In a world filled with misery and uncertainty,

It is a great comfort to know,

That in the end,

There is a light within the darkness

-XxXxXxX-

I was finally released at sun down; the tight corridors of my hotel room had almost rung me over the edge like an angry ex wife on a bad day. About a haft hour ago I had received my orders to move towards a distant family farm house that was experiencing a 'Problem', the orders I had been given were almost music to my bored ears

Find and eliminate...

Pretty much the same as all the others, some family up in the south had a bad case of ghouls roaming around her family farm and it just so happened that the only call that had gotten through her land line was to me and my superiors in the Vatican

'What a coincidence' I thought sarcastically as I loosened my priest's collar to allow as much spring air in as possible, July heat is a bitch especially when it's in the States

The ghouls were the least of my problems; they usually meant a vampire was lurking around in the area which had me branding a few items of interest just to 'spicen' the night crawlers day. Placing my gear into my hidden jacket pockets I picked up a 4-5 foot long roll of cloth and proceeded towards the family house

I had reached the intended house in a skip and a jump and was glad I had made it there before the night had fallen due to my value of my only vehicle I had parked a few miles down road, the night wasn't ideal for hunting a vampire and not having a good escape plan was a horrible thought for me

'On any circumstance, I'd rather make this quick then draw it out' the less this family had to witness the better, and as I walked up the steps towards the family house door I could practically feel the foots steps ring out in the old wooden floor boards as a women in here late 20-30's leapt out and into my arms, fear and relief written on her face all at the same time

"You're finally here father Blackburn... thank god you're here" she said my name in between a sob, her emotions were a complete wreck, and distraught was the smallest of descriptions that could relate to the women,

'she must've seen allot' I summarized as a looked around to see various household products either tipped over or destroyed, a struggle had obviously gone down in this house and I could practically whistle at the luck the shocked girl had cause she sported zero wounds, she may have had a bruise on her wrist but she was otherwise physically fine, Psychological on the other had was a different story

I had helped her stop crying but all she did after that was stare off into space as I carried her inside, Who can really blame her, not many people get to witness a small zombie contingent make itself present out on your family door step and by the lack of other family members around she was probably all that remained

Grimacing, I laid the women on the couch and casted a light sleeping spell around her, sending her into a dreamless sleep, the shock of what she had witnessed had sent her into a survival adrenaline rush and after I had arrived she convinced herself she was safe and with that in mind the adrenaline keeping her functioning had begun to were off allowing the nights events to sink into her mind

Once I had finished with her I glanced around the houses interior, nothing to different, the couch sat adjacent to the fire place which was burning with fresh fire wood, two other chairs sat on either side of the couch and a kitchen was directly to the couches left a set of stairs were directly to the left of the front door entrance and a back door was also seen on the other end of the room, directly ahead of the front door

Two entrances and a chimney, making a total of three large entrance ways, not to mention the various windows located around the houses interior, I grumbled softly, the location wasn't in the least my most preferable place to combat the vampire and its pack of ghouls, however, insuring the life of the women had to come first before confronting the creature but its nest needed to be found before any action could be taken place even before that

I had taken the time in locking both the front as well as back doors for basic security and then I moved to the windows on the main floor only, the top floor wasn't necessary as there was only one creature I'd be dealing with that was capable of leaping a story high so even if it did come here I'd now who it was

The intelligence of the vampire could also be determined, if it sent its ghouls after me first then its intelligence was there but if it attacks first then it's just another blood lusting creature in need of being put down

Vampires had a form of hive mind when it came to its ghouls so if it died then the ghouls would follow along with it, cut the head off the snake's head and the nexus shall fall, the only hard part was dealing with the strength, speed I could handle

As I secured the living room I placed various holy seals and magic traps all around the living rooms perimeter and, for added measure, threw a bundle of garlic into the fire place, very primitive survival technique which had been taught to me,

Griselda Quarta, an old friend of mine who had grown up alongside me in the Vatican had proven to handle Vampires much better than myself, much to my ire, but other than that we've been on a same level

'I could use her help right about now though' it wasn't a form of weakness really, it was just my paranoia for the helpless, and Griselda was always better at handling the helpless while I was better at dealing with the problem: other then my dislike of her skills against vampires I took no irking to her 'babysitting' skills, and because I had only one vampire to deal with didn't mean I wouldn't appreciate the small amount of help from my 'babysitting' friend

Shaking away the thought I took a glance to the clock and realized that the time was late evening meaning the sun had fallen, the lack of natural light flowing through the windows also helped in answering my un worded question, now that the house was basically my fortress and the girl was clean of all impurities meant I could start my work

I took my time as I calmed the farm from inside the living room, the lack of movement outside was the most worrying, if I was a novice then that would worry me, however, I wasn't so the lack of movement was actually a good sign, it meant they were either still asleep or they were eating, the cattle ranch that I had seen on my way up was empty and not a single cow bell was heard which left me to guess the ghouls and the vampire had rounded up 'appetisers'

Animal blood wasn't as filling as human blood which gave me only so much time to locate my targets before they became hungry again, a direct approach could be my best option, the sheer presents of my holy divinity caused by my crucifix around my neck would stir the 'hornets' nest into a frenzy, for the ghouls of course, the vampire would either attempt to flee if it was weak or stand and fight if it was either strong or heavily arrogant

But there was also the idea of taking a guess and heading towards the barn to my immediate left, the other side of the road was basically no man's land as no other buildings were in sight all that remained was the barn and a cattle field, there was a wheat silo but if the vampires were there then they must have broken some kind of unnatural record of sorts

All that could house the ghouls and the vampire was obviously the barn and with that in thought I grabbed my cloth wrapped item and stepped outside, not before confirming the seals and barriers were in place of course

As soon as I stepped out and into the darkness of night all ambient sound ceased as if the vary appearance of me had stopped time itself, the light poles were destroy as they were laying directly over the only other truck in the area so there was no light what so ever, complete darkness was basically the play ground for creatures of the night, closing my eyes I muttered a single phrase

"And the light shines in darkness; and the darkness comprehend it not" (john 1:5) as I uttered the verse in a whisper I felt a warmth fall over my being as the feeling of dread left me and in its stead was a comfort, opening my eyes I could see all of the farms details much clearly and to anyone else who saw me, my eyes would be burning orbs of white light, blinding to evil and comforting to the good

Now that I could move without worry of running into something I tightened my grip over the cloth wrapped item in my hands and pressed towards the barn

The vision of mine brought many different affects, aside from being able to see in absolute darkness I could see darkness itself, this was because the barn I was walking towards had a large degree of black smoke rising from it, its flow was fast but not crazy signalling whatever was inside had evil intentions, however, if the flow of the darkness was any faster I'd basically be walking towards a house of devils, something that wasn't on the forefront of my mind

As I stepped closer towards the barns entrance I noticed the smoke had slowed down considerably which had left me in wonder, how was this vampire able to hide its intentions so well? Perhaps its ambition was faulted when it felt my presents and it was now planning to run or maybe...

My inquisitive expression dropped when the barns door opened slightly allowing me to see in towards the barns interior, I snorted in disgust when all I saw was the bloody remains of a man, or what was left of him, his torso was wrench open exposing his ribs and where his heart was supposed to be, key word 'suppose' as there was no sign of any heart, his arms and legs were torn off leaving only the head, which was mangled beyond recognition

Poor bastard...

In the distance I noticed a blurred object come flying towards me, its lethality was all but no existent when it landed at my feet, glancing down I took notice of the missing heart which caused me to snort softly, it mutilated a man and now it had the audacity to taunt me

May it make good hunting in Purgatory

Looking over to my right and then my left I noticed a handful of ghouls meandered out into my view. Each and every one of them look like they were residents as they wore farmers clothing, a ghoul was seen wearing classic blue coveralls with a red under shirt and another wore a white house apron, obviously it was the mom and dad as they each looked older then the two other ghouls who looked to be in their teens, similar to myself except less ugly... and blue

From atop the barns upper rafters sat a man, he was a normal build. Possibly in his mid twenties which had him looking rather college boyish, short and spiky black hair sat lazily over his head and a 'city slicker' outfit adored his person, if my intuition was as good as I was evaluated as then this man was obviously the 'soon to be son in law' the daughter had brought home from her trip to the 'outside' world, it's a common tradition amongst everyone, bring stranger home for 'the test' but it just so happened that the daughter had accidently brought home a vampire, which had ended up destroying her life

I ignored the vampire and glanced towards the ghouls again and looked to them with slight sadness

"May you all rest in peace" I muttered calmly

"Hehehe, well he's resting in pieces if that's what you want" called out a voice; I had expected a rather rude comment from the creature above me... They always seem to say the wrong thing

His tone of voice was a snarky, cocky tone filled with malice and a level of unholy essences that had crawled its way up into my ear drums terribly slow, its voice was the last thing I wanted to hear now as I was close to ending this very soon

I glanced up towards the vampire calmly; my white glowing eyes gave the creature a very cold chill up his spine

"I do not recall directing that to you" I said as the vampire got up and stood on the rafters, his posture showed he was trying to intimidate me, his scrutinizing gaze battled with my calm gaze as I remained silent, the vampire smirked and released a small chuckle as if aware of something

"Oh? Why not? I thought the teachings of your god taught you to love your enemies" he pointed out mockingly

"The word of god didn't say anything about keeping monsters like you alive" I answered evenly

"That's a very stretched belief you have there exorcist, perhaps I misjudged you" he said spitting the word 'exorcist' like it was acid in his mouth

"Do not wage judgement on those you aren't familiar with vampire"

"I believe there isn't much to familiarize myself with, you see, by what I can understand is—"he ranted on as I ignored his pointless words and instead calmly unwrapped the clothed item I had been carrying

Dropping the offending fabric the vampire stopped mid rant to glance down towards the weapon I had revealed, set at a length of 4'6" was a straight Zetsurin katana, both the handle as well as the scabbard was white in color with a golden metal design all around where the 'tsuba' was suppose to be, the very appearance of the weapon gave off a faint white glow that caused a sense of hesitance to fall over the vampires being, unfortunately for him, he seemed to still hold the 'higher than thou' expression

"That's all? A sword? Hahaha! You honestly believe that little thing will kill me?' he asked with cockiness dripping from ever word, I simply shifted my sheathed sword to my left hand and gripped it in a reverse grip, my grip was loose but firm as I held the concealed weapon at my side, and as I took in my stance I felt whole again, like a piece of a puzzle had finally been placed in the right spot

Show time

"If that's your choice... then so be it priest" called out the creature as it stepped back, the ghouls that had been waiting by finely shifted and limped their way towards me, I surveyed the positions of my immediate targets who were closing the distance, eyes sharpening, muscles tensing I waited for the first strike to arrive

I didn't wait long as the self preservation instinct in ghouls was nearly zero which left them numb to the impending danger they were closing in on. For an instant the barn was filled with the sound of metal leaving a scabbard then returning a second later, and as a faint clicking noise resounded through the barn did the following sound of blood spraying from a deeply cut wound

I appeared as I did seconds ago but the female ghoul who had lunged toward me was now lying on the ground in a bloody heap, its head cleanly removed at the neck.

"H-How...?" gapped the vampire as the corpse burst into white flames, I simply glanced towards the wide eyed vampire with a bored/disappointed expression written on my face, this seemed to anger the 'powerful' vampire because immediately after it saw my expression it pointed towards me and yelled commandingly towards the ghouls, who quickly adopted a more aggressive movement style, instead of heavy shimmying the previously limping ghouls lunged all at the same time

Predictable...

The most guessable move a panicking target was to use every asset he/she had in order to overwhelm its pursuers or it was to cause a diversion, however, the vampire seemed to be of the former action as he still remained in his place, commendable but arrogant, even I knew when to retreat

It's better to remain alive and fighting then dead and useless

As the creatures of the damned closed in, time slowed to a crawl as I dexterously swung my sheathed sword around, striking each of the three ghouls in critical stunning locations, as my last strike slammed into the last ghoul I spun and slowly unsheathed a bright razor edged blade from within the confines of the sheath, the first ghoul to finally collect itself was suddenly bisected at the hip and then the second down the middle, the last was still moving at a crawl but I moved faster than light itself

With a final swiping of my curve-less Zetsurin sword I smoothly sheathed it, the faint clicking sound resounded and the three strike's that which were previously inflicted were finally registered, the first ghouls torso fell from its body causing blood to fountain like a gazer, the second split in haft giving off the same amount of blood and the last fell forward spewing the crimson liquid like rain, seconds after each body was enveloped in a white fire

The previously cocky vampire now showed its previous human characteristic's at the sight of its minions' demise; fear wrote its presents on the vampire's face as the night walker stared into the white glowing eyes I held

The only thing crossing his mind was probably 'Why?' 'How did this happen?' they usually think that as the defeat finally sinks in

However...

The defeat had initiated a completely different emotion, I could see a rage-full expression morph onto its face, completely flushing the previous fear from its expression and now it looked mindless, completely forgetting its intelligence and now it opted to use brute force to win

"RAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH" its beastly roar could have practically torn the barn apart as I remained stationary, expression calm as ever. The raging vampire had finally lost it, how its expression went so drastic was beyond me because all I did was exorcise four ghouls, that action shouldn't have warranted this kind of reaction

Seems he's having a temper tantrum... heh heh

The eyes of the vampire snapped to me as its previously red eyes were completely engulfed in the crimson shade, its nose was snarling and its fangs were bared like a wild animal shot up with rabies, for the most part I remained as calm as ever keeping my white glowing eyes trained on the rabid vampire before me

His hesitance was probably due to the icy feeling my eyes were drilling into him, a rabid vampire was usually worse than a normal one but if one was trained well enough then all you needed to do was A) stay clear of its reach, vampire strength is gnarly and it could snap even a well built person in haft and B) a rabid vampire acts on quick decisive impulses, if one wishes to attack then do so without hesitating

With all the training within my mind I leveled my swinging arm over the handle of my sword; my stance was pristine and well sharpened. Years of Iaido training had sharpened my senses to almost inhuman levels

"RRROOOOOAAAAAHHHH" the vampire's battle cry bounced off the wooden boards like a ping pong ball and its heavy foot falls followed after its mighty roar, as the vampire was fast on approach I closed my eyes and waited for the best time to strike

Once the vampire reached the 10 foot mark I quickly unsheathed my blade in a swinging motion, a soft ringing noise followed as a crescent shaped wave flew towards the charging vampire at blinding speeds cleaving him from the right hip to the left shoulder

Blood sprayed from the vampires back covering the barns rear door in a deep crimson shade and as the body of the vampire fell to the ground I sheathed my blade officially closing the vampire's life to an end

Sorry mitro... no luck for you...

-XxXxXxX-

"So what happened after that?" asked a young girl officially shaking my attention from the memory, I smiled down to the child and patted her head softly; I was so busy rehashing my tale that I had lost myself in it, the memory was my... second? No, third mission I had finished alone, usually I had my friend back me up but sometimes it's good to just wing it, the victory is twice as sweet

"Well sweetie, what do you think I did?" I asked in return, the girl's expression changed to a questioning one before she turned back and smiled

"You helped the lady!" she said with a joyous expression, I chuckled softy before poking her chest playfully

"You got it" I answered as I sensed a presents behind me and smiled to the girl and pointed to her friends in a field

"That's enough story time ok, how about you go play?" I said gesturing towards the boys at the park, the girl smiled widely before turning, I smiled at the girl as the sweet innocence's she had reminded me of my own, when I was young of course, turning my head I saw none other than Griselda Quarta, an old friend of mine, step up behind me

She, as always, wore a regular sister's outfit, the simple color scheme of black with white trimming, she wore white garments underneath her black sister outfit, and her sleeves had multiple 'iron cross' designs all around her wrist

Her expression held one of light surprise as she had probably witness me being all 'father' like towards the orphans, couldn't really blame her, most of the time I held my usual stoic expression or the cold one for that matter. The sight of a genuine smile on my face was probably a sight to see

I think...

"Well aren't you being all friendly" she said in a kind voice though I hinted some teasing laced within her words, I simply brushed off her slight teasing tone like a leaf in the wind, we may be good friends but that didn't mean there wasn't a slight unprofessional rivalry between me and her

"What is it that you wish to speak of Griselda? My time here is short" I said while ignoring her teasing eyes, the women before me signed calmly while muttering 'hardass' under her breath before replacing her previous expression to a serious one

"The archbishop has called your presents, seems like things are stirring up in Japan" she informed with a calm expression, I could see her expression look of one with more thought in the manner it was hard for normal people to see due to her usual friendly disposition but under her seemingly normal personality laid a much more 'emotional' quality

I ignored the chance to call her out on the matter as I wished to keep my head, heavy teasing usually led to light banter and then bloodshed which, in front of kids, was a big no-no

"Aw yes, Japan..." I began as decent memories passed by my mind, it was a land of which I had the pleasant memory of meeting a select few individuals, both figuratively and literally, one of Griselda's pupils' was born there some time ago. Huh, to bad she was off on business, she could've reunited with that friend she wouldn't shut up about

'To be young...' I thought with a smile, it may sound weird that a seemingly young man such as myself had said that as I could basically pass as a senior high school student. That however was far too hard to answer, since I had grown up with Griselda since her younger years, however she was the only one able to age pasther teens, I on the other hand remained as young as the night sky

Like I said... It's complicated

"What kind of problem do they wish to speak about?" was my second inquisitive question, Griselda narrowed her eyes ever so slightly at my continues questioning but she dropped it and relented the information.

"The 'fallen angel' kind" she answered cryptically, the answer was pretty much a wide blow, bunch of fallen were stirring up trouble in Japan and they want me to see what it was, though with my skill set they must be high ranking.

I released a sigh at her words. The fallen angels were a different bunch, they acted like bipolar children, one minute their passive as all git up then the next second they're out for blood.

Releasing another sigh I rubbed my cheek "Alright then, I'll see you around Griselda" I exclaimed with a friendly smile to which it was returned in kind

"May god's words bless you, Isaac" was her farewell comment; I returned the gesture with an acknowledging wave and went on my way towards the archbishops office room, I hadn't really expected a sudden rise in fallen angel actions as of recent, the angels had be assisting us Christians with minor help and the devils remained as dormant as ever, maybe a few rating games sprang up here and there but it was always noble publicity stunts to strengthen relations among their own houses

The fallen angels however showed to be more active than the rest, aside from the Vatican's actions of disposing the odd heretic, the fallen angel's actions might as well be considered full on military, with all the gathering of fallen as well as the increase of sacred gear users. That is what had set off the higher ups; one of the three sides was increasing their ranks with sacred gear users, one in particular stood head over heels above the rest

In all of my years of service before the church I had never experienced this much apprehension, with all that has changed I was prepared for the worst, the peace treaty between the three races was dangerously thin, so thin I could cut it, even the simplest of actions against the other could jeopardize peace on earth, and the fact that I was probably going to be issuing reconnaissance had me shaking with unrepentant excitement.

I was a swordsman; yeah damn right I'm excited

But I was not interested in the mindless slaughter of innocent lives, and for some reason the fallen angels just loved killing them. Tch, for a bunch of former angels they sure didn't act like it, at least the devils had the heart to keep them alive albeit in slavery with a crap load of sugar coating on it

I had reached the archbishops office sometime after my inner thoughts had ceased, flexing my fist for a second I gave the door a firm yet respectable nock and awaited my approval which was not to long as the voice of my superior called out to me

"You may enter" was the calm voice of archbishop Doran Arndell

Stepping into the brightly light room I noticed the ever familiar glass window of the cross looming over my superiors back, its bright light was blinding but a few seconds and it left me as my eyes adjusted to it

It never ceased to amaze me on how this man's room could be field with so much sun light, first impressions would probably leave you thinking archbishop Arndell was a little scared of the dark

I hadn't noticed but my inner musing seemed to have caused me to unintentionally chuckle at my thought's which had caught the cloak wearing mans attention quickly

"Care to explain what's so funny father Blackburn?" he asked commandingly, seems today was a touchy day, steeling myself and coughing my previously expression away I locked my blue eyes with his aging grey eyes

"It was nothing archbishop, just a fleeting memory" I answered

"Be that as it may I would like you to stay focus Isaac, I have an important task for you and your full attention is required" he advised seriously. Bloody hard bastard never laughed or joked, which had made it slightly hard to deal with almost every time I found myself in his ever brightening office

Good thing he's a temporary superior...

Looking towards the bearded man I gave him my usual stoic expression "Will this take precedence over my immediate mission?" I asked.

"Sadly yes, I have already reassigned father Anderson to your job and would like you to instead take this one" he informed while studying a sheet of paper, most likely containing the basics of my mission

"And why is it that this job demands my skill set... if I may ask of course?"

"The details are in the manila file in your chambers, however your departure is to be as soon as you are able... are you able?" he asked while narrowing his eyes to me

my simple response was a nod

-XxXxXxX-

An hour later and I found myself on a public jet to Japan; the destination was kouh city, apparently by what the reports said I was to recon the territory for any suspicious activity, and if any were found I was to, like always, asses and eliminate the threat

For the hundredth time that day I sighed at my situation, due to curtain restrictions in Japan I was unable to use the private jet to kouh as it was devil territory, for some reason my superiors didn't want the locals to know I was here, no argument there, devils were of the least of my concern, if they were harmless, if they proved otherwise then... meh, I'll answer that when the situation demands it

Shifting in my window seat chair I leaned over and watched as the clouds passed by and after what seemed like a couple minutes did I finally drift off to sleep

-XxXxXxX-

The journey to the land of the rising sun was a long one; and now that I had finally landed I could fully embrace the wonderful feeling of jet lag.

f_ck

The silver lining however was that the Vatican higher ups had the decency to rent me a relatively comfortable hotel suite, they may be hard asses but damn did they show it in style and as I plopped myself onto the soft mattress I couldn't help but thank whatever luck I had

My 'time-zone adjusting' sleep ended an hour and a few later helping me to feel much better than a ghoul on a bad day

"time to go to work" I muttered while lifting myself towards the desk at the far side of the suite, whatever time I had prior to sleeping I had spent in unpacking and detailing all my Intel of my job, not much to unpack so it was mostly a skim through of what I'd be looking at, all that I had been briefed on was located within the manila folder archbishop Arndell had given me

'Let's see here..." I trailed off as I read through the documents, nothing stood out as all I could understand was that this city was a vary disclosed area for devils to roam in piece, not a single church was active within the city limits, Kyoto had active churches but every one of them in kouh were either replaced with shopping districts or rich duplex houses

Although, one church still remained, its structure was beaten and it was but a mere shadow of its past self.

Heh, this wasn't exactly hard to figure out, a novice exorcist could've made this out in the same time span that I had taken

The churches location was located near the edge of the city limits on a hill in the suburbs; almost everywhere around it was surrounded with thick tree lines making it a perfect place to hide something. All of this was probably already figured out by the scholars in the Vatican which only left me as the answer finder, the fallen angels were up to something and my job was to stir sh_t up

Tagging the place on my mind I slipped on my casual outfit so to keep incognito and strode out the door, I wasn't planning on making myself present yet if not at all, the vampire job I had done a few years ago was a learning curb in my time with the church, this situation didn't demand me to walk to the maidens door step, catch her in my arms, then proceed to handle the threat like a clichéd action hero, Griselda had practically drilled that message home long ago

Knowing your enemy is haft the battle...

The damn saying ran through my mind like a mantra as I walked the streets of kouh, my first action was simple, walk by and look as ignorant as possible, if I was approached by any such individual that looked in any way fallen then I was to act the tourist Schick like I owned it

I stopped in my walk when I noticed the intended church in the distance, the mid day sun shined down on the city limits but it seemed to ignore the church as no sun light beamed down onto it giving it an eerie vibe

Ignoring the common instinct to stay away I dipped into the forest canopy and proceeded towards the church. Not much was left of it when I finally got close enough to see every detail; glass was practically decaying off its foundation as the wooden structure seemed to shake at even the slightest of breezes, it was old but not that old

Sniffing the air slightly I nearly gripped my nose in distaste when the stench of 'blasphemy' reached my nostrils, it wasn't my beliefs that spoke per say but it was the classification the church had given that 'beautiful' smell. The stench exhibited evil and vile intentions, a 'blasphemy stench' could be only smelt when a evil force derived in a location for a long period of time and when its exposure is left unchecked then it can even effect the resounding area as well, hence the decaying structure

Whatever these 'angels' were doing they were doing it sloppy cause I've already found their base of operations

-XxXxXxX-

A had left the church some time after without so much as attracting any attention, apparently the fallen were out and about as there was no fallen angel presents resonating within the church, but they did leave their bread crumbs un-scattered letting me believe it was their base of operations

A few days passed as I studied and watched the churches movements and status from select locations all around the area, from distant roof tops to the top of the church its self, the results were the buildings continuous decaying structure and an increasing urge to vomit whenever I'm close to it, it seemed its condition was ever dropping as I skillfully deducted

I scratched my head while I skimmed over a dossier of four individuals I had dug up, the first was a man appearing to be in his early thirties and he wore fedora and an over coat which was grey in color, the second was a relatively young girl about fifteen years old who wore a gothic Lolita which was black and white in color, the third was a older women appearing in her late thirties or early forties, she wore a rather provocative outfit reminiscent of a purple secretary outfit and the last was a women I had classified as the less then decent individual. Black hair, violet eyes and a very provocative attire of leather, leather straps and metal spikes, the word 'bondage' would leapt into one's mind at the mere sight of her

An hour later and my email was answered by one of the many scholars in charge of my operation, the man was named Dohnaseek, a low classed fallen with only one pair of wings, his arrogant disposition was rather dutifully noted as his most outgoing personality, facing him was gonna be annoying, the girl was classified as Mittelt, similar to the man she was a single pair fallen, her personality wasn't noted but it wasn't needed as I've been able to eavesdrop on a few of their less then 'colorful' conversations, confidence radiated from her like the sun

The secretary women was named Kalawarner and I swear to god I was starting to doubt the level of threat these women were carrying because each of them were single winged, the last one, Raynare was their leader and she herself carried nothing special because she, as well, had a single pair of wings, all she had above the others was that she wasn't registered on the Vatican's radar meaning she's been less than a nuances up until now and even then her threat level was laughably low, I didn't get any info on her motive's via Scholar but with the help of eavesdrop spells leveled all around their little base helped me learn a shred of her objective rather easily

A day from now an un-named individual was apparently being reassigned to that particular church. The level of threat this Raynare carried was so bad I had haft a mind that this said individual was the actual leader, aside from the random insults being spewed out towards each other the fallen seemed rather driven to whatever their objective was

I sure hope it's of high importance or else I'd feel my skills were at a waste here... or the Vatican just wanted this job crushed as soon as it veered its ugly head

"Seems as though the threat of the fallen is becoming more apparent, even the less then notable are making moves" I muttered as I polished my sword. Finishing my daily cleaning I admired the blades shine before sheathing the silver blade back into its white scabbard, a bored expression written on my face as I did so

At some point in a swordsman's life comes a period of boredom, were there is absolutely no one who could keep up with you in skill. Griselda was a fantastic swordswomen but even then it wasn't her line of profession and I had passed her skill level years ago... and I had yet to meet someone of her skill since

I wasn't a fanatic for violence but I wasn't a pacifist either, I would at all points avoid a battle if necessary but when it came to those who don't listen to reason then I'll let my sword do the talking, my skills would become my charisma

My thoughts were interrupted by a sudden rise in power not too far from where I was, the power was unnaturally familiar but I dashed the feeling in favor of seeing what it was, stepping towards the window I peered out into the evening sun

The almost empty city helped in determine what had happened, across the way towards a street was a green glow that gave off high amounts of power, it was powerful but nothing of eye opening level as it died down in reading, I didn't want to let an opportunity slip as I slipped on my churches grey cassock grabbed my sword and hurried out to find what was happening... hopefully it was one of the fallen, I could use some more solid answers right about now

-XxXxXxX-

On my way towards the disturbance I could hear a distinct voice of a women, an angry women mind you, yelling towards someone I couldn't make out just yet

'So she's confronting someone, but with whom?' I thought confusedly, if the 'angels' had plans with this mysterious girl then why are they making a ruckus before he/she arrived, whatever they were doing it was beginning to look even more sloppy then what they initially showed, it was under my understanding that whatever someone plans the followers are to make as little a ruckus as possible so to keep as much attention away from them, it sort of helps the plans move much smoother

I finally arrived at the scene to see a young man about 16-17 years stand before Kalawarner, the description I had received of her helped me in determining who it was the boy was facing, luckily the women was facing away from him as I chose to approach from her rear, the boy looked to be of normal build as he had no evident muscles or any form of build for that matter, he wore a regular outfit for urban exposure but what caught my eye however was a red and green fingerless gauntlet, most of it was red but the gem on top of the hand was green, two yellow spikes jutted out of the sides towards the upper part of his arm

'so he has a sacred gear, too bad the first thing he's facing is the kind who take the most interest in them' I was mildly surprised that I had found a sacred gear user on this 'mundane' task but it also spiked my inner instinct to assist him, sacred gear users were far and in between and they were also the only weapons that could help humanity if the war did reinitiate

What kept me from helping however was because the vary boy I was looking at wasn't who he appeared to be, from the outside he appeared to be a normal human but that was simply because his power reading was so low, if one trained on his presents they would sense the faint unholy energy within him

'so he isn't a human after all but is instead a devil' I grumbled internally, it seemed the other two fractions, being the fallen angels and the devils, seemed to have more luck in acquiring sacred gear users then the humans and angels, albeit the latter had a barren few

For observational purposes I remained where I was so to learn of Kalawarner's power level, and all that I had been able to learn was that she was all talk with no action, the reason? For the last minute the provocative women simple chose to attack the teen with various insults then just killing him out right

The worst part was that even though the women's top was gone, she still remained calm and ignored the fact her breast's were hanging out, I felt my expression drop at the rather 'funny' situation, a women's anger is something hard to control and judging by the women's expression the previously arrogant fallen anger was out for blood, so much so she didn't feel the need to cover up

Now that's angry...

Don't take my actions the wrong way, Devils are my enemy but ONLY when they choose to be, a long time ago there was a more lenient treaty between the three races when the war was closed in on a cease fire and at that time the kingdom of man was beginning to reappear after its destruction in the war. Each of the three races came together so to make a peace between them to let the kingdom of man restart a new, however, the devils were allowed to take a select few into their ranks to help rekindle their numbers, that was the bases for what was to become of the 'evil pieces'

The other two races didn't get much else other than a limited freedom to go about themselves daily, the angels basically secluded themselves and only appeared to assist churches and humans, the fallen went about in the underworld and would later witness the devils civil war, some may say they even participated albeit vaguely

Whatever the case I simply took in what I had been taught years ago and acted based on my principles alone, stepping out from my cover I moved much faster than a normal person and I quickly found myself in between the teen and the much older fallen angel

At the sudden appearance of me the two reacted predictably, the teen widened his eyes and nearly jumped out of his skin and the fallen angel gasped and almost did the same as the boy although it was much more hidden then the formers reaction

"What the...? Who the hell are you?!" the women demanded as I kept my gaze on her, I held my Zetsurin loosely at my side just in case the women became unreasonable

"My name does not matter, what matters is the immediate actions you were about to take" I replied coldly

The women's expression morphed into rage filled ones at my words before she finally chose to retort "this has nothing to do with you priest now stay out of this!" her expression changed however when I flicked my sword out just enough to expose the silver blade's shine

"I'll make it my business" I said threateningly

When it comes down to the basic understanding of power one must understand that power, when in high doses, instinctively instils fear in the hearts of weaker individuals and Kalawarner was one of those individuals, at my slight action and my silent promise of pain the formerly angry fallen angel adopted a desperate expression

"I've got better things to do, I'm gonna let someone else deal with this crap" she said quickly before turning tail. Huh, seems like one of them is a coward and I honestly didn't even try that hard, she sure scares easy

Hearing the soft click of my sword being sheathed I sighed and attempted to leave but the teen behind me called out in thanks

"Thanks for the save back there dude, I owe you" he said rather flamboyantly if I duly note, his previous expression was now one of sheepish thanks as he smiled and waved towards me like we were buds

"What's your name?" I asked while keeping my cold gaze on

"Dude, what's with the expression." he asked while he pointed to me, he didn't show fear but I could see my presents was making him restless, the green gem on his had was even glowing faintly signalling even it knew I was a threat, the boy however remained unaware

Ignorance is bliss I suppose

"Forget my expression and answer me please" I informed with a little more force

He blinked for a second before answering "my name?" he asked so to confirm my previous question to which I nodded slowly "Oh.. Well... it's Issei Hyoudou, nice to meet you" he informed in between hesitance, a small smile following his words

I nodded to his introduction but kept my gaze on him "Well Hyoudou, do you have any idea what I am?" he inclined his head before answering "A fallen angel?" he answered with a confused tone

I could've sworn my eyebrow twitched at his claim. Thank god I'm a nice guy; anyone else in the Vatican would've lobbed his head off by that statement

"No Hyoudou, I'm an exorcist... your enemy" by my answer the boy tensed up in fear. It was a reasonably reaction

"Before you run Hyoudou, I have a message for you and your master" I said while keeping my expression primed on his scared eyes

The boy remained silent as I thought of a message; all my actions up to this point were adlib so I had absolutely no idea what I was planning but instead of turning away I pressed on

"Tell your master that if he/she wishes to keep his/her members alive he/she is to keep a better watch on them" I said seriously, Issei simply nodded to my words

"that goes to you to Hyoudou, from what I can understand you are new to being a devil am I correct?" he nodded to my words, he look rather depressed at hearing that but I ignored it and continued

"then a word from the wise" I started as he looked to me "the odds of you dying are much higher now, so keep your eyes open" I warned him, the teen nodded again like a child being scolded by a strict parent

"If you've got any other plans tonight then I recommend you cancel them... For your safety of course, fallen angels usually hunt at night" I said while turning to leave, here I was in a land far from my birth place scolding a newbie devil

Life sure has a way with twisting fate

"Yeah, I've kinda learned that by now" he said while gripping his stomach

"You can go now Hyoudou, and remember to relay that message of mine" I reminded Issei as he picked up his bike and peddled away

I too chose that time to depart back to my hotel suite as the night wasn't my desired time of day either, I had learned of the fallen Angel Kalawarner's personality and behavior and learned of a devil by the name of Issei Hyoudou

Although the latter wasn't initially intended

"I do wonder how that master of his will take that advice of mine, though he didn't seem too scared when I told him to relay a message meaning his master isn't the 'kill the messenger' type, but still..." it was a fleeting feeling of worry towards a former humans life, one usually didn't take slavery in a good way... usually, and the treatment behind it was anything but pleasant my actions were to give him a simple heads up on his new life... he'll need it

-XxXxXxX-

Issei's day couldn't have gotten any worse, nearly an hour ago he had been summoned on his first contract but all he got out of it was a heated debate about 'Dragon boy Z' with no pact in the end to boot and then he had been attack by a crazy bitch of a fallen angel who apparently had been sent out to kill him, the reason eluded him just as much as the platinum haired exorcist who had come to his aid, and like before the reasons still eluded him, the man barely looked like he did it out of the kindness of his heart and he hadn't a clue why the man went out to help him in the first place

Stepping into the old school building the young teen made his way towards the occult research club room with a degraded look on his face

"This sucks, how am I suppose to become a harem king with a start like this" the classic anime tears strode done his face like a river at the depressing thought

The teen stepped into the club room with a much better expression as he felt he needed to make an impression that the shitty day didn't deter him even slightly, to bad for him the raven haired women in the room was much better at detecting his foul mood

"Ara ara, did it go that bad" she said with a teasing tone a hand clasped on her cheek to add to her innocent expression, at her words the young males expression morphed back to his earlier expression of sadness, Akeno Himejima simply chuckled further at his change in attitude

Rias Gremory held herself firm when the new pawn of hers returned but it dropped when she took notice of his down casted expression appear at her queens teasing tone

"What's wrong Issei, did you make the pact?" she asked causing him to turn to her with a saddened expression

"Sadly no" issei informed sheepishly

"well, don't be too down it's not like everyone makes their pact on the first try" Rias reassured softly, the teen shifted in his spot at her kind words and suddenly remember that he had something of more positive value

"I did manager to awaken whatever this is" he said while showing off his red and green gauntlet, at the sight of the gauntlet Rias' eyes widened considerably

"How did you awaken it?" she asked skeptically

"On my way back here I was confronted by a fallen angel again" he replied making Rias' eyes narrow at their actions

Calming down some Rias smiled proudly towards her new pawn "yes, that's your sacred gear, Congratulations" leaning forward on her desk Rias admired the red gauntlet carefully all the while thinking of her current position, ignoring it for now Rias returned to her earlier conversation

"Now that you have awakened it, it's up to you if you want to turn it on or off" at her words the gauntlet shone brightly before vanishing

Issei rubbed the back of his head in relief all the while muttering that it would 'get in the way'

"I'm so proud of you Issei" gushed the raven haired women who had also noticed the red glove on the boys hand; however, no one heard his comment

"Though this does put me at a tight spot, now that the fallen angels now know that not only are you alive but you have also been reborn as one of us which is bound to make things complicated" she muttered while looking off to the side

Rias' words caused the young teen to stir nervously, if the fallen angels were gonna make things complicated then what would she think of the exorcist that helped him

"Issei, I was wondering how you managed to ward off the fallen angel" she said while glancing towards him questioningly, even the others eyes burned into his back at the inquisitive question

"W-well... I- uhh... had a little... Help" he informed with great hesitance, Rias suspected the boy was talking about his sacred gear; however his expression explained that it was much different, perhaps it was one of Sona's servants that assisted him and he had no clue

"Issei? Who helped you?" pressed the red head

Issei knew he was on the spot and he also knew that nothing would get him out of it and so he answered as calmly as possible

"He was an exorcist" he answered

The expressions of everybody morphed to great shock at the information, Rias showed the heaviest amount of surprise as she had never in her entire life heard of such a thing from happening, an exorcist was never known to leave devils standing much less unharmed but this one did, her anger grew at having not only the fallen angels in her territory but now a follower of the church?

Anger was the least of her emotions but she remained calm so to make sure the boy didn't see her wrath out in the open, it would probably make him think he was at fault which he sorely wasn't

"And what did he do?" she asked

"He stopped the fallen from attacking by flicking that sword of his out, scared her off pretty good, not much else after that" informed the brown haired second year, at the teens words Kiba widened his eyes when Issei mentioned 'sword', the blonde released an addible growl at the mere thought causing Koneko to look to him with an expression of well hidden worry, shaking it off the blonde teen ignored the anger and continued to listen carefully

"What happened after he warded off the fallen angel? Did he attack you?" she asked showing her worry for the boy

"No, he didn't attack me at all, all he did was..." issei paused at what he was about to say, call him nerdy but everyone knew that the messengers always got the short end of the receiver's anger

'Crap! How the hell do I put this? Do I just go and say that your friendly neighborhood exorcist wishes you some constructive criticism about how to handle your servants? Or do I say something else? AW to hell with it'

Steeling his nerves issei eyed Rias seriously causing the women to blink sheepishly at his sudden change from nervous to determined

"All he did was ask me to relay a message to you" he informed while upholding his expression of seriousness

Rias inclined her head in question "Oh? What kind of message?"

Issei sighed "I'll try to word it like he did" he closed his eyes for a moment as if trying to remember what the man had said before reopening them

"Inform your master that if he/she wishes to keep his/her servant Alive then he/she needs to keep a closer eye on them" he said while reciting the message to the letter

An eerie silence filled the room's previously warm atmosphere with a much tenser one, every person in the room besides Issei held a nearly blank expression

Rias dipped her head down so to hide her eyes from the calming Issei, the boy was about to say something but a simple nudge from Akeno prevented him from saying anything

Looking to the girl Issei's eye brow raised when he saw Akeno's serious expression, sighing to himself the brown haired teen bowed in respect to his master before dismissing himself in favor of calling it a night

All that remained were the four devils being Koneko, Kiba, Akeno, and finally Rias who had no qualms with expressing her anger more openly

"That Exorcist... he may have my gratitude for helping Issei but he has no place in how I handle my servants" Rias' anger was boiling at the audacity of the exorcists words of apparent advice, the sheer level of dishonor she felt with him advising her on the matter was like a tear to her pride

"be that as it may he does have a point, not too long ago he was mistaken for a stray, I'm not surprised they had come back for a second try" Akeno's words rang true in Rias' mind, it was painfully irritating to her that her newest pawn lacked in so many departments, the biggest at the moment was his inability to transport to clients via magic circle leaving him alone on bicycle was risky and with the words of the exorcist running through her mind she now knew her predicament

She had fallen angels roaming the city doing god knows what (Ow) not to mention they were interested with her new pawn, then she had the exorcist who had gone out of his way to assist a devil in need, weather it was out of the goodness of his heart or a level of arrogance she hadn't seen before left her clueless, all she knew was that two of her enemies were within her territory

"Whatever their plans are, they are not taking away my new favorite pawn"

-XxXxXxX-

Well then, my first chapter is finished and in record time as well, it may feel like I've covered quite allot of ground but meh, I didn't have much else to work with other then getting him in to the flow of things quickly

Anyways as for the story I hope you've cleared your minds because I'm bringing a different story to the table for the DxD plot line, though it may keep its skeleton of a story I'm just doing something that's rare in this universe

Keep in mind that due to my limited knowledge of the full story of high school DxD some characters may appear OOC, my apologies, the wiki is useful but well... it's a wiki, shits off on some source

Never mind that, since I didn't get a chance to fully describe my characters looks I will list his appearance

He has short grey hair that's spiked in the front to have the 'taper' hair style; almost similar to isshin kurosaki's hair style except minus the sheer size of it (you can fit a whole baseball in that)

His personal attire is gonna mostly be the classic church outfit, a grey Cassock over coat jacket with two coat tails, its interior is purple as well as the trim, black under clothing followed by black dress shoes he will not have the priest collar as in his words "I feel like its choking me"

His urban attire will vary

I also feel as though his weapon of choice should be describes just so I can feel I've covered everything, he uses a Zetsurin katana, it's not curved like all the others and is instead completely straight in every sense of the word, it's also completely white in color, both the handle and the scabbard, there are various gold designs all over the handle and the scabbard such as golden cross designs, its back story will be shown in later chapters

Now as for Isaac's back story, he will mention it throughout the stories progression so keep an eye out, if you haven't noticed I had put in a good chuck of it regarding Griselda, if you have notice then I'm sure you've figured out some of his 'situation'

Also there was a Easter egg within the story, find it for an almost none excitant chuckle at my inability to make a good Easter egg

Anyways since I've been beaten senseless with Writers block on my other stories expect some quick updates for now, until then I'll see you in my next chapter

PS. Sorry for the shitty summery, I shat the bed on that one

Peace ;)