Hello Guys!

Long time no see! I'm really, really sorry it took me more than a year to complete chapter 4. I've got no excuse for that. Let's just say I'm being lazy again and move on.

Anyway, this chapter turns out to be longer, FAR longer than what I'd expected at first. Not only that, I also couldn't cover as much of the canon as I'd originally intended to. So yeah, you can see I changed the title from what I had written in the last chapter.

Anyway, as my apology, I'd like to address some of your question, my good reader who had commented on this story. I'll do it with the comment of my previous chapter.

adislt: For his contract monster, I'm sticking with the original, my personal favorite dragon in all KR history, Dragredder. Why change what's already perfect, right? And I'm completely agree with you about KR Ryuki being the most mysterious KR series. Seriously, what Mirror World actually is, How it was made, Why Kanzaki Shirou have the power to access that world despite being normal human, How real Yui managed to change place with Mirror Yui, and that all were just a few of questions I have about the lore of this universe. That's also the biggest reason why I chose this KR to be crossed with DxD. I feel that this deep and complicated lore would get much more interesting if I try to intertwine it with DxD's vast and ever changing universe.

reynardgautama: Thanks, man. I hope you're pleased with this chapter as well.

Ultimate Kuuga: No, man. YOU are awesome! Thanks for the support.

Reiji01: Yup, you're completely right, man. This matter is actually a piece of important information about my world building. Props for your smart commentary. But trust me, it's not some miscalculation or error on my part (at least, I don't think so) and relax, I don't intend to make the Riders too OP or anything. Instead, I make it this way as a balancing between the Riders and the DxD world around them.

DriveMiracle: I'd love to see about that too. In fact, I already make sure every Rider in the canon Ryuki-verse get a role in this story. But honestly, I still can't find a way to slip Ryuga naturally into the story until at least the last part of the S1 anime (the Phoenix's engagement stuff). So well, you'll definitely see Ryuga, but probably not until the very latter into the story.

Dragon Bone Z: I'd honestly intended to slip some of the canon monster plus some OC of my own, and this one is definitely an OC. But if you want to know where's my inspiration came from, it's actually from a game. The one released not so long before chapter 3 came out, that was all about exploring, hunting, and filled with big-ass monsters.

Mega Float Guest: Your answer, my friend, is in this chapter.

DB-19: Yup, it is his form without contract monster. His power is very limited in this form and he can't access any of his awesome weapons and final vent yet. Basically Kuuga growing form.

Ryuga: Thanks, man! And yup, Ren will appear, still as Shinji's rival and unwilling mentor, Yang to Shinji's Yin. I can promise you that their interaction would be more or less the same as the canon.

Rider: ADVENT!

Anon 1 : Well, there's no specific important reason, actually. I just prefer calling him that way in my summary.

Anon 2 : Hmm... maybe I'll try to implement that some day. Well, Ryuki is basically fire-based rider anyway, so it'll probably work just fine. Thanks for the suggestion, man. Highly appreciated.

Crozz: It'd be somewhere after the first volume of the DxD Light Novel (Saving Asia's Arc). I won't spoil too much, but it will involve some fighting beforehand.

Darkrider: Thank, sir. I hope you enjoy his reaction in this chapter.

Anon 3: Pray SUPER diligently and you shall receive.

Chaos Lord Roscoso: Well, you'll enjoy his reaction in this chapter then.

Galaxy War: I'd have to go with straight no. That privilege will still only be owned by Ouja, and yes, that degenerate bastard will appear in this story. Heads up here, in my timeline he still haven't got any contract monster besides Venosnaker, as the Rider set was still complete here.

Nomad118: Thank you, kind officer. Your service will always be remembered *salute*

Zero-X: Interesting point here. I don't want to spoil too much, but actually, this version of Shirou have different 'agenda' with Yui, so he wouldn't make any move for now. Aside from, you know, stalking her through mirrors like what he always did in the canon.

CrappyIdiots: I TOTALLY agree with your point here, sir. Shinji's strong exactly because he's a human here. Don't worry, I won't let him join the dark side.

Anon 4 & legillius: Very sorry for the wait, my kind readers, and thanks for always reminding me. Here's your very late dose of Fanfiction.

Anon 5: Thanks for the compliment sir. Regarding the Survive card, no, he haven't had it yet in this timeline. Don't worry though, as I assure you I will still implement the Survive form. Hell, maybe I'd also get creative and designed my own Survive form for some Riders. KR Ryuki already has a lot of unused Survive Form for many of its Rider, so just a little tweak here and there plus a lot of imaginations in designing the weapons and abilities, and voila, new Survive Form. Anyway, look forward to it!

Was that all? Okay then, moving on!

As usual, I'm sorry if there are some grammar or spelling errors along the way. I hope everyone enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kamen Rider Ryuki or High school DxD.

Chapter 4: How to Get Catfished by Psychotic Murderer

*ZARAZARAZARA...* *GAZAGAZAGAZA...*

*TRAANGGG* *KLAANGG*

"Ughh... damn it! There's too many of them!" One figure said in frustration, all while desperately blocking his opponent's giant scissor-like weapon with shield on his left hand and slashing the other enemies on his right with curved sword at the same time.

"Stop whining and start stabbing! These monsters aren't going to perish by themselves!" Commanded one figure in dark blue. He's at the time also busy stabbing and slashing the gazelle-like monster's attack, while at the same time swiftly dancing around the battlefield with incredible agility.

After a few minutes, the dark blue figure finally managed to land a solid hit on his opponents' left thigh; making him tumbled and let out a shrill cry. Using that opportunity, he kicked his wounded opponent on the chest and sent him flying onto the rest of the monsters.

Then, he strategically jumped back, and after managed to get some distances, shouted to his comrade. "Hey Kido, close your ears!" and proceeded to slide one card out of the deck that's strapped to his waist like a buckle.

"WAIT... urghh, get away from me! WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!" The red figure shouted back to reconfirm his partner's word after bashing one monster's head with his shield; as he couldn't hear anything in amidst of his own heated battle.

*Psyuuu* [NASTY VENT]

Ignoring his partner's yell, the dark blue figure slid the card into the sword that's hanging on his belt. Soon after, a gigantic, mechanical-looking black bat suddenly came out of nowhere and started screeching so loudly onto his opponents' vicinity.

As the result, all the fight stopped immediately, as all of them instinctively covered their ears to avoid that supersonic screech; rendering them immobilized for a while.

"ARRGHHH... GODDAMIT REN, YOU BASTARD!"

...

...

... Naturally, 'all of them' meant including that red figure as well.

"I told you to cover your ears," The dark blue figure nonchalantly said as he pulled another card out his deck. This card was shining bright blue in color with a golden bat-like symbol inscribed on it.

"This time, move out of the way!" He shouted as he put that card into the opening handle-guard of the sword on his belt again.

*Psyuuu* [FINAL VENT]

After that robotic announcement, the dark blue figure and the black bat's body started glowing an intense dark blue. Then, the dark blue figure gripped his lance and ran towards the horde of enemies, with the black bat descended and perched itself on his back; its large, leathery wings transformed into an epic long cape. With it, he jumped high into the air.

"HOYYY REN, WHAT THE HECK WAS... tha..." The red figure who'd just snapped out of his daze, suddenly paled as he saw his partner rose higher and higher into the air.

"O-o-oyy... Ren-san, I-I'm still here, you know?"

When he'd reached the highest point, the dark blue figure quickly pointed his lance downward; parallel with his leg. At the same time, his cape wrapped his whole body in a form of drill pointed downward.

"He-heyy, you gotta be kid..."

[HISHOUZAN]

The cloth-formed drill now started spinning and descended with tremendous speed onto the dazed horde of monsters.

But well, unfortunately...

"Oh, for fu... GYAAAHHHH!"

*JRRAASSS... KA-BLAAMMM!*

The drill successfully pierced through one of the monsters, exploding it upon contact. The blast radius it caused was wide enough to immediately wipe out the entire area of monsters. Then, in amidst of the smoke and fire, two figures; one humanoid and one giant mechanical bat, emerged victorious.

At the same time, shining gray orbs also floated out from the smoke in the exact same number as the monsters defeated. After one flick of a finger from its master, the giant bat immediately flew and 'consumed' all of them.

"Four monster essences acquired," the dark blue figure smirked lightly under his helmet. "Good catch. Now, let's..."

"NOT SO FAST, YOU ARSEHOLE!"

...

...

He sighed deeply, knowing that there would be another long session of argument between them. When he turned his body to find the source of that voice, he found his annoying 'self-proclaimed' partner standing there, fuming like crazy.

"Don't you have something to say to me after nearly SENDING ME INTO OBLIVION huh, you damn prick?" The red figure said as he's tapping his foot onto the ground. His popping veins were somehow completely visible even if he's wearing a helmet.

The dark blue figure scoffed in completely mocking tone. "At least you're safe, right? Stop complaining about small details already," he nonchalantly said. "Also, I'm not sharing these essences with you, if you're going to ask for those. I'm the one who killed them all."

"I've told you already! I don't care about that creepy monster's soul or essence or whatever the hell that was!" The red figure once again yelled at his comrade. "I just need you to stop being such an anti-social git for one goddamn day and work with me for every once in a while! We wouldn't be in such a peril this time if you just listen to my plan!"

Again, his rant was answered by a loud snort. "Hmph, you and your delusional plan. Besides, I've already told you that I can do this all by myself. You're the one who forced to come with me. It's not my fault you're in my line of sight when I'm Final Vent-ing them."

Hearing that, the red figure couldn't help but face-palming as hard as he could. "... You know, this is the exact reason WHY you're suck; BIG TIME at making allies. Because you just keep trying to push them off the cliff when they're trying to be nice to you," he shook his head slowly and sighed in defeat.

"Besides..." suddenly, the red figure's voice turned serious. "...You know I couldn't just ignore this problem any longer. Those 'Zelles' have terrorized people in this area for too long. We don't even know how much people have been kidnapped and even killed under our nose," his voice turned more and more bitter and guilty by every sentence.

"Tch... what a useless naiveté, as usual," the dark blue figure clicked his tongue in distaste. Then, he forcefully grabbed the red's armor and brought his face closer to his; staring deep into his helmet.

"Listen, Kido, there's no place for the weak in this world! If you keep hoping that your naïve way of thinking can safe everybody, you'll someday end up getting stabbed in the back," he threatened maliciously.

"Heh, in fact, maybe I will be the one to drive my sword into you when the time's come. After all..." he then let the red's armor go, but suddenly grabbed the sword on his waist and in one perfect swift movement, pointed it at the red's throat.

"...there will be only one Rider to survive 'till the end."

The red said nothing for a while, just staring back at the dark blue's face in silence. Finally, he lightly scratched his helmet and chuckled, as if there's no sword pointed at his neck.

"Hehe… thanks for worrying about me, Ren, but I've already made up my mind. I won't let this ridiculous battle took anymore live of the innocents. After all..." he then confidently extended out his fist onto the dark blue's face.

"...I will stop this Rider War and all the senseless killing altogether."

Both of them stood their ground and didn't back off even a bit. They stared deep into each other's eyes, as if declaring that their ideal; righteous or not, impure or not; was the one that they would not give up from achieving, even if they had to die for it.

...

...

"It's still not too late"

"To change all of this"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

...

...

"Ughh... what the hell was that dream?"

The first thing I felt after waking up was intense muscle pain and terrible headache. My body felt absolutely heavy, like I'd just slept while being buried under wet sand. When I clutched my head, I found a wet towel being laid there. I tried to sit upright, but the pain ultimately prevented me from doing that. Leaning on my pillow was the best position I could get into.

Somehow, my whole arms and feet were covered in bandages. My face was filled with plaster on various places, and my forehead was tightly bandaged as well. I felt like some kind of mummy; except with hair jutting out of his head.

"Suck, everything's hurt... OUCHH!" I immediately flinched as pain shot up my heavily-bandaged feet when I tried to move them. I couldn't do anything except laying back down after series of grunting to avoid further pain.

I sighed and put my hand over my eyes to lessen the dizziness. "Ugghhh... shit, what the heck's happening exactly?" I muttered dejectedly as I tried to refocus my blurry memory, in order to find out why I'd slept with bandages covering most of my body.

... Until I heard a knock on my door.

"Nii, are you awake? What was that sound?" My little sister, Yui, opened the door and peered inside worriedly. In her hands was a washbowl full of ice water. She looked so tired for some reason. I could also faintly distinguish black bags under her eyes; clearly indicating lack of sleep.

"Aahhh... You still can't move, nii! Your wounds will get opened again!" She scolded me while trying to fix my blanket. Then, she took the dropped towel and put a new one on my forehead after dipping it into the icy cold water.

"Aaannd... done!" Yui patted my forehead and smiled in satisfaction. "Now, I will change the bandages. This is gonna sting a little bit. Bear with it for a while, 'kay?"

After saying that, Yui worked patiently; replacing every dirty white cloth surrounding my arms and feet with extreme caution. She's generally quite in the process, which I took as weird, because usually whenever I go back home with even the slightest scratch, she would scold me continuously for at least an hour.

"Yui..." I whispered in order to break the awkward silence. "...about these wounds... umm..." I stuttered to find the right word to say, but my tongue was as much in mess as my mind right now.

"Shuushh…" Yui put her finger on my lips to shut me up. "Let's talk about this later. You still have to sleep for now."

Even though she tried to look and sound calm, her expression was pretty much failing her right now. Confusion, bewilderment, and small hint of fear all clogged up on her face. It's like she had an idea what was happening, but was too afraid to hear it directly from me.

She's deliberately dodging the topic again.

My feeling was ironically torn between relief and guilt. Relief because I didn't have to explain anything too much complicated right now, and guilt because I once again had to lie to her.

In the end, I reluctantly slumped back onto the bed, but as my mind was still spinning at top speed, I couldn't rest at all. Finally, after a brief thought, I decided to just jumped into the matter.

"Yui..." I slowly got up again and whispered weakly. "What happened yesterday? I mean… when you found me."

Reluctantly, she started explaining. How she met me standing all alone in the middle of the park, and how I suddenly collapsed after seeing her. In panic, she approached me and found out that I had a high fever, probably because of the severe blood loss caused by scratches and cuts all over my body, and further worsen by being completely drenched from head to toe in the open field.

She immediately called for ambulance and hauled my unconscious body to the nearest clinic. I was treated for a while, before finally getting dispatched soon after the doctor said that I was okay. None of my wounds were too deep to cause any major problem, even if the scar maybe would last for a long time.

Her explanation also slowly jogged my memory about what happened exactly before she met me there. Honestly, I immediately felt like throwing up and getting an extreme case of vertigo because of it.

"You were unconscious all the time, nii. I'd thought..." She bit her lips in desperate attempt to hold back her tears. "... I was afraid you won't wake up anymore."

I flinched at that spectacle. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate seeing my sister cry?

"I'm sorry..." was the best word I could say right now. "It's just... I was just..." I tried to find the best excuse to explain the situation; one that wouldn't make me sounded like a complete lunatic. But honestly, my mind and mouth were both completely numb.

While I was thinking, suddenly I felt a pressure on my arm. I peered downward, and found Yui there, hugging it tightly. Her eyes were cloudy, and her lips twitched a bit before she finally mumbled something so faintly. "Thi... won't hap…, right?"

"Eh, what was that?"

"This won't happen again, right, nii?" Her teary eyes stared at me. "You... you promised, right? That you... that we will be safe here. You said you will stay with me forever. You won't leave me alone anymore, right?" She clung even harder onto me as she pleaded.

After half a minute of excruciating silence, I finally managed to squeeze words out of my mouth. "Yeah... yeah, of course sis," I said, with probably not the most appropriate expression, because Yui didn't look really convinced.

"I was just... playing around yesterday. Yeah, that's it! I was just messing around in the park when, umm... ah, a bunch of armed bad guys came to rob me. Of course, I resisted as strong as I could, but they managed to throw me into the fountain once. Hahaha, it's actually very lucky that I managed to beat all of them, you know?"

...

...

... I fully blame my fever for that stupid and utterly ridiculous set of excuses.

"Umm... anyway," I was eager to change the topic. "I think I'm already okay now. Let's just... urghh!"

"Waaa, stupid! You still can't move yet!" Yui immediately panicked when I flinched in pain as I tried to move my body. "You have to rest at home for today, Shinji-nii. Your body's still not in any condition to move yet."

"What?! No, no, no! I can't do that!" I almost yelled in agitation, which naturally got me a weird look from Yui. "I have to... I got something important to check today."

"Or better yet, someone." I added in my mind.

"Haaah... But you still can't move, can you?" Yui sighed. "Just be a good boy and rest for today, nii. As for that matter, I will handle it all, so you don't have to worry about that anymore."

...

...

... huh?

"... What do you mean by that?" I asked warily as I was sweating bullets. "Is it possible... that she saw what happened to Issei yesterday? No, if she really did, she wouldn't be..."

"Huh? Why do you ask again?" Yui responded while I was panicking internally like she's talking to an amnesiac. "Do you forget that you've already told me about your business with the student council? Today is your last day to give Sona-kaichou your answer, right?"

...

...

"O-oh-ooohh... yo-you mean that matter..." I breathed a sigh of relief. That made Yui once again stared at me weirdly.

"Of course I mean that matter. What other matter do you think I meant?"

"N-no, nothing important," I quickly averted my eyes to avoid further questioning. "Anyway, it'll be very helpful if you can go and greet them on my behalf, Yui. Also, please tell kaichou that she'll hear from me as soon as I'm well enough to attend the class again."

"Alright, alright, I got it already," She brushed me off. "Now, rest, nii! I already left you your breakfast and medicine on the desk. Oh, and your lunch is in the fridge. Just reheat it when you want to eat. I maybe will be home late because of my club today, but I don't want to see you wandering around the house looking like a zombie when I do, is that clear?"

I secretly breathed a sigh of relief. "Fiuuhh, everything's good for now, I guess?" I thought. While I was fully aware that I most likely wouldn't be able to keep this matter from her forever, since Yui was always good at gouging the truth out of me, I still wanted to keep it a secret for as long as I could.

Or at least, until I could wrap my head around the situation myself.

"Alright, you fussy little sister. Be careful on the way. And before you go, please, for God sake, wash your face. You look horrible," I flashed her a grin, and she replied by sticking her tongue out at me.

Finally, when Yui's just about to go out of my room, she suddenly stopped in front of the door, then reluctantly peered at me.

"Nii..." she whispered from her standing place. "... You really won't go anywhere, right? You will stay put here for today, right?" Her small worried voice resounded in my room.

"Haa… are you mocking me now, sis? Of course I'm not going anywhere. My legs are still pretty much useless here, you know?" I said with small hint of annoyance.

She blinked a few times. "Ah... oh... umm, yeah, you're right. Sorry for asking stupid question, ehehe..." Yui chuckled groggily. "Well then, I'm going, nii! Bye-bye~" She then waved at me and closed the door, leaving me alone in my room.

... Unbeknownst to her; under the sheet, my fingers were crossed all the time.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate being helplessly bedridden?

... Well, now let me tell you that I HATE being helplessly bedridden when I got something very urgent to do, ESPECIALLY if that 'something' was a life-threatening matter.

And lucky me, that's exactly what I had to endure this entire morning.

My head felt so heavy and constantly hurting; it's like there's someone banging it repeatedly with a baseball bat. No matter how hard I tried to move my limbs, they ultimately refused to obey me. I repeatedly cursed this useless body of mine every time I failed to get out of the bed.

Heck, even reaching for a glass of water on the side table beside my head could somehow be so frigging difficult, for swivel sake!

If that wasn't bad enough, I also couldn't stop thinking about Hyoudou Issei, my perverted (former?) friend. The fact that he just disappeared yesterday genuinely worried me. Moreover, his condition that time certainly could be classified as 'critical', which of course worried me even more.

In fact, he was my only reason to keep trying to get up from the bed this entire morning, even if my clear inability to do so.

…

Okay, before some of you starting to make any idiotic misunderstanding or random inappropriate innuendos; no, I'm not thinking about him in any weird manner.

...

… Then again, I guess the thought of me having that kind of 'imagination' toward Issei would be FAR LESS CRAZY than the one that had been running inside my head right now.

In case you're wondering what I'm talking about, please spare my sanity and just read the previous chapter. Just a little warning though: It's not for the faint-hearted. It still cost me a few brain cells just to remember it.

There's no way in hell I'm gonna recap it here. Moving on!

Anyway, my miserable morning ended up with miserable me being miserable. I could do nothing except rolling around in my bed and groaning like a hungry seal with sore throat.

Occasionally, Yui would text me; just to make sure everything was fine. She also asked whether I'd already eaten my breakfast, or was there anything she could do for me.

When she mentioned that, I was tempted to ask her to go to Issei's class and ask his friends whether they knew about his whereabouts, his condition, or at least where his house is so I could go there myself and ask his parents about it.

But finally, after recalling yesterday's 'bizarre' experience; along with resisting an urge to rip out every last strain of my hair (#I'mTotallySane), I wisely chose to keep silent. I'd experienced dealing with this kind of dangerous situation too many times before to know that it's a big no-no to let anyone close to us know about this matter, as we risked dragging them into this mess as well.

Besides, there's no way I'm letting Yui meet Matsuda and Motohama by herself. I won't risk my sister's safety (and possibly chastity) just for some information, no matter how important it might be.

Luckily, it turned out that I didn't have to do that after all, and that's because the supposedly-in-danger person I'd been looking for suddenly called me; sounding pretty much okay.

…

… Needless to say, that call also turned out to be one crucial trigger that started yet ANOTHER chain reaction of absolute madness.

One which involved an attempted murder by a gothic lolita, painfully long exposition about Holy Bible, and as the cherry on top, me tactically pissing off some unholy beings.

Hooraaayy!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Alright… here we go," I breathed loudly as I prepared myself. Then, I started to move my body. "Aarghh... hell yes! Finally!"

… Here I am; Kido Shinji, your average high school guy who'd seen some pretty messed up stuff in life, finally was able to get off of the bed for the first time today.

When I peered outside the window, I immediately figured out that it's already past noon. The school's probably about to end already.

"Now, first thing first, I gotta find Issei's home," I murmured to myself; formulating a plan. "I can ask Matsuda and Motohama about this. Hopefully I still can catch them before they leave the school."

Even though I still felt a little bit light-headed, I took the bandages and plasters off my face. Then, I changed into my school uniform to blend in with other students and avoid too much attention. I was ready to go when suddenly my phone rang.

"Huh, must be Yui again." I thought as I reached my phone. Maybe she wanted to check my condition again, along with telling me that she's gonna come home late because of her club, as usual.

I breathed deeply, after deciding to lie once again. But as soon as I peered at my phone's screen, my face froze.

There, the caller was displayed as 'Hyoudou Issei'

…

…

Needless to say, my jaw immediately dropped to the floor. After what happened yesterday, I'd figure that he must be still in a hospital somewhere, in a state of coma AT BEST.

I'd refrained from calling his phone the whole morning because I was afraid it would complicate the matter with his family, especially if they knew I KNOW about what happened to him.

And now he's calling me? What the heck?

I gulped nervously, and after some serious consideration, decided to answer the call.

"H-he-hello…" I stuttered.

["Hey dude. Eeermm... you sound weird. Are you okay? I heard you got a fever today."]

…

…

... For the first time in my life, I felt an unbearable feeling of relieve power-washed over me simply after hearing someone's voice over a phone call.

["… Hey, Shinji, are you still there? Why didn't you answer? Hooyyy… are you okay?"] The voice called again.

"Yo-you… *sniff* You're okay…" Tears slowly flowed down my cheek before I even noticed. In extreme happiness, I didn't even bother to wipe them away.

"Thanks God *snort*. Really… *sniff* thanks God…" I kept muttering incoherently while sobbing. My eyes were stinging red and I couldn't stop snorting, but at the moment I couldn't be any less concerned

…

… Yes, I admit. I cried. Hard. Who wouldn't when they figured out their friend survived after getting brutally skewered through the gut?

["Wow, wow… dude, are you crying?"] Issei's panic voice resounded from the other side of the phone. ["A-are you hurt? Do you need help? Wait there, I'm gonna…"]

"No, no, I'm fine," I finally wiped my tears and snot. "It's just… you're safe," sigh of relief escaped my mouth. "How's your condition? Are you fine enough to have a phone call now? Are your parents with you right now?"

["… Huh?"] somehow, Issei sounded unsure. ["The hell are you talking about, man? What do you mean 'I'm safe'? Aren't you supposed to be the sick one here?"]

…

...

... Eh?

"Wh-what?" I stuttered confusedly. "Of course I'm talking about your wound! You're injured, right?! Stop joking around!" In bewilderment, I accidentally lashed out at him.

... What the hell is happening here?

["Woah, calm down, man!"] Issei called out. His voice was as puzzled as mine. ["I'm not injured at all! I'm as healthy as I'm ever be. A little light-headed this morning, sure, but fine nonetheless. I don't understand what you're talking about right now."]

...

... Impossible. It can't be.

"I-I-Issei…" I fumbled so bad even though I spoke slowly. My face was thoroughly drenched in cold sweat at this point. "Where are you now?"

[Wh… of course I'm at school. What's with the strange questions? Where do you think I…"]

*BRUUAKKK*

["WHOOAA man, what's that sound? Are you okay? Hey, Shinji… heeyyy…"]

My legs gave up after that word, and I fell on my butt. "Impossible… impossible... impossible…" I blankly stared at the ceiling of my room and started reciting that word like a mantra.

"There's no way you… yesterday, yesterday… I-I clearly saw you..." I utterly failed to finish the sentence. My mind was racing at top speed again, trying to comprehend all of these unreal facts.

... "Was I really just dreaming?" The little bit of rational side inside my mind whispered. "Was all happened yesterday really just a bad nightmare?"

["Yesterday..."] Issei gasped a little. ["Shinji, did you really see me yesterday? While I was on a date with Yuuma-chan?"]

… *Ba-dump*

["Hey Shinji, last Friday…"] Issei sounded desperate. ["I DID introduce you to my girlfriend last Friday, right? Her name is Amano Yuuma-chan. You remember her right?"]

"…"

["We-we even went on a date yesterday! I clearly remember going shopping with her. We played at the arcade together, shopped for clothes together, ate parfait together, and strolled around the shopping district together. I even bought her a present to commemorate our first date!"]

"…"

["But today, everything becomes weird. Matsuda and Motohama acted like they've never seen her in their life. They even called me delusional moron!"]

"…"

["Of course, at first I thought they were just joking. But as soon as I wanted to give them a proof by calling her, I realized that her number had disappeared from my phone! And not only that, her pictures I took on our date also disappeared without a trace."]

"…"

["It's… it's as if…"] he hesitated. ["… all that experience was just a dream."]

"…"

["Hey Shinji…"] Issei slowly said. ["I'm not crazy, right?"]

…

"… what happened after that?" I finally said; breaking the silence between us.

["Eh, what did you..."]

"The date. What happened at the end of it?"

["Shinji…"] he said, almost melancholically. ["Yo-you believe me?"]

"Just answer the question already," I urged him with voice so grim I almost couldn't recognize it as mine. Somehow, I could even clearly feel Issei flinched after hearing it.

… Screw it. I don't have time to pretend to be calm and composed anymore right now.

"Well? How was it?" I urged with even more stern voice.

["Ah, that's, ummm…"] he stuttered. ["In the evening, I remember taking her to the park. We were just strolling there for a while. But… as for what happened after that…"]

"You forget?" I took a guess, and his silence was more than enough to be an answer.

["I… I remember her smile when she stood in front of the fountain in the park. I also vaguely remember she said something to me; something seemingly important. But no matter how hard I try to recall it, the memory just doesn't appear,"] he said in total frustration; possibly biting his lip.

Heavy silence engulfed us for a few seconds. It took me a while to finally be able speak again. "… Issei, where are you right now? The exact location, I mean."

["Huh? I'm still in the corridor in front of our class, but…"]

"Are there any people around you?"

["We-well, I was rushing out of the classroom along with the others just a few minutes ago, so yeah, it's actually still quite crowded here."]

"Good, then stay where you are for now. And whenever your surrounding starting to get empty, move to more crowded place. The more crowded, the better."

["Eh? Shinji, what are you…"]

"I'm coming to get you."

*click*

After hanging up the phone, I stared blankly at the ceiling for a couple more minutes before cracking a smile and laugh. Yes, I jollied in the middle of this mess. Somehow, I decided that the appropriate thing to do at the moment was to entertain myself through a series of good old mental jokes.

...

…

... Oh, and if you ever heard my neighbors gossiping about hearing someone impersonating 'The Joker' trademark maniacal laughter from somewhere near my house's vicinity, they're all mistaken.

...

… Yes.

"Yeaahh… of course it's not a dream, right? What are you thinking huh, you stupid git?" Finally, after I calmed down, I scolded myself while squeezing out one last bitter laugh.

I guess even after all this time struggling with 'weirdness', I'm still a naïve guy as always.

"Huufff… alright, stop pitying yourself already. Let's go, Kido Shinji!"

I gave myself some light slaps to the cheeks, then finally resolved myself to get up, reached for my things, and dashed .to the school.

"Oh, Yui's so gonna kill me for this."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I easily found Issei; standing in front of the school gate by himself. His expression was a mix of tired and confused. When he discovered me running toward him, he smiled slightly and waved.

Although, that smile instantly froze as soon as he realized I was charging at him at full speed.

Then proceeded to tackle him down.

Followed by forcefully lifting up his shirt.

In the middle of the day.

In a public place.

Witnessed by some students and ordinary passerby alike, with phones and cameras suddenly ready on their hands.

… As expected, the situation got out of hand really quickly. But don't worry as I can assure you, it's not as inappropriate as it sounds.

…

… Also, I had a fever. My mind wasn't functioning normally. Cut me some slack here.

Anyway, after that whole misunderstanding was solved; by Issei desperately shouting to everyone that he doesn't swing that way, and me doing absolutely nothing; I brought (/dragged) him to the nearest fast-food restaurant, when we could finally talk in ease about this predicament over some food, because I hadn't eaten anything since morning.

But...

"Dude, from now on, don't come any closer than AT LEAST 5 meter away from me. Any closer than that, and I'd have to resort to extreme measure," Issei warily said, while sitting 2 seats apart and suspiciously eyeing me like he's looking at dangerous fugitive.

… Well, then again, I'm pretty sure I'd do the same thing to the person who'd just about to rape me in public and a minute later leisurely eating cheeseburger beside me like nothing had happened.

"Ouwhh, cwooum ooun…" I tried to speak in the middle of my bites, which obviously resulted in incoherent mess. I swallowed and tried again. "Oh come on, I've explained it already! That was absolutely necessary!"

"You pushed me down, almost stripped me of my clothes, in front of the school ground, in front of dozens of other students! HOW IS THAT NECESSARY FOR ANYTHING?!" Issei lashed out angrily; attracting many unpleasant stares onto us.

"Alright, alright, geez…" I put my hands in the air. "But seriously, I needed to check if there's any leftover scar on your stomach. And It turned out…" I swallowed my food and threw my hand in the air; completely exasperated with all the craziness in this situation. "Surprise, surprise, there's none. You're completely free of life-threatening wound."

Issei's expression naturally shifted to confused scowl. "That's what I tried to tell you when you pushed me down back then. Why're you so insisted about me getting hurt, anyway?"

I sighed deeply; fully aware that he would most likely deem me crazy lunatic if I was to reveal the truth. But for his own safety, I ultimately decided to spill it.

"Well, for the start…" I paused dramatically, inhaled deeply, and said in one breath, "… you might want to hang on to your butt, cause you're probably gonna lose it really quickly."

And so my epic attempt to enlighten Issei about that fated Sunday evening began. Of course, I only told him half of the truth and twisted the rest of the story, since there's no way I could tell him that I 'transformed' and dragged his assailant into another dimension.

As if telling him that his girlfriend suddenly went completely mental, grew a pair of black wings, and proceeded to impale him in the gut with a giant stake made out of pure light wasn't crazy enough already.

As expected, his first reaction after I was done with my explanation was, "…You're kidding."

… Though I gotta admit, at the time I was extremely grateful he didn't immediately start freaking out and/or try to report me to the nearest psychiatric ward.

"Trust me man, I REALLY wish I am," I sighed again. To convince him even further, I rolled up my sleeves to show him the battle scars on my arms, which automatically made him winced. "But nope, pretty sure these scars are real, and no, I didn't get these from falling down some random stairs."

"So… wait, let me get this straight," while pinching the bridge of his nose, Issei let out an exasperated sigh and turned to me once again. "You're saying that yesterday, when we're on our date, Yuuma-chan revealed herself to be a supernatural being called fallen angel, and her true name is Raynare."

"Uh-huh."

"Also, it turns out that she only dated me to create a perfect chance to kill me. And she had to do that because of this extraterrestrial something called 'sacred gear' that, according to her resides inside of me, is a threat for her and her mysterious organization."

"So far so good."

"So you, who just happened to be around the area, heard all the ruckus and came to check on me. But when you arrive, I was already… already…"

"Laying down lifeless on the ground with a big hole in your stomach, yes."

"Ooo…kaayyy… that. Anyway, so you tried to safe me, but Yuuma-chan…"

"Raynare."

"Whatever. She tried to kill you too because she didn't want any witness left. So you had to run away and even if it wasn't a smooth getaway; judging from the scars, you managed to lose her after a while."

"Yup."

"But somehow, when you came back for me, my body was already gone. You tried to look for me, but your wounds made you pass out before you could do that."

"Aaand… that more or less concludes everything."

"No… no, it doesn't," Issei dejectedly shook his head while desperately grabbing it as if afraid it would fall off if he let it go. "Do you really expect me to just readily believe in all of this… this nonsense? Are you nuts? You must be messing with me now, right?"

I should've gotten annoyed at that remark, but honestly this time I couldn't feel anything other than pity for the poor guy. He didn't ask for this whole predicament, the same way I didn't ask for my power and the absolute craziness in my life.

In fact, his reaction reminded me too fond of myself when I first got dragged into this whole train-wreck life of mine; afraid and confused at the situation before me.

But he had to know. Keeping it a secret from him when it's very clear that he had somehow become the center of this absurdity would just endanger his life even further. No, he's not just any normal bystander whom I could just keep away from danger anymore now.

No matter how impossible it may seem, something of a higher entity had clearly targeted him. Who knows what Raynare's comrade in her secret organization would do if they find out he's still alive. Therefore, he had to adapt and eventually figure out the situation, along with his own way out, by himself; whether he likes it or not.

Exactly like what I did one year ago.

My face muscle gradually relaxed. "Look man, I know there's a lot to chew, but you have to try. In fact, I know you're starting to consider my word too."

We're both staring at each other for couple of minutes; trying to predict each other's next reaction. Finally, Issei yielded first. "… I don't know, man. This is too absurd. I can't… I still can't believe that Yuuma-chan…"

His expression was too pitiful to the point I was afraid if I urged him even further, he's gonna have a serious mental breakdown soon enough.

Finally, I sighed in defeat. "Haaa… okay then. If this can make you feel better, let's gather one more proof," I declared as I stood up from my seat.

Issei looked up at me. "Proof of… what?"

"Of your girlfriend, of course," I smiled at him. "Let's try to look for Amano Yuuma one more time!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I'm sorry, but we really don't know a student by that name in this school."

"Oh… okay then. Thank you for your time!"

I could only watch in silence as another group of students walked away from Issei. He hung his head dejectedly; slowly realizing all of this was futile.

We were currently hanging around in front of the nearby high school which, according to Issei, is Amano Yuuma's school. I could vouch for that also, because she indeed wore this academy's uniform when Issei introduced her in her disguise.

We had been going around the school ground for hours, asking the students about Amano Yuuma. Not only students, in fact. We got some chances to ask teachers and even every other staffs alike, and all of them said the same thing.

They don't even know there's a student named Amano Yuuma in this school.

"Hey dude, you okay? Wanna rest a little before we continue?" I tapped his shoulder to snap him out of his daze. "You've been doing this for quite a while now. A little rest wouldn't hurt."

Issei just shook his head weakly. "No, it's fine. I get it now," he murmured. "She's not here. She's never been. Even though she clearly said she's student from this school… even though she wore this school's uniform when she confessed to me…"

I couldn't pretend I didn't notice his tears any longer. "Hey Issei, you know what? Let's just go home and forget all of this for the rest of the day. We can continue doing… whatever we're doing now tomorrow. We absolutely need a rest. YOU absolutely need a rest," I squeezed his shoulder to console him, and even if his tears didn't stop immediately, he managed a thin smile. "Yeah… yeah, I guess you're right."

A minute later, we walked home together. The evening sky's already colored deep orange without me even noticing. Surprisingly, Issei's house turned out to be in the same direction as mine. Not exactly the same neighborhood, but at least now I could accompany him for a little longer.

We were mostly quiet on our way. None of us had any urge to start a conversation with one another. Not that I mind, though. After such a long and tiring day (mostly mentally), I think we both deserved a moment of peace for ourselves.

After a while, Issei started a conversation out of blue. "Hey, Shinji…"

"Hmm?"

"… You're surprisingly calm about all this, aren't you?"

I looked at him blankly for a minute before started chuckling ironically. "Heh, just because I didn't throw a fit or lose my mind over it doesn't mean I'm calm, you know? " I realized my voice turned melancholic.

"… Well, let's just say this is not my first time dealing with this kind of… 'superstition'. At the very least, I know how to cope with it."

My word got his attention. "You mean you've ever gone through something like this before?"

"Eehhh… not exactly," I said.

"Yeah, mine was WAY more absurd, that's for sure."

"Still… there's one thing I can't quite figure out yet," Issei said again. "Let's say what you told me about Yuuma-chan was true; that she is a supernatural being and wanted to be my girlfriend just to kill me. If that's so, why chose the roundabout way? Also, if I was really gotten stabbed in the park yesterday, how could I wake up in my own bed the next morning with no wound or even a tiny bit of scar at all?"

I pondered about it for a moment. "About those two things… I might already have a few theories of my own…"

"Let's hear it then."

"So, for the reason why she chose the convoluted way to kill you is, maybe just because she loves to toy with your heart," I started, which made his face grimaced.

"Completely unnecessary and waste of time? You bet it is. But trust me, it'd take only a glance at her to figure out that she's a complete arsehole. Messing with men's heart in her free time is probably…"

I stopped immediately when I noticed Issei's sad expression. "Of course he is sad, you insensitive moron!" I cursed myself inwardly. No matter how bad I'd described Raynare to be, she was still, in fact, his girlfriend (or ex-girlfriend?). There's no way he'd be able to hate her just like that.

Gosh darn it! Curse me and my big mouth!

"… Sorry. Shouldn't have said that," I genuinely apologized.

"Don't be," he shook his head lightly. "We got no time to be depressed now. I'll just ask for an explanation from her the next time me meet again. What's the next theory?"

I smiled and flinched inwardly at the same time. Smiled because I liked how quick he can adapt to the whole situation; flinched because I secretly knew it's kinda impossible for him to meet his ex-girlfriend again.

"Right, right, theory," I regressed. "As for why you could be in your room without any injury whatsoever…" I stopped to observe him for a while. "… Though I don't have any evidence to back this up, but I'm suspicious it's because of that 'sacred gear' thingy that they said you posses."

He instinctively put his hand over his chest, as if reaching for something. "Honestly dude, I still can't imagine there's something inside me that can potentially be a threat to anybody; let alone some inhuman beings."

"You and me both, man. Yet, that's exactly what I heard from your ex yesterday," Issei maybe tried to look offended, but there're too many emotions jumbled up in his expression that it looked no more than a mild discontent.

"The point is, if you really DO have something that make her and her secret organization had to get rid of you, it must possesses some unique and latent power," I explained. "Such as, I don't know… maybe some kind of magical entity which caused you to have split personality that just happened to have a rapid healing factor, and it brought your body home just like that?"

Issei stared at me like I'm crazy (which I got a lot today). "Umm… I think you watch too much anime here, man. What you just said doesn't make any sense."

Hearing that, I naturally let out my best deadpan stare. "Issei, we're here walking home after investigating about your girlfriend gone missing; who's ACTUALLY a disguising unidentified lifeform with big-ass wings in bondage attire that came to assassinate you because she suspected you to have some kind of mysterious and supposedly-threatening 'super power'. DO NOT talk about making sense with me."

I was expecting some kind of retort; maybe at least a little response. Instead, Issei suddenly became silent. I automatically turned back to check on him.

"What did you just say?" Faster than I could react, he suddenly appeared in front of me and grabbed my shoulders; his expression became serious. I would be lying if I say I wasn't startled.

"Heh? Wha… 'Do not talk about making sense with me'?" I hurriedly guessed, because his nails had started to chafe into my skin by that point.

"No, the one before that!" He urged me with strangely intense vigor. Heck, I could almost see flame burning in his eyes. That made me wonder what kind of big, shocking revelation he had gotten from my word.

"Umm… 'you have some kind of mysterious and supposedly-threatening super power'?" I took another wild guess.

"NO!" he burst out once again. His eyes were getting sparkly somehow. "You clearly said something about bondage attire, didn't you?!"

…

…

… Wait, the hell?

"I-I'm sorry. I must've heard you wrong. Would you mind repeating that for me?" I tried to sound calm despite having this sudden urge to chokeslam someone onto solid concrete.

"AARGGHHH… Why couldn't I remember it? Something like that… WHYYY? Come back, my memory!" Issei fell on his knees and started shouting in over-exaggerated manner.

… *twitch*

"Those heavily jiggling racks and that plump ass, wrapped tightly in a skin-tight black leather suit! UUOOHHH… DAMN IT! How could I miss something as splendid as that?!"

… *twitch* *twitch*

"Shinji! Master!" Issei suddenly looked up to me with blazing vigor in his eyes. "You have witnessed that, haven't you? The masterpiece that is Yuuma-chan's body wrapped in S&M costume. If that so, then please enli-GBHHUUU!"

…

… Such was a voice of an annoying twat getting a knee in their face, in case you're wondering.

"OWW! What the hell are you doing, you bastard?!" Issei screamed while holding his nose, which I hope wasn't broken after I smashed it with my kneecap.

"What the hell are YOU doing, dumbass!" I lashed back at him. "Seriously? The situation is THIS dire and you still have time to think about that? Can't you just keep your frigging libido in check for one GOSHDARN day?!"

"How can I keep it down after hearing a sexy and voluptuous babe like Yuuma-chan wearing a tight, skimpy leather costume! That's like, every man's dream comes true!" Issei declared excitedly. "In fact, how can YOU not get excited after seeing something like that with your own eyes, Shinji?"

All of sudden, Issei gasped in revelation. Then, he stood up and slowly shifted back away from me. With wary expression, he asked "or… is it because you really swing that way?"

My eyebrows twitched even more furiously. "Alright, before I proceed to disfigure your face myself, I'm gonna set two things straight here."

"First; no, I do NOT swing any way other than the normal way. Second; you try getting aroused by a psychotic killer chasing you with wings and glowing spear. Trust me, it's not gonna happen."

"Hooo… so she's the Sadist one."

"Wha… you're completely missing the point here!"

And so our pointless conversation went on for eternity. I'm genuinely too ashamed to admit that we spent almost an hour in the middle of the street (fortunately, an empty street) to argue about Issei's other fetishes, so let's skip this part.

"Okay, stop! Time out! We're way too off the course here!" I finally shouted to end this stupid charade. Wow, the sky's already dark when I realized it. "Dang it, I forget what we're discussing about."

"About the absolute greatness of the school swimsuit?" Issei offered.

"Not that one!" I barked while repeatedly snapping my fingers to jog my memory. "I mean what we're ACTUALLY discussing about. The important one."

"Hmm…" Issei's eyes wandered off aimlessly while I was busy recalling, but it's not long enough before he called me again. "Umm… Shinji…"

"Not another stupid comment, please. I'm thinking."

"Weren't we discussing about me having an unknown super power?" he offered; his voice sounded equally shaken and unsure at the same time.

I tapped a fist onto my open palm in revelation. "Oh yeah, that. Huh, were you actually paying atten… what're you looking at?"

When I finally looked at him, he was staring widely at the convenience store that's located near the junction, far away from us. His expression was surprised with his mouth agape, like he'd just seen a flying pig.

"What's wrong, Issei?" I grabbed his shoulder.

"Speaking about super power…" he gulped and murmured with eyes still fixated on the convenience store. "… I guess I just figured out more of it than just fast healing."

I narrowed my eyes. "Elaborate."

"You see that convenience store over there?" He pointed at the thing he's been staring at for a couple of minutes. "Do you see the banner in front of it?"

I had to squint my eyes to look for what he's told me. After a while, I found it. Banner with red and white background, painted with colorful text and some pictures I couldn't really make out was indeed standing in front of the glass panel of the store.

"Yeah. Barely." I told him. "What of it?"

"It says 30% sale on all dairy products for all weekend in this month."

I instantly froze. "How could you…"

"Oh, but some of the brands are excluded. The list of those is written in tiny letters in the bottom of the banner. Do you want to know all of them?"

I'm pretty sure my mouth was hanging open. Sure, the banner itself was maybe not very small, but I need to emphasize here that it was located ALMOST 20 meters away from our position. It must've took miracle for someone to actually recognize it. Reading the details inside of it? I would need a telescope.

But apparently, Issei wasn't done. "Oh, and you see that mother and her daughter walking together?"

As if on cue, the glass door of the store was opened, and from the inside came out a middle-aged woman holding grocery bag on her right hand and the hand of small girl on her left.

They're chatting happily with smile on their face, and the little girl occasionally frolicked around to express her happiness. We watched them intently until they disappeared at the corner of one building.

"They've been talking about their dinner ever since they left the store," Issei told me so surely as if he'd been there listening directly to the conversation. "The mother said they will have hamburger tonight. The girl was overjoyed and said she will help in preparing it."

Suddenly, his face perked up again as he shifted his gaze to the corner where they were last seen at. "Oh, apparently the mother just promised her a special dessert if she help properly. Truly a good mother right there," he nodded a few times in agreement.

"Wha… How… Why… You…"

Issei just shrugged, even if there's a little hint of amusement on his face. "Got no clue. My eyes and ears just suddenly got cranked up to eleven before I even realized. " he explained so naturally.

"Huh, what's the odd, right? Apparently, aside from making me part-wolverine, this 'sacred gear' you mentioned also make me part-batman as well," Issei grinned at me. "I wonder if I can do X-Ray vision as well. That would be very useful on many occasion, uhehehe..."

…

…

… At that point, I honestly didn't know what surprised me more. The fact that Issei didn't even bat an eye after discovering his new, very unnatural power and could even still make a lecherous joke out of it, or that he didn't know batman doesn't posses any super power.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Are you really sure it's okay to part way here?"

"Man, to be honest, you're starting to become annoyingly paranoid right now," Issei huffed. "I said it's okay already. Have faith, dude."

Standing in front of the intersection where we should've part ways, we argued whether I should escort him to his home. Well, actually it seemed more like me forcing myself to go with him.

… Alright, poor choice of words, I know. Enough with the weird innuendos already. I only offered that to make sure nobody would target him again until he's safe at home.

"Besides…" Issei grinned widely as he puffed out his chest. "If someone really come to get me, I'm pretty sure I can outrun them all just fine. Did you see how fast I could run back then? I was like… REALLY fast, right?"

"That... would be an understatement, actually," I thought to myself.

… Yeah, so here's the story. After figuring out that Issei got an enhanced vision and hearing, we immediately did some experiment to find out if he still have more superpower in storage.

And as the result, we figured out that he got fitness enhancement too. In fact, I just witnessed him going Usain Bolt's speed without as much as breaking a sweat. Not only that, he also could do a long jump so absurdly far that I was pretty sure it's Olympic gold medal worthy, WITHOUT taking even a single step running starter.

Long story short; he had become a super human. Maybe even more so than me when I was donning my armor.

Realizing our argument was pointless, as he already got too much immersed in his newfound power, I sighed in defeat. "If you really think so, fine then. Just remember to always be careful!"

"Alright, alright. Geezz, you sound like my mom," he said; still excitedly observing his surroundings to check his newly acquired night vision. "Heh, I can get used to this awesome perks!"

I sighed and eventually looked at my phone's clock. It's already half past six as we chatted. "It'd be troublesome if I go home any later. Not that going home now would make any significant difference, though," I thought bitterly as I slowly remembered my own problem; that being my little sister that have a full authority to neglect my dinner for all eternity.

"I guess I'll just go home now, then," I said. "You sure you can handle yourself from here on, Issei?"

The said guy stopped doing jumping jacks and looked at me. "Yeah, dude. Stop worrying about me already."

"Okay, then," I said as I turned my body to the other direction. "Don't forget to call me if there's something happen!"

Then I started walking home. At the same time, my mind tried to form some sort of plan to save myself from Yui's wrath. Gosh, I hope she wasn't waiting for me behind the door with her scary 'oni' expression again. Looking at that is bad for my heart.

"HEYY, SHINJI!"

As I was busy formulating an escape plan, suddenly my name was called from behind. Turning back; I found Issei still standing in his place.

"Thanks for today man!" He shouted. "Especially, thanks for believing in me! It really helps when you have somebody with clear mind beside you at a time like this!" Then without waiting for my reply, he turned and started running to the opposite direction.

I smiled a little, muttered "welcome", then continued walking again. On the way, I realized that smile stuck to my face and I didn't think this feeling of satisfaction would disappear for a while.

"Onii-chan~"

Honestly, I never expected any reward in any kind or form when I 'help' people. Heck, many of them didn't even know that I saved their life.

"Onii-chan~~"

Then again, this is maybe the reason why receiving an occasional, honest-to-heart gratitude like this feels even more pleasant.

"Neee… Onii-chan~"

"Heh, I can get used to this feeling," I accidentally let out a small chuckle. Now that my mind refreshed a little, I could…

"Onii-chan~ Are you ignoring me?"

*Whuussh*

It took me less than a second to abruptly turn around when I felt a tug on my sleeve and some sort of weirdly familiar dangerous aura surged from behind me at the same time. Judging from the voice that's full of malice, I was immediately on alert. But this time (thanks God), my expectation was wrong.

Because there, I found a little girl looking at me with her clear blue eyes.

"Ah, finally! Mouuu~ I thought you were ignoring me here, you know?" The said girl pouted adorably.

I was still staring speechless at her when she said that. No, not because I was entranced (I'm not a lolicon; thank you), but rather because her 'amusing' attire got my attention.

Her clothing was in fact that's what could only be described as 'gothic lolita' costume. Her black lolita dress had a lot of white frills sewn into it and completed by a large black bow on the front part. There's also a black bow on top of her hair, as if she didn't have enough color black on her clothes already.

Why would someone want to wear this kind of impractical clothing on daily basis, I couldn't tell you. Well, it's not like it doesn't suit her or anything, though.

She also looked like foreigner, for good measure. Her blue pupils and blonde hair that's done in twin tail easily told it all. She's looking at me pleadingly while holding a piece of paper right now.

… There's no way this girl was the one releasing that killing intent, right?

"Uh, what's wrong?" I finally asked. "Do you need something?"

Her eyes started sparkling. Wow, her puppy dog eyes could easily rival Yui's at this rate. "Actually... I'm lost, onii-chan. I can't find this address at all," she pleaded as she handed me the piece of paper on her hand.

When I check the address in it, I realized that I recognized the area. The direction was simple enough actually, but the distance kinda worried me there. Even though it's still in walking distance, this was quite late at night.

Plus, notice I said that I recognized the 'area'. I didn't really know the exact location, and it's practically impossible for a little girl like her to go around looking for address at night. Alas, there's no way I could just tell her to go by herself.

Of course, there's also a second option for me to take her there. The problem was, if I was to come home any later than I already was, I'm sure Yui wouldn't hesitate to feed me only with cup ramen for a whole month.

"This is quite far from here, actually," I scratched my hair as I told her. "Why do you want to go here, anyway?"

Unexpectedly, she suddenly started sobbing. "I-I…*hic* I'm looking for my *hic* mommy," she said with teary eyes.

"Woah, Woah, don't cry here," I hurriedly tried to calm her down as I checked my surrounding. Luckily, there's no one in our vicinity. I don't want to imagine what would happen if somebody sees me making a little girl cry on the street.

"Let's calm down first, 'kay?" I said as I patted her hair gently. She soon stopped sobbing and looked at me with teary eyes, and I smiled at her. "Good girl. Now, can you tell me why you're looking for your mother?"

"Da-daddy said… *sniff* daddy said mommy is here, but he said I can't meet her anymore. But I…*sniff* I miss mommy very much, so I want to… UUEEE~~" The little girl slowly explained to me, but ultimately bawled even harder than before.

Hearing her story, I felt pity and anger slowly seeped into my heart. "What about your dad? Does he know you're here?"

The girl startled and shook her head hard. "No, no, he can't know! Daddy will not let me meet mommy! He always says mommy doesn't love me anymore and she left us for another man and many other mean things, but that's not true! Mommy loves me, I know it!"

As she sobbed and cried, my hands balled hard into a fist and I had to keep my emotion in check. "Why? She doesn't deserve this." I cursed in my heart.

It always pains me to see a child becomes victim to their family problem. Mainly because I know many things about family problem. After all, my dad is not exactly the attentive type (that was understatement) ever since my mom passed away, and whenever I remember my sister Yui's only REAL family; which is her brother, I got strong urge to choke the living hell out of him for leaving her only sister behind.

These children often don't have any choice but to obey and got swept away by the problem as well. This girl was obviously one of them. Just because her parents are divorced (I assumed they were divorced, judging from the girl's word), she had to get separated from her mother. And worse, now she was forced to come here from God knows where, all by herself; just because his father didn't want anything to do with her ex-wife again.

I don't give a swiveling damn about your divorce and shit, but don't drag your children into your mess, darn it! They got nothing to do with it!

I calmed myself down. "She has right to meet her mother," I ultimately decided. Then, I patted her hair again, making her looked at me with teary eyes. "You love your mom so much, don't you?"

The girl's eyes widen, then she wiped her eyes and nodded fast a few times. "Yes, I do. I want to meet her again!" She exclaimed with determined eyes. I chuckled slightly after seeing that. Glad to see her energy's back.

"Which means now's my turn to do something."

"Okay then. I will take you to her!" I exclaimed with the same amount of vigor. Her eyes instantly lit up and she looked ecstatic. "Waahhh~ Really, Onii-chan? You will take me to my mommy?" The girl jumped onto my arm and her eyes were sparkling even brighter now.

I chuckled at her antics. It seriously reminded me of Yui. "Yeah, of course! Leave it to this big brother here!" I pounded my chest, then proceeded to lead her by her arm. The girl got so overjoyed she wouldn't stop humming and skipping beside me.

... Which reminded me, I hadn't got her name yet.

"Hey kid, my name's Kido Shinji. What's yours?"

The girl beamed at me. "Ah, my name is Mittelt. Nice to meet you, Shinji onii-chan!

…

… "Huh, I guess she's really a foreigner, after all. Her name's not Japanese."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Hmm..."

"..."

"Hmmm..."

"O-onii-chan?"

"Hmmmmm..."

"Neee~ onii-chan... are we lost?"

I, for the twentieth times, scratched my head in confusion as I compared the address in the paper to the one in front of us. But the more I looked at it, the more nonsensical everything became. "Are you... really sure this is the place, Mitt?"

... Yes, I called her 'Mitt' as an abbreviation of her name. Leave me alone.

Mittelt nodded confidently. "Yes, I'm really sure. This is the address daddy gave me."

Hearing that, I narrowed my eyes as I stared suspiciously at her. "Wait, hold on a second. Didn't you say your father forbids you to go to your mother's place? Why would he tell you the address, then?"

She averted her gaze from me with light blush on her face. "Eh, umm... I-I mean he left it for me..."

"Mitt..." I stared harder at the suspect.

"I... I might have heard daddy said it somewhere before..." she said with clearly the most unconvincing expression ever, as she intertwined her fingers together.

"Mittelt... The truth. Now." I threw the final nail in the coffin.

Finally, she gave up. "Uuu... I'm sorry, onii-chan," she whimpered apologetically. "Honestly, I overheard a conversation between daddy and someone that's supposed to be mommy. When they're done, daddy left this beside the telephone, so I thought it must got something to do with mommy."

"Haishh… there's no way I can get mad at this expression," I thought; referring to her innocent teary face. Ultimately failed to scold her, I once again sigh heavily and set my eyes onto the old looking and seemingly abandoned warehouse in front of me.

…

…

… Yes, I indeed said old looking and seemingly abandoned warehouse; which located in the outskirts of the town. I honestly got no idea how we could end up in this kind of place. After all, there's no way her mother would live here. I wasn't even convinced she had anything to do with this abandoned place.

Yup, we're officially lost here, folks.

"But, but..." Mittelt once again looked at me pleadingly with her sparkling blue eyes. "I really saw daddy wrote this address when he called my mommy. I'm sure mommy will be here!" She then went and pulled my sleeve to follow her. "Nee~ onii-chan... Let's check it first."

I couldn't say anything when she pleaded with that super OP puppy-dog eyes. While I'm sure her mother wouldn't be in this dark, abandoned warehouse (or anybody at all, for that matter), her eyes pretty much told that she wouldn't back down until she saw it by her herself.

Sighing deeply; I put my hand on her shoulder. "Okay then, but stay close to me. And don't do anything rash when we're inside," I warned her, then proceeded to walk ahead into the building while holding her arm.

...

... *KRIEEKKK…*

"Wow, this place is much scarier than what I'd imagined," I naturally let out that comment while observing my surrounding.

I said observing, but honestly there's not really much to see in this dark and deserted place. The windows were all somehow had covered with some kind of black cloth, thus hindering any form of light to go through it. The warehouse itself is quite large, but seems so old and dusty so I assumed it must had been left for years by now. The steel beams that holding this place together also look so rusty and frail I was afraid it could collapse on top of us at any moment.

There vast space itself was separated into some sections by steel partition. Many construction materials and unknown machinery in various kind, shape, and size were scattered across the rooms; pipes, steel beams, rusty plate of metals, etc. Some wooden crates were stacked on top of each other on one corner and what seemed to be empty drum barrels on the other side.

But the scariest part was, some heavy equipment were hanging loosely from the metal beams above us with huge amount of big chains wrapping them, all linking to one another.

Some chains were even long enough to reach the ground from two-stories building high. Every small gust of wind gradually made them shift and swing, producing an ominous creaking sound like the one in every Horror movie ever.

But me? I was just worried if one of those big ass container would suddenly dropped on top of us. I swear if some day I want to make my name appear in the headline newspaper, it wouldn't be as 'Two Trespassing Kids Got Crushed Under 3 Tons of Junks In Some Old Warehouse.'

… God, would that be embarrassing.

*RIIINNGG~~*

"WOOW!" The eeriness factor in this place successfully made me jumped in surprise when my phone suddenly rang loudly. As soon as I calmed down, I reached for my phone and looked at the caller.

{HYOUDOU ISSEI}

"Oh shit…" I silently cursed. He had no reason to call me now, unless… there's something emergency going on.

I picked it up. "Issei, what's…"

["SHINJI! *pant* *pant*, GET AWAY FROM THERE! NOW!"]

As soon as I answered it, Issei's voice almost blasted my eardrums. Though this time, his ragged breaths and urgent tone ultimately made me ignore that. "Wh-what's wrong? Where're you now?"

["Got no time *pant* to explain, but you're being targeted! He clearly said that just now!"]

"He? What the… what's going on there, Issei? Who's this 'he'?" I urged in panic. His voice was so shaky it's hard to make out his words, and clearly his ragged breaths wasn't helping.

… wait a minute.

"Issei, what're you running from?" I slowly asked after realizing that his short breaths was caused by him running. "Are you being followed?"

[*pant* *pant* "Oh shit, he's close. Sorry, man, gotta go. Just get out of there, FAST!"]

"Wa-wait, Is…"

*click* *tuut~ tuut~ tuut~*

"DAMN IT!" In frustration, I almost threw my phone to the ground. "He's definitely being chased now. Is it one of that winged freak's accomplice? Darn it all! I've predicted they'd come for him again, but not this soon," I gritted my teeth so hard my cheek eventually felt numb.

"Ughh damn it… I don't have time to think. Gotta go now," I decided, then turned my body.

"Mitt… I'm sorry, but I got something…"

… only to find that the girl had completely gone from my sight.

*creeaaakk... BOOOMM*

... and that sound signaled things escalating really quickly.

"WHOAA! What the…" I yelped in surprise when the steel gate behind me slammed shut. As the one and only reliable source of light now had gone, I was left in total darkness. I immediately fumbled for my cellphone's flashlight, but one thing stopped me.

"Onii-chan..." Mittelt's voice echoed inside the vast building.

"Mitt?" I answered. "Wherever you are right now, don't move! I'm coming to get you!" Then proceeded to use the flashlight in my phone and illuminate the path in front of me.

"Wait, onii-chan! Don't..."

...

... and I saw something that immediately shot my alert level up to eleven.

There, I found a feather; a PITCH BLACK feather, to be exact.

...

...

Horrifying flashbacks came crashing down on me as I hurriedly backed off in panic. Now the situation got even creepier, I gradually realized that I maybe had unintentionally overlooked THE ONE AND ONLY MESSAGE in Issei's rushed warning.

[…you're being targeted!]

"Oh, screw me…" I cursed, then in one swift movement shot my flashlight upward.

... Just in time when something bright pink flashed in front of me.

"GAAHHH!"

*bruukkk*

Luckily; I'm alive. My butt dragged me down to the ground just before the pink flash powered through my head. True, my palm and arm were grazed, but nothing too serious here.

Unluckily; my phone didn't make it.

I clutched my bleeding hand, that's fortunately didn't hurt that much. In desperation, I looked up and tried to find my assailant, until I realized I was in total darkness since my phone was lost.

That's when a familiar, yet so different voice spoke from God knows where.

"Tch, I missed. Why can't you fucking filthy human just sit still so I can do my job properly, huh?"

...

...

... Holy EFFING shit.

Cold sweats profusely dripped off my face. With shaky voice, I addressed the voice. "Mi-mitt?"

"Stop calling my name like that, you filthy human! You'll sully my graceful name with your dirty tongue. Shit, I know I should've used a fake name," she sounded disgusted, and her high-and-mighty tone actually made me reminisce about one woman I wished I'd never met.

"Y-you... you are..." I stuttered so bad I couldn't even finish the sentence. Things moved too fast for me to understand, but as confused as I was, it didn't take me long to understand that I just got Catfished, HARD.

"Meh, whatever. I'll just kill you now so I can go home as soon as possible," she leisurely exclaimed like my life worth nothing. Then, I saw the same bright pink light shone above me, hovering and illuminating a small part of the room. The light soon elongated and formed a huge spear that's clearly taller than the wielder.

... And that was the first time I was able to see Mittelt true appearance.

Her figure didn't change at all, except now a pair of wings were freely flapping on her back. The innocent child expression that I'd associated with her had disappeared completely; replaced by haughty and condescending smirk similar to her fellow winged lady, Raynare.

"Please don't dodge this okay~ onii-chan. That way maybe I can make your death as fast and painless as possible. Nee~ aren't I nice?" She once again spoke with that cute and innocent tone, even if now she's clearly speaking about taking my life.

... She made me sick.

"Everything you said to me..." I trembled, but this time it's not out of fear. Oh no, I was long past that. The only feeling inside of me now was pure unadulterated rage. "...Was that all lie?"

"What? AHAHAHA... Oh, my stomach," She laughed out loud. "You really believe that? How stupid can you be? I mean... a little girl walking around by herself in the night just to find her mother? Hahaha... stupid! We have a moron here, people! NYAHAHA..."

As soon as her laugh stopped, she sneered at me. "Heh, but I guess that's just appropriate for a useless race like you. Human males always think with their dick, after all," she stared at me in pure disgust. "It always takes nothing more than cute appearance to deceive you virgins to do exactly as I want. Hihihi~ I bet you were thinking of ravaging my body as soon as we're alone in this creepy dark place, right? Uwaah... What a sicko~" she spouted more vulgar things as she haughtily spoke down to me.

...

... That's it. This girl's going down. Fast.

I breathed to calm myself down. I would need that in order to teach a lesson to this wicked-tongued brat. Then, I ripped small parts of my blazer, and used the cloth to wrap my arm and palm. After all my wounds were tended, I stood up straight and faced her.

"Hmph, says the self-proclaimed more advanced race who can only use her appearance to deceive the supposedly useless race, AND still fail to kill him before he even notices," I taunted back with confident smirk on my face. "Uwaah... What a letdown~"

I could clearly see veins popping on her temple since she's hovering beside the only light source in the room. "Hoo... you dare to talk back to me, shitty mortal? It seems you really want your death to be slow and painful after all? Are you a masochist, by any chance?"

I snorted loudly, which made her gritted her teeth even harder. "Sure, just keep boasting, you incompetent loli," I said as my right hand slipped into my back pocket and my body bent forward; ready to charge. "I'm done cowering in fear in front of you or your freak show! You want a fight? Come and get it, then!"

...

... You may think I'm stupid for provoking a mentally unstable brat with sharp object in hand, but trust me, I have an idea. Well, sort of.

There were two things I'd expected when I boasted like that. Either my bold action would agitate her and ultimately make her blindly charging at me in rage, or it would make her hesitate to attack me, thus giving me some time to plan my next move.

Both choice would be okay because I'd known from personal experience that they're not exactly a fighter, thus if she really charged in recklessly, it'd be easy to trick and if I was lucky, overwhelm her in close combat. But if she chose to wait, that'd actually gave me enough time to plan my attack, and the first thing to do was obviously to find the nearest mirror or glass alike.

"Now, what's your reaction, Mitt?" I waited in silence as we're having staring contest with one another.

Unfortunately, her reaction splendidly ruined all my possible future plan explained above.

"Pffftt... AHAHAHAHA, you're very smart-mouthed for a mere human. Just like what Raynare nee-sama described."

...

...

... huh?

"Ray...nare?" I was shocked beyond belief. "No, it can't be. I left her in the Mirror World," I desperately convinced myself.

But now when I think about it again, I guess her coming back was clearly the most logical reason as to why her organization could know Issei's still alive, and even why they'd target me. I just naturally eliminated the possibility earlier because I thought it was impossible.

"What're you thinking now, human? Oh, let me guess!" Her cheerful voice sounded so confident. "You want to know why Raynare nee-sama could get out of your 'Mirror World', don't you?"

...

...

... Oh crud. Heavenly crud.

"Hihihi~ your face tells me what I just said hit the mark, right?"

"How?" I gritted my teeth silently. I hoped I didn't look that much intimidated. "How can she get out? And why didn't she come for me herself if she's already out?"

Mittelt wiggled her finger in front of her face in playful manner. "Ah, ah, ah, you don't need to know about that. One thing you should know now is none of your trick would work on me anymore, human! Why do you think I brought you to this place, huh?"

Her word made me looked around one more time. At first, I couldn't see anything that could potentially be a real threat to me (mainly because, you know, this place was pitch dark)

I mean, I felt that the only real threat here was the whole damn place itself that could collapse on top of us if we poked the foundation wrongly. That, and maybe because all the access in and out had been compromised, including all the… window…

…

… Oh, gosh darn it.

"You got it now?" Mittelt smirked in triumph. "And aside from sealing all window, I've also get rid of all glasses, mirrors, and any other reflective surfaces in this place. You have no way to access that strange power now. Nyahahaha~"

"Shit. I walked right into her trap," I cursed inwardly. "What to do now? Can I break out of here by breaking down the door? No, her guard would be too strong there. Windows? Can I break through that black curtain covering them?"

"What's wrong, onii-chan? Not so confident without your power now, do you?" She chuckled. " Heh, you're just a powerless human without that armor, after all. Exactly like that green guy said."

…

…

... Green guy?

"Wait, what did you just say?" I exclaimed. "HEY, who's this 'green guy'?"

"Whoopss… I talked too much to Mr. Lolicon here. Silly me. Teehee~" Mittelt stuck her tongue out cutely. "Anyway, I have to kill you now, onii-chan. Don't hate me because of this, yeah? I hope you will be reunited with your friend in the after life," she said as she raised the light spear over her head.

I immediately shot her my best death glare. "YOU BASTARD! LEAVE ISSEI ALONE!"

"Aaand… HUPP!" She launched the spear with deadly accuracy, straight onto my head.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I got an EXTREME case of déjà vu right now.

I mean...

Borderline psychotic girl in eccentric Halloween costume: check

Black wings jutting out of her back: check

Light spears continuously raining down on me: check

I'm desperately running for my life: check

"NYAHAHAHA~ until when can you keep running, onii-chan? Come on, come on~ your legs are getting sluggish."

… Oh, and that ear piercing, gut wrenching, straight-from-the-textbook evil laughter: double check.

"UOOOHH!" I shouted while running at full speed, and somehow managed to slide under one of the steel beam leaning across the path, right before a pink spear hit me in the back.

"Shitty hell! HEY, WATCH IT, YOU DAMN BRAT! YOU COULD'VE HURT SOMEBODY WITH THAT!" I shouted from behind my hiding spot, while at the same time grabbing a steel pipe laying down beneath me. Then, without her seeing, I proceeded the crawl slowly to one of the nearest sealed window.

"That's my whole intention, you idiot! AND DON'T CALL ME BRAT! I'll have you know that I'm far older than you are!" Mitt hollered from somewhere above me.

While she's busy boasting, I managed to reach one of the windows. Then using the steel pipe in my hand, I plunged forward and stabbed through the black material covering it.

*TRAANG* *BOOOMM*

"UAARGHH!" A heavy shockwave was released as soon as the pipe came into contact with the black material. I was blown away into a pile of cardboard boxes behind me, and my only weapon was flung to the other side.

"Ahaa~ there you are, onii-chan!" Mittelt cheerfully said as she pointed at me. "Hihihi… to think you'd actually try to break through my barrier like that. Your stupidity is really amusing, you know?"

"But too bad for you~ my barrier's not something that can be destroyed that easily, especially by a mere weak human such as yourself," she shook her index finger while smirking wickedly. "Now, get ready to…"

"Oh shut up, would you?" I cut her off. Even though I hadn't recovered from the shock and was still laying tiredly on the pile of boxes, I managed to glare back at her. I was completely got fed of getting thrown around like a rag doll that the words flew out before I could even think about the consequences.

"You all keep saying human are weak, useless, and other craps, yet you tried to kill Issei just because he had something that could possibly be a threat for you. And now, you target me for an unjustified revenge, yet too afraid to come down here and beat me face to face yourself."

I spat blood from my mouth. "Sure, human maybe weak. We can't fly or make weapon appear out of thin air. We can't make any invincible barrier or manipulate other's memories. But, you know what…" I took a deep breath. "You're by far, THE MOST coward and hypocritical person I've ever seen in my whole life."

The room was dead silent for a brief moment, then a small chuckle could be heard. "Heh, even your last word is pathetic. Oh, well then…" she hoisted her weapon.

"Die, human."

"YOU WISH!"

*whuuussh*

At the same time she threw the spear, I also grabbed one of the empty cardboard boxes and hurled it to her.

Obviously, the spear punched through it with ease. But at least it's enough to lessen the spear's momentum and mess with its trajectory, so I could dodge it by slight margin.

*JLEBB* *BRUUKK*

I threw my body to the right and rolled just before the spear get me, then I stood up and GTFO with all of my power left.

"YOU'RE ONLY PROLONGING THE INEVITABLE, ONII-CHAN!" I could hear her shouting behind me as I ran. "YOU HAVE NO WAY TO BEAT ME! JUST SURRENDER AND I WILL GIVE YOU A QUICK AND PAINLESS DEATH!"

Meanwhile, I finally reached a suitable hiding spot behind one of the pillar. Though tired, dizzy, and desperately gasping for air, I managed to mutter, "not today. Definitely not like this."

I observed my surroundings; looking for something, ANYTHING that I could use to beat her. As now I know there's no way out, I had to force her to undo the barrier first before I could go to help Issei. Besides…

"That green guy she mentioned…" I murmured. "If it's really what I think it is, then the reason why Raynare could get out of Mirror World actually made sense. But… that also means I'm screwed," I sat still for some time, contemplating what should I do if it's really one of 'them'.

Finally, I made my decision. "Yeah, screw everything. Set your priority straight, me. Survive now, worry about your peaceful life later." I muttered as I slapped both my cheeks.

"Have to look for a way out now. Think, Shinji. Think like your life depends on it. Which it completely is, by the way."

I once again focused on finding anything I could use to turn the table against my attacker. After a while, an idea came in form of one big container hanging loosely by chains in the center of the warehouse.

"Oh man…" I sighed. "This is not gonna be pretty..."

XXXXXX (3rd Person POV) XXXXXX

"Oh onii-chan~ come out and play~~"

Mittelt, who was casually sitting on one of the steel beams, once again purred mockingly to provoke the human. The bright pink light spear being twirled behind her.

"Uugghhh… boringgg~" she ultimately groaned when there's no answer could be heard. But when she was just about look for him…

*tap tap tap…*

"Ahaa~ there you are!" The fallen angel cheered when she heard quick footsteps behind her. As fast as a quick draw, she turned and threw the spear to that sound's vicinity.

… and successfully impaled one of the warehouse's supporting pillar. Not a sign of it hitting her target could be detected.

"Tch, quit moving around already," she clicked her tongue in frustration. "You're ma…"

*tap tap tap…*

"Gotcha!" She threw another spear to the opposite direction. Again, it missed and hit a steel beam supporting the whole room.

"Ah moouu… why don't you listen to meee?!"

*tap tap tap…*

"THERE!"

*tap tap tap…*

"HUPP!"

*tap tap tap…*

"HYAAT!"

*tap tap tap…*

"ENOOUUUGGHHH!" Finally, Mittelt lost her patience. Her shrill cry boomed inside the warehouse.

She'd been hurling spears for a while now; long enough to annoy her; but none of them managed to hit the target. This particular human was somehow so nimble and agile that he always managed to dodge her spears by tiny margin.

To add even more annoying factor, he seemed to do that on purpose. Because he didn't show any sign of doing anything beside running around in circle, generally provoking her by occasionally slowing down his pace and making sounds in the middle of the run just to make sure she's following him.

And that ticked her to the very core.

"JUST ACCEPT YOUR HOPELESS FATE ALREADY, YOU DAMN MORTAL!" Mittelt screamed in anger. "WHY CAN'T YOU SEE THAT THIS IS ALL USELESS?!"

"Is it now?"

The low, almost growling voice immediately set Mittelt's alarm off. She turned to its source with her spear ready. Just like that, she found her game standing still beside one of the steel foundation.

His condition wasn't very good, as now he somehow had fresh scratches and bruises all over his body, and Mittelt could faintly pick up his ragged breaths and wobbly legs threatening to topple him over.

She should've had ended it right then and there. One spear through the head; that's what it would take to end this stupid charade. She could finally go home and receive gratitude and respect that she'd expected from her colleagues.

But somehow, the expression on her target's face made her doubted herself.

It's CERTAINLY not an expression of the hunted. In fact, every bone in Mittelt's body immediately screamed 'DANGER' as soon as she looked at his eyes. Despite his overall bad condition, There's no even the slightest hint of fear, panic, or distress whatsoever.

Instead, he stood his ground and stared at her so confidently; one had to wonder which one of them had been constantly bombarding the other with light spears here.

"Hu-hum… humphh, I commend you for showing yourself, human!" Mittelt exclaimed, even if her voice sounded less confident now. "I take it you're ready to surrender now?"

…

… Oh, Mittelt couldn't stress enough how bad his wicked grin would haunt her in her nightmare for all eternity.

"Surrender, huh?" His deathly frozen voice creeped her even more. "Yeah, I guess I do."

"Huh, as I expected from a persist… eh?" Mittelt almost slipped over when she heard that. "Yo-you… do?"

"Yup," he shrugged nonchalantly, even if his every movement was still making Mittelt secretly nervous. "I'm tired of this nonsense. I finally realized that there's no way I could beat you without my armor. What you said was right; I was only prolonging the inevitable. So…"

He spread his arm while showing 'I-don't-give-a-damn' expression on his face. "Go on. You got your game giving himself up in front of you here. Just do what you want and get this over with already."

"O-ohh…" Mittelt blinked a few times in confusion. "Is he planning something?" She pondered while still eyeing her target suspiciously.

Now, even though she looked like a child, Mittelt is a fallen angel that had lived for hundreds of years. She'd seen many fights, ranging from the smallest quarrel to the biggest full-blown war. Seeing such trickery is not strange at all in a battlefield.

Aside from that, she also had done many dirty jobs from Grigori regarding everything she could imagine. Spying, infiltrating, stealing, sabotaging, you name it; she'd done all of them.

But of course, her favorite part is always the assassination of a potential sacred gear user.

She always chuckled whenever she sees surprised expression on her victim's face when she revealed herself in front of them. She enjoyed seeing people succumbed to fear and despair whenever she busts out her light spear.

Oh, how exhilarating it is to see those lowly human grovel at her feet; begging for their life!

But everything changed as soon as she know about this guy's existence.

Honestly, Mittelt had been surprised beyond belief when she found her senior and 'unofficial superior', Raynare, came back after dealing with the sacred gear possessor that was her target with broken wing and overall vengeful expression on her face yesterday.

Not only that, she also brought home a… strange guy cladded in full body spandex and armor, and immediately told all of them that they would be partnering from now on to hunt one particular human.

Raynare then chose her to do this job. Naturally, Mittelt had to succeed, even if she couldn't give any damn about what's happening at all, or who that green spandex-cladded guy actually is.

Though she gotta admit, his story about a different world inside a mirror was a bit intriguing. Plus, this guy they discussed about had actually manage to beat Raynare, so she immediately thought this guy would be interesting as a playmate.

And thus, she was very disappointed when her target turned out to be just another snot-nosed brat. As expected, he easily fell to her acting and willingly followed her to her trap.

She'd actually expected someone who could make her forget her boredom every once in a while.

…

… Well to her surprise, this guy turned out to be the right adversary she'd hoped in the end. It's easily proven by his unusual level-headedness and extraordinary survivability.

Granted, it's not like there's no human who are aware of supernatural. In fact, some of Mittelt's assassination target in the past had known about supernatural existence long before she met them. Heh, many of them even fully aware of her stalking them before she actually attacked.

It's certainly not the first time someone had opposed her when she came for their life; some even with their sacred gear properly trained and ready for combat.

The problem is, this guy certainly didn't fall into that category. When she first saw him at that street, she had no doubt that this next victim had absolutely no awareness about her being fallen angel.

Then, when she revealed her true self in front of him, his surprised and devastated reaction was also genuine, thus strengthening her opinion about him not knowing anything about 'her' side of reality (well, before meeting Raynare, anyway)

Worsened by his mysterious power that was now sealed, Mittelt was positive that her opponent, no matter how strong or cunning he is, will soon bow down and beg for mercy in front of her.

Human, after all, is a weak race with no redeeming qualities whatsoever aside from their natural overbearing pride. Without his mysterious sacred gear type of power, there's no chance he could do anything to her.

…

… She was mistaken.

No matter how dire this situation had become for him, Mittelt couldn't detect any kind of despair or hopelessness in his eyes. Instead, she felt the worse the situation turned out, the fiercer and more solid his gaze became.

And it's NOT out of mere naiveté or madness alike. Mittelt had experienced; countless times; sacred gear users tried to attack her out of arrogance, just because they think a mere sacred gear's enough to take her down. She'd also witnessed people's mind completely snapped in the verge of getting killed, thus making them violent out of adrenaline rush alone.

Those kind of people had fallen on the tip of her spear every time. Without a single fail.

But this guy… Mittelt seriously didn't have any more curse or degrading word to say to him. No, not because he's not listening to her. Oh, in fact, all his action told the contrary.

His victim was PERFECTLY aware that he's weak.

He's ABSOLUTELY aware that he's outmatched, even from the start.

The fact that he GENUINELY planning to beat her despite all that was what alarmed her the most.

Finally, even though her mental alarm still hadn't settled down yet, she decided to take the chance. "A-all right then, if that's really what you want," she declared as she prepared her spear.

"HYAATT!" And she threw it straight to the human target.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Little Trivia: I love playing Pokémon.

Now, even though I'm not what you would call an avid or fanatic player, I enjoyed my fair share of the games. I remember my first introduction to Pokémon series was when my friend brought his Pokémon Fire Red over and showed it to me.

Needless to say, I was instantly captivated. After that, I got a chance to play some other titles as well, including my personal favorite, Emerald.

… Why do I decide to bring this up now, you ask?

Well, if you're a Pokémon player like me, you'd know that almost every title have this dungeon you'd call 'cave'. In that dungeon, before you have this particular skill called 'flash', you have to explore that multi-layered and mega confusing maze of a dungeon with only very limited sight.

The caves in Pokémon games always infuriates me. Not only it took forever to go through, but I also constantly hitting dead end, and was forced to restart the game just to get out of this damnable dungeon.

And thus, it always succeed in making me rage quit in pure agony every once in a while. Moreover, there's also the feeling of claustrophobic when you actually has to explore them with almost non-existent line of sight, and most importantly, encountering that FREAKING ZUBAT IN EVERY THREE FRIGGING STEPS ARE YOU KIDDING…

…

…

Well, maybe not that last bit, but you get my point.

And lucky me, oh lucky me, I got a chance to first-hand experience that same beloved dungeon in real life. (Spoiler: didn't fancy it)

"ENOOUUUGGHHH!"

A long, high-pitched shriek hit my eardrums as strong as a cannonball. Once again, I contemplated what went wrong with my life in between greedily refilling my lungs and rubbing my compromised arms.

I honestly had lost count on how long this absurd hide-and-seek game had taken place. Everything's thoroughly worsen by the fact that I had to do all this bullshit in complete darkness. I mean, 99% of wounds on my body right now was in fact, caused by me tripped over junks or ran straight onto a pillar while running blindly at full speed.

It's at time like this I'm really jealous of Issei's newly-acquired night vision.

Even more suck, The only consolation I had was also my biggest threat in the room. That being Mittelt, my psycho winged loli assassin, who held the only source of light in the whole warehouse. Meaning, the only time I didn't have to worry about running face first into a wall or tumbling over rusty and sharp metal scraps was when I had to worry about getting a fresh, sharp light javelin in the chest.

… Sunshine, my life is.

Though fortunately, that also made it easy for me to pinpoint her location and her weapon. It wouldn't be lying if I say my life was saved because of it, cause as long as I can see her weapon coming, I can dodge them. After all, floating around while holding giant glowing death stick in pure darkness practically wasn't the best stealth move ever.

Another fortunate thing was, my plan was proceeding smoothly. In fact, according to my calculation, I only needed two more steps to complete it. Now, I was just waiting for the right timing in order to set my plan in motion.

…

… Oh, if my plan isn't obvious enough for you by now, don't worry, you haven't miss anything yet. Maybe I'll tell you about it later; assuming this plan succeed and I get to live to see another day.

"JUST ACCEPT YOUR HOPELESS FATE ALREADY, YOU DAMN MORTAL! WHY CAN'T YOU SEE THAT THIS IS ALL USELESS?!"

"Huh, speaking about right timing…" I half-heartedly sighed. Then, I stood up and took a deep breath. "Okay then, Shinji. Let's kick this loli's feathery bum!"

With that conviction, I stood up and walked out from my hiding place, and in a perfectly made-up creepy voice, exclaimed…

"Is it now?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

*DRAANGG*

Such was the sound of a spear colliding against solid metal. In one swift move, I side-stepped from the place I was originally standing on; letting the spear Mittelt threw punched through the floor and grazed the steel pillar beside it.

"Wh-what the…" her surprised voice rang from above me. "Hoyy! Didn't you say you surrender already? Why'd you dodge it?!"

I peeked from behind the pillar and intentionally smiled to taunt her. "Ooopss… sorry, didn't mean to dodge, honest!" I cracked a mocking smile while pointing V-sign upward. "Here, peace out! Maybe now you can aim better! Try it out!"

Fortunately, my provocation worked mercilessly. Mittelt summoned another light spear, and thus I could see her red, fuming face very clearly. "KUUU~~ You human trash! Are you mocking me?!"

"No, no, of course not!" I shouted once again; still smirking. "I just wanna help you eliminating myself. Since, you know, you seem to have difficulties doing it yourself!"

More veins popped out on her forehead. Even though it's dim, I could easily recognized her gritting teeth and trembling hands; very clear signs that she's about to blow her top.

"Yo-you bastard…" her voice turned dangerous. "You dare to insult my skill?"

"Oh hoo, trust me kid, that would be TAME in comparison to my few choices of colorful words regarding your Halloween costume. But if you insist on hearing it, here, let me sum it all up for you."

I stared at her with half-lidded eyes and showed her one finger that the message behind it could be identified universally even without any knowledge of sign language.

"…It sucks."

…

… SNAP

...

"Ku…kuku…KUHUHAHAHA!" As I'd predicted, Mittelt snapped completely. Her expression turned crazily ecstatic as she let out a shrill laugh. "SO YOU REALLY WANNA DIE A PAINFUL DEATH THAT BADLY EH, SHITTY TRASH?! HUH, IS THAT IT?"

She proceeded to project another spear on her left hand; a sign that she's starting to get serious (or in this case, get batshit crazy) and pointed both of them at me.

"FINE THEN, LET ME JERK YOU OFF BY TORTURING YOU TO DEATH SLOWLY AND PAINFULLY! THEN, I'll REVIVE YOU TO TORTURE YOU TO DEATH AGAIN!"

"Huh, that was easy. This brat is really Raynare's companion, after all. Even their vulgar death threats sound exactly the same." I pondered half-heartedly while preparing my stance. From my position, I could see Mittelt's spear started to glow brighter than ever; emitting heat and illuminating almost the entire warehouse.

"Phase 1, done."

"DIEEE HUMAANN!" In rage, Mittelt charged at me straight ahead while brandishing her twin spears. Me, being the resourceful and rational human that I am, immediately ducked behind my previous cover to avoid becoming a Swiss cheese.

*WHUUNGG*

Right on time, as the pillar where I was ducking behind suddenly got sliced clean in the middle. The top half instantly collapsed, raising smoke dust that further worsen my field of vision. Fortunately, I managed to jumped out of the way before the steel beam crushed me flat.

"Holy *cough* *cough* Shit, was that intense!" I coughed a few times and slowly raised from the ground. When I tried to observe my surrounding, I quickly realized that my vision was now got even more obscured by dust in addition of the darkness.

"Just great, now where's…"

*WHUUNGG*

*JRAASS!*

"AARGHHH!"

… Stupid Shinji. Utterly, unforgivably stupid.

Thanks to my big mouth and the thick smoke dust that's scattered everywhere, I failed to react on time when Mittelt pounced; gunning for my throat with deadly accuracy. Though managed to avoid fatal injury, this time I failed to anticipate it completely.

My left collarbone was grazed and drew blood. Unbearable pain instantly shot up my nerves, threatening to topple me over. My vision tripled and my breath went erratic again. I just barely had time to press the wound down with my hand before the second spear was swung onto my face.

*WHUUSHH*

Once again, I managed to avoid certain death with a slight margin, though this time the nausea managed to overwhelm me and make me fall on my butt. Mittelt didn't waste any time and launched a flying kick toward my chest.

*DUUAAKKK*

"GUHOOHH…" Air got sucked out of my lungs as my body got thrown a few meters away. I coughed hard and grabbed my chest in agony, but even that couldn't be done long enough, because when I peered upward, another glowing spear was already hurled to me again.

*BLAARRR*

I banked left and the spear sailed past, hitting the steel pillar behind me with enough force to instantly topple it down. Though the extreme pain's still there, I ultimately forced myself to get up and get away from there.

"STOP RUNNING AWAY, YOU FILTHY TRASH!" Mittelt bellowed from somewhere behind the smoke. "I'M GONNA FUCK YOU UP SO GOOD THAT NOBODY WILL EVER RECOGNIZE YOUR SORRY CORPSE ANYMORE!"

"God, I swear if I have to hear that scream one more time, my ears would start bleeding," I thought as I limped to the hanging container that was the center of my whole plan. Even though it's difficult, I managed to reach one of the chains hanging down from it and climbed up.

… Now, DON'T try this at home kids. Especially without supervision from a professional and full safety climbing gear. Chain climbing isn't easy, especially with a psychotic killer on your tail and blood gushing from a wound on your collarbone.

I soon reached the container (with a lot of difficulty), then held my position there. Peering downward, I saw Mittelt in her raging glory continuously spatting out some curses I'd rather not repeating here.

Fortunately, she didn't seem to have found me yet, so I got at least a few minutes to settle down. I sat down to catch my breath and let the pain subsided. Then, I ripped off a piece of my blazer and used it to press down the wound on my neck.

After securing myself, I immediately started working on what I'd like to call 'The worst clusterfuck among Kido Shinji's list of clusterfucks plan ever'.

… Yep, definitely the most appropriate name for this idea of mine.

"C'mon, c'mon, move Shinji," I hurriedly linked some chains altogether and tied them all up; forming a complex, unsolvable knots. I also reached out for the chains that's suspending other giant construction equipment hanging loosely near me and started doing the same thing with all of them.

I actually got 2 other containers and what seemed to be a giant crane's hand chained near me, so I worked as fast as possible, linking all of them together.

Then, I spread the rest of the chains to every direction possible; tauting and tying them one over another to make them look as close as a net as possible.

I was too deep in The Zone at the moment that I honestly couldn't even describe what I did properly nor how I did it, but basically when I was done, my container and several other giant equipments looked like they were just got molested by Spider-man, except using chain instead of web.

"DONE!" I looked at my worst masterpiece with mixed feeling. "I hope it's en…"

*DRAANGG*

*WHUUNGG*

"WOAAHH! Shit, SHIITT!"

My heart nearly stopped when a light spear suddenly pierced through the container from below, up to the top and almost impaled my face. Luckily; I didn't piss my pants. Unluckily; the impact shook the container violently, almost threatening to undo my piece of work and throw me off if I didn't find something to grab onto on time.

"Heh, you think climbing up here would save you from me? Foolish human." While desperately clinging to the side of the container in order to avoid becoming red speck on the ground, Mittelt decided to go airborne and greeted me with cocky smirk. "You just dug your own grave by trapping yourself up here. Did fear make you forget that I can fly or anything? What a stupid blunder."

"Then again, maybe I should've expected this kind of thing from you. Humans are all bark and no bite, after all. Always running away aimlessly whenever things got out of control."

I didn't immediately respond. Instead, I corrected my posture and looked up to her. "You and Raynare said the same thing," I pointed out. "That human are all weak and useless and whatever. What's your deal with human, exactly? Why do you hate us so much?"

Mittelt scoffed loudly. "Heh, honestly it's nothing personal. I'm just merely stating the truth," she said. "It's always about nature law, you see. The strong will rule, and the weak will become a prey to the strong. You are weak, that's why you're fated to die in my hands."

Pure anger surged through my head as I clenched my fist so hard it might start bleeding again. Fortunately, my rationality still triumph over my rage. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath; trying to ignore her bullshit.

"Calm down, Shinji. Ignore her blatant provocation. She will get her lesson soon. Don't screw it up by doing something stupid."

"…You don't understand anything," I growled lowly.

"Hmm pardon me, it seems you just squeaked something. Can I take it as your last word?" My assailant snickered mockingly.

"You don't get anything, do you?" I repeated, with more volume this time. "Even though human is generally weak, there's a reason we survive this long," I stared back at her. "And that's not because of brute strength, but rather our ingenuity and desire to always improve ourselves. As long as we're still breathing, there's nothing we can't overcome."

"Hah… more like sheer stupidity and stubbornness," she sneered. "Do you seriously believe that the reason your race can survive this long is because you're worth anything? Seriously, the only reason your kind haven't faced extinction by now is because Fathe… I mean, because God loves your kind so much. To even gave the likes of you Sacred Gear… tch, just like arming an army of roaches, what a useless thing to do."

…

… Is it just me, or her voice sounded bitter when she said that? Almost like she's… jealous?

"Is that the real reason why you're hunting Issei?" I asked. "Because you're jealous that the God chose to give this sacred thingy to us instead of you?"

Even if only for a flash second, I caught her expression darkened slightly; almost as if I hit a sore spot, though it changed back to her usual haughty expression soon after. "Hah, jealous? Of a weak race such as yourselves? Dream on!"

She then pointed her spear at me. "I've had enough of your pathetic attempt to survive! Now stand still, human! I will make this as painless as possible!"

For the umpteenth time, she threw the spear at me.

… And it was at this moment, my convoluted mess of a plan was set in motion.

Of course, the first and foremost step to carry out this plan until the end was to avoid dying at all cost. Therefore, seeing the shining death stake coming at me with ferocious speed, I instinctively did one thing that almost all people would do if they're in my position.

I jumped off the container that's been hanging more than 10 meters in the air.

...

…

Nah, just kidding. I did crazier thing.

I threw myself backwards and fell flat on my back; almost slipped off the container. The spear stabbed through the container below me after slicing some chains suspending it like butter.

*KKRRIIIEEKKK* *NNGGIIKKK* *BOOMMM*

The container itself immediately slipped and shook violently after losing some of its suspension (quite literally), but the chains that didn't get sliced were taut even tighter to one another; pulling at each other as the container swung wildly in the air.

"HUUAAA… MOOMMYYY!"

…

… Yes, that was me screaming while hanging for dear life onto the side of my swinging metal of doom.

"DAMMIT HUMAN! STOP MOVING AROUND ALREADY!"

She threw the second spear.

"UUOOO…"

I'd anticipated it, so I was able to jumped onto one of the chains hanging near me on time (with difficulties, of course). The spear once again sliced some knots holding the container, further loosening its grip and sending the container slipping and swinging even more wildly in the air.

But of course, the situation apparently wasn't bad enough, as…

*KRIIEEKKK* *BAAAMMM!*

"AAARRRGGHHH!"

...that happened. Because I had previously linked the chain suspending my container with some other thing nearby, its sudden violent movement made them started swinging roughly as well. Thus, the rusty steel beam that's been supporting all of them starting to deteriorate even faster, before finally one side of the scaffolding actually snapped off its place; almost dropped me off 10 meters below.

"*pant pant pant*"

I looked up in horror as now one side of the steel beam that's been holding my chain is dangling almost freely in the air, while the other side's now producing the same kind of screeching sound that it produced before snapping off its scaffolding.

Apparently, now I got a chance not to just fall to my death, but also to get crushed by 2 tons heavy construction equipments, as those things was hung off the same scaffolding and most certainly would fall together with me. Hooray.

"You're really weird, even for a human." While I was busy hanging for dear life, Mittelt approach me with spear in hand. She didn't seem to mind that there were wrecking balls in the shape of containers swinging wildly near us, or the steel beam above nearly snapped off and could come crashing down on us at any moment.

"You must've realize that you can't win by now. I can see that in your eyes from a while ago, that you know you don't have any way to beat me. Then, why do you struggle, knowing it would be pointless? I really can't understand you at all."

For once, she didn't sound haughty or condescending. She sounded genuinely confused by my action, even though her expression didn't show it.

Seeing that, I couldn't help but answering. "Well, you said that before, right? That we're human are stubborn to the very core."

She stared at my bloodied face for a while, before started chuckling. "Hihihi… to think you can still make that face after all of that. Either you're crazy, or just plain idiot."

"Most likely both" I admitted.

"Unfortunately, this has to end now," she said. "But you're lucky, since you're an interesting fellow and I'm in a good mood, I'm willing to offer you an agreement here."

"Tempted," I deadpanned skeptically. "What's with the change of heart? Are you starting to fall in love with me now?"

"Heh, it's just because you managed to entertain me this long, human. Don't start hallucinating now. You're still an existence worth a little more than a bug for me," she grinned in glee, that somehow sent a shiver down my spine even worse than her rage.

"Anyway, if you promise to behave, I can spare your life and bring you back as my subordinate. Our actual main target is only your friend, after all. There's no dire need to kill you right now if you just willing to cooperate."

"Says the girl who's trying her absolute best to off my head a few seconds ago," I almost retorted, but quickly digressed. "I highly doubt that your nutjob, S&M-lover extraordinaire of a comrade Raynare and her 'mysterious helper' would be very happy meeting me alive again."

"Oh, nonsense! Of course she would be thrilled!" Her smile was seriously scaring me at this point. "That way she can torture you to her heart's content. Oh, you don't have to worry about that green guy either, as I'm sure Raynare-nee sama wasn't seriously thinking about cooperating with him as much as she wants to make you suffer by her own hand. She'll probably just kill him as soon as she got her hands on you."

*NNGGIIIKKK* *KRRIEEKK*

"Of course, seeing as you will be my plaything later on, it would be bad for you to die because of torture. So, I will make sure you don't die as long as you're mine. Heh, what a caring boss I am, right?"

My head throbbed in agony. The idea of letting go of the chain and just falling to my death sounded tempting for some reason.

*CRREEEAAKKKK*

"So… you told me to choose between either dying a gruesome death now, or survive to suffer a torture later and live rest of my life as your slave. Is that it?"

"Yup! Ehehe… as expected of my chosen human. You catch on fast!"

"Lovely…" I spat. "Well then, I accept your offer."

…

…

...

"*sigh* You're not even gonna try to make that believable at the very least huh?" Mittelt sighed deeply while face palming.

"Oh nooo… you called my bluff," I said in monotone voice. "Even though I just wanted to brag about how much I love getting tortured and enslaved by a group of psychopath in thrift store costume. Nooo…"

*CRREEEAAAKKK…* *NGGIIIKKK…*

Her brows twitched again, then she brandished her staple weapon in front of me. "Well then, you asked for it, human. Don't go hating me from wherever you end up going."

"Once again, DIE!"

*WHHUUUNNGGG*

"GEROONIMOOO!"

Before her swipe sliced me in half, I swung my chain backward and jumped off. I'd originally intended to swing from chain to chain like tarzan, but because my starter jump lack any momentum, I failed to reach the next chain and almost fell to my death.

Keyword: Death.

"WHOOAAA! NO, NOOO!" I screamed on top of my lung while flailing my limbs aimlessly; desperate to grab anything at all. God bless me; I soon felt a cold sensation of steel on my left palm. In desperation, I grabbed and pulled it as strong as I could to prevent me from free falling any further.

… without thinking twice about any other consequences it may caused.

*CKKIIITTT…* *DRAANGG*

*SNAP*

Honestly, I don't know how to describe what happened after that in detail, but here, I'll try my best.

Firstly, I felt like there's molten iron being poured on my left shoulder, then it was left to set on my arm. With a wet sound of bones snapping off its place, my left shoulder roared in extreme pain. All sense on my left arm were lost immediately after.

The next thing I felt was… wind speeding up from below as gravity pulled me closer and closer. As I almost lost my consciousness due to the sharp pain at this point, I couldn't prepare myself for what came next.

*BRRUUAKKK!"

… Concrete. Very solid, very hard concrete. The pain assaulted my back faster and fiercer than anything I've ever felt before. My vision instantly went red and hazy, and air was greedily being sucked out of my lungs. I didn't know whether I was bleeding out or not. In fact, I couldn't even feel anything aside from my shoulder, which was still pulsing out of extreme pain.

I was seriously wondering why the heck was I still conscious, let alone alive at that point; though I could slightly guess that it was thanks to my extreme durability I'd built over a year as an eternal punching bag for monsters and 'Riders' alike.

"Am I… gonna die here?" I wondered while staring at the ceiling. "No… no way. I can't die right now! I can't… Yui will…"

Fear and panic hit me harder than a container-wrecking ball. At this point I'd already forgotten my well-cooked plan to turn the condition over. I'd forgotten all my tough and brave bravado.

What left was a feeling of dread and despair. I wanted to cry for help. I wanted to run away from here. I even seriously considered begging for mercy.

I didn't want to die. I was afraid of dying. Even after many occasion wrestling with life-and-death situation, I still couldn't comprehend that hollow feeling of nothingness that would grip me if I ever lose my life.

Is that why 'they' called me weakling? Is that why 'he' called me naïve?

"Hoo… ali… …the..."

Flapping sound… must be Mittelt. Even though both my vision and hearing were equally screwed, I could recognize her annoying voice from afar.

Not that I could do anything knowing that.

"Yo… serio… … pid, you kn…"

I could vaguely hear Mittelt voice mocking me. She then laughed hysterically, and apparently also said some other things before ultimately brandished the tip of her spear in front of my face.

It's not like I could be concerned by her at the point though. Because what's left of my vision was currently focusing at one object dangling dangerously loose directly above her.

Seeing that, I naturally did one thing that should be done to the assassin with spear pointed at me.

I whispered, "Run…"

XXXXXX (3rd Person POV) XXXXXX

"This guy is seriously lost cause…" Mittelt thought while looking at the bloody spectacle in front her with mixed feeling.

She'd seriously been speechless through the whole mess. Her target just suddenly jumped off the chain he'd been latching onto, and nosedived with breakneck speed. Then, after desperately reaching for something to hold onto, he managed to snag a chain, but ended up dislocating his own shoulder because of the falling momentum.

Although good for him, his fall was slowed significantly because of it; enough to make it non-lethal. He hit the ground with a loud *BRUAKK* and even though he wasn't bleeding out too much (apparently, the momentum wasn't enough to crack his tough skull; that lucky bastard), his backbones were definitely shattered at this point.

Why would he chose this kind of way out instead of the easy, painless death offered by her; she couldn't comprehend. This target was seriously confusing her beyond limit.

"Well, everyone has their own way they want to die, I guess. Not that I care though," Mittelt shrugged, then decided to descend and check on his target.

"HOOOYYY… you alive down there?" She shouted. Of course, there's no response.

She landed near him, then examined her dying target. To her surprise, he wasn't dead yet. Heck, he's not even unconscious. Even though his body was an absolute mess, his eyes were still opened and currently staring at her.

"Heh, now that's the appropriate reaction," for the first time, Mittelt could grin at the half-dead human in satisfaction.

The first thing she recognized in his gaze was fear. He's scared for his life, there's no doubt about it. He's also crying too, signified by the trace of tears on his cheek.

The only unfortunate thing was the fact that he probably was too weak to beg for his life now.

Finally, that spectacle tickled her sadistic trait.

"GAHAHA… You're seriously stupid, you know that?" She laughed out loud. "Doing something idiot like that, what did you even hope to achieve? Was all this pain you take even worth your life?"

Unsurprisingly, he didn't answer. Instead, he just stared back at her. The fear that he displayed earlier apparently had subsided somehow.

"I don't like your attitude, human," Mittelt's gleeful smile was replaced by a frown. She clicked his tongue and brandished her spear on his face. "Weren't you gonna kneel and beg just now? Stop staring at me like that! Just surre…"

"Ru…"

Mittelt almost yelped in surprise when she heard him talk so suddenly; in totally zombie-esque voice to boot. "Geh, you still can talk? Creepy~. What the hell is wrong with you , seriously?"

"Ruuu…" he wheezed again; seemingly wanted to tell her something.

"What are you…"

*KKRRRIIEEEKKKK* *DRANGG!*

With a loud sound, the chain that'd been holding the container over both of them snapped off completely; dropping it directly onto Mittelt.

She could've easily sliced the container in half. Or flew away. Or just simply jumped out of the way.

But no, her body failed to react on time. When she turned and saw a deadly metal container came onto her fast from above and ready to crush her flat, she immediately knew it would be too late to do anything.

She stared in a mixed of horror and surprised expression. Maybe just her imagination, but she was really imagining her long life flashed in front of her at this point. Mittelt had never guessed that her life would end in some deserted place like this.

But…

*DUAKK*

"KYAAHHH!"

*BOOOMM!*

She felt a kick right on her lower back, and that kick threw her petite body a few meters forward. She rolled a few times on the ground before stopping.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch… HEY, WHAT THE FU… wha…" When she angrily turned to the one who kick her, she gasped in shock.

Her dying target was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a huge, totally wrecked container replaced him among the dust.

Seeing that, her anger was instantly replaced by bewilderment. "Di-did he just… save me?" Mittelt thought to herself with mouth gaped wide. "No, no way! He has no reason to do that."

Carefully, she started walking closer to the wreckage. Then, she peered under the rubble, only to find no trace of blood or body.

She wasn't sure how to feel about that.

"Guhh… ughh…"

Low and painful groan soon followed from somewhere behind the debris. Hearing that, the fallen angel flapped her wings again and flew over them.

… And there he was, laying half-dead while occasionally wheezing and coughing. It seemed he had somehow saved himself from the falling container as well, even though his body got even more battered by doing that. Every sounds that came out of his mouth contorted his face into various painful expressions.

"Well, at least he's not dead yet…"

…

…

"Wait, NO!" Mittelt caught herself sighing in relief and immediately scolded herself inwardly. "What are you feeling glad for, stupid! He's an enemy! An assassination target! He's suppose to die!"

"But… but, he did save me…"

...

"NO NO NOOO!" The young-looking fallen angel was having an internal dispute with herself. "He didn't save me! He was just… saving himself! Yeah, that's it! That bastard must've kicked me to propel himself away from the falling debris. That explains why he didn't get crushed. He was just using me!"

After somehow succeeded in convincing herself, Mittelt once again flew toward her dying target. "Are you done with all this farce?" She spat out like a venomous snake. "Not only you have humiliated me, you'd also kicked me to save yourself. I will not tolerate your existence any further."

For the countless times today, Mittelt brandished her spear in front of him. "Tch, I can't believe I spend this much time hunting a weak human like you. Raynare nee-sama and the others wouldn't let me live it down now, would they?"

"I'll have you repent for this humiliation by your death! DIE, human!"

… Which make it, like, the millionth time she had said that line today.

*KRIIEEKKK!*

*DRUAANGG!*

*KABOOMMM!*

"OH FOR FATHER'S SAKE, NOW WH…at…"

…

…

It was at this moment that Mittelt knew, she fucked up

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Really?

Can't a dying man enjoy his impending death in peace here?

Why would the steel beams supporting the whole warehouse suddenly collapsed on top of each other like freaking domino blocks?

I mean… I get that they're flimsy and corroded as hell, plus we're already making quite a ruckus and even dragging down one huge metal container linked by chains to those frail support pillars, but the timing was a little too perfect here, wasn't it?

Almost like this chain reaction was set up before.

…

…

… Oh wait.

"Huh, should I even say 'mission accomplished' now?" I let out a bitter smile while witnessing all hell broke loose in front of me.

Steel beams, construction equipment, and every kind of debris started to raining down on us like a meteor shower. Not that I've seen meteor shower from directly below it, but if it was anyway close to this spectacle, then I'd understand why people only witness meteor shower from a few hundred meters away.

"Wha… WHAT IS HAPPENING HEERREEE!?"

… Oh yeah, the midget's still freaking out here. Better start doing my thing.

"*cough* *cough* Undo… *wheeze* that…"

Darn it, what's supposed to be a threat came out sounding more like a death rattle. Then again, I was trying to threaten someone while having broken lungs, so I probably should've cut myself some slack there.

"Undo… *cough* now!" I wheezed again as I signaled towards the nearest window, which was still sealed tight by that black curtain even if the surrounding was already crumbling down really fast.

"You… this was your doing all along?!"

"Technically, this was all yours. I was just directing it." I wanted to retort, but my condition wasn't anywhere near well enough to waste anymore of my breath. So instead, I just glared back at her, with a gaze that pretty much said:

"You don't do something quick, we're both dead."

"Yo… youuu…" Mittelt gritted her teeth in frustration; her face's red with anger.

*BOOMMM*

"YIKEESSS!" She jumped in surprise when one of the heavy equipment fell nearby, crushing the ground beside her. Her anger was immediately replaced with shock from being nearly flattened.

"AHH MOOUU… fuck everything! I'm outta here!" With that, she flicked her finger, and suddenly the darkness engulfing us all along disappeared. Faintly, light from outside started seeping in from the glass panels. Mittelt didn't waste any time to quickly fly out of the window.

… Which left me alone to fend for myself inside the collapsing building.

"Okay then…" I managed to take a deep breath. "Please don't break down on me just yet, body!"

And by using all my strength left in this tattered body, crawled to the nearest glass window that's still intact.

XXXXXX (3rd Person POV) XXXXXX

"ARRGHHH! DAMNIT, DAMNIT ALL! FUCK THAT STUPID, CONCEITED, IMBECILE… GAAHHH!"

Floating above the ruin of the warehouse, Mittelt continuously cursing and swinging her spear blindly in rage.

It was a few moment after the last pillar holding the warehouse together broke off; bringing the place down completely. It took no less than a few seconds for the place to crumble down to the ground in front of her eyes.

There's no sign of anything coming out of the building after her.

"It's suppose to be a good thing, isn't it?" The fallen angel unconsciously bit her own lip. "He's dead. My mission's a success."

… Then why did she feel so unsatisfied by this?

"That stupid human…" Mittelt muttered. "Why would he do that?"

Why would he chose this way to die off?

How could he stay headstrong like that even to the bitter end?

… Why did he save her? Even though it's easier to just bring her down with himself.

"AAHHH MOOUUU!" Mittelt scratched her hair wildly in frustration "I DON'T CARE! I DON'T CARE ANYMORE! SCREW THIS! I'M OUTTA HERE!"

Mittelt had finally decided to stop thinking about it altogether. Like a child throwing a tantrum, she started flapping her wings angrily and floated away from the rubble.

… Until she heard it.

*crackle* *crackle* "… Urghh…"

… Someone's grunt, from somewhere under the debris.

"Eh? Wha…" Needless to say, Mittelt was frozen. Her mouth was agape, as she struggled to find the right word. "No… no way… there's no way he could…"

*crackle* *CRAACKK*

"Guhh… Ouff… cough! cough!"

… And just like that, that human managed to break her expectation once again.

Crawling out from under the debris, was a man in a suite of gray armor. On his head was a helmet with striped visor and glowing red eyes beneath it; silver gauntlet was on his left arm and some sort of buckle on his waist.

"He… he survives… how…" Mittelt could only stare in disbelief. Out of all people she'd met until this day, nobody had shown her that much 'drive' to live.

While she was busy being speechless, the human had somehow (painfully) collected himself, and even managed to stand up.

He's limped on one feet while panting vigorously, and his shoulder was clearly still dislocated. It's not hard to deduce that even standing up took every last bit of his power.

Forget fighting back, he wouldn't even be able to walk out of there. He's nothing more than a standing corpse at this point

But somehow, when he looked up and stared at Mittelt with his glowing red eyes, she clenched her fist very hard as a surge of unfamiliar emotion washed over her.

"No way… am I… intimidated? By this flimsy, almost broken human?" Mittelt and the human was basically having a staring contest at that point. None of them moved or took any action for several minutes.

Before suddenly…

*WHUUSSHH*

"Huh?"

Faster than Mittelt could react, something sped up from somewhere behind her, and soon a bright yellow laser sailed past her.

… And flew straight to her target.

"What are you doing, Mittelt? Why haven't you finished your job yet?"

A voice of an adult woman could be heard. Mittelt turned around to find a buxom, tanned blue-haired woman in a tight maroon trench coat that clearly couldn't contain her abundant 'assets', and a matching tight miniskirt. Jutting out from her back was the same black feathered wings as Mittelt. She was Kalawarner, one of her companion under Raynare.

"Kala nee-sama!" Mittelt was completely startled. "Aren't you supposed to stay and guard the hideout today? Why're you here?"

Kalawarner looked very annoyed as she spat, "To pick you up, of course. Geez, I swear that old fool is gonna pay for making me do something useless like this."

Mittelt blinked a few times in disbelief. "Eh, what do you mean?"

Kalawarner gnashed her teeth like she was ready to spat poison anytime soon. "That perverted geezer Dohnaseek couldn't even finish his job properly. Even worse, he also alerted the devils who oversee this territory. They're currently backing that Sacred Gear kid in some park, or something."

"Eh, but that means…"

Kalawarner's expression darkened. She peered at the direction behind Mittelt, "the mission's aborted. BOTH missions. We have to retreat immediately."

Mittelt was completely lost for words at this new development. She slowly turned around at her target, only to find that the armored boy had once again dodged his death by a hair's breadth. Judging from his position, he apparently had thrown his body aside to avoid the incoming attack.

Mittelt wasn't sure whether to call that genius or stupid move, as now he was curling in fetal position while clutching one of his ankle and groaning painfully. If just standing took a heavy toll on his body, Mittelt wouldn't want to imagine how painful it was to intentionally throw yourself onto the debris.

Speaking of which…

"But… we can still finish this job, Kala nee-sama!" Mittelt said hurriedly as she projected another spear. "He's badly wounded! I just have to…"

Kalawarner raised her hand to stop her companion. "The situation has changed. Now the devils have gotten involved, we can't afford to take anymore risk by alarming them even further. At least, until 'that plan' is properly executed, we have to stay under their radar."

Mittelt could easily tell by her expression that Kalawarner was not satisfied by this conclusion as well. Seeing that, Mittelt didn't have any choice but to oblige. They were about to leave that place until…

"Waa…it."

The voice sounded a lot like a death rattle, coming from someone who's already knocking at his death door. But after hearing it quite a few times already, Mittelt wasn't surprised to hear that anymore.

"Where's… he?"

The fallen angels simultaneously turned around. They immediately found that the half-dead human was trying to lift his battered body from the ground. His condition kept getting worse by minutes. Forget standing back up, he clearly wasn't in any condition to even stay conscious anymore.

"Yet he tried anyway…" Mittelt unconsciously let out a long sigh. "And when we've decided to spare your life, to boot. Read the atmosphere, idiot!"

"Are you talking about your little friend?" Kalawarner smirked a totally sadistic smile. "What're you gonna do about it anyway? You're nothing more than a deadweight now."

At the moment, that human had finally managed to stand (albeit limped) while grabbing his broken shoulder. Albeit his pathetic condition and ragged breaths, he once again stared back at them.

"Where… is Issei?"

Kalawarner didn't even consider that as intimidation. She just scoffed lightly while saying, "Heh, how about you MAKE me talk instead, trash?"

Seeing that he didn't say anything back, Kalawarner grinned triumphantly .

"That's what I thought. Come on, Mittelt, let's get out of here," she said as she flapped her wings and flew away.

…

…

…

"I think…"

…

…

"I think… Kala nee-sama mentioned something about a park."

And after that brief monologue to nobody in particular, Mittelt flew away following her companion.

"Mouu~, What's wrong with me, seriously?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

To be completely honest, this was not the worst defeat I've ever suffered in my life.

…

… Yes, dislocating my shoulder, cracking most of my bones after free falling from a hanging container, and getting a whole warehouse fell on top of me were indeed NOT the worst case I've ever lost in a fight before.

… Really saying much about my life, huh?

Despite that, I could definitely said that this was one of the most HUMILIATING defeat ever happened to me.

I couldn't do anything. Everything I've done, everything I've prepared, ultimately failed to turn the situation.

No…

I know from the start… that I was helpless the entire time. My whole flair and bravado back then was only my desperate attempt to hide that feeling.

I want to believe that I could do something, ANYTHING at all to correct things. Even if I'm currently weak, I want to believe that my action would change something.

"Heh, how about you MAKE me talk instead, trash?"

I genuinely bit my own lips 'till they started bleeding when that blue-haired fallen angel said that. Because I know I couldn't. Even in my best condition I have almost no chance to beat them, trying to take my chance while badly injured was basically suicide.

"I think… Kala nee-sama mentioned something about a park."

I gritted my teeth in frustration. "I DON'T NEED YOUR SYMPATHY!" I'd wanted to shout, but I know I wouldn't be able to find Issei fast enough if I don't have any information about his whereabouts. I don't know why she chose to tell me that, but at that moment my mind was to preoccupied that I didn't even consider the fact that it might be a lie or a trap.

"You're so naïve, Kido. You believe you can achieve anything by pretending to be something else, but in this world, unless you can be strong yourself, nothing of your feelings will matter!"

I remembered his word, scolding me so severely. As I limped weakly, I couldn't help but to think…

"What if he's right?"

"What if… the only right thing to do is to become strong, even if I have to ignore everything else?"

…

… "Damn it, Shinji. Focus! You got something more important to do now!"

Thanks to my armor, now I could at least walk by myself despite with a lot (a SHIT ton) of pain. The whole time I was monologuing, my feet didn't stop moving at all. Instead, I kept hastening my pace by minutes. My destination was of course, the park where Issei might be at.

Unfortunately, even if I say I could walk, that doesn't mean that my wounds were already healed. My armor doesn't have any magical healing properties whatsoever. It just boosts my strength and stamina which helps me keep functioning by significantly lessen the pain.

… Basically, it makes me able to soak up more damages while keep me fighting for a longer amount of time. My body didn't get repaired, it just got a temporary upgrade to better mitigate the damage.

That also means, that right now I had to power walk in the middle of cold night wearing a suit of armor, while having a dislocated shoulder, broken ankle, and various other internal damages all at once.

*pant* *pant* "Issei…"

Although at the moment my attention was too focused on saving my friend that I almost be able to ignore all of those (almost).

Honestly I didn't know how far I've been walking up to that point. The only thing dominating my mind was the throbbing pain on my shoulder and feet. I was so tired both physically and mentally that I was quite surprised that I didn't faint on the way.

"Faster, damn it! Faster!"

After a while, I finally saw the park. And before you start asking, yes, it was THAT park. The one where I saw Issei getting murdered; the one place where all this craziness began.

… What's with our luck with this place, seriously?

Thankfully, It was dark and quite for the moment. There's no sign of black-winged angel flying around nearby. I gladly took that as a good news. Hopefully Issei was also okay. With that encouragement in mind, I limped into the park.

… Not even a minute past, I spotted something that immediately made me want to scratch my head again.

"What in the what was that?"

From somewhere near the middle of the park, I saw a pillar of light. Not high enough to reach the sky, but definitely weird enough that it encouraged me to check it immediately.

"I swear… I swear if Issei was there…"

I didn't finish that thought, because as soon as I reached the source of that mysterious light, all my train of thought got emergency braked.

I don't know if my scarred and exhausted brain could precisely recap what I saw right there, but well, let me try this out.

The very first thing I saw was the source of the light, which was a crimson magic circle glowing brightly. Yes, I said a magic circle. Like 'that one in every anime and RPG game ever created' kind of magic circle. Like 'pentagram and/or other occultist gig' kind of magic circle.

… I'm sure you get my point, so let's move on before my sanity actually imploded.

Anyway, it was apparently the source of that pillar of light. Now that I was close enough, the light actually had a tinge of crimson pulsing in and out of it, almost like a slow heartbeat.

The circle itself, I realized, was also not a mere static inscription drawn on the ground. The closer I looked at them, it actually resembled a screen saver image; kinda surreal, glowing, and constantly spinning on its place.

The circle was wide enough to fit several people inside. Why do I need to tell you that? Well, because there were indeed several people standing in the middle of that light.

Okay, maybe not all of them were standing. In fact, only two of them were standing with their backs toward me. One person was kneeling on the ground, lending her thigh as a pillow for…

As soon as I spotted that last person who was laying down unmoving, I immediately choked up in horror.

It was a spiky brown-haired boy wearing a red t-shirt under a black and white blazer. He was bleeding profusely from the stomach; a gory scene that was somehow familiar. It was…

"ISSEEEIIII!"

Due to adrenaline rush kicking in, I literally forgot about my injuries. I shouted so loudly I basically depleted the entire remaining oxygen in my system. I ignored the smoldering pain from my broken ankle and dashed forward. Not even a dislocated shoulder prevented me from reaching my arms toward him.

"Please God, please let me make it."

…

But despite everything, I was too late…

*SHRIIINGG*

*BRRUUAKK!*

Just a split second before my finger touched the light, they all disappeared without trace, along with that magic circle. As the result, I tumbled across the ground pathetically.

As soon as I stopped, all the pain I'd ignored resurfaced again. Every inch of my body throbbed violently. My vision was tinted red, maybe because I'd hit my head when I slid across the ground.

Funnily enough, my attention was still somewhere else even in that condition. Most likely because before they all vanished like a thin air, I managed to make out some details of the the other people beside Issei.

… Crimson hair.

And… Kuoh girl's school uniform. In fact, all of them were wearing it.

Unable to take anymore mind-f*cking information for the day, I closed my eyes and passed out.

Omake: The Green Guy

"GRRAAHHH! DAMN YOU! Put me down this instant, you stupid monster!"

Raynare flailed wildly in the grip of the strange creature that suddenly snatched her out of nowhere. Of course, to no avail. She only could helplessly watch as the creature flied her across the empty street in this deserted town.

"Why? What is happening here? Why wouldn't it work?"

She gritted her teeth while concentrating on her open right hand, hoping to project her light spear. It's usually nothing for her, but ever since she came (got dragged) into 'this world', it had gradually become harder and harder to focus her power.

Until at 'that' point, when she stopped being able to summon her greatest weapon at all. Not only that, it's as if her whole power, her whole identity had been robbed from her.

"Daamnn iittt… IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT, YOU STUPID HUMAANNN! I SWEAR IF I EVER SEE YOU AGAIN…"

...

...

"Uwaaahh… so scary. I wonder who that poor guy is."

*Ka-ching* *BANG BANG BANG*

...

...

*BANG BANG BANG* "GHIIKKK…"

"Eh, what th… KYYAAHHH!"

As she was busy cursing, something struck the creature holding her out of sudden. After a long shriek, the creature fell down from the sky above the shopping district, with her on tow.

She tried to flap her wings, but they felt heavy on her back and couldn't be moved at all. She wasn't sure whether it was because they were injured on a previous fight, or if there's any reason she didn't recognized.

But none of them matters now. The ground was approaching her fast, and with this speed, she's definitely dead. Raynare could only close her eyes and waited for inevitable.

*Thud*

…

…

"Why… am I floating?"

"You can open your eyes now, pretty nee-chan. You're already safe in my hands."

Raynare was startled, and she opened her eyes on reflect. Instead of being a flattened paste on the ground, her whole body was now being carried in a bridal carry. The person saving her was kneeling on the ground while observing her face from behind the helmet.

He was donned in a full-body suit of armor. The base was a green spandex, with additional light silver armor plating on his arm and feet. His torso was protected by a mechanical looking heavy armor and a pair of wide shoulder pauldrons that made him looked like a cyborg.

His helmet was green on top, with silver striped visor and a pair of antennas forming a V-sign jutting out from the top of his visor. Lastly, completing his robocop look was a belt with big firearm on its side, and a rectangle buckle at the front.

*GGRRRR* *GROOAARR!*

Raynare was not aware that she was staring until a roar of most likely multiple wild beasts shook her ears. She was sure that she paled a bit, maybe trembling as well.

Her savior, on the other hand, didn't look surprised at all. He even sighed a little. Then, she picked Raynare up and walked to the nearest telephone pole.

"Sheessh… talk about a mood-breaker, huh?" He said leisurely as he set her down beside it. "I hope you don't mind if I take care of this first, nee-chan. We'll continue our conversation later, okay? There's a lot of thing I want to know about you."

…

Was he… winking at her?

"Anyway…" He said as he stood up and turned around. There, Raynare found multiple red eyes watching them from around the corners and behind buildings. Raynare didn't have to look at them directly to notice the leaking bloodlust coming from them.

"…time for some EXP!" He shouted energetically while taking out the gun from his belt.

In one swift movement, he pulled a card out of his buckle, pulled the top part of his firearm backward, and slid the card into the opening cartridge under the gun.

*Psyuuu* [SHOOT VENT]

Faster than Raynare's eyes could follow, a huge twin barreled long cannon dropped straight from the sky and immediately attached itself on the armored warrior's shoulder. With that, he took aim at one of the monsters hiding behind a thick tree trunk.

*DUUAARRR* *KaBooomm*

"Grahhkkk..."

And a second after, he shot plasma balls from the twin cannon onto the tree; immediately obliterating it, along with the monster hiding behind it.

"One down." He muttered in satisfaction. "That's what you get for scaring a pretty girl, you know! You all deserved that," he shouted to nobody in particular. Then, he took another aim...

...

...

To describe what happened next as 'overkill' would be an understatement. This guy destroyed all the monsters even before they could reach him. The shoulder cannon destroy the tough but slow ones, along with the environments they're too close with, while his firearms (which turned out to be a submachine-gun) wiped out the small but agile ones that were trying to get too close to him.

As soon as there's no monsters left in vicinity, he blow the tip of his firearms in exaggerated manner. Meanwhile, Raynare couldn't hide her shock any longer.

"Wh… who…" Raynare asked with slightly trembling voice. Despite her trembling hands, she asked that to the warrior that's leisurely spinning his gun in front of her. "Who… no, what exactly... are you?

"Oh, me?" the green robocop turned around to face her, and for the first time, Raynare got a clear view of his armor and belt buckle; green rectangular deck with golden bull's head engraved on it. He then kneeled in front of Raynare and offer his hand to her.

"Well, as much as I wanted to introduce myself to pretty girl like you right away, now is not a good time," he said in calming manner, with hint of amusement in his voice. "Although for now, you can call me Kamen Rider Zolda."

Another chapter into the archive! Holy hell was that long!

How's the second battle sequence I've concocted, guys? Was it good, boring, decent, too long, or maybe too short? Leave your comments to help me improve my writing. Any critics and advice would be very appreciated.

Well, time to write chapter 5, I guess. I really hope it wouldn't take as long as this, but who knows? I can only promise you I'll try my best.

Once again, thank you for sticking with me in my absence, guys. You're all awesome!

I'm GEStorm, signing off for now!

(P.S. I won't put the next chapter's title here anymore, because there's no telling if I can always keep it right)