Chapter 227 - 48-50

Chapter 48: Solo Interlude - Kiba

Kuoh Gremory Mansion

(May 16th, day after the Rating Game)

Drinks were flowing, while food and snacks of all kinds kept rotating in and out to keep everything fresh for the partygoers, all made by Gremory family private chefs that Rias had commandeered for the celebration of their victory.

Unlike the semi-weekly breakfast get-togethers that Rias and Sona hosted for the two peerages, where the mood was relaxed and relatively calm for gathering more than a dozen people together, the energy at the mansion was chaotic and full of cheer. All around him, Kiba's fellow devil classmates engaged in the merriment to their hearts' content, himself included.

Despite having lost his final battle against Riser without amounting to anything more than a distraction, he had done his part in taking out three [Pawns] and keeping Riser busy long enough for the others to finish their own fights, arriving in time to keep up the pressure. Just that much was enough for him to be satisfied.

Even so, without the pressure to perform hanging over him now that it was over, Kiba could admit that the battle against Riser himself had been some of the most fun he'd had in quite a while.

There was something exhilarating about pitting your mind and body against an insurmountable challenge and seeing how far you could go, testing your skill and reactions and strategy against a monstrously powerful but straightforward opponent to see how much farther you still have to go. It was a bit different than fighting another swordsman, where it was skill against skill primarily. In a way, it was like fighting a boss in a video game. Even when they outclass you heavily, there's always the possibility the player's ingenuity and skill can thread the needle and win against overwhelming odds.

He wasn't personally much for gaming himself, preferring to do something hands-on like cooking or training, but he did sometimes dabble on his own. You could only be friends with someone like Koneko for so long before picking some things up here and there from the gaming sessions she'd silently pressure you into joining.

"Get fucked, rotisserie chicken."

"Pfft- bwahahahaha!"

"Kehahaha!"

Naruto's and Saji's laughs rang out from the other room, watching the Rating Game replay alongside Yura and Meguri in a watch party. Mixing in with their noise, the entire ground floor and outside patio was filled with music from a playlist set up by Koneko, the acting DJ. Akeno had sat beside the smaller girl, the two chatting quietly about something personal based on the rare hesitation of his [Queen, and the subdued motions of Koneko's nekoshou traits. The miko had been acting noticeably off ever since the end of the Rating Game, so it was probably related.

Although, they'd been sitting together for a while now, and Akeno's countenance had gradually brightened since the beginning of the interaction, so Kiba was willing to bet that whatever they were talking about was well on its way to being resolved– or at least the burden lessened.

Outside, a net had been set up across the yard, and Rias had begun playing a game of badminton against Sona, with Nimura watching and cheering on her [King] as a counter to Issei's own loud yells of support.

Kiba smiled in amusement.

He gave it even odds both sides would start cheating with magic within five minutes.

Kiba made his way out onto the patio with Asia, Tsubaki, and Kusaka, the four of them having been talking about their hobbies prior to the spectacle of their [King]s' competition starting.

"Kiba-kun," Asia tugged on his sleeve, getting his attention. "Um, what are they playing? I've never seen it before, but it looks very similar to tennis or volleyball I think, even though I've never played either…"

"It's called badminton," he answered, looking at the shorter girl with a smile. "Would you like to try it out after Buchou and Kaichou are done? I can teach you."

"We wouldn't mind joining you, if you would like to make it a two versus two to play on the same team as Yuuto-kun," Tsubaki added, volunteering herself and Kusaka as opponents.

Asia beamed up at them with a nod. "Mm!"

Kiba smiled gently at the girl's excitement. The fact that she could find such joy in the small things in life after what she'd been through warmed his heart.

They weren't related by blood like Asia's cover identity at school claimed, but he would do everything in his power to protect her happiness anyway, as if they were siblings.

(Friday, July 6th)

Kiba took swift steps backward, twisting his body to the side just in time to let a metallic crimson gauntlet shoot past him at a break-neck speed.

[Boost!]

The slightly echoing tone of Ddraig's announcement registered in his ears after he'd reacted to the change in pace and dodged.

'That's the fourth!' He thought with a competitive grin, dashing to the side to get out of arms-reach and warding off the immediate attempt at a grab with a pair of swipes at the offending limb, dual-wielding [Flame Sword] and a preternaturally sharp demonic sword he hadn't given a name.

"Get back here, you Damn Handsome!" Issei shouted as he gave chase, a distraught look of anger on his face as his Boost turned the spar's odds in his favor. "Because of you, I won't get to play with Buchou's naked oppai tonight!"

For the past month, they'd been sparring against each other with specific objectives in mind, beyond just winning. Issei was trying to use as few boosts as possible to beat Kiba, an opponent that massively out-skilled him, while Kiba was trying to force Issei to use as many boosts as possible before beating him, pushing his skill advantage as far as he could against an opponent that would inevitably become too strong for him to defeat if he didn't end it quick enough.

In order to motivate Issei to improve as much as possible, Rias had set a goal for him, and if he met the conditions, she'd give him a "reward".

If Issei won against Kiba while beating his personal best minimum boosts used, Rias would let him grope her. If he won, but didn't beat his record– currently standing at four Boosts, or sixteen times his regular power and speed– then nothing would change. If Issei lost though, then Rias would wear pajamas to bed with him and Asia instead of sleeping in the nude as was usual for the trio.

All Kiba needed for motivation was the thrill of melee combat against someone who could push him to the limit. Naruto was his superior in pure skill, but the human wasn't quite at a level of physical ability that that Kiba couldn't handle just yet, being slower and weaker than Koneko going all out as well as not having access to the absurd energy-based abilities she used. Issei on the other hand, could boost his power and physical attributes to a level enough above the [Knight] that the skill gap stopped mattering, giving Kiba valuable experience against an opponent stronger than himself.

The spars usually became sort of like a game of chicken, or tug-of-war– at least, that was the case for the first half of each fight.

Because Issei wanted his lewd rewards, he tended to delay boosting past the threshold for his record in an attempt to beat his record. Because the [Boosted Gear] drained stamina faster the more it doubled the users power, If Issei waited too long to boost himself higher, he'd run out of stamina and lose the fight no matter what he did. Kiba, wanting to push himself against Issei at his strongest, tended to dance around Issei and give him a lot of minor cuts early on, trying to avoid doing significant damage to his friend so as to burn through the [Pawn]'s stamina without diminishing his fighting capacity too much.

Kiba put on all of his speed and just barely managed to duck around a wild haymaker, and the next one, and the next one, constantly swiping his swords in for attempted cuts and deflections while relying on Issei's style as an untrained brawler to weave the strikes too fast for him to maneuver his way through.

'Just need a single moment!' Kiba kept back-pedaling with a fierce grin until Issei had almost pushed him back up against the backyard's hedge.

Despite Issei's still-shoddy and amateur footwork, with all the training he's been doing, three [Pawn] pieces-worth of his power unsealed, and stacking four Boosts, Issei was now faster than Kiba to the point that he was able to neutralize almost all of the slashes that should have had him dead to rights. Maneuvers and cuts that even Kiba would have been hard-pressed to avoid with perfect footwork and understanding of technique and positioning, were blocked by [Boosted Gear] or dodged by the slimmest of margins simply as a matter of that much higher speed and reflexes.

"Haahhhh!" Issei yelled out a battle cry with his next attack. Just as the [Pawn] chambered his fist for a lunging uppercut with his gauntlet, Kiba pulled his limbs close and did a pre-emptive pirouette move in an attempt to disorient and reposition around his opponent, swiping his [Flame Sword] mid-spin at the now-speeding fist to try redirecting it, while sending a small wave of fire up towards Issei's face.

There was a loud clang as [Flame Sword]'s blade bounced off of [Boosted Gear, nudging the speeding fist just enough for Kiba to fully slip around it with his spin.

"Gahh!" At the same time, the brown-haired teen yelped as he reached up with his non-gauntleted hand to block the fire, getting the limb burned in exchange for protecting his face.

'There!' Kiba extended the arm holding his nameless sharp sword, transferring the momentum of his spin into one powerful slash that cut through the air with zero resistance towards Issei's back. Mid-swing, a flex and hefty expenditure of demonic power dismissed the relatively light sword construct, and created another in its place with all the same speed.

In an instant, Kiba went from swinging a standard, if exquisitely crafted, longsword, to swinging a massive two-handed demonic sword– slightly curved, with a blade as wide as his forearm and as long as he was tall– at Issei's back, without any need for a windup or time to accelerate.

[Partner!]

Almost as if by reflex, or maybe instinct, Issei managed to twist around and throw his arms up in an "x" in front of him, [Boosted Gear] in front to take the brunt of [Destruction Sword]'s power.

Clang!

A massive blast of force that would leave a normal person's ears ringing left his blade, kicking up dirt and throwing the Red Dragon Emperor back, sending him crashing through the hedges and shattering the tall wooden fence behind the bushes with a loud crack and clatter of falling planks.

Kiba stumbled for a second at the recoil, not used to using this particular weapon and even less used to using it in the manner he did. The amount of power it took to create, especially while forcing it to preserve the speed of a previous sword during its creation, left him feeling more drained than expected, but still good for another exchange or two.

"Heh…" Kiba let out a breath, not quite letting the exhale become a laugh while the match hadn't been called yet, and reset his footing before jumping back several times to the other side of the yard. 'It somehow slipped my mind; I'm not just up against Issei, Ddraig's also my opponent!'

Despite the knowledge that he messed up what would probably be his last chance to win, he grinned excitedly and dismissed the cumbersome blade in exchange for the needle-like void of pitch black that was his [Impulse Stealer, holding it behind his back while he held [Flame Sword] in front of him in a ready position to prepare for what was coming.

'And now–'

[Boost!]

'–that's five!'

Issei shot back through the fence right towards him almost faster than he could track, fist cocked back.

He reacted as soon as he saw him, spraying a wave of fire between them that covered the ground, hiding [Impulse Stealer]'s piercing tendril shooting out of the ground to meet Issei head on. The wave of fire blotted out his vision of Issei, but that was fine; he could barely track him anyway, and Issei was attacking head on, assured in his overwhelming power and speed advantage at the moment.

Kiba's eyes widened a split second later when a hole was blown through the side of his billowing fire in a blur, and [Impulse Stealer] didn't shock his hand with redirected bio-electric nerve signals as expected.

Almost as if in slow motion, Kiba twisted to turn his head and look behind him.

With one hand planted into the earth and trails of dirt showing where his feet dug through the ground to stop his mad dash, Issei crouched behind him with a victorious fire in his eyes and a fist cocked at his side, coiled like a spring and about to explode forward in a lunge at Kiba's unprotected back.

'So this is the end,' Kiba thought contently at a battle well fought. 'It really is my loss.'

[Boosted Gear] disappeared in a flash of light, and Issei collapsed, faceplanting into the dirt bonelessly.

"... Eh?" Kiba blinked, caught flat-footed.

"Since Issei-kun is unable to fight anymore due to exhaustion, the win goes to Kiba-kun," Rias announced from the sidelines with a smile, gesturing for a waiting Asia to go ahead and heal up the two fighters.

A piteous groan came from the teenage boy slumped on the ground.

"Don't worry too much, Ise," Rias said comfortingly to her downed servant, smiling mischievously. "I'm sure Asia-chanwouldn't mind having more of your attention tonight than usual."

"Eep!"

Kiba chuckled at the sound Asia made.

The end of that fight was a bit unsatisfying, and the win felt totally undeserved; watching the amusing antics of his three not-quite-dating friends was the perfect distraction.

Hyoudou Residence

(Saturday, July 21st)

"Thank you again for having me, Mrs. Hyoudou."

"No, no, the pleasure is all mine. And please, just Miki is fine." The middle-aged woman gave a wide and pleasant smile that pulled on the slight wrinkles at the corners of her eyes as she walked into the living room with a steaming plate of chocolate chip cookies in her hands. "It's so rare that my Issei brings over friends besides those other two boys, I was beginning to believe he didn't have any others!" Hyoudou Miki chuckled, before waving one of her hands at her face with a smitten expression. "Of course, ever since our sweet darling Asia moved in with us, and that lovely Rias began coming over, my Issei's been seeming to grow more and more into his own as an independent young man."

Asia curled in on herself a bit, face reddening slightly embarrassment at the praise of her newly adoptive mother.

The housewife set the plate on the table in front of the couch where Kiba and Asia sat together, and walked over to a side table.

"These smell delicious, ma'am," Kiba commented appreciatively. "Is this a personal recipe?"

"Thank you, feel free to have as many as you want, you two. And yes, it's a recipe my mother taught me," Issei's mom said, grabbing something from the table and making her way back to the couch to join them on Asia's side. "Now, you'll likely be waiting another fifteen or twenty minutes before that boy is done cleaning up– heavens knows he likes taking his sweet time in the bath for his 'private moments'– so now is the perfect time; would either of you like to see Issei's baby pictures?"

Kiba wasn't sure if it was normal for parents to allude to their children's perversions so openly, or show their children's friends their baby pictures during their first time meeting, but as he listened to Asia make her interest known, and then her reactions to the pictures of the admittedly innocent-looking kid-Issei, he couldn't help but find the experience charming, and found himself laughing along with the two women as the mother recounted a particularly funny tale of their friend's childhood.

"Mom?!"

Issei came rushing down the stairs ten minutes later with his hair still damp, and Kiba saw a concerned look in his eyes that turned into alarm when they saw the photo album out.

"Oh, Ise, you're back!" Asia called to him cheerfully. "Mother made cookies for us, and was just telling us about the time you and your old friend came home covered in mud and had to be cleaned with a hose. Little Issei was so cute!"

Kiba grinned, chuckling to himself as he watched the boy's soul metaphorically leave his body from embarrassment.

Soon the boy joined them on Kiba's side and Miki got up to make refreshments, leaving the swordsman in the middle.

"So Issei-kun–" The [Pawn] made his customary gagging sound at the way Kiba addressed him, to the [Knight]'s amusement. Normally he just let the Language ability carry his intent across with Japan's honorific system, but after the first few times Issei reacted to his friendly calls, Kiba made it a point to deliberately use the honorific for the boy in his own speech, before the translation ability took effect. At this point, their friendship was more natural with friendly ribbing, rather than being mostly one-sided with Issei showing actual disgust.

Kiba continued without acknowledging the exaggerated reaction. "–What happened to this friend of yours? It seems a bit strange that this is the first time we're hearing of them."

"There's not much to it, really," Issei shrugged, glancing at one of the pictures with what looked like nostalgia. "Irina and I hung out a lot as kids, but then he and his parents had to move to England for work or something, and that was that. We were about ten or eleven the last time we saw each other, I think. We used to take turns sleeping over at each other's houses, even on school nights sometimes. We were pretty close."

Issei reached over and turned the page as he spoke, and one photo in particular caught Kiba's eye. In the picture, Issei and his friend Irina were sitting on the floor next to a closed fireplace with Gameboys in their hands. Mounted on the wall behind them–

'Is that-?!'

–was a golden coat-of-arms and an ornate longsword. The weapon's wide, white sheath was trimmed with gold and adorned with an emerald gem, while its hilt had an upward-curved golden crossguard, and an emerald-green lacquered handle.

The sword in the photo wasn't an Excalibur, but it was undoubtedly a Holy Sword.

Images flashed before his eyes. His comrades, the other children test subjects. The researchers, faceless men in lab coats. That man, the head researcher and the one who orchestrated the entire thing, Valper Galilei; the man who ordered the deaths of himself and all of his first friends.

"-out of here, Isaiah!"

"Isaiah, run!"

The echoes of their voices and cries for him to escape as they choked on poisoned air rang in his mind, their words and faces distorted by the passage of time.

It felt like a wound on his soul that had never fully healed, only been taped shut and kept out of sight and mind by his new bonds, was pulled open again, stinging and raw.

"Isaiah!"

Rage flooded his veins, hot and fiery, stoked from long-ignored embers into a bonfire once more. The Holy Sword Project, Valper, the Excaliburs…

"–!"

Isaiah- no, Kiba snapped back to reality when Asia's hand came to rest on his arm. He looked down to see Asia looking up at him with a concerned expression, and the flames of his hatred disappeared as if doused by cold water, leaving him feeling tired and numb. "Kiba?"

"Are you alright dude?" Issei added from the other side in confusion. "What happened, did you get dizzy or something?"

Kiba's fists were clenching tightly, body tense and jittery from the fading adrenaline his past memories induced.

He took a slow, deep breath, and released it in a sigh, letting a portion of the tension in his body drain away with it.

"No," he shook his head. "No, I'm…" 'fine' he was going to say, maybe try to wave off his distraction as just being lost in thought for a moment before excusing himself to the bathroom to collect himself.

Sitting between his two friends, hearing Issei's straightforward concern and seeing Asia's naked worry, he recalled the day they first met the former nun– the compassion and innocence that the girl continued showing even after being cast aside by the Church– and he couldn't bring himself to lie to that same girl. If it was just Issei… probably, but Kiba got the feeling that the boy would have seen through the lie anyway.

The perverted [Pawn] could sometimes be unexpectedly perceptive about some things that he wouldn't have guessed.

Kiba sighed again, and instead shook his head. "That sword, in the picture. It's a Holy Sword."

Before he could explain the significance of that fact, Miki's footsteps approaching from the other room reminded him that it wasn't exactly the best time and place to open up about his past.

"I'll explain later tonight, in a more private location," he said with a small, resigned smile, glancing over his shoulder towards the kitchen. Even without having managed to get anything off his chest yet, his mind already felt calmer now that the decision had been made.

"Alright, if you say so." Issei shrugged, accepting the [Knight]'s words without a second thought.

Asia was visibly slower to put her concern to the side, but after Miki arrived to set down the tray of drinks and sat down across from them, they were quick to settle into a warm atmosphere of cookies and chatter.

Sitri Peerage Home

(Late Monday night, July 30th)

Kiba stepped through the property's active defensive barrier with Issei right by his side, the two having been in the general area for their patrol already when the meeting was called. Even without any talent in the more spellcaster-style use of Demonic Power, using it almost entirely to enhance himself and create swords, it still left him feeling a magical sensation like what he imagined stepping through a waterfall and into a misty cave would be like, except full of energy instead of water.

Thinking about what they were there for, he clenched his fists so hard that if he didn't keep his nails trimmed, he was sure there would have been blood.

They'd both received texts as part of a massive group message with all the members from both peerages, informing everyone of the basics of the meeting; that the Fallen bad actors were likely tied to the Grigori cadre Kokabiel, the Fallen in question were in possession of multiple Excalibur fragments, and that the Church had sent in a pair of young exorcists to retrieve or destroy said Holy Swords.

It took all of his self control and some of Issei's simple logic to not go running off searching for the blades himself to destroy. After all, as Issei said; why not work together with the exorcists if they shared the same goal?

While a part of Kiba wanted to refuse working with the Church on principle, the bigger part recognized that there was almost zero chance that two random exorcists would deserve any of the blame for the Holy Sword Project or Asia's excommunication. He didn't have to be friendly to them, but it would be self-destructive to run off halfcocked in his quest for vengeance without at least learning what he could from them.

Kiba took a calming breath and unclenched his hands as they approached the front door, and they walked inside.

The two made their way towards the living room where all the sounds of their friends' voices were concentrated. When they entered the main lounge, most of the expected familiar faces were there, minus Naruto and plus three unfamiliar girls. One of them, Kiba somewhat recognized as the weird blonde lolita Fallen that threw her team under the bus for amnesty, while the other two were obviously the exorcists mentioned over text, the blue haired girl currently receiving healing from Asia.

What he didn't expect was for one of the two to somehow look vaguely familiar. Even though he was one hundred percent certain he had never met the twin-tailed girl, something about her light brown hair and purple eyes seemed like he had seen it before, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. For some reason, she also seemed to perk up when they entered, her eyes tracking Issei with a cheerful smile and a wave.

Issei gave an awkward wave back with a confused expression that had the girl pouting, before they both moved to stand behind the couch that Rias and Sona were sitting on, looking a bit tired, facing the guests. Issei chose to lean back against the wall.

The living room was big, but it wasn't "comfortably seat two peerages" big, so while the two [King]s, the three guests, Asia, and a few others were sitting down, everyone else was standing around the edges of the room

"It seems everyone's here," Rias noted.

Sona nodded. "Good, let us begin."

"We have a problem," Akeno began without wasting time, getting everyone to look her way. "We know which group of Fallen is behind their attacks and sabotage going on in town." She looked completely serious, not a trace of her usual playfulness. "There's also another matter that's concerning, but less so."

"Wait, sabotage? Exorcists?" Sanji voiced in slight confusion.

Sona stood up from her seat to address everyone with small signs of tiredness creeping onto her expression, same as Rias.

If Sona's place was anything like the old school building or the Gremory mansion, the active defenses used up a lot more power than the passive ones and needed to be turned on pre-emptively, so they needed to be topped off before every use to make sure they were as effective and long-lasting as possible.

Sona began with a summary. "As you have all been informed through text, the Fallen who have been agitating the Principal Clans and flagrantly disregarding the diplomatic ceasefire while flouting our authority over Kuoh, are in possession of multiple Excalibur fragments. Two at the absolute minimum, likely four at a near certainty." She gestured to the two girls seated across from her and Rias. "These two exorcists were sent by the Church to attempt to retrieve, or failing that, destroy the blades to deny their enemies access."

She proceeded to explain the timeline of three separate Fallen attacks within less than an hour period, and Kiba felt his expression tighten and fists clench in barely suppressed hatred at the mention of the Excaliburs being in town, something that didn't go missed by the blue-haired girl that Asia had finished healing. It was explained that Naruto managed to defeat an ambusher, and that shortly after, he was present for another attack at the Gremory mansion at the same time the Exorcists were being ambushed, before he took off with to make sure a friend of his could make it home safely through the chaos of the night.

Kiba's did raise an eyebrow when it was mentioned that Naruto defeated the one who ambushed him with the help of his contact in the clans. Something about the way it was worded made him think there was more to the story than they were letting on, even though Naruto should have been able to beat a four-winged angle on his own without toomuch worry.

'Are they hiding something?' He wondered while eyeing Koneko and his [King] curiously, before changing his focus. 'From which one?' His gaze flickered between the tiny Fallen in the room– who was boredly kicking her legs back and forth– and the two Church exorcists.

'Ah… of course.' He mentally deadpanned, having forgotten just how odd and docile that particular Fallen was. There was no way she was a mole. Whatever was being hidden, it was being hidden from the Christian girls.

The fact that the two exorcists failed at their jobs immediately– losing both of their own Excaliburs within hours of entering the town– wasn't lost on the group, causing the blue-haired one to glare back at him when he smirked directly at her.

There was a brief mention of strange, seemingly-mindless chimeric Devils that attacked Akeno, how they seemed to be attracted to targets with unique abilities, and how a significant portion of the frankly absurd amount of 'Strays' they'd encountered recently seemed to match certain behaviors and observations, but it was mostly just a footnote.

"These Fallen," Rias took over after Sona caught everyone up and sat down, "have all been observed wearing the same or similar uniforms, confirmed by Mittelt here to belong to a sub-sect of the Grigori answering only to the formerly twelve-winged Cadre, Kokabiel of the Stars. The Five Principal Clans are in agreement; we all know our shared enemy now, and we have a rough idea of their combat strength. All that's left is to find their base of operations and go on the offensive."

"'Formerly'?" Issei asked, confused.

Mittelt waved a hand dismissively. "He used to have twelve, but he fought a really strong human back in World War Two who ripped off his sixth pair, so he's a lot weaker than he used to be during the peak of the faction war. Still strong as fuck and scary as hell, but way less than the other top-dogs now."

Rias crossed her arms under her bust and began tapping a finger on her bicep. "We're still trying to get into contact with both the Underworld and our Grigori liaison to see what we can expect in terms of reinforcements and reprisals from both sides now that a conflict is guaranteed, but something in the dimensional gap is interfering with the connection between worlds, so it's been slow-going getting through the official channels." She stopped tapping. "Regardless; we believe that between our own strength, the mobilizing Clans sorcerers, and promised support from the Kyoto Youkai faction should the situation develop further, it's unlikely we'll need the reinforcements if Kokabiels' men are acting against the greater Grigori's interests as we think they are."

"We could just call your brother, you know," Sona cut in with a chiding tone. "Even with the interference, it would only take a couple tries to get the most of the message across."

"We could also just call your sister," Rias shot back. "But I don't see you doing that, so that must mean you agree with the assessment. Besides, if we do need reinforcements, we'll have them a day or two from now at the latest, at this rate. There's no reason not to do things by the book in this case."

Sona scoffed. "Using all your available resources is just as important for good leadership as it is to follow the rules." Notably, she didn't actually refute Rias's point.

"Now, as for our strategy, we'll need to make sure the search teams are all well rounded to make sure everyone is prepared for anything. Xenovia, Irina, would you two mind being split up?"

Kiba was almost as confused as Issei was at the name drop when the boy's jaw fell open beside him.

"HAHHHHH?!"

Kiba and Issei were the last two to arrive, and no one had remembered to introduce them.

In order to make sure each team had at least one member each capable of contending with with the known abilities of the missing Excaliburs, as well as doing effective searching and tracking, teams were split to have at least one physical powerhouse capable of tanking hits from Mimic if needed, one speedster or swordsman capable of keeping Destruction or Rapidly busy, one person capable of fighting through Nightmare's illusions, and one person capable of ranged reconnaissance and searching.

Some people counted for multiple roles, like Koneko who could arguably count for all four, or Issei and Saji who could only really fill two roles, both thanks to their [Pawn]s' Promotion ability.

In the end, the two exorcists agreed to being split up, mostly due to the fact that the definitely-a-girl Irina Shidou was in need of a weapon– something that Kiba could most easily provide– and having three swordsmen on the same team would be extremely lopsided. While he and Issei were paired with Irina and Tsubaki, Xenovia was paired together with Koneko and Asia.

"Ise!" As everyone was breaking into their groups before heading out for the first search, Irina jogged over to where he, Issei, and Tsubaki were waiting for her. The twin-tailed girl paused, turned around, and bowed deeply in Asia's direction. "Ah, thank you once again for healing me, Miss Argento!" She called out, giving a final wave as she straightened, which Asia returned with a wave of her own and a smile. Xenovia watched the interaction aloofly, looking like she might say something, but she simply scoffed and turned her head away when Koneko stared up at her menacingly.

Kiba didn't know what to make of the odd behavior. 'I wonder what that was about?'

Irina turned on her heel with a noticeable jiggle, still in her skin-tight bodysuit.

"You– and the bounce on those– but–!" Issei stammered with his head tilted slightly down, eyes locked onto chest-level.

She finished approaching the still-stunned Issei much more calmly with a smile on her face. "It's been a while since we last saw each other, huh?" She mused with obvious nostalgia. "To think my best friend would've become a heathenous Devil in the years I've been gone…" Her smile turned somewhat melancholic and apologetic. "Sorry I wasn't able to keep in touch with you all, but my training with the church has had me bouncing around the continent, so it's been difficult to send and receive mail consistently. How's Aunty Miki been?"

Issei straightened, his expression unconsciously slipping into an amicable smile. "Mom's been doing pretty well. Recently, she actually got into going with some other women to– Wait a minute, I won't be distracted!" His confusion came back in full force. "You have boobs! Fantastic shape, by the way- You mean to tell me you're Irina?! That Irina Shidou– my childhood friend that I used to have sleepovers with and wrestle in the mud– has been a girl this whole time?!"

"Eh, what was that about my boobs…?" Irina's head tilted, before an expression of astonishment overcame her suspicious stare. "Wait, you mean you thought I was a boy? Then that means that night we- when I k-k-..." Her face turned red and she shook her head.

Kiba glanced at Tsubaki, and she glanced back. They shared an amused look for a moment before going back to watching the reunited duo, who were still animatedly getting reacquainted with each other's changes in looks and personality.

"Aren't you going to interrupt them so we can move on with the search?" He asked.

"He's your peerage member, thus I believe you should handle it."

"Ah, but as a [Queen] and the team's highest ranking member, wouldn't it fall on you as team leader to make sure the party is ready?"

"Of course. And as team leader, I have decided you are best suited to do so."

Kiba chuckled. "Touché."

"You should probably get to it," Tsubaki sounded amused, hiding her mouth behind a palm as she glanced his way again.

As amusing as the sight of the two childhood friends reunion was, Kiba knew Tsubaki was right.

It was time to get back to work.

Chapter 49: Canicular 9

Koneko

I waited patiently in the main hallway for most of the others to filter out of the building when the meeting ended, making sure to keep a specific person within my senses. Xenovia impatiently waited in silence beside me with her eyes closed and arms crossed, while Asia shifted on her feet a bit uneasily.

This would basically be the ex-nun's first real combat-expecting mission, the Rating Game not counting, so it was understandable that she was nervous. Even with the lessons Akeno had been giving her in magic for the past couple months, teaching her support spells to allow her to contribute even with her complete ineptitude for fighting, Asia would never be the type to find conflict easy. She was a kind girl.

Xenovia on the other hand, took to it like a fish took to water.

'Or maybe a dolphin,' I thought with dry amusement. 'Pretty to look at, but a complete brute on the inside.'

Her whole energy, while simple and maybe even a little innocent in its blunt straightforwardness, was an aura of barely restrained action. Xenovia wasn't just some exorcist lucky enough to be capable of wielding Excalibur fragments; her very being seemed to want to jump into the coming fight. If Koneko was reading her right, it wasn't even because she was particularly bloodthirsty. She just craved the simple certainty of the battlefield over the messiness of complicated social stuff she didn't get.

The complicated feelings mixed with confusion I sensed coming from the brute a few moments ago– when she looked at Shidou happily reuniting with the perverted "heathenous Devil", just for her to get irritated at herself and proceed to ignore the room– just proved to me that it wasn't a fluke I felt earlier when something similar happened.

After Xenovia first recognized Asia as the former Holy Sister, when Asia made a reference to His teachings for the reason why she– a Devil– had offered to heal them– exorcists– Xenovia had offered to 'purify' her and send her to God since she was still a true believer. Completely without any malice or aggressive shifting in her aura.

In front of the majority of two peerages.

She didn't care that the Devils in the room reacted poorly, she even expected it and actively ignored us when making the offer, knowing that we would object to her killing our friend. Her aura only turned frustrated and confused when even her own partner rebuked her for the insensitive comment.

If I had to guess, she probably believed someone who truly worshiped the big guy upstairs would accept it. In her mind, it might be a perfectly normal and reasonable offer to make.

I was just glad Kiba and Issei hadn't arrived until some time after that. The two were the most protective of Asia out of everyone, and either one of them– if not both– might have started a fight on the spot.

So far as I could tell from my observations, she was earnest, serious, and hot-headed, with a lack of common sense. In other words, an idiot. She would have probably taken them up on it despite being surrounded by other Devils.

Luckily, that hadn't actually happened, because whatever the hell her backup sword was, it was fucking dangerous. I could only feel tiny slivers of its power slipping through as it strained against the seal magically chained to her soul, like the Holy equivalent of some sort of bloodthirsty cursed-sword that had been locked away for safety, and it was enough to make the fur on my ears stiffen warily.

Despite the open disregard for us Devils and the clear (to me) danger of her sealed weapon, I chose her to be on my team. For a couple of reasons, that basically boiled down to 'vibes'. I could read her aura pretty well compared to most people, Asia didn't hold a grudge against her for her offer and still seemed to want to interact with the church girls, and Xenovia herself was a very to-the-point girl from my observations, something I could get behind. I felt we could get along fine, even if some of the others were iffy about my decision.

My target finally made to rise from their seat, stretching their arms and legs and wings, before they began to lazily float through towards us on their way to leave the living room.

Mittelt yawned into a fist as she bobbed past through the air, turning to go through a different doorway towards the kitchen instead of the exit.

I reached out, snagging her by the ankle.

"Huh?"

It took her a moment to even realize she'd stopped moving forward. But when she turned her head to look around and saw us next to her– two close range fighters and a non-combatant– and registered my loose grip around her limb… well, she assumed the worst and tried to make a break for it.

"No, no, no, let me go! Find someone else!" She practically cried like a baby while wiggling violently and flapping her wings for extra thrust. "I don't wanna work hard, you can't make me!"

She didn't make it far.

Or anywhere, even, because my feet were rooted to the floor with chakra, and she was, put plainly, weak.

I began walking towards the front door to leave, Xenovia and Asia following behind me and radiating indifference and awkwardly earnest worry for the lolita respectively, as I pulled the Fallen along like a balloon.

"Oof!" Mittelt exhaled sharply as she landed on her butt. "Fucking- I'm still on probation, and my minder disappeared isn't picking up our calls! Sona said I'm not allowed to leave the Sitri property until this mess is handled."

'Huh.' That was news to me.

"Can you contact Kalawarner?" I asked her bluntly, quickly changing plans. I had dropped her like a sack of potatoes on the front lawn. She had decided that if she couldn't escape my grip, she might as well be a brat and go limp so that I had to carry her deadweight.

But she's an idiot who forgot that I'm a [Rook, so all she accomplished was bumping her head a few times and messing up her dress as I dragged her outside.

"Huh?" Mittelt went from about to curse me out to looking at me like I was a weirdo. "That stupid bitch? What's it to you?"

"She's supposed to be under Grigori's watch," I said bluntly. "The only Fallen here the past couple weeks are you, your handler, her, and Kokabiel's followers. Do the math."

I watched as Mittelt did in fact 'do the math' and her lips fell open slightly with a surprised expression.

"... Wow, I was just joking, but she really is a stupid bitch, if she fell in with those guys."

"Naruto-kun followed her after you two met in the cafe, asked her some questions." I tilted my head. "We think she probably didn't have much say in her being here. She's supposed to be on probation or whatever in Grigori territory, and she was super on edge when he questioned her about stuff."

My cheeks warmed. Mentioning the rooftop incident unintentionally brought to mind my memory of Naruto-dressed-as-Fate sipping from the same straw as me. 'Indirect kiss…'

I idly wondered what he was doing right now, if he'd gotten Norika to someplace safe yet.

"Yeah, that tracks," Mittelt grunted in agreement as she stood up. I pulled my attention back to the present. "Kokabiel isn't exactly known for being a pleasant guy, and no one really cares about the treatment of people on punishment duties. Especially not the guys who're nominally in charge of them, but don't have the kinda real power needed to go against people like the Fourth Watcher himself."

"That's…" Asia began softly, clasping her hands in front of her tightly. "How sad. Even those who've made mistakes deserve to be treated fairly."

"Eh, it's easier to keep your head down when the big shots are headhunting for a disposable asset, less chance your easy life gets caught in the crossfire." Mittelt shrugged, sending a sympathetic look towards the other blonde. "It sucks, but we're Fallen for a reason– a selfish reason in most cases. A lot of the others just don't care at all about what happens to people they don't know, especially if it might put themselves at risk."

'Implying that she's different from the others,' I noticed. I hadn't seen much evidence of that, though. From what I'd overheard of the totally degenerate way she spent her free time, I couldn't really imagine she was really mentally equipped to give a shit about people. Then again, maybe she had hidden depths to her since she was an angel at one point?

I mentally shrugged. 'Eh, whatever.'

I didn't really care, to be honest.

"Enough," Xenovia spoke up with her arms crossed, dragging me out of my musing. She was looking at the lolita with a frown. "You, Fallen, either contact this comrade of yours or tell us how to find them." She turned to me seriously. "If this turns out to be a waste of time, Toujou Koneko, I'll leave and complete my duty on my own."

I glanced at her sharply, but it felt like she was being for real. Despite her and her partner having lost two Excalibur fragments while working together, she honestly believed she would be better off hunting them down to destroy on her own than working together if our leads led to dead ends.

Either she was suicidally zealous, wholly confident, or both.

"By yourself?" Mittelt snorted. "Didn't you and Twintails already fmmbmph-?"

I clamped my hand to Mittelt's mouth to shut her up. Whichever Xenovia was, I didn't feel like antagonizing the exorcist with a holy weapon that put me on edge even while it was sealed away. The little idiot didn't even notice the irony of her calling someone 'Twintails' as a dismissive nickname, let alone consider the possibility that an exorcist trusted with a mission like this, might just not give a fuckabout tolerating a Fallen's verbal jabs and move straight to violence instead.

Xenovia didn't seem to me like the type of person to really care as long as you didn't outright blaspheme or insult her faith, but I was still pretty new to sensing auras and didn't want to chance it. I could just be misreading her.

"Fine," I nodded to the blue-haired girl, before turning my head to face Mittelt. "Get us whatever info you can from Kalawarner, even small stuff. Locations, mentions of co-workers movements, anything. Be subtle, don't let her know we're onto them; don't want Kokabiel's men catching on if she notices and reacts."

She cocked her hip and rested a hand on it. "Do you want me to be subtle, or for her to not notice something's off?" Her other arm rose dramatically until it was parallel to the ground, a single index finger pointed up. "Pick one."

I blinked, considering her point, before conceding with a sigh. "The second."

"Can do, tiny boss lady~!" She did a little hop and lifted one foot behind her skirt, while winking and making a peace sign next to her face. She dropped the 'kawaii' pose to dig her phone out of her frilly dress's neckline a moment later. Of course, it was a pink flip-phone with a Hello Kitty keychain attached to match her cutesy lolita persona. "Give me your number, I'll call you later to pass on whatever I find out. You gals can go try to find those needles in the haystack, or whatever it is you were planning to do before you came to me for the job. Kala's kind of a bitch, so this might take a bit to get her to cough up something useful. She might not even take my call." She gave an amused smirk. "You know, because she's a bitch like that."

After trading phone numbers with the bratty angel, she headed back towards the house. Normally I would've thought she was just lazy, but she said it earlier; she's still on probation. Even if she wanted to join a team and get her hands dirty, she literally wasn't allowed to in case it spiraled into a political issue or whatever.

Asia, Xenovia, and I were about to head off, when Akeno stepped out through the front door right as the blonde Fallen opened it, her two pairs of wings already released and at rest behind her.

The blonde Fallen froze and Akeno glanced at her, before Mittelt scurried around the [Queen] and into the house with a muttered 'excuse me'.

'Looks like she's still wary of Akeno-senpai.' Whatever Akeno had done to her when she'd watched over the Fallen prisoners during the Asia Incident, it had left an impression on Mittelt.

Akeno's eyes caught mine, and she approached.

"Koneko-chan," she greeted with a nod. "Your team is about to move out, I take it?"

"Mm," I nodded, raising an eyebrow as her Fallen and Devil wings shifted behind her in loose movements. "You too? Didn't Buchou say we need to be in teams?"

"Not necessarily," Akeno corrected with a half-smile. "Those of us going on the hunt must be part of a team. I've been tasked with taking a central position in the town's sky, to act as a quick response reinforcement and mobile artillery unit as needed. After all, 'artillery is the true god of the battlefield'."

I deadpanned. "Youjo Senki was her binge-watch this weekend, wasn't it." It was more of a statement of fact than a question.

"It's sound advice," Akeno said simply, smile widening. She turned serious, looking between both me and Xenovia. "Both of you be careful, and don't hesitate to call on me. With only two combatants, even two of the stronger ones, it could be dangerous if either one of you gets distracted for a moment against large numbers." She nodded Asia's way, the message clear. Even if Xenovia and I might survive a moment of distraction, our third was a squishy healer.

"Understood." I nodded.

This wasn't just a fetch quest, it was also an escort mission. Even though Asia was still keeping up with training her mobility and dodging… well, she still had a lot of ground to cover.

Pun intended.

"It won't be a failure of ours that brings Argento-san harm, you have my word." I almost snorted at Xenovia's wording. She didn't seem to realize that it could be taken the opposite way too, that Asia getting hurt would be intentional.

Asia bowed to Xenovia. "Thank you, I'll be in your care." She rose, and saw me in her field of view. "Ah! You too, Koneko-chan!" She squeaked, quickly bowing again my way with an embarrassed sound.

"That goes for you too, Koneko-chan." Akeno's lips quirked into a strange smile. "Uzumaki-kun will be upset if he finds out you got hurt when you could have called on me for help. It would be really unfair of you to make us worry like that, you know?"

I suppressed my urge to reflexively read her aura. "Mm."

I already knew the faint tangle of hard-to-understand feelings I would see from her, and didn't want to distract myself. The same mess that appeared whenever the three of us were together, ever since I had all but confessed to Naruto-kun and been more open with my affection. And things had been going so well, with our talks about our similar struggles with our heritages…

Akeno nodded, before stepping back, and lifting into the air with a flap from her wings. I watched her figure shrink into the distance as she flew off.

I shook off my own complicated thoughts and focused on the mission.

"Let's get going too," I said to my teammates. "We should start over by the abandoned church."

I didn't think they'd be stupid enough to shack up there again after the incident with Raynare and her crew, but it was best to check just in case.

"Yes." Xenovia turned on her heel and started walking in the direction of the street.

I blinked at the immediate action.

"... How much do you wanna bet she doesn't know where she's going?" I asked Asia as Xenovia took a right off of the property. "I've got ten thousand yen in my pocket right now." The exorcist was heading in the direction of Kuoh Academy.

The opposite direction from the church.

Asia gave a nervous giggle. "Please try to be nice, Koneko-chan..."

It was a bit past midnight by the time we got to the church property, and it still had the same faint holy aura as it did the last time I'd been here; abandoned and weakened from what it might have been in the past, but still blanketing the area. The only difference this time was that I could sense it through my Senjutsu too, not just with my instincts as a Devil.

Crossing the threshold from the forest to the consecrated grounds with a slight twitch of my tail, I connected my chakra to the Holy energy– concentrating with closed eyes to make sure I kept that connection as separated from my physical body as I could– and tried mapping out the grounds.

"I don't sense anything from the building," I announced to the other two. "Let me check the-"

Basement, I would have said, but I paused and huffed when I sensed what Xenovia was doing.

She'd walked straight into the church without hesitation, hand held to the side and ready to unseal her sword at a moment's notice.

I gestured to Asia to follow me.

When we caught up to the exorcist, I spoke up. "We didn't need to come inside. I was gonna scan the place from out there."

"I do," she denied, beginning to make her way down the exposed hidden staircase. "Likely or not, the possibility that you are secretly in league with the thieves and hiding it still exists, so it's my duty to confirm for myself whether or not your judgement can be trusted."

I rolled my eyes. 'Then what's the point in following my lead as a sensor in the first place?'

I could respect how seriously she took her duty, but if it was going to be like this for every place we checked, we'd be doing this for weeks before getting any closer to a real clue.

Thankfully, it wasn't like that for every place. As we made our way south from there, checking the various scattered homes and small businesses on our way towards the more densely populated center of town, we made much better time through the search route I picked.

A big part of our increased speed was Xenovia relenting and letting me carry her to fly past the periodic stretches of forest and otherwise unpopulated areas.

And by 'carry her', I meant 'dangle below me' with one of her hands gripping around my ankle while I flew low and close to the buildings and tree line, so that she had the option of letting go at any time just in case I attempted to fly high up and drop her from a lethal fall distance. If the Church wasn't what it was, with the reputation it had, I would have thought she was being way too paranoid. Instead, I only thought she was being a little overly cautious.

Either way, progress was quick.

Apparently, while she wasn't good with the church's brand of magic and her senses weren't very good compared to a devil's, her instincts were spot on when it came to knowing when there was a demonic or holy presence in the area. She could tell instantly that I was telling the truth every time a building or residential block was free of any holy energy. Since the church had its own holy presence, she'd needed to make sure it wasn't anything out of the ordinary, since for all she knew, it could have been hiding something.

Luckily for me, none of the other homes and businesses in the relatively-rural north-Kuoh area had a trace of anything Holy, so we made good time towards Kuoh-proper without Asia and I having to deal with Xenovia breaking and entering some rando's house in an attempt to make sure their consecrated bible-study room or whatever wasn't hiding anything suspicious.

I didn't know if she would actually do that, but I wouldn't put it past her.

It was impressive she could hold on as long as she did though, especially since it was clear to me she was getting tired now that it was in the early hours of the next day. The sun would begin coming up in the next hour or two, and even the rest of us devils were going to get really sleepy soon.

Devils getting energized during the night didn't mean much when all of us had school most mornings and kept to a human routine; our sleep schedules were shit for both devils and humans. Asia had been slowing down for a while now already, even with short breaks.

"One more block, then I'm calling it for the night," I announced. If we kept going for much longer, I'd be the only one able to actually function at a decent level if we encountered our targets.

Asia almost slumped over as she sighed in relief, and I got nods from both her and Xenovia, which only sort of surprised me. Despite her headstrong nature, Xenovia was actually a lot smarter than I expected, and was actually the one to suggest proper breaks to maintain our performance levels. She understood that rest was important to carry out her mission to her best ability.

After a periodic check-in with the other teams over radio, where the only thing of note with the others was another chimera devil attacking Akeno and somehow surviving the first hit from her Holy Lightning, I eventually felt my phone begin vibrating just after confirming another block was clear. The only notable presence was just a couple Gremory contract flyers in one of the apartments.

"Have anything for me?" I asked after answering the call.

"Not any leads for a location like you wanted, but still two pieces of potentially big info," Mittelt's voice fought to be heard over the light wind, but my ears would have had no trouble picking it up even in a hurricane. "Took a while of bugging her to get Kala to actually pick up without immediately hanging up, but I got to her eventually. First and more immediate of an issue, everyone's least-favorite psycho-killer-pervert Freed is back in town and already cutting people up. She didn't say how she knew or why he's here, but she hates his creepy ass enough that she didn't do as good a job as she thinks in hiding that he's working for the same team as her."

"Who's Freed?"

"The white-haired rogue exorcist that worked for Raynare, remember? Pretty sure you rolled his ass at least once."

"Mm, right."

'Joy.' I couldn't wait to have to deal with hearing that freak mouthing off when I found and beat his ass to a pulp.

That was only half sarcasm, because I would really enjoy beating his ass to a pulp, even with his dirty mouth running. Just thinking about how he ambushed Naruto-kun in his own home began pissing me off, even though it's been months.

"I'll warn the others. What else?"

"Aside from the claim that Freed was 'spotted' arriving with some old human clergy dude, despite the fact that Freed is a known criminal and would have been caught immediately if he tried to enter Kuoh from anywhere publicly visible?" She audibly snorted over the line. "Apparently a couple of Kala's 'bosses' are in a bit of a rush for something, while keeping the others busy with 'hurry up and wait' orders.

"... Fuck."

"Yeah." Mittelt agreed, her voice becoming serious. "Whatever these guys are doing with these swords, sounds like you've probably only got another couple of days to put a stop to it before they're ready to kick it off. I already let the Sitri know, and she's telling the Gremory now. Good luck, tiny boss-kitty."

She hung up before I could say anything, and there was a short moment where I imagined glaring at her with the force of a thousand suns for the insult to my form and stature, before the reality of the situation reinstated itself in my mind.

I pressed on the radio in my ear, broadcasting to every team.

"Koneko speaking, heads up; that rogue exorcist, Freed-whatever his last name was, is back in town and working with the Fallen. Keep an eye out for ambushes and be careful, he's tricky."

"Roger!"

"Thanks for the warning!"

"Thank you, Koneko-chan."

A chorus of confirmations came from the other teams.

"We're about to call it for the night, stay safe everyone."

"Freed Sellzen?" Xenovia asked from the side.

The three of us were currently standing on the roof of a small apartment building bordering central Kuoh so that I could focus my senses without worrying about flying. Even without the same biological obstacles Naruto-kun's people had with using it, I did find Senjutsu easier to use if I stayed still. It was easier to carefully control what I let myself connect to when I didn't have to account for my own form and motion as a variable. With the surrounding block cleared, I had dropped my focus on it when I picked up the call from Mittelt, letting my range shrink to my immediate vicinity

"Mm," I nodded. "That sounds right."

"He's a vile and disgraceful excuse of an exorcist," she spat. "A mad dog and heretic that should have been put down before he could have become a stain on our records. I'll be glad to take the head of a failure like him should he cross our path!"

A breeze blew in, and I smelled the scent of fresh blood carried on the wind a split second later, reflexively glancing in that direction.

A metallic 'click'-

I instinctively lunged in front of Xenovia and threw up both of my arms in an 'x', not even having time to focus my chakra enhancement for defense. Even so, it should be enough to–

-A flash

My mind went static with pain for a second before I regained my senses, a sonic boom ringing in both sets of my ears.

I almost fell to my knees and felt the urge to puked, feeling like I'd been kicked through my arms and chest by a sentient lava ridge, as dumb as that sounded. A white-hot pain that spread like fire coursed through both my arms and the upper right side of my chest, stealing my breath.

"Koneko-chan!"

Asia's cry cut through some of the pain, and I immediately began cycling and reinforcing my body with as much chakra as I could muster. It took a moment before I began feeling any slight relief, as my literal life-energy fought back the Holy Light that was trying to flood through my wounds. I looked down, and saw matching seared-and-bloody holes punched through my forearms, and red pooling through my shirt right between my right shoulder and breast. Even the back of my shoulder blade ached fiercely.

It was a through-and-through.

Asia reached me and placed her glowing hands on my back, I forced my lungs to suck in air despite the hole shot through one of them.

"HAHAHAHAHAH!" I glared as that psychotic white-haired jackass sped across multiple buildings before landing on the ledge of ours, an absolutely fuck-off big golden revolver in his right hand, and a sword matching the description of Excalibur Rapidly in the left. "What kind of retarded shitty-devil takes a bullet for a fucking exorcist?! You're even dumber than those mindless fucks, haha!"

The gun smoothly flowed into the shape of a mac-10 with a slight golden glow, and he pointed it at us with a manic grin that made me want to smash his face into a curb.

I vaguely felt Xenovia further back and to the side, her power spiking steadily. She'd managed to react to me in time and dodge. 'Good.'

"What was it one of you jailbait-fucks said?" Freed continued with that same smile, gesturing to his chest where a tiny directional microphone was pinned, a wire snaking up to his ear. "You'll be 'glad to take my head'? Well then, let's see you come try and take it with your shitty brains blown out the backs of your skulls!"

Asia shook in a mixture of fear and protective indignation behind me. I spat out a wad of blood from my mouth while maintaining my glare on the man, bringing my hands up into a stance with my fingers bent and strands of humming chakra trailing from them, keeping my body between Freed and Asia.

Between [Twilight Healing] and my chakra energizing my flesh, my chest was already sealing up, though my arms were still leaking blood and one of my ulna's felt like it was cracked.

Regardless…

I pushed Asia back with my tail.

"There's not gonna be enough of you left to recognize when I'm done," I promised him, my eyes tracking the gun's barrel. The blue-white chakra trailing from my fingertips stiffened and grew, hardening into wicked claws that coated my fingers like a second skin, and extended back all the way up past my wrists like shards of hard-light armor.

Freed's grin widened as his trigger finger flexed.

I lunged.

Chapter 50: Canicular 10

Koneko

"Hahahah! Eat lead, Devil whore!"

The Excalibur Mimic machine pistol spat a bright barrage of bullets at me, barely more than tiny dots of glowing white Light that were all but impossible to individually track from my head-on perspective.

I didn't bother trying to track them as I launched myself at the psycho. I just thrust a knife-hand forward at a slight angle and let the stream of projectiles deflect up off of my chakra claws to fly over my head and shoulders, my hand kept in line with the gun barrel I had my eyes on. His own steady aim and good recoil control worked against him, making it easy-mode for me to deal with the quick salvo.

Freed didn't stay still, dashing to the side in the moment between the last shot of the burst leaving his gun and me deflecting it. He wasn't quite a blur to my eyes, but he was definitely faster than Kiba just then.

Proving its usefulness yet again, I planted a foot with the tree-walking technique, stopping and twisting left on a dime to swing my claws around behind me. My backhanding claw sweep met the flat of Excalibur Rapidly's blade mid-downwards slash, knocking the swing further inside to miss me. Even as it harmlessly cut past me and left his main sword arm out of position across his torso, Excalibur Mimic was swung across at me in the shape of a golden claymore.

The sword, not the "FRONT TOWARD ENEMY" kind.

I continued my sweep with my whole body, swinging my second arm's set of claws directly at the blade to pit my full, chakra-enhanced [Rook] strength against his augmented-human strength.

I whiffed.

Freed's grin widened in my peripherals as Mimic's blade shrunk and thickened, my claws passing right through where it used to be and exposing the back of my shoulder to him. In a moment, there was a mostly-formed sawed-off double barrel shotgun pointing at the back of my center-mass.

"Dumbass!" He stuck his tongue out while cackling as he pulled the trigger.

The Holy buckshot blasted over my shoulder with a loud explosion, my tail having slipped past perception to bash the underside of Mimic with a burst of chakra and knock it violently out of his grasp.

"Fucking bitch!" He howled, his trigger finger clearly broken. Having his arm unexpectedly and forcefully jerked off course when Mimic was thrown to the side also threw Freed heavily off balance and staggering back, the human not having a way to fully withstand the sheer force I could use despite Rapidly boosting his speed.

Speaking of–

"Mrrraaaaow!"

Sharp, searing pain shot up my spine, making me jerk away off-balanced.

–While his stagger took me mostly out of his reach, Rapidly still boosted his speed and perception enough to nick my tail before I could fully retract it. I managed to disarm him of the more difficult to deal with Excalibur though, so it wasn't the worst possible trade.

I fought through the pain and ache, diverting some more chakra to shoot down my appendage and blast away the Holy energy trying to tear through my tail, and spun to face Freed fully again with my arms outstretched.

He was already dashing towards me with Rapidly at the ready, but I already had my claws chambered wide to attack–

"May the Lord grant me thy strength, Durandal!" There was a massive burst of terrifyingly potent Holy power to the side, the aura radiating the promise of destruction ironically reassuring me despite the aura of the legendary sword making my fur stand on end with existential dread.

His head turned slightly and he blurred back just in time to avoid being turned into red mist, as a wave of destructive Holy power passed through his intended path, practically shattering the air itself with a deafening bang, the shockwave alone cracking the roof surface. "Too slow, haha!"

Ignoring the muffled sound of panicked cries from the humans living in the building below, I kept my eyes on Freed during his instant of distraction and finished swinging my arms across my chest, firing all ten of my claws at him as thin beams of sharpened chakra.

"What the- fuck!" His eyes widened, and he barely managed to twist away from one set, catching the other on the flat of Rapidly's blade. The force of my attack slammed into his hasty guard with enough power to send him skidding back a few feet, before he swung his sword up and all five were deflected up into the sky to harmlessly dissipate. He juked forward as Xenovia came at him from the side swinging a massive blue and gold blade down at him, dodging her by a wide margin.

The tip of the sword barely touched the roof in front of her as she halted her swing, but even that slight contact shattered the structure, sending a dozen square meters of the roof crashing down into the lower floors.

I was instantly annoyed at Xenovia, though it wasn't entirely her fault. Freed was just too fast with Rapidly for me to land a clean punch or kick, but there was a reason I hadn't just punched the ground to destroy his footing and even the odds.

If this weren't an apartment building, I wouldn't have cared about the property damage, but there were people living here. Assuming a few didn't immediately think to evacuate after being woken up in the middle of the night by loud explosions and the building shaking and vibrating, a bunch of them were likely gonna get injured or killed at this rate.

"And now you're open, retard!" Freed darted in around her to punish her attempt to kill him, but she was already spinning, pulling the hilt around to block his swift strike with her semi-circular golden handguard.

I let a set of chakra threads trail from one of my hands as I dashed towards the fallen Excalibur Mimic, the other reaching up to my earpiece. "Akeno-senpai."

"Fool," Xenovia said to our opponent calmly, spinning in place as she continued to predict and either block or deflect his attacks as he sped circles around her, though he made sure her blade itself never made contact with Rapidly. "Even while I was unsealing my Durandal, I was watching you fight." Her foot suddenly shot out behind her in a kick, grazing his hip right as he tried to catch her blind spot and sending him twisting. "You're not that special, just a failed exorcist with a powerful stolen weapon."

She said that, but even as she swiped Durandal at the opening he was already recovered and speeding around, staying ahead of her swing. He was the one landing shallow cuts on her with the few slashes he'd gotten through her defense, leaving bloody tears across her body-suit. He was just too fast for her to properly keep up, and it wasn't like she was trying to destroy the building or willing to bring it down on innocents. It seemed, based on her aura fluctuating in its containment of Durandal's, that she didn't have perfect control of the sword, and just made a slight miscalculation in her inexperience. A miscalculation that resulted in part of the roof falling on someone's kitchen.

Even with my own high speed, we were both primarily power-type fighters and he was a speed-type, so this environment and the restrictions it placed on us favored him. The scent of blood in the air was growing more potent.

"What is it, Koneko?" Akeno's voice buzzed in my ear.

My ears suddenly picked something else up though, reminding me of someone I'd lost track of.

'Oh, right. She's been training with Akeno.'

Despite Naruto being the ninja, Akeno was actually better at slipping past my senses than him, and it seemed she was passing a little bit of that skill onto the former nun. We wouldn't have to worry about collateral soon with Asia helping with evacuations, though we'd definitely need a round of memory altering to cover this up.

"Delivery for you from the north," I informed my [Queen].

I sprinted past the Mimic-shotgun and latched onto it with my threads, carrying it behind me– and well out of contact with my Devil body. I didn't want to risk touching it with my bare hands.

Then I twisted my momentum, pivoting on my feet to spin around once in a full circle. Twice.

I released my strings on the third rotation, right as Mimic reached the perfect moment in its arc, whipping the Excalibur around and into the air, sending it flying towards the general area of the city center with a sonic boom.

"Excalibur Mimic in flight and incoming; it's a sawed-off shotgun right now."

"I sense it coming, intercepting now."

There was another wild surge of holy energy followed by a loud crash somewhere behind me as another section of the building crumbled, but neither Freed nor Xenovia's auras had lowered.

My tail twitched reflexively, the end half completely numb, and I felt aching pain flare out from my wounds. I hadn't had time to heal myself during the fight, but between Asia's initial help and my continued efforts with my chakra, I'd at least managed to keep the bullet holes from bleeding. They still hurt like hell though, especially when I was moving around like an acrobat.

Drip.

I made a split-second decision, now that my mind had a brief opening to think about stuff outside the immediate heat of combat. "Could use a little backup. We're fighting Freed and he's got Rapidly too, difficult to pin down."

Even without Rapidly, Freed was skilled enough to survive and escape me and Kiba when he was slower than the [Knight]. We'd both gotten stronger and faster since then, but Rapidly closed the gap and then some. Getting Mimic away from Freed made this fight more doable since he no longer had the option of keeping distance and taking free potshots at us if we pushed him too hard in close quarters, but it would still be difficult to catch him with just me and Xenovia if he decided he was better off cutting his losses and running, needing multiple teams to intercept him.

"Alright, I'll be right-"

I bent my knees, Akeno's voice slipping from my focus as I ducked and spun around the thrust of Rapidly aimed at my back, and threw a backhand towards his extended elbow with the hope of breaking it.

He reacted in time and swayed out of reach as expected, continuing past and circling around with his higher speed to stay behind me, slashing at my back. I sprung forward and away from him, twisting mid-air and swinging my curled fingers around to shoot another set of claw-beams at him in a spread instead of a focused cluster, doing the same with my other hand a split second later, repeating the process again and again with alternating swings as I continued kipping away in an erratic zig-zag.

"Hahaha, that's more like it!" Freed cackled as he weaved through the barrage of glowing claw-beams in his pursuit. "The other one was so boring, not even flinching, but you're actually scared of getting cut! I'll make sure to cut you up lots for stealing my favorite toy!"

He chased me around the rooftop, gaining on me every time I had to change directions to avoid a ledge or the collapsed section Xenovia had created earlier. As he got closer and closer, he began having to react faster and move earlier, anticipating my claw-beams' paths in order to have time to dodge or deflect.

Xenovia wasn't on the roof anymore, and the smell of her blood was stronger near said hole, but I knew she was alive.

We clashed over a dozen separate times while bouncing around the building, Freed's skill letting him adapt rapidly to my ninja-influenced style of focused power and constant motion, while I got better and better at predicting his actions and anticipating his speed through getting a better grasp of his aura.

It was basically an arms race.

Our game of cat and mouse came to an end a couple minutes later when Freed was just about to enter melee range with me again, his forward foot mid-step and on its way down. My hand was raised above my head to swing down at him one last time, the telltale dim haze of chakra around my fingers signaling the imminent formation of another set of claws. His running posture had shifted and he began moving Rapidly into an upwards-sweeping guard; a type of smooth, flourishing movement I'd seen Kiba make in plenty of spars, which could seamlessly transition into a counter-attack with a flick of the wrist.

Except, my hand was the bait.

The roof below his feet and a dozen meters all around him exploded down and back when I stomped forward with an unrestrained blast of chakra, shattering multiple levels more of the building than was strictly necessary.

His eyes widened in what seemed like slow motion. With the rubble dropping faster than gravity could pull him down, his foot passed through the air. Even as his momentum still carried him closer to me, he was left helpless without even a single roof tile to kick off of.

I swung my arm down with enough force to create a gust of wind, my fingers splayed wide.

Instead of focusing all the power in a tight cluster, my claws shot down in a spread all around his torso, making sure that he couldn't just block them all.

Freed twisted his hips midair, letting one claw pierce through his coat to graze his pelvis, while another punched through his right shoulder without any real resistance. Rapidly was angled diagonally up his torso, blocking the other three flying towards his liver, heart, and left shoulder.

Without the leverage of solid footing to deflect them away, the force behind the three blocked projectiles stopped his forward momentum and threw him several floors down into the new hole in the building, along with the rest of the crumbling roof.

I stood at the edge, staring down coldly. Snapped wood, shattered concrete, bent rebar, and broken furniture and appliances filled the darkened pit. Emergency services sirens were beginning to sound out in the distance.

Drip.

Meh, insurance would cover it.

Probably.

Freed was moving through a sub-floor at an erratic pace, possibly implying he landed badly and took a leg injury or something. His aura had shifted from all but screaming "I really really want to murder you–" with a creepy sexual undertone, disgustingly enough– to more of an annoyed "I should probably get out of here" type of vibe.

I tapped my earpiece, my internal sense of disdain for the vile, cowardly rogue multiplying.

"Xenovia, he's in the basement thirty meters to your left. All civvies are evac'd, so go wild."

A thunderclap of force shook through my feet from the building even as the sounds of material destruction filled my ears.

Wow. It didn't even take a second after I said it for her to recklessly send a massive wave of wild destruction to tear through a good portion of the first floor at a downwards angle.

I felt the building begin to shift under my feet.

'... Uh oh.' I looked around and saw that a part of the roof we hadn't even damaged was beginning to sag. 'I hope it can stand for a little bit long–'

Drip.

My brain stalled like a record scratch.

I caught a glimpse of something I hadn't even really registered until just now, something that unsettled my head more than even being able to sense what a terrible human Freed was.

"I think you just took out the supports," I warned Xenovia distractedly as I dashed over to the roof tiles her first attack had cracked with its passing. "Don't get crushed if the building collapses."

"Understood, I'll defeat Freed Sellzen before that happens."Even with just the past couple hours together, I could already picture Xenovia's overly serious expression giving me a single nod with her reply, even though neither of us could see each other.

Blood; drops and smears of blood scattered all across the roof.

I bent down, and picked up the severed half of my tail. The scent of iron intensified.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Blood trickled across broken tiles just behind me, leaking from my shortened appendage.

It was really freaky and a bit nauseating, gripping the thin, limp piece of my body like it was a length of rope. It was as long as my forearm from my elbow to my fingertips, still warm, and parts of its carefully-groomed white fur– my fur– were stained red and black, a mixture of my blood and the grime accumulated by the roof surface it had fallen on.

My tail twitched painfully while I stared at my severed tail in what was probably shock. Holding a part of my body limp in my hands was surreal in a way I couldn't describe, even weirder than sleeping on your arm and waking up with it being all floppy.

I wasn't even sure if it could be saved and reattached. Could Akeno or I do it? Could Asia do it? As far as I was aware, even Phoenix Tears struggled with reattaching limbs, needing immediate care and optimal conditions for a guaranteed success. Could she replicate that?

I'd never been injured to the point of existential introspection like this until now, even in the Rating Game there'd been the expectation that no matter how hurt we got, the worst case would be needing a few nights of rest to fully recover.

A part of me was idly surprised it hadn't been dissolved or something by Rapidly's leftover Holy Power. Instead, the furry flesh still had some of the chakra from my enhancement filling it, while the remnants of Holy energy had already faded.

Another rumble shook me back to my senses, sidelining the sense of wrongness brought on by my morbid observations.

'Right, still have a job to do.'

I crouched, released my wings, and jumped into the sky, hovering above the battlefield.

"I'm on overwatch in the air, and Akeno-senpai's on her way." I informed Xenovia, stuffing the length of my tail down my shirt for lack of a better place to free up my hands. I secured it to my chest with chakra, frowning at the weirdly icky feeling– Ugh, I hope my bra doesn't stain- wait, gunshot wound; it's already ruined never mind– before creating another dozen of my finger-gauntlet claw-projectile things. "He won't escape topside, so don't wait for the building to fall on you if you can't pin him."

Xenovia grunted her acknowledgment across the team comms channel, the continued thumping of muffled Holy-based explosions shaking the apartment complex's foundations.

"Asia, any trouble?"

"Um! An elderly man fell while evacuating and a couple others were hurt too, so I took them to the other side of the block to heal any injuries."

"Mm. Good job."

"Eheheh~"

I cracked a small smile. Asia being a golden retriever in human form restored enough of my mental balance to lock in.

The glow of my claws lighting up my body probably made me stick out like a target in the night sky, but until Freed emerged, that wouldn't matter. Anyone or anything else that might attack me right now would either be a Fallen or a Devil-chimera-thing, and neither would need my chakra acting as a light source to see me clear as day.

'I still need to come up with my own name for these things.'I idly noted, while tracking the battle that was more of a chase as Freed fought for his life against Xenovia. The entire structure visibly began collapsing in their wake, Durandal's rampage tearing the place apart from the inside as Xenovia menaced the psycho.

'Looks like he's hurt after all.' I thought. He'd slowed down enough that Xenovia could practically dominate the battle now; especially after she stopped holding back for the sake of limiting innocent casualties. He still managed a couple bursts at those higher speeds to dodge another wave of Durandal's destruction or gain distance, and even tried to flank her for a backstab, but since she stopped giving a fuck about the building, he nearly died on the spot when she managed to predict and attempt to counter him with the full power of her sword. Only his absurd talent and his sword let him recognize the danger and pull away before the consequences of his mistake could catch him.

The two times Xenovia lost track of him, I aimed her in his direction over the radio, and she let her sword do the rest to clear a path for her. I wasn't good enough to sense their aura's in any major detail with the overbearing presence of two holy swords clouding things, but their general position and the vibe of their immediate intentions were easy enough to read.

With the much slower pace being set ever since the fight went indoors and Freed left my sight, it took nearly a minute for the running battle to pass through the entirety of the sub-level, heading towards one of the last standing open-air stairwells on the edge of the building. I used that time to get ready and position myself for the right moment, touching down to crouch horizontally on the side of an adjacent building, with a clear sightline on the metal access door.

'Four, three-'

Something like anticipation colored Freed's aura as he raced towards the exit, a spiteful sort of amusement tinged with rage.

'-two… Now!'

The metal door burst open, Freed jumping out with Rapidly's handle clenched between his teeth and his white exorcist coat covered in tears and drywall powder. A wave of force passed just over his head and blew apart the rest of the exposed stairwell above him.

I kicked off the building, ignoring any uneasiness in my chest, launching myself at him like a missile with a hand cocked back.

His uninjured arm was already raised, and with a self-satisfied malicious grin on his face, he adjusted to aim at me the moment he saw me move.

My eyes widened as I stared down the barrel.

I panicked for just an instant, reflexively covering my head and bracing myself, recognizing the revolver in his outstretched hand.

Boom!

Even though I logically knew the weapon couldn't realistically hurt me without the power of an Excalibur backing it, I still flinched when the blessed but otherwise normal bullet flattened against my arm with a sharp sting, all because the gun model was the same one he'd shot me with while using Mimic.

I didn't see his other hand throw a smoke bomb onto the ground at that same moment, but I definitely noticed it when I plunged into the sudden smoke cloud a moment later in a crouch, my hand knifed into the concrete sidewalk down to my forearm and the bastard nowhere to be found. I felt my heart pounding in my chest in a mixture of spiking adrenaline and anger as I just barely sensed the shifting air from him running away, just quiet enough to be dampened by the smoke and practically invisible in the haze.

I grit my teeth, my expression twisting. 'I won't let you!'

Freed Sellzen almost killed me earlier, then cut off my tail. Just now, he made me flinch at nothing special.

For a moment, he made me fear for my life, just like everyone else he'd ever killed and more.

My chakra swirled violently through my body with my emotions and I dragged in more of the surrounding natural energy, taking a risk and tapping further into senjutsu than I ever have before, sharpening the most reliable sense I had.

His aura became more defined in my mind's eye, showing him dashing towards an alleyway at high speed while favoring one side, one of his ankles noticeably mangled and twisted with dislocated bones and torn calf muscle. In a straight line with no walls or other obstacles, he was able to use most of Rapidly's speed by pushing himself forward with his good foot while only minimally using the other to keep himself upright, but changing direction would slow him down to a halt for a moment, since he only had one effective leg to stop himself, turn, and push off of.

He can't escape…

I pulled my hand out of the sidewalk with a spray of concrete right as Xenovia burst through the hole in the wall herself. My legs tensed. I ignored her, ignored the ache in my arms and tail, ignored the pain of breathing with a punctured lung, and exploded in Freed's direction, leaving the collapsing building behind me. Thoughts of his wrongdoings fueled my anger as I flew into the mouth of the alley at full speed.

He killed one of our clients, a lonely man who just wanted someone to play videogames with. He's tried to kill members of my peerage three times now.

He should just die already…

Freed had just sliced through the lock of a business's side door and shouldered it open when my foot slammed into the stone wall. We locked eyes for that split second that he was dashing into the building while my momentum kept me glued to the wall, no chakra needed. I kicked off the wall to catch up, shattering the thin facade beneath my foot.

"Fuck off, you rabid whore! I'll kill you later!" He called back from deeper inside as the intruder alarm began blaring.

I cleared the door a moment later and flew through a small storage area and into an electronics store. Freed had made it to a set of stairs and was quickly rising up, using his good leg to kick off the walls without putting weight on the other, so I turned and flew through the storefront, smashing through the large windows out onto the next street over from the apartment, before kicking off the ground and launching myself up to hover at the fourth floor.

He was helping Raynare sacrifice Asia, bragged to Hyoudou about threatening to rape Asia on the night he attacked him.

But he's just the worst, he deserves to suffer first…

I swung my arms, firing my claws.

Through a window, through a corridor wall, through his shocked, hasty guard that he began putting up at the sound of breaking glass. Four missed, his reaction messing up the lead I put on him, three pierced through his body, putting new holes through his good leg and both arms, and the last three crashed into Rapidly with enough force to plow him through the drywall and into the next room over. He tumbled head over heels into a room full of computer parts and repair equipment that scattered all over the floor as a table was knocked over.

I didn't care, all of my focus put into ramming my fist into the flat of Rapidly as hard as I could, smashing through another hasty guard and blowing Freed back and out through the windows on the other side, sending him falling four stories back to the street the chase started on.

I stepped out onto the windowsill and stared down at my enemy, trying to push himself up while crawling towards Rapidly a few feet away, but dropping onto his hands and knees to cough up globs of blood.

He tried to kill Naruto-kun. Without sheer, dumb luck, without a random unknown sage refilling his life force, Naruto-kun would be dead because of Freed.

Letting go of all restraint and tearing him apart, showing him what it's like on the other side… It's fine, right?

I jumped down, and walked over to the downed man.

"F-fucking- khh-!" I stepped on Freed's broken ankle and crouched down, and a dark, purplish glow washed over him. My chakra claws re-formed at some point without me even noticing, the chakra within them much denser than usual, and I pushed one of them straight into his forearm until I pierced the road. "-gaahhh!" Damn…! Cunt! I'll k- hagghh- kill you slowly!" I stepped over the body and pushed another deep purple claw through its other forearm, giving it wounds that matched what it gave me. The dead man bit out another string of curses and insults after hacking up more blood.

The color change to my claws was new, but I didn't give it even a single thought as I positioned another claw to pierce through the shoulder blade, focused entirely on my objective.

I paused.

'Right... I'm on a mission right now.' I blinked a couple times. 'Why am I torturing him? Why am I wasting time on him when I can end it?' An odd desire to drop the line of thought rang through my skull.

I stared down, ignoring the scum struggling weakly beneath my heel to really focus on the chakra making up my claws, pumping through my body and empowering me. When Freed was moving in a straight line, with almost the full speed of Rapidly… I wasn't that fast. How did I manage to catch up?

Senjutsu.

The answer was as obvious as it was chilling, like a bucket of ice water poured on my head when I realized just how close I'd come to losing it.

With the clarity that came with it, the line between my own thoughts and the dark negativity of natural energy became clear, but that line was blurring at the edges as I kept unconsciously drawing in more.

I immediately put a stop to it, and actively began trying to purge what I'd already absorbed.

It… was a lot easier said than done, having already mixed thoroughly into my own.

Footsteps approached, and I felt my hackles raise as a familiarly potent Holy energy washed over me, overshadowing the already powerful aura from Rapidly nearby.

"You managed to capture him alive for questioning." Xenovia asked, though it was more of a statement. We both ignored the vulgar insults Freed threw our way between the time he spent coughing up blood from his cracked ribs and punctured lung, though it took a supreme effort on my part to not just stomp his skull into mush to shut him up, every word out of his mouth filling my head with rage.

Xenovia had no compunctions and kicked him in the temple, knocking him out in an instant.

She nodded once my way, not acknowledging her violent act. "Good job."

"No," I shook my head, denying the accomplishment even as I felt my disappointment in myself become amplified into self-loathing. I just needed to keep reminding myself that it wasn't really me. "I lost control of myself, and almost became a bigger threat to everyone than him. I just wanted him to hurt first, that's the only reason I didn't pulp him the moment I was able to."

"It was still your power that defeated him in the end," she declared simply, before moving on. "We should get him to Asia Argento, if we don't want him to bleed out before we can get the location of the other Excaliburs from him. Before that though-" She stepped over to stand above Rapidly and brought Durandal up. "-I'll destroy this one quickly."

It was only because I hadn't managed to get rid of much natural energy in my body that I was able to sense it and react the way I did.

Solid, dark purple chakra claws liquified and lashed out in an instant with instinctual control I didn't have, wrapping around Xenovia's waist, limbs, and sword hilt in the form of threads, and pulled her with me as I jumped away.

A barrage of powerful blood-red Light spears ripped through the spaces we both had just occupied, and most of the street as well.

Unlike with Freed's ambush on her, this time there was no way Xenovia would've been able to survive the sudden attack without my interference.

A moment later, thunderous bangs rang out as they impacted buildings at the far end of the street with small explosions, collapsing a pair of homes within seconds.

There were still people in there!

My rage spiked against my control as we turned to face the culprit.

Six wings, blacker than the night sky and full-feathered. Basic black cloak with a raised hood. White-porcelain mask covering the whole face. The same energy signature from the attack on our mansion not even twelve hours ago.

"I'm getting so fucking sick of dealing with you pieces of shit," I spat at the Fallen, fiery claws of purple chakra extending backwards towards my elbows. Xenovia settled into a stance beside me, Durandal's massive blade held low behind her and ready to swing.

"Really?" The Fallen fucking chuckled as he settled onto the street beside Rapidly. "Because for us-"

Another crimson Light spear formed in his hands with a flash.

"-the fun's only just begun."