Rias hissed in pain as Akeno used her magic to heal her burns.
"You know, it would be much easier for all of us to heal if you just contacted your brother and asked for some Phoenix Tears."
Rias glared at Akeno who looked at her in irritation before signalling to look over at the rest of the peerage.
And the moment she did, guilt and anger flooded her being as she saw Koneko whimper in her sleep due to the pain, her nature as a Nekoshou making her particularly sensitive to the supernatural fires, while Kiba did his best not to show the limp in his leg while his arms were covered in bandages.
Akeno herself had both her arms and torso wrapped in bandages while another bandage was wrapped around her neck where Emiya Issei had grabbed her throat.
Rias felt guilty, that her hasty and reckless actions had caused her beloved servants to be harmed to such an extent. But, she also felt rage towards both Emiya Issie and Sona. Emiya, for his part in harming her servants, no matter how just his cause might have been, and Sona for taking the side of Emiya instead of backing her up during the argument in the Student Council room.
Rias knew that her anger was baseless, but she could not help how she felt.
However, soon enough, all her emotions left her as she felt drained after the debacle in the morning and leaned back in her seat.
"..Akeno? Was I really wrong? In trying to recruit Illya like I did?"
"Of course you were wrong. I told you before, didn't I? You should have taken permission from whoever was protecting her, which is obviously Emiya given his reaction yesterday, before you did anything. I also think you made a mistake when you tried to pressure the girl with your offer."
Rias winced as her mind wandered back to the incident.
From her perspective, everything was going according to plan.
She had managed to ease Illya into the topic of Devils. She had managed to make her realize that her kind was not as bad as depicted in the legends. She informed her of the history of the hidden side of the world and presented her offer. When it looked like Illya was hesitating and would reject the offer, Rias used the offer of healing her Father and providing protection from the Fallen along with slightly pressuring her into thinking about the consequences of not having any protection for her family against the supernatural.
What Rias did not know, was how close to home her points had hit and unearthed many insecurities and trauma that the white-haired girl had buried deep within her ever since her father fell into a coma, causing Illya to start crying, thinking about losing her family because of her and her unwanted power.
In her emotional state, Illya accidentally activated her Sacred Gear, a Red Gauntlet that spooked Koneko into hiding behind Rias while the heiress immediately recognized the gear for what it was. But, they were not the only ones to sense the sudden surge in Illya's magic power that came with activating the Boosted Gear which was continually boosting her power due to a combination of its wielder's emotional distress and its draconic protective instincts.
Within seconds, the window in the room was blown inward by Issei who rushed inside, searching frantically for his sister. Rias did not even have the time to show her shock at the sudden display of supernatural power displayed by someone she had considered ignorant of the hidden side of the world.
The moment Issei spotted the crying Illya, his eyes turned cold.
Rias still did not remember clearly what happened. One moment, her peerage had gone into defensive positions to fight against the sudden intruder, the next moment, Kiba was blown out of the building, his demonic swords shattered to pieces while blue fire caused severe burns on his right leg and both arms, Akeno's lightning was somehow redirected back to her while enhancing it with the blue flames, causing the lightning to turn white and strike her on her torso, causing extreme burns along her entire body in the pattern of a lightning, just like a human who survived a lighting strike would have, followed by a burn mark in the shape of a palm on her throat, Koneko had tried to defend Rias, only for a flame covered punch to burn her stomach and throw her out of the building as well, followed by Rias herself being burned by the flames.
Honestly, if it were not for the Power Of Destruction that Rias was using to coat her body, she might have been turned to ash by those flames.
As Rias silently contemplated her actions, her queen's eyes softened before she spoke again.
"Then again, I think Emiya overreacted as well. He did not even give you any chance to explain yourself before attacking."
"I know that I don't have the right to blame him. But what other option did I have? Even before I knew that Illya had Boosted Gear, a Longinus class gear, Koneko already confirmed that she had a Dragon-Type Sacred gear. What other being is capable of saving me from my predicament than a dragon? How else was I supposed to free myself from the Black Phoenix of the Underworld?"
At Rias's despairing words, Akeno could do nothing but stay by her childhood friend's side, with her palm on her shoulder.
While Rias's actions were indeed wrong, she was also right in saying that she did not have any other choice.
For there was no other being than a Dragon that could take on Riser Phenex, the Black Phoenix of the Underworld. One of the few Ultimate Class devils in their generation.
"….While it is now impossible to recruit Illya into the peerage thanks to your actions, I think there is still a way to gain her, and by extension, her brother as well. If he is willing, of course."
"What way?"
"We could ask them to become our contracted magicians."
Rias's eyes opened wide at that suggestion, but her hope suddenly left her as she remembered one key detail.
"But Illya is not a magician. She is a Sacred Gear user. And while her brother is indeed capable, what I sensed from him was Touki, not magic."
"That is something that can be changed easily. You did sense the massive amount of magic energy that Illya had, right? Even before she used her sacred gear I was already able to pick up on her energy. It would be very easy to provide her with the necessary training with our resources."
"What about Emiya?"
"We could have him as a contracted mage in name only so that we can ask for his assistance should the need arise."
Rias nodded at her queen's words and immediately started to work on trying to find something that would interest the siblings in becoming her contracted mages. She knew that it was going to be an uphill battle due to the bad impression she left on Emiya and Illya, but she must try anyway.
But unknown to the two, Koneko was not asleep but was trying hard not to break down crying from pain and fright while a part of her mind was trying to come up with a counter to Akeno's words about the siblings but could not come up with anything.
When Issei had used his flames to attack her, Koneko had accidentally used her Nekoshou power to try and protect herself. It was because of this action that she had managed to link with Issei's soul for a fraction of a second.
And what she saw, brought back a trauma that she never wanted to experience again, a trauma which originated from the foul Purple-Black fires that Riser Phenex once used to kill a weaker Devil during their childhood.
The flames made Koneko feel like she was being bathed in the sins of the entire world. Flames with an intensity the likes of which she had never felt, not even from Sirzechs Lucifer himself when he had used his power to keep the Pillar families from trying to execute her in place of her sister after the massacre of the Naberius branch family.
But then, she encountered flames with the same intensity as the ones from Riser from Emiya. This time, the flames felt completely different. They were powerful, but they felt like the sun. like she was placed within the core of a star and was beholden to all its glory. And yet, the intensity was still the same as those demonic flames she experienced before, thus bringing her trauma back to the front.
With the trauma coming back, she was now forced to curl up on the couch in pain and fear, trying to suppress her emotions and fears.
In all honesty, Koneko did not want her peerage to have anything to do with the Emiya-Einzbern family anymore. She did not want Illya to become a part of the peerage or a contracted magician along with her brother. She did not want those flames anywhere near her or those that she considered her family.
However, she also knew that she could not be so selfish, especially since it was related to her master's life.
If she started using Senjutsu, then maybe, Rias might not need to rely on such dangerous individuals, but Koneko did not have the will or the courage to use that part of her without breaking down into a quivering mess, being reminded of the massacre that her sister had caused when she went crazy with that power.
With no other choice left, Koneko just continued to quiver on the couch, in pain, fear, and anger at herself and her incompetence.
"HAA!"
With a powerful swing, the tree was cut in half by the demonic sword held by the Knight of Gremory. And yet, the Knight found no pride or happiness in the feat of strength and skill displayed. Instead, he went towards another tree and took his stance before flooding his body with Demonic Power, trying to force his body beyond its limits while ignoring the pain in his arms and leg.
Once again, the sword was swung, and the tree fell. Yet, once again, the frustration within the knight only grew.
Ever since Kiba was blown out of the building so easily by Emiya, he had been frustrated with his lack of strength, and his inability to protect his family. But, his pride did not allow him to contact his teacher behind his master's back, knowing that anything he told his teacher would make it back to Sirzechs Lucifer, which was something that Rias wanted to avoid at any cost.
Thus, with no choice, he did what he always did when he felt frustrated. Train.
"Yuuto. You better have an explanation as to why you are destroying school property like this."
Kiba jumped in surprise before two demonic swords appeared in his hands, causing his arms to ache due to the sudden motion.
Standing in front of the knight was none other than Sona Sitri, the heir of the Sitri clan of devils and Rias's childhood friend.
However, even after recognizing her, Kiba just lowered his stance but did not dismiss the swords.
"Kaichou. What can I do for you?"
"Where is Rias?"
"..She is currently unavailable. I'll inform you when she is available-"
"If you lie to me again, Kiba Yuuto, then you will face the consequences."
Suddenly, Kiba's face twisted with fury.
"Consequences? Like how you need to face the consequence for breaking the trust of your best friend like you did in the Council room?"
"It is because she is my friend that I corrected her and stopped her from going on the wrong path."
"Wrong path? That's easy for you to say since you don't have to face a monster like Riser Phenex to win your freedom. What would you know about what Rias is facing?"
"Then, you approve of her emotionally manipulating an innocent girl and nearly causing her to break down just so she could gain a powerful piece in her peerage?"
Kiba looked away from Sona, unable to answer her, yet unable to let go of his anger.
Kiba knew that Sona was right in what she said and did. However, his loyalty towards Rias caused him to feel enraged at the perceived betrayal by Sona when she backed up Emiya instead of siding with Rias. Of course, Kiba did not condone what Rias had done in her haste and recklessness, but he trusted Sona to help back up Rias and negotiate some kind of a middle ground with Emiya. The unexpected action taken by Sona to send away Emiya and chew out Rias for the incident was something that caught the entire peerage by surprise and the main source of his anger.
"Kiba, we are Devils. Creatures born of darkness. The seven sins are an integral part of our very nature. What do you think would happen should we fail to keep those dark emotions in check?"
Demons. Kiba did not even have to think before the answer came to his mind.
While many young devils did not know this due to how sheltered they grew up. The things written in the Bible and many other such texts about Demons and Devils were very accurate. But, the caveat here is that these books described Demons of the old.
Beings that indulged in their dark nature without check, whose monstrous acts ran rampant without any care for consequences. For millions of years, that was how the Underworld was.
It was only during the Great War that the Demons of the old started to look at themselves and other races around them, learning from them, and learning to control their nature. Their demonic visages changed with every bit of rationality they gained until their forms became what they are today.
The Demons learned rationality and to control their true nature, giving birth to the Devil race.
However, it is very easy for the Devil race to fall back and become Demons once again. All it would take is sufficient indulgence in their true nature, and the monsters of the old would come back.
That was why, the four Satans worked so hard to maintain peace in the Underworld. So that their race would not fall back into the depths from which it crawled out with great difficulty.
Of course, things started to change when Reincarnated devils came into the picture, giving rise to those who were unable to cope with the sudden change in their nature and ended up indulging too much in their darkness, giving rise to Demons that were labeled as Stray Devils.
"From your face, I can tell that you have already realized what I am trying to say. We, and our race as a whole, cannot allow our emotions to rule us, Kiba. It is one of the biggest dangers of being a Devil. That is why I did not back up Rias in the morning. She has been sheltered her whole life and has never been in a position where she had to work to get anything that she wanted. The same goes for her peerage where all of you just fell in her lap, one way or another. That is why, she needs to learn to deal with rejection of her offer and learn to not be reckless and greedy with her actions."
"…But are we supposed to do? How do we, how do I save Rias from Riser?"
"..That is something that you will have to figure out yourself since I don't have an answer to it. But, I trust you and the peerage. I know that you will not allow anything to happen to her as long as you live."
Kiba nodded at her words with determination before looking away from her with guilt.
"..Sorry about blowing up like that."
"It's OK, Kiba. I understand where you are coming from and I forgive you. Now, where is Rias really?"
"..She is still in the building, Akeno is treating her wounds."
With a nod, the Sitri heiress walked towards the building while the Knight kept staring at the ground, unable to think of anything but Sona's words and his own incompetence.