A Nun in a Raven's Nest

Early in the morning, Alduin woke up and felt a hard, cold surface next to him.

Last night, he grabbed something while leaving Sovngarde after a conversation with Lorkhan. Specifically, he found the Dragonborn's hideout. And he spent the entire previous day pondering how Lorkhan managed to find the artifacts of the Daedric princes scattered throughout Tamriel, while the latter simply searched the Dragonborn's corpse when she followed her race's representatives into oblivion.

"I can't believe heroes get issued an infinite backpack that can hold over twenty complete sets of various armors and enough weapons to arm a small army. No, I don't mind it now, but those piles of potions... there were about ten thousand barrels of healing potions..." grumbled Alduin, wrapping a Daedric one-handed battle axe in a shroud.

He didn't even bother to hold the blade made from his brothers' bones, even though Lorkhan insisted he not destroy it.

"I can't believe that Mehrunes Dagon's Dremora could create the best metal in the universe and still not have the sense to create sheaths for their blades" hissed Alduin, ripping the cover off the spike of the battle axe once again.

The reason Alduin even picked up a weapon was quite simple. Dragons were creatures embodying the idea of mass destruction, but they couldn't inflict pinpoint strikes without causing significant damage to the landscape. It was quite possible that the cultists who had drawn Issei into their cult would use him as a living shield.

Dragon priests did the same when the Nords uprising began. And if that happened, he wouldn't be able to use magic or the Thu'um freely.

His magic became too potent, for he never learned precise spells in the past, and now he had to rectify that omission. The Thu'um was either too destructive or he had to get too close to hit his target. It's a shame that Issei wasn't a Dovah. He could have crushed him along with the cultists and then resurrected him. Issei would be alive, and Alduin wouldn't have to strain his brain unnecessarily.

Everyone would be happy.

The reason for choosing an axe was so simple that it was ridiculous. He could effectively crush enemies into a bloody pulp without possessing any particular skills.

He could also use a mace, but the axe looked more cool. The sword or hammer was too big, but the axe was just right.

"All that's left is to put on a blue cover and walk around shouting 'Skyrim belongs to the Nords!'. Ah, no worries" grumbled Alduin, hiding the bundle with the axe under the bed, and went to wake up his elder brother.

Later in school.

Apparently, Tatsumi's happy face was what ensured he had a peaceful school day without any attempts to get him into the student council or somewhere else. And the fact that he hummed a song about the Dragonborn in the original language, trying to rewrite it for himself, didn't give anyone the courage to approach him.

POV Hyodo Issei.

It's just one of those days that didn't start well for Hyodo Issei.

He noticed something was off in the morning when his younger brother woke him up without hitting him and screaming "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!" as he usually did. It only got worse from there.

Tatsumi wasn't even trying to tease anyone, and he was suspiciously cheerful, which was unsettling. On the way to school, he started singing a song that made Issei shiver.

After parting ways with his brother at school, Issei thought everything was back to normal, but Rias-senpai informed him in the evening that she had received an order to eliminate an exiled devil, and she saw this task as a perfect opportunity to tell Issei about Evil Pieces using a real example.

"Well, Akeno-san is a sadist... I wouldn't have believed it until I saw it with my own eyes. But that exiled devil deserved it! To disfigure those breasts! Only a sick person could have thought of spitting acid from nipples!" murmured Issei, as he cycled towards the contractor's address.

"Hello! Did you summon a devil?" Issei said, opening the door to the contractor's house.

"Most importantly, don't mess up again," Issei thought to himself as he took off his shoes and walked inside.

But what he saw in the living room almost made him vomit. In the middle of the room lay the body of a middle-aged man with his hands severed and a homemade cross stabbed into his heart. The body lay in a pool of his own blood with a pentagram drawn in it.

"What the hell is going on here?" muttered Issei, suppressing his urge to vomit.

"Vengeance for the wicked sinners who dared to reject the hand of our Lord" a male voice sounded in the room. Turning his head towards the voice, Issei saw a young silver-haired man in strange clothing that looked like a male version of Asia's clothes.

"What do we have here? A little devil? My name is Freed Sellzen, young exorcist of the Holy Church" said the exorcist, starting to dance on his last words.

"A priest?!" Issei was wary.

"Well, I'm clearly not a devil.. unlike you."

"Did you do this?" Issei asked, pointing his finger at the body in the center of the room.

"To accept help from a devil is to reject God and leave the true path. And that's the end. The end for the soul. I only brought him back to the righteous path before he descended into the abyss completely."

"By killing him?!"

"To rid the world of disgusting devils and their even more disgusting followers is my job" the exorcist replied to Issei, pulling out a large gun and something that looked like the handle of a lightsaber from Star Wars from his pockets. In a moment, it turned out to be a lightsaber.

"Freaking lightsaber?!"

"Now I'll thrust this sword right into your heart, and then shoot your head off with this wonderful pistol of mine" the exorcist said before lunging at Issei.

"If Tatsumi were here, the situation wouldn't be so serious. I think the priest's ears would have fallen off from his answer" Issei thought.

He managed to dodge the sword swing that the exorcist intended to decapitate him with, but he got shot in the leg.

Issei felt as if someone had dipped his leg in molten steel, the pain was so intense.

"The exorcist's golden bullets, my favorite."

"Damn you!" Issei exclaimed, summoning his sacred mechanism and attempting to strike Freed.

"Oh, strong devil! I want to kill you even more now!" Freed replied, dodging Issei's attack and hitting him in the back.

"Kya!" a female scream echoed through the room.

Turning around, the guys saw a nun with golden hair.

"Asia?" Issei whispered, barely holding onto his consciousness.

"Issei-san?!"

"They told you to install the barrier!" Freed yelled, pushing Asia out of the room.

"Don't touch her!"

"Oh, I forgot about you. It's time for you to go to the afterlife" Freed said, aiming his gun at Issei.

"Holy Father, please, do not kill Issei-san" Asia begged, shielding Issei with her body.

"Ah-ha-ha-ha. What's this? A nun defending a devil?"

"A-devil?"

"I'm sorry, Asia" Issei replied, but Asia's gaze became even harder.

"Holy Father, Issei-san is good."

"A devil cannot be good. I was ordered not to harm you until tomorrow's ceremony, but you will receive a little lesson once this devil is dead. Move aside!" Freed commanded, shoving Asia aside and taking aim at Issei once more.

"Hands off my brother!" a new voice shouted in the room, and a fist hit Freed's face, sending him flying into the opposite wall.