3 Plans to Save Akeno Himejima

"Congratulations on getting your pieces"

Calfa hugged both Masaru and Shirone happily,

"You must be happy now that your wish came to true"

Shirone who heard this nodded her head shyly causing Calfa to feel even happier,

"How would you like to form your peerage? Need us to help you with it?"

Dominic felt proud of his grandson, Masaru, having more mutation pieces than his son, Diehauser!

'Heh, Got more things to brag about' He thought

After thinking for a bit, Masaru decided to play it. Unless he tries he was not sure if he could convince them to save her... The candidate he had in mind.

"I have a bishop candidate in mind but I need a mother Diana and Big sis Circe's help to bring them here, because there is a situation involved"

Dominic became a bit suspicious about this, fortunately, the information about Sacred Gears was not fully researched till this day and even now new things are discovered. Thanks to this Masaru came up with an excuse under the guise of his sacred gear, for the sake of getting what he wants he intends to abuse this excuse while he is still young.

"I was experimenting with a spell from my sacred gear which I did not notice before, when I used it I had a vision of an area within the human world and stumbled upon the Himejima Family from our family history records in the Human World. There are two memories who were exiled, a Mother and Daughter."

"Why would they be exiled?"

Calfa asked out of surprise, unlike Masaru she knew much more about the human powers.

"From what I saw it appears the Mother loved a Fallen Angel, and the daughter is a halfling. I wish to have the daughter as my bishop because she has good potential"

'Well honestly I need her to connect with Azazel who can help me with my sacred gear as well'

Masaru thought but did not dare add it since he did not want to alarm his family he finally gained, not to mention the peace talks need to be completed first and then perhaps he will be able to proceed to make contact.

"You wish to make a fallen angel your servant?"

Dominic felt a bit conflicted but the next words Masaru uttered sent his mind flying out of shock,

"She is the daughter of Barakiel, if we save his daughter. We can use her and her mother as bargaining chips against the fallen angel since Barakiel is of high status and it's confirmed he loves them very much"

Masaru explained while adding,

"And should Sirzech need to make a cease-fire term with the Fallen Angels, we can make use of them as well. We can use this as the Official statement to keep the old devils from suppressing our family, while in truth I want to save them"

Dominic who heard this felt that it was quite a reasonable reason to appease those unreasonable devils while allowing his grandson to gain a strong bishop so he did not have much resistance against it.

"Let me first meet her"

When Calfa said this, it was set in stone that Masaru managed to gain approval to save them, Circe was luckily most of the time at the Manor since she was still training Masaru's Magic for him to not be too reliant on his sacred gear.

But the queen whom Masaru did not meet frequently compared to the other peerage members of his father's team was contacted, the familiar Belial family crest appeared on the floor nearby Masaru revealing another beautiful woman, the Queen of the Peerage, Diana Marbas.

"I did not think my son would call me so soon!"

This was one of the many changes Masaru's existence brought because Masaru lost his mother, Diana adopted him as her son although it was all verbal. Apparently she and Diehauser has feelings for one another but had not yet progressed, but Masaru appeared and Diana simply wanted to have this cute boy as her son

"Welcome back Mom"

Masaru smiled warmly while he was harassed (spoiled) by Diana who was always busy doing Military work under Falbium.

"I heard you need Mommy's help to get another Fiance"

Masaru who heard this could not help twitching his eye.

"Mom, I am only 10 years old! Anyway, I honestly just want to save her nothing more and need your help to teleport. Although I hate to do it the bad way, we have to kidnap them if they are under attack"

Masaru gave a rare seriously look causing Diana to listen to her precious adopted son seriously, unlike the others who trained Masaru in magic, swordsmanship, and manners. She once taught a few strategies and military formations to Masaru and discovered this young boy although not extremely talented in the field of command, he was still better compared to newly appointed Commanders although it was mostly because of some fragment memories Masaru had of him playing a virtual War Strategy Game.

"Kidnap huh? Although it does not sound like a good plan, however, under the extreme situation, it would be best, very well I will permit it but only I will be needed right?"

Diana wanted to boast a bit in front of her son, despite being one of the most powerful Queens in the Devil world she truly was strong enough.

"No fair Diana! Masaru already asked for me to join as well"

Circe did not step back and retaliated against Diana,

"Since my son said so, I will reluctantly accept it"

"You!!!"

Masaru could only smile wryly,

'I just hope I will be in time as Akeno is the only character other than Shirone I can currently save along with her mother whose death was truly pitiful... Sorry Rias, you will have to find a different Queen'

>\/<

"Masaru, are you sure this is the place?"

Diana was walking together with Masaru and Circe through the forest heading towards a Japanese structured Mansion that was on the outskirts of the Himejima family territory, but the closer they came the stranger the area was.

It was too quiet, Masaru called out his Singing Spellbook sacred gear and cast presence detection. His mana began to spread out in every direction from him in the form of Ripples like an expanding circle, each time a humanoid / Monster / Animal being comes in contact with the ripples Masaru is notified, a grim face appeared on Masaru's face.

"Mother, we have some bad people coming. It appears not only the Himejima but also some fallen Angels came to assassinate the mother and daughter"

"Fallen Angels want to kill Barakiel's family? Just who would have such guts! Unless..."

"Mother, we have to move"

"Understood, mother will keep them busy. Circe I will leave the Himejima people to you"

"Understood Queen Diana"

Diana smiled warmly at Masaru before she turned and left towards the direction of the Fallen Angels to keep them busy while Circe went towards the Humans and both transformed their outward looks to hide their identity.

Masaru heard a yell of a girl within the manor, without warning he simply ran through the door with his shoulder seeing a man was about to slash down on Shuri who was already injured.

'Damn...!'

Masaru's sudden entrance caused the man to flinch and pause for a moment, unfortunate for the man this was the gravest mistake he ever made during a life and death situation. This moment gave Masaru the time he needed to cast a Wind Blade magic.

Swoosh!

The sound of a fierce gale exploded while the vibration could be faintly felt how fast the wind blew from Masaru's hand travelling straight for the neck before slashing through it the neck, the force of the fierce wind blew the already dead man to be flung like a broken doll in the air, bursting through the wall before collapsing on the ground.

The man did not have a chance to yell or react to the incoming magic, the man collapsed in a room that appeared to look similar to that of a bathroom. Masaru heard yet the similar voice he heard before screaming again from the bathroom, moving fast he discovered a scared little girl who truly looked similar to what he believed her to look like.

Masaru could sense the movement of mana a gathering in the direction of the bathroom where the voice originated from, he noticed there was another human but unlike those whom he could sense evil nature from there was none from this one which allowed him to make a conclusion that it was possibly Shuri Himejima who was casting a spell so he swiftly yelled out

"Shuri-san, I came without ill intent and is here to save you and your daughter"

Speaking in the manner of Japanese, Masaru felt the situation will become complicated if he could not calm down this mother first. Masaru slowly walked towards the broken wall where he saw the beautiful woman who did not get to see her daughter grow up, was currently wearing a priestess outfit with her long black hair tied in a ponytail style.

Despite the injured state she still slowly got in a sitting pose looking confused at the boy but thought he might be a threat.

"Don't lie!"

"Honestly I want to explain everything but there is simply no time, you are surrounded by the fallen angels who hate Barakiel and the Himejima family. If you wish to save your daughter I need you to come with me, right now I am all you got to get your daughter to safety"

Masaru said with a stern voice, he wanted to originally persuade them but the situation was much dire than he believed. He could explain everything to them after he got them away from here.

"How can I trust you?"

Shuri was still vigilant but then she noticed a strange expression on Masaru's face, Masaru who lost a mother understood the pain Akeno would feel if she were to lose her mother and honestly he did not want her to experience it as it simply impeded her progress she could have made from an early age.

"There is no time for me to allow you to trust me, I can only say that I don't want your daughter to experience losing her mother as I did... That's all I can say"

Her intuition told her it was fine to trust the boy but suddenly her daughter, Akeno who had strikingly similar features as he hugged her tightly from behind when she heard her mother might die which scared her

"No, stay back! I don't want to lose my mother!"

She was crying while biting her lips, she bravely stood in front of her mother while glaring at Masaru who smiled warmly, he truly admired her bravery to stand in order to protect her family.

"Akeno..."

"Shuri, right now your daughter needs you and I can at least guarantee your safety if you follow me. I swear upon my family name Belial that I will not cause any harm to you or your family, while you remain my guest I will protect you at the cost of my life"

Shuri flinched twice at her daughter and Masaru's vow, unlike the magic of humans the devils could use the power of a vow to give them extraordinary powers based on the content of the vow but the punishment for not adhering to it was equally harsh. This was the reason she could feel a little relieved but also be able to figure out Masaru's identity.

She realized it as well when she sent several shikigami's to scout the surroundings, when she saw her clan members coming with the intention to kill her and her daughter as well as Fallen Angels. She could understand that it was really a dire situation and that regardless of her choice she and her daughter might be in danger.

But there was hope, the boy who stood in front of her was stretching out his hand to aid her.

"Very Well, I will take the gamble to trust you and accept your proposal. But what is your name?"

"My name is Masaru Belial, current Heir to the Belial Family and I'm a devil"

When she heard it she understood a few things but still felt vigilant since her husband once told her about the Devils but this boy was simply too odd. It would have been easier to understand him if he was a human instead.

>\/<

Meanwhile, Diana was currently thrashing the fallen angels with her brute strength since most of them were only low levelled fallen angels and a few Mid Rank Fallen angels,

"You lousy woman! You dare get in the way of Kokabiel-sama!"

Diana who heard this could not help but raise her brow

"Oh? So what Masaru said about an internal dispute was true, no wonder he said that saving that girl will prove to be helpful. His sacred gear is truly a miracle"

Diana dashed forward punching the fallen angel who yelled sending him flying towards the crowd of fallen angels.

"Come on, I have only been using my fists and you all are already throwing spears of light?"

Diana mocked the fallen angels which were not part of her character, but Masaru asked her to maintain the fallen angel's attention on her till he had convinced or knocked the targets out.

"This pig woman! Men use Formation Barrage!"

One of the leaders called out an order and the fallen angels formed a straight column line of fallen angels when the first row threw their spear they move to the back and the next one throw and similar moves to the back in repeat.

Diana dodging the attacks felt these kinds of formations were a bit old but truly effective if you want a nonstop barrage of attacks without pause, just as she was having fun analyzing their tactics a call came to her ear

"Mother, they agreed. Time to retreat"

"You little crows sure are lucky today that I was called by my son or I would have annihilated you for making me bored"

The Fallen Angels who heard this got angry throwing their spear or lights even harder but Diana already teleported away.

Circe, on the other hand, was spamming non-fatal basic spells towards the Himejima members who were currently trying to take cover behind trees but the trees can't even block a single spell without bursting to turn the forest into a maze filled with headless chickens running,

"Fireball"

A basketball-size fireball materialized in front of her palm and shot towards a bigger group when it exploded there were some who managed to escape the blast but the unfortunates had their hair burst and the impact was enough to knock them out.

To retaliate they began to throw talismans towards Circe but because she was constantly moving from one point to another with space magic, they had a difficult time to deal with her as they did not expect to face against someone this strong.

"Someone go call the Elites!"

One of the team captains ordered a member to run back to the main house of the family to call the elite who could contend even against High Class to Ultimate Class Devils, Circe who heard this smiled ferociously until her fighting spirit calmed down when Masaru Contacted her

"Big sis Circe, they agreed to teleport. Time to retreat"

"It's such a shame, it was just about to get fun at last! But as Masaru's Big Sister I have to get spoiled first"

Circe could only grumble a bit before teleporting away leaving the surrounding men flabbergasted at her retreat.

"Anyone found out who this woman is?"

"No, she simply appeared and disrupted our plans"

"This---- Could it be she was sent by Barakiel!? Send a small squad and scout the Manor!"

"Yes Sir"

When the squad arrived at the Manor what they found was but an empty place, no living soul. When the team commander heads the report he wanted to beat up someone to release this pent up anger.

They all believed that it was a carefully thought out plan to deal with Shuri Himejima and her Daughter Akeno who is a Half Fallen Angel to escape. Tonight was doomed to be a bad night for him when he reports his failure.

>\/<

Meanwhile, Masaru, Diana, Circe, Shuri, and Akeno Himejima already appeared in the guest room of the Belial Manor.

"Phew, thank god Kokabiel himself did not appear or our identities would have been discovered"

"Hmph! Even if he came I would just kill him"

Masaru commented while Diana said as if trying to make her son rely on her more, but Masaru felt relieved that they managed to finish the operation fast. It would become troublesome if there was a witness to see the devils actively interfering in something not related to them, even if it was Masaru's request for a peerage member.

Only Masaru Shuri and Akeno took a seat in the living room, his father Diehauser was already seated along with Dominic, his grandfather and Calfa, his grandmother. Circe and Diana stood behind him since it was time for negotiation as they were servants of the Belial Family on formal occasions similar to how Grayfia was with her husband.

"I am sure you have many things you want to ask but for now, I have already asked our servants to make us all some tea"

Dominic said while intently gazing at Shuri and Akeno, especially the latter as he wanted to know what made this girl special enough for Masaru to request for her especially. He also understood that they could not eliminate the vigilance of the two right now, so they could only be patient for their grandson's ambitions!

"I'm the current head of the Belial Family, Dominic Belial this is my wife Calfa Belial and that is my son Diehauser Belial. I am sure you met Diana Marbas and Circe behind us"

"Thank you for saving me and my daughter, but I doubt you all would save us without a reason"

Shuri smiled warmly feeling grateful towards the boy but still felt vigilant, Masaru understood her protective nature so he would play open cards with her in hopes he understood her personality.

Dominic took a deep breath,

"You might know about our devils which make it simple for us to explain if we were to say officially then we saved you who is the lover of Barakiel from being killed because of an internal dispute between Fallen Angel Higher-ups. We can use you as a political hostage and bargaining chip if we ever have to talk with the Fallen Angels"

Shuri who heard this could only feel her heart go cold but then suddenly she remembered he mentioned 'Official' which was not their personal view, despite feeling uncomfortable she still wanted to hear their real personal reason instead.

"Your quite a terrible person, but let me hear your reason"

The one to respond to her question was Masaru,

"I already gave you one part of the reason I saved you two, but other than I wish for your daughter to join my peerage, It might be a terrible way to recruit someone but if your daughter joins my peerage we will have an Official Reason to guard your safety until the dispute within the Fallen Angels has been resolved enough for you to reunite with Barakiel"

"You really did have a motive behind your actions"

"I'm not a saint, but I am not a tyrant. It was honestly a coincidence that we arrived on the night you were attacked and if we arrived before it I would have instead spent the time to talk in order to persuade you two. But the situation now is different, although I save you I still need an official reason for my actions"

"I'm grateful for your well intentions but---"

Akeno who was still young but still had some understanding of simple things only understood if she joins Masaru then she and her mother would be saved,

"If I join you, you will protect me and my mother?"

Shuri who heard this glanced at Akeno in surprise, normally her daughter would be quiet but it appears what happened tonight did have some influence on her.

'She really is his daughter...'

Masaru smiled at Akeno warmly

"That is my promise to you"

"Although I can see you truly are sincere in this but I can't simply agree... "

Shuri interrupted the talks between Akeno and Masaru but Akeno cut her off again,

"But Mom he saved us"

Shuri who heard this smiled wryly while caressing her child's head

"I know honey, but Mommy needs to be sure first okay?"

Akeno became stubborn, although she could not understand why the things happened tonight but she knew who saved her and her mother. And who was supposed to be there, was not.

"No! when we were attacked where was papa? Even Mama's family attacked us! I don't want to lose mama then I will join him!"

Shuri knew her daughter was making a choice with her in mind could only feel warm but she was still troubled. This time Diehauser spoke,

"Then we can form a contract, you must have heard of it correct?"

Shuri who heard this remembered some books in her family's library mentioned this Devil Contract Humans form,

"So you are willing to use a Devil Contract to ensure me that you will never harm Akeno?"

Diehauser nodded

"Correct, we can use the contract, so if the contract is broken then your daughter will be free of Masaru. Although she might still be a reincarnated devil, I am sure the Grigori of the Fallen Angels should be able to deal with that. But honestly, I doubt it will ever happen as I am Masaru's father, I naturally understand my son's nature. He will look after daughter preciously"

"Understood, although I as an adult can understand ours and your circumstances but I will have you know that I don't feel comfortable about this. Because of that, I would like you add a condition to which Masaru would not lay his hand on her. That is ofcourse unless she permits it. As a mother, I would prefer to at least ensure my child's safety"

Masaru who heard this almost choked while drinking tea,

"Cough cough! Shuri-san, I am only ten years old!!!!"

"You sure don't act like one"

Shuri gave a faint sadistic smile at Masaru who was simply too cute to tease, within her heart she could sigh of relief as she feared the nice boy would change when they arrive in their territory but Masaru was still the same regardless.

Everyone nodded at Shuri's comment, Masaru was truly too mature for his age but they got used to it eventually after living so long with him.

"The condition can be added, although I would have preferred to have her join under better circumstances the current situation requires us to make drastic movements to keep both of you safe"

Masaru said feeling a little sour but in this kind of world, he will have to get used to such situations, especially when he will become the new head of the family in the future.

After the contract was concluded, with Shuri's and Akeno's permission Masaru took out his Bishop piece and allowed it to enter Akeno's body.

"Heed my command, I Masarau Belial will have you reborn as my kin. Rise up, my Bishop"

Similar to the novel she gained a devil wing while still retaining her fallen angel wing, but this time she did not hate her bloodline and only was angry at her father for not arriving on time.

"Welcome to my peerage and Family Akeno, and Shuri-san I promise you on the honour and as the heir of Belial that I will protect both you and Akeno. I will make sure you can meet with Barakiel."

"I apologize on behalf of everyone, although we sort of forced you to hand over your daughter to become a part of Masaru's peerage it was the only current way we could currently protect you two. I will explain the details to you tomorrow but for now. Diana, take Shuri and Akeno to rest."

Diehauser sighed, even Shuri could understand now that she thought back her circumstances was a bit rushed but the ones who saved her not only had to protect her from the Himejima and Fallen Angels who might demand her and her daughter from the Belial Family if found. But even the other Devils might make their move, so having Akeno as his Bishop gave them an Official reason to protect her.

'Clumsy but sincere... I look forward to seeing if you can truly uphold your promise... Masaru-kun'

Shuri thought as she took Akeno's hand following Diana and Circe who was leading her to the room arranged for her and Akeno.

>\/<

"Speak"

Diehauser, Dominic and Calfa were now alone with Masaru in the room. Child, he may be, but Masaru's grandparents and father understood this child took actions that could turn into an interracial affair if this negotiation did not succeed.

"Where to begin... I activated a similar kind of spell during the explosion of the experiment to allow me to survive long enough for Lord Sirzech to find me"

Masaru looked at his grandparents and father while apologizing in his heart, he was going to lie how he knew about some future events using the sacred gear of his as an excuse which was truly perfect as no one understands the nature of the Sacred Gears completely. Although he could only count it lucky since Azazel was not around.

"That spell activated due to my sacred gear went berserk and within that berserk aura, I received visions of the future, at first I simply stuffed them to the back of my mind... But when I met father which was one of the visions I saw, I began to make plans on investigating these visions I saw and if they are accurate then I will make my move according to them"

"I thought your sacred gear was only a spellbook allowing you to use almost any magic recorded onto it without needing any medium for it?"

Dominic was a bit sceptical but his wife, Calfa was even more shocked

"Isn't the Divination spell linked with the Gods? Can a Devil use it?"

"I am not certain how it works, but somehow this spell does not make any form of contact with a God"

'Although I do sense it making contact with a higher being during the spell but it is definitely not a god, not sure why i know this but somehow I simply do'

Masaru explained while adding one more thing he needed to add, a restriction otherwise it will make his family even more suspicious that he could launch spells without a price for it. That was the kind of spell divination was.

"But this spell has a restriction of only being able to cast it once and it requires a long time before I can use it again. The event of Shuri and Akeno was something I divined recently as I was thinking who I should add for my peerage, and I believe this choice was the right one"

"You saved them for a different reason, why would you particularly mention Barakiel and Azazel whom you will use Shuri as a bargaining chip"

Diehauser was thinking more about this point, devils and fallen angels were enemies although the war came to an end between the three factions there were still skirmishes between them.

"That is also something I saw in the vision, although it was a short instance but I saw them holding peace talks with Sirzech-sama and Serfall-sama from our side and Michael from Heaven..."

Diehauser raised his brow when he heard this but Masaru continued

"I am not sure when this talks will happen but it will probably be far in the future, We having Shuri will make Azazel owe us a favour since he is friends with Barakiel. Having the favour of someone who researches sacred gears for many years will be beneficial for us"

Lucky the information of Azazel being a Sacred gear fanatic was widely known, so Masaru could easily cover up this with an excuse if he was asked. Fortunately, no one raised a question about this.

"I see... Honestly, that spell is terrifying if it could predict the future with such accuracy"

Dominic sighed while feeling surprised, after thinking for a while he nodded

"We will employ Shuri as one of our Employees, for now, I suppose we can simply wait for the time that event occurs before we can make our move."

Masaru made a complicated expression and looked at his father. The time was ripe, his excuses worked and now he needed to push one more time.

"Father there is one last vision I saw..."

Now came the main point Masaru wanted his father to deal with instead

--------------

Author Note:

The chapter has been edited, If I missed something please just drop a Paragraph Comment and I will Fix it