They're calling me what!?(5)

"Don't you mean heaven?"

"I know what I said, Shirou," she returned her frames to their usual place and give me one of her rare smiles, "And trust me when I say there is no way heaven would ever approve of the two of you."

In spite of myself, I felt oddly pleased with that.

Letting out one final chuckle, Sona took a deep breath before shutting her eyes. Remaining almost completely still, she released her breath in one slow exhale. When she was done, she opened her eyes again and I found myself staring at a completely different person.

Gone were all traces of laughter and humour, disappearing as if they were never there. Sitting ramrod straight in her seat, Sona looked at me with a face that was equally formal as it was cold. Not a hint of warmth remained; it almost felt like I was looking at a stranger.

This was a side of Sona that I rarely saw, although it was the one she apparently wore the most. This Sona wasn't my master's little sister nor was she the girl that was quickly becoming my friend. This was Sona Sitri, the heiress of Sitri Clan, the president of Kuoh Academy's Student council.

Cold and formal, it was something that I have only seen once before, the side of her that she wore when we first met, though it didn't last as it quickly melted away when Serafall introduced us and told her who I was.

It was as if she had some kind of internal switch that she could simply flick and switch between personas.

She looked at me straight in the eye before lowering her head in a formal bow, "Emiya Shirou," She stated, "I, Sona Sitri, heir of one of the 72 pillars, humbly invite you to attend the training session of both my Peerage and myself and grant us whatever assistance that you are willing to offer."

See what I mean? A complete stickler for the rules, this one. She could have just said 'want to help us train?' and that would have been enough. Even most of the older generations weren't this formal outside of work, but since she chose to go down this route that means I have to respond in kind and, honestly, I'm still not used to this kind of thing.

Returning a bow that was equally deep, not an inch lower or higher, "I, Emiya Shirou, servant of the Leviathan, gladly accept the invitation."

I'm pretty sure that wasn't the proper response, but it will do. Now with that part over, I made sure to come out of the bow the same time she did.

Then like that her mask was gone, and the usual semi-formal Sona was back.

"Well," she adjusted her frames, "That was twenty minutes of my life I'm never getting back." Though she said it with a smile to let me know she was joking.

She then looked over my head at something, "We've been here longer than I've originally expected. You'd better hurry up if you want to have time to eat."

I twisted in place to look at the clock that was mounted on the wall behind and found that she was right. Lunch was almost halfway over.

Rising from my seat, I started to make my way to the door, "Well, while I still have a few things I wanted to talk to you about, they can wait until after our first training session at least. When is that by the way?

"Our next scheduled training will be held tomorrow evening at seven in the school courtyard." She replied, "Now go to lunch, Shirou, I don't want you slacking off on your first day at school because you were hungry."

"Got it," I had just reached the door at that point and had slid the door halfway open before I remembered something.

"Oh, and Sona," I looked at her over my shoulder, "It's up to you whether or not you choose to listen to my advice, but when you choose your remaining Peerage members make sure they're the power type."

She just waved me away, "Understood, now get going already."

Nodding, I turned to leave but was stopped when I was halfway out the door.

"And Shirou," I turned to find her staring at me, "Call me Kaichou when we're at school."

I smirked at that, "As you wish, Kaichou." And shut the door behind me, walking away to find a quiet place I can have my lunch at.

Silence filled the Student Council room, its occupants listening intently to the receding footsteps of their departed guest. When at last it could no longer be heard the entire Student Council relaxed, releasing a breath of relief almost as one.

The blue-haired girl, Tsubasa, dropped a stack of paper she was working on onto a nearby desk before slumping down on a nearby chair.

"Well," she said after running a hand through her hair, "That was unexpected."

Turning her head towards Sona, she commented, "Kaichou, when you told us to prepare for guest a today, I didn't expect it to be him."

"Who was that guy anyway?" Saji, the only male left in the room, asked.

"You mean you don't know, Gen-chan?" Momo looked surprised at that, before with a small exclamation of realization the raven-haired beauty palmed her head, "Ah, that's right. You were reincarnated just a couple of months ago, weren't you? Of course, you wouldn't have heard."

"Heard what? Is that guy a big shot or something?"

"Something like that," Tomoe, a cheerful-looking girl with pigtails responded. Glancing at Sona from the edge of her eyes, she added with a playful smile, "Although what really surprised me was how open Kaichou was acting. I don't think I've ever seen her act like that outside of us, Rias and her precious Onee-sama. Normally she's so shy that she barely says anything more than she needs to."

"That's true." Tsubaki agreed as she handed her King a cup of steaming tea, "I really didn't expect the two of them to get along so well. Or at least not this soon."

Taking the cup from her Queen, the topic of the conversation decided to interrupt. "How many times must I tell you not to talk about me as if I'm not even here?" Lifting the cup to her lips she paused, "And besides," she added before taking a sip, "I'm never shy."

"Sure you're not." Tomoe's playful smile turning into a teasing one as she agreed insincerely.

Letting out a sigh, Sona decided not to comment on her knight's tone, "I don't see what's surprising about my behaviour," deciding to go back to the original topic of the discussion, "It's only natural; after all, it wouldn't be too much of an exaggeration to say he's practically family."

"Eh~~!" Saji yelled out in surprise, "You mean you're related to that guy?"

Grimacing at the sound of her pawn's overreaction, Sona set her teacup down, "I guess it's not surprising that you don't understand", she muttered quietly to herself before, with a sharp nod, she stood and faced Saji.

"Very well then, as your King, it would be remiss of me to keep you ignorant." She clapped her hands and pointed at a chair for Saji to sit in, "So it's time for a history lesson."

Pacing across the room with her hands folded behind her back, Sona waited for Saji to settle himself on his chair before asking, "What do you know of my sister?"

"Ah," Seemingly startled by the question, Saji paused for a moment to think on it before answering, "Well, your sister's a Maou, right?" He said, sounding a little uncertain. Seeing Sona encouraging nod he carried on, "The Leviathan, one of the four leaders of the Underworld and is responsible for foreign affairs. She and the other three were war heroes from the civil war and are considered to be among the strongest Devils in history."

"Correct," She nodded while she continued to pace in front of him, "And what about her Peerage?"

"Her Peerage?" He repeated before racking his brain for an answer. "I...I..." he muttered out loud for a couple of seconds before slumping forward, disappointment filling his posture.

"Sorry, Kaichou, I don't know." He admitted, looking more than a little ashamed by his inability to answer.

The smallest hint of a smile made its way to her face at her Pawns overreaction, "Don't beat yourself up over it, Saji, it's only natural for you not to know." She told the depressed boy, "After all, she doesn't have one."

"Really?" The shock of that particular revelation seemed to knock him out of his depression. "Even though she's a Maou?" He asked, incredulity clearly written all on his face.

Grimacing at the question, Sona nodded as she subconsciously increased the speed of her pacing.

"Since the end of the Civil War against the Old Devil faction, my sister has refused to form a Peerage. Not even a single member." She lectured. "As you can no doubt imagine, my sister's lack of a Peerage came as a surprise to a lot of people. It soon became a huge subject of controversy in the Underworld. Add in the fact that it had been over two hundred years and the problem only grew. It reached the point where rumours began to spread about her."

Her grimace turned to an outright scowl, "Rumours," Spitting that word out like a curse, "Which claimed that the reason why she refused a Peerage was because she disapproved of Reincarnated Devils as a whole. That she considered them a blight on the purity of Devil-kind."

She angry waved her hand before her as if dismissing the idea, "Preposterous, of course, my sister has never cared even the slightest bit about the blood purity of Devil-kind before, but that didn't stop the rumours from spreading anyway. And every year the problem just seemed to keep getting worse.

"It reached the point that the other Maous had tried to intervene and attempted to force her to form a Peerage, even if only in name, but that ended up blowing up in their faces. She was steadfast in her refusal to form a Peerage, not even a single member. Even informing her that she would run the risk of losing her position as a Maou if public unrest on the matter continued to grow, failed to persuade her.

"In the end it only made matters worse, as when the public found out how hard she fought against the idea of forming a Peerage, it only helped to feed the flames." She paused her pacing and turned to face Saji as he continued to listen attentively.

"Honestly, Saji, things were getting really bad. You have to understand that one of the biggest issues that plague modern Devil society is the subject of the Reincarnated Devils. Remember, we have only been able to reincarnate humans to Devils for the last couple of centuries and, while that may appear as a long period of time for you, for Devils, who can measure their lives in millennia, that was little more than a decade ago at most. Over two-thirds of living Devils still remember a time where the Evil Pieces system didn't exist."

She turned and resumed her pacing. "In recent years tension between Pure Devils and Reincarnated Devils has risen to an all-time high. And with the numbers of Reincarnated Devils steadily increasing compared to how the number of Devils from the 72 Pillars keeps declining no matter what we do with each passing century, the situation didn't seem to be getting better any time soon.

"Despite all that it wasn't an immediate issue. Devils, because of their long lives, take far longer to change socially than humans do. While it is a growing problem, it was not one that had to be dealt with immediately, but it's only a matter of time. A few decades, maybe a century or two, then the issue will become too big to ignore anymore."

"The Maous, still dealing with damages from the Civil War and the remaining threat posed by the remainder of the Three Factions, could not afford to alienate any member of the Devil communicate and thus have decided to remain neutral on the issue."

"So that means-" Saji muttered out as he connected the dots.

"Yes," Sona agreed, "that means that my sister's persistence in rejecting a Peerage was seen as her supporting the Pure Devils agenda. Which meant that as far as the public was concerned, the Maous where no longer considered neutral and have already chosen a side to support."

Releasing a frustrated sigh while adjusting her glasses, Sona continued, "Instead of being something that could be put off for a later time, it quickly became an issue that had to be addressed immediately. And just when it reached the point where the Maous had no choice but to leave their neutrality and publicly take a stance on the matter," Sona walked up and stood right in front of Saji before spreading her arms open, "The entire issue became pointless as one day out of the blue, my sister pranced into the middle of a press conference that Sirzechs was holding and informed him that she got a new Peerage member and pranced right out without saying another word."

"Ehh~~~~~!" Saji shouted in shock and truthfully she couldn't blame him for his reaction, as that was the same response that every Devil in that room gave at the news, Sirzechs included. Which was unfortunate for him as many of the reporters had cameras.

His surprised face, jaw opened so wide that it reached the middle of his chest and his eyeballs bulging out, made the front page over Serafall's new Peerage member in quite a few of the newspapers. The newspaper companies have reported record-breaking sales that day, though whether it was due to Serafall's announcement or Sirzechs picture was debatable.

A smile that was a cross between fondness and exasperation graced Sona's lips as she muttered, "That's just like her."

Shaking her head at the memory, she continued, "Anyway, that occurred a little over six months ago. Not surprisingly, after all the problems that were caused by her refusing to get a peerage for two centuries, only for her to turn around and suddenly get not only a new member but a Queen at that, had the whole supernatural world buzzing."

"Yeah, I remember that," Tsubasa interjected, finally breaking the silence from the rest of the Peerage, "The Underworld's social network was filled for weeks about people messaging and tweeting each other over Serafall's new Queen. Yet at the time all anyone knew about him was his name."

"Emiya Shirou," Sona confirmed, "His name and a picture was the only thing Serafall released to the public. That was however enough to trigger a global-wide search effort for any information they could find about him.

"In the end, he turned out to be someone no one ever heard of before, and I mean no one. Every news network, spy ring and government agency within and between both Heaven and Hell tried to find everything they could on him.

"All for nothing, the collective effort of the entire Supernatural community failed to uncover even a single scrap of information on the Leviathan's new Queen." The edge of Sona's lips lifted slightly, giving her an almost proud look. Her sister's ability to drive the entire world crazy with frustration was something that she couldn't but find amusing, especially after experiencing it herself for most of her childhood.

It was nice having the rest of the world finally understand how she felt.

"The only thing they were able to confirm was that he formerly was a human, but that was only because he showed no physical or magical traits of any other race, rather than any success in their search effort."

Walking up to the seat she recently vacated, she sat down and took a sip of her now cool tea before speaking again. "But that brought up another issue. A minor one, sure, especially compared to the ones his appearance solved, but something that needed to be dealt with."

Holding out her now empty cup towards her Queen, who quickly poured her a new one, which she proceeded to drink instead of speaking.

Seeing that his King had no intention of continuing, Saji quickly reached the end of his patience, "And? What's the new problem?"

Lowering her cup and shooting her pawn a mildly disappointed look at his inability to wait and mentally promising herself to correct that weakness, answered. "His rank."

"That's it?" Saji complained, clearly not understanding the problem.

"Think about it, Gen-chan," Momo interjected. "What does a Devil's Peerage represent?"

"Themselves," after taking a moment of thinking on it, he replied. "A Devil's peerage is a representative of the Devil in question."

"Correct," Sona nodded approvingly, "Now taking that into consideration, tell me what should his rank be? Not only was he the Queen of a Maou, but he was also the only member of her Peerage, and since it took my sister so long to find just one member, it appeared that he would remain the only member for the foreseeable future. Thus the burden of representing her falls completely on his shoulders."

Taking one final sip of her tea before setting it down, she resumed. "Before Shirou's arrival, every appointed Queen of the Maous were either already high ranking Devils before they became Queens or renowned warriors of Ultimate-class fighting abilities. Shirou, on the other hand, was a complete unknown. He could have been a weakling for all anyone knew. Absurd had it been anyone else but considering that it was my sister who chose him as her Queen, there was a frightfully realistic possibility of it being true."

Sona repeated her original question. "So, what should his rank be? Too low a rank and it will be an insult to a Maou, a public slap to the face, something that no one involved wanted. Yet they could not give an unknown a high rank. Not only would it stink of favouritism, but they couldn't grant a high rank to what was potentially a weak Devil.

"Before it became too big a problem however, my sister gave an outrageous suggestion. Even by her standards, it was considered insane." Her completely grim expression was all that Saji needed to know that even after the fact, Sona still didn't approve of her suggestion.

"What did she say?"

"She wanted to arrange a fight between Sirzechs and Shirou," Sona stated calmly before closing her eyes and leaning away in anticipation of the yell of surprise that would no doubt be coming from the easily excitable teen.

After several seconds had passed and the anticipated yelling had yet to come, Sona slowly cracked open her eyes to see what the matter was, before blinking in surprise. She blinked again, and again, and one more time to be sure. Yet there was no denying what she was seeing.

There, sitting stock-still before her was a completely frozen Saji. Jaw hanging open and eyes wide in shock, his skin having paled by several shades, he remained seated completely motionless before her.

"Ah...Saji?" her voice held a rare tone of uncertainty as she questioned her unmoving pawn. "Are you alright?" When he didn't show even the slightest sign of responding to her comment, she began to worry.

"Gen-chan?" Momo spoke up as well, and when he still didn't respond, the rest of the peerage began to worry.

Ruruko, a twin-ponytailed girl, walked up to her fellow pawn and waved a hand in front of his face. "Hello~~~ is anybody home in there, Saji?"

When he still didn't react, she reached out a hand and gave him a gentle poke on his shoulder.

The moment she made contact, Saji reacted.

"Ehh~~~~~~~~!" Saji ended up screaming so loud that the windows shook in their frames. Every Council member in the room reflexively clamped their ears, while poor Ruruko had almost fallen over as she jumped back in fright.

"SHE DID WHAT? IS SHE INSANE?" He shouted out, skin still pale with shock. "She wanted him to fight Sirzechs, the Super Devil Sirzechs? As in the literal Devil himself? The strongest Devil in recorded history, that Sirzechs?"

"No, we're talking about the other Sirzechs, the one that works as a part-time accountant in the local mall." Tsubasa snarked, before reaching across the table and gently cuffing Saji on the back of the head. "Yes, that Sirzechs, and keep it down, you almost busted my eardrums."

"Normally I'd take offence for calling my sister insane, but in this particular case, I'm inclined to agree. What she wanted was completely insane." Pinching the bridge of her nose to stave off the headache that the mere memory of the event brought on. "Somehow she was able to convince everyone else to go along with her madness, and before I knew what was happening, Shirou and Sirzechs were already fighting."

"Well, what the hell happened?" He asked before noticing the serious expression his master was sporting and began feeling a little nervous. "He didn't win...did he?"

"No, of course not. He most certainly did lose." Sona assured him with a slow shake of her head, "Then again, no one expected him to win nor was it the purpose of the fight. What everyone wanted to know was how strong he was and well... He proved himself to be most worthy of being my sister's Queen."

Her eyes lost focus as she got lost in her memory "Sirzechs wanted to test Shirou, so he didn't initiate the fight and merely sat back and waited for him to strike the first blow. Instead of simply charging in, Shirou began to chant."

"Chanting?" Reya, a Bishop and thus one of the magic experts of the group, asked. "Like for a spell? But he's a Devil now; doesn't he realize that unlike human mages we don't need chants or circles to cast spells?"

"That's what we all thought too." Sona agreed. "Some of the Elder Devils watching actually started laughing and claiming how it was too soon for the kid to fight if he doesn't even know how to cast a spell properly."

Frowning at the thought of the Elder Devils, she continued, "As much as I hate to ever side with those old fools, at the time I was forced to agree. If Shirou didn't even understand the basics of how his Devil powers worked, it was going to end becoming even a bigger massacre than anyone ever expected.

"I was already apprehensive enough about the fight already, finding out that he was unable to use Devil magic however pushed me over the edge. I quickly turned around to find my sister and convince her to end this fight before she got her Queen killed, but the moment I caught a glimpse of her face, I froze in place. She was wearing a look that I recognized all too well, a cocky 'I know something you don't know' expression of hers that she always wore just before she was about to prank someone..." she paused before admitting, "Which more than often than not was me.

"Not sure whether to feel reassured or even more terrified by the revelation, I decided to simply stand out of her line of fire for the moment and watch how things played out. By the time I turned back towards the match, Shirou had just completed his chant and...well, to say what followed was unexpected would be putting it mildly.

"A ring of fire emerged from beneath his feet, quickly spreading across the field to encircle Sirzechs within its embrace and, with a flash of blinding light, a giant dome of flames had replaced the ring.

"It was a brand of magic that no one had ever seen the like of before. Despite its appearance, what we first believed to be flames were actually not, as it emitted no heat and a Phenex member in the audience could sense no fire in its construction.

"Not only were we faced with a form of magic that we could neither understand nor identify, but we also lost track of the two combatants as none of the cameras or sensors we had scattered across the battlefield could see through the dome. The few that were caught within its range did not transmit any images, which was supposed to be impossible. The only thing we could confirm was that both Shirou and Sirzechs were inside of the dome. And within nothing else we could do, we resigned ourselves to waiting it out.

"Fortunately our wait was not a long one. Hardly a minute had gone by since the formation of the dome that it began to collapse, every bit as abruptly as it had appeared. We could finally see what was within the dome, but what greeted our eyes however was a bloody and wounded Sirzechs Lucifer...

...who had been brought down to his knees."

For a single moment, the entire Counsel room became so silent that you could have heard a pin drop before the silence was abruptly broken by the combined yells of shock from each and every member of her Peerage.

"EHHH~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!"

Rubbing her head at her Peerage's overreaction, Sona muttered under her breath, "By the Satans, they're multiplying."

"He did what?" Squeaked out a frightened Ruruko.

"B-b-but didn't you just say he lost?" A confused Saji question.

"I haven't heard anything about that! I thought all that happened was him giving Sirzechs a good fight." Tsubasa exclaimed, eyes wide in surprise.

Raising a single hand up, Sona signalled her Peerage to be silent, which they immediately complied. After waiting for a few seconds to make sure that they would remain silent, Sona continued.

"I believe you are all misunderstanding something. First of all, Saji." She locked her sights onto her Pawn, "Shirou did lose. He was spotted a few seconds later, unconscious and lying face down on the ground only a few yards away from Sirzechs, having succumbed to his wounds."

Turning her eyes away from her Pawn's onto her Knights, "As for why you haven't heard of this, Tsubasa, I thought it would have been obvious. Sirzechs is widely considered to be the strongest Devil in existence, his strength is so acclaimed that most people actually consider him invincible, untouchable even.

"While that is for the most part untrue, it is a useful image to have. As the public face of both the Maous and the New Devil faction as a whole, he needed to be viewed as a perfect and unmatched being. Despite the possibility that Ajuka Beelzebub may actually be every bit as strong as him, the entire Maous and Elder Devils agreed to make Sirzechs as the new poster boy for the New Devil faction when the war ended, so they did their best to bolster his admittedly already high reputation.

"That's why they could not allow the details of the match to spread. Even if he did win the fight, that he was injured at all, by a newly minted Devil at that, could not be allowed to be known to the public. All the High-Ranking Devils that were there were unanimous in that. Even my sister agreed.

"Besides, Shirou had a distinct advantage in that fight. Sirzechs's primary weapon was his Power of Destruction, something that is simply too dangerous to be used outside of a life or death situation. While he could still use it defensively, it is highly unlikely that he was able to utilize its full offensive capabilities against Shirou without taking the risk of killing him.

"On the other hand, there is no way of telling if Shirou would have also performed better in a life or death battle. Each and every one of Shirou's swords struck Sirzechs in non-fatal areas, or not immediately fatal at least. Whether Shirou would have done better or worse in a real fight," she shrugged, "Who knows?"

"Swords, Kaichou?" Her so far silent Queen asked.

"Ah, that's right. I didn't get a chance to explain that, did I?" She recalled, "When we first caught sight of him, Sirzechs body was completely littered with swords. There was easily over half a dozen blades piercing his entire body. Chest, back, legs, shoulders - everything. And there were even more planted on the ground around him. Because of that, many theorized that Shirou's magic was based on swords somehow."

"You mean just like the one he showed us." Tomoe realized.

"Exactly that."

"If he made dozens of swords like that one, I can completely understand why he did so well." Momo barely withheld a shiver at the thought of that weapon. She may not have been the most knowledgeable about swords, but she was the best in the Peerage at sensing magic. Even when she sat on the other side of the room, she was overwhelmed by the pure power that poured out of that sword, it was so dense she could almost taste it. "That sword was dangerous, Kaichou, easily a Maou level weapon."

"I, as well as many other of the Devils there, agree with you. Some even speculated that some of the swords that were spotted may have been of God-slaying level, but the swords all dissipated into bits of light before anyone got the chance to examine them."

"Either way, while Shirou may not have been able to beat Sirzechs, he was able to wound him. His blades were able to reach him, to pierce the armour of the strongest Devil. At that point, Shirou's strength could no longer be denied."

"That was enough to silence any dissenters. The Leviathan's Queen had proven his worth and was acknowledged by both the Elder Devils and the Maous as an Ultimate-level class Devil and was awarded the rank of Prince, making him an equal in status to Heirs of the 72 Pillars.

"The final result ended up completely satisfying the Reincarnated Devils faction, as this had not only dissuaded them of any doubts of my sister's stance on Reincarnated Devils, but it was also the fastest rise in rank to have ever been recorded for a Devil, Reincarnated or otherwise. To make things even better, Shirou is the first and only completely reincarnated human Queen to have been made part of a Maou's Peerage. This has caused my sister's reputation to flip among the Reincarnated Devils, actually making her the most popular among the Maous instead of the least." Sona shook her head in disbelief at that, "I swear, if I didn't know any better I would think she had planned the entire thing straight from the start."

"What about the Pure-Blooded Devils? I doubt they would have been pleased by the result." Tsubaki, the most politically conscious member of her Peerage, asked.

"That's the best part, every Pure-Blooded Devil that strongly opposed the rising pressure to grant more rights to the Reincarnated Devils were there to witness the fight and were completely cowed by his strength. For Devils, power is everything, and Shirou's strength was indisputable, so they quieted down. For now. I have my doubt they will remain that way for long."

"The problem hasn't been fixed by any means, but this event was able to buy the Maous much-needed breathing space and have given them enough time to strengthen their position before tackling the issue.

"By the end of the day, my sister had gotten her Queen, dealt with the population's discontent with her and also decided to grant her Queen a title to honour the occasion."

Tsubasa broke out laughing at that, "Yeah, I remember that title. It was awesome." At the words, several of the Devils in the room began to chuckle along with her.

"What title did she give him?" Saji asked Sona, confused at the reaction of the rest of the Peerage.

A small, mean spirited smile appeared on her face, making her look so much like her sister it frightened everyone watching.

"They named him..."

The Queen of swords.

There was not a single shred of doubt in my mind; somewhere out there, Archer was laughing at me.

I pushed myself off the wall that I had been leaning on, located at the opposite end of the corridor that held the Student Council. I stopped reinforcing my ears, no longer interested in eavesdropping on the rest of their conversation, and made my way to a quiet place to have my lunch.

Which reminds me, I had to make sure Sona starts setting up measures to protect her room from magical surveillance. Just because this was a human school is no excuse for her to get sloppy. That I was able to listen in on her for the past five minutes without her noticing was all the proof that I needed to convince her.

And still, I couldn't get rid of the sensation that Archer was laughing.

Ok, sure, he may have been betrayed by the ideals he had dedicated his whole life to, murdered by the very people he was trying to save and has to spend the rest of his existence in a perpetual hell as one of Alaya's Counter Guardian, forced to murder millions of innocent people for the thing sin of happening to be in the way, but even he has never experienced anything as embarrassing as this.

I mean, really, 'Queen of Swords', how tacky was that?

It was a good thing that there was no one in the corridor or they would have witnessed me fall to my hands and knees in despair. Knowing my luck, I would have ended up with an even more embarrassing nickname by the end of the day if anyone did end up seeing me.

I could tolerate the swords part, but Queen? Oh, come on, I was a guy! That Serafall has kept on trying to get me to adopt one of the songs made by the 'Queens" as my personal theme song didn't make me feel any better about the matter.

Oh, my Pride, my aching Pride. It actually physically hurt. It was moments like this that I sincerely hated being a Devil. When I was still a human I simply wouldn't have cared. It never mattered to me what other people thought of me and I would have barely given any thought to an embarrassing name I might have been called by. Hell, I was dubbed the 'Janitor' by most of my classmates all through junior high and all the way up to high school and it didn't even phase me.

Ever since I became a Devil, however, Pride has ended up becoming my personal 'Sin'. Fortunately, it was mostly limited to my swords and cooking, but every now and then it crops up.

Like whenever I hear myself being referred to as a Queen.

Letting out a sigh of surrender, I decided to let it go. I had better things to do than waste my time over something I couldn't do anything about, like making sure Sona or the Gremory girl didn't get themselves killed.

I could feel the good mood that I had been enjoying since returning back to school plummet at the thought. War was coming, whether with the other three fractions or some of the other groups that despised Devils. One way or the other, war was coming to the Underworld.

That's why I had to go to such lengths to make sure Sona allowed me to train her. Sona, in the end, was half-right. Her sister did send me to train her, but not for the game. I'm not sure Serafall's heart can take it if anything happened to her little sister, so I was here to make sure I'd never have to find out.

Besides, I liked Sona, I would have been happy to watch over the kid even if Serafall didn't ask me to.

Oh, just listen to me, I'm starting to sound like an old man. I was barely a year older than most of my classmates and I'm already thinking of them as innocent children.

Still, I can worry about it later. Right now I better hurry if I wanted a chance to eat my lunch. With that last thought, I quickened my pace in my quest to find a suitable place to spend the rest of my lunch.

.-but still, I was the Queen of swords.

Shut up, Archer.

Tsubaki was finishing up some last-minute paperwork, when she realized that her King wasn't in her usual spot, double-checking their work. Instead, she stood in front of her chess set, glaring down at it.

"Kaichou," approaching her, the Queen hesitantly asked, "Is something the matter?"

"...I just realized something," after an abnormally long wait, Sona answered, "I never got the chance to play a game with him. That jerk tricked me!"