Ok, first of all, merry Christmas and happy new year everyone! May this 2023 be better for all of us. Upon publication of the last chapter this story received more favourites and followers than I expected, I'm glad you're enjoying it and I hope you can appreciate it as it progresses!
Jlee112198: Hey! Thank you man! I appreciate it!
ArguableReader: Nah, I'm not deleting any review otherwise I wouldn't ask to leave one in basically any chapter. You're of course free to leave any kind of review, I'll gladly accept it. If it still gives you the same issue, maybe you can try to write it and send it again, otherwise I don't know lol... anyway yup, I know it's also Sona's territory, but there's a reason I haven't included her in the last chapter. About Lullaby's defeat, well, it's actually one of the weakest demons out there, but I never specified if it was completely killed or not ;). And yeah, I know about that, I've been looking at the DxD fandom more closely recently, on this site in particular, and as far as I could see, there are strong pro and anti Rias parties mostly because of how Issei was turned into a Devil without his knowledge nor his will, but accepted it without a problem because of his pervertness. If you ask me, that was pretty much of a cheap shot on Rias's part since there was no way she couldn't know that someone from the enemy faction was in her and Sona's territory. To be frank, I'm not a fan of any of the main characters, especially Rias and Akeno, the latter is even more "meh" than the previous in my opinion, not only her reasons to hate her father are stupid and childish, but her annoying and messed up personality makes her even less tolerable. I honestly have no idea what most of DxD's fanbase sees in her. She is nothing but a hypocritical coward who, instead of facing her own past problems, hides behind a false facade and prejudices towards an entire species. At least Koneko's fear for her sister and her powers is somewhat backed up since Kuroka is indeed an SS class Stray Devil, and a very dangerous one to boot. But yeah, that's one of the main reasons why I dislike the two "Great Ladies of Kuoh".
Hyaenodon: Yep. I'm planning for the Hero Faction to show up earlier in this story, you'll see.
And that's it, let's start with this, shall we?
-The following morning –
/Crime Sorcière residence, Kuoh Town/
The sun was rising well into the skies of Kuoh Town. The day was beginning, people were going about their usual activities and students were well-prepared to begin another week of pain and suffering at school. The first rays of the rising sun fell on a certain building. Inside his room, the Poison Dragon Slayer yawned tiredly while the morning's sunlight pierced through his window. Erik opened his one eye he could see in order to check the time. The clock read 9 a.m. exactly.
'Huh. Slept less than expected.' He thought while scratching his hair.
Erik shook his head while getting out of his bed, tended his hygiene and dressed himself up. Exiting his room, he could hear his guildmates still asleep. Frankly, he was never a heavy sleeper, unlike Macbeth who loved to snore more than he needed to most of the time. Seriously whenever they weren't concerned with missions or job requests, he was usually the last to wake up and took a helluva long time to do so. However, he could not hold it against him or Jellal, after all yesterday they all nearly pulled an all-nighter due to the Shamsiel and Lullaby's small issue to be dealt with. Anyway, his thoughts were interrupted by an inviting smell from downstairs.
'Smells like syrup and flour. Wonder what this is.' Erik thought as he sniffed the air.
As he made it to the living room downstairs, he saw something he would never expect in hundred years. Raynare was there, finishing to set the table for breakfast. What was she doing there? Well, after the Shamsiel fiasco and the fact that a certain church got nearly destroyed, Crime Sorcière had offered the ravenette beauty a place to sleep in their residence for the night, since they had an extra room. Raynare was about to decline, but on second thought, she considered she could use a cosy place to sleep, and this house looked a lot better than the place she was staying, so she ended taking up the offer.
As the Dragon Slayer got closer, he saw that there was no need to prepare breakfast, the table was nearly already set: four mugs filled with cappuccino at their respective places, a plate with stack of pancakes, and two dishes with waffles with syrup on them. The food almost looked like it came from a five-star hotel, which surprised the Dragon Slayer even further. Glancing at Raynare, he noticed she was dressed in the same outfit as yesterday.
"Morning raven lady." Erik waved at her getting her attention.
Raynare eyed him back with a frowned look on her face, and here she thought he'd start to address her properly. "Would it kill you to call me by my actual name for once?" She questioned with a pout.
Erik shrugged in response as he barely held back a smirk. But he soon dismissed it as he took his time to look at the table set for breakfast. "You actually cooked all of that?" He asked genuinely surprised by it.
Raynare slightly shook her head before replying. "Well yeah, I did. I figured it was a proper way to repay you guys for saving my neck. Even though you said keeping your secret was enough in return." She explained.
Erik wasn't sure of what to say, as far as he knew it was quite rare to see a Fallen Angel acting with genuine kindness, especially in humans' regards. Yet, strangely enough, he couldn't hear any lies coming from her words. "That's… actually really nice of you." Erik admitted in an impressed tone as he eyed the food. "It's not every day you see a Fallen acting sincerely towards humans, much less helping out to save one." He observed.
Raynare tilted her head at his direction, as she was about to respond she took a closer look at him, she noticed that Erik was wearing black sweatpants and a dark tight tank top that showed off his sculpted muscles that blended well with his slender figure. Because of that, her gaze focused on him causing the Dragon Slayer's eyebrows to quirk, not being able to detect it.
"Huh? What's with you?" Erik oddly asked.
"Uh-uhm." Raynare babbled as she slowly snapped out of it. "Y-yeah… I mean." She said trying to recompose herself and dismiss that with a shake of her head. "As I said, you did help me to not get in trouble after all, furthermore Asia was in danger, so…"
"Right, Asia told me you two already got some history." Erik reminded.
"Yeah…" Raynare slowly nodded while looking down at the table.
The Dragon Slayer realised her nervousness and decided not to continue the topic, for now at least. "For real though thanks for the breakfast, Ray." Erik thanked the Fallen Angel with a friendly smirk.
Raynare slightly looked away trying to deny her uneasiness. Him being nice didn't really suit him. "I-it was no problem." She nervously stuttered, slightly embarrassed.
The Dragon Slayer sighed at her attitude. "If you're worried about me prying in your mind, don't. I've already noticed your sincerity." Erik assured in a dismissing tone. "You're fine. For a Fallen Angel that is." He stated sitting down on a chair near the table.
Upon hearing that, the Fallen Angel let out a heavy relieved sigh after she leaned against the countertop. Luckily he refrained from prying into her mind about the last two topics.
"Hey!" Raynare then realised. "What's that supposed to mean?" She indignantly demanded with a pout at that last statement.
Erik couldn't help but smirk amusingly at her in response.
"You know you got a sharp tongue, snake guy." Raynare countered returning his smirk.
"Eh." The Dragon Slayer briefly closed his eye with a tiny smirk. "I've heard way worse than that." Erik then dismissed making Raynare roll her eyes.
"Somewhat I was expecting that." She replied dryly.
The Fallen Angel was amazed at how they had not yet quarrelled, despite the fact he had made a couple of snarky remarks about her appearance. "Oh right, now that I recall." Raynare suddenly remembered as she snapped her fingers, after some silent moments. "Lord Azazel contacted me before, he said he wants you three to meet him in Grigori." She said changing the topic.
"Oh yeah, he said he would give us an updated version of that Sacred Gear he handed us back in Kyoto." Erik said recalling it.
"It's not just that. He also said someone wants to meet you three." Raynare pointed out.
"Ugh…" Erik winced as his eye twitched a bit. "That crow just can't keep his beak shut about us, can he?" He complained.
"Well, that was to be expected." Raynare's words caused him to raise his eyebrows. "I mean, did you really think mages of your calibre would be left undisturbed after what you pulled off in both the Underworld and Kyoto? Even if Azazel and Yasaka were to keep your existence under wraps for a while, it wouldn't take long for the other factions to learn about you as well." She clarified.
Although the Dragon Slayer hated to admit it, the Fallen Angel had a point, he knew it would be a matter of time before the rumour about them expanded into this new world. The fact that they were fully human, possessing enormous strength and without even a Sacred Gear would attract more attention than normal.
"Whatever." Erik chose to disregard that for the time being. "Who is it?" He asked.
"It's Lord Baraqiel." Raynare answered.
"So one more of the big shots of Grigori huh?" The Dragon Slayer wondered.
"That's right." The Fallen Angel nodded. "He's one of its co-founders and well-known for his tremendously powerful lightning magic, which is called Holy Lightning. Very dangerous toward every foe but supereffective against Devils." She explained.
"Sounds interesting." Erik commented. "Seems like he's pretty strong."
"Just interesting?" Raynare questioned with a blank face. "You do know he could roast you in seconds?"
"How about we wait and see if he actually can?" The Dragon Slayer dared smirking in confidence making Raynare roll her eyes. "Anyway, any idea why he wants to meet us?" Erik inquired getting to the point.
The ravenette dismissed the Dragon Slayer's cocky boast to answer the previous question. "Probably to get acquainted with you three." Raynare guessed. "He also said he had something important you may want to hear about. That's it, I don't know more than that, he didn't go much into details." She explained.
"Right…" Erik murmured. Now another problem just crossed his mind. "So how do we… get there? Hope no hellish vehicles are involved… aren't they?" He questioned with a sweat drop. He definitely wouldn't like the answer.
Raynare gave a pensive look as she put her hand under her chin. "Hmm. Normally we're supposed to take a train to get there..." Erik visibly flinched. "Since it wouldn't be allowed to arrive in the Underworld through magic."
Erik started to tremble nervously as he loudly gulped down saliva, which the girl had no trouble noticing.
This time it was Raynare's turn to smirk. "So this motion sickness of yours really is a big deal huh?" She asked rhetorically as her teasing smile widened. "Who knows, I could ask Lord Azazel to get you a train and maybe…" The Fallen Angel continued as she approached and stopped in front of him, she then placed a hand on her hips swinging them a bit.
"Don't… even think about that." Erik mumbled as he tried to hush her, much to the Fallen Angel's amusement.
"Oh? So the mean, intimidating Dragon Slayer is actually too scared to hop on a train for a trip, isn't that right?" Raynare teased as she bent her upper body a bit towards him. "Don't worry though… If you want, I can pick you up like my bride and take you to a honeymoon, so the big-bad train won't get you, what do you say?" She asked with a sly smirk on her face.
Erik was starting to sweat bullets on his forehead which made the Fallen Angel giggle even more. Sure, he could always make use of those pills given to him by Shemhaza, but those medicines helped only temporarily, and who knows how long that 'trip' would take before their effect ended and he started throwing up non-stop.
Eventually, Erik closed his eye as he let out a grunt as a response. Though it wasn't out of annoyance, but rather out of exhaustion. The Fallen Angel was clearly trying to mess with him, which made him scoff at the thought of it. "Hmph, you'll have to try a lot harder than this if you want to hit on me, raven lady. I'm not cheap." He responded as he crossed his arms.
Raynare leaned back correcting her posture. She then placed both her hands on her hips. "You're no fun. I was just teasing, you know?" She said with a light pout.
After shaking that thought off, the Dragon Slayer replied with a smirk of amusement. "Hmph." Erik chuckled.
"Hm? What's so funny?" The ravenette asked while blinking her eyes.
"Nothing, you just kinda remind me of someone else I know." The Dragon Slayer replied.
"Really?" Raynare asked in a curious tone. "A guildmate?"
"Yep." Erik responded with a nod. "Midnight's girlfriend actually."
Raynare made a puzzled expression not seeing that coming. "I didn't know Midnight had a girlfriend. Actually, I thought he wasn't interested in…"
"How many times do I have to tell you she's not my girlfriend." Macbeth made his presence known as he strolled down the stairs to the living room while closing a book he was reading.
"I'm surprised you woke up this early." Erik observed as he looked up at him from his spot. "What? Missing your beloved Sorano so bad that you can't sleep?"
Macbeth supressed a blush with a shake of his head, Erik knew how to touch his nerves when it came to Sorano and his feelings for her. "That was a predictable joke from you, I think you're losing a bit of your touch." The Nightmare Wizard countered.
The Dragon Slayer smirked. "What can I say, I try." he answered his friend.
"But no, it's nothing like you said." Macbeth rejected. "I think I just got tired from sleeping."
"Pretty hard to hear that coming from you." Erik commented.
'Huh? Sorano? Another one of their guild mates, I suppose.' Raynare thought.
"Anyway, where's Jellal?" The Dragon Slayer asked his guildmate. "Breakfast's getting cold."
"Upstairs talking on the phone with Kunou." Macbeth replied as he pointed towards the second floor. "He said we can start without him." The Nightmare Wizard responded. "What about you? Having fun with Raynare here? Seems to me the two of you are getting along much better than yesterday." He joked.
"Guess I'm just gettin' better with people, aren't I?" Erik assumed with a shrug casually.
The Fallen Angel, on the other hand, seemed to take Macbeth's comments a little too literally, as she felt her face lighten up a bit so she decided to break the conversation while walking away.
"Where are you going?" Erik asked looking at her direction.
"To powder my nose." Raynare immediately replied as she hurried herself to the bathroom.
Erik glanced back at Macbeth who only shrugged. His eyes then landed on the all set table.
"Did she actually…"
"Yep."
After a few minutes Raynare returned from the bathroom. Soon Jellal joined the others for breakfast. Breakfast lasted about fifteen minutes, enough for the wizards to taste the treats prepared by the Fallen Angel, Erik in particular was the last person who expected Raynare to be so skilled in the kitchen. In any case, before getting down to business they had some small talk about yesterday's mission.
"Hahahah!" Raynare laughed a little while placing down her cup of cappuccino on the table. "Man, I so wanted to see that little Gremory princess' face when you called her out."
The Dragon Slayer took a big bite out of a large piece of the pancake he had on his plate. "Honestly? It's kinda sad if you ask me." He said.
Raynare stopped giggling as she looked at him while rising an eyebrow. "Why?"
"It's like I said yesterday, she's a disappointment." He answered. "She doesn't look like much besides having a pretty face. I still don't see how you and your cronies were so worried about facing her." Erik wondered with a shrug.
"I agree." Macbeth added in agreement after finishing his pancake. "I'm surprised they're still alive after confronting such a weak Demon like Lullaby."
The raven-haired Fallen Angel tried to speculate what they meant by 'weak', from what they explained to her yesterday, the Etherious in question had far greater strength than an middle-class soldier. But then again the Dragon Slayer did say he wasn't even trying against Shamsiel, so that actually made sense. In any case..."Well, I've known a lot of rumours about Rias Gremory and her peerage for quite some time." Raynare informed. "It's not about whether she's weak or powerful in terms of raw strength or such. It's her power that makes her so well-known."
"Yeah I forgot about that. The Power of Destruction huh? Azazel told us that before we departed from Kyoto. Guess every noble clan has its little homemade power." Erik said.
"Exactly. Even though her Power of destruction isn't directly related to the Gremory family that doesn't make it less dangerous. And while her power pales comparing to the current Lucifer's, it's still something not to be taken lightly." Raynare told them.
"I learned they both inherited their powers from the Bael clan, isn't that right?" Jellal questioned.
"Yeah. Which is another reason why she's so feared through low-class ranking beings." Raynare continued her explication. "The Bael is the most powerful of all the Devil clans, it carries the title of Great King and their political influence is on a par with, if not greater than, that of the current four Devil Kings. It is said that its head, Zekram Bael alone has more power than the likes of Sirzechs Lucifer himself, the current Satan leader."
"What about the Gremory?" Macbeth asked out of pure curiosity.
"While not as important as the Bael, the Gremory household is certainly no slouch either; in fact, they're classed as 'Great Marquis' or even as 'Great Duke'." Raynare explained further.
"The more days pass, the more I think Devils are the biggest pieces of shit compared to the others." Erik commented with an annoyed grunt. "Seems that all they give a damn about are stupid titles and status."
"Sure, most of the Devils are like that." Raynare explained. "Honestly, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested in something like that in the past either. Fallen Angels are Fallen for a reason after all." She admitted in a matter-of-fact way while the others glanced at her. "Ahem, anyway." She continued after coughing a bit. "What I'm trying to say is that we in Grigori are no saints either, especially during war times. However, hundreds of years ago Lord Azazel, with the others who fell with him, decided to turn it into an organisation where it could house humans with Sacred Gears who lost their families or simply been left alone. It's no coincidence that Grigori is also known as the Watchers of God's children."
The wizards were listening attentively to the ravenette's short tale, especially Jellal. He and his guildmates were aware of how some Fallen Angels went rogue in order to lure humans and then take them out when their guard was down, but he didn't feel like blaming Azazel entirely. Hell, the guy has done almost nothing but helping them out without batting an eye since their arrival in this world.
"So, you help humans to unlock their potential with their Sacred Gears by letting them join Grigori?" Jellal asked.
"Yes." Raynare nodded. "That is one of the reasons why we let several Sacred Gear users in."
"And that also works for former members of the Church as well, huh." The ex-Wizard Saint noted recalling Asia and, unfortunately, Freed's cases.
Another nod was the ravenette's response. A couple of minutes passed after the four finished their breakfast.
"So, when are we gonna meet Azazel?" Erik asked as he put down his freshly brewed cup of coffee.
"Around 5 p.m." Raynare replied finishing her own food.
"Good to know, so we'll have plenty of time to meet Issei and tell him everything." Jellal nodded as he finished to eat his waffle.
"About that, I still don't think this is a smart idea." Raynare said unsurely.
"I gotta admit I kinda brought that up off the top of my head." Erik admitted shrugging since it was his idea from the start. "The Devils could think you're still here. Even though you suppressed your presence they might still be suspicious."
"I think not." Macbeth interjected wiping his lips with his napkin. "Azazel mentioned there could've possibly been a presence one of the Devil Kings in town, but if they were still here, then they would've intervened without batting an eye to save their sisters and stop Lullaby before we had the chance to."
"Why would they come here just for one day or two in the first place?" Raynare inquired looking at him.
"We can't know." The Nightmare Wizard stated. "What matters is whoever they were is no longer here."
"Yeah, would've been a problem if one of those four showed up in the middle of our job." Erik claimed.
"Pretty much." Macbeth agreed.
"Now hold on a second..." Raynare said while looking in the direction of the Nightmare Wizard.
Macbeth noticed that the raven-haired Fallen Angel was staring at him for a while until he rose an eyebrow.
"…you were the one who knocked me out cold back in the park!"
"Oh right. That was me." Macbeth bluntly said as he remembered. "Oh and what you saw half the time of your date with Hyoudou was nothing but an illusion I created with my Reflector." He said casually.
Raynare suddenly reminded, now that she thought about it, she had actually not yet questioned them on how they managed to lure her into an ambush to abduct her. 'Wait, that was their doings too? And… I-Illusion? But it looked so real…' She stuttered in her thought only to inwardly sigh. 'I really should stop getting so surprised… it's them we're talking about.' She concluded. "Regardless… that hit kinda hurt you know?"
Macbeth just dismissed her counter. "I had to make you come along without resistance, so..."
"You decided to sock me hard in the back!" Raynare accused.
"Better safe than sorry." Macbeth shrugged with nonchalance.
"Oh quit your complaining, raven lady." Erik told her in a dismissive tone. "You got four wings, you're not a so bad fighter with not a bad endurance either, as far as I could see back at the church, plus Midnight was holding back. No harm done."
Raynare opened her mouth to retort, but she couldn't come up with anything as a comeback. Instead she folded her arms with a pout. "One-eyed jackass." She muttered.
-Hours later –
It was now approximately 3.30 in the afternoon, not long ago the bell of the Kuoh Academy bell tower rang, announcing the end of the school day. Down the streets of the city, Issei was strolling towards a specific location, ignoring his surroundings as he was lost in thought. In all honesty, he would've gladly stayed behind with his two perverted friends to take a peek at the girls of the Kendo Club, admiring all their curvy glories while changing for some time, but he set all that aside in favour of something much more important. Even more important than boobs.
'Am I getting crazy?' Issei thought touching his forehead. 'No it wasn't a mirage, that Jellal guy showed up once again during my date with Yuuma… about her, what the hell happened? She hasn't messaged me since yesterday. This can't be a fluke. Yeah, all of this actually happened. And what he said…'
'Look, I've known Yuuma for a long time, and I know very well what she's planning for you, Issei. If you don't listen to me, your gauntlet appearing out of nowhere will be the least of your problems. Don't worry, meet me at this address on Monday, I will explain everything.'
'Damn, and he was dead serious about it.' Issei recalled Jellal's words. He was the one who made him leave his appointment with Yuuma just yesterday. How could he know of all of that? Was he behind all of that? No, he said he would explain everything, so why would he be? Regardless, he needed answers, if he really knew all the messed stuff that has been happening to him lately, he might as well listen to him so he could get his answers.
'Was Yuuma really trying to set me up for that stupid gauntlet?' Issei continued to theorise in his mind as he raised his left arm where the red metallic-like item last appeared. 'Shit, my hand's still freaking out a bit since the other day.' This is confusing as hell…
While advancing on the place he was supposed to be, Issei spotted that Jellal was standing there waiting for him with a second man beside him, the guy looked anything but friendly, his menacing gaze. The scar over his eye made him even more unsettling.
"Good afternoon, Issei." Jellal greeted the approaching boy.
"Jellal, that's really you." Issei acknowledged him.
"Yes, Issei. It's me." Jellal nodded as he approached the boy. "We've been waiting for you."
"I can see that." Issei replied while turning to the other man.
'What's up with this guy's ears? Is he an elf or something?' Issei thought awkwardly.
Just one more glance from that guy made Issei dismiss his thoughts, that was unreal and kind of scary, it was like that guy could pierce his very soul.
"How are you doing so far? I certainly hope you could stay out of trouble." Jellal addressed.
"I'm ok, I guess. Just… you know, confused." Issei answered.
"That's understandable. Fear not, I did promise you I'd tell you everything." Jellal assured with a nod. "Come in, we have a lot to discuss." He invited as he gestured to the door.
"W-wait Jellal, who's this guy?" The worried teen anxiously asked.
"Don't worry, he's a friend and a roommate of mine." The blue-haired wizard assured him.
"The name's Cobra." The Dragon Slayer introduced himself.
Needless to say, this guy gave Issei the intimidating ex-con vibe, but he managed to nod despite the fact that his presence sent shivers down his spine. "Uhm… ok. Nice to meet you... Cobra." Issei responded gulping some saliva.
Without any further words, the three entered the building. As they entered their place, Issei was immediately impressed by the apartment's impeccable maintenance.
'Woah, are these guys well-off or what?' Issei thought startled. 'They don't look like they're from around here, I wonder what they do to get by...'
As he looked around the living room, he noticed another guy with red eyes, spiky black hair on the top and white wavy hair under his shoulders, and with lipstick on his lips, before Issei could question if he was some kind of emo or cross dresser, his eyes fell on the other person in the room, sitting in the armchair was none other than his supposed 'girlfriend'.
"Yuuma, what are you doing here?" Issei questioned in a surprising tone.
"Hi Issei." Raynare greeted in a neutral manner the brown-haired teen. "How do you do? And it's not 'Yuuma'. Call me Raynare, that's my real name."
"Oh, I'm doing… alright…" Issei responded still baffled. "Yuuma, what's going on? Do you know them too?"
"Issei." Jellal calmly called him making the teen look at him. "Take it easy and seat down, please. I told you we would explain everything, didn't I?"
Issei did as he instructed as he sat down next to the wizard on one of two sofas, Raynare was still in her spot, while Erik took a seat next to Macbeth on the second sofa. As they started to tell him the basics of the supernatural, about Devils, Angels, Fallen Angels and Gods, Issei already started to freak out.
"…alright alright. So you're telling me…" Issei started, shock was evident in his voice. "My girlfriend…"
"Ex-girlfriend." Raynare immediately pointed out.
"Right…" The brown-haired teen mumbled. "…ex-girlfriend is a freaking Fallen Angel from the Bible scripts and every supernatural stuff we've heard in tales are actually true?!"
"That's right." Jellal confirmed with a nod. "And what has been happening to you this week wasn't a dream. Far from it."
"That's… come on!" Issei stood up, looking at his ex-girlfriend as he did so. "Yuuma, are you pulling some kind of joke on me, aren't you… Woo-WOAH!"
Issei nearly screamed as his eyes almost popped out of their sockets, their point was immediately proven the moment she suddenly brought out her four deep black wings behind her back fluttering some of her feathers around the room.
"Ugh…" Issei stammered in shock. "Ar-are those wings r-real?"
Raynare simply nodded her head as she began flapping her two pairs of wings, causing her to hang in the air for a few seconds, leaving the teenager even more stunned, not to mention awestruck. Eventually she flew down to her seat pulling back her four wings.
"So…" Issei managed to calm down a bit as he continued while he went back to his seat. "That red gauntlet that appeared in my hand… and that monster lady I saw the other day…" Issei started.
"Yes. All of that happened." The blue-haired wizard confirmed getting the boy's attention. "And that red gauntlet you possess is a result of you unlocking your Sacred Gear."
"Sacred Gear? What is it?" Issei questioned.
"To put it simply, it's an unusual power that resides inside certain humans' souls from their birth, a power created by God himself a long time ago, and you, Issei, happened to be one of them. Though, yours looks to be a Twice Critical from the look of it." Jellal told him.
"W-what?! You mean that God created that… thing?" Issei exclaimed while recalling his gauntlet getting a nod from the wizard. "And what's a Twice Critical?"
"A Twice Critical is a low-ranked Sacred Gear that doubles the user's power for a short amount of time before setting off. Yet it still might come out to be something else." The wizard replied as Issei kept listening impressed. "I'm surprised you couldn't notice anything 'new' inside you since its weakening." Jellal observed.
Issei shook his head before responding. "When I passed out, I did feel something else... yeah I felt stronger for some seconds, but that's it." Issei remembered not before asking in surprise. "So, what you're saying is that I possess some op power inside my soul since I was born?"
"Exactly." Jellal nodded confirming. "Typically users awaken their Sacred Gear for the first time by emotional stress or trauma. The feeling in question obviously has to be strong enough to accomplish the purpose." He explained further. "Though, it would seem you're still having trouble in summoning it."
"Hold it, how do you three know all of this? I thought you were also humans. Do you guys have Sacred Gears too?" Issei questioned. "And how could you all know about Yuum… I mean Raynare and what she was doing?"
"We've been around the supernatural world since we were very young." Jellal explained with a wave of his hand. "Therefore it's only natural for us to know about all of it. About your second question, yes we're indeed human, but unlike you we don't possess Sacred Gears, instead we're magic wielders, wizards."
"Wizards?" The brunette boy repeated. "Like those performing parlour tricks?" Issei inquired ignorantly.
The others felt the urge to facepalm at Issei's question, especially Erik and Macbeth, but they managed to keep it to themselves. Raynare just looked at him with a deadpanned expression.
"I wouldn't formulate like that, it's actually more than magic tricks." Jellal stated with a shake of his head.
Issei blinked his eyes clearly not getting it.
"Perhaps it's better if I show you." Jellal said as he summoned a dark orb in the palm of his extended right hand.
Issei's jaws dropped wide open at the absurdity he was witnessing, Jellal was performing what he would have found impossible until recently. That was magic, real magic before his eyes. "W-whaaat?!" Issei gasped in astonishment. "That's…"
"Wizards like us can manifest different kinds of magic." Jellal explained as he spread the palm of his left hand, causing a golden flame to appear. "Despite how many might believe, magical arts are not beyond the reach of human's understanding. In fact if well trained, humans can learn to use a vast number of spells, which also depends on your magic reserve and potential. There are cases where wizards like us belong to guilds, ours is called Crime Sorcière, which has the purpose to hunt down criminals, especially supernatural-related."
"A guild?" Issei asked. "What is it?"
"It's an organisation where wizards get together to complete job requests for their clients. There are many types of guilds, however ours differs from the rest as we work for anyone who is not a threat to mankind or innocents." Jellal briefly explained. "We're independent."
Issei didn't quite get the last part of his explanation, but accepted it nevertheless with a nod.
"And for how we know about Raynare, let's say we made a pact with her faction's leaders in order to not cause her to harm you or this town." The former Wizard Saint continued.
"Wizards… magic…" Issei repeated aloud. "Devils, Angels, Fallen Angels, Gods, Sacred Gears… aaahh that's too much to take!" He exclaimed as he rubbed his head.
"And that's not all." Erik interjected. "No sir."
"What do you mean?" Issei asked.
"Ray's not the only one to be non-human you just came into contact with." The Dragon Slayer continued. "But your precious red-headed crush is not either. She's a Devil."
"W-what?" Issei asked in disbelief while almost jumping off his seat. "Y… you're telling me that…"
"Yeah, I'm talking about Gremory. That Gremory." Erik mentioned. "I'm sure you know who I'm talking about."
"R-Rias...?" Issei stammered.
"Yup." Erik nodded while continuing his explanation.
"How do you… know her?"
"Who doesn't?" The Dragon Slayer bluntly put. "Her clan is one of Hell's elite families, not to mention relevant. She's got a Devil group in her grasp, and she and her minions were pulling the strings behind your back from the start of this, they would wait for the right moment and then make you one of them."
"Hell's families? Devil group? What the heck are you talking about?" Issei inquired.
"Like most other factions, Devils are no strangers to interacting with humans, but unlike the others many of them do so for two reasons; the first is to make contracts with them, and the second is the most major one..." Macbeth started explaining.
"To turn those into Devils, their own personal slaves to be more precise." Erik finished.
"Turn… people into… Devils?"
Issei tried to put all the pieces into one place.
"So Rias was…" Issei tensed as he started to feel nervous. "You've got to be joking..."
"He's telling the truth Issei." Jellal chimed causing Issei to shoot a look at him. "He can hear other people's thoughts with his magic. Before monitoring your date with Raynare, he went to check on Rias and her peerage and heard them talking about you."
Issei was about to protest but he froze the moment the Dragon Slayer suddenly took out his mobile phone and showed him a short video of the Occult Research Club surprising not only him, but his guildmates as well.
"When did you…?" Raynare began to ask.
"Filmed it when I was out checking their movements a couple of days ago." Erik immediately explained.
"How did you manage not to get busted?" The ravenette kept questioning.
The Dragon Slayer scoffed at her question as it was nothing. "Hmph. Please, as if someone like me can get spotted by some Devil brat and her domestic serfs."
The brown-haired teen had his eyes glued to the screen of the phone, Rias and her peerage were fighting a monster in an abandoned warehouse, the creature was very reminiscent of the monster-woman he had seen a few days earlier.
"H-Holy shit..." Issei stuttered in disbelief rubbing his forehead fearfully. "They got wings like Yuu... I mean Raynare. And those swords, that lightning and that reddish beam." He slowly commented describing what he was seeing as he pointed to the screen of Erik's phone. "So that's…" He began struggling to hold back his shivering.
"Yeah, now you're starting to look at the big picture." The Dragon Slayer said. "To make a long story short; she's been shitting on you for quite a few days." he stated, his eye started to narrow at the thought of it.
"No… you're… you're lying." Issei whispered. He refused to believe it. One of his school idols, someone he was willing to trust was trying to set him up for her own benefit… the brown-haired pervert was starting to shake as he continued to watch the video until it finished.
"Yup…" The Dragon Slayer continued ignoring his comment. "The wolf wearing the sheep's clothing." Erik finished as he put his phone away.
"That's not true!" The brown-haired teen finally snapped. "And don't shit talk about president Rias like that! Yeah, she may be a Devil like you say but she's not that kind of person who would trick people!" Issei fervently protested.
The Crime Sorcière trio were couldn't believe what they were hearing, Erik in particular grimaced with incredulity, and not in a good way. What was this guy's deal? Was he that obtuse? Or was it Rias who convinced him so much to almost gain his complete trust? Even Raynare couldn't believe that Issei didn't understand even to this extent. Even after explaining and showed him all he needed to know, he still had doubts?
"How do you know then?" Macbeth questioned with edge in his voice as he narrowed his eyes in the teen's direction. "You think we've been wandering around to guarantee your safety all these days just for the fun of it? We know what we're talking about, but to me it looks like you don't since you're defending someone without clearly not knowing their true intentions."
Issei's eyes twitched nervously, but he still persisted. "Then show me proof that she was planning the whole thing! For all I know, you could be the ones at fault and get in the way just to piss off Rias and the others." Issei accused, of course without thinking rationally.
At his last statement, Erik clenched his teeth in anger. "What the hell did you just say, you little shit?!" He raised his voice making Issei backing down frighteningly. He didn't care if the boy didn't mean it, he had to get the truth through his damn skull by hook or by crook. "You seriously think we went through all this crap just to bail your sorry ass out for nothing?! Not only that we entered the Devils' soil; which in case you didn't know, is ruled by that crimson-haired bimbo and it was her fucking job to step in before everything screwed up with the other Fallen Angels… but we stopped one more motherfucker before he could obliterate the entire town... Gremory didn't lift a finger because she was too fixated on your fancy gizmo, thinking it'd come in handy. Oh, and what about that chick who gave you the flyer?" He demanded while pausing waiting for a reply from the boy, Issei was speechless but immediately realised what he was saying. "That's right, she was also one of her minions! Do you know why she handed that flyer to you?! Obviously so you could summon her to save you at the very last during your date and make you become another one of her damn obedient little flunkies! If anything you should at least thank us if you still have your freedom and your very life intact!"
Issei felt like he couldn't retort what the Dragon Slayer said, he knew he couldn't because deep down he was aware they were telling the truth. That girl giving him that flier just before his date with Yuuma, Rias approaching him beforehand to befriend him. Now Issei was showing clear signs of sadness and commotion, which didn't go unnoticed by the others, but at least he finally began to understand, and that was enough for Erik.
"Cobra, I think he got your point." Jellal stopped him immediately noticing the situation at hand.
"Tch." Erik only grunted out, but decided he said enough.
Jellal decided to continue. "Issei, I know this is a lot to process, and I would understand your scepticism giving you're new to all of this. But bear in mind that we did that not just to save you, but also to stop a potential conflict between the Three Factions. The stakes were high not only for the factions but for the humans as well, and someone had to intervene before it was too late. Raynare can confirm this as well. What Rias did was totally reckless, to put it gently." The blue-haired wizard spoke in a calm yet serious tone.
"I guess… I'm starting to understand what you're trying to say." Issei voiced. Was that really how things were supposed to go? One of her idols forcing him into servitude by taking advantage of all of this? The teen lost the strength to stand, bringing himself to his knees while looking at the floor. He was now looking totally depressed. "Cobra..." He lowly voiced.
"Hm?" The Dragon Slayer shifted his eye at him.
"You said Rias needed me for my Sacred Gear, do you know the reason why…?" Issei asked sadly.
The raven-haired beauty still had her eyes on the boy as her expression began to soften a bit. Despite the fact that she actually found his open depravity bothersome even during their 'date', she had started to feel somewhat pity for the pervert, not to mention guilty since she was a part of this.
"I can't say for sure, but what I can say is that she needed you with them for a purpose." Erik said while crossing his arms. "To break free from something I honestly don't remember."
"I see…"
"Listen up kid." Erik told him not before breathing a sigh. "I hate to be a wet blanket and break your spirit, but it's only fair for you to know what's what, this world ain't all peaches and roses, most of the supernatural is made up of shitheads who'd sell out their mother for a bit of power. If you don't want to have people gunning for you, then you gotta grow a backbone and level up, because rest assured that they will, especially because of that little contraption of yours." He explained in an earnest tone.
Issei remained quiet, but he kept listening knowing he was about to continue.
"But that doesn't mean you won't have to trust anyone anymore, and maybe that Gremory girl's not even that bad given she sounded a bit sorry to recruit you like that."
'Wait, she was?' Issei thought a little surprised.
"Yeah…" Erik replied after hearing that in his thoughts.
"I don't know if I can handle all of that… I can't even defend myself…" Issei voiced insecurely. "To be blunt, I'm surprised that she intended to recruit someone weak like me..." He admitted sadly.
Seeing the perverted teen's saddened state, the Dragon Slayer couldn't help but feel a little bit of empathy toward him. Despite his previous outburst, he didn't feel like breaking the boy's mood permanently, like he probably would have done if it had happened years ago, but now he was better. He then lightly nudged the Fallen Angel who sat near him.
"Huh?" Raynare hummed as she lifted a brow.
Erik tilted his head to the depressed teen. Raynare got the message while letting out a brief sigh before speaking up.
"Issei." Raynare said catching the pervert's attention.
"Y…yeah?" Issei inquired weakly while looking up at her.
"I just, you know." Raynare started with an apologetic tone. "I wanted to apologise for all the trouble I put you through. Pretending to have a crush on you, dragging you on a fake date, and almost attempting to kidnap you, and then, well, trying to end you. I'm also sorry what you went through with Rias Gremory as well…" She paused. "Even though I was ordered to do what I was going to do, ultimately I share some of the blame." She kept on with a humble voice.
"You… you were ordered to?" Issei stuttered.
"Yes. I did not act out of my own will." Raynare slowly nodded. "Even though I've been on these kinds of missions before, it's important to me that I'm not completely cold-hearted. I understand the repercussions of going after someone who hasn't really wronged us."
Issei didn't immediately react as he was absorbing everything he was listening to. "Why?" Issei asked while looking down with his eyes closed. "What did I do to deserve to be picked on like this?"
Raynare rose her hand and pointed at the boy's left arm. "My now previous superior was worried about the potential danger your power posed to our organisation. He couldn't wrap his head around the idea that you only possessed a basic Twice Critical, so he came up with a plan to use me and my team for something else." That didn't help to lighten up the teen's mood in the slightest. "Without anyone knowing, he stole an old prototype of a machine we used to extract Sacred Gear from out-of-control humans, his goal was to get rid of you and one other person in order to take over your Sacred Gear and dispose of the rest of the town."
"Wait, hold on!" Issei urged. "Is this for… for real?! That Fallen Angel dude was about to wipe Kuoh off the map?!"
"At least that's what he aimed to do until they came on the scene. Thanks to their help, we managed to stop this traitor from doing more damage." Raynare continued as she stood up.
Issei had a surprised look on his face while the ravenette beauty made a small bow as an apology.
"Regardless of his intentions and the fact that no one in Grigori knew of his plans, that was something we should've foreseen as well, so I feel I owe you an apology on behalf of the other Fallen Angels as well."
The wizards weren't expecting something like that, to think that Raynare, a Fallen Angel, who seemed to have quite some pride in being one, could show a certain level of humility to apologise to a mere human was something nobody could see coming, especially a certain Dragon Slayer.
Issei was unsure of how to respond as he stared at his left arm. "It's… it's alright." He eventually replied. "I'm certainly not the guy who blames an entire race because of a few rotten apples." He said as he looked up at the Fallen Angel. "Again, I wouldn't be surprised if you guys also wanted me in Grigori just for my Sacred Gear..."
The trio of vigilantes had different reactions, Jellal had some concern in his face, Erik just closed his eye and Macbeth just gazed at him impassively, but could not help feeling pity at the same time.
"Come on… don't beat yourself up." Raynare tried to encourage him. Clearly not doing a good job. "Uhm, look at the bright side." She started making the boy look up to her. "If he considered you dangerous enough to the extent of wanting you dead, I'm certain you must harbor even greater untapped potential within you." She pointed out.
"R-really? You guys think so too?" Issei asked. He then looked at the mages for confirmation.
"I guess she may have a point." Macbeth half-admitted.
"Yeah… why not." Erik followed up, although scepticism was evident in his tone.
"I suppose she's not wrong." Jellal sounded the most confronting one. "As she said before, there has to be a reason why a high-ranking Fallen Angel came after you."
That seemed to lighten up the pervert's mood, albeit slightly.
"Look Issei, I know we kind of started with the wrong foot, but if you're willing to give me a second chance, maybe we could be... friends? If that's OK with you." Raynare offered with a small smile as she leaned a bit at him.
Issei was surprised by her claim, but thinking back to her words, there was a gleam of hope he could actually have some sort of hidden potential.
'Maybe they're right, if I truly have this amazing power inside me, I can use it to become stronger so maybe the President would recognise my effort… yeah! And if I make it to the top, I'll be surrounded by hot chicks in no time! Yeah that's perfect! Perfect plan!' Issei screamed in his thoughts as his face quickly shifted into pervy mode. 'Can't wait to experience the touch of those big flashy globes, squeeze, suck them hard until I can hardly breathe!' Noticing Raynare'ss slight cleavage he began to blush as his perverted grin spread. 'I bet Raynare would fit perfectly in one of those outfits for those exotic dancers! That'll be totally hot…!'
As Issei continued his interior rant, Jellal and Macbeth were glancing over him, they couldn't know what he was thinking but they could very well guess it, Macbeth closed his eyes seeing that coming, Jellal just sighed with a shake of his head. Raynare corrected her posture, but just like the others she couldn't help but pinch the bridge of her nose, he hasn't changed one bit since their last date. However, Erik glared daggers at him for one reason, he never could stand depraved people, especially those at this level of perverseness.
"HELL YEAH!" The pervert exclaimed. "I'LL BE THE KING OF…!" Issei almost finished yelling, but stopped in the middle of his fantasy as he heard a cracking sound behind him. The pervert immediately kept his mouth shut gulping down saliva. He slowly turned around noticing the menacing stare he was receiving by the poison user.
"Are you done here?" Erik questioned darkly.
"I…I… what?! I wasn't about to say anything wrong I swear! And whatever it was, it was supposed to be a complement! I mean, come on! Raynare's…"
"Shut up."
Issei widened his eyes out of realisation. 'Oh crap! I totally forgot he can read my mind!' Issei shouted inside his head. 'Alright, I better keep my mouth shut with him around… yet I can't help it, Raynare's boobies are so…' A pervy look was forming in the pervert's features.
"Close your mouth, you're drooling like a dog in heat." Cobra hissed in irritation once again making Issei shiver in fear.
The other two wizards shook their heads with hopelessness, while Raynare couldn't help but sigh while facepalming.
/Kuoh Academy, old school building/
The club's activities had only just begun. After school typically the students of Kuoh Academy carried out their extracurricular activities, all the school's clubs were different, however the Occult Research Club was not like any other club, but the venue where the Gremory peerage carried out their Devils activities. Contracting was one of those, that was pretty much how Devils' business worked in the human world, well at least that was how it's supposed to work for low-class Devils and Rias's peerage was nothing less. Now though, while her servants were busy with club activities she had remained inside the ORC building at her desk, completing her usual paperwork. Truth be told, the mood of the Gremory clan heiress had seen better days, not only had the culprit who kidnapped the youngest member of her family still not been found, but that monster, Etherious to be precise, had attempted to destroy Kuoh just yesterday. And unfortunately, that wasn't the end of it...
'The situation turned out to be more complicated than I thought. That Demon almost killed us last night, the Fallen Angels are nowhere to be found, and... those magicians.' Keeping her gaze on the table, Rias rested her forehead on her hand. 'Just where do they come from? The individual with blue hair that protected us was Jellal, the man with that scar was called Cobra if I recall and the name of the last one with that dark magic was Midnight…'
There was also something that worried her, something that went far beyond the Demon Lullaby, namely what Koneko had said about their power, according to her Rook, their strength amounted to that of an ultimate-class Devil... But of course, that wasn't the end of it, there was more that worried her at the moment.
'Issei, why didn't you show up today? Did something happen to you?' Rias wondered in her thoughts in a worried manner. 'What if… what if those Fallen Angels got him while we were up against Lullaby?' What was worse was that Kiba and Koneko haven't run into him all day much to Rias' concern. On top of all of that was that they had not managed to defeat that Etherious, Lullaby, but needed help from someone else. Part of her was grateful that they had intervened, but on the other hand her pride as a Gremory and as a high-class Devil suffered.
'Should I ask my family's help? My brother or Grayfia would help me if I…' Rias pondered but suddenly shook her head in denial. 'No, I have to demonstrate that I can take care of myself, I can't live relying on my brother forever…'
Before she could think anything further, Rias heard the club door knock. The crimson-haired devil shook her head, snapping out of her thoughts.
"Ahem." Rias coughed. "Come in."
Entering the clubroom was a young woman of the same age as Rias, although her build was quite different, she had a thin body and short black hair styled into a bob and spectacles covering her violet eyes. Of course, she was dressed in the Kuoh Academy attire for female students. That was Sona Sitri, known as Sona Shitori in the human wolrd, heiress of the Sitri clan, president of the Kuoh Academy Student Council and high-class Devil like Rias.
"Oh, it's good to see you Sona." Rias greeted her childhood friend with a smile. "How are you doing?" She asked. "I certainly hope your lovely reunion with your sister was entertaining."
For some moments Sona's face grew red in embarrassment. "Hm… I… I'd rather not dwell on that topic." She muttered. "I mean… I love my sister, but… you know how she can be sometimes…"
Rias chuckled lightly at that. "I know I know. It would be bad if Lady Serafall's baby-Sona was in trouble." Sona's composure nearly broke at the thought. "Imagine how tragic it would be if she could no longer smooch, hug and cuddle her as she usually does." She sang jokingly.
"Rias!" Sona warned her friend with a glare.
"Alright, alright." Rias defended as she held her hands up. "In all seriousness though, I thought you were going to stay in the Underworld until tomorrow afternoon, did something happen by any chance?" She asked.
Sona regained her composure before explaining. "Nothing serious… She and my mother wished to meet us for a 'family reunion'. My sister was very insistent on that since we haven't seen each other for a while due to her duties as a Devil King." She trailed off while coughing a bit. "Rather I'm the one who should be asking you that." She immediately went to the point making Rias rise both eye brows.
"What do you mean?" Rias asked tensely.
"You very well know what I mean, Rias." Sona remarked crossing her arms. "Your little scheme for Issei Hyoudou. Are you certain to go ahead with what you've planned for him?" She asked with a serious tone not approving what her friend was doing.
"To be fair I'm… I'm not so sure anymore…" Rias replied as she looked down. "There were a few complications regarding him."
Sona was perplexed. "What sort of 'complications'? I sincerely hope nothing unpleasant has happened to him because of your decision... it's bad enough he's been hunted down by someone from another faction."
"Of… of course not." was Rias' only reply, which didn't entirely convince the Sitri heiress, but she tried to let it slide.
Sona sighed knowing where this was going. "Speaking of that subject specifically, how do you plan to act regarding those Fallen Angels stationing here?" She asked. "We agreed that you would deal with them, whether your... plan with Hyoudou succeeded or not."
"About that, I… kind of lost track of them." Rias nervously revealed.
Sona narrowed her eyes at the redhead. "Seriously Rias?!" She snapped. "You assured me you had the situation! But it seems to me to be completely the opposite!"
"It's not what you think! I had to act quickly! I would've taken up the situation with the Fallen Angels regardless, but the city was in grave danger!" Rias protested making her friend quirk an eyebrow.
"Grave fanger? What do you mean by that?" Sona inquired.
"It's a… complicated matter." Rias answered.
"Do tell, I quite have some time today." Sona remarked.
Rias stared at her childhood friend unsure whether to reveal how things went or not, but Sona's face made it clear she wanted no room for argument, which made the crimson-haired princess comply.
With no option left, Rias decided to speak. "Uuhh… fine." She reluctantly said.
-Later in the afternoon –
/Grigori HQ, Underworld/
The trio of wizards finally made it to Grigori's main facility with Raynare leading them to Azazel's main office. To the Dragon Slayer's good fortune, the arrival didn't involve any kind of train, car, plane or any other 'hellish transportation'. Thanks to the Fallen Angel's magic circle in their company they were standing outside the main HQ in seconds, and thanking whatever deity, the 'trip' didn't cost Erik any gagging.
As the four walked down the main corridor leading to Azazel's office, the female Fallen Angel cringed at what the Poison Dragon Slayer just said.
"Seriously?! A skimpy BDSM bikini?! That's what he thought I'd wear?!" Raynare exclaimed embarrassingly. "What does he think I am? Some kind of stripper?!"
Normally Erik would scoff at that, but that pervert just clicked his wrong buttons with those kinky thoughts. The wizards shared his view. Just how could one guy have so much perversion?
"What's the big deal? I thought Fallen Angels were creatures who didn't mind showing some flesh, isn't being perverts supposed to be a part of your nature?" Erik breezily questioned.
Raynare gave him a pouty face. "I'll have you know that not all Fallen Angels are like that, and I've certainly never met one that was as perverted as Issei." She pointed out.
"That's quite believable." Macbeth spoke, his eyes closed as he walked. "I'd say he would easily put Azazel's perversion to shame." He claimed. His tone was calm, but some certain irritation shone through.
"I've genuinely never seen a boy getting so worked up after barely seeing breasts. I guess you were right Cobra, he truly is a pervert on another level." Jellal commented as he too recalled some of Azazel's comments about some female Youkai's back in Kyoto. "Not even Makarov reached these degrees of perversion, and I've heard a lot of things said by him and a few others of the other Wizard Saints."
"Tch. He's lucky he kept it in his pants, or else I would've gladly beaten some sense into that runt." Erik grunted in annoyance.
"Oh?" Raynare's face changed into a playful smile. "What is it now? Are you saying you would've stood up to protect me from the pervert? How bold of you, cobra boy." She teasingly chirped.
Erik rolled his eye in response of her teasing attempt. "Don't get ahead of yourself, raven lady. I just can't stand guys like him." He snorted. "And now that I think about it, maybe you two really belonged together."
Raynare bit her lips with a frown. "You jerk, and here I thought you were starting to be nicer. And my name is Raynare!" The ravenette chided in indignation.
"Yeah yeah." The Dragon Slayer waved it off as he pocketed his hands.
"Ahh…" Raynare sighed not before frowning one last time at him. "Anyway, we're here." She said as she walked to the entrance of Azazel office, but as soon as she did the door knob jerked. Someone was opening the door...
Walking out of the room a young man whom they had never seen, he was a rather tall individual with dark silver wavy hair mostly laid down to the side of his head, and dark blue eyes. His outfit consisted of a black leather jacket over a dark green V-neck shirt. Additionally, he wore burgundy jeans with a silver chain draped over them and black leather chaps that incorporate three bands around his calf on the right side and black shoes.
For some reason, neither side moved for what looked like a whole minute, the silver-haired new entry kept observing the wizards with interest, his eyes landed on the Poison Dragon Slayer for a bit longer. The whole thing turned into a staring contest, although there was no ill intention from both parties, Erik made use of the opportunity to scan the stranger's mind, much to his surprise he couldn't hear anything other than 'these people look strong' or 'interesting'. On the other hand, upon witnessing the guy Raynare was frozen in place as she grimaced in distress, the glances they were exchanging indicated to her that the situation could escalate. However, to her relief, their stare-off ended quickly.
"Hmph." The teen only let out a quick chuckle as he walked past them with his hands in his pockets.
Raynare had still a fearful look on her face and immediately stepped aside letting him pass. The trio of vigilantes did the same, but slightly turned to watch him leave.
'Who was that?' Jellal asked in his mind.
'That guy's smell seemed… off, he both had Devil and human's scent but also felt like something else entirely.' Erik thought. 'Someone with Devil blood's a member of Grigori?'
"Hm." Macbeth only hummed while turning his gaze at the door.
"Phew…" Was Raynare's only reaction.
Without adding another word, the ravenette opened the door, leading the wizards inside the Governor General's office. Azazel was comfortably reclining in his chair behind his desk, noticing the wizards enter, he beckoned to greet them. The person next to him looked like a tall middle-aged, gruff-looking man with black hair, an unkempt beard and a well-muscular frame clothed in a dark grey men's suit.
"Greetings, sir. I brought them as you asked." Raynare spoke politely while making a bow in respect of her leaders. "Likewise, good afternoon, Lord Baraqiel." She greeted the other Cadre earning a nod.
Azazel pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation as he spoke. "Aah. Stand up, how many times have I told you there's no need for all these formalities, Raynare?" He questioned.
"Hundreds, sir." Raynare responded with the same tone.
"Alright, I get it..." Azazel sighed as he rubbed his head. No matter how many times he told his subordinates that too formal behaviour bothered him, they still seem to want to engage in it. "Now would you mind leaving us for a few minutes? I've got a lot to say to our dear wizard friends."
Raynare courtly nodded. "Of course." She replied looking at the wizards for the last time. "I guess I'll see you guys later." She concluded. The wizards nodded at her while she made her way out of the room.
"Yo Jellal, Cobra, Midnight, it's good to see your faces again. Have a sit." Azazel jovially greeted the wizards with his usual grin.
The independent wizards settled down in the three chairs in front of the Governor General's desk as they were asked.
"So how are my favourite humans holding up?" Azazel asked with a two fingers gesture.
"So far so good, could've been better if someone could keep his guys in check." Erik replied dryly.
The leader of the Fallen Angels flinched with an awkward manner. "Oh, come on!" Azazel whined. "I've already said I'm sorry for all of that!"
"Yeah right." The Dragon Slayer sardonically put.
"Cut me some slack, it's not my fault that he was sneaking behind my back in the Devils' grounds, without none knowing in addition." Azazel complained.
"I guess he does have a point." Macbeth told his guildmate with a brief sigh.
"In case you're wondering, Shemhaza is looking after Asia right now, I had to hand over Asia's training to him to settle down the latest mess." Azazel cleared.
"I suppose that's reasonable." Jellal commented.
"Alright, now that's taken care of." Azazel went on before gesturing to the other Fallen Angel in the room. "Everyone, meet Baraqiel, a good friend of mine and one of Grigori's top-class Cadres."
The stern-looking man spoke up. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you three in person." Baraqiel gave his polite greetings as he moved over to shake hands with each of the three. "I heard from Azazel what you have accomplished lately, not to mention your rather 'unusual' situation, but still it is quite impressive to learn about such strong wizards like yourselves."
"Yes, it was odd to adapt in the beginning, but it's thanks to Grigori and Yasaka if we managed to get by at this point." Jellal said with a smile.
"Yup, no way in hell we could've made it this far without you guys." Erik admitted with a smirk.
"He's right, despite everything, we're trying to compensate by helping each other out." Macbeth stated with a rare smile of his own.
"Yes, that much I could see. I thank you three for rescuing Miss Argento and stopping one of our own from doing further damage in adversary territory. And please excuse Azazel and his occasional bad attention span, he shouldn't lower his guard during times like this." Baraqiel continued much to Azazel's chagrin. "But I assure you that he can be a good Governor when he puts his mind to it." Despite his face didn't change much, there was a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
"Not a problem, we're used to cleaning up the government's mess even in our own world." Erik remarked recalling how many dark guilds Crime Sorcière had crushed recently in lieu of the Magic Council.
"Give me a break alright?!" Azazel hurriedly protested.
Somehow, seeing the usual laid-back Governor General getting worked up was satisfying for their sights. Given his usual teasing remarks, that guy got had that coming. Eventually, Azazel breathed out a sigh as he coughed.
"Now then, I think you know why I called you guys here." Azazel began to speak after regaining his cool.
"To give us those Sacred Gears and to meet Baraqiel and… something else?" Jellal questioned.
"That's right, as I promised before I got a gift for the three of you." Azazel announced as he opened the palm of his hands, making a magic circle appear. "These are updated versions of the three artificial Sacred Gear I was working on specifically for you, now well-ready." He placed on his desk three rings which appeared to be exactly the same as those he had given them previously. "These three babies not only have the ability to teleport the same way we do, but also allow you to create barriers without wasting the slightest portion of your magic reserve. I called them 'full-fledged Rings'." Azazel explained.
Despite the lame-ass and forgetful names, the wizards gladly accepted the gift. Teleportation is a much more widely used practice in this world than in theirs, and they certainly couldn't always use the 'common means' to get from one place to another nor always ask someone else to do it.
"Well, that could really come in handy, thank you Azazel." Jellal nodded with a thankful smile.
"Don't mention it." Azazel responded with a wave of his hand. "It's my way to thank you for everything you've done for us. And I know you wouldn't need any more than this given how crazy strong you three are."
The three of them now had their rings caught in their fingers.
"But of course." Azazel said catching the wizards' attention. "That's not all I had to say to you guys."
"Does this have to do with our latest job?" Jellal questioned.
"Bingo!" The Governor confirmed. "Now getting straight to the point..." He looked at the two of the ex-Oracion Seis wizards. "I'm sure you guys remember those Devils attacking you in the Underworld, don't you?" Azazel asked in seriousness, getting nods from the two in confirmation.
"Yeah, you told us to not worry about Lucifer and the other Devil Kings." Erik replied.
"Have you come up with anything new?" Macbeth inquired.
"Yeah, I guess you could say that…" Azazel calmly recalled closing his eyes. "Although we were certain that the chances of it being Ajuka Beelzebub's doings were off the table, I still needed to look into that with Shemhaza's help…" He trailed off. "Considering the circumstances, the measures taken for that attack and your description of your attackers, it's quite likely that someone from the Old Satan Faction was behind it. My suspicions grew even stronger when we heard no movement from the current Satans towards the demilitarised zone."
"So that leaves only them." Jellal frowned.
"Without a doubt. Like I said before, neither Sirzechs nor the rest of the Devil Kings had anything to do with it. No, the person who ordered the whole assault was someone much worse..." Azazel claimed before eying the Dragon Slayer. "Cobra, you said those Devils mentioned 'Beelzebub' in the middle of your fight. Well, as I imagined they weren't talking about Ajuka, but Shalba Beelzebub instead. A direct descendant of the original Satan Beelzebub."
"There is more..." Baraqiel spoke up. "Even though we don't know for sure who it was that assisted them with that 'strange power-up' that Cobra and Midnight told us about, we do know what they're after… it's war, chaos and domination that they want."
The Crime Sorcière trio were impressed by the news, but not that surprised. It was certainly not the first time they had crossed paths with some bastard with a bloody fetish for destruction and power, hell even during their time as dark wizards they themselves had intended to bring chaos and suffering to their own world, albeit manipulated. Either way, nowadays they couldn't help but feel disgust whenever they ran into people like those, especially Jellal. Whoever dared to step on someone else's freedom just because of some worthless title or their own arrogance needed to pay dearly for it.
"If they'll ever attack you again, just fight them back. After all, in their eyes, you're nothing but three random rogue magicians, they don't respond to the current Satans anyway." Azazel finished.
"It's rather unbelievable that after all these centuries of attempting to create peace between the Three Factions, it's now under threat once again." Baraqiel remarked.
"Some people never change." Azazel commented shaking his head.
"Just like that Kokabiel guy?" Erik asked rising a brow.
Azazel and Baraqiel glanced at them with serious looks on their faces. "So you've heard about him."
"Let me guess, Raynare?" Azazel asked.
"Yes. She told us about him yesterday." Jellal replied.
"I suppose it would come out sooner or later." Baraqiel said as he looked back at Azazel.
"Yeah…" The Governor General acknowledged with a tired nod. "And I assume she's also told you enough about him and his ideals, hasn't she?"
"Something like that." Erik responded with a shrug.
"As I expected." The head of Grigori paused. "That damn warmongering idiot hasn't changed a bit in centuries." Azazel said in irritation while rubbing his forehead. "Always so hung up on war, racial superiority and all crap like that. We were lucky enough that his attempts in the past, although not grave, went in vain until now."
"From what Raynare told us, Kokabiel not only regarded the Fallen Angels as superiors, but he appeared to be unsatisfied by how you handled things so far." Jellal observed.
"Yeah, he was quite mad when I decided to pull out of a war we were winning…" Azazel reflected with a scowl. "He refused to accept the fact of Grigori hosting anyone other than the Fallen Angels, seeing other races we hosted much like a burden than anything else."
"Tch." Erik commented with a grunt. "Even without meeting him face to face, I already can't stand this guy's guts."
"Anyway, you don't need to worry about him for now, he's in custody under close supervision." Azazel assured the trio.
"That's good to hear." Jellal noted with a sigh.
"But enough about our Three Factions issue. I have some hot stuff to tell you, something very important to you actually." Azazel said changing his tone as he flashed a grin while gaining some 'hms' from the mages. "What would you guys say if we told you we managed to locate some?"
This certainly raised the interest of the wizards.
"Does this emblem ring a bell?" Azazel questioned as he showed them a picture of a couple of beast-like creatures with a very familiar crest on them.
"Tartaros." Jellal's voice darkened.
So not only was Lullaby spotted in this world, apparently other demons have come out of the woodwork. But which could they be? Someone of the Nine Demon Gates? No, that didn't sound plausible. Another destruction-hungry monster like Deliora? Or another cursed object?
"Yeah." Azazel confirmed nodding. "You see a few days ago, talking to a dear old acquaintance of mine, Odin, he had accepted my help in tracking down a couple of unidentified monsters." He explained.
"Odin, as for the chief deity of Norse Faction?" Jellal asked with a surprised voice.
"The one and only." Azazel nodded.
"I thought you were planning for the peace treaty with the Three Factions." Macbeth said.
"Yeah, that was also included in the plan, but It's always better to expand your horizons as well as your allies, it's just the tool of the trade." The Governor General replied as he extended his hands while talking. "Norse Gods usually prefer to stay away from biblical factions' territories and businesses. However, I've managed to befriend Odin in order to establish as many allies as possible, much like I did with Yasaka." Azazel responded as he went on.
"Well, that's a pretty well-thought plan." Erik admitted.
"Ye, so long story short I told the old geezer I could send there some certain wizards to take a gander if you catch my drift. And here's the kicker, the old man ok'd it almost immediately. Looks like Norway will be your next destination. Or rather nearby Valhallah in this case." Azazel stated.
"So, I guess that's where it takes place our next job, isn't it?" Jellal remarked.
"Yep. Hope you're ready cause it'll soon be Demon-hunting time for you again." Azazel announced with a smirk.
And so, yeah, Issei found out the truth about the supernatural, but of course not from Rias. She still has a big lesson to learn that in life she cannot always get what she wants, and that she has no right to force herself on Issei in order to gain his trust as with anyone else. Among the things that bugged me the most was that she never faced the consequences of her actions whenever she put someone's life in danger because of her arrogance... but no, it won't be the same in this story, at all.
Oh, and yeah, Crime Sorcière met with Vali earlier in this story and he already set his eyes on them noticing they're not normal humans. As I said before I've got plans for Crime Sorcière and Vali Team's meeting, as well for the Hero Faction.
Now, as I already said in some previous chapter, this WON'T exactly follow canon, so don't expect the arc to be the exact same of the light novel, anime and manga.
As for why I decided to include Norse Mythology earlier? Well, because I love Scandinavia in general and I recently got interested in its old Nordic religion, very fascinating in my eyes. Oh and I'm sorry if some of you may find the introduction to the new faction rushed and sudden, but I intended to have Crime Sorcière clash with even 'stronger' opponents instead of the classic 'high-ranking' soldiers. No worries though, I'm planning to specify more about the Norse gods and their mission in the next chapter, instead of immediately starting with the job request.
And that's pretty much it everyone, hope you liked it and if you didn't, well, let me know with a review!
Peace!
