Chapter - 51

It had been three days, fifteen hours, and ten minutes since things had gotten weird. Yuuto knew how long it'd been, because he could count back to the moment where everyone started acting totally odd.

Some strangeness was to be expected. Gehenna was at war. If Lord Zeoticus was wound tighter than a virgin on her wedding night and prone to snapping at everyone, that was excusable. Naruto had gone from nearly constant presence to total ghost, locked up with his cousin when he wasn't ranting at Sasuke about the pureblood combat ban. Lady Venelana and Lady Grayfia hovered around their husbands even more than usual, providing convenient calming influences when Zeoticus or Sirzechs seemed particularly strung out.

Yuuto expected that once the shock of sudden open conflict after decades of peace settled in that they'd all regain some measure of their former composure.

No, the real oddities were Sasuke and Rias. Before the Mictlan invasion, the Uchiha had been generally standoffish but available for training regularly. The Ruin Princess was practiced and unflappable, a firm leader that kept her steady hand on everyone's shoulders to offer support.

Then apparently, they'd talked and gone 'round the bend.

Sasuke went from helpful senpai to crazed mother hen. He was fucking everywhere. Turn one way and there he was, debating magical theory with Akeno and suggesting spell concepts for them all to try. Turn the other and there he was again, running obstacle courses with Koneko and urging the irate nekomata to move faster.

To think he'd thought Sasuke invasive after a little assassination attempt. He'd had no idea how good he had it back then.

"Yuuto."

Think of the devil, and he shall appear.

"Sasuke." The blond Knight forced a polite smile, coming out of his stance and lowering his demonic sword. Polite. Going from uncouth youth to genteel servant was proving to be a pretty difficult road, but maybe it was worthwhile. At least if he could control his own face and emotions, he'd have a clearer head on the battlefield when it came to killing Galilei.

"I've been wondering about your Sacred Gear. What are the limits of Sword Birth in terms of the properties you can give the demon swords?" Unreadable dark orbs weighed Yuuto, Sasuke voice steady with just a tint of curiosity.

Yuuto shrugged. If the Pawn was interested in talking Sacred Gear lore he could afford to indulge him for a minute. It was better than the monotony of the manic training regimen they were suffering under. "Theoretically? The limits of a Sacred Gear depend on the strength and willpower of the user. If someone like, say, a Satan had Sword Birth, I suppose they could begin generating swords with almost any property. Provided they have experience with it."

"I see. You've developed Flame Delete and Replenish Calm, right?"

"Umm, yes?" The Flame-Freezing Swords and the Wind-Calming Swords were a step up from the regular demonic swords Yuuto could create, but what interest would Sasuke have in them? It wasn't like they were legendary by any means.

"Have you ever considered trying to produce a Lightning-Grounding Sword? I don't know what name it would have, but I'm sure it's been done before. It's not conceptually unusual considering Sword Birth seems to be about property negation."

Ah, more training.

Cocking an eyebrow, Yuuto stabbed his conjured demonic sword into the soil and settled one hand over his hip. The blond stroked at his chin with the other, musing over the idea with more earnest. "You do have a point there. Blade Blacksmith is the Holy Sword counterpart to Sword Birth, so you'd think that it would do the opposite and let you create swords around a basic property. Flame generation to Flame Delete's fire negation. But I'm not sure it's that simple. Why, beyond some idea of universal balance, would Sword Birth not also be able to create a sword that emits fire?"

"Then do you want to try to evolve a Lightning-Creating Sword?"

"Even if that's possible, I think you're underestimating how difficult it is to actually evolve a Sacred Gear, Sasuke."

"Sasuke, there you are!" If Sasuke was one oddity, Rias was the other. Wherever the Uchiha appeared, the redhead was not far behind. If the dark-haired devil had taken to mother henning the peerage, Rias had taken to mother henning Sasuke.

Whatever Sasuke had told their mistress must have had quite the impact, because she stuck to him like a burr. And her face cycled through the queerest expressions while she did so. First she'd look pleased that the Uchiha was interacting with the peerage, before getting all contemplative. Then she'd look utterly alarmed and worried, before finally proceeding to a strange blushing pink.

The woman was mad.

No, perhaps that was unfair of him. Who knew what sort of strange horrors she'd discovered lurking in Sasuke's mind?

"Rias." Sasuke greeting, voice rolling baritone. "You're forgetting your training again. Or have you become so skilled with the rapier that you'll be able to pass my test?"

"I think it's you that's forgetting your training. Or did you become a master magician when I wasn't looking?"

"Ara, ara, why didn't anyone invite me to the party?" Cut in, Akeno floating down to land softly beside the blond. Rias' Queen was just a bit ruffled, empty quiver in one hand and a finely crafted bow in the other. Yuuto idly wondered what sort of magical material the bowstring was made off to withstand the halfbreed's greater-than-human devil strength.

Dust flew when Koneko suddenly appeared, grinding to a halt beside the gathered peerage. The pale skin of the nekomata's face was flushed with extertion, strands of white hair practically dripping with sweat. "What are you doing here?" the Rook demanded, sucking in air before shaking her head.

Pointing an angry finger at Sasuke, Koneko narrowed hard gold eyes at him. "You. If I'm running, you're running. Three seconds, slacker. Then something is getting broken."

"Koneko-chan, maybe you should take a break?"

"Three."

"You do seem a little worked up."

"Two."

"I don't recall giving you permission to quit your marathon."

"Die."

*

There was a certain hush that hung over the Phenex clan's family manor. It was subtle, that strangling quiet; but it was there. Ravel could almost be forgiven if she forgot Gehenna was at war. Except for the stony faced presence of dozens of guards ringing the estate, life was much the same as it had ever been.

Ravel hated it.

There was no excitement in a life silently tucked away, carefully parceled up so that nothing could ever penetrate the bubble of safety and ignorance. Ruval was away, spending late nights and early morning laying out combat tactics for Sheol's government with all the experience he had gained in the Rating Games. Riser was simply elsewhere, probably doing his best to get the various members of his peerage pregnant before the Senate caved and began to send second sons to the battlefield.

Ravel hated that too.

Without the presence of either of her living brothers, the blond twelve-year-old was shut up in an opulent country house with only the company of her parents and grandfather. The former were generally easy going and airheaded, but Ravel had to walk on eggshells around the latter. Riser was no longer around to defend her, and she doubted her grandfather forgot the humiliation that his own grandson had given him.

So Ravel kept her head down, avoiding her usual library haunts and spending the days cooped up in odd nooks and quiet corners. Part of her wanted to resent Naruto for putting her in the position of outcast in her own home, but the rest of her couldn't muster up the outrage to care. Out of all her suitors, Naruto was the only one that tried to give a spark to her life or pull her out of the boring nobility comfort zone.

If only he was a tenth as intrigued by her as she was by him, they might be getting somewhere.

"Little Mistress?" echoed tentatively through the air, and Ravel silently cursed before carefully opening the window of the sitting room she was hiding in. The blonde girl floated out with the smallest tingle of magic she could use and still fly, levitating up two floors to crawl into a grimy dressing room.

From time to time, her grandfather would send servants out to look for her. It was never on the man's priority list, since he apparently forgot after a few hours and she could keep away from meeting him if she just avoided the handful of searchers, but sooner or later she wouldn't be surprised if he cornered her.

Ravel had gotten away from her punishment because of her brother, and then she'd spent several chaotic days during the invasion by Naruto's side or at the Gremory clan estate. No doubt her grandfather felt she owed him a pound of flesh for the shame Riser inflicted and the discipline she'd avoided for being rebellious.

She could take a beating, but Ravel knew that if she did Riser would come back raging and actually kill their grandfather. The Marquis had lost her affection over the years, but that didn't mean she wanted him dead. Plus it would create too many complications.

Coughing at the dusty air, Ravel waved a dainty hand in front of her face to try and shoo the dust motes away. "Would it have been too much to ask to let me move in?" she wondered sourly for the umpteenth time. As Naruto's Bishop Ravel technically had the right to live with him despite being a minor. Peerage trumped guardianship under the law, and while it had been written with the intent of letting the aristocracy override the few rights of commoner parents, it still applied to her.

Better to lurk around the Gremory heir's house alone if she had to rather than continue to live within the luxurious coffin her clan's home had turned into.

Ping.

The sudden jingle beside the blonde's head made her jerk back in surprise.

Unlike humans, devils didn't need phones to call one another. They could do it with an aural spell over the distance, provided they'd cast the reciprocal auditory-visual spell on each other. Another ping impatiently rattled next to her ear, and with a scowl Ravel reached up to tap at the tiny hovering scarlet runic circle that had appeared.

"Hello?" Ravel greeted cautiously. The arrangement of runes had implied the incoming call was from Naruto, but she could never be too careful. She didn't know what sort of strange magic the so-called 'Cihuateteo' had.

"Oi, spitfire. You got a sec?" her fiance's voice crackled slightly, making Ravel roll blue eyes. The spell wasn't overly complex, so she thought he'd take a little bit of time to cast it right and avoid the static on the line.

Carefully poking her head out into the hallway, Ravel made sure that there wasn't anyone lurking about that might overhear them before humming "Fire away, mouthbreather."

"Mouthbreather? I thought I was Egghead?"

"Mouthbreather, Egghead, Dumbnuts, Fool. It's all the same really. You have a face that's easy to insult."

"That's not what my mother says."

"It's a face that only a mother could love." Ravel mocked, running a bored finger through the dirt coating one of the forgotten mirrors propped about the dressing room. "But enough potshots at the mentally disabled. What are you looking for?"

Silence reigned as Naruto hesitated on the other side of the line. Eventually, the redhead decided to take the plunge. "I was wondering how good you are with research. There are some things I need to find, but I'm not the best at cracking the books."

"So you want me to come play librarian for you, is that it?"

"…Yeah, pretty much I guess."

"No." she denied instantly, forming a reckless plan in her mind. It was really quite stupid, and if she went ahead with it Ravel would be putting all her eggs in one basket. But then again, did she really have any bridges left to burn with her grandfather? "You're on your own… unless you do me a favour first."

"What?" Naruto's voice went vaguely amused, no doubt expecting another silly joke out of her.

Unfortunately for him, she was dead serious. "You let me move in with you."

"Don't you ever get tired of the same joke blondie?"

"It isn't a joke." Ravel cut in, stunning her King into silence. "I'm going stir crazy around here with nothing to do, and I really doubt whatever you're trying to get into is daddy approved if you catch my drift. I want in, and it's inconvenient as hell to have to cross back and forth between here and there every day."

Maybe it was running away, but Ravel needed to do something. Moving out would probably alienate her grandfather beyond reconciliation, but maybe she shouldn't be letting the old man rule her life anyway. Her brothers sure didn't, and with both of them gone there wasn't really anything left in the family home for her anyway.