Chapter Fifteen - Naked in the Rain

[We'll soon be arriving at Kuoh Station West. I repeat: we'll soon be arriving at Kuoh Station West. Prepare for arrival, and make your way towards the exit doors in an orderly fashion.]

Vin stared out at the rapidly passing horizon, the afternoon sun zipping by over and over to illuminate his face with each obstruction passed. The boy was standing upright, hand clutching the rubber handle to support himself in the train car, as his two companions sat on the bench in front of them.

From the confines of his white hood, Vin couldn't shake the feeling that nearly every pair of eyes in that train car were positioned on them. Then again, Vin reasoned that it wasn't every day three teenagers wearing massive white cloaks rode your standard afternoon bullet train. Especially when two of them were carrying massive wrapped bundles on their back.

The natural light suddenly cut off as the train passed through a tunnel for a brief moment, and by the time the train exited, the landscape of a mid-sized suburban zone came into view, the ideal Japanese town that you would see in anime; a bustling cityscape to the far north, and as you travelled more south, the heavy concentration of business would peter out into simpler neighborhoods. Despite never living or even visiting, Vin knew exactly what he was looking at. He swallowed a shaky breath to steady himself.

Kuoh.

This. This was the town where it would be decided if they would live, or if they would die. Vin forced himself to take long, sweeping glances of the city, absorbing any detail he could gather from their point of elevation that the train tracks provided them with. The school to the east, the church to the west, the massive amounts of space in between. Tight, narrow, cramped alleyways between houses, any one of these could be where any one of them met their end.

Soon enough, the train began to descend down to street level, before finally pulling into the station with a groaning screech. Both Xenovia and Irina silently got to their feet, and Irina began to walk forwards, the two Italians following her; after all, she was the one who at least spoke the language.

After a short while, in which the three struggled to get through numerous checkpoints of the Japanese transit system, they finally emerged from the station, and basked in the early afternoon sun.

Irina hummed to herself as she skipped ahead of the other two, ignorant of the odd gazes they received from the milling populace around them.

"Here we are! Kuoh, at long last, I have returned!" Irina triumphantly exclaimed.

"Uh… Why are you so happy?" Vin decided to ask, thoroughly baffled at Irina's exclamation. Was it some sort of new technique to try and hide fear at the mission?

"Oh, I completely forgot to tell you!" Irina fished around in her cloak, before her gloved hand reached out of the white cloth, holding out a photo to Vin.

Curious, Vin looked down at the photo, which seemed to show a two young kids playing Gameboy by a fireplace, a sword sat above them as a mantlepiece, a beautiful thing that seemed to glimmer in the light, just as radiant in a photograph from god-knows when as it likely was in person. One of the kids, the one on the left, had the same color of hair as Irina, even though Vin could honestly confuse the person for a small boy.

Still, context clues: Irina had once stated she had no siblings, and if she was the one in possession of this photo… Yeah, the little 'boy' was probably her.

Vin made a non-committal hum, as Irina bought her other hand out from her cloak to point at the other child in the photo: a small, brown-haired boy who seemed like a little adorable bundle of energy.

"That's Issei Hyoudou, we're childhood friends, and we played together all the time back when I was living over here. You know, I bet that they still live here. Oh~ It's going to be so great to see them again!"

Issei… Issei… When had Vin heard that name before?

Oh, right. Vin's mind flashed back to one of the earlier memories from when he first started at the Vatican…

"Didn't Vanessa say that he was your future husband or something?"

Irina jolted back as if struck, her arms disappearing into her cloak again as she squirmed around under the pressure of the accusation. Even with a hood mostly pulled over her head, Vin could easily tell that Irina's face was steaming red.

"N-No! She, uh, I-I mean…"

Oh boy, she had it bad. Poor Ezekiel.

Apparently having had enough of the display, Xenovia finally spoke up, "Come on, we have things to get to tonight. According to the Vatican, we have to meet with the student council of 'Kuoh Academy' in only an hour."

Vin raised an eyebrow, "Student council..? Are they-"

"Devils? Yes. They are one of the two devil families that own this territory." Xenovia answered, as she looked over at Vin, the two locked eyes for a moment, before they both broke contact as they suddenly found great interest in either the sky, or the pavement at their feet.

Vin awkwardly cleared his throat, the hot shame festering just under the surface of his skin.

"Irina," Xenovia turned to their twin-tailed comrade, "Do you know the way to Kuoh Academy?"

"Yep! Like the back of my hand!" Irina began to walk forward, "C'mon, follow my lead."

With an overall lack of options, the two began to follow her, as they began to traverse down all manner of side streets, occasionally taking pauses as Irina would stop, ponder for a moment, before seemingly deciding on something, as she took a path.


About forty-five minutes of walking later, and no academy in sight. The bright high noon sunlight bearing down on the group, refelecting off their white cloaks, nearly giving them the illusion of glowing. Still, it was a bit warm under everything, and a thin layer of sweat was beginning to form on Vin's brown. Finally, Vin voiced his concerns.

"Irina? Do… Do you know the way to the academy?"

"Of course I do!" Irina called over her shoulder, "I used to head there all the time on break to go bug catching with Issei."

"...If you say so."

Not a moment later, the three emerged out of a side-street, finding themselves on some sort of main path, the bright sun reflecting dully off the white and grey pavement, as the road stretched down a long ways. Still, just within view was a small bridge over a stream, and just beyond that, a massive building surrounded by gates, and adorned with a plaque, a school crest.

Well damn, she actually did know her way around.

Irina spun around, her cloak swishing open in the breeze as she planted both her hands on her hips proudly.

"See what I told you? Kuoh Academy!"

Vin dug his hands into his pants pockets, slouching as he walked past Irina, "Yeah, yeah, come on super-navigator, we have a meeting to get to. Oi, Xenovia, how much time do we have left?"

The blue haired girl pulled out her phone, not looking up at all, "12:54, we have about fifteen minutes to get there."

Xenovia walked ahead of the group, and silently, Vin and Irina trailed behind her.

As the three walked down that long stretch of road, baking under the hot early summer sun in their cloaks and leather gear, Vin soaked in the almost peaceful serenity of the moment. The sounds of cars in the distance, the odd cry of a small child as they played in the park, the bark of the occasional dog; it all seemed so peaceful, so quaint. Perhaps if this wasn't a mission that would wind up with them dead, Vin would've been tempted to say that this was the kind of place he'd like to live. It was the perfect level of quiet, yet happily busy at the same time.

"Vinny? Yo-hoo~ Vinny? Are you there?"

Vin was pulled out of his thoughts as Irina snapped her fingers in his face. Pulling away, Irina smiled from behind her hood.

"There we go. You've been spacing out a lot recently; are you doing okay Vinny?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Vin brushed off, as the three slowly walked over to the entrance of the school gates. Vin paused as his ears picked something up, something coming from the back field of the school… It sounded like a crowd of cheers?

"Is that..?" Vin peeked his head inside the gate, staring at the field, where a large bustling crowd had gathered, the signature sounds of metal dinging instantly unlocked a memory in his head. One of hot summer days where his father and Rizzo would meet up in the living room, beers passing around, as they would rant and rave exuberantly, all while the television hummed with the sounds of the baseball game.

Xenovia shook her head, "I can't believe they would ask us to meet in such a public location…And without someone to greet us here either."

Irina pressed a hand on Xenovia's shoulder, "C'mon Xenovia, we got here a little early, right? Maybe we should just head in, and ask where we can find them?"

"That won't be necessary," A cool, authoritative voice called out from within the gates of the school. Turning around, emerald eyes peering out from under his hood, Vin spied the two women that approached them with an analytical gaze.

The first was a girl with a black bob-cut hair, from behind her lavender-framed glasses were a pair of violet eyes that seemed to cut into anything they passed over. If her rending gaze wasn't enough to leave Vin on-edge, then the sheer amount of aura his body could vaguely feel radiating off her was enough to spread goosebumps all over his skin; like a raging tsunami barely held under the surface. Silently, Vin was thankful that his cloak and clothing hid his bare skin from view; it let him conceal how unnerved he was in her presence.

The second girl took up her flank; a taller woman with long cascading locks as black as midnight. Her gaze is equally as refined to a cutting edge as her peers. Her power was much more manageable to bear, but still, it was undeniable that something was there, something intimately familiar, and yet fundamentally different. She too, wore a pair of glasses, thin little things with azure frames.

The first girl bowed her head ever-so-slightly, a sign of respect, yet not one to be confused with sub ordinance.

"Greetings, are you the envoys of the Vatican?"

Xenovia stepped up as the de facto leader, "Indeed. Are you the devil known as Sitri?"

The girl's barbed gaze shifted fully to Xenovia, "Yes. Sona Sitri: heir to the House of Sitri. This one here is my queen, Tsubaki Shinrai."

Tsubaki gave the same bow, only as a form of greeting, no weakness found anywhere in her immaculate and professional demeanor.

"Come, let's head inside. We can discuss freely within the Student Council room," Sona turned on her heel, and began to head back towards the front entrance of the academy, Tsubaki at her heel, as the three exorcists-in-training tailed behind her.

Vin leaned over to Irina, who was clasping her hands together in a prayer as they followed behind the two devils, "Did… Did they learn Italian just for this meeting?"

"No silly," Irina whispered back, her tone upbeat, yet lacking her usual humor; looks like she was in business mode, "The most common ability for all of the supernatural species is universal language comprehension. They can understand and speak any language; so devils can tempt anyone to sin, angels can offer salvation to everyone, and fallen angels can trick anyone, all regardless of language."

"Oh~ Yeah, I guess that makes sense."

The short conversation between the two was cut off as Xenovia spoke up, "I'm surprised at how bold you are, planning a meeting where we're surrounded by human bystanders…"

Xenovia narrowed her eyes dangerously, "Was that an accident, or your idea of a display to show how much control you have here?"

Sona hummed as Tsubaki moved to open the door for her, "Not quite. I did it on purpose, but only because with the softball tournament happening out there, there's less eyes or ears in here."

Throwing her gaze over her shoulder, Sona's eyes nearly showed humor behind her otherwise refined stoicism, "Besides, I figured you would enjoy the anonymity."

Sona and Tsubaki walked through the door, as Vin grabbed it before it could slam shut, allowing Irina and Xenovia to enter, before finally closing the door behind him as he followed.

As Vin entered the main hall of the school, he couldn't help but gawk at the sheer beauty of his surroundings. This was a high school, yet it was nothing like back home. In Italy, the shitty high school that they attended was average at best; it had nice spaces, but overall, it was cheap, and basic as you could get. A place characterized by scuffed, second-hand goods, shoddy painted bricks, pencil-graffitied drywall, and dusty, dirty, off-white linoleum floors.

But here... Oh boy, in this main hall alone, it was like Vin was in the Vatican all over again. Incredibly high ceilings that stretched to the sky, dark satin wood and brilliant, glossy marble pillars making up the walls, the marble floor tiles literally glistening with the massive spotlight cast by the giant window at the opposite wall, the centerpiece of the entranceway, positioned high up at the top of the main flight of stairs. It was nothing short of beautiful, like a palace from a Disney film, brought to life as an education institute.

Vin didn't get much time to absorb more of the immaculate setting, as their two devil guides continued up the staircase, and to the left. Down the hall they went, on their right, numerous doors to empty classrooms, and on their left, numerous windows which bathed the hallway in radiant natural light. Vin absent-mindedly gazed out the window as they walked by, looking down at the softball game being played below.

At the second base was a ridiculously curvy woman with the most striking crimson hair he'd ever seen in his life. Her presence was almost larger than life; an existence that drew all other eyes towards them. On the first base was a smaller girl with pure, snow-white hair, and up to bat was a boy with blonde hair. He looked to be sixteen, the same as himself, if Vin had to fathom a guess. The boy seemed to draw quite the crowd, as the largely female crowd was practically cooing over his presence. Yet, he didn't quite seem focused for some reason, like he was out of it.

"!"

Vin's eyes widened from just under his hood, as the same blond boy's gaze trailed over to him, their eyes meeting for a brief moment, the look behind his aquamarine eyes hardening, conveying a level of malice that Vin had never seen other people convey with only their eyes...


Yuuto Kiba was not having a good time, and honestly wished he could be anywhere else but outside playing softball. Sure, if you had asked him only a few days ago, he would've truthfully said that he was looking forward to it; but ever since awakening to his epiphany the previous night at Issei's house, truly remembering his reason for fighting…

Well, it wasn't very fun to play softball when you couldn't purge the vivid dying cries of your comrades from your subconscious. And why would he even bother trying? If anything, it was motivation, a reminder to never, ever, lose sight of his goals again. He was Yuuto Kiba, but he was also the nameless little boy who died trying to escape from a certain death in that cold, cold forest.

He had nearly lost sight of that latter half over the last two years.

While he was content to simply bask in his newfound drive, his thirst to hunt down those damn swords, he was still asked by his master to participate in the upcoming softball game. Fine, he conceded that the Excaliburs weren't likely going to fall into his hands anytime soon, and that just one silly afternoon was something he could muster if it made his master happy; if only to get her to stop worrying so much about him.

But never in a million years did Yuuto Kiba think that he would ever find the Excalibur while at the batting plate for a softball game…

He had come up to bat, and he could feel something, anything nagging at the back of his mind for the past minute or so, like an itch that was demanding to be scratched. He was set on ignoring it, maybe his epiphany brought his level of focus down, and the sun was just getting to him more than it usually would. But then, from the second-floor hall, just out of the corner of his peripheral vision, he saw them.

With his enhanced senses, he could easily make out that the President and Vice-President of the Student Council were leading three figures draped in large, imposing white cloaks; two of them even carrying large wrapped bundles on their backs. From the way the bundles were tilted on the figure's backs, he could make out the crest attached to one of them. He had seen that crest before… the church.

Suddenly, the potent aura that had been probing at his senses intensified as he became more and more aware of what exactly it was.

The aura of a holy sword… No, the aura of Excalibur…

Kiba gazed out further at the windows leading into the upper hall, controlling his features so his master didn't need to have words with him after this was all over. Still, he could feel the hatred, the call for vengeance bubbling in his every nerve-end.

And then, as if it were a magical happenstance, Kiba's aquamarine eyes met emerald. The last of the three cloaked figures, one of the one's with the bundle on their back, which Kiba knew must have contained one of the wretched blades, had made eye contact with him.

Kiba could barely control himself, his hatred spiking as he was teased with the prospect of vengeance at the most inconvenient of times. He needed to rein in his emotions, keep others from questioning him, since that would only make it harder to track down those Excalibur's. Yet, Kiba could feel the pull of Sword Birth calling him to take up arms and charge the three cloaked figures, consequences be damned. Without his knowledge, Kiba's killing intent rose up and up, as the emerald-eyed figure flinched back in shock, before slowly breaking eye contact, and keeping their head pointed at the ground. Good, he had made them back down, but only served to prove that Kiba could take them down if he needed to, and oh, oh did he want to-!

*PAFF!*

Kiba stumbled slightly, as a softball fell to the ground and rolled at his feet. The small amount of pain blossoming in his chest started to sober him, letting him reign in his bloodlust as the figures slipped into the Student Council office, and out of his view. The voices of his classmates and peers slowly returned to his head, the cries of dismay and calls for justice to be imparted on the poor pitcher who had thrown the softball at him echoing out over the field.

Kiba forced his best facsimile of a charming smile, "Don't worry everyone, I'm alright. I just spaced out for a moment, it was nothing more than an accident."

While that seemed to sooth the crowd's qualms, it never did anything to quell the silently seething expression behind his master, Rias Gremory's eyes…


"I have to apologize for the slight mess, we unfortunately didn't have time to fully clean before your arrival."

Inside the student council room there were file folders, filing cabinets, bookshelves filled with binders, their contents an unknown rabbit hole of academic bureaucracy. Everything seemed to have a place, and just shy of taking a flamethrower to every piece of paper in the entire room, Vin had no idea how to get the room any more clean than it already was.

Still, the three were given chairs to sit in, presumably school chairs given the worn wood and metal design, and a three cups of tea were quickly placed in front of them, as Tsubaki returned the kettle to it's spot in the corner of the room, taking a position in the wings behind Sona as the heiress took a seat behind her large oak desk, one that Vin could swear you would find in a textbook image for a Victorian study.

Both out of a desire to reciprocate their hospitality, and to quench his thirst, Vin dainty took the tea cup sitting in front of him, blowing on it lightly, before bringing the cup to his lips, and taking a small sip.

While he could vaguely feel the baffled and slightly outraged glances of his two teammates, Vin could care less due to the flavor that was engulfing his pallet. Vin was never a tea person, always considering highly caffeinated energy drinks or straight-up black coffee to be his preferred alternatives. Maybe it had something to do with the untold stress and anxiety built up in his system, or the weather, or something, but to be frank, this was the best tea that Vin had ever drank in his life.

The warm, but refreshing flavor with a hint of citrus was a shock to his system that he desperately needed. Before he knew it, the tea cup sat empty in his hands. Xenovia, who had been sitting beside him, kicked Vin lightly with the side of her foot. Biting his lip to muffled the hiss of pain he would've otherwise let out.

"Thank you for the tea, it was delicious," Vin sheepishly thanked, as he placed the empty tea cup back on it's serving dish at the end of Sona's desk.

"Of course, you're most welcome," Sona replied back, lacing her fingers together before propping her elbows up on her desk, "Now, shall we begin business?"

"Of course," Xenovia replied, before taking off her hood. Irina did the same, and although Vin didn't know if there was a procedure to these things, he decided to simply follow suit, and also flip his hood off his head, letting his ponytail spill out from it's previous confines, and over his shoulder.

"We have been sent by the church in order to retrieve two Excalibur Fragments that were stolen from our possession. The thief has been tracked to this territory, so we request that you devils do not interfere with our business."

"... I see no reason to refuse. As long as your business doesn't directly interfere with any business of our own, I'll see to it that you're left unbothered by us. After all, when it comes to us, the less Excalibur's, the better."

"Very good," Xenovia bowed, before getting up from her chair, grabbing the wrapped-up Excalibur Destruction, which was left leaning against the side of her chair, "Then we shall be going now."

Both Irina and Vin slowly made their move to leave, Vin slinging the bundled Excalibur Rapidly over his shoulder. The three exorcists made their way to the door of the student council room, before Sona's voice made them halt in their tracks.

"Wait."

The three turned to the devil behind the desk.

"You may have gotten approval from me, but I'm not the only devil who runs this territory. It's co-owned by another peerage of young devils, who I happen to know."

"Can you call them over here?" Xenovia asked.

Sona pursed her lip, her violet eyes roving over a few papers on her desk, "Unfortunately, they're booked with business tonight. I can put in a message to Rias Gremory, I know for a fact that they don't have anything pressing tomorrow, perhaps… Does around three-thirty work for you?"

"Yeah, it should work," Irina nodded, "Do you want us to come back here?"

"Yes, just at the front gate will do. I'll find someone to fetch you and show you the way to their club building."

"If that's all," Xenovia said, flipping her hood back up over her head, "Come, we need to establish our base of operations."

"Right, c'mon Vinny, let's go."

Vin looked back at the two hooded women who had already begun walking out the door, incisively, Vin glanced back and forth, before turning awkwardly to the Sona and Tsubaki.

"Um… Have a nice day. A-And thanks for the tea, it was delicious!" Vin called out, before flipping up his hood, and started speed-walking out the Student Council room in order to catch up with his comrades.

The heavy-set wood doors of the Student Council building shut firmly behind the retreating exorcists, as Sona looked up from her papers, glancing at the sight before he in mild amusement: three cups of tea, the left and the right, never touched, and the one in the middle, where not even a drop of tea remained.

"What a strange, strange soul…"

"Did you say something, President?"

"No, nothing," Sona turned her gaze to her Queen, "Get in contact with Rias, tell her that we should have a meeting at my place tonight. The situation in this town has changed."


8:43 pm

"So, remind me again why we have to come here?" Asked Vin, standing awkwardly next to Xenovia, all the while, Irina stood in front of them, on the border of someone's property.

The chestnut-haired girl turned around, her hood long since pulled down to let her face shine in the dull dusk light, "Come on, you guys promised you'd let me visit if we had time after setting up home base!"

She spun back to face the door, her hands clasped in prayer, "Oh, to think the path that the lord put me on would afford me another opportunity such as this! I'm truly blessed, thank you, my lord. Amen!"

With that little prayer out of the way, Irina poked the doorbell, and the three waited for an answer. Deep inside, Vin bet with like, an eighty-percent certainty that this would either be someone who didn't remember Irina at all, or the family she wanted to visit had long-since moved.

The door swung open, as a kind-looking middle-aged woman with brown hair stood in the doorway, the golden glow of the house's lights illuminating her from behind like a spotlight, as she stared at the guests at her doorstep. The woman took a hard look at Irina's face, which was stretched into the brightest smile that Vin had ever seen her wear; and slowly, the woman's eyes widened.

"I-Irina? Irina dear, is that you?"

"Yep!" Irina chirped back in Japanese, "It's been too long auntie!"

Suddenly, Irina was pulled into a warm hug by the woman at the door, "Oh, Irina! It's been so long! Look at how tall you've gotten."

The woman looked over her shoulder, "Gorou! Come to the door right now, you'll never believe who just showed up!"

"Huh? What's the matter honey?" A brown-haired middle-aged man with an equally kind face stumbled out into the foyer of the house, and came to the door, his eyes also widening in recognition.

"Irina?! It's been ages! Come inside, come inside!" Gorou ushered Irina and the woman inside, before looking out at Vin and Xenovia, "Are you two Irina's friends? Come on in, any friend of Irina's is a friend of ours!"

Both Vin and Xenovia couldn't understand what the man was saying, but it looked like he was inviting them inside, given his hand movements. So, Vin looked over at Xenovia, who looked back, and with a shrug from Vin, and a sigh from Xenovia, they headed on into the house.

Pulling off their hoods, and taking their combat boots off in the entranceway; Vin, with his bluenette companion on his heels, entered the family room, where Irina sat on a couch, a warm beverage in her hands, as she and the woman from before chattered away about all sorts of things. You know, 'How have you been', 'What sorts of things are you doing nowadays'. Vin could barely understand most of it, on the count of, you know, the language barrier, so he took a seat next to Irina on the couch, leaning the bundled Excalibur Rapidly against the side of the couch as he afforded himself the luxury of sinking into the soft, cushiony depths of the furniture.

The older man, Gorou, if Vin was correct, came in to sit down next to his wife, if the rings were any indication.

"And who are your friends, dear?" The older woman asked, "You never introduced them to us."

"Oh, right, where are my manners? These are my friends Vin and Xenovia." Irina gestured towards Vin and Xenovia as she introduced them.

"It's a pleasure to meet you two, I'm Gorou Hyoudou, and this is my wife, Miki Hyoudou."

"Ah, they said 'it's nice to meet you', and that their names are Mr. and Mrs. Hyoudou." Irina roughly translated.

"Ah, it's nice to meet you." Vin bowed his head in greeting. One of the only things about Japanese culture he actually ever learned, if only on the account of the anime he watched.

Xenovia, unsure of what to do, awkwardly copied Vin's actions.

"Would you three like to stay for some dinner? Issei should actually be coming home any time now."

"Really!?"

Suddenly, the sound of the front door being slammed open crashed throughout the house, Vin flinched back in shock. Not a second later, a boy with messy brown hair darted into the room, his nerves looked as wound-up as they could be, and it was apparent to Vin that his expression conveyed equal parts aggression and mortifying panic. Trailing ever so shortly behind him was a smaller but adorable looking girl with long, long blonde hair that cascaded down her body. Both of them had a small amount of sweat coating their faces, and the boy was taking looks from the adults in the house, to Vin and the others on the sofa, to, most interestingly, the two bundled Excalibur's that rested against the couch.

"Mom? Dad? You're okay?" The boy cried out, confused.

"Well, speak of the devil… Issei, why are you so worried?" Mr. Hyoudou called, well, who looked to be his son.

Mrs. Hyoudou got to her feet, walking over to Issei, "Issei, come over here! Look who came to visit!"

Mrs. Hyoudou gestured to Irina, who shyly waved her hand, a blush on her face.

Issei looked hard at Irina's face, as if connecting the dots about something.

"Wait! You're that boy I used to play with all the time!"

Well, Vin could concede that he needed context clues to tell as well.

"Issei! That's rude!"

"No, no, it's fine, I was sorta a tomboy back then." Irina interjected, "But… Issei, it's… It's good to see you again, really, it is."

"Um, yeah… Same to you, Irina," Issei moved his way over, subtly putting the blonde-girl behind him.

Irina sighed, before turning back to Vin and Xenovia, "Alright, well we have to get back to the other side of town to get to our hotel rooms, right? We should probably leave now."

"Uh, sure thing," Vin slowly got up, before bowing his head to the Hyoudou's, "Irina, could you tell them I said 'thanks for the hospitality'?"

"Yeah, of course," Irina turned to Gorou and Miki, "Vin wanted to say thank you for all the hospitality you've shown us. I'd love to stay and chat, but we need to get back to our hotel before it gets too late."

"Of course, of course. It was wonderful for you to come visit again," Mrs. Hyoudou stood up and hugged Irina, "You three have a wonderful night, alright?"

Irina nodded, "Come on guys, let's go."

As the three made their way out of the house, Vin vaguely noticed Xenovia's curious gaze lingering on the blonde-girl for just a moment as they left.

Exiting out into the darkness of night, the only light being the fluorescents that lit up the streets, the group began to walk towards the nearest bus stop in hopes of catching a ride back to the hotel. All the while, Irina kept her head low to the ground, her hood pulled over her face. Vin only heard her mumble one thing that entire walk to the bus stop…

Speak of the devil, huh?


Vin opened his eyes to find nothing but white tile smeared with a vicious sea of red. Looking up with choking breaths, Vin could see the mutilated corpse that had splattered against the opposite side of the hall. The brutal image searing itself once more in Vin's mind as he writhed in shock. Everywhere he looked, the blood followed…

On the floors.

On the ceiling.

On the walls.

In his clothes.

On his hands.

On his skin.

In his hair.

On his face.

In his mouth.

Vin doubled over onto his side, retching to vomit, to do something. Yet no release ever came, no, only the violent feeling of revulsion and sting of bile in his esophagus that would never leave. Tears plucked at his eyes, as he laid there, in a massive puddle of warm blood.

The distinct sound of cackling filling his ears as the screams of a woman cried out, before a horrifying sound of flesh rending from flesh bounced around the cathedral, new blood falling down, splattering against Vin as he screwed his eyes shut, and tried to block his ears with blood-soaked hands.

More and more blood, each one different from the last cascaded down onto Vin's twitching body. Six times total, the blood would rain down on him, the force of it punching him down with sheer weight alone. Six distinct screams, Vin would have to endure. And six times, he failed to stop himself from bearing witness to it all.

What was left when he opened his eyes, was a pile of corpses, and a ten-winged shadow flying overhead, blood sizzling off of a blade of solid light that it clutched in one of its hands, as it cracked a wicked, terrifying, malice-filled smile…

Vin woke up with a gasp, sitting up in his one-bed hotel room. Near-immediately, the urge to vomit came over him like something fierce, causing him to scurry out of bed, and into the small connecting bathroom, where he practically tore the toilet's lid open, and proceeded to rid his stomach of the hotel restaurant dinner he had eaten a few scant hours before.

A minute or two of retching over the toilet later, and Vin finally got over the urge to evacuate his insides. Flushing the john, Vin got up, and moved to the shitty little hotel sink to clean his face, splashing water and using a hand towel to scrub the sweat and grime off his face. Throwing caution to the wind, Vin looked up at himself in the mirror.

His eyes had noticeable bags under them, his usually dark, tanned skin was distinctly paler than usual, and for the life of him, he couldn't understand how his eyes looked so… haunted. Unable to take in his appearance for much longer, Vin closed his eyes, and aspired to focus on anything else. Soon enough, he found himself taking quite solace in the sounds of the rain.

He felt sweaty, dirty, hot; and as much as Vin hated getting dressed in clothes while sweaty, a walk in the evening rain sounded really nice right about now.

So, Vin forced himself to throw back on his clothes from the day before, forgoing his giant cloak. Right before he left his room, the nagging reminder of something struck him, as he turned around to find the wrapped bundle of Excalibur Rapidly leaning up against the far wall.

… The girls would probably freak if he left it behind in a hotel room unguarded, so while it's very presence, and what it represented to him unnerved Vin like nothing else, the pony-tailed exorcist-in-training, slung it over his shoulder, using one hand to hold onto a loose bandage like a carry handle, as he left the room, and pocketed his room key.

By the time that Vin had made his way out of the hotel lobby and stepped into the rain, he instantly felt relief fill his body. A nice walk would probably help out greatly, so Vin set out through the streets of Kuoh. The hotel was located right on the edge of the more densely-packed business area, and the suburban neighborhood streets of Kuoh.

Vin walked and walked along, inaudibly singing title tunes to himself amidst the refreshingly cool May rainfall, until a sound perked the back of his ears. It almost sounded like an exorcist's light sword igniting. Yet, that couldn't have been the case… Vin rubbed a hand over his face; he must have been suffering from the dream worse than he thought.

What Vin didn't expect next was for a striking sensation of pain to rocket through his left shoulder. The very next second, Vin screamed out, falling to the asphalt below as he clutched his shoulder. He'd just been shot. He'd just been shot. Holy fuck, it hurt.

Vin wasted no time in summoning his Sacred Gear, "Who the hell are you? I know you're there, come out!"

Slowly but surely, a laugh reverberated throughout the darkened side streets. Vin watched with bated breath as a figure clad in greys and whites walked into the light of a fluorescent street lamp.

Initially, the very first thing Vin could think in his adrenaline and ever-so-slightly delirious head was that the man in front of him reminded him of Lint. The snow-white hair and general facial features were near-identical. Unfortunately, there never was a certain madness, a pervasive insanity in this man that Vin never had seen in Lint before. Garbed in something that resembled Vin's ceremonial exorcist garb, and holding a exorcist's light sword in one hand, and a pistol in the other, the man stalked towards Vin like a hyena slowly encroaching on its prey. A feral grin carved into his visage.

"Hello, little my little pious friend… You know, I couldn't help but notice that heavy Excalibur you have there…" The man levelled his pistol at Vin's body, as the man's tongue lolled out his mouth in perverse, sickening pleasure, "How about you let ol' Freed Sellzen take it off your hands?"

"... Sellzen?" Vin tried to scramble up, wincing as his left shoulder gave out under his weight, "... Like… Lint?"

Freed paused for a moment, his glare instantly changing form raving insanity to dangerous, focused killing intent, "How the fuck do you know that bitch's name?"

The distraction was all the time that Vin needed.

Kicking his right foot upward, Vin summoned a pillar of crystals that easily took the four bullets that Freed instantly shot at him. Rolling his body to the side, Vin bit back a yelp of pain as his injured shoulder was rolled over several times. He just needed to establish distance, and fast.

Having moved away enough to clamber safely to his feet, Vin swished his body around in a textbook roundhouse kick, creating a wall that completely blocked off Freed, if only for a moment. Still, Vin wasted no time in immediately turning around, and booking it down the rainy streets, nearly slipping and falling several times as he tried to unwrap the Excalibur in his hands.

"Not going to work, Shitstain!"

Vin glanced over his shoulder for a moment, eyes widening in fear as Freed plummeted towards him, sword ready to eviscerate him at any given opportunity. Vin stomped down, causing massive pillars of crystal to shoot upwards into the air, threatening to impale the stray exorcist who was forced to contort in the air to dodge, landing ungracefully on the pavement of the street.

Vin prepared to stand his ground. He knew he could do this, he knew he could.

"Fucking die already!"

Freed lunged at Vin, sword at the ready. Vin prepared himself, and right as Freed's blade was about to make contact with Vin's body, the teenager yanked the wrapped Excalibur in the way, the light sword burning through the bandaged easily.

Kicking his right foot against the ground at an angle, a wave of crystals arced towards Freed, forcing the lunatic to disengage for a brief moment. Using this as an opportunity, Vin once again turned to run further and further into the suburbs of Kuoh, as he dove into the wrappings holding Rapidly hostage, ripping and tearing thanks to the large hole that Freed opened in it's bindings.

Eventually, Vin managed to finally yank the sword free, casting the ruined wrapping aside, the fabric chrysalis falling into a puddle off to the side. As Vin continued to run, he was starting to become more and more aware of the blood he was losing in his shoulder. Everything was a little harder to do, he felt more and more tired, and the several unneeded pounds of waterlogged clothing certainly didn't do any favors.

A few blocks of running, dodging, weaving and staving off the relentless assault of the mad hunter chasing after him later, Vin had been forced to shed his coat, leaving him with his soaked jumpsuit that clung to his body.

He couldn't continue to run. Vin knew that he was running out of energy fast, and the chance that he could have of defeating Freed was dropping by the second. And Freed knew this, the stray priest having long since smelt blood in the water, his attacks and pursuit only growing more and more merciless. Vin knew that he needed to end this now.

Vin glimpsed down at the Excalibur Fragment clutched in his hands; he didn't have any real experience wielding the thing, he had been all too fearful of wielding the last thing Ethan ever touched before his untimely death to train before the mission. But, he had wielded swords before, and this was about his last option for victory.

Vin stopped running, his breaths heaving his body up and down roughly, the warmth of his blood that was seeping out of his left shoulder washing away with the cool rain. The very same rain that kept Vin's bangs mattered down like cement, his ponytail long since turning into a painful whip that cracked against his chest, back or even face with every exaggerated, face-paced motion.

"Oh? You've finally decided to stop being a pussy and face me?" Freed stalked out of the darkness, "Lucky, lucky me…"

Freed darted forwards, remaining low to the ground, as his pistol crackled and roared at the worn-out teenager before him.

Vin closed his eyes, and focused his energy into the holy sword in his hands, as the blade lit up with aura, turning from a dull, lifeless grey to a brilliant golden shimmer. As Vin opened his eyes, he could have sworn that time slowed down for a moment, everything was going a bit slower. The bullets that pierced the air towards him? The same speed as someone walking at a brisk pace. Freed himself? He might as well have been wheelchair-bound at that speed…

Vin spun on his right foot, effortlessly pivoting around the stream of gunfire that harmlessly sailed past him. Bringing it around, Vin swung the blade towards Freed's back…

Time returned to normal, as Freed snapped his foot out in a sweep, catching Vin's feet, causing the boy to fall backward, his head knocking against the road. In that moment, Vin's brain scrambled, as his vision swam with blurs of blacks and blues.

If it weren't for the searing pain that howled through the side of Vin's stomach, then he likely would've fallen unconscious there…

"It's time to die, you tenacious little fucker!" Freed stomped on Vin's chest, as the boy cried out in pain. Still, the madman didn't pause, continuing to grind the heel of his boot into the boy's pectorals, leaving him wheezing for breath.

Vin had found himself in a situation like this many times before; face-up, lying down on the ground injured. Maybe if he could regain some coherency, he could find some humor in that. But still, lying here, he knew he had one final option left…

Vin slapped his hand against the pavement below, and the crystals roared to his command. They burst forth from around Vin, directly aiming to do nothing but either stab or squash Freed. The white-haired man shrieked, leaping backwards, as Vin forced himself to his feet, sword clutched tightly in his hands.

If he could just muster one more push, one more final rush of focus, he could end this. One strike, one single strike…

In an impressive display of skill, Freed began to run forward, kicking against the side of one of the concrete barrier walls, then the adjacent one, reaching a great distance in the air in only a second, as plunged his blade down at Vin.

"DDDDDDDIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEE!"

Vin waited for a half a second… NOW!

Golden aura enveloped Rapidly once more, and for a final time, the flow of time seemed to slow. Vin practically threw himself out of the way of Freed's descent, the stray exorcist slamming into the ground, as Vin mercilessly swung down towards the exposed nape of his neck, a guaranteed strike to end him, to chop off his head…

But could he do it? Could he kill like that? Sure, this man was a villain, no doubt. But wasn't this guy also Lint's brother? Sure, from how Freed responded to her name, they certainly didn't seem like they were on the best of terms; but could Vin really ever look Lint in the eyes again, knowing that he was the reason her brother was no longer in this world? Could he kill him just as brutally as Kokabiel killed Ethan?

It was that moment of hesitation that would end up costing Vin everything.

We wasted his chance, and as time sped back to normal, and Freed's eye locked with his, Vin knew that he was about to be shown no mercy.

As fast as the eye could see, Freed slashed his sword upwards as he stood back up, the edge of the blade hacking a devastating line diagonally right up Vin's entire torso. A fountain of crimson expunging out in droves, as Vin screamed. The next second, a bullet had found purchase in Vin's right wrist, causing him to drop Excalibur Rapidly to the floor, it clanging uselessly to the side.

He needed to run. He needed to survive! He had to live, dammit!

Vin smacked his hand and stomped his foot at the same time, all the pain culminating in a dulled, throbbing mess of nerves that Vin couldn't even begin to describe. Even though it came out weak, Vin managed to push Freed away. But how, how was he going to escape? He couldn't run. He certainly couldn't hide.

Then it clicked. An idea formed in his mind. A stupid, and probably suicidal idea that he would never try otherwise. But since he was going to die otherwise…

Vin turned his back towards his exit, and gestured his hand towards himself.

The crystals came at him faster than he thought, and he was only barely able to catch onto them in time in order to ride them as far as he could get away from his would-be murderer. It was enough though, and even as the last of his strength left him, the crystals shattered on their own, leaving Vin waterlogged, bleeding and barely alive in that dirty, flooded, suburban street.

Thank whatever deity or god was watching over him that he collapsed at the feet of one Yuuto Kiba…

Vin looked up at Kiba with eyes half-lidded with agony and exhaustion. His brain couldn't even make any sophisticated string of thoughts. Devil by him. Devils good. Devils will get him help. That was about the peak of his exhausted mental facilities.

Still, Vin pleaded weakly to the blond devil in front of him, " Devil...p-please… help… me… I… d-don't want to… die…"

"Well, well, well… It's like a blast from the past tonight…" Freed creeped out into the road in front of Kiba.

Kiba's features split with rage, "Freed!"

"Glad you remember me, you blonde shitstain!" Freed cackled, as he twirled Excalibur Rapidly in his hands, "You may have gotten the best of me a few months back, but I finally have the perfect thing to hack you to bloody giblets with!"

Freed pointed his stolen blade towards Kiba, "Ta-da~! I introduce to you, the one and only Excalibur Rapidly! Specially designed for killing scum such as yourself."

"Excalibur," Kiba spat, his expression darkening as he constructed a sword in his hands.

"That's right! C'mon, how about you have a little dance with me?" Freed goaded, "The chump I got this off wasn't any fun, he totally whiffed it at the end!"

Kiba threw a quick glance over to Vin, who was slowly writhing on the ground, his body surrounded by a puddle of watery blood. Still, Vin forced himself to glare balefully at the white-haired man across the road.

"T-That's… not… your weapon…" Vin hissed.

"Yeah, yeah, who gives a flying fuck about what the dying man thinks?" Freed snickered, "After all, the ol' boss-man is really going to appreciate when I bring this to him. He was so fucking pissed when he had to leave Rapidly behind."

Vin's glare turned venomous, "...You bastards…"

"Sorry to butt-in," Kiba began to slowly walk towards Freed, his onyx blade poised to strike, "But I'm afraid you aren't going to be taking that thing back to your boss. How about you hand it over to me?"

"No way, I stole it first!" Freed screeched, and in the blink of an eye, the madman was on Kiba.

The two traded blow after blow: Freed's enhanced speed proving to match Kiba's natural quick strikes; raving insanity clashing against enraged, tactical-precision. Every time their blades met, Kiba's would break under the pressure of the holy sword, forcing him to create new ones each and every time; a brilliant waltz of steel and spark under the rainy moonlight.

As the two swordsmen fought each other, Vin could feel himself fade further and further away from consciousness. The edges of his vision were darkening, and he couldn't feel right, couldn't think straight… Yet in his eleventh hour, a small voice pierced through the miasma shrouding his mind, like a telepathic communication that instead of flowing through his ears, shit straight to the core of his neurons.

[Focus on my voice, child; nothing more…]

"B-Bheithir?" Vin slurred and mumbled.

[I'm sorry in advance for doing this, but understand that this is for the sake of keeping my host alive.]

Before Vin could ask what she was planning on doing, Vin fully lost the feeling of his body. It was odd, like an out-of-body experience, the likes of which Vin had never felt before. Yet, even as he struggled to keep his shrinking vision stable, he saw his own body move on it's own.

First, his Sacred Gear slowly summoned itself onto his legs, and then his left arm began to move. It was slow, sluggish, unrefined; yet it's movements seemed nearly unencumbered by the pain of his wounded shoulder. Eventually, his left arm grasped his wounded wrist, and slowly, a small shell of crystal formed over his wrist, the crimson blood clearly showing just behind the foggy-semi-translucent geodes that acted as a rudimentary bandage.

His arms proceeded to continue to act despite his commands, encasing his wounds in crystal to prevent any more blood from being lost than before. His shoulder, then the side of his stomach, and finally, a long coating that covered diagonally up and across his chest, temporarily sealing the worst of his wounds.

Shortly afterward, feeling returned to Vin's body, and once again, he resumed control.

"W...What did you…?"

[I took over your body. I usually wouldn't be able to do that, but with your body so weak, I was able to exert some form of control over it,] Bheithir explained, [Now relax, and try to stay awake. As soon as you can, find someone to help you. The devils, your allies, humans, anyone who can help you. I can't stay here much longer; I'll only harm your body more.]

"G-Gotcha…"

As Bheithir's voice faded from his head, alongside his Sacred Gear, Vin forced his eyes to focus on the fight ahead of him. The pounding of water, and the clashing of steel dominating his hearing, caused Vin to hear nothing but drones and drones, as his delirious brain was sputtering slowly to a halt, as his vision began to turn white…


Only a few moments must have passed, but the feeling of something prodding him spurred him to blink, his vision swimming with vivid colors and shapes, before focusing, his vision slowly returning to him. A slender body, male, was kneeled down, Vin couldn't make out the face, but he seemed all too familiar…

"...E-Ethan?"

Vin continued to squint up at the figure's face, before looking up to the sky, letting out unstable, shaky breaths.

"...I'm sorry Ethan… I… I don't know if I can avenge you… I'm s-s-so… I'm so sorry..."

Yuuto Kiba raised his eyebrows in shock. He had come across this teenager, probably the same age as himself, beaten and bloodied, on the very brink of death. From his clothing, he was definitely someone from the church, and if that didn't prove it, then Freed's testimony and the fact that the kid's aura reeked of holy sword was sufficient enough proof.

Ultimately, Kiba would have expected the boy to have died by now. And while he held no respect for exorcists, especially ones who willingly wielded an Excalibur, of all things; he would have at least taken the body and given it a proper burial, if only to make sure that his master's territory was still functioning correctly. Or former master, he supposed…

Yet, there were things about the boy that drew Kiba's eye; despite being an exorcist, he willingly asked a devil for help. More bizarrely, the kid didn't have a single rosary or cross on him anywhere. What kind of exorcist was this guy?

And then… then there were the ravings that he was spewing right now.

"God… Michael… if y-you're watch-watching… tell me… is… i-is this what you wanted?" Vin violently coughed, blood filling his mouth with the taste of copper, "...Is... Are we j-just a f-f-fucking martyr to you?"

Kiba paused, this boy… He wasn't some religious devotee who willingly threw their life on the line in the name of some god, the same god that let himself and dozens and dozens of nameless kids die after they were considered 'unneeded'. No, this was someone just like him… Another victim of the church's cruelty.

Somewhere within him, Kiba realized something: who would he be to leave someone like the boy before him to die? After all, if there hadn't been kids brave enough to help him escape all those years ago, then he wouldn't be there today. So how could he possibly do right by his fallen comrades if he didn't extend that same help?

"Hey," Kiba slowly and carefully picked up Vin, supporting him by resting the injured boy's right arm over his shoulders, "Can you hear me? Stay with me, c'mon."

Vin turned to face Kiba, his vision slowly clearing, suddenly, Ethan's ginger hair and features melted away to reveal instead a pretty boy with a head of drenched, blonde-hair.

"You can hear me, right?"

"...Yeah…" Vin slurred.

"Alright then, focus on what I say next. You know I'm a devil, right?"

"...Devil? Y-Yes."

"I'm going to teleport you to a house where my other devil friends live, you want to find a girl named Asia Argento, she can heal you. If you say that Yuuto Kiba sent you, then they'll let you in guaranteed."

"...Kiba… A-ask for Asia…"

"You got it," Kiba nodded gravely as a glowing red magic circle spread out around their feet, "Now hold on, and stay with me, we're almost there."

"...N-Not… Going to… D...Die here…"

"Glad to hear it, now get ready," Kiba warned, and a split-second later, the two were evaporated into crimson light.

It was then that Vin finally lost consciousness.


Reappearing at the doorstep to the Hyoudou household, Kiba attempted to jostle Vin in his grasp to get him to wake up, though it was to no avail. Fearing the worst, Kiba pressed his head against Vin's bloodied chest, breathing a sigh of relief as he heard the slow pumping of a heart, and felt the shallow rise and fall of his chest. He was still alive, at least.

But that left Kiba with a whole new problem. He wasn't ready to face his master again. Not after having all but officially run away not eight hours ago. So instead, Kiba gently placed Vin on the doorstep to the house, and in an attempt to signal someone to come down without potentially alerting Issei's parents, the blonde knight instead flared his aura, even activating his Sacred Gear, creating a sword in his hands, Dark Erasure, a sword which he knew Rias would immediately recognize the aura of as distinctly his own.

Kiba stabbed the sword down into stone steps, just shy of Vin's body. Waiting for a moment, and focusing his enhanced hearing, Kiba could distinctly hear two sets of rapid footfalls making their way down a staircase, and a third one padding along not too far from them. Good, it looked like it worked.

Now, he had to leave. The taste of Excalibur was too fresh in his mind, and the hunt was still on. So without sparing a glance, Kiba turned around, spread his devil wings, and took off into the night sky…

When Rias Gremory opened the door that night, shocked at how fast Kiba had already returned to her, she expected a lot. But it was still quite the fright to open the door that night, expecting to see her runaway knight, only to find a single one of Kiba's swords, and the body of a brutalized boy right on her doorstep.

As soon as Issei himself had laid eyes on the boy he remembered seeing earlier that evening, he turned around, and ran back into the house, "Asia! Get here quick, we have an emergency!"


I have returned once again to defy the hiatus I have imposed on myself! I know, I know, it's weird to set a hiatus date, and then post twice during said hiatus, but to tell you all the truth, it's simply because I found pockets of free time as I got more and more schoolwork done.

My exams are coming up in the next two weeks, so I probably won't have any time to write during them, so consider this my announcement that I'm abolishing the hiatus, but just expect infrequent uploads for a little while longer. You'll know when we're fully back in the swing of things when I start doing insane bullshit like uploading chapters every 2-4 days.

It was fun to get back into writing again after so long just… writing essays for my courses; and this chapter proved to be both a really fun time to write, and also a pain in the ass during that last one to two-fifths. Still, this chapter was another idea I had been cooking for a long while, that being the confrontation of Freed and Vin, which was part of the initial concept that led to me deciding to make Vin a member of the church. Plus, I got to write another scene that was implied to happen offscreen, and that was the meeting between the exorcists and Sona/ the Sitri Peerage. It was a cute little interaction to write.

I also wanted to say, thank you so much everyone! During the break between these two chapters, we passed 200 favorites on this story, which is mind-boggling. We keep going up and up, and it's so sweet to see so many people enjoying this story.

Now, without further ado, let's get into the chapter notes!

CHAPTER NOTES

The Chapter Title:

For those of you who may not have picked up on the title, Naked in the Rain is the title of a song by the band DIO, as well as a recurring lyric in a few of Ronnie James Dio's songs. However, it also serves a narrative purpose for this chapter, since the term 'naked' is more so referring to how with Excalibur Rapidly gone, Vin is 'naked' in the rain. Another interpretation is that with Vin's delirious admissions of guilt towards who he thinks is Ethan (but actually Kiba), as well as the part where Vin openly questions the church right after; Vin is laying his usually concealed or buried emotions bare, thus, he's emotionally 'naked' in the rain.

Bheithir Takes Over Vin's Body:

This was sort of foreshadowed in Chapter Thirteen, when Bheithir chooses not to answer Vin's question about how much control she has over his body. Yeah, she can kind of do some scary shit, but we'll explain that a lot later on in the story.

Language Barriers:

This was a very important part of writing this chapter. Since Vin only has the knowledge gained from watching anime (Which is basically nothing), and Xenovia actually knows nothing about the Japanese language, they have to rely on Irina to translate and help them around Kuoh. The choice to make bits of text italicized was in order to help convey who's speaking in Japanese.

Another overall plot detail that you may not have picked up on, or even thought about is this: although this story is written in English, it's assumed or implied in this chapter that everything that Vin hears that comes from a devil or other supernatural being is in Italian. That's the same for Xenovia, and Asia, even after they become devils.

REVIEW ROUNDUP!

Dragonsaiyanblue Says:

"Hello, it's me. Love the chapter so far. Oh man, the tension that Vin and Xenovia will have when she becomes a devil. It would be cool if Vin crystal had the ability to counter both boosted gear and Dividing gear. Also I have a feeling Ddraig is going to know Vin's dragon. It would be cool if after the Excalibur arc Vin leave the church, but form his own group with the aid of his dragon only to show up during the peace meeting to smack the leader for pity war that only cause death and that if they don't change their faction then there will NEVER be peace. Like even after the peace treaty was signed the devils still allowed attack on the church with Diodora and a lot of the devils won't respect the treaty. Like Vin and his gang be the neutral party neutral to force the faction for peace like if devils does something wrong he brings the smack down for the peace Tying the leaders hands as to actually do their job and enforce the treaty or go back to war."

Feels great getting to respond to these again, here we go:

So, first off, I'm glad you loved the chapter, especially after making you and the other wait so long for another one. I hope that you love this one too, I packed it really full, so hopefully it'll tide you and the others off for a while as I take my exams and everything.

The tension between Vin and Xenovia is going to exist as Xenovia becomes a devil, but it may not come exactly in the way you may think... Oh well, we'll just have to wait and see.

Now, about making Vin's Sacred Gear capable of countering the Boosted Gear or Divine Dividing… Short answer, no. But the long answer is that I want to make Vin's Sacred Gear focus on something a little different, and kind of have it be an existence that's separated from the heavenly dragons. As a matter of fact, it's been written and concepted to not even be a Longinus anymore, for a wide variety of reasons that will be the partial or complete focus of arcs in the future. I really want to flesh his Sacred Gear out as a unique, separate identity from either just a 'third heavenly dragon' or 'The one that can beat the others'.

The peace summit arc, which is the next one after this arc, will certainly be interesting, and Vin does have his hang-ups about the way the three-factions operate. Will he start his own team? No, probably not. But will he be fulfilling a different role than just 'friend of the Gremory peerage', like how Irina acts in canon? Sort of, but not really. Without spoiling anything, he's involved enough with the main cast to get roped into situations and conflicts with them, but is also distinctly in a different camp which grants him things that only he can do, or grants him the opportunity to bring some new things to the table.

Thanks for all the continued reviews, I really appreciate it! I hope that you enjoy this chapter; rock on!

darkxlunatiic says:

"I will say it's an interesting chapter but the level of guilt seems overdone and a little extreme for some kissing and heavy petting and almost comes off as out of character for the vin we've seen so far. he's definitely lacking in confidence but this just seem I want to say parody levels of drama."

This is actually a really good review, since it gives me a chance to delve a little deeper into the thought process behind this decision.

I actually already answered this one in a PM that I sent to you on this site, but since you never checked it, or at least responded, I'll put it here for you.

Alright, so yeah, as soon as I got the idea for how I wanted to approach this chapter, I was like, 'Yep, this is going to take a few people back'. Let me do my best to explain, and hopefully you may get the idea a little more.

The main idea is that Vin both has a low self-image, and that he feels like he took advantage of Xenovia during a period of emotional weakness. She's religious, and that's part of the reason Vin feels like he took advantage of her; because he believes that if she was in a normal state of mind, that she would have never agreed to it because of her complete dedication to her faith (keep in mind, we aren't at the point in the story where Xenovia becomes a devil, and thus, premarital sex is sort of just a thing she can do scot-free). The hyperbolic perspective Vin's taking in this chapter is that twisting her emotional state to indulge in her, especially with no mention of love being passed around, is comparable to taking advantage of someone under the influence.

The reactions, especially Vin berating himself mentally is... unfortunately, something that's a bit of a reflection of myself here. Not directly from an experience like this, mind you, but what I do have is experience with some really bad self-loathing that combines with my very active imagination to come up with some not-so-pleasant thoughts and scenarios that play out in my head. So a lot of what was written there was some stuff that came, or at least was inspired by stuff from my experiences. Bheithir's dialogue was actually not in the original draft of this chapter, but I added it in later to balance it out. My number one fear was people coming away from the chapter thinking Vin was a rapist or a villain of some kind. No, he's a kid who thinks he did something really bad, and is a little too scared to face it head on in order to solve it.

I hope that clears a few things up. This chapter puts this sub-conflict on the back-burner as more of a background element, and a large part of why it was so overblown last time was because I had to clearly establish it. Going forward, like in this chapter, I think you'll find the awkward tension a bit more natural, or at least not as forced.

Like I say, I always love to see new people leaving reviews, so thank you so much! Have a great day, and I hope to be reading and answering more reviews from you in the future!

RokenDarkly Says:

"Oh you spoil us! I'm not too fussed about if Vin allies/becomes a devil, but the anticipation for his potential reaction to Xenovia's decision to become a devil and his 'choice words', is almost overwhelming! (Love the cover art!) Also just realized that if Issei acts anything like his normal self Vin probably ain't gonna like him much (especially if he pervs on Xenovia). So unless his somewhat heroic actions during the fight get him on Vin's good side, I doubt he'd be especially happy about the peerage joining at first. He'll calm down after a little Issei threatening, right? Right."

Great to see you, and possibly spoil you again! Writing is super fun, if a little tiring at times, but it's all worth it to see people like you enjoy it so much!

I agree with you, the cover art is fantastic. My friend really captured exactly what I thought Vin to look like; it's like he pulled it straight out of my brain, it's nuts! I want to eventually get more and more commissions and fan art for this story, since that stuff is so cool to see.

Oh, yeah, the tension is building, but in this chapter, you can already see how Vin is sort of interacting with the devils, and by the end of this chapter, we see that Vin's about to be exposed a lot more to the devils a little ahead of supposed schedule. Who knows how that's going to go down!

I plan to keep Issei loud, proud, and in all his perverse glory, while still taking my own little spin on him. I think that even if Xenovia and Vin were in a committed relationship, he would still perv out over her. However, because the romantic connotations are still there, I think there'd be much less ecchi between Issei and Xenovia. Don't forget the majority, if not all of the ecchi scenes featuring Xenovia are instigated by Xenovia. I think that Vin would ultimately just sort of roll with it, and find a close friend with Issei. Cucking Issei is cringe, being best bros with Issei? Now that's based.

Thanks for leaving two great reviews! I can't wait to hear about how you enjoyed this chapter as well. Rock on!


Thanks to everyone who left a review, it really means a lot! And thank you for waiting, I tried putting my heart and soul into this chapter, and it ended up coming out to over 12,000 words! Hopefully, that's enough to tide you all over until I can finish writing exams.

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Once again, thank you for all of your feedback and support on this story! It's like a dream come true! Rock on, everyone, and I'll see you soon for more High School DxD: Alternate!