Bea walked down the hallways of the Apostolic Palace. Around her, cardinals and exorcists spoke in hushed tones as she passed by. Klein followed after her, smiling at the young nuns that they passed.

"Hey, Bea. There are a lot of girls here that have to take the veil. Do you think I'd get in trouble for taking one out for the night?" Klein asked.

"Yes," Bea said. She glared at him. "Focus, we're here to talk to my mom about something very important. Can't you act normal for like… 90 seconds?"

"I am acting normal. Isn't this my normal?" Klein said as he winked at a young woman. The woman blushed and hastily scurried away from the two of them.

"I can't believe I chose to partner with you of all people." She pinched the bridge of her nose and increased her pace to get further away from him.

"Oi! Wait!" he called out.

The two walked until they reached the end of the hallway, coming up to a set of aged wooden doors. She reached out to open it but the door swung open.

One of the Church's Cardinals exited the office, looking rather ruffled. Bea paid him no mind. He was just another faceless official who tried to curry favor from the Angels. She stepped past the threshold and entered the office.

"Let's get this over with. I'm tired and want to sleep," Bea said.

Klein nodded and closed the door behind him.

"Mmmmm! Mocha frappes are always good when it's hot out~!" Irina gushed as she sipped her coffee.

Ichika and Asia nodded as they each took sips of their iced coffees. Xenovia was sitting next to Irina, scarfing down several cakes at the speed of light.

Shin's eyebrows furrowed as he held his wallet. The emptiness stared hauntingly back at him. The amount of desserts and coffee the girls ordered was exorbitant. And he wondered why Irina hadn't become a nun yet. The blue-haired girl next to her was eating more than Ichika, something he thought wasn't even possible.

"My funds…," he mumbled.

Ichika rolled her eyes at his words and sipped her iced coffee. "Don't worry about him," she said.

"I'm not. He owes me for the 100 euros he told me he needed for souvenirs," Irina smiled in response.

"Souvenirs? Shin-chan never brought anything home on his last trip," Ichika replied, confusion etched all over her face.

"What?"

The two turned to look at Shin. A dark cloud hung over his head as he mumbled an incoherent string of words about funds and dropping money on the next banner.

"Shin-chan, you didn't…"

"Shin, did you rip me off? You said you were going to buy Ichi something!"

"Master spent it all on gacha games again. He wanted to spend it on the new servant that was dropping in Grand Order," Ran said from her spot on Irina's lap.

"What?"

The two turned their sharp gazes on Shin, who was still mourning the loss of over half the money on his wallet.

"Shin-chan," Ichika said.

"Shin," Irina said dangerously.

"My money…"

Ichika sighed. "Sorry about him."

"No, it's fine. I've learned to expect this from him," Irina said, shaking her head. She turned from Shin to her other childhood friend.

"So have you always been living in Italy?" Ichika asked.

"Hmm? No, I moved here when I was 14. Dad's an Exorcist for the Church so I took after the family business," Irina said.

"This one is surprised you didn't become a nun," Shin said, still searching for a single coin inside his wallet.

"Haha, very funny. But no, I wanted to prove my devotion to the Lord in another way. Taking the vow wasn't it for me," she said, sipping her coffee. "Becoming a holy warrior that fights evil. It's like that dream we all had as kids about saving the world."

"And you three went ahead and did it without me," Ichika said. Her eyes were slightly downcast at the realization that she had been left behind a long time ago by her childhood friends.

Irina placed a hand on Ichika's shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze. "You're here now, aren't you? Better late than never."

"You're really bad at comforting people," Ichika replied.

"That's why I'm not a nun."

Her gaze softened when she saw Ichika wiping some ice cream from Asia's cheek. The sight brought back memories of their childhood before the five of them were separated from each other.

"You two are really close," Irina commented.

"Are we?" Ichika blinked.

Asia smiled as she swallowed her brownie.

"Mmm. Have you two known each other long?" Irina asked.

"Ehe, that's kind of a funny story actually," Ichika said.

"Funny, how?"

"Ichi developed a habit for picking up strays," Shin said as he finally pocketed his wallet.

"My dear Knight, I do hope that your tongue is not uttering the most heinous form of slander against your Empress," Ichika warned.

"I'm telling you, Irina. These two met literally because Ichika ran into her outside of school after club," Shin said.

"Twas a fated encounter! An exiled Priestess from a foreign land banished for her healing abilities that embraced all living beings! It was only destiny that she encountered a wise and noble dragon such as me!" Ichika said, puffing out her chest.

Asia's eyes swirled as she struggled to understand what Ichika was saying.

"So when did the chuuni thing start?" Irina said with an amused smile on her face.

"Middle school." Shin sipped his iced coffee.

"Hehhh? She didn't grow out of it? That's kind of cute," she giggled.

"Cute…? Cute!? I'll have you know I have mastered the arcane arts—"

"She's really good at math," Shin said.

"And have even delved into the Eastern Arts of Spirit Magic!"

"I taught her some Furude Style Exorcist Magic," Shin said.

"And I am a proud servant of the Red Headed Devil King of Ruin!"

"Okay, that last one is a bit iffy."

Irina raised an eyebrow. She saw Xenovia reach for her waist out of the corner of her eye. Her hand darted under the table and grabbed Xenovia's wrist. The blue-haired exorcist raised an eyebrow. A quick look from Irina told her everything she needed to know and she sighed.

"Devil?" Irina asked, letting Xenovia's hand go.

"That's… a long story. I'll tell you about it later but to make a long story short, Ichika ran into a few problems back at home regarding her Sacred Gear and now, her status as a human is a bit… in the air," Shin said.

"I see. I knew Kuoh had a Devil in charge of it but I assumed it was Phenex since your older sister married into the family," Irina said.

"Yeah, you'd think so but no," Shin replied.

"I see. Is this incident how Ichika picked Miss Argento off the street?" Irina asked.

"Well, yeah. There are a few events between missing but that's the basic gist of it," Shin said.

"Do not downplay my achievements, Miss Priestess, My Loyal Knight," Ichika said, puffing her cheeks slightly.

"It seemed predictable that that would happen."

The three turned to look at Xenovia, whose gaze was fixated solely on Asia. Ichika tensed up, moving her chair closer to the blonde girl. Asia looked down at her plate, not wanting to meet Xenovia's intense gaze.

"A witch running to the territory of Devils. I never understood why Sophia brought you back," she said.

"Watch your mouth," Ichika growled.

"I'm just telling the truth. To the Church… to all of us, she is a heathen who committed the ultimate heresy. What you did was blasphemy against the Church. The only reason you even came back was because the other faction saw use for you," Xenovia said. "Personally if it were me, for someone whose belief in our Lord is devout, I would have asked Sophia to cut me down right here and then."

"You—! I'll fucking—!" Ichika stopped when she felt Shin's hand on her shoulder. "What are you doing? Let me go!"

"No. We can't go picking fights with exorcists just because they believe something else," Shin said, his eyes fixated on Xenovia.

"I- I'm okay, Ichika. Miss Xenovia is… entitled to her beliefs. And I'm entitled to mine. L- Like Sophia said, she… she— she's just a m-motherfucker who won't change," Asia said, her cheeks flushed in embarrassment.

The entire table went silent.

Irina, who was about to tell Xenovia off, had her mouth open in shock.

Xenovia stared owlishly at Asia, barely comprehending the words that escaped the lips of the supposedly meek nun.

The first one to break the silence was Ichika. The girl fell back in her chair, laughing as if she had heard the funniest joke in the world. She grabbed her sides as she gasped for air between laughs.

Shin sighed, lips curled upward in slight amusement.

"You…"

"Xenovia, that's enough," Irina said. "Asia is a believer just like us. The last thing we need is a fight amongst ourselves. The Lord knows we get enough of that with the different Church factions and all that."

She turned to the three and slightly bowed her head. "I apologize for my partner's behavior."

"What about you, Irina?"

"Huh?" Irina looked up to see Ichika staring at her intensely.

"What about me?" Irina said.

"Do you also think Asia is a witch?"

Irina closed her eyes and sighed. "It's a complicated matter. But to keep it simple, no, I don't think she is. While she did commit heresy by healing a devil, I don't think picking a fight with her is the right thing to do. To make things short, we're just in different factions of the Church."

Ichika closed her eyes and nodded somewhat satisfied by her words. She filed away the information about the feuding Church factions for a later time.

Shin's phone buzzed on the table. He raised an eyebrow and grabbed it, reading the message on his screen. There were 77 messages from his older sister, all of them demanding where he was and why he didn't call her. He scrolled to the most recent message. It was from Sophia.

"Hmm? 77 messages from Akane? You might want to answer that," Vivi said. Her translucent form hovered over his shoulder.

"Can you stop reading my text messages?" Shin said.

[Where r u?]

Shin swiped the message and began to type a reply while Irina and Ichika continued to chat.

[Coffee shop with Ichi and Irina.]

Sophia's reply came back not even a second later.

[Well, u need to come back. Someone is here waiting for u 2. No, its not ur sis.]

Shin raised an eyebrow.

[Not Onee? Then who is it?]

"Think about it, Shin. Who else could it be? She must have felt that her counterpart is here." Vivi grabbed Shin's coffee from the table and began to sip it.

A feeling of dread formed in the pit of his stomach at her words. Of all the people he didn't want to run into while he was here. She was number two on the list. And now, Shin had an even greater reason not to meet up with her. His eyes briefly glanced at Ichika, who was still animatedly talking to Irina.

[Is it who i think it is?]

A few seconds went by without Sophia replying. Her silence only served to further confirm the growing pit in his stomach.

[Tell her we'll b there in a few. Ichi still talking 2 irina.]

[Shes waiting for u 2 here. She wants u 2 to get back 2 HQ in 30 mins.]

Shin sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Eh? Shin-chan, is everything okay?" Ichika asked.

"We have to go back," Shin said, getting up. Vivi popped into existence next to him, floating lazily as she tossed the empty cup of iced coffee into the trash can.

"What? Why? Didn't Sophia say we had to be back when it got dark?" she replied.

Shin sighed and nodded. "Yeah, she did. But someone's looking for us."

"Someone?" Ichika raised an eyebrow at his words. "What? Is it someone you know? I thought Sophia and Irina were the only people you knew from Italy?"

Shin shook his head. "Look, I'll tell you more when we get back. But we really need to go now. The person looking for us… is someone we shouldn't keep waiting."

Ichika opened her mouth to talk but frowned instead when she saw the serious expression on Shin's face. She exchanged glances with Irina, who shrugged and nodded. "It's okay. We can catch up another time. I… have a feeling I know who's looking for you two."

"Eh? Who?" Ichika asked.

Irina smiled sympathetically as if she were watching them about to walk to their deaths. "It's better for you to see when you get there," she replied.

Ichika let out an exasperated sigh and turned to Shin and Vivi. She gave Shin a look, prodding him to tell her what was going on. She hated being in the dark, now more than ever, especially if her friends were acting like they were about to walk to their doom. After staring at Shin for a few more seconds, Ichika gave up and stood up from her chair.

"Fine, let's go," she said, walking past Shin.

"Asia, you should come too," Shin said.

Asia nodded and followed after them.

Ichika struggled to keep pace with Shin, and even Asia. The two were now walking at an increased speed after entering the headquarters of the Inquisition. She struggled to catch her breath as she finally ran over and grabbed Shin's shoulder.

"Wait up! Geez! Why are you in such a hurry? We practically race-walked all of Rome just to get back," Ichika wheezed.

Shin blinked and his body relaxed slightly. He turned around to face her, unsure of how to respond to her question. "We… really just need to hurry. That woman is waiting for us."

"Who? What woman?" Ichika said as she caught her breath.

"She—"

"You two are back."

The three turned to see Sophia standing at the top of the stairs. She quickly descended and grabbed Shin and Ichika by the hand. "Asia, you can go get some rest in your room. I'll handle everything," Sophia smiled.

Asia nodded.

"W-Wait! Sophia, slow down!" Ichika protested as the girl dragged them up the stairs. After a few minutes of struggling, she wrenched her hand away from Sophia's grip. "Jeez, you two! What the hell is going on? You two are acting like we're going to die if we don't get there on time."

She rubbed her wrist, glaring at the pair slightly.

Shin and Sophia exchanged brief glances.

"We… really need to see her. If we don't, she's going to find us herself and—"

"When I said bring them here, I never said to be late, Sophia."

The woman's sudden appearance caused Shin to suddenly go quiet. It was as if the woman's presence had drained any semblance of struggle in her friend, making him go uncharacteristically quiet. Not that Shin was a loud person to begin with but for him to be deathly silent was unusual.

Even Sophia, who she had only known for a few days, had stiffened at the sound of the woman's voice. The normally exuberant girl stiffly turned her head to face the woman, who had walked out of the room Shin and Ichika shared.

Instinctively, Ichika took a step back. Whatever it was about this woman, every cell in her body screamed at her to run. The woman was similar in appearance to Sophia, with long back-length white hair and red eyes. She wore a white, high-collared cropped coat with a tight, black turtleneck shirt underneath.

Her gaze caused Ichika to stiffen. The woman's overwhelming presence had rooted her to the spot.

"I never thought you'd step outside of Kuoh again, Shin. Akane was worried when we heard you left Japan," the woman said.

"Ahaha, you know me, Bea. I come running where people need me," Shin laughed nervously, looking to Ichika and to the invisible Vivi for any support. Ran hid behind her master, trembling slightly at the sight of the woman.

Bea raised an eyebrow. "Well… I guess help is better than no help. Thank you for answering my younger sister's request," she said. "I take it Vivi's not taking the whole Excalibur thing very well?"

Ichika's eyes widened considerably. This lady is Sophia's older sister!? She's so freaking scary! she thought.

Ichika's heart leaped into her throat when she saw Bea fix her gaze on her. She gulped audibly and bowed. "H- Hello! I- I am Ichika Hyoudou, the Red Dragon Empress who dominates 10,000 worlds! Quite a pleasure to make thine acquaintance!"

Bea's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as if she had just heard Ichika speak in a foreign language.

W- What- What was that!? Ichika thought frantically. THINE! THINE!?

"Er, this is Ichika. She's my new partner. We're uh childhood friends! You know like me and Mio!" Shin rushed to her aid, placing a hand on her shoulder.

The sword at Bea's hip rattled and the blue gem on its pommel glowed. Bea rested her hand over the blade, causing its quivering to stop abruptly. She took her hand off the blade and crossed her arms.

"I see… so this girl is your new partner?" Bea asked, inspecting Ichika. Her eyes looked her up and down in an appraising manner.

"Yes, she is. She saved me against Master. I owe my life to her. I'm happy to call her my partner," he said.

Ichika's grip on her sleeve tightened. A feeling of warmth spread through her as she listened to Shin's words.

"She'll get you killed."

Ichika's body stiffened. She looked up and saw a similar expression of shock on Shin's face.

Sophia snapped out of her trance and grabbed her older sister by the arm. "Wait! Sis, what did you mean by that? Ichika might be green but she's not going to get Shin killed!"

"I'm merely stating my observations. That girl is afraid. Fear is only good for one thing and that's getting you killed," Bea said, unfazed by her younger sister's anger.

"In addition, her inexperience is going to hold you both back. You'll spend most of this job babysitting her when you could both be out there, hunting down the leak. And when it comes down to it, how can you possibly rely on her? If she's fighting someone stronger than the two of you, how sure are you that she won't run away?"

"Ichika isn't like that!" Shin said, stepping forward. His eyes glowed blue as his Stigmata activated subconsciously. "Don't you dare talk about her like that!? Ichika isn't the type to run away from anything!"

"You said the same thing a few years ago and where did that leave you? Mio is dead. Your ward is dead. And an entire country was wiped off the map. All because you were too afraid to land the final blow on your Master."

The older girl's words cut through Shin. He staggered backward, eyes widening in shock. His jaw tightened as Shin bit his cheek, unsure of how to respond to her.

"SIS! That's enough!" Sophia hissed, pulling her older sister away.

"I'm saying this for your own good, Shin. You know what fear can do to you on the field. If you don't want your family to bury you—"

"Take that back."

Bea raised an eyebrow when she saw Ichika stepping forward.

The girl's footsteps left burned footprints in the stone floor of the building. Her eyes flashed briefly as her irises flickered from hazel to silvery-blue. "I said take that back!" she growled.

Bea raised an eyebrow. "Take what back? Was anything I said a lie?"

"You take that back! Shin-chan did everything he could in that mission!" Ichika snarled, grabbing Bea's collar.

"And what would you know of that day? Shin only told you bits and scraps of what actually happened, hasn't he?" she said, calmly gazing into Ichika's furious silver eyes.

"You—!?"

"You think you can be there for him like she was? You can't even properly support him," Bea continued.

"That's not true! I can—"

"Can what? Rush in and get yourself killed? Stand there on the side and let Shin do all the fighting? Take a step back and get a good look at yourself. You're clearly not cut out for this. Right now, you're completely out of your depth."

"I- I can…"

"You think that you can replace her, but you can't. No matter how hard you try, you'll never be what she was for him. You'll never be Mio."

Ichika stumbled back as if she had been physically struck. Her hands fell away from Bea's collar as she looked at her dumbfounded.

Shin's eyes narrowed in anger as he stepped forward. "Take that back."

Bea glanced at Shin, unfazed by his fury. She looked back over to Ichika, ignoring her friend's younger brother. "I'm not wrong, am I? She's running around like she's actually your partner. But it's clear that all this girl is doing is being a liability. Someone like her who needs more preparation, more training, is not fit to be here. You should know this.

"You've been trained since you were young but your parents and older sister refused to let you go anywhere alone. An untrained rookie like her being entrusted to be your partner on a high profile job like this? You might as well just paint a target on your back, understand? She's just dead weight," she said.

Shin's eyes glowed with fury as Clarent manifested in his hand. He leveled the dark sword against Bea's throat.

"Don't you dare call her that!" he growled.

Bea calmly pushed Clarent away from her throat. "You know I'm right. If you really cared about her, you would've left her back in Kuoh," she said.

Shin's anger grew with each moment. A blue aura began to form around his body. The building shook slightly as the aura intensified in power.

Bea ignored Shin's display of power and refocused her attention back on Ichika. She walked over and looked down at the girl, who stood there attempting to comprehend the situation unfolding before her.

"Do yourself and Shin a favor and go home. You'll just hold everyone back," she said.

With that, Bea turned on her heel and began to walk down the hallway. She ignored the protests and angry words of her younger sister and Shin as they tried to stop her. However, before she could make it far, Ichika's voice caused her to freeze in her tracks.

"Fight me."

She raised an eyebrow and turned around. "Fight you?" Bea asked.

Ichika glared at her fiercely. She took a step towards Bea with a determined look on her face. "What? Are you afraid to lose to someone this weak?" she asked.

"Do you even know what you're asking for right now?" Bea placed her hands on her hips.

"Of course, I do. I'm asking you for a fight, aren't I?"

"And doing this will prove what exactly? That you're strong? That you can stay and keep up with my sister and Shin?"

Ichika shook her head. She raised her right fist and pointed it at her. Her silver eyes burned with fierce determination. "I'm not trying to prove anything. Right now… I'm really pissed off about everything you just said to Shin-chan and… I just want to wipe that look off your stupid fucking face."

Bea's lips twitched slightly, curving into a smile that was too brief for any of them to notice. She closed her eyes and let out a sigh. After a few seconds, her red eyes opened.

"Alright. That's fine by me then. Tonight, 10 pm underneath the building. There's a sparring arena we can use there, how does that sound?" Bea asked.

A jagged smile appeared on Ichika's face. "10? That's fine by me."

"I'll see you then," Bea said as she turned on her heel and calmly walked away.

Yeah, a bit of a slower chapter this time. The pacing of this arc is going to be a somewhat slower than the original arc since this is completely different from Azure's Holy Sword Arc.

But if you're wondering what took this chapter so long to get out, I've been busy since I got back from vacation. I had a fanfiction I just finished writing and I was a bit sad that it ended. But yeah, that's the end of my excuse.

This chapter was refreshing to write. I'm sure you all remember how... lore-heavy the first arc was. Just writing a chapter about a bunch of friends drinking coffee was nice. Anyway, I better stop before I just begin rambling about the chapter and leak plans for this arc. That's it for me. I'll see you in the next chapter.