Chapter 21
Kuoh Academy
All in all the group of attackers consisted of eight assassins.
Their power ranged for most of them from typical Low Class to Middle. But they all had been trained to kill... and use the powers they possessed most effectively for it.
They had teleported in at three different locations across the schoolground at once. By that they had also not really cared about the human students seeing them. With Lamia´s TV revelation, they didnt thought it important anymore.
At the outside and in the corridors, Kiba and Sona´s peerage members Tsubaki, Bennia and Reya were already occupied fighting most of the intruders.
Kiba was crossing swords with two of them at the same time, as Reya and Bennia were fighting three others. Tsubaki was holding two more at bay with the power of her Sacred Gear.
Two more of the assassins - a young looking man and a woman - had managed to slip through and were now standing in the ORC clubroom, right before Rias Gremory - their target.
But that didn´t mean they had won... by far not.
"What do you think you are doing?" Rias asked them. "This town and this school here is territory of the Gremory Family, even if I am no longer in charge of it. You are not only invading it, but you are also showing yourself openly in front of humans."
"Cut the crap Gremory," the female assassin spat at her. Then she grinned. "It is not as if showing ourselves to the humans still makes any difference. Or have you not seen the news in the last time? Don´t try to act as if you were still a prestigious heiress. You are nothing but a disgraced piece of trash now." She raised a short sword that she was holding in her hand and begann to power up.
"And what we want?" the male addressed her. "Let us just say that there are a few people who wants your head. Now, how do we do this?" he asked sardonically. "How about you just stay there and let us put you out of your misery, so you won´t have to live with your shame anymore?"
"Sorry," Rias replied. "I admit I have gone through much and learned some harsh lessons in the last time. But I have not sunken so low so far that I would simply let a few morons like you kill me."
"I see. So we have to do this the hard way."
"Do you really want to challenge a user of the Power of Destruction?" Rias asked them threatingly. She raised her arm and formed a small globe of energy in her palm.
"I could ask the same question to you," the man replied... and copied her gesture - by creating another one by himself.
"That is not possible. How?" Rias whispered, as she saw the ball of destruction energy in the hand of her opponent.
"Let us just say that Lord Bael thinks just as much of `marital fidelity´ as most of our kind do," the male assassin stated. "Of course he would not just recognize some illegitimate children. But given the circumstances I was quite lucky. Lord Bael - father - saw some use in me after all."
Rias could not quite believe it... this guy was... her cousin?... Yes, a cousin that her bastard of her uncle Lord Bael had never officially acknowledged, who she had never even talked to and had no relationship with. But still, they were related by blood... And he was here to kill her, she realized.
"But enough talk," he said. And he threw the attack, he had prepared in his hand earlier.
Rias, despite still being stunned about this revelation, reacted in time and formed a circle in front of herself, that blocked the Destruction Energy. She moved, faster than any of the two assassins could follow... and gave the woman a punch, augmented with both her magic and her own ki - one of the techniques Raynare had shown her.
The woman was slammed against the wall, that cracked behind her. Rias sensed that she was still alive, but she had other problems right now.
The man used the chance to fire another blast of Destruction Energy at her, which she dodged. But it hit the outside was instead and left a large hole in the building.
Rias decided it made no difference anymore... and after a short hesitation, she materialized her wings and flew outside - where she had more room to fight.
Kiba had meanwhile cut down one of the attackers. Tsubaki and Bennia were forcing two more at the defensive by constantly reflecting their attack annd adding their own to it.
It was at this moment that Rias and her opponents were joining the fight at the outside.
xxx
"Do - do you see that?" Katase called out in shock, as she and the other students of Issei´s class were watching what was going on from the windows of their classroom.
"I don´t believe it," Motohama said.
xxx
The fight was now continuing all over the school-yard.
Kiba was not holding back and had just struck his blade through another one of the assassins. The same was going for Sona´s Servants. Yes, their opponents were trained to kill, but both the Gremory and the Sitri peerage were veterans of the war against Khaos Brigade. They had no real chance.
The number of the attackers had already dropped to five.
Rias however... something was holding her back. It came all down to what her opponent had just told her. She could not...
"I don´t want to kill you," Rias called out. She was creating another three globes of Destruction Energy, that were floating next to her in the air. "Just leave here and..."
"This is too bad, because I certainly want to kill you... `cousin´," the male assassin - who was flying in front of her above the school, flanked by the woman - shouted at her, as he prepared another blast by himself. His female partner was taking position next to him.
It had no sense, Rias said to herself. This guy clearly didn´t care that they were blood related. He was not Sairaorg and would never be, a small voice inside her whispered.
He only saw her death as a stepping stone to rise up in rank... and to get the acknowledgement of a sorry excuse of a father who had shafted him in the first place. So why should she care?
`And what is so bad about this?´ another treacherous voice inside her asked. `You deserve to die.´
`Stop this,´ she told herself. Maybe she truly deserve it... but not by the hands of a bunch of assholes like this, who had no problems attacking her in the middle of the school and putting all the students at risk, fighting in front of human, trying to kill her friends to get to her... and putting them all into even greater trouble as they already were.
... And beside that, she still needed to live - at least for now. She could not simply die, when her friends, her former Servants, her family, were all still in mortal danger from a threat to terrible to even imagine.
She remembered her training with Raynare. Rias reacted. She concentrated her `ki´ energy and combined it with her demonic powers. She moved faster tha any of her opponents could follow - nearly as fast as Kiba did with the help of the Knight Piece.
She charged forward and hit one of the female assassins with a ki augmented punch, that send her crashing into the ground, while two of the Destruction Globes she had created flew and intercepted the attacks that two of the other attackers had send at her comrades and erased these attacks from existence.
"I warn you one last time, stand down and leave peacefully," she said loudly, "or none of you will leave at all."
"Oh really?" the leader of the assassins replied sarcastically. He fired two more blasts of Destruction Power. Rias was ready. But to her shock, he didn´t shot them at her, but at the school buildings... that were full of people.
`No,´ she thought. To her relief she saw that Tsubaki had reacted and formed a mirror to deflect one of the attacks. And Kiba, Reya and Bennia had moved and blocked the other one.
But at the same time her opponent had used her shock and distraction to fire yet another Destruction attack on her.
Rias had enough. She would no longer hold back. If these people were not even above targeting humans just to distract them, then they clearly didn´t deserve even a shred of mercy.
She send out a blast on her own that clashed with her opponent´s - Power of Destruction vs Power of Destruction.
Rias however now challenged all her energy into the blast - and unleashed all her power. Her blast now overwhelmed her opponent´s easily and pushed it back to him. For a moment his face showed an expression of shock, before he was eradicated.
At the same time however, Rias had already created a half dozen more destruction globes and fired them at their enemies.
The woman who had been flying next to her opponent managed to block one of them, but was then hit by two other, that broke through her defenses and killed her.
Another assassin was being hit by a globe and obliterated. She had just wiped out three enemies in less than two seconds.
Only two were left... who were however quickly eliminated by Reya and Bennia. They had won.
"Rias... " Tsubaki addressed her, "that was... great."
"That was unbelievable Buchou," Kiba congratulated her.
They all descended to the ground. It was over.
Seconds later however, they were met with another scene. The students of Kuoh Academy were running out of the building... and they all were starring at them in shock.
Some were literally gapping with open mouths.
"Rias-sempai..." Murayama, who was standing at a place in front of the crowd, could barely believe what she had seen in the last minutes.
"... She - she is a Devil," Katase said tonelessly.
"And Kiba-sempai is too," another girl added.
"Do you see this wings," Matsuda called out, starring at her.
"Just like on TV," Aika said.
"But she has saved us," Motohama pointed out. "This other Devil wanted to kill us."
"Aren´t the Devils at war with humans? The woman on TV said so," another student asked.
"I-... " Rias wanted to say something, but the words were stuck inside her throat.
The thought about erasing all their memories came to her. But then she realized that it had no sense. The entire school must have seen them. And even if they were willing or able to manipulate that many minds, they all already knew about the Devil´s existence. The entire human race knew.
And to that came that the Devils had found out that for some reason they were unable to erase the memory of the TV announcement from anyone. The Horsemen had obviously used some kind of magi enhancement on it, to keep other Supernaturals from erasing the memories of it.
So what would even be the point of erasing so many people´s - her fellow students and teacher´s - memories just to let them forget what just happened?
Rias admitted at this point, she didn´t knew what to do...
xxxxxxx
Neighbor-town of Kuoh
The fight was continuing. But now that Issei had been shot down, the situation had changed.
Vali - as the strongest remaining fighter they had - was now facing Loki.
The group of Raynare, Kuroka, Akeno, Sona and Rossweisse was fighting Kokabiel, Samael and Lamia´s Queen.
Irina, Xenovia, Koneko, Saji, Arthur and Le Fay were dealing with her other Servants, the cultists and the most of the walkig corpses.
The rest of them were facing the three rogue Fallen or giving back up to Asia and Gaspar.
They all couldn´t help to feel a bit worried about Issei since they had lost sight of him. But they all knew that their friend/lover would be alright. The attack had not been strong enough to cause actual damage to him. But Lamia had vanished from the battlefield as well. So he obviously had to deal with her right now.
Vali for his part couldn´t help to enjoy this fight, maybe a bit too much. He had already faced a few strong opponents today... and for the second time now this powered up version of Loki. Before that it had been Lamia´s Devil Servants - all of them strong fighters in their ow right, even if none was on his level - and then he had exchanged a few strikes with Samael.
The thought of an opponent those blood - and whose very presence alone now - was deadly, was exciting to him.
"Vali - look out," he heard someone calling. It was Sona Sitri.
`Damn it,´ he thought. He had not realized that one of Lamia´s Servants had managed to snuck up behind him. He had been too caught up in the fight.
Sona however had send a spell that hit the Devil, just as he had drawn a weapon at Vali´s back and froze his arms in the movement. Just before Vali reacted and send him away with a puch.
Loki however now used the chance and used the chance to blast Sona. She was hit by his attack and thrown down, visible injured.
"You - I am your opponent," Vali growled.
"Oh really? Then maybe you should concentrate on me," Loki remarled grinning, "... and not care about weaklings."
Vali gave him an angry glare.
xxx
He however was not the only one who shared this feelings of excitement. On the other side of the battle Kokabiel was feeling pretty much in the same way.
He had seen what Rayare had become and he admitted he was more than impressed. But the Devils were not bad either. He had now drawn the Demonic Sword he had been given... and was sensing it´s power flowing through his body - more than he had ever possessed. Flames were now sprouting from his black wings.
In this moment he hit Kuroka with a blast, that send her cracking though a wall and the building crashing around her. At the same time he was crossig his blade with Rayare and Akeno, who had both formed swords of light. Oh - the cat wasn´t harmed seriously, he knew. She was strong and would be fine. He was truly looking out to fighting her again in the future and to crush her completely, all of them.
Yes, this was paradise for him. This, the fight, this struggle, was only giving his life - all life - true meaning.
It was too bad that it wasnt the plan to continue this fight right now. In fact his allies were already about to retreat.
Another time, he thought.
xxx
"What so you want?" he had asked Lamia - who was standing before him.
"What I want? Isn´t that obvious?" she answered with a smile. "I want the same what all these other girls want. I want you. And just like them, I want to be part of your little harem."
"You are kidding, right?" Issei asked tonelessly. "You - you are a terrorist, a mass-murderer, a monster."
"Am I? A monster you say? Maybe you are right," she admitted. "And it is not that I had much of an alternative, or that my actions made much of a difference."
"Not much of a difference?" he yelled at her. "You can not be and your cohorts have killed tens of thousands and that alone in the last weeks."
"Issei-kun," she said to him softly, in a voice nearly like talking to a child, "tell me honestly: If I hadn´t done all these things, do you think it would have changed anything?"
Issei admitted he was taken aback for a short moment by that question.
"Lord Ahriman and his heralds have their eyes on this world - on his entire universe. Nothing that either you or me do will change anything about this. This world will burn - there is nothing that you or your friends and allies can do to prevent this."
"That is..." he begann to speak.
"Don´t even try to deny it Issei," she interrupted him. "You know better. You are no longer the ignorant brat you have been a few months ago. You never had a chance and you know it. The only reason why you are even still here is because they are moving slowly, to test you and the rest of our world, to fully build up their fully strength. And in all honesty... maybe it is simply just that you and your silly effords amuse them," she stated sardonically.
"Shut up," he hissed.
"You kow I am right. By the way, had you ever thought about how I managed to fit in into this new century so easily, after I had been sealed away for so long? See, not long after we woke up, I and my Servants came across this human woman. She came in quite handy and I red her mind. From her I got all information about the current age," she explained.
"I didn´t even kill her afterwards. I just let her go. She had been quite useful after all," she stated. "Oh, and I also took her clothes. They look good on me, don´t they?" she asked him, gesturing to the mordern jeans and shirt she was wearing.
"It is only a bit tight around my chest." She raised her arms and held her hands against her own large breasts. "But I don´t think you have any problem with that, do you?" she asked him meaningful.
"Come on Issei-kun, don´t you want my body?" She now put her hands fully under her boobs and lifted them up for him to see. "I know you do. Breasts are your weakness, right? Aren´t mine just as good as Raynare´s, Akeno´s... or Rias?"
Issei gulped. He was starting to feel hot.
"Stop this," he said weakly. But he could easily see that she was effecting him.
"I am not as evil as you think Issei," she told him. "There is nothing that either you or I can do to change the situation... even if I wanted to. If I wouldn´t do this `terrible´ things, someone else would do it in my place. And nothing would change. But like this, I have at least a bit of influence. To some level at least, I can decide who lives and who dies."
"´... Decide who lives and dies..." he repeated darkly.
"Don´t make it sound like this," she responded.
"Oh - so we all have completely misunderstood you?" Issei said sarcastically. "You are not really a cruel monster, but just a cowardly opportunist. Is it that what you want me to think?"
"I am many things, beside others a pragmatist," she replied sternly. "It is just because that I am in the position I have, that I can offer you a chance. So don´t get so self-righteous with me Issei-kun. What would you say if I offered you not only your own safety and that of your parents, but that of your other concubines and their families as well? I - I would even accept Rias, no matter how much I dislike her. All you have to do is say yes to me."
"And in `exchange´, I only would have to stand by and watch when everyone else is killed," he stated.
"That will happen anyway," she retorted. "At least in this way, the people you love and the ones closest to you would be save. You could live with all of us, fight only opponents you want to and grow even more powerful. You could enjoy our bodies whenever you want to... and have children with all of us. And our children could have the chance to grow up in a new world - a world the corruption, bigotry and falsehood we have now.
Without slavery and betrayal, without Devil nobles who kidnap and rape young Nuns ... without Evil Pieces and Stray Devils...without a Church that is lying to everyone about God´s death and is excommunicating people just for knowing the truth... without Devils, Angels and Fallen killing each other for petty reasons... without arrogant so called `upper classes´, who think they are above the law and can get away with everything they want.
After he had purged this planet, the world Ahriman will leave behind will be a paradise. A paradise born from an ocean of blood - yes. But still a paradise. And you, me and your other girls will have the chance to live to see it.
You can have all that... or you can just continue to fight a war you know you will loose... and get yourself, the people you love and possibly everyone you know killed, even if you know perfectly well that it will make no difference."
"I-..." Issei was visibly shaken at this moment.
"Yes - however, if you accept, there is one last thing you would have to do... you would have to kill Loki."
"What?" he asked.
"We - you, me and your other girls, we could live in this new world and rule it if we like to. But Loki is planning to do the same thing. He plans to make himself dictator of everything left, when Ahriman turns his attention somewhere else. He would need to get out of our way."
Issei let out a light, barely hearable, chuckle.
"And here I thought, for a short moment, that maybe you were not as bad as I thought," he said. "All that - all your promises - and all you truly want is to use me to remove your rival."
"That is not true," she assured him. She actually sounded hurt by the accusation. "I actually like you."
"Even if that is true, it doesn´t change what you are," he said. "Raynare has told me how you planned to kill a little girl, just to seal a damned pact that you had offered her. Right after murdering her parents in front of her. And you would have done it if Raynare hadn´t stopped you.
Rias has told me everything you have done to her as well."
Issei shook his head.
"No - you aren´t doing this because you see no other way... or to prevent worse. You are doing it because you want to. You are sadistic and cruel."
"Maybe I am," she admitted. "But does that truly matter now? Of all the women who are interested in you, I am the only one who had actually seen your true potential when I met you. In opposite to this stupid little bitch Rias, who had only used you as her lapdog and never truly allowed you to grow beyond that.
The others only saw the boy you had been. But I - I saw the Kind - the Emperor you are meant to be," she exclaimed. "Raynare was the only other one who came close. But since she had decided that she wanted to be a `good girl´ after all, she don´t longer has the guts to push you as far as you have to."
"Whatever," he replied, "I am declining your offer. I won´t just give up, I won´t stop fighting and I won´t give in to people like you."
"You don´t really mean that... You want me," she called out.
"Yes - yes I want you," he replied honestly. "But that doesn´t change my answer."
"Really?" she said.
xxxxxxx
A short time later
Lamia was visibly angry. She hadn´t wanted it to turn out like this. In the end she had no real choice but let him walk away.
She had wanted Issei on her side, not against her. Yet despite that he downright admitted that he wanted her, despite all what happened... he was just so stubborn. Maybe there would be another chance.
On her way back to rejoin the others, she met up with the two girls she had send to infiltrate Issei´s circle of friends. Despite her anger, she reminded herself that this girls had actually done their task pefectly.
"Mayuri, Kaja," she greeted them, "I have to gratulate you."
"Thank you Lady Belial," Mayuri replied.
"Now - what do we have here?" they heard another voice - Loki.
The god had suddenly appeared a few meters from them. Next to him was standing a human man. Nobody else than the leader of the cultists that Mayuri and Kaja were part of -
"Now, how did you like your little talk with Hyoudou?" he asked her.
"I-..." she answered in surprise.
"Don´t even try to deny it. I followed some parts of your... `conversation actually. Trying to get Hyoudou to kill me? Nice. And offering yourself to him as a `reward´? You are really something my dear."
"You have seen... that?" she asked shocked.
"But really, I didn´t knew you were into young boys. And then to have him reject you in such a way?"
"Shut up," she growled at him. "This has nothing to do with his age. And he could still change his mind later."
"Oh I know - I know, it isn´t about age," Loki replied casually. "It is about this annoying and quite alluring dragonic power that he possesses. Don´t even try to deny it. You women in the Supernatural World are all the same. You might talk about the `qualities´ and `values´ in the men you want, but what you are truly getting off on... is power."
She scoffed.
"...Even if it were so," she knew there was no point in discussuing this topic with him, "I have seen Issei-kun´s potential... in every way. What is wrong about that?"
"If you say so." Suddenly he draw her closer to himself and then into a forceful kiss.
For a short moment, she was too stunned by his actions to even respond.
"How dare you?" she growled.
"Oh calm down," he told her casually. "After all you have just tried to set up Hyoudou to kill me. So just consider us even. By the way, how about a bet?"
"Bet?" she asked him confused.
"You see, Hyoudou and me have been already fighting on life and death anyway. And to be honest, on the day this boy actually manages to kill me - no matter how overpowered he is - I would gladly lay myself down into my own grave. So I fully intend to fight him again, to the very end," he told her smiling. "If he truly kills me, you will get your wish - but if it is me who kills him, how about you become my mistress instead?"
"What?" she asked surprised.
She realized that his eyes were wandering up and down on her.
"Yes, you truly have a body worthy of being the concubine of a god," he stated. "Even if you are a filthy Devil."
"What did you say...?" she hissed.
"Ah, come on - don´t act as if you are offended by this. We both know that you despice your own race more than anybody else I know," he said. "The only reason why you haven´t turned yourself into something else, is that so far there is no reincarnation system in this world that can completely erase your old nature," he pointed out.
Lamia admitted he was right in this point here. If the Evil Piece System or the, on it´s based, Brave Saint System could actually erase her species, she would have used them on herself a long time ago. But instead it seemed this methods actually turned you into some kind of hybrid beings, with characteristics of your old and your new race. Creatures like Kuroka Toujou and her sister or Akeno Himejima were the best example for this. She would only switch being one kind of mongrel species for another one.
"You know, there is one thing I am curious about. Whenever you were dealing with that little Gremory-bitch... when you were beating her, when you were tormenting her physically and mentally, when you threatened her pathetic family... where you seeing your old self before you?"
"Shut up you bastard," she hissed.
"And I admit your arrogance and your twisted personality make you in some way even more interesting," he stated smugly.
"You are sick," she told him.
"Now look who is talking?" he said sarcastically. He laid his arms on her shoulders, slightly massaging them. "As if you are suddenly a saint. Now, what are you saying to my offer?"
She shook his hands off herself.
"You know something? I accept your deal. If you manage to defeat Issei, I am yours," she declared. "I am sure anyway that he will kill you." `And if not, then I will make sure that you will anyway,´ she thought silently. `No matter what, I won´t let you have your way you bastard.´
She admitted to herself that Loki was attractive and interesting in his own way. But his unbelievable ego (that surpassed even her own by far) and his complete inability to keep it down and stay out of her business, made it practically impossible for her to stand him.
"Really? Isnt that great?" Loki replied. "I was sure that you would see things my way."
xxxxxxx
Issei just returned to the others.
As he found them, he saw that Vali was carrying a wounded Sona. But otherwise all of them seemed alright.
"What happened?" he asked them.
"They are gone," Raynare answered. "They had retreated like they had tried from the beginning. We didn´t manage to stop them this time."
"I see," Issei replied. "We will get them the next time." `But what will that bring?´ a voice inside him asked. `The Horsemen are not even the true enemy after all.´
xxxxxxx
Kuoh Academy
"Aren´t the Devils at war with humans? The woman on TV said so." The words of the student were hanging in the air.
"Don´t believe what that woman had said," Kiba called out. "She is a liar and a murderer. The Devils aren´t at war with humanity. That is just a lie she had made up to spread panic."
Their fellow students were looking at them unconvinced.
"It is true," Rias finally spoke up. "I - I am sorry. I am Rias Gremory... and I am a Devil. I - I am sorry for deceiving you all for so long."
"Gremory," Aika realized, " like the Demon."
"Yes, that was my ancestor," Rias explained. "I have been in control of this town in secret for the last years. I promise I have no intention to hurt any of you."
"What do you mean with `controlling our town´?" one of the other students asked darkly.
Rias felt herself cringe. That was not what she had wanted to say.
"It - it is not as bad as it sounds," she replied. "We haven´t harmed anyone in this town. We have also been protecting it, by holding other dangerous Supernatural beings at bay."
`Do you truly believe that?´ her inner voice asked her.
`Yes, we have been fighting threats to protect the town,´ she replied to herself.
`Oh - like Kokabiel, Khaos Brigade, Lamia, The assassins right now, you mean? Who all only came here because of you and the other Devils here in the first place? Face it. You have not been protecting anyone, your presence is the reason this town had been targeted from the start," her voice stated. `The only reason why you had ever clung to it was because you are a Devil - and Devils are greedy and will never let go of anything they consider to be theirs.´
`Stop it,´ Rias thought.
"Others?" a girl asked curiously. "You mean there are other things beside Devils?"
"Yes, there are," she replied. "Angels and Fallen Angels are real as well... and Yokai and others. Like Kiba-kun said, the woman on TV has only told you lies and half-truths to scare you. She is an enemy of us all. Please don´t believe her," Rias told them.
"I - ... if you want it, I promise that Kiba and me will leave this town... and never return. As I said, I am sorry for lying to you all for so long. Please decide that under yourself... and when you have made your decision, let me know your answer."
xxxxxxx
Loki turned around to the two cultist girls and their leader, who had been watching the entire exchange between him and Lamia silently.
"I agree that you too have done a impressive job," he said to them. "Like I heard you two have managed to get close to Issei Hyoudou through two of his friends and actually win his Trust." At least to some degree, he thought. "You even managed to remove him from the battlefield today."
"Thank you Lord Loki," Mayuri answered. "Your praise honors us."
"We are always ready to fulfill the wish of our Masters and the Allmighty... and do everything that is required of us," Kaja added.
"Indeed, and I am sure with the position you are in, you will turn out even more useful for us... when we deal with Hyoudou and his little group once and for all very soon," Loki announced.
"Splendid My Lord," Dumont stated. "Then I go by the idea that this task you and Lady Belial have given to Mayuri and Kaja will be over soon as well?" he asked.
"Oh yes, it will be," Loki responded.
"Wonderful," Dumont said happily. "You understand, I don´t want to be impudent about the duty you have given to them... but I admitt that I have been missing these two of my girls. Mayuri, Kaja my dears - come closer," he told them. He pulled the two girls to him, so that their bodies were now practically pressed against his.
"I have been taking care of them their entire lives, you know? and I am also `quite close´ to their mothers as well." He let his hand slowly gliding over Mayuri´s ass and repeated the same with Kaja one moment later.
He had been hesitating at first, since Lord Loki and Lady Belial were here as well. But then he had watched what his two superiors had talked about and been doing with each other, right in front of them. So if they hadn´t any problem to show their `affections´ in front of them, why should he?
"Oh yes - I have heard about that," Loki replied with barely hidden mockery.
"I am sure these two young boys had much fun with you," Dumont said to the two girls. "I have trained you well after all. But you two should never forget who you truly belong to, right?"
Mayuri felt her self wince a bit, but did her best to suppress it. Doing this felt much better with Motohama... or even with Kaja´s boyfriend Matsuda whenever they switched. They actually took more care about making them feel good... they actually cared about their feelings at all.
Master Dumont just let them do everything to make himself feel good. One look at her friend told her that she felt the same way. But he was their leader, chosen by Ahriman himself, and it was their duty to serve him in any way he desired. She and Kaja didn´t want to leave their boyfriends. But if he ordered them, they had no choice.
"So tell me one thing Dumont," Loki addressed him. "As far as I remember, your and your ancestor´s duty was to find and gather followers for Ahriman´s cause and instruct them to help prepare this world for hs coming. Nowhere was it said to you to take the female followers and brainwash them into your personal harem of sex-slaves."
Dumont was shocked about his words.
"B-but you and Lady Belial just have..."
"Oh, I am completely aware what we did - thank you," Loki interrupted him. "Don´t misunderstand me, I don´t care if you fuck any woman in your little cult in any way that exists... as long as it does´t hinder our goals as a whole. But sadly, your behavior did," he stated.
"How..."
"How it did you mean? Let me explain it to you," Loki declared. "This two girls here, that we had to choose from you wretched excuse of a cult," he pointed at Mayuri and Kaja, "thanks to you literally fucking them up, they can barely survive 5 minutes in a normal environment without making either a fool or an spectacle out of themselves." He let his words hanging in the air.
"I meant it when I said they had done an `excelent´ work. In fact, it is a wonder that they have succeeded at all. But sadly these two were still the best that we had... and that is alone your fault."
"My Lord, I am..." Dumont started.
"Don´t bother with apologies," Loki stated, "... and freeze," he ordered the man. At his words... and an very powerful mental command, Dumont was not longer able to move.
He turned to Mayuri and Kaja.
"Now, let us come to you. Like I said, you have done a good job. Especially given your, well... limitations... that this fool here had caused in the first place. So, I think I will leave you two a choice. When your current task has ended, you can either stay with these two boy you are currently with and use your ahm charm, to draw them to our side and help to turn them into believers."
He gave a side-look to Dumont.
"Or you can return to this man here and continue being his whores. It is your choice."
Suddenly Loki materialized two objects inside his hands. They realized that it were a couple of long thin daggers.
"And if you choose the first option, I would like you two to take care of this piece of trash here," he told them. "Ah, don´t fret," he said to the paralized Dumont. "After all you have the chance to die for a new world - a world were gegenerated scum like you no longer has a place."
Mayuri could barely believe what she was hearing. Her entire life she had been told that everything Master Dumont said and did was right. She had been serving his desires since she was only thirteen... and her friend Kaja had been barely older. They both had been thought by their mothers - who were also serving Master Dumont regulary as well - that it was the duty of the female followers and a honor to fulfill the needs of their leader, who was their great god´s chosen messenger.
But now an even higher ranked Servant of Ahriman told them... the exact opposite, that it had never been their duty, that Lord Ahriman had never wanted this from them? That it had all been a lie?
She remembered what Murayama and the other girls from their class had told them, when she had heard their entire story. That he had just been `taking advantage´ of them, that he was using them, that he had sexually abused them... and their mothers as well. So far she had only thought their classmates were simply kind of strange and just didn´t understood. They weren´t believers, she didn´t understand that it was a duty and hoor, that it was the `right thing´. But now, with what Loki just said...
She remembered the looks that not only Murayama and the others, but everyone in school who had heard about their story gave them, this mixture of shock, bewilderment, uneasiness and... pity. As if - as if she and Kaja were freaks, as if there was something wrong with them. Even Motohama and Matsuda had been looking at them like that, when they heard everything.
Why had she never paid attention to that?
Muyuri felt how tears begann flowing from her eyes... and she felt a rage, a sheer hatred like she had never felt before, directed only at the sorry excuse of a man before them.
And she felt herself taking the dagger from Loki´s hands... and saw Kaja doing the same thing.
Dumont wanted to scream, he wanted to beg for mery, as he saw his two mistresses come closer to him with raised daggers. He wanted to remind them of all the time they had together and how he had practically helped to raise them. But he was not able to say even a single word or move a limb. Thanks to Loki´s command, he was frozen in place while he watched his end coming.
"Do you think someone will miss him?" Loki asked Lamia sardonically as they watched Dumont dieing in silent agony, as he was stabbed again and again.
"I don´t think so." She grinned. "You are right. He was a worthless excuse of a human and I am not sure if even Lord Ahriman will want his soul."
xxxxxxx
Underworld - Residence of Lord Bael... a few days later
"If you could please have patience for a few minutes," a female Servant of the Bael Family told the two guests who had just arrived at the estate. "The Master has not been execting your visit. But he will be here in a minute."
The `guests´ - the Maou Ajuka Beelzebub and Zekram Bael, oldest living member of the Clan and probably the most influenial Devil in the Underworld - were sitting down in Lord Bael´s personal office.
They had already heard about the disastrous TV transmission from the Four Horsemen earlier. The damage it was causing to the Devil Faction as a whole was uncountable. Then they had gotten another message from Kuoh a short time ago.
To say the two high ranked Devils were not in the best mood would be an understatement.
"He has not? That is quite surprising given what he has just done," Ajuka replied with more than a bit of sarcasm.
"May I bring you something to drink my Lords?" The Servant was a young looking, very attractive woman. But of course with a Devil it was hard to tell how old she truly was.
"No, thank you" Zekram replied. "We are only here because we have business with your Master."
Something in the Servant´s demeanor suddenly changed. She was looking visibly distraught.
"Please," she said. "Master - Lord Bael - he is not... he is not a forgiving man..." Her voice grew quieter and more timid as she said this, as if she was scared to be overheard. "My orders were to make sure all guest are pleased with his hospitality. If he sees that you have not taken anything, he might think I have not done my duty correct."
They noticed that the Servant was looking at them with pleading was a sight that would probably be able to make the hearts of most men melt.
It was an absurd situation. All this was about, was a simple offer of a drink. And this girl was acting as if she were to be severly punished if they didn´t accept. But well, maybe she did. Like she had said it, Lord Bael was not known to be a kind man.
"Okay," Ajuka finally gave in, along with Zekram, "you can bring us both a glass of wine."
"Thank you my Lords," the Servant told them now happily.
"We have to talk with your descendant about the way he is treating his Servants. It just can not be that they are afraid because something so insignificant like a glass of wine," Ajuka told his companion grimly.
"We will. Among other things," Zekram replied.
"Maou Beelzebub and you uncle - what can I do for you?" Lord Bael - who had just entered the room along with the same Servant, who was now carrying a bottle on two glasses on a tabled - asked them smoothly. "But please sit down."
"Don´t dare to come us with courtesies right now `Lord´ Bael," Ajuka addressed him angrily. "We have just received the message that you and the Vassago Clan have send a group of assassins to Kuoh, to attack Rias Gremory."
"And that on top of all right after the existance of the Devils has been revealed to the entire human world," Zekram added. "What in all of the world were you thinking nephew?"
"I - I assure you I had no idea," he said visibly surprised. "I give you my word, I didn´t order this. One of my subordinates must have done this behind my back."
"This sounds surprising, especially since we know that just a few days ago you have tried to get the Gremories to hand you over Rias as a Servant... and that they have blown you off," Zekram responded.
Still, he and Ajuka finally sat down and both took a nap from the wine the Servant has brought them.
"Yes - I admit I was disapponted by their decision. A foolish decision to hold on to a disgraced heiress like that, instead of sending her in her position where they could still make actual use of her. But I will not hold their... misplaced sentimentality against them."
But of his guest couldn´t help but let their anger show in their expression at his attitude.
"Lord Bael -" the Devil King continued, "like we said, we find it hard to believe you here and..." but suddenly his words were interrupted as Zekram suddenly cried out in obvious pain... moments before he fell from his seat.
A second later, Ajuka begann to feel a burning pain running through his veins as well.
`The wine,´ the thought shot through his head... Right before his body grew weak and he sank to the ground as well.
"I see you have realized it," Lord Bael said to him, having noticed his expression - a cruel and triumphant smile had formed on his own lips.
A smile that was mirrored on the face of the `Servant´ next to him. All fear or subvertude and now vanished from her. It had all been an act from the beginning, Ajuka realized.
"You should know," the woman said to them, "Samael´s blood has become even more deadly than it had been before. It now has the same effect on anybody as it had on Dragons."
"So true - so true," Lord Bael added. "Only a small bit of it in this wine had been enough."
"You - you have..." Zekram tried to say something with his dieing-breath... but in the next moment the founder of the House of Bael was already not longer alive.
"Goodbye my great ancestor," Lord Bael commented sardonically, "I promise you our House will be in good hands."
"What have you done?" Ajuka asked him, struggling to get to his feet.
"I have to say I am surprised. You should be already dead at this point. You truly are a Super Devil," Lord Bael told him. "But it won´t change anything. You know, this was the actual reason I have send this illegitimat brat of mine and his little band of thugs out. The boy actually had some potential," he was talking to himself.
"He even inherited my Power of Destruction. It is a shame that he was such a weakling otherwise. Had he turned out even half as strong as that failure Sairaorg, I would have made him my heir instantly. Well, it seems he still managed to serve a purpose in the end after all.
Did you really think I was ever really interested in Rias Gremory? Okay, she would have made a fine Servant. But there are far more important things.
You see, I have made a deal that will make sure that the Devil race will survive - at least part of it. You know as well as me what we are facing - a threat that even surpasses Trihexa. Sometimes you have to made an arrangement with the side that will win. That is exactly what I have done. Of course there had to be certain... `sacrifices´ to be made, namely you. But the Devils will survive... under my rule.
By the way, you don´t have to worry about your guards. My new allies will be taking care of them right now."
"Y-you are making a terrible mistake," Ajuka said to him. He was now so weak that he could barely talk.
"I don´t think so." The Head of the Bael Clan unleashed his Power of Destruction... and one moment later the last Maou didn´t exist anymore.
"It worked far better than I had ever expected. You can tell your Lord Loki that I am more than satisfied," he addressed the `Servant´ standing next to him a moment later.
"As long as you keep your part of the agreement," she replied. "You can be sure that we will continue to support you."
xxxxxxx
Kuoh - 14 days later
Two more weeks had passed. By now a new civil-war had broken out under the Devils.
One side was led by Lord Bael - after his assassination of Ajuka Beelzebub and Zekram - and the Vassago Clan. Their side was also being supported by the Four Horsemen... and the other by Duke Zeoticus Gremory and Lord Phenex, who were resisting their attempt to take over the Underworld.
With their newest allies, the Four Horsemen had by now grown into a threat that was by now considered equal to Khaos Brigade.
Another greater battle had taken place in the Underworld, at the outskirts of the Devil territory, between the forces of both sides... with the Horsemen directly taking part of the fight. But in the end it turned out to be a massacre with hundreds of dead, but without any side being the clear winner.
Kokabiel alone had claimed to have slain nearly a dozen Middle and High-Class Devils at that time.
xxx
But that were not the only events that happened.
The reveal of Rias Gremory being a Devil to the other students had been gone as well as you could have hoped for it. That meant they hadn´t downright told her to leave. But still, everybody was more than a bit tense and uneasy around her. And both Rias and Kiba had preferred not to visit the school for the last two weeks. At least for now.
At the same time another line of fights had broken out between other Factions in the Supernatural World. A few of them directly caused by the Horsemen. Others simply because the revelation to the humans had caused a chain reaction of chaos and panic under the Supernatural.
One of these was the Vampire Race. About a week earlier, several members of the Tepes and Camilla Factions had once again started to fight with each other. This however were not the two Factions as a whole but, as the emissares from the Vampire race pointed out, only rogue members from both sides.
xxxxxxx
In this moment a meeting was taking place, where the current situation was being discussed. Being held at the home of the Hyoudous, that was now ironically something like the local headquarter of the Devils in town.
Present were, besides others, the Lords and family members of Gremory and Phenex, Shemhazai, Penemue, Baraquiel and Raynare as representants of the Fallen, Gabriel and a few other Angels from Heaven, Yasaka and Kuou from the Kyoto Yokai and a few others.
At the moment, the said emissaries of the Vampires - who turned out to be no-one else than Elmenhilde Karnstein, who had also mentioned interest to eventually join Issei´s peerage, and Valerie Tepes - were telling them in detail about what exactly had happened within their race.
"So this Devil woman named Lamia Belial had contacted the members of the Camilla Faction who had later gone rogue," Elmenhilde explained, "and Kobabiel the ones from the Tepes one. Both had promised them in the name of the Horsemen to `assist´ them against their `enemies´. As it turned out, both of them were telling the truth... in some sense. Idiots!" the young Vampiress commented. "You can surely imagine how that had ended."
"With the Horsemen and their followers slaughtering the Vampires of both sides. Belial and her Servants the one from the Tepes and Kokabiel and his rogue Fallen the ones from the Camilla Faction," Valerie added. "So in a twisted way they had actually kept their word about `helping´ them. The only good thing about the entire situation is that the ones who were killed were under the most fanatical and unstable of our people, who might have gone rogue sooner or later anyway."
"I understand," Zeoticus said. "Thank you for your explanation what had happened."
"The entire Supernatural World is falling into chaos," Shemhazai stated. "First the revelation to the humans, then Ajuka´s assassination. We had not even recovered from Trihexa and it is all falling apart again."
"It is even worse," Issei stated. "All this is not even our true problem.
"He is right," Gabriel declared. She gave Issei a short smile. "You all know the reports from Issei, Raynare and the others. Lord Bael and his followers, the rogue Vampires, even the Horsemen themselves, they are all only pawns of our true enemy... not much more than distractions."
Silence was coming over the entire room at her words.
"And what do you suggest we do?" Lord Phenex finally asked.
"Issei, Raynare, Rias and the others are working on a plan that maybe might be able to achieve something, maybe. At least it is a small chance," Gabriel admitted.
"And how would this plan look like?" Yasaka inquired.
Gabriel looked downwards.
"That is an information that is better kept in a small circle," she finally said. "We can not risk having the enemy found out about it." `And we can not risk everybody finding out just how farstretched out only shred of hope truly is,´ she thought, `or the fear would only get worse as it already is.´
This was an answer that made nobody exactly happy, but in the end they all had no choice than to accept it.
xxxxxxx
Issei´s home
A short time later, in a guest room at the Hyoudou´s residence, an a bit different sort of `meeting´ was taking place.
Right in front of Issei and Raynare, in her human form, were sitting the two children they had come to take care of.
One of them was a dark haired japanise girl, the other an a few years younger little blonde from Europe. One of them was human, but now with a dangerous power slumbering inside her, the other a half Fallen Angel, similar like Akeno. Both of them were sitting side by side on Issei´s bed.
The first was the girl named Yuki, who Raynare had saved from Lamia and her Servants, the other was the little Half Fallen girl named Kai, who Issei had - with Faust´s `help´ - rescued from an angry mob a few weeks ago.
He remembered how the two girls had met each other for the first time around two weeks ago, after Kai had at first been brought to the Grigori, until she had been brought here by Penemue.
Both girls had gone through similar terrible things and at first they had been reluctant to even talk to each other. But by now they were spending nearly their entire time together, if they weren´t with Raynare and Issei.
"So Kai," Issei asked her, "how do you like it to live here?"
"It is... nice," the little halfling answered. "Nobody attacks me or says cruel things. And..."
"And nobody will," Issei assured her. "Something like in your hometown will never happen again to you, I promise."
"You - you have still not told me how you even know about this," Kai asked him uneasily.
This caused Issei to cringe internally. He remembered all to vividely how the mob - dozens of people - had been impaled or cut apart by Kai´s own light-spears, controlled by Faust... at Issei´s own words. He had so far not brought himself to tell the little girl this... and he was not sure if he ever would.
"Issei-kun has powers, just like Raynare-oneesan," Yuki told her instead.
"Yes he does," Rayare said. "Kai, you should never blame yourself for what had happened to these people. They were the ones who attacked you and were teaming up on a little girl, just because you were different from them. And your powers had `somehow´ saved you. Nothing of that was your fault."
"If I could have killed the people who had murdered my family like this, I would have gladly done it," Yuki replied with some bitterness. "But I didn´t have any power then. Now however I have. That man gave them to me. Raynare-oneesan, you have promised to help me train," she said to the Fallen Angel.
"I know. We already have trained together," Raynare replied.
"For one day," the girl said. "But then you got distracted... because of them. Because they are out there... and killing more people, just like my family."
Kai said nothing. Like everybody else, she had also heard of the group who had caused so much damage across the Supernatural and the human world... and Yuki had already told her that it were the same people who were responsible for the death of her parents.
"Yuki," Issei said to her, "I know that Faust has given your great power. But the truth is that we barely even know how to unlock it. I know you want to help. But you are too young and... it is just too early for you. I am sorry, but you just can not help us yet. In the future, I am sure you will."
"I know," the girl said quietly. "I know I am not ready." Her expression showed silent anger, but acceptance. "Issei-kun, Raynare-oneechan - please stop them. I know you can do it."
xxx
"Can you believe it?" Raynare said as the two had left the room. "That girl actually thinks of me as some kind of hero."
"Are you not?" Issei asked her. "You were willing to face Lamia and a few of her Servants, all by yourself, for a human girl you had not even known. You had gone to help us against two Evil Dragons. You have faced Faust for my sake... and now you are even with us against his Master. If you are not a hero than what?"
"Yuki has enormous hidden power that Faust has given to her. You have sensed it as well," Raynare responded. "Maybe not comparable to his own, but with the right training, she could easily reach the level of a Satan Class or Cadre."
"We both know that this is not the reason you saved her," Issei said sternly. "Raynare - Yuuma - I love you.
You know, I had once thought of you as the worst scum I ever met... and you have proofed me wrong again and again.
It was you (along with Faust, he thought bitterly) who forced me to overcome my own shortsightedness and self-righteousness. You have shown me to me again and again that you are so much more and a better person than I thought you were."
He placed a soft kiss on her lips.
"Am I interrupting something?" a well known voice said to them. It was Gabriel.
xxxxxxx
Meanwhile the Four Horsemen and their Devil allies were gathering their forces... and preparing themselves for the next great attack they had planned... and for what they hoped to be the deciding battle in this war.
But at the same time something else was happening... something that for now nobody was aware of.
A single being was in this moment taking shape somewhere in the planet, a being those power easily overshadowed anyone and anything who currently existed on Earth, the Underworld or Heaven.
The form the creature was taking however was not it´s original form, but that of a simple tall man with long red hair. He had a slight ressemblance with the Devil Sirzechs. But he was looking several years older and his eyes were deep green.
While the entity was taking shape however, he was at the same time shielding himself and his presence from the entire rest of the world.
Not so much because he didn´t want to be discovered... but because his enormous power could maybe accidentally cause world wide destruction and maybe even damage the planet as a whole, just by manifesting itself.
The being called Great Red opened his eyes. He remembered how the enemy this entire universe was currently facing had warned him to stay out of this. But he was not the type to get intimidated to easily.
A smile formed on his now human face... and he would certainly not stand aside and do nothing.
Authors notes: Like it was implied, the probably final battle with the Four Horsemen will beginn in the next chapter. That however doesn´t mean the end of the story yet.
By the way, my new cover image for `Issei Hyoudou: The Guardian´, showing my OC Gaeriel, was drawn by the artist Shinta Girl and is also to find on deviantart.