"But forget that!"
He clapped once, jolting their attention. "Weren't we talking about the nun? Why did we suddenly start talking about my life?"
His words caused Rias' eyes to widen. "Right!" She shifted in her seat, turning completely to face Kiba and Koneko, "Yuuto, Koneko, what happened with Asia? Why did she suddenly use the summoning contract?"
Issei leaned forward. The nun used the devil's summoning magic? But didn't Akeno say the girl was a nun at heart? That would make using devil summoning circles an extremely difficult step. In fact, even the thought of it would instinctively push her away from it, given the years upon years of indoctrination she would've gone through at the church. For her to even accept Rias' circle must have been a difficult choice.
To use that…Well, did the priest kill her or something? He mused. That thought lingered only a brief moment. The fallen angel's leader- Raynare, he believed the name was- had set her sights on Asia's gear. And given that these girls saw Asia with a priest, it was likely that the priest was more of a guard for her.
Ofc that didn't make much sense. Why would a guard harm the person they were ordered to protect? But after dealing with a fair share of these guys, Issei did not stop to question that. The excommunicated folks were some of the most unhinged folks on the planet.
Regardless, Raynare would not allow anyone to hurt or kill the girl. Doing so would only return her soul to the heaven system. And with the soul, the glued sacred gear as well. No way, she was going to let that happen.
The other question then was if Rias wanted the girl in her peerage and got a distress signal, why didn't she go herself? Why would she send her weakest members to the rescue mission?
Issei's thoughts drifted back to the Stray. Maybe she didn't really have a choice. He wondered. Maybe she and Akeno were busy with the Stray when they got the distress signal. And given they couldn't just leave such a strong monster around, she was forced to send the two weakest members on a rescue mission.
As the thought came to mind, his previous conjecture also resurfaced. The one where he speculated as to how the super-strong stray devil suddenly popped into the girls' area of purview. Maybe the drop was truly a diversion tactic. Maybe they thought they'd let the monster run free and keep the devils busy while the ritual continued. That would ensure that no one interrupts during the gear transfer process.
That idea made some sense in Issei's mind. But the main reason he thought the girl was not dead was that if she were, they wouldn't be having this tea session.
"…She was hurt," Koneko answered Rias. She put down her snack and wiped the corner of her mouth. "When we answered the call, we found her chained against old and broken pillars by her limbs." She continued morbidly.
"We were in the abandoned church's basement. There was no priest that you told us about, but" Kiba grimaced. He rubbed the corner of his head in small circles. "Right in the same room, there were two fallen angels. One of them was lying just beside the altar where the girl was tied, and the other, with a fedora, was looking over the process."
Rias suddenly stopped them with a finger. Her eyes flickered to Akeno, then down at the table set, and back at her. When she spoke, it came off slightly frigid. "I thought you told me everything's fine."
"I never said, everything's fine." Akeno bumped her shoulders. Her eyes briefly flickered to Issei, "I said it'd be better for you to see for yourself."
"I just thought it'd be better to take a small break after the fight. Don't worry, it's nothing irreversible." She added further when she saw Rias' frown deepen.
"Still, why didn't you say-" She paused halfway through, swallowing her words. There was no point in getting into an argument right now. She didn't know why Akeno had them sit and talk like they were on a Sunday evening toil. But that could wait for later. "You said I should see for myself, right?" She asked, getting on her feet, "Where is Asia?"
"We contacted Miss Sona and had her admitted to one of her clan's hospitals." Kiba also stood up. Koneko and Akeno followed, leaving the only one sitting. His finger twitched around the cup.
Haiyaa…that went from zero to a hundred real quick.
It wasn't like he didn't feel for the poor girl…well, actually, he didn't. He didn't know her. And had she been someone normal, he would've sympathized. But she was a churchwoman who'd been thrown out. Regardless of Rias' personal impressions, it was reasonable to assume she was a little off up top. They all were, the excommunicated folks.
Excommunicated was after all just, we're tired of covering for your shit, please fuck off. That coming from the church, which was itself pretty fucked up as is, was a great telling of their nature.
"Well, that seems super serious." He put down the cup. That said, he wouldn't stop them. If the girls were immediately admitted, her condition shouldn't be good. The princess and her band would be fine.
And who knows, she might strike gold and discover a genuine diamond just strolling through a mine. After all, there is always a chance an innocent person ended up on the chopping block. Maybe the gremory instinct was right?
"Would you like to come with us?"
He smiled apologetically, "Umm…some other time." Still, he'd rather not. "I don't think we should be crowding her right now. Also, the clock is about to hit 4," He made a difficult face as he proceeded to point at the clock, "promised Mum I'd return in 10 minutes. It's been 3 hours."
Rias bought that excuse, "Then I'll see you at school tomor- later today."
* * *
The time was a quarter past 1. Tonight, the moon and artificial lights weren't the only sources of illumination. There was another flickering source coming from the warehouse. For those who can see past the mundane veil at least.
A plus-sized man stood on one of its roofs, hidden under the shade of the extended eaves. He had his arms crossed and was watching the altercation happening between his mad puppet and the wielder of the boosted gear. The fucking RED DRAGON EMPEROR!! And it was the brat he'd just messed with this morning.
He felt his temple throb incessantly. "Fucking hell. What was that thing doing here?!?!"
If Issei had happened to see him right now, he would have surely hit his fist on his palm and hit the 'I knew it' pose. Then, he'd have gone on to call him neckless and laugh for 10 minutes straight for getting to pay back even slightly after all the slander he'd brought to him at school this morning.
Fortunately, he was busy dealing with the puppet he'd been assigned. Unfortunate that it was a vital resource that he had been assigned to help him with the task.
He saw a massive wall of flame spears appear behind the longinus-class wielder. Then, he saw them fire at the puppet. He felt fear settle in his heart as he watched the aftermath. Hundreds upon hundreds of those incandescent lances rained on his puppet. And despite his hate for that mad mutt for escaping his containment, he felt a faint sympathy for it in that brief moment.
Then, he was elated when he saw the puppet outfox Issei. He felt a sense of relief when he realized that the mistake could actually work out perfectly. At that moment, he didn't even care that his initial plan was not to use it as such. If it could take out Issei right there, then it could even go ahead and die, and he would be fine with it.
Then, he was annoyed. Not surprised, just annoyed when he saw the blessed bastard set off a nuke. His vision turned white. The barrier containing them shuddered in places and barely managed to hold back, but in others, it cracked like a glass shell.
Those maintaining it weren't doing any better. The gremory girl was barely hanging on, biting on her cheeks to pour out the last of her demonic energy reserves to contain that explosion.
The other one, the servant, was faring better than her master, certainly, but just by a hair's margin. Her mouth hung open as she saw the power of a longinus up close.
One last thing that his eyes caught was the strange glint flying past the servant girls' eyes. It stuck momentarily, but he wiped it away and didn't pay it much mind.
Ignorant fool, He sneered. While the nuke lasted, he only prayed that the barrier would be shattered. At least, that way, the collateral would engulf the two devils and the whole block.
That happening could derail everything, but he still prayed for it regardless. That's what the despicable thieves deserved after stealing Balor's eyes from them.
Without waiting for the aftermath, he jumped off the roof into the dark alley. The puppet was certainly dead after that. If he stayed there, he'd only be tempted to finish the task by his own hands. Something that he couldn't do, no matter how much he wanted, in the state he was in.
"Come out. I know you've been watching…"
A harsh chuckle came from the dark. It bounced off the narrow alley walls, and he felt the hairs on his neck stand on end. 'Calm down, take a breath! He's not going to harm you. He's not-'
Slowly, out of it came a man written about in the book of Enoch. He was a tall man, wearing a plain long overcoat, with hair matching the darkness around him, pointy ears, and malicious bloodshot eyes that spoke of epochs of madness.
His jaws clenched. Looking at those eyes, he gulped.
'-not…not…' Suddenly, he wasn't sure anymore.
"..Kokabiel."
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Well, MC is quite the prejudiced fool, isn't he?