A Demon Lord's Hero

by Fahad09

When I sold my soul to the Devil, I thought I was prepared for anything. I wasn't. I didn't expect him to be a her. Or dressed up as a magical girl carrying a pink wand tipped with a cheerful yellow star. Her being a prankster however didn't come as much of a surprise. You know, the Bible would have been a whole lot more interesting if they included stuff like this. Complete AU

4. Chapter 4: The White Cat

Chapter 4:

The white cat

There are times that we're so alike that I can hardly believe we're not truly father and son

Kiritsugu hadn't wanted to teach me magic. Time and time again I asked only to be rejected. After almost two years of trying, I could only convince him to teach me the very basics. Even then, it was half-hearted.

Nothing I said or did seemed to budge him.

I had always been told how stubborn I could be but when compared to Kirisugu, I had found my match. I had actually begun to resign myself to the little that he was willing to part with.

That was, at least, until he found out my Origin.

Then everything changed.

A Dual-Origin is a rare thing Shirou.

How rare?

So rare, that you and I are the only people I personally know that have one.

I still ended up learning nothing of what I thought then as 'real' magic. Nothing to do with fighting or anything that may have been useful in helping me in accomplishing my dream of becoming a hero. Despite his change of heart, Kiritsugu viciously guarded me from any form of magic he deemed dangerous.

Which was almost everything, really. Magic, or Magecraft as he called it, was a very dangerous art. 'To be a Magus was to walk with death'. I did, however, end up learning the fundamental theories of Magecraft and developed a better understanding of how the supernatural world worked, but that was pretty much it.

In his heart, Kiritsugu never wanted me to learn magic.

You only have a single Element, Sword, the same as your Origin.

When an Element and Origin match, the magic becomes specialized. Incredibly so. Enabling you to cast spells in your field that no one else can match.

Consequently, it will make it almost impossible for you to cast spells outside of your Element. Only the most basic spells will not be beyond you.

Even then it will take years of practice to learn what would take another Magus mere days.

While I knew he said that to discourage me, I didn't mind. I knew, even back then, that I didn't have any talent. It didn't matter. I was willing to work as hard and as long as it takes. Besides, at the time I thought magic based on swords was a really cool thing to have. Kiritsugu just laughed when I told him.

However, though you only have one Element your Origin is dual-natured. Though, it is unlikely to have any real effects on your Thaumaturgy.

Why?

An Origin doesn't have anything directly to do with your Magecraft; It instead tells more about what kind of person you are and what path in life you'll follow.

It is questionable if you would ever be any to cast any spells relating to your second Origin. With a paired Element and Origin of Sword, along with lacking any of the 5 Primary Elements, it borders on impossible for you to do so.

You just might be able to grasp some of the lower levels spells, but even that is unlikely, and even if you succeed I highly doubt it will be anything impressive.

He was right. Even after all these years, I haven't learned a single thing that could be referred to as a proper spell when it came to my second Origin.

I probably never will either.

Do not be mistaken, despite its name your Origin has nothing to do with the Third Magic. While there may appear to be some similarity between the two, in reality, they are completely different.

The Third Magic is the magic of the soul and the power to control it.

Your Origin, however, deals with what's within the soul and the ability to understand it.

I didn't understand what he meant of the time, but I just nodded along anyway.

Honestly, you will probably never find any use from it in combat. Other than helping you better understand and empathize with people, I doubt you'll gain anything of worth from it.

But then again, perhaps if I had a bit more empathy back then I wouldn't have...

Kiritsugu does this sometimes, where he just drifts off in a middle of speaking, losing himself in his thoughts. I never thought anything of it back then. To me he was old, and old people did that all the time, right? He kept doing it more and more as he got older after all.

Shirou.

I still won't teach you anything more than the basics and theories. But I think that second Origin of yours can do the world some good.

I didn't understand why Kiritsugu needed to state the obvious. Of course it'll be good for the world. I was gonna be a Hero, wasn't I? Again, he just laughed at me when I told him.

But really, whoever heard of such an absurd thing?

A Dual-Origin of

'Spirit and Sword'

---

The sun broke out from behind the clouds, spilling light down onto the smooth white surface of the rooftop. The muffled shouts and cheers of the playing students made its way up from the courtyard below, giving the place a lively atmosphere despite its current empty state. A soothing gentle breeze flowed through the rooftop, ruffling the bangs of my hair and cooling my warm body.

At this moment, there was perhaps no better location in the entire school. A place of peace and tranquillity where any weary student can come to rest their body and soul.

But of course, I noticed none of it.

I had no time to waste on such foolishness, oh no. Something far more worthy is currently holding my attention. I leaned back to better take the sight of it in, to bask in its presence. A more beautiful sight I had never seen.

In front of me was an open lunch-box.

Filled with rice so white and fluffed up it looked to be made from flakes of the purest snow. Shrimp tempura that has been baked to such a perfect shade of brown that it shone like glittering gold in the sunlight. Fresh green vegetables carved into the shapes of flowers lined the edges of the box, paired with slices of brightly coloured fruits, giving the entire ensemble an almost aesthetic feel to it. And finally, the very heart of this masterpiece, ten perfectly boiled sausages sliced up to form little octopuses... with tiny little smiles on their faces.

It...it was beautiful, simply beautiful.

Is this what Fuji-nee felt whenever I cooked for her? Is this why she went crazy whenever she didn't get the chance to sample my food? If so, then I understood. I completely understood. My cooking is freaking awesome.

Pride. That was the Sin that had been placed upon me when I had willingly chosen to abandon my human form and replaced it with that of a Devil. Once, I had thought of it as nothing more than another burden for me to bear. A Sin was no different than what the Bible had claimed it to be.

But I was wrong, so very very wrong.

Not long after my transformation, I had discovered that my Pride had manifested itself in primarily two forms outside of the general feeling of self-pride. The first was in my swords. To me my swords have always been tools, a means to an end. The cause that I would wield them for was something that I could be proud of, never the swords themselves.

As even from the start I knew that they were flawed. Compared to the real thing my blades were defective copies. Even the greatest of my swords would be found lacking when placed side-by-side to its predecessor. The reason for their strength lies not in the skills of my craftmanship but the majesty of the originals. So what reason was there to take pride in when the swords that I forged with my own hands could never match the one that I pictured in my mind?

That, however, was how things were in the past, it no longer held any truth in the present reality. Since my arrival in this dimension and my reincarnation as a Devil, my skills have grown. With no resistance from Gaia for me to fight when I cast my Projections, with no constant deterioration to my swords, I could now create blades of far better quality with significantly less effort than I ever had been able to before.

Add in the boost in quality and power that my circuits have received, and I have finally been able to bridge the gap to the image I held in my mind. No longer are my swords defects, inferiors. While not quite the level of the original, they could now stand side by side with their predecessors without shame.

I have finally found pride in my swords.

The second manifestation of my Pride appeared in a completely unexpected manner. Although now that I looked back on it, it shouldn't have come as much of a surprise. After all, if the first form my Pride manifested itself was in my skills in crafting swords, it only stood to reason that the second way it would manifest itself would also be in my skills to craft something.

Still, I never would have expected it to be cooking.

That's right people I, Emiya Shirou, have sold my eternal soul and have been transformed into the fiendish and despicable form of a Cooking Devil. Hide your children and run away before I cook you all a demonic dinner...

...The sad part is I really should have seen something like this coming when I decided to sell my soul to a Devil that was dressed up as a Magic girl.

But despite the sound of it, it has actually been great. I have never realized how good my cooking was before. Sure I've had many people compliment me on it. Fuji-nee would end up shedding tears of anguish if I fail to cook her at least one meal a day and even Saber, a king, loved my cooking.

But it wasn't until I finally tasted my own cooking as a Devil and realized how amazingly good it was that I finally believed them. Till then I had always believed they were exaggerating or simply praised me because they were unwilling or unable to cook for themselves. How did I never notice how good I was before I'll never know.

Pride may still be a sin but it made my food taste so much better. That alone would have made turning into a Devil worth it. Hell, if it meant I can enjoy life even more than as far as I'm concerned more Sin is a great thing. Banzai for sin, Banzai for debauchery.

Speaking of tasting better, it was time for me to finally enjoy my food.

Snapping open a pair of wooden chopsticks, I picked up a nice good chunk of my rice. Closing my eyes to better savour the taste, I opened my mouth and slowly brought the rice up to my lips before snapping my jaws over...nothing apparently.

I opened my eyes and looked down to find my chopsticks empty of rice. Confused, I glanced around to find out where it had gone when I froze in place as I caught sight of a familiar looking girl.

Ilya!?

Almost instantly, without conscious thought or will, I had begun to look within her soul, before my common sense kicked in and I quickly stopped myself before catching anything more than the barest glimpse of what lies within her.

Giving my head a quick shake to clear my mind from the stupid mistake I had almost committed, I shut my eyes and took a moment to collect myself. Once I was done, I deliberately turned back towards my unexpected visitor and this time I made sure to give the girl next to me a proper look before jumping to any conclusion.

No, not Ilya. Though I could not blame myself for mistaking this girl for her. They did look remarkably alike.

She was a little slip of a girl and were she not wearing the Kuoh academy uniform, I would have easily mistaken her for a Middle schooler. The Snow-white hair of her bangs cascades down past her shoulders while the hair in the back of her head was cut into a short bob cut. She had a pair of black cat-shaped hair clips attached to the side of her head which held her hair in place. Light golden eyes peered out of a childish looking face, which held an expression so empty of emotion it almost made her look like a doll.

Small grains of rice dotted the sides of her mouth, which gave an idea on the fate of my missing rice. Well, that and the way her eyes never stopped staring at the food in my lunch box. So intently was she focused on the lunch box that she ignored everything else around her, even me.

Watching her stare at my food with obvious such longing, despite her expressionless face, brought an amused smile to my face. She looked so much like a kid staring yearningly at sweets through the front window of a candy store, it was adorable.

Shaking my head in bewilderment at the whole situation, I picked up my lunch box all the while noticing with concealed amusement as to how her eyes tracked it. I paused halfway through my intended action as an amusing, and very Serafall, idea hit me. It was a little cruel but now that I got the idea in my head I couldn't resist.

Keeping a careful eye on the girl I slowly began lifting my lunch till it reached head-level, my head that is, which was a full foot above hers. As expected, her eyes rose to keep track of it, all the while her head remained perfectly still. I then lowered the lunch box down to just under chest level and again her eyes followed it.

I just stared at her, before I felt my lips slowly twist into an oh so wicked grin.

I abruptly shifted the box to the left and then right, watching as her eyes quickly jumped from side to side. After that up, right, left, up again and all the way down.

Soon I was moving my hands so fast that it practically blurred as I moved it sideways, diagonally, forwards, backwards, in a circle, flipped it over then twisted it in the air and whatever else I could think of, before finally bringing it to an abrupt halt right in front of my chest.

And her eyes were still locked onto my lunch box, never once having lost track of it or even shifting her head, despite my best efforts.

I was wrong. She didn't resemble a kid in front of a candy store; she was more like a cat eyeing a fish being dangled in front of her. It was absolutely hilarious.

Having had my share of fun for the moment, and after one quick look to check on the food and reassure myself that my magic did its job at protecting the contents, I handed over my lunch to her. The brief widening of her eyes was the first sign of emotion I'd seen on her face all day before she finally tore her eyes away from the lunch box and looked up at me questioningly.

"Take it." Giving her a nod, "You clearly want it more than I do."

Her hands twitched from where they sat on her knees before they slowly extended out to my lunch box, all the while she never took her eyes off me. Just as she was about to reach the box her hands paused, just inches away, then with a blur of sudden motion she snatched it out of my hands.

She clutched the lunch box to her chest and scooted a few paces backwards, glaring suspiciously at me all the while as if I would try to take it back the moment she looked away. If she didn't look so much like a cross between a stray cat and a pouting Ilya, I would have been offended. Did she really think I would try to steal food from a little kid? I mean what did I look like a Devil?

Oh, right.

From her point of view, a Devil had just offered her, a little girl, a box of free food while in a secluded area where no one can see or hear us.

Putting it that way, I wouldn't trust me either.

Keeping her eyes still locked on me, she picked up the chopstick that I left in the box, picked up a piece of tempura and took a bite of it. I could tell the exact moment the food hit her taste buds, the way she stopped all movement was a good tell as any. For some reason I couldn't quite put my finger on, I could easily picture a pair of cat ears appearing from the top of her and jumping straight up in startlement.

Slowly, almost mechanically, she turned her head to look down at the rest of the food in her lap with an expression of wonder painted on her face, before launching towards it and devouring the food as quickly as she can.

After that, I might as well not have existed as far as she was considered.

Seeing how much she was enjoying my cooking brought a smile to my face. I may now have Pride in my food, but it was still surpassed by my pride and joy in people enjoying it. And considering that she now resembled a starving grizzly bear rather than a feline as she wolfed the food down, I can safely assume she likes it.

Even though it was supposed to be my lunch, I really didn't mind. I wasn't that hungry anyway and the kid looked like she could use a bit of meat on her bones, she was way too tiny for her age. Besides, I packed an extra-large lunch today, more than I could have finished on my own. There is no way a tiny girl not even half my size could finish it all.

I'm sure there would be enough leftovers for me to snack on.

---

What the hell was she?

When I first saw her I compared her to Ilya. I was wrong, by the Maou himself I was wrong. This girl was no Ilya, she was a Saber if anything. If I hadn't seen the King of Knights herself putting away more food than three men double her size could eat I would have sworn that what I was seeing was impossible.

As it was, it still surprised me enough that I was sure if my jaw hung any lower, I would feel the tip of my chin scrap across the concrete floor of the rooftop.

One and a half minutes. In a little under 90 seconds, this little slip of a girl less than a third of my size put away more food than I could have eaten in an hour. And if the way she continued to dig for bits scraps inside of the now empty lunch, she could have gone for seconds.

I knew who she was of course. I learned the name of every Devil in both the school and the entire city, and it didn't take me long to recognize her as I observed her demolish my lunch.

Her name was Toujou Koneko. A former full-blooded Nekomata, possibly the last Nekoshou living in Devil society and currently a Rook to the Heir of the Gremory Clan.

I knew all of this, as I was given a file detailing all the essential information I needed to know about the supernatural beings in the city before I arrived, but why did nobody think to inform me about the bloody devourer of worlds that was pretending to be a little girl, I'd never know. Her stomach wasn't even bulging! Where did all the food go?

The clatter of plastic hitting concrete drew me from my thoughts as I realized she had already given up her search for any leftover scraps of food and had set the now empty lunch box down.

She peered up at me from where she sat, her legs folded beneath her before she slowly lowered her head in a small bow.

"Thank you for the meal."

I cracked a smile at that, "You're very welcome."

While I had never cared if I was ever thanked, I never did what I do for praise after all, it still felt nice. An old habit from taking care of Ilya kicked in and I reflexively stretched my hand out to pat her head-

NO!

-When she jumped back in fright, eyes flashing wide with terror, her body poised and tensed beneath her as if she was ready to run at a moment noticed.

Though barely noticeable, my eyes were sharp enough to catch the slight tremor that took hold of her even over her panicked panting breaths.

For a handful of seconds, I froze, my mind rushing at the implication of her actions before I acted quickly and slowly withdrew my hand away from her.

"Ah, sorry about that," I told her with an embarrassed smile as I leaned back and scratched the side of my head. "It's a habit I gotten from my little sister. For the weirdest reason, she likes it when I run my hand over her head and gets upset at me if I don't do it often enough. I swear, sometimes I think that girl's part puppy from how she behaves."

I made sure to talk in a calm and controlled tone of voice, careful not to make any sudden movement or get any closer to her than I already was.

I pretended not to notice the way she watched me as I did so, how her eyes would track my every motion, the twitch whenever she saw my hand move. I ignored it all and continued talking as if nothing was wrong. And it worked.

Gradually, her trembling began to subside before stopping completely, her breathing steadily slowed down till they were clam even breathes, and finally, her muscles were released from its tense state as ever so slowly she began to relax.

It felt like it like hours has passed while it probably hadn't even been a minute, but eventually, she was able to calm down.

Me on the other hand, I was anything but. Despite my outward appearance to the contrary, I was livid. The way she flinched, her almost reflexive panic at my unexpected touch, I recognized them.

They were signs of physical abuse.

I could feel my fury rage deep inside of my chest, burning so hot that I'm surprised it didn't scorch my skin, at the mere idea of someone harming this little girl. The thought of someone hurting her, she that looked so much like my Ilya, made me see red. I wanted to scream, to yell, to demand that she tell me who did this to her, so can I go hunt them and hurt them.

I did no such thing.

I knew I would end up doing more harm than good if I did any of those things. Right now I was a complete stranger to this girl, one that she had no reason to trust. Falling into a self-righteous fury would only frighten her away. If I wanted to help, I needed her to trust me or at least feel comfortable enough around me to lower her guard.

Still, the only reason why I didn't immediately drag her away to somewhere safe, consequences be damned, was because it didn't look like she was still being abused. I didn't notice any signs of bruises from what little of her skin I could see, no flinch of pain whenever she moved either. That she felt safe enough that she was even willing to approach a stranger like me, no matter how cautiously, was a good sign as well.

Plus she was a part of that Gremory's Peerage. No matter my personal dislike for the Gremorys, I knew that they were the least likely family in the entire Underworld to ever abuse their servants, let alone one as young as her. So at least I knew she was safe with them.

Still, safe or not there is no way I'm letting this go. The first chance I get, I was going looked into Toujou Koneko's past. And if those that did this were still out there...

But that was later, for now, the best thing I can do for her was to pretend nothing happened. No one liked to be reminded of their scars, emotional or physical ones, and they like being pitied even less.

"So," I said when the atmosphere finally began to approach normal again, "did you want anything from me? Other than my lunch of course." I added with a smile.

It was unlikely that we ended up meeting by chance. This was a fairly secluded place and away from the more popular lunch spots, which was the reason why I chose it in the first place.

Her nod confirmed my suspicions, "Buchou wanted to speak to you."

'Buchou'? I tilted my head in confusion. Who was that? The way she said it was sort of familiar. Almost reminded me how Sona's peerage kept referring to her as Kaichou – Oh!

"You mean Rias Gremory?" I asked.

She nodded again. Seems like my guess was right but still, what's with the weird titles those two insist on being called by. Was it a Devil Heir thing I wasn't aware of? I mean, sure, it was common for a lot of club members to refer to their respective leaders by their titles, but they were members of the nobility and yet they were asking their Peerage to call them by their highschool's club title rather than their actual rank or even by name.

Then again maybe by choosing their own titles, they get to avoid someone giving them one instead. If so I wish someone told about it early, I would have avoided this whole of 'Queen of Sword' fiasco.

"Sure, I got nothing important planned for the day. When does Gremory want to meet me?"

"Right awa-" the ringing of the school bell cut her off before she could finish.

Huh, looks like we've been here longer than either of us thought.

"Looks like we need to get going if we want to get back to class in time." I stood and dusted off my pants. "How about I meet up with this Buchou of yours after school instead?"

She thought about it for a moment before nodding in agreement and stood up. We both began to make our way down the stairwell together until we reached the first landing.

"I'll be waiting in my homeroom," I told her with a wave goodbye as she continued down to floor first floor that was designated to freshmen while I reminded on the third floor that was reserved for the seniors. "I still don't know my way around so send someone to pick me after classes are done."

I received a brief nod from the young girl and she went down the stairs.

Once she was no longer in sight I turned and made my way back to the classroom. The smile that I was carrying melted off my face now that she could no longer see me.

Really, even when I'm not looking for trouble it seems to find me. Oh well, it could have been worse. I would much rather find out about these things rather than allow them to happen around me while I carried on with my life oblivious to it all.

Still, as I made my way back to class I couldn't help but think back to the small glimpse I caught of the girl's spirit and wonder.

What could have possibly happened to make a girl as young as her willingly build a wall around her soul?

---

I sensed the Bounded Field as soon as I crossed it. It was a simple one, made to keep normal people from wandering in. It wouldn't do anything to stop anyone with even a lick of supernatural power, but I guess it doesn't need to do its job. Still, it was a waste to go through all the effort of setting up a Bounded Field and not equip it with some at least some basic defensive measures. As far as I could sense the thing didn't even act as a warning system.

Devil and Magus Bounded Fields had a lot in common when it came to the end result, at least the basic versions of them did, but the process of how they functioned were completely different.

For one, the Bounded Fields created by Magecraft was far more intricate than their Devil counterpart. Even the simplest of those Bounded Fields is as complicated as an advanced calculus formula, and that's when it's only function was to act as a warning system. For the ones that actually did something truly impressive, such as the one used to keep the Einzbern Castle hidden from the rest of the world, was so far beyond my comprehension that I couldn't even begin to describe the basics of its construction. Rin probably could but, well, she's Rin. Enough said.

Devil Bounded Fields were a completely different matter. They were so simple that Pure-Blooded Devils are taught how to begin constructing simple ones at the age of twelve. There were actual classes at the Devil Middles School in the Underworld that taught them and they were generally considered to be only an intermediate level magic at most.

The stark difference between the two was understandable when you took into account that Devils could bend magic to their will. For Magus, they needed to a complex system of sigils and equations to construct a Bounded Field. Devils on the other hand only needed a single magic circle carved into the heart of the location they wanted the Field to cover. The Magic circle used is one designed to help the user form a Bounded Field. It works by reading the 'intent' of magic that flows through it and creates a field based on the spell casters desires. Through this method, a single trained Devil could set up a rudimentary Bounded Field in less than an hour. Most teenage Devils are more than capable of doing this.

Designing an original magical circle to help in the construction of a Bounded Field is an incredibly difficult thing to do. That is why Devils tend to simply copy these circles from a premade design rather than make one of their own. There were even designs that were publicly sold, although they tended to be copies of widely used ones rather than anything unique.

Most Pureblooded Devil Clans used personally designed magical circles when constructing their Bounded Fields, just like how they have their own personal summoning circles. It often acts as a calling card, allowing Devils to recognize the owner of the Bounded Fields. All territories owned by the large Clans have a simple Bounded Filed traced over their borders to allow other Devil to know whose land they were entering.

Which was why I could instantly tell this was a Gremory owned Bounded Field. When Serafall made me her Queen she gave me a crash course of all the essential things I needed to know. That included the ability to recognize and identify all the different magical signatures of the 72 Pillars, and this one had Gremory written all over it.

Of course, the more sophisticated bounded fields, like the ones used in the Rating Games, were of a completely different standard that they couldn't be compared. Those were so difficult to make that there were Devils who dedicated their lives to mastering that form of magic and they charged a premium for anyone who wanted to make use their skills.

The only downside for the Devil method of creating Bounded fields was the ludicrous amount of magic needed to set up and maintain them, which was far larger than its magus counterpart. Take the one I just had crossed as I made my way through the tiny forest of trees that grew in the back courtyard of Kuoh Academy.

It was at least a few dozen yards long when measured from its radius, making it only slightly larger than the one that was set up around my old home in Fuyuki City. If this one was made in a similar manner to the one Kiritsugu set up then it would have been self-sustaining, requiring only the ambient Mana in the air to sustain itself and the occasional upkeep to maintain its condition.

This Bounded Field was a Devil's, and it required far more power to function. It couldn't sustain itself on the Mana in the air alone and needed to be constantly fueled by Devils. I wasn't an expert by any means but even at a glance, I could tell that the amount of Mana needed to fuel this field even for a week was more than what an average Magus back home could have produced in an entire day. And this was one of the simpler Bounded Field.

The reason why no one tried to fix such a fundamental flaw was a simple one. To Devils, it wasn't one. Even the most mediocre of Devils could produce dozens of times more Mana than the average magus, let alone the more powerful of their kin. To them, the Mana required was negligible.

"Sorry about the long walk, Buchou took a real liking to the old school building and insisted on having our club room there. Something about the old-fashioned feel of the place. Personally I like the place because it's far away from everything else. It's private, something that's a little hard for me to find at school."

Looking at the boy next to me I could totally understand where he was coming from. I've only been here for a day and I had already seen how badly the girls hounded him.

Kiba Yuuto was a blond-haired teenaged boy with a pair of unusual steel-grey eyes. He was tall for his age, just a couple of inches shorter than me, with a slim but muscular build. Even if I hadn't read his file I would have realized he was a Knight right away. The way he walked, how he easily maintained his balance even on the uneven ground of the forest floor, the calluses that formed in the palm of his hand, all hinted in someone that was trained in the art of the sword.

He was also what was known as a 'pretty boy'.

There was no better way I could have described him, he had a face that could put models to shame. His skin looked paler and softer than most girls while his hair was such a rich shade of yellow it glittered like gold in the sunlight. The kid even had a beauty mark under his left eye. Known as the 'Prince' of Kuoh Academy, he was greatly adored by the female half of the student population and equally despised by the male half.

Personally, I just felt sorry for the guy. While he tried to hide it, I could easily tell how much he hated being relentlessly pursued by the girls all day yet being denied the company of his fellow males. Poor kid, as far as I could tell the guy didn't even have a single male friend. Hell, outside of his Peerage he didn't seem to have any friends, period.

Yet, just like Koneko, he didn't allow any of it to show in his face. He just dealt with everything life threw at him with a smile on his face.

Really, why did I keep running into these kinds of people today?

"Don't worry about it. I needed a chance to stretch my legs anyway. It's been a while since I've been inside a classroom I'd forgotten how much sitting is involved." I told him as we made our away around a fallen tree that partially blocked the road.

"So you've been away to school for a while?" He walked a couple of paces ahead and a little bit off to one side of me as he led the way, so he had to look over his shoulder if he wanted to face me while we spoke.

"For about a year. I had so much to learn since my resurrection that I simply didn't have the time to go and before that, well..." I shrugged, "I had some personal issue to deal with."

"I see." He commented and clearly understanding that I didn't want to talk about it, changed the subject, "Well, we're almost to there. We just have to get around that tree over there and the old school building will be in sight."

Just as he said, the moment we passed the tree, I caught sight of our destination.

It was a beautiful old wooden building with a western feel to its design. Two-floors high, with a small clock tower rising from the middle of the roof, right over the entrance, and it was huge. Easily big enough to hold a hundred people with room to spare. Three large windows lined the wall on either side of the great door that served as its entrance, with more windows on the upper floor. Despite its age, the place has clearly been well maintained. The walls had a fresh coat of paint and the roof was properly tiled despite the constant rain that plagued this area.

When I first heard that the Occult Research Club room was located in the old abandon school building, I admit I had expected to see an old broken down wooden building that was one step away from being condemned. I mean, it was an Occult club, filled with actual Devils, it's only naturally the place would have been creepy as hell.

I should have known better than to expect Devils to live in anything less than opulence. I gotta admit though, I was kinda disappointed. I had really been hoping for some kind of haunted mansion.

As we made our way to the entrance, I decided now would be a good a time as any to broach the subject, as I doubted I'd get another chance to speak to him alone after we reached the club room.

"So...how are dealing with the Trait?"

He actually stopped in his tracks at my words, one foot hanging in the air halfway through his step, while he gapped at me in surprise. Now that I thought about it, this was the first time I saw him without that pasted-on smile of his.

It only took a moment for him to regain his composer before he carried on walking.

"So you noticed?" Even with his smile set firmly back in place, it was obvious how uncomfortable the topic was making him feel.

I just gave him a shrug in return, "It's kind of hard not to notice with how those girls keep following you around like little ducklings."

"I, I didn't...I mean, I don't...ahh," Poor kid kept fumbling over his words in his panic.

Feeling kind of bad that I reduced him into such a state, I decided to throw him a bone. "I know," I told him firmly.

"You do?" He asked, seeming genuinely surprised by that.

"Anyone can tell that you hate being chased by those girls. It doesn't take a genius to tell that there is no way you're going to abuse that Trait of yours. It wouldn't even surprise me if you wanted to get rid of it if you could."

His relief was almost palpable. I couldn't honestly blame him, if our situations were reversed I would have been worried what other people may have thought of me too.

Poor bastard, I mean what are the odds that he ended up with a Devil's Trait.

Worse, he ended up with the Charm variety. It caused any girl that even glances at his face to become instantly infatuated, even if they were already in a relationship. No wonder all of the guys hated him, they probably thought he was actively trying to steal their girlfriends.

Thankfully Traits only seemed to affect humans, or at least nonmagical variety of humans, so none of the girls in his Peerage should have been affected by it. The only upside of the situation was that the Trait ended up manifesting in someone like Kiba. I shudder to think about what would have happened if it ended up in the hands of a more unscrupulous Devil.

The slight squeaking of hinges made me realize that we've reached the front entrance and that Kiba had already opened the doors and was motioning me through.

Again I felt the telltale signs of a Bounded Field wash over me as I stepped through the entrance. These, however, were much better than the ones that circled the forest; they actually had some defensive capabilities. It acted as a simple warning system that will allow anyone tied into the Field know whenever someone enters its range, and it also prevented anyone not recognized as part of the Gremory Clan from teleporting in.

It wasn't much but it was better than anything I had expected. For a second there I was worried that neither Sona nor the Gremory had put up any defensive measures. I knew that Sona's home was well protected but she neglected to do the same for the school.

I planned to talk to them about it and see if I could convince them to set up more defences. If that didn't work, I could always follow Serafall's advice and start pranking them until they start setting up strong enough wards to protect themselves from me.

According to her that how she trained Sona how to Ward her room properly. Apparently it only took stealing Sona's diary three times and reading it out loud during dinner for her to throw herself into studying every warding type of Bounded Fields she could get her hands on to find a way to keep her sister out of her stuff.

In a little over a week, she had her room warded up so well that no Middle-class Devil could have broken into it without her permission. It wasn't enough to stop Serafall of course, if she really wanted to it wouldn't even slow her down, but that was never the point.

"Have you considered simply using some form of compulsion spell to keep the girls away?" I asked Kiba, more for something to talk about as we made our way through the building rather than genuine curiosity.

He shook his head as we started to climb up the stairs. "I've never been good with mind magic. It always made me uncomfortable using it except to prevent knowledge about the supernatural from spreading. Besides Buchou would hate it if the girls suddenly started ignoring me. She has some kind of competition going on with Sona on who has the most popular Peerage."

"Really?" I asked, surprised. "They'd compete over something like that?"

"You'd be surprised. According to Akeno, they used to compete over everything as children. They still do now that I think of it." He halted before a large wooden door. "We're here."

He stretched out a hand towards the doorknob but seemed to hesitate for a second before he turned back to face me.

"About Buchou, I'd like to apologies if she acts inappropriately." He seemed to feel really awkward about the topic, "It's just that with you and her brother..."

Ah, so that what it's about. "Don't worry, I get it," I assured him, "If I was in her shoes I would probably be a little bit hostile as well." Well, maybe not me, but Illya would sure as hell hold a grudge on anyone who managed to hurt me, even if it was in a fair fight.

He flashed me a thankful smile at that before turning back towards the doors again and swinging it open.

"Buchou," he called out as we walked in, "I'm back and I brought Emiya-san with me."

The interior of the Occult Research Club's main club room was completely different from the rest of the old school's design.

It had rich wooden-panelled walls that would have gleamed if the room hadn't been so poorly lit. As far as I can tell the place had no functional lights and the only source of illumination came from the lit candles that were scattered across the room. Victorian-style coaches and chairs were arranged into on the left side of the room while the right side was cleared of furniture to make room for the large magic circle carved into the floor. On one side of the wall across the room from me was covered by a thin silk sheet that concealed a-

-Is that a SHOWER?

"Holy shit, Sona was wrong. You're not a nudist, you're a bloody exhibitionist." I blurted out the words before I even realized what I was doing, even as I found myself pointing an accusing finger towards the silhouette of the figure that I could see through the curtain of the still running shower.

"What!" The figure, who I presumed to be Rias, squawked. "What has been Sona telling you? And I'm not an exhibitionist, I just enjoy taking showers."

"Then why do you have a semi-transparent shower curtain that everyone in the room could see instead of a door like a normal person!" I retorted, unable to comprehend why there was a shower installed right in the middle of the room. "And you knew I was coming! You just sent someone to come and get me, and I know you must have noticed me crossing the Wards. And yet you still decided to continue showering instead of getting dressed. Did you want me to catch you showering or did you just not care?"

The embarrassed silence that filled the room told me far more than I wanted to know.

"What is wrong is with you Devils?" I asked, finally putting to word the questions that had been haunting me ever since I arrived in this dimension. "You have a Maou that cosplays as a Magic Girl, another one that apparently a nudist while his wife likes to dress up as a french maid and now I find his little sister is an exhibitionist. Is every Devil out there a pervert or just the ones that I keep running into?"

"What –no – I – Argh!" She finally just yelled out in frustration, and I could see her silhouette tossing her arms up, "Just-just wait right there. I'm coming out." I heard a small metal squeak before the sound of the shower tapered off.

While I waited for her to appear I looked around the room and immediately spotted Koneko lounging on one of the couches with her usual blank face in place. It disturbed me far more than it should have to see that expression on such a young girl, it felt far too doll-like than a child should ever act. Along with her hair, it brought to mind far too many similarities to the Einzbern's homunculi that I decided to act a little out of character in an effort to get her to react in any other way than that blank expression.

Giving her my best-deadpanned look I said, "Please don't tell me you're secretly a pervert too?"

When her face flushed and she shot me an angry scowl, I counted it as a win.

That was much better.

Children her age should never have to wear such an empty expression. They should laugh when their happy, yell when their angry and cry when they're sad. Not sit there expressionless like a doll the entire time no matter what they were feeling.

"Now, now," a voice called out as the final occupant of the room made her presence known, sounding thoroughly amused, "don't be mean to our little Koneko."

A figure who I failed to notice until now stepped out from one of the corners of the room.

This must be Himejima Akeno, the Gremory's Queen.

She was a young girl, though a rather tall one, with a shapely figure and long dark cascading hair gathered up in a ponytail. Out of all the Devils in the Peerage I've met so far, she was the only one who could have passed as Japanese at first glance. Her violet eyes appeared to sparkle with barely concealed amusement, something that reminded me a little too much of Serafall that it immediately put me on guard. The teasing smile she had on her face and her following words didn't do anything to dissuade me of that impression.

"Besides, she may not be a pervert but I certainly am." The way her smile turned predatory told me that she was being entirely serious.

...I honestly had no idea what to say to that.

Fortunately, I was spared from thinking up a reply because at that very moment the shower curtain was pushed open to reveal another young girl.

The unmistakable crimson of her hair marked her as a Gremory. It fell down her back and ended just past her waist and though she had just stepped out of the shower there wasn't even a hint of moister on them. Like Akeno she had a full-figured body but with pale skin and blue eyes that were the exact same shade as Sirzechs. Even without the red hair, I would have no trouble believing that they were siblings.

As she stepped into the room a wave of power followed her, one that was notably higher than any of the other Devils I had met so far. Even Sona's. Yet as I took measure of her strength instead of impressing me all I felt was a mild sense of disappointment.

I had been expecting...more.

Unlike Sona who I met multiple times before, if only briefly, this would be the first time I got my first proper look of Risa Gremory, the famed Crimson-Haired Princess of Ruin and sole sibling of the Devil Lucifer himself, and I had built something of a mental image of her in my head.

Simply put, I thought I would be meeting the second coming of Sirzechs. She was called the Crimson-Haired Princess of Ruin by some and was known to be stronger than many of her peers from her generation, so I had genuinely expected I would be meeting someone that would one day become her brother's equal.

What I saw before me fell far short from the monster that I held in my mind named Sirzechs.

There was no other way to describe him. Sirzechs was an absolute monster. Even when compared to the Heroic Spirits of the Holy Grail, he could have stood among the strongest among them and not be found wanting. For all of my distaste of the man, even I couldn't deny his strength. Just standing in his presence had caused my newly awakened Devil ability to sense magic to become overwhelmed.

That truth had only been made even more apparent after our fight.

It was hard to describe what had happened. In my Reality Marble, in the seat of my power, I thought I had a real chance despite the wide gulf in raw power. At one point, near the end, I even thought I won. Then he revealed his true form - showed me what he really looked like beneath the thin veneer of humanity he wore like a second skin - and it as if reality simply was unable to function in his presence. I couldn't even begin to describe what I had seen. I barely had the chance to take in what was happening before he overwhelmed me with nothing but pure power.

It was made clear to me that day that Sirzechs was an absolute monster, while Rias...simply wasn't.

A part of me pointed out that I was being unfair, that Sona herself was equally as lacking in power when compared to Serafall yet I never held that against her. It was galling to admit, but even I could tell that I was letting my distaste of Sirzches leak through.

"You must be Emiya Shirou," Rias Gremory said as she approached me, pulling me free from my inner musings. She stopped a couple of paces away from me, crossing her arms before her as she took a moment to look me over. "While we didn't have a chance to be properly introduced before, this is not the first time we had seen each other. I was a member of the audience when you fought my brother. I am Rias Gremory and I'd -"

As she went through the formal introduction ceremony that I've now come to expect whenever I meet a new high ranking Devil, I couldn't help but think about what had just happened a few second earlier.

'Are...are we seriously going to ignore the whole shower thing?' I mentally asked myself, unsure if I should have felt relieved or not. Either way, I don't think I'll ever be able to wipe my mind clean of the knowledge that the entire Gremory Clan were all secretly nudists or an exhibitionist in this case.

"What!" Rias yelped, cutting herself off in the middle of her introduction as her face a flaming red from a mix of embarrassment and indignation, and I suddenly realised that I must have my thoughts out loud. "I'm not an exhibition." She insisted with a stomp of her foot.

I couldn't stop my eyes from drifting over her shoulder towards the shower behind her, no seriously there was a shower in the middle of the room with a single semi-transparent door, before looking back at the girl. "If you say so."

She mustn't have believed me because her face flushed into a shade of red that easily matched her hair. Off to one side, Akeno had her arms wrapped around her middles as she leaned over, trying and only partly failing to contain her laughter.

Rias just continued to glare at me for a long second before she slow broke out into a serene smile, her entire face undergoing a transformation.

"Whatever you say...Queenie." She said, and I felt my eyes twitch at the sound of that accursed nickname

And just like that, I knew she was Sirzechs's sister. Only that jerk ever called me that.

"Ok children, that's enough." Akeno clapped her hands twice and stepped in between us. "As much as I enjoy watching you two squabble, and trust me I really do, I believe you had something important you wanted to talk to Emiya-san about Buchou."

Rias, whether at her Queen's words or her ability to get in the last parting shot in, nodded her head in acceptance. She took a moment to compose herself before she waved a hand towards one of the empty chairs. "Emiya, if you would please have a seat I'll get to the point of the meeting."

Seeing her trying her best to pretend that the last minute or so hadn't happened, I decided to follow suit. Seating myself down at the chair while Rias and Akeno occupied the sofa directly across from me, a long coffee table between us.

Rias cleared her throat before speaking. "I'll get straight to the point. Seeing as you just have recently arrived, while you may have not realised it but there is currently a Fallen Angel masquerading as a student on campus."

"Wait, there is?" I asked, surprised before shaking my head, "I hadn't realised." I answered honestly.

Which was weird.

Not that I didn't notice the Fallen, Kuoh Academy was a big school with a rather large student population and I had already arrived this morning, no what surprised me was that the Fallen was still here.

I'd have figured that either Sona or Rias would have driven them out by now, considering how enthusiastically they've been defending their territory so far. So why hadn't they gotten rid of it, and why are they telling me. Unless...

"And you want me to deal with them?" I ventured, my voice sounding incredulous even to my own ears.

I was honestly surprised, I never thought she'd be willing to let me help out. Rias, just like Sona, was adamantly against accepting any help from her older sibling. When she had called me out here I was pretty sure it was to tell me to stay out of her way, in the most polite way possible while still clearly meaning 'butt out'. That she was going to ask me to lend a hand was unexpected, to say the least.

The only thing that I could think of that might have changed her mind was if a particularly powerful Fallen or Stray had entered her territory, but that shouldn't have been possible.

Still, this was good news at the very least. Unexpected, but not unwelcome. It made my job a lot easier if I could work alongside them.

"No, quite the opposite actually." She said, instantly dashing any hope I had. "I want you to stay away from her."

"Because you want to deal with her yourself?" I asked, disappointed but not surprised that she wanted to handle the Fallen on her own.

This was her territory and for a Fallen to wander into what was the heart of it was nothing short of an insult.

While there was no official cease-fire between the Three Factions, there were certain unwritten rules that both sides tacitly agreed to. One of which was basically that any members caught in the territory of an opposing faction was free game, and could be dealt with however the owner of the territory wished. That the Fallen would enter at all meant they were either confident that they wouldn't get caught or believed that the owners were too weak to do anything to stop them.

I also wasn't worried about the Fallen being something that they couldn't handle. The guards that patrolled the city's borders would prevent any dangerous strays from entering and would have informed me if any powerful Angels, Fallen or otherwise, were seen entering the city. Though that was also unlikely to happen.

The other two members of the Three Factions are no doubt aware that the sisters of the Maous are in this city and are simply not willing to send anything that may threaten them. Not only would it send the wrong message, but there is always the small chance of a scuffle breaking out. They didn't want to risk sending anyone that may actually have a chance of killing one of them and kick-starting another war.

There was a reason why nothing higher than two-winged Fallen exist within the borders of the city. Their job wasn't to fight anyone here, just to keep an eye on things and report back to their superiors if anything unusual happens.

"No, I do not want the Fallen to be harmed in any way. In fact, I don't even want her to know that we are aware of her presence." Rias smirked, "It seems like the little crow tried to sneak in and believes she had gotten away with it."

"Ok, now you lost me." I told them frankly, "Why aren't you doing anything about her and why bother telling me about it?

"The reason why we're informing you is that we were worried what would happen if you accidentally stumbled on the Fallen." It was Akeno that answered me this time. "I'm not sure if you're aware of it but despite only recently becoming a Devil you've begun to build quite a reputation for yourself in the Underworld. You're renowned as a busy body, sticking your nose into everything and helping out anyone in trouble no matter what kind of mess it will drag you in."

In my defence, most of that wasn't my fault. It not as if I had been actively looking for trouble since becoming a Devil. It literally came looking for me, or at least it certainly felt as if it.

It wasn't like I meant to walk a Cthulhu Ritual where a bunch of Devils were trying to summon a Great Old One by sacrificing a group of children. I was just looking for the bathroom. And needless to say, I spent the rest of the week cleaning that mess.

Serafall did warn me about how my luck will change as Devil, I just didn't understand the scale it would change. When I told her what happened she just congratulated me on my first accident Cthulhu ritual discovery. Apparently it happens often enough that the Maous consider it a rite of passage into becoming a true Ultimate-Class rank. It had personally happened to Serafall three times so far, while Sirzechs held the record at five.

It was disconcerting, to say the least. I couldn't tell what bothered me more, that Cthulhu rituals were a thing in this universe or that it apparently happens often enough that people kept stumbling all over them.

"Ok, I could see why you might be worried about that. But I still don't understand why you're allowing a Fallen to roam unopposed right in the middle of your territory."

Instead of answering, Akeno pulled a folder from beneath the table. Opening it, she began flipping through the pages before apparently finding the one she wanted. Puling out a single sheet of paper from the folder, she placed it on the table before sliding it over to me.

"Hyoudou Issei," Rias began to speak as I quickly scanned the paper. It contained the basic information and a picture of the boy in question. "A sixteen-year-old boy who's currently enrolled Kuoh Academy. A mediocre student at best, who had barely managed to make the cut-off point for the entrance exam last year. Though that was in part due to the Academy lowering its standards for male students in an effort to bolster its male population after having recently turned co-ed.

"Athletically he's roughly average, at least for a student who's not a member of a sports club, without any history of serious injury or illness. Despite his lack of ability, he is renowned across Kuoh Academy as a member of the Perverted Trio, a group of boys who continually attempt to peek on the female population of the school whenever they can."

"Perverts." A voice to my left interjected. I turned to find Koneko sitting on a sofa that she was sharing with Kiba. There was a plate of Yokan, a type of traditional type of Japanese sweet, before her. Having said her part, she now turned back towards her interrupted meal.

"Now, now, Koneko, you make it sound like that's a bad thing." Akeno covered the smile that was starting to form behind her hand, "I'll have you know that being a little Perverted can be a good thing. Especially when there is someone there to...discipline you."

Koneko just stared at her silently for five full seconds before deadpanning. "Pervert."

Which just caused Akeno to laugh.

"Other than that Issei should have been nothing more than an ordinary if troublesome student." Rias continued after Akeno stopped her laughter. "That was at least until sometime last year when we were able to discover he had a Sacred Gear. It was nothing but pure luck that we found out about it, the boy's magical presence was so small that he's almost invisible to our senses. It was only because Akeno happened to bumped into him while he was being chased by the Kendo club that she even noticed it at all.

"While that was enough to catch my interest, I wasn't willing to risk an Evil Piece over him until I had identified what kind of Sacred Gear he possessed. With the abysmal amount of Mana he had in him, it would have had to be a powerful Sacred Gear to make him a worthwhile investment. But unfortunately, the very same lack of magical presence that caused us not to notice him for so long prevented us from properly identifying the Sacred Gear.

"Truthfully it ended up becoming so troublesome that we decided to simply sit on the matter and hoped the Issei's natural Magical supply would develop with time as he continued to grow and physically mature."

"Which ended up blowing up in our faces" Akeno added.

Rias just nodded in agreement while massaging her forehead, "That boy has the most abysmal magic reserves I have ever heard of. I have seen newborn toddlers with more magic than him, human toddlers. Even after almost a full year of waiting the amount of Mana within him didn't seem to increase at all, or at least not enough for either Akeno or me to notice. The only upside was that I now knew that turning him into a bishop was off the table."

"So what changed?" I questioned. "If you still failed to identify his Sacred Gears then why has he suddenly become important?"

"His scent," Rias said with a victorious smile, "While we couldn't identify his Sacred Gear through magic, we got lucky again and discovered that he's Sacred Gear was producing a distinctly unique scent."

"It was all thank to Koneko here." Kiba speaking for the first time since we entered the club room. "After she enrolled as a freshman, she began to notice the scent of a supernatural creature on school grounds that didn't belong to any of the Devils or their familiars. She traced the scent and found that it leads to Issei."

"What kind of scent are we talking about?" I asked, wondering what the big deal is.

"A Dragon," Rias answer and though she tried to hide it, there was a tone of reverence and wonder in her voice, "Hyoudou Issei has the scent of a Dragon."

Oh! Well, that changed everything.

In my world Dragons were the pinnacle of all Phantasm Species, the strongest among the strong. Even the weakest among Dragons had the power to potentially singlehandedly destroy a country. They were literal extensions of the world that were given intelligence and a physical form.

By nothing more than breathing they were capable of generating Prana, effortlessly generating an almost unmatched amount of magical energy. I was once told that Saber had some Dragon blood within her and that it allowed her to generate an obscene amount of Prana that, if you compared a Magus's body to a single machine capable of generating magical energy, then her body would be an entire factory mass producing it. That was how much of a difference introducing Dragon blood to a human could make.

In this world, I had discovered Dragons were pretty much the same. Except where in my world the strongest Dragon could bring ruin to the entire planet, Dragons here were capable of ruling entire dimensions.

There was a reason why the two most powerful beings in this universe were Dragons. Hyoudou Issei having a Dragon based Sacred Gear had just skyrocketed his importance from a 'normal human' to a 'potentially dangerous' one in the eyes of the world.

"That's not even the best part." Rias Gremory seemed to almost vibrate with excitement. "There are only two known Dragon-based Sacred Gears that are powerful enough to give off such a scent when still in their dormant state."

"The Two Heavenly Dragons," I answered for which she nodded in agreement. "And this generation's White Dragon Emperor has been found and recruited by the Fallen Angel Faction, which means that Issei has-"

"Ddraig, the Red Dragon Emperor." She finished the sentence for me. "That's right, Hyoudou Issei is this generation's Red Dragon Emperor and the wielder of the Boosted Gear."

"I see." At least now it's making a bit more sense why she went through the trouble of protecting Issei from being expelled. He had a Longinus within him after all. Still, "As interesting as this all is, what does it have anything to do with the Fallen? And considering your enthusiasm to the idea, why haven't you attempted to recruit Issei yet?"

"The answers to both of those questions are actually closely linked." Resting her elbows on her knees, Rias leaned forward while steepling her hands. "Have you ever heard of the Valantime incident?

I shut my eyes as I finally had an idea of what she was trying to imply, and I had a feeling that I wasn't going to like where this was going, "I see."

Valantime was the name of a city in the Underworld. It was once a fairly prosperous place despite being one of the smaller cities in the region. It owed its good fortune to be one of the only places that bridged the Underworld to the human world. Its population was a little under a million but it was expected to grow quickly as new people continued to move into the city. It had earned the nicknamed 'The Desert Flower' for it was a city that bloomed in the harsh dry region it called home.

But that over ninety years ago. Today Valantime was a completely different place.

Today, that city was a wasteland.

Exactly 92 years ago, the City of Valantime was brought to ruin by the rampaging of the wielder of the Sacred Gear Divine Dividing, The White Dragon Emperor. The exact details leading up to the incident was never discovered, however, what is known is that a Devil, the sole living member of the Gamigin, was able to discover and recruit a human that was the wielder of the Divine Dividing into his Peerage.

Not much was known about the human in question or at least nothing of any real importance. But what was known was that after being reincarnated he was identified as bearing the Sin of Pride. This came as a surprise to no one. Dragons, after all, had always been the prideful creatures.

The details were lost, but it appeared that an argument broke out between Gamigin and the wielder of the Divine Dividing. When Gamigin lost his patience and tried to force the wielder to submit using his status as his master as leverage, well that was when everything began to go to hell.

A Dragon's Pride will never allow them to willingly bend their knee to anyone, not even other Dragons. That was something Gamigin soon discovered when the wielder attacked him. The fight soon began to grow as the rest of the Peerage jumped and tried to pull the wielder off their master. In response, the wielder activated his Balance Breaker and soon what began as a small fight between Peerage members escalated to an almost city-wide fight as more and more Devils were brought him in order to subdue him.

It reached the point where one of the Maous was summoned to stop him, and that was when the real disaster struck. The wielder already beginning to feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of enemies, panicked when he caught sight of the approaching Maou. Trapped and cornered he became desperate and made what was perhaps the stupidest decision he possibly could have.

He activated the Juggernaut Drive.

And that was that.

His rampaged could no longer be stopped, not even by the Maou. Not without destroying everything else in the area along with him. All they could do evacuate as many people as they could from the city. For two full hours, the White Dragon Emperor raged and in his rage, he brought calamity onto the city. For two full hours, all in the vicinity could hear his madden howls of hatred and anguish. When at last he stopped, the wielder was found dead in the middle of what once was a city, the force of his power draining him of his life.

It took weeks before they were able to accurately tally the total losses of the disaster. They found that over the course of a single night over two-hundred thousand Devils were killed, the equivalent of billions of dollars worth of property was lost, the bridge between the Human and Underworld was irreparably damaged, and the last surviving member of the Gamigin Clan, one of the 72 Pillars had perished.

Not since the fight between the Two Heavenly Dragons during the Great War had the Devils suffused such a loss by a single being. The Devils had forgotten the might of the Dragons. They had forgotten why they should be feared.

Albion reminded them.

The Underworld learned to fear the wrath of a Dragon that day.

"I have a really bad feeling I'm really not going to like where this is going," I muttered.

"I'm sure that you are aware that Dragon based Sacred Gears Wielder are notoriously hard to recruit and even harder to control." Rias, having either not heard my words or simply deciding to ignore them, continued, "What makes them more dangerous than any other type of Sacred Gear Wielders is the amount of damage they could do when they lose control of themselves. This is especially true when it came to the Two Heavenly Dragons, as Albion had shown us. So before I could even consider recruiting him, I needed a way to ensure his loyalty.

"Fortunately, unlike the case with the Divine Dividing wielder, Issei's Sin will clearly be Lust. This not only makes him easier to manage but also far more likely to accept being a Devil considering our lifestyle." Here Rias paused a moment, taking a moment to collect herself before forging on, "But that's not enough to secure his loyalty. We cannot allow another incident like Valantime to happen again. I won't ever allow it allow to happen under my watch. I needed another reason for him to become loyal to me.

"For a while, I was stumped, I couldn't think of a single solution to the problem other than catering to his Lust, and that simply wasn't going to be enough. All it would take for the Fallen or even the Church to send someone to seduce him then he might trade sides at a drop of a hat. But then," She reached over to the folder that Akeno had placed on the table, pulled out a photo and slid it over to me, "the answer fell right into our laps."

In front of me was a picture of a young Japanese girl. She had long silky black hair with an innocent almost childlike face and dark violet eyes.

"Her name, or at least the name she's currently calling herself by, is Amano Yuma. Her real name is unknown to us but what we do know is that she is the Fallen Angel we sensed on campus and is currently posing as an ordinary schoolgirl. Normally we would have eliminated her by this point but when we began to track her we were able to discover the purpose of her appearance here."

I'm starting to connect the dots and I didn't like the picture that was beginning to appear. "Let me guess, she was here for Issei right?"

Rias gave me a firm nod at that, "At first we feared that she was here to try to recruit him into the Fallen Angel Faction as they did with Vali. However, it quickly became clear that wasn't the case. Issei's current human body would have made him too weak for him to be of any real use, Boosted Gear or no Boosted Gear. There was also the matter of Albion and Ddraig being sworn enemies and same side or not they'll try to rip each other apart the moment they set eyes on one another.

"But the thing that finally convinced us of her intentions was Koneko. When she was tracking her she was able to sense Yuma's emotions."

Koneko didn't even bother to look up from her half-finished plate of sweets as she spoke, "Blood lust."

"So we came to the obvious conclusion that she's here to prevent us from recruiting him ourselves. That she went as far as to pose as his girlfriend just made her goal more obvious. We were able to discover that she plans on taking him on a 'date' this evening on the other side of town, a place that's as far as you can get from the heart of Devil territory while still remaining in the city limits. We think she chose that spot because it bore the least likely chance of Devils interfering."

"So do you plan to do?" Despite my question, a part of me was dreading that I already knew the answer. "Are you going to approach Issei now or interfere with the date itself?"

"...No," Rias leaned back in her seat with her eyes shut for a moment and took a deep breath. Then she opened her eyes, which were now hardened with resolve, and stared back at me unflinchingly as she spoke.

We're going to let her kill him

I felt my heart go cold at her words.

For a moment I was sure that I misheard her, that there was no way that they were going to just sit back and watch a boy die. But all I had to do was look at her cold determined eyes, the same eyes that her brother wore, and I understood that this was no joke, no mistake.

Comprehension hit me with all the subtlety of a speeding truck and I realized that they were serious, that these bunch of high school students were gonna let the boy get killed in front of their eyes.

For his credit at least, Kiba looked clearly uncomfortable with the entire situation. Koneko wore no expression at all on her face but the way she studiously ignored everything around her as she stared blankly ahead was as clear a sign of her feelings as anything. Akeno however just a wore that serene smile of hers, the very same one she had been wearing the entire so I had absolutely no idea what she was thinking.

The Gremory however just looked determined.

"I can't let you do that."

I didn't even realize I was speaking until I had finished, but I didn't regret what I said.

"You don't have a choice," Rias countered coolly, "I know for a fact that you were ordered by your King not to interfere. And I already requested approval of the plan from my brother, which he gave along with the blessings of the Elder Council. No one is willing to invite another Heavenly Dragon into Devil Society again without taking every precaution, not after Valantime.

"So you see Emiya Shirou, there is quite frankly nothing you can do about it."

I said nothing, unwilling to move or say a thing. Not trusting myself not to lash out, with either words or swords I did not know.

When, after a long long while, I had finally begun to gain some resemblance of control over myself I asked, "Why?" although the word came out garbled from how I had to choke it out of my constricted throat.

Fortunately, I didn't need to repeat myself as the Gremory seemed to have understood what I was trying to say.

"Because it needed to be done," the Gremory leaned back on her seat but she never removed her eyes from mine, "this isn't some ordinary human Emiya, this a Longinus wielder, people born with the potential to kill gods inside them. The last time the Underworld had one, he brought ruin and desolation to an entire city, ending thousands of lives in the blink of an eye. If the cost of preventing something like that happening again is a single human life, then it's a price I'm more than willing to pay."

"Besides," this time she leaned forward, "I think you're misunderstanding something. It's not as if I'm going to let him stay dead, I do plan on resurrecting him. And I don't actually have anything to do with his death. I have no intention of lifting so much as a finger to harm a single hair on his head, let alone try to kill him."

"You may not be the one to do the deed but you're not planning on doing anything to stop it either. I thought you Gremorys are supposed to treat you Peerage like family and yet this is what you intend to do to Issei? Someone who you're planning on making a part of your Peerage?"

For the first time, the Gremory's eye turned cold, not determined or hard but truly cold. "For my Peerage, I'll do anything. Give anything. My life, my happiness and even my everything is not too high a price to pay for their safety or happiness."

There was a brand of madness unique to Devils, a type of insanity born from their Sin. It rules them in a way the human mind simply cannot comprehend. And the Gremory's cold eyes now shone with that very madness, of the intensity of her Greed for her Peerage possessing her soul.

When she said her everything, she was not lying.

"Issei, however, is not a member of my Peerage, not yet. He will be but until then he's just an ordinary human to me, no different than any other stranger in this city."

For a long while after that, silence ruled the room, as no one had anything else to say.

I simply sat back in my chair and watched her. Just watched as I tried to understand the person seated before me. It didn't take me long to put the pieces together and start figuring her out.

The sad thing is, despite all the things she's about to do, she wasn't evil. No, not evil, just selfish. Which might just be something worse.

She said that she was willing to pay the price of one human life if it meant preventing another Valantime. What she didn't realize was that she wasn't the one paying the price. It was other people. It was Issei who will die, his parents who will mourn him, and his friends that will miss him, they will be the ones who will pay the price, but from her point of view she was taking on the real burden of being forced to choose.

The scary thing is she doesn't see anything she's doing as wrong. In that sense, she's no different than her brother.

Gremorys, no matter what they keep managing to finds ways to infuriate me.

No. No that was unfair. This isn't a Gremory problem but a Pure-blooded Devil problem. They saw themselves so above humanity that they found nothing wrong with playing god with their lives. You just needed to look at how many of them mistreated the Resurrected Devils to see that. They believed that their powers made them superior to all others. What they didn't realize was that their very power was given to them by mere chance, that they have done nothing to earn it or the apparent 'superiority' that came with it.

Power earned was better than power given. For all of my issues with Sirzechs, and I have a lot of them, I could acknowledge that he lived by that rule. Even had he never been born with the Power of Destruction I had no doubt that he would have still grown to become powerful, even Maou-Class powerful.

His sister, on the other hand, didn't live by that rule. Everything she had was handed to her. Her power of Destruction, her rank of Heiress and even the privilege of starting a Peerage, everything was given to her. Yet she there was a sense of pride in her, a confidence that shouldn't have been there for her so-called achievements.

It was that sense of pride that her to believe that she, a not-quite 18-year-old girl, had the right to determine the fate of others, to decide if they should live or die.

Typical Pure-Blooded Devil.

Still, all of my complaining wouldn't do anything to solve the issue. I could whine all I wanted later when I had the time. For now, I had to think of a way to fix this mess.

Yet, there has been one thing bothering about the entire issue.

Issei having a Dragon based Sacred Gear.

No, I had trouble believing it. It didn't make any sense. Issei doesn't act like a Dragon, not even the slightest. A Dragon's Pride was a dangerous thing, unforgivingly brittle as it was hard. A Dragon did not run, ever. Not even before death, not even the inevitable could sway it from its course. It was something that would rather break before it ever bent and I had trouble coinciding that truth with the what I saw this morning. Of Issei running away from a bunch of schoolgirls that caught him peeping.

It...it didn't fit. That wasn't a Dragon.

A predomination washed over me at the moment. One that terrified me.

What if they were wrong? What if Issei didn't have a Sacred Gear? Will she just let him die then?

"Promise me," I stated, finally breaking the silence, "promise me that no matter what happens you'll resurrect him. Even if you find out that he doesn't bear the Boosted Gear you'll still make him a part of Peerage. If you do, then I'll give you my word that I'll not involve myself with this entire mess."

The Gremory didn't even hesitate, I'll give her that much. "I, Rias Gremory, the Heir of the Gremory Clan, one of the 72 Pillars, hereby swear that I will resurrect Hyoudou Issei into my Peerage, no matter what he's Sacred Gear may or may not be."

...What is it with these Clan heirs and their formality? First Sona and now her. Couldn't they just say a simple 'I promise' and be done with it?

Still, I could feel a little bit of tension leaving my body at her words. I may not like how they're going to go about this, but this was the best I could hope for. If I tried to do anything else I'd just end up making things worse for the boy.

If Issei wasn't going to be revived I would interfere nor matter what, orders or no orders. But considering that he was already being targeted by the Fallen Faction, he would need to join a side if he wanted to live. Heaven wouldn't want him, not unless he completely reformed his ways. The Fallen are more likely to kill him, if not directly then through Vali. In the end, his only real choice for making out of this mess alive was to join the Devil Faction and into someone's Peerage.

As much as I hated to admit it, no one watched over their Peerage like the Gremory. No one.

Then there were my own restraints. I couldn't act without thinking anymore. I was a member of a Maou's Peerage and whether I liked it or not, everything I do will have repercussions. It wasn't just my life at stake if I screw up. There is no way I wanted to get Serafall in trouble because of me.

Or worse, as unlikely as it was, sparked a civil war over this incident. Wars had been fought over far less than the Boosted Gear.

I suddenly felt tired. I couldn't stand being in this room with them anymore, I just wanted to get out of here and go home.

"Well, if that's all you wanted to talk to me about Rias Gremory," I said as I began to stand up, an action that was soon copied by the Gremory, Akeno, and surprisingly Kiba. Koneko was already back to eating another plate of snacks she had gotten from somewhere, "I believe it's time for me to get home."

They all walked me to the door, Kiba actually reaching the door before me and held it open.

I turned around and gave the occupants of the room one short wave. "Well, as much as I'd like to say I had a lovely evening meeting you all but I'm afraid I'd be lying. So instead I'll wish you all a good day. Kiba, Koneko, Akeno, Gremory." After giving each of them a quick nod as I said their name, I turned and left the room.

From behind me, I heard Kiba say, "Ah, Buchou. I'm going to help Emiya-san get back to the school entrance." Followed by the sound of a door shutting behind me, then footsteps as Kiba quickly caught up to me.

---

The door shut behind the departing boys, leaving the club room occupied only by the girls of the Peerage.

For a moment no one said anything, and then a light chuckle made its way from the Raven haired girl.

"Ufufufu, Looks like your plan to fluster him failed, eh Buchou. Or should I say 'little pervert'."

"Shut up, Akeno." Muttered Rias, her face turning red at the memory.

"And what did he call you? A nudist? No that's not it. Ah, that's right, a little exhibitionist."

"I said, shut up Akeno," Rias repeated a little loud while her face grew a little redder. She looked down and muttered to herself. "I'm not an exhibitionist damn it."

"Ara Ara Buchou, are you still angry on what he did to your brother?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." She retorted while crossing her arms and looking away. "My brother kicked his ass."

"He also ended up looking like a porcupine didn't he?" Akeno replied while cupping her cheek and smiling as she happily imagined the look of agony on Sirzechs's face.

Rias puffed out her cheeks at that, "Nii-san is the strongest." Barely restraining herself from stomping her foot.

Rias held that pose for a moment, arms crossed and cheeks puffed out like a child before she physically deflated and appeared to almost slump over. She looked suddenly looked exhausted.

"Hey Akeno," her voice was so low that it was barely heard even in the silent room, "I'm...I'm not the bad one here, am I? I mean, I'm doing the right thing...right?"

Akeno, seeing her friend in such a state, dropped her smile as she answered. "Well, I'm not sure if I could call what you're doing the right thing but at the very least I don't think you're doing the wrong thing." Then an idea popped into her head as a wicked smile graced her face. "However, if you're still feeling bad about yourself I can always, ah, punish you. I know it can make really bad and naughty girls feel good again. I got a paddle and everything."

"AKENO!" her blush this time was simply atomic.

From the corner of the room where she was sitting at, Koneko looked up at them with a disapproving frown on her face before deadpanning, "...Perverts." and returning back to her meal.

---

Despite walking side by side, not a single word passed between the two boys as they made their way out of the old school building.

"...Emiya-san." Kiba finally said after they were almost halfway through the woods, "I wanted you to know that despite how it might have appeared today Buchou is not in any way a bad person. It's just that she'd been in a tough position lately, what with the discovery of the Boosted Gears and the possibility of it either rampaging or the Fallen Angels nabbing it from under our noses. The Elders threating to take the matter out of her hands if she didn't act didn't help either. Not to mention how desperate she is trying to find a way out of her marriage with Riser. Look, what I'm trying to say is that she really didn't have a choice in th-"

"Kiba," He was interrupted before he could continue rambling on. Shirou stopped in his tracks and turned to face him. He's golden coloured eyes locked onto his metallic grey. "Some of the most hideous and deplorable acts that were committed by humanity was not out of malice or cruelty, but rather it was done by simple ordinary people who did what they did because 'they had no choice'."

He turned and began walking again but not before tossing one last line over his shoulder, "That doesn't make it any less wrong."

Kiba had nothing he could say to that.

---

After a long, long day I finally found my way back home.

I slowly made my way up the walkway to my new home. It was a mid-sized family house, with four bedrooms and a backyard. It was honestly too big for me alone, but Serafall insisted and managed to convince me that it would be better to have too much space rather than too little.

Plus it had a basement underneath for me to train in. I would have preferred a dojo or a large garden like I had in my old home, but places like that were rare to find anywhere and almost impossible in the middle of a small city. I doubted that it would have done anything to stop Serafall from simply building a new house from scratch but thankfully I had to move here in short notice and there simply wasn't enough time for her to try.

Unlocking the front door I made my way in, tossing my schoolbag in the rack placed by the side of the door for that very purpose. After taking my shoes off, I made my way to the kitchen to start preparing for dinner.

"Yahoo~~~, Shirou. Welcome back~~~!" A cheerful if slightly slurred voice called out to me.

But apparently someone beat me here to it. There seated in my kitchen was a young girl.

She was in her mid-teens with forest green eyes and beautiful long blond hair that reached past her shoulder blades, ending in the middle of her back. She had pale skin matched with a beautiful almost aristocratic face. Dressed in long blue denim with a simple white T-shirt with the caption 'God is Dead – Nietzsche was right after all' printed on it.

She was sitting on one of the wooden chairs surrounding the dining table that was located right in the center of the kitchen and was currently slumped over its surface with a goofy smile on her lips. Her usually sharp and observant eyes were glazed over as she tried and failed to focus them on me. The empty wine bottle that was slowly rolling back and forth across the table gave me a hint as to why.

"Asia, is that the wine bottle I had hidden for guests?" I asked.

She shifted her head from where it laid planted on the table to look at the empty bottle. "Why yes," her eyes widening in surprise as she slurred her words, "yes it is. How did that get there?"

"I believe you put it there and unless I'm mistaken, you've been drinking from it." I could feel a headache beginning to form right between my eyebrows.

"Yes, yes I have." She lifted her head off the table and started to nod vigorously. "And it was wonderful~!" She threw her hand wide and began to lean back on her chair.

"No wonder the old fogeys at the church didn't want me to drink any. This stuff is awesome! The bastards probably just wanted to keep it all for themselves." She continued to lean backwards until she was balancing the chair on its two back legs.

No, I actually think they were just terrified of what a drunken Asia would look like. Like I was quickly learning to be.

Snatching up the empty wine bottle she held it up to the sky like she was about to offer a toast. "Truly wine is a gift from the all mighty. For good drinks and those who prepared it, for good friends with whom to share it," here she pointed the wine bottle at me before raising it to the sky again, "we thank you, Lord. Amen-OUCH!"

Clutching her head at the sharp sudden pain she was no doubt feeling, she predictably ended up losing her balance as her entire chair began to fall backwards, sending her tumbling onto the floor.

For a few seconds, there was nothing but awkward silence in the kitchen, until a voice made its way from the other side of the table, "Owie~ that hurts~." A hand emerged from behind the table, holding onto its surface as its owner used it to push herself back up.

"Asia, you're a Devil now. You can't praise god anymore."

"What!? Really? You mean I can't even pay him a compliment? Well then, screw you too God. I was just trying to praise you oh Holy Father – Ouch! Son of a bitch will you stop that! You won't believe how much that hurt, Jesus Christ – OUCH!"

...It was like watching a car crash. No matter how much you wanted to look away you just couldn't.

"What!" she wailed towards the sky, "It's bad enough that I can't pray to you anymore, but now you're telling me I can't even cuss? Jesus, Mary, and Joseph that's harsh – SON OF A BITCH THAT STINGS!"

Releasing her grip on her head after her latest bout of headache, Asia then began to glare towards the heavens before proceeding to flip God off. Or at least she tried to anyway.

"No, Asia you're supposed to use the middle finger, not the ring finger." I corrected, "Yup, that's much better."

Ladies and Gentleman, allow me to introduce my Bishop. Asia Argento, the former Holy Maiden turned Witch turned Devil...and now apparently turned alcoholic.

Yup, that was definitely a headache starting form.

---

Play OST Fate Stay Night – Kishi Ou no Hokori

It's funny how life goes sometimes.

I walked through the moonlit town. Walking up the road, I noticed there weren't any other people around. It was only seven-thirty. There should have been some people around at this time, but there was no sign of anyone.

You can go looking and looking for something and never find it.

"...Oh yeah." I muttered. There was some kind of crime committed here in Miyama City a few days ago. A burglar murdered someone, I think. It got everybody spooked. That must be why there's no one around, and it was probably why the school curfew was lowered till six.

"...Gas leaks and murder, huh? It's been getting dangerous lately."

No wonder there are fewer people walking around at night.

But when finally you stop looking,

"...Huh?"

it ends up appearing right in front of you.

For a moment, I couldn't believe my eyes. There is someone on the road which I was sure was empty. The person is standing above me as if looking down on me. It was a young girl with snow-white hair that shimmered like silver in the moonlight and eyes that shone ruby red.

Without realizing it, I held my breath. I knew that girl. The silver-haired girl smiles and descends the hill without a sound.

As she passes...

"You'll die if you don't summon-"

"-Ilya?" I interpreted before she finished talking, not caring how the grocery bag slipped out of my slackness hands and spilt onto the sidewalk.

"...huh?" She answered, surprised.

I remember when Kiritsugu told me I had a sister.

I turned and walked towards her, hesitantly covering the space between us in two strides, not even noticing how the world around blurred as tears began to gather in my eyes.

When I asked where she was, he told me he lost her. So I went looking...

I searched and searched, but I couldn't find her.

"...Ilya, Your Ilya right?" I asked again, hesitantly as my voice wavered and cracked. I kneeled before her, lowering myself to eye level. "Illyasviel von Einzbern, right? I-Is that you?" I didn't realize that I had tentatively placed my hands on her shoulder until I felt the material of her jacket in my hand.

Even though I really, really wanted to meet her. Even though I really wanted to talk to her, I couldn't find her. No matter how long or hard I tired.

"..y-yes?" She stuttered, seemingly utterly perplexed by my actions. At her reply, I felt my sight blur from unshed tears.

But now, here you are standing right before me

"Ha-ha...I found you" I felt tears that were barely held in check begin to spill down my face. "finally ...I... I FINALLY FOUND YOU!"

You're here, you were really here!

"W-Whaa!" she squealed out in surprised as I wrapped my arms around her, stood up and swung her around.

"I found you! Ilya I finally, finally found you!" I exclaimed as I continued to twirl you around in circles, laughing like a madman.

I wanted to meet you for the longest time

"W-What?" she asked with a completely bewildered expression, looking more confused than anything. "What's going on?"

But I didn't care, as I continued to laugh out my joy to the world.

Now at last, at long last, I can finally say:

Hi, I'm your brother.

Nice to finally meet you.

---

Character Stats:

Name: Toujou Koneko

Class: Rook

Master: Rias Gremory

Official Rank: Low-Class Devil

Race: Devil / Nekomata (Nekoshou)

Strength: D

Endurance: D+

Agility: E+

Mana: E

Luck: D-

Sacred Gear/ Ability/ Weapon: Senjustu (Sealed), Youjutsu (untrained)

Racial skill:

-Devil skill:

As a Reincarnated Devil, all basic abilities of a Devil are available to her.

-Nekomata (Nekoshou) skills:

Chakra: N/A

For her own personal reasons, Koneko has chosen to abandon her abilities to wield Chakra and has sealed them away.

Youjutsu: N/A

Literally "Demon Arts", Youjutsu is the brand of magic only accessible to Youkai. It primarily consists of casting and using illusion. Unlike Devil magic, Youjutsu is not an instinctive form of magic and requires years of training to learn cast. Koneko has received no training in Youjutsu and is unable to wield it.

Enhanced Senses: D

As a Nekomata, Koneko is gifted with a heightened sense of smell and hearing. Her reflexes are so good that she is often able to notice and react to small tells from her opponent, something she would not have been able to do if she was born with normal Devil reflexes.

She is also born with an excellent sense of balance. Do not be surprised to find her always landing on her feet.

Cat form: B

All Nekomata have two forms, their human forms and their cat forms. This is an instinctive ability and requires very little practice to learn. When in cat form, Koneko is all for all intents and purposes a cat. She would be unable to use any of her magic or abilities and appearance-wise she would not be any different than any ordinary cat.

However, Nekomata are physically stronger than an average cat when in their cat form and Koneko, as a Rook, will be even stronger. Koneko dislikes using this ability in public as it requires her to abandon her clothes when transforming since she cannot take it with her as a cat.

While not truly considered a form, it is possible to combine the two primary forms to make a third one. While it has no official name, it is widely known as 'Cat-girl'. In this form, Koneko will have a pair of cat ear and tails.

She almost never reveals this form as it really popular among perverts and would only be willing to show it some he trusts.

Personal Skills:

Hand-to-Hand combat skills: C

In place of Chakra, Koneko has instead focused on her physical skills. Throwing herself in her martial arts training with a passion that bordered on obsession, Koneko was able to master the art of unarmed combat to an almost unprecedented level. What would take most Devils, even rooks, decades to master, she has done in less than six-year.

While praised as a genius by some, that was far from the case. During her years as a Rook of Gremory, she was offered more freedom and privileges than most Peerage members, which she took full advantage of.

Using the Gremory resources, she secured herself lessons with some of the best combat trainers availed in the underworld. What was remarkable however is not the quality of the training she had availed, but the insane amount of effort she would put into it.

She would join training sessions with students twice her age and will continue to train herself hours after the sessions would end, even if she must do so alone. There have been many cases where she trained until she collapsed from pure exhaustion, only to get back up the next day to repeat the process. It reached the point where her trainers had to drag her off the training field to prevent her from damaging her body.

While not a natural geniuses, Koneko's relentless hard work has caused her skills to advance at a remarkable speed. Combined with her unique sense of balance gifted to her by her race, she was able to become a master in hand-to-hand combat before the age of 15.

As a C rank, Koneko is considered an expert in her field of martial arts, and more than qualified to train advance students.

One with Nature: E

As a Nekoshou, Koneko is highly in-tuned with Nature.

This abilities mostly stems from her ability to wield Chakra, as Chakra is the life force of the world around us, thus as long as her Chakra remains sealed she would be unable to use this skill to her full ability.

At its current Rank of E Koneko is able to sense strong emotion from people in her immediate vicinity.

Poker Face: D-

The skill of hiding one's emotion.

Koneko is very gifted in hiding her feelings, to the point where no can understand what she's truly thinking unless they were either extremely close to her or talented at understanding people.

While in most cases this would be a positive skill to have, in this case, it can almost be considered a curse. This is because Koneko rarely ever takes her poker face off, leaving most people around her with a false understanding of who she really is or what she is feeling

However, it does have two weaknesses. The first is food, as Koneko is unable to mask her love for good tasting food (sweets in particular). The other is Perverts. Rather than be called a weakness, it would be more accurate to say that her hatred for perverts has simply made her unwilling to hide her hatred for them.

Cuteness: C

Also known as Moe... enough said.

Koneko's cuteness has reached the level where she can receive gifts and treats from total strangers, both male and female. Against an enemy that is a Lolicon, it causes them to become unwilling to harm her in any way.

Gluttony: B

Koneko's person Sin...though she would call it her pleasure.

Koneko love for food can rival the Pervert Trio's love for porn. She loves all kinds of food, though she loves Japanese sweats best of all. Despite here size Koneko is capable of eating an obscene about of food that will often leave onlookers stunned and wonder where did all of the food go.

Seriously where does all the food go? Even the System that governs the world is unable to answer this question.

Name: Emiya Shirou

Class: Queen

Master: Serafall Leviathan

Official Rank: Ultimate-Class Devil

Race: Devil / Human (Not of this Dimension)

Strength: C-

Endurance: C-

Agility: C

Mana: C++

Luck: E- to A++

Sacred Gear/ Ability/ Weapon:

Unlimited Bladeworks (and all abilities that originate from it) EX

Racial skill:

-Devil skill:

As a Reincarnated Devil, all basic abilities of a Devil are available to him. However, due to him being only recently reincarnated he has not had the time to advance on any of these skills and would be considered a beginner when compared to a typical Devil his age.

-Human from another world:

Born from a different universe, with a different system of magic exist. Shirou, having been born with circuits which he still retains as a devil, I able to a brand of magic no human in this universe can.

Shirou was found to have 27 working circuits of above-average quality when examined by his adopted father, Kiritsugu. While considered to be a decent amount of circuits for someone from a family of a Magus, for a person from a completely ordinary family it would be considered to be an extraordinarily high amount.

This magic is known a Magecraft. While no other human in this dimension is capable of using it, it may be possible for his children to inherit this ability. If that has been proven to be so, then Shirou will have the right to form a Clan of his own.

Because Shirou is the first-ever human of his kind to ever be reincarnated no one knows what effects it will have on his magic.

There are many mysteries that have yet to be uncovered concerning this skill.

Personal Skills:

Orthodox Magecraft: D-

Despite being a Magus, Shirou is considered a failure when measured by the standards of a typical Magi and would have been considered 3rd rate one at best. However, that is only true because he had abandoned the path of the magus and chosen to pursue the road of a spell caster.

Still, no matter how hard he tried, Shirou would never be able to pass the rank of an Apprentice Magus. He's specialized form of magic would have prevented him from casting anything higher than D rank spells no matter how hard he tried. Even D ranks spell, ones that an average Magus can learn in days, will take Shirou years of practice to cast. The only spells Shirou can cast with reasonable proficiency outside of his speciality are E Rank spells.

However, this has done nothing to hamper his ability to learn and understand the theoretical side of magic. While no genius, Shirou has always been a diligent and hardworking student.

Over the years he had several people from Emiya Kiritsugu to Illyasviel and even Rin, teach him some form of knowledge of Magecraft. Thanks to them Shirou has a solid understanding of the common practices of Magecraft and how they function, such as the creation of Bounded Fields and Familiars, despite being unable to cast most of them himself.

Due to being transported to a new world, Shirou was never able to complete his studies as a Magus and is now unlikely to have ever reached his true potential in this field.

If he was allowed to continue his studies however, Shirou would have the potential to raise his Rank to C-.

Hero's luck: Ex

Heroes have always been destiny's plaything. They are thrown into the most extreme and unusually situation time after time, and their luck reflects that.

A hero's luck tends to jump from both extreme ends of good and bad. For example, by pure chance your childhood home may be located in the heart of blazing fire caused by a being of pure evil trying and failing to be reborn into the world, resulting in not only in the deaths of your entire family and everything you know and love but have also caused you to lose all memories. On the other hand, you'll be fortunate enough to be found in the last possible second by perhaps the only man in the country that can heal your life-threating wound, adopt you, love you as if you were his own son and teach you how to wield magic.

This is the reason why most heroes have tragic pasts.

There are also times when your good and bad fortune would be combined into a single event, for example:

On one hand, you may find yourself running through a forest with nigh unkillable berserker chasing after you, with less than a one in a million chance of coming out of it alive. On the other hand, the one in a million chance of survival requires you to have sex with a beautiful blond, and since it needs to be done in a certain way another beautiful woman, a brunette this time, will have to participate to make sure it's done right.

That's right, you'll face certain death but you'll find the only way to defy your fate is through the power of a threesome.

Shirou's luck is so unpredictable that it cannot be properly quantified in the current system, and such has been given the rank of EX.

Compared to a Devil's luck, he is just as likely to accidentally find a damsel in distress or walk into a Cthulhu ritual but will have no luck in pure gambling. On the rare occasion that he actually ends up winning in a casino, it would likely trigger an event that would end up with him fighting for his life soon afterwards.

Shirou's pure-hearted desire to help people has influenced how this luck manifests itself. Rather than simply making him go on adventure after adventure like most heroes born with a 'Hero's luck', it will instead cause him to run into people who are in need of assistance, whether from large problems such as saving their child from a kidnapping attempt or small things like a lonely soul who really needs a friend by their side.

Do not be surprised if Shirou runs into an unusually high number of people who are emotional 'damaged', as they are the kind of people that Shirou's luck will draw him to.

Magic Resistance C++

All beings with an abnormally large amount of magic flowing through of them will gain a natural resistance to all foreign magic, whether they be benign or harmful.

At its current rank of C, Shirou's Magic Resistance is sufficient enough to cancel out all E Rank Magic spells cast on him and cuts the effects of D rank magic by half.

However, when it comes to swords, Shirou's Magic Resistance becomes more effective. Magical effects from swords that he is not wielding from C rank and below is cancelled out completely. While the effects of those that are of B rank will be cut in half.

These effects however are only limited to the magical aspects of the sword. Physical damage from cutting or thrusting will remind unchanged.

Will of the Serafall C-

This is less a skill and more of a curse.

Serafall, despite her appearance, is perhaps one of the most persuasive Devils to have ever been born. She is highly skilled in understanding what makes a person tick and does not hesitant in using that knowledge to help turn people's opinion to match her point of view. Those who spend long periods of time in her presence tend to find their opinions or attitudes change to one more similar to hers. The sever rise in Magic Girl fans in the underworld is attributed to her, as thousands of Devils who have shown no interest in the matter have been turned to fanboys/girls simply by talking to her.

Do to being continuously exposed to Serafall over the course of the last six months, Shirou has begun to exhibit many of her traits. In particular, he has begun to develop the traits of a prankster.

While it has not reached the point where Shirou will actively try and create pranks, he will no longer be able to resist if an opportunity presents itself.

Sword Skills C++

Shirou is an excellent swordsman. Though he has spent less time training on his swords skill than his archery, due to his affinity with swords Shirou was able to reach the rank of an expert swordsman in a remarkable short period of time.

At C rank, Shirou is considered an expert in the field of swordsmanship and is more than qualified to train advance students.

However Shirou's real potential in the field does not lie in his raw talents with the blade, but rather his abilities to mimic the skills of any of the previous wielders of a sword and use it as if it were his own.

When holding a sword that was once wielded by a true master of the blade, his sword skill has the potential of rising to an A rank. Though this ability seems to work best when used on swords he has traced himself.

To a limited extent, this also applies to other bladed weapons but the effects are degraded by up to one or two ranks depending on how different the weapon is from the shape of a sword.

Shirou's fighting ability also takes a remarkable improvement when facing an enemy armed with a sword (or a weapon that can be replicated in his Unlimited Bladeworks). This is due to his ability to read the sword's history.

With a single glance, he can understand his opponent's entire fighting style as well as he does his own, as long as his opponent has been wielding the sword he is currently using long enough.

This makes Shirou almost impossible to be beaten by a fellow swordsman unless Shirou is significantly inferior to his opponent.

Extreme Reinforcement B

Even in his old world, Shirou has always been remarkably skilled in Reinforcement. However, after witnessing the large gap in physical abilities between himself and even the weakest of the Servants in the Holy Grail War, he became unsatisfied with his current skills and became determined to improve himself.

Inspired by how Caster was able to reinforce her master, Souichirou Kuzuki a normal if highly skilled human, to the point where he gained far more strength than should have been possible even with Magecraft. It reached the point where he was able to physically harm a Saber-Class Servant, a Servant whose defence is only matched by Berserker-Class Servants.

After his encounter with Caster, Shirou threw himself into improving his Reinforcement abilities above anything else after the War. At first, he was met with little success as his human body simply could not be reinforced anymore without breaking but ever since his transformation to Devil, his skill in Reinforcement has flourished.

His control over his ability to Reinforcement his body has reached the point where he can bypass the Devils body's natural limits, granting him far more strength and speed than should be possible, without crossing the point where his body would self-destruct.

At B rank, Shirou's Extreme Reinforcement ability would allow him to increase his speed to a Rank of B and his strength to that of C+.

However, be warned that Shirou's body cannot withstand the strain for long. There is a reason why the body has a natural limit to Reinforcement and by bypassing it the body will begin to breakdown if used for long periods of time.

On the upside, due to the increasing amount of magic that is actively flowing in his body when the skill is in use, his Magical Resistance is also slightly improved from C to C+.

Body of swords B

An internalization of the Unlimited Bladeworks.

By casting the Unlimited Bladeworks into his body rather than projecting it outwards, Shirou is cable of turning his entire body into swords.

At first, Shirou was unaware of this ability and only began to suspect it when noticing how much tougher his body becomes when injured. He only became completely aware of it after seeing blades start sprouting out from a cut and start knitting his wounds together.

When used, Shirou's body will become stronger and tougher than it would be possible otherwise, turning into his body to what is equivalent of a moving fortress. It will cause Shirou's Endurance Stat to increase to the rank of B+.

At that rank no physical attack ranked C and lower would be able to harm, causing them to be neglected completely. While physical attacks ranked B will still have some effect they will be greatly reduced requiring several strikes to cause a mortal blow. Shirou's magic Resistance will also increase to the Rank of B.

However, this ability comes at a cost. Due to the entire body turning to swords his joints will no longer able to function properly, making it hard for him to move and leading to an extreme reduction in speed. Shirou's Rank in Agility will drop to the rank of E making him incredibly slow in comparison to his usual speed.

Be warned that this ability does not come without its share of risks. Not only is using it for long periods of time extremely draining Magic wise, but it will also increase the risk of losing control. If that were to happen Shirou will be skewered by his own swords, leading to his death. Currently, Shirou can only use 'Body of Sword' for a few minutes at most before is grip on it starts to slip.

There is however more to this ability than meets the eye. There are many secrets that have yet to be discovered concerning its use that Shirou has yet to discover.

Beloved of the Sword A

Shirou's affinity with swords is so high that to claim that swords love him would not be an exaggeration.

Holy blades, something that would turn a normal Devil to dust with merely a cut, will do no such thing to Shirou. While he will still be cut, he will receive no more damage than if he was an ordinary human. The cause of this effect is believed to be due to the number of holy swords he has currently stored inside him combine with the existence of Avalon, a Holy artefact, which was fused into his body as a child.

However, this only applies to something that is a 'Sword' not shaped like a sword. Angels and Fallen Angels are capable of forming swords of light, however, these do not qualify as a sword as they are merely magically shaped into the form of a sword, not an actual sword. Thus Shirou will not fare against them any better than ordinary Devils.

He is also able to wield Holy swords himself, something thought to be impossible for a Devil.

While the ability is still effective on other bladed weapons, the farther it is from the form of a sword the less effective this ability will work.

Archery B

Shirou was a member of the Archery Club during his freshman year in his last year. During the period he was enrolled he had only missed the target once, but even then he said "It will miss" before even firing the shot.

Nothing less than 'Genius' can adequately describe his skill as an archer.

A once a century talent, if Shirou had continued his pursuit in archery he would have most likely ended up as a world champion. Unfortunately, Shirou has shown no interest in pursuing archery and, after a disagreement with one of the club members, left the Archery Club during the summer of his freshman year.

Shirou's skill in archer has reached the point that he will never miss any target he aims for. That, however, does not mean that he will always hit the target as if the target moves in an unexpected manner before the arrow reaches it he will miss. While Shirou is more than capable of hitting a moving target he currently lacks the ability and experience to accurately anticipate the movement of the living target.

However given enough time and training, Shirou has the potential to become one of the greatest archers in recorded history.

Eye of the mind (true) D+

Despite his age, Shirou has quite a mind for combat.

After experiencing the horrors of the Holy Grail, where Shirou has watched and participated in battles between Heroic Spirits that ruled over the battlefield of their era, he has adapted to the reality of combat. He now no longer experiences panic or extreme fear during combat and is capable of remaining calm and analytical even in the middle of a warzone, thus allowing him to observe the situation and choose the best course of action for success.

While quite talented, Shirou lacks the pure experience to bring most out of this skill. However given enough time in the battlefield, Shirou will have the potential to eventually raise this skill to a B rank.

At his current level, as long as there is a reasonable chance of a comeback, this skill will greatly increase the odds of winning.

Cooking C+

Kiritsugu, Shirou's foster father, had no talent in housework. If left to his own devices he would have take-out or junk food for most of his meals. Having grown up in such an environment, Shirou was forced to learn to cook for himself if he wanted to have a decent meal.

While at first, it was a mere chore, Shirou soon began to love cooking and ended up developing quite a talent for it. His forte is Japanese cooking but he is reasonably proficient with all different kinds of food.

At C rank, Shirou is able to cook food with the skill of a professional first-class chief. However, when Reinforcement is added into the mix, the quality of Shirou's food reaches the level that borders on the divine.

If Shirou was ever forced to serve the gods as a chief even they would not find anything lacking in his food.

Origin of 'Spirit'?

Not much is currently known about the effects of this origin. The only thing that is certain is that Shirou has become more emphatic to other people and is also better at understanding them.