A Fake Familiar Reborn Chapter 9: Church attack (Patreon)

Not beta read yet.

Damn, nearly 10k words... Don't get used to it y'all, my regular Chapter length is supposed to be 5k... T-T

.

.

.

-Abandoned Church-


At the edge of Kuoh city where barely anyone ever ventured to, filled with trees, the crepitation of cicadas which started to dwindle as the sun started to set down and finally a lone church abandoned for years — left to rot and decay. The hash passage of time made the structure start to break down with moisture and dust building up inside and outside the building. 


At the dilapidated altar, a familiar Fallen who nearly died by the hands of the red Heroic Spirit after her disastrous attempt at killing that disgusting human who she tricked into a date. Time passed since then, a few days of hiding and contemplating her next move which was met with failures after failures. 


Raynare breathed in the dusty air inside, trying to calm her nerves as her group had died. 


Yes, they were killed much to her shock. 


"Those fucking devils!" She screamed with fury, just this much away from tearing her hair off with how everything was derailing out of control. "I told that blue-haired bitch to avoid the Devils and to only kill the human! Now even their corpses are probably turned to dust." She was especially wary after the addition to the Gremory peerage, that white haired Knight was especially dangerous. He could have been responsible for their deaths for all she knew.


"Raynare-sama!" One of her underlings, a rogue priest, kneeled down. "We have scoured the ruins and found heavy traces of Devil magic and pure Mana, none of our scouts managed to get a cl-clear vi-visual because…" 


"Spit it out already!" 


Not in the mood for these ridiculous stutters, she threatened the man with a crimson spear up his neck. With fear clouding his eyes, he fell to the floor and scurried away from the annoyed Fallen while making sure to answer her question.


"A-Ah, they were killed!" He said fessed up, nearly peeing his pants at how she glared at him. Those murderous eyes pierced his very being, this woman could kill him over the slightest mistake! "W-We found their bodies obliterated by some magic spells and a few were even frozen to death!" 


"Useless!" Her black leather boot smashed against the wooden floor, cracks speaking around her as she gritted her teeths. "First Miltlet kept getting on my nerves, Donhaseek questioning my orders, Kalawarna acting like a bitch and that excommunicated sister who was supposed to arrive today got her flight delayed! Nothing is going as planned! How am I going to end up in Azazel-sama's good grace if all of you keep pulling me down!?" The Sacred Gear extracting machine was already set, it only needed a source of magic to work which was not that hard for her to provide. 


"Hiiiii!" The man shrieked when she threw the light spear right next to his face, cutting his right cheek and pierced the floor. 


"Where is Freed?" 


Unfortunately, that insane priest was her only dependable ally who proved to be not as useless as the rest. Sure he had a few loose screws up his head, but that was to be expected with such people — they were rarely sane. 


"H-He went to do some errands…"


"Urgh! Idiot! Of course he would go around town and waste my time! He's probably hunting for the humans who had contact with the Devils and is most likely torturing them for some sick organismic pleasure.  


The man wanted to mention how she was the one who sent him outside to buy some food but stayed quiet as he had no desire to perish. 


"Hah, I'll just pick up the girl tomorrow and do everything myself as usual. These Devils won't attack me yet given the truce between factions. Tch, I'm still pissed off with what happened, even if those idiots died they were useful to me. Perhaps I can try to take out my anger on a few Stay Devils, those idiots won't pursue me because of that." She heard rumors about there being a Stray who ran away from a Duke somewhere in Kuoh, feasting on humans like an out of control feral monster. 


Rumble!


Out of nowhere, the surroundings shook much to the confusion of Raynare. That uncertainty only lasted a few seconds until one of her goons came running inside with a panic stricken face. 


"W-We're being attacked by the Devils!" 


"What!?" 


***


Outside the church, a group of Devils hovered in the sky with the full acting as the perfect light source. After getting the information needed from Kalawarna, Rias and her peerage flew all the way here where they found the abandoned church in the distance. 


Though now they had a new member with them. 


"Woah, where the heck do you think you're touching, dude!? I don't swing that way!" Suspended in the air was the newly turned Issei, hovering with great difficulty as he nearly fell on multiple occasions. Rias thought it would be a good occasion to teach him all of the basic knowledge about Devil anatomy and powers of the Evil Pieces… but she didn't expect that hovering along took so much effort on his end. 


Normally, reincarnated Devils instinctually learn how to hover by just concentrating that it should only take a few minutes to master the basics. Yet Issei was already having so much trouble…' They still had yet to see his Sacred Gear manifest, Issei fell unconscious after becoming a Devil that she ordered him to skip school the next day and recover. Archer mentioned how it must have been the stress he accumulated for days along with the Yuuma incident which exhausted the boy and pushed him over the edge when turning into a Devil. 


All in all, they did not get enough time to research his abilities and had to put it on hold for now. Nevertheless, this was as good opportunity as any other to kill two birds with one stone. Kiba being a gentleman as always helped Issei the entire trip, catching him with a princess carry on more than one occasion which traumatized the brown-haired boy. 


"You should be careful, Hyoudou-san. I'm just trying to help you." Kiba said with a princely smile that would have swooned many young maidens. "You are part of the peerage, then it is my duty as a knight to protect you in both sickness and life." 


The newly turned Pawn's face turned ghastly green, bile rising up his throat and almost made him vomit. "Please… have mercy on my soul and stay away from me, Kiba. I'm afraid I'll lose my man card by staying too close to you. I'm not into guys for God's—ouch!" 


He and everyone else around him flinched, "Issei, remember what I told you about not mentioning that out loud? As a Devil you must know that word carries power and our species are especially susceptible to such things. This includes crosses, holy water and even churches like this one. Even if it's not deadly but it does give off a dangerous feeling to us Devils. Even now I know you can have a sensation spreading across your body the moment we enter. The sun also has an effect on us, though very minor, Devils are the residence of darkness that unleashes their powers during night. Which is why you'll probably feel quite tired and lethargic next morning, but you will learn to adapt with time." 


She was right, he felt goosebumps all across his body, it being enough to make him forget that he was literally held by Kiba who made sure he wouldn't fall for the sixth time. He looked at the church in the distance, with a translucent barrier surrounding the entire premise, a complicated feeling crossing his heart. "So that's where Yuuma is…" 


"She is not Amano Yuuma." Kiba mentioned, the smile on his face gone as he gave him a serious look. "Raynare, that's her name. She tried to kill you over nothing and is an enemy of us Devils. You can't let your guard down around her." 


"Yuuto is right," said Rias as she was planning on telling the same piece of advice. "Devils are in a constant feud with both the Angels and Fallens, attacked from both sides and pushed against the wall. If the Evil Pieces never came to be then our kind would have vanished from all planes of existence. I'm not going to ask you to kill Raynare, but rather see with your own eyes how our world works and whom to look out for. Now, let's begin." 


As she flew closer, Rias made sure to survey her surroundings to look out for any surprise attacks. She was not afraid of their Fallens or the rogue priests whatsoever, by her side was a potentially ultimate class entity who could keep up with the likes of Grayfia. She was as much in danger here than back in Kuoh Academy, nothing and no one here could overpower her Archer. 


'Is she inside?' Using the link between Master and Servant, the redhead inquired with the white haired Archer about their target's location. 


'That she is, Master. Our little crow friend threw quite a big temper tantrum a few seconds ago on one of her underlings. Poor fellow nearly got stabbed in the face if it weren't for her showing 'mercy'. Anyways, hearing our arrival, she retreated through a hidden wooden door at the back where it led to an underground chamber with a contraption in the middle. Aside from her, at most I could find twenty four rogue priests and no other hidden Fallens.' Archer's voice registered inside her mind as she sighed in relief. Even if Rias was certain that her peerage members were more than enough to handle most challenges thrown at them — it still didn't stop her from worrying. 


'Good job, Archer. You can return to me now, we are more than capable of handling these people.' 


Silence followed, '... I'm afraid I can't do that, Master.


Hm? That was odd, did he not want to lose track of Raynare and preferred to stay below? Sure, despite being a low ranked Fallen, that woman still posed a danger to Devils in general if she managed to hit one of them by surprise. 'Don't worry about Raynare, Archer, she's not worth your time. At worst she will launch a desperate attack at the end or beg for forgiveness. I doubt she has any hidden weapons or trump cards.'


This time, she heard a sigh on the other end.


'I think there has been a misunderstanding here, Master. I can't exactly be by your side given you are a few dozen meters in the air.' He said with a dry tone which made her imagine Archer giving her a deadpan stare. 'And I don't know if you have noticed, but I do not possess bat-like wings.'


'W-Wait, I thought you could turn into that astral or spiritual form! You even said that it lets you pass through walls like a ghost!' She read enough of Gogo's strange journey to understand how an avatar worked, she thought it would be the same with Archer!


'It can turn me intangible and invisible to the senses of other beings, about when did I ever mention something about flying though? Just think about it, even if I could hover next to you in the air and were to materialize then… wouldn't I fall down? In spiritual form Servants also lose a large part of their senses, requiring us to materialize to fight.'


Ah, that was a bummer honestly, the heiress wanted to have the comfort of knowing that her Servant would always stand next to her like a knight in shining armor — or blackened armor in his case. It was her start to wonder if her Servant could be granted wings with an Evil Piece, If it was possible to change him to a Devil. 


Wait, was it possible? She could try and ask him at another time. 


"We got company." Koneko said, seeing the group of rogue priests rushing out of the church with light guns and swords. She and Kiba descended, the former donning her combat gloves and the latter summoning a sword. 


"Issei, given this is your first time seeing us Devils fight then there are some facts you must first learn. Yuuto is my Knight, meaning I used a Knight piece to reincarnate him into a Devil. The Piece has granted him an incredible boost in speed which can make him look like a blur to human eyes if he was pushed to his limit — you could even say he vanishes from sight. This coupled with his mastery of his Sacred Gear, Sword Birth, allows him to create demonic swords with various effects makes Yuuto quite a deadly threat on the battlefield." 


As she mentioned, the boy watched with shock as the blonde prince turned into a ruthless whirlwind, holding a European sword. He took it out of the scabbard, and the drawn sword reflected the light of the moon. The weapon cut through the ranks of priests with ease. Each swing of his sword cut through his enemies with ease, using his speed offensively rather than to dodge, striking his opponents before they could even register his presence.  


"Woah… Kiba is scary." To think that the handsome bastard who always smiled and stole every girl's heart in Kuoh would turn out to be such a merciless combatant. "W-watch out! Koneko-ch—what the heck!?" 


The cute mascot whose stoic face and cuteness made her the figurehead of Kuroj Academy. As he and his friends liked to call her — the ultimate loli! The one who ranked at the top of girls everyone wanted as their little sister had punched a guy so hard that his body was sent flying through the air! 


Rias giggled at his reaction, it was common for people unfamiliar with the Supernatural world to find such a scene shocking or even unbelievable. "As you can see, Koneko packs a lot of strength in her strikes. She is my Rook, this Evil Piece acts like a tank basically, the trait of a Rook is simple. Absolute strength. And also very high defense. She could bend rebar or snap a human bone with minimal effort, so these people are of no danger to her..”


On cue, the little girl uprooted a tree and used it as a club to bash a large part of the enemies. To see a tiny figure like her pull such a hard to grasp feat of strength was mind boggling. Issei's jaw dropped as the dozens of priests were reduced to a mere handful. 


"My turn~" Akeno said, her tone sounding less mirthful than usual in Rias' opinion. 


Issei watched the girl with starry eyes. Known as of the two Onee-samas of Kuoh, a breathtaking beauty who embodied the Yamato Nadeshiko persona in the hearts of many love stricken boys. He was one of them, and it didn't help how erotic her body was! She was easily bigger than Rias according to Motohama's analysis!


"Raikiri!" With great elegance, she waved her towards the sky where static electricity started to coat her fingers.


Woosh!


It shot up toward the sky before a large magic circle formed and rained down dozens of lightning bolts. Laying waste to the trees and even striking the fallen goons, forcing them to scream in pain. 


"Ara ara, seems like you people still have some energy left in you. Then how about this?” She said, waving her hand once again to the sky, next instant, even more lightning bolts struck down the people around — forcing both Kiba and Koneko to retreat for a bit.


Then a third wave happened, a fourth and finally a fifth that tore down the building itself.


Akeno’s face while striking down the lightning bolt looked frightening and cold to Pawn, even though she was smiling.


This person was enjoying it… She laughed with glee coupled with that blush that made her look oh so very sinful.


"Akeno excels at attacks using demonic-powers. She can use natural elements like lightning, ice, and fire. And most of all, she is the ultimate sadist.”


Rias confessed as if it was nothing.


The more he watched everyone taking a part of this raid, the more useless he began feeling. After finding out he had a Sacred Gear, Issei tried to get it to awaken that power he supposedly had that had made him a target for Raynare — going so far as to try it for a second time back at the club right before they flew here. Unfortunately the boy had found it difficult to focus on the mental exercises he'd been trying to perform, as his new Buchou's decision to sit on the edge of her desk had inadvertently given the Harem King Wannabe a nice look at her thong.


The perverted grin Issei wore as he blatantly stared at what was under Rias' skirt had quickly earned him a rather harsh flick to his temple courtesy of Archer, knocking him over. And when he'd yelled at the guy for doing so, the ghost dude had proceeded to give Issei that damn glare that sliced clean through his bravado like a blade, before advising Rias that they call it a day in regards to her new Pawn. And Rias appeared to hold Archer's opinion in high regard as she then informed Issei that they would continue to try to awaken his magical abilities after the raid on the church, basically tomorrow — which was also when he would begin his duties as one of her personal Devil servants.



.


.


.


Archer who stood on top of the church watched the chaos with interest. So far, this was the first he also got to see the Devils' capabilities and their powers granted by the Evil Piece. 


"Kiba is fast, his swordsmanship is above average, showing familiarity over European fighting style… no, it's a bit of everything. He is still too rigid and slow, leaving many openings for an opponent with similar speed." Given the similarities between his magecraft and Sword Birth, EMIYA had a slight interest over how Kiba fought his battles. It was clear that the boy was not using the full capabilities of his Sacred Gear and did not have a mastered fighting style. Rather one could even argue that he did not need to show off much of his techniques against such weak opponents. "He seems to prioritize offensive heavy strikes, and is showing quite a bit of anger. Probably some past history." 


Koneko shocked him quite a bit with her power of the Rook. Capable of uprooting trees and using it as a bat made the scene quite funny to the Servant. She could even give certain Servants a run for their money with her strength. "But she is too reliant on her Piece's defensive traits and is dangerously slow. Letting the enemy hit her purposely just because she knew it would not be harmed is dangerous and idiotic."


As for Akeno, the girl was a well of demonic energy, the spell alone destroyed everything in its path. Archer had to jump away from the building as she targeted everything. And seeing how she began blushing and breathing heavily, it only showed her perverse personality which he got a glimpse of last time. Nevertheless, she was not mobile while in the air, a single shot could take her out if she was not careful. 


"Even Grayfia had dozens of defensive spells around her body to avoid sneak attacks, she just did not expect the blades to come back behind her. And her attacks were faster, not needing so much time to cast them, then again, Akeno is still very young." These two Queens gave him a clear representation of the gap between Rias' group and the older generation. In the eyes of humans Rias and her peerage were powerful entities — but they were nowhere near monsters like Grayfia. And it was mentioned how her husband surpassed his wife by a wide margin.


"Hm?" Archer's head turned towards the trees where he gazed at a bird observing the group with keen eyes. Looking more like a peacock with its plumage, it certainly was not a regular animal nor a friendly one. A bad feeling rose in his guts as this was probably a possible enemy trying to gather intel on Rias. 


He could not let that happen. 


Fwish!


Materializing, Archer traced his bow along a regular arrow and fired at the bird.


"Squa—ksh!" The arrow pierced its head, though not a single drop of blood fell as the entire bird burst into flames and disappeared from sight. 


"Tch, a familiar after all."


He would need to report this to his Master.


Crash! 


The church broke apart, flames encompassing the charred walls and everything came apart. Jumping at the entrance, Archer waited for the group with his arms crossed. 


Issei was startled when he saw the man appear out of nowhere. "You! You were here this entire time? Why didn't you help out the others? Wait, are you that cone shaped piece? Oh right, a bishop!" 


Archer sighed, "For the second time, I am not a Devil. Thus I can't be part of Ria's Gremory's peerage, rather I'm a Servant. That's all you need to know." His initial disagreement of the boy joining the group had mostly evaporated after discovering how much Pawn Piece he was worth. It was just his personality that needed some work. 


"..." 


Akeno walked past him, without uttering a single word and with a stoic face. Such a scene caused Rias and the rest to raise an eyebrow, even Issei was taken aback as this was the first time he saw Akeno have such a face aside from her usual smile she was famous for. 


"Did you two have an argument?" The Gremory heiress asked, wondering what could have happened between these two to solicit such a reaction from her Queen. The last time they were together, Akeno would pester for advice on her cooking and try to meet his expectations. 


Archer meanwhile was amused by the girl's reaction more than anything, he did overhear part of the conversation and came to learn about her origin as a Fallen. But it seemed like him acting ignorant did not work with her as she was still evidently quite cautious of him now. "Do not worry about it, Master. A small matter, or misunderstanding if you would between us. Nothing a small conversation won't fix, just give it a few days and we will go back to normal." 


"I can help out if you want." 


To her surprise, he shook his head. 


"I rather you leave this matter to me. She might take it the wrong way and it could worsen the situation. It's nothing serious, Master." 


Rias narrowed her eyes, wondering just what happened in the first place. She could force her Servant to reveal the details or ask Akeno but that thought left a sour taste in her mouth. The redhead loved her peerage members and Servant too much to do such a thing and she promised Archer to use her authority as his Master recklessly. 


"Alright, I believe you. Kiba, Koneko, can you please bring out our special Fallen guest? I would like to have a few words with her." In the end, it was better for her to trust him and Akeno to deal with their small feud by themselves. As they got along quite nicely before whatever happened, so it could not be anything major. 


"Don't you want me to kill her immediately? There is no need to waste our time on her given she has proven to be a threat to the locals and your group." Archer said, understanding Raynare's personality after everything Kalawarna told him. That girl was a feral dog with a major hatred towards humanity and someone with a plan to kill even more people afterwards. 


Issei clenched his hands when he heard that. Kiba, Rias and this bastard told him how she was not Amano Yuuma. But hearing him asking to kill her so easily made his blood boil and heart thump with complicated feelings.


"No need, just like you've mentioned before, she still has information for us and I plan to uncover them first. The intel could be very beneficial for us, so I can't let it go so easily without knowing it."


"Nicely said, Master." He was honestly glad with her train of thought, having advised her to never act recklessly without being properly informed seemed to have bore their fruits. "Then let us not waste anymore time." 


{Break}


They cornered her in a matter of seconds, blocking every entrance and killing off all of her goons in mere minutes. 


"Puh!" Raynare coughed both saliva and blood as the white haired Room managed to catch up to her within the basement and deliver a destructive punch to her guts. "Y-Y-You fuc- *cough* -king Devils!" She sneered with anger while summoning her red coloured light spear. 


"Stupid crow." Koneka said, further enraging the Fallen.


"You think you can come here and treat me like this without any consequences!? Think again!" With a loud shout, she flapped her wings and once again charged for the girl intent to pierce her face and kill the twerp once and for all. The distance between them shortened as her opponent showed no sign to move away or block her attack. "Heh, already giving up? As expected from a Devil!" 


"Baka." 


Swish!


"Aaaargh!" An arc of silver light illuminated the room before Raynare fell to the ground, an excruciating pain as her spear cut into two along with dozens of other cuts all around her body, blood splashing across the floor and walls. 


Kiba appeared in front of Koneko, having defended her from the enemy's attack. 


'D-Damn it, wh-where the fuck did Freed ran off too!?' 


"Kya!" Unable to move, she was forcefully grabbed by her hair and dragged at the top where everyone was waiting. "L-Let me go!" No matter how much she tried to resist or flail around, Koneko's grasp remained firm and unmoving.


With another tug, Raynare was thrown across the floor with Rias and the others awaiting her arrival. Rias sat on top of the altar with her legs crossed, making the brown haired boy's attention once again as he hoped to peer into the forbidden area of a woman's body. This time, Archer did not need to intervene as the boy's attention was instantly stolen by the injured Raynare. 


The Servant saw his face turn pale, breathing grow heavier and sweat began to accumulate on his forehead. 'He's gonna have a panic attack at this rate.' Archer thought, having an idea why Issei was thinking at the moment. Not that he could blame the boy, having just fallen for this girl who he thought would be his girlfriend, even if she ended up trying to kill him — he still held some feelings for her. 


'Mayne I can use this to…' it was a risky move, but would benefit Rias in the future. Not like he needed to do anything in the first place. 


'Master, I may have an idea.' Using his connection to Rias, Archer spoke to her and gave her an idea which was the girl stare at him with shock. He just shrugged at her reaction, it was her decision if she wanted to go with the plan or not. Tonight, he was just an observer to a potential play. 


"How are you doing, Fallen Angel Raynare.”


“…The daughter of the Gremory clan.” Raynare spoke with a broken tone, barely holding onto consciousness with her wounds continuing to create a pool of blood around her body.


“Hello, my name is Rias Gremory. I’m the next heir of the House of Gremory. It will be for a short while, but nice to have your acquaintance.”


Rias greeted her with a smile, but Raynare only glared back at her before sneering. “…You think you’ve got me, but too bad. This plan was kept secret from the higher-ups, but I still have allies who will know of my de—”


“They won’t or rather, no one will dare to cover your feathers.” A small smirk appeared on the redhead's face. "You said it yourself, a mission hidden from the higher-ups, entering unannounced into the Gremory and Sitri owned territory, you and your small group caused quite a bit of stir. You engaged in battle with my Pawn, attempted to kill my precious Servant and caused so much destruction that the damages still haven't been fixed as of yet. These actions have broken so many rules and laws our factions have put together that it's a wonder how you believe someone will defend you when you're already proven guilty."


"Buchou!" From the basement, Kiba came back carrying a large contraption which sent a chill down the spine of every Sacred Gear user in the room. "I found this below, looks like she was planning on chaining someone up for some kind of spell."


"Ara Ara, quite a devious ritual we have here," Akeno said, as she went over to check the basement and examine the magic circles and inscriptions plastered upon the walls.


"What is the purpose of all this?" Rias asked the Fallen, the latter tried to stay quiet but another cut from Kiba's sword made her spill everything. "A Sacred Gear extracting ritual? That's… quite dangerous. If I remember correctly, the leader of the Grigori worked on this project but abandoned it as the host would always die after getting their Sacred Gear torn out of their soul."


Left with no choice, Raynare answered through her gritted teeths. "I should have gotten a Sacred Gear from an excommunicated nun. My status would have risen since I would have been a Fallen Angel that could heal Fallen Angels. I could have been of help to the great Azazel-sama and Shemhaza-sama! There should have been nothing greater than to earn their grace and you Devils RUINED EVERYTHING!!!" 


Archer honestly felt nothing but pity towards the Fallen In front of him, she was throwing basically a temper tantrum while severely injured and weakened. Still, despite having been just summoned not that long ago, Archer had a basic understanding of Sacred Gears and Raynare's plan had a huge hole in it. 


"You would have died." He said, catching her attention and everyone else's. 


"You…" Seeing him, Rayanre once again had flashbacks of their last encounter and couldn't help but grow silent under his sharp stare that felt like it pierced her very soul. 


"Your plan to acquire Sacred Gear. It would have killed both the host and yourself."


"N-No, you're lying!" 


He scoffed, "Why would I need to lie to you? You can't be this stupid, right? The Sacred Gear manifests inside human souls and not inside a species from the Supernatural for a reason. From what I've been told, there is a system overseeing all of this and if in your case it detected the Sacred Gear being used by a non-human… it could have rejected you or even killed you. Like a slow acting poison coursing through your veins, you would have gained a purpose but it would have been short lived. Your plan was doomed for failure since beginning, in no circumstances you would have come out as the winner in any case." 


"Lies, LIES! SHUTUP,SHUTUP,SHUTUP!!" She cried out with stubbornness, covering her ears as tears began trickling down her face. To EMIYA, this was just a lost cause. She recognised the flaw but her brain refused to accept it, even as she lay defeated hearing the outcome of a what if scenario shook her world more than getting punched in the guts by Koneko.


"Right, we should wrap things up now, Yuuto." Her tone was filled with killing intent, not a single trace of empathy could be found. "Cut off her head."


"Right, Buchou." Her Knight responded without asking a question, though both Akeno and Koneko noticed something off about their King's order. 


"W-Wait, you're killing her so soon?" Issei spoke, but Rias did not pay any heed to his words. His breathing got more ragged and his sweat now streamed down his face, all of these changes being observed carefully by Archer. 


Hearing his words, Raynare looked at him with sorrowful eyes. 


"Ise-kun! Please save me!” 


Going so far as to change the tone of her voice and even putting on a gentle face, she called out to him. Archer saw how Akeno's disgust grew bigger at the display, her hands twitching with lightning. He stopped her, putting his hand on her shoulders.


"—!" 


Her head whipped around as she watched with shock at his action. Archer just put his finger in front of his mouth in a silencing gesture. She tried to push him away but her narrowed his eyes applied more force on his grip. "We'll talk later, so stay still and don't act like a child." He said authoritatively, his voice though whispering in a low voice still having that harshness behind each word she never heard in the past. Akeno felt an indescribable tremor spread deep within her body before she calmed down and slowly nodded her head.


As Kiba approached the Fallen with his blade raised up in the air, her pleas started to get even more depressed. "This Devil is trying to kill me! I love you! I love you so much! That’s why, let’s defeat this Devil together!"


"A-Ah, Yu-Yuuma…-chan?" His mind was in complete chaos, two sides competing for dominance as he could not contain his tears anymore. That was no longer Raynare in front of him, begging to be saved. Rather it was Amano Yuuma, the sweet girl who brought so much joy and hope in his life in just a few hours. His first date, his first crush and his first girlfriend. As he watched the blade descend upon her neck, something snapped and everything went blank — his body moved on its own. 


[Boost!]


[Dragon booster!!]]


Clang!


Archer smirked, "So it really did work after all." 


{Break}


-Kuoh Academy-


"Alright, I hope you all did your homework I've assigned you." Toujou-sensei spoke loudly to the class, arranging the papers on his desk as he was done with today's lesson. 


"Ah, sensei, I forgot to do it… please give me one more day! Please~!" One of the female students mentioned, using a cute voice which barely had any effect on their stoic teacher.


"Minus one point in your final score."


"Sensei!?"


"You have less than twenty four hours or else it will be two points." 


This was the cycle Sona Sitri, or commonly known as Shitori Sona in the human world, went through nearly every day. A welcomed environment given what happened these last few days with the Fallen Angels incident. Rias and her group mentioned how they would take care of everything. 


She, of course, was skeptical of her rival's words. Rias was by no means inadequate by her role as one of the governors of Kuoh, both of them shared equal amounts of their duties without any hitch in the past. But when it came to dealing with powers far more dangerous than just a few Strays, Sona worried. The Grigori held Seraphs and Cadres, each one of them more than capable of wiping out Kuoh from the maps if forced to. Just like the Angels, Fallen Angels could not expand their current numbers of pure Fallens unless an Angel fell. Sona did not count cases like Akeno as the girl was not born a pure Fallen Angel. So it would stand to reason that the Faction would be quite protective of their remaining numbers. 


Nevertheless, not only did they kill the majority of the Fallens, but even captured two of them alive. Sona sighed in relief when she learned that they did not kill everyone, as it gave them bargaining chips with the Grigori. Though they would have been fine even if everyone was killed, she still preferred to take the more optimal option.


Raynare and Kalawarna were brought back to the Underworld by some of Lord Lucifer's envoys and they were expected to garner some favors from Azazel in return for these two. 


'Now comes the matter regarding the forest's destruction west of Kuoh. Rias purposefully dodges my inquiries and keeps everything vague.' The girl mentioned it being a small skirmish between her peerage and Raynare's lackeys — but Sona did not believe that story one bit. Tsubaki showed her the extent of the damages and no one in her friend's peerage was powerful enough to cause such a large amount of destruction. So it became obvious that Rias was hiding some details from her, information pertaining possibly to that 'powerful' familiar they researched in the past. 


Or in other words, the white haired man sitting in front of her.


"Ah, it's Gremory-sama!" One of her classmates whispered excitedly when looking over the door to the classroom where Rias stood outside holding a bunch of paper. 


"Good morning, Toujou-sensei~! I have collected the homeworks from my class and need you to look over some questions I struggled with." 


"Hugh… whatever, let's just get it over with."


The most famous Onee-sama in Kuoh walked inside the classroom, it was rare to see her without Akeno by her side but still a sight that made many of her classmates giddy. 


"Woah, she looks more beautiful than before! Her hair is so lucious and vibrant, if only mine was the same." 


"Kya! Rias-sama!" 


"She looked at me! She looked at me!"


"You idiot, stop trying to live in a fantasy land, what's there to look about you in the first place? She was obviously glancing at me after recognising my face from our joint physical education class last week!" 


"Humph, why are you all reacting like you've never seen a girl? Kaichou is obviously prettier, the glasses just add that charm to her." 


Sona isolated their conversations, her eyes twitching when hearing some of their phrases about her. Instead, she focused on Rias' interaction with the new teacher. 


"Too close, rather Rias is a bit too comfortable with him." 


Having basically grown up with Rias and her nudist family which traumatized her younger self during the many sleepovers they had. Rias, despite being friendly in appearance, rarely if ever spoke to another man or student in school. She and Akeno had a certain dislike for the opposite gender from what she heard — most likely influenced by a certain blonde phoenix. 


That only made the scene in front of her that much more ridiculous, Rias chatting with the teacher with a smile on her face that bordered on a coy smirk. Looking over his shoulders, pointing at the contents of the documents while her hair touched his face. 


Everyone was still in the middle of their daze, admiring Rias and her beauty like blind zombies!


"They seem close." Tsubaki said, at least she was one of the few students here with common sense. Then again, it was a good thing no one noticed the familiarity between these two, though the Sitri heiress would have preferred Rias to be more discreet and not show such affection publicly! As expected from a long line of exhibitionists who lacked the smallest droplet of shame!


Even her Servant did not look comfortable with her closeness, putting some distance between them by nudging away… only for the redhead to close that distance by acting like she was reaching for a pen on the other side of the table. Sona observed as her chest nearly pressed against his face, only for the man to create a bigger gap. 


And did Rias pout?


"Well, despite being her new Servant, Rias seems to view him quite closely compared to what I expected beforehand." It made her curious on what could have brought such a quick development in her attitude towards him. "Tsubaki, make sure to have Toujou-sensei join me for a small chat at the student council room." 


Aside from her curiosity over his origin, she wanted to know more about the capabilities of a Servant and use this information to plan her own summoning. 


.


.


.


Knock 


Knock


Emiya knocked the wooden door of the Student Council, having one of the students he knew was a Devil mention that Sona Sitri wanted to speak to him. It was very possible that Rias mentioned his origin to the girl so he was not worried about his identity getting discovered. 


So without much further ado, he went over and knocked. Not long after that, the doors were opened by a white haired girl which he recognised as another second year in class 2-C. 


"Good afternoon, Toujou-sensei. Kaichou is waiting for you." 


"Hn," he gave her a small nod before walking inside a room where Sona awaited him sitting on an expensive chair while playing a round of chess by herself. She stopped and looked at him, sizing him up with an analytical gaze which he found amusing. 


"Should I call you Toujou-sensei or…" .


"Archer will do, Lady Sitri. Or would you prefer Sitri-dono seeing as we are in Japan?"


A smirk bloomed on her face, "So you are aware, then I take it there is no need to waste any time on needless pleasantries and go down to the main topic at hand — also just refer to me as Sona. Before that, are you familiar with the game of chess?" 


"Adequate, I'm not a grandmaster like you." He said while taking a seat on the other side of the table as Sona gestured him to come over. 


"Flatterer, I bet that Rias must have mentioned quite a few… colorful comments about me. There is no need to hide it from me, I know that girl better than anyone, so do not hold back." With a flick of her fingers, all of the pieces rearranged themselves back into their starting position on the opposite side of the board — which Archer ended up with the black pieces. "I prefer to converse with guests over a game of chess, it helps me relax and enjoy our time together."


"A strange modus operandi, but I'm not one to judge others. I guess why not, though let me warn you that my skill with this game is lackluster… so you might get disappointed in the end." As he said that, Sona made her first move by moving her E-pawn forward two spaces, a textbook opening, while he responded by doing the same with his F-pawn by one space. Archer did not lie when he said that chess was not his forte, still he understood the rules and played according to what he felt was the best option.


But, the man was not aiming to win for any particular reason, better to get this matter out of the way and leave as soon as possible. 


"So tell me more about yourself. From what I learned about Servants are they considered as combat familiars? Quite interesting to think about it, I never encountered cases like these once in my studies of past familiar summoning. Of course, aside from the failed experimentations of the dead wizard which we learned and had Rias perform the ritual to bring you forth." 


"Heroic Spirits," Archer said while placing his G-pawn two spaces forward, exposing his King. "That's what we are called, entities who have achieved great deeds in our past life, then become objects of worship after our deaths. Immortalizing our existence by the imagination, legends and myths passed down from person to person until our very existence becomes a valuable part of human history. On a large enough scale and with feats big enough, we turn into a higher existence of sorts similar to what you would think of an elemental or a wraith." 


"Fascinating, also checkmate." She moved her Queen to G-5 and checkmated Archer with a Fool's Mate. She saw no shock in his eyes, just a look of disinterest at the whole game in general. Unsatisfied, she used her magic to put the pieces back into their starting positions. 


"See, I told you I'm not that good. A newbie who was beaten in less than a handful of moves." 


"Something tells me that you lost intentionally." Sona loved the sensation of winning every game against all of her opponents. But when the latter purposely played a bad game just to lose in less than a handful of moves did not sit well with her. She was not sure of it, so proposed to the man for another round which he shrugged and nodded. "Going back to the previous matter, how does this system of yours work? I'm sorry if this sounds too personal but I'm rather curious about the process a hero goes through to have their soul immortalized by their deeds."


Unlike last time, after she moved her pawn to E4 which Archer quickly acted by moving the pawn in the same column two spaces forward. Her G-Knight to F3, his pawn to D6, her pawn is the same column two spaces forward to D4 and he placed his C-bishop to G-4, endangering her Knight. Unlike last time, he played with much more precision and experience that nearly threw her off a bit. 


"This is called the Throne of Heroes. In simpler terms, think of it as an endlessly expanding library or a harddrive with infinite storage holding all the data of a Heroic Spirit's feats, history, legend, myth and everything you can think of. But it wouldn't be completely accurate to call us a real Heroic Spirit, as Servants are merely a small copy of a fragment of the real Heroic Spirit that still resides in the Throne." 


"I see, again I'm quite intrigued by this knowledge. You must have been someone quite exalted in the past with how Rias keeps gushing about how powerful you are." 


They continued their game, each side keeping a firm defense waiting for the other side to falter and then strike. His level far surpassed his first attempt which just confirmed to Sona that the man was not taking her seriously at first. It felt like an insult in her opinion, a part of her wanted to crush him again and again at the game but held back. This was merely a talk, not a battle. 


"Heh, Master is just blowing things out of proportion, I am not that impressive as a Servant by any means. As an Archer I just have more of an advantage against opponents from a distance and nothing more. As for my past, unfortunately I can not help you on that end given my foggy memories." 


Sona was beginning to frown, the chess match was becoming more intense than she imagined. Having lost half of her pawns, she nearly got cornered by his Queen and was forced to sacrifice a bishop. 


'Wait!'


Unfortunately, she missed the Rook which with a single move could once again remove her Queen and corner her King. How did she miss that!? But to her surprise, Archer ignored the clear victory presented to him and blundered on purpose by once again exposing his King.


"..."


With shaky hands, she moved her piece and checkmated him for a second time, though the girl once again did not feel an ounce of joy with this victory. Unacceptable, disgraceful to have someone intentionally lose against her! Her pride could not let this slide. With another flick of her fingers, the board was reorganized for a third game. 


"W-What can you tell me about o-other types of Servants? You mentioned being an Archer, so I guess there should be a sword Servant and a spear Servant." Trying to get a hold of her emotions, Sona continued their conversation to extract as much information she could. 


Archer raised an eyebrow at how she wanted him to play again, the bowman did not put much thought in it and this time moved his Knight first like Sona did previously, after she moved her B-pawn by two spaces. "Well, there is Saber, Archer, Lancer, Caster…" 


One by one, he repeated the same explanation he gave to Rias previously while omitting personal details pertaining to his own strength and weaknesses. Friend of Rias or not, she was still a stranger in his eyes and a potential opponent. 


"I must admit, the Saber class does sound quite impressive and worthwhile. What are the chances of me summoning one?" 


His hands stilled as she said that, both steel gray eyes sharpening considerably for a split second. "Then you run the chance of becoming enemies of my Master, I can't under my consciousness help out a potential enemy." 


The irony of his words given his past actions were not lost on him, but it was better to use this as an excuse to end this conversation quickly, for he wanted to go away from this place. 


Sona did not grow offended at his words, rather her attention fully on the chessboard. Oh, they were still playing the game, he had lost track of it and nearly cornered her again. Archer once again blundered and gave Sona the winning move. He did his best to suppress his smirk while watching her grow increasingly more frustrated… from winning no less!


"Do not worry about that, I merely wish to know out of curiosity. And also, I know about the requirement to first have the Command Seals appear on the back of the hand first. And as you can see, I have none." She said while showing both her hands. "Also, are there any dangers associated with summoning a Servant?"


He thought about it for a bit, having a Servant was both a blessing and a curse depending on the class the person summoned. So Archer decided to tell her the truth, "It depends. There are cases of a Servant killing their own Masters. Exceedingly rare or even unique given it happened under unique circumstances." 


"Can you elaborate?" 


"First of all, without any catalyst you don't get to choose which Servant or class gets to be summoned. They say Servants summoned without a catalyst are deemed to be the most suited for Masters depending on multiple factors like personality and so on, but that is hardly good news. If you summon a raging Berserker with a high ranked Madness Enhancement, you'll be in danger of having your Magical Energy sucked out dry just trying to control the Servant or use up your command seals just to keep them in line. And once your last layers of defenses are gone, you are the most likely to die first by the Servant. I have fought a Caster who betrayed her first Master and killed him, so this issue does not lie with the Berserker class alone. It boils down to if your Servant is not an Evil entity with the desire to be set free." He continued to talk about other instances of Berserker Servants going out of control and causing major mayhem.


Sona had gone pale, just hearing about an entity which stood at the opposite end of order and stability made her sweat profusely. It made her think about her sister. 


'If Onee-sama were to be summoned as a Servant…' just thinking about the possibilities and consequences nearly made the girl faint on the spot. 


That could never happen for the sake of the world!


Fortunately for her, that fright was short lived when she was once again pushed to the corner with little chance to win but the order side basically quit with a major blunder and gave her the chance to checkmate him, AGAIN!


This jerk was mocking her… Rias must have told him to do so!


"So I guess a catalyst is truly crucial for the process." Sona once again restarted the chess match. 


"If you don't want to end up with a 250 cm tall monster who would accidentally kill you and everyone around just because you could not control it, then yes. It's all in the hands of lady luck without it. Rias just got lucky she got me instead, though I'd say it's unlucky because she got me."


Sona gave her Queen a side glance, conveying a message the latter understood and started noting down everything they spoke about just now. 


They continued their conversation while playing another round of chess. 


Each time, Sona would come close to losing and then win out of nowhere.


Other times she won in less than ten moves. 


Archer even forced her to a draw a single time, but that was when she purposely tried to lose! But he saw through her and blocked that path!


The girl was starting to see red after the twelfth match — this time he once again lost with a Fool's Mate! Unable to contain herself anymore, she got up by slapping the table hard enough to throw everything on the ground.


"FOR THE LOVE OF LUCIFER, FACE ME SERIOUSLY, YOU JERK!!!!"


Never had Sona felt so insulted in her life, and that clearly fake innocent face of his just made it so much more irritating. 


"Ah, would you look at the time, I should leave. My Master is waiting for me. It was great to talk with you, Kaichou, I really learned a lot about chess from you. Hope we can play again in the future." Without giving her time to respond, he vanished from his seat, shocking both Sona and Tsubaki. 


"Tsubaki…"


"Yes, Kaichou?" 


"Bring me every book about myths and legends of ancient heroes, right now." 


"Understood." She knew her King was in a sour mood, so Tsubaki left the clubroom quickly after.


She was going to get back at him in the future, one way or another!


{Break}


-Kuoh airport-


Early in the evening, the airport of Kuoh was generally quiet. Though not long after, dozens of people walked out of the exit gate while pulling their luggages. On the other side of the street, sitting at the back of a large limousine was Akeno patiently waiting for their special guest to show up. 


"I didn't even get to speak to him." It bugged her ever since that day whether or not Archer heard her conversation with Kalawarna. That part of her was supposed to be a secret only her very close friends knew about, and despite growing friendly with the Servant, Akeno still felt uncomfortable with him knowing her past. 


He had seen and fought against Fallens Angels before, especially after meeting Raynare and seeing her manipulate Issei with that fabricated Yuuma persona of hers. His image of them must have been further tainted, she almost lost control of her anger and would have killed the woman if he hadn't stopped her. 


"Tomorrow… tomorrow for sure I will confront him about this." Her mind just could not rest until she did not know the truth. "Ah, she's here." 


Her attention was drawn to a young blonde nun who walked out last of the exit gate. Struggling to pull a single luggage while proceeding to trip and fall to the ground. Her luggage opened up and threw all of its content over the ground. The poor girl immediately started to apologize to everyone and rushed to pick everything up… and tripped again due to panicking so much.


The scene made Akebo giggle, "She's quite a cute blonde clutz, this Asia Argento."


***


"What the fuck just happened here?" 


Standing in front of a smoking pile of burned wood and shattering pieces of glass all over the place, Freed stood there with a hanging jaw while also holding a plastic bag filled with beer cans and some instant ramen. 


"That fucking bitch told me to make some errands or she would have pierced my dick with her spear. FUCK! She made me lose out on all the fun! I hope you burn in hell like the bitch you are!" The rogue priest shouted with fury towards the heavens, desiring nothing more than to slice up some stinky Devil worshippers. "Fuck! Fuck! FUCK! Now where do I go!?" 


An elderly woman hearing the commotion could not help but come over and check out who was shouting such profanities so early in the morning. Wearing her exercise jersey she used for her morning walks, the woman marched towards the white haired priest with a displeased face. 


"Young man, you should not shout such sinful words so openly in public! And you're even dressed like a priest!? You youngling's and your cosplay are starting to get out of hand! And to do this here the day after the church burned down due to a lightning strike, you should be asha—hya!!" 


Her words died down her throat as Freed retrieved a gun from his jacket and pointed it straight to her forehead. 


"Keep walking, grandma!" He said with snarl, not in a mood to get shouted upon by some old hag again. "Or else you'll have a hole through your brain!" 


"P-Police! Someone call the police!" 


"I'm seriously gonna blast your brains if you don't shut up!!" 


"Did somebody call the police?" Another elderly man said, walking down the streets and seeing the commotion near the church. "Huh, I didn't know priests came this young these days. And with beer? Tch tch, must be a cosplayer."


"Oh for the love of… that's it, I'M BRINGING OUT THE SWORDS AS WELL IF YOU BITCHES DON'T PISS OFF!"