Story 5: Chapter 4: The Calm before the Storm (Patreon)

Story 5: Skillful Reincarnation

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 4: The Calm before the Storm

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

- Sam -

I floated two kilometres up in the air, watching everything that went on below in the Kuoh Academy.

Suppressing my Demonic Power and using a light Illusion to cover my tracks, it was the best place to watch the whole scene from without being detected.

I was able to detect a few things.

The area was full of extremely strong Devils. They were just hiding and watching the fight go on. Azazel had ordered Vali to not hold back and bring down Kokabiel at the fastest speed.

At this point, they were just putting on a show to later use this incident as a trigger for the Peace Conference.

I wonder how Kokabiel would feel if he knew that his biggest move to cause a war was just a sham to make peace.

Vali didn’t play around either and Kokabiel was destroyed in a matter of seconds. The guy didn’t even get any chances to speak.

The reason I was here was for something else entirely.

- Sona Sitri -

Kneeling on the ground to catch her breath, she looked at the guy in the white armour flying in the air above them. In his hands was the reason for their condition.

Fighting a cadre was nothing like she had expected. They were destroyed one sidedly. She would admit that she had thought that even if they couldn’t win against him, they could at least hold him back or repel him. She was touted as one of the four strongest devils of the youngest generation and she had confidence in her strategic abilities but… he just crushed all those with brute strength. It was a massive wound to their pride.

She looked around. The only one still on her feet was Asia because she hadn't directly participated in the battle.

Just fighting off the Cerberus had been difficult for them but Akeno and Latia did it with the boosts from Issei. The boy had been relentless in this fight as well, boosting everyone to make up for their lack of strength.

And this guy… the rival of the Red Dragon Emperor, just finished off someone like that in moments.

It was a rude awakening for all of them. In fact, she had noticed that Rias’ peerage members had fought much better in this fight than hers. She knew that they had more potential than her peerage members but this was not just because of that. All of them had trained extremely hard in the past month to get to this level.

Just as she was thinking of this, she felt a chill down her spine and recognised the presence of Holy Aura behind her.

She turned just in time to see the deranged face of that exorcist boy a metre away from her with the combined Excalibur in his hand.

He must have used the Excalibur Transparency to hide, dammit.

A wall of ice was created in front of her, separating the attacker from her. The exorcist attacked nonetheless. A sword containing five fragments of the Holy Sword Excalibur, tearing away at the ice.

She froze as she felt her skin tingle from the Holy Aura but the sword never reached her. A pillar of flame descended from on top of the exorcist.

The ice wall became thicker and she saw the one creating the said wall. Grayfia.

When the fire pillar subsided, there was nothing left of the exorcist, only the sword.

The ice wall had melted.

Grayfia stood protectively in front of her and looked up. She followed her gaze and found another figure in the sky above them.

A guy with a mask.

“You missed one.” He looked at the white armoured guy who merely shrugged.

“I was only told to bring Kokabiel. The others were not my problem.”

The first guy merely sighed.

From his voice, he seemed relatively young.

“Anyways, they had several of the stronger Devils in hiding anyway. They can take care of this. Let’s go.”

They both flew away with those words.

What?!

She looked at Grayfia in front of her. Were they present there from the very start?

“I didn’t know you were coming here too.”

“Just didn’t want to take any chances.”

“Then we have nothing left to do here. Let’s go.” White Dragon Emperor said before turning to Issei. “I was really looking forward to meeting my rival but you disappointed me.”

They teleported away, leaving everyone with a complicated emotion.

- Sam -

“So what’s your real goal?” Vali asked as we got a little bit away from the Devils.

“I am out to recruit.”

“Who?”

“The Durandal wielder. She would get thrown aside by the Church. Just wanted to make sure nothing happened to her.”

"Is she strong?"

"She has potential."

"Your responsibility then."

I nodded. I was talking to him but had already started copying Kokabiel’s Skill.

The Fallen Angel cadre had several C Ranked Skills but I wanted to test my theory so I went after his C Ranked Fallen Angel Bloodline.

The Skill was copied in twenty minutes and I smiled as my speculation was proved correct once again.

S Ranked Luck

A Ranked Severing

B Ranked Holy Demonic Magic

B Ranked Lucifer Bloodline

B Ranked Belial Bloodline

B Ranked Phenex Bloodline

C Ranked Belphegor Bloodline

B Ranked Demonic Power

B Ranked Touki

B Ranked Devil Magic

C Ranked Enhanced Physique

C Ranked Magic Resistance

C Ranked Swordsmanship

C Ranked Senjutsu

C Ranked General Human Magic

C Ranked Curse Magic

C Ranked Elemental Magic(Human)

C Ranked Light Resistance

C Ranked Holy Resistance

C Ranked Light Magic

C Ranked Enhanced Reflexes

C Ranked Enhanced Strength

C Ranked Enhanced Endurance

C Ranked Enhanced Speed

I felt my power rising with the Lucifer Bloodline jumping to the B Rank with the addition of Kokabiel’s Bloodline. In a sense, it did make sense. Lucifer rebelled so first he must have Fallen before doing whatever he did to acquire Demonic Power… and Kokabiel was his brother.

The Bloodlines matching to some extent was a given.

I had three B Ranked Bloodlines now and twelve wings. In fact, I could even control my Phenex side to make twelve wings of fire manifest instead of normal ones.

Vali went to bring Kokabiel to Grigori by himself.

With today's gains, I returned back home.

Rias was at home already.

The atmosphere was quite strange today. I had all but proposed to her by my actions. It might have been in the heat of the moment but now things are strange.

Our relationship has been quite ambiguous for the last few weeks and while none of us put things to words, our actions said it all.

"How did things go on your side?"

 She asked me.

“Quite good. I was able to get Kokabiel’s Bloodline and my guess was correct." I replied as I took off my jacket.

She took it from me and kept it in the cupboard while I washed my face.

"Anything else happened?"

"They took our information well. There were several powerful devils in the place. Grayfia was there too. There was that Freed guy though. He was actually planning to take Sona hostage but Grayfia intervened and then I took him out. And no they didn't see my face. I was using a mask." I answered before she could worry.

"I see."

"Did you eat? I will get something ready in a minute."

"I made something already. I was just waiting for you to return."

"Let me take a bath then."

"I need to take a bath too. Let me join you."

"Hmm."

We undressed and got in for a bath. It was what we had been doing for over a month and half now but today it was awkward.

She removed the dye from her hair today and her crimson hair was out again.

Dammit, she always looks mind numbingly beautiful with this hair colour. 

I let out a sigh of relief within my head when she took a seat with her back on my chest once more.

At least she wasn't angry.

It was then that I understood something.

I was afraid that if I said those words and was rejected, things would get very awkward and so, I just kept quiet.

The atmosphere lasted even when we ate our dinner.

When it was time to sleep, as a ritual for us now, we undressed. and got in the bed just like everyday.

Normally, we talk about one thing or another but today there were no words.

Suddenly, a few hours in, she turned towards me and buried her face in my chest. I caressed her hair and then leaned to place a kiss on her head lightly.

Minutes passed but from our breathing I knew that none of us were sleeping.

I closed my eyes and thought about something. This world is dangerous. There wasn’t a guarantee of what might happen tomorrow. If I were to die tomorrow, what would I regret the most?

Not being able to see my family once more.

Yes.

The last month or so, it was a thought I was subconsciously acclimating myself to already. The chance that I could return back home was next to none.

One of the reasons I worked so hard was to keep myself busy to not remember this.

During this time, the girl in my arms had been an irreplaceable support to me. So much so that I can’t even think of a life without her.

When I tried to think of such a life, it felt… so empty.

Fuck… I am really in love with her.

Just what the fuck am I doing being a coward like this? I let out a sigh.

“Did something happen?” Hearing the sigh, she looked up at me and asked.

“I was thinking of something.”

“Something worrying you?”

“I… was thinking of what I would regret if something were to happen to me right now.”

She stifled so I caressed her back.

“And somehow when I thought earnestly, I found out that not being able to see my family for the last time was… not the top thing.”

She looked up at me curiously. Her gaze was filled with worry. Just pure genuine worry and care for me.

One look into her blue eyes and I knew what I needed to do.

I took a deep breath.

“You alright, Sam?”

“I love you Rias.”

….

“Huh!”

– Rias –

She looked at him with wide opened eyes as if doubting that she had fallen asleep and this was just a dream, a very sweet dream which she wanted to continue forever.

The past two months had brought her closer to Sam. More than she had been to anyone else.

Maybe it was just their circumstances or maybe it was their compatibility with each other or maybe a combination of both but the fact that she felt the most comfortable when she was in his arms like just now.

She couldn’t even imagine what she would do if she lost this. And so, even when she knew everything, even when she knew for sure that he felt the same, especially after what happened today, she couldn’t bring herself to say those words... just because of that minuscule chance that she would be disappointed and lose all of this.

There was also a chance that he would agree but only for her sake, not because he wanted to. She didn’t want to take advantage of him.

But to hear him say those words, now she didn’t know how to react.

She looked as his expression turned from earnest to slightly pained and then disappointed and realised that she was in daze for too long and he was misunderstanding things.

“I’m sor…” He began to say but couldn’t complete because she leaned in and shut his mouth with her own lips. His breath stilled but only for a moment before he responded as his arms wrapped around her protectively and she let herself melt into it as she concentrated on enjoying this moment.

Their lips barely separated from each other for who knew how long and when they did, she lay her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat.

“What made you suddenly confess today?” She asked, intrigued.

She felt him chuckle lightly.

“I didn’t want to be like those idiots who like the girl but don’t say it till she is taken away by others only to cry later. That's a classic ntr plot, ya know?”

….

She looked at him incredulously.

“What? You wanted some high and mighty reason? I confessed because I love you. What else would I need? Is this not okay with you?”

She thought for a second and she really didn’t mind. So what if it wasn’t an anime level of fancy scene. This was her own scene and she loved it just how it was.

But still… she was in the mood to get spoiled right now. “So, what do you like about me?” She smirked. “Is it because I’m one of your favourite waifus?”

“Hmm, let me think.” He turned towards her, gazing into her eyes. “First, it was a bit because of it. I mean who wouldn’t love their favourite waifu if they appeared right in front of them?”

“Oh favourite? Not one of your favourites?”

“You are never letting it go, are you?” He sighed and she giggled.

“Never.”

“Yes, favourite. You have supported me in what was and probably is the darkest point of my life yet and I don’t know when I just fell in love with you. As for what I like about you? I like everything. I like your crimson hair, your blue eyes, your beautiful smile, your caring nature, the way you immerse yourself when watching an anime, the way you brush your hair behind your ears when working, the way you…”

She was blushing red at this point and didn’t want him to continue because of her embarrassment so she did the only thing she knew to shut him up.

They kissed again.

- Sam -

Really, this girl is an enigma.

She was laying naked in my arms but me complimenting her is what makes her blush. She was now hiding in my chest to avoid looking into my eyes due to her embarrassment. And I just teased her a bit.

The good thing was that the awkwardness between us was completely gone now.

We slept very peacefully together.

_________________________________x_________________________________

Kuroka returned the next day.

She was keeping an eye on Xenovia yesterday, being the most experienced one among us with these types of things. I was still learning.

As expected, Xenovia was excommunicated by the Church as soon as she asked about the information about God.

Another piece of information we got was that Rias’ former peerage members were participating in the Youth Devil Tournament under Damon Glasya-Labolas. It looks like Sirzechs was making good use of the information we had given him.

Then we got another piece of news. Two weeks later, the Peace Conference was going to be held at Kuoh Academy.

“Why are you two so lovey dovey today nya~?” Kuroka asked, narrowing her eyes.

“Excuse me? We are just as we always were.”

“No no. There is something different.” Her eyes widened suddenly. “Did you two do it! Congratulations, princess. You are a woman now. Well played, Rias. Well played.”

“What nonsense are you talking about? We did nothing of that sort.” I retorted.

“Lies. The way the princess is blushing with a tinge of smugness. My cat instincts can’t be wrong about this.”

“We just kissed, alright.” I finally relented, sighing.

“Eh? Just that? Aww, that’s so precious.” She spoke, making the already embarrassed girl even more flustered.

I held her hand below the table and we completed eating our food.

__________________________________x________________________________

Xenovia was easy to recruit.

She was already without any purpose and jumped at the opportunity to get a purpose in life when Rias offered her one.

It’s just that she was a total muscle head.

She had no sense of tact and could blurt out our secrets at any time so she wasn’t included when we had to participate in the Khaos Brigade headquarters.

Most of the time, she trained under Arthur or me.

I got a C Ranked Holy Swordsman Skill from her. Just another thing to add to my collection by now.

The Youth Devil Conference was in three months.

I needed to get stronger.

But before the Youth Devil Conference, there was another event.

We were called to the Headquarters of Khaos Brigade to discuss it.

So, here we are, sitting around the same table to find out how they planned to mess up this time.

Our seating position this time was near the Old Satan faction which included Shalba, Katerea and Creusery. There was an unexpected addition to this group. Silver braided hair and red eyes. The man was actually stronger than all three of the Satan descendants if we didn’t include the snake of Ophis boosting their power.

On the other side was the Magician Organisation.

I also noticed that all of the Satan Descendants had flawed bloodlines which meant they didn’t inherit their clan traits. How surprising. But they had enough good things to copy. I mean all of them had C Ranked Demonic Powers boosted to a B Rank with Ophis’ Snake.

My Demonic Power was already in the B Rank and still increasing but hey, all help is appreciated.

The thing I copied from Euclid was his B Ranked Magical Science Knowledge. The idiots were discussing ways to interrupt the Peace Conference and kill the leaders. The plan was the same as before. They were planning to use Gasper’s Sacred Gear to incapacitate the faction leaders and take them down.

It was so fucking stupid that I didn’t even have words for it. But somehow they believed that it would work.

Did they really think it would work? With only B Ranked powers?

Just because they could overload a Sacred Gear? If it were so easy, Forbidden Balor View users would have been ruling the world by now.

Euclid was actually deciding to throw his own input here because currently Gasper was Grayfia’s peerage member and that made it personal for him.

I felt Rias grab my hand under the table and I slowly caressed the back of it.

There were arguments about who would go. Vali was automatically in as he was going as Azazel’s guard. As for the others who would join the attack would be Katerea and Creuserey.

One more than what I knew of. This meant that the butterflies were already flapping their wings and changes were starting to affect the whole world.

The meeting went on and I was able to get three Devil Magic Cards from all three Satan Descendants.

My Demonic Power had reached B Rank yesterday soon after my Lucifer Bloodline reached B Rank and it was still rising at an insane rate. These people were the descendants of the strongest families of the Devils. Surely, they would have some magic which would be above normal devils.

Not to mention, I wasn’t going to copy Demonic Power or Magical Power in front of Ophis. She had caught me the last time and even today, she was just staring at me.

We went out on a break to gather again.

Kuroka entered the room fuming. “Those damned bastards. I will…”

“What happened?”

“It was the Hero faction idiots. Heracles and Cao Cao.” She replied with gritted teeth.

The guy was being a dick. He was asking Heracles to provoke us to cause a fight.

Basically looking for a reason to fight it out.

From the information we received, he had attained an incomplete version of his Balance Breaker and was looking to show off.

“Ignore them. We just need to get this done with. If they attack however… don’t hold back. Just don’t let them pick us off separately.” Vali ordered while listening to music in one corner of the room.

I sighed. These people were really kids.

And I was proven right. When we returned for the meeting, Cao Cao, that idiot was keeping the True Longinus out just to edge out our team which had four Devils. The smirks on their faces were already evident of this.

Kuroka was openly glaring at them while Vali didn’t even bother to look at them.

Rias was feeling uncomfortable but was holding the discomfort.

As for me, I was checking the Skills on the True Longinus.

S Ranked Sealing Magic

A Ranked God’s Bloodline
A Ranked Divine Will
A Ranked Divine Magic
A Ranked Holy Magic

Wow.

It wasn’t even funny how busted it was. And this was a wisp of his will.

This alone made me realise how busted God of the Bible must have been when he was alive.

S Ranked Sealing Magic.

I so wanted to copy it but there was no way for Cao Cao to sit here for 9 hours without moving.

Dammit… what should I do?

Thankfully someone else intervened. Katerea was offended at the sight of the spear. “Keep that abomination away. If you cannot contribute anything to the meeting then sit back quietly like the cowards you are.”

“What did you say?” He growled as he got up with the spear.

I watched wishing I had some popcorn on me.

The matter didn’t escalate much but Cao Cao kept back the True Longinus.

I took this opportunity to throw in some fuel on the fire. "You know, while the idea of using magicians for barriers is good. Using the Dimension Lost would ensure there are no accidents. We are planning to assassinate the current leaders of the Three Factions, not some commoners from the streets."

My team looked at me curiously, while the Hero faction looked offended.

"And why should we work for them?" Cao Cao bristled.

"Eh? I thought you all would appreciate this choice. I mean, wasn't your entire thing fighting with strong supernaturals? And I am pretty sure none of your ancestors would have done something like this. Obviously, if you are scared… I mean I did think you wave around that spear too much to overcompensate for certain things…"

"What did you say!" The guy stood up, aura rising.

"Me? Which one? The second one?It was an innuendo about how you have a small penis. The first one was advice about making a barrier around the Peace Conference to isolate the leaders of the Three Faction. Did you not hear it properly? You got cotton in your ears bro?"

Before the matters could get any words, Euclid interrupted. "What he said wasn't wrong. Making a barrier around the place, not to mention using the True Longinus would make the success rate of the mission go much higher."

"Are you trying to say that we are weak, Euclid?" Katerea asked, warning in her voice.

"No. I am merely talking about the off case that someone escapes. After all, it's better to be prepared for such cases."

I looked at Euclid who nodded at me.

The fuck is with that nod, dammit. What's with adding the True Longinus?

I took a deep breath and calmed myself.

Now I will have to think of something. Actually, I can just send the message to Rias' peerage and through her to Sirzechs and let them take care of it.

"If that's the case then you don't mind joining the attack, do you? Giving advice is easy. But are you brave enough to stand and fight?" Cao Cao taunted.

"Eh! Brave? Me? No way. I am just a normal chef. I'll pass. Thank you."

He was completely stunned at the reply.

What? Never expected the reply? Did you think I will just jump in like a xianxia protagonist and be Junior, you dare or courting death? I am more of the shameless protagonist types. I would totally kick you when you are down and poison your milk to kill you off because I have no intention of unnecessarily risking myself.

The other people dissed me while the members of the Vali team just laughed.

As usual the meeting ended soon enough and this time I copied some Skills from the Magicians to pass the time.

When we went back to the base, Vali questioned me. "What was all that about?"

"A trap. I will inform Rias' brother about the plan and disable Georg's Sacred Gear during the attack. If Georg were to get captured or die, the Hero faction would lose more than half their power. Not to mention if Cao Cao were to get captured…."

"Did you see anything again?"

"Cao Cao and the Hero faction would attack Kyoto but worse still, they will attack the Underworld and steal Ophis' power."

"That's impossible." Albion appeared behind Vali and said.

I immediately started the copy on the S Ranked Divide. A funny thing was that Boosts can be obtained from Twice Criticals but Divide was only available in the Divine Dividing. I would have liked Reflect but Mirror Alice has Reflect too. Divide on the other hand was just too versatile to let go.

"Not if they use the Dragon Eater."

….

"But that's…"

"Sealed. But Hades has a massive hate boner for 2/3rds of the Abrahamic factions. He will lend it to Cao Cao who will then overload the Annihilation Maker and cause riots in the Underworld. Heavy destruction. Rebellion of the Reincarnated Devils but to be honest that was the fault of the Devil race. They use the dispersed power of Ophis to create a new Dragon, Lilith who becomes Rizevim Livan Lucifer's bodyguard and things go to shit from there."

Vali's attention was focused on Rizevim's name, so I took the opportunity to tell them of some of the future events. We discussed what would be our next plan of action and how we can stop them before they can cause any damage.

I delayed some explanations and dragged out some topics to get to the three hour mark. Thankfully, the room was small enough for us to be in range.

Three hours later, Divide was copied.

It was decided that Kuroka and I will take care of sending the message to Sirzechs.

They will investigate Valerie while Arthur and Ley Fey will search for the information about the ancient weapon of the Gods, a Stone Giant, Gomagog. They had heard about it from Ophis. They were also investigating Ingvild Leviathan and seeing if we could do something about her.

Finally, the Nebiros House which had the Malebranche.

I didn't even want to get close to them until I was a good way into the A Rank.

We all left for our respective homes.

Kuroka went out to investigate stuff while Rias and I returned back home. Xenovia was there alone, training in the Underground training room.

I rechecked to see if she was coming back and then hugged Rias from behind.

"Sam!"

"Hmm."

"Xenovia is at home."

"She's training. I checked already."

"Let's go to our room. Not here. She can come at any moment."

"So? Let her see how much I love my girlfriend." I teased as the blush on her face became atomic.

I was loving this side of her which I discovered since my confession. It was just so refreshing as well as a stark contrast to the usual bold type persona which she exhibited generally.

– Xenovia –

She wiped off her sweat, having finished her training. The gravity training was tough but it gave results too.

Just within a period of a week, her life had changed. From an exorcist who hunted devils to becoming one herself.

But then again, at least this way she has a goal in life.

Shaking her head, she went up to get cleaned and make something to eat.

She noticed the presence of people in the room. Did they return from the meeting?

She headed to the door of their room to ask them about the meeting but was stopped when she heard weird voices.

The door was slightly open and she could see what was going on within.

Rias and Sam were completely naked, making out with each other.

They broke their kiss after several minutes and Sam went down, taking her breasts in his mouth while his other hand played with her other breast.

She moaned, grabbing his hair and pushing him against her breasts harder.

One of his hands slipped down between her legs and her body arched suddenly.

He went down from her breasts to between her thighs. Xenovia saw her biting her lips and covering her mouth with one hand to stifle her moans.

Their moans were resounding in the room and Xenovia found herself feeling a little strange. Obviously she knew what they were doing. Sam was a Lucifer, the strongest among the Devil bloodlines. He was obviously the prime choice for having a child for any female Devil.

They were obviously practising for future reproduction. Xenovia observed them and took notes.

Was that how big all men were supposed to be?

Rias took a hold of the thing and placed a kiss on the tip before taking the entire tip into her mouth and licked it. He groaned in what Xenovia thought was pleasure as he was caressing her head lightly. She bobbed her head up and down, taking a bit more of the whole thing every time. Xenovia found her hand’s reaching between her legs as she was beginning to get hotter. Her finger traced her own slit and moved in the same rhythm as Rias was moving her head.

Both sides were getting heated up when she heard Sam groaning. He gripped Rias’ hair and pulled her in and she hugged him too despite the slight gag. Sam pulled back after a few moments and Xenovia observed her gulping something.

“That was hot nyaa. Just kissed my sexy butt. I knew something was going on.” A voice came from behind her. She was about to yelp but a hand shut her mouth, preventing her from shouting. “Be quiet or they will hear us.”

Kuroka!

She hadn’t noticed when but Kuroka had slipped behind her and was currently in the same position as her. The kimono she was wearing had slipped down her shoulder and her hands were between her thighs, touching her core while she watched the raunchy scene in the room.

“Don’t make noise or Sam will notice us instantly nyaa. I am hiding us with great difficulty nyaa. Sam has gotten very good at Senjutsu.”

Over the next hour or so, both Kuroka and she shared some ideas about their ideal mate. She found out that Sam had grown immensely in the last two months and was extremely talented. In fact Kuroka wanted him as a mate too but Rias was first and she was just maintaining courtesy.

As for watching, this was just collecting information to ensure better performance.

Yes. Just preparing for her own future.

As Kuroka said, 'Know yourself and know your enemy and a thousand battles will be won.'

- Sam -

I was back in Kuoh to pass on the information about the attack by the Khaos Brigade on the Peace Conference.

Today, I contacted the members of Grayfia Lucifuge’s peerage once more. The request was for healing wounds. I left the injuries I had gotten from sparring and training yesterday just for show.

One would be surprised how hard it’s to do when you have Phenex Bloodline.

I was hoping it would be Asia Argento because I was hoping to copy the use of her Twilight Healing Sacred Gear. It was a great tool for healing.

We tried to make some Phenex Tears, one of the main reasons why I copied the Phenex Bloodline. The process was extremely annoying.

To make a single tear, we needed to be in a completely neutral emotional state. If there were any emotions when shedding the tear, it would make the tear useless. Sometimes it takes hours to make just one tear.

It took a lot of tries before I could make even one of them. I kinda understood why it was so pricey and I found a cheat to it later on. Senjutsu included many techniques to empty the mind and when used they help increase the production speed of the Phenex Tears by a lot. It’s just that to reach that level of expertise in Senjutsu is tough. Extremely so.

Nevertheless, I made a couple of them and gave one to Rias, Kuroka and Xenovia while keeping the last one to me. Surprisingly, both Rias and Kuroka decided to give their Phenex Tears to me to pass on to her peerage and Koneko respectively. Surprisingly, even Xenovia passed on her share for Asia of all people to make up for insulting her. This made me respect that muscle headed girl a bit more.

As I was thinking of these things, there was a knock on the door and I found a cute blonde girl waiting for me outside the door. “Yes.”

“Umm… did you summon a Devil?” She asked.

I decided to tease her a little. “I did but I wasn’t expecting an angel. Are you going to punish me, Miss Angel?”

The girl looked flustered and hurriedly denied. “I-I am not an Angel.”

“Hahahaha I was just joking. Don’t mind me. Come on in.” I led her to one of the rooms. “Will you need me to show you the wounds to heal them?” I asked.

“Y-yes. It will be easier and better if you do so.”

“Alright. Then excuse me.” I opened my shirt and showed my back. There was quite a lot of bruising. I was sparring with Bikou while being restrained under gravity. It was hard. The fact that there were even bruises on my body after so long was already evident of how tough our training was. Bikou was going all out and I was matching him with my physique and Senjutsu alone. This goes to show how long I have come in just a single month.

She started healing and I observed her Sacred Gear.

Twilight Healing has the power to go up to B Rank in terms of pure healing. Actually, it was superior in terms of pure healing than even the Sephiroth Graal and that’s saying something.

Currently Asia has only mastered it up to D Rank which means she still has a lot of way to go.

I started the copy on the skill while I engaged her in a conversation.

She really is a very sweet girl. I was even sceptical that there could be such a sweet girl alive. I was so thankful that Diodora was already dead meat.

This type of person doesn’t deserve any more sadness in her life.

Even when the Skill was copied, we sat and talked about several things and I gave her a cake I had baked for everyone back home.

How could those bastards in the church ever throw out someone like her?

By the time we were ready to leave, I knew I had to do one thing.

I walked up to her and pinched her cheeks. “You are adorable, Asia.” She looked surprised but I just laughed. ”If anyday, you have any trouble, call me for help and I will help you out. Promise.”

“Ah umm, thank you. I… what is your name, SIr?”

“Me? You can call me big brother. As for my name, I thought Issei would have told you?”

“Issei-san?”

“Yes. I did meet him last time.” I smiled. “My name is Samuel or Sam, whichever you like.”

“Wha… you are… are Buchou-san and Koneko-chan’s elder sister alright? How did you get hurt? They are not hurt, are they?” She barraged me with a number of questions while rechecking my body once more to see if she left any spot.

“Hahahaha these were just injuries from my training. Don’t worry about these. As for Rias and Kuroka, they are alright. Both of them have sent something for you all. The packet is on the dining table. I actually wanted to inform Rias’ elder brother about something so I had to pretend to call one of you out. I could heal my injuries anytime I wanted.”

“Umm, why don’t you all come back? Everyone is so worried.” She asked, hesitantly.

“This… right now, it’s better we stay outside and do our part to help everyone out. It’s hard but someone has to do it. You all are working hard too. I saw it during the attack on Kokabiel. You all have grown a lot compared to what Rias told me.”

“You were there?”

“I was. Rias and Kuroka wouldn’t take any risks when it came to you all and we didn’t know if our message was taken seriously so I was there to prevent any mishap. Thankfully, nothing was needed. I am sorry for not intervening in the fight. I couldn’t reveal myself if I could avoid it.”

“I-it’s fine. Thank you for keeping an eye on us.” She bowed as I was amazed at the pure hearted nature of the girl. She didn’t even doubt me for a moment.

This right here needed to be protected. At any cost.

I couldn't help but smile at her.

"Listen here, Asia."

"Yes."

"If you want to get Issei…"

"Wha… I'm… it's not like…"

"Oh please. Did you forget that I can see the glimpses of the future? Now listen. If you don't want to become only one of many girls in his harem and actually want some time with him, get working. First things first, go and confess."

She was beet red by this point and looked like she would faint anytime.

Sigh

"Okay, close your eyes." I put a hand on her head.

She followed without any question.

"Imagine that in a few years, Issei is married, has cute kids, is living happily" a smile formed in her face, "Now imagine that the girl who is married to him is not you. Someone else took the opportunity to confess earlier and got together with him. All you can do is stand on the side and look at them. How would you feel then, Asia?"

The reaction from her was not something I imagined. Tears started falling from her eyes.

"Oh boi, wake up, Asia. Wake up." I shook her into the present and wiped her tears. "Nothing like that has happened. There is still time. You need to grab this chance. For all his shouting about getting a harem, he is actually still traumatised about what that Fallen Angel did to him. So if he doesn't accept it the first time, don't worry. You need to make him understand that you actually love him and that you will not do what happened to him previously. Do this and you will get what you want."

Over the next hour, I gave her some tips about what to do to get that idiot running after her. Before leaving, I left her with my share of a Phenex Tear too.

I could always make some more for myself again.

We need to get to the second task now that our work here was done.

- Sirzechs -

“Another package?” He asked, just to make sure he heard it right.’

Grayfia nodded. He did notice her disturbed expressions. He will ask her later.

He took the letters and read the message. It was Rias’ writing without a doubt. He held back a sigh.

On one hand, he wanted his sister out of that place and back home but as a leader of his race, he couldn’t deny that the work she was doing was extremely important for the entire Devil Race.

His brows furrowed reading the letter.

There were slight changes in the plan and even the circumstances and reasons for such a change. True Longinus and Dimension Lost being involved. Not to mention Euclid being alive… It explained Grayfia’s expressions.

Ophis’ snake and Suicide attacks.

Using Gasper…

He turned towards the young bishop Asia, who was sitting beside Issei, surprisingly holding his hand. From the expression of the boy, it seemed as if things had developed between them.

One time he had thought of matching him with Rias, seeing his feelings for her but as they say about the best laid plans of men and mice…

At the very least both of them were more relaxed than before.

The girl looked a bit tense from his gaze.

“You don’t have to look scared. Tell me everything about today’s encounter.”

“Umm Sam-san came here to leave information for you because Buchou-san and Kuroka-san were worried. I was called for a task of healing someone and he greeted me at the door of the house. I proceeded to heal him.”

“What kind of injuries? Were they in some kind of a fight? Is Rias alright?” He questioned.

“Ah yes, Buchou-san is alright. Sam-san just needed a reason to call me for the contract. He said the injuries were from his training. It’s…”

“What is it?”

“He was very injured. Bruises and cuts from what seemed to be swords all over his body. He kept those just so he could get an appointment with me without attracting suspicion.”

That was… quite smart.

He will need to have Grayfia teach them to assess people before accepting contracts. If Sam can do it then any enemy could do it too.

“We talked for a while. He said that he was watching the fight with Kokabiel because Kuroka-san and Buchou-san were worried that any of us might get injured if their message was not taken seriously. He didn’t interfere because he sensed the presence of many strong devils.”

Reasonable.

“He gave us some gifts from Buchou-san and Kuroka-san and finally…”

“Finally?”

The girl blushed. “He asked me to call him big brother and gave me this.”

She presented him with a vial and he checked it promptly, his eyes widening as he realised what the vial contained.

“Phenex Tears! What did Rias and Kuroka send?” He asked Grayfia.

“The same. There were three vials of Phenex Tears apart from this one. The last one was from former exorcist Xenovia Quarta who is recruited by Rias as her knight to Asia Argento apologising for her misbehaviour.” She pointed to the next letter.

The Durandal Wielder has now joined Rias’ peerage. This was good news.

But how did they get so many Phenex Tears? His relations with the Phenex House hadn’t gotten any better and they had stopped selling Phenex Tears to him, citing different reasons. Were they selling to the enemies?

No. If so then they would have reported this.

Four tears would be worth a LOT.

Another thing he will have to investigate.

For now, he had other things to plan for. The Peace Conference was of the utmost importance and he couldn’t afford to mess up.

- Sam -

The day of the Peace Conference had come.

Last week, we ran around like crazy. I practised the spells I had learned and pushed myself to stimulate my bloodlines. It’s crazy how much the increase can be when someone has bloodlines of such high levels.

My Demonic Power was rising like no one’s business. It was obvious. I had three B Ranked Bloodlines so it would be stranger if my powers didn’t rise.

All leaders had started gathering here since morning.

Kuroka and I had taken three days and dug out some places throughout the entirety of the Kuoh Academy to hide and placed small barriers around the place. Euclid had some great spells.

The Hero Faction were going to attack today and I wanted to make sure they disband after today’s fight.

Georg was currently working with the magicians to set up the barrier. His Dimension Lost working overtime to make another dimension where the leaders were supposed to be pulled when Gasper’s powers were activated…

What the idiot didn’t know was that… I was one of those magicians.

Copying the magician’s skills and replacing him was easy enough with my powers and disguise.

Dimension Lost was an amazing piece of Equipment.

A Ranked Space Magic

A Ranked Sealing Magic

A Ranked Barrier Magic

He had only been able to use it to C Rank right now. One of the reasons why he needed so many magicians to help him establish a barrier strong enough to isolate the leaders.

But I didn’t have time to copy those right now so I waited till the guy was almost done with setting the barrier.

All he needed to do was activate his Dimension Lost and drag the leaders in this other dimension and they will be trapped here for a while.

They were using some kind of devices to set up and strengthen the barrier and members of the Hero Faction were guarding these. Georg was with their newest member Leonardo as he would need to be protected as he created his monsters from a safe place for the attack and Georg could take him and run away easily in case of danger.

Leonardo was a twelve year old kid. These Hero faction people had forcibly brainwashed tons of Sacred Gear users and pushed them into dangerous situations to get them to awaken their Balance Breakers. They wanted to use this conference to increase their strength so there were other Sacred Gear users too.

Most of them were only at E or D Rank with only Leonardo being at C.

I started copying the Annihilation Maker while the kid was asleep.

Unique objects like the Annihilation Maker cannot be copied but rather stolen. They get transformed into cards which I could keep with myself or even use on others.

Twenty minutes later, I started Copy on Georg himself who was resting to recover power before the conference started and it was done without any hitch another twenty minutes later.

Poor Georg didn’t realise this but while he was taking a short nap, he lost his biggest weapon and gave me the control of the entire barrier as well as their lives.

I quietly slipped by to the next part of my plan.

________________________________x__________________________________

The meeting was taking place on the ground floor, Principal’s Office. 

One of my hiding places was prepared two metres below the office so that I could be in range of the leaders.

The attack was scheduled to take place in a few hours time.

Rias and Kuroka had infiltrated the magicians tasked with capturing Gasper and will only activate the Sacred Gear when I go there which means that I have just enough time to copy everyone’s cards.

Looking at the cards in front of me, I couldn’t help but grin. I even used my One Time Multiple Target Card for today.

Especially since there were several more people in the room than I was expecting due to the upcoming attack.

Heaven’s side had sent Michael and Gabriel. They had brought Dulio Gesualdo and Vasco freaking Strada as their guards.

Michael’s Skills were something which would suit the current Leader of Heaven.

B Ranked Great Seraph Bloodline(Michael)

B Ranked Holy Magic

B Ranked Light Magic

B Ranked Angelic Magic

B Ranked Holy Wind Magic

B Ranked Wind Magic

B Ranked Swordsmanship

B Ranked Martial Arts

B Ranked Holy Resistance

B Ranked Light Resistance

B Ranked Holy System Control

B Ranked Management

B Ranked Tactician 

B Ranked Leadership

There were several other C Ranked Skills and I didn’t even start to count the D Ranked ones and below.

B Ranked Great Seraph Bloodline.

Michael was the twin brother of Lucifer so if there is a bloodline closest to his, it would be Michael’s.

Will my Bloodline get boosted from this?

The next was Gabriel who had

B Ranked Great Seraph Bloodline(Gabriel)

B Ranked Holy Magic

B Ranked Light Magic

B Ranked Angelic Magic

B Ranked Holy Water Magic

B Ranked Water Magic

B Ranked Martial Arts

B Ranked Holy Resistance

B Ranked Light Resistance

B Ranked Management

B Ranked Politics

B Ranked Leadership

There were different Bloodlines for all Great Seraphs?

I noticed that Michael’s card was darker in colour which means it was stronger than Gabriel’s. Was it because of his Golden Wings?

What will happen if I combine all the Great Seraph Bloodlines with my own?

Only way to know. I started a copy on Gabriel’s Bloodline too.

Vasco Strada cards made me question if he was even a Human

Some of his cards were reduced in power due to his age but he had a B Ranked Swordsmanship Skill and a B Ranked Holy Swordsman Skill too.

This guy was a beast of a human.

I decided to get the Swordsmanship Skill from him.

Dulio’s C Ranked Holy magic since stealing his Sacred Gear would cause all kinds of trouble.

The Fallen Angel side had Azazel and Shemhazai along with Tobio Ikuse and Vali. There was also Fafnir within the Down Fall Dragon Spear in Azazel’s coat.

Tobio was a scythe wielder which I had no interest in. He was a good user of Senjutsu though. It was a B Ranked Senjutsu Skill. Exactly what I needed too.

His Dog, Cannis Lykaon, was completely different.

This Sacred Gear was a combination of both Lykaon and Totska no Tsurugi, the Ame-no-Ohabari, the sword which Izanagi used to kill and chop Hinokagatsuchi into pieces.

A Ranked Cutting

A Ranked Divine Flames

A Ranked Cursed Flames

A Ranked Shadow Manipulation

B Ranked Pack Call

The A Ranked Cutting Skill was similar to the A Ranked Severing which I had copied from Regulus. This was just more spiritual in nature as in it could even attack spirits. It contained the concept of ‘cutting through everything’ which was quite broken. This ability comes from the sword of Izanagi.

The Divine Flames came from Hinokagutsuchi and could even burn Izanami.

Which one of these to copy?

I was very interested in the Flames as well as Cutting.

Most of my abilities were aligned with swordsmanship or cutting. So I went with A Ranked Cutting.

Fafnir had good Skills too.

B Ranked Golden Dragon’s Bloodline(Fafnir)

B Ranked Physique

B Ranked Strength

B Ranked Endurance

B Ranked Outrage

B Ranked Agility

B Ranked Reflexes

B Ranked Dragon Magic

B Ranked Fire Magic

B Ranked Curse Magic

B Ranked Golden Aura

B Ranked Magic Resistance

His abilities were all among the upper B Ranks from the colour of the Cards.

It was quite close to the A Ranks. I started the copy on the B Ranked Golden Aura which had some nullification abilities.

Azazel’s Skills were just as varied as Michael’s and Gabriel’s and same for Shemhazai.

B Ranked Fallen Angel Bloodline(Azazel)

B Ranked Light Magic

B Ranked Fallen Angelic Magic

B Ranked Sealing

B Ranked Summoning Magic

B Ranked Spearmanship

B Ranked Inventor

B Ranked Martial Arts

B Ranked Magitech

B Ranked Light Resistance

B Ranked Management

B Ranked Politics

B Ranked Tactician 

B Ranked Leadership

There were too many good things here. In a way, his skills were more diverse than Michael's, who had been stuck with Heaven’s System all his life while Azazel had drowned himself in studies and research of Sacred Gear.

As mouth watering as these skills were, I had already decided what to do with Angelic and Fallen Angelic beings.

Copy Bloodline and merge with the Lucifer Bloodline.

I am going to pull an Ichigo Kurosaki on the Abrahamic Factions.

Shemhazai’s skills, while not as impressive as Azazel’s, were still strong.

B Ranked Fallen Angel Bloodline(Shemhazai)

B Ranked Light Magic

B Ranked Fallen Angelic Magic

B Ranked Martial Arts

B Ranked Light Resistance

B Ranked Management

B Ranked Politics

B Ranked Tactician 

B Ranked Leadership

I started the copy on his Bloodline too.

The Devils were the strongest side in the room.

Sirzechs, Serafall, Grayfia, Okita Souji and Mcgregor Mathews were present in the room. Apart from them, Sona, Latia Astaroth and their peerage members

Serafall and Grayfia had almost similar skills. In fact they were almost identical as far as their skills were concerned.

Serafall had.

B Ranked Sitri Bloodlines

B Ranked Ice Magic

B Ranked Demonic Power

B Ranked Demonic Power Control

B Ranked Barrier Magic

B Ranked Devil Magic

B Ranked Management

B Ranked Politics

B Ranked Leadership

While Grayfia had.

B Ranked Lucifuge Bloodlines

B Ranked Ice Magic

B Ranked Demonic Power

B Ranked Demonic Power Control

B Ranked Barrier Magic

B Ranked Devil Magic

B Ranked Management

C Ranked Politics

C Ranked Leadership

I went for the B Ranked Barrier Magic from Serafall and the B Ranked Demonic Power Control from Grayfia.

McGregor’s B Ranked Human Magic was his best Skill. I copied it. Same for Souji and his B Ranked Swordsmanship.

Last but not the least, the elephant in the room, my brother-in-law, Sirzechs Lucifer, the strongest devil alive’s Skills.

Sirzechs’ cards were not what I was expecting. His cards had a special card similar to the King Piece and Ophis’ Blessing Card. It was named Demonic Mutation. It was basically attached to his Bael Bloodline, raising its level to A Rank.

I was not expecting something like this at all.

Did all Super Devils have a genetic mutation?

A Ranked Demonic Mutation

A Ranked Bael Bloodline

E Ranked Gremory Bloodline

A Ranked Demonic Power

A Ranked Demonic Power Control

B Ranked Barrier Magic

B Ranked Devil Magic

B Ranked Management

B Ranked Politics

B Ranked Leadership

I decided to try and copy this Skill Card. If my guess was correct, then I knew exactly what card to give as a gift to Rias.

With this thought, I started copying the Demonic Mutation Card.

As for the other Devils, Latia Astaroth and her Time Control Agares Bloodline is useful so I started copying those. The peerage members were nothing special but every bit counted.

If this goes well, I will finally have a say in this world.

- Rias -

She received a message from Sam on a cellphone. Yes. A cell phone.

He went and set up a small network within the communication room of Kuoh Academy and was using it to communicate within the barrier using a cellphone.

She was waiting for him to finish copying the Skills. Kuroka got the message and both of them entered the clubhouse of the Occult Research Club in the old school building where Gasper was staying.

Onii-sama had stationed the members of her peerage and Beowulf near Gasper. The magicians who entered stood no chance.

They all faced Kuroka and her but Koneko detected their scents and stopped.

“Buchou, Onee-sama.”

Hearing her voice, the others stopped as well.

Looking at the frozen and stiff figures of her peerage members, she felt pain in her chest but when remembering the missing face among them, she steeled her resolve once again.

Today she was on a mission.

_________________________________x__________________________________________________________________x_________________________________

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Author’s Note:

Rias and Sam finally got together, officially. Kuroka is scouting for the coming Love Wars.

Xenovia has no idea what she is actually doing.

Butterflies are making waves and things are starting to change. How will these plots change due to butterflies?

Things are finally getting to an interesting phase.

Sam will begin making real moves from the next chapter.

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.