Disclaimer: I don't own Fate Stay Night or High School DxD. They belong to Kinoko Nasu and Ichiei Ishibumi respectively. If I did, I would have already created an Ilya route in the VN with a fully-grown and matured Ilya as the heroine and make a badass protagonist for High School DxD instead of a pervert like Issei.

- 16 years later -

It was a bright sunny day. Perfect for outdoor activities.

At this time, Shirou finds himself in the house of his client, repairing a certain circuit breaker. Apparently, one of the main wires were eaten through by a rat, causing half of the house to lose the electricity that powered it.

"There. All done." Shirou said letting out a satisfied smile.

"Airi. Please go and check." The client, Kurokawa Hana, said to her 15 year old daughter.

"Yes, mom." As the girl said this, she went to the kitchen to test the lights that were previously refusing to be turned on. A few seconds later Shirou heard her reply back from the kitchen. "The lights are on now."

Satisfied with her daughter's answer, Hana returns her attention to Shirou. "So. How much will it be?"

"Well...it didn't take long for me to find the problem and it was actually easier to fix than I initially expected so...how about 10,000 yen sound?" Shirou started negotiating with Hana.

"12,000 yen." Said Hana while increasing the negotiated amount like it was nothing.

"Eh? Kurokawa-san, isn't this the time where you try decrease the amount to pay instead of increasing it?" Shirou asked in confusion.

In response to his query, Hana just turned on a lamp on a small table near them and answered him. "This lamp only became a decoration instead of being put here for its use because the plug here was faulty ever since we moved in. You didn't just fix the main wire, you also fixed some of the tangled up wires that were causing some of the plugs in the house to be useless, so I deemed that a little increase in the amount you asked for was appropriate. It's not like I increased it by a lot either." Hana says this while smiling a little.

Shirou scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Looks like I got caught. All right then, 12,000 yen it is."

Seeing as they have achieved an agreement, Hana pulls out a few Japanese bills from her pocket and takes out 12,000 yen. After taking his pay, Shirou started packing up his tools and went to the entrance of the house. While he was tying up his shoes, Hana said to him, "Not many people who does this job would charge a fair amount to their clients after they finished their service. Why, just last week the person who came to fix our air-conditioner tried charging almost double the amount that he worked for. Young man, I hope you don't lose your current honest personality when doing this work. If you keep at it, consider me one of your loyal clients."

"Thank you, Kurokawa-san. I'll be on my way now." Shirou says this while giving a soft smile to his client. After that, he went out of the house to head to his next client's house which was only 5 blocks away.

This was a normal day for Shirou who works as a 'handyman'. He didn't have enough funds to continue his schooling so instead of going to high school like most teenagers his age, once he graduated from middle school, he started using one of his talents to fix things as a way to make ends meet. As it is, he was barely able to pay off all of his utility bills and rent while also making sure to set aside some money to deposit inside his savings account every month.

Despite doing work with such a low pay and having to lower his budgets for his food expenses regularly, Shirou never considered his current lifestyle to be unfortunate. After all, compared to the time when he was considered as a failure, being appreciated for his honest work by his clients was a much better experience.

While heading for the location of his next client, Shirou started to recall the events that caused him to be excommunicated by the Himejima clan.

It was 8 years ago when it happened.

- Flashback, 8 years ago -

It was late at night and it was only a coincidence that he woke up to relieve himself. After he finished doing his business in the toilet, he heard voices in the living room. At first he thought that it might be a burglar but after Reinforcing his ears a little, he recognized that one of the voices belonged to his father, Himejima Shougo.

Thinking that perhaps his father was having a late night meeting with his friends, Shirou decided to just go back to his room and just sleep. That is, until he heard what it was that his father was talking about.

"Finally. That stain on our clan name will finally be purged tonight." Said Shougo.

"We should never have waited until now to act in the first place." Shirou recognized that voice as Himejima Yuuya, his uncle.

"Calm down, Yuuya. It might have taken this long but at least that bitch and her daughter will no longer be a problem to us." This time, Shirou didn't recognize who the voice belonged to.

"That's right. Before this, we never had a chance to do anything because that bastard Barakiel kept a close watch on his family. Now that he is away, there's nothing that's protecting that bitch Shuuri and her abomination of a daughter. Tonight, they will both die." Said Shougo gleefully.

Shirou was horrified. Barakiel, Shuuri and their daughter that he knew as Akeno-nee.

They were going to kill them!

Ever since he was young his parents had told him to stay away from that family. They warned him that it was a family where a demon known as a Fallen Angel had married a woman of their clan and that woman gave birth to an even uglier and more evil demon. However, his curiosity got the better of him and, about 2 years ago, he went to meet them anyway.

And he was glad that he did.

He and Akeno became good friends almost immediately. The same could be said when he brought his younger sister, Himejima Yukari, to meet her. Akeno was like an older sister to him and Yukari, hence they always called her Akeno-nee. Her mother, Shuuri, was a kind woman. She would always prepare some snacks for him and his sister every time they went to play. In time though, he formed some sort of rivalry with Shuuri when it comes to cooking as he was becoming as good as her in all the matters of the kitchen.

This always caused Akeno and Yukari no end of giggles.

He had never actually met Akeno's father, Barakiel, as he was always out when they visited, which was already very few as he and Yukari had to keep their visits a secret, lest their parents ground them and did everything to make sure they never went there again. He and Yukari became good friends with Akeno in those 2 years and he could honestly say that it was one of the happiest period of his life.

And now, he just found out that his father and some of the people in the clan are planning to have them killed.

The next few hours were a blur to Shirou. He still remembered running out of his house after changing his clothes and bringing his life savings with him. After that, he went straight to the temple where Akeno and her mother lived only to find it burned down and Shuuri dead.

She died protecting Akeno.

He didn't remember how he was able to escape with Akeno. He just knew that he managed to protect her until she reached a safe place for her to hide unharmed. The next day, he brought Akeno to the train station and gave her all the money he had on him before they went their separate ways. Akeno begged him to come with her and to tell the truth, he wanted to go with her too but he couldn't leave behind Yukari like that and Akeno understood. She hugged him just before the train departed and thanked him for being her friend.

- Flashback, End -

In the next week, he was held under house arrest by the order of the Himejima clan head.

It was finally decided that he would be excommunicated from the clan for treason. It wasn't a very hard decision to make seeing as he never had any aptitude in using the Himejima clan's arts and was considered a failure by the clan. All he was able to do was some strange ability to strengthen his body or other objects and the ability to analyze any object's structure, composition and history from just looking at them which he called Reinforcement and Structural Analysis respectively. The name suddenly popped up inside his head when he decided to give a name to those abilities.

The decision to excommunicate him would have been made sooner if it hadn't been because almost everyone in the clan were busy looking for Akeno.

He was actually glad that he was excommunicated 8 years ago to have a fresh start in his life. He even took this chance to change his name from Himejima Reiji to Emiya Shirou, again, it was a name that had suddenly popped up in his head when he was thinking what name he should adopt after he was excommunicated. It wasn't really hard to do seeing that the Himejima clan forbade him from even using his birth name as they consider it to be an insult to them after what he did that day.

He never regretted his actions back then despite others condemning him for it. The only person who supported him back then was his younger sister. The last time he saw his younger sister was 8 years ago when he was kicked out of his home by his parents. She was crying in his chest back then asking him to take her with him. Unfortunately, the people in the clan would never have allowed it. Unlike him, Yukari was very adept in the arts of the Himejima clan. She was so good at it that she was hailed as a genius.

The clan would never allow her to leave that easily.

It was fortunate that he was able to secure a way for him to keep in contact with Yukari. It seemed that the Himejima clan tried their best to brainwash her to fit their image of a proper priestess belonging to their clan. As it stands, it was only his encouraging words that kept Yukari from being brainwashed. Right now, she was only pretending to be their perfect little puppet so that they won't use drastic measures to make sure that their attempts at brainwashing her would stick.

As soon as she finds an opening, Yukari was planning to run away from the Himejima clan.

After Shirou was kicked out of of the clan, he immediately tried looking for Akeno. Unfortunately, without having a clue as to where to look for her, he ended up wandering Japan using his Structural Analysis to repair items as a way to get some food and clothing from various people he met. When he finally found Akeno, she was already taken in by the Devils known as the Gremorys.

At first, Shirou was worried that Akeno was going to be made a hostage seeing as her father was a high ranking Fallen Angel but after seeing Akeno and the heiress of the Gremory, Rias Gremory, happily shopping one day, he found that they had actually became good friends instead. Shirou was quite relieved at that and wanted to immediately reunite with Akeno but after further rumination, he decided against it as he didn't know what her current position is like at the moment.

Would he put Akeno in trouble with the Devils if he decided to continue their previous friendship? He had no idea about the customs of the Devils so he couldn't risk it. Instead, he decided to continue his education in his previous school seeing as the tuition fee was already paid in advance by his parents all the way to middle school.

They didn't even think to try and get back the money they paid for his schooling because they considered it filthy.

He had a much easier time when he reached middle school as the school his parents had chosen was a boarding school, so he always had a roof on his head in the form of a dorm. Before this, he camped in abandoned temples and continued his 'repairman' schtick to buy food and clothing.

No doubt his parents had chosen a boarding school in order to keep him away because they were ashamed of giving birth to a failure such as him. After all, Yukari was never allowed to go to a boarding school so that they can keep a close eye on her upbringing.

His life as a 'handyman' after graduating from middle school was quite hard in the first few months as his clients were very few and he ended up paying his bills and rent very late. Fortunately, his honest nature garnered him some loyal customers who helped spread his name and now he had enough funds to pay his bills and rents on time albeit barely. This situation would not continue for longer however, as soon, Shirou would have enough money saved to start his own cafe.

He was confident in his cooking skills and he was sure that the various menus that he had planned for his cafe would be received positively by all his customers regardless of age or gender. Perhaps if his cafe became popular enough, he would even be able to start a franchise and become the founder of a new chain of restaurants.

A very unlikely scenario but there's no harm in having a dream is there?

If all goes well, Yukari would soon find a way to extract herself from the Himejima clan and both of them would be able to reunite with Akeno. It's very unlikely that things would go back to the time when they were just kids as they've experienced many hardships that had changed them in more ways than one. Still, he was sure that whatever happens in the future, everything would be alright as long as the three of them were together.

In fact, the reason why he worked as a 'handyman' in this town was because he had found the high school that Akeno had enrolled in.

Kuoh Academy.

It was a school that was under the control of the Devils but as far as he knew, the Devils were not as evil as the Bible make them out to be. Sure, they still make contracts with humans who desired their services, but the payment depends on the service that they have rendered and it's mostly in the form of money, gold or other valuables. Very rarely do they take the client's soul as payment as most of the clients would refuse to sell their souls anyway.

There might actually be Devils that are as evil as the Bible describes but the current Devils who are managing this town are not like that at the very least. This made Shirou think that the Devils are just like humans in a sense that there are good and evil humans just as there are good and evil Devils.

Finding out that the Devils that took in Akeno were good people was quite heartening. Of course, he would still need to tread carefully when trying to reunite with Akeno. Akeno had already lost everything once, he doesn't want to be the one to destroy her current happy life because of his own careless actions.

Which was the reason why so far he's only been watching Akeno from afar for the last year without making any contact.

What he's been doing might be misunderstood as stalking but it's not like he's been following her everywhere all the time. Most of the time that he had seen her were due to sheer coincidence from her outings with Rias or one of the other Devils that attended Kuoh Academy. Every time that happened however, he could clearly see that Akeno was having fun so he did not want to ruin the moment by revealing himself, thus he concluded that it would be better that he made himself scarce.

The rest of the time that he saw her was when he had to pass in front of Kuoh Academy due to the location of his client's homes. Sometimes he would see her during her P.E. classes while other times he needed to Reinforce his eyes to see her through a window, listening to the teacher, during her academic classes. In both of those times, he would only pause for a single moment to watch her before he went on his way.

He was always content to see Akeno leading as normal a life a person can have. Going to school, making friends, going shopping, doing homework and other things that normal teenage girls do. There were times he wished that he could go to high school and experience the same things a normal teenage boy would do as well but it was always quashed the next moment. There was no use in dwelling on 'what ifs'. All he could do now was live in the present and plan for the future. Also, there were other more pressing matters that he needed to worry about.

Like Akeno's recently discovered hobby.

This was something he discovered a few months back when he was in Akihabara. At the time, he was called to one of the shops there to fix its lighting. The job was easy enough as all he needed to do was use Structural Analysis to find the problem and fix it like he always does.

It was when he was heading back home after finishing his job that he saw Akeno.

Usually, he would've made himself scarce but curiosity got the better of him as he wondered what she was doing here. He didn't really have to follow her as the establishment that she was heading to was only a few meters away from where he first saw her. His jaw dropped when he read the sign the shop had on its glass doors.

Kinky Paradise. It was a SM shop for hardcore perverts.

At that moment he went through every possible conclusions that he could think of that would make a person that he had always regarded as an older sister figure enter such a shop. Suffice to say that all the conclusions that he thought up had gone from the obvious to reasonable until it became entirely absurd.

His questions were answered later when Akeno came out of the shop with a new plastic bag that belonged to the shop while having a small skip in her steps and a big smile on her face. Of course, he later asked the shop's staffs for confirmation and his fears were right on target.

Akeno is a Super 'S' and the shop's regular customer.

How did a sweet girl such as her become like that he would never know. At first he suspected that the Devils might have influenced her but after further recollections and analysis of Akeno's behavior ever since he knew her, he started to recall signs of Akeno being a 'S'. Such as the many times she used to tease him when they were little.

The knowledge made him have nightmares for the next few days involving Akeno in a SM outfit with a whip.

In the end he was able to just let the whole thing go. It wasn't his place to lecture her about her hobbies. After all, he had dreams of becoming a superhero ever since he was a kid. The difference is that Akeno had decided to pursue her interest while he had decided not to. Even with his strange abilities, he always knew that as he was right now, he would never become one. Despite that, he was never able to let go of that childish dream.

This led him to always end up desiring to help someone in need as a compromise.

Helping a little girl get her kitten that was stuck up a tree.

Helping old people cross the street.

Pushing someone out of the way of a speeding car.

Rescuing a baby who was trapped in a burning building.

Giving a bridal carry to a pregnant lady who was in labor and rushing her to the hospital.

Basically, whenever he encountered someone that needed his help, he can't help but want to use every ounce of his ability to save them. It was a bit of a conundrum to him actually as he discovered that whenever he tried to value his own life compared to others, he would always find that he was unable to do so. Every time he tried playing a scenario inside his head where his and a stranger's life was in danger, he would find that he would always prioritize the life of a complete stranger instead of his own.

When he compared his interests in becoming a superhero and Akeno's SM hobby, he found that his interests were the more dangerous of the two. So how can he judge her if he was a danger to himself? Also, even with her weird hobby, he couldn't help think that Akeno was still the sweet older sister he once knew.

So he won't judge her. Nor does he have the right to do so in the first place.

To think I would start recalling the past like an old man even if it isn't so distant. Maybe that nightmare I had last night is having more of an effect on me than I had originally thought.

The nightmare that he had last night was something that was fit to be called hell on Earth. He remembered that the town in his dream was being burned down by flames that were so strong that it melted steel. He could even remember all the screams for help and all the curses that were being sent up to the heavens. However, what really affected him was that in that nightmare he was also one of the victims of the fire.

He remembered that in the fire, he kept on moving forward while ignoring everything around him. He ignored all the screams for help and curses sent his way in favor of trying to save himself. He also remembered how he threw away all his memories and emotions in the fire just so that he could keep moving forward while believing that there was an exit, an escape route that he could use to get out of the flames. His dream self kept on moving forward regardless of how many times he stumbled and got up or how burned up his body was. He just kept moving forward urged only by the instinct to survive.

Despite it only being a dream, it felt so realistic that he had no doubt that he would've been traumatized for life had the nightmare not ended with his dream self finally being saved by a man that had dead eyes. It was a strange feeling to think that he knew the man despite also being sure that he had never seen him in his life. He also felt a sense of nostalgia whenever he tried to recall him.

Not only that, the man's expression of joy from saving his life has been plaguing his thoughts ever since he saw them. When he woke up, he wondered what kind of life the man had to go through if he could be so happy from being able to save just one life in that hell but at the time during the dream, when he saw the man's smile, he and his dream self had the same thought.

I wish I could be that happy.

Shirou sighed.

It's useless to think about it. In the end it's just a bad dream, that's all. I'll consult someone about it later. Maybe it's some kind of symbol on how my psyche works, who knows? Right now I've got work to do. Hopefully it's not a bad omen and I'll just sleep it off tomorrow.

As he arrived at the house of his next client, Shirou decideed to just forget about everything else and just focus on his work for now.

- Scene Break -

That took longer than I thought.

His last client had a major problem with the wiring in his house because he was too stubborn to call an electrician and wanted to do the repairs himself. The result was a huge mess of tangled wires that he had to fix. Although it was easy enough to do thanks to his Structural Analysis, it still took a long time to disentangle all the wires and hook them up again to the right places.

The client promised to never be so stubborn again after Shirou gave him a good lecture.

It was night right now. Fortunately, he didn't receive any other house calls from his other clients for the day seeing how he would have to cancel them right now if he did. It would be unreasonable for them to expect him to work until late into the night. He wasn't a Devil after all. At most, he'd agree to work until around a few hours after dusk like today.

The reason was that he didn't want to miss the last train of the day. He didn't want to end up paying for a taxi which was more expensive. The bills and rents are barely on time already even after he had lowered his food expense budget. And he still wanted to have some extra money to be deposited inside his account too.

Guess I'll take a shortcut.

The shortcut was through a park that was a famous spot for couples to make out. Usually, he would avoid using it but today he considered it an emergency. Hopefully, he won't end up disturbing any couples.

- Scene Break -

Hyoudou Issei was having the day of his life.

A few days ago, a cute girl named Amano Yuuma had confessed to him.

For a pervert like him who never had any success to get a girl to even like him, much less to have a girlfriend, for as long as he lived, Yuuma's confession was like the most pleasant music that would ever be heard by his ears.

Today marked the first day that he and Yuuma would go on a date, and he could honestly say that it was happiest day of his life yet. The only thing that would make him happier was if Yuuma asked him for a kiss, which was something he was expecting ever since she brought him to this park at night. There was even a fountain near them that increased the romantic atmosphere.

As he impatiently waited for Yuuma to ask him for a goodbye kiss, she finally said to him,

"Hey, Ise-kun."

"What is it, Yuuma-chan?"

"There is something I want to do to celebrate our first date. Can you listen to my wish?"

Here it comes, the kiss I've been waiting for! thought Issei.

"W-What is the w-wish you want?"

"Will you die for me?"

"Eh?" Did he hear that correctly? No way. It's impossible for someone as cute as this girl to say something like that.

"That is...huh, sorry, can you repeat that again? I think there's something wrong with my ears."

"Will you die for me?" The girl in front of him repeated while laughing.

Suddenly, black wings appeared on her back and her once cute eyes also became cold and scary. When she spoke again, her tone sounded very cold like an adult's.

"It was fun. The short time I spent with you. It was like playing house with a little child."

Her mouth formed into a cold smile. Gone, was the cheerful girl that he was on a date just a few moments ago replaced with a complete stranger with a merciless, cruel and sadistic demeanor. Not even a trace of the girl who confessed to him a few days ago remained.

The next moment, a spear of light appeared in the girl's hand and she threw it at Ise.

However, before the spear could hit him, he was suddenly pushed out of the way. The force of something that suddenly rammed into him made him lose all the air in his lungs. Before he could even figure out what had happened, he was being violently hauled up.

"Get up, idiot! We've gotta run!" A familiar male voice yelled at him.

"Shirou? Wha-"

BOOM!

Before he could finish his sentence the ground behind him exploded and he could hear Yuuma's screaming voice, "COME BACK, HERE!"

"No time! Just run!"

What in the world is going on here!? Thought Ise.

- Scene Break -

Great! Just great! The one time I decided to take a shortcut through the park and I had to bump into an assassination attempt on someone I knew! Although my life isn't that unfortunate my luck sucks ass!

He and Ise became acquainted when Ise's mother made a house call to him a few months back to fix their TV. He and Ise became friends of sorts ever since.

When he decided to pass through the park, he expected that the worst that could happen was that he would stumble upon a couple doing it. Instead, he found Ise nearly being killed by a Fallen Angel who seemed to be the girl that Ise was boasting had confessed to him for the last few days.

It's these kind of Fallen Angels that give Fallen Angels like Akeno and Barakiel a bad name. That very thought made him angry.

It might not have been directly but Fallen Angels such as these might have contributed to the hostile relationship that humans and Fallen Angels currently have. If it weren't for them, Akeno might still have a mother.

Unfortunately, no matter how angry he was, he knew that he was no match for a Fallen Angel. Even if he was currently practicing Kendo and Kyudo to keep his body in shape, it was useless against a Fallen Angel without something to use as a weapon.

Thus, running away was their best option.

Running on a paved path would've made them an easy target, especially since Fallen Angels could fly and start to target then from the sky, so he led Ise inside the forest that was surrounding the park instead. He had hoped that the trees would give them some cover and made it harder for them to be tracked.

Unfortunately, his hopes were too naive as moments later, a spear of light came from above and pierced him on the left side of his abdomen.

"SHIROU!" He heard Ise yell.

"...Shit..." It might've been he was lucky or the Fallen Angel, Yuuma, just had bad aim but the spear didn't pierce any vital organs. However, he could still feel his blood leaking out of his body. At this rate, even if he wasn't killed by Yuuma, he would die of blood loss very soon.

"That was annoying. Stop running and just die already. I don't have time to waste with the likes of you." Yuuma said this in an annoyed tone while she descended from the sky, her black wings flapping behind her.

"Yuuma-chan...why?" Ise asked confused by the whole situation.

"It's nothing personal. If you want to hate someone, hate God for putting that Sacred Gear inside you." Yuuma answered him coldly.

"...Sacred...what?" Ise was becoming more confused after hearing a term he's never heard before.

Shirou however, recognized the term. Sacred Gears were items with powerful abilities bestowed upon humans by the God in the Bible. It is said that certain individuals with Sacred Gears have become very powerful and influential in the human world thanks to their abilities but there were some among them that housed incredible power that could even potentially kill a God.

So, Ise has a Sacred Gear huh? That answers the question of why she is targeting him but since I don't know what it is, I can't rely on it's ability to save us right now.

Forget about using the Sacred Gear to save them, he doesn't even know how a possessor was supposed to do to activate them. Most of the education on the supernatural he received were very basic as his parents had concentrated on passing their knowledge to Yukari instead of him.

As he was thinking this, he saw Yuuma form another spear of light in her hands to kill Ise.

Isn't there something?...ANYTHING, that I could use to get us out of this whole mess? While Shirou tried to find a way to save both their lives, he saw a leaflet sticking out of the left pocket of Ise's pants.

It was a Devil's summoning circle.

There was no time to think, before Yuuma could launch her spear at Ise, Shirou grabbed the leaflet and wished for a Devil to appear in front of them. At this stage, he didn't care who appeared as long as the Devil was strong enough to repel Yuuma.

"Like I'd let you!" Yuuma who saw what Shirou was after launched her spear at the leaflet with the summoning circle instead.

Fortunately, Shirou was able to pull the summoning circle out of the way in time and he was able to send his wish for a Devil to appear through the summoning circle. However, it would still take a while for the Devil to appear, so he had to find a way to buy them some time.

Yuuma also seemed to have noticed this, as she renewed her efforts on Ise who was her original target.

Damn it! If only I had weapon with me right now. Even if he couldn't match her, he could at least buy some time for the Devil to arrive.

As he saw another spear of light formed in Yuuma's hand, despair started to creep into his heart. He immediately discarded those negative emotions. Nothing can be born from despair so it's useless to dwell on them. He started searching his surroundings for any broken branches, sticks or anything that he could use to buy some time.

As his mind frantically tried to process his surroundings, he started to feel dizzy and his mind was clouded in a haze. His sight was starting to blur and the sounds around him started to dim.

At this moment, memories that weren't his own flooded his mind.

Happy memories.

Sad memories.

Important memories.

Traumatic memories.

Even perverted memories.

All were crammed inside his head in that single moment.

Ah, so that's it.

The memories that he received were those that he was supposed to recall gradually within the next few years but circumstances had accelerated their transfer into his mind.

That's who I really am.

He had finally understood who he really was but the accelerated transfer was still too sudden for his mind to fully comprehend the memories in that single moment, thus the personality of his past self wasn't able to fully assert itself.

For Shirou, this was enough.

"Trace...On!" Flooding what he found was called Magic Circuits with his Od, he quickly Reinforced himself to the limit and darted forward at the same time that Yuuma launched her spear at Ise.

In the time he arrived in front of Ise to shield him, he Traced two swords that symbolized Yin and Yang in his hands.

Kanshou and Bakuya.

These married swords were the favorite weapons of his past self and they were strong enough for him to use it to deflect the spear of light that Yuuma had launched at Ise in the nick of time. The spear was mere inches from impaling Ise.

Surprise was evident on Yuuma's face as her spear was veered off target, deflected by Shirou and completely missing Ise but Shirou didn't want to give her enough time to collect herself.

"Wha-?"

Before Yuuma could even finish her word, Shirou was already on her, wielding Kanshou and Bakuya with the intent to decapitate her head.

On reflex, Yuuma formed a spear of light in her right hand and barely managed to block one of the sword that was meant for her head but she didn't have time form a second spear in her left hand as it was not her dominant arm. Having no choice, she had to sacrifice her left hand in order to slow down the sword's horizontal slash.

"AAAAAAAHHHHH!" She released a pained scream at having her left hand chopped off so easily. Even so, she was able to use the time the sword needed to cut through her hand to fly into the sky and escape her enemy's attack range.

"YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!" She started to form her spear of light again but stopped when she saw two figures appear from the summoning circle that Shirou had used earlier.

"I'LL REMEMBER THIS! SOMEDAY, YOU'LL SUFFER FOR THIS INSULT!" Saying this, she quickly departed from the scene. She was rational enough to know that she was in no condition to fight off two Devils in her current state.

Typical villain cliche line, thought Shirou before he finally collapsed and passed out from blood loss. He could no longer feel any strength in his limbs.

"Shirou!" Ise was able to catch Shirou before he fell to the ground.

"Hey! Come on! Open your eyes! Speak to me! Shirou!" Tears started to fall from Ise's eyes as he felt his friend's body started to become cold.

"Oh? Is that boy dead?" Ise turned his head as he heard a female voice coming from behind him.

- Scene Break -

Rias wasn't sure what she expected to find when she was summoned by a client who wanted a powerful Devil to be summoned as a criteria. Akeno who was with her back at the club room when the request was made was also intrigued and so she decided to tag along with the summoning.

Seeing two boys, one was already dead as she couldn't sense any signs of life from him while the other was crying while holding onto his body, in a forest that showed signs of battle and usage of holy powers at night was definitely at the top of her Unexpected Events list.

"Oh? Is that boy dead?" Rias said. From the looks of the situation, it seemed that her client had asked for a strong Devil in order to fight off whoever it was that was trying to kill them.

"Rias-senpai? Akeno-senpai?" The crying boy asked in a shocked tone.

"Ara. Aren't you Hyoudou Issei-kun? You're a 2nd year student at Kuoh Academy right?" Asked Akeno.

"Yes, but never mind that! We have to get Shirou to the hospital, quick!" Ise said.

"Shirou? Is that his-" Whatever Akeno was about say was stuck in her throat as she was finally able to take a good look at Shirou's face.

"Reiji-kun?" Akeno's face was filled horror as her body started to tremble and her right hand was on her mouth. It might have been 8 years since the last time she had seen him but there was no way that she could not recognize the face of the boy that she had always loved as a younger brother and the very person who came to her rescue when her home was burned down and her mother was killed in front of her own very eyes.

"No... No... It can't be... Reiji-kun!" Akeno started to panic as she fell on her knees and took Shirou's body away from Ise. She started to hug his body close to her while crying.

"Reiji-kun! Don't die! Please! Open your eyes!" Akeno continued to plea. She cried with all her heart but it was too late. His body had already become cold.

Rias who could no longer stand to just watch from the sidelines finally asked. "Akeno, do you know him?"

Akeno who was still distraught didn't even look at Rias as she gave a small nod and answered her. "Himejima Reiji. *Sob* He was my *Sob* cousin. He helped me *Sob* escape the Himejima clan *Sob* 8 years ago."

Hearing Akeno's answer, Rias made a quick decision. As Akeno's best friend, it was no wonder that she knew about Akeno's past with her clan that had once and most likely still want her dead. Not to mention she always did have a weakness for tragic stories.

Rias pulled out a red pawn piece from her skirt and knelt down beside Shirou's body that Akeno was still hugging and held the red pawn piece near him. Immediately, Rias could feel a reaction coming from the chess piece.

Akeno who finally noticed what Rias was intending to do, couldn't help but ask while tears continued to flow down her eyes, "Rias. *Sob* Are you sure about this *Sob*?" As much as she wants her cousin to be brought back, she also doesn't want her best friend to waste a precious pawn piece that would determine the future of her peerage.

"Yes, Akeno. From the looks of it, he was able to fight off a Fallen Angel if the black feathers around the place is any indication. I'm sure he would be a valuable addition to my peerage. And it's only one pawn piece." Rias said this while giving a soothing smile to Akeno.

After that, Rias inserted the pawn piece into Shirou's body and the ceremony to gain another member for her peerage concluded.

"Thank you, Rias." Akeno said this in a small and weak voice.

"It's nothing. You should bring him back to your place and help heal him. I'm sure he'll need explanations when he wakes up. And seeing a familiar face won't hurt either."

"All right." After she said this, a magic circle appeared under Akeno and both she and Shirou disappeared soon after. No doubt, they had already arrived at Akeno's home.

Rias also wanted to go home but she had one other task at hand.

"Now then, Hyoudou-kun. I would like you to come with me and explain to me everything that happened tonight. Is that alright?" Rias asked Ise while showing him a confident smile.

Ise who was pushed to the sidelines and could only watch without interrupting the scene that was moving forward in front of his eyes until then could only nod while being stunned.

His mind was in a state of shock.

However, he was still able to voice out one question. "Who are you?"

"Oh? To think that I forgot to introduce myself. Where are my manners?" At this, bat wings appeared on Rias's back and she curtsied a little.

"My name is Rias Gremory. I am a Devil."

This was going to be a long night for Ise.