Fate/Bonds Beyond Humanity
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36- The King's Sword: The Hunt I
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Nobody should be surprised that finding a pair of girls in a busy city was hard but the devils thought they would have found the Exorcists by now. "Where are they?" Kiba wasn't just asking his companions but also voicing his frustrations. The Knight felt a huge ball of anxiety grow on his stomach as he failed to find any trace of his targets.. "Did you guys see anything?"
"We have been… trying to catch up… to you." Saji was trying to recover his breath as he and Asia were clearly exhausted from running after the Knight. "How can't… we find two girls… with bright capes or leather?"
"I can't feel them in the area." Koneko informed while helping Asia who looked ready to pass out.
Seeing how the Bishop was red from the lack of air had Issei stopping Kiba from running around again. "Dude, relax for a bit."
"Relax?" Kiba wasn't as angry as he was earlier but he was still agitated. "We need to find the-"
Issei got closer to Kiba and whispered quickly. "You are making a scene."
Now that the Pawn had said it the Knight could notice how some people were stopping to look at them. It wasn't that much attention as nobody suspected a bunch of high schoolers to be doing something wrong on a Saturday afternoon earlier and Kiba's agitation could be brushed off as something simple or mundane.
"Do you want me to call Buchou to drag you back?" Issei added after a second and Kiba had no choice but to calm down.
Kiba took a deep breath to make a show that he was calmer and Issei moved to try and help Asia while the Knight looked around, still trying to find the Exorcists. His drive and determination didn't diminish even if he was more tame thanks to his King's assurances and friends' assistance.
He wasn't even trying to lose them but was just so excited with the possibilities of retribution and vengeance that he soon left everyone behind and started to look for the Exorcists to begin his hunt of the Excalibur Fragments.
Only to meet with disappointment as the girls seemed to have completely left the area around Kuoh completely. It was something he found hard to believe unless they were running around, found some transport or were actively hiding.
All alternatives the devil was sure they lacked the resources to procure in short notice.
'Did they already find a clue or something?' Kiba wanted to keep looking for the two girls but a look at his friends told him that they couldn't keep up with him for much longer.
Even Issei and Koneko who looked the best of the bunch couldn't do it for long without his Boosted Gear or her wings, which would mean revealing them on a crowded street, a terrible idea in any situation, even if they had enough stamina to keep up with him.
It was only because Kiba cared about the approval and support of his friends that he managed to slow down and wait for them to catch up and recover while still searching for the agents from the Church even if on the same spot.
That gave him enough of a clarity of mind to ask his friends for assistance, mostly Koneko's. "They are already away from this area, aren't they?"
"I can't feel them." Koneko repeated the information she had before. "Sorry."
"Can you really feel them?" Saji could at least feel the swords when they were out but once they were hidden again it was like they weren't even there. "I got nothing."
"Koneko-chan is better than us at feeling all kinds of energy." Asia, slightly recovered from the improvised race, assured with a concerned look at Kiba who just shook his head. "Is it something to do with their capes? They have blessings of the Lord right?"
"To hide them mostly from the mundane, not from me." Even if Koneko could admit that normal devils couldn't detect the Exorcist blessings easily, she was a former nekomata and was far more sensitive. "I can't feel any Holy energy around the area anymore."
"Damned." Kiba cursed under his breath. "If Koneko can't find them around here then we lost our chance."
Asia could see how upset Kiba was and tried to be optimistic. "Ah, but they couldn't have gotten that far. We just need to keep looking." Koneko nodded quickly and began to expand her senses to try and find them only to flinch as she almost had let her Ki escape.
Noticing how much his attitude was affecting the two girls had Kiba trying to relax his face and calm down some more.
He couldn't help himself and default back to his fake smile to try and console them. "It is alright. Asia is right; we just need to keep looking for them." Nobody, even Saji that didn't know him that well, was fooled by the fake.
"Maybe we should go and check the old church." It took a lot for Issei to suggest it as he actively remembered everything bad that happened in that place. Asia took a step back at the notion of going back before putting a brave face to not worry anyone. "I mean, if the fallen angels used it-"
"It is exactly because fallen angels used such a place that anyone from the Church would actively avoid it. Most of the members of the Heaven Faction see their maculated temples as a direct slight against God and try to avoid it as much as possible until it is properly purified and fixed." Saji surprised everyone with the insight.
"How do you know that?" Issei was sure that he never heard anything about it in Waver's classes.
His fellow Pawn was proud to answer. "Kaichou makes sure that we are up to par with the general knowledge about any big faction." Then his head and shoulders fell down. "She makes us take tests too." Issei placed a hand on Saji's shoulder in solidarity.
"Then the church is out." Kiba didn't doubt any information coming from Sona Sitri, even if indirectly. "Issei, one of them is your friend. Where would she go?"
Caught off guard by the question, the Red Dragon Emperor tried his best to answer. "When we were young we barely left our neighborhood without our parents and I think they liked to go to the church a lot." The small glare Kiba was giving him was only making the Pawn more nervous. "I mean, Fuyuki also changed a lot. I have no clue where she can even go."
"Yes, she hasn't been here for years." Kiba didn't like that reply at all. "Are you sure she didn't come for a visit or something?"
"Dude, I haven't seen her in years. I didn't even know she was a girl." Issei was sure Kiba knew that already but the blond Knight was grasping at straws at that point.
"So we have no clue where they are and no way to find them." Kiba was really frustrated at that point and some of his hate began to show itself on his face again. "Great. Just great."
Saji noticed the sarcasm and how angry Kiba was with a frown. "Why are you so obsessed with finding them and destroying Excalibur?" Every member of the Gremory group looked at him with disbelief. "What?"
"Didn't you hear what they talked about back there?" Issei was sure that the meeting with the Exorcists had said enough.
"Yeah, bits and pieces." Saji mumbled the last part. "I understood that Kiba hates that sword for some serious reason and hates that guy that is a real criminal but I think I am missing some context."
"Oh, Saji-san doesn't know what happened to Kiba-san." Asia realized that every member of the ORC knew and didn't bother to elaborate to her friend who nodded in agreement with her assessment.
"Yeah. I got some of the gist and that Kiba has a real hate boner for those guys but…" The Sitri Pawn shrugged his shoulders to show he really didn't know everything that was happening.
The other devils were clearly uncomfortable with the notion and if it could be helped Kiba didn't want to revisit those memories. "Didn't you overhear the meeting before you barged in?"
Genshirou didn't realize that Kiba was uncomfortable and frowned. "Just the tail end and by that point that blue haired chick was being rude to Asia. Kinda got in the way of everything else really."
"Right. Kiba's story is… complicated is an understatement." Even if Issei wasn't aware of the full details he knew more than he was comfortable divulging.
"It is not complicated." Kiba suddenly said with a sad look on his eyes. "The bastard just killed us all when we weren't useful to him anymore." Koneko placed a hand on his arm and he smiled at her in appreciation.
"But why?" At that point Genshirou was more curious than anything.
It was then that Ddraig made himself known in Issei's mind. [If you are going to have this talk it best be in a more private setting. Most people can ignore a bunch of teenagers talking in the middle of the street but some words trigger alarms to even the average person.]
Heeding the dragon's advice, Issei had an idea that could help. "Guys, what about we go to eat something?"
"Right now?" Immediately Kiba was hostile to the idea but Issei expected that.
"We need a better place to talk because I'm getting tired of standing in the middle of the street." Issei suggested and many suddenly remembered they were talking about sensitive topics in broad daylight. "My scaled friend suggested a place to eat around here. It's like that place I took you once, Asia. Remember when you ate a hamburger for the first time?"
Surprised by the sudden shift of the conversation, Asia was still able to nod. "Is it the same place?"
"No it's another franchise but their food is good too." Issei then looked at Kiba to show he was talking to the Knight. "Besides, it wouldn't be fair to Saji if he just doesn't know why we are fighting in the first place."
Even in the middle of the crowned street a tense silence followed between the devils as they waited for Kiba to accept or reject the idea.
And with a dragon's endorsement there wasn't much that Kiba could do unless he was willing to disobey Rias' orders and leave everyone else behind. "Fine but somewhere close and we keep looking for them after."
"We weren't planning to stop." Koneko liked the idea of eating but she was too concerned to focus on it.
"How are we paying?" Saji asked with a little worry. "I don't have any money on me right now."
"Don't worry, Buchou gave me a card to pay for everything." Koneko's head slowly turned to Issei and the Red Dragon Emperor could see her cute eyes carrying a silent request. "I'm sorry Koneko-chan but Buchou said that I shouldn't let you eat everything you could." She took a small step closer and placed her hands together in prayer. "No." The girl's eyes began to shine as she placed her hands closer to her chest as she raised her cuteness factor to the maximum. "Buchou said no, Koneko-chan. I can't let you use all the money on food."
Realizing that Issei wasn't going to break, Koneko stepped back and immediately reverted to her normal state. "Boo."
The whole interaction put some smiles on the faces of the other devils, Koneko's eyes in particular were on Kiba who did smile a little and that made her smile as well. Only Issei didn't even realize any of that, just proud he managed to resist the little devil's 'attack'.
Feeling better, Kiba couldn't help but ask. "Where do we go to eat?"
Issei was happy to escort them to the place, the kind of restaurant that also had a drive thru and wasn't that full as of yet as lunch breaks were about to start in the area..
The group managed to find a table distant from the entrance to make sure they wouldn't be heard and Kiba was left with Genshirou to tell his story while the other three moved to get the food.
Issei and Asia could still remember when they asked about it over the last week when they were concerned about Kiba, the Bishop was inconsolable for the rest of the night while Issei could only feel disgust for what some people were capable of.
The trio of devils knew that Saji would also need a few moments to take in everything Kiba had to say so they took their time and walked slowly, not rushing with their orders.
Despite having put up some fierce resistance previously, Issei still couldn't stop Koneko from buying 8 hamburgers, 4 big portions of french fries and 2 milkshakes. He tried, especially when he saw the price, but the white haired devil just had to remind him how much she actually ate on a normal day.
Asia couldn't help but comment that Koneko was still holding back somewhat compared with how much she usually eats at the club and the white haired devil replied with, "This isn't as good or as filling." Then she promptly started to get back to her seat with all her food while Issei and Asia carried back their portions with Kiba's and Saji, in total still smaller than Koneko's by a good margin.
They returned to a mildly depressed Saji with tears in his eyes and a resolute Kiba. "Shit man. Just shit." The blond Pawn's hands messed with his hair as he tried to process all he heard. "I get it. If I was in your place and my family was murdered like that…"
As someone who was used to mask his true emotions, Kiba could tell that the sympathy was genuine and not just out of pity. It was strange for him and he didn't know Saji enough to react properly when he began to cry. All Yuuto could do after finishing telling his tale was to stay silent.
The Knight didn't have in him to smile after telling the whole story, he had too much raw emotion, too much anger to actually hide behind a mask.
But he didn't get up, neither lost control and was able to tell the story in full mostly because of the support of his friends. Kiba was relieved when they returned and genuinely smiled when Asia asked, "Is Saji-san alright?"
The Pawn of Sitri replied before Kiba could "In fact I'm not alright. Goddamned." He cleared his eyes before taking a bite of his food with anger.
"I don't blame you." Kiba said sincerely. He hoped his story didn't disturbed his fellow blonde too much but the way that Saji was devouring his cheeseburger showed that he really needed some time.
The rest of the devils began to eat too and Saji was the one who finished first, not a surprise to anyone with how he was eating. "So, what do we do?" His question surprised everyone but his eyes showed a determination they didn't have before. "We have no idea how to find the Exorcists and have no idea of where to find that son of a- no, that is an insult to actual bitches."
All eyes turned to Issei. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"
"It was your idea to stop and eat." Saji pointed out and the brown haired Pawn looked nervous.
"Yeah but that doesn't mean I know what to do now. Keep looking?" He suggested, uncertain.
Devouring one whole burger in seconds, Koneko stopped eating to ask, "Where?" After waiting a moment to see if she would elaborate any further, she just took a bite of her fries.
"I think Koneko-chan is asking where we are going to look since we have no idea?" Asia's attempt to interpret Koneko was confirmed a success when the little devil nodded once to show she was right.
"That… is a good question." Kiba admitted with bitterness. "Without a way to find the Exorcists or Valper I, no, we can't find the Excaliburs."
Some smiled at how Kiba included them on his quest, including Issei who took a bite of his food. "Maybe we should talk about this after we eat?" He suggested with a grimace. "This food feels wrong."
"Lots of fat and oil with bad maintenance of the oven can ruin the taste and damage the nutrients of the food." Asia said analytically. Being taught by Issei's mother, Shirou and Akeno was turning the former nun into a real chef. "But it is filling."
"Like most of these kinds of food usually are." Kiba acknowledged with a sip of his soda. The blond felt more relaxed than he had in a long time with his friends around but the ghosts of his past were still on the back of his mind. "We need a plan."
"Dude." Issei whispered harshly as the rest of the table looked pensive or irritated.
The Knight saw how Koneko stopped eating and Asia looked sad and felt remorse. "Right, sorry."
"No, we need to find them or else we can't help you." Asia then took a huge bite of her food much faster than she was used to.
The former nun then started to pat her own chest quickly and everybody scrambled to move as she almost choked on the food.
"I am sorry." Asia felt a little shame after the event.
"It's fine, Asia. Please just eat slowly." Kiba said gently as his rush was the main responsible for the Bishop's mistake.
"Good thing Saji knew what to do. I was almost screaming." Issei admitted while patting his fellow Pawn on the back who cleaned his nose with confidence.
"It was nothing. I took a class a few years back in my old school and could never forget." He then looked at Issei's fries and realized he was still hungry. "Are you eating that?"
Still thankful to Genshirou for saving Asia, Issei had no problems with sharing. "Sure man. Dig in. If you want more I think Buchou wouldn't mind." He could feel Koneko's small glare but the brown haired Pawn ignored it.
"Thanks but I don't want to be that much of a bother." Saji didn't waste time getting a bunch of fries and chewing them.
Asia finished chewing her much smaller bite to comment. "Saji-san you are here to help, how are you a bother?"
At Asia's innocent question, Saji almost panicked. "Well, I'm already munching from you all and I just got more food from Hyoudou and I already ate my food and-"
"Hey man, don't worry." Issei managed to snap Saji out of his circle of excuses. "Asia is right; you are here to help and this isn't munch."
"You sure? I mean, looking at Koneko-chan's food, I think we are already spending a lot." Genshirou couldn't help but admire and envy how much the girl was enjoying her enormous quantity of food.
"You shouldn't worry too much, Saji-san. Ise is right." Kiba offered his friends a real smile that had the other devils of Gremory more relaxed. "Buchou was the one who provided the credit card. Knowing her there is enough there to buy every meal in this place ten times over."
Issei could feel Koneko staring at him intensely. "Are you sure? Can I ask for seconds then?"
"Sure." Koneko's stare intensified as Issei stood up with burger in hand and moved to the cashier. "Let's go get some more." The stare, as cute as it was threatening, managed to wear the Red Dragon Emperor enough that he looked at the little Rook with a nervous smile. "Another round, Koneko-chan?"
A small smile of victory had Koneko standing up as well, the only reply she needed to give.
After another round of food and Issei's need to be reassured by Kiba that Rias wasn't going to be mad by how much they spent, the tense aura around the group began to return as Kiba felt it was time to return to his mission.
"Do we have any idea of where the Exorcists could go?" The blond directed his question to Issei who was scratching his cheek in thought. "I know the city changed but Shirou Irina doesn't look like the kind of person who would just pass by her hometown." While all the Knight had was from short observation, that was the kind of aura Irina had. "Any other friends she could visit while she is here or maybe her old house?"
"I'm pretty sure that she wouldn't visit anyone else but me. At that age we didn't have that many friends. I think we were only really close to each other." Issei was a little embarrassed at that but nobody thought too much of it. "About her old house ... Maybe? I don't know. I know I would but Irina wasn't much attached to the place, just her family."
"It is close to your house right?" Kiba asked with a grimace and when Issei nodded he let out a sigh he was holding. "Then she wouldn't go there with a mission to finish. Exorcists aren't the kind of people who would waste time with trivialities, not with a mission from God in the line."
Just thinking about it made Kiba upset as the windows of opportunity were closing. It was the closest thing of a chance he had to get his revenge and already he didn't know where to go.
"Painting." Koneko noticed the shift of Kiba's mood and tried to help. "She bought that painting in the middle of a mission. It cost them a lot."
That wasn't enough to lift his spirits as Kiba saw the problem with that easily. "That was before Shirou unmasked it as a fake. Now she will be more focused, if not for her than for her partner."
Asia offered a small sad smile at the mention of the blue haired Exorcist. "Yes. Quarta-san isn't the type to waste time and her faith in the Lord is strong." She shivered a little at the offer Xenovia had made previously but remained calm. "If she knew where that man was she wouldn't have bothered passing by Buchou's office, she would have marched straight to him."
"Can I ask a question?" Genshirou had finished the last of his food and something worried him.
Noting how Saji was looking at him had Kiba concerned for a moment. "Sure. Something wrong?"
Taking a moment to organize his thoughts, especially because he knew his question was sensitive to the Knight, Saji tried to find a way to ask his question as delicately as he could. "What are you planning to do if the Excaliburs are around town?"
"Destroy them." Kiba was confused but his determination shone more. "I will destroy them. You know that." After hearing his story Saji wouldn't challenge him on that.
And yet the problem remained. "But how?" Now the confusion spread around the table and the Pawn of Sitri knew he had to elaborate further. "Look, I agree with you okay. I'm on your side."
"I know that." Kiba was starting to feel angry but held it back.
"Okay so, and don't be offended, but how exactly are you planning to destroy those swords?" Saji was a little nervous on asking that and he didn't take his eyes from Kiba who now looked pensive.
"By breaking them. How else?" Issei replied, not understanding the question.
Saji was fighting back the urge to facepalm. "No, I mean, yes but look. Do you remember what happened just an hour ago? Back at school?"
Issei quickly understood what his fellow Pawn meant. "Oh."
"Holy Swords are strong. Stronger than normal weapons." Koneko shivered at the reminder of their presence. "And the Excaliburs are some of the strongest."
"But they broke before, right?" Issei asked optimistically.
"Yeah but how?" Saji asked back with a frown before turning his face to a now clearly frustrated Kiba. "You want to break those swords. I'm all for it but you threw everything you had before and you didn't make a scratch."
"I can't disagree with that." All the anger Kiba had left him at that moment and he started to feel a lethargy he never felt before. "I already lost against those swords once."
Koneko started to glare at Saji who quickly began to try and reassure the Knight. "Don't be like that, alright? Wasn't the one that the blue chick was using called Destruction? It must mean it is the strongest. I'm sure you can break the other ones." The blond Knight barely reacted and Saji looked around the other devils to ask for help.
"What if I Boost you?" Issei asked with a smile and suddenly Kiba's disposition became much more positive. "I want to see a sword that can take both your power and my Boosts and not break in half."
"You are right, Issei." Kiba was now feeling reinvigorated, much to the other devils' relief.
It hurt Koneko a little to then remind everyone of something. "They may not be here."
"That is true. We only know that the awful man who wants them is around." Asia was worried that Kiba would relapse but the Knight still looked ready to go.
"Then I will practice my swords on him until I am satisfied." Shadows covered Kiba's eyes and all knew he was serious.
The mood of the place was becoming uncomfortable after such a declaration. They may all be devils but they were young and not very experienced with the subject. No matter how they felt that it was justified because of how much Kiba suffered and lost because of the man he wanted to hurt, the notion of what the Knight wants to do still disturbed the rest.
Issei was avoiding looking at anyone as Koneko's face grew blank and Asia began to fidget on the spot. They were the ones who knew Kiba the best and were clearly the most uncomfortable.
Saji for his part also was uncomfortable but he at least managed to let out a nervous smile and tried to break the dark atmosphere. "Maybe you will have the chance to use that gray fire on him but we have to find the guy first."
"Yes, that is what I will do. It will be good practice." For anyone that knew Kiba they never heard him speaking with the amount of bloodthirst like he was at that moment.
He was ready to find Valper and make the last days of the man's life a miserable existence.
[That would be a terrible idea.] A new voice, familiar to all devils present, made itself known and everyone turned to look at the green glow on Issei's left hand.
"Ddraig what are you doing?" Issei questions in exasperation as he uses a hand to try and cover the green glow only to receive an amused chuckle.
[You know that doesn't work right? I can still speak loud and clear.] The dragon raised his voice just a little and all devils looked around to make sure nobody heard him. [You need to relax, partner. No one is looking this way. You are nervous for nothing.]
"How do you know that?" Issei was still nervous and Ddraig found it funny.
[Because of you and if you used your senses better you would realize that nobody is close enough to hear me. Kukukuku.]
Remembering everything he did over the last few weeks, Issei felt a huge wave of embarrassment. "Have you been watching me this whole time?"
[Of course not. Your life isn't that interesting.] Ddraig could feel both relief and shame coming from his host. [By the way, can you take another bite of that burger. Those things taste good. Not as good as Emiya's food but I always loved decent meat.]
When the surprise of the dragon's appearance wore off, Kiba tried to get back on topic "Why a terrible idea? You know something about my new sword?"
[More like I know a lot about sacred gears and your sword is a byproduct of one.] Ddraig elaborated a little with some amusement as Issei placed his hand on the table to make sure everyone could hear him. [Also you shouldn't think about that sword as a sword since it is more of a fundamental part of your sacred gear.]
"Why are you just speaking about that now?" Issei glared at his hand as it was the dragon himself. "If you knew more about Kiba's sword before, why are you talking now?"
[Maybe I was being polite.] The dragon said in jest and Issei was starting to grow frustrated. The brown haired Pawn had to hold himself back from screaming and getting the whole place's attention.
"Bullshit, you're too proud for that."
Humming a little, Ddraig [True, true. To be honest it was because I was unsure exactly what was wrong with his sacred gear but that small fight back at your school helped me figure out what is going on with it.] The Welsh Dragon then paused to collect his thoughts. [I have to admit, partner, that my knowledge about the subject is more limited to the Boosted Gear and my rival's residency than the others but the Knight's circumstance is similar enough that I managed to figure out his problems.]
No one understood what the dragon was talking about but Kiba just grew more curious and a little excited. "How can I control it?" The Red Dragon Emperor didn't answer immediately and the Knight feared he had offended the dragon. "Please lord Ddraig, if you know any way I can grow stronger, tell me."
[Bwahahahaha. No need to kiss my ass. You are my partner's ally so helping you is only natural.] The dragon still sounded pleased by the attempt but no one called him out on it. [Now if you are willing to accept my advice, that is another thing entirely.]
"I will do anything to grow stronger." Kiba's determination returned as he tempered his excitement.
['Anything'? Are you sure about that?]
Ddraig's voice grew low, almost like he was growling but Kiba figured out it was some kind of test. "Of course. Just say it."
[Then you have two choices; abandon your vengeance or kill everyone for it.] The sudden declaration scared the whole table.
"Oi! Are you serious, Ddraig?" Issei shout did get the attention of other people but soon they returned back to their own affairs, only some curious eyes still looked at the highschoolers.
"Keep your voice down." Koneko chastised the Pawn of her peerage and Issei immediately started to apologize.
"This isn't some kind of blood ritual, is it? Do these even exist?" Fear crept in Saji's voice and Asia made the sign of the cross only to feel pain at the attempt of asking for protection.
And for the first time in the whole day, "What are you… talking about?" Kiba hesitated.
Ddraig gave the devils a moment to recover before speaking again. [Do you know what a Balance Break is?]
While almost everyone was surprised by the question, Issei was already getting used to how Ddraig operated when teaching him anything, trying to see how much he knew before going deeper or explaining from the beginning. "Yes. It is when a sacred gear evolves to its final form right?"
"What? What is that? 'Final form'?" Saji had to admit he was surprised by the information and he was sure his King never mentioned something like a Balance Breaker.
"Buchou told us about it once. She said that it is the strongest form that a sacred gear can achieve." Asia explained for Saji's sake.
Scratching his head, Saji offered the former nun a smile. "Thanks, Asia-chan. I don't understand why Kaichou hadn't told us about that yet. Maybe you guys know because of the Phenex problem or something?"
"Probably because it's really hard to unlock it. Buchou even said that we shouldn't feel bad if we never get one." Issei could remember when she explained that to them a few days after the Rating Game. "But I really want one. Buchou told us that if we get it then our sacred gears will be at their strongest."
The Welsh Dragon didn't remember that talk, deducing he was asleep at the time. [Not exactly the strongest. It also depends on the sacred gear itself.] Ddraig corrected after a chuckle.
"Are you implying that sword is my Balance Breaker?" If it wasn't for Ddraig previous words Kiba would be euphoric by the news. The implication he had arrived at a new tier of power was usually good.
[No, not yet at least.] The dragon reveals much to the devils' confusion. [To unlock a Balance Breaker there are a couple of things that need to be aligned; strong emotions and a strong body being the main ones.]
"Emotion and body?" Kiba repeated in a whisper.
[Yes. Balance Breakers are powers capable of destabilizing the natural order of the planet. If your body is not ready to use such power then your sacred gear can't activate their Balance Breaker, at least not without a price.]
Ddraig's words reminded Issei of something. "During the Rating Game you said you could help me but it was going to cost me an arm. You were talking about the Balance Breaker."
[Nice memory, partner. That is exactly right.] Issei beamed under the praise but the dragon ignored it in favor of continuing his explanation. [If we had a few minutes then and you offered your arm to me I could have given you temporary access to my Balance Breaker. Fortunately you didn't need it to win or else you would be going around with a dragon's arm. My arm to be exact.]
While the Pawn of Gremory admired his arm and thought about what could have been, the Pawn of Sitri couldn't help but feel a little jealous. "Wish my dragon was that useful."
[Don't blame Vritra for that. I can guarantee that having your soul stuck in a gauntlet is not fun. Must be worse with it broken into parts.] The dragon mused and his host was sure he felt his hand shiver.
Before Saji could ask some more Kiba already was losing his patience. "Get to the point, Welsh Dragon. If I have a Balance Breaker then how do I use it?"
[You don't have a Balance Breaker, at least not a complete one.] Ddraig replied with amusement as he felt the Knight's anger boiling over. [And that is exactly why; you are so angry the whole time but refuse to act on it or throw it away. That is why you can't possess a true Balance Breaker.] Kiba was fuming, feeling that the dragon was making fun of him.
"Ddraig-san, could you please explain a little better?" Asia's soothing voice was followed by the Bishop as she approached the glow on Issei's hand. "I don't think I understand what you mean."
[Hmm, interesting. The way your voice shimmers on my mind like a bell is fascinating.] Ddraig's comment just made the former nun more confused. [Reminds me of one of my previous hosts. Very well, allow me to simplify things to you all. It has to do with the first component to unlock a Balance Breaker; your emotions.] Ddraig's voice turns somber. [You are a mess of negativity so volatile that your sacred gear doesn't know what to do and ends up being pulled in multiple directions, not able to reach a stable form.]
Kiba wanted to deny, or at least protest, the dragon's words. "I… never heard about this." The Knight of Gremory said weakly.
[Because I am sure you have seen many Balance Breakers in your lifetime. I am sure it can compare to my time, over a thousand years, almost two by the way, stuck inside an actual sacred gear that had hundreds of owners.] Everyone got the distinct impression that Ddraig was rolling his eyes to go along with his sarcasm. [High emotions, distress, strong feelings, call it whatever you want but to attain Balance Breaker you need a body that can keep up with it and the emotions to give it form and direction. It would be different if you had someone inside your soul to help you out. Then at least your sacred gear would have a direction to go.]
"So you are saying that the reason why I don't have a Balance Breaker already is because my sacred gear doesn't have a dragon?" It made some sense to Kiba but he still looked frustrated. "I am strong enough and there is no way my emotions are weak. Why do I need help?"
[Because you don't know what you want.]
"Of course I do!" Kiba hits the table hard and at that point some of the employees of the place were getting ready to intervene. "I want Valper Galilei dead. I want Excalibur destroyed."
[Then just go around destroying the town until you find them.] Some were shocked by the suggestion but Kiba kept going.
"I can't just go around and destroy everything until I find Valper."
[Why not?]
"It would be wrong." Indignation and frustration poured from the Knight's voice.
Exactly as the Welsh Dragon expected. [And that is why your anger is not enough.] Kiba was shocked by Ddraig's sudden declaration. [You hate that man, you hate that sword, but until they showed up back in your life, you were happy to forget about them.] Before the Knight could reply the dragon spoke louder to stop him. [Not only that. Now that they are here and your enemy is at your reach, you don't hunt them or go on a rampage. You let your friends talk you down and eat.]
"Ddraig." Issei tried to scold the original Red Dragon Emperor with just his voice and feelings.
"Bad dragon." Koneko expresses her irritation while remaining stoic. Her eyes are on Kiba and she hoped that he didn't listen to the ancient being.
For his part Saji had made his sacred gear appear beneath the table and got ready to stop Kiba. "Are all dragons like this?" The question made Ddraig laugh.
[Dragons? Sure we go on a rampage now and then but don't act like humans and others don't do the same thing.] The Welsh Dragon words didn't help calm anyone but he directed his attention to a stunned Kiba. [You understand what I am saying, don't you?]
"Kiba-san?" Asia's calling the Knight managed to snap everyone's attention towards his face which was stuck between confusion and panic. "Are you alright?"
"Come on you pretty boy bastard. Say something." Issei wanted to try and place a hand on the blonde's shoulder but that would be Ddraig's hand and he didn't know how his classmate would react.
"I…" Kiba hesitated, his mind going into a loop as he couldn't really challenge Ddraig's words.
[You are loyal.] Ddraig declared with some respect. [Even in your worst moments you never really allowed yourself to lose completely to your fury, to anger. You never harmed your companions on purpose or lost so much sight that blocked their advice.] The dragon spoke slowly, even gently. [Anger and loyalty. Positive and negative. Your emotions are out of control and you are letting them rule you without ever fully committing to either of them.] The Welsh Dragon knew he had the attention of every devil on the table and was pleased that all were taking his words seriously. [Your body is already strong enough, at least for your sacred gear. However your mind is at war with itself. You want to give in and find the person who hurt you but you refuse to abandon friends or harm anyone else for your vengeance.]
"Kiba is a good person." Koneko spoke softly and the Knight couldn't help but look at her with surprise and a little wonder at her kindness.
But Ddraig wasn't done. [Negative emotions by themselves are not a bad thing. Pride can incentivize someone to improve, greed can make a person work harder, lust can help find love.] All of the present could hear the experience in Ddraig's words. [However, letting them control you, is truly an awful thing to inflict upon oneself.]
Kiba chuckled sarcastically. "So the same advice as always? 'Forget about it'?"
[If I had a body I would stomp you, boy.] All Ddraig felt was annoyance at the blond. [I am telling you to rule your emotions. To rein them in and only use them when you really need to. Only then your sacred gear will show its true form, one that belongs only to you. Hmm.] There was a pause and the dragon found some patience. [Or do throw your anger away and focus on your loyalty. It will take more time but you will get a Balance Break anyway if you keep going for long enough.]
"Wait, so Balance Breakers change with the emotion, not with the soul?" Issei was so surprised by the information that he managed to ask the question.
Only for Ddraig to laugh. [Partner, what do you think the soul is? It is emotion, memories, desires and more. Much more.] The dragon laughs some more. [Depending on the strongest emotion he has at the moment, his Balance Break may take a form or another. Once it does then it will form an imprint on his soul, a shape just for him and no one else even if another person has the same sacred gear.]
""Cool."" Both Pawns said at the same time but Issei was even more interested in the topic. "And I was going to get one by just giving you an arm."
[You are still weak, partner.] Issei felt a blow to his pride. [So to compensate and give you access to more of my power I would take one of your arms and channel all the stress of the Scaled Mail directly to it.]
"Excuse me, Ddraig-san. You said that a Balance Break depended on the person right? But you sound like you already know which one Issei-san is going to have." Asia found the notion odd.
[Of course I do. You are forgetting that I am inside the Boosted Gear and that my soul is far greater than my partner's. Scaled Mail is pretty much a foregone conclusion unless his soul grows strong enough to match mine before he gets a Balance Breaker. Hahahaha.]
That statement depressed Issei a little. "So the only Balance Breaker I'm getting is yours?"
[Of course not. Two souls remember? Or you think I call you 'partner' just to be funny?] Ddraig sounded offended by the notion. [Many of the partners I had through the ages had always managed to add something of their own to the Scaled Mail; there was a woman that managed to create a scepter to empower her magic even further, a guy who figured out how to cover his men in our armor to fight with him, another man who used it with his shield to make it transform and many, many more.]
"Really? You never told me that." Issei was impressed by all his predecessors managed to do.
[Partner, I have been sealed on this gauntlet for more than a millenia. Of course I didn't have time to tell you everything.] The dragon chuckled in amusement. [Remind me to tell you about Davey one of these days. That was a man who knew how to act like a dragon.]
"Davey? One of the Red Dragon Emperors was called 'Davey'?" Saji found the name funny.
Ddraig snickered at Saji's comment but soon turned serious. [I think that I should warn you two, my partner and the Vritra host, that negative emotions are more dangerous to you than to the Knight.]
The two Pawns looked worried for a second before Issei asked, "Why?"
[No. Explaining wouldn't help. Just know that the fury of a dragon isn't something that many can contend against.] Before they could ask any more questions, Ddraig spoke again, purposely ignoring them both. [What now, Knight?]
With the concern about Kiba still prominent, the dragon's deflection was successful as all eyes turned to the silent devil whose fists remained clenched and his face full of confusion.
No matter how much he thought about it Kiba couldn't find ways to disagree with anything Ddraig had said. As the Welsh Dragon himself stated he has been inside the Boosted Gear for over one thousand years and he didn't even want to think about how many years before that.
He knew that ignoring the dragon wisdom was folly but he also couldn't just let go of his anger. 'Control my emotions, huh?' Kiba took a deep breath and noticed that his hands were fidging with each other.
KIba didn't even realize he was playing with his hands but now he was suddenly aware of how much Ddraig declarations and observations made him nervous. He couldn't explain his own feelings anymore, even his anger was shaken with all the dragon had said and Yuuto was confused by what all of that meant.
"Let 's go, Isaiah. You need to eat to grow up strong."
"Got you!"
"Hey, want to read with me?"
"Hahaha."
"God sure blessed us for bringing us all together."
"I need to see this through." Kiba barely realized when he said it but was aware that all the table was just staring at him. "You are right. I hate that sword but don't want to hurt my friends so I am not letting my hate fully consume me." Ddraig remained silent and the devils didn't want to interrupt their friend. "But I want to see this through. I want to kill the man who murdered my friends, to find some justice." He closed his fist with a pensive look.
[Then go forth, holding those emotions in your heart.] Ddraig's tone of approval startled Kiba but he nodded silently, his determination restored.
Nobody wanted to talk after that declaration but, maybe because he was the one who knew Kiba the least, Saji decided to bring the conversation back to the current situation. "Hate to break the moment but that doesn't solve our problem; how do we find the Exorcists?"
The devils once again are reminded of their failure in finding the two agents of the Church and how they have no clue where the two girls are.
Ddraig would find the situation amusing if it wasn't so pathetic for him. Still, his partner was in the middle of this and he took some pity on Kiba. [Do you all want a suggestion?]
The devils look at each other before they all turn to Kiba who was the most interested in this mission. "We are all ears."
[Hunt who you need to hunt and those women will probably be there too.]
"But Buchou said-"
[I was there, partner, I know what she said.] Ddraig interrupted Issei with some impatience. [The facts are these; you have no idea where to find two individuals, who are most likely moving around the town, you have no clue where you should go to meet them or even if that is feasible. But your target probably is hiding, not moving, therefore he is the easiest one to find.]
All looked confused and Issei decided to try again. "Ddraig, if you heard Buchou then you know that we can't go after that bastard without finding Irina and her friend first."
[Yes, I know. So go look for them where their target is.] That suggestion surprised the devils who stared at the glow in Issei's hand silently. [You can't find the two but you can try and find the guy. Once you get him you wait for the two to show up, no harm no fall.] Ddraig clarified. [They won't complain and even if you can't confront him without the Exorcists, you can still wait for them outside.]
"That… isn't a bad idea." Kiba could feel his enthusiasm returning.
"Buchou won't like that." Koneko swiftly said with a glare at Issei's hand.
Rubbing his chin in thought, Saji tried to think what his own King would think about the dragon's suggestion. "It would be obeying the letter of the law but not its spirit. We shouldn't do it."
Asia was the one that looked the most disturbed by the whole thing. "But the more we wait, the worse our chances are, right?" She looked at Issei who didn't know how to reply. "We also don't know if we will find them but if that is going to help Kiba-san we should at least try."
At that moment Issei realized something. 'I'm the tie breaker, aren't I?'
Ddraig replied in his mind. [Sure you are, partner.]
'Can't I just shut you up for a moment?' Just looking at the expecting faces of the other devils, Issei could tell they knew the final decision was on him.
[I could tell you how but then you would do it all the time and where is the fun in that? Hahahaha!] Issei was about to respond when Ddraig then said. [You are on your own, partner.]
Without saying anything else, Issei could tell that Ddraig had retreated deeper in his soul, granting his wish for privacy while telling him to make a decision on his own. Even the green glow disappeared to indicate that the dragon wasn't present any longer.
'Oh now you give me some privacy?!' The brown haired devil shouted in his own mind but received no response. 'Ddraig?' Nothing again and he was starting to get worried. 'Please say something.'
At the pleading tone the Welsh Dragon responded. [This is an important matter to your friends. Whatever decision you make you need to do it on your own since they trust you with it, not me.] The dragon spoke gruffly but honestly. [You know that boy more than I do so ask yourself this; can he hold himself together long enough to accomplish his goals safely?]
Throwing a side glance at Kiba, Issei began to think about what he knew about the Knight. 'I don't know him that well!'
Before he became a devil, Issei hadn't traded a single word with Kiba. Their social circles were completely different, they were in different classes and the blond has always been the kind of guy he hated; a pretty boy who could get girls easily but never got a girlfriend which left them all pining for him.
Then Issei became a devil and discovered that Kiba also was a devil. Not much changed after that since the people he most hung around with were Asia and Shirou who helped him train. Issei was pretty sure he knew Setsuna better because of how much they were training together over the last few weeks.
"So what should we do?" Genshirou was growing impatient with Issei's silence.
Ignoring his fellow Pawn, Issei tried to think about anything he knew about Kiba, anything at all.
He saw how the Knight was loyal to Rias, how the Excalibur situation was pushing his classmate to his limits and how much everyone was concerned about him.
His impression and attitude improved a lot in Issei's opinion. Earlier Kiba was acting like a stray devil, ready to kill and consume anyone who got on his path with a madness that Hyoudou hadn't ever seen before in his life. Even the actual stray hunts he took part in didn't have anything with as much anger as he was showing before.
Before there was no way for Issei to even have a decent conversation with the Knight without fearing being attacked even if Ddraig was spot on that Kiba hadn't attacked anyone From his peerage.
Loyal was an appropriate description for Kiba in Issei's opinion; he easily agreed with his partner on that fact. It was only Kiba's loyalty to Rias and his friends that held back the madness from getting worse.
But now Issei noticed how Kiba looked determined but calm, ready but also relaxed. The conversation with Ddraig helped the devil in more ways than one and he paid attention to that.
Regardless of all that Issei knew about Kiba, no matter how much or how little, the young man couldn't really make a decision easily. He had many doubts himself and his mind couldn't get over the mistakes the Knight made or the risk he presented while always remembering how much he cared about his friends and even how he patiently waited for Issei to make a decision.
In the end, when it came to logic, Issei was at a deadlock so he decided to go with his gut. "We go after Valper." He noticed how grateful Kiba and Asia were while Koneko and Saji looked worried. "But Buchou's rules stay." He fully turned to Kiba and pointed to his face, right between his eyes. "You try to do anyhing stupid then I call her and then I'm kicking your ass."
"Sure. I can agree with that." Kiba replied with a smile.
A concerned Koneko looked at the two males and decided to give her input. "We don't know where to find him either."
"But he will be easier to look for." Kiba said confidently. "We know Fuyuki and most of us know all the boundary fields around the city."
"So we look after any odd one that shouldn't be around." Saji deduced as he understood the plan. "That can work. But it's still a big town to look all over." If he was to be more honest he would admit that he prefered like this so their chances of finding trouble were smaller.
"But we can still look around, right?" Asia looked at Saji with hopeful eyes and her fellow blonde couldn't disagree.
However Koneko still didn't look convinced. Despite her stoic face, the fact that she wasn't moving and still staring at Issei with intensity told him that she doesn't really approve of the idea.
"Come on, Koneko-chan. We are going to be looking for Irina anyway, if we find the bad guys then wouldn't that just skip a step?" Issei offered with a nervous smile and the white haired devil blinked, losing her stare and showing that she was thinking about the subject.
After a few more seconds, the former nekomata blinked again. "Okay." She was still worried but realized that the odds of them finding a single old man in Fuyuki were smaller than a pair of Exorcists with bright clothes.
"Great. Then we should get going." Kiba stood up, excitement practically pouring from him as his smile was genuine. "Where do we start?"
"We should still look for the Exorcists." Koneko said immediately. "Finding them is our priority."
"Of course." Kiba accepted without a fight and they all began to leave the restaurant. "Koneko-chan, can we count on you to warn us if you feel any strange boundary fields?"
Tilting her head in thought, Koneko nodded after a few seconds. It wasn't much for her and it wasn't like she believed they would find their target that easily.
"Thank you, Koneko-chan." Kiba said gently but the small girl was still concerned even if she didn't let others see it. "Now let's go find some bad guys."
The others saluted and they began their walk around the town, it was still early in the afternoon and Koneko hoped they wouldn't find anything both for Kiba's sake and her fear of the Excaliburs. It was both her devil and yokai instincts acting up and telling her to stay away from the swords and if it wasn't for Kiba she absolutely would.
Shaking her head, Koneko kept pace beside Asia as they all paid attention to their surroundings as they entered deeper in the growing town of Fuyuki.
…
After collecting Shirou and Liz's armor, their group quickly jumped back in the car with some snacks to help replenish their energy and replace their usual healthy lunch. They had no time to prepare anything and time wasn't on their side as there was a genuine concern that the other group would stumble into trouble.
So the residents of Shirou's house and Rin had to move fast to get as much food as possible. They soon found a problem that their place didn't have that many snacks and plans were made to get some more food, especially since one of them needed a lot of it to properly function in a fight.
Fortunately for them Japan was a country where vending machines with rice balls and other kinds of filling foods could be easily found if one knew where to look. Those machines could spare someone from waiting in lines and were ideal to get great quantities of food in a hurry when there was little concern for funds or quality.
Ended up stopping on three vending machines and emptying them fast so they could keep moving.
At the moment Shirou, dressed still in his school uniform but using his armor instead of an undershirt and with his winter blazer to cover it, was driving the car as Liz needed to keep eating to be ready for what they expected to be a long day. The maid turned teacher was on the back of the car in her blue jersey with her own armor underneath and eating as many rice balls as she could.
In the passenger's seat were both Rin and Yoruichi, the latter on her cat form after eating some food and drinking a bottle of green tea. The twin tailed magus was also dressed in her school uniform with the addition of Shirou's coat, slightly adjusted to fit her better, for added protection.
Shirou's coat was big for Rin's size so he adjusted it as best as he could and she ended up with a collar that usually wasn't there just to make sure that the coat wouldn't get in the way of her feet.
"Akeno finally sent us a message." Rin announced with Shirou's cell phone in her hand but she hesitated to unlock it, waiting for the redhead to stop the car to check.
The nekomata of the team opened her eyes and properly sat in Rin's lap. "We have no time for that. Give it here." With some gestures from an amused Yoruichi, the magus lowered the cell phone and the cat imputed Shirou's password. "Well… this can possibly be a long day."
"That many names?" Shirou asked with concern.
"I knew Fuyuki was a growing city but only now I understood what that really implies." Yoruichi admitted as Rin raised the phone to her face curiously.
"Yeah. That is a lot of names." Delicately Rin began to move her finger on the screen and saw the list move a little. "There is more?"
What Akeno had sent them was a list of all known open spots, empty buildings, houses for rent and anywhere that a criminal could possibly use to lay low or hide in Fuyuki.
To most cities that were already established or grew steadily over the years the number may be smaller depending on the economy but Fuyuki's growth was faster than any mundane specialist could have predicted thanks to the interests of devils and the ley lines of the place.
For that reason, and because the growth wasn't properly over yet, there was a considerable amount of construction and the city was still steadily expanding. With the constant stream of new business, new apartments and homes were still in demand because of how profitable the land was.
Since the Gremory Clan had a lot of investments in Fuyuki they also had access to the majority of documents related to buildings around the city, crucial information for the investigation.
They didn't have records of every single deal or who owned what unless it involved big or public purchases but they also have all the information accessible from the mayor's office which included a bigger array of purchases and sales.
Add that to own information network and human agents, Rias, and then by extension, had access to information about every corner of Fuyuki even if slightly incomplete.
Unfortunately for them the information had no way to account for everyone or everything like infiltrators or long term bases in the area that somehow were bought under the radar. But it was a start and all the ORC members can hope was that Valper or any suspicious element made some kind of mistake and was present in one of those places.
"Where is the closest one?" Shirou looked around cautiously before stopping on a signal and making a curve once it was open.
While they agreed that if any officer stopped them they would use hypnosis to get moving, Shirou still obeyed the traffic laws. It also bought some time for the others to give him a direction to go.
"There is more than one place of interest around Shinto." Rin observed with a frown, she always found that part of the area too sterile and artificial to her tastes.
Yoruichi for her part wasn't surprised. "Naturally. With how many new apartments in that area it wouldn't be hard to find one to settle down for a few days or months."
Not hearing any disagreements about going there, Shirou began to accelerate the car to the speed limit. "Are you eating well, Liz?" She gave him a thumbs up. "Try to not choke or spill anything. I will go a little faster."
They barely started adventuring around the city when Yoruichi's tail and ears jumped. "Stop the car!"
Shirou immediately stepped on the brakes, turning it slightly to give space for a motorcycle to pass them by, the man in a helmet complaining about his sudden stop but that was not the magus' focus. "What happened?"
Jumping on the car painel and pointing in a direction with her tail, Yoruichi frowned. "That building. I have no doubt there is something there, a strange boundary field at the very least."
They all looked to a normal residential building with a parking lot to the side for its residents. It had ten floors in total with a small parking lot for the same number of cars and they couldn't see anything suspicious.
"Are you sure?" Rin extended her senses but failed to detect anything. "I can't feel any boundary fields around."
"Lady of the Shihouin Clan, the Protectors of the Shadows of Kyoto, leader of the Information Division of Yokais. I could keep reciting my resume but I think you got the idea." Yoruichi looked at Rin with a raised eyebrow and Tohsaka didn't challenge her.
Liz fit her head between the front seats while munching on a rice ball. "It looks normal."
"The Rearguard office also looked normal." Shirou was already looking for a parking spot close to the place, refusing to use its own. When he stopped the redhead began to mess with his cell phone.
"Thinking about calling the other devils around town?" Rin asked while removing her seatbelt.
"Yes. This can be a mess much worse than the Rearguard with the Fragments involved." Shirou knew Rias would be upset with him because he didn't tell her about her guards but this situation may be an emergency. "On the other hand, this may also not be a big deal; Rias is not involved and the Fragments had existed for centuries and the Underworld didn't try to do anything about them."
"They also have a system to warn if anyone too powerful shows up." Yoruichi added to his thoughts. "That is why I stay as a cat when outside of boundary fields, easier to not get caught by mistake." She noticed that Shirou was still pondering on calling reinforcements or not.
"So odds are that they would know if anything too dangerous was in the area?" Yoruichi nodded at the redhead's question. "Then I suppose they don't need a warning. I should tell Rias about them later."
"Why?" Yoruichi asked with some amusement in her tone.
"So she doesn't get upset with me once she figures it out. Or learn about them because of something like this happening." Shirou confessed with a smile. "Just to be safe I will send them a message. With luck they will reply that the situation is under control or something."
Rin approved of her fellow magus' caution. "Who knows? Maybe they already found the Excaliburs and everything is solved."
"I doubt that. Their main goal is to protect Rias and Sona, not deal with every threat." Yoruichi knew that if the Church wasn't a threat then the devils guarding the Heiresses wouldn't act even if just to avoid an incident. "They also are going to keep trying to stay hidden from those two. I wonder who will be more pissed about their presence, Rias or Sona?"
The group left the car and began to walk towards the building, upon getting closer both Shirou and Rin started to feel the boundary field in the area. "How did you detect that?" Rin asked at the cat on Shirou's shoulder. "It is such a… weak one."
They passed by the boundary field with no opposition, making their way to the glass door with their guard up.
"Practically only good to keep normal people away from the place and hide loud noises." Yoruichi observed with curiosity as they easily entered the building, not a single security or trap in sight. "This is too easy."
Shirou nodded in agreement and Liz immediately stepped forward to take point. The ground level was clean, pristine and somewhat spacious. Mostly it was bare of anything but that was expected as its function was just to have an elevator and buttons to call for the residents with some closets for employees with doors for emergency exits.
"What are the odds that the man we are looking for is here?" Rin asked while checking the buttons and counting the individual apartments. "I mean, a single, weak boundary field makes sense when you take into account the guy is trying to hide."
"But it was too easy to find." Shirou pointed out with a frown. "And if I was hiding I wouldn't make one for the whole place."
Rin nodded in agreement. "You are right. A single apartment would be easier to cover. Safer too." She directed a little quantity of mana to her finger and slowly touched the wall. "Everything looks normal so far. It is a new building and that is about it."
"Besides the boundary field." Yoruichi pointed out smugly and Rin conceded the point.
Then they heard the elevator coming down and Liz assumed a more relaxed posture while the others looked at each other. Shirou raised an eyebrow while looking at Rin who just shook her head and stood in front of him. Since the redhead can't lie then it would be her job to dismiss any innocent bystander, diplomatically at first but with magic if necessary.
When the doors opened the quartet was caught by surprise at the sight of three armored knights, the kind straight out of a history book with full plate armor, closed helmets with lowered vertical visors that hid their faces but not their eyes complete with swords at their hips and shields at their backs.
For a moment the quartet didn't think too much about them, the armors may be weird but they could be just costumes, no matter how realistic.
An instinctual use of Structural Analysis and a quick glance at the weapons told Shirou something else. "Those are real!" His shout immediately got fast reactions from everyone and the knights suddenly lunged themselves towards the group.
But the knights found a problem on Liz who was already in the front and ready for a fight at the moment the words left Shirou's mouth. The knights didn't draw their weapons, despite the entrance being small it was still big enough that the two handed swords could be used but they remained in their belts as they charged.
That was for the white haired fighter's benefit as she easily grabbed the sides of the closest knight head and slammed her knee on his face, easily breaking part of the helmet.
The man whose face was now revealed with a small bleeding on his forehead, began to fall back because of the attack and couldn't react as Liz grabbed his arm and threw him to the side with ease. She hit the next one with a punch that crumpled his chest plate before she threw a hook that pushed him back towards his ally.
The third knight barely had time to react and stop the other grown man from hitting him, hitting a wall a second after. He was now afraid of Liz's strength and pushed the defeated second knight to the side to draw his sword only to be greeted by the homunculus' fist before he could draw his weapon.
Recovering from the previous blow to his head, the first knight began to get up only for Shirou to grab him by the shoulder and slam him on a wall, making cracks on it. "Who are you? Is there anyone else in the building? Why are you walking around with real weapons?"
Yoruichi jumped off Shirou's shoulder to take a look at Liz's other victims while Rin observed the situation coldly before stepping besides Shirou to glare at the knight and help the redhead if needed.
Noticing the man moving his left hand, Shirou grabs and slams it on the wall, breaking the man's wrist and making him scream in pain. The redhead didn't like that but focused on the present situation. "I won't ask again; why were the three of you with real weapons in the middle of a city?"
"Not… your business." The man replied with gritted teeth and broken Japanese but his reply wasn't the one they wanted.
"You better tell us who you are before we lose our patience." Rin spoke slowly with a little mana on her finger pointing at the man's head. "Answer my friend's questions and another one if you don't mind. You are the ones responsible for the boundary field around the place?"
Looking at the mana on Rin's hand the man frowned. "You are not from the Church?"
The question didn't really surprise anyone and Shirou decided to take the diplomatic approach, relaxing his grip slightly while still making sure the man knew he was ready to act. "No, we are not. We are with the Gremory." The man frowned at the reply and Shirou decided for a different approach. "Are there any other residents in this building?"
If there were any then they would have to take the interrogation to another place but the man began to laugh and that did surprise the group. "You are with the devils, right?" Shirou nodded as it seemed the man was ready to talk. "So this is your chance to leave because this is none of your business."
Now that the man looked more willing to take, Rin took her chance. "Are you the thieves that stole the Excalibur Fragments?" That question took away any humor from the man's face as he glared at the pair.
"We didn't steal anything! We are here to return the sword to its proper owner!" The declaration was firm and was followed by dozens of steps coming from the stairs. "You shouldn't have gotten in the way of our mission. Now we need to get rid of you!"
There was some pity on the man's voice that concerned Shirou but the magus recognized that the sound of footsteps approaching weren't a good thing and so he hit the back of the man's head to knock him out before drawing the man's sword from his belt.
It didn't take even a moment for the history of the blade to pass on him mind; it was a decent sword, sibling to hundreds but the specific smith of this one was called Paule and was given to Alan, the man Shirou just knocked out, as his equipment for something he never heard about even if the name was familiar.
"'Order of Pendragon'?" Shirou asked out loud as he finished gathering his thoughts and knights poured from the upper floor, swords drawn. The newly arrived blades' story guided his next action. "Try not to kill them. They are normal humans and haven't hurt anyone with those weapons."
"Easier said than done!" Despite her complaint Rin was fast to shoot dark and red mana from her finger at the seven knights coming down from the stairs. She managed to hit three but the armors were good enough that they mostly shrugged the attack off and kept marching.
Shirou used the sword he just got his hands on to block the closest knight and push him to the side with a Reinforced kick, his opponent falling down for a moment that Emiya used to engage another one.
But there were still five knights ready to attack and Liz advanced towards them with a steel colored shield with no outstanding features that she got from one of the defeated knights. She easily began to push the five knights back to the stairs which gave Rin the opportunity to shoot her curses at their heads, knocking their helmets off and one out.
Some of the knights noticed their position and tried to stab Liz but Yoruichi jumped as high as she could with the low ceiling and let out a quick discharge of lighting at them.
Knowing that they were humans made Yoruichi hold back on her attack but the men were still wearing a lot of metal and even a weak discharge, even less than a normal electrical outlet, was enough to stun the five.
That gave Liz and Rin the chance to knock all of them out with a shield bash and a couple of spells.
Shirou also was wrapping up with the other two knights, quickly hitting one in the head with his borrowed sword while the last one rushed back to try and avenge his comrade.
Realizing they would need to interrogate someone, Shirou pushed his opponent's sword to the side and kicked him on the chest. The knight only frowned as his armor was enough to stop the blow but Emiya wasn't detained as he jumped and kicked the chest harder before landing and throwing another kick as the metal started to bend and break.
When he was sure that the armor couldn't take much more, Shirou moved to the push the man's hand back with his sword and get close enough to grab the chest plate with his fully Reinforced hand, breaking it with easy and leaving the knight exposed to his sword which he moved to stop the tip just above the man's heart.
"Surrender." The redhead magus demanded and knew he was beaten, any sudden moves and Shirou could stab him in the chest before he could even react.
With all his allies defeated, the man dropped his sword. "I give up." He said in English, his eyes still on Shirou's who nodded in acceptance to the surrender.
"So… Can anyone explain what just happened? And why is there an 'Order of Pendragon' in Fuyuki the day that we learn the possibility that the Excaliburs are here as well?" Rin was pretty sure that couldn't be just a coincidence.
Shirou also wanted answers but the man in front of him didn't look willing to cooperate. "Anyone else in the building, Kuro?"
After shocking the knights, Yoruichi had sat down and closed her eyes. "No. All life signs are here." The nekomata replied with a frown. "Can't feel anything too powerful either. I better go take a look, just in case the swords are hidden somewhere I can't sense."
Everyone looked at the man to see if he was going to react but he stayed silent and Yoruichi departed to inspect the rest of the building.
Knowing that the place was empty didn't calm Shirou's concerns. "Order of Pendragon…" He said in English as he observed the captured knight. The man looked at Shirou with some suspicion, clearly wanting to know how they got the name of his Order. "Your Order really stole the Fragments?" The man, a redhead like himself but clearly at least a decade older with a beard and a mustache, stayed quiet. "Do you realize what you are doing? How many people are you putting at risk?"
Swallowing nervously but feeling his throat dry, the man began to talk. "We have no intention of involving innocence but our mission is too important."
"Yeah, yeah, we heard from that other guy." Rin pointed to the first knocked out knight as Liz was going around and collecting the weapons to put them on a pile while throwing the defeated men in a corner. "You all know that King Arthur is dead, right?"
"His grace is just sleeping and once we rebuild his Holy Sword he shall return to us." The man spoke with a certainty and fervor that surprised both magi.
Feeling that things needed to get back on track, Shirou asked what they wanted to know "Why are you here? In an empty building?" The man closed his mouth but the magus wasn't detained. "You said you don't want to involve innocents. I believe you. This place is out of the way and your Order stationed here wasn't bothering anyone. That still doesn't explain why you are here."
"To return Excalibur to its proper owner." The man replied firmly.
At that point Rin was starting to lose her patience. "But why here? Why Fuyuki?" When the man didn't reply she sighed. "This is a waste of time. He won't tell us anything that will compromise their plan. At least now we know there is a plan." Shock appeared in the man's face and Rin took some pleasure in that. "What? Silence can also be telling. You spoke of your mission and this place is obviously a trap. For the Exorcists if I had to risk a guess."
Shirou pícked up their prisoner sword before throwing the sword he was using in the pile Liz was mounting. Pointing his new weapon to the man's chest while he used Structural Analysis, the magus easily processed the history of the blade, it was mostly identical to the previous one with just a change of names.
"Your name is Robert and you have practiced with this sword for a little over forty hours since receiving it." Robert was surprised by Shirou getting his name and couldn't hide it. "From what I can see these weapons haven't been forged that long ago, two months to be more exact, at least to this specific sword. You received it together with the armor," Shirou tapped the man covered arm before continuing, "that is also of a decent make and just as old as the sword. It was made with pure steel but was reinforced with techniques that I am somewhat familiar with. Good enough to face most modern weaponry and even some magic users but most of the Fragments would cut it like tissue paper."
Thanks to the lessons of his father, Shirou paid close attention to Robert's face, to even the smallest reactions. If the man was trying to lie then his Truthbearer could at least get him something but since Robert was silent he needed to coax the man to talk first and for that he needed some kind of reaction.
That was how Shirou noticed the wonder on Robert's face. "You saw them." Both magi looked at each other before Shirou gave the man a nod. "Are they as powerful as the legends say?"
"Didn't you guys steal four of them?" Rin asked with worry, not liking the implication of the question.
At least the man looked happy to talk about the Excaliburs. "I wasn't part of the team that retrieved them." Robert admitted, basically confessing his Order participation in the robbery. "We are to fix the sword, to give it to the True King. That is our mission, our Order's goal."
"And you work with a monster like Valper Galilei to do it?" Shirou couldn't help but feel angry about that. "You think King Arthur would approve of such methods? Of working with someone who murders children?"
"The Church gave us no choice!" Robert said back in fury surprising the magi and Liz who got ready to attack the knight. "For over one thousand years, ever since the fall of Camelot, we worked together with the Church with the promise that one day Excalibur would be reborn! That Camelot would rise again!" Almost like a balloon the man deflated, his anger disappearing. "We didn't want to work with that monster but he promised us Excalibur and it is our duty to see it restored." The man sounded proud of that fact. "At least Valper gave us the right information and we managed to take out most of the swords from the Church's hands for the first time since Excalibur was divided. Finally we can bring the glory of Camelot back to the world."
During the silence that followed Yoruichi returned from the top levels. "Found a magic circle that was using the mana on the air to create the boundary field and nothing else. Got rid of it, just to be sure." She looked at the defeated man before turning to Shirou and Rin. "Bad news?"
"Yes." Shirou replied simply. "Where are the Fragments? Where is Valper?"
Robert puffed his chest and looked back with determination. "You can torture me but I won't talk. I swear in the name of King Arthur that nothing will escape my lips."
Finally Rin lost her patience. "That is it! Let's see how you deal with hypnosis." The head of the Tohsaka held the man's head in place as Shirou gave her space to work with, mana already invading Robert's head.
Only for Rin to blink and the man to laugh. "We may not be magicians but the knowledge of how to protect our minds was given by the Mage of Flowers himself from the days of the glorious Round Table." Robert bragged confidently making the twin tailed magus frown. "I won't talk, young lady! Even a magic potion wouldn't work against a servant of King Arthur!"
After a few more seconds, Rin had no choice but step back with a frown. "He is right. Everytime my mana makes some headway it feels blocked and then dissipates inside his body." She noticed that Shirou wasn't using his sword to hold the man in place anymore. "Emiya?"
But her fellow magus didn't reply, he crouched in one knee and looked at Robert. "You aren't going to say anything else, are you?"
"I would rather die." Robert replied after a second of hesitation. Anyone could see the man was shaking a little but was ready for his fate.
"We are going to knock you out and break all your weapons." Shirou explained calmly to show he had no intention of killing Robert which surprised him. "When you wake up, you are going to be in a police cell for trespassing on private property. Don't try to escape or else I will make sure you won't live to regret it." He warned with a glare. "Once this is all over, you will be judged fairly."
"I will be judged by the True King." Robert suddenly said. "You think we don't know what we are doing? We understand we are conspiring with a murderer. Everyone in the Order of Pendragon knows it." The man dressed as a knight looked even more determined. "But it will be worth it for the world to have King Arthur Pendragon again. For Camelot to rise from the ashes. If after that he wants to punish us for abiding a killer then we shall all accept it willingly." Then he smiled and all the aggression was gone from his posture. "I won't run because I know his justice will come for me. Lock me up anywhere you want, I can wait."
'This man… I can't say if this is dedication or insanity.' Still Shirou nodded and punched Robert on the side of his head to knock the man out.
Noting how pensive Shirou was, Yoruichi decided to act. "Liz, start breaking all the weapons, Rin, put a sleep spell on all of them, make sure they can't wake up until they are behind bars." The two women nod and begin to work while Yoruichi jumps on Shirou's shoulder. "You know what all this means?"
"I am hoping that I am wrong." Shirou said back softly, scratching Yoruichi's head while looking at Robert. "If they are all like this then this is going to be a long day."
"Hmm. If they are as honorable as they seem then maybe it won't be that long." The nekomata commented pensively. While she had a theory about the kind of people in the Order of Pendragon they had more to do. "Call the bodyguards. They may hesitate to fight the Excaliburs but can also help in other ways." Yoruichi suggested and Shirou nodded.
"But first, the sergeant. Better if the police get here quickly before something goes wrong." He promptly got to work helping the others break all the weapons before they began to leave the building. Checking to see that he didn't receive a reply from the devils stationed in Fuyuki, Shirou took a deep breath before calling the phone they gave him.
When everyone was back in the car they waited for Shirou to complete the call, his cell phone on the speaker to make sure everyone could hear.
It rang once, twice and at the third time Shirou was already finding the situation odd. This was a number for emergencies and his calls are considered high priority. The fact it got to the fifth ring was weird by principle.
Shirou was about to call it quits when someone picked up. *Hello, to whom am I speaking?*
Not recognizing the voice didn't stop Shirou from talking. "It is Emiya Shirou, Magician of Gremory and Tohsaka Rin, Rias Gremory… secretary and consultant?" Shirou gave Rin a glance but she shrugged, she never really had a title so that was fine with her. "Together with some friends we are calling because of a potential threat to the Heiresses and the security of Fuyuki."
*Oh~ Lady Gremory's magician? What an honor.* The tone of voice of the man on the other side showed he was amused but no one in the car said anything even as he dismissed everyone else. *Well well well. What can I help you with, mister Emiya?*
To not waste any time Shirou told the man everything about the Excaliburs, the Church representatives and how they found members of the Order of Pendragon on a building without apparent reason before some of them admitted they were after the Excalibur for their king.
The man on the other side muttered one thing on another but sounded amused with the situation more than anything. He didn't interrupt Shirou and only spoke when he was sure the redhead was done.
*What exactly do you want me to do?*
Shirou stared at his phone, a little perplexed before looking at the others present in the car as everyone looked at him.
It was the voice in the phone who broke the silence. *Let me be frank; the Church representatives already asked and received a blessing to operate in the area from the Heiresses. That can't change without getting into conflict with the Church which the devils don't want.* They were aware of that but the man stated that so bluntly that worried some in the car. *Then there is the fact that we aren't sure that the Excaliburs are actually here.* The man said with a chuckle. *Or at least not the ones stolen from the Church but these men are sure that two more are in Fuyuki. The ones they sent.*
"We already figured this was a trap for them." Yoruichi spoke directly, trying to move on with the conversation.
*Who am I speaking to now? No matter.* The voice dismissed with a laugh which made one of Yoruichi's eyes twitch. *The fact is that this group, fully human by the way so they didn't set off any alarms, aren't going against the interests of the devils. Therefore, there is nothing to be done.*
Or they had no intention of doing nothing. Shirou believed that there was plenty to do but he couldn't force the situation because part of it was political. He looked at Yoruichi and she nodded her head.
The redhead understood the message, 'He is right', she was telling him.
Getting frustrated by the nonchalant attitude from the voice wasn't helping him and Shirou was losing his patience. "They already spread around the city. People might be in danger."
*The key word here is 'might'.* The voice replied with a chuckle. *I confess that I like the present state of affairs as much as you; not at all..* He sounded sympathetic and even gentle. *But the Underworld won't move, not with little reason, not for a war. The Maous won't allow it.*
"Can you at least send a message to Sirzechs?" Shirou knew the voice was right but he was grasping for straws.
*Of course. He will receive a message, don't worry about it.* The man on the line looked eager to accomplish the request. *Out of curiosity, what are you going to do now?*
"We…" Shirou looked around once again and upon seeing his friends' determined faces he spoke confidently. "We are going to keep looking for the Fragments and Valper."
*Hmm. It shouldn't be necessary. The Church does tend to take care of their affairs pretty well for themselves.* By the tone that person wasn't trying to dissuade Shirou, just point out the obvious.
Rin decided to insert herself in the conversation. "We aren't the kind of people to just sit down and wait for others to solve our problems."
*Hahaha. Fair enough.* The man took a moment to control his laugh before speaking again. *Maybe you all find something, either Valper or the Excaliburs. Odds are that they are well hidden and it won't be that easy.*
"We shall relish the challenge." Yoruichi commented as a joke.
*You said you found a base from the Order of Pendragon right?* It was clear the man was smiling from the other side of the call. *Then that is the best place to start either way. I just hope they don't have too many of those places around.* That was something everyone in the car could agree would be troublesome. *But, oh well, there is nothing I can do if you all decide to start hunting for them. Maybe you find something, maybe you won't. I can only ask that you be careful to not cause too much damage.*
"You don't need to worry about that. We will make sure Fuyuki is safe." Shirou said back to not worry the man but had a distinct feeling he was having fun on the other side of the line..
Yet the reply was odd for them all. *I hope you do. I really hope you do. It would be bad if things got too noisy. I doubt you are going to hear my advice and leave things be but I doubt something will go wrong with you just taking a look into the situation.* Then there was a chuckle. *I wish you all a good hunt, Magician of Gremory.*
The man cut the call without ceremony and everyone could just stare at the phone. "Ominous." Liz commented shortly and the rest of the car couldn't help but nod in agreement.
They all felt there was something odd with the conversation, something so blatant that they knew it was there but didn't understand what it was.
"Do you know that guy?" The nekomata asked Shirou who just shook his head. "Right … I have a bad feeling about this."
"But what else can we do?" Rin shrugged and shook her head in resignation. "He was one of the guards of the town and he isn't wrong. Unless their siblings' life is really threatened then the Maous aren't going to do a thing."
"I just hope we can find the Fragments as quickly as we can." Shirou noticed that the building's address was on his phone and decided to pick another one in the area. "Maybe this wasn't a trap but a defense? The swords may be around here." The three women look at Shirou with deadpan expressions. "What?"
"You are being too optimistic again." Rin spoke with nods from the other womens in the car showing they agreed.
"It is a possibility. With luck we can find them soon enough." Shirou was still hopeful. "It may take us a while but when we find the next place there is a chance the Fragments are there.m right?"
The women looked at each other and agreed. Shirou was right that there was a chance and they were not against taking it.
They found more of the Order of Pendragon in a sushi restaurant that hadn't been officially inaugurated five minutes later.
Inside the restaurant the fight began without much fanfare, the knights were all sitting in benches, stools or chairs, chatting normally to pass the time when the group of four arrived. Yoruichi laughed out loud when Shirou facepalmed at the sight.
The knights barely could place their helmets on their heads when Shirou and Liz threw themselves at them. Once again the redhead stole one of the knights' swords and used it to beat them up while Liz jumped for a kick with her two feet against a knight, pushing down the man and five of his friends.
WIth the two main fighters on the thick of it, Rin began to move around and use magecraft to knock out anyone who lost her helmet or lowered their guard too much. Like Shirou she was also saving her energy because this was going to be a long day and they all knew that.
Yoruichi decided that the opponents were not really threats so she began her search for the Excaliburs and Valper with no worries. The size of the restaurant meant she only had to search a few rooms.
In the middle of the fight the knights didn't know what to do, the attack was sudden, the opponents were not the expected ones from the Church and the men were not prepared for magicians of any kind.
But they recovered from the initial shock quickly and began to move to either attack or get out of each other's way. Shields, swords and spears came about as the fight intensified with the knights fighting back against the invaders of their base.
The members of the Order of Pendragon didn't hesitate and soon began their counter attack. There were still 15 of them still standing and they had enough space to move, the majority focused on Shirou and Liz while three of them charged against Rin with their shields up to repel any spell.
Rin saw that her usual methods wouldn't work and acted accordingly. She was isolated from her allies but was close enough to the counter with an unpowered conveyor belt for sushi to use a hand to push herself up with a jump.
Not wasting time the knights kept going in their pursuit, they planned to jump from the same place to catch Rin before she got far. Even with their armors the men were well trained and were able to jump, not noticing a small jewel right where Rin's hand was previously, shining in a purple glow.
"Royal purple is the noblest shroud."The twin tailed magus looked back with a smile as the first one was in the middle of his jump. "Got you! Royal Spark!"
Purple lightning was unleashed from the amethyst and in a similar way that Yoruichi did earlier in the day the knights were stunned by the electricity, their armors more of a conductor than protection.
All three fell, one sliding down from the balcony, another hitting it face first and the last one hitting his back on the ground. Rin takes a look to make sure they were unconscious before grabbing her jewel back with a grin. "I put just a tiny bit more than Kuro. Hope you guys didn't feel much pain~"
On the other side of the restaurant Shirou was moving around a table before jumping on it focusing the sword on his hand to repel the knights when one of them tried to thrust a spear to his leg.
Shirou grabbed the pole of the weapon and pulled the knight until he was closer to the table where the redhead could safely jump on his shoulder to avoid the other knights. He was already rolling on the floor when the man broke the table in half with his weight.
The magus was really trying to not kill or harm the members of the Order but they were many and he was noticing how well they were watching each other's backs against him. With a swipe of his leg Emiya knocked one of the knights down before hitting his head with his sword, grabbing the fallen knight's shield just in time to block the other two swords before he noticed someone attacking from behind.
Paying attention to the trajectory of the weapon, Shirou dismissed it as a threat, focusing his Reinforcement on the shield as the sword hit his back and failed to penetrate his armor or even bother him.
'This guys are all well trained but they all are in the human limits.' Shirou observed while turning around and hitting the shocked knight with his shield. He soon notices Rin using mana and sighed. "I should have brought one of my swords. They are better than this."
Shirou knew he could trace one to replace the weapon in his hand but he wanted to save his mana. By the way that the situation was developing he could need it later.
For the knights he was facing, now only two still stood against him as he had already beaten the others. But none of them had a Excalibur and so he kept trying to save energy if he ever came across one using the Holy Swords.
Those knights before him were easy to dispatch, Shirou was patient enough to take his time to do it without hurting them too much.
Leysritt on the other hand wasn't even half as patient. Any threat that came close to the homunculus was dispatched with extreme prejudice even if she was avoiding killing them.
The members of the Order of Pendragon were quickly learning that armor was useless against someone that could break their bones by just grabbing them or could easily pull their arms out of their sockets. They already discarded their swords and started to use exclusively spears against the white haired woman.
It wasn't enough. "Monster!" One of them screamed in despair as Liz held the man's arm and used him as a blunt instrument against his comrades. She was used to more rigid weapons that didn't move much but was using the screaming knight's body efficiently to beat out the others
Again remembering her orders to not kill, Liz threw the knight at the others. The man had already passed out due to stress and pain but his body still took some of his companions down to the floor as they couldn't stop his body. More than one member of the Order had some broken bones because of that.
None of that made the knights quit. They were afraid but their mission came first and one of them gathered his courage and attacked with his spear aiming for Liz's head.
She dodged to the left, grabbing a close stool by its leg and using it against that knight's head. The seat broke apart but she kept its leg firmly on her hand as she turned to use it to deflect a spear and grab her new attacker by the front of his helmet before slamming him on a table with no mercy.
Others came to replace him but Liz grabbed both their spears and pushed them to the side as she advanced, meeting the two helmets with her fists. They break together with the men's noses and teeth but the maid didn't stop there as she used an elbow to open a whole in another man's chest armor before grabbing him by it and lifting him above her head.
"NONONONONONO!" She ignored his screams as she showed him against another three, they all falling on a table and out of combat.
Soon enough the restaurant grew silent as everyone took into account what had happened.
"Great, you guys are done." Yoruichi announced as she jumped on the counter and admired her friends' work. "Good job."
"Please tell me you found something?" Rin asked while Shirou and Liz approached, the three disappointed as the nekomata shook her head.
"Nope. Just a magic circle, same as the one before." She admitted with a shrug. "I was about to break it when I realized something, there is no way that Fuyuki has enough cells for all these guys."
Those were the words Shirou was fearing and he wasn't alone as Rin voiced his thoughts. "We are going to be running around like this the whole day, aren't we?"
"Yup." Liz was the one who replied, already having accepted the possibility of the scenario. She turned to Shirou to give him a single piece of advice. "You should call Rias."
"Yeah, I know." Shirou couldn't deny any longer. The first place they found wasn't due to luck and the implications indicated that things were just going to get worse. "God, why?"
"Never thought you were one to question God." Rin teased Shirou with a chuckle.
Giving his classmate a deadpan stare, Shirou replied. "Considering He is the main contributor for those swords I believe we are warranted an explanation." He glared at the ceiling, or the skies beyond it. "A very good explanation."
Liz began to gently pat Shirou's head. "There, there."
Offering the white haired woman a smile of appreciation, Yoruichi shrugged at his remark. "Not like he is going to answer to a punch of 'pagans' like us."
Rin smiled at that and remarked, "Speak for yourselves, I am a good christian girl that is being dragged around by the darkness of the world." They all turn to her in shock. "What? I got baptized and everything. Or do you all forget that the Tohsaka Clan started as christians hiding from the Japanese government?"
"Ever practiced?" Shirou was legitimately curious.
"No churches around remember? Except that abandoned one, that is." The girl places a hand on her chin in thought. "But I do remember my family going there when I was little."
Shirou wasn't buying Rin's response. "Would you ever go if it cut your research time?"
"Of course not. I think that God would approve the strides I am making with magecraft. Working with devils non standing, of course." Tohsaka had no shame in her response.
"That little trivia aside, we should focus. First things first, these guys." Yoruichi reminded everyone of the present situation. "As I said, I doubt that there are enough cells in Fuyuki for everyone in such short notice so I left the magic circle intact. Can one of you do something with it?"
"Unfortunately I am still working on swords that affect boundary fields. Not much progress there by the way." Shirou admitted reluctantly but Rin was more confident. 'Maybe we can convince them to just surrender? They do follow King Arthur's ideal afterall.'
Chivalry from the times of Camelot was a different kind than even those portrayed in the movies. There were stories of those knights literally sitting put for no reason other than that they surrendered.
'Honor was paramount for those and the idea of going back on their word was a sin.' That was why Shirou liked those stories so much when he was little.
"Of course I can. If the array is really a basic one I can modify it to add the sleeping spell around the place." She rubs her chin in thought, calculations running on her mind. "Since it hasn't opened yet then it would be safe to believe that no one is going to disturb the area. Add the fact that the men are already knocked out and consider the normal features of a standard boundary field ..." Everyone waited for Rin to finish brainstorming when she snapped her fingers. "Gonna be a piece of cake if anyone else doesn't show up around the place out of the blue and it is going to last at least a day or two if not disturbed. Enough time to find the Excaliburs."
"Just to make sure there will be no problems, Liz and I are going to break their weapons anyway."
"You need to call Rias." Liz pointed out as she began to move to break the weapons.
Shirou could only let out a sigh as he knew his maid was correct. With both Yoruichi and Rin moving to work on the boundary field the redhead had no more distractions or excuses to avoid calling his lover but noticed that the phone wasn't connecting.
He found it weird that the communication was being disrupted, most boundary fields didn't have that problem and it was easily solvable. "Phone is not working. Can you-"
"Already on it!" Rin replied with some annoyance. "I swear these are the worst magic circles I have ever seen. Who made those?"
"Less complaining, more working." Yoruichi added and upon seeing Rin change the circle she asked "Is it working now?"
There were no visible changings on the device but the call had gone through. "Yes, thank you."
The phone only needed to ring once for Rias to pick it up. *Shiro? Good news I hope.*
Another sigh later, Shirou responded. "The good news is that most of the culprits are armored humans with average to good equipment with no magical additions. So far we found two hideouts full of them ready for a fight but they weren't even a challenge."
*Two hideouts…* Rias' voice told him that she knew something was wrong. *Shirou… you are stalling.*
'Time to face the music.' He held back the comment but knew that things could escalate really fast if he wasn't careful. "I need you to promise me something." Shirou didn't give Rias time to reply. "Please promise me you aren't going to do anything drastic."
*I am not liking what that is implying, Shirou.* He could feel Rias' deadpan stare from the other side of the line. *Please tell me why I would do anything 'drastic'.*
Shirou realized he stalled a little too much. "Well, those bases are probably traps for the Exorcists."
*Aham … *
"And we found them really close to each other with no sign of the swords or Valper. They also were in buildings with no residents or present utility with people willing to die other than say anything. They are also… either immune or extremely resistant to hypnosis." Shirou replied slowly, he could already tell that Rias was connecting the dots and the rest of the information would probably set the pureblood on edge. "Those places are mostly behind boundary fields easily identifiable by anyone from the moonlit world while also keeping anyone else out."
A few seconds later Shirou heard, *Shit.* It was the only indication he needed that Rias understood that things just got more complicated.
…
On the other side of town from where Shirou's group was located there was another group of knights being ambushed in an abandoned gym. There were also explosions as they found themselves being attacked.
""""""AHHHHHHHHH!"""""" Many scream as they are thrown around by a huge explosion of mana emanating from a small blue jewel.
"See? I told you that my information was reliable. Ohohohoho!" A woman's voice spoke confidently as she sent another jewel that blew up on the feets of another group of knights.
Again knights fly around, hitting the walls or the floor while others struggle to hold back another woman, this one with a sword and blue hair. "I can't deny that your information paid off." She moves her wrist and destroys a knight's shield before destroying his armor with her sword and seeding him to join his defeated companions. "Nor can I deny you were right about our enemies."
"Xenovia, don't be like that!" A katana turns into a chain to tie the arms of a man as its owner jumps and hits his protected face with her feet. Doing a flip and pulling her arm back to retreat the chain, it becomes a sword once again before being used as a whip to cut another knight a couple of steps away on their chest. "Luvia-san's information shows that she is on our side. The Lord must have made sure we found her in our time of need."
While the women were discussing the knights were growing frustrated. This was one of the biggest clusters of them in town and they were all being decimated without landing a single hit.
"Damned! The Excaliburs are too strong." Said one knight at the back with another eight close to him, all ready to do battle.
"What did you expect of his majesty's weapon? That is why we must recover the rest of them quickly!" The voice of an older man announced outloud to inspire his allies.
"And that confirms that all your intel was correct, Edelfelt." Xenovia banished a cloud of dust with a swing of her sword to not only reveal both herself and Irina still with their white capes open, revealing their combat uniforms and with their swords ready but also Luvia who stood between them apparently admiring a small sapphire.
"Of course it was. I always make sure to thoroughly research anything that is worth pursuing." Luvia was dressed in a blue dress with long sleeves and white highlights, on her hands there were white gloves and her feet had white boots for both fashion and combat. Her usual blue ribbons completed the ensemble of her favorite clothes as she played with her hair confidently. "I would suggest you gentlemen surrender the Excalibur Fragments you possess before things get worse."
"We shall never do such a thing, magician!" One of the knights declared and none of his allies disagreed with him. "We shall take your Fragments and restore the sword. For the True King!" A chorus of 'yes' and roars of determination followed the man's statement.
"The fact you stole the Excaliburs is already bad enough but If you are allied with Valper Galilei, an enemy of the Church, then you are also its enemies. My enemies." Xenovia warned, both hands on Excalibur Destruction. "And I shall grant little mercy to those." Now the knights are intimidated but they refuse to retreat.
"Don't be so harsh, Xenovia. They are just showing their loyalty to their king." Irina chastised her friend before glancing at their newest ally. "Luvia-san, do you have any spells that can pry the information where the Excaliburs are from one of them?"
Hand on her breast Luvia was the absolute image of confidence. "Of course, Irina-san. We just need to catch them alive." Her smile turned a little cruel before she spoke again. "Although, we don't need all of them so don't feel bad if you kill any by accident. Please don't hold back on my account and feel free to go all out."
"Bah. If we need all our strength to defeat those fake knights then we aren't worthy of being Excalibur Holders." Xenovia steps forward to take any challengers and the knights are ready to face her, shields and swords held high.
"She really is quite lively, isn't she? Ready for her duty at all times." Luvia commented with folded arms as Irina smiled. "Should we help her?"
"No, Xenovia got this." Irina started to look around the area while they heard Xenovia break their enemy weapons with Destruction. "But we should check the area for the chance that the Excaliburs are here."
"Don't worry, I had something prepared." Luvia pulls out a compass from her pocket that starts to point in multiple directions. "Now that we are inside the boundary field nothing but the Excalibur Fragments will be able to catch its attention. I just need to isolate your and Quarta-san's direction and we can follow it."
Looking at the compass that wasn't pointing north but moving erratically Irina couldn't help but say, "Man, I am glad we found you. I honestly don't know what we would be doing if you hadn't shown up." Mana covers it as Luvia made sure the compass wasn't pointing to the Exorcists. She found it strange that it pointed to a new direction that didn't seem relevant before.
'Must be one of the weaker ones.' The Edelfelt heiress deduced as slowly the compass market the new location.
Irina admired the compass for a moment. 'Maybe magic really isn't that bad.' Not that she was going to go against the teachings of the Church but she could still appreciate how it made her life easier. "The Lord may act in mysterious ways but he is truly wise to send another member of His flock our way that could guide us in our journey."
With a direction to go the women began to walk as Xenovia was beating the group of knights by herself. "The Lord sure acts in mysterious ways." Luvia said softly with a gentle smile. 'I said my family had ties to the Church, not close family and certainly not me.'
Not that the magus was going to correct the Exorcist, it was already hard enough to convince them to listen to her.
…
An hour ago when Luvia found the pair of Exorcists and used the promise of food to lure them in her car the heiress of the Edelfelt had a plan to convince the duo they needed her help to retrieve the Excaliburs.
It got delayed twice by Exorcists' caution, mostly from Xenovia's part as the blue haired girl refused to eat in any restaurant where the food would be prepared behind closed doors. Her logic was that Luvia may have planned to poison them or something similar and she wasn't going to take her chances.
While Irina apologized profusely Luvia didn't mind the suspicion. Xenovia's caution was warranted and she would call the Exorcist a fool if she just accepted her suggestions that easily. The fact that Irina was apologizing but not denying the idea showed that the chestnut haired girl was of the same opinion to an extent.
She didn't mind either way, respecting their wishes she offered to take them to a close restaurant that she knew only for Xenovia to reject the proposal arguing that Luvia could have prepared for the original refusal and have prepared a trap anywhere similar.
In the end they moved to eat at an open 'all you can eat' buffet in a restaurant closer to their location that Xenovia spent a few minutes paying close attention to see if anyone reacted negatively to the food.
Luvia had no problems in paying for them even if she believed that the blue haired Exorcist was exaggerating a little but she respected the caution if nothing else.
She still admired how much the two Exorcists could eat which showed her how starved they were. Took them two trips to the buffet before they were fully satisfied and Luvia wondered if she had to pay for individual dishes if they would actually have made a dent on the Edelfelt fortune.
It reminded her of some people in the ORC, people that she had avoided spending some time with to try and reach her goals as fast as possible. That gave her new determination as she knew that once she was finished then things could go back to how they were with some new additions if she had anything to say about it.
For her part she had already eaten but still asked for some tea even if just to have something while the two girls satiated their hunger.
After Xenovia and Irina had their fill, Luvia began to put her plan into motion. They had picked a secluded table and she also made sure to put a small spell for them to not be overheard before revealing what she knew.
"A trap? We already expected that." Xenovia replied with a pensive face, Excalibur Destruction at reach in case Luvia tried anything. "It was obvious that their goal was always to steal all the Excaliburs and the procedure was always to send someone with the others to collect the ones lost."
"Mostly because not everyone can use them and few things can counter the Excaliburs." Irina felt that she needed to add while taking a bite of her dessert, a chocolate mousse.
"My sources said that you fend off some of the thieves, correct?" Both girls nodded at the question.
"They weren't that strong but sneaky. I could barely feel their presence until they attacked."
At Irina's description Luvia nodded. "That was expected since most likely all of them were humans with little to no magic talent and you are the branch of Exorcists trained to deal with the moonlit world." Just skilled enough to hide but not enough to win a fight against those odds.
"We already knew that. Our superiors told us after a few minutes of interrogation but they didn't manage to extract anything else." The lack of intel made Xenovia scowl. "If it wasn't by the information that the Archibishop of Genocide was coming to Fuyuki we would have no clue where to begin the search."
"Which should tell you that the organization you are dealing with isn't anything small or insignificant so you should consider their trap with some care." Luvia pointed out with a smile that showed confidence but was also gentle.
"Edelfelt-san-"
"Please, Shidou-san, you can call me by my name. If we are to be allies there is no need to be so formal."
"Then you can call me Irina then." She replied with a smile but Xenovia's expression remained firm like stone. "Luvia-san, you seem to know a little about our enemy, more than our superiors despite their best attempts at acquiring information. Could you please tell us how and maybe more importantly why?"
There was no threat to her tone but by the way both women were positioned it was clear they were ready to leave or even attack if they found Luvia's answer unsatisfying.
'They are thinking I am the trap.' Not what Luvia expected but not surprising either. "I will have to explain somewhat why I am in Japan in the first place so please indulge me for a moment." She waited for the nods of confirmation before moving on. "The Edelfelt Family has been having an invested interest in Fuyuki for the past few months." Everything was fine because her story also can cover that possibility if she told it right. "Now, I won't bore you with the economic details or anything like that since it isn't needed but you must understand that, as the future Head of the Edelfelt, I was keeping an eye on any market movements and future properties that I could acquire."
"And that led you to our enemy." Xenovia deduced and Luvia nodded to show she was right.
"Going to all those buildings by myself can be quite a hassle but it is really hard to find people you can trust with this kind of work, especially in relation to the moonlit world. Besides that there is also the need to check the aura for hot spots in the Fuyuki's ley line and other things." Luvia was lying a little there since she knew some people that could do the job but she didn't want to pay them.
As a member of a proud rich family she saw it as her duty to try to find the cheapest solutions when possible and as a magus from a long lineage she had a lot of mana to work with.
"So I sent familiars to those spots to take a close look and make sure my future projects were profitable if I choose to pursue them." Taking note that Xenovia looked disinterested but Irina was clearly giving her full attention, Luvia continued. "All those places were supposed to be empty or under construction and waiting for investors. So imagine my surprise when, 9 days ago, a bird familiar I sent to check a potential future store showed me a bunch of knights setting up the place to stay for at least a couple of weeks with food, weapons and even an entertainment system."
"You said 'knights', Luvia-san?" Irina focused on the word for a moment. "As in real knights or some kind of pretenders."
"I had the same question when I found the first group, only to discover a few others in diverse properties around Fuyuki for a grand total of 400 or so men with armor and weapons spread all around town."
Those numbers shocked the Exorcist and confirmed that, if Luvia was telling the truth, then the Excaliburs were really stolen by an organization of some kind and they really were falling into a potentially dangerous trap.
Some of their doubts were quickly answered by Luvia as she told more of her story. "After a few days investigating I discovered the identity of their group. Something I managed to get thanks to contacts in Europe that told me that this particular one was on the move." She offered a smile, already predicting some doubt from them. "I couldn't let a bunch of armored brutes run around my town, can I?"
That wasn't the whole truth, she didn't care about them other than in passing for a day or two and as a potential way to get into Sona's good graces by telling the Heiress about the potential threat inside Fuyuki.
But she had spent the last few weeks trying to get some leverage or something that would have made her someone worthy of a pact. A bunch of knights showing up without a clear goal wasn't a problem in reality, they could be guards or tourists or one of the hundreds of groups that existed on the moonlit world that were passing by Fuyuki for a reason or another.
As far as she knew, the group could have permission to operate in Fuyuki but she couldn't just ask because that would be giving up her possible leverage. So she called for all contacts her family had around the globe while she kept an eye on them.
So Luvia kept her silent for days, investigating the group and making plans to act once their intentions, if worthwhile and something she could use for her benefit, revealed themselves. She wasn't disappointed
"When the Excalibur Fragments were stolen a name began to pop up in various circles and communities of the moonlit world. A name known for having knights and that follows the principles of Honor and True Chivalry, a name that is deeply connected to the Excalibur, so much so that you can't hear one without thinking of the other." Taking some papers from the pocket of her dress, Luvia unveils the symbol of a red dragon above a shield with a golden sword. "They are called the Order of Pendragon and are the followers of the legendary King Arthur Pendragon."
"You are for real?!" Xenovia jumped to grab the paper and began to read it immediately. Luvia had no problem giving it to her since it was a detailed report from her sources about the Order of Pendragon. "They are descendents of the survivors of Camelot? How?"
"A civilization just doesn't disappear because the king died." Irina took the document and began to read it too.
Luvia chuckled at that observation. "That is just a basic summary. I brought some others too but I don't think you all want every detail since it would take us the whole day to get it all done, something I am sure both of you don't want." Neither of the Exorcists disagreed with that. "It is still a well detailed summary someone made for me and has plenty of relevant information. Read the last few lines from the first page and you will have an idea of why they are the most likely suspect for this one way or another."
When both women made their way to the last lines Xenovia scoffed while Irina sighed. "They were really part of the Church?"
"Oh yes they were. I managed to confirm that with old records and it certainly explains their lack of people with … certain aptitudes, shall we say." Luvia made sure her face was neutral as such lack gave her an advantage in gathering information. "While they have some rudimentary knowledge of magic, after the fall of Camelot and their assimilation into the Church saw many of their magicians' families either leaving or renouncing their ways for the ones of the Church."
With an organization connected directly to Heaven there was no hope of them accepting anything considered heretical and most magic systems were deemed as such. One could be a magician and be connected to the Church with no problems, even praticing the religion without discrimination, but to be direcly a member a magician had to renunce their ways.
Doubly so for a magus since the pursuit of the Root was considered a direct challenge to God.
Both Exorcists knew that so Luvia focused on the Order of Pendragon itself. "The founders of the Order, led by Sir Gawain of the Round Table himself, accepted the conditions to join the Church Faction at the time because they believed that God would one day repair the sword of their King." That was all on the paper but both Exorcists were paying more attention to Luvia. "As you can see the Order split up from the Church a few centuries ago over some disagreements, including how the Excaliburs were being used and how the Church, or better yet God, hadn't restaured it in the first place."
"The Lord issued a command through his most trusted angel Michael that the split Excalibur would be better for the works of the Church." Irina pointed out with sad eyes. "If I had to guess that is why they abandoned us."
"They couldn't accept God's decision and decided to leave. That was fair until they stole the swords." Xenovia was frowning while glaring at the symbol of the Order before looking back at Luvia. "So they don't have magicians, just knights?"
"Knights that brought to the Church the training that was needed to break the human limits, of which the two of you took advantage of." They didn't bother to deny it but Luvia wasn't really accusing them, just pointing out a fact. "The Order of Pendragon was for centuries the military arm of the Church in multiple fronts before the advent of the Exorcists and Executors. They have been part of many wars but due to their origins the records about the Order of Pendragon are always vague or scarce by mundane governments or midia. In the moonlit world on the other hand…"
Another few papers are dropped on the table and Irina was the first one to take a look with Xenovia keeping an stoic posture while staring at Luvia, trusting her partner on this part of the operation.
"The original Papal States, the Crusades, moviments on Italy before unification and dozens of wars in Europe." Irina mumbled as she carefully looked around all the documents. "They truly were our predecessors."
Soon Luvia was pointing to a particular piece of paper to direct the Exorcist's attention. "It was the Crusades that broke the back of the Order but also forced the Church to institute a rigorous control on who receives what training, especially the kind that was about breaking human limits." She shook her head with a sigh. "Turns out that having superhumans running around without proper supervision is an easy way for a lot of slaughter."
Once again the two Exorcists keep their silence. The Crusades were a dark story of the Church that neither will deny that happened.
Not liking the shift of the mood Luvia tried to get the conversation back into a positive topic. "The Order of Pendragon began to split from the Church at that moment, many of the families from Camelot had already died out or left and the Templars were starting to gain prominence." She said with a small smile. "So they had already lost their own training methods when the Order fully separated from the Church."
"You're saying they aren't trained like us." Xenovia saw the advantages of that fact.
"They aren't but they have other secrets, secrets that were still taught." Luvia frowned at that since she tried to get a hold of them but the Order of Pendragon kept mostly to itself. "They also changed their vows, still preserving the chivalry started by King Arthur but now with emphasis in bringing him back."
"Let me guess, they need Excalibur to do it." Xenovia scolded at the notion. "King Arthur is dead, his soul most likely in Heaven and they want to disturb his rest."
"Many legends speak of his return." Irina pointed out with a smile. "If anything it is beautiful that their loyalty to their king remained strong even after hundreds of generations." But the chestnut haired Exorcist also needed to take what all of that meant strategically. "The whole Order is here?"
"Here and ready to face you. It can't be a coincidence that an Order built for King Arthur is around the same area as the foremost specialist in his sword. Especially after many of them were stolen." Luvia chuckled a little behind her hand to try and not look aggressive. "Add to the fact they know some of the Church's structure, all they needed for the heist, current information of the swords protections and any sort of detail that could help stealing the Excaliburs, like the identity of the holders to try and take the remaining ones from them with a specialized squad, and you have a pretty clear picture of what is going on."
With that insight Xenovia studied the situation carefully. "That may be why we managed to get hold of Valper Galilei's possible location so fast. This can only be a trap." She then looked at Luvia. "Do you have an exact idea of how many of them are in the city?"
"No, I couldn't monitor or count them properly since every location I found had boundary fields that were good enough to stop familiars and other methods of espionage." She then pulls out the last piece of paper she had with her, a map of Fuyuki with many red dots marking different locations. "But I did search and found plenty of places with basic boundary fields and knights behind their windows."
The two Exorcists wanted to groan at the number of dots on the map. "That is a lot." Irina tried to do a quick count but stopped at 23 before speaking again. "There are at least 50 of those."
"More work to do, Irina." Xenovia may not know the place but they had someone who did. "Where would you suggest we start looking, Edelfelt?"
Luvia pointed to three different places. "I would suggest we start in one of those. They are in different points of the city and each has a greater number of knights."
"The 'we' from before didn't include you, Edelfelt." Despite taking a shot at Luvia including herself Xenovia was trying to be polite and non threatening about it.
"Come on Xenovia, she helped us a bunch." Irina on the other hand was ready to receive some support as it raised their chances of success and survival. "It wasn't like we would even have all this information without Luvia-san."
Xenovia could understand her partner's point but she had one of our own. "And what does she want by giving us all this? And don't say that because she is a good christian." She cut Irina off just as her mouth opened. "She is a magician and a magus to boot. They rarely go out of their way to help for free."
"That is true." Luvia's admission caught Xenovia off guard and surprised Irina completely. "But I don't want anything big out of you, I have some interests in the Excaliburs but my main goal is a little more ambitious."
"And what do you want?" Xenovia insisted on knowing.
"To get a good reputation and a good word with a potential business partner." Luvia replied with another gentle smile. "Can you imagine a better resume than delivering the Excaliburs to them? I am sure they would appreciate it. I can even sign a contract to prove every word I just said is the absolute truth."
Both Exorcists were moderately trained to tell when someone was lying and while Luviagelita Edelfelt was hard to read there wasn't anything that indicated a lie.
And Luvia wasn't lying, she was just avoiding saying who was the one she wanted to get in the good graces of, something that neither thought too much about since they weren't used to the 'doublespeak' or the omissions she was leaving out.
Neither of the Exorcists were politically trained or were expected to deal with anything more than asking for a noble approval on something or another. They knew how to be polite and respectful but knew nothing of politics, something any magus who expected to go to the Clocktower needed to be aware of.
Something that Luvia excelled at.
"We would be glad to have you." Irina said with a small bow while Xenovia stayed silent.
The blue haired Exorcist knew she should be happy to have some assistance with their mission but her instincts were warning her to not trust Luvia and she was someone who trusted her instincts.
However, since Irina accepted the magus she decided to give her a chance. "Could you guide and assist us in finishing our mission?"
"Of course. I shall do my best." Luvia once again hid her smile behind a delicate hand gesture just to make sure they couldn't see her triumphant face. 'I am in.' On the surface she remained cordial and attentive. "Do you want my opinion on where we should start?" Both Exorcists nodded. "This one."
"Are you sure?" Irina while looking at the map and noticing the dot was surrounded by many others. "This would be walking directly into the trap, wouldn't it?"
"The design of this kind of trap indicates that they won't come to you, you must go to them. At least while they have Excaliburs to use as bait." Luvia replied confidently. "The Order of Pendragon follows a strict code of honor; no innocents must be harmed at any cost." Her face showed that the blonde magus was completely serious. "That was one of the reasons why they started to be isolated after the Crusades. They were the ones who hunted down and killed many of the men who did unspeakable acts during those times."
"While that is respectable, what does it have to do with us?" Xenovia was growing impatient.
"It is quite simple really." Luvia directed their attention back to the map. "All we have to do is attack them before they attack us." Both Exorcists looked surprised at the implication. "That is right, we spring the trap first. While they know their hiding spots are easy to find because they were designed like that. The Order of Pendragon has no idea that I have already marked most of them up." Even she would admit that she may have missed some but circulating an area of the map that was close to the Edelfelt mansion gave her confidence. "That is why we start here, on this corner of the city close to my residence."
"There are too many places for us to clear it all at once, it is going to take days. That is their plan." Irina observed while looking around areas with multiple dots close to each other. "They know we can't scrub every corner of Fuyuki by ourselves so they wait for us to grow tired and then they pounce, like a cat who waited for the canary to run out of steam."
"Precisely, that is why they are also spread around." Luvia acknowledged Irina with a smile. "They realized that they can't just beat you in a straight fight so, with the Excaliburs as bait, all they have to do is wait and you will eventually fall."
"So much for 'knights'." Xenovia scoffed at the notion. "That is why they want to defy God's command. They think they know better."
Irina giggles at her partner's remark. "It would have worked if Luvia-san wasn't here to help."
"We would figure something out. They are underestimating us." Still Xenovia looked back at Luvia for some guidance. "But that can't be all you have in mind, Edelfelf. Even with you we can't search the whole town in a day."
"That is why we are cleaning the area around my home first. So we have a place to retreat for the night once we are done."
"At night they probably will move to attack." Irina's words had Xenovia nodding in acceptance but staring at Luvia with suspicion.
"Doesn't mean that isn't a trap by itself, even if not from the Order of Pendragon."
"Xenovia!"
Luvia just smiled more at Xenovia's caution. "There is no trouble, Irina-san. She is right to suspect me. That is why I am offering that we make a Geass, a magical contract if you prefer, that I won't betray you." She waited for a response, watching as Irina covered her mouth with her hands and Xenovia's eyes grew wide. "I know the Church may not like that but many times in the past when working with magicians your organization tends to accept them."
"Fine, we'll make a contract."
"Xenovia!"
"Don't try to make me change my mind Irina. I don't trust her and not just because she is a magus." Xenovia made sure her eyes were on Luvia's but the blonde only had amusement in them. "The Order of Pendragon I can understand but she is just finding them for no reason? That I can't swallow."
"She lives here and wants to buy some property. That sounds like a magus' MO if I ever heard one." They were taught that magicians, especially magi, are always hunting for places for better workshops for a reason or another.
"Probably." Xenovia recognized that Luvia may not have any bad intentions. "But I still want to make sure. If her intentions are pure I promise to apologize once all this is over."
"Then do we have a deal?" Luvia already had the writing of the contract in mind that would let her get away with what she wanted.
She still would have to be wary of Xenovia who offered her a handshake that the magus grasped firmly. "We do."
…
With Luvia's support, and her car, it didn't take for them to find the spacious gym that had closed down because of bad investments. Even if Fuyuki's ley line was good there was nothing it could do if the person taking advantage of its benefits was bad at business. The building itself was now for sale but a large group of knights took residency in it.
It was the first place that Luvia chose to attack..
What really caught Luvia's attention on prior investigation was the size of the group, she was able to count up to 45 people with her familiars but without entering she wasn't sure how many could be hiding on that spot.
Still it was a fortified position surrounded by numerous guards while the place itself was surrounded by the equivalent of dozens of outposts. An excellent place for the Excaliburs in Luvia's opinion.
"They are not here." So she admitted that came as a surprise even to herself.
"Are you sure?" Irina examined the magic circle they found in an office.
Luvia showed the Exorcist her compass. "This circle is the only thing emanating any kind of magic power in this location besides your own swords but I already took that into account." The magus frowned as she began to walk around the circle and take note how the needle kept pointing at it. "And it isn't even a strong one either, just a basic magic circle for a boundary field. Any amateur magician could do it. Anyone could do it with enough patience for that matter."
"So the Excaliburs aren't around." The chestnut haired Exorcist let out a long sigh. "That sucks."
"Indeed it does." The magus in blue messed with the magic circle with her feet and watched as her compass began to lazily change directions to show there was nothing of interest in the area. "Unless the Excaliburs have some way to hide their presence…"
"Only Transparency has something like that but only when used." Irina was sure that the compass would work on it if that wasn't the case. "Guess that means we are going to investigate the other bases in the area. I was hoping to finish this mission early too."
"Why are you whining, Irina?" A smiling Xenovia approached them while looking happy and satisfied. "I could go for some water right now."
"The Excaliburs aren't here." Irina replied quickly but realized that she too wanted something to drink.
Xenovia lost her smile and barely stopped herself from swearing but still looked annoyed. "I should have gone harder on them."
"You didn't kill all of them, did you?" Luvia asked with a frown. "That could get us into trouble if the whole Order discovers our involvement and decides to take revenge."
"They weren't that strong, Edelfelt." Xenovia dismissed the magus' concerns. "But no, I didn't execute anyone if that is what you want to know. We are Exorcists, our duty is the preservation of human life." Then she frowned. "Not that they don't deserve to die for challenging the Will of God. Some will die of their wounds anyway."
"Some deaths are acceptable, a slaughter is not." Luvia pointed out and received a glare from Xenovia but Irina quickly got between the two.
"Calm down, calm down. You don't need to worry that much, Luvia-san. Our Lord would be disappointed if we took lives over nothing."
Xenovia didn't like what her partner was saying. "You know this isn't for nothing, Irina. These people stole from the Church, from God. They must be punished." She slams Destruction on the floor, damaging many floor tiles and even part of the building with a swing. "And we are in charge of recovering the Excaliburs and punishing them."
"What happened to 'thou shalt not kill'?" Luvia knew how dangerous an scorned organization can be. Their anger and vengeance may take centuries to return but it often does and usually ten folds over anything done to them.
"They are dying from the wounds they acquired by stealing from God." Xenovia said with a shrug. "If they get medical attention they won't die and some of them can still move. They accepted defeat and I left them with a clear warning there won't be second chances."
'She won't hesitate to kill me for her God.' Luvia was sure that Irina would at least hesitate before going for the kill but with Xenovia there wouldn't even be time to blink if her offense was serious enough.
"Xenovia, you should be more delicate with them. Their mission is a noble one." Irina complaned with her partner who shrugged in response.
"No matter the problem they have with the members of the Church, they shouldn't be challenging God." She looked around with a blank look. "Besides, I doubt that King Arthur would approve of what they are doing. Just the act of using a city for this little operation puts a lot of lives in danger."
"That … is true." Irina recognized. "But they are trying."
Didn't change the fact that Fuyuki was being used both as a trap and as a shield for the Order of Pendragon who already had most of the Fragments while they knew enough of the Church's protocols to wait for those who would bring out the rest.
After getting her temper under control Xenovia asked, "Are you going to interrogate them, Edelfelt?"
"Of course. It is the best thing we can get from this mess."
A few minutes later the three women left the gym with frowns of concern and worry. "Why didn't you get anything again?" Xenovia was really irritated by the last development.
"Some kind of mental barrier or something. None of the knights had any experience on magic or even enough mana to use it but their protection was going beyond just the one agained with awareness." They approached the limousine where the driver wasted no time to open the door. "Auguste, please call the clean up crew and have the knights locked somewhere while we plan our next step."
The man bowed slightly. "Consider it done lady Luvia."
"Maybe we should ditch the car." Xenovia commented while rubbing her chin. "Most of the bases are around this area anyway. If they have a look out spot the car then they can prepare more."
"No offense but your clothes are not exactly inconspicuous." Despite her hair color being Luvia's favorite color the magus was starting to really dislike Xenovia. "Inside my limousine we have all we need to keep going, rest and stay hidden while we approach. Why would we 'ditch' that?"
"How many people on Fuyuki have the same kind of car?" Xenovia asked back, making Luvia blink. "If you are the only one then just by seeing it they know who is coming."
Luvia had to blink again to push back her shock. 'I may have to re-evaluate her a little. Her mind is sharper than I thought.' Still her own point remained. "So they are going to see us coming anyway. Better to have a place to rest and Auguste to drive us while we plan ahead."
Folding her arms with Excalibur Destruction pointing down, Xenovia nodded. "Good point."
"To the next one then?" Irina asked with a smile. "They may be hiding the Excaliburs in a place that those knights could reinforce."
"True. That would be a decent way to make us lose the trail and try to go to a more distant area." Luvia commented while getting into the car.
"One way or another we may need to check every single place in this city." Xenovia entered next and made sure she was beside Luvia with Destruction between them. "Even if we have to break inside every building these fake knights are hiding, we are going to find the Excaliburs. It's only a matter of time."
The thought of having the Excaliburs on her hands actually made Luvia excited. "Indeed we shall. All we have to do is be a little patient."
"Patience was never Xenovia's strong suit." Irina giggled at the small glare her short haired partner gave her. "You also need to be careful, Luvia-san. If you touch the Excaliburs before us-"
"I know, Irina-san. I wrote the Geass remember? Don't worry about it." Luvia knew she didn't need to either way, the contract may be air tight but all she needed to do was let them touch the Excalibur Fragments first.
And the two were holding some Fragments at this very moment so technically she already fulfilled her side of the bargain. She even felt when the Geass entered in effect and was undone in the same second.
'Now all I need to do is wait.' She picks up two bottles from a small fridge in the car. "Anyone want some water?" Both Exorcists nod and start to drink, trusting that the contract would protect them from any underhanded maneuvers.
Not that Luvia had any intention of poisoning them or anything similar. She needs the two girls to help her get all the other Fragments so it would be better for her if they are working at peak efficiency.
Besides, she liked the idea of playing the good host and so she pressed a small button for one of the seats to turn and reveal a table with the map of the town.
"So, where next?"
…
A sip of his wine helped Kokabiel to relax as he read his book with half an eye on the monitors of his current residence. 'A nice vintage. Pity I killed the devils, I would like to know where he found this particular bottle.'
The fallen angel was now dressed in a new black suit and held the bottle he was admiring but had a name he never heard before. He wasn't the kind of man to check every brand either but Kokabiel liked to appreciate how good some were.
Catching a glimpse of something at the corner of his eyes, Kokabiel moved to one of the monitors. "What is this, Rias Gremory? Leaving school so soon, it is barely afternoon." The man chuckled as the Heiress of the Gremory was shown exiting Kuoh with two more people. "Is that Baraqiel's daughter? She looks as beautiful as her mother. Pity she turned into a devil. Such a pity."
Then he noticed a third person, a small girl with long purple hair in a huge elegant braid that stopped it from touching the ground.
Even if it was through a camera and Kokabiel was middle distracted his mind soon realized that there was something odd about that girl, something that demanded his attention.
"What do we have here?" He tried to press some keys to change the cameras but for the most part they all just showed the area outside Kuoh or Fuyuki itself. "Sahariel was always better with this kind of stuff."
Kokabiel tried for a few more minutes before just accepting that the base didn't have that many cameras around the town.
"There must be something." He closed his book and began to inspect the other monitors, trying to find anything about the purple haired girl.
She wasn't familiar to him and he was sure he didn't know her but just looking at the purple haired girl gave him a strange feeling of concern and respect. The Cadre tried to look into some files but the majority was password protected and he had no clue of how to get into them
He really wished that his brother was there to look into those things.
After half an hour of frustration, Kokabiel sat down again. "I suppose it doesn't matter who that girl was." He glared at the monitors from a moment before punching a wall down. "This is going to be bothering me until I figure it out!"
The fallen angel began to pace around, trying to think what was that feeling that the girl was giving him. He realized that there was something in her image, of some shape or form power and it was the kind that could even be felt through images and long distances if she was seen.
Going down a list on his mind helped Kokabiel to reach some conclusions, conclusions he didn't like. "What are the devils doing with a goddess in their town?"
Back on the original monitor he pulled out the image of the girl's and paused it. Because of the camera angles the best he could get was half of her face but it was enough for him.
"Definitely a goddess of some kind. Her presence and beauty is too similar to us, angels. Even with a still image I can feel a presence … " Rubbing his chin, Kokabiel began to smile. "So I wasn't the only one pondering starting a war? The devils recruited a goddess?" His smile disappeared as he pondered some more. "Should I call Azazel? This may be enough to- No. That coward would look for every excuse in the book to not start 'escalations'. If anything he is going to try and call them to ask who the goddess is, ruining everything."
Getting the pieces ready for his plan took some time and he only had this chance for he doubted that he would live if caught. He was in too deep and if the Excaliburs were recovered and his involvement revealed then odds were that things were going to get worse for his Faction because of his actions.
"It is too late to back out now. The play is already in motion even if one more actor jumped in the fray." He looked at the phone in the middle of the table, remembering the call he answered a few minutes ago. "The way that Gremory was running shows some urgency which means she may have joined the hunt. That makes at least three groups after the Order of Pendragon." His smile grew savage. "Things are going faster than expected and one of them is sure to report it to someone else which means that the Order's part is mostly over."
But not completely, Kokabiel's plan called for the Order to drag out the conflict to draw some of the devils away from Kuoh while also taking the fall for being the main responsible for his mess, a responsibility that the Church will share since they allowed the Excaliburs to be stolen and the Order to exist in the first place.
"I wonder if I should give their elite the signal to begin moving to secure the swords. They are the only fighters worth something on the Order even if not much. Decisions, decisions." Kokabiel mused as he sat down again. "With so many groups attacking and no means of communication between each other either by magic or mundane means I can see young Gawain getting impatient."
Kokabiel had given bad magic circles for the Order on purpose to make sure he could control their actions and limit the scope of how much they could adapt. That forced them into isolation between each other and trusted other methods to warn their allies about the operation, methods that he could keep an eye on.
All that because he needed to keep the Order from being too efficient. His plan needed them to struggle and fall to properly capitalize their advantages so Gawain couldn't realize his real goal.
The fallen angel was sure that even now Gawain was already struggling with what he may have to do to accomplish his Order objective, something that Kokabiel knew was impossible. The fact that the noble knight couldn't reach many of his allies and had to work with limited information only served to make the man more nervous and anxious.
That was why he tricked the Order to limit their contacts, something he was sure some would be able to figure out but the Cadre didn't care.
All Kokabiel was doing was keeping Gawain in check and to stop him from charging around and revealing too much of his real plans even if the knight didn't know them. Just his name was something dangerous that could compromise everything and Kokabiel needed to avoid his own reveal until he had no choice.
Not that the leader of the Order of Pendragon would act without Kokabiel's permission, the fallen angel's plan was still the best chance the Order had of restoring the sword and that was what the Cadre was counting on.
'An hour, that is all I am gonna give the hunters. Out of good sportsmanship.' He turned serious as he picked up his own phone to make the call. "Just one hour before the strongest members of the Order get into position and Valper can begin his part. That must be enough for everyone to have some fun."
There was a possibility that the bases where the Four Knights would be were attacked before they arrived but that was fine for him. They had plenty of other bases the elite of the Order of Pendragon could use.
Because in the end Kokabiel knew he was the only one who would get what he wanted. He knew he was going to be the only real winner.
So he picked up another bottle of wine and began to fill his cup. When Kokabiel took another sip a memory came to the forefront of his mind, the memory of an old opponent and someone who almost killed him in the past. The image of a blonde woman in blue dressed as a man with a golden sword on her hand.
"I wonder what you would think about all of this. How they scramble to bring you back." Nostalgia filled him for a moment before he revealed a cruel grin. "How would you feel knowing that your people turned to murderers to try and restore 'Excalibur' with hopes of your return?" He began to laugh. "I wish I could see your face of despair at that, Pendragon."
Then all his joy was gone as the memory of that person couldn't leave his mind.
In his long lifetime Kokabiel had watched over and even followed some of the greatest leaders and generals of humanity. As an angel that enjoyed violence, when his Faction wasn't fighting he was directly in the front lines of other powers if just to starve off his boredom.
For where there were stars and wars there also was Kokabiel. He had crossed the whole of Europe, cut his way through Africa and even created a blood path in the Americas just to pass the time.
Most of the gods of those areas didn't even notice him since he passed as a human for the most part but there were moments and opponents that he could go all out and test his might.
There were plenty of names he respected and could never forget and she was one of those; a leader so perfect but also flawed that he couldn't help but love the contradiction. Everytime he fought her, Kokabiel felt his heart beat faster in happiness, his instincts grew sharper and time seemed to slow down as he unleashed his full might and as a pillar of light she refused to bend or break while standing against him.
That was also what he admired about her the most; he was a Cadre, one of the strongest beings of creation and she was a human, no matter how many blessings she had or how powerful her sword was she was human and faced him with no fear.
In the end his name wasn't remembered as one of her opponents but Kokabiel was fine with that. The many names he took through the ages were irrelevant and even if he wasn't that woman's worst enemy he took pleasure in having been her enemy nonetheless.
Despite his defeats, his shame in having retreated more than once under that shine blade he knew that he wasn't even close to the most terrible opposition she had faced.
For that King had other enemies and even if Kokabiel expected her to always be there to stand against him soon found out she wasn't. Too soon in his opinion..
He also was furious to the point of irrationality when he wasn't the one to kill her.
Kokabiel did calm down later and with time that fury had disappeared, it was just another loss in his long life.
Then when the opportunity to use that woman's most precious treasure to start the war he always wanted he took it as a sign that Fate itself was reminding him of how much he respected and hated that person.
"We shall see them bleed, Artoria Pendragon. That shall be your final legacy." Kokabiel raised his cup before drinking all of it. "Let the last memory of 'Excalibur' be not one of hope but of war."
…..
So Kokabiel fought Artoria, bet you all didn't see that coming. Jokes aside, when you have someone that lived for as long as he did there isn't anything wrong in assuming he would pop up somewhere sooner or later, even if not with his real name.
Funnily enough the legends surrounding King Arthur can be considered the first piece of fanfiction since there were so many authors adding to it through the ages that it is kinda appropriate to add another part on the story like this.
That also gives Kokabiel a motive to use 'Excalibur' on his plans; a last victory against Artoria. Sure he never could beat her but if her legacy is tarnished to his purposes he can call that a win, right.
That was what the Order of Pendragon was all about, they are the fall guys, the last legacy of Camelot that Artoria loved and something Kokabiel could use. They are trying to do the right thing, minimize the damage their presence could have and not harm anyone.
Except that Kokabiel is making things harder on purpose. Not only the people he got to work with are some of the worst, already tarnishing their honor, they also are in a position that they are closer to their goal but also so far that it's cruel.
Going around town to try and stop things from getting worse or any accidents is Shirou and co. Rias also got into the fray once she noticed that things aren't as simple as a group hiding in a single place but so far no one is worried.
Kokabiel's plan is working, no one knows he is there and that means that he doesn't need to fear Maou interference. To everyone else the Order of Pendragon its just a group of normal people trying to do something stupid and so, while they can be dangerous both to the secrecy of the moonlit world and to inocents, that isn't enough to get anyone panicking.
If nothing else the real threat in everyone's mind are the Fragments themselves which is why Shirou was the best person to send in the hunt.
Which brings us to the last group, Kiba and the others.
I won't lie, I dislike Kiba's cannon sacred gear. While the concept of it is power it always felt that its purpose was not to be an evolution of his power but something to prompt Kokabiel to talk.
And that is it.
After the Excalibur saga Kiba even develops a power that is more in line with what I believe his Balance Breaker should be but still not what I envisioned it at. So we are having another Balance Breaker here.
Speaking of the topic, that can give us an interesting insight of how something like that can develop into a person who has as many troubles as Kiba. Trauma can be something so awful and powerful that can shape a person's whole life just by existing, something that can even scar the soul.
And as trauma is the thing that Kiba is dealing with then the way for him to move forwards is with help.
That applies both to him as a person and to his sacred gear, sure he can gain power if he just gives in and turns into a stray devil but that would mean leaving everyone else behind for power.
Or he can accept help and grow from there.
So yes, Kiba has the potential to get two Balance Breakers, to be clear it's either one or the other.
Speaking of Balance Breakers, yes, Scaled Mail is Ddraig's Balance Breaker. Kinda appropriated since he does exist inside the Boosted Gear and also gives Issei the chance to add something for himself in it.
Yes there are other forms of Balance Breaker in the DxD works but I am trying to streamline the process here. Some of them will remain as they are because they are just transformations and have no objection from me but other concepts and transformations will just fall under the umbrella of Balance Breaker and no other terms just to make writing it more convenient.
About Ddraig giving people advice was something that was warranted for him. An ageless dragon stuck inside an object doesn't have much to do but if there is one thing he has over anyone else is experience even with just the Boosted Gear and a handful of others he came across.
While I have absolutely nothing against Azazel it shouldn't be him to be Issei's main instructor about his sacred gear, it should be Ddraig with Azazel offering his input, suggestion and advice when there is something that Ddraig couldn't know or just out of curiosity.
Ddraig has no way to know everything about his own residence even if he has been living in it for ages. Other sacred gears have developed in ways that revealed more about the system and with an existence like Ddraig living in it maybe the Boosted Gear couldn't have the same process and that is where Azazel can come in.
That doesn't diminish either of their parts, Azazel has been living among humans for a long time and can give a lot of wisdom of his own but Ddraig is the one who can teach more about his sacred gear.
He can also be a source of advice for others in more personal instances, not only for Issei but anyone that he takes an interest in. Dragons are told to be wise and Ddraig can show it in many interactions even if he isn't part of the… lets call it material world, any longer.
Sometimes just good advice can be enough to stop someone from doing something stupid and Ddraig is an ageless dragon that can impart some of his or other experiences.
Even if he never was human there is no denying that the Boosted Gear has had many hosts and for every single one of them, from the beginning to the end of their lifetimes, Ddraig was there in a way or another.
Not all of his advice is going to be good and not always he will be able to help Issei but that is why he just doesn't give all the answers, he wants his host to grow. The stronger Issei is, the less he has to rely on Ddraig's help and smaller is the risk of something going wrong.
And that was a bigger author note than it should have been so I am stopping it here.
Until next time.
