"Why is the pervert here?"

"I get that he's the Captain's childhood friend but… that's just gross…"

"Ne, Katase, just have the shinai ready in case he tries anything."

"Yeah, as Vice Captain, I'm gonna talk to Mitsuki after this. She really brought him into the club room…"

Issei squirmed underneath the intense gazes of the kendo club members. Mitsuki had asked him to come here after he finished his lessons with Rias. It was safe to say that Issei knew his way there all too well. He had expected his welcome to be less than friendly but never to the extent where he could feel their deep hatred for him.

"Er…"

"Ah, Aniki."

He turned around. Mitsuki was waving over to him. She had a towel around her neck. Sweat dripped down her forehead.

"Mii, where's Shin?" Issei asked, attempting to look around the dojo.

The subsequent glares he received from all the members almost made him want to disappear. It was one thing to come here with Matsuda and Motohama, but to come here straight into the lion's den alone, was another thing.

"Ah. Shin's over there," Mitsuki said, jutting her thumb over to the boy in question.

Shin was standing next to Katase, correcting the way she was holding her stance. Issei raised an eyebrow, seeing the slightly flushed expression Katase had at the close proximity between the two. Even if he didn't come here often, Issei knew that as the manager of the club, Shin was rather popular among the girls here. The only thing keeping them from expressing that fact was the fact that their dear captain was rather possessive of her boyfriend.

"Um, I think Katase is…" Issei began thinking of a way to get a little payback on them.

"Katase is what?" Mitsuki asked, looking over her shoulder. Her eyes dulled a little at the sight, subconsciously leaking a small amount of murderous intent from her body.

Issei watched as Katase visibly lost several shades of color, feeling Mitsuki's intense gaze on her person.

"N- Nothing," Issei replied, seeing the poor girl stiffen up.

"Oh, well. Just give us a few more minutes and I'll end practice here. Just go wait outside. I don't think the girls are… all too happy to see you, Aniki, considering your… repeated escapades in the Girls' Locker Room."

Issei nodded, feeling all too happy to escape their malicious gazes.


Issei sat against the wall on the floor, outside of the club room. It had been 10 minutes since he had left and the sounds of shinai locking with shinai had all but ceased. The sliding door opened and the girls began to leave the room, chatting amongst themselves. He felt the disgusted gazes of Murayama and Katase lingering on his form as they left the club room.

"Hmph, maybe we should've waited until we ended practice today before texting you to come over here."

Issei looked up and saw Shin standing in the doorway.

"Yeah, ahaha," Issei said.

"Well, can't say this isn't your fault," he said, helping Issei to his feet.

"O-Oi, you totally are," Issei replied.

"Because it is. Now come on. We need to prepare for tonight so we'll get some practice with your Sacred Gear in," Shin said.

Issei entered the clubroom. Mitsuki stood at the center, dressed in her school uniform. Her hair was slightly wet and matted, having just showered after practice. She stood there with a small smile on her face.

"Alright, let's get started."


"Gahk!"

Issei flew into the wall, causing the room to shake slightly. He slid down like a sack of potatoes, falling to his hands and knees. He panted heavily and looked up.

Shin didn't even look winded. He was treating this like it was some sort of light exercise session. However, for Issei, this was the hardest he'd ever had to physically struggle his entire life. His jaw tightened as he got back up.

The past few days, even before the incident at Akane's house, Mitsuki and Shin had been taking turns beating self-defense quite literally into his body. At first, it started off with exercises followed by proper stances. And then after that, they had gone right to fighting.

"Experience is the best teacher."

"Okay, let's beat you up now."

Issei almost wanted to laugh. They were teaching him via experience. Was this how they learned?

He raised his fists and kept an eye on Shin.

His friend hadn't taken on any stances. He hadn't even drawn a weapon. Issei was currently the only one wielding one. He glanced down at the red gauntlet on his left arm momentarily.

Mitsuki had mentioned it had some sort of powers, though what it was he didn't know. She seemed rather offput by it.

Come on you! I need power or something! I've been getting my ass kicked for three days straight! Issei begged.

"Oi, are you just gonna stand there or are you actually gonna fight?" Shin asked.

Rage bubbled up within Issei. He rushed forward, running toward Shin. He needed to land one hit. One hit to wipe that smirk off his friend's face. He needed strength.

Strength to reach his goal. No, first, he needed speed. And with speed, strength came naturally after. The faster something moved, the harder it hit. That was one thing he learned in class. Therefore, he needed to move faster, and to do that, he needed more power.

[Boost]

As if in response to his intense desire to land a single blow on his friend, Issei felt power welling up within him. The power exploded and coursed through his entire being. He felt lighter. He felt stronger.

"Oraaa!"

Shin's eyes widened slightly. Issei had suddenly begun to move faster. A red gauntlet filled his vision.

As Issei's fist came within mere micrometers of his face, Shin moved out of the way, grabbing Issei's arm before flipping him over his shoulder and slamming him violently on the floor.

The building shook violently and splinters of wood flew up as the floor was fractured upon impact. Clouds of dust and wind flew up, obscuring the two from the room's one onlooker.

Mitsuki narrowed her eyes, activating her ability, and made out the silhouettes of her two childhood friends.

As soon as the dust settled, Issei lay on the ground panting and groaning in pain. Sweat poured from his body in droves, drenching his PE shirt completely. His hair was matted and a small amount of blood dripped down his forehead.

Shin stood over him, fist pointed at Issei's face while pressing his leg on Issei's chest.

In short, in that one move, Shin had completely pinned Issei to the ground in a completely violent manner.

"I… give…," Issei said in between pants.

Shin nodded, taking his leg off Issei's chest. He let out a sigh and stretched his neck, eliciting a satisfying pop.

"Ow… that hurt," Issei said, sitting up. He winced, feeling a sharp pain shoot through his side.

"You could've held back you know," Mitsuki said, walking up to the two. She handed them two water bottles.

Issei gladly took it and began drinking the entire thing, gulping loudly as he felt the refreshing sensation of cool water sliding down his throat. He let out a satisfied sigh, crushing the bottle unintentionally in his hand.

"Shin, man, are you sure you aren't a Devil or something?" Issei asked, placing the bottle down.

"Nope, 100% human. I am au natural," Shin said, taking a sip of his water.

"Eh? What the hell? With that freakish strength? You shook the entire school!" Issei exclaimed, pointing at Shin with a shaky finger.

"It's a little hard to explain. I did try to reincarnate Shin a long time ago like I did with you once I got my Evil Pieces but… that was a no go," Mitsuki said.

"Wait… your Pieces can't reincarnate Shin? Prez told me that the only things it can't reincarnate are Gods and Buddhas," Issei said.

It was something Rias had told him when Issei asked if Shin was a member of Mitsuki's Peerage. Though, Issei also remembered that Shin said he was still human. Something he doubted the entire time ever since he had been reincarnated. Shin not being a Devil made Issei wonder even more if Shin was in fact, secretly a God or a Buddha.

"Well, for starters, I'm not a God like you're thinking," Shin said, sitting on the ground.

"Eh? How did you-"

"I'm psychic."

"E- Eh? I- I guess mind-reading powers exist-"

"No, he's just joking," Mitsuki said.

"It's easy to read your face. You're like an open book and wear your heart on your sleeve. But anyway," Shin said.

"I felt insulted just now. But what were you saying? About not being a God? Why don't Evil Pieces work on you?" Issei asked.

"Well, it's a bit hard to explain. To the system of Evil Pieces, I might as well be registered as a God even when I'm not," Shin answered.

Issei raised an eyebrow. That statement was a bit difficult to understand. He furrowed his brow, trying to decipher the meaning behind Shin's words.

"Let me explain before you have a stroke," Shin said.

Issei nodded.

"Evil Pieces have the ability to reincarnate other beings and grant them the qualities of a Devil. That includes reviving corpses that have recently passed so long as their souls have not been claimed by any reapers or anything. And before you ask, yes, it also works on ghosts," Shin said, adding that last part upon seeing Issei's mouth open.

"But then what about you?" Issei asked.

Shin closed his eyes and concentrated for a few seconds. After opening, Issei almost instinctively moved back. Shin's once dark eyes were now blue and red and glowed with power. The sensation Issei felt on his skin was almost similar to the thing that sliced through his spine in the park.

"This is Stigmata. It's the mark of a God… or a Genius Loci, which is a Divine Spirit. Because I have this mark, Evil Pieces cannot differentiate between my existence and that of a God's," Shin said. The glow in his eyes faded, returning them to their previous shade.

"Of course, it lets me do other things too but for now, since we're on the topic of why I'm not a Devil, this is the reason," Shin said.

"I- I see," Issei replied. "So you're like a human god?"

"I guess if that's the easiest way to explain, then yeah," he replied.

"Wait? What about Aka-nee? She's freakishly strong! Stronger than you, Mii, and the Prez! Is she one of these human gods too?"

"The term is Contractor and yes, she was in the past. She stopped being one due to an incident," Mitsuki replied this time.

Issei nodded, taking all this information in. This was all new to him. Learning about his friends' best kept secrets. He didn't know what to think.

"Mmm? Looks like it's almost time. Here. Take this. I'm pretty sure you remember what this is." Mitsuki handed him a glass vial with red liquid inside of it.

"These are… Phenex Tears, right? Riser-aniki gave me some after that incident with that psycho priest," Issei said, taking the vial.

"Yeah, this'll get you healed up so we can go do what we're supposed to do tonight," Mitsuki said.

"Which is?"

"A job. We're gonna go on a sortie."


While Issei had stayed up late from time to time, he had only gone out this late on a handful of occasions. However, all of those trips resulted in short walks to the local convenience store to buy some snacks when he was up late studying for class. So, Issei was feeling particularly uncomfortable about the location they were at.

Even before becoming a Devil, Issei had heard on the news about a string of vicious murders that had been happening in Kuoh. News that he had seen whenever Yozora was watching TV in the living room while grading papers.

Despite them all taking place in different areas of town, all of them appeared to center around the old industrial park.

And herein lay his current predicament, Issei was currently with his two friends in the middle of the night in Kuoh's old industrial park. They were going on something Mitsuki called a "sortie".

This place was home to delinquents and gangs. There had been rumors of various crimes that Issei would rather push out of his head but this place was not a place to be at during nighttime, especially now that he learned about all the things that go bump in the night.

"Hmm! Smell that! That's the smell of death!"

Issei paled. Shin really did have a rather morbid way with words.

"Idiot, you're gonna scare him off before we even get there," Mitsuki said, scanning her surroundings.

"Um, did we really have to bring Mii here? I heard this place wasn't safe for… girls," Issei said.

"You're worried about Mii of all people?" Shin asked, raising an eyebrow. "She's the last person you need to be worried about in this place. Do you remember that delinquent incident in the kendo club a few months ago?"

"Yeah… oh."

Issei remembered it. He remembered it well. A well-known delinquent from the 3rd year had challenged Mitsuki to a duel over the kendo club. Of course, anyone would eyes could see that the playboy wanted Mitsuki and the club to himself and thought that he could defeat her of all people in a duel. It was a situation straight out of a doujin and it ended in an extremely violent manner.

All because of her less-than-stellar reputation as an obsessive girlfriend.

"You guys need to get over that. He's still alive, you know," Mitsuki said, looking over her shoulder.

"Mii, he was in intensive care for 4 months. You left him with 5 broken ribs, a ruptured spleen, a collapsed lung, and intracranial hemorrhage. Rias had to secretly dose him with a Phenex Tear and mind wipe his entire family just to keep everything under wraps," Shin said.

"Not my fault. He wanted to fuck around so I made him find out what would happen when he did," she said, shrugging as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

"Where is this thing anyway? The Stray Devil?" Issei asked.

"We shouldn't be too far from it… the last report we had from Rias was that it made camp here in the warehouse up ahead…"

Mitsuki slowed to a stop when she saw the aforementioned redhead standing in front of their supposed destination.

"Eh? Prez? What's she doing here?" Issei asked.

"Rias? I thought we took the assignment from you. Why are you here? …And why are you alone? Usually, Akeno goes everywhere with you," Mitsuki said.

"Ah, I gave Akeno the night off. I thought it'd be fun to come along. Besides, you need a support fighter to keep Issei safe, right? As well as someone who can explain everything to him," Rias replied.

"I… I can do that too, you know," Mitsuki said, slightly pouting.

"Yeah but… I don't think Issei's brain can handle it if you explain. Your explanations are… too complicated," Shin said.

"Look at the pot calling the kettle black," Mitsuki fired back.

"Yeah, I think I'd rather stick to Prez's explanations," Issei agreed.

"Ugh, fine. At least let me start with the basics. Come on. Let's go inside." Mitsuki walked past them and opened the warehouse with surprising ease. The three sweatdropped when they noticed the metal handles to the warehouse doors had bent completely.

"To begin with, this is a demonstration of how Devils fight. Or it would be…" Rias discreetly glanced at Mitsuki, who began to sweat underneath her gaze.

"Mm, normally, this would be that part, right?" Shin said.

"Ok, I get it! I'll take over from here. Anyway, I told you already that I reincarnated you with something called an Evil Piece. Each one of those pieces holds a trait but we'll get to that later. For now, I'll explain it in layman's terms. Evil Pieces were created because Devils almost went extinct thanks to engaging in a three-way war between the Biblical God-"

Rias and Issei felt headaches pass through them briefly.

"And the Grigori, which are the Fallen Angels."

"Mm, since Devils have a naturally low birth rate due to our long lifespans, we had to make a workaround so we all don't go extinct in a few thousand years. In order to replenish our forces, we made Evil Pieces, which allow us to reincarnate-"

"Other people as Devils. Mii and Shin said that to me while we were training," Issei interrupted.

"Aw, look. He learned something. It looks like you can teach, after all, Mii," Rias teased.

"Anyway," Mitsuki pressed on, "Aside from turning you into a Devil, the pieces have… certain traits and abilities that it grants to the one it reincarnates. It's all based on Chess since… for some odd reason, chess is a popular game in the Underworld. Anyway, the pieces are as follows. You got your [King], your [Queen], two [Bishops], two [Rooks], two [Knights], and eight [Pawns]."

"You know Issei, this system is so popular down there in the Pit that they decided to make a game out of it," Shin added.

"A game?" Issei asked.

"Mmm! It's a game that contributes to a Devil's status and popularity! A Rating Game! Think of it like a Pokemon battle between two Devils!" Rias said.

"I… see," Issei said, trying to take it all in.

"I-" A sense of familiar dread crept up Issei's spine. Something was about to happen. He couldn't tell what but-

A brief image flashed through his head.

There was a horrific chimera of a woman that was about to-

On instinct, Issei grabbed Rias by the arm and pulled her away. Where she stood, a massive bladed appendage slammed down, piercing the concrete.

"Eh?" Rias blinked when she saw the arm stabbed into the ground.

"Looks like it got bored of waiting for us to come in," Shin said. He held his hands out and manifested two pistols.

Issei eyed the firearms. They were the same as the ones Shin used in the park.

"This is a good time to explain what I can do too! Remember when I said in the dojo that my Contracts grant me powers? This is one of them! This is the Contract of the Lady of the Lake, Vivian! The Authority of Rebuild! It's a power of [Construction] that allows me to make anything that I can analyze, break down, or have full understanding of. These pistols are replicas of the legendary bow, Failnacht. The memories of these weapons were granted to me by my Sponsor, the Lady of the Lake, Vivi ," Shin said, twirling the pistols.

Eh? So he can make basically anything! Issei thought.

"Are you going to keep showing off?" A disembodied voice echoed through the warehouse.

"Vivi, now's not a good time," Shin said.

"Using only Failnacht for this fight? Is this the extent of how much you want to show? What about Ran's?" she asked.

Shin ignored her and aimed the pistols at the oncoming foe. It was a gargantuan monster. The top half of it was a topless woman while the lower half was a beast with four, thick legs and a snake-like tail. Each leg had sharp claws.

"Ahhhn~! I smell the sweet delectable taste of human," the demon said, licking her lips.

"Oi…" Electricity began to crackle around Mitsuki. She held her hand out. A magic circle appeared next to her and dispensed a sheathed katana.

"Stray Devil Viser. By order of the Archduke, we are here to eliminate you!" Rias declared, pointing her finger at the thing.

Issei inched his way behind the older red-haired girl, who seemed to be completely unfazed by this thing's inhuman appearance. While it wasn't as scary as that Freed guy, this thing was still capable of killing him and as he was right now, he didn't even know if he could fight a beast that big.

"Hmph, what an arrogant little girl. I'll rip your body apart and paint the walls red like your hair!" Viser roared.

Issei raised an eyebrow. He had heard this line before.

"Now, let's get started." Mitsuki stretched a little before grabbing her katana and walking forward. "This isn't the usual rotation of battle with Devil Peerages but we'll explain it while we kill this thing. First off, let's start with [Bishops]."

Shin nodded and rushed forward. He spun his pistols with a bit of flair before leaping into the air as Viser brought her massive foot down.

Shin grinned and aimed his pistols at her. He pulled the trigger, causing several rifles to appear in the air in a circular formation around him.

"I guess we're doing it like this. What they're demonstrating is that Bishops have a lot of magic power. Which is kind of dumb because Shin isn't a BISHOP!" Rias yelled.

"So! I got a lot of magic power! Mii can attest to that!" Shin said, unleashing a barrage of blue energy blasts onto Viser's back.

Viser cried out in pain, feeling the agony of having numerous wounds dealt in a flash.

"O- Oi!" Mitsuki's face turned red at the insinuation. "Next, Knights! In short, Knights are super fast!"

Rias had a deadpan expression on her face. "Yeah. That's basically it. Mii is using herself to demonstrate because she…"

A gust of wind washed over them. Issei watched with wide eyes as Mitsuki rushed forward, disappearing from sight and instantly reappearing behind Viser.

A large diagonal cut manifested on her chest, slicing her torso open. A shower of blood sprayed across the warehouse, staining the concrete in a viscous black fluid.

"Mii is very very fast," Rias said.

"I can… see that," Issei said. "Or I can't? She moves way too fast for me to even see."

"I guess we're both in the same boat. I can barely see her move."

Mitsuki landed on the ground with her back facing Viser.

The stray devil howled in pain and rage. She twirled her large spear and thrust it at Mitsuki's unprotected back.

Mitsuki glanced over her shoulder, not even bothering to move. A spear that would have pierced straight through her spine missed by a small distance.

"W- What? That… aim was perfect. What's… You!" Viser snarled and began rapidly thrusting her spear at her.

Mitsuki stood up and faced her, smirking as she missed what were supposedly hits that could hit perfectly.

Issei rubbed his eyes. A brief flicker in reality like a glitch in a video. Was he seeing things? "Prez, those spears look like they all should have landed but… they're all missing."

"They're being made to miss. It's Mitsuki's little ace in the hole. She's like you," Rias said.

Issei's eyes widened at her statement.

"Anyway, the next piece is Rook. Normally, I'd have Koneko demonstrate that…"

An explosion rocked the entire building. Rias casually raised her hand, erecting a magic circle. Pieces of rubble and errant blasts from Shin slammed into the barrier, shaking it violently but not shattering it completely.

Issei paled at the sight. The barrier had cracks in it.

Rias sighed and turned around.

Viser was being made a fool of. She was being turned into minced meat slowly by these two sadists. Cuts littered her skin. Black fluid poured in droves down the various incisions made on her body. Cuts that were made to bleed but not to kill.

"Those two…" Rias sighed.

She glanced over to Issei, who had a look on his face that was equal parts awe and horror.

"Looks like they're drawing things out for educational purposes. But to answer why we're even hunting her down, this thing is a Stray Devil," Rias said.

"But why are Stray Devils hunted down?" Issei asked, feeling slightly sorry for the beast.

Even if it killed a dozen people, seeing this thing fight desperately to survive was starting to make Issei feel sorry for it.

Rias gave Issei a side-eyed look before returning her attention to the battle in front of them.

"Normally, Reincarnated Devil spend time around their Masters in order to keep their demonic powers in check. After all, granting a new type of power to another being that has never experienced such a thing before is a recipe for disaster. These devils became consumed by their own selfishness and hubris and broke away from their masters. We take these cases very seriously. As the power of a Stray Devil grows, the harder it becomes to put it down.

"This is especially true in the case of a famous Stray called Kuroka the Black Cat. She is an SS-Ranked Stray Devil who killed her Master," Rias said.

Issei gulped, now seeing this horrific beast in a new light. This thing didn't do this on accident. It did it on purpose.

"Under normal circumstances, Reincarnated Devils can be free from their masters upon reaching High Class so resorting to murder is… tasteless in my opinion. Of course, Mitsuki has different opinions on this," she said.

Issei nodded.

"K- Kill me…"

Viser fell to the ground with a thud. She weakly tried to claw her way to the open door, where Rias and Issei were.

Mitsuki and Shin landed on the ground next to the two, stretching their arms with their weapons still in hand.

"This battle is done. All we need to do is finish her off and we'll be done with this. After that, we just need to collect our pay," Mitsuki said, walking over to Viser.

"Pay?" Issei asked.

"Unlike Rias here, who gets assignments because it's her duty, Mii and I are more free. We get hired to do stuff… stuff nobody likes to do and we get paid for it. We're basically hired guns. Mercenaries if you will. Since Rias hired us to do this job… technically," Shin explained.

"I get it. I have to pay you two for this."

"Nah, it's cool. We did get paid, sort of. Issei got to learn about our jobs and how Peerages operate," Mitsuki said. She swung her blade at Viser's neck, severing her head and killing the Devil instantly.

With a flourish, she swiped the blood off her blade and sheathed her sword. "This way, the next jobs we take Issei on. We can have him fight after getting a bit more training in."

"So that's it? We're done? What about the body?" Issei asked, looking at the less-than-conspicuous corpse of the monster behind Mitsuki.

"I got it." Rias raised her hand, gathering black energy into the palm. She fired it, engulfing the entire corpse in a black sphere. The sphere faded, revealing absolutely nothing. "Consider this the clean-up."

"Thanks for that," Shin said.

"And with that, we're done! Any questions, Aniki?" Mitsuki asked.

Issei pondered her words for a few seconds. "You… said Evil Pieces are based on chess pieces, right?"

"Yeah," she replied.

"So… what piece am I?" he asked.

"There were two more pieces we didn't explain. One piece is called Pawn. It has no special abilities to speak of aside from being to turn into any of the other pieces via a process called Promotion. This usually requires the permission of the King to do or if the King deems that the Pawn is what is known as [Enemy Territory]," Rias said.

"I see…" Pawn… The word resonated deeply with Issei. It carried an immense amount of nostalgia with it.

"And the last piece?" he asked.

"The Queen. The Queen is generally the strongest member of the Peerage after the Queen. Akeno, for example, is the Queen of my Peerage. She's not here right now but she's stronger than Yuuto and Koneko and second only to me. Queens have the traits of [Bishops], [Knights], and [Rooks]," Rias said.

"Okay? So what piece am I?" Issei asked, excited over which piece he was going to be.

"Queen." Mitsuki had answered with no hesitation.

"E- Eh? Queen?"

"Unlike Rias or Satsuki, I have no mutation pieces. People are born with different reincarnation values according to the Evil Piece System. I was going to use a Pawn to bring you back but…" she trailed off. "Anyway, it took my Queen Piece to reincarnate you, meaning you are worth exactly, 9 Pawns, Aniki."

"E- Eh!? W- Wait!? What about the others? You have other Peerage Members, right?" Issei asked.

Shin shook his head. "Nope. You're her only one."

"Only… member…"

Mitsuki nodded. "I'm not too big on the whole Evil Pieces thing. I only got Pieces because of my obligation to the family but I never really bothered to reincarnate anyone or participate in Devil society. But, in the future, if I need to, I'll probably gather more Pieces."

"So… it's just me," he said.

"Yup! Just you!" she beamed. "And you're the strongest piece in my Peerage." Mitsuki walked up to him and clapped his shoulder.

S- Strongest piece!? And I have to represent her according to Prez! Is this what they call societal pressure!?

Issei's brain began to shut down from the speculation of the work he would have to do not to embarrass his best friend.

"Don't worry about representing Mii, Ise," Shin said.

"Huh?" Issei turned to Shin.

"Mii's not really well-liked by other Devils our age because she's a halfie. And she doesn't really care about all this stuff," Shin said.

"B- But still… I can't let her down," Issei replied.

A smile graced Mitsuki's face. "Thanks, Aniki. But, you don't have to. After all, I did this to save you. I don't care about what you do from here on out," she said.

"Still…"

"Don't worry too much about it. Come on. Let's go home." Mitsuki walked past him.

Issei stood there for a few seconds, clenching his fists. He turned around and called out to Mitsuki and Shin.

"Shin! Mii!"

The two turned their heads to face him.

"I won't hold you two back! I'll make sure to become strong enough to not embarrass you two!" Issei declared. "And… once I do, I'll build my own harem!"

"How could you say something so noble then ruin it with something so perverse," Mitsuki said. Despite her harsh words, she had an unrestrained smile on her face.

"Looks like Issei wants to show the other Kings up, Mii. I guess Rias and Sacchan are gonna have to watch out for her," Shin said.

Rias watched the three with a small smile. The closeness the three shared was something even she didn't have with her Peerage. Even with Akeno. No matter how close they were, there was always that respectful distance even if they were their own small family.

"Watch me, Prez, Mii, Shin. I'll become the strongest Queen!" Issei said.


Raynare.

Mittelt had been ruminating about her sudden change in attitude. Kalawarna was too blind to see it. Raynare was no longer Raynare. It was that damned sense of nostalgia that kept her from seeing it. However, Mittelt was not that foolish. She hadn't known Raynare that long and she wasn't as close to her, so she had no filter to blind her.

And so, she slinked through the hallways of the Abandoned Church. Kalawarna had gone out to mess around with a few men in the town. Raynare was nowhere to be seen.

She heard the pious cries of the rogue exorcists they had gathered. Mittelt scoffed. Did they really think killing a bunch of innocent people was going to guarantee them a spot in Heaven? If anything, the Morning Star was going to lay claim to all their souls. But this was beginning to get out of hand.

They were here to observe the Sacred Gear users, not cause a ruckus. She needed to find Raynare and tell her they needed to leave.

"Raynare!" Mittelt arrived at the door to Raynare's room. She knocked on the door. However, the moment her knuckle made contact, the door creaked open.

"..."

Mittelt stiffened. Something was wrong. Raynare never kept her door unlocked. It was always locked. So what was…

A series of whispers floated out the door and into her ears. It was unnatural. Like a perverse assault on her senses. However, she couldn't help but peek inside.

Her eyes widened in horror. Blood was splattered all over the walls. Dried blood. It looked to be a few days old, judging by how it looked more brown than red. And, laying against the wall was…

R- Ray…

The sound of footsteps from inside the room caught her attention. Something was coming. She quickly tried to mask her presence and moved away from the door.

The footsteps got closer and the door swung open. Thankfully, she managed to stand where the door would make contact with the wall.

"Mmm? I could have sworn I heard a knock."

This was… Raynare's voice.

Mittelt covered her mouth, her body trembling in fear. Something was wrong. Raynare's voice was coming from the other side but the corpse she saw on the wall was clearly…

She shook her head, banishing the thought.

"Hmmm, must have been one of the rogue priests. Now…" the door moved, slamming shut.

Mittelt released a breath she didn't know she had been holding. Not wanting to remain any longer, she ran. She needed to get away. She needed to get help. Kalawarna was useless. Dohnaseek was dead.

She had to gamble her safety on one thing.

The Devils… I don't care if they're our enemy! This… Something is very wrong here!

She sprinted out the backdoor of the Abandoned Church.

And as she did, she was completely unaware of the pair of violet eyes watching her from above. A sinister gaze that was accompanied by an exceedingly malicious smile.