Chapter 180 — Depth of Depravity
Chapter 180 — Depth of Depravity
Issei
I was stunned by Freed revealing that Diodora was the reason that Asia had been kicked out of the Church.
That also meant he was the reason she ended up in Japan and was eventually killed by Raynare.
I recalled Asia’s smile as she spoke of how she didn’t regret saving Diodora’s life despite him bothering her with marriage requests.
She had been happy she could save him, even if he was causing her trouble now, and even then, when she was a holy maiden, and he was her enemy.
But he was trying to remove her from the Church and make her into one of his playthings.
Freed continued speaking as I was still reeling from that thought.
“The whole thing went something like this. Diodora Astaroth, who loves to abuse and have sex with nuns, happened to notice his ideal, bishoujou holy maiden. The moment he saw her, he wanted to have her and make her his. But she was heavily protected by the Church as one of their healers. So he came up with a snarky plan. The holy maiden was known to be a very, very kind girl, and the rich Devil boy happened to hear from someone who was knowledgeable about Sacred Gear that the one she possessed was able to heal Devils too,” Freed chuckled to himself. “So, he thought that if she was caught healing him, a Devil, then she would be thrown out of the Church! He didn’t care if it would scar him as long as he could have his nun and have sex with her! That’s just how much he loves nuns!”
I stared at Freed as I listened to how far Diodora had gone to try and obtain Asia.
And Freed was walking like it was some great joke.
Like Diodora corrupting and ruining the lives of holy women was hilarious.
Freed continued regardless of the growing looks of anger and disgust from our group.
“So, after getting caught healing a Devil, she would get excommunicated, and her life would fall apart. She’d lose everything she knew. Her home, the people who supported her, the institution she believed in, and her faith in God. Then she would accept the helping hand from the Devil, who offered to help her. It really is diabolical! Something only a Devil could come up with! I bet that the pain and suffering the holy maiden goes through only makes things better for him! He gets to save them from the depths of despair only to turn them into his toys and rape them! He ruins both their body and heart! So, rich Devil by, Diodora Astaroth is a Devil who loves to fuck dying believers of the Church! And now he’s got the cute and innocent Asia-chan! It’s too good!”
Freed broke down into a laughing fit.
I felt my nails dig into my palms from how hard my hands were clenched.
Asia is being held hostage by that bastard, and Freed is laughing at our faces.
I'm going to tear Diodora apart, but first I’m going to deal with Freed.
I took a step forward, but stopped as I felt a hand grab my shoulder.
I turned and saw that Yuuto-san was stopping me.
She had a calm but determined face.
“Ise-kun. Leave this to me. I understandyou'rer angry, but save that anger for the fight with Diodora Astaroth. Don’t waste it here.”
I was about to argue with her when I noticed the fury in her gaze.
She wasn’t looking at me.
Her eyes were locked onto Freed’s monstrous form.
I wasn’t the only one pisseoff d by what they heard.
I felt a hand on my other shoulder.
“Give us a chance to release some of the rage we are feeling,” Xenovia said as she placed Durandal on her shoulder.
“We will shut his vulgar mouth and then rescue Asia-san,” Yuuto-san said.
I looked at the two of them and nodded.
They stepped forward together to face Freed.
Yuuto-san summoned a sword in each hand.
Xenovia lifted Durandal from her shoulder and took a stance.
Demonic energy began to pour off of them as they approached Freed.
“Hey hey hey! You’re that rotten [Knight] bitch that cut me down and the Church bitch with the lamer Excalibur-chan! You were a pain in my ass, Durandal user-chan, and it’s funny that you’ve fallen from grace and thrown your lot in with the Devils, but it’s your fault I’ve become like this [Knight]-chan! But I don’t only look different! I’m quite a lot stronger too! I was able to kill two of Diodora’s whores with ease! Once I ate both [Knights], I gained their strength as well! I’ve become quite the monster now, so I’ll enjoy tearing you two apart!
“I will cut you down for good this time. Durandal’s power will ensure there is nothing left of you,” Xenovia said with finality.
“Yes, you won’t be leaving here, Freed Selezen. After all, it would be for the best if you no longer existed.”
“Don’t get cocky! I'm more than a match for you shits!” Freed shouted as he charged.
Spikes and blades protruded from his body as he rushed forward much quicker than his misshapen body should have allowed.
“While I could handle this myself, I’ll leave the finishing blow to you, Xenovia-san,” Yuuto-san said as she leaned forward.
Xenovia nodded.
“If I attacked, there wouldn’t be anything left, so go ahead.”
I was going to question how they were being so casual when Yuuto-san disappeared from my sight.
There were slashing and tearing sounds as Freed's limbs were cut apart and he collapsed to the ground, sliding a short distance before stopping.
Yuuto-san was standing on the far side of Freed with her swords covered in dark blood.
“What the hell! When did you get so overpowered?!” Freed shouted as he struggled to move his body.
I was shocked that Yuuto-san had been able to take him down with one attack.
She had mentioned that she felt she hadn’t shown her true power in our last Rating Game.
I had thought she was just upset that she missed out on her duel with Shinra-senpai, but I guess she really hadn’t gotten a chance to show off her strength.
“Well, whatever, I’ll still take one of you bitches down!” Freed shouted as he turned his head towards Xenovia.
His neck bulged as a fireball began to form in his mouth.
Xenovia raised Durandal and began to gather holy power along the blade.
“I’ve found that Yuuto is much more skilled with techniques than I am. She can even wield Durandal’s power with more control than I can. So I’ve decided to focus on unleashing as much power as possible from Durandal rather than trying to suppress it. I’ve decided that my path with it will focus purely on power!”
Xenovia reared back her sword as Freed launched a huge fireball at her.
As Xenovia swung her sword forward in a downward arc, holy energy extended from her blade and tore through everything in her path.
It was larger than any attack I had seen her release before.
It was also less restrained and covered more area than one of her usual attacks would.
The blade of holy energy extended from the ceiling of the shrine to the floor, and tore through both of them as it moved.
The holy energy collided and tore straight through the fireball.
Freed couldn’t even scream as he was engulfed in the destructive power of Durandal’s slash.
There was only a gouge left in the ground where Freed had been.
Xenovia panted after her attack.
Yuuto-san appeared beside her with a faint frown on her face.
“I was still behind him, Xenovia-san. You didn’t even shout a warning.”
“I trusted you would move. And you did,” Xenovia casually replied.
Both of them showed incredible abilities in their short fight.
It was more of an execution than a real fight.
Yuuto-san displayed precise attacks and insane speed, while Xenovia displayed uncontrolled and overwhelming destruction.
It was kind of funny how different our two [Knights] were, but they made a good pair in a fight.
They had both definitely grown stronger.
I was reminded that I wasn't the only one trying to become more powerful.
Buchou’s shout pulled me from my thoughts.
“Let’s keep moving, everyone! Asia should be in the next room of the shrine!”
Yuki
We continued to move forward quickly towards the room where Asia would be.
Everyone was tense as we ran towards our last fight.
Xenovia still looked tired from that massive attack.
Rias looked focused.
And Issei looked furious after hearing what Freed said about Diodora.
I was too.
Asia had been captured by a rapist with a nun fetish and had been held captive by him since before we entered the temple.
Diodora hadn’t said anything since we arrived in the first room of this shrine, and made us play his mock Rating Game.
And all that time, Asia might have been violated by that monster.
If he touched he,r I was going to kill him.
It didn’t matter if Issei wanted to have some sort of man-on-man duel.
If I thought that Asia had been hurt in that way, I would end him.
We arrived at the room deepest in the shrine.
There was a large, circular device sitting near the wall of the room.
There were jewels spread evenly across its surface, and there were symbols and runes glowing faintly on it as well.
“Asiaaaa!” Issei shouted as he saw that she was attached to the strange device.
She was attached to the center of the face of the sphere.
She was looking at the floor, so I couldn’t tell if she was unconscious.
I quickly scanned her body as we came to a stop just inside the door of the room.
I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I had been holding.
She looked unharmed.
She didn’t have any injuries, and her clothes were still intact.
She hadn’t been harmed or assaulted.
I felt a weight lift off of my chest immediately upon realizing that.
“You’ve finally arrived.”
Diodora Astaroth came into view as he walked out from behind the device.
He was still smiling that same casual smile that he had worn since we first met.
I noticed that Issei had started his Balance Breaker countdown as the timer began to tick down on his gauntlet.
“…Ise-san?” Asia murmured as she began to stir.
She lifted her head and looked towards us.
She was crying.
Her eyes were red and swollen, like she had been crying for a while already.
“Diodora, did you tell Asia about why you two really met?” Issei asked with a scowl.
Diodora’s smile widened.
“Of course. I told Asia everything. And I wanted you to see it too. Her expression when she realized that everything was going according to my plan. That her life in the Church had ended by my design. It really is a great expression. The face she made when I first told her really was the best. I even recorded the whole thing too. Would you like to see? No matter how many times I see it, the expression of a holy maiden falling into despair really is the best. It makes all of the effort worthwhile.”
Asia began crying harder.
I clenched my fist and glared at Diodora.
The killing intent from our whole group increased as he spoke.
Diodora continued, unconcerned.
“But it’s not enough. It’s lacking. She still has hope remaining in her. I need to crush that last bit of hope, so that I can completely break her. Once I do that, I can remold her however I please. So I need to remove all of you, who are Asia’s last bit of hope. Especially the filthy Sekiryuutei. It’s because of you that my original plan had to deviate so far. Because you saved her from that Fallen Angel. I was supposed to appear and kill that woman, Raynare, after she killed Asia. Then I would give her one of my Evil Pieces, and she would be mine. I thought that you wouldn’t interfere with the Fallen Angel business, and then when you did, I thought that you wouldn’t win against her. But at the time, I didn’t realize that you were the Sekiryuutei. I miscalculated how events would play out because of that. Things went differently than I had planned, and I needed to come up with a different plan to obtain Asia. Things were postponed, but she is finally mine. I will be able to thoroughly enjoy Asia now.”
“Shut up,” Issei growled out.
I was sure that Issei would throw himself at Diodora the moment his countdown ended.
I couldn’t blame him.
Diodora was mentally torturing Asia for his own twisted pleasure and treating her like a toy he could play with.
I wanted to rip him apart just like Issei did, but I was concerned by how calm Diodora seemed.
He should have seen our fights against his peerage and realized that it was eight against one,ne and we weren’t very worn down from our earlier fights.
Even if he had borrowed power from Ophis, he would be at a disadvantage.
But he still held Asia and could use her as a hostage.
He had to have something else up his sleeve too.
Diodora continued speaking.
“Asia is still a virgin, correct? It’s better when they still are. It makes it easier to train them. Plus it would be a shame if she were already used by the Sekiryuutei.”
He seemed to be enjoying provoking Issei.
“But you know, it might be fun to Netorare from the Sekiryuutei. Hmm…”
Issei looked like he was moments from rushing at him, Balance Breaker or not.
“Maybe it would be good to force her into bed and let her call out your name while I play with her.”
Issei finally snapped.
“Shut Upppp!!”
His armor appeared over him immediately.
The countdown hadn’t finished, but he was able to enter his Balance Breaker anyways.
It seemed that Diodora pushed him to the point that his anger caused him to push past his previous limitations.
His aura skyrocketed in power.
“Diodoraaa! I'll never forgive you! I’m going to kick your ass!”
“Buchou,” he said without taking his eyes off Diodora, “everyone... don’t interfere.”
“Ise. We should all defeat him together,” Rias said, then paused. “But I can tell that you won’t listen to reason right now. So go ahead and face him. Don’t hold anything back and be sure to show him exactly how big of a mistake he made trying to take Asia from us.”
“No,” I immediately cut in. “I will not sit back and let Issei fight alone. None of us should be sitting out of this fight. Not with Asia held hostage.”
Rias looked at me, then to Diodora, who stood smirking at us, Asia crying, trapped against the device, then back to me.
“I understand, Yuki, but I will still let Ise face Diodora alone.”
“Buchou I—“
“But,” she said, cutting me off. “If he struggles at all, we will step in. In the meantime, you, Yuuto, and Koneko will head to Asia and free her while Ise faces Diodora.” She looked between Issei and me. “Is that understood, Ise, Yuki?”
I was still not satisfied, but I couldn’t really argue with Rias.
We would be able to free Asia more quickly by going about it Rias’s way than if we tried to defeat Diodora first and then free her.
I still wanted a shot at him for what he had been trying to do to Asia.
After we feed Asia, I would get a chance to end that rotten bastard.
“…Understood,” I replied to Rias.
“Got it, Buchou. But I’m not going to need any help. I’m going to put this creep in the ground,” Issei growled as he glared at Diodora.
Rias nodded
“Good. Yuuto, you’ll follow Yuki to Asia, as the two of you are the fastest. You’ll need to carry Koneko since Yuki can’t bring someone with her when she teleports.”
Yuuto nodded.
“…Roger, Buchou,” Koneko replied.
“Akeno, Gasper, Xenovia, and I will be on standby to intervene where we are needed. Now, go, my cute, precious servants. Save Asia and defeat our foe!”
Issei began speaking to Ddraig as he took a few steps forward towards Diodora.
Rias moved closer to me.
“I know that we should all be fighting Diodora together,” Rias said in a hushed tone. “But getting Asia free is more important. Both you and Koneko have sensing abilities that might be able to detect what that device does. It could be a bomb, for all we know, and Diodora has Asia strapped to it. I'm not just indulging Ise’s anger and desire to fight alone. I want you to know that.”
I observed her for a moment
“I am not happy with your orders. But Asia’s safety is more important than arguing,” I said. “As long as Diodora is killed and Asia is freed, then I will be satisfied.”
Then I turned to Konkeo and Yuuto.
Then I turned to Konkeo and Yuuto.
“Let’s go!”
I took a step forward.
The world blurred around me.
We would save Asia, defeat Diodora, and then escape this terror attack, together.