24 Battle of the Weak (2)

After beating up the priest, the gang threw his body somewhere. Both of Freed's cheeks were swollen and his body was covered with bruises from head to toe.

"Is it okay leaving him there like that?"

"Yeah. Besides, beating this guy up is not our main objective."

Kamijou and Saji glanced at the priest. Indeed, they had come here to save Asia. Not show the priest the hands of justice. Kamijou wished they could tie up the priest but there was no rope in sight.

"Then we should move."

"Yeah. But first..."

Kamijou approached the priest and kicked down on his face very hard. It was a rather wicked thing to do, kicking someone that's already down. But it couldn't be helped.

After all, the priest was the bastard who shot Kamijou and used him as hostage to force Asia to follow him. He couldn't let that slide, can he now?

"Alright. I'm ready now."

When Kamijou turned his head, he noticed that the others were staring at him for some reason. He tilted his head. He wondered if he did something wrong.

"What?"

"It's nothing. Let's get moving."

Saji said as followed Koneko to the altar. When they arrived, Koneko used her terrifying strength to move the altar to the other side and the entrance was revealed.

Without wasting time, the group began walking down the altar hidden stairs.

...

The group continued walking down the stairs hidden under the altar.

After the stairs, there was a passage. There was no source of light except the touches that lit up the passage. Sometimes they would come across doors but they didn't stop moving.

There was no time to check what was hidden behind those doors. Even so, Kamijou thought it wouldn't be anything pleasant.

Finally, they stopped moving when they stood infront of a huge door. It was located at the end of the passage so this was obviously where the enemies were located.

"They are inside."

Koneko stated.

"Hm."

"Fallen angels and stray priests are inside."

"I see. Then that means Asia is also inside as well."

Kamijou turned back and looked at the others. "So are you guys ready?"

Saji and Koneko nodded at him. Kamijou nodded his head and grabbed the door handle.

Behind this door was his goal. But the room was also filled with numerous enemies. Even so, there was no way he could back down now.

Kamijou drew a breath and then opened the door. While making a large noise, the inside of the large room becomes visible.

"Oh... It's you. And even bought some of your buddies."

The voice of Raynare greeted the group from the end of the room.

She was not the only thing that greeted them though. The room was also filled with stray priests holding a sword handle. It was like they were throwing a party.

But Kamijou ignored them as if they were none of his concern. It was because at the end of the room were Raynare was standing, a blond haired girl was tied to a cross.

".... Asia!"

Asia raised her head and looked at Kamijou as if she was surprised.

".... Ryuji-san?"

"Don't worry Asia, I'm coming to save you."

Kamijou smiled at her then frowned in the next moment. It was because Raynare opened her mouth.

"Sorry, but I can't let you do that."

She spoke as if she was planning on crushing any hope of an happy ending. Despite that, Kamijou took a step forward.

"Raynare, let that girl go."

"And why would I do that? You know I even deceived my superiors in order to do this. So there's no way I'm stopping."

"And for what? You would sacrifice an innocent girl in order to achieve your goals."

"Ugh... I'm not going to listen to your stupid lecture about righteousness. All of you, hold them off."

"Hold it right there."

Kamijou jumped forward but suddenly came to a stop when several priests wielding the sword of light blocked his way.

"You shall not pass!"

"Oh Lord, give us strength to eliminate my enemies."

"Kill the heretics."

"Damnit, you fucking unholy bastards!"

Kamijou took several steps back as the stray priests came closer and closer. Maybe he could take down one or two. But there was no way he could fight all of them at once.

Thankfully, he was not alone.

BAN—

A big sound echoed. Koneko jumped forward and blew one of the priests away with her adorable fists.

".... Go away."

Then Saji also jumped and attacked the priests with never-seen-before strength.

....Hold on?

Kamijou thought it was strange. He knew Saji was not that strong. Was this the power of his sacred gear? He wondered.

"Go! Me and Koneko will handle this guys."

"Thanks. I will handle it from here."

Kamijou was really grateful. He began to run forward. Even though his wounds has not fully healed and hurt like hell, he didn't stop his tremendous sprint.

"Hey! Stop that guy."

When the priests noticed Kamijou running towards the ritual site, they tried to block him. But Saji and Koneko would blow them away.

Saji's sacred gear absorbed the energy of the priests and Koneko would blow them away with her might fists. Despite teaming up for the first time, they were going rather well together.

"Thanks, you two!"

Kamijou made a mental note to always give Koneko his lunch box after this incident.

"Tck! Damnit! Those useless priests can't do one fucking job right."

Raynare made an irritated sound and glared at the approaching Kamijou as if he killed her favourite pet.

Then she flipped her wings and flew into the air. The action was so sudden that Kamijou had to stop moving. In the next instant, he widened his eyes.

It was because Raynare manifested a spear of light and then...

"Die!"

She shouted as she threw the spear of light towards him.

Naturally, he dodged by jumping to the other side. But that was not the problem. The problem was that she was throwing multiple spears at him.

"Die! Die! Die!"

Kamijou was busy moving around and dodging multiple spears of light that could kill a normal human with a single hit.

It was his greatest nightmare. Fighting against an opponent that can fly in the air and spam attacks. It will be impossible to block all her attacks with his right hand especially in his condition.

"Ah! Shit!"

Kamijou barely managed to dodge a spear of light. His wounds haven't healed yet so he couldn't evade or run properly like before. And to add salt to injury, the spears of light were ridiculously fast.

It is hard. Really.

Then....

Swoosh—

A lone priest came and swung down his sword of light. Kamijou ducked under the swing and knocked the priest out with an uppercut.

Not only did he have to worry about the fallen angel above, he also had to deal with stray priests. It was naive to think Koneko and Saji could handle all of them.

'What should I do now?'

Kamijou clicked his tongue.

Indeed, it was a complicated situation. How would he defeat the Raynare and the stray priests at the same time?

"Ah!"

Kamijou muttered after he dodged another spear of light. He suddenly had an amazing idea.

"Hey! Is that all you guys got?!"

"Why you..."

"Catch him quickly!"

The priests chased after the retreating Kamijou. However, before they could realise what was happening, they were being shot down by a spear of light.

Multiple screams filled the room.

Kamijou's plan was simple. Since he could reach Raynare, he decided to use the projectiles she was throwing at him to take out the priests.

Each time she would throw the spear of light, Kamijou would dodge and the spear would hit one of the priests chasing after him.

The scene repeated again and again until Raynare realised what was happening. By then it was already too late.

The priests that were chasing after Kamijou were laying on the ground defeated. They were all defeated by her own hands.

"You... You..."

Raynare ground her teeth in frustration.

"Why won't you just die?! Fuck! Why did you have to ruin everything?!"

It was really frustrating.

If Kamijou hadn't interfered, she would have absorbed the Twilight Healing and become a supreme fallen angel. She would have gotten back at those who looked down at her. More importantly, those people would finally look at her.

But now, everything was ruined. Of course, she would get angry.

"Raynare, stop this. Can't you see you have already lost."

Kamijou spoke. This only made Raynare more furious.

She was angry because it was the truth. Saji and Koneko were almost done with the stray priests. It wouldn't be long before all of them were defeated.

However, she refused to accept that.

"Shut up! I haven't lost. Not yet!"

Kamijou sighed.

"You are doing this to please your leaders, right?"

"Wh-What... How did you know?"

He shrugged.

"It doesn't matter really. What you are doing won't change anything. Your leader is someone that prefers peace, right? Won't doing something like this especially in a devil territory start a fight between fractions? Do you actually think he would appreciate something like that? Do you think he would give you a cookie or pat your head?"

"Sh-Shut up! What the hell do you know? Stealing the Twilight Healing will undoubtedly help the Fallen Angels."

"How though? By starting another war?"

Kamijou laughed.

"Not only this incident, you guys also killed humans contracted to devils. Do you think they will let that slide? Unlike devils, you fallen angels have no other way to increase your numbers apart from reproduction. Do you think starting another fight is wise in this situation?"

"...I... I...."

Raynare tried to say something but no words escaped her lips. It seems she was finally starting to realise what Kamijou was trying to say. But she shook her head in the next instant.

"No... No... I won't stop. I'm so close."

Kamijou sighed once more. There was no helping her at this point.

"Since you refuse to see reason."

Only violence could solve this situation.

"I would have to forcefully destory that illusion of yours."

"Tck."

Raynare manifested another spear of light and was about to throw it at Kamijou. But something grabbed onto her leg.

"...Huh? W-What?"

She traced the direction of the line and saw a silhouette below.

It was Saji. He had activated his sacred gear 'Absorption Line'. It was also part of Kamijou's plan. To buy enough time for the others to arrive.

"Why you lowly devil?!"

Raynare tried to throw the spear once again but she found herself being forcefully pulled to the ground level.

It was Koneko. She and Saji pulled the line, forcefully dragging Raynare from the air. Now it was the next phase of the plan.

Thud—

When the fallen angel got close enough, Kamijou jumped into the air to finish her off. There was no way to dodge in mid-air.

"No! No! No! Stay back!"

Once Raynare saw the approaching Kamijou, she panicked and threw the spear at him. It was a desperate attempt at best. More than half of that spear's power has already been drained.

Then just like...

Crack— Scatter—

The spear scattered as if it was one big joke. With nothing to stop him, Kamijou got closer and closer.

Then once he finally entered her space, he slammed his right fist into her nose with all his might.

At that moment, the battle was already over.