~o~o~o~o~o

Soon after their confrontation with the president both Minato and Roland were led to their class by the Sitri, all the whilst Roland was looking around seeking corruption whilst Minato was having a conversation with Bael.

'This is a disgrace! Utter bullshit! How can my descendents be so weak?! I had Legionnaires stronger than her! She is a clan heir to one of the Pillars! This is absurd, unacceptable!' Needless to say Bael was disappointed at the current devils, though it was probably good for Minato if the demon king was horrified of what happened to his people.

Metatron was vainly trying to keep the peace 'Calm down you big volcano of malice', Helel's constant guffawing at the devil king made him only more furious at his circumstances, he had once set the world to fire with his prowess, pagans cowered and angels shivered in front of him. And now thi-this devil ran a school?! Minato sighed before he entered the conversation, 'I still require your help Bael, we need to identify the devils and see if we can grab one of those evil pieces they use to male humans into devils'

'Of course Messiah, I must request that you release me to set these fools straight, they must be taught the-' Bael's eager request to end the stain on his reputation was stopped just as quickly by the Messiah.

'No' Minato swiftly crushed any thought of letting Bael roam free.

Minato was finally drawn out of his mind as Sona snapped her fingers in front of his face, "Yes president?"

'The heir of Sitri, such a weak devil she is' Bael sneered, 'Much like her useless ancestors, serves them right for playing around with water instead of fire and destruction'

"As I was saying this is your class, please beware of the Perverted Trio" with a stiff nod the devil was gone before Minato could response, and he knew why.

He looked at Roland who had a sheepish expression, still jittery he had poured killing intent at the devil when she had raised her hand towards his face, "Let's go Roland" as he entered the class he was unaware of the devil that had barely made the corner and collapsed to the floor in fear.

Sona was shivering as she sat on the floor wondering what sort of creature that blonde was to release an aura like that, she wanted to call her sister but at the end her pride as a devil won out and she decided to confront him on her own, with her peerage of course, never had she felt such killing intent in her life, with a shuddering breath she gathered herself and picked herself off the floor.

Inside the classroom conversation quickly stopped as the two transfers stepped in, both took their places next to Honoka, the homeroom teacher of the class who was quick to introduce the two to the class, receiving fairly interested looks. Except for three certain perverts who cursed them as 'damned pretty boys' however when told to take a seat both took a seat near the 'leader' of the perverted trio, Issei Hyoudou.

Minato was stuck looking at Issei with a judging gaze, he switched Bael out for a Persona more useful to check and manipulate souls, with his ultimate persona the Messiah equipped none other than the Messiah though he did not manifest him choosing to just analyse the soul of one Issei Hyoudou.

He had already scouted the remaining class and suppressed the sigh of relief at finding them to be perfectly normal human beings.

"Oi pretty boy, what are you looking at?" Minato snapped out of his analysing gaze looking at Issei before nodding to him, "We'd need to talk during the break"

Issei scrunched up in concentration before his eyes widened, "Are you with the?"

Leaving the sentence open ended was rather smart of him, not mentioning Merlin as a wizard, Minato nodded, "During the break" They would ask Issei to let them train him as one of the guardians of hukanity.

Issei's former thoughts dropped his thoughts again going back to his near death experience as he nodded before his mind diverted again, "Why'd you have to be bishonen though?" he muttered remembering the wizard didn't look bad either, he looked up at the blonde horrified, "An entire group of them"

~o~o~o~o~o

Merlin knew the Messiah had told them he'd let them go to britain to check on his homeland soon, but he couldn't help himself as he cast one of his strongest long distance viewing spells on the former location of Camelot, the castle of his oldest friend and king- King Arthur Pendragon.

In the mirror he was using a large castle appeared, with rather strong- his eyes widened, it was his magic! His wards that protected the old castle, it was truly amazing that his magic had stood the test of time to such an extent, he delved deeper, looking through the walls, happy at the castle's preservation till he chanced upon a blonde man practicing swordwork his eyes flared with excitement as he recognised the the sword, Caliburn, the sword in the stone.

He smiled, satisfied with his scouting and firm in his belief that Britain would be safe with a Pendragon still alive, "Your blood still runs strong old friend"

Back to his main task Merlin cast a different spell this time, one meant to seek out demons- now modified using the signature of the young sitri he met the day before, with his staff he prepared to leave before pausing, "Oi! Samael wanna go demon hunting?"

Before merlin could even close his door the angel in question was next to him, wearing the traditional white armour or heaven though his had streaks of red in it, "Of course I do" He had an eager smile and though his preferred weapon lay with Michael he was a twelve winged angel.

Merlin honed on to a group of weak fainter signatures he had associated with the council of the sitri before grunting in annoyance as he saw as the signatures were in an another church, though this one was in a fairly public road and not damaged he nodded towards the door his eyes glowed an azure blue as he concentrate, "And warded with inept spells to" he cast two sets of cloaking and disguising spells, "Gotta walk to the devil I suppose, let's go Samael" his eyes narrowed, if there was a third peerage then the Messiah had to be informed.

Samael frowned, he would have loved to kill the devils indiscriminately, for in his view they had much to answer for but the Messiah had strictly ordered to not kill any devils unless necessary and avoid killing those that were resurrected, "Is it one of those unlucky devils?" He would slay devils without a hint of guilt but even he was hesitant in killing those who had no fault in becoming what they had become.

Merlin nodded as they took to the street, "We're not killing the devil, just going to capture him for research and see if I can make the evil piece leave the devil safely" Samael just grunted in discomfort, if the devil die they would violate the Messiah's orders.

Merlin turned his head and sighed, "I'm the archmage of Camelot Samael, few beings in history could claim to master magic better than I swear I won't fail to keep the devil alive"

Samael nodded, he had been imprisoned before Merlin had lived but he knew enough of the legend from his siblings to not doubt the intentions of the mage, "What did you need me for, it is as you say you are an archmage, we're not fighting a real demon either"

Merlin just shrugged, "Your father represents hope for many humans and his angels embody his light, I have hope that they'd have that same hope after getting over the terror of seeing the leader of their arch nemesis"

Samael was about to snort at the thought of a devil appreciating his light before deciding not no, if the Messiah could redeem one like him surely a devil was no problem.

So he and Merlin continued their path to a very notorious devil who was eagerly waiting for his next prey to fall.

So Archmage and Angel made their way to a confrontation that would only serve to adversely affect the intense hatred that boiled within Samael's heart for the demons.

~o~o~o~o~o

Minato was followed by both Issei and Roland, Issei had tearfully been torn from the other two perverts as other than peeking he was half dragged to a secluded corner by Roland, whose instincts as a Paladin almost made him swat at the other two brats with his sword.

As they stopped Issei finally stopped whining as Minato looked at him, once more with the Messiah equipped, the human soul of Issei was linked by a white chain to a red orb, presumably his sacred gear, "Troubling" his mutter caused Roland and Issei's background conversation to halt. The chain was a beautiful work of art that resonated with him but it was resonating in a bad way, it was calling for help.

The chain was rusted, pure white had flecks of dull white and patches of grey, it was worrying because Hades words resounded in his mind, 'The system is falling apart' Sacred Gears were powerful instruments supposed to be humanity's defense against the supernatural. For them to be relegated to lottery was absurd, even catastrophic, to Humanity's continued health.

"Minato-san why'd you always start brooding? I skipped Oppai watching for this you know?"

Minato nodded absentmidedly, amazed at how perverted the boy was, if the system was fixed he had no doubt the boy would have been deemed unfit as one of the champions of humanity, "Roland will explain your situation to you" He delved into his mind, calling for a Perona attuned to souls and artifacts, it was true that his Messiah persona could probably fix the problem individually but this was a problem that needed to be fixed in its entirety, to make sure that the system would actually work properly they would need beings that were both experts in the usage of light and the manipulation of souls he opened his eyes, in front of him was the sea of souls, more specifically an office with fifteen beings that would change the world. And at the helm was no other than the Messiah himself.

Outside Roland just stood guard and came up with the best explanation he could, before Issei start ranting about Oppai again he struck first, "The supernatural are real boy"

Roland went on, "The supernatural are all real and as you saw they like killing the innocent"

Issei was a pervert, but he was not a heartless one, "That's not good!"

Roland shrugged, "Life often isn't boy but there was a god that loved humanity, loved them enough that he decided to make life fair" Roland took in a deep breath.

He looked at Issei his blue eyes digging into him, "You were attacked for a reason boy"

Issei just stared at him, "I mean yeah, mister wizard told-"

Roland still looked grave, "I knew many great men who were champions of humanity, the greatest of them often ended up giving everything up for their race. For them, for us, nothing is more impprtant than the safety of Humanity"

He pointed at Issei, "Those gifts I mentioned" Issei nodded, "Within you lies one of them, and the potential to become another guardian of earth, the devils will tempt you and the fallen will assault you other pantheons will dislike those you champion the cause of Humanity but the moment you were chosen by God you were entrusted with a duty, one that is yours till death Issei Hyoudou, so do you accept?"

Issei had only one thought on his mind, that he could be a hero and heroes got harems, "I'll get a harem then?"

Roland just stared at him, then at the Messiah that was still standing like a block, probably conversing with some Persona and then turned back to Issei, lust like this was often what once combined with power corrupted the greatest of beings, Azazel was once pure and now he was a fallen who was the evilest of them all, In his mind the boy was unworthy, not qualified to be given such power. How could this be the current generation of heroes? Once there were heroes like Perseus, Achilles, St. George, Arthur, Lancelot and the first Messiah himself, and now this?

Issei slumped at seeing Roland's expressions cycle through disgust, horror and nostalgia, "So I don't get a harem?"

Roland snorted, "At this rate a restraining order is what you'll get boy, you are no Arthur or George but you're apparently the best I've got at the moment" he slapped Issei on his back, "I'll have you straight and proper soon enough" he'd give him a shot. For the sake of his old comrades and the Messiah he will give this pervert boy the chance to stand shoulder to shoulder with the greatest heroes.

Issei looked at him horrified, "What?"

Roland smiled a practised, "Rule number one, Heroes don't indulge in pervert acts"

Issei's eyes had tears pooling in them, "But that's not fair! Heroes always get what they-"

Roland would later admit he snapped, he got so angry, here he was giving this schoolboy a chance that many of his comrades didn't, here he was offering him to stand amonst the most revered people in human history, and the only thing he thought of was a harem? Was that all the current generation took from their stories of suffering? Was that the value of his life's work in this boy's life?

"You think being a hero is easy? Heroes don't live for themselves, they're those who dare to stand up when others cower! They fight when the weak despair! They care not for rewards nor fame or gifts but for each night another one sleeps easy due to them! We give everything up to protect those that can't protect themselves, Being a hero is the worst thing for you, but we do it because it is not us that we worry for, it is the countless innocents that count upon you that we care for, knowing that" He looked into Issei's eyes, one last chance, "Do you want to be a hero?"

Issei was rooted in his spot Roland's words going through his head worry rising, all he wanted was a harem, who knew being a hero was not actually about getting the girl and winning the day? He struggled to find a reply before slumping, he just wanted to be a harem king, it was his dream and he would never abandon his dream, "I-I don't wanna be a hero" Before he could turn and run his shoulder was tightly held by Roland, "Stop Issei" He sighed his anger had washed away, this was a boy raised in peace, what would he know of their struggle? He should be thankful for this. Children that knew no war, "Listen before you leave"

Issei stared at him, "You won't force me to become a hero?"

Roland snorted, "Heroes aren't made like that, Issei, don't put yourself down if you don't want to be a hero, it is a harsh job. One I myself find difficult. But I request that you not reveal anything we have talked about, okay?" he threw a small marble at him, "And carry that at all times, we'll protect you and your family"

Isse just nodded, he just wanted to go now the teasing of his friends was becoming all to obvious once he returned about how they had fun, "I promise Roland-san I'll make sure to not tell anyone about you or Minato-san"

~o~o~o~o~o

Minato sat in his assigned chair, he had talked and talked with his persona but all was clear, "So as long as he doesn't act we can't fix the system"

Thanatos looked helplessly at his master whilst Hades replied steadily, "We can still probably rig the system to be better, maybe make a choice on some parametre, it'll work for mayhaps a year before going back to it's damaged state, how he made this behemoth of a structure I can not believe how complex this system is forever feeding of his followers and angels faith to continuously cycle and yet come back on death, the meritocratic feature seems to have been disabled after the population crossed five hundred million from my other self's memories"

It was here Prometheus interrupted, "It is clear the big dude wasn't able to program it to its fullest extent but still we should be able to rig it for an year as Hades said, a generation of heroes would be a boon for humanity, in its current state a demented serial killer is as likely to get get a sacred gear as the holiest of saints"

Odin shook his head, "A temporary fix is undesirable, we need to either fix it or stop it make sure it doesn't dispatch gears to the enemy, perhaps we should gather our own faction of heroes and grant them gears?"

Solomon's eyes lit up, "A faction of heroes would be the most effective indeed, especially with the golden generation of heroes guiding them it would be hard for them to go wrong"

Minato just looked at them, they had been unable to come up with a permanent solution beyond rigging the sacred gear system for an year or somehow stopping it and opening a hero academy and granting sacred gears there, whilst the idea had merit he had no wish to open a hero academy or a faction so early when there was so much he had yet to know anything, "He'd probably have to converse with real Hades at length again to catch up on what happened, "It is a meritable ideas, I' will see if I can find some young heroes to mentor at a later date"

After some time of more chatting they finally dispersed and he found himself blinking blearily as he saw the back of his blonde guard but not the brown haired boy they had been here to recruit, "Roland, where's Issei?"

Roland just shrugged, "It seems it was not in his fate to be a hero" He turned to face Minato, "Any news on how to fix this mess the system have become"

Minato just looked down and shook his head before equipping Thanatos this time, not letting him manafest though, and going onwards and re entering the school, followed closely by a disappointed Roland who had hoped the Messiah could fix the system.

Later he would talk about Issei with Roland and they would agree, there are standards a hero must meet and lust was certainly not one of them.

The subject of their thoughts was about to enter his class, having removed the previous conversation almost entirely.

Before Issei could enter the classroom he was stopped by someone pulling his sleeve, he looked around before looking slightly lower and spotting a silver haired girl known more commonly as the school mascot than her name, Koneko Toujou, his pervert sense was already tingling before his sleeve was tugged again, "Yes Koneko-chan?"

Koneko just looked at him blankly, "Pervert senpai has been called by Kaicho"

Issei's head went to lala land as he nodded in approval imagining on of the two great sisters of the school wanted from him, ignoring the fact he was being dragged and how the charm he was given slightly bothersome marble in his pocket, he ignored the marble, he ignored the call of human magic and forward he went following a devil's tale.

Devils were creatures of desires, whilst heroes were embodiement of virtues. Perhaps it truly was not in his fate to be a hero but the question remained-would a resurgent heaven let the devils keep the longinus sacred gear?

~o~o~o~o~o

Merlin was many things, calling him the most powerful human was probably an understatement, at this moment however he was confused they had entered the church only to find a fully functioning church right on the edge of Tokyo, and thus in Youkai territory (not that he knew that) rather than Devil territory, the weird thing was how it was staffed by sixteen devils, all reincarnated and one that was significantly more powerful than her comrades.

As he sat on a pier he was heavily confused, so was Samael, why were a group of sisters posing as devils? Merlin figured it probably had something to do with the devil sitting in a separate room.

"Can I help you gentlemen?" It was the leading devil, she smiled and yet Merlin saw the fakeness from a mile away he smiled back.

Behind his smile he charged a powerful mind reading spell, "Say sister, is there a priest around, my friend and I are here for a confession"

Worry flashed in her for a minute before she shook her head, "I'm afraid our priest is rather busy and unavailable for a confession right now" She nodded towards the cross ignoring her headache putting it to being a devil in enemy territory, "You may pray at your discretion"

Merlin was already sorting through her memories, at first he had intended to do a cursory light search, that thought had ran away from the moment he had encountered the most recent night she had with the devil in the other chamber he had cast a linking spell, letting Samel see what he was seeing.

The more they saw the more it horrified him, putrid rage begun to bellow but seeing her fate, and her suffering sorrow came quicker and deeper, "I'm sorry sister" Samael was silently sitting next to him, it was akin to a volcano about to erupt.

The nun looked confused before shaking her head, "I should be the one sorry, I'll see to it our priest is here next time sir"

Merlin shook his head as he closed his eyes, rage boiled as even he almost broke his calm, "What ought a good man feel?" He opened his eyes, they blazed blue much like the barrier that had surrounded the church to make no outsider suspicious, "But sorrow at your undeserved fate?" The Nun's eyes widened, at his blue eyes and his companions shaking shoulders, yet Samael restrained himself, if he killed such poor souls even by accident whilst they were devils they would never be granted the relief of heaven, so he shuddered as he controlled his rage.

Merlin's eyes darted towards two of the pawns, the nuns were gathering in the center of the church, with one of them going to call the monster, but two pawns- they looked no older than seventeen, girls really- stood still, still not broken they had hope that these two men could do the unthinkable, "Take cover behind me, I swear it on my magic no more harm shall come to you so long as my magic runs strong on this earth!" any sign of hesitation vanished as both of them almost ran behind him.

The devil- the one in the other chamber- came out, finally choosing to intervene as the situation escalated, for the last the church continued making rescue attempts, the outer circle might hate the now devils but the rage the cardinals felt, especially after his last target infuriated them so much they had send Dulio himself after him, he would arrive soon, though not many knew about his mission.

"Leave now wizard" It was new voice, but by now it was almost familiar, he looked lecherously at the two ladies that took shelter behind the Archmage of Camelot, "And tell those pesky clergymen of yours these nuns are mine! You can't free them because they're devils now" He grinned lecherously, "And mine to do with as I wish"

"And what if you die?" Merlin's voice was cold, his magic prepared, the two nuns behind him were already guarded by two light blue shields.

The monster sneered, "Then the factions war again because unlike you I'm a clan heir!"

Merlin clicked his tongue, horrible death was no longer an option it seemed, "In the memory of my old friend, I give you this one chance to surrender yourself to me and be administered justice peacefully and painlessly" Eh he'd make it work, if the devils demanded justice after he showed them proof of such abuse then neither the Messiah nor he would care anyways.

Two magic circles with the crest of Camelot appeared next to him, unrecognised for Diodora was not old enough to know of it, "Or die most painfully cretin" venom dripped from his words as magic gathered and his capturing spells, his chain was ready and his bluff was charging.

"Why do you care wizard? These nuns are nothing but sacks of flesh anyways, would you not leave? They are my property after all" Diodora nodded at him, "How about I stop chasing the Holy Maiden and you-"

Samael had enough, he had enough of this smug madness, his father would have acted to end this injustice no matter the concequences. This was injustice, and injustice was not tolerated by those of heaven, "Who do you think you are devil?"

Both Merlin and Diodora looked at him, Diodora gulped, only the strong used their power so wastefully to project, because they had it in spades to spare, "I am Diodora Astaroth! clan heir of the house of Astaroth, please I implore upon you let us not start that whole mess of a war again"

"The likes of Belial fled when I gave battle, just who do you think you are?" Samael was enraged, no he was beyond rage he was furious, the spell containing his form shattered, he unfurled his wings, "Like father used to say, better war than to let the unjust rule!" the nuns on Diodora's side were shocked by the presence of an angel, their instincts as devils made them want to puke or run in terror, but the faithful in them, the nuns who were so battered and bruised that they had been suppressed by this emotionless state, a dam broke free even in the queen the oldest of them as most slumped to the floor crying, at the end of their nightmare, the hope or just exuberation.

Diodora? he just shivered as the rage of the most holy kind directed at him before trying to backup only to be pushed forward by his own queen, "You trai-"

The rest of his words were left unheard as he was slammed into a wall by Samael who had his throat in a chokehold, "Focus on your impending destruction boy" Diodora paled he knew that ball of energy floating close to his face it felt to similar to the power of destruction held by the clan of Bael, before he yelped as he was suddenly thrown into another wall, "Had you not been needed alive I would have killed you on sight cretin"

Merlin's chain rose and stabbed the Astaroth through his stomach, and it was even more painful than a sword as it was a blunt object that pierced him, "I hardly need him not in pain" Merlin smiled, he prepared another spell, one of the most terrible mind ripping spells he had known, "Hadn't you been taught the golden rule as a boy?"

Blue lights ripped into the Astaroth clan heirs head as he screamed in pain, his mind being decimated by the magic of Merlin, "Do as you wish for others to do to you"

For fifteen minutes the nuns gathered themselves from the floor and saw Diodora writhe in agony his voice gone from pain-filled screams, before they suddenly stopped and merlin's eyes stopped glowing blue, Diodora Astaroth lay on the ground more dead than alive, before a ball of light touched his corpse and like dissolving it into nothingness.

The peerage of the Astaroth had done nothing to help him, their queen pushed him to the enemy and s the betrayal clause activated, letting the power course into their bodies giving them a boost and mutating the peerage, such was the fate of a rebellious peerage.

Or that would have happened if Merlin had not locked away the evil piece from the peerage, a blue bracelet appearing on all of their hands, "I'm afraid other than offering you all refuge I can't do much else, once we contact the vatican we could have some place set up for you"

Merlin was cut of by one of the two pawns, "We are devils no Lord Wizard, Lord Angel, death is the best that we can request from you, it is already very kind of you to rescue us, even though we are-"

"I know devils" Samael interrupted her, "And you are not one, it is the will of father that you be helped and as the champions of his will we shall help you, My father would have helped you, and he had always told us people are made by experiences not flesh" He looked at Merlin in consternation before coming up with a suitable name, "Marius open a gate to our safehouse"

Merlin nodded and waved his arm opening a gate, "Please settle in, I'll see to you as soon as me and Angel boy have some words"

The nuns wanted to say no, such kindness was beyond them- they who could not even take his name without flinching, before they looked at the angel looked at them pleadingly and went in without protest.

"Did they go to our base here Merlin?" Samael was worried about them but dealing with the emotional ones was always done better by Gabriel.

"They went to a castle in France, one of my places when I used to be alive, I used to practice alchemy there. I reactivated the wards they'll be fine, I'll make sure of that, besides they'll be human in no time" he ended the last part with a smile.

Samael looked at him curiosity in his eyes, "Oh?"

Merlin shrugged, "let's just say I've got a fairly well established understanding of the evil piece system"

Samael gave an impressed gaze, "It took the devils centuries to make this system and you did so in minutes?"

Merlin gave a smug smile this time, "They were banging rocks to create fire whilst I created Caliburn, Clarent and was integral in creating Excalibur, all swords that could rip gods a new one easily"

Samael nodded before looking at the spot where Diodora lied before dying, "Will the Messiah be angry?"

"He is never angry, though once I show him what we saw he'd probably agree with us regardless" Merlin opened another gate, "I wonder if the devils the Messiah is with are similar"

Samael's eyes flared, "If they are then their race is better dead than alive"

Merlin sighed, "Peace Samael, perhaps they are not too bad as a race" as he stepped in the portal.

Samael sighed, reigning in his hate for the devils was often hard. It had been millenia from the war only for Azrael for him he remembered his curse, the stabs he felt as any of his siblings fell to the demons, how he raged despite his curse. He remembered them all, and such a grudge, though he had attempted to bury the hatchet, even an angel could not let go off.

~o~o~o~o~o

What Merlin said about the devils was not literally true of course

So we end here with quite a bit of action and Diodora taken care of, I' was going to make this a ripples chapter but I guess my fingers went another way sorry for that, Thanks to all the reviews and favs and follows, I've found the support is mindblowing thanks again. All reviews are appreciated and all that I can answer through pm are answered.

Betaed by : Noone I just revised it