(DxD x Tony Stark) Iron & Myth:

Chapter 10 - Blood-stained metal

Summary: Tony unleashes fury when faith and power threaten the innocent.

Tony rubbed his eyes as he came down to the kitchen for breakfast—he was surprised to see Asia setting the table. The former nun was wearing a dress that reached past her knees and covered her arms with flower prints all over it. Her blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail and there was a large smile on her face as she hummed to herself while working.

Once she noticed him in the entrance of the kitchen her smile brightened up to almost blinding levels and she spoke cheerfully "Tony-kun! Good morning."

Tony smiled at the blonde—it was good to see her so happy after everything that went down "Good morning Asia, you look lovely today."

Asia gave a little spin, clearly enjoying her new dress "Thank you Tony-kun, Maria-san was nice enough to give it to me this morning."

Tony chuckled at Asia's clear enthusiasm. His mother probably had one of the workers pick the dress up last night. "As long as you are enjoying yourself," Tony said smiling toward the girl.

Asia nodded "Very much so." She then gestured toward the table and said "Please Tony-kun sit down, we will be eating soon."

Tony smiled and sat down, and soon enough his mom and Asia joined him. Tony bowed his head slightly and told both women "Thank you for the food."

As the three of them ate his mom spoke "Your dad is in his office, dealing with dear Asia's details, but he will join us for dinner so be sure to be here in time."

Asia tilted her head with a confused expression "You have plans for today Tony-kun?"

Tony shrugged and replied absently "I have a few things I need to check on in my lab, so I will probably be there for most of the day."

Asia looked even more confused "Lab?"

Before Tony could reply his mom began boasting like only a proud mother could "Oh, our Tesoro here is the smartest man in the world, you wouldn't believe it if you saw everything he invented. Even Howard is left speechless often thanks to him. He spends a lot of time in that lab of his."

"Oh, that's amazing Tony-kun!" Asia exclaimed in her usual cheerful voice, though Tony could hear the disappointed undertone.

His mom seemed to catch up on that as well and she grabbed Asia's hand and spoke with a large smile "I would like it if you helped with dinner dear, there is still so much I need to teach you. Taro never was interested in cooking, only with his little toys."

Tony sighed at his mom's hurt tone, but he didn't comment—he already had that argument two too many times. But his mom's words did the trick and Asia instantly perked up "I would love to Maria-san."

Then Asia mumbled something that made Tony's heart skip a beat "I can make all of Tony-kun's meals forever."

Tony didn't know what that was supposed to mean, and how the hell was he supposed to react to it. Fortunately it didn't seem like Asia wanted to be heard so Tony was more than happy to play along.

Tony closed the book he just finished reading and sighed—he glanced again at the author of the book 'Ajuka Beelzebub'. The guy sure was good at explaining his work, and the reading was enjoyable. He would have to ask Gremory if she had more books by this author—the guy was clearly a genius and he would like to see some of the man's original work.

The book was called 'The magic of rituals and magic circles'—the author sure made everything clear, but it looked like Gremory overestimated his knowledge of magic, because the book did make a few assumptions Tony didn't know about.

"So magic circles are basically code blocks, and the symbol in the center is usually a clan, or family crest, which makes sense," Tony spoke aloud, finding it easier to bounce ideas off his AIs.

JARVIS replied smoothly "Indeed so. It is amazing how close magic is to coding, Sir. It does make one wonder."

Tony chuckled "Yeah buddy, I agree with you. From what I understood from the first book I read about sacred gears, some of the most influential humans in history reached their accomplishments thanks to sacred gears."

"It would make an annoying amount of sense, Boss," FRIDAY grumbled.

Tony shrugged, amused by his baby girl's childish streak. Since JARVIS was back it felt like FRIDAY tried to live the childhood that she missed due to the events in their previous life. "To be honest I'm not sure how true that is."

JARVIS's voice sounded intrigued "What makes you say so, Sir?"

Tony closed his eyes for a moment while responding casually "I mean most of the history between our two lives is not so different. And if the same people managed to achieve the same great things in our timeline without those sacred gears, it means it's possible for the same people to do it here."

FRIDAY's voice sounded more mature when she spoke this time "Good point, Boss, but why would someone go through the trouble of creating this myth?"

Tony opened his eyes and looked at the book in front of him again "There are many options. The first idea coming to mind is that angels spread the stories to exaggerate the effectiveness of their father's latest creation, and scare the other factions from the wielders."

JARVIS hummed for a moment before commenting "It is a probable possibility, though the results as we see them now are quite the opposite. Thanks to the fear of powerful sacred gears the wielders are targeted before they can unlock their potential."

Tony had to admit JARVIS was right, but then again there was a chance all of their assumptions were wrong as well—there was still a lot they didn't know about all the factions.

Sensing the tense atmosphere FRIDAY decided to change the topic "The 'Ward' project does fit the description of a ritual."

JARVIS immediately agreed "Indeed. It's simply that Sir used conventional code instead of implementing a magical circle."

"Which according to this book has one big advantage," Tony said before explaining "Rituals are basically continuous code blocks that keep running for either a long period of time or to accomplish complex tasks that include many code blocks at once, while spells on the other hand are a single code block that's meant to execute an immediate action."

FRIDAY's voice was still confused "Well, yes Boss, but what does that do with us having an advantage?"

Tony smirked a little "I think it's obvious. Magical circles are visible and most remain so as long as they are active, which will allow us to read them and destroy them."

Tony thought he could hear smugness coming from JARVIS's voice "All we must do is disturb the code and the spell will be null and void. With my computing speeds it is quite possible to create such ability. All I'm lacking is the code model for it."

Tony clapped his hands enthusiastically "Right in one J, and that will be my next project so..."

Before Tony could finish FRIDAY's dismayed voice called "Boss! We are receiving the emergency signal from Raynare."

Tony was already on his feet, heading out of his lab and already considering what could happen when JARVIS's voice added even worse news "Sir, Raynare's signal is coming from the church... And so is Asia's."

Tony felt his blood freeze—how could they get Asia?! If they had even come close to this house Tony would have known!

His blood began to boil—it didn't matter how they got her right now, Tony was going to burn every single one who dared to hurt Asia. Tony picked up his speed while ordering with a growl "JARVIS, hack the Kuoh academy records, get me a number for either Gremory or Himejima."

JARVIS didn't answer Tony, but he knew that his AI was already on the job.

Tony entered the kitchen to see his mom, and she was worried. Immediately Tony asked "Mom, where is Asia?"

His mom's worry grew tenfold as she answered him "She wanted to go to the market and buy a couple of things we were missing. But that was a couple of hours ago and she didn't come back yet."

Tony cursed under his breath and turned to the exit—he paused at the door when his mom asked him "Where are you going Taro?"

Tony didn't turn around as he answered her "To get Asia back." And blast into pieces anyone who gets in my way, was left unsaid.

Tony walked to a spot in the back yard that couldn't be seen by any of the cameras (at least not the ones that didn't belong to him) and tapped the hidden housing unit on his chest.

It took a mere moment for Tony's entire body to be covered in a silver metallic coat, with a few golden highlights around the housing unit, wrists, belt and a few less noticeable areas.

This time around because Tony considered the fact his goal was not to be in the public eye he made sure the design was less eye-catching than the red and gold from before.

Tony launched himself into the air and just as he began flying toward the church JARVIS spoke "I'm dialing Ms. Gremory's number now Sir."

It took barely a moment for a wary voice to answer "Hello?"

"Ms. Gremory, I have a warning," Tony responded.

The redhead's voice was shocked "Stark-san?! How did you get my number?"

Tony ignored the question and cut to the chase "I have a couple of spies in the fallen angels' base and I just got word they are planning to steal a sacred gear from its wielder. I'm on my way to deal with it. My suggestion... Stay away. There is going to be a massacre tonight."

Gremory's voice was alert and worried "Stark-san, what are you..."

Tony's voice was cold and direct "You were warned. J, cut the line."

The call ended just in time for Tony to end up floating over the church. Tony immediately ordered "Activate thermal scanning, and display magical signatures."

Again there was no response from his AI but the HUD shifted to display six heat signatures on the ground floor. Which his magical scanner identified as Raynare, Asia, three other low-class fallens and one high-class fallen angel, that was stronger than Gremory even.

On the floor below there were a dozen other heat signatures, all of them humans, though they all carried weapons similar to that of the insane priest he fought before.

Ignoring them for now Tony decided to make an entrance that would leave an impression and landed on the first floor, breaking straight through the roof.

There was a lot of dust in the air, obscuring everything from everyone but Tony heard a few feminine yelps, and the deep voice of Zakariel called out "What is the meaning of this?"

Through the settling dust the only parts of Tony that should be visible were the glowing arc-reactor and eyes, which Tony assumed was a pretty intimidating scene.

Tony immediately used the time to send three sedative shots at Raynare and the two females standing at her sides. In a moment all three of them fell to the floor, knocked out. Good, they would be safe.

Suddenly a strong gust of wind got rid of all the dust in the air—Tony saw the fallen in the fedora hat using his large, black wings to create the gust of wind. Not bad.

What he saw behind the male however pissed him off. Asia, wearing only her underwear, was tied to a cross with chains. A magical circle was illuminating her from below.

A ritual. Tony's mind raced—Asia looked in pain, but she was too dazed to scream. The best way to end this was to break the code, because the circle was engraved into the floor and the cross, the best way to break it would be to do it literally.

Tony's nanites shifted around his left arm, creating an energy blaster instead of a hand. Charging it to its maximum output Tony shot straight at the fedora hat guy.

The fallen angel was so surprised he didn't have time to block it. The energy made a hole through his gut and blasted away the base of the cross and the floor it was planted in. The cross fell to the floor with Asia still tied to it. The blonde girl gave a small groan, but she stopped squirming.

Tony looked down at the bleeding fallen angel. His hat was now a few meters away from him and he was lying on the floor. He raised himself to his elbows and asked "Who do you think you are?!"

Tony ignored the question, aiming the blaster at the guy's chest and releasing another shot. The fedora guy dropped to the floor.

Zakariel frowned at Tony "You are quite brutal. If you are here to save the girl, you are too late—in a moment her sacred gear will be mine and her life will be over."

Tony didn't try to hide the smugness in his voice as he retorted "I wouldn't be so sure about that."

The fallen angel with three pairs of wings on his back looked at the cross with a scowl, which turned into a wide-eyed stare.

With the cross out of its base and part of the floor destroyed the ritual had been effectively disturbed without completion. Which meant Asia had her sacred gear intact and she wouldn't be dying any time soon.

Zakariel glared at Tony and growled "You will pay for it." With that the fallen angel rushed forward at blinding speed and punched Tony in his gut.

Tony was forced to take a couple of steps backward and cough inside his helmet. Still the area where the fallen had punched him was glowing with blue lights that kept spreading around the rest of the armor.

Tony used the force of the fallen's attack and aimed a punch back at his crow-like face. The angel was surprised by the strength of the punch and he was sent into the wall behind him.

That was the moment the group of a dozen priests decided to enter the room. The leader of the group took a look around and screamed his order "Kill the intruder and secure the heretic." The priests didn't even hesitate and began using their guns to shoot at Tony.

Tony's blood boiled all over again and without a second thought, or even turning around, while his armor kept deflecting the bullets a few missiles formed on his back and were launched at the priests. There were shouts of terror a moment before a few explosions filled the air.

For a moment Zakariel looked shocked before he laughed and used his wings to float in the air "You have quite a bit of firepower at your will, But can you compare to this?"

The fallen angel spread his arms and around him three large light spears appeared. Now Tony saw why he was more powerful than the others—Raynare could summon only one of those and even then, it was about half the size of the ones he faced now.

Zakariel laughed as he motioned with his arms and the spears began launching themselves toward Tony.

Tony raised his arms and used both repulsors in his palms at maximum output to shoot blasts that met two of the spears. Both energies canceled each other. Tony launched himself into the air, flying just under the third spear, that hit the ground and created a small crater.

Zakariel's eyes widened—Tony used this chance to send two small missiles from his shoulders.

The fallen though again proved why he was in a level of his own from his subordinates, because with another burst of amazing speed he brought his wings to protect himself before the missiles could hit.

And if those were the usual missiles like he used on the priests the protection would have worked perfectly for him, but those little weapons were different.

The moment the missiles touched the wings a large amount of electricity arced out of them and into the fallen angel's body. Tony usually would create them with a less potent charge, but considering the level of his current enemy he considered it prudent to go a little overkill.

Zakariel's body seized mid-air and he screamed in pain as he began crashing to the ground.

Tony landed right in front of his defeated opponent. The fallen angel was still trying to get up, barely managing to get to his knees instead. His muscles were still spasming and an odd arc of electricity still covered his skin.

The overgrown crow looked up at Tony—his skin was singed, his wings unresponsive and his nose was crooked and bleeding from Tony's first attack. That deep voice was full of something odd as he asked "What are you? Why do all of this?"

Tony allowed the nanites to retreat exposing his smirking face and said smugly "Me? I'm just an ordinary human. And you lowly crow should have known your place and left Asia out of this."

Tony used the nanites to form a long energy blade instead of his right gauntlet.

Zakariel ignored the weapon appearing on his arm and instead screamed in an outraged voice "You dare?! Kokabiel-sama will make sure you will meet your end insolent human! You and your heretic who..."

Tony would allow a lot of things—insulting Asia any further was not one of them. Before the fallen angel could finish his insult Tony cut his head off with a sharp motion.

Hearing a whine from behind him Tony turned to see the leader of the priests, his skin badly burned, half his hair gone, his grey beard singed as well from the fire. He was on his back, trying to crawl slowly back while looking at Tony with pure terror.

The old man's voice shook as he pleaded "Please I was simply carrying the word of the Lord, you must not punish the followers of God for that is a sin he will never forgive. Let me go and the Lord will forgive you."

Tony remembered facing Thanos, the self-proclaimed god—he remembered holding Peter's body as the boy slowly turned into dust. He remembered facing Thanos again just to ensure nothing like that would happen again to Peter or Morgan.

Tony scowled at the man and replied dryly "I have no interest in following or seeking forgiveness from a god that orders such actions."

The old man's eyes widened in horror and he was about to open his mouth when Tony raised his left hand and sent another blast from his repulsor to the man's chest.

JARVIS's voice then filled his ears, calming Tony slightly "There are no more hostiles in the area."

Hearing groans from behind him Tony allowed the nanites to return back to the housing unit around the arc-reactor before that too disappeared as if it never existed.