Life 2-1

Noé shook his hand as the remnants of the spear fell through his fingers in darkening shards. In most cases, grabbing hold of the spear would have elicited a feeling of continued agony until it was released, but for Noé it was an annoying buzz on his palm that faded once he was rid of it.The enemy herself barely seemed phased as he stood there quite unharmed. If anything, she seemed pleased he hadn't been so easy to take down.

"I'm glad the intel was correct," The girl mused, producing another spear in her right hand. "Honestly, I had a whole plan thought out on how to deal with you, but since you seem to be so sharp, now I can do this the fun way! Die, devil!"

The air buzzed as the spear came flying towards Noé, but yet again he caught the weapon as it was mid flight. The black-haired girl grinned, and another buzz hit Noé's ears. Dropping the bag in his left hand, he caught yet another spear, this one formed of yellow light. The girl clicked her tongue as Noé looked to the source of the spear, and like the first time, both the weapons dimmed in his grip before fading away.

"What the hell…?" The girl muttered. "Something's up…"

"Oh, so now you noticed?" Noé shook his hands again, curling them up into fists. "I don't really get it myself, but I'm pretty damn resistant to light. So much so that the stuff just seems to cancel out around me."

"Don't try to bluff me!" The girl shouted, producing two more spears. "You're just some guy off the streets! There's no way you'd be so powerful to cancel out light itself! No Devil can stop it!"

"Maybe you just haven't met one yet," Noé's mocking was met with the girl rushing him head on. As he dodged through her spears, from the corners of his vision he caught three more flashes. Blue, yellow, and pink. Stamping his foot onto the ground, Noé launched himself backwards, stopping himself when his back hit the trunk of a tree. In a flash, three light spears buried themselves into the ground where he stood not a second earlier.

Three others had joined the girl in black where he'd been. Three other figures crept out of the dark to stand alongside the young woman. A tall man in a dark coat, holding a blue spear; a blonde girl in a maid outfit holding a pink spear; and finally, a woman in burgundy, revealing attire holding the yellow. And now all four of them bore feathered wings as black as night. That makes four… but then what about that last one? It hasn't moved… hanging back, or not with them at all?

"My my, now what kind of thing did little ol' me do to get the attention of four Fallen Angels?" Noé hid the fact he was taking stock of things by keeping up the blasé tone. "Can't just be me being half-Devil that would warrant this kind of reaction, especially considering whose territory this town is."

"We have reason to consider you a potential threat," said the man. "You clearly are not with either group, therefore you're a stray, are you not?"

"You did hear me say I'm only half devil, right?" Noé shot back, the group of four flinching. "Seems as much as your intel was spot on, whoever told you about me left out that tiny but oh so important detail. I ain't with a Peerage 'cause I was never with one. I do other things… though clearly that doesn't seem to matter much."

"Well at least you're smart enough to catch on," The woman chuckled.

"You may be able to resist light, but tell me, stray," The lead girl said. "Can you stop the spears of four Fallen Angels at once?!"

Noé sighed as the Fallen Angels raised their spears, throwing them at once. The four lights swirled together as they gouged at the ground in their rush towards him. Noé's expression remained calm as he shifted his arms, streams of emerald and crimson energy flowing off his hands. "Ddraig, time to get to work."

[BOOST!]

The four bolts of light crashed into a flare of emerald, bursting into an explosion of colored light that shot skywards before vanishing. As the dust began to thin out, the Fallen Angels went from visibly cocky to shocked as two emerald glows edged in red shone from under the cover of dust. A swipe cast aside the dust cloud, revealing Noé without so much as a visible scratch on him, and his arms now clad in suddenly produced gauntlets.

Both items were a deep crimson, set in segmented fashion like a dragon's scales, fingers ending in dark claws made of the same scale-like metal. The right gauntlet was slimmer, streamlined like a blade with glowing emerald lines stretching back from the gem laid into it, its segments shifting and letting out a hiss of air. The left gauntlet was bulkier, almost like a small shield as its parts shifted into place, while two golden spikes flared out from its sides.

"Is that a…?!" The man gasped. "I know the intel predicted it but… doesn't it look different than we were told it would be?"

"I thought he wasn't even supposed to have awoken it yet!" The maid-girl shouted.

"Idiot! We were told it only might still be inactive!" As the woman yelled, the girl who had started this all stumbled back with a shocked expression.

"This wasn't supposed to… it's not the real thing!" She screamed, reproducing her spear. "Like some random half-breed from off the streets would somehow have that Sacred Gear! The odds of that…"

"Would be like a miracle… right?"

No sooner did the girl hear Noé that she registered he was no longer at a distance, but right in her face. As Noé's right fist came forward, the man got in the way, attempting to block the punch with his spear, only to have it break apart, as emerald energy burst from the gauntlet, sending him flying back into the trees as his allies pulled away. The woman lunged with her spear, Noé lifting his left gauntlet, the fallen's weapon harmlessly scraping off of the armor, allowing for Noé to grab the woman by the arm, ramming his right fist right into her sternum. Another burst of emerald light sent her crashing into a tree.

[BOOST!]

A voice rang through the air again, the gem on both gauntlets shining as Noé turned to his remaining foes.

"What the hell?!" The maid girl yelped, lifting into the air to retreat further. "Shouldn't you just be some lowlife rando?! You're way too freaking strong!"

"Rich words coming from the people who went 4v1 against said assumed 'lowlife rando'!"

"Still, it's too bad you're only a close-range fighter!"

As the girl threw her spear, Noé threw up his right hand, steadying it with his left. Crimson light gathered in his palm as the gauntlet opened, then coursing back and blasting out from the opened segments in a sustained beam. The girl screamed as the beam ripped through her spear and hit dead on through one of her wings, sending her crashing to the ground.

"Are you freaking serious?!" The remaining Fallen Angel stepped back, gritting her teeth. "Were we tricked? Lied to? Why the hell are you so strong?!"

"Apparently your boss didn't do enough research on me to know this was a stupid idea," Noé rolled his arm as he turned to the Fallen Angel. "If they had, they'd know what this Gear is, and why sending four cannon fodder Fallens my way wouldn't work. Unless that was the idea anyway, in which case your boss must hate your asses."

"Don't get cocky, punk!" The Fallen Angel let out a road, a red aura gathering around her as her wings flared out further. Noé set his stance, lowering his right arm.

"Release."

[EXPLOSION!]

Golden lines shot across the gauntlet as Noé shot forward in time with the Fallen Angel's charge, emerald energy streaming from the gauntlet as Noé slid past her spear, deflecting it with his left gauntlet as the right came up, the hard right hook slamming right into the girl's head as the stream of energy turned into an echoing burst, sending her even further into the trees than her companions had gone.

"And that's four for four," As he was shaking his arms off, Noé caught two flashes and quickly deflected two more spears, one yellow one blue. He then caught the other two Fallen Angels moving into the air, the woman lugging the maid girl in her arm while the man had the out cold girl in black over his shoulder.

"Consider yourself lucky, half-breed!" The man shouted. Noé raised a brow. Aren't you guys the ones who just got their asses kicked? He thought. "Next time we see you, it won't go the same way!"

"Pretty sure it will!" Noé shouted in reply.

"Don't think you won't see us again bastard!" The woman shouted. As the Fallen Angels vanished into the darkening sky, Noé blinked a few times as the gauntlets on his arms faded into red light.

"Fifteen," Noé sighed. He turned and picked up the bag he dropped, inspecting the items to make sure they were fine. Surprisingly, they were in practically perfect shape. But now there's still one… he looked off to where he felt the remaining presence, standing straight, gathering a ball of red energy into his right hand. "I know you're there, so come on out! I'm guessing you aren't with those four Fallens, but after all that, I ain't taking the risk."

But rather than a reveal of the last mysterious presence, instead, Noé felt it fade away until it was completely gone. Letting out a sigh, he turned around… only to shoot his right hand up and fire a red bolt from one of his fingers, hearing a small screech as he turned back around. Turning on his heel and walking towards where there was now a small smoke trail on the ground, he picked up a small creature that looked akin to a bat, but a fair bit too round to be anything close to a normal one.

"Well, it sure as hell wasn't you," he remarked, the bat-creature shuddering as he held it by the wing. "Relax, that shot wasn't meant to actually hurt you. Fly off now and tell your master if they got something to say to me, do it in person. Capiche?"

The bat shook its body in the closest thing to a nod it could muster. Knowing he had its understanding, Noé released the creature and watched it fly off into the night. He waited until he was sure it was gone, only then leaving the park. A part of him was at least hoping tomorrow wouldn't have issues… but he could only guess the repercussions that would be coming his way.

"Ugh… this is the worst."