A new friend
"The name's Dulio Gesualdo" he introduced himself.
"Savion, and this is Ayame" I introduced the both of us. I didn't reaveal the family name as it might cause more trouble for us unlike the time with Nurarihyon and Azazel.
"Follow me, I wasn't kidding when I said a know a good place." he said as Ayame and I made eye contact, silently deciding to go along for now.
...
"I figured you already know who I am?" He asked me as we sat down inside a small restaurant.
"I do, you are said to be the current strongest exorcist and wealder of a longinus, though I don't know which one" I replied, again lying as I don't think revealing that I knew about Zenith Tempest would do me no good. My reply shocked Ayame who was sitting beside me, clearly not expecting to meet someone like him on her first time outside Japan.
"So what exactly do you want with us?" I asked.
"I was just curious" he replied nonchalantly "A devil and a yokai casually looking for a place to eat isn't something you see everyday and yes I can tell she's a reincarnated devil"
Then his eyes suddenly widen "Are you two perhaps on a DATE?! Oh I'm so Sorry if you were, but please do understand that It's my job to see if you two were dangerous or not" he suddenly apologize and started explaining himself.
'Don't you think I'm a bit too young to be on a date' I thought. 'But I can work with this'
"It is our first date actually" I immediately lied with a straight face and I turned to Ayame with a smile, trying to make her understand my plan so she won't freak out, as well as making what I just said seem look and sound a bit more genuine. She was blushing hard but seems to understand what I was doing.
For some reason he seems to believe me and started apologizing again.
"It's okay, you don't have to apologize. I'm just surprised you didn't try to take us out immediately when you saw us, why is that? If you don't mind answering"
"Oh I don't mind at all, you see I've travelled all around the world and have seen my fair share of evil atrocities being committed by your kind, as well as vampires, werewolves and other species that are deemed evil by the church." He said in a serious tone as he slowly lean in towards us making me and Ayame nervous.
"But I've also seen even worse atrocities being committed by people of the church themselves, and good deeds being done by those that the church have deemed evil, so I'm not hypocritical enough to call every devil, vampires and werewolves I came across as evil and immediately try to get rid of them, especially when they aren't doing anything in particular until I know what their intentions are" he replied as Ayame and I slump a bit in relief.
"Again I apologize for intruding on your date, I'd go immediately but the food's here so...I guess you'll have to deal with me for a little while more" he said casually.
Ayame and I just looked at each other, not sure what to do with the extremely relaxed exorcist eating away at his food.
"Go on, eat, It's delicious." he urge us.
We looked at each other again before we just shrugged and ate as well.
...
"Eating lunch together was not what I expected to do with the first exorcist I met" I commented.
"Haha...just don't tell church" he said jokingly. "Though there's something I'm curious about, how did you two met if I may asked, I can tell you're quite young" he asked pointing his spoon at me.
"Just how you'd expect your typical budding romance between a young devil and a century old Oni would meet. We met during my first visited Japan, got to know each other by having a huge fight in an abandoned shrine, we've been going strong ever since." I answered.
Ayame was glaring at me but the huge blush on her face just makes her adorable rather than scary.
"Ah...a bond forged through battle, a classic." Dulio said crossing his arms and nodding his head.
...
The conversations carried on for a few more minutes even after we were done with the food. On the excuse of sightseeing Ayame and I manage to get the location where the royal and nobles lived, as well as the museum and twenty other places where we could get more delicious foods and drinks from the exorcist.
"Well, I hope you two have a fine day, I'll be taking my leave now" he said as he casually walks away.
.
.
"We just made friends with the strongest exorcist, that's cool. Come on let's get going ourselves"
"H-Huh oh...sorry yea let's go" she hurriedly answered. "You okay?" I asked "You kinda space out just now"
"Just...I was just thinking"
"Go on"
"Would...umm I know we were just pretending in front of Dulio-san but it umm...it just got me thinking, what if we were really on a date, would Savion-kun want to d-da-date me?" she managed to squeaked out.
My eyes widen in shock, this is something totally unexpected, I knew she has feelings for me, maybe not as much as Rias, Sona and even Kuroka, but I know there's something there, what surprised me is that I would never expect her to be the one to act on them and suddenly ask me out like this.
"Y-Ye-Yes, I definitely would" I answered her, still a bit flustered. She immediately looked up, her eyes sparkling, her cheeks red and the most mesmerizing smile she ever sported. She was simply stunning at the moment.
"But I'm going to have to talk to Rias and Sona aren't I?" she asked as she realized my current relationship status.
"Don't worry" I smiled at her "They'll like you, I am sure of that" I assured her.
"umu" she nodded "I'll make sure of that" she said pumping her fist with a determine look on her face.
"We'll go on our date after that" I said to her. "I will hold you on that!" she said still smiling, I smiled back "come let's get this over with so we could go back to the underworld as soon as we can" and she nodded.
...
As we were walking towards our destination. "Savion..."
"I sense it too, it seems we might have found our target" I said as we went straight towards the location where we sense the sudden spike in holy energy.
...
"Well isn't this just convenient" I muttered as I watch a blonde hair teenager walking away with a sword strap to his back.
"That sword is dangerous" Ayame commented and I nodded. "Let's go say hello shall we" I said as we made our way to the blonde teen.
...
"Arthur Pendragon I presume?"
"Indeed I am, who are you two and how do you know who I am?" he asked.
"Savion Astaroth and this beautiful lady right here is Ayame Nakiri, please to meet you. We've heard that one of the member of the Pendragon family ran away with a sacred treasure." I replied looking at the sword on his back.
He tensed up a bit, staring right at the two of us "What do you want?" he asked.
"Nothing bad I promise, let's just say we were curious when we heard a member of the Pendragon family left the house in search of strong opponents to fight"
"That is true, so you came to me, wanting to challenge me?" he asked and I can tell he was starting to get a bit excited.
"Yes, but if you lose I want you" I said straight to the point, using the same strategy I use to on Ayame.
I immediately regretted saying that as Ayame was trying hard to hold back her laugh and Arthur was looking at me weirdly, "I apologize but I'm not into young boys, my heart is already set on someone" he replied very seriously.
"PifftHahahaha..." Ayame couldn't hold it anymore. "I apologize I meant I want you to join me" I corrected myself, trying to hide my embarrassment.
"Join you? for what, who exactly are you two?" he asked seriously. I decided to come clean and whipped out my wings, he looked shocked and his hand immediately went to the handle of his sword, ready to swing anytime. "A devil" he muttered "so you want me to become a devil myself and serve you?" he asked wearily.
"OH, so you know about us and our way of reincarnating other species into devils" I commented in mild surprise.
"Father has informed me of it and to answer your question about joining you...remember I am the descendant of the legendary Arthur Pendragon and carry his name. If I were to serve anyone he or she should be strong and worthy"
"Well aren't you proud of your heritage even when you're practically an outcast." I commented "I can easily prove my strength b--" before I could finish I was suddenly interrupted..."Savion, let me fight" Ayame suddenly said, surprising the both of us. "It's a servants job to make sure their master gets what they want...plus, it's not like I'm going to lose" she said confidently.
"Haha, that's true but please don't call yourself a servant again" I told her.
"Sorry, yea I'll remember that." she then turned to Arthur "You know, I said the same thing you said about being worthy when I first met Savion. You know what he said? he asked me if I'm the one that is worthy to be serving under him and seeing that I am worthy, I believe it is my duty to find out whether YOU are worthy of Savion, your royal blood doesn't matter" she said seriously.
All I could do was smile at her in appreciation and since she want to fight on my behalf, why wouldn't I allow it, so I created a barrier around trapping us within a different dimension. This was one of the few magic I Iearn from Kuroka during our stay in the underworld.
"The barrier will stay as long as I'm conscious, so go all out" I told them.
Ayame immediately removed her illusion, showing Arthur her horns, she then magically changed to her black and red battle kimono, her red sword in her hand, with the black one still in her back.
Arthur who was silent for a while also drew his sword and got into a stance.
'This is going to be a such a good fight' I thought excitingly.
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A/N: A few hours late on the update, sorry about that.
It's really hard to write with a headache.