"There are no words in any lexicon that can accurately describe just how badly you morons fucked this up." Azazel sat in his personal office, five particular individuals stood before him.. "How? Like I'm genuinely curious, how do you fuck up this badly?"
Baraqiel stood behind him. The large, gruff and somewhat burly man stood to attention. His black hair was slicked back and his beard immaculately groomed as always. And though his steely face betrayed no emotion, and his eyes remained squinted, all those who before the Grigori's leader could feel the barely restrained fury in the Cadre's gaze.
Raynare, Dohnaseek, Kalawarna, Mittelt, and Freed dared not move a muscle.
"I sent you idiots on a reconnaissance mission…" Azazel took a deep breath. "Re-con-nais-sance, you idiots do know what that means, right?"
"Y-Yes, Lord-" Raynare began before an incredible pressure beared down on her. "Agghhh!"
It felt like she was crushed. Like she had been thrown into a hydraulic press and her bones were about to become dust. And just as sudden as it came, the pressure was lifted. Raynare took in a few deep breaths, her heart beating out of her chest.
The sheer coldness in Azazel's eyes was unlike anything the five before him had ever seen from the usually laidback governor. "That was a rhetorical question, Raynare. I didn't remember giving you permission to speak."
There were another few agonizing seconds of silence. "The attempted assassination of this generation's Sekiryuutei aside, you planned to use a Sacred Gear Extractor on the Holy Maiden, killed several innocent families, maimed and brutalized the Peerage of the direct blood relation to one of the Satans, and to top off this shit salad you've all found yourselves in…one of the people that idiot killed," he shot a look towards Freed, "Turned out to be some kind of hidden super genius that has now gone absolutely fucking mental and has been given every justified reason to cause us as much trouble as possible."
Freed scowled. "Tch! Damn brat just got lucky, that's all-"
Azazel brought his hands together hard enough to make his knuckles pop. The very sound made everyone flinch, and made Freed wisely shut up.
"Now, I don't mind when my cute subordinates cause a little bit of mischief. You know, seduce some nuns or priests. Get into a few spats with some devils or angels, I know how it is…but there are limits to the kind of bullshit I'm willing to tolerate." He laced his fingers together, and leaned forwards, his golden-blonde bangs shadowing his eyes. "I'm not going to banish you from the Grigori, nor will I execute you, but fuck am I going to make you wish I did."
Baraqiel took a step forward. "You have been stripped of your ranks. From this point on, all privileges you have enjoyed are now revoked. You are all now at the bottom of the bottom, the textbook definition of expendable."
Azazel could practically feel how that word was directed towards Freed, especially with how the psychotic bastard hurt Baraqiel's estranged daughter.
Though it was written clearly on their faces that they wanted to protest, not a single one of them had the courage to do so after what happened to Raynare.
"You're all dismissed. Get out of my office." Azazel commanded.
A large magic circle appeared under the group and they were swiftly teleported out.
After a few seconds, Azazel let out a long sigh and threw his head in his hands. "What a fucking mess…"
Baraqiel stroked his beard. "It could be worse, all things considered."
"At the very least, Asia and that Issei kid came out of this alive and well. I'd rather not have a traumatized Sekiryuutei running around…damned Juggernaut Drive on a hair trigger!" Azazel relented. "Though the whole mess reeks of Kokabiel, he's one of the only individuals here authorized to distribute Sacred Gear Extractors. I should really fix that."
"I'm still surprised you actually gave that child a copy of your research. To think you'd so easily hand over your pride and joy over to someone so…unstable." Baraqiel gave his leader a curious look. "Are you sure that was a wise action?"
Azazel chuckled, his mood somewhat lifted, he took out a dossier from the drawer of his table. "Kawakami Sora, age eighteen, born to Kawakami Hina and Kawakami Aki on May 30th, 1990. Throughout his family history, they've made little to no contact with the supernatural whatsoever. Neither he nor his ancestors have been born with any Sacred Gear, and there are no traces of any kind of special bloodline in his ancestry. By all accounts, aside from his friendship with the Gremory heiress and her Peerage, he's a completely normal kid, with a completely normal family."
He took out a photograph of Diablos Ex Machina, the gothic coffin-like weapon with a skull that stared back at them made for quite the sight.
"Yet this completely normal kid, not even out of his first month of being a Devil, much less his first century created something on par with a mid-tier Sacred Gear." The Fallen Angel Governor laughed. "It took me centuries just to make a working Twice Critical prototype!"
Baraqiel felt a bead of sweat fall down the side of his face. "Impressive…"
"Impressive is selling him short. That kid's a genius unlike anything I've ever seen from humanity!" Azazel's grin was near manic. "Through sheer cunning and wit alone, he took on a veteran fallen angel and one of the most deadly exorcists the world had to offer and damn near won, the kid's a prodigy!"
Azazel's mind flashed back to when he first saw Sora, the kid covered in blood and injuries, deranged laughter echoed in his ears. The sheer hatred and rage in eyes…it was nostalgic. The last time he'd seen hatred so pure was when Lucifer was banished from Heaven by their Father.
This kid though…he was different.
The governor nearly flinched at the memory of the Demon he saw before for an instant. Lucifer and Sora couldn't be any more different. The single moment forced him to relive the bone chilling terror he felt upon facing the original Lucifer, his own brother, on the battlefield. Lucifer was a rabid power hungry dog, there was madness there, yes, but there was focus. The boy was a born schemer, plans on top of plans- he had ambition in those mad eyes of his.
It made the very core of his being tremble with excitement…
"To that end, we're not handling this situation like Beelzebub did with Kanzaki Mitsuya. I mean, just look at how that ended up: damn kid has two Longinus, Ajuka fucked up royally with that one."
Baraqiel frowned. "Still, such dangerous information in the hands of one so young…"
Azazel smirked. "If it turns out this 'Diablos Ex Machina' of his is just a fluke, then that's that, no harm, no foul. But if it turns out he is, in fact, such a genius, then I'd rather him have a more favorable impression of us. Besides, considering the disastrous first impression we've made, we can only go up from here."
Baraqiel crossed his arms and let out a long sigh. "I'll trust in your judgment."
The Fallen Angel leader grinned with excitement. "Let's roll the dice, I'm looking forward to seeing what he'll make with my research."
[-]
The ORC watched with interest as Sora fiddled with the orb of countless red magic circles he called the Crimson Grimoire. There were dozens, upon dozens of layered magic circles over his eyes and a red stream of energy from the orb connecting to his chest. His hands were currently inside of the orb doing…something that the other couldn't quite figure out. No one other than Sora could make heads or tails out of the research notes that Azazel had delivered to Rias shortly after the incident.
"Annnnd…" There was the sound of a click. "Got it!"
There was a red pulse of energy that made the notes all over the table fly everywhere, but now the 'grimoire' was now a much deeper red, a true crimson instead of the neon red it had been previously.
"Hell, yeah!" He cheered. "This baby can fit so many war crimes!"
"Sora no!" Kiba scolded.
"Sora yes!" Akeno encouraged.
Koneko gave him a look. "Will I get extra sweets?"
Sora nodded. "Of course."
"Sora, yes."
Kiba sighed. "What did you even do this time?"
It had been a few days after everything had settled down, and the Knight didn't really know how to feel about things. He was angry for sure. Sora was one of his best friends, and he went out and did something incredibly stupid. It didn't help that he had already died recently either, the memory of finding his crucified body still haunted him… he had no doubt it would still haunt him for many days to come. Another friend he had failed to save.
Though he knew it was wrong, another part of him was envious of Sora. It had been years since Rias had turned him into her Knight, years since he had lost his family for the sake of those damned Excalibur fragments, yet he wasn't anywhere near close to obtaining his vengeance and bringing peace to the souls of his murdered brothers and sisters. Sora might not have killed Freed, but he was still able to get some kind of closure. He just went out there and took it.
"Long story short, I jury-rigged it to my soul in the same method natural Sacred Gears are bonded to their host."
The entire room was silent…
"You were… messing with your soul?" Akeno asked incredulously, the previous mischievous tone in her voice completely gone.
"It's the same process that allows Sacred Gears, and Evil Pieces to bond with the souls of their hosts, it's perfectly safe." He explained before swiping the air, causing a red holographic window to pop up. "But yeah, let's be on the safe side and run a diagnostic check."
Kiba stared intently at the holograms as Sora went to work. All of the data and words were relayed in English, which was a little odd. Another holographic window popped up, this time one of a human silhouette. He zoomed in, viewing his own heart and other internal organs.
Koneko frowned. "Gross."
"Heart beat is normal… internal organs are functioning as they should… nothing wrong with my brain… My blood pressure is a little higher than usual." Sora listed off. "Physically, I'm fine. Let's check on the soul. I did just tamper with the very essence of my being…"
Another window popped up.
Sora blinked. "Oh… that's weird."
In an instant, Akeno and Koneko had crowded around Sora, looking at the holographic window. It showed a blue, almost flame-like light with a red crystal Pawn piece in the center which was surrounded by an impossibly complex sphere of magic circles that matched the Crimson Grimoire.
Kiba had to admit, he was highly impressed. Though he couldn't make heads or tails of what he was looking at, he understood the significance of what Sora had created. An artificial Gear, one that could see into one's body, discern their weaknesses, and even see into their very soul.
That thing he made, Diablos Ex Machina. A shapeshifting weapon that could make anyone with it a walking arsenal capable of adapting to nearly any situation. Sora affectionately called it a 'hunk of junk that barely worked right'. Kiba barely repressed the shudder he felt at the thought of what Sora could make now that he'd taken the grimoire to a whole new level.
"What's wrong?"
"My soul, the evil piece, and the grimoire are all in perfect harmony with each other." Sora's eyes narrowed. "That shouldn't be possible."
Akeno tilted her head. "So, it's a good thing?"
"It's a great thing, but it's weird." Sora rubbed his chin. "From Azazel's notes, perfect harmony between a Gear and the soul of its host shouldn't be possible until Balance Breaker. I doubt I have one, so it's more likely because I didn't program in limits like Big G did for all of the original Gears." He nodded to himself. "I'll have to jot that down in my notes." He turned to Kiba. "You mind if I scan you real quick? I wanna cross-reference things, make sure I'm not talking out my ass, or if the notes were wrong."
The blonde shrugged. "Go for it."
Sora snapped his fingers, and the grimoire shot out a thin wide-spread laser that washed over Kiba. He felt a slight tingle as it did its work.
A new window popped up.
On the window was the same blue flame that made up Sora's soul, this time with a Knight chess piece in the center, but around that soul was a broken dome of silver and red metal.
Sora grinned. "Woah, that's cool!"
"Oh my, that's beautiful." Akeno smiled.
"Not bad." Koneko said simply.
Kiba felt his face heat up a bit. He was used to getting complimented for his looks, but getting complimented for how his very soul looked felt a bit different.
"Okay, so you see the metal, how it's all broken up and surrounding your soul? That's the disharmony between you and your Gear since you haven't gotten a Balance Breaker yet." His eyes narrowed. "Let me check something real quick…"
Sora zoomed in on the red and silver metals, and the grimoire began to scan and read their properties.
"Is there something wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong, but the red metal is glowing while the silver is dim, almost like it's dormant."
After a few more seconds, the scan was complete, and the results were in.
"Ah, yeah, that makes sense." Sora mumbled. "So, I have good news, and insane news."
Kiba, Akeno, and Koneko all looked at each other.
"Good news?" Kiba asked.
"You see the red metal?" Sora pointed at the hologram. "That's Sword Birth. Meaning the silver metal is a completely separate Gear."
Kiba was stunned. "I have… two Sacred Gears in me?"
"It's dormant, but you can awaken it with some effort, no doubt." Sora explained.
"Now, the insane news?"
"Well, from the readings, the energy being emitted from the silver metal is holy in nature."
"Holy…?" Kiba felt a pit of dread in his stomach.
"The silver metal's construction parallels the red demonic metal, which leads to my conclusion." Everyone stared at Sora. "It's Blade Blacksmith."
The blonde knight felt as if a bucket of ice water had just been dumped over him.
And Sora said the most horrible thing he could have…
"Kiba, you have the potential to make holy swords!"
Chapter End