Chapter 6

  At a first glance, the church seemed to be deserted, but I knew better. Besides having been inside, the closer we got to the place, the stronger I started to feel it. Rias explained that it was a combination of fallen holy magic and the consecrated grounds of the church, though much diminished by now.

  “No mistaking it, there are Fallen inside. It seems we caught them before they could flee; that is good. I am sure Lady Serafall will enjoy having them interrogated.”

  Rias turned to me with a questioning look. “You said there are stray exorcists helping the Fallen?”

  “By my count, at least fifteen exorcists, but they came and went, so I cannot be sure of their exact number.”

  “It will not matter either way.” Said Rias with a confident smile. I didn’t think she was wrong either; while the Fallen might be a problem, they were still single-winged variations of their kind, and Rias was a high-class devil, both by birth and power. Akeno seemed not far behind her, and both Koneko and Kiba seemed like solid fighters; we should have this in the bag.

  “We will split into two groups. Akeno, you shall take Asia, and Koneko, you will act as our rearguard. Make sure the surrounding grounds around the church are clear; I do not want anyone escaping.”

  “Kiba and Kairos, we shall go through the front entrance and deal with any exorcists and Fallen inside. Kairos, stay close to Kiba, but otherwise engage as you best see fit. The church is hostile ground; you have my permission to promote at your discretion.”

  I looked at Kiba, and we both nodded to Rias. Her plan was straightforward, but ultimately, it should get the job done. Before we left, Rias explained to me the basics of the special pawn rule, the promotion. As long as a pawn was on what was considered the enemy territory, it could promote to other evil pieces, essentially granting a weaker version of their own enhancements to specific aspects of the piece the pawn promoted to. As the Evil Pieces that reincarnated me were still new to my body, I would most likely only have one promotion and could not change it mid-battle, so I would have to pick my timing carefully.

  As we divided into groups and advanced on the church, an eerie silence descended on the meadow in front of the building. My heart rate was elevated, and I could hear the pump of my heart in my chest. The sword I received from Kiba was held tightly in my fist. As we came closer to the entrance, my knuckles holding the blade became almost white from the force I was exerting on the hilt.

  I took a deep breath. This was quite an unfamiliar feeling. I could not decide whether I was nervous or excited. The blood was humming softly in my veins, and I could hear the pumping of my heart in my ears.

  WHY CANNOT IT BE BOTH, PARTNER?

  Because I dislike the idea that I can be controlled by such emotions.

  WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT, YOU ARE A DRAGON; IT IS IN YOUR BLOOD, NO MATTER HOW MUCH THE CROOKED ONE MAY WISH TO CLAIM IT ALL.

  I grinned a little; perhaps Draig was right.

  Let’s fucking go.

  HAHA, THAT’S THE SPIRIT, HATCHLING, GROUND THEM TO DUST.

  Entering through the threshold above the high arched doors, Kiba and I followed behind Rias. Inside was a spacious hall full of benches all facing towards the altar. It honestly looked quite well taken care of; if I did not see the outside of the church, I would never know it was abandoned, but I guess that was the point.

  Leaning on the altar was a short man, his most distinguishing feature was his white hair. I met him only once during my stay here, but he managed to give me the creeps with just a five-minute conversation. Freed Sellzen was not a man you wished to meet more than once, if that at all. I remembered little of him from the story, but I think he played some role, though I could not really remember how much. I guess he wasn’t that important.

  As soon as we entered, Freed zeroed in on us, a disturbing rictus of a smile appearing on his face.

  “Well, well, well, what is this? Bunch of shitty devils? And with the head slut-in-chief? Hahaha must be my lucky day! My name is Freed Sellzen, your friendly neighbourhood exorcist for today." The guy was nuts.

  He started waving a sword and a gun around himself, gesticulating wildly.

  “You know, since I'm super strong, I cut devils into pieces when I first meet them! Once I see them, I cut them up on the spot! I then kiss the corpse and say goodbye!”

  His deranged grin widened even more; I did not know how that was possible.

  "Come, my sheep, we have visitors; they seem to want to join our congregation!”

  At Freed’s shout, a bunch of exorcists filed out from doors behind that altar where I knew the sleeping quarters were. Altogether, there were about twelve of them here, a little less than last time I was here. A ruffle of feathers from up above announced another arrival.

  From the rafters descended Kalawarna. A blue-haired Fallen that I have only seen in passing during my stay and knew her mostly from what the other Fallen said about her. Interestingly, I was no longer distracted by her beauty. Just like the other female Fallen here, Kalawarna was a beautiful woman with a large chest that was hard not to look at. However, right now, the emotion that dominated my mind was completely different than when I met Raynare and the others. I tested my grip on my sword, and my other hand made a fist in anticipation.

  Thankfully, Freed took it upon himself to initiate the battle. And with a crazed shout, started firing in our direction.

  "Die, you shitty Deeeeeeeeeeeevils!”

  I quickly dived behind a bench for cover, but it was unnecessary. Rias created a wide crimson barrier marred with pentagrams and devil symbols, the bullets impacting uselessly against it. With a wave of her hand, she sent a pure bolt of demonic energy at Freed, who dived to the side with a cackle. The singular Fallen then engaged Rias, taking her attention away from the exorcists.

  Freed, unbothered by magical attacks once more, took aim at us. Unfortunately for him, Kiba was already on him, slashing at the throat of a passing exorcist before he even locked blades with the insane Freed.

  This left me facing a smaller group of stray exorcists myself, the others hovering over Freed and Kiba as they duelled. They did not seem to be armed as Freed was, only having the blades that seemed to glow with light, but I assumed those were still dangerous for me. I faced one head-on, and as the man advanced on me, I surprised him with a burst of speed and swung my blade from the side.

  On impact, I realised my aim was off, and instead of a clean hit to the neck, I hit the man in the jaw, breaking it and splashing blood and broken pieces of bone around the wound. The man howled in pain, and the others took a step back. I grinned a little, all the while wondering why I was not vomiting from the gruesome scene.

  I charged another exorcist, but this one seemed to be more cautious. Soon we were exchanging blows.

  KEEP UP YOUR AWARENESS, HATCHLING; YOU ARE NOT FIGHTING A SINGLE FOE.

  Draig’s rumbling gave me a pause, and I noticed the other exorcists fanning around the man I was fighting, trying to get behind my back. I took a few steps back to reassess, but the exorcist saw through it and pressed his attack, putting me on the defensive. Without the enhanced speed, I would not have been able to keep up, but as things stood right now, I was managing to defend myself.

  Just as the other exorcists looked to make their move, a wide blast of black and red demonic energy hit them square on. The whole group standing there, previously flourishing their weapons, wishing for a fight, screamed briefly, and then only dust remained of them. No blood, nothing, just dust.

  "You're doing good, Kairos; do mind the numbers though.”

  “You bitch, your fight is with me!” shouted Kalawarna, trying to spear Rias with a weapon of conjured light. Rias just laughed at the Fallen and flew higher inside the large building, seemingly not bothered by the weaker Fallen.

  I looked back to the last exorcist facing me and noticed he was also looking at the high-class devil and fallen fighting one another. Using the advantage of his distraction, I swatted away his blade and rammed mine straight into his heart. The man gave a breathless cry and went down. I took stock of the situation. Rias was still engaged with the Fallen, and Kiba seemed to be having a swell time with Freed, occasionally taking time to dispatch some of the exorcists who were hovering around them two.

  Leaving Rias and Kiba to deal with the solitary Fallen and stray exorcists, I made my way down the stairs, heading deeper into the sanctum hiding beneath the church. By the thundering outside, it was clear Akeno and her group engaged more of the Fallen. There should just be Raynare in here. I didn’t know if this was smart, but the blood pumping through my veins urged me to challenge my foe. Perhaps I should have waited and helped Rias and Kiba finish the enemies’ upstarts. In any case, I was heading down, and the grin made its way to my face again. There was a duel of emotions in my mind. Between the rational person and the dragon soul trapped inside the Sacred Gear. The dragon was winning.

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  Just as I cleared the last flight of stairs, I came to a spacious underground room. A large cross-like device features starkly at the end of the mostly empty chamber. Raynare, a beautiful but deadly fallen angel, was standing by it.

  “I thought I smelt a devil’s stench. Tell me, Kairos, did you come to beg for mercy?”

  “No, but I would appreciate if you surrendered; it seems you are trespassing.”

  “So, a traitor and a fool. I shall gut you myself, you foolish boy.”

  “I was hoping you would say that,” I said with a grin and activated my Sacred Gear.

  Draig announced his presence with the activation of the mechanism that the biblical creator punished him with, to give power to mortals for his many transgressions, real or imagined, against His divine order.

  “BOOST”

  With a mental command, I changed and activated my pawn power and promoted it to a knight piece for the extra speed. There was not a loud announcement. I did not see the need to shout it to my opponent. She would just have to find out later, I guess. I thought with a grin.

  “Heavenly Dragon!? Impossible, you should have had a lowly Sacred Gear, not a Longinus.”

  “Don’t worry, we all make mistakes.”

  “Filthy traitor, I shall enjoy peeling off your skin from your bones, and I shall claim the power of the Red Dragon for myself. No one will be able to stand against me then!”

  “Come then, Raynare of the Grigory," I said, grinning even harder.

  Instead of replying, Raynare manifested a spear of light purple and hurled it at me without hesitation. I still held onto the power of the Boost, hoping to surprise Raynare with three accumulated bursts of power. Instead, I called upon the power of my blood, and with increased speed and awareness, I dodged the deadly light weapon flying at me, sidestepping it entirely. Holding my sword to the side, I advanced slowly on Raynare.

  “BOOST”

  The Fallen caught on quickly and started to charge me, seeing that I was playing for time. Her wings flared, and she conjured another spear, holding it in front of her as she rushed at me. Channelling my power again, I swatted the Spear of Light to the side and brought my blade over in a horizontal slash. Raynare used her wings to give herself a burst of speed and dodged to the side. At the same time, she thrusted her spear forward, intending to impale me.

  Instead of dodging, I brought my gauntleted arm with the Boosted Gear into a guard, taking on the brunt of the strike.

  The Red Armour proved an able defence as Raynare’s spear shattered on the impact, not a scratch left on the Sacred Gear.

  “BOOST”

  The third boost was enough for me. The power that flowed through me, previously tightly bound, was unleashed. I felt my muscles strengthen, and the feeling of raw power flooded my whole body. With a two-handed swing, I pivoted my blade from the side, putting all of my speed and power behind the strike. Raynare’s eyes widened as she hastily summoned another Spear of Light and tried to create space between us by using her wins to propel her backwards.

  Unfortunately for her, she was not fast enough. The blade of my sword was too long and my strike too swift, and it collided with her hastily put-up guard. The blade went straight through the spear, shattering it into motes of light, and continued its arc, biting into Raynare’s side, creating a shallow wound. Only her fast reaction beforehand has saved from being bisected into two halves.

  As the blade completed its pass, I brought it back to an overhead swing. Another light weapon, this time a sword, materialised in the Fallen’s hands, her eyes wide and wild with desperation. Just as my blade crashed into her guard, I realised I had miscalculated.

  The blade I was using was one of steel. A well-made and slightly magically treated steel, but steel, nonetheless. In my inexperience and haste, I did not notice the chips and cracks that formed during my duel with the exorcists and subsequent exchange with Raynare. Now, I could only watch with bafflement as the blade shattered once it struck Raynare’s Light Weapon in the upper guard.

  The Fallen’s purple eyes flashed with victory, and before I could react, she thrusted her sword in a riposte. Its tip burrowing into my shoulder, and only a hasty activation of my powers prevented my throat from being the target instead.

  She opened her mouth, most likely to say something witty, but I had no time for her words. The battle, the adrenaline, and the utter exhilaration of combat made me almost forget the excruciating pain of the Light flooding my system, affecting my new devil body.

  With a bloody grin, I took a swing at Raynare with my left hand, the one where my Sacred Gear was. The armoured Red Gauntlet crashed into her face with a sickening crunch, and Raynare fell backwards, blood spurting out of a broken cartilage that was her nose. The sword, previously buried in my shoulder, dissipated into nothing as Raynare’s concentration shattered.

  Before she could recover, I was on her, straddling her midsection. The broken blade, now a jagged dagger, held to her throat. "Surrender, Raynare, you lost.”

  With a bloody face that I could not call attractive anymore, Raynare sneered at me. The blood seeping from her face, staining her teeth. “You fucki- …” tried the Fallen as she attempted to summon another light weapon in her free hand, but my knee delivered a devastating blow to her stomach, driving any air out of her lungs and making her gasp.

  “Surrender … or die." I said again, pressing the broken blade harder to her throat.

  As rivulets of blood streamed from a small wound on her neck, her hate-filled purple eyes held my gaze for a moment, and then, with almost a resigned exhale, she nodded. I breathed a sigh of relief. It was time to rejoin the others.

  Kalawarna did not expect this day to go as it did. She told Raynare that they needed to get the fuck out of dodge before the devils showed up. When the two Italian Sacred Gear users disappeared, she and the rest of the Fallen were not sure what to think. Did the Devils get them? Did they run? Or just got lost in the city. They spent a few hours looking for them, but it was dangerous to move about in Kuoh, with two different high-class devils and their peerages on the loose.

  Just as she barely dodged another blast of crimson-black energy from the Gremory brat, the painted glass on the side wall of the church shattered, and an object flew through until it impacted one of the pulpits on the other side of the church hall, landing in a heap underneath it.

  Kalawarna focused on the crumpled person and, to her dismay, found it to be one of the Fallen, the blonde-haired Millet, her head twisted at an awkward angle from her neck, and a piece of spine sticking through it. Blood pooled around the wound and from her mouth. Her eyes were open, but there was no light there. She was dead on impact.

  Through the shattered high window flew a small devil. With most of the exorcists dead, and only Kalawarna standing for the Fallen, the fighting came to an abrupt stop, and everyone looked at the petite white-haired devil. She took in the scene, and her eyes trailed to the crumpled form of the dead Millet. She tilted her head, and with a deadpan voice that belied that she just punted a Fallen Angel to death, she spoke, “… must have landed badly, lame.”

  The blue-haired Fallen, last of her kin standing, threw a wild look around the church. Her exorcists were mostly dead, Freed was nowhere to be seen, and now it looked like there would be no help coming from Dohnaseek or Millet.

  Just then, another two devils come inside the church, this time using the front door. One of them was a busty black-haired woman, whom Kalawarna recognised as the Gremory Queen, and the other was the missing nun, Asia. I guess that settles it. First the boy, and now the nun – devils must have gotten to them.

  What concerned her the most, however, was the charred husk of Dohnaseek the Gremory Queen was dragging behind her. Still smoking from what looked like lightning magic, and as far as her senses could tell, very much dead.

  “Ufufu, he tried targeting little Asia; such a thing could not be forgiven.” Explained the black-haired devil to her Gremory master when she received a questioning look.

  “Hmm, it matters little. We still have this one at least.” Said the crimson-haired devil and turned to look at Kalawarna. “Will you surrender, Fallen? Your comrades are dead, and there is no further use in resisting. Surrender now, and you may yet live.”

  Before Kalawarna could give her reply, another devil emerged from the basement sanctuary. What is with all these devils coming out of the woodwork all of a sudden? A frustrated 'ugh' escaped her. She had no chance against so many of them at this point.

  What was worse, one of the devils was the Italian boy, Kairos, and he held a broken blade against Raynare’s throat. The said Fallen was being held by the back of her neck in a painful-looking grip, the jagged piece of the broken sword aimed at her larynx. She looked tired and defeated, and it did not look like she could muster any more will to fight.

  Kalawarna threw one last desperate look around the church, seeking the slightest possibility of escape. She found none. With a frustrated sigh, she dispelled her Light Spear and nodded to the Gremory brat. “I give up; it's better to take my chances.”

  “Smart choice, Fallen; you may yet still live.”

  Kalawarna breathed a frustrated sigh; it was not bloody likely. She cursed Raynare, she cursed that traitor Freed, and she cursed devils for putting her into this position.

  Seeing her cute Pawn deliver the last of the Fallen to her, Rias couldn't help but smile. She wished she could have witnessed the fight herself to get a better idea of Kairos’s power, but it was immaterial now. He won; that was all that mattered. At least he was already as strong as a single-winged angel. She would speak with Kiba and Koneko about his training regime.

  Rias turned in his direction as Akeno went to secure the blue-haired Fallen.

  “I assume your fight went well?”

  “More or less.”

  “Were you injured?”

  In response, Kairos indicated to his shoulder, where a spot of dried blood could be seen through the clothes.

  “Asia, could you please take a look at Kairos?”

  “Of course, one moment,” said the blonde nun.

  “I will send a message to Sona; let her peerage handle transporting these two to Lady Laviathan.” Rias nodded to Akeno, who went to do her bidding. She turned back to her pawn; he looked quite tired.

  “I am proud of you; you did well for being reincarnated just yesterday.”

  “Thank you …”

  His response was sluggish, and Rias could see the lidded stare he had now. He must be exhausted.

  “Let us handle this Fallen; you take a seat and rest.”

  Rias supervised the two surviving Fallen with her peerage and handed them to Sona and her servants. When Rias finally turned back to look at Kairos, she saw him asleep on one of the few benches that managed to survive in the church that had been a battlefield just a few moments ago. Little Asia was hovering over him, clear concern in her expression.

  When she saw Rias approach, she looked up. “I have healed him as much as I could, but he seemed tired.”

  “You did well.” Rias told the former nun. In turn, she received a shy smile.

  "Mr Kairos has been so kind to me; I wish I could do more.”

  “Worry not, Asia, I will take care of him now.”

  And she would. Kairos and Asia were shaping up to become valuable additions to her peerage. Two more cute servants were always welcome. With them two, she was a step closer to finding out a solution to her problem.

  AN: This story is being cross posted on AO3, WebNovel, Questionable Questing and Royal Road. Updates will be regular every Saturday at minimum. It is possible I will be able to write faster, if that happens I will post the chapters sooner, but 1 chapter per week is guaranteed.

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