The journey to the abandoned church was a rather lengthy one, as the trio stopped when Asia spotted people in need of physical healing or even some gentle comforting. From young to old, Issei and Aika watched as Asia either healed them or gave them comfort, with Issei as a translator due to the communication barrier. Asia knew only a few simple phrases in Japanese but those were the generalist statements like giving thanks and greetings. That didn't stop the former sister, who gave her all into the welfare of her fellow human beings.
They had stopped again, as Asia had found a young boy that had scraped his knee and was determined to heal it up. The boy couldn't believe that his scraps disappeared, but gave Asia a hug before thanking her and running up to his mother. The mom was shocked, but thanked Asia all the same before taking her son home, clearly wanting to get off her feet for a bit.
"I hope I helped everyone," Asia said with some trepidation in her voice, "I don't want to be seen as unhelpful."
Issei shook his head, "Asia, I'm pretty sure Kuoh will be talking about your good deeds for weeks."
Aika smiled, "Well, given all the people she helped, I'm pretty sure they'll be talking about her."
Issei looked at his friend before turning away, smiling as he pointed up towards the abandoned church. It didn't look like much anymore since it had been abandoned when the last preacher had been run out of town several centuries back, which hadn't left much for it.
How it was still standing was beyond Issei's knowledge, but that didn't matter. Right now, he saw a woman standing in the doorway of the old building.
"Oh," Asia said, looking flushed as she looked at Aika and then bowed, "Thank you for bringing me here safely."
"We're friends," Issei said easily, "Friends help one another with everything they can."
Asia smiled softly at him before hugging Issei tightly, following it by hugging Aika then running off towards the blue-haired woman.
The pair watched her run off, disappearing into the interior of the old church building. As the door closed behind them, Issei looked at Aika.
"Want to go to the arcade?" he asked, more in wanting to do something instead of standing there awkwardly.
Aika grinned, "Of course, that new dancing machine got installed yesterday and I've wanted to beat you at it. You seem super awake for that."
Issei realized his mistake when he was trounced in the arcade so badly by Aika that day.
By the time Issei got home, he was still full of energy. His mother and father noticed his changes quite quickly, asking him what had happened. He told them about Asia and her gift of healing, which caused Gorou to look at Miki with a glance that hid more in it then Issei could understand. Miki quickly sent another look back before giving Issei his marching orders to wash up for dinner.
Issei obeyed, Miki's cooking was heavenly.
As they ate dinner, Issei talked nearly non-stop about everything. It was like he had been lifted of his burden that had tormented him all his life, even though he could feel it slowly creeping back in the back of his mind. His parents lapped it all up, laughing and smiling as Issei talked with a fervor that they didn't want to miss. Soon, the food was gone and Miki had Issei help her with the dishes.
As Issei was washing a bowl, Miki spoke up, "Issei, could I ask you for a favor?"
"Anything, Mom," Issei said in reply, looking over at her, "What is it?"
Miki motioned to some bags, which held some food in them, "You know the Morritos?"
Issei thought about it before nodding, "They're the older couple that are in the apartment complex only a few blocks away?"
His mother nodded, "Indeed, I got a call from Yura that she couldn't cook anything due to not feeling well so I said I'd cook her something. Could you go deliver it?"
Issei nodded with a grin, "Of course, let me finish up here."
By the time Issei arrived at the apartment complex, he started noticing a change in the air as he carried the bags of food up to the apartment before stopping. The door had been left open, but the sight of blood splattered against the entry hallway caused him to nearly empty his guts. He didn't even realize he had dropped the bags of food as he slowly went inside, trying to rationalize what could have happened.
He then saw what had happened, both Mr and Mrs Morritos were hanging on self made crosses. Both of them were stripped to nothing and had clearly been shot, burnt slashes across their bodies. Issei turned green before he heard something behind him, like the clicking of something. Turning, Issei's eyes widened.
"All who worship the Lord, but summon the devil's servants are beyond help," a man said, pointing a gun at Issei's face, "those who see their crimes and know of them shall be purged by the light of the Holy Churches Exorcists. So be it, amen."
Issei didn't even have time to make a sound for help as he felt the right side of his head explode, pain shooting through his nerves as he collapsed onto the floor. His vision was cut in half, slowly darkening as he bled across the floor. He was also pretty sure half of his brain was splattered across Mr Morrito's corpse too. Issei laid there, his body trying to stay alive as darkness crept closer into consuming his vision.
Yet, he still lived.
He couldn't understand how he was still alive with half of his head splattered across the room. He could see Mr Morritos body above him, eyes blank in his death position. He wished he had come earlier, Issei would have tried to help them but he had focused on his own energetic mindset for longer. Even as the darkness tried to consume his last amounts of light, he heard a familiar voice.
"ISSEI! No, Father Freed, why did you do that?!"
Issei felt his heart jump in his chest, hearing Asia like that. Panicking over his body, the shooter stood silent before he spoke up.
"Those who are in Devil's territory are sinners, no more, no less." the man, Freed apparently, said with a vanity akin to a pretentious pope.
"But he wasn't one, he helped me!" Asia pleaded his case.
Freed sneered, "One good deed doesn't absolve him of all the sins he's been born into."
"But-" Asia cried out, a thunk being heard as she hit the wall.
"Don't question your elders, girl," Freed said, voice sharper than steel, "in fact, it's time for your confessional."
Issei saw something slithering out of the shadows that creeped around his vision, spiked and snake-like. He had seen the shape before when Yuuma had been…there, he then winced. Something felt hot on his face. Then his vision returned, but it felt tainted. The wrongness only got worse as he felt pain surge through the right side of his blown out skull, causing him to gasp aloud.
Asia Argento was trying her best to get away from Freed Sellzen, who was closing in on her. Then she heard Issei gasp, his body shuddering where it had fallen. Freed paused before turning, looking over his shoulder at the body.
"What on the Lord's green…" he started to speak before Issei moved.
No, 'moved' wasn't the correct word for it. It was like someone was trying to use Issei as a puppet, but didn't understand what they were doing. His feet pressed against the floor, as he rolled into a semi-standing position. His head flopping forward, hair covering what was left of his head as his arms hung uselessly at his sides. Freed pulled his light sword from his belt, activating the weapon.
"Seems he's also possessed by the Legions of Hell too," he said, a wicked grin forming on his face, "It's time to exercise it from his body."
Asia's eyes widened as Freed moved with impossible speed, bringing his weapon down upon Issei's neck. Issei's right arm moved, intercepting the white blade. The blade stopped then cut through the arm at the elbow, the limb dropping to the floor with a soft thump. Freed looked amused, like people had done this before. Issei then lifted his head and Asia felt her stomach twist into a knot.
Where Issei's right eye would have been, there was a glowing red orb. It floated in place, perfectly staying where it was. The vivid red glow seemed to seep into her soul as she stared at it, horror filling her before her first friend looked away from her and to Freed. Freed looked unaffected by the orb, but his body seemed to tense up.
"Seems we need to try harder," He stated before going for Issei's heart.
Issei's left hand slammed into Freed's adams apple, causing the exorcist to stagger back as he couldn't breath. Asia watched in fascinated silence as Issei's arm then started to regrow, slowly at first before it got faster and faster. When everything but Issei's skin was regrown, black tentacles slithered out of the skin still on his arm.
"I-Issei." Asia murmured, watching in shock as his arm was covered in black then grew armor of a dull golden luster.
Freed seemed to have regained control over himself before glowering at Issei. He reached for his secondary weapon, a pistol that could fire off shards of light as projectiles. As he started to lift the weapon when Issei moved first, his right arm came up and unleashed a quartet of dim golden light. Freed was hit in the chest which sent him hurtling into the far wall, the wall actually cracking and groaning from the force of collision.
As Freed's body hit the floor, Asia realized she was the only one that was awake with Issei. Issei's body shook as his arms dropped to his sides, his hair hanging over his left eye. The right eye, if one could call it that, was watching Freed with that alien redness that made Asia feel like her soul was shriveling under its gaze.
Now, let it be known that Asia wasn't averse to wounds in general. However, she knew Issei couldn't be alive, standing there with the corpse of the older man behind him. The Church had originally sent her to the healing centers of the Exorcists, where she was able to use her blessing from the Lord to repair the damages the defenders of God had sustained. She had seen all sorts of wounds, as well as death.
Many of those she had tried to heal had died soon after, due to other affects her blessing could not heal in any way.
Several of the female Exorcists had passed away from wounds that had been similar to Issei's own grievous one, though those women had thanked her before passing on. Asia was sure Issei was defying some natural law out there by simply being there with his head half missing. She wanted to get up and heal him herself, but something inside her kept her on the floor, like her limbs had been turned to stone by the Greek monster Medusa.
Issei was in absolute Hell.
No, this was worse than Hell itself. Issei knew he wasn't supposed to be feeling much, but it was beyond agonizing. His body's unnatural movements forced him to his feet, literally snapping his leg bones before repairing them once more. He felt the shards stabbing into his leg muscles before they disintegrated, new bones growing to replace the old bones. The agony was causing his legs to shake as he felt the wind blow into the insides of his skull, causing another wave of stabbing pain to rush through him.
Despite having no pain receptors in the brain, it was like someone had purposefully grown some in his own brain to cause agony. Unable to move, he felt his brain being blown upon by the cool air. The hair he had left that touched his head would have caused Issei to wince and grit his teeth from the pinpricks of pain. Then Freed brought his sword down to cut Issei's head off.
Issei couldn't make a noise as his right arm moved, intercepting the glowing white blade as it burned into his elbow. He couldn't scream as the blade sliced through the joint, the flesh smoking and black from the blade. He could also feel phantom senses going off as if his arm was still there, but he saw it wasn't. Something else seemed to have connected to his brain, giving him his vision back but the right side of his vision was soaked in a blood like crimson.
Then he felt something slithering under his skin, digging into his muscles in his left arm before that limb moved as well. It slammed into Freed's adams apple, actually breaking Issei's hand with the force needed to cause Freed to stumble back while choking. As his broken finger bones repaired themselves, he felt something stabbing through the stump of his right arm. He looked with his only real eye at his right stump.
Coming out of the stump was a sharp bone that started to grow into a proper arm, muscles crawling up the white bone. He felt new nerves as they grew, sending painful signals back to what was left of his brain. Soon, his arm was all repaired except it had no skin upon it. The cool air sent stabs of agony through him before he felt the skin on his upper arm being pulled off the muscles, internally screaming as this happened.
Black tentacles snaked out of the rips, weaving into his freshly regenerated muscles. They pushed into the muscles then burrowed out, the pain magnified as more tentacles had joined the first few. Issei couldn't do a damn thing as his arm turned void black, the new skin flexing and rippling in the dim lights of the apartment. Then the top of his arm opened up, ripped open to allow large scales to slide out of the wound. The dull golden color of the scales reflected the dim light as they curled around his wrist and up his blackened limb, ending at where black skin met human skin.
More scales appeared, sliding over the top of his hand as talon-like projections slid between his fingers. The scales come out more, covering the top of the wound with a single row of dull gold spines. Issei then felt two new wounds erupt out of his elbow, as two horns pushed out of his skin and moved themselves to the back of the new gauntlet-like arm. The horns gave his healing elbow some protection as he felt the top of his hand open up.
He wanted to empty his guts as he saw the three eyes, only one glowed vivid red as it moved around. He felt it moving in his arm, like his own eye would and that was utterly unnatural. Then his fingertips exploded into pain so piercing it made him want to scream as claws roughly pushed through the black skin and into the light. Once it was completely done, Issei watched as Freed was sent into the wall from some sort of energy attack he had unleashed from his arm.
Then he felt his brain starting to regrow, the wiggling of the gray matter sending revolting sensations. This was also followed by his skull starting to push the hole close, like a pair of jaws snapping shut. Muscles, veins and arteries slithered and crawled up his newly regrown bones. He felt it all, not being able to do a blasted thing about it. The red vision vanished, leaving him half blind once more. But, only for a moment, as he could feel another eye regrowing in the newly reformed eye socket.
Everything was returned to its proper and rightful place, the agony lingered in his body but he had regained full motor control of it. He curled his hands into fists, hissing as the pain ran up his arms before he slowly walked over to Asia.
"A-are you alright?" The words sounded forced, like he hadn't learned to speak before.
Asia nodded before pouncing on him, pulling him into a bear hug. She was crying into his shoulder as she hugged him, Issei wincing as minor pain lanced through him. The ex-nun then pulled away, holding her hands before her as green light illuminated the tops of her hands. He felt the pain leave him, like she was removing it completely from his system.
"We have to leave," Issei said, trying to get Asia to move when he heard something move behind him.
Shoving Asia away from him, Issei spun around to find Freed standing on his feet. Freed had lost both his weapons but he didn't look at all distressed. Instead, he looked rather amused as he rolled his neck and shoulders.
"It seems the sinner needs to be put down before the Devil can be removed," Freed said before leaping at Issei, "so be it."
When Rias Gremory felt the wards go off, she called her Peerage as quickly as she could to her. It wasn't that easy to do as she thought as all of them were busy with their contacts tonight, so she wasted nearly fifteen minutes waiting for them. When they all finally arrive, Rias had Akeno create a transportation circle to take them to the apartment complex. The red glow enveloped them before fading away, Rias taking stock of the situation.
The couple that lived here were dead, their bodies were on the walls on makeshift crosses that made her skin crawl from the imagery. Devils had a weakness to anything holy, by the Christian standard that is. Rias also realized that both had been Kiba's responsibility as they had gotten a contract with him, Kiba had a pretty good relationship with them. Rias then spotted a young nun with her back against the wall, staring. She moved over to her and touched her shoulder.
"Are you alright, Miss?" She asked, causing the girl to jump.
"I-Issei," She gasped in Italian, grabbing frantically at Rias's clothing, "I have to help Issei!"
"Akeno," Rias ordered her Queen, motioning to the young woman, "you, Kiba and Koneko get her out of here. Preferably at the ORC, understand?"
"Yes Rias," Akeno said before helping the girl to her feet and moving her to the exit.
Rias then heard something before running towards the sound, finding a hole in the wall before looking through it. What she saw made her heart jump into her throat.
Issei Hyoudou was holding up Freed Sellzen in the air with his left hand, the rogue exorcist was choking from the amount of pressure Issei was exerting on the man's throat. His right arm looked exactly like what Koneko reported it to look like, down to the last detail. The scene also gave her a sense of wrongness she couldn't place until Issei turned slightly, aiming his body so it was between Freed and the nun.
Rias saw that both of Issei's brown eyes were glowing a vivid crimson red, both alien looking eyes illuminating Freed's face in a bloody wash. Freed growled, trying to pull Issei's hand off his throat before Issei started to speak.
"A worm like you doesn't even deserve to speak." He hissed, his tongue flickering out of his mouth like a lizards, "In fact, let's fix this problem here and now."
Issei's right arm moved up and grabbed Freed's lower jaw, fingers curling around the teeth. Freed looked shocked and started thrashing, a vain attempt to free himself. Issei pulled, causing Freed to gasp in pain before his jaw started to bend. It was a slow bending as Issei forced it fully open, readjusting his grip before yanking it. One side of Freed's jaw snapped, tearing open his cheek while blood was sent everywhere. Issei hissed, maybe in annoyance, as he widened his stance.
Using both arms, Rias watched as Issei ripped the jaw free of the head. She nearly lost her stomach contents as she watched the bloody piece of human anatomy drop to the ground as Freed's mouth bled. The remains of Freeds cheeks hung in the air, as Freed's tongue wiggled like a trapped worm on a hook. Issei's right hand snatched the wiggling flesh and tore it out of Freeds mouth as well.
Freed dropped to the ground, gagging and gurgling as blood pooled under him. Issei stood over Freed before he shook, like he had been doused in cold water. He looked at Freed before he backpedaled, right into Rias's arms. Issei jumped then looked at her, his face so white and haunted. He then collapsed to his knees and emptied his stomach, as Rias nubly rubbed Issei's back.
Rias could only focus on helping Issei as he curled up, eyes squeezed tight as the backlash hit him. She couldn't fully come to terms with what she had seen either, her mind numbed to the horror as she slowly got Issei out of there.
The image of Freed's disfiguration haunted her thoughts for a good few minutes. It wasn't even the gore itself that caused the chills to run up her spine, but rather the absolute cruelty that the brutality had been carried out with, as if it was something he'd do a thousand times without hesitation if he could.
By the time she got Issei to the ORC, Rias knew one thing that she had to do. She had to get her brother involved, Issei may not be safe enough around Kuoh anymore if he could harm another person like that. No one in Kuoh would be safe from him if they drove him to anger, no, Issei had to be dealt with swiftly and immediately, she knew that.
Upon entering the ORC, Rias helped Issei to a couch before hurrying off to her bedroom. Changing her clothing, she then created a transportation circle and stepped into it. She had to be quick or Issei may go on a rampage.
Issei felt cold and numb.
All he could see was the image of himself tearing off Freed's jaw then ripping off his tongue. As he sat on the couch of the ORC, he felt Asia hugging him, but he also didn't feel it. His body was so numb to anything, as he tried to distance himself. The images of what he had done continued to rip through his mind until he felt a warmth fill him, the images seemingly to fade into the aether as he found Asia using her gift on him again.
"There," Asia said, nodding as she gave Issei a determined look, "That should do it."
"Do what exactly?"
Asia sighed, "Should keep back the darkness I'm sensing within you. I seem to be able to hold it back. It's not something I think my gift would be able to do under normal circumstances, but it does."
Issei looked at her strangely before looking around, realizing who else was with them. He found Akeno, Koneko and Kiba all looking at him and Asia. All of them seemed rather on edge, like they knew something had just happened. He also noticed Rias was missing, which also started setting off alarm bells in his head. Rias never left without Akeno at her side, at least whenever he noticed the pair.
"Where is Rias?" Issei finally asked, looking around at the three.
They didn't answer him, like they were waiting for him to explode. Issei didn't understand what had changed to cause such a reaction before understanding came to him, like getting hit in the gut. Rias must have said something or they knew he had done something that made Rias vanish. He was pretty sure that was the cause of this but he couldn't be sure, but with Asia hugging him again, Issei wasn't going to do anything.
Asia being next to him actually cleared his head a great deal, allowing him to think and go through what he was feeling. He felt turmoil and pain, revulsion and fear, worry and tiredness. What had his life come to?
Sirzech Lucifer was many things in life; war hero, leader of the New Satan Faction, Super Devil, the inheritor of the 'Lucifer' name as the King of Hell.
A panicker was, usually, not one of these things, except for example, if a close relative, say his little sister, came in looking like death had come to her front doorstep.
Rias barged into his office in a rush and almost sent them both onto the floor as she leapt into his lap, like she had done when she had been younger and much more easily frightened. This immediately set off major alarm bells within his head.
"R-Rias?" He asked, as Rias pulled him into a rather tight hug as her body started shaking against his, "What's wrong?"
"N-nii-san," Rias shuddered harder, "something has happened…I need your help."
Sirzech quickly sat up, holding his sister in his arms as he began to try and piece together what was going on. He was about to ask before Rias got up, grabbing his hand and pulling him across his office towards the door.
As soon as they left the office, Rias created a teleportation circle and they both appeared in her bedroom in the ORC building. Sirzech was pretty sure his wife was going to come after him for this, but he knew Rias needed help.
Rias then led him out of her room before they went down the stairs, Sirzech taking it all in with a cursory glance. He spotted the rest of Rias's peerage, all of them in a rather natural looking attack pattern.
On the couch was a young nun and the boy Rias had told him about in personal letters. The room's air was tense and it seemed centered on those two. The nun was obviously an innocent bystander in all of this, given how tender her movements were while she took care of the boy. Besides, her pure aura made her less subtle than a children's book. As for the boy though…
Just when he thought he looked like a harmless person, his gaze fell on his right arm. Thick yellowish scales ending with two sharp protrusions at the elbow and once white claws stained by blood which had a rotten scent to it.
Sirzechs blinked in confusion before he narrowed his eyes, noticing a subtle detail someone with less apt senses could easily miss. At first glance, the boy's aura seemed small and invisible, like most regular humans. However, Sirzechs could make out the outline of an energy source that affected the air around him with an ominous buzz.
"Who is that, Rias?" Sirzechs asked, throwing his sister a side-glance. She, however, did not reply nor look at him. Looking at her anxious, spaced-out gaze, the older devil figured his question hadn't even registered.
Sirzechs sighed and made his way towards the young man. All eyes were on him now. He saw how scared the boy himself looked, even more so than his sister. The nun's warm but protective glare just added to his confusion.
He raised his hand and tried to gently palm the young man's head.
"Excuse me, I just want to-?!" a sudden, almost uncharacteristically fearful gasp left Sirzechs' lips the instant his fingers made contact with the young man's skin. Something had lashed out at him when he did that and his body's first instinct was to back off.
Subsequently, his reaction had the whole room shook and frozen. It was only natural as neither Rias nor any of her servants had seen him ever show even a hint of fear.
Looking back at the boy now, Sirzechs noticed a very obvious change. Whereas the alien energy signature only left an outline, now it felt like it was barring its teeth at him or trying to.
The boy's aura was utterly dark now, as black as the darkest black hole. It clung to his form like a parasite, multiple dark tendrils stabbed into his body. He didn't even realize it either, as the young lady that was hugging him so tightly was actually made of the purest light aura he had ever felt. It was said that even the darkest blackness gave way to a simple light. Was her presence suppressing whatever was inside of the boy?
This young lady was so pure that the darkness's cold embrace felt fragile. As he looked closer at the parasitic manifestation, it looked right back. It took shape, shifting and morphing into a new shape. Shaped like a very thin wyvern, this shadow had a very long neck and multiple crimson eyes. It then roared at him; a hollow, creepy sound.
'Bidibidibidi'
Sirzechs subtly unleashed a portion of his true power, zeroing it in on the parasite like a heat blast. The thing's menacing growls went silent and the dark presence seemed to back off just a little, enough to give him some breathing room.
Sirzechs let out a breath he was holding and furrowed his brows. Something like this wasn't normal nor was it natural. Whatever this boy had within his soul, it had to be purged at once. He was thinking on just how to do that when the ORC doors were forced open, causing Kiba to stumble from the force.
"Sirzech Lucifer," The voice came from a cloaked figure, one that made Sirzechs tense up, "Step away from my son.
Gorou Hyoudou knew something was wrong the moment his son didn't come back from the short trip to the Morritos', that was the first sign.
The second was the wards he had secretly erected around the residential neighborhood went off around the Morrito residence, all of them warning about devils, a rogue exorcist and some unexplainable greater evil.
He quickly got his old uniform back onto his body, his wife giving him a look of worry.
"Better get your outfit on, too, dear." Gorou said as he pulled his dark gray cloak over his shoulders, "Our son is in the middle of something I fear we should have expected."
Miki was quick, clad in her former High Priestess shrine kimono faster than he had thought. His loving wife then took his hand as he finished putting his Exorcist-grade Holy Energy saber on his belt before leading her towards where the wards had been set off.
There, they found the Morrito's had been killed, their murderer was slowly getting up off the floor. His lower jaw and tongue had been torn off, but that wasn't what caught Gorou off guard.
"Freed Sellzen," he snarled, eyes narrowing at the man with utter loathing, "I should have known."
Miki moved first, her hands spread wide as she hissed, "By the unruly storms of Susanoo, the fierce thunders of Rajiin, come to me lights of the Gods!"
Lightning erupted out of her fingers, striking Freed Sellzen in the chest. The rogue was sent hurtling out of the apartment, smoke coming off of his burnt torso, crashing through the wall and onto the street.
Gorou looked at his wife, now remembering why she was such a dangerous woman in the first place. Miki had formerly been a Shinto Shrine High Priestess, blessed by the Shinto Pantheon themselves to wield their immense power.
Gorou hadn't known that until he had accidentally caused an incident where Miki had started firing lightning at him like the fictional Emperor Palpatine.
Gorou then got alerted that someone powerful was at the ORC building, grabbing his wife quickly before teleporting them there with some teleportation magic. Once the white glow of the circle faded, he rushed up the stairs and tried to open the double wooden doors. Both refused to budge so he did the only thing he could think of, he kicked them open.
Gorou saw that he had made the young Yuuto Kiba stumble away from the doors but no matter, he walked inside and spotted the source of the wards' warnings. The Great Satan Sirzech Lucifer was standing before his son, looking ready to do something. So, Gorou acted.
"Sirzech Lucifer." Gorou said in a cold, flat voice, "Step away from my son."
Sirzechs' shoulders tensed as he turned around to look at him just as Gorou was lifting his arms and pulling off his hood.
Everyone stared at him before Miki came in from behind him. She rushed over to Issei to make sure he was alright. Gorou went straight over to the Great Satan, grabbing his arm and yanking him into the kitchen. The action was so shocking that Sirzechs couldn't even react properly and just let himself be pushed into the room. He blinked in silent confusion as Gorou closed the doors behind them, before motioning to a seat.
"Sit," He ordered. The red-haired man gave him a 'are you serious?' look, but Gorou paid him no mind, hand already in his pocket. "I have to make a few calls."
Pulling out his old communicator, Gorou put his old codes into it before putting it to his ear. It was silent before another voice came over the small device's speaker.
"Gorou? That is you, correct?"
"Yes," Gorou said, sighing, "Jameson, it's me."
Jameson laughed, "Good to hear you, buddy, the guys were wondering where you and the 'beautiful miki-miko' ran off to."
Gorou smirked before that fell away from his lips, "Jameson, I need the top of the ladder on the com, now. It's a code MAD."
Jameson stopped laughing, going all business, "Understood, she'll be on or if not, just wait a bit."
The line went static before another voice, a feminine and very motherly voice said, "Hello, Gorou Hyoudou. I believe you called for me?"
"Yes," Gorou replied, tone losing its energy. "I think I know where the sealed gear is…it's in my son, and Sirzech is here as well."
"I'll be over in a moment, don't let Sirzech near your son."
The line went dead.
Gorou put the communicator away before looking at Sirzech, who spoke up, "So, one of the Latter Day Saint Exorcists?"
Gorou shrugged, "I was retired, but the current situation forced me out of retirement. It's even worse than I expected."
Sirzech raised his eyebrow, "Worse? Your son has something in him that is far more dangerous to everyone in Kuoh than the Red Dragon Emperor would be."
"My son is carrying something even more dangerous than any Dragon Emperor could ever do," Gorou snapped, before his shoulders sagged, "I just didn't realize it until now just what it was."
"We all make mistakes, Gorou," A new voice, the same one from his communication device, said at the head of the kitchen table, "It is what makes you human."
Eden Ishatel appeared in the ORC's kitchen at the head of its table, wearing a simple robe of purest white. Her pure white hair was in a ponytail, as her eldest daughter loved it to be, as her bright gold eyes looked at Sirzech Lucifer and Gorou Hyoudou. Her many times great grand-nephew, through her second born son Lucifer, looked very startled, afraid and uncomfortable in her presence. She dampened her aura greatly, allowing Sirzech some relief as she looked at Gorou.
"I seem to have missed a great many things," The Wife of Elohim said, motioning to the pair, "I wish to understand what is going on."
Gorou spoke up first, "Lady Eden, my son is carrying 'it' inside of him. I didn't realize it until now because Miki and I thought it was another Sacred Gear, like the Annihilation Maker. But we were both wrong."
Sirzech looked at Gorou before asking, "What exactly is in his soul? Whatever it is, it clearly isn't strong-"
Eden cut him off, "Sirzech, nephew, what you felt is only a fraction of a fraction of its true power. What Issei Hyoudou has within his soul is a monster so terrible that it weakened my husband, who sealed it with his own life force to keep it locked away. What Issei has isn't a sacred gear, either, its one of three sealed gears. Sealed on purpose to keep the monster from ever regaining its full power."
Sirzech looked absolutely floored at that, "But how is Issei still alive?"
Eden snorted, "That thing is keeping him alive for its own uses, as long as it stays in one place, it can be tracked. That monster can easily jump from host to host without its host dying, unlike sacred gears."
Gorou sighed, "The LDS Church, as normal people know us by, knew of this problem due to our closer relationship with Heaven. The Church, the one in Europe, has been losing favor with Heaven due to increasingly bad decisions and other problems."
Sirzech nodded, like he already knew of that issue. "Indeed, corruption is running the show instead of the faithful. I don't see that lasting long into the future at all."
Eden nodded, "I'm tempted to shut it down but many of the more faithful ones are the innocent people, so I can't. I'm also having Gabriel look into it personally, as Michael is handling other issues that aren't involved in the system."
Gorou sighed, "But what do we do about my son? He doesn't have a future where he will be sane long enough to be actually happy."
Sirzech shook his head, "I think you missed something on the way here, Gorou. That young lady that has been clinging to young Issei has an aura so pure that its shoving the monster back. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that was her soul shining through."
Eden looked up, looking through the veil to see what Sirzech was talking about and saw it. Little Asia Argento was hugging Issei Hyoudou like her life depended on it, but her soul. Oh, her soul! She couldn't help but smile as she looked at the young lady's soul. It burned with a pure brightness that outshone the sun at noonday, she was so innocent.
"You did see her soul, nephew," Eden said, looking at Sirzech after pulling out of the veil, "her soul is so pure that its radiates out of her body."
Sirzech chuckled before his face turned grim, "Though, what do we do with Issei?"