The interrogation room was big, an entire basement floor of the building with nothing but a white painted wall and a large metal door where they entered from. Rias and her peerage were surrounding the demon being held in the room. Oddly enough, the demon was cooperative enough. It spouted a few insults to them as they entered, but didn't even move its limbs.
It was busy clutching the part of its body where its eighth limb should be.
The demon finally landed its gaze to him. "You!"
Naoki didn't budge when the monster swiftly jabbed its pike-like leg into his face, stopping only a good three inches from his forehead. The Fiend didn't even flinch.
"I knew it, you're like me, aren't you?" The demon's ugly bull like face snarled at him. "Why the hell are you associating with these parodies of our likeness?"
"This Gyūki had been asking for you ever since he was held here, Kashima-san." A blonde young man approached Naoki, bowing. "Me and Hikawa-san hadn't been very successful."
"This is Yuuto Kiba." Hikawa was still holding his prayer beads.
"Rias' knight." Naoki slightly bowed in return. "Gyūki, you say?"
"From the wilder race," Hikawa supplied. "It's a creature that-"
"Look at me when I'm talking to you!" The monster bellowed again.
Naoki moved. To the devils who saw, the Fiend moved as if he teleported from beside Kiba and into the side of the prisoner. "Shut up."
He slammed his foot down to the newly healed part where the monster's leg should have been.
"Argh—! Bastard!" The Gyūki, was it? It was annoying Naoki to no end.
"Can't you talk without trying to bust my eardrums off?" Naoki said evenly. He walked up to the other side and held the remaining horn of the demon. "Spit out another annoying sound and I'll break this too."
"Shit— alright, alright already." The demon tried to say it as softly as it could, that is to say, it still sounded like a man calling from across the street. But it'll have to do.
"Holy— remind me to never try and piss him off." Naoki heard Issei comment. "He's worse than Akeno."
"Wait till I tell her about that." Rias giggled.
"Please don't!"
"Hikawa-san and I didn't even get any words edgewise talking to him earlier." Kiba crossed his arms, impressed. "I like his style."
He ignored the peerage's antics, opting instead to talk to the Gyūki. "I wanna ask you something."
"If it's anything those two were trying to ask, forget it!"
Naoki let go of the monster's horn and crouched down, looking at its large bull-like head in the eye. He spoke softly. "I want to know. Are you from the Amala?"
The monster laughed heartily, but when it spoke its voice was a lot less loud. "You wanted to go back, don't you? Only, you don't understand everything enough to move where you wanted to go."
Naoki kept silent; the demon took it as a yes. "The Amala is everything, our greatest enemy. What you're asking is like a fish in the ocean trying to find a drop of water."
"In time, your true adversary will appear before you. Until that day, stay strong…"
Those same words echoed in Naoki's head. "But you know what I'm looking for, aren't you?"
"The Expanse, the demon world, the Abyss, Makai. Semantics! They refer to the same place." It simply said. "It's where all demons exist in relative peace with one another."
"Is it this 'Underworld' these devils told me about?"
The demon gave another laugh. "I've been there for reconnaissance a couple of times. Not too shabby place. But they're trying too hard to be human-like for my taste."
"I'll take that as a no." Every single lead he had is a dead end. He might as well just ask it directly. "How do I get there? To the Expanse…"
"No clue, getting summoned isn't really voluntary for us, is it?" It shrugged.
Naoki exhaled a 'damn it'.
The Gyūki let out a huff. "I haven't seen a demon so clueless. For one so powerful, you're pretty ignorant."
"You're not wrong," There are a lot of things Naoki doesn't know, true. "But that's not stopping me from doing anything."
The Gyūki hummed. After a good moment it spoke loud enough for the ones in the back to hear. "The church is a dead end."
"What?" Hikawa and Kiba chorused.
"About the question you asked earlier," The demon looked at them. "The Church is a dead end; it was one of many traps my summoner set. My fellow Demons and I get to take out anyone snooping around."
"Where's the real base?"
"There is no base." It snorted. "It's just my summoner sitting in random restaurants and cafés, twiddling his thumbs till idiots like you get caught in our web."
"There must be some headquarters! A place the higher ups frequent?" Hikawa crossed his arms, muttering.
"They just use those weird Mani wheel like-things to teleport somewhere every time they meet up. They leave us demons behind so who knows what weird place they end up going."
"Mani wheel lik— drums?!" The otherwise cool Hikawa dashed to the table beside the interrogation room's metal door. He opened his laptop and brought it close.
"Does it look anything like this?" He held the laptop, screen facing the demon.
"The same engravings, yes, but that looks way too big." The Gyūki's large eyes squinted at the screen.
Naoki was looking at the screen the same time as the Gyūki. It showed a paused video of a security camera showing a familiar large drum being hoisted by an Oni. It was putting it inside what it looked like a back of a truck.
"An Amala drum?!" Naoki glared at Hikawa.
The man nodded, unfazed. "Oh, stop that glaring. I didn't tell you because I already chased after this lead. When I arrived at this location the place was already empty."
Naoki crouched back down towards the Gyūki and grabbed it by the horn. "I want to see your summoner."
"You gonna kill him?"
"I need him alive. If he has anything like that drum in that video, he knows how to access the expanse."
The Gyūki hummed. "I'll tell you right now, he's no slouch."
Naoki pulled the Gyūki closer revealing his demonic yellow eyes for an instant. The demon's eyes widened. "You—!"
"I'm no slouch either." Naoki's eyes reverted back.
"There's a warehouse in the docks." It said begrudgingly. "We get thrown inside when there's no job. He always goes there every now and then to keep us in line."
"Will I see your summoner there?"
The demon didn't utter a word, but its gaze told Naoki more than enough. Naoki stood up. "Thanks."
"I didn't do it without something in return." The demon rose.
Naoki could see Rias and her peerage readying themselves. Only Hikawa and him weren't doing anything. They didn't sense any hostility from the demon.
"I have been summoned in this backwater world for who knows how long. My summoner is powerful, but what good is that if all I fight are these halfwit 'devils' that parody the true power of demons!" It roared.
"Kill me."
"What?" He could hear Rias from behind him.
"I'd rather have a fellow demon give me a proper death than humiliate myself in the hands of you!" It bellowed with pride.
"For someone that fought dirty, you seemed to hold a great deal of esteem to yourself." Kiba stepped beside Naoki.
"I'm just getting with the times. Devils don't have any sense of honor."
The snide comment shut the boy up.
Rias cut in. "We will deal with you after we've investigated the location."
"I don't answer to you." The Demon snorted. "What say you?"
Naoki knew it was talking to him. "I might not find anything there; I need you alive till then."
"Why don't I take you there?" It suggested.
"And set up and ambush?" Naoki's brow rose.
"Yes! Ha-ha-ha!" The Gyūki laughed, hard. "Ignorant, but not naïve. I see."
Naoki looked at the demon, it looked pleased with itself.
"I don't really trust you coming back here. In the off chance you'll find what you need and run off," It finally said. "I'll just help myself to my down death—"
It didn't even finish its sentence when its claw lunged towards Asia!
Rias' peerage was too slow to react, by the time the claw was a good meter away from her they were still starting to move. Kashima, however, step between them and caught the claw with his arms, he twisted his body and threw the monster across the room.
Not giving the monster any room to breathe, they saw Kashima dashing towards it. Before the Gyūki could even slam itself on the interrogation room's walls he was already inches away. It visibly gasped as Kashima lunged his entire body, arms out in an 'x' in front of him, ramming the demon while it was still mid-air. The demon slammed into the walls even harder, the sound proof layer caved deep revealing the cement beneath it.
The devils were in awe. Koneko noticed a difference in the way Kashima fought. He had a finesse in how he carried himself compared to when he fought back in the café. But what surprised all of them was before the Gyūki could catch a breath from the force of Kashima's attack, it was stabbed by a thin purple spear of light. Its body didn't even drop down to the floor, the light construct was holding it in place.
Issei was dumbfounded. "H-he's a devil, right?"
"President—" Kiba didn't take his eye away from the young man.
Their king was silent.
Kashima was standing idly in front of the skewered demon. Red lightning electrified his limbs. They felt a sinking pressure from him.
"Good," They heard the Gyūki laugh heartily between gasps. "Now, finish me off."
Kashima didn't reply. He raised his hand and unceremoniously clawed at the demon; Rias could swear she heard the sound of struck metal as Kashima's attack landed. The Gyūki was decimated along with the wall it was pinned on. The building on top of them shook along with the attack.
Three vertical lines of dug out cement on the wall down to the ground was the only proof Rias needed to see the fury behind Kashima's strike. But in the second he summoned the light construct and his attack; she could swear she saw a mark over his face. The devil shook her head, there were a mountain's worth of questions she wanted to ask him.
And she will, in time.
For now, they saw Kashima walking back towards them. The demon fell when the light construct disappeared, as its corpse fell lifelessly and a red floating liquid-looking energy slowly evaporated up before being absorbed by Kashima's body. The sinking pressure dissipated.
The young man must have read the tension in the room because he stopped when he looked at them.
"Kashima-san," It was Kiba who first spoke. "Those spears of light of yours…"
"Spears of— my summoned swords?" He asked.
"Is that what you call them?"
"Someone called it that once, it just stuck." They saw him look one way, as if remembering something.
They had a lot on their minds but before anyone else could ask, Hikawa stepped in. "I know which warehouse the demon was talking about. If we go there now, we might be able to stake the place out."
Rias stepped in front of the metal doors. "Before I can allow you to go there, I want to ask a couple of questions from the both of you."
The atmosphere of the room dropped. Hikawa frowned and Naoki didn't look like he wanted to stay and chat. But Rias didn't want her questions unanswered. "We have been listening you talk with the Gyūki, Kashima-san."
"Step aside, Rias." Kashima looked at her evenly, something that unnerved her. The only time she had heard him talk like that was when he was interrogating the Gyūki just minutes earlier.
"We can come with you anytime, Kashima-san." Kiba tried to reason with him. "But we just need to know. We can't help you if you won't tell us anything."
She stepped closer. "The expanse? Demons? And that sword of light you just used—"
Explaining will take up more time. With how little these devils know about the things that happened between this world, the conception and the existence of demons? He tried telling them earlier and realized then how long it took to explain so little.
Now, time wasn't on his side.
The summoner should have already heard the news, or turned on a TV. And with two of his demons not returning, it wouldn't be hard to put two and two together. If what Hikawa said about them earlier is any indication these cultists were pedantic. They might already be trying to clear the warehouse.
Naoki didn't have the patience to deal with this, even to people who were hospitable.
"I have an obligation as a Gremory to report any potential threat to the underworld. If this cult is as dangerous as you say, you will have full support from us." Rias said in earnest.
"Please, Kashima-san. I—" Asia pleaded.
Kashima stepped back. "You guys are good people. If this was anything else, I'd stand down. But I don't have time to explain."
Rias and her peerage saw red lightning electrifying Kashima's limbs. The sinking pressure was back in full force and Kiba was the first to react, he summoned two swords and stepped in between his allies and Kashima, expecting him to do the same lunge attack.
"Damn!" Kiba didn't even blink and he barely saw Kashima move. He appeared mere inches from Kiba's face, grasping his swords by their blades. Kashima's eyes were pale yellow and black tattoos were on his skin glowing a faint green on their edges. The sight made Kiba's eyes widen.
But Kashima wasn't planning on giving him room to react. He opened his mouth and exhaled a cold thick smoke enveloping around the room.
"What the heck is this!?" Kiba heard Issei exclaim.
"I-it's mist?" Rias extended her wings and flapped them hard. But the thick fog returned to its thick shape quickly. "It's magic, be careful!"
Kiba felt his swords lighten, Kashima let them go. Kiba tried to focus, trying to find— there! The knight swiped at Kashima to no avail, the young man didn't even move. The fog was so thick it was like trying to spear a small fish from on top of the water. Kashima exhaled another batch of fog making the room even colder.
After Kashima exhaled the fog was dissipating! Kashima was slowly walking towards the door past Koneko, who only noticed him as the fog thinned.
"Wait," Koneko moved.
She tried to grab his arm. But, like Kiba, her aim was inches off. The rest of the peerage saw what happened and realized the fog never lifted, it only became clearer. But its effects were worse than before!
"You won't be able to help me." Kashima stopped walking.
"I know what I said earlier, Asia." He added, seeing the widened eyes of their Bishop. "Honestly, I thought I could open up to you a bit and get you to come with me. But—"
"If you can't even land a hit with just this Fog Breath in the way…" Kashima hesitated and looked at each of them. "You guys will just be dead weight for me against demons."
"Oh yeah?!" Issei was inches away from him. He cocked his right arm, a crimson scale-like gauntlet adorned with a single emerald crystal on the back of his hand, was glowing. "Take this!"
Issei's punch missed like the others. It was inches off.
But the brunette wasn't giving up! Instinctively, he opened his palm. "Dress break!"
Like the move said, Kashima's already torn jacket and shirt was decimated into nothing!
But the only thing it did was create even more questions for the devils. With his upper body entirely bare, Rias and her peerage saw Kashima's black tattoo extending throughout every part of his skin. They were ominously glowing green on the edges, pulsating as if they were also alive.
"I knew you were open being a pervert, Issei." It looked like he didn't expect Issei's attack. "But what the heck kind of attack was that?"
"I don't normally use it on men!" Issei exclaimed. "I didn't really want to hit you with my Dragon Shot so this was my only other option."
"You should've tried to hit me with it." Naoki's golden eyes locked with Issei.
He turned his back to them and walked. As he passed by Rias, she didn't do anything. Kashima looked at her.
"I relent," She sighed in resignation. "I know when I'm outclassed. You didn't even attack anyone and I feel defeated."
Kashima walked past her; Rias noticed a horn on the back of his neck. Another question that would never be answered unless she could convince him.
"Rias," He said, not looking back. "Thank you for your hospitality."
Hikawa walked past her with his briefcase joining Kashima as he walked away. Their voices echoing in the hallway.
"Right now, your look is oddly nostalgic."
"Shut up, Hikawa."
Message:
About that review mentioning the Demi-Fiend ending up as Rias 'boytoy', unless I missed something to prove otherwise, I honestly never pegged her as someone who'll seduce people who she just met.
DxD's story is primarily in the perspective of Issei who became her servant. There's a layer of intimacy for her to Issei (Rias being someone culturally raised as both a Devil and a Noble) even in the early volumes. In comparison to Demi-Fiend who, to her, might never interacted with highly esteemed devils like the Gremory before. She's representing the image of high-echelon devils, in this case, and I think she wouldn't want to tarnish the image even if Demi-Fiend, to her at that point, is some stray.
Tl;dr— It wouldn't be out of character to just the Demi-Fiend, it'll be out of character for Rias too.