Before the Raid on the Church

Human World, Japan, Kuoh.

The next day, the gang went to school as usual. At the same time, Dante and Lady kept up their surveillance of the church. They did notice that a female fallen angel had left for some reason. Deciding it was worth it to follow her, Lady tailed her secretly. Meanwhile, Ayame had yet to return from her mission.

While the rest were busy, Shion and Asia were out exploring the town. While Asia marveled at all the new things she never saw as a member of the church, Shion walked with her. Finding the former nun next to her adorable, a smile was always present on Shion's face as they traveled around the town. Eventually, Shion noticed a presence was watching them. Frowning slightly, Shion decided not to make a move on the one stalking them. If they took any hostile actions, though, that would be a different story.

However, not long after sensing the stalker, Shion also felt Lady's presence. To be honest, with Lady's level of stealth, that would be impossible in most cases. However, Lady allowed her presence to leak for a moment. This way, Shion would know not to act recklessly. As a bonus, the fallen angel, who would have also felt there was someone else nearby, might think twice about doing anything stupid.

'Damn it.' The black-haired fallen angel woman thought to herself. 'Why is that girl with a devil? Shouldn't she want to be as far away from them as possible after the incident that led to her being excommunicated?'

Although the fallen angel was upset, she was not dumb enough to try and take Asia back while a devil that strong was next to her. Although the fallen angel knew she was strong in comparison to most humans, she was fully aware of how weak she was when compared to the beings of the supernatural world as a whole. She was not suicidal, after all. A two-winged fallen angel like her, was only in the low-rank of supernatural beings. However, she could not even tell how strong the woman, Shion, walking with Asia was. Which means, her strength fell far short of the woman.

Like that, for the rest of the day, until sunset, the fallen angel stalked Asia. At the same time, Lady followed the fallen angel. At the end of the day, everyone returned to their own bases of operations. Shortly after Shion and Asia returned to the residential district, the rest of the group arrived. Not long after that, While Asia talked to Rias and the members of her peerage that lived with her about her day, Lady met with James in his art studio.

"So, you're telling me that the fallen angels followed Asia around all day?" James asked with a raised eyebrow. "Does that mean she's integral to their plans?"

"I'm not sure." Lady replied while shaking her head. "It could be that she knows more than we think."

"And they're afraid of that information leaking, huh?" James said, finishing Lady's line of thought. Then, he shook his head and spoke once again. "Although that's possible, it's improbable."

"Why is that?" Lady asked curiously.

"Because if Asia had any vital information, they would have never paired her with that psycho priest." James said in a confident tone. "I mean, according to Dante and Koneko's reports, that guy pistol whipped her just because she got on his nerves."

That makes sense." Lady said, nodding in agreement. "Then why do they seem so interested in her."

"No idea." James said with a shrug. "Hopefully, Ayame will be able to find something that can answer that question.

Shortly after that conversation, Lady left to relieve Dante of his stake out duties. Then, the night continued without incident.

===The next day===

The following day was another uneventful day for the students in the group. At the same time, Shion once again accompanied Asia to explore the town. Meanwhile, their fallen angel stalker kept on following them. Things changed that evening, however.

While James was once again sketching in his art studio, Ayame appeared suddenly. Kneeling on one knee with her head lowered, she spoke once James lowered his pencil.

"James-Sama, I've completed my investigation." Ayame stated respectfully.

"Oh, that was faster than I expected." James said with a smile. "So, what were you able to find?"

"I found out why the fallen angels came to Kuoh." Ayame said while raising her head to make eye contact with James. "And I know why they had Argento-San brought here as well."

"Oh, that's more than I expected in such a short time." James said with a slight smile. "You're really good at what you do, Ayame."

"Thank you for the praise, James-Sama." Ayame said while lowering her head.

"First, why don't you tell me about why the crows are here." James said while leaning back in his chair.

"From what I gathered; they were sent here to kill any unawakened [Sacred Gear] wielders they could find." Ayame said in response. "Luckily, there aren't any new [Sacred Gear] wielders ever since that boy, Saji Genshirou awakened his [Sacred Gear], [Absorbtion Line]."

"Yeah, lucky for them." James said in a frosty tone. "If they had gone around killing innocents who were not connected to the supernatural yet, I would have wiped them out with no questions asked."

Hearing the coldness in James' tone, Ayame could not help but blush and begin to shiver. Noticing this, James reigned in his emotions and put on a gentle smile that he directed toward Ayame. Once Ayame calmed down from her masochism induced stupor, James asked his next question.

"So, why did they have Asia sent to this town?" James asked curiously. "The two don't seem to have anything to do with each other."

"That's correct, they aren't directly or even indirectly connected." Ayame said with a nod of agreement. "The reason Argento-San was brought here was so that the leader of their group of four fallen angels, Raynare, could extract her [Sacred Gear], [Twighlight Healing], and take it as her own."

"Damn, that's cruel." James said as he clenched his fists. "Separating a [Sacred Gear] from its host ends in death, more often than not."

"Indeed." Ayame said in agreement.

"Well, you've done a great job, Ayame." James said after taking a few moments to think. "We'll have to get this information to Ri Ri and Sona. They will decide where we go from here."

"Understood. I'll inform them immediately." Ayame said as she vanished from where she knelt.

After that, James was no longer in the mood to draw. So, he left his studio and walked down the stairs. In the living room, Leona, Mizore, Moka, Shuna, and Shion were watching TV and chatting happily. The first to notice James' entrance was Mizore, who was sitting closest. When she did, she stood and waved him over. Following her instructions, James made his way over to Mizore's side. Once he was there, she took his arm and made him sit in the seat she was previously occupying. Then, she sat on his lap. After getting comfortable, her lips curled into a satisfied smile, and she nodded her head happily.

"No luck with choosing your next manga yet?" Leona asked once James was seated and Mizore was comfortable on his lap.

"Nope, didn't really have much time to consider, though." James replied nonchalantly.

"Did something happen?" Moka asked with a serious expression on her face.

"You could say that." James said while shrugging his shoulders. "Ayame came back and reported her findings. Then, she went to inform Ri Ri and Sona, as well."

"Damn." Leona said with annoyance. "I still don't know how she gets in and out of here without anyone noticing."

"Just chalk it up to ninja tricks and call it a day." James said with a smile. "Actually, I think I'll draw that this time."

Hearing that James had decided his next work, Mizore was the most excited. As his assistant, she loved working on manga with James. It was alone time for just them, after all.

"Which one is it?" Mizore asked excitedly.

"The one I took the idea for your ice mirror technique from." James said, smiling at the enthusiastic girl in his lap.

"I think we're getting off topic." Moka said sternly.

"You're worrying too much, Moka." James said as he waved dismissively. "According to Ayame's report, the fallen angel forces consist of four two-winged angels and about thirty stray exorcists that could probably put up a fight against an intermediate-level, low-ranked being at the very most. Rias and Akeno could probably wipe out the lot of them by themselves. That psycho priest is an exception, though."

"We should capture instead of wiping out though, right?" Shuna asked quietly. "Information extraction would be a good idea, right?"

"That's right." James said with a nod. "But if Rias brought her whole peerage, that wouldn't be much of a problem, I think."

"And what do you mean that the psycho priest is an exception?" Moka asked curiously.

"According to Dante, he should be able to put up a fight against an intermediate-level, middle-rank being." James explained what he knew about the priest, based on Dante's report. "So, if he put everything he had into running away, I'm not sure if anyone in Rias' peerage would be able to stop him."

"How, even the weakest member of her peerage is at the intermediate-level of the middle-rank, right?" Shion asked with confusion evident in her tone.

"Simple, actually." James said nonchalantly. "Freed has much more experience in life-or-death battles."

"Oh." Shion replied, quickly understanding the simple explanation.

"Anyway, Ri Ri and Sona will probably show up after they've reported to Sirzechs and Sera-Tan." James said with a smile. "Anyone wanna catch an ass whoopin' in Street Fighter while we wait?"

Hearing that, Leona and the girls, excluding Shuna, narrowed their eyes at the provocation. Shuna on the other hand, smiled gently as she looked at the others. Considering how powerful they were, it always amazed her to see how fired up they all got over a video game that depicted humans fighting each other. Either way, she enjoyed watching her competitive friends play and have fun.

Contrary to what one might think, James was not a dominant force in terms of fighting games in the Alaverus household. His mother, Leona, actually maintained the highest winning percentage of everyone who played. It was not an overwhelming difference, however. In fact, it seemed as if she was making sure that everyone's win loss records were close enough to keep everyone interested in playing together. Or at least, that is what James' thought. He had no way to prove it, though.

*Ring!* *Ring!*

About an hour after the group started playing, the doorbell rang. When it did, Shuna, who was not involved in the mini tournament going on, offered to answer the door. When she came back into the living room, Rias, Sona, and their peerages were following her. Flora and Ayame were with them as well. And, of course, the current protection target, Asia was with them too.

"Since you're all here, I guess you've received your orders." James said while setting down the game controller.

"That's right." Sona said with a nod. "Elder Sister informed us that Heaven responded positively to the reason we were forced to raid the church."

"We're to capture as many of the fallen angels and stray exorcists alive as possible." Rias said with a solemn expression.

"And those we're unable to take alive, must not be allowed to escape." Sona said, continuing from where Rias left off.

"So, what do you want us to do?" James asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Nothing." x 2

Rias and Sona both replied to James' question in a serious tone of voice, which confused James. With his confusion showing in his expression, Sona decided to explain their decision.

"Although I hate to admit it, Rias and I rely on you too much, James." Sona said while adjusting her glasses. "You're only supposed to be our guard. But you handle everything from guarding us to guarding the entire town."

"If things continue like this, we're not going to grow much from this territory management training task we've been given by our families." Rias said, adding more to Sona's explanation.

Seeing the conviction in both Rias and Sona's gazes, James scratched his head and spoke with resignation.

"Fine, I understand." James said. After a brief pause, James continued. "We'll be coming with you, though. And before you start to complain about that, I'm supposed to be your guard, so my peerage and I will come along to make sure nothing goes wrong. We'll only act in a life-or-death situation, okay?"

Hearing that, Rias and Sona had a brief conversation via eye contact, then, they agreed to James' proposal, if that is what you could call it. With that, James smiled and asked his last question.

"So, when does the operation start?"

"Right now." x 2