Life 6-3

Rias's right hand sparked with an inky, vanta-black energy as she raised it towards Rev. The blast that she loosed coated the Stray in an instant, bursting through the air, leaving nothing but a pile of ash where the Stray had been. And within that pile, a dull-grey Bishop chess piece was spotted. Rias picked the piece up, rolling it in her hand.

"Normally, an Evil Piece would return to its master once the host is dead, but…" Rias sighed as she turned the piece over a few more times, "In this case I will need to have it returned by other means. I may as well explain the remaining ones. Bishops, again as already noted, gain increased ability for Demonic magic. And then there's Pawns, the weakest pieces yet also the ones with the most potential."

"Promotion," Noé stated, Rias nodding. "Makes sense… get into enemy territory, and then swap in for one of the other Pieces… and by that of course it would ideally be Queen."

"Indeed," Rias mused. "Though sometimes when Reincarnation occurs, one may need to use more than one Piece to get the job done. It can vary case by case. It's actually not uncommon for a Pawn to have 2 Pieces used on them, for example."

"I see…" Noé hummed. He then stepped away from the black cube behind him, the Boosted Gear flashing into form on his arms. The thudding still hadn't stopped the whole time. "Now I'd say it's our turn. Tsuno, ready?"

"Of course I am!" Tsuno chuckled as he pulled his beanie off. As the rest of his golden hair came free, what the article was truly hiding was made apparent: A pair of sharp, slender horns rising from the boy's forehead, deep red in tone as they peeked through the strands of gold. "Ah, finally gettin' to let the puppies out again. Not fun keeping them out of view all the damn time."

"How unexpected," Rias hummed. "I didn't think your friend was an Oni of all things… and clearly not some minor one either."

"Hahaha! Oh trust me, if I told you who the Oni blood comes from, you'd flip!" Tsuno cackled. "But that ain't important right now. Let's just get to fighting! Get out here, Golden Eater!"

In a flash of lightning of his own, in Tsuno's hand formed a sword the same size as himself. It's wide blade was dark black and edged by gold, the very edge more like a serrated chainsaw than a proper sword, not to mention the secondary, shorter handle further up the wicked looking blade's flat. Noé had remarked when he'd first seen the weapon it was all too fitting for an Oni, a claim Tsuno was happy to oblige by.

"Alright, it's coming down," Van snapped his fingers, the boys shooting back as the barrier shattered, the next punch Lear was throwing whiffing through the air before him. The Stray took a moment to take in his surroundings, his eyes falling on the ashen smear that used to be his companion. And once it sunk in, he loosed a furious roar before charging forward, Noé stopping the charge dead with a left hook, holding the Stray in place and only skidding back a few feet.

"Damn you lot! Is taking your own freedom such a crime?!" Lear bellowed, Noé already cocking back his right fist.

"Not when you end up taking innocent lives," He stated, the gauntlet glowing in response to another Boost. "So shut up and take the beating!"

Noé's cocked back fist shot forward, slamming into Lear's head like a bullet. The Stray was sent rocketing back, slamming through the wall and to the room beyond. As the gauntlet hissed with a stream of steam, Tsuno leaped through the new hole, his sword revving as he grabbed the secondary handle.

As Lear was rising back up, he threw a fist for the incoming Oni, Tsuno slamming the revving up sword onto said fist. Lear screamed as his fist was torn into, blood spraying across the floor as the chain-blade ripped through flesh and bone in brutal fashion. Tsuno ripped the sword free with a hard swing, the Stray retreating as his now limp arm dragged across the floor, smearing the carpet in dark blood all the while.

"Y'know…" next the Stray knew, Noé was now atop his back, flicking through his phone as he set some headphones into place. "You were talking a lot of mad shit. Though it seems you're not that tough."

"Try saying that once you're a smear on the ground!" Lear threw his fist up, twisting it around to try and hit Noé… only for him to casually use his free hand to block the punch, still scrolling through his phone. "Are you trying to mock me right now?"

"Yeap," Noé nodded. "Now what would be a good track… ah, this one! Some Aranda wouldn't hurt for an asskicking."

"Just don't leave me out if you're getting into gear!" Tsuno called out, picking some bits of flesh and bone off of his sword.

"I'll leave some for you," Noé chuckled, pocketing his phone and recalling the Boosted Gear. As the gauntlets reformed, he dug the claws of his left hand into the first he was holding. With a wrench of his arm, he ended up carrying Lear around into the air, rolling the massive foe around and slamming him into the floor, leaving a crater as the Stray coughed out blood.

"Damn you!" A ball of dark energy gathered at Lear's mouth, loosing as a direct beam that hit Noé dead on, rocketing up and to the ceiling. Lear smirked through his bloodied maw as the dust caked the air. "How's about that you prick?!"

"Not bad!" Lear's eyes widened as the dust cleared, revealing Noé, standing on the ceiling, a glow at his feet as he looked down at the Stray while shaking an arm. "I actually kinda felt that one!"

"The hell…" Lear growled as he rolled back upright, snarling at Noé as he dropped from the ceiling with a flip, landing in a crouch with his gauntlets starting to glow. "I thought there was a messy scent mixed in here… you're no typical Devil."

"Half-Devil, to be precise," Noé snickered, the air ringing with a clang as he slammed his gauntlets together, "Which is why I've got this little thing… but, no point talking!"

"So there isn't!"

Both rushed forward with fists ready. The two blows collided with one another at full force, the air whirling from the collision of the hits. There was a brief pause, then Lear reared back as his arm burst in a swirl of bloody marks, stumbling away as he roared. And matching the furious roar, a continuous beam of dark power raked across the hall, Noé jumping away as the beam carved across the floor and to the ceiling with reckless abandon. When the beam rushed towards him, Tsuno used his blade to block it, the shot bouncing off of the flat as it finally began to dissipate.

With a nod from Noé, the Oni launched into the air, the blade revving hot as he came down. Lear swung his limp arm upwards like a whip, snarling through the blow as the blade collided with the limb. Tsuno's already wild grin widened even further as the blade went deeper this time, severing the limb as Lear tried to whip him about. With an excited yell, Tsuno rolled in the air as lightning sparked around the blade, raking it down the Stray's side. And with a roaring boom, the Stray was shot through the wall in a massive bolt of lightning.

"Hahahaaa!" Tsuno cackled, licking off some of the blood that had gotten on his face as he and Noé approached the newly made hole leading outside. "That seriously all you've got?! Aren't Rooks supposed to be tough? That hide barely held up to my Golden Eater a bit! Laaaaame!"

"Then I take it you're bored now?" Noé hummed, batting aside a dark ball with a quick swipe of a hand.

"Peh, it's no fun when they can barely put up a fit," Tsuno crouched and set his sword across his shoulder, looking down at the snarling Lear with a gaze totally lacking the bloodlust from before, only apathetic boredom now. "He could at least do something like, I'unno, degrade further and turn into something bigger!"

"Don't jinx it…"

As if the universe wanted to spite Noé, a booming roar from Lear drew their attention. The dark energy gathered around the Stray grew in intensity, his body bulging and warping. With another roar, the energy coating Lear's body burst away, revealing his form further enlarged and warped, his wounds quite inconveniently healed as his now scale covered arms slammed into the ground, a barbed tail lashing the girl of the yard as pure red eyes glare up at the two hunters.

"Well shit…" Noé sighed, and Tsuno stood straight as the excitement came back to his eyes. "Let's make this quick! Ddraig, release!"

[EXPLOSION!]

Noé's aura surged as he shot from the hole in the wall, streaking through the air and colliding right into Lear as the Stray threw a boulder sized fist forward. Noé's arm suddenly courses in that dark energy again as he swung, the air sparking with flecks of crimson as his and Lear's fists met once more. The Stray roared as those sparks of dark crimson flashed across his arm. His second arm came down like a hammer, Tsuno meeting that one head on. His sword landed clean, the chain-blade sparking against the scales instead of quickly cutting into it. The Oni flashed a smirk as Lear's swing didn't stop, slamming right into the ground at full speed, yet sparks still flew within the dust, showing Tsuno had planted himself right into the crater feet first.

"Now that's more like it!" The Oni cackled.

"Keep him right there!" Noé shouted, Tsuno obliged by shifting Lear's arm to the side, spinning the blade around and smashing it right through the scales as electricity flew from the blade.

Noé slid under Lear's tail as it swiped at him, shifting his right arm as the gauntlet adjusted. Panels shifted slightly, emerald light flaring and then forming into a blade that extended from above the hand. With a push from his left hand, Noé shot up, the energy blade colliding with the center of the tail, the thick scales coating it heaving under the blow.

Wrapping his left arm around the tail as tightly as he could as he carried into the air, Noé attempted to lift the Stray upwards, yet he stayed firmly in place as he dug the claws of one hand into the dirt, and his feet even further in. So all Noé got was the tail starting to lash about as Lear attempted to throw him off, violently so as the tail swung up and down, side to side, slamming into the ground over and over trying to either smash the one clinging to it or send him flying into the woods.

"Alright, guess screwing around is done!" Noé growled, raising his right gauntlet up. The blade flashed as it extended, sparks of crimson flashing across it as he drove it down. The blade of energy cut into the scales, severing the tail and sending dark blood flying as Noé was sent sailing through the air as Lear roared in pain. Flipping around, Noé landed on a tree and launched himself from the trunk, the arm-blade flashing once more as Lear turned towards him.

A blast of dark energy shot from the Stray Devil's maw, colliding with Noé's projected blade, stopping him in his tracks as the burst was sustained.

"Tsuno!" Noé extended his left hand, the Oni rushing over. And as the two clapped hands as if one were tagging the other in, the Boosted Gear gleamed…

[TRANSFER!]

The surge that had at first been used for Noé passed along, Tsuno's aura bursting upwards as he shot down the length of Lear's sustained beam, lightning trailing his feet as he sprinted ahead. His blade revved once more, sailing for Lear's neck and connecting as golden sparks of lightning arced from it. With a roar from the Oni, the blade was sent flying true, severing the Stray's head from its neck in a flash of gold.

"Ahhh, about time it actually got a bit interesting!" Tsuno cackled as he stood atop the corpse of the Stray as it collapsed to the ground, sticking his sword into the dead flesh as Noé approached. "Was the power-up necessary though?"

"Consider it insurance to make sure we killed it quickly," As Noé reached the corpse, he laid a hand on the still warm flesh. A silver magic circle of his own formed at his palm, and as his drew his hand back, a dull-white rook piece drew out from the body, dropping into Noé's palm. He turned around, spotting Rias and company standing at the hole in the mansion, looking various degrees of impressed at the display as Van approached from behind them. "So? What'd you think about that one, Princess?"

"Well, if one would call you a failure at one part of a Devil's job…" Rias only chuckled when Noé raised both of his middle fingers at her. "When it comes to this one, I would say you're exemplary. Excellent job. Seeing the Red Dragon Emperor in action was quite the treat."

"Well lookit that, she actually complimented ya'!" Tsuno chuckled, Noé rolling his eyes at the Oni.

This part, at the least. Noé thought. This part is easy enough for me to handle as is. But… knowing my luck, something might be around the corner that might make this more complicated. For a moment, Noé's mind drew back to that priestess he had met the other day. Asia, the girl with a Sacred Gear. He still wondered why it was this of all places a girl with such a valuable item would be sent to. No matter how he'd thought about it since, it didn't make any sense.

And when things didn't make sense… Well, Noé knew from experience it was best to trust his gut things tended not to be right in such cases. But he supposed allowing things to play out as they were was the best course.

For now.