Chapter 15: The church is working with devils?
The back of the old school building provided the best location for the battle; it was a fairly large clear area that was surrounded by the tall, leafy trees which called the school grounds home. When everyone had assembled in the clearing and the combatants had separated themselves from the spectators, Ben turned back to stare at his opponent standing opposite him.
As they were heading outside, it was decided that Gwen would be his opponent for this fight; not that she was his first choice though. He had originally wanted to have Xenovia as his opponent so he could teach her a lesson for speaking to Asia in such a cruel and insulting way. However, Kiba had got there first, declaring firmly that he would fight Xenovia and Ben didn't feel like arguing with the blond-haired Knight when he had such a look of determination on his face.
He wasn't completely disappointed with who he was going to fight though. He knew without any shadow of a doubt that they would have ended up fighting each other at some point, whether it had been in his home last night or sometime in the near future.
This match was simply moving the schedule up a bit.
Ben observed his and Kiba's opponents and held his tongue in his cheek as he inspected their…unusual style of combat dress. They had removed their white robes for the fight to reveal the pair of them dressed up in black, skin-tight, long-sleeved suits with a pair of thigh-high boots to complete the unique look. Ben couldn't help but notice how flattering the look was on Xenovia as he admired how the suit hugged her body in all the right places that helped emphasise her hips, waist and particularly her large breasts. They weren't as large as either Rias or Akeno's but they were still fairly large.
The same could not be said for his cousin, however. In all the years he knew her, she always made herself out to appear as some stuck-up little prude, in his opinion, and her choice of dress was completely out of character for her.
"What's that look for, dick?" Gwen asked as she noted the strange look on her cousin's face.
"Oh nothing really," Ben said, answering Gwen's question with a small smile on his face. "I was just observing the Church's unique choice of battle dress. Seems a bit risqué to me, but that's just my opinion."
"Oh shut up," she retorted with a sneer. "You won't be so cocky when you see my skills with Excalibur Mimic." The smug grin that Ben always hated returned to her lips. "I can't recall the past all that well. How did our little scraps end back in the old days?" she asked with false innocence as she remembered perfectly well how their fights ended up.
Ben narrowed his eyes at his cousin as past memories came flooding back into his head. "A lot's changed in the last few years."
"That's true," Gwen conceded with a small nod of her head before pulling the frilly bracelet off her arm and willing it to transform into the katana from before; and just like before Ben felt the swift return of that wave of unease wash over him as he looked at the blade in her hands.
[Be careful, Ben,] Ddraig warned sternly. [As you were told by the others, Holy swords are incredibly dangerous to devils. If you get cut by it, you can be seriously wounded, if not outright destroyed by it.]
[He's right, young one,] Azmuth added after Ddraig had said his piece. [I doubt none but your toughest forms would be able to survive even a single blow from such a powerful weapon.]
Ben cast his gaze from Gwen's sword over to Xenovia's blade which looked just as deadly as one would expect from such a legendary sword.
Xenovia stared at Kiba as he drew his own sword out of thin air. "You look uneasy, devil. I wouldn't blame you if you were having second thoughts about facing me," she said with a small smirk on her face as she took up a combat stance in anticipation for the imminent fight.
"Not likely," Kiba retorted with a determined glare as he also took up a battle stance facing the azure-haired Holy Sword wielder. "You have no idea how long I've been preparing for this."
"I still can't believe that you're now a devil," Gwen said with a slight shake of her head, drawing Ben's attention back to her. "How low you have fallen, dear cousin of mine…not that it matters though. You may have become a supernatural being but I can still beat you in a fight. I have an Excalibur for crying out loud!"
"I think you may be surprised, dweeb. I have a few tricks up my sleeve that you don't know about," Ben retorted with a glare as he summoned both his Sacred Gears and brought up his arms into a combat stance.
"You seem to be so full of yourself," Gwen countered as she crouched slightly in her own combat stance with her sword pointed towards Ben menacingly. "Guess I'll have to remind you how outmatched you are against me."
Almost as soon as Rias gave the signal for the two fights to begin a few seconds later, Gwen lunged forward, leaping through the air as she got closer and closer towards Ben with her sword raised above her head to strike down at him and the end the fight there and then. Just as the blade was about to come down on his head, Ben reacted instinctively and dove out of the way of her deadly blade as it cut through the air where he had been standing just a few seconds ago.
Ben rose up into a kneeling position from his dive and spun around to face Gwen again. He brought his left arm up and quickly cycled through the library of demon forms as he searched for the perfect form to deal with Gwen and her dangerous blade. He slammed his fist down on the dial just as Gwen spun around and lunged toward him again with her sword primed to cut him in half across the waist. He disappeared in a flash of green light which covered the entire clearing and momentarily distracted Kiba and Xenovia from their own intense fight.
[Transform: Diamondhead!]
The light disappeared to reveal Ben in his diamond skinned Petrosapien form. His left arm had morphed into an incredibly sharp blade and was currently blocking Gwen's sword strike before it could reach his body. He had absolutely no idea what effect being struck by a Holy sword like Excalibur would have on his crystalline body and he wasn't really tempted to test it out right now.
Gwen stared, wide-eyed at the large demon before her which had just taken the place of her cousin. Even Xenovia, standing on the other side of the field, was not expecting that to happen and was only brought out of her stupor when Kiba re-engaged her again with fiery determination, restarting their own sword fight again.
Ben stared at Gwen with a triumphant grin on his chiselled face. Even while kneeling, he was so tall that he slightly towered over her smaller form. "You weren't expecting that, were you?" he chuckled smugly as he slowly brought himself up from his kneeling position and brushed Gwen's sword away with his impenetrable, crystalline arm. "I told you I had some tricks up my sleeve. I'm not the same cousin who you used to fight with all those years ago."
Gwen, seemingly undeterred by Ben's hulking figure, leapt back a few feet to get some space from him and took up another combat stance as she stared at his towering pale-green form. "I have to admit that that's a pretty neat trick," she conceded with a small smile appearing in the corner of her mouth. "But can you handle an experienced swordswoman like me?" she asked before suddenly charging towards him again and began to attack him with a flurry of multiple strikes against his virtually impenetrable crystalline surface.
Due to his large size, Ben didn't have the speed to block every single one of her strikes though he did stop around a third of them with his arms which he had morphed into sharp blades. It wasn't all bad though as, with a combination of the way he protected his body with his arms and the way his body naturally appeared, he was able to prevent her from striking any of his joints where his crystalline body was at its 'weakest' in his arm, neck and leg joints.
"You're so slow, Ben," she taunted as she danced around him, bringing her sword repeatedly down against his body every now and then. Ben growled under his breath and made to punch Gwen but missed as she easily avoided his blow which impacted the ground, bringing up a small explosion of dirt and leaving a small fist-shaped hole in the ground. As his fist hit the floor, a ring of crystal shards the same colour as him suddenly burst out of the ground around him. The sudden attack caught Gwen off guard and it was only due to her quick reactions that she was able to dodge the protruding crystals relatively unharmed.
"You're starting to get really annoying," Ben grumbled as he leapt over the ring of crystals and slowly approached Gwen who rose to her feet once again.
Before they could continue with their little exchange of taunts and insults, they were distracted when they heard a loud explosion followed by a strong blast of air which knocked Gwen from where Kiba and Xenovia were fighting. They turned their gazes over to them to see Xenovia standing in the base of a large crater while Kiba stood on the edge of it. Xenovia's Excalibur was buried into the earth and obviously had been the cause for the sudden change to the landscape.
'This is starting to get a little out of hand!' Ben thought as he examined the large crater Xenovia had just created. He could see the look of pure loathing in Kiba's eyes as he glared at the Holy sword in Xenovia's grasp and knew that Kiba wouldn't hesitate to kill the exorcist in order to destroy it. While he didn't like her attitude nor the way she treated Asia, Ben couldn't just let Kiba lose it and kill her with the near certainty that it would reignite the war between devils and the church. While that was a true fear of his, he seriously doubted that Kiba could do so anyway in his current, emotional state. He had seen enough films and read enough books to know that anger was only so good an emotional state to be in when fighting someone to a certain extent. In most case, it just made the hero or heroine lose focus and leave themselves prone to making easy mistakes.
"For goodness sake, Xenovia. If you're going to destroy the place, at least give me some warning before you do it," Gwen grumbled to her destructive partner as she rose to her feet again, her sword still in her hand. She looked back to her opponent to see that he was still staring at the destruction caused by the fight between other two sword users which was slowly growing more and more intense by the second and wasn't paying any attention to her.
Sensing an opportunity in his this, she charged forward and made to slash Ben across his waist and take him down and hopefully bring their fight to an end. However, just before her sword made contact with him, Ben caught sight of her movements out of the corner of his eye and sidestepped the sneaky blow and returned his attention back to his own opponent with a scowl forming on his extremely chiselled jaw.
"What the fuck was that!?" he exclaimed at the young orange-haired woman incredulously. "Attacking me when I'm not watching!? That's a low blow, even for you, Gwen!"
"Serves you right for not paying attention in the middle of a fight," Gwen retorted, defending her action, as she took up her fighting stance again to continue their fight from before they were interrupted...but Ben had no intention of letting his fight continue, nor Kiba's.
They were both getting quickly out of hand and he was going to put an end to them right now.
He slapped the back of his left hand, right where the dial was located in his Sacred Gear and disappeared in a small flash of light for a split second before he returned back to his normal form. But before anyone could react to this or ask what he was planning to do, Ben had quickly cycled through his library of forms and picked the form he wanted and slammed down the dial again, losing himself in the bright emerald-green light which immediately followed.
[Transform: Biosovortian!]
The green flash of light died down to reveal Ben's new form to everyone who was looking at it. This meant everyone except for Xenovia and Kiba who were too lost in their own little world to be distracted by his transformation again. He was the same height as before, if not growing an extra foot taller, and had a bipedal form which had crab-like pincers instead of fingers and thumbs. His metallic head floated between two high points which protruded from where his shoulders were. He mainly had a pitch-black metallic surface though there were areas along his body, primarily around his arms and feet as well as across his chest, which were bright yellow in colour.
"Not that this hasn't been a happy reunion but I think it's time I put an end to this," he said in a metallic voice and raised his left arm up, pointing his pincer towards Gwen who immediately went on the defensive as she had never seen what he had turned into before and wasn't taking any chances with what it could do.
Just as Rias and Akeno were about to ask Ben what this new form of his could do as they too had never seen him transform into the demon standing in front of them before, the air in front of his pincers began to shimmer slightly and streak through the air towards Gwen and, when it struck her, appeared to have no effect whatsoever. Gwen noticed this and was about to make another snarky comment but it never escaped her lips as she noticed the faint lines of a smile appear on the face of the creature that Ben had become. Just as she was about to launch a counterattack, Gwen suddenly felt as though invisible hands had taken hold of her sword and were pulling with all their might in an attempt to pull it out of her tight grasp.
"W-What's going on?" she grunted as she slowly but surely felt herself start to be pulled along the grassy clearing towards Ben, despite the immense effort she was putting into trying to escape from his clutches. "What are you doing to me!?"
Ben chuckled at his cousin's futile struggle. "It's pretty simple really, my dear, ignorant cousin. This demonic form I'm in now has the power of magnetism; that's the ability to control all things made of metal in case you didn't know. Neat, huh?" he said with an amused smirk on his floating head. With his cousin's weapon firmly in his magnetic grip, Ben turned his attention over to Kiba and Xenovia who were only getting more and more violent in their fight and Ben feared that something was going to happen really soon if he didn't do something now to stop them.
He extended his right pincer up towards the two of them as the air, once again, began to shimmer in front of it and make its way towards the two of them. He soon 'felt' himself make contact with their weapons and proceeded to do the same thing he had done to Gwen's weapon and held their swords where they were.
This didn't go unnoticed by the both of them as they strained to break free of whatever invisible force was holding their blades in place though this was met with as little success as Gwen's attempts were.
"What's going on?" Xenovia demanded as she pulled at her motionless sword with as much power as she could muster though nothing changed and the sword remained where it floated.
Kiba appeared just as frustrated and confused as Xenovia, if not more, before looking across the field to see Ben, transformed into something he had never seen before, pointing his pincer towards them. It didn't take more than a second for him to piece things together. "Ben? What do you think you're doing!? Release my sword at once!" he demanded with frustration in his voice.
"Can't do that I'm afraid, Kiba. The two of you were getting very close to the point where one of you was about to kill the other. I know we agreed to a friendly fight but you were letting it get out of control so I had to put a stop to the both of you before that happened," Ben replied as he held the swordsman and two swordswomen in place with his form's unique abilities.
"Let me go!" Kiba demanded again, his glare returning to Xenovia, or rather the Excalibur in her hands. "After all these years, I've finally come face to face with an Excalibur. I have to destroy it!"
"I understand that you have a history with Excalibur, Kiba, but I can't allow you to start a war between Devils and the church," Ben replied firmly, refusing to release his hold over their weapons until they ended their fight.
Ben would've said more but he was suddenly struck by a blast of pink light in the side of the head, catching him completely off guard and sending him crashing to the floor. He was dazed by the blast for a split second and almost lost his grip on the swords that he held with his magnetic powers, only just managing to retain control of them.
"What the hell?!" he grunted as he snapped his head back to his cousin where his eyes widened at the sight of his cousin standing opposite him with her blade in one hand and a large sphere of the same pink light that struck him just then surrounding her other hand.
"What was that?!"
Gwen smirked at the look of shock on Ben's face and glanced down at the pink light in her hand.
"Oh, this? This is just a little something that I learned not too long ago. It turns out I'm a particularly talented magician as well as a Holy Sword wielder. Who knew?"
Ben glared at Gwen and raised his arm to launch an energy blast of his own back at her when….
"That's enough!"
Ben froze, moments before launching his attack and glanced over at Rias who was approaching them with Akeno, Koneko and a worried Asia following behind her.
"I think we've all vented at least some of our frustration out now, haven't we? I don't want my peerage to be the reason another Great War broke out and I'm sure the Church don't want to start one neither, am I right?"
Gwen didn't answer at first as she continued to lock eyes with Ben as if daring him to make a move, to give her an excuse to keep fighting. Unlike when they were younger though, he refused to give in to her childish goading and released his magnetic hold over everyone's swords and reverted back into his normal self in a flash of light.
Gwen's eyes narrowed a little at his decision and glanced over at her blue-haired partner who stared back at her and shook her head slightly. Getting the message, Xenovia nodded her head in understanding and stepped away from Kiba while she sheathed her blade again and proceeded to bind it in the wraps once more while Gwen's blade reverted back into its armband form and wrapped itself around her right arm.
It was clear to Ben that Kiba didn't appreciate the sudden stop to the match but he also sheathed his blade and sent it away.
After sheathing their swords, the two young Church members quickly donned on their white robes again and made to leave the grounds without any saying anything else. Before they did so, however, Xenovia stopped and glanced back at Rias and stared at her intently. "Remember what we talked about earlier. We wish for the devils in this area to stay out of our way while we complete our sacred task of retrieving the other Holy Swords."
"And you are determined to carry out your task…?" Rias retorted plainly, her arms crossed under her bosom. "Even when you are going up against a terrifying creature like Kokabiel?"
"We are aware of what we face and we fully understand the risks," Gwen replied with a diplomatic tone in her voice. "A priest who was sent to scout out this town ahead of time was killed by an unknown foe."
"Killed?" Ben asked with curiosity. This was certainly news to him.
"I know who did it."
Everyone turned to look at Kiba as he watched the two of them intently. "I know who killed him. It was Freed Selzen."
Ben growled as he instantly recognised the name of the insane exorcist who had caused him so much trouble in the past. The memories of his last two encounters with the crazed priest came to the forefront of his mind. "That bastard again? You know, I'm not actually that shocked that he's involved in this," he muttered under his breath.
"Hmm. It's interesting that it was a stray priest," Xenovia muttered thoughtfully before returning her attention to Kiba. "Thank you for this information. We appreciate it but still retain that you stay out of this." With her piece said, the two Holy sword wielders turned away from the group of assembled devils and exited the clearing, quickly disappearing into the undergrowth.
[Well, I guess I should congratulate you on managing to resolve that without starting a war,] Azmuth drawled, his voice heavy with sarcasm.
Ben chose to ignore the ancient dragon's jab and returned to the others.
'It's not over yet,' he thought as he glanced towards Kiba who was making his way back to the clubroom too, though not before punching a tree with frustration as he went passed it.
'Not until Kiba resolves what happened to him in the past.'
. . . . .
Back in the clubroom
"Where do you think you're going, Kiba?" Rias asked sternly as the Gremory Knight made his way to leave the clubroom. They had barely made it inside the clubroom before he made to leave again. "You do realise that I will never let you go from my service. You are a Knight of the House of Gremory."
Kiba stopped in his tracks but didn't turn back to look at her. Had he have done so he would have seen the look of concern on her face. He took a deep breath before replying. "I know Rias…and I'm sorry," he murmured sadly before opening the clubroom door and disappearing through it, closing it behind him as he left, leaving the clubroom in silence as he did so.
"Oh no," Asia said with worry as she stared at the closed door where Kiba had just disappeared through. Ben placed his hand on her head and gently stroking it in a comforting manner as he walked past her towards Rias who was rooted where she stood.
He stopped beside her and placed his hand on her shoulder, giving her a gentle, reassuring squeeze. "It's going to be okay," he said softly and confidently to the red-haired devil. "It may seem bad now, but I have no doubt that Kiba will return to you in the end. It might sound weird coming from a devil but you've just got to have faith. If not that then you should just trust him."
A small smile broke through Rias' stoic demeanour, despite her best intentions, and she brought her own hand up to her shoulder, placing it on top of Ben's own hand and squeezed it slightly to indicate that she understood what he was trying to say and appreciated it.
Ben gave her a smile in return and cast a glance towards the door Kiba had just left through. 'I know Kiba will come back, I just know it.'
. . . . .
(A few hours later)
"What's wrong, Azmuth? You seem a bit off lately. I've been sensing it every now and then but I can definitely feel some of your discomfort," Ben asked as he sat at his desk, scratching behind one of Ship's ears. Now that they appeared to be starting to forgive him at last, Ship had started to show more affection towards him.
The rest of the ORC meeting had gone by very slowly and with a deflated atmosphere after what had transpired with Kiba and when he abruptly left again. Rias even called an end to the meeting earlier than usual after noticing that everybody was just as troubled by Kiba's absence as she was and sent everyone home for the night.
She had returned home with Asia and Ben and were now currently helping out his mother making dinner for everyone in the kitchen. He had tried to help out but was summarily dismissed from the kitchen by the two devil women and, when he tried to join in with them regardless of their wishes, his mother reminded him about the last time he helped out in the kitchen and summarily removed him from the kitchen.
With that, Ben conceded with their wishes/demands and disappeared into his room where he was now sat in his chair, staring at the soft glow of light on the back of his left hand. He had a lot on his mind and needed a quiet place to organise his mind properly with everything that's been happening lately.
That was the intention anyway.
It wasn't long after he had entered his room that he felt a slight tingle run up his left arm from his fingertips. It wasn't the first time this had happened; he'd felt a slight shiver run up his left arm a few times over the past few weeks. The thing that was worrying him though was that the gap between these instances was steadily growing shorter for some reason.
Even Ddraig was starting to sense it and shared in Ben's concern though his dragon pride forced him to temper the way he openly felt about it.
[As much as I don't want to, I've also noticed something off about you, Azmuth. While I wouldn't normally care what happens to you, our fates are now linked together so I need to know if anything is going on with you,] the crimson dragon said, the spot where the jewel would be on the back of Ben's right hand glowing as he spoke.
Azmuth grunted at Ddraig's logic and answered their concerns.
[I don't know,]he admitted with a hint of annoyance with himself as he brought himself out of his thoughts to speak with his two companions. [I've been trying to fill in a gap in my memory that I've noticed I'm missing, the moment before I was sealed inside this Gear.]
"What's so important about it?"
[Aside from the fact there's a part of my memory that I don't recall?] Azmuth replied sarcastically before continuing without letting Ben respond. [It's because I'm certain that I spoke with God about something, something extremely important concerning Himself and the Three Factions…but no matter how hard I try, I just can't fill in that gap.]
[That must be infuriating,] Ddraig mused with amusement in his voice.
Azmuth growled lowly at Ddraig's taunt but he was too frustrated with the missing memory to bother retorting to Ddraig's jab.
[It is,] he muttered in annoyance. [But that's my problem. What I want to know is what you're planning to do, kid.]
Ben was momentarily taken aback by the sudden change in subject.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he replied weakly.
[You can't fool me, boy. You're about 1 million years too young if you think you can hide your intentions from me. I know you're going to go against Rias' order and going after the two Excaliburs. What I want to know is what you are planning.]
[I'm curious to know too,] Ddraig added with interest.
Ben thought about feigning ignorance before he quickly realised that it would be completely pointless trying to hide his thoughts from the two insanely powerful creatures living inside him. He sighed heavily and leant back in his chair, running his hand over his face as Ship moved into a better sleeping position on his lap.
"There's no getting around you two, is there?" he sighed with a slight shake of his head. "I don't exactly have a plan in my mind at the moment but I can't just stand aside and do nothing when Kiba is clearly in trouble. Despite how much I loved the legends surrounding it, if I have to destroy Excalibur then I will…for his sake."
[That's a pretty bold move, young one. While I admire your pluck in deciding to take up such an arduous task, I seriously recommend that you refrain from doing this on your own. You are very far from a capable user of our Gears at present and I would recommend that you get as much help as you can,] Azmuth replied in his deep, hypnotic voice.
"I know I should but there's no one I want to get involved with this. I certainly don't want Asia to be involved in something as serious as this and yet I can't ask anyone else. I can't ask Kiba for obvious reasons, and Koneko and Akeno would most likely report my plan back to Rias and I don't want to get on her bad side. If her 'training for my benefit' attitude is anything to go by, I don't want to see what she does to punish someone," Ben muttered as he stared up at his ceiling.
[And there's no one else you can ask to help with this?]Ddraig asked.
"There's nobody else I know who I could…." Ben stopped midsentence as a familiar face suddenly appeared in his mind. He took a deep breath and placed his hands on his desk as he went through the pros and cons with asking this person for help. "There is someone else I guess I could ask for help actually. I don't know if they'd agree to it but I may at least try."
[Who? I can't tell you how infuriated I get with this 'cliff-hanger' thing that you mortals do,] Azmuth complained comically while Ben and Ddraig chuckled lightly at his frustration.
"Ok, ok," Ben replied, waving for Azmuth to calm down. "I'm not deliberately holding it back from you. It's someone who isn't part of our group so we'd be able to investigate without drawing attention to ourselves."
[And their name?]
Before Ben could answer, he heard his mother calling up to him that dinner was ready. He stood up from his chair and made his way out of his room towards the stairs where his mother's voice was coming from.
[Well? Who is it!?]Azmuth reiterated with annoyance at being left at a cliff-hanger yet again.
"I'd tell you but I can't afford to not get down there before she calls me out again. If that happens, all hell is going to break loose. She doesn't like to repeat herself," Ben revealed as he headed down the stairs with Azmuth left wondering how failing to listen to his host's mother would lead to the denizens of hell breaking free from the Underworld.
. . . . .
Elsewhere
"Well, what's the plan now?" Gwen groaned as she stared out at the destruction before her.
After leaving her cousin's home, the two young Holy sword wielders had headed off to the disused church that they had been told would serve as their headquarters while they were searching for their quarry without drawing attention to themselves.
That was the plan…until they actually arrived at the site to see a pile of rubble where a church once stood.
"I don't know," Xenovia sighed as the two of them walked across the rubble as they examined the completely destroyed building. "Why weren't we informed that the local church was destroyed?"
"I know. You'd think the Church would let us know if the place they wanted us to stay in while we complete our mission was still here, wouldn't you?" Gwen grumbled as she joined her partner back on the edge of the pile. "So, what do we do now?"
"Well, our choices are limited seeing as you wasted most of the money we were given on a book," Xenovia chided as she crossed her arms under her chest.
"Hey!" Gwen retorted as she patted the new bulge in her bag which held a recent purchase of hers.
"This is a genuine book of magical spells. That fool didn't realise what he had. He was just selling it that high because of how old and valuable it looked. If he did realise what it was he would've charged three times as much as he did. I got it at a bargain!"
"That may be but the fact still remains that we are now extremely low on our funds. Where are we going to stay now?"
Gwen tapped her chin with her finger as she thought about their options.
"Well, we could stay at my cousin's house. Auntie Sandra loves me and said that we could stay with her while we're in Japan."
"Absolutely not," Xenovia countered instantly with a firm shake of her head. "I will not stay in the same house as a witch or a devil. I'd rather pass God's test and sleep under this pile of rubble that used to be His house."
"Okay, okay, don't get so excited," Gwen placated her partner as she hid a small smile at her partner's reaction to her suggestion. "Look, we've still got a bit of money left so we can stay in a hotel for tonight."
"And what about the day after?" Xenovia stated, pointing out the hole in Gwen's plan. "We don't know how long we're going to be here searching for the stolen swords and we can't afford to stay in a fancy hotel every single night…and what about food? We don't have enough to sustain us for today and tomorrow let alone a week or more."
"Okay, I get it, you're mad at me. Look, we can find somewhere to stay tonight and think about how to solve our money problem tomorrow morning. think of it as another obstacle to prove our devotion to God."
Xenovia sighed at her partner's optimistic attitude but conceded at the part where she mentioned proving her devotion to God…and seeing as they didn't have a better plan….
"Fine, let's go find somewhere to stay for tonight. You'd better have a decent plan for us to get money though," she muttered as the two of them turned and walked away from the former church and headed back into town in search for a cheap place for them to stay for the night.
. . . . .
At a local café in Kuoh
(The next day, after school)
"Why am I here again?" Saji asked as he looked around the café he and Ben were sat at.
Ben had been surprised when Saji had agreed to meet up with him so easily, even when Ben had told him that he couldn't tell him what it was until after the school day had finished. He had seen the Sitri Pawn around the school every now and then but this was the first time he had spoken to him without their two devil groups being there with them too.
Immediately after the last bell signalling the end of the school day rang, Ben had excused himself from Asia and made his way to the meeting point the two of them had agreed to meet up in which happened to be in a café opposite the Kuoh train station.
"Well…," Ben began to say, struggling to find a way to soften the blow his idea would undoubtedly cause. He took a breath before continuing. "I want to ask those two church members from yesterday to see if they'll let me help them take back the Holy swords…or destroy them at least and I need your help in this."
Saji coughed on the drink he had in front of him and was temporarily inconsolable as he thumped his chest with his fist as he worked to unblock his throat. He was like this for around twenty seconds before he could breathe again. When he did so, he slammed his hands on the table and stared at Ben as though he was some kind of circus freak.
"Are you insane?!" he hissed, lowering his voice instantly when he realised that he could be heard by the surrounding customers who were now staring at him for his abrupt outburst. "Do you realise what will happen to us if our master's even suspect us aiding those two!? I don't know what Rias is like but Sona is a dominatrix who loves punishing us!"
Ben internally winced at the thought which appeared in his head bit quickly shook it off. Now wasn't the time to get side-tracked with thoughts like that. Before he could say anything else though, Saji had quickly gotten out of his seat with a fearful expression on his face.
"To hell with that! I'm out," he hissed firmly and turned around to leave when he came to a sudden stop when he noticed Koneko standing in front of him. He yelped in surprise and even Ben spluttered on his drink when he saw her.
"You're not going anywhere," she said firmly to Saji who quickly sat back down in his chair and moping at the situation he had found himself trapped in.
"Hey Koneko," Ben said with barely contained fear at being caught by the feisty Gremory Rook. "What a surprise seeing you here," he said meekly.
"Can it," she replied bluntly and took a seat in the chair in between the two Pawns. "I could tell you were planning something; I just didn't know what exactly. So you want to cooperate with the Church?"
Ben sighed, quickly accepting his defeat and nodded his head. "Yeah. That's my plan anyway," he relented. "They did say they would rather see the swords destroyed than left in the hands of the Fallen Angels. Kiba wants his revenge on the church by destroying Excalibur and if they were destroyed then they wouldn't be capable of being used against devils in the future. It just seems, to me at least, that working together works with everyone's goals."
"You realise that they may not see it that way," Koneko countered, though Ben couldn't help but notice how she wasn't discouraging him from his plan. He would have asked her why she was helping them but didn't want to push his luck and so went along with it.
"Yeah, I know. We should at least try though, shouldn't we?" he said in response. "Especially if it helps Kiba return back to the way he was before all this Holy sword crap came up."
Koneko nodded her head slowly, agreeing with Ben's accurate, if not crude, reasoning. Silence descended on their table for a few seconds before Koneko stood up from her chair. "Before we think too far ahead, we should find and talk this over with those two priests."
Ben followed her lead and stood up from his seat, a determined expression on his face. "You're right. How hard can looking for two priests be?"
. . . . .
(Three days later)
"Where the hell are they!?" Ben cried out with quickly growing annoyance. They had been walking around town for what felt like forever and hadn't seen neither hide nor hair of the two young women they were looking for. After failing to find them as quickly as they had hoped after the first day, the three of them had gathered again the next day after school and continued with their search through town.
From his left, a weak groan emanated from Saji as he followed after him begrudgingly. "Why do you still need me with you?" he muttered dejectedly before nodding his head towards Koneko. "We've been searching for days now with no luck…and why do you need me?! You've got your Rook with you."
"The more the merrier," Ben replied simply and continued down the busy street, his eyes darting rapidly over everyone in sight in search of their quarry. "Stop complaining will you, it got old at the end of the first day."
"You'd think that two priests would stand out more," Koneko stated from Ben's right. "Especially with their choice of clothing."
"Yeah, so where the hell are they?" Ben grumbled. "Maybe they're keeping a low profile to avoid attracting attention."
It was at this point that a crowd of people in front of them dispersed to reveal the very same two people they had been looking for, standing in the middle of the shopping district and trying to get people to give them change by preaching extracts from the Bible.
"Oh blessings be on the wondering sheep before us," Xenovia chanted, her head raised to the heavens.
"We are pitiful compared to you, oh Lord. Please have mercy on us, dear Father," Gwen recited confidently, nodding her head in thanks when a passer-by dropped a few coins into the collection tin.
"What are they doing?" Ben asked with great confusion as to the scene before him.
"I don't know. Why aren't they looking for the Holy swords?" Saji asked, his previous moaning and groaning at being forced onto this trip being replaced by innate curiosity.
"Why don't we go and ask them?" Ben asked his companions before making his way over to the two Holy sword users.
This was going to be a good story. He could tell.
. . . . .
(A short while later)
"Ha! You really wasted all your funds on a book?" Ben chuckled with an amused grin on his face as he and his two devil companions sat across from the two young women, watching them wolf down the mountain of food before them.
They had refused to speak to him at first when he asked what they were doing asking for donations from the public and had even refused him when he offered to buy them lunch as a sort of peace offering….
…at least, that is, until their stomachs betrayed them and growled loudly, bringing about a deep blush from the pair of them and a snort from Ben as he tried his absolute best to contain the laughter that was trying to escape from him at the embarrassed looks on their faces.
Needless to say, they 'grudgingly' accepted his offer at this point which led them to the restaurant they were currently sat in. Ben watched as they scoffed down the food in front of them while a waitress who was bringing over another tray full of food over to them caught his eye and he internally groaned at the amount of food on the tray, imagining the large bill he would have to take care of after this.
When they had finished their first course, Ben had asked them why they were trying to get money from strangers. Didn't the Church give them money to help them on their important mission? His answer came from Xenovia who cast a sideways glare at her partner and revealed how she had spent nearly all their money on a book which Gwen claimed contained magic spells.
Ben could hardly believe that his cousin could be so moronic. For as long as he had known her, she had never come across as someone idiotic enough to fall for such a scam. It only got funnier the more he thought about it.
"Oh shut up, idiot," Gwen muttered under her breath with a glare in Ben's direction as she finished swallowing the last morsel from her bowl of noodles. "It was a genuine book of spells and I got it at a price that was ten times lower than what it should've been!"
Ben really wanted to continue making fun out of her for being such a complete idiot and wasting their funds on a frivolous purchase but he refrained from doing so because he was here for an important reason and couldn't afford to let himself get side-tracked by such trivial matters.
After several minutes had passed and the two hungry members of the church had finished all the food in front of them, they seemed to come to their senses and froze in place at the realisation of what they had just done.
They had just accepted food from devils!
"What just happened?" Xenovia gasped with shock.
"Even if this has helped us regain our strength. This must mean the end of days are finally upon us! Not only did we accept a devil's help, but it also came from my stupid cousin," Gwen cried despairingly and began to pray for forgiveness.
"Not the best thanks I've ever gotten for paying for a meal…," Ben muttered under his breath with slight annoyance before an image of Raynare entered his mind.
'Then again, it isn't the worst either,' he added quietly to himself.
"We practically sold our souls to them," Xenovia continued muttering with horror in her voice.
"Oh Lord. Please have mercy on these kind souls, even if they are devils," Gwen prayed while the three devils sat opposite her clutched their heads and winced in pain.
"Dammit, Gwen! The last thing we need is God's blessing!" Ben exclaimed before noticing a little twinkle in Gwen's eye. She knew perfectly well what the effect of praying would have on them, he could tell.
"Oh. Sorry about that, it's kind of a habit," Gwen said apologetically though Ben could see clearly that she only half meant it, if she meant it at all.
'Oh, she's good,' Ben thought internally, glaring at his cousin. 'I may not have seen her for over two years but she hasn't lost her quick wit.'
"So what do you want?" Xenovia asked carefully. There was no way that a devil would have done this out of the kindness of their heart.
Sensing the conversation had turned serious, Ben followed suit and leaned on the table, staring at Xenovia with a serious look of determination on his face and his chin resting on the back of his hands. "We want to help you destroy Excalibur," he said slowly but firmly, emphasising to the two Excalibur wielders that he was deadly serious when saying this.
Xenovia simply stared at Ben intently, as if reading his face for any sign of a hidden agenda. After a minute of total silence on their table, Xenovia slowly nodded her head and sighed softly. "I think I understand the situation. I don't have any issue with allowing you to assist us in taking care of one sword."
Out of the corner of his eye, Ben could see Saji grumble and turn away from them as he muttered under his breath,
"Dammit! Why couldn't she have just said "no" like I was hoping she would!?"
"I'm not so sure about this, Xenovia?" Gwen mumbled to her partner while casting occasional glances to the three devils sitting opposite them. "They're devils after all. We knew the risks involved when we accepted this mission."
"I know," Xenovia admitted with a small nod. "But we both understand that Kokabiel is an extremely dangerous foe. With just us two, it would be impossible to recover the stolen Excaliburs. Devils or not, we were informed that the church would rather see them destroyed than remain in the hands of a creature like Kokabiel. Even if we somehow manage to reclaim the other two, one destroyed Excalibur is worth it. Don't you agree?"
Gwen sighed deeply as she went over the options available to them and slumped her shoulders when she realised that Xenovia had a point, much to her chagrin. "Urgh, fine then," she conceded, slumping back in her seat with a resigned look on her face.
"Great! Now that negotiations are over, may I call my friend to ask for his cooperation?" Ben asked and received a small nod of agreement from Xenovia. He pulled out his phone and contacted Kiba, asking him to join them.
After the strange way he had been acting recently and considering that nobody had seen him since he walked out of the clubroom nearly four days ago, Ben half expected Kiba to not reply to his message and just ignore him.
However, Kiba surprised him by not only answering his text message but joining them at the restaurant barely ten minutes later.
Once he arrived and joined them at their table, Ben went about explaining the situation to him from the beginning.
. . . . .
(Several minutes later)
"So that's the situation is it?" Kiba asked as he took a sip of the cup of coffee in front of him.
Ben had just finished hastily explaining the new situation with him, including the agreement from the two Holy sword wielders to let them destroy one of the Excaliburs. It wasn't all of them like he wanted but it was at least a start.
"Yeah, that's about it," Ben concluded, taking a sip of his own drink after his quick explanation. "So what do you say?" he asked hesitantly, not knowing what else to do if Kiba was against the plan.
"I must admit that I'm surprised that someone who wields an Excalibur would ever approve of their destruction," he admitted, casting a glance towards Gwen and Xenovia. "It won't feel the same if I've been given permission by the Church to destroy them though."
"Well this is the best we got," Ben countered, running his hand through his hair with exasperation. He knew Kiba was dead set on destroying the swords but he had to know where to pick his battles. "Look, Kiba. If you keep going on like this, how long do you think it'll be before someone declares you a stray devil? I know Rias would never do that, but it could still happen. Did you ever consider what losing you would do to her?"
Kiba had no response for Ben and simply averted his gaze from him.
"If you are already a 'stray devil' then I'd have absolutely no issue with cutting you down right here and now," Xenovia declared, staring at Kiba intently.
"I'd like to see you try," Kiba retorted dangerously and Ben could sense a tense aura suddenly surround Kiba as he glared at Xenovia. Thankfully, the aura wasn't strong enough to be felt by anyone near their table, but that didn't mean it would stay like that for long. He brought up his hands to placate the two sword-users and calm them down before things got any worse.
"Now, now. Calm down," he said calmly, switching his gaze between the two of them and released a pent-up breath when they did as he asked and relaxed back into their chairs. "Thank you. The last thing we need to be doing is fighting amongst ourselves when we have bigger issues to deal with."
"You're right," Xenovia conceded begrudgingly with a slight nod of her head before returning her gaze back to Kiba. "For what it's worth, I completely understand your resentment of the "Holy sword Project" and feel the same way you do about it."
Kiba's eyes widened slightly at Xenovia's unexpected revelation as she continued.
"The project was carried out by a splinter group of the Church, without the Church's consent. The project was viewed with great repugnance by our leaders and the priest who created it was excommunicated upon the discovery of the heinous project."
"What was their name?" Ben asked with intrigue. The more he discovered about some of the darker things the church had done to his friends, the less he liked them; not because of their beliefs but because of the way they treated people who believed in and had trusted them.
"His name is Balba Galilei but he also went by the title, the 'Archduke of Annihilation'," Kiba said, answering Ben's question.
"Indeed. We believe he turned to the Fallen Angels after he was excommunicated and has continued with his perverted experiments with the aid of that crazed exorcist, Selzen," Xenovia added.
"So I can reach him if I go after the fallen angels with you?" Kiba asked and, when Xenovia nodded her head in confirmation, stood up from his seat. "In that case, I can't think of any reason for me not to cooperate with you," he muttered in a resigned tone.
Everyone seemed to release a breath none of them knew they were holding after an agreement was met and rose up out of their seats along with Kiba and removed themselves from the table. Xenovia bowed her head in Ben's direction. "Thank you for the meal, Ben Tennyson. We will repay you for this kindness one day, you have my word."
Before they left the restaurant, Xenovia wrote down a number on a piece of paper and handed it to Ben. "If you find anything out, call this number."
"Alright. I should probably give you my numb–."
"There's no need," Gwen said abruptly, cutting her cousin off in mid-sentence, knowing what he was going to say. "Auntie Sandra already gave me your phone number...'just in case' she said." A small, amused smirk formed on her face at the slight look of annoyance on Ben's face.
"Of course she did," he muttered under his breath.
With everything that needed to be discussed said, Xenovia bowed her head slightly at the four devils while Gwen simply nodded her head at them. Gwen left the restaurant first and waited for her azure-haired companion as she thanked Ben again for paying for the expensive meal before joining her as they left the group of devils and made their way down the deserted street until they disappeared around a corner and out of sight.
Nobody spoke for a while as they watched the two members of the church disappear down the street and round the corner though that was soon broken when Ben crossed his arms over his chest and took a deep breath.
"Well…that went better than I thought it'd go. I thought we'd have to do more to convince them before they let us join…," he began to say but was suddenly cut off when Saji grabbed Ben by the scruff of his jacket collar with an agitated look on his face.
"Do you have any idea how lucky you are!?" he exclaimed fearfully. "Not only could we have all been cut down by two Excalibur wielders, but we could have – oh I don't know – STARTED A NEW FUCKING WAR BETWEEN THE CHURCH AND DEVILS!"
Ben didn't respond to Saji's outburst, mainly because he had no answer to give him. Instead he just sweatdropped while chuckling lightly and humourlessly upon seeing how nervous Saji was.
"Why are you doing this, Ben?" Kiba asked quietly, his back to everyone else and staring at the lights which were starting to switch on to illuminate the centre of Kuoh off in the distance.
"Why? Do I need a particular reason to help a friend out…especially when they so clearly need it?" Ben asked as he removed Saji's hands from his collar and made his way over to Kiba, coming to a stop when he stood next to the Gremory Knight. "I can't talk you out of seeking revenge, nor will I. I may not have been a part of Rias' peerage for long as you, Koneko or Akeno but I value each and every one of you as friends and comrades."
"And anyway…," Ben added as he turned around and made his way back to Koneko and Saji who were staring at the two of them. "…it would reflect badly on Rias if you cocked it up and I can't allow that to happen."
Kiba looked like he was about to argue with Ben's reasoning, but before he could do so Koneko stepped forward with a sad expression on her face.
"He's right Kiba. I'd be very…lonely if you were to simply disappear. I don't want that," she said quietly yet sincerely at the same time.
Kiba stared at Koneko for a few seconds with an unreadable expression before he sighed deeply and ran his hand through his hair, a small smile appearing on his face. "Aw hell, I give up. I guess I can't turn away your help when you say stuff like that."
"Then it's agreed. We're going to help you destroy Excalibur," Ben declared with a smile as he patted Kiba on the shoulder.
Saji took this moment to step forward, his hand raised slightly, a question on his mind. "Out of curiosity. What is your grudge against Excalibur exactly? I know they're incredibly powerful Holy swords but still…."
Ben silently cursed under his breath at his own forgetfulness. He had completely forgotten to clue Saji in as to Kiba's particular relationship with the Holy sword and was wondering whether Kiba was willing to share his story with him.
"I'll tell you," Kiba said simply, quickly dashing Ben's concern.
And he did. He explained everything to Sona's Pawn. He told him how the project was an incredibly secret project within the Catholic Church, a project to artificially create people who could wield Holy swords. He told the young devil how they were all subjected to completely inhumane experiments, treated like nothing more than lab rats. They had accepted it all though as they were constantly fed the cruel lie that it was all for the greater good…that they'd become closer to God by the end of it. He ended his tale by revealing how, after the project was eventually marked down as a failure, Kiba and the other subjects involved with the project became regarded as simply resource materials to be disposed of.
"That's when everyone died. That's when those who served God began to use gas to kill us all, even while feigning friendship at the same time. They simply stood by and watched us as we vomited blood and writhed on the floor in sheer agony. The only reason I survived the slaughter was because the others sacrificed themselves so that I could live. If Rias hadn't found me when she did then I would've died that night."
"I made a vow that day to destroy Excalibur and avenge the deaths of my comrades and ensure their sacrifice wasn't made in vain," the Gremory Knight declared firmly, his fist clenched tightly at the painful memories.
Saji, who was now bawling comically, placed his hands firmly on Kiba's shoulders. "I had no idea how much you were suffering." He fell silent for a moment with a look on his that said he was thinking about something deeply. "To hell with Sona's punishment! I swear I'll help you guys to the very best of my ability."
"Seeing as you told me yours, I wish to tell you my dream," Saji continued and took a deep breath before speaking again, as if he was building up his confidence before revealing it.
"My dream…is to one day…marry Sona and have her child," he blurted quickly, a deep crimson blush appearing on his cheeks as he said it.
While Kiba and Koneko sweatdropped at Saji's bluntness, Ben, on the other hand, chuckled heartily and clamped his hand down on Saji's shoulder. "As far as dreams go, that's not the worst I've heard in my life. It's a lot better than what those two perverts, Matsuda and Motohama, dream of which is to be able to see every girl butt-naked whenever they want," he said with a smile.
Koneko's expression darkened at the mention of the 'perverted duo'. "Those two are the enemies of all women," she muttered darkly.
"That they are," Ben agreed with a slight nod of his head as the four of them stared out across the sea of lights now fully illuminating Kuoh. "That they are."
. . . . .
At school
(The next day)
Ben was sat at his desk and staring out of the classroom window as he normally did and was, once again, completely lost in his thoughts.
Five days!
It had been five whole days since he had come to an agreement with Xenovia and Gwen to help locate and retrieve the stolen Excalibur swords. He had foolishly thought that finding Gwen and Xenovia would be the hard part. Once they had found them and come to an arrangement, he thought they'd be able to find the swords in no time.
And yet five days since then and they had found absolutely nothing: no trace of either the stolen swords or Freed. To say it was frustrating would be a vast understatement. Every night, after he and Koneko had finished their obligations with the ORC, they would join up with Kiba who couldn't bring himself to return back to Rias without finally getting closure and the two Holy sword users, disguise themselves by dressing up in priest clothing and explore town with the intention of drawing out the insane exorcist.
They had been doing this for five stupid days…and still nothing!
"Hmmm," a horribly familiar female voice sounded out from behind him and quickly brought him out of his thoughts.
Ben groaned upon recognising the voice and slowly turned around to see Kiryuu standing before him and staring at him intently with a salacious smile on her face. He knew the troublesome girl enough to be very wary of that smile and had learned to keep his guard up whenever she was around.
"*Sigh*, what do you want?" he asked the spectacled girl warily.
"Oh nothing, just using my 'special power' on you!" she replied innocently though her salacious never left her face as she said this.
For those who knew Kiryuu and what she was really like, it was understandable that Ben became immediately cautious at her words. If Matsuda and Motohama held the title of being the two 'most perverted boys' in the entire school, then Kiryuu held the undisputed title of 'most perverted girl' in school. The only reason she hadn't drawn the ire from teachers was because she didn't actively peep on boys, not that he believed many would complain if she actually did do that. What she did do though was target particular groups of people, perverts for example, and embarrass them with her unnatural ability.
If Ben wasn't able to tell that she was 100% human, he'd have assumed that she had to be some kind of supernatural being.
"Oh my," the perverted female muttered with a giggle.
The reason she was able to embarrass the males in the school so easily was because her unique ability allowed her to somehow accurately calculate the size of any man's member from length to circumference. Understandably, this caused a lot of blokes to fear her and avoid her whenever they could.
"Not a word," Ben muttered sternly though Kiryuu paid absolutely no attention to the tone of his voice and continued unabashedly.
"I'm impressed. You're carrying quite a dangerous package there," she said teasingly, leaning on his desk with her palms pressed against the varnished wood. "Asia's a very lucky girl. But I'd be careful if I were you though. With something like that, you could really hurt someone like her if you're not careful."
Ben growled and buried his face into his hands. He took several deep breaths to calm himself down before glancing back at Kiryuu. "Why can't you go annoy Matsuda and Motohama?"
"Because you just make it so easy," Kiryuu replied with a sly smirk.
Before he could say anything in response, she turned away from Ben to look over at where Asia was standing, talking with the other girls in the class. "Hey Asia! You're a very lucky girl," she called out, only to be rewarded with a confused look from the innocent ex-nun. "Your boyfriend's carrying a very dangerous package."
"Huh?" Asia asked in confusion though her cheeks reddened slightly at the way Kiryuu labelled Ben as her boyfriend.
Kiryuu sighed at her ignorance. "Geez, I'm talking about Ben's…." Kiryuu was prevented from saying anything further when Ben shot up out of his seat and clamped his hand over the perverted girl's mouth, shutting her up and preventing her from saying anything else.
"It doesn't matter, Didn't. She's just speaking nonsense, as usual" Ben said aloud, waving off her curiosity before turning his attention back to the troublesome girl beside him and lowering his voice before speaking again. "Don't spout weird stuff to Didn't, Kiryuu. She doesn't need to hear stuff like that."
Kiryuu didn't respond, mainly due to Ben's hand still covering her mouth, but she raised her eyebrows at him and Ben could tell she was smiling beneath his hand. Taking it as a sign of understanding, Ben took his hand away from her mouth and sat back down at his desk. Kiryuu looked like she was about to say more to annoy or embarrass him further but was prevented from doing so when the teacher took this exact moment to enter the class at the same time the bell rang, signifying that the break was over and it was time for classes once again.
. . . . .
(After school)
Once he had managed to finish all of his duties for the evening with the ORC as per the current standard, Ben and Koneko excused themselves for the night and quickly made their way to the place where they gathered with Kiba Xenovia, and Gwen before heading out to explore the town for Freed that night.
He had used the excuse when he was asked by Asia who had noticed his mysterious disappearances over the past few days that he had been visiting his only regular client all this time. He didn't like lying to her, in fact he outright hated it, but it was for the best in the end. It had been a sound lie…right up until he really did receive a call from the client summoning him. He had been forced to apologise to him and make a promise to visit him whenever he wanted, no matter if it was even an off day for him.
If Rias didn't punish him for directly going behind her back with the Excaliburs after she promised to not get involved with it then she would definitely punish him for failing to answer a client's summoning request.
Ben shuddered at the mere thought. He honestly had no clue which she would consider worse and hoped beyond anything that she would never discover about either of them though he knew in the back of his mind that that was an empty dream.
He made it to the rendezvous point to see that everyone else had already made it and were already dressed up in their priest disguises. Ben quickly joined them and it wasn't long before they were all out searching for the illusive exorcist. Gwen and Xenovia, as usual, split up shortly after they started their search and went in their own direction, leaving the four devils to search Kuoh by themselves.
They had been walking around for two hours before they reached the edge of a small, deserted park.
"Doesn't look like anyone's here," Saji stated as they looked the dark park.
"Yeah, we should move on to the next location," Kiba said as they continued their search.
Ben followed them, keeping his eyes peeled when….
Ba-Dum!
Sensing something was about to happen and without even stopping to question the strange feeling that suddenly overwhelmed him, Ben acted on instinct and pushed Saji forwards and, taking hold of Kiba and Koneko's collars, pulled them back…just as a hooded figure appeared from above them out of nowhere, slashing a deadly-looking sword downwards right where they all would have been standing had Ben not acted on Ddraig's warning as quick as he did.
"Fucking hell! I nearly had you then, fucking shitty devils!" the hooded man exclaimed as he pulled his hood back to reveal himself to everyone as the very same crazed exorcist that they had been spending the last three nights looking for.
"Freed!" Kiba growled as he recovered from Ben's abrupt action. "How did you manage to avoid detection?"
Freed chuckled sadistically and tugged his sword out of the ground and presented it to them. "You can thank this sword. It's such a delight to wield."
Ben turned his gaze down to the sword and felt the same unease he felt when he was looking at the Excaliburs Xenovia and his cousin wielded. There was no doubt about it….
"He's wielding an Excalibur!"
[You're right, kid,] Azmuth confirmed with caution in his voice. [I doubt I need to remind you to be cautious around it.]
"You're right. I haven't forgotten," Ben replied, keeping his eyes on Freed, waiting for him to strike.
It wasn't Freed who started the fight though. Kiba shot forward, summoning a sword in his hand and crossing blades with the insane priest. Within the blink of an eye, the two swordsmen disappeared into a blur as they engaged in an impossibly fast and deadly sword fight. Ben could have quite easily transformed into some of his faster demonic forms but he didn't do this for two reasons. One, he had no way of blocking a Holy sword as powerful as Excalibur, and two; he would just get in Kiba's way. He also hadn't had much cause to use such fast demons yet and could get both himself and Kiba killed by a careless mistake.
Still, that didn't mean he would just stand by and let Kiba handle Freed by himself.
He summoned his Sacred Gears and began to charge up his power.
[BOOST!]
It was a little while after he had thoroughly beaten Riser that Ddraig had told him about another power his Boosted Gear could do: Transfer. Once he had built up enough energy in his Boosted Gear and didn't expel it all in a single, explosive attack then he could transfer it all to whomever he touched and restore their stamina and drastically improve their power in an instant.
He continued to charge up his Gear but quickly spotted a problem with his plan as he watched the deadly dance of blades before him….
He wouldn't be able to get near to Kiba with Freed moving about at such speeds.
"We need to find some way to slow Freed down. I can give Kiba some help, but I can't do it if Freed is this fast," he called out to Saji and Koneko who were standing on either side of him.
[BOOST!]
Koneko didn't answer him as she was, unbeknownst to Ben, talking to someone on her mobile phone. Saji, on the other hand, held up his left arm as a confident smirk formed on his face.
"Stretch my line!" he cried and watched as a light of deep purple covered the back of his hand. It disappeared just as quickly as it appeared, though it left in its wake a small black gauntlet which barely covered his hand. Saji pointed his hand towards the duelling swordsmen on top of the large stone, gazebo-like structure and fired a glowing tongue-like line out of the Gauntlet's reptilian mouth.
"Such a fucking pain!" Freed growled as the tongue-like line wrapped around his right leg and pulled him out of the sky, causing him to crash into the ground. The crazed priest rose and tried to cut the glowing line with his Excalibur but it simply bounced off the line, leaving no mark on it at all.
"Woah. What the hell was that?" Ben asked in surprise, looking towards Saji's Gear.
"This is my Sacred Gear. I call it Absorption Line," Saji said with a wide grin on his face as he held Freed in place.
[Hey Azmuth. Isn't that…,] Ddraig started to ask but Azmuth was ahead of him.
[The Dragon King Vritra? I believe so. I would never have thought that he too would have been sealed within a Sacred Gear,] Azmuth muttered, deep in thought as he saw another one of his creations sealed within such an item. [For something that was never originally designed to hold the soul of a dragon, it's amazing to see how God's tools have evolved.]
[BOOST!]
Caught off guard by this piece of news, Ben looked back at the fight going on between Kiba and Freed.
"You're quite skilled with a sword, shitty devil," Freed admitted through gritted teeth before it turned into his signature sadistic grin as Kiba's sword broke with a single blow from Freed's Excalibur. "Though your blades are feeble when compared with my Excalibur!"
Kiba needed assistance, and he needed it quickly.
[BOOST!]
The Boosted Gear's gem lit up brightly, signifying that it was finally ready. Ben looked towards Koneko and gestured up at Kiba "Can you give me a boost?" he asked her hopefully.
"Sure thing," she muttered in her normal, emotionless manner as she picked Ben up and threw him up at Kiba with her impressive strength. Ben flew through the air and reached Kiba in less than a second; held out his hand and slapped Kiba's shoulder as he passed over him.
[TRANSFER!]
Kiba was surrounded by a soft green glow from Ben's arm and suddenly felt himself be instantly rejuvenated and, at the same time, a massive surge of power flowed through his body and he felt stronger now than he had ever done so before in his life.
Freed raised his sword to slash at Kiba again but was pulled back by Saji's absorption line before he could put any strength behind his attack. "That's getting really fucking annoying now!" he exclaimed manically before bringing the Excalibur close to him. He seemed to be concentrating on something though not one of them knew what it was exactly.
The question on all their lips was quickly answered when the Excalibur in his hands started glowing ominously and Freed brought it above his head before quickly bringing it back down on the line attached to his leg as hard as he could. Unlike the last time he did this, this time his blade cut clean through the line, causing it to disintegrate, much to Saji's shock.
"How did he do that!?" he shouted out in disbelief as the entire line disappeared.
"That's not all I can do!" Freed shouted insanely before turning around and leaping through the air towards Kiba who had summoned yet another sword out of thin air and made to block Freed's attack and was met with frustration again as his sword broke on contact with the Holy sword yet again.
"It doesn't matter how much energy you fucking devils give yourselves, your weapons are still no match for my Holy sword!" He raised the Excalibur high above his head, his sadistic smile returning to his face. "Now…DIE!" he bellowed as he brought it down fast on top of Kiba.
CHING!
The sword was intercepted before reaching it reached its target by a certain blue-haired Holy sword user who seemed to appear out of nowhere and blocked the potentially fatal blow mere inches from striking a downed Kiba.
"You are a traitor to the Church Freed and shall be punished accordingly!" Xenovia hissed with utter contempt for the insane man before her as she continued to hold back Freed's blade.
"Xenovia?" Ben asked with shock. It wasn't that he wasn't thankful for her turning up when she did, it was just that he didn't expect her to know where they were. He looked down towards the others just in time to see his cousin emerging out of the dark undergrowth beside them and leaping into action as Freed began to battle with Xenovia and Kiba with just as much bloodlust as before. "Gwen? How did you know where we were?"
"Because I called them," Koneko said simply, holding up her phone to him as if he didn't believe her words alone.
"Oh," Ben replied dumbly before giving her a thumbs up. "good thinking."
Freed, sensing he couldn't remain any longer with the introduction of these two new opponents who also possessed Holy swords, leaped of the roof of the stone building they had been fighting on and landed on the opposite side of the structure to where Ben, Saji and Koneko were standing and fled into the dark undergrowth, quickly disappearing from sight.
"No!" Kiba exclaimed with frustration as Freed disappeared and, without saying anything to the others, quickly followed suit further into the park after his target.
"Quick! After him, Gwen!" Xenovia shouted as they also took off in pursuit behind Kiba.
Ben leapt off the stone building, landing beside Saji just as Gwen was lost from sight. "Come on! We can't lose them now. We've been looking for that bastard for three nights and I'll be damned if I let him escape now!"
"Oh dear," a familiar feminine voice called out from behind them. "What have you gotten yourself involved with now?"
Ben froze in his tracks at the sound of the slight amusement he could hear in the new voice. He knew that voice! The three young devils spun around to see Rias standing before them with Akeno by her side with an amused smirk on her face. He also recognised the Sitri heir standing next to her along with her own Queen too.
Ben and Saji jumped in shock at the sight of them, the strong chill running up their spine at being caught out caused them to shiver slightly.
"I'm hoping you can explain yourself," Rias said calmly, flashing a sly smile though the look she was giving him with her eyes said something different.