Just playing safe.

<p>"Are you sure this is the right place; this place looks like a crack den?" Rei spoke unamused,<br/>The clubhouse is a three-story building, with the third story serving as a clock tower. It has been painted white with a black roof, with vines creeping up to the second story. It looked kind of fancy, except for the fact that it seemed like it could fall at any moment.<br/>"Our buchou designed the clubhouse to be in such a way because it is an O.R.C. clubhouse, so sticking with the theme. I assure you the insides are a lot better," Kiba said politely, not offended by Rei's rude comment.<br/>"If you say so," Rei said, as he sensed a powerful bounded field encircling the building; it was an advanced one; even a trained magus would have difficulty noticing it, and it appears to have some useful effects as well, as Rei was able to detect a small amount of mana seeping inside, attempting to alter his subconscious mind and telling him to leave.<br/>Though it only lasted a second as it appeared the owner recalled those effects, it is most likely a mechanism designed to keep ordinary humans from approaching the club; now that's impressive in Rei's opinion.<br/>As he entered the building, he was now in a room with a red-haired beauty and another just as beautiful girl with a ponytail.<br/>The girl with the ponytail offered him a cup of tea. He rejected it.<br/>"I'm not a tea guy," Rei said casually, waving his hand dismissively.<br/>"Ara, coffee, perhaps?" She asked, curiously,<br/>"Nah! I'm good."<br/>The black-haired chick looked at him steadily with a strange glint in her eyes, which mildly made him uneasy, but he remained silent nonetheless.<br/>"My name is Rias Gremory, and these are my clubmates," the red-haired woman said, beginning to present her servants.<br/>"Ah. So you're among the "Great Onee-sama." You are not quite the girl I anticipated, though." Rei said, true to fact, from what rumours had, this girl was completely different.<br/>"Hoh? What did you think of me then?" Rias asked curiously with a light smile on her face,<br/>"The ara-ara type, I guess," Rei spoke from his mind.<br/>"Fufu Rei-kun is quite funny; from where did you learn such things, I wonder?" Akeno said so sorrowfully that even the rest of the club members laughed lightly since his jab was clearly intended for Akeno.<br/>"I hear things that tend to float around. But it doesn't bother me." Rei nodded to Akeno, who smiled back.<br/>"Back to the topic, regarding why I called you. I'm pretty sure you're aware of supernatural Rei-san, and please don't bother hiding it," Rias said, tapping her fingers on the table seriously.<br/>"Yes, I am aware of the supernatural as such, but only recently," Rei replied, his face expressionless.<br/>"I see. Then let's keep it short, considering you have already dealt with a fallen angel. We are all devils here, and I would like to introduce you to my servants properly. This is Himejima Akeno," she said, pointing at the girl with the ponytail, who smiled in return. "This is Kiba Yuuto," she said, to which the blond guy waved a hand towards Rei in a friendly manner. "The boy over there is Issei Hyoudou." The brown waved at him with a small smirk. "And that girl is Toujou Koneko." Rias finished. "Now, Rei-san, I assume you know why you are here?"<br/>"I could think of a few reasons," Rei said in a slightly mocking voice. The devils seemed unfazed by his rudeness. Whether they didn't notice it or ignored it, he didn't know.<br/>Rei already analysed their bodies completely; each was a unique specimen except the blonde-haired boy and Issei, who distinctly felt human, but that feeling was mild since it was overpowered by a demonic aura.<br/>But all of them shared one thing in common except the redhead, as he could see a chess piece attached to each of their souls, and each one was different: the black-haired girl had the queen piece, the loli had a rook piece, and the blonde boy had a knight piece. However, Issei was different; he contained eight pawn pieces, and Rei also felt a lingering presence of a dragon in his left hand.<br/>'Is that a noble phantasm?' Rei reflected as he appeared to notice a red gauntlet hidden deep within him, and the power it released was on par with high-level noble phantasm.<br/>He continued to analyse their physique in greater detail, and Rias gave him a crash course in the supernatural. This world was quite interesting with the three great factions, which sum up in the biblical faction, and then the great pantheons, or "legion of gods," of various mythologies.<br/>Basically, this world is jam-packed with supernaturals.<br/>"...However, three factions of Angels, Devils and Fallen Angels declared war on each other under the leadership of the Biblical God, the Four Great Satans, and the Fallen Angel organisation, Grigori, led by Azazel, in a battle known as the Great War."<br/>"After the deaths of many of the participants, the Great War finally ended, but it left the Three Factions in a state of conflict. However, due to a state of extreme exhaustion after the Great War and with all three factions losing their main forces, none of the three sides wanted to continue battling. So while there was no peace between the factions, outright battles did not occur either."<br/>"This was a real problem for devils, for you see, devils are an aristocratic race, and because of that, keeping the purity of each bloodline is important. But pure blood devils are also rare these days, so a devil created a system to increase our numbers without ruining the bloodlines: the evil piece system, which allows a high-class or higher devil to recruit servants through these demonic chess pieces," Rias explained while showing a reddish crystal bishop piece that she pulled from her drawer.<br/>"Can I see that?" Rei asked as he looked at the piece intently.<br/>"Sure," Rias replied, handing the bishop piece to Rei and quickly analysing it; as he did so, several blueprints of its creation appeared in his mind, which he saved in his circuits.<br/>Perhaps he has finally found some new idea's to improve his project on the magic core.<br/>Coming here was definitely not a bad idea.<br/>Rei returned the bishop's piece to Rias after thoroughly inspecting it; having read about its creation and details, he understood what it was supposed to do and why Rias had summoned him here.<br/>She wants him to be her servant, which would make him a reincarnated devil under Gremory's heritage. To be fair, it wasn't a bad offer at all; the pros of becoming a devil far surpassed the cons; in fact, any magus with a sane mind would have salivated at this opportunity.<br/>After all, who could resist the feeling of becoming a part phantasmal beast with an insane life span and magical power far exceeding their previous self for the mere cost of willing themselves as a servant? Though it may sound insanely stupid, it isn't even a price for a magus.<br/>Rei was a bit disappointed considering he would have accepted this offer without even thinking twice if it was the previous him, and it strangely disgusted him; it was a complex emotion, and to be fair, it may even sound hypocritical considering the opinion of the Magi he had. But what to do?<br/>"So, Rei-san, my intention is to invite you to my "family". I know it may sound abrupt, but there is no rush for you to respond; you can give your decision tomorrow; after all, this is a life-changing decision," Rias said calmly.<br/>Rias is not stupid; she knows Rei will not fall for her petty tricks given how he treated them despite knowing they were devils, so her only option is to be sincere with him; at the very least, she will have a chance to persuade him to join her peerage.<br/>Rei on the side was more and more impressed with this girl; he couldn't help but notice how subtly she shifted her rhetoric in order to convince him. By using words like "family" instead of "peerage", this woman can easily become an excellent salesperson.<br/>'But she seems desperate. Why, though? Meh! I couldn't care any less.'<br/>Rei thought, honestly, he isn't interested in meddling with the three factions considering all the feuds going on, especially considering the seriousness of the matter between the three factions. He is still unaware of all the variables of the opposing faction, so it is not a wise decision to side with anyone without proper analysis.<br/>"Well, Gremory, my answer is no. You mentioned the fragility of the peace between different factions, given that it's your territory and fallen angels roam around like it's their backyard. It is not a good indication of your authority around this place, and the peerage system more or less feels like a pyramid scheme. Well, nice meeting you." Rei spoke his mind honestly and left before Rias could counter; after all, this deal was not worth it.<br/>*****END*****</p>