High School DxD - Re:Incarnation of Malevolence

by LoneTaker

In one corner of the infinitely-vast universe, there lies an unfinished story of a first-year high school student burdened with the powers of the seven of the most evil creatures of yore. Now it is rewritten anew, as the shadows of both past and future begin waiting in this thorny road of self-actualization. (adopted from dvdryms' original story canceled in 24th of January, 2024)

23. Ride 22: Re:Call

Ride 22: Re:Call

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26th of May, 2019 AD

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Everyone returned to ORC as soon as their train ride stopped at Kuoh.

No words were said since they've entered their main building, with Rias trying to connect with Sona over the phone while his longtime friend that he hasn't seen for the good half of a decade was in another room, contacting with his superiors from the other side of the supernatural binary, Yuuto being taken upstairs to have his head injuries mended more thoroughly by Akeno and later watched over by Koneko, leaving Takeshi sitting on the sofa next to Pandora, with the latter summoning Gin, her Cath Palug familiar, to cuddle against her as her therapy pet, all in the hopes of getting through the rest of this long, arduous, and turbulent day that was supposed to be relaxing.

As he sat in silence, his ears tuning out his President's call with the Student Council President and Gin's mewls, Takeshi's mind swam with various thoughts of his old friend now being an agent of God and His Angels whereas he was a Devil whose soul was bound by seven of the world's most dangerous Evil Dragons, with three of them active and awake in this world.

How funny fate can be, whelp, Nidhogg taunted. To think one of those choir krakkar was once your childhood friend...

Well, when push comes to shove, then kill him with the respect deserving of a holy warrior! Grendel advised (to the best of his ability). ... That's what friends do, right? I'm trying to help the brat, but I'm still new to all of this "friendship"-business.

Silver lining, if you do kill him, he came with two side bitches that you could make 'em lay with and worship you in place of their beloved Deus Trinity! Yamata no Orochi cackled in elation. To the victor goes the spoils of war, bro! Lookin' forward to how it all ends!

Can you three keep it down? Takeshi begged internally. ... My head hurts from the whiplash that was this day alone.

... You know what, I can appreciate the quiet myself, the Evil Dragon of Envy remarked. I'll leave you alone for the rest of the night. There's always tomorrow, after all.

It's only a matter of time before we end up in another scrap, the Evil Dragon of Wrath snickered as he receded back to his prison. ... Don't hesitate to wake me up when the time comes, alright?

I just manifested last week, so fuck you, I'm going all night, baybee! the Evil Dragon of Lust chortled in defiance, much to Takeshi consternation. Ka~ka ka ka ka!

The Evil Dragon User lets out a low groan, catching Pandora's attention. "... Are you alright?" she asked while holding up Gin. "... Do you need her to calm you down?"

Takeshi stared at the Cath Palug, the latter trying to use its hypnotic eyes to weaken him, only for her to relent upon provoking the Evil Dragons resting in his soul, causing her to flail her claws around in panic.

"... I don't think Gin-chan wants to help me," he commented, to which the ex-Calamity Witch withdrew her pet cat.

"I'm sorry I can't help you..." Pandora muttered under her breath before her head was patted by Takeshi.

"It's alright," he reassured as the door opened. "... We'll get through this. I promise."

The opening doors let in three of the individuals from the train being led in by Akeno right at the same time when Rias connected Sona through her laptop, the Sitri King in question in her loungewear and her hair bound in a pink towel headband, like if she had just finished washing up for the evening.

"Would any of you like some tea?" Akeno asked as the three guests sat down on the sofa across where Takeshi and Pandora were sitting.

"I don't accept anything served by a Devil," the blue-haired girl curtly remarked without even batting an eye.

"Come on..." the pigtailed girl sighed. "... You don't have to be such a jerk about it."

"Sorry, but we'd rather not impose," the blond young man politely declined.

"Alright, just for the President and company, I suppose..." Akeno then walked out of the door before closing it. "... Feel free to tell me when any of you change your mind, alright?"

The office doors close, leaving the three Devils with the three agents of Deus Trinity (aka, God), with Sona as their (virtual) witness.

"... Alright, what kind of mess did you and your Peerage end up in this time?" Sona asked through her ZOOM call while Rias sat herself between Takeshi and Pandora. "So much for a day off..."

Rias lets out a small groan. "... Before we begin, I'd like to address a few housekeeping matters," she said as Rias crossed her arms and legs. "... Do your direct superiors know of this happening as we speak?"

"They do," the blond young man confirmed with a nod. "... They're allowing us to hold this meeting, but they're not exactly happy about it."

"Stupid heretics, always stirring up the pot at the most inopportune times..." the blue-haired girl grumbled under her breath. "... We wouldn't be doing this if it weren't for you Devils getting in the crossfire."

"Although to be fair..." the pigtailed girl nervously chuckled while scratching the back of her head. "... No one expected you guys to be on a day off... but I forgot that today is also the day of rest as our Lord decreed!"

Takeshi silently nods in agreement.

"Thank you for letting me know," Rias acknowledged before looking towards the laptop with Sona on it. "... My brother did get notified, right?"

"Mm hm," Sona nodded as she checked her reply on her phone. "He got your notice. Everyone's in the clear."

"Any chance of eavesdroppers?" the blue-haired scrutinized.

"My familiars are patrolling all over this town, and I erected a soundproof barrier on top of my other barriers around this general area," the President reassured. "No stone will be left unturned, that much I assure you all."

Akeno then comes back in with a tea set before setting it down and pouring the cups for Rias, Takeshi, and Pandora.

"I'll watch the door." She then goes back outside, shutting the door on her way out, leaving the six (seven counting the ZOOM call) alone.

Once the silence set in, the atmosphere became tense at the two formerly-opposing sides now facing each other in the most unforeseen of circumstances, and trying not to murder one another because of the whole "Angel VS Devil"-cliche that got played out to (literal) death.

The tension is so thick and throbbing...! The Evil Dragon of Lust's cackle then echoed in the back of Takeshi's head. ... I could just taste it!

Hilarious, Takeshi internally deadpanned before clearing his throat to break the silence putting everyone on edge. "... Alright, now that we're all here, can we all get started?"

"Yes, of course." Rias then also clears her throat before making her introduction. "... My name is Rias Gremory. I am the King of my personal Peerage, President of Kuoh Academy's Occult Research Club, and a contributor in a joint-protectorate that is this very town."

"I am Sona Sitri," she greeted over on Rias' laptop. "I am also a King of my own Peerage and partner in said joint-protectorate that my peer has referred to earlier."

"... I'm Pandora Othrys." The girl then quickly bows her head before adjusting her shades. "... And I'm a Knight of the Gremory Peerage and legally blind. This is my friend, Gin. Say hello, Gin."

The Cath Palug kitten mewls in response, causing the pigtailed girl to squeal in delight, the blue-haired girl rolled her eyes in annoyance, while the blond young man nervously chuckled.

"And I'm Ryuugamine Takeshi," he greeted. "Holder of all eight Pawn Evil Pieces for the President, and as some of you may already be aware of..."

He then manifests his [Cataclysm Zone] around his waist.

"... Current and Fiftieth Evil Dragon User," he finished before looking down on his belt. "... Say hello, everyone."

"Greetings, you choir krakkar," the Evil Dragon of Envy said from the ashen-gray gem of the accursed Sacred Gear. "Let's all try to get along before the knives come out, understood?"

"Don't care about the 'when,' they all look pretty strong!" cackled the Evil Dragon of Wrath as the gem turned green. "It's a pity that I couldn't see you all in action earlier!"

"Nice company you got there with ya, blondie," the Evil Dragon of Lust smarmily remarked through the indigo gem. "... Have you guys done what the priests do to little boys behind the pews yet?"

Just before the things could escalate before the meeting could get started, the blond young man stops the blue-haired girl from reaching for her concealed weapon while Takeshi immediately goes into damage control-mode after that last statement.

"For the record, they do not speak for me!" he vehemently insisted.

"... We'll see." The blue-haired girl then sits back down before turning towards the blond young man. "... Do we really need to get them involved?"

"Well, one of our targets attacked them for a reason, so at best, I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt." Then he introduces himself. "... Greetings to you all, Devils of Kuoh Town. My name is Leon Ainsworth. I am an Inquisitor aligned with the Church's Orthodox Faith, and leader of this outfit you all see before you."

"... Xenovia Quarta," the blue-haired girl curtly greeted. "... Exorcist of the Church's Catholic Faith."

"And I'm Shidou Irina!" the pigtailed girl enthusiastically greeted. "I am an Exorcist representing the Church's Protestant Faith and a fighter for good and justice!"

"Shidou..." Takeshi mused out loud. "... Are you perhaps Japanese, Shidou-san?"

"Just call me Irina, Ryuugamine-san," the Exorcist reassured. "But yeah, my father's Japanese and my mother's British. I was born and raised in this town, funnily enough. That is... until we had to move to England after my family home caught on fire before I could finish primary school. Been living in Leeds for a good decade or so."

"Ah, that explains the whole 'township development' my dad's been transferred here for..." Takeshi thought out loud in a mutter. "... Oh, and you can call me Takeshi, Irina-san. Formalities are bull, anyway."

Rias then claps her hands to catch everyone's attention.

"Alright, so with the introductions out of the way..." she speaks before sipping her tea for a moment, the chamomile easing her nerves before she resumes her negotiation. "... I'll be blunt, what the Hell is going on? I don't exactly recall various Faiths within the Church coming together for a common goal."

"We don't need to tell you anything," Xenovia replied just as bluntly. "... What happens to you Devils during our assignment is of no consequence to us."

"Need I remind you that the Fallen Angel attacked us back at the train?" Takeshi pointed out. "... It may be just a 'me' problem, but usually, when people try to murder one or all of us and escape, they usually tend to come back for another round. So, if anything, we're involved in whatever you're involved in, whether any of us like it or not."

Just before Xenovia could protest, Irina interjects.

"... He has a point," she commented. "... We're not exactly doing any better or worse than they are right now. We could only get lucky so many times, and who knows? Maybe we can accomplish more if we work together rather than against each other."

"I trust Devils as much as I could resist turning them into grease spots with my blade," the blue-haired girl growled in apprehension.

"Then consider this a trial from Deus Trinity Himself," Leon persuaded. "... After all, the Devil exists to test whether our faith in our Lord is genuine or not."

Xenovia then lets out a long sigh before reluctantly withdrawing her prior position. "Fine," she pouted. "... But I don't have to like it."

"Thank you." Leon then clears his throat. "So, in regards to our 'assignment,' each of us were tasked with tracking down [Excalibur] fragments that were stolen from each of our aligned outposts, and we are see to that they are either returned intact, or if push comes to shove, destroy it."

"We're really hoping for the former," Irina pointed out. "Latter is kinda hard to do."

Takeshi blinks. "... Hold on," he said out loud. "... [Excalibur] is not just one Holy Sword?"

"Perhaps an explanation is needed," Rias remarked. "... May I?"

"You may," Leon answered, with Xenovia trying her best to suppress her murderous urges, to which the Evil Dragons delightfully feasted upon behind closed doors.

"Thank you." The President then turns towards Takeshi, who was sipping his tea before readying himself to listen. "... As you already know, [Excalibur] is THE Holy Sword when one thinks of the phrase 'Holy Sword'."

"Out of all the Holy Swords recorded in the world's history, [Excalibur] was the one that came the closest to replicating Deus Trinity's holy energy potency," Sona continued. "Just one, well-placed strike can fell an Ultimate-Class Devil and destroy their soul in the process, preventing them from ever reincarnating."

"Its renown is legendary," Pandora added. "Even people living under rocks their whole lives have heard of [Excalibur] to some degree, like me."

Takeshi lets out a whistle. "Sick," he commented before he turned towards the three operatives of Deus Trinity. "... So why break it into pieces? Seems like a waste."

"You are aware that Holy Swords choose their wielders rather than the other way around, right?" Xenovia deadpanned. "... Such a powerful blade like the [Excalibur] is notoriously picky on whoever can wield it."

"Chances of the complete [Excalibur] choosing and designating a User is million to one," Irina clarified. "... So, by the time the Great War was already in full swing long after King Arthur's death and the fall of Camelot, [Excalibur] was just collecting dust because literally no one else could use it... so an initiative was proposed."

"Disassemble [Excalibur] into seven pieces and reforge them into separate Holy Swords to lower the bar of its User candidates," Leon revealed. "... It worked as intended... in that the separate blades are still notoriously picky on who can let them use it, but still."

"Anyway, regarding the statuses of the [Excalibur] fragments," Rias cut in, "where are they as of now?"

Leon sighs before looking through his phone's notes. "... [Ruler] has been missing ever since the Great War, fragments [Transparency], [Nightmare], and just last week, [Rapidly], were stolen, with the surrounding compounds guarding said blades being slaughtered to the last man guarding the place."

"So whoever stole 'em already has their own 'candidates' in mind," Takeshi hypothesized, his mind already narrowing towards a certain assailant calling herself "Yozakura", still vividly remembering her sheathed jian dripping with Yuuto's blood like a well-used bludgeon. "... I can only think of Stray Exorcists and Fallen Angels being the only ones who can get close to such a thing. That 'Yozakura'-chick might be heavily involved, only because I think she's a little too overqualified to be a mere bodyguard."

Xenovia pouts. "... I could've taken her."

"The about-fifty flashbangs during her exit beg to differ," Pandora deadpanned.

"Anyway, do you have any security footage regarding the thefts that you can share with us?" Sona requested. "I think having fresh pairs of eyes might help."

"Sorry, but all evidence pertaining to the robberies were scrubbed without a trace," Leon revealed. "... The only things we can find at the raided Temple of Saint Seva were faint scents of bleach and a time log suspiciously missing about 2 hours worth of footage."

"We suspect a third party might be involved, if at least to serve as our thief's clean-up crew," Irina pointed out before shuddering. "... Whoever's behind this, they were thorough."

"Doesn't matter if we catch them in the end," Xenovia bluntly declared. "... Those heretics will die all the same."

"That makes four," Takeshi pointed out. "... Where are the other three?"

The three operatives of the Church exchanged quick looks with each other.

"... Do we must?" Xenovia asked.

"They're already in too deep," Irina pointed out. "... No point hiding it from them."

"And realistically, you already pointed one right at Takeshi's face back at the train," Leon added. "... They've already seen enough to start asking questions, so might as well not leave them hanging."

Reluctantly, Xenovia then joins her fellow Church operatives in revealing their weapons, with the one being a white band akin to a scrunchie with a ribbon as a knot bound around Irina's left bicep, the other being a massive claymore with an double-headed axe-like crossguard above its handle long enough to be held with three hands, whose massive three-pronged spade was bundled up in a wrapping of white cloth and twine held by the blue-haired girl, and an orate-looking European one-handed longsword with a curved, golden crossguard sheathed in a simple oaken scabbard that Leon pulls out from his person.

"... You three are the Users of the last three pieces," Sona commented. "A bold move coming from the Church, of all places."

"It's only a temporary arrangement for me," Leon pointed out. "Only Exorcists Shidou and Quarta are recognized as Users of their respective fragments."

"I see," Rias remarked. "And pray tell, which piece is used by who?"

"I'll start." Leon then partially unsheathes his blade, revealing a pattern of a green plant stem with leaf-petals engraved along the blade's flat before sheathing it back. "This right here is [Excalibur Blessing] that Egypt's Church of Alexandria loaned to me. Despite its appearance, it cannot cut through anything at all, but its ability to support my allies through passive enhancements and healing are second to none. That and its holy energy is enough to maim any Devil that gets too careless."

"This is [Excalibur Destruction], hailing from the hallowed halls of the Vatican," Xenovia introduced. "Its name speaks for itself."

"And mine is [Excalibur Mimic] from London's Westminster Abbey!" Irina then transforms her scrunchie band around her bicep into a katana. "It can turn into any form that I desire, as long as it's a mundane object or weapon of my choosing!"

"Sweet," Takeshi chuckled, finding the fragments themselves interesting. "Now I'm curious. What do the other pieces do?"

"Well, if I recall correctly..." Rias then begins racking her head around. "... [Transparency] renders the blade and User invisible, [Nightmare] can conjure illusions, [Rapidly] increases the User's speed, and [Ruler] basically allows its User to subjugate and control any living thing they delegate."

"Now onto the real question..." Sona pointed out. "What can be the possible motive behind all of these thefts?"

Everyone begins to ruminate before Pandora speaks out upon remembering something.

"... Come to think of it," she said. "... Why were the Stray Exorcists and Fallen Angel taking the same train as us?"

"Hold on, are we actually going somewhere with this?!" Takeshi pointed out. "... Then again, how the Hell did they get the drop on us?"

Rias then also remembers something. "... It wasn't just them," she pointed out. "... You mentioned that this 'Yozakura' behaved akin to a bodyguard, right?"

"Yeah," Takeshi confirmed. "I saw her stay behind and intercept Yuuto while the other Stray Exorcists were making a run for it. Those guys weren't interested in killing us, almost like they were protecting something... or someone."

"Did you catch a glimpse of whoever they were?" Irina asked.

"Nah," he answered. "Head was covered with a hood and had their back turned the whole time while Gadreel was trying to turn me into a morbid art piece."

"Fighting for one's life tends to do that to people," Pandora pointed out, to which Gin meowed in agreement.

"Wait, hood?" Leon pointed out before looking at his cohorts. "You don't mean...!"

Xenovia's eyes widened in slight shock as she knew what was happening. "... Can it be?"

"Are the rumors true?" Irina asked.

"Please explain," Sona requested as Leon then pulls out his phone before showing a blurry picture of a hooded man being escorted by another hooded man in the rain.

"... That's literally the exact same hood," Takeshi pointed out. "... Are you hypothesizing that these two might be the same guy?!"

"If it is, then we've reached the worst-case-scenario," Xenovia added.

"But before we elaborate, I must ask," he stated. "... Have any of you heard of the Holy Sword Project-?"

*snap*

*clatter*

Takeshi and Pandora look down to see that their President had held onto her teacup's handle a little too hard to the point where it broke and caused her to drop the cup onto the floor.

"... You've got to be shitting me," she remarked with a hushed tone that did a poor job of hiding her murderous intent.

"Elaborate, please!" Takeshi panicked.

In a moment of quick thinking, Pandora then holds Gin up to Rias' eyes, the former's hypnotic gaze suppressing her seeping rage back down to more manageable levels.

"... Thank you, Pandora."

The former Calamity Witch nods as Gin meows in affirmation.

After calming herself down, she then explains what this "Holy Sword Project" was about to the uninitiated.

"... As you already know, the Holy Swords are known to be picky with their Users, and [Excalibur], even after it was divided up into separate blades, wasn't producing enough Users in the long-term throughout the Church's history," she began. "So, the Church, being the absolute geniuses that they are, decided that if the swords don't have a wide enough of a pool to choose from... then they'll simply make it themselves."

"Hence began the Holy Sword Project, spearheaded by Father Valper Galilei," Leon added. "... I'm not going to sugarcoat it, that man is insane beyond all reason."

"The amount of children he killed from the Church's orphanages as his 'test subjects' earned him the ignominious moniker of 'Genocide Archbishop'," Xenovia commented. "... I never met the man, and I'm glad I never did."

"The so-called 'experiments' were nothing more than long, drawn-out murders," Irina remarked with a mix of disgust and horror in her eyes. "... When the Project failed to reach its set quota, the Church's higher-ups ordered all of its assets to be liquidated... including the test subjects that were still alive at that time."

Takeshi could feel it. The immense rage coming from Rias as she was listening to this recounting of the Church's atrocity.

"Don't be too surprised, whelp," Nidhogg commented. "... Remember, 'no one expects the Spanish Inquisition'."

"Good on 'em for mastering the art of torture ever since the Witch Hunts barbequing Jeanne d'Arc well-done!" Yamata no Orochi cackled. "... I would know, because I saw it myself. For a virgin, she at least knows how to scream like a whore. Got me all hot and bothered just thinking about it... MM!"

"... Well that's a waste of perfectly good soldiers," Grendel pointed out. "Sure, they'd die all the same like in the Crusades, but to think that the Church doesn't have the balls to let them die as warriors? Disgusting."

"Well apparently, the Church missed one," Rias remarked with venom dripping from her voice. "... His name is Kiba Yuuto."

Upon revealing that, Takeshi's throat goes dry as everything he'd known prior and heard now began to interconnect.

His first week with ORC, when he mentioned [Excalibur] to his face when Yuuto was showing off his [Sword Birth], the troubled expression that Takeshi himself briefly noticed back then. Suddenly, that one small moment, where he could've easily dismissed it as a one-off, has now new context that made everything completely horrible in hindsight.

"Oh... oh fuck me," Takeshi nervously chuckled before looking towards Rias. "... Did I accidently trigger his PTSD?"

Rias sighs. "... To be fair, you didn't know back then, so I won't blame you."

"S-So wait a minute," Pandora remarked. "... You're saying that Mr. Kiba was a survivor of the Holy Sword Project?!"

The President nods in confirmation. "... I found him on the verge of death at the foot of the Pyrenees a few years prior," she explained. "... His lungs were sporting damages akin to what chlorine gas does to its victims. I couldn't just leave him to die, so I took him into my House and healed him."

Takeshi then looked towards Leon. "... Okay, how did the Church get their grubby little mitts on what the Nazis used in their Death Camps?!" he asked. "... Don't tell me that Father Galilei was an ex-Nazi! Oh fuck! Is that why he's called the 'Genocide Archbishop'?!"

"No, the Church has done background checks on him," Leon clarified. "He joined the Church when he was only thirteen, so I doubt that he was active during WWII."

"That still doesn't answer the question..." Pandora hissed as she hugged Gin for comfort, feeling a sense of bile welling up in her chest and towards her throat.

"We don't know, okay?" Xenovia snapped. "Even if we can ask the Church for its acquisition records, we're all just slightly above rank-and-file. It's not in our place to be asking questions. Only that we do our duty."

"Where is he?"

Everyone then looked towards Takeshi, who'd just muttered those three words laced with rage.

"... Where is that goddamned asshole now?" he snarled.

Rias sighs before explaining.

"After I took Yuuto in, I abided by his request of finding his architect of his misery in hopes of finding him and delivering much-needed comeuppance," she revealed. "My brother's Knight, Okita Souji, spearheaded the year-long investigation, to which we narrowed down his location at Madrid, Spain. Damn coward set the hotel room he was hiding at on fire, leaving behind his charred corpse."

"You sure it wasn't a fake?" Takeshi remarked. "... I mean, if I were in that bastard's shoes and had access to some magic, I would've prepared a dummy with traces of my own DNA to throw off my pursuers."

"We'll worry about that later," Xenovia interrupted. "... It's not like bringing up hypotheticals can help us in the long-term."

"Speaking of, where did you get that photo from?" Sona asked. "And how does this relate to the Holy Sword Project that you have mentioned?"

"... It began with rumors circulating throughout the Church's ranks," Leon explained. "Rumors of a 'ghost' being found throughout Europe. A phantom that resembled a dead man who was last seen burning."

"At first, we sort of dismissed them because... well, they were rumors, and we had other priorities," Irina pointed out. "I mean, we kinda continued ignoring the rumors even as they became more frequent... until that picture was submitted as an anonymous tip."

"So, some of our civilian agents were sent to investigate at Grozny, Chechnya," Xenovia added. "Various stays at other hotels, check-in times, and the traces of the location moving towards the East. Our trail went cold right at the moment when the [Excalibur] fragments were being stolen, and thus, here we are."

"It's only a guess... but it may be our only lead at this point," Leon pointed out. "... The Stray Exorcists, that Fallen Angel, the theft of the [Excalibur] fragments, and that 'Yozakura'-person protecting that someone... then we can't ignore this in regards to our assignment. They may be the ones who know where the stolen [Excalibur] fragments are-!"

Then, a sound akin to stumbling and struggling was heard beyond the closed office door.

"SENPAI! CALM DOWN!" Koneko's voice begged. "YOU'RE TOO INJURED TO BE RUNNING ABOUT-!"

*SLAM!*

Yuuto then comes storming into the office, his head bandaged tight, his left eye blackened, and his face marred with bruises from the beating prior, and his rage swelling up like cancer.

"So the Church's dogs can't just leave me alone... can they?!" he growled.

"Yuuto, calm the fuck down!" Takeshi panicked as he, Akeno, and Koneko tried to hold him back from causing a scene, but even all three of them couldn't hold the injured Knight back from walking up towards the three Church operatives. "PANDORA!"

In desperation, she then tosses Gin into Yuuto's face, the Cath Palug using her hypnosis to quell Yuuto's rage.

"... Deep breaths," Akeno instructed the Knight as Gin returned to her mistress' lap.

Once Yuuto was calm, he was then set to return to his room...

"No," he begged. "... I need to hear this for myself. I... need to-!"

"To do what?" Xenovia deadpanned. "All I see is a broken mess of a Devil who can't even lift a sword, let alone take revenge."

The Knight's iris shrunk to a pinprick upon hearing that. "... What the Hell did you just say?!"

"... Look, Kiba-san," Irina interjected, trying to do damage control. "I cannot be sorry enough for what my organization has put you through... but I beg of you, please do not get involved. Our mission has to take precedence before more innocents die!"

"Innocents... what right do you have to claim that you're protecting the innocent?!" Yuuto hissed as Koneko and Akeno were holding onto his arms to prevent him from doing something stupid. "... My friends... back at the orphanage... give them back... GIVE THEM BACK, DAMMIT! THEY DIDN'T DESERVE TO DIE!"

"Will killing them bring them back to life?" Xenovia asked. "... I doubt that God will perform such a miracle for a Devil like you."

"They gave their lives... to help me escape...!" Yuuto's eyes began to tear up. "... How am I supposed to live with this rage in my heart... when there's no one left to deliver it to?!"

"Is that why you're aiming to compromise our mission of recovering the [Excalibur] fragments in hopes of destroying them?" Leon pointed out. "All for the sake of a symbolic gesture of revenge that you are entitled to?"

"THIS IS MY ONLY CHANCE!" Yuuto screamed as he tried to advance towards the three operatives of the Church. "... My friends died because of [Excalibur]... I WILL SEE THAT ALL OF THEM ARE DESTROYED!"

"You're a hindrance, Devil," Xenovia deadpanned. "You can't even destroy a Pocky stick with that piss-poor excuse you call swordsmanship."

"I DON'T NEED TO LISTEN TO THE WORDS OF SOME GORILLA BITCH PRETENDING TO BE A NUN!"

*snap*

"Oh crud," Irina gasped.

"You're dead." Xenovia then springs up from her sofa before lunging at Yuuto, holy to be held back by both Leon and Irina. "You're dead. YOU'RE DEAD, DEVIL!"

Then the whole room descends into a frenzy as both sides begin bickering and slowly edging towards murder.

Takeshi then looks at Sona at the ZOOM call, to which the Devil simply turned off her camera and muted herself (and presumably, the other side too). Realizing that he was on his own, he then tries to get the two to calm down by taking Gin from Pandora, only for the Cath Palug to begin scratching his face like a honey badger in heat.

"DAMMIT! GIN-CHAN! NOOO!" the Evil Dragon User cried out as he inadvertently joined in on the chaos, with Rias trying to pry the panicking kitten off of her Pawn's face.

In the middle of all this hair-pulling and hurling insults, Pandora was sitting on the sofa, her whole body trembling from the mounting stress being accumulated throughout the whole day...

"ARGGGGAAAAAHHHHAGAH!"

... The chaos stops once Pandora lets out a shriek so horrid and ear-piercing that it snapped everyone out of their rage-induced stupor and for Gin to release herself from Takeshi's face as she was held by Rias.

"ALL OF YOU, SHUT THE FUCK UP!" she shrieked out, unleashing her stress and rage that she'd been holding in all day. "OH MY GODS, YOU'RE ALL SO FUCKING INSUFFERABLE!"

No one protests as they all listen to Pandora's rant.

"NO ONE, FUCKING, CARES, OF WHAT ANY OF YOU THINK!" she continued. "IF NONE OF YOU ARE GOING TO LOOK INTO EACH OTHER'S' EYES AND ADMIT THAT ALL OF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM, THEN SAVE ALL OF YOUR SHIT FOR TOMORROW, BECAUSE IT'S GETTING LATE!"

Everyone silently nods as Pandora was left to heave heavily before realizing what she'd done.

"... Oh my gods, what have I said and done?" she gasped in shock.

"No, no, you have a point..." Rias groaned as she checked the clock before releasing Gin back to her other Knight. "... Everyone, it's getting late. Maybe we're all rushing into this."

Everyone groans, realizing that they all needed to unwind lest they kill each other in fit of mutual frustration.

"And that's my cue to leave." Sona then disconnects from her ZOOM call.

"... Okay, so where do we stay?" Leon asked as he and Irina released Xenovia.

"We have a chapel still in operation at the other side of the town," Rias pointed out.

"A Devil keeping a functioning temple of the Church within her territory?" the Catholic Exorcist commented. "How odd."

"I reserve the right to respect the people's freedom of worship," she replied. "I'm a Devil, after all. I don't rule like Deus Trinity. I simply offer an alternative."

Leon then looked towards Takeshi before bowing. "... I apologize on everyone's behalf," he stated. "... Admittedly, we've been running blind for the past week trying to track down the stolen [Excalibur] fragments... so we're a little tense ourselves as well."

"Yeah, and having our day off interrupted by a Fallen Angel and some masked chick would really ruffle our feathers..." Takeshi grimaced. "... Maybe we need to work out our shit in a more... healthy way."

"What do you have in mind?" Leon asked.

Takeshi then ruminates for a moment before walking up to Rias and whispering something into her ear.

"... A three-on-three sparring match between us and the Church's operatives?" Rias pointed out.

"Face it, President, there's some bad blood between us, and I would rather get it out of the way sooner rather than later, because if not, it'll possibly result in us accidently restarting the Great War," Takeshi pointed out. "... If we can't focus long enough to at least have semblance of unity, then we're all fucked."

The President sighs. "... Alright." She then pulls out her phone before making a call to someone. "I'll see if I can make some arrangements."

"Thank you." Takeshi then walks past Yuuto, who was being taken back to his bed by Akeno and Koneko.

"... Mark my words," he said to Xenovia. "... I will... surpass [Excalibur]! I'll show you... I'll show you... that I can best you all!"

The Exorcist then points toward both of her eyes before pointing the two fingers back at Yuuto. "... Watch your backs, Devils."

"Hey, Xenovia! Wait up!" But just before she could leave, Irina then turns back towards Pandora before bowing. "Thank you for snapping all of us out of that little mess. Honestly, it was getting a little too heated, with us being formerly opposing sides and whatnot."

"No, I should be the one apologizing," Pandora replied. "... I also lost my cool there like the others. I just happened to scream the loudest."

"Well, sorry if the noise overwhelmed you, with you being blind and whatnot," the Protestant Exorcist remarked. "See you tomorrow, everyone!"

And with that, the meet was adjourned as everyone goes back home, with Takeshi walking Pandora back to their home through the nighttime streets.

"... Crap."

"What is it?" Pandora asks Takeshi.

"We have school tomorrow!"

Pandora groans in disgust. "... As if that wasn't enough of a headache."

---

Elsewhere...

---

"Alright, I think we're in the clear," one of the Stray Exorcists remarked as he and his company escorted their person of interest into the countryside.

"Of all the places to end up with Devils, why a train?" another groaned while their hired help rubbed her temples to alleviate their aching head.

Then behind them, Yozakura and Gadreel appear. "Sorry for the wait, everyone," she apologized. "I went off-course by a mile and had to sneak aboard a bus."

"Forget that!" the Fallen Angel with the charred matador's dress bemoaned. "Look at me! My uniform is ruined!"

"Give it a rest, Lord Gadreel," the masked woman deadpanned as she approached the masked civilian. "... Alright, this is where your job ends. Here's your pay."

Yozakura then hands her an envelope full of yen bills and a photo of a certain man clipped with a written note.

"... It's the exact amount," the masked woman remarked as she adjusted her shades before stowing her pay away into her coat and handing over a ofuda tag with the character "隠"/"hidden" to her client. "... Feel free to conduct business with me soon."

"No problem, Akeboshi-san," Yozakura replied as she burned the tag with a lighter as the woman walked away. "... Or should I say, Nagare-san?"

The woman then stops in her tracks for a moment. "... Don't you dare call me by that name."

"I paid you, so screw you." Yozakura flips her off before walking away with her group, leaving "MIA" behind to rage in silence, unable to do anything to those who walked with demons and gods.

As the group of Stray Exorcists, Fallen Angel, and one swordswoman make their way towards the mountains with their VIP in tow, they begin to converse amongst themselves to kill some time while traversing.

"Where are we exactly heading?" asked one of the Stray Exorcists as he checked his Mini-Uzi's feeding mechanism. "I mean, if it's going to be a secret base, then they'd at least let us know where it's located, right?"

"The point of a secret base is that it remains a secret," Yozakura answered. "Unlike some people, I know how to keep my head down when the situation calls for it."

"Hmph! You're just jealous of my splendor, vagabond," Gadreel huffed haughtily. "Need I remind you of who was the one who brought you into our fold in the first place?"

Yozakura grumbles before noticing traces of frost throughout the tree's bark. "... We're here."

She then takes out a pair of suzu bells hanging by a woven cord before chiming them.

"... You're here."

A swirl of freezing wind stirs around them before revealing a young boy in a thick turquoise hoodie, thick olive-green cargo shorts, and a pair of white Converse shoes with two pairs of black-feathered wings descending upon the party.

"And you are?" Yozakura asked the cherubic-looking Fallen Angel.

"Nuriel," they answered before turning around. "Follow me."

The ground below them then alights with a magic sigil before teleporting them towards an isolated location: a small Japanese-style temple with a koi pond next to it.

"Ah!" The hooded VIP then separates from the group before looking around. "Can this place be...?!"

"Master," Nuriel said as they approached the main temple. "... They've arrived."

The doors slide apart, revealing Kokabiel, looking out towards his subordinates as they all bent their knee, save for the VIP, who was too engrossed by this place's wonder.

"You insolent cur!" Gadreel hissed under his breath. "Do you not realize whose presence you are in?!"

"Oh! My bad!" The hooded man then bows with everyone else. "... Apologizes for my impudence, Lord Kokabiel."

The Stray Cadre scoffs in dismissal before turning his back. "... Yozakura. Gadreel. Bring our esteemed guest into my quarters," he ordered. "Everyone else, return to your assigned posts."

The group disperses as the three that were called forth enter the temple itself. As they walked down the halls, they spot someone waiting for them, revealing a haggard-looking Stray Exorcist with shaggy gray hair spilling out below his beaten Roman hat, his face covered with bandages akin to a mummy, save for exposing his bloodshot eyes and teeth, and covering his hunched, but massive frame was a frayed trenchcoat that once was a part of a cleric's attire.

"Ah, so the 'Genocide Archbishop' graces us with his presence..." the bandaged man snickered before letting out a breathy sigh. "... Our God truly works in mysterious ways, especially to bring a dead man back to life!"

"Oh, you flatter me, Jacob Torres 'The Exterminator'," the hooded man mirthfully chuckled as he took off his hood while the bandaged man joined, revealing an unassuming and balding old man with a rounded pair of glasses over his round eyes. "... When reports of my death were exaggerated, then you know that I've done the bare minimum."

"Quiet," ordered Kokabiel as he nursed his head. "... Damn hangover."

The four then enter his study, which was nothing more than an old Japanese-style room with a study desk, and all over were scattered with stacks of papers with written magic formula, rolls of blueprints, magical tools and other relics, and several empty bottles of Jack Daniel's lying all over the floor.

Kokabiel grumbles as he clears out the mess to the best of his ability before sitting down behind his desk, facing the four.

"First of all, I'm glad that all of you can make it here," the Stray Cadre addressed. "At first, I was admittedly a little worried that my official exile from the Grigori would've put us in a disadvantageous position, but instead, I have all of the Three Biblical Factions running around blind thanks to the theft of the [Excalibur] fragments distracting them."

Father Galilei giggles in anticipation. "And when I heard of such a bold and heroic plan, I knew I couldn't say no!" he beamed, the disgraced Archbishop acting akin to someone fifty years-junior of his own age. "So far, I've heard rumors that you hold [Transparency] and [Nightmare] in your grasp, no?"

"And if timing serves well..." Kokabiel then checks his pocket watch and calendar. "... [Rapidly] should arrive... now."

Then out of nowhere, a Fallen Angel dressed as a civilian with three blackened wings asymmetrically haphazardly arranged and an eyepatch over her left eye appeared behind the four, spooking everyone as she made herself known.

"... Lailah," the Stray Cadre remarked. "Punctual as always."

Without a word, she then hands her superior a shinai bag with [Excalibur Rapidly] stowed inside.

"We're ready to take the offensive, Lord Kokabiel," Lailah said. "... Shall I prepare our forces?"

"I'll leave you in charge of tomorrow's plan of attack," he replied with confidence. "You'll know what to do."

"Hmph! A crippled Fallen Angel in charge of tomorrow's operation?" Gadreel huffed. "... No pressure or anything. Even dancing with two left feet can come out somewhat coordinated."

"... Gadreel, would you mind staying in the study with me for a bit longer?" Kokabiel ordered. "... Everyone else, out."

Yozakura, Valper, Jacob, and Lailah vacate their master's study, the sliding doors shutting themselves on their own.

*SHATTER!*

"YOU FUCKING IMBECILE!" The study's ambiance behind closed doors was then replaced with the Stray Cadre's rage and beatings wailed onto his subordinate. "YOU GAVE AWAY OUR ELEMENT OF SURPRISE JUST FOR YOUR OWN SELF-SATISFACTION! DOES IT KILL YOU TO NOT COMPROMISE MY ENTIRE OPERATION FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR OWN EGO?!"

Everyone outside of the study quickly walks away.

"Wow." Father Galilei then takes off his cloak to reveal that he was still dressed in his clerical attire. "... I would not want to be Lord Gadreel right now."

"I warned him, but he refused to listen to me just because I'm a recent recruit," growled Yozakura. "... He brought it upon himself."

"We should forgive our fellow brothers and sisters-in-arms, but I suppose a little discipline couldn't hurt," Jacob commented in a neutral tone.

"Enough about him, we all need to talk." Lailah then leads the three of them into her war room, depicting a map of Kuoh and scribbled all over with marks indicating which spots are "O"s or "X"s, indicating ideal and unfavorable incursion points. "Everyone, make yourselves comfortable, and be ready to listen."

Everyone sits down as their assigned commander lays out their plans.

"Okay, so all of you may be aware, the Church has sent their own [Excalibur] fragment Users after us, and have made contact with the Gremory Peerage," the Fallen Angel explained. "I've just received intel from our sponsor that the two parties are on the verge of forming a temporary alliance against us, albeit inconclusive."

"Bah! And those Church dogs have the gall to call me filthy for me killing those touched by those Devil filth," Jacob scoffed. "Hypocritical cowards!"

"Arguably, it's the most logical choice," Yozakura protested. "Since Lord Kokabiel has put all of the Biblical Factions in a runaround by inciting as much chaos as possible, of course they would counter our wild card with the Gremory's own wild card."

"Ah! The Evil Dragon User, you mean!" Valper pointed out. "A fitting antagonist to the start of our heroic legend!"

"In any event, our coming stage has shifted," Lailah continued. "I've received reports that the Gremory Peerage has restocked on their familiars and have reinforced their defensive perimeter around the town. But like all walls, there are a few cracks that we can exploit."

"The map," Jacob pointed out before flashing a bloodthirsty grin. "So what are we waiting for?! Let's commence our attack now-!"

"No," Lailah vetoed. "We've merely figured out the 'way' in, but we've yet to utilize our 'method'."

"Our Lady has a point," Valper remarked. "A breaching plan is useless without a proper battalion to carry out the operation."

"And that's where you come in," the Fallen Angel said as she looked towards Father Galilei. "... As a former director and head researcher of the Holy Sword Project, I figured you can retrofit some of our own combatants to be more... combat-ready, per se. Are you willing to endeavor in that crucial task?"

"Say no more!" Father Galilei enthusiastically complies. "Making superheroes is the sole pleasure of my life!"

"Then I'll leave you to it." Lailah then leaves [Excalibur Transparency], [Nightmare], and [Rapidly] behind before she disappears from plain sight, as if she never existed in the first place.

"Hm... to think that I'd be able to use these mighty instruments blessed by the Almighty..." Jacob commented with a breathy voice. "... Can you do it?"

Father Galilei chuckles before adjusting his glasses. "Leave it to me!"

His glasses then shine as a magic circle appears in front of one of the lenses, scanning both Jacob and Yozakura to check for their compatibility.

"Hm, Sir Torres, your parameters seem a little... lacking, to say the least," Valper revealed. "But worry not! You'll be right as rain after a few bodily adjustments. And speaking of which, your hardware is in some serious need of an upgrade."

"Do whatever it takes," Jacob replied with a hissing growl.

"As for you... oh my!" Valper then chuckles bemusedly as he sized up Yozakura. "... You're already a Holy Sword User, aren't you?"

"Out with it already," she bluntly replied.

"You can basically wield any [Excalibur] fragment without any modifications!" Father Galilei revealed. "Truly, you must be loved by God to be born with such a blessing!"

Yozakura scoffs as she then takes one of the fragments for herself. "Never took you for a comedian."

"Well, life is too bleak to not have a little laugh every now and then, no?" The "Genocide Archbishop" then led Jacob Torres elsewhere. "Come now! I'll make you into your ideal superhero!"

Soon enough, Jacob Torres was taken into a cabin refitted into an operating room staffed by other specialist Stray Exorcists. After a few hours of modifications, Father Galilei then comes out with his teal scrubs splattered with blood and hydraulics fluids alike, with the masked swordswoman waiting for him by the entrance.

"How is he?" she asked.

"Our little Exterminator will be up and walking by this afternoon! Arguably the best subject I've had the pleasure of working with!" Valper revealed as the sun rose over their secret base. "As for him being combat-ready... a few bottles of methamphetamines can be spared."

Yozakura grunts before turning away. "... For someone feared and reviled as the 'Genocide Archbishop,' you're surprisingly childish."

Father Galilei then sits down on the rock next to where she sat. "Tell me, lass," he began. "Do you know where we are right now?"

"Can't say," she replied. "Nor I give a shit."

Father Galilei gasps in shock. "And to think that you're loved by Holy Swords that all of the [Excalibur] fragments would surrender themselves to you!" he pointed out dramatically. "Lass, we are at Seki, Gifu Prefecture! Japan's very capital of swords! Katanas! Ōdachis! Wakizashis! Tachis! History of all Samurai started here! And we are at THE Nemichi Shrine and its humble koi pond!"

"... And?" she quizzically replied.

"Swords are the weapon of superheroes!" Father Galilei continued to beam like a child. "Don't you know King Arthur and his Knights of the Round, King Charlemagne's Paladins, and the 47 Ronin, all had swords?! Heroes of their time, guided by their swords to cut through the path they believed in! Just like me, you, and the rest of us here, we were shunned by our former peers simply because they refused to finish the good fight!"

"I simply see swords as merely a tool that I can use," Yozakura dispassionately replied. "... I'm not this 'hero' that you fantasize about, Father Galilei. I'm just a killer. Nothing more."

The "Genocide Archbishop" then sighs. "... To each their own I suppose," he muttered with a shrug. "Pity though. You don't seem to realize how much you are loved by the Holy Swords."

"Love won't win battles, Father Galilei," she replied coldly. "Jacob Torres, in my opinion, is nothing more than a sad shell of an old man who simply prolonged his suffering."

The Archbishop sighs before speaking. "... Are you... aware of what happened to Sir Torres to make him like that?"

"I don't particularly care," Yozakura answered.

"At least hear me out, just to understand where your ally is coming from," Father Galilei requested before sharing Jacob's story. "... You see, Sir Torres was just a normal human child that lost everything that he loved at the hands of some Stray Devils. I heard rumors that they were originally part of House Bael, but nothing's confirmed. Anyway, he joined the Church's Catholic Faith after being orphaned, and began slaughtering Devils and their confidants, jumping into our Lord's work like a duck to water! But as time passed, his former peers grew to fear him, when they should've been inspired by him. And so, after one Stray Devil extermination assignment gone horribly wrong, he was left for dead, I found him mangled and half-buried in the Curonian Spit at Lithuania, sent him to my fellow Stray Exorcist contacts to fix him up, and well... the rest is history."

"Proving my point right there," Yozakura deadpanned. "He was blinded by his lust for vengeance and from the truth: that he was weak."

"Confident, aren't you?" The pair were then greeted by Kokabiel himself, to which the two bowed before him.

"Lord Kokabiel! I am glad to report that the modification was a smashing success!" Father Galilei revealed. "I think we'll be able to modify the rest of our combatants to be more able-bodied for our holy war!"

"See to it that it gets arranged," the Stray Cadre replied before turning towards Yozakura. "As for you, hast thou chosen your [Excalibur]?"

She then reveals her pick before stowing it away.

"... I can also see that your holy energy signature is enough to let you use all three [Excalibur] fragments all at once," Kokabiel revealed. "... Why not do that?"

"I only have two hands to work with, Milord," she replied. "One [Excalibur] fragment will be enough."

"And your own Holy Sword," he continued, seeing that its scabbard was bloodied as if it were used as a club. "... Pray tell, why haven't you unsheathed on your way here?"

"I have yet to face an opponent among their number that made me draw my blade, Lord Kokabiel," Yozakura boasted in a deadpan tone. "They are no threat."

"And who, exactly, will be enough of a threat to make you draw your blade, my dear Yozakura?" Kokabiel asked.

Yozakura smirks underneath her kitsune mask. "Perhaps that Evil Dragon User will pose enough of a challenge for me to fight with my full power," she mused. "But hypotheticals will remain as such, Lord Kokabiel. I prefer to deal with reality."

"Then I'll leave this coming task in your adept hands." Kokabiel then turns around to face Lailah. "Report."

"My attack plans are in the process of being finalized, Lord Kokabiel," she reported. "I'll be needing your pointers to see if we can iron out the finer details before I initiate the scouting phase."

"Then let us see to that." The Stray Cadre then walks back into the war room with Lailah.

"Oh, and Lord Kokabiel," the lesser Fallen Angel said. "... Is Gadreel available for this operation?"

"He's benched."

"Ah," the Fallen Angel replied nonchalantly. "Nothing's changed, then."

"It won't, I assure you." Kokabiel then sneers a wicked smirk. "... By the end of this day, the whole world shall know that we are not to be forgotten, and that their sins will never be forgiven!"

---

27th of May, 2019 AD

---

Takeshi then lets out yawn as school ends for the day, walking out of the school entrance with Pandora, the latter tapping her cane against the floor to play the role of a blind person (until the start of the next semester).

"... Rough day?" she asked.

"To be fair, I didn't have Yuuto to take the heat off of the withering stares at me just because I'm in a relationship," Takeshi answered, recalling that Yuuto was absent due to his head injuries inflicted by that "Yozakura" assailant. "... Is it just me, or is my 'predisposition' becoming less powerful as time goes on?"

No, that's not it, whelp, Nidhogg pointed out. ... The other strákar now hate you more than they fear you.

Can you blame those poor sods? Yamata no Orochi commented. Not everyone loses their V-card a threesome, nor was it kept that down-low anyway. Oh, and by the way, kudos to you!

If they have a problem with it, then they should act upon it, Grendel suggested. But instead, those cowards choose to do nothing but fester like corpses.

Civilization is both a blessing and a curse, Takeshi internally deadpanned before spotting a familiar pair of redheaded pigtails waiting next to the school gates. "... Irina-san?"

"Oh?" The Exorcist in incognito then walks up towards the pair, dressed in androgynous-looking civilian clothing consisting of a hoodie, sweatpants, and sneakers. "Takeshi-san! Pandora-san! I've been waiting for you!"

"How did you not get caught?" Pandora asked.

"Magic," the Exorcist replied. "... I mean, you guys put up spells that make you unnoticeable in dense crowds, right?"

Takeshi then points to the part of his waist where [Cataclysm Zone] would manifest itself at. "... Apparently, Evil Dragons hate it when I use magic to make my life easier."

Damn straight, the Evil Dragon of Envy commented.

Don't think you'll ever rest easy when we're around, brat, the Evil Dragon of Wrath growled.

I can't help you out in that department, bro, the Evil Dragon of Lust pointed out. ... Although, I do know a few skills that make your sex life absolutely ravishing!

... Can I sleep on that for a few moons? Takeshi replied.

Don't be a stranger, bro. The Evil Dragons then all return to their prisons as Takeshi, Pandora, and Irina make their way towards ORC.

"So," Pandora began, "what brought you to wait outside at our school out in the open? Given your line of work, I doubt anything besides us would be significant."

Irina nervously chuckled. "... So, around the morning, I kinda went on a jog, and found a certain nameplate at one of the houses around town," she answered. "... Tell me, does a boy named... Hyoudou Issei go to your school?"

Takeshi's eyebrow was raised. "... You know him?"

"He and I were childhood friends," Irina revealed. "He and I played at my house a couple times."

"Hm, small world," he commented. "... Was Issei a perv when he was a kid?"

Irina nods. "... I was kinda okay with it, although sometimes, he kinda went too far for my liking," she nervously remarked. "... That and... I was a bit of a tomboy when I was younger. He couldn't tell that I was a girl, with me dressed in shorts and shirts like the other boys."

"That's a shame," Yamata no Orochi interjected from [Cataclysm Zone]'s navy-colored gem. "... Oh well, you snooze, you lose."

"Don't ruin it," Takeshi groaned.

"Don't get me wrong, I was only going along with it because I thought it would be funny," Irina pointed out. "I was going to tell him that I was a girl... but my house caught on fire and the whole family had to move to England and stuff."

"Do you wish to meet him?" Pandora asked. "... I mean, you were waiting for him outside, no? Surely, it can be arranged."

"No, it's alright," she answered with a slight forlorn expression. "... We're in different worlds now, and I don't want him to drag him into our mess by accident. It's better this way."

"Yeah..." Takeshi then grimaces as he scratches his head. "... I think it's a little too late for that."

Irina's eyes widened. "... Explain."

The Evil Dragon User then tells her the abridged version of what happened to Issei just last month, with him accidently going on a date with a Stray Fallen Angel, nearly getting killed, and even after the memory wipe, the scars of the incident haunted him so much that he lost his perverted nature and rendered him into state of chronic depression.

And said Fallen Angel was then tortured by Takeshi's eldritch singing, to the point where she immediately defected and now presumably working for Takeshi's direct sponsor (name not disclosed to the Church operatives) as an "asset."

"SERIOUSLY?!" Irina exclaimed.

"Why didn't they do a full memory wipe and erasure of existence is beyond me," Pandora pointed out.

"Probably the same reason why I walk back home rather than teleporting," Takeshi explained. "CCTV is everywhere, including right in front of my home. And I don't think the supernatural community kept up with modernization to play Men in Black without leaving behind contradicting evidence. Personally, I think they're more akin to the hammer rather than the scalpel when it comes to keeping out unwitting witnesses."

Irina groans as she realizes that her childhood friend is closer to the supernatural than either of them would like. "... But to think that something that awful happened to him," she remarked before gritting her teeth. "... The moment I find her, I am going to kill her for what she did to him."

The trio then find themselves before the ORC main building.

"Took you three long enough," a gruff voice said from ahead. "... I leave you alone for a whole day, and you idiots get into this kind of mess?"

Greeting them was Kiri-sensei, his sloven appearance leaning against the front door of the main building.

"And you are...?" the Exorcist asked.

"Kirigakure Tatsuya," he introduced. "The Evil Dragon User's homeroom teacher, provisional advisor to Kuoh Academy's Occult Research Club, and the one holding the bombs rigged to this building."

"Wait, WHAT?!" Irina then turned back towards Takeshi and Pandora. "THE PLACE WE WERE HOLDING A MEETING AT WAS RIGGED?!"

"To be fair, it happened last Saturday, and it was that very reason why all of ORC took a holiday," Takeshi explained before revealing the circumstances around when and why this is happening.

"So, he found you out around the same time when you joined the Gremory Peerage..." Irina stated as they went to the back of the building. "... Joined your sponsor's fold as an agent to keep an eye out on you, and you destroyed your own home base when another Peerage was talking smack at you?"

"Those bitches deserved every last moment of it," Grendel snarled.

"Although it was kind of a dick move that they repaired our building just so that they can sneak in enough explosives to turn this entire clearing into a crater just to incentivize us to recruit one more member into our Peerage by three weeks," Pandora deadpanned as they arrived before everyone gathered at the back of the building.

"I am so sorry that you're also dealing with your own mess on top of ours," Irina sympathetically apologized.

"Typical day at ORC." Takeshi then chuckles as he and Pandora walk towards their President. "... Everyone's here, right?"

"Indeed," Rias replied as ORC lined up before the Church operatives. "... Thank you for agreeing to this."

"You doubt that one of us may horrifically maim you in the process?" Xenovia asked.

"That's what I'm here for," Kiri-sensei replied as he came towards the field while manifesting his [Horror Eater] Sacred Gear around his left index finger. "Cleaning up after your mess is not what I'm getting paid for, so keep it clean, alright?"

"We'll try our best, Kiri-sensei!" Irina replied, to which he then drags out a folding chair before flipping it out and sitting on it backwards.

"Alright, so everyone's in consensus on what's going on, right?" the teacher asked. "A 3v3 sparring match between ORC and the Church operatives. We're not here to see who wins or loses. We're just here to work out on any stress and doubts through combat. That said, I will step in if things are gonna go too far, so that all of you guys will be alive to deal with your own shit later on. Am I clear?"

"Fine by me..." Yuuto growled under his breath.

"No objections here," Leon confirmed. "... A mutual gesture of goodwill."

"Alright! Select your representatives!" Kiri-sensei ordered as both groups split off into their own huddles.

"President, let me take the first match," Yuuto requested. "I cannot sit by while [Excalibur] Users are standing before me!"

"Are you sure about that?" Pandora remarked. "... I kind of recall that you took a really bad beating after you ran ahead."

"I got careless last time, but this time, I won't repeat that mistake!" the Knight declared. "... Please. I need to see that all of my time spent here with ORC wasn't for naught!"

Rias sighs. "... Fine," she consents. "... Just don't get yourself too badly hurt out there, alright?"

"Thank you." Yuuto then separates from the huddle in order to prepare himself.

"I'll take the last match with Leon," Takeshi requested. "... Look, I know what you're all thinking, but the whole goodwill sparring was my idea, so I'll take responsibility by actually participating."

"Then that just leaves one more spot," Akeno replied. "... Koneko, do you want to-"

"Let me," Pandora speaks out, much to everyone's shock.

"... Are you sure?" Koneko asked. "You know that I'm better at hand-to-hand combat."

"True, but that's what the other side is also expecting," the Knight replied. "... That, and I can't afford to sit on the sidelines forever. I need to get out of my comfort zone if I wish to get stronger for you all."

"Think you can handle it?" Takeshi asked. "No one's forcing you, after all."

"No," Pandora answers firmly. "... This is my decision, and no one else's."

"Alright, then we have our representatives." Everyone then breaks off from the huddle upon Rias' order. "Good luck, you three. Show them what for!"

Takeshi then flashes a thumbs up as he, Pandora, and Yuuto approach the field and towards Leon, Irina, and Xenovia.

"Alright, the players are set!" Kiri-sensei announced. "The matches will be conducted round per round, because it's gonna be really hard to judge who won when all matches are conducted simultaneously!"

Yuuto then begins to chuckle, causing the other team to take notice.

"... What's so funny, Knight of Gremory?" Xenovia remarked. "... Your head injuries aren't doing you any favors."

"No... that's not it," he answered as he kept giggling while clutching his head with a single hand. "... To think that I'll finally prove myself before [Excalibur]'s fragments... a chance to finally rid those accursed blades from this world... how can I not laugh at this fortuitous opportunity?!"

Instantly, a ring of different Demonic Swords appeared around him, causing Takeshi and Pandora to recoil back.

"JESUS CHRIST, MAN! CHILL!" Takeshi exclaimed as he helped Pandora get up. "... Fight's not even starting yet."

"[Sword Birth]," the Catholic Exorcist remarked in a nonplussed tone. "... Your physical manifestation of your vengeance against [Excalibur], granting you the ability to create Demonic Swords out of your demonic energy."

"You better not hold back...!" Yuuto snarled as he picked up [Blast Ogre] and [Flame Delete] from the ring. "... Or else I'll really kill you."

Xenovia scoffs. "Try me."

Then all three of them throw off their hooded cloaks, revealing their outfits underneath.

Leon wore a simple priest's cloth with a scarlet-red accent on the fringes of his white uniform, whereas Xenovia and Irina were wearing tight-fitting black bodysuits, with the latter's having detached sleeves akin to high-cut opera gloves to the former's fully-connected sleeves.

Takeshi whistles as Xenovia unravels her [Excalibur Destruction] from its bundle as Irina morphs her [Excalibur Mimic] into a katana. "Nice spandex."

"It is not 'spandex'," Xenovia revealed. "It is composed of a specialized material that is a self-assembling nanofiber with an intercellular shape-memory alloy."

"Doesn't change the fact that it looks like fetish-wear!" Yamata no Orochi giggled in anticipation as they used their host's eyes to size both Exorcists up. "So many openings... I can't wait to squeeze myself into what's in 'em!"

"And like that, you're benched." Takeshi then shuts them off. "... For the record, they do not speak for me."

"I believe you," Irina replied. "... So, who's on first?"

Without a word, Yuuto and Xenovia step up to the ring.

"Akeno." With Rias' order, a crimson magic barrier was erected around the whole clearing to prevent any eyewitnesses to this sparring match. "Alright, may the best win."

Both combatants took their positions as Kiri-sensei raised his hand.

"Begin!" Upon his hand being thrown down, both Yuuto and Xenovia advance, clashing arms against each other upon contact.

"I won't lose...!" Yuuto snarled as he pushed hard against [Excalibur Destruction]. "I WON'T LOSE TO THE LIKES OF YOU!"

"Talk is cheap, Devil." Slightly exerting herself, Xenovia then pushes back against Yuuto's blade lock before unleashing a massive energy slash with a downward swing.

Yuuto tries to parry the strike, but both of his blades shatter in his attempt, knocking him back several feet and towards the edge of the ring.

"Not yet...!" He then summons [Starlight Flash] and [Rust Order] in his hands. "NOT YET!"

As the fight continued, everyone else took notice of how the fight was already going badly for Yuuto.

"... Is it just me, or is Mr. Kiba being more reckless than you are?" Pandora asked Takeshi, to which he nodded.

"His heart is wounded with so much hate..." Irina commented as she and Leon saw the match where Xenovia wasn't even exerting herself. "... He's seeing nothing but red!"

Leon clutched his left hand into a fist while watching, something Takeshi noticed as well.

"... That's weird," Koneko remarked. "Are any of senpai's attacks not even being aimed properly?"

The fight raged on... completely in Xenovia's favor as the field was being littered with broken Demonic Swords while her [Excalibur Destruction] wasn't even sporting a small dent in its edge.

"Is that all you got?" the Exorcist taunted.

Realizing that his frontal assaults weren't working, Yuuto then pushes his demonic energy reserves to their limit, unleashing [Full Release: Gravity Nail] to trap Xenovia around the gravitational well.

"I'M JUST GETTING STARTED!" Yuuto then summons [Grudge Dent] in one hand before making his charge. "[FULL RELEASE]!"

"Two at once?!" Rias exclaimed as several viper-like blades surrounded where Xenovia was "trapped" at.

"[SNAKE FANG]!" An omnidirectional rain of flying Demonic Swords swarmed towards the Exorcist as Yuuto then disappears into a blur with his Knight piece boosting his speed to its limit.

From where the blades were coming from, Yuuto disappeared in and out from various orientations to throw off the Exorcist's combat senses in hopes of finding that one blind spot to end this fight once and for all-

"I grow tired of this."

Xenovia then plants her [Excalibur Destruction] into the ground, the indentation of the earth then unleashing a massive pulse of holy energy that exploded around herself, scattering every last [Snake Fang] blades and Yuuto himself out of the air, with the latter landing and rolling across the dirt.

"Mr. Kiba, have you ever heard of the definition of the word 'insanity'?" she pointed out Yuuto struggled to get back up, coughing out wads of blood as more of the sanguine ichor dripped from his brow. "... It's doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome."

Yuuto spits blood to the side. "... Your point being?!"

Xenovia then rips her [Excalibur Destruction] from the earth before resting it over her shoulder. "... Your little dream of destroying [Excalibur] will remain as such: a dream," she declared. "Look at me. I haven't moved from this very spot and yet you're the one who's suffering injuries."

"She's got a point, Kiba!" Kiri-sensei pointed out. "Throw the damn towel and save me the trouble, would ya?!"

Yuuto refuses to listen, willing his broken body back up to his feet, no matter how shaky his stance was.

"... I never expected... that destroying that accursed thing... would be an easy endeavor," he replied, his eyes burning with an indeterminable madness from their irises. "... But still... destroying all seven... let alone one... may be a fool's errand...! BUT I CAN'T GIVE UP! I CAN'T LET THEIR SACRIFICES BE IN VAIN!"

Clasping his hands together, squeezing out a single drop of blood from the pressed palms, a demonic magic circle was formed below Yuuto's feet as it then unleashes a torrent of his own demonic energy from its epicenter.

"... All of those sleepless nights... hearing their screams as my soul was rocked by the waves of despair... I UNLEASH!"

Once the incantation was completed, a long handle juts out from the formation, to which Yuuto then grabs onto and yanks it out of the ground, revealing a massive double-bladed Demonic Sword with several chthonian runes engraved upon its obsidian flat like molten earth.

"My apex... my hatred... AND ALL OF MY POWER!"

Upon fully brandishing it, the giant weapon that was too massive to be classified as a proper sword and more akin to a sharp hunk of raw iron tied to a handle then erupts forth a massive torrent of demonic energy laced with Yuuto's inner hatred.

"... Kiba-kun," Akeno murmured as she and everyone else were taken aback by the sheer amount of rage unleashed from their Knight. "... Just how much and how long were you hiding this from us?"

"Ahh... such a delight!" Nidhogg commented as he and his Evil Dragon feasted upon the ambient negativity unleashed forth.

"... Huh?" Yamata no Orochi then noticed Grendel being surprisingly taciturn at this display. "Come on, man. Don't tell me this fight isn't up to snuff for you!"

The Evil Dragon of Wrath scoffs before rendering himself inert. "... This fight's already over."

With all of his remaining strength mustered through his broken body, his hatred channeled through his very blade, he then makes his one, final advance towards Xenovia.

"[HATE BUSTER]!" Yuuto then swings down his massive blade towards the Exorcist.

"Weak."

*SHATTER!*

... But with a single swing of her [Excalibur Destruction], [Hate Buster], Yuuto's strongest sword that he'd been working on for years since he was brought into House Gremory, was destroyed.

"No...!" Yuuto muttered in complete disbelief as the shards of the broken weapon cascaded around him. "NO!"

With her opponent left helpless, Xenovia then smashes the flat of her [Excalibur Destruction] across Yuuto's body, sending him flying like a struck baseball and straight into the barrier's limit, cracking it upon impact.

"... Winner's Xenovia Quarta," Kiri-sensei declared as the victorious Exorcist walked back to her team while Yuuto dropped back onto the ground "... Someone go get Kiba."

Akeno and Koneko quickly drag Yuuto back before healing him with their magic.

Groaning in partial disgust, Kiri-sensei then gets up from his chair before handing the two Devils a vial.

"A [Phoenix Tear]?!" Koneko remarked.

"Remember, my boss has an arrangement with House Phenex," Kiri-sensei pointed out as he walked back to his chair. "They give us agents a few of them in case of emergencies."

Wasting no time, Akeno then administers the panacea into Yuuto's mouth, to which upon ingestion, his broken body begins rejuvenating on its own, his fractures being mended, his wounds being closed, and his bruises fading like a bad dream.

"Yuuto!" Takeshi then ran over towards where the Knight was. "C'mon man, talk to me!"

The Knight slowly comes to as his eyes open. "... I lost."

"You kinda did, yeah," Takeshi remarked bluntly. "... Look, let me and Pandora take care of the rest, alright?"

Yuuto was too weak to protest as he saw Takeshi walk back to the edge of the arena.

"Alright, score's 0-1 in the favor of the visitor team," Kiri-sensei announced. "Choose your next representatives."

Pandora and Irina then step forth into the ring.

"... So," Irina then scratched the back of her head awkwardly, "no hard feelings?"

Pandora smirks as she taps her cane onto the dirt. "This is my choice, Miss Shidou," the Knight pointed out. "... Hold nothing back, for I will not."

"And hey..." the Protestant Exorcist continued as she then took her stance with her [Excalibur Mimic] in its katana form. "... Please don't hold it against Quarta-san. Our 'Slashing Princess' isn't exactly what you call a 'people person'."

"Funny." Pandora then holds her cane forward but pointing down towards the ground. "... The same can be said for a fair number of people on this side of the world."

"And..." Kiri-sensei then throws his hand down. "Begin."

Irina then takes the first move with her closing in with her katana. But just as quickly, Pandora then taps her cane onto the ground to erect rows of earthen spires towards the Exorcist to impede her advance.

"So this is your power?!" Irina replied as her katana cut through the earth before shifting into a warhammer to better break through the rocks. "As expected of the one formerly known as the 'Calamity Witch'! Your powers are truly formidable!"

Pandora then shifts her earthen spells to become more offensive, turning the spires into arrows and clawed tendrils to attack Irina during her advance.

"But such hardship is why I fight!" she declared as her [Excalibur Mimic] transforms into a targe shield to block the earth arrows before switching it into a broad battle axe to cut through the tendrils. "Each day's ordeals are merely a trial from the Deus Trinity! In His name, I shall overcome them all and become stronger! Amen!"

"I like her gumption," Takeshi commented as he watched Irina and Pandora duke it out, the latter inflating a massive bubble of water drawn from her own spit to bounce the Exorcist back before said water bubble then turned into a volley of high-pressure water shots. "[Excalibur Mimic] is being used to its fullest extent, adapting and changing forms depending on the situation."

"Don't forget about the stelpa that lives with you," Nidhogg added as Pandora's volley were countered by Irina's [Excalibur Mimic] transforming into an AA-12 shotgun, it's buckshot volley bursting the water shots out of the air before shifting into a jūmonji yari spear for her next offensive. "She's using what available to her to her advantage in order to force that choir stelpa to be in a position where she's forced to react rather than take the initiative."

"GIN!" Pandora then summons her Cath Palug to use her hypnosis gaze to slow Irina's advance.

"Sorry, Gin-chan!" The Exorcist then shifts her spear into a laser pointer, distracting the kitten before pulling out a cat treat and throwing it out of the ring, causing her to chase after it. "I'll give you cuddles later-!"

She then felt her chest being pressed with something. Looking down, Pandora's cane tip was pressed against her body as the wielder smirked.

"Crud."

A pressurized air blast was unleashed as Irina was sent flying across the ring, forcing her to reorient herself by shifting her [Excalibur Mimic] into its segmented whip sword form to anchor her footing right as Pandora then unleashes more earth spires towards the Exorcist to give her as little space to breathe as possible.

"... Hm," Rias remarked as she watched her other Knight fight her opponent. "... Is it just me, or has Pandora's combat performance improved somewhat?"

"Yeah, I kinda assumed that she'd be more of a zoner, but she's doing pretty well within close-to-medium range," Koneko commented.

"Well, you have me to thank," Akeno revealed, causing everyone else to turn towards her. "... Pandora-chan asked me to help her grow stronger during all of those commissions where she shadowed me, so after finishing my jobs, I'd train her how to use her elemental abilities to become more... well-rounded, as they say."

The (metaphorical) cogs inside Rias' head turn as she hits upon a realization. "... The Phenex Peerage?"

"I mean, if they're known to have three Bishops, why can't we have two Queens?" said the actual Queen (Piece Holder) as the fight raged on.

But unlike where Yuuto confronted Xenovia with nothing but rage and hate in his heart, the match between Pandora and Irina was more spirited and in line with a healthy competitive spirit.

"Keep it clean, ladies!" Kiri-sensei remarked as Irina transforms her [Excalibur Mimic] into a longbow nocked with arrows made of her own holy energy.

Pandora then picks up a fistful of dirt before blowing it out of her hand, turning it into a tempestuous surge of wind akin to a sandstorm, blowing the shot arrows off-course and pushing Irina back.

"... I have to say, their other Knight is a lot akin to Shidou in terms of utility," Leon commented. "They're both adaptive in ever-changing tides of battle and it feels like if they're... learning from each other?"

"How could she?" Xenovia asked. "She's blind, remember?"

Seeing that sandstorm wasn't letting up, Irina then transforms her longbow into a giant gunbai war fan, swinging it against the wind to peter it out, clearing the air as Pandora revealed herself to have prepared an entire battery of earthen constructs of spires, spikes, clawed tendrils, and grayish golems with wrinkled faces and large hands being produced from magic circles that she'd drawn while Irina was distracted during the dust devil.

"When did she learn how to make golem familiars?" Rias asked.

"... I... kinda let slip that the Sitri Peerage has knowledge on how they use golems as their familiars," Akeno nervously chuckled. "... She picked that up in less than an hour of being introduced."

"Yep," Koneko agreed with a nod. "That internship with Zatouji-san is becoming more likely now."

"Get her." With Pandora's order, the golems all charged as the Knight's battery then provided covering fire.

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Irina then transforms her war fan into a chakram with a spike-protruding edge attached to a chain as she makes her advance. "Fighting you, a Devil with powers over the elements like an evil queen... It's straight out of my dreams of being a superhero!"

"I can't underestimate you with that [Excalibur Mimic] of yours," Pandora answered as she continued producing more golems to replace the ones that the Exorcist made short work of with her weapon. "With everything I got... I will defeat you as a sign of respect to your capabilities!"

"And I will overcome them all!" Irina declares as she then enlarges her chakram to act as a makeshift shield to block the incoming earthen artillery while pressing forth the offensive. "Such is my duty as the Lord's Exorcist and defender of His people! Amen!"

Taking her weapon by the chain, Irina then swings her giant chakram around herself to rid herself of the golems and clearing the way for her to make a beeline towards Pandora.

Switching her chakram to her preferred katana, Irina pushes for the offensive.

"HERE I COME, OTHRYS-SAN!"

Pandora then spits onto the ground while stirring her saliva with the dirt using her cane. "Yes," she answered. "You have come at last."

Flicking it outwards, she then unleashes a thin spire of ice that shoots out of the ground like a bullet.

"WHOA!" Just as quickly, Irina transforms her katana into a suit of armor to defend herself from that surprise attack and knocks her back a few paces. "That was close-!"

"It's not even close to being finished." Pandora then plunges her cane into the ground before pulling it back up to have its shaft be covered in a layer of hardened earth akin to flint.

Placing her cane against the ice, she then slides it against the spire, the generated spark causing the ambient fire spirits to reawaken as she commands the water spirits in the ice itself to dissolve its molecules, allowing the fire spirits to use the separated hydrogen and oxygen as a fuse.

The result was a gout of fire shot towards Irina like a flamethrower, igniting the oxygen itself as the Exorcist was now forced to run from the fire.

"How did she...?!" Xenovia commented in utter disbelief.

"SCIENCE!" Pandora declared out loud, feeling a little elated that borrowing Sona's books during her off-hours helped a lot to make her Spirit Charming more potent.

"MAN YOU'RE GOOD!" the Exorcist remarked as she then transformed her armor into a Chinese meteor hammer-flail. "But just so you know... A HERO ALWAYS TRIUMPHS DURING A PINCH!"

Using the weight of the weapon's pendulum, Irina then threw herself over the fire as the giant leaden ball acted as a weight that would pull her over and towards her desired target, i.e., Pandora.

But just when Pandora was about to counterattack, Irina then transforms her ball into a grappling claw, anchoring itself into the Knight's shoulder as she then dove towards the Devil with a dive that Takeshi would normally do.

"Not exactly a fan, but here I go!" she declared as she pulled herself towards Pandora. "RIDER KICK!"

The foot makes contact...

*CRACK*

... Only for it to be an earthen copy that happened to perfectly resemble Pandora, the clothes around the statue fluttering into the wind.

"WHAT?!" Everyone seeing it exclaimed the same thing at once.

"I swear, her magic signature was still there!" Akeno commented as she looked around. "... Unless!"

Leon then came to the same realization as Irina touched down. "BEHIND YOU-!"

Appearing from the earth like a mole, Pandora then grabs Irina from behind, wearing nothing but her underwear and shoes as she grits her teeth as hard as she could...

*BOOM!*

... The soles of her shoes then explode into flame, acting as a propellant to prevent Irina from recovering her footing, and for Pandora to finish the Exorcist off with a bridging suplex hold.

"Ten out of ten! Would love to see her in her skivvies again!" Yamata no Orochi commented.

As soon as the Exorcist's head was burrowed into the ground like an ostrich, the match was over.

"Winner's Pandora Othrys," Kiri-sensei declared as said victor then collapses onto the ground, laying next to her downed opponent."... Someone go get her clothes."

After Pandora reclaims her modesty, Irina recovers thanks to Leon's [Excalibur Blessing] healing her injuries.

"... How... how did you pull that off?" asked the Protestant Exorcist.

"Honestly, I was kind of cutting it close," Pandora confessed before blushing as she cracks her spine back into place. "... That, and I took a few notes from Takeshi's fighting style in order to achieve my victory."

"Forget that! How did your shoes explode?!" Koneko asked before Pandora then winced as she pulled something out of her feet. "... Thumbtacks?"

"I hid them in my shoes before the fight began," she revealed. "The four humours are my guide... scientifically inaccurate as they are today."

"You were cheating," Xenovia declared with a scowl. "Typical Devil."

"Logically, the fight began way before the actual 'fight' got started," Pandora defended as she took off her shades, revealing her Charm-blessed eyes to all. "... After all, it was your fault to assume that I was actually blind. Or the fact that I used the earth spirits I Charmed to match my signature within the dummy I sculpted. Probably my best work so far."

Leon's eyes widened as the other two Exorcists' jaws dropped in surprise.

"... How did you get past my lie detection mastery?" he asked. "I mean, all my years working as an Inquisitor trained me to pick up on any inconsistencies!"

"Ah, so you do have that," the Knight declared as Gin returned to her before dismissing the Cath Palug from the material plane. "... I only said that I was 'legally' blind. I also omitted the fact that I am an artist, simply because it never came up."

The Inquisitor facepalms in embarrassment as his skills failed to take "exact words" into account. "... Blast it all."

"She has played us for fools since the very beginning..." Irina chuckled. "... Honestly, I'm not even mad. You go, girl!"

"Seconded!" Takeshi then rubs the Knight's head affectionately, causing her heart to skip a beat. "Great job, Pandora!"

Her face then turns cherry-red as she put her shades back on before leaving the ring, leaving only Takeshi and Leon to confront each other as their respective teams' last representees.

"Score's tied 1-1 between home and visitor teams!" Kiri-sensei declared. "Alright gentlemen, make this fight a one for the history books!"

The two childhood friends, after several years of departure, finally come face to face without anything holding them back, despite them standing on opposing sides of the world.

"So..." Takeshi then stretches his body side-to-side to warm himself up. "... Anything to say to me after who knows how long we've last seen each other?"

Leon closes his eyes apprehensively. "... I heard rumors," he began. "I heard rumors of you managing to unlock two Evil Dragons and their Sacred Gears. Is that true?"

"Nope," the Evil Dragon User answered as he stretched his legs side-to-side. "... I unlocked three. [Mayhem Striker], [Berserk Devastator], and just last week, [Kokatsu Denryū]."

"I see..." A mix of worry and relief painted Leon's face. "... It must've been hard for you. I'm so sorry that I couldn't be there for you."

"Hey! Wipe that mopey expression off your face, Leon!" Takeshi fumed. "... I synchronized with Nidhogg and Grendel, unlocked their Balance Breakers, and I'm able to use their powers freely without their drawbacks being as crippling."

The uninitiated Exorcists dropped their jaws in shock upon hearing that.

"... 'Synchronized," you say?" Xenovia skeptically remarked with narrowed eyes. "... Previous Users went mad from the Evil Dragons' influence alone after a prolonged exposure. How did you manage such... such impossibility?!"

Takeshi lets out a triumphant cackle as he points his finger up towards the sky. "I am Ryuugamine Takeshi! The Devil who makes the impossible possible!"

"So cool...!" Irina squealed.

"Huh," Koneko deadpanned. "... Senpai's already got a fan."

Leon chuckles before letting out a loud sigh. "... Then I'm sorry for worrying over you, my friend," he replied. "I should've known better to underestimate you. You've always been one of the most hard-headed people I know."

"Enough jibber-jabber," Kiri-sensei ordered. "Both of you, assume your positions!"

"THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!" Yamata no Orochi cackles madly at that accidental innuendo.

Takeshi then places his hands around [Cataclysm Zone]'s buckle as Leon shifts his body towards the side in a Bajiquan-like stance.

"... Begin."

"HENSHIN!"

Now Playing: "A Boundless Life" by Hiroshi Kitadani (from Kamen Rider Ryuki)

Takeshi then goes on running towards Leon as soon as his body was encased in its knight-like base armor.

"[Promotion: Rook]!" Takeshi then leaps into the air to deliver a flying punch, to which Leon parries it with his own, stopping the former midair before pushing back.

"My turn." Leon then rushes in, first delivering a low punch aimed to Takeshi's stomach, but the latter parries it with a low swipe and then performing an elbow uppercut, but the former catches it with his other hand before then whipping out a high kick that blocked by Takeshi's own, their shins pressing against each other.

"They're both evenly matched!" Pandora remarked.

Xenovia scoffs. "Oh please," she deadpanned. "This is only a small portion of an Inquisitor's strength."

"Well so is senpai," Koneko rebuked.

"So both of them aren't going all-out from the start," Irina pointed out. "But why though?"

"They're measuring each other up," Rias answered as Takeshi and Leon separated from their locks. "Whereas the last two fights were more akin to slugfests dictated by power, this right here is playing out more like a match between martial artists, where technique is paramount."

"Ara ara, so that's why..." Akeno chuckles as she and everyone observes the fight being more methodical and tactical as both combatants circled around each other in the ring.

"I'm surprised, Takeshi," Leon said. "... When did you learn Bajiquan like I have?"

"Took the words out of my mouth, man," Takeshi replied before giving his own retort. "... Let me guess, Kotomine Kirei?"

"Didn't hurt to pick up actual martial arts during my line of work, Takeshi," the Inquisitor answered. "... 'Never escalate a battle unless your opponent forces you to'. That's what my sifu said."

"Is that a request?" Takeshi asked.

"Don't tell me you're scared." Leon smirked.

"Oh, I am scared." Takeshi then presses a button on his [Cataclysm Zone]. "... For you, specifically."

"[Transfer]!" announced the Sacred Gear. "[Berserk Devastator]!"

A pair of fiery gauntlets, greaves, and a fanged half-mask encase themselves around both of his arms, legs, and lower mouth respectively.

"SO LET'S KICK IT UP A NOTCH!" The thrusters around the Sacred Gear flared to life as Takeshi was sent propelling towards Leon like a burning bullet. "GRIT YOUR FUCKING TEETH!"

Leon then smiles, showing his teeth. "... If you say so."

With a single stroke, the Inquisitor then whips out his other sword that Takeshi recognized that he'd used back at the train.

"... Judge," Leon invoked as a tempestuous gale steadily emerged from his sheath from a slightly-broad single-edged blade gleaming of silver. "... [Fragarach]!"

Now Playing: "Kakusei" by Ricky (from Kamen Rider Blade)

The Holy Sword was drawn with the speed of the wind, countering Takeshi's rocket-powered blow, the force of the two opposing strikes generating a turbulent shockwave that was strong enough to nearly knock Kiri-sensei off of his folding chair and for all of ORC's female members to hold down their skirts.

"HOLY SHIT!" the teacher exclaimed as he used his [Horror Eater] to reorient his chair without having to move his finger, the shadowy tendrils anchoring his seat in place. "You kids alright back there?!"

"Kiri-sensei, I'm chronologically older than you," Rias deadpanned as she patted her skirt.

"Then blame yourself for registering yourself as a student, Gremory."

The fight rages on, with Takeshi's fists colliding against Leon's Holy Sword. Each strike he delivered, it was easily blocked and parried by Leon's swordsmanship.

"HEY LEON!" Takeshi asked as his fists locked against [Fragarach]'s edge. "How the Hell are you this jacked, man?! Are you sure that you're 100% human? Because if so, please tell me what kind of workout routines you do!"

"I assure you, Takeshi, I am still me as you knew back during our childhood," Leon answered. "But enough tarrying around. It's now my turn!"

Letting out a roar, Leon then blasts Takeshi back with a burst of wind before he then begins spinning around like a tornado. Once the funnel is established, his feet then take off from the ground as he begins to move around the battlefield in a blur, attacking from all directions with various hit-and-run strikes.

"Careful now! [Fragarach]'s winds are imbued with my holy energy and they cut as well as any blade!" Leon revealed as Takeshi was being knocked around like a pinball within the drifting winds. "And as for why you are unable to counter my attacks, my Holy Sword always allows me to discern the 'truth' to whomever I delegate as my opponent! Whether as a method of providing testimony without false witness during questionings or revealing my opponent's next moves ahead of time, the 'Answerer' will always guide me to my victory!"

Xenovia then smugly smirks as she and others see Takeshi being able to do nothing but defend against Leon's endless barrage of attacks. "... The fight's over," she boasted. "Some threat he turned out to be."

However, Takeshi was simply biding his time, nor said attacks were actually damaging him, and Grendel enjoying the sensation being inflicted upon him.

"Heh... That tickles a bit, brat," the Evil Dragon of Wrath snickered as each blow literally felt on his host's body like a gentle breeze.

Takeshi was also snickering... at how he was able to counter [Fragarach].

"Hey Leon!" he said out loud and through the rain of blows battering him like a heavy rain. "... You said that the Holy Sword of yours can predict my next moves, right?"

"Your point being?" Leon replied.

"Then can it predict THIS?!"

Takeshi then smashes both of his fists into the ground before the whole arena explodes like a triggered minefield, blasting Leon out of the air and leaving him disoriented.

"... That's my technique!" Xenovia pointed out as she sees the similarities between that and her usage of [Excalibur Destruction] during her fight with Yuuto.

Within the thick smoke, Takeshi then jumped towards Leon, kicking off from air to air to then deliver an explosive palm strike to Leon's midsection before he could recover.

"That's Yubelluna's technique...!" Akeno noted the similarities between the "Bomb Queen" and the Evil Dragon User as both used small explosions to traverse in a bizarre trajectory as their method of flight.

Leon was however, able to successfully recover once flying out of the smoke, whipping out his [Fragarach] to clear the arena of its smoke, only to find nothing but the charred earth below, and spot Takeshi literally being right above him.

"Since when did he-?!" Leon then had his neck seized by Takeshi's right leg from behind as his right arm and left leg were crossed around each other, temporarily disabling his motor functions.

"ARROGANT SPARK!" Takeshi's body then performs a bridge midair while grabbing both ends of the Inquisitor before pressing his knees and chest into each other, leaving only his face sticking out towards the earth as both of them plummeted back down.

*BOOM!*

Everyone recoiled as the two fighters crashed back to the earth, obscuring the battlefield with a thick plume of smoke once again.

"... Huh," Irina remarked flatly as everyone else was wondering who won. "... Sure as heck didn't see that on Ultimate Muscle."

"So who won?" Pandora asked as the dust began to clear, revealing that Leon had somehow managed to escape Takeshi's finishing hold at the last minute. "... How?"

Xenovia scoffs. "... Don't underestimate an Inquisitor, Devil," she declared. "For they are the Deus Trinity's most powerful servants of this mortal plane."

"Color me impressed, Takeshi!" Leon chuckled as his [Excalibur Blessing] began passively healing his injuries whereas the Evil Dragon User snapped his joints back into place. "... You almost had me on the ropes there for a second!"

"You're not too bad yourself, man," Takeshi replied as he cracked his neck side-to-side. "You're helluva lot better than that Freed-bastard I fought a month prior, that's for sure!"

Leon, Irina, and Xenovia blinked at Takeshi's remark, looking as if he'd suddenly become an anthropomorphic lizard-person all of the sudden.

"... Freed," Irina commented. "... You mean Freed Sellzen?"

"You all know that psycho?" Takeshi asked.

"Not personally, but he's the very reason why Stray Exorcists are given a bad name aside from straying from Deus Trinity," Xenovia explained. "... I'm not joking when I say this, but look up the term 'Stray Exorcist' in a dictionary, and you'll see his yearbook picture right above its definition."

"And your wording implies that he's dead," Leon hypothesized. "... By your own hands, I suppose?"

"Yep," Takeshi confirmed. "Gave him the Warsman-treatment after he kidnapped Pandora to use her as his personal magical battery."

"Can't believe I'm saying this to a Devil, but thank you for getting rid of that madman," Xenovia groaned in partial disgust. "... I'll at least give you that much."

"Wow, even your attempt at being nice is backhanded," the Evil Dragon User deadpanned before turning back to Leon. "... So, uh, back to fighting?"

Leon then answers by attacking him with the swing of his [Fragarach], to which Takeshi counters by unleashing a flurry of blazing kicks whipping out fiery crescents.

"I can see that your strength isn't just a fluke!" Leon declared as he then unleashes a flurry of wind slashes to keep his opponent at an arm's length. "I never thought you'd become this strong in such a short amount of time!"

"Didn't you hear?!" Takeshi then counters the barrage of vacuum slashes with an explosive roar that channels a burst of his own demonic and draconic energy simultaneously. "My evolution is faster than the speed of light! There's nothing in this universe that can keep up with my evolution!"

Leon grins as he brakes his blowback from the explosive roar by planting his Holy Sword into the ground. "Is that so?!" The Inquisitor then winds back his blade to then lunge himself forth towards the Evil Dragon User ala Devil May Cry's Stinger technique. ""If that's the case, then I shall decide your fate! For I have the winning formula in my grasp!"

"Hilarious!" Takeshi then counters the blinding flurry of thrusts with his own flurry of fiery fists, matching blow for blow as his own baseline speed was done catching up to Leon's. "Don't you know that I'm the strongest?!"

"Maybe!" Both Leon and Takeshi's sword and fist clash into a lock as they face each other eye-to-eye. "But my strength will make you cry!"

"Oh bother..." Pandora rolled her eyes as she and everyone else saw the two childhood friends exchange Tokusatsu references that went over everyone's heads. "... Now there's two of them."

"Senpai's Tokusatsu obsession is spreading like an infection..." Koneko deadpanned. "... Soon, the next Cluster we end up fighting is going to be a band of color-coordinated squad of superheroes ala Super Sentai."

"Just boys being boys, I suppose..." Akeno then chuckled whimsically.

"At least they're having fun." Rias then walked over towards Yuuto. "... So Yuuto, are you doing alright?"

The Knight turns his head away in defiance.

"Leave him alone," Xenovia interjected. "... It is his loss."

As the fight continued, Takeshi then attempts to break the weapon lock by unleashing an explosive blast point-blank towards Leon to gain an upper hand.

"Saw it coming."

A flash of light then emits from Leon's hand before it then partitions the blast from the Inquisitor, causing Takeshi to be hoist with his own petard.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Takeshi groaned as he then spotted Leon carrying a white heater shield with a crimson-red cross emblazoned on its face.

"Is that...?!" Rias gasped as Leon held his ground with his Holy Sword and shield. "... Sir Galahad's magical shield, [Evalach]?!"

"The one and only," the Inquisitor answered. "... You're the only one who's ever pushed me this far. Seriously, I thought this was supposed to be a friendly sparring match."

"Says the guy who has a portable medipack strapped around his waist," Takeshi deadpanned. "But finally, I can see now how strong you are... I can't help but sink my teeth into what years of experience is like compared to my measly two months spent on this side of the world!"

Both Irina and Xenovia's eyes widened in shock at the fact that despite Takeshi only having a fraction of the Inquisitor's experience of dealing with the supernatural, he was still able to force him to pull out all the stops.

"Two months...?" the Catholic Exorcist choked on her own breath before turning towards Rias. "... What power class is he designated in?"

"Middle-Class," the King answered. "... Unofficially, he's nearing the upper echelons of High-Class on average."

"He got that strong that quickly?!" the Protestant Exorcist exclaimed.

"Well, Evil Dragons do what Evil Dragons do best," Koneko replied nonchalantly. "... For all their faults, senpai sees them as sort-of-teachers of hard knocks, and it paid off big-time."

"Now that you're at your strongest, I have no reason to hold back!" Takeshi declared as all thrusters flared around his auxiliary Sacred Gear. "COME ON! TIME FOR ROUND TWO-!"

"You're still holding back, boy."

Everyone stops as they hear Grendel speak out after being so taciturn throughout the whole sparring match.

"Grendel?!"

"Tell me, boy," the Evil Dragon of Wrath addressed the Inquisitor. "... Why are you still holding back?"

Leon answers as truthfully as he could. "... I despise needless violence," he said. "I understand that this world isn't as kind as to let diplomacy prevail always, but I always strive towards a solution that would benefit the most for everyone."

"Cute," scoffed Grendel before making a sound akin to him spitting in disgust. "... Hell of an excuse to justify your arrogance, ISN'T IT?!"

A murderous pulse then emits from the gem of [Cataclysm Zone], affecting Leon as now his head felt like it caught on fire and was about to explode any second.

"WHAT'S GOING ON?!" Irina exclaimed as Xenovia tried to intervene.

"GET BACK!" Rias ordered everyone as she dragged Kiri-sensei out of his seat. "YOU'LL GET CAUGHT IN ITS RANGE!"

"OF WHAT?!" Xenovia barked out.

Akeno gulps as she and Koneko prepare defensive wards around themselves. "... Blood rage."

In his agony, Leon drops both his [Fragarach] and [Evalach] as both of his hands clutched his temples as if he were trying to prevent something from within from erupting out, screaming and wailing in agony.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, GRENDEL?!" Takeshi cried out.

"Listen well, brat," the Evil Dragon of Wrath replied. "... It's faint, but I sense a well of great power within his very soul. Something that feels... almost nostalgic."

"What do you mean, 'nostalgic'?!" the host asked.

Grendel simple chuckles in anticipation. "... You know, I think I'm gonna take a page out of your 'playbook' and turn his prior excuse against the boy," he remarked. "He said not to escalate the fight unless forced to, right?!"

Leon, his own primal instincts turned against him, howled in rage as his eyes shone blood-red.

"THEN PREPARE TO STAND YOUR GROUND, BRAT!" Takeshi was then beset by his own childhood friend lunging towards him like a wild animal, the former forced to defend himself from this sudden upheaval.

As the sparring match went horribly wrong, questions were beginning to be asked.

"Okay, so how is Leon under the Evil Dragon's control?!" Irina asked. "[Excalibur Blessing] is supposed to defend him from all curses and harmful spells!"

"... Uh, 'control' is not exactly the right way to describe it," Rias pointed out.

"Elaborate," Xenovia ordered as all of ORC (sans Yuuto) then provided the two Exorcists with an abridged explanation of how Grendel's bloodlust works akin to a radio signal "awakening" his primal instincts rather than a direct "mind control". "... So it just makes him murderously violent because of how his brain works?!"

"Considering that last time Grendel's rage affected everyone within the vicinity, this is an improvement," Akeno replied as she then looked back outside. "... I think."

"Kiri-sensei, stop them already!" Koneko begged.

"Hold on!" The teacher then places his left hand onto the shadowed ground, summoning forth tendrils of black to restrain the two fighters.

"DO NOT INTERFERE!" A pulse of draconic aura then nullifies the spell, leaving Takeshi to defend himself against the maddened Leon.

"... I feel like we forgot to mention that the Evil Dragon hates magic," Pandora pointed out.

"TELL ME THAT SOONER!" Kiri-sensei exclaimed as everyone else was forced to watch this madness, unable to do anything lest they get in Grendel's own madness.

Leon then retrieves his [Fragarach] right before swinging out a vacuum slash that breached through the barrier, scarring the earth outside as Takeshi tried to restrain the enraged Inquisitor.

"YOU'RE SUCH AN ASS, GRENDEL!" The Evil Dragon User was pinning down Leon and waited out the blood rage, only for him to be thrown off and then countered with another vacuum slash across his chest, sparks flying upon contact.

"He's so close...!" Grendel growled as Takeshi rolled across the ground before being pounced on by Leon. "BRAT! IT'S TIME TO BREAK OUT THE BIG GUNS! BE CONFIDENT IN YOUR STRENGTH! SHOW ME AND EVERYONE THAT YOU CAN STOP HIM!"

Takeshi growls as he then takes "exact words" into account on Grendel's order. "Don't hold it against me if I disappoint you!" He then successfully throws Leon off of himself and prepares to transform. "DAI DAI HENSHIN!"

"[Atrocity Rise]!" announced the Sacred Gear. "[Crime Force Awakening]!"

Now Playing: "VOLCANO" by Kentaro Maeda (Ikki) and Subaru Kimura (Vice) (from Kamen Rider Revice)

[Savage Predator Incarnation] encases itself over the base armor as flames erupted all over where Takeshi stood like a one-man pyrotechnics team.

"He's my friend and this whole mess was my idea!" Takeshi declared as he clanged his fists together. "... Let me handle this on my own!"

Grendel cackles bemusedly at his host's declaration. "THE BOY'S ALL YOURS, BRAT!"

Takeshi then confronts Leon while keeping to himself in hopes of "stopping" the rampage.

During each exchange of blows, he noticed that the effects of [Excalibur Blessing] were not only continuing to function as intended, but its potency has steadily increased with each passing second.

Oh right, forgot that Grendel's rage acts as a buff rather than a status ailment, Takeshi thought as he parried Leon's fists with his own. "Let it out, man. I know it's not you right now... but regardless, I'll accept everything that you've denied about yourself! So come!"

Standing his ground, Leon then delivers wild slashes with his [Fragarach] while Takeshi stood with his arms out and open, standing tall against the flurry of blows while everyone else watched in shock.

"... Is he just standing there and taking it?!" Irina commented.

"Grendel's rage has a limit," Rias explained. "He's tiring Leon out."

"Will it even work?" Xenovia asked.

"Wait and see," Akeno replied as the fight raged on before them.

Leon, in his enraged state, still held enough mental capacity to notice that his strikes weren't working, and thus, grew angrier over the mounting frustration.

"Just a little more...!" Grendel stated. "... A little more!"

Winding back his fist, Leon then slugs forth a punch aimed at Takeshi's face.

"NOW!" Takeshi then aims to deliver a swift counter to knock Leon out.

"[Dragon Booster]!" an automated voice announced. "[Boost]!"

"WHAT?!"

Grendel smirks.

Leon's punch clashes against Takeshi's fist, the latter being easily overpowered as a red gauntlet akin to a red Dragon's claw with a green orb at the back of his hand appeared.

"Is that...?" Rias muttered in shock at what she was seeing. "... [BOOSTED GEAR]?!"

"So the rumors of the Church securing it was true..." Akeno remarked in bated breath. "... No wonder why he's an Inquisitor. He's the Church's ace in the hole."

Xenovia begins to visibly panic at their secret weapon being exposed so soon. "No no no no no! WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?!"

Irina however, could only mirthlessly chuckle. "... Our superiors are gonna rake us over hot coals," she commented before continuing to laugh monotonously. "... We're so getting excommunicated."

Grendel however, was over the freaking moon, laughing in pure bliss as he recognized who was inside [Boosted Gear]. "LONG TIME NO SEE, DDRAIG!"

"... Grendel," a booming and low voice akin to thunder replied. "You are literally the last Dragon I wanted to see."

Leon then loudly gasps as he was then freed from Grendel's bloodlust before realizing what had happened. "... Takeshi, why?"

"IT'S NOT MY IDEA, I SWEAR!" Takeshi defended.

"IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE A STATE SECRET!" Leon exclaimed.

"SHUT YOUR TRAPS! THIS IS BETWEEN US DRAGONS, SO STUFF IT!"

Takeshi groans as Leon does the same, leaving the two nemeses to converse.

"... Since when did you learn manners?" Ddraig deadpanned.

"And since when were you a coward ducking below the Church's pews?!" Grendel barked back. "AT LEAST I WAS DECLARED ENOUGH OF A THREAT TO BE SEALED AWAY!"

"The Great War took its toll, Grendel, and I'm way too old to be dealing with your shit day after day," the Red Dragon Emperor revealed. "... You'd wished that you had the chance to go through what I've been through with fighting all Three Biblical Factions and my actual nemesis, Albion. Wasn't the Wild Hunt enough for you?"

"It wasn't," the Evil Dragon of Wrath growled. "Too little I've had the opportunity to test myself against you... and too many times I had you look down on me! IT'S ABOUT DAMN TIME I TAKE YOU DOWN A PEG!"

"Because I am literally twice as tall as you," he snarked. "... And so is your vertically-challenged host."

"I'M 165 CENTIMETERS! I'M NOT THAT SHORT!" Takeshi fumed, causing Leon to chuckle at the sight. "Oh, and don't you get started, Mr. 'I'm 190 cm'! I'M DRINKING MY MILK ONCE A WEEK, SO DON'T JUDGE ME, YOU DAMN ADONIS!"

"What is going on," Xenovia droned, her brain feeling as if it stopped working, with Irina wiping her drool with her [Excalibur Mimic] transformed into a handkerchief.

Everyone from ORC (sans Yuuto; he's still out of it) collapses to their knees in relief.

"... You see, we kinda learned that the Evil Dragons... are not exactly 100% evil, per se," Rias began.

"One minute, you're fighting for your life, the next minute, they might crack a joke so off-key that it kills the prior mood," Akeno added. "... It's like the whole world is their movie set, and they are the directors, shifting genres from horror to horror-comedy at a whim."

Everyone lets out uneasy laughter as the atmosphere returns to its prior, tense state.

"And so, you compromised my host's duty just to indulge in your selfishness," Ddraig pointed out. "... You're not going to leave me alone until you get your pound of flesh, no?"

"I fought Tiamat and lived," Grendel bluffed.

"It's true," Takeshi confirmed, the general vagueness of the statement being vague enough to bypass [Fragarach]'s lie detection.

"Leon, buckle up, we're fighting him," the Red Dragon Emperor immediately contradicts his prior apprehension with the mention of the Dragon King of Strength's name, much to everyone's surprise. "... If they know Tiamat... then we have no other choice!"

"Is he serious?" Xenovia asked, to which all of ORC nodded, even Yuuto. "... What happened?"

"We don't want to talk about it," Pandora replied as Leon confusedly found himself in the minority.

The Inquisitor sighs as he places his free hand over [Boosted Gear]'s green gem. "... The after-action report is going to be an interesting one."

Reluctantly, Leon complies.

"One blow only," he requested. "That's all I'm willing to humor."

"Alright, one last shot!" Takeshi then braces himself after banging his fists together like hammer onto anvil. "COME!"

The Inquisitor then presses the green gem. "... It's morphin' time."

"[Welsh Dragon]!" announced [Boosted Gear] as its scales opened up. "[Balance Breaker]!"

Now Playing: "ELEMENTS" by Rider Chips (from Kamen Rider Blade)

Leon then lets out a booming roar as a crimson aura enveloped his whole body like fire, encasing him in a red colored armor akin to a Dragon's scales.

"Here's my full power, Takeshi," he said with a breathy voice. "... [Scale Mail]."

"Kind of a weaksauce name compared to [Savage Predator Incarnation]," Takeshi snarked.

"Are we going to punch each other, or what?" Leon deadpanned.

"Makin' it count!" Takeshi then slaps both sides of his belt.

"[Charge]!" announced [Cataclysm Zone] as Takeshi wound back his fist. "[Violent Overflow]!"

"[Boost]! [Boost]! [Boost]! [Boost]! [Boost]!" Leon then charged his [Boosted Gear] to power up his next and final attack for the match, even enhancing each [Boost] with the effects of his [Excalibur Blessing]'s passive abilities to raise the value of each of his stat modifiers.

"HERE I COME!"

Both Takeshi and Leon both run towards each other until they stop right before each other's proximity, slugging forth their fists towards each other...

"[Violent Impact]!"

*BOOM!*

*SHATTER!*

... Both fists laid their mark in a perfect mutual cross-counter so powerful that the surrounding barrier broke into million pieces from the generated force of their punches landing on each others' jaws alone, knocking both Takeshi and Leon out at the same time, with both of them falling flat onto their backs.

"Double knockout," Kiri-sensei declared. "It's no contest!"

Everyone then immediately runs towards the pair as their respective armors disappear.

"... Who... who won?" Takeshi asked as Nidhogg's passive healing snapped his jaw back into place while Leon's [Excalibur Blessing] mended his own injuries.

"No one, you doofus." Rias then flicks her Pawn across her forehead. "What the Hell were you thinking?!"

Takeshi goes silent for a few seconds before giving his answer. "... Honestly, nothing at all," he said. "... But I think that's the point. We have so many conflicting feelings towards each other that I think clearing the air is the best thing possible. Admittedly, Grendel kinda went off the rails at the last minute, but this outcome in general? Not gonna lie, probably the best-case-scenario, so that no one side lords over the other, and hence, improving coordination."

"Really?!" Xenovia snapped as Leon woke up. "Do you realize what you have done, exposing the Church's secret weapon out in the open?!"

"Hold on, let me text my boss." Kiri-sensei then texts on his phone before getting a reply and showing it to everyone. "... There. Now the Church won't be on your shit the rest of your mission."

All three Church operatives blinked stupidly. "... How?!"

"Let's just say that my boss has their hands dipped into every pocket of the supernatural community's leadership class to have some sway over them," the teacher revealed. "... And yes, that's how I got your daddy to approve rigging bombs inside of your building in the first place, Gremory."

Rias was the next one to blink. "... How powerful is Re:Live?"

"So that's their name..." Leon muttered, mentally noting it.

"Theoretically? They can rule over the supernatural world with an iron fist if they wanted to. Their words, not mine," Kiri-sensei revealed. "But they choose not to, since according to them, they prefer working out in the field to 'save the world.' They have no time to abide by politicking because they can't be everywhere all at once due to being only one person. Hell, they're the one keeping the Three Biblical Factions in a cold war state for the past 500 years. Kinda hard to do their work when the war becomes everyone's problem, after all."

Takeshi nervously chuckles before he looks down at [Cataclysm Zone]. "... And that's why you guys... partially listen to them?"

"Begrudgingly," Nidhogg groaned.

"As long as there are good fights waiting for me, I ain't complaining," Grendel commented.

"I'm just here to have a good time," Yamata no Orochi remarked.

Meanwhile, Irina and Xenovia check on Leon's vital signs with their magic.

"So," the Inquisitor asked. "How is it?"

Both Exorcists blinked at what they saw.

"... You're clean," Xenovia revealed. "No signs of any spiritual pollution..."

"Not a single aberration or so much as a scar..." Irina revealed. "... Actually, your base holy energy output has been increased!"

"Consider that a little gift from me for giving me a good time, boy," the Evil Dragon of Wrath declared with a snicker. "My days in the Wild Hunt was my way of seeking out stronger opponents, and the Heaven's Host wasn't an exception. If they fail to match up to my expectations, I simply make them stronger by purifying their rage to its absolute limit. And the best part? It will not compromise their existence, sans why they will not become Fallen Angels, so I can fight them as they are rather than what they are not yet. You Churchgoers think anger itself is a sin but you failed to see the hypocrisy of your so-called 'righteousness.' My powers, although not refined as of yet, simply removes the facade that you place yourselves behind and let the world see you as what you truly are: all the same as those who are fighting for their very lives. Ideologies, race, and morality are pointless before power."

Everyone blinks at Grendel's increased articulation.

"... Since when were you this eloquent?" Takeshi asked the Evil Dragon of Wrath.

"What are you talking about?" he replied. "I'm the same as always!"

"Ah, never mind. Back to normal." Takeshi then sighs while the three Church operatives were left stunned in silence at an Evil Dragon dressed down their raison d'etre with that speech alone.

Kiri-sensei then stretches while letting out a loud yawn. "... Now if you excuse me." He then checks his phone's clock. "... It's getting late, I have papers to grade, and tomorrow's classes to prepare. Ciao!"

With the teacher now leaving them as the sun began to set, both ORC and the Church operatives faced each other on the blasted field.

"Everyone got their shit out of their system?" Takeshi asked as he then let out a small chuckle.

"Yeah..." Irina remarked. "... Quirks aside, I can tell you guys mean well... which is something I'd never thought I would say about a Devil! Way to go, me!"

"Still sore, but I suppose I can overlook the possible transgressions," Leon remarked. "... If only because we no longer run the risk of being excommunicated by associating with you all."

"I concur," Rias sighed out. "... Makes it a Hell of a lot easier to breathe around you guys."

"I suppose we can trust you enough to watch our backs," Akeno agreed.

"And whatever we're facing, I doubt that they'll see our teamwork coming," Pandora remarked. "... I hope."

However, only one was still antsy over this collaboration.

"I cannot tell if you're planning something or you're a complete clown, Evil Dragon User," Xenovia scrutinized. "... You and your Peerage confound me beyond all reason."

"Hey, that's part of our charm-!"

*growl*

"... Who wants dinner?" Takeshi asked. "I'll pay. It's the least I can do."

"Careful," Leon warned. "... We Exorcists tend to pig out during our assignments, and while we were crossing Singapore on our way to Japan, we kinda got banned from several restaurants and food carts after clearing them out in a single day."

Takeshi then picks up Koneko like an actual cat as the latter smugly grins. "... Was that a challenge?"

With all that said, everyone follows Takeshi to their next location...

... Blissfully unaware that Lailah was watching them this whole time, her [Urnal Binary]'s [Moody Phantom] technique rendered her completely undetectable by the town's security measures (and literally everything else) as long as she had no reason to engage them in combat.

Without so much as letting out her breath, she then DMs Jacob and Yozakura her video footage she recorded of their fights before coordinating the final steps of their operations.

"I will follow them to their next location," she texted. "Prepare to engage on my order."

---

Later On, at Restaurant Row...

---

"I was originally going to suggest soba..." Takeshi remarked as he and everyone else found themselves inside of a small western-style restaurant with a bar counter placed around the open kitchen operated by a tomboyish woman in her late-20s. "... But Snack Service's curry is the best in all of Nagano prefecture!"

The owner of the shop beams as she then serves everyone's plates of curry, with all of ORC sitting around the tables while the Church operatives sit around the bar counter.

"Eat up!" the tomboyish proprietress said. "It's full house today, and since you guys are such big spenders, I'm working extra-hard today!"

"Itadakimasu!" all of ORC (sans Yuuto) said.

"Bless our bounty, O Lord Deus Trinity," Leon and his cohorts prayed. "Amen."

With that, everyone began eating their curry.

"... Amazing!" Xenovia remarked as she wolfed down her large-sized portion. "Japanese cuisine... it's the best!"

"Yep! Tastes just like ten years ago...!" Irina wept as she ignored the fact that her food was staining her white robes. "... I don't care if it's going to be a pain to clean off! I can't get enough of this stuff!"

The shop owner boisterously laughs as she then begins cooking up another pot of curry. "Glad y'all like it!" she said. "Who wants seconds?!"

"ME!" Irina, Xenovia, and Koneko all raised their hands before the latter pair shot stinging looks at each other, as if they were now in a competition, their plates being refilled with more curry and rice, but now with all the deep-fried tempura goodness that one can only dream of.

"I am so sorry for their behavior," Leon apologized.

"Ah, no biggie!" Takeshi then takes out his phone before clicking a picture of the three eating. "... Got good blackmail material. And a reminder that no matter where one is in the supernatural, they're still human."

"Exactly!" the owner replied. "... Don't worry. I'm already in the know, and I won't tell a soul."

Xenovia grumbles before packing away her food without a care in the world.

"So, I forgot to ask this beforehand," Rias said as she turned to face the bar counter. "How's Kuoh treating you all?"

"The place... didn't change much... but I'm glad... to be back... all the same!" Irina answered in-between her inhaling of her dinner.

"The chapel here still being operational was a nice surprise," Leon added. "... No ulterior motives or anything. Just a small place of worship with a modest, but tight following. Even the pastor operating that place is clean."

"... Why though?" Xenovia asked. "... For a Devil like yourself, having a house of God around should be a disadvantage."

"True, but Japan in general can suffer no more persecution of people simply seeking alternatives," Rias answered. "I won't force them to come to me, so in return, I ask that they don't push their beliefs onto me."

Leon nods in approval. "... You're one of the rare good ones, Miss Gremory," he replied as he kept eating. "... In my line of work, that is saying a lot."

"Curious, but I have to ask, President," Takeshi asked while shaking red pepper flakes onto his curry dish. "... How does the Church work?"

"Seeking to know more about your enemy?" Xenovia pointed out. "Within our earshot, no less?"

"Is it common for the supernatural side of the world to be populated by a bunch of schizoid paranoiacs like you?" Takeshi asked while eating his extra-spicy curry. "Because if it is, then I do not want to be a part of that majority, because that sounds like a terrible way to live."

"It's sad, but it's true," Leon pointed out. "... Our line of work doesn't exactly help matters."

"You're a naive fool to think that the supernatural world is one giant adventure full of mysteries and wonder," Xenovia commented harshly as she offered her empty plate for a refill alongside Koneko's. "Everyone not on your side is an enemy. If Leon wasn't here, then you would've thought otherwise."

"Hmmm... nope, I wouldn't," Takeshi rebuked as he turned his chair around towards the bar counter. "I had enough of that back at Junior High. I'm not going back to living in fear simply because it's the 'logical' thing to do."

That, and we won't let you die so easily, whelp, Nidhogg added. ... I've seen too many cowards who took their own lives just to escape us, seeing us as nothing more than a curse.

Only because you are, Ddraig pointed out. ... What do you provide that doesn't slowly kill your hosts?

Not our freakin' problem if they can't handle it! Grendel replied.

Eh, we all die someday, so what's the point of worrying about the "what ifs" rather than simply enjoying the wild ride that is our life? Yamata no Orochi commented.

"What... happened... at Junior High... Takeshi-san?" Irina asked before offering her own plate to the owner for a refill. "Surely, it couldn't be as bad as now."

Takeshi then proceeds to give an abridged explanation of how everything between the beginning of Junior High to his first meeting with ORC went to Hell for him, from being shunned by his classmates, to being chased down by street gangs every time he has to walk back home, to having his family's house be ransacked before they moved to Kuoh, and in general having a lonely life of no friends and human interaction save for his own parents, whom he loved very dearly, all because of [Cataclysm Zone] slowly waking up within his soul.

"... Oh my God," Irina gasped in horror.

"I told you that the Evil Dragons are nothing but trouble," Xenovia growled.

"That's the thing, though," Takeshi rebuked. "... It's easy to blame the Evil Dragons for everything going wrong with my life, and even though some of it may be true... does it really absolve my own sense of responsibility when things can't be helped? Isn't that why the previous Users fell not because of madness, but because they had no one but themselves to look out for?"

Leon closes his eyes before shaking his head. "... I suppose when you put it like that, you do make a compelling case for confirmation bias."

"I still think you're insane beyond reason to find nuance in those harbingers of calamity that you harbor in your soul, Evil Dragon User," Xenovia rebuked. "Throughout recorded history, the Evil Dragon Users always bring disaster with their mere presence. The Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, 1839's Coringa cyclone, the 1938 Yellow River flood, and countless other examples of your predecessors' rampages that was attributed to natural phenomena along with other undocumented cases of supernatural mishaps that were swept under the rug due to their blatant supernatural involvement. Mark my words, you will go down the same path. It's only a matter of time, after all, since you've awakened three of them."

The Evil Dragons were a bit stunned at how much all of those natural disasters were blamed on them... despite only about 1% of them being directly their fault.

My powers don't move the earth like the ocean's waves, Nidhogg pointed out. I like my deaths to be more... subtle. Quiet. Despairing.

I wished that I was in any of those events, Grendel commented. But nooo, I HAVE TO KEEP MISSING OUT ON THOSE BLOODBATHS BECAUSE THE WORLD WON'T LET ME HAVE NICE THINGS!

The only event that I was directly responsible for happened about 88 years prior, Yamata no Orochi recalled the Taiping Rebellion rather fondly. Blasphemy in the name of the Lord! Just say that you're doin' it in God's name, and the whole world's your fucking oyster!

... I hate the fact that I cannot rebuke any of your statements, groaned Ddraig. ... The whole world must've gone mad when you psychopaths are in the right.

Takeshi, however, did not take her blatant use of ad hominem lying down.

"Oh really, then are you blaming me for the Notre-Dame fire that happened last month while I was literally on the other side of the fucking planet?! Or are you saying that the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami 8 years ago was all my doing, which happened while I was in Elementary School and nearly died of starvation?! Are you saying that I deserve to die just for what I was about to become?" Takeshi countered, stunning Xenovia to the point where she couldn't make a proper response to his rebuttal. "... Yeah, that's what I thought. Sounding real stupid now, huh? I guess you forgot about the whole 'judge not, that ye be not judged'-verse, huh?!"

"... Shut up." Xenovia then crams her mouth with an entire slab of tonkatsu out of rage of being proven wrong.

"She means well, I swear," Irina vouched for her fellow Exorcist. "... When you see the things she and I have seen in our line of work... our lives were never the same."

"I would rebuke on the grounds that I have seen worse than what the Evil Dragons can offer, but if I told you while we were eating, it would be in bad taste," Takeshi countered. "... World's already miserable enough with people on our side suffering that I would rather avoid a dick-measuring contest on who had it worse."

"Fair enough," Leon consented. "... Miss Gremory, you may disclose how we work. It's not like it's a trade secret or anything within our side."

"Thank you." After finishing her plate, the President then begins her explanation. "The Church is an organization of three branches: The Congregation, the Clergy, and the Exorcists. The Congregation are the civilian agents who act as the face of their respective branches of Faith, your everyday ministers and worshippers who congregate to their chapel every Sunday. The Clergy are the administrative core of the Church, acting as the bridge between the mundane and the supernatural, with the Pope being in charge of keeping both sides calm for the most part."

"Hold on, hold on, you're saying that Pope Francis is also involved with our side?!" Takeshi pointed out.

"Aware, but not active," Irina clarified. "He's too busy keeping the faithful intact to really get involved with our affairs directly, so don't worry about his safety or importance in the grand scheme of things."

"And that leaves just us, the Exorcists," Leon revealed as he set down his spoon before ordering a melon soda float. "We are the Church's covert military branch. We handle the supernatural nonsense directly so that our faithful won't be beset by anxiety of living with literal Devils at their door every night."

"Every member within that branch is knee-deep in the supernatural affairs, and are trained rigorously to withstand the hard knocks of the supernatural threats," Rias continued. "Everyone there starts as Acolytes, the trainees. Then it's followed up by Junior, Intermediate, Senior, and Chief Exorcists, to the strongest among them make up the Magisterium, a governing council that oversees their operations, with the Grand Master having the final say in what they do."

"Low, Middle, High, and Ultimate-Classes, I presume." Takeshi then looked towards the current Church operatives sitting at the bar counter. "... Middle-Class, I presume?"

"Yep," Irina replied, causing Xenovia to grunt disapprovingly, causing her to steal the former's fried shrimp in retaliation. "... Although Ainsworth-san is a... unique case. He's part of the 'Specialists' separate from us rank-and-file."

"The Specialists are Exorcists who are assigned with special missions that regular Exorcists are exempt from," Rias continued to explain after she orders her own melon soda float. "Templars work as bodyguards for high-priority Clergy officials, objectives, and outposts. Executors are the Church's secret police and clandestine operatives, dealing with internal threats within the Church to purge any budding Stray Exorcists to endeavoring in every imaginable black-ops shit imaginable, but with supernatural bullshit. And Inquisitors... yeah."

Takeshi silently nods as he recalls Leon's left arm brandishing [Boosted Gear], one of the Sacred Gears standing on par with the Thirteen Longinus. "... He's their golden boy, isn't he?"

"Pretty much," Rias confirmed. "Only the most faithful and loyal of Exorcists can be designated with that position, and there can only be one of them. They directly serve and answer to no one but the Magisterium. This was why I was initially wary of Leon, Takeshi. He might surprise you in the worst way possible... but I guess I was proven wrong?"

Leon sighs. "... Trust me, I'm not exactly living on an easy street," he revealed. "This position comes with so much responsibility that during my first year... I kinda sucked."

"My condolences," Takeshi commented. "... Curious, but what do your bosses think about me?"

"What Xenovia's thinking, although that may be called into question given that your sponsor, Re:Live, immediately overruled their decision to excommunicate all three of us for breaching confidentiality," the Inquisitor replied before sipping his soda float. "... Just who are they, really?"

"They kicked my ass more than once, carved out a Dragon skull tribal tattoo on the side of a mountain with a single punch like Kamen Rider Kiva, and are rich enough to have a monopoly over House Phenex's premium stock..." Takeshi listed down. "... Basically, cooler-me."

Everyone then settles down as the atmosphere is soothed to be more akin to a normal social gathering between regular friends.

"So, Irina-san!" Takeshi asked. "... I've been thinking, but since when was [Excalibur Mimic] able to turn into working firearms? Given that it's a Holy Sword and all, I thought it would only turn into medieval weapons."

"Well, it was a recent development," the Protestant Exorcist pointed out. "I wasn't a good shot with any firearm, but one day, one of the Acolytes suggested that in order to offset my lack of accuracy, I simply use guns that don't require that much aiming."

She then transforms her scrunchie band around her arm into a double-barrel shotgun.

"This was my very first gun transformation," she revealed before reverting her Holy Sword back to its compact form. "And I spent a lot of time training how shotguns work in Somerset. The AA-12 configuration was something that I just got working a month prior to coming here."

"And I guess everyone and their mum are packing a round there, right?" Takeshi pointed out, remembering Simon Pegg's Hot Fuzz.

"Oh yeah, it was an eye-opener," Irina chuckled. "... Nice people, though. A few of them are former Exorcists who survived to reach retirement."

Several empty plates are stacked up before the counter right before everyone else orders their melon soda floats.

"... I'm curious, though," Xenovia spoke out. "... How did Pandora become legally blind?"

Said Knight groans in disgust while sipping her soda float. "... You're not gonna leave me alone until I explain, aren't you?"

"It's only fair," the Catholic Exorcist replied bluntly. "... Speak."

She then proceeds to give an abridged account on how Grendel (pre-Balance Breaker) BLEW UP HER EYES by using his ambient rage to turn her own Charmed spirits against her to detonate her self-destruct formula planted in her, effectively mothballing the Stray Fallen Angels and their Stray Exorcists' plans in the long term, contributing to her liberation and eventual recruitment into the Gremory Peerage.

"You know what we said about the Evil Dragons hating magic?" Koneko pointed out as she destroys her melon float with a single slurp. "... That was how we learned it firsthand."

"I forgot to ask Re:Live to remove my trackers that they planted into my eyes," Pandora remarked before sighing.

"You're taking this oddly well," Leon commented.

"Trust me, I'd rather have my face turned into a casserole than go back to the life of being passed between Titan Worshippers and Greek Demigods like a beach ball," the Knight deadpanned. "At least I'll be able to feel something other than desolation."

And like that, she's earned my respect. Grendel then cackled before noticing Yuuto was just sitting there, staring at his barely-touched plate of curry. ... He'll come to it on his own.

"Curious, but I have to ask," Akeno began. "What were you three doing before coming here?"

"We'll only tell you if you tell us what you have been doing," Xenovia snapped before sipping her soda float. "... It's only fair, after all."

Takeshi, rather than speaking, simply hands his phone towards the Church operatives, with a video recording the best moment of "Phenex VS Gremory" Rating Game.

"Is that... Grendel... fighting alongside you?!" Leon exclaimed as he, Irina, and Xenovia all stared at the Evil Dragon and User performed the Buster Docking on Riser and Mira during the last minutes of the match. "And it knows pro wrestling. Huh."

"... I'm half convinced that the Evil Dragon User is more insane than the Evil Dragons themselves," Xenovia droned, her brain shutting down as she was left drooling.

"Buster Variation Part 6!" Irina squealed in elation as the finishing hold lands. "... I don't care how graphic this Rating Game is, but you killed it out there, Takeshi-san!"

"Nah," Takeshi bashfully remarked. "... I couldn't have done it without everyone's aid."

"Damn straight," Koneko remarked as she pulled Pandora closer towards her by her shoulder. "Turning on that sprinkler at the last-minute was your best move yet."

"... I... I only did what I had to do," Pandora bashfully replied. "... Not like I could've come up with that plan on my own."

"Now that I've shown you all our side..." Takeshi then takes his phone back. "... What did you guys do?"

Leon grumbles before answering. "... Well, our last assignment before the [Excalibur] fragments got stolen was going after a particularly dangerous Stray Exorcist going by Jacob Torres, 'The Exterminator' at around New Year's Day."

Members of ORC begin looking amongst themselves in concern. "... Should we be worried?"

"He's not as cuckoo as Freed, but he's still pretty batty," Irina explained. "While Freed is known to kill just for fun, Jacob actively targets unsanctioned Devils and civilians, seeing them all as 'vermin' that need to be exterminated. His little 'crusade' for the past 13 years killed a lot of innocents, and the Magisterium ordered him to be killed on sight."

ORC's general attention then turns towards Xenovia. "... Why are you all looking at me like that?"

"Okay, are Exorcists in general so trigger-happy that the Magisterium didn't consider hiring counselors for regular psych-eval?!" Takeshi pointed out. "Even modern day militaries take their soldiers' mental health into account!"

"They kinda assumed that the Executors alone would be enough of a deterrent from turning Stray..." Leon groaned in growing embarrassment. "... In hindsight, mental health is on the very bottom of the list of priorities when it comes to the supernatural."

Takeshi repeatedly slams his head into the table at the sheer stupidity of how Strays are generated along with a whole basket case of reasons ranging from letting psychos into the fold before detection or generational prejudice breeding hate and resentment.

"... You know what they say about throwing stones from glass houses," the Evil Dragon User groaned. "Anyway, did you manage to catch him?"

"He got away when we cornered him at Brisbane, Australia," Irina confessed. "I swear, fighting him is like trying to fight a cornered snake."

"Name one Stray Exorcist who isn't..." Akeno muttered under her breath, remembering that library shootout at Chichibu, Saitama.

Everyone's bellies were full and content as they all spent the rest of the time at Snack Service conversing.

"So... Mr. Ainsworth?" Pandora asked. "How did you and Takeshi... first meet?"

Leon chuckles before sharing. "And I suppose he hasn't told you all anything about me?" he deadpanned. "Because if he did, I assure you, half of what he says is an exaggeration."

"To be fair, your name kinda slipped my mind until I saw your face back at the train," Takeshi pointed out before sighing. "... Junior High wasn't great for my mental health at all."

Leon then clears his throat before sharing his story. "... Well, my parents were Exorcists full-time, but I never saw my dad in the house, with my mom saying that he's busy with work," he started. "It was just me and her living together in Auckland, New Zealand, with me spending my early days at kindergarten worrying about my mom coming back alive to pick me up. God bless her for being a good parent even when risking life and limb while I was too small to do anything. Then one day, during summer break, a bunch of Church agents picked me up and took me to my mom, where she was horrifically injured after a mission to purge a Cluster hiding at the Philippines went sideways after the latter accidently provoked a whole flock of Manananggal to attack everyone present."

Everyone winces at the mere image of that incident.

... You know, I visited that island a few times, Yamata no Orochi mused. They make for great fucks. A bit cold to the touch, though.

TMI, TMI, TMI! Takeshi tried not to vomit at another one of the Evil Dragon of Lust's demented escapades as everyone else resumed listening in on his story.

"... Anyway, after my mom recovered, she was forced to go on an extended leave so that she could recuperate from her injuries, and we arrived at Sendai," Leon continued. "... Being a Westerner with a grandpa from Georgia and a grandma from Wales made me stick out like a sore thumb during Elementary School. Couldn't even speak a lick of Japanese when I first arrived."

Then a familiar scene clears up in Takeshi's brain as he finally remembers something. "AH!" he exclaimed. "I FINALLY REMEMBERED! YOU WERE THAT CRYING KID WITH BLOND HAIR THAT I WAS ALWAYS TRYING TO SAVE BY THE RIVERBANK!"

Leon groaned as everyone had images of the young Leon being a bit of a crybaby. "... I wasn't that bad, Takeshi."

"Yeah, well, I was the only one fighting the other kids off and coming back home covered in scratches..." Takeshi chuckled as he finally remembered more of his childhood that he'd forgotten parts of. "... Although come to think of it, wasn't there a third kid with us?"

"... Now that you mention it," Leon remarked with a nod. "My mind can't help but wonder... on why it's so foggy."

"Yeah, I know, right?" the Evil Dragon User consented. "I only started thinking about you because Kamen Rider Zi-O was having their Kamen Rider Blade tribute episode... and... AH! I just remembered another thing! There was a third kid, and he liked Kamen Rider Kabuto!"

"What are they talking about?" Xenovia asked.

"I personally liked Hibiki," Irina remarked. "... The first 29 episodes, I mean. After that, I was busy training as an Acolyte before I had free time to myself as an Exorcist. Wonder why I never picked it back up."

"Trust me, you're better off stopping there," Takeshi pointed out. "They pulled an A.I. after that part."

"Artificial Intelligence?" Xenovia replied.

"No, the Stanley Kubrick film that was handed over to Steven Spielberg halfway through development," Takeshi corrected, causing Leon to cringe at that apt description.

"I watched Jurassic Park, so I think I'll be fine," Irina obliviously remarked, completely missing the point as she then goes back to the prior subject of discussion. "... Anyway, you managed to finish Elementary School before you became an Acolyte?"

"Fortunately, but I cannot say the same for my peers back when," Leon answered. "... And as they say, the rest is history. My mom's basically retired due to the injuries she sustained at her last mission rendered her unable to do Exorcist work, and now she's living under the Church's protection so that she doesn't get taken as a hostage to be used against me. I still call her once a month, though. She's doing fine even though she's under 24/7 surveillance at a villa."

With Leon's story finished, everyone lets out a satisfied sigh as they all sit a while to let the bliss pass.

"... You know, I'm honestly surprised that you didn't press us harder after we got off the train," Takeshi asked. "I mean, given your work as an Inquisitor, I'd expect you to be a bit more... inquisitive?"

"Funny you should mention that..." Leon replied as he scratched his head. "... Initially, I was going to use [Fragarach] to force the truth out of you all, but our only accusatory claim we can levy against, you, that being your nominal connection with the Grigori, was moot upon Kokabiel's expulsion from the Cadres and declared an SSS-Ranked Stray. Xenovia wasn't as convinced, but after spending time with you all, I think you guys are in no way affiliated with those who stole the [Excalibur] fragments."

"I still have my eye on you Devils," the Catholic Exorcist declared with a harsh glower, especially towards Takeshi. "... Especially you, Evil Dragon User."

"I have a name, please acknowledge it," Takeshi deadpanned before looking towards Yuuto. "... You barely touched your food?"

"... Is there a rule where I have to?" the Knight sullenly replied, his low tone being bitter and resentful.

"Nah, there isn't," the Pawn answered before sighing."... Want that as takeout?"

Yuuto nods as Takeshi goes to get a takeout box for the Knight's cold curry rice before paying for everyone's meals, burning a significant hole into his own Venmo account. "...Holy shit!"

"I warned you," Leon pointed out.

"Whatever," Takeshi grumbled as he walked out the door, "it's not like I'm spending money on anything else anyway-"

There's an enemy nearby, Nidhogg warned as Takeshi then quickly picks up on a suffocating bloodlust and the faint sounds of rotary saws getting louder.

"Takeshi?!" Rias exclaimed as she and everyone else saw him quickly pivot his heel.

"DUCK!"

*WHIRR*

*SHRIEK!*

Just in time, Takeshi manages to tackle Rias and Koneko down as the front doors and the surrounding walls were cut apart like lumber to a running sawblade, with Yuuto's takeout box being destroyed in the process.

"... There... you are...!" a breathy and maddened voice hissed out with bile and vitriol. "... DEVILS!"

Everyone gets up from the wrecked restaurant as the front door and walls crumbled down to reveal a large and hunched-over man with tattered coat, beaten hat, and a bandaged face that hid his raw flesh and gum-exposed lines of teeth, his presence alone causing the other pedestrians to start running in panic.

"Torres!" Leon hissed as he drew [Fragarach] and caused everyone to go into their combative stances.

Then several police officers surrounded the Stray Exorcist from behind with their Nambu M60s pointed at him. "FREEZE-!"

"NO! YOU IDIOTS-!"

*SPLURCH!*

All of them were slain where they stood as Jacob whipped his chain-linked buzzsaws, their pieces dropping onto the ground.

"Filthy..." the bandaged man hissed. "Filthy... filthy... FILTHY! THIS WHOLE TOWN IS FILTHY-!"

"HENSHIN!"

Takeshi then takes the lead by attacking Jacob while he was rambling, knocking him back with a solid punch to his chest with everyone else following up as the chaos wrecked havoc throughout all of the restaurant row.

"Clean yourself up, asshole," Takeshi declared as everyone else attacked Jacob all at once, only for them to be stopped by a hail of gunfire shot from above.

Everyone looks up to spot none other than Yozakura, brandishing a pair of AMT Longslides, with one being blued and the other being silver, with both of the firearms having verses Ezekiel 38 and 39 typed into their slides in gold and black texts respectively.

"YOU!" Yuuto snarls as he then summons [Blast Ogre] and [Cyclone Call].

"JACOB! YOU IDIOT! YOU JUMPED THE GUN!" The masked assailant then hisses in apprehension while Yuuto leapt up towards her in order to attack her, to which the former dodged his swing before kicking him across his side and sending him rolling across the canopy. "Forget it. We're winging it!"

Jacob then lets out a feral howl as he then whips around his pair of chain-whip buzzsaws towards the Devils and Church operatives, the former dodging while the latter parried his attacks with their respective [Excalibur] fragments.

"You will die here, heretic!" Xenovia then dragged her [Excalibur Destruction] across the ground to then unleash a rippling wave of holy energy towards the Stray Exorcist.

"In the Lord's name, I punish thee! Amen!" Irina then charges with her katana in tandem with her partner's attack.

*SHATTER!*

From above, Yozakura jumps down from the canopy, intercepting both attacks with the swing of her sheathed jian, knocking back Irina while Jacob sidesteps away from the destructive wave.

"DO I HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING AROUND HERE?!" Yozakura then points one of her pistols behind herself to shoot one of Yuuto's artificial Demonic Swords out of his hands and to which Jacob lassoed him by his arm and neck with his chain before swinging him around the entire street and into Takeshi and Leon who were trying to move in.

"HANG ON-!"

*CRASH!*

A francisca made of green-colored holy energy embeds itself before a shutter next to Rias, nearly carving her face off of her skull before disappearing.

"... What's up, ladies?!" Then from the alleyway, the eyepatched Lailah then appears from the alleyway next to where the rest of the ORC was standing, brandishing another pair of hatchets made of her own holy energy. "Consider this payback for what happened back at Saitama!"

"EVERYONE!" Rias then flares up her [Power of Destruction] as she unlocks Pandora's limiters with her [Lock Control] while Akeno crackles with electricity and Koneko assumes her Nekomata form. "DEFEND YOURSELVES!"

"Take on the masked assailant," Leon ordered Xenovia and Irina as Takeshi helped Yuuto up. "Me and Takeshi will handle Torres!"

"TRY ME!" the bandaged psycho roared out. "DIE! YOU GUTLESS VERMIN!"

---

Meanwhile, at Sapporo, Hokkaido...

---

"Ah-Ah-AHCHOO!" Yubelluna groaned as she blew her nose as she opened the doors leading into a coroner's office. "... Why. Russia. Of all places?!"

"Silver lining, we're back to warmer climates..." shuddered Mihae as she and the rest of Riser's Peerage returned from their commission taking place at Okhotsk, with Isabela and Siris carrying a large, black zip-bag in their arms.

While the rest of them shuddered, Riser and Ravel were perfectly fine.

"... Riser-sama, how are you and Ravel-sama not freezing like us?" Mira asked before she sneezed all over her clothes before being wiped down by Marion while her wheelchair was being pushed by Burnet.

"... Really now?" the ex-scion-now-freelancer King remarked as he carried his top behind his back. "... A bit warm up there, in my opinion."

"Seriously...?!" Karlamine grimaced as she and everyone else remember him taking off his shirt in the middle of the freezing downpour before diving into the ocean from atop of a cliff.

"Thank the Satans that me and my stupid brother were born with [Hell Fire]," Ravel remarked before noticing that both of the twins, Ile and Nel along with Ni and Li were giving her puppy-dog-eyes. "... Fine. You four may cuddle. Just be sure to share."

"Yay!" The chainsaw and the Senri twins both huddled themselves around the Bishop as their client meets them halfway through the hall, pulling a stretcher bed behind themselves.

"Took you a while," Re:Live said as they clicked their tally marker to "22."

"To be fair, none of us expected to find our 'objective,' IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BLOODY OCEAN!" Xuelan screeched before letting out a sigh. "... I'm sorry. The rain over there didn't help."

"You'll all get your compensation as soon as you show what you've brought back."

Isabela and Siris then place the bag onto the stretcher before opening the zipper, revealing Raynare's decapitated body, her severed head now missing a length of her hair that was now more akin to a straight bob, and her prayer bead necklace now glowing with ambient power akin to that of a living being's internal magic signature, but greater, as if itself was a living being.

"If it weren't for the necklace, she might've been fish food," the goggled Rook pointed out.

"I think I had to pick out young barnacles out of her scalp after we fished her out," the ponytailed Knight added.

"But still..." Shuriya and everyone else look down at what they've brought back. "... To think that one of your own would have the gall to betray you."

Re:Live says nothing as they zip the body bag back shut. "You've all done enough for today." The superhero then takes out their phone to send them their paychecks. "Stick around for a bit longer. I got something to sweeten the deal for your troubles."

They then take the body to a hidden operating room accessible via an elevator and secret combination of the button presses. Once reaching the secret room, Re:Live opens up the double doors to find the Mad Doctor Shift Squadron waiting inside the operation room.

"Patch her up," they ordered. "She is not allowed to die under my protection. Understood?"

The German doctor cackles as he pulls his rubber gloves while his eyepatched compatriot stamped out his cigarette with the sole of his loafer. "Consider it done!"

"... Must... operate... patient!" the bag-head doctor in scrubs mumbled while trembling.

"Easy now," the eyepatched doctor stoically remarked. "... Steady hands."

The scantily-clad nurse then opens the bag before turning on the blindly-bright surgical lights. "... Begin the operation."

Re:Live then leaves the specialists to do their work while they made their way to the building's break room to fetch a trolley cart full of electric kettles, bottles of water, cartons of milk, packets of tea, hot chocolate, and instant coffee, bottles of honey, and cans of whipped cream.

"... Who's thirsty?" the superhero said as they came towards the entirety of Riser's Peerage cuddling up on their King and Bishop for warmth.

"Me!" Everyone raises their hands.

---

To Be Continued...

---

And that ends the reboot's "Chapter 22," and OMG, this chapter was BRUTAL to write out.

For reference, the first segment went through two OVERHAULS. I will not elaborate why.

First of all, in all of my infinite wisdom, I decided to cram three separate chapter's worth of content into a single one, and as a result, I had to make so many cuts and edits that the original draft was going to be even longer than the prior chapter. I was not going to cram two 3v3 fight scenes back-to-back, for obvious reasons.

Also, I threw in a It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia-reference via Pandora, because the poor girl has been through a really stressful day, so might as well show the readers her limit.

Second, there may be some deviations compared to the original, with the Church operatives being more... patient with ORC, and that's for the following reasons:

1) No one knows what's really going on.

2) Kokabiel being declared a SSS-Ranked Stray inadvertently threw a wrench in everyone's plans, since while he can't exploit his prior position as a Cadre to sew discord behind enemy lines, this actually makes him harder to track down.

3) All obvious evidence to the thefts of [Excalibur] fragments are scrubbed due to Phecda's (and their associates') efforts, meaning no obvious culprits save for the involvement of third parties.

That, and the Church trio, Leon, Xenovia, and Irina, I organized them into the following categories regarding the "Freudian Trio"-trope:

Leon: Superego (the "reason"/moderator of the trio)

Xenovia: Id (the "smash first, question later"/bad cop of the trio)

Irina: Ego (the "heart"/good cop of the trio)

Overall, I did my best to keep things consistent to both the canon and the original fic.

Third, Kokabiel and his allies.

Now that he's got nothing but the clothes on his back, he has more incentive to make his final stand with his cockamamie plan involving [Excalibur] fragments, but inversely, he's a bit more careful about it, since as a veteran of the Great War, he's treating this operation like an actual, multi-pronged, military operation... alcoholism aside.

Gadreel being a show-off back at the train nearly compromised the entire operation, something that Yozakura rubs it in at the Fallen Angel's expense.

As for the affiliated characters within Kokabiel's inner circle... I added more characterization just to make them more compelling beyond "EVIL."

Father Valper Galilei... he's basically a child inside of a 60-year old man's body, which makes his whole Nazi-shit (to quote Takeshi) that he did to Yuuto and his friends... even worse in hindsight. That said, he does hold a great deal of empathy to those who are on his wavelength, and even tries to emotionally counsel Yozakura regarding her overall cynicism. Overall, he's a case of "Laughably Evil"-trope, who embodies both aspects.

Yozakura is a sociopath, but pretty grounded compared to the rest of her peers. She knows that she's nothing more than a killer, which begs the question on why she joined Re:Live in the first place if she ended up betraying them in the long run. She has no delusions of the world she lives in, and treats the fantastical with a cold and logical perspective: Holy Swords are nothing but tools, and killing in general doesn't need to be differentiated either if they're human or the supernatural.

Jacob Torres' is basically Freed from Arc 3 if he made it to old age. I also based his appearance on Genocide from Ninja Slayer. But unlike Freed, Jacob is the opposite of "The Hedonist." He does not kill for fun, he kills because he sees it as his holy work, which makes him even more unstable (I refer to his difference of speech between his allies and when he finds Devils).

The rest of the Fallen Angels will be given their focuses on the next chapter.

Fourth, the goodwill sparring matches.

... Yeah, I'm just gonna come out and say it, but yes, I exposed Ddraig several chapters early. All because of Grendel actually using his newfound brains to figure out that Leon was holding back, so he forced him out, but since Takeshi also got stronger (and conducted his psychological warfare by bringing up Tiamat), the match ended in a double knockout rather than simply being inconclusive.

And Pandora actually beating Irina. She didn't tail Akeno off-screen this whole time and show nothing for it. The intentional (or unintentional) disrespect I've put her through... was for that reason. She needs a W every now and then.

Also, I gave Yuuto's ultimate artificial Demonic Sword/"Destruction Sword" in the fanon wiki it's own name, [Hate Buster], and just like the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trap Card it was named after, it blew up in his face as Xenovia achieved a flawless victory.

As for Leon's [Fragarach], I gave it a weakness in regards to its "lie detector" abilities: it can't discern "exact words" during interrogations. I sort of based that on Azula fooling Toph's superhuman senses while the former told a ridiculous lie. And in battle, copied techniques also fall under that "exact words"-loophole, since it only takes into account what the "User's opponent" is about to do next.

The Snack Service curry restaurant scene is just getting all the lore fluff out of the way so I can focus on the next chapters being action-oriented, but it also serves as a way for the supernatural folks to act like normal people. It's just meant to be relaxing before the Hell of war comes (literally) knocking at their doors.

And finally, Riser's Peerage brought Raynare's dead body back. I wanted to do an Invincible 2021 reference, and just to cement the Fallen Angel's status as the fic's resident "Chew Toy."

Anyway, I am going to take a week off from writing, since I'm on the verge of burning myself out after the ordeal that is this chapter, and I have two Gunpla model kits to assemble.

Tune in next time when shit's about to get real. Until then!

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Tokusatsu References:

- Pandora's screaming that cut off everyone's argument is a reference to King-Ohger's Rita Kaniska and her screaming fits.

- The explanation for the Church's Exorcist combat outfits is lifted from Dr. K's explaining of how the Ranger Suits work in Power Rangers RPM.

- Pandora's own custom golems are based off Golem Soldiers/Putty Patrollers from Zyuranger/Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers.

- Leon paraphrases Zordon's line from the first episode of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers when explaining why he picked up on Bajiquan.

- [Fragarach]'s appearance was inspired by Kamen Rider Accel's [Engineblade].

- Leon's [Welsh Dragon] Balance Breaker pre-henshin line is obviously a Power Rangers reference, and the placement of his [Boosted Gear] brings into mind a wrist-mounted henshin device used more frequently in Super Sentai/Power Rangers.

- Kiri-sensei's "Ciao!" before he leaves is a reference to Kamen Rider Build's Isurugi Soichi's use of gratuitous Italian.

- The curry restaurant is a bevy of Super Sentai references, from Goranger's Snack Gon (name basis of the restaurant), Sun Vulcan's Snack Safari (general interior design), Abaranger's Dino House (the atmosphere), Gokaiger (the destruction of said restaurant), and Boonboomger (the curry and its owner's voice).

- Leon's birthplace being at Auckland, New Zealand is a reference to where the Disney Era-Power Rangers were filmed at.

- Yozakura's AMT Longslides having verses Ezekiel 38 and 39 on their slides is a reference to Go-Buster's Escape, and her guns being named Gog and Magog, the names of the giants that said verses reference.

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OC Fancast:

- Leon Ainsworth: Takahiro Sakurai (JPN, as per the fanon wiki), David Vincent (ENG)

- Nuriel: Yui Ishikawa (JPN), Madeleine Morris (ENG)

- Jacob Torres: Kazuhiko Inoue (JPN), Jason Douglas (ENG)

- Snack Service's Owner: Rica Matsumoto (JPN), Sarah Natochenny (ENG)