Chapter 4: Excalibur
If one were to take a peek into Issei's bedroom right now, they would see an interesting sight that is not supposed to be associated with Hyoudou Issei, ever. Issei sat alone with a table in front of him. On said table is a board, a chessboard to be precise. The pieces right in front of him is white while the other side has red which substitutes black in this case. The chess pieces are all made of colored glass while the chessboard itself is carved from a fine wood and despite being alone, Issei is actually playing against someone.
[Bishop to D3]
Issei moved the red piece in accordance to Ddraig's command. Yes, Hyoudou Issei is playing chess against Ddraig and Ddraig is currently winning with Issei already losing a knight, a rook, and five pawns while Ddraig only lost his bishop, three pawns, and a rook.
It was simply out of curiosity. In his previous life, chess had yet to exist while the previous Hyoudou Issei never played chess and barely know what the game is. Since the current generation devils seem to have this strange fixation on chess, Issei figured he should know the game. Out of twenty matches he had played with Ddraig since he bought the game, he had only won four times.
Issei was about to move his piece when he take a look at said piece intensely, his hand hovering above the white knight that was about to take another pawn from the red team. Seeing the knight reminds him about the recent problem with the Gremory peerage's own knight.
Kiba Yuuto had been acting strangely and it is something related to the holy sword he saw in Issei's photo album. In fact, he even had to save Kiba from a weak stray devil that usually would've been easily defeated by the knight just last night. Ddraig notice Issei's expression as he look at the Knight piece.
[Are you worried about the knight partner?]
'…yeah, what happened to Kiba is bothering me. He looks like he would do something stupid if left alone.'
[True, but what can you do?]
'I will need to find out what's been in his mind. Those eyes, I recognize them, the eyes of someone who is ready to bring ruin to himself and those around him.'
Issei solemnly spoke with a hint of sadness and understanding. Ddraig noticed this.
[Speaking from experience?]
Issei did not answer. It is obvious. Issei closed his eyes and thought for a moment.
'I should assemble my Apostles soon. I miss them… and Haishella of course.'
[Geh, that demon partner of yours.]
'She's my oldest companion Ddraig. Plus my sword is with her. I want it back. That or Librascale… on second thought, I should leave Librascale be.'
[Why not just get Librascale?]
'I don't want to alert anyone of my possible return, at least, not now. Not when I can delay it as long as possible. Only me or Astrea can use Librascale. Plus the devils won't like it. Librascale to them is as bad, if not worse, than Excalibur. After all, devils don't like to be judged, right?'
[True enough. It is a divine sword of judgement. It is a bane for creatures of darkness like the devils.]
'Yes and as a recognized owner, I can wield it even if I am a devil.'
Issei sat back, now having something more important to think about than playing chess with Ddraig. His Apostles, Haishella, Librascale, Hestia, way too many things and no time or chance to deal with any of it. And then there's also the matter with Kiba Yuuto. Issei is worried.
Twirling the white Queen in his hand, Issei kept glaring at the two pieces in the middle of his chessboard. The white knight and the red knight are face to face with each other and Issei felt very uneasy.
"Buchou aren't you going home?"
"I will be going home afterwards. Go home without me."
Rias told Issei with a serious look on. Issei noticed this. There is something in her mind. Lately he noticed that there are strange things happening around him… well, strange by his standard anyway. Kiba spacing out and his vengeful thoughts, Rias being rather tense and confused around him, Koneko sometimes sharing her snack with him… wait, that last one is normal… or maybe odd?
"Isn't Buchou-san going home with us? "
"No. I guess there is something in her mind. Do you know what it is?"
Asia shook her head. She has no idea at all. Asia thought that it might be about Issei and his change but it can't be. They've come to accept the new Issei, even Rias although it's not easy in the beginning. It's the hardest for her since they no longer interact the same way with the new Issei, especially since he's much more serious and is not even flustered with sexual advances.
There is one other idea that came to mind though. Kiba had been acting strange and even Asia noticed it. Ever since Issei's change, she's not worried much about Rias stealing Issei away since it seems all of them had to start from zero and she began paying more attention to other things. One of them is Kiba, especially after Issei helped him during their dodgeball game. He had been acting very strange and it worries Issei greatly.
They reached the Hyoudou household and when Asia was about to open the front door, she felt chill running down her spine and shivered. Issei suddenly place his hand over hers. She look up and saw him squinting his eyes and frowning.
"Asia, stay back and keep out of sight. If anything happen, support me but don't risk yourself too much."
"Yes, Ise-san."
Asia went behind him as Issei slowly open his front door. Unlike Asia who shivered at the presence she felt, Issei recognize it and is unaffected by it. After all, with his awakened power, holy presence does not disturb him at all. What makes him wary is the presence itself. Holy Swords. He's starting to feel that the photo he showed Kiba was actually a foreboding of what's to come.
He did not sense any other holy presence other than the distinct aura of holy swords so that means the wielders are exorcists. That doesn't mean it will be easy though if they become hostile. Issei is not looking forward to rewrite his parents' memories should he be forced to fight them.
He opened the door. His first action was to check the kitchen for his mother. She's not there but he heard laughter from the living room. He went there quickly, hoping for the best while prepared for the worst. He saw his mother with two unfamiliar girls laughing together.
"And this is a picture of Ise when he was in primary school. Look. This is the picture when his togs got ripped at the swimming pool. It was very troublesome. He went to the pool's slide with his togs ripped."
"Mum?"
Mum looked at me when she realised I was there.
"Oh Ise. Welcome back."
"Hauuuuu. I'm so glad."
Asia sat down on the ground as if she was relieved. Issei is glad that his mum is safe but he did not let down his guard fully since there are two strangers in the living room involved with the supernatural. They are both young foreigners with a Rosario hanging around their chest. Both of them are around his age though one of them is possibly a year or two older. One has chestnut color hair and the other one has long blonde hair and scary red eyes. Both of them are quite beautiful but Issei's eyes are glued to the chestnut haired girl.
"Hello, Hyoudou Issei-kun."
The girl greeted him. Suddenly, Issei felt like he should knew this girl. Something in the back of his mind is telling him that he should, no, he must know her. Issei began to search his memory in the fastest possible time. He tried and tried and…
"It's a promise."
Two voices, one from a distant past and the other seems like it happened not too long ago. They overlapped with each other along with two smiling faces. One is that of Astrea while he was Celica while the other is a boy he used to play with. The girl look at Issei oddly as he's been standing there, staring at her for five seconds without saying anything. Suddenly he spoke.
"Shidou… Irina?"
The girl, Shidou Irina, smiled brightly when he said her name. His mother is surprised that he recognized her. Irina had changed a lot since they last met. When they were young, Irina look and act like a boy. It should be hard, near impossible to tell that the boy he played with is actually the girl now standing in front of him. But Issei can tell and he is sure.
Irina and Issei by now knew what each other are. But even so, that doesn't matter to them. What matters the most is that they are reunited.
-The next day after school-
The members of Gremory group are gathered in the club room. On the sofa sat Rias with Akeno and the two 'guests'. The other members of our group sat in the corner of the room listening to their conversation. One of them is not sitting though but leaning on the wall, observing everything carefully. This is not Hyoudou Issei the schoolboy who entered the supernatural world by coincidence. This is Celica the Godslayer, one who was once known as the most dangerous warrior in the world.
Issei is channeling his old persona as he observes the exorcist and Kiba. The exorcists looks fine for now and shows that they are really here just to talk but Kiba though is obviously holding himself back in deference to Rias. If not, he would've went at them slashing with all his demonic swords. Issei could feel his anger being forcefully suppressed by what little reason he had left. He will have to watch Kiba or he might do something stupid. The conversation started when Shidou Irina finally spoke.
"Recently the Holy-swords Excaliburs that were kept by the Catholic Church Headquarter Vatican, Protestant Church, and Eastern Orthodox Church were stolen."
Excalibur was stolen. That's definitely a big problem for the Church. Holy Swords are rare after all and high-caliber ones are supposed to be as powerful as a Longinus or close enough.
"Excalibur itself doesn't exist."
Rias suddenly spoke, looking at Issei.
"I'm sorry. One of my servants recently became a devil, so can we continue this conversation while explaining about Excalibur?"
Shidou Irina nodded at Rias' request although it is unneeded. Issei had heard what happened to Excalibur from Ddraig after Irina left yesterday. Still, he appreciates the gesture.
"Ise-kun. Excalibur broke in the war a long time ago. Now it looks like this."
The ribbon on Irina's wrists turns to a sword. Issei could feel the distinct aura of Excalibur coming from it. His past self will never forget that sword's presence. But this… sword is a mockery of the weapon he had faced once. Its power is not even a fragment of what Excalibur could do. And even with a powerful wielder, this sword can never truly perform at its full power again. Its vessel, its body would break if the fragment were to show what it's truly capable of.
"This is Excalibur. Excalibur was broken into pieces during the war a long time ago. The fragments were collected and turned into a new form by alchemy. It was made into 7 swords. This is one of them."
Issei inwardly shook his head. Clearly the one who was in charge of reforging the swords are barely capable to do so. With the frame it's built in now, the core will never be able to show its full power, even its fragmented power. Is this another result of His demise?
"The Excalibur I hold is 'Excalibur Mimic'. It's one of the 7 holy-swords that were created. The Protestant Church is in control of it."
The sword turns back to a ribbon that wraps itself around Irina's arm. That's an interesting power. Issei then noticed that Kiba's anger is getting even more intense and is almost out of control. But he saw that he's not the only one who noticed Kiba's demeanor. He saw the piercing red eyes of the other exorcist glancing at Kiba from under her hood that she did not wore yesterday. Come to think of it, she had not said any words yesterday or today.
"So what does the stolen Excaliburs have to do with this country located in the east of the World?"
"The Protestant Church was in possession of two Excaliburs including mine. The Catholic Church also had two. Also in the Eastern Orthodox Church there were two as well. The last one went missing in the previous war between God, devils, and fallen-angels. One Excalibur was stolen from each Church. The ones that stole them escaped to Japan, and brought them to this town."
"Looks like my territory is full of incidents. So who are the ones that stole the Excaliburs?"
"The ones that stole them were the Grigori."
Rias widened her eyes in surprise at the answer.
"The holy-swords were taken by the fallen-angel organisation? It's not a matter of mistake. But certainly it would be the fallen-angels when it comes to stealing them. For the devils working at the top, holy-swords does not give them much interest."
"We know the main culprit who stole the Excaliburs. One of the leaders of Grigori, Kokabiel."
"Kokabiel… One of the leaders of the fallen-angels that survived the previous wars since ancient times… I never expected to hear the name of the one that appears in the Bible."
Kokabiel, Issei knew that name. In fact, he had fought Kokabiel around six times long ago. He beat him all six times. He shouldn't be worried. But with his current condition, Issei doubt he could have the same easy win as back then. He's much stronger than when he was purely Hyoudou Issei but the current him is nowhere near even a third of his power as Celica. But with Boosted Gear, perhaps he could fight him.
"We ha…"
"Irina, that's enough. We're taking too long."
Suddenly the blonde exorcist who had been silent all this time spoke.
"But Fate!"
The girl called Fate stopped Irina from speaking any further by putting her hand in front of Irina's face. The red eyed girl looked straight at Rias and told her.
"You know our purpose and you know who we are facing. The higher up believe that the devils might have a hand in this since you also would profit if we lose the Excaliburs but I don't believe so. I will make this quick since I want to get to searching immediately. We will be searching for Kokabiel and the Holy Sword fragments. We ask permission to act in your territory. You do not want to refuse us passage since that will only say you have a hand in Kokabiel's theft. Lastly, do not get in our way. This is not devil business and it is in your best interest to be an observer unless you wish to make things more complicated for when we both make our report. Once we retrieve the swords, we will depart from your territory."
The blonde exorcist said all of those in one breath. What she said are true but Rias did not expect the silent exorcist to say all that in one go so she thought for a while.
"In our best interest, huh? Do you believe you can finish this quickly? The opponent is a leader of Grigori whose fame in battle is enough to make his name mentioned in the bible."
"I doubt we can win against Kokabiel in a direct battle. But we can steal the Excaliburs back without fighting him. Besides, we do have some 'contingency plan' in case we fail to steal them back discreetly."
Shidou Irina's partner, Fate Testarossa smirked. She then finished the tea served by Akeno.
"I thank you for your hospitality. I hope we can finish this incident in a way that wouldn't inconvenience either of us."
She put the glass back onto the table and stood up, gesturing at Irina to follow her. The red eyed exorcist sneak one last glance at Kiba before she left. Issei's eyes never left Fate since the moment she talked. He suspect that there's something else going on as he watch the two exorcist leaves
Fate Testarossa walk out from Kuoh academy with Irina in tow. She took one last glance at the school before walking away. She never thought that she would find a survivor like her. She recognized him even after so many years. She had only met the Holy Sword project children a few times but she made sure to never forget any of them. They were in the same situation as he after all.
"Mou! Fate, why did you have to say all that and leave?! The higher ups will be angry!"
Irina complained but Fate ignores her. Her mind wanders to those days in the past.
'Rest assured Isaiah, I will avenge all of us, both from the Holy Sword project… and the FATE project.'
And canon divergence began. First major change, Xenovia is not here! Where is she? Well my beloved Xenovia will appear. My love for her made sure of that. But I have replaced Xenovia with Fate Testarossa from Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS. Yup, the StrikerS version. I feel like I can use her background and make something great from all that and something new. Issei also recognize Irina without needing to be clued. For now those are all the changes I put into this story.
Now for the revs
Dragon Rider 66: Funny enough, I use three voices in one body idea for my Star DxD.
za worlada: Angelina has more bust than Arturia... I think. And she's prettier.
mrp00pybutthole: I'm gonna keep japanese honorifics when needed. And thanks for the advice. As for the photo album scene... Well, have you ever shown an embarrassing photo of your childhood to your friends when you're older?