Author's Notes

Welcome back to Persona 5: The Phantom Rebellion.

More world building happens this chapter, so I'll just say one more time as a disclaimer that the mechanics presented here for how both the DxD world and the Persona world work are not necessarily canon to either, but my interpretation of them for the sake of this story.

I should also mention an update I made to the last chapter. The characters weren't coming across properly during Issei's confrontation with Ren, so the last scene was updated shortly after its release. If you read the last chapter within an hour or two after it was published, you may want to revisit it. The author's note at the top would have stated there was an update, so if you saw that then you read the current version.

Let us begin.

Chapter Six: Hold Up

"Interesting."

Joker's Third Eye easily spots where the fallen angel who attacked Issei disappeared to. The winged being's teleportation lit up the boy's sixth sense like a beacon, and it is child's play to follow her aura in the night sky afterwards. Of all the secret headquarters Joker may have expected, though, a dilapidated old church was almost too obvious.

'I suppose Gremory did say most fallen angels want to serve their creator again, deep down,' Joker recalls. 'Just that they're just too twisted up by their own dark desires to do it properly.'

A distressingly familiar description.

Joker puts his recollections of Palace owners aside and settles in to catch his breath on the outskirts of the church grounds. The boy's power wanes after so much hidden movement and use of the Third Eye, necessary as long as Yuuto and a bird with a similar aura to his are patrolling the skies, but it's not enough to feel depleted yet. Joker weighs the odds and decides a minute to catch his breath without having to maintain supernatural stealth will only increase his chances of successful surveillance later. The church is far enough out of the way for the devil to bet Koneko won't stumble upon his revealed scent any time soon.

The thief can't help but notice an instinctive desire to avoid this place, but it doesn't feel like his usual gut feelings. A side-effect of being a devil, the boy supposes.

Time to breathe may be beneficial to Joker's reserves of power, but his mind can't help but wander back to a few short minutes ago when he risked speaking to Issei on the street. The older teen had wanted to check up on his fellow victim and see what Rias had decided to do with the other boy after Joker's show of defiance. The stray didn't want the noble devil to take any of her frustrations out on an innocent, after all.

Given how hard Issei pleaded for Joker to believe Rias is a saint in devil's clothing, the girl probably can't be accused of mistreating him. Not physically, at least. Psychologically, however...

Joker grits his teeth at the memory of Issei fighting so hard to force him back into Rias's clutches against his will. Joker understands why the kid acted that way, and so he tries not to hold it against his fellow student. Being killed by Raynare had been hard enough on the experienced phantom thief, but at least she was a stranger to him at the time. Issei had been lethally betrayed by a girl he'd no doubt opened his heart to, and was totally unprepared to completely change his understanding of reality on top of that. If Issei feels the need to stay with the devils just so he can pull his mind back together, that's fine. To cling to Rias's promises of kindness and stability after such a traumatic experience is perfectly natural.

It's also perfectly manipulative, practically tailor-made to press psychological dependence on the younger reincarnated devil.

'Given how hard Issei has fallen into the girl's hands already, she's either a phenomenal actress or she really believes what she's doing is fine.'

A terrifying thought either way, but since the girl is a literal spirit of evil made flesh Joker can't rule out her deceptive abilities. Issei may be devoted to Rias already simply because she is good at controlling people. In this light the younger student's demand to return to Rias is understandable, but it still upset Joker in the moment. Hopefully the warning given to be careful of forcing one's desires on others will be enough to get through to the desperate teen.

Joker has had plenty of time to consider his situation while on the run for the past several hours, though, and there's one thing he still can't wrap his head around. If Rias really is a master manipulator, why present herself the way she did? The explanation given after school was clearly scripted specifically for Issei, her intended recruit, while the unexpected extra servant was just pulled along for the ride. Hardly anything was said to specifically convince Joker himself to fall in line until he started to force out answers about stray devils.

Joker supposes Rias could have counted on sheer fear to keep him under control. The problem is, the redhead knows the boy is familiar with the extraordinary thanks to Lavenza, and she had interacted with him enough after his reincarnation to know he wasn't cowed and overwhelmed by the experience. An expert manipulator shouldn't have expected Joker to be as psychologically vulnerable as Issei. At the time, the girl seemed genuinely surprised either of the boys would even want to defy her.

'I think my first impression may be right,' Joker admits to himself, even if he doesn't know how to feel about it. 'A spoiled princess who's used to getting everything she wants.'

Ignorance can only be forgiven so far, though, before its consequences should be obvious to anyone who cares.

'Guess these are all just more things to look for answers to,' the stray considers as he rises from his hiding place. The black-clad devil breathes deeply to focus himself back on the mission and strolls up to the church building, his brief respite complete. 'I'll start right here.'

Take Your Time

Rias watches with a smile as Issei's left arm glows green and then reverts back to its natural form. The boy breathes a sigh of relief, happy to know he won't have an elaborate decoration attached to his limb all the time now. Akeno congratulates Issei on the accomplishment of awakening his power. The Queen is the only other peerage member present since Yuuto has already went back into the night skies after he escorted Issei here.

'But still,' Rias considers behind her smile. 'It looks like a common Twice Critical. There's no way that can be true.'

Common is a relative term when it comes to the rare phenomenon of Sacred Gears, of course, but Twice Critical is a well-known example of a Sacred Gear with multiple copies in existence. The Sacred Gear was created from a dragon and possesses the ability to temporarily double its user's power. A huge boon for a normal human, certainly, but one that becomes only more valuable the stronger the user is. Half-humans and reincarnated devils of high supernatural strength can use Twice Critical to become real threats in combat to those who should be leagues above them.

Issei was just a human before his reincarnation, though, and an admittedly weak one at that. Twice Critical can't possibly account for the massive potential the evil pieces detect in the boy.

"As proud as I am of you trying to protect Ren, Issei," Rias says to bring her thoughts back to the situation at hand. "It was reckless of you to act alone like that. Be thankful he still has control over himself, or you could have been hurt."

Issei looks down at the floor, his arms held straight at his sides. The boy doesn't apologize verbally, but his contrite body language is enough for now. Besides, Rias really is proud of her new servant. Protecting your fellow peerage members is a wonderful instinct to have.

"For now, you should go home and-"

"President!" Issei suddenly declares and slams his hands down on the front of the desk between them. "You need to apologize to Amamiya!"

Rias just stares, her blue eyes captivated by the red-faced teen in front of her who does his best to hold the gaze and not flinch. Hours ago Issei made a promise to be the Gremory family's most valuable servant, and now he is going against his master? Akeno watches from behind the boy with a wariness Rias can't blame her for, not after what happened with Ren.

Issei didn't elaborate on whatever conversation passed between him and the stray devil, but obviously it has affected him deeply.

"Issei," Rias begins to explain with a gentle tone. The devil has no desire to see another escalation tonight. "Ren attacked my peerage and ran. He needs to be disciplined, not coddled."

"I was there," Issei reminds his master with a desperate expression. "I saw how surprised he looked when that monster thing came out and attacked. You said you don't know how Amamiya can do all that stuff, but I don't think he did it on purpose either! Not at first!"

"All the more reason Ren needs to be caught," Rias says. "So he doesn't accidentally hurt anyone else."

"I don't think that's a problem, president," Issei says in a much softer tone as he leans back to stand up straight again. The boy's eyes drift off to the side in remembrance, a shudder in his stance. "He seems like he's got it under control now."

"How can you know that?" Akeno asks, her body very still and her hands clasped together politely in front of her stomach.

"Because after I got my Sacred Gear, he told me to come back here for help. He didn't want me to go back, but he told me to anyway because he knew you were my only way to learn how to use this safely," Issei explains and summons the red gauntlet again as a demonstration. "I think if Amamiya wasn't totally sure he was in control, he would have come back on his own rather than risk hurting someone."

Rias takes a breath to calm herself. The wayward servant really has gotten under this one's skin.

"What did Ren say to you?" Akeno asks after a few seconds, a curious lilt to her voice. "You aren't referring to him as an upperclassman anymore."

"Ah..." Issei begins to answer, then trails off. The boy looks away, shame on his face. "Amamiya made me realize, even if it was to save his life, I was trying to force him to listen against his will. So it's kind of hard to call him that now after what I did."

Issei's eyes lock back on Rias. The master recalls her discussion with the boy earlier in the night about how servants should be treated. Apparently, Ren's excuses for running have managed to hit a vulnerable point in Issei's thought process. Rias sees the weight on her new servant's mind and desires nothing more than to soothe his worries.

"Issei, please go home and leave the rest to us. We have experience with-"

"Please stop trying to shield me, president," Issei interrupts again, more resolute this time. The boy's honest but desperate expression actually makes Rias pause.

"Shield you?"

"You try to avoid talking about what happened with Amamiya, and you keep looking at me like you expect me to run away too," the Pawn explains. Rias is honestly surprised to hear this, more assured of her own self-control than what her servant describes. In fact, what Issei thinks he sees is more likely to be in his own head than anything Rias actually showed on her face. It's understandable for the boy to fear losing his master's trust after what Ren did, after all. "I'm not going anywhere. You can talk to me about it, about anything."

Rias doesn't want to dismiss an offer made to her so earnestly, but there really is little to talk about. Still, the girl folds her hands over one another on the desk and smiles back at her servant with gratitude.

"I appreciate that, and I promise I believe you, Issei. Something like this is just best left to the rest of us to handle," Rias reiterates, then stops. There is one thing the redhead can admit to.

"If I ever look worried for you," the girl explains with a lowered head. "It's not because I think you'll run away too. It just seems like my desire to grant you a peaceful transition has been foiled at every turn; first by Raynare's unexpected assassination, then by the fallen angel in the park, and now by another of my own servants."

"It's al... well, I guess it's not alright. But it's not your fault," Issei says as he scratches the back of his head. "Or if it is, I don't know how so I don't blame you."

Rias actually laughs, a genuine expression of thanks and affection. The girl hadn't expected to show the more personable side of herself to Issei yet, but this crucible has resulted in two unexpected extremes and she has a hard time keeping up with both of them at the same time.

"To think I would gain the most loyal servant and the most rebellious servant both at the same time," the redhead muses fondly. The King genuinely doesn't think of her rebellious servant as being lost. Ren will come back, Rias doesn't doubt this assumption for a moment. The redhead only questions how difficult her Pawn will make it for himself, and hopes he comes to his senses sooner rather than later.

"I'm not really more loyal than anyone else," Issei says, suddenly embarrassed by the praise. The boy looks over at Akeno as if he's worried the other devil will be insulted, but she just smiles indulgently. "I chose to be here, that's all."

"What do you mean?" Akeno asks, curious. "You and Ren were both revived after death."

"Yeah, but... l made a wish, right? That's not a lie you made up. I wanted to live, and if this is the price I'm willing to pay it. I want the chance to make my dream come true. That's all there is to it."

How delightfully straightforward, Rias thinks.

"I know you only wanted me because of this," Issei says as he turns back to Rias and makes his Sacred Gear vanish in another flash of green. "It's not like you go around saving everyone from death, right?"

"Well, of course," Rias says with the absolute decorum of a noble. "I only have so many servants I can bring into my family, so I have to consider who to choose very carefully."

Rias sees Akeno's eyebrow rise from over Issei's shoulder and doesn't appreciate the implied accusation one bit. So what if the heiress probably would reincarnate every hurt, abandoned kid she came across if she could? It's not like Akeno didn't benefit from her master's weakness for people in trouble.

"Right," Issei nods, oblivious to the silent exchange going through him. "So if this thing is how I can pay you back, then I'll use it for you."

"Thank you, Issei."

"But Amamiya won't think about it like that."

"What?" Rias asks, not ready for the sudden return to the original topic and the hard look now on her Pawn's face again.

"If you want him to be safe, you need to apologize first! It's the only way!"

Rias stares at her earnest servant with a cool expression. Demands are not something Rias is accustomed to. The one thing the girl's parents have required of her, the arranged marriage, is the one thing she plans to fight them on. Still, Issei looks ready to burst at the seams for his effort to make peace between his new master and his fellow victim.

Rias lets go of her reservations, sits back down, and crosses her hands again.

"Explain."

Take Your Time

Joker steels himself for potentially the most dangerous period of his already long night. For all the struggle it had been in the moment, the reincarnated devil's skirmish with Yuuto and Koneko had still involved both sides holding back to avoid hurting one another. Fallen angels will probably just go for the kill, like Shadows.

Joker examines the building before him. While the wood appears plain, a quick sweep with the Third Eye reveals hidden yellow lines all around the door and walls of the property. The lines glow and mark out a complex pattern, one Joker assumes to be a magic formula like the kind Akeno vaguely described to him. An invisible magic protects this place.

'Of course,' Joker thinks as he flips out his trusty lockpick. 'If fallen angel security has the same oversight as devil security...'

A few moments later the old brass keyhole of the door is bent to Joker's will. The satisfying click of a successfully unlocked door is not accompanied by any reaction from the protective magic around the church.

'Perfect.'

For safety's sake, Joker reaches into the pockets of his coat and pulls out another infiltration tool from his days with the Phantom Thieves. When used in the Metaverse, this bottle of stealthanol lowers the security level of a Palace and makes Shadows less alert to intrusion. Joker isn't sure how his demonic power might influence the effect of the item in the real world, where it is just a harmless homemade deodorant, but he's willing to experiment with one of his cheaper tools. The item's more powerful counterpart, convertizer, might have a stronger effect, but Joker doesn't want to waste one on a trial run.

Joker focuses on his memories of the Palaces he infiltrated and his use of stealthanol to lower the Shadows' guard. Sure enough, when the thief sprays the contents of the small bottle he can feel a dip in his demonic power as it infuses the mixture. Based on the night's previous events and how the new devil's imagination affected things so far, he guesses the item may bring a sense of security to any occupants of the building who smell it and make them less attentive, thus easier to sneak around.

'Time to put it to the test.'

Joker pushes one of the two doors open a crack, as silently as he can. The thief rested outside the church for a while to recover some of his spent strength, but his demonic power is not back to full so caution is warranted. Even without magic to hide with, there is little sound made and no alert seems to be thrown inside the abandoned place of worship. Bolstered by this success, Joker pushes the door open more, just to the point of being able to barely squeeze in if he needs to.

Joker is instantly on high alert. Despite the use of stealthanol, the thief's survival instincts kick in as strongly as they would when a Palace's security rating reached its maximum level. A nervous energy causes the boy's fingers to twitch before his experience and willpower clamp down so he won't fidget. This may be a new enemy stronghold, and Joker may be alone, but he is still the leader of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. Failure is unacceptable.

Voices can be heard inside. The source is too far away and they speak softly enough so the words can't be made out clearly even with devil ears, but they are close enough to distinguish multiple distinct tones. A quick glance reveals the entrance leads directly into an open worship hall, an aisle flanked by pews and headed by an altar at the other end. Despite the voices, no one appears to be present anywhere on the open floor.

Joker frowns, but is determined to push on. Demonic power begins to cloak the devil's presence once more and he rolls through the partially-open door with all the noise and disturbance of a passing shadow. Joker quickly braces himself in a low crouch behind the nearest wooden pew and freezes there. There is no response. The motion repeats as Joker flits his way forward slowly, swinging out around pews one at a time and hiding as he goes. Every movement feels unusually heavy, as if the boy is literally weighed down by the very conception of the threat posed to devils here.

Eventually, as the voices become more clear, their source becomes more apparent as well. The speakers are not on the floor, they are all above it.

"I can't believe a devil actually took that trash in," a familiar voice says with what sounds like a genuine laugh.

The fallen angel who took Ren Amamiya's life is here. Joker stills and dares a peek above.

There are four. The fallen angels are each positioned on high perches around the open worship hall of their hideout. The group is silent for a moment as they all consider the report of the one who attacked Issei a short time ago. Four pairs of eyes regard each other with varied reactions to the news, but none of them glance downward at the boy who hides below.

Joker has several expectations for when he sees Raynare again for the first time. Righteous anger. A chance for retribution. Pretty much just a general need to kick the woman's face in, really. The new devil feels all of this, but is surprised by how muted it is.

Perhaps it is simply a matter of experience. Masayoshi Shido may not have literally murdered Ren Amamiya, but when the politician framed the teenager for assault it certainly felt like the life the boy had lived until then was well and truly over. Joker may also have been thrust into a new concept of reality because of the fallen angel's actions, but the Metaverse had done the same to him once before as well. After all Joker has been through, the boy's raw hatred for Raynare is somehow less than he'd expected it to be.

Which isn't to say the young man doesn't want to kick Raynare's face in. Joker absolutely does, he's just able to keep a handle on his emotions and stay silent as he observes the situation at hand. A chance for justice will come, of this there is no doubt in the thief's heart.

"So the one I mistook for a stray was the same boy," one says. The only male present hides his face beneath a dipped fedora and muffles his body language with a matching light grey trench coat as he leans on a wall. This one stands on a pedestal, once home to a now-toppled statue of an angel. The tall man's straight brown hair frames a contemplative expression when he raises his head. "A shame I was interrupted."

"At least we learned whose territory this is, Dohnaseek" another says in a sing-song voice. A shorty in a Gothic Lolita black dress with white lace kicks her feet in the air from where she is seated on a large light fixture, right above a smashed stained glass window. The blonde seems to be without a care in the world, but her cruel smile ruins any image of innocence her youthful face and twin-tails hairstyle might otherwise suggest. "Makes sense why it was so hard to come by the info before. A big shot family like the Gremory probably wanted to keep their heiress's movements secret from the other factions. It should be easier to sneak the nun in under their noses now that we know who to look for."

'Nun?' Joker wonders as he also begins to come to a new realization. 'This... this isn't Japanese.'

Whatever language the fallen angels converse in, it isn't one the boy recognizes. It is soft and lyrical, almost musical. Joker may even call the sentences beautiful, if not for the interchanges of plain and harsh cadence the four use when they speak.

'Is this the language of angels?' the devil wonders. 'How do I understand this?

"No, Mittelt. Not if the girl's peerage remains on high alert," Issei's latest attacker refutes from her position next to a torn-apart painting of a saint. The woman's low monotone voice is a perfect match for her professional expression. The stark contrast between the blue-haired fallen angel's serious persona and her scandalously revealing clothes is quite something to observe. "The blond one still patrols the skies, and he is specifically watching for us."

"Relax, Kalawarner. It's all the better if they're too distracted by our presence to take notice of another human coming into town," Raynare states with a confident toss of her raven locks. The leather-clad assassin leans back from her perch atop a snapped-off crucifix and grins. "We'll have what we need to complete our work soon, with those devils none the wiser."

'They're running some kind of clandestine operation?' Joker speculates.

"How will you report this, Raynare?" the man, Dohnaseek, asks with noticeable concern.

"No need to worry," the woman declares. "I'll let them know surveillance was suspended due to devil interference."

"Just the surveillance?" the blonde girl, Mittelt, asks with curiosity.

"Wait a moment," the older-looking woman, Kalawarner, interjects. A curious glint is present in those sharp yellow eyes, despite an otherwise professional demeanor. "Did you not receive an official kill order?"

The other two fallen ones blink curiously at Raynare after this question.

"Who cares?" the raven-haired one deflects. "Watching that filthy human was just a distraction from our real purpose here. Whether his Sacred Gear could be a threat to Grigori or not wouldn't matter after he was dead. Either way, we now have an excuse to stop wasting time on him and focus on the more important goal."

The other three fallen angels seem to tense with unspoken protest, but it lasts only a moment before they let it go.

'I guess she's in charge,' Ren deduces. 'Is it just rank, or is she actually more powerful than them?'

Raynare's true goal is an interesting subject, but not necessarily helpful. The purpose of this reconnaissance is to learn the fallen angels' point of view. As audacious as Joker may be, even he understands just walking out and asking his killer for her side of the story isn't a smart play. All the thief can do is listen and hope.

"I wonder if it will be as easy as you think," Dohnaseek suddenly speaks up. The man reaches up to dip his hat down over his eye line.

"What do you mean by that?" Raynare leans forward and asks, a challenge in her tone.

"The Gremory peerage's movements are abnormal," is the explanation given before Dohnaseek turns toward his blue-haired colleague. "Kalawarner, you said the boy had their crest on him this time, correct?"

"That's right," the stoic woman answers. "He didn't display it right away, but it was there."

"Would the peerage need to keep patrols on lookout for us if the boy can prove his connection to a noble house now?"

"The guy sounds like he has no survival instinct still," Mittelt says with a mocking chuckle at the absent Issei's expense. "I mean, Kalawarner said the blond devil had to save him before he even showed his crest, right? Just stood there and waited to be speared in the face."

"If that were the reason then the other devil would be escorting the useless lump," Raynare realizes. "Not flying in at the last moment."

"Exactly," Dohnaseek agrees.

"The boy said there were other members of the Gremory peerage out tonight," Kalawarner reminds the group. "Surely they have enough in their number to watch the skies and still escort their newest member if they are concerned for him. There must be something else happening."

"You mean those devils are up to something too?" Mittelt asks with a gasp. "You don't think they've caught on to us, do you?"

"I doubt it," Raynare disagrees. "More likely they're too wrapped up in their own interests to worry about us, even after tonight."

"What could it be, then?" Mittelt wonders.

There is a moment of silence, broken when Raynare suddenly snorts out a derisive laugh.

"No," the raven-haired one says to herself, a hand over her mouth and amusement shining in her violet eyes. "It couldn't be."

"What?" the blonde questions.

"If the Gremory heiress reincarnated Issei Hyoudou then she must have arrived very shortly after I left," Raynare explains. "If you recall, I had to leave one extra body behind that night."

"The bystander?" Dohnaseek recalls.

"I thought he might have a minor Sacred Gear, given how he slipped through my barrier without a hint of magic in him. You know how devils love to snap those up for themselves. I mean, they even took in Issei of all people just because he had one. A random kid is honestly a step up after that."

'She sure loves dissing Hyoudou,' Joker notices. 'Was the assassination personal for her somehow?'

As the thief ponders this possibility he silently slips away from the pews and leans behind a support beam near the back of the worship hall. Taking all the visible entrances of the room into account, this position should allow Joker to remain hidden as long as his demonic power lasts.

"So you suspect the heiress confirmed the presence of another Sacred Gear and they now have two new recruits," Kalawarner summarizes. "The odds of two appearing together at random are quite low, though..."

"Even still, it wouldn't explain their behavior," Dohnaseek argues softly. "Two escorts for two new recruits would be the logical course of action."

Raynare just smirks, and after a moment Mittelt's eyes go wide.

"Oh... Oh!" the girl exclaims.

"What is it?" Kalawarner asks.

"Ahahaha! Haha!," Mittelt laughs out with tears in her eyes. "You think… hehe… that not only did the Gremory heiress take in a nobody bystander… snrrf… but he also went stray immediately!?"

Mittelt loses the ability to speak for a few seconds more, her giggles totally uncontrolled. Raynare chuckles as well while the other two digest this possibility in silence.

"It would be a rather large scandal," Kalawarner eventually says without a hint of humor in her voice.

"And the need to hunt for him would explain why the peerage has spread itself thin," Dohnaseek concurs.

"I hope it's true," Mittelt says after her laughter subsides. "A Gremory losing a reincarnated human in one day would be hilarious."

"I'm sure she's incompetent enough to do so," Raynare states. "But we should focus on our own work, not wild guesses. Whatever the devils are actually doing is irrelevant to us. We don't need to move about to accomplish our goal anymore."

"True," the male agrees. "Besides, the devils' indoctrination techniques are strong. Even if they rarely reincarnate the deceased, the number who resist so soon afterwards are still a small percentage. I doubt a normal human would have the intelligence to see through their control."

Now this is a more interesting subject to the unseen spy. It sounds to Joker like fallen angels talk about devils recruiting humans with Sacred Gears the same way Rias talked about Grigori doing so. Jealousy over lost recruits on both sides, perhaps? Joker can't be sure, but both sides clearly think the other is the one in the wrong; no surprise there. The mention of indoctrination techniques and control is also concerning, though the fallen angel's biased opinion could be coloring his assessment.

It is something of a relief to hear confirmation that devils don't often reincarnate the dead to be their servants against the person's will. At least, it sounds like they don't unless the person has a Sacred Gear or something else uniquely tempting, like Joker himself. On second thought, the news isn't much of a relief after all, it's just devils being picky about who they enslave.

"Doesn't matter either way, I guess," Mittelt consents. "He'll be killed eventually if he did run, no matter by who. It's always fun to find the ones who go stray before they turn into monsters instead of after, though. They can beg for their lives way better, as long as you catch them soon enough."

'So that part's true?' Joker realizes with a grimace. Of all the things Rias tried to convince the boy of, literally losing his mind and humanity if he doesn't let her run his life was the part he most wanted to be a lie. 'I don't even know how long I have, either.'

Joker's fists tighten with determination. An alternate solution to this problem will have to be found as soon as possible.

Before Raynare can give final consensus to the meeting at hand, a loud scraping noise signals a new arrival to the scene. The large altar at the head of the room slides to the side and reveals a hidden staircase. A woman cloaked in dark robes emerges from below, her head bowed in respect and covered by a hood.

"Pardon masters, but the device has been moved and we require one of you to empower..."

The woman bites her tongue at the sight of the masked stranger behind a nearby pillar. Joker had taken all visible entrances into account for his hiding place, but not secret ones. Wide brown eyes framed by short bangs of fair hair stare at the devil, their owner totally unprepared for an intruder to just hang around in, to her perspective, plain sight.

'Well... this is about to get interesting.'

Take Your Time

"It's the right thing to do!"

Rias spares a glance away from Issei's pleading face. The redhead's unimpressed blue eyes meet her Queen's disappointed violet, and the two share an unspoken agreement.

They were expecting more.

"Issei," Rias say as she returns her attention to the Pawn. "I don't think Ren will appreciate an empty gesture like that."

"It won't be empty if you mean it," Issei complains.

"I haven't done anything to apologize for," Rias tries to say without losing her patience. "I saved Ren's life. His service is hardly an unreasonable thing to ask in return."

"But you didn't ask!"

Rias blinks.

"If you asked Amamiya to pay you back instead of just telling him he was a servant now he might have agreed!" Issei continues, obviously desperate for what he says to be true even though he has no proof. "Maybe not for forever, but at least he wouldn't be on the run right now!"

Rias frowns. Of course the redhead didn't ask for the boy's service; Ren's debt to her is obvious. Besides, there's no way for the boy to survive without accepting his new role in devil society, and even if the new Pawn didn't know that at first he did by the time he ran off. All societies come with rules, and Ren's immediate and flagrant dismissal of his new authority figures is hardly what the heiress would call a reasonable course of action.

"And you think that means I should be the one apologizing?" Rias asks with disbelief.

"You're the one who said she cares," Issei returns, his voice quiet now. The girl leans back a little at the accusation. "I still think Amamiya should apologize for worrying everyone. I think he wanted to make a big show of running away instead of talking things out as much as he could. Even if I'm wrong, though, he isn't the one who said he cared about you. If you don't say you're sorry first then he won't ever come back."

Issei dips his head. It's obvious this desperate twist of logic is a result of how turbulent the night has been, the last several nights in fact, on the teen. Issei just wants everyone to get along so he can have some peace back in his life. Honestly, though, Rias wishes to provide just that.

"If he's really family, then you should be willing to see his point of view on things," the boy continues. "So, can't you be even a little bit sorry? At least for how you told him?"

"You didn't like how we told you?" Akeno asks Issei, her own expression unusually soft.

"It's not that," Issei denies with a shake of his head. "But I'm not as smart as Amamiya."

For once, Issei admitting an inferiority to Ren isn't accompanied by denial in his body language. There's a sad smile on the teen's face, though.

"You all probably should have sat down without me and laid it out for him first. After everything I saw tonight, I think he could have handled it."

Rias refrains from pouting. It could, perhaps, be said that the redhead was a little too invested in showing off for her new Pawns during their introduction to the supernatural. Rias was so excited, though! Two new servants of incredible potential, and still six more pawn pieces to use besides! In all the celebration, Rias could have forgotten to take each Pawn's individual needs into account.

Possibly.

The Gremory family teachings weigh down on the heiress. Reincarnated devils aren't just servants, they are adopted family members. Service is a natural and respected part of devil society, and the reincarnated should be carefully prepared for that aspect of their new lives before they are brought into the fold. Rias knows this... but the second attack on Issei's life the night after he became a devil drove her to act quickly. Too quickly.

There really is something for the heiress to feel sorry for.

"Alright Issei, you've made your point," Rias states. The devil's pride won't allow her to admit any more at this juncture. "But we still have to find Ren first, so go home and get some sleep before classes start, OK?"

Issei looks elated, his smile true enough to warm his master's heart. It is clear the Pawn has interpreted the girl's words as an admission he is correct, despite her reluctance to do so out loud.

"Yes! Thank you, president!" the boy declares before he turns and runs to the exit. Issei pauses in the threshold and turns back to the two girls with conviction. "I knew you'd prove you aren't the villain Amamiya thinks you are!"

With that, the boy is gone.

Rias and Akeno wait in comfortable silence for a few moments until the redhead is certain Issei is out of earshot.

"Why am I the villain?" the heiress sulks, her noble bearing allowed to thaw while in the company of only her Queen.

Akeno just chuckles. Neither of the girls are really in the mood for true amusement, but the effort at levity is appreciated.

"What do you think, Akeno?" Rias asks, seriously this time.

"Apologizing won't make Ren return, but it will probably help."

"So you think I handled it poorly too?"

"Ren is quite willful," the brunette summarizes. "A gentler approach may have worked better if it made him feel less challenged. I don't think any of us could have predicted the severity of his reaction, though."

Rias just lowers her eyes.

"This man has within him... a rebel's soul."

She could have. No, she should have.

"Well, if there's a silver lining to take from this," Rias says with some comfort. "Then at least Ren being able to hide from us so well means there's no chance he'll run afoul of any fallen angels."

Take Your Time

"What? Who are you?!"

The newcomer pulls a small device from her robe and holds it in front of her like a weapon. The item appears to be a silver cylinder with small religious designs Joker's devil sight can make out even at a distance. The boy in question remains idle and contemplates the situation.

'That sounds like... Italian, maybe?' Joker thinks. 'And it's still clear to me exactly what she's saying.'

Joker thinks back to one of Akeno's last comments to him on the previous night, the one about keeping the other supernatural powers of devils a surprise.

'I'm definitely surprised. I can magically understand any language I hear? Useful.'

"Arianna? What's going on?" asks the voice of the male fallen angel, also in Italian now.

'Well, nothing to do but put on a show and get whatever more I can out of this,' Joker decides. With a smirk on his face the devil drops his stealth and steps out into the dim light of the hall, hands in his pockets. 'I wonder if I can communicate back?'

"Sorry to interrupt," the masked boy lies. "Your meeting was so interesting I forgot to introduce myself."

Every fallen angel present leaps into the air and summons a light spear to their hand, all of them taken by surprise.

"You can call me Joker."

'Perfect Italian. How about that?'

"How?" Kalawarner questions while her own yellow spear is gripped tight. "How did you get in here undetected?"

"You guys have the same flaw in your security the devils do," Joker half-explains, shifting as he does to lean back casually on the support beam he had been hidden behind a moment ago. "I don't think I'll enlighten you about what it is, though."

"The devils? Ha! You think we can't tell you're a devil yourself?" Mittelt asks with a cruel smile, her pink spear now held playfully behind her head.

"You..." Raynare's voice trails off. The sound distracts the others from their anger, and they see the raven-haired woman is wide-eyed with surprise.

"Hello again," the object of the brunette's surprise says as he slips his mask off to the side of his face with one red-gloved hand. "Raynare of Grigori."

The hostile emotions running through Joker's body intensify as he gazes up at his murderer out in the open instead of from a hidden corner. The devil clamps down hard on an adrenaline buzz of anger before it incites him to act out rashly rather than seize the opportunity to learn vital information.

'Guess my anger at her runs deeper than I first thought.'

The boy still has no intention of getting himself killed a second time, though.

The other fallen angels look curiously to Raynare, who loses her shock quickly. The woman snarls when she recognizes the boy and her red spear begins to shake in her angry grasp.

"So I was right. The devil did reincarnate you as well."

"This is the bystander?" Dohnaseek asks, his own blue spear now lowered to his side but still ready to be used. The man looks down on the devil with curiosity in his eyes. "Surely you don't believe your master's family crest will protect you in enemy territory, boy?"

"Actually, you were right about more than one thing," Joker admits as he replaces his mask over his face.

There's a long pause after the boy's words while the assembled fallen angels let the implied fact sink in. The robed woman, Arianna, just sneers at the devil in the silence.

Before long, Mittelt starts to break out into gleeful chuckles. The other fallen angels also display their own more conservative amusement in response to the broken silence. Well, not Kalawarner, she remains as stone-faced as ever.

"Ahahaha! Haha! Y-you're telling me," Mittelt forces out with tears in her eyes. "That… hehe… we were right?! Not only did the Gremory heiress take in a random corpse… snrrf… but he really did go stray immediately!?"

Mittelt loses the ability to speak for a few seconds more, her giggles totally uncontrolled. Raynare and the other fallen angels are observant of the intruder throughout the display, but Joker remains unaffected.

"It was just an amusing theory," Dohnaseek says with a shake of his head. "To think it was true."

"Well, I couldn't trust anything they told me after I was brought back. They're devils, after all," Joker says easily. Getting the fallen angels to see the stray amicably will be key if he wants to draw out any more info, and playing up their biases seems like the best method available.

"And so you wander into the presence of four fallen angels of your own accord?" Dohnaseek asks, incredulous.

"If you wish for death we will be happy to oblige," Kalawarner states.

"Actually, I'm looking for answers," is the calm response.

"Why seek knowledge here?" Dohnaseek wonders. The man seems the most curious of the four.

"To get your side of the story," Joker explains. "Of course, one of you is my killer, so I couldn't trust you fully either. That's why I thought I'd listen in for a while."

"How dare you!?" the robed woman yells. The device in the newcomer's hand suddenly sparks to life and a thin blade-shaped construct of white light shoots out of the open top. Arianna holds the cylinder like a sword hilt and glares at the masked boy across from her. "The only answer you'll find here is your end!"

"Oh man… Raynare, maybe we should let him live," the youngest-looking one present says as she finishes her laughter and wipes her eyes clean. "The name Joker is spot on. His existence is hilarious."

"Not a chance," Raynare states with deadpan seriousness that makes Joker worry he has miscalculated his odds of teasing some more details out of the group. After a moment, though, the killer's mouth stretches into a predatory grin and inspiration lights up in her eyes. "But there's no reason not to let him have the answers he seeks before he's permanently erased."

Joker watches with curiosity as Raynare and the other four, after a brief hand signal from their leader, fly around to new positions in the hall. Each of the winged beings takes up a corner of a wide square formation in the open air above the devil and the human. The four colorful spears are all pointed directly down at the devil.

'I guess I'm the one being held up now,' Joker observes as he is enclosed by the four in a way reminiscent of how the Phantom Thieves held Shadows at gunpoint. The setup is also similar to how Shadows would surround the Phantom Thieves in the Metaverse whenever the creatures managed to catch the team by surprise. Unlike Shadows, though, these fallen angels were still interested in getting something from Joker.

"We'll answer any question you like," Raynare promises with dark amusement in her eyes. "For as long as you manage to stay alive against our comrade here."

Apparently, what they want is some entertainment.

"Don't disappoint us, Arianna," Mittelt says with childlike glee.

'Is this how Shadows felt when I negotiated with them?' the boy wonders idly. 'I was never so heavy-handed, was I?'

Joker is able to eye the woman before him for just a moment longer, then she springs into action.

"Die, devil scum!"

Joker's hand reaches above and grips the edge of some of the decorative etching on the beam behind him. The boy hoists himself up with his superhuman strength and flips over to land both feet on the side of the beam to avoid Arianna's blade of light, which carves a gash through the wood and plaster. Joker pushes off and leaps out toward the center of the room, flipping over into a three-point landing as he does.

'Well, since they've made the offer...'

"What do you mean by permanently erased?" Joker calls out while he watches his opponent turn around. This might be the newest question on the boy's list, but it also seems the most pertinent now.

"Oh? Didn't stick around Gremory long enough to learn about exorcism?" Mittelt mocks while Arianna rushes back to her target.

"A devil destroyed by the light of our Father is erased from existence," Joker hears Dohnaseek explain while the devil ducks under a horizontal slash. "Whether by the power of his children or the blessed implements of the Church's exorcists, there is no further reincarnation for their souls afterwards."

Arianna tries to cut off Joker's side-step with a low slash, but the agile teen hops over her blade. The thief can't help but grit his teeth in annoyance at how hard it is to move the way he wants, though. The sensation wasn't as obvious when the devil was sneaking around slowly, but full combat makes it clear the effect is more than just a bad feeling.

"How much of humanity's religious leadership are in on the truth about your existence?"

"There's a difference between the humans who worship Father by faith and the those who actually serve Heaven directly," Raynare says. "Those who do Heaven's work on Earth are called the Church. They have cells secretly operating inside most of the religious groups tied to Father. True knowledge of our existence isn't related to any level of leadership outside the Church."

Joker backpedals as his opponent goes through several attack patterns. The woman is swift and confident in her movements. Joker is also able to notice several instances of religious iconography on the human as she tries to kill him.

"So you're part of the Church?" the boy asks, trying to distract Arianna by looking right at her. The woman's hard brown eyes are full of hate and she does not waver for an instant, which forces Joker to retreat with a roll behind her before he's pinned to the wall. "No offence, but why's an exorcist working for Grigori?"

"Just as there are stray devils, so too are there stray exorcists," Kalawarner dispassionately explains as she watches the attempted murder below her. "Those who were excommunicated by the Church for various reasons."

"Arianna couldn't hold herself back from killing devils, even when ordered to by her superiors," Raynare chuckles. "It's a trait I value greatly."

Joker's wings flare and lift him up, out of the exorcist's reach.

"If Gri-"

Joker is cut off by a flash of red. The boy leans back in the air, narrowly avoids Raynare's light spear going through his head, and then drops back to the ground when a second pink spear is also hurled his way from another direction.

"Ah ah ah," Mittelt chides with a wag of her finger. "No leaving the arena. That includes the air above it."

Arianna capitalizes on Joker's descent with a thrust, but he spins around her side with a flourish of his tailcoat. Joker swings in behind Arianna and throws both gloves out to catch the woman's wrists when she turns around to face him.

The devil manages to hold the woman back, but is surprised by how close the contest of strength is. The exorcist struggles against her enemy's grip with what feels like abnormal power of her own. Or is it just the overwhelming feeling of threat Joker has sensed since he entered this building draining at his willpower and making him weaker than before?

"If Grigori takes in stray exorcists..." Joker forces out as Arianna pushes him back. "Does it accept stray devils as well?"

"You wish to join the organization that killed you?" Dohnaseek asks.

Joker gives up on holding Arianna with brute strength and leaps back, giving himself a moment to speak while she stumbles forward from the sudden lack of resistance.

"It sounds more like Raynare went rogue and murdered me, not Grigori."

The raven-haired woman doesn't hold back a snarl at her victim's verbal jab.

"You aren't the first stray devil to seek sanctuary with us," Dohnaseek answers. "But none have ever been accepted. Grigori may recruit from many species, but becoming a haven for insane criminals would give our enemies an excuse to move against us simultaneously. Stray exorcists are not all wanted criminals, even if many become so."

'I didn't want to join,' Joker thinks. 'Just curious if I'd even be allowed.'

Arianna rights herself in front of the devil and scowls. Joker takes the girl's pause as a chance to act.

"Obariyon!" Joker calls. In a flash, the small piggyback demon of Japanese folklore appears above him. The pink-skinned imp floats there with its belly and hands embedded with gold coins. A fanged smile fills the lower half of the Persona copy's over-sized head, the rest of which is covered by the bangs of its purple hair. A long braid swings in the air behind the creature, far down below the bottoms of its feet. Joker holds his face as it burns with blue flame and stares between his fingers at a shocked Arianna.

"You have a familiar? So soon?" Kalawarner asks, her monotone voice laced with a hint of surprise this time.

Arianna braces herself with her sword, but is unprepared for a harsh green glow to shine out from the summoned creature's coin decorations like an array of spot lights. The colored power passes right through the exorcist's defenses, apparently harmlessly. Arianna glances at herself, confused, then looks back up when Joker's false Persona vanishes in another burst of light and his mask returns to normal.

"How long do I have before being a stray devil affects my mind?" Joker asks in the stillness following his summon.

"A distraction to stall for more questions?!" Arianna yells after she realizes she is unharmed. The woman looks even angrier now and charges back in.

"There is no way to know for sure," Dohnaseek answers the devil. "Your demonic power will grow out of control based on your inability to instinctively process it like a pure-blooded devil would. The more you embrace desire like a devil the longer you may last, but at the same time the stronger you will be influenced to go beyond reason in satisfying yourself. There is no means to stave off the inevitable except the connection you have to your devil master."

Joker isn't ready to accept that as fact yet.

'They mentioned familiars. I think I know what those are already, if it's the same as in fiction. Could the thing with Rias's aura at my house be her familiar, then?' Joker wonders. 'And if so...'

"How many familiars can a devil have?"

"As many as they are comfortable supporting," Raynare snaps, annoyance in her tone.

'So an army of creatures searching for me isn't out of the question. Wonderful.'

"Are the devils in this town really teenagers, or is that just a cover?"

"The heiress of House Gremory and her Queen are," Kalawarner reports. "I do not know the rest."

'Her Queen? Himejima?' Ren wonders, unfamiliar with the title.

"I have a question of my own," Mittelt interjects. "What the hell did you do to Arianna!?"

Joker smirks. Asking questions for the last few seconds has been rather easy.

The stray exorcist's blade of light slides past the devil's left side, effortlessly avoided. Arianna tries to follow-up on her attack, but just like her last several attempts the woman finds her body slightly more difficult to move than usual and she is unable to keep up with the graceful phantom thief's retreat.

"I noticed my body isn't moving well in here," Joker explains, not wanting to antagonize the fallen angels into ceasing their very helpful answers. "So I evened the odds."

Arianna glares at the boy, but despite his confident expression Joker knows the Sukunda effect hampering her physical and mental agility is going to wear off any moment now. The fake Obariyon's skill is based on the boy's imagination, after all, and his imagination is only clear enough to mold a magical effect because of the memory of how it worked in the Metaverse.

'A shame I can't just imagine it lasting forever,' Joker thinks as he watches Arianna blink in surprise, no doubt the moment when the sluggishness of her body and mind fades away. The devil really tried to imagine the woman under the effect of the skill for longer, but his solid image of how Sukunda is supposed to work in his head doesn't allow for such a convenience.

At least, that's what Joker believes. Belief and fact are practically the same when it comes to this roughshod devil magic the boy has accidentally worked out.

"What's causing this effect on my body? Is it really just because I'm in a church?" Joker asks since the topic has been brought up.

"An excellent question," Raynare says with sudden glee. "Pay attention now, the answer is quite complicated."

'Uh oh.'

The fallen angels must have noticed their stray exorcist's sudden return to form, because the only reason they would be pleased to give an in-depth explanation is to distract Joker from the fight.

"You see," Raynare says, her cadence slightly faster than before to force the boy to split his focus. "It all has to do with the power of Father. A newbie like you probably doesn't understand the difference between gods and other creatures, do you? There's more to being a god than just being strong, you see."

Joker bites the inside of his cheek as Arianna's blade of light cuts a thin line from the side of his coat. The fallen angels wouldn't know it, but the existence of beings like gods is the perfect subject to distract the phantom thief with after his encounter with Yaldabaoth.

"There are many gods in this world, all of whom are among the strongest beings in existence," Dohnaseek picks up. The man has also copied Raynare's tactic of speeding up his speech patterns to make him harder to listen to without more attention being paid. "And our Father is the strongest of the gods."

'Is he really the strongest, though, or is that just your opinion?' the brunet wonders.

Joker swallows a curse as Arianna capitalizes on her target's distraction and sweeps his leg out from under him with her own. The thief gracefully rolls backward instead of falling prone, but his assailant is quick to follow.

"The quality of divinity isn't one of just raw power, though, but of the power's nature," Kalawarner continues. "The aura of divine beings naturally spreads to encompass all of existence, no matter how far it must reach, in order to synchronize with and gather the thoughts and prayers of aligned mortals wherever they may be. The stronger the god the more potent their presence is even at great distances from the core of their being, but the power of the weakest gods is still everywhere. Even the few gods who died in the Great War have left their divine energy lingering in the fabric of existence for their followers to draw on after their deaths. That omnipresence is the true nature of divinity."

'Wait, does that mean...?'

Joker messes up before he even realizes it. The mention of a god's power continuing to exist in the world after death causes flashes of the Phantom Thieves' final battle against the god of control to come to the boy's mind. The moment's distraction is not lost on Arianna, who starts to stab at the devil's openings so he is forced to crawl backwards from her in desperation.

"But I know what you're wondering," Mittelt chimes in with false sympathy. The simple act of changing who speaks is a great distraction all its own, especially with a topic of great personal interest like this. "If Father's power is everywhere, why do you only feel yourself impeded in here? It's simple, really. The same way magicians can use magic circles to craft arcane power into spells, a god's followers can also focus the divine energy that exists everywhere into miracles. This place has been hallowed by such a miracle, so the intensity of Father's presence here is focused on any devils who enter. Like you."

It was inevitable, really. Joker allowed his personal stake in Yaldabaoth's defeat to distract him, and now he pays the price. The god of control wasn't even a god of this world, so the same rules may not even apply. Regardless, Joker was still drawn in by the topic and now Arianna's white blade is aimed at the boy's heart right at the moment he backs up into a pillar and runs out of space to retreat.

"An exorcist's light sword is another example of a crafted miracle," Raynare adds with sadistic glee at the sight below her. "Father's power, focused into a blade to slay his enemies with."

Raynare times her words just right to coincide with Arianna's fatal blow, her intent being to send Joker off to oblivion with an explanation of the very implement of his demise.

Blue fire explodes between Joker and Arianna. Arsene's Cane forms in the boy's empty hand to smash the divine weapon away from its deadly trajectory. Arianna's wide brown eyes are shocked by the display, which Joker capitalizes on immediately by swinging himself around on the floor to slam his right foot into the woman's gut.

The exorcist is caught with her guard down, but Joker's instinctive reaction to save his life causes him to misjudge his strength. The boy watches in horror as the girl is flung clear across the hall from him. Arianna flies through the air and slams into the far wall with a sickening crack.

The body falls face-first to the floor of the worship hall. Joker remains where he is, kneeling across the way, and stares at the woman with wide eyes and his mouth agape.

"Did I kill her?" the teen wonders aloud, shocked by his loss of control.

Holding back in a fight is a skill Joker has little experience in. The few Shadows the Phantom Thieves purposefully kept alive in the Metaverse in order to hold up for negotiation were incapacitated by specific attacks, not worn down with careful and precise technique. Even if this Arianna person was trying to kill him seconds ago, Joker hadn't been ready to take his first human life today.

"Of course you didn't," Raynare snaps in annoyance. Joker's eyes are drawn to his murderer, whose body language oozes her disappointment. "Exorcists wouldn't be much good at hunting devils if they couldn't keep up with them."

Sure enough, Joker's gaze is drawn back to Arianna by movement. The woman pants, the blow to her abdomen responsible for her loss of breath, but the focus in her eyes has not been lost and she pushes herself back to her feet without any signs of substantial injury. Joker gets up off his own knee in a mirror of the woman's rise.

"One of the miracles known to the Church is an alchemical process used to enhance its exorcists beyond their natural limits," Kalawarner explains. The older-looking woman's opinion on Joker's survival is hidden behind her neutral facade. "The difference in power between you, a low-class devil, and her, an exorcist, isn't just an effect of this place. She possesses a superhuman body as well."

"Oh," Joker says with dull surprise. The boy looks across the room to see his opponent grin in anticipation. The girl revels in the surety of her superiority over the devil, and seems pleased to have him know it now as well.

"I must have looked awfully foolish holding back to not hurt her all this time, then."

Without allowing Arianna time to process this statement, Joker rushes forward and she instinctively takes a defensive stance. The boy lashes out with his cane in rapid strikes, aiming for openings that force the exorcist to block repeatedly without room to counter.

"What're your opinions on devils?" Joker asks loudly over the repeated clashes of his and the exorcist's weapons.

"What a ridiculous question," Raynare spits. "They're even lower than the filthy humans who have disappointed Father since their creation."

"Beings of innate evil who trampled over Father's works and earned his eternal ire," Dohnaseek adds in a scholarly tone.

"You've been corrupted into the worst of creatures," Mittelt adds happily. "As soon as Lord Azazel orders it, we'll happily finish the job from the Great War and wipe you all out."

Joker shifts his weight from side to side as he moves, constantly altering his angles of attack and evasion from Arianna's point of view.

"The New Devils faction are no better than the Old Satans," Kalawarner elaborates, as emotionless as if she were reading a high school history essay out loud. "They still use humans to bolster their own wealth and power, they simply do so under a pretension of civility now instead of open spite. Father has not forgiven them their evil roots."

'Interesting,' Joker interprets. 'Bias aside, it sounds like devils really are trying to play it more like a neutral party these days. No telling if its real or an act, though.'

Arianna steps forward and strikes back at Joker. The devil's impeded movement in this hallowed space finally created an opening for the exorcist, and she capitalizes with an overhead slash toward his core. Joker responds with Arsene's Cane, and after a loud crash the two opponents become locked into another power struggle with their weapons crossed between them.

"Is the Gremory family really known for the kind treatment of its servants?" Joker asks through clenched teeth as he pushes his conjured weapon against Arianna's blade of light.

"I'd call it pragmatism, not kindness," Mittelt grouses. "Easier to keep more servants in line if they think you care. But yeah, they have a reputation like that."

'At least I probably didn't send Hyoudou back into a real monster's clutches after all, then.'

Before Joker can vocalize another question, however, something changes. A loud crack is the only warning the devil has to step backward as fast as he can. It's enough to avoid being cut in half, but not enough to avoid Arianna's light sword opening up the devil's torso after it cuts clean through Arsene's Cane. The two halves of the Persona-based weapon vanish in the same flash of color they appeared from.

It hurts. It hurts a lot. Fortunately, Joker got to feel and become used to a lot of different forms of pain in the Metaverse. Being hit by an active Persona's elemental weakness is always especially disorienting, but the past experience of it lets the devil bite his screams down before they escape his throat so he can throw a left hook into the exorcist's right cheek. The girl is blown away off her feet, and Joker quickly moves his hands to hold pressure on his deep wound.

Arianna isn't thrown nearly as far away as the last time Joker hit her. The woman rolls on the floor and springs back to her feet with a vicious smile of victory on her face. Joker wants to remove the girl's expression, but he's too busy coping with a sensation akin to a painful fire burning in his veins.

"Let me answer the question in your eyes this time," Arianna mocks her prey as she shifts into a more relaxed stance and brushes back some of her blonde locks. "That weapon was made of your own demonic power. It was as vulnerable to my light sword as you are."

"Did you think we would keep answering your questions if you had any real chance of winning?" Kalawarner asks with blunt sincerity.

"It was funny you thought you could win just by not holding back," Mittelt adds, her own voice full of all the mockery her blue-haired companion refrains from. "But you're toast now."

"The light will destroy you from the inside, a poison to your very existence," Dohnaseek clarifies, giving words to the suffocating agony that cloys throughout Joker's body.

"And with that, the game is over," Raynare decides. The fallen angels all raise their spears together, ready to bring an end to the devil's suffering.

"Pixie!"

Joker places a hand to his face and the mask bursts alive into a veil of blue flames once more. Arianna flinches and the fallen ones hold their attack, but instead of summoning another demonic entity to curse his foes Joker instead calls out a tiny fairy-like girl. The winged lady is clad in a blue leotard with matching leggings and long gloves, all of which confuse the assembled members of Grigori.

"Another familiar? This is absurd," the exorcist snarls. "And one of the fey?"

The new girl smiles kindly beneath a mop of short reddish hair, then gestures with a hand toward Ren and replicates the Dia healing skill. A sparkle of lights shower the boy, then vanish along with all traces of Joker's wound. With a flex of demonic power, Joker easily repairs his outfit to pristine condition as well simply by recreating it from scratch.

'Glad that worked,' Joker thinks as he stands up straight once more, his expression smoothed of all its previous misery. 'Not at full strength, but the pain is gone.'

"I'm ending this now!" Arianna screams.

As the woman rushes in, the imagined form of Pixie once more casts a glow over her summoner, this time a colored flash of vivid red. When the exorcist reaches her opponent, the false Persona vanishes and Joker leans down into her space, prepared to intercept her forcefully. The devil watches his foe brace herself, both of them aware by now of the comparative levels of strength between them and how to adjust for it.

Arianna is fully unprepared for Joker's suddenly more powerful grip to tear her guard aside with brute force alone. After that, the knee to the exorcist's gut renders her a moot point.

Joker takes a few steps back, not needing to inflict any more harm before the replicated Tarukaja skill wears off and his offensive power returns to normal. Receiving an even stronger blow to the same spot Joker kicked earlier in the fight has left Arianna on her knees, gasping and holding back the contents of her stomach. Joker estimates he has time to ask another question or two before she recovers.

"How do-"

The words are cut off by a sickening squelch.

Joker blinks, the sight of the red spear sticking out of Arianna's chest not at all what he had expected. The woman hacks once, the realization of betrayal in her eyes, then collapses in a cold, dead heap.

"Oops," Raynare chides. "Looks like the fight is over. I guess you're all out of time for questions."

Silence is all that fills the church for several seconds.

"You would kill your own ally as easily as your enemies?" Joker asks. The devil's eyes are hard when he turns them away from the warm corpse to stare at his killer, a woman who has just increased her body count by one.

"I said you were out of time for questions," Raynare reminds the devil, her smile gone. "Besides, I didn't kill her. A stray devil broke in and killed her. Luckily, we were here to finish him off before he got to anyone else."

The fallen angels all begin to descend and close in on Joker. The four levitate silently, the wings on their backs not moving as they shift through the air. It does not escape Joker's notice that, while Raynare and Mittelt look bloodthirsty, Kalawarner and Dohnaseek seem more detached from the situation. In fact, the blue-haired woman seems to look toward her leader more than the devil below her, even if her face remains as professionally blank as ever.

Joker's mask lights up and a new shape appears above him. A beautiful, blindfolded blonde woman with two white wings hovers protectively between the devil and his foes.

Admittedly, the Persona known as Angel isn't dressed much less provocatively than Raynare herself. This reconstructed version is clothed in three vertical strips of leather around her privates and midsection, while one vertical strip runs up her body to a chain-bearing collar.

Jack Frost taking the form of a mascot character might be easily explained, but Joker has yet to figure out where in humanity's collective perception of Heaven's messengers this particular look is supposed to come from. Maybe it has something to do with the fallen angels? Given how Raynare is dressed, the idea seems reasonable.

Either way, a Persona who has immunity to skills with the bless affinity should be exactly what the boy needs. The fallen angels' light is most likely a real-world equivalent to those powers.

"I'm not going-"

Joker is cut off when his false Persona is turned into a pincushion of multi-colored light spears. Instead of nullifying the attacks as Joker expected, as he had imagined the imitation Persona would, the false Angel and the spears explode into a rainbow flash of scattered power. Joker finds himself not only temporarily blinded, but also in possession of a headache on par with the one he got when Rias destroyed his Jack Frost copy.

"None of that, now," Mittelt scolds the devil.

"I do not know how you obtained such magic, but your weapon is not the only thing you create from your demonic power," Dohnaseek observes. "These are not familiars at all, but constructs."

"And they share the same weakness as your weapon," Kalawarner finishes the thought.

Joker blinks the spots out of his eyes and lowers his hand to look back up at a smug Raynare.

'I suppose if devils could just imagine being immune to light it would be too easy for them,' the boy admits, though he had hoped his creations might be able to benefit from such a trait. 'Using Angel as a shield to stall for more time is out, then.'

Joker's gray eyes lock with Raynare's violet gaze and the boy feels the surge of anger rise up inside him again, compounded by the pounding in his head. Here, in the middle of open conflict, the teen's hands shake with anticipation for the chance to punish his killer.

'That can't be all there is to it, though,' Joker realizes, his focus on the mission pulling past his desire to go on the attack. The boy remembers how the devils fought an ages-long three-way war in which both other sides used their greatest weakness as a primary weapon. If light couldn't be resisted in any way then surely the devils would have all been wiped out back then. 'I just don't know enough about devil magic to make it work for me yet.'

Angel is one of Joker's weaker Personas. Perhaps its endurance simply wasn't high enough to cope?

"If my time is really up," Joker decides to concede. "Can I know one last thing about you before I go, as the woman who killed me twice?"

"For crying out loud," Mittelt interrupts. "Don't you get it? We're going to exorcise you! Nothing you've learned until now has meant anything because you'll cease to exist! Your struggling was just a show for us!"

Joker stays silent and keeps his gaze locked on the woman in charge. The stray musters all the subtly persuasive body language he can think of, shy of begging.

"Humph. You try my patience, but it is rare to have the pleasure of killing the same piece of scum more than once," the raven-haired beauty answers, intrigued. "Very well. What final knowledge will you take with you to oblivion?"

What knowledge indeed? Joker has no plans to die here today, but his question can't reveal his certainty of survival. Even if the devil asks what Raynare's true plan is, the one that's worth killing both Issei and himself just to focus her full attention on it, she probably doesn't have the patience left to explain it in any useful amount of detail. Joker already knows the group will smuggle a nun into Kuoh Town in the coming days, and he doesn't want this final gambit to only give him repeated information. The boy could always ask what the fallen angel's critical weaknesses are, but it probably won't earn him more than a sarcastic quip and several spears in his body.

What Joker needs is an answer to help him understand who these fallen angels are as people. Insight into how these beings really think can be used to plan against Raynare going forward. No matter what Joker's relationship with the devils or Grigori in the future might be, Raynare will be his enemy. Of this there is no doubt.

"Why did you destroy the symbols of faith in here?" Joker asks. The boy has noticed how the damage inside this abandoned church is not just wear and decay like the outside of the building, but deliberate vandalism. "Gremory told me fallen angels still wish to serve their creator, even after being cast out of Heaven. Was that a lie?"

From the flinches all four fallen ones take at the question, even the perpetually stoic Kalawarner, it is clear Joker has landed on a sore spot for them.

Good. If anger can make humans sloppy, surely it can do the same to these creatures.

"You speak of things you know nothing about," Raynare says with a frigid glare. "All we need is the focused quality of Father's power in this place. He will not take us back, so why should we suffer reminders of his absence!?"

A cruel smile overtakes the brunette's features as she rises a little higher in the air and holds her arms out, as if to deliver a divine proclamation.

"Soon this will be the site of my ascension! I will rise to a higher level in Grigori here, without Father's help! The praises of Lord Azazel and Lord Shemhazai are all I need!"

As Raynare preens, Joker slips his hands in his pockets once more to display an air of nonchalance. The act isn't just just to look cool, though. The boy also uses the opportunity to palm another infiltration tool, the key to his escape.

Joker discreetly observes the other three fallen angels as Raynare's anger is overtaken by her own pride and self-aggrandizement. The trio are silent, but none appear jealous or angry about Raynare's claims to future power. Whatever the plan is, they are all in on it. The boy turns his dark gaze back to the one in charge and gives her the scowl she deserves. Raynare really does remind the phantom thief of his former foes.

"I get it," Joker claims. Raynare's arrogance and self-importance, the belief she can do whatever she wants to put herself ahead, is something the Phantom Thieves of Hearts saw again and again in those they targeted. "You've taken away the symbols of your creator because you want to make this church a temple to your own personal glory, Raynare. How pe-"

Joker can't fully describe what happens in the next second. The word 'petty' is lost from his lips as all the breath escapes from the boy's lungs. Every ounce of strength in the devil's supernaturally powerful limbs vanishes, and he collapses to his knees. A thrum in Joker's ears blocks out all sound at the same time his vision becomes blurry and distorted. A wave of nausea flows through the boy's gut, and only the numbness in the rest of his body prevents his stomach contents from being spilled all over the church floor.

At first Joker thinks he has screwed up. The fallen angels must have successfully attacked the devil before he could notice or dodge, and now he's about to die again. It is only after one agonizing second passes and Joker can feel his body again, and the fact it is still fully intact, when he knows the cause must be something else. The boy is on his hands and knees, sweat pours off his head to the floor below, and he gasps for breath in heavy pants, but he isn't physically hurt.

Joker may not be injured in the slightest, but he suddenly feels exhausted.

"Oh? So you were just putting on a brave face this whole time?" Mittelt asks, amused by the devil's predicament.

"It seems your imitation of a fairy could heal your wound, but not cleanse the light in your system," Dohnaseek erroneously deduces. Joker has no desire to correct him.

'What the hell was that?' the boy tries to figure out as he raises his head back up toward his enemies. 'It feels like when I failed to create a false Lucifer Persona, but ten times worse.'

Joker can't deny the sensation of immense emptiness inside of himself. This is not just a lack of stamina; the strange new well of power the boy has grown accustomed to drawing from over the course of this night suddenly feels like it has been drained dry.

"Oblivion shall bring an end to your suffering," Kalawarner unhelpfully explains.

The fallen angels arch their spear arms up once again, ready to finally deliver on their promise of exorcism to the stray devil.

Joker clenches his teeth and tightens his right hand. Fortunately, when the devil nearly collapsed and had to instinctively catch himself on his hands, his grip on the item in his pocket had been strong enough to pull the small ball out as well. The object of the devil's salvation lies hidden between Joker's red glove and the floor of the church.

Unfortunately, the thing is currently useless.

"You're right about one thing, Joker," Raynare chuckles as she summons a second red spear into her left hand and holds both of the deadly weapons poised to strike. "This place will be a symbol of my glory. When I become one of the few of Father's children to rise higher than the station I was created for, all in Grigori will know my name."

'Come on!' Joker begs as he reaches in deep, deeper than he has had to all night long, and desperately tries to stoke a single spark of his demonic power back to life. 'I won't die here! Not to her again!'

Joker doesn't know the cause of what happens next. Maybe devils regenerate used demonic power at a fast enough rate to explain it. Maybe the boy's will to live, his refusal to accept death before it became an absolute certainty, resonated with his new devil powers and produced this result. Maybe Joker was simply not experienced enough with his new source of energy to realize he still had a small reserve left after all. Whatever the explanation, in the moment before five spears of light were brought down to end the life of Ren Amamiya for the second and final time, a small blaze of power lights up inside the devil once more.

'Yes!'

Joker raises his hand off the ground with the Vanish Ball in its grip and tosses it up above him. The devil pours all the meager demonic power he can muster into what would otherwise be a mundane smoke bomb and snaps his fingers.

A flash of unnatural light engulfs the worship hall in an instant. The four shout their surprise but still unleash their weapons. More spears are created thrown as the group try to skewer an enemy they cannot sense.

"Fool, you think a human flash bomb will let you escape us!?" Raynare mocks as she flies higher and throws another spear into the cloud, still blind.

No one answers the killer, and when the whiteout clears the only ones left in the hall are the fallen angels and Arianna's corpse.

Joker ignores all four confused fallen angels and painfully stumbles his way out through the still-open door of the abandoned church. The devil goes completely undetected by any of his foes' senses.

'Can't stop here,' Joker reminds himself once he is outside. 'They aren't likely to assume I teleported. I need cover.'

The boy is relieved when his body does not protest too much against the run he breaks out into. The loss of demonic power might mimic the symptoms of exhaustion at first, but it seems the devil's body still has enough physical stamina to move.

'I need to hide and rest long enough to use my enhanced stealth again,' Joker reasons. 'And then I need find somewhere safe to crash until morning.'

Actually, one place does spring to the boy's tired mind. Fortunately, it will also allow the stray to check the next point of investigation off his list.

Joker vanishes into the night, a smile on his lips. The phantom thief is happy, not just because he was able to gather a lot of information, and not just because he has managed to make another miraculous escape. No, Joker is happy because being drained of energy has caused the loud blaze of demonic power inside of him to quiet into the smallest of crackling cinders.

From within Joker's mind, behind those last silent embers, comes a distant but familiar hum.

Take Your Time

Sona Sitri is not one to broadcast her mood to others. Even beyond the girl's noble upbringing, overly emotional displays simply aren't in her nature. Despite this, the heiress still has a hard time maintaining her mask of civility this morning.

No one blames her.

"We need to finish arranging Amamiya's absence with the staff before classes begin. Rias reports his parents are acting normally, so he must have called them with an excuse already. We will meet with the Gremory Peerage at lunch in the old school building to coordinate a search pattern for tonight," Sona instructs her servants.

The entirety of the Kuoh Academy high school student council, a total of six other girls and one boy, follow in their devil master's wake as she makes a beeline for their offices. Any human students of the school who have also arrived exceptionally early this morning quickly relocate themselves far away as soon as they get even a hint of the president's agitation. Sona has no fear of being overheard saying something she shouldn't.

"After school we will search in shifts. Amamiya is likely to rest while we are occupied here, so we must have people out looking at all times until tomorrow morning."

Ren Amamiya. Sona refrains from biting her lip, but it is a near thing. When Rias informed her friendly rival two days ago how she had no choice but to take in the boy Sona has been trying to recruit it had been a bitter pill to swallow, but swallow it the Sitri heiress did. A dead human only has so much time before their soul escapes the reach of the evil pieces, after all. The whole event was simply terrible luck for Sona's peerage, and incredible good fortune for Rias's peerage.

Again.

Not that Sona is jealous of Rias's reckless distribution of her evil pieces always being rewarded with individuals of extreme competence. No, not at all. The girl would never be so petty. The statistical anomaly simply bothers Sona on an intellectual level, that's all.

While the high-class devil had resigned herself for future news of how her friendly rival's new servant exceeds all expectations, she was wholly unprepared for the news Rias came to her with last night. Being told Ren immediately went stray and escaped the Gremory Peerage with unexplained mastery of advanced devil magic wasn't a bitter pill to swallow, it was a poetic tragedy. Sona is still torn between sadness at the loss of a potential ally and cheer at finally seeing Rias's luck run out. Either way, a potentially dangerous stray devil on the loose in the Sitri Peerage's area of operation isn't something to be ignored. Rias has trusted Sona with knowledge that would embarrass the redhead greatly in the Underworld if it got out, and the brunette is more than willing to repay her trust.

For all the complicated emotions involved in the pair's friendship, a true friendship it remains.

"I want you all to treat this situation with utmost caution. Am I understood?"

A chorus of affirmatives is the response. Sona nods, takes a breath in front of the door to the student council room to calm herself, and then raises an eyebrow when she finds the door is already unlocked.

Sona would never forget to lock up before she leaves.

"Good morning, miss president," greets a cocky voice from inside. Sona actually startles at the sound, though not nearly as much as the rest of her peerage. A second's hesitation is replaced by a desperate need to know, and Sona finds herself within the room before she has time to doubt her decision, her servants spread out at her sides and ready for action.

Ren is there. The stray devil sits in the guest chair in front of Sona's desk, dressed in the outlandish dark attire Rias described with his legs crossed and his red gloves both planted atop his knee. The young man looks completely at ease.

"I'd like to talk," the rogue states with a dashing smile.

Sona has her entire peerage at her side, and is a powerful noble of the Underworld's 72 Pillars besides, yet she still can't help but carefully evaluate the situation for unseen danger. Ren warrants caution, after all. Rias's story from last night and Sona's own prior observations confirm several points of concern about the formerly human boy.

Ren is intelligent.

Athletic.

Has nerves of steel.

Shows unexplained prowess with his demonic power.

Somehow slipped by the familiars around the school and bypassed all the new magical wards placed by the Gremory Peerage last night to sneak in here undetected.

Has enough potential to require a mutation piece to reincarnate.

And most dangerous of all, further confirmed by the sight of the white mask over the boy's face, Sona knows Ren Amamiya is at least one more thing worthy of fear.

"Yes, I think we should."

He is the leader of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.

Chapter End

Author's Notes

And that's chapter six.

I can't promise another week-long update since I didn't accidentally write a triple-length chapter, just a double-length.

See you next time.

Sincerely,

Captain Bell