"Oh yes! That's the spot. You're getting knots I didn't even know were there…"
"It is my duty to be thorough…"
I was currently lying on my stomach while my back was being massaged by Grayfia as part of an evening spa regimen after my rigorous training regimen.
"I understand that." I replied. "I just didn't think you would be quite the masseuse."
"My job is to serve the house of Gremory… by any means necessary."
"Well, that certainly is thorough," I commented.
"By the way," I added. "What have you heard about Lord Amon and his wife?"
"… Many rumors," she said. "But I know for a fact that Lady Mara tragically passed about 17 or so years ago, while her son Milcom was merely 5 years old. No one knows for sure. Some say she fell ill, while others say she was murdered."
"If she was murdered, do you think it had to do with the Khaos Brigade?"
"That's the typical reasoning to why some say she was murdered. Especially with her son being tangled up with that lot."
"What about Iblis?"
"Even more rumors. Why do you ask about these matters?"
"Just a hunch," I said. "My sources may not be reliable."
She got to my arms and shoulders. "Your muscles have certainly developed over the last couple days."
"That's to be expected, with the training and all…"
"I must say, you are becoming quite handsome…"
"Pardon?"
I glanced at her face, which was looking quite flush! Did she drink one too many glasses of wine during dinner again?
She hastily rubbed the side of her head as I glanced at her. "My apologies. I am getting a bit tired. I will get you your change of clothes and prepare the sauna for you."
As she escorted me over, I could see a bit of embarrassment was starting to break from her usual stoic persona.
As I was about to enter the sauna she asked, "This will be it for tonight. Will you need any further assistance in the sauna?"
"No, I do not," I said, and I put my hand on her shoulder. "Get some rest, Grayfia. You've earned it."
This got a slight smile out of her. "You are too kind. I look forward to serving you tomorrow, Makoto."
I can sense a pattern from this and the other incident in the bath back at home. Once she's had enough to drink, her strict inhibitions flip 180 degrees. She, a married woman, said that last bit like she was my girlfriend.
"Good grief…" I muttered as I entered the sauna.
A few moments later as I was getting settled in, someone else walked in.
"Don't get any ideas…" Koneko said as she entered with a towel and cat ears.
"Relax," I assured. "You're not my type."
"Which is tall with big breasts I assume?"
"Yes. Anyway, what are you doing here?"
"The President suggested I go in here to clear my head so I can begin to work on senjutsu tomorrow."
"Understandable," I replied. "So, you're trying to calm your… spiritual energy or something?"
"Senjutsu allows youkai such as myself to channel the life force of yourself and other living things."
"So, it's like ki attacks in shonen manga."
"If that helps a simple-minded person like you understand, then yes. Senjutsu also can be used for healing and utility purposes. It essentially allows you to control other's spiritual energy, but improper use of negative energy can corrupt the user… like my big sister…"
It's glaringly obvious she still holds a grudge against Kuroka after all that she went through with her. I can see why Rias suggested she come here, as it obviously takes a calm mind to control such power. It's clear she doesn't want to follow whatever path her sister followed.
However, I was reaching an epiphany after Koneko was explaining senjutsu to me.
"Healing? Life force?" I muttered to myself.
"What are you muttering about?"
"Oh, nothing. I think my mom said something about how she and Akeno's mom had some power over spirits or something… I dunno… Just a brain wave."
"Okay. Well, shut up and let me meditate here."
I nodded. Whatever the case, paying attention to Koneko might do me a bit of good right now.
After the incident the other night in the dragon mountains, we had agreed to meet back up to meet back up and continue where we left off.
Ravel and I met up with Riser and Sairaorg in the nearby town square.
"So…" Riser began. "Where are we going?"
"Your sister found an odd passageway around where you were supposed to finish." Sairaorg explained.
"I did finish!" he said.
"While I got to enjoy spa treatments, I suppose?" I remarked.
"I'll have you know I totally kicked your ass even in Balance Breaker."
"I would have gotten right back up if you didn't make me land next to a bunch of cute girls in the hot springs, which, by the way, makes you the loser."
"Must you boys bicker over such a petty matter!?" Ravel protested.
"Sorry, Ravel." I said.
"I'm still stronger…" Riser muttered.
"Koneko would disagree…" I muttered in response.
As I said that, I noticed two girls wearing leather jackets approaching us. Riser looked wary as bystanders appeared to be walking away from us as they walked up to the four of us.
"The Boss told me you're looking for her, are ya?"
"Who?" Riser inquired.
"I believe I am," I replied to the girl.
"Ya got proof of allegiance?" the other asked me.
I reached into my pocket and rustled through my wallet. I found that coin that Rahab had given me.
"This it?"
She smirked.
"We'll lead you to her."
Riser looked incredibly lost as she lead us through an alley to a small abandoned-looking warehouse. One of the girls rapped on the door to a familiar-sounding beat.
"Whoever came up with that passcode has good taste in music…" I muttered.
"You do realize who these people are, right?" Riser questioned.
"Relax, I'm pretty sure she's on our side… right now…"
Another girl opened the door and nodded as the other two escorted us in. The first room appeared to be a garage filled with not only motorbikes but also some gnarly swords and even a couple spellbooks.
You would expect a fiery man such as Riser to be into this, but he was still as wary as ever.
"Should have netted one of them for your harem while you had the chance…" I muttered.
"Now that I think about it, I have that Bishop now…"
She continued to lead us through an open passageway into what appeared to be the main room. It was mostly empty right now, with the Devil Heaven insignia emblazoned on the floor, but who knows what motorbike madness goes on in here.
Some scattered gang members were about, and Rahab was waiting for us in the middle of the room.
"So, you found the fetching point?"
"I thought the coordinates on the back of the coin were the base itself, but I guess extra precautions are necessary."
"When you run a delinquent gang, yes."
"So why did you want to bring her with us?" Ravel asked me.
"Because I was curious about that little passageway as well…" Rahab answered for me.
"Hey! Let Makoto answer!" Ravel exclaimed.
"The more hands, the better." I replied to Ravel's previous question. "Besides, you wanted another stab at taking that sword, right?" I asked Rahab.
"Hey. That's yours," she said. "I don't think I have a chance getting it out of there without your Sacred Gear."
"I thought you wanted it."
She dismissively shook her hand, "I nicked one of the Khaos Brigade's Holy Demonic swords, anyway. That'll tide me over until I can find another high-tier holy sword like Ascalon."
She really is a genuine kleptomaniac.
"Well," I said. "Let's head over to the peak and find out what's beyond that hidden passageway."
Rahab pulled out a whistle and blew on it.
After a few moments, we found out why she did that as she pushed the button on a remote and the roof suddenly opened up to reveal a yellow dragon landing there. It wasn't nearly as massive as Tannin, but this dragon merely filled up nearly the entirety of the warehouse, whereas Tannin wouldn't even have fit.
"Yo! Rahab!" he exclaimed. "What's up!?"
"Nothing much, Vernoi. Me and my buddies are just heading back to pick up where we left off!"
"Still trying to get that holy sword, I see?"
"No. There's something else I'm interested in."
"President! Ms. Gabriel! Guess what I just got!" Aika announced as she entered the Living Room.
"What did you get, Aika?" Rias asked her.
"With my debut a couple days ago, Lady Leviathan wants me to be a part of the latest season of Miracle Levia-tan!"
"Wow! That's an unexpected upgrade!" I said to her. "You certainly are a rising TV star! What's the role?"
"Some mysterious villain character. It may only be for an episode or so, but it's still a major supporting role!"
"Congratulations, Aika," Rias said to her. "I'm looking forward to seeing you on TV."
As we were talking, Sirzechs entered the room accompanied by Sister Griselda.
"My dear sister's servants are becoming quite the celebrities."
"What a pleasant surprise to see you, Sister," I said. "What brings you here?"
"I came to see the progress of New Heaven with Lord Sirzechs."
"New Heaven!?" Aika questioned.
"We have been trying to evacuate the residents of Halja-occupied Heaven," I said to her. "Even though she has been relatively laissez-faire with them, her despotism has not gone unnoticed and we have been making efforts to move as many as we can to another settlement in the Underworld."
Aika made a very surprised face. This showed just how serious Halja's coup had become, where even the Underworld's rule had become preferable to hers.
"Aside from wanting to show you our progress with New Heaven, I also wanted to issue a warning," Sirzechs said to Rias. "Kuroka has escaped."
The entire room looked in surprise and then Rias scoffed in frustration.
"I told her to wait until we could sort out her release!" she said. "Do you know how or why she escaped?"
"All I know was that Milcom had arrived to talk with the Police shortly before the alarm was set off," Sirzechs replied. "Which may be a red flag in itself. Regardless of who poses a threat, I suggest that Koneko comes with you for her protection."
"I'm not helpless." Koneko said as she entered the room, supposedly having overheard the conversation. "I will face my big sister if I need to."
"I don't want you to be rash, Koneko. It may even be something far worse that is troubling us." Rias said to her as she approached her.
"I can use senjutsu now. I can fight!"
"Kuroka is still far stronger than you. It is my duty as master to protect my servants. If we have to fight her, I will make sure you don't have to do it alone."
For a moment so looked like she was going to protest further, but she ended up yielding. "Okay…"
Rias hugged her. "We will be safe together. I promise."
We landed at the peak of the mountain and retraced our steps to the chamber where the hidden passageway was.
But first, unfinished business…
"Okay, last chance to call dibs on Ascalon!" I announced to Rahab.
"I told you already! Just take it!" she said.
"Okay. Just making sure you aren't gonna stab me in the back and take it yourself…"
I transformed into my Balance Breaker, grasped the sword with both my hand and pulled.
After a couple of painstaking moments, it was budging.
It was in there tight. Mother really wanted this to be a test of my Balance Breaker and its strength.
Or maybe there's another way…
I lifted up my right arm and brandished my Excalibur.
"What are you doing?" Riser questioned.
"Thinking outside the box."
I placed my left arm on Ascalon's hilt and with the other, placed Excalibur Mimic next to it.
I made the blade change form and wrap around Ascalon. Eventually, it started glowing a blue color.
As the glow intensified, the rock began to give way and I yanked it out!
As the glowing settled, I was holding a single sword in my right hand – Ascalon.
However, as I dissolved the armor, I was still able to transform it into my wristwatch.
"Since when did you know alchemy?" Ravel asked.
"Last night." I replied. "After a bit of light reading. It's just a very basic combination spell enhanced by my Balance Breaker."
"Still," Albion chimed in. "Imagine the even greater feats we can do together now that you can summon Balance Breaker at will."
"Like beat Halja."
"Yeah, well that comes later," Rahab said. "Let's see what's down here…" as she pointed down the secret passageway.
We continued down the passageway. For a while, we encountered nothing of consequence until we eventually reached an entranceway.
It had a strange sigil on it that I swear I caught a glimpse of before. Riser, Ravel, and Sairaorg looked surprised, while Rahab was shocked.
Meanwhile, I was confused… "What is that exactly?"
"It's a sigil I know too well. The sigil of the house of Amon."
"That must mean your family must be hiding something down here…"
"Hiding something from me," she corrected, "Not even I know of this."
She nudged in front of us. "This is protected by handprint scanner. Only the house of Amon can access doors like this."
She pressed on a circular plate on the door and after a brief moment it rose.
To reveal a prison hold!
Several cells were holding young men and women. But why?
Rahab's astonishment continued to escalate. I could also see anger begin to build in her eyes.
She walked down the hold in front of us. She passed by a particular cell whose occupant appeared to notice her.
"Oh, so you're Lord Amon's perfect hybrid they were talking about!" the prisoner jeered. "Come to brag to us how unbeatable you are? How you have no weaknesses!?"
She looked at him with content.
Ravel stopped me from acting against Rahab, who I thought was about to throw down with him.
I was proven wrong shortly. She turned around and accessed a nearby terminal, putting her hand on another sensor and pressing a button.
All of a sudden, all the doors opened!
They all exited and looked at us.
"It's Sairaorg and the White Dragon Emperor!" one of the prisoners cheered.
"Hey, I'm here too…" Riser muttered.
A senior-looking prisoner came to us. "We cannot thank you all enough for coming to our rescue."
The prisoner from earlier than rushed up to Rahab and bowed apologetically. "I misjudged you. I'm sorry!"
Rahab waved it off. "Don't fret. I get haters all the time…"
"What were you all doing here, anyway?" I asked the senior prisoner.
"We were all captured by Ahab Amon," the other prisoner replied, "The Khaos Brigade wanted to research all of our Sacred Gears."
"We were all taken so they could research and duplicate powerful Sacred Gears and other rare abilities," the senior added, "I never got his name, but there was another man in particular who was quite interested in them."
So, this is where all those Sacred Gear abductions I've been hearing about ended up! I had thought Milcom was the mastermind after the stunt he had pulled to try and get Asia, but it was actually his father!
"Is this all of you?" Sairaorg asked.
"There is another prison block somewhere in Lord Amon's residence," the senior prisoner answered, pointing down the passageway, "The residence is connected to this hidden prison block by a slipgate."
Sairaorg nodded at Riser. "The two of us will take these prisoners to safety. You three go and find the others."
I nodded back. "Understood."
The group of prisoners followed Sairaorg and Riser out, one girl yelling, "I love you, White Dragon Emperor!" as she passed by.
"Good grief…" I muttered as Ravel was clinging to me protectively.
"You can let go of him…" Rahab said to Ravel.
"Sorry. Instinct." Ravel apologized as she let go of me.
"So, what really brought that change of heart, Rahab?" I asked.
"I guess it was the same reason that Raynare turned coat," she said. "When I heard you defeated my mother, I saw you as my best chance at defeating my family once and for all.
They put me on a pedestal for so long, that I was just getting sick and tired of being tied down. Especially with the Khaos Brigade and… this! I want to follow my own path and be free from all this bullshit."
"Well that's good enough for me!" I said.
I was about to shake her hand but she offered a fistbump instead. I obliged.
"Let's free the rest of these prisoners!" she said as we headed for the slipgate at the end of the block.
We exited the slipgate into a warehouse.
"Doesn't look like anything's in here…" I commented as I got off the slipgate and observed my surroundings.
"Looks like we'll have to find our way out of here and figure out where he does have his prisoners," Rahab commented.
However, before we were able to make any move, I noticed a suspicious green glow coming from where I observed the exit door to be.
"Get down!" I exclaimed.
We moved out of the way as one hooded figure in the middle of three people fired a green-colored projectile at me. Ravel and Rahab got away as the spell grazed my right arm.
Ravel coated the floor in a wall of flames to provide cover.
I winced in pain as I took cover next to a crate. It feels like some sort of corrosive spell, as the skin felt like it was burning. Gonna take a while for me to heal with my abilities. I'm kinda rusty after having Asia around.
The flames gave me a better view of our attackers. Three robed figures emerged from Ravel's fire wall. The middle one, who appeared to be the most important, probably a Queen piece lowered her hood to reveal her blonde hair and blue eyes. The other two are likely Bishops as they were also able to dispel part of the fire wall.
The other two didn't have swords, so I'm assuming they're Rooks.
"Surrender now, White Dragon Emperor!" The Queen said.
"You could at least tell us where the rest of the Prisoners are!" I fired back.
I then heard a familiar voice on the opposite side of me. "Makoto!"
I followed the sound of Asia's voice as I saw the glow of her Twilight Healing in that direction. Then I saw her do something I haven't seen before!
She fired the light as a projectile at me and the injury was healed!
"Thanks, Asia!"
I then saw Lint and Yuma leap from crates and ambush the Rooks on either side. I shielded my eyes as Lint threw very familiar grenades, followed by Yuma knocking them out with her spear.
Meanwhile, I transformed into Balance Breaker and took the Queen. She had fired another attack that I dispelled with my own.
As I was doing that, Ravel and Rahab double-teamed one of the Bishops, who was trapped in a tight ring of fire with Rahab courtesy of Ravel. Without room for movement, Rahab was able to swiftly knock out the Bishop with the blunt end of her Holy Demonic sword.
I had also closed the distance between me and the Queen. After dispelling the first attack, I flared up my Retribution aura and TKOed her with my Power of Retribution, aiming at the floor right in front of her to attack her with the splash damage as I needed her alive for questioning.
The three of us then confronted the other Bishop.
"Screw this! I'm not sticking my neck out for Diodora anymore!" he said, lowering his hood and throwing his hands up in surrender.
I dispelled my Balance Breaker in shock. "I thought his peerage consisted only of women."
"I was his best friend, so I became his first servant when he was given his pieces," he began to explain. "That was before he really become obsessed with this horrid fetish of his and started brainwashing Sisters as the rest of his slaves."
He turned to Asia. "You were lucky the White Dragon Emperor found you when he did, because I know for a fact he intended to replace me with you."
He then raised his arm, revealing a silver Twilight Healing ring.
"You have it too!" Asia exclaimed.
"The name's Luther, by the way. I'm your senior, so I know a few offensive spells, but I'm mostly a Support role. I knew I would get my rear handed to me by Lady Phenex and Rahab."
I approached the Queen. "I assume she was brainwashed as well?"
"All of his servants except me were. Martha was his first victim."
I placed my hands on the sides of her head.
I breathed in. What I am about to do would require focus.
After a brief moment, I began to glow gold. Eventually, Diodora's Queen Martha opened her eyes.
"Wait… Where am I!?" she said.
"You were brainwashed," Luther said, "It's a long story and it's a shocking one so I'll explain it to you and the rest later."
"It's just like that other guy," I heard Yuma mutter, recalling the church security from before that Iblis got her hands on. It is as I suspected. Martha has no memories and doesn't remember a thing from when she was brainwashed.
"The real question is how are you able to use senjutsu, Makoto?" Ravel asked. "I thought only youkai were able to use it."
"Both youkai and angels have a deep spiritual connection. I put two and two together and gave it a shot. Apparently it worked."
"Well, we'd best get to curing the rest of these servants," Rahab said. "I'll have Vernoi get them to safety."
"To answer your question from before I surrendered…" Luther chimed in, "I know where the rest of the prisoners are. I will lead you to them."
"We must hurry," Lint said. "We don't have much time. Lord Amon is going to attack the Occult Research Club."
"What do you mean he's attacking the Club!?"
"Someone tipped us off. He knew you discovered the entrance to the prison." Yuma added. "So, Lint and I kinda… helped break Kuroka out of prison so she could protect Koneko."
I sighed… "Good grief. You guys are still at it with the anti-hero crap. But still, we need to free the rest of the prisoners and brainwashed servants and meet up with the Club before Lord Amon does."
"Once you finish curing the rest of them, I'll lead you to the other prisoners." Luther said.
Time is of the essence. Milcom was an issue when we faced him. I suspect facing his father will be far worse. If we're too late, our only hope may be Kuroka.