The wight of the monster had lifted, and Akuma was finally set free. He turned to find the monster sprawling against the caved in wall, the top of his head crushed in. For a moment, he questioned if it was his brother that did that. But before he could finish that thought, Tenshi sprang towards the monster, readied with what appeared to be talons. They were jet black and roughly four inches long. The way he sliced and tore into the monster suggested they were pretty damn sharp too.

He slashed and clawed at the creature's belly in a wild frenzy, then pulled his hands back to his waist, driving them deep into the monster's gut and tearing it wide open. The monster's blood spewed like a sprinkler head, catching all of the surrounding area. That's when I heard something that wade my heart dance.

“WAIT!!” He howled out, his head haven been regenerated. Akuma stood up, confused at the sight. “S-STOP THIS!!!” They stood there for a moment, sharing the same confused expression. “L-Look. I was only following orders! I don’t know how you’re so strong but spare me!

A moment ago, this monster was flaunting his power, confidence spewing from every pore of his body as he wreaked havoc. He’d destroyed the lives of so man innocent, and now here he was. Begging to be spared. The sight angered Akuma to no end. No, maybe “angered” isn’t the right way to describe it. Perhaps it was something far more potent. Disgust.

The two lifted their legs in perfect synchronization and thrusted it into the monster’s head, obliterating the remaining concrete wall under it. The monster howled in a way that might have evoked sympathy for some, as if he genuinely thought they’d relent. Hasn't he realized by now? Hearing his squeals brings these two nothing but absolute ecstasy.

Haven clobbered his head with large rubble, not even his bones remained, just a stain on the floor where his head should be and his blood pouring from his neck. The two collapsed to their knees, gasping for breath as the rush began to fade. As the realization of victory washed over them, a wave of relief and satisfaction quickly followed by a surge of intense pain came forth. The adrenaline was fading, and the overwhelming agony was catching up to Akuma. His pain tolerance was high, but this was far too much to keep a hold of my conscience, and so he passed out, falling flat on his back.

Tenshi found himself in a rather strange predicament. His injuries were fully healed, and his body was far from what you’d call “exhausted”. So, he just sort of stood there, confused as to what to do next. Ultimately, he decided to do some small movements and gauge how he felt doing them. Like stretching out his fingers and pinching his cheeks. But as he was in the middle of all that, a cute voice came floating into his ears.

“Look at the mess you boys caused! If only you had listened to what grandpa said and waited, I could’ve been here to help!”

He turned to see where the voice was coming from, and that’s when he saw her. She had stunning sky-blue hair and was dressed in a striking white and black habit, complete with a matching veil. At first glance, he thought she might be the timid, fragile type, but that impression quickly shifted when he noticed her outfit. The habit had a daring split down her left leg, and she wore sheer tights that left little to the imagination. He hadn’t believed those “badass nun” types existed until now.

“WHO ARE YOU?!!” he shouted, unsure of how loud he needed to be for her to hear him from so far. Still on edge from the earlier confrontation, he was ready to defend myself.

“Calm down.” She said, noticing him raising his guard. As she hopped over rubble she introduced, “My name Is Rin Ark. I’m Finral’s granddaughter! He sent me to come after you idiots before anything crazy happened, but it looks like I’m too late. You've already brought chaos to this poor little plaza.”

“Who the hell is Finral?”

“The pope dummy.”

In truth, Finral was a priest, not a pope. Not to be confused. Except though Rin wore the uniform of a clergy, she had little experience with them. Honestly, she was basically just cosplaying because she thought the outfit was cute. Though, she’d never admit it.

“Oh… That guy has a granddaughter?!”

“Yeah. Don't worry, I came to help you and your brother.”

“Riiight. Because you arrived just in the nick of time, huh.”

“Shut it!” she snapped without a second of hesitation. She deftly climbed over some large pieces of debris and continued, “Sooo... ummm…” she hesitated. “...What exactly are you anyway?”

“What do you think, cosplayer?”

“Well, I was thinking human, but now that I got a good look at you, you look pretty inhuman... AND I'M NOT A COSPLAYER!!... I'll have you know that I am a proud clergy of the Church of Michael.” she pouted while gesturing to herself.

(Okay... Maybe she isn't the badass type?) Tenshi thought, his faith wavering.

“Anyways. I’ll be taking you and your brother with m-”As her glance wandered over his body, she was left speechless and forgot to finish her sentence.

"What is it?"

"W-Why do you have a pole sticking out your chest?!?”

He looked down to see what she was talking about and was met with a sturdy iron pole lodged through his chest. Though for his life, he couldn't remember where it came from. “Damn... I didn't even realize."

“Ehem!” She cleared her throat “...Anyways. As I was saying earlier, I’m here to deliver you and your broth-” She paused, her gaze wondering around as she tried to avoid looking at his chest, only to spot Akuma’s nearly lifeless body sprawled on the ground. “IS HE DEAD?!?”

"Damn... I didn’t even realize.”

“Crap, we need to get him to a medic right away. Doctor, Doctor! We need a Doctor...! Oh wait, I'm the doctor.” She sighed as she raised her hand towards Akuma. In the back of Tenshi’s mind, he was expecting some phony exorcism that you see clergy guys do all the time. The ones where they go "Haza!" and other weird sounds while tossing salt around your body, swearing up and down that it could kill a demon.

But this. This was no trick.

It was like witnessing a meteor shower, with blue shooting stars swirling around her as if in a race. Gradually, they began to slow and change direction, condensing into her open palm and transforming into something resembling a one-handed shotgun. My eyes were drawn to the striking red line that traced its edge as it took shape. It made a *Clock sound as she prepared to fire.

He’d always been the type to go with the flow, rarely bothered by things like this -hence his earlier reaction to realizing his body had been morphed. Yet, for some reason, in this moment, his heart was pounding. He felt like a child, unable to distinguish between the supernatural and reality, captivated by their first magic show.

"Tamashi Empower…” She invoked, the star dancing around her biggening to twinkle. “Vitality."

*POWW!

A sudden shockwave rippled through the air, making his thick hair flutter. But instead of a bullet, a burst of blue energy was released, leaving a trail of sparkling stars in its wake. He half-expected it to blow up too.

Upon impact, the stars enveloped Akuma completely, transforming into a translucent cocoon. With each injury, the cocoon seemed to revitalize him, and in no time, he appeared as fresh as a ripe piece of fruit.

The cosplayer gasped for breath, collapsing to one knee, beads of sweat glistening on her forehead. "Crap. I panicked and accidentally overdid it. I hope my soul didn't take any damage..." she murmured to herself.

“You okay down there?”

“Y-Yeah. Just a slight headache...” She brushed herself off and stood up, continuing, "…As I was saying, I need to take you and your brother back to grandpa.”

“Ok."

“*Sigh. Just as I thought, I’ll have to use force- wait what?”

“I said OK.”

“Yeah, that's the problem. Aren't you gonna refuse? And like... fight me?”

“There's zero point in doing any of that goofy shit you just said. I was trying to eat some food until the whole restaurant exploded, then when I woke up, I saw some demon monster that we had to jump -ruthlessly I might add... Not to mention that some cosplayer just summoned a magical gun and shot stars. I think I’m willing to believe anything that the pope says at this point.”

“W-Well then.” She went, clearing her throat, in a hint of embarrassment from her earlier sentence. “Before we head off, I’m gonna have to pull that pole out of you. My O.C.D is raging out just by looking at it.”

“But won’t that hur- Aggghahh!”

She yanked the pole from his chest without a hint of mercy, twisting it as she did. “Don't worry. To prevent the pain, I'll knock you out.”

“IT'S TOO LATE FOR THAT!” There was a gaping hole in his chest so naturally he was screaming out, and to make matters worse the pole tore out chunks of meat when it exited his body. He was no doctor but even he knew those must’ve been from organs. He clenched his chest, as if to ease the pain, but as he did, the hole seemed to magically begin closing.

(She didn't even use that blue shot or whatever on me. It’s just like earlier… Weird.) That’s when she approached him, carefully stepping over the shards of glass scattered on the floor and leaned in close. “A kiss isn’t gonna fix it... Actually, you might be onto somet-”

“Shut it.” Just inches from my lips, she exhaled a blue mist straight into my face. And as he inhaled the powder, he felt his awareness fading, and then before he knew it, he out like a lamp.