chapters 86-90

Chapters: 86-90

"Thanks for defending the 'woman you love' back there, Sif," I teased the blonde goddess next to me. She blushed and turned her head to the side. I'd have to talk to her about immediately resorting to violence over some words though. She resorted to killing Freed Selzen really fast over a couple of insults and threats. I was fine with her killing Freed–because fuck that guy–but she can't go stabbing other people so quickly in the future like that.

[Who would have thought that Lady Sif was just a stab-happy Yandere-chan deep down?]

That's not exactly how I would have worded it, but the System was pretty much right. I was aware of the subtle glares she would send Yasaka whenever the beautiful fox woman and I were speaking closely. I'm pretty sure Yasaka was aware as well but just didn't care. She could have squished Sif like a bug at any time power-wise.

"O-of course!" Sif said without looking at me. Her embarrassment was cute. "I won't let that homewrecker Hela have you all to herself!" She said as she slammed her fist against her chestplate in some kind of Asgardian pledge. "So where do you think your sister is right now? This town isn't huge, but it's not small either."

Hmm, I wasn't quite sure. Searching the whole town was going to be a hassle and–

BOOM!

A thunderous crack rang out from nearby. A few blocks away in the sky, I could see dark clouds forming overhead that started sparking with lightning. Thunder rang out repeatedly as bolts of lightning started coming down from the sky. I could make out the hazy outline of someone hovering in the air, controlling all the lightning.

Sif looked at the forming clouds with her mouth wide. "Is Thor here!?"

I shook my head. "No… it's my niece. It looks like she found Raynare and probably Asia as well."

"Then we must save the two post haste!" Sif started running towards the location of the fight. She was moving far faster than she should have been able to. Just like she did in the church. The Extremis formula didn't just enhance her healing but also her speed and strength as well. I spread my wings behind me and took off behind her to catch up.

…

"Stop attacking me you half breed bitch! I haven't done anything to you!" I arrived on the scene quickly to see Raynare down on her knees. She was literally smoking and covered in painful looking electric burns. The golden haired Asai was crouched down next to her. The familiar green light of [Twilight Healing] was spread around Raynare's form as Asia worked to heal her. I was surprised that Asia was actually healing someone she ran away from because they wanted to steal her Sacred Gear. The former nun was clearly too kind and forgiving.

We were in an empty park. Thankfully, all the regular humans had already fled for their lives. I had no idea how the Devil's were planning on covering this up though. Memory erasure only went so far and Akeno was shooting lighting around in the middle of a clear sunny day. She hadn't even bothered to put up a barrier before she attacked either.

She had a manic look on her face as she floated in the air, staring down at Raynare. "You filthy Fallen Angel! You didn't have to do anything! All of your kind should die!" Akeno said coldly before she conjured more lightning and hurled it down towards Raynare.

I quickly flew down between them and conjured a [Lightshield] to absorb the lightning. Akeno's thunder was powerful, but my shield easily stopped it. Had Akeno been using [Holy Lightning], that would have been more difficult. I could feel she was only relying on her demonic power, though.

"Another Fallen Angel! And one with 8 wings, no less!" Akeno looked angry at my arrival.

"Hello, Niece. Could you please stop attacking Raynare? She is a moron, but she's a weak moron, and you're bullying her," I said.

"Layla!" Raynare shouted out behind me. Her voice was full of surprise! "What the hell are you doing here!? And why do you have 8 wings!?"

"I'm here to stop your dumbass from restarting the great war. Did you think just because Asia was excommunicated that you could do whatever you wanted with her? She saved hundreds of lives of members of her faction over the years. If she is killed, then they will clearly demand vengeance," I said to Raynare, who gulped at my implications. I, of course, had no idea if what I was spouting was true. But with [Acting level 3], it sounded convincing at least. Either way, Raynare seemed to at least hear my words.

"Fuck… Was my whole plan worthless from the start?" Raynare asked.

"Yes. Because you're dumb," I said to her. I heard her mutter a string of curses in reply.

"Are you two ignoring me?" Akeno's voice screamed out over the thunder. Asia, who was nearby, squeaked in fright as another bolt headed towards her.

I casually raised another [Lightshield] and blocked this attack just like the first one. Akeno was glaring at me for how easily her attack was blocked. You know, she was kind of a one-trick pony when I thought about it. All she really ever did was shoot lightning.

XXX

The sound of steel clashing against steel echoed nearby. I was wondering where Sif had gotten off to considering she took off first. A moment later, I finally saw her. She was facing a teenage blond boy in a duel of swords. Well, I called it a duel, but Sif was thrashing Kiba Yuuto at the moment. Her recent enhancements really gave the woman some combat upgrades.

"Guff!" Kiba grunted in pain when Sif disarmed him before she kicked him square in the stomach. Kiba spat up some blood and his body flew backward and crashed into a nearby tree. With her opponent dealt with for now, Sif ran over towards me.

"Layla! Sorry, I got held up by that demonic child. His sword form was adequate, but he lacked power, and his conjured swords were brittle," she explained and looked proud of herself for besting him so easily. "Was he one of the devil slaves that you mentioned?"

"Yes. He's one of the slaves. His master is the same one who owns my niece currently," I said while pointing up at the fuming Akeno. She was looking at our group with even more fury after seeing Sif so handily defeat Kiba.

"You'll pay for that!" Akeno shrieked. "All Fallen Angels should just die!"

"But aren't you yourself also a Fallen Angel?" Sif asked Akeno. She turned to me and gave me a confused look.

"I'm nothing like them! They killed my mother!" Akeno shrieked as she fired a bolt of thunder at Sif. Sif simply raised her sword to the air and let it attract her attack. The lightning hit Sif's blade before being quickly dissipated.

My eyebrow raised at that move. That was pretty cool.

"My sword is insulated against lightning. I used to regularly spar with Thor, after all, and if my weapon was a conductor, I wouldn't have lasted very long," Sif explained. That made a lot of sense. "Why is your niece so hateful of her own race?"

I shook my head. Akeno had been in the underworld for years now. It wouldn't have been hard for the Devils to poison her mind against her own kind. On top of that, the evil piece inside her made her mind already addled with loyalty towards Rias. My niece was unfortunately a mess that desperately needed that evil piece removed from her followed by a lot of therapy.

A glowing red magic circle materialized on the ground where Kiba's unconscious body was slumped over. In its place, a familiar Red-Headed Devil appeared. I'd give Rias Gremory this–she was extremely beautiful–I still had no trust for devils, though. This dimension wasn't canon, and they were a lot more secretive and ruthless here.

She gave a haughty glare to us before she spoke. "To dare trespass into territory owned by the house of Gremory! Don't think you'll be leaving here alive, Fallen! Especially after injuring my adorable servant," Rias Gremory said as she fussed over Kiba.

"Fuck off, Gremory bitch. Your crazy queen attacked me first and tried to kidnap Asia here," Raynare yelled back.

Hmph. You Fallen absconded with a Sacred Gear user I had my eye on. It's only right that we replace him with the blond girl over there!" Rias said as she pointed at Asia.

"I don't want to be an evil devil…" Asia mumbled as she shrank back in fear. I reached over and patted her on the shoulder to comfort her. Asia gave me a hopeful smile.

"Don't worry about them," I said. "The Devil princess is just spewing hot air. First of all, this territory isn't actually owned by the house of Gremory. It's owned by the Kyoto faction and was supposed to be rented to the Belial Devil Clan. It's strange how there are another two devil clans living here when that was in no way part of the lease, huh?" I said while staring hard at Rias.

She flinched and looked away. "We're currently renting it from them…" Rias mumbled.

"You can't rent out property that you are renting yourself. Everybody knows that… the only reason you haven't been kicked out yet is because of your big brother, so stop acting so haughty!" I scolded her. "As for taking Asia Argento, she has joined the Grigori for now and has no wish to be a slave!"

"My servants aren't slaves!"

"Tell that to my niece over there whose mind has been warped so badly she hates her own race!" I retorted. Rias gave me another glare for bringing up Akeno. Akeno flew down towards the ground and stood next to Rias. I think they were deciding on whether they wanted to fight us or not.

I spread my wings and fully extended my magical aura around me. Next to me, Sif flared hers out as well. The both of us were clearly High Class in strength while Rias and Akeno were both Mid Class at best. The two girls looked like they swallowed lemons when they realized the difference in power. They decided to make the smart choice and back down. "Fine!" Rias spat out. "You can leave. But never come back!"

She'd like that, but I would definitely be back someday for Akeno. "Sif, would you kindly knock those two girls out?" I asked the goddess next to me.

She grinned happily before speeding forward.

"Wha–" Rias tried to speak, but Sif was already upon the girl and clocked her over the head. Rias fell backward unconscious.

"You bitch!" Akeno tried to shock Sif again but was too slow before a fist met her cheek. She collapsed as well next to Rias.

[Congratulations! Quest Complete! You have saved Asia Argento and leveled up! Your Sacred Gear has also awakened its balance breaker!]

XXX

I stumbled momentarily as I felt something shift inside me, like something that had been asleep all this time was suddenly awake! It felt powerful!

"Layla! Are you okay?" Sif asked upon seeing me almost fall over.

"I'm fine," I waved her off. "My Sacred Gear just reached Balance Breaker."

"I don't know what that means, but I'm glad you're okay."

"What the hell!?" Raynare shouted. "You have a Sacred Gear!? Of course, you do! No doubt given to you by Azazel! But also, what the hell!? You knocked out the Gremory Heiress! Her brother is going to murder us!"

"Only if we're still here when he finds out, which we won't be because we're going to hijack Rias's teleportation circle in her little club room to get back to the Underworld. From there, we will be B-lining it to Fallen Angel territory where we'll be safe," I explained my plan. Raynare just glared at me and mumbled about that being a 'stupid plan.' Well, I didn't see her coming up with any genius plans at the moment.

I decided to check out my new Balance Breaker. I summoned my [Twilight Healing] but instead of the familiar rings, I now had two golden bracelets on each of my wrists. I could feel that these were much more powerful than the rings were. I used [Observe] on them to see what they could do.

[Twilight Healing-Purger of Darkness→The Balance Breaker of Layla of the Fallen. Purger of Darkness can do as the name suggests and purge all dark or demonic powers without harming the hosts of them…unless Layla wishes them harm as well. This Balance Breaker also allows for the healing of limbs or missing organs.]

Woah, now that was an upgrade. The [Purger of Darkness] huh? I could work with that. "Change of plans. We're taking Akeno with us," I said as I walked over to my unconscious niece and hefted her over my shoulder.

"Are you insane!?" Raynare shouted. "Knocking out the Gremory girl is one thing, but kidnapping her Queen! That could mean war!"

I just smirked at Raynare as I started to use my Sacred Gear on Akeno, who was in my arms. I could feel my light energy pass through her body. Everywhere it went, the demonic power inside of her was purged away. She was being cleaned without any harm coming to her body! A moment later, a small chess piece ejected from Akeno's chest and fell to the grass…

I turned to Raynare and smirked. "What Queen? As you can see, Akeno is not Rias Gremory's Queen. She's clearly a Half-Fallen Angel."

Raynare and Asia were both staring at me gobsmacked. Asia put her hands together and started praying to the Lord and thanking him for showing her a literal miracle.

…

I just want you to know that I hate you and think you're insane, Raynare commented as we marched into the Kuoh Occult Research Club building like we owned the place. Akeno was still passed out over my shoulder as we marched down the hallways. We passed by a bunch of rooms, and I'm sure Gasper was probably hiding in one of them, but there was no way the scaredy-cat would confront us. I hadn't seen Koneko either, but for all I knew, Rias had her chasing down all the stray exorcists that had fled into the town to get away from Sif and me earlier.

"That's no way to speak to your sister who came all this way to save you," Sif scolded Raynare for me. I'm pretty sure if Raynare wasn't my family, Sif might have stabbed her for 'insulting me,' but thankfully she was.

"Whatever…" Raynare muttered. I could see a faint blush on her cheeks though. Technically, I did not come here to save her. I actually came here for Asia, but if Raynare wanted to believe I came for her, then I wouldn't correct her thoughts.

"Thank you for saving me as well, Angel Layla. I always knew the Lord works in mysterious ways," Asia said reverently. I couldn't bring myself to tell this girl the truth about her Lord, so I just nodded.

"Asia, you weren't kicked out of the church by the Lord. You were kicked out by corruption and evil within its ranks. I'll explain more later, but for now, we really need to get out of here. We are in the heart of Devil Territory right now," I reminded everyone. A few halls and stairways later, we found the iconic clubroom. I pushed the doors open and sighed in relief when I noticed it was empty. Koneko probably was out chasing exorcists after all.

Alright, Raynare, start prepping that magic circle so we can get the hell out of here, I said as I momentarily set Akeno down on the couch.

"You're just asking me because you don't actually know how to do it yourself, do you?" She asked smugly.

"Yes, now hurry it up." I said. I was getting the feeling that we really needed to leave soon for some reason.

"Alright, alright…" Raynare said as she walked over to the floor and started examining the magic circle carved into the woodwork. "Alright, I can work with this. Just give me a second. Uh-oh–Oh shit!" Raynare cried out, drawing all of our attention.

It was just our luck that the magic circle on the floor started glowing orange. That indicated that someone was coming through to our side. That wasn't a good…

XXX

I took all my free stat points and immediately dumped them into [Luck]. I was going to need it to get out of this situation if whoever was coming through that portal was powerful.

[Name: Layla of the Fallen]

[Title: Angel of Hope]

[Sacred Gear: Twilight Healing - Purger of Darkness]

[Level: 10]

[HP: 4100]

[MP: 850]

[Vigor: 110]

[Strength: 35]

[Intelligence: 90]

[Luck: 30→40]

[Skills: Observe 3, Angelic Mastery 4, Acting 3, Light Manipulation 5, HP to MP conversion]

[Perks: Never Tell Me the Odds, Mana Siphoner]

[Drawbacks: Sin of Lust]

[For reaching 40 Luck, you have unlocked the perk "You Should Have Gone for the Head!" This perk allows you to survive one attack that would reduce your HP to zero every 24 hours!]

The teleportation circle on the floor glowed a steady orange before it shifted to red. And then I saw who had teleported into the clubroom.

"Big Sister Rias! I came to play!" A young child dressed in medieval noble clothing and had bright red hair shouted loudly. He threw his hands up in the air as he cheered. And then… he lowered them back down and frowned when he noticed my group. Two and a half Fallen Angels, an Asgardian goddess, and a nun all stared back at him.

Millicas stared at us awkwardly, and we stared back at him. "Uh oh…" He said as his eyes widened in shock. "You know what… I'll just visit my aunt later…" He tried to step back into the teleportation circle, but I ran forward and grabbed him.

"Let me go!" The kid shouted out and tried to kick me. In response, I conjured a [Lightdagger] and held it up to his face. He immediately stopped struggling. He didn't quiet down, though.

"Let me go! My mom is coming soon after me and you'll be sorry!" Millicas Gremory shouted out. That was what I was afraid of… at least it wasn't Sirzechs himself, not yet at least.

"Hmmmm." With horrible timing, Akeno started to wake up where I had left her on the couch. She sprang up quickly and jumped to her feet. Akeno took in the room and snarled at me when she noticed what was going on. "Let go of Millicas, you bitch!" Akeno screamed and held her hand towards me. "Huh!? My magic isn't working!" Akeno looked panicked.

"Hah? Your demonic power is all gone now! If you want to use magic, then you use your light energy, traitor!" Raynare said with a smirk towards Akeno.

Akeno started to pale as realization dawned upon her.

"Um, Layla. Why exactly are you taking a young child hostage?" Sif asked me with some concern.

"Because his mom will be here soon and she'll kill us all if I don't."

Sif nodded. "I guess that makes sense… it doesn't feel right, though." As an Asgardian, she probably thought my actions were dishonorable.

"Even if he is the spawn of devils. He's still a child. I'm sure he hasn't committed any sins against the Lord." Asia spoke up. She gave Millicas a gentle smile. She really was too kind for this world.

"That's right!" Akeno, who was now powerless because she refused to use her light energy, spoke up. "Millicas is a sweet boy who's never harmed a soul. Let him go!"

Millicas trembled in my grip. I could tell the [Lightdagger] I was holding up near him was causing him great discomfort. He'd probably never been around Light energy in his whole life.

"Fuck you, bitch. You don't know anything about devils, do you? They must have brainwashed you real good while you were their slave!" Raynare yelled at Akeno.

While her choice of words was harsh, they weren't necessarily wrong. I gripped the [Lightdagger] tighter and held it up to Millicas's throat. "Now I want you to answer honestly, Millicas," I said threateningly. "What is your favorite food?" My dagger touched his neck and left a small burn as he yelped in pain.

Akeno growled at me, but Raynare easily held the girl back. "What the hell does that have to do with anything? Millicas's favorite food is pizza!" Akeno shouted.

Sif and Asia were looking at me questioningly. Asia shifted uncomfortably and bit her lip. "You shouldn't hurt an innocent child…" she muttered. "Even if he is a devil."

"My favorite food is pizza! Akeno is right–aaarggh!" I burned his neck a bit more this time, and he shrieked. Everyone but Raynare was now looking at me like I was crazy for doing that to an 'innocent child.'

"I said don't lie. If you lie again, I will hurt you."

Millicas had tears in his eyes, and they were probably real, but that didn't mean I was letting the little monster go. There was a particular secret about noble devils that was kept strictly under wraps. Why were they so strong when they were so young? Other supernatural beings took hundreds of years to reach the power that young devils reached in only a few decades. Why was that? The answer was simple and terrifying at the same time. It was their food…

"Ok. I promised Mother and Father to never talk about it, but I'll tell! It's the glowing fruits! Those glowing fruits that they give me once a month. They're so delicious and they make me feel so good when I eat them!" Millicas shouted, and I pulled back my [Lightdagger] from his neck.

"Glowing fruits?" Asia asked with a puzzled look. "What are those? Do fruits glow in the underworld?" she asked. Akeno and Sif looked confused as well.

Raynare had a look of disgust. "Once a month! This kid is like 8 years old! That's almost 100 total! Absolutely vile and disgusting. And people call us Fallen Angels evil…"

I looked at Sif and Asia. "They're souls. Human souls. Young noble devils are fed them throughout their childhoods in order to grow stronger quickly," I said to the two girls. Sif immediately had a look of horror on her face while Asia gasped in shock.

XXX

"Liar!" Akeno shouted as Raynare let her go. Akeno had tears in her eyes. "You're lying. The Maous outlawed the taking and consumption of human souls! Everyone knows that!" Akeno said. "Rias… there's no way she would do that!"

I shook my head. "I hate to break it to you, Akeno, but this is reality. Millicas just admitted it to you himself. As for outlawing the consumption of human souls? So what? Since when do Devils actually follow their own laws? As long as they don't do it openly, they figure no one else knows."

"And we did fucking know!" Raynare spat out. "So does Heaven. The only ones who don't know are the low-class reincarnated devil slaves along with all the humans. If the humans found out that they were still being hunted and devoured though–"

Asia gasped. "Would the Great War start up again?"

I shook my head. "Worse. This would be a war of annihilation. The humans wouldn't hesitate to launch nuclear weapons at the underworld. In retaliation, Sirzechs or one of the other Maous would start magically nuking human continents and then the other factions would join in, and it would truly be a massive worldwide war! A war where everything would be destroyed."

Even the warmongering Kokabiel wouldn't want such a war! Our race wouldn't emerge victorious after a final glorious battle like he would want. We'd just plain be wiped out. And even if we did win, the Underworld and Earth would probably be rendered inhospitable. It wouldn't be worth it.

Our discussion was interrupted as the magic circle nearby started to glow dark grey.

Shit!

She was already here!

The teleportation circle went from dark gray to light silver.

"Oh fuck, we're all screwed. It wasn't nice knowing all of you. Fuck you guys…" Raynare said as she started trembling in fear. Grayfia hadn't even arrived yet, and I could already feel an absolutely massive magical signature approaching. This was an opponent I currently had no chance of beating. Who said I had to beat her though. The objective was to escape!

[Quest Started→ Escape the Strongest Maid!]

[Reward: Level Up x 4!]

"Raynare!" I shouted her name and snapped her out of her depression. "As soon as Grayfia steps off the magic circle, I want you to start activating it for us to escape. You have to be quick!"

Raynare looked unsure but nodded. She wasn't completely useless after all.

Sif drew her sword, and her gold armor shined as she stood next to me. She had received a huge power-up from Extremis, but she wasn't Ultimate Class yet. And Grayfia was near the peak if the rumors bore true. Supposedly only slightly weaker than the Maou Leviathan was…

And there she was. The underworld's sexiest and strongest silver-haired maid materialized from the teleportation circle. It only took her a split second to take everything in.

"Release my son at once, Fallen, and I'll make your death quick!" She commanded.

The room suddenly got a lot colder. Ice crept up everywhere as her ambient magic started to fill the room. The only thing keeping her from freezing us all alive was her son still in my possession. My [Lightdagger] was once again next to his throat.

The scowl Grayfia gave me was the most intense I'd ever seen…

"Mom, I came to visit Aunt Rias, but she wasn't here. There were these Fallen Angels, and Akeno, and the armored lady!" Millicas said.

Grayfia's eyes narrowed. "Is this a declaration of war from the Fallen? What have you done to Rias!? And to dare harm my son! Once Sirzechs sees those Light Burns on his neck, it will mean war!" Grayfia declared.

I smirked at her. My [Purger of Darkness] bracelet manifested on my wrist. A healing light enveloped Millicas, and an instant later all traces of his burns or my Light Energy inside of him disappeared. "Injuries? What injuries? Millicas is just fine, isn't he? There! Not a scratch on him!" I said. I was loath to heal the little soul-eating monster, but she was right. His dad was batshit crazy about his family, and we were not yet ready to handle Sirzechs at full power. I'd need a lot more level-ups before then!

"And Rias?" Grayfia asked.

"She's fine. She's just taking a peaceful nap in the nearby park with her knight. He might be less fine than her, however." I said. Sif did hit Kiba pretty hard and probably left some internal damage. Nothing one of those crazy expensive Phenex Tears couldn't heal, though!

Grayfia stared for a moment in thought. "I thank you for healing my son and not harming Rias, but that still won't save you all." Grayfia then turned to Akeno. "And you, Akeno. Are you with them? I thought you and Rias were sisters?" Grayfia said.

Akeno bit her lip. "I thought we were too…" She said sadly. "Tell me, Grayfia. Do Millicas and Rias eat human souls?"

Grayfia's eyes widened in shock at Akeno's question before her gaze hardened. "So you found out about that… that wasn't information you were supposed to know until you're granted high class and can be trusted to keep it a secret."

"So it's true!?" Akeno asked in shock.

"Yes, it's true. What does it matter? We're devils. Immortal magical beings. Who cares about some paltry humans…"

XXX