After grabbing some Lunch, the four of us got back to hunting down the stolen Excalibur pieces.

"Now that we know Valper is in this town, I don't suppose you have an idea where he could be as well?" Xenovia asked me.

"No clue. We already ruled out the abandoned building with the panty thief. There's also an abandoned church we ought to try – the one with a massive hole out front."

"I wonder who caused that," Irina said.

"Who knows?" I replied. "There's also a warehouse that's also a stray devil hotspot he might be at."

"Let's split up," said Xenovia, "We'll check the Church. You two check the warehouse. Call me if you find anything."

"Okay," I said as we went our separate ways. "Try not to get killed."

"The two of us are at a disadvantage, aren't we, though?" Yuuto asked me. "They both got Excaliburs, which have been established already to be superior to even anything I can produce, and you don't even have a sword."

"I still have my Holy Magic. I would have just used that against Freed but I really wanted to kill him with a sword at that time."

"Oh. I feel you, man."

"Hey. Wait for me!"

Asia was rushing towards me and Yuuto. She was followed by someone else muttering.

"Oh man, the Class President is gonna murder me for this… but I just couldn't act uncool in front of Asia-chan!"

"Ah, Saji. What's going on?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing much. It's just your servant batted her puppy-dog eyes at me telling me she needed to 'Save Makoto and Yuuto' and I just couldn't say no."

"Well, shit," I muttered. "Sorry, Asia, I should've given you a heads up before running off suddenly like that."

On second thought, she doesn't seem the type to keep secrets very well, so that probably would've been a bad idea.

Though, then again, the fact that she's here may imply she's more okay with us defying Rias' order than I thought.

"No. That's fine," she replied. "I didn't say anything about needing help, though."

"I still can't leave you hangin' like that!" Saji exclaimed. "I don't know what I'd do if I let one of my Juniors get hurt!"

"But we're in the same year."

"Well, in any case, I'm glad the three of us are here," I stated. "As the only three men in this school, we gotta stick together."

"But wait, what about Matsuda and Motohama?" Asia asked.

"The only three men in this school…" I insisted.

"There's also a first year-" Saji began to say.

"So, let's go check out this warehouse,"

Saji started to mutter "Oh, God. I'm in trouble," over and over.

As we approached the warehouse, Asia began to ask,

"So why does Excalibur bother you so much, Yuuto?"

"I watched my friends die because of the Holy Sword Project. I would have joined them if it weren't for the President." Yuuto said. "Ever since then, my goal in life was to avenge my comrades that Valper Galilei senselessly murdered, and in the name of God for that matter. I need to prove that I'm stronger than those Holy Swords."

"You don't have to do it alone! I have firsthand experience with those who do evil in the name of God!" Asia said, with a confidence I've never seen before. "I want to help you stop them!"

"Wow, Fujiwara, your confidence seems to have rubbed off on her. Helping you guys out may be worth getting punished by the Class President after all," Saji said to me. "Speaking of which. I happen to have a dream myself,"

"And what might that be?" I asked.

"I wanna impregnate the Class President and marry her!" he said without hesitation.

"Well…" I replied. "Good luck with that."

"And what might yours be?"

"Mine's more the reverse of yours. Get married, find someplace quiet to live, maybe have a couple kids."

"Ooh. That one actually sounds better. I need to think of that now. With whom? I've already called dibs on the Class President!"

"I'm not sure, I was thinking maybe Ak-"

As I was saying that. Yuuto suddenly went defensive and Saji followed suit.

"What's going on?" Asia said.

"Is it Freed?" I asked.

"No," Yuuto said. "It's a Stray Devil. A dangerous one."

"Ah. That was rather rude of you to call a lady that, nya."

The woman in question had black hair and was wearing her kimono quite loosely. What was the most notable, however, was her cat ears and twin tails.

"We need to alert the President now," Yuuto said.

"But wait! Aren't we in trouble already!?" Saji said.

"Sona doesn't know what you were doing yet, Saji, so you are safe," I said. "Besides, getting disciplined by our masters is the least of our worries right now."

"You boys don't have to fret, nya. I don't wish to fight you." the stray devil said. "I was actually hired by the Grigori to keep tabs on the Purist Faction. If you were looking for them, you just missed them."

"Well, shoot," Saji commented. "Guess we'll have to keep looking."

"The name's Kuroka, by the way," she said to me, getting dangerously close. "Tell Shirone I said Hi."

"Wait a second!" I exclaimed to her as she leapt through a hole in the roof. "Who the hell is Shirone?"

She looked down at us. "Aren't the two of you already well-acquainted, nya?"

What does she mean by that? Is it someone in the club?

I called Xenovia on the phone. "What's up? You find anything?" she answered.

"Other than a strange catgirl, nope," I replied. "You?"

"Nothing. The place is abandoned."

"Let's regroup in the Park and figure things out from there."

"Roger."

I hung up. "Who was that?" Saji asked.

"An exorcist."

Saji froze up. "An exorcist!? Oh, hell no!"

"It's okay, Genshiro." Asia replied. "They're helping us."

"Dogs and cats living together. Mass hysteria!" Saji muttered as we exited the warehouse.

We arrived in the park to meet up with Irina and Xenovia.

"You know what's taking them so long?" Yuuto asked.

"I think that Church is farther out from here than the Warehouse is," I replied. "I would give them a few more minutes."

Unfortunately. It was about to be a long few more minutes as Yuuto and Saji suddenly got on the defensive and then Yuuto narrowly blocked a sword strike from a leaping white-haired priest.

"I knew something reeked of hypocrisy around here," I said. "Tell me, Freed, whatever happened to 'good girls kneel before their master,' anyway?"

"As if I would reveal my ways to a devil sympathizer like you, Angelface!"

"I'm going to destroy that sword of your's once and for all," Yuuto said, as swords suddenly appeared around him. "You won't get away this time!"

"I think we've established that the speed of Excalibur Rapidly is too much for little toy swords to handle, pretty boy." Freed replied.

"I've dealt with a swordsman I couldn't block before. You'll go down just like him!"

Yuuto charged at Freed at they got into a fierce struggle.

Just like the last time, the both of them were extremely fast. Anytime Freed took a swing at him, he either was able to dodge it or he let his sword be shattered and it was replaced just as quickly.

"Your Sacred Gear seems to be more than that Holy Eraser you seem to like using," Freed commented as they continued sparring. "Could it be the ultra-rare Sword Birth?"

At multiple points during their battle I attempted to take potshots at Freed with my Power of Retribution, but I kept missing every time. It didn't help that I had to be careful not to hit Yuuto, who would be hurt even more by the attack.

To rub salt on the wound, Freed would keep saying "Missed me~!" every single time I tried it.

"Dammit. He's too fast."

He then ambushed me, grazing my chest region as I narrowly moved out of the way as he then proceeded to continue his lightning-fast duel with Yuuto.

Asia rushed to heal the wound that Freed had dealt.

"Good thing you're not a devil or that would have been bad," Saji said. "Let me help you out here. Line Out!"

A lizard-like device appeared on Saji's arm and it released a cord that wrapped its way around Freed's leg, stopping him dead in his tracks.

"Thanks, Saji."

"It's my Sacred Gear, Absorption Line."

"What!? Another Sacred Gear?" Freed exclaimed as he attempted in vain to cut through the line. "This looks like one of those troublesome dragons too!"

So Rias was right, Saji has a dragon spirit like mine.

I fired my Power of Retribution at Freed, but he managed to cut through right through it with his Excalibur before it got a direct hit.

"Ooh. That stings!"

That allowed me to get within range of him. I attacked him with one of my swords of light, which he blocked and then shattered with his Excalibur. I guess the durability of my swords is about on par with Yuuto's.

However, I then managed to block a second strike with my Dividing Gear, and then proceeded to punch him in the gut with it.

"DIVIDE!"

"That's quite the durable piece you have there, Angelface."

"It's a Dragon Arm. Of course it's durable."

I then turned to Yuuto.

"TRANSFER!"

I transferred the Divided power to him. "Thanks, Makoto!" He then struck the ground with one of his blades.

"SWORD BIRTH!"

Several blades began to erupt from the ground and Freed was furiously trying to cut through each of them.

Again, they weren't that durable, but the sheer numbers were overwhelming Freed.

"So, this is Sword Birth. I've heard it has quite the variety of powers."

An older man began to observe us.

"Oh! Glad to see you here, Gramps!" Freed said to him.

"Valper Galilei!" Yuuto exclaimed.

So that's him. The "mastermind" behind the Holy Sword Project that Yuuto loathed so much.

"Indeed I am."

"Hey, Gramps! I can't get this stupid tongue off me!" Freed told him.

"Try focusing the Holy Element in your body to the blade. That should do the trick."

"Oh! Like this?" Freed's blade began to glow bright and he managed to cut right through Saji's Absorption Line.

"And now I take my leave! Bye~!" Freed said as he began to run off.

But not before he was stopped by Xenovia and her Excalibur.

"You aren't getting away that easy!"

"Hey, Makoto! Catch!"

Irina suddenly threw a dodgeball at me. As I was about to catch it, the ball morphed into the hilt of Excalibur Mimic!

"Thanks, Irina!"

"Oh, of course Gabriel's brat can wield an Excalibur!"

Me and Xenovia had Freed surrounded.

"Looks like you're a natural with that thing," Xenovia told me. "I also happen to be a natural-born wielder."

"Yeah, but I'm the son of a Seraph. That's not as impressive as a human like you."

"We need to fall back," Valper said. "You're outnumbered. We'll deal with those exorcists and the angel at some other time."

"Roger that!" he said as he pulled a flashbang from his jacket, "Bye losers!"

The two of them disappeared in a flash of light.

"Irina! Stay with Makoto! Me and Yuuto are going after them!"

They then ran off to chase after Freed and Valper.

I handed Irina the Excalibur she gave me. "Here's your sword back."

"You can keep it," she said. "Lady Gabriel met us after we searched the Church and she said she had a sword she wanted to give me."

"Okay,"

I then transformed the blade into a wristwatch, which I placed on my right arm.

"Wow. It can even tell the time!"

I then noticed two flashes of light behind us.

"Saji. Explain this right now."

Sona and Rias had teleported in. Oh crap.

"It's my fault, Class President." I explained. "I got him and Asia dragged into this."

"I appreciate your honesty, Fujiwara, but Saji's responsible for his actions, not yours."

Saji turned deathly pale! He was then pulled towards Sona as Rias walked towards me.

"You should have given me a heads up," she said. "I would've brought help to you sooner."

"Wait. You're not mad at me?"

"Why else did I send Asia to you?"

That explains a lot.

"And besides, you're not one of my servants. You should be able to make your own decisions."

"Well that's a relief."

I then saw a flash of light followed by Saji screaming in pain.

Saji wasn't kidding. He's literally getting his ass whooped (with demonic magic, no less) for acting out of turn.

"Let's get Dinner together, you all must be starving. You're free to come with us too, Irina."

"Oh, come on!" I heard Saji cry out.

"That's their business. You have 990 left!"

Looks like he has a long way to go before he achieves his dream.

It's about to be a very long night for Genshiro Saji.

She even picked the same nice restaurant that I took Yuma to on her assassination attempt with me. Now I really feel bad for Saji.

"Were you two able to find Yuuto?" Rias asked me.

"Yes. But he and Xenovia ran after Freed and Valper Galilei after our fight with them."

"At least we know where to look now. I know Koneko and Aika seemed quite lonely without him around. Akeno and I are sending familiars to track his location."

"Xenovia said something about me and her being 'natural-born' to wield Excalibur," I said to Irina. "What does that mean?"

"I was able to be trained with Excalibur thanks to the Holy Sword project's research," Irina replied. "Xenovia, however, was chosen based on her natural skill. She's actually working on mastering a blade whose strength rivals all pieces of Excalibur combined!"

"Well, I guess we're lucky to be on her side then!" Rias said.

"I know!" Irina said, "You've been so hospitable to us! If I didn't know any better, I would have mistaken you for an angel."

"I appreciate the compliment."

"We later found out about the Project's barbaric treatment of their test subjects and the Church charged that "Genocide Archbishop" with heresy and had him excommunicated."

"What do you know about that priest, Freed Sellzen?" Rias asked.

"He was a former exorcist of the Vatican. A child prodigy," Irina replied. "However, his fame from the slaying of Devils and Beasts got to his head and he also began slaying our allies and was also excommunicated."

"Figures," I said. "Even after he found out I was an angel, he's still insistent on bringing the wrath of God upon me."

"He also made inappropriate comments to my former fallen angel master that she took offense to." Asia commented.

"Knowing her, I doubt she would have had any of that," I replied.

"Yeeeoww! I said be gentle!" said Saji

"The more you squirm, the longer this is gonna hurt," I said.

Saji was lying down on our couch and Asia and I were using our powers to heal Saji's sore ass, over the pants, of course.

"We're part of the reason this happened so we're doing this to help you."

"It's gonna be over soon," Asia assured him. "I promise."

"Oh, man. My butt is destroyed," he commented.

"Now you know how my balls feel…"

"I still think they shouldn't be allowed to heal him," Sona said to Rias. "He needs more time to reflect on what he's done."

"I think it was more than enough," Rias replied.

"His actions reflect on me. He should learn that sooner than later."

"Maybe you should be more attentive to the feelings of your servants."

"Hmm… Maybe you're right…"

"Hey, Makoto. Could you take a look at this?" Irina asked me as we finished healing Saji.

She was looking at something on Mom's laptop.

"I've been thinking about buying this painting of a Saint but Xenovia kept saying it was fake."

I looked at the picture of the painting she was referring to.

"Who the heck is that?"

"I think that's… St. Peter?"

"It's a fake."

"C'mon! I thought you would be on my side, here!" she protested, "Xenovia didn't understand because she's Catholic!"

"Anyone with half a brain would question why the apostle Peter is throwing kisses!"

"Wait, that's what he was doing?"

Before we could finish that, I heard a loud crash through the front window!

It was Xenovia! Something had sent her flying through the window with great force. She looked badly hurt and, more importantly, was missing her sword.

"You're paying for that, you cur!" Mother yelled.

"Sorry to interrupt you and your girlfriend's wedding plans, Angelface, but there's someone out here who wants to meet you all!"

Out the window that had been graciously opened for us, past Freed, was the sight of a fallen angel.

A dangerous one, with ten wings!

"Asia. Take care of Xenovia," Mom said. "I want to see who is foolish enough to cause damage to my property!"