Carnival Madness and Cats, everywhere! What kind of date is this!? Pt. 2

"Disappear!"

*DOOOOOOOOOOON!*

In that same location, but farther away, flashing lights of magic and the explosions they made were seen just over the many rides that surrounded the place of fun. One side kept of releasing stream after stream of demonic power blasts at their opponent but each attack was blocked nonetheless.

"Oh, another one of your demonic blasts how unpredictable." A large barrier thick enough to deal with the destructive powers of the blast did a good job of blocking it even if the attack had exploded and covered the area with smoke.

With the smoke starting to clear, it revealed a panting Rias and a smirking Natsuru facing each other off and trying to overpower the other with their own powers.

"Aren't you Natsuru Abe-san? Why are you here and why are you attacking us?" Rias asked.

"Oh, Gremory-san is that a proper way to treat someone you haven't spoken to in such a long time?" Natsuru shrugged her shoulders and sighed playfully as a means to avoid that question.

Well, of course, the two haven't seen too much of one another, but that was because of Natsuru's deep disdain against devils like her. If anything, she would avoid most school events just so she wouldn't be in the same room/space as her.

Rias, herself didn't know how to properly react, she didn't know her fellow 3rd year all that well especially with the little interactions she luckily got in the past, but one thing is for certain. She just ruined her first date.

"I'd say this day is becoming very beneficial for the both of us." Natsuru giggled and took a step forward.

"What do you mean?" Rias exclaimed and released another blast of demonic power at Natsuru.

But countering that attack was child's play, Natsuru simply summoned a barrier thick enough to stay unharmed even through the attack.

"I mean your date with Michael-kun was quite adorable, no?"

"So you've been spying on us!" Rias shot two individual blocks of demonic power at Natsuru.

"No need to be shy, Gremory-san. Like I said it's just a talk between us girls." Natsuru uses her own ki blasts to negate the blocks of power.

"Just what game are you playing at here? Why go through all of this trouble to just attack us?" Rias breathed heavily as she prepared to attack once more.

"Why should I put effort into telling you? You're a high-class devil from the Gremory clan, you figure it out."

*SNAP!*

With a snap of her fingers, Natsuru fired a high-pressured beam of Ki at Rias.

*SHIIIING!*

"…!"

*CRACKLE!* *CRACKLE!*

Raising up a barrier to defend herself, Rias did her best to keep the attack at bay while trying to figure out the different quality of power that Natsuru had instead of her own, but as she soon as she did the attack was already breaching through her barrier.

'This isn't any ordinary magic, it's much more powerful than an average spell. Could this be senjutsu?' Rias was quick to verify the nature of this power having some experience noticing this rare trait from the past.

The beam was proving too much for Rias as she started to lose some of her footing from the attack's impact. Doing what was best, she dodged to the side of the beam and used the force of her shattering barrier to help her.

Clapping her hands, Natsuru mocked, "Impressive, you managed to get through that weak attack all by yourself!"

"Nrgh!" Rias fires a large stream of demonic power at Natsuru.

"Nice try~!" Natsuru dodges to the left and avoids making contact with the attack.

'There!' Curving the stream's direction with a little concentration, Rias was able to send it barreling behind Natsuru.

Wearing an unamused expression, Natsuru sighed, "Is this really the best you have?"

*DOOOON!*

The large stream of demonic energy was dispersed by a convenient barrier Natsuru set behind her back. Looking a little surprised and frustrated Rias decided to keep on coming up with strategies to catch her off guard and formed a sphere of demonic energy until Natsuru placed her hand out as a way saying "stop".

"I think you should just stop because this is just pathetic." Natsuru shook her head.

"Excuse me?" Rias was offended by that comment.

"It's clear to me now that I was right all along about you." Natsuru said with contempt in her voice.

"What are you getting at?" Rias asked.

"Don't tell me you haven't noticed, I haven't been trying to actually fight back. The only thing that I've been doing is blocking your simple attacks imbued with that Power of Destruction. That power would be quite terrifying if you try to use in a more creative way." Natsuru insulted.

"You dare…!" Her demonic aura rising along with her emotions, Rias stakes to attack and blow away the girl who talked so lowly of her power.

"Hm?"

"Disappear!"

*DOOOOOOON!*

Rias releases a huge blast of demonic power which dwarfed the past attacks. Standing comfortably Natsuru simple tapped her finger on her chin and smiled while rolling her eyes.

"Oh dear, a power up, who could have seen this coming?"

Natsuru sticks her hand out and smirks,

"Oh, wait me…!"

*DOOOOOOOOOOON!*

*DWOOON!*

Firing a Ki blast that easily outdid Rias', Natsuru purposely showed the surprised girl that her words from before held some truth. Being blown past her the blast managed to explode into a few carnival tents in the back ground. The blast was only a couple of inches from touching Rias' arm but it still grazed her.

*SLICK!*

"Urgh!" Rias' entire arm was bleeding; the graze of that attack was so powerful that it dug that deep into her arm.

"Get it now, so just surrender and wait like the pathetic princess you are until your Knight in shining Dragon Armor comes to save you." Natsuru approaches Rias while looking down on her.

Eyes widening with anger, Rias glares up at Natsuru, "What did you say?"

"Nothing, nothing. I mean for someone, who's the king of their own peerage, I expected you to be much more dependable especially with your power, but I guess that's why High class devils usually rely too much on their servants. Jesus, you lot sure have fallen, huh?" Natsuru shook her head.

"You…!" Rias tried to force herself to stand and wipe that smug look off her face, but the pain of that last graze really did a number on her.

"Its fine to get mad, but its honestly the truth. When you're alone with none of your servants here to help you, you're just an average devil who's too weak to do anything but carelessly throw around some special attack that's as threatening as a cocker spaniel." Natsuru laughed.

"When you're alone you can't do anything and somewhere deep down inside you know that." Natsuru turned her back, since she knew that any attack Rias would throw at her would be meaningless.

"I even believe that secretly you wanted to stall just long enough until Michael-kun arrives just at the nick of time to help you. I mean, this isn't the first time so it felt natural for you to think that, am I right?"

Natsuru enjoyed the ever growing look of anger and frustration come from Rias' expression.

"That's not…" Rias hesitated to reply, but Natsuru continued.

"True? It's okay, Gremory-san, you don't need to lie when it's just us girls. Go on, tell me more about your accomplishments without Michael-kun being there to help save you. If I recall, Kiyo-chan heard that you were formerly engaged to a man from the Phoenix clan by winning a Rating Game. Wanna tell me how you pulled that off yourself?"

"That's…" Rias' frowned.

"What? Not a good enough example, huh? Well, let's move on to that Kokabiel incident. Wasn't it just the dandiest thing that "you" and your peerage did to hold back that Cadre before he… Wait, ah, yes, almost obliterated the town. It would definitely seem impossible for the likes of you to defeat a guy, who survived a war against god and the deceased devil kings. So tell me, how exactly did you "boost" your power of destruction to beat that man, hm?"

Natsuru kept pounding Rias with all of these harsh facts.

"I…" Rias was wavering.

"Oh, wait…" Natsuru held up a finger with mocking gasp, "I get it, there's an important factor in all of this, a factor that has given you so much from those past events, but for some reason I can't put my finger on it, hmm..." Natsuru rubbed her chin before giggling to herself, "Ufufufu, I'm just kidding with you, the factor was all just Michael Hanamura-kun."

Rias widens her eyes and stares at Natsuru's back.

"It's amazing how one individual was able to solve all of your problems. I'd say that you made a lucky catch with him, or else all of these problems would have ended tragically for you. He defeated the so called immortal phoenix clan member and took out Kokabiel a fallen angel whose veteran skills ranked him higher up in the fallen angel hierarchy. He even indirectly helped bring together all 3 factions as an alliance. His potential is quite impressive and pretty terrifying if you're on the wrong side."

Natsuru pretended to look clueless and placed a finger on her lips.

"So many unpredictable outcomes revolving around a simple person, who even has the Welsh Dragon Emperor's power residing in him. Isn't that strange? So very strange, and yet very alluring at the same time." Natsuru's purred.

"To think that the secret behind Gremory-san's success was someone so kind and easy to manipulate at the same time. I guess that you loving him back was some sort of a bonus, so that he'll be willing to do anything that you want. Maybe, before you fell in love with him, you were scheming up a plan to use him like one sort of sacrificial pawn." Natsuru couldn't hide that giggle as she still kept her back to Rias.

"Be quiet…!" Rias couldn't stand another second of this.

Looking back for a moment before continuing, Natsuru sighed,

"You're so pathetic, but it wouldn't surprise me if you get off on it though. Being this lowly princess, who could never do anything herself and has to wait for her hero to save the day as always. Either way it's no skin off my nose because this works well for me. Since there won't be any threat for me if I just simply take away the "hero" and leave the pathetic princess alone to despair over her weakness to do nothing to stop me."

A few unsteady steps caught Natsuru's attention as she looks back to see a thick red aura of demonic power start to build up around Rias. Her breaking point was so easy to force out that Natsuru couldn't help but chuckle.

"What's wrong Gremory-san, you don't want to share?"

"I told you to be quiet!"

*DOOOOOOOOOOON!*

With her one hand, Rias fires a massive blast of demonic power infused with the Power of Destruction, more than half of the carnival was instantly obliterated by the long range blast along with Natsuru who stood within the blasts radius while wearing nothing but a satisfied smirk.

Nothing, but dust collected around Rias after she did that sudden frontal attack

Breathing extremely heavily, Rias exhausted her most of her magical reserves and could barely stand with the remaining strength she had. That last attack was more of a desperate measure in case things got way too difficult for any usual tactic. Nothing could have withstood that point blank blast with losing at least a body part.

"Gee~! That was a surprise, I didn't know you had it in you!" Natsuru giggled from within the cloud of dust.

"…!" Rias tried to retreat, but a hand grabbing her neck begged to differ.

"You're so predictable that it's just cute… Never mind it's just plain sad now." With the dust finally clearing. Rias got a good look at Natsuru, who looked drastically different than before.

"Hm? What is it, oh, you mean this? I know what you're probably going to ask. Are they real and the answer to that is yes."

Leisurely moving in a calm fashion behind, Natsuru were 9 midnight black fox tails and perked up on her head were a pair of black cat ears. The pressure she gave off now was extremely much more powerful than before.

"You're a fox-youkai? No, you don't seem to be just that. What are you?" Rias grunts and tries to breathe through Natsuru's hand crushing choke hold.

"That's a close guess, I'm surprised that you noticed, but I guess cat ears are a bit similar to fox ears if you look at just shape instead of size."

Rias gasped, "A nekomata?"

"Well, close again. I'm actually half of each of those two races, but still wow, you're so good at identifying my race could there perhaps be another one hiding amongst your ranks?"

"Gurgh!" Rias coughed once Natsuru felt she would answer.

"No need for that I got all the evidence that I needed from that little tennis game you had with Kiyo-chan." Natsuru smirked.

"Just what are you doing this for? What is your motive for any of this?" Rias struggled to say.

"Motive? Well, that's a long story that I don't want to get into, so I'll make it short and sweet. I'm just here to take your boyfri-Oops! I mean servant, so I can conduct a few unpredictable outcomes of my own." Natsuru licked her lips, which maddened Rias to try and shake off the hand strangling her.

"You…!" Rias grunts.

"Hey, just one totally unrelated question: Is Michael-kun still a virgin?"

"Don't you dar-ugh!"

"Was that a threat that I just heard because I couldn't hear you over the sound of your life in my hands." Natsuru smirked sadistically as she watched Rias struggle for air, the sight itself was just satisfying seeing a high-classed devil such as herself be at her mercy.

Before she could things a little too farther, she felt the approaching auras of both Michael and Shirou coming her way and with three other presences colliding with their rising auras.

'I suppose its barely decent that they've been held up for this long.' Natsuru sighed.

Ruthlessly tossing Rias to the ground like a doll, Natsuru said, "Welp, time to get into place."

"Nrgh! Are you working for the Khaos Brigade? Is that the reason why you're doing this?" Rias struggled to try and face the women.

"Augh!" But a foot to her back held her down.

"I'm in no interest to join such bigots in their extremist attacks to bring nothing but destruction. My goal here is to bring everlasting prosperity through any means necessary. So my work is mostly independent." Natsuru smiled, "What? Did you really think the Khaos Brigade placed that much effort into hacking into your precious magic circles for fun? I bet they don't even have a proficient senjutsu user, who could easily trap them their cargo in a separate space." Natsuru smirked.

"All of that was you?" Rias exclaimed, but screamed out in agony when Natsuru dug the heel of her foot on her back.

"That's enough questions coming from the pathetic princess. Just stay there and wait for things to play out." Natsuru still tortured Rias with her heel against her back and watched two incoming lights of red and blue overlap each other as they fell to carnival grounds where Natsuru and Rias stayed.

"DAMMIT! WHY DO YOU KEEP GETTING IN MY WAY!"

"I DON'T KNOW, WHY DON'T YOU TRY TO REALIZE I'M ALWAYS IN RANGE OF YOUR ATTACKS, YOU TEAM-KILLING FUCKTARD!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

*KADOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

Creating a massive crater with their armored bodies, Michael and Shirou laid inside of it while arguing to each other. Face planted in the ground while Shirou was stacked over him, Michael growled and pushed him off,

"Get off you, bastard!" Michael shouted.

"Watch it you, idiot!" Shirou shouted back.

"Just what the hell is your problem you keep almost hitting me with your attacks every time I try to catch the opponent off guard!" Michael growled.

"Excuse me for trying to finish a fight with you jumping in front of me like that! Why are you alternating enemies just stick with one and only one already!" Shirou growled.

Michael cried pitifully, "But that's only because I always get stuck with that one opponent whose giving me that rapey vibe, man!"

"I don't care just deal with it and finish the job!" Shirou slapped the back of Michael's head.

"Kikikikikikikiki! How fun we won't have to be the ones to destroy if they destroy each other!"

"Looks like they're back." Michael chuckled bitterly as he looks up at the three shadows standing across from them.

The first one who made that comment was what looked to be a Cheetah-Man, who was basically a hybrid between a human and a cheetah but with more cheetah features. He still had yellow fur with black spots but actually had black hair on his head with green eyes. He only wore a pair of ripped jeans to showcase his powerful legs.

"Aw~! I can't have both of them, how about if one of them dies and I can take the stronger one home with me, nya~!"

The next one was the most feminine one out of the others, she is a woman with fair proportions, possessing green eyes and golden-orange hair that extends to her waist. Her fur is also orange and littered with black spots and covers most of her body excluding her face which appears mainly human (excluding a light underbite which reveals her tiger-like fangs) and her chest which is instead covered in white fur. Her tail is a notably darker color than the rest of her body. She wears white pants with a black belt at her waist.

"Enough games you two." Walking past both the Tiger and Cheetah Hybrids stood a large brawny creature with the features of a panther. It had black fur with a toned and muscular body he stood about 6 feet tall while standing on both his hind legs like a human man. He had a set of toned and very powerful muscles on his body while he wore gray pants and black biker gloves. There is a jagged scar running across his right eye which gave him a veteran look.

"We need to dispose of these two as Natsuru-sama ordered." The Panther-Man said and got the attention of his two fellow hybrids.

"Fine." The Cheetah-Man groaned.

"Don't worry, I know certain ways on how strip a man of his protection." The Tiger-Woman licked her lips.

\Danger! Danger! Danger! Danger!/ The voice laughed in Shirou's head.

Shirou grabbed Michael's shoulder and nods, "I'll leave finishing that one off to you."

"Eh? You coward! Why don't you do it?"

"Because I don't want to be raped."

"I don't want be raped either now let me handle the other two!"

"No, you'll just get your ass kicked!"

"I'd rather have it get kicked than get played with by that crazy cat lady now let me face them!"

"I said no!"

*SLAP!* *SLAP!* *SLAP!* *SLAP!* *SLAP!* *SLAP!*

"Ow! Ouch! Stop it!"

*SLAP!* *SLAP!* *SLAP!* *SLAP!* *SLAP!* *SLAP!*

"Gah! Freaking dang it! You quit it, then I'll stop!"

*SLAP!* *SLAP!* *SLAP!* *SLAP!* *SLAP!* *SLAP!*

"NEVER! Ouch, that one was on the ear!"

*SLAP!* *SLAP!* *SLAP!* *SLAP!* *SLAP!* *SLAP!*

Michael and Shirou entered a very feminine slap fight while everyone just watched.

"Ufufufufu, how entertaining so this is how two dragons interact, huh?"

"Natsuru-senpai? What are you-!?" Michael gasped.

"Well, that confirms this natural energy presence but is that really a full blooded Kitsune?" Shirou's eyes widened and struggled to speculate why one was here in the first place.

Grabbing their attention with her voice, Natsuru caught the eye of both Michael and Shirou along with the three cat hybrids who bowed to her.

"Natsuru-sama!"

'They bowed could that be their boss?' Shirou slowly edges closer to Natsuru.

"It's okay, you three, everything is according to plan now." Natsuru smirked.

"M-Michael…" Rias weakly muttered.

"R-Rias, what happened to you? Natsuru-senpai, what is this? Why are you standing on Rias like that and why do you look like that?" Michael couldn't believe his eyes, Natsuru was treating Rias like a stepping stool and she had 9 tails and cat ears? Just what was going on?

"Why so pale, Michael-kun? I just wanted to check up on the date that I set up for you. You guys were having a real hootenanny here. Eating funnel cake, riding rollercoasters, playing games, and to top it all of you even took my suggestion about taking her to the Ferris wheel." Natsuru cooed

"How do you know all of that?" Michael had a bad feeling about this.

"Didn't I tell you that I would be "checking" in on your cute date? But I suppose I should have added more cats for a better touch up wouldn't you agree?" Natsuru gestured to the cat hybrids they just faced.

"T-This was all you?" Surprised, Michael turned to the cat hybrids then back to Natsuru.

"Indeed, ask your friend even he could vouch for that." Natsuru points to Shirou who glared at her through the helmet of his armor.

"I find it the goose chase around town has gotten you very desperate to find me due to my random pop ups, huh, Mr. Unexpected guest?" Natsuru teased.

"Oh, you bitch…" Shirou growled.

"By the way…" Natsuru stared at Shirou while licking her lips, "How was it having some this place's cotton candy?"

"They're all sold out, you freaking genius, but why are you asking-?" Shirou paused then slowly looked up at her and roared, "YOU!"

"Guilty~!" Natsuru waved.

"You're the one who-!" Shirou was pushed off to the side by Michael who needed answers.

"Natsuru-senpai, I seriously don't understand, what is going on?" Michael frowned and shook his head.

"Isn't it obvious? I've been the one who's been watching you all very closely so we can get to this exact spot for this exact moment." Natsuru reaches out to her eyes and pulls out her contact lenses, to unveil her golden-yellow eyes.

"Natsuru-sama, you…!"

Looking over at the hybrids, Natsuru wore a false smile and said, "It's been a while since I've taken these off in public and finally stretch myself out in this form. It's sort of gotten to be like wearing a business suit, because when you put it on, you finally get to show people that you'll-!"

*SHIING!*

"Always mean business." Natsuru was met with the sharp edge of Shirou's conjured spear, which is Grand Chariot's auxiliary weapon, but it was only a few inches away from her face.

"What? You don't have the balls to do it?" Natsuru taunted, "Go on, just try to lay a finger on me. See what happens."

"Damn you…" Shirou hesitated, he couldn't really knock her away because of the magic circle directly placed over Rias' head, if there was anything he knew about Senjutsu it was that you never underestimate its sheer power.

"If you wouldn't want Gremory-san's death on your conscious, then I'd suggest you realize who your fucking with here and stay back, Mr. Guest." Natsuru threatened as Shirou slowly retreats back to Michael's side.

"Natsuru-senpai, stop, please tell why you're doing any of this!?" Michael shouted, he couldn't bring himself to rush her and release Rias. He still felt mad that she was in that condition and wanted jump in to help her. but at the same time her captor, Natsuru was still that nice senior of his, who's been helping him whenever he's been in tight binds.

His feelings were conflicting with his actions and prevented him making any move, which precisely what Natsuru wanted.

"Why I'm doing this? Well, isn't it obvious?" Natsuru pointed at Michael, "Basically, I want you."

"Me?" Michael pointed at himself.

"Yes, that has been my goal this whole time. I just need you, an unpredictable factor, who could bring me unbelievable results that could benefit me more than Gremory-san." Natsuru licked her lips.

"All of this finally happened thanks to me jacking those magic circles to gain enough manpower to accomplish my task." Natsuru giggled.

"Wait, so you mean to say…?"

"That she is the one responsible for that? Yeah, I guess that hypothesis from before was right in the end." Shirou felt frustrated that he couldn't put down this girl, but had to hesitate or else he would put Rias Gremory's life in danger.

"So now you know everything. You do know that you two won't be able to leave now, right? So I'll give you a choice starting now." Natsuru's face slowly fell from her smiling exterior to a colder expression.

"If either of you even dare to rush at me, then I'll kill Rias Gremory-san, and that will by when I win, or I can spare Rias Gremory-san while you allow yourselves to get captured by me and I still win."

"Wait, how do I fit into any of this and how would you still win either way?" Shirou asked.

"Mr. Guest, I'm not stupid enough to just let you go and find me again. You'd just ruin my plans in the near future." Natsuru clicked her tongue and shook her head,

"And I'd say I would win because I believe you two aren't so willing to..."

Natsuru prepares to fire a Ki bullet directly to Rias' head.

"…!" Rias whimpers and could feel the complete pressure the attack would do to her head.

"Well, you get the point." Natsuru finished.

'Damn, I-I just don't get it! Just why!?' Michael clenched his fist.

"Natsuru-senpai, I just want to know. Why? Why in the hell are you doing this!?" Michael screamed.

"…" Natsuru remained silent and looked at Michael with a half-lidded "really" look.

"I can't believe that you're doing something so cruel as this. I can't see that you're the same nice senpai, who helped me out whenever I got into big messes. I just can't believe that you'd be doing this to Rias because the real Natsuru-senpai that I know isn't someone who would warrant this much pain to get what she wants!" Michael spoke from the heart and each word was completely honest.

That honest speech statement forced Natsuru to shake her head as a way to deal with those thoughts once and for all.

"The Natsuru, you knew wasn't real, she was just a means to an end, Michael-kun." Natsuru said stoically.

"What?" Michael blinked and watched the expressionless attitude Natsuru had and couldn't believe that this was the very same person he met those couple days ago.

"That persona that I wore around you and everyone else at that school was just a façade, so I could get close enough to you and make my ideals come into fruition. You probably just assumed that I was different because you were too naïve to realize that superficial kindness like that never happens in the real world. I intentionally hid my feelings away, so that I can get things done even things that society frowns upon." Natsuru showcased a cute smile and a cheery voice before going back into her serious look.

"You only have yourself to blame. It was your over-trusting attitude which made all of this possible. I would have never gotten this far if you didn't open up to me like you did the other day. So I'll have to "properly" thank you when this is over."

His fist trembling, Michael shook his head, "I hate liars…!"

"Well, in this life its either you lie or be lied to like a fool." Natsuru retorted.

"No, I hate liars, who lie to themselves!"

"Excuse me?"

Natsuru wasn't sure what meant he meant by that.

"You've been talking all this crap about how you did all of that nice stuff just for your goals and that none of it matters unless you get wanted? I just can't take how much crap your saying about yourself! Saying you didn't feel anything is a lie because in the end, you have to feel at least some inkling of an emotion and you know that!"

Michael reverts back into his normal form, he wanted to do this face to face with her without hiding behind his armor. It may have been a dangerous thing to do, but Michael paid no heed to being cautious because he believed that Natsuru wouldn't harm him in such a defenseless state, his trust of her far outweighed his own caution for safety.

"Michael, what the hell are you doing?" Shirou growled.

"It's bad to lie about your feelings, it's even worse to claim you don't them. I, for one think that smile of yours back then was genuine!" Michael wore a serious expression which could almost be on par with Natsuru's own glare,

"So knock it off with all of that crap! In the end, your still Natsuru-senpai the kind senior, who selflessly helped her kouhai out!" Michael shouted with a passionate roar.

Head lowering, Natsuru hid her face away from Michael and began to tremble quite frailly,

"M-Michael-kun, I-I'm so s-sorry..." Natsuru whimpered.

"Senpai?" Michael looked hopeful.

"I-I can't believe h-h-how absolutely-!"

*GLEEAM!*

"Ignorant you are..."

A Huge purple magic circle with sage's seal appeared behind Natsuru and released a menacing purple fog which filled the air with a venomous haze.

'What's this purple stuff?' Michael thought.

"Kuh…this is…poison!?" Shirou fell to a knee and keeled over after the purple haze surrounded his body.

"W-What p-pois…!"

*THUD!*

Without himself noticing, Michael's sense of perception began to slow and made it too late for him to realize that the poison was already affecting him, too. He fell down with a surprised look on his face before trying to get up and face the person walking to him. He could literally feel all of his strength getting sapped from his body just from inhaling the tainted air.

"I knew the over dosage of poison that I prepared was a bit overkill for you, Michael-kun, but I didn't expect it to just bring Mr. guest here to just his knees. Just shows you how capable he is for being a potential thorn in my side." Natsuru said over the groveling Michael.

"Now that I've gotten one down, I guess wouldn't need that pathetic hostage anymore." Natsuru looked over at the crawling Rias, she was still doing everything in her power to help rescue Michael.

"Gugh…!" Shirou breathed heavily and heaved himself off the ground to stand his ground.

"Oh my, what determination you have, I can't believe you can still move with my poison still active in the air. I made sure to use my sage arts to paralyze dragons more effectively, but once again your impressive willpower and body have once again confirmed how big a threat you would have posed." Natsuru giggled.

Shirou grunts and balances himself up with his spear, as a shadow from behind locks both their hands together and raises them over their head.

"You bitch, if you honestly believe this will be how things end then you're in for a rude awakening!" Shirou shakily pointed his spear at Natsuru until…

"Take a nap, nya~!"

*SMASH!*

"Buurgh!"

Shirou coughs out a moderate amount of blood after receiving an all-out blow to the back of his head by the Tiger-Woman. The attack both shattered Shirou's armor and made it vanish after it's user's limit had been forcibly met. The effects of the poison dulled his ability to detect those around him as he slowly began to lose consciousness.

"See, I told you that I could easily break through any man's protection, nyanyan~!" The Tiger-Woman purred.

"Good job." Natsuru nodded then knelt down close to Shirou.

"Any last words before I capture you, Mr. Guest?" Natsuru asked.

"Go fuck yourself you damn, cu-!"

*BAM!*

Natsuru made certain that he wouldn't finish sentence with a power blow to the bead.

"Jeez, the mouth on this one." Natsuru looked to the Tiger-Woman, "Put him next to Michael-kun."

"You don't have to ask me twice, ma'am, nya!" Tiger lady happily hoisted Shirou's body over her shoulder and carried him to Michael.

'I-I'm fading fast…' Michael's eyes slowly closed until he heard a familiar voice.

"Michael…" Rias weakly cried and reached out for Michael while she crawled.

'Rias?' Michael forced his dreary eyes to open and see a crimson blur right in front of him.

"Rias…" Michael reached out, but that the only thing he could do. The rest of his body wasn't responding to him anymore.

The two were almost close enough thanks to Rias' slow, but steady crawling.

'I don't want to watch you get taken away from me…' Rias just needed to get close enough, she didn't know how they could escape this mess or how to even defend themselves if they couldn't. All she wanted was to get to Michael.

But a pair of legs made sure to stand in her way.

"How pitiful. That someone like you, the heiress of a prestigious devil family, would be crawling on the ground like a broken woman. Heh, you know it really suits you, Gremory-san." Natsuru mocked and looked down imperiously at Rias.

Rias shot Natsuru a spiteful glare which didn't fit with her helpless condition.

"No, Rias…"

*STOMP!*

"Gagh!"

Michael muttered but had his head slammed into the ground by a paw-padded foot.

"You weaklings have already lost. Resisting the orders of the stronger victor means death." The Panther-Hybrid kept his foot on Michael's head.

"G-Get off…!" Michael grunted in resistance.

*STOMP!*

"Puagh!" Michael coughed out some blood with that stomp.

"You have no right to be giving me orders."

"I said let me go! I-I have to-!"

*STOMP!*

"I-I have to…!"

*STOMP!*

"H-Help…"

*STOMP!*

"R-Ria…!"

*STOMP!*

"Gagh!" Michael finally lost consciousness after that last stomp to the head, he had coughed up a large enough puddle of both blood and vomit.

"Whoa, you sure didn't hold back!" The Cheetah-Man whistled.

"He just didn't know his place." The Panther-Man growled.

"Here's Mister Guest~!" The Tiger-Woman dropped Shirou next to Michael.

"Now things are finally drawing to a conclusion."

Turning back to the knocked out pair, Natsuru summons a small magic circle and pulls out stone handcuffs with worn out red dragon seals written over it as its chained together by a thick metal chain which seems to have an ominous glow around it.

"The time it took to finish developing these cuffs were long, but definitely worth it. These cuffs were mainly used to control rampant criminals in the hidden Celtic Village of Dragons. They were built with a special stone that would be used to completely suppress the dragon's power of whoever is restrained in it."

Natsuru said and made Rias gasp as she remembered Michael's revealed lineage from him essentially hailing from that land.

"These were just supposed to be for Michael-kun but since there's two, improvising will just have to do." Natsuru approached the pair and opened the handcuffs.

*CHINK!*

*CHINK!*

She placed each on both of their opposite wrists and locked them.

"Now everything is complete." Natsuru breathed out and smirked, she was so glad that a carefully handled plan was accomplished.

Looking at the unconscious bodies of Michael and Shirou lustfully, Tiger-Woman asked, "Hey, do you mind if I "play" around with them, Natsuru-sama, nya~!"

"First return them back to base and wait for my final instructions before you do anything else. After that you may do as you wish with our unexpected guest." Natsuru ordered.

"Aww~! But can't I just have both inste-!"

*WHAM!*

"Augh!" The Tiger-Woman received a sharp shockwave of Ki to the stomach and fell down.

"What was that for, nya!"

"Return to base. Listen to my last orders. Have fun with the other one. Michael-kun isn't to be touched by anyone else. Do I make myself clear?" Natsuru said, with her voice filled with annoyed anger.

"R-Right, sorry, nya…" The Tiger-Woman gulped and bowed.

"Good." Natsuru narrowed her eyes.

"Y-You're not mad are you, Natsuru-sama?" The Tiger-Woman asked.

"No, I'm not mad, I just hate repeating myself."

*SNAP!*

*SHIIIIIIIIINE!*

Natsuru snapped her fingers and created a magic portal underneath the 3 Cat hybrids and their captives.

"Aren't you coming with us, Natsuru-sama?" The Cheetah-Man asked.

"I'll be there in just a moment." Natsuru felt a hand gripping her leg and stayed to fix that.

Once they left, Natsuru turned to look down at Rias who with a strong grip held her ankle.

"He's already gone. Why even bother now?" Natsuru mocked.

"Give him back…" Rias' voice wasn't resolute like it was in the past, the confidence in them was no longer there it was just contained sobs now.

"My adorable pawn, Michael give him back…" Rias quietly wept.

Natsuru blinked and mischievously smirked, "So it's all come down to this? Begging like a baby, who wants their toy back, huh?"

Natsuru enjoyed the poor state Rias and just laughed as she cried for Michael to be brought back.

"But I'm afraid you're mistaken about him being yours because he's "mine" now. Not your pawn, but a benefactor to my cause. You see this would be very ironic if they made a story about it. What if there was a princess who was waiting for their hero to save them?" Natsuru tilted her head and continued to smirk,

"Only after days of waiting, she still hasn't been rescued or saved by her beloved hero. What could have happened to that hero? Could he have died along the way? Could he have been captured and imprisoned by some unknown threat, or could he have just forgotten about her and gone on to live an ordinary life? Who knows? But that still leads to one irrefutable truth."

Natsuru's golden eyes shone as her smirk turned up into a creepy Cheshire cat smile.

"The princess doesn't get saved because she's been sitting in the same place where nothing ever changes and her hero never comes to save her. So that's why I decided to take the hero out of the story, so you, the pathetic crimson princess wouldn't get her happy ending." Natsuru giggled, "Of course, it's not a happy ending for the hero, yet, but I'll get to work on it soon..."

Feeling that Rias wasn't letting go of her ankle, Natsuru smiling face momentarily broke as it changed to irate rage even though Rias had been brought down to such a pitiful state, she still had the gall to defy her.

"Do you mind getting your fucking hands off of my legs you, bitch!"

Natsuru forced Rias off of her and swung her leg back.

*BAM!*

"Gugh!" Rias was kicked and sent rolling on the ground, the kick managed to knock the air out of her as she loses all of the remaining energy she has after taking that damage.

"Excuse me for that, I guess I got a little wound up was all. Now I'll bid you farewell, Gremory-san." Natsuru snapped her fingers and created a magic circle right beneath her feet.

She turned around to leave but not before turning back and pretending to give Rias an innocent smile.

"Oh, and thank you Gremory-san for donating to my cause~! I'm really grateful that we were able to get along and come to a satisfying conclusion~!" Natsuru stuck her tongue out in a cute fashion before smirking, "Unless you want to try and change things by standing up and taking on the forces that I have with me beyond this magic circle all by yourself?"

"…" With her spirit already shattered, Rias could do nothing but look away, the sickeningly bitter taste of failing and not saving Michael was getting her depressed already.

"Yeah, that's what I thought, ta-tah~!" Natsuru narrowed her eyes and turned back, letting her nine fox tails be the last thing Rias sees.

"Michael…I-I'm sorry…" Was all Rias could say as she whimpered and laid on the ground, utterly and completely defeated.

Without her hero to save her the princess continued waiting until she finally gave into doubt. A dreadful doubt that her hero would never come to her aid.