A/N: Welcome to the next chapter. Couple things.

There will be a 4-year time skip between the ending of the last chapter and the beginning of this one which would have happened if I went with my original plans for it but it didn't go through so it's happening now.

This chapter will start the Holy Sword Project incident and how it's handled as well as some surprises in store.

With those few points, let's get onto the chapter.


Scene Skip

4 Years since saving Valerie

Four years after Issei saved Valerie, Issei and Vali were in another spar between them that had become commonplace since she had regained her memories. With the knowledge she regained with her memories, Vali was easily able to break through the barrier holding her back and gain access once more to her Balance Breaker which led to their spars being both more active as well as pushing the limits to what Grigori's training rooms could take so Azazel quickly had to find a new place for them to train in, which he didn't mind having to do since he knew this would help them in the long run in the future.

As the fight finally started winding down with a tie between the two, they turned at the sound of someone clapping to see Valerie nearby waiting until they had finished their spar to speak up. During the last four years, Valerie had grown accustomed to living within Grigori and was happy to learn that her fears of being considered a half-breed and shunned unfounded as she had heard was common with Grigori. She had also done some strength training but while she loved to watch Vali and Issei train, she knew they were way above her pay grade in strength, she still got some lessons here and there from them.

And with the knowledge she had learned, she also learned about how the future turned out with her Sacred Gear being used to cause trouble in the previous timeline and so she worked hard on mastering her Gear and being ready in case it was somehow tried again. "Yasaka's on the line with the final information for the Holy Sword Project that we were waiting on." She said, grabbing their instant attention as they had been waiting for the final information on the Holy Sword Project which they had known was coming to a close as it had in the previous timeline and Issei planned on helping to stop it no matter what it took.

As the trio made it to Azazel's office, they saw that Yasaka was already on the communications circle set aside for communication with the Yokai and Yasaka smiled at the teens before turning back to Azazel and what they had been talking about. "That's all the information we've been able to gather on the project that you don't already have Azazel. I'll be glad to have this horrible event past us." She said getting nods from everyone else in the room.

The Grigori and Yokai had been slowly working on getting files and any information they could from the site where the Holy Sword Project was underway so that if it somehow came to light that either faction had a hand in Issei's involvement, they could send proof on why it was shut down. While Issei wasn't fond of the idea of him going in alone, he also understood why they wouldn't risk sending in anyone that might be tied to their factions and while Vali could have come as well, she had another mission to deal with at the same time.

"I can agree with you there Yasaka and I just hope that I make it in time to save the kids," Issei commented as he found a seat and everyone else nodded their heads as Azazel turned towards Issei with his next words.

"I know I won't be able to stop you from going through with this mission and I can understand why but I'm sure you can also understand why we can't send support with you. With the state of the factions as they are now, we can't risk any of our troops, Yokai or Fallen in this attack and as far as we're aware no one knows your connection to us outside of a select few of the Cadre so we should be safe there."

Issei just nodded at his words as Yasaka did the same since this wasn't the first time they'd had this talk and he could understand their worries and wasn't going to argue it but he had an idea come into his head while training earlier. "I don't disagree with that statement and I also understand why Vali can't come with me since she's going off on her own mission but why not just go ahead and contact Heaven directly and give them the information we've gathered already. It's not like we don't have enough evidence to turn in and back up our claims." He said while making Azazel and Yasaka both nod their heads in uncertainty but he could tell that they were at least thinking about the idea, and Vali to nod her head in agreement.

While Issei didn't know the full mission details for why Vali wasn't able to go with him, he knew it was a big one and had a feeling what the mission was and was going to leave her to it. Though that didn't leave out the fact that the knowledge Azazel had taken in the White Dragon Empress was likely known to most Factions by now, it could be said that this was an independent act by her.

"We'll talk about that idea but while I'm not completely against the idea, right now at least, it still might cause issues," Azazel said after sending a look to Yasaka and getting a shrug from her at the thought. With that talk out of the way, Issei got up to head to the teleportation room to get taken near the site.

Scene Skip

As Penemue walked into Azazel's office, she couldn't help but notice that he seemed tense and not completely there as he walked in circles around the room, though she could easily understand why. Both Issei and Vali had left on missions, Vali on an undisclosed one, and Issei going to end the Holy Sword Project as it was being shut down permanently tonight and Azazel was worried about repercussions if it came back that Issei was with Grigori. And now, with what Penemue was able to determine was unrelated to the mission, Heaven was contacting them which is why she was there.

"Azazel." She started, continuing once he turned towards her after finally realizing he wasn't alone in the office. "Gabriel is on the line wanting to talk to you about something, and before you get all tense, it doesn't seem like what the Red Dragon was sent out on but I can't promise anything on that."

Azazel couldn't believe his bad luck at the timing of the call but he also couldn't help but think this might work in their favor. He had already talked with Yasaka about approaching Heaven with their knowledge and information they had obtained and while they had decided to approve of the plan, they had also decided to wait on sending it for now but they hadn't planned on Heaven contacting them while Issei was on site.

"Patch her through and get ready to send them all the data we have on the project." He said, getting a nod from her as she stepped outside to do just that. Right at that moment, Gabriel's face popped up on the screen in front of him. "Hello, Gabriel. What can I do for you today?"

When Gabriel started this call, she wasn't sure if she would be able to get to Azazel easily but she was still happy when Penemue passed her through. She still didn't know what took them so long to contact Azazel on if he knew anything about the latest generation Red Dragon Emperor, they all knew he'd taken in the White Dragon Empress under his wing, so it stood to reason that he would try and gain any information about her rival. "Hello, Azazel. I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

Azazel could only laugh at that as she didn't know the half of it. "Just pacing as I'm waiting on results of an operation in progress but that's it. Though honestly, it's good that you contacted me as the operation involves Heaven too but I had originally hoped to keep Grigori's name out of it." He commented but stepped in once more before she could do more than give a confused expression back. "But we can come back to that. What's on your mind."

Gabriel was confused by Azazel's comment about trying to keep Grigori's name out of whatever was going on, but she also knew that there was a very small chance it would be something that would cause lasting damage to Grigori if he could keep from it. "Very well. I'm sure you've heard by now of Ascalon going missing a while back and is presumed to be with its new wielder?" She asked, getting a nod from him as that wasn't anything new to him. "Well, something else happened at the same time and is what I'm calling about. The System told us about an anomaly in the System and to find the Red Dragon Emperor as he would have the answers we seek, whatever that means. And since we know you have the White Dragon Empress, we figured you might have some information that could help us find the Red Dragon Emperor."

Azazel had indeed known for a while about Ascalon since Issei had let him know he had it when he time traveled, as well as he had heard about Ascalon being missing right before he met up with Issei. Though the news about there being an issue with the System was new and not a welcome one depending on what the issue was.

"I do know who the Red Dragon currently is actually and have a pretty good guess as to what might have caused the error in the System but not the why." He said, getting a nod from her since she knew Azazel well enough to know how much of a knowledge nerd he was he might know some stuff but not all of it, especially when he was no longer a Seraphim. Though her mind also screeched to a halt at the fact he might know what had caused the issue with the system, but she decided to come back to that.

"Is there any way we could meet them? While we don't know what exactly caused the System to act like it did, if we were to meet them it might help us get an idea."

Azazel was sure that Issei wouldn't mind but that ran into the current issue. "While I'm sure he wouldn't mind, this leads into the mission I was talking about earlier as the Red Dragon is the one I sent out." He commented before letting Penemue know to send the files. "I'm having Penemue send the files we gathered on the Holy Sword Project and its real reason for existing, instead of the one I'm sure they gave to you."

Gabriel was about to respond to that remark, she knew well the project he was talking about and the risks they were taking in letting it run its course but the information came through before she could. Azazel could see her face go from confusion to horror to anger as she read what he sent her and she looked up at him, tears in her eyes, with a look that begged him to deny this but that also said she didn't expect one to come.

Azazel could only nod his head at the information provided. If he had to guess, Heaven would know soon about Issei's time travel, but for now, he kept that to himself until this incident was over. "You've known me long enough to know I would never lie about something this big Gabriel. While I didn't want to sanction the Red Dragon going out there to deal with it, I knew I wouldn't be able to stop him, and as I said, I didn't want to involve Grigori at all so he went in alone, but with everything going on, I felt it would be better to give you everything we had now so hopefully things would not get any worse if something did go wrong."

As much as Gabriel wanted to deny his comment, to say that there was no way for something like this to happen, she knew that he was right and such couldn't deny Azazel's words as much as she wanted to, and she also understood why he would try to keep Grigori out of anything that would happen. But now she had another issue to deal with and one that needed to be dealt with now. "We'll be in touch Azazel. I need to convene an emergency meeting with the other Seraphim about this. And if you would, please alert your agent we'll be sending our people to assist as soon as we can get a team in place." Getting a nod from him.

"Certainly. I'll alert Penemue to immediately accept calls or news from Heaven and let me know." He said, before thinking about another thing to add. "Oh and one more thing. This is off the record officially but Yasaka knows about this as well and helped us gain some of the information sent to you but has wished to stay out of this incident past what she has already done."

Gabriel only nodded her head about this new information as it wasn't anything too surprising. The Seraphim and Archangels had heard about Yasaka and Grigori forming a truce between the two groups and while they would have normally been worried about such a thing, the fears were lessened by the fact that they were completely open on the truce being signed and why; Grigori was needing some help with an upcoming project that the Yokai would be able to help them with and while the project was a secret except to a select few, enough information had been given to calm fears.

Before she'd even hung up, she'd already started figuring out who to call to lead this mission and it didn't take long before she knew the best person to do it and planned on calling her right after calling for her brothers. She just hoped that whatever help they could get to him would get there in time to save some of the kids.

As Gabriel turned around to call her brothers, she noticed to her surprise that Michael had entered the room sometime during the call and was looking at her with a look of curiosity on his face that turned to surprise when he saw her with tears coming down her face. To see such emotions so openly was rare for his sister. While she was one that her emotions showed up easily on her sleeves, it was still rare for them to be out in the open so publicly.

Michael had walked in right after Azazel had sent the files and missed his comments about what they were, so he didn't know what the cause was, but he knew it was something big if Gabriel was going to call an emergency meeting and had already sent out an alert to call the rest of the Archangels and Seraphim to the room. He knew his sister well enough to know she wouldn't call an emergency meeting over something trivial. "Gabriel? I came in right as you said you were going to call a meeting so I sent out an alert, but what's going on?" He asked, before she passed him over the papers.

Gabriel was glad to see one of her brothers here already and as she passed the papers over, she was also generating a Communications Circle to the person she planned on having command the team, she answered Michael. "That is what is going on. Azazel sent those forms to me after I asked about the Red Dragon Emperor and he said he was on a mission to deal with the site personally. You heard me say we'd send our own team which is why I'm making a call as I'm talking to you as I already know someone that is nearby and we can trust to handle this situation." She said as Michael finished looking over the forms and had his own look of horror to match the one Gabriel had as both the door opened to allow in the other Seraphs and Archangels as well as Griselda Quarta answering the call which led Gabriel to motion to Michael to let their brothers in on the news while she got started on getting a team in place.

While normally Michael would have asked for her to wait on what she was doing, he knew Azazel well enough to realize, like Gabriel did, that he would never lie about something like this so made more copies of the papers as he started the meeting.


A/N: Well, there's the next part of the chapter as well as the start of the Holy Sword Project ending. Couple things.

Sorry for the long time between any chapters in my stories but I took a break from writing and plan on getting back to writing pretty quick.

I wanted to do more of the HSP this chapter but after this long time between chapters, I felt this was a good place to stop this chapter and put the actual action in the next.

Vali's mission won't be disclosed until after the end of this mission but if anyone wants to guess what it is go ahead.

I did set up a Twitter account if anyone wants to follow it: look up deltanz92 on Twitter and the pfp is Great Red.

Feel free to join my discord server if you want. It's not very active but it is a place to chat and just chill: zwJu3MZ is the code to get in.

I've already got some of the next part of the HSP written so hopefully, it won't take long to get it out but until then.