Chapter 43

"Yes, I can." She answered her friend, "I take it that it isn't that Stray you were hunting?"

"We took care of it a handful of moments ago." Sona answered dismissively, "She was inordinately cowardly, so it took some time to pin her down. I think this matches the odd surges of magic that our caped friend has been making whenever he raids the dens of these ratmen. I think it's time we sat down with him and found out what the hell is going on here."

"Agreed." The Crimson-Haired Ruin Princess said with a sharp nod that went unseen by her friend, "Wait for my Peerage and I to show up and we'll track down this magic source."

"Already done, Rias." Her friend said somewhat smugly, "We're standing outside the old bomb shelter on the eastern edge of Kuō. It's emitting magic like a fountain, but I have Tsubaki containing it. I blasted the door down, but the air coming out is poisonous. Not enough to affect devils, but a human would be dead in a few minutes…a regular human, anyway."

Rias' frown grew deeper. The masked and caped person who was rampaging through their territory after these ratmen was becoming more mysterious the more she found out about him, rather than less. Fighting ability with a sword that grew verifiably within what had to be a relatively short timeframe, magical ability that seemed to be based in earth magic and barriers at least, a nigh-paranoiac desire to keep his identity concealed and now either the willingness to dive into an enemy stronghold filled with poison without care or doing so with the ability to ignore or severely mitigate said poison…she honestly didn't know quite what to make of him.

Chivvying her servants to hurry, Rias teleported them to Sona's location. Standing there was Sona's much larger Peerage. The Student Council Vice-President and Sona's [Queen], Tsubaki, stood in the middle of a magic circle that was keeping the toxic air contained within a bubble around the building. Standing gaping at them next to his new master was Saji Genshirō.

"Saji-kun, don't stare." Sona said, a small hint of amusement in her voice.

"Bu-bu-bu-bu-!" the newly Reincarnated Devil stammered, "Gremory-sempai's a devil too?!"

"You just reincarnated him this morning, didn't you?" Rias shook her head in amusement, "A Stray Devil hunt on his first night as a devil is a bit much, Sona."

"He didn't have to do anything but watch, Rias." Her friend sniffed as she adjusted her glasses with one finger, "With these ratmen around, I didn't feel that it was safe to leave him alone with his family."

"What Sacred Gear does he have?" the redhead asked curiously.

"[Absorption Line], one of the Sacred Gears holding a soul fragment of the former Dragon King Vritra." Sona answered somewhat smugly. While not a Longinus-level Sacred Gear, any dragon-type Sacred Gear was a boon, even the lowly [Twice Critical]. One of the Sacred Gears holding Vritra, a former member of the Five Dragon Kings and the first Evil Dragon, was quite the step up from a [Twice Critical] and the Sitri Heiress was right to be proud of getting her hands on its wielder.

"Congratulations, Sona." Rias said honestly. She was a bit jealous, but Sona had claimed him first as per their agreement, so there was nothing to be done about it. Besides, Sona had almost been forced into an arranged marriage like her own. She had faced the man in question in a game of chess with the engagement on the line and won, but there was no telling if her family would try to pull something like that again, so having a suitably powerful piece in her Peerage was a good trump card to hide. "So what has happened since you arrived here?"

Sona nodded. "Well, the rest of my Peerage is securing the area from possible human investigation. It isn't likely in such a remote part of the town, but an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Tsubaki's containing the air from the bunker inside this dome, and Saji and I have been overseeing things."

'As expected of Sona; every 't' crossed and 'i' dotted in the most efficient manner possible.' The Gremory Heiress nodded to herself.

"Good. So then, my Peerage, me, you and Saji-kun will plumb the depths of this place to discover clues?" Rias deduced. If there was one thing that Sona's Peerage suffered from, it was a lack of power-type fighters. Almost all of them were technique-types, which suited Sona's strategist personality, as she preferred to outthink her opponents rather than overpower them with force. In this situation, having people who could simply punch their way through problems like Koneko could or blast them with powerful thunder magic like Akeno could was to the advantage.

Kiba could even count here, even although he was a technique-type as well. His Sacred Gear, [Sword Birth], could make as many of any kind of sword he could imagine, as well as give them any magical ability or attribute he wanted, except for Holy and Light. Using that, he could create a flame-enchanted sword to melt through the ice of a Yuki Onna or a wood attribute sword to devour the nutrients of an earth golem.

"Yes, although it is a shame that Tsubaki is the only one who can maintain this dome." Sona sighed, "[Mirror Alice] would be very useful down there."

Rias agreed. That Sacred Gear rendered power-types useless, as it used their own overwhelming strength against them. If you didn't know that Tsubaki possessed it, it would send your attack, physical or otherwise, right back at you with its strength doubled. It had four weaknesses though. One, it was unidirectional, meaning that it could only block an attack that came from a single direction at a time. Two, the user had to purposefully activate it. If Tsubaki wasn't aware of an attack and didn't activate her Sacred Gear, it wouldn't be reflected. Three, she could only generate a single mirror at once. Four, it could not be used consecutively. If she used it to block an attack, she would have to wait at least a few minutes for it to recharge before activating it again.

"That's what you get for not getting your [Bishops] soon after your [Queen]." Rias teased her. Saji stood to the side looking clueless.

Sona pouted and turned her nose up at her friend.

Chuckling, Akeno led the way to the door. Sona had obviously exaggerated when she said she had 'blasted' the door out of the way; what she had done instead was to make a large blade of water and carve the doorframe out of the concrete it was set into. It was a chilling demonstration of her imagination, as she had obviously used her power to shape the water blade into something approximating a monomolecular edge. That could cut through almost anything.

Although the bodies of devils were far more resilient that those of a human, making them immune to weak poisons, this did nothing for the cloying smell that wafted out of the gaping hole in the wall. Akeno's nose wrinkled in disgust and she quickly cast a deodorising and smell filtration spell on herself and the entire group, starting with Koneko, who had a catlike sense of smell as a former Nekoshō.

As soon as Koneko set foot in the bunker she froze before shuddering.

"Koneko? What's the matter?" Rias asked worriedly.

"So much life…" the petit [Rook] choked out, "Twisted. Corrupted. Wrong. Many rats. One human being. He kills the rats."

"Are you sensing them via your Yōki sensory abilities?" The Crimson-Haired Ruin Princess breathed, "Or…is it that?"

"Second." The former Nekoshō gulped, "Buchou, please…I can't…!"

"You stay up here and guard Tsubaki." Her [King] ordered briskly. Koneko nodded thankfully and retreated from the bunker at a fast walk.

"Still?" Sona muttered to Rias.

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