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The cannon flared with discharge. Belched out its deadly payload. A sphere of arcane energy, it shot from Issei's arm in a thunderous roar. It slammed into the Fallen's midriff like a blow from a sledgehammer, detonated in a flash of cackling lighting, and blew the charging foe into two ragged halves. The legs plummeted to the ground. The torso with wings still attached soared over their cover, and coated the two of them with stinking, cooked entrails.
Issei wiped the blood from his face with Boosted Gear. Dark red ichor stained the crimson gauntlet. Flecks of it besmirched the emerald jewel. However, instead of being insulted, it gleamed even more brightly than before, as though in approval. In response, the boy grinned, and stared upwards at the slain angel's comrades. Not only at them, but at the rest as well. More than a few from the main body had seen the death of one of their own, and they hesitated in the air, not sure if to remain in place or join the attack on this one lone enemy.
"That's right you bastards," a plan began to form in the devil's mind. If he could stall the attack, it would buy the others more time. Not to win, but at the very least escape. It was a long shot, but the Rating Game had been a long shot, and at the end the boy he called friend had saved Buchou from her fate by summoning Belial, an Archdemon thought long dead. He had no Archdemon of his own to call upon, but he had a weapon he had earned from a legendary dragon, and he had Boosted Gear, and these two would be enough, "Come and get a piece of me!"
A few of them started inching closer, started testing the distance. The devil levelled the cannon in their direction and began feeding power to the hungry core once more.
"I'm Issei Hyoudou," the whine that came from the barrel was like music to his ears, "and I'm going to take down as many of you with me as I can!"
"You underestimate them."
She glared at him.
"They are facing a Grigori. A lord among us Fallen. What can they hope to accomplish against him? They are already dead."
"It was people like them that faced Nyx," he said softly, "and they almost won."
Raynare shook her head.
"Kokabiel will have brought his own forces with him. Hundreds."
He shrugged.
"Tartarus was not an empty tower. We left it as one."
"You trust them this much?" she whispered.
"I trust that they will fight to the end. That is the most anyone can wish for," he noticed her frustration, and raised an eyebrow, "You seem disappointed."
Raynare stared at the ground for a few seconds before looking at him again. The expression on her face was one that he thought she could never make.
"Come with me," she said at last and he was disturbed to hear the faint edge of pleading in her tone, "Don't worry about them anymore. Kokabiel only wants them, not you. Run away with me and I swear that you won't regret it," she was rambling now and only halted when he held out a hand to stop her.
"When are you going to decide to stop running away from your problems?"
She took a step back in anger.
"You make it sound so easy," she hissed, "When have you ever had to make a hard decision?"
He inclined his head.
"That boy who fought Nyx. Nobody forced him to become the Great Seal. No one forced him to sacrifice himself. He did it on his own violation. That was a hard decision."
"And I bet he was so heroic about it when he did it," Raynare snapped back, but he could tell most of the fight was gone from her, "I bet he thought he was being so noble when he sacrificed himself."
"No," he smiled at her, "His last thoughts were that he just didn't want to die."
He sighed when she didn't reply.
"Sometimes we have to choose between making a bad decision and a worse one. Sometimes that makes us stumble and do the wrong thing. That doesn't mean you have to keep on doing them. It just means you have to pick yourself back up again."
He turned to leave when she still chose to remain silent. His hand was on the door when she finally spoke.
"You really aren't coming with me then?"
"Going with you will not help them."
She looked down. Something akin to shame flushed across her face.
"You must think I'm a coward for wanting to run. You must think I'm a traitor too along with everything else."
"I do not judge," he replied, "I merely accept."
That seemed to affect her for she suddenly clenched her hands into fists.
"If you will not come with me," the Fallen Angel said quietly, "let me come with you."
He was surprised by the offer, but did not let it show. He was surprised too by her resolve and turned that surprise into a question.
"How do I know I can trust you?"
She smiled sadly at him.
"You can't."
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