Issei had been to the Catholic church in Kuoh many times, most of those times before it had been abandoned. Irina and her family had always been religious, and had often invited him to go to church with them. And on a lot of Sundays, Issei hadn't been able to justify not going; Issei privately suspected that the Shidou family's offers were as much his own parent's doing, an excuse to get him out of their hair for a morning.

It wasn't that he hated it. Well, actually, he did hate it, but not because he had an issue with Christianity. He didn't then and didn't now. It was just that church was so boring. So much time spent sitting, listening to somebody at a pulpit talk about religious subjects that went clear over Issei's head, all while being stuck in the most uncomfortable seats Issei could ever recall sitting in.

He'd never acted up during those sessions, lest he get himself in trouble with his parents. But he didn't miss that aspect to his friendship with Irina. He'd never thought he would come back to this church.

Issei bolted through the twists and turns that lead to the church, which lay a few kilometers from his home and Kuoh Academy alike. More than once he nearly blundered into someone; Issei could only dread the injuries another person might suffer in a collision. The speed at which he moved was even faster than the early hours of this morning. Hazy orange streetlights and blurry car headlights rushed by him as he streaked through the foggy streets.

As he ran, the buildings spread out. Trees began to grow thicker, in larger patches. By the time he arrived at the church, they had become more common than the buildings.

The stone that the church was constructed from might have been white at some point, but it was long since stained gray-brown by years of dirt and neglect. Vines had begun to crawl up the sides, and the large grove of trees that surrounded it had grown out of control, now thick with underbrush. The concrete path that had once been so lovingly maintained was equally overgrown as anything else, cracks having appeared in the stone from the freezing and thawing of ice. Issei supposed that the only reason nobody had bothered to tear the church down was because of its remoteness; the church was the only building on this street, and this street stuck the church almost a kilometer from any other buildings. There was no reason for anyone to come up here, really.

Issei's pulse raced as he walked through the fog and towards the church. His breathing was heavy, and not just from his lengthy run. All the bravado went out of him as he walked towards the building and he struggled just to keep on his feet.

He'd just been considering how he might even begin confronting "Lady Morrigan" when a new scent hit his nose, one stronger than the earth and rot that he'd been trying to ignore. The new smell lovely, the strength of the odor appealing rather than overwhelming.

But at the same time, Issei's heart nearly tore free from his chest as he stared towards the front door, which hung wide. He knew what it was that he was smelling. Oh, did he know that smell.

Issei wanted to turn and run. He wanted little more than to flee and forget about all this. Get dinner and some sleep, get back to his life.

Instead, he grit his teeth and walked towards the door and the overpowering smell of blood.

The smell grew stronger with every step into the church, and it was but a moment before Issei heard the distinct slap of his foot hitting wetness.

The origin might not have been visible to human eyes, but Issei's could see the truth only too well. His stomach churned at the blood that covered the floor, and even more so at the tiny bits of flesh he could see. Nothing else was on the floor; any pews that once might have stood in the darkened building had long since been removed. All that was left was blood and viscera splashed across the ground and the old pulpit at the head.

Then another sense prodded at him. Whimpers and wet tearing sounds, slow but insistent, crept into his ears. The latter, however, only remained for a brief moment before stopping and being replaced by a new sound.

"Oh…?" The voice was slithering, horrible and left Issei feeling almost as queasy as the gore strewn across the ground. "Is it someone new…?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Issei saw something move. He turned to look, and when he did, it was all he could do not to scream in horror.

Descending on an impossibly thin line of silk was a colossal spider. At least, that was what he believed at first. Then, he saw something else.

From the spider's head extended the upper body of a woman. And as the spider-woman landed in front of him, he could see her bite into something she held.

The urges to scream and vomit mixed together into something that was even harder to contain than either.

The spider-woman tore a chunk of flesh from the human arm she held and then tossed the arm away, its unnaturally pale skin drenched scarlet.

"I take it you're not Lady Morrigan?" Issei asked, trying desperately to keep the fear and disgust out of his voice.

As the spider-woman swallowed, eight red eyes all over her face quirked up. "No, dear. I've no idea who you're referring to." After a moment, she smiled, revealing a mouth that seemed to be lined entirely with fangs. "Oh, trying to act tough, are we?" A chuckle escaped her mouth as the lower part of her, the spider part, began to move its legs and walk towards him. Issei struggled to not step back, even when she drew close.

"Well, no worries," the spider-woman said, a sadistic grin crossing her lips. "Just a little silk and I'll have you tied up nice and tight. Be a good boy for me and I might even kill you before I eat you."

A hand reached out, snapped tight around Issei's chin and yanked forwards, and Issei stumbled. In an instant, the other arm pulled him close, almost hugging him. In that same breath, Issei could hear the exoskeleton of the spider creak as it lurched upwards, and a heartbeat after, he felt himself being yanked upward.

Mere inches from the face of the spider-woman and pinned, Issei's heart thundered like a jackhammer. He could smell her breath, reeking of blood, could stare into all of the woman's eyes as they sized up their next meal.

Issei didn't scream then. He couldn't have; his lungs seemed to have been paralyzed. Whether that was because of his own fear or something the spider-woman did was impossible for him to work out.

It wasn't conscious thought that drove him to strain against the arm that held him. Instinct handled that; some things, it seemed, were shared between humans and vampires.

What wasn't was the reaction it elicited.

The spider-woman's eyes all widened at once as Issei wrenched himself out of the iron grip of her arm, and Issei dropped.

For that instant he hung in the air, Issei felt a flash of horror go through him. He was easily four or five meters off the ground! He'd probably snap a limb when he hit the floor!

Then he landed, and his fears were assuaged. Other than a light thump, Issei managed to land back on his feet with little more than a mild sting going through him. In the briefest moment, all the fear turned to amazement. Amazement at his own durability, his own strength.

But as movement up above caught his eye, Issei realized he couldn't dwell on that.

There was no elegant descent on a thread this time. Instead, the spider-woman simply let herself fall, her spider half easily landing on its feet as it crashed to the floor.

Her human side snapped up a moment later, all eight eyes narrowed at him. "Well, that's quite interesting. Annoying, too."

Issei swallowed, trying to keep calm as he spoke, to not react to the blood and gore surrounding him and cursing the slight quiver in his voice. "I'm guessing you're a jorōgumo?"

"Did Yasaka send you?" the woman shot back in that same hissing tone, anger obvious even through it.

"Who?"

Issei swore he saw a slight sigh of relief leave the jorōgumo, but it might have been his eyes tricking him. Her human lips curled up in a smile.

"I am what you think I am, yes. And what are you?" The woman's tone had changed. It sounded practically conversational. Friendly, even. If he'd heard it independent of its context, Issei would never have realized it was coming from the throat of a bloodthirsty and murderous creature.

"What?"

All eight of the woman's eyes stared him through. "No human could pull free from me with physical strength alone. What are you?"

Issei took a long, slow breath, and almost immediately regretted it. The smell of blood was almost overpowering, and it took nearly all his mental effort to not start licking up every drop he could see.

Then, with great effort, he forced it out.

"Vampire."

Issei's eyes played no tricks this time - the jorōgumo visibly stiffened as she heard the word, and she did not reply.

But there was no silence. Whimpering shattered it, and Issei realized that the sound hadn't started then. He'd heard it when he had first walked in, but only now did he truly focus on it. Issei's head snapped up, followed the sound as best his ears could tell him. His eyes easily saw straight through the dark.

Three large spiderwebs hung from the ceiling in cocoon-like nets. In two, Issei could see only corpses so badly mutilated that he couldn't even tell what gender either person had been.

The last and closest, however, had a living inhabitant. It was a girl, helplessly stuck in the webs and unable to do more than whimper and cry. Black hair clung to white webs, equally stuck as the skin and clothes. Her face was pressed into the impossibly strong, sticky silk, set in such a way that the girl couldn't even open her mouth to scream. Eyes stared down at the two of them, wide with horror and leaking tears.

Despite the visage and the horror it filled him with, Issei felt something else as he looked at her. It wasn't more than a tiny flicker, but it was there. Not hunger, but recognition. And after a breath or two, it all clicked into place who this girl was.

"Misaki…" Issei breathed, staring at the girl from the kendo club, still dressed in her now-ruined school uniform.

"A vampire, hmm?"

Issei's head snapped back at the sound of the jorōgumo's voice.

A tiny grin cracked his lips as he heard the tension in her voice. Sure, he didn't know quite what it was so afraid of, but still. It was the principle of it.

"Yeah, that's right," Issei replied. His own fear wasn't gone, not even close. Neither was the disgust, the revulsion. But something new was there now, joining those two.

Rage.

"Well then," the jorōgumo said, "that works out well for the both of us, does it not?"

"How so?" Issei asked, craning his neck.

"There's no need for us to be in conflict," the jorōgumo said. "There are thousands of humans in this town - easily enough prey to sate each of our stomachs. And neither of us wants the other's flesh or blood."

The embers of anger were beginning to ignite now, burning the other feelings away. But still, Issei kept his calm as best he could. An idea had occurred to him, and he could only hope it worked.

"Maybe." He traced his jaw with forefinger and thumb, as though considering her offer. "But… I was here first."

The jorōgumo stiffened even further. "I had hoped we could settle into a partnership, but if you wish it, I will move on. Find new hunting grounds."

Issei felt a tiny blast of victory go through, even as the anger burned. His ears and eyes told the truth - the jorōgumo was definitely afraid of him.

"Nah. No need for that. It's more like a… one-time payment."

The human part of the jorōgumo cocked her head. "What is it you desire?"

Issei's head turned upwards and he pointed towards the girl in the webs. "Let her out of the webs. Unharmed." He flashed what he hoped was a suitably cruel-looking grin. "Let's just say that I'm a bit thirsty."

The jorōgumo seemed to swallow in her human throat. "Well, I suppose that's suitable. Though, why unharmed? If you intend to drink her dry anyway, what difference does it make?"

Issei let the false grin widen. "It's more fun if they're not hurt besides the bites. No pain to distract them. You know how it is."

That seemed to relax the jorōgumo a bit, and her human face smiled before letting out a cruel laugh. "We're of one mind, it seems! How refreshing! Yes. Yes, I'll release the girl. I suppose I haven't finished my other meals anyway." A skin-crawling chuckle escaped the jorōgumo. "I am a bit of a glutton."

With that, the jorōgumo scurried towards the wall, spider legs working furiously as it easily climbed the stone towards the web.

Issei had expected that the jorōgumo would tear the web apart with her human hands, or that the spider half might devour it. Yet instead, the web that was sticky and strong enough to easily restrain a man gave easily under her touch, effortlessly coming off of Misaki's skin and clothes without any damage or injury.

When the threads around her mouth were removed, she tried to open it. Tried to scream.

The jorōgumo didn't let her. Her human hand clamped around her jaw and forced it shut, while the other arm kept Misaki's arms pinned. Misaki could do nothing but struggle fruitlessly against the jorōgumo as she gently lowered herself and Misaki to the floor.

"There we are," the jorōgumo cooed. "Out of my web and into his."

Issei took a few steps, and when close enough, covered Misaki's mouth with his own hand and took possession of her arms. He looked down at her, forcing that same cruel grin onto his face even as pleading, crying eyes stared up at him.

"Thank you," he said, tone pleasant despite the anger that now boiled.

"My pleasure. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come." The jorōgumo's voice returned the friendly tone, despite the lingering hiss that underscored every word.

Issei looked up at her, the smile still on his lips, and he nodded. Then he turned, wrenching Misaki around. He tried to be gentle as he kept her pinned.

"Why the rush to leave?" the jorōgumo called after about a dozen steps. "You're free to stay and feed of her here, if you wish."

Issei turned his head back, not letting his fingers slip from his temporary captive. "No, thank you. I like to keep this whole thing private. Just between me and the prey."

"Oh?" the jorōgumo said, smirking and showing her mouth of fangs as she did so. "Have any more… illicit plans for her?"

Issei let out a chuckle he didn't feel, but said nothing before he turned back and continued to drag himself and Misaki out.

Misaki's muffled whimpers grew louder and louder, and she started kicking at his shins and struggling against his arms. Physically, the efforts were fruitless, but Issei felt his heart twist with guilt all the same.

Step by step, meter by meter, Issei dragged Misaki along until they had both been pulled through the door. He forced a few steps around to the right side of the church before he turned around. The trees and thick underbrush crept up around them in the span of a few steps, but only after taking quite a few more than that did Issei stop.

He leaned his head low to Misaki's ear, and right then and there, he was tempted, horribly tempted, to go through with it. Not with violating Misaki in any way. No, that would have been a pointless waste of energy.

Issei breathed in, and he could smell the blood flowing just beneath Misaki's skin. It wasn't like the blood on the church's floor that had teased him prior. It wasn't cold and mixed with the dirt and the earth. What was in her veins right now was warm and fresh, pouring through blood vessels in an endless river with each beat of Misaki's racing heart.

Issei swallowed. And fought the temptation down.

His mouth opened, and rather than bite, he whispered.

"Misaki, right?"
The thrashing grew worse, but Issei kept her pinned easily.

"Listen," he whispered into the whimpering girl's ear. "I'm not going to hurt you. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm not going to bite you or do anything else. So when I let you go, please, please, please don't scream. Okay?"

Misaki stopped thrashing, and when he looked down at her from above, she could see a mix of disbelief, shock and fear. But as she was, she could do nothing to respond.

Issei had no choice, and so he took a leap of faith.

His arms and hands let go.

And though she whirled to face him, she did not scream or cry out. Instead, she stared him through, sucking in a few well-deserved breaths.

"Look," Issei said, "like I said, I'm not going to hurt you or do anything to you. So can you do something for me?" Issei didn't let her answer before he continued on breathlessly. "Just stay here for a bit. I'll explain what I can once I'm done. Okay? Make sense?"

Misaki stared at him for a few seconds, still not replying.

"Okay?"

He could see a shiver go through Misaki as she stared at him. Then, she finally spoke, her voice trembling to the point that he could barely understand it.

"What are you going to do?"

Issei gave her what he hoped was a reassuring nod, before pointing back to the church, nearly hidden by the plant life.

"I've gotta kill that thing. Before it kills anyone else."

Misaki gave him a wide-eyed stare that lasted several long seconds, a stare only broken by a nearly imperceptible nod.

He nodded back, and had just begun the walk back to the church when he heard Misaki say something. Unfortunately, the slight crack of a branch drowned it out.

Issei turned around again.

"Thank you," Misaki said, her voice so low that no human could have heard it.

He nodded once more, then resumed his walk back.

As his feet hit the overgrown path, Issei found himself filled with the insane urge to laugh.

First the vampirism. Then his classmate had been murdered. And now he was going into a long-abandoned church to kill a monster straight out of legends without anything resembling a plan.

This wasn't happening. It couldn't be. This was some fever dream cooked up by a broken mind. He was probably in a straightjacket in a padded cell somewhere, ranting and raving about beasts and monsters. Perhaps his parents were there, wondering why their son had slipped into madness.

Yet that suspicion of his own insanity didn't break his stride towards the church and the lovely smell of blood. And towards the one who'd spilled it.

Madness or not, Issei felt something driving him on. The drowsiness was gone from him now, replaced by a thudding heart and fear and rage. He supposed he was playing the hero by doing this, but he'd have denied it was from a desire for recognition.

Luckily for him, the jorōgumo hadn't gone anywhere. By Issei's eyes, she'd simply returned to feasting on the two corpses that were left hanging in the webs. Yet when she heard him enter again, she made the same graceful descent she had the first time she'd entered.

She greeted him with a friendly smile. "Oh, back again so soon, vampire? Something else I can do for you?"

Issei said nothing before he charged her.

Taken by surprise, the jorōgumo took his first punch directly to her human cheek. Bones and flesh splintered easily underneath Issei's fist, and the jorōgumo was thrown sideways onto her side as Issei landed.

Much faster than he'd expected, though, the jorōgumo righted herself. The woman's face, now a mask of rage and pain, had been almost entirely smashed in on the left side, and from tears in the skin and a nearly crushed eye socket, purple fluid that must have been the jorōgumo's blood flowed freely.

The injury didn't seem to slow it down, though, and it did not give him the satisfaction of showing pain as it stepped out of the path of his next punch.

The spider ejected web from itself, ejected it at a speed and in a way no normal spider would have. It was more like it had been spat than anything else. The spider pulled itself towards the thread, which had stuck on the wall. Spinning in midair, the jorōgumo's human half turned to look at Issei as the spider landed and anchored itself to the stone, out of Issei's immediate reach.

"So," the jorōgumo hissed, "that's what it was. A feint to get a free meal. And now you're back to enforce your claim on this town."

Before Issei's shocked eyes, the jorōgumo began to glow. It was as though hundreds of tiny cracks had appeared in the spider's exoskeleton. From those cracks shone bright orange light.

"But if you refuse to live in peace with me, vampire, then I suppose I'll just have to stake my own claim."

The glow in the exoskeleton brightened, and something began to flow out of the cracks. And as he stared at it, watched it leap up and twist around, Issei's jaw fell open.

The fluid was liquid flame. He had no other way to describe it. Not petroleum that had been ignited, not a spew of lava. It was flame, somehow turned into a liquid state.

Against gravity, the liquid flame crawled upwards, covering every inch of the spider. Issei made no move to stop it, too paralyzed by shock.

It was a glint of light that caught his eye and snapped him back to reality. The light was a reflection of the flames, reflected off of metal. Issei's eyes darted to the side.

The hand of the jorōgumo now held a sword, one that coated itself in the liquid flames even as he watched.

Issei swallowed, all the strength from the jorōgumo's fear of him gone now. With it had gone much of his bravado.

But he couldn't run. Even if he did escape, the jorōgumo would hunt him and those he loved - and how many innocents would die in the process? Moreover, who would stop this creature, if not him? Who could?

A lopsided grin touched the jorōgumo's damaged lips, but it said nothing before it charged. The spider legs threw the entire body forwards at a speed Issei would have thought impossible if he hadn't been there to witness it.

Issei instinctively threw himself to the side, but even as he did, Issei felt himself cry out.

With a simple flick, the jorōgumo had caught him with her sword as he dodged, opening a gash that ran the entire length of his left forearm. The liquid flame on the metal burned itself out almost instantly, but it lasted just long enough for the fire to turn Issei's skin a bright, vivid red.

After an instant, the initial shock of pain passed, and Issei's entire arm no longer needed the flame to feel as though it had been set ablaze.

Tears leaked into the corners of Issei's eyes as the jorōgumo turned, and Issei desperately wanted to let them come freely. Yet he knew he could not. Not now.

The jorōgumo leaped for him again, flame-licked sword swinging. Issei didn't try to dodge left or right, opting instead to jump backwards. The sword swing missed Issei completely this time, the jorōgumo landing heavily in the spot where Issei had been a heartbeat before. A frustrated screech shot up from the jorōgumo, and she had barely landed before she pushed forward, trying to rush him down as she hopped forwards. Another leap back lead to the jorōgumo missing again, though still too close for comfort.

Then the jorōgumo's forward leaps stopped as her human face twisted, and she instead began to walk backwards. Unsure of what else to do, Issei ran forwards again. The jorōgumo hadn't covered her the flesh of her human parts in the liquid flame, and Issei had intended to throw another punch at her face.

But as he drew close, the jorōgumo suddenly flew backwards, and it wasn't until an instant later that Issei realized that the jorōgumo had pulled the same trick as before, yanking itself upwards on a thread of silk. This time, however, it went higher, even further out of his reach.

Issei stopped for a few breaths as he stared the jorōgumo down, trying to work out how he'd get up there. He was so focused on this task, in fact, that he did not notice the spider's chalicera begin to raise themselves, or the woman fused with the spider grin through a broken face.

What he did notice was when liquid flame came flying at him. Not in a showering flick from the jorōgumo's sword as he might have expected. The flame came down in a thick, viscous stream. And this time, Issei's reactions were an instant too slow.

The thick flame circled around his right arm like a thread and snapped tight. It burned through his blazer in an instant, and one past that, Issei screamed.

The fire had been horribly painful the first time, brief though its touch had been. That sensation seemed pleasant now, infinitely preferable to the blaze that stuck to his arm. Small and confined though it was, the fire felt as though it was ripping clean through him, and he nearly stumbled.

Although his vision was hazed from tears, the glow from the liquid still coming towards him was enough for his brain to work on instinct. He jumped to avoid one, actually spinning in mid-air to land facing the opposite way.

Then, he ran towards the door, frantically clawing at the flames that stubbornly clung to his arm all the while. The other shots intended for him fell short by quite a distance, splattering on the blood-slicked floor and eventually extinguishing. Within moments, the air had begun to reek of burning blood.

At the door, he spun his head, trying to spy the jorōgumo even through the blur of pain. After a moment, he saw that she hadn't moved from her spot on the wall, contenting herself with glaring after him.

Pain stabbed through his fingers as he desperately tore at the liquid flame. It clung to his skin in the same sticky way as spiderweb, fighting his every attempt to tear it loose and leaving his every effort to do so to cause him agony.

After several seconds, each horribly long, Issei finally managed to rip the flames off of him completely, discarding them onto the floor. There was no care in how he threw them to the ground. The pain did not go with them; though lessened somewhat, much of it remained, tormenting him even as he took a moment to examine his flesh.

Yellow blisters, some moist, had swelled up on some of the parts of his arm the liquid flame had touched. What wasn't swelled was pink, the unnatural kind of pink that marks skin far beneath the surface.

Issei desperately wanted to scream. At the pain, the sight of his arm, this whole situation. This hadn't been how tonight was supposed to go. He was supposed to go home and get food and sleep and forget about his problems for a bit and-

Issei bit back the stream of thoughts, bit his lip against the pain even as the tears kept coming. Bit them back and tried to think. Really think, come up with a plan.

He knew instinctively that the jorōgumo probably wouldn't move. Why should she? She had the advantage and could bombard him at will. She wouldn't be drawn into following him out. And if he left, she might well block the entrance with webbing. His eyes snapped up to the windows high above. Even cracked and broken as they were, he couldn't have reached them from the outside.

His eyes slid over to the jorōgumo, still glaring him through from her perch on the wall. Briefly, he considered taking his shoes off and tossing them at her. Smash a spider with a shoe? It seemed logical enough. Issei knew it was a foolish idea, of course - his shoe would never be able to hurt this thing. Not enough mass. But if not that, then…

Then Issei's eyes moved again, and settled on the old pulpit, the sole thing that hadn't been removed from the building. It stood on the other side of the old church, left where it had been even when the pews had been taken away.

Exactly opposite Issei.

His memory raced then, trying to remember if the pulpit had been set into the floor or if it was movable. Issei's memory was foggy, however, both from the pain and how old those memories were.

No answer came, and Issei grit his teeth.

Ignoring the pain wracking him, Issei tore forwards, pushing his legs as hard as he possibly could. The jorōgumo tried to spit a few more blasts of the fiery web at him, but it was obvious that she couldn't lead her shots very well; all easily missed.

In the brief moment before he reached the pulpit, Issei remembered his bed and how easily he'd moved it.

It shifted, and Issei let a crazed smile overtake his lips. Within a breath, he'd lifted it, unsurprised at how easy it was even as the jorōgumo spat at him again. Issei's arm and hand screamed protest as he pushed them. He ignored both; he needed their strength regardless of what they thought.

The world held still for just the tiniest breath as Issei heaved the pulpit up, tossed it into the air.

The next breath didn't pass much faster as he and the jorōgumo watched the pulpit fly through the air, tumbling as it did. The jorōgumo's form moved in slow motion, but in doing so, it proved that it possessed at least one human instinct.

Issei's ears picked up the sound of bones in the jorōgumo's human arm cracking as the pulpit made impact, too fast for the jorōgumo to dodge. Another rough cracking sound hit his ears the pulpit struck the jorōgumo's human head as it pivoted around the arm.

The crash of the jorōgumo hitting the ground mixed in with the sound of the pulpit doing the same. Along with it came a ringing as the sword she'd held fell to the wood floor, dropped from an arm that was now useless.

The pain was dulling down to an ignorable haze as Issei ran forwards, arm drawing back and legs tensing even as the jorōgumo tried to stand on the spider's legs.

His fist met the jorōgumo's face just as the latter had managed to pick up her human part's head. The spider stumbled again at the impact, but this time, it was nearly flush against the wall. And Issei had not let himself simply fall away. Not this time. This time around, he was focused.

Against any pain it might have felt, Issei's left hand grabbed the jorōgumo by the throat. In the same instant, he closed his right into a fist and threw it heavily against the jorōgumo's face. A second time, a third. Issei let bloodlust and anger guide his arm.

Through the red that his vision had turned to, Issei could feel only the twitching and quivering of the flesh as he slammed his fist against the jorōgumo's head over and over again. He didn't notice her one good arm, the one that hadn't been holding the sword, clawing feebly at him, or the struggle of the spider to buck him off as he stood atop it. Not that it would have helped or changed things.

Only when a faint wheezing left the jorōgumo did Issei come to and see the damage he'd done.

The jorōgumo's face was completely smashed in, now; Issei could even see shattered bits of bone peeking through the torn skin. The jaw was still mostly still intact, but it had been nearly rid of teeth. Dents in the skull promised death, and several of the jorōgumo's eyes were completely destroyed, purple blood pouring from them.

Issei stopped for a moment at the wheezing. And when he did, the jorōgumo, impossibly, attempted to speak.

The words were garbled. He supposed he shouldn't have been surprised, considering the damage to her face. His best guess for what she had said went something like "How do you still have flesh?", but he wasn't sure.

And it wasn't important to him, either.

As he jumped off the spider, Issei maintained his grip on the jorōgumo's throat, pulling with all his might.

The spider did not resist as the human part of it was used as a mechanism to unbalance it. It toppled with ease, leaving the jorōgumo's human head pressed nearly level with the ground.

Issei raised a foot, and for the briefest instant, he could see the few working eyes the jorōgumo still had stare up at him, pleading.

He brought his foot down.

The jorōgumo's human skull splintered into pieces with a wet crunching sound. Purple blood and what Issei supposed must have been brain matter poured out of the mess.

The church fell silent.

After a breath longer than comfortable of staring at it, Issei stumbled backwards, resisting the urge to let himself fall to the floor. He fixed his eyes on the spider parts, which had gone mostly undamaged but were clearly subservient to the human ones.

A trickle of saliva slid down his throat. The pain in his skin was rapidly returning as the adrenaline flowed out of his blood vessels, but he tried to ignore it. Pain in a burned area was a good thing, right? He swore he'd learned that at some point, though he couldn't quite remember why.

Issei wanted to vomit at it all. He wanted to cry or scream or shout, though his body would not let him. It became obvious as he considered the why.

He'd been momentarily convinced as he'd walked up to the church that this was all a delusion, but only now did he understand how much he wanted that to be true.

All the energy seemed to leave him even as he stared at the now-dead jorōgumo, stomach twisting.

His eyes started to grow heavy once more as his limbs did, and for just a moment, Issei considered dropping to the floor and sleeping right there. What stopped him was those same eyes as they noticed something else, and when they did, the weights on them left again.

The jorōgumo's spider body had been nearly coated in the liquid flame; even as Issei considered it, he realized that he could feel pain in his feet. He could only guess that the flame had burned clean through the soles of his shoes and into his skin.

That fire hadn't gone out, and had in fact started to pool on the floor. The wooden floor.

And it wasn't extinguishing. Even as he watched, he could see the fire starting to spread.

"Shit…" Issei muttered as he turned around. Against the pain now tearing at his feet, he ran towards the doors of the church.

He wasn't surprised to find that Misaki was gone, and frankly, he was glad for it. Let her take whatever away from this night she wanted to. For now, anyway. He'd find her later. At school, maybe. He'd find her and talk to her and explain things. He didn't know what he'd say and he didn't care. He didn't know how he'd explain his injuries or his clothes to his parents. He didn't care about that, either.

Right now, he only wanted to be away from here.

Against screaming, pained muscles, Issei ran up the street, away from the burning church and back into the fog.

A/N: There was supposed to be a note here about how I'm taking some creative liberties with the portrayal of the jorōgumo as compared to legends, but you probably figured that out already, as well as who the jorōgumo here is based on.

Also, long enough for you, redditors? Yeah, you two. You know who you are.