"I couldn't very well allow him to die after showing me something so interesting." The White Dragon countered, his tone amused "Well, that and the fact Azazel would probably be pissed. As it is, he's likely to chew me out for letting Kokabiel bite the dust. Traitor or not he was still a Fallen."
"Why would Azazel care for the life of an unaffiliated Magus?" Rias demanded the Devils and Xenovia tensing, the two swordsmen readying their swords while Issei placed himself between Asia and the white Dragon "Do you mean to tell me he'd seek revenge for Kokabiel's death?"
"Nothing of the sort." The white dragon scoffed "My orders were to bring him, Kokabiel and Freed Sellzen back alive, though in the case of the latter two I could decide whether they arrived unharmed." He shrugged "As for why, if I had to wager it's so he doesn't have to go back to living on takeout." He scoffed at their expressions "Honestly, the way he goes on about the guy's cooking, you'd think he was a doting parent instead of his caretaker."
"Wait, they LIVE together?" Issei yelped, Xenovia's eyes widening as she suddenly realized just what she'd been sensing from the Faker's domicile, her skin paling at how close she'd come to running into the Leader of the Grigori Faction "I thought Emiya didn't even know what the Fallen were!"
"He didn't, not till he bumped into you lot anyways." The White Dragon confirmed "It was actually kind of amusing, watching Azazel play human in order to help the guy adapt. He always did have a soft-spot for strays."
Rias blinked, surprised at the armoured man's almost whimsical tone, only to gasp as, without a moment's warning, he reached down and grabbed the Faker by his shirt, hoisting him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes despite Asia's cry of protest.
"Thanks for the help, we'll take it from here." He offered, taking to the sky, only to pause, turning towards the distant form of Freed Sellzen "Almost forgot about him, oh well, two out of three isn't so bad."
"Hey hold on-!" Issei called out, the perverted Pawn glaring at the white-armoured warrior as he casually ignored them all in favour of swooping down to pick up Freed's unconscious form "Dammit, listen to me-!"
"So are you just going to ignore me, White Dragon?" Ddraig's voice called out, startling the Devils, as this was the first time they'd heard him speak beyond crying out "BOOST!"
"So you were awake after all, Red Dragon." A different voice chimed from the white-armoured figure, the same voice that had called out "DIVIDE!" in order to cut the power coming from the arm in half, the blue gems on the armour lighting up in response.
"Ah, though to be honest, I didn't expect to run into you this soon." Ddraig admitted, sounding resigned yet determined to throw down "Seems you've been active a bit longer than I have."
"You always were a slow-starter." Albion noted offhandedly, as if commenting on the weather "Still, it's to be expected. The two of us are destined to fight no matter what the age. Chances like this shouldn't come as any surprise."
"As you say, White Dragon." Ddraig concurred bluntly, his tone carrying a subtle hint of mockery "However, why is that, despite knowing that, I can't feel any hostility from you at all?"
"Like you're one to talk." Albion scoffed, his host scooping up Freed by his collar like a stray cat "Your blood-lust is so weak I thought you were still asleep when I first saw you."
"As hard as it is to believe, it looks like we both found something that interests us more than combat." Ddraig admitted, his tone self-mocking even as Albion scoffed "In any case, until my partner catches up with yours, I'm fine putting our fight on hold."
"The same for me." Albion agreed, earning a sigh from the onlookers, as a fight between the Two Celestial Dragons was the LAST thing anyone wanted to have a front-row seat to "There are still plenty of things about this world I haven't experienced yet. I'll come for your head later. Fair enough, Ddraig?"
"Sounds like fun." Ddraig agreed with a hint of honest amusement, as if the two had agreed to a friendly match rather than a duel to the death "Just make sure you wash your neck till then, Albion. This kid won't lag behind for long."
"I should hope not." The White Dragon's Host scoffed, glancing at Issei over one armoured shoulder pauldron as he turned his back on the pawn "Grow stronger, my rival, otherwise our destined duel won't be much to look forward to."
And before anyone could do or say anything to stop him, the White Dragon Emperor vanished in a flash of light into the night sky, leaving behind more questions than answers even as the Lucifer's reinforcements arrived, the members of the Student Council leading the way.
Play: Now we are free...
Shirou opened his eyes.
That, in and of itself, was not something he'd ever expected to do again, for even if he somehow managed to retain the physical capability to do so, by all right he should have lost all sense of 'self', so it would be more akin to a blank slate or machine activating than a human being rousing.
Such was the fate that awaited him for abusing the power of the Archer's Arm, the Artificial Phantasm, while a powerful Trump Card, was still too deadly a poison to be taken sparingly, simply opening himself up to it for practice costing him precious seconds off the end of his life.
The first time he'd cast aside the shroud against Dark Berserker, his mind had 'shattered' in places and cracked in others. He'd lost all feeling on one side of his body, and it was only by allowing the arm to rampage out of control that he'd managed to bring the corrupted Servant down, and even then he'd needed Ilya to pull him back from the brink.
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