Every time Rito dodged, he gave a counter-attack.
His blows were accurate, striking various parts of her body, except the face.
Although she irritated him quite a bit, hitting a woman's face was something he wouldn't do unless she had committed an act that in his conception had no more forgiveness.
However... That didn't lessen the amount of pain she suffered. Especially because he hit her butt several times.
As a wise man once said: If you want to teach someone a lesson, hit her butt.
Irina had her hands together in a prayer sign, while holding back from interfering.
"Please, stop!" She shouted after seeing that Xenovia no longer had the strength to stay on her feet, supporting herself only on the hilt of her sword.
Each punch and kick no longer made Xenovia scream. She was almost voiceless. Even so, she stubbornly endured, holding back the tear that threatened to come out of her eyes.
"Very well, because of your friend, I will stop here." He said: "And, let this serve as a life lesson. Never again go around pointing your sword and threatening someone without being sure if you're right in what you do."
Biting her lower lip, she simply nodded.
From beginning to end, she couldn't even touch him. All her attacks were predicted and counter-attacked, no matter what she did, the most unpredictable she tried to be, nothing escaped his eyes. In the end, she became his punching bag.
To the sound of gears, he deactivated the Sage's Eyes.
Creating a pair of white wings, he shot into the sky.
==
==
Arriving home, he was taking a shower while reflecting.
He felt anger in reaction to those two exorcists.
No matter the reason, seeing Xenovia point a sword and threaten his little sister, Mikan, made his blood boil.
Only after giving her a beating did he feel the anger pass.
Now he began to think more calmly: 'So that's the power level of a Middle-Class Devil...'
The strength of Irina and Xenovia didn't impress him, but he knew that was because he should already have the strength of at least a High-Class Devil. And if he used the orbs, he might even be able to fight someone of Ultimate-Class Devil rank.
'If Xenovia and Irina appeared in this place in Japan, it means Kokabiel may appear soon...'
Knowing this fueled his sense of urgency to get more orbs.
It wasn't so simple to predict what Kokabiel would do. Not everything was happening exactly according to the original plot of each story he knew. Even small details already make all the difference.
A good example was that even now, Issei Hyoudou still continued as an ordinary human.
Maybe Rias is already keeping an eye on him, even Sona, but none of them made their move.
The simple fact of the possible extermination of all the fallen angels that were in the abandoned old Church messed up the original plot quite a bit.
...
When he arrives in the living room, there was a man and four women drinking tea and eating cookies.
"Rito, join us!" Lala called him.
"Uh-huh." He pulls a chair next to Lala: "I'm surprised to see you, Yami."
"I met them by coincidence." She lowered her head while drinking tea.
"Rito, you don't know, but..." Mikan began to narrate what had happened.
The whole time he listened in silence with a calm smile.
"So that's what happened..." When she finished, he understood the real story behind what happened. He looked at Yami and bowed his head: "Yami, thank you for helping my little sister and Asia."
"No need to thank me." She replied.
"Does that mean you consider us friends, so no need for thanks?" Mikan's eyes shone with expectation as she looked at her.
Yami averted her gaze. She murmured: "I guess so..."
"Yay!" Mikan celebrated.
Even Asia smiled beautifully.
"Me too, me too?" Lala pointed at herself.
Yami looked in her direction and nodded softly, returning to drinking the tea with her head down.
Laughing happily, Lala also celebrated.
Conversation comes, conversation goes... Soon several minutes had passed since they started talking and Mikan stood up.
"I'm going to prepare dinner." She fidgeted a little while inviting: "Yami, you'll have dinner with us, right?"
"I don't want to bother." Yami replied.
"You won't be a bother!" Mikan said hurriedly: "It will be a pleasure to have you with us, right?"
"Yes!"
Unanimously, everyone agreed.
Even Zastin, who until now was drinking tea and eating cookies in silence, agreed.
In an affectionate way, Lala called her: "Yami, let's play video games while Mikan makes dinner, okay?"
"Video games?" She repeated.
"Yes, I'll show you." Lala added: "Rito, Asia, join us too."
"Sorry, I'm going out with Zastin to train." He apologized: "We'll play after I come back, okay?"
"Alright!" Lala nodded understandingly.
==
==
Near the Hyoudou family house, using the cloak from before, Irina asked while helping Xenovia walk: "Are you really okay, Xenovia? Want to take a break?"
"I'm fine." Xenovia replied: "It's not as bad as it looks. He hit me a lot, but he only wanted to cause me pain, but none of my bones were broken."
"That boy... Who was he anyway? And those star-shaped eyes... Was it a Sacred Gear?" Irina was talking to herself.
But of course, Xenovia also had the same curiosity, however, as someone who fought... Got beaten by him, she knew a little more than her, so she answered: "It's not a Sacred Gear. That's his power. And he's human, I'm almost 100% sure of that."
"Unbelievable... He seems to be our age, how can he be so powerful being human?" Irina murmured.
It wasn't as if she undervalued humans, but... They were already at the top among humans their age without relying on something like Sacred Gear. Of course, they were wielders of Holy Swords. But it wasn't exactly the same thing, especially when putting on the table more special Sacred Gears.
"We have to report about him to our superiors." Xenovia said in a weak voice: "If he hasn't joined any faction, someone so strong would be better on our side."
"I support it." Irina said cautiously: "But... He's on the side of the girl from before, the Saint who turned witch, in this case... Will he still want to stay on the church's side?"
"About that... We need to investigate what that girl said, if it's true, the traitors need to be punished and we can bring her back. I still feel faith in that girl and it's not small. So there's a good chance this will work out." Xenovia replied.
In battle, Xenovia could be arrogant, stubborn, and rarely used her head to try to subdue her opponents with pure power and strength, instead of being subtle or using skills. However, she wasn't stupid to the point of not being able to think properly after her head cooled down.
Overall, she was impulsive, as in the case of Mikan, she pointed the sword and threatened her simply because of her arrogance in thinking there was no harm in doing so. However, after reflecting on her actions, she realized her mistake.
It was precisely because she realized her mistake that Xenovia only resented Rito, but didn't come to hate him, even after getting beaten so much.
Their conversation stopped when they arrived in front of the Hyoudou family house.
Xenovia stopped leaning on Irina and pretended to be fine while the cloak covered her entire body.
As former neighbors, Irina made use of this family's kindness to have a place while they were completing their mission in Japan.
==
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