File 35: Aftermath

-Yesterday-

"Is it fine to let them have free reign, Rias-san?"

Kiba Yuuto asked Rias after the exorcists and Akeno left and only the Leviathan peerage members are present in the clubroom. As devils, exorcists are supposed to be their enemy and even if there is an urgent situation, allowing the exorcist free reign in devil territory is not really a good idea.

"It should be fine. The letter that blue haired girl gave me was from the Head Inquisitor herself. Kaya Syokka politely requested us permission to operate in Kuoh, and I do mean politely without double meaning."

Rias replied, holding up said letter with her right hand. Without anyone else around, the Leviathan peerage reverted back to their usual attitude with each other and began relaxing with Kuroka snatching the letter from Rias' hand. She leapt over the back of the couch to seat beside Rias as she read the letter.

"Let's see here. Ahh, Riacchi is right! The letter is surprisingly polite coming from an Inquisitor nya~. Let's see. Huh, it seems that the Excalibur fragments were stolen and the thieves had run all the way here with it so the church sent a retrieval team."

Kuroka read it. She paused as she finished summarizing the letter. Then all eyes went to Kiba Yuuto. The blonde boy looked around and blinked when he felt everyone else staring at him.

"Uhh, guys? What is it? You're all being strange."

He half nervously addressed his friends. They look as if they're waiting for him to react to something. Seeing that he didn't, the rest look back to Kuroka who is staring at the letter and then back to Yuuto.

"Huh, I thought you're going to react more than that. After all, we do have Excaliburs running around in town nya~."

Yuuto rolled his eyes at what Kuroka said. So it's about that. It was no secret among them that Yuuto was a survivor of the highly controversial Holy Sword Project done by the church in order to produce artificial holy sword users. They still remembered him when he was first brought in by Ingvild. Well, Rias remembered and so does Gasper. Kuroka and Shirone joined the peerage after Yuuto so they didn't really see him when he first joined but they have heard the stories.

"I thought you might get triggered like back then."

Gasper quipped. Yuuto rolled his eyes again.

"That was then, this is now. The Excaliburs are just swords. Our King made that clear to me. She even beat me on the head until I could get my priorities straight. Though if I were to be honest, I would love to get my hands on the bastard that started the whole experiment on us."

That was nice to hear. Ingvild does like to run a tight ship. She hates putting off jobs that she can deal with immediately. She already has enough on her plate as it is. Any extra personal problem is not something she need to be put on her table. None of them want to trouble her with their personal problems either. Sometimes they feel that she'll really die of overwork if they do so.

"Hmm… then I would like to heave you keep a cool head, Yuuto."

Rias told him. This piqued Yuuto's interest since Rias addressed him specifically and with the topic being what it is, Yuuto has an inkling on what she want to say. The Queen then looked at him straight in the eyes before continuing.

"The letter also mentioned who the culprit was. One of them, and this one is the main culprit and fighter, is Freed Selzeen. He has an impressive reputation but otherwise, there's nothing special about him. Freed's accomplice though is someone you're familiar with. Valper Galilei."

Time seem to stop for Yuuto in that moment. He had expected to hear the familiar name being uttered by Rias when the conversation seemingly leads to that conclusion but hearing that wretched name again brought back memories from the past he would rather forget but will never allow himself to. His body began to tremble but immediately, Yuuto took a deep breath and mentally count to ten to calm himself down. Rias and the others of course caught his reaction so Rias added.

"The exorcists have received orders to eliminate the culprits. So, what will you do now, Yuuto?"

That is a good question. What is he going to do?

-An hour before dawn, Abandoned church-

Apparently what he's going to do had already been decided for him by circumstances.

Kiba Yuuto, Knight of the Leviathan peerage, is examining the rubbles of the now partially destroyed abandoned church. Earlier, it was his turn to patrol and he came across a barrier spanning a hundred miles radius from the abandoned church. Unfortunately, magic was not his specialty so he couldn't enter the barrier or identify its make other than it can keep him out of the area. He immediately called for reinforcement after finding the barrier and realizing that he couldn't penetrate it by himself.

By the time the rest of the peerage arrived though, the barrier was already taken down and whatever happened inside was over. All that was left is a landscape torn by battle, and what a landscape it is.

Most of the ground had been destroyed, the stones that made up the church ground was obliterated as if the whole place had been carpet bombed. For all they know, that could be what exactly happened here. Such ability similar to carpet bombing is not rare among anyone who can use magic.

While he is examining the damaged church, Kuroka is examining the bisected corpse of a priest. A priest they have identified as Freed Selzeen after some digging in the list of known stray exorcist database, which is available to the supernatural public. The cut was clean and there's not much damage done to his corpse apart from getting some rough treatment from being thrown around. His corpse was found a distance away from the ground zero of the carpet-bombed area and since their observation shows that he was killed through being split in half with a sword, that means he's not killed through any magical barrage.

He was most likely killed by one of the exorcists they met in a sword fight. But that left the question of what else happened and why is the area so damaged if they fight with swords? Where are the exorcists? This is what they need to find out. Unfortunately, none of them are an investigator so all they can do for now is to check out what they can and then leave the rest to professionals.

"What do you think, Kuroka-san? Is this the exorcist' doing? They made a mess here and then just leaves?"

Yuuto asked as he knocked off a rubble by kicking it. Kuroka's cat ears that twitched, hearing Yuuto's question despite the distance. She had examined the body and the area by now so she replied with a louder voice as Yuuto's hearing is not as acute as hers'.

"All I can tell is that there's light and holy elements around here but that doesn't tell us much nya~. The residual magic is already disipitating by the time we arrived."

Kuroka said as she finished her basic examination and approached Yuuto together with Shirone behind. As a Nekomata well versed in Senjutsu and Youjutsu, magical detection one of the capabilities available to her and while it is not her specialty, Kuroka is at least proficient enough in the art to at least examine the residual magic element in the area. Shirone and Yuuto are just here to guard her and help her if she needs it.

"Something happened here and something tells me that it's not the exorcists or even that stray Freed's doing."

Yuuto and Shirone agreed with Kuroka. They also got that impression from seeing the battlefield. But other than their hunch, they really have no way of knowing what happened. Investigation is not their specialty anyway. They can do basic examination but the only one among them who could actually make something out of those examination and turn it into deduction is Ingvild, and that is mostly because their King is just so used to playing the mind games. Unfortunately, she's absent right now.

"Should we inform Ingvild-sama about this?"

Yuuto inquired. While they don't have a clear picture of what is happening yet, this is an incident that they have never experienced before. Even if she's not here, they should at least inform Ingvild that something is happening. Kuroka though shook her head.

"She already has a lot on her plate. We shouldn't add more unless we're sure we couldn't handle this ourselves."

"That's right, Yuu senpai. Ingvild-sama is busy enough already. We shouldn't bother her."

Shirone agreed with her sister's decision. Ingvild already has a lot going on around her. The Rating Game with Riser Phenex and the manner in which they won put their King in the spotlight and currently, Ingvild is busy with a lot of things. That in addition with handling their relation with the Shinto faction, which she and Serafall is finalizing right now, Ingvild really shouldn't be bothered by matters that they could take over for her. This is the feeling shared by everyone in the Leviathan peerage. After all, they don't want their King to get killed by overwork.

"You're right. We can't always just rely on her for everything."

The same sentiment is of course shared by Yuuto. Despite being Ingvild's servants officially, it is always Ingvild who work the most out of everyone in the peerage. And it is not just mundane devil work like Contracts and territory management. She also gets work from Maou Leviathan herself as her personal right hand and representative. And even if she brings them to her work, she will always pick the lion's share of the work for herself.

It is admirable and it is why everyone in the peerage look up to her but it also frustrates them because they will always see her be the most tired out of all of them every morning. It made them feel inadequate. They're supposed to be her servants so why is their master the one who works like a servant? That's why they will never complain if she gave some more work their way. Well, they might voice it but they will never refuse if she delegates more work for them. And this time, they will take the initiative.

"Let's just hope that it's something we can handle then."

All three nodded to each other. Yes, hopefully they really don't need Ingvild for this.

With their examination of the scene done, the three waited for the cleanup team to arrive. If it was their own battlefield, they would do the cleanup themselves. But since it was not and there are things that seems off to them, they need to call in a proper investigation team and medic team to take away Freed's corpse for an autopsy.

Ten minutes later, Rias and Gasper arrived with the cleanup crew, and they all get to work.

-Morning, an abandoned building-

"Ouch. Ugh…"

Xenovia groaned as she woke up from her sleep. Her body still feeling the pain from last night though most of her injuries have been healed. The wonder of healing spells. It's required for all agents to know first aid and self-healing spells. Sometimes she wonder why it was not mandatory knowledge for all exorcists… well, normal exorcists were taught basic first aid but not self-healing spells or other healing spells unless they're meant to be medics.

The Inquisitor move her arms around and stretched. She could still feel some pain but mostly just leftover phantom pain. At least her bones are mending well and with boosted hearing through basic ki manipulation, she should be fully healed by noon, which is good news because she messed up last night.

To be fair, nobody could expect her to be ready to face a fallen angel cadre. Against even moderately powerful thieves, even say high class or ultimate class opponents, she could beat them or hold them back long enough to escape. But a legendary class opponent? It's a miracle she survived, and it's all thanks to Tosca.

The white haired girl is already up and about. Tosca helped her patch herself up after making that call to her master. It went… interestingly to say the least. But now that they're up, it's time to address the elephant in the room.

"So, what now?"

Xenovia asked Tosca. The girl stared at her but she has no answer. Neither does she actually. They are actually facing Kokabiel, a living legend in the supernatural world. One of the best commander and most powerful fighter in Grigori last she checked. Xenovia is simply asking for the sake of asking. Even she doesn't expect much from Tosca.

AX agent she might be, Tosca is mostly an infiltrator and her most powerful ability lies in defense. She doesn't have the power to face Kokabiel. Even if AX is a den of powerful elites specializing in high risk solo operations, not all of them are of the same power level even among the field agents.

Xenovia doubted there are actually many people who could face someone like Kokabiel in a fight. Only the absolute best among the church can. People like Amakusa Shirou, Petros Orsini, Kaya Syokka, Vasco Strada, those powerful leaders are the only ones that can hope of matching Kokabiel. Them or the top AX Agents; Tempest, Sword Dancer, and Executor. They are none of those people and currently, to Xenovia's knowledge, all those people, for one reason or another, cannot come to their aid.

Petros Orsini as leader of the Chivalric Order must always be stationed in Vatican and even if he leaves the city, as leader of Vatican's defensive force, he can never go too far. As for Amakusa, he's always busy with developing something. Cardinal Strada being old and retired also cannot be brought in to help. Besides, realistically speaking, Xenovia only has access to Kaya and the AX agents, and each have reasons they are not available.

Kaya is currently in a very precarious situation. She is the only person currently standing between the Pope and certain death and that situation will remain so in the forseeable future. As for the AX agents, Tempest is somewhere in America and that's already too much information for her to know and she only did because she's Kaya's personal apprentice. Sword Dancer… has always been difficult to contact even by fellow AX agents and randomly travel the world. As for Executor, Haruka, Kaya didn't say much but implied that he went training again and is basically on leave.

So yes, they have no one available they can throw at Kokabiel and they knew it.

"There's not much we can do but, whatever Kokabiel is planning, it couldn't be good. I'm more worried about Irina though. Kokabiel is cunning and he never did anything for no reason."

Yes, that's true. She only knew the basic overview of Kokabiel but the cadre is a known veteran military commander. He could've killed her and Irina immediately but he didn't. He played with her, only launching rains of spears in the beginning. For those who are ignorant, the raining spear of light might seem like a frightening rain of certain death, but that is a basic move used to cull the weaker enemies in open warfare where they battle in millions in the past, or so she heard from Kaya.

For an ignorant person, that move is only a basic move made for combatting armies who are weak fighters individually. That tactic is not as effective in battles with single powerful opponents who could either tank, block, or avoid the whole rain, and Kokabiel did not gain his fame just by killing low level grunts. He was also known as a powerful fighter in single combat. Case in point, she survived the rain of spears much more easily and far longer than in a single combat against Kokabiel and he was holding back.

Kokabiel is a dangerous opponent. He could've slaughtered them in an instant, but he didn't. That means he was testing them when he first attacked them and when he found what he wanted, he kidnapped Irina and then tried to silence Xenovia. There must be a purpose for his action.

"Why does he want Irina? First we must figure that out."

Xenovia nodded to Tosca's statement. Yes, figuring out the enemy's motive is important so they can predict the enemy's next movement and more effectively act to undermine their overall goal. It is why investigative capability is important as an Inquisitor by looking at the bigger picture and see another angle from which they can interrupt an enemy's plan. Unfortunately, Xenovia is mediocore in this aspect of the job.

"He kept Irina alive so there must be a reason for that. He needs her for something, but what?"

Xenovia said. Tosca consider it for a moment before replying.

"Nothing from me too. We don't have enough information. Either way though, we have to stop him."

"But how? We can't exactly face him in battle. He'll kill us."

Xenovia pointed out, less out of fear and more out of realism.

"We don't exactly need to beat him in combat to stop him. Killing an enemy is not the only way to stop them. It is by preventing them from achieving their objective. First though, we need to find out that objective, and the first step to that is to find Kokabiel."

"Finding Kokabiel? That is easier said than done. I'm not much of a tracker and honestly, I'm not all that good with investigating stuff."

The blue haired inquisitor admitted. It's a point she is trying to fix but those skill and knowledge is not exactly easy to learn. Exorcists are only trained to fight and follow orders to the letter. One of the most difficult things for her to adapt to when Kaya took her in is the intellectual exercise. It's not something she expected after all.

All her previous teachers always focus on the idea that she should grow stronger to serve the Church. Train her swings, grow her power, dedicate herself to the Church's teaching, everything like that. But Kaya told her to stop, observe, and think. See the world and the Church for what it is and decide for herself how best to serve God in such a world. It was difficult for her as it is something entirely new.

Unlike Irina, she's an orphan and thus she had never gotten any real school education, especially since she decided to become an Exorcist of the Catholic sect. Exorcist education for those who started out young is even stricter and much more limited than even the strictest Catholic school open for public, and public in this case is the non-supernatural public.

Tosca smiles. This is something that Kaya mentioned to her when the Inquisitor asked her to support Xenovia. Unlike Kaya herself and most of AX who don't have exorcist background before, Xenovia is thoroughly an exorcist. They are foot soldiers trained to serve the church loyally. Their education and training made them inflexible as the aim was to make a large amount of loyal soldiers instead of independent warriors. Though that kind of idea is what made the exorcist numerous but mostly fodders to the stronger supernatural enemies.

"That's fine. Each person has different ways to do things after all. Even each of us have different style of tracking and investigation. Sister Kaya prefers deductive reasoning after collecting all the facts. Executor prefer psychoanalysis and baiting. The Professor prefer deductive reasoning too. As for me…"

Suddenly, Tosca smirked. When she did so, a small bird flew in through an open window and landed on her shoulder. It took Xenovia only a short moment to realize that it is a familiar.

"I am a tracking specialist not because I am good in looking for clues. It is because I am good in locating and spying."

The white haired agent explained as she made the bird disappear.

"My sacred gear is a barrier-type sacred gear. Initially, I can only create barriers around me that locks the time inside. But now I am able to use and interact with any kind of barrier. It is the reason for my title and how I style my information gathering ability."

Phalanx. Basically a shield wall. It didn't give away much but it gave Xenovia an idea of how Tosca operates and fight and why she is a defense specialist. But using her power for tracking and investigation? Just how could being a barrier specialist helps her with those things? As if reading her mind, Tosca began to elaborate.

"It is simple really, but this is only because of the nature of my sacred gear and how I develop it. Through my sacred gear, I could tune myself to any kind of barrier. While taking over a barrier will make my presence obvious, I can make a backdoor for myself into any barrier system and use it to observe and feel everything inside a barrier. I can also detect and analyze any kinds of barrier. A familiar barrier will be easier to take over or spy through of course but the better the enemy caster is, the harder it is for me to take over the barrier or make a backdoor undetected."

That is an incredible application of her power! With that kind of power, there's no barrier that could hide from her! If she develops her ability further, that power could become a Longinus-class ability! AX agents are really incredible in one way or another. Even if Tosca's offensive power is not as high as say the top three AX agents, the utility of her power is more than Xenovia can imagine. However, Tosca's grin then turned into a frown.

"Fortunately, a passive barrier system is much easier to spy through undetected. Currently, I have a backdoor to see through the devils' Kuoh Town barrier and I have located the barrier inside the barrier created by Kokabiel. Then it's just a matter of sending a familiar to spy on him but… He detected me. Last night I could slip in undetected because he's in semi-active combat. Since he's currently on full alert, he nearly detected my familiar spying on him. I have to disconnect myself from Kuoh's barriers. Well, at least I get his location and I know that he is doing something to Shidou Irina and Galilei is with him. What it is he's doing though? I have no idea."

That is an unfortunate news. But it can't be helped. At least they have an idea on his location. That's still a plus.

"Then let's go. Whatever it is he's doing with Irina can't be good. We need to get Irina away from him."

Tosca could agree with the sentiment. Whatever Kokabiel is planning to do with Shidou Irina can't be good. Plus Irina is Haruka's sister. That is enough reason for Tosca to want to help the younger Shidou. AX agents look after each other's back. Plus Executor will owe her one for this. But there is one small problem.

"Do you have a plan? I agree with rescuing Shidou Irina but it won't help if we get ourselves killed in the process."

A plan. Xenovia grumbled since this is the part she's not very good at. She's not tactical minded and her usual strategies are very basic. Her test mission with Kaya at Vallo Della Lucania shows that. She simply drew out the Orthrus and Chimera by acting like a fresh meat during open season; flaring her magical presence for them to act on. This time though, they're not facing mad beasts but an intelligent warrior with years of experience. A stupid exorcist would likely go in with guns blazing while shouting prayers in latin, underestimating Kokabiel because he's a Fallen Angel, but she is an Inquisitor now and she has to think like one and that is by not underestimating Kokabiel's status as a war veteran simply because he's a Fallen.

"Uhh… I'll think of something."

That reply didn't inspire any confidence in Tosca. The agent sighs as she look out the window and towards the town. She didn't mention this to Xenovia but there is another reason why she accepted Kaya's request to look after the junior Inquisitor. After all, this is mission has a lot riding on it and she meant it in a personal way too.

"I hope you're having a better time than I do, Isaiah. And hopefully we can stop whatever it is Kokabiel is planning."

Tosca muttered.

So we have the aftermath of Kokabiel's confrontation with Xenovia and Irina and he covered his track well enough that while the Devils found out something is fishy, they still don't know what they're dealing with yet. And Yuuto is a bit different from canon. Well you guys will soon understand why when Yuuto/Isaiah finally met Tosca because there is a deviation in the events of the Holy Sword Project compared to canon, and it is not just because Ingvild is the one who became Yuuto's King.

So Xenovia and Tosca knew that they're outmatched by Kokabiel but they still have a job to do. And Kokabiel is keeping Irina. He has a plan and I will asure you all that it will be more elaborate than canon Kokabiel's plan.