Two-three days flew by ever since Lucian got admitted into Kuoh Academy. He would be lying if he claimed that he was liking his new school life. In fact it was the opposite. Right now he would happily trade listening to sleep-inducing lectures, being surrounded by attention-craving girls and horrendous homework assignments for fighting against some High-rank Fallen Angels or High Class Devils.
'Someone end me already.' He mentally groaned, while resisting the urge to fall asleep in between the ongoing geography lecture. He didn't even bother to pen down anything of what the teacher was explaining as he was past the point of understanding the topic being taught. 'I don't think I am passing this subject either. What the hell am I passing then?'
While his academic life had seen better days, he did not slack off on his other duties. Within the span of two days, he updated himself with the necessary information. He was also able to track down Asia Argento which wasn't hard at all, given how she shared her class with Issei, the holder of Boosted Gear.
The school and the town was looked over by two prominent devil houses, Gremory and Sitri. It was easy to guess since only two students in the entire school had these surnames and also the fact that they held noteworthy positions within the school. There is a high chance of a few students being devils as well. The devils had a system of reincarnating humans and beings of other races as devils, with certain exceptions. It wouldn't make sense to have two heiresses roaming around without their underlings.
'That boy Issei is one and it seems Asia has changed sides.' Lucian thought, drawing up doodles in the last page of his notebook. He spared a glance at the blonde-haired boy sitting a few desks ahead of him. 'And so is that guy.'
Lucian wasn't naive enough to think that the devils in the school, especially the clan heiresses hadn't taken notice of him. It is just that they haven't taken any sort of action yet and just like how he was observing them, they were doing the same to him.
This worked in his favor for the time being. He had the freedom of continuing with his investigations on other two factors besides the devil. After having arrived in Kuoh, he found no signs of the Fallen Angels unlike the reports nor did he find any signs of the stray exorcist. They may have neatly covered their tracks after the incident with Asia Argento.
The ringing of the class bell brought Lucian's mind back to the present and he breathed a sigh of relief. He had already made up his mind to skip the next few classes, being well aware that his brain won't be able to keep up with Japanese Literature. He would rather use this time to gather more information on the stray exorcist. Not having the name or any sort of lead on the exorcist at present, all of it seems like a wild goose chase to him.
'Hm?' He had to put his planning to halt when he noticed the blonde boy walking up to his desk. 'If they already figured out what I am, I shouldn't fool around either.'
"Hello there, my name is Kiba Yuuto, a fellow third year." The boy politely greeted, putting up a genuine smile on his face. "I was asked by the Student Council president to escort you to her."
"Drop with the formalities." Lucian replied, earning a look of surprise from Kiba. "What? Did you really think I wouldn't know?"
The mood between the two shifted and Kiba's smile faded, replaced with a frown of suspicion. He kept up his guard in case Lucian tried to pull anything funny.
"Relax, I won't bite." Lucian raised his hands up in order to reassure the boy of his needless worrying. Not like it helped tone down the tense mood in between them but he still tried nonetheless. "You are showing hostility right now which might scare your classmates away."
Kiba took a look around the class, noticing that the students had moved away from them and were eyeing them warily. With the atmosphere around them, they had assumed that a fight would break out between the two of them. And from their expressions Lucian could infer that Kiba was quite popular as a student and none of them would expect him to fight with a new student just after two days of him being admitted here.
"Come on, let's get going." Getting up from his seat, Lucian put his backpack on his shoulder, waiting for the blonde to lead the way.
Without a word, Kiba exited the classroom, followed by the new student. None of them spoke a thing as they passed down the hallways. When they reached a place with a smaller number of eavesdropping ears, Lucian broke the silence.
"So who's soldier are you?"
"I am the Knight of Gremory, Kiba Yuuto." He re-introduced himself, utmost seriousness and caution replacing the kind tone he used back in the class.
"Any genuine idea why I have been called by your master?" Lucian didn't beat around the bush. He needed to have a general idea of what to expect. This is an unknown territory for him and thus, every step needs to be taken with caution. Preparing himself for the unexpected is a must.
"How about asking them yourself?" Kiba answered, pushing open the double doors of the Student Council's office.
'Straight into the lion's den.' Without a word, he stepped inside the Student Council office. The blond knight closed the doors after that and stood guard. Lucian glanced at the two other occupants in the office.
Sitting on the main chair was a bespectacled young lady with slim figure, black hair styled in a short bob-cut and a pair of serious-looking violet eyes, staring deeply at the new arrival. She was dressed in Kuoh's Academy's girl's uniform. In front of her was a large table where several papers and pamphlets lay unattended. A few of them contained stamps and some did not. On one of the smaller tables lay an empty chess board.
The other occupant of the room was a beautiful young lady with long, distinctive crimson hair that almost reached her thighs. She had a figure that would send most males of their age group drooling. Lucian took note of her blue eyes gazing deep into his maroon ones, as if trying to unravel all the mysteries about him.
"Thank you for taking time out of your schedule to come here." The bespectacled student broke the lingering silence, standing up from her seat to introduce herself. "My name is Sona Sitri, the Student Council President."
"And I am Rias Gremory, President of the Occult Research Club." The redhead introduced herself.
"Lucian Kristoff, Church Exorcist." The moment he mentioned "church", Lucian could sense the shift in the mood of the room. They were suddenly on guard against him and he swore he could even feel the slightest amount of hostility from everyone present, even more from the knight standing right behind him.
It was a natural reaction. Devils are the sworn enemies of the Church who are allied with the Angels. These two sides are far from being on friendly terms with one another and thus clashes between them weren't unusual at all.
"Relax, I am not here to pick a fight. It would be a foolish move to do so in the devil's territory." He was well aware of the fact that he had provoked them intentionally. It was to make clear who and what they actually are and thus stop dilly dallying. "I was assigned here for my current mission and it has nothing to do with you guys....more or less."
"Does your mission have to do something with Asia Argento?" Rias inquired in a sharp tone, narrowing her eyes. From her expressions, it felt like she would attack at any moment.
"Not at all. Rather I am deeply sorry for whatever happened to her, mostly due to negligence on the Church's part." Lucian sincerely responded. From Rias's reaction, the blonde inferred that Asia had joined the redhead's ranks. After all, the Gremory's were known to be specially caring about their servants.
"Plus the Church now has no right to do anything to her, since they have failed to help her in the time of need." Lucian assured. "On behalf of them, I thank you for taking in Asia and giving her a new life, and apologize for the mismanagement caused on our end."
"I will relay this to her." Rias seemed content that no harm would be befalling on her newest bishop. She chose to trust Lucian's words due to his sincerity. It may appear as a foolish move in other people's eyes but there are times when one needs to keep trust and faith in someone. "Also if you have anyone to thank, thank my pawn Issei. He really takes good care of Asia and is a great friend to her."
"I will." The blonde nodded. "Now then onto the more pressing matters, what was I called here for?"
"We were intrigued by the holy energy we felt from you and thus wished to know the reason behind it." Sona spoke up. "I assume it is a Sacred Gear?"
"I do have a Sacred Gear though, I hardly know much about this." Lucian showed his left arm where the wristband was tied. He chose to not specify what it does right away and much to his relief, the two heiresses did inquire about it further. "All I know is that it is a Holy-type Gear."
"There are no records of this?" Rias inquired with newfound curiosity. Sacred Gears and their nature have always been a mystery in the supernatural world.
Sacred Gear users have been popping up lately and each of them have a unique set of abilities. There are Sacred Gears who have a lot of history about them.
"All I know is that in the past there has been only one wielder of this." Lucian answered, eyeing the wristband. "And that this is a set-type sacred gear. There are three more items required to complete the full set."
The heiresses observed that the man in front of them gave only the required and relevant information. Even if there is more to it, he chose not to divulge too many details. When negotiating, a person needs not to play all their cards at once but rather play them one at a time and slowly turn things in their favor.
'So it's similar to Saji's in a sense.' Sona thought to herself.
"Anything else you two need to ask?" The exorcist asked, adjusting his bag on his shoulder. "If you are done with questions then I have something to ask."
"Please go ahead." Rias answered, wondering what he would want to know from them. He had entertained their questions so it was a basic courtesy to do the same for him.
"Which one of you or your teams encountered a stray exorcist in this area and when was the last time you did?" Lucian took note of how Rias and Kiba's expressions turned sour on the mention of the stray exorcist. 'So it was the Gremory's who did.'
"We were the ones to encounter Freed Sellzen and it happened..." Kiba stepped in to explain all about their latest encounters with the aforementioned stray exorcist.
'I finally got a name to go by. So he is allied with the Fallens.' This newfound information proved to be quite helpful for him. It provided him with some sort of lead to go by rather than sitting ducks and looking for a needle in the haystack. 'It would be in my best bet if he hasn't left this area yet.'
"Thank you for your cooperation. I will be taking my leave now." Without another word, Lucian walked out of the Student Council office, leaving the devils to their own devices.
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Having flown all the way to the sixth heaven, the angel landed in a clearing full of paintings of all kinds. In there sat a handsome man with long blue hair with elegant looking blue eyes. The man seemed to be deeply engrossed in his paintings and currently was in the process of putting finishing touches on his latest piece of art.
"Lord Raphael! I have something important to report." The Angel got down on one knee, his gaze fixated on the around.
"You may rise." The man named Raphael answered, still not moving his eyes away from his painting.
"We have pinpointed the location of God's Shield."
Raphael paused and finally turned around to the angel who had just delivered the news. He glanced at him with an expression that was clearly asking, "Is the report accurate or not." and from his gaze he could infer that the reports weren't wrong.
Letting out a deep sigh, he put his paintbrush aside before standing up. Six pairs of pure white wings emerged from his back along with a halo appearing above his head. "Looks like we are going to be busy for a while."
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