Disclaimer: I do not own High School DxD, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Harry Potter, Naruto, and Rifts

Major AU: Do not expect this story to strictly follow canon for High School DxD.

Key: "Talking" 'Thought' [Sacred Gear] (Pailamancy or Telepathy) *Technique* {Magical Item}

Excalibur Rising Part 1

Xander Harris was on his morning run before breakfast. While a normal human would be extremely lucky to cover ten kilometers in thirty minutes, he had covered four times that distance in the same time. It was nothing on how fast Kiba or Akeno could move at full speed. Still it was impressive. On his return to the Hyoudou home Xander found his path blocked by two white robed figures with their hoods drawn. As a Devil he'd become used to feeling Holy energies and the pair of them were radiating a dangerous amount. Stopping short he considered his options and formulated attack strategies.

"I never expected you of all people would be a Devil, Xander-dono." The decidedly female voice from the figure on the left was familiar to Xander. She sounded disappointed in him, perhaps even hurt. "You always told your Slayers to stake you if you got turned. Does that apply to being reincarnated?"

'That voice sounds familiar.' Xander activated the Eye of Omen so he could look through the hoods. The silent one had blue hair with a single green streak and while quite pretty was in no way familiar. The one on the left was a different story. He knew that face well. She was his first Slayer, the one that came to Africa with him. She had died in his arms after taking a blow meant for him. Well, it hadn't been meant for him. The demon had been aiming for the eight year old that he had been shielding with his body. Suppressing the urge to just kill the possible imposter, Xander tried to determine how they were in this guise, but his infamous ability to pierce deceptions found nothing.

"Irina? Irina Shidou?" Xander asked a little hope filling his voice. When the young woman swept her hood back, Xander couldn't help himself. He surged forward and hugged the girl swinging her around the way that always made her giggle. "How are you here? It's not a Halloween Spell, because aside of a fanfic you wouldn't have been part of the Buffy franchise."

"Eeep!" Irina was surprised by Xander's actions. Since he was now a Devil she expected someone who wasn't affectionate. In fact she had been prepared for perhaps her toughest battle as an Exorcist. She actually didn't know who would win, even with Xenovia's help and the two Excalibur fragments. Her Watcher had always been dangerous as a normal human, she could only imagine what he was like as the Red Dragon Emperor. There had a brief moment she saw him tense in anger, but then he just looked so happy to see her. The hug and twirl reminded her of all the times Xander would literally just play with his Slayers treating them like they were all his favorite nieces. "Reincarnation and no not that blasphemy the Devils do. I didn't even remember my past life until a few months ago."

"So I take it we are not going to fight." The blue haired one pushed her hood back as she addressed Irina. "That's good. If he was half as formidable as you kept claiming, the property damage would be immense."

"Been telling tall tales again, Irina-chan?" Xander chuckled as he set the girl down. "How tall did she claim the Minotaur was this time?"

"I exaggerated a few times and you never let it go." Irina puffed out her cheeks in annoyance. "Xander-dono, this is Xenovia an Exorcist for the Catholic church and my partner in my mission here in Kouh."

"It's a pleasure to meet any of Irina's friends." Xander offered a wide smile to Xenovia and when she presented her hand he leaned down to kiss the knuckles causing the girl to blush.

"And it is an honor to meet you, Xander-dono." Xenovia was almost formal in her address of Xander. "Irina shared many stories of your adventures in Africa. As for the story of the Minotaur, I believe she said he was only seven feet tall."

"See, I didn't exaggerate this time." Irina said proudly.

"So what brings a pair of Exorcists to Kouh? For your sake, I hope you aren't looking to eliminate any of the Gremory Peerage or the Sitri one for that matter." With the initial pleasantries out of the way, Xander ready to get down to business. "They are really strict about maintaining the Ceasefire. The one time you could say we violated it at all was when some Fallen were killing one of my Girls."

"That is a complicated issue, Xander-dono." Irina sighed. "We really need to speak to both Gremory and Sitri. I'd like for you to introduce us."

(I am not angry with you in the slightest, Xander-koi.) Rias sent a reassuring message to the love of her life as she could sense his unease with her stern countenance. She was having her meeting with the Exorcists in the ORC Clubroom and been very firm in how the seating arrangements were. She was seated on one couch with Xander seated directly beside her as a sign that they were betrothed. Akeno was playing hostess serving refreshments as her right hand woman should. Koneko, Asia, and Raynare were standing behind the couch denoting their station under her protection and command. Kiba would have been there, but he was on a summons. The entire arrangement was designed to showcase Rias's power as well as how much she cared for her subordinates. "So, my Pawn and fiancé has informed me you wished to speak with me concerning Church business in Kouh?"

"Your fiancé?" Irina uttered out of shock. 'I do hope this is something you chose, Xander. If not… I'll exorcise her.' Taking a sip of her tea, she composed herself. "As I am sure you know, the Church had control of six of the seven fragments of Excalibur. I say had because two weeks ago someone began stealing some of them. First was {Excalibur Nightmare} from the shrine in Poland. Then {Excalibur Transparency} disappeared from the Church of England's hands. Finally the {Excalibur Rapidly} disappeared when Saint Bartholomew Maximoff was murdered in America."

"The Church was stymied over who the culprits could be." Xenovia continued as Irina had broken up a bit at the mention of the murder. "Every lead the Inquisitors found came to a dead end. Fortunately there has been a break in the case. Kokabiel openly claimed to have stolen the first two fragments. He then claimed he had his human servant Freed Sellzen murder Saint Maximoff. The Inquisitors have tracked them to Kouh."

"I see, and the Church sent the two of you to face a Cadre class Fallen Angel and one of the most dangerous Stray Exorcists in the world?" Rias frowned at the implication. "They must be very confident in your abilities."

"That's because we have Holy Swords of our own." Irina chipped in. "And our faith is unshakeable."

(It's a suicide mission and they are playing on their faith. Irina was always very devout. The girl could make Holy Water even as a Slayer.) Xander sent to Rias as he analyzed what he was hearing and reconciling it with what he knew.

(That doesn't surprise me.) Rias responded. "And what would the Church like for the Houses of Gremory and Sitri to do?"

"Well, honestly, the Cardinals are concerned that the Devils might be helping the Fallen Angels in this." Xenovia replayed the concerns of her superiors. She didn't believe that as she knew Fallen Angels were far more likely to steal the weapons to wipe out Devils. "This concern was compounded by the fact that one of Kokabiel's followers seems to be working with you."

"I was never one of that battle maniac's followers. I was working undercover for Shemhazai-sama to dig up dirt on Kokabiel-baka." Raynare blurted out. While Azazel was the Governor General of the Grigori, he often delegated a lot of duties Shemhazai was his recognized second in command and also handled all intelligence operations. "Technically, I work for Xander-otouto, not Rias-buchou."

"Otouto?" Irina muttered in disbelief.

"I can understand the concerns of the Cardinals." Rias sighed heavily. "It probably does not help that I have taken Asia-chan and Kiba-kun into my family. I am showing a propensity for recruiting former members of the Church."

"Indeed." Xenovia nodded. "There were concerns that you had somehow charmed both Kokabiel and Freed Sellzen."

"Unlikely, Freed tried to hurt my Xander-koi." Rias stated evenly barely restraining her anger.

"He shot in my general direction. The nearest bullet missed me by at least four feet." Xander rolled his eyes. "He was more a danger to Kiba-kun than he was me."

"Well Kalawarner managed to injure you. I never did to punish her for that." Rias huffed before she calmed down. "Suffice it to say, Kokabiel's minions have not endeared him to me in any way. First they were sent to kill a human in my territory. If Raynare had not given him a quick death he likely would have been raped, tortured, killed, and his flesh eaten. If he was really lucky it would be in that order." The redheaded devil shuddered. "A week later Kalawarner tried to murder me and my Xander. Then she made the grave error of killing Asia-chan."

"It's alright, Buchou, you brought me back after Xander-kun and Koneko-chan rescued my body." Asia said softly as she laid her hand on the older girl's shoulder.

"I see. So Asia Argento was a Witch and never was a Saint." Xenovia muttered under her breath before turning her attention to the former nun. "Did you take joy from fooling the Church for so long? I should strike you down for your deception. You are truly a despicable creature."

"Xenovia don't, she's…" Irina went to warn her friend but it was too late.

Xander moved with speed that normally only Knights possessed. Xenovia had no chance of stopping the assault given she was paying more attention to Asia. One moment she was expressing her disdain for someone who she felt deceived the Church for her own gain. The next she was pinned to the wall with an impossibly powerful grip on her throat cutting off her air supply enough that it made speech possible, but she was still getting enough air to remain conscious. The former Zeppo had removed his eye patch and dropped illusion for maximum intimidation factor. Seeing the star ruby glow with righteous fury as the natural eye promised nothing but pain and death had the effect of shutting up anyone with a brain.

"Listen here. The only reason I am willing to explain this at all, is that you are a friend of Irina's. Normally when someone threatens one of my girls, I break their bones and if they continue I kill them." Xander growled. "Asia Argento was every bit the Saint the Church made her out to be. She used the Sacred Gear she was given to heal anyone she could, just as your God intended. She did this without expectation of even simple thanks. She used her powers and skill, but your God got all the glory. Then one day she does something that Jesus himself would do, healed a sinner. Your Church excommunicated her and though she hasn't admitted I will bet they planned on executing her despite she did what the Bible told her to do." Xander wasn't yelling, his voice had that calm anger that spoke of the fact he would lose no sleep if he killed Xenovia at that moment. "In her desperate state the Fallen Angels preyed on her desire to still serve your God. They promised her that she could be useful to God. If she hadn't run into me and Raynare-chan hadn't recognized who I was from the description, Asia-chan would be dead and her power in the hands of a serial rapist Fallen would go on a spree of breaking men all across the world. Asia is one of my girls and that means I WILL defend her from ANY threat."

Xenovia stared wide eyed at Xander. She had never voiced it aloud, but she had not believed half of Irina's tales. They had been all too fantastical. At this very moment she was sure that Irina had actually been underselling things. 'Am I going to die?'

"Xander-koi, release her at once!" Rias barked out a command knowing Xander would comply. She could feel his boiling anger at the Exorcist, but also that it was firmly under control. "This is a parlay and I will not have you ruining the Ceasefire for things this Exorcist hasn't even attempted yet."

"Hai, Buchou-chan." Xander muttered as he released Xenovia and returned to his seat as the blue haired girl collapsed and caught her breath. "I am sorry, Xenovia-san. I overreacted."

"I was in the wrong as well." Xenovia replied. "I should not have been making threats on Argento-san's life."

"Argento-san, is what Xander-kun said true?" Irina knew that lying to Xander was virtually impossible. Lies of omission were about the only thing that had a chance of succeeding, and even they failed more often than not. "Were you a True Believer?"

"I still am, Irina-san. Despite being a Devil I still love God and try to keep to his teachings. I even still try to pray, despite the pain." Asia replied as she finally recovered from seeing Xander so violently defend her honor. While she was mostly a pacifist, she couldn't help feel special that he would be willing to go to such lengths for her. "Xander-kun is also correct that I was going to be burnt alive. I was rescued by Raynare-chan and three other Fallen. I didn't learn until later the other three just wanted [Twilight Healing]."

"I see. Then I was making my threats based on a wrongful conclusion." Xenovia said as everything was confirmed. "For that, I apologize, Argento-san. Though I feel I should offer to Exorcise you if you have the desire. Self sacrifice should earn your soul redemption. However, I will stay my hand unless you ask for it."

Xander growled again, but was stilled when Rias put a hand on his thigh.

(She is merely offering what she believes is mercy on Asia's soul. In a much friendlier than most Exorcists offer.) Rias projected to Xander. "I do wish you wouldn't offer to kill my servant in such a manner. It's a little rude and could be seen as a threat."

Xenovia paused for a moment on hearing that and glanced towards Xander who was staring at her angrily. "I see. Well then I will not broach the subject again. I am sure Argento-san understood her choices all along."

"Good, now that unpleasantness is behind us, we can relay the orders the Church gave us." Irina was desperate to change the topic. While she might have been willing to back Xenovia in any other situation, she had no desire to face Xander defending one of his girls. Irina had no doubt she wouldn't be killed as she was one of Xander's girls, but that didn't mean she wouldn't be taken down hard, especially as she wasn't a Slayer anymore. "The Church wants you to not interfere with our mission here. They consider this matter between the Church and Fallen Angels. Of course if you are attacked by the Fallen feel free to act, but they want any Excalibur Fragments you might retrieve returned to the Church."

"That is rather presumptuous of your Superiors… but if it maintains the ceasefire I will abide by their wishes." Rias replied graciously. "Now that our business is concluded, would you care from some brunch?"

"No, I am afraid we have already imposed on your hospitality enough, Gremory-dono." Xenovia said as she rose from her seat. "Come Irina, we have to find Father Olson."

Kiba Yuuto was enjoying a nice cool down walk back to the Old School Building. Where Susan-san was one of Xander's clients, her boyfriend Horii-san was one of Kiba's for over a year now. Kiba had been summoned because there was a last minute vacancy in a historical reenactment for the Medieval Europe Club. It had actually been a lot of fun for him, so he'd only asked for one of the finely made shields the group used. He planned on having Rias and Akeno enchant it for him so it would be more useful in actual combat. After all, there were numerous styles of combat that were weapon and shield combination. Unfortunately for the Gremory Knight, he was about to stumble onto a reminder of his dark past.

Father Olson, a middle aged Inquisitor, was crawling along the sidewalk on his belly leaving behind a trail of blood. His ample gut had been sliced open, but thankfully not fully through the spare tire he had. If he had been capable of rational thought, he would have tried to get up on his feet and run, but in his terror his common sense abandoned him. "No… have mercy. I am a servant of God, like you."

"See, that's where you are mistaken. I don't serve God, so much as I just like killing." Freed Sellzen stomped on the older man's back forcing out a scream of pain. "Oh, I just love the sounds of pain you pussy Inquisitors make. Gives me total chub. So you want to tell me who you're waiting for or should I start stabbing your organs in alphabetical order?"

"But… I don't know who's coming…" Olson cried out between whimpers of pain. The truth was he was very much aware who had been dispatched to meet with him, but that was through deductive reasoning. As scared as he was, he would not betray those girls. "They didn't tell me…"

"Well then what fucking good are you, padre?" Freed sneered before he kicked the man over on to his back. The blade in his hand flashed as it stabbed into Olson over and over again. The psychotic exorcist had made good on his threat of stabbing each of the Inquisitor's organs in alphabetical order in less than twenty second.

That's when Kiba had rounded the corner bypassing the boundary barrier that preventing anyone from noticing the violent murder happening. The Gremory didn't even need a full second to assess the situation. It helped that he recognized the Freed's maniacal laughter. Using [Sword Birth], Kiba manifested a {Holy Eraser} sword. Stepping into a True Iron Gate stance he cleared his throat so the Exorcist would finally take note of him.

"Oh-ho! What's this? Some actual fucking entertainment?" Freed's smile was utterly psychotic, much like the man himself. "Fancy meeting you here. Have you finally come out of the closet? I hear Psycho-kun has hooked up with Tits McGee. Does that make you the side uke?"

"I see your mouth has gotten even filthier than the last time we met." Kiba sighed as he shook his head in mock disappointment. "I can see I made a grave mistake in not crippling you last time."

"It seems I struck a nerve. I mean I was just spitballing, but could it be you actually are gay? Oh my, now I feel like such a heel." Freed's sarcastic remorse made must have been especially amusing to him. "How I about I make it up to you and shove my new Holy Sword up your ass?"

"I am beginning to think you are projecting." Kiba quipped back. "You keep trying to shove your penis substitute into me, after all."

"Oh, you've been taking lessons." Freed chuckled. "Well, if the witty banter part of the fight is over, let's get to part where we test your Devil Sword against {Excalibur Rapidly}." With that he surged forward attempting to slash Kiba from shoulder to opposite hip. As he expected the blonde devil blocked the blow easily, and then the tendrils of darkness wrapped around {Excalibur Rapidly} only to be shattered a moment later. "Well, well, well. It looks like you are having performance issues."

'I should have known that wouldn't work against an Excalibur.' Kiba frowned as the {Holy Eraser} failed, but he didn't let it stop him. Gathering his devil power he channeled it into the weights on his wrists and legs causing the weight to decrease to nothing. "Well, it is a shame that failed. It just means I need to actually put in an effort."

"Oh, the I'm not left handed trope." Freed rolled his eyes. "Why does anyone ever think that works?"

"Because I really was holding back." Kiba grinned before using his full speed now that he wasn't hampered by two hundred extra pounds of weight to fallback twenty feet in the blink of an eye. In the moment of confusion, Kiba used [Sword Birth] to recreate {Holy Erase} as {Flame Tongue} and switching to single hand wielding. At the same time he created {Frost Brand} for his left hand. 'I have to thank Xander for introducing me to Dungeons and Dragons for all the sword ideas.'

"Well, color me mildly impressed. No wonder old man Valper had such a hard-on for you." Freed grinned even wider as he lunged forward at full speed. Instead of trying to bisect Kiba, the Exorcist was attempting to impale him

Kiba had barely knocked {Excalibur Rapidly} off course for his heart. The blade instead grazed across his left shoulder. Of course he hadn't let Freed go unscathed. {Flame Tongue} managed to cut across Freed's left shoulder in return, igniting the maniac's coat. 'So fast.' Was the only thought Kiba had as the Light Poisoning from his wound drove him to his knees as he coughed up blood.

"You fucking cocksucker! That was my favorite coat!" Freed screamed out in rage as he had to pull off the burning garment. "I am going to slice off your tiny cock and shove it up your ass. Then I am going to make you eat your balls. How do you like the sound of that, Devil Scum?"

"He might be a Devil, but you're the only scum around here." Xenovia announced as she stepped forward with {Excalibur Destruction} unwrapped. The bluenette had shed her outer cloak revealing the rather form fitting garb of the Battle Exorcist. "Freed Sellzen you are accused of the murder of Saint Bartholomew Maximoff. We are here to arrest you and return {Excalibur Rapidly} to Church service."

"Surrender now or we will be forced to render divine retribution in the name of the Almighty God." Irina stepped out of the shadows holding a {Excalibur Mimic} in the form of a katana. Like her partner she had shed her cloak for freer movement. "Amen."

"Well, just look who's shown their tits. Damn, you have to be two of the finest Exorcist I have ever seen." Freed leered at the two young women before giving a wolf whistle. "Tell you what, I'll surrender if you let me kill this little Devil and wreck your pussies."

"What? How dare you?" Irina screeched out her surprise as the lewd offer of the Stray Exorcist. "Have you really fallen that far?"

"I'll take that as you are choosing to be executed on the spot." Xenovia was thoroughly disgusted with the antics of the white haired traitor. "So be it."

"Well, damn. It was worth a try." Freed shrugged before he drew out a flash pellet and threw it to the ground. The blinding light was enough to cover his rapid retreat leaving behind the two Exorcists with the wounded Kiba and the dead Inquisitor Olson.

"Well, that sucked." Irina muttered as she had {Excalibur Mimic} revert a ribbon she wore on her left bicep. "What do we do with him?"

"Inquisitor Olson is dead, alerting the authorities we found the body would be the wisest action." Xenovia stated as she retrieved her cloak and the wrappings for {Excalibur Destruction}. "We will also have to procure a room for the evening. Thankfully, Xander-dono kept you from buying that painting."

"I was referring to the Devil, Xenovia." Irina rolled her eyes. Her partner had been subtly needling her about her near gullibility with the painting. 'Is it my fault I think everyone is as honest as I've become?' "He's one of Gremory-dono's. It probably wouldn't look too good if we just left him here. I mean he passed out just a few moments after we arrived."

"You have a point." Xenovia sighed. "We'll take him with us and treat his wound before we notify Gremory-dono of what occurred. We are operating in their territory, it's the least we owe them."

"How exactly is this a punishment?" Xander was a little puzzled. At the moment he was seated in the Rias' chair, with her sitting in his lap while she did her paperwork. Sure, they weren't doing any of the fun teasing and making out that they had been doing almost non-stop for the last week, but it still wasn't unpleasant. "Wouldn't this just encourage my 'bad behavior'?"

"This is a punishment because I have two more hour of paperwork to do and then I will be playing chess with Sona. You have to remain my seat cushion the entire time and you aren't allowed to touch me the way I know you want to." Rias stated simply. "I also gave Koneko-chan orders to really make this a punishment."

Koneko was walking around the Clubroom sniffing as if he was looking for some particular smell. After a few moments she zeroed on one of the bookshelves. From behind several treatises on domestic magicks, the tiny girl pulled out a box of Twinkies. "Jackpot."

"You didn't." Xander was clearly scandalized by what he was witnessing.

Koneko rips open the package and in moments is eating the first snack cake as she passed some out to the others, deliberately skipping over Xander.

"You are utterly evil." Xander groaned out. "Just devious and sadistic."

"That is such a sweet thing to say, Xander-koi." Rias beamed as she ate her Twinkie with exaggerated moans.

"I want to help you track down the fragments." Kiba said after everything was explained. "I know of a man who would want to collect them, possibly reforge them." He paused for moment. "Freed mentioned him while we were fighting. Allow me to kill him and I will aid you in your search. Otherwise I'll look by myself and I'll destroy any Excalibur I come across."

"Your Mistress won't let you do that." Irina countered. "She's already agreed that none of her servants will interfere."

"Then I'll go Stray if that is what it takes." Kiba snarled. "I was part of the Holy Sword Project, the only survivor of that bastard, Valper Galilei. All my friends died while they shoved me out the only window."

"The Genocide Archbishop?" Xenovia frowned as she heard that. It was no secret among the Exorcists that Valper had been not only Excommunicated for his crimes, but somehow had escaped execution. It wasn't spread through the rest of the Church, but there was a Kill on Sight order for the man. "It would fit with that man's obsession and modus operandi. I can agree that we will need help if you believe he is one of the conspirators. The man may be the worst of Sinners, but he is a genius. I can agree accepting your help."

"Xenovia?" Irina was a little shocked. Her partner was always open to accepting aid from others. However they had never accepted the aid of a Devil. Not that any had offered aid at any point. "What about our orders?"

"The Mission from Heaven was to retrieve the Excalibur fragments at all costs, destroying them if need be to keep them out of the hands of the Fallen." Xenovia recited the orders given. "It was the Cardinals who added in that we should avoid involving the Gremory and Sitri peerages. However, in this case I do believe those orders will hinder our mission. Against Freed Sellzen and Kokabiel our chances were obscenely low for retrieving the swords, but we were almost guaranteed to destroy the fragments as well as our own, but Valper Galilei and his {Clay Martyrs} would make that impossible."

"You don't really think he could have brought them here, do you?" Irina swallowed a bit at the thought. "We'll need Xander-dono's help then and after the way you went about insulting one of his girls…"

"Then it is a good thing that you are one of his girls, isn't it." Xenovia interrupted.

"Just what is all this? Are we stocking up for a Zombie Apocalypse?" Xander was understandably curious. Rias had taken him to one of the empty classrooms that the ORC used for massive transport circles. There was a pile of military crates and ammo cans as tall as he was. "And where did you get it all?"

"Oh this is your welcome to the family gift from Tou-san." Rias said. "I am actually pretty proud of him for keeping it restrained. I had feared he would buy you Hostess."

"Buy me Hostess… Just how rich is your family?" Xander asked and then raised his hand, "Never mind, if I knew I'd probably develop a new complex about how you could do so much better than me. I'd hate to ruin all your hard work."

"Good to see you're learning, Xander-Koi." Rias kissed his cheek. "So why don't you check out what he got you?"

"Sure." Xander nodded before he went straight for the largest of the individual crates. Opening it up he saw a recoilless rifle tube, two comically large warheads for such a weapon and then the designation M29 on the inside lid of the crate. Eyes wide open in panic he quickly, but gently closed the lid. "Does your father have any idea what is in this crate?"

"Probably not. He probably just asked for a man portable weapon with the biggest bang." Rias shrugged. "Did he get cheated?"

"Oh no. Not at all." Xander shook his head as he willed the crate and contents into his pocket dimension. "I just joined one of the most exclusive clubs in the world."