Hello, all. I have given you all this chapter, and I'm very sorry for the wait. I'm quite depressed as of lately, and I really couldn't find the motivation to work on this. But, I managed to do it today. So, I hope you all enjoy. Once again, sorry.

As the circle glowed more fiercely, Kane felt as though his soul glowed less and less, not least of him slowly dying, but his spirit dying too.

'Your journey has not ended, human.' A familiar, heavy voice rang inside Kane's mind. 'Giving up is not an option. There is always a way.'

'Great, now I'm turning insane…' Kane thought, pushing the voice away.

'Did you not listen to me? Very well, you leave me no choice.' The voice once again rang. This time, though, it acted. Not with its own body, but with Kane's. His eyes widened as his hand shot forward to grab Kiba's sword.

"Wait, what are you doing?!" Both Kane and Kiba yelled synchronously. Before either of them could further their questions, the area was engulfed in a golden, not red, light. It had nullified the portal that Akeno had prepared completely. Akeno was surprised. Kiba was surprised. Kane was just helpless.

"If you are not going to take action, human, I most certainly will." The ominous voice rang, but it wasn't inside Kane's head. Akeno and Kiba heard it too.

A shockwave rippled through the immediate area of the trio, as the golden lines that passed in and out grew brighter and more frequent and the view of the outside world became a bright gold-maroon. Kiba had dropped his sword (yet Kane still held on). The shockwave caused many of the current spectators to fall down in agony from the sheer intensity of the noise, or, such as in Akeno's case, to simply cover their ears. In doing so, however, Akeno released Kane, allowing him to drop to the ground. In response, Kane fell to one knee, his face hidden from the others as a voice emanated from his own vocal chords, yet was not his own voice.

"His fate cannot be decided by the likes of you." Aurei had addressed Akeno specifically it seems, for it was through Kane's body that The Aura had spoken, and Kane had his head somewhat tilted towards Akeno.

"Who are you?" Akeno demanded, struck with awe all the while.

"Me? Has the Gremory girl not told you of me yet? Strange. Nevertheless, tell her that I have come back to reap what God has sown." The Aura had replied to Akeno. Akeno was confused, frightened, alert and ready. The wound in Kane's body had slowly started to heal and close up due to golden tendrils flowing into it all the while. As it did so, a golden, barely visible figure had materialised behind Kane.

"What? What do you mean reap what God has…"

"There is no time for questions right now - they come later."

The Aura had spoken. And, as he did so, the golden dome that had encompassed the the 4 of them had glowed brighter and brighter still.

"Akeno-san! What in the world is going on?!" Kiba yelled as he covered his face from The Aura's light. Akeno did the same upon crouching, now at ground level. A dull pain had been stuck at the back of her skull all this time - the cause was unknown to her. Now it exploded will full force. Kiba felt it too, now, and he fell onto his stomach now, almost fetal from the sting.

"I have no idea!" Akeno yelled back. The Aura's glow had burned very fiercely, until all the light seemed to suddenly pull at the centre of the dome surrounding Kane. Just as suddenly, The Aura as well as Kane's body vanished in a burst of glowing embers that sparkled slightly. Kiba's sword fell to the ground with a loud 'clank'. The two of them clutched their heads still, as a slight ringing continued within their ears; a reminder of the seeming madness which just occurred.

"That guy… is dangerous." Kiba commented tiredly.

"That's why Buchou wants him." Akeno replied, equally drained. She had understood why Kane's powers had affected Kiba, but it should not have affected her. She was not human before.

"Still?" Kiba asked, concerned slightly.

"Not anymore... now, we need him." Akeno replied, equally worried.

6:27 A.M.

Kane's Apartment

There are only very few people in the world that has experienced seeing themselves from someone else's view to some extent. Kane, as of right now, is one of them. Kane, as of right now, is also the one who has, in essence, exited his body the furthest than anyone else. Kane, as of right now, has experienced something no one else ever has. Kane, as of right now, is incredibly confused. Kane, as of right now, is also remarkably…

pissed off.

Kane's body materialised in his living room in a bright burst of light. Apart from that, Aurei had left him to be, and so, the golden aura no longer existed. Kane's torso hole was no longer being healed, also. And so, there was still a hole. Albeit, a very minor one. However, the major pain for Kane came from his head, and boy, was it painful. Unfortunately, the devils from beforehand weren't the only ones who were in sudden agony from Aurei's sudden appearance. Kane attempted to sit up on the centre rug, only to fall back down and hit his head on the floor.

'Dammit. Of all times.' Kane thought.

He tried to keep his thoughts quiet, knowing that Aurei - a… 'split personality' of Kane's - was now awake, to an extent. This extent, however, was unknown, so whether he would come back again or not was a question Kane didn't want the answer to.

'Well, he wants something done… I have a mission of my own, I really can't deal with this right now…'

He had another attempt at getting up, the metaphorical crack in his skull splitting his bone further. He took a quick glance around once he finally reached a comfortable sitting position, but was quickly requisitioned from it by an alien voice in his head;

That was close. I can't have you die - I have business down here which only you can help me with. It doesn't help that those devils have found you. Keep a sharp eye out next time, you have more enemies than you realise.

'Business? You know, I have a job. I mean to get it done. Besides, how long have you been here?'

Long enough.

As Kane sat staring into the sickly-coloured abyss which was his apartment wall, talking to Aurei silently, a presence approached his front door. Then another. Then another...

A total of 7 people stood before the door, and Kane was alerted to this by his 'friend' moments before they tried to break it down…

"Police! You're under arrest! Come quietly and you'll have nothing to worry about."

...which only made his headache ten times worse. Kane meant to question what they were doing, but easily saw a flaw in his attempt - their weapons. A Browning 1911, a little old but classical, along with a red Greek cross on the hilt.

Templars.

'Yes, thank you. A little late, but thank you.' Kane replied icily. It had been an extremely bad day for him, and he not only had schizophrenia to deal with, but those damn Templars as well.

Let me.

With that, a golden aura had engulfed the room, and the golden figure of Aurei had materialised almost instantaneously this time. It was in much more detail too. A robe could be seen draped over his entire body. It seemed in quite bad shape, which clashed greatly with his glow. Unfortunately, Kane's headache grew to previously unknown proportions, nearly making him unconscious.

The 'police' had gawped in shock, but immediately started shooting rounds at Aurei, who was unfazed. Kane tried to duck behind his bed, but ended up falling badly on the side of it.

Don't kill yourself.

Aurei now shot out a golden tendril of energy at the Templars, who moved the gun to their heads and shot themselves. Kane saw this, and recalled back to how Desmond did the same thing in Rome while rescuing William. The blood that had splattered against the wall was, strangely, starting to fade away, and a ghostly blue substance from their bodies entered Aurei's hand.

It was over, done. Kane thought he was positively going crazy, because his alter ego suddenly springed out of his body and killed 2 Templars. That doesn't happen. Ever.

Well, it happened. So believe it, human.

"Shut it! Just… stop! Go back to wherever you came from! I don't want anything to do with this!" Kane shouted back with the rest of strength that he had. Then, black.

A few hours later…

The ink cleared as Kane gained vision of his room once again. He was still in the same position that he was when he collapsed. It was much darker now, since time had obviously advanced a few hours.

Kane, there's not much time.

He had thought that Aurei had maybe gone now, that everything he had seen in the past few days was just some whacko dream.

Not a dream. Get up, now.

"For God's sake, please, just…" Kane had started to speak as he started to get up, until he was surprised by the fact that the small hole in his abdomen had healed nicely. No pain, no headache either. "Woah, that's… nice."

GET UP.

"Yes, yes." Kane retorted as he springed back up. "What do you want?"

To go somewhere away from here.

"Eh? Why?"

You've been compromised. The enemy is after you.

Kane remembered the Templars. He looked around his room, no blood, no bodies. Only 2 Brownings. "Fair point. Let's go." Even though Kane wanted to get rid of Aurei, a temporary alliance with the other insanity-turned-into-physical-form personality in him may be fruitful yet. He started packing up all his clothes after he had turned on his laptop. It took a little while to turn on, so he would be finished by then.

Human, there is no time. We must make haste.

"There's always time for a call and a little tidying up, even if this place needs a lot more than a 'little'" Kane replied casually. He felt… energetic. Yet... calm. Cool.

That seems to be a side effect of my healing powers...

"Yeah, maybe." Kane said nonchalantly once again.

This is a problem.

"Relax."

There's no time to relax. There are Templars on your tail, human.

"Yeah, yeah. Su-" Kane started again, when he had now noticed it too that he was too laid-back. "Good point." He said as he shook he head and started to pack up much more efficiently.

I know.

A few minutes later…

Kane had finished, and his drowsiness had subsided considerably. He put on his jacket, but paused for thought while his laptop connected to the Assassin's network.

What is it?

'Where should I go?' Kane thought.

Ah. Well, yes. That's a problem.

'Kyoto.' Kane decided firmly, but relaxed.

Good idea, but too far. You have to be qui- that was unusually deciding of you, even under the relaxant. Interesting…

'I know, I'm great. Let's go'. Kane thought to Aurei as he finished.

That quick? Human, you are more extraordinary than I thought. High Command was right, I shouldn't have underestimated you.

'Where to?' Kane asked.

The devil's club room.

'Alright, ho- WAIT WHAT?' Kane exclaimed mentally. 'No, no, NO. YOU MUST BE JOKING! LIKE HELL I'M GOING BACK THERE!'

I can't believe it myself either, trust me. I did not expect the Templars to find you this soon, but we have no choice. We need cover, and we need it fast. We may be able to strike a deal with the devils, no matter how… distasteful they may be. The enemy of our enemy is our ally.

'Nope, nope, you will not believe how much 'nope' is radiating from my mind, right now.'

I do know, I'm you, remember?

'I'm not going back there.'

You have to.

'Why don't we just go to Kyoto? It's much safer.'

Human, there are objects in the painting when observed secondly. There are things that you cannot yet understand. Time will reveal all, but first the student must take the word of the teacher.

Kane pondered this thought, but it seemed that Aurei had intentionally not looked into them.

'Very well, we shall go. On one condition, Aurei.'

That Akeno must be kept at bay?

'Yes.'

I already had that in mind.

With that sentence, a complex geometrical shape had been blazoned on the ground in a brilliant flash of cyan light. Kane quickly started to email Rebecca, saying that he's been compromised and that they might not hear from him any time soon, but to not worry because he has help.

Ready, human?

'No. Then again, you can only be ready enough.' Kane answered.

Elsewhere…

Sona sat quietly at her table, reading through the articles that had come across her table recently in accordance with Issei's near-death experience. She stopped for a bit to think. "Have to hand it to Rias, she's pretty determined." Sona said to herself as her voice resonated throughout the dark club room. "Don't blame her, though." She added as she went back to reading the articles. She caught eye of one particular article, detailing a passage on… "Kane? Rias is out for him as well?"

Just then, a burst of golden light flooded the room as pillars of lights flitted in and out of existence throughout the area. Some beams forged together in the shape of person, and with another bright burst of light, the person in question materialised.
"Errgh… that's going to take some getting used to…" the figure groaned. Sona was completely taken aback by this intercession, and stood up to meet the stranger.
"Who are you to come here?" Sona questioned.
"Huh? Wait, Souna-senpai?" The figure answered. The beams of light became less and less bright as the golden figure slowly had shaped and figures arise out of it. This was no stranger.
"Kane!? What are you doing here? Nevermind that, how did you even get here?" Sona exclaimed.
"Er… fuck, Aurei what have you done?" Kane questioned the air, seemingly.
"Aurei? Who are you talking to?" Sona asked, getting quite bemused.
"Oh… er… myself, in that case. Or, some part of myself… and… er... " Kane struggled to find the words. Just then, another golden figure materialised in the room, forged out of the beams of light.
"Sona the devil, it's… quite unfulfilling to meet you like this." The figure spoke. "I'm sure you've heard about me, as I've heard about you." Sona was completely dumbstruck by this, even further so than before. It was him… Sona would never have thought to meet him like this either. "I'm sure you also know about my… protege, Kane, here."
"Wait, 'Sona the devil'? You're one of them too, Souna-senpai… or Sona-senpai… or… argh…" Kane idly commented.
"She sure is, Kane." The golden figure replied.