Ayaka stared at the sky until her neck ached. The purple of the once dusk sky, it had seemed everything was normal just a moment ago, and then baam, purple and red sky, why, just why was this happening now.
She'd intended to give Rias her answer today. She'd spent the day looking for Rias, but every time she asked people, they just told her they hadn't seen her or that she was busy and unavailable. She had wanted to give her answer today, refusing to put it off, because she was terrified of the internal back-and-forth, the potential of changing her mind and regretting regardless of the choice she made. How could she have known that some maniac would decide to tear her world apart right at that moment?
The fighting started small at first. Ayaka, huddled in a designated "safe area" that Akeno had shown her and processed the information Rias and Akeno had given her, a Fallen Angel leader, Kokabiel, was seeking to ignite a war between the factions by slaughtering Rias and Sona's peerages, the latter of whom Ayaka had just learned was also a Devil.
The initial battle started with a rogue Exorcist, a crazy Scientist, and a Cerberus that the fallen leader had summoned, and it had been a chaotic mess. When Rias's side won, there was a fleeting moment of hope, swiftly followed by confusion when Kokabiel brutally executed the scientist, Valper, when he had started to blabber about something. But then, the real terror began.
Kokabiel seemed to have grown bored with the skirmish. He lifted himself onto a hovering, iron throne, spreading his ten black wings and laughing, a sound that echoed like thunder grating on glass.
He summoned dozens of high-ranking Fallen, who swarmed the school grounds like vengeful, armed locusts. Ayaka watched, stomach sinking, as the exhausted Devil peerages pushed themselves past their limits.
Kokabiel didn't fight, he sat and watched, his expression one of amused cruelty, finding amusement in their pitiful efforts while he was waiting for the siblings of Both Rias and Sona.
Ayaka was hiding in a utility closet that had a prefect view of the fight happenig outside, She knew she could hide here forever especially when she heard them searching the school, the noise of doors opening and closing, being slammed open and destroyed was causing her heart rate to spike, then silence she almot thought they had left the inevitable shout came "Found one!" as the door slammed open.
She heard the running feet, the coarse, cruel voices, and the wicked mocking of the Fallen scouts. Panic, sharp and paralyzing, and then she slammed her body on the one who had opened the door and forced herself to push the door open and bolt.
She sprinted, pushing herself to the absolute limit. She was sure they would catch up to her, she knew they could, but they didn't. It seemed like they were making a game out of her suffering, chasing her from a distance and shooting light spears at her for giggles. She could hear them shouting, placing bets on who could shoot her down first with a light spear.
She burst out of the school building and onto the field, seeing her schoolmates and the exhausted devils turn, their faces registering shock and immediate alarm.
"Ayaka!" Rias screamed, a cry of fury and fear, lunging to try and cover her.
Ayaka desperately ran toward Rias, her only instinct to reach safety, but she wasn't fast enough. She felt a burning sting, like being touched by corrosive sunlight. A spear of intensely yellow light stabbed out of the air, piercing the soft area between her ribs.
The light vanished instantly, and a gush of warm, sticky blood replaced it. The sensation of pain hit her, but she could barely shout out, it was unlike anything she'd ever felt before.
Her legs folded as she crashed onto the pavement, the world going slow and slanted.
She was losing blood, the flow alarming. She turned her head, watching through eyes already closing as her schoolmates screamed her name and tried to reach her. But they were blocked, held down by the sheer number of Fallen and too tired to break through the line.
They couldn't come to her aid. She felt herself tearing up again. Was this truly it? Was this how she died? She hadn't finished deciding on her future. She hadn't hugged her brother. She hadn't made Ren that parfait she'd promised him. She hadn't helped Aoi out like she promised, hadn't told her parents how much she loved them. She closed her eyes as the world was spinning.
Then, the air cracked.
An immense pressure slammed through the barrier overhead. A dark purple shape fell from the sky like a meteor, striking the center of the sports field. The shockwave was blowing people off their feet and creating a deep crater.
She forced her eyes open to see what had happened and couldn't believe just who she was seeing right there. Was she dreaming, or was she already dead. Because she was pretty sure that was her father.
A few moments ago.
Kenji and Anastasia had returned from Kyoto, the successful contract still lending a pleasant afterglow to their evening. Honestly, his wife was a businesswoman to her bones, she didn't even understand the supernatural world all that much, and she was already making deals. He let out a laugh.
After their business with Yasaka, they had gone around Kyoto to see other things. Ana wanted to see more, and they roamed around before coming back. Kenji bought a few more Teleportation Flyers, a temporary measure until he learnt a teleportation spell.
His wife had rushed to her room after they came back to no doubt read all the books she bought and asked him to make dinner since she'd be busy. He just shook his head.
The kids were home from school, so he went and made dinner.
Dinner was ready after a while, but only Aoi and Ren were at the table.
"Where is Ayaka?" he asked Aoi.
"Apparently, she said she had a project or something she had to work on," Aoi answered.
Kenji frowned, trying her phone. No answer. The slight, familiar prickle of wrongness began to crawl along his spine, intensifying with every unanswered ring.
He abandoned his food, closed his eyes, and pushed his Spatial Awareness outwards. He used his thin mana control to increase his sensing range, and the familiar neighborhood map slid into focus.
The Kuoh Academy wasn't all that far, so he had checked with his senses before, so he knew what it was like, but now it was different. It was like a dark void to his senses.
'A barrier.'He thought, Why was there a barrier in the....He froze, the food turning to ash in his mouth.
Kokabiel.
The name hit him like a hammer. He had been so consumed with his own leveling and other things that he had forgotten about the Kokabiel Arc.
In the anime it was only plot that help them survive their encounter with one of the leaders of the fallen angel faction, he was weak in the anime, saying how a few boost from issei made rias almost as powerful as her brother or how issei was powerful when he hadnt even been using his balance breaker, that alone showed how weak he was in the anime but he didnt doubt it would be different in real life and he wasnt going to leave his daughter there.
The kids were not going to be saved by plot armor this time, they were going to be slaughtered if no one stepped in. And his daughter was in the middle of it.
He pushed the chair back with a terrible screech. "I have to go," he stated, his voice like iron. He looked at Anastasia, his golden eyes blazing. "Nobody leaves the house tonight."
She looked like she wanted to ask what happened, but must have seen the worry and fury in his gaze and instantly nodded, trusting him completely.
Kenji rushed out, slapping additional enchantments onto the house. Then he didn't wait. He rose, feet lifting as gravity answered his internal command, and blasted off toward the school, coating his body in a defensive gravity shield.
It wasn't long before he made it to the academy, less than even two minutes. He saw the barrier and decided to just come in crashing down.
He hit the barrier, as his gravity-coated form smashed through it, tearing the energy like fragile paper. He descended like a black comet, hitting the sports field and creating a smoking crater, the shockwave radiating outward and temporarily silencing the battlefield.
His senses immediately locked onto the area. And then he saw her.
Ayaka, pale and small, was bleeding out against a wound that glowed faintly with residual holy energy. Feathered rats, Fallen, danced around her like triumphant vultures. An inhuman, choked growl of absolute, protective rage tore from Kenji's throat.
'I'll kill them all. Every single one'
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