Azazel had to admit, the ex-nun was highly entertaining. While on the outside she acted sweet, naive and innocent, the real Asia was vastly different.
It was clear she had become so used to maintaining a certain image that it would take a while before her real self felt safe enough to shine.
Case in point, the hilarious as hell first encounter with Vali and his Bishop Kuroka.
Asia had come to challenge Azazel in one of his many, many vintage game collections. She lost spectacularly, but gave a surprisingly strong showing.
When Azazel happened to mention his ward, and how he was a battle-mad idiot, Asia's expression perked up.
"Wait...so your ward is one of those idiots who gets off challenging people stronger than them, is too stubborn to back off from a fight there's no way in hell he can win, and is the type of person who would likely take one look at a 'sweet, innocent' nun and dismiss them as a threat if they weren't leaking an obvious aura of general competence?" said Asia.
"Yup," said Azazel, grinning wickedly as he had a pretty good idea where this was going and knew it was going to be damn hilarious for him.
"I'm sensing an opportunity for blackmail, twisted amusement, and a much overdue dose of needed humility," said Asia. Her aura reminded Azazel strongly of his son.
The wicked grin on his face said volumes, and it reminded Asia of Reborn in the worst ways possible.
"Tell me what you need and when you want to do this. I want to capture that moment forever," said Azazel.
Asia cackled. That was pretty much carte blanche to do her worst to an arrogant hothead
So...pretty much her average Tuesday for her then. Kyouya had taken forever to earn any respect from as well.
One week later...
Azazel was glad he had handed over the camera to Baraquiel. He was too busy laughing his damn ass off at the expression Vali had after being hit by a literal blessed shot gun in the hands of an 'innocent' nun who looked like they couldn't hurt a fly.
It only got better from there, and soon he wasn't the only one trying very hard not to laugh as Vali had dismissively told Kuroka not to bother interfering.
Kuroka found herself helplessly holding back her own laughter as the "sweet, innocent little girl" turned into a bigger badass than even Vali himself.
Even with Albion's assistance (the dragon was finding this entirely too amusing), Vali was getting his ass kicked. At first, it looked like he might win...for the first five minutes anyway. Then Asia apparently shook off whatever imaginary rust she had and began to beat the shit out of him until he found himself a groaning mess.
"Where on earth did you find her?" cackled Kuroka.
"She found me," said Azazel, though he still had trouble controlling his snickering. "I'm going to have to do something nice for that idiot son of mine...she's the most entertaining student he's had yet!"
That Cavallone kid was amusing, but too clumsy for his tastes. This girl though was a riot in all the best ways possible.
Asia walked back, slightly scuffed but still smug. Kuroka just wanted to glomp her.
"You are too adorable! Where did you learn to fight like that?" asked Kuroka.
"I was responsible for not one or two, but almost ten overpowered idiots who got off on a good fight. The best way to make them respect my authority was to beat the living hell out of them to the point that they learn not to treat me like a fragile doll all the damn time," said Asia annoyed. "Honestly, beating them black and blue wasn't the hardest part of keeping them in line."
"What was the hardest part?" asked Baraquiel, mostly out of morbid curiosity.
Asia's expression became rather haunted.
"The paperwork. Dear god, the sheer amount of paperwork those morons could generate on a good day... the expense reports, the therapy bills, the construction costs, the hospital bills...having to deal with people coming to bitch at me for them not understanding or caring that collateral damage is an actual thing and not to blow up at every perceived slight..." said Asia, a bit of a rain cloud starting to form over her head.
Azazel, rather than laugh that depressing thought off, looked more sympathetic. Then again he had to do his own paperwork and understood what a nightmare that was. He patted her on the head.
"And that was dealing with my own people...I also had a castle full of bored assassins that didn't respect me at all because of how I got the post and because who my father was. If it wasn't for me putting the actual wrath of god on their ass I never would have escaped that desk..." said Asia, still going into her own personal nightmare.
Kuroka noticed Vali was still out cold in the crater.
"Is he going to be okay?"
"Give me an hour or two to recover my magic, and I'll fix him up," said Asia. "The better question is... are those ears real, and if they are can I touch them?"
Kuroka grinned.
"Only if you let me hug you."
"Deal," said Asia.
By the time Vali was brought back to the world of the conscious, Kuroka had all but adopted Asia and Asia had another new friend to share her sweets with.
She sympathized with Kuroka's issue regarding her little sister...that mess had been out of her hands and it wasn't fair that the high class devils were filled with assholes.
Asia was half asleep when Miki handed her a cup of espresso. She fully blamed Reborn as he had ruined her for the cheap stuff.
"Oh dear...Issei is going to be late at this rate. Do you think you can wake him up?" asked Miki.
"Okay," said Asia.
Being in a good mood, Asia lightly knocked on the door in case he was already up and doing something she had no interest in walking in on.
What she found immediately gave her headaches.
Rias was in Issei's bed passionately asking him to sleep with her, and Asia's intuition warned her that not everything was what it looked like. She didn't take Rias to be that easy, and she hadn't shown any interest in Issei as more than a subordinate before now.
Her suspicions were confirmed when someone showed up and dragged her off, radiating enough energy that even Azazel would have given pause at the thought of pissing her off.
The moment she got to school, she went straight to the club room to get answers.
"So let me get this straight... a fiance you didn't ask for and want nothing to do with is trying to call in the contract early," said Asia.
"Unfortunately," said Rias.
"Where's the contract?" asked Asia.
"What?"
"The contract. Things like things like this generally create paperwork to make it official, if only for record keeping purposes."
Rias looked at the older woman dressed as a maid. The woman had a blank expression, but she was giving Asia a measured look at the moment.
"The only way I can get out of the contract is by beating Riser in a Rating Game."
"Is that what it explicitly states, or what they told you?" asked Asia.
Rias was dumbfounded. Asia smiled knowingly.
"You never actually read the full contract, and took their word for face value," guessed Asia.
Rias looked at the older woman.
"I can get a copy of the contract."
"Can I also have a book on current and past underworld laws, just for reference?" asked Asia politely. The woman nodded, then gave Rias a Look.
Two hours later, Kiba deposited the required items and Asia got special permission from Sona to skip the rest of class that day to see what she could do.
Rias was an amateur. The contract looked impressive and was written in a headache inducing legalize, but after three hours she was already spotting loopholes and half-assed clauses that could be exploited.
As it turned out, the Rating game wasn't the only way Rias could have gotten out of the contract.
Some of them were rather...unpalatable, and some were almost impossible. However there were a few ways Rias could get out of this engagement without compromising her morals. Whatever morals a Devil had anyway.
Asia returned to the clubhouse to report what she had found. Some of the loopholes would take too much time to implement and all signs indicated a major time crunch.
"Hey Rias, I found a few things I think might work, if we do them right," said Asia.
Before Rias could answer, a teleportation circle formed in the club house. What stepped out explained her near desperation to have Issei deflower her this morning.
Asia immediately disliked the idiot. While Issei was a pervert, he wasn't a complete bastard. This fool had clearly given into his own lust and wasn't ashamed of this fact. He had power and money and no real redeeming characteristics at the moment. Worse, his parents were clearly encouraging it because he was a Pure Blood Devil.
And the peerage...sure, they had some modicum of power, but the arrogance level was eclipsing what little skill they had.
When they left, Asia turned to Rias.
"That was your fiance?"
Rias nodded miserably.
"Why on earth is he so desperate to marry you now?" said Asia. This Riser character clearly had a decently sized harem, so it wasn't like he was lacking in bed partners.
"I have no idea. They said I had until graduation to marry him, then all of a sudden I got a notice that the agreement was sped up," said Rias annoyed.
A week really wasn't enough time to get them all up to standards, even if Asia pulled out the big guns and put them all into Reborn-hell training.
Which meant they would need a plan and a damn good one at that. From what she could tell, the maid (Rias later introduced her as her sister-in-law Grayfia) was fond of Rias, but her hands were tied politically.
Asia had a headache.
Rias was sitting outside the retreat, having become exhausted after the training Asia insisted was mandatory if she expected this to work.
She noticed Asia walking up towards her.
"You were going to tell me what you found earlier about the contract."
"Whoever told you that your only option was to face Riser in a Rating Game was either lying or failed to inform you of all the loopholes in the contract," said Asia. "Some are impossible, some are difficult, and some would have long term repercussions, but there are other alternatives to beating him in a Rating Game. The problem is that the backlash would be severe."
"How severe?" asked Rias.
Asia brought out the contract and pointed to certain passages.
"The first option...you plead your case to a power higher ranked than the two parties who created the contract and ask for them to arbitrate the matter as a neutral third party. Risky, and difficult since it would mean that your brother would owe whoever agrees to it a massive favor. And they would have to be at least his level of power to pull it off, politically."
Rias winced at the thought. There was no way that would end well, and as the younger sibling to one of the four Satans it would require someone like Azazel or worse Micheal to act in her stead and have it taken seriously. Her situation wasn't that dire, in her opinion. Besides, she had no idea how to contact them and she knew perfectly well there was no way in heaven her brother would help.
Asia pointed to another section.
"Option two, the Rating Game. There is a clear cut clause that allows you an out so long as you beat your fiance, if only to claim that he wasn't worthy of you as a potential match. The problem is that it potentially opens you up to other, more dangerous people who might try to challenge you in exchange for your hand later," said Asia. "Never mind that most of your Peerage isn't fully combat trained and Issei's situation is rather awkward to say the least."
"What's the last option?"
"You abdicate your title as the heir of Gremory, ask formally for protection from your brother and allow your nephew to take on the duties as the Heir of Gremory."
Rias stared at her.
"Are you serious?"
"The entire contract is contingent on the fact that the 'heir of Gremory' marry a male of the main Phenex house of suitable age. The entire contract is a political betrothal to the two houses. Remove yourself from the Gremory family and technically they have no hold over you anymore. However it also removes the protections of the house of Gremory from you, among other things. It would also mean your brother would have full control over your love life and it would be expected he arrange a different partner for you to calm the backlash. If only to solidify his son's standing as the new heir."
Rias stared.
"It actually says that?" she asked, baffled.
"Not explicitly. But the law the contract is based on is heavily implied in one of the sub-clauses under a rather obtusely worded paragraph that took me a few minutes to translate from legalese, and most of that was finding out which ancient tradition it was referencing," said Asia. "Coincidentally when this is over you owe me some serious alcoholic beverages...contracts like this should never be contemplated while looking for loopholes sober."
"Deal," said Rias promptly.
"Also I wrote down exactly where to find what I told you in the contract, the by-laws and everything else in a notebook I handed to your sister-in-law. I'm sure your brother has a copy as we speak."
Rias contemplated Asia for a moment.
"Do you want to hit the liquor cabinet now or after the game?"
"Now please...just going through the first half gave me a massive headache Twilight Healing won't cure," said Asia.
Coincidentally Asia would leave that particular training camp with several high quality bottles of liquor with complements of Rias. She knew Twilight Healing would cure any damage the higher proofs would give the ex-nun, not to mention the hangover. Besides, she had earned it.