Disclaimer: I do not own "High School DxD."

{Chronostrasza}

[Yserastrasza]

{Spoken Draconic}

3rd Person PoV

"You gotta be kidding me right now..." As much as Shoichiro didn't want to believe who it was standing in front of him, there was no mistaking that voice, that maniacal laughter.

"It's nice to see the playboy of the scum underworld has come to pay me a visit."

"FREED!"

"Such a wonderful reunion - it's bringing a tear to mine eye!"

Shoichiro manifested his swords and shield, as well as his Clockwork Blaze gauntlet. "You and I have unfinished business!"

Freed just continued cackling. "That's perfect, I need some fun! These pussified priests are getting sooo boring!"

Freed's sword began to glow with an aura that made Shoichiro nervous, but he drew his greatsword and held his ground.

"As penance for your previous actions, let's have a little test to see which is stronger - will your filthy cursed sword be the one, or do you think it's more likely the Holy Sword known as Excalibur will be the victor?!"

Holy. Sword. Excalibur. Three words that Shoichiro knew had to mean something... he just had to loosen Freed's tongue a little bit.

"I guess it's time to find out!"

{BOOST!}

The clash of steel from Shoichiro's initial charge had to have woken up every house on the street.

"Hasn't anyone told you to heed the faces you make? We wouldn't want our pretty little prince to get stuck that way... luckily, Excalibur isn't picky; it simply hungers for your blood!"

"Hasn't anyone ever told you you talk too much?" Shoichiro went on the offensive, forcing Freed back.

"Now there's a tone of voice I never thought I'd hear come out of you... good job, hahahahahaha!"

"Clearly you haven't been paying attention!"

{BOOST!}

With each boost he got from Chronostrasza, Shoichiro's innate speed and strength increased and he was able to maintain the upper hand until Freed landed a lucky slash to his shoulder, knocking him down to a knee.

Holy hell, this fucking hurts... but it's just a flesh wound!

He debated casting Rewind, but decided against it. The pain was intense, but it seemed to be localized. Since he could still move freely, it might be better to just let it be until he could get someone to look at it.

"Aww, someone forgot to warn you... this holy sword absolutely despises devils!"

Shoichiro switched to his shield and longsword for better defense, and activated their holy light. "Shut the fuck up and fight me!" He took advantage of Freed's monologue and caught him with a rising slash. Freed was able to dodge but only just barely, and the strike still opened up his chest.

"Nice move, kiddo," the exorcist hissed. Shoichiro went for a shield bash, but Freed leapt over him.

"I hate to cut this short, but someone more important is calling. It's been fun... that's all, folks!" He threw a flash grenade, and Shoichiro cycled to his thermal sight to keep an eye on Freed but it was no use: he was gone.

"Son of a bitch..."

{You should really do something about that cut.}

"I will. I'm gonna take pictures of it to take to school tomorrow."

{I meant to stop the pain and bleeding, dumbass.}

Shoichiro sent his weapons back to his room. "I'll get Asia to heal me when I get home... I'll survive until then."

He got home and managed to slip into Asia's bedroom without waking Haruhi or Rias, and Asia managed to keep her revulsion at the sight of blood at bay long enough to take pictures of the injury and heal it, before they spent the night together.

Meanwhile, at a burned-out church on the outskirts of town, two other exorcists carrying holy swords of their own were looking for shelter for the night.

"I'd say that 'utter ruins' describes it," said the first to her companion.

"Rumor has it there was a disturbance here recently, caused by a fallen angel and a devil. Although there were no reports to the true extent of the damage."

The two went into the basement, which if nothing else was dry.

"It's getting late. And you're certain this is it? We're supposed to be meeting him here, right?"

"Oh please, like I would be wrong! On top of that, I lived in this city with my parents when I was a kid. Give me a little credit, okay?" The second exorcist flashed a picture of a pair of young children playing together, one with skin darker than most Japanese children.

"You ran into an exorcist again?"

"Yes, Rias, I ran into an exorcist. Again." Shoichiro, Rias, Sona and their respective Peerages were having breakfast in Rias' club room before school at his urging. "Except this time, he brought a new friend to the party: something he called the 'Holy Sword Excalibur.' I've had entire limbs severed that didn't hurt as bad as that little scratch."

Shoichiro gave the two ladies a rundown of his fight the night before. "I figured you two might want to know about someone like this running around town."

"I see... I appreciate you bringing this to our attention," Sona said dryly.

"And I'm sorry you were hurt so badly," Rias added.

Shoichiro waved off her concerns. "Eh, I've survived worse - it was just a scratch, after all."

"Caused by a holy sword - the worst weapon a devil can face."

"I guess... but in the meantime, might the Kings and Queens have the room for just a moment?"

Rias and Sona were both shocked at this request, but they dismissed the rest of their Peerages nonetheless. Shoichiro did the same, and Lysandra rubbed his cheek on the way out.

{Don't have too much fun without me,} she said playfully, which caused Shoichiro to facepalm and Asia to blush. Once he had his desired audience, he continued speaking.

"I apologize for not having a better approach, but the situation dictates that time to craft one is a luxury I don't have - a concept you're all too familiar with," he said, shooting a sideways grin at Rias, who clearly did not appreciate the joke being made at her expense. "But I would like to propose a formal alliance between our three Houses."

Rias and Sona looked at each other. Sona barely stopped herself from laughing, while Rias rolled her eyes so hard Sona could hear them. "You do know the two of us have been best friends since we were children, right? And I live with you, so I'm not sure there's much needed in the way of a 'formal alliance' here."

Shoichiro merely shrugged. "Call it whatever you will, but I believe you two need me just as much as I need you."

"Say we agree to this alliance of yours... what exactly do you have to offer us?" Sona asked.

Shoichiro flicked his wrist, and the red jewel on the back of his Clockwork Blaze gauntlet began to shine brighter and brighter the more he powered it up. "Power, Shitori-kaichou... indescribable, unlimited power."

"And what exactly do you want in return?"

Shoichiro scratched at his chin for a moment, before powering down his Sacred Gear. "Classes start soon... we should probably wrap things up." He cleaned up the remnants of breakfast with a few waves of his hand, while all five girls present looked on dumbstruck.

"You're not even going to try to answer Sona's question?" Rias exclaimed.

Shoichiro just shrugged. "Nope."

He got up to leave, but Sona stopped him at the door. "Hai, Shitori-kaichou?"

"One, stop calling me that; my name is Sitri, not Shitori. How you haven't learned that by now is beyond me."

"...Because you haven't told me. But, noted."

"And two... take off that damn vest."

"Hmm... nah, I don't think I will." He stuck his tongue out at her as he exited the room.

Sona facepalmed. "Is he always this insufferable?" she said out loud to no one in particular, so she was more than a little bit surprised when Rias, Akeno, and Asia all responded with a resounding "YES!"

Morning classes passed, and Shoichiro and Asia were sitting outside eating lunch together beneath a shade tree; they had begun alternating indoor and outdoor lunches, after several days of painful negotiations.

"Shii-kun, I have a question, and I need you to be completely honest with me," Asia asked, with a slightly worried tone to her voice.

"I make it a priority not to do anything else," he deadpanned in response.

"This... alliance with Rias and Sona you talked about today..."

He put his chopsticks down, because he just knew where this was heading...

"...you're not just doing it to sleep with them, are you?"

"Well, since you emphasized your desire that I be honest with you, here goes. I am going to sleep with Rias eventually, it's just a matter of when. It doesn't hurt that she now lives under the same roof as us. Akeno I'm a little less certain about, but possibly. Sona and Tsubaki hadn't really entered my mind."

"Oh... I see."

"And how do you feel about that?"

"What do you mean? I don't feel anything."

"Yes, you do. Or you wouldn't have asked."

"...I don't know. I know you've liked Rias since before I met you, and I think she would be a great addition to our family... I just..."

"Worry that I'm going to like her more than you?"

"What?! No, it's not that, it's just... actually, I don't know what it is."

"Well, whatever it is, I promise that you have nothing to worry about. I love you, I always have, and I always will."

"Okay, that makes me feel a little bit better... just promise me I'll always be your favorite?"

"I thought you said you needed me to be completely honest with you?"

Asia stared daggers at Shoichiro, who was barely containing his laughter. "You... you jerk!"

"What am I always saying?" he responded with a roar of laughter. "Don't ask questions -"

"Don't ask questions I don't want the answer to," she groaned. "Sona was right; you really are always this insufferable."

"She said that? Well, she wasn't wrong... but that's one of the reasons why you love me."

"Hmm... I have to admit, you're not entirely wrong."

The two shared a laugh, looked into each other's eyes, then leaned in close -

"You two are so sickeningly sweet... it's just absolutely adorable!"

Both Shoichiro and Asia damn near jumped out of their skin at the sound of those words. "Alexstrasza?! Why the hell are you sneaking around like that?!"

"Because it's so easy to catch you off guard," Alexstrasza snickered as she came down from the tree. "You only focus on what's right in front of you."

"In all fairness, I'm not expecting my older sister to jump out from behind a tree while I'm having lunch with my girlfriend."

Alexstrasza just shrugged. "My patron sent me with a message for you. She said that she and Sitra-sama will have an answer for you by the end of the week."

"I appreciate that... thank you."

Alexstrasza made an exaggerated curtsy, which Asia couldn't help but giggle at. "Lord Seiryuu," she said with a sarcastic sense of mockery, before going about the rest of her day.

{Out of curiosity,} Asia asked as they walked back inside, {why did you have me stay in the room when you made that suggestion?}

{Two reasons: one, the Queen is the King's right hand. I presumed they would have their Queens stay so asking you to do so only made sense. And two...}

He took her hands in his and looked her in the eyes. {Two, you're going to be my wife one day. That carries a great deal of weight and responsibility, so you're going to need to start spending more time with Akeno and Tsubaki to learn what exactly being a Devil Queen entails. That's another reason I suggested the alliance in the first place.}

{Yeah, I guess you're - wait... WHAT?! I'm gonna be your WHAT?!}

{...My wife.}

Asia was trying her best not to completely panic in the school hallway; it was one thing hearing it from Sakuya, but the words coming out of Shoichiro's mouth carried an entirely different weight.

He placed his hands on her shoulders to try and calm her down. {I don't mean you have to start looking at wedding dresses the moment you get home from school today. I'm talking years, possibly decades down the road.}

{Oh... I guess that's okay. But... if you don't want to marry me now, how do you know you'll want to marry me in the future? What if you decide to marry one of the other girls instead?}

{I wouldn't marry one of the other girls 'instead.' Being a dragon has its perks, such as no longer having to abide by human traditions of only being able to marry one person. So when I do eventually decide to marry, chances are I'll end up marrying multiple people... how do you feel about that?}

{I don't know... I'd never given it much though before. The bedroom stuff is one thing, but marriage...}

{Well, there's no reason to burn your brain out over it right here and now.}

{Right...}

{Especially because we have class now.}

{Oh, right... we should go!}

{Yeah, we should... I'll see you at home after school.}

{Okay!} She reached up and gave him a peck on the cheek before heading off to her classroom.

{Gotta say, you handled that pretty well.}

Not well enough to avoid comments from the peanut gallery, it seems.

{Love you too, partner.}

Later that night, Shoichiro and Asia were out jogging together. She was so insistent on coming along with him due to this infernal exorcist running loose, Shoichiro found himself regretting saying anything at all about it. But despite the slower pace, he was actually happy to have her along.

They were stopping to give Asia a moment to catch her breath when Shoichiro's phone went off. He checked it and found a text message.

"Ugh... looks like we're gonna have to cut our workout short tonight."

"Why, what's wrong?"

He showed her the message, and she immediately understood. They ported across town to another empty warehouse, where Rias and her squad were waiting...

...some of them, at least.

"Seiryuu-san... thank you for coming so quickly."

"I see why you called me, Gremory-dono... where are the rest of your servants?"

"..."

"Rias?"

"Huh?"

"I asked, where are my brothers and sisters?"

"Oh... I can't seem to reach them."

"I see... retaining dragons who live in other planes of existence has that unfortunate side effect. So you said something about a stray devil?"

"A what? Oh, yes... a stray devil." Rias quickly dabbed at her nose, which she could feel starting to leak now that Shoichiro was here, in workout attire and all sweaty. "I'd like you, Kiba and Koneko to flush it outside, where Akeno and I will be waiting to finish it off."

"Sounds easy enough. Asia, I want you to stay out here with Rias and Akeno."

"Wha... but I can help!"

Shoichiro shook his head. "No, this building is too small. Your powers are so strong, they could put the rest of us in danger. For now, just focus on healing any injuries to the rest of us. Please?"

Something about the way he said "please" made it impossible for her to argue any longer. "All right, just be careful."

He nodded as Koneko kicked the door down.

"I swear, I will never get used to that," Shoichiro muttered as they entered the building.

The team stalked through the building, and soon enough their prey presented itself: a spider-like demon with a female human torso - with a huge rack; why did they all have to be chicks with huge tits?! - that jumped across a few pipes and started crawling across the ceiling.

Shoichiro fired some light arrows in the creature's direction trying to force it outside, while Koneko tried to get Kiba out of his daze and back to reality. Something had shaken Kiba up and he'd been acting weird all day, but that wasn't really Shoichiro's concern...

...until the spider demon sprayed acid across the room, knocking Koneko to the floor. Shoichiro jumped in front of her and let off another flurry of magical arrows, enough to get the creature away from them but not enough to actually harm it.

"What the fuck are you zoning out for, princess?" Shoichiro shouted at Kiba. "You're welcome to jump in anytime!"

"Huh? Oh, right?" Kiba leapt through the air and haphazardly slashed at the creature, cutting off one of its arms. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't paying attention to where he landed and he tripped over a pipe. The monster was determined to capitalize on the opportunity, but Koneko was able to recover just in time to hurl it through some glass in the ceiling. Akeno used her lightning and Asia unleashed a Solbreak, bringing the stray to the ground at Rias' feet.

Shoichiro, Koneko and Kiba came outside just as Rias pronounced her final judgement and blasted the abomination into oblivion.

"I don't want to ever end up like that," Shoichiro mused with a frown.

"Now you know what requires an emergency subduing order," Akeno informed him.

Meanwhile Asia was using her Twilight Healing to patch Koneko up when...

*SLAP!*

"Think you've got it together now?" Rias absolutely ripped into Kiba. "With a mistake like that, you put everyone else here in serious danger!"

"...I apologize."

Rias took him by the shoulders, and for a moment Shoichiro thought she was going to shake some sense back into him, but nothing of the sort happened. "What's wrong, Kiba? This isn't like you." She spoke with a gentle and caring manner, as if she hadn't literally just slapped half his face off.

"I'm fine, just having an off day," he replied curtly. "Now if you will excuse me, Buchou..." He bowed somewhat politely and then walked away.

Shoichiro watched him intently as he walked down the street.

Once they were all back home and Haruhi had made dinner for everyone, Shoichiro drug Rias and Asia up to his bedroom to talk. "I didn't want to say this in front of the others, but I thought you should know," he said solemnly. "It's about Kiba - he didn't start acting strange until this morning, when I mentioned running into an exorcist wielding a holy sword. That can't possibly be a coincidence."

Rias frowned. "Holy swords are the worst weapons against devils. Simply touching one burns a devil's body... more importantly, to be cut by a holy sword could mean instant death. Truth is, a holy sword can annihilate a devil."

"That's why I insisted on not letting him run alone at night anymore," Asia said glaring up at Shoichiro, who just glared back.

"The fact that people who can use them are extremely rare is the sword's biggest weakness."

Shoichiro muttered something in Draconic, which Asia translated for Rias' benefit.

"A sword wields no strength unless the hand that holds it has courage."

"I know it doesn't entirely apply here, but please... continue, Rias."

"The church did what they could, trying to raise people artificially. Perhaps they could wield Excalibur, and then annihilate devils everywhere."

Her eyes narrowed. "It's known as the 'Holy Sword Project.'"

"'Holy Sword Project...'"

"The church must have kept that super secret," Asia interjected, "because I never heard anything about it when I was there."

"I would think not. I heard the project failed completely... Kiba himself barely survived."

A shudder ran up Shoichiro's spine. "That explains why he's been acting nutso all day... and I wonder if this psycho priest is tied in with this somehow?"

"Which reminds me... you're capable of warping time like it's your own personal plaything; why didn't you just end this exorcist then and there?"

"Freed Sellzen didn't find Excalibur at the bottom of a snack box - he got it from either somewhere or someone. And it turns out, people are a lot more talkative when they're alive. So I'd like to find out the 'who and/or where' before I permanently un-alive him."

"Didn't you say that before he left he said, "someone more important is calling?" Asia inquired.

"He did, so my guess is we're looking for a who... the fact is, a madman running around with a holy sword is a threat to this whole town, not just devils. Whoever he's working for needs to be taken down along with him."

Shoichiro let out an exhaustive sigh. "But, those are all things that we can worry about another day... in the meantime, we should all get some sleep."

"All right... good night, my love." Asia made a point to give him a long, drawn-out kiss before she retired to her own room, which Rias couldn't help but cringe at slightly before she too left.

Several hours later, Rias lay awake in bed bothered.

Mostly she was bothered by the fact that she couldn't clearly explain what was bothering her.

Shoichiro and Asia were a thing. That much she knew, and had known when she moved in. Even though the two never slept in the same room, to avoid the wrath of his sister Haruhi, she was pretty sure there were nights when she'd heard footsteps in one direction, then back the other direction a few minutes later. Although with his ability to warp time, there was no telling how much actual time they were spending together... but that was neither here nor there.

Rias had sort of hoped he and her would have become a thing by now, but exactly what kind of thing was less clear.

She couldn't compete with his love for Asia as his wife-to-be, which even though they never expressly talked about, she knew well enough was in the cards someday. After all, why else would he make her his Queen?

She thought perhaps she could be his lover like Lysandra, but Rias knew she lacked Lysandra's conquering instinct that had enthralled Shoichiro so much. She could just walk into his room and throw herself on top of him, but if he rejected her again... she remembered how sick it made her when he had rejected all of her previous advances. Her pride just couldn't take the hit.

Kalawarner was just... no. She didn't know what the dynamic was between the two of them, and she didn't care. There was absolutely no way she would lower herself to competing with a fallen angel. And yet she couldn't shake the one thing she did know about their relationship: it wasn't 'love at first sight' like Asia, or mutual attraction like Lysandra. He had taken her out of sheer convenience, he had used her for no other reason than he could. And yet somehow, she had not only accepted that - despite the fact that at the time, death was the only other alternative - but she had somehow fallen in love with him. It dawned on Rias that it felt eerily similar to her former fiancée. Riser never truly loved her, he just took her because he could (and because he was promised her, but that was neither here nor there at the moment). So how was it that Shoichiro and Kalawarner could achieve what she and Riser could not?

Maybe she'd ask her, one day... if she could avoid the urge to stomp her face through the floor, that is.

Just then she heard those telltale footsteps, leading away from Shoichiro's room. She couldn't tell whose they were, and for a man his size he was unbelievably light on his feet. But after five agonizing minutes - they never went more than that in real time in order to avoid suspicion - without hearing return footsteps, she concluded it must have been Asia returning to her own room. Probably going to drift off to sleep in post-coital bliss, that bitch...

For whatever reason, that was the final straw. Rias got up and made her way down the hallway to Shoichiro's room. She had no idea what she was going to say or do when she got there, but -

"Where are you going?"

Rias whipped around to see Asia behind her. "Umm... to the bathroom," was all she could force out after being caught completely off-guard. Why was she even out of bed?

"...The bathroom's the other way."

Shit...

Asia and Rias stood still for a brief moment, until Asia took Rias by the hand and led her in the direction she had been going.

"What are you doing?"

"Making sure you get to Shoichiro's room without getting caught."

"What? Why would you do that?"

"Why would you sneak into his room in the middle of the night?"

"Fair point..."

Asia quietly opened his bedroom door, and the two girls quickly slipped inside. They could see just well enough to -

"Wait a second..." Asia whispered, sniffing the air.

"What's wrong?"

"That smell..." She took another few deep sniffs. "I know that smell..."

Rias sniffed the air as well; there was a strange aroma that she couldn't quite identify. It wasn't a stink or a stench, but it also didn't seem natural, and it certainly hadn't been there earlier when the three were speaking.

The person in the bed began to stir, causing Asia to panic and try to pull Rias out of the room with her. Unfortunately, she crashed into the doorway in her haste, Rias crashed into Asia, and both girls fell to the floor.

"Unnnnhhh... what the hell is going on?" a very sleepy, very feminine voice asked.

"I was about to ask the same thing," said another woman's voice. The light turned on, and Asia and Rias looked up to see Haruhi standing over them. Haruhi took a look at her brother's bed, took a deep breath and yelled:

"SHOICHIROOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

From the living room couch, Shoichiro groaned a single word:

Fuck.