21 A Nun in Raven's Nest pt3

The next day passed by in a blur for him. Neither the school, where he surprisingly kept to himself, nor Sona, nor his perpetual opponent in the game managed to spoil his mood. But in the evening, Issei barged into his room with a look on his face as if the police SWAT team was finally on his tail.

"Tatsumi! I need your help!" exclaimed Issei, shaking his brother by the shoulders.

"What's wrong with you, you lunatic?" asked Tatsumi, not taking his eyes off the monitor.

"Stop playing your game for a second! I don't ask for your help very often!"

Tatsumi looked away from the monitor and walked over to the window, gazing up at the night sky. After looking at the stars for about five minutes, he turned to his brother.

"Alright, I don't see any fleets of flying saucers with aliens on board. What's going on?"

"It's Asia..."

"That nun? Forget about her" said Alduin, shaking his head.

"She's my friend! And she protected me from that psychopath at the cost of her life! I can't just forget about her like that!"

"So what's the problem? She's a nun, she hooked up with the blond guy whose jaw I broke, and then what?"

"The Fallen want to kill her!"

"Fallen? Who are they?"

"Fallen angels. Their wings are black and they..."

"Are you really so hell-bent on saving this nun, even though you're on opposite sides? Forget it, 'Romeo and Juliet' isn't in style anymore!" Alduin turned to his brother, but then received a punch in the face from him.

"Since you won't listen to me, I'll save her myself!" yelled Issei, running out of the house.

"Maybe she doesn't need saving!" muttered Alduin, thinking to himself "He's growing up. He used to be afraid to lay a finger on me. But cultists are bad news. Maybe it's worth supporting Issei? Who knows, maybe the nun will set him on the path to truth" Alduin said wearily, reaching under his bed for his axe.

"This weapon hasn't tasted blood in so many epochs. Well, today I'll rectify that mistake, and it will drink the blood of its brethren and their worshippers" Alduin mused as he chased after Issei toward the church.

"Issei!" he called out to his brother as they approached the church.

"What do you want?" asked Issei, his tone hostile.

"I wanted to help. Are you sure she's here?" asked Alduin, seeing his brother's face brighten up. But then, Issei's gaze fell on the axe strapped to Alduin's belt, and the lines on the blade glowed brightly, emitting an intense red light.

"Where did you get that thing?" asked Issei, feeling the evil radiating from the axe.

"Wow, that's quite a reaction. I wonder what he'll do when he sees the Soul Devourer, Umbra? Or the Meridia brand toothpick..." Alduin thought to himself, taking the axe in his hand and watching his brother's reaction.

Next to Issei, the familiar red pentagram appeared, and four dremora from his brother's sect emerged. But as soon as they appeared, their eyes met the axe at Alduin's waist.

"What do you want here?" asked Alduin.

"As Issei's mistress, I cannot let him enter the enemy's lair" replied Rias.

"Calm down, i can't just kill this udder. Who knows what would happen to Issei if i do that. He may be an idiot, but he's still my brother, as sad as that sometimes makes me realize" he thought. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, trying to clear his mind.

"Tatsumi-san, what is that thing in your hand?" Kiba asked, his eyes fixed on the Daedric axe.

"Dremora doesn't recognize Daedric craftsmanship? What happened to you? And as for you, Gremori, we'll talk later about who owns whom" Alduin hissed, pointing his finger towards Rias.

"Daedric, Dremora? What are these terms? But that... axe? It's like the embodiment of evil given a physical form. How did Sona spot this candidate before me?" Rias pondered silently.

"What's the plan?" Kiba asked.

"I go in, take out everyone, and you guys look for the nun" Alduin replied, striding towards the church.

"Are you sure you can handle it?" Issei inquired.

"With that whore who's holed up in there? Of course" Alduin answered.

"Ara, that's bold" Akeno commented, licking her lips. "I like it" she added.

"Overconfident" Koneko corrected.

"And my voice is my power!" Alduin exclaimed, kicking open the door and clenching his fist, causing lightning to dance around it.

"Hey! Hey! Look who we have here again! I had to make this bitch fix my jaw, but now I'm eager to kill you demons!" Freed greeted Alduin, standing behind him with a group of exorcists. They drew their light swords, but Alduin had other plans.

"That's for the bullet in my brother's leg! Sken Qo (Chain Lightning)!" Alduin roared, directing the power of his Thu'um into the spell prepared in his left hand.

A blue lightning bolt shot out of Alduin's hand, hitting the first person in its path, which happened to be Freed. The lightning bolt then jumped to the others standing nearby, reducing them to ashes. A mighty thunderclap echoed throughout the church, smashing the stained glass windows and scattering the exorcists' remains across the floor.

POV Rias Gremory

"Sken Qo!" Hyodo Tatsumi shouted, extending his hand, and blue sparks danced around it as he aimed towards the exorcists. In the next moment, I thought I had lost my hearing and sight.

A blinding white flash hit my eyes, and a horrible deafening boom followed, soon replaced by the sound of shattered glass. When my vision returned, I saw an empty church hall with ash flying all around, and Hyodo Tatsumi standing at the entrance.

"Neutral lightning? Impossible!" Akeno whispered in awe.

"Are you coming or not?" Hyodo-kun asked, not looking back at us.

"The nun is downstairs, but there are still three draugr and a couple dozen cultists."

We followed him, and as we walked, Akeno explained her confusion about the neutral lightning.

"Rias, lightning can't be neutral! It can only be either light or demonic. But Hyodo-kun used exactly the neutral one, neither light nor dark lightning! And without a runic circle!" Akeno exclaimed.

My eyebrows furrowed in disbelief, and I turned to Issei's mysterious brother.

"Hyodo-kun, if we want to save the nun, it's better not to use this type of spell down there."

"Thanks, I figured it out myself" Hyodo replied, gently stroking his strange axe. "I have this beauty for that."