Hey everyone and get ready for this chapter. In this chapter, you'll see one of my OC's more explained in detail and just to let you know I'd planned that from the start. And this chapter will also have another fight scene as well as a bit more into Shirou's personality, specifically how he feels on certain matters. I also introduced something from the canon that was supposed to be explained much later, but I don't count it as a spoiler so don't worry. Hope you all enjoy it.
Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit fan-based parody, Highschool DxD, Highschool DxD New, Highschool DxD Born, Highschool DxD EX and Highschool DxD Hero are all owned by Funimation, Fushimi Shobo, TNK, Passione, and Ichiei Ishibumi. Please support the official release.
"Shirou" Regular speech.
"Shirou" Thoughts.
DRAGON SHOT Attack names.
(Shirou) Words said previously.
"SHIROU!" Shouting speech.
[Ddraig] Dragon talking.
A Chance Encounter And How Devils Fight
SLAM
Shirou slammed the front door to his house closed behind him. Letting out a tired sigh.
"I'm home!" He walked into the living room, finding Mika spread out on the couch, with the TV on the strange magical girl show. It was called "Miracle Levia-tan" or something like that. He had never heard of it before. A box set just arrived in the mailbox one day out of the blue. Mika being Mika, just snatched it up no questions asked. He groaned. "Could you turn that crappy junk off already? I'm not in the best mood right now, I just had to deal with a whole freaking night of making unholy pacts with freaks who actually summon Devils, and after that last one, I don't even want to see another magical girl right now."
"But I wanna see iiiiiiiiiiiit!" Mika whined, not even getting up to look at him from the couch.
Honestly though that wasn't true. She was actually just laying on the couch, with a manga open over her face.
"Right." After a long day of Devil work, he wasn't in the mood for arguing. "And we all know that's not true."
"So Brorio Andretti, what did you and your merry band of Devils do today?" Mika asked, without looking away from her manga.
Shirou thought back to his day and obviously was not happy. "Well let's see, first since I was the new guy I got stuck with grunt work, which consisted of handing out a whole shit-ton of boxes filled with flyers that are used to summon Devils ALL OVER TOWN." Shirou clearly wasn't enjoying his new life so far. "And if that weren't enough, after being done with that I had to answer summon requests myself, and all I got were weirdo's, including a body-building transvestite who wants to be an anime character."
Mika paused, lowering her manga slightly. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that? You kind of lost me for a moment there."
Shirou turned to her, straight-faced. "I said. Including a body-building transvestite who wants to be an anime character!"
"Which anime character?"
Of course, that's what she was interested in.
"What?" Shirou sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Hell I don't know, all those stupid, shitty magical girls look the same to me."
"Magical girl?" Was what Mika zoned in on. "What kind was it? Was it cosplay or original design?"
"I just said I don't know-UGH! I think he called it Magical Milky something or other…" He answered with a grumble. "It was hard to make out with all the posing and the yelling. I'd prefer to just forget about—"
"UWAAAGH!" Mika jumped from where she was sitting and flew towards her Brother, glomping against his back.
"Agh!"
"Which season was it from!?" Mika screamed crawling completely over Shirou so she was sitting on his shoulders, being over in a 180-degree angle so her face was upside-down face his. "WHICH SEASON WAS IT FROM!?"
"I don't give a damn! You freaking spider-monkey! Only dumbass Otaku's like you people would pay attention to stupid details like that, and how are you so agile when you almost never even get up?" He then grabbed his Sister's wrists and lift her off his shoulders, after which he held her up in his arms with her face in front of his. He let out another tired sigh. "Look, Devils get summoned regularly by the people they make a pact with, if you really want to know, I'll bring you with me next time that person summons me."
An excited sparkle entered Mika eyes after hearing that. "Really?"
"Yeah, whatever you want." Shirou then walked over to the couch and put her back down where she was previously seating. "If it happens then I'll tell you, now I really need some sleep."
"Yeah, okay I'll stop," Mika muttered as Shirou begun to make his way upstairs. "There are leftovers in the fridge, you want to heat them up."
"I've lost my appetite…" And then Shirou was gone.
The day had started off as a rich opportunity, his first day of making contracts as a Devil.
Rias had told him that it was the only way, at the moment, he could work towards becoming a High-Class Devil, but however easy it sounded, that's how challenging it was.
Since people needed summoning circles to summon Devils in the first place, it was their job to provide them, and thus Shirou had to deliver a truck-load of summoning circles before he could even attempt a contract.
The others didn't have to do this, since Rias said they all have something called "familiars" that he didn't care to ask about, to do it for them, on the other hand since he was new, he had no choice but to do it himself. It was a long and gruelling process of work, and yet he still got it done.
The problems didn't stop there however. He then ran into a trend where everyone who summoned him was just some weirdo. It wasn't just the muscle-bound Magical Girl. There was also some guy who was a major Otaku, who wanted Koneko to come over so she could Princess-carry him, while she was in cosplay. And when Shirou came over, he just had him binge-read volume after volume of his favourite manga.
And that was just the beginning of his new life as a Devil.
"Ugh! This sucks…!"
Shirou sat there on a park bench, hanging his head back.
Surprising enough, Shirou was able to make pacts with all those who summoned him.
Normally failing to fulfil the request a Devil was initially summoned for renders the contract invalid.
However Shirou was somehow able to convince the summoners to except the contract regardless, thus giving him the pacts.
His method on how he did so however, is something he won't be telling Rias.
He had heard the explanation from Rias.
Devils lived off Human desires.
In order to feed off these desires, Devils made pacts with Humans.
In short, Devils did favors for Humans and they got paid in return through various means. It was basically the same as normal jobs in the Human world except the part where Devils travel to a client's location via magic teleportation.
It was an odd sensation.
Like standing inside a steam room, fully clothed, only without the moisture in the air, or the sweating afterwards.
It didn't feel bad per-say, just odd, he didn't really know what to think of it, just that it wasn't the most comfortable form of travel.
On the plus side, he learned he could fly with his wings, and after trying them out he learned something.
He loved free flying.
The feeling of soaring through the air was a dream-like experience that he couldn't get enough of, though he could only do so at night as to not be seen.
Still, he also thought of the advantage that flying could give him in future fights. That made him excited.
School was out for the day and Devil activates would not resume until later in the evening. He didn't feel like staying home so he decided to spend the day wandering around town.
Too bad Shirou realized that wasn't much of a difference. Truth be told, he was extremely bored right now, he had nothing to do and nowhere he felt like going, all he had done so far was sitting here on this bench watching the day go by.
He was especially bored since gang activity in the area had lessened considerably in the past few days as a result of increased presence of law enforcement. What few that weren't afraid of that were generally frightened by the rumors that Shirou breaks the limbs of people who annoy him or would use their blood to summon a Devil because he was secretly a demon. (The second rumor was now half-true which was ironic.) This meant there was no one for him to fight. In truth, he was trying to scare away those gangs so they wouldn't cause trouble to the people they preyed on, but he didn't consider what he was going to do once they were gone.
He thought of having another fight with Saito. But according to Rias, his physical attributes have increased a bit now that he's a Devil, and he wasn't sure if it was still safe for Saito to get hit by him powered up until he learned just how much stronger he was.
Then there was Ren.
Flashback: A few days ago.
Ren had arrived at the roof of the school building as per Shirou's request.
"Hey Shirou."
"Good you're here." Shirou looked around as if he was waiting for something. "Is Aika coming too?"
Ren shook his head. "Aika had something else going on, so she said she couldn't be here."
"I see, then pass on what I'm about to say."
Shirou then began to explain his own abridged version of how he met Rias, why he was together with her when walking to school, and where he went with Kiba. Obviously he omitted the part where he almost died, the part about Rias being in his bed, and anything that had to do with Devils. Shirou spent a lot of time coming up with all this, and despite not being completely full-proof, he was sure it was convincing enough for an ordinary person to believe. Shirou was now reaching the end of his story.
"And that's how it went."
Ren nodded. "I get it now, so Kiba came to take you to Rias?"
Shirou shrugged. "Yeah, and now I'm a member of her club."
"Yeah, as a Devil."
"That's right as a…" Shirou stopped.
He immediately took notice to what Ren had just said, he asked again hoping he heard wrong.
"Wait Ren, what did you just say?"
Ren then had a wide smile on his face.
"You're a Devil aren't you."
Shirou was now wide-eyed.
"Ren you know about Devils, how, I mean when—"
Shirou stopped realizing this situation had happened before.
Ren laughed a little. "Not so funny the other-way around huh?"
"Okay, for the record I never said it was funny." Shirou argued. "Anyway answer me, how'd you know I was a Devil?"
"It's not just you." Ren pointed out. "All the members of the Occult Research Club are Devils, I've known that since I first came to this school."
Now Shirou was really shocked, this was not going at all how he expected.
"Okay, you said what you know, so tell me how you know?"
"I've known about the Supernatural my whole life, and that's because I'm part of that world."
Shirou was confused at that. "Wait, you mean you're a Devil too?"
Ren smiled amused. "Not exactly."
Ren then took a step back and released a strange aura around himself. After which to Shirou's shock and wonder, Ren's eye pupils become slit-like a wolf's, his teeth sharpen a bit looking like fangs, and the biggest changes of all were two scruffy animal ears appeared on his head and a scruffy tail popped out from behind him.
Shirou honestly didn't know how to react, this was a much bigger shock than himself becoming a Devil.
"Surprised?" Ren asked, still smiling.
Shirou slowly nodded his head.
"I had a feeling you would be."
Shirou got over his shock enough to ask. "Ren… What are you?"
"Well, to put it plainly I'm a Youkai." Ren admitted.
"Youkai? Those exist?"
"You're one to talk mister Devil." Ren countered.
"I just found out about all this yesterday!" Shirou defended. "And Rias never said a word about Youkai!"
"That makes sense since she didn't think you'd be meeting one so soon. Or the fact that there was one attending this school for that matter."
"Wait, Rias and the others don't know about you?" Ren shook his head. "Then how come you know about them?"
"Youkai are different from most creatures, we use a special ability called Senjutsu. It's an ability that lets us sense a person's life energy and the energy of the nature around us, and we can also use it the find people who are hiding their own aura, while at the same time conceals our own." Ren explained. "I knew what Devils felt like so I noticed immediately and they didn't notice me."
Shirou was actually impressed. "Wow, that actually amazing."
"Yeah, I think so too."
"But wait, if you're a Youkai, what are you doing in a place like this?"
Ren thought about it for a moment and then decided to explain.
"Well, the truth is, I'm actually a half-Youkai."
"What…? Half…?" Shirou clearly didn't get it.
"Let me explain, Rias probably already told you about the Trinity Factions," Shirou nodded. "Well what she didn't tell you was that there were other Factions besides them, in particular there is the Youkai Faction were I came from, It's in Kyoto—"
"Wait, wait, the entire Youkai Faction resides just the city of Kyoto?" Shirou interrupted.
Ren sighed. "Not all Factions are all ridiculously big like the Trinity Factions, the Youkai Faction is closer to the normal."
"Ah," Shirou nodded. "Continue."
"Anyways," Ren continued. "While there, Youkai pretend they're Human and live among the crowd, however my Father a wolf-Yokai fell for my Mother a Human, and thus I came along, a half-breed."
Shirou was intrigued by all this. "And where are your parents now?"
Ren then looked down and answered with an upset sigh.
"They're dead. The Youkai Faction may not be at war, but it's still a dangerous world."
Shirou was shocked and inwardly smacked himself. "Oh dude, sorry I just—"
"It's alright." Ren looked up with a smile. "It was just a question."
Ren then shook off his sad face and continued.
"Moving on, The Youkai Faction has strict rules, one of them is a Youkai can't leave Kyoto without permission from the top brass, my parents did for a while, with me with them, but after… What happened to them." Ren hesitated with that last part. "I could've gone back to Kyoto, but I knew I couldn't leave again if I did, and the outside world was more fun so I stayed."
After hearing his explanation, Shirou had one more question.
"There's still one thing I want to know." Shirou then looked at him seriously. "Are you still my friend?"
Ren looked at him equally serious, but then smiled and looked up to the sky.
"Do you know why I first approached you? It was because I could sense something about you, something that made you different from everyone else here, even though you were Human."
"Is he talking about the Sacred Gear?" Shirou thought.
"But even so I still didn't know how to approach you, I was curious and watched from a distance, I always wanted to say something but didn't know what, and when I began you ignored me."
Ren then turned to face Shirou.
"But then before long, we started to talk and hang-out, and realized how much fun it was to be around you, you're my best friend. All that time was as real as possible for me."
Shirou felt a both relieved and upset, relief that Ren was still the Ren he knew, and upset that he doubted him like that, though he hid it well by showing no reaction on his face.
"Thanks Ren." Shirou smiled, "You're my best friend too. and don't worry, I won't tell Rias or anyone else about you."
Ren nodded. "You can tell Mika, I know you don't like hiding things from her."
"Yeah alright, her but no one else, I swear it." Shirou assured him.
"Thanks, I believe you. And don't worry, I'll tell Aika your version of what happened."
"Thanks."
It ended with them both shaking hands on it.
Flashback End
Shirou was in some way relieved that Ren wasn't full Human, because now he didn't have to spend time trying to think of lies he would believe to hide that fact that he was a Devil. This also meant he had someone he could talk to about the Supernatural, he could talk to the members of the Occult Research Club, but he didn't think of them as anything but classmates or work partners, so that wasn't going to work.
"Uwaaah!"
He blinked at the sound of a scream and a dull thud behind him.
"What in the…?" Turning around to see, Shirou's eyes were then met with the surprising but not unwelcomed ass shot complemented by a pair of pure white panties. "Huh... you definitely don't see that every day." He said with an unusually stoic tone. He kept his eyes on the girl, both wondering how long she was going to stay like that and how she possibly tripped over nothing. When she started to recover from her fall, Shirou quickly turned his head back, having got his answer. "Well… She's lucky the wrong person didn't see her, like any other guy in town. Ahahahah." Shirou silently laughed at what he perceived to be his own joke.
With that out of the way, he went back to minding his own business, completely forgetting about what's behind him.
"Um… Excuse me?"
Which was hard when she was right next to him.
Shirou's ears perked up, causing him to turn his head to face the girl again. Surprisingly enough though she was already only a few inches away from him, her face being right in front of his own.
"What?" Shirou asked, wondering what this girl could want with him, now that he got a good look at her face he noticed she was foreign. This explained why he didn't recognize her but begged the question as to what a foreign girl wanted with him.
"Do you think I could have that back?" The girl said pointing at the seat next to Shirou.
"Have, wha?" Shirou said looking down to where she was pointing and saw what she was talking about.
Laying caught on the bench next to him was a white veil.
He could only assume this fell off her head when she tripped and landed here.
Meanwhile, the girl blinked, as if she realized something. "Oh! Sorry. I mean…" She frowned for a moment as if she was thinking. "…Could I…Have that back please?" Her words were awkward, like an Elementary School kid reading a script for a school play.
She had changed languages.
Rias had told Shirou that Devils had the gift of tongues, allowing a person of any language to understand them. In short a universal translator.
The girl had been speaking in another language before and probably assumed Shirou couldn't understand what she was saying. Makes sense since she not from around here. In light of this.
"You don't need to change languages, I understood you the first time." Shirou stated with half-lidded eyes.
"Oh!" The girl was surprised, probably on account that this was most likely the first person she met today who knew what she was saying.
Shirou then picked up her veil and placed it on her head.
"Next time try not to trip would ya." Shirou berated.
She adjusted her veil, and smiled brightly at Shirou, not seeming to mind his words at all. "Thank you very much!"
As he got a good look at her, he saw her in detail, she is a pretty young girl with long blonde hair so silky and shiny that it reflected in the sunlight like gold, her hair actually seemed to sparkle. Her eyes were a bright shade of green that shined just as bright, they were like jade emeralds. Her hair flows all the way down to her back, with split bangs over her forehead and a single strand sticking out from the top, sloping backwards. Even just her smile seemed like an object of pure beauty. Her womanly figure wasn't something to be ignored either. She wasn't anywhere near the level of curves that Rias and Akeno possessed, but still not bad for a girl her age. She was better than Koneko but that didn't seem hard since Koneko was a loli that already seemed unusually short for her age. Her attire consists of a dark teal nun outfit with light blue accents, her white veil that is now over her head with light blue accents, a brown satchel slung on her right hip where she holds a Bible, and brown boots with black straps in an X-shaped pattern. She also wore a silver cross necklace around her neck.
"Well then, I best be—" Shirou got up, ready to leave.
"Wait!" The girl grabbed his sleeve, stopping him from leaving. Although Shirou could've easily broken out of her grip if he wanted to, he decided to wait and see what this was all about. The girl then nervously let go of his sleeve. "I'm sorry… I-I was just wondering if, if it wasn't to much trouble then, maybe you could help me with some directions?"
"What? Just use the GPS on your phone." Shirou suggested.
"G..P..S?" The girl responded confused with her head slightly tilted, it was as if she'd never heard the term before.
Shirou just blinked, before letting his head drop and let out a sigh. "Sure, why not?" He whispered to himself before raising his head.
"Where're you looking for?"
The girl's expression brightened significantly, a relieved smile appeared on her face. "Oh thank you very much! I-I was hoping you could give me directions on where I could find this towns church."
"The old church?" Shirou asked now even more confused. Shirou knew of the church she was talking about. He used to visit it often when he was a kid. However, he was positive that the church has been abandon for years now, and all the inhabitants had long since moved out. It made no sense at all for someone to go there, but it's what she was looking for so. "Just follow this street, take a right by the street sign, and then walk downhill you can't miss it."
"Um…" The girl hesitated, nervously twiddling her fingers. "…Okay, thank you." She immediately turned and started walking away.
Shirou watched her leave and had a deadpan look on his face. "…You're going the wrong way y'know!"
"O-Oh! Right of course!" The girl agreed as if she knew that all along. She turned and started walking in the opposite direction. She hadn't even taken a few steps before turning back. "What were those directions again?"
Shirou considered something before answering her. "First tell me something. Do you which way is left and which way is right?"
After hearing Shirou question, the girl stopped and thought long and hard as If she was asked to explain string theory.
Shirou watching her struggle to answer just face-palmed.
"Thank you for showing me the way."
"Yeah, well it was either this or continue with some poor impression of an old-timey, comedy skit." Shirou said tired and annoyed.
"I'm sorry." The girl apologized, upset that she was troubling him.
"I don't blame you." His words caused her to look at him surprised. "I blame whoever was stupid enough to let a girl who doesn't even know what GPS means travel alone."
Once again, despite not wanting to, he ended up playing the reluctant escort to a beautiful teenage girl.
Hopefully, this doesn't end in another deathmatch. Even though he had nothing to do, he didn't want to do this.
"You're not from around here, are you?" Shirou asked, even though he knew the answer. "Next time you travel to some foreign country, buy yourself a map would ya. I didn't have to be here you know."
The girl smiled apologetically again. "I'm really sorry about this, I didn't really think I'd have this much trouble getting to where I was going." The girl said honestly, clearly she didn't realize how naïve she was. "I was sent here by the choice of someone else, so you see I didn't have the time to make myself prepared for this."
"That makes way too much sense." Shirou immediately responded. After taking notice to her nun uniform, he felt some dread the closer her sliver cross got near him. "So you're looking for the church 'cause you're going to be a nun there?"
"That's right." The girl agreed cheerfully. "It surely must have been a blessing from God for us to have met each other."
"Hmph… God huh, I doubt it." Shirou said with skepticism.
The girl seemed surprised by that. "Is there something with what I said?"
"No, that's not it."
That honestly wasn't it. Although his feeling on the matter was ironic with him thinking like that even before he became a Devil. "So you just left your hometown without a word? Sounds like a hassle."
"Not at all." The girl disagreed smiling. "It makes me happy just to serve the Lord in any way I can."
"I don't know, really feels like the kind of thing you shouldn't just be okay with."
"It does?"
"I'm pretty sure I already know the answer but, you don't get out much do you?"
The girl shook her head. "I'm afraid not, I've never been away from the church until now."
"It was a rhetorical question."
Once again she looked confused.
"Right… Of course you don't know what that means either." Shirou was starting to wonder why he even bothered at this point.
Before they could talk any further at that point—
"Uwaaaaaah!"
The sound of a young boy's cries filled the air.
"Are you alright Yoshi-kun?" The boy's Mother tried to soothe the crying child.
"Strange, I thought it was a school day, what's a kid like that doing-Hey, where are you going?" Shirou noticed the moment he looked away, the girl was already on her way to the child, she knelt down next to him and took a look at his knee which was scrapped in the park. "What is she doing now?"
He asked himself before giving in to his own curiosity and following after her. A part of him wondered what she even planned on doing, even though she seemed like she believed she could help, he didn't think she had the basic knowledge for first aid considering how clumsy she's been so far.
The girl then patted the child on the head. "Are you okay? Boys shouldn't cry with a minor injury like this." She said in a soothing voice. "You'll be just fine."
It was then that the girl places her palm where the child has injured himself and before I know, something happened.
A green light orb appears from the girl's palm and is flashing onto the child's knee. The child's injury starts to disappear until there was nothing left. The broken skin even repaired itself.
"Woah-Augh!" Shirou at first was paying attention to the strange display of healing powers but then grasped his left hand recoiling from some strange feeling, not unlike a heartbeat. He then turned his eyes back to the nun, watching as the green light disappeared as did the "pulse" he felt.
"Here, your wounds are healed. The pain should be gone now." The Sister pats the boy's head again.
Shirou then looked from the girl to the child's mother. He raised a brow to her expression, there was shock, but…
"Let's go Yoshi-kun…"The boy's mother then grabs the boy's hand so they can leave quickly.
"But, mom, she—"
"I said let's go!" The woman eyed the nun with a look of discontent and fear. "You shouldn't talk to strange people."
Shirou heard her, the fact that she wasn't in the least bit grateful was something that irked him. He was about to go over there and give that woman a piece of his mind when—
"Thank you, Onee-chan!" The boy's words. Words of gratitude.
Shirou stopped after hearing those words, deciding that if at least the kid was grateful, then he could let this one go.
After that short detour, the two of them continued their way to the church.
They walked in silence, the girl not knowing what to say after showing her power. So Shirou broke the silence.
"The kid, he said thank you." Shirou informed her.
She smiled happily after he translated for her. "I'm glad."
"Yeah." Was all Shirou had left to say on the matter. "…So back there—"
"You're wondering about my power?" The girl guessed correctly.
"A little bit…" Shirou responded. "I mean, you just healed someone after shooting some green light from your hands, that would raise questions."
"Yes I know, it's the power to heal. It's a wonderful power that God gave me." She explains a bit sad, even though she's smiling.
"A Sacred Gear?" Shirou realized before he raised his left arm and summoned his gauntlet. "Well I say yours is better than mine, I'd rather have healing powers than this thing I know nothing about."
The girl's eyes widen at the sight of Shirou gauntlet. "That's a… You-You've been given a gift from God to!"
"Gift from God? You mean this thing?" Shirou gestured to his Sacred Gear unimpressed. "I seriously doubt I'd call it that, it doesn't do anything and so far I've done perfectly fine in life without it."
"Don't say that." The girl denied, smiling empathetically. "You've been granted a treasure by the Lord, I'm sure it will be a great help to you."
"You might think that, but not everyone is so quick to believe in your Lord." Shirou muttered.
The nun flinched, staring shocked at Shirou. "Wait… You don't believe in God?"
Shirou shrugged his shoulders. "Honestly, no not really."
"But why wouldn't you?" The girl asked, unsure of how anyone could not believe in God. "He blessed you and so many other Humans with his gifts."
"The way I see it, there's no reason to believe." Shirou responded unfazed. "Let me ask you, do you seriously believe everyone Human in the world still believes?"
The girl was unprepared for that question and didn't know how to answer.
"I can tell from looking at you that you're extremely sheltered, that's probably why you hardly know a thing about the average person."
"Bu-but, the Lord gifted me with the power to heal others." The girl attempted to argue. "Isn't that a clear testament to the love he shares with us?"
"Love huh," Shirou snorted, he then turned to face her. "Don't get me wrong, if you or anyone else wants to keep believing then go on ahead, but I, on the other hand, gave all that up a long time ago."
"You abandon your faith?" The girl was now even more shocked. "Why?"
Shirou sighed. "Is it really that surprising to you? All you need to do is look around and you'll learn that the number of people who don't believe is higher than the ones that still do, and that number's only going to keep rising."
There was a long and quiet silence after that.
"On another note, we're here." Shirou gestured with his hand, causing the nun to look towards the old church building before them. It was in a significantly less decrepit state since he last saw it and the lights were on.
Shirou knew they were here. His body started to tremble. He wasn't exactly scared mind-you, it was more like his instincts were reacting to the unholy flesh that was now his body.
Personally, Shirou felt a bit tempted to enter the building.
The idea of fighting God and his Angels was fun In-of-Itself, but the possibility that "Yuuma" was in there for him to finish off was the main reason.
However, surprisingly enough, nothing even close to a fight came up.
Just a small sense of hostility in the air.
"Whatever." Shirou muttered with a sigh and turned to leave. "Well I've done my part, say ya, or maybe not."
"Please wait!" Shirou stopped and turned to face the girl who called out to him, feeling annoyed at this point.
"What could it possibly be this time?"
The girl was walking towards him nervously. "I-I wanted to thank you for helping me get here…" She said with a bow. "And though you don't believe it, I think that someday you'll be able to do something amazing with your Sacred Gear."
"You seriously believe that?" Shirou asked raising an eyebrow.
"Yes," The girl smiled brightly. "And I want you to know I think it's fine if you don't believe, just like how you think it's fine if I do after all free will is also a blessing."
Shirou was genuinely surprised by that statement, not expecting he'd ever hear something like that from someone from the church.
"No doubt, she's better than the usual." Shirou thought, while he slightly softens his gaze. "What's your name girl?"
"Huh, Oh um it's Asia, Asia Argento!" She answered nervously.
Shirou nodded. "The name's, Shirou Tsukiharu."
Asia's ever-bright smile returned. "It's very nice to meet you, Shirou-san."
"And I could think of worse things than meeting you, Asia." Shirou then turned to leave. Before he left he said one more thing. "Listen, it's fine if you want to believe, but don't just blindly follow someone else's flow, otherwise you'll end up looking back in regret."
And with that Shirou left. He wasn't sure why he told her that but somehow he felt it was something she needed to hear, her naivety would end up costing her if she didn't wise up before long.
"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!?"
"You know you're being bitchy than usual." Shirou taunted. "And not in a fun way."
"Do you realize what you almost did!?" Rias asked, clearly not pleased.
"Yeah, I almost came in to say hi, and then you started yelling."
"I meant this morning! You literally almost started a second Great War!"
After Shirou returned to the Occult Research Club that night, he decides to mention to Rias that he had a run-in with a Sacred Gear-wielding nun, in hindsight if he knew how pissed Rias would get after hearing his breakdown of what happened, he'd probably decided to have kept it to himself.
Rias rubbed her temples, letting out a frustrated sigh. "Shirou, are you even aware of the gravity of this situation?"
Shirou sighed. "Yes Rias I'm aware of what gravity is, I'm not an idiot."
.
.
.
Rias didn't know whether he was serious right now or if he was just screwing with her. "That's not what I meant! Look since you don't comprehend how serious this is, I'll explain it to you, Shirou: you must never, I repeat NEVER, go near the church again. Just taking one step inside the church is enough to spark problems between Angels and Devils."
"Yeah, probably should have mentioned this before, but I'm notoriously difficult to work with." Shirou said amused, scratching the back of his head. "Go figure."
"Yeah, go figure." Rias said not amused.
"Anyways, based on what you've already told me, both side already have problems, I'm pretty sure they don't need my help in making it worse." Shirou noted.
"I'll get to that later. But that's not what I was referring to." Rias said. "The Great War is still fresh on everyone's minds, we're still licking our wounds from our battles with the Angels and Fallen Angels. Even though by Human standards it was a long time ago, those who were involved still remember it clearly and tensions are very high as a result. Something as small as stepping into enemy soil could be enough to trigger a war on a global scale."
"It's that bad?"
"It's enough to make any Human war look like a children's fight, so be careful."
"Now consider this," Shirou spoke with his eyes narrowed. "If the war was that bad then, who's really at fault if another one starts, the one who just walked somewhere, or the pig-headed idiots who decide to start an entire war that could engulf the whole world just for something that small?"
Rias just listened to his words and was shocked, both at his lack of ability to understand the danger he put himself in this morning, and more importantly the fact that he had the audacity and disrespect to call the leaders of the Three Factions, pig-headed idiots. Using all the will power she could muster, she put that aside to finish this conversation.
"…Moving on, it was also dangerous for you personally." Rias continued. "The Angels were willing to let this infraction slid this time because you were just peacefully escorting their nun, but if you approach their territory again, they won't hesitate to destroy you."
Shirou scoffed not worried. "Please, Shirou-Sama isn't afraid of a few Angels, I'll just crush them and be back home for dinner."
"It won't be that easy!" Rias argued believing him to just be ignorant. "Angels and their subordinates possess a power that is poison to us Devils, the power of Light."
"You mean those spears that Yuuma used on me?"
"That's right, now that you're a Devil they are much more dangerous to you than before, a single stab could be fatal." Rias warned. "And more than that, they have subordinates who are exorcists, who can also use Light and Holy elements, and they have great experience in fighting and in most cases, killing Devils. On top of that, some of them even possess Sacred Gears, which makes them all the more dangerous."
"Yeah well, that nun-girl wasn't one of them." Shirou argued nonchalantly. "Her Sacred Gear couldn't do anything but heal people and that's about it. Besides I doubt she could fight anyone, she has the common-sense of someone half her age, and the motor skills of someone even younger than that."
"She's that helpless?"
"I only saw her that one time and I'm already sure."
"Okay." Rias said trying to picture it and wondering if someone could be as incapable as he claimed. "Still though, that doesn't mean you shouldn't say away. If you are successfully exorcised there will be no coming back, there will be no third chance. You will completely and utterly cease to exist. You will become nothing and feel nothing, while a state of total annihilation. Do you understand?"
"Doesn't really surprise me." Shirou shrugged casually. "After all, before all this, that's basically what I believed happened after death anyways. It doesn't bother me at all at this point."
"…What?"
"Remember, I was a non-believer." Shirou reminded her. "I already believed there was nothing after death, I believe that men are just flesh that returns to the earth after death, so it doesn't bother me about not having a third chance since, until a few days ago I didn't even think there was a Second Chance."
Rias blinked. "That's a rather morbid way to look at things, Shirou."
"Well even if that's how I feel, I still have no intention of dying anytime soon." Shirou admitted. "I still have too many things I want to get done first, so while I don't fear death, I can't afford to die."
Rias was a little surprised by the determination behind those words.
"While I'm glad you at least have the right mindset on that, I probably shouldn't ask what those things are."
"Yeah well, see to it that you don't."
Before the conversation could go any further, the door to the club room opened, revealing the raven-haired, big busted Vice-Chief, Akeno Himejima.
"Akeno, did something happen?"
Akeno's expression changes after Rias asks her.
Akeno nodded. "We received an order for a hunt from the Arch Duke."
"The Arch Duke?" Rias asked.
"A hunt?" Shirou asked.
"It's urgent Chief." Akeno continued. "A Stray-Devil has been causing trouble nearby."
Rias's expression became serious. Shirou felt like he was being kept in the dark about something important.
"Hey, mind explaining for those of us who haven't been here before." Shirou requested.
Rias turned to Shirou, a glassy smile on her face. "Come Shirou, we'll show you how Devils fight."
BANG
The front doors were blown off from their hinges by two solid punches.
"…Chief… The smell of blood." Koneko said while covering her nose.
The rest of the Occult Research Club stood a short distance behind her, all of them looked unsurprised at the display of strength as if it was nothing they hadn't already seen from her. Shirou however didn't even know how to react. "What the? How the unholy fuck did she do that?"
Rias simply smiled as if he asked something funny. "Oh don't worry, you'll find out."
"Well not like it matters, I could've done that too if I wanted." Shirou scoffed while looking away.
Rias still smiling walked inside, "Yes, I'm sure you could."
The rest of the ORC followed with Shirou following after. "Hey! I heard that sarcasm in your voice and I don't appreciate it."
After entering the building, he blinked when he got a good glimpse of the practically ROTTING inside of the house whose door had just been blown down by a loli just a moment ago. He raised his head, his lips curling in disgust as an unpleasant, unwelcome sent entered his sense of smell and he did not enjoy it. "Ah Geez, smells worse than Mika's room after a week of binge-watching anime box sets."
"…It's the smell of death and decay." Koneko answered in her usual stoic tone.
Shirou stared blankly. "You say that as if I'm supposed to know what that means, but I'm still lost as to what's going on."
"What you're smelling is the rotten remains of the Stray Devil's victims." Rias answered hoping to be more helpful.
"Yeah, that's the part I'm not clear on." Shirou responded still feeling out of the loop. "Why are we here and what's this Stray Devil thing you guys keep talking about?"
Rias clicked her tongue. "Weren't you listening at all to when I was explaining things earlier?"
Shirou gave her a sarcastic smile. "Oh sure Rias I'd heard everything, first you said: (Come Shirou, we'll show you how Devils fight.) Then when I asked what you meant you said: (Wait till the others get here.) And finally, you said: (There's no time, I'll explain on the way.) What a great explanation, it really cleared things up."
Rias blinked, she then just stood there staring. "…Okay fine, this one's on me."
Shirou nodded. "And you're the bigger person for admitting it."
Rias then decide to now explain in detail. "A Stray Devil is a Devil servant that broke off their leash and ran from their master." She then leads the group further inside, Shirou followed with a look that said he was now listening, believe this could be something that would be a pain if he didn't know this sooner rather then later.
"Yessss, go on." He said waiving his hand.
"It's exactly how it sounds." Kiba continued the explanation, walking beside Shirou. "Stray Devils are pure evil. they don't care about anything besides fulfilling their own selfish desires."
"You say that, but in a way aren't all Devils like that?" Shirou asked. "Devils are beings spawned from darkness and live in darkness, they all live by the Seven Deadly Sins, Lust, Sloth, Envy, Gluttony, Greed, Wrath, and Pride, these sins are what Devils live by and use to draw in human souls, right?"
Rias gave a small smile. "I'm actually impressed you knew all that." She said. "But this is different. Most Devils have certain lines even they wouldn't cross. Though it may not seem prevalent, we also have things we'd rather not do. Stray Devils, however, don't have any line they wouldn't cross. They want and want without limit until they reach a point where they betray or even, in same cases kill their master. Without their master to control their power, they begin to run wild."
"Doesn't really surprise me, in fact, I kinda expected something like this."
Rias stopped walking in the middle of the hall and turned around to face Shirou. "What did you say?"
"Don't give me that look, you know what I'm talking about, just think about it for a second. You turn people into demons from Hell, take them away from their world and everything they've ever known while not even caring if they had a life or responsibility left behind. And here's the kicker, you make them essentially into slaves and treat them as such, using them however you please, while giving them no rights or privileges and their voice will never be heard by anyone, not to mention if they say they can't take it anymore and refuse to bow down, you just kill them and get another one." Shirou listed down in a serious tone. "What's unexpected about wanting to be free? It's a natural want that every living creature has, but you snobs from the higher-class of society have had it your whole lives so you take it for granted." Rias turned to open her mouth to retort. "—And don't try to tell me you've never seen it happen before, in the world of nobility there's bound to be a fair number of Devils just like that, those that abuse others with their power because they believe they'll never face repercussions. So don't pretend that all Stray Devils are evil, while all nobles are good. Slaves will revolt, that's a fact proven throughout history."
For a moment Rias turned to say something but soon realized there was nothing she could say to deny his claim. And so she decided it's best to just do what they came for.
"This Stray Devil murdered her master, her comrades, several Devil civilians, and now feasts on anyone unfortunate enough to be lured into her lair."
Shirou stared passively in return, since Rias didn't deny his words he knew he kind of won that argument, but didn't dwell on it as it wasn't really that important to him.
"Her track record or her kill count isn't important, long story short we just have to beat her right?" Shirou asked. "Besides that, how strong are these things normally?"
"Not that strong, we hunt Devils like Visor regularly." Akeno filled in.
"Who's Visor?"
"That's the name of the Stray that's in here." Kiba informed.
"Okay, so you know her, that's kinda awkward in some cases."
CRASH!
Shirou and the rest of the ORC looked up to see where that sound had come from.
"It's coming, prepare yourselves." Rias instructed.
Everyone got into a fight stance, while Shirou just had his guard up.
"I can smell something disgusting. But I can also smell something delicious~ Is it sweet~ Or is it sour~"
A strange low voice spoke from the shadow.
"Stray Devil Visor. We are here to eliminate you." Rias declared.
Shirou prepared himself, unlike the others this would be the first time he'd seen a Stray Devil, he had no way of knowing what he was about to see.
What he saw however wasn't what he was expecting.
Coming out from the shadows was the upper-half of a voluptuous woman who looked twenty-something, she had silky black hair and was completely topless.
"What? An oddly attractive Naked woman, that's the Stray Devil?"
"Don't let you guard down," Kiba warned. "It's dangerous."
Shirou shrugged. "I don't know, I mean it sounded a lot worse when you guys described it."
"Stray Devil Visor!" Rias yelled. "You betrayed your master and ran away to fulfil the lustful wants and desires that consumed you. Your sins are worthy of a thousand Hells. In the name of the Marquis Gremory, begone or meet your death!"
"Ah, Rias." Shirou spoke getting her attention. "I see two problems with that ultimatum, first you said: begone or meet your death. She can't begone since we came here specifically to kill her."
"No, it's just a declaration to show seriousness." Rias responded taking her attention off Visor. "I'd never actually let her go."
"Yeah, here's the other thing. It's the whole a thousand Hells thing, isn't that a bit much, I mean her sins can't possibly be worth that much."
"No, that's just something I say before a battle."
"Oh, so it's a signature line, well then I feel like I must tell you." Shirou sighed before saying It. "It's a little cheesy."
"What?"
"Sorry, it just sounds like you're trying too hard, that comes off as fake."
"Okay, that is just not true." Rias denied.
"Actually…" Akeno entered the conversation. "Since someone finally said it, I think I should add, I kind of feel the same way."
Now Rias was really surprised. "Et Tu Akeno?"
"Sorry Chief, but you can't deny it seems a bit much." Akeno gave an apologetic smile.
"Then why didn't you say anything?"
"I didn't want to upset you."
"Well good job with that, anyone else feel this way?" Rias asked looking at Kiba and Koneko.
They both hesitated for a moment, then reluctantly raised their hands.
Rias then just had her head down depressed and said to herself. "I thought it was good."
"If you're done with all that, I'd like to get started!" Visor said feeling annoyed that they seemed to be ignoring her.
"Yeah were done." Shirou responded.
"Good~" Visor then comes out from the shadows, the lower-half of her body was revealed to be a horrific abomination that went against the very laws of nature. She had a centaur-like appearance, with her front legs featuring humanoid hands with red claws, and her stomach featuring a cavity with teeth to devour her opponents followed with a snake for a tail.
"JESUS!" Shirou was disgusted. "Who the hell did you make a deal with to get like that? Was it the God Hand, I bet it was the God Hand."
"This is what happens to Stray Devils who can't control their power." Kiba noted.
"This! Cannot be normal!" Shirou argued.
Rias got back in the mood. "Let's begin." Rias then snaps her fingers. "Yuuto."
"Yes, Chief," Kiba replied, then vanished in a flash.
"Fast." Shirou thought as he followed Kiba's movements.
Kiba was moving at a fast pace, to the untrained eye it looked like he disappeared. He was rapidly circling around Visor.
"How's he doing that?" Shirou asked.
"What your witnessing is the trait of a Knight." Rias explained.
"Knight?" Shirou asked curiously.
"Tell me Shirou, are you familiar with the rules of Chess?" Rias asked.
"Yeah sure." Shirou shrugged. "Mika and I used to play it all the time when we were kids, though we played about a hundred times and I only won four of those and lost the rest."
"Do you remember how I resurrected you from death?"
"I recall."
"I did it using special devices called [Evil Pieces," The ORC Chief explained. "Each one is based off a piece from Chess and each bestows a different ability upon servants."
"I see." Shirou said looking on in wonder. "And that's Kiba's ability?"
Back with the battle, Visor wrapped her upper-body hands around her breasts, magic circles forming and tightening around her nipples.
As if that weren't strange enough, beams of light shot from the monsters nipples, splashing across the walls and already ruined furniture in the room.
"Evasive manoeuvres!" The members of the Occult Research Club all took cover, Shirou acting fast moved out of the way, with Rias moving in the same direction, they dodged just in time to avoid a shot that melted a huge hole in the wall behind where they were standing.
"Okay, I was willing to let everything else slide, but THAT is just wrong!" Shirou noted.
"That's another example of a Stray's power going out-of-control." Rias clarified. "Without her master around to keep her powers in check, they can only grow more rampant."
"There is no way that's just from her out-of-control powers! That looks like something you'd find in a Hentai/Horror anime!"
"It could be worse," Rias said with a shrug. "Of all the Stray Devils out there, this is one of the more tame ones."
"Well, that's reassuring." Shirou said with sarcasm.
"Now then, Yuuto!"
"Yes!" Kiba then stopped running around her and then closed in on Visor.
"In this game, Yuuto is my Knight. His attribute is speed. And his ultimate weapon is his Sword." Rias explained.
Kiba unsheathed his Sword and Shirou saw him raise his Sword up, which made the blade reflect off the moonlight making it resemble a flash of light.
In that instant, Visor's monstrous lower arms were severed from her body, blood spewing forth from the stumps upon were they were once attached. A howl of pain erupted from the Stray.
"Not bad, he might be as fast as me." Shirou thought after witnessing his attack.
After that attack, Kiba returned to stand beside the group and Koneko stepped forward as if she had tagged in.
Visor unleashed a more beast-like roar as her features became more monstrous, her eyes were filled with madness, her teeth became as sharp as a piranha's and her ears become pointy, she had lost all resemblance of humanity she had. She stood on her hind legs, her chest on her lower body opening up, revealing two rows of massive sharp fangs. Even as the second mouth approached her, Koneko showed no signs of fear nor any sign of moving.
"Koneko is my Rook—" Rias began.
"Yeah I know, and her attribute is super strength right." Shirou interrupted.
"Yes, how did you—"
"You kinda ruined the chance to make it a surprised after having her blow down the doors." Shirou pointed out.
Visor's lower mouth closed hard around Koneko, the small girl vanishing inside the monstrous appendage.
"Okayyy." Shirou said unsure of her choice. "I get the super-strength is her power but was it really a good idea to just walk into her attack?"
"Trust me." Rias had a confident smile. "Koneko will be fine."
"That's not what I was getting at."
Before they could talk further, A sudden look of surprise appeared on Visor's face, then the expression of strain.
"Augh!"
That was when her lower mouth was forced open, Koneko appeared in the opening and holding the teeth apart with ease, relatively unharmed although her uniform was damaged in some places, leaving a medium-sized tear around her skirt, and her T-shirt was torn over the right side of her chest, revealing her pink bra.
"Koneko doesn't just have unparalleled strength but also unparalleled defence." Rias explained. "Something like that wouldn't even put a dent in her."
"…Catch you on the flip side."
A powerful strike completely shattered the lower mouths teeth and launched Visor through the air, landing on the ground.
"I don't know about "unparalleled" I'm pretty sure I'm strong enough to do that too. And that wasn't even a good pun." Shirou thought after witnessing Koneko's strength, he then caught movement out from the corner of his eye.
"Akeno." Rias said gesturing to the club's Vice Chief.
"Oh, is it my turn." The girl asked in a polite tone that was soon replaced with excitement. "How exciting~"
Shirou saw the object at the corner of his eye move again.
His instincts kicked in and he rushed in, pushing Rias out of the way as one of Visor's severed arms launched right at her.
"Damn it." He said through grit teeth as the beasts sharp nails stabbed into his arm.
"Shirou!" Rias stared in awed surprise as Shirou deflected the blow, and used his other arm to grab the beast's arm and slam it into the ground.
Shirou smirked. "You really thought I fall for a cheap trick like that?" He then raised his fist in the air. "Well think again!" Shirou fist crashed down onto the arm and hit it with a large amount of force, bending it at an unpleasant angle, and with and audible the limb then went numb.
Shirou looked at the arm uncaring.
"I'd be disappointed if I expected any kind of challenge from you."
Rias stared concerned. "Are you alright?"
"Oh yeah don't worry bout it." Shirou brushed off. He then examined his arms before revealing the torn fabric, revealing heavy bars of metal wrapped around his arm. "My training weights took most of the damage." He then noticed Rias's look of appreciation. "By the way you don't need to thank me or anything, I'd of done the same thing for literally anyone else."
Rias smiled regardless. "Well I still appreciate it," She then turned back to Visor. "Akeno, finish her off, please."
Akeno nodded before turning her attention back to the Stray. "I've got news for you." Akeno said. "You're not the only one who likes to play rough here, so lets you and I have some fun~"
Electricity discharged from her hands, crackling between her fingers.
"Akeno is my Queen." Rias explained. "Her attributes are a perfect combination of all the other pieces. She simply unbeatable."
"I doubt that." Shirou thought off-handed. "No one in this world is unbeatable… Someone like that only exists infantasy."
"Tough girl," Akeno praised teasingly as the Stray growled, struggling to get back up. "Not ready to give up yet~? Goodie~ I get to play some more~!"
Akeno raised her hands, unleashing a powerful bolt of thunder at the Stray.
An almost blinding light engulfed her and Shirou could've sworn he saw Visor's skeleton, like they were in some kind of cartoon.
Shirou noticed something weird. Akeno's attack seemed like they could have killed Visor already, yet she was constantly stopping it and then starting it up again.
"Hold on, how come she hasn't finished her off yet?" He asked.
"Oh that's simple, she makes use of her demonic power," Rias explained. "And that's not all—"
"This violence," Akeno said, her breathing becoming heavier the more she tortured the Stray. "It's making me so hot~" She licked her lips, much like a predator would.
"She's Really into S ."
"Is this as good for you as it is for me~"
Akeno continued with the torture and Shirou was starting to feel uncomfortable just watching.
"Don't you think she's had enough?" Shirou asked, unnerved by all this.
"It's okay," Kiba noted. "We usually just let Akeno-san do her thing. It'll be over soon."
Shirou didn't like how casual they were all being about this. He then looked back to Akeno as bolt after bolt of thunder stuck Visor.
"Hahahahahaha~! More~!" Akeno squealed. "I want to hear you scream more~!"
At this point, Shirou was gritting his teeth, clenching his fists, and his whole body was trembling.
"Enough." He whispered as he began to approach.
"Shirou?" Rias said as she saw him acting unusual.
Shirou then narrowed his eyes, glaring dagger at the scene before him, he then spread his wings and jumped forward, launching himself through the air heading towards Visor.
"I SAID ENOUGH!" Shirou roared.
It gained the attention of every one of the ORC, including Akeno who stopped her attack to see Shirou soar past her. Shirou unleashed a fierce punch on Visor's forehead, knocking her unconscious as he intended and sending her flying into the wall. Shirou then landed on the floor not far from where she was standing.
Akeno moved back down to the floor to stand by the others and they all walked towards Shirou.
"Shirou?" Rias was the first to speak. "Why did you do that?"
Shirou turned to face her, with seriousness in his eyes. "Because I couldn't stand to watch that."
"What?"
"In a fight, I'm a lot of things, I'm violent, ruthless, brutal, merciless, cruel, unforgiving, cold-hearted, and especially destructive." Shirou listed. "I'm all those things, but the thing I would never do is torture someone, especially go out of my way to attack someone who couldn't even defend themselves anymore." Shirou looked away and gripped his fist. "That's something that always turns my stomach."
They were all surprised, not one of them expected him to be so affected by something like this.
Then Kiba asked what they all suspected.
"Shirou, were you once tortured?"
Shirou didn't even look at them, he just kept his head down.
"Don't ask." Was all he said.
Even though he didn't answer, for them that reaction was more or less a confirmation for them, they didn't show it because they didn't want to bring it up or make him feel like he was being pitied, but inwardly they all felt sympathy for him.
Rias believing things were getting too heavy decide to end their business here and approached the defeated Visor.
With a cold expression on her face, Rias stood before the fallen Stray Devil, Visor slowly regained consciousness but Rias could clearly recognize there was not a single ounce of fight that was left in her.
"Any last words before I put an end to you?"
The look on Visor was filled with pain as she coughed and looked up at Rias with an empty expression.
"…Kill me."
"So be it." Rias extended her hands. "Checkmate."
A gigantic mass of demonic power, black in colour with red highlights, shot from Rias's hands, completely engulfing the feral beast before her.
There weren't even ashes left behind.
When the energy had dissipated and the light vanished, it was over.
The feeling Shirou got from it felt a lot different from Akeno's attack though… If one were to be struck by that kind of attack, there would be no doubt that nothing would be left behind. A power meant to destroy everything and nothing else.
"So that's how Devils fight." Shirou spoke.
Rias nodded. "Correct, so what did you think about, your first experience on fighting Stray Devils?"
"What did I think?" Shirou stared with half-lidded eyes. He then held up two fingers. "I saw two problems with this fight."
Rias blinked. "Two?"
"First of all their was the thing with Koneko." Shirou gestured to the loli. "Let me ask, what made you think it was a good idea to just walk into the enemies mouth, you could've died."
"…I'm a Rook, her fangs couldn't hurt me." Koneko replied showing no emotion.
"That's not the problem, even if you're durable it's still smart the dodge an attack if you can, if you just walk into them you're just asking for it, tell me what you would have done if she could have shot acid from her mouth too?" Shirou gave an example. "Could your durability block that?"
Koneko blinked, not realizing why she hadn't considered that possibility, and thanking her good luck that it wasn't the case.
"And then there's you." Shirou then points to Rias.
"Me?" Rias wonders what she could have done wrong.
"What made you think this was a good time for that?"
"For what?" Rias clearly didn't get it.
"I mean the explaining during the fight, why'd you chose now of all times to explain [Evil Pieces]?" Shirou asked.
"I thought you would understand best with a demonstration." Rias reasoned.
"You put yourself in danger!" Shirou rebuked. "This was a battlefield if you let your guard down thinking your perfectly safe, you'd end up getting yourself killed!"
Rias just scoffed. "What are you talking about, me and my Peerage face Strays like this all the time, and I never had any problems."
"You were almost torn apart by her severed arm." Shirou pointed out.
Rias then paused, realizing she can't deny that.
"If I wasn't here that attack would have reached you." Shirou then approached her then placed his hand on her shoulder. "You are too used to everything going your way, and because of that you let yourself become careless, even if the fight is easy it's still a fight, take it seriously all the way until the end, or else you and everyone else will be in danger."
Rias processed his words and felt there was truth in what he was saying, she was surprised by the way he spoke with such fluidity as if he'd experienced many fights and learned from those situations allowing him to point out any flaws he sees in someone else's method of fighting. However there was one other thing that she noticed in his words that surprised her.
"Shirou… Are you concerned about us?" Rias asked.
Shirou then froze and noticed his choice of words and the fact that his hand was still on Rias's shoulder. He then quickly removed it and took a step back.
"Ah no I… I just." Shirou was trying to think of an excuse.
Rias just smiled. "Well never-mind then." She then turned to the rest of her servants. "Let's head back, everyone."
She and the others turned to leave, but there was a thought that came to Shirou's mind.
"Hey, Rias."
Rias turned her head back to face Shirou. "Yes Shirou."
"You forgot to tell me what piece I am."
"Oh, well you're my Pawn." Rias answered.
"A Pawn huh…? It has potential and not limited to one attribute like the others, sounds pretty good." Shirou felt pleased.
Rias didn't expect him to be happy with his position but was satisfied nonetheless. "You should rest up. Tomorrow, we'll be returning to normal club activities."
"Actually, I think I'm gonna get some training done," Shirou suggested. "I want to find out the limits of this new body, and seeing the fight got me in the mood."
"That might not be a good idea." Rias warned. "Your body is still adjusting to the Devil transformation. You might experience some sort of jetlag in regards to the new schedule. You should probably just get some rest."
"You're overreacting." Shirou brushed off. "What's the worst thing that could happen tomorrow that requires a full night of rest?"
Oh if he only knew back then.
And that's the chapter. To start things off, yes I decide to make Ren a Youkai because I wanted someone that could call a friend In any regard which includes the supernatural world. I chose Youkai because to me there the race with the most freedom and the best at hiding their presence. Besides Shirou considers Ren a friend that he could trust, and thus he'd feel like a hypocrite if all he ever did was lie to him, so I made it so he didn't have to.
The meeting of Asia was an interesting encounter for both of them. And as you can see, even though Shirou give up his faith he doesn't mind if others still have theirs, what others believe in our their own business, that's the mindset he has. That way he was glad that Asia said she didn't mind that he was a non-believer rather than try to convert him like any other nun would.
And as for his problem with torture. That is an issue he has that will be touched upon later in the story.
Anyways thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed, if you want more then be sure to leave a review, if you liked the story click the follow/favourite, and as always have an awesome day.