"… I see." Sona looked at the daifuku in her hand with a cute and complicated expression, as though torn between eating it now, otherwise saving it to eat later. Then with a sigh, she finished off the remainder and made her way to her seat, focusing her attention on me.
Looks like it was time.
...
"Shirou Emiya." She began as Rias took her seat next to her. "It has come to our attention that you are a wizard in our jurisdiction, and considering your battle prowess and your encounters with the individuals from last night, we would like to have a discussion regarding your stay here."
"Alright, but before we continue, I wish to enquire one thing." I held up a finger to stop them as I turned to Rias. "Depending on your answers, this conversation could go either way. So tell me truthfully, what have you done with the kid?"
"Oh, you mean Hyoudou-kun?" Rias mused as she smiled at me. "I was under the impression that you don't talk to each other that much, considering the many attempts you have stopped him from peeping in the Kendo Club's changing room."
"That may be the case, but until yesterday he was a human being, and that meant someone whom I should be protecting from knowing the creatures from the other side." I replied back ambiguously. "And the fact that a few creatures of said side apparently ignored the fighting that was ensuing, and decided to turn a helpless person into one of their own on his deathbed, is something which I am having a lot of trust issues with."
Hey, I might sound cruel, but that was the truth.
"Ah, if that is the case, then you need not worry." Rias replied coolly without missing a beat. "He has been healed and I am not making do anything that would jeopardize his humanity. In fact, I just spotted him going to the Kendo Club's changing room with his buddies."
"…"
Yup, he must be fine if he was going to peek into the changing room after getting stabbed the night before. A sigh escaped my mouth as I rubbed my temple to ease the slight headache, pausing to look at Sona who was apparently doing the same thing as me. We both looked at each other for a moment before hanging our heads and sighing again.
Yes, Issei was about to become a general pain in the ass.
"All right, since he is safe, I guess I can now listen to this discussion." I just shook my head and leaned back to hear them. "So what is your verdict?"
"We would like to ask you to join us as a member of either one of our Peerages." Sona promptly said it after her mini exasperation fit. That definitely changed the mood in the room, as the girls from her group looked a lot more serious at her suggestion, while Rias's faction seemed a little subdued.
"Kaichou, I don't mean to interrupt, but are you sure?" Reya asked while peeking glances at me.
"I am very certain about the choice." Sona replied while gesturing with a hand. "Emiya-kun has quite a proficiency in fighting, and has more than enough capability to take on two fallen at the same time."
"Fallen?" I blinked at her while thinking back about the opponents I faced. So that's the name of Raynare's species, huh?
"As in the two you fought." Sona turned to me with a light frown, while Rias was looking at me with the same curious expression as that night. "Emiya-kun, by chance you did not know they were Fallen Angels?"
For a moment there was silence, then I opened my mouth. "What?"
"Seriously, you didn't know whom you were fighting?" Rias mused as she studied me even more while letting out a thoughtful smile. "How intriguing."
Sona ignored her comment as she focused her attention on me. "Emiya-kun, do you really not know that you fought off two agents of the Fallen Faction without understanding their identities?"
"… Okay, before we go any further, can I just confirm something?" I held up a hand to steady my head from the implications of her question. "When you are talking about Fallen Angels, you are referring to the ones who fall from grace and forever exiled by the Big Guy up there?" I motioned with my finger upwards to get the point.
"That would be the typical version from most literature." Reya replied as everyone was now giving their attention to me. "Emiya-kun, you are looking a little unsteady. Are you okay?"
"…"
Okay, I got the feeling that Zelretch and Archer were laughing their asses off right now. They must have joined forces to torment me for my lack of action for the past few months by throwing me some major curve balls. Damn them.
Okay, time for some damage control. It was clear that whatever knowledge I did have before, it was not enough for this world, and since I had more or less admitted my lack of knowledge regarding the creatures of this universe, I had to play it smart.
Guess I will go with the safer option: half-truths, no lies.
"Ha~ okay, considering how the number of questions in my head are increasing and our progress is going nowhere, let us first clear a few things in the air." I took a deep breath and let it out as I sat up straighter in the chair. "First, I think it is safe to say that both of our secrets are busted by each other, so I guess I should clear some stuff on my end. I am technically a third-rate magus who did not complete the training, since my first mentor died a few years ago. He and I are atheists, so forgive me if I find it a little hard to believe in the concept of God and his angels."
That was technically the truth. Dad never really believed much in Gods despite the evidence of their existence, and for my part, I was not too bothered about them since there weren't many left in my old world, unless they go around terrorizing people due to some stupid spell cast by some wreck-job. Even then, many of the magus in question were not believers in religion, since they were very practical and the idea of Fallen Angels or Devils were considered fairy tales.
"Yet you have no issues when we introduced ourselves as Devils last night?" Rias tilted her head as she asked. I looked at her steadily and replied in an even tone. "When you have fought enough demons, monsters and other inhuman creatures that hunt humans for sport or food, the term 'Devil' just becomes another synonym to refer to such creatures."
"I see." Sona nodded slowly as she pondered on my words. "But still, you are able to handle them easily without proper mentorship."
"Just because I did not complete my training, that does not mean I cannot pick up some skills to take down monsters." I replied back smoothly. "I do need some skills to survive after all."
Okay, really hating the way I am sounding like Archer. Let's get back on track.
"Now that you know I have a limited knowledge regarding you and those Fallen Angels, why don't you fill me in on the different creatures?" I leaned back in the chair. "And also, what do you mean by a peerage?" Sona and Rias looked at each other for a moment, before Rias gave a gesture that signalled to her to take the role of explaining the different bits to me.
"Very well, I think the best place to start is from the beginning, but I will give you the shortened version for better understanding." Sona readjusted her glasses again. "There was a war that raged on many millenniums by the three factions the moment they were born: the Angels led by God himself, the Fallen led by one of the first to fall from grace, Azazel, and finally the Devils, led by the original four Satans."
"Hold up, four Satans, as in plural?!" I interrupted her explanation with a hand while feeling the blood from my face getting flushed out at the implications that there were four such high-powered creatures leading the Devil faction.
"Yes, but they died during the final years of the war." Sona answered back with an expression that spoke of her getting used to people reacting to that particular part of the news. "Some time after, all three factions decided to call off the war and make an uneasy truce due to massive losses on all sides. This was particularly so for the devils whose numbers dropped deeply back then. It was during the peace period that Ajuka Beelzebub, one of the newer generation who took up the post as one of the 4 rulers, introduced the Evil Piece System." She took out an object that I recognized as one of the knight pieces for chess, albeit one that had a reddish tinge and what looked to be a small symbol at the side. She then held it out for me to take and observe.
I slowly brought out my hand, pausing just short of taking the object in question. I had some experience of creatures trying to catch me off guard with magical items, and whatever this chess piece was, it definitely had some odd scents from it, a mixture of water like that of Sona's, a hint of dark oak, and something oddly reminiscent of Zelretch for some reason but not as deeply 'flavored' as his. Still I don't think she would try anything that would…
All thoughts got put to a halt when I opened up my hand and she dropped the piece on it. The moment it touched my palm, the piece lit up brightly with a blue glow, and visions started to flash before my eyes.
A little girl running around on a field with another girl with twin-tails…
A field of ice and water surrounding her with a bull-like demon in front of her…
Battlefields of old and creatures both beautiful and monstrous clashing with one another…
An old man shrouded in white and light obscuring his face wielding lightning and blades to strike his enemies…
And finally four towering figures shrouded in shadows, the tallest of the lot turning his head slowly, his yellow eyes looking at me with fire around its iris and looking deeply into my soul…
The sound of drawn steel broke the visions and I was greeted to the sight of Kiba holding a sword up while some of the other occupants were up on their feet standing with a stance. I blinked and realised that I was up on my feet with the chair strewn on the ground, with the offending object on the ground, its glow slowly diminishing and eventually back to its original state.
"… That never happened before." Sona muttered as she looked at the evil piece while still seated on her chair. "I have never seen or heard such a reaction towards anyone in my life or the entire history."
"Yes, very interesting indeed." Rias who was still standing next to her mused while Akeno was by her side with electricity arcing from her fingers. She turned to me with a raised eyebrow. "Well you seemed to have recovered from that, so could you please keep the sword away?"
I blinked again in confusion at her words before realizing something was in my right hand. I looked to it for a moment, before letting out a word. "Oh."
In my grip, the runes on Lobera were glowing brightly while it was actively straining to leave my hand to cut down these creatures before me. The sword of Saint Ferdinand the third was a holy sword that I encountered during my trips to Spain, and its reputation of being a demonic slayer was certainly one to take note of. And unknown to the common folk, there was a very good reason why it was named 'Wolf-slayer', because in the past there was a magus who studied on Dead Apostles and lycanthropy, and at one point he decided that people would survived any catastrophes if they were no longer humans. He concocted a virus and injected it into a stray wolf that he caught, before releasing it into the nearby village, turning the inhabitants into raging werewolves within days.
The old Association and the old Church worked together for that period to contain the situation while forging a sword that would be able to bypass their natural defenses.
Soon after its completion, the man who would become the King of Castile took up the blade and singlehandedly went about killing off every single werewolf in his midst, eventually dealing he final blow to the creator who transformed into one himself. Due to its holy runes, it was extremely deadly to other demonic creatures.
And right now, I could feel its raging intent to cut off the heads of all the devils in the room.
...
Hey guys I really need you to throw some power Stones ;)
...
if you want to read ahead of the public release you can go to my p atreon :
p atreon.com/Aerle