The tense silence broke when Koneko emerged from the hole in the wall, brushing off the debris.
Daniel watched her with concern as she approached and stood beside him.
Asia, meanwhile, hesitated at Raynare's words. Her head felt heavy, and a deep guilt pressed against her chest. Seeing Daniel and Koneko's injuries only intensified that feeling.
"If I weren't here, they wouldn't have been hurt," she thought, taking a few steps forward.
The fallen angel smirked smugly.
"That's it, come with me," she said, extending a hand.
But before she could touch her, Daniel wrapped his body in demonic power, flared his wings, and shot forward, holding both girls in his arms.
The sudden movement took everyone by surprise. Raynare screamed furiously:
"Chase them! Damn it! Did no one know he could fly?"
Dohnaseek and Mittelt immediately took to the sky, while Kalawarner ascended calmly.
"The barrier won't let them escape. Relax," she said confidently.
Raynare snorted, ordering the exorcists to pursue them relentlessly.
---
Daniel accelerated, dodging feathers and spears of light fired by the two fallen angels. Though he was fast, his pursuers were close behind. He gritted his teeth and channeled more demonic power into his wings, murmuring to the girls:
"Hold on tight. I need to use my hands."
Both obeyed: Asia wrapped her arms around his neck, and Koneko grabbed his waist.
Daniel barely managed to evade a thrust from Dohnaseek and a volley of feathers from Mittelt before summoning the only monster he had available: Divine Dragon Apocralyph.
The dragon, made of pure fire, lunged at Dohnaseek, striking him head-on and forcing him to retreat, though it didn't cause much damage.
"Tch…" Daniel clicked his tongue at the result. The monster was weak, but it could buy some time to escape.
Or so he thought—until he slammed into a transparent membrane.
"It's useless," Kalawarner said proudly. "It took us three days to prepare that barrier. Escaping without breaking it is impossible."
Daniel gritted his teeth and sped toward his house. It wasn't far; if he could reach it, they might be able to use the teleportation circle Akeno had drawn.
The fallen angels realized his plan and intensified their attacks. The Divine Dragon Apocralyph tried to slow their pursuit but was beginning to falter under the damage.
In the distance, Daniel spotted several priests and exorcists gathered near his home. The fallen angels kept attacking. Blood from Koneko's scratches began to stain her clothes as Asia pleaded with Daniel to leave her behind and run.
"We're not leaving you, Asia. Stop insisting. Aren't we friends?" Daniel said, forcing a smile as he watched their enemies.
He didn't panic—he waited for the right moment. And soon, it came.
Mittelt charged at him, followed closely by Kalawarner, while Dohnaseek was held back by the Apocralyph. Without hesitation, Daniel activated another card.
"Enemy Controller..."
Instantly, a video game controller appeared, its cable connecting to Kalawarner. The Divine Dragon Apocralyph disintegrated as a sacrifice, and the controller pressed its buttons in sequence: left, right, A, B.
Kalawarner froze for a few seconds before convulsing slightly. Dohnaseek and Mittelt faltered, and Raynare dashed toward them at full speed.
Daniel didn't stop. He poured a great amount of gray energy into the card and kept flying toward his house.
---
Daniel sped ahead but stopped to dodge Dohnaseek. Koneko, still holding onto his waist, released him and took advantage of the fallen angel's proximity to strike, sending him crashing into the pavement. Before falling, she spread her wings and stayed airborne.
Mittelt tried to attack by surprise, but the immobilized Kalawarner moved and stabbed her in the abdomen. The blonde looked down in disbelief at the light spear piercing her stomach before collapsing from the sky.
Daniel watched as he injected more gray energy to strengthen the spell, weakening Kalawarner's will and maintaining control over her. Although she tried to resist, she soon began firing volleys of feathers at the priests, who attempted to defend themselves with swords and magic—but were gradually overwhelmed.
Dohnaseek slowly stood, clutching his dislocated arm. He glanced around uncertainly, then took advantage of a distraction to flee. "Risk my life for Raynare? Ha, not a chance," he thought, shooting Daniel one last resentful look before slipping away. As long as he lived, revenge was still an option.
Raynare gritted her teeth as the situation turned against her. Enraged, she lunged at Kalawarner, hurling several spears of light. Kalawarner tried to dodge but wasn't fast enough and ended up impaled by multiple spears.
---
Daniel seized the distraction and pulled Koneko—still floating nearby—accelerating toward his house.
Raynare and the exorcists hesitated; they hadn't expected to suffer so many losses against just two demons.
Before Daniel and the girls could enter, a playful voice rang out.
"Ara, Kohai-kun, did you do all this?" Akeno exclaimed, stepping out of the house and observing the bodies on the ground.
Rias, Kiba, and Issei also looked astonished.
The redhead reassessed Daniel. She knew Koneko was strong and could withstand multiple attacks, but her condition reduced her speed, limiting her effectiveness against agile opponents.
Besides, they had faced a large group while protecting Asia. Accomplishing all that in the few minutes it took them to teleport was remarkable.
Kiba and the others took battle stances. Rias had already decided to eliminate everyone—the fallen angels and exorcists didn't seem to be acting under Grigori's orders. If anything, they were like stray devils. Eliminating them would be more a favor to Grigori than a political issue. Besides, she was irritated that this group had caused so much trouble in her territory.
Before Rias could give the attack order, Daniel interrupted her.
"Senpai, I want to try something."
Rias blinked in mild surprise and listened with curiosity. Daniel's ideas were always… peculiar.
He wanted to completely wipe out the fallen ones, but also to demonstrate his power and warn anyone who might try something similar that facing him wouldn't be easy. For that, he needed to summon something greater.
However, his gray energy was nearly depleted, and his demonic energy was low. Then, upon seeing Rias, he remembered an interesting ability he had discovered with Akeno: when combining gray and demonic energy, the resulting power doubled—or even more—though the consumption increased as well. The unique part was that he could absorb demonic energy to replenish his gray reserves.
"Senpai, I need you to give me some demonic power."
"Eh? Here?"
Rias blinked, puzzled. His method was unusual—it required skin contact. Was Daniel expecting her to undress right there?
Akeno, already aware of Daniel's ability, teased her upon guessing what Rias was thinking.
"Fufufu, you just need to take his hand."
Rias nodded and placed her hand on Daniel's. He activated the reddish-gray energy and began absorbing it. The redhead widened her eyes before understanding.
"So that's why it took so much power to heal you…" she murmured.
The demonic energy flowed into Daniel's body, transforming into duel energy.
With that, he could use his combo and summon a decent monster.
He wasted no time—the enemies were starting to retreat after realizing they were at a disadvantage.
First, he activated Foolish Burial, sending a Blue-Eyes White Dragon from his deck to the graveyard. Then he activated Monster Reborn to special summon it. The required energy was immense. Rias, who was supplying it, froze as she felt her demonic power drain within seconds. Excited, Daniel couldn't resist quoting Kaiba:
"Tear through the sky with your claws and banish the darkness with infinite light! Come forth, mighty Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"
A rift formed in the sky, from which enormous claws emerged, followed by a massive body covered in gleaming white scales. A gray mist surrounded its form as the rift slowly sealed.
Everyone watched the roaring dragon with awe and fear. Even Rias was astonished by the level of power displayed.
"It's still far weaker than my brother, so not Maou-level. Ultimate-class, perhaps?" she muttered, feeling her demonic energy consumption skyrocket. She wouldn't be able to maintain it for long.
Daniel gazed proudly at the enormous dragon and, with a thought, commanded it to attack Raynare and the remaining exorcists.
But the dragon merely looked down on him with disdain, unmoving.