11

Chapter 11: Breakthrough

Let it never be said that Xenovia was someone who was easily surprised.

All her life, she had wanted to become a great warrior for God and the Church. To that end, she had trained for many different scenarios, ranging from vampire swarms to encountering Stray Devils and even other exorcists. And once she had become an exorcist, and obtained Excalibur Destruction, she had been pushed to her limits more than once and come out on top.

This meant that she was able to act on things in combat at a moment's notice, and adapt accordingly. As such, it was very hard to surprise her.

But having an unknown Devil suddenly burst through the door and throw a ball of energy at her while she had been offering to save another Devil who had once been a saint? Not something she had encountered yet.

Luckily, while she had been initially frozen in surprise, her shorter comrade had not. She shot forward and reached for the red flower clip in her hair. Pulling it out, she let her hair fall down against her back while holding the clip up as a weapon. An instant later, it flashed brightly and turned into a massive hammer.

The navy-blue-haired girl swung the hammer and the orb of energy Keijutsu threw dispersed harmlessly along its surface. Continuing with the momentum, she spun around and swung again, this time at Keijutsu.

His eyes widened, and he channeled a current of magic to his feet. They hit the ground and stuck to it like glue, keeping himself from flying in range of the hammer. "Good, but not good enough!" he called, taking a deep breath. Before Rias or the other members of the ORC could stop him, he redirected the flow of magic to his vocal cords, and screamed.

The resulting sound wave was of such amplitude that it shattered the windows of the club room while causing the others to scream in pain. The girl with the hammer fell to her knees and dropped her weapon, eyes shut and covering her ears. He kept it going, and soon enough the others fell to the ground as well. After maintaining the magic-enhanced scream for a few more seconds, he stopped and walked over to Xenovia.

He raised his arm and the seals on it glowed brightly, while energy began crackling between his fingers. "This is what happens you to try to execute a fellow Devil on my watch. Farewell!" he said, before lowering his arm.

But just before he could strike Xenovia down, a red barrier sprang up between the two of them. His attack hit it and pushed for a moment before fading away, and he heard Rias called "That's enough!"

Looking over at the redhead, Keijutsu saw that she had her hand outstretched, having barely managed to focus past the ringing in her ears in time to stop him. "Hatsume-san, these three aren't here to kill Asia! If they were, I would never have let them through the front door!" she called.

He took a moment to process that, and then raised an eyebrow. "If they aren't here to kill any of us, then why did that one," he began, pointing at Xenovia, "Just threaten to do exactly that?"

The girl with the hammer grunted and got back to her feet. "My apologies for that. Xenovia can become rather… overzealous… with acting on her beliefs. You arrived just before I could restrain her," she explained.

Keijutsu was silent for a moment, before lowering his hand. "And may I ask who you are?" he said.

She glared at him. "The others are Xenovia Quarta and Irina Shidou, exorcists and Holy Sword Wielders. My name is Suzuno Kamazuki, a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. And the leader of our mission," she said.

Rather than put him at ease, that simply put Keijutsu even further on guard. Why? Because he knew that, up until 1965, that particular group was known as the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office. And before that, up until 1908, they were called the Inquisition.

So now he was facing both an Inquisitor and two Exorcists, the latter two possessing Holy Swords. Not good. Still, he remembered Rias's declaration, and didn't strike right away. "If you have no quarrel with us Devils, then why are you here?"

"Because we do have a quarrel. With the Fallen Angels," Suzuno answered.

He blinked in surprise, not having expected that answer. He had heard that there was some sort of disturbance in this town between a group of Fallen Angels and Rias's peerage, but that had been before he had even met Sona. Was that the quarrel they were talking about?

Before he could ask just that, Xenovia, who had managed to get back to her feet, said "That said, there is no reason I can't still deliver God's judgement upon a witch at the same time."

"Xenovia! This is neither the time or place for that!" Suzuno said firmly. But she was ignored, and the bluenette turned to face Asia again. However, this time, Issei was standing in front of the blonde. And if his expression was anything to go by, he had no plans on moving.

She smirked. "Are you really willing to take on the might of the Church just to defend her? Brave actions for one Devil," she commented, reaching for her sword.

At that moment, another voice spoke up. It was Kiba, who Keijutsu noticed had been curiously absent up until exactly then. "This couldn't be more perfect. As your superior, I'll take all of you on," he declared.

'I'm starting to believe that karma may be an actual metaphysical force is this world.'

This was Keijutsu's thought as he stood at one end of the field along Issei Hyoudou and Yuuto Kiba. The three of them were about to have an informal spar with members of the Church, who were now standing on the other side of the field.

Apparently, despite the blue-haired one—Xenovia, he believed her name was—threatening to kill Asia to her face, they truly weren't here to do such. According to Rias, they were here to ask the Devils of Kuoh to stay out of their way as they searched for the missing fragments of Excalibur, which they believed were in this town.

He was still having trouble processing that last part. The idea that Excalibur was an actual sword and not something out of legend didn't shock him so much anymore. What had shocked him was the idea that, after the sword had been shattered in the Great War, the Church had actually been able to use alchemy to create seven new individual swords from the pieces.

The idea of using a combination of magic and chemistry to create Holy Swords fascinated him, and if he had the chance, he would have loved to learn how it was done. He had never had the chance to examine a Holy Sword before, and even though touching one would be hazardous to him now that he was a Devil, Keijutsu still wanted to at least inspect one.

But it didn't look as if he was going to get that chance, at least not in a controlled setting like he would have preferred. With Kiba's declaration, Issei looking ready to take a swing at Xenovia, and himself having already launched an attack as it was, both sides had readily agreed to get rid of their tension via a short, nonlethal sparring match.

Again, he was really considering believing in karma now.

Well, regretting his decision to hastily attack wasn't going to do him any good now. Trying to find a silver lining, he thought 'At least I get to obtain some data on Holy Swords from this encounter. That's better than nothing.' Consoling himself with that thought, he readied himself for a fight, the seals on his arms already beginning to light up.

"Very well, then. Let's get this underway," Suzuno said, and three of them discarded their cloaks. Xenovia and Irina were wearing black, skin-tight unitards with short sleeves, fingerless gloves that covered their arms, and thigh-high boots. But while they were dressed for battle, Suzuno was wearing… a midnight blue kimono?

Keijutsu blinked. "Wait a minute. Why aren't you dressed like your comrades?" he couldn't help asking.

The short girl sighed and looked down at her kimono. "I prefer wearing outfits like this over the battle-suits the Church issues. Call it a personal preference, if you will," she said, before reaching for her hair clip. Pulling it out, she let her hair down and summoned her hammer again, raising it up high. "Not that it will stop me," she added.

Xenovia and Irina also drew their weapons and assumed fighting stances. However, before any of them could make a move, Kiba started chuckling. The act caused Xenovia to frown, and she asked, "What is it that's so funny?"

"I've always wanted to destroy Excalibur more than anything. And now, two pieces of it appear right before my own eyes. That's what funny," he said, before activating his Sword Birth and causing over a dozen swords to burst from the ground.

Seeing that the two of them were about to square off, Keijutsu turned his attention to Irina, hoping to at least fight the other Holy Sword user out of the group. Only to see her talking with Issei, going on about how her childhood friend had become a Devil and that God must be testing her. Clearly, he wasn't going to get to fight her.

Looking finally at the girl with the hammer, Keijutsu allowed himself to crack a smile. "Well, Suzuno-san, it looks like it's between you and me," he said.

Suzuno nodded. "It looks that way. Might I at least know your name before we start?" she asked.

Keijutsu nodded back and bowed. "I am Keijutsu Hatsume, Artificer and Bishop to Sona Sitri. I look forward to seeing someone trained by the same organization that used to root out heretics," he said, moving his own feet apart and spreading his arms slightly.

"Indeed. But enough talk. Now, it's time to fight!" Suzuno called, and shot forward at him. She moved at such a speed that he was left momentarily stunned, and barely avoided it when she swung downwards and tried to split his head like a watermelon. He jumped backwards, and her hammer struck the ground, kicking up a cloud of dirt as well as creating a sizeable shockwave.

He held up his arms to avoid getting the dirt in his eyes, but that let Suzuno come at him again, this time swinging from the side. Keijutsu leaned back until his head nearly touched the ground, letting the attack pass over him. Then, placing his hands on the ground and using his magic to give himself a burst of strength, he flipped backwards.

The result was that his foot connected solidly with Suzuno's chin, causing her head to snap back and for her to stumble away while he landed on his feet. Quickly, he used the opportunity to put some distance between them while also conjuring an orb of lightning. "Take this!" he called, and threw it at her.

Suzuno sidestepped the attack and came at him again, not noticing that the orb had actually stopped in midair once it passed her. She tried to hit Keijutsu, but he created a transparent screen of energy in front of him to block the attack. Her hammer smashed right through it, but that gave him the time he needed to move to the side and cast two more lightning orbs.

She ducked under them both, and raised an eyebrow. "I can tell that you're not one for fighting up-close, are you?" she asked.

Keijutsu shrugged. "What can I say? My areas of expertise are magic and inventing. Non-physical attacks are what I'm best at," he said, even as he created yet another pair of lightning orbs and threw them. Beginning to grow tired of this, Suzuno simply ran around them and swung at him again. But this time, when he ducked under the swing, she abruptly reversed direction and struck from the side.

His eyes widened and, before Keijutsu could dodge it, the hammer connected with his ribcage, hitting hard enough to creak several loud cracks. He bit his lip hard enough to make it bleed to avoid screaming, even as Suzuno continued with the motion and sent him tumbling to the ground.

'Now's my chance to end this,' she thought, rushing at him while he was down. Despite his pain, he managed to focus enough to fling his hand at her and create a burst of wind that stopped her in her tracks. Rising to his feet, Keijutsu conjured once last lightning orb and threw it at her, but she leaned to side and let it pass.

"You keep trying to hit me with that attack again and again, despite knowing it won't work. Are you that insane?" she asked bluntly. To her, trying to do the same thing multiple times, and expecting the result to somehow change, was indeed insanity.

Rather than issue back some scathing comment, Keijutsu held a hand to his broken ribs and sighed. "You need… to be more aware of your surroundings," he said.

Suzuno raised an eyebrow, but it was at that moment that she became aware of a low hum filling the air. She looked around, and paled as she realized what had happened. The orbs, all six of them, had remained floating in the air after she had dodged them. Now, they surrounded her from all sides in a circle, slowly moving in.

She looked back at Keijutsu. "So, your attempts to avoid me were just a ruse this whole time. Really, you were trying to lure me into a trap where I would be the one with nowhere to go. In fact, you planned this right from the start," she surmised.

"Exactly. And now, this is the end," he responded, before willing the orbs to fly at her. Suzuno stood there, appearing to indeed be trapped. After all, there was an attack coming at her from every side. She couldn't move forward, or back, to the side, or down. Which meant that the only way to go… was up.

So that's what she did.

Suzuno channeled her energy into her legs and leaped straight upwards, rising several feet into the air. Beneath her, the lightning orbs passed through each other harmlessly, and kept going this time instead of stopping. Smiling, she looked over at Keijutsu. "It was a good trick, I admit. But unfortunately, I'm not going to fall for something like-" she began, before stopping.

Why? It was because Keijutsu was on his knees, hands pressed against the ground, and grinning up at her. And when she heard the ground rumble beneath her, she looked down.

A cloud of red and gray particles burst upwards from the ground like a geyser, heading straight for her. With her already being in the air and having no way to fly, she couldn't avoid the attack, and was covered in a thick layer of the stuff. The moment she was, all six electrical orbs reversed direction and flew right back at her, homing in on her like she was some sort of magnet, and struck her all at once.

Suzuno screamed as she was electrocuted. If it had been just one orb, she might have been able to shrug off the damage, or at least remain conscious. But six of them, all striking her simultaneously? Not even she could withstand that, and it was only seconds before she passed out. She landed harshly back on the ground, somehow managing to avoid breaking anything on her landing.

"Suzuno!" Xenovia called, and turned away from the fallen form of Kiba to rush over to her. She quickly stabbed her Excalibur Destruction into the ground before she dropped to her knees in front of her fallen superior. She checked for any injuries and, finding there were none, she glared at Keijutsu. "What did you do?!"

He shrugged. "Just covered her in fine layer of hematite and magnetite. Both are fairly common forms of iron found underground, so I expected there to be at least some underneath this field. And the latter of the two is magnetic, which enabled my electric attacks to zero in on her and strike without fail," he explained calmly.

Xenovia glared at him in pure rage, and rose to her feet. "You bastard!" she yelled, pulling Excalibur Destruction from the ground and charging at him.

Keijutsu leaped away from her and began channeling energy to his ribs. While healing magic wasn't his area of expertise, he knew enough of it that he could turn the sharp sting of his broken ribs to a dull ache, and then numb that ache enough for him to keep fighting. That enabled him to roll to the side when Xenovia swung down at him, and hit the ground with her sword.

Only this time, the moment the piece of Excalibur came into contact with the dirt, it unleashed an explosion of such magnitude that it sent him flying, the ends of his uniform smoking as he flew.

Xenovia charged at Keijutsu while he was still in the air, and prepared to strike him once he landed. But Keijutsu took a deep breath and then exhaled, releasing a blast of wind that pushed him away and kicked up a cloud of dust.

He landed in the middle of the cloud and used a small spell to muffle his footsteps, moving slowly. Xenovia looked around from where she stood, trying to find him. When she couldn't, she gritted her teeth and called "Come out and face me, coward!"

Keijutsu didn't respond, slowly moving behind Xenovia while he tried to think of a plan. If it were simply to see which one of them could last the longest, he'd have this fight in the bag. But that Holy Sword's ability to create explosions combined with Xenovia's current anger causing her to no longer hold back… yeah, things weren't looking good.

'I need to find some way to cancel out that explosion-creating ability. But if I come into contact with the sword at all, it's energy will burn me. So, I need to find something else that can do it,' he thought. That kind of thinking required time, however, time that he didn't have. Luckily, though, he could think of something that could make that time.

Xenovia, having grown impatient at waiting for Keijutsu to strike, simply created another explosion to clear away the dust cloud. When it did, she found him with his hands once more on the ground, preparing to cast another spell. Before she could attack him, however, a large magic circle at appear in the air in front of him.

"Flight of the Ornithopters!" he called, and several dozen winged creatures flew out of the circle. Each one was little more than a stick of metal with wings made of canvas attached to it. However, they all had metal spikes fixed to their fronts, and they moved with surprising speed as they began flying at her.

Xenovia grunted and swung Excalibur Destruction at the creatures, and managed to knock a few out of the air. But the rest of them simply flew around it and dived at her, forcing her to roll backwards to avoid being stabbed several times over. More of them came, and she slammed her sword against the ground to create another explosion. The force of the blast sent the ornithopters back, giving her a second to breathe. But then swarmed her again, and she was forced to keep moving back.

While his creations kept Xenovia occupied, Keijutsu tried to think of a way to win. Direct contact with Excalibur was to be avoided as much as possible. Because of that, it would be virtually impossible to negate the holy properties of the sword even if he did have a way to do so. He supposed could try and draw the array of runes necessary to create a localized anti-magic field. But there was no guarantee that such a thing would shut down either the sword or its explosion-making power, since their energy sources were holy rather than magical.

So, if he couldn't target the sword or its ability to make explosions… could he somehow target the explosions themselves? If so, how? The explosions weren't chemical in nature, so he couldn't create a solution that would render them inert. Furthermore, they didn't happen every time Excalibur Destruction hit something, but only when it hit something and Xenovia wanted to make an explosion.

That meant that he had to provoke Xenovia into attacking him with an explosion—a risky move all on its own—and he'd only have a split second to counteract the explosion before he was turned into a smear on the grass.

'Too bad I can't just wipe the blasts out of existence,' Keijutsu thought, before pausing. 'Wait. What if…? Could that…? Yes!' Keijutsu grinned as a plan finally came to mind. A dangerous, hastily-made plan that would definitely leave him somewhat injured. But it would give him the perfect moment to finish his opponent off.

First things first though; he had to get Xenovia angry enough that she really would try to kill him. Luckily, it looked like his ornithopters were doing a fine job of that. The bluenette was started to get covered in small scratches and cut from when she couldn't complete avoid them as they attacked. And regardless of how many she destroyed with her explosions, there were more remaining.

Guessing she'd just need one more push to become completely pissed off, he dismissed his ornithopters, causing them to vanish in small flashes of light. Xenovia panted as she caught her breath, before looking over at him when he began talking. "Is this really the best you can do, Xenovia-san? If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you were a rank amateur instead of a trained exorcist. The archangel Michael would be so proud," he said mockingly.

Xenovia's eyes went huge, and she roared in rage before running at him. He stood his ground and maintained that superior smirk of his. She raised Excalibur Destruction over her head, and leaped forward. "Die!" she yelled, and swung down at him.

Only for Keijutsu to reach up… and catch the Holy Sword between his hands. The eyes of everyone watching went huge, unable to believe that he'd actually willingly touch a Holy Sword. Indeed, Keijutsu could hear and smell as the skin of his hands was burned, and the pain of it nearly caused him to lose focus.

Xenovia, however, didn't even pause at the surprising move, and instead willed her blade to create an explosion at point-blank range. She saw Excalibur Destruction glow, sensed its power begin to burst outwards… before pausing. Then, just as quickly as it appeared, the explosion went backwards and collapsed into a single point, vanishing.

"Wha…?" she muttered, too stunned to speak properly.

As such, she was unable to react when Keijutsu threw her sword to the side—leaving her wide open—and reached forward to grab her shoulders. Before she could break out of his grip, Keijutsu said "If I couldn't stop your explosions, then I'll just get rid of them by using my magic to create a localized implosion. Now, it's game over," and unleashed a wave of electricity straight into her body.

Xenovia screamed as the current ran through her. The amperage of the electricity wasn't of the same level as the attack that hit Suzuno, but it did the advantage of being channeled into her directly instead of through a separate attack. And as such, it only took a few seconds for her body to shut down.

Once her eyes rolled into the back of her head, Keijutsu released her. She fell backwards and landed harshly on the ground, twitching every few seconds. "Xenovia!" he heard Irina call, and backed up when Irina ran in front of him.

Before she could say anything, he told her "They're fine, both of them. I made sure to keep the current below lethal levels. Most likely Suzuno-san will merely be unconscious for a few hours, while Xenovia-san will be unable to move for a slightly smaller length of time. They'll have no permanent injuries."

Slowly, the brown-haired girl nodded. "I… see. Very well. Thank you for that," she said.

Keijutsu nodded, before hissed as the pain in his hands flared. Looking down, he saw that they were, not surprisingly, covered in burns, mostly second-degree but close to third. 'Shit, this stings,' he thought. Now that the adrenaline was starting to leave his system, the pain was becoming more apparent.

Barley able to avoid crying out, he looked over at the ORC. "Unfortunately, healing magic is something I was never quite good at. Argento-san, if you could do something about both these burns and my broken ribs, that would be great," he said.

Asia hesitantly nodded and held her hands in front of his chest. The rings that represented her Twilight Healing manifested and gave off a soft green glow. Keijutsu grunted as felt pins and needles along the skin over his ribs, while the ribs themselves began repairing.

Eventually, they finished healing with loud snap, and she moved onto his hands. The lower layers of skin were repaired first, then the upper layers, and finally the outermost layer, the epidermis. Once it was done, he sighed. "Thank you," he told Asia, before looking over the Church members. "Well, it was an… enlightening… experience, fighting with you all. Take care," he said, before conjuring a magic circle and leaving.

The next day…

"Come on… I'm so close I can almost taste it!" Keijutsu muttered, staring at the whiteboard in front of him. The Chemistry Club had just wrapped up, and he had chosen to stay behind and clean up in order to have free access to the whiteboards. On the one in front of him was a schematic of his artificial aging device, while the ones to his left and right were covered in abstract formulae and equations relating the design.

Now he was sitting on one of the lab stools and had it titled back against the wall while he stared at the schematic.

'Let's see… So far, I've been able to reduce the ratio between the aging induced and heat generated to about 15 kilojoules of heat for every four seconds of induced aging, or 3.75 kilojoules for every one second. But after a certain amount of time during which this rate remains constant, the amount of required heat begins increasing exponentially for the same amount of aging,' he thought.

Leaning forward, he muttered aloud "But why?" Why did the heat/aging ratio change only after a certain interval of time? Why did it not do so immediately, and what caused the change? Based on the data he had obtained, he might be able to plot the various amounts of heat with respect to time and try to find an approximation of the general equation governing the system's behavior. But even that was assuming such a function existed and didn't possess any discontinu-

The opening on the classroom door interrupted his thoughts, and he braced himself in case whoever it was wasn't a Devil and he had to erase their memory of having seen his work.

Luckily, that wasn't the case, as it was just Tsubasa. The girl had peeked her head in and was looking around, as if she were trying to find something. That something was apparently him, as she stopped once she saw him and said, "Good afternoon, Keijutsu-san."

Lowering his guard, he smiled. "Good afternoon, Tsubasa-san. What brings you here?" he asked.

Her smile faltered, and she said "Kaichou asked me to find out where you were and bring you to her. She mentioned that you were part of several clubs and suggested that I start with looking through the Chemistry labs."

"Oh? And what might Sona-san need me for today? Not more fliers, I hope," he said, chuckling. But when she didn't find it amusing, his smile faded. "What is it?"

"Well, it's just that Kaichou found out about how you assaulted three members of the Church yesterday and… well… she's not pleased," Tsubasa said.

At that, he sighed. Well, he should have been expecting this. He had indeed acted with a level of rashness usually reserved for Issei or Saji, instead of analyzing the situation like he usually did. If he was going to be punished for it, he might as well get it over with now.

"Very well. Just one moment," he said, before standing up and walking over to wipe away all of his equations and his schematic. Once that was done, he followed his fellow servant to the Student Council room.

Once there, she let him go in by himself, and he did. Sona was there, sitting her desk and going through paperwork as usual. Remembering Saji's warning to not interrupt her while she was doing this, he simply stood there and waited.

Eventually, she finished, and put the last sheet of paper way before placing her hands on her desk, fingers interlaced. "Have a seat, Keijutsu," she said, making him internally wince. She was using his entire name, instead of 'Kei-san' like she had been calling him. That probably wasn't a good thing.

Still, he did as requested, and sat in front of her. For a moment, there was silence, and then she said "I was told this morning by Rias about the encounter she had with the representatives of the Church. Including about how you barged in there and tried to assault one of the Holy Sword wielders."

She leaned forward. "I ignore the transactions you make using my family's money because of our agreement. I also forgave you after disobeying my orders and going off on your own in Familiar Forest. But this? Attacking a member of an enemy faction without provocation? This is something I can't overlook," she said.

Keijutsu sighed, bracing himself.

"So now, I have just what question to ask. What the hell were you thinking?" she asked.

The Artificer took a moment to consider his response, before eventually saying "I suppose the simplest explanation was that I wasn't thinking. Or at least, I didn't think about it enough. I had noticed the three of them when they first arrived on the school grounds, and was initially suspicious of them. Then, when I tried to see if they were still around after class, I sensed that they had made their way to the Old School Building."

"Since I didn't sense any spikes of energy from there, that meant that they were either here in peace, or that they had already killed Rias and the others. I arrived just in time to hear one of them threaten Argento-san, and believed that to have confirmed their intent to be hostile. So, I acted accordingly."

Sona listened to all this, before sighing. "And you didn't think to first ask me about whether or not I knew they were here?" she said.

Keijutsu blinked once… twice… and then hung his head. "Honestly, no, I hadn't thought of that," he said. And in hindsight, it would have definitely been a smart idea. They wouldn't have known that the Occult Research Club was Rias's base unless someone, like Sona, already told them. And although the two heiresses were rivals, Sona would never had revealed that information unless she believed the three girls to not be a threat.

"I see that you're right. Checking with you first would have enabled me to learn ahead of time if the exorcists had arrived peacefully or not. And if I had done so, I could have avoided nearly starting a war entirely. I'm sorry," he said.

Sona sighed. "Well, at least you're willing to admit that you were in the wrong. You have that going for you. Luckily for you, with the three of them and possibly the Fallen Angels around, I'll have to postpone your punishment until later. For now, just go," she told him.

Refraining from sighing in relief, he prepared to do just that. Maybe now he could get back to his research. Really, he was just one step away from figuring out the design and…

Keijutsu mentally trailed off, simply sitting there for a moment. Sona looked at him in concern, asking "Kei-san?" but he didn't respond. His mind had suddenly gone into overdrive, connections starting to form.

An initially constant rate… Changes occurring after a certain amount of time… The excess heat… The stability of the isolation sphere… And then something that one client, Zel, had mentioned.

"It's better to take things one bit at a time, rather than do it all at once."

"How could I have been so stupid…?" Keijutsu whispered.

"Excuse me?" Sona said, and he shot to his feet.

"If such a thing were possible… The minimum time required… The maximum heat that doesn't endanger the subject's health… THAT'S IT!" he kept muttering, before yelling the last part. Sona nearly jumped in her seat, and Keijutsu grinned at her. "I think finally figured it out!"

Without providing any further explanation, he created a magic circle and stepped into it, vanishing. "Wait a second! What do you mean?!" Sona called, rushing after him and entering the circle before it deactivated.

Closing her eyes at the initial bright flash, she opened them to see that they were inside Keijutsu's office in his underground lab, and that he had ripped all his other drawings and notes off the note boards along the walls. The he flipped the entire boards over, showing that there were chalkboards on the other side.

Pulling a piece of chalk from his desk, he said "I just realized how to do it, Sona-san. How to use my entropy-manipulation devices to induce aging without killing the subject in the process."

Sona crossed her arms. "Do tell," she said.

"You see, in all of the experiments I've done, the same pattern kept occurring. The device would activate, create the isolation sphere, and begin aging the subject or subjects while also generating heat. For a short span of time, it would simply continue like this, and then the heat generation rate would spike after a certain span of time had passed."

"Every time since then, I've been trying to find a way to prevent this heat spike, and the accompanying destabilization of the isolation sphere, from occurring. Whether that be by increasing the amount of heat the sphere can contain, reducing the amount of heat generated, or both. But now I've just realized an underlying flaw with every one of those approaches," Keijutsu, not looking back as his continued writing.

She raised an eyebrow. "All of those ideas seemed perfectly sound to me. What's wrong with them?"

That time, he did look back, and grinned. "The flaw is that, in each of these scenarios, I've been trying to go through the entire aging process all in one go, from start to finish. But if I can determine the minimum amount of time required for the amount of heat to reach its 'critical value', for lack of a better phrase, then all I have to do is design the device to deactivate itself before that value is reached!"

Sona's eyes widened. Quickly seeing where he was going, she said "And once you've done that, you can start the device once, have it deactivate itself after a certain amount of time, and then start it up again. Each time you do this, you'll have aged the subject a little bit more until, after enough repetitions of this, you'll have achieved the exact same result as before."

"Exactly! Granted, this method will take more time than the previous one due to needing to repeatedly start and stop the aging process. But this is approach is not only plausible, but would also mean that I wouldn't need to readjust the design of the device any more than I already have!" he replied.

With that said, he wrote several lines of calculations, trying to figure out just what that minimum time was, and once he had, he stepped back. Exactly ninety-six seconds. That was how much time each cycle could last. "It's perfect," he stated.

Sona smiled widely. "I'm glad that you were able to figure it out, Kei-san. After all the work you've put into it, it'll be good to finally see it pay off," she told him.

Keijutsu turned around and smiled at her. "I wouldn't have been able to come up with it without you, though. You were someone who I could voice my ideas to. Not someone that would just nod their head and not question it, but a person who actually tried to understand me. For that, I couldn't be more grateful," he said.

The level of sincerity in his tone caused Sona to pause for a moment, fighting back the blush that threatened to appear on her cheeks. Not expecting a response anyway, Keijutsu looked at his watch. And proceeded to nearly fall over in surprise.

"Shit, it's almost 7 PM! If I don't hurry, the pet store's going to close soon, and I won't be able to test this idea tonight!" he said, hastily making yet another magic circle. But before he stepped into it, he faced Sona and, swept up in both his joy and feeling of triumph, kissed her on the cheek.

"Thank you, Sona. Have a wonderful night!" he called, and vanished.

The heiress to the Sitri house was frozen for a moment. Slowly, almost robotically, she reached up and felt her cheek. It wasn't a romantic kiss. Hardly anything more than a peck, really. And yet… The blush she had fought back came rushing right back stronger than ever, crashing through her attempts to resist it and turning her face red all the way to her ears. Without saying another word, Sona left via magic circle as well.

Chapter

Chapter 12: Working Together

"So, this time it's fishing instead of drinking?" Keijutsu asked.

Zel shook his head, handing him a fishing rod. "Both, actually. I find fishing to be a rather relaxing pastime, and thought about spending it with someone else. So why not the Devil I signed a contract with?" he said.

Keijutsu shrugged. It was as good a reason as any, he supposed. He cast his line and leaned back, enjoying the view. The night sky in Kuoh was something he had never really taken the time to appreciate. Looking at it now, he could say that he was impressed. For a city with as much artificial lighting as it had, the stars could be seen very well.

They shined like countless diamonds, their light moving at speeds unparalleled through that empty void known as space. Until eventually they reached this one little planet, came into contact with his eyes, and were seen. A journey that could end up lasting eons for some of the farthest stars, a quest through space from the star that emitted the light to here. It was fascinating.

Keijutsu placed his arms on the deck behind him. Yes, this was a very relaxing night. Here, he could temporarily forget all about his research, his schoolwork, everything, and just focus on the night sky and the sounds of the waves.

The alcohol certainly helped him relax, too. Even though he couldn't become intoxicated thanks to his little spell, he admitted that he was starting to really like the taste of sake. More than he thought he would, really. Even as he took a sip from the saucer Zel handed him, he had to refrain from sighing in pleasure when the cool, rich taste of it hit his taste buds. "I can see why you collect this stuff," he remarked.

Zel chuckled. "I could tell at first that you weren't a fan of sake. But that's why I was glad that you chose to accept my job request anyway, since I knew I could make a believer out of you. Glad to see that I was right," he said.

Looking over at him, Keijutsu said "There's something I've been curious about, if you don't mind me asking." When Zel gestured for continue, he asked "Exactly what is that you do for a living? Are you some sort of businessman, and that's why you're able to travel around so much?"

The older man snorted. "Not really, no. I'm a member of… shall we say… a special interest group for people with certain 'characteristics'. And among that group, one of my jobs is 'Advisor of Special Technology'. Basically, I do research on technology for my group, especially anything deemed strange or unusual. And depending on where the 'strange technology' shows up in the world, I have to travel to take a look." he explained.

Keijutsu frowned at that. That kind of response told him a lot and very little at the same time. Although it did explain why Zel traveled, he noticed that the man had deliberately not described the nature of the group he was a part of. And he had mentioned that investigating strange technology was only one of his jobs. What other roles did he have in this mysterious organization?

In fact, it could have just been his paranoia speaking, but what if the group Zel was with connected in some way to the supernatural? Keijutsu looked ahead and tried to appear calm. But slowly, and quietly, he began opening his senses to see if there was any trace of energy coming from Zel. If there was, he could sense it, and determine its source.

But just before he could do that, Zel chose to change the subject and ask, "So tell me, how's your research coming along?"

Keijutsu nearly jumped, and swiftly looked over at him. He didn't recall telling Zel about his work on magic. How did he know about it? "I beg your pardon?" he asked.

The older man grinned. "You told me last time that you were an inventor, and that you like doing research. I was just curious as to how it's going."

Oh, right. Keijutsu refrained from sighing in relief, and said "It's going rather well. I took your suggestion of doing things one thing at a time into account, and it's worked out well for me so far. My latest prototype is even passing the tests I set for it."

"Glad to hear it. So what exactly does a Devil research? The most efficient methods of extracting souls?" he asked playfully.

Keijutsu chuckled. "No, nothing like that. More to the point, I'm actually trying to see if I can use magic to create intelligent human life. I've finally managed to create a working device that can artificially induce aging, which will make it easier for me to obtain results in a small amount of time. Now I just have to see if I can use magic to synthesize human reproductive cells."

Zel hummed. "Impressive. Although I'm only supposed to be an 'advisor', I fancy myself a researcher in addition to being a collector. But I've never actually tried to create life itself. Exactly how high are you going to try and shoot in these experiments of yours?"

"Until I can find a limit as to what I can do with magic, I'll just keep shooting higher. There has to be something that magic can't do, after all. Whether that be resurrecting the dead, creating new life, or even recreating a Sacred Gear, there has to be something that I can't use magic to do. And until I find what that is, I'll just have to keep looking," Keijutsu told him.

Zel went stiff, looking over at him. Making sure to keep his voice and expression from changing, he said "Sacred Gears?"

Keijutsu nodded. "Yes. To state it shortly, Sacred Gears are special powers or objects given to humans by the Biblical God as part of his system of miracles. I was trying to use magic to recreate one, and managed to at least partially succeed. But I don't have enough information about their inner workings to make any further progress on them, so I've switched my focus to creating life."

"I see…" Zel said, before being distracted by a bite on his line. With practiced ease, he reeled the fish gave it a look over. It was a regular common carp, not a bad catch but nothing extraordinary. He removed the hook from its mouth and tossed it back, before casting his line again.

Neither of the two of them said anything more for the rest of the night. Keijutsu was enjoying the quiet and taking the time to relax, while Zel was too busy thinking. He hadn't seen potential like this in a long time. Just from what he could sense from Keijutsu, he had an immense amount of magical power, probably from being the Sitri girl's Bishop. And to go with that magical power was a mind that could find many, many different ways to use it.

Heck, even he was surprised by what his familiars had been able to pick up. Creating mechanical soldiers, flying devices, even a real voodoo doll. And now he had managed to not only find a way to create accelerated aging, and had actually made progress on recreating Sacred Gears?

That last one was of even greater importance to him. 'Zel' had actually managed to create his own artificial Sacred Gear, known as Down Fall Dragon Spear, but that was only after having made a pact with the Dragon King Fafnir, who agreed to be sealed into the object. Exactly how far had this Devil gotten on his own? And if Zel revealed who he really was and offered to compare notes, how much would both of their efforts improve?

Inwardly, Zel laughed. Someone else who was working on Sacred Gears… what were the odds they would meet?

The next day…

It was with no small amount of curiosity that Keijutsu approached the café. He had received a request for a meeting from a member of Rias's peerage. Her Pawn, to be precise. Why Issei Hyoudou would want to speak with him at all was its own mystery, much less why he wanted to meet here, instead of at the Old Schoolhouse. But he wasn't going to just ignore the request out of hand, and decided to meet with the pervert.

As he approached the café, however, he saw Saji approaching from the other end of the street, and they both stopped. Upon seeing him, Saji immediately frowned. "What the-? Keijutsu, what are you doing here?" he demanded.

The Artificer raised an eyebrow. It seemed he was still on Saji's bad side, even after time had its chance to wear down that resentment. How unfortunate. "I was asked to come here by Issei Hyoudou. What, don't tell me that you received an invite as well?" he replied.

Saji nodded. "Yeah, I did. So why are we both being called out to show up? What gives?"

Before Keijutsu could reply that he had no idea, they were both distracted by the sight of Issei. Said Pawn was sitting at one of the tables and waving his arm, indicating for them to come over. The two members of the Sona's peerage traded glances, before sighing and walking over.

"Hey, guys. Glad you could make it," Issei said, gesturing towards the two chairs also at the table.

"No worries, man. So, what's up?" Saji said, taking the lead and sitting next to him.

From there, Issei decided to explain how Kiba had been acting strange ever since right before the girls from the Church showed up, and how he had even declared that he would no longer live as Rias's servant if she kept him from pursuing his desire for revenge. To say Keijutsu was surprised was understatement. His own impression of Kiba was that he was nice, sociable, and an all-around 'good guy'. The image of an anger-driven avenger that Issei was painting did not match up.

'Now that I think about, though, he and I have never really spoken except for that time at the engagement party,' he thought. And if he recalled correctly, the smile Kiba had worn then had been a bit too 'bright' to be genuine. Was it possible that the smile, and the rest of him, was just a mask for the Kiba that Issei was telling them about?

Deciding to shelve the idea for now, he resumed listening as Issei began describing his plan to help Kiba. And to do that, they were going to lend a hand to the Church in searching for the fragments of Excalibur. Only instead of finding them, and having them returned to the Church, they would destroy them. Once they were gone, Issei reasoned, Kiba would be able to go back to his old self due to the object of his vengeance no longer being around.

Keijutsu considered the whole idea in silence. Saji, however, had one very simple response. "Hell no, man! Are you even serious?!"

"Serious as a more-than-four-hour erection!" Issei replied, effectively jarring Keijutsu out of his thoughts. What kind of analogy was that?

"You're insane!" Saji yelled, standing up and preparing to lay into Issei for what he perceived to be pure stupidity. But when he saw the looks that his shouting was getting directed at them, he sat back down.

Keijutsu took the lead from there. "I agree with Genshirou-san in that this is a very bad idea. Both Sona and Rias made it very clear that they want us to stay out of the Church's way, and to not get involved with the Holy Swords. Going out and destroying Excalibur would be doing exactly that, and I've avoided getting punished by Sona enough times that I don't feel like pushing my luck," he explained.

"Come on, guys! This is the best way to help Kiba, and I can't do it by myself!" Issei pleaded.

Saji stood back up. "Sorry, man, but I'm out!" he declared, before he began walking away. Or at least tried to. However, no sooner had he made it a total of three steps before he was stopped, marching in place but not making it any farther. Blinking in surprise, Keijutsu looked around the wall to see what was holding Saji in place. Only for it to be none other than Koneko.

"Figured you try to run," was all she said, before using her immense strength to literally throw Saji back into his seat. She then grabbed the sundae she was eating and moved to sit with them.

Looking at both members of Rias's peerage, Keijutsu sighed. "I suppose that if I tried to use a magic circle to leave, you'd stop me before I could finish conjuring it, correct?" he asked. When Koneko simply nodded, he sighed even louder. 'Why do I seem to be getting involved in all these situations? I have research to do!' he mentally complained.

"So, you really want to cooperate with the Church?" Koneko asked Issei.

He nodded. "It makes sense. I mean, they did say that, if the worst should happen, they'd rather destroy the swords than let the Fallen Angels get them. And Kiba wants nothing more than to destroy Excalibur. The results are the same, even if the goals are different," he pointed out.

Keijutsu shook his head, saying "Be that as it may, I doubt they'll be as willing to work together as you are. Those girls don't seem particularly fond of Devils, especially Xenovia-san."

"Yeah, but we should still at least try! Especially if it means that Kiba can keep from becoming a Stray and stay with the rest of us!" Issei argued.

Keijutsu considered this. While it wouldn't really make a difference to him if Kiba became a Stray or not, he could see that it mattered a lot to both Issei and Koneko. And while he could just run away the moment Koneko wasn't keeping an eye on him, he couldn't say the same for Saji. So, it would probably be in his best interest to help, if for no other reason than keep his fellow peerage member from getting killed.

"Very well," he eventually said. "But if we are going to do this, then the first thing we need to do is find those girls. So let's start looking." With that, Keijutsu stood up, and began walking away.

The others were quick to follow, even if Saji didn't want to be there at all, and they began searching the streets for them. As they walked, Keijutsu couldn't help but ask something. "I am curious. Why did you ask for my help to begin with? I can see why you'd ask for Saji, given than you might feeling a sense of companionship due to the fact that you're both Pawns. But why me?"

Issei chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. "Well, to be honest, I thought you'd be the next best person to ask. I mean, I doubt Sona gave you permission to barge in on us like you did the other day, so you'd probably be more likely to accept doing something she may not like. And you were the only of us that won in that spar, so you'd be a good ally to have if things get ugly," he admitted.

Keijutsu stared. That was… a surprisingly smart deduction. Maybe there was more that occupied Issei's head than just fantasies about women and breasts. Underneath all that, could there actually be something of a strategist? If so, it was worth keeping an eye on.

Turning his attention back to the streets, he wondered exactly how long it would take them to find the Church girls. Given that they were trying to perform this search for Excalibur in secret, he highly doubted that they'd make their appearance obvious to the public. What was more, they might even be hiding themselves using magic, which would make looking for them a whole lot-

"Oh, you who are the blessed sheep of our Lord, I ask that you be kind towards us!"

"We are eternally in your debt! Thank you for your generosity!"

"Your offerings will ensure that God's love can be given, and His will be done!"

As one, all four Devils turned and looked at the source of the voices. The holy maidens were right there, in front of store, wearing their white robes and everything with a collections box in front of them. There was even a sign that said, 'Offer your salvation' planted next to them.

Keijutsu dead-panned. Okay, maybe finding them would be that easy.

After having found the girls, they learned that the reason they were out in public and begging for money was because Irina had been tricked into spending all of their money on a fake painting of some unknown saint. When they learned that, Issei had the bright idea of offering to buy the girls lunch in exchange for a conversation.

Which led them to their present situation.

'Exactly where is all that food going to go?' Keijutsu wondered, watching them. Xenovia and Irina were hungry enough that, once food appeared in front of them, they had been going to town on it. Xenovia was more inhaling her cheeseburger than actually eating it, while Irina was going back and forth between tearing into some pork chops and using a bowl of ramen as her drink, even while the noodles and vegetables were still in it.

Suzuno was just as hungry as the others, but appeared to be eating her food at a more sedate pace. Sedate in that, while her comrades were progressively creating a mountain of dirty dishes, she had only finished three bowls of rice and two plates of sushi. And she was actually using her chopsticks instead of silverware.

Finally, once she was full, Irina clasped her hands together and called "That tasted heavenly! Oh, Lord, please offer your blessing unto these, the kindest Devils I have ever met!"

On cue, Keijutsu felt a stabbing pain in the side of his head, and he glared at Irina. "Would you stop that?!" he demanded.

"Oh! Sorry, it was force of habit!" Irina apologized, having completely forgotten that prayers or blessings actually hurt Devils.

Suzuno took a sip of her tea to wash down all her food, and then looked at them. With the food gone, it was time to get to business. "Well, you've treated us a meal, as you promised. What did you want to talk about?" she asked.

Deciding to let Issei take the lead—this was all his idea anyway—Keijutsu sat there while the pervert declared "We want to help you destroy Excalibur."

Xenovia's expression didn't change, but they could see the surprise in her eyes. "What?" she said.

Issei explained the situation to them, ranging from Kiba's past to his quest for vengeance, and why he thought it would be a good idea for them to work together. Once he was done, the holy maidens thought about what he had said.

Eventually, Xenovia said "I understand. If you desire to help us so much, I don't mind if you take care of one sword."

That shocked both Irina and Suzuno, with the former calling "Wait a minute!" while the latter said "We should talk about this first!"

'Damn. I was hoping that they would say no, and I could wash my hands of this whole affair,' Keijutsu thought, unaware that Saji was having very similar thoughts. Apparently, his luck wasn't that good.

Looking at her comrades, Xenovia said "You both know how strong Kokabiel is. As much as I'm ashamed to admit it, we don't have the power to obtain all three of the Excalibur fragments on our own."

"Yes, I am aware of that. But we knew the risks that this mission would have when we agreed to it. Are you telling me you're willing to compromise your own beliefs just for the sake of survival?" Suzuno demanded.

The bluenette faced her. "If it means keeping the Holy Swords away from the Fallen Angels, then I'm prepared to sacrifice everything. Even my life," she stated plainly.

There was a moment of tense silence, while the two of them stared each other down. After almost a full minute, it was Suzuno who finally sighed and broke eye contact. "I can see that you're fully committed to this. Very well; as your senior, you have my authorization to pursue this path," she said.

"Then it's settled," Keijutsu suddenly said, getting to his feet. "I'll leave explaining this to Kiba to the rest of you. I have somewhere that I need to be." And with that, before anyone could stop him, he left.

Several hours later…

Keijutsu grinned as he looked at his test subjects. Twelve hours ago, the animals in front of him had been a trio of tadpoles, swimming around in separate petri dishes. But after having made use of his aging device, they were now fully grown Japanese common toads, ribbiting and hopping around on top of the table. Everything was working correctly.

"Now that the testing on frogs has gone well, and no side effects have developed as a result of the aging process, I can start testing on mammals. Let's hope the pet store has a sale going on for pet rats," he said to himself, writing down notes on the test subjects and their behavior. It wouldn't do for something to go wrong later because he didn't write things down now.

Once he had all the data he needed, he ordered his golems to gather up the toads and release them into the wild. He had no further use for them, so it was only fair that they get to live their lives now.

Walking back into his office, he saw that Rasiel was sitting on his desk, kicking her feet while Fronea was curled up her lap. Honestly, if he didn't know that Rasiel was the living library for countless Phantom Books and that Fronea was his familiar, he might have found the image cute.

As it was, he smiled and said "Rasiel, what brings you here?"

The girl smiled and placed the Sphinx on the table before standing. "I heard about your success with your latest project, and wanted to congratulate you on it. I never thought you'd be able to do something like accelerate aging without using any of my Phantom Books. But here you are, doing it all with your own inventions. Nice job," she said.

Keijutsu grinned and bowed. "It means a lot, to hear that coming from you. I appreciate the compliment," he said sincerely, before going over to sit at his desk. "But I doubt that you decided to show up simply to say nice things to me. So why else are you here?" he questioned.

"Well, I heard about how, even if you succeed in making a human life, you'd have some trouble making sure that the life you make is actually intelligent. Luckily for you, I was able to come up with a solution," she said.

He raised both eyebrows. "Is that so? I'm definitely listening," he said.

Rasiel grinned and reached towards her eyepatch. Moving it to the side, when she opened her left eye, a bright stream of golden light shined forth, the source it being a solid orb of light where her eye should be. Holding her hands out, the light seemed to bend towards them. Keijutsu watched closely as, with a flash of the same light, a book appeared in either of her hands.

After placing the books on the desk and replacing her eyepatch, she said "These are my solution." She gestured to the first book. It was heavy and appeared to very old, with an ornate golden cover. Due to its age, the leather binding had lost its color, and the title, author name and publication date had all been worn off.

"This first book is called the Book of Wisdom. Its power is that it grants knowledge and wisdom in all kinds of field to whoever reads it. It does this by raising the computational abilities and mental faculties of the reader. If one were to read the book all the way to the end, they could even obtain absolute wisdom. However, only children or the immature can be affected by it, since only their brains are susceptible to influence," she explained.

Keijutsu picked the book up and looked it over, taking care not to open the book. "Fascinating, I'll admit. But according to your description, this book only increases the knowledge of the person who is reading the book. I'm trying to increase the knowledge of another, someone who has no idea how to even read," he told her.

Rasiel's response was to smile even wider. "And that's where this book comes in," she said, pointing at the second one. This one was a faded green in color and appeared to be in remarkably good condition, as though it were brand new despite likely being otherwise.

"This one is called the Book of Equivalence. The book enables its user to obtain anything they wish through a series of exchanges. When you present an item to barter with someone, the other person will offer something of equal value in exchange. Because of this, one can obtain any item in the world, so long as they have something of equal value to trade."

Keijutsu hummed. "A book that enables its user to perform any number of equivalent exchanges…" he muttered, before his eyes widened. "And anything can be exchanged, just as long as they're equal?" he asked. When Rasiel nodded, he added "Including something immaterial, like memories or knowledge?"

"Precisely. Ordinarily, if someone like you tried to obtain knowledge from the Book of Wisdom, it wouldn't work due to your brain not being open to its influence. Any wisdom you would gain would be instantly discarded," she started.

"But if I use both it and the Book of Equivalence in tandem, then I can transfer that knowledge to the person I create even as it enters my brain!" he said, looking at both books with wide eyes. This was it. This was how he would ensure that the life he made was intelligent. By using the magic of the Phantom Books to artificially implant that intelligence in his creation's mind.

It was so simple, yet so perfect. He knew that the abilities of the Phantom Books were virtually limitless. But even so, he would never have thought to use them like this. However, even as he reveled in his awe at this development, there was one thing that he had to wonder. Looking at up the green-haired girl, he asked "Why are you helping me with this? You rarely do something without benefiting from it in some way. How does giving me assistance benefit you?"

Rasiel giggled. "So, you're not so foolish after all. I didn't think you were," she said, causing his eyebrow to twitch. Before he could comment on it, however, she said "In any case, you're right. You see, I've become interested as well in whether or not you'll actually succeed in using magic to make life. I possess Phantom Books within myself that can heal wounds, create living puppets, and even temporarily resurrect the dead."

"But I don't think any of the Phantom Books—at least, the ones in my Library—can actually give life to something that never had it to begin with. So, I'm curious if you can actually do it. Simple curiosity, that's all," she said, before abruptly frowning. "However, there is a catch to using the Book of Equivalence in this manner."

"I figured as much. And what's the catch?" Keijutsu asked.

"You have to remember that the Book ensures that the exchange carried out is always equal, no matter what. And since value is subjective, what is worth much to one person can mean nothing to another. As the saying goes, 'one man's trash is another's treasure'. Therefore, if you do this and do not truly believe that that you'll be giving away—the knowledge from the Book of Wisdom—is of equal value to what you'll receive—the success of your experiment—then the Book will take from whichever party stands to gain more. Even it means taking their lives, if the difference in value is great enough."

Keijutsu was silent for a moment, and looked once more at the books. Rasiel said that the Book of Wisdom could even grant absolute knowledge and wisdom. For someone like him, absolute knowledge seemed like a pipe dream, a goal that could be reached for but never grasped. Yet right here, in his hands, was something that could grant it. Was his success equal in value something like that?

He honestly didn't know.

Placing the books down, he stood up. "You've given me a lot to think about, Rasiel. Nonetheless, I am grateful to you for providing me with this. Thank you," he said.

Rasiel nodded. "You're welcome," she said, before she began walking towards the door. Once she placed her hand on the door knob, though, she stopped and looked back. "By the way, how close are you to actually finishing your experiment?"

At that, Keijutsu grinned. "Ah, now that's a good question. The only thing I have left to actually do is use magic to synthesize human reproductive cells. Luckily for me, progress is already being made in this area in terms of creating reproductive cells using stem cells and skin cells. Here in Japan, even, mice have been born from egg cells created from the cells in a mouse's tail. If I can figure out the exact procedure needed to create a cell using both magic and a pre-existing DNA sample, then I can finally close the gap and make functioning human sex cells."

Rasiel raised an eyebrow. "A pre-existing DNA sample? And where are you going to get that?"

"Well, for the sperm cell, I can just use my own DNA. But as for the DNA sample I'll use to make the egg…" he began, before walking over the other wall of his office, across from the note boards. That wall was covered with what appeared to be dozens of magical circles, each one etched into the wall.

Reaching towards one of them, the seals on Keijutsu's arm began glowing, as did the circle. He pressed his hand against it and his hand actually sank into the metal of the wall, creating a ripple like the surface of a pond. Keijutsu frowned in concentration, searching for something, before smiling once he grasped it.

He pulled his arm back out and the wall returned to its original state, while Keijutsu now held a test tube in his hand. "…I have something special in mind," he finished.

Inside the test tube was a strand of vibrant red hair.