"For now, it's only about a quarter of a Sacred Gear," Adrien said. "And it's barely usable in battle. The day it can automatically create formulas to reverse all kinds of techniques and phenomena, then I'll call it a true Sacred Gear."
Both of them looked stunned. Akeno had grasped the basic idea behind it, but to Issei, it all sounded like complete gibberish.
"Oh, so you're here."
A girl's voice came from the entrance. Everyone turned and saw Rias stepping into the shrine's main hall.
"So you finally came back," Rias said, her eyes settling on Adrien. "Where were you?"
"I was busy."
"Solving the Kira case?" Rias asked with a knowing smirk.
Akeno and Issei both turned toward Adrien, but he only looked confused.
"What case?"
That answer caught all of them off guard.
"The Kira case," Rias repeated. "More than two hundred people were murdered in a supernatural way, and I just received word that the case was solved last night."
"Huh?" Adrien frowned slightly. "I wasn't even in the human world. I had something to take care of in the Underworld."
Rias looked at Adrien with clear skepticism, but she decided not to press him any further. Instead, she turned to Issei.
"Did you get the sword?" she asked.
"Yeah," Issei said with a grin. "Now I've got a Holy Sword in my arsenal!"
"Has Archangel Michael already left?" Rias asked.
"Yes," Akeno replied calmly. "He seemed to be in quite a hurry."
"I see," Rias said with a nod. "Good. Then let's head back to the clubroom."
--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>
"Sigh..."
Adrien looked to his left. Celia was asleep, using his arm as a pillow. On his right, Mahiru was doing the same. Akeno was lying on top of him, her head resting on his chest.
'I can't even move. Is this what "suffering from success" means?'
After Adrien went to Kuoh Academy's old school building, he got an earful from his Familia. Later that night, when he was about to return to the shrine, Mahiru and Celia refused to let him leave. In the end, he stayed and slept in a room Rias had prepared for him. Akeno stayed as well.
And now he was stuck in this situation.
'Today's the meeting. After that, we'll move to Shibuya.'
Adrien vanished from the bed, and all three girls suddenly lost their pillows.
He appeared outside the Occult Research Club building and saw Issei and Asia helping a young blond boy train.
"Guh... I-Issei... I-I'm tired..." the boy whimpered, rubbing his eyes.
"Don't give up now!" Issei shouted back. "We have to achieve our dreams!" He threw another ball toward him.
'What dreams, it's probably a rapey since it's him'
"Issei, here's another one," Asia said gently as she handed him the next ball.
"Hm, so this is Rias's other Bishop," Adrien said, glancing at Gasper's eyes.
That single look was enough to make the half-vampire flinch and hide behind Issei.
"Yo, Adrien!" Issei said, waving at him. "Yeah, that's Gasper. Sorry, he's shy, but he's not a bad guy."
Adrien looked at him for a moment. "So he has Forbidden Balor View, huh? That's an incredible Sacred Gear. But he can't control it properly yet, right?"
"Yeah, that's why we're training him!" Issei said. "This is our usual practice. I throw a ball into the air, and Gasper is supposed to stop it in time."
"Alright, see ya later."
"Yeah!" Issei tried to raise his hand to wave at him but it was frozen. Gasper had suspended it
by mistake.
"Y-yelp! I-I'm so sorryyyyy!" he cried, collapsing down to the ground.
Adrien turned and walked away.
"I told you not to worry about stuff like this, didn't I? It's okay—we're training here, and you still need to get a lot more experience..."
Issei's voice lowered as Adrien got farther away.
--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>
Saeko was breathing heavily, her chest rising and falling as she pointed her sword at Adrien. Adrien stood across from her unarmed, watching her calmly.
"Again," he said.
Saeko rushed forward and swung her blade down in a vertical slash. Adrien tilted his body and dodged it with ease.
She attacked again, and again, and again, but Adrien kept avoiding or deflecting every strike with his bare hands. Then he stepped in and gave a light punch to her side.
Saeko dropped to her knees.
"You've gotten better," he said, reaching out to ruffle her hair.
She lowered her head. "No... I'm still the weakest in our Familia. Celia has way more experience than me, even though I'm worth three Pawns, and—"
Adrien crouched down until they were at eye level.
"That doesn't matter," he said. "I promised I'd make you stronger, right? So for now, just train as hard as you can. And don't compare yourself to the others, alright?"
Saeko's face turned red when he moved so close to her. She gave a small nod, avoiding his gaze.
"Master Adrien, can I talk to you for a second?" Xenovia asked from behind him.
Adrien stood up and turned toward her. "You don't have to call me Master," he said. "Just call me Andy, like Celia does. You too, Saeko."
Xenovia nodded, "Andy can we have sex?"
"Huh?" Adrien and Saeko both stared at her with flat expressions.
"Ever since I was a child, my dreams and goals were always tied to my faith," Xenovia said seriously. "I never once doubted that I was fighting demons in the name of the Lord, or that the Vatican's duty was to spread the Gospel. That is why, now that I have become a demon myself, I no longer know what I should strive for."
"What does that have to do with your request?!" Saeko asked, clearly confused.
"When I was serving the Lord, I had to cast aside the ordinary desires of a woman," Xenovia said without embarrassment. "I suppressed my wants for the sake of my faith. But as you can see, I am a demon now. At first, I did not know what to do. So while you were away, I asked Rias about it. She told me, 'Demons live through desire. They fulfill desires, grant desires, and long for desires. So try living for yourself.'"
"It's awfully close to what you told us," Saeko said looking at Adrien.
"Yeah, that's the kind of shit they tell to devil kids."
Xenovia placed a hand on her chest, her expression remaining as serious as ever.
"That is why I came to this conclusion," Xenovia said with complete seriousness. "I think I should finally release everything I have kept sealed inside me until now. My new goal... my new dream... is to have children."
"Wow," Adrien said flatly. "What a noble dream, Xenovia."
"Do you object? I'm confident in my body. My breasts might not be as large as Rias or Akeno, but they're certainly larger than Celia's, don't you think? They're worth a look, wouldn't you agree?"
"Xenovia!" Saeko cut in, her face turning red. "You can't just say things like that! At least say them to someone you actually like!"
"If I am going to have a child, then I want that child to be strong. I want the father to have powerful genes. In other words, I desire strength. That is why I believe you are the most suitable, Andy. You are the strongest person I have ever seen." Then, without the slightest embarrassment, she held up a few small packets of condoms, "let's practice using these first then we'll go raw."
Adrien sighed, "unbelievable... though not a bad idea" Adrien raised gave her a thumbs up.
Xenovia smiled happily, "Then let's go now."
"Wait you're agreeing!?" Saeko asked.
"Yeah why not? It's normal for the master to have skinship with his servants, I've been having sex with Celia for a while now.
Saeko looked blankly at Adrien, she also wanted to these things with him but she wasn't bold enough like Xenovia.
"Though not now, I wanna go buy some clothes. We'll do whatever you want Later."
"Oh, can I come with you?" Xenovia asked at once with a smile. "I want to buy a few things too."
"Sure. Want to come, Saeko?"
Saeko glanced between the two of them before answering. "Yeah. I'm not comfortable leaving you two alone. You might end up missing the meeting."
--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>
The meeting was being held in the staff conference room inside Kuoh Academy's new school building. Since it was a holiday, the summit had been scheduled late at night so nothing would disturb it.
The representatives of the three factions were already waiting in the lounge of the new school building. A powerful barrier covered the academy and the area around it in case anyone tried to interfere. But because of that, no one inside would be able to leave until the conference was over.
Outside the barrier, the forces of Heaven, the Fallen Angels, and the devils had each stationed a large number of troops around the school.
If anything went wrong during the summit, or if the negotiations collapsed, this place could become the first battlefield of a new war.
Knock-knock!
The prez tapped at the door to the venue of the Leaders' Summit.
"Excuse me," she said, moving to turn the handle.
Inside was a long, elegant table prepared specially for the meeting.
On the devil side sat Sirzechs and Serafall Leviathan. Grayfia stood behind them beside a tea trolley, waiting on them as usual.
On the angels' side were Michael and a beautiful young woman with pure-white wings and Irina Shidou was standing behind the archangel. On the fallen angels' side were Azazel and the White Dragon Emperor, Vali.
"These are my younger sister and her Familia," Sirzechs said, introducing us to the other leaders.
Rias stepped forward and offered her greetings politely.
"It was Rias and her Familia and Sona Sitri who stood against Kokabiel during his attack the other day," Sirzechs continued. "There is also Adrien, the devil who defeated him, but he has not arrived yet."
"I've read the report," Michael said. "Allow me to express my thanks once again."
Rias and Sona bowed their heads once more, both perfectly composed.
Sirzechs then turned toward Adrien's Familia, who were standing in one corner of the room. "Do any of you know where Adrien is?"
Celia stepped forward. She was the one most used to speaking in situations like this, but even she was clearly nervous.
"I'm deeply sorry, my Lord, but I do not know where our Master is," she said respectfully. "He told us to come ahead of him. I'm sure he'll be here soon."
Azazel chuckled. "That kid's got nerves of steel, making all of us wait like this."
"Why don't we attack his peerage?" Vali said with a faint smirk. "I'm sure he'll show up right away."
"Vali, keep those ideas to yourself," Azazel said dryly.
Click.
The door opened without so much as a knock, and Adrien walked in.
He was wearing a loose white haori over a tight black top, with a thick black scarf wrapped around his neck and a white sash tied at his waist. His lower half was covered by wide white hakama-style pants, finished with simple black slip-on shoes.
"Sorry for being late," he said with an easy smile.
Mahiru stared at him, her eyes shining. 'He looks so cool...'
Everyone in the room turned toward Adrien as he pulled out a chair and sat down at the table as if he had always belonged there.