A Deception

Issei stands alongside Xenovia both injured and tired from a long fight with the powerful Kokabiel and his allies while taking back the Excaliburs. Irina was injured by Freed Sellzen and couldn't be around during the fight while Issei was fighting tirelessly. However, Xenovia seemed the most distraught. Especially when she learned the truth, that god was in fact dead and has been for a very long time now. Issei has also learned this truth. For learning the truth, Xenovia was excommunicated and branded a traitor while Issei was given a harsh warning that he revealed the truth, Irina would be excommunicated as well.

However, Issei refused and chose to be exiled alongside Xenovia. Why?

Airport

"How can you be okay with this!?" Irina demands from her two former allies.

Issei can't look Irina in the eyes so Xenovia answers "I understand my actions, and Issei was never really with the church to begin with." Issei nods in agreement.

Irina looks at Issei and asks "Issei, even you? You betrayed us so easily? Did our time mean nothing to you?" Issei remains silent until Irina screams "Answer me!"

Issei can't look and simply turns his head while saying "It's because…Xenovia and I both…decided to leave. She needs me more than you do."

A loud gasp leaves Irina's mouth as she can't believe that Issei chose Xenovia over her as Issei simply walks away from his childhood friend his face revealing how painful of a choice this was for him.

Tears fall from Irina's eyes as she states "You're both traitors." As she turns her back to her childhood love and her comrade, with a wounded heart.

Seeing how much it hurts the both of them, Xenovia bites her lip and tells Irina before she's gone "I want you to know, Irina, that Issei loves you. That's the whole reason he went with us, and he still does." Irina does stop for a moment but then continues walking away towards the plane.

After parting ways, Xenovia meets up with Issei outside of the airport as they watch Irina leave for headquarters with the Excalibur cores. It's evident that he wishes he was on that plane on the way back to England as he grips Asia's rosary around his neck.

Xenovia tells him, in an attempt to cheer him up "I really thought you handled that well. At least compared to me."Gripping her arms, Xenovia gets a shiver because her emotions overwhelm her. "Issei, I don't what I'm going to do. Without God, I'm…really lost. I have no purpose anymore."

Feeling sympathetic, Issei puts his hand on Xenovia's shoulder and tells her "Hey, I just gave up my shot at having a girlfriend who actually liked me. I'm not feeling exactly right either." He then smiles the best he can and adds "But hey, at least you and I are in this mud together."

Xenovia does cheer up a little and replies "Yes, and I'm glad to have you as a friend right now. But I thought you didn't like me."

Issei waves that off and adds "Nah, especially after that shit with those assholes from the church. Calling YOU a traitor and threatening to kick Irina out just because of some info we got. Yeah, I'm not taking that lying down, and I think its complete shit that they treated you like that. So forget it." He thinks for a moment and then has an idea that he conveys "Hey, why don't we go around helping people in this town."

Xenovia's a little confused by this and wonders "What do you mean?"

Feeling a little energetic, Issei explains "Yeah, we could go around and help people like you and Irina did for me. We don't need orders to help people."

Unsure, Xenovia looks to the sky and wonders "But what's the point if there's no God to serve."

Issei then turns Xenovia's attention to the people around them, people walking alone, people with lovers, and even families with children so Issei then tells her "That's the point. We could help these people. I've got a Dragon in my Sacred Gear, and you have that giant sword."

Xenovia's expression turns stern while she reminds him "That sword is called Durandal." She then smiles and answers him "Even without God, You're right, I can still do a lot of good. I'll do it, but only with you, Issei." She then gives him a hug and adds "Because you've become a precious friend to me."

Issei's smile a bit perversely as he can feel her soft, yet average sized, breasts squeezing against his chest "So freaking awesome. I haven't even seen a boobie in a long time let alone feel them. Thank you god, thank you god…." He thinks to himself.

With things a little turbulent at the moment, Issei and Xenovia make it to the Hyoudou residence. Issei's parents were more than willing to let their son back, especially with a girl, and Xenovia is very much welcomed in the house due to her politeness from before. A few days pass to get Xenovia settled in her room because they do have a spare room. It's only a plain room for now with a bed and a few set of clothes that they generously bought for her. But then Issei had to do something he wished he didn't have to.

He picks up the phone and makes a call, to England. He waits for a moment until he hears a voice, Touji's, and Issei says "Hello, Mr. Shidou…how's everything going?"

Touji doesn't sound happy when he replies "Issei, what happened?"

He can't say why, but Issei does give an answer "I messed up, that's all. So they kicked me out."

While Touji can still tell something isn't being said, but he assures Issei "I know you have your reasons. But my daughter is still very hurt and I don't know what to say to her."

Hurting Irina's feelings was the hardest thing he's ever done, but Issei can't take it back now, so he tells him "Hey, , I really want Irina to know…."

Hearing a little happiness in his tone, Touji just tells Issei "I know, and she does too. Her father should know these things."

Before Touji can end the call, Issei asks "Oh, could you help me and maybe Xenovia with school over here, you know."

Despite being a former exorcist, Touji can do some things and he remarks that he should be able to convince the higher ups that school should at least be manageable even to a false traitor. With that settled, the phone call ends.

After settling the matter, Issei and Xenovia decide to get some training done. Helping people requires that the two don't slack off, and Issei thinks that training with Xenovia will a lot less draining than with Griselda…he's very wrong.

An hour later, Issei is on his knees with Xenovia standing tall saying "Stand up, Issei, that can't be the best you have. Not after displaying that powerful dragon aura during our last battle."

Issei puts his hands together and somewhat beg "Please, can we just take a break?"

Xenovia embeds her sword in the ground and sighs "Very well, I am feeling hungry."

The two make a habit of training regularly and learning new skills. They hunt devils and monsters that make their way to Kuoh and even take down people who hurt others like muggers. The two have basically become a form of hero in Kuoh. The devils in charge of the areas leave them alone due to not interfering with their work and even taking out strays helps them.

Currently, Issei and Xenovia are hunting a stray devil, a female devil with blonde hair, a horn protruding from her head with a spider-like body. The two of them are somewhat dealing with difficulties, especially with acidic liquid being shot at them.

Issei slashes one of her legs off with a nice timed slice with his holy sword, causing her great pain. Xenovia slashes forward and create a large shockwave that knocks her to ground. The devil stands back up quickly, despite her wounds, and lunges at Issei, who has his Boosted Gear ready.

He smirks "Let's try this out." Uttering under his breath he raises his hand and opens his palm and a loud "BLAST!" echoes as a small orb of energy is shot from Issei's palm and hits in the devil in the face while Issei begins to spin rapidly while a loud "BOOST!" echoes giving him great speed and adds to his momentum. The devil, stunned from the blast, shakes her face and is shocked when she sees Issei approaching with his rapid spin resembling a green tornado of power. He spins into her and the power of the whirlwind causes them both to rise and multiple slashes are heard as Issei rises at a greater rate and it appears as though he has attacked her entire body. He ends the attack by back flipping away and sending the devil flying backwards.

Issei lands on the ground completely safe and looks up to see the devil falling to pieces and is then obliterated in holy light from his sword. He puts his sword away and takes a breath "Whew that went well."

Xenovia joins him and compliments "That was impressive. That's the first time you've pulled it off, Issei." Her compliment showing that their hard work is really paying off; Issei has learned several new moves in their time training together. But School is another story. Issei has basically resumed where he left off and Xenovia has a new world to go through.

With another devil defeated, the two decide to go somewhere that Issei wants to visit. He wants to visit Asia's grave by the abandoned church. Xenovia agrees because she wants to say something to her as well.

They walk and talk about small things. These days, the two of them have become really good friends and usually always together. They make it to the church and see someone kneeling near the marker that Issei made and he instantly runs over "Hey, who's over there!" he demands to know while he lets his sword out of his Boosted Gear.

But when he approaches closer, Issei feels a very powerful barrier forming around the area as he and Xenovia are locked into a giant shield. But this magic isn't demonic in any way; it's actually holy in nature. That's when Xenovia notices the stranger has a halo and wearing very regal attire. He has blonde hair and when he turns to look at them, he has a sad expression but is very handsome.

Xenovia yells at Issei "Don't! He's an angel, Issei!" which causes him to stop charging and simply stand in place, and then Xenovia is very dumbstruck when she sees who he actually is as she loses her breath. "Lord Michael?" she utters with confusion.

Issei has no idea who he is but Xenovia falls to her knees in prayer to him and Issei looks confused. Michael comments to her "That's appreciated, but not necessary, Xenovia Quarta."

Xenovia rises and replies "Yes, Lord Michael."

Issei really wants his answer and so Micahel formally introduces himself "Yes, I am Michael, the current leader of heaven, and an archangel."

Now understanding, Issei looks at Michael with distrust and asks "So wait, you're leader of the church and tell them what to do?"

Michael nods and explains "I don't give all the commands they follow, but do approve of actions the church takes when necessary."

Issei walks up after hearing this and then takes a breath when he says "Then I've got a question for you."

Michael already knows when he answers "If you're going to ask about why I allowed Asia Argento to be banished, it's because it had to be done."

Issei grits his teeth and appears angry "Had to be done?" he repeats to Michael and then yells "What about letting a girl, who barely lived her life, is possibly what needs to be done!? Tell me!"

Issei grips the rosary and Michael tells him "Asia's Twilight Healing, which you now possess, has the power to heal anyone. Asia used her powers to help anyone who she came across. But then, she used her powers to heal a devil, who was seriously wounded. After that, she was declared a witch and the people's faith was at risk of waning, so it was decided that she be exiled. It's very regrettably that she's passed, but it was a decision I had to approve."

Issei appears angrier when clenches his hand into a fist and punches Michael in the face, but he doesn't flinch or move. "You son of a bitch." Issei mutters. "So that's what she was like? A kind person who helped others? Screw everyone who kicked her out. They should be dead, not her!" Issei pulls his fist back and Michael now has a red mark on his face.

Xenovia heard the whole thing and is now disgusted to hear the whole story and is shocked by Issei's actions in punching Michael, but she chooses to stand down, just this once. Even more she feels empathy towards Asia after the way she was treated, and it hurts to know that she treated her the same way even before she was buried.

Michael takes the punch feeling like Issei isn't going to do anything else and that he needed to let it out a little. But Michael then says "Asia was allowed passage to heaven. We did at least this much for her."

Issei takes a deep breath and feels a little relieved to know that and then allows Xenovia to take over when she asks "But why are you here, Lord Michael?"

Michael invites them into the abandoned and Issei notices that Michael did for Asia's grave; he used magic to allow flowers of all colors to bloom from the soil. Seeing Michael's kind gesture makes Issei change his opinion on the Archangel for the moment.

After going into the church Issei approaches Michael and says "Sorry about clocking you. Let me fix that." Michael nods to Issei and the latter uses his healing powers to heal the mark on Michael's face. After entering the church, another barrier forms around the doorway and Michael has changed the room to look a lot cleaner with a fixed cross. Now it resembles a brand new church with a table at the altar where Michael sits down.

Issei and Xenovia stand at the opposite side of the table when Michael calmly explains "Times are changing, people are changing, and now I've decided to make changes to the way our faction handles certain matters. Banishing people because of our fears isn't the way things should be run, let alone a loving realm like heaven. But we've been working on way to increase our numbers and set aside outdated beliefs." He presents a deck of playing cards to Issei. He pulls a card from the deck and sets it in front of Issei.

He picks it up and looks at with curiosity "What's this?" he asks as he flips over the card to reveal and ace of hearts card.

Michael explains "We've been working on a system to reincarnate humans as angels. The devils have a very similar system called Evil Pieces. Issei, I want to come back to our ranks, as an angel." He offers the card to Issei as a promise to reincarnate him. But he looks unsure.

He looks at the card and replies "You kicked an innocent girl and got her killed. You kicked out Xenovia and left her to survive on her own, you threaten to kick out Irina, and you expect me to come back just like that?" His eyes turning to distrust.

Xenovia chimes in with a bit of worry "Issei, you should take the offer. Many people would give their entire lives to get close to this chance."

Issei looks at the card again and seems to be reconsidering it, but then says "Can I take a minute to think?" To which Michael nods.

Issei walks over to a bench with the card and sits down for a moment. He looks over at Xenovia, who looks a bit nervous and envious.

As if to influence his decision, Michael then adds "I want you to come back so that you can help make changes that make sure these things won't happen again."

Issei grips the card, walks back to Michael, and then takes a deep breath to give his answer" I'll only do it if you let Xenovia come back, and I want to stay in Kuoh. I can't just keep moving from place to place."

Xenovia is taken back by this response as she simply can't believe his resolve to not abandon his friend. Michael looks unsure because Xenovia was excommunicated but thinks on it. He then nods and says "Very well. I'll say that you two were given a very secret mission and were forbidden from telling anyone. I'll have to say the truth eventually, so sooner sounds better."

Issei extends his hand and Michael accepts the terms as they shake to confirm their deal. Michael says "I'll inform you the moment we're ready to reincarnate the both of you. Until then, please don't mention this meeting."

Surprised by the phrase "both of you" Xenovia gasps "Lord Michael, surely you don't mean…."

Michael happily nods and answers "Yes, I will reincarnate you as well, Xenovia Quarta. The wielder of Durandal is more than worthy of being an angel."

Issei smiles because Xenovia is so happy right now and takes a seat because she just got everything and more back. Michael then hands Xenovia a card, the Queen of hearts, and tells her to keep a hold of it until the time is right. Issei withdraws coolly since Xenovia is still gathering her mind.

After Issei leaves the church with Michael letting the barrier down, ,Michael then wonders "Oh, I wonder if he knows the limits angels have to follow….he seems resolved. I guess telling him after his body adjusts will be just as good."

He does however, mention to Xenovia "I'll be sending Irina Shidou back to this town soon. She's going to be informed of the truth, and she'll need to be with her friends."

Upon hearing this, Xenovia acknowledges that Irina's faith will be shaken but not ruined. Michael is making the right call on this in her mind.