"I'm booooored!"

"Do you ever shut the fuck up?!"

"I will when we actually have something to do! When's the last time we did goddamn anything? Sitting around in this dusty, broken down wreck of a Church is depressing," Minato replied petulantly from his position of laying down on one of the pews in the front row. His hands were behind his head, preventing it from making contact with the hard, unforgiving wood. He may have cleaned the place up a bit since their arrival but that didn't mean he wanted to dirty his pristine mop of white hair. It was bad enough that the dust had smudged his favorite black and white t-shirt. "Why the hell couldn't we get a better base of operations than this dump?"

"In case you've forgotten, dipshit, we're here on a secret assignment," Mittelt fired back with anger in her voice. He rolled over onto his side to look at the blonde in all of her gothic lolita fashioned glory. She was seated upon the altar that blocked off the secret entrance to one of the underground sanctuaries, legs crossed one over the other, likely so as to not allow him or anyone else a free viewing of her panties. "This is the only place we can go and be undetected. Be thankful we brought you along at all."

"Don't act like you did me some sort of favor, Milly," Minato mocked, earning himself a venomous glare from the blonde. "Azazel ordered you to bring me so I could rein you all in and prevent you idiots from doing anything stupid." He began to weep fake tears now. "I'm just a glorified watchdog now! I got stuck looking after the washouts and losers! The lowest of the low! What did I do to deserve such a horrible fate?"

"Call me a loser again and I'll shove a spear through you, boy."

Minato, ceasing his melodramatic crocodile tears, sat up and turned his gaze upwards to the Church's rafters. Sat upon one of the wooden beams, in her typical attire of a maroon trench coat-like top (that was open to show off an absurd amount of cleavage) with a matching miniskirt, was a familiar brown-eyed woman with long blue hair. She stared back at him with fire in her eyes, clearly upset at having been insulted by someone she deemed a lower life form.

"That's kinky. Interested in some foreplay, Kala~? I should warn you that your luck in sticking me with your "spear" is about as likely as Azazel noticing your advances and fucking your brains out," he stated cheerfully, using a shortened version of her name to irk her further. "Zero, zilch, nada, nothing, absolutely impossible~. You'd have better chances lowering your standards and dragging me to your bed instead. I'll even put on a wig so you can pretend it's him, and I promise to not mind if you scream his name instead of mine."

"Fuck you!"

"Now you're getting it! Just ask and I can make sure you really get it," the boy mocked, moving his eyebrows up and down as he tossed in an innuendo to rile up the older women. The look of utter disgust that crossed her face only made him laugh harder. Kalawarner was such an uptight and arrogant priss, and the fact that she only had eyes for their leader only made him want to mess with her even more. It was a fun hobby to occupy his free time, and damn did he have a lot of that lately.

"The girl will be here in a matter of days. Just calm yourself, do your duty, and we'll be finished with this dead-end assignment."

Minato's eyes flickered to the doorway of one of the side rooms, where the third member of their little entourage finally joined them. A dark-haired older male in a pale gray trench coat and, Minato noted with a small snort, a fedora atop his head. He wondered if anyone told the old man that clothes like that only worked if you either had the right "look" or were in a black and white movie.

"A 'matter of days' is just a nice way for you to say 'we don't know when she'll show up', Donny-boy. Let's just radio back to base, tell 'em the 「Sekiryuutei」 ain't on the verge of awakening and ditch this run-down shithole Church. This surveillance mission was a bust. Hyoudou's no threat to us." He paused, eyes bouncing between Kalawarner and Mittelt. "Well, maybe a threat to you two but nothing a little mace and a restraining order can't fix."

"My name is Dohnaseek and you will address me as such," the man stated, an undertone of umbrage held within his voice before he calmed himself and returned to a neutral tone. "The 「Holy Maiden」 will arrive as scheduled and we are not leaving this town until then," he said with finality. "And the only reason you want to declare the 「Sekiryuutei」 as a non-threat to us is due to your utter lack of care towards the mission. Your only interest is completing it so you can return to your daily life of nothing," Dohnaseek finished with clear disapproval and distaste lacing his words.

He shrugged his shoulders without bothering to argue that point. Yeah, he was lazy. So what? They had no right to judge him when they were guilty of much worse than indolence. Falling from 「Heaven」 out of pride, out of wrath, out of lust, out of envy, those were all significantly greater sins than sloth. For beings that liked to pretend they were better than devils simply because they were fallen angels they sure were guilty of a lot of the same "crimes". Hell, even Azazel fell because of his lust but at least the man never carried himself like he was above anyone else simply because of his race.

"Doesn't interfere with my job and doesn't change my findings. If Azazel thinks he might be a problem then it'd be smarter of us to just recruit him. Wouldn't take much work." Minato looked back up to Kalawarner. "Think you could just flash him? I'm sure he'll follow along like a puppy dog if you let him get an eyeful of your titanic tits."

Before Kalawarner could respond, the boy dropped his gaze back down to Mittelt, who was watching his interactions with her comrades with clear amusement. Did she think she was suddenly exempt from his little jabs? "Don't think you'll be much help though. He's not into little girls and their mosquito bites." He gave a lopsided smile as the mirth on her face fell instantly and she became furious, jumping off the altar and stomping towards him.

Minato noticed the telltale signs of 「Holy Energy」 beginning to gather in her hand, the beginnings of a 「Spear of Light」, and readied himself if Mittelt decided to make a run at him. He'd tolerate jokes, insults, even a small level of insubordination, but the moment any of them made a serious attempt on his life would be the moment the person in question ceased to exist as anything other scorch marks on the ground.

"You might want to rethink whatever you plan on doing with that," he cautioned. He'd give her one chance, after that she'd be a fallen angel bonfire. And if Kalawarner and Dohnaseek decided to interfere, to try and gang up on him as well with the misguided belief that they had an advantage because of superior numbers? Simply more trash on the pyre.

"Azazel's given me the authority to punish any of you if it comes down to it. I won't hesitate to put you over my knee and give you a spanking, blondie." He noted that the light began to dissipate as Mittelt sputtered, her face taking on a glowing red hue. His smile widened and became downright predatory. "Oh~, is that what you want? Do you need your big, strong 'onii-chan' to discipline you until you learn how to be a good girl? Is that why you do your hair up in twintails? For convenient handlebars?"

Mittelt shrieked in fury before doing an about face, kicking over the altar and storming downstairs to the Church's sanctuary area. Minato smiled, both in amusement at the reaction and at the fact that the girl had the common sense to not push her luck by attacking him. It would have been such a shame if he had to report back to Azazel that he killed one of the crows he put him in charge of. The man would forgive him with little reproach, no doubt about that, but Shemhazai would lecture him something fierce. Then he'd probably tear into Azazel as well for being so lenient with him.

He leaned back and looked towards Kalawarner. "That offer extends to you as well. Though, with you, I suppose it would be a 'onee-chan' being corrected by her younger brother? Would you be interested in something like that?"

The blue-haired woman didn't even deign to give him an answer, merely throwing one last look of loathing his way before flying higher to one of the rafters closer to the ceiling, likely in the hopes that he would stop speaking to her. Minato sighed. Two for two, what a shit record. One that probably wouldn't be getting better when Raynare finally got back from wherever she had left to.

'Speaking of which, where the hell is she?'

The leader, 'She wishes', of their little troupe had abruptly left the Church after stating she needed to take care of some business. What business that was, she refused to say. Not even clarifying whether it was something related to 「Grigori」 as a whole or about their mission, she simply walked out and hadn't returned in several hours and it was starting to bug him. They were here on a reconnaissance mission and if she jeopardized that for something stupid like personal matters then he'd use the authority Azazel gave him to put her through the wringer.

Faced with the choice between tracking her down, wherever she may be in the town, or sitting on his ass in the Church and doing nothing, it was really no choice at all. It would have been trivial to send Anne, his companion, to scour the city in his place but he doubted she'd react kindly to being summoned from his apartment and woken up for such a menial task. She'd still do it but then he'd have to deal with her endless griping about how she was not some lowly search dog and Minato really wasn't in the mood for a headache.

The white-haired young man rose to his feet, groaning in discomfort when he felt several of his joints pop back into place. Those wooden pews really were absolute crap for resting on. How people actually sat on them and listened to a preacher go on about the Bible and God, he would never understand. Would it have killed them to put cushions down? There wasn't anything in the Bible saying you had to suffer to worship God, at least nothing that he remembered.

"We were ordered to wait here."

Minato rolled his eyes. For being such a battle maniac, always ready to kill something at the drop of a hat, the male fallen angel was a complete and utter wet blanket when outside of a fight. The only times he found the man even somewhat bearable was during a battle. It was then that Dohnaseek let his true nature shine through, becoming a beast that lusted for the blood of his enemies. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on your point of view, he still retained enough of his senses to know not to try and sate himself by engaging his comrades in 「Grigori」 in mortal combat as well. Such an act would have given Minato reason to execute him on the spot for treason.

"No, you were ordered by Raynare to do whatever she says like the good little dogs you are," he said, earning a low growl from the man. It seemed the label of "dog" was apt here. "I don't have to listen to Raynare anymore than I have to listen to any of you. By all means, take it up with Azazel if it really bothers ya. I'm sure he'd love to hear how we've been doing absolute fuck-all for several days now and that Raynare took off without telling anyone where she was going or what she'd be doing."

Dohnaseek said nothing, glaring in what Minato could only describe as pure hatred. He normally wasn't this antagonistic, at least not towards his allies, but he was fed up with the lack of anything exciting or interesting lately. All he had to look forward to anymore was, hilariously enough, going to school. The one thing most teenagers seemed to dread and yet it provided him social interaction with people his own age, something Azazel said he lacked, while simultaneously letting him keep an eye on Hyoudou Issei. Two birds with one stone.

Didn't hurt that all the girls there were hot. Azazel definitely hadn't been lying when he mentioned that tidbit.

Having nothing more to say to the man after calling his bluff, Minato turned on his heel and walked out of the Church, flinging open the doors with a push and stepping out into the orange glow of the setting sun. He'd either find Raynare or something to entertain himself with, a win-win scenario either way. Because, seriously, if he had to stay in that building for one more minute someone was going to end up badly hurt, and no 「Holy Maiden」 was going to be able to put them back together again when he was finished.

'Especially that sadistic, twisted little fuck by the name of Freed Sellzen.'

He could not goddamn wait until that shithead slipped up for even one second. Minato didn't "hate" people – save for two specific devils that he would kill just to his get his hands on them both before delivering the two to Vali himself – he just held some of them in varying levels of distaste. However, he could safely say that Freed Sellzen was not a person in his eyes, more like a slug or particularly bothersome gnat, and therefore Minato could freely state that he hated the Stray Exorcist with every fiber of his being. He didn't give a damn that the bastard was tossed away from the Church after their little Sigurd recreation project ended, being a failure of a test tube baby wasn't some pass to be a raving psychopath. However, Azazel made him stay his hand, at least until Freed stepped out of line. If he ever did, Minato was given free reign to torch his sorry ass.

Freed's acceptance into the group, along with Valper Galilei, the 「Genocide Archbishop」, had resulted in a huge fight between himself and Azazel. The man argued that while both were clearly monstrous in their own ways it was better to keep them in 「Grigori」 where they could be watched, restrained, and effectively leashed rather than let them run wild throughout the world of their own accord. Minato's response was simply that Azazel would regret letting them in one day, that both monsters were cancers who would inevitably rot his organization from within and when that day finally arrived Minato would not be around to help him pick up the pieces.

They didn't speak for several days after that incident, only reconciling after Vali, of all people, played mediator between the two. It wasn't his proudest moment, both his argument with Azazel and requiring Vali's "help" in apologizing for going over the line, but he meant what he said. Freed and Valper, regardless of whether or not they were "leashed", only brought destruction, suffering, ruin, and death wherever they went. Why Azazel thought 「Grigori」 would be the exception was beyond his understanding.

Shaking his head to get rid of the bitter memories, Minato finally reached the end of the forestation surrounding the abandoned Church. With a small smile, he began his trek deeper into town. No time for thinking of arguments long since past, homicidal priests, or madmen disguised as archbishops. Now was the time for something fun to take his mind off the boring mission he was on.

Minato hadn't found anything fun on his little adventure in Kuoh Town. However, he did find Raynare! Even more spectacularly, he discovered a new emotion too! He didn't really have an exact name for it yet, but currently, he was going with "pure, overwhelming, incomprehensible, absolute fucking rage". Kind of a mouthful but it was a rather good summation of his feelings when he saw Raynare walking along Hyoudou Issei and, judging by their close proximity along with the fact they were holding hands, pieced together how she had spent her day and what her "business" was.

"You complete fucking moronic bitch..."

Plastering the most strained, most forced smile on his face, he glided over to the couple, who had yet to notice him. Good. If she saw him she'd probably try to drag Issei somewhere else, by force if necessary, just to try and escape his wrath. That wouldn't do. No, he needed her to stay put just for a little while. Issei… Issei could take a small walk for a few minutes, and if he was lucky he'd come back to his little pretend-girlfriend, assuming he was right about exactly what game Raynare was playing, being in one piece instead of several.

"Yo, Issei!"

The look of fear that crossed over Raynare's face when she heard his voice and finally saw him, it was priceless. So good it made him want to take out his phone and snap a picture of it, just to make sure the memory never faded. He wasn't a sadistic man by any means, and he definitely didn't get any kicks out of tormenting others, but he would make a special exception this one time. It was only fair, considering he had a feeling Raynare was about to do something incredibly hasty, stupid, and downright just fucking dumb.

And Issei, he was a cross between a deer caught in the headlights and smiling broadly, a weird combination to be sure but the kid made it work for him, Minato had to give him that. The two weren't particularly close, due to Minato being a second "Prince" at Kuoh Academy, but he was at least on better terms with the 「Perverted Trio」 than Kiba Yuuto, whose name Issei and his friends would curse under their breath for stealing all of the female attention.

"Can I ask you a favor?" Minato asked, pulling out his wallet. He hoped Issei would just do as he was told and go complete the pointless task he was asking of him. He didn't need the brown-haired boy getting caught in the crossfire, and he especially didn't want to accidentally reveal the supernatural world to him. Issei was still a normal human, albeit an incredibly perverted one with dreams of creating a harem for himself, and Minato wished to keep it that way for as long as he could. The boy deserved something resembling a normal life, at least until he was forced to come to terms with his place in the world as one-half of the 「Heavenly Dragons」.

It was why he hadn't told Vali that he had found his "rival" in Kuoh. The great-grandson of Lucifer would likely drop everything if he knew where to find Ddraig's wielder and try to create a situation where Issei would feel the need to get stronger to fight against Vali in the future. A clash between the 「Hakuryuukou」, who had been trained by Azazel himself and had mastered his 「Sacred Gear」 to the point that he could remain within his 「Balance Breaker」 for a month straight, and the 「Sekiryuutei」, whose biggest struggle in life thus far was figuring out a new spot to peek at the girls on the Kendo Club while they were changing in the locker room.

Yeah, that wouldn't be much of a fair fight.

Plus he'd have to hear all the stupid chuunibyou-esque lines Vali had written down in that notebook he thought nobody else knew about, and God bless Lavinia for showing it to him when she and the rest of 「Slash/Dog」 dropped by to assist 「Grigori」 with a Stray Magician problem. He didn't have time to listen to Vali talk about how it was "his destiny to clash with the 「Sekiryuutei」" or how he "wished to fight for all eternity". The guy had gone so far as to write out entire phrases and speeches for when he finally met the owner of the 「Boosted Gear」.

Vali Lucifer. Great-grandson of the original Lucifer. Wielder of 「Divine Dividing」, receiving the title of 「Hakuryuukou」, this era's 「Vanishing Dragon」. An existence that possessed a level of talent and power that could one day take him all the way to the top of the list of strongest beings in the world, even rivaling Gods. And a first-rate battle maniac, instant noodle-loving dork with eighth-grader syndrome, whom he also suspected had a, albeit small and relatively controlled, fetish for women's asses.

The world really was hilarious.

"I'm kinda in the middle of something here!" Issei exclaimed, visibly ticked off by Minato interrupting his date. That was fine, that worked just as well for his purpose. If he was in a bad mood then he was less likely to follow Raynare to somewhere secluded and isolated, which meant he'd be able to keep his body free of any holes caused by sudden impalement.

"Come on, man. Just one quick favor?" He pulled out a couple of bills and stuffed them in Issei's hand. "I need you to head into that convenience store," he jabbed a thumb over his shoulder, "to grab me some snacks and some drinks. I'd do it myself but the guy behind the register and I have sort of a bad history. If I step foot in there again he promised to call the cops on me, and I'm trying to avoid having a record."

"I… That's..." Issei sighed, clearly not happy with the situation being thrust upon him but Minato doubted he would refuse. The boy, when not following his perverse urges, was eager to please others and always willing to help someone in need of a favor. Minato didn't know if it was a personality trait or he just wanted to, deep down, prove that he was more than just a pervert, and at the moment he didn't particularly care either. He needed to have a little one-on-one, human-to-fallen angel chat with their violet-eyed "friend".

"Fine. Yuuma-chan," he said, turning to Raynare. Minato couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. Yuuma? That was a new one. At least she had the sense to not use her real name. Not that it would have mattered, but "Raynare" was more likely to draw attention than "Yuuma". Points to her for that, if nothing else. "I'll be right back," Issei promised.

"Don't hit on her while I'm in there, you stupid 「Harbor Prince」," he muttered under his breath as he walked past him, just low enough that only Minato could hear, and he had to fight down the urge to laugh, both at his unofficial "title" and at what Issei had said. Him, hit on Raynare? Okay, granted, he had made a pass or two in the past but that was out of boredom rather than any actual attraction (other than physical) to the crow.

Her body was a knockout but her personality killed any interest he had in her. Like Kalawarner, but turned up to eleven, and with far more delusions of grandeur filling her head. Every word she spoke to him was either an insult, an order, or a provocation. Unfortunately for her, a dynamite body did not make up for being a complete and utter bitch.

"Um, are you a friend of Issei-kun's?"

Wasn't that just adorable? She was still playing the whole "innocent schoolgirl" routine! Why couldn't she just stay this way? Her disguise, while less mature in appearance than her actual body, more than made up for it in cuteness. With her short black dress and light purple jacket, she radiated an aura of innocence, something he knew for damn sure was one thing the fallen angel was lacking. If she was innocent then he was a goddamn Saint.

"Cut the bullshit. What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Minato asked, putting as much harshness as he could into his whisper. There were still civilians walking around and he didn't need them listening in. Raynare opened her mouth to respond but he cut her off before she could even get a word in. "No, don't speak. Don't even explain yourself. I'm talking now. Have you lost what little brains you have left? Or was I right in saying that you were born without a brain in your skull and that's why you have such huge tits? Is that where you store it?"

A snarl most unbecoming of Raynare's disguise appeared on her face as she whispered back at him. "Go to hell, you little pissant. If you had done your job properly then I wouldn't be here to begin with. The only person without brains here is you. Now, if you wouldn't mind leaving-"

"I did my job by keeping an eye on him, you stupid bitch! I told you that his 「Sacred Gear」 was still dormant and would likely remain that way. Unless, of course, he were to suffer a traumatic experience. Like, I don't know, being murdered by a fallen angel?"

Raynare looked worried now, unnerved by the fact that her plot was slowly falling to pieces. She was lucky, oh so lucky, that they were in a public area. She should pray that when they saw each other at the base that he had cooled off and reined in his temper or they would surely come to blows.

"I-"

"Shut. Up," he ordered, unconsciously causing the temperature in the area to begin to rise as his ruby red eyes flashed dangerously. His 「Sacred Gear」, though lacking in anything that could be categorized as a soul or consciousness, did have a will of its own, and that will was detecting his own desire to simply char the fallen angel and be done with it. He noted that he could see beads of sweat start to appear on Raynare's forehead.

Good.

Let her feel the heat for a little while.

Let her know just how close she was to being burned alive.

"You listen to me, and you listen well, Raynare. The boy dies, you die. This is not a negotiation, a suggestion, an agreement, a compromise, or a debate. This is a promise and an order. You want to play high school girl and "ride the dragon" all night long? By all means, make the kid's day. But if I find out you went against our direct orders to observe, and not assassinate him, so help me God, I will burn you and your damn lapdogs to the ground."

"Azazel-sama won't-"

"What do you think will anger him more, Ray-Ray?" he asked, leaning in close enough that he was almost whispering in her ear. "That I killed four little birdies because they didn't know to stay in their fucking nest and leave well enough alone or that you went against direct orders, not only mine but Azazel's as well, and killed the 「Sekiryuutei」?"

Minato chuckled lowly, a ghastly smile crossing his lips. "And just think of what Vali will do if he ever discovers what you did. He'd have to wait for the 「Boosted Gear」 to find a new host and then sit on his hands until whoever gets it is combat-ready. I wouldn't want to be the one breaking that news to him, not after he's waited so long for his rival to make itself known. Even Azazel won't be able to calm him down if he finds out that you delayed his promised fight."

He backed off now, content to watch her tremble like a leaf in the wind. Again, he was no sadist, but even he couldn't deny the amusement he felt at the terror radiating off of the, formerly smug, fallen angel. She had never met Vali, at least not to his knowledge, but she knew of him and, more importantly, his reputation. Knew that he had the power to 「Divide」 her sorry ass until she would be unable to even attempt to defend herself from the wrath of a dragon denied its battle.

Before he could taunt her any further, Issei finally returned from his little trip, carrying several bags worth of chips, pretzels, crackers, and other assorted snacks, along with various bottles of soft drinks. Minato couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of it. He told the boy to come back with some snacks and drinks, he instead returned with what looked like half the damn store. Oh well, that just meant fewer trips in the future to satisfy his late-night cravings, so long as he kept the rest of the crows from pecking away at his stash if and when they made a stop by the apartment Azazel had rented for him.

Minato took the bags with a small thanks and a smile. Issei seemed none the wiser and he was sure the message had properly sunken in as far as Raynare was concerned. If she had two brain cells to rub together she'd simply proceed on her little date and not try to murder the boy. And if she didn't follow his orders, he'd kill her for ruining the mission. Cold? Ruthless? Yes, of course. But such was the world they lived in.

Besides, occasional fits of boredom aside, he rather liked this assignment. Attending Kuoh Academy had been a delight so far, always something new and exciting going on at the school. He approached everything with bright eyes and wonderment, never having had the opportunity to attend school in the past. He had pretty much been raised at headquarters ever since Azazel found him, given the best tutors and caretakers possible, but book-learning and having people wait on him hand and foot couldn't and didn't replace the innate human desire to interact with more people around his own age. Minato could only tease the 「Eighth-Grade Dragon Emperor」 so many times before even he needed a break from it, and Lavinia was too busy with 「Slash/Dog」 to come around the base very often.

Once this mission was over he'd have to ask Azazel to keep him in Kuoh Town. Mark it down as keeping an eye on the devils that owned the territory, he didn't much care about the minor details. Now that he had a taste of what normal teenage life was like he was hesitant to simply leave it behind. A life beyond the fighting, beyond the training, beyond wondering in the back of his mind if he'd wake up and that day would be the one where the fragile peace between the Three Factions would shatter like glass. It was nice and relaxing.

"Alright, I gotta get going. You two enjoy the rest of your date. Don't do anything I wouldn't do, and make sure to wear protection~!" Minato said cheerfully, laughing at the expressions on Raynare and Issei's face. With any luck, Issei would somehow, either unknowingly or otherwise, make it past the dark-haired girl's bitchy exterior and she'd cling to him instead of chasing after Azazel or Shemhazai.

"It's your move."

Minato dropped his gaze from the ceiling of the underground sanctuary to the chess board that had been set up on top of a wooden crate, looking at the Stray Priest sitting across from him in mock-confusion. "Were we playing this?" The rolled eyes from the man made him smirk as he reached down to take a Pawn between his fingertips. He wasn't particularly good at Chess, never having much patience for the game, but he was good enough to knock around the newbies.

Unfortunately, before he had the chance to make his move the wooden door to the sanctuary flew open and in stomped Raynare. She had ditched her disguise at some point, back to wearing what Minato had once described as her "stripper outfit", and her face was twisted up in rage. She made a beeline to Minato and the teen inwardly groaned, already not feeling up for whatever argument was about to happen. Any Stray Priests in her way quickly got the hell out of it as she finally reached him, screaming all the while.

"You! You just had to ruin everything, didn't you?!"

"Hi, Ray-Ray! How are you? Did you enjoy your date? I take it by how mad you are that you didn't get laid. Or you did and it wound up being disappointing? I kinda doubt that though. 17 years of being a perverted virgin, I figure Hyoudou can really go if you push him hard enough," he said with a smile. If she was going to bother him over something stupid like her moronic would-be assassination attempt then he was going to do his utmost to have fun with this, at least before he tore her up something fierce.

"I should murder you for this! I had everything planned out perfectly and within the span of a few minutes you dismantled it all!"

"And what a perfect plan it was. You lure a horny teenage boy out into the middle of nowhere and then gut him, how creative. With genius plans like those, you'll level up to a B-ranked horror film villain in no time! But hey, since I've got you here, can I ask you something? Whose territory is this?"

"What the hell does that-"

Minato made buzzer noises. "Wrong, sorry, 'What the hell does that mean?' is not the correct answer. The correct answer is," he tapped rapidly on the makeshift table in an attempt to create a drumroll, "the Gremory and Sitri families! Next question! What system did devils create to replenish their forces after the Great War came to a screeching halt and they realized their race was set to be extinct sooner rather than later?"

"Do you think this is a game?!"

"That's two strikes, Ray-Ray. The answer was the 「Evil Piece System」, but I'll give you some points for answering in the form of a question twice in a row because that counts for something. Now, I don't know if you actually paid attention when Azazel was speaking or if you were just fantasizing about him taking you on his office desk but the Evil Piece system can revive almost anything and turn it into a Reincarnated Devil. You get where I'm going with this?"

Minato dropped any sort of playfulness now, his face becoming deadly serious. He felt the familiar burning sensation in his veins and quelled it before it could go any further. Despite everything, she hadn't killed Hyoudou, or at least he assumed not judging by her reaction. That meant she got to live.

"Not only were you going against explicit orders to observe from a distance, you were about to hand Gremory or Sitri the 「Sekiryuutei」 on a silver fucking platter. How were you going to explain that one away when asked how our target died on your watch? Do you think a simple 'I'm sorry' would have made up for that? And even assuming one of them didn't bring Hyoudou back from the dead, you would have blown our mission as well as our cover. So, I gotta ask, how the fuck did you think your plan would work out?"

"Don't speak to Lady Raynare like that, you trash! That an angel would even take the time to speak to you is an honor!"

Minato turned his eyes from Raynare to the crowd of Stray Priest onlookers. He didn't have to look hard to find whoever had spoken out considering the rest of the group took a step away from the man almost instantaneously. Taking a moment to process the words the man spoke, Minato's serious expression broke as he began to giggle, then chuckle, before finally breaking down in hysterical laughter, almost doubling over as the sound bounced off the stone walls of the underground sanctuary.

"Lady Raynare?!" he practically shouted in-between fits of laughter. "Seriously?! Oi, Ray-Ray, on a scale of 1 to 10, how likely are you to fuck this guy because he called you that? Like, 2? Can't be any higher than that, the only person you seem to want to put out for these days is Az or Shem," Minato said, slipping into using his informal nicknames for two of their leaders. "Fucking hell. "Lady Raynare", oh man. That was good, I gotta say." He wiped a few tears out of his eyes as he finally got himself under control. He hadn't laughed that hard since the day Lavinia showed him Vali's old notebooks from when he was 13. God, that had been such a good day.

"Saying such crass things about one of God's Angels, you're just as heretical as Sellzen!"

The amusement that was on his face dropped off so quickly it was as if it was never there to begin with. He pushed past Raynare and stalked over to the Stray Priest the rest were giving a wide berth to. They, as well as Raynare considering the tinge of fear he could see in her eyes before he passed her, knew that their outspoken little exorcist had just stepped on a landmine. Within a few steps, Minato was standing face to face with the Stray Priest.

"Listen to me, okay? Really, really listen, because I'm only going to say this once. If you ever, in your miserable life, compare me to Freed Sellzen again, I'll kill you. Okay? Do you and I have an understanding? I'll kill you, drag your corpse to the devils that run this town, have them reincarnate you, then kill you again on the spot just so you can go to your final resting place as part of the race you so despise. You get me?" he asked calmly, never once letting his voice rise beyond his normal speaking tone even as his 「Sacred Gear」 began to raise the temperature in the room to a sweltering, suffocating heat.

He forced his power to comply with his demands to turn it down, lest he lose control of himself and engulf the man in his Holy Flames out of sheer rage. To be compared to a monster like Freed Sellzen, who went around killing and raping as he so pleased, it was an insult beyond insults. He was nothing, nothing, like him, other than a few unfortunate physical similarities shared between the two, i.e. the white hair and red eyes. Freed Sellzen was a monster. Ayanami Minato was not. Full-stop, nothing more needed to be said. And Lord have mercy on anyone that tried to state otherwise because he had none for them.

The priest before him could only nod as he shook in terror, even as his sweat poured down his face and his eyes bulged in fear. That was all the answer Minato required. He looked over his shoulder to where Raynare was still standing, her entire body tensed as her violet-eyes stared into his blazing red ones. "The 「Sekiryuutei」 is off-limits to you now. Go near him again and you'll be lucky if all I do is inform Azazel about what you planned on doing."

He didn't wait for her response, simply turning on his heel and walking out the door and into the dark hallway that would take him to the stairs. No more words needed to be exchanged between the two of them. If she stepped out of line again then she would die. Hyoudou Issei, the unwitting owner of the 「Boosted Gear」, this generation's「Sekiryuutei」, and member of the 「Perverted Trio」, was an innocent. They did not kill innocents. If Raynare couldn't understand such a simple concept then she had to go, simple as that.

Finally reaching the ground floor, Minato paid no mind to Mittelt's questions as to what the hell had happened downstairs and why he had turned up the temperature of the entire building, merely walking out the Church door and resolving to get a good night's sleep after this tiring day. After all, he had classes tomorrow. Wouldn't be right for him to stay out late on a school night.

Author's Note: Alright, so, another experiment of mine, currently trying out a third-person narrative. This time with an OC that replaces no one (at least not to my knowledge of current DxD). Decided to go down a different path with this story than the usual fare of a normal human being reincarnated into a Peerageand have him be a part of Grigori instead, at least for the time being. Whether or not he'll wind a Devil is still up in the air.

Harem pairing, because it wouldn't be DxD without it, and I've already decided which girls will be included. The only one I'm on the fence about is Le Fay Pendragon because she's so damn cute and adorable and I just want to pat her on the head.

For those curious on what Minato Ayanami's appearance is exactly, Google up a picture of Accelerator from Toaru Majutsu no Index. That's my boy. God bless Accelerator and his laugh. However, only his look is borrowed for this fic, not his personality or powers (maybe another time though, that might be fun). Points to anyone that's figured out what Minato's Sacred Gear is though. I've left more than enough hints to figure it out but if you still don't know then you'll be stuck wondering for quite a while longer.

As for canon, I'll be following it to some degree while still being detached from it. With Issei around to play the hero role when necessary, I'm free to explore uncharted territory. Look forward to that.

Review, leave your thoughts, your concerns, your questions and I'll do my best to answer you all if/when I get off my butt and write a new chapter.