An evening passed. Largely uneventfully. The trio of church emissaries wandered the town largely aimlessly, not having any particular leads. Or perhaps not wishing to give away whatever leads they might have had to their devil observers.

When it came time for them to retire, they didn't accept the expense of staying at a hotel, for whatever reason. So instead, their current observers, Rias and Sona, witnessed the odd charm of the priest in action once again. A woman in her late thirties at the youngest blushing like a teenager as Issei talked his and his compatriots' way into her home for the night.

"What the clergy get up to these days," Rias sighed with amusement. "How low the church has fallen."

"Yes, 'fallen'," Sona agreed with a roll of her eyes. "As though men of the cloth weren't constantly falling to their base urges throughout the history of the church." She folded her arms, watching the brunette exorcist run to try to get between the priest and the lonely middle aged woman. "He is what all holy men are. Human. Prone to human failings."

"You say that..." The redhead continued to watch them below, frowning, before smiling. "On second thought, no. I don't think this one has fallen to anything yet. I bet you a paddling he doesn't even touch that woman."

"Making a bet with a woman who has limited precognition seems like a poor idea to me. And what's with that look on your face? He hasn't charmed you, has he?"

"No. He's amusing, I'll give him that. But I'm more than happy with the man I have. Besides, even if I were interested, I get the feeling I wouldn't survive the encounter. He'd make it an all too literal religious experience."

Sona, unlike what many would expect from her, couldn't help but be darkly amused at the image it put in her mind. "He would! Praying to the angels thanking them for your tits, not even realising he's fucking your insides to ash!"

Rias scoffed in mock offense, betrayed by her smile. "The angels had nothing to do with these, thank you!" she declared, bouncing her breasts with her folded arms. "These are all me!"

"All you, plus your desire to match your mother."

"Please! Okaa-san is still bigger than me! Ah, I'm so jealous! But this is the curse of having only a modest chest, right Sona?"

The Sitri heiress' eyebrow twitched. She knew full well that Rias was just messing with her. She didn't need to see the redhead turn to look her way with her lips curled like a cat. "A paddling it is. You're on."

The two watched, waiting patiently for the result of their bet. Observing the inside of the house wasn't exactly child's play, especially with three devout Christians in there constantly throwing around prayers and praise of God. But for capable young devils it wasn't too much trouble. Not when there was a fun night and a sore backside on the line.

"Do you think Lelouch is right?" Rias asked in the quiet.

He had told them. He was as good as his word about being more open with them, especially on matters of Kuoh's security. And so he had told them the truth of what he believed was really happening. All the hostility from that church girl, she had no idea the devils were protecting her, not observing her. Though admittedly, protecting themselves at the same time.

"I trust his judgement," Sona answered, vague as necessary. Too many pieces lined up correctly to even doubt his conclusion, let alone dismiss it. "We asked for this, Rias. We can't falter now."

"I know." The reality of it was a little more demanding and a lot more extreme than either devil had expected, however. "Ooh, look look! She's trying to seduce him!"

The two watched as the middle-aged woman approached the young priest in his room, wearing only lingerie. She was definitely considered over the hill, especially in Japan, but she was certainly putting her best foot forward, her negligee hinting at as much as it revealed. Yet at the same time, a hint of nipple peeked out of the cups of her bra.

The priest smiled gently, approaching the woman. "He's praying again," Sona said with a wince. "Come on, go for it. You can do it."

"Sona! Are you suggesting indecent behaviour?!"

"You can't pretend I'm a prude when I took your anal virginity," Sona shot back, staring intently at the scene in the house. "Looks like we're not the only voyeurs."

"Oh, the brunette has a naughty side too, how nice," Rias praised the exorcist for her debauched ways.

"He's reaching out! Go on! Grab them you obsessed lecher! Yes!" Sona exclaimed her victory as his hands grasped the woman's ample bosom, seeming to weigh them in his hands. "Your buttocks better be ready, Rias."

"Always."

Another frustration for Gremorys, or Rias in particular. They may have had very limited, undirected precognition. It wasn't precise. They weren't infallible. It was difficult to know when they were making a choice with good reason or just poor judgement. But in Rias' case in particular, it was just as possible she did it because she was a lewd gremlin who wanted a spanking. Sona had no idea whether losing the bet was intentional or not. Well, Rias was sure to be willing to relieve any frustration she might have caused with such uncertainties.

Hm. Maybe Rias should have a sore ass for multiple reasons.

"Oh wow, she's... She's really loving that," Rias said as she continued to watch the priest molest a woman. "My boobs are pretty sensitive but even I don't enjoy getting them fondled that m– Wait... Did she just cum?" the Gremory asked in bewilderment. "Did that priest just make her climax just from having her tits fondled?! Over her bra?!"

"So it seems, and both of them seem satisfied with the outcome," Sona agreed. The priest sat back on his borrowed bed and bid the woman good night. "... Does she seem... Perkier to you?"

"He... Rejuvenated her tits?!" The redhead shook her head in amazement. "The more I learn about him the more curious I am, but at the same time the less I want to do with him."

One might think this would be the most interesting thing to happen that night.

Hours later, Rias and Sona would be relieved from their shift. They would go home, have some private fun before sleeping together. Hours later again, the shift that relieved them would be themselves relieved.

And Rias would be woken by incoming telepathy.

-(-)-

"I shouldn't be surprised, yet I am."

"Buchou–"

"Don't. You can speak when I'm done."

Rias hadn't thought Kiba was over the trauma of his imprisonment by rogue elements of the church. That would have been an absurd thing to think, and horribly dismissive of the struggles he went through. The memories he must have continued to struggle with to this day. But... She thought he was managing! She thought–!

... She thought. "This is my fault. You managed to keep control of yourself during the meeting. I thought that meant you would be able to handle this. I was wrong."

The Gremory had gotten the full story from her Queen. Kiba had seemed fine when their shift began. The house had been quiet and they were left with little to do but watch over the church trio and ensure nothing happened. But, in the early morning, Xenovia had opened the window and seen them. Her hand wrapped around the hilt of her Excalibur. Kiba said she smirked at him. Akeno said she didn't. Whichever was true, the swordsman saw red and launched himself at the window. It was only Akeno's quick action that stopped him from doing something potentially disastrous and even then, he might have confirmed Xenovia's hostile approach for her as the correct one.

Rias felt humiliated. Sona had been pushing so hard for everyone to see and respect their efforts as the owners of this town. And now all of that was undermined because Rias couldn't control her peerage. And that because she couldn't recognise the pain and rage one of them was feeling thanks to her orders.

"... You're going to be confined to the old school building with Loup and Gasper until this incident is over."

"What?!"

"It might be a punishment but it's for your own good." If he couldn't handle being around them, it was best for everyone if he wasn't around them. That was best for preventing an unnecessary conflict, that was best for Kiba's wellbeing.

He grit his teeth together. Rias had never experienced him staring at her with such hatred, like he was putting her in the same category as those who tortured him. But before she could try to explain, he was gone. "Kiba!" The door slammed shut before she even began to call his name.

"Shall I go after him, Buchou?" Akeno asked.

"Kiba is a Knight, and he prioritises speed and skill over everything else. He was long gone before you even asked the question." The redhead let out a frustrated sigh. Another failure. A decision that only made the situation worse, both for the Excalibur situation and for Kiba himself. "Asia will be joining your shift monitoring the exorcists. I... I need to go ask someone for a favour."

Akeno giggled. "You say that like he wouldn't bend over backwards to help you."

That was the problem. He shouldn't need to.

-(-)-

"So... Does anyone else feel a little sorry for the ditzy exorcists and their boob freak?"

Mash raised her hand. The only one to do so in answer to Kallen's question.

"Oh sweetheart," Sara said as she gently put the Knight's hand down, "It's adorable but that nice streak is going to get you in so much trouble someday."

Mash pouted. "I wasn't the one who brought it up!" she said, defending her supposed 'nice streak' that the Queen of the peerage obviously shared. "They put their faith in something, they trusted people who seemed to believe in the same things, and in the end they're being betrayed. Nobody deserves to be treated like that."

Kallen Kozuki nodded in agreement, having lived through what appeared to be a similar experience at the time. "That kind of trust. You can't put a price on that, but people sell it anyway."

"I don't agree no one deserves such treatment," Anastasia said, remembering the person she was perfectly fine with receiving such treatment even as they spoke. "But... Uncritically believing what you were taught your whole life, I don't think that reaches that level at all."

Lelouch had told them, of course. Just as he had told Rias and Sona. Having a sharp mind and being a duplicitous snake himself, the conclusions he drew felt blindingly obvious to him. Like he shouldn't have needed to tell anyone the overwhelmingly likely possibility for what was really happening.

The exorcists were being conned. Likely by their own superiors who had been compromised in some fashion. Whether those superiors themselves had been conned and fallen for it, or were actively complicit in the ruse, it didn't matter currently. What mattered was that five of the seven Excaliburs had all been gathered in the same city. The reason for such an arrangement could only be that someone was attempting to reforge the original Excalibur.

The only perplexing part was it being five Excaliburs, not six. The inability to get one of them made sense. Arthur still possessed Excalibur Ruler and it would be difficult to retrieve from him for many reasons. Not least of which was finding him. But the one other that remained... The exorcists weren't forthcoming on which other was still sequestered by the church. But if three could be taken, two more arranged to be delivered, why not the final one the church possessed?

It was into the contemplative breakfast scene that the King of this peerage entered. "Master! Are you joining us?" Mash asked, getting to her feet in hopes of making something for him.

"I'm afraid not. There has been a situation. Shirone," he called for the young nekoshou whose head perked up, colourful hoops of an absurdly sugary imported cereal stuck to her face. "And... Mash, you come too. We have work to do."

"Anything serious?" Kallen asked. "Is it about the exorcists?"

"Not really. Just some personal drama. Oh, and we'll be covering some of the monitoring shifts."

One half of the back row of the Bael peerage watched the other half leave. Only when the King was gone did Kallen ask. "Think we can pawn off babysitting duty on the new recruits?"

"Ha, pawn," Sara said, not showing her amusement beyond a spoken laugh, "I see what you did there."

"... What? What'd I do there?"

What Shirone was needed for was simple and on explanation she sighed, demanding caramel ice cream for after dinner dessert. Making demands of her King would probably not go over well in other peerages, but she and Lelouch had found an equilibrium as a result of it. The catgirl who went from lazy to energetic at a moment's notice only demanded simple creature comforts. Something Lelouch could provide without an ounce of worry. If that was the limit of her demands for doing her duty, catering to those demands genuinely didn't matter to him in the slightest.

The job itself was simple, if time-consuming. With her senjutsu, Shirone could detect the natures and energies of the life around her. With Kiba having run off, all it would take to find him would be to know where the devils should be, which they did, and find the odd one out. Assuming that Kiba was still in town, but due to his most hated foes being almost entirely localised in Kuoh, there was little chance he would leave.

It would have been wonderfully convenient if she was also able to sense the Excaliburs and render the search for the thief a trivial matter. Unfortunately, much like when Lelouch used the finest scrying facilities to search for Excalibur Ruler, the energies of the holy swords were only meaningfully detectable when they were being actively used.

"Master," Mash asked as Shirone meditated on a rooftop, "Why bring me for this?"

"Of everyone in town, I believe you have the best chance of empathising. Talking him around. Your situations aren't the same, but..." He didn't elaborate further on that point. "Also, he'll have a harder time just running off again from another Knight."

"Found him," Shirone announced, her lips pursing.

"Where is he?"

"You're not going to like it."

Lelouch very much didn't, but he couldn't say it was surprising. Kiba was obsessed with the Excaliburs after all. And so the three of them moved to a rooftop above the location of not just Kiba, but also the exorcists, nodding at the exorcists' scheduled observers. Then, Mash moved down to the street.

"Kiba."

"Gh!" The blond boy turned, shocked and annoyed. "You. How did you find me?"

"Is that important?" There was no need to tell him that. It wouldn't change anything for either of them. He knew he couldn't hide just by how quickly they had found him.

That didn't mean he wouldn't try to run. The scion of Galahad having speed enough to meet him, her eyes widened when a sword appeared in his hand. Her own slipped free of its sheath to meet it in a clang of metal against metal. Once, twice, three times. "Leave me alone!"

The commotion gathered attention. For most it was easily diverted, but for one curious girl on a mission, she comfortably ignored any attempts to stop her through the usual means of hypnosis. And so, with no better options, and an agreement that they would only observe, the devils let her move toward the duelling swordsmen.

"Why are you doing this, Kiba?"

"You know why! They must've told you! It's not like anyone thinks my feelings matter!"

"No, no one told me. Not why," Mash answered, still meeting his attacks but not launching any of her own, even as he upped the pace by adding another sword in his off hand. "Master told me you tried to attack the exorcists, that's all."

"If you don't even know then you have no right to stop me! I have to destroy the Excaliburs! After what they did–!"

"What did they do?" Mash asked again. "Kiba, I want to understand. Please."

"The Holy Sword Project!" he snapped at her. "The church wanted to manufacture holy sword wielders. What's a better way to do that than kidnap dozens of orphans to experiment on!" Their swords clashed, his rage adding weight to his, his teeth grit together as he remembered it all. "Everything we went through, all the pain, we thought it was worth it! They told us that when they were done, when they found out what they needed, we would be special! That's the promise they made to keep us willing, right until the project ended and they had to get rid of the evidence! We suffered for them! We died for them! All so they'd get people to wield those swords!" He reared back and struck again with both swords, only for Mash's shield to slam into them at the wrong angle.

The blades shattered, Kiba knocked back from the force of the unbalancing strike. Looking down at the broken hilts and throwing them away. "There! Are you satisfied now?! Knowing what they did to us for those damn swords you love so much?! How does it feel?!"

"... It hurts," she answered. "Of course it does."

"That's why," he said with clenched fists. "That's why they need to be destroyed. If they're worth more than our lives, then they don't deserve to exist!"

Stabbing her might have been kinder than saying those words. "... I see. I understand why you feel that way. I feel that way sometimes too."

"Don't lie! I saw how much you loved them! You cried over them!"

"I wasn't talking about the Excaliburs." Yet in his rage, the swordsman wasn't able to comprehend what she meant. "Kiba, do you think it will feel good to destroy them?"

"Don't try to talk me out of it! I've made my choice!"

"Will you feel satisfied? Will the pain go away? Will it change anything at all but take away the scapegoat for all your pain and hatred?"

"I don't care," he snarled. "I can't do nothing! So long as those swords exist, there'll be monsters willing to do what they did to us all over again to some other kids!"

"They don't need the Excaliburs for that," Mash gently reminded him, looking away. "I'm living proof." That was when he understood. When she said she wasn't talking about the Excaliburs, she meant she was talking about herself. "One hundred and eighty-two souls. Close to two hundred people who had no idea why they were taken, what it was for. Their souls were carved up. What made them who they were, it was chopped into bits to, to get what was considered valuable. Everything else thrown away.

And in the end, all of that was to make me. I was made from the worst thing I can imagine. If I could die and bring them all back, I would do it. No one would need to ask. No one else would get a say. I would give up my life with a smile knowing I was righting such an unforgivable wrong." She swallowed, refusing to give in to the urge of letting her despair show. "I wish," yet still, her voice cracked, "I wish the world was that kind, but it isn't. My death won't bring them back. Destroying the Excaliburs won't bring your friends back."

"... I know that. Of course I know that! But what else am I supposed to do?!"

On the roof, Shirone's ears perked up. Her nose twitched. "Lulu-nya. There's something."

Her King looked over, chased her as she ran to the edge of the roof. "What is it?"

The catgirl looked back and forth, trying to see what she could otherwise sense without issue. But she saw nothing. Just the blue-haired exorcist who was doing nothing but eavesdropping on the two Knights.

Xenovia herself also sensed nothing, save for shame for everything she was hearing. The Holy Sword Project. It was a known quantity, as much as such things were allowed to be known in the church where speaking of faults and flaws was strongly discouraged. But it was a heresy that couldn't be kept from her. Not as a natural holy sword wielder. Not when her partner was granted the fruits of those horrific acts. To think there had been a survivor. To think that the survivor would become a devil.

... No. Of course he would. After everything the church had done to him, he was perhaps more justified than anyone else in joining the enemies of God. God had done worse than abandon him.

Even admitting such a thing to herself felt like ripping her own heart in half. She had been taught to love and praise God. She had been taught that he loved all of his creations, that anyone who rejected that love would go to Hell. That they had refused to be saved. But this...

So in her thoughts and feelings she was, Xenovia didn't register that the heated conversation between Knights was growing difficult to hear. That the wind seemed to cease. But these oddities were the reason she couldn't perceive the rush of air in her direction. The two quick footsteps.

And yet still her sword was halfway out of its sheath when another chopped her right arm off. "AHHHH!"

"SURPWISE!" exclaimed a man speaking in childish tones. A white haired young man grabbed the arm still holding Excalibur Destruction, waving with it, taking the sword and throwing the hand back at her so it would slap her in the face. "FUCK YOU LATER! THANK YOU FOR THE GIIIIFT!" And then he vanished once again.

On the roof. "Shirone! Find him! Guide Mash!" Lelouch put a hand up to his ear. "Mash–!"

"Yes, Master!" came the immediate answer as he saw her dash after the man in the direction he had gone. They didn't have much time. Excalibur Transparency. It had to be. Which meant as long as he was using it Shirone could sense him, but the moment he stopped–

"He's gone."

Lelouch grit his teeth. "Mash, white hair, priest robes, swords, can you see–?!"

"Lulu-nya," Shirone said, interrupting him. "He didn't stop using it. He's gone. Teleportation."

The Bael breathed in and out through his nose, before jumping down from the roof to where Issei and Irina were trying to help Xenovia. "You three."

"I... I sorry... Lord, I f-failed..." Xenovia tried to say, staring down at the bloody stump of her arm. Her lone, trembling hand reaching out but afraid to touch the rent flesh and bone.

"You're coming back to the school with us. Now."

-(-)-

A/N: This chapter seen very very early on THE GREAT FORBIDDEN P! FEAR THE P! LOVE THE P!