.

In response Issei lauched as well with a small smile on his face as well. "Yeah, you're right. You don't have a lot of deveopment in the chest area." he joked with her as he followed up on her comment, only to look down at her thighs. "Though, even though I'm more of an oppai guy than a leg guy, I've gotta say that you have nice legs." he said as a bit of blood ran down his nose.

The [Rook] of the Sitri peerage didn't seem offended at the remark, but she still almost instantly kicked the brown-haired pervert in the shn jokingly while keeping a smile on her face. "You perv." she said with light-heartedly with a pleasant smile on her face as she gave a little charming laugh.

"Issei-san!" Asia complained as the two devils looked at her and now saw that she had recovered completely, while also pouting and having tears come out of her eyes as she spoke in a tone of voice filled with jealousy.

Tsubasa smiled as she knelt down and allowed Asia to get off her back. "Good to see that you recovered, Asia-san." she said while the blonde girl got off her back. "While I don't mind carrying you around, I would have been in trouble if we got into a fight." she said nicely as she got back up. "No offense at all." she clarified while laughing sheepishly.

Suddenly, a light reflected in the windows of one of the factories that there were surrounded by, which immediately got the blue-haired girl on-guard by realising that they had just noticed the place that they needed to search. She immediately stepped in front of both Issei and Asia and spread her arms to alert them not to go further than her as she slowly started to approach the metal door that seemed to be slightly open, confirming her suspision.

As she slowly opened the big door, all three of them gulped nervously, knowing that something very unpleasant was waiting for them inside. While they went into the mission knowing that there was a chance that they would fight strays, they didn't expect to come to a situation where it was going to happen immediately.

'This isn't good. I didn't come here just to get into another fight. I knew that there was a chance, but it seems like we are being ambushed, just like yesterday.' Issei thought to himself nervously as he started shaking a little bit and gulped once more. However, when his eyes turned to look at the nervous and scared Asia, who was walking behind him with her hands grabbing his shoulders tightly, he looked forward with determination in his eyes. 'No, I can't back down now. I have to protect Asia-chan, no matter how much I get hurt.' he thought to himself as the Boosted Gear manifested on his left forearm.

While moonlight entered the factory, the two devils had no need to really rely on that light, since they could see perfectly clear in the dark. However, when they looked around mostly ahead of what was in their field of vision, they couldn't see anyone, which made them even more tense as to how they saw the light in the window, because it was obviously not the light of lamps or anything electric. Issei even made sure to keep the former nun behind him as he looked around while sweating more and more because of his nerves.

"So you finlly showed up. Took you long enough, servants of Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri." a voice said from above, but just as they looked up to where it came from, a small fire lit up in the same place in the palm of a man, which got the blue-haired [Rook] to enter a combat stance nervously.

The man who stood on the floor above them looked like a rather tall man who appeared to be in his thirties reaching around 1.70 to 1.80 meters tall. He had a noticable long, wavy auburn hair that reached slightly further than unde his neck and looked at the three newcomers with his piercing green eyes. The shape of his face was very noticable because of his stern and long cheekbones, as well as his sharp and slightly elongated jawline, giving him an intense and intimidating appearance, as if he was someone who should not be crossed.

Although they couldn't fully see everything that he was wearing, there was an obvious large, baggy blue coat that covered most of the man's frame, one that had a pattern of white wings all over it both from the front and from the back. However, with the size of the coat it was obvious that for some reason he was trying to hide most of his body, which Tsubasa assumed to be to hide his stray devil features, because he didn't seem to have any on his face. The man also wore a pair of bright-red pants that held tightly to his frame with each side having a single white wing in the shin area, slightly above the side of the knees.

The man looked at the three stoically, seemingly not impressed as he leaned forward. "You took your time. I had to create a big enough flame to draw you in, This was the seventh time that I did it." he told them nonchalantly as he seemingly leaned forward so much that he fell forward off the upper floor, but before he could make it half the way before hitting the ground, he flipped and landed perfectly on his feet while standing on a big, broken down machine. "It also seems that you are far more green than I anticipated." he told them as several small flames appeared on the tip of his fingers. "Not only did you brought a human who is without a shadow of a doubt a non-combatant," he continued to chew both Issei and Tsubasa as the flames detatched themselves from the tips of his figers and spread themselves across the room. "but you also didn't properly checked your surroundings." he told them with no particular kind of emotion on his face as he spoke to them.

Suddenly the man snapped his fingers and the flames that spread around the room expanded, revealing that there were five other figures in the room, which looked like monstrous-looking stray devils, like the few that the Gremory peerage had encountered the day before.

Slowly the five stray devils that had been revealed started to approach the group from all direction except for the back, which got them both tensed as Issei tried to get Asia further back so that she would be in less of a danger. They themselves also back off, feeling more and more converned at the situation, all the while looking and seeing the man sitting comfortably on the machine.

"I'm not going to fight you myself, I simply brought lower members of our organization to fight in my stead." he told them as he seemed to have his eyes locked on the three teenagers. "You see, I knew that Vizor killing all those kids was going to get the attention of your masters. That's why she had to be thrown to the dogs. However, her partners in crime were given the choice of whether to let Vizor face you alone, or fight together to the bitter end. They chose to fight together, and I deeply respect them for that." he explained to them thoroughly as he crossed his legs, putting his left leg over his right.

"Huh?" Issei inquired with a confused look on his face as he tilted his head.

The man sighed, probably not wanting to go too much into explanation. "When our organization allowed Vizor and her friends to fight you, I also figured out that your masters would immediately figure out that something wasn't right, that our organization exists." he told them as the five strays continued to close in. "That was a concern that I brought up with the other leaders. My idea was to simply lay low and not try to get into a war, but I was outvoted." he explained to the three but he seemed to sigh with defeat in his voice, showing that he was not happy with what he was doing.

By the time that the man had sighed, the five strays had surrounded the group, towering over the three with their size. Both Issei and Tsubasa got into a fighting stance while nervously looking above at their five opponents, while the man with the coat lit up a cigarette and looked down at them with cold anticipation.

Despite how long it took for the devils to find and confront their stray enemies, Ichigo, who was unaware of their situation, had managed to find the source of the large wave of reiatsu in just a dozen seconds. Using Hirenkyaku, he managed to cover most of the city in search for the source of the burst.

The place that he arrived to was a public park that was usually filled with rebellious teens hanging out in the late evenings or couples going on dates. Ichigo ground his teeth as he reached the park with concern as he stopped his momentum while slinding slightly on the ground while his wing folded back into his body.

'Damn, this is really, really bad. If there are innocent people around here now, then I can't fight at even half of my power against whoever this guy is.' he thought to himself as he started looking around nervously while grabbing onto the hilt of his sword nervously, hoping for the worst possible scenario to not have occured at this short amount of time. 'Come on, come on! Find the irregularity! People's lives are on the line!' he shouted inside his own head as he quickly ran further into the park while looking around.

Suddenly he saw smething, which forced him to stop. What he saw made his eyes go wide in terror and shock. He was a large amount of at least two dozen hollows eating what seemed to be dead human corpses, not even reacting to his presence as if they were somehow being forced to eat the flesh of physical bodies, which was in itself an irregular behavior for hollows. When he saw this, he simply froze in his spot for a good amount of time as he saw the corrupted souls eating the many corpses on the ground and only making sounds that were similar to those that he heard in zombie movies. He noticed that the dead and half-eaten people on the ground were teenagers either older or slightly younger than him, probably going on dates or just hanging out and having fun like normal kids. And now they were dead and their corpses were being devoured unnaturally.

"This... this isn't right." he said silently as his eyes were still widened with the horrific sights that were being seen in front of him.

'Huh. Didn't know that hollows eat human flesh. Maybe we should try a go at it, eh, Ichigo?' Zangetsu's high-pitched and bloodthirsty voice suddenly echoed in the head of the orange-haired hybrid, which seemed to get the hybrid out of his state of shock.

Ichigo immediately clicked his tongue as he glanced aside angrily. 'What the hell, Zangetsu?! I thought you had standards! And since when could you talk in my head when I'm not in my inner world?' he shouted inside his head once again, but this time addressing the soul of his Zanpakuto. As he now got out of his state of shock at the sights, Ichigo quickly drew out his blade from its sheeth and dashed at the masked monsters with Shunpo.

'Actually, I could do that for a while now. But if you want me to be silent... eh, what the hell, do whatever you want, king.' the manifestation of his sword's spirit said in his head before turning completely silent, much to the relief of the substitute shinigami.

Sighing, he simply let the question be inquired further into at anther time while he dashed faster than the speed of light across the field, swinging his sword with extreme speed, despite its large size. With the few seconds that he moved across the area, he made dozens upon dozens of slashes across each hollow, causing gusts of wind to blow hard over the entire area. When he finally reappeared after the second or two that it took him to do all of that, he had almost fully resheethed his sword. With a final click of his sword getting fully back into its sheeth, all the hollows started to fall apart into little pieces before turning into light and smoke as the souls were purified.

After a few seconds he suddenly felt another small spike of reiatsu not far away from, just a block or two away from the park, so he quickly dashed to where he sensed it coming from. It only took him half-a-second, but he reached the main street and right in front of a few apartment buildings filled with people, to see something else that was absolutely shocking, even for him.

What he saw was one man holding another man up by the throat using one hand while in the other wielding a nodachi aimed at the victim's chest, alsmost touching it. The man with the weapon was rather short, if only a few inches shorter than Ichigo himself. He had short hair that was braided and reached down to the back of his neck, while also having a long and thick goatee and a pair of raw, hairy, bushy mutton chops spreading the side of his cheeks instead of having sideburns. His eyes were red and his pupils were slithered like those of a snake, while having a hole in the center of his torso and a part of what seemed to be a mask made of bone that looked like the mouth of a snake covered the man's own mouth.

The strange man with the nodachi was wearing what seemed to Ichigo to be an inversion of the shinigami shihakusho: a white jacket that clang to the frame of the man tightly while still hiding whatever muscles he had, making him look slim, alongsde an extension that wraped itself fully around his neck, covering the skin of his neck. This was a complete contrast to the black and flappy top of the shihakusho that Ichigo wore. He also wore a white hakama, which was tied by a black sash, as well as wearing on his feet a pair of black tabi and a pair of white zori that showed opposing similarities to the zori that shinigami, and by extension Ichigo, were wearing. The black sheeth of his sword was placed under the sash, being held by it.

The orange-haired hybrid then watched as the man stabbed his target, casuing the victim's soul to pop out of the body as the blade fully impaled the man held by the throat. As the civilian's body went numb and cold, the orange-haired hybrid's eyes widened in shock as he saw that the Chain of Fate that belonged to the soul of the victim rotting and turning black instantly, before it shattered. The soul then turned pitch back and a hole opened where the chan had just been, causing him to howl as a white mask formed on his face, turning him into a hollow instantly.

The mysterious figure then pulled out the sword and allowed the physical body and the newly created hollow to fall to the ground, with the physical body lying there lifeless, while the hollow simply stood there, not saying a single word, not showing a single emotion, as if it really was a zombie.

**"Eat, feast upon thy owneth flesh and blood liketh nay other of thy kind has done beforehand. Yond is mine own hest."** the mysterious man said in what appeared with childlike enthusiasm to his voice, which didn't fit too well with his adult appearance. Much to Ichigo's surprise, the figure then to face him in person as he sheethed his nodachi and bowed before the orange-haired teen. "Ah, Ichigo Kurosaki. I have been waiting for thy arrival." he said as he then gestured to the hollow that he just created, which had begun eating the flesh of what was its physical body. "What is thy opinion on my handywork? Does it satisfy?" he inquired as he seemed actually happy with the horribly things that he was doing, as if he was seeing pleasure in the cannibalistic acts that he made those people-turned hollows do.

Growling and snarling, Ichigo quickly got into a combat stance, angry at the man for what he has done and ready to pound his face into the dirt with his very fists. "Okay pal, who the hell are you?!" he asked with fury in his voice as a blue glow surrounded his frame.

The man then a pleased look in his eyes, as if he was happy that the substitute shinigami had asked this question. "Ah, but of course, thou want my introduction as the actor to set foot upon the stage." he spoke with elegance to both his voice and his body lnguage, which seemed to get under the teenager's skin for some reason. The mysterious person then took a bow once more in a very theatrical manner.

"My name is Tomege de La Gaudou, and I am an Arrancar."

{To Be Continued]

xxx

Ending Theme: Life is Like a Boat by Rei Fu (use Bleach Ending 1 for audio)

And thus ends this giant chapter on a very big cliffhanger as all parties encounter their opponents, as well as the appearance of the first Arrancar in this story. I hope you all enjoyed the character interactions, because those were the best parts in my opinion in my mind.

Well, until next time stay healthy, stay safe and have a great day.

Paleb05 · Jan 30, 2022

I found some typos:

Qudrim8054 said:
However, Rias had kept a stoic face of her own as she prepared to go into the details. Kiba gulped as he prepared to hear about his own injury. They didn't have any luck in getting a way to heal him since last night and simply seared and disinfected the wound as much as possible. As a result he had been suffering from a limp and wincing throughout the entire day, taking

This paragraph is missing some words.

Qudrim8054 said:
Suddenly, all tree devils felt an enormous pressure hit them out of nowhere

Underlined should be three.

Qudrim8054 said:
Meanwhile Roruko looked at their enemies bickering like children as they were about to engage in combat with an expression of disbelief while Saji finally managed to get in contact with their master. 'Those two idiots look so pathetic, we can probably jut take them down while permorted.' she thought to herself with conflict belief in her words.

First should be just and the second looks to be a spelling mistake (but I have no idea what the word actually is)

Qudrim8054 said:
Pretty far from the four combatabts though still in the same area of the warehouses, stood a figure on the roof of one of the largest warehouses in the area, completely obscured by the shadows but still illuminated a bit by the moonlight. The figure was that of a man who looked into the distance in the direction that all four combatants were about to engage in battle.

Should be combatants.

Qudrim8054 said:
Suddenly he saw smething, which forced him to stop.

Should be something.

Qudrim8054 · Jan 30, 2022

Thanks for all of the correcting. I don't know if I'll have the time to correct them all and honestly I had such a headache just from writing it that I don't want to revisit it and simply advance forward. Flaws, mistakes and misspellings are a part of me.

Qudrim8054 · Feb 13, 2022

Hello, hello, hello everyone. I'm back and this is time for some good old action to return to this story, don'tcha think? Well, the next three chapters (the third one is currently in production) are all going to be battle chapters. I hope you all enjoy and expect a shit ton of spelling errors. This chapter was originally a part of a single large chapter, but because I had the worst of times writing it, I eventually decided to split it. So this chapter is really short.

Warning: This story is rated M for Mature. It contains foul language, heavy violence, nudity and eventually explicit sexual content. Viewers/readers' discretion is advised.

Note: **Dialogue** - Dialogues that are supposed to be spoken by the characters in the English language.

Of Devils and Reapers

Volume 1: Red Dragon Emperor's Awakening

Chapter 11: Enemy Encounter (Part 1)

Stray Devil Council Arc

The group of Issei, Tsubasa and Asia stood against the wall as their adversaries, five large and imposing stray devils approached them, all under the careful eye of another, who seemed to be someone that the other strays looked up to as a leader. As the man was standing on the broken and deactivated machine with a lit cigarette in his mouth, he looked down at the three.

"What is your desire, my comrades at the lower scale of the ladder?" he suddenly asked with a tone that sounded completely disinterested, but this caused all five giant strays and turn around to look at the man, his presence clearly exuding an aura of authority, one that felt familiar to both the reincarnated devils, as they normally felt it coming from their masters.

'Woah, this guy is intense, very intense. I bet he really is powerful. If I don't include Ichigo, I don't think anyone of us aside from Buchou or Sona-Kaicho can defeat this guy.' the brown-haired boy thought as he focused on his left hand, forming the red armored gauntlet on it, all the while he was sweating buckets.

[BOOST!]

With the call of the reincarnated devil's power being doubled, all the stray devils in the room suddenly snapped their heads and glared at him with a focus on his gauntlet, especially the whom looked like a regular human. "Double Critical? Maybe. Either that or Booster Gear. The latter would be problematic." the auburn-haired man said as he returned to glaring with very little emotions shown on his face back at the five large strays. "I didn't hear your answers, my comrades. What do you desire currently?" he inquired once again with the same intensity as before, as the strays looked back at the obvious leader of the group.

Wild and malicious grins appeared on the faces of the strays as thoughts started to run wild in their heads.

"I WANT TO EAT THEM!" on of the strays, who had the torso and head of a man, gigantic gorilla arms and legs shouted with glee.

A second one, a giant man standing at three meters tall and with the body of a human and the head of a bull then scream with an obvious thrill in his voice. "I'MMA FUCK THEM ALL TO DEATH!", which upon hearing it made all three teenagers to quake frightfully while the other monstrous strays roared in approval.

[BOOST!]

"I WANNA SQUASH THEM LIKE BUGS!" another stray devil, one that had the gigantic lower body and arms of a mantis screeched with glee as all the other large strays started howling screams of approval.

The leader then sighed as he gave them a wave. "Alright then, do as you please. I asked what you wish to do, and you gave me your answer. You're free to act upon that freedom." he told them nonchalantly as he sat down and crossed his legs, waiting to see how things would go.

Issei and Tsubasa then prepared to fight for their lives and protect Asia as once more the monsters surrounding them started looking at them with toothy, malicious grins that reached from ear to ear.

xxx

Opening Theme: Again by Yui (use Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood Opening 1 for audio)

Ichigo stood in front of the man in the white outfit and the hollow on his side, all the while he himself kept his sword sheathed as he stared the stranger while crossing his arms in front of his chest. He did feel something strange about his reiatsu, but he assumed his new foe was quite the talker, so making him was going to be quite easy.

""Arrancar"? Never heard of it." the orange-haired hybrid stated nonchalantly as he prepared in his mind a way to build his sentence in a way that would bait the purple-haired stranger to talk his guts out. "Mind enlightening me on what the hell that's supposed to be? You know, for an ignorant little brat like me?" he said as a small smirk rose to his face, believing that he managed to draw in the man to spill whatever information he had.

The man in white chuckled as he used his sword to slash on the sidewalk before slashing the hollow he had created on the leg, causing it to howl loudly in pain as his eyes squinting with some sort of enjoyment in them, which was his only way to relay emotions since he had a bone mask over his mouth. "Ah, so thou wish to be enlightened to the brilliance of thy future god, Lord Aizen? Have thou friends and compatriots in Soul Society not indulged you about the dangers of the evolution of my kind?" he inquired as he sheathed back his sword and clapped his hands, causing the hollow besides him to sit obediently and silently like a dog, as if it was completely under his control.

The teenager crossed his arms in front of his chest as he waited patiently to hear his foe spilling out all of the information that he wanted to hear. 'This is going to be easier than I thought to make him talk.' he thought to himself as he opened his ears and started listening carefully.

The eyes of the masked man narrowed with enthusiasm as he spread his arms wide theatrically as he was probably smiling under that bone mask. **"Now ope thy ears, Ichigo Kurosaki, and hark to my own species' evolution."** he started his explanation as the orange-haired teen simply groaned at the usage of language.

Then the purple-haired man opened up with a strange question that left his covered lips. "Have thy ever wondered what would happen if a Hollow would remove his mask?" the Arrancar questioned the teenage substitute shinigami as his eyes narrowed happily, as if he was prepared with a boast.

Ichigo raised an eyebrow and frowned with an unimpressed expression on his face. "If I was a betting man, I would guess that this is some way to bait me to say "No, why don't you tell me?" and you would then boast how something like that would result in something perfect, i.e you." he said as he unsheathed his sword and held it in his hands as his frown changed into a confident smirk. "So how was I? Same ballpark or a complete bullseye?" he asked smugly as he entered a dueling stance that his favorite dueling stance that he had forged within himself throughout all of his fights.

The arrancar blinked several times with surprise emoting from his eyes as he stared at Ichigo blankly, only to then put his hands on his head and gave a sigh. "Ruin all the fun, why don't thee?" he asked as he seemed to lose a bit of his spunk for a moment, only for the bluster to return almost immediately as he seemed to appear full of life and theatrical excitement once more. "For thou see, hollows and shinigami are two sides of the same coin. If a hollow breaks his mask, the line breaks and he gains the nature of the powers of shinigami. It is a joke made by destiny, or is it simply an irony at its finest?" he proclaimed as he constantly made large and hammy movements using his body language.

However, it was his words that shocked the young substitute shinigami. "What?! So you're a hollow with the powers of a shinigami?! That's ridiculous!" the orange-haired teen proclaimed in shock as he heard what the humanoid hollow-shinigami hybrid in front of him said.

Hearing this made the purple-haired arrancar with its marvelous goatee to chuckle with pleasure at the sight of the surprised and slightly off-balanced shinigami-angel hybrid as he kept talking using theatrical body language. "False it is not, Ichigo Kurosaki, for soon thee shall see it for yourself." he said as he walked in circles while spreading his arms around, letting the katana in his hand twirl in circles in between his fingers while he did. However, what he didn't notice that said shinigami-angel hybrid was looking not at him, but at the house behind him, where the door was open.

Suddenly, before Gaudou could continue talking and listen to his own voice, the orange-haired teen suddenly appeared right in front of the hollow that the the purple-haired arrancar had made and was sitting silently and obediently like a dog, and within an instant bisected the corrupter soul in half and purifying it, both releasing the dead man's soul from both the corruption of its existence as a hollow and releasing it from the control of the purple-haired man.

Gaudou turned to look at the nephelim as his eyes widened like diner plates with shock at the speed that the teen moved and cleaved his obedient hollow in half. "How fast did thou ju-!" he started questioning the teen, however, the teenage hybrid in question quickly turned to glare at him with a serious expression on his face. Within less then a second, he closed the distance between the two of them and grabbed the man with the mask covering his mouth by the collar of his jacket using his left hand while he grabbed tightly to the hilt of his sealed zanpakuto with his right. A moment later the teen's twelve white angel wings spread open from his back and made a flap with all of them, moving at ludicrous speeds by fusing all of his flash step techniques.

In just a second after the flap, the two appeared high in the sky, right above the clouds were they could not be seen, much to the surprise of the humanoid hollow. "Sorry, but right now I'm using my powers with my physical body, so I can be seen by normal people right now." Ichigo stated as he had an expression of regret on his face as he griped the collar tightly as he looked down. "I feel bad for the man's family probably looking at his dead body, but we can't fight there and risk more lives." he continued as his glare returned to meet that of the man he held onto as he sheathed his large sword. He then growled as he drew back his right hand as a fist and slammed it into the arrancar's face, sending him flying down so fast and with so much force that the sound barrier shattered several times, making many loud "BOOM!" sounds as the purple-haired man was sent crashing down from the sky.

The man slammed into the ground into the ground with a loud "BOOM!" sound as tons of dirt and dust rose up over 30 meters in the air while his body was digging a trench deeper into the ground, causing more dirt and dust to rise up while the entire area around him shook violently for quite a while as Ichigo himself slowly descended from the sky. When the momentum of the arrancar's body finally stopped, he took a deep breath of relief and rubbed his cheek while noticing that his mask was cracked all over. He was also quick to notice that the dozens of tons of dirt that flew up into the sky started to fall down right on top of him.

Acting quickly, Gaudou got up and used sonido to move out of the crater right as all of the dirt filled in the trench made by the impact. When he reappeared outside of the trench that had been filled back, he noticed that not only his mask's cracks were welding and fixing themselves quickly, but that he was now standing in a more rural area, far away from the city and surrounded by a more natural landscape.

The man clicked his tongue while looking up to see the teenager descending down from the sky, flapping his twelve white wings. "**So Lord Aizen and mine own Commander Grand Fisher were right. Thee really very much doth have the blood of the serene, angelic guardians of God of the Bible flowing through thy veins.**" he said with surprise and awe in his voice as he looked up at the teenager, only to follow up with a chuckle. "I must also compliment thee. Moving me away from civilization so that thou could fight more seriously? Not a bad idea, Ichigo Kurosaki. However, do not increase your expectations to believe that this duel shall be a walk in the par-" he continue to monologue onward with a tremendous amount of theatricality in his body language, spreading out and moving his arms with glee as he grabbed the hilt of his zanpakuto tightly.

However, he stopped in the middle of the sentence once more as Ichigo disappeared from his sight, only to receive a powerful punch to the center of his stomach an instant later. "GUAH!" the man cried in pain as once again his eyes widened like dinner plates, while Ichigo had a nonchalant and cold expression on his face, showing that he didn't see the arrancar as a threat to him.

With a bit more of a push, the man was sent flying back from the force of the strike, but before he could react, regain his balance or even comprehend anything beyond the agonizing pain that he felt in his stomach, the orange-haired substitute shinigami appeared above where he was using shunpo and slammed an axe kick down on the stomach of the arrancar, hitting precisely in the exact same spot that he had hit with the last attack. The kick dropped the man so hard against the ground that it created a small crater in the ground, which also shook for a few seconds.

A few seconds from the moment that the ground stopped shaking had passed as the man with purple hair and goatee was lying in the center of the small crater in the ground, groaning and moaning in surprise and pain filling his throat as he looked up at his opponent. Trying his best to keep up, he thrust his katana's edge towards the teen's face, who easily dodged by moving his head slightly to the left and went with an attack of his own by kicking the human-like hollow's ribs with such force that it created a shockwave and a loud "POW!" sound as the sound barrier was broken and the man's body was sent spinning in the air and through several trees before falling down on the ground.

After landing, Gaudou spend several seconds getting up off the ground as his body shook in agony, sticking his sword into the ground to use as support to help himself get up while the orange-haired substitute shinigami slowly walked towards him without a single ounce of concern on his face. "So, ready to spill every piece of information that you have about Aizen, his organization and his whereabouts?" the orange-haired shinigami inquired as he stopped about 15 meters away from the arrancer and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Oh, and don't forget about Grand Fisher. I still have unsettled business with him." he continue with his requests while speaking completely nonchalantly, using the type of tone he would use when ordering food in a restaurant.

Gaudou's eyes narrowed on his foe while smirking under his bone mask. "So I've heard." he said while straightening himself up and pointing the edge of his sword at the shinigami, his body wobbling slightly from side to side while his natural regeneration was healing his wounds. "**But this is a duel between two men. I wouldst appreciateth it if't be true thee taketh this seriously and draweth thy blade, Ichigo Kurosaki.**" he said as he entered a fencing stance, his body still wobbling a tiny bit, but he still was firm about his decision to fight, despite being overwhelmed previously.

Ichigo simply sighed as he cracked his neck, making a loud "KNACK!" sound as he also started doing some stretching. "**Art thee sure? I wouldn't wanteth to baffle thee furth'r. Not yond I can maketh thy visage any ugli'r than it already is.**" the teenager insulted the arrancar while speaking in Shakespearean English with a confident smirk on his face, already feeling that this was going to piss off the arrancar.

He was correct to assume such, as Gaudou snarled angrily at the teen and straightened himself up, his body no longer wobbling. "Fuck you and duel me!" he demanded furiously as he was in a masterfully practiced fencing stance, ready to cross blades with his teenage foe.

However, Ichigo still didn't take him seriously as he entered a karate stance with a smug smirk on his face while his twelve wings folded back into his back. "Alright, it's your funeral." he spoke full of confidence as the two waited a couple of seconds before dashing at each other and clashing, with Ichigo catching the blade, which was thrust tip-first, in between his hands, stopping its momentum.

The ground shook beneath them as the stray devil's punch, which they had avoided, crashed against the ground, making a small crater. He was carrying her in his arms, knowing that he was the only reason she was safe, while she fired bursts of demonic energy towards the stray devil, who jumped aside or deflected the attacks, causing small explosions to occur around him.

The two opposing sides of peerage devils and stray devil were at an impasse and both Kiba Yuuto and Momo Hanakai were frustrated with the fact that their foe looked like he was enjoying himself. The blonde [Knight] of the Gremory peerage had his eyes locked on the movements of the man in the hopes that he would find an opening in his defenses, knowing that even a [Rook] couldn't protect himself from being impaled by a sword to the gut. He also noticed that the stray devil, Nobu Nakagami, was constantly looking at them with a sexually hungry look in his eyes and a hungry smirk on his lips as he tried to land a punch on them. Fortunately for the pair of peerage devils, Kiba was always fast enough to avoid the relentless attacks.

They landed on the ground once again only for the blonde teen to start running around and moving in different directions around the stray devil, trying his best to disorient the man. "Hanakai-san, can you make two big attacks in rapid succession?" he asked his partner in the battle as he continued to carry her bridal-style in his arms while he kept moving around as quick as he could.

"It will be difficult, but I believe that I can if you believe, Yuuto-kun." the white-haired [Bishop] of the Sitri peerage told him with a confused and slightly unsure tone, but still with a little bit of determination to impress the boy.

Upon hearing this, the [Knight] nodded with assurance and confidence in his voice. "Good. When I give the signal, I want you to spray him and the ground around him with a large stream of water and then form a barrier around us." he instructed her on the plan that he had in mind.

Hanakai, however, didn't seem as confident in the plan as her scouting partner was. "Creating water? But that's Kaicho's specialty. Copying her and coming off as second rate just seems insulting to her, but I think I can do both spells quickly enough." she confirmed to him once more, which made him stop immediately and put her down, much to her confusion.

A few moments later, the stray devil jumped into the air with his fist cocked back, prepared once more to slam it on top of their heads, through there was barely any malicious intent on his face. "Now, Hanakai-san!" Kiba ordered with authority, to which the white haired girl nodded as she raised both her hands in the direction of their foe and fired a torrent of water that hit him straight on, pushing him back and sending him falling to the ground, which was then followed by Momo creating a path of water around the stray, which she then started to move as a stream on the asphalt closer and closer to the pair of teenagers.

Meanwhile, Kiba used his Sacred Gear to create a weapon that erupted from the ground. It was a short sword with a large, yellow zig-zagging line across it in the form of an electricity bolt. When he grabbed the hilt and raised the blade a bit above the ground, a small pool of water almost reached his feet. "Now the barrier!" he ordered and despite the intensity, there was still some nicety in it. The Sitri peerage [Bishop] did as she was told and formed a barrier around the two of them while Kiba channeled demonic energy within the blade, causing bolts of electricity to crackle around it.

Just as the sword touched the pool of water, the barrier was formed completely and the water was blocked, preventing it from touching Kiba's feet, all the while the water channeled electricity at the speed of lightning, reaching the stray devil who was just starting to get up, causing him to scream in agony as he was electrocuted within the pool, zapping sounds being heard all over his body.

Much to the peerage devils' surprise they watched as the Nobu grunted and screamed while raising both of his fists above his head and cupped his hands, intertwining his fingers before bringing them down against the ground with a loud and pained grunt, causing a blast of dust and rocks that spread the water everywhere, stopping the electric current that electrified him.

When the dust settled, they watched as the man huffed and puffed heavily while his somewhat scaled skin was charred with smoke rising from all over it. His fancy and fashionable clothes were burned in many parts and one of his eyes was closed, showing that he had suffered heavy damage from their combined efforts, making the white-haired girl take a sigh of relief.

Immediately as she did, Kiba lunged forward as with his electric sword in hand, preparing to impale the stray devil and finish the fight as soon as possible. 'He's weakened. That last attack must've really injured him to the point that his natural defensive trait of the [Rook] had been lowered enough for me to finish him off now. I'll thank Hanakai-san when we know this fight is over and we'll report our findings to Buchou and Sitri-senpai.' he thought to himself all the while he was approaching the kneeling stray devil at tremendous speeds.

Upon reaching the kneeling man, Kiba thrust his blade forward and through the man's chest, but something didn't feel right to him about it, since his eyes just noticed that the shade of the body's skin was changing rapidly, as well as decaying and becoming hollow, as if his skin was a suit or something else.

Then an arm ripped through the decaying, empty body and grabbed Kiba's hand that held the demonic short sword, holding onto the wrist and squeezing hard, making the blonde devil yell in pain. "Yuuto-kun!" the white-haired girl screamed with concern in her voice as the stray [Rook] ripped through the skin like paper mache, revealing that he was completely unharmed from the earlier attack from the two. With a smirk on his face, he quickly smacked Kiba with his right elbow across the face, causing a spray of blood to fly out of the teen's mouth. He then followed up with a powerful gut punch, which hit the teen right in the stomach, causing his eyes to bulge and a mixture of blood and saliva to be released from his mouth, sending him flying backwards as the sword dropped from his hand.

"Yuuto-kun!" Hanakai shouted once more as she ran forward while the blonde was sent flying towards her. When his body had hit hers, the two were sent flying and skidding across the road, raising up dust into the air while the girl grunted in pain from the friction against her back and from making sure that she didn't dropped her scouting partner from the Gremory peerage.

As she opened her eyes, she saw as the stray devil jumped up in the air once again, headed in their direction and falling in an arc with a fist prepared to slam it over them. Thinking fast, the white-haired [Bishop] raised her hands in his direction and focused a large amount of demonic energy into the palms of her hands, making the falling stray devil to raise an eyebrow. A moment later an intense beam of demonic energy was fired out of her palms and straight towards her bald opponent.

Nobu's slithered eyes widened in surprise as he quickly brought his arms to block the attack, forming a "X" cross with his arms in front of his chest and face, only a moment before the beam made contact, hitting him straight in the forearms, burning the skin on them as a loud "THRUM!" sound echoed from the beam as it was pushing him upward and backwards at the same time. After a few seconds of struggle, Nobu was sent flying backwards while the beam passed above him, causing him to fall down into the ground on his back with a very loud "THUD!" sound while a bit of dust rose into the air.

In the small time that the pair of reincarnated devils had to catch their breaths, they sat up while Kiba held his stomach and grunted in pain, gritting his teeth as he struggled to get up completely afterward. When the two of them stood up, the blonde then coughed violently and spat some blood while holding to his stomach.

"Yuuto-kun!" Hanakai cried with concern in her voice.

"I'll be okay, Hanakai-san." Kiba responded a second afterwards, wiping blood from the side of his lips as he extended his left hand to the side while a sword popped out of the ground. "He's tough and strong, that's for sure. I'm not sure if Koneko-chan or Yura-san could defeat him in single combat. I say that because of that strange ability that he just used." he explained as he grabbed the hilt of the sword he created with his Sacred Gear with his left hand while his right was still put on his stomach.

Hanakai looked at him confused as he finished his sentence. "What technique are you talking about?" she asked him with a tone that mixed perplex, interest and concern together as she shook slightly while she talked. Then the two heard a groan and a hiss of pain coming from where their opponent had fallen on the ground, showing that he was starting to get up.

As the man fully got up, stumbling forth a few steps before straightening up, the blonde [Knight] raised his sword and got into a stance as he prepared to fight once again. "Just watch." he told her with a serious tone to his partner in the fight as his own eyes observed with an analytical glint to them.

What they saw was that the forearms of the man were completely charred black from the beam of demonic energy that the white-haired beauty had hit him with, which he raised in front of his face like a boxer who prepared to be on the defensive. Then, to the shock of the teenagers, they saw as the skin in that particular area started to be covered with scales, only for it to start changing color rapidly, turning from black to a sickly, light and pale shade of yellow. That entire process only took about six or seven seconds, but when it finished, the stray devil ripped off that section of skin off his arms like paper mache, revealing that his forearms now seemed as good as new.

Hanakai started to shake more visibly as she took a step backwards. "W-What? What did he just do?" she asked as she was now more afraid than ever before, not knowing what to think of that strange ability that the stray just used.

The bulky and muscular stray started to run towards the pair, but Kiba acted quickly and brought his left arm forward, his sword pointed at his opponent. He then started spinning his arm in a circular motion as flames started to form around the blade, creating a spiraling wave of fire. "Whirlwind of Flames!" the [Knight] shouted the name of his technique with determination filling his voice, but instead of running head first into the attack, his foe jumped to the side, letting it pass right by him, burning the street lamps and blackening the area where it hit.

The pair's stray devil foe recovered from stopping his momentum fairy quickly, to which he continued running towards Kiba while preparing to punch him, but the Gremory [Knight] responded in kind as he dashed quickly towards his foe and swung his sword towards towards the side of the stray, all the while fire covered the sword's blade once again.

Because Kiba was moving so fast, the muscular man didn't have the time he needed to fully prepare to launch his punch, which resulted in him sending it forward, only for it to be easily sidestepped by the blonde teen, who cut Nobu across his left side right below the ribs, causing a severe burn on it while the bald devil cough up some blood.

The muscular older man looked back at the blonde teenage boy with one eye open and an agitated and pained expression on his face. He ground his teeth as he put his hand over the injured side instead of using his technique from before. However, before the man could turn and charge at the [Knight] once more, his face was hit by an orb of demonic energy, courtesy of the white-haired teenage girl. The blast to his face made him fall back on his back while smoke rose from his face and he started screaming from the overwhelming pain.

Kiba turned around and smiled at Hanakai while giving her a thumbs up, making her become more timid as a small smile rose to her face and she blushed heavily, giving a thumbs up of her own. A few moments later, Kiba turned his attention to the stray devil who was crying in pain on the ground. He started approaching slowly and carefully towards his foe, raising his sword up and the tip facing the ground, clearly intending to impale it through the stray while he was down.

When he stopped and stood over the man, he raised up his sword even further, ignoring the screams of his adversary, he intended to kill him then and there. "I apologize, but taking you in would be harder than killing you. And unfortunately you are far too strong to let you roam free." the blonde pretty boy apologized to the bald and muscular stray devil as he then went if for the stab.

Unfortunately for him, he was unprepared for the level of determination that Nobu had to live and win this fight he had against the two teenagers. He acted quickly and managed to grab the blade of Kiba's Flame Sword, much to the teenager's surprise. When one had been removed from Nobu's face, his entire face with the exception of the left eye had its skin turn into the same scaly, sickly-pale light-yellow tone while the hand grasped the blade tightly, blood streaming out of it across the arm.

The stray devil then took of his other hand off his face and managed to grab the arm of the servant of Gremory before he had regained his barrings and tried to escape, then he released the sword, with blood still spilling down his arm while only his left eye was open and smashed the [Knight] at the center of his face with a thundering left hook, letting his hand go as the fist made impact.

Kiba was sent flying at least a dozen meters up into the air, a ton of blood flowing free from his broken nose and from his mouth while his eyes were closed. A loud cry of pain left his throat, which was heard alongside a thundering "WOMP!" sound which echoed in the air. The white-haired girl looked up in shock as her eyes went wide and teary for several seconds as the teenage boy went in an arc motion until he quickly fallen down to the ground, hitting the hard asphalt road with a loud "THUD!" sound as his body bound twice after the first landing, leaving him unconscious with his face filled with his own blood, which was coming from his mouth, nose and forehead.

"Yuuto-kun!" Hanakai scream in terror as she ran towards him, not noticing her foe at all. Unfortunately for her, the stray devil has used the few seconds in which he had sent the Gremory [Knight] flying to get up and rip the decaying, scaly skin of his face, showing no harm to his actual face. Just as Hanakai was about to reach the down Kiba, the bald and muscular stray devil got in fron of her, causing her to shake a little bit with terror in her eyes, only for him to smack her with a powerful backhand that sent her flying into a street lamp, which she hit so hard in addition to the hit that she was knocked out instantly.

After the blonde Gremory [Knight] and the white-haired Sitri [Bishop] had fallen unconscious, the bald, muscular man waited a few seconds as he looked a few times at each one of the teenage devils while panting heavily, worried about whether or not his two adversaries had been defeated.

For a dozen seconds he looked at Kiba and then at Hanakai, staring with intensity to see any clues as to whether or not they were defeated or were just faking it. He noticed that both of them were still breathing, though their breaths were shallow. He took a sigh of relief and fell down on his butt, still panting heavily as if he was out of breath.

He looked down at his hand that caught Kiba's blade and saw a deep cut on it from which the blood has been coming out freely. With a little bit of concentration on the spot, the cut was quickly covered by a heavy layer of his own skin, which was quickly covered by scales and then, in just a few seconds, turned into the same sickly and pale bright-yellow shade that had covered all of his injuries. As many beads of sweat formed on his brow and he was more and more out of breath, he ripped the layer of skin of the wounded area, showing his hand completely unharmed, as if it had never been cut.

As Nobu took quickly and shallow breaths, he looked over once more at each of his downed opponents, taking a very long and heavy breath. 'Phew, that was really close. I almost died!' he thought to himself as he started to relax. While he was relaxing, he checked his fashionable clothes and saw that they were all burned up and torn at many spots. 'Oh man, and I just spent my share from the last five months on these!' he kept talking to himself in his head with thrashing his hands in the air in exasperation. He then got up and dusted whatever was not damaged from his clothes. 'Oh well, I can just ask Hitsuji to sew it back.' he thought to himself as he was panting heavily over and over only to fall on one knee.

Breathing long breaths into his lungs, the man clutched his chest. 'Shit, those two came really close to killing me more than once. I can see why the boss didn't want us to start a fight.' he thought to himself some more as he slowly straightened himself and walked until he stopped in the center point of the distance between the two unconscious teens all the while talking to himself inside his own head, not making a single sound.

'Alright then, who will I start with?' he asked himself as his eyes glanced over to Hanakai. 'The girl's hair sure is long and pretty and her breasts are very big. Gives me a lot of things to grab with my hands.' he thought to himself as he licked his lips with a predatory grin, only to then look over at Kiba. 'But he has a pretty face that's all roughed up and a tight butt. That's the kind of butt that could match any girl's.' he thought to himself as he continuously licked his lips more feverishly than a second ago.

At that point, the man's body started to shake with excitement as his hands went over to his belt, but his excitement caused him to tangle with the buckle of said belt, much to his frustration.

More so, the stray devil didn't notice a light from behind him, a red light. His attention was only removed from his pants when he had heard the loud cracking sound of thunder.

[Begin Musical Cue #2: Quincy's Craft]

*CRACKBROOM!*

*THRAAASH!*

*THUUUUM!*

Loud and explosive sounds echoed across the distant countryside as Ichigo continued his battle with the arrancar Tomege de la Gaudou. However, it had not been going in the way that the hollow-shinigami hybrid had been expecting it to be. Despite the fact that their battle had started around 10 minutes ago, the arrancar had failed to land a single blow against his orange-haired adversary, despite the latter not using his zanpakuto while he himself was heavily relying on it.

He was currently flying back in the air after her was punched in the face by the substitute shinigami, a punch that was so strong that it broke half of the mask that covered his mouth and nose. He felt incredible amounts of pain in his face as his brain was bombarded with signals while his natural regeneration was rebuilding the broken parts of his mask and closing whatever injuries he had received during the last ten minutes.

He crashed against the ground loudly as he grunted with pain and bounced up off the ground almost immediately, which allowed him to regain his balance and spin in the air in a way that allowed him to land on his feet on a surface made of a layer of hollow reiatsu, allowing the man to stand on the air. He took several haggard breaths as his mask over his mouth fixed itself completely while the wounds on his face and body healed themselves as well.

He growled with frustration as he watched his teenage foe charging towards him while running on the air using shunpo. Underneath his mask he smirked as he held his sword, which glowed with a sickly green light as he stabbed the sword forward. "Empuje Venenoso!" he screamed as he thrust his sword forward like a spear, causing the green light to launch forward at the speed of light towards the teenage shinigami, who simply moved his head to the side to sidestep the attack very casually.

The arrancar looked with a bit of an annoyed as his katana glowed once more. "Aluvion de Empuje Venenoso!" he shouted as he fired a barrage of green energy toward Ichigo, who casually and nonchalantly dodged each and every energy spear with a bored expression on his face, much to the displeasure of the arrancar, who growled angrily as he sheathed back his sword and charged forward with a spear kick to his orange-haired adversary's face, but unfortunately for him, his ankle was grabbed just a few centimeters away from the face of the teen, who used the opportunity to sidestep while pulling the arrancar towards him while dashing towards the man.

With one swift move, Gaudou's cheek was compressed against the elbow of the substitute shinigami, making a powerful shockwave upon impact and sending the hybrid of hollow and shinigami flying backwards at tremendous speeds, to which Ichigo quickly pursued by appearing right next to him and hammering the man against the forehead with another elbow strike that sent him crashing down into the ground with a loud "THUD!" sound, shaking the ground and creating a small crater.

The purple-bearded man panted heavily as he had blood coming from his forehead, even though it took several seconds to fully heal and to feel the skin fixing itself as he got up, only to see that the young man he was fighting had appeared with a burst of speed, stopping about 20 to 30 meters away from him, his muscles no longer tense and his fighting stance very casual while the expression on his face was filled with boredom.

"**Art thee done with this nonsensical resistance and eft to start talking?**" he questioned as he didn't even seemed to be sweating at all from all the beating that he gave the arrancar.

Growling, Gaudou raised both of his hands to chest height and extended them forward, palms facing the orange-haired hybrid as particles of green energy started started to gather in front of the man's palms into a sphere of energy, all the while under his mask his frown changed into a feral grin while his eyes kept giving his opponent hateful glares.

Ichigo simply sighed with a bit of exasperation and clapped both of his hands nonchalantly in front of his chest, only to open them and reveal a golden sphere of holy light that he created using his own angelic powers. He held the sphere in his right hand as he shifted his body ready to charge forward.

As the green sphere of reiatsu had stabilized, the humanoid hollow started laughing like a madman. "**Can thee dodge this?! Mine own brilliant light shalt purge thy insolence! Cero!**" he shouted as a beam of destructive light shot forward at the speed of light towards Ichigo, who rushed forward it with his sphere of holy light within his hand.

The substitute shinigami grit his teeth a bit as he extended his arm to the max as the holy sphere and the beam of reiatsu clashed, causing the area around them to be bathed with the energy while the skies turned into a mixture of sickly-green and yellow, the beam couldn't push the substitute shinigami back while he didn't try to much to even move or push against the Cero, at east not immediately.

After at least half-a-dozen second, he finally started to advance by taking a step forward, his yellow sphere of holy light easily pushing back against the powerful beam of light. He took another step, then another and another, until he was at least three meters away from the arrancar. At that point, he retracted his right hand a bit before pushing force with a lot of power, releasing the sphere from his right palm and allowing it to carve through the Cero while also lifting a bit up, passing right by the head of the man with the purple hair and goatee, who's eyes were as wide as dinner plates from the shock of seeing the powerful signature attack of a hollow being so easily defeated by the hybrid of shinigami and angel.

[End Musical Cue #2]

The arrancar's body shivered as he fell down on his knees, his face still contorted with the shock of seeing how much he had been completely outmatched throughout the entire fight, his spirit seemingly finally broken. At the same time Ichigo simply crossed his arms in front of his chest and gave a satisfied smirk.

"**Thy power is meager, thy words showeth overconfidence and I can doth Shakespeare better than thee.**" he started insulting his opponent in English with a smug attitude in his voice, which caused the man's eyes to glare daggers at him. "All in all, I think your just pathetic." he said while returning to speak in Japanese as he kept looking down at the man who was his foe, much to said man's annoyance and anger. Ichigo's expression suddenly turned serious as he started asking questions. "Now, as fun as kicking your ass is despite how weak you are, time to give me some answers. For example, what is that 47 tattoo on the back of your neck? Is it something related to Aizen's army?" he inquired as he tapped his foot on the ground.

Gaudou simply glared silently for a few seconds as he rubbed the back of his neck. "**I shalt never betray mine own lord.**" he declared with determination in his eyes, anger from the previous insults a minute prior bubbling up at a very intense speed.

Ichigo simply sighed as he looked down at the man once more with his serious glare in his eyes. "**To be, or not to be, that is the question.**" he started the famous monologue with a deadpan tone to his voice, not even bothering with theatricality, which also seemed to bother the arrancar. "**Is't noble to be a worm in mud for a sir who is't cares not for it?**" he continued with another insult towards the arrancar, only to then look lost in thought for a few seconds before shrugging his shoulders. "Well, I guess it does." he said bearably audible

Said arranger snarled with rage as his glares became more intense and veins throbbed on his forehead. "Stop that!" he shouted angrily, pounding his fist against the ground several times, which made the orange-haired teen to look in confusion. "Stop mocking me in the language of art!" he demanded of the teenager as he seemed to be on the tipping point of losing it.

Ichigo, however, found his reason for the temper tantrum that he was throwing to be entertaining, as a smug grin filled his lips while a brow was raised as he put his hands on both sides of his waist. "Okay then, which language do you want me to mock you in?" he asked with smugness in his voice, saying it with a chuckle coming from his lips.

That was the tipping point for the man, as his eyes went bloodshot and he snarled like a ferocious animal, all the while grabbing his katana once again. "THAT DOES IT!" he roared in anger as his sword glowed green and his reiatsu started rising. "Corrupt, Devorador de Almas!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, only for the green energy covering the blade to erupt in an explosion of power that even pushed Ichigo back, but that was more of him being surprised more than anything else.

After seeing that he was pushed back, Ichigo jumped back to gain further distance as he saw the green reiatsu forming in the form of a gigantic pillar which extended high into the skies, splitting them asunder and rifting the clouds apart as their color was painted with the sickly green color of the arrancar's reiatsu. The light which was emitted from the pillar of energy forced Ichigo to cover his face with his arms as he also felt a powerful wind pushing against his frame, forcing him to plant his legs within the ground.

However, he started to sweat as his senses were screaming at him as to the massive increase in power that was happening for his foe. He could feel Gaudou's level of power skyrocket tenfold from what it was before, and that worried him. 'What the hell? Is this something like Bankai? He just got 10 times stronger!' he thought to himself as he kept his eyes covered by his arms, only relying on his sensing capabilities to feel the situation while a powerful gust of wind kept hitting his body and his feet felt the ground shaking violently beneath them.

A few seconds later the light finally started to die down and the teen with the spiky, orange hair lowered his arms to look at his opponent, ready to continue his fight. However, he stopped when his eyes saw his foe now sporting a new look to him. The man still sported the purple goatee and mutton chop sideburns on his cheeks like he did previously, but his hair, neck and face area above the nose were encased by what looked like a head of a cobra, with the neck area looking like a cobra hood, with the right side having the letter "4" and the left side having the letter "7" imprinted on it. His mask around the mouth was gone, showing the man's full mouth including two long fangs, not too dissimilar to those of a snake. His shirt was now looking much heavier and sturdier, like some sort of armor, all the while also completely covering his hands and forming glove-like appearance to his hands, which now had very sharp claws at the end of his fingers, giving an inhuman look to them compared to the human appearance that they had before. His sword had also seemed to disappear completely, sheath included. He also he countless snake bodies extending from his forearms, chest, back and legs, all moving independently and looking alive as any snake would.

The hollow with shinigami powers stood in a theatrical and cool-looking pose with his hands spread wide and a confident grin on his face. **What doth thee bethink? Art thee surprised? Is't impressive?**" he inquired smugly as he moved his hips slightly from left to right while the countless snakes on his body moved and slithered while their eyes were all focused on the substitute shinigami, who felt his skin crawl by the looks in their eyes.

"What the hell is this?" the teenager asked with a shocked expression on his face as he stood frozen.

Seeing the change in his opponent's attitude mad the humanoid hollow smile as the snakes slowly slithered back into his armored white shirt, disappearing as if they have never been there at all. "Not so tough now, are ya, Ichigo Kurosaki?" he said with a long, satisfied sound filled with venomous sensation coming out of his mouth as he said those words. "Thee demanded for some answers, am I not correct?" he asked smugly as he puffed his chest. "This is my Resurreción, Devador de Almas." he declared proudly as he kept his eyes locked on the substitute shinigami while his now revealed smirk grew into a wide grin while his eyes squinted with disturbing glee. "Thee can say that Resurreción is the arrancar's version of a Bankai." he declared in a matter-of-factly, which caused the shinigami's eyes to widen to the size of dinner plates with shock expressed fully on his face.

Ichigo stood in his place, body still unable to move from the shock of the words that he had heard. His muscles tensed as he gauged his own power to his adversary's power after its increase, hands clenching into tight fists while the man continued to talk. "As for my appearance? I was but a humble giant serpent when I died, slain by a member of the catholic church." he explained more about himself as he kept his arms spread wide while he twirled in his spot. "My death may not have been grand like that of my great-great-grandfather, who had been slain in mortal combat by Saint Patrick during the time he banished snakes from Ireland, nor have I have great recognition like my great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother, who bit Cleopatra on the tit. But I had a great desire for vengeance and a strong will, one that allowed my to become an individual being among the thousands souls in a Gillian and evolve pass that. That's also when Lord Aizen turned me into an arrancar." Gaudou continued to explain more about himself with a sense of delighted grandeur on his now exposed face.

The substitute shinigami planted his feet into the ground as he now was more prepared, out of his state of shock and ready to be on guard. He knew that at this point his opponent was feeding him all the information that he was going to need, so he just stood silently and listened.

It was then that Gaudou raised both of his hands and pointed at the numbers on the cobra hood that encased his neck. "There was also the question about the number, wasn't it?" he asked sarcastically while still grinning with confidence, to which Ichigo simply gave him a tired glared that just screamed 'get on with it', to which the arrancar simply gave a single chuckle before continuing on. "Thy guess was correct, Ichigo, it is related to Lord Aizen's army. That is my ranking within it. I am Tomege de la Gaudou, the 47th strongest arrancar in Lord Aizen's coalition of 300 arrancars." he exclaimed with an enthusiastic drawl to his voice as he once more spread his arms wide again, to which Ichigo's eyes widened with surprise once more, but at which statement was unclear, therefore Gaudou assumed everything that came from his mouth surprised the teenager.

The angel-shinigami hybrid finally entered the same fighting stance that he used earlier in the fight as his body tensed up. "And what the hell do those ranking mean?!" he asked in an aggressive manner as a veil of angelic holy energy surrounded his frame gently, appearing like light.

The purple-bearded man's smile reached to the point of going from one ear to the other as he seemed excited. "What's with the attitude? Scared much?" he taunted with smug glee in his voice while his eyes squinted more and more, showing a disturbing expression on his face. "But if thee want to know more, I'm more than happy to give you the rundown." he said with an eerie tone to his voice as he slowly span his wrists inside out. "First, there are the weakest arrancars, ranked from 300 up to 101, which are all comparable to low seated shinigami officers, or even High-class devils. Although, I'd say all of them are far stronger than that thy new friend, Rias Gremory." the man explained to the teenage shinigami.

Ichigo's eyes widened with horror the moment that his foe said Rias's name. "How did you-?!" he tried to ask, but his foe quickly interrupted him, knowing what he was about to ask.

"How? Did thee not think Lord Aizen wasn't watching thee ever since thy spectacular intrusion to his schemes in Soul Society 17 months ago? Of course, he had not been able to look into Urahara Shoten because of Kisuke Urahara's efforts, but he knows what he needs to know. Issei Hyoudou aka Red Dragon Emperor? Rias Gremory, Sona Sitri and their peerages? He already knows about all of that." the man kept on talking, bragging about how much the man who declared war on Soul Society knew about the orange-haired teen's friends.

Said orange-haired teen's aura holy aura intensified around his frame as a vein throbbed on his forehead while glaring daggers menacingly at the man. "Don't you dare touch a single hair of my friends or I will-!" he screamed furiously, but he was cut once again when the humanoid hollow raised his hand to cut his threat.

"Relax, I have no interest in attacking them." he spoke arrogantly yet calmly, making himself clear as his word felt genuine. "Now then, we were talking about the numbers, weren't we?" he asked mockingly as his expressions showed more and more satisfaction as he kept on his theatrical posing. "So at the point I am now, the arrancars ranked 100 up to 51 are all equal to high ranking seated officers, up to lieutenants with Resurección." he continued to explain nonchalantly as he kept his eyes fixed on Ichigo, who was still angry from finding out that the man who started a war with the shinigami had his eyes on his friends.

Gaudou then raised his finger. "Those in Lord Aizen's army that are ranked from 50 up to 11, myself included, are considered equal to lieutenants with the ability to reach captain-class with our Resurección. Meaning that you are now about to fight the power of a shinigami captain." he kept on with his explanation to the orange-haired hybrid, who didn't seemed impressed with that proclamation. The purple-bearded man then did another spin as he continued. "But the upper echelon of my lord's army? The cream of the crop? They are the Espada, ranked 10 to 1, and they all surpass even the strength of shinigami captains. And that's even without their Resurección active!" he exclaimed with maniacal glee in his voice as he finished his explanation to the hybrid teen, whose eyes widened in shock and terror upon hearing that part.

The released arrancar then continued "The reason I came here was to follow Lord Aizen's orders and testing thy skill... at first." he said as his grin turned sadistic and predatory and his irises shrank with a manic look in them. "But fuck that!" he spoke as he got into a combat stance, one that felt like that of a snake ready to jump at its prey. "**Thee hath decided to fleer me, anon I shalt bringeth unspeakable pain upon thee!**" he shouted while speaking at his best attempt at Shakespearean English, only to dash force at tremendous speed without even using Sonido.

Ichigo himself hadn't been faltered by his foe's new speed and he dashed forward at an equal speed, without the usage of any fast movement techniques as well. The two clashed, forearm meeting forearm, a clash that created such a huge shockwave that it cleared the ground beneath their feet, creating a crater, as well as shaking the ground around them and sending a powerful gust of wind that tore trees off the ground with ease, before smashing them apart into splinters.

The orange-haired teenager then sent a powerful punch headed towards the face of his adversary, but said adversary quickly blocked the punch with his other forearm, causing a clash that made another powerful shockwave that shook the area around them and started to crack the ground that was outside of the 9-meter wide crater that their first clash created. The purple-bearded man followed up with a kick aimed at the chin of the hybrid teen, who easily sidestepped to the side, disengaging the clash. However, he was prepared as he put both hands on the ground and half-flipped, following with a helicopter-motion kicking streak that the arrancar jumped back to avoid.

Ichigo then stopped spinning and flipped forward, stopping as his foot landed on the air and created a layer of reiatsu under it to step on, using it as a surface to bounce and dash towards his opponent, landing a thunderous punch that compressed the arrancar's cheek and sent him packing. Ichigo dashed after him, but his foe quickly regained his balance and surprised the teenager with a swift knife strike with his claws, which Ichigo fortunately managed to sidestep in time, although he did get a small cut on his left cheek, blood gashing out of it.

The substitute shinigami turned around to try and return to being on the offensive, but the backhand swing that he sent with his left arm had been ducked under by his foe, who retaliated by sending a back kick that crashed against the shinigami's chin with a "KRACKAPOW!" sound, sending him flying up into the air while also flying a bit backwards.

Up in the air, Ichigo flipped to regain his balance, managing to stand on the air once more as he stopped his momentum. However, he didn't have time to rest since he saw his opponent charging at him at intense speed with another knife strike with his claws, intending to impale the teenager. Acting on instinct alone, Ichigo quickly grabbed the handle of his sealed zanpakuto and drew it out, putting it in front of his body as the flat side of his sealed blade acted as a shield when the sharp tips of the arrancar's claws clashd against it, causing sparks to fly out.

Despite having his attack blocked, Gaudou smirked evilly. "Miniature" he started saying at the same as as two thin lines started to extend out of his extended arm and turned into two white snakes which opened their mouths and started to charge an attack. The two snakes then coiled around Ichigo's zanpakuto, bypassing the blade as they finished charging their attack... right in front of his face. Ichigo's eyes widened in terror as he realized what was about to happen. "Cero." Gaudou finished chanting his attack with a devilish grin on his face.

*THRUUUUUUUMMMMM!*

A gigantic explosion of green reiatsu expanded for kilometers high in the sky.

{To Be Continued]

xxx

Ending Theme: Life is Like a Boat by Rei Fu (use Bleach Ending 1 for audio)

And that's the chapter. It's short as I said, but this is about two out of three sections of Ichigo's fight with the Arrancar Gaudou, so the next chapter will have the final part of that fight alongside the other fights of the Gremory and Sitri peerages against the members of the Stray Devil Council.

Until then stay healthy, stay safe and have a great day.

👍

Qudrim8054 · Feb 27, 2022

Hello everyone from all ranges of every spectrum, welcome to another chapter of my story. I don't have much to say, so let's just get into the chapter, shall we?

Warning: This story is rated M for Mature. It contains foul language, heavy violence, nudity and eventually explicit sexual content. Viewers/readers' discretion is advised.

Note: **Dialogue** - Dialogues that are supposed to be spoken by the characters in the English language.

Of Devils and Reapers

Volume 1: Red Dragon Emperor's Awakening

Chapter 12: Enemy Encounter (Part 2)

Stray Devil Council Arc

xxx

Opening Theme: Again by Yui (use Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood Opening 1 for audio)

"Saji, Nimura, what is going on over there?" the voice of Sona Sitri was heard through the phone as both her servants ran away as they were currently under the crossfire of blessed bullets and energy daggers flying through the air and hitting everywhere. Small explosions were occurring around them, breaking walls part and creating more and more rubble in the streets and alleyway because of the stray devil, Yusuke Orijima's attack, using demonic energy to create explosive energy daggers from his claws.

The two members of the Sitri peerage managed to get out of an alleyway into another one, leaning against its wall all the while the stray devil was busy exchanging fire with the excommunicated exorcist Freed Selzen. They then talked to Saji's phone, which he was holding too for dear life. "Kaicho, we ask your permission to (Promote)! Those two man-children are tearing this place apart!" the first year student at Kuoh Academy informed her [King] about their current situation.

They suddenly a tired and irritated sigh being heard on the other side of the line, which came from Rias Gremory. "To think that Freed Selzen was still in this town. I thought that Raynare's defeat and his losses against Issei, Ichigo and Kiba would have scared him away." she said out loud as the two members of the Sitri peerage could hear the tiredness and frustration in her voice. "Sona, I agree with you that they should leave the area, but that foul mouthed, disrespectful exorcist insulted my servants and associates. If there is a chance to kill him tonight, then a part of me believes that we should take it. I don't like the idea of killing, but both that exorcist and the stray are a threat, therefore it would be best to get rid of them." the other High-class devil spoke to her friend in the meeting room of the student body council while Saji and Nimura listened carefully while covering each others' heads on the hectic battlefield.

There was a few seconds of silence between the two groups on both lines on the phone, which was constantly drowned by the explosions and gunshots. "Saji, Nimura, are you two sure that you can handle this?" the president of the student body council of Kuoh Academy asked her servants with a cold and stoic tone, yet still one filled with uncertainty to it.

Not even two seconds after the question was asked, the brown-haired girl answered while nearly shouting because of the noise around her. "Of course we can! As a [Queen], both Gen-chan and I can totally bash the heads of those two manchildren!" she declared with confidence as all of a sudden a small explosion occurred above their heads, making them both run away from the falling debris.

"Then you have my approval to promote! Take down the enemies of the underworld and show them the strength and pride of the Sitri Peerage!" their master said with a definitive tone of confidence and assurance in her voice, showing the will to trust the capabilities of her servants. At that point the call ended as the blonde teenage boy of the student council of Kuoh Academy put back his phone into the pocket of his jacket as he and his kohai looked at one another with a serious expression on their faces, one that showed their determination to prove the trust of their master right and to finally enter the battle.

"(Promotion: Queen)!" the two devils shouted in unison as they felt the [Pawn] pieces inside of them temporarily transforming into a [Queen] piece. They felt as their muscles across their entire bodies became filled with power beyond what they previously had, increasing their physical strength, their speed and their defense. They also felt their demonic power swell as it also increased with their promotion.

They then crouched down and looked at each over, ready to discuss strategy. "Alright, we have a tight window to beat those two in." Saji told his kohai as he rubbed his chin while giving a glance out to the main street, where gunfire and explosions were constantly heard.

"Agreed. Those loud idiots probably made so much noise that the police will probably notice it eventually. So I will go in and distract them while you do all the tactical plan making, since I'm more straightforward than you or Kaicho, Gen-chan." she told him with a smile on her face as she got up and hyped herself up by hitting her knuckles against each other while walking forward.

Seeing what the brown-haired girl was about to do, the blonde teenage boy got up and grabbed her arm with concern filling his expression, making her turn around and look at him with a confused expression. "Are you sure that it's a good idea? We can just quickly make a plan and go together. You don't have to put yourself at risk alone out there with those maniacs." he told her as he tried to convince her to give up on her current idea.

In return, Nimura simply smiled with reassurance. "Oh don't you worry, Gen-chan, I can handle a pair of morons like them." she told him as he let go of her arm and she took a few more steps forward. "All you need to do to get their attention is to go down their level." she said as she then ran out into the street at insane speed that could match that of a [Knight], looking for the source of the sound to track down where the crazy exorcist and the stray devil were currently at, as in on which roof of which building.

It didn't take a long time for the girl to find her opponents while her senpai followed her with a bit of distance to observe the somewhat ruined environments with small pieces of walls that were destroyed by the explosions from the daggers of demonic energy.

When Nimura stopped, she saw that the excommunicated exorcist had the stray devil pinned, with the latter staying behind a large shield of purple electricity that he had probably created from his own demonic energy. While not very big, it was large enough to cover his upper half while he knelt behind it and appeared to create more energy daggers from his claws. In a few seconds, the bullets in both of Freed's uzis because of its quick firing rate, much to the man's displeasure since he immediately clicked his tongue.

As the click sound was heard, the stray devil dispersed his energy shield and charged forward with the speed of a [Knight] towards the exorcist with his arms wide with his claws extended and glowing with purple electricity, all the while his exorcist opponent threw away his guns and put his arm in his coat, prepared to pull out something, but the promoted [Pawn] of the Sitri peerage was had no intention of letting them do more damage to their surroundings. She quickly ran on her own at full speed, closing the distance between the two men just as they were about to clash as the exorcist pulled some small handle in his hand. When she was close enough, she jumped for an extra bit of momentum, shouting to catch their attention long enough to extend her legs for a double kick.

Unfortunately, she did a mistake by shouting, as it gave the white-haired man just enough time to sidestep her attack, with her left foot barely grazing the skin on his cheek, while he right leg hit the partial jaguar-looking stray devil right in the face, sending him flying through a wall with a loud "CRACKBOOM!" sound as the wall crumbled on the stray as Nimura landed on the road, her feet making a small trench in the asphalt of the road.

Freed sneered as he looked at her. "Oh right, forgot about you and your little blonde fuckboy. Where is he, by the way? Pussed out like a bitch?" he asked her mockingly with an overly smug voice as he ignited his sword of light with a sadistic, maniacal grin on his face as he grabbed the handle with both hands and entered a stance. "Anyway, I'm gonna chop your little pretty face into pieces of salami." he threatened her with a jovial tone to his voice as afterwards he started making "Voosh" sounds with mouth while swinging his sword, as if trying to imitate a lightsaber.

It was then that a line attached itself to the white-haired psychopath's arm, catching him by surprise and forcing him to look back, where Saji had attached a line from his Sacred Gear to the exorcist, a smirk on his face. "I'd say right behind you." he said as he wrapped the line created from the Sacred Gear on his left hand around his right arm, then grabbing it with his hand and pulling with the force that the promotion to [Queen] had given him, a level of strength that at the same tier as a [Rook]'s.

The pull was strong enough to take the excommunicated exorcist's back towards the blonde teenage boy, dislocating his shoulder and causing him to scream in pain. "Gah! Fuck! What the shit is this thing, a rope?!" he screamed in agony as he now had an opening, one which the dark-brown haired girl started to charge towards with a straight kick. However, she was suddenly struck from behind in the back by five energy daggers that pierced her skin and exploded almost immediately, causing her to screech in horrible pain as the back of her outfit was completely destroyed and her body fell on the ground.

"Nimura-chan!" Saji shouted as he got distracted from the exorcist in front of him, who decided to go forward and attack the blonde teenage boy as his left hand took the handle of the sword of light from the ineffective right arm, charging forward with a maniacal grin.

"Well, at least I'll have a filthy devil cut to pieces to start my nightly rampage!" he shouted with maniacal glee as he jumped into the air and raised his sword over his head and he moved through the air in an arc as he got closer and closer to Saji, who managed to regain his focus as he panicked seeing the crazed man launching himself towards him. He jumped back a second before the sword hit, the blade of light slashing into the asphalt of the road, causing the white-haired man click his tongue in frustration. "Dammit! Why are all these new devils so hard to kill?!" he asked out loud in frustration as he stomped on the ground.

This slight switch of attention gave Saji a small window of opportunity to counterattack, so by the fact that he once more got some distance, grabbed the line that he created and was attached to the arm of the exorcist and using his strength swung him in an arc into the side of a building, smashing down said building's wall. He then quickly detached the line and ran towards his partner, who pulled herself off the ground while flinching a little bit while the stray devil with the features of a jaguar walked towards her while holding his jaw with one hand while preparing daggers of demonic energy from the claws of his other hand.

"Yew fuhged bidch, you bouge my jaw!" the young adult with the amalgamated features of both human and jaguar said with a broken jaw, which was completely red with blood as lines of crimson filled his face, his eyes locked on the girl with the long pigtails. "It fuhged hurtz!" he screamed once more with his words slightly jumbled in sounds as he launched the daggers at the girl.

Much to Ruruko's luck, Saji used the speed given to him by the promotion to [Queen] to outspeed the energy daggers and push both Ruruko and himself out of the way, and as the two reincarnated devils of the Sitri peerage rolled on the road, Saji managed to grab his partner and started running away, carrying her on his arms bridal style. However, the stray devil [Knight] managed to easily keep up with them, almost catching to them as both men ran as fast as they could, reaching speeds faster than cars as they ran, all the while he the teenage boy dodged energy daggers thrown at him and his partner by their foe.

After a few more seconds of running, the blonde teenage reincarnated devil got an idea, to which his face lit up with brilliance. He stopped running and instead stopped full force, which took a few seconds as he was slowing down and losing momentum, but as this was happening his stray devil adversary had bypassed him and his partner, whom he had put down the moment that he had stopped completely. "Are you okay?" he asked her while having a concerned tone that matched the look on his face, showing his care for his comrade.

Ruruko nodded as she wince. "Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about me, Gen-chan. It's just a few burns, I didn't take too much damage." she told him as she turned her back to him, to which he could see that there were minimal burns spread across it with a few marks that the skin had been pierced, with most of the burn marks surrounding that area. "I can keep my head focused on that jerk, which we should be doing since he is turning around." the first-year student at Kuouh Academy and reincarnated devil of the Sitri peerage reassured her partner in the mission as both of their gazes turned ahead, where they saw that their foe had turned around and stopped quite a bit farther ahead than them.

The two promoted [Pawns] then got into their respective fighting stances as they prepared for another engagement in combat with the amalgamation of man and jaguar that was facing them. With a simple dash, all three devils charged forward at supersonic speeds at each other. The older of the two members of the Sitri peerage was the first to stop as he put his right hand over his Sacred Gear on his left wrist, ready to fire a line at the opponent he was facing, all the while his younger brown-haired partner was quickly closing the distance with their opponent.

When the girl was 5 meters away from her opponent, she crouched down and moved a little bit to the side, giving the blonde, teen-age boy the opportunity to fire a line from his Sacred Gear at his opponent, but said opponent reacted very quickly as the line was moving quickly towards him and moved his head slightly to the right, allowing the line to bypass him as he kept on running now towards the boy.

Despite this, the pair had anticipated it, and even though they had not discussed tactics, their trust in one another and hoping that luck would be on their side had prevailed as the brown-haired promoted [Pawn] now had an opening to strike. She dashed at the stray from the left flank and slammed a thunderous jump kick to the man's side, breaking some ribs while cracking all of the others to a heavy degree, causing him to gag a mouthful of blood from his mouth as he was sent flying into a wall and knocking it down like it was paper mache, making a loud ""BRAM!" sound as the building's wall collapsed on him.

"Woohoo!" the brown-haired teenage girl cheered victoriously as she jumped while also giving a high-five to the other [Pawn] of the Sitri peerage while also doing a spin in the air. Upon landing, she had a moment to think about what she did, which caused her young face to blush as her glance moved aside from her upper classman whom she had a crush on, closing her shoulders a bit inside as her body language showed she was a bit embarrassed with that cheerful victory cheer. "S-Sorry if this was too s-sudden, Gen-chan." she stuttered a bit as her cheeks burned a bit brighter red than a second ago.

Saji chuckled as he casually put his hand on Ruruko's shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile. "Hey, don't sweat it, Nimura-chan." he told her as they both looked at the collapsed wall through which their opponent had flew through. "We might not have overcame this challenge in the most strategic or astute ways that we could have, which might disappoint Kaicho a bit, but I think that she'll be very please to know that we are a good team. Especially since we took down an exorcist and a stray devil in quick succession without much experience in a real fight." he said while his voice was brimming with pride at what the pair had managed to do, which also brought a bright smile on the girl's face.

They then heard a sound coming from the hole in the building they sent the stray devil through, noticing that the rubble was slow coming up, revealing their opponent. When he had fully been up, they noticed that he was bleeding heavily from his mouth, nose, ears and forehead, covering his entire face with his own blood as he still used one of his hands to hold firm his broken jaw. A few seconds after he got up, Yusuke's shaking body gave in and he fell to one knee, puking a handful of blood as he panted heavily.

"Fuhged... shid..." he said silently as he glared at both of his opponents for a few seconds before making a sigh of defeat, only to put his hand over his ear, where a magical circle formed in front of. "My jaw is bougen, reed a twanspot." he said in a demotivated tone as he spoke to someone, only for a few seconds for a pink light to appear under him. The two peerage devils ran a bit closer to see what it was, only to notice that on the floor under the man was a pink teleportation circle with a pattern that they had never seen before, which didn't belong to any devil house that they had studied about from their master. Then, with another flash of light, the stray devil was gone, teleported somewhere else.

Saji clicked the roof of his mouth with frustration as he put his hand on his forehead. "Darn it." he said as he looked at the floor as he kicked some rubble, showing that he was a bit disappointed with allowing the stray to escape them in such a way. "I can't believe that this organization of his has its own magical circle emblem. We have to tell this to Kaicho right away." he declared with a very serious expression on his face as he took out his phone to once again call his master.

When the blonde-haired teenage boy did that, the brown-haired reincarnated devil heard something land right behind them, so she turned around to see what it was. Much to her surprise, she saw a pair of grenades lying on the ground about a meter behind them without pins, showing that they were going to explode pretty soon. Acting on instinct, she ran towards her partner to try and push him out of the way so that they wouldn't receive any damage from the explosion or the shrapnel.

By the time she reached him, the teenage reincarnated devil started to turn around to look at her with confusion at why she was dashing towards him, but at that moment the grenades exploded, releasing a powerful explosion and a barrage of shrapnel towards the pair. Luckily for them, they had two advantages that were sure to keep them alive: the first was the fact that they were now falling right when the explosions occurred because of the blowback of the blast and the fact that the brown-haired girl went to push her partner to get them out of the way. The second was their [Queen] promotion, which gave them enough durability and resilience to the point that even the most potent of hand grenades were useless against them.

However, when they were hit by the shrapnel, pushed by the explosion, the pair of teenage devils felt a shiver down their spines as they felt the metallic shards touching their skins without piercing it, heavily burning them in those small spots. Ruruko herself was hit mostly in the back and the legs, making her fall to the ground with a loud "THUD!", unable to move further without feeling an insane amount of pain. Saji had been more lucky than his partner, but a few shrapnel managed to reach his face, with one hitting just a centimeter above his right eye, nearly piercing it and forcing him to shut it as the skin around the place the shard hit burn him, as well as the entire right side of his face from the other shards.

After a few seconds after the two hit the ground, they felt their ears ringing to the point that they felt incredible pain as their eardrums were punctured, which made blood flow down from their ears. Wincing and groaning from the fact that their minds were being bombarded with messages of pain from their bodies, overwhelmingly painful. This made their efforts very difficult, but after a minute the boy manged to stand on his two feet while the girl manged to get on her knees.

The two [Pawns] promoted into [Queens] of the Sitri peerage looked around, their vision taking a few seconds from losing the blurriness that it had suffered from and become completely clear. Their hearing was still impaired, but they kept looking around to find the source of where the two grenades came from. It took another grenade suddenly falling in front of them from above to alert them.

Thinking quickly, Saji kicked away the grenade with all of his strength, sending the small explosive flying up high into the sky way above the roofs of the buildings of the block, and when it exploded harmlessly in the sky, the light of the explosion revealed the image of the white-haired maniac on top of a roof of a building, his jacket open to reveal an arsenal of grenades in it. He looked like he had one swollen eye and several cuts on his face and body from which blood came pouring out of, but he also seemed to have put back his dislocated shoulder back in its place.

"Well well, you filthy, unholy abominations of shit don't look so hot. Must be because you hit like weak bitches." he taunted and insulted the pair with a gleeful grin filled with malice as he took out two grenades, but the two devils couldn't really hear him that well because of their ruptured eardrums. "The only bothersome things was the dislocated shoulder, but I popped back that shit myself no diff'." he said as he saw the worried expression in their eyes and started to spin the grenades in his hands slowly and look at them from different angles.

"You like my new babies? These are my deliciously blessed fragmentation hand grenades with a metal composition of both steel and pure silver, with some good ole' mercury. All of that was created and crafted specifically in the research labs of the Vatican by the best alchemists in the world to eradicate every kind of diabolical pagan monstrosity that plagues the Earth." he bragged about the grenades that he held in his hands, only to take out the pins and spit them out. "Sure, these aren't the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, but they are certainly capable of killing more than a killer rabbit." he finished his sentence as he then threw the pair of grenades at the injured devils. "Now die!" he roared as the two grenades flew towards the pair.

The only thing that Saji did was to cover Ruruko's body with his own, both closing their eyes about as the grenades exploded, leaving the area rocking with a loud "BOOM!" sound.

Koneko and Tomoe dashed towards their older adversary, who was smirking at the two condescendingly with a smug smirk on her face. "We need to distract her. That's the best way for us to get an opening." Reya told both of them using her telepathic magic as she charged demonic energy in her hands. The Gremory [Rook] and Sitri [Knight] had agreed with this strategy as the brownish-red haired girl moved to the side to attack from the woman's flanks while the shorter and stronger girl charged head on at the spider-looking opponent.

The white-haired teen sent a thunderous punch at the blonde stray devil dressed in a formal dress, but said woman used the speed of the [Queen] piece, which nearly matched the speed of a [Knight] piece, to easily slipped to the side and dodged gracefully as if she was the wind itself, in addition to retaliating by sending a powerful kick into the white-haired girl's stomach in the same swift motion that she used to dodge, landing a powerful blow into the [Rook], making her grunt from the pain and send her a few meters into the air while spewing saliva.

At that point the reddish-brown haired teenage reincarnated devil jumped forward with her katana raised above her head, ready to lower it to chop the stray devil into pieces, and while the woman with four round, red eyes on each side of her face turned around to intercept her with both her human hands and four spider legs, the [Bishop] of the Sitri peerage fired a blast of demonic energy, one which she had shaped into a beam of lime-green light. This got the attention of the stray devil as she caught the light from the corner of her eye while slightly turning her head.

Moving quickly using her speed, the monstrous-looking woman twirled her body away from the direction of the attacks, letting Tomoe's sword hit the ground instead of blocking her, allowing the blast to fly right towards the Sitri[Knight]. Fortunately for the teenage girl, she reacted just in time to use her speed to crouch down and let the energy blast evade past her. The green beam them crashed into the wall, creating a powerful explosion that shook the entire warehouse.

Not letting the quaking stop her rhythm of movement, the reddish-brown haired teen made a half spin as she launched a diagonal sword swipe from the lower left side to the upper right side, all the while the falling small teenage girl from the Gremory peerage had regained her senses in the air and cocked back his left fist as she prepared to slam it on top of her adversary with all of her might and despite her outer expression of indifference, she was angry on the inside and ready to let it all out into her punch.

Although the group knew that their enemy would expect an attack from multiple fronts, they didn't know how or if she would counter all of them, so for good measure the [Bishop] of the Sitri group launched a fireball of demonic energy at her opponent and then starting around the warehouse, close to the wall to try to not constantly be in a single position. 'Alright, give it everything you've got!' she instructed her mini-team using her telepathic communication magic as she stopped and charged energy in her hands before slamming them on the ground, all the while the Sitri [Knight] had her katana nearly reach below the blonde stray's right armpit to slice her up and the Gremory [Rook] threw down her punch as hard as she possibly could.

The spider-human hybrid stray devil smirked as she raised her right hand up, catching the small fist of the white-haired reincarnated devil with a small grunt of visible effort while her left hand moved at tremendous speed to catch the katana blade between her finger, all the while also twisting her left foot a little bit to the side and pouring magic into it, creating an iceberg twice the size of her own body, which had the lightning bolt explode against it harmlessly, spreading a few chunks of ice around the three female devils.

Quickly reacting and continuing with making the efforts of her three foes useless, she then swung Koneko on top of her sword-wielding senpai, smashing both of them into the concrete ground, only to then throw the white-haired girl to the other side, right into the slow-moving fireball formed by Reya, which exploded against the small girl's back, making her give out a pained "AGHK!" cry as her top got completely incinerated, leaving her bra exposed and slightly tinged as she fell down to the ground, smoke rising from her body.

"Toujo-san!" both second-year students shouted with concern in their voices as they saw their kohai getting hurt, but Tomoe was very unlucky as she focused on the white-haired girl more than picking herself off the ground, as the spider-looking stray grabbed the back of her head and smashed her face into the concrete with enough force to break it. She then raised the reincarnated devil's head, who was bleeding heavily from her mouth and nose, only to slam it down again with tremendous force and a loud "BAM!" sound, knocking the teenage girl unconscious.

A moment after that the ground rose up from around the stray devil, forming a large hand made of the concrete that was the floor of the building. It quickly grasped the curvaceous figure of the spider-looking woman and held firm, tightening with every second. Then from the concrete hand a large vine erupted and tied itself around the woman like a rope. The teenage reincarnated [Bishop] of the Sitri peerage panted heavily while sweating buckets, her own use of her demonic spell complete. She put more effort, pushing more demonic energy into her hands, causing the ground to slowly push away the unconscious teenage reincarnated devil away from her opponent and towards her, an action that seemingly exhausted her even further.

"Fu fu fu fu." the blonde woman with four small, dotty red eyes on each side of her face laugh with amusement in her tone while looking at the devil who was a second-year student at Kuoh Academy, which disturbed the braided girl, forcing her to strengthen the hold on the woman. "How adorable, you think you can contain me. That's sweet." she mocked her opponent as the hand made of concrete and the plant that was roped around her started to freeze and crack like it was nothing to the stray, making the braided girl's eyes to widen with terror.

'Toujo-san, smash her face with all her face, now! If she breaks free, we're dead!' Reya psychically screamed into the white-haired [Rook]'s head, entering into a state of panic. The small teen listened to her senpai and got up, putting all of her physical force into two places: the muscles in her legs and in her right fist, which she cocked back. She then launched herself forward with such force that the ground beneath her feet cracked and debris flew into the air, with her jumping in an arc, moving fast through the air, all the while more and more cracks appeared on the frozen hand made of concrete and vines.

"NYAAAAAA!" Koneko shouted at the top of her lungs, managing to reach and connect her fist against the older woman's cheek, snapping her head to the side as the impact of the knuckles and cheekbone made a loud and powerful sonic boom, which caused the entire building to shake violently, dust falling from all around the place. The eight-eyed woman spat a mouthful of blood as cracks stopped appearing on her restraints.

landing gracefully right in front of her stray devil adversary, the white-haired girl smirked with satisfaction. "...This is what you get for calling me a little girl, you ass-face spider lady." she told the woman with little emotion visible on her face, aside from the determination in her eyes.

There were a few seconds of silence, after which the blonde woman turned her head to look at the small teenage reincarnated devil, her brow furrowed as she glared daggers at her, sending a chill down the [Rook]'s spine. There was a purple mark on the woman's cheek where the girl's fist had hit, with a small line of blood coming down from both sides of her mouth, as well as from both nostrils. Her aura was cold and filled with killing intent, her expression filled with cold rage.

"Congratulation, little girl, you landed a proper hit." the stray devil spat the words as she seemed now more nettled than before, as if a gear shifted inside her head, like a warrior taking its foe more seriously. Having more combat experience than the other two reincarnated devils that assisted her, Koneko knew that feeling so well, because she was the one who would usually shift that gear and entered a state that showed no remorse against larger stray devils, but far weaker than the one in front of her.

She jumped back a moment before the frozen restraints of the woman shattered into frozen pieces and fell on the floor, with the burst sending an invisible wall of pressure that pushed her a little further back. The blonde older devil cracked her knuckles and then her neck as her eyes were locked on the young reincarnated devil. "Allow me to return the favor." she said coldly as she tensed the muscles in her legs and putting a lot of force into them.

The stray devil [Queen] then dashed, moving at a speed that neither the Gremory [Rook] or the Sitri [Bishop] could follow at all, closing the short distance between her and the former, to the point that she was standing right next to her. She then bashed her right elbow against the shorter girl's upper back so hard that the [Rook]'s irises turned white with pain while she spewed blood from her mouth, her body crashing down on the ground. The stray devil then pointed her finger down at the girl, firing small whitish-blue at her, freezing her hands and feet to the ground.

Turning around, the spider-woman charged at the teenager with the long braids, stopping just a few meters away from her foe, which caused said teenage foe's body to freeze in terror. Not reacting and keeping the frown on her face, the spider-looking woman unleashed a wave of ice that rose up and captured the [Bishop] in it, leaving only everything above the neck exposed while her body was surrounded by ice. She then moved towards the down member of the Gremory peerage once again and kicked her in the stomach, causing the girl to spit some more saliva as she was sent flying up and her tiny body slammed against the wall while almost reaching the roof, denting the steel wall.

As the white-haired girl began to fall, the sadistic and furious woman used her enhanced demonic energy to create a spear made of ice in only a second. She then launched said ice spear at the small first-year devil student, which flew at insane speed and within a second reached its target. It all happened in an instant as the spear impacted against the white-haired girl's shoulder piercing through the shoulder bone and completely stopping the tiny teen in place, impaling her as the tip of the spear pierced the spear wall and for an instant made a horrifyingly painful sound that was like metal scratching metal a hundred fold, exiting on the other side of, red with blood. The moment after Koneko gave a howl filled with unimaginable agony as her senses were overwhelmed beyond capacity from the pain.

As the tiny devil continued to let out cries of anguish, the blonde humanoid woman with spider features gave a sadistic smile, no longer showing any signs of cold fury on her face. "Ah, it's sooo cathartic to let my anger out. It always brings music to my ears." she said with a gleeful tone as she listened to the screams of the white-haired girl while humming to herself. She then turned her attention to the teenage girl with the braided hair, striding towards her with malicious joy as she tilted her hips from side to side. However she stopped right next to the limp, unconscious body of the teenage girl with the reddish-brown hair.

Reya's eyes widened in fear for her friend and fellow peerage member as the stray devil crouched down and her gently passed her fingers through the girl's hair. "Quite the hair she has. And with a face like hers, she is a true beauty. Her face truly reminds me of my former master." she said as she then violently grabbed the head of the unconscious reincarnated devil and raised it up, revealing the girl's bloodied face from being slammed twice into the ground with tremendous force. The stray devil then slammed Tomoe's head down a third time now, having her smash face-first against the concrete, cracking it. The woman giggle as the spider legs on her back started gently tapping on the girl's body. "Oopsy, did I just ruin that pretty face? Now that would be a face that nobody would fuck. Not that she'll live long enough to get fucked by anyone anyway." she mocked the unconscious girl as she then got up and kicked the girl's left side, sending the limp body away while slightly bouncing off the ground like a ragdoll.

"Stop that!" the teenage girl with the braided hair shouted at the stray devil, gaining the woman's attention. "Stop hitting Meguri-san like that! She didn't do anything to you and yet you take your time destroying her body for no real reason! Do you have no shame?!" the teenage reincarnated devil inquired with anger in her voice, despite being incapable of escaping the icy shell that encased her body.

Hearing the girl's questions, the stray smirked at her, said smirk filled with powerful and evil intent as she strode to the girl encased in ice. While all of this was happening, the two didn't pay any attention to Koenko, who had broken a part of the ice spear that impaled her shoulder and was starting to push herself through the part that was still attached to the wall and get down from where was, all the while screaming from the unimaginable pain she was feeling from all of this.

When the blonde devil with spider traits stopped in front of Reya, she extended her hands forward and grabbed the teenage girl's braids. "Such a nice hair. So stylish." she gleefully and maliciously mocked as she raised both braids up and then held them together with one hand while retracting the other. "Now to answer your question. Do I have no shame?" the woman looked like she was in thought for a few seconds while Reya prepared herself for whatever was coming, steeling her entire body before the woman answered, knowing she was going to do something. "Short answer? No." she said as she slammed her fist into the teen girl's stomach hard, causing her to puke a mouthful of blood from her mouth and shattering the ice in front of the stomach and torso. "Long answer? No." she answered again with the same level of smugness and satisfaction as she smashed another thunderous punch into the teen's stomach, breaking the layer of ice around her entire body. Reya herself immediately fell to her knees as she once more puked a mouthful of blood, tears coming from her eyes.

At that point, the white-haired [Rook] managed to slide off the broken spear while holding the part that she had managed to break off in her right hand. She landed on the ground with a loud "THUD!" and raised the half of the pole of the spear over her shoulder while her left hand slumped down heavily, throwing it with all the force she could muster in her injured state. Unfortunately for her, the stray devil heard her feat making an impact with the ground and turned around just in time to notice the girl throwing the broken ice pole at her.

Not wasting a single instant, the blonde woman took a step back and extended her hand, catching that pole with impeccable timing on her part, which caused Koneko's eyes to widen in fear, knowing that her attempt to kill the stray devil has been made mute. Only wasting a few seconds afterwards, the woman with the spider legs on her back formed three daggers made of ice and threw them at the Gremory [Rook], which flew so fast that the girl couldn't evade it. The daggers pierced her skin and extended forward into spears inside her body, impaling her once again, though she had an incredible amount of luck that all of her internal organs had evaded from taking any damage. However, Koneko could no longer keep herself conscious, her small body falling down on the ground as the hole in her shoulder continued to turn her school shirt red as blood flowed freely.

Smirking with relief and satisfaction from her work, the blonde stray devil focused some demonic energy into the broken pole that belonged to her ice spear, which quickly extended itself until it became a glaive. She turned to the still conscious, though still coughing Reya. "Well then, girlie, who do you want me to decapitate first?" she asked completely nonchalantly as Reya's eyes grew to the size of plates with terror filling them, fear for her comrades' lives. "As much as I want to go with that little samurai over there," she pointed her glaive's blade over to the downed Tomoe. "I think I should put the little girl out of her misery first." she said decisively as she started striding towards the unconscious and bleeding Koneko. "I mean, with a hole like that in her shoulder and a few spears in the stomach, she won't last long anyway." the woman joked smugly with a cold disregard for life as she kept on walking towards the tiny reincarnated devil.

The teenage devil with the braided hair started to get up, pushing herself off the ground as she tried to do her best to save the Gremory servant's life. However, before she fully straightened herself up, she felt a sharp pain in her stomach, which caused her to slump down as she held onto her stomach, coughing up a little bit of blood.

"Stop..." she whispered as tears of desperation came down from her eyes while the spider woman finally stopped as she stood over Koneko's limp body and raised the glaive with both of her hands over her head.

"STOP!" a desperate plea came out of Reya's mouth, begging one last time in the hope of stopping her, not noticing a blue glow at the edge of her line of sight from the right.

The glaive then came down, aiming for the tiny girl's neck. The next sound that was heard was a loud, echoing "CLANG!".

A large cloud of smoke filled the sky and spread all over the area, a result of the gigantic explosion of power that had just occurred. Ichigo burst out of that cloud, his twelve wings were spread wide from his back as he flew away from the center of the explosion.

His body was filled with several first and second degree burns, most of them on his left arm, which looked severely damaged from the Cero that had hi him. The left sleeve of his shihakusho had been burned to atoms and part of the chest area on the left side was also gone, exposing some of his torso and his impressive build. The left side of his face also had a few burns on it while his entire body had small bruises on it and his clothes were covered with dust and tiny holes. He flapped his wings while wincing in pain from the attack.

It was then that a large portion of the smoke cloud dispersed with a wave of air pushed by the arrancar, who charged head first towards his hybrid adversary. **"What's this? Art thy hurt?"** the purple-bearded man said with a grin of malicious satisfaction on his face while killing intent was flaring off him like an invisible star in the sky. "Not so fucking smug anymore are thee, Ichigo Kurosaki?!" the evolved hollow screamed with an ecstatic tone to his voice as he launched forth an attack with his sharp claws, intending to impale the teenager.

However, Ichigo was not green when it came to fights, especially against high-level opponents. He made a quick flap on his wings, creating a thin layer of light behind them, all the while creating three layers of reiatsu under his feet, the three types that used for each high-speed technique that he had learned. When the flap of his dozen wings finished, he disappeared from sight and appeared behind his foe faster than the man could even finish moving a meter. With a quick swing of his large sword in its sealed state, he landed a deep diagonal slash on the hollow's back. The immediate result of the attack was a fountain of blood coming out of the back of the evolved hollow's back, making him scream in pain.

"You're finished!" Ichigo shouted as he went for another sweep of his large sword, but the man then moved away from by using Sonido, gaining a small amount of distance as he was now facing he nephilim he was fighting, panting heavily as beads of sweat covered his brow and the deep cut on his back started to close thanks to his regeneration. Growling, he generated white tendrils from his skin that wiggled in struggle, before their heads turned into those of snakes, whom opened their mouths and quickly charged small orbs of energy, just like before.

The orange-haired teen's eyes widened upon seeing this. "Nope." he said as he threw his sword up and then clapped his hands together, with a shining light flashing between the touching palms. He then spread his arms apart, forming a barrier made of angelic light in front of him, one that was so big that it was like the wall of a fortress.

It was then that Gaudou fired a barrage of miniature ceros at his adversary, the beams growing in size and then crashing all together against the golden shield of light. The beams pushed hard against the light structure, but it didn't budge a single bit, as if an unstoppable force met an immovable object, two forces of equal might clashing against once another. Both fighters gritted their teeth as they pushed more energy into their abilities, with rogue sparks of reiatsu flying aside from the cero, all the while invisible waves of pressure boomed in the sky like thunder.

After a while it seemed like the orange-haired teen was starting to be pushed back and his shield began to slightly crack, much to the satisfaction of the arrancar, who grinned maliciously as anticipation filled his mind. The teenage hybrid was pushed further and fuerther back, milimeter after milimeter, but whenever a small crack appeared on the shielding layer of light, it quickly disappeared.

Eventually, after nearly half-a-minute of the nephilim's struggling, he started pushing back, taking step after step on the air as if he was on the ground. With each step that he had taken, he advanced millimeter by millimeter, gritting his teeth and growling as he tried to bring forth more of his sealed power. Unfortunately, the shield started to give in, with more and more cracks appeared very quickly on the light structure, until it shattered completely and the cero nearly swallowed him whole. Acting quicly, the substitute shinigami used Shunpo to move away from attack's path, letting it pass harmlessly over the horizon.

Gaudou pated with a smirk on his face as the snakes retracted back into his body, only for the orange-haired shinigami to appear above him with his sword in his hands, the edge pointing down towards the evolved hollow's head. Gaudou's eyes widened upon seeing this. **"How high did thee throw thy sword?! We were struggling for over a minute!"** he exclaimed while speaking in English as he sidestepped the stab from his opponent and sent a straight kick aimed at the teen, who turned around, raised the flat side of his sword and blocked said kick, his body visibly vibrating from the impact.

The arrancar smirked as he extended his left arm, which had several snakes forming out of it, heading towards the teen, slithering around his sword, just before. However, unlike the last time that the older man used this tactic, the young susstitute shinigami was prepared. He jumped back while his left hand glowed with angelic holy light, which he then swiped from right to left in a horizontal line, creating a thin, golden, crescent moon-shaped wave that headed towards the arrancar, slicing apart the snakes that he had formed and burned them into nothingness. The purple-bearded man simply crossed his arms and tanked the attack, suffering minimal damage in the form of a slight burn on his forearms.

Upon lowering his arms, the evolved hollow charged forward with Sonido, closing the distance between him and Ichigo within an instant, ramming into him with a stupendously powerful left hook that met with the teen's right cheek and snapped his head with great force, creating a powerful shockwave that echoed with a thunderous "POOOOOOOOW!" sound, but it wasn't enough to send the teen flying.

Holding his ground and recovering quickly, Ichigo grabbed the older man's left hand with his right hand and then twisted slightly to the left as he hammered a monstrous punch right underneath his adversary's ribs, doubling him over as invisible pressure seemed to erupt from his back, a loud "THRUUUM!" sound echoing in the air violently.

But the arrancar didn't falter a single bit, launching himself forward and slamming his head against Ichigo's face, snapping his head back with a bit of blood coming from his nose. Of course, Ichigo retaliated with a headbutt of his own. As forehead clashed against forehead, Gaudou's head snapped backwards as he gasped with pain.

This continued on for nearly a minute as the two continued to exchanged blow after blow, each making its mark on them. Elbow crashed against cheek, knee slammed into stomach, foreheads bashed against one another over and over, drawing blood. With each strike a loud "BOOM!" thundered while an invisible wave of pressure blasted in the air. Eventually the two were separated when the orange-haired substitute shinigami rammed the hilt of his sword, which he held with both hands, into the center of the purple-bearded man's chest, sending him backwards.

They both panted heavily as blood dripped down from their forehead and beads of sweat filled their brow, all the while both had blood flowing freely from both of their nostrils and from both edges of their mouths. The rest of their bodies were also filled with bruises from the short exchange of blows.

'Dammit, he's stronger than I thought.' Ichigo thought to himself as he held firmly to the handle of his zanpakuto. 'If I had fought this guy 17 months ago, I would have definitely needed to go Bankai just to keep up, though I'm not sure if my chances would have been any better than now.' he kept thinking as he thought about the way things were going for him thus far in this fight, feeling the pain from his burnt left arm and the left side of his face. He took a deep breath as he recollected his thoughts and flewback, making some more distance between him and his foe.

'Alright, so right now in this state, where Zangetsu and most my power are sealed, I can safely say that I'm as strong as I was when I fought Byakuya in Soul Society, meaning this assclown could go toe-to-toe with Old Man Zangetsu's fake Bankai.' he thought as he started to analyze the facts on his opponent's power compared to his own in order to decide on a strategy. 'However, using my newly created "God Step" technique, I can easily outpace and blitz him. However, doing so requires my to use Shunpo, Sonido, Hirenkyaku and Brigner Light in unison, which is difficult since I don't have much experience with my angelic abilities.' he kept on thinking while he tried to gain some distance, only for his foe to charge straight after him.

Ichigo clicked his tongue as he continued creating a strategy in his mind. 'Alright, so even without "God Step", I can still use my speed to gain the upper hand here.' he kept talking to himself in his mind as a nostalgic smirk appeared on his face. 'Feh, I guess that the ol' hyperspeed it is then.' he finished his thinking process as his wings retracted back into his back and he grasped the handle of his zanpakuto with both hands.

"Hey!" he shouted, making the arrancar stop in his tracks with a little bit of confusion on his face, yet still warry enough as to keep himself on guard as to what his young adversary was going to do. For a second or two the fighters stared at each other silently, before the smirking Ichigo spoke. "You wanna see something cool?" he asked with confidence.

However, before the evolved hollow could answer, the shinigami tensed the muscles in his legs, only to move from left to right at an incredible speed, using Shunpo to increase his movement speed. These movements left many afterimages that confused the evolved hollow, who could barely keep up. The shinigami then started to move like that in more than one spot, jumping to the hollow's left side and moving just as fast, leaving an astronomical amount of afterimages, then doing the same while on the hollow's right side. All throughout the change in placement and the continuous hyperspeed movement, slashes that weren't incredibly deep started to appear all over the hollow's body, blood sprouting out of them.

"BUAH!" the purple-bearded man cried in pain as he hissed and focused a ton of reishi in his hand, to the point that it glowed a sick-green color.

Ichigo appeared behind his opponent, charging in with a heavy swing prepared to cut said opponent in half with his large blade. "It's over, Gaudo! You're finished!" he screamed as he slashed at his foe from behind, only for the blade to move through the air as the arrancar moved just in time using Sonido, appearing right in front of Ichigo, his right hand glowing green.

"Bala!" he shouted and stretched his arm, his fist stopping just a bit short from the orange-haired teen's chest, but the energy on his fist exploded forward, exploding against the chest of the teen and creating a powerful green explosion that engulfed him and sent him flying back through the air while around the arrancar a cloud of black smoke filled the area.

The teenager managed to regain his balance as he skidded across the air using reishi platform. When he finally managed to stop his momentum, he hissed and put his hand on his torso, which was completely exposed since the part of his shihakusho that covered th center of his chest was burned to cinders and the rest of his top fell down and was hung on his hips. At the center of his torso was a nasty, circular red burn mark that covered his entire chest. He kept on hissing as his held onto the handle of his sword tightly, to the point that it drew blood from his palm.

"This, my annoying foe, is Bala. It is an arrancar technique that focuses and fires a powerful projectile of reishi. It isn't even close in power to a Cero, but it's twenty times faster." he boasted as he charged another Bala and fired it at the teenager, who barely managed to move his head slightly to the left and evade the attack, much to the young man's surprise. He then fired a barrage of those small but fast reishi spheres one after another, with the orange-haired teenage boy barely dodging them using Shunpo while beads of sweat covered his brow. Finally a sphere of energy had hit the teen, with several more following an instant afterward, creating explosion of sickly-green energy and smoke, coloring the night's sky for a second.

Ichigo fell from the air down to the ground, his torso filled with black burn marks while smoke and steam rose from his body. His eyes had rolled back as he seemed to be completely defeated while a mouth blood and smoke came out of his throat. His adversary simply smirked as he used his high-speed technique to move next to the falling hybrid and kicked his right ribs, breaking all of the ribs on his right side as a shockwave rocketed across his entire skeleton and exploded outside into the air, sending the substitute shinigami crashing down through several trees and his body crashing into the ground and causing a gigantic amount of soil and rubble to rise up into the air before falling down, much like happened earlier when Ichigo had done the same.

The nephilim's body bounced several times off the ground, his momentum hasn't stopped from hitting the ground until he crashed through two trees and hitting the trunk of the third that he finally stopped and fell down. His entire upper body had been covered with burns and with injuries that had blood leaking out of in spades, covering a large part of his face and torso with his own blood while he coughed in pain. The entire top of his shihakusho was gone and his leggings were partially torn as he struggled to push his body off the ground.

Gaudou then landed right next to the teenage hybrid with a smug look on his face. **"Pride cometh before the fall. Has thou cometh to understand such a phrase, Ichigo Kurosaki?"** the man said smugly while he clapped his hands and laughed with sadistic satisfaction. **"Thee mock'd me and annon thee pay'd the price. It is a simple fact of life."** Gaudou continued to brag and goad as he slowly walked closer and around his foe, brandishing his claws with exhilaration burned and stuck on his face, while at the same time the teenager coughed a little bit more blood on the ground.

The grin on the purple-bearded man's face then grew wider. **"Oh right, I have a message for thee from my commander, Grand Fisher."** he said with glee as Ichigo's eyes widened. **"If I remember correctly, he told me to tell thee something about how he enjoys fucking thy mother's corpse at night."** he told the teenager while bursting out laughing. "Hahaha! This sounds utterly cathartic! A hollow fucking the corpse of a Seraph?! What better way to release our hatred for those holier than thou hypocrites that dare destroy our souls with their light!" he screamed, overjoyed as his imagination ran wild of imagery of how such a downright disgusting thing would be performed, not noticing that Ichigo lowered his head slightly, shadows covering his eyes.

After a few seconds of indulgence, the arrancar returned to look back at the seemingly defeated teen rasing his hand with his claws aimed towards the boy's chest. "Not that it really matters, since thee shall join her soon enough. Now die, Ichigo Kurosaki!" he screamed as his hand darted forward like an arrow flying towards its mark in a straight line without wind resistance. However, much to the man's surprise, the orange-haired substitute shinigami caught the arm by the wrist using his left hand, his eyes still covered by shadows as his right hand then moved over and covered his entire face.

[Begin Musical Cue: Vasto Lorde Ichigo Theme]

Gaudou tried to pry his hand free from the grip, but it was locked, leaving him unable to get free when the hybrid finally spoke with a low and calm voice, yet one that was evident to be filled with rage. "Hollowfication 10%." he said, moving his right hand down his face as if he was slashing down. But instead of the fingers cutting air, reishi suddenly formed around his entire face. A black screen of energy that screamed or rage, hunger and despair. A curtain of energy made of hollow reiatsu, much to the shock, confusion and terror of the evolved hollow.

The energy then disappeared from the teenager's face, revealing that his face was now being covered by a mask of some sort. It had the appearance of what appeared to be a skeletal face, its right side completely white and pristine, shining like marble. However, the left side was covered in red lines moving in a curved, almost river-like manner. Gaudou realized immediately what that mask was: a hollow mask.

"So," Ichigo suddenly spoke up, his voice distorted with ecoes that made it sound as if multiple people were speaking at the same time while raising his head, revealing his eyes: both eyes had black sclera and his pupils were golden amber, the eyes of a hollow. "what was it about fucking my mom's corpse?" he inquired with a chilling calmness as his eyes, filled with range and hunger, glared into his opponent's soul.

"Oh shit..." the purple-bearded man said with his brow covered with beads of sweat when he realized how beneath the substitute shinigami he really was in power, as well as the fact that he was now locked in a grip without a chance of escape on his own.

Without even a second to react, to even perceive motion, the evolved hollow was struck in his face. He couldn't even see the blow that struck him and shattered the snake-shaped one helmet that covered the upper half of his face while also splitting open his forehead, cheeks and temples, which resulted in a ton of blood squirting out of his face. All he could see in one second was the vision of the hollowfied shinigami in front of him while holding his wrist, while now he could only perceived things as they were moving in a blur of motion around him and his face was burning with an unbridled, unfathomable amount of pain.

He quickly managed to regain his balance and stopped his momentum, but he quickly realized that he was nowhere close to Japan or any sort of land, but standing above the vast, wide ocean. He screamed in agony as his brain realized the state of his face: his nose was broken and the area of the skull around it had been fractured, all the while his lower jaw fell and had been completely unresponsive, as if it was hanging like a weight to his face. He felt the warn sensation of his own blood coating and spread out across his entire face as the wounds he suffered started to mend themselves, but the blood still drenched his goatee red.

His eyes changed into a state of pure horror when the orange-haired teen appeared in front of him, hollow mask still on his face and twelve wings spread out from his back, all white as an angel with more and more feathers slowly turning more and more crimson red, which the young substitute shinigami took notice of.

"Congrats, you managed to regain your balance that quickly." Ichigo mockingly congratulated the purple-bearded man with a distorted voice. "I only got here about two seconds after I gave you that light tap to the face and you already recovered. And by here, I guess you can say its about half way between Japan and America's West Coast." he explained as he seemed to talk completely nonchalantly, but in fact was obviously holding back an extensive amount of rage behind his black-golden eyes.

The evolved hollow's body shook as he flt chills going down his spine from the level of danger he was in. His body was sending an incredible amount of signals to the pain, notifying it of the unimaginable pain that he was feeling in his face, despite his healing factor working to fix it.

Thinking quickly, Gaudou raised both hands and started firing Bala blasts over and over at his masked foe, but his attacks simply brushed against the back of the teen's hands as he brushed them aside and allowed them to harmlessly explode in the night's sky, causing Gaudou's eyes to become as wide as dinner plates and scream in terror and shock while his jaw still slumped down.

Ichigo lauched with a bit of sadism in his distorted voice as he made a finger gun and aimed it towards his foe. "Truly a scream fitting of a little bitch." he mocked as spiritual energy started to gather at the tip of his index finger. "Sorry, but I don't know how Hollowfication affects my angelic biology yet, so I'll have to kill you quickly." he told the man as a red orb of reiatsu started to grow bigger and biger in front of his fingertip, aimed at the arrancar who was sweating buckets.

"Do not fret, your death will be painless compared to what I'll do to your commander. And don't worry, I'll personally send Grand Fisher to hell to give you some company." the orange-haired hollowfied shinigami said with a chilling calmness as the ball of energy finally stopped charging. "Cero." he coldly and silently whispered the name of the attack as he fired a gigantic rey of red reiatsu towards his foe, intending to finish him off for good.

However, exactly at the immediate moment that Ichigo's Cero was fired, a hole opened up in the sky and shot down a beam of light as well. The gigantic red beam washed all over the entire area that was in front of it, including where the purple-bearded man had been standing on, coloring the sky red for nearly an entire half-a-minute. A long and loud "THRUUUM!" sound roared across the entire area as the beam blasted and darted above the wave like a scorching beam of light. The entire area also shook, splitting the ocean, creating tidal waves and powerful winds throughout the entire time that the Cero had been going on.

When the beam finally dissipated, Ichigo was shocked to see that his foe had not turned into atoms like he had hoped, but was fine and coompletely unharmed, protected by a golden light that came from the heavens above him, with a tear in the fabric of reality. He quickly remembered the last time when he saw that thing, 17 months prior in Soul Society when Aizen and his associates escaped to Hueco Mundo. This was the Negación.

Gaudou pushed his lower jaw up and clapped it against his upper jaw. After a few seconds he used his hand to lower it a tiny bit as a maniacal laughter went out of his throat while Ichigo clicked his tongue and removed his hollow mask, his skin no longer showing any of his previous injuries that he had sustained during his battle. "HAHAHAHA! Thy attempt to end me has failed! I still breath, Ichigo Kurosaki!" he declared in delight as he flipped the teen off joyfully. "If I die and go to hell, then thy ass shall meet me there!" he kept on taunting the teenager as he was raised into the rift in the sky, returning back from wense he came.

The orange-haired boy simply spat. "Oh yeah?! Well next time, I'll kill you without releasing my zanpakuto or using Hollowfication! That's just how insignificant you are!" he shouted back while flipping off the advanced hollow back. "And tell Grand Fisher that I'm going to kill his ass with a smile on his face! Remember that!" he screamed as the man finally disappeared and the veil between worlds closed.

With agitation and furry still filling his mind from the insult to his mother, the teenager made a slash with his sword, which send a powerful air slash made of wind across the horrizon, making a high-pitched sound as the air itself was cut and whistled loudly. He repeated the process several times while roaring at the top of his lungs, all the while blades of wind slashed nothingness. A few good seconds after that he started to take deep breaths, his mind starting to clear from the fog of bloodlust. As he breathed and closed his eyes, he took out his subsitute shinigami badge and put it against his chest. Black tendrils of reishi came out of it and wrapped themselves around his body and blade for five whole seconds before returning from wence they came, inside the amulate.

Now the orange-haired hybrid was wearing normal jeans, a pair of socks and his black shoes, whatever t-shirt he was wearing had been destroyed like the top of his shihakusho during the battle itself. His twelve angelic wings were still spread out wide from his back, white and pristine marble. When he opened his eyes, he put the badge back into the pocket of his jeans and looked back at the direction of where Japan was. 'Alright, I learned a great deal of information tonight. I have to report this to Urahara.' he thought to himself as he flapped his wings, disappearing with Hirenkyaku as he flew back to Kuhou Town.

[End Musical Cue #2]

Meanwhile, on another part of Kuhou Town, the defenders of the town had been running in the streets together, their faces filled with determination over the sensation that they felt. They had already learned how to differentiate the demonic essence of devils to that of spiritual energy, which allowed them to sense that something was going on with their friends.

However, for the last minute all of them were frozen in place, their faces covered with sweat as they felt the tremendous power of Ichigo's hollow power, if only for a few seconds before it disappeared, probably going beyond the reach of their senses. Out of all of them though, Orihime had been shaking like a leaf, her eyes wide and filled with fear and terror. Fear of her own childhood friend and the guy she had a crush on.

"What...the fuck?" the tomboyish teenage girl asked as she couldn't move a muscle. "How long? How long since Ichigo used these powers? That jump in power, filled with such a dark pressure of killing intent and reiatsu...he's fighting against someone powerful." she concluded as her voice cracked as she spoke, unable to really think about anything else right now.

It was then that Chad fel on one knee, his mouth slightly open while his visible eye was wide with shock. "The fact that Ichigo needed to rely on the more corrupting elements of his hollow powers is more than telling that his enemy is too powerful for us to risk joining in." he said as he tried to get back up, but it was as if his muscles were not responding to the signals sent from his brain.

"That is correct." a strong and bombastic voice suddenly reached their ears as Tessai appeared next to the three of them using shunpo, causing the two startled girls to take a step back and fall on their behinds from the surprise, causing a bit of levity that snapped them out of the fear of feeling the massive hollow reiatsu that came from their friend earlier. "That is why I went to find you all, to sent you to help your devil friends. They are in far greater danger." he informed them as he clapped his hands and started to mumble somthing quietly, what was most likely an incantation.

The three humans looked at each other with concern as they heard about the situation of their devil friends for a few seconds, only for their attention to be turned to four teleportation circles that appeared on the ground, all appearing in different colors. There was a red one, a blue one, a yellow one and a pink one, which confused all of them. "Each one of these will take you to one of the places that your friends are fighting right now." the assistant of Urahara Shoten and the former head of the Kido Corps. of Soul Society started to explain.

The orange-haired girl then put her finger on her chin and tilted her head. "Where does each circle teleports to?" she asked with an inquisitive tone to her voice, her mind distracted from the fear she felt before.

"Which on sends me to where the strongest enemy is? I want an actual challange." The spiky-haired girl grumbled as she crossed her arms in front of her chest, a bead of sweat still running down her brow as she ground her teeth with a feeling of disappointment at herself for how she reacted earlier.

"Where am I needed most?" Chad asked calmly, his expression turning stiff as the fear in his mind disappeared with a sense of reassurance that there was no need to worry about his good friend.

All of a sudden, the giant man's eyes went wide as all four of them felt a distinctive and powerful reishi signature, making them all look at the direction from which they felt it. After a few seconds of their sight being frozen in that direction, they realized that they also felt the aura of a devil coming from there as well. Immediately they returned to look at one another with their expression turned serious. "I'll go there." Chad quickly proclaimed with determination in his eyes. "The devils over there are our friends and that person could attack them without one of us there." he reasoned without hesitation as he looked over to the giant assitant of Kisuke Urahara. "Which circle leads there?" he asked in a direct manner.

Tessai didn't respond immediately, but he took several seconds before answering. "The blue one." that was what he said, to which the dark-skinned teen nodded with a respectful appreciation to the older man as he walked over the blue transport circle.

However, a voice rose up in an attempt to argue. "W-wait, Sado-kun." the orange-haired girl said with a bit of hesitance to her voice, which got everyone's attention. She twiddled her fingers a bit before continuing. "Um, wouldn't it be better that I go there? After all, he likes having me around more." she told him a bit shyly, trying to argue against her tall friend teleporting over to that specific location.

However, it was the bespectacled man who shook his head. "It would not be a good idea." he replied without a moment of hesitation, making the three teens look at him with a perplexed expression. "It is critical that you go to the red circle if you want to save the life of one of your friends." he told her bluntly as to make her understand that the situation was dire. Orihime's eyes widened for a few seconds, but then she rushed over and stood over the red circle, all the while Tatsuki rushed and stood over the pink circle.

"Alright, sending you all... now!" the bespectacled giant shouted as he raised his hands to face height and quickly mumbled the incantation under his breath. Within a second three lights encompassed the three humans, sending them to their locations.

On Issei and Tsubasa's front, the battle has been hard and grueling, with the issue of protecting Asia weighing the brown-haired [Pawn] heavily. The costant attacks on them had prevented them from gaining access to their masters, who would allow him to promote, leaving him as a [Pawn]. Instead he had relied on the Boosted Gear to charge during the time he evaded attacks while carrying the blonde teenage girl. When it had charged fully into an [Explosion], he landed a heavy hit on one of the strays that was attacking him.

However, that pattern of strategy was tiring both him and his companions, as the blue-haired [Rook] spent all her time and energy defending him by pushing back the giant monsters and landing heavy hits on them, but non of those giants were dead yet, plus there was so much that Asia could heal on the battlefield with so much going on and attacks coming left, right and center.

The worst thing about the situation was that the leader was unmoving, simply sitting and watching long after his cigar had been turned off.

[BOOST!]

The gem on the Boosted Gear rang loudly a third time as Issei held onto Asia and jumped out of the way from a punch of the large-armed deformed stray devil that had tried attacking the two of them. The stray's forearms shook the ground beneath them and made a tiny crater, as if he dented the ground. All the while the two fell on the ground far from him, Issei taking the brunt of it to protect the frail Asia from harm. In the meantime, Tsubasa crashed against the stray devil with a powerful knee strike, doubling him down while spewing some blood. Both peerage devils were had bruises across their bodies as the fight went on and one, with no real progress.

However, the [Rook] of the Sitri peerage wasn't safe as the mantis-looking stray was now free falling above the girl, intending to crush her under his weight. Reacting in time, the [Rook] managed to spin herself in the air and get into a position where she managed to land a powerful kick against the lower stomach of the stray, sending him flying like a soccer ball towards the apparent leader, who simply leaned his body lazily just enough to the side to let the gigantic stray to move past him. When the girl landed, the big-armed, giant stray slammed his fist against her, pushing her against the wall and denting it quite heavily. Fortunately for the blue-haired girl, she had raised her arms to block the punch, but she still gritted her teeth from the pain of the impact.

The girl however was quick to react, as the moment she landed on her feet she bent her knees and launched herself at the stray devil, her head crashing against his solar perplex, sending him flying towards a large machine, which he hit with a loud and powerful "BANG!" sound that echoed across the entire small factory while the machine got bent inwards from the impact.

[BOOST!]

The Boosted Gear roared again as Issei's power as a [Pawn] was doubled once more, noticing that a third and fourth strays were charging at him and the blonde human simultaneously, forcing him to grap her hand and jump out of the way with all of his current strength.

As the two managed to escape, the two strays crashed against the wall of the factory, toppling it down into rubble, and when they pulled their bodies back from the wreckage they had caused, the third stray was kicked in the side by a spear-kick from Tsubasa's full strength, bending his body and causing him to spew a mouthful of blood as he was sent crashing against the fourth giant stray, both of them flying to the right with tremendous force while slamming into a forklift, smashing it to pieces while its blades pierced the body of the fourth stray.

[BOOST!]

His Sacred Gear roared as it stocked in the multipliers for his power, almost ready to release it and increase his power by an incredible amount. He was still guarding Asia, holding her bridal-style in his arms as he continued moving around so that the two of them wouldn't be hit by any of the strays that were attacking them with the blue-haired [Rook] of the Sitri peerage not far behind them, acting more as the forceful shield that pushed the enemies away.

Suddenly a shadow swoop down from above, kicking the brown-haired reincarnated devil aside with a foot as big as his body, sending him flying back towards the blue-haired teenage reincarnated devil, who caught him immediately, but the two fell down to the ground from the surprise of it. The other large foot grabbed the blonde human nun and started to pick her up.

"Issei!" she screamed as tears of fear started to come out of her eyes.

"Asia!" he screamed back as he immediately got up and put his hand on his stomach, still reeling from th pain.

The two devils looked up to see who it was that snatched the former nun away, seeing a large, naked woman with the lower body of a bat, while large bat wings that were usually on a devil's back replaced both of her arms, which she used to fly and rise higher from the ground into the air.

[EXPLOSION!]

The Boosted Gear roared as all the doubling Issei had done to this point reached its limits and stacked on its user, multiplying his power by a great amount and strengthening him to the same level of power he used to split Raynare's head open. While his eyes were perversely stuck to the stray woman's bouncing boobs, his mind was working overtime to make sure to both save the image of the medium-sized pair of jugs in his head while also finding a way to save his friend, who he vowed to protect.

The female stray devil laughed mockingly at the pair as she looked down on them while rising up to the air with Asia held in her foot. "Hohohohoho, seems like you were taking all these percussion and doing your best to protect this little girl over here." she said as her gaze moved over down at Asia as a devilish smirk rose to the giant woman's face. "I'll tell you what, I'll just eat her real quick. What do you say?" she inquired mockingly as she started swinging Asia up and down, preparing to throw her up.

He raised his left hand, holding his gauntlet with his right and raising his eyes up after he had put the image in the vault that was inside his perverted head, now focused more than even on saving the blonde and innocent girl who had been captured. For a few seconds, he closed his eyes and the voice of his master rang in his ears. "Demonic energy works off the user's imagination. Any power you want to produce, with the exception of specific bloodlines like myself, every technique you can come up with comes from your mind." the words echoed inside him as his brain went into overdrive.

Quickly, very quickly, particles of demonic energy started to condense together in the teenage boy's left, armored palm, rapidly growing into a sphere of red as he felt power behind it, imagining the kind of attack he wanted. 'Ever since I was a kid, I used to watch all these badass shonen shows on TV with Ichigo, Tatsuki-san and Shindou-san.' he thought to himself as an image of his younger self alongside his childhood friends watching TV and then shifting to the playing ground. 'While playing together, each of us pretended to use different ultimate moves from different shows. Well now it's time for me to try my favorite for real!' he kept thinking to himself as he felt a fire inside him pushing himself further.

In his left palm, all of his demonic energy gathered in a single spot, forming an orb that in itself was only half the size of his actual palm, much to his surprise. 'Wait, is that it? Is it enough?' he thought to himself, feeling a little bit of doubt in himself as he saw the size of his planned attack. However, he didn't have much time, as the female stray threw Asia up in the air and opened her mouth, terrifying both him and the Sitri [Rook] who stood next to him, who was shaking with concern as she doubted she could jump high enough to save the blonde girl.

Gritting his teeth, he clenched his left hand into a fist and pulled it back, the orb floating without moving at all. 'No, it has to be! Asia's life depends on it!' he thought to himself as he prepared to lauch his newly created attack for the first time. "Eat this, Dragon Shot!" he screamed at the top of his lungs as he punched the ball of red demonic energy of his own creation. Upon the fist's impacting it, the orb exploded forward as it instantly double in size, moving at incredible speed towards the flying stray, catching her by surprise as she turned her head just an instant before it crashed against her. When it did, the attack tore and burned her flesh, forming a gigantic hole where her head used to be, killing the female stray devil instantly.

As the still fresh corpse started to fall, the excommunicated nun kept on her descent towards the floor, but Issei acted without a thought and ran towards where she was going to fall towards, managing to act before the blu-haired girl could, which shocked her as she started running after him.

While that was happening, the ball of demonic energy kept on going its course, exploding against the roof of the abandoned factory, shining the entire room with light as it blinded everyone in it, including Issei who was running to catch Asia, Tsuba who was following him, the four other large stray devils as well as their apparent leader.

"KYYAAA! ISSEI!" the former saint screamed in terror as she closed her eyes so to not be blinded while also feeling herself falling, she still kept her faith in God that he would somehow aid her friend and crush in his attempt to save her life. It was then that she felt herself being held by a pair of arms, which held to her tightly and prevented from her from falling any longer. Upon the strong light fading, she opened her eyes only to see that the pair of hands that were holding her were indeed her devil friend's arms, holding her bridal-style as he was on his knees, breathing with a sigh of relief.

"I got you, Asia-chan." he told her as he gave her a kind and comforting look with a soft smile on his face.

She smiled back at him softly as well. "I know you would, I trusted the lord to guide you." she told him while panting, her voice also showing relief.

As the two of them were lost in their own little world, their minds only focused on each other, Tsubasa and the leader of the stray devils looked at the pair with utter shock, amazed at how the boy put everything he had to save the excommunicated nun, with the blue-haired [Rook] of the Sitri peerage even blushing a little bit.

That small moment was suddenly cut short by several roars coming from the gigantic four remaining stray devils as they started to charge forward with newly lit fire in their eyes, which caused the blue-haired teenge girl to step in between them and Issei ana Asia, prepared to face them all on with her greater strength and durability.

"The bastard! He killed Yukichi!" one shouted as he ran.

"How dare he! I'll waste him!" the one with the large arms screamed in fury.

"I'll waste him first for ending such a good pair of tits!" the third on shouted during his charge.

"I'll squash him under my body!" the stray with the lower body of a mantis shouted in angry anticipation.

"HALT!" the leader finally spoke up, ordering the group of stray while exuding authority and power with his mere shout alone, which caused all four giants to stop immediately.

They all looked at him and started pouting, much to the confusion of the three teens. "But booooss..." all four large stray devils said in unison as they all sounded like a bunch of children.

"No buts and no calling me 'boss'. I'm simply a member of higher status." the man in the coat states with impatience towards his group as he took a step forward and glared at the three teenagers, allowing a red demonic aura to burst around him, which made all three teens shudder for a second. "Time for me to step in." he said as his focus centered on the brunette and the blonde who was in his arms. "You impressed me kid." he complimented as he kept both hands in his coat pockets. "I admire the way you protected that human girl, thus I'll give you and your friends the opportunity to walk away." he told him with a stern voice, seemingly determined on his stance no matter what his subordinates complained about.

The three peerage devils looked at the man with suspicions eyes as the perverted teen hugged his blonde friend and pushed her close to his body, his arms hardened. "What are you talking about?! I'm not very smart, but I am smart enough to know that this sounds like a trap!" he said with a glare aimed at the man.

After a few seconds of an intense staredown as the four large stray devils growled and snarled at the direction of Issei, Tsubasa and Asia, the man finally spoke up with a small smile on his face while his demonic aura disappeared. "I'm speaking from the heart. Seeing you defend your human friend with such dedication reminded me of myself, so I'm giving you a shot." he told them while pointing at the machine he was standing on. "If one of you can knock me off my feet, you three can all go and we'll forget this entire encounter happened. Sounds like a deal?" he inquired as he gave them the details of what they had to do.

Issei sweated as he considered on what he should do as he looked at the frightened Asia, taking his attention from the blue-haired member of the Sitri peerage to the point that he was startled when she started whispering in his ear. "Let me delay him." she whispered as he looked at her after jumping instinctively, with her kneeling by his side. "I'll try to keep his attention on me while you stack your power for a minute to use that attack of yours." she said as she got up with a serious expression on her face while cracking her knuckles.

After seeing what she was planning, the brunette got up while helping the former nun that he was hugging to get up as well, allowing himself a second to focus on his Sacred Gear to activate its ability before looking back at the blue-haired tomboy. "Hey, you sure you can handle it, Yura-san?" he asked her as both he and Asia had a concerned expression on their faces, not liking her odds agains the obviously powerful stray devil leader.

The girl looked back at them and gave a tumbs up. "Trust me." she told them as she immediately turned her gaze to the man with the heavy coat. "So you want us to knock you off your feet? No problem, I can do that whenever I like." she declared pompously in an act to draw the man's attention towards her as she cracked her knuckles once again with a smirk on her face, but the man seemed indifferent toward her comment, as if he didn't see her as a real threat, but didn't want to openly say anything against that claim.

[BOOST!]

The reincarnated devil's power doubled as he watched the girl who protected him thus far crouch down as she seemed to prepare to jump forward, something that was immediately confimed as she did just that, bouncing off the ground with enough force to put a few small cracks in it while her body moved towards the supposed leader of the group of stray devils.

"Bring it on!" she shouted in a declaration of a challange to the man, cocking back her right fist over to the side of her face as she intended to slam that punch against the older man. Issei smirked with some relief as he watched the amount of confidence coming out of the other reincarnated devil.

'Man, Yura-san looks so awesome like that. With her covering my back, there is no way we can lose here!' he thought to himself as his arms's hold over the blonde girl lessen, letting her move a bit away from him as both of them were blushing, with her being especially red-faced while he focused on the action. 'There is no real need to worry about Asia's safety at the moment if that guy meant what he said. That means Yura-san will kick his ass and we'll get outta here to tell Buchou about this.' he thought to himself optimistically as his smile grew into a grin.

It was then however that the eyes of the auburn-haired man started to glow red, or more specifically his pupils. In an instant the veins around his eyes started to glow with the same vibrant red color as a searing sound started to buzz inside the factory. Just as the blue-haired devil was 3 meters away from his face, the man fired two condensed beams of demonic energy from his eyes, hitting the teenage girl straight in the chest, sending her flying back into a wall with incredible force and a blinding light from the impact point while the teenage girl gave out an anguished scream.

It only lasted two or three seconds, but when it ended, the beams faded into nothingness as the older man closed his eyes in pain and shook his eyes while rubbing his closed eyes. To Issei, this reminded him of the Superman movies that Ichigo had dragged him to see a few years back, seeing the incredible similarities between the two beams that he just saw and the iconic heat vision. After that though his mind shifted entirely to focus on the [Rook] of the Sitri peerage, who fell down from a spot that her body had been pinned to by the pair of beams.

While he could see that she had lost consciousness immediately, her eyes closed and her body limp as it fell down to the ground. He also could see that her top had been completely incinerated, revealing her small and firm breasts with a deep, third-degree burn over them. He wanted to imprint the image of her oppai into her head, but his concern to her well being prevented his perverted mind from doing just that. Instead he ran towards her, fearful of how badly she was hurt.

The man, who could finally see again, looked over at Tsubasa, but as the blonde former nun, who also wanted to go and heal Tsubasa looked over at him with fear that he might attack Issei, she noticed that his facial expression was one filled with discomfort and shame. "Oh wow... that's just really bad." he said with visible pity over the state of the Sitri [Rook]. "I really should have aimed better so that her modesty would at least have been kept intact." He said audible enough for Asia to hear, but he then sighed as he sat down in disappointment apparently with himself.

Issei meanwhile got closer to his over scouting partner and extended his hand outwards in the hopes of getting ever so closer so that he could check up on her. "Yura-sa-GAH!" he started calling her out, but he was interrupted when a large hand smashed on top of his body, slamming his body against the ground as he vomited a mouthful of blood and cried out in pain.

"Issei-san!" Asia shouted, too terrified to move or attempt to do anything to help her best friend, not sure if she could do anything while the large stray with the gorilla arms loomed over the brunette teenage boy.

The four wild and more animalistic strays formed a circle around Issei as each one of them at a time took a turn to slam one of their gigantic fists or feet on his body, injuring him further as he cried out in pain while spewing saliva and blood while his body was slammed further into the ground. "Alrighty, let's shit-stomp this prick and then move on the girls!" the gorilla-like stray devil shouted with vengeful glee as the four continued to smash Issei with their large limbs.

Every hit shattered a bone in his body. Every hit caused him to spew out blood that he couldn't even make sounds of pain after the first four strikes.

Asia looked on with tears in her eyes, only for her legs to move on their own and forward, towards the boy she cared so deeply for. "Stop hurting Issei-san!" she cried as she reached forward and activated her Sacred Gear in an attempt to save the reincarnated devil's life.

The stray devil with the gorilla arms looked down at her and started to swing the back of his hands towards her, intending to slap her. "Stay back, lady! You'll get your treatment soon enough!" he shouted as his arm arced towards the blonde girl, making her stop and close her eyes as she anticipated the pain coming from a large hand hitting her body.

"Move, idiots!" the voice of the auburn-haired man suddenly came forth with an order, which delayed the hit for a few moments. However, those few moments were enough, as a ball of darkness flew at a quick velocity towards the devil, engulfing his head and making it disappear in just a second, killing him instantly. Everybody watched in shock as the stray devil's body fell back lifeless on the ground, causing the remaining three devils to look at the source of the death ball that came out of nowhere.

[Begin Musical Cue #3: Battle Ignition]

"Ashes to ashes," a voice said from behind Asia, making her turn around to see non other than Rias Gremory standing in a red teleportation circle with her right hand extended glaring at the group of large strays with a hostile, cold gaze that barely held back the crimson fury that was emanating from her raging crimson demonic aura. "dust to dust," she said as she created another large orb from the power of destruction in her palm. "get away from my servant right now!" she let out her demand with a focused rage as she fired the orb at the group, forcing them to move aside.

Unfortunately for one of the large wild devils, the one with the bull's head, he couldn't move as much as the other two, which resulted in half of his head to turn into dust, killing him instantly as well. As the creature's dead body fell down on the ground, the two remaining large stray devils moved away from Issei's limp and broken body, which gave Asia the opening to run fast enough to reach him. When she did, she knelt down and started using her Sacred Gear to heal the teenage boy's body.

All while Asia began doing her thing, Rias kept her eyes not only on the two remaining giants in the factory, but also at the older man who was their leader, who was also glaring at her with an analyzing squint.

*THUUUUM!*

A yellow bold of thunder magic came down to the ground like a spear, hitting Nobu Nakagami head on, making the flamboyand stray devil [Rook] to scream in agony as he felt his skin burn from the sheer force of the attack. It only lasted a few seconds, but he felt as his entire body spasm and he immediately fell to his knees, panting heavily.

'What the hell? Where did such a powerful bold of lighting came from?' he asked himself inside his thoughts as he was sweating buckets with fear for his life, not knowing if he could take many more hits like that thanks to exhaustion preventing him from shedding his skin to regenerate.

"Ara ara, seems like Yuuto-kun and Hanakai-chan aren't in great shape after all." a soft and feminine voice reached the man's ears from behind, making him turn around, watching as a stunningly hot babe with a pelvis-length ponytail who wore a white priestess kimono with red trim approached him. That was non other that Akeno Himejima, [Queen] of the Gremory peerage.

"Fu fu fu fu, seems like you're on your knees already~." she said with her soft voice gaining a sadistic vibe to it, which made the man feel a shiver going down his spine. "Let's see how much I can make you scream then. I'm sure we'll have lots of fun~." she spoke again as her smirk was filled with sadistic malice while she also licked her lips.

The [Rook] of the Stray Devil Council slowly got himself back on his feet and turned around to fully face the young woman, an emotionless expression filling his face. 'This is bad. I'm in no shape to put her down. It's most likely going to end with her on top. I wouldn't expect any less from an obviously sadistic smokin' hot babe. This means I have leave as soon as I have an opening.' he thought to himself as he entered a battle stance.

*CLANG!*

The eyes of both Reya and the stray devil [Queen] Maria went wide when in between the body of the unconscious and dying Koneko and the ice glaive that the blonde devil with the eight spider eyes and four spider legs popping from her back was now a steel naginata, its steel blade stopping the chilling blade of the ice glaive. The one who was holding it was the vice-president of the student body council and [Queen] of the Sitri peerage, Tsubaki Shinra, who had her bespectacled, hetochromic eyes locked with those of the older woman.

"Shinra fuku-kaicho!" the braided reincarnated devil shouted with glee at the sight of the [Queen] of her peerage.

"What?!" the woman asked in shock upon seeing this, which distracted her long enough for Tsubaki to twirl her naginata to redirect the glaive and chop its blade. Once her own weapon clashed with the ground of the warehouse, she used the momentum to push herself up and send a powerful spear kick into the adult woman's face, sending her flying back and bouncing off several times off the ground before she corrected herself. But despite her managing to get back up and land on her feet, the spider-like woman still skidded backward a few inches before finally coming to a stop.

Maria wiped her face, only to notice that she had blood flowing freely from her face, causing her to glare with fury at the newly-arrived bispectacled teen as she snarled with her aura flaring around her body, all the while Tsubaki allowed her own demonic aura to flare around her.

Suddenly there was another light as a new circle appeared closely to the student body council vice president, one that was colored red, but the crest was one that the long-haired stern teenager did not recognize. From it a girl with orange hair appeared, one that Tsubaki was very familiar with, Orihime Inoue.

As the circle and light that shone from it died down, the second-year student looked around a bit confused as she tried to let the details of the location sink into her clustered mind. That is of course until she saw Reya on her knees coughing while smiling with relief and joy, Meguri lying bloodied on the ground against a wall and finally Koneko, who was lying on the ground with a hole in her shoulder and multiple large shards of ice in her chest that were comig out of her back.

The girl's eyes widen immediately with terror and shock. "Koneko-chan!" she screamed as she pushed both her hands forward, allowing the pin in her hair to glow. "Soten Kisshun, I reject!" she exclaimed loudly as three lights flew over and hovered over the white-haired girl, with what appeared to be like a shield of light forming over her.

Tsubaki, Reya and the female stray devil looked at awe and disbelief as they saw the hole in Koneko's right shoulder seemingly start to close in, while the ice spears in her chest started to disintegrate into nothingness while her injuries there also started to disappear, as if they had never happened in the first place.

After a few seconds of stunned silence at the capabilities of that incredible phenomena, the [Queen] of the Sitri Peerage and the [Queen] of the Stray Devil Council glared at one another, preparing to begin fighting, each had determination filling their eyes.

A loud explosion came from the detonation of the holy grenade that Freed threw at the pair of reincarnated devils of the Sitri peerage, expanding in a flash of light and a quick ball of fire, leaving only a large cloud of smoke a few seconds afterwards, with the excommunicated exorcist watching with anticipation to see the results of his ew weapon, i.e the mangled corpses of the two teenagers.

He then started laughing out loudly into the heavens with glee like a maniac. "Hahaha! Yes! I finally managed to get back into my game and kill some annoying, unholy bastards! At long last I can start cleaning my tarnished track record after those two gaywad devils and their little crimson overlord ruined it." he boasted loudly while throwing insults at a cerain pair of devils from a certain peerage whom he had a distinct disdain towards.

"It would be wise of you not to insult Rias Gremory." a voice suddenly was heard from inside the smoke screen caused by the explosion of his grenades, one that the white-haired priest had never heard before and had certainly not been involved in the fight that he had with the devils until then, which confused and frustrated him.

"After all, she is a very good friend of mine." the voice continued as the cloud of black smoke dissipated by being flicked away by what appeared to be a large whip of water. When he looked closely, all the fragments from his grenades also flew away, along the movement of the whip. The one who spoke was then revealed to be a bespectacled teenager with a bob-cut neck-lenth black hair and and a pair of glasses, a chilling frown locked on her face as he stared him down. "And you won't be killing my servants." she declared as a blue aura of demonic energy flared around her.

"Kaicho!" the two injured members of the Sitri peerage exclaimed in joy to see their [King] rescuing them and fighting on the battlefield for them after getting as injured as they did.

Freed clicked his tongue in aggitation as he put his hand his coat, looking like he was searching for something. "Dammit, why do you big-shot assholes always have to show up at the worst possible time?" he asked as took out a smoke bomb and threw it at the president of the student body council. "Here's a gift from me, you titless bitch! Hahaha!" he said as smoke quickly formed a thick cloud in front of the three devils while he ran away.

By the time that Sona formed another whip of water and used it to flick away the smoke and spread it at different directions, the white-haired excommunicated exorcist had left the area.

[End Musical Cue #3]

Letting out a sigh of relief, Sona turned around to look at the injured Saji and Nimura, giving them a gentle and worrying look as she kneeled beside them. "Are you two okay?" she asked them with concern in her voice while she put her hand on Saji's shoulder, who had still not moved himself from his scouting partner, his body still stiff and tense.

After a few moments he let go of his kohai and sat down on the ground while she did the same, although she was blushing madly as she realized how hard he was holding onto her and how determined her was to protecting her. "W-W-We're all better now, Kaicho!" the first-year reincarnated devil waved her hands frantically while her face was still as red as a tomato.

Sona smiled after letting out a sigh of relief. "That's good. I'm wouldn't have liked being in a situation were I would have had to fight that exorcist and defend both of you." she said as a sense of relief was very much clear in her voice. "I'm just glad that my presence alone was enough to make him leave." she told her servants as her body seemed less tense than it was when she showed up.

"Agreed. Not having that loudmouth around will let our talk go more smoothly." a new voice was suddenly heard from the shadows, catching the three devils unaware as a nodachi blade stopped inches away from Sona's throat, making her eyes widen as her expression was filled with shock.

"Kaicho!" Saji and Nimura yelled in alarm, surprised and horrified to see their master threatened.

"Now, now, let's not be hasty. I just want to talk." the voice, which belong to a man spoke rather nonchalantly as the two injured devils could see him in the darkness, with his blonde, neck-length blonde hair, his straight and long face wth his big teeth and the snazzy suit he was wearing while casually holding onto his weapon. "But I'll keep my weapon up since I don't know or trust you." he continued as he was standing as sturdy as a statue, his sword looking like it was locked and unmoving in his grip.

Saji got up and put his hand on his Sacred Gear, not thinking rationally at all as he prepared to try and fire a wire at the man. It was then that footsteps were heard behind the group that made everyon look behind Saji and Ruruka, from which Yatsura Sado came out of nowhere.

"Hirako-sama, please lower your weapon. I can assure you that Sitri-Kaicho and her servants are trustworthy and allies of both Ichigo and myself." he said with panic in his voice as he addressed the man, clearly fearful as well as to what he could do to the student body council president.

The blonde adult man suddenly smirked. "Welll, if it isn't Chad. Long time no see." he said as he lowered his blade and sheathed it. "Alright, if you vouch for them on Ichigo's behalf, I can be cordial with them." he spoke with still the same relaxed and nonchalant tone to his voice as Sona immediately got up and took a step back.

As Shinji Hirako looked at the [King] of the Sitri peerage and her two [Pawns], his smirk disappeared and his expression seemed more stoic. "Now then, as I was about to ask, what are a bunch of devils doing on my turf?" he inquired with a serious tone to his voice.

Sona looked at the man and then at Chad, who simply gave her a nod. She sighed as she looked at the man again. "Alright, I assume I have no choice but to tell you. However, this is strictly devil business." she told the man firmly, who simply just rolled his eyes.

"Fine, just answer my question." he told her with a slightly irritated and impatient tone to his voice. The High-Class devil took a deep breath as she prepared herself to explain whatever she knew of the situation.

{To Be Continued]

xxx

Ending Theme: Life is Like a Boat by Rei Fu (use Bleach Ending 1 for audio)

And that's a wrap! What a cliffhanger once again. Man, I'm pretty decent at doing cliffhangers, aren't I? Well, you'll have to wait until the next chapter comes out to see how that's going to work out.

Anyway, this was the other half of the 29k words chapter that I had divided and reading it now it was a lot more fun than writing it, I can tell you that.

Also, I do not hate Koneko, I love her attitude! Please don't bring the torches and pitchforks.

Joking aside, until the next chapter stay healthy, stay safe and have a great day.

👍

Qudrim8054 · Mar 13, 2022

Hello everyone, welcome to another chapter of my story. Now this is the last chapter that I currently have that has been finished being written, so now I'm working on other chapters and will try to finish the arc this time around before posting again. Anyway, I hope that you enjoy the chapters.

Warning: As a mixture of both Bleach and High School DxD, the following story contains extreme violence, swearing, nudity and potentially other kinds of sexual contents. Viewer/reader's discretion is advised.

Of Devils and Reapers

Volume 1: Red Dragon Emperor's Awakening

Chapter 13: Enemy Encounter (Part 3)

Stray Devil Council Arc

xxx

Opening Theme: Again by Yui (use Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood Opening 1 for audio)

Rias stood firm in her place as she glared at the man who appeared to be so different from the other two remaining giant stray devils. 'Something about this guy doesn't seem right. There are only certain cases of strays not manifesting traits or growing in size, the most famous one being the nekoshou Kuroka. What's so special about this guy?' she thought to herself as she squinted at the auburn-haired man in the large coat, who squinted back at her.

The two remaining large stray devils took a step back as they look cautiously at the crimson-haired Princess of Ruin while shifting their attention to their supposed leader, even though he obviously stated disdain to such a term. There was a tense atmosphere between the two devils as if they were waiting for one of them to attack first.

Th one who did the first move was the High-Class devil [King] who raised her hand, palm aimed at the auburn-haired man as a large orb made out of the Power of Destruction formed in it. Within a few short seconds the orb's size was nearly as big as the young woman's upper body from the chest up, at which point she fired it directly at the man.

Nonchalantly, the leader of the group of strays raised his own hand, palm aimed at the orb of destruction that was flying in his direction at a massive pace. Instantly, a ball of flames the size of a basketball formed in his extended palm and was fired almost an instant after its creation. The two orbs collided midair, pushing against one another before both detonated and fizzled out of existence, their sheer force countering one another perfectly.

Rias's eyes widened with utter disbelief as she saw that her attack had been so easily countered by the man. 'What? Impossible?!' she thought to herself as her jaw fell from the shock while her body shook a little bit. 'Even though my attack was nearly at full power, he still managed to counter it while seemingly unfazed by it.' she kept thinking to herself as she then shook her head and regained her focus. 'No, he's probably just making it seem like this was easier than it really was. It takes about nearly twenty or so orbs of destruction at full power to start getting winded. I assume the same goes for him.' she kept thinking as her crimson aura of demonic energy flared around her, raising and flapping her long crimson hair from the wind it was creating. 'Even if he might be stronger than me, and that's a big if, then the gap is most likely barely noticeable.' she finished thinking to herself as she prepared two orbs of destruction in each of her hands, both much smaller than the last one but more condensed with power.

As trails of energy of Power of Destruction and embers of fire flew in the air and slowly dissipated, the man in the heavy jacket finally spoke up. "Quick to respond and take action. Not bad, Rias Gremory." he said with a glare focused on her like the eye of an eagle. "I've heard that you and your friend Sona Sitri are quite open minded...for a pair of slavers." he said with disdain in his voice as his own demonic aura flared around him.

This comment caused the Crimson Princess of Ruin to snarl at the auburn-haired man. "How dare you! To insult me, my close friend and my peerage in such a way is unforgivable!" she declared as she launched both of the orbs she had created at the stray devil leader, who simply ducked underneath them by crouching, not moving an inch from his spot.

Before the man could retaliate with another one of his own attack, the other two stray devils began to move, but stopped when a new teleportation circle appeared right next to the Gremory heir, from the light appeared the black-haired Tatsuki, who quickly looked around confused for a second before she spotted the crimson-haired teen standing right next to her, which made her raise an eyebrow. "Senpai? Where are we and what are you do-" she started inquiring while still looking around, but stopped the moment that her eyes lay their gaze on the unconscious Tsubasa, who lied against a wall with her top gone and a serious burn on her chest.

"Tsubasa!" she shouted as she dashed over at incredible speed right to where the unconscious, blue-haired girl was lying. The human inspected the condition of her friend and saw her injuries, but her expression turned into that of anger very quickly. "Okay, who's the perverted shit who did this to my friend?!" she howled with rage as she looked around, but instead of glancing and focusing on the two remaining large stray devil or their leader, her eyes were locked on the broken and mangled frame of Issei, who was also lying on the floor unconscious while Asia's Twilight Healing mended his injuries and put his body together.

Lowering her head slightly, the black-haired teen's eyes were covered in shadows as she grit her teeth and growled quite loudly. "Senpai," she addressed to Rias with a somewhat quieter tone than before, though it was clear that she was now the opposite of calm. "who do I kill?" she asked quietly as a barely visible blue aura started to appear around her, all the while the invisible force of her reiatsu started to push down on the entire factory and the people in it, with everyone awake but Rias and the boss of the strays falling to the ground while their bodies started to be filled with beads of sweat appearing all over their brows. At the same time, Asia, despite being on the floor as well from the pressure, still used her Twilight Healing to help the brunette reincarnated devil to recover from his injuries.

For a few seconds all heavy machinery started to dent as they were pushed down with tremendous force, with Rias even falling to one knee while she tried her best to withstand the pressure. The auburn-haired man did much better, as he did not even fall down to one knee, but was still showing some strain from the resistance.

When the flow of reiatsu was finally over, the giant stray devil with the lower body of a mantis got up and started hopping in the direction of the building's exit. "Sorry, boss, but I'm getting the fuck outta here!" he screamed with a tone that had an overwhelming amount of fear and panic filling it up.

However, what he did was an incredibly stupid idea, as it got the human karate champion's attention, her eyes, filled with rage and a strong desire for vengeance were now seen to everyone around her, the upper part of her face still covered in shadow as an invisible dangerous aura of killing intent radiated from her. Using Shunpo, she reached the creature faster than anybody could see, appearing right besides him. When the mantis-looking man started to turn around to look at her, she sent a powerful kick to his side, right at the spot where the upper and lower bodies met, causing the man to spew a mouthful of blood as he gargled in pain from the impact. With a bit more push and putting a little bit more power into her kick, Tatsuki's leg cut through the creature's waist like a knife through butter, bifurcating him and letting both halves of his body fall to the ground as her clothes were soaked in his blood while landing on her feet.

Everyone stood in absolute shock as they saw what had just happened in a few short seconds. Rias, while easily killing most of the strays herself, was shocked by the level of gore and viciousness that the human had disposed of one of the remaining stray devils and how easy it was for her to do it. 'She's never showed this type of strength before. In her spar with Kiba she showed a good amount of speed and she could take a kick from Koneko while admitting that it hurt. I didn't think she could do anything close to this.' she thought to herself as she saw the falling of blood drops around and on the black-haired teenage girl with upper shock as she stood frozen in place.

The leader of the group of strays looked shocked and his face showed hesitation over the idea of fighting the newly-arrived opponent. 'She's fast and strong. This could be a major problem.' he thought to himself as he gritted his teeth and clenched his hands into fists.

In those few seconds of silence no one uttered a sound as all eyes focused on the bloodied human fighter as she was covered by the blood of the stray devil that she had bifurcated, half of her face engulfed by shadows as her brown eyes shined in the moonlight that came through the small cracks in the factory. Everyone felt a chill going down their spine, especially Asia, who had gotten up during this time.

Suddenly the last remaining giant stray lunged himself at the black-haired fighter with killing intent. "I'll slit open your throat, you bit-" he started screaming angrily mid charge, but he stopped as the teenager flashed forward and appeared in front of his abdomen, seemingly stepping on air as her fist was already sent forward and was millimeters away from touching his stomach. When it did, the impact send a powerful shock wave across the creature's entire body, causing a hole to explode outward from his back, from which a gigantic eruption of blood ensued, which also contained most of the being's enteral organs. Blood and organs sprayed across the walls and machines of the abandoned factory that served as the battlefield, with Rias and Asia lowering their heads so as to try to avoid as much blood from getting stuck to them.

At the same time that the geyser of blood was occurring, a little bit of it splashed on the face of the blue-haired [Rook] of the Sitri peerage, which caused her to open her eyes as the blackness of unconsciousness was lifted from her. Unfortunately for her, it didn't take long for her mind to register the pain from the heavy burn that covered her entire torso, making her hiss in anguish, which caught the blonde human girl's attention.

Asia looked at her options, checking on her best friend and crush to see his condition. Letting the healing energy of Twilight Healing to flow throughout the body, she felt that all of his broken bones had been mended back together and any internal injuries that he had had been healed. While he was still in a very bad state, at least he was not in the danger of dying anymore. Feeling relief, the blonde ran towards the blue-haired teen and knelt in front of her, putting her hands a bit away from the girl's burned chest as her Sacred Gear started healing the area.

While that was going on, all the blood and organs finally stopped flying all across the area, as if it had been a water hose that had slowly been closed until only drops dripped out. The gigantic body had a huge hole in his back as the being's lifeless corpse fell back, its eyes rolled back, not a single sound coming out of its dead throat. The large corpse hit the ground with a deafening "THUD!" sound while the ground shook slightly.

Tatsuki looked at the dead monstrous man completely undisturbed by this, seeing it as nothing new compared to the Hollows that she had slayed before along her friends. "So these pests are much more fleshier and bloodied than Hollows." she said as she looked at her clothes and saw that she was drenched in blood, her expression much lighter and no longer holding the same sense of blood lust that they had earlier. "Blah, this is gonna need to be thrown several times in the wash to remove all that blood." she said as she then moved her hand through her spiky hair. "And in the hair too? Maaan, I'm going to waste at least an hour in the shower tonight." she complained about state of her clothes and hair while completely ignoring the situation at hand.

Taking the fact that the human teenage girl was distracted, the auburn-haired dashed forward, sending a powerful punch towards the girl's face while moving incredibly fast. Yet despite his best attempt, Tatsuki noticed him heading towards her and moved her forearm just in time to move the fist slightly off course. However, she didn't expect it to come as fast as it did, causing the knuckles of the man's fist to slightly graze her cheek, much to her surprise.

The leader of the group of strays then followed up with a powerful knee strike aimed towards her abdomen, but she countered by having her knee meet his, creating a thunderous sound upon the impact of the two knees. Tatsuki then threw her own punch, but much like she did with his own initial punch, he deflected it off course with his forearm, which was covered in the large and baggy sleeve of his heavy jacket. Again, much like happened to her only a few seconds before, her fist managed to graze the man's cheek slightly.

"So you're the one who hurt Tsubasa and Issei?! I'll kick your ass and send you to hell, bastard!" she declared angrily as she went in for a headbutt, but he didn't answer while doing the same thing. When the two heads clashed, his height allowed him to gain more momentum and thus made his strike hit harder, causing the black-haired human to stumble backwards while hissing in pain and putting her hand on her forehead. The last stray devil started to charge in once more, but quickly jumped back, evading a sudden orb of destruction launched at him by the crimson-haired devil.

As the man jumped back and landed on an electric generator, Tatsuki hissed while taking a step back while grabbing her forehead in pain while the third-year head of the ORC ran to her side. "Are you alright?" Rias inquired with concern in her voice.

The black-haired human teenage girl removed her hand from her forehead and growled. "Fuckin' peachy." she snarled as she clenched her hands into fists angrily.

"Then we should take him on together." the crimsonette offered aid as she also glared at the man that the two were facing. "With the two of us striking together from different positions, we can put him on the back foot, luring him into a corner that would suit us best when we need to strike at full force and finish him off." the High-Class devil said as she started to form at least the bare bones of a strategy, her mind racing at an unbelievable pace to try to refine and fill the major blanks in her initial idea to defeat their opponent.

The human defeder of Kuhou Town spat on the floor as she got into a fighting stance. "Nah, I'll deal with this douche myself." she said as she then looked at her crimson-haired senpai. "No offense, but you are way too weak to fight this guy. I'll do the fighting for you, so go and be useful by protecting Asia-san, Tsubasa and the perv." she said as she looked back and saw that the man was no longer standing where he was, only to then look to her right and move her head just in time to evade a punch from her foe, but was then struck by a counter-clockwise kick that met its mark against her stomach, sending her flying into the wall of the factory, denting it upon impact as she spewed some saliva in pain.

The man wasted no time and kicked the Crimson Princess of Ruin, sending her flying back a bit and landing on her back, grunting from pain from landing on the ground. However, she quickly sat up and growled. "Too weak?!" she shouted furiously at the words of her kohai as her demonic aura flared around her and she raised her hand, firing 3 successive orbs of Power of Destruction towards the stray devil, who moved at the speed comparable to that of a [Knight] to evade each and every one of them.

However, while his attention was focused on the orbs created by the Gremory heiress, the human fighter appeared behind him using Shunpo, making him realize too late that she had flanked him when a powerful kick smashed into the center of his chest, creating a thunderous shock wave as the stray devil was sent flying back through several heavy machines, causing whatever her passed through to collapse unto itself, spreading a ton of dust everywhere while thundering and deafening sounds of metal bending and breaking and caving in echoing across the abandoned factory.

Tatsuki stood in place for a few seconds, panting heavily as she wiped a bit of blood from her lip with a scowl on her face as the crimson-haired young woman walked up and stood besides her. "I'll have you know that my power should not be underestimated." she told her off with an offended tone as she then looked at the path of destruction that was just caused by the short fight. "That said, I do believe that you can kill that man. I just want to see the deed done with my own eyes." she told her as her temperament cooled down.

At the end of the trail of the destruction, the last remaining stray devil got up while spewing blood from his mouth as blood trailed down from his nostrils. He panted heavily as he leaned against a destroyed metal shelf as he put his index and middle fingers against his left ear, where a pink magical circle appeared. "Hitsuji, take everyone back to the base right now. We underestimated the Gremory and Sitri peerages." he spoke to someone as he straightened himself up and prepared in case the two women tried to attack him once more.

"O-Okay, Kaze-kun, I'll do my best." a feminine and gentle voice was heard in his ears on the other side of the connection, trying to sound confident. "B-But what if I anger M-Maria-san? She'll lash out at me and she's scary~." the girl he was communicating with whined timidly.

At this point the auburn-haired man saw the two humans appearing right in front of him, with the black-haired human holding unto Rias Gremory's arm, causing his eyes to widen. "Hisuji, I'm sorry for being a bit demanding, but you have to teleport me out, right now." he demanded while keeping his voice in a panic as the High-Class devil raised her right hand and started to form an orb from the Power of Destruction. As the orb reached a large size, a magical circle suddenly formed around the stray devil, making the eyes of the Crimson Princess of Ruin to widen in shock.

The man glared at the two as a light enveloped him. "As much as I hate to say it, we will meet again." he spoke with regret and displeasure in his voice right as he disappeared in a flash of light, teleported by the magical teleportation circle to a different place.

There were a few seconds of silence as the two teenage girls watched the space in which the man once stood, only now to magically be vacant. "A teleportation circle? How can a stray devil use a teleportation circle? Must have been that person he was communicating with." the crimsonette asked with a perplexed and shocked expression on her face as she was still frozen in her spot.

Tatsuki clicked her tongue and kicked some dust up, only to then turn around. "Whatever, next time I'll just kick his ass harder!" she declared, only to then put a hand on her stomach and hiss in pain with an excited look on her face, fire burning in her gaze. She ground her teeth while she hissed, but her lips curled into a slight smirk.

Rias crossed her hands in front of her chest and huffed in defeat as she turned around as well. "Alright, we should check on Issei and Tsubasa. They took some heavy damage before we arrived." she said as now concern was heard in her tone of voice, to which the black-haired human's eyes widened as if she had forgotten about that for a few moments.

The blood-soaked girl then quickly grabbed her senpai's hand while running, then we better get there as quickly as possible! I need to see if they're alright!" she spoke with now audible panic as she used Shunpo to dash with the crimson-haired heiress back to where their friends were. When they arrived back to the spot where the two reincarnated devils and the excommunicated nun were, the situation seemed to be also a lot better, with the burning wound on Tsubasa's chest fully healed and gone thanks to the nun's work, which allowed the blue-haired teen to cover her exposed breasts with her arms.

When they saw the two young women returning, a smile rose to their faces, with the [Rook] of the Sitri peerage running over to the two while the blonde girl returned her attention to tending to the injured Issei. "Tatsuki, Rias-senpai, did you kill that stray too?" she inquired with hope shining on her face through a hopeful smile.

The crimson-haired High-Class devil simply shook her head while crossing her arms in front of her chest once again. "Unfortunately not." she said with a disappointed tone to her voice over the fact that she let the man get away, only for her lips to curve into a smirk. "But we did manage to get a name of someone who is helping him. We now have more to go off of. A step closer to solving this problem." she said with a fire of determination burning in her eyes, a goal forming in her mind.

The Gremory heiress then looked with a worried and regretful look at the unconscious Issei, who despite having most of his injuries healed already, still had his body covered with cuts and bruises while his own blood, dust and dirt was spread around his body. The wounds themselves were closing as well, showing that he was in no real life threatening danger anymore. The crimsonette knelt down and passed her hand through the teenage boy's brown hair only to then plant a kiss on his forehead. "I'm so sorry that I couldn't come and protect you earlier, Issei." she said with regret as she kept moving her hand through his hair. "I'm your master and I should have made sure that you were more prepared for this, more capable of defending yourself. Please wake up soon." she told him as she stood up.

At the same time, the blue-haired teenage girl was also looking at the injured brunette. 'Issei-san, I really have misjudged you.' she thought to herself as her lips curved into a small and feminine smile. 'I thought there was nothing to you other than being a pervert, but your dedication towards protecting Asia-chan really was admirable.' she kept thinking as a soft, rosy tint started to appear on her cheeks. 'Seeing how you did your best tonight, seeing your face as you sleep while bruised and battered... I never thought you could be so handsome and chivalrous, Issei-san.' she finished thinking to herself as her hands cupped her face and a very visible blush covered her face as her smile grew wider.

"Yura-san," her thoughts were cut as she heard the voice of her crimson-haired senpai, so she turned to look at said senpai, only to see the crimsonette was smiling towards her while surrounded by a dangerous aura, sending a chill down the Sitri [Rook]'s spine. "I'm glad to see that you're okay too. As Sona's [Rook], your well being is also important, especially since you also took a major hit." Rias spoke with politeness and what appeared to be happiness on the outside, but she was very obviously aiming her malicious intent at the [Rook].

Another chill went down Tsubasa's back as she lowered her gaze and saw Asia, who was also smiling at her while surrounded by a malicious aura, one that was even more dangerous than that of the Gremory heiress, as she clearly had feelings for the brown-haired reincarnated devil as well. "I'm glad that your injury is completely gone, Yuran-san. You were also hurt and I didn't want you to suffer from pain." she said cordially as well while her malicious intent was aimed at the Sitri [Rook]. It was then that Tsubasa looked over at her friend, who was covered with the blood of her enemies, looked at her friend with a look that was a mixture of bafflement, disbelief and disappointment.

Tsubasa simply laughed nervously as she rubbed the back of her neck while all the eyes in the room were focused on her, beads of sweat covering her brow as she knew that had just stepped into a minefield.

Around the same time,

Dazzling and crackling sparks of thunder moved freely between Akeno's fingers as she gave her tired opponent an "innocent" smile, who had taken a fighting stance to show that he was prepared to fight her. She gave a small, cutesy chuckle as she extended her hand forward and fired a bolt of lightning, to which the shave-headed man's eyes widened before jumping to his right, barely avoiding the bolt. However, his jacket wasn't so fortunate as it was struck by the thunder bolt of demonic energy and set ablaze, forcing the man to throw it away just after he had landed on the ground.

The man clicked his tongue, an annoyed and irked "Tsk!" leaving his lips as he started to step on the burning jacket, trying to turn off the flames.

Akeno looked at the man as she covered her mouth and made a girlish laugh. "Ara ara, that's quite a dedication for a jacket." she said as sparks dances between her fingers once again. "At least you'll turn crisp next to it." she said as she fired another bolt of thunder, this time the attack made its mark because her foe noticed it too late, causing the man to scream in agony as his frame was electrocuted by the powerful bolt. After a few seconds the attack stopped, leaving the stray devil [Rook] to fall down on his knees, smoke rising from his body.

"Ara ara, you seem to be down already. Your screams were quiet magnificent as well. You wouldn't mind giving me a few more, riiight~?" The Gremory peerage [Queen] asked with a flirtatious and sadistic tone to her voice all while keeping a seemingly friendly and cute smile on her face as she raised her hand up, demonic energy rising to the sky and creating thunder inside the clouds. With a motion of her raised hand, a large bolt of lightning fell from the sky.

However, her adversary made a jump to the side, landing with a roll two meters to his left as the bolt slammed into the road and creating a meter-deep crater the size of the bolt of magical thunder. As he got up on his feet upon ending the roll, he still panted heavily while smoke rose from his body. He spasmed and shook several times, but he stayed firm on his feet.

"...Parkour." was the only word he said as he moved his hands and legs in an attempt to relax his muscles.

The raven-haired reincarnated devil simply smile grew even further as she raised both hands, sparks of electricity dancing and flying between the fingers. "How entertaining. Let's see how long can you go until you tire out~." she said as she fired a pair of electric bolts of demonic energy from her hands.

The man reacted quickly, jumping backwards with a somersault, evading both bolts of lightning with extreme amount of difficulty, barely evading by the skin of his teeth. The bolts hit the ground, not to far from where the unconscious Kiba and Hanakai were lying, which got the attention of the raven-haired teen. When the man landed on his feet, she took to the sky, letting her wings come out to allow her to fly. She raised both hands up and lowered one, which sent down a bolt of demonic thunder that the stray barely avoided by rolling to the left. Akeno then did the same with her left hand, launching a bolt from the sky to hit her foe, but he once more jumped to the right and landed using a roll.

Akeno simply looked down at the man with a girlish smirk. "Ara ara, not too tired yet, are you? I thought we can go for another round~." she giggled cutely as she raised her left hand up, her open palm facing the sky with electric sparks while the other hand gathered demonic energy, coating her hand with electricity while aiming it at the stray's direction.

She fired the energy in her right hand at the man, to which he did a ground roll to evade, only to follow up with a lunge jump forward and rolling upon landing, gaining some distance from where the attack hit, which amused the Gremory [Queen]. She fired another lightning bolt from her right hand towards the man, who managed to avoid it by doing another back flip, but this time the bolt had almost made contact with his scalp. On top of that, when he landed on his feet, he fell down on his backside.

Using this opportunity, the raven-haired teenage girl fired another electrical blast of demonic energy from her right hand, this time hitting the man. The power behind the attack wasn't very high, but the fact that Nobu was so utterly exhausted from his previous fight had lowered his natural defense of a [Rook] to the point that he still took grievous damage from the attack, his body shaking and spasm from the electric attack, screams of agony leaving his lungs and erupting out from his throat. After about ten seconds of the attack engulfing his muscular frame, it stopped, leaving him to fall down face first on the ground, spasms stills occurring as his muscles still burned from the charge of thunder that ran across his body, which now had several visible black tan across his body while large clouds of black smoke rose from his frame.

As the shave-head stray devil lied on the ground, he could be heard wailing and weeping loudly from the insane amount of pain that he was suffering from, which wasn't surprising given the absolutely devastating amount of damage that he racked up throughout the evening. Tears of pain and fear rolled down from his eyes unto the pavement as he slammed his fists against the road, not saying a word and simply grunting while crying, which was enough to show all the emotions that he was feeling at that moment.

Looking down at the man, Akeno simply held her never wavering and never changing smile on her face, preparing to lower down her left hand. "I think we're about down here." she said before giving off a jovial smile. "Thanks for the good times. Your screams were a treat~." she said with a satisfied and friendly tone with a bit of a sadistic edge to it. Then she noticed something that surprised and intrigued her, as a pink magical circle suddenly formed around the defeated stray devil. Without giving her enough time to use her bolt of demonic thunder that was charged within the clouds, a suddenly flash of light engulfed the man, transporting him to another location.

The vice-president of the ORC landed on the ground, letting the bat wing to return into her back. After it did, she took a deep breath and exhaled with a little bit of tiredness to her voice. "Phew, throwing around so many bolts of lightning took my breath away." she said aloud with a perky attitude to her voice as she carried herself with a vivacious smile plastered over her face.

She then approached her unconscious and injured kohai and knelt beside them, her eyes filled with prideful satisfaction. "Kiba-kun, Hanakai-chan, you both did an excellent work despite losing. I could only tell by how exhausted that man was to know that you really put him through the ringer. I know Buchou and Kaicho will be pleased to know that you are safe and you did your best." she told the two despite knowing they wouldn't hear her, but she simply put her hand gently on their shoulders as her smile never wavered.

She then clapped her hands. "Well, I guess we should go back now." she said as she got up and started preparing a teleportation circle around all three of them.

In the abandoned warehouse the tension was incredible, to the point that it could be cut with a knife.

The two [Queens] stared each other down, one calm and calculating, ready and waiting for her foe to make a move, the other seething and snarling with barely contained fury, ready to charge in and take down the girl who had slighted her and pissed her off.

Grabbing the pole of what used to be the ice glaive, the stray female raised it to the height of her chest, only to slam it full force against her knee, breaking it in two. As she grabbed each half tightly in her hands, her demonic aura resonated and pulsed out of her curvaceous figure, reshaping the two ice sticks. The edges were sharpened and from the side an entire guard formed, turning them into a pair of short swords made of sharp, freezing ice.

The woman with the spider features continued snarling as she ground her teeth and raised up her duel swords, entering a fighting stance. "I'm going to enjoy slicing you like sushi for making me bleed, you little, wretched, condescending bitch!" she shouted in anger as she dashed forward with the speed granted to her by her [Queen] piece.

The blonde, stray [Queen] came forth with her right hand coming down with a diagonal sword slash aimed to slash her foe across the chest, but the long-haired, bespectacled second-in-command of Sona Sitri raised her naginata's blade, which managed to block the incoming ice blade and stop its momentum whole. However, she then noticed that the edge of the sword in her foe's left hand was coming towards her from the lower left side, so she quickly span her weapon around so that her naginata's blade hit the incoming short sword, diverting its course, while the other end of her staff slammed against the other sword, pushing the eight-eyed woman slightly backwards. Knowing that any moment she allowed her adversary to rest was going play against her, the Sitri [Queen] went on the assault and span her weapon in a full 180 degrees, pushing back the older woman even more, only to then charge in with a barrage of thrusts with her long weapon.

The spider-like woman tried her best to block the incoming strikes with her pair of short swords, managing to deflect most of them, only to receive several grazes, with a cut on the cheek, one on the left arm and a third a little below the right side of her ribcage. Maria snarled once more as she jumped back and fired several shards of icy spikes towards the teenage [Queen], who simply span her naginata quickly to block and shatter all the projectiles before they could hit her, ending the spinning by entering a combat stance.

Upon landing on the ground, the stray devil charged forward at her opponent and started slashing wildly in an attempt to land a hit, but every slash was skillfully blocked by the bespectacled teen. The older of the two [Queens] screamed in a raging frustration as she then started using another tactic: having her four spider legs that were on her back thrust forward like spears to try and impale her adversary, giving her more attacks to throw at once.

Tsubaki immediately acted to defend herself, spinning the naginata staff as fast as she could to try and repel the incoming simultaneous barrage of attacks that were aimed at several points across her upper body, with the intent of landing as many fatal blows as quickly and efficiently as possible. With her fast spinning she managed to deflect several incoming attacks from the spider legs, but she couldn't fully protect herself from the ice sword slashes that were now coming down more frantically, with one sword slash slashing her across the left arm, creating a gash across it from which blood sprayed outward for a second because of the swing from the blade. Tsubaki Shinra clicked her tongue and hissed in pain from the attack, which left her open for another slash to cut her across the stomach, causing blood to fly out of there as well, with the gash being slightly deeper than in the arm.

The long-haired brunette took several steps back as she put her hand over her bleeding stomach, wincing and hissing in pain as she was in a clear disadvantage with her much more severe injuries. She panted as she glared daggers at her opponent, her head running overtime with several possible strategies to defend herself better from the woman's quick and deadly barrage of attack.

Said blonde woman charged again with her swords and the sharp edges of her spider legs, dashing at super-speed that surpassed even the speed of lightning itself forward, heading towards her black-haired vice-president of the student council, intending to make her attacks count and finish her off. However, Tsubaki was took a different strategy, forming demonic energy in her right hand while her left gripped the pole of her naginata. Then, when the blonde woman nearly reached her, ready to cut with her ice blades in a down motion, Tsubaki made an upward arc motion with her right hand, raising up a wall of demonic energy between the two that forced the stray devil [Queen] to halt her attack in order to avoid the wave of energy from hitting her head on.

However, doing so was a mistake on the older devil's part when the curved blade of the younger, teenage devil's naginata cut through the wave of energy, slicing and shattering the swords with ease while also carving a large slash across the stray devil's woman flesh, rising from the left side of the waist up to a little bit beneath the right breast. Blood erupted from the wound as the midsection of the woman's dress fell to the floor after being cut, the owner of the red dress herself taking several steps back as she gasped in sock and pain to getting hit like that.

Maria coughed up a sizeable amount of blood with each step backwards that she took. When she finally stopped, she looked down at the wound to check its severity. When she got a full look, she raised her head, glaring daggers at her teenage adversary with venomous hatred in her eyes while her hands glowed orange with a sizzling sound, emanating heat from them.

"You little, dirty bitch!" she screamed as she put both hands on her wound, screaming bloody murder from the utter agony of overwhelming pain that was being signaled to her brain, steam and smoke rising from the wound as it was seared closed from the heat. The woman hissed in pain all the while her gaze was unwavering and filled with contempt and hatred, all focused on the girl in front of her. "You have a lot of nerves!" she shouted furiously as she was seeing red.

The student council vice-president simply raised an eyebrow. "To do what? Fight back? Protect myself and my comrades?" she retorted with a stoic and emotionless tone to her voice as she also looked at her foe while narrowing her eyes. "It sounds like you expect me to simply stand here and die." she kept talking as her muscles were tense, prepared for when her opponent would do another attack while said opponent snarled with unabashed, fully exposed hatred and venomous disdain for Kuoh Academy's student council vice-president.

From behind the long-haired late-teen, the orange-haired girl kept her attention fully on her petite, white-haired junior as she used her Sacred Gear to reverse the injuries that had occurred on her while the two [Queens] fought one another. The golden structure of light that originated from her ability that surrounded the young teen had done its job quickly and made true miracles happen, as the ice spears had been completely erased from existence while the internal damage that they had done to the white-haired girl had quickly got unwind and repaired.

Blood vessels that had burst or had spread apart in order to create a hole throughout the body reverted to their state prior to the injuries, causing the holes in the girl's chest, stomach and left shoulder to close and heal. Any trauma that the girl's petite body had suffered from the freezing of cells to physical trauma that she received from punches and kicks, as well as any other shallow bruises had disappeared completely as if they had never occurred at all. In a way it would have been correct to say that now these injuries had never even happened in the first place, since Shun Shun Rikka itself rejected their existence.

When the light died down and disappeared, Orihime smiled as she knew that Koneko had been completely healed. She then looked to the student council's vice-president's right side, where she saw the Sitri [Bishop] with the braided hair slowly picking up the injured, bleeding and unconscious Sitri [Knight], letting her lean on her own body for support as she panted heavily, still coughing violently from the two hits to the stomach that she had taken herself.

"Kusaka-san!" the orange-haired human called out loud, getting the attention of everyone in the room. "Bring Meguri-san here so that I can heal both of you." she told them with agency and urgency in her voice, her demeanor stern and determined. "Koneko-chan might still be out for a while, so trust Shinra Fukukaichou to protect us!" she informed the girl, who simply nodded and started to slowly walk towards her, panting heavily and coughing as she tried her best to keep the brownish-red haired girl on her back.

However, calling out to Reya had also got the attention of the two [Queens] who were battling each other. Managing to react first, the blonde stray snarled as she half-turned to her left while demonic energy froze around her fingers. "Oh no you don't! Watch your little underlings die, you defiant slut!" she screamed at the bespectacled teen as she fired a barrage of sharp, fast moving shards of ice that headed towards the two reincarnated devils of the Sitri peerage.

As the long-haired second-in-command of Sona Sitri started running towards the flying ice shards with visible fear and concern in her eyes towards her kohai, brown-haired [Bishop]'s wide widen in terror as she feared that she and the [Knight] whom she was trying to protect were going to die. However, Orihime was also watching. Determined as she was, she quickly put her left index and middle finger on her hairpin.

"Tsubaki!" she shouted an order as the hairpin glowed gold and a golden light suddenly fired out of it like a rocket, charging forward at a speed beyond the speed of light itself. The spirit inside the beam of light flew with incredible tenacity and fierceness towards the shards, zigzagging through all the shards. With each shard of ice that the beam of golden light touched, it was wiped out of existence by Shun Shun Rikka's rejection of its existence. Before a shards of ice could even reach the meter line from its targets, they had all been erased from existence, which made all the devils freeze in place as the beam of light fly right back to its user.

When the light stopped right next to its user and disappeared, only a small, ninja-looking figure remained as he floated in the air. "Ha! That's more like it. See what I can do if you put your heart into it? That was at the very least five times faster than light!" he declared proudly to his master before looking at her with anger, only to start punching and kicking her. "Now why don't you start using this kind of power on an enemy, huh? You spoiler brat!" he shouted angrily as he kept on hitting his master.

All the devils, still frozen in place, looked at the scene absolutely stupefied at what they were seeing in front of them. Even the normally stoic and seemingly emotionless Tsubaki Shinra had her eyes as wide as plates as her jaw fell a little bit from seeing the human getting bossed around by her own power.

"Owww~! Tsubaki, it huuurts~!" the orange-haired girl whined as she had tears in her eyes, whining like a little child.

"IT'S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD, BRAT!" the spirit kept on screaming and kicking at his teenage master. "YOU CAN'T BE PROTECTED ALL THE TIME IN A FIGHT! LEARN HOW TO FIGHT BACK!" he demanded as he continued to hit Orihime's head.

Suddenly the hairpin glowed once more and another male spirit came out of it, one that looked like a girl because of his pretty-boy face and his long, blonde ponytail. "Now now, Tsubaki, be nice to Inoue-chan or she won't ever use you." he reprimanded the ninja spirit as if the grumpy and loud spirit was a child. "Now please come back into the pin and let Inoue-chan deal with this the way she wants." he requested nicely with a big, friendly and welcoming smile on his face as he waited to see what his fellow spirit would say.

The spirit stopped as he simply crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Hmph, whatever." he said before the two spirits flew back into her hairpin.

There was a long period of silence as the devils in the room still looked at the odd interaction between the human and the spirits of her Sacred Gear, which seemed utterly bizarre. However, it took only a dozen seconds for Reya Kusaka to get her grip and return to what she was trying to accomplish, as she slowly dragged herself and her injured friend and fellow peerage member towards the orange-haired teenage girl and the unconscious Gremory [Rook].

This action took both the [Queens] out of their state of perplexed shock as the blonde stray devil with spider legs and eyes formed another glaive made out of ice and charged towards the injured pair with a downward swing with the malicious intention of cleaving them both. But despite her best attempt, the icy blade was blocked by the steel blade of the raven-haired reincarnated devil's naginata, making a loud "CLANNG!" sound that echoed violently across the entire warehouse while the steel and icy blades wobbled slightly, causing cracks to appear on the ice glaive.

Clicking her tongue with an irritated "Tsk!" as her face showed growing emotional instability, the spider-like woman poured more demonic energy to fix the cracks as she span around her weapon to slam the staff portion against her teen adversary's right ribs, but the bespectacled girl span around her weapon as well, causing ice stick to meet in the middle against the wooden stick, halting any attack from either of them.

As their eyes locked, they began a dance of weapons, both swinging and spinning their respective bladed sticks around their frames to swipe and block the swipes of the other. Blade meeting blade, staff blocking staff, leg avoiding a leg sweep while using the flat side of the blade to stop the sweeping motion, staff meeting and stopping blade.

As this lethal yet beautiful dance continued on, the two injured reincarnated devils reached to Orihime, with the girl with the brownish-red pigtails being put on the ground, her face filled with cuts that had blood coming out of, which wasn't even going into the cracks in her skull. The orange-haired human held her hands over the injured [Rook] as she used her Sōten Kisshun ability to start healing her injuries.

Orihime looked over at the worried Sitri [Bishop] with a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, Kusaka-san, they'll be okay." she reassured her as she kept her hands straight to focus the healing on Meguri's entire body. "I'm sure Shinra Fukukaichou knows you did your best alongside Meguri-san and Koneko-chan." she kept reassuring in a soft and warm tone to her voice as she returned her gaze to her patient as the injuries were being reversed.

Reya looked at the human teen and simply nodded with nervousness tensing every muscle in her body as she looked back at the [Queen] of her peerage, who was still busy being stuck in an intense struggle.

Tsubaki felt beads of sweat now covering her entire forehead and also appearing around her body and slowly drenching her clothes as she kept on swinging and swiping her naginata at top speed as she started panting a little bit while still keeping a cold, calm, calculating expression that exposed very little emotions. Her head was also in the fight, always working overtime to keep herself sharp, to try and find an opening. As a slash of the icy blade of her opponent's glaive in a broad, downward strike, it made the opening that she had been waiting for, the won that could win her the fight and slay the anxious, impatient stray devil once and for all.

As the icy, curved blade of the glaive ran down aimed for her neck, the bespectacled teen ducked down and to the left, from where the slash itself came, leaving the right side of her blonde and older foe open for an attack. And an attack is something that the bespectacled girl went for, thrusting her own steel blade of her naginata towards the chest of the spider stray. However, said spider stray managed to react by letting her right hand release its grip on the ice glaive and jumped back as quickly as possible, opening up herself as the tip of the steel blade pierced her skin right where the slash from before had been seared close.

Because of the jump, the naginata couldn't pierce the stray devil completely, creating a shallow hole in her chest. But it was enough to open the wound in that area, causing a small amount of blood to fly out of it outward onto the floor as Maria landed 4 meters away from her adversary, kneeling down as she completely let go of her icy weapon and put her hand over the open wound.

The woman coughed up blood as she looked down at her blood-covered palm, her body started shaking while her foe simply watched with a puzzled look in her eyes. "Only I wield true power. Only I wield true power. Only I wield true power. Only I wield true power." the older [Queen] started saying over and over like some sort of manta, her breath becoming haggard as her eyes were locked on her palm, red with her old blood as she returned to coughing for several seconds. After finishing coughing, she returned speaking that same line more and more, as her palm started to get surrounded by demonic energy that was pale-blue, almost whitish in color. The same happened around her other hand as well.

Then, with a violent shriek that was an amalgamation of all sorts of emotions and intents, the eight-eyed woman brought together her hands and fired a small but condensed beam of icy and chilling demonic energy towards her long-haired adversary. But said adversary didn't stand still doing nothing. Instead she planted her naginata's blade in the ground and made with her hands a rectangular movement, creating a mirror in front of her.

"Mirror Alice." she said as the beam slammed against the mirror, shattering it with ease. Seeing the mirror shatter brought a joyous, manic and vengeful grin on the blonde stray [Queen]'s face, believing that she had won. Instead, the beam suddenly flew in the direction of its user, much to the blonde woman's shock. She quickly rolled out of the way, evading the beam by a hair, before an explosion shook the entire warehouse.

The stray devil looked back in shock and saw a giant hole in the wall behind her, one which was at the easily way over time times bigger her own body, with frost expanding over the metal wall that had remained from the wall itself. She froze in place with utter disbelief at what she saw, but quickly shook her head and focused on her foe once more, creating a pair of twin icy short swords in her hands.

However, a magical circle suddenly appeared around the female stray, much to her displeasure. "No...no, no, no,no, no..." she spoke aloud as she put her left index and middle finger over her left ear, where a tiny magical circle appeared. "Hey! What do you think you're doing, you little sheep bitch?!" the spider-like stray shouted furiously as she started talking to someone, which got the attention of Kuoh Academy's student council vice-president. "No you fucking don't! I'm not done here until I kill this whore in front of me!" she screamed profanities to whoever she was talking to.

As the magic circle seemed to shine brighter and brighter, the blonde woman gritted her teeth angrily as she looked down before returning to stare daggers at Tsubaki. "Don't you dare send me back, you cun-!"

Before the woman could finish her latest profanity at whatever ally she was talking to, she disappeared in a flash of bright, pink light as she was teleported somewhere else, away from the [Queen] of the Sitri peerage. When she was certain that her foe was no longer in the area, Tsubaki fell down unto one knee as started to pant heavily.

There was a few seconds of silence as Chad read the mood of the entire scene. He immediately noticed that Shinji Hirako, the Vizard and former teacher of his good friend, was simply sitting with his legs crossed while holding onto the sheath of his sword, the sword back inside it, with a bored expression on his face.

However, he could read that most of what created the nervous and concerned atmosphere came from the devils themselves. He could tell that Shinji was no threat to them because he had no real interest, but he could tell the Sitri-senpai was keeping one bespectacled eye constantly on the former shinigami captain after she had informed him on the details that she was aware of, that being that stray devils were working together, perhaps even forming an organization of sort.

Things got more tense for Sitri-senpai when Saji-san and Nimura-san started telling her what they knew or could confirm, which was that there was apparently a leader who could reactivate the Evil Pieces within stray devils, something that shook the third-year to her core and made her sweat with fear and visible concern. Her usual cool and collected expression was not seen on her face right now.

"So, to sum up, it's just something related to you devils." the blonde man said as he finally got up and straightened his pants.

This got the bowl-cut young woman to look at him with a bit of suspicion. "So you will not interfere with our business?" she inquired as she kept her eyes on him as well as keeping her guard up. "Also, will we be assured that you will no longer threaten us or our allies, Hirako-sama, was it?" she kept on asking questions, her body tense and unsure.

Shinji Hirako stood up and extended his hand forward. "Sorry, where are my manners?" he said with a smirk on his face, showing off his large teeth as he spoke in a casual tone. "The name's Shinji Hirako, leader of the Vizard group and owner of this territory." he introduced himself with a surprisingly courteous tone and manner of movement as he shook the bespectacled girl's hand, which made the High-Class devil lower her guard a tiny bit, as she did not feel any intent to harm her from the man.

She then looked over to the brown-skinned teen, looking like she wanted to hear answers from him, an intent which the teen seemingly understood perfectly. "The Vizards are former lieutenants and captains of the Gotei 13 who were forced to become criminals after they had been hollowfied, or so Urahara-san tells the story. They also trained Ichigo on how to use his hollow powers." Sado explained to the head of Kuoh Academy's student council with the same non-changing expression on his face as he looked over to the leader of said group with a look that appeared to request approval of revealing such information.

Shinji simply nodded. "Yeah, basically what Chad here says." he agreed as he kept looking undisturbed and uninterested in the devils. "And as to your question, I won't do anything if you keep your business off my turf. Besides, I don't deal with small fry." he said with a more serious and bored voice and expression, which still nerved Sona by the man's mere presence, who by all accounts was on the same standing in a power as a maou. Suddenly everyone heard a peeping sound coming from the man's pocket, to which he simply took a mobile phone out. "Sorry, that's for me." he said casually as he answered the phone and put it on speaker. "Yo, Hiyori, you're on speaker. Wanna say hello to-" he started talking, seemingly knowing of what was to come next.

"Hey, baldy, what the hell do you think you're doing?! Why the hell are ya so far from the base?!" a voice came from the phone, one that sounded young and rough, which Sado knew yet the [King] of the Sitri peerage and her [Pawns] obviously did not, cutting off the blonde man's sentence before he could finish.

The Vizard simply gave a sigh with an annoyed expression on his face. "I was just giving a lecture to some young devils about not playing their territorial fights with the church on my turf, that's all. It's none of your-"

"Woah, woah, woah, woah, woah. Hold the phone, dumbass! Since when the fuck is the area your turf?!" the girl on the other line shouted furiously, once more cutting off the blonde man in the middle of his sentence, making his left eye twitch and a angry anime mark to appear on his forehead.

"It's my turf since I'm the leader." he raised his voice with his retort, clearly annoyed and unable to hold back.

"And who exactly said that you're our leader?! Aside from your baldy ass, of course!" the loud girl on the other end of the line kept on shouting at the top of her lungs.

Shinji simply growled while slightly gritting his teeth. "Just ask Rose or Love or Kensei! They'll confirm my position!" he said angrily as he started pointing at the phone over and over at the phone. "Besides, you have no right to ask that, second-weakest midget!" he continued screaming back at the person at the other end of the line.

As this phone call was going on, the teenage human boy and and the three devils of the Sitri peerage looked at the man with beads of sweat on their forehead as the youngest of the ground slowly slid next to her leader. "Kaichou, I think we should go back." she said as they all looked over at Shinji Hirako, who was busy screaming at the phone.

"BALDY, BALDY, BALDY, BALDY!" the voice of Hiyori screamed from the end of the other line.

"MIDGET, MIDGET, MIDGET, MIDGET!" the blonde, flat-faced man shouted back with tenacity and childish drive.

After a few seconds after her [Pawn]'s request, Sona Sitri looked at the strange spectacle in front of her and simply nodded with an apprehensive look on her face. "Yes...I think we should." she said as she created a teleportation circle around herself and Saji and Nimura, with Chad also coming in and entering the circle.

Soon they disappeared in a flash of light, teleporting back to the student council office of Kuoh Academy, but at the last moment, they saw as a small figure suddenly arrived from nowhere, its feet planting themselves deep into Shinji Hirako's flat face.

Student Council Meeting Room, Kuoh Academy,

With a blue light, Sona appeared alongside her dear [Pawns] and Chad, all of them feeling some sort of relief over the events of the evening. Saji and Nimura were just glad to be back in a safe place while they still were still injured to some degree, especially the first year girl. Sona was happy that her servants were simply safe and still breathing, while Sado himself was relieved that things went swell with Shinji.

When they took the environment surrounding them, they all noticed that everyone else were in the room, including Rias, Akeno and Orihime, the latter healing Kiba and Hanakai, who were still unconscious. It didn't take long for Rias and Sona to lock eyes while carrying serious examples on their faces, nodding to each other in acknowledgement.

"Sona, I'm glad to see that you're safe." the crimson-haired High-Class devil said with relief yet still serious concern filling her tone of voice as her eyes then went over to a fully healed, yet still unconscious Issei.

Sona herself also nodded, not even smiling with relief. "Yes, I'm also very glad that you are unharmed as well." she said as she looked over at the unconscious Hanakai and Meguri, her eyes softening as she showed concern, only then looking at her fukikaichou for some sort of confirmation, which she received in a simple, tired sigh. She then looked back at her crimson-haired best friend. "It seems that we need to get help from the Underworld after all." she said as she looked down with a bit of shame.

Rias simply looked down as well, also feeling that same shame within her heart: the shame of the failure of protecting her own servants.

The night, and the first encounter with the Stray Devil Council, ended in such a hard-fought victory for the two peerages, to the point that they couldn't call this a victory.

{To Be Continued]

xxx

Ending Theme: Life is Like a Boat by Rei Fu (use Bleach Ending 1 for audio)

And that's the chapter! I really enjoyed writing this chapter, knowing that it would be the last to be published. This was mostly due to the fact that it wasn't a 29k behemoth of a chapter. Now, I am going on a hiatus to try and finish writing this arc, but I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter and the last batch that I had published in the last few months.

Until I return with a finished arc, stay healthy, stay safe, and have a great day.

👍

Qudrim8054 · Jul 10, 2022

Hey there everyone. Unfortunately for me and for all of you, I couldn't get very far into the fic, as much as I wanted to. I only got this chapter out and currently working on another chapter. Whenever I will finish a chapter now, I will publish it. In the meantime, let's get to the chapter.

Also, I believe many readers here simply see this arc thus far as a filler arc, and it may have all the conditions of a filler arc, but to me it's anything but. It might not have the biggest impact on the story, but I will reference to the events of this arc in future arcs and volumes and it will have importance on later events. Therefore I hope you can all keep an open mind regarding this arc.

Warning: The following chapter may contain content unsuited for younger audiences. Reader's discretion is advised.

Of Devils and Reapers

Volume 1: Red Dragon Emperor's Awakening

Chapter 14: Team Meetings

Stray devil Council Arc

xxx

Opening Theme: Again by Yui (use Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood Opening 1 for audio)

Issei slumped in his seat as he got to fully enjoy the first minutes of recess in peace and quiet. He rubbed his sore shoulders and gave out a groan as he felt relief wash over his body as his shoulder muscles relaxed when he put a little bit of pressure on them. He was honestly grateful that Asia-chan was with him last night, otherwise he surely would've died again.

His thoughts turned somber as he remembered the sensation he felt as his body was slammed against the floor of the factory, pain breaking his mind apart as his entire body was mangled. Those few seconds before he had lost consciousness were like an eternity of pain for him.

Then there was the warm sensation of his blood. He could feel it as it erupted out of him from his wounds before everything turned dark. Blood always felt so warm and surprisingly sticky despite it being fluid. Another memory flashed and played inside his head, the memory of a weapon made of light piercing his stomach, drenching his clothes in his own blood as he stood there, dying.

"Would you die for me?" the voice of Raynare rang in his ears once more, when she still pretended to be the cute and timid Yuma-chan, causing him to quake in his boots as beads of sweat drenched his clothes. Even though he defeated he in battle, even though he allowed her to live another day, the words of the fallen angel still cut deep into his heart, scared him and scarred him.

"Yo, Issei." his thoughts were cut when he heard the voice of his best friend calling him, to which he turned to see that the orange-haired teenage boy was walking towards him with a smile on his face and a bandage around his head and a small band aid on his right cheek, which surprised and confused the brunette reincarnated devil to the point that he raised an eyebrow. "How are you doing? I heard that you got to fight a stray devil not too long ago. How was that like?" he inquired as he sat on the chair of the table in front of Issei's, looking casually at his best friend and hoping to hear some good things.

The brown-haired teen simply glanced aside and shook for a moment, which his friend noticed on the spot. When Issei looked back at his best friend, he started explaining. "Well, it was quite horrid. We encountered some crazy stray who had utterly butchered a kid. A little kid! It was so bloody and I think I might have puked with how disgusting it was! Thankfully we managed to avenge that kid and all the over kids tha stray must have killed" he spoke as he let the memories of the encounter with Vizor replay in his mind. The way he and Koneko had been caught, the way Kiba was impaled through the leg. All the horrific sights that he had seen that night all flashed in his mind, feeling an odd sense of cathartic satisfaction from the woman's death.

Ichigo's eyes widened in shock, which very quickly turned into a look of hate and disgust. "Good. Someone like that should die a horrible and gruesome death." he said as she looked down at his hands and clenched them into fists while light shined inside of it, making the reincarnated devil to feel a chill down his spine as he had signals of danger bombarded into his brain. "I myself am planning one for Grand Fisher, for everything he's done to my mom." the orange-haired hybrid spoke with intense determination in his voice as he allowed the light to disappear, no noticing at all how it affected his best friend.

Suddenly two figures appeared behind Issei, a dangerous aura emanating from as they stared down at him with fists raised high. "ISSEI, YOU DAMN TRAITOR!" four fists started raining down on Issei's head over and over as Matsuda and Motohama screamed bloody murder with tears in their eyes, their hearts filled with jealousy and hurt from betrayal. "How could you do this to us?!" the shaved-head pervert shouted with anger and hurt in his voice over the seeming betrayal of his fellow pervert.

"And we showed you the super secret VIP peeping spot, you unbelievable bastard!" Motohama continued as he spoke as well while tears of anger poured down like waterfalls from his and Matsuda's eyes, trying to guilt his perverted friend over his actions, all the while as the two kept on hitting Issei with their fists.

"And what's all that talk about you helping Asia-chan and Yura-san deal with some creeps, huh?! Are you vying all over that tomboy Yura-san as well?!" Matsuda continued to question his friend whom he was beating up, which actually seemed to confused the brown-haired devil and the orange-haired substitute shinigami, the latter even raising an eyebrow over it and the former realizing what they were talking about, but was still feeling pain from the hits he was receiving.

Finally Ichigo spoke up, his eyebrow still raised with a deadpan look on his face that screamed 'are you serious?'. "By "super secret VIP peeping spot", you mean the first-year girls' locker room which Koneko-chan discovered before beating the ever-loving shit out of Issei?" he inquired snarkily as he allowed his chin to lean on his left forearm, which he had put on the back rest of the chair he was sitting on.

The two then turned their attention to the spiky-haired teenage boy with a mixture of fear and anger as Motohama pointed at him. "It-it was only revealed because you texted Toujo-chan about it! She would have never figured it out otherwise!" he accused as he let out his anger.

At this point Matsuda also jumped into the accusation. "Yeah, all your fault! Because of you not only we were hit by Toujo-chan's fists, but also by Arisawa-san's as well! Even now the memories of those hits fucking hurts!" he also angrily accused the orange-haired teen, pointing his finger at him.

After a few seconds of simply glaring at the pair of perverts, a smug grin rose to his face as he switched to lean his cheek on his right fist. "So my guess is that all this noise you're making is because you had such a great time with the Milky Spiral Seven fan, didn'tcha?" he asked smugly while chuckling out loud, satisfied to see that at that point the faces of the two turned red with rage.

Knowing that it would be stupid to try and take their anger out on the orange-haired teen, Matsuda and Motohama instead turned to the reincarnated devil and started pounding on him. "YOU BASTARD! HOW COULD YOU SEND US THERE, YOU TRAITOR! A BODY BUILDING GIANT DOES NOT FIT IN A CUTE MAGICAL GIRL COSTUME! IT DOES. NO. FIT!" the two members of the Pervert Trio screamed at the top of their lungs as they punched and kicked their fellow pervert while he was down on the floor in a jealous rage.

The two then turned their fingers at Ichigo, merely pointing at him in their rage while tears fell like waterfalls from their eyes. "AND YOU KNEW! WHY DID YOU LET HIM LEAD US THERE?!" the shaved-headed teen inquired while he kept shouting out loud.

Ichigo simply raised an eyebrow while keeping his smirk. "Because you deserve it. Plain and simple." he told them as he kept enjoying the two perverts wallowing in despair.

The two perverts looked down and felt as a cloud of anguish floated above their heads, they took several seconds to digest the treatment that they were getting from the orange-haired teen as well as the perceived betrayal of their fellow pervert who made a third of their renown Pervert Trio of Kuoh Academy, a title each one of the three took great pride in.

After those few seconds, Matsuda and Motohama turned to look back at their friends with tears of blood now running down their eyes in pure envy. "Just you wait, Issei. We'll make you suffer!" Matsuda declared with determination, anguish, fury and jealousy in his voice as his body shook as he pointed at the brown-haired devil, who had by now got up from the floor of the classroom.

Motohama then followed with a threat of his own. "Yeah! You think you can hog all the hotties of the Occult Research Club for yourself? Then we'll make the next two weeks a living hell for you!" he made his declaration as he continued speaking with the same amalgamation of emotions that his other cohort was feeling.

"Now now, pervs," a voice of a woman came from the entrance of the classroom, causing all four teenage boys to turn around to look at the one who entered the room, those being Tatsuki, Orihime and Tsubasa, all of them carrying some sort of a smile. With the latter two it was a friendly smile, but with the former it was a more mischievous, endearing smirk of anticipation. "with words like that it's almost like you're pleading to get your shit kicked." she continued with malicious glee on his lips as she cracked her knuckles.

All three members of the Pervert Trio quickly hugged each other in fear as they squealed like little girls, their terror fully plastered over their faces as they feared meeting the tomboy's fists against their heads, even though only Issei knew that she was powerful. Ichigo meanwhile simply sighed and shook his head before smiling and raising his hand to wave to his friends.

"Yo, Tatsuki, Inoue-san, Yura-san." he said casually as he walked towards the three girls, putting his hands in his pants' pockets.

Seeing the orange-haired hybrid of angel and shinigami caused a spark to brighten in Orihime's eyes as she looked at him. "Hey Kurosaki-kun! Are you doing okay? I can tent to your wounds!" she said with great enthusiasm and bounciness. She then turned to the Pervert Trio with that same level of enthusiasm in her heart. "Hello to you too, Hyoudou-kun and Hyoudou-kun's friends." she said with a bright smile on her face that made her look absolutely radiant, to the point that it nearly metaphorically blinded the trio of perverts as tears ran down their cheeks in happiness.

After a few seconds though, Matsuda and Motohama looked again at the orange-haired girl while their eyes were still soaked in tears, but now they were changing to tears of sorrow. "Inoue-chaaan...why did you refer to us only as Issei's frieeeends?" the glass-wearing pervert inquired in sadness over the fact that a super-hot beauty never ever addressed the two directly, only by their connotations to the reincarnated devil.

Upon hearing this, Orihime's eyes widened as a small blush appeared on her face and she covered her mouth for a second or two, only to smile awkwardly. "Oh dear, I'm very sorry. I just don't remember your surnames and just remembered that your Hyoudou-kun's friends. I didn't mean to offend, I swear." she declared with an apologetic tone as she tried to clear things over and not make the two boys feel bad, which was a feeling that none her other friends around her shared with the exception of Issei.

As the attention was now focused on Orihime, the blue-haired [Rook] of the Sitri peerage allowed herself to sneak behind the brown-haired [Pawn] of the Gremory group. She awkwardly stood behind him for a few seconds until she decided to tap on his shoulder, drawing his attention towards her. When he looked back at her, her body tensed and closed in, a small rosy tint appeared on her cheeks as her heart started beating faster. "H-Hey, Issei-san." she told him when she manged to look into his eyes with a small smile on her face. "Good to see that you're alright." she said as she remembered how badly he got beaten up last night, and she saw him after some healing from the blonde excommunicated nun.

He gave her a smile of his own, one filled with relief as well. "Yeah, but I'm glad you're okay too, Yura-san. You also got hit pretty hard." he said as the two brought up the event from last night and how they both ended up during it. He then glanced aside as a sour expression appeared on his face. "I left Asia-chan because I saw you get hit. I left her vulnerable and went to go and check on you, nearly leading to my own death. I couldn't defend you or Asia-chan." he said with a saddened tone as he tried to keep his eyes away from the blue-haired tomboy.

Tsubasa simply chuckled and hit him on the shoulder gently, which perplexed him and made him look at her once more. "Yeah, it was kinda stupid." she said to him bluntly with a smile on her face, making him blush in embarrassment before she continued. "Even though you got badly manhandled by those asshole strays, you did it to protect me. You even left Argento-san, whom you actually care about, to do so. I-I just really want to thank you for caring about me so much, even though we're not really friends." she said as she started to get a little red and lost for words, letting her admiration out with her words.

He simply looked at her for a second before rubbing the back of his head awkwardly with a big smile on his face. "Hey, don't worry about it. We are allies in this, right? So it's only right that I should care about you too." he told her with genuine meaning of every one of those words, speaking them as if they were something that were completely obvious, making the blue-haired girl gawk for a second, only to then smile timidly as a heavy, rosy blush filled her cheeks. However, the moment was cut off when they felt the need to look back at their respective friends, noticing all eyes were on them. Matsuda and Motohama naturally looked upset, confused and jealous, Ichigo simply raised an eyebrow with a perplexed expression on his face, Orihime's eyes were wide as plates and by the huge smile on her face she seemed genuinely excited and pleased at the two interacting and finally Tatsuki simply stuck out her tongue and made a gagging sound with clear disgust on her face.

The two perverts suddenly pointed their fingers at the two devils in unison. "What the hell is going on?!" the two shouted in unison with clear jealousy in their voices, unable to comprehend how their perverted friend, who was just as hated by the girls as they were, was suddenly getting so much attention from beautiful girls.

"You can't just hog more and more girls! We want some oppai too, Issei!" the shave-headed teenage boy shouted as once more tears of blood came out of his eyes.

At this point, Motohama, who also had tears of blood joined in with his friend. "Damn right! And since when do you have a thing with that tomboy Yura-san, huh?!" he inquired with a jealous tone to his voice, but while he seemed wanting in asking more questions, both his and his perverted friend's mouths were covered by the tall teenage hybrid's hands, as his expression seemed to become serious.

"Be quiet, you two. There is a dangerous presence nearby." he said with the upmost seriousness and concern to his voice, looking left and right to try and see where that "dangerous presence" was coming from. As everyone focused on Ichigo, no one seemed to noticed or cared to inform everyone of how a silhouetted figure started slithering up from behind the group, specifically behind the busty, orange-haired girl. The figure was covered in darkness, he figure's silhouette seemed to be that of a girl, with only a glowing large white light reflecting from the eyes, as if the figure was wearing glasses. As the figure of dangerous presence stood behind the lively girl, the kanji for "Menacing" floated in the air around the figure, assisting in emanating the dangerous presence that it transmitted to its surrounding.

Suddenly, two slender arms wrapped around Orihime's stomach, making the orange-haired teenage girl to squeal in a startled yelp as a cheek pressed against her back. "Inoue-chan! Why if it isn't my good friend Inoue-chan!" a girlish voice called with excitement while carrying a devilish smile on her face.

The girl in question was a brunette with her hair wrapped as braids a both sides of her head that reached down to her chest area, which was defined by a very small bust that the reincarnated devil could easily compare to that of Koneko. She wore the usual girls' school uniform of Kuoh Academy, as well as a pair of large, round glasses that covered over her eyes, which had golden amber pupils. That girl was none other than the infamous Aika Kiryu, a friend with all girls and an archnemesis to the Pervert Trio.

"KYA!" was the shout that the shocked Orihime gave out, which alerted everyone in the room to the presence of the arrival of the bespectacled second-year.

The Pervert Trio quickly pointed at the girl with a venomous cry. "Demon!" the three shouted in unison, much to the confusion of Tsubasa, who was still standing next to Issei.

Ichigo himself reacted quickly as he turned around and grabbed one of his friend's arms by the wrist, since she had thrown them upwards and forward in her state of surprise, and he yanked her out of the grasp of he brunette right to his side. "Back off, creep!" he barked aggressively at the teenage girl in front of him, showing an animosity towards her that he didn't show towards girls, which slightly surprised Tatsuki, Orihime and Tsubasa.

Kiryu looked at the nephilim and smiled slyly as she gave a quick glance at his crouch. "Why, hello there, Ichigo. Aren't you happy to see me?" she asked as she confidently put her right hand on her waist. Sh then went to glance over at the brown-haired reincarnated devil. "And if Ichigo is here, then that means you're empty head is here too, Issei." she said condescendingly as she kept on with her smug smirk plastered all over her face. "And if you're here," she started saying as she looked over at Matsuda and Motohama. "then those two dick-for-brains waste of space pervs are also here." she said as her smirk turned into a frown, one filled only with disappointment.

"Of course I don't want to see you! You're a total creep and a corrupting influence! Get the hell away from me!" the shinigami-angel hybrid shouted in comical anger as he glared at the woman.

"Ehhh?! My head isn't empty! It's filled with wonderful oppai!" Issei retorted on his own with his tone filled with anger and offense to the girl's comment.

"Rot in hell, Kiryu! You're just as much of a perv as we are, latching shamelessly onto boys all the time!" Matsusa screamed furiously at the girl, waving his fists angrily to protest her insult towards him.

Motohama then adjusted his glasses and smirked with confidence and pride as he stared beyond the girl's clothes. "That's right. But with a bust-line and waist so tiny, there is no sane man who will ever take you over a hottie with great curves." he insulted her back as he witnessed and calculated her measurements within instants. "That's why you rely on acting so desperate and pervy, because otherwise you will end a poor and sad virgin!" he pointed at her with a satisfied and confident grin on his face, with even a sparkle of light reflecting of his teeth, making a "DING!" sound.

Kiryu, however, didn't seemed fazed at all by his implication and his attempts of breaking her spirit, as she crossed her arms and simply gave quick glances over at the two perverts' groin areas with her smirk widening slightly. "You think you're so unique with that perverse skill that you're so proud of, aren't you, Three-Brain-Cells-san?" she asked him mockingly with a confident, unwavering and insulting tone of voice, which easily riled up the bespectacled boy in return. She then put her right palm on her chest and her left hand on her waist. "I have developed a skill of my own. One that Ichigo had been a good test subject of." she said as she glanced over at the orange-haired boy, which caused him to shake, straighten his back and flinch as a chill went down his spine, forcing him to cover his groin area.

"What are you talking about?" Motohama asked with dismissal of the girl's claim.

Kiryu smirk for a second became a bit wider before returning to a small smirk. "I'm saying that I have mastered the ability to see through the clothes of men and measure the size and girth of their manhood!" she declared loudly as she gave an evil laugh, forcing the members of the Pervert Trio to take a step back in shock, while Tatsuki simply facepalmed while groaning in annoyance over the perverse stupidity that was filling the room, while Orihime blushed as she gave a small glance over to Ichigo. Tsubasa herself had her jaw fall down a bit as her lips curled into a smile, hoping of learning the size of her latest crush.

Matsuda and Motohama then both pointed at the perverted girl with disbelief and anger. "Bullshit!" the two shouted in unison as they tried their best to deny her claims.

The bespectacled girl simply gave a devilish chuckle as she half-turned while still keeping her eyes locked on the pair of perverts. "Oh really?" she asked as her smirked turned into a grin. "In that case I can tell you that I had already measured both of your manhoods. I can tell from only a single glance that you dicks are completely average, nothing to even brag about." she told them slyly as the eyes of the pair of perverts went wide and they quickly covered their crouches. "That's right, you two are...MEDIOCRE! Hahahaha!" she suddenly screamed and gave in evil laugh as Matsuda and Motohama gave a cry of despair while screaming "Demon!" intertwined with their cries.

All of a sudden, Asia entered running in a slow but steady pace into the classroom. The blonde excommunicated nun appeared in a jubilated attitude, with a giant smile all over her face as she started looking around the classroom. "Issei-san. Issei-san. You will never believe wha-" she started talking with beaming bounciness, until she stopped upon seeing the blue-haired [Rook] of the Sitri peerage standing next to her first friend and crush, making her narrow her eyes for a few short seconds. Her eyes then soften up as she saw Kiryu arguing with the two perverts.

The blonde teen ran over to her friend and crush, passing by everyone and getting their attention. Issei himself smiled widely upon seeing her running towards him. "I'm happy to see Asia-chan. I must have worried you sick last night." he said apologetically while still keeping a smile on his face as she stopped right in front of him, making him blush slightly. "But what's important is that Asia-chan and Yura-san were safe. But thanks for tending to me again." he told her while blushing and rubbing the back of his head.

Asia simply smiled and looked chipper as she spoke. "Don't be silly, Issei-san. Saving you was very important to me, because you saved me all over again, Issei-san." she responded kindly and genuinely, even giving a reassuring glance over to her new love rival, making sure that she was happy to heal her as well.

The brown-haired reincarnated devil then noticed everyone's eyes locked on them, which made him move forward and put his left arm in front of the blonde excommunicated nun. "Asia-chan, stay behind me, there is a demon present." he said as he gave a venomous stare towards Kiryu, who simply smirked.

Asia simply looked confused as she tilted her head. "You mean Kiryu-san? But she's my good friend from class 2-C." she stated casually and in a matter-of-fact fashion, a statement that made Ichigo, Issei and the other two members of the Pervert Trio to lean back and gasp with shock.

"NANI?!" all the boys shouted in unison as they expressed their utter disbelief at what they had just heard.

The bespectacled perverted girl simply chuckled. "Fufufufufu, it's true. I have introduced myself to Asia-chan merely half-a-week ago and already we have made a strong bond of friendship." she expanded slightly while speaking with a slight smugness to her tone.

The angel-shinigami hybrid clicked his tongue. 'Shit, how could I have not noticed that?! I was so sure that I could keep Asia-san from meeting her. I can't believe I let my guard down like that!' he thought to himself with frustration as he held tightly unto Orihime's shoulder and tried to keep her away from Kiryu. "You better not corrupt Asia-san, you hear me! You already did enough damage to Inoue-san with your perverted mind, so don't you dare suggest anything dirty to Asia-san!" he shouted at the bespectacled girl a very definitive warning.

Upon hearing it, Kiryu grinned. "Why Ichigo, don't you want your girlfriend to have all the knowledge she needs to acquire the heart of the opposite sex?" she inquired slyly.

This question caused both orange-haired teens' faces to turn red as tomatoes. "We're not dating! Not at all!" the two exclaimed in embarrassment as they blushed madly.

Hearing their response made the grin of the braided girl to grow even more as she leaned forward towards the substitute shinigami, who flinched and took a step back while he was sweating madly as he saw that she looked directly into his eyes. "Oh reaally?" she asked slyly as she focused on the tall teen completely. "In that case, maybe you should get a girl who can appreciate your..." she started talking as she gave a glance down at his groin area, making him gulp nervously. "Gift...more appropriately." she finished her sentence as she returned to look into his brown eyes.

Upon hearing this, Orihime pouted with tears in her eyes while the Pervert Trio simply growled in disdain towards their arch-nemesis. Ichigo himself took another step back and cried out while his face was red. "GAH! That's sexual harassment, you she-devil!" he called out in an uncharacteristic fashion for him.

Kiryu simply chuckled once more. "Oh, how naive of you, Ichigo. Such a pure summer child." she told him with a predatory tone while bending her back a bit forward, only to then straighten herself and simply wiggle her finger from side to side. "A woman can't sexually harass a man." she said casually with a sly grin.

"THAT'S SOME DOUBLE STANDARD BULLSHIT!" the four boys shouted furiously at the girl's false fact, with the Pervert Trio being especially pissed.

Immediately the bespectacled girl turned to glare unammused at Matsuda and Motohama. "Oh right, you two are still here. I almost mistook you for a void in the air, since that would have more brain or use for oxegyn." she condescendingly mocked and insulted the pair with a bored tone of voice as she narrowed her eyes.

"Fuck you!" the two perverts retorted immediately.

Kiryu simply put her hands on her waist and turned to face the pair with a smug smile on her face. "Ha, you wish!" she declared while looking down at the two. "You see, I am all woman, something a pair of hopeless nerds like you can't handle whatsoever!" she said as she grinned with all the confidence in the world. Her eyes then trailed over to the brunette reincarnated devil, who immediately covered his groin area while a blush appeared on his face, and then she moved to give a quick glance towards the orange-haired boy. "Issei and Ichigo though..." she implied with a sly and predatory grin.

"Stop it, Kiryu-san! That's enough!" the orange-haired girl shouted as her eyes were filled with tears, getting the attention of the arguing group, while Asia also shared a similar expression.

The brown-haired girl's sly, however, did not disappear as she started slowly walking towards the hair-headed girl. "Oh Inoue-chan, you're right." she said with a cheeky grin as she manged to extend her hand and grabbed Orihime's hand, pulling her while Ichigo's face was still red from embarrassment, hand still covering his groin as he growled at the perverted girl. "I have been entering your territory, so I should give you some thing in return. Allow me to fix that." she said as she went and whispered something into the girl's ear.

Immediately Orihime's eyes went blank-white and her mouth opened in the shape of an upside-down triangle. Her body froze and and hardened like a statue as her face turned as red as a tomato, gasping a little as blood started to flow down from her nose and steam erupted from her eyes.

Everyone in the room immediately assumed what the perverted girl had told the lively and curvaceous teen, with Ichigo and Tatsuki's faces turning completely red as the black-haired tomboy growled in irritation, showing that she had enough of all of it. "Okay, that's it." she declared as she looked at her blue-haired friend. "Tsubasa, say goodbye to the perv. We're leaving." she ordered in a strict and angry tone as she walked towards the exit of the class, grabbing both the bespectacled girl and her paralyzed friend by the collar of their shirts and dragging them away by force.

The [Rook] of the Sitri peerage simply sighed as she followed her good friend, only to stop midway and turn around to look at her new crush once more. "It was nice talking to you, Issei-san. It's nice to see that you are doing well after last night too, Asia-san." she said as she waved him goodbye, smiling genuine smile on her face as she turned around and continued walking towards the door of the classroom.

Issei waved back with a smile on his own. "Yeah. It's good to know that you're doing well too, Yura-san." he said back to her, not knowing that the blue-haired tomboy was blushing as her back was turned to him with an embarrassed smile, all the while next to the boy, the blonde excommunicated nun gave a small, jealous pout.

As the bespectacled girl was being dragged away, she flipped off Matsuda and Motohama while doing smooch noises with her lips, to which the pair snarled and waved their fists at her hatefully and calling her a bitch. Orihime herself was still completely blank and as stiff as a statue as she was starting to drool. "So big..." were the only words she said before the four girls were out of the classroom.

Ichigo growled with embarrassment as his face was still red and his hands were still on his groin area. 'Damn that Kiryu. She's even worse than Yoruichi!' he thought to himself angrily as he looked at the entrance to the classroom.

The next day in the afternoon, Issei and Ichigo were walking together towards the old schoolhouse where the Occult Research Club had set its headquarters, alongside all of Ichigo's friends, the other members of the ORC, Asia and the student body council of Kuoh Academy, with the exception of its [Kings] and [Queens], Rias Gremory, Sona Sitri, Akeno Himejima and Tsubaki Shinra, who were already there preparing for what everyone were heading to the ORC for: a meeting with someone fro the Underworld who would assist them.

"So what is this meeting about?" the shinigami-angel hybrid inquired with an intrigued tone to his voice as he had his hands in his pockets as he walked alongside his best friend. "I heard that you are meeting someone from the Underworld. I assume it must be someone important who wants to meet both of us, since you are the new Red Dragon Emperor and I'm a nephilim who's part shinigami, who also happened to invaded Soul Society itself." he addressed the brown-haired reincarnated devil casually as he kept looking forward. He then looked to both sides before speaking again. "Though I'm a bit suspicious as to why everyone else is needed here?" he went into further inquiries, his eyes narrowing as he appeared more suspicious about the real reason for the meeting.

Issei chuckled nervously as he rubbed the back of his head. "I-I'm sure that's it's nothing. No need to be suspicious of it." he said with a nervous tone, showing that he wasn't very good at covering up the real reason, making his friend even more suspicious, which he saw from the glare that he received.

"Kurosaki-san, there is no need to worry. You should trust Buchou and Sona-Kaicho more." Kiba intruded the conversation calmly with a reassuring smile on his pretty face, which got both Reya and Hanakai to fawn internally at the same time at the handsome teen's calm demeanor and friendly way of speaking, much to the irritation of Tatsuki, who glanced aside with a pink flare on her cheeks and a pout.

Koneko simply touched her left shoulder tightly as she looked down. "...Yeah, trust Buchou and Kaicho..." she said with a melancholic monotone as she seemed to be deep in thought as he eyes were glazing down constantly, which got her a sympathetic look from the others who had heard what had happened to in her fight.

When the large group reached the old schoolhouse, they entered and quickly reached the main room from which the ORC made their usual activities, all restructured and furnished in a more Victorian style. Everyone who entered immediately took a spot in the room and noticed the dense atmosphere that was present thanks to the presence of the people there. The first two sat on one of the sofas and those were none other than Kisuke Urahara and the black cat Yoruichi, who was sitting on his lap. On another couch sat two other men, both looking like they were in their mid-to-late twenties, their couch slightly facing in the direction of the main desk in the club, in which Rias and Sona sat together, with their respective [Queens] standing by their sides.

The first of the two unknown men was a tall man who appeared to be in his early twenties, wearing a rather unique and eloquent-looking garb over a fancy suit. He had a unique green hair that was slicked back and piercing blue eyes that whether or not were serious at one point or another, cut deep and glared straight into the soul, carrying with him a strong and mysterious presence that made him appeared devilish. Everyone who entered the room, even Ichigo, felt a chill run down their spine when looking into his eyes, sensing that he was a big shot.

The other person appeared to have a demeanor not so different than the first man, but he seemed much less powerful or impressive than the first one, even though he was obviously powerful and influential, if he managed to squeeze himself into a meeting that had Urahara and Yoruichi in it. His face was completely unreadable, but he had a pair of eyes with bright-red pupils that seemed very frightening. He had a very pale skin tone and a long, handsome facial features, as well as long, wavy, sea foam-green colored haired that reached down his chess area, thought it seemed very kept for wavy hair. He wore a very modest modern, white-colored suit with several sea foam-green colored flames patterns spread around it and a dark-red tie. He appeared more like a rich man and less like a devil to everyone.

Everyone looked over at the newly arrived as the blonde shinigami raised his hand to greet everyone as his hat obscured his eye, wrapping his upper face in shadows. "Hello there, everybody. Good to see you all and that you're taking good care of Asia-chan when she isn't working. Please buy at Urahara Shoten in the upcoming days to see the new shop uniforms." he spoke casually and in a bright and showy attitude as he had a cheerful smile on his face.

Ichigo's eyes twitched upon hearing this. "Are you just going to dress Asia-san in shameful, revealing costumes just to get more money, you shady bastard?!" he inquired with an offended expression while the nun simply looked at the nephilim with a confused expression as she tilted her head.

The cat then looked at the orange-haired teenage boy. "Why Ichigo, what's with the distrust? Is your opinion of us so low?" the shinigami in cat form asked with a knowing, sly smirk on her face as the voice that came out of her mouth was masculine in sound.

"YES! Do you really need to ask that?!" Ichigo retorted immediately.

Tomoe was frozen at the sight of the black cat speaking. "Oh my Maou, the cat can talk?!" she squealed loudly in excitement as she hopped in her spot. "Kawaii!" she said out loud with girlish glee.

A moment after hearing the excitement of the reddish-brown haired girl, the cat gave her an intense glare with her eyes widened and focused on the girl, causing her to freeze. After a few tense moments, Yoruichi made a friendly smile while closing her eyes and made a "Nya." cry, causing the girl to squee with even more excitement than before while Ichigo simply groaned.

Everyone then suddenly stopped when the bespectacled president of Kuoh Academy's student body council coughed into her fist to get their attention. "Alright, that's enough. We have an important meeting here for important reasons we are all aware of." she spoke sternly as she glared at the members of her peerage, who all gulped in unison and nodded quickly.

Rias then spoke up herself. "Indeed I agree." she said as she looked over at the two guests from the Underworld that sat on the couch that slightly faced her desk. "First, I would like to introduce to you all one of the four Mao of the Underworld, Ajuka Beelzebub." she introduced the man with a refined and yet chirpy attitude as she went to look over at the man. "It's an honor to have you here and gain a little bit of assistance from you, Lord Beelzebub-sama." she said as she looked at the man with the blue eyes and slicked back green hair. "And thank you for not telling my brother or Lady Leviathan about this meeting." she thanked him once again with a polite smile on her face.

'A Mao?!' everyone in the room barring the two former shinigami captains thought to themselves in shock, the thought popping to everyone in their head in unison.

The man kept a completely straight face as he opened his mouth. "It is nothing, Miss Gremory, Miss Sitri. After all, you two are good friend of my fellow friends and Maou. Of course I can make a little bit of time to help you out, especially if it's a matter you wish to hide from your siblings." he told her with a nod and a courteous tone to his voice, only to then look over at Issei. "It is also a pleasure to meet you, Red Dragon Emperor Issei Hyoudou. I hope to see how you develop in the future." he gave him a small and courteous greeting before looking over at Ichigo. "And of course you as well, Ichigo Kurosaki. We at the Underworld were shocked to hear of your victory over a shinigami of such status and renown as Byakuya Kuchiki. I hope to work with you more in the future." he continued to give small greetings as he spoke in a pleasant monotone.

"T-Thanks, I guess..." Issei said with a bit of embarrassment and amazement as he tried to digest the fact that he was personally addressed by one of the four leaders of the Underworld.

Ichigo simply gave a confident smirk. "Same here." he said nonchalantly to the man, as if the position didn't bother him at all.

The man simply nodded before looking over at the former shinigami captain as a small smile rose to his face. "Though I have to say that I am ecstatic to meet you, Kisuke Urahara. I have heard so many good things about you and your ingenious inventions and contraptions. I would love to test my inventions against yours and to build some new things alongside you." he said as his smile was genuine and gleeful like a kid as he addressed the shop owner.

Upon hearing all of this from the Maou, the man wearing a bucket hat took out and opened his face to hide his face as he waved it quickly. "My my, aren't you the smooth talker, Mao-san~? I haven't been complimented like this in quite a while, I'm quiet embarrassed~." he said jokingly as he smirked behind the fan. "Though I will happily cooperate on anything relating to inventing, or having a healthy competition." he said with a friendly and welcoming tone of voice as the smile didn't disappear from his face.

His cat friend did not seem amused, as the disguised shinigami jumped off his lap up into the air and slammed both of its back feet into the shop keeper's face, causing his head to snap back with a loud "POW!" sound as the cat landed on the man's lap once more. "Settle down, Kisuke." she said in her form's masculine voice before looking over at the Maou in question. "It is certainly a pleasure to meet you, Maou Beelzebub." she simply stated in a courteous manner, which surprised Ichigo a little bit.

Ajuka simply gave a nod of acknowledgement. "A pleasure indeed. I have heard quite a lot of tales of your achievements as well, Yoruichi Shihohin. Though I was never informed about you being capable of such a transformation." he spoke with grace as he looked at the cat, confusing everyone who didn't know about her real appearance.

The cat simply made a smirk as it started retorting. "For all I knew, we were just here to give Asia-chan permission to participate in what we were told to be something dangerous. If I knew that I would be meeting a Mao, I would have come prepared." she explained nonchalantly with a calm and friendly attitude, while Ichigo raised his eyebrow upon hearing what the cat had said about Asia, becoming more and more suspicious. "Though if you'd like, I can transform right now." she said as her smirk grew into a grin.

Immediately the eyes of Ichigo and his group's widen as they realized what the cat meant. "NO! No need for that!" Ichigo and Tatsuki shouted in unison as they waved their arms in panic, causing the black-furred cat to chuckle with amusement.

It was then Rias' turn to cough into her fist and gain everyone's attention back to her, allowing her to start talking as she looked over at the other young adult in the room. "Would you like to give me the honor of introducing you?" she asked in a respectable tone of voice as she patiently waited for an answer.

The wavy-haired man simply raised a hand. "No need for that, Miss Gremory, I can do this myself." he said as he got up and gave a bow with a friendly smile on his face. "Hello, there everyone, my name is Mephistopheles Asmoday, heir of House Asmoday and an Ultimate-Class devil. You all can call me Mephisto, as I do not believe Japanese honorifics would be befitting of me." he said in an elegant fashion as he then sat back down on the couch. "I have also come here to assist, though for more...personal reasons. I hope that you can understand." he said politely as he looked over at the crimson-haired girl and her short-haired bespectacled fellow [King].

"Of course, Sir Asmoday, we appreciate any help." Sona then spoke up with her own reserved tone of voice before looking over at the green-haired Mao. "Now if it may be rude of me, Beelzebub-sama, but I would like to inquire on any information that you have recovered on the stray devils in question?" she asked with reserved emotions sprinkled with politeness and a courteous tone as she stood as straight as a rock. This got everyone's breath away in suspense, aside from Ichigo, Tatsuki, Chad, Urahara and Yoruichi. Issei, Koneko, Tsubasa, Reya and Tomoe all silently gulped in unison, remembering their fight with the strays.

Before Ajuka could answer, Ichigo stepped forward. "Strays? I thought you said you could handle things like this, Rias-senpai?" he asked with a raised eyebrow while eying the High-Class devil suspiciously.

The black cat, however immediately intervened. "Ichigo, this is none of your concern. We already agreed that we'll be going to Soul Society over the intel on Aizen and the Arrancars. Your friends can help the devils here with this situation." she spoke with a grave and stern tone, which sounded even more bone chilling when she said those words in the masculine form of the cat form that she was taking. Ichigo simply glared back at the black cat for a few seconds before crossing his arms and glancing aside.

After a few seconds of silence, Ajuka Beelzebub got his hand into his robes. "As to your question, Miss Sitri," he said as he took out his hand out of his robe, holding several dossiers that he then put on the table at the middle of the room. "I have a lot of information right here." he said as he opened the files, to which all the devils and humans in the room got closer to see more of the files.

The first file showed the man that Saji and Ruruko met in that abandoned street filled with dark alleyways, although without the jaguar features that he displayed then. Seeing the photo caused the two [Pawns] of the Sitri peerage's eyes to narrow with determined glares. "Yusuke Orojima. Attacked his master and escaped around January 18, 2014. His master wasn't really damaged and quickly declared Orojima as a stray." the powerful devil explained nonchalantly in a matter-of-fact procedure.

Everyone then looked over to the second file, in which the photo was that of the man that Kiba and Hanakai ran into that night, only he lacked some of the distinct scales around his body and the snake-like eyes he had that night, but it didn't stop the white-haired [Bishop] from shaking a little bit, clearly remembering her defeat to that man. "Nobu Nakagami. Ran away from his master at the dead of night on January 18, 2014, leaving his master with only a resenting letter. He was declared a stray the next day." Ajuka continued as he gave a little bit of information about the man as Kiba and Hanakai both looked at the file intensely.

The third file on the table showed a blonde woman with two large, purple eyes, a far cry from woman with the spider legs on her back and eight small eyes on each side of her face. However the girls that had encountered her could tell that it was the same woman, making the [Rook] of the Gremory peerage, the [Queen] and [Knight] of the Sitri peerage to scowl while the brown-haired [Bishop] of the Sitri peerage to shake uncomfortably. Issei meanwhile stuck his tongue out as he examined the features of the beautiful woman's face in the picture, a bit disappointed that anything below the neck was not pictured.

"Maria Hidaka. She was the [Queen] of her peerage and she savagely killed her master on the night of January 18th, 2014, before escaping. Her case is known for its utter brutality, to the point that she is considered a stray as heinous as the infamous Nekoshou." the Mao kept on explaining as he expanded a bit about the woman in a matter-of-fact and casual tone, only quickly giving a look back towards a certain girl in the room before looking away. "Obviously not as powerful and with a...lacking sense of taste, something her master's mutilated corpse, which ended up decorating most of the house, can attest to." he finished his sentence with an uninterested and insulting remark towards the woman in the picture when comparing her to another infamous stray.

At this point Reya spoke up. "If I may, Lord Beelzebub-sama? Several others and myself can attest first hand towards the woman's brutality." she said with a respectful bow to the adult as she gave a look over to the vice president of the school body council and to the orange-haired human teenage girl, only to then look with regret towards Tomoe and Koneko. "Most of us had been brutally beaten, with Toujou-chan would have been killed if not for Inoue-san." she gave a quick sentence to give a summary of how badly things went against the spider-stray.

Upon hearing this a loud shout echoed in the room. "WHAT?! KILLED?!" both the substitute shinigami shouted in shock and in anger, Ichigo especially so as he turned to glare at the crimson-haired High-Class devil with an angry growl. He started stepping forwards in her direction, clearly furious. "I thought you said you can handle this, Rias, that you didn't need my help!" he said as he stopped and his fists tightened. "Well what did you get out of it, Huh?! How many nearly died because I wasn't there to protect them?!" he asked angrily as a fist suddenly smashed into his cheek, knocking him down.

To his surprise, it was Tatsuki that had hit him, he face clearly disapproving of his outburst. "And we clearly stated that we're gonna help them in case they needed help! Did you forget that you don't need to carry every problem on your shoulders, Ichigo?!" she asked him back with anger and ferocity in her voice as the adults in the room looked at the whole thing completely with blank expressions.

"But Tatsuki-" Ichigo started talking with a burning passion, but he was cut by another voice.

"Tatsuki-san is right, Kurosaki-kun." Orihime said with a tone of voice filled with powerful will as she looked at the substitute shinigami, shocking him enough to keep him quiet as she stood next to her best friend. "We are also strong. We all went along with you to save Rukia-san 17 months ago. Believe in us to be strong enough to stand without you by our side." she told him with a determined look in her eyes and it was obvious that she wasn't going to budge either.

Chad then stepped in next to the two girls with a fire in his eyes as well. "Ichigo, trust us." he simply said as he stood firm like a steel wall.

Ichigo looked over at the three before looking over to his best friend, his look waiting for a confirmation. Issei, upon seeing the look, realized what his best friend wanted to know. Not saying a word, he summoned his [Boosted Gear] and raised his left hand, giving a thumbs up, as if to say 'It's gonna be alright. Don't worry'. Upon seeing this, Ichigo smirked as he got up and dusted himself, only to rub his cheek immediately afterward. "Alright, I'll keep my word. You deal with stray devils, I deal with hollows, as per agreed." he spoke as he then looked at Rias with a reassuring and relieved smile on his face before looking away and walking away until he leaned against a wall next to the entrance of the room.

After a few seconds were everyone looked at him, Sona decided to bring back the conversation at the topic at hand as she went to the table at the center of the room and picked up each folder, reading and studying every detail that she could. "Asmoday-sama," she spoke to the heir of the Asmoday clan as she kept on reading the files. "you have yet to tell us the reason that you are here? May I inquire to that reason?" she asked him with an intrigue tone of voice as she kept her stoic expression on her face.

However, before the man could answer the question, the older devil interrupted. "Please, Miss Sitri, allow me to tell you a story to lead to that reason." the man who served as one of the four cornerstone pillars of devil society spoke casually as he kept his hands behind his back. "A few years back, there was a party for us devils of high class. The two of you were still too young at the time to participated in those events actively." he started his story as he walked back and forth across the room slowly.

As he continued telling his story, Ajuka Beelzebub made sure that the two girls were looking at him with their full attention. "Once, at that party, a young Low-Class devil had surprisingly approached me, trying to move as quietly and as secretively as possible. I was actually shocked to see a reincarnated devil mustering the courage to speak to me." the Mao continued, his expression his unreadable. "Not only was I surprised by his approached, but I was both surprised and engaged about our topic of conversation: reactivation of Evil Pieces within reincarnated stray devils." he told the group as it got everybody tense, figuring out that the person who had managed to reactivate the Evil Pieces in the Stray Devil Council members was without a doubt the person Ajuka was talking about.

The two adult shinigami didn't really show a lot of care beyond an interest in knew knowledge for Urahara, so they simply quietly listened while the Mao continued to talk. "Of course, I was asked about the topic more than once in theory, mostly by fearful High-Class devils, but none really seemed as interested in it more than that man. Of course, I told him that only people with intricate knowledge of the Evil Pieces system like myself can do that, leaving the topic as a non-possibility and the attempt for someone other than myself doing so a nigh-impossibility." the green-haired man explained as he stopped, his eyes narrowing and his hand rubbing his chin. "Though it seems from your reports of the situation that he did manage to perform that miracle. I would be highly interested in finding out how he did it." he said with an intrigued tone of voice as he kept rubbing his chin.

The heir to the Asmoday clan then took something out of the suit of his pocket with an unreadable expression on his face. "This is the man that Lord Beelzebub is talking about. Have any of you encountered him?" he said as he held a picture in his hand, a picture of a man with short, auburn-red hair and a long face. Upon seeing the picture, Rias narrowed her eyes with clear dislike while Tatsuki gave a small huff as Issei, Tsubasa and Asia's eyes widened. That was exactly the man that they had encountered.

Rias's glare at the photo intensified. "Yes, I have met and fought this man." she declared loudly and with clear anger, remembering his remark towards her. The black-haired human teen simply scoffed with annoyance at being left out as the one who actually fought the man, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes.

Mephistopheles Asmoday gave a tired sigh while wearing a calm yet unhappy expression on his face, which got everyone's attention on the man. "The person in the photo is Kase Tamotsu. He was a servant of my younger brother...before he brutally and remorselessly murdered him." devil heir stated with a glare and a conflicting tone to his voice.

The room turned silent as all the teenage devils' eyes widened in shock upon hearing this statement, and even Ichigo himself giving a closer look at the man as he could feel close to because of his own protective instincts as an older sibling. It didn't take anyone more than a second thought to understand that the Asmoday heir was currently in the room for any other reason than revenge.

The man then took a deep breath once more. "It's not that I don't understand why Kase Tamotsu did what he did. My brother...wasn't an easy person to handle." he said as the look in his eyes was empty and filled with regret. "But he was still my brother." he said with an a voice that had shown that he was still suffering, feeling emptiness in his heart, something that Ichigo could very well understand after, making the shinigami-angel hybrid look at the man with a soft and sympathetic look in his eyes.

The wavy-haired heir of House Asmoday then put his hand inside his jacket once more, looking like he was looking for something else. He looked tired, defeated as he seemed to steel himself. When he took out his hand from his suite's jacket, he held another picture in his hand. "Now that I know that Kase Tamotsu is involved," he said as he put the second photo on the table. "then she is also involved in this whole fiasco." he finished his sentence while saying those words with clear disappointment and regret in his voice, which was now raising a lot of questions in the minds of the teens.

All the devil teens went closer to look at the second photo with very clear interest in what the man was talking about. Immediately Issei's eyes widened as he started to drool upon seeing the person in the picture. The woman in the picture was a young and beautiful woman in her early twenties, with a heart-shaped face but with slightly wider cheeks, big and round hot-pink eyes that screamed cute. Her lilac-colored, smooth hair reached in its length slightly below her shoulders, though it looked very thick, as if she had several layers of hair. She also had a defined hourglass figure, with a very ample chest and wide waist, as well as naturally thick thighs. Her whole appearance immediately screamed beautiful and cute to any boy who would see her. In the photo she was looking at the camera with a rosy tint on her cheeks while closing her body posture in a timid and shy fashion as her hand was gently clenched into a fist and covered mouth.

Issei himself had stuck out his tongue like a thirsty man in a desert, causing both Rias and Asia to pout at him with jealousy, though it was more visibly clear with the blonde former nun. Tsubasa simply glared at her newfound crush with displeasure. Saji himself was also shocked when he looked at he photo, amazed at the girl's beauty, much to Ruruko's dismay. Ichigo and his friends also got a closer look, with Ichigo giving an impressed whistle while Chad simply and silently blushed.

"Holy crap! That's a super cute and beautiful onee-sama! A dangerous combination indeed. And look at her pose in the photo, she looks so timid and insecure that it makes her look even cuter! And what bountiful oppai! They're even close in size to Buchou's!" the perverted reincarnated devil started to ramble with an apologetically perverse behavior as his voice was filled with excitement as his mind prepared to take him on a beautiful imaginary trip. However, that was quickly cut as he received a powerful and painful punch to the stomach, courtesy of the school's unofficial loli mascot. "Koneko-chan, whhhyy...?" he asked as he chocked in pain while holding onto his stomach.

"No reason." the small teen retorted with a snarky, deadpan tone as Issei fell down on the ground, groaning in pain.

The reddish-brown [Knight] of the Sitri peerage gave a hateful glare towards the downed teenage boy as she put her hands on her waist and looked away from him. "Hmph, disgusting. Go die, pig." she said harshly and with venom in her voice that would only fit an avid hater of the pervert.

Ichigo simply groaned at the antics that were rightfully occurring to his best friend, but his eyes were glued on Mephisto Asmoday, who eyed the picture of the young woman with regret and sadness in his eyes. "So what's the deal with this girl? You seem hanged up about her." he inquired out of the sea-foam green haired man as he tried to pry out some more information.

The Ultimate-Class devil shook his head for a second before locking his eyes on the photo. "No, just someone I could have done more for." he said as he didn't move his glance away from the young woman's picture. "She is the catalyst for my brother's murder and is without a doubt working alongside his killer. Her name is Hitsuji Mabushii, and she was my younger brother's [Bishop]... and victim." he said with a somber tone as his eyes never left the photo.

This made both Rias and Sona raise their eyebrows as a confused yet serious expression filled their faces. "I'm sorry, victim?" the renowned Crimson Princess of Ruin asked as her eyes narrowed, surprised but still trying to fully understand things. "You're going to have to explain that" she said as she pressed for more information.

The older man then looked over at the two teenage [Kings] with what looked like an emotionless expression on his face. "As I said, my brother wasn't an easy person to handle. He made a lot of bad decisions and he was adamant on following those decisions through, even at times where I tried to dissuade him." he explained to Rias and Sona as he once again looked at the picture of the girl. "I know that stray devils are ordered to be hunted down and killed, but I would have liked to have given Hitsuji a second chance." he said as he finally walked back to the couch he was sitting on earlier and sat on it once more.

Sona simply readjusted her glasses as she glared at the man. "So you came here so that you can personally deal with Tamotsu and Mabushii by yourself?" she asked with a straight tone that showed barely any emotions, to which the man nodded his head. The short-haired High-Class devil simply shook her head. "As much as Rias and I appreciate it, Asmoday-sama, we cannot accept that type of help from you." she reject his help straight to his face.

The wavy-haired Asmoday heir glared at the direction of the two, visibly losing his cool. "This problem is now also a matter of House Asmoday as much as it is yours." he said with displeasure in his voice as he got up from the couch once more. "My brother wasn't far behind either of you in power and Kase Tamotsu butchered him! He also has several other allies capable of fighting your servants. Are you willing to risk your lives as well as your servants' over your pride?!" he asked as he was now visibly angry with the two teenage girls as his demonic aura spiked.

Everyone in the room with the exception of Ichigo and the adults took a step back with a slightly scared look on their faces.

Both Urahara and Yoruichi immediately tried analyzing the level of power that they were feeling from the man seemingly in his early twenties. 'Interesting. His power power would be a little bit weaker than the current level of lieutenants after the last 17 months of training. So that's the level of an Ultimate-Class Devil.' the man with the bucket-hat thought to himself with an intrigued but serious look on his face, while the cat on his lap kept a straight, emotionless face.

"Hey," the voice of the orange-haired substitute shinigami rose up, causing everyone to get his attention, even stopping the flow of demonic aura from the heir of the Asmoday family as all looked over at the teenager, who was glaring at sad heir. "don't let your emotions get in the way, alright. Rias-senpai and Sona-senpai aren't alone in this." he said with a strong and calm tone as he tried to reassure the Ultimate-Class devil with unshakable confidence. "They have my friends fighting alongside them, which I would say is more than enough, especially if they all believe that they can fight those strays." he stated as he looked over towards his friends while remembering their words from earlier, seeing a confident smile on the girls' faces as they gave him a reassuring nod.

After regaining their composure from feeling the wavy-haired man's power, alongside Ichigo's words, the crimson-haired teenage girl spoke up once again. "While we can both understand why this is important for your house to deal with, Kuoh Town is still my territory and thus it is my job to deal with it. The judgement of all these strays should be handled without any biases by anyone, thus it should fall under the duty of Sona and myself to execute them." she told the man as he turned to glare at her now, speaking with remarkable composure and determination in her voice.

"Of course, the information is always welcomed, but we also have the possibility of gaining more assistance from Kisuke Urahara." Sona joined in after also managing to regain her composure as she stood next to her friend and fellow [King]. "With his support, there is no doubt that things will be solved quickly." she informed and reassured the Ultimate-Class devil as she put on her most professional and courteous expression on her face.

At last the blonde shinigami got up from the couch, as the cat on his lap simply jumped off and landed on the couch gracefully. "While I'm being mentioned here," he spoke with a small smirk on his face, his eyes turning over to the Maou Ajuka Beelzebub. "I would like to offer you a true introduction, Ajuka Beelzebub-sama. How about we do a little competition to test our inventing mettle?" he asked with a little bit of a hopeful competitiveness on his expression as he suddenly vanished. All the teenage devils in the room suddenly gave an "Ouch!" cry as the blonde man reappeared at the spot that he was just standing in, in his hand several test tubes, each having a needle with a red mark covering each of their tips, a sign that he had poked the teen devils and took a bit of blood. "How about we test who can make a better tracking device in the shortest amount of time? Sounds like a fun challenge to me." he inquired as his smile widened.

Ajuka Beelzebub looked at the former shinigami captain and a competitive smile rose on his face as well. "This does sound like a challenge. Agreed then, may the best inventor wins." he declared with a slight bit of childlike glee to his voice, only for him to look over to the wavy-haired man. "It seems like you are not in a favorable position in this argument, Sir Asmoday, do you relent?" he asked the man with a courteous tone to his voice while his smile never wavered.

The sea-foam-green colored hair man simply glared intently at the two High-Class devil girls for half-a-dozen seconds before finally giving a tired and defeated sigh. "Very well, I yield and relent of any claims of hunting the former servants of my brother." he said as his expression softened and he then looked specifically at Rias. "I should also warn you about something else." he said calmly as the crimson-haired heir of the Gremory House straightened herself. "I heard among my social circle that Phenex is getting restless, just so you know." he told the girl as he went back to sit back on the couch he sat on before, all the while Rias, Sona, Akeno and Tsubaki looked at each other with serious and worried expressions, much to everyone else's confusion and bewilderment, especially to those who were aware of the name.

Rias then looked back at the eldest son of the Asmoday family. "Thank you for telling me this. I appreciate it." she told the man cordially.

"Think nothing of it. I had already seen unhappiness ruin lives before." he said as he once more looked at the direction of the table at the center of the room, where the pictures of all the strays who formed the leadership of the Stray Devil Council were put, all the while he wore a melancholic expression on his face. He then turned his eyes to the human companions of the substitute shinigami. "And are you three sure that you can handle this?" he inquired with an interested yet doubtful look in his eyes.

Tatsuki, who had her arms crossed in front of her chest simply scoffed at the question. "Really? You think we're not good enough, Mr. Ultimate-Class devil?" she inquired with an amalgamation of an offended and mocking tone to her voice, showing her visible displeasure and annoyance at her skills being questioned. "We invaded Soul Society, for fuck sake." she said with an offended tone before continuing to speak. "Sure, that redhead jerkoff got a good lick in against me a few nights ago, but next time I see him I'll send his ass to the ground no problem." she made her declaration while speaking with full confidence of her abilities and skill.

This however got the attention of the cat, who glared at her. "You sound rather confident in your abilities... or rather too confident." the black-furred cat spoke with a critical tone, which surprised the human martial artist. "While your fighting skills have gotten more refined in the last 17 months, the same could not be said about your power and speed. You shouldn't overestimate your abilities while underestimating your opponents'. It could come back to bite you quite fatally." the cat continued speaking sternly with the tone of a teacher and mentor to its voice, to which the black-haired girl simply frowned slightly.

The shinigami with the bucket hat then spoke up as he was once again sitting on the couch. "Additionally, it seems like the logical choice to allow you to have Asia-chan support you, even if I wouldn't be able to have her work in the shop until all of this commotion is done." he said as he looked over at Rias with a smile still on his face. "After all, it's unfair to put the pressure of healing everyone solely on Orihime-chan. Of course, if both could heal while using the new Urahara Shoten uniforms, I would highly apprecia-" he started giving a suggestion with a big grin on his face.

He was quickly cut from finishing his sentence when Ichigo's fist rammed into the man's cheek, the teenage boy's face red as a tomato. "No! Asia-san and Inoue-san will not wear any embarrassing outfits!" he declared heatedly as Kisuke Urahara's body twitched slightly and fell on the couch.

Ajuka Beelzebub simply gave a silent nod as he looked over to Rias and Sona. "I believe we have finished everything here. I will leave the files in your care and give your regards to your siblings." he told the two as he then looked over at the tired heir of House Asmoday, who sat with an emotionless expression on the couch. "We will be leaving now." he said as he instantly created a teleportation circle on the ground.

The wavy-haired man simply nodded and got up, walking next to the Maou. A few seconds later there was a flash of light from the teleportation circle and the two devils were gone.

Not long after there, Urahara had dragged Ichigo away while the devils and humans in the room started planning ahead for their next confrontation with their enemies.

It has been two days since the other leaders had made their prepared ambush against the the Gremory and Sitri peerages, as it was voted on in the meeting.

I, Hitsuji Mabushii, was currently doing my daily jog across the neighborhood. I was wearing my large, pink mushroom hat that Kase-kun had bought me to hid the small horns that were growing out of my forehead, while also instructing me not to cover my skin with wool, something that I had managed to learn how to control since the symptoms of the metamorphosis that is caused by being a stray. What I can't hide are the hooves, which required a more creative solution.

I... don't like doing it. Not covering my skin while wearing workout clothes. People might look at me with... unpleasant eyes. People like looking at me because of my figure. This is maybe why master chose me to...

But anyway, I had been jogging around the neighborhood, one that was very populated and brimming with life and people. Kase-kun said that setting our base in such a place was the smartest move, because no peerage would imagine a stray devil living in a highly populated area without going on a killing spree, right?

I just really don't know how all this works despite the fact that I had been one for three years, but I trust Kase-kun to decide on things.

The house that we live in is just a fairy average house in the neighborhood, one that's not any different than the other houses you see around the same street. As I finished my jogging and moved back in the direction of the house, I moved passed several people who live around the neighborhood, like Yakido-san, who was going to play football with his friends in the nearest park, or Hamaeda-san, who was taking his super cute dog on a walk after a long day at work.

Whenever I see these people, I remember the type of devils that I work with and it makes me feel sick. When we spoke to Vizor and her companions the night before her death, when Kase-kun gave them the choice to fight together or let Vizor die alone, I could smell the blood of kids from them. It made me sick and angry as faces of kids whom I met around the neighborhood flashed before my eyes. I-I-I mean, I don't like death and I n-never want to wish anything like that upon anyone, but Vizor was a truly disgusting person.

When I got to the door of our house, I looked everywhere with my eyes open, making sure no one was going to see my feet as I removed my shoes. It was also one of Kase-kun's iron rules: Always make sure no one is watching you. He is right since, we are strays, we are going to be hunted and thus constantly need to be vigilant and look over our shoulders to make sure we are safe. But then again, is this the freedom that he always promised? Living in fear that we'll be caught?

...W-What was I thinking?! I shouldn't question him like that! My stupid brain keeps bringing these thoughts out whenever I'm alone and have a lot of empty time!

When I removed the shoes and entered the house, I made sure to quickly closed the door. "Hitsuji-san!" I heard his voice coming from behind me, to which I quickly turned back to see Kase-kun walking towards me quickly. He was looking so concerned, but I didn't really understood why. I simply went jogging like I always do.

"Are you okay? Did you make sure no one was following you?" he asked with as he put his hands on my shoulders and shook me, making my head spin. I really felt dizzy with how quickly he shook me! He seemed really worried.

After my eyes span in circles for a little bit, I felt myself wobbling and my head was all spinning. "N-Nooo..." I said with my tongue tangling upon itself a little bit, but I'm sure I was coherent. Of course I made sure no one was following me! Gosh, the room sure was spinning...

I then felt as he held me by the shoulders again, stopping the room from spinning as my eyes readjusted to everything around me. Thank Maou that I didn't eat a large breakfast, otherwise I would've felt nauseous as well. Kase-kun really is good at watching over me like that, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

When my head stopped spinning, my other senses also got clearer. I started to smell some sweet, peanuty aroma coming from the kitchen. It smelled really good that I suddenly felt the wet sensation going down my cheeks as a accidentally started to drool. It was really embarrassing, so much so that I immediately blushed heavily.

"I-I-Is Nobu-san cooking a-again?" I asked curiously while wiping away the saliva from my chin, doing my best to hide my face. Uuun, I really don't want Kase-kun seeing me reacting in such ways. I even forced myself to stay still so that I would be with my back to him. Oooh, why is my face so warm right now? It's embarrassing...

I then heard him sigh. "Nobu is coping. Everyone are." he said with tiredness to his tone as he let go of my shoulders. It's no wonder that he's tired though, since he has to keep all of us in place. I covered up most of my face with my hands to turned to look at him as he sat down on the living room couch. "Nobu was burned to a crisp, Maria got a pretty nasty slash, Yusuke had his jaw broken and I got several nasty bruises myself. That cut pretty deep into our Pheonix Tears supply." he explained the situation to me, but I knew that he was simply venting out his frustration at the fact that we barely have anymore items to heal ourselves. Apparently getting Phoenix Tears from the black market was incredibly difficult.

"B-But everyone's okay, right? Maria-chan isn't a-angry anymore, r-right?" I asked him fearfully, my hand moving across the cheek as the memory still resided in my mind. When I had teleported Maria-chan back, she shrieked and jumped at me, slapping me across the room. S-She even screamed that she would k-kill me and called me by the C word. It was so scary and hurtful, I just wanted to curl up into a ball against the wall and cry. Even Kase-kun had to harm Maria-chan physically to make her stop s-screaming at me.

Kase-kun simply narrowed his eyes and I felt myself shaking nervously. He has such an intense glare. "Don't worry about Hidaka-san. She won't lay a hand on you again. Not on my watch." he said with a serious tone as he grabbed me by the shoulders with enough force that I winced sligtly from the force of the grip. His eyes suddenly widened with horror as he let go of my shoulders. "Sorry, didn't mean to hurt you. I sometimes worry too much that I forget how delicate your body is." he said regretfully as he ruffed my hair to probably try to reassure me that he didn't mean to cause me pain. Of course I know he wouldn't do so intentionally. Ohh, why does he keep ruffling my hair like I'm a child? It's so embarrasing~... My cheeks are burning...

"Anyway," Kase-kun clapped his hands as a small smile appeared on his face. "We're going to have a meeting concerning the situation alongside the dinner that Nobu-san is making us. You might want to take a shower before that." he told me as he started to walk into the room that served us for our organization meetings. "You're free to take as long as you want." he said as he gave me a wave as he left the room.

The afternoon went and passed quickly as I spend my time in the shower. The house we lived in was just a regular Japanese house in a clustered neighborhood, so our apartment didn't look any different on the inside compared to other houses. It had a moderately-sized dinning room, a small kitchen, several bedrooms and two restrooms for us to use, with the small shower being in the second one. I always liked taking long, hot showers, with the feeling of hot water searing against my skin always giving me comfort. However, ever since... that period of my life started, I started taking longer showers, constantly washing my entire skin and hair with soaps, shampoos and other conditioners just to remove that scent.

When I finished, which when I checked on the living room clock was about... an hour after I entered. It really did last that long everyday, I guess. I went to the dinning room, where everyone else were already sitting around the round table in the middle of the room, where we always made our usual organization meetings to discuss all those really convoluted organization things. B-But it's really a cool aesthetic! We like have our own r-round table like in those stories of that Camelot kingdom in the west a long time ago.

There was also Nobu-san's cooking once again, so we were going to have a really good dinner, though he seemed quieter than usual as he was sitting in front of the table. W-Was he still c-coping with the way his fight ended? I was really worried about him because in the last two days he refused to touch anything electrical without wearing an entire rubber suit... w-well, expect for when he was cooking, which he was doing excessively ever since that night.

Yusuke-san was sitting impatiently as he looked at the food like a hungry child. I-I don't blame him, Nobu-san's cooking was always ex-exellent. He seemed to recover better from his fight, especially after he used the Pheonix Tears to heal his broken jaw, only to then complain and rant non-stop about that it for the next two days. I-I honestly chuckled way too n-nervously at that.

M-Maria-chan simply sat with a scowl on her face as all e-e-eight of her eyes focused solely on me. Oooh, why d-do I always feel a chill down my spine when she looks at me like that? "So princess sheep finally decided to grace her with her presence." she said with a spiteful and venemous tone, I could even f-f-feel her bottled up anger all focused on me. It's scaryyy...

"Hidaka..." Kase-kun addressed her in a threatening tone as he growled her name. Kase-kun is really chivalrous, willing to always stand up for s-someone as u-useless like me. "She's free to do things as she wishes. So can you and so can everyone else in our organization." he told her with anger still running in his voice.

Hearing this made her simply give Kase-kun a mocking smile as she moved the spider legs on her back. "If any of us are free to choose as we want, then I can just sit her throat in her sleep if I so wished? Dear Mao, you're rules on free choice are so vague at times." she stated to him with a mixture of mocking frustration as she gave him a glare with her eight eyes.

"Tsk," Yusuke-san clicked his tongue as he looked at Maria-chan with a c-carefree yet somewhat irritated glance. "and you really need to get that stick out of your ass." he insulted her as he put his feet on the table and p-put his hands behind his head as he leaned backwards. Yusuke-san was always so charming because of his child-like enthusiasm about e-everything. "'Oh no, some lady stood up to me and fought me as an equal, my whole world is ruined!' that's you." he mocked Maria-chan further as he imitated her with a big grin on his face, which made Maria-chan give a seething growl.

I looked over at Nobu-san, who was seemingly sweating with a nervous look in his eyes as he raised a plate of food in his hand to try and make the others stop fighting by focusing on eating... oh Mao, it smelled soooo good. It was definitely a tofu dish, but it had a light-brown sauce with the aroma of peanuts. Mmmm... it smelled so good.

"You're one to talk, Mr. "That fuckin' peerage bitch broke my fuckin' jaw" or "That damn priest ambushed me at my own fuckin' ambush"! You're the one who rambled on about our sourness over your absolutely pathetic defeat for two days straight." as Maria-chan raised her voice as she barely contained the contempt and anger that she bottled up over her fight. I looked over at Kase-kun, who had simply pinched the bridge of his nose and gave a long sigh.

"Alright, enough. We'll discuss the conflict with the Gremory and Sitri peerages soon enough." he said with a little bit of aggitation as Yusuke-san and Maria-chan both stopped arguing and immediately looked at him. "Good, now let's eat dinner while we're at it." He said as he immediatly went to take a plate with the tofu dish that Nobu-san was holding in his hand, giving him a thankful and appreciating smile, to which the silent Nobu-san simply let out a sigh of relief.

Kase-kun is a goo-great leader, h-how could I not follow his example? I immediately and excitedly went and took a plate from Nobu-san as well, took out a utensils, sat as closely as possible to Kase-kun as I and started eating. The tofu was soft and the sause was really good! Oh Mao, it's has such a good mix of peanuts and coconuts~!

As everyone started eating, Yusuke-san looked a bit saddened and then looked over at Nobu-san. "Hey man, I think you're a great cook and all, but can you please add some more meat to the meals please?" he asked as he then pointed his fingers towards himself. "I mean, I'm a jaguar. I need to eat meat." he explained with a patient obviousness to his voice, maybe there was a little bit of meaness in it? Ah, I can't tell!

Maria-chan then laughed mockingly. "Look at you, being picky about your food. If you're so hungry for meat, why don't you kill one of your underlings in your turf and eat them. It's what I do, and they fall in line like the good Neaderthals they are." she said as she now seemed a bit calmer than before, but her hand gripped tightly to her utensils. I-It's really s-scary.

Kase-kun then c-coughed into his fist as he got everyone's a-attention. "Anyway, let's start." he said as he took out a board with some papers on it. "I have reports that many of the lower-level members of our organization had acquired several credit cards that they stole from people that they had killed throughout our outposts across the city. Yusuke, I trust you to do what needs to be done?" He addressed everything in a matter-of-fact manner, like he didn't care for all the people that our... c-c-"comrades" killed. Did he not care?

He then looked over at me and I saw the sensitivity and care iin his eyes as they stared directly into my soul. "Hitsuji-san, I know what you're going to say, but despite how much you disapprove we don't make people do things that goes against their will. Plus, if we want to stay hidden from the eyes that track us and live here, we need to optain monetary means of paying for them. We can't afford to do so legaly." Kase-kun explained to me in the same manner that he brought the subject up, but I could feel that he understood me, that he knew why it made me upset.

I understand why he said all of this and his reasonings must have been calculated and thought deeply upon, so I shouldn't disagree with him, e-even if I d-don't like the th-things we do. I can't disagree with him. I can't. If I do, will he reject me for it? He's the oldest friend that I have left.

Maria-chan then chuckled, so I looked over at her. "How pathetic you are, little sheep. A stray with such a love for the lives of defenseless humans? Truly the white sheep among devils." she mocked me as she continued to chuckle, to which Kase-kun gave her a nasty glare and I lowered my head. She was right, I'm not stray devil material. Kase-kun shouldn't get angry at her on my behalf. He should never have done the things he did on my behalf.

"Hidaka-san, please..." Nobu-san said quietly as he sounded quite nervous. It was n-nice of him to do that, but I'm not worth it. I'm not worth it.

"Anyway," Kase-kun continued as he then put a few photos on the table. "one of our contacts has been searching and following the kids from a distance and researched them with his own contact in the Underworld." he explained as I looked at the photos, which were of what seemed to be regular teenagers going to school, in the local formerly-all-girls school of Kuoh Academy. B-But I o-obviously knew that these we the members of the Gremory and Sitri peerages.

I noticed that everyone's eyes were glued to the pictures, with Maria-chan's expression turning especially venomous as she started to snarl silently with open disdain in her voice. I also looked at the pictures so that I could follow the meeting. From these photos they all seemed ike they were just enjoying being young and i-i-innocent. I wish I could be innocent again...

Kase-kun had an intense look in his eyes as he examined the pictures. "First off we have the [Kings] of each peerage: Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri, sisters of the immensely powerful Mao Lucifer and Leviathan respectively." he informed us, to which I realised immediately how screwed we are now, since everyone else will most likely want to fight to the death. "Killing them will be a garanteed death sentence personally delivered by the Mao themselves." he said as he had his fingers on two girls in the photos: one tall with long, crimson hair, the other a bespectacled girl with a short hair cut like a bowl.

My body shook slightly at the thought of it. I never really met the Mao, but Kase-kun talked to one personally when we were still under master. W-Which is an amazing feat by itself! Just goes to show how amazing Kase-kun is!

"Now we have already met and fought the members of their peerages already, so let's just go over their names. The most important of them are currently their respective [Queens]: Akeno Himejima and Tsubaki Shinra. Both members of notable Japanese clans." he continued with his explanation as he pointed at two girls with long, black hair, one tied in a ponytail and the other letting it flow down like a waterfall.

I also noticed that the second girl he pointed at, the Sitri [Queen] Tsubaki Shinra, had glasses just like Sona Sitri. It made them look lik a fitting pair. It was a-a-amuzingly cute. Then I heard Maria-chan's snarling growing louder and watched as her eyes focused like a hawk on the picture, which made me shiver in fear. It was really rare to see Maria-chan losing her cool, s-so fighting th-that Shinra girl m-must have really p-p-pissed her off.

N-No doubt that Kase-kun n-noticed this too, but he seemed to d-deal with it better than me. "We also have the rest of their members: Koneko Toujou and Tsubasa Yura as the respective [Rooks] of each peerage," he said as he pointed as a small, white-haired girl and a tall, blue-haired girl that kinda looked like a boy. "Kiba Yuuto and Tomoe Meguri as the respective [Knights] of each peerage, Reya Kusaka and Momo Hanakai as Sitri's [Bishops] and her [Pawns] Genshiro Saji and Ruruko Nimura." he continued on as he pointed and identified more and more members of each peerage.

As I looked at them, I felt a hole in my stomach and a bit of sadness rose up from it. I could see how happy and content they were with their lives just from unmoving pictures, it makes me wish that I was just another high school girl like them, or maybe a girl who was a devil in a peerage with a caring master, just like they are. There is no way that they can have smiles that genuine if their masters aren't saints. If Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri can make their servants that happy, then I wish master was like that... No... without Kase-kun none of it matter. A life without Kase-kun isn't worth living.

"However, there are two unknowns within the Gremory peerage that we need to watch out for." Kase-kun continued, snapping me out of those useless thoughts of a better future for me. I saw as he pointed at a teenage boy with brown hair who walked alongside an orange-haired boy. "The first is the Gremory [Pawn], Issei Hyoudou. Not much is known about him other than his name and the fact that he is the new Red Dragon Emperor, so being cautious of him is a good idea." he said as he looked around, but I noticed that he didn't seemed very intimidated by the kid. "The second is Rias Gremory's rumored second [Bishop]. According to the rumor, she has in her peerage a powerful devil that she never lets out because it's supposedly too powerful for her to control." he said as I noticed that he was more intrigued by the rumor than anything else.

H-How can he be so brave?! That rumor sounds so s-scary... If it's true, then what k-kind of monster must that [Bishop] must be?!

Kase-kun than returned to eating his tofu as he looked at everyone with a serious expression on his face. "Now, we have several options as to how to go at this situation, and as a council I wish we discuss them between us and vote on which one we go with." he said as he seemed like he was waiting for someone to come up with a plan, even though he obviously had one himself, because he was so smart. It was probably because he wanted to give everyone a shot, because he is a good leader.

Maria-chan then grit her teeth as she quickly formed an ice dagger and stabbed it into the photo, particularly at the image of the Shinra girl. "I wanna kill her, I wanna kill that condescending little bitch. I wanna torture her and see her in pain before rip her into little bloody shreds." she said without shouting, but every word came out with a venomous rage.

Yusuke-san, Nobu-san and I all leaned back. T-That was so sudden and scary! "Woah, hostile." Yusuke-san said as remark on Maria-chan's attitude.

Maria-chan then glared at Kase-kun, her anger still lingering. "We go to that school, kill every fucking kid in sight until they come out. Then we butcher them in front of everyone, while I chop them into tiny pieces in front of that bespectacled slut before I gouge her eyes out AND SHOVE THEM DOWN HER FUCKING THROAT!" she suddenly started screaming loudly like a raging harpy, and I just wanted to curl up like a ball and hide behind Kase-kun. Maria-chan is too scary...

"Or..." Kase-kun's eyes didn't show a hint of being intimidated at all by her screams. "We bunker down in a position that will be best suitable for combat and fill the area with all of our lower-level strays to throw at both peerages to tire them out before attacking them." he countered her proposal immediately and calmly, which immediately got him a snarl from Maria-chan, who was still so a-angsty and e-enraged. "The problem with your plan is not only recklessly lashing out just out of spite, but also this girl." he said as he pointed at a girl with spiky black hair that was in the same photo next to the blue haired one. "I fought this girl two nights ago and I clearly say that I would rather not fight her again. I doubt any of you can survive against her in a fight. I barely did." he said as he kept his eyes straight locked looking into Mari-chan's.

W-What?! S-So there this girl is someone who isn't a peerage member but is s-s-stronger than Kase-kun?! I d-definitely don't want to go up against her!

"I don't care!" Maria-chan shouted furiously and loudly as she slammed her hands on the table and her spider legs seemed super scary and aggressive. Th-Th-This is all too scary. "I will not let some weak Shinra bitch condescend me!" she continued to r-rant as she stood up. "I'm the only female devil who wields true power! I will not be doubted because of some arrogant, bespectacled, presumptuous cunt!" she s-s-screamed at the top of her l-lungs as I quickly curled myself because she was so intmidating.

"Oh will you just shut up?!" Yusuke-san suddenly shouted himself, which really startled me and to the point that I could feel my heart beating super fast. Like, really, really fast. Th-this is getting too ou of hand. Why isn't Kase-kun stopping them? "Boss, I've had enough of Miss delutional over there!" he declared angrily as he pointed at Maria-chan while looking at Kase-kun. "So please, drop the 'I'm so humble, we're all equals' act and put her inflated, delusional ego in check?!" he asked as he then turn turned to look at Maria-chan, who was looking back at him with visible rage.

I quickly gave a look to Nube-san as I sank into my seat, noticing that he was doing the same. It r-really is nice to have someone who u-understands how s-scary things are getting. Kase-kun himself was also now glaring angrily at the scene while staying quiet. ...Oh no... Yusuke-san pressed his berserk button.

"And you! Did you forget that one of the Mao is a girl?! Granted, a hot as fuck woman with the mind of a five-years-old, but still a woman!" he continued ranting back at Maria-chan and I could tell that she was ready to explode. S-She was super duper pissed. I don't want to make a single sound right now... "Just because your master fucked her way up the Underworld's goddamn social ladder doesn't mean we have to hear about it every fuckin' day or suffer from a bunch of childish temper tantrums whenever some girl manages to give you a real fight! At least I admit that I'm a psychopathic, edgelord manchild!" after he finished calling her out in his rant, he looked at Kase-kun once again. "You're the leader, don't you agree with me? Because I don't doubt Nobu-san or Hitsuji-chan do."

Why did you just say my name, Yusuke-san?! Uuunnn... Please hide me, hands...

A sudden, wrathful shriek came out of Maria-chan's throat as I quickly covered my ears and jumped off and hid behind my chair, watching as she formed an ice spear in her hand and quickly hurled it at Yusuke-san's head. He w-was so shocked that he couldn't move. No! Please don't die! But then Kase-kun acted so fast that I couldn't see, to the point that I only saw him next when he knelt on one knee on top of the table, his right arm streched and his hand holding the spear hear, all the while keeping his glare of cold fury directly at Yusuke-san. S-S-So fast!

"Yusuke," he spoke quietly with a calm fury that caused a shiver to run down my spine. He really was angry! "How many times do I have to tell you not to call me 'boss' or 'leader' or 'master' to get it through that thick skull of yours?" he inquired calmly as his grip on the spear head started to tighten and his pupils turned red. Is... is going to u-use his heat vision on Yusuke-san?! No, Kase-kun would never do that!

I could feel the fear radiating off of Yusuke-san as he was sweating buckets and gulping nervously. "This is a council. We are all supposed to have equal rights and equal amount of influence. Just because I'm the most powerful doesn't give me the right to lord all over the rest of you." he continued to speak as cracking sounds started to be heard from the spear head. "We propose ideas to handle situations, we discuss, we make pro and con lists and we vote." he explained it to Yusuke-san, even though we already knew all of this.

"That's not how masters deal with peerages. You know by experiencce that these slavers don't treat you as a person." I could hear a growl rising to his voice as the veins around his eyes started to give a low, red glow and the red in his red eyes intesified. Oh no, he was reaching his breaking point. "They use you as a tool for their Rating Games to increase their status, or use you for their own personal gains within their royal-blooded family." he spoke as anger increased in his voice and he was losing his cool, and while he kept his eyes locked on Yusuke-san, I knew that he was talking about... m-my h-history.

I instinctively covered my chest with my hands and increased the layer of wool around that area to cover it even more as I could feel how hot my cheeks were becoming, so I lowered my head and glanced aside. Kase-kun, after all this time, you're still just as upset about my t-treatment by master as when you first approached me while I was crying in the corner? That's really sweat b-but I'm not w-w-worth all of the things you did f-for me.

Cracks were now starting to appear across the entire spear while there was no blood dropping from Kase-kun's palm, he was definitely that sturdy. "They put you in chains made up of demonic energy and shock you whenever you cross the line. They take away your dignity and change what you essencially are with their Evil Pieces." he continued on with his rant, which was much tamer and more quiet than Maria-chan and Yusuke-san's, but his eyes were glowing so bright and radiated so much heat that it seemed like he was going to launch his heat vision at any moment.

"These honorless bastards look down on us, mock us and humiliate all of us as if we are lesser than them just because of how we are born. THEY TAKE AWAY OUR FREEDOM!" Kase-kun roared as he allow his rage and hatered towards the system of peerages to be unleashed, clenching his fist so hard that the spear head shattered into tiny specs, followed up by the rest of the ice spear that he had held. But much to my surprise, he didn't unleash his heat vision, instead letting it quickly die down as he gave out a few snarls ingrained into his deeper breaths. When his veins and pupils stopped glowing, he shook his head in pain before proceeding to sit down back at his chair.

I was so terrified. I-I hate seeing Kase-kun s-so angry, because Kase-kun shouldn't be angry and v-vicious. He should be kind and compassionate to everyone around him like he is with me... acting like a good leader, not a tyrant. I just sometimes forget how powerful he really is.

After half-a-minute in which all of us could sit in the silence that filled the room and calm our nerves, including Maria-chan and Yusuke-san, Kase-kun finally started speaking again. "No that we're all calm," he said as his eyes were serious, something that even someone like me, who wasn't the brightest, could tell that he was sick of all the shouting and arguments between Maria-chan and Yusuke-san. "let's act like the council that we are and do a vote." he stated as he took a few moments to look at all of us around the table.

"Now, those who support Hidaka's plan of assaulting Kuoh Academy in broad daylight, unnecesarily and spitefully slaughtering innocent kids before fighting both the Gremory and Sitri peerages, please raise your hands." he requested as Maria-chan and Yusuke-san both raised a hand in the air enthusiastically, only to then glare at each other and flip the other off. W-Why? Why hurt a bunch of people who have nothing to d-do with this just to get back at a few? This is just so m-mean!

"Now, those who are in favor of my plan of finding a place to bunker down with an army of stray devils and draw the peerages there for a big, unrestrained battle away from innocents, raise. Your. Hands." he spoke as he now seemed like he was in no mood for the meeting anymore, focused by the punctuation of his words. Without waisting a second thought, I raised my hand up in the air like in impatient schoolgirl who knew an answer to a question asked by the teacher. I even managed to raise my hand half-a-second faster than Kase-kun! Though of course voting for Kase-kun's plan was the rght thing to do, Kase-kun was the one who thought about it and he knew best among all of us! He even added that it will be in a location that no innocents will be hurt! That's why he's the best! Nobu-san also raised his hand, but he seemed more hesitant as his hand shook and didn't as high as Kase-kun's hand or mine.

Maria-chan simply glared at me with her eight eyes and clicked her tongue. "Uuunnn... I could feel the chill in my spine shaking my e-e-entire body with f-fear. "Tsk. Fucking sheep." she said venomously as she stroded out of the room in a quick pace. I'm just glad that she left. I was a-afraid that she was g-gonna try and a-attack me again.

Kase-kun then got up from the table himself. "Alright, meeting is adjourned. Have a good night sleep and we'll start preparing things tomorrow. Inform the strays under your section of the city of our decision." he concluded the meeting and walked towards me. However, he stopped right besides me, putting a hand over my shoulder. "Sorry that you had to suffer through this meeting like that, Hitsuji-chan. Sleep tight and be happy. All you should care about is enjoying your freedom." he said with a small smile as he walked out of the room.

...Though will he allow me to participate in the upcoming battle? My Sacred Gear would be perfect for that. But what if he forbids me?

{To Be Continued]

xxx

Ending Theme: Life is Like a Boat by Rei Fu (use Bleach Ending 1 for audio)

And here's the chapter. I hope you enjoyed it to some extent. Sorry that this is the only chapter that I have, but I swear that I'm working on another. I also have ideas for other fanfics filling my head to the point that it could explode, so I also might start a new story or something. Who really knows?

Anyway, until the next time (which will be several months from now no doubt), stay healthy, stay safe and have a greate day.

ZebraVonClaw · Jul 17, 2022

Okay so sadly I don't think I will be following this fic. It's a little too rough for my tastes, especially the earlier chapters.

That said, I took a quick glance through your last couple of chapters and you're showing signs of marked improvement! It barely made my eyes bleed at all!

(that was a joke. It really is way better though.)

If I had one recommendation of what to work on as a writer it would be to focus on 'show don't tell' with an eye on not overexplaining every little detail in a scene. Mayhap look for a friend willing to rip your poor baby apart with some extra aggressive editing.

As an example of what I mean here are a few examples chosen at random:

Qudrim8054 said:
he said with a glare focused on her like the eye of an eagle.

A repeated trend in your writing that was way worse in your first chapters but never really went away is you tend to use the bits between dialog as a blank check to fill in the setting, tell your audience what emotions your characters are feeling, and detail the minutia of a character's pose or actions. This robs your dialog the opportunity to be snappy and often reads as incredibly redundant when your dialog is successful and conveys the emotions you were going for. stuff like "F@#$ YOU!" probably doesn't need you assuring us who is talking, how they are angry, and how they move their hand to their thigh.

In the above quote we could probably have intuited he was glaring and focused on her but we especially didn't need both those descriptors on top of the analogy.

Qudrim8054 said:
she kept thinking as her crimson aura of demonic energy flared around her, raising and flapping her long crimson hair from the wind it was creating.

here again you stick this after dialog, honestly for scene setting this stuff would work fine as its own paragraph.

don't shy away from breaking up your paragraphs; another reason I was hesitant to read your story at a glance was I tend to read via mobile and the paragraphs you write are downright chonky when smushed down to that scale.

All that said it is worth noting that the above quote could be cut down to 'her aura flaired, blowing her hair about in self-made wind.' Stuff like 'crimson aura of demonic energy' could be fine if your trying to focus on the image but when combined with word choices like 'raising and flapping her long crimson hair' it starts to read as unnecessary prose for proses sake.

Qudrim8054 said:
The two remaining large stray devils took a step back as they look cautiously at the crimson-haired Princess of Ruin while shifting their attention to their supposed leader, even though he obviously stated disdain to such a term. There was a tense atmosphere between the two devils as if they were waiting for one of them to attack first.

this quote is probably the best example so far of what I'm talking about. Did you know you used the exact description of 'The two remaining large stray devils' 3 times? after the first referring to them as 'the two strays' or just 'the devils' would be more than enough. This is even more confusing as the next time you use the descriptor of 'two devils' in the same paragraph it seems like you are referring to Rias and the other guy. speaking of the other guy, the aside about their leaders disdain for the term really breaks the flow of what is clearly meant to be a tense scene.

As far as Show Don't Tell is concerned, using the word 'glancing' instead of 'they look cautiously' implies the caution without having to spell it out. Similarly rather than tell us the atmosphere is tense, paint a picture. All together My suggestions for a paragraph like this would read:

'The two strays falter, glancing at the crimson-haired Princess while focusing on their recalcitrant leader. A suffocating silence descends on the arena as neither figure moves.'

Qudrim8054 said:
The Gremory heiress then looked with a worried and regretful look at the unconscious Issei, who despite having most of his injuries healed already, still had his body covered with cuts and bruises while his own blood, dust and dirt was spread around his body. The wounds themselves were closing as well, showing that he was in no real life threatening danger anymore. The crimsonette knelt down and passed her hand through the teenage boy's brown hair only to then plant a kiss on his forehead.

For all of your repeated uses of generic and long descriptors of characters you also seem to go out of your way to avoid referring to characters by name. If your worried your referring to a character too much; rather than use more and more elaborate ways to describe her, maybe try and rewrite the scene so the context of who is doing the action is obvious? The visual descriptors can be nice occasionally but when used too much they draw more attention to themselves than the writing and can pull readers right out of the scene.

As for the rest of the quote it is again leaning on the side of over wordy and redundant. For instance:

Qudrim8054 said:
who despite having most of his injuries healed already, still had his body covered with cuts and bruises while his own blood, dust and dirt was spread around his body. The wounds themselves were closing as well, showing that he was in no real life threatening danger anymore.

could be rewritten almost entirely with 'who was mostly healed, what cuts remained under the dirt, blood, and bruises visibly closing.'

Qudrim8054 said:
Before Ajuka could answer, Ichigo stepped forward. "Strays? I thought you said you could handle things like this, Rias-senpai?" he asked with a raised eyebrow while eying the High-Class devil suspiciously.

another example of the redundant post dialog description when the question itself implied suspicion. Even the raised eyebrow is a bit on the nose but with it the need for explaining he was suspicious almost reads as insulting to the readers.

Qudrim8054 said:
"Of course, Sir Asmoday, we appreciate any help." Sona then spoke up with her own reserved tone of voice before looking over at the green-haired Mao

Again the reservedness is implied enough via the dialog and even if it wasn't it doesn't need the excess writing. Nor do we really need to be told who she is looking at as people generally look at who they are talking to. Let your dialog free of these shackles of description and context! Free I say!

Qudrim8054 said:
To his surprise, it was Tatsuki that had hit him, he face clearly disapproving of his outburst. "And we clearly stated that we're gonna help them in case they needed help! Did you forget that you don't need to carry every problem on your shoulders, Ichigo?!" she asked him back with anger and ferocity in her voice as the adults in the room looked at the whole thing completely with blank expressions.

... I really am struggling here not to make a sarcastic response about how shocked I am the character who just punched the other and is yelling is both ferocious and angry. Please praise me for my restraint.

Jokes aside by tacking that last line about blank faced adults to the post dialog redundant emotion explanation you tie what was meant to be a comedy beat to the scene description and rob it of some of its impact. imagine how much more impactful the line would be on its lonesome as a whole paragraph like:

Qudrim8054 said:
To his surprise, it was Tatsuki that had hit him. "And we clearly stated that we're gonna help them in case they needed help! Did you forget that you don't need to carry every problem on your shoulders, Ichigo?!"

The adults in the room looked on. Expressions blank.

But yeah that's mostly it as far as what I could see to work on. There were a few other eye-raising things; phonetic quirks like stuttering can be a hazard to balance the intended characterization over being too distracting so I was a bit surprised to see a character's internal dialog stuttering?! but that was almost bizarre enough as a character affectation to justify itself. almost. It is so very much not how stuttering works that it is basically asking for readers to get stuck on that and distracted from the story.

Hope some of these thoughts help. I don't want to discourage all this work you've put into writing.

With your steady improvement and impressive writing output I'll keep an eye out for whatever project you might jump on next.

...Good luck? Don't give up! Have a good one? I have no idea how to end this post.
Cheers!

Qudrim8054 · Sep 14, 2022

Sorry for the long wait, everyone. Now this has been waaay too long to write in my opinion, but I have started to write the rest of the chapters that this arc will cover, from chapter 16 to chapter 20, which is where this arc will officially end, with chapter 21 onward covering the Phenex arc.

Anyway, I must warn you all of two things: the first is that this is an entire chapter dedicated to two of my antagonistic OCs from last chapter, and is composed entirely of their backstory. I did it to better try to make them sympathetic (aaaand most probably failing) and because I wanted to. My story, my rules.

The second is much more serious. This chapter will have a very tough, very delicate subject matter in it that I myself find repulsive as that kind of things personally affected my family. While I'm sure I didn't do justice to the subject matter, I want you to know that it is something that I take very seriously and I tried my best not to undersell it. Onto the warning.

Warning: In to the usual harsh language, nudity, and extreme violence, this chapter implies and shows extremely sensitive subject matter, a very hard to stomach subject matter! Viewer's discretion is most definitely advised in this particular chapter! You have been warned!

Of Devils and Reapers

Volume 1: Red Dragon Emperor's Awakening

Chapter 15: Kase Tamotsu and Hitsuji Mabushii

Stray devil Council Arc

May, 2009, The streets of Tokyo,

In the alleyways of the large city a young teen leaned against the walls on the alleyway, her purple hair ruffled and unkempt, bangs covering some of her face as she sat with her legs closed and pressed against against her upper body as a blanket that was obviously in horrible condition was wrapped around her shoulders. All she had on her were the clothes on her body, the blanket around her shoulders, the 3000 Yen in her pants' pockets, which shared a place alongside a paper with a strange symbol that she had picked up when she saw it on the ground in the middle of the street.

Her eyes appeared dead, though it had tears still coming out of them as she was crying. Not a sound of sniffing came out, she was completely quiet.

'I'm so hungry... How long has it been since I've eaten? Mama, Papa, if you're watching from heaven, then I'm sorry. Sorry that I ran away from Auntie.' she thought to herself as her stomach growled and tears continued flow down her cheeks. She felt weakness in her arms and legs and dryness in her eyes and mouth. She had ran away from home not too long ago, but she still spent days without eating and barely drinking.

She trembled as she thought of her past. A memory flashed by, one of a loud noise as she sat in a car alongside her parents, then she felt herself flying forward, only to be stopped by the seat belt. She couldn't remember how much blood she lost or what injuries she had, but she remembered as her eyes laid their gaze on her parents' dead and mangled bodies.

Another memory then flashed into her mind, she remembered sitting in a dark living room alone in a locked room in front of the TV, all the while loud shouts came from another room coming from her aunt and a man, but to her those noises were barely held. Her eyes and full attention was glued to the TV screen as a movie played. A movie about a dusty, poor girl who suffered under her ugly family turning into a beautiful princess thanks to a fairy godmother. The movie ended with her becoming a princess, leaving her harsh life for a better, shinier and happier life.

Hitsuji Mabushii couldn't remember the name of that movie, but the feelings she felt, the desire and hope that it raised inside of her still burned as passionately as it did back when she was younger. Of course, many would still consider 16 to be young, but to her she wasn't young enough.

'I want to be like her... I want to be taken into a new world. I want to live like a princess... I want someone to save me.' she thought to herself as she lied down on the side in the same position, her whole body shaking as her stomach continued to growl and tears continued to pour down her eyes, with her now crying and sniffing.

It was then that light colored blueish-green glowed from the piece of paper in her pocket while she was lying on the ground, too busy crying to even pay attention to that little detail. However, her crying did stop somewhat when he eyes caught a glimmer of a much brighter light, one that was also blueish-green in color. She focused all of her attention to where the light was coming from and despite her vision being blurry from the tears that reddened her eyes, she was capable of seeing a circle glowing on the ground, one that wasn't there before and had the same strange pattern that she had seen on the piece of paper that she had picked up.

A powerful flash of light occurred that forced the teenage runaway girl to cover her eyes for a second before the light faded away into nothingness and the darkness that covered the alleyway previously had returned to encompass it with few beams of light lighting some spots with the strong natural light of the sun. Instead of the circle now stood a tall man, maybe a decade older than the girl herself, somewhere in his mid-twenties in age. She looked up and her hot-pink eyes met his piercing green eyes and saw his long, auburn-colored hair that reached down to the center of his back. He was wearing a suit that looked mildly expensive, with a black, long-sleeved undershirt with a hot-red, long-sleeved jacket, as well as a pair of matching long, form-fitting trousers.

"Hey kid, you seem to be in a rough spot there." he said with a somewhat hard tone of voice that fit his intimidating and cold expression. "Though I'm not surprised that a runaway would be so desperate that she would summon a devil." he told her bluntly as he knelt down in front of her.

The crying girl blinked a few times as she heard was what the man just told her. "W-What *sniff* are you talking about?" she inquired as she looked at him confused and slightly frightened.

The auburn-haired man simply sighed with a bit of a chuckle and a genuine smile on his face. "Yeah, I understand the suspicion and disbelief. Not many know what that pentagram means." he told her with a bit of amusement in his voice, a statement which at first confused the teenage girl even further for a few seconds, only for her eyes to widen as if a light bulb lit up in her head. Her hand quickly went inside her pocket and took out the piece of paper with the strange pentagram. "Yep, that's the one. Wonder how you even got it." he said with a jovial attitude as he put his hand on her head and his eyes slightly widened, neither of them noticing that his palm was glowing light-green.

A few moments passed and the man recomposed himself as he took his hand off her head. "You see, I'm a reincarnated devil." he started speaking as he got up as well. "I was turned from being a human after a deadly encounter with the supernatural...which is all real, by the way." he explained to her as he switched his tone from stone-cold serious to casual on the fly, all the while Hitsuji sat up and wiped the tears from her eyes. "The paper that you have? It belongs to the family of my master, the Asmoday House. By being summoned, we make contracts with humans: they get something they wholeheartedly desire while we get something in return. An exchanged born of barter." he kept on talking to her as he also seemed to have an unreadable expression on his face, which put the girl on edge.

He kept on smiling while talking, his voice gentle yet strong and confident. "My name is Kase Tamotsu. May I please inquire to your name, young lady? A person with any kind of manners should require to ask a woman for her name for them to be of equal status." the man, whom she now knew to refer to as Kase, asked her with unquestionable charm to his attitude that she felt like it would be rude not to respond in kind.

"Hitsuji, my name is Hitsuji Mabushii, Kase-kun. N-Nice to m-m-meet you." she answered his question with a stutter as her cheeks turned slightly red and she felt the heat in them.

He simply chuckled before speaking again. "Well then, Hitsuji-san, nice to meet you too." Finally, he extended his hand towards her. "Your wish was to be saved, to live like a princess in an old children's movie, right?" he asked her, shocking her that he had managed to know the very desire that she had in her mind right before he appeared. "Then take my hand. Take my hand, and I will make sure you get a better life under my master." he told her firmly and sincerely. Her eyes teared up with hopeful joy as she extended her own hand and grabbed his, only for the circle of light to reappear again, this time surrounding both of them.

When the light died down, she wasn't in an alleyway anymore, but in a room. A large, lavishly-decorated room that appeared to be as if she was inside a castle chamber with different styles of rugs and curtains from different places in the world... or so it seemed to her. She was so overwhelmed that she couldn't pick up her lower jaw as her eyes widened and her formerly nearly-dead hot-pink pupils glowed brilliantly like pearls at the sight.

Her deep and dreamlike state was cut when a voice reached her ears. "...this girl, Kase? Why have you brought her here?" she blinked several times as she was cut from her daze and looked behind her, where she heard the voice coming from. The person she looked at had a very pale skin tone and a short-cut, sea foam-green colored hair that had its center styled as a small Mohawk. The eyes that glared at her were a frightening blood-red pair that sent a shiver down the teenage girl's spine.

The young man was wearing a cotton-white, long-sleeved undershirt that was just buttoned up enough to reveal a bit of his very well-defined chest muscles that cause the teen's ears to turn red alongside her cheeks. On the chair that he was sitting on was hung a scarlet-red velvet blazer, with matching scarlet pants and and black socks which he wore up slightly above his Achilles Tendon. Over the socks he wore a pair of slippers covered with elegant light-colored fur, with several stunning and fashionable pair of shoes next to the desk that he was sitting in front of, from sturdy combat boots to formal shoes.

The auburn-haired man then gave a slight bow. "A new [Bishop], master. I have sense power within her and I believe she might have a Sacred Gear." he told the young man who sat at the table, much to the confusion of the runaway teenager. She was completely lost from the context of the conversation as she looked around the room again, seeing how big and grand it was while Kase continued speaking. "To be honest, I also believe in helping those in need, like a young runaway like her, or a young man jumping into great danger like I was. I think it's a win-win for everyone." he spoke with a confident sternness on his face as he kept his eyes locked on the pale-skinned young man.

At that point Hitsuji looked at the young man again and froze as he still sat in front of his desk and froze, awaiting his decision, afraid of what could happen to her if he said something like 'I don't want her here' or 'Make her leave'. In honesty, the moment she saw the vast and beautiful room, she didn't want to leave. It was the room of royalty, with the kind of gigantic bed that kings slept in, with the decorations that would make the place worthy of a prince.

She understood very quickly that Kase wanted her to serve the man sitting in front of her eyes, which could give her the wish that she desired, the joyful and luxurious life that she had hoped for for years.

There was a long period of silence in the room as the purple-haired girl waited to hear what was going to be the decision of the auburn-haired devil's master. "What's your name?" were the only words that came out of the man's mouth as he glanced towards the giant queen's bed in the room.

The girl's breath hitched as she gulped. "Hitsuji Mabushii." she responded with as much strength as she could as she tried her best to look into the man's eyes.

The sea-foam green haired man locked his eyes on her as his posture and expression did not changed at all. "Lie on the bed." he ordered her sternly, to which she simply gulped nervously and suspicion as the teenage girl lied down on the bed and put her arms to her sides as the man commanded. She closed her eyes and trembled constantly as she didn't know what to expect to happen.

A few moments later she felt a warm sensation at the center of her chest, one that could be described as butterflies filling up her entire body, moving through it and strengthening her with fiery kisses. She felt brave, unbeatable, invulnerable, which made her open her eyes. What she saw was that at he center of her chest a red bishop chess piece was dissolving into her body in a beautiful scarlet light, drenching the entire room in the color. "In the name of Barbas Asmoday, I command thee, Hitsuji Mabushii on my name, Barbas Asmoday, rise as my new and eternal servant. Rise, my bishop!" he chanted with a powerful and authoritative voice.

It didn't take more than a few seconds after she noticed the piece to fully disappear into her body and with it the sensations she was feeling reached levels that she could not believe. She had never felt such confidence within her mind as she did at that moment. Then the fiery sensation died out completely, making the teenage girl to blink several times before sitting up.

In front of her stood both Kaze and the handsome man, who hand both of his arms behind his back as his eyes were distant and cold, yet accepting. "Congratulations, Hitsuji Mabushii, you are now my [Bishop]." he congratulated her calmly as his posture was frozen stiff, while the auburn-haired man simply stood straight.

The pink-eyed girl simply smile and stood up from the bed confidently. "Hitsuji Mabushii, that's my name!" she said with a now perky attitude as she felt fresh and beaming with life.

The young, handsome man simply gave a small nod. "Well then, I am your master, Barbas Asmoday. Remember that you are a devil reincarnated, as well as my servant. You will act and answer to any order of my demand. And while you will have some level of freedom, you serve me and may never betray that bond of servitude. Follow these rules and you will live a wonderful, long life. Understand, Hitsuji Mabushii?" he asked after informing her of what she has become and what her new position entails.

The girl simply kept up her smile as she made a big nod. "Of course, Master Asmoday. I w-will be a good servant." she spoke, not knowing of the horrible events that will befall upon her in a few years time.

Events will shall seal her fate onward towards one path.

xxx

Opening Theme: Again by Yui (use Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood Opening 1 for audio)

December, 2009,

Hitsuji looked happily in the mirror, her skin in the last seven months removing all the grim and filth that had covered it during her time on the streets of a Japan, revealing a beautiful, fair, smooth skin. Her face was radiating with joy and glee while also showing a bit of a pink hue to her cheeks.

She was currently standing in front of a mirror, measuring a dress while her purple hair was wrapped in a bun-style fashion behind her head as she twirled her body slightly from left to right as she examined herself in the the mirror, which was twice her size. The dress itself was long and puffy and hot-pink in color that reached down to her ankles, matching her remarkably beautiful eyes that were shinning with a dreamy expression while a large smile reached from one ear to another. Under the dress was an entire layer of white fabric that tendered it, just above the corset that the teenage girl had put around her upper body to let the dress fit. The top of the dress stopped around slightly above the breasts, leaving no window for cleavage and having a pair of white, silky straps around the shoulders to help it hold better.

"It's amazing, Kase-kun!" she stated happily as she kept admiring herself in the mirror. Behind her sat the auburn-haired man in a comfortable sofa, observing her with an amusement an older brother would have while taking a younger sister shopping. "I look like an actual princess now!" she told him happily as she kept admiring herself, doing a spin in place.

The reincarnated male devil simply gave an amused chuckle as he watched her. "You most certainly do, kid." he told her with a sense of pride as he was comfortably sitting on the sofa in the room. "However, a princess always had an education befitting of royalty, yet you are still having some trouble with devil letters and numbers. I know that master is still a bit miffed about that one, kid." he retorted light-heartedly and with a good amount of humor in his words, even if they were indeed true. Hearing this caused Hitsuji to blush harder as her glance moved away from the mirror.

"W-Well, I've gotten better with activating Feather Foot Blessing!" the girl pouted with embarrassment as she tried to fire a comeback while she turned around to look at Kase and raised her left hand. With a small, azure light, a white bracelet with an azure pearl at its center appeared around her wrist. That was her Sacred Gear. "S-See?! I can summon it in an instant. And my range has increased a lot. I'm sure that master can forgive my slow progress with my studies if my progress with my Sacred Gear, right?" she asked with slight concern in her voice, considering how standoffish and distant her master was most of the times. "And have you tried looking at all those letters in a sentence? It's like math but wooorse!" she whined with rivers of tears comically coming out of her eyes.

A wide smile rose to Kase's face as he made a disregarding wave with his hand and a perky smile of his face. "Relax, Hitsuji. As long as you can make sure that your Sacred Gear to help out in Rating Games, he wouldn't mind that much about your studies." the man nonchalantly waved off the teen's concerns as he continued watching her. "You just need to take things at your leisure. Everything will work out from there." he tried to reassure her calmly and with a friendly, almost brotherly tone to his voice. The pink-eyed girl shrunk a little bit from the compliments and blushed so much that the color started to pour over from her cheeks to the rest of her face.

Suddenly the door opened and a voice was heard. "I can assure you that that is only somewhat the case, you reincarnated street rats." the voice spoke cordially as it threw an insult in at the two devils. The man who entered looked about as young as the two devils' foam-green haired master, and from his attitude was a true-born devil. He was about as tall and as lean as Hitsuji, his face clean and smooth without any wrinkles on it. His eyes were small and thin, his black orbits that were his pupils giving them a disgusted and distrustful look. True beady eyes. His long nose was slightly crooked, bending downward in the middle as if it was a hook. His mouth was like a down-curved arc as his face was a constant frown that was very unappealing to look at. His black, greasy hair that was wrapped in a ponytail and black, bushy eyebrows weren't adding anything good to his face either.

He was wearing a thin, black silk cloak over a black velvet jacket that was worn over a gold-colored, long-sleeved silk shirt with red trimming on it. The cloak itself was actually covering all of his body, so one would usually have to wait for him to remove it to see his clothes. His pants were a pair of black cotton pants that clung tightly to his well-toned legs. His shoes were a shining black made of the finest leather and probably were shined by one of the Asmoday house's regular servants or a shoe shiner in the family's territory. The man himself was Foras Drekavac Ibris, a true-born devil who served alongside the pair of reincarnated devils in the same peerage, with him being the other [Bishop] of Barbas Asmoday.

The man continued as his beady eyes were glued to the reincarnated pair. "For as long as I've known him, Barbas always desired to follow his brother's success in Rating Games. However, knowing that his servants are all educated to be capable enough of understanding devil writing is also highly important to him." he spoke in a low, almost monotonous tone as his eyes fell solely on the girl and squinted further. "It would be better for a rat like yourself to at least spend more time studying than spending his money on useless wears. Unless you desire to embarrass our master." he scoffed at Hitsuji as she stood in front of the mirror in her dress, to which the girl closed her body and looked down with a demoralized look.

The auburn-haired devil gave a quick scowl before smirking smugly at his contemporary. "So you're still keeping your nose up master's ass, Foras-san?" he said to the black-wearing pure-devil with a mocking tone to his voice and a shit-eating grin on his face. "I'd figure your large nose would be brown by now. I assume you wash it then?" he kept on insulting him, knowing it would get the [Bishop]'s attention away from the newest member of the peerage.

Foras hissed as he turned over to Kase with his face morphed into a hateful expression as he pointed at the seemingly older man. "You better speak to me with proper respect, you reincarnated trash! Insulting me is to insult Barbas! The only thing that prevented my best friend from letting you become Hollow food was your potential! You will treat me as you treat Barbas, or suffer the consequences!" he roared without raising his head too much, a hissing disdain filling every word that came out of his mouth. He then turned around and walked out of the door, slamming it shut as he did.

Kase glared at the door as he muttered to himself "Arrogant prick." before looking back at the purple-haired girl. "Don't worry about him, he's just a stuck up jerk. If we'll ever be invited to a social event," he spoke as he got up and walked up to her, grabbing her gently by the shoulders. "Not only will you make master proud, but looking as you are now, you'll be the center of attention." he told her with a confident, certain and reassuring voice as the look in his eyes was warm and gentle. But as she imagined herself in a big bawl with everyone looking straight at her, she couldn't help but glance aside and blush with a big smile on her face.

March, 2012,

The Asmoday family had the halls of one of their manors opened up. A huge ball had been in preparation for the last several months now, with Hitsuji, now a healthy, curvy and dashingly beautiful 18 years old young woman helping along as much as she could with the rest of the servants. But when the night came, she had spent hours preparing for the event.

This was big. This was something the Asmoday family had been apparently waiting for decades to happen. After half-a-century in which the oldest son and heir of the family refused to marry, there was finally a betrothal between her master's younger sister to the heir of the Dantalion house. She had never seen her master's parents so excited, nor has she seen her master smile so wide except for when he had won a Rating Game.

Hitsuji was wearing a dress that exposed her shoulders in their entirety, while the skirt part reached just a little bit above the knees. The dress itself was fine wool, which had been colored a strong shade of scarlet with a bit of black trimming, made to compliment her lilac-colored hair, which now had reached slightly below her shoulders, with the ending of it curling back upwards. The dress was also very complimentary towards her bright-pink eyes.

As she walked around the giant halls of the mansion, she was completely overwhelmed by all the people who were hosted there. Her mouth was wide open constantly as she looked around and her eyes shown with stars as she examined the amount of excess wealth on display by her master's family. She had been a servant of Barbas Asmoday for nearly three years, so she was a bit more accustomed to all of it. However, she and all the other servants of the family helped set up the entire hall's decoration, so seeing the results simply made it all the more beautiful and awe aspiring.

"Hey, Hitsuji-chan, come here before you twist your head, why don't you?" she heard Kase's voice as he playfully called her to join him. She searched for his voice and after a few seconds, managed to find him, wearing a beautiful, frame-clinging tuxedo while holding a glass of white wine in one hand. She also noticed that he was standing next to a woman who appeared to be around his age if not slightly younger, with beautiful blonde hair that was wrapped as a bun behind her head, big purple eyes and wore bright-red lipstick that matched her dress, which looked almost identical to Hitsuji's, just without the black trim and it reached down to her ankles, where she had a pair of heels on.

The woman eyed her with an examining look for a few seconds before smirking and looking over at the auburn-haired reincarnated devil. "So who is this lovely girl that is accompanying us? Your girlfriend? And I thought you were above such things. Being Asexual and all that. Is she even old enough to talk to grown ups?" she joked and teased with the man playfully, which made the younger girl blush at the insinuation and glance aside, despite knowing that Kaze never thought about her in that manner.

The man gave the woman a playfully offended look. "Maria, you offend me. I can have the same chance of having a close, platonic relationship with a woman just as much as a romantic one. Asexuality doesn't change that. It just means that I don't feel any sexual attraction." he corrected her as he spoke to her calmly. He then gestured to the lilac-haired reincarnated devil with a playful smile on his face. "Besides, Hitsuji-chan over here just graduated from being called "Kid" for the last three years. I think she can hang around during grown-up talks." he jabbed at his younger friend jovially and ruffled the young adult's lilac hair, making the younger devil to pout with her cheeks glowing red.

"Anyway," Kaze then dropped the playfulness as he looked directly as he gestured to the blonde woman besides him. "Hitsuji Mabushii, meet Maria Hidaka. Maria, meet Hitsuji." he introduced the two as they both shook hands, although the younger girl was more reluctant and tense as she shook the other woman's hand. The man then continued speaking. "We were discussing our opinions regarding the Underworld's high society in comparison to the values that we have in the modern world." he informed the younger woman, which made her raise her eyebrows with interest.

Then Maria spoke up, looking across the room. "Look at my master over there, for example." she said as all three of them eyed a beautiful young woman with a round, heart-shaped face, beautiful, long, smooth, straw-colored blonde hair that reached down the center of her back and wore a long, black dress that complimented her black makeup, lipstick and pale skin. She was also seen talking to a devil who looked like he was in his mid 40s, though that meant that he probably was thousands of years old by now, yet chose to appear at that age. The woman's body language showed a bit of a seductive pose to it and it was very noticeable.

"You see, this master of mine comes from a rather minor devil family. She decided that she wanted more, so she went to parties and seduced men with large amount of influence to take her as their mistress. That's how she got to High-Class Devil status. Now she wants to replace someone's wife so she can live like the lazy, weak slut that she is. Fits the bill for any gold digger in the human world. Just saying that makes me want to skin someone." the blonde woman hissed every word of the explanation that came out of her mouth filled with contempt towards her own master, which immediately raised red flags in the girl's mind. "Personally, I think she wouldn't know what power is even if it was under her bratty, little nose. And considering that she has me..." Maria finished as she spoke with an overly arrogant tone while gesturing towards herself.

At this point the lilac-haired girl entangled her fingers and looked at the eyes of the beautiful blonde woman to keep the disturbing thoughts out of her head.. "Well, um, I think our master is a pretty decent one." she spoke nervously as she felt a bit of courage swelling within her, as if she was defending her master's honor. A second later though, she saw that Kase nodded with reluctance on his face, which confused her slightly.

Hearing this made the other devil smile slyly. "Oh really?" she inquired as some form of idea came to her head.

The younger female devil simply nodded as a small smile rose to her lips. "Y-Yeah. He usually is indifferent and doesn't seem to really be around us all that much. Well, except for Foras-sama, but they've been best friends since they were kids so that's expected. Otherwise he simply lets us do as we please as long as we don't do something that hurts his reputation as well as maintaining his usual requirements." she explained as she felt more confident and filled with vigor as she tried to explain how it was like to live under her master.

Maria then simply gave a look towards the auburn-haired man, to which he simply gave another reluctant nod before the blonde chuckled and looked back at the young [Bishop]. "You certainly give a flattering image. Though maybe it's just because you're enamored with him?" she suggested quite bluntly as her smirk grew wider.

At this moment any lingering thoughts about the woman's possible psychopathy disappeared completely from her head as she felt embarrassed by the insinuation. "N-Nani?!" she asked out loud as her face turned completely red and looked around to make sure no one was looking at her or heard the other woman declaration. She started to frantically waving her hands. "N-NO! T-Th-That's not it! Not at all!" she tried to deflect the accusation with every breath that she took as her face started feeling warmer and warmer.

"Oh, am I wrong? The man is quite the hunk if I would to give my opinion. It's not unheard of for servants to feel such things towards their master. Hell, it's not even that frowned upon for members of the 72 Pillars to have illegitimate children with their servants. Bet that rings right in your ears, huh?" she kept teasing slyly, though now Kase looked visibly upset with the woman who stood next to him and looked like he was going to step in at any moment.

"No, no! It's nothing like that, I swea-!" Hitsuji took a few steps back as she frantically waved her hands as she tried even harder to not show her embarrassment, since her face turned completely red at that point. Suddenly she was stopped forcefully when she felt that she bumped into someone, which followed by the sound of the sound of a clanging sound of metal hitting the ground and glass shattering. This startled her, causing her to jump and quickly turn around, looking at a waiter with guilt as she felt disheartened by the accident while noticing the stain on the floor from the spilled drinks. "S-Sorry." she apologized genuinely as she kept her eyes down on her own feet.

"It's nothing, Miss. Accidents happen. I'll just get a towel and-"

"Clean that up."

Hitsuji froze as she turned her body slightly to the left, noticing her master standing there. His eyes narrowed on hers and his brow furrowed; it sent a shiver down her spine. This time she could feel that he was absolutely pissed. "Sir Asmoday, not to worry about. It was just an accident. I'm-I'm sure your f-family would like to avoid a s-scene." the waiter stuttered nervously.

The High-Class devil didn't listen to the waiter though, merely stepping forward and stopping right in front of his the girl. "Clean. That. Up." he repeated.

Hitsuji's eyes never left her master and she now quaked in her boots. "B-But master, I-I don't h-have a t-towel-"

"This might be my sister second most important event in her entire life. I will not stand for an imperfection. On. Your. Knees." he stopped her in the middle of her stuttering, his impatience more vocal than a second ago. She also immediately realized his implication as she knelt down and grabbed a part of her dress's skirt, knowing what was needed to be done.

Kase finally stepped forward as he glared at her master and growled. "So you don't want to ruin your sister's betrothal party, yet you're going to embarrass your servant in front of everyone in the room over spilled drinks?!" he inquired with agitation as he clenched his hands into fists.

Barbas Asmoday's bloody-red eyes landed on his auburn-haired, reincarnated servant and his eyes narrowed even further and his lips curled downwards in visible displeasure. "You dare talk to your master like that? Stay silent and stand down. You're making a scene." he ordered with a harsh tone.

Kase stood his ground, slightly grinding his teeth together while allowing his demonic aura to flare slightly, like a thin veil of energy. "I refuse. Hitsuji-chan didn't do shit to deserve such humiliation. So why don't you be a good smug rich prick, back off and let the official waiters do their jobs." he fired back as he put his hand on Hitsuji's shoulder as she looked up at him with her eyes wide as plates and her mouth agape, as were the rest of the guests who watched as things unfolded. Many of them even gasped.

The red-eyed man glared at his servant, to which two chains made of demonic energy suddenly appeared out of thin air and were seemingly connected to both Hitsuji and Kase's right and left wrists respectively, with the former immediately figuring out how it appeared to look like that. 'Master had those connected to us all this time?' she thought to herself, but she noticed that the auburn-haired man's eyes widened in knowing fear.

Barbas's Asmoday's scowl didn't leave his face, it actually seemed to harden. "If you care about the girl that much, take off your jacket and help her clean this up. That is an order." he ordered once again, this time with a audible growl coming out with his words. "Or do you prefer to be punished for your disobedience?" he warned his older servant as he raised his left hand, ready to snap his fingers, which caused Kaze, who had thus far been so brave, to shiver and shake.

A hand suddenly blurred in and out of the pocket of the waiter who stood frozen next to the two devils, who himself simply jumped with a startled cry a after the hand got out of his pocket. The napkin that the waiter had then landed right on the spilled drinks that started to expand into a tiny puddle. "Why don't you relax a bit, little brother?" a chipper voice was heard as Mephistopheles Asmoday stepped on the napkin that soaked the alcoholic stain and put his right hand around his younger brother's shoulder, all the while he was carrying a wide grin on his face. "I'm sure Ivella won't mind. She's only 11, after all." he said while moving his foot and napkin all over the puddle.

The younger of the two pure-blooded devils with sea-foam green hair looked at his brother with a look of contempt before looking over at his two crouching servants once more. He ground his teeth before looking down as his brother's foot was moving and soaking the napkin over the pool to clean it. Barbas then pushed off his older sibling's arm off his shoulder. "Alright." he admitted his defeat on the matter as he looked at Hitsuji and Kase once more. "Get up. We will talk about this later in a place less...public." he told the two coldly yet calmly as he walked away quickly and impatiently.

Hitsuji was still frozen crouching and shaking as she watched the purple energy chain attached to her wrist disappearing. She couldn't believe what had just happened, how all of this happened in the span of five minutes or less... and it was all because of her. She felt as her body was being picked up and she snapped from her frozen state, looking around to see that all eyes in the hall were stuck on her, or maybe just her direction, causing her to lower her head as tears started falling down.

"Apologies for my brother's behavior, he can be tough to deal with sometimes. Enjoy the rest of your evening." the heir to house Asmoday said cordially and he left the two alone as he also intermingled with the crowd, now most of them no longer staring at the pair of reincarnated devils.

From behind the two, Maria Hidaka simply stood with her arms crossed in front of her chest, a raised left eyebrow and a very condescending smirk on her face. "'A pretty decent one', eh? Yeah, I think that fits the bill." she said as her smirk grew wider as her eyes locked into the purple eyes of the Asmoday [Bishop].

Several Weeks Later,

Barbas Asmoday's entire peerage appeared out of a teleportation circle in his mansion, all of them tired and ragged, some even having bandages around their bodies. However, there were wide smiles all over their faces, despite their slight panting. Hitsuji was especially relieved despite the fact that she didn't do too much.

"I can't believe that we won that game. It was so hard and so long..." one of the peerage's [Knights] said with relief as he swiped the brow from his light-brown skinned brow. Everyone else agreed with him as they walked along and spread across the room. Kase and Hitsuji walked together, heading towards the balcony that was outside the room, when they suddenly heard their master's voice.

"Kase, Hitsuji, halt." he told them with his usual standoffish voice, causing them both to freeze on the spot, with the auburn-haired man gritting his teeth slightly while his arms shook slightly. "Turn around." the High-Class devil ordered, which they both followed, only to look at their master, his chin tucked and his body turning slightly away.

"Y-Y-Yes, master?" the reincarnated girl asked as she slightly bit her lower lip. "I-If I d-did something wrong during the game, I'm s-s-sorry! I humbly apologize!" she apologized immediately, the memory from a few weeks back still on her mind. Meanwhile, Kase narrowed his eyes suspiciously as he clenched his hands into fists.

The sea-foam green-colored haired man took a long breath and slowly exhaled. "Iapologizeformybehavior." he spoke quickly, almost too quickly for the two to fully hear what he was saying through his ground teeth. The lilac-hared girl blinked twice as her master's face reddened. "I apologize for my behavior at the party a few weeks back. Happy?" he inquired with agitation as he closed his eyes.

Hitsuji quickly took a step back from the shock of what she heard... only to start frantically waving her hands. "N-No reason to a-a-apologize, master Barbas-sama. It w-was all m-my fault and you j-just want your s-sister to-"

"Good? Good. You two are free to go. Enjoywhatever." the High-Class devil cut the cautious girl's stuttering apologizes as he bolted out of the living room into his studies and with the concerned Foras quickly following his friend with a confused and nervous look on his face.

Kase and Hitsuji stayed frozen and glued to where they stopped, completely perplexed about the whole situation. After nearly a dozen seconds of them staring into the distance, the lilac-haired girl's face lightened up and she smiled brightly.

She then turned to the older reincarnated devil as she radiated with joy. "I can't believe master apologized! I never expected he would do something like that!" she exclaimed as her cheeks and ears started to turn red. "I-I knew I was right when I said that master was a decent one! He really isn't that bad!" she spoke with as if a stone fell off her chest, her body seemingly looked all the more lighter.

She then looked at her friend's face closer, seeing the apprehensive and complicated expression on his face, which left her perplexed.

After dinner everyone teleported back to Barbas's mansion and prepared to retire for the evening. Hitsuji saw as Foras marched on his own to his room as quickly as he could, slamming the door shut. The sudden loud noise startled her, but it didn't last beyond a little yelp that came out of her lips.

"Hey, Hitsuji-chan," the auburn-haired reincarnated devil spoke to her as he rubbed her shoulders. "You feel really stiff. I'm going with Antoine and Morpheus to have some drinks to loosen up. Want to join us?" he asked her with a friendly tone as he put a little bit on her shoulders, making her wince slightly in pain from the stiff muscles in that area of her back.

She thought about the idea only for an instant. She wasn't a big fan of alcohol, but it was worth it in order to spend time with Kase. "Hitsuji," before she could utter an answer, her master's voice caught her attention, causing her to look at him. He was still looking at her the same way he glared at her during the diner. "come to my study, please. I wish to talk to you about your birthday." he ordered her calmly as he turned and entered his room.

She couldn't shake the look in his eyes from her head, but a thought came into her mind that made her turn around in the direction of her master's room. 'Master isn't so bad. He even apologized once. I'm just a bit of a worry wart.' she thought to herself as she relaxed a bit and started walking towards the room, but she was stopped when she felt a hand holding her wrist tightly, enough to make her wince.

She turned her head to see that Kase was the one that held her hand, concern appearing very visibly on his face. "Hitsuji, don't go there. Stay with me, please." he begged as on the other side the two [Rooks] of the peerage looked confused and somewhat worried themselves. "I don't like the way he looked at you." he told her bluntly as his grip tightened, making her wince even more.

"Kase-kun, please. He isn't all that bad. It's just something birthday related. I'll join you in about 10 minutes, 'kay?" she tried to look happy and ignore the pain, all the while trying to force her wrist out of his grip. In the end he let go, but he didn't seem happy about doing so. She Understood why he was worried, but she thought it was a bit too much for him.

She stood in front of the door of her master's room, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath before entering, the look in his eyes flashing in her mind and causing her to tremble. She shook her head to clean any bad thoughts from her head. She opened the door and slowly stepped into the room. It was surprisingly very dark, with only a single candle lightning the room. However, since she was a devil, she was certainly capable of seeing perfectly in the dark, so she tiled her head with a perplexed expression on her face. "Um, master... did you want to talk?" she inquired as she couldn't see her master sitting in front of his desk or sitting on his bed.

Suddenly the door behind her slammed shut. She turned with a yelp to see her master standing behind her, his red eyes shining in the dark and were locked directly into her hot pink eyes as he locked the door behind them. He body started to tremble uncontrollably. "M-Master, so are we talking a-about my bi-" she started speaking, but was cut when in a quick motion of his hand he grabbed her dress and ripped it off of her, revealing her bare chest as he simultaneously pushed her with his other hand hard enough to make her land on the bed.

She was shaking even more. "M-Master... w-what i-is t-this?" she stuttered as she was shaking even harder and tears started to form in her eyes. She could feel the humidity and coolness in the room brushing against her exposed breasts. It didn't take long for her to realize why she was really there, and it made her whimper. "W-Why...?" she asked as her master's hand suddenly found itself around her neck and tightened slightly. It was painful, but the grip wasn't hard enough to make breathing too difficult.

"I just came to a realization tonight. You are the only girl in my peerage." her master's voice was calm, not showing any real change in volume as his eyes were locked on her. "I finally found you a purpose that would make you indispensable." he told her as his grip o her throat tightened, causing choking sounds to come out of her lips for a few seconds before he completely let go. "Your new role within this peerage is to give me a son." he said as he removed his undershirt and threw it on the ground, revealing his own bare chest. "You will not say a single word, or I will make this as painful as possible. Do you understand me?" he asked her as he spread her legs apart.

Hitsuji was shaking, her was crying and she couldn't look away from the High-Class devil as he removed her panties from around her legs. Countless words came up her throat, but she didn't want to open her lips and let them out. She was afraid. She was afraid because she knew by the look in his shining red eyes that he was going to do it. He wasn't going to back down. She didn't understand why he was doing this either. In her heart, she still had a lingering hope. A flash of a possible what-if in her mind of Kase suddenly bursting through the doors and saving her. But that hope was quickly becoming more and more of a simple wish. At that moment she truly felt hopeless.

All the while her thoughts were running and screaming with desperation, her master had removed her torn dressed off his body, leaving her completely naked. She whimpered as four words came out of her mouth. "No... Not like this..." she cried as she looked him in the eyes with a desperate, pleading look in her tearing eyes as she covered her large breasts with her hands. "Please, master, not like this. Don't do this." she pleaded once more, only to receive a slap to the face that snapped her head to the side. He then forcefully removed her arms from her chest and Hitsuji went limp, realizing that she couldn't stop this. It was inevitable.

She didn't look at her master anymore, preferring to close her eyes and continue whimpering as she waited for it to be done with it. Her body couldn't stop shaking despite her acceptance, the darkness of her closed eyes merely heightening the fear that she felt, not knowing when it will happen. Finally she felt the fingers of her master separating the lips between her legs. When her brain was assaulted with a powerful jolt of pain from the thrust, she gave out with a loud "KYYYAA!" cry.

She sat in the corner of her room in the farthest spot between the wall to the door, her back pinned against the geometric 90 degrees angle that was created by the meeting of two walls. She was balling her eyes out, covering some of her body with her torn dress as her legs pressed against each other tightly as if they were tied by a rope, all the while a mixture of blood and semen slowly leaked out from between them. No words came out of her mouth. No word even came to her mind at the moment. Only loud cries and sounds of whimpering came out from between her lips as her body couldn't stop shaking.

'M-My first time... l-like this... why?' she thought to herself as she cried her eyes out. She crossed her arms and grabbed her shoulders, the torn dress covering her chest. She couldn't think of a more miserable moment in her entire life. For a few seconds, flashes of the past went through her mind. The first time she met her master flashed into her mind as the words 'Follow these rules and you would live a wonderful, long life' echoed in her mind in his voice. Upon instinct she fell forward and vomited on the floor, letting out all the disgust that she felt come out. When she finished, she noticed her vision was getting blurry and lied backwards as quickly as she could, lying on the ground in a fetal position and tried her best to cover herself.

"Hitsuji!" Kase's voice suddenly rang in her ears as the door to her room was violently opened by the auburn-haired man. "Hitsuji-chan, where are y-!" he shouted again, but stopped when he saw her. He quickly ran up to her, stopping only when he saw just how bad she looked with the torn dress covering some of her naked body, the puddle of puke and the little bit of red and white that he saw smeared on her inner thighs.

He put his hands over his mouth and fell down on his knees as his widened eyes were glued to her in horror. "Dear Mao..." he said as he couldn't look away while tears started to accumulate in his eyes before coming down slowly down his cheeks. "What did he do to you?" he asked rhetorically as he she continued to whimper and cry, though she was silent now in her crying, trying to hold the pain in so that he wouldn't have to keep looking at her. Not in the state she was in.

"D-D-Don't look at me, please... g-go away..." she whimpered and sniffed as she looked away from the older man, curling up further as she closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. However, when she did, the memories of what what had just happened flooded back and flashed in her mind. She quickly opened her eyes again so that she wouldn't have to experience it all over again.

"W-Why? Why w-would master do t-this?" she asked as her voice cracked, tears continuing to flow down her cheeks nonstop.

The reincarnated devil that sat on his knees right next to her simply looked with tearful eyes. "I don't know." he lied, hoping that she didn't knew that it was a lie. He then grabbed her, picked her up just a little bit and hugged on to her tightly. "I'm sorry. This is all my fault." he cried with his voice cracking, his body trembling. "I could have prevented this. I should have prevented this!" he spoke loudly as if he was in actual pain. "...I won't let him hurt you again. As long as I am here, I will do whatever I can to make sure that he never hurts you again." he promised her with a fiery determination echoing in his words.

She wanted to believe him. She wanted to believe that he could protect her. However, a part of her spoke in her mind, telling her to let that hope go, because even Kase is merely a servant, a low-class. That even if he tried, he wouldn't be able to protect her. However, she tried to push those thoughts out as she decided to cling to hope... and hugged the man as tightly as she could.

Two weeks later,

She sat in the dinning room with her head down, trying to glue her eyes only to the table and the massive amount of food that had been presented on it. She was smiling, but there were several beads of sweat on her brow and her body shivered slightly. Most of the people who sat the table, those being the same people that she had spent nearly four years around as members of the same peerage, seemed to think of the shaking of her as excitement over turning 20, but only two or three besides her knew why she was really shaking, why she hasn't looked up from the table at all.

She was afraid that her eyes would cross her master's.

The memories from that night still stuck with her and made her sick. She was now 20 years old. Two decades of her life had now passed. She remembered how she felt so excited for this day to come just two weeks ago, how she was constantly shaking with excitement. Yet now all she could think about was that horrible event.

Ever since that night she had trouble sleeping, always waking up drenched in sweat as memories and sensations filled her mind. She even started to lock herself away from the others and stay in her room. In addition, she started to keep her head low to never look at her master at all. Even hearing his voice caused her to freeze on the spot, her pupils normally shrinking to the size of pinpricks. But thankfully he never used her like he did since that night.

At the moment she was trying to enjoy herself and not think about it and just focus on what was supposed to be her day. "T-Thank you all for s-s-setting this up. I'm r-really f-flattered by all this." she said as she blushed a bit. Her fingers fidgeted as she bit her lip nervously and looked at the feet of the table.

After shaking a little bit, she decided to take a chance and raised her head up. 'They'll figure something's wrong if I keep my eyes on the floor.' she thought as she bit her lip tighter, her body quivering more visibly. 'They shouldn't worry about me. Not make a scene for me.' she kept thinking as she stopped biting her lip and her lips curved into a forced smile as she looked up while grinning and closing her eyes. "Thank you all for all your support and care. Please keep on caring for me!" she said as she tried her best to sound like her regular self.

As the lilac-haired girl opened her eyes, she saw that her auburn-haired friend sat in front of her with a half-smile and a sympathetic look in his eyes as they both knew how much she suffered, but they never talked about it with anybody, not even with each other. "Happy birthday, Hitsuji-chan." he told her genuinely as she noticed that he said it with a bit of hope, as if they were both hoping for a quiet and peaceful night.

"Yeah, happy birthday! You only turn 20 once, ya know?" Antoine, one of the peerage's [Rooks], who appeared to be around his early twenties and had a fair skin, blue eyes and blonde hair spoke up, completely oblivious as to how forced the girl's smile was. "You seemed to be in some sort of a funk lately, so everyone decided to go and have a shopping trip to get you as many presents possible! Neat huh?" the blonde [Rook] asked as he spoke merrily to the girl while raising his hands up in the air and moving them up and down in an arc motion.

Hitsuji's looked at the man as her eyes filled with tears and her lips quivered with emotion as her smile turned more genuine. "T-Thank you. Thank you all. It means so much to me." she told him as the tears fell from her eyes and ran down her cheeks. She quickly covered her face and felt her cheeks heat up.

"Just remember that you still have an important duties to perform. So be grateful, street rat." the voice of the black, oiled haired man immediately caused her eyes to widen and her body to shiver as she tried to cover her face even harder. Images flashed into her head as the word "duties" echoing over and over in her mind.

The rest of the members of the peerage started to look worried as they watched her shivering, while the auburn-haired man snarled, got up and walked up to the long-nosed devil, standing right in front of his face. "You had to bring this up during her own birthday, asshole?" he asked as his hands clenched into fists and his demonic energy flared around, something which Foras responded in kind while his eyes narrowed on the man hatefully.

"You have a problem with her new duties, reincarnated filth?" he asked as he only wore an expression of forced politeness on his face.

A vein bulged on Kase's forehead as his aura flared much more violently while snarling at the man and raised his fist. His eyes then widened as he noticed a purple chain appearing on his left wrist, causing him to glare daggers at his master, who sat a bit farther than the table itself and away from his servants. His glare matched the amount of anger that resided in the seemingly older reincarnated devil. "Do not lay a hand on Foras, or you will suffer the consequences." he spoke with a threatening tone as he didn't raise his voice very much.

Kase growled for a few seconds as he continued to glare at the sea-foam green haired man for several more second, but he finally relented and returned to his seat at the table, where he received concerned and confused gazes from the rest of the peerage. Many of them were also shaking slightly and seemed prepared to wince.

"Okay, what the hell is going on?" asked Alexandre, the light-brown skinned [Knight] as he turned to the lilac-haired birthday girl with a confused voice. "I know that Foras never liked any of us and that, but I've never seen Kaze get this upset at him. Just what kind of duties are they talking about?" he inquired with an interest as he leaned a bit forward to try and get a good look of her, but Hitsuji kept on covering her face.

Hitsuji slowly started to lower her hands from her face. "P-Please, let's not f-focus on it? L-Let's just h-have a good d-dinner... please." she begged as she tried to divert the attention from all the commotion as she started putting food onto her plate, only to immediately wipe away the tears. She forced another smile to rise to her face. "Bon appetite, everyone~." she said as she continued to vigorously put food on her plate.

Everyone soon reluctantly followed her lead and started to eat, even the two pure-blood devils sat at the table and started eating. However, despite the dinner being cheerful as everyone congratulated the lilac-haired girl, there was a constant tension at the table as there were constant exchanges of nasty glares between Kase, Foras and Barbas. Whenever Hitsuji or another member of the peerage noticed the glares, they immediately caught their attention and dragged them into a conversation. Hitsuji had finally accepted that the others realized that something was wrong and that an explosion was going to happen.

But despite the tension in the air, the young reincarnated devil enjoyed herself greatly during he meal. The food was delicious and perfectly cook in a way that pleased her palette to the point that she drooled while putting food in her mouth, moaning a bit as she took her time chewing on every piece of vegetable, fruit and whatever else she could get her hands on. The cake that she was given was a pretty small one, but it had a beautiful white shade to it and made her eager to eat it, as well as the scoops of mint ice cream that sat next to it.

As they finished eating, everyone aside from the two pure-blood devils and the birthday girl cleaned up the table, washed the dishes and floor, with their master always telling them just how clean he expected them to be, which brought up several growls from the auburn-haired reincarnated devil.

After they all finished cleaning, everyone sat in a circle in the living room as Morpheus, the second [Rook] of the peerage shuffled a pack of cards. He seemed around the same age as Hitsuji, stood to the same height as Kaze and had pale-white skin tone, Egyptian-blue colored hair and a pair of hetechromic eyes, one ocean-blue and the other a blazing amber. "It is with this pack that we shall play for fun. What is it that you wish to play?" he asked with an overly serious expression and spoke in a monotone.

"Texas Holdem!" shouted Alexandre with excitement.

"Blackjack." said Lu, another member of the peerage who was a reincarnated devil and descendant to Lu Bu from Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

"Strip Poker!" Antoine shouted with an unusual mount of glee to his voice.

Hitsuji's pupils immediately shrank into pinpricks as she gave out a loud and anguished "NO!" shout that made the blonde reincarnated devil jump from the shock of how loud the shout was, as well as startling the others. She looked around as her entire face turned red and started to shake once more. "S-Sorry... I didn't m-mean to shout like that." she stuttered as she spoke, still shaking in her boots and panting heavily.

The blonde man chuckled nervously as a bead of sweat ran down his brow. "N-No, no. I guess I wasn't very considerate with your feelings. Hehehe..." he continued to chuckle nervously as h rubbed the back of his head. "A-All right, Speedy it is, then!" he declared as he quickly tried to change the subject by putting another game as an option.

Kase rubbed his chin. "I think Speedy is a good game. We don't really want to turn Hitsuji-chan's birthday party into a gambling session." he said with a glare on his face and a tone of criticism to his voice as his glare was focused this time on the younger Alexandre and Lu, who sweated profoundly.

"Play whatever game you want, I have no interest in playing." the pale, black-haired devil spoke with his usual monotone as he raised his nose up and walked to the side of the room and leaned against a wall.

"Neither do I." spoke Barbas as he sat on a couch and watched his servants with very little interest. "I'm simply a watcher tonight." he said, though Hitsuji could feel herself shiver from simply hearing his voice. She tried not to turn around and look at him do to the fear of having to face him.

"I-I'll play speedy too. It s-sounds fun." she said shakily as she once more tried to force a smile on her lips.

And so they all played for what seemed to be an hour. As round after round passed, Hitsuji felt the weight on her shoulders leave her as the concerns over her master's gaze seemed to have left her mind. She started to laugh and enjoy herself as everyone around her either cracked jokes at the expense of the overly serious Morpheus. When drinks started to flow she didn't take many, but just enough to let her feel a bit tipsy and light-headed. However, despite everything, she was truly having fun.

After they finished playing, the peerage started to give her gift cards and presents that they had bought her in their shopping trip. Each present was more beautiful than the last. She got a matryoshka doll from Alexandre, a very interesting novel by Edgar Allen Poe from Morpheus, a very pretty pink dress from Antoine, a painting of all the twelve Chinese zodiacs from Lu.

As she moved her hand over the wrapped present that she receive from her master, she shivered and bit her lip nervously as she slowly tore the wrapping from it. Little by little she removed the cover, she kept herself on high alert. When she finally uncovered the present, she saw that it was a makeup kit. She gave out a sigh of relief as she put it next to her.

Then she moved to her master's right-hand man's present and opened it up casually. Her eyes were filled with shock and terror as she saw that the present was a pregnancy testing kit, which made her shiver.

The rest of the members of the Asmoday peerage at first looked at the gift with wide eyes as they looked at the birthday girl in stunned silence. Then they gave a look of disgust towards the smarmy [Bishop], the auburn-haired man especially. Said [Bishop] simply looked at all of them with beady eyes, his glare narrowing especially on the oldest reincarnated devil. "I am simply making sure she keeps up with her new duties. It is for the sake of our master and House Asmoday. Therefore I do not answer to any of you." he dismissed them with a monotonous reply as he didn't move from his spot. Everyone but the lilac-haired girl glared at Foras with anger and disgust as they all prepared to go and beat him up.

"S-Stop! It's my birthday. L-Let's keep this happy, you guys." she once more pleaded with everyone as she now stood on her knees as an attempt to get their attention. She watched as they simply stood for a bit before going back and sitting around her, this time giving her sympathetic looks. Kase stood for a little bit longer, but he also finally relented. When he returned to where she was, he took his wrapped present, which seemed small in size, and pushed it into her arms.

"Don't open it here." he told her sternly as the furious expression was still stuck on his face, which made the lilac-haired girl shake even more. "Listen to me, Hitsuji-chan. Open it when you are in your room, alone. I'll just say that when you'll use it, you will finally be truly free." he told her as her then pushed her close to him and hugged her.

There was a bit of silence after that. Nobody spoke for at least 10 minutes, until the other members of the peerage started to leave the room, their spirits and gazes down. Each one congratulated Hitsuji as they went to their rooms or to separate parts of the house, with Antoine going to the minibar, where all the alcoholic drinks were.

Eventually only Hitsuji, Kase, Foras and Barbas stayed in the living room. There was an uncomfortable silence between them all as the girl tried not to look at anyone, all the while the three men were glaring at each other with frowns. A few minutes passed by as the room was entrenched by the nasty and unpleasant atmosphere. It was finally broken when the master of the house spoke. "Hitsuji, go to my room now." he told her with a very impatient tone as his body was shaking a bit.

Kase spread his hands wide, putting himself between his friend and his master. "I don't think so." he spoke with a fiery determination as he glared daggers right into the blood-red eyes of the man whom he considered his master. "She's not coming with you." he declared while gritting his teeth, tensing his body as he prepared for a fight.

The long-nosed [Bishop] snarled and immediately stepped forward. "You filthy, expendable, ungrateful little swine! Know your place!" he shouted angrily as he flared up his demonic aura. "Do you have any idea what you're doing, you pompous, red-haired buffoon?!" the man continued spewing insults as he ground his teeth.

The reincarnated devil simply flared his own aura and gave Hitsuji a light push to make her take a step back, only to get into a fighting stance. His eyes narrowed as he then noticed the chain of demonic energy connected to his left wrist and glared at his master, who had his own aura flared up. This time, unlike all of the other times before, he didn't back down or flinch. He stood his ground with a fire in his eyes. "Hitsuji-chan is a person. A person with feelings, wants and desires. Dreams and hopes. So instead of shattering all of that, why don't you take a page from your brother and act like a proper human be-"

Kase's speech was quickly interrupted as Barbas snarled and snapped his fingers instantly, causing the purple energy chain to glow. In an instant he was surrounded by an aura of purple electricity as his eyes widened, as jaw fell down and screams of agony came out of his mouth. He screamed, his face twisting in agony while his body spasmed.

"Kase-kun!" the young woman screamed in terror as her friend fell to the ground as his screams of agony continued to until a few seconds later the electricity disappeared, leaving the auburn-haired reincarnated devil on his knees, smoke rising from his body as he panted heavily. She knelt down and grabbed his shoulders as tears started flowing down her cheeks. "Kase-kun are you alright?!" she asked him with fear and concern, but instead of giving her an answer, he slowly stood up, each second grunting in pain as his body spasmed slightly.

The man ground his teeth and snarled at his master with a hateful glare as he finally managed to stand up properly. "This is her birthday." he spoke up once again, his legs barely managing to support him in his state as black smoke continued to rose from his burned body. "I will not stand quietly as you turn her into your personal fuck doll, master." he spat the last word venomously as his glare hardened on the High-Class devil, his body shaking from the pain.

Barbas Asmoday merely narrowed his eyes as he glared at his servant. He then coldly snapped his fingers once again, electrocuting the man once again as his cries of pain echoed across the entire house and he fell to the floor, lying on the ground and withering in pain until it stopped. After it stopped, his clothes were visibly burning and charred, more black smoke rose from his entire body as even his skin had more burns on it. He simply grit his teeth as he tried to hold from letting out cries of pain. His state caused Hitsuji to cover her mouth as tears ran freely from her eyes.

The green-haired High-Class devil walked up to the downed reincarnated devil, both giving vile glares at one another as Kaze still tried to push himself off the ground, barely capable of doing so while from behind his master the black-haired pure blood devil grinned smugly. "Anything else you want to say?" the master asked calmly yet with visible anger as he raised his hand in front of his face and prepared to snap his fingers a third time.

The auburn-haired man chuckled as he prepared a retort, but before he could retort. "Stop!" the voice of the girl echoed as it got everyone's attention. She stood up, her legs shaking as she looked down as to not look the men in the eyes. "I'll...I'll do it." she declared as her voice cracked, finally looking up as tears continuously fell from her eyes. "I'll d-do as you w-wish. Just don't hurt Kase-kun a-anymore." she begged as she barely uttered a word without stammering.

She started walking forward to her master, each step seemed to take forever as he breath tightened and her body shook like a leaf. She whimpered and sniffed with each passing step, until she stood next to her master and her friend who lied down on the floor. Her teary eyes then drifted towards the auburn-haired devil. "Please, Kase-kun, I'm not worth it. I'm not worth any of this." she spoke as she felt her master grabbing her tightly by the wrist and then pulled. As she was dragged into the High-Class devil's room, she saw as Foras walked to the low-class devil and with an evil grin started kicking him in the face and chest, all the while he slipped a defeated look towards her.

"Kase-kun!" she screamed as she was thrown into the room, the door quickly closing behind her.

Hitsuji panted heavily as she entered the bathroom, her body was soaring, weak and soaked with sweat as her she barely managed to have her clothes cling to her because of how much she rushed putting them on. As she locked the door behind her she let the clothes fall on the floor, along with the wrapped present that Kase gave her as she ran to the toilet and fell to her knees.

She threw up as she forcibly tried to push up every bit of what she had to swallow the entire night, tears running down her face as she only felt complete disgust. As she continued to throw up, memories flashed into her head, flashes of every act she did tonight, every place her master had touched or grabbed her, every position that he had forced her to take while she put no resistance whatsoever other than holding back the tears. Every flash of memory caused her to feel sick. The musk that came of her body, the smell of her master brought up more and more out of her as she continued to throw up into the toilet over and over again while never stopping her cries.

After she had finally finished puking out her very soul, she fell backwards on the tiled bathroom floor, letting out long and pained breaths as she looked up at the ceiling. As time slowly ticked away, she kept on lying on the floor, until she looked over at her own clothes, where the wrapped gift lied. She slowly turned her body and rose to her knees, reaching for the gift with all the willpower that she could muster.

She grabbed the gift, noticing that there was a note glued to the wrap. "May this set you free, lonely little bird. With all of my love, Kase." she read to herself out loud as she pressed it against her naked chest and grit her teeth, memories of her friend's pained cries ringing in her memory. She slowly started to rip open the wrap to reveal what he had decided to give her. Each motion was delicate ad precise, building up the anticipation and intrigue to find out what it was. When she finally unwrapped it, she put her hand over her mouth.

In her hand was a beautifully crafted steel dagger, a handle of shining metal that had been coated a bright and shining white color as bright as marble. The handle itself was adorned with two beautiful sapphires, one at the center of the handle and one in the pommel. The dagger was sheathed, the sheath itself colored in the same magnificent white color that the handle was colored in, containing three rubies adorning it. Hitsuji pulled out the dagger from the sheath and saw the magnificent steel blade shining in the light of the room.

The young woman quickly sheathed back the dagger and hid it among her clothes, afraid and unsure about her feelings. She entered the shower and opened it up on the water, letting it flow and turn hotter and hotter as she let the water wash her body. After a few minutes of letting her body get wet, she took a bar of soap and started to frantically rub her entire body with it.

'Have to get it off. His smell, I have to get it off!' she thought to herself as she vigorously rubbed every inch of her body. From head to toe her hand moved, guiding the soap to every spot that she could reach. From her red that showed fresh red marks on it, down to her shoulders and chest, down to her arms, armpits and stomach all the way to her waist, thighs and legs. When she was done, she started over as the water continuously washed the soap off her body. After the second time she smelled herself again, only to flinch as her pupils shrank into pinpricks.

'No good, no good! He won't it come off! Why won't he come off?!' she thought to herself as she grabbed the shampoo, hair conditioner and bath cream. She took a little bit of each as she turned off the water and rubbed them on her hair and on entire body. She rubbed her body and hair as if her life depended on it, her tears starting to flow stronger than before. 'Come on! Come!' she kept thinking as she once again took the bar of soap and starting to scrub her entire body.

After she finished rubbing soap on every spot of her body that she could reach a third time, she put it back in place and allowed the water to wash it off her body as she tried to calm down and hold back the tears, but with little success. Finally she fell down to the ground, her legs unable to keep her standing any longer. She curled up under the flowing water, hugging her legs close to her chest as she started crying her eyes out once again.

'Why is master doing this? Why does he demand of me to do this? Is it because I'm pretty?' she asked herself as she looked at her ample chest as her lips quivered and flashes of the act reappeared in her head, which then shifted into the memory of hearing her friend's agonizing screams echoing in her ears to the point that she covered them in an attempt to silence the noise. She continued to cry after closing the water, curling in the corner of the shower. It took nearly 10 minutes of crying until she finally fell asleep, ending what was a nice birthday party into another nightmare.

August, 2013,

Things didn't go any better from there on out for Hitsuji. Her master demanded her personal attendance more and more. She had stopped resisting altogether as she simply lied on the bed, obeying every command her blood-colored eyes master gave her as he continuously fondled her, chocked her, slapped her and thrusting in and out of her over and over.

All she could do was hold everything back. She held back her moans and tears to not give her master the implication that she wanted it, that she enjoyed it, despite the sensations that she felt across her body. All of those efforts left her with a dead look in her eyes.

As time went by, the "personal appointments" grew more and more commonly. Around May it was only once a week. In June it was two times a week. When July came, it was three times a week. By the middle of August it started to happen every day.

All the members of the Asmoday peerage watched as this was happening and more than once openly spoke about it with displeasure, especially Kase. However they al received nothing short but torturous pain from the chains of demonic power attached to them. This would only bring the girl to tears as she tried to protect the others, pleading on her knees until her master had stopped torturing whoever gathered the courage to show his displeasure of the lilac-haired woman's mistreatment.

She also started to stay in the bathroom for longer periods of time, using that time to wash herself more and more. The other men of the peerage kept a pitying look in their eyes whenever they heard a hurling sound coming from the bathroom, looking down in shame knowing that there was nothing that they could do.

At that particular night, they had once again were attending at a social gathering alongside the abusive master, with the lilac-haired girl sitting in the corner looking down with the same dead look in her eyes that she had kept for the last few months. She sat alone at a table, holding tightly to a glass of wine in her hand, looking at it blankly as she drifted inside her head. Her outfit was also vastly different from what she had wore in the past. Instead of wearing a beautiful, short and revealing pink or red dress, she wore a completely black dress that went down all the way to her ankles, with the top part covering her entire torso to the point that it left no window for cleavage. Despite that, she also wore a beige-colored, long-sleeved jacket that covered both of her arms and her shoulders entirely, showing no ski aside from a little bit of the neck area.

From afar, the reincarnated older man watched his friend with a pitying look in his eyes, which never wavered from her throughout the entire time they had spent there. He himself wore a simple suit and acted on his best behavior, but he constantly trembled and ground his teeth as he held to a wine glass tightly.

"Well well, would you look at who I find at a place like this?" his focus was cut by a voice that came from behind him, and a familiar voice at that. He turned around to see a woman with honey-blonde hair tied behind her head as a bun who wore a rather modest dress despite her suggestive body language. "It has been quite a while since we last met, Kase-san. Aren't you happy to see a friendly face?" she asked him with a devilish smirk on her face.

"Maria Hidaka. Not surprised to see you here, given the type of description you give your master." Kase responded to her as he kept his eye on her with half-interest.

The blonde reincarnated devil raised an eyebrow as she looked at him. "Not in the mood for talking?" she asked, only to receive no response. "Well, that's too bad. I wanted to hear your opinions on this party's host. He's pretty happy about flaunting his new bitch around." she said playfully as she looked over at said host, who was a young, handsome man with short, dark-green hair and had golden eyes, wearing a dignified and pleasant smile on his face as he was talking to several other people, two of which were none other than Barbas Asmoday and his ever so loyal dog, Foras. The young man also wore expensive clothes that showed his status as a High-Class devil, the most noticeable piece of clothing was a white cape with white fur around the collar.

Next to the young man stood a young woman with silver hair and a pair of eyes that were a very light shade of yellow, like the color of a peeled banana. When the auburn-haired man looked at the pair, he noticed the look that the girl, who was dressed in an incredibly well designed dress that was obviously meant to showcase her noticeable assets, had in her eyes.

She looked completely catatonic, her eyes as dead as Hitsuji's. Seeing this made the reincarnated devil clench his fists as he grit his teeth and growled. "Diadora Astaroth..." he spoke as he glared daggers at host, his nails meeting his skin and slowly digging into it. He could feel his body tremble as a wave of sympathy washed over as his eyes returned to the frame of the young woman, standing frozen next to her master with her arms and legs pressing close to her body while he had his hand over her shoulder as he laughed alongside the small group of devils. 'And of course you'd enjoy his company, you bastards.' his glare landed on his master as he clenched his hands into fists tightly.

"That girl looks so lifeless, it's like she got her soul fucked out of her or something. How pathetic." Maria chuckled maliciously as she crossed her arms underneath her large chest and grinned. "But what can you expect from a female devil. That's what all of them have to resort to since they don't wield true power like I do." she continued speaking as Kase's body shook more and more and he lowered his head enough for his eyes to be shadowed.

"Shut up, Maria..."

"And then there's that little friend of yours, all dead inside and frozen like a statue." she looked over at Hitsuji with a smug grin on her lips. "What did she say again all those years ago? "Pretty decent master", right? Well, I guess she was wrong about that if she looking like yesterday's trash." she continued to mock the lilac-haired girl with malicious chuckles, only to stop when she felt a chill down her spin.

She looked back at the auburn-haired reincarnated devil who had his hand hold her by the back of the neck tightly while giving her a dark glare. "Shut. Up." he told her simply as the two glared at one another, him with barely contained fury while she looked absolutely terrified.

A few seconds of intensity between the two died down almost immediately when the man finally let go of the back of her neck, turning around and looking away from her, as well as lowering his head to the ground. Maria hissed slightly with pain as she gave him a disapproving look. "You're no fun in such a sour mood. I guess I'll have to-"

"Maria," the voice of the reincarnated devil cut her as she glared daggers at him. "you know who this is, don't you?" he inquired as he pointed at a man in a suit that had a slicked-back green hair, who had a calm yet immensely powerful aura around him. The blonde reincarnated devil gasped in surprise as she covered her mouth at the sight of the Mao, only to see that Kase's glare turned to face her, a tiny smirk on his face. "Did you ever think about doing something about your master?" he asked her, but the question didn't seem to phase the woman he was talking to.

Understanding the question's implication, the psychotic woman grinned and retorted with three words. "All the time."

Kase smirked back at her before looking at the current Beelzebub and his fists opened up as he allowed his hands to fall into his pants' pockets lightly. "Then I guess we have a lot of work to do." he said as he started walking. "Would you excuse me for a while? There is a very academic discussion I wish to discuss with a very important intellectual." he told his blonde friend to go and talk to one of the most powerful men in the Underworld. The mere thought made him gulp nervously, but he knew that it was only natural to be nervous.

At the same time, Hitsuji sat on a chair, looking into a wine glass with her emotionally dead eyes, as she did for the entire evening. At a few times people tried to interact with her, even snapping their fingers in front of her face, but nothing seemed to take her out of whatever she was stuck in.

Suddenly she felt a hand being put on her shoulder, causing her eyes to widen and her pupils to shrink. "KYAA!" she shouted as she slapped away with the hand that held the wine glass, which caused her to let go of the glass and sent it flying and smashing on the floor while she fell backwards on her butt.

"Woah, woah there, cutie patootie. Didn't mean to scare you like that." a young man with short, spiky brown hair and a pair of blue eyes spoke confidentially as he extended his hand to her with a smirk on his face. "Yusuke Orojima is my name, and noticing cute and lonely girls is my game." he flirted with her... only for a second later to rub the back of his head nervously. "Hehe, I thought touching your shoulder would get you out of your funk, but didn't know you were so touchy. Sorry about that." he apologized with a huge grin on his face.

Hitsuji continued to stay quiet as she got up on her own, refusing the young man's arm as she shook when he tried to get his hand closer to her, which made him raise an eyebrow. "Are you okay? You seem a bit on edge?" he inquired with a worried tone as he figured to keep his hands to himself.

"E-E-Everything's f-fine, O-Orojima-san. N-Nothing to w-worry about." she stammered nervously as she didn't raise her head and had her eyes locked on the floor while taking a step back.

"Is everything alright, Hitsuji?" Hitsuji's eyes widened in fear as she turned to look at her master glaring at her, with the black-haired [Bishop] looking at her stoically. "Are you making a scene again?" he questioned her with a dark glare in his eyes while crossing his hands in front of his chest, which finally caused her to look around and see that all eyes in the room were locked on her, making her shake uncontrollably. His glare then turned to the young male devil and flared up his demonic aura, making him take a few steps back as he raised his hands defensively.

The lilac quickly fell to her knees, starting to cry. "Please master, I'm a good girl! I didn't mean to do anything! I didn't mean any offense!" she hysterically bawled her eyes out and cupped her hands together before the shouts turned more and more catatonic. "I'm a good girl... I'm a good girl." she said as she lowered her head.

The High-class devil simply sighed as he grabbed her by the arm and picked her up. "Good grief, you're a mess. Let's go and clean you up." he said as he dragged her alongside him, turning to look at his friend and giving him a look, to which Foras simply gave a reaffirming nod. That was more than enough for the female reincarnated devil to quiver in her boots. As he opened the door for the restroom, she saw that Foras stood in front of the door as it was closing.

He then suddenly felt herself being pushed and pressed face-first against the wall, making her yelp.

"Are you causing issues? Trying to bring yourself unwanted attention?" her master's blood-red colored eyes glared daggers at her as she looked back with her pupils shrunk, knowing what he was planning to do.

Her body shivered like a leaf as she looked into her master's eyes. "N-No! I wouldn't! I'm a good servant. I'm... I'm a good servant..." she repeated as she looked away back at the wall, only to then have her face be pushed against it again, making her cry out in pain from the forceful blow.

The sea-foam green colored haired man then moved his hand down her thigh. "Are you? If you are, then hold still." he told her as she felt her panties sliding down her legs until it reached to her ankles. Afterwards she heard a belt being unbuckled as she closed her eyes and simply let a few tears flow down her cheeks.

October 2013,

Hitsuji had been surprised that Kase-kun had wanted to take her somewhere private to talk with a few friends of his. She didn't know that he had that many friends in his social circle outside of the other guys in their peerage. She was still barely responsive to anyone except for him. She even refused to divulge any information to other guys like the silent and contemplative Morpheus or Antoine, who was also very friendly with her, even if not to the same extent as Kase-kun.

The two had teleported into a city that was inside the territory of the Asmoday family, which was were they had first bought dresses for her when she first reincarnated. As they moved pass houses and stores in the streets, her mind created images of a lilac-haired teenage girl who ran and looked at the signs of the stores, an auburn-haired man walking behind her with a smile.

"Kase-kun, I wanna go by ice cream! No, no! I wanna go dress shopping! Oh my, this dress is wonderful! So shiny and pink! Oh my g-GAH! Ouchie ouch..." the vision of her younger self shouted with excitement to her friend as the vision disappeared right after getting a migraine from saying the name of the big man in Heaven.

Hitsuji looked down and frown, feeling bitter as she remembered how foolish and naive she was when she was just a stupid little girl who didn't know how bad things would go... who didn't know the kind of a horrible person her master was.

The hollow look in her eyes remained on her face as she accompanied her friend while they continued walking along the city streets. She didn't even noticed or cared how long they walked along the streets as cars moved on the roads, her body moving almost automatically. She didn't even notice that they took a sharp turn and entered an alleyway until she noticed that there was less light than before, not that it affected her eyes at all.

"We're here." she heard her reincarnated friend's voice speaking, which made her raise her head and look straight, only to see that in the alleyway that there were also others leaning against the narrow walls, all of them wearing cloaks with hoods that weren't on at the moment. She immediately recognized Maria Hidaka, who didn't have her blonde hair tied into a bun, but was simply tied as a short ponytail. She also recognized the young man who approached her during the Astaroth party, whom called himself Yusuke Orojima. She also saw a third person among the group. He was a tall and very muscular man with light skin and a bald head.

"What is she doing here?" Maria Hidaka stared daggers at the lilac-haired young woman, frowning as she crossed her arms in front of her chest as she then shifted her sights to the auburn-haired man. "Is she part of our plan? Because I'm not risking all of our progress just because of that little girl." she stated with a frown on her face.

The pink-eyed girl's lips quivered as she looked aside and covered her chest with her arms shamefully.

"Hey shut up, Hidaka-san. I'm sure she won't do anything to sabotage us. I mean, did you see how much her master scared her? No fuckin' way she will tell him about this." Yusuke said with assurance in his voice, getting Hitsuji's attention immediately, which made him send a wink towards her, which made her look away as her body shook with fear and her arms tightened around her chest as tears started to run down her eyes.

Kase then glared at the brown-haired reincarnated devil and growled slightly, making him take a step back while waving his hands in front of himself defensively. He then looked at Maria with an angry glare as well. "Hitsuji-chan is the reason I'm doing this. She has suffered under our master long enough." he declared as his expression softened and he looked at his friend. "Hitsuji-chan, would you mind telling them what the bastard does to you?" he asked her as while his hand quickly and gently held hers. "Don't worry, I'm here for you."

The young woman nodded as she began telling everything that had happened to her in the past months. She couldn't utter a single word without stuttering or shaking, forcing her to strengthen her grip around Kase's hand, but when she constantly looked back at him, he simply gave her a reassuring, understanding and sympathetic look and a nod, which gave her a little bit more courage to continue on with her story of abuse by her master. When she had finally finished after a long, long time, the look in her eyes was once again hollow and blank of emotions.

There was a long, serious minute of silence between everyone, with the auburn-haired man still holding tightly onto her hand. Even with her dead expression, she could still see how they reacted. Maria's face was unreadable to her as she simply leaned against the wall with her arms crossed. Yusuke look at her with noticeable guilt in his eyes over how not long ago he tried flirting with her so openly. The bald man was still silent, however there was a distinctly appalled look on his face as he used his hood to cover the upper part of his face.

"Man, that's just fucked up." Yusuke said with disgust in his voice.

Maria simply looked at the lilac-haired woman, then looked over at the two men besides her and finally looked over at Kase, her eyebrow raised. "Wait, that's it? You set all this shit up just because your little floozy friend got bad-touched?" she asked with an irritated tone to her voice as she gave an insulted huff. "Didn't know you were so petty, Kase Tamotsu." she spoke with very little respect as she gave one last glance towards the younger female devil.

Her remark immediately caused the oldest reincarnated devil of the group to sneer with fury as he let go of his friend's hand and took a step forward, radiating killing intent as his demonic aura burned like fire.

"Yo, what the actual fuck, you fuckin' bitch?! Do you have no sympathy for a fellow woman?! The fuckin' hell is wrong with you?!" Yusuke shouted with anger clearly rising in his voice, while the bald man gave her a cold, dark glare.

"Disgusting..." the man spoke silently, before looking at the young woman. "Nobu Nakagami, a pleasure." he spoke to her softly.

Hitsuji, reacting quickly, grabbed her friend's hand before he could get too far from her as she saw from his body language that he intended to attack the blonde. When he felt her hand around his, he turned around with a perplexed look on his face, only to see that she shook her head with a pleading look in her eyes.

"Don't... I'm not worth it, Kase-kun. I'm not worth hurting Maria-chan."

Kase bit his lower lip slightly for a few seconds before giving a defeated sigh. His body posture relaxed as he kept on looking at his younger friend. "Alright, Hitsuji. Sorry about everything. You can go back to the city. Make sure to eat a proper lunch, alright? You haven't been eating well lately." he told her as he ruffled her hair. The girl merely nodded her head as she slowly left the alleyway and into the streets of the city.

Taking a deep breath once again, the oldest reincarnated devil of the group turned back to his allies. "So now you know why I'm planning on killing my master. If you support my plan, you will have to betray your own masters and become strays. Are you willing to go with it?" he inquired with a deep scowl on his face as his tone of voice was now completely professional. As he talked, he took out a cigarette and when he finished asking, he put it in his mouth and lighted it up. "When I finish things on my end, I'll notify you on where to meet and in what time span. So you will have to be ready to act at anytime. Understood?" he instructed them as he let out a puff of smoke.

Maria simply smirked evilly. "Oh, most certainly. When you call, my whore of a master dies. Un-der-stood~."

Yusuke put his hands behind his head and grinned jovially. "Yep yep. Though it will be hard to wait too long with all the degradation and humiliation that I have to suffer."

Nobu simply nodded with affirmation. "No. More. Whipping."

Kase glared intensely at his three compatriots. "Good. Glad to know that you support this course of action. We'll meet again next month in another part of town to discuss this in more details." he told them as everyone took their turns exiting the alleyway, mixing into the crowd.

January 18, 2014,

Hitsuji lied on the bed, her legs still spread open and a vacant look in her eyes as she stared at the ceiling of the room, the only thing she could hear was her own deep breaths, her lungs pushing up her chest up and down with each one. She could feel the hot seed leaking out between her legs, but she had gotten so used to that sensation that by this point that she paid no head to it.

Her master sat by his desk, already dressed as he was going over something, giving her barely any attention at all as she still recovered. The young woman's nose had been bombarded with the musky odor of their intercourse for what seemed like the millionth time as she simply allowed herself to focus on the sensations that her body felt. It was the only thing she could do after she had stopped crying every time.

After a few minutes, she finally got off the bed and took with her a dark-red gown, which she slowly put on while focusing on the soreness in her waist. She slowly dragged herself out of the room, limping as if her legs were made of lead. She kept herself steady by leaning her hand against the wall until she reached the bathroom.

She spend there a long time, the first 15 minutes she spent puking her guts out down the toilet, the next hour she spent in the shower, doing her damnedest to wash off her body from all the smells that she had accumulated using every soap she could find there. Throughout the entire time she barely changed her entire expression.

When she finally left the restroom she heard knocking from the front door despite the late hour, much to her confusion, but she decided to do nothing about it. As she continued to walk towards her room, something suddenly cut her out of her catatonic state. A shout.

"BARBAS!" a roar from behind the door made her take a step back and whimper for the first time in two months, feeling an intense aura of anger coming from behind the door. The was unmistakable to her, if one that had not been heard for a long time. It was the voice of Mephisto Asmoday. "BROTHER, OPEN UP NOW!" the man continued to scream at the top of his lungs as the door started to crack a little bot from the force of his knocks.

When Hitsuji noticed the High-class devil leaving his room, she quickly hid herself behind a wall, trying to get herself as close as possible as she could in order to hear the conversation between the two brothers of house Asmoday. She then noticed as all the other members of the peerage left their own rooms, with Foras quickly walking past her to meet up with his friend and master, while the others quickly sneaked into different positions that were close enough to eavesdrop. However, what was strange to her was that she couldn't find Kase at all.

She watched as Barbas Asmoday stood in front of the door and his oily-haired friend and servant hand his hand on the handle, looking for permission to open the door, all the while the knocking and enraged shouting of the heir of the Asmoday heir could be heard from the other side. The High-class devil looked at his pure-blooded devil servant and gave him a nod, to which the man in black robes hesitantly opened the door, allowing Mephistopheles into the house. Even from where she was hiding and watching, she could see a deep and rage filled expression on the older man's face.

"Is it true, brother?! The things you've done to your servants in the past year?! Are any of them true?!" the Ultimate-class devil inquired with zealot fever as he pushed a finger into his younger brother's chest. The entire house got chills from the intense, dangerous aura that the man was dripping burning with, to the point that all the servants present shook like leaves and cowered.

Barba, however, simply raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, but a year is a long time. I think you'll have to specify, or are you too riled up to think clearly, brother?" he hissed the last word as he spoke with a calm yet icy cold manner, his hostility all but bare to see.

This made the older devil halt for a second with surprise at the tone of his brother's words, but he quickly managed to return to his former state of mind. "YOU RAPED YOUR SERVANT! FOR NINE MONTHS NOW!" he shouted appalled at the fact that he even had to say those words. It made him feel sick. "Then you tortured any of your servants who spoke against that decision?! Why would you do that?!" he continued to question his brother in his anger, grinding his teeth and sneering.

Barbas' eyes narrowed as he glared daggers at his brother and frowned. "Why? Shouldn't it be obvious?" he asked as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I'm doing for the family what you can't." he declared poignantly as he seemed to barely hold back his own anger. "While you are out in the mountains "training" or whatever it is that you are doing, I'm making a baby for the family. If I do that, then I will become heir." he gave out his motivation flat out, not concerned in the slightest.

The wavy-haired man's eyes widened and his jaw fell as his face got stuck in a shocked expression as he took a step back. He stammered as he tried to even let out a sound, but he was completely frozen from what he had just heard that he didn't even know how to properly respond.

"T-That's absurd. Where did you even get such a stupid idea?!"

"Remember what mother said in our last family meal in April last year? She said that if one of us could produce an heir before you, they would replace you as heir." Barbas shot back as he clarified his answer to his brother, shocking the man even more so.

Meanwhile, Hitsuji watched from behind the wall was also equally shocked. She had remembered that night down to the last detail, as that was the night that he had taken her virginity and innocence. She had remembered that the lady of house Asmoday said something like that, but it seemed like nothing more than a light-hearted-

"Brother, mother was jesting! You raped a young woman for nine months in an attempt to impregnate her... over a jest?!" Mephistopheles raged as a vein throbbed on his forehead. "What is wrong with you?!" he asked appalled just as he was before. "What happened to the little boy who was so enthusiastic with adventure and exploration? he asked with a horrified and saddened look in his eyes as he grabbed his younger brother by the shoulders.

"Do you not remember all the fun times we've had around the countryside? When I would watch you play around the lake?" he asked desperately, only to receive no answer, only seeing his brother's eyes covered by shadows.

"Do you not remember all the times I taught you how to use our family's necromancy abilities?" he continued to ask as he received no answer.

"Do you not remember anything at all of our early years together laughing?!" he asked once again as he started to shake the younger man as he raised his voice, much to the concern of the younger Asmoday's [Bishop].

Finally, after simply looking coldly at his older brother throughout the entire questioning, Barbas finally spoke. "Yes, I remember." he spoke as his hands clenched into fists and shook. "I remember a shadow." he spat with barely any visible emotion as he used his left hand to backhand his elder's right hand off his shoulder, making the man even more surprised and shocked and... saddened. "Shadowed by your greatness as every achievement I have made, every victory that I had won, all sucked into the darkness that you had put over me." he said as he pushed off the other hand off his shoulder. "My servants are mine and I shall treat them as I wish. Goodnight brother." he finished talking as his voice seemed completely emotionless.

The heir of house Asmoday stood completely lost for words as his lower jaw was completely limp. He put his hand over his forehead as tears fell from his eyes. He turned around and faced the open door, his whole body visibly shaking as he could be heard crying a little. For half-a-minute he was like that, until he suddenly stopped. The man then stopped shaking as both hands fell to his side and clenched into fists and then he turned around, his expression showing both sorrow and an unmistakable anger.

"You will stop this behavior right now." he ordered with a stiff and authoritative voice as his aura flared around. "Your servants are no mere chess pieces, they are people. They are living, breathing beings who have their own dreams, desires and emotions. Those are things you can't curb without retaliation any longer. You will stop your vile treatment of them, or I will come back and force you to." he said with shade covering his eyes while grinding his teeth and tears still coming out of his eyes. He then turned around and exited the manor, his wings springing out of his back as he took to the sky and quickly disappeared into the night.

There was a long and lasting silence inside the house as the oily-haired pure-blood devil closed the door while he was quaking with noticeable fright in his body language. The servants were no better either, as Hitsuji herself was very close to wetting herself in fear after sensing the immense demonic power of the eldest Asmoday brother. Her master couldn't even compare!

Then the entire conversation then replayed in her mind as she realized why she hasn't seen her auburn-haired friend all evening.

She didn't know that she had made a sound, but the next instant that she allowed herself to take a small peep out from behind the wall, her eyes filled with terror as she saw that her sea-foam-green haired master was glaring at her with a glare that could very much kill her, his demonic aura burning around his frame.

"YOU!" he shouted with an uncharacteristic snarl as he turned around and walked very quickly towards her, making her quickly take a few steps back as she raised her hands in front of her face defensively.

"M-M-Master, I-I-I-I s-s-swear t-that- ARGH!" she tried to explain herself, but was cut by a hammering slap to the face that knocked her down to the ground, with all the other servants standing frozen stiff with the exact look on their faces that she had. Barbas Asmoday very quickly knelt down right beside her as he put one hand around her throat. He then looked around and his servants and snarled hatefully.

*SNAP!* *SNAP!*

With a couple of snaps of his fingers caused all the other servants in the peerage, bar the missing Kase, to scream in agony as they were electrocuted by a powerful current of electric demonic power that surged through the magical chains on their wrists, causing them to fall to their knees.

Then her master turned his gaze back to her, his murderous red eyes glaring into her with utter contempt and rage. "YOU THINK YOU CAN SNITCH ON ME TO MY BIG BROTHER TO STOP ME FROM PUTTING A SON IN YOU?! HUH?! IS THAT IT, YOU FILTHY STREET RAT SKANK?!" he inquired as his grip around her throat tightened and he started to strangle her, putting his other hand around her throat.

She tried her best to reject his accusation, make him understand that she was a good girl. A good servant who would never defy her master's will. However, all she could muster were gag sounds as she felt life slowly leaving her. "SHUT UP!" the man screamed at the top of his lungs as he let go of her throat. She felt a small relief as she could breath again, but a moment later it disappeared as she saw his fist looming above her face.

The punch hit her across the right cheek, making her spew saliva as she cried out in pain. A fist then followed up, hitting her left cheek, making her spew even more saliva as tears swelled up in her eyes. The pain was unbearable and stinging, she started to cry. The next punch hit her in the left eye, which would no doubt leave a mark later. The hit itself slammer the back of her head against the floor and made her cry out in pain once more, all the while she could hear that the other servants had stopped being electrocuted by the demonic energy from their chains.

"Master, please stop! She can't handle this!" she heard Antoine beg with his voice cracking, which was barely audible as it was from her head hurting and her ears ringing.

"This is madness, master! She didn't do anything!" Morpheus chimed in as well to defend her.

"She's too delicate of a flower! Your fists will tear her apart!" Alexandre shouted at the top of his lungs, his voice also cracking.

"We be of you, master, please come back to your senses and leave her be!" Lu also tried his best to plead, but to no use.

The High-class devil kept on punching the lilac-haired girl more and more, drawing blood from her face as he broke her nose, made bleeding welts appear all over her face and his knuckles opened up cuts across her cheeks. He didn't relent for a moment, and even when he started holding back his strength, the punches still hurt her. When he was done, her face was a complete mess, with one eye having a black eye and the other swollen, her cut cut in several places and her nose broker. The bleeding welts also covered her entire face with her own blood.

Finally her master relented, he grabbed her by the collar of her gown and pushed her up closer to his face, his eyes still showing seething anger. "Here are how things are going to work from now on. I'm going to fuck you morning, noon and eve Until you are pregnant. Six months after you give birth, I will start fucking you again in the same pattern until you are pregnant again. We will be doing this over and over and over until I say that you've given me enough children. You will not leave this mansion until you have a direct confirmation from me or from Foras. You will not go anywhere with anyone but me, especially not Kase. You will not complain, you will only obey, and you will do absolutely nothing like this ever again. Understood?" he told her as he let her go, making her fall against the cold floor once again.

She wanted to agree to these terms, just so he would leave her alone. Just so she could be alone once again. Before she could nod her head with acceptance, a cry of pain was heard coming from her master's best friend's mouth, causing everyone to jump up in alert, especially the still enraged Barbas. However, before he could turn around...

*FRUASH!*

"GAH!" the red-eyed pure-blood devil cried out as he coughed up some blood, all of it spraying over the young female [Bishop]. Everyone's eyes widened in shock and terror as a red-orange arm, with the same color of a sword that had been heated in an armory before quenching appeared to come out of the center of Barbas's torso, with Kase standing behind him with his left arm extended and piercing him through the back. Blood ran down the searing arm, with most of it evaporating while several drops fell on Hitsuji's body.

The auburn-haired man looked at his master, who turned his head slightly in agonizing pain and glared hatefully back at his servant. "I told you that I wouldn't stand to you turning Hitsuji into your personal fuck doll. This is goodbye, you disgusting bastard." he spoke calmly and with a hateful, scornful cold demeanor as his green eyes locked with his master's red orbs.

"K-Kase T-Tamotsu, b-burn in h-hell, you ing-g-grate fuck!" Barbas spat spitefully, to which the reincarnated devil in his thirties responded with a swift upper swing of his left arm in a diagonal motion to the left.

In one swift moment, blood sprayed all over Hitsuji's body and clothes, painting them red. A splash of blood flew on one of the walls, leaving a long, red arc across it, all the while the man who had knelt over his only female servant fell to the side, the entire body going limp as an entire section of his body was missing and burned from the inside, including his heart. When the body stayed on the floor for a few moment, a pool of blood started to form from it.

Barbas Asmoday was dead.

Hitsuji quickly sat up and crawled away from the corpse, screaming at the top of her lungs in utter disbelief and horror. The scream echoed inside the house as everyone else simply looked stunned as they were kneeling frozen in their spots in complete disbelief.

Kase was unmoved and cold as he stared at the man he called master for years for a few seconds, his left arm now completely red as it was drenched in blood. He then put his hand over his ear as a magical circle appeared next to it. "The deed is done. Play your part and meet me in the designated location in the human world." he spoke with a serious tone of voice as the magic circle disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

He then looked over at the other servants, as if waiting to see what their response would be. The Lilac-haired girl looked at there Foras was and noticed that he was lying down face-first on the floor. However, unlike their master, the other [Bishop] was still breathing, if unconscious.

She then looked around and the frightened and stunned members of the peerage, who were still on the ground on their knees and digesting the events that had transpired so quickly. However the silence was finally broke by Antoine. "We'll give you an hour. That should be plenty of time for you to escape. Right?" he asked as the blonde looked over at her, tears in his eyes before he looked back at the older reincarnated devil. "Watch over Hitsuji, okay?" he asked as he looked down at the floor and the steadily expanding pool of blood.

Hitsuji looked at her best friend as he gave the blonde man a nod and then walked over towards her. His expression softening as he extended his hand which wasn't soaked in blood towards her. "Take my hand, and I will make sure you will have a better life alongside me." he told her calmly and with a sad voice as he looked hopeful.

The words that he spoke made her remember the words that he spoke all those years ago when they first me. A promise for a better life. She didn't hesitate. She didn't question anything. All she knew that if her friend was by her side, then it was a life worth living.

Her hand went forward and grabbed his. She was now a stray devil, setting her on a new path, a path that would lead her headfirst into a deadly confrontation.

{To Be Continued]

xxx

Ending Theme: Life is Like a Boat by Rei Fu (use Bleach Ending 1 for audio)

Alright, and that's a wrap for this chapter.

As I said above, I did not try to undersell the subject matter. Whether or not my writing was good enough to portray how horrible it is for the victim remains for you all to judge. I have nothing to really say this time around.

Until next time stay healthy, stay safe and have a great day.

Of Devils and Reapers (Bleach/Highschool DxD)

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