Chapter 20: I Hereby Declare!
Thunder crashed through the rainy sky, lightning briefly lighting up the night as two swordsmen did their damn best to kill each other.
"Goodness! Yes! So much better than all those wimps!"
"Shut up and die!"
Yuuto Kiba swung his blade against Freed Sellzen's, ignoring the shockwave that followed his recent movement. Even as ice formed against Freed's blade, a simple cackle preceded the strong humming of his blade as it vibrated the weakening ice off.
"Too bad, so sad!" Freed cackled as he swung {Excalibur Rapidly} wildly against {Flame Delete: Katana Form}. "You can't freeze vibrations, stupid!"
"Then how about this?"
Hooking the katana into the diamond gap of the Holy Sword, Yuuto swung his left fist deep into Freed's right cheek. With a satisfying crack, Freed was sent flying until he slammed deep into a wall.
"No matter strong your weapon is, it doesn't change the fact that you can't match it's durability." Yuuto took the chance and swung his blade again, letting ice surge towards Freed with full intentions of freezing him solid. "Take that lesson with you to your grave!"
"No can do!" Freed blurred from his position in the faraway wall to suddenly be above Yuuto. "I'm can't just stop having fun trying to kill ya!"
In an instant, Freed stabbed downwards, just inches away from putting his sword to Yuuto's face... only to be denied as a spare sword appeared in his other hand and was used to parry. The moment the sword made contact, Freed screeched as he was sent back by a blast of lightning.
"Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow!" Freed praised as electricity crackled all over Yuuto's form, with the falling rain's silvery veil adding to the coolness of his appearance. "Why are you becoming even cooler, you scumbag?! I wanna kill you even more now!"
"This is the Thunderlight Sword, {Raiko}, created to mimic Akeno's magic." Yuuto raised the katana up to the raining heavens as lightning forked across. "I'm sure a guy like you can tell what that means just from the name."
"[Ittoryu: Rakurai(One Sword Style: Thunderbolt).]"
Yuuto swung his blade down and pointed it at Freed. If used normally, Yuuto would've had to physically strike at Freed with his sword.
However, above him was an already present thunderstorm and his target was directly in the rain with no cover.
It was only instinct that made Freed block upwards.
*KRACKAAAAAAAAAAAAAMM!*
The dark sky lit up as a massive blue thunderbolt, guided by Yuuto and conducted by the falling rain, smashed down on Freed, with only {Excalibur Rapidly} acting as his shield as the sheer impact forced him three feet into the road and destroyed several nearby windows.
Once the electricity faded away, Freed gingerly clambered out of the hole, still trembling with excess crackles and sparks as whatever protected him hadn't done enough of a good job. "This is great! Superb! Fucking awesome!"
A small magic circle appeared next to his ear. "Huh? ...fine. Somebody's calling me! I'll make sure to kill ya another day~!"
Yuuto surged forward, the electricity boosting his already impressive speed to a much higher level. However...
"Bye-Bye!" And he was gone, leaving behind a sonic boom that rattled Yuuto's ears and teeth as Freed fled the battle.
Issei Hyoudou yawned as he woke up, blinking at the sight of crimson and blonde hair being the first thing he saw for the day.
*squeeze*
"Eep!"
"Mmm~!"
Issei nodded in bliss at the different sounds that Asia Argento and Rias Gremory respectively made when both of them got their asses groped by him while their nude bodies pressed against his. 'This is going to be a good morning.'
Having enjoyed their wakeup alarm, Rias and Asia both dressed up and left, leaving Issei to prepare on his own for school.
'Last night was really great.' Issei chuckled perversely as he pulled on a shirt. 'I'd try for more but I don't think my bed could take it...'
[Sorry to interrupt your thoughts, Partner.]
Issei blinked at Ddraig's sudden words. [Did something happen or something?]
[I have felt a strong presence nearby lately. It's getting harder for me to go to sleep.]
[Is it Rias-senpai?] Issei replied as he sat down on his bed.
[No offense, but neither that Devil nor any of her comrades at your school are anywhere near strong enough to make me give a damn.]
"Ouch." Issei stated out loud. [Is it an enemy then?]
[Just make sure to be careful. You never know when the White One could pop up.]
Issei blinked. [Ddraig, I've been meaning to ask for a while now. Who's this 'White One'? You mentioned him last year when we first met.]
[That is the White Dragon of Supremacy, Albion. My rival who is known as Vanishing Dragon.]
[Your rival?] Issei gulped at that. [I know that Tiamat-san scares you a bit but aren't you the highest ranking of all dragons?]
[First off, I'm undoubtedly stronger than Tiamat. You don't have to say that to her, though!] Ddraig gave a suspicious cough that Issei was gracious enough to ignore. [Second off, there are still two more dragons undoubtedly stronger than me and Albion is a dragon who shares rank with me as the 3rd strongest. Together, we were known as the Two Heavenly Dragons, but we never got along.]
[Really?]
[You remember what that redhead told you about their war? Imagine two dragons having a fight of their own during the war. Both of them as strong as the Biblical God and Satan, completely indifferent to the war around them as their violent battles resulted in casualties on all three sides. It got bad enough that all three sides at war decided as one that those two had to go.]
[Congrats, Ddraig.] Issei cheered with his tone dripping in sarcasm. [You two made a three-way war stop just by being worse by them combined. So, how did you two take that?]
[Hahahahaha! Not good. I particularly remember divebombing an entire squad of Angels into a volcano.]
"Ouch." Issei muttered again, trying not to imagine that scenario.
[In the end, we still lost and were Sealed into Sacred Gears. However, our rivalry was not so easily quenched so using the various humans who would awaken us, we would still clash time and time again, throughout the ages.]
[So that's you got int- wait a minute! Is this why you're warning me?! Albion and his host are gonna come hunting for me soon?!]
[Yup. As one whose soul has been joined with that of mine, you'll inevitably attract all around you, to either admire or challenge you.]
[So I'm expecting more than just whoever got Albion?] Issei huffed as he laid back in bed.
[It's not all a bad deal, Issei. Naturally, those attracted to you will obviously involve those of the fairer sex. In fact, have you not enjoyed delights that probably wouldn't have happened before my awakening?]
[...okay, I'll give you that.]
[So now that you've got it, be prepared. This Sacred Gear may prevent me from releasing my full powers but the {Boosted Gear} still a Longinus-level Sacred Gear similar to Albion's {Divine Dividing}. Train at your constant rate, and you'll be strong enough to match Sirzechs Lucifer after a couple of years.]
Issei blinked at the memory of Rias's brother. He hadn't actually seen the man fight, but the power he had felt in his brief seconds being so close... [No way. Impossible. Never gonna happen.]
[Yes way. Possible. Totally gonna happen. Even without me, you still have the spirit of a dragon. You've never been the type of person who would just bow over to his enemies. So set your heart ablaze and chase after your desires!]
[Yeah!] Issei grinned as he got up and stomped his foot onto his table as he pumped a triumphant fist. "I'm gonna become a Harem King with his personal hottie brigade!"
[...sure, why not? As long as you become strong, I don't really care. It's not like you're the first of my hosts to aim for that.]
[Seriously? I'm really glad to have such relatable senpais.]
"Matsuda-senpai."
Walking through the hallways, Matsuda Takumi blinked as he felt a tug on his shirt and turned about to see his fellow supernatural feline. "Koneko-chan!"
"Have you seen Yuuto-senpai?" Koneko Toujou asked plainly, a hint of desperation noticeable in her usually stoic tone.
"Nope." Matsuda frowned as Koneko visibly saddened. "Whoa. What happened?"
"...Yuuto-senpai's been missing since last night." Koneko locked her fingers in worry. "Something happened to bring back some bad memories of his... I'm worried that something might have happened to him, especially with the scents I noticed this morning."
"What scents?" Matsuda instantly queried. "Did something happen earlier?"
Koneko looked around her surroundings and dragged Matsuda away from the nearby students who had started to stare. When they reached outside the building and far into the nearby field, she answered Matsuda's question. "This morning, an Exorcist's body was found in the city."
"What?!" Matsuda recoiled. "Who did it?!"
"We don't know." Koneko clutched her skirt. "The site our Familiars found it in was devastated by a battle and there was too much damage to the body to know what exactly caused his death."
Matsuda grimaced at that. "What's Gremory-senpai going to do about it?"
"Rias-sama and Sona-sama are already handling it." Koneko replied. "However, traces of Yuuto-senpai's magic were still all over the area along with much stronger traces of Holy Power. It's only thanks to Yuuto-senpai's {Knight} piece that Rias-sama is sure that he isn't dead right now."
"...I'm guessing that if Kiba got killed by whatever he was fighting, he wouldn't have left behind much of a corpse, huh?" Matsuda winced at Koneko's diminutive nod. "Where's Ise when you need him? He's much better at assuring people than me... Okay, listen up."
He placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "We'll help out in searching for him. He may be a handsome bastard but he's our handsome bastard. I mean, can you believe that guy hasn't watched Godzilla yet? It's playing in the cinema later and we've all promised to drag him to watch along."
The tension in Koneko's shoulders lessened a bit. Even if she didn't like the perverts much, Issei and his friends had been recently reliable in a weird sort of way. "Thank you, senpai."
Besides, even Koneko had been a bit weirded out at how Yuuto hadn't gotten any male friends before Issei and his friends had entered the supernatural life.
She'd take her big brother-ish Yuuto wearing a true smile amidst the perverts than all the fake ones he wore around all the horny bitches that usually hounded him.
"Whatcha doin'?"
Motohama Nakakuni would like to clarify that he gave a manly yell as Aika Kiryuu spoke up from behind him. Anybody who stated otherwise was a fucking liar!
"Aika-chan! Don't sneak up on me like that!" Motohama chastised. 'Just how distracted was I that I didn't notice her sneaking up on me?'
"You're the one hanging out on the roof, alone might I add." Aika shrugged as the wind blew strong enough to flutter her skirt and give a teasing hint of her black panties. Her frown increased as Motohama didn't acknowledge it in the slightest. "Did something happen, Moto-kun?"
'Yes. The Handsome Bastard that Himejima-senpai is looking for is currently crashing in my Den and asked me not to let anybody else know.' "Just annoyed at Kiba, as usual." Motohama replied. Technically not a lie.
"Ah." Aika took a seat behind him, humming as she rested against his back. "So what did the Prince of Kuoh do now?"
"Something that makes me wanna shoot him full of holes!" Motohama snarled before forcing himself to relax. For a brief moment, Aika noted the ambient temperature plummeting before slowly rising back. "I can't go into specifics, but it's so frustrating. I can't even turn to Ise for advice 'cause he'd be too rash! Aika, how would you deal with an idiot who doesn't believe he's being an idiot?"
"I deal with you and your friends everyday." Aika retorted.
"Haha." Motohama snarked. "What I mean is, how do you deal with a guy who doesn't know how to handle angst?"
"Ah..." Aika hummed in thought. Motohama most likely meant Kiba. "Get him laid?"
Motohama scoffed. "Already tried. I got him to look at a list of prostitutes that wouldn't have minded our age. That bastard shrugged. He fucking shrugged! How high are his standards?! Then again, he's always had the likes of Gremory-senpai and Himejima-senpai for company..."
Aika blinked at a particular part of his questions. Rather than ask how he got a list of prostitutes with low standards... "Why haven't you or your friends ever gone to those prostitutes yourselves?"
"Just because they had low standards didn't mean they had low prices." Motohama grumbled. "However, Kiba's a lot richer than all of us combined. Dammit, now I'm too frustrated to go down for class."
Aika turned around and hugged him from behind, her fingers tracing the bulge in his crotch. "Need some help with that?"
Five minutes later, Aika was bent over with her panties down to her ankles as her hands leaned on the water tank for support, moaning as Motohama pistoned his hips against her ass, only having bothered to pull down his pants a bit as he clutched her hips tight.
Reaching forward, he grabbed one of her pigtails before yanking back hard, making Aika squeal, which was thankfully muffled by the boundary field Motohama had swiftly made when Aika was distracted while sucking on his cock.
"You should tighten up, slut. If not, I'll fuck you over the railing." Motohama hissed into Aika's ear. "Maybe the shame will actually make you better at strangling my cock."
Despite the harsh words, Aika moaned as she felt her walls tightening over his cock harder than before. Hearing Motohama's cocky tone while his dick pounded her pussy on the school roof was more than enough to make Aika gush until a puddle formed beneath her. "Less talking, more fucking, you perv!"
'I wonder if I persuade her for a threesome with Kalawarner...' Motohama mused as he felt his incoming orgasm. 'Oh, who am I kidding? They'd both be totally into it!'
"This morning, I was in contact with two affiliates of the Church." Sona Sitri (a.k.a. Souna Shitori) stated from her seat, her naked body glistening with the perspiration of the warm sauna she, Tsubaki Shinra, Rias and Akeno were enjoying in her house.
"Contact?" Akeno replied in surprise. "I haven't seen them in this city for a while. At least, so upfront."
"And what were they here for?" Rias asked.
"They asked to talk to you, Rias." Sona revealed, startling Rias.
"Church affiliates want to meet a Devil? You must be joking." Rias leaned back in disbelief. "In any case, this can't be good, especially with that Exorcist's corpse that popped up. So, how did you reply?"
Sona cleaned her glasses of liquid as she replied. "I accepted. After school tomorrow, they will meet with you in your club room." Sona finished and put them back on. "However, there're two things that worry me."
"These two affiliates had a Holy Sword with them." Tsubaki clarified.
"What?!" Rias replied in shock. "Church affiliates with a Holy Sword? Here, in this city?"
"That's not all." Sona continued. "One of them mentioned visiting an old friend of hers who resides in Kuoh and mentioned Hyoudou-kun in passing. Admittedly, she only mentioned 'Ise' which is common for a first name-"
Rias had stopped listening, as she remembered the photo from Mrs. Hyoudou's collection, the little boy who could possibly pass for a girl with his looks and a stray comment from Issei.
"My friends and family just call me Ise for short."
Issei had had a friend who he was close to be comfortable in their home despite his young age and probably felt the same for Issei's own family and home.
Issei had had a friend whose family were most likely connected to the Church, given that there had been a Holy Sword right beside their fireplace.
Issei had had a friend who had no reason to not pop in for a visit back home, with Issei's protective barrier most likely not even registering the Exorcist as a threat and welcoming her into a home frequented by Devils.
"Could it be...?" Rias stood up suddenly. "Excuse us, Sona. We must leave immediately. Ise-kun's family might be in danger."
"Mom!" Issei rushed into the living room, his eyes first noting his unharmed mother, then the silently terrified Raynare who instantly locked eyes with him and subtly gestured to the guests, leading Issei to finally note them.
To be honest, Ddraig's warning about a foreign scent had left him confused as his barrier had registered no enemy entering his home.
Now he was looking at the two girls in white hooded cloaks with gold and blue accents, along with worn crucifixes. As he surveyed them, the chestnut-haired girl with long twintails surveyed him back and burst into a wide smile. Meanwhile, the blue-haired girl with a green fringe kept glaring at Raynare, especially as she moved to use Issei as a shield between them and her.
"Oh, Ise and Asia-chan! Welcome home!" Miki cheerfully called out, raising an eyebrow at her son's expression and the two girls hiding behind him. "Why do you look so shocked?"
'How did Exorcists enter into my home?' Issei's gaze locked on the wrapped up object next to the blue-haired girl. 'And that thing's leaking power like crazy. No wonder Raynare's so unsettled.' "Who the hell are you two?"
"Ise, don't be rude!" Miki chastised.
"Long time no see, Ise-kun." The chestnut-haired girl pointed to her face. "Don't you remember me? It's me!"
"Uh..." Issei trailed off. He definitely didn't know this girl. She was admittedly cute with a nice bust that was prominent enough to show through her baggy cloak but he was ringing no bells on her face. 'How the hell would I ever forget meeting a girl this cute?'
"Look over here." Miki raised their picture book and pointed to the Holy Sword picture. "Irina Shidou-chan!"
...
...
...
...
...
"...what." Issei replied faintly as he snatched the book to hold it up next to the apparent Irina Shidou's face, comparing child to teenager. "You were a girl?!"
"That's really rude, Ise!" Asia chastised.
"She was such a tomboy back then," Miki nodded in agreement at Issei's shock. "but now she just the opposite! I almost didn't recognize her myself!"
"I-It can't be." Issei fell to his hands and knees in despair. "We had baths together! Multiple times, in fact... Oh, god, so that's why there was nothing down there..."
As Irina blushed from that, Miki frowned as she placed her arms akimbo. "That's really rude, you know?"
"I can understand." Irina spoke up, getting their attention. "I was pretty tomboyish back then."
"Ah, sorry about that, Rin." Issei sheepishly scratched the back of his head.
"But it looks like a lot's happened while we were apart." Irina leaned back into her chair, looking about the room as she noted the focal points of the barrier on Issei's home and finally focused on Asia and Raynare. "You can never tell how people will choose their new friends when the old ones aren't there anymore!"
'She knows.' Issei instantly realized.
"Don't worry. We're heading out now." Irina approached and tapped his shoulder. "I haven't been back to Japan in a while, so I thought I'd see you for sentimental reasons. But it's about time we left. Right, Xenovia?"
"Yes." Xenovia hefted her package and followed Irina as they reached the door.
"I wish you could stay longer." Miki said as she escorted them.
"Oh, we'll probably visit again at some point." Irina waved her goodbye. "But until then, see ya, Ise-kun."
"Bye, Rin." Issei idly waved back, only to stop when Xenovia turned to Raynare.
"It's only at Irina's insistence and Mrs. Hyoudou's unharmed state that I am tolerating your presence." Xenovia coldly stated to the Fallen Angel. "For whatever reason you're here, it had better not be malicious, for your own sake."
"No worries there." Raynare took Issei by his shoulders and shoved him forward. "For all intents and purposes, this guy's essentially my boss."
Issei gulped as the Exorcist turned her cold eyes unto him before he was surprised by the smile that appeared. "To have tamed this crow, you're even more impressive than I thought."
"Crow?!" Raynare snarled with her hackles raised. Issei would later learn that it was a derogatory term often given to the three Biblical races. Crows for Fallen Angels, bats for Devils and doves for Angels. "You wanna go?!"
"State your time and place." Xenovia pulled just the tiniest bit of cloth off her package and Issei watched Raynare instantly cower back as the miniscule Holy Power leaking off it doubled. "As I thought."
With that, the two Exorcists left the Hyoudou Residence.
Ten minutes later, Rias teleported into Issei's room and tackled him in worry. After both Asia and Issei calmed her down, he confirmed to Rias, which she had already figured out, that Irina Shidou had been his childhood friend.
"Can you believe that she was a girl all along?!"
"Makes sense. The boy did have a rather girly appearance."
"We had fights! We jumped about in bushes and mud! We bathed together!"
"Standard tomboy childhood friend, then." Rias shrugged, much to Issei's disbelief. "This shows up in manga all the time."
"Hahahahahahahaha!"
"Stop laughing." Issei weakly chided into his headset as he played an online racing game with Zaz. "Do you know how weird it is to have a friend suddenly reveal themselves as the opposite gender?"
"You mentioned liking girls, right? I don't see the problem."
"I mean, it's not like she's ugly or something." Issei made his character dodge an obstacle and ride up a ramp. "Rin's actually pretty cute. The problem is with her current friend, who looks hot as well but acts like she'd probably have no problem running a sword through me."
"Again, I really don't see the problem, Red."
"With that blasé attitude, you must have lots of experience with yanderes and the like- Hey, that was my powerup!"
"I fail to see how that's my problem."
The next evening, after school was closed, all of Rias's Peerage and Issei's Horde joined in a meeting with Irina and Xenovia.
Even the missing Yuuto had been dragged in by Motohama, although the latter wouldn't state where he had found him.
("He smells like our Den." Matsuda quietly observed.
"Hush, man." Motohama tersely replied.)
"We appreciate your cooperation." Xenovia started off. "I am Xenovia Quarta."
"I'm Irina Shidou."
"For what reason would soldiers of God want to meet a Devil for?" Rias went straight for the heart of the matter.
"And why was I invited to this?" Issei chipped in from Rias's side on her seat, with everyone else standing by behind them.
"Although one is yet to be found, the six remaining {Excalibur}s have been kept by three divisions of the Church." Irina started off only for Sohara Mitsuki to cut her off.
"Hold on, please." The pigtailed girl timidly raised her hand in curiosity. "The {Excalibur} Hyoudou-senpai told us about earlier is the same one from the Arthurian Legends, right? When were they even multiples?"
"They did start out as a singular sword." Irina explained. "However, the true {Excalibur} was broken to pieces many years ago."
"First off, how could one of the greatest swords in history get broken?" Tomoki Sakurai piped up. "And secondly, what was the thing that did the breaking?!"
"We still do not know what inflicted such damage to the true {Excalibur}, either. What we do know is that the broken fragments were retrieved and reforged into seven new blades." Xenovia replied as she finally unclothed the package she'd been carrying about, a two-handed sword with a rather long grip, an axe-like guard and a second grip with a chain-like form connecting the guard with the blade, with the blade itself being huge and long that ended with 3 points. "This is one of them, the Holy Sword of Destruction, {Excalibur Destruction}."
"And mine." Irina pushed out her left arm from her cloak to reveal a string being tied around her bicep. She pulled on one of it's loose ends and yanked it free, causing it to unfurl and transform into a Katana with a round gold guard and a long grip which made it a two-handed blade. "The Holy Sword of Mimicry, {Excalibur Mimic} (Japanese Katana form~!). It's really convenient into how I can make it into whatever form I want."
Rias winced from the Holy Power now saturating the room. "So what exactly do you want from us?"
"Also, Rin, you need to put those away." Issei warily eyed Yuuto, who looked like he was ready to stain the refurbished clubhouse with the Exorcists' blood. "Immediately."
As Irina and Xenovia put away their weapons, the latter continued. "Since the Church had three of the swords stolen from them, we were able to track them here into this area."
"That was rather careless of them." Rias crossed her arms. "So who is your suspect?"
"The Fallen Angels, or rather, Kokabiel of the Grigori." Xenovia answered.
"Eh?!" Issei was startled. "Kokabiel?! You don't the same angel from the Book of Enoch?!"
"I'm surprised you know that much, Ise." Irina cheered in happiness. "I'm so glad that your constant hanging around with Devils haven't eroded your Faith in the Lord!"
Issei sweatdropped. "Eh, no. I only know that because you and your dad would randomly spout off Bible verses anywhere. Plus, I now remember him making the both of us memorize every single angel mentioned in the Bible."
Xenovia nodded in approval before continuing. "The other day, he completely wiped out a group of Exorcists that was dispatched here, which brings me to our request."
At this moment, Xenovia took on a condescending demeanor. "We ask that the Devils of this city do not intervene in the fight between us and the Grigori over the stolen {Excalibur} swords. In short: Stay Out of This."
"No need for such a tone." Rias's voice dropped several degrees, the room darkening a bit as her control slipped a bit. "Do you think we would side with the Fallen Angels?"
"Devils despise Holy Swords." Xenovia apparently didn't notice nor care for not only Rias's or Yuuto's Killing Intent, but also Akeno's brief flash of it, which surprised the human students. "In fact, I daresay that you'd be willing to ensure the Holy Swords' be tampered with, no matter what. If we must, we will annihilate you all as well, even if you're the sister of a Satan."
"Okay, dial it down a bit." Loudly dropping his heel on the table, Issei spoke authoritatively and cut through the rising tension, missing some of the others sighing in relief. "You've gone and said your bit to Gremory-senpai, but what did you want from me specifically?"
Xenovia and Irina looked at each other before the latter spoke to him. "After confirming whether you'd abandoned your humanity or not-"
Issei's eyes narrowed. "Excuse me?"
"I mean becoming a Devil!" Irina waved her hand hastily. "If you were confirmed to still be human, we were actually supposed to ask for your assistance!"
"...huh?!" Several people responded as one.
"To clarify, the Church would like to extend an offer for an alliance with the Red Dragon Emperor." Xenovia officially stated. "While we cannot involve the Devils for obvious political reasons, the currently unaffiliated Red Dragon Emperor's aid would be greatly welcomed."
"[So that's how it is.]"
Everyone blinked in surprise as the {Boosted Gear} manifested and sounded out Ddraig's voice. Issei himself was confused. "What's wrong, Ddraig?"
"[I'm saying that it was no coincidence that your childhood friend of all people who was sent over here, if they were aiming for your alliance.]"
Issei did not like where this was heading. "Ddraig. Explain."
"[Think about it, Partner. I don't think Irina here was lying about wanting to see you, but it makes no sense to send just these two against a threat of consisting of Kokabiel, who has most likely found wielders for each {Excalibur} he stole. That makes it two {Excalibur} wielding Exorcists vs. three {Excalibur} wielders. And that's if we don't add in Kokabiel himself, who I remember from that war to be one of the generals of his race back then. Do you see what I mean, now? The stakes are so horribly against these two that I actually feel some pity for them. And there's obviously no way someone like Issei wouldn't help his friend, even if he wasn't asked.]"
"So it seems that the Church hasn't changed much from back then." Yuuto scoffed, getting everyone's attention from Ddraig. "I can confirm that Kokabiel has definitely found at least one wielder. Two nights ago, I ran into and fought Freed Sellzen who had an {Excalibur} with him. So Ddraig-sama is most likely right on the chances of Kokabiel finding wielders for all of the stolen Holy Swords."
"Yuuto!" Rias jumped from her seat to face him. "Why didn't you tell me?!"
"I had no reason to." Yuuto dully replied. "I had no idea of this conspiracy and there was an {Excalibur} before me currently being used by that reprehensible priest. I didn't even attempt to question his reappearance in the city before aiming for the kill."
As the Devils started arguing, Irina bit her lip in doubt before shaking her head. "No! There's no way God would ever use me and Issei like that!"
"[I'm not accusing God of anything. In fact, I actually respect Him a lot... It's the Church I've got issues with. Issei, if you form a partnership with these two, the Church will take it and twist it into something different than either you or Irina might be comfortable with. Remember, not only are you this era's Red Dragon Emperor, but your group consists of another Longinus-class user, a girl's whose Sacred Gear grants her Angel-like abilities and two completely unknown Sacred Gears.]"
Ddraig may have lied and stated out Matsuda and Motohama's Devil Fruits as Sacred Gears, but he was still right. There was no way the Church would've been satisfied with just him. Speaking of the Church's selfish intentions...
"I agree with Ddraig." Issei spoke up, surprising everyone. "In fact, even if he hadn't spoken up, I would've still been wary of teaming up with you."
"Why?" Xenovia questioned.
"Because of her." Issei raised his hand to thumb back at Asia, who gasped in surprise. "In case either of you aren't aware, this is Asia Argento. Asia was a nun born with {Twilight Healing} which encouraged you guys to make her a 'Holy Maiden'. Asia didn't want that but her faith in God was so strong that she didn't mind. For years, she served the Church diligently, only to be branded a heretic witch and kicked out when you found out she could heal a Devil. Before that, she had undoubtedly and unfailingly healed many, many people, but you guys didn't care. Do you know how I met Asia? She was forced into servitude by Freed Sellzen and the Fallen Angel you met at my house."
Xenovia opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by Issei continuing. "I won't go into details with what she suffered under their care. After all, this is about you, not them. If I had to state a comparison, Asia was like a caged pretty bird to the Church. As long as it did as it was told, nothing would happen to it. Then after leaving it's territory for a bit, the bird had it's wing broken and was cast aside. That broken wing represents Asia's faith in you guys particularly. Asia has never stopped loving the Lord, but I'm sure as hell that the same can't be said for the Church. After all, if she was cast out for having the ability to heal Devils despite God Himself granting her the power to do so, doesn't that mean that the Church isn't as loyal to God as she believed?"
*FWOOSH!*
*SWISH!*
*BANG!*
*CLANG!*
Issei blinked unconcerned as both Irina and Xenovia had their blades against his throat. The reason he wasn't dead was because of Matsuda and Motohama holding back the swords with their Hardened arms overflowing with Armament Haki, with the former's arm's transformed while the latter's snow appeared from the ground to restrain them both by their limbs.
"That's not a good joke, Ise." Irina stated coldly. "Take it back."
"It's not a good joke because it's not a joke at all." Issei replied. "I have zero reason to believe otherwise."
"I agree with Hyoudou-kun." Yuuto stated. "Because if he's wrong, why were me and my friends killed? The fact that I am alive now is nothing more than a miracle brought about by milady's actions, because I was supposed to die, too."
"I've been wondering for a while now..." Xenovia disengaged her blade from Matsuda to face Yuuto. "Who are you exactly?"
"Your predecessor." Yuuto cold replied. "As an {Excalibur} wielder, surely you must have wondered at some point just who was used to manufacture what's currently inside your bodies and allowing you to hold those Holy Swords without dropping from the strain."
Yuuto shrugged as he slowly walked over to Xenovia. "Then again, I am a failure by all counts."
The tension rose up to a screaming high now.
"W-Wait!"
Everyone turned to face Asia, who flinched from the attention but stayed strong. "Y-You can't all keep saying these harsh words to each other like this! It won't be long before somebody says something they'll regret! Ise-kun, despite your... anger at the Church, Irina-san is still your friend, right?"
"Yeah." Issei replied immediately, which surprised Irina. "Just because I don't like her bosses is no reason to let Rin commit suicide by Kokabiel."
"It's not suicidal!" Irina retorted as she withdrew her blade as well. "It's simply another test of faith by the Lord. No matter the challenge, I will Prevail! Deus Vult!"
"...and Yuuto-san." Ignoring that, Asia turned to Yuuto, who was still in a glare off with Xenovia. "You just want to destroy the {Excalibur}s, right? You don't necessarily hate Xenovia-san and Irina-san by proxy?"
"...yes." Yuuto reluctantly growled out. "As long the Holy Swords are destroyed, I don't care about them at all."
"Then please, stop being cruel with your words!" Asia pleaded. "Ise-san, don't argue with your friend and just agree to help for this mission. Yuuto-san, please temper your hatred. If Xenovia and Irina agree to it, I'm sure they can permit you in joining in to destroy them."
"...true. Our mission is to destroy the stolen Holy Swords if retrieval is impossible." Xenovia stated. "While we would prefer them returned, it's for the best that they are better off destroyed rather utilized by the Fallen Angels."
Xenovia then rolled her eyes in Yuuto's direction. "I might be willing to permit your involvement if you were to fight as a comrade of the Red Dragon Emperor rather than a servant of the Crimson Princess of Ruin. However, I have no idea of your actual strength. No weaklings allowed."
"Perfect, then!" Issei clapped his hands. "Let's fight!"
"Eh?" Asia felt faint.
"You're right in cruel words doing little good, Asia." Issei nodded as he got off his seat and entered into Irina's personal space. "These two have probably never fought a Fallen Angel at Kokabiel's class. If Rin can't handle me, she definitely won't handle somebody like Freed or Kokabiel."
"I agree." Yuuto stated as well, the cruel smirk back. "If she won't listen to my 'harsh' words, then my Demonic steel will speak much better as it rends into her flesh."
"Eh?!" Asia wailed in shock as her words were taken and twisted about into something worse. "I take it back! Please, keep arguing!"
KingVessel: Well... Please review!