An Unceremonious End

Coming to a stop, Sona frowned as she looked upon the body of the Fallen Angel before her. Her throat was cut, blood pooling out onto the ground around her. It was fresh also, a dozen or so minutes since their time of death.

And as she looked upon the church in the distance, her frown deepened.

The presence of the Fallen Angels had not been unknown to them, but they had not expected them to make a move like this. A naive thought, an oversight that they would not make in the future. However, Sona had only become aware of this when receiving a call from Akeno who had been under orders from Rias.

Issei had been attacked, a Fallen Angel impaling him with a Light Spear. A basic technique, but a devastating and versatile one all the same, especially against humans who had no magical protection.

This of course, as Sona realised, was the perfect opportunity for Rias to recruit Issei to his Peerage and make him indebted to her. Though Rias at this point in time, didn't see it that way, at times it was difficult to consider Rias a Devil because her temperament was so undevil-like. But whereas Sona had been intending to leave the Fallen Angels alone, make them dig a deeper hole that none of the factions could use this against them, Mikoto Hyoudou had already departed to avenge his brothers 'death.'

If he succeeded, it would only cause problems for them.

The treaty between Devils, Angels and Fallen Angels was tentative at best and very fragile. Just killing someone of the opposite species, whether they be a rogue member or not, could be highly dangerous territory. Especially with there being many amongst all factions that desired the war to start again anew.

It was why Rias and Sona had agreed to not deal with the Fallen Angels in their territory straight away. They had already sent a missive to the Grigori informing them of what was happening and demanding to know why there were Fallen Angels in their territory. They had yet to receive a reply, but attacking the Fallen Angels could be a very risky move.

All it would take was for a few members of either faction to spin the tale in one way or another and war could erupt once more. So the two Devils had waited, Issei's death was an indication of what the Fallen Angels were here for. Sona would have been content to stand on the sidelines, even Rias once she saw the benefits of what the Fallen Angels could do for them. By going out of their way to hunt and kill Sacred Gear Wielders, all they had to do was sweep in at the last minute and collect them up for themselves gaining more loyal servants.

Sure the lack of Evil Pieces would have stopped her from reaping major benefits, but there was more than one way to save someone from dying and recruit them to your side. While all this was happening, they would gather reports and incriminating evidence and then if necessary, use this as all the proof they needed.

If Sona and Rias did nothing, they would know who among the people of Kouh possessed Sacred Gears and earned their favour. The Fallen Angels would have failed and would either leave Kouh behind or do something reckless.

It was a win-win for them, or so Sona had thought.

Mikoto had put a wrench in that plan however and now she was here to make sure he didn't bring any heat down upon them. She had her questions as to his capabilities and was curious to know what they were.

But not like this.

This could bring a lot of heat down upon Kouh and by extension, them.

"Let's go." She said, her Peerage following behind her.

-X- Line Break -X-

Bobbing and weaving through the spears, I smiled, noticing the approach of Dohnaseek to my right. Even as more spears came at me from the front, I was hardly concerned at the flanking attack.

I crouched down to my right, dodging the one sent my way by Raynare. Of course, Kalawarner who had been waiting for this, threw another spear. But I pushed up onto one hand, dodging that spear, all the while whipping my left leg up through the air, striking Dohnaseek on the underside of his chin.

Going around with the momentum, I landed in a low crouch, and pushed backwards, elbow smashing into his stomach.

Everything around me was slower and I wasn't even using Fallen Demon. I could see clearly, even the Light Spears were visible to my eyes, no longer too fast for me to comprehend. It was easy to dodge them, though faster than me, I could react in plenty of time. In the time since this had happened, I had yet to be struck even once.

My vision had adapted and so was I.

Gripping Dohnaseek, I spun him around, using his body as a shield to block the hail of spears that came my way. He cried out, glaring down at me and went to swipe at my arms, intending to force me to release my grip on him. I just let go before he had the chance and with his guard completely wide open, struck him with a number of blows to his face, nose busting open as he stumbled back, only to be knocked forwards by the spears that struck his back.

Honestly, Raynare was doing more damage to him than I was.

I was fine with that, I intended for it to happen in the first place.

Using your opponent's strengths against them and in the case of fighting multiple foes at once, making them hit each other, it was all part of a fight.

Kalawarner came down, swooping round and a spear coming directly at me.

A front kick to Dohnaseek's chest that I then used as a springboard, I flipped through the air to land on the wall of the church, dodge the spear. My eyes trailed over my surroundings, taking note of Kalarwanrer coming to a stop, preparing another Light Spear, Raynare remaining where she was, more Light Spears forming behind her, all aimed at me.

Their way of fighting was simple and boring, but also effective.

In the short-term that was.

Raynare who was obviously the most powerful of them all was getting tired. The number of spears she could summon had dropped dramatically, which made Kalawarner the smartest. She fought conservatively and I was beginning to reevaluate my opinion of who was more dangerous. On her own, Raynare, easily, but in a group like this, it was Kalarwarner.

She was the type who knew her own weaknesses and how to work around them, like me.

Bursting off the wall, I avoided Kalawarner's spear that burst through the wood while heading straight into the wall of spears that Raynare sent my way. However, a blast of magic burst from my hand that struck the spears, they falling to the ground uselessly. I myself was knocked back, as was Raynare, but whereas she remained in the air, I flipped back, landing in a crouch.

Telekinesis.

A pretty useful power, one that I knew from comics could be so much more. But I just didn't have the magic necessary to perform big pieces of magic just yet. While I could use it instinctively thanks to me not being entirely human. It was clear that whatever I was, was either or weak, or only a small part of who I was. Because my magical abilities were limited by the size of my magic core.

So far the only way I had found to expand it was by exhausting myself of all my magic and pushing what I could do to the limits. It was like a muscle, the more you trained, the stronger it got.

But in a fight, using any muscle in that way, especially in a fight like this, was naive and stupid. I had to fight conservatively, using my magic carefully and only when necessary. That little telekinetic push had exhausted less than a quarter of my total magic.

So yeah, I had a long way to go.

"Well, I must admit," I said, rising to my feet. "I honestly expected more from the lot of you. How long have you actually lived for, a few centuries? You honestly couldn't tell, I've been around for less than two decades and I'm keeping pace with three of you. This can't be all your capable of, right?"

I hoped not.

This fight had not lasted anywhere near as long as I had expected and while the beginning had been interesting. Since my visions had adapted to the point I could keep pace with their Light Spears, it had grown dull and boring.

I had expected more from this whole thing.

I mean look at Dohnaseek, the guy can't even stand properly.

That's just pathetic.

These are Fallen Angels, who I'm assuming fought against the Angels and Devils in the war. Surely they should be much more powerful than this, or had peace weakened them? As Bane said, peace has cost you your strength.

Is that what's happening here?

Did the Fallen Angels, after the war stop trying to get stronger?

Did other Factions do the same?

Had I been worrying for nothing?

Or was I simply getting the runt of the litter?

I honestly didn't know.

But before I could do anything else, shadows spread out across the floor as more people arrived at the door, I turned to look to see Sona Sitri and the Student Council behind her. The frown on my face deepened even further, the Fallen Angels were still kicking and now the Devils arrived. Not exactly what I planned for as from the looks of things, it looked like a much more even fight than it actually was.

My clothes were completely shredded and just enough was connected to keep it covering my body. Dohnaseek looked nearly dead and that was mostly because of Raynare, though they didn't know that. As for Kalawarner and Raynare, they looked relatively unharmed just tired. Not exactly the impression I wanted to make.