Chapter-11

"… And that's what happened." Akane finished telling them her side of the story.

"Great! More things I need to cover up," Sona said with a sigh as she massaged her head a little, referring to the resulting fire caused by Raynare's spells. "Were there any casualties I need to know about?" She asked Akane.

"Aside from Issei, none. As from where I was standing, the area looked pretty empty. Must be one of the reasons why Raynare took him there in the first place," Akane said.

"She must also have gotten the summon seal off of him. It's my fault, really, not to have one of my familiars following him around," Rias said with grinding teeth before looking at Akane.

"Now, now, Rias. Don't blame yourself for this. Everything worked out great in the end," Akane said to her. Princess, you not being there was a miracle in disguise, actually, she thought to herself.

"No, Akane, if it wasn't for you, we might not have been able to revive Issei. I am truly grateful to you for doing me this favor," Rias replied.

"Oh. It's not a big deal," Akane gave her a humble reply, though on the inside she was dancing round and round, victoriously singing, "Gotcha bitch" over and over. "After all, you and Sona have been so painstakingly looking for a suitable master for me. It's the least I can do in return," she added.

"Of course, of course," Rias replied with a knowing smile. She knew that Grayfia was interested in taking her in. She turned to Sona with a nervous yet hopeful smile. "Soo…. Sona. How many pieces do I owe you?" Rias asked. She was not sure if Sona were to fulfill her promise now that she had resurrected Issei as her servant, someone she had fought for a few months back, and would have won if that incident didn't occur.

"Your pawns, all of them," Sona said. She didn't bother to address the doubt she could see on Rias' face. "We can trade him later. Now is not the time," she added. Rias looked a little bit relieved and even a bit giddy after hearing Sona's response.

"Fine," she replied.

"Good. Now, Akane," Sona began and turned to look her in the eye. "Can you tell us what you did to that fallen to deserve that explosive response?" she asked. She didn't get a response out of Akane other than a small, barely noticeable, twitch of a smirk on her lips.

"We know that she didn't attack you just because she thought you are a devil. She had been in our territory for days, and if she had that much of an itchy trigger finger, she would have attacked us by now. But she didn't. That makes me think it must have been you. Even you said earlier that she was openly hostile towards you. So, what did you do to deserve that hate?" Sona asked.

"Now that you mentioned it, Sona… Grayfia did mention that she noticed animosity in Azazel's expression and tone when she asked about Akane," Rias chimed in.

"Did she now?" Said Sona, now intrigued. Before, she had thought that Raynare and Akane might have had some beef between them before they came to Kuoh. It wouldn't have been a too farfetched scenario. Angels and Fallen Angels did, after all, have a strong alliance. But now it seemed Akane had done something that annoyed even Azazel.

"Care to explain yourself here, Orimura?" Sona asked.

"Fine." Akane sighed before she turned around to check the stairs. Seeing that nobody was there, Akane said, "Look I can tell you about it, though I would prefer if you two don't tell Akeno anything about what you are about to hear. It would save me from some annoyance and it would save her from a lot of awkwardness."

"Awkwardness coming from Akeno?" Rias let out a burst of laughter. "That would be a sight to see." Small giggles escaped her mouth as she couldn't imagine her notoriously shameless queen to be awkward about something.

"Focus, Rias!" Sona chided her. She turned to Akane. "Please elaborate."

"I was supposed to marry Baraqiel," Akane told them. "But, a few weeks ago, I broke off that arrangement and decided to come here."

"What?!" Sona and Rias exclaimed in shock, making Akane wince.

"Keep your voices down," she shushed, and gave the two of some time to process the new information.

"How did you manage to get yourself engaged with one of the heads of the Grigori?" Rias asked.

"I have my ways," Akane said evasively. "Plus, how our engagement came to be is not important to the question you just asked me."

"Fine then. Seeing that you broke that relationship off, I guess no romance was involved." Sona said.

"True," Akane replied.

"And what were you trying to gain from that marriage before you broke things off?" Rias asked.

"Same thing I want now. Restarting my clan and becoming a supernatural being… which meant becoming a fallen angel," Akane answered.

"Wait. Angels and Fallen angels don't have that sort of a recruitment system." Sona said.

"That's why I am here," Akane replied with a sarcastic tone, of course she knew it was half correct.

"That still doesn't explain why Raynare was so mad at you?" Rias asked.

Akane and Sona gave her a look as they couldn't believe she would miss that obvious of a thing, "Rias, think about it. She left one of the heads of the fallen angels to come here and become our servant. If there was a way you could insult as well as spit the fallen in their face ,this is it."

"I am honestly surprised you were able to come here alive without any harm. Did you not tell them what were you gonna do?" Sona asked.

"Oh. I did tell them and it's not like some of them did not try to kill me. Azazel and Baraqiel intervened when that happened, and that's why our relationship is a bit strained. Raynare wants to end my life, but hey, that did not stop Azazel from giving me a job."

"Hm. Speaking of the job, has Azazel contacted you regarding what to do with the after effects of what happened back there?" Rias asked.

"No, he hasn't contacted me yet. I am pretty sure he wants me to continue keeping an eye on them, plus I am sure he is interested in finding out what packages the rogue exorcists has procured for them." Akane answered. "Still, the job he asked me to do is done. After what has happened earlier this evening, and if he wants me to continue, he needs to pay more," she added.

"So, are we getting some of that payment for helping, or you are asking us to do this as a favor to you Orimura?" Sona asked.

"Of course not! I would be paying you two upfront ,Sitri. I know how easier it would be for you and your peerage to just storm their base of operation and force them out of your territory. At least compared to my complicated plan to plant a mole amongst them," Akane tells them as she picked two cards out of her battle deck and placed them on the table. A small flash of light revealed two stack of scrolls. Each stack contained five scrolls each with different colors. "This is your payment. Jutsu scrolls. Each scroll contains an A and B rank level Jutsu of the five basic elements that my family has come up with over the years. I hope you two know the value of each of them." Akane presented them their payment.

Tsubaki came down the stairs as Sona and Rias were taking a look at the Jutsu scrolls. "What are you two doing?! That's not how you handle Jutsu scrolls. Put them down!" Tsubaki yelled at them as she saw them reading the scrolls like a normal textbook. "You might damage them by using it in that way."

"Calm down Shinra-san. These are new copies I made, you don't have to worry about causing damage to them." Akane assured her.

"Still..." she said with pained expression as she saw them wrapping the scroll like a normal roll of paper. "Anyways what are these Jutsu scrolls doing here?" Tsubaki asked.

"These are our reward for the job we will do tomorrow. Orimura is paying us upfront," Sona replied which made Tsubaki take a look up and down the pile, "Do you mind if I take a closer look?" Tsubaki asked Akane.

"Sure, they are yours now. Go nuts," Akane replied with a shrug.

Tsubaki nodded as she picked up one of the stacks and carefully placed them on the ground. She knelt, opening a scroll by gently rolling the paper on the ground like a carpet. It was the traditional way families studied the ancient scrolls, so they minimized the risk of causing damage to them. Seeing her be so delicate with the scrolls, even though she had told her that they were new copies, brought out a small chuckle from Akane.

"How were Kiba's injuries, Tsubaki? He did take a nasty bump during the fight with the strays." Rias said.

"Kiba-kun is fine, he has a few bruised ribs here and there but that's nothing his devil physiology can't fix with a good night's rest," Tsubaki replied without moving her eyes one bit from the scrolls. "Akeno and Koneko are also fine, they will be out in a few minutes," she added.

"Thank you Tsubaki," Rias thanked her.

"She is gonna be busy for a while with those scrolls, Rias." Sona told her with a slight amusement as she saw a very familiar sign of her Queen geeking over scrolls.

"In the meantime… Orimura? Tell me something about these cards," she asked Akane as she picked one of the cards up from the table. "I must say I haven't seen anything like this ever before."

"I would be shocked if you had seen them before, as these cards were just introduced to us last year. But yeah, sure, I can tell you about them. They are not that big of a secret nowadays," Akane replied as she removed a small deck from her belt which was holding her cards. "This is a Battle Deck," Akane tells them as she spreads the cards in her hand to show. "These are one of the newest equipment that has been introduced amongst the Exorcists circles last year. In that small time, these have become a main stay in every exorcist's load out," Akane told them.

"And that's mostly because of what you just saw earlier. These cards can store stuff inside them. Equipment, weapons, uniforms…" Akane explained.

"But why develop this system when you can summon weaponry and equipment through a normal summon seal?" Rias asked.

"There are a couple of down sides using a summon seal, the first being the range of distance. For example, if my equipment or weaponry are here in Kuoh while I happened to be in Tokyo, I wouldn't be able to summon them as seals. They only work inside a specified distance. There are long distance seals present in market, but the longer the distances, the more expensive the prices. These new seals become a liability for normal exorcists who tend to travel around a lot," Akane explained.

"But couldn't you all travel with your equipment's with you if distance was proving a hassle?" Sona asked.

"Couldn't we? We did just that and it was a pain in the arse. You try getting all of our swords and bombs past airport customs without causing a scene. Exorcists tend to have their legs placed between both the mortal world and supernatural world, so in order to not stand out, we generally have to follow human laws. That is why we used fences before who could smuggle our equipment and weaponry for us. But this method involved making deals with truly unsavory individual for the brass, which in time, proved too much for them," Akane said.

"And what's the second downside?" Sona asked.

"Mana usage. Using summon seals also drains out a lot of mana for supernatural beings. For you, for example, it drains like a mosquito drains blood. But for a normal exorcist who even though they tend to have more mana than usual, thanks to the Rites ceremony, it is still a significant drain of an already limited resource which tends to run out fast during a fight, if you are not careful." Akane explained.

"Hm. I guess we really can't argue with that fact. So these cards work very a convenient suitcase for exorcists?" Sona asked.

"Yes, though calling it a suitcase is not entirely accurate as like a suitcase you can keep adding multiple items in one card until you reach the cards limit… but, it will be mess to sort through especially in the heat of battle. That's why we keep each item in a separate card for both convenience and to be able to do this..." said Akane as she removed one card form the deck and threw it to her right. The card immediately started to glow and expanded, forming a door through which Akane passed through. Coming out of the other side, she no longer was dressed in her exorcist uniform. Instead, she was wearing her normal cloths, jeans and a top.

"Tadaaa," she said in deadpan manner, as the door turned back into a card which she put back in her deck.

So cool! It works exactly like a Kaman Rider transformation, Rias thought to herself, internally geeking out after what she saw.

"Hm, so it is actually a very good replacement for a summon seal. I must say I am impressed. Who came up with this idea?" Sona asked.

"I don't know. Maybe it was someone from the Angel's R and G division who came up with this, or it can very well come from Azazel himself. Pinpointing were what technology or knowledge came from amongst Angels and fallen angels is sort of a confusing task, seeing that they tend to share resource," Akane replied taking her seat back at the couch.

"Hm. Oh, look they are here!" Sona said pointing towards the stairs were Akeno, Kiba and Koneko came downstairs, all dressed in fresh clothing. Akeno seemed to stand out from the three. Akeno's long hair, which usually was tied up with an orange ribbon, was down.

"Good. Then we can start discussing our plan for tomorrow," Akane said.

Next Morning

Haneda Airport

"Miss Argento, do you need something to eat or drink? We still have an hour left before our bus arrives." He asked the young girl who was wearing a dark teal nun uniform with light blue accents with a white veil over her head.

The girl shook her head shyly in response. "I am not hungry Father Mori," She replied timidly.

"That's nonsense, my dear. You have barely eaten anything after last night dinner. It will take us some time to reach Kuoh. I am sure you don't want to faint on your first day in a new church right?" a boisterous voice from behind said. It was ,of course his partner for the mission, Royce, who was dressed in a priest's robes. In fact, both of them were dressed in similar robes.

The girl seemed to think for a second about what Royce said, though as she was about to say something, her stomach replied faster with a growl which caused her to squeak in surprise. Both men laughed.

"I think your stomach agrees with me here," the man said with a smile on his face. "Come on, let's go find ourselves the canteen."

"Ok, Father Royce," the girl replied with cheeks seemingly blushing with embarrassment and her voice even lower than what it was before.

After asking around a bit, they found themselves inside the canteen which was bustling with people. In spite of that, they were able to find Asia a seat.

"Stay here while we go get you something to eat," Royce said to her. She nodded before the two of them left for the food counter.

After they had ordered food for Asia and were waiting for it to get ready, Royce said, "I still think masquerading as priests inside a devil territory is a bad idea," His tone was hushed as he adjusted his collar .

"Oh! Don't start again. Should I repeat what I said last night? You have nothing to worry about. We are here to lead the funeral services for a Christian worker who died recently in an accident at a construction site that had clear cut alibi." He repeated again for the third time in two days. Man, that guy can be paranoid sometimes, I thought. "Plus the girls expect us to be a couple of priests, so we are dressing that way. If we had changed our clothes she might have gotten suspicious of us."

"Yeah, I don't think that girl is capable of suspicion. I mean we told to her that her old escorts had to go because of an urgent business. She believed that without asking any question." Royce replied.

"That's good and let's try to keep things that way until we have handed to her Master Freed." I said nonchalantly as my eyes fell back on the girl who sitting on the table silently waiting for them. "Speaking of her old escorts… Do you think the brass has noticed their absence by now?" I asked Royce.

"They were supposed to arrive there by noon today, so no. They won't know at least until 1 A.m.. After that, they might send someone to look for them at their last known location," Royce replied. "Good thing we brought their bodies with us here, otherwise they might have been able to find out what happened to..." RING RING RING My phone started to ring, interrupting Royce.

"Who is it?" Royce asked me. He took phone out of my pocket and checked who was calling me.

"It's Master Freed." I replied to him, picking up the phone.

"Report." Master Freed's voice greeted me.

"We have arrived at Haneda airport with the package and are currently waiting for our bus to arrive" I reported as I was talking the counter clerk called for them. "Here is your order gentlemen." Which prompted me to gesture Royce to pick it up, who nodded and after picking the tray up taking it to the girl

"Has the package suspected anything?"

"No, she was a complete outsider to begin with, so we had no troubles fooling her." I replied.

"Good The fallen in charge of the mission here is very interested in that girl's sacred gear and would be waiting for her arrival here with me. This is going to be our first impression and we need to prove ourselves as a reliable asset for their glorious cause. SO DON'T FUCK IT UP!"

"Oh, boss, we are past the point of fucking the job up. Now we are at the easiest stage of the job. Don't worry, we will be there in no time." I replied with some humor as for a skilled exorcist freed does tend to get nervous around the angels.

"Hm. Let's hope you're putting your money where your mouth is," and with that, he cut the call.

By the time I returned to the girl, Royce she was already half done eating. "Who were you talking to on the phone father Mori?" she asked me as I was taking a seat.

"It was your new Father. He was calling in to check in where we were at the moment," I replied It was true in a way ."He is eagerly waiting for you at the church" his response made her fluster for some reason and she returned back to eating her food.

After she was done eating, the three of them left for the bus stop, arriving there just in time to get themselves seats on their bus.

The bus ride was pretty mundane, but time consuming, as their bus got stuck in a traffic, though finally they were just half an hour distance from Kuoh. The two of them had been sitting on their seats in silence while the girl was taking in the sights of Japan.

"Hmmm Father Mori?" the girls turned around and began to say something thought it was pretty inaudible to him thanks to the bustling people on the bus.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Can you tell me something about Kuoh's church and the father there." She asked

"Hmm. About Kuoh's church? I haven't been there myself before but I have heard that after the passing of the previous Father church went into a state of serious disrepair for a while. Which your new father is currently fixing it so don't expect to stay in the church for the first night as its still under construction." I told her about the history of the place as well as made sure she does freak out when she finds out church is in ruins, "I am pretty sure Father Freed has already made arrangements for your stay in Kuoh so don't worry."

"As for your new father I must apologize, but I don't know much about him. Father Royce was in the same seminary as him, but by the time he joined, Father Freed had already graduated. So I don't think he can tell you much about him," I replied to which the girl who nodded silently and went back sightseeing.

"Hey, look! We can see Kuoh from here," Royce informed them from the back seat as their bus just got off the highways, which made Asia look in the direction Royce was pointing towards.

"Hm, yeah, we will be in Kuoh within 10-15 min get your bags ready," I said, getting up from my seat.

"Come on Royce get up— "

CRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHH

A huge noise came from my back ,and the last thing I can remember before I lost consciousness was dangling on the seat I was sitting at while the girl seemed to lying on the windows. My whole body screaming in pain.

SPLAATTTT

I was woken up by ice cold water hitting my face into my entire body. I even screamed in surprise ,but then I found out that I was gagged and tied to a chair naked which would explain why my whole body was wet. I tried to free myself by pulling the bind but that proved useless.

"He is awake." I heard a women speak when I turned around to find the voice source I found that a girl with long hairs and glasses dressed in a school uniform was standing in front of me with a steel bucket I her hand.

Behind her, there was another woman standing dressed in casual civilian clothes with spiky black hair and a very striking scar that covered her entire right side of her face staring down at me without any expression on her face.

"Good then we can start."

Beta readers-Raquiesha, Echoes19

AuthorNote: - There you go folks. If you had enjoyed the chapter, please leave a review. I would be very thankful. My Finals are about to start on March 13 so wish me luck

Also this chapter is again edited by the lovely Raquiesha. Who thankfully was kind enough to edit my jumbled mess. She is awesome and if you hadn't already checked her Dragon age fic on AO3 "Flowers of the Dead" plz do. It was an amazing read.

Also she has started writing another story by the name The Raven Parradox check that out as well.