We couldn't teleport directly inside the church because of the barrier, so we appeared in a nearby grove instead. I was worried about whether the teleportation glyph would work, as it was meant only for Gremory's familiars, but then Rias pinned a fading Gremory crest to us, which allowed us all to teleport together.
Thankfully we came earlier. From the energy in the air, it was clear the battle with Freed had already taken place. If the story followed the original timeline, tomorrow would have been the final showdown. But since things had diverged, it just happened to coincide with us checking in at the clubroom, and bam, the decisive battle was already underway.
"Everyone ready?" Rias asked. "Issei, I need to explain something about the soldier piece's special trait."
"Special trait?" I replied, puzzled.
"Yes. The biggest ability of the Soldier piece is promotion. When a soldier reaches a key location marked by me, the King, they can become any piece except King."
"Really? So I could be a Queen, like Juno!" I exclaimed, eager.
Rias cut me off. "Not this time. You might want to be a Queen, but sustained power from the Boosted Gear combined with promotion can overwhelm your body. If this is a short fight, maybe, but there's no telling how long you can hold it. Don't let your body collapse mid-battle. For now, promote only to a Rook."
I groaned, but understood. Real chess has no stamina penalties. Here, though, Queen seems like an unhealthy choice.
"Understood," I said.
"Weak now? You'll become strong. You'll get there."
With that, we stepped onto the church grounds.
"Koneko, Ikkki, how's the situ—?" Rias began.
"Four fallen angels, thirty exorcists," Koneko replied. "I can't sense Asia, but Raynare… she's down in the basement."
Rias narrowed her eyes. "The enemy is gathered in the sanctuary. No trickery, let's go head-on."
With a swift kick from Koneko, the church doors crashed open. Inside, exorcists brandished weapons, brimming with hostility.
"Not even any manners for knocking, demons?" sneered a voice.
Recommendation for humor? Hardly. I noticed a man stepping forward, with Freed's face. His sneering tone cut through me.
"Freed!" I shouted.
Beside him, some exorcists jabbed at me quietly, mocking me about Asia. A few braced themselves, hands twitching. It was unnerving.
Rias saw my clenched fists. "Issei, how do you handle Asia's situation? Koneko, support him. Juno and I will take care of the fallen angels. Juno, split the sanctuary with a barrier once the battle starts."
"Understood!" We split up; I and Yuuto raced ahead to attack the exorcists and keep them off-guard while the others struck at the sanctuary's back.
With a command from Juno, a barrier split the sanctuary in two, simple and efficient.
Flash of light, barrier falling… We fought, I beat down several with bare fists, careful not to injure Asia's cause with blunt force. Yuuto was engaged with Freed, who seemed unable to finish due to the remaining exorcists.
"Come on, good-looking demon. Time for you to die!" Freed snarled, but swiftly Yuuto landed a solid hit, a turn in the tide.
But then a deafening boom and bright flash shook the place. Rias's destruction magic struck the fallen angels, wiping them out before us.
Silence as they fell, dust and feathers in the air, Rias's spells are lethal.
Looking back at Yuuto and Freed, I realized Freed was gone, he'd fled in cowardice. Yuuto admitted Freed ran the moment the angels fell.
"That's… smart," I muttered, albeit grudgingly impressed.
The group regrouped. "We're done here. Let's move on to the basement."
With that, we descended silently.
====================
A short time earlier, in the underground passage,
[Issei's POV]
I followed Koneko-chan down the stairs hidden behind the altar. She could sense Asia's presence and led the way as we ran.
Along the way, a few people popped out yelling things like, "Die, devils!" or "You shall not pass!" and tried to attack us, but Koneko-chan sent every single one of them flying with a single punch before I could even react.
Note to self: never make Koneko-chan angry. I'd end up as a nice wall-mounted decoration.
"Almost there... she's just behind that door."
"Alright!"
"Tch! One of the fallen angels just teleported in!"
What? So they really don't want to hand over Asia. Fine by me!
Koneko-chan shouted "Ei!" and smashed the massive door apart. The two of us stepped into the room beyond.
A brief flash of a magic circle appeared as the door shattered, maybe some kind of barrier? Whatever it was, Koneko tore right through it.
Anyway, the room was surprisingly large. At the very back stood an enormous cross, not the kind you'd find in a church. It was designed to restrain a person, with shackles and chains at the limbs.
Standing in front of the cross were Asia and the fallen angel Yuuma.
"Asia! Are you okay!?"
"Issei-san!? Why are you here!?"
"Tch! You already caught up!? I was sure I had a barrier on the door!"
So that was a barrier! I guess they stashed Asia here behind it to keep us from finding her.
"…Yuuma-chan."
"Oh? You again? Ugh, this is just the worst. I can't believe you got reincarnated as a devil after all that. And by the way, the name Yuuma? Just something I made up for that moment. My real name is Raynare."
Makes sense. No fallen angel would go around using their real name on a recon mission in devil territory.
"Then, Raynare, what the hell are you planning here? And what do you want with Asia? You lured her here during this critical time, hid her in a place like this, and now you expect us to believe it's unrelated?"
Exactly. They went out of their way to isolate Asia. That means she's a key part of their plan.
"A lowly devil like you dares speak my name so casually? …Not that I'm doing anything bad, you know. I'm simply going to take Asia's Sacred Gear, Twilight Healing, for myself."
"What!?"
"Huh!?"
Judging by her reaction, Asia didn't know either…
"This girl's Sacred Gear has the rare ability to heal even beings like fallen angels and devils, creatures who should be cut off from God's blessings. But because of that anomaly, the church branded her a heretic and cast her out. Isn't that just tragic?"
While holding Asia close, Raynare sneered mockingly in our direction.
"So I thought, why not relieve her of that burden? I'll take the Sacred Gear, she'll be free of it… and I'll use it to climb to power among the fallen angels. You came to rescue her, right? Then go home. I only want her Sacred Gear. Once I have it, I'll hand her back over to you, intact and unharmed."
On the surface, it didn't sound like the worst offer.
It pissed me off that a fallen angel would be using Asia's power, but freeing her from the Sacred Gear didn't sound like a bad thing.
[Hmph! Don't be fooled, partner. She's hiding something important.]
Ddraig's voice rang inside my head, clearly irritated.
[What do you mean? What's she hiding?]
[It's simple. A Sacred Gear is fused with the host's soul. Removing it is the same as tearing the soul apart, in other words, she'll die.]
"What!?"
I couldn't help but shout that out loud, die!? Asia would die!?
I turned to Raynare, fury rising.
"Hey, Raynare! If you pull out her Sacred Gear, she'll die, won't she!? So much for handing her back unharmed!"
"Tch… You sure know a lot for a freshly reincarnated devil. But I didn't lie. The ritual won't leave any physical marks, so I'll hand over an undamaged corpse."
Asia, still in Raynare's arms, looked completely frozen. She'd heard it too.
Damn it, Raynare! Even if our relationship was a lie, a part of me had hoped you weren't this heartless!
"…Koneko-chan. Sorry, but will you let me handle this?"
If Koneko fought, this would be over in seconds, but that wouldn't sit right with me.
"…Understood. But if things get dangerous, I'll step in. If you want to finish this yourself, Issei-senpai…"
"Thanks, Koneko-chan. I'll be fine."
I stepped toward Raynare.
She seemed to realize that a fight was unavoidable. She chained Asia's arm to the cross behind her and turned to face me.
"A freshly reincarnated low-class devil with barely any magic… You really think you can stand against me, a fallen angel destined for greatness? You and your friends are beyond foolish."
"Done with the trash talk? Then let's get started. Promotion, 'Tank'! Come to me, Boosted Gear of the Red Dragon Emperor!"
[Boost!!]
Raynare's face froze in sheer disbelief.
"The Boosted Gear!? That cursed Sacred Gear said to have slain even gods and Maous… in the hands of a whelp like you!?"
"What's wrong, fallen angel? Scared of a low-class devil? If you promise to leave Asia and never show your face in this town again, maybe I'll let you go."
"You insolent brat!"
Enraged, Raynare hurled a spear of light at me.
I dodged it, but it exploded mid-air, the blast sending me flying. Even the shockwave stung all over, was her light denser than Freed's bullets? I really couldn't afford a direct hit right now.
"The Boosted Gear takes time to power up! I'll kill you before it reaches full strength!!"
Now she was spamming light spears, dozens of them!
"This much… I can handle!!"
I couldn't dodge them all, but thanks to 'Tank' and my boosted defense, I managed to block them. The explosions kicked up dust everywhere, blinding my vision,
Then, "GUAAAH!!?"
Two thick spears of light suddenly impaled my legs.
"Issei-san!?"
God, this hurts! Way worse than Freed's bullets! If I hadn't been using Boosted Gear, I might've blacked out!
And now Asia's worried too… sorry, Asia. I'll end this soon!
"Hurts, doesn't it? Doesn't matter how strong you get, if you can't move, you've already lost. Didn't anyone teach you to strike when your opponent drops their guard?"
"…Don't underestimate me!! This is nothing!!"
"Please. You're sweating bullets just trying to talk. Still, looks like you've already adjusted to the light damage… disgusting power. Fine, then. I'll remove the spears for you."
She snapped her fingers, and the spears vanished.
"PSHHHH!!"
A gush of blood erupted from the wounds.
"When you're stabbed, it's better not to pull out the weapon unless you can treat it. Otherwise, you bleed out, like this."
Damn it! The pain's frying my brain, and my strength's draining fast with all this blood loss!
"Can't even walk anymore, can you? I'll make sure it ends clean, right through the head."
Raynare formed her most powerful spear yet and hurled it straight at my face,
I dropped forward and barely avoided it.
"Hah! Once you're down, you're not getting back up!"
I heard her mocking voice, but she was wrong. I wasn't going down. I couldn't go down!
"CLANG!!"
Just before hitting the ground, I thrust my left arm into the floor. With the strength of 'Tank' and my boosted power, I could launch myself with just one arm!
Rocketing forward, I aimed straight at Raynare.
"What!?"
She was too stunned to block or dodge properly, perfect. Wasn't striking when the opponent dropped their guard your advice, Raynare? Thanks for the tip!
"Goodbye, my first love! Get blown away!!"
My fist slammed straight into her face, smashing her into the wall at the back of the room.
"Issei-san! Are you okay!?"
Asia ran over, free from the chains. Looks like Koneko (probably with brute force) had taken care of those. I guess to her, a puzzle ring's just another strength test.
"CLUNK!!"
She even threw the broken cuffs at me! Ouch! Hey, I'm injured here!
"D-Don't bully Issei-san!"
Asia said as she healed my legs.
"It's okay, Asia! That was my fault for spacing out!"
"R-Really? Still, I'm so glad you're okay. You got hurt so badly for me… Why did you go that far?"
Why? That's easy.
"Because you were crying."
"Huh?"
"When we said goodbye… you were crying, right? That's all the reason I needed."
"Issei-san… thank you…"
Asia pulled me close, holding me against her chest.
President… everyone… I did it. I won.
Her chest may not be as big as the President's… but Asia's are soft and amazing in their own way!
"…You perv."
Sorry, Koneko-chan. I really am a hopeless lech…
[Issei's POV – End]
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