DxD: Ascension - Redux

Chapter 13: A Scandalous Team

BGM: Diana Boncheva - Beethoven Virus

Zach blasted Irina away with a bolt of red lightning while leaning back to avoid an attack from Xenovia. "You'll need to be a bit quicker than that." He chained Irina in place with lightning, then focused his attacks on Xenovia. He attacked with blast after blast of blue flames. Xenovia countered by slamming her sword onto the ground, sending a wave of destructive power toward Zach. When it made contact with him, the ground beneath his feet shattered, sending him flying. Where he'd been standing was now a large crater. While Zach struggled to stand, Xenovia leaped into the air, bringing her sword down on his head. He rolled away at the last second, getting to his feet.
"There's your problem," Xenovia taunted. "You focus so much on offense and speed that you can't take a hit."
"And there's your problem," Zach countered, slightly out of breath from the last attack. "You forgot rule number two: don't get distracted." While Xenovia was confused by his comment, she hadn't realized what was going on. Zach was holding his right fist in his left. The right hand's veins were glowing with blue light. "Rocket Fist, baby." Zach let go of his right hand, aiming it at Xenovia's face. The power in his hand propelled him forward like a missile and his fist made contact with its target. Zach smirked with satisfaction as he heard bones cracking in Xenovia's head. She fell, blood leaking out of her nose, which was rather crooked. Her sword fell flat at her side.
"Xenovia!" Irina cried. She finally managed to escape her electric bonds, tossing her sword aside and running to help her friend. "Why would you do that?" She looked up at Zach angrily, tears in her eyes.
"She had it coming." Zach shrugged. "She shouldn't have said what she did. Just be glad the damage is still able to be healed."
"You monster..." Irina picked her sword back up. Its blade extended to reach all the way to Zach, who wasn't expecting the attack and was stabbed in the arm. He growled in pain as he dislodged himself, then threw a fireball at Irina. She rolled to one side, avoiding the attack, then charged. Her attacks were much quicker than Xenovia's, once again catching Zach off guard. He took to the skies, firing at Irina from above, before noticing Xenovia's Excalibur Destruction laying on the ground. He flew down, attempting to pick up the sword. When he touched the hilt, he felt a sharp pain, causing him to drop it.
"Dammit," Zach muttered. "Had a feeling that would happen, but it was still worth a shot." Without looking, he thrust his arm out behind him and caught Irina's blade before it could stab him in the back. "I don't think so." He tossed Irina into the air, then flew up as well, passing her. Zach shot a blast of blue flames at Irina, pushing her back to the ground. Once again, while she was down, scarlet lightning chained her to the ground. Zach kicked her sword away.
"L-let me go!" Irina demanded.
"You've lost anyway. No point in me keeping you here." The lightning dissipated, and Zach helped Irina to her feet. Zach kneeled next to Xenovia. His hand was surrounded by indigo flames. He held his flaming hand over her major injuries. "You don't deserve this, but I feel obligated." Zach began to concentrate. Xenovia's broken nose fixed itself, sliding back into place with a crunching sound as the bones in her head moved back into position and reattached to each other. Underneath her skin, the cracks in Xenovia's skull mended themselves. "Whoever designed these outfits must have a seriously dirty mind." He looked over the black unitards that Xenovia and Irina wore. "Nothing holy about those."
Xenovia slowly came back to consciousness. "Ugh... you're strong, I'll give you that much. But I'm not done yet!" She picked her sword up and charged once more. Zach sidestepped her attack effortlessly, tripping her as she passed by.
"You already lost." He shook his head, glancing back at his friends with an amused smile on his face. "Just accept it and we can all get on with our lives."
"Fine." Xenovia stood back up. "Then we'll get going."

End BGM

Zach crossed his arms. "That was disappointing. I haven't even broken a sweat, even against the great and powerful Excalibur."
"By the way... do you know which fallen angel was responsible for the theft of the Holy Swords?" Rias asked.
"Of course." Xenovia nodded, putting her cloak back on. "A powerful fallen angel named Kokabiel. He's a high-ranking leader of the Grigori."
"Are you trying to kill yourselves?" Rias put her hands on her hips. "Going after a leader-class is insane."
Xenovia wrapped her sword back in its cloth. "We'll do what we must to keep the Excaliburs out of the fallen ones' hands. I'm more than willing to trade my life for the Church."
"We know the danger." Irina's sword transformed back into a string wrapped around her arm.
"There's already been one casualty. A priest who came here to check things out before we arrived was killed."
"I know who killed him. It was Freed Sellzen." Kiba crossed his arms. "I saw him kill that priest. And there's no doubt about it; Freed had an Excalibur piece with him."
"A stray exorcist... how interesting." Xenovia hefted her sword over her shoulder. "I appreciate the information you've given us. But don't involve yourselves further. We'll be going now." She began to walk away.
"Xenovia, wait for me!" Irina began to follow but collapsed as soon as she started to walk. "What was that...? I started to feel warm inside, then..."
"Oh, my bad." Zach walked over to Irina and helped her up, supporting her while he looked over her right arm. "I may have accidentally put a curse on you. It was meant for Xenovia. Guess I timed it wrong." He shrugged, sliding Irina's glove off. A dark purple bird-shaped mark was visible on the back of her hand. Zach tapped the mark and it faded away. "Sorry. But at least it activated before you left. If it had started its work while I was gone, you'd burn alive from the inside out. If it was a lethal curse. If not, it would just hurt really bad for a really long time. You would've been out of action for at least a month, what with the injuries you would've sustained."
"You're just going to act like that's no big deal?!" Irina pulled her hand away and put her glove back on, hiding it beneath her cloak. "What is your problem, Zach?"
"Xenovia's a pretty big one." Zach shrugged. "See you around, Irina. And just for the record, I like you better than your partner." He spread his wings and flew off.
Xenovia simply huffed and continued to walk away, Irina running to catch up.