Meeting

Ignoring the awkward atmosphere, Irina spoke first, "Ehem... Three of the Excalibur Swords maintained by the Church were recently stolen."

"Wait... You mean the Excalibur from the legends were multiple swords?" Issei voiced out his confusion after hearing her words.

"Yes... Issei-kun. The true Excalibur Sword was broken in a war long ago."

"How could such a famous blade be broken?"

"It ended up thus." Xenovia replied while unwrapping her sword, "The fragments of the broken Excalibur was gathered and reforged into new seven blades." She then raised the great sword with golden outlines for everyone to see, "This is one of them... Excalibur Destruction."

Everyone can feel Yuuto's mood turning for the worse when she revealed the sword but this isn't the time to react to that now.

"The Catholic Church is responsible for this one." Xenovia set the sword beside her as she explained.

Irina didn't want to be outdone and untied the white string on her left arm and it slowly transformed into a Japanese sword, a katana, "And here's mine, Excalibur Mimic... in a form of a Japanese Katana~." She then started to play around with its transformation abilities, "It's really convenient because I can change its form however I want~."

"...So what exactly do you want from us?" Rias got to the main point, "And in the meantime, would you mind sheathing those?" She and everyone in the room can feel Yuuto's tense increasing by the second so they complied easily.

Their meeting continued until they ask the Devils not to interfere with their activities regarding taking back the stolen Swords. They also told them that the one behind the robbery is one of the bigwigs of Grigory, the Fallen Angels organization, Kokabiel.

"So you two hope to retrieve the swords from Kokabiel on your own? That seems reckless... A good way to get yourselves killed."

Irina closed her eyes, "Indeed we do. The Church has determined that the Excalibur swords are better off destroyed rather than utilized by the Fallen Angels. The goal is to render them unusable by the Fallen at any cost."

"To that end, we volunteered to take this mission. The only thing that can go against the Excalibur is another Excalibur" Xenovia followed up, but even she knew that this isn't exactly the case. They had to hide their cards for now.

"Your faith is blind as ever. Will the two of you really be enough to pull this off?" Rias has some idea how strong someone from the top brass of each faction is, but she doubts that they'll be totally clueless of what they are fighting, "You're confident, I'll give you that. Do you have some sort of secret weapon."

"Well... Let's just leave it to your imagination. And besides, we don't need to actually face Kokabiel himself. Retrieving the swords and retreating is our plan." Xenovia stood up since they already said what they want, "We're done here. Let's go, Irina."

"Oh, wouldn't you like some tea?" Rias also stood up. Akeno went to the tea set at the side and started brewing some.

"No need..." Xenovia immediately refused.

"Sorry... But no, thank you. Pardon us." Irina also stood up and followed Xenovia's steps, 'That maid is the one making the tea... She might use this chance to silence us...'

As they are about to reach the door, Xenovia suddenly stopped and looked at Asia, "I had my suspicions when we met Issei Hyoudou's house, but... You're the 'Witch' Asia Argento, aren't you?"

Asia's whole body shook and her face took a paler color as she tries not to meet her gaze.

Irina also curiously looked at Asia, "So you're the 'Saint,' huh? I've heard rumors about you. They say that you were excommunicated and that you wound up roaming the world. Never thought you'd become a Devil, though."

"O-oh... Well... I..." Asia took a step back and tried to say something but her voice is shaking and couldn't think of anything.

Irina thought that she's scared that the people of the Church would hunt her down, "Don't worry. We won't tell anyone we found you here. I'm sure that it would shock those who knew you as 'Saint' Asia to find out how you ended up."

"..."

Seeing that she isn't saying anything, Xenovia continued speaking, "But a Devil, really? That's about as far as a Saint could fall. Do you even still believe in our one true God?"

"How could a Devil possibly maintain her belief in the Lord," Irina whispered to Xenovia but as they all have super senses, everyone easily heard it.

"That said, There are those you betrayed the Lord and chosen to live in sin but have not completely forgotten their faith... I feel that you may be such an individual."

"... I could never abandon my faith. It brought me this far after all..."

"Is that so? Then it's only fitting that we end your life." Xenovia unwrapped her greatsword again in front of Asia, "Show your conviction in the name of the Lord. Sinful though you may be, the Lord will reach out and save your soul."

Not letting her took another step, Issei blocks Xenovia's path with full-on rage, "Screw you! When Asia needed help, not a single one of you came to save her, did you!? If you're one of those bastards who can't see the kindness that Asia has, then you're morons too!"

Xenovia stopped moving and were a bit moved with his resolution to protect her. It's a shame though that he's a Devil and all of those positive feelings went aways just as fast, "A Saint has no need of friends. All that matters is untainted compassion and love. If God truly loved her, she could have gone on living."

Issei became more angry at her words, "So if someone you went and called 'Saint' turns out a bit different from what you'd hoped, you just go and abandon her!? How fucked up is that!? None of you could ever hope to understand Asia's pain! Don't you dare to throw God and love in my face! It's disgusting!" This is the first time Issei truly understood Kisuke's words in the past that there is no absolute good or evil in the world. Everything regarding feelings is subjective and someone has to decide which is good or bad. Hearing Xenovia justify her faith by contradicting the 'God loves everyone and everyone has to do the same' which is the foundation of their belief pissed him off greatly. When Asia's 'love' expanded to 'everyone' they branded her as a heretic and had no choice but to become a Devil after being chased and almost killed by the enemies of the organization that threw her away. Truly, a blind faith is a faith that can't see anything else.

Xenovia took a stance and didn't waste any more of her words on him, "Who are you to her anyway?"

"Her family! Her friend! Her ally! And that's why I have to protect her even if I have to fight the whole damn Church!"

Asia, who's behind Issei, was moved to tears. Even though she has already accepted that she became a Devil, she still has some misgivings about it as she grew up in Church. But seeing Issei stood up for her, ease most of those misgivings and started thinking that being a Devil isn't so bad if you have companions that truly see for who you are and support you in your beliefs.

"You dare challenge the Church? This little Devil sure has a big mouth on him."

After being silent for the whole 'meeting', Yuuto spoke up for the first time, "This is perfect. I'll be your opponent."

"And who are you?"

"Your senpai... Though a failed one, by all counts."