Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain –
and most fools do
But it takes character and self-control
To be understanding and forgiving
~Dale Carnegie~
-XxXxXxX-
The morning to me was, as usual, the most painful part of my day, the dreary feeling you have that compels you to get up is beyond annoying for me and as I B_tch slapped the feeling to the curb I yanked myself from my beds clutches...
Right onto the floors unforgiving surface
Sometimes I hate it when my legs sleep in on me
After forcing the rather embarrassing morning to the back of my mind I got on with my morning routine which consisted of the usual day-to-day tasks for every human but for me the added room in the hotel suite added for a good morning workout
"98...99...100"
A good warm up exercise helps keep one in top condition and with the constant training I had built up as a habit as well as the time Griselda practically drilled the 'less then ethical' exercises into me, I had picked up a rather 'lecherous body' as a select few had commented... behind my back I mind you, they just seem to be less inclined to tone down their squeals of lust towards me
My desire to partake in their actions of lewd behavior is a not on the forefront of my mind as I've been unable to focus on such desires due to my connection to the church. Being caught with a girl there is NOT on my to-do list
Not to mention Griselda's wrath...
I shudder at the thought as I put on the daily clothes a normal person wears, T-shirt, dark blue jeans, runners... yeah know, the normal stuff. My church outfit will have to wait for when I actually need it, the spiritual pressure restriction fabric would not only attract attention but it would help me stick out like a sore thumb to all inhuman beings in the area, if someone had a serious lack of regular spiritual pressure they were either sick or hiding something and I never got sick so I'd have no clue how to act so it wasn't something I find productive, not to mention the appearance I would have on those around me
Might as well put on a sign that says 'HEY! Priest here, come get me!'
My job here was to neutralize a select group of 'less then threatening' fallen angels with as little a impact as possible, I infringed on my superiors orders already with that act of 'heroism' yesterday and I can practically guarantee its gonna come back to bite me in the ass
It hadn't really a cured to me that my previous actions with the Devil yesterday may or may not have caused a curtain degree of danger, in all honesty the actions I did yesterday were simple but the added actions to the simple one was what bugged me
Why In god's name did I ask him to relay a message to his master?
In my perspective I believed my actions were acceptable, I helped a former human adapt to his new life... though it seems strange when I say that when, naturally, I should have exorcised him as soon as I saw him but killing indiscriminately was NOT my true nature and simply killing the boy for simply being the opposite of myself was just arrogant and a complete disregard to ol big guns up stairs
Love your neighbor boys and girls... unless it's a child killer, then it's a different story
-XxXxXxX-
An hour later and I found myself strolling the city streets blankly while I organized my thoughts on my pending result of my actions and how I was gonna work around them, the boy, issei hyoudou demonstrated a large degree of power but it was only there for a split second, a power I myself felt familiar with, however I don't have any memory of it which led me to believe it was of a simple impact of power driven instinct
An instinct to challenge him...
Due to my swordsmen habits still burned into my consciousness I practically radiated a need to increase in strength, or boredom relieving. For a year now I had found myself nearly dying with boredom, I needed strength to grow stronger so to help those in need but I also wanted to alleviate some mind numbing boredom and the hyoudou boy gave me a window of hope that I may get just that, however it was for only a few seconds after that I was at a loss, his level of ignorance to his situation was almost painful to witness as he had no idea how many times I could have killed him when we had our little chat yesterday
Again, I'm a nice guy so he's lucky it was me and not one of the more 'fanatical' exorcists
Whoever his master was needed to get the training on before his life ends before his new one can even begin, with great power comes great responsibility and a large sum of individuals who want to test their metal against you, myself included albeit loosely and if you don't have the skill then you're a walking test dummy
Shaking my head of such primitive thoughts I passed by a park to my immediate right and for a split second I saw my previous thought topic standing within the parks limits
Issei hyoudou stood a hundred yards from my current position and, much to my relief; he hadn't noticed me in the slightest, though with my 6'3 height I'm amazed he hadn't at all. He was currently conversing with a young blonde girl who looked to be of church decent
Wait a minute...
Obvious Caucasian decent, Blonde hair, green eyes, kind smile and church robes, I've heard of that description before yet the words laid on my tongue but I couldn't say the name correctly, however, I knew for the record I had seen her before and now that I observed her actions I knew for a fact that I'd seen her some time ago yet I didn't fully know.
Don't you just hate that feeling?
Putting my suspicions to the test I dived, figuratively, behind a tree and manoeuvred myself to the two's position, my movement was crisp and precise as the two didn't notice me lean against a tree to Issei's rear, far enough for view hindrance but good enough for amped hearing, magic's skills are a serious help when it came to this kind of field work
Listening in I made out their conversation, though I nearly cringed at the obviously horrible conversation starter
"Hey what'd yeah say? Nice weather am I right?" he asked sheepishly
Yeah, horrible can't even begin to describe how bad that was, not a day and I already wanna deck the guy. If you're gonna hit on a girl ya gotta do it right 'cause if you're gonna come up with lines like then you're gonna have to update your literature reservoir really soon... I could practically hear an old lady saying that
"Um I'm sorry but... I'm a little lost, do you think you can help me out?" the blonde asked
Lucky guy, his horrendous question flew over her head like the wind. The teen looked completely dumb struck with her innocent puppy dog eyes as she glanced to him nervously for an answer to which she received a simple nod in gesture to a 'yes'.
The two soon agreed to walk with one other enticing me to follow with adept magic concealment skills, a simple spell really, a reflective wall of tightly condensed magic would rotate around my form, if he walked to my right the reflective wall would then sit on my right side, it worked wonders in previous crowd eavesdrop jobs I had to undertake.
With the limited time I had with the two I quickly walked up to their left side and followed them briskly, they didn't talk much as they simple walked in comfortable silence however the teen started the conversation and this time it was a reasonable line to use.
"Sooo, are you a tourist?" he asked with a questioning glance
"Oh no not at all, as a matter of fact I was just assigned to the church in this town" she informed causing the teen to adopted a understanding expression
"then that makes sense, I guess that explains your uniform" he said with an understanding tone, though for a second I thought I a saw him glance around as if looking for someone
Hehehe
"I'm so glad I ran into some that is as kind as you, I guess someone is looking out for me" as she finished her words she looked to him with a grateful smile while blushing sweetly to which he responded with light laugher and a gushing expression to follow
His expression changed into mild shock/recognition when he looked to something on her chest, closer inspection showed it was the crucifix around the nun's neck, I never did give this situation my opinion as the idea of a devil assisting a church nun was rather strange but then again, I can't really say as I helped the helper yesterday night
Seems I've met some strange people
His shocked expression changed into worry when the girl just up and ran off towards an injured child a couple yards from them
'What's she doing?' I inquired internally, the girls actions and personality were beginning to open a few doors to my empty memories of the girl because as she walked up to the child I could vaguely remember a person I knew a while ago do the same, my eyes widened considerably however when the girls hand was enveloped in a soft green light completely reminiscent to the women in my memories
Its effect clearly demonstrated healing abilities as the scrap on the Childs leg healed in less than a few seconds. The boys expression of pain changed to relief as he said 'thank you' to the nun in gratification, issei translated the words for her to which she responded in kind as the boy ran to his mother
My mind was elsewhere while I continued to follow them to where ever it was they were going. For a while my memory was hazy on the nun's relation to myself but that was immediately dashed when she healed the boys injury a few minutes ago and now the name that was floating around in my head came to me like a long lost memory
Asia Argento, former holy maiden of the Vatican city church, at a young age she was abandoned by her mother for reasons unspecified and was raised by a church a few states from the Vatican, after a years of living within the church Asia developed ungodly abilities for healing as she demonstrated her powers on a terminally ill puppy officially saving its life from deaths clutches, she was then reassigned to the Vatican. A year or so passed by with little to no events until one day I had the honor of attending one of her healing ceremonies when a message came talking about a dying child a few cities away
I was appointed her body guard on this as the Vatican higher ups suspected there might be someone with 'less then holy' intentions and as rumors had been back then, the fallen angels were hunting 'VIPs' far more aggressively then today
It was a good experience to witness a 'miracle' as they had come to call it but I knew it was a sacred gear, its power was very easily distinguishable as the two rings that would appear on her fingers made it known that she was in fact a sacred gear user, but only I seemed to notice
After which I came to befriend the little girl who showed to be of apparent shyness when it came to conversing but she seemed to warm up to me after a few conversations, it was all good for her until one day I returned from one of my exorcisms to find out she had been branded a 'witch' for healing a devil
Everything after that was a blur...
Shaking myself from the warm/cold memory I found that we had arrived at the church I had been observing for the past few days and to say I was shocked would be an understatement, the warm girl who showed to be the kindest of all souls was now forced to work with fallen angels, the worst of the three sides
Damn it all to hell
Due to my lack of equipment and preparedness I found I could not continue to follow the girl as she parted ways with Issei, the former showing a small level of disappointment at not being able to reward him with a cup of tea, Issei seemed to move briskly away from the church area and I knew why, weak devils are highly susceptible to holy auras, he was lucky I didn`t reveal my crucifix when we met or else he`d feel even worse than he did now
I watched the blonde girl walk towards the church before disappearing on the path she was on. If I was more prepared I would have done something but I didn`t exactly know what to do exactly, the fallen angels obviously had something in store for her but its details eluded me and the church wanted her heresy answered which obviously they wanted to 'burn the witch' as they call it
For a bunch of followers of god they sure acted like devils
Obviously the whole 'love your neighbor' never registered
Walking back to my hotel suite at a pace similar to Issei's I began to update my reports on the fallen angel in my head. So far the fallen exhibited a mild threat level but held an elusive motive that I felt I needed to delve into as soon as I was able, they held a reasonably adept level of stray exorcists who had shown to be lurking in the trees when Issei escorted Asia Argento, a former holy maiden to the Vatican, her current responsibilities to the fallen were slim as the only thing I could guess was assistance with the fallen angels themselves as they had zero divinity with the holy due to their fall so she was per-say their healer
'I should probably report my findings to Archbishop Arndell, I'll need further orders on how to deal with this growing situation, there's far too many stray exorcists involved for this to be a normal disturbance'
With that thought in mind I dialed the desired number into my phone
-XxXxXxX-
"And that's all I have to report" I finished
"Excellent work Isaac and your orders still stand; eliminate the fallen angels and acquire all relative information on their operations for later debriefing" Arndell's voice held a commanding edge as I nodded
"Very well archbishop, I'll proceed as instructed" pressing the 'end call' button I dropped my phone back onto its perch on the desk and sighed heavily
My mind remained blank as I skimmed over the day's events, not an hour ago and I already felt like I've made good progress with my mission, it turned out that Asia was the apparently 'defacto leader' which honestly made me chuckle for moment, the VIP that was scheduled to arrive was actually the least of my worries on a objective level, personnel level was different but the fact she was the cause for my worry was actually false
This meant that Raynare was the leader of this marry band of misfits and that made the threat level of the fallen angels drop significantly, four single winged fallen angels and an adept amount of stray exorcists to boot, not a horrible combo but its definitely not the most intimidating
Kicking off the day with this wasn't exactly my most desirable topic but it had to be done, stepping over to the wall of pictures of my targets I studied all of the pictures I had accumulated over my brief stay and tried to make a few hypothetical scenarios, there wasn't much to work with as gaining information the old fashion way was out of the picture due to it being day time, hibernation time for the shut-ins which included the fallen so making a trip to the church was almost asking to just start a fight in broad day light
That's a no-no as the battle would most likely attract the attention of the locals something I had no intention of doing and this left me with the mulling over various scenario's at the forefront of my imagination, a large scale attack from them was practically a stupid idea as the eavesdrop spells I had placed all around the church never pick up chatter on a pending attack, there was a few situations where they had joked about devils, angels, etc with a good sum of malice but other than that they seemed to understand an attack was stupid
The next scenario was a base of operations instalment for the fallen angels in this territory; the fallen had a reasonably sized group to start a good installation of fallen angels but the fact they had placed it here when there was obviously a devil or two here was a serious offence to them and that would usually lead to a good sized bout between the two opposing forces, not to mention a fallen angel had already attempted murder on a devil already so if it was this that the fallen were looking into was again stupid
The sheer audacity the fallen carried with them was surprising, not only did they invade a devils territory they actually attempted to kill one, I'm amazed the devil in charge with the territory hadn't ordered the heads of the fallen yet, lenience is nice but when it comes to the lives of your servants have a little back bone
This also didn't bode well as the fallen angels were in no means ready for war, they thirst for it but they are not in the shape to carry it out and to add to it Azazel was the one who ordered no future attempt to inflict military action towards devils or Angels so that countered this theory
Speaking of which, with that in mind the actions these fallen angels carried out were unorthodox, unpredictable yet predictable, they had a routine but it was instinctual, day time comes; remain unseen, night time comes; patrol area for any stray devils. It was simple but they held zero sign of care towards their actions, like it was just to keep face that they actually had not ill intentions
These fallen angels were rouge no doubt about it, their actions, their structure of command, but the objective still remained to be found, so what was it?
Skimming over my manila folders contents I picked up the 'date of awareness' slip and read it over, turned out the reason the Vatican pick up on the fallen angels trail was a simple mistake made on their part, a few days ago a curtain fedora wearing crow attack an innocent bystander with lethal intentions, the reason the Vatican pick up on this was the residual effect the corrupt light left behind
Seems as though Dohnaseek was a little overcompensating as the sheer amount of light he used made it easy for the bishops back at head quarters to track, and get a load of this, the person he attacked was none other than Issei Hyoudou
Small world...
There was also residual demonic pressure in the area but its level of potency was too low to identify who the caster which left the divine scanners to come up short. Hmmm... So the boy was saved by his master who was smart enough to cover the tracks, clever devil
The devil must be an affectionate one to go out of his/her way to help his/her servant in need
'Well who ever the devil is I'm not exactly in a rush to find out who they are' I thought while dismissing the idea of exploring a growing curiosity, I had found myself wondering who's territory I was on but the idea of looking for danger was just a rookie's mistake so if it was gonna happen then it had to come and find me first
-XxXxXxX-
Before I even knew it, the days hours passed by me like wind as the time I put in my thesis proved to be a lethal time killer. Boring but productive.
About twenty odd minutes ago I felt a group of magical signatures make themselves present within the city limits a few miles from my current position inside my hotel room. If I wasn't restricted in a devils territory I would have already dealt with the stray devil they were obviously dealing with but because of the mentioned restriction I remained where I was.
Various magical signatures of many different kinds pulsed out both violently as well as subtlety as the battle wage for a mere ten minutes before the remnants of battle ceased
Never really surprises me on how weak stray devils can be, they happen to kill their masters easily enough but then slowly decrease in strength when the deeds down, there's honestly no point in straying from the master as your life just gets worse if you do
Anyhow, the battle between the devils ended and now all I was doing was simply relaxing around lazily as I had no leads what's so ever, any premature actions would jeopardize my objective and how I planned to handle them, so any action now without any further solid leads would most likely end in disaster... or explosions, either the two really, it just depends on how pessimistic you are.
'Not to mention the situation I'm in with Asia being here puts me in a tight spot' the worried expression couldn't go unnoticed on my grill as the thought of Asia's situation dawned on me. My life wasn't the warmest but it wasn't cold either so the thought of Asia and how her life was turning out was probably far bleaker then mine, just the thought alone made me sink into a slight degree of sympathetic depression
'Poor child' I thought solemnly.
Asia'sprobably the most kind hearted person I knew and she's up shit creek with no paddle or a sense of good direction. I had long since projected myself in assisting her as the thought of acting 'judgment' on her wasn't even in my to-do list and there is no damn way someone's ordering me to kill her so the Vatican can blow that order up their ass for all I care
Asia's good, so she lives. Period
I may appear to be loyal to the Vatican but when it came to the more 'questionable" orders I tended to act on my own terms regardless of the consequences that may follow.
I have in countered my far share of fanatics on a mission from God for their definition of "justice" before and I have been dutifully amazed at how the simple teachings of God can blur the lines between right and wrong to such a degusting level
There is a reason the words 'heretic' and 'Blasphemy' were invented
My inner musing of my past came to an end as the formerly peaceful night became enticed with magical energy again, I expected it to be devil magic as the devil's may becoming active but as it turned out the magic energy was actually human, it held a slightly noticeable degree of holy properties although its holy property was present so was an edge of corruption to its spiritual fabrication
Its casting wasn't offensive as it was defensive and due to its slight relation to the divine any devils in the area wouldn't be able to sense its eruption, and since it had a corrupt vibe to it confirmed it was an action committed by the fallen angels albeit their marry band of exorcists were the casters
With my sword at my side and my priest outfit equipped I left my resident safe house in favor of inspecting the rising magically presences, the first occurrence I ignored as it was devil in nature however this one was giving off divine energy, the word "fallen" passed my mind when I first sensed it leaving me to act in the Vatican's as well as my own best interest
-With Issei-
'If I wanna have my own servants, first I need to become I high ranking devil' Issei thought as he peddled towards the intended house on contract, his mind was elsewhere as he pondered his future and how he was gonna become a "harem king" as he enthusiastically called it, however, his future plans had suddenly slowed to a grinding halt at his masters previous words to which caused his expression to drop into a depressed state
-Flashback-
'You're a pawn' said Rias as she walked past the distraught Issei
'But I don't wanna be a pawn!' moaned the teen as he sulked at his masters words
'Well I'm sorry, but that's what you are' replied Rias as she seemed to be rather optimistic about his situation
The memory was left with Issei crying anime tears at his unlucky situation he found himself in
-Flashback end-
'if I was born into power like Rias I'd have been easy but since I'm just another stupid reborn so I'm gonna have to bust my ass to prove myself... but how the hell am I gonna do that?' his expression morphed into a dopy expression of confusion as he analyzed how on earth he was gonna make high-class, he couldn't even use the magic circle to form better contracts... or at least prove he was a devil for that matter
He was getting tired of the skeptics
The teen arrived at the rather luxurious apartment building in time to clear his head of any doubts in favor of focusing on making an actual contract this time, giving the door bell a good press issei stood by and waited for what felt like a few minutes with no one answering his ringing
'Is there anyone home?' he inquired mentally as he reached for the door knob to see if the house was accessible, to his mild surprise he found the door was actually unlocked leading him into the dark entrance way
'Huh, its unlocked' his mental note of surprise was followed by an expression of deep confusion as the notion of leaving ones door open was counterproductive for ones personnel safety but it seemed the residents didn't seem to care
Without any consideration of any other possible scenario's he could encounter Issei strolled into the apartment without any care in the world, he seemed rather hesitant to enter as the notion of entering a strangers home without consent was most likely muscle memory but after announcing his presents a few times at cringe worthy volumes the teen seemed to grow increasingly comfortable at having his presences at least put out there
Stepping into the building Issei's expression morphed from stupidly ignorant to frozen surprise
'Woah, Its that same feeling again' his memory brought him back to three events that brought on the same feeling he currently felt, the first was Asia's crucifix, the second was the sight of the church and the last was the silver haired exorcist who out of the three gave off the freakiest vibe he had ever felt.
For a moment the hesitant teen remained stationary as he pondered his next move, his gut ordered him to back away but his more human instinct of curiosity ordered him to press on and see what was going on inside the house
-Flashback-
"Koneko is busy so do you think you can handle one of her request's again?" asked Rias as she leaned against a window
"Of course" answered her newest servant
"Good, and make sure you bring back a contract this time" she said seriously to which Issei nodded
"And whatever you do don't disappoint me" she added with a warning edge
Issei's expression dropped as the warning edge in Rias' tone didn't go unnoticed by the now depressed teen.
"Yeah" was his lethargic answer
-Flashback end-
With his previous hesitance gone and the conversation he had with his master only minutes ago running through his head all doubts and reasonable self preservation vacated his mind in favor of impressing a red headed devil... seems logical
Forcing his instinct to flee to the curb Issei pressed on into the interior of the apartment, a mindful expression adored his face as the possibility of being attack felt ever so present leading him to shut his mouth in favor of silence though he felt his previous blunder of ignorance left his element of surprise useless
His destination was the room to his right a few feet down the hall, the reason he chose that room was because it was out of all the others lit with light; albeit dimly all the other rooms were either closed or pitch black
Issei's instinct to run grew higher and higher as he approached the dimly lit room, he didn't understand why he felt so worried as he believed if there was anyone here who wished to kill him they would have done so as soon as he opened the door but so far no one had made an attempt on his life leaving him to relax a little
*Sploosh*
An addible sound of his shoe landing in something wet filled is ears causing him to stop in his path towards the lit room
'Huh? Floors wet... wait a minute' Issei's brow was scrunched in determined focus as he inspected the wet substance by touching the bottom of his shoe, the denseness immediately caught his attention causing his expression to rise into a shocked expression
Since his devil powers let him see in the dark better the barely lit hall way showed the teen a trail of blood leading towards the dimly lit room
Swallowing the lump in his throat Issei stood up to his full height and walked slowly towards the room with great amounts of trepidation, he wasn't lost on the whole idea of possible trouble and he himself questioned why he was continuing into the house when it was obviously this was a site of a blood bath and by the freshness the state the blood was in told Issei the would-be-assailant was still on the premise
'I've gotta stay alert, there's no tell what I'm walking into here' Issei mentally reminded himself to stay alert to which he pick up a rather dorky looking 'ready' pose that mimicked a variety of shows he watched... lack of training usually has that effect
Peeking into the dimly lit room Issei scanned it to see if anyone was in it before finally walking into the room himself, the room was lit with only two table head laps which illuminated the rooms interior however the laps only shone on the two couches that were parallel with each other everything else was covered in darkness but even that didn't stop Issei's eyes from stopping on the piled corpse in the corner of the room
His reaction at the grotesque sight forced him to recoil back in disgust and fear, disgust as the scent of the rotting corpse finally reached his nose and the sight led his mind to the question that was now looming in the air
Who would do this?
He had heard of evil acts of violence before on news reports from all across the world but to actually see something like this had shown him a side of the world he felt he didn't want to know, not to mention the thought that some people get kicks out of doing things like this made him nearly vomit at the sight
'h-holy shit' he thought with a trembling figure, for a second the sight of the platinum haired man passed through his head as he recalled what the man had said to him
The odds of you dying are much higher now, so keep your eyes open
He had to hand it to the silver haired teen, the advice was bleak but it was a good thought to consider and considering he was his enemy just showed how much his world truly changed. If an enemy went out of his way to give advice then it just goes to show who much danger you are truly in.
Shaking his thoughts clear the brown haired teen noticed a sentence written above the corpse, it wrote 'punish the wicked' for a simple sentence the impact it had on Issei was much greater as it was actually written in the victim's blood
"Words to live by... yes, words to heed by the words of holy man" came a voice to Issei's left, glancing over to the source the teen was greeted by the sight of a grey haired teen who wore priest clothing sitting on the couth facing away from him. For a moment Issei thought he saw a figment of the man he met yesterday but it was dashed as the outfit he wore was much different to the other mans
Then the man turned his head and grinned widely with his tongue hanging out, insanity was the very first impression the man had on Issei as he stood to his full height of 5'11 he continued to grin towards the no terrified teenager
"Well now, you just walked into the wrong house my friend" the white haired boy bowed mockingly towards Issei
"Freed Sellzen at your service" he introduced before getting up right and dancing joyfully
"And it looks like you're the scared little pussy this holy priest is gonna exorcise" his joyfully and mocking tone filled the room as Issei continued to stare on in fear but it widened when he said 'holy priest'
'A holy priest? What kind of holy priest would do something like that?!' Issei mentally questioned as he glanced to the corpse
"Killing unholy scum like that sack of sh_t over there is my job, and it looks like your next on the menu" Issei was sensing an large degree of hostility from Freed as he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a sword handle and a custom designed gun, a second later and the sword handle was filled with a blade of white light
'A holy sword!' Issei mentally summarized in shock as the level of danger the man possessed grew significantly
"I'm gonna cut your devil ass into itty bitty pieces, but before I do that I'm gonna blow a hole throw you ugly ass face!" after he uttered his promise of pain Freed lunged at Issei who quickly dodged the blind strike easily, for a pervert he prided himself as a nimble individual. He had to doge kendo sticks some how
However, swords are easy to dodge but bullets on the other hand are a different story
"Kablam!" yelled Freed as he fired a round of his gun into Issei's thigh, causing him to fall to a knee in great amounts of pain
"These bullets were blessed by a holy priest so getting hit is the last thing you want... but I hope they taste good, cause their the last thing you're ever gonna taste!" screamed Freed
"Damn you..." growled Issei as he summoned his boosted gear and lunged for the man but it was a feeble attempted
"Too slow" mocked freed as he dodged the lung and slashed Issei's back giving him a massive burst of a pain
"AHHH!" he yelled
"Wow, one simple cut and you drop like a f_cking rock, too bad, for a moment there I was hoping you'd give me a good time but it seems you nothing but a weak devil after all" freed said as he twisted his sword into a reverse grip and prepared for the finishing blow however the both of them froze when they heard and audible scream of horror behind them
Glancing over his shoulder freed noticed Asia was staring at his 'art work' with great amounts of shock which caused him to smile gleefully, Issei on the other hand picked up a shocked expression at seeing the innocent in general
"What the hell are you doing here? Are you finished lifting the barrier?" asked freed, Asia remained unaware of the question and continued to mutter inaudible words like 'why' and 'no' both of which caused freed to pick up an understanding expression
"Oh yeaah, you're a newbie. Well to explain it better this is what we do to those who invoke the presents of devils who then bewitch them with their lies, surely you can understand" Freed's words fell on deaf ears as the distraught Asia turned around and noticed with great amounts of shock that the one who had gotten freed so worked up was the nice man she had the pleasure of meeting
Too bad it was at a time like this...
The blonde nun expression went from shocked to understanding sadness as she deduced what was happening "no... It can't be..." she trailed off as she stared at the wounded Issei
"Asia I..." Issei's response was caught in his throat as the notion of explaining was lost on him, how else do you explain that you've been lying to a sweet girl?
Freed glanced back a forth between the two before he picked up a understanding expression but it was also followed with a mocking smile
"If I didn't know any better I'd say the two of you have history... so what is it?" Freed's expression leaked with curiosity as he turned and directed an 'I want an answer' expression towards Asia but it seemed all he had to do was watch and listen as instead of answering him she continued the "confused damsel" shtick
"Issei why are you here?" asked Asia
"I'm here... because I'm a devil Asia" was Issei's response as Asia shook her head at the man's words, Freed on the other had looked like he was gonna puke, the cliché scene playing in front of him was in his words a massive turn off and so he did what he did best... shattered the mood
"Enough with this! The whole "oh why are you here" routine is getting old! Yes this devil is here, yes its surprising on how you know the little shit, and yes it's a shame his dumbass is about to be butchered but does it look like I care?... F_ck no!" Freed's rant sprung the two out of their mood and now Issei found himself at a blades edge which caused Asia to look on in shock
Issei was preparing to roll to the side but he froze when Asia stepped in front of him shielding him from Freed's wrath "Please stop this father freed, can't we just forgive his sins and let him go?" her pleads only seemed to cause Freed's expression to slouch
"Aw for f_ck sake" he drawled out as he was beginning to considered a possible 'double kill' but dropped it as it would anger his superior's greatly
"Don't you remember your pledge to defeat our enemies, cause I think you may be doing the exact opposite" he said with a calm voice but it held a mocking tone
"It doesn't matter to me! I don't care what he is because there's goodness in him I know it" Asia's voice was high as she tried to explain her reasons "how do you think the father would feel if you just killed him" the mention of 'father' most likely refereeing to god seemed to anger the insane priest a good bit as the previous ounce of tolerance to the girl's insubordination depleted completely
"I have had enough of this bullshit!" after yelling his emotions to the world freed sent a downward strike to Asia who looked shocked at his actions, However, before the strike could actually connect the white blade stopped in mid air
"What the..?" question freed as he stared at the space his blade had stopped
"You know..." began a voice as a figure started to appear between the nun and Freed "Striking a women is rude" as the last bit of the comment finished the three occupants of the room were shocked to see a silver haired man appear to be blocking Freed's light blade with his forearm
Issei's expression was conflicted, the familiarity the voice carried two emotions to rise within him, the first was relief, he had no idea what would have happened if he hadn't appeared but thank hell he did anyway the second emotion however was different because as the first emotion settled so did the feeling of his self esteem drop significantly, the first time he was saved by him he was both ignorant and to relieved to understand the impact the silver haired priest had truly made on his and his masters pride
Turns out it sucks to be saved by a natural enemy... who knew
The blonde haired nun held only a single expression, joy, it was for multiple reasons, the first was being able to see the next day, and the second reason was because the man that had appeared in the nick of time was actually a man she knew quiet well
"Isaac..." she said as if testing the name on her lips
The last one in the room was a different story as the other two were of either positive outlook or personnel pride; Freed on the other hand felt simple anger. The blondes continuous insubordination had already threw him over the edge and now he had been denied the opportunity of killing the little devil stain in the room by an unknown individual who was most likely on his menu of who to cut the f_ck up
However...
The voice he had heard brought on a much different emotion, he hadn't felt this emotion since the time he was branded a heretic by one of the Vatican's most deadly exorcist who had pissed off royally
Fear gripped Freed's being as the voice as well as the face registered on the insane priest and by that time he hadn't been able to prepare the knuckle sandwich that slammed into his face which had sent him flying across the room
CRASH!
The sound of glass shattering and picture frames breaking filled the silent room as the silver haired teen dropped his fist to his side and glared at where Freed had landed
Seeing as though the rogue priest had yet to stand up Isaac turned towards the two remaining room occupants
-Isaac's POV-
As I turned to see who I had saved I nearly slouched at who I saw instead, when I was on my way towards the house I had predicted the presents of at least two priest's and a magic specialist but what I got was instead two of the Vatican's most wanted one of which had correctly predicted
The reason was simple, the day someone is transferred to a new location it's usually wise to test their worth by sending them on a mundane task, that being a routine exorcism, easy and good for evaluation so the fact Asia was here was a fairly good prediction on my part but the second person I expected to see was most diffidently not the Hyoudou boy, it seems to me he's already stumbled up shit creek a second time
Seems like the supernatural world doesn't like him very much
"Is that you Isaac?" asked Asia as I simply gave her a nod, the Hyoudou kid was surprised to see I had a history with the blonde but I wasn't in the mood to explain
Crossing my arms I gave the kid a look "let me guess... contract?" at my question the teen simply nodded to confirm my suspicion. Yeah, the kids got a shitty luck streak simple contract had led him into a shit storm that almost cost him his life... again
I was preparing to say something but the blonde nun before me lunged out and gripped me tight in a hug she didn't say anything as instead she buried head into my coat, a few audible words of joy could be heard but it was slightly muffled
The expression on my face loosened from its cold disposition as the thought of Asia's problem returned to me with the vengeance but it seemed the other priest who was off his rocker wanted to keep the atmosphere more hostile as the angry grunts and growls became apparent
"Looks like he's not down... hyoudou take care of Asia" I ordered as I turned to face the angry exorcist, Issei cringed in pain but nodded none the less and it seemed Asia had finally gotten the dust out of her ears and finally started to heal the boys leg but since the bullet didn't go through healing Issei was gonna take longer than expected
I had contemplated the idea of simply killing this priest that I had the displeasure of knowing but the thought of using him for info came to my mind so I left my sheathed sword in my belt loop, so for right now I was gonna give this boy a hurting so bad his moms gonna wish she kept her legs closed
"Ahh! Out of all the piece of shit I had to run into and it had to be you" growled Freed as he massaged his jaw bone
"Speaking of pieces of sh_t I happen to have found the biggest one yet" I retorted causing Freed's expression to morph to one of rage. Insults weren't my strongest suit as I usually let my actions do the talking but when it came to handling the biggest stain I had ever run into in my time with the Vatican, temper was the biggest way to throw loose cannons like him over the edge
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up and let me kill you!" he yelled unintelligently, his anger was starting to look worse than some more infamous villains who had delved into insanity, even the Joker would stand back a go "ok, chill out"
Freed lunged at me with great determination but his blatant disregard for personnel safety let me stop his mindless thrust with my left hand, as my action finally registered on his mind Freed quickly pointed his hand cannon to my face but quick instinct led me to grab at the guns slider which in the end kept his gun from firing
With both of his hands at bay I chose to knee him directly into his solar plexus officially knocking all the air from his lungs. As the struggling priest fought for air I began to disarm his more dangerous weapon which was the hand cannon he was holding in his left hand
Keeping my grip on the guns barrel I directed the gun to point in an awkward angle which caused the Priest's pointer finger to dislocate this caused the man to scream at the sudden pain of his finger hyper extending the wrong way, once I knew his trigger finger wasn't capable of pulling any triggers any time soon I slide the gun from his grip and spun it into my a comfortable grip in my right hand
Once the weapon was secure in my grasp I directed a shot to his right hand
BANG!
The bullet tore through his hand like paper rendering him of most of his fingers and leaving him with only his thumb and pinky finger, his palm was gone so it looked rather disturbing
"Holy shit" I heard Issei mutter but I instead kept my attention on the enraged priest who was completely harmless to me at this point but just to reassure he wasn't going anywhere I put a bullet into his leg
BANG!
"AHH F_ck!" he yelled as he fell to the cold hard floor
Before I could continue on my chosen path the room was bathed in the light of a red magic circle which had caused me to stop in my tracks in favor of seeing who the intruders were but then again it was also a personnel curiosity as I knew perfectly well what was coming
'Looks like I failed on keeping my business here low key... oh well' I internalized dismissively
The first person to step out of the circle was a blonde boy who wore a white dress shirt and dark colored dress pants; a modern day sword sheath was located on his waist which held a one handed sword of undistinguishable color
"Kiba" called out issei which had inadvertently given me his name
"Hey Issei, thought you could use the backup" replied the blonde teen
"Oh gross, talk about a nasty mess" came a female voice, the women who had said that had black hair held in a pony tail, she also wore a school uniform of some kind but it had fallen over my head as I had no time to study pointless things
"An exorcist" said an emotionless white haired girl no taller than a first year high school student, she to wore a school uniform
Issei look onto his friends with sheepish joy "You guys came" he said
I had wanted to keep the situation from rising to a hostile level but the Priest I had neutralized seemed to still have a sense of sarcasm in his being
"Heheh looks like you and I both are screwed buddy" he said as he smiled to me evilly, my reply was a foot to his leg wound to which caused him to cringe away his sarcasm
"Don't call me that" I retorted with heavy amounts of venom
After silencing the mad man I turned to the three devils and waited for them to say anything.
My wait was short lived as a fourth person emerged from within the magic circle, this person held a high degree of dignity in her stature as red hair as crimson as it gets came into view. The shade rang a few bells but it didn't really faze me as much as the angry expression on her face
'Looks like I finally get to meet the master of the hyoudou boy' I said internally
And by the looks of it, the master of the aforementioned devil was a red headed chick. I was just glad it was a chick as they were more known to care for their servants as the male devils seem to be on a high ego trip, they usually care less about their servants
"President" called out the injured devil
The red head turned towards Issei and kneeled to him a soft and regretful expression on her face
"Don't worry I'm here" she reassured Issei who in return dropped his head
"Thanks a lot, I'm sorry I let you down again" his apology was left on deaf ears as instead of accepting his apology the red head gripped the side of his head and gazed softly into his eyes
"Look how hurt you are Issei. I'm the one who should be apologizing; I had sent you into this without knowing only until recently" she said with regret
Behind me I heard Freed growl dangerously before he started to yell profanities towards the blonde nun
"You fucking Bitch!—
STOMP!
I knew the man would express his displeasure towards Asia as she was the one who was erecting the barrier while Freed did the wet work and because of her failure to keep it up I was able to pin point the location as well as infiltrate it easily and this all led to Freed's current state of a broken left finger and a completely disfigured right hand, all I knew was his sword swinging days were over and his gun was practically mine at this points
All of this led to his final act of defiance as the simple act of yelling his displeasure was all he could do at this point but since I'm was a man who didn't tolerate such language at this time of day I gave him an extremely excruciating stomp to his wounded leg and by the slight whimpers he gave off I may have crush a vein or I pushed the bullet closer to his femur bone
The red head as well as the devils directed their attention towards the source of the yelling and with great shock noticed the man's right hand and left finger as well as the large amount of blood pooling under his left leg
After they took in the injured mans state they looked to me and quickly picked up a confused expression which probably seemed natural as the sight of two exorcists, one injured and another furthering his injury seemed to confuse them but it all faded when they put two and two together
"Silver hair, affiliation to the church... you must be my servants savior" her thankful tone was laced with sarcasm so I had every right to look suspicious of her next actions
"How vary observant of you" I relied with a calm tone
The red head stood up to her full height and looked to me with an ounce of smugness "As much as I am great full of you actions the other day, I find you attitude towards my ways of overseeing my servants to be quite arrogant" she said with a closing portion of hostility
"and I can see now my previous words were a tad bit hasty" I replied causing her to stop for a second
"what do you mean by that?" she question with genuine surprise
"the minute I meant the Hyoudou boy I was under the assumption his master was far less then considerate of his safety but now I see I was wrong" I said with a smile "You do care for him"
"if you trying to get into her pants, you'll have to try harder than that Isaac" freed said with heavy amounts of vulgarity, I responded with a different method then a stomp
BANG!
"AAHHH!" he yelled as the bullet I put into his shoulder was anything less than painful
"keep the vulgarity to yourself heretic or the next thing I shoot will be your tongue" I growled as he gripped his wounded shoulder, glancing to the devils I gave them an apologetic look
"I deeply apologize for my former associate's words, I'll have you know after I'm done with him his disposal will be guaranteed" I said to the devils
"The priest aside, I want to know what you're objectives are?" asked the red head
"My mission is simple" I started as I then kneeled to Freed and pointed to him "this little guy here is connect to a curtain fallen angel group I've been ordered to silence and after the crows are clipped I'm out... is that acceptable?" I informed but I instead finished with a question of permission
If the answer to my question was 'no, leave this city' then I would start to bargain a peace treaty between the two of use as my mission was to eliminate the fallen no matter the cost and working with devils wouldn't be the first time I've teamed up with the less then human side of the world
And to be honest I had no problem with working a long side them but I still wanted to remain disconnected from them, the mission came first and I was gonna get it down
"I believe actions against the other side was prohibited, what makes you curtain this isn't a simple group of fallen angels gallivanting in my territory?" asked the red head
I stared at her for a moment before I simple smiled to her "I have already told you enough, any more conversation and I'd be disobeying my superior's in the church by giving you classified information" I informed to which the red head nodded
"And your just a good little soldier aren't you?" came an angry voice, further investigation on who had spoken led my sight to fall on the blonde sword wielder who's angry expression didn't go unnoticed
"was that comment necessary?" I asked calmly as I looked to him impassively
"I believe it was" he replied with growing anger
"that's enough!" ordered the red head "Yuuto, cease this pointless banter immediately" at the red heads words the boy named Yuuto Kiba glared at me angrily before he stepped off his high horse and calmed down
"I apologize for my knights words, he's—
"Don't worry about it" I quickly cut her off with a dismissive wave, I didn't know what was up the blondes ass but I wasn't really in the situation to be prodding a life I didn't really have time for
The Red headed devil nodded slowly at my rather rude interruption but she otherwise left it to dry and instead opted to regroup with her peerage
"I'll leave you to your work as thanks in assisting my servant the other day, but after your business is done you are to leave this city immediately" the red heads words rang in my ears as I smiled to her
"you have my word" was my reassuring reply and in all honesty I wasn't exactly planning on staying here long either, this rogue Priest here was a nice source of Intel I had and weather the stain liked it or not he was gonna answer every question truthfully and that would tell me all I needed to know about my little fallen friends in the abandon church
"Isaac? Was it?" called out Issei as he stood up and looked to me with a look of gratitude, I released a sigh of frustration when I heard my name being uttered again and I also relented the will to snap the boy's wind pipe in favor of keeping a cool air with the native devils
With great effort I confirmed the boy's suspicion with a forced 'yes'
"then I want to thank you Isaac" he said with a low bow, for a second I examined the sight of a devil bowing before me, I mean seeing something like that wasn't exactly imaginable for a guy like me, I hadn't really faced off against the devils as much as I tussled with the fallen angels but the few times I did their pride was the biggest aspect in their will to win, god forbid they bow to a servant of god
Guess Issei was ignorant to the meaning of his actions as the cringe that appeared on his master's face was quite evident
"Honestly kid..." I started as he lifted his head to look to me "thanking me isn't what you should be doing" I said as he adopted a confused expression
"What do you mean?" he asked
I looked off into space for a second before I tapped my chin with my pointer finger "first time maybe, but this time is different, meaning I hadn't a clue who I was saving, all I knew was a friend of mine was here and I moved in to assist her, you just happened to be here by sheer coincidence" I revealed.
Issei looked like he didn't know whether to take that as a humble turn down to his gratitude or a cold shrug to it and as such he simply looked to me with a continued expression of confusion
The red head however was able to deduce the comment "so you're saying you had no intentions on saving him?" she asked as the devils narrowed their eyes at me
"Nope" I replied simply making Issei look to me with slight ounces of fear and the others to narrow their eyes feather, well, the blonde's eyes narrowed, the black haired chick just smiled and the white haired girl simply stared at me emotionlessly
"Then why not just end him while you had the chance? Why let a devil of all people live?" she pressed
At her words I closed my eyes and crossed my arms "devils ARE my enemy, but I acknowledge them as such when they make themselves out to be my enemy" I said calmly
Turing my sight from the slightly shocked red head I looked to Issei "Do you wish to attack me?" I asked him suddenly making him reel back a second
"W-what!?" he gasped with a stutter to which I simply kept my previous expecting gaze
"I-I don't think I would" he replied
At his answer I smirked slightly "Good, then I'm not your enemy" I exclaimed as I shifted my sight to the other devils "same goes for you... You... You and you" I said while pointing to them individually
"That's... odd for a follower of the church don't you think?" asked the black haired devil as she smiled to me
"It's not the first time I've heard that" I replied while lightly kicking the unconscious Freed in order to make sure he doesn't stroll into the fire
"Anyways it was nice to meet you all but I've got a dying rogue to question" I said while concluding the little interrogation the devils had put me through
"Likewise... I hope you get what you've came for" said the red head as she stepped to the back of the room and a red magic circle appeared under her, the other devils followed after her while Issei looked to Asia with worry
"Don't worry about her kid, I'll take care of her" I reassured him, Issei picked up an acknowledging expression before nodding to me in thanks
A few second later and the red light faded allowing me to see that the devils have left the building
*sigh*
I released a sigh of relief at my rather close encounter with the devil fraction in charge of this city but it was mostly due to its cleanly executed negotiations with the cities resident high class devil, I had expected a show down with them as most if not all devil masters who are in charge of peerages usually take intruders into their territory as acts of war and assume to attack on sight
Thank god she was actually reasonable
"Isaac?" asked a voice I knew to be Asia's
"Hmm?" I hummed in question
"What are you going to do to him?" she asked as she pointed to the groaning Freed Sellzen
When it came to answering questions to someone who most definitely hates killing I had found myself at a hairs breathe of a disadvantage
So I downright ignored it
"Do you think you can heal him...? But only a little bit though" I asked as she nodded and pressed he green rings out to Freed's form
At her actions a green glow appeared all around the man's form and when it appeared a select few of the wounds on his form closed up, the only wounds that remained were the three bullet wounds, the hand was completely destroyed and his shoulder was most likely dislocated and his thigh looked worse for wear
"That's god enough Asia" I said but she hesitated in her actions
"But he's still injured I can't stop now" she replied with a look of distress
'She actually wants to save him' I thought with surprise but I actually expected this. In response to her words I placed my hands on hers in order to ease her powers down to the point where she reluctantly stopped healing him all together
"I know you wish to save lives but he doesn't deserve your kindness" I said to her gently
"In the mean time can you wait outside in the hall way? Our discussion won't be civil" my request was gentle and warm as the nun quietly nodded and stood up to leave
"Thank you" I said expressing my gratification for her cooperation, once Asia had left I held out my finger and drew a circle in the air, once it was complete I then continued to draw various symbols within the circles diameter, after I had completed the aerial drawing the symbol I had drawn glowed a bright white
"Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!" commanded as the glowing seal I had drawn flashed before it appeared on the rooms door, now all sound from the inside will not make it to the outside
"Now then..." I started as I turned towards the now waking Freed Sellzen "I hear you've got information about a group of fallen angels, can you consider sharing?" I asked as Freed quickly shot me an angry glare to my rather friendly request
"Go to hell!" well the defiance starts with the same premise and freed was going with the most generic one there was, oh well, I guess the subtle approach wasn't going to work
Kinda figured
Freed's expression changed from angry—defiant to terrified as I shifted to my 'business' mode which would most likely consist of a colder then arctic eyes that held zero emotion, no smile what so ever, and hidden promise of pain that sparked behind my now ice cold blue eyes
The rebellious ones were always the most troublesome...
-With Issei-
It had been a good hour since the devils had returned from the house Issei had found trouble in and the devils could help but question the man they now knew as Isaac. All of the devils including Rias were dumbstruck at the morals the exorcist followed
'What kind of holy man considers a devil a neutral threat?" that question was the only thing Rias could think about as she finished the shower she had started, she had never heard of such an incident where the church didn't attack devils the minute they made eye contact, yet this man spoke to them calmly and coolly as a fellow man would his neighborbut anyone could feel the thin layer of readiness behind the man's facade as if even the most subtle attack would set his nonlethal motives to downright prejudice
For a moment Rias studied the name that the rogue priest had muttered, his first name was Isaac, most people from western countries spoke on first name bases like it was normal so that much was curtain, but her answer would mostly lye with his last name but she didn't know what that was
'seems I have to do some digging if I want the answer' the motion of searching her memory would most likely consume a few weeks of her life as his last name wasn't ever mention at the young devil meetings she had attended a couple months ago, maybe a few times but it wasn't a completely focus subject as the topics of other races weren't at the forefront of the next generations mind
Rias sighed for the hundredth time that shower, ever since she had resurrected the boy, problems had become to arise and some of them threatened her door step thankfully she had Isaacs word he had no intention of acting towards her at all but he still gave her the chills and that said something about him
She had stood before powerful beings before, her brother being a prime example, the man that was Lucifer radiated power like an ocean and it had often times sent large chills down her spine on multiple occasions so for Isaac to make her feel the tingly sensation that order her primal instincts to flee wasn't lost on her, however, after spending so much time with her clingy brother had somewhat given her an immunity to its effect but Isaac still caused her to feel terrified
Rias classified her fear as the holy divinity he carried was a buffer to her overwhelming power tolerance
Turing off the shower Rias exited with a towel wrapped around her entire body, she didn't miss the look of disappointment on her new pawns face but right at this time she hadn't the patience to tease the boy
After getting on a set of clean clothes and over hearing her queen explain a few things about exorcists and stray exorcist the red head plopped down on her desk
"President?" questioned her new pawn to which caused the red headed devil to be ripped from her inner musing
"Yes?" she asked while looking to Issei, she was mildly surprised to see him have an angered expression but she hadn't an idea as to why he was angry
"Is it true that Asia is connected to those fallen douches?' he asked with a sudden jolt of profanity
"Yes, as much as it may bother you issei she's one of them so for your safety stay away from her" advised Rias, Issei grunted before he trudged out of the room with a look of conceal anger
Rias hadn't anticipated a reaction like that and it showed on her features, Akeno, her second in command sighed before she stood up and walked to the desk Rias had seated herself
"It appears he didn't take my advice well" she said while looking to the door Issei had left through
"And that would probably be about the fallen angels, am I right?" asked Rias causing Akeno to nodded slowly, a look of confusion on her face
"Yes, but I'm surprised you didn't here" she said with surprise, at her words Rias leaned on one of her arms before sighing
"I feel the fallen angels aren't the bigger problem here, so dealing with them isn't at the fore front of my mind, what has truly peeked my interest is that friendly exorcist we had the pleasure of meeting" Rias heard an audible snort from her knight but left that topic alone and instead focused on her conversation with her queen
"His goals are obviously classified to us so I can only assume it's highly important to the church but I still don't know why he's after this group of fallen angels, so far they've only attack my new pawn on several occasions, If its anyone's problem its mine but to send a redacted church exorcist to deal with them seems kind of overkill" Akeno nodded with full agreement to her masters words, she herself had guessed the man was high in the chain of command and, like Rias, she had her suspicions
"What do you want us to do?" asked Kiba who looked a little too eager to engage the unknown priest
"What I'd like you to do Kiba is calm yourself, reckless behaviour is unbecoming of a knight from the house of Gremory" commanded Rias as she finally had the time to calm her knight
Kiba's eyes shifted to surprise for a second before they returned to normal "Yes president" he answered with a submissive expression
"Now, as for any action taken against the man we know as Isaac is strictly prohibited, he himself had made it abundantly clear that any violent action towards him would be answered with equal intentions" Rias didn't like doing this as she herself had her pride and going along with the word of a priest felt almost painful to her but she had combated that emotion with reasonable thought
He had reasonable motives that coordinated with the ideals of both sides, on many occasions her brother had advised her that if at all possible she should avoid all action against those from the church unless they themselves act against her, and with all that stored in her mind Rias opened her musing eyes to look commandingly to her peerage
"Am I understood?" she finished with a serious edge in her voice
"Hai!" the resounding response of agreement was said by all her members as both Rias's rook and knight vacated the room respectfully leaving bother her and her queen alone
"Seems as though things are getting interesting" groaned Rias as she rubbed her head tiredly
"Well in that case would you like some tea Rias?" asked her queen with a smile
"That would be nice, thank you Akeno" at her words the black haired queen bowed politely before leaving to make up the hot nightly beverage which had left Rias to do what she had wanted to do
Opening a drawer in her desk the Crimson princess of ruin retrieved a cell phone; flipping the royal styled phone on Rias dialed a number before pressing the phone to her ear
"Sona Sitri speaking" answered a female
"Hello Sona, sorry for calling so late but I'd like to request a favor from you" from the other side of the line Rias could practically feel the brow raise on her old friends face at her odd request
"And what would this request be?" she asked, the voice distortion phones produced didn't hide the level of seriousness Rias' friend always had
"Something's stricken my attention and I'd like to find out all I can about it" Sona sighed from the other side of the line, she knew that if Rias found something that interested her to the point of getting her involved usually had to do with their shared territory
"I'm gonna need more information than just your inflated interest Rias" Sona's snarky/serious reply would usually cause some kind of reaction from the red head but instead all she got was nothing
"I'll need the name of a Vatican Priest, his first name is Isaac but his last name is unknown which is where you come in, I would highly appreciate it if you helped me out"
"What about you?"
"I've got a new pawn with power issues and a group of fallen angels to watch out for, my hands are tied which is why I'm asking for your assistance"
"You wouldn't be up for a more physical assistance would you?"
"No, from what I've gathered these fallen ones aren't as strong so your assistance is appreciated but I'll pass on your offer"
"Mmm, so the fallen are making moves?"
"Yes, but they seem more interested in my new pawn then the territory"
"That new boy you resurrected, is turning out to be what you expected?"
A moment went by as the words Sona had spoken reached Rias' ears, the boy that she resurrected did show promise but with his progressive levels so low she had classified him as a work in progress, his adaptation to his new life was lack luster and if it wasn't for the silver haired priests morals, issei would have been killed days ago, however, his spirit for devil hood was obviously high as his perverted tendencies would have made him notorious even in the underworld not to mention his drive that shown behind his eyes didn't go unmissed by her, so with all the more apparent pros and cons ducking it out in her head the answer she was looking for was complicated
More or less
"I can't answer that question just yet Sona"
"I see... Anyways, I'll keep in touch with what I find, stay safe Rias"
"You too Sona" with the conversation closed Rias pressed the 'end call' button and placed her Gremory house cell phone down on her desk
'Now only time will tell me who I'm dealing with' with her mind set Rias filed away her thoughts on the mysterious priest before she addressed her queen who had been waiting by the door
-XxXxXxX-
A/N: holly crap did this take far longer than I had wished it to be, my apologies, family vacations and the demanding job I'm working has drained me a good sum but alas, the drive I have for this story is high as all I've been finding in the DxD fanfiction section is all resurrection stories (it's getting over used) and for all the skeptics out there, no, my character will not be resurrected into devil hood as like I said before it getting way to over used
So expect a good change of pace in this story
Anyways, I hope this chapter was enjoyable as it was fun to write (Minus the days I was passed out on my bed)
Peace ;)