'Is this it for me?'
Issei thought deliriously as he looked down at the spear protruding from his chest, his blood soaking the shirt that he took a long time to pick for his date. It did not make sense at all, why would he have a spear stabbed him from behind?
No, for that matter, everything did not make sense. Starting with Yuuma asking him to die for her, to her using some weapon to attack him, to her new appearance as an older woman with a rather unusual clothing and black wings, to her sounding so malicious and cruel as she tried to stab him continuously, to the man with the same pair of wings appearing and attacking…
After that, he noted his world spinning uncontrollably to the point he felt like throwing up, before he was granted reprieve by being laid down on something soft and a green light appearing in his vision.
"Hang on, Issei! You are not going to die on my watch!"
Ah yes, how could he forget the parts where Shirou saved him from Yuuma, where Shirou fought her off using weapons that appeared out of thin air, and also the bit where he saw his expression as he got stabbed from behind? Shirou was trying to save him, and he ended up wasting his efforts by presenting himself to Yuuma on a silver platter.
"Stay here, you'll be safer that way." Shirou's voice echoed to him like he was at the far end of a tunnel. "I'll be back." He heard Shirou said that before his figure vanished and the shadowy forms of his attackers fluttered after him.
"!"
No, he couldn't do that. He should not be doing that! He should not be facing his attackers alone without someone to help him!
Someone, anyone! Help Shirou!
Before his vision went dark, Issei noted subconsciously that he was clutching to some papers in his pocket and for whatever reason, he thought he could see a glimmer of crimson light.
...
For the eighth time in the row, the sky lit up brightly as one of my swords got deflected by Dohnaseek's spear and exploded in both his and Raynare's faces. I was able to get their attention for quite some time now, partially because Raynare seemed pretty intent on killing me herself after my interrogation with her. The other fellow on the other hand seemed more interested in having an opponent who could keep up with the both of them and stuck around to take me on.
End result: when the smoke cleared, one was looking really murderous, while the other looked like he was having the most fun in a long time.
"This damn wizard is taking up a lot of time! We need to find that brat quickly!" Raynare hissed as she formed another spear in her hand and gripped it tightly.
"Come on, lighten up Raynare, when was the last time we had such a good opponent to keep us entertained?!" The man remarked as he let out a very scary smile.
"We don't have time for your battle ego!" Raynare glared at her companion with a lot of contempt in her eyes. "Considering all the destruction that just transpired, it won't be long until the owners of this town get wind of us and come here. We need to get rid of these two now!"
Well, that was just great then. So this town had supervisors to safeguard the area, kind of like Rin when she was the Second Owner of Fuyuki. But considering the circumstances, I would prefer to finish them early and make my getaway. And judging from their expressions, they thought the same.
"Well it is a bit disappointing, but it seems I can't play around with you anymore." The guy gave a frown as he turned to me. "So I would like to ask a favor from you. Please scream when I torture you."
"Geez that would be a really bad favor." I quipped as I projected a fresh set of my favorite blades into my hands. "How about I make you scream instead?"
"HAHAHAHA!" Dohnaseek gleefully flashed that scary smile at me. "Let's see you do that boy!" Before Raynare could react, he lunged at me with such speed that I barely reacted on time to deflect the tip aimed at my head. Well from the looks of it, I have managed to rile up the both of them, because they seemed to be picking up their act and their attacks were getting more aggressive and accurate.
Oh Joy.
"HAH! What's wrong, having trouble dealing with the Fallen of Grigori?!" Raynare gleefully yelled as she repeatedly shot a few spears of light at me from a distance, forcing me into defense while Donanseek attacked at close quarters each time I let an opening for him to exploit, which I barely managed to deflect on time. Damn it, at this rate I really going to get my butt kicked!
"…"
You know what? Root This!
Fending off another barrage of attacks from them, I projected a large number of blades that rained down on the area until we were completely surrounded by them. The protection spells on them started to activate and create a solid wall of light that extended high up in the sky and completely containing the three of us inside. Once I confirmed the barrier was up and fully secure, I abandoned most of the discarded blades on the ground to conserve my Prana for the one I was about to project.
"I am the bone of my sword."
In my right hand, an outline of a sword shimmered lightly, then with a bright flash of light, a blue blade with silver edges and a blue handle guard appeared in my hand. Ideally, I would be using this blade when I had the afternoon sun on my side, but given that I did not want to destroy the neighbourhood and the sunset was still around, this would do just fine.
"What the?!" Dohnaseek paused as he looked at the blade with an expression that resembled fearful reverence and anticipation of the unknown. Even Raynare seemed to have halted at the sight of the blade that was beginning to glow with a bright radiance. Their admiration stopped when their spears started to crack and strands of light energy leaked out to join my blade.
"Our light is disappearing?!" Raynare looked at her spear before looking at the balls of light that was appearing all over the area and started to gather around the blue blade. She poured more of her Prana into the spear to bring back its shape and raising it to take aim. "He is doing something, kill him!"
"…Calibur…"
"Just kill him already!" Raynare threw her spears directly at my head in an attempt to stop my attack. But again, too bad for her.
"GALATINE!" I swung the sword hard, sending a huge burst of Prana that covered the entire area we were in, its power being focused within the barrier that was clearly getting strained by the amount of Prana being forced inside like a funnel. This effect continued for a solid minute before the Prana burst dissipated through the cracks in the barrier, slowly revealing the wreckage of the battlefield I was in, with the broken pavement strewn around, uprooted trees with smouldering branches and partially melted lampposts.
… Maybe I should have held back a little?
A groan drew my attention to the last location I saw those two, and what I saw nearly made me groan in exasperation. A few metres away from where I stood, Dohnaseek was barely standing using his spear as a support to stand upright. He was quite a wreck to say the least; his coat was completely burnt to a crisp, and his trousers were notably charred black at the edges. The bare chest that was peeking from underneath the coat showed sever first and third degree burns, with blood flowing from the cracks in between the skin. The biggest damage came from his face, where half of it got seared black from the blast, making him lose half of his hair in the process.
Shame the same can't be said for Raynare, who was glaring at me from behind him. It would seemed that she used him as a meat shield to fend off the majority of the blast, thus negating the damage and getting mostly superficial wounds. Okay seriously, does this girl have B-Rank Luck by chance? I have been bombarding her with explosive attacks and she still lived on like a cockroach!
"Damn you, human!" She hissed with enough venom to make me feel shivers down my spine. "You dare to hurt us this much, make us grovel on the same ground as you, we who belong to the sky?! You damn insignificant human, I would make you suffer for this humiliation a thousand times over! When I'm done with you, there won't be anything left of you on this pathetic earth you stand on!"
Whoa, do I know how to piss people off or what? That mental question got answered in a physical manner when light spears started to form behind in large quantities, illuminating the area with their purple radiance as they were all directed at me. It seemed that she was not used to doing this, I could feel the faint presence of unstable Prana forming, but she was making it up with the sheer rage she was feeling.
Oh come on, I was being rhetorical when I asked that question damn it!
Excalibur Galatine vanished in a cloud of Prana, in its place Kanshou and Bakuya returned as I looked at the impending storm of spears that would skewer like a kebab. I really wondered whether I was able to pull off another blade to blast them all to smithereens, but that might be a little over the top for me. Guess I would have to make do with defense.
"At least make your death a worthy one by screaming in pain!" With that, spears started to rain down on me in all directions, each with enough Prana to blow me to bits if not skewer me with holes. "Trace Bullet, Continuous fire!" I let loose the storm of blades to intercept the spears in my way, using Kanshou and Bakuya to cut down or deflect the few that got pass. This was reminding me so much of Archer's fight with Caster as he had to handle her bombardment of attacks, this was so not funny for me.
"Just go down already!" I knocked the last spear out of the way before sending a blade towards and exploding it in her face, distracting her long enough to halt the onslaught and introduced her to my version. The sight of her and Dohnaseek flying through the air from the explosions was rather satisfying indeed.
"Damn this wizard!" Raynare yelled as she turned to me once again, but before I could make a move, she paused for a moment before her scowl deepened and her energy dissipated. I also noted that whatever caught her attention, it was behind me. "Damn, they are here!"
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