Scarlet 36

Scarlet 36

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Commissioned by Sivantic

Wordcount: 2500

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If only you can fight and kill everything on your own, that would make all of this better.

As appealing the thought was, of being a one-man army simply shattering everything in my way, I didn’t happen to have that level of power.

Tricks and underhanded moves were simply going to have to do.

“Alright, that looks about right.” I looked over my latest trap, before looking over at Akeno. The ponytailed Devil moved forward daintily after noticing my glance her way. “Try it out.”

“Oh, but we’ve just met, Ise-kun. Won’t you take me on a date first, before demanding so much of me?” Akeno teased, but reached out towards the jury-rigged emitter. It took a bit of work, but we gained access to the city’s power lines without short-circuiting anything and getting power cut off from the school. Even if we could’ve kept any normal people away with a suggestion or two, since the Devils were all Masters, it was better to not have to deal with that headache. “But, fine, I suppose you’re cute enough for me to listen to. Just this once, though.”

Some faraway part of me turned my nose up at Akeno’s flirting.

Most of me was having his brain bombarded by the sound of a husky, hot voice and swaying curves.

It was a miracle that I managed to retort.

“Maybe later, if we live.” I did my best to suppress the blush on my face. Ddraig made a retching sound in the back of my mind, but I paid him no heed. He was never interested, unless the woman in question could shatter a continent. That’s a perfectly acceptable metric for a woman and you know it! “Now, how does it feel?”

Akeno reached out with her hand towards the arcing electricity between two coils and it went towards her. In seconds, she pulled enough power to mass a beach-ball sized sphere of lightning that hovered in her hands.

“Perfect.” Akeno purred and stopped her pull from the power supply of the entire city. She toyed with the ball of energy like it was a weightless beachball, holding it on one finger, and then making it float around her lazily. As Rias’s Queen piece, she was incredibly strong, but the advantages given by Evil Pieces only came through in raw stats. Increases in ability, power, and strength were the most common. There was a reason why the Devils searched for talented people, if they couldn’t get their hands on people with Sacred Gears. “I wonder why Rias never thought of doing this?”

“Probably because other people could do the same.” That was the crux of this little addition to our fighting potential. Magic wasn’t like Shards. People learned to manipulate entire categories of elements. If another person, more skilled than Akeno at wielding lighting, showed up… then we’ll find our asset turned against us in a matter of seconds. “Let’s hope that no one else is as skilled as you with lightning.”

“Hm, I can only think of one Fallen Angel that can boast such a thing, and I know he’s not coming today. Much to my disappointment, since he and I have… words to share with one another.” Akeno was as teasing and glib as always, but there was an edge to her voice that made it clear that she had nothing but ill intentions in mind. The narrowed eyes and near-snarl on her face were very hot and I had a difficult time not thinking about it. “So, don’t worry. I won’t be sharing your wonderful gift to me, Ise-kun.”

Akeno giggled and winked at me with those words.

I cursed the situation with the entirety of my soul.

Who put all of this into motion!?

Why did I have to suffer and endure so much!?

Whoever set this up will pay for the suffering they’ve caused me!

If only you could summon this much hate against people who want to kill you, we’d make a lot of headway.

…

As usual, whenever something important was set to happen, time flowed far more quickly.

“Ise-kun.” Rias spoke and I turned her way. We stood on the school rooftop, while the stars and the moon shone above us. Or, rather, they would if not for the fact that they were blocked. “What do you think they’re doing?”

The sky was filled with black wings.

Fallen Angels covered in armor filled the sky and surrounded the school like a dome.

Just outside of the protections that the Devils erected.

“They’re testing our resolve.” The sheer numbers of the enemy were impactful enough. I knew from experience that a large enough mass of anything could throw off just about anyone. First, it had been Lung with just regular insects. The last was against Scion and all the Parahumans I took from everywhere that I could. I had to admit that I didn’t like experiencing being on the opposite end. “Stay inside the school like everyone else, please.”

“Oh, and you can stay out here without issue?”

“Yes, because they don’t think I’m a threat.” I looked up, right the nearest Fallen, and the creature kept looking past me. My blood boiled at the dismissal, but I ignored those urges and just crossed my arms, while looking at my battlefield. “It’s a little irritating.”

“I suppose so.”

Rias giggled and held her hands at her back in that very cute, girly way that I never figured out in my past life.

So, I had no hope of figuring it out in this one, when the move automatically drew my eyes to her more pronounced chest.

Wait… had that always been the point!?

I’m a dragon and even I knew that.

Anyway, I stared at the rooftop along Rias.

It was covered in weapons. Not the guns that I had asked for, but simpler ones that just had weight behind them. Sledgehammers, dumbbell weights, crowbars, and even a few shot-putt balls lay around. All things that intended to use and that I had practice with. By all means, it felt almost like a scene in any old samurai film.

Don’t you dare compare your shitty setup to actually great theatre, Taylor!

Just replace the ambience and the katanas with improvised weapons.

Fine, you get a pass for admitting this ambience is shit.

Rias broke the silence between the two of us.

“Will you be alright?” Rias asked, but she didn’t look down or tried to look sad. Instead, she looked at me with an evaluating gaze. The only reasons she was asking me was that she didn’t know how capable I was. She was a leader through and through. Here and now, I was a subordinate that she was placing on the board with the intention of having it do a specific duty. I suppose the simulated death matches for their entire species cultivated a strong mentality. “How confident are you that you’ll hold?”

I looked at the preparations and took into account the rest of the traps I had laid out in the rest of the school.

“I can buy you ten minutes without risking becoming more of a dragon, but if I give everything over, it’ll probably be fifteen.” I replied as honestly as I could on the matter. Normally, I would be the one commanding during a battle, but I didn’t have the same abilities in this world that I had in Bet. It was better for me to rely on my companions and entrust tactic to someone with experience, rather than try to command this battle myself. Rias and Sitri working together was more than enough. “Don’t worry. I’ll hold the line.”

Some would call my words a boast, especially with the army bearing down on us.

But it was just a statement of fact with my training and understanding of the enemy.

“Barring the arrival of the enemy’s leader, naturally, you’ll be able to do all those things.” Rias brought up a point that I’d hoped she’d forget. I suppose that it was a bit foolish of me to think that wouldn’t be a problem on my shoulders. “You brought grievous harm against the leader of these people. They will seek retribution against you. Only time will tell whether that will be during battle or after.”

“If it's during, then I’ll be sure to run away. I know better than to try and tackle that problem all on my own.”

Liar.

Shut up, Ddraig.

Rias gazed at me for a long time, and I wondered if she saw through my lies and grasped at my intentions.

But, if she did, her decision remained firm and she nodded at my words.

“Very well, then. Ise-kun, I leave our frontline to you. Don’t worry. I’ll be sure to reward you properly for your efforts.”

Please ask for money or power.

“I want to see you in a swimsuit.”

Dammit.

“Pick something else.”

Yes!

“Because I’ll happily wear one for you already.”

No!

I was wracking my mind for something Rias would find lewd enough for me to ask for as a reward, and growing very frazzled as I came up short again and again, until the sound of shattering glass echoed through the whole school.

For a bunch of creatures that fell to Earth in order to sin, these guys really didn’t know how to read the mood!

…

Rias retreated and I stayed on the rooftop of the school.

In theory, they could just bombard me with spears of light or bypass me by going through the school windows, or even the ground entrance.

In practice, the Fallen Angels weren’t going to ignore a challenge set by someone they viewed as inferior.

“You dare stand before us human? You will know your place.” The rooftop was surrounded, but only one Fallen came forward. I could feel the leers and grins on the other ones, but my eyes and crossed arms were only for my opponent. My opponent who looked derisively on my battle preparations. “But I suppose that it's fitting that you will die surrounded by tools and toys. That’s all you mortals are good for, after all.”

Lisa usually did all the talking when we wanted to rile up our opponents.

Thankfully, I picked up a thing or two.

“And, all you’re good for is picking fights that you can win, coward.” I addressed the Fallen Angel without an ounce of respect and picked up the nearest sledgehammer. A few chuckles came from the surrounding ring. As I thought, despite the fact they all wore uniform pieces of vaguely-hoplite-like armor, they were still Fallen Angels. Creatures that fell to earth to because of sin and depravity. “How about you come over here and fight me in melee instead of all the way over there? Let’s see who’s really just a tool. Or, maybe, you prefer being a toy?”

The mocking laughter of the Fallen’s fellows made him quiver with rage and hate. Through the shadow beneath his helm, I saw sparks of light, and I moved in anticipation of that.

“Bastard! You’ll pay for your insolence!” The armored Fallen soldier rushed me with a spear of light and a flurry of ebony wings. It was fast, faster than a human could manage, but deceptively slow. It felt like a speeding car rushing towards me. If I hadn’t already been moving, then I was sure that the blow aimed at me would’ve connected. However, I already had been moving. “Huh!?”

The Fallen Angel’s spear missed and I activated my Sacred Gear the same time that I swung down my sledgehammer down at his midsection.

Just like the first time I’d done it, the Boosted Sledgehammer powered through the superhuman skin, bones, and muscle of the Fallen Angel.

My increased strength, from pushing my limits with Ddraig’s help, made it so that just one activation allowed me to smash through a Fallen Angel’s spine.

For all your talk of wanting to stay human, when offered to become a Devil…

Wrong.

I hefted the sledgehammer with one hand. It felt like a piece of plastic cutlery in my hand.

The problem I had with being a Devil was being under someone else’s control.

I’d had enough of that in my past life.

Too much of it in fact.

Hmph. Well said, I suppose.

I smashed my hammer into the skull of the gasping Fallen Angel and his helmet and skull turned into shards of metal, pulp, and bone that flew apart like fine mist.

Then, I spoke up before the rest of the Fallen Angels got wise.

If they were prideful enough to fall from grace, I made a reasoned guess that they were prideful enough to be stupid.

“Alright, that’s the first. Who’s next? Or are you all too afraid of a single mortal?” I pointed at each of them in turn. Some trembled in and leaned forward, but glared at one another the moment they noticed someone else was coming forward. Just as expected from a bunch of Fallen Angels who couldn’t even stand to be part of the Grigori. I owed Sitri a lot for this. “C’mon, I’m just one guy with a hammer. Don’t be shy.”

Hah, I suppose that’s one way to use your feeble, human form. Ddraig laughed as one, hulking Fallen Angel came forward. He wielded a sword of light in one hand and a spear in the other. Two pairs of wings were on his back. A lieutenant, if I had to guess. If you had a dragon’s form, you’d never fight against one foe.

“Well, you look quite big.” I gave my opponent the biggest grin that I could. Lisa would probably be proud of it, even though she wouldn’t want to exist in the same dimension as my current, perverse self. “Would you mind giving me a handicap?”

The behemoth of a Fallen Angel paused to speak.

Just in time for my second activation.

“Insects deserve noth—

I swung my hammer upward, between his legs, and drove the head of the sledgehammer upward until I hit his sternum. Organ after organ pulped and popped against the hammer head, while the wood creaked and groaned as I drove it through the dense bones of his pelvis. The moment the shaft hit his sternum, my weapon broke apart, but not before I drove the head of the sledgehammer past the bottom lobes of his lungs and into the bottom of his heart.

“---hrkk!?”

The giant stood still for a worrying amount of time, his pulped organs splattering between his legs, while I threw my sledgehammer aside and picked up the nearest set of disc-weights.

Fifty kilograms each, but they felt like balled sheets of paper between my fingers.

I looked at the gathered Fallen Angels as they looked at the two corpses of their own and read the mood of the battle.

Suddenly, in all their hands, was a spear of light and they were all taking flight.

Yeah.

They weren’t falling for it again.

However, they’ve already fallen for the trap.

Akeno’s trap activated and the whole city in the distance suddenly grew dim, and then a cage of lightning covered the school roof… and began pushing my opponents towards me.

Brutes are best avoided entirely in battle, thus the best way to use your Brutes was to make sure your opponents could run away from them.

It just so happened the Brute in the equation was me.