A month isn't that bad right? It's exam season, after all. Regardless, enjoy this beefy chapter! Many things have changed, and this is where the butterflies start a hurricane compared to the previous story!
~O~
Soon after being confronted by the school president the trio of heroes were led to the class by the Sitri, with Perseus politely making small talk with the devil and the Messiah keeping track of Roland's wandering eyes and the outrage of the demons inside the Sea of Souls.
Roland was walking with an easy smile on his face, but anyone with a basic understanding of how to read people could easily tell the stiffness in his posture, more than once his hand had itched towards his belt buckle, reaching for a sword that wasn't present.
The Messiah, meanwhile, was more invested in ensuring Bael didn't lose his temper.
'Unbelievable!' Bael roared from the sea of souls, or at least stop him from losing it more than he already had.
A minor scan of the people of the school had already revealed a descendent of his, something that would usually please the demon, had the descendent not been pathetically weak compared to one of the most powerful Demons.
'This is a disgrace! How can one of my descendants be so weak?! My blood runs through her veins! The blood of Bael! An Archdemon of Hell! I've had Legionnaires stronger than her! She is meant to be a representation of the pillar's strength! Not a sign of the pathetic weakness those decadent children have spread! Simply absurd, unacceptable.' Needless to say, Bael was disappointed at the power the Messiah had sensed from the devils, though it was probably good for Minato if the demon king was horrified of what happened to his people.
Demons weren't exactly benevolent rulers that should have been running a school filled with humans in the first place.
Metatron was trying, in vain, to keep the peace, and not being helped by Helel's taunting guffaws at the demonic powerhouse, 'Calm down you big volcano of malice, it is pleasing to see that even children born from a sinful demon such as you can have kindness in their hearts,'' The demon paid no note to the voice of God, his ire only increasing as Helel continued to laugh at his misery.
It was an embarrassment, for he, who had once set the world to fire with his prowess, made mortals and immortals alike quiver in primordial fear at the mere sight of his daunting visage. And now thi-this devil, his descendent,ran a school! FOR HUMANS! Minato sighed before he entered the conversation, 'Remain coherent Bael, I still require your help to identify the devils. Maybe check to see if we can grab one of those evil pieces they use to transform humans into devils.'
'Of course Messiah, I must request that you release me on this instant to set these fools straight, they must be taught the-' Bael's eager request to come out and end the living stain on his reputation he viewed his descendent was stopped just as quickly by the Messiah.
'No,' Minato swiftly crushed any thought of letting Bael roam free, a fiery demon that was closer to a weapon of mass destruction than a corporeal being was a bad idea. A very bad idea.
Minato was finally drawn out of his mind as Sona snapped her fingers in front of his face, causing Roland's face to crinkle a little at the disrespect, before smoothing his face as Perseus looked at him with a little concern visible on his face,"Yes, president?"
'One of Sitri's spawn,'' Bael sneered before mentally spitting in disgust,, 'Another pathetic weakling, like her foolish ancestor. If only the weak excuse of a demon had listened to me about fire and destruction, and not chosen water and ice, his progeny could have been slightly less pathetic.''
The Sitri Devil firmed her lips into a frown, "As I was saying, before you stopped paying attention, this is your designated class, if you have any problems please approach the student council."
She briefly hesitated at first, but they chose to steam ahead, "And please stay clear of the Perverted Trio," with a stiff nod the devil was gone before any of the trio could respond, and he knew why.
Minato slowly turned to look at Roland with a raised eyebrow, Roland had a regretful expression on his face, still jittery around devils he had poured out killing intent at the devil the moment she had raised her hand towards his face, he sighed. That was troublesome, he entered the class with no words spoken, letting Perseus calm down the paladin, he was fairly certain the Sitri probably just got the scare of her life, if the devils weren't this weak, or he couldn't take the form of the strongest angels, then he would have been a little more worried. Trouble for future Minato to consider.
Sona slid down onto the floor, eyes wide as she shivered with raw, primal fear. Despite her scare, she was unable to stop her mind from wondering just what sort of creature the blonde must be to release an aura like that, her first instinct was to call her sister, the situation was clearly not within her power as a devil.
But at the end her pride as a devil won out and she decided to confront him on her own, with her peerage of course, she had never felt such hatred and malice directed at her throughout her life, and in a way this intrigued her, he would definitely make an excellent member of her peerage. With a shuddering breath the young devil picked herself off the floor with a small smile, she had some calls to make, with her resources it would be easy to make them her peerage members.
Inside the classroom all chatter quickly subsided as the three transfers stepped in, all of them took position next to Honoka, the homeroom teacher of the class, who quickly smiled at the three boys, before turning to the class, "Alright class! It may be a little sudden, but I have three new transfer students to introduce to you!"
The teacher turned to the trio, and gestured for them to step forward, which they did, "Please introduce yourself to the class."
"Hello, fellow students! My name is Roland, I'm a new transfer student from France, I enjoy horse riding and fencing! I hope we have a good time together."
Perseus was the next one stepping forward with a smile, "My name is Percy Miller, I come from New York, my hobbies are archery, and reading. I, too, hope we have a good time."
It was the Messiah's turn, as he looked at the class's faces filled with curiosity about the third boy, he released an inaudible sigh, "My name is Arisato Minato, I'm from Okinawa, let's have a good time," The class mentally face faulted at the Messiah's deadpan tone.
However soon the silence was replaced by excited chattering as the trio took their seats, and were interrogated by their fellow students about their homes so far away from Kuoh, everyone seemed to be in high spirits, except for three certain perverts who cursed them as 'damned pretty boys,' despite their clear hostility to the new members of the class Minato had taken an open seat near the 'leader' of the perverted trio, Issei Hyoudou, who looked at him suspiciously.
Minato stared at Issei with a powered gaze, though he made sure to hide any traces of holy energy he might have leaked, by this point he had switched the nearly incoherent Bael for a Persona more suited to check and manipulate souls, it was the first time he was using the Messiah persona without true manifestation, but it was his strongest persona when it came to identifying changes to a regular human soul.
Which is why he was currently staring at Issei Hyoudou, with curiosity about the symbiotic system surrounding his soul, if a regular human soul could be seen as a translucent ball of light, then Issei's soul was more unique, nearly completely crimson in color it had runes and chains practically oozing in holy energy surrounding his soul, some sort of a system he presumed was the Sacred Gear system.
There was just one problem, all the chains that kept the binding in their place, and the very placement runes for the sacred gear, and the assimilation matrix for the sacred gear and the user's soul seemed to be flaking off, and slowly falling apart. Though still years from actually collapsing it seemed without someone to power the system it would eventually implode, running out of the power it was using to run and contain so many dangerous deities.
It would be dangerous when it failed. Countless deities and beasts of all varieties violently ripping their way into the world through the souls of humans who wielded them. Whilst he was sure there were some who would stay true to their users, he didn't doubt for a second it was a tiny minority that wished to stay in their prisons when presented with an opportunity to run away.
He had already scoured through the souls of the remaining class and suppressed the sigh of relief at finding them to be perfectly normal human beings, with no modifications to their souls, dormant or otherwise.
"Oi pretty boy, what are you looking at?" Minato snapped out of his analyzing gaze, releasing a sigh, before looking at Issei and informing him of his plan, "We will talk during the break."
Looking at his rebellious look and the less than polite looks in his eyes, he pulled out a card from his pocket and handed it to the boy, Merlins said it'd make him more willing to talk.
Issei frowned, before looking at the card, from a preliminary analysis it looked like a typical playing card with the fool on it, except for one detail. The fool's face had Merlin's face, and it was winking at Issei, and blowing Minato raspberries from Issei's hand.
Issei's eyes widened, and he almost let the card fall before he caught himself, looking around and making sure no one was listening to them, he whispered his suspicion to Minato, all the suspicion disappearing from his voice already, "Are you with the wizard?"
It was a little unwise to actually talk about the wizard in a devil's school, but Minato ignored it since Issei wasn't really combat trained in any way, Minato nodded, "Follow me during the break."
This was the plan Minato had thought of, when he was off dreaming, in this world humanity was basically on its last legs. They were effectively used as pawns from both sides, with only one ineffective morally grey faction having benevolent intentions towards humans.
He would do his duty as a hero, he would protect Humanity regardless of the cost, to death, if needed. But he wasn't unaware of the possible implications of his death, as long as he lived he remained an arsenal of heroes for Humanity, and he could probably protect humanity with just himself and his Persona alone, but if he died… that was the end of Humanity's heroes, they would go down with him.
So he had decided to create a new faction. A faction of heroes, of hope bringers and mentors, the golden generation that would raise the next generation of heroes.
They would be the watchdogs of humanity, keeping the most fragile and weak race of all the beings in the world safe from the shadows, they would also be the ones to rear a new generation of those long forgotten by time.
For centuries this world had not seen a human hero, legends like Perseus, Heracles, Sigmund, or Arthur had been absent for centuries, despite the best efforts of Heaven to prop up the Church as a faction for humanity it was too weak, it couldn't take any action against the fallen or the devils, even as they put more strain on a decaying system, by forcing the sacred gears built for a human soul to accommodate devils that were not planned for by God.
This is where a new legend would start, the start of the newest epoch in human history, a new age of heroes to take back all the lost ground over the years. He would ask Issei to let them train him as one of the guardians of humanity. The first hero of the twenty-first century. The first hero humanity would receive in a long time.
Whilst the Messiah contemplated on his plans, and Issei's part in them, the hero to be's thoughts fell back to his near-death experience with the fallen angel, before in what was a remarkable, if regretful, display of mental strength his perverse nature prevailed over his trauma, "Why'd you have to be bishonen though?" he muttered, eyes widening as he remembered the wizard didn't look bad either, he looked up at the blonde and the brunette easily charming the remaining class, his face fixed with a horrified expression, "An entire group of them!"
Issei spent the remaining period mourning the fact that an entire bishounen group was behind saving his life, a bittersweet experience.
~O~
At their temporarily chosen home, the British wizard was continuing his scouting, just on a global scale. The first task Merlin had taken upon himself was to search Albion for any potential allies, the memories he inherited from this world attested to the lineage of great knights and heroes that existed in Albion, and above all, wished to check if his old friend's line still continued on.
Deep inside he knew he was being impatient, as the Messiah had told him they'd be going to Albion as soon as the security of Kuoh could be confirmed, but he couldn't help himself, as his desire for his homeland overpowered his restraint, fueled even more than the memories he inherited.
Next to him the archangel of death silently observed the wizard, she had missed him in his life, being in Samael's prison for the entirety of it, only knowing of the wizard from his legend, and the legacy he left behind.
When given the opportunity to join her brother in training, or observing his spellwork the choice was clear, being a user of magic herself she was very curious about his clairvoyant spell, it was clearly more advanced than anything Heaven had used during the great war.
And so the wizard cast one of his strongest clairvoyance spells, one that he had used to successfully find and overpower an evil dragon's wards in the past, on the location of Camelot, or at least where the castle should have stood.
The mirror he was using as a conduit for his magic glowed impotently for a brief moment before the magical wards around Camelot fired up briefly to check the source of magic, before dying down after confirming the source to be Merlin himself, causing a jovial smile to bloom on his face.
The curiosity over his joy finally broke through Azrael's silence, "A good find?"
Merlin chuckled, nodding at her, "Indeed, my dear, the wards I lay around Camelot centuries ago still maintain their prowess to date."
"Is that not a normal occurrence, wizard?" She asked with confusion lining her voice, "With your prowess, I would doubt even millennia would truly let your wards be lost into the sands of time."
"In most cases, that would be the case," He conceded, thinking about the sealed dragon near the north pole, "But Camelot's wards were laid over a century by me, something that required an anchor be used, which required maintenance by those of Arthur's blood."
Azrael's eyes lit up at the name, letting out an understanding sound, "So that's what you're looking for? Descendents of Albion's King?"
Rather than replying in affirmative, Merlin waved his hand over the mirror, causing a gargantuan castle to appear, a quasi-city, really, that's what Camelot was at the end of his life, and it seemed like it kept the characteristics of a city.
At the center of the citadel, a fortress overlooked the settlement, with multiple rings of walls surrounding the population that had settled in the settlement, and what a mighty settlement it was!
Despite its age clearly showing in the narrow winding streets and the tiny brick houses, and the walls surrounding each layer of the city, nearly two hundred thousand humans still lived in Camelot and its surrounding settlements.
Abandoning the overview of the Castle for a look at the old practice halls, Merlin beamed at the result, a young man practiced swordplay using Arthur's old sword, not Excalibur, something that did earn a raised brow from Merlin, who filed the information away to investigate later.
The sword in the youth's hand was none other than Caliburn, lighting up briefly during his practice against a younger male that seemed to be using an inferior sword, but still held on admirably against the older one of the duo.
Looking at their footwork Merlin smiled wryly, though there was a difference of magnitudes between them and Arthur they still satisfied his and firmed his faith that Albion would remain safe with the Pendragon line still alive, "Your blood still runs strong old friend, "He murmured with a smile."
"Britain always was an oddity, even with Europe being a raging battlefield for half a century it was one of the few places that remained safe," Azrael mused out loud, at hearing Merlin's murmuring.
"Was that what you were looking for? Descendents of your ward?"
Merlin shook his head, "That was just to sate my personal curiosity, in truth, I am meant to seek out these chess pieces that convert humans to devils, to further my research into reversing the effect.
With his attention on his primary task, Merlin replicated the magical signature of the evil pieces he obtained when he met the Sitri heir and cast a different spell this time, one meant to seek out the same magical signature across the Town and it's nearby areas.
"How interesting," The Wizard said, looking at the resulting map, with each blip representing a converted devil.
Looking at the Angel he preempted her question, "Well, though there is a significant population of those meant to be in the underworld, the converted devils seem to be clustered."
"Wizard! I would like to join you in this hunt for devil-" Before Azrael could even finish both of them felt the slight displacement of air and turned to face a grinning Samael, armored in brilliant white armor, no small amount of eagerness hiding in his eyes.
"So. When are we hunting hellspawn?" The Angel asked his grin still there with a red hue in his eyes.
"Were you eavesdropping this entire time?!" The female angel asked him with a pout.
"What? Me? Spying? Why I never!" He boisterously proclaimed with a Cheshire grin.
Merlin chortled at the two siblings, "To answer both of you, very well, both of you may join me in hunting the devils."
Merlin honed on to a group of weak fainter signatures he had associated with the council of the Sitri before grunting in annoyance as he saw the much more significant signatures of non-reincarnated devils around the school, significantly stronger than the devils in the school.
With the school being too noticeable he turned his eye towards more isolated signatures, that were trying to remain hidden. These were hidden away in a church, another abandoned one, though this one was in a fairly public road and not as damaged as the other one Roland had redecorated quite liberally.
He nodded at the angles and moved towards the door, briefly turning it into a portal, his eyes flared azure blue as he concentrated and cast two spells to disguise the angels and shifted his own attire to a more sedate suit.
"Refrain from engaging with the devils unless we're attacked, I don't think we want to reveal the presence of multiple angels in the town just yet."
Walking into the portal he was followed by the two angels, who looked like a normal European duo, with their wings invisible to the world, Samael walked in after Merlin, with Azrael moving forward before suddenly remembering Asia, summoning a white dove, she sent it to the nun with a message about going out for a while and stepped through the portal.
Merlin looked at the church lying slightly down the road, it was hidden by weak illusions, meant to disguise it rather than truly hide it, he looked at Samael, before slightly narrowing his eyes, "No unsanctioned murder."
Samael frowned, he would have loved to kill the devils indiscriminately, for in his view they had much to answer for but the Messiah, and now Merlin, had strictly ordered to not kill any devils unless necessary and he himself wished to avoid killing those that were resurrected with no choice of there own, "Is it one of those unlucky devils?"
Samael personally held no qualms in slaying devils, that too, with not a hint of guilt but even he was hesitant in killing those who had no fault in becoming what they had become.
Merlin nodded as they took to the street, "We're not killing the devil, just going to capture the devil for research and see if I can make the evil piece leave the devil safely,"
Samael just grunted in discomfort, getting smacked on the head by Azrael, "Don't be a dummy brother."
Merlin turned his head and sighed, "I understand your frustration, the last time you saw them it was open war. But I need active pieces to properly figure out just what's happening here, and if possible reclaim their humanity for them."
Samael nodded at him, he had been imprisoned before Merlin had lived but he knew enough of his legend from his siblings to not doubt the intentions of the mage, "I still don't see what you needed me and Azrael for, I highly doubt any devil will give much trouble to you."
"You underestimate the power of symbolism, your father represents hope for many humans and his angels carry his light, I hold hope that your acceptance might help them be at ease," Merlin shrugged at his incredulous look, "Or they might be more willing to help us with your presence."
Samael nodded at the latter part, weakened as they were, twelve winged angels were still in a tier of their own, it would take something akin to a demon to force him down easily at this point, anything weaker would be hard-pressed to do so without major injury.
Satisfied with the wizard's justification for having them accompany him, the two angels followed him towards the church, unknowingly heading into a confrontation with one of the worst of the modern generation of devils.
It would be the first of many sparks that would strain relations between the factions, with two archangels and a hero coming to a direct confrontation with a devil from one of the seventy-two pillar families.
~o~o~o~o~o~
Minato was followed by Perseus, who was acting as his escort while Roland fetched Issei, who was tearfully torn from the other two perverts while heading towards their peeking spot he was half dragged to a secluded corner by Roland, whose instincts as a Paladin almost made him swat at the other two brats with his sword.
When they came to a stop near under a tree inscribed with runes to hide their activities, Issei finally stopped pouting, due to the intense look Minato was giving him.
Minato had once more equipped the Messiah and was observing his soul in greater detail, and the second analysis only confirmed his earlier findings, "Very troubling," his murmur caused Roland and Issei's eyes to divert back to him, having started another conversation on Issei's morals.
The chain was a beautiful work of art that resonated with him but it was resonating in a bad way, it was calling for help. A majestic work of soul-based magic that was flawed due to one reason, it was based on the big man upstairs continuing to anchor the gears with his own, much stronger, soul. With him being unavailable, it was bound to decay over time.
"Minato-san, why'd you always start brooding? I skipped peeping on the club for this you know?"
Minato smiled wryly at his boisterous proclamation, this was another thing that confounded him, Sacred Gears were powerful instruments supposed to be humanity's defense against the supernatural. For them to be relegated to a lottery was absurd, even catastrophic, to Humanity's continued health.
He stole a glance at Perseus, his easy smile reassuring both Issei and him, he held his body in a relaxed poise but was undoubtedly ready to jump into action within a second. His legend was, well, legendary, one of the noblest heroes throughout history, one of the earliest ones too.
Looking at Issei the Messiah internally sighed, he didn't measure up to the heroes of the past, but that wasn't a fair comparison. His Persona, the ones who were human heroes, were hardened heroes representing the peak of their respective legends, they all had humble beginnings as well.
Leaving that aside, the boy had potential, though his perversion went beyond acceptable limits - peeping like that wasn't exactly legal - his heart was still innocent, though filled with lust. His base instincts were still just, and if trained properly, Issei, too, could be a legendary hero.
"Tell me Issei," Minato started, pausing briefly with a smile, "Do you seek the truth?"
The boy bit his lip, before nodding hesitantly, "I already know about the magician and the flying cow, a little more won't harm me, will it?"
"Wrong," Roland said, sympathetically clutching his shoulder.
Issei looked at Minato's somber face, Roland's comforting smile, and at Perseus, who didn't turn his eyes away from the ground.
"Oi, what's with the sad faces!" Issei demanded with false bravado, shrugging Roland's hand off his shoulder, "Knock it off! I'm the one getting bad news and you're all acting like it's your fate being damned!"
Minato sighed at his bravado before nodding at him, "From the moment you were born, you were both cursed and blessed by God."
Looking at his confused face, Minato sighed and sat down on the grass, leading Roland and Issei to sit down as well, whilst Perseus chose to continue leaning on the tree, considering the more in-depth knowledge he'd been getting by scanning the Sacred Gear he probably needed to explain Issei's situation himself.
"I won't mince the situation, Issei, if you want to live out your life as a regular human peacefully," Minato took in a deep breath, releasing it slowly, what he would do next was strategically stupid. Issei had an extremely powerful sacred gear, one that could single-handedly change the course of entire wars.
He steeled his will, and yet, he wouldn't be a good hero if he didn't even offer him the last offer, a way out.
"If you don't want to be involved with the supernatural world, then say so now, and we'll protect you and yours till the very end," Roland's eyes widened at that, Perseus nodded approvingly.
"You are… powerful," He said slowly, "Probably more powerful than Merlin."
"The wizard that saved me?" He asked, surprised, receiving a nod from Minato his mind ran wild at that idea, behind his back both Perseus and Roland looked baffled at that news, "More powerful than him…" He murmured under his breath, thinking about Merlin, and how easily he maintained control of the situation.
"What's the catch?" Looking at Minato's raised eyebrow he steamed on, "There has to be a catch for all that power, right?"
"Of course," Perseus said softly, "Power always comes with a price."
"For you, as a human, the price is steeper than that for an angel, god or demon," Perseus gestured at the four people involved in the conversation, including himself, "People like us, people with great power with the willingness to look temptation in its face and deny it, are a constant target of bad intentions from other factions."
"That thing was an angel?" Issei asked, sounding appropriately horrified.
Roland snorted, and Minato wryly smiled, "It was a fallen angel, one that has fallen from their father's grace," Minato explained.
Issei just stared at him, his face a mixture of many different emotions, "I can live my life as a regular human? Without any consequences?"
Minato gave him a strained smile, "It would be no small loss for Humanity, but yes. No strings attached, you'll be safe, your family will be safe, we'll make sure of that."
A war was going on inside Issei's head, on one hand, it was an excellent offer, he could live his life out safe from the supernatural world, but, he could be a hero.
Issei looked at the three heroes, his eyes still conflicted, "People will get hurt if I hide, wouldn't they?"
Minato looked away, unwilling to lie to the boy, but Perseus did uncross his arms, and ruffled his hair, "Leave that to us, eh kid?"
The Greek hero grinned at the youth, "Have some faith in your seniors pulling their weight, yeah?"
Issei looked at the man, his throat feeling very dry, "That wasn't an answer…"
Roland snorted lightly, drawing a warning look from Perseus, "Do you want honesty?"
Receiving a nod from Issei the paladin continued on, "Yes, your loss would undoubtedly be felt by Humanity and our own odd group of heroes."
"But that isn't your burden to shoulder," Roland sighed, his tone taking on a nostalgic tone, "I knew many great men who were champions of humanity, the greatest of them often ended up giving everything up for their people. For them, for us, nothing is more important than the safety of Humanity."
"No one has ever become a hero because they were conscripted to become one," Minato mused.
"It's not going to be easy," Issei said, more of a statement than a question.
Perseus smiled at Issei, ruffling his hair, "If it were easy, everyone would do it because this is the best job in the world. Despite everything. Because of everything."
Looking at Issei, Perseus grinned, "Those gifts of yours, given to you by God," Issei nodded, "It gives you the potential to do a lot of good deeds."
"I can't promise you much, young man, but I can promise you one thing, as a hero, you'll never stand alone," Perseus's grin seemed infectious, quickly spreading to Roland and even leading to Minato cracking a small smile.
Issei looked at them, the three men all radiated an aura of sorts, a palpable field of charisma, he wasn't blind, even in class, he had seen the respect they'd garnered from everyone, a sort of subconscious respect given to them by the other students and the teachers.
When he was a child, he was always put to sleep with stories of heroes, he wanted to help people, be seen with the same sort of respect they were given, to be seen in the same light as the heroes Irina's father told them off.
He glanced at them, a bittersweet smile on his face as he got up, this was the closest he'd ever been to his former dream, "I'll have to decline your kind offer."
Roland jumped up, wanting to say something, but stopped as Perseus clutched his shoulder, holding him back.
"If you ever need help, you can come to us," Minato said with a sigh, "Regardless of your choice we will protect you."
"Thank you, I promise I'll not tell anyone about you all," He turned back, going towards the school building.
"Issei!"
Issei stopped, hearing Roland's voice, who was being given a disapproving look by Perseus and drew out a small sigh from Minato.
"Why not?"
"I would love to help people!" He shouted back, "But I think our dreams are not compatible, I hope we'll still be friends, though!"
As he entered the building he didn't hear the sad sigh from Roland or the following conversation about the other people in the building with a sacred gear.
Even as Perseus and Roland talked on the merits or demerits of openly working with the local devils, who seemed benign, Minato had slumped back, talking with his Persona about the Sacred Gear system.
Minato sat in his assigned chair, they had been discussing the gear with the information he had gathered, and from their work so far it seemed fairly clear that the situation was untenable yet not easily fixable, if fixable at all, "As long as God or his child in control of the system doesn't act, we can't do anything, can we?"
Thanatos looked helplessly at his master whilst Hades replied steadily, "We can still probably rig the system, with Michael's help, to be better, maybe make a choice on some new attributes, it'll work for about a year before going back to it's damaged state," Hades looked disgruntled at accepting his inability to fix the system.
"How he made this behemoth of a system in the first place is inconceivable, it's feeding off the faith of his followers and angels to continuously grant the gears and cycle them back on the user's death, the meritocratic feature seems to have been disabled after the population crossed five hundred million, if I gather that correctly from my other self's memories."
"Undoubtedly any fortune-telling ability of the system probably failed due to the massive increase in the numbers of humans, and Michael being significantly weaker than his father," Solomon mused, briefly interrupting Prometheus.
Prometheus nodded at his fellow Persona, "It is pretty clear the big guy up there wasn't able to program it to its fullest extent but still we should be able to rig it for a year as Hades said, a generation of heroes would be a boon for humanity," He faked a shudder, "In its current state a demented serial killer is as likely to get get a sacred gear as the holiest of saints, probably more likely, considering the numerical superiority of demented serial killers compared to holy saints."
Odin shook his head, "The system will start killing its users at one point, a permanent fix is much more desirable than any temporary fix is undesirable, we need to either fix it or stop it make to sure it doesn't dispatch gears that will bolster the enemy, perhaps we should gather our own faction of heroes and grant them gears? If we can, that is."
Solomon's eyes lit up, "A faction of heroes would be the most effective indeed, especially with the golden generation of heroes guiding them it would be hard for them to go wrong!"
Minato just looked at them, they had been unable to come up with a permanent solution beyond rigging the sacred gear system for a year or somehow stopping it and opening a hero academy and granting sacred gears there, whilst the idea had merit and he wished to open a hero academy there was so much he had yet to know anything, he'd probably have to converse with real Hades again at length again to catch up on what happened.
There was also the minor problem of him being barely recognized as the messiah by the system, retrieving gears out of a fragile system might backfire on them, "It is a meritable idea, I'll see if I can find some young heroes to mentor at a later date, our current candidate seems to be headed in a different direction."
After some time of more brainstorming, they finally dispersed and he found himself blinking blearily as he saw the back of his blonde guard but not the raven-haired Greek that had been a part of their entourage, "Roland, where's Perseus?"
"Perseus felt someone was spying on us, he put on his helm and went to take a look," Roland looked at Minato with curiosity, "Any hope of granting powers to new heroes?"
Minato just looked down and shook his head before equipping Thanatos this time, though not letting him manifest, and going onwards and re-entering the school, followed closely by a disappointed Roland who had hoped the Messiah could grant powers to their chosen candidates.
He would clarify the Sacred Gear system to Roland later, and they would head out to scout other wielders to be heroes.
Outside the class, Issei was about to enter having removed the previous conversation from the forefront of his mind almost entirely and ready to continue his day usual, before being interrupted.
However, before Issei could enter the classroom he was stopped by a certain someone pulling his sleeve, he looked around before looking slightly lower and spotting a silver-haired girl known more commonly as the school mascot than her name, Koneko Toujou, his pervert sense was already tingling before his sleeve was tugged again, "Koneko-chan?"
Koneko just looked at him blankly, "Pervert senpai has been called by Kaicho."
Issei's head went to multiple places, before going blank, at him being summoned by one of the beauties of the school, ignoring the soft sigh from his invisible follower, who followed the two.
Perseus was now sporting an entirely different look under his invisibility, gone was the school uniform he was wearing, his head was covered by a helm that seemed to be pitch black, and wearing traditional greek armor.
A sheath hung on his waist, with the legendary Greek sword that was vital in overthrowing Chronos and Ouranos, and a shining golden shield with a motif of an owl drawn over it was slung across his back. His sandals had little wings on each side.
The hero was fully armed with his legendary equipment, ready to save his young charge should he need it, but content to remain hidden if he was not needed.
Devils were creatures of desires, whilst heroes were an embodiment of virtues. Perhaps it truly was not in his fate to be a hero but many questions remained- would Issei choose to be a devil over a hero, and how much was the devil willing to concede to recruit Issei over to her side?
~o~o~o~o~o
Merlin was many things, calling him the most powerful human was probably an understatement, at this moment however he was confused they had entered the church expecting to find another run-down church, under those wards, only to find a fully functioning church right on the edge of Tokyo, and thus in Youkai territory (not that he knew that) rather than Devil territory, the weird thing was how it was staffed by sixteen devils, all reincarnated and one that was significantly more powerful than her comrades, with a single non-reincarnated devil in the antechamber of the church.
As he sat on a pier he was heavily confused, so were the two angels, why were a group of devils posing as a group of nuns? Merlin figured it probably had something to do with the devil sitting in a separate room, a kink, maybe?
"Can I help you, gentlemen?" It was the leading devil, she smiled and yet Merlin saw the fakeness from a mile away he smiled back, he'd learned much during his time in Camelot, and there were far better fakers than her back then.
Behind his smile he charged a powerful mind reading spell, "Say sister, is there a priest around, we three seem to be the most unlucky lot, we thought there'd be a greater amount of churches but it seems only this one was open today when we needed a holy man to consult us on matters of faith."
Worry flashed in her for a minute before she shook her head, "I'm afraid our priest is rather busy and unavailable for a consultation right now," She nodded towards the cross ignoring her headache putting it to being a devil in enemy territory, "Though you may pray at your discretion, and seek relief in that manner if you must."
Merlin was already sorting through her memories, at first, he had intended to do a cursory light search, that thought had run away the moment he had encountered the most recent night she had with the devil in the other chamber he had cast a linking spell, letting the two angels see what he was seeing.
The more he saw the more it horrified him, putrid rage begun to bellow but seeing her face, and her suffering sorrow came quicker and deeper, "I'm sorry my dear," Samael was silently sitting next to him, it was akin to a volcano about to erupt, the silence before the storm, Azrael had her head down, her hands nearly breaking the pews near her, as she struggled to control herself.
The nun looked confused before shaking her head, "I should be the one sorry, sir, I'll see to it our priest is here next time you visit, sir."
Merlin shook his head as he closed his eyes, rage boiling within him as even he almost broke his calm facade, "What ought a good man feel?" He asked, with a solemn tone.
He opened his eyes, they blazed blue much like the barrier that had surrounded the church to make no outsider suspicious, "But sorrow at your undeserved fate?"
The Nun's eyes widened, at his blue eyes and his companions shaking shoulders, yet Samael restrained himself if he killed such poor souls even by accident whilst they were devils they would never be granted the relief of heaven, so he shuddered as he controlled his rage, wailing at his own impotence at helping the ones that were meant to be under the protection of heaven.
Merlin's eyes darted towards two of the pawns, as identified by her memories. The nuns were gathering in the center of the church, with one of them going to call the monster, but two pawns- they looked no older than seventeen, girls really- stood still, still not broken they had hope that these two men could do the unthinkable, free them from the monster that had fooled them.
"Take cover behind me, I swear it on my magic no more harm shall come to you so long as my magic runs strong on this earth!" Merlin proclaimed, a silver staff flashing into his hand, thrumming with magical prowess far beyond the range of anyone in their group.
At his power being visible stronger than their master, any sign of remaining hesitation vanished as both of them almost ran behind him.
The devil -the one in the other chamber- came out, finally choosing to intervene as the situation escalated, this wasn't the first time the church had sent assassins after him, despite the outer circle hating the turned devils but the rage the cardinals felt could not be overstated, they were keen on killing him, regardless of the consequences, especially after his last target infuriated them so much they had sent Dulio after the devil, he would arrive soon, though not many knew about his mission, not even the heavenly authority that would have vetoed such an obvious breaking of the status quo.
"Leave now wizard," It was a new voice, but by now it was almost familiar to Merlin, he looked lecherously at the two ladies that took shelter behind the Archmage of Camelot, "And tell those pesky clergymen of yours these nuns are mine! You can't free them because they're devils now, we don't want a war, do we?"
He grinned lecherously, "And mine to do with as I wish, now do as any good lapdog of the church must, and go back into the hole you came out from."
"And what if you were to die?" Merlin's voice was cold, his magic prepared, the two nuns behind him were already guarded by two light blue shields.
Azrael remained behind, murmuring something into the ears of the two girls, whilst Samael was finally standing up, his face still steely.
The monster sneered, "Then the factions go to war again because unlike you I'm a clan heir!"
He smirked at the troubled look on Merlin's face, "Yes, you understand now, don't you? What're twelve lives for millions? A fair trade, no? Especially since you're so pathetic compared to the four Satans."
Merlin clicked his tongue, horrible death was no longer an option it seemed, for the moment, "It is true, that the Church cannot arrest you, and heaven cannot kill you."
Looking at the horrified girls behind him he sighed, "But, at the same time, Camelot does not answer to Heaven, nor to Hell! Foul beast of lust, in the name of Camelot and King Arthur, cease your lunacy and surrender before you are smitten from the surface of the planet!"
Eh, he'd make it work, if the devils demanded justice after he showed them proof of such abuse then neither the Messiah nor he would care regardless of their demands. Arthur wouldn't stand for it either.
Two magic circles with the crest of Camelot appeared next to him, unrecognized for Diodora was not old enough to know of it, "Or die most painfully cretin," venom dripped from his words as magic gathered and his capturing spells, his chain was ready and his patience for the man was quickly running out.
"Camelot? A fool's tale won't scare me, wizard, is that the stupid attempt to hide the church's involvement this time? A tired old kingdom that is far past their prime?"
The devil looked at his magic, and the extended an olive branch to Merlin, "Why do you care, wizard? These nuns are nothing but sacks of flesh anyways, would you not leave in the name of peace? They are my property, after all, I got them through fair practices, regardless of your opinion of those practices."
Diodora nodded at him, "How about I stop chasing the Holy Maiden and you-"
Samael had enough by that point, he had enough of this smug madness, his father would have acted to end this injustice no matter the consequences. This was an injustice, and injustice was not tolerated by those of heaven, Merlin's bluff be damned, "Who do you think you are devil?"
The wall had been breached, his patience had been quickly torn up by the devil's arrogant attempt at bargaining with something he didn't have.
Both Merlin and Diodora looked at him, Diodora gulped, only the strong used their power so wastefully to project because they had it in spades to spare, "I am Diodora Astaroth! clan heir of the house of Astaroth, please I implore upon you let us not start that whole mess of a war again, truly this is not worth-"
"The likes of Belial fled when I gave battle, just who do you think you are?" Samael was enraged, no he was beyond rage he was furious, the spell containing his form shattered, he unfurled his wings, "Like father used to say, better start a war than to let the unjust rule!" the nuns on Diodora's side were shocked by the presence of an angel, their instincts as devils made them want to puke or run in terror, but the faith in them, the nuns who were so battered and bruised that they had been suppressed by this emotionless state, a dam broke free even in the queen the oldest of them as most slumped to the floor crying, due to the end of a nightmare, from the hope he inspired or just exhaustion from everything that had been done to them.
As for Diodora? he just shivered as the rage of the holiest kind directed at him before trying to back up only to be pushed forward by his own queen, "You trai-"
The rest of his words were left unheard as he was slammed into a wall by Samael who had his throat in a chokehold, "Focus on your impending destruction boy," Diodora paled he knew that ball of energy floating close to his face it felt too similar to the power of destruction held by the clan of Bael for it to be anything else, before he yelped as he was suddenly thrown into another wall, "Had you not been needed alive I would have killed you on sight cretin."
Merlin's chain rose and stabbed the Astaroth through his stomach, and it was even more painful than a sword as it was a blunt object that pushed through his chest, "I hardly need him not in pain," Merlin smiled at the increasing terror on the devil's face, he prepared another spell, one of the most terrible mind ripping spells he had known, "Hadn't you been taught the golden rule as a boy?"
Blue lights ripped into the Astaroth clan heirs head as he screamed in pain, his mind being decimated by the magic of Merlin, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
The nuns gathered themselves from the floor and saw Diodora writhe in agony for fifteen minutes, his voice going to new heights they thought a voice couldn't go before today.
It inspired a sense of awe and terror alike, in their minds, to see the man that had tormented them be destroyed so ruthlessly, to see him be harmed so deeply by a human.
Before his screams suddenly stopped and Merlin's eyes stopped glowing blue, Diodora Astaroth lay on the ground more dead than alive.
"Should I destroy the body?" Samael curied, a ball of light already in his hand, ready to completely annihilate the devil's body.
Merlin nodded, "No need to leave unnecessary hints of our presence."
A ball of light touched the devil's body, and within a second it started dissolving it into nothingness, courtesy of Samael's own power related to destruction, though his power was most effective against dragons it still remained potent against demons and those that came from them.
At the same time the king of the peerage finally died, with his body being completely gone, it removed the control over the power lent to his peerage members by their pieces, and the results immediately showed.
The broken cap let more raw power channel into their unready bodies giving them a boost and mutating the peerage, as was the fate of a kingless peerage.
Or at least that would have happened if Merlin had not locked away the power of the evil piece from the peerage, a blue bracelet appearing on all of their hands.
The more powerful members of the peerage, and the weaker ones, still managed to remain standing after being cut off, but the vast majority fell, heaving and huffing at the sudden loss of a reservoir of power.
"I'll have to request you all to bear with it for the moment, that'll keep it at bay, for the moment," Merlin said, looking at the Queen, who remained standing, and nodded at him, a tired yet grateful look in her eyes.
He smiled reassuringly at the women, who were more than willing to ignore his questionable treatment of their former master, "At the moment we can't remove the pieces, but I hope to be able to turn you back one day."
The Queen shook her head, "Regardless of whatever you do next, milord, even if you do not turn us back, you have my eternal gratitude for freeing us from that monster."
He grinned confidently, "Come now, ye of little faith if ye thinks a mere devil artificer can outsmart the strongest wizard of Camelot."
Turning a little more sober he still maintained an easing smile on his face, "While I'm afraid we can't get you refuge here, I offer you unconditional refuge," He thinned his lips, thinking about the Vatican, last memory his former self had had of them, it wasn't exactly pleasant, "Unfortunately, I can't do much else, once we contact the Vatican we could have someplace set up for you, or we can settle you into one of my old safehouses."
Merlin was cut off by one of the two pawns, "We are devils, milord, and utterly ruined by that beast," The nun smiled sadly, "I thank you Lord Wizard, Lord Angel, your rescue was a calming balm on my wounds, but I can only ask you of one thin, death."
At that a soft gasp broke out from her sister, who immediately clung to her, unshed tears in her eyes, "No, please, we just became free! There's so much to live for, Lord Wizard promised his aid and refuge from this living hell! Please! Don't-"
The sister was silenced by a head pat an a similar tearful look from her sister, "It is the best that I can request from you, it is already very kind of you to rescue us, even though we are devils. I ca-can't live like this! Seeing his face in every shadow, hearing his mocking laugh every minute I sleep! Such a life is no life at-!"
She was silenced by Azrael hugging her, her light considerably softer than her brother, and embracing the devil rather than harming her, "Child, I cannot presume to know what you went through, but I am a veteran of the Great War."
"I have faced down demons that made Everest look like a play toy, I have broken devils that shook the very foundations of reality with their power," She smiled at the devil, "I cannot promise you relief instantly, but know this, you are Father's child as much as I am!"
"I have seen corruption that ruined the first men, I was there when evil first took hold in the heart of man."
"I have seen evil, and I have seen corruption that brought angels to their knees," She clasped her shoulders, smiling at her, watching the devil slowly wipe her unshed tears, "You are not evil. You are not corrupted. You are wounded, not ruined."
She sighed, "Know that my words cannot heal you, but time can, but, should you choose to stay, know that time heals all wounds, and I will be there for you, every step of the way."
Samael smiled at the devil, "I have killed thousands of demons and devils, kid, I can tell you one thing," Pointing a finger towards her heart, he flashed her a thumbs up, "That heart belongs to a human, and not a devil."
"T-hank you," She murmured, trying to control her tears, before giving up and hugging the female angel in front of her, "I...don't want to die."
Merlin grinned at the fire in her eyes, "You gonna be okay kiddo?"
She smiled back at him, shy but firm, "Maybe not, but I have faith."
"Sometimes that's all it takes," Samael rumbled, with a nod at Merlin he looked over the devils one last time, all of them looked a lot better, hearing Azrael's words, and smiled at the Wizard, "I think we ought to send them to their new home, wizard, it has been a tiring day for them."
Merlin raised an eyebrow, "Who put you in command?"
Grinning cheekily at the angel's disgruntled grunt he tapped his staff onto the ground opening a gate, "Please settle in, I'll see to you in a minute as soon as me and Angel boy have some words."
"I shall help them settle in," Azrael said, before finally letting go of her power, letting her voice turn back to its normal state, "Almost forgot to turn it off," She murmured embarrassedly and blushing a little, going alongside the nuns, leaving her brother and Merlin behind.
The nuns had wanted to say no to such a generous offer when Merlin had made it, but Azrael and Samael's words had sparked a new flame in all of them, such kindness was beyond what they had reasonably expected from anyone, such kindness inspired a new hope in them, for a new future.
"Did they go to our base in Kuoh, Merlin?" Samael asked with some worry in his voice, mostly thinking about their emotional state, dealing with the emotional ones was always Gabriel's thing, and as much as he hated to admit it, he had a problem with those from the underworld, his instincts wanted to slay all the devils there, tough as it was, he maintained a tight lid on the part of his mind calling for their total eradication.
"Too much risk if they stayed here, they are technically stray devils now, after all, and mostly powerless to boot," Merlin mused, thinking about what he'd learnt from the Astaroth's mind.
"I sent them to a castle in France, one of my old hideouts when I used to be alive, I used it to practice my alchemical skills there," That reminded him to add checking all of his hideouts and prisons soon, he had sealed many a dangerous enemies in his lifetime, and it would do to ensure they remained sealed, "I remotely reactivated the wards before sending them there, they'll be fine, I'll make sure of that, besides they'll be human in no time," he ended the last part with a smug smile.
Samael looked at him with curiosity in his eyes, "Oh?"
Merlin shrugged, "let's just say I've got a fairly well-established understanding of the evil piece system."
Samael gave an impressed look at that, looking at the wizard with no small amount of surprise in his eyes, "It took the devils centuries to make this system and you reversed it all in mere minutes?"
Merlin gave a smug smile this time, "They were banging rocks to create fire whilst I created Caliburn, Clarent and was integral in creating Excalibur, all swords that could rip gods a new one easily," He grinned, "Besides that, the hard part of making an evil piece was already done by the devils. I just need to trace back the steps, a far easier job than starting from scratch."
Samael nodded before looking at the spot where the devil's body had been placed before dying, "Will the Messiah be angry?"
"I swear he is never angry," Merlin said with a chuckle, "Though I'm sure once I reveal our findings about the devil's misdeeds to him he'd probably agree with our decision," Merlin opened another gate, "I wonder if the devils the Messiah is with are similar to this one."
"I would hope not, it'd be one thing hiding this, entirely another thing hiding another rampage by Roland in such a public area."
Samael's eyes flared, "If they are then their race is better dead than alive!"
Merlin sighed, "Peace Samael, perhaps they aren't too bad as a race," as he stepped in the portal.
Samael grunted, slightly disgruntled, reigning in his hate for the devils was often hard. It had been millennia since the war but for Azrael and him, it was just a few years away. Or that's what it felt like.
He remembered his curse, the stabs he felt as any of his siblings fell to the demons, how he raged despite his curse. He remembered them all, and such a grudge, though he had attempted to bury the hatchet, this was a grudge even an angel could not let go off.
~o~o~o~o~o
Betaed by: Wood and Chris4th
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