Life 8-5

"What?" Asia peered past Noé, and for a moment, nobody was there. But then, the one to appear did so in a drift of black feathers, lightly landing above the pond. Noé recognized her as the one who'd been leading the Fallen Angels who'd attacked him. Raynare, if he remembered correctly.

"My my, seems our first run in wasn't just some fluke," Raynare said. "You were aware of my presence this entire time, weren't you?"

"You seem to be under the assumption I'm some complete newbie to all of this," Noé scoffed. "It was less detection and more the fact you suck at hiding where you are… that or you wanted me to know you were around."

"Oh don't act so high and mighty," Raynare spat. "Not only do you kill one of ours, but you even have the gall to take one of my own subordinates? Heh… though perhaps I should only expect that kind of behavior from a lowly Devil."

"Ohhoho, ain't you the picture of a jackass?" Noé bit back, Raynare scoffing once more.

"Asia, you know you can't stay with this Devil," cooed the Fallen, "Come on back, why won't you?"

"No!" Asia said, stepping out a bit. "I won't return to a place where I have to kill people!"

"Well, you heard the girl," Noé said, standing in front of Asia. "She doesn't want to go back with you, so leave it at that. But I got a question, what do you actually want? I doubt some low-rank scouts would be allowed to keep a Gear user in their Cabal."

"A squalid, Low-Class Devil like you shouldn't address me so frivolously," Raynare's tone hit a certain chord with Noé. Simply raising his left hand, a ball of fire quickly formed in his palm, rocketing forward and right past Raynare's head, singing her hair and slamming into the pillar behind her.

"The one who needs to check their mouth isn't me," Noé growled. "Remember what happened last time you tried to fight me? Or did the blow to your head cause you to forget how hard I hit you?"

"That was because I wasn't prepared," Raynare said, but Noé could tell part of her was shaken by the close-save that was his warning shot.

"Then prove it," Noé flicked his arms, the Boosted Gear flashing into form. "Asia, stand back."

Raynare took the first move in lobbing a light sword at Noé. He punched right through the construct with his left first as he stepped forward, carrying the motion back through to his right hand as he threw the limb forward, emerald light shining from the gauntlet and flying forward as a bolt. Raynare dodged past the bolt as she produced a new spear, swinging it in an arc as Noé closed in. Rather than do his usual block and counter move, Noé slid past the spear, catching it in his left hand. As the spear began to dim while sparks of Darklight flickered across the gauntlet, Noé wrenched it forward, but…"

"Not happening!" Raynare let go of the spear before she could be pulled forward, angling back and using her wings to lift into the air, Noé's retaliating punch whiffing through the air as it was thrown. "Perhaps I can't beat you in a direct fight, sure… but who needs power when you only have one foe? Did you forget you should be defending the girl?! Mittelt!"

Noé turned as he heard a sudden scream, wheeling around to spot Asia being grabbed by one of the others he recognized from that night. The one dressed in Lolita style that he'd almost taken a wing from. She had Asia by the arm, a light dagger aimed at the girl's throat.

"Well hello there!" Mittelt cawed, giving Noé a snarling smirk as she hovered the dagger closer to Asia, "Might wanna play it carefully here now y'know? One wrong step and poor Asia's pretty little face might get cut up!"

"Strange, I thought you wanted her alive!?" Noé snapped, Raynare chuckling as she lowered to the ground.

"Oh, we do. We're not going to kill Asia… no, rather… use the fact you've clearly become attached to her to our advantage," Raynare chuckled. "It was obvious after Kalawarner got herself killed; the next time we went after you would mean it'd end with someone dying… the better option was to make sure that was you. So, what better way than making sure you can't actually fight back?"

"Getting really damn ahead of yourself," As Noé growled, his Gear shone in its next call, his aura starting to become visible as he looked between the two. I should be fast enough… if I just distract one and go for the other, I can get Asia and deal with them quickly. But… there was one more, wasn't there? For all I know he was waiting outside of my range to come in next… damn… this is always easier if saving someone else isn't on the list.

Noé decided the gamble was worth it. Raising a hand as he began to turn, his intent was to launch a fireball at Raynare and then bolt for Mittelt to grab Asia. All in all, in a hectic situation without help it was the best idea he could do… only for his running thoughts to halt when the sudden echoes of gunfire rang in the air. Noé felt several flares of pain all at once, blood spewing from fresh holes in an arm, a leg, and his side.

"Guaaaaaagh!" For how strong he was, for his ability to resist light, it still held true that Noé was a being of flesh and blood. And his foes had more than just light at their disposal. He knew Freed couldn't have been the only stray priest still working under the group. Yet even Noé hadn't foreseen some of them coming to aid Raynare in a sudden surprise move.

And for all his ability to resist light powers, Noé couldn't boast of a similar resistance to being outright shot. So, when the consecrated bullets fired from the surrounding trees hit him, the pain he felt was a burn unlike anything a flame could even come close to doing to him as he fell to a knee. It wasn't the consecrated nature that did it, just the mere fact being shot alone was never not painful no matter how strong one could be.

"Hahaha! And how does that feel?!" Raynare cawed, stepping over to Noé as he clutched his bleeding left arm, while Mittelt held Asia back as the girl screamed. "Not so high and mighty now are you?! So what if you can resist light? So what if you killed Kalawarner? You're still as vulnerable as any to things like this!" Raynare yanked Noé's head up by the hair. But where she expected a pained grimace, instead she found a defiant glare aimed at her, Noé's jaw grit tightly against the pain.

"Yeah, this fucking hurts…" Noé growled, "But it's nothing… I'm sure Asia felt way worse than this when she was exiled. I can deal with physical pain… what about you?!"

[EXPLOSION!]

As his right gauntlet gleamed, Noé threw the limb upwards in time with the call. His fist slammed right into Raynare's face as power burst from the tool. The Fallen Angel was sent screaming back through the air as the sickening crunch of breaking bones sounded, blood spewing from the fresh wounds as Raynare crashed into a pillar. As more gunshots echoed, Noé lifted barriers to his sides to stop the shots dead… then he heard a wild laugh from behind.

"You're open!" Mittelt lunged from holding Asia in place, pouncing on Noé was he was kept on the ground, driving her light dagger into his shoulder as he tried to stand up. Noé screamed in pain again, but again grit his teeth. Tensing his left arm, Noé threw his elbow back as Mittelt moved, driving it into her side and sending the Fallen Angel sprawling across the ground, but he hadn't nearly been able to put the same power into it as he had the punch to Raynare.

"Keep at it…" Noé panted, ripping the light dagger free and crushing it in his hand. "You might get somewhere…"

"I'll go with you, just please, stop hurting him!" Asia screamed, Noé looking at her with a shocked gaze. "Lady Raynare… if I go back with you, will you leave Noé alone?"

"You think I can guarantee that?" Raynare growled, slowly standing as she waved a hand to the side, likely waving off her minions on the side to stand down. The Fallen Angel streaked off some of the blood on her face, a light spear flashing into form as she stepped towards Noé. "Why should I not just kill him?"

"Please!" Asia begged, getting between Noé and Raynare. "Just… please let him go. I'll heal all of your wounds and return with you… but only if you let me heal Noé and you leave him be after this."

"Asia, there's no need," Noé growled. "I can handle them… I've dealt with worse injuries before. I've fought worse than these two."

"And he's a threat!" Mittelt shouted, her own light spear forming. "You think we'll just let some Devil with power like this roam freely?"

"Maybe you can handle it but… I don't like seeing you pain," Asia said, "And I know you said you would protect me… so please, let me do the same."

"… alright," Raynare said, "But… we can't just let this pass. Rather… let's arrange things. Tonight, the church on the hill in this town. We'll be there… we'll end this there, properly. Away from the pitiful humans who don't need to see us fighting."

"Like hell!" Noé snapped, his aura flaring. "Asia, you don't have to do that! I can finish this now, so just…"

"Please?" Asia turned to Noé, and the look in her eyes was almost pleading. "I can't… even if we've only known each other for a short time… you're my first friend. And I can't bear to see my friend be put through this kind of pain for me. So please, Noé, let me protect you in this little way."

"You should listen to her," Raynare mocked. "We still need to finish this of course… but I'll give you that courtesy. Fine… but you heal us first. And if he tries anything, the others here won't hesitate to shoot him dead."

"Alright."

Asia produced the twin rings of her gear. Raynare and Mittelt stood still as Asia got to healing their wounds, in seconds any evidence of damage vanishing. And as much as Noé wanted to make a move, knowing there was an unknown number of stray priests with guns trained on him meant he couldn't even then. After Asia was done healing the Fallen Angels, she turned to Noé, bringing her hands across his wounds one by one, the bloody marks closing up and vanishing without a trace sans the tears in Noé's clothing.

"Asia… you don't have to," Noé said.

"I'm sorry… goodbye, Noé," Asia stepped away, turning to Noé with a sad smile. In a glare of black feathers from Raynare and Mittelt, all three vanished. The only thing left was the Rache-kun doll Noé had gotten for Asia.

When he was sure the priests were gone as well, Noé plucked the doll from the ground, his fingers tightening around the plush toy as a growl rose from his throat.

"Idiot…" Noé let the growl loose, letting it rattle through his throat as his arms went slack to his side. Letting his anger get the better of him wouldn't help. In that moment, he recalled a lesson from his mother from years ago, words that always came in handy when he felt his sense of control loosening.

[When it's down to the wire, when everything feels like it's a mess… relax, calm down, and think. Let go of everything distracting you and focus. Clear your mind and think only of the goal you want to accomplish. And then do it. Without letting anything get in your way.]

"If they want a fight… then I'll give them one… I'll give them one hell of a fight."

As he turned, Noé pulled out his phone and got to texting. He wanted to be sure. To be absolutely sure that what happened in the next few hours would be quick and absolute. The night that came next would not be calm, and it absolutely wouldn't be clean. But it would certainly be thought out and precise.

He'd make up for his own failure by making sure Raynare knew just what kind of hive she'd kicked.