Chapter 28: Innocence Lost

"Thank you for agreeing to meet with me, Lord Sagan." The girl took a nervous sip of her hot chocolate, glancing at me with hesitant eyes.

"Please Rias, call me Damocles. Whatever is happening between our families, I will not forget that you were my first friend amongst the Pillars." I smile at the heiress over the head of Shiro, who was projecting a palpable aura of smug from her place on my lap.

"Thank you Damocles." Rias beamed at me, sitting in the cafe seat next to a surly looking Koneko, "I am grateful to hear that! I want to still be your friend too!"

"I'm glad." I replied, "You said you wanted to ask me something? Your text was pretty vague."

"Uhm..." She fidgeted, fiddling with her hands, "That's… I wanted to ask you for a favour."

"Oh?" I was interested, "What do you need?"

I was distracted by Shiro tapping me on the arm, causing me to roll me eyes and bring a spoonful of cake up to her mouth, causing the tiny menace to eat the morsel with relish.

"Well, I wanted to ask… how much do you know of my engagement to Riser?"

"I know you aren't exactly enthusiastic at the prospect."

"Heh." She smiled, nerves still showing but relaxing at the joke, "That's one way to put it. Well, the thing is, if I refuse to marry him it will likely be settled by a Rating Game."

"I see." Our conversation was interrupted by Shiro fidgeting, pulling on my sleeve.

"Bathroom." The young girl said.

"Will you be fine going alone?" I looked into her eyes, that were turned up to stare into mine.

She nodded, a serious look on her face. An unspoken conversation ensued, before I sighed and gently moved her off my lap, "Alright then, stay safe."

The girl nodded and turned, going off towards the cafe bathrooms while I turned back to Rias, "Sorry about that. So the matter will be decided by a Rating Game then?"

I was distracted by another white haired girl swiftly sliding herself into my vacated lap, staring up at me with a pleading look. Rolling my eyes again, I smiled while fishing for another bit of cake for my new lap ornament.

"Yes." Rias nodded, a smile on her face from watching me interact with Shiro and Koneko, "That's a possible solution. If the Phenex refuse to end the engagement, it's one of the only things I can do personally."

I nodded, waiting as she visibly gathered herself up. Eventually, she asked in a rush, "Could you train my Peerage?"

I blinked, "Sorry, you want me to train your Peerage?" At her nod, I continued, "Why not ask Sirzechs? If he can't train you himself, surely he could organize a professional to train you instead?"

"It would seem like favouritism. If he helped me like that, all my accomplishments would be due to him, not me."She looked down, staring into her lap, "I don't want to be seen as just 'Sirzechs' Sister'."

The logical response, pointing out that she was his sister and that did not change regardless of whether she used it to her advantage or not, flitted across my mind fore a brief moment before I disregarded it.

"You do know I am not a teacher or an instructor? Are you sure you want me to train you?"

"Yes." She looked up, nodding resolutely, "You're strong. Your Peerage is strong. You absolutely demolished Diodora, I know you can make us strong enough to beat Riser."

I tilted my head. This was hugely beneficial to me, but letting her go into this with rose-tinted glasses would be a mistake.

"I just want to make sure you know, I can't teach you to participate in Rating Games properly. The way I work is not flashy. I can only train you to fight, to win." It was important she knew that.

Rating Games are more than just martial prowess, at least in the middle of the ladder. The ones at the top could coast by on their pure combat power, but for the rest they needed to earn sponsorships through their performances and flashiness. Some of the highest earners in the Rating Game circuit were fairly low in the ladder, simply because they made the fights entertaining enough to draw a lot of viewers.

"That's all I need." She smiled, a note of pleading into her voice, "So you'll agree? I can pay you for it! I looked up the rates of other instructors and…!"

"No no no!" I waved my hands, "You're a friend Rias, it wouldn't feel right to make you pay for this. Just answer one question for me, Do you truly desire to be free of this engagement?"

"Yes." She nodded resolutely, "More than almost anything."

"Then I will help you." The smile she gave me in response was blinding.

We continued to talk about how the training would work, before we were interrupted by my returning little sister, who stared expressionless at the girl who had stolen her spot. I shifted my weight, causing Koneko to move to one of my legs, freeing up the other. Neither of the brats seemed happy with the compromise, but Shiro took her spot regardless.

She started when she felt my hand on her hair, softly rubbing it as I asked, "Are you okay?"

"Mhm!" She nodded, smiling under the affection.

Considering what I know she had just done, seeing the child act like it was nothing did send a bit of a chill down my spine.

At the same time

Diodora stalked with purpose. After the humiliation that had been dealt to him at that damnable Sagan's reveal, everything had gone wrong. His peerage had been held back in hospital, he was told it was due to 'screening for potential lingering Psychological distress', whatever the hell that meant. Due to the public and embarrassing loss, his status as the Astaroth heir had been provisionally revoked, which was likely to be a permanent change unless he rectified this situation, immediately.

Thankfully, after being released from hospital, he had been approached by a party whose interests aligned with his. It seems the Sagan was not running as tight a ship as he showed, as his own sister was out for blood. Apparently, she was in love with her bastard of a brother and was jealous of all the girls hanging around him.

She offered to help him crush the rest of the Sagan Peerage, leaving her as the only one in her brother's life. Diodora had no intention of actually leaving it at that of course, but using the stupid girl to weaken his enemy before wiping her out together with him sounded like a great plan.

They had been communicating through a burner phone, but even that was not secure enough to make plans against a member of the Pillar houses. So they had agreed to meet up alone in an Astaroth warehouse. He had suggested the meeting, and the dumb girl, like a child, had agreed.

Of course, this could have been a trap, but he had mitigated that possibility as much as possible. Not only had he confirmed that he was indeed speaking to the girl, but he had set the time and place for the meeting. Seeing as it was in Astaroth territory, there was no way anyone could get in before the meeting to prepare the place for an ambush in a meaningful way.

On top of that, he had arrived early to stake out the building. The white haired brat had shown up minutes before, alone. She had gone inside and he was waiting to see if she was followed. After the time they had agreed had come and passed, he decided that the girl really was as stupid as she seemed.

Walking through the door, he looked at the seemingly deserted warehouse, his guard still up. His injuries were not fully healed, but it would be a cold day in Hell before he lost to a little girl.

"Sagan?" he called out, his voice echoing, "I'm here. Show yourself!"

His instincts screamed at him. Danger was lurking here. He tensed, feeling like something was off about this whole thing. His senses expanded, trying to detect the magic of the Sagan girl, but getting nothing. Despite seeing her enter the building, it felt as if he was completely alone. Suddenly, a clatter drew his attention to a corner of the room, causing him to whirl around and bring up a shield in front of him.

"Stop playing games, girl. Come out now before I hurt…"

A pain flared up from his back, A deep stabbing sensation, forcing the air out from his lungs as an impact drove it out of him. He staggered forwards, pulling himself messily off of the knife that had been driven into him, turning to see the stoic child holding the bloodstained blade.

"You'll die for that…" He vowed, breathing heavily. He had already lost everything, that is what had made him desperate enough to fall for this.

Still, he could take something from that bastard before he died. Resolved, he raised his hand, his magic surging forth, which wavered and dispersed.

"Wha…?" He swayed, the burning from his back spreading, "Poison…?"

Indeed, the blade which Shiro used to stab him had been soaked in Holy Water. Of course, Diodora couldn't know that. All he knew is that his magic and body was betraying him. He staggered back, his sluggish mind attempting to come up with a plan.

The silent child followed after him, head tilted in consideration. He lashed out at her, which she dodged with contemptuous ease. His strength fading, he watched as she approached closer, carefully standing in a specific spot.

He struggled to raise a hand, use magic, anything to stop her as she slowly raised the arm holding the knife. The last thing Diodora Astaroth saw was the glint of the blade flashing out as his neck was slit.

Watching the dying devil, Shiro threw the knife onto his corpse, walking away from the macabre scene, careful to avoid any blood. The only bit of the substance she had on herself was on the gloves she wore.

Skin contact with the knife, as saturated with Holy Water it was, would have caused a very suspicious and visible wound. Thankfully, the thick gloves were enough to prevent that, but it did make it difficult to wield the blade properly. Thankfully her control over her Demonic Power allowed her to keep it concealed long enough to catch the idiot unprepared.

The plan she came up with went off without a hitch. Truly it was thanks to her Nii-san's training, teaching her how to play to her strengths and take advantage of people underestimating her. That will not be something she could rely on forever, but so long as it held she would take advantage of it.

She felt accomplished though. She had finally been useful to Nii-san, taking out one of his enemies. She didn't allow herself to feel too prideful however, this was only one of many. Still, surely this deserved some pampering, right?

Days Later

"It was the Sagan."

"Of course it was Serafall." Sirzechs sighed, "The question is what we do about it."

"Oh that one is easy." Falbium was reclined in his chair, idly shifting through the reports, "Nothing."

"What?!"

The reply from his peers didn't even bring on a raised eyebrow as he calmly explained, "This was a tragic accident, a mugging gone wrong."

Serafall and Sirzechs locked eyes, silently communicating before the Satan of Internal Affairs turned to his Military counterpart, "Why do you recommend we take this avenue?"

"How did his meeting with your mothers go?" The winces from both of them answered that adequately.

Falbium put down the reports and looked directly at both them, "We have nothing to offer him in our current position. Any agreements would not be trusted and he does not want any material concessions either. I spoke to him, all he wanted was to be left alone by us."

"I see." Sirzechs pursed his lips, "So you offered Diodora up as a sacrifice, allowing Damocles the satisfaction of killing him and getting it out of his system."

"And built a working relationship with the Sagan at the same time." Falbium nodded, "Diodora was unstable after his loss, it was only a matter of time until he did something stupid. The Astaroth had other options for heirs, add in what we found out about his peerage and well… two birds, one stone."

Indeed, the mental duress Diodora put his peerage under was revealed by the healers attempting to heal his Queen. It was not something that was completely unheard of by Devils, but doing it to Holy Women like Diodora had done would cause friction between the Satans and the Church should it ever come to light. Not an insurmountable obstacle, of course, but better to head it off early.

"True, with Diodora dead we can contain that whole debacle with a lot more ease." Serafall chimed in, "Do we have to worry about the Astaroth retaliating?"

"No, I spoke to them." Falbium replied, "They came around to my way of thinking."

That seemed to remind Sirzechs of something, who rifled through the documents pertaining to the meeting before he found the one that he had thought of.

"And I presume the contract that our Army recently signed with the Astaroth for procurement was completely unrelated?"

Falbium's lazy gaze was steady, "Are you accusing me of corruption?"

"Of course not." Was the diplomatic reply, "What do you recommend we do about the Sagan from now on then?"

"Nothing." Seeing the other two being unconvinced, he elaborated, "You said you would let me handle it. I did. Sagan will vote with us on that bill you wrote, Sirzechs. He will likely vote with us more often then not from now on as well. It's no official alliance, but…"

"So long as he's not opposed to us completely in the Senate, keeping his vote around will be more beneficial than not." Sirzechs finished.

"So what, we just ignore him?" Serafall was clearly skeptical.

"Why not?" Sirzechs seemed to have come around to the idea, "As it stands, he is a boon more than a burden. Besides, as an independent Lord, it's not like he has any influence to make difficulties for us. Until the situation changes, I don't see what we gain from pushing it. We wanted his vote more than anything, right?"

"And if he joins Zekram or The Old Satans?"

"He won't." Falbium answered, "He wants two things. His families' safety and his business to prosper. The Old Satan's goals threaten the former, while Bael will only allow the latter if he also benefits. Sagan struck me as too greedy to be happy with that."

"So we wait and see?" At the resulting nods, Serafall turned to the last Satan who had been silent so far, "Do you have something to say about the death of your nephew, Ajuka?"

The green haired Satan blinked, "Not really?" At the disbelieving looks he received, he shrugged, "Falbium's explanations and plans were logical."

Seeing the reactions of Serafall and Sirzechs to that, he tilted his head, "Did I say something wrong?"

"No." Was the strained reply, "What did you want to discuss with us? Something about the negotiations with Heaven?"

The meeting continued swiftly after that, the beginning paling in comparison to the news the Beelzebub gave after that. He had done something only God had managed before.

The Devils could now create Angels.

End of Act 1