This is part seven to chapter 4. Leave your daily Power Stones on the story to boost retention if you enjoyed. It helps out immensely.
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The nun looked startled at his entry, her innocent green eyes wide in surprise. She was sitting on a worn out sofa and held an open leather bible in her hands, likely passing the time reading verses as she waited for the fallen angels to return. There wasn't any bruising or signs of abuse on her face and she didn't seem to be in any sort of pain.
Good, they hadn't done anything to her yet.
"Hello, Argento-san," Issei forced a smile onto his face, putting on the most gentleman act he could. He didn't want to freak her out anymore than he already had. "I'm here to get you out of this place."
"G-get me out?" She asked curiously, tilting her head cutely. Her eyes lingered on his face before she gasped, the bible falling to the floor as her hands came up to her mouth. "You're the boy who gave me directions!" She gleamed, her voice truly sounding angelic unlike her fallen angel compatriots.
"You remembered. Thanks for that." He felt his heart squeeze in delight. Such a kind girl.
"Of course I remember. I was very grateful for your assistance." Asia's hands clasped together in prayer, holding them up under her chin. "I prayed for you and your girlfriend to sort out any issues you have so that you may live wonderful lives together."
She's so sweet! Though, he'd have to correct her idea of his and Koneko's relationship. That could come later. For now, they had to escape. He reached his right hand outwards to her urgently. "Please, come with me. It isn't safe for you to be here anymore, Argento-san. You're in serious danger!"
Another look of surprise marked her features before a somber look crossed over them. Her shoulders slumped and her head lowered to gaze at her feet. There was a glint of recognition in her innocent eyes - a glint that didn't belong in them. She knew exactly who he was referring to. "You mean... the others, don't you?"
Issei brown orbs filled with sympathy. For a moment, he believed he would've had to convince or even drag her out of here to rescue her from this place. He thought maybe the fallen and stray priests had tricked and brainwashed her under their control. That wasn't the case at all. Over the past week, Asia must've had several bad experiences being around them all. She would have seen their evil natures up front and knew exactly what kind of crowd she had ended up with.
He didn't need to explain himself any further. She understood him completely.
Boost!
"Ready to go?" He asked gently, stepping up and holding his hand closer. It wasn't hard to understand she was scared and upset. She didn't like being here and she wanted to leave, but she was afraid to. He gave her another calming smile. "Don't you worry about a thing. I'll get you out of here safe and sound." His smile then turned cheeky. "I made it this far, didn't I? And it wasn't just me, my... girlfriend... came to rescue you too!"
"She did?" Astonishment filled her face as tears bit the corner of her eyes. She felt immensely grateful to hear such a thing.
"She did, so don't be afraid. We'll make sure you're safe."
"But..." Her lips quivered apprehensively. His words were so nice and she was more than happy to follow him. There was just one thing that made her hesitate. "...But what about you?"
"Me?"
"If they... if they hunted you and your girlfriend down, I just couldn't forgive myself!" Her vocals threatened to break as she whimpered, her hands clasping over her face. Even now in such a horrible predicament, she was more concerned with the safety of a stranger than her own being. They were the ones who came to save her and she still wanted to protect them.
A girl too kind for this place. Too benevolent for this world.
The urge to lean in and give Asia a big hug was massive. Her words saddened and moved Issei significantly. She deserved much more than she had. That's why he was going to fight for her. Lowering himself down on a single knee, he lightly tugged one of her wrists and gazed up at her softly. "You don't know me... but please trust me... I promise we'll all be okay."
Boost!
Asia eyed his Sacred Gear a bit fearfully, even as she slowly reached her hand back out to him. Just as she was about to take his hand, she let out a panicked gasp. "Oh no, my bible!" Quickly salvaging it off the dusting floor, she patted the leather sides off and hugged it to her chest tightly.
Adorable, but not the time. His kind demeanor shifted a bit awkwardly. "Will you trust me?" He repeated.
"S-sorry! Yes!" She exclaimed, a little embarrassed by her momentary distraction. Her fingernails shyly drummed against the bible. "If it's not too much trouble... could I please go and grab my things?"
It was indeed too much trouble, but he kept that to himself. Koneko could be in danger and they were sort of on a timer because of it. Rather than deny her, Issei stood promptly. "Where are they? I'll grab them."
Hurriedly leading him over to another room, Issei could see most of her luggage was already contained within cases. She couldn't make herself very much at home in a place like this, so it mostly sat here untouched. With a touch, all of her items disappeared into his inventory. Another shocked gasped escaped her as she bared witness to the feat. "M-magic? I've never seen it do that before..."
"No time to wait around, let's go." Gently grabbing onto her wrist, Issei mostly ignored her comment and began leading the two of them out of the basement. He wasn't surprised she knew about magic; she had lived around fallen angels for awhile now. His ability wasn't quite that, though.
"Um, sir..." She began tentatively as he lead her away. "Could you please tell me your name?"
Issei glanced back in surprise. That's right, he hadn't introduced himself. He'd gotten too caught up in the moment. Guess he hadn't introduced himself earlier when they first met, either. Giving her a kind smile, he answered, "It's Issei. Nice to meet ya."
Her eyes lit up joyfully. "It's so nice to meet you too. My name is Asia Argento," She replied earnestly, quickly becoming bashful as she realized her mistake. "Whoopsie, I guess you already knew that. Silly me, hehe~"
So cute.
Boost!
As they made their way out, Issei caught a momentary glimpse of another large room he hadn't peered into. Having tracked Asia's silhouette through the wall, he'd missed it. Taking a momentary glance within as they passed by, the boy could see some kind of altar-like shrine with a large silver crucifix embedded onto it. The cross had bindings and chains attached to it, making it seem like a person was supposed to be hung up against it. An emulation of Jesus Christ, or some kind of religious torture device.
Observe
Sacred Gear Extractor - Silver Cross
'That thing can remove Sacred Gears? Why do the fallen angels have something like that?' Issei shuttered in thought. He recalled the day Raynare using the alias of Yuuma had approached him with hostile intentions. If he had followed her that day...
...It was best not to think about it.
Ascending the creaking staircase, Issei and Asia rushed out of the abandoned church. Turning to look back at the back wall with the shattered window, he could no longer see Freed's outline through the building. The man must have woken up and fled. He had no idea where to or if something else had happened while he was downstairs.
"Is something wrong?" Asia asked as she met his eyes. She must've thought he had forgotten something.
"It's nothing. Let's get outta here," He shook his head, another friendly look on his face. Leading her through of the open doorway, they stepped out on the overgrown grass outdoors.
Boost!
Although he had to fight a guy, Issei's stealth operation had went swimmingly. All that was left was to escort Asia away safely and get in contact with Koneko to make sure she was alright. The devil said she had a plan to deal with her pursuers. Hopefully, that plan had went just as smoothly as his own part.
Warning: High Level Entity
Warning: Hostile Intentions Detected
'What?! Where?!' Issei's eyes darted around frantically, searching for the threat and startling Asia. Spinning around in circles, the boy failed to find anything. Watching his sudden change in behavior, the nun began to grow just as anxious. The hairs on his neck stood up dreadfully. Like a sixth sense, he suddenly got the urge to look upward.