Suicide Bombing (by proxy)

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original characters and works, if you recognise it from somewhere else, surprise it isn't mine.

Betad by morde24, Atrius, Hermes, Priapus, Marethyu, Old man of the mountain and TheDonFluffles

The Gamers Guide to Necromancy, Remastered

Chapter 04: Suicide Bombing (by proxy)

— Sona Sitri —

"You got carried away, didn't you?" Sona asked bluntly, seeing the blush on Rias's face.

"Maybe a little, but you yourself said I don't have time to waste so-" Rias argued, making her roll her eyes.

"You didn't sleep with him already did you? There's a difference between seducing someone and throwing yourself at them," Sona deadpanned, making Rias shake her head.

"No, I didn't go that far, besides I needed to go at least as far as I did to lure in Grayfia," Rias pointed out.

Rias fully planned to lose her virginity before her rating game, in case she lost, so Riser couldn't take any of her firsts, so she had a plan. She was going to frequently trigger the invasive spell Grayfia had put on her until the maid simply stopped answering the call.

"Yes, but not during the first time, I know you don't have a lot of time. The plan was for the first step to involve some groping and maybe a handjob, how far did you end up going?" Sona asked, amused despite herself.

It was very 'Rias' to immediately get carried away and go too far, Rias has always been a lot more passionate than she was.

"Erm, just a boobjob, and he might have fucked my thighs while we showered together," Rias admitted with a deep blush.

"…did you at least enjoy yourself?" Sona asked, making Rias' blush deepen.

"That's kinda why I got carried away, that plus I wanted to get back at Grayfia," Rias admitted, making Sona chuckle.

"Well, things seem to be going somewhat to plan regardless, despite your inability to control yourself," Sona pointed out with a slight smirk

Sloth was definitely Rias's primary sin, but lust and pride were up there as well.

She still wasn't as convinced as Rias was about how useful Kuro would actually be, Rias had always been a dreamer and an optimist after all, Riser was a powerful fighter despite his personality.

She'd briefly considered recruiting Kuro herself, especially with Saji's death and the sudden growth in his magical power, but decided against it for both Rias's sake and because she knew Kuro would drive her insane as she tried to rein in his chaotic actions.

That said, if the Riser situation came to a close without Kuro joining Rias's peerage, then all bets were off. She could think of plenty of uses for a mage like Kuro and she was sure she could teach the rebellious boy some… discipline. He might even enjoy it.

"Yeah, yeah… I know, but I'm still running out of time," Rias said, frowning slightly. "Any luck with the Fallen?"

"No, nothing yet. Azazel is known for being lax when it comes to his job, so it's not surprising but hopefully we will get some sort of a reply soon enough," Sona said as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. "We just have to hope nothing happens before then.

— Kuro —

So, I'm going to attack Raynare and her minions.

I'm not a patient man, I'm not going to wait for Raynare to try and kill me when I could take the fight to her.

Mittelt has proven a nice source of information, even if she doesn't really know what they're doing in Kuoh since Raynare gets the orders and she doesn't share them.

Raynare has just over a dozen exiled exorcists, including Freed, and one other Fallen, Kalawarner.

That's not a fight I can win by playing fair, especially since their light weapons are really bad for my undead.

But who the fuck said I had to fight fairly?

I've made a sedative to ensure the two morons in my prison don't cause any trouble while dealing with their friends. I can even proudly say that it probably won't have any side effects.

Rias brought me the bodies, but luckily it seems she's as busy as I am because aside from some light flirting she left quickly so I could take the corpses into the dungeon and get to work.

— Sirzechs —

"…you're sure this is Kuro's house?" he asked, making Grayfia nod with a frown.

"Rias came here to deliver something to him, and he was here less than an hour ago," Grayfia said, scowling. "I'd say he's avoiding us, but he shouldn't know you're coming."

"Hm, maybe I should make an appointment next time, this is getting rather embarrassing," Sirzechs admitted, sitting in Kuro's living room as he scratched his chin.

He really did need to speak with the young mage, especially now that Rias had started her latest scheme.

To be perfectly honest, he was mildly amused at Rias' actions, not that he'd admit it to his wife who was decidedly less amused by Rias' little show, but Rias hadn't realised the consequences of her actions.

Grayfia had reported her actions to her father, and Zeoticus disliked the idea of his daughter fooling around with a human instead of a proper devil.

If Kuro was in her Peerage, their father wouldn't particularly care about her actions, but he found the idea of a devil heiress giving her body to a human mage distasteful.

His solution? Simply speed up the wedding, so that she'd be married to a proper pureblood devil and stop her silly games.

Zeoticus saw Rias' actions as simple teenage rebellion and was certain that when she married Riser she'd realise that she was being overdramatic and immature, that Riser and Rias would be a good match for each other and they'd see that in time and that in a few years time she'd look back at her actions and see that she was wrong.

Zeoticus was greatly underestimating how much Rias hated Riser, for reasons that were admittedly not particularly fair since Riser wasn't doing anything that just about every other male devil with a peerage wasn't doing.

That said, while Riser wasn't the being of pure evil that Rias saw him as, Riser was also an immature, spoiled brat who didn't deserve Rias (who he knew was also an immature spoiled brat at times, but Rias was his beloved sister and would always get special treatment from him).

Zeoticus was too stubborn and prideful to see that he was wrong, and while his father hid it well, he was bitter that his son was so much more powerful and would never take his advice.

His father wouldn't mind that Sirzechs was so much stronger than him if it wasn't for one single fact. Sirzechs stepped down from being his heir to become a Satan, which Zeoticus did not like.

Having the most powerful devil as a son and not being able to take advantage of it to enrich his house annoyed Zeoticus greatly, which was why he was pushing for Rias and Riser to marry, hoping the union would produce a devil on par with Sirzechs, it was also why he put so much pressure on Millicas.

It was funny, if Sirzechs wasn't a Satan, he'd be in a much better position to stop this engagement instead of being stuck playing these games.

But alas, he'd be lying if he said he didn't enjoy these games, now if only he could get Kuro to stop hiding and join the fun.

— Kuro —

My two prisoners don't think Raynare will wait long before she attacks me, probably with her entire group now that Mittelt and Dohnaseek have failed and disappeared.

The next time I'm in public, Raynare will hunt me down and while it obviously hurts her pride to admit, Mittelt says Raynare is stronger than her and Dohnaseek.

It's why she's in charge, plus Freed is good at killing if nothing else, I won't be able to catch them by surprise this time.

I won because they underestimated me and because they fell for my little deception. It was worth taking the time and effort to stuff a hyena into a cupboard.

Plus it was pretty funny.

So, I need more power before I can take them on but I don't exactly have the time to gather it. I could go to Rias and Sona for protection, but that would come at a cost and fuck that.

I have two of my new skeletons stick with the prisoners, armed with bottles of my sedative in aerosol form just in case they wake up sooner than expected.

Since skeletons don't have lungs, they can be in the cloud of sedative gas, which makes them ideal for keeping watch since there's no risk of friendly fire.

I'm pushing very, very close to my limit with my new skeletons, I need to either improve my class or intelligence very soon.

With the two Fallen sedated and out of the way, I fight off another wave with my pack, but again the waves are growing as my horde does, which isn't ideal since my undead aren't the best fighters.

My skeletons aren't the best fighters because I just don't have any weapons for them other than regular tools. I'll need to make a forge in my dungeon soon, and get someone to work it.

Of course I'll also need a mine to supply the forge, which all costs money I don't exactly have at the moment. The early days are always the hardest, but once I've got things set up I'll be in a much better position.

Which doesn't particularly help me at the moment as I watch my hyenas swarm the last attacker, a massive angry bear.

Thankfully, the bear didn't stick with the rest of the attackers (a large wolf pack with a couple of much larger 'direwolves') and got lost in the twisting maze I had Isskeleton dig out, so I could deal with them separately.

Soon enough, the waves will be more than I can handle if I'm not careful. Maybe I should look into some traps and other advanced defence systems.

Grabbing the loot, two spellbooks and a bunch of alchemical ingredients based on the creatures we killed, I pause as I look at one of the spellbooks.

'Occultist: Demon Summoning'

This isn't a Necromancer spell, which means I can't use it yet, and I don't know how to get the Occultist class so it's just a fancy paperweight for now.

Thankfully I can use the other spellbook, and as the new spell floods my mind, a smile grows on my lips.

[Astral Projection]

This ritual frees the soul from the caster's body, allowing them to wander the world as an incorporeal spirit, invisible to most beings and immune to most forms of damage until the caster chooses to cancel the spell.

While incorporeal the caster can attempt to temporarily possess a body, which leads to a battle to wills between the host and the caster, which is decided by Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma.

I can most certainly use this.

Forming a plan, I push all the essence I gathered into my intelligence, increasing it to an A- while I have my skeletons create a ritual room.

The first step? Finish my alchemy class quest.

— Later —

It was a waste to drink five weak healing potions, but needs must. Five potions for a completed quest is a fair enough trade to me.

[Alchemical Mastery: Apprentice]

You have the knowledge of how to brew potions and oils from magical ingredients, how to identify the alchemical uses of ingredients and how to design your own potions. You have also learned how to craft alchemical bombs.

Perk Added

[Alchemist, Heal Thyself]

Your body has adapted to make the most of your creations, causing beneficial effects to become more powerful and granting you a resistance to the negative effects of your creations.

Bombs, you say?

Somehow, I have a strange feeling Sona isn't going to be thrilled with me in the imminent future.

As interested as I am with Alchemy, I do need to go back to Necromancer for my next quest.

Necromancer Class Quest

Objective: Have a Horde at least 50 strong (16/50)

Objective: Create an original Necromancy spell (0/1)

…I can create my own spells? Fucking how?

There's a dungeon room for spell research that you should have access to since you meet the Int requirement.

Huh, I'll have to check that out when I don't have people plotting my demise.

For now, I have some alchemy to do.

Raynare thinks she can try and have me killed? I don't fucking think so.

— Later —

One of the mushrooms I grow can be used to make a necrotic-based bomb, once thrown it'll unleash a deadly gas that causes decay to those trapped within.

Breathe it in and your lungs will shrivel up and die, or a regular human's lungs would at least.

The riskiest step of my plan was getting a little close to the church to drop off my package before I left the area and found a safe place to head back into my dungeon.

The astral projection ritual is fairly simple, and before long I'm flying through the sky above the forest towards the church.

I need to be careful because while a regular human can't see me in my spectral form and I'm immune to physical damage, light magic could really fuck me up in this state.

It's annoying that my first major enemies use the absolute worst type of magic for me to go up against, but fortunately I don't think the exorcists have any real experience with possession since that's not something devils do.

Finding Freed isn't particularly difficult, I just follow the swearing until I spot the white haired man pouting of all things, ranting about being cooped up and not being allowed to attack yet, filthy devils, and the humans who dared make contracts with them.

It's a risk, going for Freed who is one of the biggest threats in this group, but it's a risk I'm willing to take as I peek through the ceiling at him.

People don't seem to look up, even in a world with plenty of winged beings, I make my move the moment he is separated from the others.

Entering Freed's body, I immediately encounter some resistance as he freezes up, feeling me attempting to take his body for myself, a string of confused curses flooding my mind as I try and assert myself.

He puts up more of a fight than I expected to be honest. From his actions in canon I assumed I'd have a major advantage in Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma, but while I manage to suppress his will and make him an unwilling passenger in his own body, it's harder than I'd like to admit.

I might have underestimated him, he'll make a fine undead when I'm done with him.

It doesn't take me long to notice something wrong, because Freed should have his light gun and admittedly cool lightsaber…

He has the light gun, but his lightsaber isn't here.

Instead, he has a strange, twisted blade sheathed at his side and holy shit I'm holding an Excalibur.

This is Excalibur Rapidly, why does Freed already have Rapidly?

That's not right, the Excaliburs shouldn't come to Kuoh until after the Asia thing. He doesn't have the other two yet but the timeline is all wrong.

The exorcists come to Kuoh because the Excaliburs were stolen, but that's not for at least a couple of months, right?

Okay, I shouldn't be able to even wield an Excalibur, but I suppose I'm borrowing my current host's ability to wield it.

Did he always have it this early? No, he'd have used it during the whole Asia thing. Which would have set off Kiba earlier, imagine if he knew an Excalibur was just chilling in the same town as him.

Huh, I wonder if Freed would keep his ability to wield holy swords as an undead?

Whatever, I can think about this later, for now I have killing to do.

I want to capture the Fallen for bargaining chips, but the exorcists? A dozen exorcists means a dozen bodies for me to play with.

Taking a quick detour to grab my bag of goodies, I head back inside with a small grin. The church isn't that big, but it has a small underground area that's been converted into a makeshift barracks for the exorcists.

It's obviously been expanded quite a bit, though I have no idea how recently, with several separate rooms and even a lounge of sorts.

I guess they needed something to do while they sat around waiting for whatever scheme had brought them all here to start.

Apparently they definitely have ways to kill time as I hear the unmistakable sounds of sex coming from one of the room, peeking in as I walk past.

Briefly watching as two exorcists fuck, judging from the scattered exorcist outfits, I suppose it makes sense. They left the Church to join the Grigori, so formerly repressed men and women suddenly finding themselves without limits would inevitably find themselves indulging in hedonism.

But these two have put themselves in a separate room, away from the others.

Entering the room, I close the door behind me which gets their attention, and despite them having no way of knowing that Freed isn't in control anymore, the female exorcist seems… afraid as she spots 'him' standing there.

The male climbs off his fuckbuddy with a frown as he goes to speak, but it's too late as I draw Rapidly and lunge forwards.

Excalibur isn't just a fancy blade, and even though I have no real idea of how to use Rapidly, it turns out it isn't the most complicated weapon as the world seems to slow down around me.

The man's eyes widen, but before he can even finish opening his mouth to speak, I've already closed the distance and swung my blade.

I'm no swordsman, beyond 'stick them with the pointy end', but when you have a legendary blade that increases your speed and perception a dozenfold, it doesn't particularly matter and even if they were armed it wouldn't have made much of a difference as Rapidly cleaves through his neck as easily as it cuts through the air.

Even as his head starts to fall, I move around him and stab down at the female, still laying on the bed as her own eyes widen in horror, but not in surprise, oddly enough, as I stab her through the heart, covering her mouth with my free hand.

My perception returns to normal as I hear the man's head hit the ground with a thud, even as I muffle the woman's attempt to scream for help.

With a blade so large stuck inside her chest, it doesn't take her long to die and despite feeling no arousal myself, I feel Freed grow hard beneath his robes.

Really, dude? This guy has some serious issues.

Mittelt said they had just over a dozen exiled

exorcists, which included Freed. With Freed being my puppet and these two being corpses, it should be ten or less at this point.

The fact is, I don't particularly need to win this fight. Every corpse is one less for my horde to deal with, if I can win this fight just using Freed, then that's brilliant but realistically I'm probably going to turn Freed into a suicide bomber.

God is Great and all that.

Heading back into the basement, I close the door behind me to keep my little mischief hidden for now.

Walking towards the barracks, where I saw around five exorcists, I pause as a voice shouts out.

"Freed!" Raynare shouts, looking decidedly angry. "Have Dohnaseek and Mittelt come back yet?"

"Aw, have you lost track of your pets?" I ask, making her glare at me.

"Watch your tongue, Sellzen, you aren't the only Holy Sword wielder in the Grigori, you aren't irreplaceable," Raynare warns, making me grin with a tinge of madness.

"But I'm the only holy sword wielder you have access to, this shiny stick isn't any good for you without me," I counter as I tap the sword sheathed at my side, feeling Freed approve of my words as Raynare scowls deeply, not disagreeing.

"It's your lucky day, you've been complaining about being cooped up in the church, so I've decided to let you out for a walk," Raynare says scornfully. "Go and find the two, if they're dead then find the mage Mittelt was supposed to kill and finish the job. Oh, and do not take Rapidly with you, the Church is still trying to hide that we stole it."

Not waiting for me to reply, she turns and storms away, making me narrow my eyes.

I could attack her now, with Rapidly I should be able to catch her by surprise, but I don't change my plans as I watch which room she goes into.

Turning and heading back into the barracks, a couple of the Exorcists look at me but it's already late and half of them are already asleep.

Again, the ones who look at me seem afraid to see me, which tells me that while Freed might be one of them, it doesn't mean they get along.

There are six people in this room, three of them are laid on the bunks, unresponsive to my presence, two of them are standing and one is sitting on a bed reading a Bible of all things.

I suppose just because they've left the church doesn't mean they've abandoned their faith.

Drawing Rapidly again, I rush forwards as I once again swing for the neck of the closest man, I won't be able to kill them all this time but I can thin the herd as I once again remove a head.

Turning to the second standing exorcist, my eyes widen as I see him already aiming one of their guns at me. I don't know if he was already armed or he just doesn't trust Freed but by the time I've turned to him he's already pulled the trigger.

The 'rounds' might be made of light magic, but they don't move at the speed of light thankfully as I sidestep the admittedly fast moving bullet and close the distance.

He actually manages to draw his light sword but with a swing I simply remove the arm that is holding it.

In the hands of a skilled swordsman, Rapidly would be devastating. I am not a skilled swordsman, and while another swing removes the man's head, a light bullet strikes me in the shoulder making me hiss in pain as I spin around.

The sitting man has already stood up and grabbed his weapon, and the three sleeping exorcists are also waking up and realising that something is wrong.

Dodging under the second shot, I charge towards the one who shot me as his eyes widen, but the difference in our skill becomes clear as he manages to raise his light sword in time to block my clumsy swing.

It doesn't help, his mass produced light sword can't match Excalibur Rapidly and the speed I swung it at overpowers him, knocking him back as he struggles to keep hold of his weapon.

The jigs up now, so as I lunge forwards again with a incredibly fast but rather amateurish swing, I reach into the bag, pulling out a glass vial and tossing it towards two of the exorcists as they get out of the bed, watching the glass shatter and unleash a black mist.

One of them breathes in the mist before he can stop himself, while another jumps away, coughing in pain.

Rapidly is carrying me through this fight, as it cleaves through the exorcist in front of me, simply moving too fast for him to recover and react to it.

The one who breathed in the mist falls to the floor, coughing up blood as I charge towards the final two threats.

With one still coughing from the gas, I move towards the other one as he fires at me, one of the shots hitting me in the stomach which was admittedly my fault.

With Rapidly, I thought I'd be able to deflect it which would look really cool if it worked but instead I swung at thin air and got shot.

If this was my body, I'd be really upset about that, but I barely stumble. It hurts like a bitch but that doesn't matter to me as I keep charging towards him with a crazed grin, he raises his blade to block my wild swings but I have a plan this time, and as our blades clash I just shoot him in the stomach.

Another bullet strikes me in the back as the coughing man recovers, but again I don't respond even as I feel the pain of the light-infused rounds piercing Freed's body.

The man I'm clashing with isn't so unresponsive to being shot as he flinches in pain, letting me get the upper hand in our clash.

Pushing him back, I kick him in the stomach and knock him back against his bed, shooting him in the head before he can react.

I'm pretty sure the guy currently face down in a puddle of his own puke and blood isn't getting back up, so I charge at the final opponent as I ignore the pain.

A flash of yellow makes me skid to a halt, barely avoiding the spear as it flies past me, only my enhanced reflexes granted by Rapidly saving me as I back away, turning to the door to see Kalawarner glaring at me, hand extended.

Raynare is by her side, looking around the room with a scowl, and it seems like they gathered the rest of the exorcists as the final survivor rushes towards them.

Two Fallen and four exorcists, I can take them.

"Have you lost whatever passes for your mind, Freed?" Raynare growls, holding a light spear as she glares at me in true hatred.

"It's cute that you still haven't worked out what's happening, you're as stupid as you are weak, Ray-Ray," I reply with something of a slasher grin, making her scowl deepen.

I have a plan, and it's a fun one.

As she goes to speak, I charge forwards with my enhanced strength once again, making her eyes widen, the Exorcists firing at me as Kalawarner makes another spear herself.

Several rounds pierce through me as I leap towards them, one hand holding the bag, tossing it forwards towards them.

Raynare, not taking any chances, stabs me through the chest with her own spear which makes me scream in pain even as I swing my sword, cutting through the bag and more importantly the vials inside it.

A mixture of black and purple mist floods the room as a dozen vials break at once, sedatives and necrotic gas spreading out making them all panic as they feel their skin start to rot.

Freed is dying, as I hear a string of curses aimed at both 'the shithead ghost' and Raynare in the back of my mind, looking down at the spear currently sticking out of my chest.

Raynare tries to back off but I grab her in a bear hug, planting my lips on hers as her eyes widen in confusion and anger, followed by fear as she feels something move from Freed and into her body.

It's actually pretty funny, but despite Raynare allegedly being the leader of their group, she's actually easier to possess than Freed was, and the moment I have control I cover my mouth and rush out of the mist, feeling my own creation try to rot my flesh.

My perk helps, despite this not being my body, and while the Exorcists all fall to Freed's final fuck you, Kalawarner follows my example and pushes through, coughing heavily as she falls to her knees, gasping for air.

Glancing back at Freed's corpse, she goes to speak, before a hammer smashes into her head, sending her to the realm of dreams.

Calling my horde brings them to me, not my body's location, and Isskeleton stands proudly over Kalawarner with his sledgehammer held high.

The rest of my skeletons also appear, gathering the bodies for me as I smile, feeling Raynare's rage and despair at having her body stolen away from her.

Grabbing Rapidly, it feels unnaturally heavy in Raynare's grasp, but it can't stop me from recalling to my dungeon, Isskeleton carrying Kalawarner and Freed as we reappear in the safety of my dungeon.

Kalawarner is quickly stripped and chained up alongside her comrades, and I feel Raynare's fear grow as she realises just who is puppeting her body.

Not that she can stop me as I find one of the sedative potions, downing it and abandoning her body with a grin as she collapses, joining her minions.

All that from the safety of my dungeon.

It takes another trip to gather all the bodies and their cool weapons, but before long I have a dozen corpses and four Fallen in my dungeon, not to mention a fucking Excalibur.

Not bad for a single night's work.

I do lose one of my skeletons as it tries to pick Rapidly up to carry it to my vault, and immediately turns to dust, so lesson learnt there.

Thankfully, while I can't use it, I can at least carry it myself as I place it nice and securely in my vault alongside Issei's soul.

I really need to find a way to better secure my dungeon because I do not want to get robbed.

Texting Rias, I ask her for Sona's number which does get some questions but she sends it along quickly enough after I refuse to tell her why I want to speak to her.

Calling Sona, it barely rings for a few seconds before she answers, despite how late it already is.

— Sona Sitri —

"…can you repeat that?" Sona asked, wondering if her tiredness had caused her to suffer from auditory hallucinations.

Unlike Rias, she was usually in bed early because she liked to be awake before sunrise, so getting a call from Rias saying Kuro was asking for her number was rather annoying.

Surely whatever he wanted could wait until they met up at school tomorrow, right?

"I need Azazel's number, and probably your sister's as well, because I captured a bunch of Fallen after they tried to kill me," Kuro said proudly, making her pause as she rubbed her forehead.

Apparently not.

"You captured the Fallen? Alive?" Sona asked, her mind racing.

"Yup, I killed their exorcists but I took the Fallen prisoner. I figured I should talk to Azazel before I just start executing them," Kuro said lazily.

"Please do not execute anyone, where are you holding them? Is there any risk of them escaping?," Sona asked quickly, her mind racing.

The Fallen fucked up, and they couldn't even blame the Devils for this. Kuro was neutral, they attacked an independent and lost.

Her major problem had cleared itself up, as chaotic as Kuro was, she could definitely appreciate him fixing her problems, whether he meant to or not.

"I've got them in my lair, and no there's no real risk, I've got them all drugged to their gills on alchemical sedatives at the moment," Kuro admitted, making her pause.

Alchemical sedatives? Did Kuro make them himself? What else could he make?

It was getting harder and harder to not try and recruit Kuro for herself. Rias better be careful or she'd have a fight on her hands for this chaotic pain in the ass.

Of course, she'd be happy to get Kuro as a contracted magician, which Kuro would probably be more willing to go with, since it was a far less permanent and more flexible contract, but she wouldn't do that to Rias.

"I wasn't aware you had a lair, but moving on, are you willing to meet with my sister, she'll want to know exactly what happened," Sona asked, already sending a message to Serafall as much as she'd like to not deal with her siscon sister this late at night.

"I am," Kuro replied simply as she grabbed her clothes.

"Please come to the school council room, I don't think we should leave this until tomorrow," Sona said, pulling her clothes on.

So much for turning in early.

"Sure, I'll be there soon," Kuro agreed, making her smile. At least he was willing to play nice when it mattered.

Heading to school herself, she didn't have to wait long before Kuro arrived, her eyes widening as she felt the magic coming off him.

He'd gotten stronger again, quite a bit stronger as well as he slowly walked towards her, yawning slightly as he gave her a lazy wave.

How? How was it he seemed stronger every time she saw him? Was there an upper limit, and could his methods be used by other people?

"Good evening, Kuro," Sona said, not showing her surprise at his unprecedented growth.

"Evening, Sona," Kuro said with a lazy wave. "So, you seem happy… I figured you'd be annoyed at me dealing with the Fallen myself."

"The Fallen were an annoyance, and one that I was unable to deal with for political reasons," Sona admitted, smirking slightly at his grimace at the word 'political'. "Frankly, you solved a large problem for me, so I'm not angry. Hell, I could kiss you."

"Oh, is that an invitation?" Kuro asked with a sly smirk, making her freeze and blush slightly.

Thankfully, or unfortunately depending on how you looked at it, she was saved from replying as a flash of light heralded the coming of her personal bane.

"No! Sona-tan's kisses are mine!" Serafall replied as she appeared before them. "Don't worry, Sona-tan, the Magical Girl Levi-tan is here to take care of the big bad fallen who are bullying you!" Serafall shouted, brandishing her magical girl staff proudly as she posed.

Kuro's eyebrow rose slightly as he looked between her and her idiot sister, making her blush deepen.

"The Fallen have already been taken care of, by Kuro," Sona said with a long-suffering sigh. "You are one of the Satans, an incredibly powerful being who is thousands of years old. Please act like it," Sona said with a frown.

"Mui, Sona-tan is angry at me~" Serafall whined, before straightening up as her pout faded to a more serious frown. "Sona said you captured the Fallen after they tried to kill you?"

"That's mostly right, two of them attacked me and I was told that their leader would try and finish the job so I decided to take the fight to them, capturing their leader and finding this," Kuro explained, pulling out a letter and passing it over. "Orders from one Governor-General Azazel to assassinate me."

Serafall took the letter, reading over it with a serious expression for once.

"I see, Azazel has been ignoring my attempts to discuss his agents' actions in Kuoh, but this puts us at something of an advantage. The Fallen aren't in a good enough position to willingly let four of their kind be killed off," Serafall said, acting her age for once. "I take it you have demands for their return?"

"I do, to be given to Azazel himself. I take it you want to be a part of the negotiations?" Kuro asked, making Serafall nod.

"This isn't the only time Fallen have caused trouble in Devil territory, we want answers from Azazel as well. This also happened in Sona-tan's territory, and I can't let some meanie Fallen cause trouble for my adorable Sona-tan!" Serafall said, dropping the serious act as she posed again.

"She is pretty adorable, isn't she?" Kuro said, making her blush and glare at the two idiots.

"If Azazel is ignoring you, how are you going to arrange a meeting?" Sona asked to change the subject, making Serafall smirk.

"Azazel is being a big meanie, so I'm just going to go and shout at his vice-governor, if Shemhazai can't arrange for a meeting, then as a representative of the devil ruling body, I'll meet your demands and take the captured Fallen off your hands, because I have some questions and I will be getting them answered," Serafall said bluntly.

"I want to know why Azazel wants me dead, I've done nothing to the Grigori," Kuro said lazily. "It'd be annoying if I had to keep fighting off assassins. I'll let you interrogate them yourself if you want, but if Azazel doesn't agree to a meeting then they are mine, to do with as I wish. To the victor goes the spoils after all," Kuro continued, making Serafall pause, narrowing her eyes as she looked at him.

It wasn't often somebody said no to her.

But as quickly as it started, the serious moment passed as Serafall pouted outrageously.

"Mui, Kuro-kun is a meanie as well!" Serafall whined, stamping one of her feet down hard enough to shake the room. "Fine! Keep the naughty fallen nice and safe, I'm going to go shout at Shemmy!"

With that said, she vanished as quickly as she arrived leaving Sona to sigh.

"Is she always like that?" Kuro asked, clearly amused.

"…yup."

"My condolences. Now, about that kiss?" Kuro said, making her sigh deeply.

She should be in her bed right now, sleeping happily and not dealing with this.

"The chance of you getting a kiss lowers every time your mouth opens," Sona deadpanned, making Kuro pause.

"…so you're saying that there's a chance?" Kuro finally said, smirking as she let out a long sigh.

— Bonus Scene — Azazel

Listening to Shemhazai, he leaned back in his chair with a deep frown.

He hadn't ordered Raynare to go to Kuoh, he certainly hadn't ordered her to attempt to kill any mages as he preferred to recruit mages into the Grigori.

Plus, assassinating independent mages was a good way to make enemies with the various Magician Organisations, and while they lacked numbers, they made up for it in power.

The Grigori didn't need that trouble, but Raynare was claiming that he ordered her to Kuoh, that the trouble she'd been making in Kuoh was done on his orders.

Orders he'd never sent, and yet the letter Raynare had received with those orders had his magical seal and signature on it.

To make things worse, this has also exposed the fact that someone was making sure certain letters never reached him, which had worsened relationships between the factions as he seemingly ignored warnings from Serafall.

What other orders had been faked, what other letters never reached him? How badly-infiltrated was his staff?

The worst part was the simple fact that whoever was responsible for this was definitely a high ranking Fallen Angel, one of his top executives.

He had a traitor in his midst, working to restart the Great War and ensure that the Grigori were surrounded by enemies.

And who was it that claimed that the Fallen were the strongest, that had demanded time and time again that they take the fight to their 'enemies'?

Kokabiel, the bastard, had gone too far this time.

He'd have to meet with this Kuro who had accidentally exposed the treason within the Grigori, because as stupid as those four clearly were… he needed every single Fallen, even idiots like Raynare and her minions.