"Talking"

'Thinking'

[Svarkova talking to Issei]

{Svarkova talking out loud]

{Mode Change}

Flashback

The large workshop was swarmed with the piercing clangs of hammers on metal. The cavernous area could have easily fit a few thousand people and still be spacious, but only three figures were present: two human sized figure and a behemoth, crouched over a counter wielding a hammer the size of a deer.

"I don't think we explained the plan well to you, Hephaestus," one of the smaller figures interjected between hammer swings.

The giant, Greek God Hephaestus, blacksmith of the gods, looked over his shoulder without breaking stride. "To create an artefact with this power density, Revous, I need to create a base ring of massive proportions so that I may imbue the requested banks of energy." For a blacksmith, a giant and a cast out God, he was very eloquent in his mannerisms. "From there, I can shrink the ring to the correct dimensions, but only then. If I tried to encase this much power into a small vessel, the incurring response could be catastrophic."

"…once more?" The high-class Devil asked with an almost visible question mark over his head.

*Sigh* "he try to put power in small ring, big boom. He make ring big then small after power in, no boom," his wife explained patronisingly to her husband before rubbing his hand to show she was jesting.

"Ah, thanks Madena. What's your price then, Hep?"

Hephaestus stepped away from his counter and pulled a lever at his side, pouring molten metal onto the huge ring. He then turned to the two and dropped to one knee.

"Nothing. You helped me to earn my place back into Olympus and end my horrible marriage with Aphrodite after I discovered her infidelity. You have allowed me to have a good life among my peers and siblings after you showed them my skills. For that I cannot repay that debt, but I can at least help when it is requested from my old friend." The giant Deity bowed his head, then stood and returned to his counter.

Revous cast his mind back to that day, when he came to Hephaestus for a weapon and listened to his sad tale of him being cast from the heavens due to his deformity. He was then told of how the Goddess of Love was forced to marry him by Zeus, only to regularly cheat on him with other Gods.

He grabbed Hephaestus, marched the entire way up to Olympus and slapped Zeus in the face. Any other being would have been struck down where they stood for striking the King of the Greek Gods, but Revous had a good history with Zeus. They were friends and helped each other in the past.

So hearing about him treating his intelligent, kind, talented and hard-working son that way, just because of his minor deformity, really pissed him off.

The entire throne room of Gods all gasped and looked in shock at the Devil smack Zeus in the face. The heavy strike echoed in the hall, shaking the glasses on the tables and statues surrounding the area.

He tore into Zeus and Hera for ten minutes, dissing Aphrodite the odd time too, and when Ares tried to interject to defend her, he threw a chair at him, earning a hearty laugh from Hermes.

After the tirade, Zeus dropped his gaze and apologized to his son and offered a chair at the table of the Gods.

As Revous stormed off, the messenger God flew over to him and walked him out, slapping him on the back and laughing with the elemental Devil.

"I didn't do much Hep, just did what was just. You earned that spot at the table, you just needed someone to give Zeus a push to realise that," Revous rubbed his head.

Hephaestus' booming laugher filled the colossal workshop. "A push is a bit different from a slap, especially with the King of the Gods!"

Hephaestus whispered a Greek incantation and the ring shrunk and let off a blinding flash, then died down and lay on the counter.

"It's done. Who's this even for? If you wielded this artefact, your power would be a match for even Yahweh himself I believe."

Madena's smile tore across her face. "Our greatest achievement"

Flashback End

Issei awoke, mind empty. Then all the events from the past day flooded his brain, and the pain in every inch of his body followed.

'Whelp, I can't move, and EVERYTHING hurts.'

[Yea, I'm honestly quite surprised you stayed conscious through that final move. That wasn't one of my moves, so I had no way to regulate it beforehand,] Svarkova rung out in his mind.

'I don't really know either, I didn't mean to use it, it just triggered.'

[You're lucky you don't have the Boosted Gear or Divine Dividing, because I think your amplified anger may have triggered Juggernaut Drive. Then we'd all be fucked.]

'That move seriously messed me up, though. I won't be able to use that again for a while, my entire body is on fire right now and my mind is kind of scrambled. I need to practise more, because these powers are taking their toll on my body. I can't even fully wield my Balance Breaker yet, but I pulled that off. Crazy,' the tall, brown-haired Devil remarked in his mind.

[Aye, and you have multiple modes unlocked, so training with them would be wise.]

'Good plan, Scarlett.' The conversation stopped as the boy heard a yawn from the real world, and something grab his arm tightly. No, wait. Not something, someone.

"Hey," a red-haired beauty whispered in his ear/

"Hey," he smiled back.

"How are you feeling today? Yesterday was crazy."

"Besides the fact I can't move anything except my mouth, I'd say I could have come out worse from the fight," he chuckled.

Rias' eyes lit up and a devious smile crossed her face. "What a shame. I guess you can't stop this then," she whispered as she crawled onto him, lying on his chest looking into his eyes with a glint of mischief in her own.

He could see her clearly now. She had a small gash on her cheek and a bruise on her chin, but she was more beautiful then ever in his eyes.

That being said, the panic had now set in. "Uh, what's going on?"

"Well," she started with a faux sad face, "you've been paying attention to the other girls more now, and I'm feeling a bit left out. It breaks my tiny heart to see that. So, I guess I have to steal you back for myself today."

He knew she was lightly joking, so he played along, because, well, what else could he do in his current state. "And what do you plan to do with me then?"

"Well, I'll have to find out if you still like me."

"Come here then, because I can't come to you."

She chuckled, face red, and leaned down to kiss him. They shared this moment for about thirty seconds before there was a knock on the door.

The King sighed and was about to get off, but her pawn just said, "don't answer it, I want to stay like this with you."

She nearly died right there from hearing those words and just pounced back onto his lips. They continued for another thirty seconds when a voice spoke from behind the door.

"…Rias, your brother wants to talk to you," Akeno announced with none of her normal playfulness.

'It must be about Kokabiel.'

"Shit, ughhhh I just want some alone time with Ise, is that too much to ask?" she asked no one in particular, which earned her a chuckle from the boy under her.

"It's okay, now that Kokabiel, Freed and Valper are dealt with, we have all the time in the world to do this." The Gremory girl smiled as her heart sped to tremendous speeds at his words. "Now, I'm gonna need a hand up, I really am sore."

Akeno opened the door and her serious demeanour dropped. "Oh, so you're trying to have Ise for yourself? Not on my watch, Bouchou," she pouted and jumped on the bed.

'What part of 'I am hellishly sore from beating a Cadre Fallen Angel' do people not get?' Issei thought as his body ached once more as the two Devils started to fight over the boy.

"Thanks for meeting so soon Rias. After the events of yesterday, we have a political mess on our hands. Azazel is sorting out his side with the Fallen Angels," the red-haired Devil King explained.

Everyone present in the meeting room nodded. Because of the nature of the event, there were many high-ranking Devil and Fallen angel officials in the room.

On the Devil side, there was Sirzechs, Nao, Ajuka, Serafall and Rias' peerage.

The Fallen Angels were Azazel, Shemhazai, Azazel's right-hand man, and Penemue, the chief secretary.

The church Duo were present, bandaged and shaken still from Kokabiel's revelation, but alive.

There was also Vali, the White Dragon Emperor, seated beside Azazel.

Azazel stood from his seat. The Cadre was normally quite jolly and fun, but because of the serious matter at hand, he was very apologetic. "I am sorry for the actions of Kokabiel. We had zero information about his plans and would have immediately put an end to them if we had known. I know a simple apology isn't gonna cut it, so I'd be more than happy to help out in any way to try and clear our name."

Nao spoke up, holding her hand out in understanding. "Thank you, Azazel. I fully believe that you didn't have anything to do with this, and so do the other Maous. What he did completely violated everything you worked for, peace between the two races."

The Cadre nodded and sat down. Sirzechs stood from his seat and addressed everyone. "I think we can all agree that my sister and her peerage did extremely well and acted appropriately in this scenario, and we will all offer our help to try and compensate her because of the danger she was placed in. Without her and her excellent peerage, a full-scale war would have broken out between the Devils and Fallen Angels. For that, we thank you." Every leader of each respective group nodded in agreement.

"Thank you. I just want to let it be known that without Xenovia-san and Irina-san we may not have been so lucky," Rias turned to the two and smiled at them.

Xenovia stood on shaky legs. "We were happy to help and are grateful that the church has the Excalibur fragments returned. But we find ourselves shaken from Kokabiel's words. Is… Is God really dead?"

All the Maous glanced at each other, and Nao stood to respond. "I'm afraid he wasn't lying. God is dead." Xenovia fell back to her seat and Irina softly sobbed. "He perished in the Great War, and Michael has been running Heaven since. The information hasn't been publicly released to avoid mass panic from the Angels and a possible uprise from Devils and Fallen Angels trying to attack Heaven now that He has passed. I am so sorry, you two."

The church Duo sat in silence, so the rest of the meeting continued.

Azazel spoke up again. "To try and stop Kokabiel, I sent in my protégé, but I found out too late and Vali arrived at the scene after the fight had concluded. When I asked him to report on the situation, he told me to wait until we had this meeting to reveal his information."

Vali, who was silent with his feet on the table, cleared his throat and stood up. "When I arrived at the school, the only remaining evidence of Kokabiel was a feather. A single feather. He had been obliterated. I approached the group and found they meant no harm to me, so I revealed who I was."

He looked at Issei, and the Devil nodded at him. "When I did, Issei-san revealed who he was. He is the wielder of Svarkova."

Every Fallen Angel at the table gasped and looked at the boy in horror. "The Elemental Dragon? It's alive?!" Penemue whispered in shock.

[IT, is a she,] Issei's eyes started changing colours as she spoke through him. [And yes, I'm alive. I was pissed during the war because of the senseless violence, but I have calmed down now.]

"Pissed off? You shredded our forces down with no effort and took on the two Heavenly Dragons! That's a bit more than pissed off!" Shemhazai exclaimed.

[Don't act like you didn't have it coming. I was placed in a Sacred Gear after that, as the hidden Longinus. Issei is the first and only person to wield me.]

"Alright," Azazel wiped the sweat off his forehead, "at least you're on the good side."

[My question is,] she started, [what of Albion? If you're gonna cause problems, then I'll have to take you out. You two have always caused problems in the past and if you have any plans of interfering with people's wellbeing again, or Issei's, then you will have me to answer to.]

She didn't raise her voice or show malice in any way, but she clearly meant business.

(Trust me, Svarkova-Sensei, you have nothing to worry about with Vali or myself,) wings of blue energy formed on Vali's back and resonated a voice.

"Yea. I'm just looking for a good fight to test myself, but I won't put people in jeopardy because of it. Plus, Issei-san seems pretty chill, I just want to try and be friends with him," the white-haired Longinus holder smiled, despite his mean looking appearance.

Issei nodded in agreement.

"It's good we got that sorted." Serafall stood at the table. "Is there anything else left to discuss?" Silence from all parties. "Okay, meeting adjourned then."

"That's insanely cool, Kiba-san," Issei said.

They were back at Issei's house, sitting in the living room. Kiba had his Balance Breaker out, the Sword of the Betrayer. It resonated both Holy and Demonic power somehow. The Knight looked at it with both happiness and sadness.

"Thank you, Issei-san. It means a great deal that my brothers and sisters forgave me and helped me. I feel at peace now, knowing they support me and will continue to support me with this weapon."

Rias walked over to him and put her hand on his shoulder. "They are all proud of you, Kiba. As are we."

He looked up at her and smiled as a single tear rolled down his face. "Thank you, Bouchou."

She hugged him and the res of them jumped onto the two, creating a massive group hug.

Akeno and Hannai both went to make some lunch. Rias smiled at them, happy that her Queen is getting on well with the ex-Fallen Angel. 'She's making such good progress.'

Kiba took out a book and started reading in the living room with a single headphone in, listening to some classical music.

Koneko walked up to Issei and stuck out her arms comically. Issei hugged her to him and scratched her head. She started to purr, causing her tail and ears to come out.

"Look at you, Koneko-chan. You're making such good progress now," the Pawn said to the Rook. She had a small smile on her face and started to purr harder, still hugging him around his waist.

Kiba started laughing at the cute sight, before Koneko threw a glass at him which he dodged easily.

The two in the kitchen could also be heard talking and laughing with each other.

Rias looked at her peerage with happiness. They had all come so far from being broken in their own ways.

*Knock knock*

Issei pried the Nekoshou from him and went to open the door. He was greeted with a blue-haired girl.

"Oh, hey Xenovia-san. Come in."

The church girl walked in and looked around at everyone there. The two in the kitchen came out, Kiba took out his headphones, Koneko sat beside him with her tail and ears hidden, and Rias walked over and stood beside Issei, with his hand in hers.

"What can we do for you?" She asked.

"Well…" She looked down at the ground and paused.

"Come sit down, it's all right," the Pawn offered. She obliged as Akeno poured her some tea.

"I… I just want to start off by saying thank you. Everyone, for helping us. And I have something to ask."

"What is it?" Kiba was now on good terms with her, as she fought with him and helped with the fight.

"The news about God shook me to my core. When the fight was over, I didn't know what to do. Irina went back to the Church to return the swords, but I wanted some time off. I sat in my room and did nothing for hours. Then I realised something. I know what I want now."

"What is it, Xenovia?" Rias was more than confused now.

"I want to become a Devil." Silence.

.

.

.

[Huh. Didn't see that one coming,] Svarkova announced.

"Are you sure about this, Xenovia-san? Once you do this, there's no going back." Issei had to make sure she was ready for this.

"Yes. I have been thinking about this all day, and the way that you treat everyone, Rias-san, that's how I want to be."

"Well, okay then," Rias said, clearing the ground and Xenovia lay in the space.

She used a Knight piece on her, making her the second and last Knight in her peerage.

"Oh, that feels weird. Oh!" Her wings unfurled.

Issei chuckled. "Yea, takes a bit to get used to."

"Xenovia-san, what did you do with Excalibur Destruction?" Akeno asked.

"I gave it back to the Church. Plus, I don't really need it anymore, I've got something better."

Everyone looked at each other, puzzled. "What do you mean, 'better'?" Kiba asked.

"Didn't I tell you" She looked around in confusion. "I've got this."

She reached to her side and a gold magic circle appeared. A massive blue sword with a gold hilt appeared, covered in chains. She touched the blade and the chains snapped, as she pulled the sword from the circle.

"I've got Durandal, the sword of Saint Peter. I'm a rare natural wielder."

[Double huh, this girl is full of surprises today,] Svarkova laughed.

"What a day," Issei sighed, body still sore, better due to Hannai's healing but there is only so much you can heal when you push your body to its limits. Twilight healing is only fully efficient with injuries.

"I know," Rias agreed. She made an arrangement with her Peerage to leave her and Issei alone for the night, as they both deserve the alone time. They weren't happy but they agreed eventually.

They both got into bed and the King held her Pawn close to her.

"With all that was going on I missed our time together," she whispered into his ear.

He rolled over to look into her eyes. "I know. I missed you. I'm just happy you're safe."

"You've done so much for me since we met. You saved me from the Fallen Angels, Raiser and now Kokabiel, almost dying each time. I worry about you so much, Ise. I worry that I made a mistake adding you to my Peerage. You could have died again with your Serenity's Grasp. You're always in danger and pushing yourself miles beyond your limits because of me and I-" She didn't get to finish her sentence as Issei kissed her, and she pushed into him hard, melting in his grasp.

"Shhhhh. Remember, you saved me when I was about to die, you put your life on the line for me when I started to break down, if you hadn't made me a Devil I would have never found out about my family, and my aunt. You act like you killed me, but you gave me a reason to live, and someone to love."

She grabbed him this time and pulled him, as he rolled over and pulled him onto his chest. They kissed for what felt like hours.

"I love you to, Ise. Just be careful. Please. I don't what I'd do if you got hurt again."

"If it means saving you, I'd take a beating all day. Anything to see you smile."

Well, it's 3:23am and I'm about to pass out. I promised you'd get a chapter tonight, so here you go. Tomorrow when I wake up ill start on another.

See you in the next one!