Third Person POV

???: "So thats their base of operations?"

???: "Seems like it, Lady"

Both Lady and Trish were currently hiding behind some trees near the abandoned church building, which was the Fallen Angels' base of operations; although they weren't alone because both Koneko and Kiba were with them.

After agreeing to help with rescuing Asia, Issei told Rias that the Fallen would most likely be on guard for them; so the crimson-haired devil girl came up with two suggestions that could aid them in their quest to save the blonde.

The first thing she suggested was attacking the abandoned church at night, as it would give Rias and her Peerage an advantage because Devils are creatures of the night and are enhanced by the darkness.

Issei reluctantly agreed to the idea, mainly because waiting for night meant that their time to stop the ritual would be cut in half, which Issei wanted to prevent. From what Ddraig informed him when he first awakened back in Dante and Vergil's world, there is no way to physically take a Sacred Gear from an individual willingly.

A Sacred Gear is bound to that person's entire being from the moment they are brought into the world, which means that it's attached to their soul, and any attempt to remove it would result in the wielder's death. The only exception to this rule could be weapon-type Sacred Gears because they lack a soul within them and are simply tools to use in combat; though it's only a theory that Ddraig had because he hasn't come across any weapon-based Sacred Gears.

Either way, Issei hoped that he had enough time before the Fallen began the ritual.

The other thing that Rias had suggested was that both she and Akeno serve as a distraction; because she was the heiress of the Gremory clan, the Fallen should be drawn to her immense magical power, which should give Issei and the others enough time to attack the church.

Issei liked the idea, but there was another problem that they would have to face when they got there: Freed and the demons that were obeying him. From the info that Lady and Trish mentioned, Freed has changed since the last time Issei laid eyes on him, and the brown-haired boy gets the feeling he wants payback for slicing off his arm.

The demons would be easy, especially since Trish and Lady already killed off a good number of them when they attacked Issei's home. The only real issue would be Freed, whom Issei would personally deal with himself because they have a score to settle with each other.

Kiba: "Koneko, can you sense that?"

Koneko nodded her head, gaining Lady's attention as she looked at the blonde knight.

Lady: "What is it?"

Kiba: "There's a ton of priests inside there."

Trish: "They aren't the only ones..."

She narrowed her eyes.

Trish: "I can sense a good handful of demons as well; but there's also something else..."

Kiba: "Think it's Freed?"

Trish simply shrugged her shoulders.

Trish: "Wouldn't be able to tell; this is nothing that I have ever sensed before."

She then glanced at Kiba.

Trish: "Thanks again for agreeing to help with this."

Kiba simply smiled at Trish.

Kiba: "No problem. Issei's a good buddy of mine, and if you're friends with him, then you're alright in my book."

He looked at Koneko.

Kiba: "Right, Koneko?"

Koneko simply nodded again.

Lady: "Hate to break up the small talk, but shouldn't we be finding a way inside?"

Koneko: "No need..."

Lady looked at Koneko.

Lady: "And why's that?"

Koneko didn't respond back as she merely stood up from where she was hiding and began to walk out. Kiba saw this and soon decided to follow his fellow devil because he noticed the serious look on her face.

Lady: "What are you both doing!?"

Kiba looked back at Lady.

Kiba: "Like Koneko said, there's no need to hide anymore."

Trish couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at this.

Trish: "Why's that, Kiba?"

Koneko: "Because they already know that we're here..."

After hearing those words, both Lady and Trish heard various growls and snarls coming from around them; this put the four on guard as they watched various demons start to appear out of thin air.

Both Koneko and Kiba were surprised by the appearance of the demons. They had gone up against stray devils, which had some wicked appearances; though they could confidently admit that the creatures before them... well, they definitely took the cake in the nasty department.

As for Trish and Lady, they were used to seeing the disgusting demonic faces back in their world; so this wasn't anything new to them. In fact, they recognized two of them from the time when Vergil basically tried to take over the world with the Qliphoth tree.

One was the Empusa.

The other was the Riot.

As for the rest of the demons, Lady knew them all too well because they were the ones that were in the tower along with her so-called "Father" when he tried to take Sparda's power for himself. The demons she recognized were...

The Enigma.

The Hell Pride.

The Hell Envy.

And the final one was so ugly that she kind of forgot what its name was-not because the author is simply too lazy to Google it; totally because Lady thinks that the demon was simply too ugly to remember.

Kiba: "Well... this isn't good for us."

Lady looked at Kiba.

Lady: "Jeez, you think!?"

Trish: "Enough, Lady. Just stick to the plan!"

Lady couldn't help but sigh a little.

Lady: "Remind me again, why did Issei choose not to come with us?"

Trish: "Numerous reasons, such as Freed is only gonna be targeting him, but..."

A small smile began to grow on her face as she glanced over at her comrade, who took out her guns.

Trish: "You know that he's gotta make a dramatic entrance."

Lady shook her head but couldn't help but smile back.

Lady: "Yeah, I guess you're right."

She then looked over at Kiba and Koneko.

Lady: "You two ready for this?"

Kiba smiled and took out his sword, getting into a stance.

Kiba: "Born ready..."

Koneko simply nodded her head and proceeded to put herself into a combat stance as well.

The demons that surrounded the group began to let out various roars and snarls, some of them like the Riot; drooling from their mouths in hunger. It was clear that they were hungry, hungry for human blood or rather what they believed was human blood.

They knew that Trish was one of them, a traitor to their kind. But both Koneko and Kiba were a mystery to them because they could feel demonic energy radiating from the two; but it wasn't like the energy that they felt from the two bastard spawns of Sparda and that one-armed boy who somehow wielded the power as well.

Either way, it didn't matter to them because once they were through with them; they would wipe out every last human in the town of Kuoh and collect their blood. That should be enough fuel to last them a good long while, and then they could seek out more blood from the rest of the world.

However, right before the demons were about to begin their attack upon the group, they all of a sudden froze on the spot as they heard a faint noise off in the distance.

Due to their enhanced hearing, they were the first to hear it, and they couldn't help but turn their heads in the direction of the noise, which was slowly getting closer and closer to their position.

Lady blinked as she noticed the demons' distracted looks.

Lady: "Huh? What's going on?"

Kiba: "I'm not sure; why aren't they attacking us?"

Koneko slowly turned her head towards the forest.

Koneko: "Something's coming..."

This got both Kiba and Lady's attention.

Kiba: "Is it another one of these things?"

Koneko shook her head.

Koneko: "It's fast and loud..."

Lady: "Fast and loud...."

Lady soon looked over at Trish, who was glancing at the forest as well; but what got her attention was the grin that was spread across the blonde-haired woman's face.

Lady: "What are you smiling about?"

Trish chuckled.

Trish: "Haven't you realized it yet, Lady?"

Lady raised an eyebrow.

Lady: "Realized what?"

Trish: "That noise...."

She looked at her comrade.

Trish: "It's Cavaliere!"

Lady's eyes widened a little after hearing those words, but as the noise continued to draw closer and closer to their position, she too couldn't help but grow the same grin that was on Trish's face.

Lady: "That moron"

She chuckled.

Lady: "Should've seen this coming"

Kiba looked at Lady.

Kiba: "What is it?"

Lady merely smirked at Kiba's question.

Lady: "Issei's joined the party"

And as if right on cue, the source of the noise had finally appeared from over the horizon in the form of Issei traveling straight towards the abandoned church at high speeds. However, the brown-haired boy wasn't running; no, he was in fact riding on a motorcycle, a demonic motorcycle called: Cavaliere.

The wind rushed through the young man's hair as he looked at the demonic creatures that surrounded his friends with a smirk on his face.

He accelerated a little more, and with every second that passed, he drew closer and closer to the old church building, showing absolutely no signs of stopping.

The demons roared and began to charge towards Issei, sensing the power of the Sparda Brothers from him and their primary instinct to eliminate all traces of the traitor; they simply charged forward without thinking.

That was exactly what Issei was hoping they would do because at the last second, he accelerated once more and began to smash through numerous Riots, Empusas, and even the ugly ones, causing them to either be knocked into the air or sliced by the sharp parts of Cavaliere, causing their demonic blood to erupt from their wounds.

Issei: "WOOOOO!!!"

He laughed as he began to do donuts on the spot, knocking away any demon that foolishly tried to jump the boy, getting hit by the tires of the motorcycle.

Trish, Lady, Koneko, and Kiba simply watched Issei do his thing with mixed reactions. The members of the Gremory peerage were surprised by Issei's actions and carefree attitude regarding the amount of brutality that he was currently causing to their enemies.

As for Trish and Lady, they simply shook their heads with amused smirks on their faces; yeah, Issei definitely learned that from Dante when he showed the young man Cavaliere.

Trish: "Well then..."

She looked at Kiba and Koneko, electricity appearing on her hands.

Trish: "Can't let him have all the fun, can we?"

Kiba and Koneko merely blinked as they looked at each other, not sure what to say on the matter.

Lady merely shook her head as she raised her gun, making sure that it was loaded with demon-killing rounds: Aka lots of bullets.

Lady: "Come on, you two, let's kill these bastards!"

Kiba: "Oh, r-right!"

Koneko nodded her head.

With that, the group charged towards the demons and began to do battle with them. Issei finished up with the ones that foolishly tried to attack him and noticed the group charging at the rest.

He let out a small chuckle.

Issei: "Well then..."

His gaze shifted towards the abandoned church building, although there seemed to be something different about the brown-haired boy as both of his eyes were currently glowing with a faint crimson-red hue.

Issei (?): "Time to get this party started!"

He hopped off Cavaliere, which immediately disappeared before he began to make his way towards the front door. When he arrived, he decided to be polite and knock on it.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Issei (?): "Knock knock!"

He soon kicked the front door open, sending it flying off its hinges, which wasn't much of a surprise considering that the building was very old-probably around a hundred years old.

Issei then took out both Ebony and Ivory and smirked.

Issei (?): "I got a Glock, and it has your name on it!"

He began to make his way inside, which actually looked a lot nicer than the exterior of the building. Then again, this wasn't the first time Issei, or whomever he was, stepped foot inside a church; hopefully, it would be the last one.

Though there was something else that he realized: the complete lack of any priest, Fallen Angels, or even Asia herself. This confused him because he could sense that they were still within the building, so unless the church had a secret basement-which it probably did-then he should be seeing people.

Issei(?): "Hey, where is everybody? Don't tell me the party is already over."

Suddenly, Issei's(?) ears perked up as he heard a very familiar chuckle.

???: "Well, well, well. I was wondering when you were gonna show up, Hyoudou"

Issei's gaze slowly shifted over to the source of the chuckle, which was above him, and he was greeted by the sight of Freed Sellzen, who was sitting on one of the church's support beams.

Freed's eyes began to glow with a menacing red color, a wicked smile growing on his face as he tilted his head slightly to the right.

Freed: "I was starting to think that you would miss out on the party."

Issei couldn't help but chuckle at Freed's words.

Issei(?): "You sure know how to throw a party, Freed. No food, no drinks, and I don't see a single babe here."

Freed immediately knew that this was an attempt at taunting him, trying to make him act out in aggression, and something like that would have definitely worked-on his previous self perhaps-but Freed had evolved since the last time that he and Issei encountered each other.

He was given new life.

New powers.

A chance by Mundus to get revenge for what had happened, and he wasn't gonna let that slip through his hands.

Freed chuckled.

Freed: "My sincerest apologies, Hyoudou. I was simply so eager to see you again that I couldn't concentrate on preparations for the 'Bash'..."

Issei(?): "Speaking of babes, where is she?"

Freed tilted his head.

Freed: "Where is who?"

Issei crossed his arms as he raised an eyebrow at the former priest's words.

Issei(?): "Did you lose brain cells when you grew your arm back?"

He shook his head in disappointment.

Issei(?): "You shouldn't be doing that, Freed. A mind like yours has so few brain cells left"

Freed didn't say anything at first, but from the slight twitch in one of his eyes, it was clear that those words did not sit well with him.

Freed: "Ah, you must be talking about that dirty Devil-loving whore of a sister...."

Issei couldn't help but chuckle a little.

Issei(?): "Yay, he actually remembered! Congratulations, I would give you a round of applause, but..."

He held up both Ebony and Ivory.

Issei(?): "As you can see, I got my hands full. So can you just skip to the part where you tell me where she is?"

Freed let out a sigh.

Freed: "Fine, fine. If you really want to know, then she's down in the basement under the altar"

Issei honestly wasn't surprised by that; he had a feeling that a creepy old church like this would have a basement somewhere, but underneath the altar itself? Well, that was honestly a new one because he was expecting maybe a secret staircase hidden in a closet or something.

Then again, the only thing that would be in this basement would be Asia, some priest, and some Fallen Angels, while the other one had some stupid puzzles and demons crawling out of every hole that a person could think of.

Unfortunately, none of the holes in that basement were any good ones; they were bad ones and nothing but bad ones. There are no good holes when it comes to basements within churches; probably the reason why Issei isn't a religious person in the first place, because of all that bullshit.

Issei(?): "Okay, is there any little boy named Timmy that I better go save while I'm down there as well?"

Freed rolled his eyes.

Freed: "Oh please, Hyoudou. Do you honestly think that old tale is real?"

Issei soon smirked.

Issei(?): "The fact that you're even talking about it only proves that I'm right"

One of Freed's eyes twitched once again, but he pushed down the hatred that he was currently feeling and simply gave the brown-haired boy a small grin, showing off his teeth, which had grown more into fangs since the last time they encountered each other.

Freed: "Laugh all you wish, Hyoudou. It won't matter because you'll have to be able to save that whore."

Issei raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

Issei(?): "Oh?"

However, that curiosity soon vanished, and he simply smirked.

Issei(?): "And what makes you think that?"

Freed didn't say anything at first as both he and Issei stared each other down from where they were, both their eyes glowing with a menacing crimson-red hue; although Issei's was softer and had a calming feeling, while Freed's was full of nothing but malicious intention.

The former priest soon stood up from the support beam that he was sitting on and leaped off, landing in front of the altar with a loud thud, sending a gust of wind throughout the abandoned building and creating a small crater from the impact.

Issei watched with a serious expression as Freed got out of the crater he made and began to make his way towards him, a vicious grin on his face.

Freed: "Because, Hyoudou. You'll have to go through..."

Suddenly, Issei heard a noise as he watched some sort of bio-mass begin to crawl onto both of Freed's arms, making him raise an eyebrow in curiosity as he decided to not break the number one anime rule and allow his opponent to power up because he wanted to see what this would lead to.

After a couple of seconds of waiting, Issei watched as the bio-mass shifted Freed's arms into something else. Instead of regular human arms, they had instead changed into demonic claws with three-fingered, one-thumbed knife-like talons that looked like they could be used to shred through both flesh and bone at the same time.

Freed: "Me~..."

Issei stared at the claws that the psychotic priest had. He had to admit that he wasn't expecting something like that to happen; mainly because the only other time they fought was when he had his so-called "Holy Bullets" and his rip-off lightsaber toy.

Although he had to admit that he was a little curious about how well Freed would be able to use his newly acquired powers, especially since he guessed that it had only been a short while after he received them.

That still left the question of how Freed managed to get such power since it originated from a completely different dimension, or rather, universe; but he could save all those questions for later because he first had to knock the psychopath down a couple of pegs.

Also, the more he looked at the claws that Freed had, the more they started to remind the brown-haired boy of a certain video game that they were probably based off. He didn't think that Freed liked that kind of thing.

Issei chuckled a little.

Issei(?): "Well then, since we're gonna be ripping off people..."

A small savage grin began to grow on Issei's face.

Issei(?): "Allow me to copy a pose that a close friend of mine does!"

With that, a faint yet powerful aura began to cover the young man's body as Issei proceeded to move and position his guns in the form of a cross; Ebony facing vertically while Ivory was facing horizontally.

The mere sight of the quote-unquote "Cross" caused Freed's eyes to widen in a mixture of fury and rage; he may have gained power from a demonic source, but he was still a "member" of the church, and to see that Issei was mocking him with a cross...

Well...

It simply pissed him off.

Freed: "Y-you...."

He gritted his teeth, his eyes burning with a red aura.

Freed: "YOU FUCKING DEVIL SCUM!!"

Issei simply chuckled at this; Freed's type was always the ones that were easily triggered by being mocked. Like seriously, it was such a common trope in any kind of anime and manga, which is why the phrase "You bastard" doesn't really phase people nowadays.

Issei(?): "Well, Freed, let's see what you got..."

He smirked.

Issei(?): "Come on!"

....

.....

....

END OF CHAPTER