Flesh is Weak

God is dead, and the world moved on.

The dream that night was a happy one. We are on Mars in a beautiful home on the peak of Olympus Mons. Rias and Kuroka are with me, holding three incredibly happy children. A boy for Rias and twin girls for Kuroka. Each kid has my green hair and their mother's eyes. The six of us are sitting in the living room, and the kids listen as I read them a story while their mothers lean on my shoulders. The boy looked up into my eyes, and he and his half-sisters all had massive smiles. The three of them are sitting on my lap, snuggled into my chest, and the girls have their tails out wrapped around their half-brother. The trio of kids are excited hearing the story I'm telling. Ravel enters the room a second later, holding a set of twin boys with Ravel's hair and my eyes. The new three take a seat on the couch and the new boys are also put on my lap.

I want this so very badly. It was near perfect. I was about to tell my kids a new tale when reality, being its disappointing self, happened.

The sound of a very loud snore made me open my eyes groggily. I blinked away the haze and found Rias snoring on my chest. Her face was near mine, and she was snoring cutely. The sound of a second snore and there was Kuroka sleeping on my left arm. She mumbled something out.

"Kittens daddy is busy with mommy nya. Go away for five minutes."

That got her squeezing my arm harder. I'm not looking forward to the next round of enhancements. Rias mumbled out her dream.

"Be jealous, Sona, he's mine. My husband."

The two snuggled harder to me, and I didn't want to ruin their dreams. I checked the clock, and it was nine. I used my free arm to gently poke Rias. She whined and snuggled deeper into my chest. I poked her again near her elbow, and she giggled. I noted that and poked her once more, finally getting Rias to open her eyes. The green met red, and Rias smiled, still asleep. She mumbled out.

"Whaaaat."

I smiled at Rias and replied to the sleepy head.

"I have a meeting today, Ria. I'd also like to see Sona for my club. You can brag about me to her while we are there."

Rias immediately shot out of bed and made a beeline to the bathroom while excitedly shouting.

"My husband is better than anything Sona can have! Victory is mine at last!"

Kuroka whined out loud when she was woken up. Her eyes were bloodshot, and she immediately put a pillow over her head to try to go back to sleep. Kuroka whined again before reluctantly taking the pillow off her head.

"It's too early to get up, nya. The day doesn't start till twelve."

I snicker because she is right.

"Sadly, it does start now. There is a nun and two potential holy sword users joining the Legio today, Roka. They were all excommunicated, and one of them was Issari's first friend. We need to meet them and inform Conner that he will report to you and possibly Ravel."

That got Kuroka's attention as her ears went straight up, and her eyes widened. She was wide awake now, and she sighed.

"I'm awake, nya. I'll go shower and be ready. We are taking Red and Birdy, nya?"

I need to catch Rias up with everything, and with Ravel, we can probably draw up several plans for Kokabiel.

"I'm sure Rias will come along, and as for Ravel, I told her about the situation. I'm expecting the worst, given two are exorcists, and one of them should be more open about devil hatred."

I expect Xenovia to freak out on me. I'm extremely curious about Asia here because she doesn't seem like her canonical self. That Asia would probably blow up all the computers near her and be adorable. Asia pouting after destroying an entire world's infrastructure by accident appears in my mind's eye, and I shiver. Rias emerges from the bathroom dressed in jeans and an anime T-shirt, still doing a mini jig while Kuroka entered it, watching our redhead in amusement. Rias danced her way over to the bed and immediately began to feed her sin of greed.

"Sona can suck it! She will see that I have the best and she doesn't have a chance! She, the second Onee-sama of the school, lost to plain me!"

Rias kept her jig up, and that got a laugh out of me. Rias pouted but soon realized the laugh was for her being happy. She excitedly pulled me up off the bed and had me join her jig, which was a happy distraction from the impending storm of exorcists.

When Rias, Kuroka, and I arrived, the breakfast table was full of people eagerly talking to each other about the week. Ravel was downstairs already enjoying a muffin while this was happening, and her face was pure bliss as she ate that muffin like it was the last food on earth. Considering it's Maéva's pastries, I can't blame Ravel.

Maéva was worried about today's meeting nervously pacing and watching the clock. Mittelt was not at the table, and I was about to ask when Raynare spoke up, getting a small eep from Hetvia even though she hadn't been sneaking.

"Mitt said they got there safely."

I was about to ask when Raynare preemptively said the question.

"It's the brown hair one, not the blue. The blue one is in the big sad fully and needs help. Brown hair one has been the troublemaker."

I give Raynare another look, and she instantly knows the question again, while everyone else who doesn't know Raynare doesn't understand what she's doing.

"The nun doesn't care about Kala. She just wants a place to sleep and eat. She does want to know if she will be forbidden from doing charity work. Other than that, she has been extremely cooperative."

Maéva let out a deep breath of relief. Ravel looked at me for a second before remembering our conversation about the Legio Solar. She glanced at Raynare, and I explained there.

"Raynare has something that is an incredibly rare gift and it connects to her disappearing act."

Ravel seemed to be devising plans to exploit Ray's gift , and she looked at Raynare to explain this later. Raynare nodded her head at the unspoken request. Ravel smiled at Raynare before she looked at me.

"Please bring me up to speed with the Legio fully. I am ready to help my husband with his goals as he does with mine."

Neri surprised me by saying that her eyes were on my face, not the floor.

"I will help Milord by bringing food to the new people and to the future ones."

Seeing Neri braver puts a smile on my face. I showed that smile to Ravel, too, and we started talking about the logistics behind the Legio. Ravel listened and immediately started her thought train. She really is like Rouboute in terms of exacting details. She requested to meet with Conner, and she will devise a plan to approach Heniya and the new kings about our activities. She did give me a first idea.

"With your acceptance by the Shinto, we can sell the idea to Lady Leviathan to use this as a way to build relations back up with the youkai and possibly others. We would need more than just her support, however."

That could work and we can use Kokabiel as the first step to launching our version of DxD forward. I gladly take the idea. It could work, and I will ask Sona to arrange a meeting between her sister and me. We will need more support there and a way to get Kokabiel to focus on me, not Rias. I am considering a possible plan when Issari walked into the room. She was about to growl at her rival as Hetvia sat beside a grinning Kiba, only stopping from a look Akeno sent. She reluctantly sat and was about to be down when she brightened up remembering that she can see Irina again.

Her new bouncing was funny, and I snarked at her.

"You will cause the next earthquake with your bouncing Issari-chan if you keep it up. Give me ten minutes, and we'll go see your friend. If she tries to jump me, it's your job to struggle snuggle her."

That didn't stop the knucklehead from bouncing in her excitement, but she got ready for that upcoming struggle snuggle.

The final group for the visit was Issari, Kuroka, Rias, Ravel, Maéva, and me. As we portal out of the station Ravel was interested in the description of power armor and several of the weapons she was described. Rias looked at me eyes begging for power armor, and I rolled my eyes at her, saying I'd make her a set. That got a pleased look from Rias, and Ravel said she would put a Phenex emblem on her armor. Her eyes were filled with potential ideas for her battle plans. Maéva had been finger-poking nervously, and as we all entered the alleyway close to the entrance to the apartment complex, I prepared for the next step of the day.

The door was answered by a very annoyed Jeanne in casual clothing of a Disney T-shirt with a Mini Mouse on it and jeans. Her annoyance disappeared upon seeing us, but she frowned at Rias and Ravel. Issari was bouncing up and down for this meeting and I greeted Jeanne with my smile smirk.

"Jeanne as lovely as ever. Sorry for dropping by unexpectedly, but I'm eager to meet our three new people and have pleasant surprises for them."

Jeanne got an annoyed look back and snarked at me with a heavy French accent.

"Please tell me it will shut up the bratty Protestant. She has been going on and on about how the others shouldn't trust us and how she should kill Kala for being a stray devil. It's grating, and we have had to put her in an apartment on my floor. I have to hear her rant on that she is a good Christian. It's bad, and the only reason we haven't turned her loose yet is that the reasonable nun insists that she isn't that bad. My ass, she isn't bad."

I looked at Issari, who winced at this brutal moment of her friend. Jeanne caught that and raised her blonde eyebrows at the pervert. I jabbed my finger at said pervert.

"This should help. I'm sorry she is doing that. I wanted to speak to the nun personally as she also has a guest here. Can you please let us in?"

Jeanne moved aside, letting us in, and she focused on Rias and Ravel again. Ravel looked at Jeanne critically, and Rias was curious about Jeanne having seen the footwork of a swordswoman. Issari was practically ready to run up the stairs, just as Maéva was. Jeanne asked as we were climbing up the stairs.

"Who's the two next to you?"

I smiled at Jeanne and answered.

"To my right is my betrothed, Rias Gremory. On my left is my other betrothed, Ravel Phenex. Both have agreed to help the Legio. Ravel is our strategy person. She and Rias will be doing groundwork with us. Rias, Ravel, this is Jeanne. She is our main scouting person and field agent."

Ravel eyed Jeanne, impressed by what she saw. Rias smiled friendly to Jeanne, and the French woman rolled her eyes at me.

"I'm your only scouter. I have learned several things and am eager to relay them to you. It's nice to meet you both."

Rias smiled and squeezed my arm tightly in pride here. Ravel looked at Jeanne and then smiled herself.

"I'm happy to meet you, Jeanne. I'd like to begin speaking with you about your experience with our foe and discuss things you might have caught or seen hints of."

Jeanne immediately began talking to Ravel, who started grilling our field agent with questions about Kokabiel and his people. We all entered the second-floor hallway when I winced along with everyone else, hearing a shrill voice echoing.

"I will not work with devils! You forget, sister, that we serve the Lord! How are we supposed to do that if we work alongside abominations and heretics!"

Issari winced big time there and sweat dropped. Maéva was even more nervous now, but the next voice made my maid stop fretting.

"What does it matter what they are anymore? We were thrown out and excommunicated. You planned to find your childhood friend and then have us stay with them. Here, we have people who have the same goal as us and have been excellent hosts. The devil here has been kind to us, and if you weren't shrieking about her and her companions, you'd see that she and they are decent company."

That was delivered clinically and with a melancholy tone. Maéva brightened up. Irina shrieked back at Asia.

"We betray him by helping them! They are unholy and only desire to hurt others! You don't become a stray for any other reason except for power! You are spoiled sister, having not seen what Xenovia and I have seen!"

As we approach closer, Asia responds to Irina with a bit of anger and frustration. Jeanne has a tic mark on her head.

"I have seen their actions exorcist. I have seen the lost limbs and other things people have suffered from strays. I have seen our holy warriors come back in pain and sobbing from their experiences with them. Yet I still believe in the good of everyone, and the fact that you claim to love him yet forget his biggest teaching is a mistake. Xenovia has been devastated by our excommunication and the journey here. Instead of trying to help her with me, you have been complaining nonstop about the fact we have a roof over our heads and food provided to us by our hosts. You insult the people who got us here and have been friendly with us despite everything. You can continue to complain that we were excommunicated, or you could be me who has accepted it. I still want to help people, and I don't need them to tell me how to help others and live the Lord's work."

We come around the corner to see the scene in the room. Irina, with her long brown hair in twin tails dressed in a skintight black combat suit and glaring at a very different Asia. This Asia has glasses with short blond hair cut similar to Sona's, and her green eyes are not the pure innocence of the base her. They hold the knowledge of people's hurts and the sight of someone who has seen suffering yet is still trying to be an optimist. Her clothes were a nurse's uniform with a healthcare cross over her heart, and on her hat was a pair of angel wings. The uniform was deep pink and not scandalous like Irina's suit. Irina was about to shout at Asia again when someone hit her knocking her to the floor. That someone was an extremely angry and happy Issari.

Asia blinked twice at the action before being picked up and struggle snuggled by a weeping Maéva. Asia kept blinking rapidly before she looked up at the source of her hug. Then, the blonde let out an excited cry.

"Mae! Is that you!"

That was followed by Irina gasping.

"Sari what the!"

I snicker and sigh in contentment at having the shrieking stop. I apologize to Jeanne.

"I'm really sorry about this, Jeanne. I'll try to get you guys a second building."

Maéva was busy crying and swinging Asia around in a circle while Irina looked at Issari like she had seen a ghost. I noticed a very down Xenovia on a couch nearby, dressed in the same skintight combat suit as Irina. Her eyes held true depression looking at the floor and not saying anything. Jeanne accepted the apology.

"It's not you it's the banshee. Kala and Conner went for groceries to escape this and will probably hit a love hotel on the way back. I don't blame them. Thank you! I can hear myself think for a second!"

Asia continues getting increasingly excited while Issari looked Irina dead in the eyes and said to her friend without hesitation and in anger.

"I'm a heretic now, am I, Irina? Because I work with a devil that does things like help you and your peers?"

When she heard that, Irina went pale white, and her eyes met Issari's. Irina also saw the happy reunion between Asia and Maéva. The other chestnut grew ashamed of herself.

"They hurt so many people."

Issari snorted.

"They do, but so do the churches and the fallen. No one is blameless in this world. People are people regardless of their origin. You have to look beneath the surface to see people fully. That's what my new best friend has taught me. No one is perfect, Irn."

Irina grew more ashamed, and she looked at the floor. Before her eyes looked up quickly at the rest of us with Jeanne. Her eyes looked at each of us. Asia finally freed her head from Maéva's struggle snuggling, and her blue eyes fell on mine.

"I don't care, Mae. My prayers were answered today about you. They told me that you were dead, then gave me ten seconds to grieve. This is a miracle of the Lord."

Maéva was about to say something about that, but I stopped her.

"Not him, but someone that cares like he does. It's nice to meet you, Lady Argento. I have heard nothing but good things from Maéva about you."

Asia smiled at hearing that and gently got Maéva to let her down from the bear hug. Once out of the hug, she completely looked at me critically. She then took a still worried Maéva's bear hug again and responded.

"Thank you for the compliment, stranger. I'm sorry for my rudeness in not knowing your name like you know mine."

Asia is still humble and I bow my head to her and introduce myself.

"Gregor Astaroth of the seventy-two pillars Lady Argento. I run the outfit, and I am happy to meet you."

Asia looked surprised at my last name. Irina focused hard on me, and her eyes were full of questions. Issari looked at her friend, and that made Irina ashamed again. Asia wasn't upset about my status.

"I'm surprised that a noble would be working with a stray devil, but I think the answer as to why is complicated. May I ask if I am being recruited in an offhand way for your peerage, Sir Astaroth?"

Irina got ready to defend herself and Asia despite the argument. She then looked at Issari in pure horror. She froze again, not feeling demonic energy from her friend. I answered Asia's question with a shake of my head.

"Only if you want that. I'm not in a massive rush to recruit people. If you wish to stay human, it's your choice."

Asia relaxed and looked at Maéva in a way only siblings would understand, with Maéva shaking her head yes. That relaxed Asia completely.

"That is a relief. I understand that my gear is powerful and thus desirable. We were attacked three times in Italy, and with each country we passed through, they increased in the number of times and ferocity. I feared that this was a deliberate attempt to lower our guard, and while everyone here has been kind to us, I am relieved to know it's genuine and sincere. Don't glare at me, Irina we were low on money and would have run out of it in two days."

That explains Irina's paranoid behavior here. Asia isn't naïve but decided to have faith in a chance.

"I'm not those devils, and neither are my companions. You will be safer here as I have a connection to the devil ruler of the city, and I can vouch for you. So long as you don't cause trouble, you should be fine. I'm sorry for your experience with them. I understand both sides of this and will try to make your stay better here."

Asia seemed pleased to know this, but Irina showed why she and Issari are best friends by jumping up and pointing at me with a tic mark on her forehead.

"How can a devil understand how gear users feel being enslaved by your kind! You pervert the Lord's gift to humanity to turn it against them! You are a liar that besmirches the name of God!"

Every devil but me clutch their heads in pain. Irina was so lost in her rage that she didn't notice my non-hurting. She was about to do something again when Issari judo-chopped her. That sent the other chestnut to the ground with spiraling eyes. Asia sweat dropped and Xenovia did something that wasn't being lost in the depression. Her eyes saw Irina sprawled out on the floor, and she let a small smile cross her lips before returning to being sad. Issari was not impressed by her friend, but Jeanne looked at the other swordswoman with hearts in her eyes and voice.

"Teach me how to do that! You're my hero, and I will buy you lunch!"

Issari panted in glee over getting a chance with another swordswoman and Asia sweat dropped again. She studied me harder before her lips curled into a smile.

"You're a half devil. Would you be averse to me running a few tests with you? I have never healed a hybrid before and would like to make notes should I ever need to heal you."

Asia is a cute nerd nurse, and I smiled seeing her happy face.

"I won't need it, but I'd be happy to help advance scientific thought. I have a rare medical condition that is hard to explain and extremely powerful."

Asia grew more curious about my claim, and her eyes were intensely greedy for knowledge. However, she stopped her greed to worry about Xenovia as the blue-haired woman started coughing badly, and when she removed her hand, there was blood on the fist. Asia and Maéva immediately began to fret over Xenovia, and I grew worried there.

"What happened to make her cough blood?"

Asia summoned her gear and slowly started running the energy up Xenovia's chest, and the young woman groaned in relief at the gesture. Maéva immediately ran to get something to cradle Xenovia's head. Asia answered while running her hands up and down Xenovia, trying to help her traveling companion.

"She took an unknown hex from one of our pursuers when we were in Taiwan. Xen has slowly been melting away despite everything I have done to help. I can't identify the cause, and I have done everything in my power to cure this!"

I don't know hexes. Neither does Ravel or Rias. Kuroka immediately stepped up. She moved to Xenovia, and she asked with clear worry.

"Please describe the symptoms, nya. I know nearly all of the most popularly used ones and many obscure ones."

Maéva rushed back to us with several pillows for Xenovia. Setting them on the couch and I noticed that Xenovia looked like shit, with her hair looking very unhealthy, and she had deep blue bags under her eyes. Her face was starting to turn gaunt. Asia looked at Kuroka before beginning.

"Her lungs have been filling with blood that I must do hourly sessions with my gear to drain. She also has an extremely low energy level that makes moving her hard. Her appetite has disappeared in the last few days, and she can barely keep down broth. I have tried multiple different types of medications that I know of that work, and nothing seemed to work, leading me to guess that it is a rare type of hex as most low-power ones are treatable by medication and my gear."

Kuroka noted everything and immediately summoned a magic spell that scanned Xenovia with a small red light. The spell went up and down Xenovia twice before Kuroka winched.

"She took a Naltepen hex nya. Those are extremely nasty and were developed by the Principle clans several hundred years ago. She is wasting away because the hex is eating her organs away, nya. You can't cure it easily, and it's past the point where you could."

Asia looked so destroyed now. The blue-haired young woman said something softly in Italian.

"The Lord wishes to punish this blasphemous failure. I wish that I could be more useful to you, oh heavenly Lord."

Xenovia lost the will to live hearing this news. Irina still had spirals in her eyes, but she replied while still dazed.

"She took the hex for me. We trained together in the exorcist schools. After our first live mission, we swore to defend each other no matter what."

I winced getting battle oaths. Maeve immediately tried to help Xenovia by getting her something to drink. Asia sighed, and she looked incredibly down.

"I will do what I can to help her with the pain. I sadly know this part well enough. I'm sorry, Xenovia. They were after me, and you just happened to be caught in the crossfire."

Xenovia coughed again, and blood escaped her lips. It lands on her black uniform and marred the black. She mumbled out more sadness than ever, tainting the words.

"I stand ready to protect the Lord's faithful even if the churches have thrown us out. I only wished to serve the Lord, who has been humanity's light. Instead, I die far from it and near things that he hates. That they will protect you where I failed brings me a bit of the joy left on this world even if it is not from whom I wish."

Xenovia was a broken woman close to accepting death fully. She wasn't going to die today, but she is coming to terms with it. I don't offer her reincarnation, nor does Rias, seeing Xenovia's pain, even giving us credit for defending Asia after she is gone. Irina immediately went defensive, stood up fast, and put herself between us and Xenovia.

"You will not reincarnate her, you beasts! I will fight you to save her dignity and you aren't going to violate the dead!"

Asia looked unimpressed at Irina, and Issari judo-chopped her best friend again, having snuck up behind her. It was sneaky showing me she and Raynare had been hanging out. The chop sends Irina back to the floor, and her spiraling eyes return in full force. I responded to Irina with a bland voice.

"I wasn't going to offer her that. That you are that worried about her speaks volumes about your relationship with her, and I would never dishonor a warrior's oaths to one another. I'm sorry I didn't come over yesterday. Were we close, Roka, or was this too late even then?"

Kuroka has her ears sag, and her reply makes me feel better and worse.

"We couldn't have saved her even if we had come here yesterday, nya. The hex has been here for several days longer than we would have been able to counter it."

Xenovia didn't seem upset with that news. Asia did and that showed me and the others that the two had grown extremely close through the travels. Xenovia sighed at her impending death, and she went silent. Issari looked at me, and I shook my head no. She growled at me angrily, and I again shook my head no. Then Issari barked out, pissed.

"Do something for her! If not that then maybe a life support system!"

I looked unimpressed at my best friend.

"What will it do, Issari, except prolong her suffering from it? We could try to replace her decaying organs with new ones, but this hex sounds nasty. Does it persist, Roka, if they are replaced?"

Kuroka drooping more replies to a still pissed chestnut.

"It would decay the new ones, too, nya. This curse was developed by the clans to ensure a youkai was killed no matter what. That won't work, Chestnut, nya. Reincarnation is the best option for her."

That brought the normal sunny Issari down completely, and her eyes turned to me, begging me to reincarnate her. Rias hesitated and reluctantly offered Xenovia.

"I could reincarnate you if that is what you wanted, Xenovia-san. I know it's probably not what you want."

Xenovia was silent there momentarily before she replied with a dead voice.

"I want them and my mother to hold me again. She will now know I'm a failure of an exorcist and a woman scorned by the Lord. Oh, how she tried to save me, and I wished it had worked. I learned the truth about him. I deserve death for damming true believers to this life of outcasts."

My eyes widened there, and so did Issari and Kuroka. Asia looked at the ground sadly, frustrated.

"She won't tell us what this is. She has refused to say anything about this despite me asking her. I don't understand why they would do this to us. This is the wielder of Durandal, and Irina was also getting ready to use holy swords. I was a holy maiden who only met these two briefly at lunch before being grabbed by the Swiss Guard. We were just guilty by association of whatever this is."

This wasn't Diodora starting this it was Xenovia learning his fate. They went scorched earth on Xenovia, and the others suffered from it. Diodora probably made this worse and might have been watching Asia. When she and the others were far enough away from the Vatican, he struck to collect all three. He might have a Principle clan member in his peerage who perhaps threw the hex in frustration at not getting her master his prize. I feel such pity for Xenovia here. Xenovia continued her depression before she reluctantly asked.

"Will I be your slave if I do this?"

Irina got her tic mark again and pointed at us in pure disbelief.

"Xen, they are monsters of sin! They will abuse you and drive you further from the Lord! Better to die free than be their slave for eternity!"

Rias was offended by Irina as I was. Asia is exasperated by the other woman and shakes her head in dismay. Rias gives a firm answer.

"No, you wouldn't. I have never treated any of my pieces badly, and I would support your dreams, too. You can keep your faith. I follow a deity similar to him, and he would accept you."

Xenovia doesn't know what to say there, while Asia is curious. Irina started her own rant, which shows me that Issari and Irina are mood-kindred in being the ultimate knuckleheads.

"What disgusting deity would accept devils! You are all abominations, and that speaks much of this God! They must be evil and a new ploy by your race to destroy the holy way to salvation!"

I have had enough of Irina seeing everyone winching and understand completely why Jeanne is going mad. Issari feeds off her fellow knucklehead and thus begins a new battle of who can out-knucklehead the other.

"You know nothing, Iri! This deity saved me, and he is a force of good! I follow him, too does that make me a devil when I'm clearly not? You are wrong, and the Machine God accepts everyone in human form who isn't a monster! Also, you are still shorter than me!"

That pissed off Irina further and the two shouted at each other while Asia sweat dropped badly with nearly everyone else. Xenovia was the only one besides me who wasn't sweat-dropping as we had seen the halves of this. Irina threw back a very nasty insult to Issari regarding of all things shampoo and I sighed as did Xenovia. The blue-haired young woman says as another insult is thrown.

"I am damned already, so becoming this probably won't be much different. It's this or death, and given I have been thrown out already, it won't matter. Would this deity even accept a weak failure like me?"

That was said as the noise from the knuckleheads increased yet again, and everyone else tried to find a way to deafen them. I answered Xenovia with a small sigh.

"Flesh is and will always be weak. To overcome weaknesses and to destroy it is our creed. He'd accept you."

Xenovia sighed too, and she said the truth in barely a whisper that only I caught.

"He would be alive at least."

Xenovia then focused on Rias again and coughed before she said two words.

"I accept."

That stopped the knuckleheads, and Rias widened her eyes while holding her head to offset a headache. Irina immediately freaked out.

"Xen, think this through! You will be their slave if you…..."

Xenovia wins instant brownie points with everyone by getting up off the couch and then judo-chopping Irina in a completely different way than Issari, which knocked out the chestnut cold. She toppled to the floor and began to snore up a storm. Everyone looked at Xenovia with amazement while the blue-haired young woman shrugged off the looks.

"I will reincarnate. This way, I can tell my mother my fate and get them. Please do it fast. I hate the taste of blood and would like to have real food again. I will have questions about everything."

Rias got her board out, and I noticed something immediately. Rias has a mutation bishop, too. Xenovia focused on the knight along with the rook. Given that Xenovia was considered a power idiot, that made sense. Rias looked at me, worried that I might claim her potential piece. I smiled at Ria's and backed away. That calmed the fear, and Rias asked Xenovia.

"What piece fits you best? The fast knight or the tough rook?"

Xenovia answers the question.

"Rook. I am a decent swordswoman, but I overpower my foes through sheer force and not by style. I have long known that. I have fought several powerful stray rooks that have shown me what their strength is. A knight would be wasted on me."

Rias takes her last rook and brings it up to Xenovia's chest. She whispered something to Xenovia, and I didn't hear the ritual words that Rias used. Asia helped a still snoring Irina to the couch, and she covered the other young woman with a blanket. Issari looked at us all in apology. Xenovia froze as the rook went in, and then her wings extended. Her hair immediately started to return to a more healthy-looking state along with her face, and the bags receded. Asia ran her gear up Xenovia again and sighed in pure relief, seeing the immediate improvements. I glanced at Issari who sweated at my look. More so when she hears Irina say something in her dream sleep.

"No one shall take my Sari away from me. Especially not some grasshead devil."

That got a snicker from me while Asia sighed again.

"She would not shut up about that on the way here. I'm sure you're a wonderful person, miss, but I don't need to hear it constantly. Xen, are you feeling better?"

Xenovia finally broke from her trance and answered with a big smile.

"I am. I feel so much better."

Rias gently led Xenovia away from the rest of us to talk while the rest of us watched Irina snoozing away. I looked at Issari, and she sighed.

"I'll have her live with me and talk some sense into her. I'm sorry, Jeanne, that she has ruined your day. Please go out with me!"

Jeanne looks at a still-sleeping Irina and then shrugs.

"That was the plan eventually, but I'll definitely do it if you and the blue-haired one teach me that chop. No offense, nurse, but she is extremely annoying."

Asia rolled her green eyes in agreement.

"She is, but we would never have had the basic plan without her. We had nowhere to go, and it was Irina who said we should come to Japan. She said her childhood friend and her family would help us out without hesitation. I went along with it because I didn't have anyone to turn to given I was led to believe Mae was dead. Xenovia was separated from her mother immediately upon the three of us being excommunicated. Still, it seems the Lord knows we are still faithful because this has worked out mostly well for us. Sir Astaroth, I have a few questions about the organization and whether I can help regular people. I used to do tours in the hospitals around the Vatican and would like to do that again. This time on my schedule."

I smile smirked and started making plans with Asia there.

"You're welcome to do so at any time. The Legio Solar is for both sides of the world, and I will see what I can do to get that for you. I know that one of Rias's people also does charity work, so maybe we can have you work with him?"

Asia looked happy that she could do this and nodded her head fast. Ravel grabbed Jeanne and began her debriefing. Issari looked at Irina, and she sweated more after hearing another thing from her fellow chestnut.

"She is mine and only mine."

Kuroka snickered at that along with me. Issari looked at me in pure begging for help. I smile smirked, and answered to my best friend.

"This sounds like a you problem. I can see why you two are friends, and I'm imagining the hell you both raised when you were kids. Team Knucklehead."

Asia cracked a smile and started giggling at the new name for the two. Issari had taken a step towards me in anger and then immediately froze as something hit her. She was close enough to Asia that Issari started purring up a massive storm. She started trying to get closer to the dragon tamer. Asia backed up a step and was immediately weirded by that before she put two and two together.

"I have something that is causing the reaction. I have only seen one other person act like that around me, and that was a twice-critical user. What is her gear?"

I smirked and answered that question.

"She has the boosted gear. Meet the Red Dragon Empress."

Asia looked wide-eyed there, and the green meets the brown. They did what Rias and I did connecting deeply. My best friend looked at Asia with a reverse of the two in a puppy dog face, and Asia sighed but began to apply head pats, getting the biggest purrs yet. Akeno has serious competition now. Asia continued to do head pats and seemed to fall into a rhythm. She answered my unspoken question in amusement.

"The twice-critical person also wanted this. He was desperate to have head pats, and cried horribly when he was removed from my presence. I long suspected that I had something in regard to dragons, and this confirmed it. It's nice to meet you, Miss Dragon."

Asia is still too kind as her eyes show how she feels bad for that person, whoever they are. Her head pats were very well-timed, making Issari purr louder, and Maéva was extremely proud of her little sister. Asia was in deep thought of learning she was a dragon tamer. Issari loved the head pats and purred so loudly that she had a look of pure bliss like I do when I feed wrath. No wonder dragon tamers are feared they could form dragon armies, which Asia technically had with Fafnir and her other familiars. That was the scene Conner and Kalawarna walked in on. The two were carrying groceries along with a box of earplugs. Conner, seeing the snoozing Irina, breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank the founding fathers, she's sleeping. Oh, hey, boss, Kitty. What are you two doing here with so many new people?"

I poked my finger at Kuroka.

"Introducing people to each other along with reunions and letting you meet your managers. We will hopefully have your noise problem solved soon and you can all relax a bit more."

Kalawarna gets a massive smile and weeps waterfall tears. Conner sighed again before he set groceries down and then looked at the still getting patted Issari in bemusement.

"That's wonderful news. I see that Jeanne was right about us having the Red Dragon Empress. I have bad news we have finally been kicked out of Grigori's computer network today. The good news is that we have bugs in there, so we can keep watching. I got a message from Azazel before the official throw-out, and it said the typical stuff of how he will miss working with me and such. He did warn me to be careful. Kokabiel has been pissed by something we probably did and made a move to take over Grigori last weekend. He failed but only lost by one vote."

I winced there, and Grigori might soon be our next big enemy if it was that close. Kalawarna sighed but continued.

"Grigori is cracking at the seams from the vote, and we might get plenty of recruits soon. The person who stopped this coup was a cadre head named Bariqiel. He voted against Kokabiel at the last minute keeping Azazel in power."

Wonderful I need to step up on that, and sighed. Kuroka understood my internal hate of school, and she patted my shoulder with her tails. Asia sighed, too, in relief and a bit of dismay.

"That is bad, and I'm glad we have this and not Grigori. That was my third plan should this and Irina's fail. I, however, will not work for him. He has maimed too many members of the exorcist corps that I have had to heal to ever want to work for him."

Kalawarna nodded her head towards Asia.

"That's his favorite thing to do to exorcists working for the churches. Take it from me, he's worse to work under."

The next fallen from his cadre I catch is more practice. I started coordinating the information I gathered from the last fallen with Conner. Ravel joined me midway through in drawing up our basic battle plan to inflict as much damage on Kokabiel before he might take over Grigori. Kuroka, Kalawarna, and Rias began to discuss how they would start to house the eventual recruits for the Legio, as we couldn't have just this building for them as that was unfair to Conner and the others. It was agreed that we would start taking bases from Kokabiel and converting them into our own. All the while, Irina kept snoozing, and Issari kept purring, getting head pats from her potential second dragon tamer.

I ended up making a teleportation pad for the apartment complex for easier logistics. The action gets Asia and Xenovia staring at the anvil with Ravel in amazement. Ravel asked so many questions about the gear that I answered during the building. Asia's words were backed up when Issari got ready to cry the moment head pats stopped. Conner and Kalawarna got ready to move the extra cogitators and more pads for future bases to a spare apartment till needed. To keep Issari from crying from no head pats, she had been put to work talking to a newly awake Irina, who had been ready to blow a gasket again, learning that her battle sister was a devil now. The two were in a silence bubble, talking in a corner while Xenovia watched me more carefully. Asia, however, was immediately happy to know that I could build her medical equipment, and she asked me if she could eventually get a clinic of her own. Asia here is a fucking genius and is already a proper doctor despite her age. She proudly showed off the degrees that she had managed to save before the excommunication. Rias said she would get Kiba to take Asia on in his charity, the Tosca Foundation. Maéva promised to get food for Connor, Kalawarna, and Jeanne at least once a week for helping her brave little sister. All things considered, at the end of the visit, it was extremely productive, and Irina had come out of the silence bubble a bit better than before. She glared at me for half a minute before being bumped by Issari, who then went to bother Asia again. That got a sigh before the shorter chestnut conceded.

"You are not bad devil."

That was said with a hmph I smile smirk and reply to the other.

"You're not bad yourself. I'm assuming that our mutual best friend has explained things."

Irina glared at me out of the corner of her eyes before she sighed.

"She has. You saved her life and encouraged her to learn swords. You're protecting her from your fellow nobles and others by hiding her gear and other things she won't tell me about yet. I will work with you. Should you ever stray, devil, I will stop you! God, take your grasshead!"

Considering it was the two of us, I didn't clutch my head. I responded to a now-shocked Irina.

"I don't need him when I have the Machine God of Mars chestnut. I'm a half devil, so you better get used to me. I'm not going anywhere, and like you, I have faith in something bigger than myself. However, you are getting beaten down if you ever do that again to my peerage or betrotheds. We aren't the devils who chased you or hurt your friend and we will be working together because our goal is the same. A better world for everyone."

Irina glared at me and I sighed again.

"I have no interest in your obvious crush."

That made Irina blush before the tic mark returned full force.

"Good, my best friend is pure and will not be tainted by devil lust!"

I snickered and then smirked.

"She has already won a devil in my cousin knucklehead so step your game up. She's close to a second with another one and will not be denied her goal."

That got the tic mark on full blast from Irina, and she marched over to Issari. A look that promised pain was sent the taller chestnut's way before Irina dragged Issari out of the apartment complex to save her friend/crush. The pervert and now revealed reasonable knucklehead begged for help but didn't receive any before she disappeared from sight. Xenovia sighed, and Rias patted her shoulder. The two seemed to be getting along well, and Rias had her green eyes meet mine. I see what she wants, getting a nod. Rias's green eyes light up, and I get ready for Sona. Let's hope that is easier than dealing with Team Knucklehead. Hitting the teleporter pad, an amazed Xenovia was taken along with us to the train station.