A/N: Back after long hiatus, struggled to write since pops died, but can't laze around, got novels to finish that I've been procrastinating on too. Well here ya go for this story, 1500-ish words longer than normal too.

Part 6: LUCIFER AND JACK

Sona had been keeping an eye on a young sacred gear holder for some time now that she wanted to bring into her peerage alongside Kōri, though unlike the powerful ice mage; Saji was much simpler and easier to speak to. She had him join the student council in preparation for making him an offer to her peerage, likely as a pawn piece at a later date.

So far he had proved rather capable in the student council role, Saji sadly bared some of Issei's perverted tendencies, the other sacred gear holder who Rias had laid claim to, however he didn't peep at least, and was easy to keep in line. If she had any complaints was Saji's apparent attraction to her. She had no interest in romance at this time and had broken her own engagement with a chess match, and beating all following suitors until the nobles of the underworld knew it was a waste of time. In the next few years she would likely be forced into the role of head of household, but she refused to be forced into a marriage for her family's convenience with no consideration for her own happiness. Much like Rias was dealing with an unwanted marriage with Riser Phenex, though with a likely ratings game being forced to settle the dispute, Rias with her poor combat skills and incomplete peerage didn't stand a chance currently. She hoped Issei's sacred gear would be worth the trouble of including part of the perverted trio into her group, though with Issei being followed by Fallen Angels, Rias had best be quick with approaching him.

Speaking of which, a Fallen Angel had just now been reported killing Saji by one of her familiars which monitored the town for stray activity. With no time to spare and none of her peerage present, Sona was forced to teleport to Saji's location without back up in order to revive him.

She found Saji dead, a hole through his heart tainted with holy energy. But he wasn't alone, she spotted in the distance a Fallen Angel flying erratically, as though its wings were damaged. However that wasn't 'the not alone' previously mentioned. As around Saji were hundreds of Ice constructs, large lumbering golems, twice the size of an ordinary man. Many showed heavy damage from light spears and hovered protectively around the deceased. The one nearest her had a fistful of bloody black feathers. It regarded her before gesturing to Sona to proceed. The other Golems presented a direct path to Saji as they stepped aside.

"Thank you," Sona smiled faintly, though she doubted these golems had much in the way of mental functions. Normally she wouldn't approach such a hoard, but when she sensed they were made from Kōri's magic she knew she had little to fear. Their talks were always brief, intentionally on Kōri's part to avoid entrapment, and when Kōri killed a Stray Devil she was swift to flee to avoid being confronted as anything but a normal student, which they both knew was fiction, however Kōri didn't give her the impression of being a bad person, stoic – yes, dangerous – absolutely. But not if you weren't an enemy, which was why Sona never considered going the high pressure or black mail route that some Devils did when seeking a peerage. There was a reason Stray Devils were ever increasing in the last century, far too many sought to 'dominate' others, or outright enslave them. Disgusting brutes, when Sona became head of the Sitri clan, she would among other things throw the Sitri's political weight around with the intentions of making positive change. Which was why she did not like reviving Saji without his permission, but with it being that or dead, Sona hoped he would be understanding and appreciative of cheating death, and not resentful at the loss of freedom.

Reaching Saji, she knelt beside him and pulled out one of her Pawn pieces, inserting it into his chest. "By the name of Sona Sitri, rise as my new pawn!" he failed to revive, but the process had begun, meaning he needed more than one piece. A few minutes later and a total of four pawn pieces being used, Saji was revived as a low ranked Devil. Now she only needed to heal his injuries.

"Finally it works," Sona breathed, easily lifting Saji princess style.

Soon after lifting him, a swirl of ice and snow birthed a short distance from Sona, and from it emerged Kōri, face and neck bloody, clothes torn.

"So you got here in time, I'm glad." Kōri remarked as she regarded Sona and a now reincarnated Saji.

Sona, though surprised Kōri wasn't avoiding her as usual, covered it, replying, "Indeed, you're sending of the ice golems proved helpful. Had they destroyed the body I wouldn't have been able to save him."

"Of course, luckily I was close enough to do that much. But not in time to save his human life," Kōri replied.

"Yes, I too would have preferred to have made him an offer and hopefully negotiate terms."

"You're a better person than Rias to worry about such things," Kōri stated, before offering a suggestion, based upon her somewhat limited knowledge of Saji. "You should just be honest about your original intentions, and that he can leave your peerage upon gaining the status of high ranked Devil. If you do that he'll probably be grateful rather than kill you with his sacred gear at the first opportunity."

Sona considered the matter before nodding. "Thank you, I'll do that." Kōri turned to leave, but Sona called out to her, "Incidentally, are your injuries alright? That's quite a lot of blood."

"Hmm?" Kōri paused and glanced back. "I was stabbed through the throat, had my face smashed in, and nearly raped by an insane exorcist, not a fun day."

Sona was taken aback by the sheer dismissive casualness of the catalogued injuries. "I take it you healed yourself?"

"Yeah, I'm a tough bitch," Kōri shrugged as she summoned her ice again, time to return home.

"Thank you though for looking out for Saji," Sona said.

"Its fine," Kōri dismissed. "I did the same for my friend Issei, Gremory has reincarnated him too."

"Hence the golems here?"

"Yes, I don't dislike Saji, but Issei is my best friend, and my prerogative. Unfortunately I didn't know about the attack on them both until it was too late. So I did what I could." And with that statement, Kōri vanished in a swirl of ice and snow.

(Kuoh: shopping district)

Kōri had gone home, disposed of her ruined clothing, had a shower to get rid of the blood, which had already dried and had been in the process of irritating the crap out of her skin, now changed into a simple black shirt, skirt, and leggings, and her old worn trainers that she couldn't justify throwing away just yet. Kōri then decided to go shopping at get more books and manga for her own now that she had her mother's money to cover costs. She still found it weird to have money after all this time living under such tight restrictions and a non-existent budget, but she wasn't complaining. In fact she could appreciate it all the more since she had gone so long without. One example of this is that Kōri loved reading novels, however the novels in the middle school library were limited and you could only take so many at a time, and she couldn't buy them to keep. In high school, likely as a result of Sona's hard line approach to education, only school and research related materials could be found, no fiction section, which was a major bummer.

Luckily Issei wasn't averse to lending his novels, but more commonly manga as long as she returned them in the same condition. Due to manga covers often using the motto of sexy sells, Kōri often had to wade through hentai to get actual stories when she borrowed random manga from Issei, she still read them, but now she had a better idea of Issei's naive yet perverted understanding of romance and sex. They were so unrealistic, but then why else would he think he could get and maintain a harem without jealously and internal conflict being an issue. Just read any story set in China which had concubines, and you'd quickly understand that a harem was a fucking battlefield for dominance over the man's affections, politics, and increasing ones ranking towards being top bitch. Ironically as a Devil, Issei had a much better chance of having that kind of relationship thanks to Devils being cool with multiple partners as they were more inclined to be more sinful than the average human, and had low birth rates because of low fertility, they needed multiple partners to make the odds even remotely fair.

Maybe she'd buy him a novel that gave a realistic look into the inner workings of a harem to nudge his mind in the right direction. No sense in Issei making several girls crazy with jealousy because he tried to play Pokémon with breasts and cunts and forgetting they were still people attached to them. Perhaps if he knew how to handle one just a little it would make life easier if he succeeded. Not that she expected him to at present, as while Issei could be rather charming at times, his peeping and vulgarity around those other two perverts killed any opportunities he might have otherwise had.

Kōri did feel a little guilty for the other girls at Kuoh as his bad behaviour really kicked off after she turned down his confession in middle school. But with them being so young she didn't want to date anybody, she still didn't even as a second year high-schooler. Not to mention she had several decades' worth of male memories, which often weighed in heavily in her opinions and perspectives, at times it could be so severe she was Jack rather than Kōri. However as she lived more in this version of Earth as Aisuru Kōri rather than as serial killer Jack Ferry, the easier it was to assert her current incarnation.

It was for the best, given what had befallen Jack as a child and the life he led, and the Hell that awaited him after death, it was better to have a clear line of distinction between her current and previous life. That said the thought of getting involved with a male romantically profoundly weirded her out. Kōri hoped that once she was much more 'her' than 'him' as she grew older she would find the idea more tolerable, but given what she'd seen from other girls, Kōri hoped she wouldn't start acting like the other girls in her class about cute guys. Heck most of them were like slathering bitches in heat when the blonde pretty boy Devil was around. She almost pitied him, but she secretly took amusement in his inability to maturely deal with the attention by overplaying the gentleman angle. (Translation: Fuck 'em or reject 'em like a man!) No wonder he was still a virgin in spite of his race, looks, and popularity.

'Fuck… I kind of want to read a harem manga now,' Kōri thought as she perused the fantasy novel section in a small bookstore she had taken a liking to now she could actually buy things instead of borrowing books and manga off Issei. Kōri paused, an unpleasant sensation in her chest at the thought of her friend. Even if he had been revived as a Devil, her friend, HER best friend had been murdered. Once Monday came she would tell him about herself and her magic, be there to help him now that he had been thrown into the supernatural world without warning. Then once she'd confirmed his safety she would prepare herself to deal with those Fallen Angels and get not only revenge but protect her friend from further attacks once they learned Issei was still alive and still possessing the sacred gear they wanted.

There was also the matter of the reward offered by the lesser gamer system...

(Monday)

The following morning finally came, and Kōri felt great relief as she saw Issei walking towards the school gates, she soon noticed the top heavy Devil who had reincarnated him was currently walking side by side with him, chatting with the perverted boy, unaware of all the looks they were receiving, Rias had the kind of inhuman beauty that was common among Devils, Rias attracted all sorts of attention, which in turn saw Issei who was accompanying her getting the same level attention, but none of it positive.

"What's that pervert doing with Rias-neesan?"

"Oh god, there walking to school together!"

"What happened to our Kiba X Rias ship, anyone but him!"

"That bastard!"

...And more such angry grumblings.

Kōri couldn't help but giggle to herself at all the attention Issei was getting, if he ever became popular after his previous reputation then he had best get used to this, or if that harem dream of his ever actually happened, she could easily see most if not all of the males in this school being after his blood out of sheer jealousy.

'I'm glad they were able to save you, Issei.' Kōri silently remarked, feeling a weight off her chest to see him uninjured and back at school. She then entered the school quietly, she would speak to him in private later about the previous night. As much as Kōri wanted to it was best not to draw attention yet. Not with everyone entering Kuoh Academy focused on the two Devils.

Despite this delay due to witnesses, upon leaving her apartment this morning, Kori had created a dozen predatory birds based off an eagle to guard both Issei and Saji from a distance. Due to them being made of ice they appeared akin to detailed glass sculptures, Though due to that they would fly high in the sky beyond normal sight, or hide in the shadows, safe from giving away their location due to light reflecting of their surfaces.

Kōri would keep an eye on the two until they learned to use their sacred gears and devil abilities. They couldn't be reincarnated twice by the evil piece system, and she had no intentions of letting go of her best friend again.

Additionally along with the golems she had assault the two fallen where now currently spying on their base, an abandoned church in one of the forested outskirts of Kuoh. When they broke, she learned everything they saw, once she got more practice with the golems she would leave them alone in the starter dungeon to see if she could farm experience points without being inside. When they were fighting alongside her, their kills counted towards her experience because the gamer considered it one of her magic attacks. Currently she didn't know if that was possible to leave them to farm alone realistically as her golems were much too weak having only one tenth her level, and unlike with the fallen angels, she couldn't spam them with an ice hoard as the dungeon produced enemies relative to the occupants. She once summoned a hundred ice golems, and thousands of monsters appeared. Kōri had to fly high with her ice wings while her golems were swiftly swarmed under. Even then with the Fallen that killed Issei and Saji both had escaped, admittedly with a horrendous amount of cuts and pecks, but nothing that would kill a divine being. The golems were useful but her own powers were much greater, she would personally kill the fallen angels and exorcists herself, but first she had classes and a private chat with Issei to prioritise.

(later)

Issei left school quite late, it seemed he had a meeting with the devils at Gremory's little occult club, however it wasn't an issue for Kōri, as she had little else to do today, and speaking with her friend after what happened with the angels took precedent regardless.

"Issei!" Kōri called out to him as he left the large building that hosted the Occult club and Rias's 'secret' base in Kuoh for her Devil activities.

"Kōri?" he started in surprise, not expecting to see her so soon after what Rias had told him alongside the whole Devil malarkey, that his friend was a powerful magic caster that had driven off Yuuma with her magic and waited with his corpse until Rias came and revived him. It was shocking that he didn't know his best friend was involved with this dangerous stuff, but he was relieved that she cared about him regardless.

Reading his expression and body language, it was clear that Issei had been informed of her identity or rather whatever they'd pieced together. "After what happened with Yuuma and Rias I think we need to talk."

"Okay."

"But first," she grabbed him by the collar, yanked him down and gave him a hug, causing Issei to blush. "I'm so glad you're still alive." Her voice showing clear emotion in contrast to her usual cold stoicism, and whatever uncertainty Issei felt about his friend hiding her magic from him melted away upon hearing this. He then awkwardly returned the gesture, whatever her circumstances, he would trust her, surely she had a good reason, and even if not, how could he fear or mistrust someone who cared for him so much, regardless of her reserved nature.

"Glad to be alive, and thanks for helping me until Rias-sempai came... you know with magic." Issei awkwardly said to his friend Kōri who sighed as they parted from their embrace.

"Yeah, I suppose I should explain that now that you're involved with the supernatural world." Kōri admitted. "I didn't like keeping such a big part of my life from you, but as you found out for yourself with that Fallen Angel that killed you, this world is fucking dangerous for normal people."

"Yeah, and now I'm a Devil, so I guess I've got to deal with this now."

"Yeah, I guess you do, I'll help you out since you're my friend, and as an apology for not being there to save your life. If I had been with you or been faster, you'd still be human."

"I don't blame you, and Rias told me that they were going to destroy my body so I couldn't be resurrected by them for my sacred gear, so I owe you big time. Besides is it that big of a deal that becoming a Devil?" Issei asked.

Kōri, who had been in the midst of feeling a pleasant warmth in her chest at Issei's kind words, heard the question at the end and sharply looked up at him in shock at his ignorant words.

"Devils don't have an afterlife Issei," Kōri said quietly, but Issei heard her clearly with his now enhanced senses. "You'll live for up to 10,000 years and then cease to exist forever, no heaven, no hell, and no reincarnation, just gone. Well avoiding being tortured in Hell is a good thing, because that place sucks, I'd never want you to go there, but still ceasing to exist because you have lost God's protection of human souls, I don't like it. You didn't even choose to be a Devil." Kōri continued, remembering the burning heat, and the chains and hooks that penetrated and tore at her body when she was Jack being punished in Hell.

A plethora of emotions ran through Issei's mind at that knowledge, but he could handle it, 10,000 years was a very long time, and Rias had told him about a lot of perks with being a Devil, or rather when he ranked up to a high class Devil and could have his own peerage.

"It's okay, Kōri-chan." Issei said softly, patting her head in an almost child-like fashion, as he was still a lot taller than her. It was telling to the circumstance that she allowed her black hair to be ruffled, normally having a strong distaste for any action that called attention to her diminutive size. "Ten thousand years is a long time, most humans make it to 70 or 80, and only a few make it past a hundred, and nowadays most people didn't know or believe about a life after death, even if Devil's don't have an afterlife, I'll live a super long time, and as a Devil I'll have better odds at having a harem!" The intelligent and heart warming words of Issei were ruined a little by his usual perversion hammering its way through the ice to the surface. However unlike normal, his mention of his perverted aspirations made her laugh.

Of course Issei would be thrilled that many Devils had harems due to their low fertility and their being more females than males, especially since the introduction of peerages and reincarnating humans and other sentient species such as Youkai.

"Of course you'd see their pro-harem culture as a fair trade-off," she remarked continuing to laugh at his foolishness, however she also felt a measure of relief as well, that his dream which was impossible for humans unless extremely rich and skivvy, that Issei would see his servitude to that annoying red haired girl as a positive. 'Still though, when I reach level 1000 and become a goddess I should make an afterlife that accepts all races, even Devils.'

"What's so funny, of course I do, I shall rise through the ranks and become a man fine enough to seduce many women," Issei objected with false irritation and then into his usual naive bravado.

"That's a long journey, but limit yourself to a harem of seven," Kōri suggested, thinking of realistic practicality.

"Why seven?" Issei wondered, as he planned for an entire harem peerage, which was a lot more than that.

"One per day, obviously, don't overestimate your stamina, I see how out of breath you get on the track at PE class." Kōri teased.

"Hey!" Issei objected, feeling called out, but she was right, he wasn't very athletic, the only thing going for him in that regard that he wasn't overweight from his sedentary life style. 'I guess I should start running and working out in preparation, and Rias said my sacred gear multiplies my strength so the stronger I am, the more my sacred gear improves me. Plus Kōri's right, I need lots of stamina for a harem, I really should have joined a sports club before all of this happened.' But with all the peeping he did with the other members of the perverted trio there was no way any club with girls would accept him and all the sports clubs had a mix of both genders, excluding the kendo club which was all girls, though that bastard Kiba got an exemption to spar occasionally thanks to his looks, but at least they got to see the girls changing a bunch of time. 'Man, they have some great figures in the kendo club.'

Issei's perverted musings were interrupted by a sharp chop on the head courtesy of Kōri, who recognised the face he made when lost in his perverted delusions.

"Ow!"

"That's enough of that; let's move onto my magic, you wanted to know about that right?"

"Yeah, Rias said you use ice magic, and where did you learn magic anyway?"

Kōri couldn't tell him she received a blessing from a forgotten winter goddess as well as from the original Lucifer to acquire her powers, or that she was a reincarnation of a male serial killer, but neither did she want to lie to him either. A concession then, truth relative to this world alone, and neglecting the rest.

She went on to explain how she had been born with strong magic, and after a traumatic experience when she was very young (Hell) she became able to access it without a teacher or knowing anyone in the supernatural world, when pressed Kōri refused to say what that traumatic trigger was, as she preferred not to think about it (truth) and how the many battles she had fought with supernatural creatures thanks the alone time permissible by her mother's constant absence before she died.

She even showed him a few small examples of ice magic, the first was to make it snow around just them for a few seconds, the second was to create an ice golem that looked like Issei, however she made sure it had his perverted face to prove a point.

"That's so cool!" Issei remarked. "W-Wait, why's my face look all weird like that?"

"That's your perverted face," Kori explained.

"Its all twisted up and creepy."

"That's another reason you can't get laid."

"I can get laid!" Issei protested weakly.

"Hookers and rape don't count, Issei."

"I wouldn't do that!"

"Which one, the hookers or the rape?"

"Both, but especially not the last one."

"Good boy, but your peeping and creepy words with those other two would indicate otherwise."

Issei went quiet at that. "You're mean, Kori-chan."

Kori gave a snort of laughter. "And that surprises you?"

"No."

"As always you have terrible tastes in friends."

"Y-You're burning yourself with that comment too you know?!"

"But unlike the rest of the perverted trio, I'm made of ice, I can handle being burnt," Kori half joked, before teleporting away in a swirl of ice and snow, destroying the ice sculpture as she did so. Leaving Issei alone, or at least he believed himself to be. In reality the three onee-chans of Kuoh had been watching along with several of their peerages. No doubt they would be arguing over whose peerage she would join. A pointless argument, but never the less a matter of the future.

Meanwhile Kori quietly approached the abandoned church the fallen angels had taken over. She had a very rewarding quest from earlier to cash in now that she had insured the safety of Issei and Saji for the moment with her ice golems keeping watch. Time to kill some fallen angels and make herself a black feather stuffed pillow from the remains.

{Quest: Drive off or kill Rouge Exorcists and Grigori grunts.}

{Reward: 100,000XP, 20,000GP, ?,?}

Even without the revenge, how could I refuse such a generous reward. Later I would learn that one of the question marks referred to a person, never had a sentient for a reward, pretty sure that's slavery but why not, its a useful sacred gear and I'd save a fortune on potions.