[] Lunar
It has been about a week since the rating game and bloody hell, it has been a busy week. The visit from my sister has put me into gear redesigning my Cybernetics for better defence against multiple opponents attacking simultaneously. I have had some very pleasurable moments with Kuroka, when does her mating cycle end? Don't get me wrong I am not complaining about it at all, it's just I don't want it to really stop. I also have a very grumpy kitty cat running around my house at the moment as well, I don't see her during the day and if I do she doesn't talk to me but she always comes back to sleep in bed, I don't know, females. Also almost forgot that Rias is supposed to be moving onto base, I had completely forgotten. So instead of building a new house, which would take close to 3 months, I am renovating one of the old demountable barracks so I can move it when it is needed. So by day I was a renovator, by night I was a weapons designer and Kuroka managed of somehow squeeze in between all that. I am just finishing up tiling Rias' bathroom when I receive a very concerning text from her. It reads,
"Hi Anthon,
I have finished packing and am waiting in the club house. However 2 exorcists have shown up and I want your support if this goes south.
Rias"
"I guess I have a job to do" I mumble, moving the left over tiles outside. I pick up my radio, "Landcruiser, I need you to grab the car trailer and meet me at the academy," I say lightly jogging towards the control tower.
"Roger that sir," he replies as I get to the front door.
"Where are you off to in such a hurry?" Kuroka asks as I head into the bedroom.
"2 exorcists have shown up at the academy and Rias has asked if I be there to deter any physical conflict," I say as the mechanical spider equips me with my freshly built 3D printed arm.
"I am coming then, I need to talk to my sister and my presents will certainly deter conflict," she says getting off the lounge and begins to change into something more combat ready. I attach my swords on my back and make sure my clips are full. I grab my trench coat and walk outside with Kuroka. She creates a magic circle on the ground below us and we teleport away.
1400hrs
Occult research club, Kuoh Academy
We teleport into the main club room to find Rias and her peerage on one side of the room and 2 cloaked figures on the other. I go and sit on the chair behind the desk and Kuroka stands behind me. I can fell the atmosphere, it is setting off every alarm in my body, warning me that shit is about to hit the fan and that I am going to need to step in. I look at Rias' group, Rias and Akeno were sitting with a serious face but what had me concerned was Kiba. He was death staring the pair however I can't blame him. He wishes to destroy the holy swords as he swore to avenge his brethren that died because they were incompatible.
"Now that everyone is here, we can begin. Who are you and what do you want?" Rias asks very bluntly.
"We thank you for your cooperation, my name is Xenovia," says the female with blue hair
"I'm Shidou Irina," says the female next to 'Xenovia,' "Recently the Holy-swords Excaliburs that were kept by the Catholic Church Headquarter Vatican, Protestant Church, and Eastern Orthodox Church were stolen."
This is not good.
"Excalibur itself doesn't exist," says Rias. I am guessing she said that because Issei has a confused look on his face.
"I'm sorry. One of my servants recently became a devil, so can we continue this conversation while explaining about Excalibur?"
Irina nods at Rias' request.
"Ise-kun, Excalibur broke in the war a long time ago."
"Now it looks like this," Xenovia says, picking up her weapon, which was covered in cloth, and revealing it to everyone.
"This is Excalibur." Or rather an Excalibur, I have seen photos of all the Excaliburs and from memory, that one is Excalibur Destruction. In combat that sword is the biggest threat to me.
"Excalibur was broken into pieces during the war a long time ago. The fragments were collected and turned into a new form by alchemy. It was made into 7 swords. This is one of them. The Excalibur I hold is "Excalibur Destruction". It's one of the 7 holy-swords that were created. The Catholic Church is in control of it."
Xenovia puts her sword away and wraps it with a cloth. I notice that the cloth has spell symbols on the cloth. I'm guessing it is sealed for a reason. Irina also takes out something that looks like a long rope. The rope straightens then transforms into a katana.
"Mine is "Excalibur Mimic". I can change its shape into anything I want so it's really useful for carrying around. Just like this, each "Excalibur" has its unique ability. This one is in the possession of the Protestant Church," She says with pride. I can see the fear being emitted from the devils due to the presents of 2 Excaliburs.
"Irina… There's no reason to tell these devils the ability of Excalibur, is there?"
"Xenovia, even if they are devils we still have to form a trustworthy relationship with them in this situation. Also, even if my sword's ability is revealed, I won't fall behind all the devils here," Irina says confidently. She probably has the confidence that she absolutely wouldn't lose to us, however I doubt that she has noticed that I am not a devil.
"Maybe it's not the devils you should be worrying about," Kuroka says, causing the 2 to look towards her with curious looks on their faces. Their faces change from curiosity to horror when they realize who she was referring to.
"Commander? I didn't expect you to be here as you have only just been contacted by Michael," Irina says, slightly cowering behind Xenovia.
"I have very close ties with these devils plus you are operating in my territory," I reply, "but please continue, pretend that I am not here but I would like to know, what does the stolen Excaliburs have to do with this country located in the east of the World?"
"The Catholic Church was in possession of two Excaliburs including mine. The Protestant Church also had two. Also in the Eastern Orthodox Church there were two as well. The last one went missing in the previous war between God, devils, and fallen-angels. One Excalibur was stolen from each Church. The ones that stole them escaped to Japan, and brought them to this town," Xenovia explains.
"Well shit it appears that I am going to have to get my team ready for battle," I say, leaning back in my chair.
"So who are the ones that stole the Excaliburs?" Rias asks
"The ones that stole them were the Grigori."
Rias widens her eyes in surprise at the answer.
"The holy-swords were taken by the fallen-angel organization? It's not a matter of mistake. But certainly it would be the fallen-angels when it comes to stealing them. For the devils working at the top, holy-swords does not give them much interest."
"We know the main culprit who stole the Excaliburs, One of the leaders of Grigori, Kokabiel."
"Kokabiel… One of the leaders of the fallen-angels that survived the previous wars since ancient times… I never expected to hear the name of the one that appears in the Bible," Rias smirks at the name.
"We sent priests, exorcists, to this town secretly but they kept getting killed," Xenovia states, "Our request… No. Our order is to not to have any devils intrude in the battle between us and the fallen-angels for the Excaliburs. In other words, we came here to tell you not to interfere with this incident."
Rias' eyes change after hearing the way Xenovia speaks.
"Such manner of speech, is it restraint? Are you thinking that we might collaborate with those fallen-angels, perhaps that we might team up with them to do something with Excalibur?"
"The headquarters think that it might not be impossible."
In this type of situation, self-control is a virtue. I am having trouble keeping myself from speaking my mind, but I know Rias doesn't have that sort of restraint. She is pissed! An enemy comes all the way to her territory, tells her not to be involved then not to butt in. Also they said whatever they wanted to by saying that they would not forgive us if we formed an alliance with the fallen-angels. Rias' pride as a high-class devil wouldn't allow her to keep quiet about it.
"The higher-ups don't trust devils and fallen-angels. The fact that the holy-swords were taken away from God's side would mean that the devils would also be happy right? The fallen-angels would also profit from it. For those reasons it won't be weird for them to form an alliance. That's why we are giving you a warning. If you form an alliance with the fallen-angel Kokabiel then we will eliminate you all, even if you're the little sister of the Maou," Xenovia says casually, without caring about Rias' glare.
"If you know that I am the sister of a Maou, then it means that you have lots of connections with the higher-ups in the Church. Then I will say it. We will not form an alliance with the fallen-angels. Never, In the name of the Gremory house. I will not do something that would tarnish the name of our Maou!"
"Fufu. Hearing that is good enough. I had to warn you just in case that Kokabiel is hiding himself in this town along with the three Excaliburs. If something were to happen I would be the one to be hated by the bunch in the Church headquarters. Well, we won't ask for cooperation. If you were to form an alliance with God's side temporally, then it would affect the balance of the three factions, especially if it's the little sister of a Maou." After hearing Xenovia, Rias softens her expression and takes a deep breath,
"Where is the person the Orthodox Church dispatched?"
Xenovia answers Rias' question, "They have that person put on hold for this case. They are planning to protect the last Excalibur if Irina and I fail."
"So it's just the two of you? You are going to retrieve the Excaliburs from the leader of the fallen-angel with just the two of you? How reckless. Are you trying to die?" Rias asks with an amazed voice.
"Well we aren't alone per say, we are just waiting for the contract to be signed" Irina explains, shifting her gaze to me
"It's Michael who is holding everything up," I say, "I am not doing anything till he has signed the contract, it covers my ass when everything goes south and with this area heating up, I need that security "
"You came here, to Japan prepared to die? The belief in your teaching is extreme like always."
"Don't talk ill of our beliefs, Rias Gremory. Right, Xenovia?"
"Right, Also the Church decided that it would be better to eliminate all of the Excaliburs rather than letting them get used by the fallen-angels. Our minimum objective is to get the Excaliburs away from the fallen-angels. To accomplish that, it's okay for us to die. The only way to defeat Excaliburs are Excaliburs," I just burst into laughter at that comment. My outburst causes everyone to look in my direction. Leaning forward and resting my elbows on the desk in front of me, I compose myself and say,
"There is more than one reason for Michael approaching me. You say that only way to defeat Excaliburs are other Excaliburs, but if you think about it you don't have to destroy the sword you just have to kill the user and then the sword becomes useless. And there are more ways than one to kill someone."
"Is it possible with only the two of you?" Rias asks, trying to ignore the mental images of how I could kill someone.
"Well, we won't die in vain," Xenovia says fearlessly.
"You seem confident. Do you have a secret weapon?"
"Maybe, I will leave it to your imagination."
After that, the two of them just stare at each other and the conversation just sort of stopped. Irina and Xenovia look at each other before standing up.
"Then we will take our leave now. Let's go Irina."
"So you won't drink your tea? I can prepare a snack for you."
"I don't need it," Xenovia replies bluntly
"I'm sorry. See you," Irina apologizes. They walk towards the door but they both halt and look in the same direction. It was Asia.
"When I saw you in Hyoudou Issei's house I thought that maybe it was you. Are you the "Witch" Asia Argento? I never expected to meet you in a place like this," Xenovia says. Asia's body shook after she was called "Witch". That word is something painful to Asia. Irina seems like she noticed as well and stares at Asia. My tail produces its six inch spike and points it at Xenovia from under the desk in preparation for the worst to occur.
"Are you the rumored "witch"? The former holy-maiden? You are said to have the power that can also heal devils and fallen angels, right? I heard that you were sent somewhere after getting exiled, but I never thought you became a devil."
"…Ummmmm…I…I…," Asia doesn't know how to react to Irina and Xenovia.
"It's okay. I won't tell the higher ups what I saw here, so rest assured. People who were around the "Holy-maiden Asia" will also get shocked as well."
"…," Asia made a perplexed expression at Irina's words.
"But to become a devil, the one who was called a "Holy-maiden". You fell to the lowest place you could. Do you still believe in our God?"
"Xenovia, there's no way that she, who became a devil, still believes in God," Irina says it with an amazed face.
"No, I can smell the "belief" from her. It might be an abstract way of saying it. But I'm sensitive to these things. There are people who betray the teachings and still have guilt within them because they couldn't forget the teachings. I can feel something similar coming from her," Xenovia says with sharp eyes and Irina stares at Asia even more with interested eyes. I know where this is going and it is not good, I aim the spike so it would fly just in front of Xenovia's nose
"Is that true? Asia-san, you still believe in God even if you have turned into a devil?"
"…I just can't put it aside. I believed in it for my whole life…," Asia replies with a sad expression on her face. Hearing that, Xenovia takes her sword out from the cloth and points it at Asia.
"Is that so? Then you should be cut down by us this instant. If it's now, I can cut you in the name of God. Even if you have sinned, our God will forgive you."
Xenovia approached Asia. I fire the spike; it flies through the front board of the desk and embeds itself into the wall across the room.
"Don't touch her," I say clearly to Xenovia, "If you take another step towards Asia, I will take that as a sign of war and the contract will be terminated for which you will be blamed."
"You called Asia a "Witch" didn't you?" Issei asks, fuming. I decide to keep my mouth shut to see where this goes as my warning has been laid down.
"Yes I have. Right now she is a being at least fit to be called a "Witch"." That was a low blow, I should be called many things and yet no one says them, well at least not to my face.
"Don't fuck around! Not even a single person helped her when she needed help! Those who can't understand Asia's kindness are a bunch of idiots! It's also wrong that none of them tried to become her friend!"
"Do you think the "Holy-maiden" needed friends? What's important is the charity to others. The "Holy-maidens" are finished when they seek friendship and love from others. She could have continued to live with the love from God. So Asia Argento didn't have the right to be a "Holy-maiden" from the beginning," Xenovia says as if it was an obvious thing. That sort of thinking turned me way form the church.
"So you guys selfishly made her into a "Holy-maiden" and abandon her because she's different from those who seek her? That's fucked up… It fuckin is! None of you know what she went through! What God!? What love!? That God didn't do jack shit when Asia was in a dangerous situation!"
"God loved her. If nothing happened then it means that she didn't believe in him enough, or her belief was fake," Xenovia answers calmly, "What are you to Asia?"
"Family, Friend, Comrade. That's why I will help Asia. I will protect Asia! If you try to lay a hand on her, I will turn all of you into my enemies." Xenovia sharpens her eyes at Issei provocation.
"Is that a declaration to us…all of those in the Church? Something big coming out from a single devil. Gremory, I think you didn't educate him enough?"
"That's good timing. I will be your opponent," Kiba says carrying his sword. There was an enormous aura of intent to kill eradiating from of his body. Kuroka puts her hand on her pistol holster, while I just sit and observe the situation.
"Who are you?" Kiba smirks at Xenovia's question.
"I'm your senpai, though I apparently was a failure." Instantly, a countless number of demonic-swords appear in the club room.
"For fuck sake," I groan
