The Chaos that consumes the world
X
It had stretched ten floors into the sky.
And in the span of a single hour it had been reduced to a pile of rubble.
That was all that remained of it.
From between the chunks of mortar, folded bars of metal which had once been the supports and the sparking cables, still live from the old generators desperately trying to provide lighting, it would have not have been out of place to say that it had been struck by a bomb or natural disaster.
In many ways, it had been.
A single grunt echoed out from beneath the pillars of stone, they twisted and groaned as something from underneath their weight pushed upwards. The resistance lasted for barely a moment, overlaid metal snapped and twanged away from the rising shape, a cloud of dust shot out like a geyser as the shadow pulled itself free.
A low groan escaping his throat was the only thing that betrayed the annoyance that he was currently feeling.
It was not a defeat in the traditional sense as much as it was a setback, his presence had been discovered now and there was no hiding it. Though he wasn't sure how he was supposed to have predicted such a turn of events. The presence of the church was expected, he had dealt with their quarry and lay in wait for them.
That should have ended with their deaths, there should have been nothing they could do.
Yet all it took was a single Devil and a human to throw his plans into the shredder.
Those few seconds where he came to terms with the fact that his own prey had shown up had cost him dearly, he should have just torn them all apart without needing to speak with them. But his intrigue had gotten the better of him, it seemed, and he had allowed them the time to regroup.
Speed was now of the essence.
His ears twitched, the sound of sirens and cries reached his ears, his lips curled downwards as he realised that emergency services would be here in mere moments, which meant there would be more witnesses for him. It was bad enough that he had lost them in such a dramatic affair, the last thing he needed was the entire city being on alert.
Chances were that they would believe him too wounded or even dead, that would grant him some time to catch them unawares.
Bringing an arm up, he batted down the dust lining his black coat, cleaning himself off and then with a final flap of the cloth, he shook himself free of any evidence that he had even been inside of a ruin in the first place. His gaze narrowed as he focused on the thoughts of his familiar still circling the scent of the Devils, they had regrouped as he expected.
A light flashed against his left eye.
"Hey, are you alright?" The voice called out in alarm, his features dropped from the sudden annoyance. "Hey! We've got a-eh-?"
His coat blew apart as the mass shot outwards, a pair of elongated curved limbs with arms like sickles clamped down on the man and, in a span of time before they could even react, dragged him back into the endless sea of murky black goo. They slammed into him and sank down, without even the time to scream.
Grasping his coat, he adjusted it and rolled his neck until he heard a satisfying pop.
Perhaps this was his karma for believing it would be an easy affair.
To say that the house was tense would have been an understatement.
So bad that it was, Romani was repeatedly casting looks over his shoulder towards the others all gathered in the room, what amounted to a three way glare down transpired between all the new guests in the house which had only just found itself mostly repaired.
Mostly in the sense that the outside had been fixed up.
The inside still looked like a tornado had ripped through it.
A groan from in front of him drew his eyes once more, his hand sought out the wrist of the woman and turned it over, resting his fingers on their veins and finding their pulse. Not for a lack of trying, it was growing weaker by the second and his efforts to stop the bleeding had been met with limited - that was to say no - success.
The main thing they were waiting for now was for Asia to get back so that she could heal her up, which is what Akeno had been texted to go and down, though he noted that Rias hadn't actually mentioned anything else about the situation they were in.
"How is-"
He turned to the twin tailed girl before she could even finish speaking, he didn't have an answer for her that he knew she would like. Something that must have been across her face because her already pale features turned ashen, eyes dancing towards the woman and then her head dropping low, hands moving up and placing themselves on her features.
Romani grimaced, then offered as strained a smile as he could manage. "She'll get healed up as right as rain as soon as Asia gets back…" it didn't do much to appease the girl, rather she seemed to be more disturbed with the news from the visible flinch that she gave at the sentence, her head darted towards her other companion.
Xenovia? He thought that was her name, grimaced and shot a rather ugly look in his direction, though he got the feeling it wasn't actually aimed at him, but rather at the news itself. "Is that truly what we have been reduced to…relying on the aid of heretics for help?"
The aggression in her voice caught him rather flat-footed, his shoulders dropped and he straightened himself out to his full height, staring down at the teenager with furrowed brows. "Would you rather she die?"
A slight twitch, he gestured to the unconscious woman lying on the repaired kitchen table, currently bleeding out purple miasmic goo.
"Because I can't do anything to save her." He stressed the word, looking right into her eyes, then swept an arm towards the others. "And everyone else says she needs Asia, so…that's it. You might not like getting help from them but I'm not prepared to let her die because of it."
A frown, the teen opened her mouth to respond but was cut short by the other one resting a hand on her shoulder, shaking her head from side to side and giving a rather strong indication that this wasn't something to be argued over. Which was good because right now he was being entirely selfish.
After everything they all went through to save her, he wasn't prepared to let her die now.
"This isn't an…orthodox situation." The girl, Irina, gave him a slow reply and looked really uncomfortable even being in the same room as them, every so often she cast a look in the vague direction of Issei before bringing her eyes back onto him. "Accepting aid from Devils, in any capacity, is frowned upon…No, it would be tantamount to a sin…to force this on Agent Bow of all things is…"
Wait, was that why they had problems?
His expression shifted as he tried to understand what he had just been told, after a few seconds his hands slapped into the front of his face and a groan escaped his throat, turning away from them and lowering himself down into a crouch.
Why was it that everyone he met seemed to have some bewildering notion of where the value of their lives were?
Who cared where the help was coming from?
Peeling his palms away from his features, he gave a single sniff and then stood back up, reaching across to pick up the face cloth and then dabbed it over the sweaty brow of the woman. "If she hates it, then fine, but I'd much rather she be alive to hate me for it-"
"Why?"
He glanced to Xenovia, she was staring at him like he was some sort of odd puzzle, then there was the blatant suspicion in her gaze, guarded posture.
He stared back at her, rolled his lips inwards, and just offered a shrug. "Its the right thing to do. I don't need a reason for it….I'm a nurse, it's my job to help the sick and the ill, regardless of who they are or where they come from."
The answer seemed to throw the teenager for a loop, she squinted at him a little harder as her expression became tighter. Though it was a far cry from the reaction of the twin tailed girl. Her eyes shot wide and she was looking at him now as though he'd grown a second head, tilting her neck to the side and then speaking in a completely baffled tone of voice.
"Wait, you're a nurse?"
He blinked twice, then frowned "Yes…?"
"...Oh…alright." A slow nod of the head, then she thinned her lips and leaned forwards, all while holding a suspicious gaze on him. "...Like a wizard nurse?"
"No…just a regular nurse…well…school nurse but yeah…" The line of questioning was rather out there, he found himself leaning away from the girl and catching the similarly bemused look on the face of her companion, the two of them made eye contact and managed to transmit some level of kindred reaction between one another, if only for a moment.
Though it was relatively short lived.
"If you wanted to see him in the dress, I'm sure I've got a photo somewhere-"
The teasing voice had his face feel as though it had been set alight, he whipped around and brought up a hand, pointing towards the speaker as they grinned unashamedly towards him. "You said you'd delete that! Don't start spreading that around! I don't need my reputation to be even worse!"
Penemue merely shrugged her shoulders, crossed her legs over, and then shot a small glance in the direction of the silent Devil Knight, Vlov looming over her with a faint scowl on his lips, his words came out with the bite of a cold winter's evening a moment later.
"I do not recall you being granted permission to speak, Grigori."
"I don't think guests have the authority in this household." Penemue replied back with a ghost of a smile on her face, eyes purposefully shooting over towards himself and then Leona for a brief moment before back to the knight, she let out a small hum before waving a hand. "But if it will make you feel better, I could be a little quieter…things will probably get a bit louder."
The smile vanished, replaced with a grimace as she turned her head from them, now focused entirely on staring at the ground as she uncrossed her legs and leaned forwards. "And it would be best if you understood that I am not your enemy right now."
"Ha." A loud scoff from the direction of Rias, the redhead looked on with a mirthless smile aimed at the purple haired woman. "You'll have to forgive me if I do not take the word of a Fallen Angel, especially given the trouble that one of your ilk and their lackeys have dragged my town and my precious peerage through in the last few weeks."
It had started pleasant and ended as being on the verge of a growl.
That wasn't the end of it, Rias then turned towards the direction of himself and the others, though the heated glare she now wore was clearly directed towards the duo of exorcists, all but ignoring the fact he even existed in the first place.
Raising a hand, she stabbed it towards them with a scowl on her face. "And if I were you, I would be far less concerned with the potential implications for accepting the aid of a Devil and more so with the fact that I'm barely inclined to even let you stay here at all after whatever that fiasco was!"
A hand whipped around to the side, she leaned forwards ever so slightly. "It's all across the news! The entire hotel is said to have collapsed because of a blown boiler taking out the supports! Nearly two hundred people are said to be presumed dead and that toll is probably going to rise! After everything you said about handling it yourself and having us stay out of your way, you go and-"
"Lady Gremory." The words were barely above a whisper, yet they were firm enough to silence the tirade before it could continue further.
Vlov faced the teenager with barely an emotion on his face, "Losing control of your emotions will not change the past."
Rias visibly grimaced, her eyes snapped shut and a sharp breath came next, the girl straightened herself out and brought her hands about in front of herself, clasping them together before her eyes opened once more. The earlier fire within them had cooled but even he could see the heat lingering within them.
"...Quite right." A small cough. "As I was saying, you should be less concerned with how the Church would react to my assistance and more concerned with whether I am even inclined to grant you that assistance…" she brought up a single finger, gesturing towards the unconscious woman on the kitchen table.
"For what possible reason would I even consider allowing someone of that calibre back into the world once more, especially after I have heard of the rather cruel way she treated members of my peerage." A sharp note finished her words, the glare intensified for a flicker of a second before it simmered down. "Especially after you made it clear you would not tolerate our presence…"
Romani kept his gaze level with her.
Maybe it was what he had been through, maybe it was all the effort to get her here, or maybe he was too tired to really think things through at the moment.
Whatever the reason was, his mouth ended up moving faster than his brain.
"I'm not letting her bleed out on my kitchen table." His words clearly caught Rias off guard, she jolted and then turned on him with a raised brow, but he noted that she didn't actually look all that surprised by his interruption in the first place, the earlier shock vanished within a second and was replaced with casual interest.
"This is a woman who, on any other occasion, would have been more than content with killing every single one of us without exception."
The reply came slow and measured, she did not break eye contact with him once while delivering the damning verdict. Or rather, the justification for letting her die, if there was ever such a thing that he would have been inclined to listen to.
"I realise that you have your responsibilities as a medical professional, however-"
"It's my house…and no ones dying inside it." He declared quietly, "And I'm not going to let anyone get killed, regardless of where they are from and who they might be working for or whatever…I don't care about that right now…I just don't want anyone else dying tonight. Is that…can you all understand that?"
His eyes shot around the room, lingering on the faces of each and every single person.
No one said anything, he didn't expect them to, but he wanted to make it clear where he stood at least.
"...I'm not going to be the one who starts anything. Not here. Not now."
His eyes, and the focus of the room as a whole, moved onto the speaker, still sitting cross legged on the tattered remains of one of the chairs, arms gingerly resting up sides of the recliner and expression blank, the woman locked eyes with him and slowly nodded her head up and down.
"I will say it again, I am not here to fight." Penemue turned her gaze onto Rias and Vlov respectively, looking between the two of them and resuming her slow response to them. "I came here the second I heard what Kokabiel had done, suffice to say that none of those in the Grigori sanctioned his efforts."
A beat, then she brought up a hand when Rias opened her mouth to speak, a tired expression washed over the woman's face. "Not. That I expect you to believe me, given that we're enemies still, but just assume that for the moment there is someone here who is a bigger threat than Kokabiel right now and whom I have…reason to fight."
Romani remembered the words.
Still pounding in his head.
"Y-you mean the guy who…" He trailed off, watching as Penemue visibly flinched at the reminder, looking a mix of sorrowful and resigned, nodding her head up and down, all while Rias blinked and looked about with a new level of confusion, turning towards him and furrowing her brows.
"What? What else has happened-"
"Kokabiel is dead, or so has been claimed." Vlov bluntly remarked, not even taking a moment to phrase it gently. Rias whirled on him, her posture telling him just how shocked she was by the sudden remark. "I arrived to encounter the man who evidently controlled the beasts that were encountered earlier…which I suspect is the reason why the Burial Agent is currently on the verge of death."
A ripping sound caught his ears, eyes darting towards Penemue as she dragged her fingernails through the ruins of the armrests of the chair. Romani frowned a little at the display but kept himself quiet as he stared at the expression of the woman.
"Hydra Venom." She spat the word out as though it was a foul curse. "Kokabiel wouldn't have stood a chance and neither would I…not that they looked like they needed the Hydra in the first place but…" their eyes flickered towards the direction of the injured woman, then frown. "...it explains why the Burial Agent is like that. Impressed they're still alive, actually…suppose they really are monsters."
Her tone almost sounded respectful.
"Kokabiel…is dead?" Rias whispered through the room, looking around and then down towards Issei, staring at him in shock as he just shrugged his shoulders, the teen sitting cross legged on the ground.
"Dude said he ate them." Issei shuddered for a moment, then waved a hand helplessly. "Not sure what else I can say, Buchou…guy was all sorts of freaky. Like he was made of water or oil or something…just kept spitting out monsters from under his skin and all this freaky shit…Didn't like the way he was looking at me either."
"...Oh."
A single fearful whisper from Penemue gripped the room, they sank further into the chair and were now staring at Issei with wide, downright, terrified eyes. "...Oh no."
He'd have asked what the problem was, but a sudden hiss from the woman drew his eye away from them. His attention returned to 'Bow' and he went back to dabbing away the sweat from their brow. He didn't know much about whatever was affecting them but he knew enough to keep the body's temperature down, the way she was burning up was hardly healthy.
There might have been a conversation happening to the side but he didn't pay too much attention to-
"Eat me!?"
The panicked voice of Issei snapped his head towards them once more, his own eyes shooting wide at the words.
"We lost one of the Vritra gear recently, along with all the guards for it." Penemue revealed grimly, moving a hand up and rubbing away at her chin. "...Black Blaze Flare…which was just used against us not even half an hour ago by the man who was throwing around animals. It leads me to only one conclusion…they killed the original wielder and took the Sacred Gear and are now here to do the same thing to you."
His eyes shot down towards Issei, the boy scrambled to his feet and stumbled away. "What the actual hell!? I'm not becoming a snack for some freaky pokemon collector or some weird shit! That's insane! Who even is this guy anyway?"
Penemue opened her mouth to reply, though was barely able to get a word out before the door thundered, heavy knocks upon it turned their eyes away from her and onto it.
Silence reigned for a moment, then Leona cut through it all in typical fashion with a sniff and a faint chuckle.
"That will probably be the others arriving now."
She moved across the room towards the door.
Romani turned his attention to the teenagers standing opposite him on the other side of the table, glancing between them and then down towards the woman in a pointed fashion. They had been the ones to bring up the objections in the past but at the moment he was past hearing them, raising a hand, he pointed down at the woman and spoke in a low tone.
"I'm going to try and help her." He waited for a moment, studying their reactions - or lack thereof - and then continued. "This will probably include Asia. I know you have problems with it but-"
Surprisingly, he was cut off by the blue haired woman. "Do it."
Irina turned in surprise, one that he similarly shared, given that she was the one who had raised most of the objections in the first place.
Something she was clearly eager to excuse, given the speed at which she added on. "This mission has already derailed past expectations…The Excaliburs are lost for the moment, our targets are all dead and our mission leader is on the verge of dying…all of these in tandem are catastrophic…and the loss of a Burial Agent is unacceptable."
Her eyes flickered towards him, then to the others in the room before they hardened. "I have no desire to trust Devils, but at the very least you are human and do seem…earnest, even if you are misguided in your allies." she paused for a moment, then exhaled and closed her eyes. "I will merely assume that you are a good soul who has fallen victim to the snare of the Devils without realising what they are…That will suffice for now."
It wasn't quite what he was expecting and it painted him to be some sort of easily manipulated idiot, but at least she wasn't going to try and stop him.
The twin tailed teen, Irina, turned towards him and then nodded her head once, showing her own support with a faint smile. "This is nothing more than a reenactment of the Good Samaritan, though…" her eyes lingered on the woman on the table, then darted towards Xenovia as she stepped closer to her colleague and dropped her voice even lower, whispering to her with no small amount of tension in her tone.
The two engaged in their silent conversation before a single sentence rang out from Xenovia.
"Then I will accept punishment and state that I forced cooperation from you." It was just loud enough to hear, but judging from the reaction of Irina, it was hardly a good topic in the first place.
His brows pinched and his mouth opened-
"What is that thing doing here?"
Venomous words cut off his thoughts, head and eyes turning to their source and finding none other than Akeno stood in the doorway, a half snarl on her lips as she burned a heated glare into the direction of Penemue. If looks could kill then he was certain that his friend would have been dead a hundred times over, and that excluded the tightening of Akeno's hands into fists.
He could hear the crack of her knuckles.
Not that Penemue looked concerned in the least, merely staring up at Akeno with a look that was close to pitying.
"Huh…" A faint mutter from the woman as she squinted up at the girl. "...You have his eyes-"
It felt as though all sound drained from the room.
Then a single cold sentence.
"A shame I can't cut them out then." Akeno replied in the most toneless voice imaginable, she turned and then marched away in his direction, likely without even seeing him or the others at first, given that she froze after a few steps and then stared - wide eyed - at him, then to the Exorcists and finally towards the woman lying on the table.
Her lips parted, the fury drained from her face and was replaced with pure shock. "Wha-...Buchou? What is this?"
"...To be honest, Akeno…" Rias exhaled, then palmed away at her forehead. "I have not even the slightest clue…"
His fingers drummed on the side of the table as he watched Asia hover nearby, the glow of her hands seeping through onto the hole punched through the side of the woman, though he'd been able to clean most of the blood away by this point, it seemed to be some sort of anticoagulant.
What he was more focused on at the moment, however, was the exhausted expression on the face of Asia, wavering on her feet and looking close to keeling over on the spot. To say nothing of the beads of sweat he could see dripping down the side of her brow.
Her eyes caught his, she offered a shaky smile and managed a half mutter. "I-I'm fine…Roman…" another waver, he reached across and lay a gentle hand on her shoulder, stopping her from falling down and instead turning his eyes onto the wound itself.
It had gotten smaller, but compared to what he had seen her do in the past, it was clearly slow going.
A grunt drew his eye, Xenovia stood with her arms folded and shot a small glance towards Irina while keeping a less than impressed gaze on Asia. It vexed him more than a little but he kept himself quiet, she hadn't said anything yet.
And then she opened her mouth. "I thought that Twilight Healing was supposed-"
"You're using a Divine Construct on the most potent venom on the face of the planet." He flinched as the voice of Leona cut across from the other side of the room, before the teenager could have even formulated a response, his wife was upon them with an edge in her tone. "Even excluding the fact that the venom of a hydra is specifically potent towards divinities, quite frankly it is nothing short of a genuine miracle that you brought them back without their organs having been reduced to liquid."
Xenovia snapped her jaw shut, then looked down towards the ground.
Romani turned his eyes towards Leona, she stared in the direction of the exorcists for a couple of moments longer, then turned her gaze back towards Penemue, who was now standing in front of them with her hands on her hips.
If he had to guess, she looked almost pensive.
"Even then, I'm going to need to try and drain the venom out of her all while Asia heals the damage to her body. So it's going to be hit or miss whether she even ends up living."
More silence.
Then Penemue stood up and stepped forwards, clapping her hands together.
"Alright so…" The woman spoke slowly, rolling her jaw from side to side. "About a thousand years ago, give or take a decade, there was a mage who looked into bounded fields." she waved a hand, "He was a genius, without a doubt, given that he virtually revolutionised them and made them into what they are considered today."
"If that were the case, then how have I not heard of them?" Rias asked after a moment, folding her arms and sounding more puzzled than anything else. "For that matter, what relevance does this have with-"
"First off, do you have a mobile phone?" Penemue cut her short, a deadpan expression.
Rias blinked twice, then nodded her head slowly. "I do, but-"
"Who invented the mobile phone?"
"What? Well…uhm…"
The woman made a very pointed expression. "It's fair enough, most just remember the big names like Merlin and Solomon, given that those were the two who put in the most effort into magic and all those individual branches." clapping her hands together, the frown returned. "The point is, that around a thousand years ago this man, Fabro Rowan, decided that bounded Fields could be improved even further and so he started to experiment."
The words hung in the air, then she pointed across the room towards Leona. "She can explain it better though, it was never where I specialised…left that for others who actually learned about it. I only know because I was around back then and Azazel never shut up about wanting to recruit the guy…" she grumbled, sounding exhausted once again.
The heads of the room turned to Leona, his wife blinked twice, then rolled her eyes and stepped forwards.
"Saddling me with the explanation are you?" She grumbled, but he caught sight of the ghost of a smirk on her lips, which became much wider when she faced them full.
He felt his own spirits rise a little at her clear enjoyment.
"In technical terms, what Fabro sought to create is what most would come to know as a Reality Marble. Which some of you may or may not have heard before-"
"The weapon of the Daemons?" Sona spoke up with no small amount of incredulity.
The size of the audience had grown exponentially during the short time since Akeno came in with the others.
To say nothing of Kiba, who was at least awake, but was now sitting at the side of the room and staring at the wall in silence, having done that ever since he heard that the Koka-something person was dead.
"One and the same." Leona snapped her fingers, pointing to the teenager and giving a wry smile. "And that was the reaction that everyone else at the time had and has had since. Namely because it is an art purely limited to Daemons, or as is widely accepted. For those who don't know what a Reality Marble is, think of it like a highly personal bounded field which you can generate from yourself into the world around you…effectively, you create your own little pocket of the world wherever you walk."
That sounded…big.
Very big.
"Again, something that was only ever seen in Daemons." She added on before he could even contemplate the words. "It's never been done by human hands before, despite what some might have said."
W̷̬̃͐͗̇̽̓͝R̴̢̡̫̮̻̐͒̎O̸͚̗͑̂͒̎͌͠Ń̷̳͓̀͌̄̕͘͜G̶̙̦͙̏̆.
It was a whisper like static, a sudden noise right behind his ear.
He turned about, finding only the face of Asia still dripping with sweat as she worked on healing the woman. No sign of anyone else behind him.
His brows pinched together.
With a shake of the head, he dismissed it and turned his eyes back to Leona, even if he didn't actually understand what was being said.
"Fabro disagreed and argued that it was possible for humans to do this, given that Daemons were beings born of the conscious wishes of mankind…" Rolling her hand, she let out a small breath of air and then shrugged her shoulders. "So he set about starting a project that would let him create a Reality Marble and that was the last that anyone heard of him. Brilliant to be sure, but more than a little ambitious…I suppose you could say he was a bit like a modern-ish Icarus."
She turned her head towards Penemue, resting her hand on her hips and cocking a brow. "So…who was it you encountered earlier? An avid fan of the work?"
"The animals that attacked us…" Rias spoke aloud, drawing the eyes of the room to her. Comprehension plain across her face. "They are the legacy of his teachings then? Something related to the control of multiple familiars?"
Leona smiled rather broadly, like she enjoyed the questions. "Right. Well, it wasn't actually his main focus…but the man had quite a notorious hobby back in the day. Was always looking around and cataloguing the different species of phantasmals and familiars that existed in the world, half of the records in the Clocktower for them and their behaviour comes from him alone."
"So…it is a weirdo fan then?" Issei asked with a tilt of the head, scratching at his cheek. "No, it's a crazy guy who got inspired by a mad scientist type?"
"It's not."
Two words.
It took all of two words for the confidence on Leona's face to evaporate, replaced quickly with apprehensive confusion as she turned on Penemue.
"Excuse me?"
"...It's not a…" They paused for a moment, then drew in a breath and closed their eyes "...They weren't a fan. They weren't some forgotten student or some copycat…It…I looked him dead in the eyes. I'd have seen his face a hundred times over and it was him."
Penemue opened her eyes, even through the disbelief in her own gaze, her words contained unbroken resolve. "I don't know how but that man was Fabro Rowan."
Silence.
The reaction of Leona was rather startling to him, her expression shifting from shock and then to disbelief, then to worry directed at the speaker. Her mouth opened up, likely to ask something but before she could get a word out, someone else beat her to the punch.
"After a thousand years?"
He turned to the voice with surprise, not because of the words - he was just as incredulous about them - but because of what had spoken them in the first place.
Xenovia stepped away from the wall, uncrossing her arms and staring at Penemue as though she'd grown a second head. Though Romani was more shocked at the fact she had just spoken in perfect Japanese, given that up until this point she had been speaking in Italian. He was baffled as to how that was even surprising to him.
"You mean to imply that an individual such as this, with the power to kill a Cadre, would have remained hidden for over a thousand years from the eyes of every single faction?"
Penemue threw her arms up. "Then it's a fan with a talented plastic surgeon but at the attack on our outpost there was a very specific brand of magecraft used there. His magecraft, unchanged since the time it was last used by him." lowering her arm, she pointed downwards. "And it is hardly as though there aren't ways of hiding…especially if we aren't even looking for them in the first place. His workshop was blown to smithereens and that took out half an island! That told a pretty damning story at the time for what happened to him."
Romani's brows shot upwards.
It did what?
"Besides, it is hardly as though there aren't ways of extending one's life." She continued on, though it sounded more as though she might have been trying to convince herself.
He didn't know what he was supposed to get out of this, he just knew that there was a crazy animal man trying to eat people.
"If you're that scared then why don't you scuttle back to whatever hole you crawled out of." A dark utterance from Akeno, who still glared at Penemue as though she was trash.
Romani felt his lips pool downwards, his eyes roaming towards the teenager. There was hostility and then there was whatever was going on here. It went beyond simple hatred and into the realms of actually despising them and for the life of him, he didn't know why.
An exhale, Penemue brought her hands up and rested them on the front of her face.
Vlov spoke up this time. "Because it is not a matter that can be ignored and if what we have been told is correct, ignoring the potential of a long dead mage returning from the grave." he spoke the words so flatly that it was impossible to tell whether he believed them or not. "The Fallen's claim they have already incorporated an aspect of the Vritra Sacred Gears and given the nature of your own peerage, Lady Gremory…if this foe has the capacity to steal Sacred Gears, then you and your peerage are in grave danger."
"But why is she here?" Akeno pressed further, pointing sharply at the woman.
"Far be it from me to agree with a Devil…" Xenovia shuddered for a moment, then clicked her tongue. "But they raise a valid point. We were sent here to fight a Cadre of the Grigori and now another arrives who claims, what, that they are now here to render aid? For what reason would you make such an offer?"
"Does it matter?"
It took him a second to realise that he had been the one to speak.
Then he, somehow, found the strength to continue speaking.
"She's here now and it's not like we knew a lot beforehand…she's already helped us out and saved our lives so I think that's worth a little bit of trust."
Akeno turned her cold eyes onto him. "...I am noticing a rather unpleasant trend with you and winged rats, Archaman-sensei."
He flinched as though he was struck.
"Akeno." A sharp word from Rias had the teenager retreat, but he still felt himself reeling from her words. "Roman-sensei is quite right…She did go out of her way to bring my precious pawn back to me, so I shall…grant them some small leeway for the moment. Only for the moment…" a moment passed, then the teen leaned back with a new look. "...Ah, I see. It is better if the Red Dragon Emperor remains in a known hand rather than an unknown hand."
Silence, then Penemue scoffed and gave a dismissive wave. "Fine, if that is how you want to see it, then yes. At least a Devil Red Dragon Emperor would still be restricted by the ceasefire between the three factions, whoever this is - Fabro or not - they have already killed a Cadre and that was without the strength of Ddraig inside them…" her arms folded and her gaze narrowed. "What do you think they could do with a Longinus class?"
"...Lesser of two evils then, is it?" Sona surmised with a raised brow. "And you would offer your assistance, as some manner of good will to distance yourselves from Kokabiel or to make amends for his actions?"
"Whichever works for you." An uninterested grunt and a shrug of the shoulders. "I'll still need to speak with Azazel about what happened and whoever this is…I assume you're going to do the same then, aren't you?"
She directed the question to Vlov, not that the man made an effort to reply.
But it seemed that Penemue got some sort of answer from them.
"Yeah, no offence to anyone else, but how do we actually know that this guy is here for Hyoudou?" A raised arm from Saji heralded the question, the blonde looking around for a moment and then pointing towards himself. "Because if he's collecting Vritra gears then…uh…"
They suddenly looked a bit pale.
"For that matter, if they were here for Issei in the first place then why would they have gone for a Fallen Angel first?" A scoff from Akeno, the teen folded her arms and sent a rather sharp look towards the direction of Penemue. "For what reason can we not just assume that this isn't an individual who bears a grudge towards Fallen?"
"However possible that might be, this has extended beyond a mere grudge." Sona pushed her glasses upwards, grimacing lightly as she did so. "They have attacked the Knight of Lucifer as well as a member of the Holy Church, perhaps they dislike the Fallen but they have shown equal levels of animosity - or rather, indifference - to us. Either way, their actions have warranted an equal response."
Akeno kept quiet, but he could see her expression twitch for a moment before she turned away from all of them. Hiding whatever expression she was going to make from his line of sight.
"Whatever else this is…" Rias rubbed her brows, groaning lightly as she did so. "It seems as though there is much to discuss and it is better to sort through this now…" she spared a glance towards his general direction, but it was pointed more towards the woman on the table, still being healed. "Preferably when we know where she will stand on all of this."
He turned his eyes to the woman once again, feeling a brief pang of relief as he watched that Asia had made some impressive progress while his back had been turned. With a faint nod of the head to the girl, he turned back to the others and waved his hand.
"I'm not sure how long it will be until she wakes up so…" He grumbled, rubbing a hand on the side of his neck awkwardly.
Or if she ended up waking up at all.
"We will remain with her until she awakens." Xenovia declared, her tone making it obvious she wasn't going to take no for an answer. Which probably meant they would be staying with them until the patient actually woke up.
Leaning back into the wooden chair he was sitting upon, his arms folded over his chest and he adjusted himself to get as comfortable as he was going to get. He sent a faint nod of the head towards the duo. "It would probably be better if she saw some familiar faces when she woke up…I figure that with everyone in the house right now, she'd be in for a bit of a shock so…yeah…"
"If only so she does not instantly try to kill you."
At any other time, he might have given more of a reaction, instead he just shrugged his shoulders and offered a wry smirk in the direction of the teenager.
"Yeah…well…she and everyone else I've met recently."
Goodness, he felt tired.
Consciousness returned.
Eyes snapped open and within a split second, they narrowed into slits.
This was not a familiar ceiling.
Her ears pricked, sounds drew her focus then she closed her eyes once more, feigning rest until she could be sure of things. Voices in the distance that were somewhat muffled, though as a result of her current state or something else, she could not be sure.
Instead, her mind went back to the events that transpired before she woke up here.
The abandoned hotel.
The stairwell to the ascent and then-
"A Burial Agent? How long has it been since I last killed one of those?"
Pain.
A memory of indescribable agony.
She moved her hand over her side, pressing fingers against her outfit until they moved off hardened leather - blessed with protection for all manner of encounters - and instead drifted onto soft unblemished skin. But that was not what she had expected, there had to have been a wound present.
She felt something punch right through her armour and into her body, the feeling was impossible for her to forget.
Why then, could she feel her skin without a single wound?
Her eyes snapped open once again.
A swift pulse of magical energy through her body revealed nothing out of the ordinary, she was still human. There wasn't any sign of a lingering spell upon her but there was damage to her body that had recently been repaired. Some of her nerve endings and veins were newer than the others. Much newer, as though they had been grown again but it was seamless.
There wasn't a surface example of a change and yet-
She paused.
There was something there, something she hadn't noticed before.
Lingering Holy energy, the tell-tale evidence of a Sacred Gear being used.
Combined with this level of repair to her body…
Her lips went tight as the conclusion formed in her mind.
A noise like a snort, her head snapped in its direction and her brows furrowed, she had not sensed a Devil within the immediate vicinity of her and it appeared she had been correct, but instead she found a sight that she wasn't wholly prepared to see.
The human from earlier, the nurse who had spoken with her and pleaded with the chance to remove the Devils before they were injured.
A man whose kindness was wasted on the undeserving, but that was beside the point.
He was currently sitting near her, arms folded over his chest and head hanging low, a series of gentle snores escaping from him. Her eyes moved to the side where she caught sight of similar figures who seemed to be resting in much the same way, but where she could excuse the man, with those two she found herself without the same leniency.
Falling asleep in the presence of a Devil associate while she was incapacitated?
Maybe Griselda was losing her touch if this was the behaviour of her ward.
Another snort drew her eyes to the man, they turned in their chair with a seemingly unconscious desire to get comfortable, before they fell silent once again. Groaning in their sleep.
Her hands moved away from her body and to her side, pressing down on the surface she lay upon and pushed herself upwards, wincing for only a moment at the exhaustion which flooded through her, it was something she hadn't expected but whatever had been done to her was clearly grievous.
Now sitting upright, she narrowed her gaze as she scanned her surroundings.
Her lip curled just a little.
It was something of a mess, despite the clear efforts to try and make something salvageable out of it. The faint presence of magical energy lingered in the air, likely of the sort where they had tried to repair some of the damaged parts. Though it would seem they stopped for some reason.
Her eyes turned to the man, narrowing ever so slightly.
…She doubted that he was the mage, he barely gave her that indication.
Twisting her body, she threw her legs over the side of whatever she was resting upon - a quick look at it showed some manner of oak kitchen table - but made no moves to get off it just yet. She would probably end up falling flat on her face if that happened, she could tell she wasn't strong enough yet.
Her eyes rested on the man, then moved to the sleeping pair before returning back.
With a faint push, her leg moved forwards and shoved against the knee of the man, the movement was just enough to nudge their body, drawing a sudden snort from them and a murmur of faint alarm.
Pulling her leg back, she watched them adjust themselves, head rising upwards and eyes opening, blinking several times before they moved onto her and widened a touch. No, it would be better to say the man looked utterly floored by the fact she was staring at him.
"You're awake!" He announced with no small amount of surprise or, curiously enough, relief in his tone of voice. Though it quickly gave way to confusion. "Wait, did you wake me up? How come the oth-"
He turned to the left, then fell silent as his question was answered.
Slowly, he turned back to her and winced. "Ah…right…I suppose they were pretty tired as well. They went through a bit." clearing his throat, he leaned forwards, resting his arms on his knees. "How are you feeling?"
"Where am I?"
"My house or…" A pause, the man made a small show of looking around the remains of the interior with a note of resignation. "Or what's left of it at the moment…Leo says she's going to put some more work into it but…"
He gave a light wave of the hand.
"How did I get here?"
A pause, the man kept silent before he exhaled. "...We went in after you did. Followed the noises, found you and the others, carried you out then…well…escaped." he gestured downwards. "Sort of a quick escape, got beamed here or something and then healed you up."
"With the Heretic witch."
She saw the flash of something move through the eyes of the man, perhaps annoyance or indignation, but whatever it was it didn't remain long. Just as quickly, he brought his head up and down in affirmation of her thoughts.
"...And the Devils?"
"They're around." It was barely an answer, but from the way he glanced at what she assumed had been the living room, he had fallen unconscious before they could announce where they would go. But she did not doubt they would have strayed far, especially with her in her weakened state.
Yet she and the other two were still alive and they did not appear to be prisoners.
"...Why?"
"I got worried."
She blinked, then furrowed her brows. "What?"
"I got worried and then went in after you did." The man explained simply, rubbing a hand over his face. "Not the smartest move, I know, everyone will probably tell me that. Almost ended up getting killed along with you but I just…couldn't leave well enough alone so I followed you in and then got you out."
He had misunderstood her question, but it was still a reason she did not find herself understanding.
"...Why did the Devils heal me?"
A blink, the man brought his head up and then sighed. "I made it pretty clear I didn't like the idea of anyone else dying tonight, especially not in my house, and then…yeah." he waved a hand towards her, offering a light smile. "Asia pretty much puppy dogged eyes Rias-san into accepting and then that was it. Not that everyone was happy but-" they cut themselves off and winced. "Actually-"
She let out a faint scoff. "I would have been surprised if all the Devils were unanimous in calling for my sudden healing."
The man gave a brief twitch of the lips, the only evidence of his amusement thus far. "How long have I been here?"
It was still dark outside.
With a murmur, the man looked down at his watch - she squinted at the rather obvious mystic code - and then hummed to himself. "About half…Oh, wow…I thought it was longer but really? Only ten minutes?"
That wasn't as long as she was expecting.
"And they left you here, alone?"
A shrug of the shoulders, his way of answering in the only manner he could probably think of. It all but convinced her of his real ignorance in everything, the man was nothing more than a single soul swept up in a sea of the unordinary. He likely had little idea of the danger he was truly in. He might have been told about it, but clearly he did not appreciate it.
Or perhaps the Devils just did not value his life, or it was nothing more than a convenient test to see how competent she would be when she awoke.
Who was to say?
The man, whose name she still did not know, turned his head and stared at her subordinates with a raised brow, then looked back at her. The unspoken question hung in the air for a few moments, then she slowly shook her head from side to side.
Better to let them sleep, she was awake now and was sufficient.
"...I'm Romani Archaman, by the way."
A hum, that was all she gave him.
Then, "Agent Bow."
She wasn't giving him her actual name, those held power when given to the wrong individual. There was no telling what manner of curse magic that a Devil could be capable of and perhaps there might be more to this man than met the eye.
If she were to guess, then she would assume-
Footsteps drew her focus, a presence emerged from the door across the living room and entered the house. Her eyes slitted and her body tensed, a flash of pain shot through her healed injury. A faint gasp escaped her as she pressed a hand over it and managed to fall short of actually moving, instead she levelled a glare.
"Whoa, hang on there-" The man, Romani, stood up and balanced her.
She stomped down the initial reaction to being touched, which would have been to punch the man in the head, but she didn't have an interest in spraying the walls with his greymatter. Though the confusion flashed through her mind as well, soon followed by concern and apprehension.
Letting the man remain close, it would be easier to use him.
His life was clearly important in some capacity and she could turn the matters quickly.
A figure walked through the door, pausing only for a moment as they caught sight of her and blinked in surprise, then their expression settled, a nod of the head in her direction followed. "You're awake then, good."
She recognised this individual.
The Secretary of the Grigori, Penemue.
Though why would the Fallen be-
"Kokabiel is dead."
Her thoughts ground to a halt.
"He was killed by the same man who attacked you and the others." The Fallen continued onwards, almost casually, as they turned their head away from her direction and moved towards the intact recliner, lowering herself down and batting down her trousers of dirt. "They have killed and consumed one of the Vritra Sacred Gear users, stealing their power in the process, and we assume they are here for the Red Dragon Emperor now."
…What?
"So…" The purple haired Fallen brought up a half smile, almost as though she hadn't said anything absurd moments ago. "...How do you feel about setting aside our differences for the time being?"
Silence.
She just stared at the Fallen with a blank expression.
A mutter by her side, her eyes caught Romani lower his head while his other hand moved to cradle it in exasperation. "You need to break it in a less blunt fashion than that, Penny…"
Penny?
They knew one another.
No, that wasn't important right now.
"Where are the Devils?"
"Outside, talking with their command…I just got off the phone with Azazel."
She tensed.
"If you want to talk with Michael or something then you can do that, by all means, we could do with some…Actually, if you're going to do that, then please tell them that the enemy has control of a Hydra and…" The woman trailed off, glancing to the side and grimacing. "...Has some manner of advanced magecraft which is linked to a very old mage. He might know Fabro, he might not-"
Fabro Rowan.
She knew of him.
But if they were involved…
No, she would not dismiss the possibility.
"I would speak with the Devils of this territory once again. There seem to have been developments."
A faint snort from the Fallen, they shook their head from side to side. "Isn't that the truth of it all…"