As the evening was drawing ever so close, Issei and Kuroka found themselves preparing for the meeting with the group of peaceful Strays. First, they brought Solomon's treasure, which consisted of just one item this time. A necklace. Upon checking it out, Issei got the specs of it.
[Mana Storing Necklace]
[A special necklace capable of storing Mana within, either by absorbing from the surrounding area or by being charged.]
[0/2000 Mana stored]
Kuroka was the one to charge it since she had higher Mana reserves than he did. Granted, he also had to run to the store to buy the best salmon they had, which did ease his pocket of 5000 Yen. This was premium salmon, so…Yeah, understandably expensive. After storing it in the fridge they departed for the junkyard, unaware of the surprises being laid out for them.
In the meantime, at the ORC building, Rias and Sona were preparing their coordination for their little hunt. Sona has readied her peerage and she was deciding who was going to pair up with who, and also assign the locations where they will be patrolling in search of the duo. Due to the nature and possible dangers of this, Sona and Rias did not hold secrets from them, which made them nervous to be hunting THE Red Dragon of Domination. She paired up her pawn, Ruruko Nimura - a short girl with brown hair in long twin ponytails and green eyes, who prefers to wear green clips in her hair and striped green stockings. She was a bit of a delinquent in her personality, not to mention she was the kind of person to strike first and ask questions later, so she paired her with Kiba, hoping the Knight can hold her back.
The second pair was her rook, Tsubasa Yura - a tall, blue-haired girl with matching dark blue eyes. The members of her peerage usually call her a tomboy due to her preference for physical work, but they know better. Although, she is often caught watching mud wrestling, mainly due to her preference in men. However, she has a higher awareness of the supernatural than anyone else, as she can see and interact with it and its phenomena. Her abilities had been used since she was young, as she had been fighting evil spirits before they met. Sona decided to pair her up with her bishop, Reya Kusaka - a slim girl with long brown hair ending in two short braids and matching brown eyes who wears a blue headband. She was a soft-spoken and polite girl who learned of the supernatural through her grandmother, who was a witch. As such, Reya had a great talent for magic already, not to mention experience, even before becoming Sona's bishop.
The next pair was her knight, Tomoe Meguri - her hyperactive and cheerful demeanor, not to mention the large amounts of care she has for the others make her a perfect pair to almost anyone. Granted, Sona is keeping an eye on her, due to her showing a preference in young-looking boys. She really hopes those are not early signs of something more major and just a phase. She was what you'd call a beautiful girl with shoulder-length, reddish-brown hair and brown eyes , her hair having swept bangs and a single strand of hair sticking out from the top. She joined the peerage when her parents came to Sona, requesting her to help their daughter. The Meguri clan from which she hails specialize in dealing with malicious Youkai, but one such Youkai cursed the poor girl from birth. Granted, making her join the peerage, which removed the curse, had the clan exile her family due to having a devil among their numbers. However, her family's proficiency with swords made her a perfect knight. She was paired with Rias' rook, Koneko, mainly due to her knowledge about Youkai and the fact their duo has a confirmed Nekoshou among their numbers.
Granted. Their numbers were uneven, so Sona made a radical decision to pair her last bishop, Momo Hanakai - A young girl with white hair and blue eyes who cared a lot for the other members of the peerage. Her father's business had ties with the Sitri clan, making her one of the oldest members of the peerage Sona has. She also has a crush on Kiba, which is why Sona decided against pairing the two together due to possible distractions. Momo was paired with the queens of both peerages; Tsubaki Shinra - a young bespectacled woman with long straight black hair that extends all the way down to her knees, with split bangs and heterochromic eyes, with a violet left eye and a light brown right eye. She has a serious demeanor, like her king, and is rarely seen smiling, not to mention her loyalty to Sona is second to none. But, again, she too presented a reason NOT to be paired with Kiba, as she was even more smitten with him than Momo was, to the point she loses her calm demeanor around the boy. She cannot risk a mishap, not at all. Tsubaki also hailed from the Shinra Clan, but due to her Sacred Gear, Mirror Alice, she was isolated from the other members until she became a devil and joined Sona's peerage. The last member of this trio was Akeno, Rias' queen.
Of course, this means Sona and Rias formed their own, individual pair.
After the teams were made, Sona and Rias sent them off, with the kings being the last ones to leave the building. "How quickly do you believe we will find them like this, Sona?" Rias asked, looking back at her fellow king. "They managed to give us the slip so far, and I highly doubt they'll make it easy."
"I am confident enough." Sona replied. "Saji is going to be staying behind for the most part. I gave him the role to inspect the area where we expect them NOT to be. Namely the junkyard. In the past, it might have been a favored spot for Strays to gather, but thanks to an action our peerage took last year the place is now cleared of any Stray."
"What makes you so sure the junkyard is a safe place?" Rias asked. "It has been a while, Strays might have gathered there again by now."
"Which is why we communicate between ourselves to call for reinforcements. If Saji is in trouble he can call Momo or Reya to save his skin, for now we have other things to take care of. Are you ready?"
"I am." Rias replied, but she was worried about one thing. She and Sona left the ORC building, heading into the city. They had a long day ahead of themselves.
Saji was not happy. When he heard from Sona they will be working together with the Gremory peerage he imagined a chance to maybe be paired with one of the ladies from it, or hell, even Kiba so he could have someone to ask for advice regarding women, but noooo - he was sent solo to some junkyard, the sun slowly setting over the horizon, to search and contact anyone if he does find something.
This sucked. Seriously, he believed things would be different when he heard he had a one-of-kind Sacred Gear, that he'd be special, especially as he was reincarnated with half of Sona's pawn pieces, but still nada! He was the greenhorn, nothing else, and so he does everything a greenhorn does, be it running errands or whatever Sona tells him to. This sucked so much, but at least it put him on the student council, which did come with perks of its own.
So now he walked among the junk, looking for anything of interest. Luckily for him, he didn't need to look for long as he noticed something unfolding around him. "A barrier?" Saji muttered as he saw a barrier appear around the entire junkyard, but then he heard something akin to a feline, female yawn coming from behind him, making him rush to hide himself among the scraps. There, in hiding, he saw what was likely one of the culprits since Sona told them they were looking for some cat girl…And oh boy, did he like where he ended up now! The woman before him was absolutely gorgeous, a true beauty! Ten out of ten rating, with breasts he'd love to-
"I know you are there, nya." She said, turning to him. At this point, however, Saji lost his spunk and paled as the nekoshou gave him a smirk. He then watched as she created a magical circle, and before he could call in for help, a spell struck him that made the world fade to black.
However, Kuroka knew this was not good. "Intruders?" And Issei guessed it right as well as he came from around the corner, seeing Saji in the junk, unconscious. "Did you kill him?" He asked, looking at Kuroka.
"Nya, of course not! I merely hit him with a powerful enough spell to knock him out!" She said in her defense. "I don't know who he is, but he smells like a devil for sure! My guess is he was here before I managed to erect the barrier."
"Damn, this is not good…" Issei said, thinking about what to do. "Let's find something in the junk to bind around his eyes, then we will tie him up somewhere. Is your barrier able to block communications or localization spells?"
"Should be able to, but they might notice him not replying if they check up on him, so we better hurry ourselves before the devils drop in on our little party." Kuroka said. "As much as I'd like to see my little sister, I don't think us meeting now in this foul-smelling place is a good idea."
"The Strays should be here any moment as well…" Issei muttered as he began to drag out the unconscious devil from the thrash. He examined him a bit, mainly to make sure there were no wounds on him. "He seems to be in good enough condition. Let's go."
As Sona and Rias were wandering the town, as the sun was starting to set, Sona did a check on everyone to see what they found or if they saw/heard anything worth their time. Aside from their trio killing a Stray, nothing really happened worth checking. But then she tried to check on Saji, only to receive no response. This had her stop in her tracks and look at Rias with a stern, yet worried gaze. "Rias, Saji is not picking up." Sona said, making her fellow king turn around to face her.
"Do you think he got in trouble?" Rias asked.
"Most likely, but he would have called someone if such was the case." Sona replied, fixing her glasses. "Something is not right. We need to head to the junkyard, now!"
The Strays had gathered at the junkyard, just as planned, and Issei looked at all of them. However, they also noticed something else, namely the tied up and blindfolded devil sitting on the side. "T-that's Sitri's newest pawn!" The ex-Stray said, recognising him. "I saw him before!"
"So, he is Sitri." Kuroka said, but Issei didn't want to waste any time. He held the necklace in his hand, then he placed it around his neck. Saji was starting to recover as well, but he woke up to more blackness due to the blindfold around his eyes.
"Wh-what happened?" He asked in a mild panic, but Kuroka was the one to reply. She was not about to let Issei talk and possibly give away his voice, not to mention her presence was already known. The negative perks of being a SS-ranked criminal.
"Relax, nya!" Kuroka said, going close to him. "You won't be harmed or anything, we are not here to kill anyone. This time. You were just unlucky enough to stumble upon this place just as we were about to do our good deed for the day."
"W-what? A-are you that Kuroka chick we were told to search for? Wait…Shit, IS THE RED DRAGON HERE AS WELL?!" Saji asked, even panicking when he figured that Issei was there as well. He was told how dangerous the Red Dragon is, and he didn't want to end up in a hearse! And Kuroka looked back at Issei for an answer, the boy nodding.
"He is, but relax, we won't be hurting you." She replied. "But I cannot guarantee your safety if you do something stupid." Saji gulped. "Am I understood, nya?" He nodded. "Good boy. Now, sit right there and behave. After we are finished here we will let you go back to your master." Saji gulped further after hearing that. Sona was going to kill him for letting himself be captured like this! Oh man, why couldn't those individuals just kill him and be done with it? But, they didn't have time as is. After Kuroka gave Saji that speech, Issei decided to get to work. He summoned his Boosted Gear, and used [Boost] three times to use the spell.
[Evil Piece Extraction Spell] (Level 1| 98/400): Thanks to this skill/spell, you can now extract the Evil Pieces from Reincarnated Devils without killing them! The process returns the ones affected back to their original race, as well as undoing any side-effects from Stray Mutations. To cast, you must have the Stray remain within your magical circle and cast this spell, but it is not an instant process! The entire spell takes 10 full seconds to complete, and the spell CAN be interrupted. This Spell needs a MGI of over 50 to use and 1000 Mana.
This spell was a true sucker for Mana, but he guessed that the results speak for themselves. Issei gestured to one of the Strays to come forth to him, and slowly, he summoned forth the magical circle from before which surrounded the Stray. This time, Issei was able to watch the entire process unfold before his eyes. The Stray was within his magical circle, and a white and crimson aura surrounded their body entirely before it focused on the location above their heart. That was where the piece was located. Slowly, the aura surrounded the piece, and thanks to Solomon's magic, it separated it from the soul like a surgeon removing a tumor.
The piece flew out of the Stray and towards Issei, the boy grabbing the second pawn piece and adding it to his inventory, where it stacked with the other one he extracted before. He checked quickly if this counted for the quest, and to his pleasure, it did. However, doing this emptied out half of the necklace, so he had to keep going. Three more to go.
He repeated the process once more with the second Stray, extracting a knight piece. However, by now, he was out of Mana within the necklace, so he handed it to Kuroka. Granted, the cheers of the Strays were something Saji picked up on pretty quickly. "There are more of you here?"
Kuroka turned to him quickly. "No, we are just doing our good deed for the day, didn't I say, nya?" She told him, then she got to loading up the necklace again with her Mana, all the while Issei didn't waste time, getting to work on the next Stray. Using his own mana had him stagger a bit after he was done due to the amount used at once, but he was fine and added the third pawn piece of his inventory.
For using a draining spell repeatedly you were awarded 1 MGI.
One more. One more Stray and they are done, after which they can-
"Saji!" God fucking damn it!
"Balance Breaker!" Issei half-shouted, deploying his armor to hide his face.
[Scale Mail]
Before him, Issei saw the pretty boy from before and another girl that was with him. Issei wasted no time to use his [Observe] Skill on the both of them.
[Yuuto Kiba]
[Level: 32 B]
[HP: 20000/20000]
[Reincarnated Devil(1 Knight of Gremory)]
[Ruruko Nimura]
[Level: 21 C]
[HP: 17000/17000]
[Reincarnated Devil(1Pawn of Sitri)]
A member of the Sitri peerage? "Ruruko?! Thank God you are here!"
"Sona called us since we were the closest! Teleportation spells are not working, but the others are on their way as well!" Ruruko said, but then both her and Kiba looked at the elephant in the room…Or rather said the dragon and cat. "Sona was not kidding…"
"The Red Dragon Emperor." Kiba said, looking straight at Issei, whose identity was covered by the armor. He also looked at Kuroka, noticing the resemblance to Koneko. "Was it you who killed those Strays?" He asked, looking straight at the Dragon Emperor.
"I am afraid my partner over here won't be talking." Ddraig said aloud from within the Balance Breaker.
"You are-"
"I am Y Ddraig Goch, the Dragon of Domination!" Ddraig said, introducing himself. "And you, Knight of Gremory and Pawn of Sitri, have no business being here. I will make this offer on behalf of my partner and his spouse here and extend an olive branch to you: leave, and take your comrade with you and leave us be."
"And why should we do that, huh?" Ruruko replied, answering rudely to Ddraig. "I see the hostages behind you, and that Stray! What, are you some sadistic fuck who enjoys feeding humans to Strays or something?"
"Ruruko, I don't believe that's the case…" Kiba said, trying to placate his teammate. "So far, they have only killed Strays, but something seems different here."
"Sharp intuition, Knight of Gremory." Ddraig said again, speaking for Issei. "But our business is ours alone, meaning it is of no interest to you. This is the last chance I am giving you; take our offer and leave without fighting, or stay and risk challenging the wrath of the Red Dragon Emperor!"
Ddraig's threat was real, both Issei and Kuroka knew that. The last Stray was hiding behind them, along with the others who were already cured. Saji was breaking a sweat just by being so close to the Red Dragon Emperor! He had a feeling it was them by the announcements from before which was likely form the Boosted Gear, but actually being near them was like being near a forest fire! Kiba considered the offer, and even Ruruko, as hot-heated as she can be, knew they couldn't defeat the Red Dragon Emperor by themselves, not to mention the reinforcements were not anywhere close enough! They couldn't buy time, so Kiba decided to take the wise decision out of this.
"We will take your deal." He replied, which made Ruruko give him the nasty eye. "Give us Saji and we will leave."
"You are wise, Knight of Gremory." Ddraig said as Issei moved to Saji, undoing his binds and picking him up before throwing him to the others, a bit roughly if nothing else as he rolled on the ground.
"Ow! You could have just untied me and undo my blindfold!" Saji shouted back as he got back up.
"Now, I held my end of the bargain, it is time for you to do the same, Knight of Gremory." Ddraig said, and Kiba nodded, taking Ruruko and Saji and going out of the Junkyard, but Issei didn't go out of his Balance Breaker.
"We need to wrap this up, NOW!" He said, Kuroka nodding and throwing him the necklace. "You! Walk forward." The Stray nodded, realizing they were in a hurry and Issei rushed just as much to cast the spell and finish them, taking their bishop piece. "All of you, run away." The now ex-Stray nodded their heads and spread around, with the one whom he first cured looking back at Issei.
"Thank you, Red Dragon Emperor." Then he vanished within the junkyard.
Issei turned around to Kuroka "Get us out of here!" Not a moment too soon as they saw the other devils flying towards them Kuroka knew they had no time to waste, so she immediately used her magic to teleport herself and Issei away. No sooner did they vanish did the devils regrouped.
"What happened?" Rias asked, then they all noticed the barrier breaking around the junkyard. "A barrier?"
"I saw them…" Saji muttered, looking at Sona. "I saw them, guys, the girl- woman, Kuroka and the Red Dragon!"
"So did we, but…" KIba said, but he paused.
"They were surrounded by other people, even a Stray!" Ruruko said, shocking everyone else around them. "We even talked to the dragon! They used their Balance Breaker to hide their face and the dragon seemed to do the talking for them so we would not recognise their voice later."
"Smart choice on part of the Red Dragon." Sona said, fixing her glasses.
"What now, president?" Momo asked, looking at Sona for answers.
"Rias?" And Sona threw that on Rias, who was looking worse than most, mainly because those kinds of news were very unwelcomed. The Red Dragon Emperor escaped again, and from the looks of things, something was seriously afoot.
"What were they doing with a Stray and people there?" Rias asked."They didn't do anything to you, right?" She asked, worrying more about their wellbeing.
"Well, they did throw Saji at us a bit roughly, but that was because Kiba took their deal." Ruruko said. The attention turned to the knight, who looked down in slight shame.
"My apologies, president, but I took the best set of actions I believe was right. The Red Dragon did not attack us or harm us in any way, on the contrary, they offered us a deal. If we left they'd not only give us Saji back, but also not attack. They held their end of the deal, so we did ours. I know I should have probably stalled for time until you got here with the reinforcements, but I feared for Saji, who was in a hostage position. Furthermore, we do not know what they were doing with those people. Ruruko here thought they were playing some sick game, but that was dismissed by them. " Kiba said, explaining his point of view.
"I'm sorry as well, Sona. I let myself be captured." Saji said, apologizing.
"I am not angry with you, Kiba."
"Neither am I, Saji.," Rias and Sona said respectively. "The course of action you took was the wise one, Kiba, as we do not know how powerful this Red Dragon Emperor is currently, and fighting them could have been a fatal mistake on our part. There was no guarantee of victory."
"But, president, shouldn't we at least have tried to fight him?" Ruruko said, arguing a bit.
"Need I remind you he was not alone?" Sona said, which actually got Saji and the others to report on something, with Kiba being the only one to hold back his tongue, but Saji was quick to say.
"Wait, I did hear some things! Apparently, the people who were there, if I heard it right, were Strays before!" His words seemed to have sparked the attention of everyone, especially Sona.
"What do you mean, Saji? Are you saying they somehow 'cured' the Strays?" Sona asked, sounding very skeptical about it. To do something like that would mean to somehow invert the entire process of mutation, which was not possible as long as the Strays could not control their demonic power. Unless…"Saji, what else did you hear?" Sona seemed more alert when she asked the question this time.
"Not a lot, they were mainly cheering and stuff. The Strays seemed relieved that they were 'normal' again, whatever they meant by that. I apologize, Sona, but I was blindfolded the entire time, so I can only say what I heard." Saji replied.
"Normal, huh?" Sona thought about it for a few moments, but then she voiced her worries. "Could it be that the Red Dragon meddled with their Evil Pieces?"
"Don't be absurd, Sona!" Rias said, jumping immediately at the assumption. "Such a feat could only be possible if Lord Ajuka Beelzebub was the one doing it, as no one else has any time of power on that scale over Evil Pieces!"
"But this is not anyone, Rias, but the Red Dragon Emperor himself!" Sona said, pointing out the obvious. "Say what you want, but I am highly inclined to believe that the Red Dragon might not only be reliant on their raw Sacred Gear abilities, but they might also be a competent magician, and they are combining their powers to succeed in this feat."
"But then why the Stray murders? What purpose did they serve?" Kiba asked.
"I don't know. There are still some pieces that simply do not connect and do not make sense, but I am certain of my own assumption. And if I am right, then this matter escalated itself to the point where we might need to contact Lord Beelzebub as well." Sona stated, then she looked at Rias, who has been quiet for a bit too long for the Sitri Heiress' taste. Usually, when she went quiet like that, it meant she was thinking about something. "But something tells me you do not want that, Rias."
Everyone turned their attention to the redhead. "You caught me." Rias admitted. "Telling Ajuka would mean telling my brother and your sister, and even if the situation is escalating, I cannot help but see the opportunity in this. True, our opponent is the Red Dragon Emperor, an individual known to be able to endlessly increase their own power. Quite frankly, the only ones with the power to take him out are the Gods, The White Dragon Emperor, and beings with a similar amount of power, meaning we are all out of our element here and we have no hope to actually win against them if a fight does break out, no matter the numerical advantage."
"Ok, I am officially lost here." Ruruko said. "Are you saying we have to keep our mouths shut about this?"
"That is exactly what she is saying, and more." Sona said, adding to Rias' words, mostly to clarify her intentions. "As far as they have existed, the factions have sought out to ally with one or the other Dragon Emperor, earning their backing and the bragging rights. But as Rias said, it is because they are beings of unpredictable power, especially the Red Dragon which we are dealing with, that makes this so much more sensible of a matter. Correct me if I am wrong, Rias…" She turned her attention to Rias. "But are you going to try to recruit him into your peerage?"
Sona's words got the attention of the ground on Rias, mostly because the task at hand was bound to be a difficult one. Granted, there was one problem; Kuroka. "I…I would have wished." She looked at Koneko, who was sitting close to her, an expressionless mask on her face. Koneko might try to hide out, but Kiba did report how she seemed more agitated lately. "However, his association with Kuroka complicates things too much, and I doubt they'd accept my proposal if it means leaving her behind, and I cannot accept a wanted criminal into my peerage. No, Sona, instead I will try and negotiate with them."
"Negotiate?" Akeno asked "It is unlike you, Rias, to change your mind like this so easily. Pray tell, what is driving your decisions now?"
"That was before we knew the force we were chasing." Rias replied. "When we met in that underground hideout they could have fought us and likely won easily, but instead they retreated, which makes me inclined to believe they do not wish for conflict. Furthermore, the possibility of the Red Dragon being a magician opens new doors."
"Hmm. It does sound like a logical deduction. But what are your intentions?" Sona asked.
"I will try and fulfill a contract with the Red Dragon Emperor. His aid in exchange for whatever they desire…" She paused for a bit. "...even if said desire is my own body."
"Woah there, are you actually going to-"
"Saji!" Sona shushed her pawn before he could say something offensive. "That is a desperate call, Rias. Are you doing it because of that?"
"I will neither deny nor confirm that." Rias said. "However, if I can enlist the Red Dragon Emperor's help, I will be more than delighted to see how my fiance reacts." A sly smile crept on Rias' face. "After all, I doubt it would be much of a fight looking at the emperor's achievements so far."
"A bit of a possible overestimation, but I will level with you, Rias." Sona said. "Regardless, I believe this marks the end of our first joint operation. Do you still require my peerage's help or-"
"Actually, I think I will cut it off. We will stop chasing them." Rias said, which surprised everyone present. "If we wish to make positive relations with the red dragon, then we should first start by making their life easier. They want to kill strays on my territory? Very well then, I will allow them to do so from now on and even forgive their previous acts."
"That…might work, but how do we let them know they have the green light?" KIba asked, feeling silly for asking that question.
"Quite easily, we stay home!" Rias said. "Well, we still have our night-time contracts to fulfill, but as far as I am concerned, your new orders are to leave the Red Dragon alone. Even if by some miracle you stumble upon him in the street or during his hunt, you ignore him and just leave. Do not engage him in battle."
"Understood." Kiba said, listening to the orders.
"Ok!" Akeno replied, however, Koneko seemed hesitant about saying anything.
"Koneko?" Rias called out her name, trying to make sure she was ok.
"Fine." She replied, eventually.
"Good. Thank you for the help, Sona, but it looks like we do not need it anymore." Rias said. "Our joint operation was fun, however, so maybe we could repeat this another time as well?"
Sona let out a slight smile. "I am afraid not." She said, "Now if you'd excuse me, we have important duties to attend to early in the morning, so sleep is important." A magical circle, this one being the Sitri one, appeared around Sona, indicating to her peerage to go to her for the teleportation. "Good luck with your endeavors, Rias. I do hope you can figure out how to take care of the situation." Then they were gone, leaving Rias and her peerage behind.
However, Rias also agreed that they should all head to their homes and get some sleep, so they left.
Arriving out of the teleportation circle, the duo arrived back at their home. Issei went out of his Balance Breaker as soon as they did, collapsing on the bed. Yes, the bed, as they were in the bedroom, not the living room. "That was another close call!" He whined loudly. "But, at least we got it."
Quest Update!
Quest Complete!
Danbooru's Wisdom.
Main Objective: Listen to and rightfully spare 5 Strays who deserve to be spared. (5/5) - Complete
Quest Time Limit: N/A
Main Objective Reward: 10K EXP
Failure Penalty: None.
Turning those Strays back into human beings counted as showing them mercy and sparing them, meaning he can get the reward for this quest!
Do you wish to claim the reward of this quest?
Y/N
Is that even supposed to be a question? Issei pressed 'Y', and the EXP poured in. It put him so very CLOSE to level 14 that he could taste it! Oh, why must the system tease him so much?
Skill Level up! Your [Evil Piece Extraction Spell] is now Level 2!
He really needs to find Danbooru once and thank him for this quest, as it puts him closer to his goal of reaching level 15! But time was, as Solomon keeps saying, not on their side. Kuoh's gates were drawing ever so close to opening, and he still had a lot of work ahead of himself. Once that starts he knows his program will be pretty messed up, so he will need to balance that out together with his supernatural life somehow.
Quest Update!
Huh?
GET A FULL SET!
Hopefully you didn't believe the system would let you suffer alone? As you can see in your inventory, you have acquired a number of Evil Pieces through the use of your Skill, so instead of letting them gather up dust in there, you are being awarded this quest to acquire a full set of Evil Pieces! Now you can acquire those pieces from defeated Strays at a 10% chance of dropping, which is enhanced further by your LCK stat! Additionally, if you use your skill, you will get more EXP than taking them down! So, as long as this quest is active, each time to acquire an Evil Piece using your [Evil Piece Extraction Spell] Skill, you will be awarded with the same amount of EXP you would have gotten when defeating the Stray, plus an additional 2000 EXP.
Main Objective: Gather up an entire set of Evil Pieces!
Progress:
Pawns: 3/8
Rooks: 0/2
Knights: 1/2
Bishops: 1/2
Queen: 0/1
Main Reward: 30K EXP, 1 New Additional Quest, Skill Book(?), 100K Yen.
Failure Penalty: Possible Dead.
This system liked to keep him entertained, didn't it? Well, Issei didn't have anything to say with this chance, even if he just finished a quest, as this one seemed overall more rewarding and more simple to complete than the others, not to mention the EXP bonus was nice as well. But why would he need to gather an entire set of Evil Pieces anyway?
"Did you receive a new quest, nya?" Kuroka asked, looking at him as she laid on the bed next to him. "You have been staring at what I can assume to be a screen for a bit, so I am mainly guessing."
"Yeah." Issei admitted. "It wants me to gather up an entire set of Evil Pieces now."
"Evil Pieces?!" Kuroka gasped.
"Hmm. Quite peculiar that the system would be asking you for those. Ddraig, what can you tell us about them?" Solomon asked, to which Ddraig replied to the best of his ability.
"As you have seen, they are used by the Devils in order to turn humans into reincarnated versions of themselves, helping with their population issue. Up until Issei got that spell, however, the process was supposed to be without reversal. I have just as much of a clue as any of you on the reason why this system might be asking us to get a set." Ddraig said, but then he remembered Kuroka. "Maybe it wants you to get a peerage of your own, Cat."
"Nya! No thank you! I could never see myself being some of those high-ranking individuals and putting others under my rule! Nup, not my liking!" Kuroka said, denying the chance. "Maybe…It wants Issei to gain one?"
"But Issei is no Devil, dear." Solomon pointed out. "Shouldn't it be impossible?"
"Extraction should be impossible as well!" Kuroka said, making her point. "But with this system things are just no longer making any sense with how it seems to be taking what I always knew about the world and twisting it to its own liking!"
"She does have a point."
"Wait, but I do not wish to turn anyone into a devil!" Issei said, stating his desire. "True, I want a harem and a peerage seems like one hell of a way to gain one, but…I don't want to force anyone to stand around me just because I am their King or something!"
Kuroka sighed. "This is why I love you, Issei. Even presented with the easy route, you choose the right one, yet the hard one."
"What do you mean by that?" Issei asked, turning to Kuroka, marveling as her eyes seemed to glow in the dark.
"Oh, nothing much. But you see, devils usually do not ask nicely. They take advantage of someone's situation to get what they want." Kuroka said. "That is how it's done in most of the cases…"
"Truly an act you'd expect from those wretched beings!" Solomon said, tapping his cane on the floor of the mindscape loudly. "Opportunistic and rotten, they do not miss the chance to get an easy gain out of anything!"
"But not us." Ddraig said. "Issei, I understand your words. You wish to give whoever might join your peerage the choice to do so, and I am ok with it. We do not know how this will turn out, it might even become something permanent, but we must focus on our current issue at hand. The leveling. Currently, we are closing into the main objective of the quest, but I think we can strike multiple birds with one stone if we also begin raiding those dungeons on the map we found. Come on people, start hauling ass!"
"Leave it to the dragon to get us fired up." Issei said, a pun that Ddraig approved. "He is right, we need to keep working. It is nearly midnight, so let's go to sleep first-"
"Not so fast, mister!" Kuroka said, getting his attention. "I hope you didn't forget your promise, nya! That salmon won't cook itself!"
"Oh…I did promise, didn't I?" Issei said, remembering his promise in exchange for her putting up with his plan. Well, despite it being very late at night, he listened to her and went down to the kitchen to start cooking. Make no mistake, he loved Kuroka, but her love for fish might be over the top sometimes.
Sure, she was a cat, but come on now, surely she is not that cat-like! She knows how to act more like a woman than an animal!
In the meantime, in Koneko's room, the small girl was staying awake on her bed, unable to sleep knowing her sister was around. Why? Why was she back? Ten years she had been away, leaving her in peace and alone to serve Rias without any sort of issue, but now she is back with the Red Dragon Emperor no less! Koneko couldn't be expected to know this and just do nothing about it, her sister needed to be brought to justice!
What she did, even if to protect her, was wrong. There were other ways, like running, but she killed their former master, and because of that, she left her…Her older sister left her, becoming a monster by giving in to her urges, to the power. She became a Stray, something that her peerage was tasked with taking care of, and Rias' call to do NOTHING irked her. It is not like she didn't do stuff like this before, but now it was different.
This was her sister they were talking about, and she knew how DANGEROUS Kuroka was! And now she was with the Red Dragon Emperor, effectively taking advantage of his power for protection. She had to do something about it, even if Rias might disagree with it. She had to take them down, but Koneko was no fool.
She got up from her bed, looking out the window. She could try to go out and search for them. Her senses would allow her to detect them whenever they are doing something, and if possible, she might be able to land a surprise attack. Yes, that's it! Her sister might be a powerful user of Senjutsu, but her body is not built for close-range fighting. If she could land a surprise attack on her sister, then maybe…Just maybe she could find closure.
She knows Rias ordered them not to get mixed up with the Red Dragon Emperor anymore and ignore their actions, but Koneko was about to defy her orders for her own personal issues with her sister. No, she couldn't just roam around the town alone, eventually, Rias would figure it out and punish her for taking such actions.
She had to be smart about it, and try and figure out where her sister might be next. She could try using her powers, but…No. She was not like her sister, she won't give in to the temptation of power and let herself be corrupted! This was more complicated to her than it looked. She wanted to do something, not sit around! However, if she tried anything, she might either be running into a trap by facing the Red Dragon Emperor alone with her sister there, effectively pinning her into a two on one battle she cannot win. Or even if she succeeds, she'd be disobeying Rias, and that by itself would warrant a punishment, no matter how kind she is.
It is because of such reckless actions that she punishes them because she cared.
"Damn it!" She swore lightly as she punched her punching bag, making it swing a bit. "There has to be a way…" She looked out, thinking of what she could do. Then it struck her. If she can't go out there to search for them, she will just make them come to her. If she only leaked her ki a bit, her sister was bound to pick up on it and come to her, especially if she makes it seem like a cry for help.
It was the only one she knew that could get her sister here.
Back at the house, Kuroka just finished eating the salmon prepared by Issei, with a big smile on her face. "So good, nya…" She sighed as she finished her dish, then she looked at Issei, who was sitting across the table. "You are officially forgiven."
"Thank you…" He said, relieved to be out of the hot waters. "Now, how about we-'' At that moment, Kuroka's head jerked to the side. "Kuroka?"
"It's Shirone…I can sense her energy from here." She said, getting up from her seat. "It's like a cry for help. Youkai release this kind of energy usually when they are in danger to alert their comrades to come to save them, but I know for a fact she is faking it."
"What makes you say that?" Issei asked, confused about the situation.
"Ki is influenced by one's emotions as well. That way, Youkai can tell when someone is angry, sad, and so on. Her ki has nothing that makes it seem like a cry for help, and with that I mean fear. Instead, I sense anger…She is angry at me and she wants to meet to confront me."
"She is looking for closure." Solomon said, sliding into the conversation. "Looking back at things, you did abandon her, so she might be blaming you."
"She can't possibly be holding that against Kuroka!" Issei said, sounding scandalized. "Come on, Kuroka did what she did FOR SHIRONE, not for herself!"
"But that is not what she thinks…" Kuroka muttered. "Everyone believes I killed my master for power as well, which served more as the main motive than the side motive. But that is untrue, I killed them to protect my sister, but…Ugh! I don't understand how Shirone came to view me so badly over the years! Why can't she understand that everything I did was for her?"
"Kuroka…" Issei muttered, looking at her as she seemed to let out steam.
"I killed that son of a bitch for her the moment I found out what plans he had, and I knew she'd be given to another devil to take care of her - thank the spirits it was Gremory! At least they are known to take good care of their peerage members!" Kuroka said. "Why doesn't she understand? Why does…she hates me so?"
"She doesn't hate you." Issei said, trying to make her feel better. "Kuroka, I think Shirone needs to understand. I won't say you don't have blame in this, but it is her who doesn't understand the situation to its fullest extent. She grew up likely thinking the wrong things, but if she is calling you using an emergency signal like this, then you might have a chance to mend things up."
"I guess you are right." Kuroka said slowly, if somewhat uncertain still. "So, I guess we might as well go to my sister."
