Chapter 11 - Revelations and Reparations
Occult Club Building - Highschool DxD World - One hour after the end of the previous chapter / One Month and One day before the original start of canon
(Rias Gremory's P.O.V)
The last three hours since the fighting at the abandoned church ended have been admittedly filled with a bunch of clean-up to make sure any of the mundane who stumble upon the area don't notice anything too out of hand, such as of course dealing with all the bodies of the dead rogue exorcists, requiring admittedly liberal use of my Power of Destruction to erase the physical evidence where necessary completely.
During the clean-up though I had been thinking about the fights that occurred for myself and my peerage, in particular my own fight with Kalwarner and Akeno's fight with Dohnaseek, and there are reasons why those fights are the focus of my attention compared to Koneko's and Yumi's.
Akeno's fight revealed a piece of information that I hadn't anticipated learning about once my best friend had woken up roughly half an hour later after passing out from exhaustion, revealing Dohnaseek's connection to the events with the Himejima clan, and it is part of a larger trend I have begun to notice as of late that suggest that the metaknowledge granted to me of my past life is becoming less and less relevant.
Granted I am admittedly happy that Akeno did get some partial closure by directly dealing with someone who was involved in the events of that day and the fact that she even used her abilities as a Fallen/Devil Hybrid to do so is something to be praised for all it's worth!
But looking back at my fight with Kalwarner I noticed some flaws in my approach to the fight, flaws that I didn't think I even had before this point that have led me to a conclusion I hadn't expected to come up with but it's the only one that makes any sense of how I fought back then.
I had subconsciously held back in a bid to prolong the fight….
It's not even the fact that my Power of Destruction would have erased Kalwarner before she pulled out that strange Artificial Sacred gear or even the simple fact that the release of my power as a devil could have dealt with her.
I had the option to use my fire shroud a lot sooner and end the fight before it got so out of hand but I simply chose not because some part of me, a part of me that belonged to who I was in my past life, wanted a real fight against a member of the supernatural that wasn't a stray devil.
I was overconfident and eager to show off the fruits of my labors to someone who could have killed me if the power gap was small enough to do so, looking back on it now I showed signs of the same underlying arrogance that a lot of devils scions tend to have and it genuinely fills me with shame to think about it.
I think I should treat this entire night as a sort of wake-up call of sorts, that even with all my metaknowledge granted by the memories of my past life, brand new techniques, and my shroud of power, I cannot afford to hold back in fights against those of the supernatural.
That and I really need to brush up on close-quarters combat training sometime soon…
Another thing I have begun to understand at this point is that the metaknowledge is no longer as supremely relevant as I had hoped it would be as with the discovery that an artificial version of a Twice Critical in such a manner, it means that I can no longer count on it in the same manner as I did before tonight.
I had intended for my Metaknowledge to stay mostly intact up until after I have had to face Riser, however, it appears that I will have to start working on preparing myself for further surprises in the future, especially if there are potentially more Artificial Sacred Gears like I suspect there are out in the wild or at least in the grasp of forces belonging to a certain Fallen Angel Cadre.
Either the advent of these Artificial Sacred Gears was something that always existed beyond the one that the Governor of the Grigori made specifically for his own use or their existence is a side effect of [Universal Calibration] causing ripple effects due to the changes made to this world.
Regardless of which of the two possibilities it is, I'd be an idiot not to assume someone as devoted to the research of Sacred Gears as Azazel doesn't have multiple artificial copies of common Sacred Gears, meaning I have to keep the idea of a future enemy getting their hands on one somehow.
Regarding the surviving Fallen Angels, I've put them in magical bindings suited for their respective power level although I made sure to reinforce the one put on Kalwarner just in case that boost to her power isn't a one-time deal.
These are but some of the thoughts that ran through my head as I was busy cleaning up the carnage of the battle alongside my peerage who had mostly recovered from their individual fights enough to help with the cleanup.
Right now though I am merely waiting for a particular someone to arrive at the occult club building as the two of us need to discuss the events of the last few hours so that we know what we will be telling our siblings regarding the Fallen Angels as well as something I have finally decided to ask Sona after all the official business is dealt with.
Speaking of the devil in question I soon hear a knock on the door to the Occult Club Building's office that I am currently sitting in, allowing entrance to the other devil heiress in Kuoh Academy as Sona steps in with a serious expression laid plainly upon her face.
"I've spoken with the rest of your peerage Rias, and if even half of what they've said is true then we have just narrowly avoided having an incredibly large cell of rogue Grigori members hunker down in our own territory," Sona says as she takes a deep sigh of frustration before going to sit in one of the couches in the Occult Club Room, her intelligent mind going a mile a minute trying to comprehend the ramifications of what she's been told not just by my peerage, but her own queen who she had sent to the Abandoned Church to get another first-hand account.
"The fact that we didn't detect them until Freed Selzen ended up attacking the Hyoudou family on the day I was set to visit them means we've either grown lax in our oversight or they were specifically trained for stealth," I say although I can already tell that Sona has already concluded the same thing that I have myself, that these Fallen Angels were trained more as a stealth cell rather than proper strike force, likely making up the difference in power with the additional troops in the form of the Rogue Exorcists that Yumi slaughtered.
"I've already notified my sister about everything that went down at the Abandoned church and as far as I have been made aware, she's already opened a dialogue with the Governer General Azazel on the matter," Sona said, prompting my eyes to widen slightly because it begins to dawn on me just how serious this matter is in a political sense as for anyone unaware of the full picture, it might look like the Grigori are preparing for war by setting up small cells in established territories.
It doesn't help matters that Kalwarner had access to an artificial version of the Twice Critical and since it was something that was almost certainly made by Azazel himself, this implicates the Governer General being involved in the events that occurred here in Kuoh which is, of course, something that Azazel himself would never do since from what my past life's memories indicate, he's a proponent of peace between the three biblical factions and prefers studying Sacred Gears over being any sort of warmonger.
Part of me can't help but wonder how exactly the canon version of me managed to skirt past all these political implications or if her brother was able to handle them in the background in her stead somehow but regardless of how things were supposed to go, I have to figure out how to navigate all of this before I can even get my well-deserved sleep.
It is at that point that the door to the Occult Club room opens up once again to reveal Sona's Queen Tsubaki Shinra who gives the two of us a small bow before she quickly goes over to whisper something into Sona's ear, her tone sounding urgent as my fellow heiress began to frown at what she hears as her expression belays a hint of concern before giving a small nod to Tsubaki who soon leaves the Occult Club room in a hurry.
"It appears that we'll be receiving a visit from none other than Azazel himself in no more than an hour at most, along with both my sister and your brother showing up not long before that, to facilitate negotiations for the release of the Fallen Angels in our care," Sona says as I'm completely caught off-guard by how we're suddenly required to host not just two Maou but also the Governor General of the Grigori, already feeling the stress of the entire situation increase several-fold as a result.
The two of us agree to reconvene in the club room after talking to our respective peerages to prepare for the arrival of several VIPs tonight, knowing that my choice to not outright kill the Fallen Angels and instead capture them has led to the situation becoming something I must directly deal with myself now.
I just hope that the meeting that's about to happen doesn't cause issues down the line, especially with my metaknowledge of the immediate events starting to become more and more useless due to how rapidly things are starting to change due to my actions.
Either way, I had best prepare for the meeting ahead….
Occult Club Building - One Hour Later
(General P.O.V)
To say that Azazel was having an extremely bad night right now was perhaps the understatement of the current century of his life, just a few short hours ago he was busy working on researching a particular interesting Sacred Gear when he received a call from none other than Serafall Leviathan herself, one that he was expecting to be just like any other call from the Maou that parades herself as a magical girl.
What he was not expecting was the downright icy tone that Serafall started the call with and the things that he quickly learned as Serafall laid everything out for him only made it so much worse, to the point he had to very quickly drop whatever other matters he had planned for tonight to handle this sudden and unexpected political shitstorm that was promptly dropped on his lap.
The thing that caught his attention the most was the fact that Kalwarner had somehow gotten access to one of those extremely early prototypes of Artificial Sacred Gears he made so very long ago, which after making 13 of the things he had promptly lost interest in trying to make more due to how they either had some sort of massive drawback in their use or in some cases they were a one time use.
He had stored all the prototypes away and had almost entirely forgotten they had existed, at least that was the case right up until the Artificial Sacred Gear known as Artificial Sacred Gear: Twice-Critical Double-down had not only shown up outside of where it was supposed to be safely secured but its one-time use had been activated by Kalwarner in an attempt to kill none other than Rias Gremory, Heiress to the House of Gremory and the sister of Sirzechs Lucifer…
This ended up prompting Azazel to immediately check the storage vault that had been used to store all 13 prototypes the moment the call had ended during which he had quickly agreed to a meeting with the Devils in Kuoh, only to find that the entire vault had been empty.
The fact that barely any dust had accumulated on the pedestals where the Prototypes were being kept indicated that the theft was extremely recent and only a handful of people in the Grigori even knew of their existence, let alone anyone outside of it.
He had a gut feeling as to who the thief could be but he needed proof of his suspicions before he could act on that gut feeling, this is why he agreed to an in-person meeting in the first place, so he could try to secure the release of Kalwarner and Mittelt.
And so here he is right now, with who he thinks is the Daughter of Baraqiel currently serving not just himself but also Rias Gremory, Sona Sitri, Serafall Leviathan, and Sirzechs Lucifer tea that she had prepared earlier just before everyone had arrived, hoping to come to some form of agreement so that he can retrieve both of his two wayward subordinates who were bound and restrained in the care of the devils.
"I thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to help resolve this matter before it could get out of hand Governer-General," Rias said with a polite tone and smile on her face after taking a small sip of the tea Akeno had given her, deciding to be the one who started talks between herself and Azazel first, prompting the man to give a polite smile of his own.
"It is no problem Heiress Gremory, I know just how poorly this unfortunate incident reflects upon the Grigori as a whole and wish to peacefully resolve things between both parties involved in tonight's incident," Azazel says in response, the Fallen Angel noticing how both Sirzechs and Serafall aren't speaking just yet, wondering if they had coached Rias before his arrival here but decides not to focus on thinking about that possibility just yet.
"You are aware of just how much of this implicates the Grigori engaging in activities that under normal circumstances can be considered attempts to restart the Great War here in Kuoh?" Rias asks rhetorically, with Azazel barely able to hide a wince as he is all too aware of just how bad this looks for the Grigori, especially with an Artificial Sacred Gear being involved in this whole debacle.
"I am aware Heiress Gremory, I am prepared to make reasonable concessions towards resolving this matter before things get any further out of hand," Azazel says carefully, not wanting to look like he's going to bend over backward to agree to just about any sort of demand that the busty redheaded teenage devil could make of him.
"I see, then before I lay out my demands for reparations for the actions of your subordinates, I would like to enquire about what Miss Kalwarner here has in possession, particularly what is this sacred gear and why it exists?" Rias Gremory asks Azazel who thinks about it for a moment before deciding to acquiesce to the heiress's request for answers, hoping that by freely giving up some information he might be able to negotiate for some more reasonable demands later down the line.
"Very well then, to be frank with everyone in this room, my subordinate has a very early prototype of something I have been working for many, many years on which is an Artificial Sacred Gear, one of 13 Artificial Sacred Gears I had created early in my research into Sacred gears at that," Azazel says, explaining how the Artificial Sacred Gear: Twice-Critical Double-down is an imitation replica of an actual Sacred gear, with all 13 Artificial Sacred Gears being replicas of extremely common Sacred Gears that he had lost interest in many centuries ago at this point and had long since moved on from making more of.
"Then I must ask you Governor-General, were you aware of the fact that Miss Kalwarner had this Artificial Sacred Gear in her possession until tonight?" Rias asks which makes Azazel pause, he knows that if he says no then he is admitting to having not been keeping track of his own creations as a result.
But if he says yes to Rias Gremory's question then that just further implicates him in the events of tonight, not to mention he has begun to suspect that Kalwarner getting her hands on the Artificial Sacred Gear was also an attempt to frame Azazel for potentially being responsible for the redhead's death if it came down to that, so really there was only one way to answer that question…
"No, in fact up until the call that I got from Maou Leviathan earlier this evening, I wasn't even aware that it had left the storage vault I had all the prototypes in," Azazel says honestly, his keen eyes noticing both Serafall and Sirzechs glancing at each other upon him revealing that, with the unspoken implications of what he hasn't said not being lost on anyone in the room.
"Very well then, I believe you Governor-General, and as such, will ask no more about the Artificial Sacred Gears you have made at this moment in time," Rias says as Azazel quickly knows how she said 'at this moment in time' which means she or at least the Maous behind her may have further questions later on, which by all accounts is something he is willing to do if it comes up during their usual talks once the meeting is over and done with.
It is here that Rias Gremory takes a deep breath and begins to lay out the following concessions from Azazel:
The Grigori will agree to pay monetary reparations to the Hyoudou Family that Rias Gremory had to take into her peerage due to the actions of the now Deceased Freed Salzan to the sum of ¥200,000,000.
The Grigori shall agree to have someone of Azazel's choosing train Rias Gremory and her entire Peerage for the next 30 days, with the training schedule to be agreed upon later with this deal only being dissolved if both parties directly involved agree to its dissolution or 30 days have elapsed.
Azazel himself must arrange a meeting between one Akeno Himejima of Rias Gremory's Peerage and Akeno's Father Baraqiel of the Grigori, the outcome of which the Grigori must accept no matter what happens during the meeting.
Azazel knows he can easily agree to the first demand as ¥200,000,000 yen is all too easy to burn through without an issue in the mythological world they live in, and while Azazel raises an eyebrow at that he knows he can probably find someone suitable to train the teenager and her peerage during those 30 days.
But it was the third and final demand from the redhead that caught not just his attention, but also the two Maou's behind her and even Akeno Himejima herself with the latter of which looking completely caught off guard by this particular demand, enough that he can't help but want to inquire about the reason behind this third demand.
"I was under the belief that your Queen Piece wanted nothing to do with her father, according to Baraqiel himself, so might I ask why you have requested them to have a meeting?" Azazel asks, curious as to Rias's reasoning for requesting this, with everyone glancing over to Rias who in turn took one glance at her Queen before focusing her attention on Azazel.
"As far my Queen piece had been aware, her father and by extension, his entire race were responsible for what happened to Shuri Himejima, but as of tonight however, there have been recent revelations that implicate the possibility of external factors being involved that day," Rias says, elaborating on her reasoning as to why this third demand exists in the first place, internally Rias is hoping to provide closure to Akeno with this concession as she has faith in the busty ravenette to at least allow Baraqiel to explain himself, with whatever happens after that is up to Akeno herself.
"And what do you of this Demand that your King asks of me Miss Himejima?" Azazel asks after processing Rias's reasons for wanting to have them both meet, with Akeno now the center of everyone's attention due to Azazel's inquiry and prompting the busty ravenette to take a deep breath before she begins to respond…
"Governor-General I will not lie, I have hated your kind ever since that day so many years ago, but with what that man Dohnaseek said tonight….I am willing to at least temporarily put aside my hatred in favor of learning the truth of the day my mother died, why my father had been too late to save the one he supposedly loved" Akeno says, had the events of this night never came to pass she would have never even entertained attempting to speak to her father or any of his kind for the rest of her life as far as she cared.
But now the words of one single Fallen Angel had caused her to doubt her hatred, doubt what she believed was the truth of what happened on the day that her mother died and in doing so she used the gifts that her father's blood bestowed upon her to strike down that same Fallen Angel.
Gifts that even with her binding as part of Rias's Retinue, she had stubbornly denied the use of no matter what the skill download had told her otherwise but the moment that the possibility that there was more to the story of that day came up, she knew she could not continue to allow that hatred to burn in her heart anymore without knowing why anymore.
Akeno hopes that this meeting may finally put matters to rest and either reignite her hatred all over again for good this time or finally let go of the hatred she had carried for so long, avoiding the problem is no longer a possibility in her mind if she wishes to learn what really happened that day…
"Very well then, I can concede to these demands Heiress Gremory," Azazel says upon hearing what Akeno thinks of the final demand, with Sirzechs and Serafall letting out a sigh of relief upon hearing Azazel agree to Rias's terms, with the busty redhead herself smiling amicably towards the Governor-General of the Grigori.
"In that case, Lady Leviathan do you mind writing up a contract between both myself and the Governor-General so that we have everything backed up by a written accord?" Rias asks Serafall who smiles and nods, quickly procuring a suitable sheet of parchment and writing down the conditions of the contract for each party.
It didn't take long for Rias and Azazel to sign their respective parts of the contract and once it was signed by both of them, Serafall quickly took it away so that she could make copies of it for Azazel and the two Maous to have a copy of with the original being handed to Rias herself.
While Serafall was busy making copies of the contract, Sirzechs handed both Kalwarner and Mittelt into Azazel's care as both women knew that the moment Azazel brought them back to the Grigori, the man would be intensely interrogating the both of them about who it was that put them up to all of this.
They just hope that they'll still be alive next week once word gets back to him about this entire situation and not dying in an 'accident' of some sort in retribution for their failure…
Kuoh Academy - Two Days later
(Rias Gremory's P.O.V)
It's been two days since that night now and things have become relatively normal once again as the mundane police have discovered that the serial killer responsible for all the murders in town has ultimately died due to a drug overdose, or at least that's what the mundane world at large knows about the whole ordeal.
Izayoi-chan and her family have since decided to stay at the Occult Club Building for the time being as they decided to use the money they got from Azazel to have their house completely renovated while saving the rest of it for Izayoi's college fund among other things as the brunette and her family were given time to adjust to their new worldview now that the Fallen aren't going to be a problem.
It might be some time before Izayoi's parents will be ready to properly become true members of my peerage, if they ever do so, but if they're anything like their daughter I may yet be pleasantly surprised in some manner but for the time being I'm going to adopt a wait and see approach to the Hyoudou Family at large.
Anyway, today we're supposedly having new transfer students join Kuoh Academy today and I'm quite curious as to who they are and whether or not they'll be potential new members of my peerage in the future considering I have a leftover pawn piece still from using seven of my eight pieces on the entire Hyoudou family.
"Students we'll be welcoming a new transfer student in our class today, please be accommodating to our new arrival," Our Homeroom teacher says with a smile as they call for the new transfer student to come inside, and the moment I saw who it was my eyes widened and my jaw dropped slightly due to the identity of the new transfer student to Kuoh Academy.
It was a young woman with long black hair and violet eyes smiling politely at the entire class with a fairly large bust although not to the level of myself or Akeno at that, that alone wasn't enough to shock me but rather she looked just like a certain person that was missing from the events at the abandoned church, someone I had actually forgotten about in the last two days until now.
"Hello everyone, my name is Yuma Amano-Argento, please take care of me," Says the new female transfer student with a bright smile, making the guys cheer at a new hot girl at school while all the other girls save for me and Akeno gave the guys a withering look, as for me I had only one thought on my mind right now and that was…
Maou-damnit, it's not even been a full week and I have yet another potentially troublesome Fallen Angel to deal with!
Author's Notes
Hello everyone, I apologize for the EXTREMELY long wait for this chapter to come out as I had admittedly had a lot of IRL issues and a bone-dry DxD muse to deal with for quite some time after the massive release of the previous chapter.
I had intended to release this months ago if I am being honest but ended up finding myself unable to finish it for one reason or another at various points in time, but lately, I felt as if my muse for my older fics resurging with a vengeance which as finally prompted me to finish it over the last 6 hours of writing
Normally I would do a plot discussion part here, but with how long it's been since I had written a chapter, I ask that you please bear with me as I take the time to refamiliarize myself with the plot points I had set up for this fanfic months ago.
With that sorted though, next time on Devilflare Princess: Friends New and Old reunited, overdue explanations and unexpected developments!
See you all next month hopefully, take care everyone!