56 Chapter 56: The three exorcists
Beta read by n1ch, Shigiya, Solitary heart and 8kagi
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-Hikigaya residence-
Today was a weird day, to say the least.
Suddenly meeting the Maou and seeing her actually being a magical girl as spoken in the rumour mill, I was still unprepared to meet her. But then, suddenly defending myself from her violent outburst was not what I had planned for today. For such an innocent-looking girl who dressed so ridiculously, she certainly possessed a ridiculous amount of power.
'But then again, she wouldn't be called a Maou otherwise.'
"You're still thinking about Leviathan Serafall," stated Vritra. "Refrain from putting too much thought on today's matter. Beings of great power do not always remain sane as others might think."
Meeting so many of them, I was inclined to agree with him. Out of everyone I knew, aside from Vritra, Azazel could be considered the most normal and down-to-earth guy. Though I only met Sirzechs twice for brief moments, I knew that guy was a master deceiver and hid his true self quite well—a true monster.
And a sis-con.
"Does that include you?"
"Yes, I have my moments. Power corrupts all. It changes everyone at their very core."
"So, absolute power corrupts absolutely"
"In a way, but when I say corrupt, I do not mean it negatively, but everyone changes at one point when reaching a certain level of power."
That made me curious.
"Why?" I ask.
"To keep themselves sane, ironically."
I grew more confused and asked the dragon for more clarification.
"You must realise that those of immense strength get to shoulder an immense amount of responsibilities, stress and, in most cases, have to fight on the front lines with equally powerful opponents that are prepared to kill you. Take Serafall. From what I remember concerning her past, she used to be a ruthless butcher against the Old Satan Faction. Freezing and killing an uncountable number of Devils, Angels, and Fallens—acting as one of her side's main pillars of support. Serafall needed to put aside her feelings when defending her people, a sentiment shared by every true leader. You see where I am going with this?"
I think I did.
"So, Sona has become her anchor to cope with everything that happened… just like it is for Sirzechs and possibly the other Maous."
"Yes," Vritra's voice sounded melancholy, probably remembering his own past, "One can not shed so much blood, and come out of it as the same person as before."
I read about the Great War. It went beyond the realm of bloodshed and could be described as no different than a massacre on all sides. There were no winners. Everybody lost in the end and were still dealing with the end results. Growing up in such a period would have hardened anyone. Sona and Rias represent the fruits of their labour. They did everything in their power so their family and siblings would grow up in an era of peace.
"It still doesn't change the fact that I nearly got frozen to a popsicle there… she could have at least assessed the situation first."
"Not everyone will take the rational approach first, partner. Some people are just quick to assume, even if they are centuries old." Vritra said, sounding used to such a reality.
"You know, now that I look back and remember Rias cautioning me on playing chess against Sona… I finally realise why Serafall got so wrathful and why Sona was avoiding me before."
Just like Rias, I knew Sona to a certain level. She also dealt with the pressure of marrying another noble devil at her age. It would have been odd if she didn't face any issues while Rias went through a literal Rating Game.
A chess match became her version of a Rating Game.
Vritra laughed at my expense.
"Hahaha, look at you, partner! Going for a simple match and ending up engaged with the Sitri heir! I am beginning to wonder if you are naturally more unlucky than a dragon at this point."
I sighed.
Things were bound to be weird and difficult to deal with in this world.
"There's not much to worry about… I think. Serafall tried to dodge the topic at the end and seemed relieved. She must have a plan to deal with all of this mess." I argued, trying my best to believe my own words.
"Or," I didn't like Vritra's tone. "She will only pour more oil on the flame. Beings of great power are unpredictable and should not be predicated on factors like logic and common sense. They all tend to go to the extreme route."
I really hoped otherwise.
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Bzzt!
"Hm?"
What is this? It felt like there was a signal within my body forewarning me of something powerful nearby. I had felt a similar feeling like this before. The same sensation of wrongness I felt when facing Sétante. I didn't feel any killing intent or an evil aura around me. This feeling was coming straight from inside my house.
"Mind your environment. I sense holy energy nearby."
"Oh," my eyes widened. My heartbeat quickened, and flashes of people like Freed and rogue priests came to mind. I've seen what they were capable of, and if such a person found out about my parents' whereabouts…
My palms quivered from the horrible possibility.
"Vritra, if you see something inside that would make me go insane… forcefully take control of my body before I do something we'll both regret," I said in a slow whisper, my power starting to fluctuate from my rising anger.
"..."
I imagined my mom and dad in danger in my head and opened the door quickly. The words Balance Breaker are at the tip of my tongue. My fingertips glowed with magical energy as the most destructive of rune spells came to my mind if the worst came to pass.
People related to the Church were not all evil, I knew this, but some were pure zealots who were extremely dangerous who would use their beliefs to justify their actions! They would cut down and kill any of those related to Devils without mercy. In my head, I started to remember the many dead bodies of innocent people that Kiba and I found on our travels. Corpses were mutilated by those who took their belief too far. The possibility of my parents turning out like that… They better pray that did not happen!
I heard laughter from the living room. I went there quickly and saw three unfamiliar faces and parents who were laughing. Dad spoke with a nun with platinum blonde hair, which was hidden mostly by her outfit. While mom conversed with a woman with chestnut hair, who turned to look at me and gave me a wave. Next to her was the girl with blue hair who was staring at me with a hostile glare, and a weapon was covered in cloth next to her. The older of the three proceeded to greet me with a gentle smile on her face.
"Good evening, Hikigaya Hachiman. It is a pleasure to meet you." she spoke in a very eloquent and polite tone.
I wasn't going to be fooled.
I waved my hand as two small magical circles appeared over my parents' heads, throwing them into a trance.
Hypnosis.
I hated using such a spell on them, but I needed to move them away from here as soon as possible. Another larger magic circle appeared beneath them, and I teleported them to Azazel to keep them safe. The entire time, neither one of the girls reacted to my actions. The older lady kept smiling. The chestnut girl looked away while the blue-haired one just kept her narrowed eyes on me. The younger girls had weapons wrapped in some kind of cloth, but Vritra and I could sense the large amount of holy energy locked inside them.
"What do you want, and why are you here?" I asked them directly. They were supposed to meet Sona and the rest, not come and have some tea at my house. In fact, they shouldn't be anywhere near this location.
"Quite direct of you, Black Dragon King."
The woman stood up and gently bowed her head.
"Greetings, I am Griselda Quarta, former exorcist and current head mother working for the Vatican. These two are exorcists in training and my own pupils. Irina Shidou, who happens to be a former resident of Kuoh, and Xenovia Quarta—who you might have guessed—is my daughter."
"I would say it's a pleasure to meet you three, but we all know that that would have been a lie." I maintained my distance between them, not taking a seat, and remained standing in case something unexpected happened. "Forgive me for my rather hostile reaction, but I never had a pleasant experience with people of your factions and… holy swords."
Especially when the latter nearly killed me.
Griselda didn't look the least bit offended by my attitude, though that sentiment wasn't shared by her daughter, whose glare intensified.
"I understand," she said calmly. "I offer you my sincerest apologies for what you've had to endure from the people who used the name of God for their own desires. I heard of former Exorcist Freed being found dead near the abandoned church with a tombstone written with his name."
Yes, I remember that day. When Issei met Raynare, I had to swoop in and save his life before taking Raynare in for interrogation. I wasn't stable back then. Now that Vritra had come back, he securely controlled the madness. I remember finding out about Dohnaseek and Mittelt. That's when Vali decided to cause some destruction and attack the church, and that's when I first saw Freed in person. The project of creating an artificial hero like Sigurd failed with the creation of people like him.
But that did not mean I could just kill him with no remorse or feel indifference to his passing by my hands. I chose to bury him as a way to mourn the guy, despite all of the horrible crimes that he committed, and not get desensitised by killing another human being.
"What of it?" I asked, still not letting my guard down.
"Nothing, on behalf of the church, I would like to thank you for your service, and we are grateful to have such a person stopped from causing more pain and misery to people who do not deserve it."
That caught me off guard. I thought they would find some flimsy excuse and reasoning for my actions and try to take me in—not an actual thank you for killing a former member of their faction. I guess I should listen to myself and realise that not all church members are evil. I got too cautious.
"Thank you… I want to apologise as well for acting like a jerk earlier on. Before coming here, I thought my parents were in danger when I sensed the concentrated amount of holy energy in my home."
"No problem, Hikigaya-san! It's natural to feel protective of your parents." The one named Irina Shidou—which I now realised looked suspiciously familiar to me. "And you helped Ise out. I'm very thankful for that."
Eh, she knew the pervert?
Wait.
Hair colour check, holy sword check, and familiarity with a boy who carried the moniker of a breast-loving super pervert; there could only be one.
"Are you perhaps this kid?" I grabbed my phone and pulled out the image of a younger Issei playing games with another kid whose parents possessed Excalibur Mimic in the background.
"Oh my, That is indeed me! Look at how cute Issei is in this picture!" Irina gushed over chibi Issei while Xenovia just rolled her eyes.
"Hard to imagine you looked like a boy," I commented dryly, making the girl pout at my words, "I was betting that you would end up looking like one of those Bishounen."
"Hey! I know that I may have been a tomboy in the past, but look at me now! I'm a beautiful young maiden!"
Well, she indeed looked quite beautiful and gifted like most girls in this world. Even with the cloak hiding most of her body, it struggled to cover her more prominent assets which bulged out from the cloak.
"Tell me when you're going to meet Issei."
"Sure, but why?"
"I want to get a picture of his face when he realises that you were a girl this entire time."
"Okay?" Irina looked confused, before dropping the issue, "How is he doing now?"
"Issei? Fine, still a massive pervert if he was one as a kid. Doesn't put that much attention into his studies. Used to spend every moment with his equally degenerate friends spying on girls' locker rooms and most of the girls in the school hate him and his friends for it."
Wow, I felt like I was bashing the young kid, but sadly for him, all of my words were true.
Might as well throw him a bone.
"He nearly died recently though I managed to save his gullible self." I would rather not tell them who attacked him just to see if their information managed to acquire such a detail.
"What!?" I guess not. "Poor Issei, he must be traumatised! May God have mercy on such an innocent soul. I will make sure he is alright."
Ha! Issei? Innocent!? Funniest thing I heard in a while.
Maybe, I shouldn't mention that Issei turned out to be the Red Dragon Emperor and a soon-to-be member of Sona's peerage.
"You still haven't answered my question on why you decided to visit my house."
"We are well aware of the fact to never endanger a dragon's nest. The Vatican assigned Irina and Xenovia with a single task while my reason for being here stemmed from another reason." Griselda answered.
"My reason for being here is related to sister Asia Argento."
"What do you want from her?" I got on the defensive. Asia suffered already with the church, and I didn't want their involvement to ruin her current life.
"My superior wants to meet her. She felt that the girl was unjustly treated and wanted to make amends and offer her a place back."
Were they crazy? After everything that happened, after they threw the girl out and treated her like a witch, they want to bring her back as if nothing happened!?
"Do you have any idea what would have happened to Asia if I didn't intervene and help her? Your faction's actions caused the girl to be taken up by Fallens and have her Sacred Gear extracted! She would have died because of your fault, and now you want her back? Do you take me for a fool!?" I went off a bit strong there but couldn't help. The sheer audacity these people have to say such things and ignore the past.
"Watch your tongue!" Xenovia shouted at me before Griselda silenced her.
"I understand your dissatisfaction. I have read the reports on how unfairly and horribly sister Argento was treated by her peers and the whole church. But please understand that there are many underlying factors that pushed this decision forward. The timing, the circumstances involved, everything worked against us, and we were not able to shield her in time." Griselda sounded genuinely sorry about what happened. I couldn't detect any deception or lies from her.
"Let me talk with Asia first. She should at least be prepared for the meeting."
At the end of the day, I couldn't make such a decision without Asia being present. That didn't mean I wouldn't be with her and make sure she didn't get tricked into some kind of crooked deal.
"I understand."
I turned my head and looked towards Irina and Xenovia, knowing full well why they were here.
"Are you perhaps curious about the reasons for these two girls' presence in Kuoh?"
"They came here for the stolen holy swords." Once again, the woman didn't seem surprised and kept smiling. Though Xenovia turned increasingly hostile towards me.
"How do you know this? This is classified information only the Vatican is aware of. I wouldn't be surprised if a heretic working with Devils like you is involved in this case."
She approached me, holding the covered sword.
"I wouldn't be surprised with a heretic like you, Black Death."
"..."
Wow, I haven't heard that in a while. This whole situation almost made me laugh.
Trying to look intimidating? How pathetic. Even her attempt at provocation just made me roll my eyes.
My hand came to rest on the blade's side of the sword, and I pushed down, much to Xenovia's shock.
"Listen to me, I don't have time nor interest to deal with your one-sided, biassed views on the world and how this can lead you to an early demise. But don't think a remnant of an already broken sword will scare me when I face much worse."
Gae Bolga topped the charts on my list. Its effect of destroying one from the inside—no matter who—could not be surpassed and it was terrifying to be turned into a pincushion from the inside out.
"An immature girl who sees the world in black and white will never succeed on this mission, and would more than likely end up being a liability. Go wave your little glowing stick at someone else's face and let the adults talk."
"You!" Her eyes blazed in anger and fury, and the cloth around began to loosen, prepared to attack me.
"Xenovia!"
Until Griselda came forward and stopped the girl in her tracks. Her mother grabbed the girl's cheeks and slightly pulled them in a painful manner.
"Just what were you planning on doing, hmm~?"
Her voice sounded cheerful, but her eyes looked scary as heck from under her habit. Both Irina and I put some distance between those two to not get caught in the crossfire.
"Is she going to die?" I asked the brunette with a whisper.
"No… maybe. But she will get spanked or will be forced to train until her body gives out and she passes out for a couple of days." Wow, maybe Griselda and Scáthach were related.
Scary and beautiful, what a dangerous combination.
"B-But h-he insul—"
"None of that!"
She pulled her cheeks further apart.
"I believe I raised you better than this… right~?"
That right at the end sounded ominous enough to promise a world of pain if the girl didn't agree.
"Yes!" Xenovia didn't waste a moment to agree, her face slightly pale in fright.
"Good. Now, I believe we must leave. Xenovia and Irina will pay a visit with the Sitri and Gremory heir tomorrow about the mission. I will be busy reporting to my superior and will be in the middle of preparing a meeting between her and Asia."
Griselda and the other girls left my house after saying their goodbyes. Irina decided to lessen the tension by talking to me at the last second. Apparently, she had come to Japan after a long time, coming here once again to revisit the town she lived in as a child. She said that she went to England because of her parents' work. I refrained from asking too much about her father and possibly getting a lead on more information about the Belial scandal.
A few minutes later, I called Kala to bring Asia to the Occult Research Club tomorrow. We needed to discuss the matter with everyone else as well.
'In the end, I'm glad nothing happened.'
After that, both Rias and Akeno returned home. Both King and Queen came home with pale and anxious looks, while giving me a look over for any injuries. Even Kiba and Koneko joined them with their combat gear and looked ready for a fight. After Rias confirmed my safety, she suddenly hugged me into a tight embrace.
"Are you injured? I never knew that they would go after mom and dad because you weren't a Devil and that they are fully unaware of the supernatural side! Where are they!?"
Rias was a mess. I took my time to calm her down by rubbing her head.
"I'm fine, you little weeb. Those people just came here for a talk and nothing else. Mom and dad are somewhere safe. I sent them Azazel just in case things went south." Maybe not the right time to realise this, but I noticed how she didn't say 'your mom and dad' just 'mom and dad. A minor detail but something important to notice as well.
Akeno hugged Rias and me even tighter and held us both like valuable things. Koneko joined as well, snuggling me from my side.
"I'm glad senpai is safe."
I smiled at the cute little neko. Maybe I should bring her out to eat some ice cream. It's been a while since we last hung out.
"Aaah, Hachi. I'm glad. If something were to happen to you, I… After the normal club activity, I went to visit Sona but couldn't find her and saw ice covering all of the Student Council room. I panicked but one of the members gave me a letter that was addressed to me, and learned that the Exorcists had already arrived, but weren't present in the hotel rooms that we reserved for them."
When Rias got close to my house, she realised the holy presence and came rushing here. She confessed that she thought of the worst when she entered the house and felt the presence of strong holy energy. It seemed like her heart was beating fast from how I could feel it on my chest. Good thing they didn't encounter the Exorcists on the streets.
"I thought that the worst might have happened to my precious mage. I prepared for the worst scenario, you know? If I were too to help you in combat just because I was a bit late, then I would have regretted it till death. I'm sorry. We should have returned home together. I focused too much on my duties—" she just didn't stop.
'The Gremory is truly a being with extraordinary affection. But then again, you two are lovers.' Vritra said in my head, approving of Rias' caring nature.
"It's okay. I'm not some defenceless person. I'm quite capable of taking care of myself."
Rias continued to hug Akeno and me with a loving embrace, while her head was buried in my neck.
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"Rias, are you sniffing my clothes?"
"N-No! I'm just enjoying your presence!"
"I am," Akeno said without shame, which was to be expected.
"So am I. Senpai smells really good." Look at what you've done to innocent little Koneko.
She was turning into a pervert.
"According to the initial agreement, we set up a date to meet those three at noon tomorrow. They want to negotiate with me, the Devil, Rias Gremory, and Sona Sitri, who co-own this town as our territory. Since we know it's about the holy swords, I can guarantee that the meeting won't go well."
"The people from the Church want to negotiate with us Devils. It is bound to not go well." Kiba added, leaning against a wall while letting the girls have their moment with me.
Rias nodded at his words.
This wasn't shocking.
The devils and Christians remained enemies from the beginning. And the negotiation came from them about a sensitive topic like the theft of the Excalibur shards.
"They are planning to come to the club room after school tomorrow. They apparently promised in the name of their holy father that they won't attack us."
"Do you believe them?" I asked, curious to know her thoughts.
"We have to. We have to believe in their belief since they are the believers of the holy father, and they are coming to request something from Devils when we are supposed to be evil beings in their eyes. They seem to be under pressure, and it's certain that it's trouble. I have a bad feeling about this… From their story, the priests that come to this town keep getting killed and they don't know who is doing it."
Probably Kokabiel.
Rias' eyes became sharp, and she had a serious face. It certainly was surprising to see her like this.
"Don't worry, we'll get through this together. I won't let you down," I added, tightening my hold on the girls, hoping to reassure them.
"I know… that's one of the reasons why I love you."
"Same!" Akeno said, still holding onto us.
"Me too Senpai, you give the best hugs and snacks." Followed by Koneko, while she nuzzled my side like a cute cat.
I felt another embrace from behind.
"Same!" …and even Kiba!?
"Oi! Kiba!"
"Oops," he grinned. "Got caught up in the moment."
This bastard, that was totally intentional.
'I'm glad that Ebina isn't here to see this.'
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The next 5 chapters of Snafu, Harry Potter and my 2 Fate fics are already available on my P@treon. With 4 more Broly chapters at /NimtheWriter.
