DISCLAIMER

The following is a fan-based

FICTION

High School DxD, New, BorN, Hero and other products related to the DxD Series are all owned by Ichiei Ishibumi, Miyama-Zero, Fujimi Shobo and TNK.

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Chapter 22: Religious (and non) Questions

It was morning-

"Sensei?"

And there's a lot to unpack due to recent events.

"Yes, Ise?"

"I know that I may be sounding a bit... stupid- but do you know why Irina is part of... that group?"

I blinked, shifting the magazine I have been reading and turning to give Issei a proper look. The young man had just finished his usual training session, with Saji lying defeated on the nearby couch as his body didn't have some Sacred Gear BS of the same level as Issei.

"You mean the Church?"

He sighed. "Y-Yeah. I mean, I understand that she believes in their thing but... I never thought she would be so into it."

They did end up meeting- I mean, it was inevitable at this point, but I could at least be happy that both her and Xenovia didn't go nuclear on Ise since he is no Devil. However, some friction did occur due to the fact that Irina yanked a bit too hard on Issei to have him join the Holy See. Even though he was clearly affiliated to Grigori. I felt quite proud when he just rejected that.

I mean, the girl got a bit too close and personal at a certain point, but I think Ise could see for himself that the girl's closeness was being weaponized to manipulate him. Surprisingly enough, he was actually more tame that he would normally be about it. I think I have seen him snap at least once when curvy girls tried to get him to do things for them by showing off their frames to him.

I could only chalk this reaction as him being a bit more conscious of what girls were trying to do, and this particular one to be him holding back because he cared for his childhood friend. Irina was mildly irked, but not outright pissed, as she took the L without going on a warpath. Yet, that scenario led us back to this very moment.

"Let's just say she was nurtured to believe the word of the big G is absolute. Like pretty much those kids that have strong ties with the Vatican's business," I explained calmly. "Think of it that way: your parents have educated you to believe in some morals which, to a degree, still exist in you because you feel those are certainly true. However, to others, this isn't the case. They will have different ideas and notions of life due to what their parents told them- or teachers- or even just listening to adults that sound reasonable to them."

"So... we stick to ideas like that because we get them by people we... like?"

"Like and understand," I added. "You don't believe Santa is real."

He nodded sheepishly, "I suppose that does make some sense. Still, I just... how do I put it... I don't like it that she is so..."

"Preachy," Saji finished with a grumble, his head lifting from its resting pillow. "Ise, that chick is just so incredibly condescending- you don't need to cover that for her."

The brunet bowed his head in slight embarrassment. "I guess."

"There's nothing wrong in defending old friends, Ise," I commented, trying to save his butt a bit on this mess. "But, at the same time, you have a duty as a friend to tell them that they are wrong when they are wrong. Not directly and not publicly-"

"But they need to hear that," He hummed, understanding my point as he finished that sentence for me. "It makes sense but... it's tough."

I nodded in agreement, but as I returned to my magazine, I realized one moment too late that Saji was now awake and interested in interrogating me.

"By the way, Sensei."

I hummed distractedly, really interested in this BBQ setup that I wanted to buy and set by the rear garden.

"What is your relationship with that chick Ise thinks is creepy?"

A creepy chick? It took me very little time to realize what he was talking about. Or rather 'who'.

"Vali?"

"That's her name?" Ise inquired, curious about this specific topic. "Sensei, I know that girls are odd at times but... can I say that it is odd how she reacts around you and how you two just vanished to your office and then she is back smiling eye-to-eye?"

When I gave Vali that pep-talk, I expected her to take a little less time than she would have taken to bring down Kokabiel and Valper. But, surprisingly enough, she wrapped up the mission in a single day. First, she exterminated Kokabiel, found his incriminating stuff and sent it back to Azazel; then he tracked down a 'fat jolly priest-like man', captured him and shipped him back to Grigori for interrogation, info-retrieval and then extermination once his valued knowledge was in their possession.

So, when she just visited, announcing the successful result of this mission, I could tell what she was up to. She wanted to speak in private, have a nice chit-chat which implied her getting showered in praises, and then, due to her good work, she expected a reward. The thing is that she didn't expect what I gave her as... I had time to think.

I had an exchange with Kuroka about it, the Nekoshou already aware of the general situation and, at the knowledge of Vali being involved in this case, we both came to the conclusion something naughty was to ensue from this. That's where we both agreed on a plan which was risky but, if perfectly implemented, would avoid us having to deal with a Yandere Vali in the near future.

We would allow Vali to get rewards... but at her expense when it came to be in control.

Thus, Vali was given a surprise when, rather than being spanked by behaving cockily, she was given another means of pleasure. Brought to my lap, her round butt exposed, Vali tensed up as she felt a finger teasing her slit before getting 'stabbed' by it. She tensed up, moaning before sinking her teeth on a pillow I offered her.

The muffled noises were not as quiet as she was incredibly invested into this, even more as I delivered a few slaps to tighten her hole around my finger. At first it was mere fingering, but then I proceeded to go faster and rougher. I rarely tried finger-blasting girls since it was something quite complex that required attention, focus and a solid understanding of how to keep up a fast pace without hurting the girls themselves. Kuroka had this done by me twice and she loved it, and I could tell Vali was losing her mind to pleasure because of it.

And I also used this chance to drop in on what Kuroka thought about this. 'You know, my girlfriend knows about you and she finds you gorgeous', or 'She would treat you nicely, lovingly even, and she mentioned she would mind you in bed with us'.

Give her sweet promises, treat her nicely, give her hope, give her a chance and make it clear she didn't have to fight for it.

The reason why this 'capitulation' had to be made was because of what I learned through Ophis' own plight in that matter. Since her draconic instinct urged her to be close to me, the Infinity Dragon behaved quite possessively at times. And if Ophis was like that, one didn't need to think too far to know what Vali would have done if she wasn't given a chance.

So, as I was done getting her to squirt for her second orgasm in a row, I got her up, holding her tightly as she was a bit drained by the sexual experience and gave her a kiss on the lips. This last gesture may seem unnecessary for a few reasons, but the point is that Vali's attraction was also romantic in nature.

If I focused too much on the sex, there was a risk that could influence her view of this unusual relationship into a more lustful take. I was really taking silly precautions, I know, but I have seen what happens when some anime's MC just decides to be too kinky and show his love interest any romance... thus leading him to get into erotic situations more than love-related ones.

And the fact she was tired also contributed in making her unable to withstand my dominance through the kissing. Vali took it, happily so, and melted in my hold. So yeah, Vali had a good reason to be as bright as she looked back when she left my office the day before. Kuroka sure loved the whole 'Fingering and then kissing sweetly' move I pulled on the silver-haired girl. She called it 'lustfully gentlemanly'.

"You may say that, yes."

"So... what happened there?" Saji pressed on, intrigued by my words.

"Businesses of the private kind," I remarked, my narrowing eyes giving him a clear message. 'Do not go any further with this one'. "Also, don't you two have a meeting planned with Reya? Something about the new Spider-man movie?"

Issei jumped off his chair. "We are going to be late!"

The blond groaned and pulled himself off the couch. "Fuck, I forgot..."

With these two out of the way, I was finally free to be alone and-

"YOU KNEW THAT GOD WAS DEAD?!"

I admit that I jumped a bit at that exclamation, but I held quite the flat and irked look when I addressed the screech coming from the mouth owned by Irina. The two girls, her and Xenovia, had been upset when they were told their target had been captured and, despite many warnings to not approach Valper for an interrogation, they were foolish enough to do so. As one would expect, the Genocide Bishop was more than happy to go scorched earth and shake their world with these news. God was dead, what a shocker.

"Hmm? Of course," I replied calmly, causing them to look even more stunned. "Why do you look so surprised?"

"Why- Why didn't you tell us? Why didn't you use it against us?" Xenovia blurted out, her expectation for me to hurt them that way was quite silly.

"That sounds ridiculous. Why should I use information that is classified by the major forces of the three factions?" I rebuked dryly. "Plus, I see no point in 'use it against you' because you have not warranted my condemnation."

"But... how?"

I held back from answering since I knew it was going to be a long one. I placed the magazine down on the table, stood up and led them to the couch where they sat with me. Taking a moment to sigh and think on what words to use to describe the situation. I may have gone in a bit too blunt about it, and I knew that keeping on the same attitude would just create me more troubles than solving them at all.

"Back when the Great War was still happening between the three factions, I suppose you know what I am talking about at this precise point-"

I saw them nods.

"Good, now during this conflict there have been a couple of situations that caused Grigori to ally with the Underworld- and the main issue was God himself. Powerful, quite all-knowing, and someone that only the combined strength of Azazel, the Maous and other powerful demons and fallen angels could take on in an all-on-one fight. I suppose that makes sense, right?"

They both nodded, clearly seeing why a few alliances came to be between the two factions against Heaven.

"Now, the real issue comes from the notion of what happens when one of the most powerful entities dies out of the blue. Do you know what happens?"

"...The war ended?" Irina half-guessed and I slowly nodded.

"That's about right, yes, but what's the precise reason that stops the war- what is the specific detail which makes no one despite how eager to spill blood, continue?"

"They don't know what killed God," Xenovia replied and I smiled.

"Right. But, let's try to make a little mental game about it. I don't have much info on how that discovery was made, but I will tell you something- the truth was right under your noses from the very beginning. It's a matter of reading your trusty bible and know how some events make sense... and others don't."

They both frowned at that, clearly perplexed by that clue but still listening as I went on about it.

"So, something kills God. But God is known to be unkillable by external means. No amount of damage could really kill him, so let's look at what actually got him close to feel somewhat 'drained'. Think of it, what event made God tired enough that he needed to have a full day to rest."

"The Creation? But what does it have to do with-" I stopped Irina with a look and Xenovia huffed.

"Just get on with it."

What an impatient group of brats I was dealing with. Here I am being quite respectable with a history lesson.

"So, we know personal acts of great power weaken him, but nothing external can kill him," I started to list out, before going for the final lap. "And what monumental event happened in the Bible which could have spelled the end of the world but... 'didn't happen'?"

Both girls actually took a little longer to understand my point, but I got them to understand through a little clue.

"Three numbers, their combination allows for the creation of God's own antithesis. If God absolutely creates, this thing absolutely destroys."

"The Beast," Xenovia muttered, her eyes wide open. "666."

"That's- that's not possible-"

"Trihexa is the strongest dragon to ever exist," I remarked, and I turned just in time to see Ophis appear on my lap. "I am sorry, 'Phis. But Trihexa is indeed stronger than you and Great Red combined."

She huffed at this, arms crossing by her chest. I turned my attention to the two girls and I saw them stare at Ophis in confusion.

"Oh, by the way, this is Ophis, the Infinity Dragon. She may look harmless, but she will erase you if you piss her off."

The girl nodded in agreement at that point and the two older females merely frowned.

"So, back to the story," I hummed as I hugged Ophis close to me while I resumed the narration. "God finds out Trihexa is a thing. He had a bit of an issue with Dragons since Samael was behind the Adam and Eve's fiasco, and he decided to personally intervene about it right in the middle of the war. He fights it, but he discovers one thing- Trihexa is literally Anti-God, the perfect opposite of him. So, no external attacks can genuinely kill it."

"How did he stop it?"

"The best way he could think of stopping someone like himself? He sealed the Beast away with so many forbidden seals that he ended up terribly weakened by it," I answered swiftly. "Hence why, when the original Satans fought him, they were surprised that, despite dying to him, God was felled by their attacks. No one knew this because no one survived that skirmish. It was the bloodiest battle God had ever caused, and the one battle that ended the war entirely."

"So... it's true. God died."

"Everything for... nothing?"

Dear Lord, they are utter morons, aren't they?

"That sounds so pathetic. From the two of you," I lamented dryly, causing the two girls to look shocked at the harsh words. "You speak of the Lord as if his moral code is gone with him."

"But he is gone! All this time, it had been a lie and... and how can you just expect us to accept it. What would Asia say if she knew that

"She would be upset, but she would understand."

Xenovia frowned, and, despite being the quietest of the two, she took over Irina's role as she recoiled at my flat response. "What? Why?"

"That's because I already know."

Asia's voice shook the discussion some more as we all turned to see the blonde standing near the staircase, having approached the living room right as this topic came up and heard it unfold.

"You... you do?" Xenovia inquired in shock. "But then- why would you just... keep on with this lie?"

"What lie?" She hummed. "God still exists in us through his deeds and his kindness. We are part of him, we are his children."

"But-"

"Why are you so hesitant to accept it?" Asia pressed on. "Was his sacrifice made in vain?"

"W-What? No-"

"Then why do you have issues with this? Why does your faith hurt? You should mourn, yes, but not for your own pain, but for his sacrifice," The blonde remarked, freezing Xenovia on the spot. "He died for us, just like Jesus did, but rather than do it to cleanse our sins, it was to save us from the greatest threat possible. He did it because we are his children, his legacy and, regardless of what acts we commit, what sins we are bound to, we are his responsibility to shelter and protect- we are the future, and as our father, he took the ultimate burden for... us."

One of the best speeches I could have expected for someone like Asia. I knew she had the guts, I just didn't expect her to go this deep about it. I already had that talk with her just a few days ago. With Kokabiel around I just wanted her to know and be ready for the big reveal. She cried, she hugged me a lot, and I told her to look into the sacrifice rather than his disappearance, the meaning of his legacy rather than the meaning of his absence. And she took that limited amount of words I used to tell her that and produced something so powerful which drew the two girls, which were initially hostile to her, into tears.

Still, the situation left me with a single moral obligation that, truth be told, I didn't want to claim. Call it a stupid move or something, but I called two individuals before making this plan known to these two. First, I called Griselda again. She expected me to bring up another reason to be annoyed by his adopted daughter, but she was surprised when the situation was a bit more serious than that. Did she expect it? No, but she was quick to listen to what plan I was willing to give her.

Letting these two go back to Rome now would be a potential political fallout. It would be an expensive move to silence them and it would shed senseless and important blood since Xenovia was a capable user of Durandal. So, I gave her a deal: the two remain at Kuoh, staying at a house bought to them by Grigori which would foot the bill, but the Church would yield their claim over Valper as we would keep him for interrogation without dealing with any diplomatic issue. It was a rather long call as Griselda had to talk with a few superiors, but after what felt like a tense standoff by the phone, she agreed the terms were acceptable.

Once that was confirmed, I contacted Azazel and-

"You motherfucking genius."

I groaned. "Language."

"No, I mean it! Less paperwork all to keep these two potential truth bombs away from the Vatican? I am all for it. I bet Shemhazai will be fine since we don't have to spar with the Church over Valper and we can get info out of him at once," Azazel remarked, sounding giddy. "John, I swear- I want to believe you didn't do anything dangerous to get this situation going."

"You can blame our truce for that. They went to see Valper, Valper spilled the beans about Big G being dead, I confirmed that by giving them an abridged version of the tale and they are now doubting their faith in the Church. Not Heaven, but they definitely will split from the Church if they learn more lies about their education."

"Ah, to think that the truth is the best tool to recruit potential new troops. Keep an eye on them and... nothing too hasty. I want to be sure before bragging with Michael about it."

"You know me-"

"I know you, and I also know your 'clumsy' luck in that regard."

"Don't pin it on me then if it's just 'luck' behind it," I rebuked flatly, the man chuckling but also confirming that I did a good job... and that I should expect a raise for that.

I was just glad this went through nicely, and I told the girls what was going on. They both looked surprised, even more when I gave her a freebie to stay in the house until the place they were going to stay was ready for them to live in. They were thankful, both looking flustered at the decision, but taking it positively as they spent most of the day in their room to think about the entire situation. I didn't go checking on them as they were fine around dinner, and I thought this whole mess was entirely over.

And I was blissfully unaware that something else was developing in the background.

Xenovia Quarta was normally a stubborn individual.

Many had told her that it would be a good trait if she put some thought behind her actions. She knew how clumsy she tended to be at times, how she slid right into trouble and lectures had many times stressed this into her. It was quite clear to her that it was a flaw at most, and yet she could hardly be stopped from raising her point, good or bad it may be.

It was nighttime. She had accepted Irina's offer to sleep in her room because they needed to be together after what happened today. God is dead, such a news was worthy of despair, yet Asia's words had softened the blow and turned the news from apocalyptic to bearable to an extent.

Closing her eyes, Xenovia tried to find sleep but she failed to. Something drew her to be restless as the conversation they had earlier that day stuck to her mind, repeating some elements which made her more and more doubtful of what the church was really about. She knew Griselda didn't do it to hurt her, to lie to her like that. But what about the rest? Why couldn't they just tell the truth and work around it? Why make them believe everything was fine... when it wasn't?!

Tiredly staring at the ceiling, the girl tried to banish these thoughts to think of those later, but she couldn't. And thus she remained awake... long enough to hear curious noises coming from Irina's bed. Xenovia stared at the confusing scene for a moment, trying to understand what was going on and, as a sudden moan of pleasure pierced through the silence, the girl saw something fall off the bed right in front of her. Curious, Xenovia reached out and took the piece close enough to see what it was all about.

...Underwear? It wasn't feminine one at that, masculine. There was a single man around and... what the hell is Irina doing?

The muffled moans reached her ears again, forcing Xenovia to suppress a groan at how foolishly sinful this behavior really was. She was tempted to say something to bring this to an end but... her nostrils flared, and the smell coming from the underwear hit her. It was curiosity, really, nothing lewd in nature.

Xenovia knew what sweat was, she knew what the feeling of being sweaty was, the smell of it, the stench that it carried. But after training for so long, the smell was somewhat acceptable. Still, as she gave a sniff to John's own boxers, she expected them to stink. It was no secret to her that men were keen to skip showers at times, just because they were more unruly in that regard. Since John was Italian, the comparison she had from previous encounters would help her with that. or that was what Xenovia thought as the smell wasn't... horrible.

It was still sweat, but it wasn't anything she was unprepared for. Now, it was awkward. Here she was, sniffing a pair of used underwear that had fallen from Irina's bed and... what should she do with those. Keeping them on hand would gain some unwarranted accusation the next day. She would be labeled a pervert if she wandered around early in the morning with those.

That was an issue, and Xenovia had a quick solution to it. Since she usually wore boxers and she was currently wearing panties, she could just tell the others she changed in the middle of the night with the boxers and that her panties were a bit ripped up. So, she did that, she removed her panties, ripped them a bit, and then put on the boxers.

That should have been it. She settled the torn panties on the side, she shifted in a comfortable position and then... it hit her.

She was wearing John's used underwear. Her virgin pussy was firmly resting on the same spot where his penis had been. If drinking from the same cup of water constituted as an indirect kiss, did this mean she was indirectly rubbing her crotch against his. The thought woke her up some more and left her unable to really sleep for some time. After a while Irina had stopped, and it was just Xenovia with this dilemma keeping awake in that room. She sighed, breathing tiredly as she tried to solve this. Did she ignore this or she tried to solve it?

Considering that I ended up in this situation by trying to solve it... nah. I have to endure it.

So she did, closing her eyes, the lack of energy drifting her to sleep and... she ended up dreaming a lot that night. And the sheer amount of detail she could muster at the notion of getting her groin rubbed by a phallus was enough to leave her in a puddle of her own sweat when she woke up. Sweat and something else.

Xenovia just dove for the bathroom and claimed herself a good cold shower, and then, she ended up realizing she had no change for her underwear beyond... the used underwear there. She could have easily picked one of the girls' ones but she knew they would have known it was theirs and... then there was John's underwear in another chest. Frowning hard at it, her nipples stiffening at the dreadful temptation.

There was a single thing to say about her decision.

Xenovia Quarta was indeed a stubborn individual.

AN

I went extra-steamy on this one. Really kinky, not lemon-tier kinky tho. Irina was the peeping tom, and she may have awakened something in Xenovia through her indirect actions.

Also, slowly seducing Vali so that she doesn't go the Yandere route. No one wants that- not when the yandere is a dragon-girl. Ophis may know something about it.

P.S. I now have a discord server! Discord .gg/ceBMM2Zz6c