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[ Quest Failed: Exterminate the Stray Devil at Outskirts of Kuoh Town ]
[ Reward: Rank 2 Gacha Ticket ]
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[ New Quest! ]
[ Quest Objective: Defeat Hostile Fallen Angel ]
[ Reward: Rank 4 Gacha Ticket ]
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I stared at the glowing text.
Failed? The quest failed before I even found the target?
Rank 4 though. That was higher than anything I'd seen. The system considered a Fallen Angel significantly more dangerous than a Stray Devil. Which made sense. One was a corrupted devil gone feral. The other was a supernatural being who specialized in killing individuals.
And I was that individual, right now.
Great. Just great.
The screen vanished, and that's when I heard his voice again.
"Well, well. What do we have here?"
The Fallen Angel's grin widened.
"How unfortunate for you" He adjusted his fedora with one gloved hand. "Running into me like this. Wrong place, wrong time. Though..." He tilted his head, dark blue eyes gleaming with amusement. "I suppose for a human wandering the outskirts at night, any place is the wrong place."
Every nerve in my body screamed danger louder than a fire alarm. This wasn't some stray devil I could ambush and overwhelm. This was a Fallen Angel. A being that operated on a completely different power scale. One of them, who tried to kill Issei just days ago.
And I'm supposed to fight him? Alone?
I forced my breathing to steady, my mind racing through everything I knew. He was Dohnaseek, working under Raynare. He used light spears—deadly to devils, but I wasn't a devil. That gave me an edge, however small. He was arrogant. A battle maniac according to canon. That meant he'd toy with me, underestimate me.
I kept my expression neutral, my hands loose at my sides. "Are you the one who attacked Issei?"
Dohnaseek's grin stretched wider "Ah, so you know about that? How delightful" He spread his arms theatrically, black wings flaring behind him. "That wasn't me. But today, I had the pleasure of introducing that pathetic boy to the reality of his new existence....He squealed quite nicely when he got stabbed"
My fists clenched involuntarily.
The Fallen Angel noticed. His eyes sharpened. "Oh? Does that upset you? Are you friends with that coward?" He took a step forward, boots crunching against dead leaves. "Tell me, human, did he cry to you about it? Did he—"
I moved.
Shhhhink—
Cross Tail deployed, black wires shooting forward like striking vipers. I aimed for his throat, his wings, anything vital. The threads sang through the air, Armament Haki coating them in black, hardening them into razor edges.
Dohnaseek's eyes widened fractionally.
WHOOSH—
He launched himself skyward, wings beating once with explosive force. My wires sliced through empty air, missing him by inches. He twisted mid-flight, landing on a thick tree branch twenty feet up, crouched like a gargoyle.
"Well, well" he said. "You're not just a human, are you?" His gaze locked onto the glove on my right hand, where the wires retracted smoothly. "A wire type Sacred Gear?" He straightened up, adjusting his fedora with a vicious smirk "How interesting."
If he stays airborne, I'd be done before I could even deploy wires of Cross Tail.
I need to ground him. Force him into close quarters where Cross Tail's range meant something.
Dohnaseek conjured a light spear in his right hand, the weapon materializing in a flash of golden radiance. The clearing brightened, shadows retreating. "Let's put a test on your abilities before I take it from you!"
He hurled the spear.
WHOOSH—CRACK!
I threw myself sideways, hitting the ground hard. The spear smashed into a tree trunk behind me, punching through wood like tissue paper. The tree exploded in a shower of wood splinters.
BOOM—
I rolled to my feet, breathing hard. That wasn't for a test. That was a kill shot!
Another spear materialized in Dohnaseek's hand.
I deployed Cross Tail again, this time splitting the wires into multiple threads. They shot outward in different directions, wrapping around tree trunks, creating a web between me and the Fallen Angel. I poured Armament Haki into each strand, turning them into black tripwires that hummed with tension.
Dohnaseek raised an eyebrow. "A trap?" He launched the second spear.
WHOOSH—
The weapon tore through three of my wires before I could react, snapping them like twigs. The spear continued its trajectory, forcing me to dive again. It buried itself in the earth where I'd been standing, hissing with residual light.
Damn it. His spears cut through Haki-coated wires. That shouldn't be possible, unless his light-based attacks have some property that even bypasses physical reinforcement.
I retracted the broken wires, my mind working through every option I had at the moment. I need to change tactics. Make him come to me instead of sniping from range.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out Rias's crimson flyer. The summoning circle etched on its surface glowed faintly in my palm.
Dohnaseek's eyes narrowed. "What's that you've got there, human?"
I held it up so he could see clearly.
The Fallen Angel's expression darkened. "A devil summoning flyer." He straightened fully, wings spreading wider. "So you are affiliated with the Gremory brat. That explains why you knew about my encounter with her servant."
Good. Now he has no choice but to close the distance.
Dohnaseek launched himself from the branch, diving toward me as two light spears materialized in his hands. He descended like a meteor, wings tucked tight, his entire body a weapon.
WHOOOOSH—
I planted my feet and deployed Cross Tail with both hands, every wire I had. They shot upward in a cone formation, creating a net of black threads directly in his flight path. I pumped Armament Haki through them until my stamina screamed in protest, hardening each strand to its absolute limit.
Dohnaseek saw the trap and his eyes widened.
He twisted mid-air, hurling both spears with one aimed at me and other at the flyer in my hand.
Time seemed to slow down for me, as I made a choice to put an end to this fight.
I dove left, keeping the flyer pressed to my chest. The spear meant for me pierced through the space I'd occupied, cratering the ground. The second spear grazed my shoulder, burning cloth and skin.
"Gah—!"
Pain exploded through my arm. The smell of seared flesh hitting my nostrils.
But Dohnaseek was committed. His dive carried him straight into my wire net.
SHHHNK—SHHHNK—SHHHNK—
The Haki-coated threads caught him. Not all of them—his wings and momentum tore through half, but enough. They wrapped around his left arm, his right leg, one looped around his throat. The black wires bit deep, slicing through his trench coat, cutting into flesh.
Dohnaseek snarled, his composure shattering. Blood sprayed. "You—!"
I yanked hard, activating earthbending simultaneously.
CRACK—
The ground beneath him erupted upward, stone pillars shooting from the earth like spears. They caught him mid-fall, slamming into his torso and pinning him between rock and wire. His wings beat frantically, trying to wrench him free.
I retracted the wires of one hand with every ounce of strength, pulling tighter. My right hand moved instinctively, shaping Cross Tail's threads into a new configuration. I'd been practicing it for a while and never used it in combat, until Akeno showed me the difference between us.
The wires began to weave together, forming a spiraling pattern until they conjured into a large elongated spear.
The threads coiled around each other, layered with Armament Haki until they turned pitch black and rigid as steel. The tip sharpened into a needle point. The weapon took shape in my hand with three feet of compressed wire, wound so tightly like it whispered with lethal intent.
Dohnaseek's eyes locked onto it as realization dawned upon him "You—!"
My legs drove forward, closing the distance between us in three strides. The Cloranthy Ring pulsed, replenishing my stamina with each step. Dohnaseek struggled against the wires and stone, his wings beating uselessly. He conjured a teleportation circle to escape, but the wire around his throat tightened, choking off his focus.
I thrusted at him without hesitation.
SHUNK—
The wire spear punched through his chest, penetrating the cloth, skin, muscle, ribs until it sank deep, all the way to the base.
Dohnaseek's breath left him in a bloodied cough "How... unfortunate..."
He tried to teleport away despite the immense pain, but I twisted my wrist.
In the next moment his eyes widened, as more blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. He tried to speak again but failed miserably.
I twisted my wrist further until the wires unwounded inside his body.
The coiled threads that made up the spear unraveled like a spring releasing, spreading outward inside his torso. They shredded through internal organs, wrapping around his heart, lungs, cutting through everything vital. The technique was designed for exactly these moments, ensuring quick kills by targeting what even an armor couldn't protect.
Dohnaseek's body convulsed. His wings spasmed once, twice.
Then went still.
His weight sagged against the earth pillars, held upright only by the wires. Dark blue eyes stared at nothing. Blood pooled beneath him, soaking into the dirt.
I yanked the wires free.
Shhhhk—
His body crumpled, falling forward in a heap. The fedora rolled away, coming to rest against a tree.
Silence.
I stood there, breathing hard, the wire spear dissolving back into separate threads that retracted into my glove. My shoulder burned where his spear had grazed me. My hands shook slightly. The Cloranthy Ring pulsed steadily, already working to restore my stamina.
I killed him.
The thought sat heavy in my chest. This was the world I lived in now. Kill or be killed. Dohnaseek would've murdered me without hesitation if I'd given him the chance after all he was serving Raynare's psychotic plan.
And now he was dead.
A blue screen materialized in front of me.
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[ Quest Completed : Defeat Hostile Fallen Angel ]
[ Reward: Rank 4 Gacha Ticket ]
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Phew, that's the highest rank gacha ticket I've gotten so far. The system seems to reward according to difficulty, and Dohnaseek had been dangerous enough to warrant it. No lies.
I dismissed the screen with a thought and looked down at Dohnaseek's corpse. His body was already starting to dissolve, leaving behind black feathers with his body disintegrating into ash. Why won't Fallen Angels leave feathers behind? Such an inconvenience for cleanup.
With a flick of my wrist, I summoned a magic circle and shot a fireball at last remains of arrogance topped with Fedora. No witnesses, no crime.
I pocketed the crimson flyer, checking to make sure it hadn't been damaged and sighed in relief seeing it still intact.
The forest felt quieter now. Oppressively so. No rustling leaves, no distant animal sounds. Just me and a pile of ash in the air that used to be a Fallen Angel with a terrible fashion sense.
I turned and started walking back toward town. My shoulder throbbed. I'd need to treat that burn before it got infected. Maybe Akeno could heal it. Or maybe I'd just bandage it myself. I didn't want to explain how I got it.
As I walked, my mind drifted to the gacha ticket. Rank 4. That was serious. Better rewards meant better powers. Maybe something defensive next time. Or a healing ability. Cross Tail and Earthbending were great for offense, but I was still squishy underneath.
Buzz
My phone buzzed, showing a message from Rias.
[ Have you exterminated the Stray Devil? ]
[[ Yeah. It's dead. Heading home now ]]
Her response came quickly.
[ Good work, Motohama kun. Come by the clubroom tomorrow. I would introduce you to the other Devil heiress overseeing this territory with me ]
[[ Ok ]]
I pocketed the phone and kept walking, before the fallen one's reinforcements would show up for a Round 2.
As for using the gacha ticket, I'd do it tomorrow morning. Tonight, I'd sleep like the dead, assuming nightmares about Fallen Angels didn't keep me up.
. . .
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