"Why are you here?" Rias whispered to Abaddon as Irina's reincarnation process commenced, "Did something happen?"
"Don't you need to focus on the ritual?" Abaddon asked.
"The knight piece contains the main reincarnation aspect of the ritual. My magic circle is only there to start that process," She said, "Answer my question."
"Xenovia," Abaddon said, "isn't in the best mental state. She needs to talk to Irina otherwise her guilt will start getting to her."
"So that's why she was tied to that BDSM cross when we woke up in the morning," Rias said with an expression of realization, "Seems a bit too brutal of a punishment for angst among childhood best friends, don't you think?"
"You should've checked between her legs if you think that was a punishment," Abaddon said, amused, "Devils, as long as they have the sin of lust as a prominent aspect, will always enjoy anything that is deemed lustful, whether it is denial, masochism or more. I think you know that very well."
His suggestive tone was enough to make Rias blush, "I don't," She denied, "know what you're talking about."
"Don't you worry," Abaddon said, grabbing her ass, making her suppress a gasp, "I'm taking Sona out on a date today. First thing tomorrow morning, you're coming with me to the training room where I will reaffirm your most prominent sin — Lust."
Rias clenched her fists, barely holding herself back from whimpering at Abaddon's words, "We'll see …" She used the last semblance of her courage to make a display of resistance before going quiet as he continued fondling her butt through the skirt of her uniform.
A couple more minutes passed and Irina's reincarnation process reached its conclusion without any issues. The holy energy was mostly expelled from her magic as it was taken over by demonic energy unique to devils. Two devilish bat-like wings spouted out of her lower back as they naturally flapped and made her float in the air. The ritual finally ended as the circle disappeared and left Irina floating in the middle of the room. She lowered herself and looked at her devil wings with fascination. However, her next course of action was something that no devil could ever imagine doing.
She kneeled in the middle of the room and joined her palms together, "Oh, heavenly father …" She started praying to god.
Abaddon opened his mouth to speak something before closing it, "I shouldn't be surprised …" He said, "She is a devout through and through, even more so than Asia."
"Asia is in a similar boat," Rias said, "She used to go through terrible pains just to pray to god. It's only after Michael permitted her to pray that she could sleep a truly peaceful sleep last night."
"Pity," Abaddon shook his head as Rias looked at him inquisitively. He didn't elaborate, "Let her do her thing, I'm going to bring Xenovia here."
"Okay," Rias nodded and Abaddon disappeared in a flash of yellow light.
Rias was standing in front of Irina as the newly turned devil opened her eyes, "How do you feel?" She asked Irina with a smile as the girl's eyes trembled emotionally after finishing her prayer.
"I feel … free," Irina said, "As if so many weights have been removed from my whole being. I feel good, Rias-sama."
"That's very good," The redhead nodded, "And no need to address me any differently than before. You are now a part of my peerage, Irina. My family. You don't need to think of me as someone superior to yourself."
"Okay, Rias-san," Irina nodded, her bubbly persona seeming to return. "By the way, where did Abaddon-san go? He was here just now."
"He's gone to collect someone," Rias said. "They should be here any minute."
"I understand," Irina nodded before summoning her Excalibur mimic. "I hope you don't mind me performing some tests here," She said as the circlet tied around her bicep extended and formed into a rapier that fell into her hand.
"Just don't damage the clubroom," Rias said. "Otherwise your first lesson with devil magic will be about fixing broken items."
Her joke made Irina smile, "You don't need to worry, Rias-san," She patted her chest reassuringly. Taking a battle stance in a clear area of the room, she raised her rapier before swinging it in a semi-circle. Her eyes widened as a light gust of wind was created by her swing. With a frown, she swung the sword again. This time, amidst her swing, a flash of yellow appeared alongside a magical flare that startled Irina. A light yelp escaped her lips as the sword in her hand left a gash on the floor — both due to her being startled and not being fully used to her newly enhanced strength.
"I thought I told you to not damage anything," Rias said dryly as Abaddon appeared in the room with a guest.
"Thehe~" Irina smiled embarrassedly, "I'm sorry, Rias-san. I promise I will fix it."
"You better," Rias looked at the gash in the floor sadly.
…
Abaddon and Rias left Xenovia and Irina in the room before leaving, locking the door behind them, "We will return in a couple of hours. Don't damage anything in there or you will both have hell to pay." Rias said through the door.
"Is all this really necessary, Rias-san?" Xenovia asked with reluctance.
"It is," Irina was quick to answer, "Thank you for the help, Abaddon-san and Rias-san. You can enjoy your date."
"She might not be as much of an airhead as she acts." Abaddon chortled, "It's almost cute."
"Yeah, whatever, let's go," Rias wrapped her arms around Abaddon's arm, hugging it and pulling him, "I'm stealing you for a bit before Sona hogs you completely for the rest of the day."
Abaddon didn't say anything and went along with Rias, enjoying the softness that his arm was buried within.
Meanwhile, inside the room that Rias had just locked.
"Now," Irina looked at Xenovia with her fists resting on her hips, "Tell me what your deal is?" She had an annoyed expression on her face and was looking at Xenovia confrontationally, "You have been avoiding me like the plague ever since the day after the fight against Kokabiel. Why?"
Xenovia only got more and more guilty as Irina continued speaking. By the time she stopped, Xenovia was looking firmly down at her shoes with her shoulder slouched and trembling.
"Tell me!" Irina got agitated and grabbed Xenovia's shoulders, forcing the blue-haired knight to look at her, "Even I have become a devil now. What's keeping my best friend away from me?" She asked.
Xenovia released a defeated sigh at Irina's agitated questioning, "You won't like my answer, Irina. My lord told me about how Rias-san requested Archangel Michael to allow you and Asia to pray to god."
"I can understand, Xenovia," Irina said, "Have you given up on god because he is dead? I don't have a problem with that. I'm already a devil for crying out loud."
"And what if I have forsaken all of the teachings that have been ingrained into me for my whole life, huh?" She said, "What if I have abandoned my faith completely for the king who decided to accept me?"
Irina was stumped at Xenovia's words, not knowing what to say.
"You and I," Xenovia continued, "we have always prayed to the heavenly father." She winced in pain from the mention of God but kept going, "Without him, there is no outlet for my faith. Those feelings don't just vanish into thin air. If I couldn't find a way to cope with my situation, I would've gone crazy. This is the main reason that Michael doesn't want people to find out about God's demise. Every devout would fall into anarchy and bring about ruin to his legacy."
"What does this have to do with you?" Irina asked weakly, "What do you even mean by having forsaken God? Even if you have stopped praying, you haven't forsaken him …"
"My faith needed an outlet, Irina," Xenovia said, "And that outlet came in the form of my lord, Abaddon-sama. To me, his word is my gospel and his presence is divine. Unlike a dead entity, my faith is directed toward the devil who saved me when I was at my lowest."
Irina's eyes were reddened by the time Xenovia finished and before she realized it, she had raised Excalibur toward her best friend. Without a word, she swung her sword as if wanting to behead Xenovia, who didn't show the slightest resistance.
Irina's sword met Xenovia's neck, embedding itself slightly into her skin since she couldn't control her power enough just yet.
With widened eyes, she had an expression of horror, "Xenovia!" She quickly pulled away her sword as blood started dripping from her neck, "Why didn't you defend yourself?" She asked aggrievedly while trying to rouse her holy energy to heal her best friend from a deathly blow. Sadly, she was now a devil, unable to use the remnants of holy energy within herself.
"Don't worry, Irina," Xenovia smiled and held the devout girl's hands, "My lord's protection never leaves me …" As if to confirm her words, the wound started healing by itself as the remnants of Abaddon's Aether within her body started healing her. He had already prepared for such a scenario and infused her with a good chunk of Aether to both empower her in case of a fight and to heal her in case of an injury.
Irina burst out in tears and hugged Xenovia.
***
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