"Your bastard!" Rias exclaimed amidst her crying, a happy smile on her face as she hugged him tightly against herself.
"Ugh, calm down, Rias, I'm not completely healed yet..." With his face smashed against her breasts, Micael spoke, feeling an sharp pain from the abrupt movement.
"Micael!" Asia exclaims with a tearful face as she throws herself onto his chest and hugs him.
"Ugh... careful there." Releasing another whimper, he raises his hand to pat her head.
"Uuuuh~..." The girl just whines against his chest.
Exhaling through his nose, he shifts his gaze to Akeno beside him.
His eyes meeting the girl's purple, tearful eyes as she gave him a smile.
Returning her smile with his own, shorter one, he shifts his gaze to the other three, finding a relieved Koneko, a smiling Kiba, and a content Issei.
Booooom!...
Shifting his eyes from them, hearing another explosion, he finally looks at the sky where a show of lights and explosion sounds happen one after another.
Crack! Booooom!
'Fuck...' His slow mind thinks as he sees the scale of the fight occurring in the air; that level of destructive power was both frightening and admirable.
'I wonder when I'll reach that level, hopefully it'll be fast.' He could hardly wait for the time to achieve the same feats as those up there. 'Is it Grayfia?' As he wonders if the other person in the sky was the devil maid, his head was suddenly grabbed.
Having his face pulled upward, while her hands pressed his cheeks making him do a slight pout, he found himself staring into Rias's blue eyes, her eyebrows furrowed while fury was perceptible in her gaze. "Never do that again!"
Blinking a few times, surprised that she had noticed what he had done, Micael just stared at her for a moment. 'She's really beautiful.' That was his thought as he faced her so closely, then he realized the randomness of it. '...I must be really tired.'
Continuing to stare at her in silence for another second, he finally responded. "Sorry, but I can't promise that." That was the only thing he could say.
He then saw her face furrow even more, the fury in her gaze increasing as he expected to be cursed.
But then, she suddenly wilted, her impetus dissolving as she bit her lip, her furrowed eyebrows trembling slightly as her eyes teared up again. "...Why?" Her voice came out in a low, weak tone.
Looking at that face and hearing that voice, Micael felt a sting in his chest seeing her look so pitiful, but there was nothing he could do.
"Because if one of us is going to die, then let it be me." He could only respond with honesty.
She said nothing more upon hearing him, just stared at him while tears descended silently, then went back to hugging him, pressing him against herself.
"Idiot..."
Hearing that low murmur, Micael said nothing, his gaze simply shifting silently to the others and seeing different reactions but which shared the same concern as his words.
With Akeno lightly pressing his hand while Asia, who still hugged him, pressing him harder as she pressed her face against his chest.
Boooom!
With the explosion echoing once more, Micael's attention returned to the fight in the sky and remembering what his situation was, he tried to stand up.
Perceiving his intention, the others stepped back while Rias helped him stand.
Supporting him by the arm, Rias stayed beside him as he looked up, Akeno, Asia, Koneko, Kiba, and Issei doing the same as they paid attention to the fight.
'How long will this last?' Micael also wondered if he would still have to fight, though, with the sharp pain he felt in his eyes, plus a feeling of weight, he felt he couldn't do anything. 'Not that anything I've done before worked, I can only hope Grayfia kills that bastard.'
While above in the air, Basara found himself in a tense situation.
Crack! Booooom!
Dodging another energy ray that cut through the air quickly, the wind from the explosion that happened behind him hit his back as he exchanged another blow against Grayfia.
Crack!
With another crack that seemed like space was tearing, he blocked her fist again, covered by silver energy.
With furrowed brow, he felt the pure pressure surrounding his forearms before counterattacking instantly.
His arm extended in a devastating punch, his fist covered by Touki as it traveled toward her face.
But just as happened other times, Grayfia simply dodged the attack with her hand, her palm touching his arm and redirecting it sideways.
Boooom!
A super massive shockwave exploded in all directions when Basara's fist hit the air harmlessly a few centimeters from her face.
With his scowl tightening slightly for a moment, he had to content himself once again with a failed attack.
And then, immediately, he had to react to her subsequent counterattack.
At a speed he could hardly follow, her hand rose pointing straight at his face, a silver glow appearing immediately after.
Already knowing what was coming, Basara didn't waste time moving away, his figure becoming a shadow as she fired her attack.
Crack! Crack! Crack!...
Boom! Boom! Boom!...
The air was torn as sounds resembling space itself tearing like fabric followed by various explosions happened in the next second.
Dodging each energy wave that pursued him as if they were guided, Basara practically teleported through the air while dodging the attacks.
However, he didn't emerge completely unharmed as a few hit him grazingly.
'Troublesome...' He knew things would be difficult but not to this point; as the seconds counted, more he found himself being cornered, proof of this being his arms—his sleeves had been completely destroyed after a few blows while his own forearms had a reddish tone and were swollen.
'Maybe it's the difference in experience.' He vaguely looked at his forearms that were hurting more and more even as he constantly healed them.
This was proof of Grayfia's strength for being able to hurt him even though he was an experienced user of Touki and Senjutsu; on the other hand, this also showed Basara's strength since he wasn't hurt anywhere else besides his arms.
'I've already lost my chance, best I withdraw.' Changing his gaze to the ground where he saw Micael surrounded by the Gremory girl and her servants, he exchanged a glance with the boy, seeing that although his eyes didn't seem blind anymore, he wasn't completely well.
"Until next time, boy." Murmuring calmly, he imagined Micael would read his lips.
Changing his gaze back to Grayfia, he spoke to her for the first time. "It was an honor to fight you, strongest queen, but I'll have to withdraw."
"And who said you can leave?" Responding to him in a calm tone, Grayfia raises her hands with palms pointed at him, then, suddenly, several magic circles appear around them, covering them from all directions forming a ball.
The devil energy saturated the air with increasing intensity as Grayfia seemed to prepare a final attack.
For the second time breaking his stoic expression, a weak smile appeared on Basara's face as he looked around, the pure pressure he felt from the immense amount of devil energy making a drop of sweat appear on his temple.
Turning his gaze back to her, he spoke. "Luckily, you don't decide anything here." He then continued. "Isaac." With his calling of that name, a golden ripple appeared behind him before suddenly a golden vortex emerged.
It looked like a large flat circle of liquid gold rippling slowly.
Without wasting time, Basara immediately walked toward the liquid gold disc, his body being covered as if he dived into a pool of water before it quickly shrank, not giving Grayfia time to use her attack.
Furrowing his brow slightly, Grayfia canceled her attack, the various magic circles disappearing as she stared at where that strange golden portal had been.
She felt no Sacred Gear aura, which was strange by itself considering the apparent ability; however, she felt devil energy, which meant the user of that was possibly a devil, or at least had devil lineage.
It could also be some type of ancestral magic, something old she didn't know, or it could be some other type of artifact—it wasn't like she knew everything.
'Maybe Sirzecs-sama or one of the other Maou-samas might know something about this.' Leaving the matter aside for now, she turned her gaze downward where the others were and descended toward them.
"He escaped." Seeing the fight's result, Micael felt like rubbing his face; he was hoping Grayfia would kill that bastard, but as expected from his luck, or rather, his lack of it, things once again didn't happen as he wanted.
"First that weird Freed and now this guy; at least Raynare died, I can content myself with that." As he leaned on Rias, he saw Grayfia land softly before him.
"How are you?" She asked calmly, casting a glance toward his body before returning to his eyes.
"The best possible given the circumstances; I'll need to rest for the next few days."
She nodded. "You can recover in the Underworld; all your needs will be met."
Nodding back, he asked something more important. "And my family?"
"They're in the Underworld in an isolated house given by Sirzecs-sama."
Nodding, Micael then shifted his gaze to the others, exchanging a glance with each one before focusing last on Rias. "Let's go."
The girl with eyes still reddened smiled softly at him. "Let's go."
...