Harbinger of Ruin: Ch.26

“I swear, I want just one day of simple high-school life where I can relax.”

“Well, you're the one that answered my call. That's on you,” The black-haired man with gold highlights spoke with a grin as he took a sip of his whiskey, dressed in a maroon coat while he lounged on a sofa with a smirk.

“Why the hell does the Governor-General of the Grigori have a Gremory pamphlet? Actually, why the hell are you even here in Kuoh Town?”, I asked while glancing at the twelve pitch-black wings on his back when he stood up, to which Azazel shrugged as he swished his glass.

“Quite honestly, I'm just here early for a meeting between us leaders of the Three Factions.”

“Uh-huh and I'm a noble devil that wishes to help people out of the good of my heart.”

“According to my research, you kind of are considering you helped my subordinates when you didn't need to,” He spoke and I just narrowed my eyes as he snickered before I rolled my eyes as he poured another glass of whiskey and held it out to me.

“Come on~ I'm paying you to be here. The least you could do is drink with me.”

“…Double the money,” I responded and he nodded before grinning as I took the glass, raising an eyebrow as I created a black dagger and held it to the liquid.

“What's that?”

“I call it Mr. White. It detects any form of narcotics of drugs in the alcohol.”

“…But it's a black blade?”

“And? I can't call my swords what I want them to?”, I asked, to which he simply gave a shrug before he stopped himself from drinking as my words clicked.

“Wait, what do you mean that it detects drugs? You think I would drug you?”

“Azazel, the stories I've heard of you shows that you love drugging and tricking people for shits and giggles.”

“Well, those are mostly true, but I can be serious.”

“From what I've seen, I doubt that,” I spoke, shaking my head as he huffed before taking a sip from the whiskey. To my surprise, there was only a hint of alcohol as it tasted sweet and delicious, but I stopped myself from taking another sip because whenever a drink is sweet, that shit has at least 30% alcohol in it.

At least.

“So…”, I began, both of us sitting down as I looked at the general. “What need did you have for me to fulfill?”

“Nothing, really. I just wanted to meet the guy that can make Holy-Demonic blades like they're nothing.”

“Well, I don't know where you get your information, but I don't have something like that,” I answered with a shrug, to which the man just raised an eyebrow before scoffing.

“Does that usually work?”

“Nah, not really,” I answered before pulling my school shirt down, revealing the Light Container that I had stabbed into my heart.

“Fascinating. How are you not dead?”

“To be honest, I have no clue. From what I can feel, I have both Holy energy and Demonic power flowing through my body, but instead of fighting against each other, they're harmonizing and mixing together.

“Hmm, this could be a side-effect from the experiments Valper Galilei did on you during the Holy Sword Project,” Azazel said making me look at him as he shrugged.

“Could you explain that?”

“Well, as you know, Valper Galilei liked to experiment on you and your 'siblings' during your time in the HSP in order to make each of you capable of wielding an Excalibur fragment. However, when everyone died except for you, I found through my contacts in the Vatican that none of the children had their souls inside of their bodies.”

“They could have gone on to Heaven,” I said and he nodded as he took another sip from his whiskey.

“True, which is why I contacted Michael to check for me.”

“So, you and the leader of Heaven just are besties with each other.”

“He's the oldest and kindest of us siblings so of course we still talk to each other. Anyway, what we've found is that after the children were all killed, his experiments had actually been successful as the souls of those children had been boosted significantly with the pure holy energy of angels. Therefore, Valper Galilei had found out his own unique method to condense and store those souls into crystals to grant others the ability to wield holy blades.”

“You mean that…”, I couldn't even finish my sentence as Azazel sighed and nodded, looking at the crystal in my chest while gritting my teeth.

I had remembered that the crystals had been made by taking something from the kids, but…to just take the souls of innocent kids and stuff them into a crystal to get some power?

'Oh, now I wish I had fought against Valper to torture him some more.'

“I can tell what you're thinking there, devil boy. Firstly, you don't have to worry about Valper or Freed because they're both stuck in Cocytus to be tortured by the cold for all of eternity. Secondly, your body has gotten used to that crystal and its already fully bonded with your heart physically so to take it out now would mean to kill yourself.”

“Oh, I wasn't thinking of ripping it out. I was thinking of finding a way to pour holy energy up Valper's ass and give him a rectal lobotomy.”

“…How would that even work?”, Azazel asked with a disturbed look, to which I just gave a sharp smile.

“I can make some swords for that to work.”

“You kids of this age scare me. Anyway, where were we?”

“Me wanting a reason for why you wanted me here before we got sidetracked.”

“Ah, right. Can you make me a Holy-Demonic blade?”

“That's a yes and a no. I can make a demonic blade with Sword Birth and then pour Holy energy into it afterwards, but I can't make a fully holy-demonic blade.”

“Have you tried?”

“…Not really to be honest,” I answered with an unsure smile and he chuckled as he nodded.

“Then what's stopping you? Just think about how you usually make your blades, but this time, pour your Holy energy into the blade as you're pouring your demonic energy in. What could go wrong?”

“I don't know. Maybe me blowing up?”, I asked, shaking my head as the guy just grinned and nodded.

“That sounds pretty cool, too.”

“Urgh, fine, but I'm expecting extra payment for this.”

“I'll triple the pay.”

“That's all you had to say,” I spoke with a grin as I held a hand out, reaching my Sacred Gear, my demonic power and my holy energy at the same time.

Creating a blade with Sword Birth was fairly easy as I simply had to make a rough sketch of the blade I had in mind with Sword Birth before pouring in my demonic power to make the blade along with its added effects.

However, adding my Holy energy into the mix was quite a lot harder than I expected as I found that making the enchantments with demonic power did not work well when you added holy energy into the mix to try and boost said enchantment.

However, an idea came to mind and I gritted my teeth as the Gremory crest appeared in the air in front of me, the dark gold hilt of a longsword forming as I pulled it out to reveal the black-and-white blade as well as the grey lining that started at the hilt and went halfway up the blade itself.

“Ooh~ Nice. How did you make it and what does it do?”

“Essentially, I decided to make two different enchantments, one holy and one demonic, that would work on the blade at the same time. Then, I made a third enchantment at the centre that allows the two sides to co-exist without blowing it up. Finally, the hilt itself has an enchantment to allow anyone to use a holy-demonic balde even if they are an angel, fallen angel or devil.”

“That's…four enchantments on the same blade? That isn't too bad,” He spoke with a nod as he took the blade, to which I just nodded as I wiped the sweat from my brow while relaxing into the chair.

“Thanks, but the only issue is that I need to train the process a few dozen more times in order to speed it up.”

“Even if you don't, you're sitting on a gold mine right here. The only holy-demonic blade in the world right now is Arondight, which is in the possession of my younger brother Satanael and even if your blades are weaker, they would still make quite the killing in sales.”

'I guess he doesn't know that Arondight is in my possession, which is weird if he knew about my holy-demonic blades, but I'll take it,' I thought as I hid my smile, simply nodding at his words before he glared at me as the blade in his hand shattered.

“Oh come on~ I just wanted to study it.”

“Leaving you, the mad genius, to study something would result in you developing counters against me and while you're not my enemy right now, that's not to say you won't be in a week or a month or even a year.”

“Do you not remember the part where I said that us leaders are here for a meeting?”, He asked, rolling his eyes as I finished my drink while nodding.

“I do, but how do I know you're not lying to me?”

“You don't, but I'll pay you?”, He said with a hopeful smile before sticking his tongue out as I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

“Tempting, but I'd rather Rias not beat me up for taking bribes from her enemies.”

“Oh, not even married and she's already got you by the balls.”

“Well, it's either she has me by the balls or she destroys them. I'd rather still have them,” I answered with a shrug as I created a Gremory crest below me, to which Azazel just rolled his eyes as I linked my crest to the one in the Occult club.

“Whatever you say. So, can I have that blade now?”

“If you make a contract that if you or anyone linked to you tries to experiment on it, I'm allowed to take your soul as compensation?”

“Wait, what if one of my enemies takes it to spite me?”, He asked and I smirked as I simply shrugged while activating the crest.

“Then you better find a way to hide it away as best as you can. Contact me when you wanna do the deal,” With that said, I found myself being pulled across the city, cracking my neck as I materialized inside the ORC club.

“Huh, why are you here?”, I asked as I looked to Xenovia, who hummed as she continued to read through the magazine on her lap while Rias sat on the couch opposite of her.

“Being alone at home is mind-numbing, so I decided to explore the city before this demoness decided to try and get me to join her peerage.”

“Hey, I told you I was going to try and make you join the peerage when you first came to live with us, so it's kind of your fault for still deciding to live with us.”

“So, you've just essentially been bugging her, then?”, I asked, shaking my head as Rias nodded happily while Xenovia looked exasperated.

“And like I've been telling her since I arrived, I feel no need to become a devil.”

“But why not~? You become so much more stronger, you essentially become immortal and you get my backing as a devil.”

“I am already stronger than most humans, I do not see the need to become immortal and I do not need your political backing as a devil since I am not a devil.”

“No, but you are a free agent that is unaffiliated with any organization so if the exorcists or the Grigori decide to attack you to get Durandal, she'd kind of be forced to not help unless she wants to risk her family's political standing,” I chimed in and Rias nodded as Xenovia grimaced.

“That is true.”

“However, I can also see that you don't want to actually become a devil, so why not make a contract with us?”

“And how would that work?”, Xenovia asked and I hummed as I sat down next to Rias while she looked just as curious.

“It would be like the usual alliance contract a human wizard and a devil makes with each other, but in this case, your battles become our battles and our battles become your battles. The upside is that you get to keep your humanity.”

“That does sound like the best option.”

“Yeah, and even if you don't want to do it with Rias, you can do it with me since I am her Knight so it should still work, right?”, I asked only to blink as Rias giggled and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

“Yuuto, you're my boyfriend and could potentially become my fiancé and husband. You would become Lord Consort of House Gremory so your allies are my allies no matter what.”

“What do you mean potentially? You think I'm going to find another Rias Gremory that makes every day a pleasure like you do?”, I asked, smiling at her smug smile before looking to Xenovia as she groaned.

“When you two devils are done flirting, I would like to make a decision.”

“You're just jealous you don't have a boyfriend,” Xenovia scoffed at her words while I just let the two talk it out.

“As if. Taking your boyfriend from you and leading him back to the light would be child's play.”

“Oh? Is the church girl preaching about infidelity? And here I thought you were all about the Bible.”

“Lord Michael would understand if it is to lead a sinful man back onto the path of righteousness.”

'I don't think he will,' I thought with a smirk, but decided to keep quiet as Rias shook her head with a smirk.

“I don't think he will, but I'll let you stay delusional. Now, what is your answer going to be?”, She asked and Xenovia frowned before nodding.

“I would like to make a contract with both of you. That way, I can be sure that I will have your political backing should something happen.”

“That sounds reasonable. Well, this is your part, beautiful.”

“Right, here you go,” Rias said as she placed a finger on the coffee table in between us, Xenovia raising an eyebrow as a stack of documents appeared on top of it.

“Since you want to make a more formal contract instead of the casual contracts we have with other humans that require payment, you have to sign all of these and I'll take you through it.”

“And this is where I lea-!”

“Nope, this is your alliance just as much as it is mine. Besides, if you need to make an alliance like this with someone else in the future, you might as well learn,” Rias said as she pulled me down, to which I gave a soft chuckle as I nodded while Xenovia walked over to sit on Rias' other side.

“Okay, now let's start with the first page.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“…Who wants to meet me?”, I asked, wanting to make sure I heard that right as Sirzechs chuckled and nodded.

“Michael the Archangel wishes to meet with you.”

“…Why me, though? If anything, he should be meeting with Rias or Sona instead of a regular Knight piece.”

“It was a surprise to us as well, but he does not want to just meet you. He also wishes to meet with Issei Hyoudou.”

“Okay, that I understand considering Issei is housing one of the most dangerous Sacred Gears in the world,” I nodded and he chuckled before I groaned as he smirked.

“Okay, I guess if it's a necessity, I will meet with him, but what do I even say?”

“Whatever you feel is needed. Michael has always been one that likes to be honest so if you're honest back, he'll be pleased.”

“Okay, then. What about Issei? Should I stop him from saying anything bad?”

“…Just make sure he doesn't start ranting about bosoms and everything should be okay,” He said before giving a sheepish smile as I gave him a deadpan stare.

“You do know who the guy is, right?”

“I do.”

“…I swear, everybody thinks I can perform miracles,” I muttered as I took the tag from Sirzechs with a murmured thanks, activating it before I felt myself being pulled across the town.

'Okay, so it's still the same spot as in the show,' I thought as I stared at the shrine, smirking at the sight of Akeno standing at the bottom steps with a smile before she giggled as she saw my smirk.

“I didn't think you'd be that excited to see the leader of Heaven.”

“I'm not actually because I have to babysit Issei at the same time.”

“Without Saji? Oof~ That's going to be a bit of a hard one,” I rolled my eyes at her amusement before looking to my side as I heard the sound of grunting, not surprised to see Issei riding towards us with a bike.

“Hey, Issei. How was the drive?”

“F-Fun. So, where's the guy I'm supposed to meet?”, Issei asked with a frown and I smirked as I simply pointed to the top of the steps, the boy letting out a groan as he simply lifted his bike and began walking up.

“He does realize he can hide the bike at the bottom steps, right?”, I asked, to which she just giggled as we followed after him.

A/N: More of a slice-of-life chapter than a story chapter as that will happen next chapter. Kiba has met Azazel, the two have bonded slightly and now both him and Issei are about to meet with the leader of Heaven.

Next chapter: Meeting Heaven's leader and Meeting Lord Gremory…Again.

As always, read, enjoy, review and until the next one…

Ba-Bye~!!