AN: Hey Guys and welcome to the eight chapter of "Switching Sides"

I want to thank those who took their time to Review, Favorite, and Follow. It motives me seeing the support this story gets :)

I'm happy to say that I finished writing the overall plot for the story and you can expect it to be filled with a lot of action and different arcs which will probably take some time to cover meaning that the story will be quite long (I am not sure how long yet).

This chapter will show you what happened with Sirzechs and the other leaders POV during the events that happened in the earlier chapters before I will switch back to Issei and the mission he and his took.

Also I dropped many hints regarding the future arcs and events in this story in the last chapter so the first two people who manage to find one out of the few clues will be able to ask me any question he wants regarding this story (even if it means spoiling something)

Now, without further ado here is the next chapter. Enjoy!

"..." Talking

'...' Thoughts

*...* Actions i.e Yawning and Sighing

(...) Flashback and time skips

["..."] Talking through the Sacred Gear

['...'] Talking in the Host mind

[...] Sacred Gear Actions and modes

{..} Sacred Gear Mentions

Sirzechs Lucifer was sitting at his desk and sorting out paperwork regarding the affairs of the Underworld and the Three Factions like he would always do ever since he became a Maou. His wife, Grayfia, was standing by his side with her hands crossed in front of her as she silently waited for her husband to request her assistance.

Sirzechs was about to sign the last three papers when a magic circle suddenly appeared by his ear. Making him surprised at the unexpected call.

"Yes?" He asked as he waited for the person on the other side of the magic circle to start speaking but never did he expect to hear his sister talking to him while she sounded like she was sobbing badly.

"O-Onii-sama I am s-sorry to bother you but there's something that I need to tell you as soon as possible" Sirzechs managed to understand from his sister between her sobs, his power of destruction starting to flare up as he was starting to feel anger and concern before he was calmed down by Grayfia who warned him that if he continues to unleash his powers like that then he will destroy the room. Angry that his precious little sister was hurt by something or someone while being concerned about the urgent thing she said she have to talk to him about which judging by experience would not be something to look forward too.

"Ria-tan it's ok please calm down. I'll send Grayfia over to bring you and your peerage here as soon as possible" Sirzechs tried to reassure his sister who seemed to work as he heard Rias starting to sob less than when she first called.

"O-Ok onii-sama. T-Thank you" She said before she hung up the call, leaving a very perplexed and worried Sirzechs and Grayfia.

"Darling, what do you think might have happened to cause Rias-sama to break down like that?" Grayfia asked in concern as she frowned, worrying for her sister-in-law who she grew to love and care for deeply ever since she married her brother.

Grayfia and Rias relationship was not always fine like it is now. When Grayfia and Sirzechs first got married Rias was very suspicious of the silver-haired girl intentions and her true feelings towards her brother since she knew their history as former enemies and the fact that her brother was very popular among the girls of the Underworld because of his title as the Maou but as time went by Grayfia did her very best to prove to the Red-haired girl who was becoming less wary of her as time went on that she could indeed be trusted and that she will not disappoint her or her brother. Eventually, Grayfia and Rias became very close, even to the point where they confided each other with their personal problems such as relationships issues.

"I don't know, but from how Ria-tan sounded then it's certainly not something that we should look forward to," Sirzechs said while matching his wife's frown as he thought about what could have possibly made his precious little sister to behave like this. He swore that if he finds who or whatever did this to her, it will not remain long in this world after he's done taking care of it.

"Grayfia, can you please go to Kyoto where Rias and her peerage are and bring them here?" Sirzechs asked his wife who nodded in agreement before she formed a silver magic circle that will take her to where Rias and the others were currently at.

When Grayfia arrived at where Rias and her peerage were she was shocked when she saw that it was not only Rias who was broken and rather it was the entire peerage who were like that. She looked around to scan for those who were present before she cocked an eyebrow in curiosity when she didn't spot a certain brunette.

"Everyone are you ok? Please tell me what happened" Grayfia asked the sobbing girls but to her dismay the girls did not seem to even hear her question as the voices of their sobs flooded the room.

"Yuuto-kun can you please tell me what has happened?" Grayfia asked as she turned to the blonde who leaned against the wall with a grim expression on his face as he was deep in thoughts.

"Issei-kun..." Kiba replied which made Grayfia to frown as she realized that the brunette was the source of the mayhem, but her frown intensified as she thought about what could have happened to Issei that will make them act like that.

'Was he hurt? Was he kidnapped or worse, was he killed?' Were the thoughts that ran through the silver-haired girl head as she tried to come up with her own conclusion as to what happened to the brunette after seeing that she will not get a proper explanation from anyone in the room.

She eventually shrugged it off and decided that she should just escort them to her husband's office where she hoped they would explain everything that happened.

"Rias-sama and everyone else, I came to escort you to Sirzechs-sama office so if you would please come near me so I could teleport us all back to his office, " Grayfia asked to which they all complied too before Grayfia teleported them back to Sirzechs office where he was impatiently waiting for her return.

Sirzechs was pacing back and forth in his office as he waited for his wife to bring his Ria-tan and her peerage to his office when suddenly a bright light erupted in his room, signaling the return of Grayfia with the addition of his sister and her peerage.

"Ria-tan! Are you ok? You really worried me" He frantically asked as he saw his little sister appearing in his office.

He frowned upon taking a closer look at Ria, and her peerage which he saw were sobbing like Rias did while Kiba just stood there with a scowl on his face.

"What is wrong Ria-tan? What happened that caused you and your peerage to act like that?" Sirzechs asked as his concern for his sister increased when he saw how her peerage was, surely this wasn't a small thing if everyone in the peerage seemed to be affected by it.

Rias just stared at her brother while she tried to compose herself enough to tell him what happened.

"I-Ise is...is dead! We found his Evil pieces at a ruined shrine in Kyoto after he ran away because of an argument we had" Rias blurted out, making Sirzechs and Grayfia to freeze in horror upon hearing Rias saying that the brunette who they came to care for dearly has died.

"How did this happen?" Sirzechs asked as he got over his initial shock thanks to him being a Maou he was already used to moments like this where he got told that someone he knew died, but that didn't mean he was less sad about the death of his figurative little brother.

"W-While we were going back to our hotel room when Issei suddenly left us and went to talk with an unknown blonde girl which made the girls angry and worried as they thought that he was flirting with her. When we got back to the hotel room, the girls confronted him about his feelings towards him to which he answered in a way they were not happy with, making them lash out at him which made him confused as he did not see what he did wrong. He tried to find out what exactly he did, but at the moment no one answered him because we were all upset at him until he heard Buchou mutter something that we didn't manage to understand until he repeated her words out loud..." Kiba interjected as he saw that his King was in no condition to explain what happened.

"What exactly did she say to Issei-kun?" Sirzechs asked in curiosity as he averted his gaze from the blonde Knight to his sister who seemed to calm down a bit since she first appeared in his office.

"I said that I regretted reincarnating him..." Rias said which made Sirzechs and Grayfia to have widened eyes as they looked at Rias in disbelief after hearing what she said.

"W-Why did you say that Ria-tan?! I thought that you loved him dearly" Sirzechs asked in astonishment, still not believing that his sister could say something like that to the man she loved.

"I-I was angry when I saw him flirt with that blonde girl; I started thinking that I didn't matter to Issei... I was flooded with anger and jealousy while my mind reminded me of my biggest fears regarding me and Issei's relationship" Rias said before she started to sob uncontrollably once again deeming her unable to talk until she composes herself once again.

Everyone was surprised to hear how Rias talked. They never heard her being so honest and straightforward, not even her brother and Grayfia who had wide eyes like the rest.

"Sirzechs-sama may I say something?" Kiba interjected before anyone could respond, making everyone look at the blonde Knight in curiosity.

"Sure, Kiba, what is it?"

"I think that Issei-kun might still be alive," Kiba said with a bit of hope evident in his voice, hoping that whatever he was going to say to Sirzechs would indeed turn out to be true.

Sirzechs and Grayfia gasped in surprise when they heard what Kiba said, they knew that if a reincarnated Devil were to eject his Evil Pieces then it will mean certain death but when they heard what Kiba said they started to feel a little hope since they knew that the blonde was smart so he wouldn't come up with a ridiculous conclusion like that without having a good reason.

"Kiba, ejecting your Evil Pieces means a certain death as you may already know but I am intrigued as to why you think Issei-kun may still be alive so please go ahead and explain," Sirzechs said with an emotionless expression, not allowing himself to show the bit of hope he was feeling.

"When we found the Evil Pieces we didn't find Issei-kun's body which struck me as weird since the ejection would mean that he would die mere seconds after it was done" Kiba explained, making Sirzechs puzzled as he started to think about what Kiba said before the latter continued to speak.

"I believe that someone else was with Issei-kun when his pieces were ejected. Maybe he survived and got abducted?" Kiba asked with a grim face as he thought about the possibility of his best friend being taken and tortured.

Sirzechs with the addition of Grayfia and everyone else frowned upon hearing what the blonde Knight said as they too started to picture their beloved brunette being kidnapped and tortured.

"I must say Kiba that you may be right, but we should keep our hopes to a minimum. I'll contact the other leaders later to tell them about it while asking them to help us search for Issei" Sirzechs said with a small smile on his face as he finally let the little hope he felt to creep out and be shown to everyone who mimicked his smile as their hope crept out as well.

(Several Hours later...)

Sirzechs sat in his office with his head on his desk after finishing to talk with the other faction leaders about what happened with Issei and the possibility of him being alive.

After Rias and the rest told him everything they knew or thought about the disappearance of the brunette Grayfia served them tea before they started to make small talk in an attempt to lift the grim atmosphere that lingered in the room. After an hour Rias and the rest decided to leave as they saw the amount of paperwork that laid on Sirzechs desk.

After they left Sirzechs was reminded by Grayfia that he still had work to do as she brought him yet another bunch of paperwork to sort, making the red-head to sigh.

When he was done a few hours later, he wanted nothing more than to end the day but to his dismay, he remembered that he still had a long talk with the three faction leaders ahead of him regarding Issei so he instead asked Grayfia if she could give him coffee as he called the three leaders.

In Sirzechs opinion the talk went quite well considering the news he was about to deliver, he knew that telling the other factions about the brunette will make many emotions to surface within them since he was aware that they had a liking towards the brunette. Especially Azazel who seemed to have a lot in common with Issei.

After a heated argument about their opinions on the matter, they decided that what Kiba said had a chance to be true so they decided that they'll visit Sirzechs in a few days so they could start searching for the brunette.

Of course, they wanted to start searching immediately but considering the threat of the Khaos Brigade that lingered above all the leaders head they knew that they had to do this right and not rush so they decided that they will first take precautions before they leave while Sirzechs sort the technical stuff such as possible places and people who could be related to Issei's abduction.

"You should call it a day dear," Grayfia said as she noticed how drained her husband was, feeling pity as she saw how much he had to handle on his own today as well as what to come now that Issei was missing.

Sirzechs just nodded before he got up and went to his bedroom with slumped shoulders as Grayfia followed him close behind.

(Few Days Later...)

Sirzechs, Michael, and Azazel sat in Sirzechs office in the Underworld as they discussed the Khaos Brigade and what they should do about it as well as the situation in the three factions before they switched to the subject they initially came here for, Issei.

One of their decisions regarding Issei was to form a search party that will be made off people from each faction who specialize in searching.

Another decision regarding both the Khaos Brigade and Issei was to deploy peoples to guard places that the Khaos Brigade could target so they could intercept them and ask them if they have anything to do with Issei's disappearance as well as prevent them from gaining more power.

They decided that the search party would be made of Rias peerage due to their relationship with the brunette.

Akeno was elected by Azazel to serve as the Fallen Angels representative in the search party. Irina as well was chosen by Michael to act as the Angels representative in the search party. As for the people who were meant to defend the three factions points of interest as well as intercepting the Khaos Brigade members they made several teams.

Dulio and Tobio were in charge of guarding Azazel's artificial sacred gear lab in the Grigori in fear that the Khaos Brigade might steal one of the Sacred Gears

Sona and her peerage were in charge with guarding the Underworld prison to prevent the Khaos Brigade from breaking out anyone who they deemed as useful for their cause.

Sirzechs peerage with the exception of Grayfia was assigned to guard the Underworld's capital, Lilith, while Sairaorg and his peerage were assigned to guard the old capital, Lucifaad.

Griselda, Baraqiel, and Grayfia have chosen to each guard their own realms while the leaders were staying with Sirzechs as they were focusing on leading the search for Issei.

After they had been done, they summoned each team and told him his role and where he would be deployed which was answered with enthusiasm before they each went to their respective place.

Afterward, they summoned Rias peerage and told them that they would be in charge of searching for Issei which made everyone very determined and happy before they all rushed out to find their missing brunette, not wanting to spend a single second.

When they were done, they all went to Sirzechs house where the latter showed the rooms they would be staying at while they search for Issei.

Afterward, they decided to grab something to eat and drink before they went to sleep in preparation for tomorrow which will mark the start of the search for Issei.

(Nine Days Later)

It has been nine days since the three faction leaders started their search for Issei and so far they did not come across any substantial evidence regarding Issei's status.

During those nine days several attempts to attack the capital and the prison of the Underworld were made by the several Khaos Brigade branches such as the Magician and the Old Satan Faction who were looking to retrieve their captured members as well as take revenge for their fallen but to their dismay they failed horribly as they did not expect to come across any sort of countermeasures.

Any hope they all had for finding Issei alive was starting to drain slowly with each passing day until today when Sirzechs, Michael, and Azazel were sitting at Sirzechs office while they discussed about the recent attacks by the Khaos Brigade when the doors to the office were suddenly burst open, revealing two people they didn't expect to see, Dulio and Tobio who upon taking a closer look at could be seen panting slightly.

"Dulio, Tobio? What are you doing here and why are you two panting?" Sirzechs asked in curiosity as he eyed the duo.

"We are sorry to intrude like that, but we have news regarding the Red Dragon Emperor" Dulio said with a serious voice, making everyone who was present in the room to gasp in surprise.

"What is it then?" Sirzechs asked in eagerness to know what news they learned about Issei while the diminished hope appeared once again for all of them but the hope they were all feeling was short lived when they saw the grim face Tobio had which made dread overthrow the hope.

"We came across members of the Hero Faction which is a branch of the Khaos Brigade earlier as they were trying to steal an artificial sacred gear from the Grigori's lab" Dulio started to say, making the leaders to frown upon hearing that yet another attack was made earlier.

"The team who took part in the attack had Vali, The White Dragon Emperor, and Kuroka, the infamous SS-Criminal" Dulio continued while gazing at the three faction leaders who were already starting to get impatient as they waited for news regarding Issei.

Dulio sighed before finally delivering the news that he assumed would send the leaders into a state of shock.

*sigh*

"Apparently The Red Dragon Emperor joined the Khaos Brigade since he as well took part in stealing the artificial sacred gear from the labs," Dulio said, making the faction leaders to widen their eyes as they digested what he said which he knew they did after hearing them gasp.

"Are you sure that it was Issei?" Sirzechs who was the first to recover from the initial shock asked in bewilderment which was answered by Dulio nodding.

"Yes," Dulio deadpanned.

"I-I see...Thank you Dulio, Tobio. You may go take a rest if you like" Sirzechs said, dismissing the duo who nodded in acknowledgment before leaving the room.

After the pair had left the room, Sirzechs went back to his seat across the two leaders while he refilled their glasses with more scotch.

*sigh*

"This makes things more complicated than they already were...I never thought that Issei would be the one to join the Khaos Brigade. I always thought that he would be the one who'll help us defeat them" Sirzechs said in sadness after taking a sip from his scotch.

"Indeed. I never expected him to join them as well, especially after knowing how much he loved Rias and the others but apparently the damage they've done to him was bigger than we thought" Azazel said in sadness as well as he thought about the one who he considered as a figurative son who he shared many interests with.

"I suppose...I am going to call Grayfia back so we can discuss what we'll do next" Sirzechs said before he formed a magic circle near his ear to call his wife back.

One thing was certain and it was that Sirzechs who despite his great love towards his sister did not plan to tell her and her peerage about what they learned from Dulio and Tobio regarding Issei because he knew how much it would affect them to know that the brunette that they loved dearly was alive and was a part of the biggest and egregious terrorist organization to exist in the supernatural world yet

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