Beyond Critical - Chapter 7.1 (Patreon)

"It's really quite fascinating, the ability of Arondight that is," Satanael eyed the dark blade in his hand almost hungrily, "It can copy any attribute and use it. Funnily enough, I never honestly paid that much attention to it until recently when I found myself in my current position, but now that I have, I'm almost grateful."

Kaito had no idea where he was going with this, but he let him talk, and glanced back to meet Irina's eyes.

She wasn't looking too confident now and he couldn't blame her. He didn't feel it either with suddenly being face to face with the flames of a longinus.

'Looks like I need to lead here and come up with a plan.' he thought.

…Fuck.

He only really had one contingency plan here. And it was something he hadn't wanted to resort to unless desperate until he experimented with it a little more and put a little more thought into it.

Honestly, he was just glad for the shit he went through on Monday, or he wouldn't have stood a chance right now.

"It's truly funny how the answer to all your problems can be glaring you in the face, and you just don't notice it, isn't it?" Satanael shook his head in pure amusement, "The answer to my ambition has been in my hands all this time you see."

"…And what ambition is that?" Kaito asked, hoping to stall for a little more time while his thoughts raced, looking for any possible plans he could come up with.

"Why, to create my very own Longinus!" the Cadre proudly revealed, "One that will throw this world into chaos! But I could never find the right conduit to use, until now."

He spread his arms widely, grandly as he boasted, "But now I have it! A holy demonic sword that no race can resist, combined with the cursed flames that can even kill a god!" he laughed and looked up to the ceiling, "All I need is to get my hands on a proper powerful beast to use as a battery and I will-"

Kaito took his chance and exploded forward, kicking off with all his strength and rushing the Cadre as fast as he possibly could.

He moved so fast, to a normal human he would probably have looked like he was teleporting.

His fist lashed out aiming for his opponents cheek.

But just before he could land the blow, a pulse of black flame erupted in the from Arondight and slammed into him.

He luckily got his gauntlet clad arms up in time to block, or else, as it carried him through the air, and he felt searing heat burn into his skin beneath the gauntlets, he would most likely have been cleaved right through.

"…Ah!" Kaito hissed as he landed back beside Irina, arms shaking. Not only the sheer heat that burned him beneath his gauntlets, but the strength behind the pulse of flame rattled his bones.

If he weren't currently boosted twice over, he would have most likely gotten his arms broken for that.

"Heh, nice try," Satanael snorted, "But I'm not that stupid boy."

"Kaito-kun, are you okay?!" Irina gasped in worry.

"I'm fine," he showed her a brave face, forcing a grin, "But looks like he's gonna be a way bigger problem than you were told, huh?"

"Yeah, looks like hehe." Irina loosed a nervous giggle.

'Well that didn't work.' Kaito grimaced inwardly. He just wasn't fast enough to get to him and deal some real heavy damage without the man countering or blocking in some form.

And he didn't have any long range options, save for one.

"So, is this the limit of you two?" Satanael asked, grinning at them almost casually now that the advantage was clearly in his favour, "I'm almost disappointed, you forced me to draw upon the cursed flames and yet you fold so easily when I do. You're not a proper test at all."

"Not yet, I've still got more cards to play!" Kaito shot back.

"Oh?" Satanael raised an eyebrow with interest, "Well, go ahead and show me then, you're at least a bit more interesting than the chit with the Excalibur fragment. You may only possess a paltry Twice Critical, but combined with the fact you seem to be able to use Touki, you actually possess some potential."

That was a backhanded compliment if he ever heard one.

But whatever.

"Alright, here we go then!" Kaito grinned at him, and pulled upon his storage space.

In one hand a familiar hilt appeared, while in the other, a silver futuristic magnum.

Instantly, Satanael's face went blank, "….You're kidding me?" he asked, voice devoid of emotion, "Your final card to play is a freaking mass produced light sword and gun?"

"….Yeah?" Kaito shrugged, lamely.

Granted, not his final card, but more his second final card.

Really, he was just going to use the gun to shoot from a far and the sword to blunt some of those flames and set up a few feints if possible for a big finish.

But the Cadre's reaction, stopped him short.

"Utterly pathetic." any trace of even the backhand compliments the fallen gave him before, were gone in a flash.

"The hell is wrong them?" Kaito found himself asking reflexively, "It's a sword of light and a gun that shoots light, I can't exactly use fucking magic, I'm human without any teacher or anything."

"That's not why I called you pathetic, of course I wouldn't refer to the weapons as pathetic, who do you think designed them you fool?" Satanael scoffed derisively.

"…Well with the way you say that," Irina spoke up, "I guess, you?"

"Obviously, only a genius like me could come up with such revolutionary weaponry to help out you pathetic humans and make you matter at all," Satanael huffed, before glaring at Kaito, "The reason you are pathetic, is because you don't even understand a basic function of your Sacred Gear you piece of trash. It's disgusting that you can't even use the full abilities of something as paltry as a Twice Critical even after gaining Balance Breaker!"

…His attitude was beginning to piss Kaito the fuck off, "Yeah, and what am I not using right smarty pants?" he snarled back.

"You can combine weapons with it you fool and add their attributes to your Twice Critical!" Satanael snarled right back, "Why are you wielding them when you could add them to your Sacred Gear and enhance their performance through it!"

Kaito's eyes widened, "Wait, I can do that?!" he gaped in surprise. He knew Issei could do that with the Boosted Gear, but he hadn't realised Twice Critical could as well.

Though it wasn't like he had any weapons to test it out with before the last few days and he'd been pre-occupied with other things.

"Useless, what is the church teaching you exorcists these days!?" Satanael spat in disgust, "You know what, I've had enough of this, I'm done with you." he rose Arondight up into the air above his head with one hand and the shimmering ebony flame cloaking the blade enlarged turning into a roaring inferno of darkness.

And then he swung and unleashed a wave of darkness that roared towards them.

Kaito froze, staring death in the face.

There was literally nothing he could do that came to mind to stop those flames right now. He couldn't dodge, and he couldn't block, it would eat right through his Touki.

But, he wasn't alone.

"Kaito-kun, get back!" Irina rushed passed him, Excalibur Mimic drawn above her head and the blade shifting from a slender katana, to a massive buster blade, a shining white light powering into the blade.

Just before the wave of ebony black cursed flames that had the potential to kill even a god swept over them, Irina swung and unleashed the light building up in her own blade.

A giant blade of light rushed forth to meet the wave of ebony flame and cut into it. Light sliced into darkness while darkness swept over and subsumed the light.

"Aaaaah!" Irina screamed loudly, a vein throbbing on the side of her temple and sweat pouring from her pores noticeably.

Even as the flames of darkness swept over the blade of light bit by bit, overpowering it, Irina dug her feet in and pumped more and more of her energy her blade.

Until suddenly, they swelled up.

There was an explosion then of pure force and heat and Kaito found himself blasted backwards through the air from a shock wave, gagging as his back slammed into a concrete wall hard enough to crater it and slumped onto his backside.

Only to cough as female body slammed into him a split moment later and knocked the wind out of him.

He lay there limp in the hole his body formed in the wall, Irina slumped over his front, "…You okay?" he asked with a groan, even as she stared dully at a bonfire of black and white flames burning in the middle of the huge foyer.

"…I'm…I'm fine…." Irina struggled to gasp out, but Kaito could tell she wasn't.

After all…he could see down her front since she was sprawled over him sideways.

The stomach part of her bodysuit had been burnt away and the flesh of her toned belly, was red raw and blistered.

The flames in the middle of the room were suddenly swept away by a familiar dark blade and Satanael casually strolled towards them, "Nice try girl, but a mere fragment of Excalibur is no match for Arondight, never mind Arondight with these flames," he boasted, "Perhaps I should praise you for at least holding enough back though that the pair of you weren't burnt from existence? Well done weakling, not that it will do you any good."

'…I have to…' Kaito thought blankly.

There was no other choice. They were fucking dead right now if he didn't just say fuck it and bite the bullet.

Irina stirred in his lap and forced herself up on shaky legs, Excalibur Mimic, once again in the form of a katana trembling in her grip, "You boast so freely…about a sword created by God, the same God you betrayed," Irina scowled at him and pointed the katana at the fallen angel, "You can't win, the grace of God won't allow you to."

Despite the situation, thanks to her faith in God, Irina wasn't daunted at all.

Satanael paused and gave her an odd look, before blinking," Oh right…." he trailed off, before outright laughing, "I forgot! You idiot peons in the church don't know, do you?"

"…Know what?" Irina's scowl deepened.

Kaito's eyes widened, he wasn't going to…was he?

He opened his mouth to say something and stop him, but Satanael continued on before he could even think of anything to say, "You don't know that God is dead." he dropped on the girl bluntly.

"….What?" Irina whispered, before her eyes narrowed in fury, "What are you talking about. God isn't dead, what kind of nonsense are you speaking!?" she snarled, pure rage leaking into her voice.

"Oh, poor poor deluded little peon," Satanael shook his head in pure amusement, "God is truly dead, why do you think I left Heaven in the first place? He's been dead and gone a long time now, when the original Four Satan's died, so too did God."

"You…you liar!" Irina spat and Kaito grimaced, closing his eyes. She shook her head fiercely, baring her teeth in a venomous growl at the Cadre, "God is alive, I can feel his love even now!"

"All a lie little girl," Satanael laughed, "It's all Michael, he's the one responding to your prayers now, pretending to be God and leading you all astray. Your belief and your faith are all a pathetic little lie."

Irina practically locked up and a tremble ran through her body, "….No…it can't be." she denied.

"Oh but it is," Satanael maliciously denied right back, "You just don't want to believe it. I'm half tempted to leave you alive now that you know, so when you ask the higher ups of your precious church, I can see the despair on your face when they either have you killed or excommunicated you, either or would be a delight to see really!"

Excalibur Mimic slipped from Irina's grasp and clattered to the ground as the girl herself slumped to her knees, "No..no…" tears budded in the corner of her pretty purple eyes eyes, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" and utter despair took over, a tormented scream leaving her lips.

It was piercing shriek that shook Kaito right down to the core, but he didn't open his eyes.

It only lasted for a few seconds, before Irina went utterly silent as her eyes rolled up into the back of her head and she passed out.

The information was so shocking and rocked her so deeply, she couldn't process it and her mind retreated into herself to block the sheer despair that rocked her at most likely, the very soul.

"How melodramatic," Satanael rolled his eyes, "Now you've just ruined my fun, just as useless as the Twice Critical fool aren't you girl?" he walked over to her and lifted Arondight up above his head.

And he swung down.

The blade never met Irina's body though.

Because a gauntlet clad fast caught the blade itself and stopped it in its tracks, "…What!?" Satanael blinked, and looked at the person the arm belonged to.

To find Kaito, glaring at him coldly.

"You…? What?" Satanael gave him a confused look, "Your magic power, it's grown all of a sudden, and your…faster as well, you weren't that fast before."

He was.

Right now, not only his magical power, but his physical abilities had increased by a rather large margin all of a sudden.

"I didn't like listening to that." Kaito informed him, his voice almost calm.

But not quite.

Deep within him, a fury roared like flame and embers licked at his lips, smoke escaping from them.

And so he opened his mouth.

And Kaito roared.

Red hot flames howled into existence and washed over Satanael at point blank range.

                                                  ________________

Going back a single minute in time.

"You…you liar!" Irina's voice echoed in his ears as Kaito closed his eyes and retreated into his very core.

He found himself standing in a familiar void, twin dragons of crimson red energy lazily flaying through the air above him.

He could hear everything going on outside, but he only listened with one ear. Instead, he focused his full attention on the dragons made of energy.

With just a thought, he willed them to land before him, and they did, bowing before him in mere moments.

Over the last three days, since he had learned about his ability to enter here, he'd returned multiple times.

He'd explored this void.

And he'd explored his control over this draconic energy.

The leftovers of Ddraig.

And he'd come up with a plan using Ddraig as reference. Just in case he ever needed it. Just in case he needed to power up in a pinch.

It was almost too simple to do.

But then, wasn't it always said that Sacred Gears responded to the users desires? And above all else, what Kaito wanted was power.

He simply hadn't done so, because he hadn't wanted to deal with the devils finding something even more interesting about him.

But that didn't matter now.

"Come." Kaito commanded

A trail of energy seeped from one of the dragons, slithering over to Kaito's chest and slipping through, entering inside him.

Filling up his his insides.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Irina's piercing scream of utter despair shook his the insides of his soul-

As he sacrificed the organs of a human.

And forced them-

To evolve.