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~ I'm planning to increase the number of advanced chapters to +18 this weekend!
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The church he recognized. He had walked by it a few times on his way to school, though he had never gone in. That was about to change, however. The sounds of combat had faded, but there was still something fundamentally wrong about this place, this chapel, that it made his skin crawl.
He wrapped a hesitant hand around the handle of the door. The last time he had pried in matters not his own, SEES had been the result. But Issei was in there. He had seen the boy charge headlong into the church, and when he waited a good thirty minutes and the pervert had still not appeared, he had to conclude that Issei had bitten off more than he could chew.
Grimacing inwardly, he jerked the door open, and after a cursory glance of the surroundings, his suspicions were proven to be correct.
He saw the rows of wooden pews that should have been arranged in neat rows scattered haphazardly over the antechamber. He saw black marks charred across the walls, evidence of some great fire or an equally great battle, or perhaps both. He saw shards of colorful glass strewn across the floor, the remains of the chapel's many stained glass windows. And then he saw her, garbed in the robes of a priestess, chained to the crucifix, her head hung low, locks of blonde hair dangling limply from her crown. He saw Issei too, prone on his belly, body battered and bruised, lying in front of the crucifix and the girl that was bound to it.
He took a step into the chamber. It did not go unnoticed. Issei grunted and stared at him from the one eye that was not swollen shut. Recognition dawned in it, along with panic.
"Arisato-san! What are you doing here!?" he groaned, "You have to get out of here! Run! It's too dangerous!"
Dangerous? Then he saw the figures, three of them, clad in black. A bearded man, lounging against the church's walls, arms across his chest. A blonde girl who could not have been more than eleven, sitting on a table, dainty legs kicking childishly against the wood. A dark-haired beauty in a revealing dress, face set into a mask of boredom, draped over a chair. He knew what they were. The black wings gave everything away. And then the fourth figure had shown herself, and he suddenly understood Issei's change of behavior.
The Fallen Angel that wore Yuma Amano's face smiled at him, seemingly unperturbed at his intrusion. The gathering motes of light that slowly became a spear in her hand spoke otherwise.
"Die," was all she said.
The strike was been so sudden, so swift, that even in his heightened state of alertness it would have still been impossible to dodge. The spear of light rammed into his chest, passed through his flesh, and hurled him from his feet. He was dimly aware of Issei calling out his name before he crashed into the pews behind, knocking them aside and landing amongst splintered wood. That stunned him, and it took a moment for him to regain his senses. When he did, it was to discover that Issei's former girlfriend was gloating at the boy.
"Why are you doing this!?" the boy gasped out as from the spot where he lay, "Damn it Raynare, even if you're not human you still don't have to hurt other humans!"
"Why, you ask?" the woman's face was stretched into a leer, "It is precisely because you are a human! You are mere insects to be crushed and exterminated! You are nothing! No, less than that! Less than nothing! You and your shitty devil friends!"
He grunted as his vision finally stopped swimming. With difficulty, he stood back up, though he could not stop the slight swaying that accompanied the motion. He blinked when the smell of burnt flesh entered his nostrils, and looked down.
Oh.
A fist-sized hole in his chest greeted him, faint trails of smoke emitting from the grisly wound. He blinked again, and then picked at it. Bits of cauterized flesh fell to the floor. Then, he shoved a hand through it and looked over his shoulder, discovering that he could see his own fingertips wiggling from the hole in his back.
How gruesome.
"You missed," the young girl with blonde curls complained, eying him from her spot perched on the table with distaste.
He realized he had become the center of attention, and hastened to look away when Raynare gave him a thoughtful glance
"No I didn't," the Fallen Angel pouted, "I hit him," and pointed to the wound with an elegant finger.
"What are you doing, Arisato-san!" Issei suddenly cried out, his voice ridden with pain, "Get out of here! Hurry, before they can catch you! I'll try and hold them off!" to his surprise, the boy actually managed to half-rise before a long, slender leg planted a spiked heel on his shoulder and slammed him back down.
"I don't know how you survived that, human," Raynare cocked her head to the side, ignoring the struggling form she had effectively pinned, "You should be dead. I aimed for your heart."
And she had aimed well. The spear had incinerated everything in his chest cavity, his heart included.
"Oh well. As they say, second time's the charm."
Light erupted from her palm, and he could actually see it, the light materializing and shaping into the lance. She hurled it at him with a contemptuous flick of her hands.
This time he was ready, and dodged the incoming projectile, wincing as the spear hissed past his face and embedded itself into the wall behind.
"Not bad," he glanced up, to see Raynare staring at him with an approving smile, "You're much less pathetic than this one," for emphasis, she twisted her heel and beneath her, Issei cried out in pain as the spike dug deeper into his flesh.
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