Chapter 21: The Other Bishop

A/N:

" " : Dialogue,

' ' : Thought,

"Italicized text" : Telepathy,

[ ] : Spells, Techniques and Sacred Gear Casts,

"Bold text" : Ddraig & Albion.

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Haruki POV

After the experience that was meeting my in-laws, it seems that they hit it off with both my and Issei's parents, seeing how they're all there in the living room gushing over how impressive we all are.

"Hah. He could have tried making some time to come by." Akeno says with a grumble. "Now, now. You can't blame that entirely on him, especially now that Grigori is the most chaotic it has been since Satanael's departure." I say, hoping that she would give Baraqiel some leeway.

"I know, but isn't it the same in the underworld? Yet Sirzechs and Serafall made time to see their sisters. So why can't he make time to see his own daughter?" She says, gritting her teeth in annoyance.

Knowing that she won't let this go, I just sigh and begin stroking her hair with my free arm, while Rias continues to lay on my right arm. In case it wasn't already clear, we are in my room, while the parents are downstairs mingling with each other.

"By the way, Rias." I call my crimson haired girlfriend. "Hm." She mumbles. "How much longer are you going to keep your other Bishop sealed?" I ask her, and she turns to face me, with her gaze seemingly asking how I even know of it.

"I always keep my senses up, so when a place that I know has something present feels empty, or in this case, sealed off, it stands out. That, and I heard your talk with Sirzechs while I was tuning out what was happening in my class." I explain, looking into her eyes.

"Hah. I really don't want to talk about it." She says, hugging my side. "But you do have to attend to it." I say, and she nods with a sigh.

"So, mind telling me about this Bishop of yours? What they're like, or why they were sealed?" She looks up at me, sighs, then begins speaking.

"His name is Gasper, Gasper Vladi. He was a dhampir before I reincarnated him, and he's also a bit of a shut-in. And he's the highest earning of my devils." She says, omitting a few key parts of his description.

"As for why he'd been sealed, it's because of his Sacred Gear. More accurately, it's because he couldn't control it. So Otou-san and Onii-sama said that he should be sealed, under official order." She says, clenching her hands.

"I see. I'm looking forward to meeting him." I say, intending to change Gasper for the better, regardless of his fears. After all, it's only then that I'd have an excuse to rescue Valerie, and use Sephiroth Graal to ressurect Shuri.

Before we continue talking,we hear footsteps approaching the room, and from the heavy air of destruction, we both easily know that it's Sirzechs that's coming up. "He's definitely here to talk to you." I say, and she nods, then gets up and puts on pajamas over her nighties, before she walks out to speak with him.

...

The next day comes by, and classes run by relatively quickly. After classes, we all head to the old school building as we always do, bit this time, we head to a classroom that has yellow tape and magic seals plastered on the doors, and all openable parts of the room have been sealed.

Issei, Asia and Xenovia look at the room with interest, wondering about the other Bishop that they had never seen. Honestly, I don't blame them. If I didn't have prior knowledge of Gasper, even I would have been as curious as they are. I may have even enforced my hold on Rias just so she would tell me.

For him to have a Sacred Gear with power so potent that he had to be sealed up because he couldn't control, off an interest in Sacred Gears alone, would make anyone assume hat he had a Longinus class Sacred Gear.

Kiba and Koneko step forward and pull off the yellow tape, while Rias and Akeno remove the magic seals on the door, then knocked on the door. "Is this person a hikikomori?" Issei asks.

"Something of the sort. That kid is highly antisocial, and prefers to interact with everything through a computer. That's how the kid became the top earner among my precious servants, by taking numerous contracts from their computer." Rias responds as she finishes removing the seals.

"Okay. I'm coming in now." She says, then slams open the door, and the most God awful shriek I've ever heard erupted from within. "Nooooooooo!!!" Thank goodness for the fact that my Dragon Slayer Magic is an improved version, so my senses don't get in the way, otherwise I'd be clutching my ears in pain from that scream.

"Well, it's nice to see that you're at least this energetic, Gasper-chan." Akeno says with her signature ara-ara chuckle, which to this day sends pleasant shivers up my spine.

"W-w-whyyyyyy?" A feminine voice came from inside the room. I didn't really like hearing that, so in my heart, I'd decided that I would make absolutely sure that Gasper gets out of this trap phase.

"The seal's been removed, Gasper. Now you can go out. So come, let's all go out together." Rias says with her hand out, but he just shuffles away from her, saying that he doesn't want to meet people. Calling him a hikikomori is a severe understatement, he's closer to a misanthrope than anything else.

I walk into the room and see what I expected. Extremely dim lighting, a plethora of stuffed dolls, ribbons and frills all around, and a pitch black coffin. And on the floor in front of Rias and Akeno was... him.

A male dhampir with golden blonde hair and the red eyes from his vampiric heritage, that also happened to look like a girl, to the point that it would deceive the senses of most people.

"Ooh! It's a girl... Wait. *Sniff*X3." Issei sniffs for a bit, before he looks at Gasper with a strange expression. "How the hell do you look like that when you're a fucking guy?" Akeno laughs at Issei's confusion.

"He happens to have a bit of a crossdressing hobby." She says, causing Issei to look at him, wondering what could have led to that. If only he knew that Valerie was responsible for this.

Issei just sighs at Gasper in disappointment. While it's a bit unfair to Gasper, I feel him. "I-I-I like girl's clothes because they're super cute." I know he's a boy, but hearing him say that in that manner caused me to shiver uncomfortably.

"Come on, Gasper. It's alright for you to come out now. You don't have to be sealed anymore, you know?" Rias says, trying to coax Gasper out of the room, but he just screams out, saying that he's scared of the outside, and him being outside would be trouble.

I run my eyes in exasperation, and Issei steps forward and grabs him, but as Issei's hand touches Gasper, I feel it. The world seemingly stops, and my body stiffens, while my energy fights against something else.

From the corner of my eye, I see Gasper moving away from Issei, and I flare my energy, breaking the hold of Gasper's Sacred Gear, Forbidden Balor View, on my body.

I walk over to him while everything else is still under the effect of his Sacred Gear, shocking him, as he's probably never met someone that can seemingly ignore his ability. He starts sniffling and crying as I get closer, and the effect releases.

"Huh? What the..." Issei says, wondering how Gasper had moved without him even noticing. "What happened?" Asia asks from behind him.

"That's definitely interesting." I say with a smile. "Huh? What exactly is going on?" Xenovia says, the space in front of her distorting. "It's this kid I'm talking about. So calm down." I tell her, stopping her from bringing out Durandal.

"You see, Gasper possesses a Sacred Gear that stops the time of everything within his field of vision for a short while, and it mainly activates when he's excited. And that's what just happened." Issei, Asia and Xenovia look at Gasper with wide eyes, surprised about the ability that he has.

"While it's definitely a powerful ability, he unfortunately can't properly control it. Which is why he was sealed in this room." Rias says, and the excitement in their eyes dies out almost instantly.

"But on the bright side, we do know someone that can help us figure out how to fasttrack his control over that power." I say, causing everyone to look at me, wondering who I'd be talking about.

"*Sigh.* It's Azazel. Be it here on Earth, in Heaven or in the underworld, he's probably the most knowledgeable about Sacred Gears, even moreso than Michael. If anyone can help us find out how to help him control his power faster, it's him." I say, giving my rationale for suggesting we ask Azazel of all people for help.

"Fine, I guess that'll work for now." Rias accepts, albeit reluctantly. We all turn to face Gasper, and once again, the feeling of time stopping washes over us. This time, he rushes away from us into a cardboard box situated at the end of the king size bed in the room.

I know I offered to help out with the Sacred Gear issue, but Lord knows that it'll take a miracle or a disaster to work out his misanthropy.

...

Rias and I had left Gasper to Issei, Xenovia, Asia and Koneko, with Akeno and Kiva following us, and headed to the meeting place for the top brass of the 3 Abrahamic factions, and wouldn't you know it, that damn crow isn't here.

However, it seems that Shemhazai and Penemue are here already. How can the subordinates have such a great contrast to their boss? It's mind boggling.

We met up with Sirzechs who was greatly interested in Kiba's Balance Breaker. And on Heaven's side, we met Michael, who also had an interest in Kiba's Balance Breaker, but he expressed some curiosity towards Issei. I guess he'll be getting Ascalon soon.

Before we left to head back to the school, we met with one final person, the Lightning of God himself, Baraqiel. It turns out that he was a little worried about Akeno and I, since we had both stayed away from Grigori for quite a while now.

Among the many changes in this universe that I'm thankful for, the relationship between Baraqiel and Akeno is one of them. For one, it means that a leader of Grigori, byond just Azazel, has no qualms with making peace with the other factions, whch means more peace for me.

It also means that I won't have to deal with the excessive drama that would have ensued if Baraqiel didn't fight to save Akeno.

Sirzechs asked Rias to let him borrow Kiva for a little while, and Akeno told me that she wanted to stay back with Baraqiel for some family time. And so I went back with only Rias.

After bidding them all farewell, we headed back to the school, and wouldn't you know it, I could faintly sense Azazel's presence here. I guess he came by and gave them advice for training Gasper.

They told us the advice that Azazel had given them concerning Gasper's situation. That of course being Gasper consuming the blood of either of the Dragon Emperors, or going through the time wasting endeavor of training him to control it while being under the drain of Saji's Absorption Line.

Now, what I'm wondering, is if my blood would also help Gasper's case in the same way that Issei or Vali's blood would. Perhaps that could be answered at another time, but as for now, he'll have to manage with Issei's blood.

Moving faster than anyone can react, I move behind Gasper and grab onto his neck. And using flesh molding, I force his mouth open and keep his jaw locked in that position. After which, I muddle his mind so that he doesn't fight back or have a clear memory of what's happening to him now.

"We all know that with how this kid is, the idea of waiting for him to finish training his control over his Sacred Gear isn't particularly ideal. So Issei, you know what to do." I say with a stern gaze on Issei.

Issei looks at me, hesitant to do anything. Then he looks at Rias, who silently nods. Letting out a sigh, he put his left hand above Gasper's mouth, then uses his right hand to quickly slash at his left palm, cutting himself and spilling some blood into Gasper's open mouth.

As the blood falls from his hand, I release Gasper entirely, and back away from him. And as the blood goes down Gasper's throat, a wave of demonic energy is released from his body. And his body scatters into the air in a cacophony of chirps and screeches.

We all look around, and see a mass of bats flying around us. Soon, everyone else's shadows began moving, and black hands shot out of the shadows. But they didn't grab onto anyone, or anything for that matter.

"Well, Gasper. Since it's clear that you don't need all that much training for controlling your Sacred Gear anymore, I believe it's time I started helping you train your body." I say, then target every individual bat, and increase the gravity on them by two times.

Gasper, who wasn't expecting the increase dropped to the floor, with every single bat writhing on the ground, trying to move. He soon runs out of demonic energy, and reverts to his normal humanoid form. I kept the gravity up, and soon he lost consciousness.

As I walk over to him, Rias looks at him with worry. "Even if he's a Bishop, we all know that we can't allow him to be physically weak. So while it'll seem unfair and cruel to him, it's necessary." I say as I turn him over and begin inscribing the spell that I had inscribed on Issei over 5 months ago.

"*Sigh.* I know that. But, I also know how he is, so I just wanted to ask you to be more lenient with him. Can you do that for me? Please?" She asks as she comes closer and strokes Gasper's head.

I nod in agreement. In as much as I do not like Gasper's current behavior and mental state, I also don't want to end up breaking him because of my own views.

But the supernatural world does not give pity to the weak, and in one way or the other, it will do something to hurt you. For Gasper, that was his past in Romania with Valerie and the other vampires.

I already have the foreboding feeling of the Khaos Brigade coming forward with Ophis' backing, and Vali being a part of them. I mean, when I last saw him, he had someone else's senjutsu chakra residue left on him.

As far as hurt goes, I believe I've already gotten that from that bit of betrayal, and I'm not going to stand back and let any more hurt befall me or those connected to me. No matter what I have to do.

Chapter End.

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Word Count: 2,572