Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/Stay Night or High school DxD, just the original concepts and plot in this story. This Crossover is a complete AU

*Story Start

Of Swords and Angels

I raised my left hand into the air, watching with interest as the light bounced off the metallic surface of the deep red gauntlet. I rotated my wrist clockwise then counter-clockwise, observing the way the gauntlet effortlessly followed my movement despite its bulk, before clenching then relaxing my hand.

A perfect replica of the Sacred Gear Twice Critical encased my left hand and forearm. Ever since I first heard of Sacred Gears I have wanted to see if I can trace them. However before now I simply didn't have the chance to try.

At first it was due to time, I had so much to learn about the world when I first arrived and a detailed analysis of Sacred Gears was simply not a priority at the time. Then it was due to a lack of opportunity, as in the Underworld Sacred Gears were rather rare to find. They did only manifest in humans after all and outside of a young Devil's Peerage, Sacred Gears users were hard to find.

However since arriving in the human world opportunity no longer became an issue. My first attempt of replicating a Sacred Gear came when I had witnessed Kiba training one morning. Sword Birth was a perfect Sacred Gear for me to start experimenting with as it had so much in common with both my Tracing ability and my element.

While my attempt did work, I wouldn't call it a success. As predicted my abilities allowed me to replicate every sword that Kiba created but that just meant I copied the product of the Sacred Gear, not the Gear itself. Sword Birth as it turns out, did not have a physical manifestation which regrettably meant there was nothing for me to trace.

My second opportunity at replicating a Sacred Gear came soon after. Issei was surprisingly ecstatic for a person who had died just a few days ago. Perhaps it had to do with the lacy bra that Gremory had dangling in front of him with a fishing pole while she sat on his shoulders and made him run around the track field.

I have to admit, the Gremory sure knew how to handle the pervert, far better than I would have had I been in her place. While I doubt it would have been as effective, I would never have been willing to use my boxers as bait in order to train him if Issei was part of my Peerage.

What caught my interest however wasn't the training method but the maroon red gauntlet that covered his left arm. Twice Critical, a Sacred Gear capable of doubling an individual's strength for a limited time. In spite of its reputation as a low-tier Gear its power was nothing to laugh at. To increase my strength by double, no, even a twenty percent increase will give me an incredible boost in my fighting capabilities.

While not a sword, it was one of the more simplest forms a Sacred Gears can take, making it as good a place to start as any. After three days of trial and error, and countless of failed projections I finally made some progress.

I lifted my replicated Twice Critical in front of me. This was the result. With this, my attempts in reproducing Sacred Gears have come to an end. It was in every way a perfect copy that was indistinguishable from the real thing.

It was also a complete failure.

There was nothing wrong with it, no flaw in craftsmanship that prevented it from functioning as it should. It was as I had said a perfect copy. The problem lies not with my replica but with the original Twice Critical, or to be more precise the problem lies with Sacred Gears in general. In my experimentation with them, I had discovered a fundamental truth about their function.

Sacred Gears where not designed to grant its wielder powerful abilities, it is in fact utterly incapable of doing so. A Sacred Gears true purpose is that of a vessel. They were designed to contain the powers and souls of powerful beings. From an all-mighty Dragon to a tiny fairy, a Sacred Gear will imprison them inside its shell. The abilities that they are famed to grant are merely a consequence, nothing more than a side-effect of housing these beings.

That is why this my Twice Critical did not work. Without the soul of a Lesser Dragon to fuel its power it will not grant me any boost in power. Right now it was just an empty vessel, little more than a mundane piece of armor.

It was the same with Twilight Healing. The rings were merely a container for a soul that radiated the power of restoration. While I was uncertain, going off its nickname of "Smile of the Holy Mother", it is possible that its power stems from one of the spirits of the earth, a facet of Gaia herself. That would explain its ability to bypass magical resistance as our bodies are made from the fruits of the earth.

Twinkle Aegis, Tsubasa's Sacred Gear, is famed for housing a fairy with it. And by making a pact with the fairy it is possible to change the effects of the Gear.

That does not mean that it was impossible for me to craft a Sacred Gear, quite the opposite. My Twice Critical is capable of housing a soul just like the original could. It merely needed a soul to fill it.

In other words, all I have to do to make my Twice Critical work is to find a Dragon that is willing to part with its soul…yeah, like that's going to happen anytime soon.

In many ways the Sacred Gears reminded me of the history behind Kanshou and Bakuya. The famed blacksmith Gan Jiang was commissioned to forge an Imperial sword. His wife, Mo Ye, seeing her husband frustrated at his failures to forge such a blade, decided to sacrifice her own life to aid him.

To forge a sword that can reach the realm of the Gods, a human's life and essence is needed as a sacrifice. She threw herself into the furnace in front of her husband out of love, and in his grief he was able to craft the two masterpieces which he named Kanshou and Bakuya, the married twin swords. One to represent his wife and the other himself, the Yin and Yang.

They were masterpieces, unmatched by anything else Gan Jiang had ever forged before. The paired swords had the most remarkable ability to find the other; their attraction to one another will always lead one back to the other even if the other was lost.

Gan Jiang did not live long after he completed the blades. As he only gave up one of the blades but refused to relinquish the second sword, Kanshou, the one that represented himself, perhaps in hopes that it would somehow lead him back to his wife again someday. Regardless, his refusal to surrender the blade had resulted in him being executed by his king soon afterwards.

Sacred Gears, just like the two blades, require the sacrifice of a life to be forged.

I dismissed the false Twice Critical from my hand, hopped of my bed and made my way to the closet to get dressed for school. It wasn't worth it. The prize is not worth it if the sacrifice of life is the price.

I have seen many Magus walk down that path, willing to sacrifice anything in their quest for power. Sometimes that ended in failure while others times they got the power they were seeking, but I had never once seen them find any happiness for it. At that price, such a life has no meaning.

I picked up on my bag from the side of the door as I shoved my other arm into the sleeve of my jacket before existing my room and making my way down the stairs.

Spotting the large pile of lunch boxes on the dining room table, I made a detour toward it to pick it up while crossing the kitchen entrance on my way there.

*Beep*

I stopped in my tracks and blinked in confusion as I heard a mildly alarming sound coming out of the kitchen.

*Beep**Beep**Beep*

The slight anxiety that I was feeling evolved into complete trepidation as I heard the noise again. With great reluctance I reversed my course and made my way back toward the kitchen entrance. I paused, unwilling to enter the room but knowing that I couldn't just ignore it.

*Beep**Beep**Beep**Beep**Beep*

I compromised and decided to stick my head in through the door while keeping most of my body hidden behind the wall and out of harm's way.

"Shirou!" Asia exclaimed as soon as she caught sight of me. "Thank god –Ouch! NOT NOW DAMN IT – Thank that ungrateful prick you're here! I need your help."

"Yes…I can see that" I deadpanned.

The kitchen was, to put it lightly, an utter mess. Cooking tools were scattered all over the counter and floor. Splashes of multicolored liquid stained every conceivable surface in the room including the ceiling and piles of badly chopped fruits and vegetables littered the floor and tables.

Asia didn't fare any better. Her face was covered with food stains and she was wearing what used to be a clean white apron that now looks as it had been vomited on by a drunken rainbow. In one hand she held a butcher knife that she was swinging arou nd in panic every time she spoke.

*Beep**Beep**Beep**Beep**Beep**Beep*

Was that the microwave?

"Shirou,*Beep* help. I don't *Beep* know what I *Beep* did wrong *Beep* but *Beep* it *Beep*wouldn't *Beep* stop *Beep* beeping-"

*Beeeeeeeeeeeeeep*

BOOM!

It was only that my superhuman reflexes that allowed me to react in time and pull my head back away from the eruption that sent a black billowing cloud exploding out into the kitchen and shooting through the door.

…I did not even know that was possible.

I mean, do microwaves work differently in this universe or is Asia's cooking so bad that the microwave just committed suicide and tried to take us all with it in some kind of Kamikaze attack?

By this point the smoke was beginning to clear so I carefully peered back into the Kitchen.

The kitchen and everything in it was completely covered in soot, it was as if someone had painted everything black. And poor Asia was no exception. She blended into the background of the room so well that the only reason why I could even tell she was there was thanks to the white of her eyes that were wide open with confusion.

"-Never mind Shirou, I fixed it." She croaked out, her snow-white teeth standing out from her soot covered skin as she spoke.

"…Do you need some help?" I reluctantly offered. Normally I'd be more than happy to help but I'm honestly terrified of entering the kitchen while Asia was still in there. I don't know if it was possible for the rest of the kitchen appliance to follow in the footsteps of the recently deceased microwave but I didn't want to find out. The very idea that my beloved kitchen, the place where I practice my art of cooking, trying to kill me would break my heart.

"No-" A cough interrupted her as a cloud of black smoke erupted from her mouth, "no, I'm fine. You need to get to school anyway. "

I tried not to look relived as I waved her goodbye, picked up the lunch boxes and walked out of the house as fast as I could without actually running. I also mentally added a new item to the list of things to keep Asia away from, at least when I'm in the vicinity. So far it's alcohol, internet porn and now cooking.

"Checkmate." Sona declared after setting down the bishop.

"Ah, well." I rubbed the back of my neck as I stared at the chess board. "Looks like I lost. Well it was fun but I really-

"Again."

"But we just-"

"Again." She repeated, a tone of finality in her voice.

I sighed in resignation as I began to help her rearrange the pieces on the board, all the while trying to ignore the snickering of the Student Council member around me.

Momo had stopped half way through filling some paperwork when she heard Sona's declaration of my defeat. She stood up and walked up to the large man sized blackboard that had recently been hung on one of the walls of the Student Council Room.

It had a vertical line drawn down the middle of it, dividing the blackboard in two. On the top of both halves were names, Sona's on the right and mine on the left. My side had nothing in the middle of it, just a clear blank space until you reached the very bottom where the number 0 was clearly written.

Sona's side was the complete opposite of mine. The middle of it was filled with dozens of tally marks, almost filling the entire space. On the very bottom of the board was the number 71.

Momo picked up a piece of chalk from a nearby table before approaching Sona's side of the board and added an additional tally mark, and despite the stoic/bored expression she wore I knew, just knew, that she took vindictive glee as she ever so slowly erased the number in the bottom and scratched out the number 72.

Seventy two, I had suffered seventy two continues losses. Just looking at that number sent a knife of pain through me as my pride took another hit. For the last five straight days, ever since the training I had given them, Sona has dragged me into the Student Council office where she repeatedly forced me into a game of chess. She proceeded to kick my ass in every possible way, and I do mean every way.

I've had games where she beat me in as little as seven moves, while at other times she repeatedly spared me as she hunted down all of my pieces one by one until the King remained. Then instead of killing me she proceeded to hunt my King across the board for the better part of fifteen minutes before she decided to put me out of my misery. Or more likely she simply got bored; she seemed to be all out of mercy these days.

All the while she made sure to have the rest of the Student Council watch while it was happening. Going by the barely concealed smirks and snickers it seemed that they were enjoying the show.

Yeah, they may been a little sore about training.

What I didn't understand was why did it burn so much to lose? I didn't even like chess for Maou's sake but my pride, my poor shattered and abused pride, hurt so much at the thought of this little wisp of a girl kicking my ass seventy two times in a row at anything.

The rest of the Student Council's smirks were not helping either. Is this bullying? Am I being bullied?

Sona, being a Devil of Pride like me, probably knew exactly what to do to hit me in mine while not actually doing anything wrong. I mean what am I supposed to say? Mr. Principle, the bullies are beating me at chess. No, they're not beating me with a chess set but in an actual chess game and it really hurts my feelings so tell them to stop. I'd get laughed at, which will probably grind the remaining fragments of my broken Pride to dust. And if Serafall ever found out it wouldn't surprise me if she decided to cheer her little 'So-tan' on…in a cheerleader's outfit with pom poms.

I let out a sigh before picking up one of the pawns and moving it two spaces forward. Oh well, considering what I put them through I'm getting off pretty cheaply. And at least this will give me an opportunity to talk to Sona.

"Did you speak to Gremory yet?" I asked as she instantly replied to my opening move.

She nodded, "While I avoided any details I was able to impart the need for us to prepare and train. All she knows was that I had been able to figure out part of the reason why you're really here and that we needed to get stronger fast."

"So does she plan to come to me for training?"

"There is no need," She used her bishop to capture my knight, "Rias intends to take her entire Peerage to one of her family's villas in the mountains for a ten day training camp and has already arranged for a trainer. She had contacted her brother and requested to borrow his knight, Okita Souji, to coach them for the duration."

"Really? I'm surprised, I never thought she would willing go to Sirzechs for help in anything. How did you convince her to do that?"

"While I didn't mention anything about your true purpose here, I did impart that not only our lives but that of our Peerage were in danger. Say what you want about Rias but she is more than willing to swallow her pride when it comes to keeping her Peerage safe. They'll be leaving in a couple of weeks' time."

I was secretly relieved at that. I have been avoiding the Gremory ever since our first meeting but I knew I couldn't keep away from her for long, not if I wanted to protect her. However if Okita is going to take care of them I won't have to deal with that problem for a while longer.

Now that issue was settled, it was time to broach the newest problem that happened to crop up.

"So, have you heard about the theft?" I asked as I tried to think of my next move.

"Theft?" She repeated, clearly confused by the question. I guess no one told her. "Shirou, what are you talking about?"

Instead of answering, I reached into my inner breast pocket and pulled out the folded up report I received last night and handed it to her. She took it from me and began to peruse it while I continued to think of a next move.

It was several minutes later that Sona finished reading, just as I had decided to move my knight. "Four of the Excaliburs were stolen? How did they pull that off? All of the Excalibur's fragments were stored in separate churches all across Europe yet they stole four of the seven at the exact same time." She didn't even bother to look down at the board as she played her next move.

When I first heard that the Excalibur in this world was broken my first thought was disbelief. In my world Excalibur was the strongest holy sword in existence, one that cannot simply be referred as beautiful because its appearance was so unmatched that to call it merely 'beautiful' would only dirty it.

My second thought was gratitude that Saber was not her to hear about the fate of her beloved sword. I was not sure if it was possible for King Arthur to have a heart attack but I didn't want to find out.

I grimaced as it became apparent that my king was getting cornered. "Yes but that wasn't the most remarkable part of the entire thing."

"You're talking about the guards?"

I nodded as I moved my king. Sona instantly played her move as soon as I let go of the chess piece and I had to bite back the urge to cuss. "No one was killed. Do you realize how strange that is?"

She absently nodded as she thought about it, "Why would they bother sparing them. Breaking into such well-guarded places to steal the Excaliburs would be difficult enough as it is. Why would they make it even harder on themselves by sparing the guards? The chances of something going wrong increases exponentially for each guard they spared but they did it anyway."

She shut her eyes to focus on the mystery, "It's not like it would lessen the wrath of the Church by sparing them after stealing the swords. The Church may have been happier to have dead guards but kept the swords then the other way around, so there is no way they'd show any leniency no matter how merciful the thieves acted. And if the perpetrators wanted to harm or weaken the Church it would have been better to simply kill the guards."

I nodded in agreement. The Excaliburs were not guarded by run of the mill security guards, but they were protected by some of the best exorcists the Church has. If they had killed them instead of sneaking by or incapacitating them, they would have significantly weakened the Church's manpower. At least of the human variety.

"So it was an inside job?" She thought aloud, "No, the Excaliburs were guarded by different sects. There is no way that could happen."

Despite the humans of the Heaven Faction identifying themselves as the Church, they were not actually a united group. They were divided into several different sects, ranging from small to large in size, each with their own set of beliefs and command structures. Some of the major sects were the Roman Catholic Church, the Easter Orthodox Church and the Protestants.

Each of the Excaliburs were guarded by different Sects. And while they were officially on the same side, the Sects rarely got along with one another. That was why the idea of an inside job is laughable. The Sects had trouble even agreeing on the smallest and simplest of issues. That a clandestine group of people from several different sects were able to work together so coherently that they were capable of pulling off an elaborate and well-timed theft like this without anybody finding out was as close to impossible as you can get.

"Surprisingly the Church hasn't accused Devils of the theft." I said, drawing Sona away from her thoughts. "It seems that the lack of death or destruction, in addition to the theft occurring on holy ground, has convinced the majority of the Church that it wasn't our side that did it."

"Yes," she nodded in agreement after thinking about it, "not to mention that Devils can't even hold an ordinary Holy Blade let alone an Excalibur. There was no way we could have done it. It's still your turn by the way."

Damn it. I looked down at the chess set and moved a random piece forward, hoping it I would get lucky and get out of this mess. Looks like she'd learned from the last time I tried to distract her with news.

"Speaking of weapons," She was wearing a smug smile as she looked down on the chess board after my latest move though she did not respond yet, "I've been meaning to ask you about the one you gave Tsubaki."

Ah, that's right. I had almost completely forgotten about it. From the edge of eye I caught Tsubaki looking up from her work as she heard Sona bring up the topic. I turned towards her and asked, "Tsubaki, could you please summoning it here? It will be easier to explain that way."

After a questioning glance towards Sona, who gave her a nod, she summoned the halberd that same way she did with her Naginata. The weapon soon dropped into her hands and she twirled it around so that the blade was pointed upwards and the butt of the shaft was placed firmly on the ground.

"Its name is Houtengeki," I began, "a one of a kind halberd crafted in ancient China. It is in every meaning of the word a masterpiece and if you search the entire world you'll never find another halberd that can match it. What distinguished it from any other type of weapon is its versatility that allows it to use all the major characteristic of all other two-handed type of weapons, allowing it to be effective in slashing, thrusting, battering, scything and sweeping.

"However that is just as much a flaw as a blessing in its design, as it takes a lot of skill to handle this weapon. It would not be inaccurate to say that in order to master it you need to the skill to wield several different types of weapon. It is an incredibly difficult weapon to learn how to wield proficiently and will take years even for the most talented fighter to completely master. In the almost two thousand years that the Houtengeki has existed only one man has ever successfully mastered it."

"The most remarkable aspect about this particular weapon is how it's destructive power varies with the skill of its wielder. The more skilled the user the more powerful the halberd becomes, while in the hands of an amateur it becomes little more than a pointy stick."

"At maximum strength it is said to have the capacity to pierce anything in the world, from the strongest of armor to the scales of dragons and even the flesh of Gods."

At this point, everyone in the Council room was staring at the weapon with looks of shock and awe. The flabbergasted expressions on the usually stoic faces of Sona, Tsubaki and Momo were especially hilarious.

Again, I felt a part of me preen with pride at the looks they were giving one of my blades, I almost felt like a peacock showing off his feathers. I took a second to simply bask in the sensation. It was wonderful feeling to have your work recognized and acknowledged after all.

It wasn't unexpected that the Houtengeki's capabilities had caught them by surprise. Unlike the Calabolg II, the Houtengeki didn't radiate as much power even though they could clearly tell it was a remarkable weapon. That was only natural; after all it's true power can only be unlocked when in the hands of a wielder skilled enough to master it.

"Shirou," Sona said, after finally regaining her ability to speak, "did you give my Queen a potentially God slaying weapon? Just like that?" The look she was giving me was the one she usually reserves for Serafall, particularly when she does something incredible stupid or insane.

I shrugged in reply, "I had no use for it." That was true. The Houtengeki, while powerful, did not offer any unique abilities that I could not find in another weapon. In fact, compared to some of my stronger blades, it paled in comparison. "It would be a waste to leave such a weapon with someone like me who will just leave it somewhere to gather dust. I'm sure the Houtengeki will be much happier with Tsubaki instead. Besides I broke her old one, it was only natural for me to replace it."

She shot me a scrutinizing look, "You make it sound like you have a lot of weapons."

I cast my mind to the endless field of swords of my Reality Marble and simply stated, "Yes."

"Who?" Someone questioned from my left. I looked to discover it had been Tsubaki, "You said that only one man in history ever mastered the Houtengeki. Who was it?"

"He was Lu Bu, a man whose skill in battle has carved him a place as a legend in China's history."

"A hero?" Sona asked, "You gave her a legendary hero's weapon?"

I shook my head, "Lu Bu was many great things, but he was no hero."

"Wait, just wait a sec Aniki." I resisted the urge to shudder at being called that name. While I didn't mind it at first, once I found out why Saji called me that I quickly came to hate it. Hopefully I'll be able to persuade him to change his dream, or at the very least not shout it out loud, before Serafall meets him or else Sona is going to have to find herself a new Pawn. "You make it sound like you have hundreds of these things lying about. Does that mean you can give away dozens of weapons and not even notice them missing?"

"While that was not what I meant to imply, yes I can and I know what you are going to ask next Saji and I'm afraid the answer is no, I'm not giving away any more of my blades." I told him. "You have to understand that most powerful magical swords and weapons are not something anyone can wield. Think about how Holy Swords would only allow their chosen user to wield them, the same thing applies to most of my blades.

"The Houtengeki is one of the only handful of weapon I have that can be used by anybody but even it would refuse to grant its wielder the entirety of its power unless they prove themselves worthy of it."

Saji seemed to deflate a little at my words. I couldn't entirely blame him for his disappointment. If I couldn't trace my own swords I also would have wanted one of them for myself too.

"Now Shirou," Sona cut in, "If you are done distracting me I have something to tell you."

"And what's that?" I asked her.

She smirked at me and moved her rook forward, "Checkmate."

The green leaves overhead rustled in their branches as a warm summer breeze swept through the park. It sent ripples running through the still water of the lake, momentarily distorting the reflection of the clear blue skies.

The park was surprisingly empty despite the warm day. Though that could be due to the time, school just ended after all and most kids have either went straight to home or to the nearby shopping center while most of the adults were still at work. The only reason why I was even here was because I decided to take a bit of detour on my way home.

Another breeze swept thought the park, ruffling the bangs of my hair as I walked beside the lake and enjoyed the view. Still, if I had known a place like this existed I would have come here earlier. Maybe I'll bring Asia here for a barbeque or something if it was allowed. Though going by my luck I better prepare a meal for seven as I had a feeling a certain cat will find her way here.

I took a seat on one of the benches lining the road, on the opposite side from the lake but facing it, allowing me an unobstructed view. I decided to relax for a moment and think over how my job has been going so far.

All in all, things have been going surprisingly well. If you discount the whole Fallen incident, everything is on track. I was able to convince the girls to improve the amount and quality of the Bounded Field in their territory, have begun training Sona and her Peerage and while I'm not the one going to train the Gremory's she has arranged a competent fighter to train them.

While I don't know much about Souji Okita personally, having only met him a couple of times and exchange only a few words, I did catch a glimpse of his sword. That was all I needed to know that Gremory's Peerage would be in safe hands.

"It was written by men, you know."

Huh? I shook my head to snap myself out of my thoughts and looked around. I thought I was completely alone but it looks like I was wrong, I must have been completely out of it to not notice someone approaching. There sitting on a park bench across the road from me and a little bit to my left was a man.

He was clad in a simple white buttoned up shirt with plain black trousers. Around his neck hung a small silver cross which dangled on the middle of his chest. In his hand he held an open Bible that he was currently leafing through.

Beautiful. No other word could accurately describe the man. I had once thought that Kiba had a face that can make even girls envious; if so then this is man can make even the Angels jealous. His beauty was just that unnatural.

The wind gentle caressed his raven tresses sending it drifting slowly about his face. His hair curled ever so slightly as it fell down from his head and onto his shoulders, so dark they seemed to have been painted from the night sky. His skin was a healthy and flawless pink, unmarred in anyway by even the slightest imperfection.

Sky blue eyes shone out of his aristocratic face, which was currently held a look of relaxed contemplation as he studied the bible with a small smile. Slim shoulders and waist, he could have easily been mistaken as a girl from afar. The hands which he turned the pages of the bible with were soft and smooth, a scholar's hands, free of callouses and scars.

He looked so inhumanly perfect, that I actually used my magic to search for any illusion. When they came back negative I used my magic to examine myself to see if my mind was tempered in anyway. But no this was not trick, no illusion, he really was that beautiful.

While I was still inexperienced in the sensing out magic I was quickly become fairly proficient at it, so I cast my Devil Senses about him to see if I could discover anything. He was magical, of that I had no doubt but as far as I can tell he was human with only a bit above average magical reserves. That could either mean that that he has some limited experience in magic or he was simply one of the lucky people to be born with good magic reserves.

"The Bible that is." He leafed through another page as he spoke.

"Huh?" was my eloquent reply.

He shut the bible and held it up to me, "The Bible, it was written by men not God. Christ never penned it himself and it was written many years after he passed away by his devoted followers. Although they did that completely from memory so it was unlikely for them to have gotten it right."

I tilted my head at that, "So…why are you reading it then? If you're that certain that is was man-made then you have no reason to read it. After all it won't lead you to God."

He smiled at that, it reminded of warm rays of sunlight after a stormy night, "Ah, but I wasn't looking for God in these pages. I was looking for man. When you create something you always leave a little bit of yourself in it. A reflection of your true nature." He ran his fingers over the surface of the book, "So I search through these pages to find a reflection of mankind."

"I'm surprised." I told him, "Going by the cross you were I wearing would have figured you for a Christian."

"Oh I am." He picked up the cross as he spoke, "I am a follower of God and believe that Christ was his gift upon all of mankind." He let go of the cross and allowed it to thump onto his chest. "Just because I don't believe the Bible to be completely accurate does not mean I don't believe in God."

"Then why are you reading the Bible if you believe it was made by humans?"

"That's because humans are so very fascinating. Even God himself was fascinated by them. He had created countless of different species but he held mankind above them all. Even his loyal and flawless angels he commanded to bow down to Adam, the father of all humans." He set the bible down onto his lap and traced the engraved title with his fingers. "So from the very beginning I wanted to know, what made them so special. What was it about them that had captivated even the All-Mighty himself. That is why I look for them in these pages."

He leaded tilted back his head and peered up into the sky, and I swear at that very moment the sun began to shine brighter as it came out from behind a cloud, "Let me tell you a little story." He began.

"Once long ago when the world was still young and new, God gathered all of his creations before them and asked 'Who among you will carry the burden of free will?'

"At the time, every creature was under Gods commands. They followed his will to the letter, never questioning nor disobeying. God however was saddened by this as it meant that they did not follow him because they desired to but because they could not comprehend doing anything else. While all of his creations can make choices of their own, they can never go against anything he has decided on, not even to question a single command.

"Thus he created the ability for his creations to choose and named it 'free will'. But then came the question of who to gift it to, as free will was not something to be treated lightly, as in many ways it was as much of a curse as it was a gift.

"So when he gathered all of his creations he turned first to his Angels, creatures of light so beautiful and noble that he has chosen them to act as his voice. He asked them if they desired the gift but they replied, 'No Lord, we are your servants, your will and voice. We desire nothing more than to continue to serve you as such.'

"He then turned to the mountains themselves, those that can lift the weight of the earth with ease, he asked them if they desired the gift but they replied, 'No Lord, we cannot lift such a burden. Even our mighty shoulder will collapse under such a weight.'

"Again and again God asked his creations and each in turn rejected his gift. That is until he reached the humans.

"When he asked man if they would desire the gift, they answered "Yes Lord, we would gladly bear such a gift." And then God rejoiced, for at long last he would have someone that would choose to follow him.

"When God dispersed his creations back to where they belong, he returned the humans down to earth and watched over them. As he did, so did all of the inhabitants in heaven came to watch as well, curious about what these humans would do with their free will.

"At first the humans continued to live their lives as normal, seemly unaffected by their gift of free will. That illusion however was quickly dispelled barely an hour later. One of the humans had found himself in a position where he had to make a choice. It was an important decision, one that could potentially affect the rest of his life. So using the intellect his species were famed for combined with his new found free will, he quickly decided on what to do. Do you know what he did next?" He lowered his gaze towards mine as he asked me.

I shook my head, "No idea."

A sardonic smirk graced his lips as he said, "The human turned towards the Heavens and yelled out, 'Lord, tell me what to do!'"

I couldn't help it, I broke out laughing. The idea was so funny because I could picture it happening. It was such a human thing to do I'm surprised I didn't see it coming. When I finally collected myself I found him smiling indulgently at me.

"That, son of man, was the exact same reaction that the rest of Heaven had. I along with many of my Angel brethren laughed at the sight. We believed that our Lord had chosen wrongly, that the humans were unworthy of bearing such a gift. We all turned towards God to tell him so but held our tongues when we saw him.

"Father was not laughing, nor was he upset or in any way angry. He merely watched down upon the humans with the same infinite patience he always had for his children. So we decided to say nothing and turned back towards watching the humans.

"The human, not receiving his reply, turned back towards the heavens and ask the Lord once again. Then again, and again, and once again. Over and over he repeated 'tell me what to do' rather than even attempt to figure it out for himself. After a long while, it finally dawned on the human that the Lord was not going to reply. That's when the prayers for help turned to curses of hatred.

"He cursed his name and insulted him in every way he could think of. All the while, God didn't react; he merely continued to watch over him silently and patiently. At last his insults ran dry and after yelling out that he did not need God or his help that he can decide on his own he left and did just that.

"Over the centuries the very same scene repeated many countless of times. Man would ask for God to command them on what to do and when they received no answer they cursed him before trying to solve their problem on their own.

"At first it was almost painful for us in Heaven to watch. You humans kept stumbling around, making the same mistake time and time again, only to start over and repeat them with each new generation. Many of the Angels turned away, unable to bear watching any longer. Father however continued to watch, never once did he ever stop watching over your kind.

"Then one day, something different happened. Man began to learn. It was the most remarkable thing I had ever seen." At my look of confusion he elaborated, "You must understand when God created us Angels, he made us perfect. We were unchanging beings, an eon can past and we would behave no differently than we did the day we were born. Why would we? God made us perfect, and perfect we remained.

"But you human, you changed. You grew, you became more than what God made you to be. More than he intended you to be. Through your own will and abilities you have surpassed even Adam and Eve, the humans who God crafted with his own hands. And you did so with no help or guidance from the Lord.

"Quickly, that change continued. I watched as mankind learned. How their once endless failure began to turn to success, mistakes became lessons to be learned. Eventually man grew in number until they became so large that they spread all over the globe, outnumbering any other race. Even then they did not stop there; as such an accomplishment was not enough to satisfy them.

"Man, despite all the years, still remembered the splendor of Heaven and tried to match it. They tried to create a Kingdom of their own to rival it. The gathered all the riches and the greatest craftsmen in all their lands and began to build a city to try and rival God's own. A 'Kingdom of Heaven' I believed they called it.

"They failed of course. But just like at the start, they kept trying over and over again…And while they still failed they kept getting better and closer to Heaven's splendors. One needs only to look upon the wonder that was Camelot to realize that." I barely restrained myself from flinching at that name.

He let out a sigh as he lost himself in memories, "I thought for sure they were about to succeed but I never got to find out if Father's faith in them was right, as alas they were stopped."

"By who?" I prompted when it didn't look like the Angel, who pretended to be a man, was about to continue. While I had no idea why one of Heaven's soldiers would wanted to speak to me, I had to admit I was curious to hear what he had to say.

"Devils." He answered. "You have to understand that back then they were different than what they have become today; they were truly vile and evil creatures. They still are mind you, but back then it was in an entirely different level. So much so that the current Lucifer would sooner spit at them then call one of those filth kin.

"That was the start of the Great War. God did not want to interfere with the affairs of Mankind because he wanted to see them grow. To witness them fulfil their true potential that even God himself could not predict the limit of. That was why he never answered their prayers for guidance. He wanted earth to be free from the influence of both Heaven and Hell so that Man can grow unhindered.

"So when he witnessed the Devils encroaching in the domain of Man, corrupting them and twisting their minds, he went to war to protect them. And the rest," he shrugged sadly, "was as they say history."

He looked back up at the clear blue skies, "Still, I've always wondered what would have happened if the Devils had not come. How far would mankind have reached?"

"Humans are not all that great you know." I told him, feeling a little bit ashamed at my original race and at the truth of my words. "I have seen some commit sins that even the most coldhearted of Devils would shy away from. Atrocities so horrifying, that it would make you lose all hope in humanity."

He nodded knowingly at that. "That is true. Even I cannot deny those words. It is why I have always compared humanity as a whole to the night sky."

I frowned in confusion, "In what way?"

"An endless darkness. The night sky is dark and foreboding, it blankets the world and would cause even the bravest of souls to despair, and what little light you do find is always outnumber by the ever encroaching darkness, fighting a battle that it will eventual lose.

"The human soul, no humanity as a whole is like that – pitch black. There are so much lies, hypocrisy, betrayals, hatred and rage that it stains their very souls black. It is why when I look over the sea of human souls all I can perceive is a near endless sea of darkness. It is enough to paint the entire sky black and the few good souls, those flickers of light that shine so bright are so very far apart."

He shut his eyes for a moment before turning and staring right at me, "But do you know what is the first thing that I always think of when I imagine the night sky?"

"What?"

"The stars, "he looked back up to the sky as if he was staring at the very sky he spoke of, "I think of the stars.

"Why is it that when we think of the night sky we do not picture a pitch black sky but a sea of shining stars? The human soul is like that. Flicker of lights on a backdrop of darkness. Our eyes can't help but be drawn to them, captivated by their light.

"Even though we know that the darkness is infinitely more than the light, one limitless while the other limited. That between each radiant star there is a near endless nothingness that divides them, yet when I think of space, when I think of the night, all I can picture are stars.

"They captivate me, those lone few that shine. They draw my eyes to them so that I no longer notice anything else but them. And I love them for it.

"To me humanity is not the many who do wrong, but the few who do right despite how very hard it is to do so. And they do it for no other reason than it is right. That is why I adore humans." He turned to look at me, "Humans like you."

I shook my head at the Angel, "I'm no human, not anymore at least."

He gave me a proud beaming smile, one that reminded me so much of Kiritsugu that I felt my heart ache, before standing up and walking towards me.

"You are," he said when he stood before me. Slowly, he reached out and pressed his open palm onto the middle of my chest. "Even though your flesh has been corrupted by them, I can see past it and peer into your very soul. And what I find there is the spirit of man blazing so brightly that it outshines all but one other that I have seen before."

Before I could even think of stopping him, he took off his cross and placed it around my neck.

I reflexively grimaced, shut my eyes and braced myself for the burning pain…that never came? I slowly pried open my eyes and looked down on the silver cross that rested on my chest, glinting innocuously in the sunlight.

OK. That should have hurt me, a lot at that.

Ever since my reincarnation as a Devil I had been warned repeatedly not to touch any holy objects and crosses were on the very top of the list. Even if held through gloves, indirect physical contact is enough to burn any Devil. Even the Maous are not immune to it.

While there weren't any holy objects in the Underworld for obvious reasons so I never had the chance to personally touch a cross, if I had ever been masochistic enough to want to, I know for a fact that I'm supposed to be feeling a lot of searing pain at this moment.

Cautiously, I poked the cross with a finger before quickly pulling my hand back as if it would grow teeth and bite me. Seeing that nothing happened I touched it again, before cradling the cross in the palm of my hand and staring it in wonder.

I looked back up at the Angel before me, smiling radiantly down at my no doubt confused face.

"Why does the cross not burn you?" He spoke my unasked question. "Even I do not know for sure. Is it due to that thing you hold inside of you? The one that radiates such a familiar warmth. Or perhaps it's just you, Child of Adam; perhaps there is something just so unique about you. Or maybe it is something else entirely.

"I do not know for sure, all I do know is that when I look into you I do not see a soul corrupted by the Devil's taint, even though it wears the flesh of one. I see an untouched human soul that still holds mankind's limitless potential. So in every way that matters Shirou, you are human."

Giving me one more radiant smile he turned and walked away. Once again a breeze rippled throughout the park, this time strong enough to lift the Angel's hair momentarily, revealing long pointed elf-like ears.

After walking several paces away he half-turned back towards me, "Emiya Shirou, you who are one of Adam's children, allow me the honor of introducing myself to you."

Ten bird-like wings erupted out of his back, confirming my suspicion that he was an Angel. Unfortunately I was wrong about what kind.

The smile he gave me was one of unconditional benevolence and compassion, before he placed his right hand over his heart and bent his waist into a small bow, as all the while raven colored feathers gently drifted in the air around us. "I am Kokabiel, the Fallen Noble of the Stars, one of the Lords of Girgori," straightening out his bow he sent me one final smile, "And I shall be the one to deliver the will of God upon the earth."

Then in a flutter of feathers, he was gone.

For a long while I just stared at the spot he was last standing in, as black feathers danced in the breeze, before I collapsed back onto the bench and let out a frustrated sigh.

So… that was Kokabiel. The same Kokabiel that I was sent to guard against, that I was to protect the children from, the Fallen that wishes to start a war and the one who I was ordered to kill if deemed necessary. That Kokabiel.

…Well, that sucks.

Kicking off the ground, I spun in my chair as I stared up at my room's ceiling. It had been three days since I met Kokabiel and I have used up every resource I had available to try and find him ever since. I failed.

That shouldn't have been possible. I was already keyed into the Bounded Fields in the Devil's territory so I would now be alerted to each and every magical presence passing the through the Fields. I've also had every familiar in the city looking out for him and the guards keeping an eye out for any traces of the Fallen.

All for nothing it seems. As far as I could tell, Kokabiel was gone. There was no trace of him in the city whatsoever, which was supposed to be impossible. The crows, due to their small reserves, were especially sensitive to any form of magical presence. Even the weakest of Fallen could not hide from them, hell they were even able to sense Issei.

One of the Bounded fields that the guards place over the city prevented anyone from teleporting themselves in unless they were Devils or someone in the city summoned them. While it was feasible for someone to summon Kokabiel out of the city the reverse shouldn't have been possible, simply because there was no one in city who could have done it.

We checked, I had the guards' familiar follow all known magic users in the city or anyone who had enough magic reverse to pull it off and all of them were cleared. Not one of them could have summoned Kokabiel. So how did he get in here? And if he really left how does he expect to get back in?

At this point I was tempted to call in all the guards patrolling the city and have them guard the kids directly, secret or no secret, but I ruled it off as a stupid idea. This was Kokabiel, a Fallen that fought and flourished during the Great War, where he distinguished enough that he was named in the Bible. If rumors of his strength were in anyway accurate, than the guards would barely slow him down before he massacres them.

My other reason is that there is always the small possibility of the heightened security scaring him off. I'm under no delusion that if he leaves this city alone he would just stop his quest for war. No, he would simply go and try somewhere else, someplace where we're less prepared. Despite the risks, it would be better for everyone involved if he was dealt with here and now.

My chair's spinning slowed to a stop so I kicked off the floor again. I have already ordered the guards not to inform anybody of Kokabiel's sighting, not even the Maous. Or perhaps I should say especially not the Maous. If either Sirzechs or Serafall even caught wind that someone as dangerous as Kokabiel had gotten so close to their sisters entirely undetected they would charge in here guns blazing.

For a group of people claiming to desire peace the Maous can be a surprisingly trigger happy bunch. Well that's not true only half of them are like that, the other half are more than happy to ignore the world around them in favor of their own little hobbies…How the hell did these people became leaders of an entire race again?

Either way I had no intention of any of them catching wind of this until I had dealt with everything. It was a good thing I was given direct command of the guards or else I wasn't sure if they would have listened to my orders.

As my chairs slowed to a halt my eyes caught sight of the cross that sat in the middle of my desk. Then there was that thing. I had no idea how it happened but it appeared I was immune to anything holy.

I tested myself with everything from other holy crosses to holy water and even prayer. I went as far as traveling to a small chapel in a nearby town and tried praying to god while holding a Bible and having a priest bless me. Nothing, I felt not a single damn thing, not so much as a heart burn.

I did make sure to keep this a secret, not because I feared how other Devils may react so much as I was terrified of Asia's reaction. I had no idea what she would do if she ever found out I could pray to God and she couldn't, but I had no intention of ever finding out.

Shaking my head, I pushed off the ground and rolled my chair towards the desk where a small stack of files waited for me. They were reports on both Sona's and the Gremory's Peerage. While I had already received basic profiles about them before I had even arrived here, it was clear that it wasn't enough.

I still remember Koneko's look of abject terror just from my unexpected touch. How she shivered in place, ready to bolt at even the smallest sign of aggression. No, it clearly wasn't enough.

I had intended to look into her past far earlier but I had been delayed by the Kokabiel issue. However since everything to do with him has led to a dead end so far I have found myself with enough spare time to get back to it.

Reaching out towards the files, I searched for Koneko's and pulled it out of the pile before opening it and pouring the pages onto the desk before me. Ignoring the information about her combat abilities, something I already knew, and her time with the Gremorys, I quickly sought out the information about her early history.

When I finally found the pages I was looking for, I separated them form the rest and leaned back on my chair as I began reading the report. But as soon as I glance at the first paragraph I almost leapt out of my chair in surprise.

What the hell? This can't be right!

Almost the entirety of the first page had been censored out. Sentences and entire paragraphs were crossed out with thick black lines. I quickly skimmed through the rest of the pages and had found nearly half of the file had been censored.

But that doesn't make any sense. I didn't withdraw these files from the public archive, I used my authority as a Maou's Queen to get them. I had access to more classified information that even the Clan heads of the 72 Pillars. I was even allowed to know about God's death and most of the Underworld's dirty secrets. There shouldn't be anything here that I wasn't allowed to see.

So why was this censored out, a mistake? I picked up Koneko's folder and looked at the front cover. Printed out in large red fonts was 'Authorized to be read by Emiya Shirou's eyes only'. So no, it wasn't a mistake.

Setting the folder back down, I frowned at the new mystery that I had ended up stumbling over. As if I needed another. It seems that there is more to our little cat than I thought. I picked up her file again and began reading. For now, I'll have to make do with what I have on hand. But what I get back to the Underworld, I'm gonna be having a few words with whoever was censoring these files.

I began to read about what was available on Koneko's history, and the further I read about her the darker it seemed to get. Toujou Koneko, born as Shirone, was a Nekomata who was a part of a rare and dying sub-species known as Nekoshou. Orphaned at young age, she and her sister, Kuroka, were forced to live on the streets for several years before they were taken in by a Devil named Alexander Shax, who recruited Kuroka into his peerage as a Bishop.

For a while things began to look up for Koneko but that didn't last long before disaster struck. Her sister Kuroka was a practitioner of the Art of Senjutsu and had one day had lost control of her power, causing her to go on a rampage which resulted in the death of their master. Kuroka was able to quickly escape and a man-hunt was formed in an effort to capture her, however in her haste to escape she had left her sister behind.

This incident has caused the relationship between Devils and Yokai, which has already been strained badly in recent years, to become utterly shredded. The death of Alexzander Shax had sparked what was basically a witch hunt in the Underworld for Nekoshous. Within the week almost the entire remaining Nekoshous were either driven out of the Underworld or lynched, resulting in over twenty three death. None of the people responsible for the lynching were ever arrested or charged.

During this time Koneko was immediately captured and imprisoned. She had been kept in captivity for almost two months before she was even trialed.

The more I read, the more my temper built. I could feel what little control I had fraying at the seams as I read at how an innocent ten year old girl was arrested for committing no crime, how they left her to rot in a prison for months and how they were about to legally execute her and only though the quick intervention of Sirzechs was her life even spared.

I had never felt more gratefully to Sirzechs in my life in that moment but whatever gratitude I felt had quickly evaporated when I read the lines and what remaining restrained I still had snapped.

"Sirzechs you complete and utter moron! You gave an emotionally unstable and abused child to a 12 year old girl AS A PET!" I slammed my hands onto the table with so much force it actually fractured it as I leapt out and yelled. "I don't care how many hugs and kisses your sister gives her, that will not help heal the wounds, just mask it."

I just glared at the file before me as if it was responsible for this. I thought back to the day on the roof when we first met, to her terrified eyes, how she trembles and shivered from an unexpected touch. I thought of the face so empty of emotion, something that should never be worn by a child. How long has she been wearing it? How long has she been hiding her emotions? I remember the small glimpse of her soul, of a girl building walls around herself. Too long, I decided.

No, that girl's wounds were anything but healed.

I actually snarled as I read the next line. Rias Gremory changed her name to Koneko, Koneko. Japanese for kitten. She named a girl kitten? And no one told her that she wasn't supposed to be her pet!

I didn't blame the Gremory girl for this, oh no, she was just as innocent as Koneko in this whole thing. She was nothing more than a child back then. It was painfully obvious to anyone she treated Koneko as best as she knew how. But what the hell was Sirzechs thinking giving the responsibility of another thinking feeling living being, not an animal, to a twelve year old?

Quickly skimming through the rest of the file I realized he didn't even arrange any form of therapy. He just dumped her on Rias Gremory's lap and left Koneko's recovery entirely up to her, since as part of her Peerage it was her responsibility. She was twelve! Why you place the responsibility of an abused child in the hands of another child! Am I the only one who sees the insanity in that?

I couldn't take it anymore; I just shoved the entire file off the table and collapsed back into my chair. Leaning my head as far back into the headrest as I could, I shut my eyes and took deep breath as I forced myself to calm down and think.

What were you thinking Sirzechs? I know you're not stupid, far from it. You wouldn't do something like this unless you had very good reason but for the life of me I can't figure out what.

I know that Gremory treated Koneko well, as best as she was able to. Of that I had no doubt, but she was simply not equipped to take care of physically abused and emotionally scarred little girl and I know Sirzechs was aware of that too. So why did he give Koneko to her?

Enough. There was no point thinking about it, the past was the past and there was nothing I could change it. I cast my eyes around the room for something, anything to direct me from my current thoughts.

When my eyes landed on the files of the rest of the Peerage, I decided that researching their pasts would be as good a distraction as anything. I picked up the top folder and began reading them.

By the time I was finished I just stared at the file in disbelief. Quickly I reached out to the other file and read that too, then the other and the other.

"W-what the hell is going on?"

Kiba, Akeno, Gasper and hell even Issei, all of them, every single last one of her Peerage were dead or about to die when she recruited them. All of them except Issei had no home to return to. That's just not possible.

Rias has never actually had to work at convincing any one of them to join her. Half of them were either dead or dying when she found them and the other half had no place to return to and were more or less homeless orphans.

Sona's words came back to me as I looked over the file. I knew she said that but I thought she was exaggerating. Even if you take into account a Devil's luck, Gremory's is nowhere near strong enough to explain this. Nothing less than a Super Devil can come close to explaining this luck.

And it all happened in such a short span of time. Rias ended up recruiting Akeno just a week after she gained her Evil Piece Set. And from then she went on to recruit Koneko, Kiba and Gasper in less than two years. How many dead or dying children does she keep running into? She was a Clan Heir, a glorified princess, why did her watchers even allowed her to come close to a place where children die? And why did this only happen after she received her Peerage set?

Each and every one of her Peerage just seemed to fall onto her lap with her barely having to lift a finger. To make matter even more unbelievable, every one of them either has a powerful Sacred Gears or a powerful bloodline.

And every one of them happened to be first-rate Peerage material? Not even one was an ordinary human? No, not possible. The odds of that happening are so small it might as well be zero. There are too many coincidences for this to be just chance. Someone must have arranged this. Someone must have set this all up…

… Sirzechs you Bastard!

No- no that's impossible. Now I'm just projecting my feelings. Think about it. I know Sirzechs and while he is many things, he is not a cold blooded-murderer. Especially not of children, there is no way he'd ever hurt one. He wouldn't – lift a finger to harm so much as a hair on his head – Rias Gremory's words interrupted my thoughts

…he would just take advantage of their deaths. Not for himself, but his sister – Rias always had incredible luck when it comes to finding her peerage. It was like the hand of some god guiding her.

An act of God and an act of a Devil can seem remarkably similar at times.

Quickly I picked up Kiba's file again and scanned through it. Kiba was one of the victims of the 'Holy Sword Project'. Valper Galilei, the person in charge of the project, wanted to hide the details of the experiments from prying eyes so he set up the laboratory in one of the most isolated places he could find.

He choose a large patch of unused land that the churched owned in the northern part of the Taiga Forest in Russia. It was a remote and inaccessible place by non-magical means. Dozens of miles from the nearest town and nothing but thick woodland in between, it was a perfect place from him to conduct his project.

Kiba was found wandering in the middle of the forest in the opposite direction of the town, having lost his way. He had collapsed and was already dying when he was found by Gremory.

What was Rias Gremory, a twelve year old Heir of one of the 72 Pillar with an incredibly overprotective older brother, doing alone in the middle of the Church's territory located in the human world? Far away from any form of Civilization or Devil controlled territory?

Setting Kiba's file aside I picked up Akeno's next. The link was even easier to see in this one.

Akeno was born to a human mother and a Fallen father. When she was ten, Akeno's mother was killed by her father's enemies. Without her mother there to protect her, Akeno's family soon kicked her out onto the street due to her Fallen blood.

Having just turned twelve, Akeno had indirectly saved a human that was contracted by a Devil from the Gremory Clan. Terrified that the Devil would try and kill her due to her Fallen Angel heritage, she ran and hid from him.

Unfortunately while it she had succeeded from escaping from the Devil, she was captured by her relatives when she was trying to escape town. They were there to kill her but before her grand-uncle could land the killing blow he was stopped by Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, the Gremory Clan Head's Bishop. Up until that point there was nothing too out of the ordinary, however what was unusual is that he had Rias with him.

Why did he bring Rias along? What was the Gremory Heir doing there in the first place? And was it just a coincidence that they appeared in the very last possible moment to save her but not earlier?

Tossing Akeno's file aside I reached for the last one, the file belonging to Gasper Vladi.

Like the other three, Gasper had a tragic past. Born to a human and a Vampire, Gasper's life went wrong for the very beginning. His mother passed away soon after his birth not due labor complications but because she looked upon Gasper's true form and died from fright.

This event had resulted in his father along with the rest of his relatives becoming extremely frightened of him. Combine with his Dampier heritage, Gasper was mistreated so badly by his family that he decided to run away.

During his escape he was found and killed by Vampire Hunters.

Again this is where it gets strange. Vampires, unlike many other supernatural being, don't live in the Underworld but the human world. North-Eastern Europe to be exact. Gasper was killed in the middle of the wilderness of that region as he was attempting to escape the Vampire Hunters. What was Rias Gremory, a thirteen year old Heiress who was once again alone, doing there in the first place?

Then there was Issei. How did the Fallen suspect that Issei had a Sacred Gear? His magical presence was so weak that Rias only found about it by pure luck. And even then Akeno had to literally run into him to notice, before then they had been going to the same school for months but no one realized he had a Sacred Gear. If things played out different it was entirely possible that Issei could have lived out his whole life without anyone realizing he had a Sacred Gear.

Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action. This did not happen once or twice but every single time. Akeno in Japan, Koneko in the underworld, Kiba in Russia, Gasper in Europe and now Issei again in Japan. Everyone only joined Gremory because they would have died if they didn't, and yet not one of them had done a single thing wrong.

There was no way that Rias Gremory could have planned this. Setting aside her age I seriously doubt that she would have been willing to go through with all of this just to get Peerage members, despite what she did to Issei. Which meant just like the other involved she was being manipulated unknowingly by a third party.

And while I had no proof, I have a very good idea of who that third party was.

Sirzechs was a great Maou, though I did not like to admit it he was probably better at his job than Serafall. I knew that he is willing to go above and beyond the call of duty to protect the Underworld. Even if it meant sacrificing his life, I knew he would do it willingly with a smile if it was to protect his beloved nation.

He did however have one fatal flaw. Something that could ruin us all. He would put his family and their happiness above everything else, even his own or his nation. As an individual, such a trait would have been a virtue. As a Ruler, it was a flaw.

There was a brand of madness unique to Devils, a type of insanity born from their Sin. It rules them in a way human minds simply cannot comprehend, it twists them in a way people simply weren't meant to imagine. With Sirzechs it ruled over his Peerage and his family. He would happily see the whole world burn before giving up a single one of them.

If he was forced to kill one to save a thousand, Sirzechs would kill the one with a heavy heart. If that one was his family or Peerage, Sirzechs would massacre a million rather than the one. He would not even hesitate.

As a Maou he cannot show outright favoritism to his family, the Lords and people will rebel. However if he uses more subtle and less obvious methods to help them, then no one can complain. Helping his little sister get a powerful Peerage, one that could protect her when he couldn't, was something he would badly want.

If you look at in a certain way he did nothing wrong. After all, all he did was arrange a meeting. One between his sister and her future Peerage. And if he had to take advantage of a few dying children, well he was known as the Lord of Demons for a reason. You don't get a title like that for being nice after all. To Sirzechs, there was nothing that he won't do to protect his family, no price too high to pay.

Unfortunately he was not the only Maou who was like this. To protect Sona, I know that there is very little that Serafall is unwilling to do. Whether that was a good thing or bad I was still not sure.

I barked out a bitter laugh. What a mess, and the worst part of it there is nothing I can do about it. All of this occurred year ago, so long in the past it might as well be ancient history as far as I can do anything to change it.

I slumped into my chair and was about to put down Gasper's file when something caught my attention. On the bottom of the page, a few additional lines were penciled in. Lifting the file before I carefully read what was written.

Gasper Vladi's suffers from poor control over his Sacred Gear. Due to Rias Gremory's lack of power to contain him or his power, it was decided that Gasper was to be sealed away until the time that Rias Gremory matures enough as a Devil to control him.

As of the beginning of last year Gasper Vladi has been sealed away in the basement of the Kuoh Academy's old school building. He has not been let out ever since.

Letting the file fall from my fingers and onto the desk, I slowly leaned back into my chair. I inhaled deeply and shut my eyes and attempted to calm the emotions raging inside of me.

My desk fractured then exploded, sending splinters flying all across the room.

It didn't work.

Calmly I stood up, picked up my jacket and made my way out of the room. Enough was enough, I was tired of watching children get hurt as I sat back and did nothing. I didn't care about the consequences anymore.

There was nothing I could do about the past, but the present was an entirely different matter.

Violet sparks of magic leapt from rune to rune, casting the wooden surface in an ominous flickering light. Circles crafted from lines of an archaic language, one that I did not recognize, rotated in place like gears of an intricate clock. There was about two dozen of them, though the ones that stood out the most was the four in each corner of the door and the large crimson one bearing the Gremory seal in the middle, the only part of the design that wasn't violet.

Even just standing next to the seal, I could feel the power of it. It felt like a physical thing, radiating like waves of heat from an oven. The amount of power it held was staggering, more than enough to contain even an Ultimate-Class Devil.

This was the seal that blocked the only entrance to the basement. It prevented anyone from entering or exiting the place no matter what method used. It blocks any living being from teleporting inside and blocks any physical attempt on circumventing the seal. Breaking through the walls or digging down to the basement will not work.

It also prevented any high amount of magic from leaking out of the place. At best the only magic anyone inside the seal could send to the outside would be magical based messages, although it did nothing to block any of the more mundane forms of commutations.

And behind it was a young boy that hadn't seen the light of day in nearly two years.

It would have taken months for someone who knew what he was doing to take apart the seal. Even a master of the craft would have needed weeks to decipher and unlock the seal without permission from its creator.

I didn't feel like waiting.

In my hands I traced a dagger. Its blade was jagged and iridescent, too brittle and blunt to ever be used as a proper weapon. It was clearly a ceremonial dagger, one unsuited for combat. However anyone who sets their eyes on it could tell it was dangerous at an almost instinctive level. It had an ominous and perverse feeling to it that even the most obtuse would notice. Its name was Rule Breaker.

I stabbed the dagger right into the heart of the Gremory circle and watched as the seal, one capable of holding back the strength of powerful demons with the utmost ease, collapse like a house of cards.

A small part of me, one that wasn't clouded with anger, thought that it was a beautiful sight. A cross between fireworks and a stone being tossed into a still lake, the runes flashed and burned in multicolored sparks as they fell apart, starting from the middle and spreading outwards like a rippling wave.

In a matter of seconds the entire seal collapsed and all that remained before me was a mundane door. It wouldn't be long now until someone arrives to investigate, not after the collapse of such a powerful seal. So without any hesitation I reached out, open the door and made my way down the stairs into the lair of a Dead Apostle.

The place was as expected dark, though it did nothing to hinder my sight. Still, as I made my way down the stairs I braced myself for whatever horrors may await me at the end of the stairs. Child or not Gasper was till a vampire, a Dead Apostle and I was about to enter his domain.

While I had never been on a true Dead Apostle hunt in my old world, though I did encounter a couple of their kind before, I had heard stories. Of towns wiped out over the course of a single night, as its population were turned to the mindless dead. How monsters wearing the faces of people, of children, would mindlessly attack anyone unfortunate enough to cross their path.

Lairs were worse, as that was the Dead Apostle's home ground, a place where the spent most of their days in than any another location. They were rarely ever found as Dead Apostles would cover it with a unique form of Bounded Fields that would make the place invisible to both mundane and magical means of discovery. They were so well hidden that even trained Magi from the Mage Association need years of effort to find even a single one.

That was why I didn't know what I may find down there, discovering one was so rare that I have never had the chance to ask what to expect to find in one. Still it wasn't hard to guess that no matter what form it took it will be a living hell, horrors straight out of a nightmare that will be forever seared into my mind.

As I set foot on the basement's floor I finally got a chance to a proper look around me and to find that my suspicions was correct. No it was worse, far worse than I had pictured it to be, more horrifying than I could have ever imagined it to be. As even in my worst nightmares I hadn't expect to find a place that was so…so…pink.

By the dead God, there was so much pink that I felt my eyes burn and water just by looking around the place.

The walls were covered with pink and white striped wall paper and despite not having any windows, there were several dark pink curtains covering patches of wall. The wooden cabinet and furniture that decorated the room were painted in different shades of pink. There were even brown teddy bears and black bunny rabbits that had their plastic eyes colored pink.

What made it worse was all the lace and ribbons that covered the room. The computer monitor in one corner of the room was set on pink cloth and had its edges lined with some kind of lacy pink design. Even the wide-screen television that was set in the middle of the wall was placed on top of a pink stand.

For a moment I thought I made a wrong turn somewhere and ended up in hell. I was just about to turn around and leave when I caught sight of the coffin in the middle of the room. The lid was placed slightly adjured and hidden deep within its shadow, I could see a pair of frightened magenta eye peering out at me.

Before I had a chance to say so much as a word those eyes flash with a yellow and ruby light, as Gasper active his Sacred Gear.

Rias Gremory, along with the rest of her Peerage, just stared in utter disbelief at the sight before her.

"Ha - Headshot, take that you freaking newb!"

Just a few minutes ago she had been running down the corridors of the old school building after having collected the rest of her Peerage. They had all sensed the magical discharge that the collapse of Gasper's seal had caused.

They did not realized what it was right away and had wasted several minutes trying to figure out the cause. It was only after Akeno, who was the most magically sensitive of the group, sense that seal over Gasper's room was missing did they comprehend what happened.

As they had rushed down the halls and stairs to Gasper's room her worried mind conjured up every possible scenario that may have happened, each on worse than the other. Did the Vampire-Hunters track down Gasper again? Was his family trying to take him back? Or had whoever murdered the Fallen decided to strike at her Peerage next?

But still, for all the terrible things she imagined,-

"AH-HA, I just pwned your ass. Dude, you suck at this."

-She sure as hell didn't expect this.

There before her was Gasper and Serafall's Queen, Emiya, sitting in front of Gasper's widescreen television. In their hands was a gaming controller and they were playing some kind of first-person shooter game.

When she and her Peerage barged into Gasper's room, they could do nothing but wordlessly stare in disbelief at the sight. Well, it would be more accurate to say that she and Kiba were the only ones to be staring in disbelief as he was the only one that looked just as shocked as she was.

Koneko just stared unnervingly at the platter of homemade snacks that was placed between Emiya and Gasper, something that Emiya apparently brought with him. Going by the way her eyes never left the food since we entered the room, it seemed that her Rook didn't much cared about what else was going on.

Akeno on the other hand had just dropped to her knees as she broke out into a fit of laughter. It was at times like this that she really hated her Queen's twisted sense of humor.

"BOOM! Another Headshot! Buwahahahaha." Her cute and beloved Bishop began cackling like a deranged maniac after having successful shot a characters head off. She knew, just knew, she shouldn't have gotten him that Xbox live subscription.

Gasper hasn't been the same ever since.

"Oh Buchou! You'll never believe it." Gasper having finally caught sight of her called out to her. A part of her noted that her bishop, so caught up in his apparent excitement, didn't speak with his usual stutter or habit of stretching out words.

"Shirou here isn't effected by my Sacred Gear. That means I can hang around him without hurting anybody! He said he can help me learn how to control it. He even offered me a room to crash in his place while he helps me trains. Can I go live with him? Can I please~?" Her Bishop pouted at her with such wide puppy eyes, that if it were at any other time she wouldn't have been able to resist glomping the stuffing out of him. As it was, she was still a little bit too out of it to do anything but stare.

When she turned to look towards Emiya for an explanation she found him utterly ignoring her as he gaped at something on the television screen.

"Is that teabagging? Did you just teabag me! Cut that out you little brat." He yelled out will point at the screen where Gasper's avatar was apparently repeatedly squatting over Emiya's avatar's face.

She had never face palmed harder in her life.

*Story end*

Author's Notes:

That's it for the new chapter, I hope you all liked it.

As for Gasper, let's admit it, even in Canon Gasper was an internet junkie. Is it that much of a surprise that he got addicted to online gaming? Don't worry, as you'll see in the next chapter he's still pretty much Canon Gasper…As long as you don't get him behind a control that is.

The Gasper thing was something I always thought of as messed up. Even in Canon it was said that they sealed him in a room because Rias didn't have enough power to control him. So why didn't they just leave him with someone that can take care of him and help him learn to control his powers? At least until she gets strong enough to do it herself. Why the hell was 'let's lock a thirteen year old boy in the basement for a few years until she's ready' ever a freaking option? Who's insane idea was it?

Cliché number 4: I think Gabriel Blessing said it best in his story 'Beyond the Outer Gate Lies' when Harry met an angel for the first time and thought 'He looks just like a normal man with a pair of dove wings strapped to his back". One of my biggest Pet Peeves of the DxD verse is that everybody in it acts like a normal human. And I mean everybody from Angels to Gods to millennia old Dragons. That ain't going to happen here. Fallen Angels are supposed to be charming, beautify and seductive creatures that are fundamentally flawed in some way and that is exactly how they're going to behave here.

My world is much darker place than Canon: as a consequence many of the characters have done and will do many things that they aren't proud of. All of the Satans, Serafall included, had to get their hands dirty and make tough choices during the war. It was a Civil war after all, where they had to fight Devils who may have been family or friends at one point. Plus in Canon we know that Sirzechs is not above using his power to manipulate people to make his sister happy (the guy had a gryphon prepared as a getaway car to help his sister out of a political marriage). Let me remind you that Sirzechs has one major personality flaw in my story that he doesn't in Canon– his Sin of Greed, how will that affect him?

Plus this story is being told form Shirou's point of view and even he himself admitted he was Biased.

Remember in this story Devils aren't the good guys. They may not be Evil but they won't be good by any stretch of the imagination. In Canon Diodora Astaroth could legally rape and torture his Peerage, and no one did a thing about it. And finally, please realize that Devils are NOT HUMANS, so do not be surprised if many of them act like, well, Devils. This will apply for the rest of the species in the story; anything that's not human will not behave like humans. So do not hold them to human moral standards.

Why does Shirou not act like Canon: that is because this isn't Canon Shirou, right from the start of the fire things have started to go different. It was like a butterfly effect, starts small but by the end of it huge changes occur. And I promise you I plan to reveal Shirou's past but I can't do it all in one chapter. If I give away all the answers to all the mysteries in one go not only would it result in a terrible chapter but I'll have no story to write. So please be patient and I promise to reveal it all in time. It's only the first arc after all. PS. Shirou is acting more human/normal is on purpose, the reason why will be revealed in later chapters.

Timeline: The Canon timeline makes no sense so it has been modified (according to wiki the Great War ended thousands of years ago, which means God died before Christ was born and the founding of Christianity).

Remember we're seeing all of this from Shirou's point of view, and he is an unreliable narrative, he doesn't see the full picture. Just because he thinks something is true does not mean it is (it doesn't mean it is't either). Please wait until Sirzechs actually appears in the story before you decide weather I'm bashing him or not.

And thank you all so much for reading.