Leman Russ 4

The next morning, Rias with Peerage went to visit the Wolf King in his den. This was their brother's order, ordained by Grayfia.

"Help him familiarize with the world, keep an eye on him, definitely don't try to make him a part of your peerage, leave him alone when necessary."

When they reached the den and the door opened, they greeted by Leman naked. This was greeting was pleasant for some and unpleasant for most. For Leman himself, woken up early then time was unpleasant. The devils then were admonished out of his den by Leman. Issei silently cursed at Leman in his mind, Rias sighed in hopelessness and made her familiar spy on the Primarch outside, in case he chose to come out of his den.

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Issei's house:

"Um, who exactly are you?" asked a confused Issei to the chestnut-haired girl sitting on the sofa.

"Eh? You don't remember me?" said the girl in a shocked tone, her eyes widening as she did so. "I know that it was a long time ago, but we used to play together all the time, almost every day."

"Wait," said Issei as he began matching the girl's face, eyes and hair colour to his memories. "I-Irina?!"

"Yay! You do remember me!" Irina exclaimed happily.

"No way! I thought you were a boy all this time!"

"Issei! Don't say something so rude and insensitive!" his mother scolded.

"No, it's okay," assured Irina. "After all, I was quite a tomboy when we were younger and I used to keep my hair short too, so it's understandable that you thought I was a boy."

The blue-haired girl with a lock of green at the front who was sitting next to Irina nudged her shoulder.

"Irina, we need to get going," she stated in a somewhat urging tone.

"Okay okay, I suppose you're right," Irina sighed. She stood up along with her companion before turning to face Issei. "Well, it was nice to see you again Issei, I guess you never really know just how much things change."

"Y-yeah," he agreed still being a little shakily. From the way she said that coupled with the look in her eyes, he realised straight away that his childhood friend somehow knew that he'd become a devil.

Time passed, hearing about the exorcist's visit, Riss came running as fast as she could.

"Thank goodness, I was so worried about the two of you," Rias breathed in relief as she pulled Issei and Asia into a hug. "When I sensed those two exorcists here, I was so concerned. I was afraid that the last time I spoke with you would have been when I was still angry over nothing."

"It's alright Buchou," Issei assured her. "They didn't do anything to either of us."

"Buchou, I'm also sorry," said Asia. "Recently I've been talking back to you and not treating you as respectfully as I should have."

"It's okay Asia," Rias reassured whilst releasing the two from her embrace. "I haven't been as caring to you as I should have been either, so we're both at fault. Let's both makeup and be better to each other from now on, okay?"

"Yes!" the blonde girl agreed with a nod and a grateful smile.

'This is actually a pretty tender moment,' thought the red dragon emperor. 'In fact, with Buchou having her guard down like this… Chance!'

"Buchou," Issei called in a low tone.

"Yes?" Rias inquired, turning her head to face him.

"Oppai," the brown-haired teen simply stated, looking the Gremory heiress in the eye with the most earnest stare he could muster.

"Fine," she replied with her eyes closed, although a small smile played on her lips. She began unbuttoning her school uniform's blouse from the top, causing the resident pervert to practically drool at what would follow.

However, any further progress was promptly halted by a stern-faced Asia, who grabbed the redhead's hands and moved them away from the next button.

"Not allowed," the ex-nun said.

"Wha- Asia!?" Issei exclaimed, heartbroken at the loss of his perfect opportunity. A comical stream of tears began to flow out from his eyes and run down his cheeks. "How could you?"

"I guess it can't be helped," said Rias after seeing the blonde's half pouting, half teary face. "Sorry Issei, maybe another time."

At those words, said teenager fell onto the floor face-first.

'Another time! That might never come! Waaaaaaaaaaa..!' he mentally cried.

'Alright, I've managed to stop Buchou-san from getting ahead of me for now, I just need to be careful and try my best to win!' Asia thought determinedly.

*******************************

The sky went dark, the day ended, even the Wolf King waited for a new day to come. Today and tonight were for comprehension of his next moves. Tomorrow he would make them.

As the sun rose, the time for school came and passed. The devils gathered in their occult club and then something unexpected happened.

(ORC club room):

The room was thick with tension, like a volatile bomb that could explode any second without warning. All the Gremory peerage were present, with the addition of Irina and the other girl who had been with her at Issei's house. However, the one who has emitted the most hostility was Kiba. The usually calm knight was glaring at the two girls in white robes with such intensity that it seemed like he was trying to burn a hole into them. No, it wasn't the girls themselves, it was aimed at the wrapped object that the blue-haired girl was holding.

"So, why did those who serve the church wish to meet with me?" asked Rias in a professional tone, cutting straight to the chase.

"It's simple really," responded the blue-haired girl. "We only came here to give a warning."

"A warning?" repeated Rias. "Are you attempting to threaten me?"

"No. We were instructed to tell you not to interfere with our mission," she clarified.

"Well, it won't be much use telling me that if I don't even know what this mission of yours is."

"Yes, about that. Our mission is to retrieve the stolen Excalibur fragments."

Confused by what the girl had said, Issei tapped Akeno's arm to get her attention.

"Akeno-san, what does she mean by Excalibur fragments? Isn't Excalibur some legendary sword?" the brown-haired teen inquired.

"You see Issei, the original Excalibur was a great holy sword, but it was broken into seven different pieces. Through alchemy, each fragment was crafted into a new sword with individual powers, but they're not as strong as the original," the raven-haired school idol told him.

"I see," said Issei. "And some of those have been stolen huh? Sounds pretty serious."

"Excaliburs have been stolen?" asked Rias incredulously. "It seems that all sorts take place within my territory."

"Yes," confirmed the blue-haired girl. "Out of the six words that were in the church's possession, three have been stolen. Two of the remaining three were given to Irina and myself, whilst the third is being kept at the church."

"Xenovia!" exclaimed Irina in shock. "Are you sure you should be telling them so much?"

"If we fully explain the situation to them, we'll be more likely to get a co-operative response," replied Xenovia. "Besides, it's not like we were forbidden to tell them."

"I guess you're right," agreed Irina.

"Who was it that stole the Excalibur swords?" Rias inquired.

"One of the leaders of the fallen angel organisation; Grigori," Xenovia revealed. "A cadre class fallen angel, Kokabiel." At the mention of that name, Rias and Akeno's eyes widened.

"So, you wanted to ask us for our assistance?" asked Rias.

"No," Xenovia denied. "We came here to tell you not to get involved with this matter."

"Are you implying that we might form an alliance with the fallen angels?" The tone Rias had used had a warning edge to it.

'Uh-oh, Buchou's getting pretty mad,' thought Issei.

"Well, the higher-ups at the church think that it might be a possibility," Xenovia said calmly, unfazed by Rias' glare. "Since you're the younger sister of a maou and the devils' numbers are rather low, they believe you may see the advantage in forming an alliance with the fallen angels in this situation, since it would be rather advantageous for you."

Rias slammed her hands onto the table in between them. "If you know our link to one of our leaders, then you should know that we'd never do anything to tarnish the name of our maou!" she declared firmly. "I, Rias Gremory swear that we will never form an allegiance with the fallen angels!"

Irina and Xenovia gave small smiles at her outburst.

"That's good enough for us," remarked Xenovia.

"Yes, despite the fact that you're a devil, I'm sure you wouldn't go back on your word," chimed Irina.

"Is it only the two of you tasked with this mission?" asked Rias.

"Yes," answered Xenovia. "Our chances of success are thirty percent."

"We thought that was high enough for us to take this job," added Irina.

"As extreme as ever I see," Rias muttered. "Even with two Excalibur fragments at your disposal, it'll be difficult to retrieve the others by yourself. Do you have a secret weapon of some kind?"

At that question, the blue-haired teenage exorcist gave a small smile. "Perhaps," she said ambiguously.

"Would the two of you like anything to eat?" offered the Gremory heiress.

"No, we're both fine," declined Xenovia before she and Irina stood up from their seats.

The two church girls began making their way towards the room's door, however, Xenovia stopped when she was in front of Asia.

"I wanted to ask this before when I first saw you at Issei Hyoudo's house, but it didn't seem like the right time or place," she began. "Aren't you the 'witch' Asia Argento who was exiled for healing a devil?"

"Eh? No way!" exclaimed Irina. "That's you?"

Upon hearing her former title, as well as all the attention she was now receiving, the blonde bishop became visibly worried and uncomfortable, a presence of fear being detectable in her green eyes.

Despite her lack of confirmation, Xenovia realised that she was correct in her assumption. "To think that you actually became a devil huh? Don't worry, I won't tell the higher-ups about this. Just tell me one thing though, do you still believe in the teachings of our faith?"

"What are you talking about Xenovia?" Irina questioned. "There's no way that she, who became a devil, could possibly still believe in our lord."

"No," refuted the blue-haired exorcist calmly. "I can 'smell' the belief coming off her. It might be an abstract way of saying it, but I'm sensitive to these kinds of things."

Issei began to tense up. So did, everybody else in the room. This was not going to end well.

"I-I've never been able to let it go," Asia trembled. "I've believed in everything all my life."

"I see…" muttered Xenovia. She then unravelled the white cloth surrounding her large greatsword, the Excalibur's aura becoming clearer to everyone present. "In that case, I'll cut you down in the name of our Lord. Maybe that way you'll gain forgiveness and redemption."

Before anything further could happen, Issei was suddenly standing firmly in front of his precious friend, arms spread wide.

"If you so much as touch her, I swear I'll beat the living daylights out of you!" he declared angrily.

"Move out of the way," Xenovia said emotionlessly, although she had a look of annoyance in her yellow eyes. "This way, her soul may be spared."

"Shut the hell up with your B.S!" the brown-haired pawn shouted fiercely. "All you people ever did was lock her away from others and isolate her! You left her to drown in a sea of loneliness and when she helped someone who she didn't even know was a devil you just kicked her out like some piece of trash!"

"If she truly was a saint or noble maiden, then those things wouldn't have mattered as she would have had the divine presence for company. The fact that she didn't show that she probably wasn't sincere in her beliefs in the first place."

"I don't give a damn about what excuses you morons make to float your boats, you hurt her and I'll batter you myself."

"Is that a threat to the church?"

"I don't care how you want to take that, I won't let you hurt someone who's important to me!"

"Then how about we settle this with a sparring match outside."

"That sounds perfect," said Kiba in a low tone, moving away from the wall and approaching them, glaring at the holy sword in Xenovia's hand all the while. "Since you'll be doing this, I'll join in too."

'This isn't good, he's completely blinded by his own rage towards that sword,' Akai Tsuki mentally observed. He is a soul repear, sent here by Shinto Pantheon to act as an observer and a diplomat, not to get in a bloody conflict with the Church.

"Um, who are you?" Irina inquired at the knight's unexpected interruption.

"I'm your senior," he stated coldly, demonic swords materialising around the room. "Although I was apparently branded a failure."