Chapter 12
Disclaimer: I do not own High school DxD or Fairy Tail they are property of Ichiei Ishibumi and Hiro Masima respectively.
After Kiba started walking away for the second time that night Issei gave up on getting any more answers from him and decided to go to Rias and ask about Kiba's past. Issei returned to the ORC building and luckily found Rias still there.
"Hey Rias would you mind telling me about Kiba's past?" Issei asked.
"What made you ask me about his past?" Rias asked wondering what Kiba said to Issei.
"Kiba just said that something from his past came up and something about revenge on Holy swords" Issei replied.
"I guess I can tell you since he already mentioned it to you" Rias said with a sigh and sat down on the couch.
Flashback start
A young and orphaned Kiba was taken in by the Church. Later he was chosen to be part of a project called "The Holy Sword Project" under the supervision of a man named Valper Galilei. This project performed human experiments on the children that was taken in by the Church and selected to participate in the project.
The goal of the project was to find people who were able to use the seven pieces of Excalibur, the children who were not compatible were disposed of. Valper was excommunicated from the church and the project was shut down after failing to show merit.
Valper decided to eliminate the failures and was directly responsible for the deaths of Kiba's friends and all the other participants. Valper wanted to kill everyone who was associated with the project but Kiba was able to escape with the help of his friends of which he was the sole survivor, before finally succumbing to the poison he inhaled.
It was then that Rias found him and resurrected him as a devil. Kiba took some time to trust people and the person who finally got through to him was his swords master Souji Okita who saved him with a hard battle against a stray devil.
Flashback end
After telling Issei the story Rias went home. Issei thought about what Kiba went through while he walked home and came to the conclusion he will help his friend out.
After Kiba told Natsu his tale Kiba started walking away once again. Natsu reached out and put his hand on Kiba's shoulder. Kiba turned around and looked at the sad expression on Natsu's face.
"We share a similar past in the sense that someone did experiments and that we were part of some great plan. The difference is that in your story all your friends died but you survived and the person responsible only had his own ambitions on his mind. In my story I died and a lot of people got hurt due to the person responsible for bringing me back to life even though he didn't want anyone to be hurt. The person in my story did it out of love for his brother and his only selfish act was his final wish" Natsu said with a sad smile.
"You died?" Kiba asked in shock.
"Yes I was a human but at an early age I died with my parents. My brother dedicated his life to resurrecting me and for meddling with life and death he was cursed with the curse of contradiction, a cure that kills the more you care for life. I am a demon and he used my body to bring me back. We spent a lot of time together and I wasn't affected by the curse because he altered me to be immune" Natsu said remembering his past.
"But couldn't you just be revived with the Evil Piece System? And if your brother was cursed wouldn't every high-class devil be cursed by the same curse?" Kiba asked remembering how he was revived.
"That happened during a time before that system existed and no one is cursed because my brother and I killed the one who was responsible for the curse in hopes of removing it from my brother" Natsu replied.
"Where is your brother now? Did killing that guy remove the curse?" Kiba asked.
"I killed my brother after the curse was removed by Wendy's birth mother" Natsu replied with the sad smile still present.
"What why would you kill your own brother after he revived you, are you some kind of monster?" Kiba asked bewildered by what he just learned.
"Monster huh, yeah I guess I am a monster. As for why I killed my brother it was his one and only wish for as long as I could remember" Natsu said with a chuckle.
"Oh uhm sorry about my outburst" Kiba apologized bowing his head a little.
"It's nothing to be sorry for since I can probably only be called a monster being a demon and dragon hybrid" Natsu said with another chuckle.
"Thanks for sharing your story with me but if you don't mind why did you tell me?" Kiba asked.
"You are currently trying to face your past alone. I had my brother with me and I can tell you doing it alone will not go well, you have friends who can and will help you even of you don't ask. There is nothing wrong with asking for help. I am not going to pressure you to accept the help they offer but I ask you to consider it" Natsu said.
"I'll think about it, I just don't want them to get hurt due to me" Kiba said sadly.
"You already did that by having your attention solely on the past" Natsu reminded him.
"True" Kiba said feeling guilty.
"Think about it" Natsu said before walking away.
As Kiba walked home he saw a young man with short white hair and reed eyes killing a priest. Kiba would have just walked on but when he saw the man was in possession of a Holy Sword he became enraged. He immediately formed a sword and charged the man. The fight is pretty even until Kiba's opponent retreated.
The next week as Natsu was on his way to school after an early morning training session in the dragon realm. As he neared the school gate he saw two young women. One had chin-length blue hair with a dyed green fringe on the right side and brown eyes, she wore a black skin-tight, short sleeve leotard, matching fingerless gloves that extend to her biceps and thigh-high boots, she also wore a white hooded cloak with gold and blue straps. The other one had long chestnut hair tied into twintails each held with a blue scrunchy, she had violet eyes and wore the same attire.
Natsu noticed one of them had a Holy Sword and decided not to confront them now and to let the events play out. The school day went by as usual and after school Natsu spent his time at the ORC building. Soon after Issei asked where Kiba was and nobody having an answer Sona and Tsubaki followed Akeno into the building.
"Rias mind if I discuss two individuals I saw this morning. One of them had a Holy Sword" Sona said getting the attention of everyone at the mention of a Holy Sword.
"You all can leave for the day" Rias dismissed everyone leaving no room for argument.
Rias' peerage left with Wendy in tow but Natsu decided to stay.
"You can go Natsu" Rias said once again.
"I think it would be more interesting if I stayed" Natsu said.
"Fine whatever" Rias said knowing how stubborn Natsu could be and turning to Sona.
"Well this morning I saw two girls outside the school in church battle suits, the thing that got my attention though was the Holy Sword one of them had" Sona said.
"Oh so you saw them as well" Natsu commented.
"Why do you think they will be here?" Rias asked.
"I'm not sure but if they start causing trouble you can ask me for help if you need any" Sona said not wanting a confrontation with the church but willing to help her friend.
"Thank you, I hope nothing will happen but I have a feeling something will happen and one of my peerage members will be involved" Rias said as she thought about Kiba's past and her conversation with Issei about it.
"You're talking about your knight right?" Sona asked knowing the backstory of Kiba.
"Yes he is a bit distracted by it at the moment I think I it will be best if we don't tell him about it until we know more" Rias said wanting to keep everyone under her safe.
"That won't be the best course of action" Natsu commented.
"And why do you say that?" Rias asked.
"Kiba wants revenge think of how he will react if you don't tell him about this after it took him a long time for him to come to trust again after what he went through" Natsu replied.
"How do you know what he went through" Rias asked with curiosity.
"He told me the night after we went to the Hyoudou residence" Natsu simply stated.
"What do you propose then?" Rias asked.
"If I was in your shoes I would tell him the next opportunity you have but also tell him not to be aggressive towards them until we find out what their business is because it might align with his revenge" Natsu proposed.
"And how might it be aligned with his revenge?" Rias asked not sure how the church would seek revenge against the Holy Sword project.
"Not revenge but they did excommunicate the leader of the project indicating that they are against its existence as well in some form" Natsu replied as if reading Rias' mind.
"That actually might be true" Sona contributed her thoughts on the topic.
"All right I will follow your advice but if this blows up in our faces you will be held responsible" Rias said.
With that the informal meeting was over and everyone left.
When Issei, Asia and Wendy walked home Issei started to feel uneasy and when Asia asked him what was up he said that something tells him that there is something going down at his house. Wendy and Asia decide to accompany him to his home to ensure everything was right and if needed provide backup.
When the party arrived at the Hyoudou residence they found the two girls who Natsu saw this morning talking to Miki.
"Oh hello Issei look who made a surprise visit" Miki said as the group walked in while motioning to the two girls.
"Who are they mom?" Issei asked not being able to identify any of them.
"Don't you remember Irina Shidou? You two were such good friends when you were younger" Miki replied now pointing to the girl with chestnut hair.
"Irina sorry you just changed a lot since last I saw you" Issei apologised.
"It's no problem that was years ago" Irina replied.
"What are you doing here?" Issei asked.
"Well me and my friend, Xenovia Quarta here, are just here in town for a visit and I decided to pop in here" Irina replied and introduced her friend.
After the five introduced themselves they talked for a while before Miki returned with a question.
"Why don't you stay for lunch and catch up" Miki invited them.
"Sorry about that Miss Hyoudou but we have some business we must complete" Xenovia respectfully declined the invitation.
"Yeah sorry Miss Hyoudou maybe next time" Irina said.
The two girls left the house after saying goodbye to the group. Issei then walked outside with Wendy and Asia.
"Thanks for coming with me you two" Issei said.
"No problem I'm just happy nothing bad happened" Asia said.
The two girls left returning home. When they got home they told Rias and Natsu about the meeting and after describing the two girls they could see Rias stiffen a bit while Natsu got a little grin as if he was expecting something fun to happen soon.
The next day after school the ORC was just relaxing in the ORC building with Natsu busy in the kitchen. Suddenly Xenovia and Irina entered the room.
"Rias Gremory we have something to discuss with you" Xenovia said looking at the redhead.
"What do you want?" Rias asked irritated that these girls just strolled in as if they own the place.
"We have come to this town to retrieve a stolen Excalibur sword and request you to not interfere with our business" Irina answered a bit more politely.
"I personally won't interfere with your business unless a danger is posed to those under me" Rias said making sure to not antagonise them while still keeping an option open for her to interfere if need be.
"Thank you" Irina said before turning to walk away.
"I was told you were once known as the 'Holy Maiden' but you were excommunicated as a 'Witch' Asia. When I met you yesterday I didn't see any reason to take action but now that I see you associate with devils and it seems as if you even became one of them I feel disappointed. I am disappointed that a follower of the Church would join the devils, but you can still be saved by dying for your sins" Xenovia berated Asia.
"Hey take back what you said to Asia. You don't know what kind of person she is. You will apologise to her now or I will make you" Wendy yelled at the rude girl.
"You want a fight because if you insult my friends that is exactly what you get" Issei challenged them.
"I will not stand by while a Holy Sword is in this town" Kiba said standing next to Issei.
"What's with the yelling?" Natsu asked as he came from the kitchen with a plate of muffins.
"Oh it's you Church people, what can we do for you" Natsu asked as he saw Xenovia and Irina.
"Just stay out of our way" Xenovia rudely replied.
"Hey what did I do?" Natsu asked without getting an answer as Issei made himself known again.
"Let's settle this with a fight so that I can teach you to not insult my friends" Issei declared.
"What's this about a fight? Can I join?" Natsu asked excited.
"Please don't fight them Natsu I don't want to antagonise the church by having you kill them" Rias said fearing the repercussions that would come if Natsu killed the church girls during a fight.
"I can hold my power in check" Natsu pouted.
"Fine let's take this outside" Irina said just wanting to get this over with.
The group went outside where Kiba faced Xenovia while Issei stood across from Irina.
"Can I ask that there be no fatal blows please" Rias asked.
"Fine whatever" Xenovia said drawing Durandal, her Holy Sword.
"I knew I sensed one of those disgusting weapons" Kiba said as he saw the Holy Sword and formed a demonic sword of his own and taking a battle stance.
"No hard feelings Issei?" Irina asked her childhood friend as she drew sword.
"I will defeat you" Issei declared summoning his red gauntlet on his arm.
"Let the battle begin" Rias shouted.
And that is where Chapter 12 ends. Hehe I know I', a bad person for ending on a cliff-hanger. How will this fight play out will the training they did with Natsu help them win or will they fall? And what will happen next? That is to be seen in the next chapter. See ya next time.
