The Chaos that consumes the world
III
She barely paid attention to the train sliding to a halt, nor did she notice the fact that both of those who accompanied her stumbled only a little while she remained perfectly balanced.
Her eyes remained fixed on the door, adjusting the bag on her shoulder and glancing to the side at the two of them. They looked out of sorts, disorientated, likely still recovering from the jet lag from the flight which had carried them all over less than a couple of hours ago. Troublesome but not impossible to circumvent. There was no plan for them to do anything serious today.
Pulling her eyes away, she moved the second the train doors opened and stepped out onto the platform, swaying left and right as she moved to avoid being caught in the rush of pedestrians boarding the same train. Once she crossed the horizon of the wave of people, she came to a halt and then turned around, instantly locking onto her two compatriots as they all but stumbled out of the crowd and catching a couple of passerby as they did so.
The first of the two spoke, a grumble in her voice as she did so. "Was there truly no other form of transportation we could have used? It is as though they have no concept of personal space around here."
The second hummed for a moment, in thought, then shrugged her shoulders and looked thoroughly unconcerned about the entire ordeal. Understandable, her file said that she had lived here for a time so the customs of the nation would be ingrained into her. That was useful for blending in, though her personality was far too outgoing.
"I guess it's just something that takes getting used to? Well, we won't be around here long enough for all of it to really matter though, will we?" The teenager fell silent for a second at the silent admission she got from the blue haired girl, that was clearly enough for her to cheer up and grin rather pleased with herself. "See! Besides, maybe we can get a taxi back to the airport when this is all over. Actually, we might end up with a private car to make sure that everything gets back safely."
She took this as the chance to step forwards, the pair of them straightened their postures to attention the moment they saw her move. Their reaction times were…passable, she supposed. Given the time in which they had been active within the Church and their track record. Though she would have much preferred Executors, even if these two were capable of wielding Holy Swords, experience often trumped power in most situations.
"Concern yourselves with the task at hand before you think of our journey back." Her eyes flickered between the two of them before she turned back around, clearing her throat and advancing. Her ears picked up the pair of them moving after her barely a moment later. "And speak in code. If the Devils of the territory do not already know of our existence then they will shortly."
If they were smart at least, though, she had already run through all the information they knew of the two peerages in Kuoh and all their known members. Familiarising herself with the footage of the Rating game that had been acquired. Even the backgrounds of the members from before the point in which they became members of the peerages themselves. She concluded that for the likes of those she was being accompanied with, then they were more than prepared for a conflict with one. Both would be problematic.
"We will need to prepare an envoy meeting with them." She informed them as she moved, they were close enough to her that she didn't need to raise her voice with them. "And keep personal opinions to yourselves, you will doubtless encounter those you do not agree with."
She stopped, then turned around and stepped close to the pair of them, being a little bit taller she used her full height to her advantage and looked over the pair of them."Ignore it. Start nothing and keep quiet. We are here for a single purpose and remain on task, if you do not understand anything then defer to me. Do you understand?"
They nodded their heads silently.
That was fortunate, she had little care for Asia Argento either - given the nature of what had happened - but she could keep her personal opinion in check. Starting conflict with the Devils over something that was rather trivial in the grand scheme of things was not the reason she was here. Though she had already made plans in case they did come to blows, but that was neither here nor there for the time being.
Leaning back, she turned around and resumed walking with the two following after her once again.
Their first priority was finding a base of operations for them to live from. The old Church was former Grigori and had recently been cleared out but it was explored territory. She needed a location that had not been utilised and she could protect against scrying and other familiar intrusions.
This was not an assignment she could consider one of the simpler ones, but they never were.
Defeat Kokabiel and reclaim the stolen Excaliburs.
Issei rubbed his brows as he stared at the piece of paper in front of him, then lowered it down and stared at the guy who was standing across from him. Looking between both items a couple more times before he dropped the paper down and stared at the teen with a blank look. He was tempted to call them a liar to their face but there was just something about it that was painfully honest.
"...Are you being serious?"
Kiba put on a look of bewilderment, tilting his head to the side and staring at him as though he'd just been slapped in the face. "I'm not quite sure I understand what you're talking about, Hyoudou-san-"
"This." Issei brought up the paper and waved it around, briefly stepping back to allow a couple of others to walk in between the two of them, sending them a brief glance when one of them uttered something under their breath, bringing a roll to his eyes before his focus returned to Kiba. "There is absolutely no way that you go through all of this…what…once a week?"
Kiba frowned, looking as though he was a little bit insulted, then nodded down to the paper and corrected him. "Every morning."
He stared at the teen opposite him, never before had he hated someone quite so much as this one moment. The way he made this sound was as though it was a regular thing and that he was somehow an idiot for not understanding what the problem was. Closing his eyes, he leaned back and thudded against the wall, his left hand coming up to nurse his brows as he groaned.
"I asked you to come up with the training regime you did at the start, you know?" He pulled the hand back down and stared at Kiba, the blond remained utterly unfazed by his commentary and still wore the same look of puzzlement as when the conversation began. "Not what you do right now. This…I can't do this. This will kill stone dead."
"No it won't." Kiba replied to him with a frown, then stepped forwards and grabbed the paper, pulling it - and the hand holding it - up as he stepped shoulder to shoulder with him and then brought up his other hand to point through the exercises. "See. This one will do wonders for your stamina and joints, which makes the rest of them much easier. It's really quite simple, eventually you're doing all of this like it's second nature."
Issei could only stare at the paper, then turn to Kiba with his expression scrunched up. "What in the hell are you even talking about? This isn't second nature. This is turning yourself into the Terminator. I'm not doubting the value of stretches and stuff before running around but this…this is…" he flipped onto the next page. "People aren't supposed to do that. That's the pose a guy makes after being hit by a car, not when he's just come off from doing lunges."
Kiba exhaled. "You're exaggerating, Hyoudou-kun. It's not that bad. I'll even show you."
Wait, did he mean to show him right now?
Issei felt the blood start to leave his face as he glanced left and right through the halls, sure enough there were a couple of girls that were looking in their direction. Some with annoyance towards him, some with reverence towards Kiba and more than a couple just looked a little weird. Like they were really close to blushing.
He turned back to Kiba and waved his hands down. "A-actually, you really don't have to-"
"Nonsense." Kiba shook his head from side to side, then dropped down to his knees and fell backwards. Issei felt the urge to collapse into the ground when Kiba folded his legs and rested them behind his head, looking like some sort of pretzel.
Sure, it might have been an impressive display of flexibility but what he didn't need was a demonstration right in front of him where Kiba folded himself like a chair. His shoulders dropped at the innocent smile that Kiba showed him, the teen pulled his arms to the side as though to show off, then pulled his legs back around and gracefully rose back up. Rolling his shoulders a couple of times and then clapping his hands together.
"See? Easy."
Yeah, he saw alright. Maybe he had just misunderstood everything and this guy was just some sort of himbo idiot or something. He really wouldn't be surprised, but then everyone knew that Kiba had some of the better grades amongst the boys, so he really couldn't believe that he didn't do this on purpose. "Yeah, whatever. Point is, I can't do all of this right off the bat. Try and give me something a little more reasonable than this…"
A sigh from the teenager, then a nod of the head. "I suppose it might have been a difference between us. I was much younger when I went through this training regime and, to tell you the truth, it was quite a while until I was able to actually complete all of it."
He blinked at the teen, then frowned as the statement registered with him, his hands fell to his hips as he looked them up and down before he waved a hand. "Hang on a second here, if it took you ages to actually complete it then why are you giving me this without any context. This is damn near impossible for me to do right off the bat…aren't you supposed to start small and build up or something? Isn't that how exercise is supposed to work?"
A shrug from the teen across from him, a carefree look on his face. "Perhaps, but my teacher told me that it was better to have a single goal you could remain utterly focused on rather than a series of smaller goals to distract your mind." he paused, a thoughtful look coming upon his face as he cupped his chin. "Actually, I suppose that your method makes a bit of sense. That way you can see all of your progress, can't you? Maybe…I can give it another look if that makes you feel better-"
He brought up the flat of his hand, cutting them off and keeping his lips thin. It sounded as though they were being an ass about it or something. Taking the paper close to himself he folded it up and then slipped it into his blazer pocket, matching eyes with the blonde and keeping his expression flat. "I'll do the damn thing, just…you did it so I'll do it as well. As long as it works or whatever…"
Kiba frowned. "If you're sure, but the whole point of exercise is to better yourself, not to wound yourself-"
"I asked for it and I'll do it." He grumbled back as he finished stuffing the training regime into his pocket.
Silence from the blonde, if they tried to argue with him further then Issei was pretty sure he might end up getting angry. He was committed to this and he was going to see it through, he'd already been expecting something absurd when he asked this handsome bastard for help so really, he wasn't as surprised as he figured he would have been.
As he spared another glance down the halls, he frowned as the girls continued their stares but there were an awful lot more red faces than he had seen previously, he didn't quite like the look he was seeing in any of them. As though there was something they had seen that was deeply pleasing to them. Well, he had been seconds away from imploding from the weight of embarrassment from this guy trying to turn himself into a ball, so they might have been laughing at his clear discomfort.
With a shake of the head, he turned to see Kiba glancing down towards the girls with an indiscernible look on his face. It lasted for a couple of seconds before he turned his back to them and leaned closer to him, dropping his voice into a whisper. "It just now occurs to me that perhaps I should have saved this for a later date…"
"Most girls follow you right up until they get kicked out the damn school." He tried to keep too much of his jealousy out of his voice, though he didn't know how much he succeeded with. Kiba didn't react to it so it was probably alright. "Doesn't matter what time you gave me this…that and I guess I would rather not do this in front of Buchou." he felt the weight of the stare from his fellow Devil even if he wasn't looking at them. "Want to surprise her, I guess? I don't know…not sure why I'm even telling you this."
"I understand your desire, Hyoudou-san." Rather than anything negative or cheesy, Kiba's voice contained a faint trace of something he couldn't quite place. If he were to hazard a guess he would say it was understanding, but the idea of empathising with this guy was all but laughable. "Though I'm sure that while she would appreciate it, Buchou would more than likely be pleased with any amount of progress you have put into it."
A brief moment of silence, then a ghost of a frown. "She would also likely say the same and try to warn you away from training yourself too hard."
That was easy for this guy to say, he had spent the rating game running around at like two hundred miles an hour and swinging a sword around like he was some sort of Jedi. Chucking icicles at people and swinging his meat cleaver of a sword and weirdo lance blade or whatever they were called. Point being, Kiba actually knew what he was doing.
He'd been flying around on the seat of his pants.
He'd also gotten his ass beat on several occasions and he knew full well that had it not been for Mrs Archaman and her wide collection of amazing - yet disturbingly dangerous - gadgets which she had given to them, then he wasn't sure they would have been able to win. That was probably the worst part about it, he wasn't sure if that was him or if the others felt the same way. It was impossible to tell and the idea of bringing it up with them sat in his gut like a lead weight.
"Kiba-san! Issei-san!"
A light voice cutting through the hallway, he felt his own sour mood banish within an instant and a smile take its place, turning towards the direction of the voice and bringing his hand up, only to feel his good cheer start to fade as he caught sight of who was actually with the approaching beacon of light, if there was one person who actually shouldn't have been around Asia, it was definitely this one.
Brown pigtail bangs, golden yellow eyes which promised mischief magnified slightly with a pair of glasses, the pervert who made even him uncomfortable with her extent, she walked side by side with Asia while wearing a grin which didn't match her personality in the least, it was much too innocent for someone like her. Though he kept up his smile, waving to Asia while keeping his eyes on the girl at her side.
"Well, well, well…" Aika Kiryuu all but slurred as she came to a halt next to them, cupping her chin and glancing between himself and Kiba a couple of times, he could tell right off the bat that she was thinking something that would probably make him feel sick, but he kept himself polite if only for the sake of Asia. "I didn't think that you would be meeting with Kiba-san like this, Issei. Almost as though there was something in the air? Did me and poor Asia interrupt something?"
Pushing her glasses up to reflect the light, the insinuation was clear as day to him.
"...I'm going to be the bigger man-"
"Feeling self-confident today, are we?" Aika interrupted him, all while her eyes flickered downwards to below the belt, he instantly turned from her and rolled his lips inwards to keep in the very poignant remark he wanted to make to the girl for what was clearly an abuse of her weird natural talents.
Asia just looked rather confused as she stared between the two of them, he was worried she was going to ask before eventually she shook her head from side to side and then faced him once more. "You left early to go and speak with Kiba-san, Issei-san. Were you able to get what you needed from him?"
"Must have been a quickie."
"Stop talking about that right next to her." He pointed at Aika, giving her a warning look while frowning, then turned towards Asia and nodded his head to her question, folding his arms once more and exhaling. His mind briefly returned to the knowledge of the hell that he was about to be put through because of this little favour. Still, as long as he kept up hope it would work out in the end. "And yes, I just needed to talk to him about something quickly before we went off to club…what about you? I don't think Buchou needed you today. Aren't you going to head back with Roman-sensei?"
Asia shook her head from side to side. "Roman said it was alright for me to stay after school, Leona was going to pick me up from the club when everything was done." she paused for a moment before she continued on. "That was after I said he didn't have to stay extra for me, but he was very insistent about it."
Aika just shrugged. "That just sounds like Archaman-sensei being his usual self though. He's always been worried about something and that was before he had you in the mix…" she exhaled, then threw her head back and stared at the ceiling, a look of sorrow crossing her features. "To think that one day, poor Archaman-sensei will have to face the awkward questions of the birds and the bees from you-"
"For the love of-!" Issei slapped a hand over his face, dragging it down and groaning into his palm as he did so. This girl just never knew when to stop. "You just never quit, do you?"
A raised eyebrow. "Why would I do that?"
He opened his mouth to reply, then caught himself at the last second and closed it again. He couldn't really argue for her to stop without coming across like a hypocrite, instead he moved to cup his chin and rubbed it a couple of times, then locked eyes with the girl and jerked his head to the side.
She caught the message, looking a touch bemused for a moment before she followed on after him and parted from the other two, leaving Asia and Kiba alone to speak with each other or something.
"I don't really care if you make these sorts of remarks around me and the guys because we're pretty used to it by now, but Asia is-"
"You do remember that one of the first things that happened when she joined was that all the girls took her to one side for the express purpose of giving warnings about you, right?" Aika cut him off with a raised eyebrow.
Of course he knew that would be one of the first things they did, but that was beside the point.
"I figured, but she-"
"And she's still coming to hang out with you every single day since then." She cut him off again, this time wearing a much more teasing look on her face, placing her hands on her hips and leaning forwards, prompting him to move in the opposite direction while scrunching up his expression. "Besides, at her age she should really get a full course into learning all of this stuff. Consider it more of a public service for later on down the road…if she wants to be your friend, then I guarantee she's going to have to put up with more than a vaguely lewd comment from me."
"...Vaguely?"
A scoff. "You don't honestly think I would use up all my best work on you guys, do you?"
Clicking his tongue, he turned from her and folded his arms sharply over his chest, glowering at the wall all while she was sending him a rather smug look. "I hate it when you act all clever, you know that, right?"
"Jealous?"
"Not really, just annoyed. Really annoyed." He grumbled, turning back to the others and stepping towards the pair once more, they didn't look like they had actually spoken all that much between one another, just stood there in silence. "Yeah, if we're going to head off to do some club work then we should probably get going now, everyone else will be heading back home and stuff."
Kiba nodded his head once, turning around and walking away, he and Asia followed on after.
Naturally, they didn't get more than a couple of feet before Aika decided to open up her mouth once again and make a comment towards them, her voice echoing through the halls. "If you're looking into occult stuff, Asia. Make sure to watch out for aphrodisiacs!"
He stopped, then shot a half-lidded look over his shoulder towards the girl.
Aika just gave another innocent smile before swerving on her heel and heading back the way she came.
He really did not like that girl.
"I'm glad that you and Aika-san are just good friends, Issei-san!" The innocent voice of Asia had him jolt, turning to her and being met with a beaming expression. His eyes lingered on her, then glanced towards the direction of Kiba. If he didn't know better, he would say that the blonde was enjoying this, if the rolled lips and the eyes pointedly staring at the ceiling were any indication.
"...Yeah." His gaze shifted back to Asia, his lips pulling into a very tight and very strained smile. "Can't get enough of her personality. Really just…never an end to it." he mumbled the last bit, walking in the direction of Kiba and sending a sour look to them, one that they ended up ignoring.
He rounded a corner and very nearly walked face first into the back of some brunette hair, stumbling backwards as the smell of fresh fruit assaulted his senses, or not so much assault as flooded them, it was like he'd been sprayed in the face with perfume. Swiftly turning to the side and bringing up a hand, coughing into his fist a couple of times and moving away from the individual.
"Well. That's certainly one way of complimenting me on my shampoo."
A flat voice gave him pause, with his hand still covering his nose he turned towards the individual and blinked as he found himself staring at the face of Leona Archaman, the woman had her arms placed on her hips, single brow raised and a rather dull look on her face as she scanned him up and down, then looked towards the person she was stood next to and shrugged. "Quite the powerful statement, I would say."
"I'm not so sure." Akeno hummed, a smile dancing across her face as she looked close to bursting into laughter. "I would say that it was a rather…memorable encounter."
"Hmmm."
"Leona?" Asia rounded the corner at that moment, clearly having heard the voice and staring at the woman with wide eyes, then quickly regained her composure and tilted her head. "Is something the matter? Roman said you would only come to pick me up when I stayed for the club activities."
Mrs Archman waved her hand, shaking her head as she did so. "Nothing like that today, Asia. I'm only here on business for the club, helping out with after school activities and the like. Whether I'm staying until the club actually ends…" she trailed off, shrugging her shoulders as she did so. "Who can say? Depends on what you're all doing. Miss Gremory wasn't all that specific in her wording beyond 'come to the school as quickly as I could'."
A pout crossed the features of the brunette. "I didn't even get time to pop in and say hello to Romani…I had the perfect little trick to play on him and all." there was a sly look on her face that would have been better on the face of Aika, maybe he was starting to overthink who was the actual danger to Asia's innocence.
Akeno chuckled under her breath, looking at the woman with a raised eyebrow and a teasing smile. "Perhaps the urge to check someone's temperature?"
"Maybe~" The brunette all but sang, clearing her throat and then batting down her overcoat. "Though perhaps not the best place to be discussing this and certainly not the right sort of crowd, getting Roman in trouble over a couple of comments would be a little awkward. I suppose you were all heading off towards the club as well then, were you?"
"We were indeed." Kiba replied to her with a tilt of the head. "Am I right in assuming that you would be ready to join us?"
A hum of amusement from Leona. "You would indeed. I trust that everything else has been going rather well since you all got back from your holiday?"
Holiday?
Oh, right, they were speaking in code.
Probably couldn't start bringing up Devil terminology in the middle of a school hall without looking like weirdos or idiots. Well, he would probably look like that, everyone else would probably be able to get away with it on account of being pretty or handsome in the case of the blonde bastard over there.
"I think it's been going alright?" He shrugged his shoulders, he wasn't sure what everyone else was doing but he thought that things were going pretty well at the moment. "Buchou seems to be a lot happier now, not sure if that's just me imagining all of it though…"
Akeno hummed, shooting him a small smile. "You're not wrong there, Issei-kun. Buchou has been worrying about this little thing for quite a while, she's relieved that she no longer has to have it looming over her head. But that is all in the past now, though bringing it up again will likely just be a source of pride for her now…and some rather comedic moments."
Placing a finger on her chin, she tilted her head to the side and looked thoughtful for a moment. "I believe she was attempting to see if she could get a particular moment of the little event framed, a rather comedic scene involving a certain 'fried chicken' , an electrified rope and a…what was it you called it again?"
Leona sported a rather wide and rather proud looking smile. "Blessed slime ball."
That had been one of the weirdest things he had ever gone through in his life, running around and throwing slime balls at people which - it turned out - were actually using Holy Water as a component within them. He didn't know how that was allowed, something to do with Leona being a genuine source or whatever. Or that match wasn't all that official or something along those lines. He didn't know and he didn't really care, it had been rather funny.
He raised his hand. "Would that be when he slipped over and got his leg caught and then fell face first into the slime?"
Akeno's smile was answer enough for him at the time.
A smile of his own bubbled to the surface, bringing a hand up to cover his mouth before he actually started to laugh like an idiot. It was one of the more comical scenes of the entire affair, that and Asia throwing out an electric net to trap that one exploding woman, that had been another crowning achievement for him. Asia had looked particularly happy to have contributed but less happy with the pain.
Akeno had just spent most of the time pointing and laughing.
Humming to himself to try and quell the laughter, he continued on with his walk alongside the group. A silence set in not long after they finished, it was a short walk towards the club house and he would not call it awkward as much as it was just a bit ominous, for whatever reason he could feel as though there was something off about today. A gut feeling that didn't go away and he wasn't sure why, his left arm itched a little just around the back of his hand.
"How much have you been practising with your Sacred Gear?" He very nearly jumped when the sudden voice of Mrs Archaman rang through his head, snapping his eyes onto the back of her hair and staring at her. She continued on before he had a chance to question what she meant. "I went through the courtesy of giving the little rating game a look and saw what you did, certainly an interesting little spell you came up with but that's just the tip of the iceberg, really. You looked a little off with your Sacred Gear."
Was it really that obvious?
He felt a bit like an idiot now.
"I've been…working on it."
A hum from the woman ahead of him, though she didn't say anything for a couple of seconds. Then she spoke up once again. "I'm sure I could whip up some crash test dummies if you really needed the help. Give them a little upgrade and make sure they can punch back, should work out fine."
That…that didn't sound like that bad an idea, if he was being honest, though he wasn't sure how that would help with his Sacred Gear.
She turned and looked over her shoulder, meeting his eyes and then raising a brow. "You're probably wondering what that has to do with your Sacred Gear." he really needed to know how she kept doing that, because if she was reading his mind then he would really rather that she didn't. "And the simple fact is that a Sacred Gear responds to the user's will, with a Sacred Gear like that one there…it would need an awful lot of will. Basically, it's one of those things that just gets better the more you punch things. Physical and mental strength."
"You seem rather knowledgeable in relation to the Red Dragon Emperor." Kiba spoke up after a moment, his voice more intrigued than anything else, head tilted and eyebrow raised. Mrs Archaman met his stare with a smile before she turned back around and brought her shoulders up and down. "For that matter, your knowledge of Sacred Gears seems rather intimate, have you encountered them before?"
"Once or twice, never a Longinus though." She admitted almost immediately, not even hesitating. "Can't blame me though, hearing about a Sacred Gear - divine constructs which get handed out with a flip of a coin - chances are you're more likely to run into one than not. Especially since they all seem to congregate around the same sort of people."
Akeno hummed. "The type who seek your services?"
"Bingo." Mrs Archaman snapped her fingers and pointed in the direction of Akeno, returning her hands to her pockets a moment later. "Yep, I've encountered a couple of simple - well, as simple as you really get - Sacred Gears in the past and got down some notes and observations on them. The end result is more or less the same, the foundation is based upon mental strength. Almost like using specialised magic. Simple, really. You just require a clear focus of what you want and then…"
She trailed off, shrugging her shoulders.
Issei, meanwhile, was furrowing his brows as he followed the conversation along as best that he could. A lot of what she was saying did register with him, mainly that it was linked to his mental strength and his physical strength as well. Bringing up a single finger, he made a small noise. "So basically what you're saying is that I just need to do more of the same that we did in the training camp before the rating game?"
"If your training camp involved a lot of physical activities and exercise, then yes. More of that."
That seemed…really simple.
Surprisingly simple.
He liked that. Simple was good.
Well, if it was just more of the same then it seemed as though Kiba's training regime from Hell - which might have been rather more literal than he intended it to be - was actually the way to go. His eyes narrowed and he turned his head in the direction of the blonde, squinting at them suspiciously for any sign of the fact they already knew this. The lack of questioning meant they did, which meant that was precisely why he handed him all this in the first place.
But he didn't tell him any of it.
Well…he might not have listened but that was neither here nor there.
Shaking his head, he realised that they had already entered the old school building and he hadn't even noticed it happen, though he realised that they had yet to be joined by Koneko, which meant she was either in there already or she was behind them or something. He leaned towards the former rather than the latter.
Actually, speaking of which.
"Anyone think they know why we're all going?"
"Probably for a meeting."
He fought back the urge to say 'no shit' to Kiba, instead settling for a dull look aimed at the side of his head which he either didn't notice or didn't care about. Either way, the lack of a reaction annoyed him as well. With a shake of the head, he turned his focus back to the front as they approached the doors to the club room. "I figured that would be the case, but I'd like to think we're going to walk in and get news we're all heading to a party or something."
It was Asia who sent him the strange look. "But…didn't we just come back from a party, Issei?"
"I believe you rode away on a Griffin as well." Kiba pretended to look thoughtful as he spoke, Issei flattened his features and looked at the blonde once more, the faint smile budding on their face was proof that he was trying to tease him or be clever, either way, he really didn't appreciate it when he was trying to get an honest answer.
"Well, why bother guessing and risk spoiling the surprise?" Mrs Archaman asked as she moved ahead of everyone, coming up on the door and then pressing her hand against the handle, she turned her head and sent them all a wide smile. "Especially when they are the spice of life!" with a sharp twist, she turned then handle and flung the door open, strutting into the room like she owned the place.
He hummed to himself and then stepped inside after her, soon followed by everyone else, right up until he took notice of who was actually in the room. Buchou was by her desk, Koneko had assumed her little spot on the sofa but there was a third figure in the room who he might have seen before, he thought back to the start of the Rating game, they might have been in the crowd.
A fairly tall man, shaggy white hair which reached his shoulders and pale skin, a large black fur coat hung off his body, beneath it was a navy blue suit which looked as though it was a century out of date, very old european. Baggy black trousers and leather boots up to his knees, a brass coloured embroidered metal disk just beneath both of the knees.
The man made eye contact with him, he was almost rooted on the spot the mere moment he looked into the hazel orbs of the man, they were unspeakably cold. Like the man before him didn't have an ounce of warmth inside of him, they turned to face him fully and stepped away from Buchou's desk, their footsteps bouncing off the walls as they moved closer and closer until finally coming to a halt and staring down.
Never once having torn their eyes from him.
The man was scowling, lips pulled down in a look that was almost disdainful in ways he was used to, and yet this was beyond that. It was as though the man was staring at nothing and they hadn't even exchanged a single word, rather unnerving to say the least. A tilt of the head and the eyes narrowed just a touch, a noise rippled out from the throat of the man as his focus moved away from him and towards someone else.
"Yuuto."
"Teacher."
Issei blinked twice, then whipped his head in the direction of the two of them so swiftly that he almost gave himself whiplash. He'd heard them correctly, he knew he did, and the bow of the head which Kiba was showing cemented the deal. This person was the handsome bastards teacher.
Neither master nor pupil exchanged further words for a moment, then the taller man spoke once more, his voice like ice. "I saw your display in the rating game."
"...I see."
"...You did well." A moment of silence passed, then he spoke again with his unchanging voice which had him suppress a shudder. "You relied too heavily on distractions to win. Your sword is still heavy…A shame. Your skill has developed."
Kiba's expression was difficult to place, it looked conflicted for a ghost of a moment before it evened out. "I understand, Teacher. I will work on it."
"...If you say so."
And like that, they were moving away from Kiba and then towards Asia and levelling her with the same piercing stare. He scooted a little closer to her on pure instinct, though the way the eyes of the man flickered to him for the briefest of moments, it was clear it didn't go unnoticed. Once again, it was like someone had turned the air conditioning on in the room. A faint chill the second they looked at the other.
"...Lady Rias new Bishop." The man spoke in the same slow and quiet tone of voice. "Asia Argento, former follower of the Church…your eyes…" the man muttered, leaning closer towards her and tilting his head to the side. Asia remained still as the man looked her over, then slowly the man retreated, only saying. "Still warmth in them."
He spared Akeno a single nod, which she reciprocated, before he finally came to a stop in front of Mrs Archaman, the two of them stared at the other, neither one of them looked as though they reacted to gazing at the other. He wasn't sure how she was able to do that, especially because just being near the man was unnerving for him, yet she was giving him an unblinking stare and didn't even look bothered.
"...Universal Genius." It took him a second to realise the man had spoken in Italian, something like comprehension in his voice as he stared at the woman, a faint noise like a hum once more, then he turned around and directed his attention towards Buchou "It would seem as though you have your brother's luck, Lady Rias. Competent allies surround you easily."
Buchou smiled, a clear note of pride in her eyes as she nodded her head. "My brothers luck or not, they are my peerage. I would be surprised if you did not find them to be the best I could possibly gather…" pausing for a moment, then bringing up her hand and gesturing towards the direction of Mrs Archaman. "And those who offer their services to us deserve some of the credit as well."
The man hummed. "I am familiar with her work. I recognised it."
"Oh?~" Mrs Archaman suddenly sounded very interested, leaning on one side and smiling. "Does this mean I've met another of my great fans? It's fine to admit it, you can see the quality in all my works, can't you?"
"...Not my style." The man replied after a moment, sounding utterly unmoved. "But they are well made. I can sense their warmth."
A huff from the woman. "Naturally, what sort of creator doesn't put their heart and soul into everything they create?"
The guy didn't so much as even blink before he turned his back on Mrs Archaman and strode away, not even a single sound escaped him as he walked back towards the desk of Buchou and then came to a halt, he leaned forwards and whispered in a voice so low that not even his ears could pick up what he was saying. Nor could he actually see the reaction of Buchou, with the man fully obscuring her from view.
"I trust them implicitly."
She said the words loud enough that he could hear them.
A jerk from behind him, he turned around and stepped to the side as Shitori-Kaichou - or just Sitri-Kaichou - strode into the room and abruptly stopped walking the second she caught sight of the back of the man. The expression she made was rather complicated for a half second before it faded away as though nothing at all had happened. Soon followed by the rest of the student council working their way through the door to the point where they were all in the room.
Now he was getting a little worried, if it was just the rest of the peerage then he could probably assume it would be some sort of in order problem, but at the moment this was just giving him bad vibes all over. He was now worrying about whether or not he was going to have Roman-sensei dragging him aside to tell him about visions of the future again, he felt sick just thinking about it.
Ghost hair turned around and spared a glance towards the president. "Punctual. As expected."
"I pride myself upon that." Kaichou replied rather swiftly, he might have even called her a touch nervous. "Would it be forward of me to ask if you are the one responsible for the entire student council being called away?"
"I am." He turned around, facing them all once more and keeping his eyes firmly locked onto the student council president. "It is a matter which concerns all of you, therefore it is prudent you are all made aware at the same time. I am acting on the authority of both Lord Lucifer and Lady Leviathan."
"...I see." The expression on Kaichou's face tightened, she glanced briefly to the side and the vice president for a moment before her eyes returned to the man. "In that case, I shall defer all questions until you have finished. Lord Vlov."
Vlov?
What the heck sort of name was Vlov?
"Hmmm." With only a light hum, the man turned himself to them once more. "I shall introduce myself to those who do not know me. I am Vlov. Knight of Lord Sirzechs Lucifer." he bowed himself rather gracefully, a practised motion that he looked comfortable with, it also explained why exactly he had seen the guy before. If he was part of the peerage of Buchou's brother, then it would have made sense.
The fact this guy wasn't dressed up like a butler was a bit of a surprise though, he didn't want to be rude but with the whole ordeal with Grayfia, he was a little puzzled and slightly curious if Lucifer-sama just had a theme or something when it came to Servants. They did say it was a personal choice, but one could never be sure. This guy certainly had the ice cold look of Grayfia, that was for sure. So maybe Lucifer-sama just had a type or something.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Lord Vlov." Asia cut through his thoughts, taking a step around him and giving a polite bow of the head as she clasped her hands together, bringing her head up and flashing another of her winning smiles towards the man. "I am Asia Argento, Bishop of Lady Gremory."
The guy didn't so much as blink.
Now he was just getting creepy, had the guy even blinked since he came into the room.
The eyes moved towards him, he froze for a brief second before clearing his throat and bringing his hand up in a faint wave. "Y-yo. Hyoudou Issei, I'm Buchou's pawn."
Those hazel coloured orbs narrowed just a touch, it felt like he was getting judged and found wanting, the way they moved up and down for a couple of seconds in a slow and deliberate fashion made him feel like he was getting sized up like a slab of meat, and not in the nice sort of way. Like someone was picking up the best sort of meat to give to their dog or something. When the gaze eventually left him, his shoulders slumped and he let out a faint breath.
"You already know who I am." Mrs Archaman just shrugged her shoulders, tilting her head to the side. "And I didn't think I had a fan in such high places either? I wonder just how famous I'm going to get after the Rating Game…I do make more than gadgets that explode, in case you were curious. I made a rather nice fire-proof cape once."
That got the man to pause, then turn towards her with an almost befuddled expression for a half second before it vanished. "I see."
…Guess that was that then.
"If you're done scaring my peerage, Vlov." Buchou called out with a slightly exasperated tone of voice, though it still sounded rather playful. Then again, those two probably had a history with one another if he was part of her brother's peerage. Actually, were there any more at the Rating game that he hadn't met? Would he end up meeting them all? And was this guy here about the whole rating game in the first place? He didn't think he'd done anything wrong…now he was feeling a little self-conscious.
"They would do well to be scared." The cold and blunt remark did nothing to reassure him of any of his worries. He was feeling much more worried than he was a couple of minutes ago before he knew this guy even existed. "And if they are smart, that fear might keep them alive for what comes next."
He reached into his inner pocket and then pulled something out, a piece of laminated paper with a picture printed on it, though he couldn't see very well from the distance he was at. It became much easier when the man placed it on the desk of Buchou and then stepped away, continuing to speak as he did so. "This was taken earlier today from security cameras. It is the reason for my abrupt visit…Lord Lucifer would have come himself if it were possible, but he was convinced that his presence would cause undue tension."
Buchou froze, her head snapped towards Vlov and she all but gaped at him. "W-what? Onii-sama was going to-that's-"
She moved around the desk towards the photograph, picking it up and then giving it a once over, a second later she put it down and turned on Vlov with a rather irritable look on her face. Keeping her eyes on him as she walked across the length of the room and towards them, once she was close enough she placed the photograph in the hands of the closest person, who happened to be Kiba, and then turned on the ghost looking man once more.
"This is absurd. It's a few exorcists." She cut herself off, then straightened herself out. "I understand that Lord Lucifer is concerned about the presence of these exorcists, but I am capable of protecting myself as I believe I have demonstrated in the past. My peerage is equally capable as was proven in the Rating game which you were present for."
Kiba handed the photo to him, it was a little blurry but he could make out three people who stood out like sore thumbs in it. Namely because they were all dressed up like nuns, he raised a brow at their attire but kept his thoughts to himself. Staring first at the girl with twintails who he could have sworn looked familiar, then his eyes turned to the one beside her with light blue hair and a lick of green through it.
Did the Church let people get away with that? It just seemed weird to him, he just imagined them being more strict than around this school when it came to personal appearance.
Then his eyes landed on the figure at the front, he pursed his lips and nodded his head up and down. She certainly was quite the attractive individual, short blue hair which just extended to her chin, rather sharp features and something about her posture which made her seem rather tall. It was like the blue haired girl behind her, but she just pulled it off better. Like she had more experience.
He passed the photo along.
Vlov remained silent during Buchou's outburst until she had finished.
"Two of those we have little knowledge of, the ones behind the leader have little to no encounters with known families." He explained after a moment of silence. "Their experience can be ranked as freshly minted exorcists, though we are assuming them both to be prodigies or otherwise well trained."
He raised his hand, the eyes of the man flickered to him. "Hi, right so…why are we assuming this?"
"Because of the woman in front, who we have extensive knowledge of." Vlov remarked after a moment, then he straightened himself out completely, his expression twitched for only a moment, like he was building himself up to something. "...She is a known Burial Agent."
It felt like all the warmth had been sucked from the room.
His eyes flickered around.
The expressions on the face of everyone had turned to nothing, each wearing a look of a deer in the headlights of a car, they turned towards Mrs Archaman who was staring at Vlov with wide eyes, the photo held loosely in her hands before she even got the chance to speak.
"That is why I am here. Because until she leaves, until they accomplish whatever it is they are here for…" Vlov exhaled. "...Your lives are all in great danger."
He felt like he missed a memo.
"T-t-that can't be…th-there must be some…" Buchou's voice trembled, his eyes snapped towards her as she stood, then he noticed her shoulders shaking, rising up and down. Her breathing became more audible as she visibly staggered away. "Tha-there can't be a-w-why would one of them be-why would-sh-she can't be-"
"There is no mistake."
It was like those words visibly struck her, she fell backwards, he had moved before he even realised it and caught her by the shoulders, keeping her upright and stopping her from falling over. His brows narrowed as he finally got a good look at her face, her eyes were clouded and her lips parted, breathing rather erratically as she turned side on, her hand gripping his shirt and squeezing tight enough that he could hear the fabric start to protest.
He grit his teeth, then stared at the man. "What the heck is a Burial Agent? Some sort of super exorcist?"
"No, Issei…" He paused, then slowly turned his head in the direction of Asia, the young blonde looked more terrified than he had ever seen her before, reaching forwards and all but snatching the photo from the hands of the next person to have held it, her eyes snapping onto it and staring for what felt like years before she lowered it back down. "T-the Church is…You always heard about Burial Agents, we all did but we never…we never saw one they are…Father Dawn always said that they were the best killers the Church ever had. The type who would be deployed against the gravest of threats…or hereti-"
She cut herself short, her skin turned ashen white and her entire posture loosened, her mouth opened and closed several times. Bringing her hands up, she stared at her own trembling fingers before she stepped away from him, turning them over back and forth before a faint wheezing sound escaped her throat.
She was scared, no, she was petrified, like she couldn't breath.
Stumbling backwards, the girl made a gasping sound as she turned away from him and fell to the side, it was only Mrs Archaman catching her and bringing her close that stopped her falling, looking close to crushing the girl with the same mortified unblinking stare on her face.
A second later, Asia's body went limp in the arms of the brunette.
She'd fainted.
He could only stare at this, his brain unable to catch up with what was happening.
What was…why was everyone acting-
"You fail to comprehend the gravity of this situation." His head snapped back to the guy who started all of this in the first place, the cold eyes bore into him with an intensity like never before. "That single Burial Agent, by herself, would be capable enough of turning this entire town into nothing but rubble within the span of a single evening. Each and every single one of them is deployed only when the Church requires an absolute certainty of victory."
There was a brief moment of silence, then he spoke again. "...Even I would not be able to defeat her. It would require fielding the likes of Lord Lucifer or Lady Leviathan herself to be confident of victory and that was deemed a scenario much too dangerous to entertain." he fell silent for a moment, then carried on. "That is why I am here. Because if that Burial Agent is here for a single reason, one that the Church is completely focused on achieving…And if she decides that you are standing in the way of that objective, then you will die."
The finality with which he spoke, the confidence that he delivered those words.
…He really believed him.
"S-so…so what now?"
Vlov looked away from him and towards Buchou for a half second. When he spoke the next words, there was not an ounce of humour in them, instead there was utmost seriousness. A dread in the man's eyes that could not be mistaken for anything other than thinly veiled terror.
Ah.
He was scared as well.
"Ironic as it might be…your best option would be to pray that she is not here for you and if she is…then it would be hope that it is a swift end."
