"Good afternoon," the man said.

Rias bit her lip. In the middle of the club room stood a tall man with black hair. He was dressed in jeans, white shirt and leather vest. A chain dangled from his right hip.

His boots made clicking sounds as he walked up to the silent girl.

"I would hate to spill such a beautiful girl's blood, so don't do anything stupid," he warned her.

"I-If you try to harm anyone." She knew it was an idle threat.

"I'm not here to harm anyone. I'm here to talk. Now where is your courtesy, Miss Gremory?"

"Akeno," she called.

A magic circle lit up and her Queen stepped out of it.

"What is it, Bu...chou?" Akeno was stunned at the sight of the large man.

"Please make us some tea," Rias said, without taking her eyes off Caleb.

Making the tea took only a few minutes.

They sat down at her desk.

What the hell was she doing? Drinking tea with the enemy.

Then again, this was probably better than fighting.

Akeno left them alone, although from her look, Rias guessed she was concerned.

"I know Itou Makoto is here," Caleb said calmly. "You know I have the means to take him. I've got a proxy to hold his Gear for me and then I plan to raise a massive army and round up every Sacred Gear holder. I'll devour their Gears with my Holy Sword and then the world will finally be cleansed and I will have fulfilled my sacred duty." He said it all very casually, as if he was talking about the weather.

Rias felt her mouth get dry. She sipped her tea, but this gave her no relief. His very words seemed to choke her.

"Why are you here?" she asked. "None of us can stop you from taking Itou. We can try, but you'll utterly defeat us all. We're nowhere near your level."

"True. I know you'll probably have some strong people lying in wait somewhere, people who are more at my level. People like Azazel, Michael-sama and Dulio Gesualdo. Your brother might even be here."

She felt very cold suddenly. Their secret weapon wasn't as secret as she had assumed it turned out.

"This could turn into a nasty fight," Caleb continued. "One with an unknown outcome. So I propose an exchange."

"What?"

"I'll leave you and your peerage out of all this, even the Boosted Gear kid. You're free to continue living your lives."

"And in exchange you want me to give you the Cursed Gear? You can forget that. You're a psychopath, Caleb, why would I help you? You plan to kill thousands of innocents."

"Future criminals, but I understand your reluctance. Still, you haven't heard everything yet. There is only one way to destroy a Sacred Gear: the Holy Sword in my possession, known in the past as the Devourer. As you know, I'm the only one who can summon it, and I might add, I'm also the only one who can use its power. Others can touch it, but to them, it's just a normal blade. If I die, the Cursed Gear will never be destroyed."
"I don't have a problem with that."

"Because you are a stupid little girl who has no clue what she's dealing with."

"Careful, Caleb. Rayner called me that as well, moments before his demise. The Power of Destruction doesn't care how powerful you are, it will kill you all the same. You plan to test how fast you can pull out that legendary sword of yours?"

"If I die, the truth dies with me. I'm the only one who knows the true origin of the Cursed Gear, and I know the truth Azazel has been desperately hiding from you."

"I trust Azazel-sensei completely."

"Just hear me out and decide for yourself."

Had he come all this way thinking she would fall for this trap? Caleb could just make up whatever he wanted. She crossed her arms. "Go ahead and try and convince me then." She was certain Caleb was bluffing. After all, Azazel had said only an heir of Tomaru could hold the Cursed Gear and Caleb clearly didn't know that part, nor did he know about the danger of his sword devouring an unstable Gear.

"The Cursed Gear was created over two-thousand years ago," Caleb said.

"Bullshit, Tomaru was the first one, you're not fooling me, Caleb." She knew it. He was just trying to confuse them. Maybe this was a distraction.

"It was sealed after the death of its first holder," Caleb said.

"Who?"

"Narcissus."

She fell silent.

Narcissus? That was… Greek mythology? She tried to remember the story.

"You probably know about the story of Narcissus and Echo."

"It's a bit vague," she admitted.

He smiled. "I'll clarify a bit then. Narcissus was an arrogant man who only loved himself. Echo was a wood nymph who fell madly in love with him. After Narcissus rejected her, the goddess of vengeance, Nemesis, cursed him so he would fall in love with his own reflection in the pool. Narcissus leaned ever closer, fell in and drowned. The narcis flowers grew around the pool after that."

"What does all of this have to do with the Cursed Gear?"

"That was the official version. In reality, Nemesis' plan was far more elaborate. She created a Sacred Gear which would make everyone fall madly in love with Narcissus, to the point where they would lose their own minds. However, Narcissus would never be truly happy and these mindless dolls would turn into mad spirits of vengeance whenever he turned his back on one. Narcissus would never know happiness until he realised the true value of actual love. Only Echo was immune to his powers and she was the only one who could break the spell and force the Cursed Gear out of his body. Many of his lovers grew jealous and tried killing each other. Narcissus grew sad and killed himself. With no heirs, the Gear was sealed away. That is, until Tomaru appeared and Nemesis unleashed it again. Upon realising the truth, the Cursed Gear would be forced out and move on to the next heir. Every heir is doomed to find his personal Echo and realise she is the only one who can ever bring him true happiness. He needs to learn the value of real love as compared to the twisted kind which creates a hypnotic kind of love. Nemesis called it 'Dark Love'. If anyone tries to help the wielder on this path by directly telling him the truth, the Cursed Gear will destroy its wielder."

"All very interesting, but it doesn't affect me in any way," Rias insisted. Why was he giving her all this valuable information?

"You know why Itou's powers don't work on you?"

That shut her up.

"Simple, isn't it? Because you are an Echo."

She laughed. "I'm not in love with Itou."

"No, you're in love with another heir."

She narrowed her eyes. "That's impossible."

"Is it? The power of the Cursed Gear works on every girl, except for Echos. If it doesn't work on you, the only explanation is that you are already an Echo and thus, Itou can't interfere since that would destroy another heir's one chance at redemption. But if you want proof, the mother of Issei's father actually had an affair with a certain Tomaru. Didn't you see her on the pictures?"

"You're lying."

"Take the pictures to Issei and ask him if he recognises his grandmother in her youth. His power is already dormant, that's why everyone falls in love with him so easily. Issei is an heir, you are his Echo. Makoto will find out the truth or die and then, the Cursed Gear will move on in a pattern unpredictable to anyone. However, one thing is certain, the next wielder will be an heir of Tomaru. Issei is an heir. So, tell me, Rias Gremory, how much fate do you have in this boy? If Hyoudou Issei does not realise you love him, unconditionally, without magic tricks, he will die, the Cursed Gear will make certain of that. Do you think your 'Harem King' will abandon his ultimate dream?"

"Nothing will make him abandon that dream," Rias slowly said. She was certain of that. Issei was going to be the Harem King. And since she could not tell him about the danger. Still, the chances were slim Issei would be next in line. For all she knew it would be…

Oh no.

Issei was a devil. Devils could live for thousands of years. Even if the Cursed Gear didn't pass on to him immediately, maybe it would in 10 years, or 100 years. The odds were not so slim as she had hoped.

"I suggest you start digging a grave," Caleb said. "Unless you plan to reconsider on my offer?"

"I… I'll consider it."
"Bring me Itou Makoto, and I'll make sure your Harem King lives."

Caleb stood up and prepared to leave.

"Wait," she said. "I have one more question."

Caleb frowned. "What is it?"

"The Cursed Gear. It can do more than make people fall in love with you, doesn't it? It has a second power."

"A recent addition done by Tomaru itself. No one, not even Nemesis could have predicted something like that would happen. But I don't see why I should tell you about that."

"You're asking me to give you one of the most powerful weapons. So I want to know the full truth. What is this second power?"

Caleb sighed. "Fine then." He sat back down. "The Spiritforges have been guarded by angels for over a thousand years. However, after the death of God, there weren't many angels left and there was no way for new angels to be born. So Michael-dono was in a tight spot. A friendly faction offered to take over the protection of the Spiritforge at Sakakino Hills. Michael-dono accepted and the shrine maidens of the Chichigami took up residence there. The shrine maiden's have special powers gifted to them by the Chichigami. Normally, they can take pain and wounds away, but they can also give this power to someone else. It's similar to [Transfer], only it's a permanent transfer of their full power. Tomaru seduced the high priestess of the order and she fell so in love with him she wanted to give him her powers of healing. However, the Cursed Gear corrupted this power. The power to give reversed and became the power to take. Instead of taking pain, the powers took other powers."

"So, those Phoenix Flames…"

"Tomaru had a relationship with Lady Phoenix in the past. He took these powers from her."

"Then she should have lost her flames."
"Not necessarily. If he had done it too long yes, but if it was short enough she could have completely recovered. Of course, that would mean that Tomaru only has a limited amount of Phoenix Fire to use. Once it runs out, he can't use it anymore."

"So not only does the Cursed Gear make everyone fall in love with you, it also allows you to take powers from other people."

"What are you talking about? The ability to take other powers was transferred to Tomaru personally, not to the Cursed Gear itself. Makoto can't take anyone's powers."

"Oh." So they were wrong, it was just Tomaru.

"I'm not planning anything strange. The Cursed Gear is an easy way to get lots of Sacred Gear users in one place. There are ways to focus its power… actually, it doesn't matter how I use it. Give it to me and I swear I will destroy it when I'm done with it. Or defy me and watch your lovely Issei die. You have three days to decide."

Caleb stood up. He summoned a grey magic circle and vanished.

Rias was left alone with her conflicting thoughts.