(Kiba's POV:)

A heavy downpour while not good for one's health, certainly is good to help someone cool off. After the fight with the stray devil the only knight of Rias Gremory spent his time wandering the streets of the city. Thinking over his actions and words to his comrades, Kiba realized that he was not only rude, but put his own life in danger for no reason. "I should apologize to the others." Ever since he was given his name by his master, Kiba never once acted like he did tonight. Not even when he first became a devil and still did not trust the peerage…

"Help me, please!"

The terrified screams and the sound of a splash pulled Kiba from his musings, looking up the blonde knight found the source of the scream. "A priest?" Running through the rain in a black smock is an older man with a panicked expression. "What is one of your kind doing here?" A sword appears in the devil's hand as he stares down his enemy.

"Are you a member of the Gremory family?" The old man grabs ahold Kiba's torn blazer, his eyes alight with terror.

"Y-yes?" He asks not understanding why a member of the Church would be looking for him.

"Please, you must help me, there is-Guh" The priest's forehead erupts his blood splatters the devil knight's clothes.

Jumping away from the corpse Kiba drops into a fighting stance. "Come out and face me coward."

"Well, if you insist." A sing-song voice answers and as the owner steps into view, Kiba's blood begins to boil. "Yo, it's been awhile hasn't it?"

"Freed."

The silver-haired man smiles wickedly as he removes the silencer from the end of his gun. "Awe, I'm touched you remember me little-"

Rage blinds the knight of Rias Gremory as he stabs the ground. "Sword Birth!" The asphalt explodes as swords appear from underneath, Freed jumps out of the way with a wide grin and fires several shots at his enemy. Deflecting the shots away Kiba rushes after the fallen priest. Freed got away before, but he won't this time.

To an outside observer, it may have looked like a dance. A deadly dance, but a dance none the less. The two combatants traded gunshots and sword swings, neither one landing a blow on the other. The sound of metal clanging against metal could barely be heard over the downpour.

"Awe what's the matter blondie? Can't keep up?" Freed's face splits into a wide grin as he noted the devil's poor appearance.

"Shut up!" Kiba swings his blade in a wide arc only to find another sword blocking his attack. This sword is wrapped in a holy aura that began to eat away at Kiba's weapon. Backing up quickly the devil tosses his sword away and creates a new one. "Where did you get THAT weapon!?"

"Like it?" Freed cackles madly as he holsters his gun. "It was a gift from one of my 'brothers'. Or should I say-" Before the ex-priest could continue he stops and touches his ear. "-What? Yes, I took care of the old man, but-Gr… You're the boss, boss. So sorry, but we'll have to pick this up later."

The mad priest reaches into his jacket and pulls out an orb. "Bye!"

"Wait-" Light blinds Kiba as his ears begin to ring, raising his sword up the knight prepared to be attacked, but the attack never came. His vision and hearing returned, but there was no sign of Freed. "He got away." Through grit teeth Kiba tried to step forward but fell to his knees, violently coughing the knight's head swam.

It took several minutes before Kiba could even stand again. "How did he get one of the Excalibur blades?"

Forcing the question down, the Prince of Kuoh makes himself move. He had to find Freed, he had to kill him. Not because of the untold destruction could he cause, but because Kiba wanted… No needed to kill Freed.

But the question is… Where did the former priest go? The abandoned church is Kiba's first choice, but would Freed return to his former base of operations? Especially since he knew that Kiba knows the location?

Maybe not.

Without any other ideas, the blonde knight made his way to the church as fast as he could. Arriving at the church after several minutes, a strange feeling passed over the knight as he stepped over the threshold of the building. It felt like something was trying to push him out.

"Is there a ward in place?" This is definitely suspicious, does this mean Freed is working with someone else? Summoning a sword into his hand the knight, and ignored the feeling from the ward as he pressed onward. Keeping his eyes peeled for any sign of Freed or potential allies, the Prince of Kuoh made his way further into the church. The silence in the dilapidated building was off putting for the teen, but he still pressed on.

After a quick pursual of the area and finding no sign of Freed, Kiba went into the basement of the church. It is there he found something. Two men and two women all stood around a stone altar with someone on it, but from his spot Kiba couldn't see who it was. The first of the men has dark black hair and glasses, he has on a navy blue gakuran with a red robe over it. From his actions in directing the others he appears to be the leader.

The second is a short dark skinned teen with white-hair, he is dressed in a Meso-American outfit complete with a feather headdress. He is setting up things around the stone altar… Are they preparing a ritual of some sort?

The first woman is aiding the teen with the headdress, she has long blonde-hair with grey streaks, she is dressed in a all-black outfit, including a long coat. The other woman looks to be a teen and much like the older woman has blonde-hair. Though it is much lighter. The teen is dressed in a female gakuran with orange armor around her shoulders, neck, and chest.

"Are you sure this will work?" The leader asks with his arms crossed.

"I've never attempted this on a Longinus user, who knows how his body will react." The one with the headdress says as he places several objects onto the altar. "Tlazōlteōtl's teachings were not meant for one such as he."

As if reacting to their words the person on the table groans loudly and starts to move. "Hurry it up." The older woman snaps as her hands begin to glow. "I can't keep him under for long. The Red Dragon is stronger than we thought."

Red Dragon? Do they have Magnus? Peering out from his hiding spot the knight's eyes widen. Magnus Maverick is strapped to the alter with several items around his body. "What is happening?"

The glasses wearing teen gives a curt nod. "Begin the ritual now."

Gripping his sword tightly the young devil stood up. Whatever it is they were doing, it would end here, with a shaky breath the knight charged forward.

(First Person POV: Magnus)

"Begin the ritual now."

Ritual? What's going on? Why can't I move? Ddraig? I try to open my eyes, but something was obscuring them. The sound of chanting rang in my ears as my body lurches, it felt as if something was moving inside of my body.

"Who is that!? He can't interfere! We'll stop him!"

Clang!

Bang!

Swwwoooossshh!

Is someone fighting? I need to-"Gah!" White hot pain flashes through my mind, it feels like someone is ripping my stomach open. I try to move but something is holding me in place. "Ahh!"

"Thalia hold him still! If he gets lose before we're finished who knows what will happen!"

A pair of strong and firm hands press down on my shoulders as a voice whispers in my ear. "Sleep Red Dragon, sleep-"

"Not again witch!"

"Balance Break!" Rage and power pumped through my veins as the words left my lips, eyes snapping open I quickly scramble to my feet to see a brawl. A dark-haired man wearing glasses, shot blasts of magic and mist at a blonde blur, as another blurs chased after the blonde one.

Swords of various sizes and makes were spread across the ground, and even more appeared as I watched. A dark skinned teen, and a blonde woman both try to force me back down. Kicking them in the face I jump to the ground and promptly collapsed.

"What's wrong with me?" My entire body trembled violently causing me to dry heave, my armor shatters. A pair of arms pull me to my feet and throws me onto my back. Standing above me is the two people I kicked.

"Finish the ritual!" The older woman shouts at the teen.

Flinching the dark skin teen holds up several pawn chess pieces. "I can't something went wrong! Look at the chess pieces-"

The blonde woman clicks her tongue in annoyance. "-Then kill him and be done with it. The mission was a failure-"

"Sword birth!"

Swords erupted between me and my kidnappers, cutting the alter in half. "Up you go Magnus." An arm wraps around my side as I'm suddenly pulled to my feet. My vison blurred as the wind rushed past me, I think someone tried to speak to me, but it was difficult to hear or feel much of anything. What's happening to me?

"Where-Oh… I'm home." Slowly sitting up in confusion, I look around the room. No one is in here but me, that's odd's, usually Asia and Rias-"Whoa… Why's the room spinning? Also why is it so dark?" Why do I feel so weak?

"Good to see your still alive partner."

"You too… Wait still alive? What are you talking about? What happened to me?" I ask the dragon that resided in my Sacred Gear.

"That's what I'd like to know as well." The door to my room opens to reveal Rias standing there, I couldn't make out her face, but I had a feeling she was worried.

I rub the bridge of my nose as I try to keep down my lunch. "I-I'm not sure… The last thing I remember was… I was underground I think and there was fighting and… Kiba! Kiba was there, at least I think it was him…"

Rias moves to my side as she touches my shoulder. "He was and he is fine, exhausted but fine. Right now I'm more concerned about what happened to you."

"What happened to me?" I ask in confusion. Seriously why is it so dark in here?

Now that I could see her face, the older girl was biting her lip. "When Kiba found you… He said there was a group of people who were doing some kind of ritual, a ritual he interrupted."

"Which isn't good I take it?"

"Yes that's right." Rias's grips my shoulder tightly. "I don't know what they were attempting to do-"

"They made you human again partner."

"That… That's not possible." I was reincarnated into a devil, there is no way I can be human again… Can I? My heart begins to rapidly pound as my breath catches in my chest. I can't breathe, I can't breathe! I look around the room as everything began to spin around.

A pair of slender arms pull me close as a hand strokes my back. "Shh… Relax, breathe. It's okay."

It took several minutes before I was able to settle down and when I did, Rias glares at my left arm. "I was trying to break it to him gently, but I'm afraid it is Magnus. Somehow you are human… Well, mostly."

Seeing the confusion on my face, Rias continues. "When someone becomes a devil, while it's called reincarnation it's not really. You see, your body and soul are infused with demonic energy from the Evil Pieces. It thus links you to the Underworld and your master. Makes sense so far?"

I can only nod as she continues.

"This ritual from what we were able to gather it ripped the demonic power from your soul, which should have killed you."

"Then how am I still alive?"

"Because the ritual was interrupted close to the end, only a small amount of demonic power resides within you." Ddraig explains. "It's enough to link you to Gremory, but other than that? For all intents and purpose, you are human."

I look at my arm, and then at Rias to confirm this and when she nods my stomach drops. "I… Is there any way for me to change back?"

"I am not sure."

(Third Person POV: Unknown location)

"I am sorry, but we failed in mission." Georg bows his head before his leader. "The Red Dragon Emperor-"

"Raise your head Georg, all of you." The man waves his hand over the group. "I don't consider this mission a failure. In fact, I think the results are promising." Reaching into his pocket the leader pulls out a mostly red pawn chess piece. "Very promising. Georg keep the Red Dragon under surveillance for now. If there is nothing else, report back to base before the Gremory group comes looking for you."

"I would like to know something, nothing like this has been attempted before so why would you risk it?" Someone asks.

"Several reasons if the process worked we could begin to try it on other reincarnated devils. Turn them back into the humans they once were." The leader explains in a bored tone, as if he was discussing the weather. "If it didn't and it killed the Red Dragon, then a potential powerful enemy would be off the board. Is there anything else? No? Good."

(First Person POV: Magnus, the following morning)

I didn't sleep much that night, then again none of us really did. I found out from Rias that the Occult Research Club was all here, with what happened to me and the return of Freed (Rias informed me about it). No one felt safe sleeping alone. So, it was decided that everyone would stay at my house. Akeno and Koneko stayed in the room where my parents would usually sleep, Kiba hunkered down in the living room.

Rias and Asia made themselves at home in my room with me.

Which didn't bother me, mostly because I had other things on my mind. When morning finally came, I slipped out of bed doing my best not to take wake the others. Creeping down the stairs, I carefully make my to the kitchen and sit down at the table.

Rubbing the back of my head, I try to put my thoughts and feelings in order. I'm human again… I feel… The same and yet different. Aside from the obvious things like night vison, I feel like I've lost something important, something that not only bound me to my friends, but a part of my very being.

Maybe I'm just imaging things…

With a sigh I begin to make breakfast, pushing my feelings and thoughts down. Now is not the time for a existential crisis. I'm way to young for that. Grabbing a carton of eggs from the fridge, a frying pan, and various other things to make scrambled eggs. As I was making breakfast, I did my best to focus on the task at hand, but my mind kept going back to my situation. I'm human… But at the same time I'm not. I don't have any devil powers, but I still feel my connection to Rias.

…..

….

"Is something burning?"

"Ah!" Jumping at the voice I quickly turn to see Rias, only to see the eggs burning. "Crap." Scrambling quickly, I try to save the food. "Uh… Morning."

"Morning." The red-head moves to my side. "Why don't you sit, and I'll finish making food."

I open my mouth to argue but stop. "That…. Is a good idea, I might burn down the house in my condition." As Rias attempts to save breakfast, I sit down with my head in my hands. "Thanks."

"Your welcome." The older girl laughs melodiously. "I rather not have a visit from the fire department this morning." We both share a laugh at that. "Magnus, how are you doing?"

The jovial tone vanished with that question. "… I'm not sure to be honest, how am I supposed to feel?" Parts of my soul are now gone… I am not a devil, but I'm not completely human either. With a heavy sigh I lay my head on the table.

A soft hand caress my head causing me to sigh peacefully. "I promise we will do everything in our power to help you."

"-Rias have you seen Magnus-Oh there you are!" I lift my head and see a blonde missile shoot toward me; the bishop practically tackled me to the floor. "I was so worried about you!"

Struggling to keep my balance, I pat Asia's back. "Careful...!" Crap I'm falling! Falling to the ground with a loud thud, I groan in annoyance. "Ow…"

"Are you two okay?" Rias asks in concern.

"I'm fine." Asia looks up with a smile. "Oh I'm sorry Magnus, I was just worried-"

"I know." I gently pat the blonde's shoulder.

"What's going on!? I heard a-Oh. Is it always this noisy here?"

I turn my head and see Kiba standing in the doorway of the kitchen, a sword in his hand. "Morning."

Dismissing the blade the knight just shakes his head as he sits down at the table. "Morning."

"Oh my, what's going on?" Following behind the Prince of Kuoh is Akeno and Koneko, the older of the two looked at me with a… Hungry stare? While Koneko has a look of disgust and amusement on her face.

"It's not what it looks like." Asia scrambles to her feet with a blush.

As Akeno begins to poke fun at the bishop, I get Kiba's attention and with a jerk of my head, the two of us walk into the living room. Once in there I hold my hand out to my friend. "Rias told you me that you saved me… So… I wanted to say thanks."

A complicated expression passes over Kiba's face before he takes my hand. "I-"

"Son of a-" I pull my hand back with a hiss of pain. Something cut me! Yet as I examine my hand, there is no sign of a cut. "-What was that?" Kiba doesn't say anything as he sits on the couch. Okay, what the hell is going on?

"You don't mind if I watch the news do you?" The blonde asks.

"Uh… No." Clenching and unclenching my hand I start to walk to the kitchen, when I heard something come out of Kiba's mouth, something that I never heard before.

"Shit."

Stopping in my tracks, I turn around and see Kiba staring at the television. "What's wrong-Oh… Yeah, shit is the right word."

"… The body of fifty-year Father Nakamoto was found early this morning, the priest died to a gunshot wound to the back of his head-"

"This… Could be a problem."

"Can you believe there was a murder?"

"Why would anyone kill a priest?"

"I'm scared! I live close to where they found the body!"

"I want to know why the road was destroyed; does anyone think it's weird that it was all cut up?"

"That poor man."

I rub the bridge of my nose as my classmates chattered on, doing my best to translate everything being said. I was so used to having the devils auto-translate that when I arrived at school, I almost got a migraine from having to translate everything I heard or read.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, just trying to not be overwhelmed." I mutter to Asia who is looking at me in concern. The blonde nods in understanding, as she was in a similar position when she first came to Japan not that long ago.

"Yo, Maverick-san! Argento-san!" Running toward us is Motohama and Matsudo with Aika following behind.

"Hello." Asia bows her head in greeting.

"What's up?" I ask doing my best to speak Japanese. If they noticed that anything was off with how I spoke, they didn't say anything.

"Pretty crazy how that priest guy got murdered." Matsuda comments.

Asia and I do our best not to look at one another. "Yeah, crazy…"

"It's sad that someone died." Asia sighs sadly.

Motohama nods with his arms crossed. "Hard to believe really."

"We were all talking about walking home together, safety in numbers." Aika adds. "Unless you have club activities today?"

We didn't, Rias had a meeting with Sona, they had to discuss not only the return of Freed, the murder of the priest, but what happened to me as well. So, while we didn't have club activities, everyone was told to go back to my house. "We are meeting the rest of our club at my place."

"Oh." My fellow humans (so weird to say) look a little downcast.

"But we could walk with you." Asia says quickly. "I'll go give my key to Kiba, and meet you by the front gate." The blonde runs off as the rest of our little group walk to the front gate. On the way I listened to Motohama and Matsudo chat about various things. Aika didn't say anything but I could feel her watching me.

"Are you feeling okay?" The brunette leans toward me.

"Just… Feeling a little off." Off… Yeah that's a word for it.

"Want to talk about it?"

I shake my head with a smile that never reached my eyes. "No but thanks for the offer." Aika nods politely but I could tell she was hurt. She was my first friend when I came to Kuoh, and we were fairly close. So me being distant hurt her. With a sigh I rub my face. Maybe I should tell her the truth?

Would that be so bad?

Aika is my friend and she and Asia were pretty close, and it would be nice to have someone to talk to outside of all this-

"Yo Maverick-san you ready?"

Hm? I look up and-Son of a gun, when did Asia get here? "Uh… Yeah. Let's go." Our little group begins to walk, as we do Asia moves to my side, and begins to talk with Aika with the other two guys joining in. I tried to pay attention, really I did but my mind kept wandering off.

"That sounds like fun-"

"-Then it's a plan!"

"-I'll invite-"

"Text me the details."

Wait what's happening? I look at my fellow teens in confusion. "What's going on now?"

Aika's face splits into a grin so wide, she looked like the Cheshire Cat. "Asia said she's never done karaoke, so we're all going this weekend!"

"Isn't this exciting?" Asia smiles happily, clapping her hands together. "And the entire Occult Research Club is invited."

"Oh… That's nice." This weekend… Oh crap… My parents are coming soon… Crap. This Friday if I remember correctly. I slump over with a groan. Just another thing I have to add to the pile. Ignoring the looks my friends were giving me, I give them the best smile I could. "Just remembering something, don't mind me." Asia and Aika looked like they wanted to ask more, but Motohama grabbed their attention. Eventually we dropped the other three at their houses and began to walk toward mine.

"Magnus?"

"Hm?"

"I don't know what your going through, but just know I am here if you want to talk." Asia quickly wraps me up in a hug.

Flushing slightly, I return the embrace. "Thanks."

"Your welcome-" The girl shudders violently and begins to look around in a panic.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

Asia keeps looking around and whispers. "I feel something… Holy."

Shit. "Stay close to me." Is Freed here? Did he find us? "Call the others if it's Freed-" As I spoke two figures stepped into view, and I recognized one of them. "No way."

(Third Person POV: Rias Gremory)

"I haven't been in here in a long time." As the crimson-haired beauty walked into the sauna, she casually removed the towel from around her body.

Akeno following behind her king did the same. "You used to come here a lot?"

Sona smiles fondly as memories begin to come back. "In the past, Rias and I would come here all the time. Share our secrets or in most cases, vent our frustrations about our family." Sona deciding to keep some modesty, didn't remove her towel. "This sauna was built for my personal use."

"Really? Does this mean we are in the Sitri territory?" Akeno asks with a raised eyebrow.

"It does." Tsubaki, Sona's queen answers. "This place is connected to one of Sona's personal stronghold."

"Ah." Akeno says as she leans back enjoying the hot steam. "I wonder what you had to talk about Rias."

Rias chuckles. "All I did was complain about my mom, or my brother."

"And all I did was complain about my sister." The glasses wearing girl sighs at the memories. "Good times." The four women sat silently all of them enjoying their time in the sauna, eventually though the enjoyment came to end. "As fun as this is, we have business to discuss."

The red-head slowly nods and brushes a strand of hair over her shoulder. "Yes we do." Rias began to explain the events of the previous night, shocking the Sitri heiress and her queen.

"Human again? Impossible."

"Yet he is." Akeno points at the heiress.

Sona huffs in confusion. "How strange… Let us put a pin in this discussion, and move on to the more pressing issue. The murder of that priest."

"Yes his death makes things… Complicated." Rias mutters with a frown.

"It's worse then you think." Sona's eyes darken. "The priest wasn't alone."

Akeno and Rias share a look, both of them concerned. "How do you know that?"

Tsubaki clears her throat before speaking. "Last night, we were dealing with a stray devil-Yes another appeared. Anyway, as we were dealing with the stray, they appeared. Two members of the church, both of them wielding holy swords."

"Did you recognize the swords?" Rias asks in concern.

"Yes." Tsubaki pushes her glasses up. "They both wielded shards of Excalibur."

Rias's heart practically stops. "Two of Excalibur's wielders are here?" If Kiba found out about that- "Did anything happen? Is your peerage alright?"

"Don't worry Rias we're fine." Sona smiles at her friend's concern. "The sword wielders actually helped us deal with the stray, and afterword's we had a chat."

"What could two of the church's agents have to discuss with devils?" Akeno raises an eyebrow in confusion.

"They wanted to meet up with you, surprisingly. Apparently they had something urgent to discuss with the territory's ruler."

Rias's face pales slightly. "Did they tell you what it was about?"

Sona shakes her head. "No but if they want to speak with you, it must be important."

"I see… I take it you know how to get into contact with them?"

"I do."

Rias nods. "Then set up the meeting, I will meet with them tomorrow afterschool at the clubhouse. Would you care to be there?"

"No." Sona shakes her head. "We have other business to handle, but if you would keep us updated?"

"Of course, if there is anything else-"

Tsubaki nods. "Yes there is. One of them mentioned something, about visiting a friend in town, and I could be mistaken but… I believe I heard them mention your pawn by name."

Shooting straight up, Rias rushes out of the room with Akeno following behind. "I am sorry Sona, but I need to get home."

(First Person POV: Magnus)

"No way… Irina, is that you?"

Standing in front of me is two women, the first I recognized instantly. Irina Shidou. My old friend, my childhood friend. Irina is beautiful Japanese girl with long chestnut brown hair, her hair is tied into long twin tails, while several bangs hang over her face with a single strand hanging over her face. Violet/purple eyes shine brightly as a broad smile appears on her face.

"Magnus!" Running over the girl jumps and pulls me into a tight embrace.

Catching her, I return the hug with a slight flush. "It's good to see you."

Dropping down, the shorter girl looks up at me. "You too. Wow you got tall."

I grin at her comment and gently pat her head. Back when we were kids, Irina was taller then I was, but now I am the taller. Standing at a comfortable five-foot eleven, compared to her five-foot four. "Been eating my veggies."

"I can see that." She swats my hand away, grumbling something under her breath.

I chuckle and look at the other girl. "Who is your friend?" The other girl is beautiful, she has chin-length blue hair with a dyed green fringe on the right side and dark yellow eyes. She looks to be European, or maybe American, with her pale white skin.

"Xenovia Quarta." She answers in a low voice, her dark eyes lingering on Asia.

"I've told you about Xenovia, she's my partner on the mission trips we take." Irina supplies.

"Oh right, now I remember. Well it's nice to meet you, oh Irina this is my friend Asia-"

"-Argento." Xenovia finishes for me.

"Wait, how do you-" I stop talking as I look between the blue-haired girl and Asia. The blonde girl is petrified with fear. "-Asia what's wrong?"

"Ch-ch-Church agents." She manages to stutter out.

My blood begins to run cold as I pull away from Irina. "Irina… Not that it isn't good to see you, but what are you doing here?"

"Well… I wish it was to see you but… I'm here on business." The smile dropped from Irina's face as she moves next to Xenovia.

I frown and I push Asia behind me. "What kind of business? If you're here to hurt-"

"We need to speak with the ruler of this territory, Red Dragon Emperor."

Hey everyone I am back! Sorry I was gone for so long, but you know how it is... Life is life. However, I won't let that stop me from writing! Anyway, I just want to say thank you all for your support by following, fav, my stories and me, and of course reviewing. It means a lot. Now onto the reviews!

Jehu: Interesting theory, who knows?

Ace: I rather keep it ambiguous, which is half the fun if you ask me. Things are alright thank you for asking! That is an interesting theory/random thought. All I can say to that is... Who knows?

Merendinoemiliano: Thank you very much!

Lionelgabrial1234: Changes have come.

Well this is it for this chapter, I hope you all enjoy it and hopefully I'll see you all in the next update!