"Is this the underworld?"
Hyoudou Issei stepped into the world of the Fallen Angels and immediately activated [detection mode].
"There aren't many of them."
Unlike Devils, they weren't beings created through a reincarnation system. Most of their numbers had been increased by the fall of Angels, but these days, perhaps because Angel welfare was better, fewer of them were falling, so they boasted the smallest population among the three factions. Thanks to that, Issei didn't have to waste time searching for his target.
"Magical power..."
Sensing the faintly fading magical power of Asia and Raynare, he vanished from the spot in a hurry.
.
.
.
.
.
Fallen Angels were beings born from the fall of Angels, and their numbers were tiny compared to the vastness of the land they occupied. That was why, unlike the Devils, whose society was run through cooperation between Demon Kings and countless nobles, the current Fallen Angel force, Grigori, was organized around only a few executives and Governor Azazel. And because there were so few central figures, the disappearance of even one of them had a huge impact on the faction. They were especially protective of their executives. Among them, the hardliner Kokabiel was a headache even to the other executives. He relied on his position to commit all sorts of crimes, then slipped away by exploiting Grigori's internal sentiment. What he was carrying out this time was the crystallization of all his arrogance up to now. And since, even if he were caught, he would likely only receive a light punishment, he had no hesitation in carrying it out.
"At last, that [Twilight Healing] is in my hands!"
"I...ssei...san..."
In a basement prison room filled on all sides with dark, stale air, Asia was bound in chains. As [Twilight Healing] was slowly being separated from her body by Kokabiel's magic circle, she could feel death creeping closer and closer. Directly across from her was Raynare, chained up and pinned to the wall with nails as though she had been crucified, her body covered in wounds and blood from head to toe. It seemed Kokabiel had no intention of letting Raynare live, and countless traces of torture remained on her body.
"Just... kill me..."
Unable to endure the agony of torture, Raynare begged to be killed, but Kokabiel never stopped. He intended to enjoy torturing Raynare until [Twilight Healing] had been completely dismantled from Asia's body, and then continue until she was on the verge of death.
"You should pay the price for your betrayal before you die, shouldn't you?"
"...I...ssei, save... me..."
As sensation gradually vanished from one part of her body after another, Raynare became a wreck and whispered weakly. No matter how much she trusted Issei, if she had been dragged this far away, she knew rescue was impossible without a clue to follow. And yet the only thing that allowed her to endure the torture was her thoughts of Issei. Then Kokabiel said,
"Issei? Ah, that human who was the assassination target? So you fell in love with the target, huh? Hahahaha! This is a masterpiece. I'll kill that human later too."
Laughing uproariously at Raynare, who no longer had the strength to speak, he thought it over for a moment and then said,
"No, maybe I should bring him here and kill him in front of your eyes?"
"....."
Normally, she should have been enraged at the thought of him killing the person she loved, but at that moment, a faint smile spread across Raynare's lips. What Kokabiel was saying was, in effect, that he was choosing his own death. Raynare understood. With Issei's power, he could defeat Kokabiel. That was why Raynare, who knew Kokabiel's personality well, placed her last hope on that fact.
"Really?... You won't beat Issei."
"Hah?"
Raynare forced out the words with the last of her strength, and Kokabiel's expression suddenly hardened.
"You're saying I'd lose to some human!? You bitch!"
"Kuh!"
He began lashing Raynare's entire body with a whip, and the leather tore into her flesh, drawing blood. But even through that pain, Raynare did not stop provoking him.
"With a coward like you, and that half-baked power compared to the other executives, you'll never beat Issei!"
"Really? Then I'll drag him here right now and kill him."
Having shouted with all her remaining strength, Raynare had clearly gotten under his skin, because Kokabiel really did storm out of the prison room. But there was no need for that.
Boom
"P-please, save me!"
"Graaah!!"
"A monster!"
The screams of the soldiers guarding the mansion were drawing closer and closer to the prison door. Then Kokabiel said,
"Oh? So there's someone bold enough to attack my home."
As if something interesting had just happened, he headed straight toward the source of the screams. What he found there was...
"K-Kokabiel-sama..."
"Please save us..."
In the darkness, soldiers had their heads seized by a man's hand as something that looked like souls was being sucked out of them. Once they had all been drained, the man tossed the soldiers aside as though he had seen enough. Where they were thrown, all the mansion's guards lay collapsed in the same state, their eyes rolled back white.
"...You bastard."
Judging by how easily he had reduced the soldiers to that state, he was no ordinary man. But Kokabiel was a Fallen Angel executive; among the three factions, there were only a handful who could stand against him. So...
"I don't know who you are, but you've got no sense of your own limits, storming into this place! Looks like you're dying today!"
He created a spear of shining magical power and hurled it straight at Issei, but...
"!!"
It was blocked by a veil spread before the boy with the [Rinnegan] in the darkness, then slowly sucked into the barrier and vanished. Seeing the [Rinnegan], Kokabiel was startled and quickly put distance between them.
"Are you Kokabiel?"
"And you know that, yet you still invaded!? You bastard! What are you?"
At Kokabiel's shout, the figure emerging from the darkness revealed himself: Hyoudou Issei.
"A human?"
From the magical power he could feel, that much was obvious. But for a human, there was something strangely off about him.
"Don't tell me you're..."
Kokabiel was the one who had ordered the assassination of Raynare, so there was no way he wouldn't recognize that face. He smiled as though prey had rolled right into his hands.
"I see. You came to me on your own. How fortunate."
He spread his magical power. Issei clicked his tongue in disbelief. Compared to the magical power of the general he had defeated in House Astaroth's territory, this was inferior. For someone like that to swagger around arrogantly and call himself an executive was ridiculous. And more than anything...
"You're only... that weak, and you did this to Asia... to Yuuma..."
Issei called her by the name she had used when they first met, Yuuma. Kokabiel then said,
"I'll turn you into the same state as those women!"
He had experienced the strangeness of the [Rinnegan], but once he recognized his opponent as a human, he launched another attack without hesitation. Countless yellow, shining spears shot toward Issei, but just like before, they vanished as if absorbed before the transparent barrier.
"!!"
With all of them blocked, Kokabiel retreated again.
"So long-range attacks don't work on you... Then!"
Thinking it was some kind of magic, he changed his battle style. But he didn't realize he was digging his own grave. The moment he charged at Issei,
"[Shinra Tensei]"
"Guh!"
He was blown away by some invisible force with a violent impact and rolled across the floor, coughing up blood.
"W-what was that just now...?"
After rolling a few times, he barely managed to get back up, and Kokabiel began to panic at the unknown force. He had thought it was merely a barrier that blocked simple magic, but this time he had been sent flying by something like an invisible shockwave. More than that...
"How can a human have this kind of power...?"
As far as he knew, Issei should have been the owner of an ordinary Sacred Gear. But this was an entirely different kind of power.
"You bastard! You weren't a Sacred Gear user!?"
"Ah, this?"
As Issei manifested the Boosted Gear on his left hand, Kokabiel recognized it instantly, just as Rias had.
"The Red Dragon Emperor!? One of the Longinus said to threaten even God. Why is it in a human's body...?"
Only now did Kokabiel understand why he was being pushed back. But the truth was completely different. Issei had no reason at all to use the Boosted Gear, especially against a small fry like Kokabiel. Still, Issei didn't care about any of that, and since he had already brought it out, he activated its ability.
[boost]
He could feel his power doubling.
[boost!, boost!, boost!, boost!, boost!, boost!, boost!]
"!! W-what is this magical power!! H-how can a human... no, this is divine power!"
As Issei continued to empower himself, his original chakra kept multiplying over and over and over again, until even without summoning the Ten-Tails, he possessed power approaching it.
"Damn it!!"
By now, Issei was no longer within the realm of humans or Fallen Angels. Faced with a being who had stepped into the realm of gods, Kokabiel realized there was no hope left and immediately tried to flee, but...
"[Almighty Push]"
Without conversation, without threats, without warning, Kokabiel was pulled in. Against his will, he was dragged right in front of Issei, and
"!! P-please, spare me..."
"Relax. I'm not killing you right away."
He began trembling before that overwhelming power, and when he met Issei's cold [Rinnegan] glare, his body froze solid. It felt as though his entire body had been petrified. Then Issei pinned Kokabiel to the wall with a spear transformed from a Truth-Seeking Orb.
Kokabiel was conscious, but his body would not move as he wished. If Issei went into that room now, his chances of survival would truly drop to zero. He strained with all his might to stop him or escape, but his mouth would not open and he could not even blink. Kokabiel was trapped on all sides, and as Issei walked toward that room,
"Uuuuuuuuuugh!!"
He desperately forced out a sound from his throat. He had never wanted anything so badly in his life. If he saw what was in that room, his death would be certain. Kokabiel could only slowly feel death approaching, and before long Issei had reached the room. What entered Issei's sight was...
"...."
"Sa...ve me."
Asia was floating in the air, something embedded in her chest, the life already almost gone from her eyes. Raynare, whose once-white, clean skin had been cut and torn in countless places, was covered in blood and already in a state not far from death. Issei stared at the scene as though he could not believe it.
"Asia... Yuuma..."
His reason vanished from his eyes, leaving them like those of a dead fish as he walked toward Raynare. He immediately broke Raynare's chains and erased the magic circle binding Asia, then gathered the two of them into his arms to support them.
"Why... did this happen...?"
"I...ssei?... You came..."
"Yuuma..."
As Issei wept while holding them both, Raynare opened her mouth weakly. When Issei looked at her with relief, Raynare smiled, caressed his face, and then lost all strength and went limp.
"Yuuma, wake up! Wake up!"
He could not accept this reality. No magical power could be sensed from Raynare, and not even the beat of her heart remained. Asia was the same. In that instant, Issei lost the will to live. He had been so pathetic, lusting after girls' bodies and calling that his life. The result was this. He felt nothing but contempt for himself.
"If I had... just kept my head on straight..."
He had known this could happen someday, and had even set rules for himself, yet this still happened. It was all his lust that had caused it—no, if he traced the root cause, Kokabiel's existence itself was the problem, but the greater fault was his own for knowing and still neglecting it. But there was still a way to undo all of this.
"But..."
The ultimate technique that only the one with the [Rinnegan] could use, the jutsu that could bring the dead back to life. Yet even Issei was unsure of its price. As far as he knew, it was a technique that traded the user's own life to save another. But in the ninja world, Uchiha Obito had used it and survived. Black Zetsu had been attached to him, yes, but even after that he had continued living. He also had the Ten-Tails within him, but in the end, Issei thought it was a gamble whose outcome he could not know.
"There's no need to hesitate."
The more recently someone had died, the lower the risk. Issei no longer hesitated. Even if he died, if it was for Asia and Raynare, who had been brought to this end by the consequences of his own actions, then his life meant nothing. In the end, he formed the hand seals.
"The [Rinne Rebirth Technique]."
Light burst from Issei's body, and at that moment, light flowed into Asia and Raynare's cooling bodies. Warmth returned. Their hearts began beating. Their magical power started to stir again. But in that instant, Issei felt something massive being drained from within him, and he lost strength and dropped to his knees.
"Haah... haah... Looks like I'm not going to die... Good..."
He had only spent a vast amount of chakra and stamina, so because he had used it while still in good condition, his life was not in danger for now. And Raynare and Asia, revived by [Rinne Rebirth],
"...Huh?"
"Issei-san...?"
Raynare, who had thought for certain that her consciousness had been severed and she had died, looked bewildered. Seeing Raynare and Asia speaking, Issei burst into tears and pulled both of them into his arms.
"I'm so glad... really..."
"Issei..."
"Issei-san..."
Raynare and Asia were a little flustered to see Issei crying for the first time, but as he embraced them warmly for the first time, they did not reject his touch. And Issei swore that from now on, he would cherish Raynare and Asia above all else.