Chapter: 12

Chapter 12:

-Edgelord-

Sasuke was standing on a random rooftop surveying Kuoh Town. He was waiting for the inevitable fight. Not that he expected this one to turn out differently. His opponents were nothing but trash after all. Flying hardly mattered if you were still slower than the average Genin.

Sasuke wondered how he even ended up in this situation. He was on a mission, with people he'd never met before, in another world filled with mythological creatures. A week ago, that strange communication device, called a phone, had appeared before him while he was training in one of Orochimaru's bases. At first, Sasuke thought it was some weird Genjutsu. No matter what he tried, he couldn't destroy the device or lose it. Then, writing from people he didn't know started appearing on the device. That was the day Sasuke found out there were other worlds out there. According to Akane, there were even different versions of his own world... how Sasuke wished he was born in one of those instead.

The other group member, Emma Frost, wanted to leave her world permanently and move to another. So did Sasuke…. There was nothing for him on his own. The only things holding him back were that the group members weren't able to freely travel between worlds yet and that he wanted to hunt down his brother before he left.

Akane had told him a bit of what had happened in the plot of "Naruto." Sasuke scoffed out loud. "To think that blond buffoon was the 'main character' of my universe's story."

In Akane's story, Itachi was insane. He was loyal to the village. The clan wanted to rebel, and Itachi chose to side against them. His brother, in that reality, chose to side with the village over his family. Sasuke thought that was foolish, but he figured at least that Itachi was fighting for something he believed in. Sasuke's Itachi was a different story.

In Sasuke's world, the Uchiha clan was beloved by the village. It was his clan that helped stop the rampaging Nine-Tails. There were no plots or rebellions being planned. No... Sasuke's Itachi was evil. Plain and simple. One day he simply snapped and murdered the entire clan just because he could. Sasuke knew he was only spared because Itachi wanted to one day obtain the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. Sasuke's brother was ruthless. He was feared across all the elemental nations as a mass murderer and monster.

Sasuke knew he wasn't as strong as Itachi, and even with Orochimaru's help, he didn't know if he ever would be. The chat group changed that situation completely. They were supposed to gain rewards that would make them all more powerful, and even though it struck his pride, Sasuke knew he could always ask for help from the other members to defeat his brother if he had to.

"Are you okay, Sasuke?" Asia snapped him out of his brooding. She had been left with him since it was speculated that the Fallen may try to target her again.

"Hn… Just thinking is all," Sasuke replied. Asia gave him a radiant smile that Sasuke felt was too kind for an avenger like himself. He didn't hate it though…

"I believe the Lord will see us through this! After all, he sent you to me in my most dire hour of need. You're my hero, and I know you won't lose!" Asia said sincerely to him. Sasuke had to turn his head to the side so she didn't see him blush. He had an image to uphold, after all.

Something in the periphery of his vision shifted. Sasuke noticed that the air on the horizon shifted colors and the blue sky turned a dark purple. His guard was immediately raised.

"They're coming! They've deployed a barrier to stop anyone from escaping," Sasuke heard the voice of Sona Sitri, one of this town's Devil Kings, call out from another building nearby.

Sona's entire peerage was also out patrolling the area. Well, almost her entire peerage. Sasuke had heard something about the lone boy of her peerage being traded off to Sona's sister so the woman could re-educate him on his stalker behavior. Not that Sasuke expected the guy to be useful in a fight anyway, since he was a civilian until just recently.

"We've evacuated this whole neighborhood, and we won't let them hurt any innocent people!" Alice shouted out from the ground level.

Sasuke didn't care whether the Fallen Angels and their stray exorcist groupies deployed a barrier or not. After all, he wasn't trapped in here with them… they were trapped in here with him. Even if there were more angels than last time.

Sasuke saw over a dozen pairs of black wings on the horizon, but he still smirked confidently. He had held back last time in the church. Today he would not. "Itachi is a fan of crows… I might as well practice clipping some wings on these guys."

XXX

-Akane-

I had spent the last few hours in the forest a few miles outside of town. Most of that time was spent chatting with Rias and Akeno. Robin was busy rigging the forest with all the gadgets he had on him, and Emma was with him to make sure he didn't get caught off guard alone.

As the hours flew by, the conversations petered off as we knew the confrontation was getting closer and closer.

"Hmmm," Akeno put her hand to her ear, and I could make out a small spell circle forming there. "I understand," Akeno said before lowering her hand. "Rias, the town is under attack. Sona managed to evacuate most of it in time. There are more than 4 Fallen with them, though," Akeno said with a grimace.

Rias looked upset to hear that. "How many more!? Are there any strong ones?"

Thankfully, Akeno shook her head no. "About two dozen Fallen. They're still weak though. The most wings spotted on one Fallen were only 4."

Rias and I sighed in relief hearing that. The last thing we needed was Kokobiel showing up earlier or something like that.

"It should still be no problem for our people to beat them." I said. "Besides, even if someone gets hurt, we have Asia there to heal them."

Rais enthusiastically nodded. "That girl is so kind! I really want her to join my peerage! I offered, but she said she wanted to think about it. Some part of me thinks she wants to run off and follow a certain Mr. Uchiha to his world." Rias explained. I grimaced at hearing that. Asia had no idea what Sasuke's world was like.

"Absolutely not." I said. "The ninja world is basically a death world. Asia, with her powerful healing abilities and lack of combat experience, would immediately be kidnapped." The prime suspects would be the Hidden Cloud Village or Orochimaru.

"Yeah, I tried to tell her that, but she's stubborn. You'll have to ask Sasuke to talk to her later, Akane," Rias said to me. I told her I would. It wasn't like we were going to be saying goodbye forever. I doubted we wouldn't be unlocking world travel at some point after all.

"An innocent young maiden in love…" Akeno giggled.

Suddenly, Rias's head shot up! "I can feel him. Gasper is close!"

My eyes widened. "What!? He snuck by Emma and Robin? How!?" Emma should have been able to hear his mind enter the forest… unless he was just plain empty minded I suppose.

"He's here…" Akeno had a grimace on her face as she stood up and pointed across the clearing we were in. There, on the other side, was our half-pint troublemaker.

"Gasper!" Rias shouted with worry. "Gasper, are you in there!? We'll save you soon. I promise!"

"Hehehe… that scaredy cat? You'll never see him again. The only Gasper here is me." The devil dhampir laughed as he walked up to us. "I'm the real Gasper now!" It was eerie hearing such a young and innocent-sounding voice be laced with so much hatred and conviction. I pressed down on the beacon in my hand that Robin had left me in case this happened though. He and Emma should be back here in a few minutes. Neither of them had super speed, unfortunately.

I took in Gasper's appearance. He really did look like a real trap... The evil grin on his face didn't make him look innocent or harmless though. He was wearing some kind of strange metal headband that was circling his head. Did the headband block mind reading? Was that how he snuck past Emma? Also, Strapped to his short waist was what looked like a laser pistol of some kind.

"Ufufu," Akeno giggled to hide her nervousness. "Someone's been a bad boy. You'll have to be punished for that I'm afraid." Lightning started coursing around Akeno.

"I don't think so," Gasper replied. "In fact, I think I'll be the one punishing you all. This was supposed to be MY new life. My rise to the top! I was supposed to be DIO!"

"..."

I couldn't help it… I started laughing. Rias did the same. "You wanted to be Dio!? I think you missed the mark there by quite a lot." I said with a giggle. Rias was also snickering as she started muttering about how she never noticed how her peerage had its own knock off Dio.

Gasper scowled at our laughing as he drew the laser pistol and pointed it at us. "Stop laughing at me!"

"Is that a blaster? From Star Wars?" I couldn't help but ask. It looked just like Han Solo's weapon from the movies.

"That's for me to know and you to be dead." Gasper's eyes flashed for a moment… I felt something burning hot hit me in the stomach.

Fuck! He stopped time and shot me! Time stops are bullshit.

I clutched my stomach in pain. I was bulletproof, but that was no bullet. That was a blaster shot from a DL-44! It seared right through my costume and left a dark burn right over my stomach.

"Akane!" Rias shouted from behind me as I did my best not to keel over from the pain. I'd need to work on my durability in the future.

"Hoh? You're still standing. I don't recognize you. From your costume, you're clearly some kind of superhero, though. I suppose that's why you're so tough. No matter, though." He smirked as he raised his blaster and pointed it at my face this time.

I wasn't getting shot again! I was still far faster than him! With one hand clutching my stomach, I pulled my other arm back before directly slamming it into the ground.

"SMASH!" I screamed out as the dirt beneath me exploded upwards. Mud, dust, and debris filled the air all around us and blocked off all vision completely. If Gasper couldn't see us, he couldn't stop us.

"Fuck I can't see!" I heard Gasper's squeaky voice squeal out from behind the dust clouds.

"Rias, Akeno, spread out. We'll hit him from three directions at once," I shouted out, and they nodded.

"Just don't hurt him too badly, please," Rias begged. She ran off to the right while Akeno went left.

Half a minute later, the dust cleared around us. Gasper was still standing in the middle of the forest clearing, but now the three of us surrounded him uniformly. His eyes widened when he noticed that he couldn't freeze all of us at once anymore.

"You think this will beat me!" He yelled at us with false bravado. "I've been in worse odds in my past life. I'm not dying again! Not until I make this world my bitch!" Gasper turned to Akeno, and she immediately froze in time. He raised the blaster to take a shot at her.

"I won't let you," Rias yelled from behind him as she blasted a fireball towards him. She wasn't using the power of destruction because that would be lethal.

"Fuck!" Gasper cursed as he spun around and froze Rias and the fireball! Before he could do anything else, a small burst of electricity struck him from behind, causing him to scream in agony.

Gasper dropped to his knees, and I raced forward, making sure to stay in his blind spot. I wanted to say something cool, but honestly, the burn on my stomach was killing me. I just clocked him over the back of his head. He immediately collapsed to the ground.

"Good job, Akane!" Rias cheered as she ran up with Akeno. "Akeno, tie him up. And no shibari!"

"Ufufu… such a spoilsport, Rias," Akeno joked as she conjured a rope from somewhere and started tying the unconscious Gasper up. She also took out a blindfold and placed it over his eyes.

I walked over to where Gasper dropped the blaster pistol and picked it up. I couldn't read the writing on it, but it really did resemble a blaster pistol. It also fired red shots just like in Star Wars. The exorcist guns in DxD only shot white lasers. Where did he get this thing?

"Awe, did we miss all the action?" Robin said as he and Emma entered the clearing. Emma immediately headed over to Gasper.

Rias and Akeno moved aside as Emma knelt down next to him. "I will begin to purge the invader's consciousness while he is still knocked out and can't fight back," Emma said as she closed her eyes and rested her hands on Gasper's temples.

"Hey Akane?" Robin said to me.

"Yeah?"

He looked at the gun I was holding with narrowed eyes. "Why do you have Han Solo's blaster?"

…

"I don't know."

XXX

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