DxD 0044: Fallen Activity

After he separated from Sona, Abaddon was ambushed by Aika who brought him to the shower and sucked her morning meal from him. After he had his fun for the morning, he went to Rias’ clubroom and found her entire peerage prepared for the fight of their lives.

“What’s up, girls? And guy…” He asked giving a glance at Kiba.

“Humph…” He heard an angry snort and saw that it was Rias. She looked away from him with an angry expression.

“Are you ready?” She addressed everyone.

“What? You mad at me?” He asked amusedly.

Rias seemed to ignore him and said, ”Let’s go.” Before creating a teleportation circle.

“Um… Buchou,” Akeno said, “What is it Akeno?” She asked with a sharp tone.

“I think bringing A-kun with us would be a smart decision. We’re clearly not enough to take on everyone after the reinforcements…” Akeno said.

“He’s not coming,” Rias stated stubbornly before walking through the magic circle.

Akeno gave Abaddon a look and saw him wink at her with an understanding nod. She sighed in relief before following Rias. Koneko also gave him a glance to which he responded with an encouraging smile.

They all disappeared through the circle and Abaddon cast a communication circle. “Aika, come to the Occult Research Club.”

A few minutes later, Aika came through the door while wearing her uniform, “You won’t be able to go to school today. There’s a fight that you’re needed in.” He told her.

“No problem, Abaddon-sama. Are you also coming?” She asked him. “Yeah, I don’t know how the exact situation there. There’s a chance that Grigori might be involved so I should be there if things actually escalate too much.”

“Weren’t they all stray?” She asked. Grigori was the main Fallen Angel faction and comprised all of the strongest Fallen Angels.

“If they can get reinforcements at such short notice, I’m not so sure anymore,” Abaddon stated as he cast a teleportation circle to the abandoned church.

…

Akeno looked at Rias who had a solemn expression on her face. The four of them were standing in front of the abandoned church. Rias cast an observation spell to map out the area and detect the enemies.

Her expression got increasingly solemn as she observed the church through her familiar that was scouting inside. There were almost a hundred presences that were stronger than the average low-class devil in the church. Not to mention 50 weaker presences along with three that were far stronger than the grunts that were as strong as middle-class devils.

“This is going to be difficult. We will stick together and move in as a single unit. Prevent ourselves from being ambushed while making sure to defend ourselves against any attacks. Understood.” Rias commanded.

Before they could reply to her, another voice came, “Heya, Rias-senpai!” It was Aika who’s just appeared beside them.

“Hello, Aika…” Rias said while looking around. When she didn’t see Abaddon she felt a bit disappointed that he hadn’t followed after her to apologize. She knew that it was unreasonable for her to expect that, but she still did.

“I’m here to help. Abaddon-sama sent me to help.” Aika said.

Rias knew firsthand that Aika was going to be very useful in a battle. She could directly see through the weaknesses in the structures of magic spells and other things. She was going to be very useful in preventing them from walking into a trap unknowingly.

“All right, Aika. You can come in too. Stay beside me and Akeno. We’ll be dealing the heavy ranged damage and you can guide us to the weak points of the spells and formations of the enemies while Kiba and Koneko defend us.” Rias said. She was glad for the help.

She didn’t notice that Abaddon was already in the air as he observed her formation along with the number of presences in the church.

‘They have some contact with a relatively large stray exorcist group… At least it’s not the Grigori. Things would get annoying and political and I am not interested in sitting through that shit…’ He was relieved.

“What should I expect, Rias-senpai?” Aika asked Rias.

“Initially, there were only four total fallen angels and a single stray exorcist along with some grunts that they hired from the humans. But after Abaddon took out Raynare, they called for reinforcements and many more exorcists showed up. They have already started the process of extracting the sacred gear from the nun and she will be dead soon.” Rias briefed Aika.

“I’m confused. What’s the difference between exorcists and strays?” Aika asked, “I know that devils without a master are strays if they aren’t affiliated with any house, what about exorcists and angels and all…” Aika asked. She hadn’t had the chance to ask Abaddon about this stuff. And the books he’d give her had were more focused on Devils and didn’t explain this stuff.

“No problem,” Rias was patient as she waited for her familiar to scout the area, “You know about the three most prominent races, right?” She asked Aika.

“Yeah, Devils, Angels, and Fallen Angels.” Aika nodded.

“What do you know about them,” Rias asked. “Devils are negative beings of sin that live in the underworld or hell. Angels are the opposites of Devils and Fallen Angels are angels that have been tempted and fallen from their Angel status.”

“Good. Each faction has its respective political structure. Now Exorcists technically come under the Angel faction as their life’s mission is to purify all evil. They are a sub-faction of the Angels and collectively call themselves the Church. They consist primarily of humans that have sacred gears or can use holy magic through some means.” Rias explained patiently.

“I see… Are you sure that there is time for this explanation? I don’t want to dally…” Aika said as she didn’t want to be selfish.

“Don’t worry. We have time,” Rias said before continuing, “Now the thing about strays is that they are beings that aren’t associated with the leading authority of their respective faction. If a devil isn’t associated with a noble house, then they are a stray. If an exorcist is exiled from the church, they are a stray. And if a fallen is exiled from the Grigori, they are also considered a stray. Any questions?” Rias asked.

“No, thank you for the explanation, senpai.” Aika thanked Rias.

“No problem. I guess we should also start moving.” She looked at the church as her familiar returned to her.

“There is a detection barrier on our way. Akeno-senpai can break it with a blast of her lightning, right there.” Aika pointed at the weakest spot.

“I already like having Aika-chan with us…” Akeno commented before creating a magic circle that attacked the spot that Aika had marked.

With a faint shattering sound, the detection barrier was destroyed and they moved into the church without anyone knowing about them. The occupants wouldn’t notice that the barrier was gone until someone came to inspect it.

The upper area of the church was completely empty as if it was no more than a simple abandoned church.

“There’s the entrance to the underground area.” Rias pointed as they walked in a group toward the spot. Those stairs led to the basement where the main force of the exorcists and fallen angels was present.

Going down the stairs and reaching the basement, they were greeted by a scene that seemed to be straight out of a typical cult sacrifice ritual.

Multiple fire lamps were lit all around the basement area to illuminate everything. Almost forty people were standing on the ground seemingly doing some sort of worship prayer while another group of around a hundred was standing at the side observing the direction that they were praying in.

There seemed to be a staging area with a huge cross in the middle of the stage that was being worshipped by the people in the room. They were all observing the cute blonde who was hanging limply from the cross.

She had the kind of face that would rouse the desire to protect. As she hung limply from the cross, three fallen angels were observing her as a green glow surrounded her.

Seeing the scene in the basement, Rias’ group didn’t waste any time before as they got battle ready, their demonic energy flaring out in preparation. That sudden flare of magic was enough to make the occupants turn to look at them.

“Give ‘em hell, everyone,” Rias stated and released a concentrated blast of Destructive energy to combat the attacks of the people who had relatively quick responses and threw holy spears at them. Akeno didn’t waste any time before she created multiple barrier magic circles around them to prevent an ambush. They were movable barriers so she could pay attention and move them according to the attacks.

Kiba had summoned a sword using sword birth as he combated against whoever approached them along with Koneko. Meanwhile, Aika made sure to pay attention to the minute details of the battlefield as she threw attacks of concentrated demonic energy at the people who were preparing attacks that required charging up. Her attacks didn’t do much, but they prevented anyone from charging up a strong attack.

As the mayhem ensued, the three fallen angels glanced at their followers being decimated and were annoyed, “Where’s Freed, Mittelt, Kalawarna?” The male asked the other two female fallen angels. He was very tall and wore a trenchcoat.

The short blonde who was wearing a gothic dress said in a cutesy voice, “He’s probably already run away…” She sneered. “Mittelt.” He warned. “I’m saying the truth, Dohnaseek.” The blond named Mittelt said.

“Can you go take care of them, Kalawarna?” Dohnaseek asked the other navy blue-haired buxom woman who was wearing very erotic office lady attire.

“On it.” She said as her black wings extended out of her back and flapped, bringing her to the air.

Meanwhile, Rias and her peerage were doing their best to take care of the cannon fodder, but they were proving to be too troublesome. The most troublesome ones were the exorcists whose attacks were causing lasting damage to the devils.

“One of the fallen is here. I’m taking care of her. Akeno, take charge.” Rias said as she took into the air. She didn’t want to have her peerage get too wounded and with the fallen angel upon them, things would get pretty difficult.