DxD: Tempest Lord (Redux)

Gremory Vs Phenex (3)

"It still feels weird." Issei looked behind him as he and Koneko made their way over to the track field. "Leaving him behind, I mean."

"...We just need to keep moving forward." Koneko responded flatly. "Besides, that douche is really strong. He'll beat her up easily."

"I guess..." Issei looked forward again. "It's just..." He trailed off, trying to think about what he would say next.

"I used to know Suk-chin as a kid." Issei eventually admitted. "At least- I'm pretty sure I do." He said. "The memories are pretty vague of it, but I remember being friends with a kid who had the same name."

Koneko peered at him curiously. Issei continued. "It was me, him, and some other kid." He said. "But one day, he just... left."

"So it's just strange for me to connect someone I once knew to that guy right now." Issei finished.

For the first time, Koneko actually listened to what Issei was saying.

Suk-chin was a mysterious figure to her. She hadn't ever interacted with him before the training camp, but she was present whenever Rias formulated some plan to try and recruit him.

However, Koneko actively chose not to think about it too much.

Everyone had skeletons in their closet. She didn't want anyone prying into her business, so she didn't bother prying into anyone else's.

"We made it." She said as the pair stopped.

"Oh right." Issei looked around. "Aren't we supposed to meet sir blondie around here? Where could he be?"

"He should be here." Koneko assured. "The announcement of those pawns being defeated came a while ago."

All of a sudden, a pair of arms dragged both Issei and Koneko into cover behind the track and field club's changing rooms.

"Hey, who-" Issei started, but stopped when he realized the person who pulled them was in fact the knight they were searching for.

"I figured it wouldn't take long for you guys to get here." Kiba said, smiling sightly. "Although, I was slightly worried when I heard that Riser's queen appeared."

"Suk-chin's the one fighting her right now." Issei said tentatively. "He told us to go up ahead."

"Is that right?" Kiba asked, narrowing his eyes in thought. "Hm... I guess there's no real point in worrying about him." He said. "We can only focus on the task at hand."

"Right." Issei agreed, looking around again. "But, I'm still not sure what that is. I know we were supposed to meet up here, but what's the next step?" The pawn asked.

"Rias intends to attack Riser head on." Kiba revealed. "The longer this game goes on, the greater our disadvantage will be due to our lower numbers." He continued. "Unfortunately, Riser still has a large number of forces left. So we'll need to make sure they can't interfere."

"And so, we need to..." Issei trailed off.

"Lure as many of them out as possible and fend them off until Rias can hopefully take down Riser." Kiba explained, making Issei cringe.

"We'll certainly have our work cut out for us between just us three, but I'm confident we can manage." Kiba said cheerfully.

"...Aw screw it." Issei sighed, shaking his head. He looked at his compatriots with a grin. "We knew we were the underdogs coming into this fight, didn't we?" He clenched his gauntlet covered fist. "Let's show these assholes what we're made of."

Koneko pumped her fists together, nodding confidently. "Let's go beat some ass." Her word were upbeat, but her voice was monotone.

There was a brief moment of silence.