DxD: Ascension - Redux

Flames of Lust: Epilogue

This chapter marks the end of Volume II: Flames of Lust.

Zach watched Issei leave using the card Grayfia had given him.
Asia soon joined him. "H-he'll come back safe, right?"
"Of course," Zach assured her. "Just have faith. You should be good at that, all things considered," he added with a reassuring smile. "Now, go get some sleep. It's already past midnight, and you haven't slept at all."
Asia put her hand over her heart. "Right... but promise you'll wake me as soon as Issei wins."
Zach nodded. "Promise." He escorted Asia to bed before paying a visit to Issei's sleeping parents. He cast a quiet incantation over them, stopping them from being disturbed anything going on around them. "Now what to do while I wait for the signal...?" he wondered. His planning was interrupted by something soft and small rubbing against his leg. He looked down. A black cat was staring back up at him. "Hello, you," he said to the cat as he picked it up. "Must've left the door open when I came in, and this little fella followed me." He felt the weight in his arms grow heavier. When he looked back at what was once the cat, he now saw that he was holding a beautiful young woman with black hair and cat ears, wearing a black kimono and not much else.
"Hello there," she said, acting as if nothing was out of the ordinary.
"General Kenobi," Zach grumbled, dropping the mystery woman. Aloud, he asked, "Who are you?"
"First of all, was that drop really necessary?" the woman asked, getting to her feet. She was shorter than she'd appeared at first glance. "Second of all, who's General Kenobi? Third-"
"Have you never seen Star Wars?" Zach asked, stunned.
The cat-woman looked confused. "Don't know what that is either. Anyway, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted..." She paused to glare at Zach. "We should talk outside. I like nature. So come on down." She turned and walked away, heading downstairs. Zach was able to see her tail as she left.
Holy... she's a nekomata! They're extinct back home, Zach thought as he followed her. Never gotten to see one before.

BGM: Persona 5 - Beneath the Mask

Zach followed the woman all the way to the city's local park. He found her sitting on a bench by a small pond.
She looked up. "There you are."
Zach sat down next to her. "So what do you want? And better yet, who are you?" he asked.
"You can call me Kuroka. I'm a nekoshou, a rare species of nekomata, not to mention almost extinct. My sister and I are some of the last."
"So how do you live in the mortal world and not know about Star Wars?" Zach crossed his arms. "That's just insane. But on to the important business..." he continued. "What are you doing in Kuoh?"
"My friends and I got some signals that an Ultimate-class fallen angel was here. I wanted to come to check it out. Something about fire?" Kuroka crossed her legs, looking at the young man next to her.
A small blue fire ignited in Zach's palm. "That's me. Why'd you come? Fight or just to chat?"
"A bit of both, really," Kuroka admitted. "Just shooting some fire around doesn't show me anything. Seeing your skills in practice is what I really wanted. But I'll warn you now: I'm pretty strong myself."
"Then let's go." Zach stood. "Whenever you're ready."
Kuroka snapped her fingers and the three were teleported to a wide open field. Without any warning, an orb of white light appeared, floating above her hand. She thrust her hand forward, and the orb flew towards Zach. He narrowly avoided being hit.
Zach's hands burst into blue flames. "That's how we're gonna play?" He smirked. "So be it."

BGM: Diana Boncheva feat. BanYa - Beethoven Virus

Zach spread his arms. Four bolts of red lightning shot at Kuroka from blue magic circles, one in each direction. Kuroka leaped up to avoid them, but was caught off-guard by Zach and hit with a blast of blue flames. Zach raced toward Kuroka, avoiding a blast of light. As he approached, Kuroka appeared to multiply until a few dozen Kurokas were facing Zach. The latter maintained his focus on the spot where the original Kuroka had been standing. From that spot, a purple mist spread over the field. As soon as it reached Zach, he froze in place and began to cough violently.
"You like it?" Kuroka taunted. "It's a little thing I whipped up a while back. Didn't think it'd work on you, but here we are."
"Yum," Zach choked. Waves of blue fire spread in circles from his feet, pushing back the mist. The poison was concentrated into small patches, then dispersed into the sky by vortexes of blue flames. Kuroka grimaced, sending a volley of orbs of light flying towards Zach. He countered with a bolt of lightning, blasting straight through the orbs and hitting Kuroka. Zach put his left hand over his right fist as the veins in his hand and arm began to glow blue, showing from beneath his skin. When they were glowing fairly bright, Zach released his fist and rocketed forward. His fist, still glowing, hit Kuroka square in the chest and released a shockwave of blue fire on impact. Kuroka flew back almost a hundred meters.
Zach smiled. "Sorry!" he yelled.
Kuroka teleported back to Zach, stumbling as she arrived. "I think we're done here," she decided. "You're... pretty damn strong. Nice." She looked down. Zach's fiery attacks had burned away parts of her clothes, including a fair-sized hole caused by Zach's last attack, exposing her midriff.
"Perfect timing, too," Zach agreed. "I need to go to the Underworld. My friends need me."