A/N: Alright, episode 6 is finally out. Once again, I'm sorry for taking a while in finishing the chapter… I am sometimes having a writer's block here and there and I am also debating with myself if I should write the Riser Phenex arc in one chapter or split it in two. Well, I decided for the latter because it will take longer to write and update. I was also busy playing FGO because of the summer 3 event so that I can include swimsuit Jalter in the roster… man, the gacha was not very kind with me since I did not manage to summon the ones I wanted, which is summer Jeanne and XX but summon Ibaraki and Ushiwakamaru instead. SIGH… I really want to have a 5 star Archer in my roster but instead being spooked by lancers and assassins instead. Anyway here is the chapter.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Highschool DXD and Fate / Apocrypha or the other fate series, both works belong to their respective creators. This is a work of fiction, this doesn't relate to any existing individuals and organizations.

"talking" ""talking in unison""

"thoughts" ""thoughts in unison""

Flashbacks / dreams

*Background music/ O.S.T.*

[Ddraig talking] [Ddraig talking with telepathy]

(Albion talking) (Albion talking with telepathy)

Chapter start…

Kuoh Academy, Occult Research Club

It has been a two days since the battle between Scathach's group and the devil lords ended, Rias Gremory is currently sitting on her office chair lost in thought, reflecting everything that has happened that lead to this day. And there she realized and regretted all the things that she did and said during her encounter with Sieg, Karna, and Scathach, because of her own pride, greed and arrogance that she made a very stupid decision of trying to threaten, manipulate and deceive the three. And now, she is paying the price of her hubris; she was stripped on her authority as administrator of Kuoh and ordered to go back to the underworld immediately after her graduation and what's worse is that her brother lost his trust on her that he tasked Sona and her peerage including her own peerage to keep her under watch like she is the most dangerous criminal in the world.

Akeno, Koneko, and Kiba watch their master in pity, they tried what they could to convince their master to leave Sieg, Karna, and Scathach alone but it was futile. Rias is too stubborn and determined to acquire whatever she lays her eyes on, but after the incident, she keeps avoiding the three like a plague and fears their power and skills, much to her luck, Sieg is currently on leave for a week. Right now, their current problem is the engagement of Rias Gremory to Riser Phenex, the heiress is not now at her third year in high school and a graduating student so time is not on their side of the matter and the only ticket for Rias Gremory's freedom are hostile to her. Rias was pulled out of her reverie as a silver magic circle appears in the room, it has a Gremory insignia on it so the person who is coming is none other than Grayfia Lucifuge, head maid of the Gremory household and most importantly queen and wife of Sirzechs Lucifer, her sister-in-law.

"I believe you have finally reflected on what you did wrong in the past, perhaps?" Grayfia asked in a neutral tone, her face not breaking its stoic expression and professionalism but it only made Rias uncomfortable.

"Yes Grayfia… and I'm sorry." Rias replied in a low tone, still ashamed of what she did.

"You should say that to your brother instead. Anyway, I came here to relay you the news from the underworld." Grayfia sighed and deliver the task of what she came for.

After hearing Grayfia's message and to Rias' horror, the day that she feared has finally come. Apparently, Riser Phenex wanted to have the engagement earlier than she expected. She has no other choice but to resist and fight in the unofficial rating game with her current set of servants and train with them if they are given a time.

…

Within Sieg's dreamscape

Sieg found himself in a lush field of green grass and beautiful garden filled with white flowers, he feels the wind's gentle breeze through his body billowing his unkempt hair and the black overskirt on his clothing. The beauty of the place can be comparable to a paradiseas everywhere flower petals are being carried by the wind, the Dragon-Blooded knight closes his eyes as he savors the relaxing feeling of the wind. He is pulled out of his relaxed state when he suddenly felt someone behind him, their backs almost close, Sieg feels the person's hair on his back and he assumes that the person has long hair and probably female.

"Why are you standing there all gloomy, my dear?" He heard a familiar feminine voice and it has a motherly tone in it.

*Cue O.S.T.- Final Fantasy VII Advent Children: Aerith's theme*

Sieg's eyes widen as he recognizes the person behind him, his blue reptilian eyes become slightly teary as his emotion welling up inside him. He felt sadness and longing, the young knight as much as he wanted to, endured himself to turn around to see the person for his resolve will waver and will not want to wake up in this dream.

"Giving me a silent treatment huh? Well let me guess, you got into a fight aren't you?" The female said in a playful tone.

"Mom, I… yes, I got into a fight." Sieg wants to say some excuse but there was none, so he relented and admits what he did.

"Now Issei, what did your dad and I taught you about getting into fights or any kind of trouble, hm? And besides, your dream is to become a hero right? And not some edgy character that you see in television shows? A hero never instigates any fights or conflicts and they always help people however they can. If you wanted to be that kind of hero, you should drop that grumpiness and stoic expression of yours and smile, that would be a start." The woman who is now revealed as his mother, Sofia Hyoudou scolded her child in a gentle manner not dropping her playful tone.

"But those devils started it! They were about to take a person that is like a big sister to me, I can't stand by and let them take what's important to me." Sieg reasoned sounding like a child who are making excuses when they are scolded.

"Even so, you should know their reasons first before attacking them with all your fury. Some conflicts are resolved by talking it out Issei, it's not just always by force. I always know that you are seeing them as the same devils who wronged me and your father but do not judge them base on their race. Not all of them are the same, even us humans can do worse to others the same way." Sofia slightly frowned and her expression turned serious.

"…"

Sieg kept quiet unable to rebut his mother's words, after all he have seen different walks of life while they are travelling to different parts of the world. He has seen the deep-seated corruption on some humans that even the devils could be proud of, so he could not deny that the humans are no better and deep inside he knows but refuse to accept it in front of the devils. But he still believes in the good of humanity, he does not know why but something within his soul is saying to just believe and not lose hope.

"I know that you are still affected by our deaths all these years and blaming yourself for it, but someday you'll have to move on with your life, you have found a family to go home to, people that you cherish, all me and your dad want is to not forget us. Please give others a chance, let them prove themselves and believe in the good of everyone." Sofia continued regaining her smile and gentle voice.

"Yeah mom, you're right… I will try." Sieg said with a slight smile relenting to his mother's wishes and give the devils a chance to redeem themselves.

"Good! Take care of yourself my dear, it's time to wake up." Sofia said as the surroundings glow in white light.

"Thanks, mom! Tell dad I said hi!" Sieg said his final message as his vision turns white.

"I will…" He heard his mother's reply before he went to the waking world.

*O.S.T. end*

…

Hyoudou household, Sieg's room

Back to the waking world, Sieg's eyes flutter awakening from his dream. He raises his body up revealing his bare torso with a glowing crest on it, he stands up revealing that he is only wearing his boxers and makes his way to his window clearing the curtains. His eyes flinch on the sunlight adjusting to the illumination and then looks at the picture frame on the table side containing his family picture with his parents and his child self. Sieg stared at the picture for a moment until he sighed.

"Giving them a chance, huh? It will be hard but I'll try mom." Sieg said as he went to the bathroom to wash up and get dressed.

He was granted a leave by the Sitri heiress for a week after the incident and he was thankful that he will not be meeting the devils until Monday, the Dragon-Blooded knight is still furious on the latest stunt of the devils and he might kill them on sight whenever he is reminded of that day so this day-off is necessary for him to fix his bearings. He will wait until night to patrol the whole town and since he is free for a week he will be the one on the hunting duty until then.

…

Kuoh Academy

It is already noon and every class are on break to eat their lunches, Scathach is currently checking test papers and about to finish. The door of the faculty room opens and Karna enters the room carrying with him a lunchbox, he approaches his mentor and puts the food on the table. Seeing this, Scathach smiles on how much Sieg and Karna care for her ever since that day. Back then, the warrior queen could not have any familial relationship with her students except for his daughter, Uathach. The closest relationship she has as a family is with her favorite student, Setanta also known as Cu Chulainn, though he is calling her names like old hag, such an insolent brat he is. She approves of Setanta's abilities when he killed the former bastard husband of her daughter and made him marry Uathach, but he was not just settled on her daughter but he seeks her out too and so her favorite student bangs both mother and daughter. The rascal had what it calls on the Japanese slang word called oyakodon, he's lucky right?

"~Why thank you for bringing my food, my dear student. Careful now, we might fall for each other if this continues. ~" Scathach said in a teasing tone, the other teachers who are watching their interaction have flushed faces seeing their co-teacher seems to be flirting with her student.

"Rest assured, my teacher. I know where I stand in this relationship and what we have is just a platonic one. Besides, it is impossible because our age gap is that of a mothe- OOFF!" Before he could even finish, he suddenly felt a pain on his gut knocking the wind out of him and keeled over.

"Oh my! Karna, are you alright? Do you want me to take you to the infirmary?" Scathach said pretending to be worried and in truth she is the one who give Karna a sudden punch to the gut. All the teachers who are watching were slack jawed at what just happened as the warrior queen carries the semi-conscious Karna to the infirmary while bringing the lunchbox.

After leaving the faculty room, Scathach and Karna went to the rooftop instead so that she and her beloved student can have a heart to heart talk pertaining on talking about a woman's age. Karna could not help but be a little scared by the way the warrior queen looks at him, there is a strange glow on her crimson eyes and although she is smiling, there is a malicious aura wrapping around her body.

"~Now then, my dear Karna. How do you want to die? Talking to a woman's age like that would incur their wrath on you. You have this coming, student of mine. ~" Scathach said in a playful tone.

Karna gulped some saliva and shivered, he sometimes hates the fact on how blunt he really is especially his inherent ability, Discernment of the poor is constantly in effect. With this ability, he can tell if someone is telling either the truth or lie and also be able to read people's intention in one stare, that's why he always blurt out the truth in a blunt way offending other people as a result.

"Ugh… my… apologies for my sudden bluntness, master. I did not mean it in a rude way." Karna sighed and apologize in a respectful tone while doing a ninety-degree bow. Scathach smiled and she suddenly pull Karna to a hug, shoving his face on her bountiful bosom.

"I forgive you this time, you should always mind what you say next time okay? Things like age is kind of sensitive to women, I might be an old fossil to you but I am always young at heart." Scathach reprimanded in a cute pout.

Their bonding was suddenly interrupted by a spikes of demonic energy coming from the old school building where the devils are, both teacher and student adapted a serious expression as they felt different signatures, aside from the Gremorys, the other resembles that of a flaming bird and the other is the familiar icy aura of Grayfia Lucifuge. The good thing in this situation is that ordinary humans are oblivious to aura, if they are as sensitive as them, chaos will ensue. Scathach felt annoyed that these devils love to flaunt their power recklessly, so she did something to prank them a little. The warrior queen flared her aura surpassing all the devils present with a mix of her killing intent, sending them a message that she is watching them.

…

Old school building, Occult Research Club

Within the clubroom, all the devils shiver in fright except for Grayfia who only sweat a little. This was supposed to be a peaceful meeting but Sirzechs sends Grayfia as a mediator if a fight between Riser Phenex and Rias Gremory occurs, and as expected things escalated to a fight due to Rias' persistence to not marry Riser Phenex. Both flared their aura but she interfered by flaring hers while reprimanding them, unfortunately, it seems they disturbed a sleeping monster within the campus and now currently flaring its power to make its presence known. The Gremory peerage and Grayfia knows that they have disturbed the queen of the land of shadows because of their squabbles and now watching them, meanwhile, Riser and his peerage are frozen stiff and faces pale in fright and some of them almost wet themselves due to the terror of sheer overwhelming power.

"O-Oi Rias! What is going on here? Why is there a very powerful presence in your territory?" Asked the handsome blonde man waking up on his stupor, aside from his blonde hair, the man has cerulean blue eyes with a fair skin complexion wearing a red coat over his white polo shirt that is unbuttoned on the chest area, red slacks and white shoes. He is also giving off a playboy and a bad boy vibe, this man is Riser Phenex, third child of the Phenex household and a low-tier ultimate class devil.

"That was Lady Scathach, the queen of the land of shadows, Lord Riser. It seems that she felt us flaring our power so it came into her conclusion that we are starting a fight while there are humans around. She is giving us a warning and will be watching us." Grayfia said in a professional tone.

"You call that a warning!? She is threatening us; it is obvious to her killing intent! And why would someone from the Celtic pantheon here in a devil territory? Is this an invasion? A declaration of war?" Riser retorted.

"No Lord Riser, the Celtic pantheon has been inactive long ago with some of its members blending with humans while the others are staying in their territory, never involving themselves in the supernatural affairs. Lady Scathach is just a free agent and a neutral party that has given a permission to live here by the Shinto pantheon, and she is also one of the inspectors assigned here as per request of the said pantheon." Grayfia explained calmly.

"So basically, she is assigned here to observe the management in Kuoh and we cannot do anything to her unless we want to be in trouble with the Shinto pantheon." Riser simplified and the silver-haired maid nodded in response.

"It cannot be help; she can easily wipe the floor on us anyway. Then let's wrap up this meeting today, Rias, you only have three servants with you against my full set so I will give you fifteen days instead of ten to train all your servants." Riser declared his decision to settle the meeting.

"Are you giving me a handicap!?" Rias said angrily feeling insulted.

"Are you against it? I am giving you a fighting chance, hone all your skills and strategies within those days. I don't want to win just because I caught you unprepared, the next time we meet will be at the rating game, farewell." Riser said as he teleported together with his servants in a torrents of fire leaving the Gremory peerage and Grayfia in the room.

"I will take my leave as well, to report this back to your brother." Grayfia said as she teleports back to the underworld.

Rias has a mortified expression on her face and her hands clench into fists feeling frustrated on how unlucky she is. She failed to recruit strong peerage members with the addition of making an enemy out of them, plus she lost her brother's trust stripping her of her authority in Kuoh town all because of her damn pride and greed. Akeno, Kiba and Koneko could only look at their master with sympathy as they also prepare themselves on the incoming storm that awaits them.

…

Kuoh Academy, New school building rooftop

Back on the school rooftop, Scathach and Karna felt the power signature of the Phenex fade followed with Grayfia's aura and assumed that they have settled peacefully. Scathach crosses her arms hefting her breast up making them jiggle a little, she huffed proudly on what she did. Meanwhile, Karna stared at his mentor with a blank expression on his face, he was about to comment on how childish did his master act but stops himself. He was able to avert his impending doom and he will not add another one, so instead of a blunt comment, he asks her calmly.

"Was that even necessary? Scaring those devils might backfire on you, they might retaliate on you for threatening them with killing intent." Karna said.

"Then let them try it. I'll fight them anytime." Scathach replied with a grin.

Karna sighed on his master's answer, he almost forgot that Scathach loves to fight or in other words a battle maniac. Battle was one of the Celtic warriors' way of life and Scathach is not an exception to this and back in those days, being a hero or a warrior will reward you honor and glory or even a partner for marriage. Strength and skill are highly regarded among the Celts to earn a good reputation and prestige, those are things in the past and everything has changed but old habits die hard as they say.

"Please just stay out of trouble for now, I know that you lack any action since Sieg volunteered to patrol and hunt for a week but I also don't want us to be in trouble with the other pantheons. We will cause a headache to Amaterasu-sama if we do." Karna reminded on their situation, they wanted to avoid trouble as much as possible and possibly not reveal their cards early on.

In the middle of their conversation, a magic circle appears behind them which got their attention and Sona Sitri emerges together with her queen, Tsubaki Shinra. The two have a very worried expression on their faces assuming that a trouble has occurred only to see Karna and Scathach talking casually with each other.

"We have felt a massive spike of energy coming from you Lady Scathach. What was going on here?" Sona asked in a nervous tone.

"Don't worry about it, Sitri. I just prevented a fight to escalate between you devils, seriously, a fight in the middle of the day? Do you all love to flaunt your power that much? They risk exposing the supernatural to the humans." Scathach said casually which made the Sitri heiress flinch on another bad impression that added to the list on their kind.

"On behalf of all the devil-kind, I apologies for the behaviors of the devil nobles, we were all taught of our customs and traditions of our race since young and most importantly the elders kept imprinting to us that our kind is superior than any other races. So most of us tend to look down and underestimate anyone that is not our kin." The Sitri heiress apologizes sincerely as she bows her head, her queen followed her example and bowed as well.

"Your elders huh? Those old fools could not accept the reality that their so-called customs and traditions are a thing in the past and they should move on from their middle ages mentality and be updated on the latest trend." Scathach said without hesitation on criticizing the devil society which Sona Sitri internally agrees.

"Especially now that majority of your kind are reincarnated devils that came from different races." Scathach continued as she looks to Tsubaki Shinra, who flinches under her gaze.

"Tell me, Sitri. Why do you think the number of stray devils kept increasing?" The warrior queen asked a serious question that most devil nobles would not admit.

"It is because of how most of the devil households treat their servants or the reincarnated devils that serve under them. Due to the old customs and traditions, they see reincarnated devils as lower lifeforms fitted to become slaves." The Sitri heiress admitted calmly which surprises her queen on how she is not losing her composure in front of a legendary being.

"Correct. Your blatant disrespect to other races including reincarnated devils cause your servants to rebel, your kind is very ungrateful to those who were willing to convert into a devil to help bolster your numbers. You value the purity of your blood and your ego more than the survival of your race, if you ask me, I have a very low opinion on your race and the other pantheons might think so too." Scathach replied brutally which made Sona clench her fists enduring the harsh truth on the devils' reputation.

"Yes, I must admit that how the devil society manages things are wrong but once I gain more power and prestige, I will strive to change our ways even if it is little by little." Sona said with steel on her voice and with this the warrior queen is impressed although slightly, but she had seen the potential within the young Sitri which made her different amongst her peers. She can already see on her clairvoyance that she will bring change in devil society though it is unknown if when will it happen.

"I guess the devil race is not hopeless after all, but let me give you an advice, the path that you had taken is filled with thorns. Some of your kind, mostly the pure bloods are not going to accept change and they will block your path and in order to achieve your goals you must persevere. Endure all the hardships and never give up, grit your teeth if you have to." Scathach said with an impressed smile which stuns the Sitri heiress into silence and wide-eyed, she just got the honor of being advised by the warrior queen herself which just makes her gain more confidence on herself in achieving her goals.

Karna stares at the warrior queen with a mild surprise, from the time that he started living with Scathach, he only seen her giving advice to all of her students including him and Sieg. To think she will give advice to someone let alone a devil is quite a first for Karna to see, perhaps some devils have potential after all, he did not detect any ill intentions from the Sitri heiress therefore Sona Sitri do not have any malicious intent or motive, she is facing them with sincerity.

"I see; it is an honor to be given advice by a great mentor of heroes such as you. I will keep it in mind and strive to reach my goal. Then, we will take our leave, good day." Sona gives them a sincere smile and bid them farewell as she and her queen teleported back to the student council room.

"This is quite a surprise, master. I didn't think that you have it in you to give advice to a devil despite our past encounters with them. I guess you learn something every day." Karna said with a content smile.

"Well, I can give respect or advice to those who deserves it whether they are allies or enemies. ~What? Now that you have seen this side of me, are you falling for me now? ~" Scathach casually replied then she hugs the white-haired youth as her tone turns flirtatious.

Karna did not give any retort this time and looks away not showing his reaction to Scathach. The warrior queen made a Cheshire grin seeing Karna getting flustered, they stayed like that for some minutes until they noticed that lunch is almost over so they started eating in the rooftop to save time.

…

Underworld, Astaroth manor (WARNING: Scene contains smut and rough sex)

"AH! Ahn! So good! AH!" A moan of a woman can be heard in certain room within the Astaroth manor, the room permeates of different smells of bodily fluids, the smell of sex.

Currently, a naked Diodora Astaroth is currently seething with anger as he moves his hips wildly as he fucks one of his servants who are former holy maidens. This time, he is ravaging a beautiful brunette though her face is marred with sweat and saliva while wearing an ahegao expression. She is currently pinned by Diodora in a mating press as his raging member plows and pounds into her wet pussy.

"Damn it! Damn it all! That accursed hunter! If only he did not appear… I would have obtained Laeticia! Aaarrghh!" The Astaroth heir cursed as he pounds his servant harder until he blows his load into her.

"Aaaahnnn! Lord Diodora's seed… so hot! More!" The former nun moaned in bliss feeling rope after rope of Diodora's sperm and then she pleads for more like a slut. The woman's green eyes were dull, unfocused and blank expressing her addiction to her master's dick.

Diodora flips her over and raises her ass, he lined his still hard member to his servant's entrance and shove his hips roughly which made the former nun squeal in delight. The Astaroth heir fucks her in dog-style position relentlessly pumping his hips with so much vigor, he is currently picturing his partner as Laeticia making him more aroused as he imagines the day when he trains her into an obedient slut corrupting and blacken her soul with lust and at the same time a punishment for defying him. With his arousal in all-time high, he felt himself suddenly peak and explodes all his seed filling his partner's womb once again, the amount of semen he released this time is a huge amount more than his earlier climax that it even overflows and leaks out from his servant's vagina.

The Astaroth heir removes himself from his servant pulling out his dick with a wet pop as massive amounts of cum flows out of the woman's pussy. Still under an afterglow, the servant crawls towards Diodora in a lasziv manner and cleans her master's cock by licking and sucking it for the leftover fluids. Diodora hissed in pleasure as he imagined Laeticia doing this to him like what his servant is doing right now which made his cock hard again.

"Soon you will join this bed and worship my cock like a slut you truly are." Diodora said with a perverted and sinister smile.

Looks can be truly deceiving because the Astaroth heir is only showing his gentle and harmless features in public to avoid suspicion and hide his true face. He used his gentle mask to deceive and lure the holy maidens of the church, he set them to be kicked out by their respective sects and then he will swoop in and comfort them until the time he rapes them when their guard is down. Asia Argento is the latest case of Diodora's modus of his sick hobby of collecting pure holy maidens. As he was busy being sucked by a woman, a communication magic circle appeared beside his ear and Diodora answers the call.

"What is it? I'm currently busy right now." Diodora asked in annoyed tone.

"…"

"What?! How did they obtain that information?" Diodora's expression contorted into a scowl, displeased on what his caller reported to him.

…

Kuoh Academy

Classes are over and all students have already left the vicinity while others are attending their clubs, Scathach is currently walking in the hallways towards the exit of the school building. There she saw Karna standing by the door waiting for her, that made the warrior queen smile and glad that she is not going home alone this time. Despite being one of the strongest woman in the world, she wants to be treated as an ordinary woman sometimes being escorted by a gentleman to her home to ensure she's safe.

"You don't mind if we go home together, master?" Karna asked.

"I would like to say that you should call me big sister or nee-san like we're family but you are as hard as a brick and won't budge. It's alright, let's go home together." Scathach sighed wondering if when would Karna calls him as big sister, it has been ten years and their living together like a family.

As they approach the school courtyard, they found Rias Gremory with her peerage by the school gate. Both raise their eyebrows wondering what would the Gremory heiress wants with them this time, they found it rather bold of her to show her face in front of them after that incident and great thing is Sieg is not with them at the moment. Most people would rather feel awkward or rather avoid the person they wronged but this girl did the opposite like nothing happened, she is either courageous and a fool or downright shameless and a thick-faced bitch.

"What business do you have with us, Gremory? I don't want to listen to all your ramblings, just get to the point." Scathach said in a neutral tone.

Rias bit her lower lip as she gathers the courage to ask for a request, her pride would not allow her to beg on outsiders for help but she was already desperate and would accept any help that she can. The Gremory heiress bows her head followed by her servants which made Karna and Scathach widen their eyes slightly in mild surprise.

"Lady Scathach, I beg you! Please train us to become stronger!" Rias requested while maintaining her bow.

"Hoh? And why should I accept your request? Did you already forget what happened the other day?" Upon hearing the warrior queen's reply, Rias flinched on the coldness of her tone.

"I know that what I did was very wrong and hard to forgive but believe it or not, I truly regretted the things that I did. I was blinded by my own pride and greed added with desperation to the mix, I wanted a fighting chance on defeating Riser Phenex and his full set peerage to break my engagement with him. That's why when I laid my sight with Sieg and Karna, I thought that they are my ticket for my freedom. I know that you will not forgive me but nonetheless, I'm sorry!" Rias begged from the bottom of her heart as she continues to bow to the warrior queen.

Scathach stared at the Gremory peerage weighing her option if she will gain something on training them. She has to admit; this is the first time she will train a non-human being in over the centuries of her life. The warrior queen is rather curious on how devils fare on her deadly training methods, at the very least, humans can survive her training and she has produce great heroes under her tutelage. Thinking of the possibility that there is still a room for improvements on her training menu, she could not help but smile in a sinister way which made Karna shiver. The hero of charity felt that a switch on his mentor has been flipped and could only pity the devils, he knows that they will regret the decision of asking Scathach for help especially if her training methods has a very high mortality rate.

"Sure, but don't expect me to be lenient on you or treat you better like royalty. My training is very strict and there is a high chance that you'll all die, I will train you the same way as I trained Sieg and Karna or even the heroes of old that approached me for my guidance. Every waking moment will be dedicated on training and you will not stop until I said so or you could not move your body anymore." The warrior queen declared her decision with a smile, both of her blood red eyes seems to glow with glee which made Rias and her peerage shiver.

"Y-Yes… t-thank you very much. We will do our best to meet your expectation." Rias said in a hesitant tone. She is having a cold feet imagining on what will happen to them.

"Don't thank me, I'm just curious on how much a devil's body will fare on my strict training and you all happens to be my guinea pigs." Scathach said with a blank expression.

""…"" Rias and her peerage felt offended on those words but they did not show it.

"So… when do you want to start your training?" Scathach asked breaking the silence.

"We want to start immediately; we were only given fifteen days to train until the rating game." The Gremory heiress replied.

"Fifteen days, huh? That is not even enough for a proper training that you desire, there will be only small progress if you ask me. The number of days is just a refresher at best, guess we will have to use that place." Scathach said deep in thought.

Karna widens his eyes in surprise knowing the place his mentor was talking about while the Gremory peerage are rather curious to the place where the warrior queen would train them. Little did they know that Scathach will take them to the Land of Shadows, a very dangerous and harsh place that has been sundered from the mortal realm and the den of evil spirits and shadow denizens that preys to both humans and supernatural beings in search for rich source of power for them to devour and absorb.

"Fine then, let's meet in your clubroom later tonight and I will take you to the place of your training. For now, I will just let Sieg know what transpires here so that he would not ask later." The warrior queen instructed which the devils nodded in agreement and after that, they went on their separate ways.

On the way back to the Hyoudou house, Karna and Scathach are quietly walking the streets thinking of the events that transpired today. Karna in particular was getting more surprises from Scathach seeing on how she interacts with other beings and the decisions she made that he thought was on a whim.

"Why did you accept the Gremory's request for training? After what happened, should you be not getting yourself involve with them anymore and most of all Sieg might not like the decision you made on helping the devils." The hero of charity broke the silence and asked for his mentor's motives in curiosity.

"It's simple really… I am just curious how their bodies will fare on my harsh training. Plus… this is my way of getting back on that Gremory brat." Scathach replied but then she grins evilly when she mentioned the other reason.

"You have showed centuries old of wisdom and maturity only for you to resort to your pettiness! Are you the type to hold some grudge?!" Karna yelled in his mind and did not voiced his comment as he stares at the warrior queen incredulously.

[I know right! This woman is really frightening! I take back what I said that this mentor of yours is capable of cuteness, she is not cute at all!] Ddraig also commented on their mental link.

"I have a feeling that you said something rude just now." Scathach crosses her arms and made an angry pout that appeared too cute and out of character that is expected to the warrior queen.

"What the hell, woman?!" Karna thought getting caught off-guard once again by his mentor, his face is flushed despite the lack of change on his calm expression.

[What my host said!] Ddraig added as the ancient dragon was also in the same predicament.

…

Hyoudou Residence

After they arrived shortly on to their humble abode, Scathach started to fill Sieg on what has happened so far and as expected, Sieg got into a bad mood not liking his sister figure's decision on helping the devils especially Rias Gremory who just crossed her the other day. But then when he heard the reasons of accepting the request, Sieg felt incredulous seeing this side of his mentor/ sister figure.

"That's kind of petty don't you think?" Sieg commented dryly which made Karna looked at him in alarm telling him to abort mission.

"~Sieg-kun~ what did you just say just now? I think that I misheard it, could you repeat it to your nee-san." Scathach said with a kind smile, though the menacing aura is saying otherwise which made Sieg stiff.

"Um… I said that's kind of a pretty good idea, Nee-san." Sieg said as he averted his gaze to the scary big sister looming over him.

"Oh? I thought you said PETTY earlier." Scathach said in confused tone though she emphasizes the word petty on her suspicion. This made Sieg more alarmed and started sweating bullets trying to maintain a composed expression.

{All crew abandon ship! I repeat! Abandon ship!} Albion yelled frantically in Sieg's mind.

"No! no! no! I think you heard it wrong, Nee-san. You seem to be tired on today's work so that's why you're hearing things." Sieg immediately said with a blank expression on his face while waving his hand in a fanning motion.

"Hmmm… okay! I might just be hearing things, there is no way that you will call your nee-san petty… right?" Scathach relented in a happy tone as she straddled the Dragon-blooded knight and hugs him, shoving Sieg's face to her bosom. Although the crushing hug is actually a message from Scathach to not make any rude comments on her.

{What a terrifying woman!} Albion commented shivering within his host's mindscape.

[I couldn't agree more.] Ddraig said in reponse to his fellow heavenly dragon.

"Well, as much as I want to keeping bonding with you two I still have an appointment with the Gremory brat so take care of the patrols while I'm gone." The warrior queen said to her students which both nodded in response.

"Asia, I'm going out for a while so have my portion of dinner refrigerated so I can just heat it later." Scathach called to the former nun.

"Y-Yes I will, Ms. Scathach. Be careful on your trip." Asia replied in a stutter which amuses the warrior queen.

"Alright, I'll be going now." Scathach bids them farewell.

"Leave it to us, Master." Karna responded.

"Don't let your guard down to those devils and have a safe trip." Was Sieg's response.

Scathach replied to them with just her smile as she vanishes into motes of light, teleporting to her intended location where Rias Gremory and her peerage are waiting.

…

Kuoh Academy Old School Building, Occult Research Club

Rias and her peerage have packed their belongings and necessities for their fifteen-day training and are currently waiting for their instructor which is Scathach herself. While they are waiting patiently doing anything to make themselves relaxed, Scathach materializes in the room from the motes of light and this manner of entrance surprises the devils due to the lack of magic circle which they could know that someone is coming. From Rias' observation, what the warrior queen did was also the same with Sieg when he teleported out from that day. They do not need magic circles to move around and it actually hides their presence to anyone.

"Prepare yourselves all of you, because to where we are going… your survival skills, tactics and adaptability will be put to test." Scathach said in a serious tone, a warning which raises some alarms to the devils' nerves.

"If you don't mind if I ask, Lady Scathach… but where are we going?" Akeno asked the warrior queen filled with hesitation in her voice.

Scathach glances at Akeno for a second then begins to ponder if she should let them know. In the end, she thought that testing their resolves is necessary.

"To my domain, The Land of Shadows." The warrior queen announced with a blank expression.

""!""

After announcing the location of their training, she heard a series of gasps coming from the devils and she saw the frighten looks in their expression even the emotionless Koneko and about to cower in fear. Scathach found it quite amusing to see the terrified faces of devils who claimed themselves as incarnation of evil and terror, but she reminded herself that the devils of today are acting the same as the humans and have abolished some customs for the sake of their survival.

"What? Having cold feet? You can still back out if you want though, no need to risk your very lives for power. I am just saying that Sieg and Karna trained in that place for ten years under me, that's why they achieved the power that they have. They are ready to bet their lives just to become stronger, that's just show how strong their resolves are… so how about you devils?" Scathach said wearing a challenging smirk.

The devils tense themselves thinking over what the warrior queen said, seeing the fact that anyone can get stronger under Scathach, which proven by her students; Sieg and Karna, they are also alarmed at the fact that they will die during training. They kept pondering on what choice they should decide as Scathach patiently waits for them to make their decision.

Rias glances at her servants which they reciprocated and they seem to have a mental conversation to themselves. They nodded at each other and face the warrior queen with a determined glare.

"We will accept the difficulty in our training and take on whatever challenge you throw at us!" Rias proclaimed her determination.

"Heh… your funeral then, don't think I did not warn you." Scathach said with mirth on her voice, which made the devils slightly falter but they press on. The warrior queen snaps her fingers and in an instant, they vanish in thin air leaving the clubroom.

…

Kuoh Town

Sieg and Karna are currently running on the rooftops, their speed not impeded with the slopes, footings and obtacles that they are like ninjas moving swift as a wind. After eating their dinner, Sieg was up for the patrol but this time Karna volunteered to help him. As they went deep in the quiet town, the duo felt multiple signatures swarming on one presence. They confirmed that the multiple signatures are the shadow denizens of the lowest rank preying on a single human with a very strong presence, they increased the speed of their movement and as they get near the location, sounds of clashing steel could be heard and they felt that they bypass a barrier that has a holy nature in it.

Once they got to the location, they see the shadow denizens attacking a single swordsman and a cloaked woman relentlessly but the swordsman himself is calm and smoothly fending off the creatures. Base on the clothing of the swordsman, he is an exorcist, a warrior from the church, wearing a white and gold vestment or shroud over his black priest clothing and he is equipped with a sword of crystalized light shining brightly to the area he's in. While the woman on the other hand, they assumed as a nun.

Sieg and Karna nodded to each other and without a word join in the fray, with a burst of mana, they reinforced their legs to boost their dash into lightning speed and made their presence known to the shadow creatures. The shadow creatures that appeared might be the weakest in rank but they possess the power of a high class being in which both the Gremory and Sitri would have hard time to deal with. Using his speed, Karna dashes within the crowd of enemies making him appear like a red blur while flashes of multiple slashes appear on all the shadow creatures cutting them down to pieces.

Meanwhile, Sieg is plowing through the army of abominations with his brute strength and strong swings of Balmung. Despite the weight of the greatsword, he swinging the sword like normal and making an immediate and fast swings with no problems, shattering every guard that the enemies' raised before dealing the killing blow. The dragon-blooded knight repeats the cycle while moving in lighting speed from one enemy to another, he also using some lightning magic that he named 'Strasse Gehen' shooting multiple creatures down and even clawing them up close and personal blowing them up with the intense lightning.

While the hidden Sekiryuutei and Hakuryuukou easily deal with the enemies, they sometimes took glances on the exorcist that they aid, observing his fighting style. As their observation continues, they discovered that the exorcist is a very powerful one and very likely can hold himself in a fight. Even though the exorcist is in a defensive stance, he calmly analyzes the movements of his enemies and acts accordingly with them. There are no waste movements and his swings are all sharp that he can be considered as a very graceful swordsman. Every shadow creature fell one after the other whenever he swings his light sword which as they could read was enchanted by the exorcist's aura and even throwing shockwaves as means for range attacks.

Sieg and Karna decided to end the battle as the hero of charity conjures a ball of flame on his free hand then blows it which rains the enemies with a barrage of fireballs burning all the shadow creatures on his sight. One of the enemies survives the attack and tries to sneak on Karna's back but the hero of charity has already noticed so using his Mana Burst (Flame) that is enchanted on his spear, he slashes the creature with a strong and wide swing bisecting the enemy plus burning the corpse to ash. Meanwhile, Sieg is facing a large group of shadow creatures ready to pounce on him so he fell into the ochs stance pointing Balmung forward then he twists the hilt of his sword lighting up the blade with torrents of blue energy. The dragon-blooded knight thrusts his sword forward firing a whirlwind of energy that disintegrates all the enemies within its range which is expected to an anti-army noble phantasm. After taking care of all the nuisance, the duo checks on the status of the exorcist only to find that he has also dealt with the enemies on his part.

"Thank you for your help, young men. Both of you are truly a godsend, may the Lord bless you both." The exorcist said in gratitude.

"Think nothing of it, but what is a high ranking church warrior like you and a nun doing here in a devil territory?" Sieg asked in a wary tone.

The exorcist notices the sword Sieg is holding and became internally got surprised himself, having cross paths with the very elusive and mysterious dragon-blooded knight but what shocks him more is that the inhuman strength of the young man to swing Balmung with no problem even at a young age. But he composed himself together to start a conversation with the two.

"Let me introduce myself, my name is Ewald Cristaldi one of the highest official of the church. We're here to personally meet Asia Argento and possibly take her back." The priest that is now revealed as Ewald Cristaldi said in a polite tone, which made the duo narrow their eyes in suspicion.

"After exiling her because of her kindness, why should we let you meet her? You will only subject her again in a solitary life of a holy maiden, all that girl want is to have friends by her side." Karna said in a blank tone as he tightens his grip on his spear while Sieg did the same with his sword.

The atmosphere became tense on both sides and they seem to be on the verge of fighting each other, but the cloaked woman suddenly steps forward facing the two. She removes the hood of her cloak revealing a woman of divine beauty, possessing a long wavy blonde hair and vibrant emerald eyes that sparks with innocence and pureness, she has a smooth rosy white skin and a buxom figure that shows her perfect curves. She is wearing a white Greek-style dress underneath her white cloak that hugs her curvaceous body and shows an ample amount of her cleavage and a pair of white sandals on her perfect feet. Although they do not feel any hostility and malice on the woman, Sieg and Karna's instincts are telling them that this otherworldly beauty is anything but human.

"Please, let us explain and hear us out. Let me first introduce myself, my name is Gabriel, one of the four great seraphs of heaven. A pleasure to finally meet the rumored dragon-blooded knight and the hero of charity in one place." With a gentle voice and expression, the disguised nun revealed to be Gabriel made her introduction as she unfurled her six pairs of pure white wings and a golden halo appears on her head, she exudes a very soothing and gentle aura but at the same time powerful and overwhelming.

…

Meanwhile in the Land of Shadows

While the conflict in Kuoh is still occurring, Scathach with the O.R.C. arrived in the land of shadows. Upon arriving, Rias and her peerage could not help but marvel the sight in awe and fear seeing the part of the world that was sundered from reality. The warrior queen could only look at the devils in bemusement, she wanted to make a first good impression to the inexperienced youth devils to prove her reputation is as what the legend about her says or more.

"Welcome to my humble abode, aspiring warriors. Here in the land of shadows you will learn the true meaning of battle and survival. Ufufufu!" Scathach said with an amused expression, her giggles sent shivers to the devils's spine as they felt an ominous foreboding.

"You only have fifteen days of training here but rest assured, time flows here faster than the mortal realm. A day here in the land of shadows is equivalent to only half a day in the mortal realm so your fifteen-day training will feel like a month here." Scathach continued as the devils' eyes widen in surprise once more.

"Oh, before we proceed to the main training, let me assess your skills in battle first." Upon saying those words, as if on cue, two humanoid figures appear beside Scathach.

One of the figures is a suit of full-bodied armor wielding a spear and the other is a puppet wearing a magician's robe and holding a staff. The devils could only stare on the non-living servants of the warrior queen, from what they can tell, Scathach wants them to do battle with these training dummies as a test to their skills and might. Within their minds, it only presents an opportunity to them on how strong they really are.

"This is the only a warm up for your training, Sieg and Karna have undergone in this and they last only five minutes against them. A word of advice, do not hold back against them. Then, without further ado, bagin!" Scathach said as she leaps to a column in order to watch the sparring session.

The two sides stare at each other waiting for one side to make a first move, Rias noticed that their opponents wouldn't move so this is her chance for thinking a strategy and match-up. She calls on her servants and said.

"Koneko, Yuuto, go for the warrior type while me and Akeno will take on the wizard type."

"Yes, Buchou!" Were her servants' response.

The devils charge towards their respective targets while the empty eyes of the training dummies glow in response to their opponents. Using his speed as a knight, Kiba suddenly vanish in thin air rushing towards the warrior training dummy with blinding speed as he prepared for a preemptive strike. He assumes that the warrior dummy could not follow his speed, so he rushes for a surprise frontal attack but to his surprise, the warrior dummy moves twirling its spear around and swings the weapon on his direction which parries the Gremory knight's attack as a result. Kiba composes himself immediately and did not relent on his attacks as he engages the dummy in a high-speed exchange of swings where their arm movements are blurred and streaks of their swings can only be seen. The deadlock between fighters was broken by Koneko who suddenly enters the fray.

"Ei!" Koneko said in a deadpan tone as she executes an axe kick to the warrior dummy.

But the warrior dummy evaded Koneko's attack which leaves a crater to the ground, then the dummy unleashes a series of jabs which barely deflected by the Gremory rook with her small and frail arms. Kiba swoops in to help Koneko by sneaking behind the dummy and attack, but then again the warrior dummy evaded his attack smoothly and made a counter by hitting the blonde knight's stomach with the butt of the spear then backhanded Kiba to the face, so strong that he got disoriented for a while. After the counter-attack against the Gremory knight, the warrior dummy kicks Koneko to the gut which sent her flying back in a quite a distance. Then the dummy focuses its attention to the disoriented Kiba and rains him with a barrage of jabs hitting him to the face, body, and legs relentlessly, the hits also precisely hitting his pressure points which stuns the Gremory knight in place and helplessly being hit like a punching bag. At this point, Kiba has already lost his consciousness and the dummy decides to end his combo with a swing to the back of Kiba's head then followed by another swing to the face which made the blonde knight lifted helplessly to the air and then drops down the ground with a loud thud, his battered body lay prone to the ground unmoving and defeated, face smeared in blood and his eyes were blank and empty as if he is broken.

After the defeat of the Gremory knight, Koneko recovered from her damage and furiously attacks at the warrior dummy. The dummy fends the barrage of punches and kicks coming from the small girl with only the shaft of its spear, as the exchange continues, Koneko manages to disarm the dummy sending the spear flying out of its hands. Seeing the opportunity, the Gremory rook made her aggressive offense and unleashes a flurry of punches and kicks like her life depends on it, but suddenly the dummy brush passes her punch and immediately counters her with an elbow strike to her face which made her stagger despite the defense offered by the rook piece. Everything went downhill from there when the dummy backhanded Koneko to the face which made her see white in a moment but then she felt a blow on her gut then to her face until the warrior dummy's punches get faster and faster turning it into a barrage that the Gremory rook could not keep up anymore. The flurry of attacks ended by a solid strike to the gut making Koneko hunched followed by a swift roundhouse kick that resounds like thunder which sends her flying while spinning in the air then bounces on the ground like a ragdoll. Koneko's body could only twitch and unable to stand anymore, she has already lost consciousness seeing her eyes empty and lifeless and her mouth slightly parted, there are also bruises littered on her body and face. With the Gremory knight and rook incapacitated, the battle is over.

Meanwhile, Rias and Akeno's battle against the mage dummy started at the same time with Kiba and Koneko. Rias fires a blast of her Power of Destruction which was avoided by the mage dummy easily, then the dummy conjures multiple magic circles around it then fires beams of light from it. Rias and Akeno avoid the attack but much to their surprise, the beams bend direction and home towards them persistently. The two young women erected their strongest barriers or defense magic and a big explosion occurs upon contact which made too much dust clouds that obscure the view of their current status but after a short moment two balls of Power of Destruction emerge from the dust clouds attempting to ambush the dummy. The mage dummy evaded the attack as it hovers away from the attack's trajectory but suddenly golden lightning strikes from above which the dummy defended with its defense magic circle but got pinned into place as a result.

"This is the end!" Rias shouted as she suddenly emerges from the dust cloud and launches a very powerful stream of Power of Destruction that shape like a serpent.

Rias' attack collides to its intended target resulting to a huge explosion, when the explosion subsides there is no sign of the mage dummy which they assumed that they have won already. Unfortunately, a barrage of energy beams shocks the two devils and they immediately went on the defensive. The moment they took a step back, magic circles shine under Rias and Akeno then chains emerges binding the Gremory heiress in place but Akeno manages to avoid the chains. After Akeno regains her bearing, she suddenly came face to face with the mage dummy pointing its staff on her face as it conjures a ball of lightning. An explosion occurs in the air and the priestess of thunder plummets to the ground and the chains seizing her prone body binding her in place.

With both the devils trapped and unable to move, the mage dummy summoned a large lightning strike that strikes down towards Akeno and her whole body was covered with lightning. When the lightning subsides, a slightly burnt Akeno was revealed and her body is smoking. She was rendered unconscious from the attack, eyes wide and lacks the pupils and her mouth was wide open as if she screamed. The defeated Akeno was released from the chains and her body falls lifelessly on the ground, this sight frightens Rias as she summoned all the power in her body. Before she could make a burst of power, she was suddenly enveloped by a white light and when the light subsides, she is rendered unconscious too. Her facial expression is the same with Akeno and also release from the chains. The battle ended in just two and a half minutes with the defeat of the devils.

The battle has ended and the two dummies drag the defeated devils like they are dragging corpses and brought them back to the warrior queen. Scathach watched the whole match and how it played out, she could only sigh in disappointment on how inexperience they are in battle especially that she noticed that two of these devils were hampering their own true potential for some reasons. She looks towards Akeno and Koneko whose potential she noticed and wonders the reason why these two are holding back too much, because of that they are being a burden to their small group and a fatal weakness in a battle.

"Two and a half minutes, huh? Goes to show on how inexperienced these brats are, but then again, these dummies have the power levels of an ultimate class being due to them being the guardians of this place in my absence." Scathach assessed and ponders on how she should train the devils. She could only sigh and decided to end the training for the day and commanded the dummies to bring them to their rooms to rest.

"Well, better go back for now. And here I thought the first day of training would take at least a whole night." Scathach said as she vanished into stardust teleporting back to the Hyoudou residence.

…

Hyoudou Residence

Scathach came back in the residence expecting to have dinner with her students and Asia only for her to find them talking with the people of the church and one of them is a seraph of heaven, a very powerful and one of the most important at that. She noticed the former nun kneeling in front of Gabriel in reverence but said angel made her stand up and told her to be at ease. Her students and the visitors noticed her presence and the seraph slightly widens her eyes in both surprise and recognition. The warrior queen walks toward the sofa and sits in between her students now facing the visitors to ask what is their business for visiting.

"Oh, Nee-san you're back early… how are their training went?" Sieg asked his mentor and sister figure.

"Kind of disappointing really, I tasked them to fight the dummies in order to assess their skills and they only last for two and a half minutes. You two were much better when you were young and even my student Setanta lasts ten minutes to a battle dummy and almost defeats it in his first try." Scathach replied nonchalantly, Sieg and Karna could only cringe on what they heard and felt pity to the devils. They bet that this will also an added blow to Rias Gremory's pride.

"So… what is a great seraph of heaven like you doing here in our humble abode?" Scathach focused her attention to the visitors and asked the beautiful seraph of their business.

"It's a pleasure to meet the first God-slayer and the warrior queen of the Land of Shadows, Lady Scathach in person. Our business here in Kuoh is to search for Asia Argento and asks her to come with us." Gabriel said in a kind and gentle tone.

"Oh? Why would the church or by extension heaven would care on someone that they have excommunicated already without a proper investigation?" Scathach asked in a rather sarcastic tone which raises the tension between sides, Ewald Cristaldi could only clench his fists to a rather offending question.

"Yes… you're right. As much as I hate to admit it, we have erred in our own judgement. We have just passed judgement to a faithful servant of the Lord without even analyzing the situation, we all thought that Asia Argento healing a devil with her sacred gear would affect the beliefs of our devout followers. If words about this fact spreads, they will all question if the sacred gears are truly a blessing from our God or not. But recently, a female exorcist reported that the very same devil that Asia Argento healed attempted to abduct and enslave her against her will but she was saved by the Dragon-Blooded knight no less." Gabriel sadly admitted the mistakes from the past but she said her last sentence with a gentle smile while looking at Sieg.

Karna and Scathach stare at the aforementioned knight while Sieg was rather confused on what Gabriel told them, the seraph notices the confusion on Sieg so she starts to explain further to refresh his memory.

"You were spotted at the borders of Italy fighting against a shadowy beast which you ended up saving one of our angel subordinates, also, due to the intensity of your battle you got thrown to the very site where one of our best exorcist was about to get captured." Gabriel explained maintaining her gentle smile, the explanation is enough for Sieg to remember.

"I see, so she is an exorcist. How is she? Did she and her friend safely arrived to their destination?" Sieg asked the seraph.

"Yes, she and her friend arrived to the headquarters without any injuries all thanks to you. Because of that incident, the church reopens the cases of the excommunicated holy maidens if they are connected to the same devil and they will thoroughly search for the truth. That is also why we are here to meet Asia Argento, to formally apologize and ask her if she still wants to go back." Gabriel said in a serious tone.

"Asia Argento, as the representative of heaven, I deeply apologize for the blunders of our faction towards you. I hope you find it in your heart to forgive us." Gabriel looked at Asia and bows her head as apology, this action shock both Asia and Ewald but the latter followed the seraph's example.

"F-for Lady Gabriel to bow and apologize to someone like me! Please Lady Gabriel, you do not need to apologize to me… everything that happened to me are all trials from the Lord. He taught us to always forgive those who have sinned even if they are your enemies, even though that the devil that I healed tricked me, I do not regret that I helped him out of kindness. If I did not, I would not have met these wonderful people who treated me like family." Asia said with a kind smile which impress all the occupants of the room on how strong she is in will and heart.

"Such strong and kind heart… we angels exists to protect and guide people like you and yet, we failed to come to your aid when you needed us the most." Gabriel said with a sad smile.

"That's why I have come to a decision. If you ever come with us, I will personally take you under my wing and ascend you into one of my saints. This is the only way we can make it up to you after all you have been through, but if you wish to stay with them, we will respect your decision. The only thing that I can promise you if you come with us is my protection and care, I can also be a friend to you along with the other saints." The beautiful seraph continued, her tone filled with resolve as she looks at Asia with a gentle smile.

"When you said ascension you mean that Asia will turn into an angel just like you and you are bringing her to the kingdom of heaven, right?" This sudden question from the warrior queen shocks all the occupants in the room except her and Gabriel.

"E-Eh? I will get to see the kingdom of heaven while being alive?!" Asia, the most shocked of all, asked in disbelief.

"Yes, this is a reward that I can give to answer your undying faith and devotion to our Lord. Forgive me Eminence Cristaldi, I know this is sudden but I personally came with you to meet Asia Argento and offer her a place in heaven." Gabriel replied and also apologizes to her companion on her sudden decision.

"Rest assured Lady Gabriel, the church will understand your reasons and I assure you that no objections will come from us." Ewald Cristaldi said.

"Thank you." Gabriel said with a kind smile.

"U-uhm… it is truly an honor for me to be given with this reward from you but –" Asia said meekly as she looks towards Sieg, Karna and Scathach like a child asking permission to a parent. The three look back at Asia with a gentle smile on their faces and nod in approval.

"It's alright Asia, follow your heart and make your dreams come true. You are still a part of this family wherever you go. You are always welcome to visit us from time to time." Scathach said with a smile giving her permission.

"M-Ms. Scathach, Mr. Sieg, Mr. Karna… t-thank you for everything" Asia bowed to the three expressing her heartfelt gratitude as tears fall from her eyes which is both from happiness and also sadness from separation.

The three gave a content smile to the former nun showing their support in her decisions, with all said and done, Asia excuses herself and go to her room to pack her things. After the former nun is out of earshot, Scathach's expression became serious as she faces Gabriel and Ewald which reciprocated by the two with an equal stare.

"It is best for her to leave this town since this place will know conflict once more. For some reasons, this town is a hotspot for the supernatural to gather." Scathach began in an exasperated tone.

"I believe this is also related to your faction, I got a glimpse on my clairvoyance about a ten-winged fallen angel and the fragments of the promised victory." The warrior queen continued in a cryptic tone and upon hearing these bits of information, the seraph and the high official of the church widen their eyes in surprise knowing what Scathach is referring to.

"I see, so you already have an inkling that Kokabiel is going to attack Kuoh which is a devil territory. Perhaps his targets are the siblings of the devil lords Lucifer and Leviathan, knowing Kokabiel, he wants to restart the great war. But if he really wants to eliminate both Gremory and Sitri, he is already strong enough to do so, why would he needed to steal the Excalibur fragments from the different churches?" Gabriel pondered on what is Kokabiel's real plan.

"I think it's because Kokabiel wants to get your attention or rather your whole faction's attention. If he is going to declare the restart of the great war, he needed the attention of those who are involved by you sending people here and what's more is that he is doing it here in a Japanese soil which is the territory of the Shinto and Youkai factions. Some of their people are living here in Kuoh so if this town gets destroyed by Kokabiel, not just the angels and devils who will get into war but also the Shinto pantheon too. All in all, he wants to involve everyone in his so-called great war." Sieg cuts in the conversation and explains his theory which earns a surprised gasp from the visitors.

"I do not want to add something to burden you but I agree with Sieg's theory, there is only one way that this event may go and it is inevitable. I assumed that you have already have a group of people to send here to investigate and search for those stolen fragments, am I right?" Karna added his two cents and asked them which earns a nod from both visitors.

"If that is the case, you are only sending them all to their deaths. The only way to avoid more loss of life among you is for you leaders to intervene but it was not that easy, you will have to discuss matters with the pantheon owning this land and for you to be sneaking in this land means that you wanted to be subtle and solve this problem by yourselves. It is very considerate of you to not involve anyone into your mess but I say it is also foolish and you are greatly underestimating the cadre that you are about to oppose." Scathach said in a serious tone.

"I know, but the biblical factions did not have some very good relations to other pantheons due to the history of us taking their believers. We are only treading in thin ice here and time is the only thing that we don't have so we got to act with haste and we have an 'image' to maintain." Gabriel explained her side with a sad tone and said her last statement cryptically.

The three stared at their visitors with suspicious eyes, they know that it was not something malicious but something was up, they are hiding something that when it is revealed will affect the balance in the world. Sieg, Karna and Scathach decide to not pry on it anymore and respect the privacy of a pantheon leader.

"To be honest, we are mercenaries for hire and our current employer are the Shinto and Youkai factions. Normally, we would report this to them but just this once we will turn a blind eye in a condition that you take good care of Asia and keep her safe. We will not interfere on your problems and give you a chance to solve this by yourselves, but if things go south, we will swoop in and save the day subtleties be damned." Scathach sighed in resignation and made a compromise with Gabriel. Upon hearing this, the seraph gasped in surprise and then made a smile of relief.

"Thank you for understanding, you have my word and I will protect and care for Asia with my life and treat her as a family." Gabriel smiled brightly as she expresses her gratitude.

After their tense and serious conversation, they heard Asia descending from the stairs carrying her luggage. Ewald stands up and assists the former nun on her luggage, not short after, Gabriel stands up preparing to take their leave. Sieg, Karna and Scathach walk them out of the house to see them off then the visitors with Asia in tow face the three to bid them farewell.

"You have my gratitude for taking care of Asia Argento, we are in your debt." Gabriel said with a polite smile which the three replied with a nod.

"T-Thank you for everything! I will visit here if I have the time." Asia said hurriedly.

"Then we will take our leave." Gabriel activates a teleportation circle and after a few seconds, the seraph together with Asia and Ewald vanish leaving Kuoh.

"…"

"…"

"…"

The three are quiet for a moment, they thought that this is for the best that the former nun leaves Kuoh, away from the brewing conflict that will take place. After a few seconds of silence, Karna asked the warrior queen a question.

"Is this the reason why you accept on training Rias Gremory and her peerage?"

"No, that was just a coincidence. If that was the case, I would have also train the Sitri peerage too." Scathach casually replied as she walks back to the house.

"So how would you go on training them? Will they progress significantly during their stay there?" Sieg asked curiously.

"They do have potential but they lack experience especially in life and death battles, they were just limited to fighting stray devils. Rias Gremory is a powerful devil herself but the way she fights which is her lack of control in her wasteful consumption of demonic power every time she attacks is her fatal flaw; she will spend all of her reserves quicker in a fight. There is also the lack of strategy which every king of a peerage should have, she acts like a vanguard or front liner who cannot stay still to plan their tactics and prefers to face everything head-on. Based on what I observed on her behavior, she is quite a glory-hound who wants to dealt with the finishing touches to add credit on her accomplishments; she must be desperate on gaining recognition and standing." The warrior queen commented and started her careful analysis on the devils starting with Rias.

"Her queen, Akeno Himejima is not any average queen piece that most peerage have, she is just behind Rias in terms of power which is on high class level. She excels in using elemental magic especially with thunder and lightning magic which she has greater affinity with; her true potential lies within herself because I sensed the power of light on her and for some reason she is suppressing this. She is calm and collected in battle and her use of her reserves are way better than her king, but to be honest, the queen piece is wasted on her; the queen piece in chess has the ability of a bishop, knight and rook but Himejima is only utilizing the bishop ability of the queen which excels in magic, she should have been a bishop instead of a queen if you ask me." Scathach commented in her analysis with Akeno.

"The knight, Yuuto Kiba. Hmm… well, I can say that his swordsmanship is good looking at how he can exchange blows with the warrior dummy. I suspect that he has trained under a great sword master, one that hails here in Japan due to the way he draws his sword. But that's not enough! His master should have trained him in more advanced ways of sword techniques not just the basics, his master is really slacking off if the student turns out like this. The Gremory knight is too scrawny and fragile, he has speed but I can still catch with my sight as if he is not moving at all, speed is also a good arsenal but that does not mean one could forgo defense. Yuuto Kiba's defense is non-existent and I think one body blow from you Sieg will make him crumple immediately to the ground, really, his master is too lazy that he did not taught everything that is essential for battle." The warrior queen continues her critique by mentioning the Gremory knight.

…

Lucifer manor, Underworld

"Hm?"

Somewhere in the underworld in a castle that is served as the resident of the current devil lord Sirzechs Lucifer, a young woman in her twenties raises her head and wears a scowl on her beautiful face; she is a beautiful woman with long platinum blonde hair tied in high ponytail and has a smooth chocolate brown skin, she is currently wearing a sleeveless black and red dress that reaches her mid-thigh, a pair of black thigh-high stockings with open toes and heels that covers her luscious legs and thick thighs and most of all, her eyes has a color of pale gold.

This beauty is currently sprawling lazily on a couch with a very long odachi that surpasses her height at her side, on the table are a finished tea and some sticks on a small plate that proves that the woman had just finished eating her meal. Her current companion notices her strange behavior, he is a man with a muscular build wearing a black formal wear complete with coat and tie, he is also wearing a pair of black leather gloves on both hands and he is wearing a pair of black sunglasses that covers his red eyes, he has a very handsome facial features with short blonde hair.

"Something wrong, Ms. Okita?" The man asked in a gentlemanly manner.

"I think someone called me a slacker." The woman that is now named as Okita replied in a blank tone.

The beauty's true identity is Okita Souji, the captain of the Shinsengumi squad that has been active at the end of Edo period. She is a prodigy and a genius among the master swordsmen in the group, a very dangerous manslayer with a cute face. She met Sirzechs Lucifer some time before she died from her illness, the two made a deal as Sirzechs needed her power and offer her to be a member of his peerage in exchange of granting what Okita desires, the manslayer accepted the deal since her only wish is to fight until the bitter end which she was not able to do due to her illness. She regretted that she was not able to fight together with her comrades and had a wrong impression of herself as a failure in Shinsengumi. Before her 'death', Okita managed to leave a descendant that will carry on and keep the lineage alive until the present day. Much to her surprise, her clan is serving under a Shinto deity alongside other heroic families and her name is being inherited by the leader of the clan, in order to not confused her from the current 'Okita Souji' she chose an alias called Ms. Majin whenever they go to the human realm especially in Japan.

"Well, you are slacking right now. You are lazing around the couch and the way you lie down there makes you look so defenseless; you should carry yourself properly as a respectable woman would." Her companion sighed and reprimanded Okita lightly, though being a man, he could not help but look at the prone form of the woman.

"Whoa… that's some good ass there… those thick thighs and those damn legs… and those sexy fee- No no no no wait! I am a gentleman and not some barbarian, I am different from my ancestor!" Before he could finish his fine description in his thoughts, he managed to take a hold of himself.

"Oh come on, Beowulf. Lighten up, you're a nice guy but always so serious. Just relax and just enjoy the view of my butt, thighs, legs and feet." Majin Okita said nonchalantly which made her companion now named Beowulf flinched from being caught.

"Busted." Was all he thought.

The gentleman's identity is Beowulf, or rather the descendant of the original Beowulf. Unlike his ancestor who has a roguish and rough attitude, he on the other hand is a very example of a gentleman, always serious on his duty and a pretty nice guy to be around. That's why his fellow servants of the Lucifer peerage always tease him to lighten up just like what Majin Okita did right now. The female sword master has a teasing grin on her face as she looks at the flustered expression of her companion.

…

Back to the three outside the Hyoudou residence

"And finally, there is this girl named Toujou Koneko. The rook of Rias Gremory and the toughest of the bunch due to her piece, excels in close quarters combat using martial arts and the strongest of them in terms of physical power. But, just like the queen her potential lies from within and for some reason she won't use it or rather afraid of using it. Looking at her, I think like I am seeing cute white cat, I don't know why but I guess it is something related to her true potential. It such a waste really, it was they themselves are the ones who will hamper them from getting stronger." Scathach then proceeds on commenting her judgement on the last remaining member of the Gremory peerage.

"Why would they refuse to use and polish their inborn powers? One can only trust their own body when it comes to any trials that awaits." Karna asked rather curiously.

"Perhaps it is due to a past that traumatizing enough to doubt their own self and instill fear on themselves, but they have to get over those issues the sooner the better. Because the battlefield is merciless and will not give a damn on whatever issues an individual has, they will just become a burden." Scathach guessed the answer on the possible reason then gave a very harsh remark.

No words have been exchanged after that, they all thought that everything depends on the willpower of those devils if they can truly get stronger or not. The three quietly retreated back to the house and to their rooms to rest and prepare themselves for another day ahead.

…

Vatican Headquarters, Training grounds

Jeanne, Irina and Xenovia are currently lying on the ground catching their breaths from their very intense and Spartan-like training courtesy of Griselda, they wear their black battle suit and were run down to the ground since they have been doing it early in the morning after the announcement of their extended training days that came from the higher ups. They do not know the reason for delaying their departure but they obeyed nonetheless, Jeanne is getting the hang of how she can use Excalibur Blessing along with refining her swordsmanship; she also made a friendly relationship with Irina and Xenovia to get to know her new teammates. This will also help their comradery and teamwork so they could survive their upcoming mission.

"As expected of the strongest female exorcist and Lady Gabriel's queen of hearts, she made us eat dirt in her training session and truly strict and harsh in training her students." Jeanne said while panting.

"I know that she is always like this when she trained me but this level of training is more intense." Xenovia added.

"I guess it is because of the difficulty of the mission, there is a Cadre involved and we need buy some time until a strong back up comes." Irina said her piece.

"It goes to show that we are still have longer way to go to become strong but I believe that we our faith to the Lord will give us strength to overcome the tribulation that will come to us." Jeanne said as she slowly stands up followed by Irina and Xenovia.

"Yeah."

"Yes."

Both Irina and Xenovia replied with a determination in their eyes.

"Are the three of you done resting?" Griselda suddenly cuts in their talk using her strict voice. She only gave them time to rest after her very earnest training with them.

"Yes Sister Griselda, we're ready to continue." Jeanne replied as she, together with Irina and Xenovia, assumed their battle stances.

"Then come…" Griselda said as she manifests a sword of light and pointed it to the three. The three young holy warriors charge towards her which starts another round of training.

…

Unknown location

Somewhere not in this dimension, there is a very beautiful scenery that cannot be found in the mortal realm, a paradise that can rival the garden of Eden, and a place that can only be found in fairy tales; the place has a very wide garden of different flowers and wide open field of green pastures, it also has a great abundance of forestry where fairies and dryads reside and in the middle of the forest just near the lake, there is a figure that is wearing a hooded white cloak, it cannot be determined if it is a male or a female due to the figure's facial features were almost covered except to the lower half of the face by the hood. By the side, the figure is carrying a strangely designed wooden staff with a sheathed short sword attached on it and the most noticeable feature on the figure is the aura manifesting on its feet, it seems flowers bloom wherever the figure goes.

Moments later, the sounds of clanking metal can be heard which are approaching the cloaked figure based on the sounds of the footsteps it is safe to assume that the visitors are wearing armors. The cloak figure smiled as it knew the identity of the two newcomers.

"Hm… I see, it seems both of you are now ready to venture the mortal realm to search the Excalibur." A male voice came out from the cloaked figure confirming its gender to be male.

"Indeed Merlin, we are now ready. I must take back the sacred sword as its rightful owner." A female voice came from one of the newcomers whose identity are still concealed by the shadows of the forest addressed the cloaked figure that is now revealed as the great wizard, Merlin.

Merlin, known as the mage of flowers and a half incubus and a half human, the wizard in the Arthurian legend that was the adviser of king Arthur. He is the only wizard that can rival the witch Morgan Le Fay in a magical showdown and also well-known in his philandering much to the dismay of the king and the knights. The great wizard was absent at the end of king Arthur's reign and some theorizes that he was trapped by the Lady of the lake in Avalon due to his womanizing habit.

"Though I should give the both of you an advice; reincarnation of the king of knights, Arturia Pendragon and the reincarnation of the knight of rebellion, Mordred Pendragon. You must proceed with caution as you venture to the far east, the Pendragon house will not sit idly by if they know that the true heir of the clan is still alive and when you arrive to the country in the far east, the both of you will find the turning point of your fates. Also expect some resistance on your quest to retrieve Excalibur." Merlin said to the two whose identities are now revealed.

The two figures walk out from the shadows revealing their features; the elder one is a very beautiful woman in her twenties with a goddess-like beauty, she has a long blonde hair tied in a bun and bright green eyes that can mesmerize anyone in both genders, she has a pale and smooth rosy skin and has a slim and slender figure combined with her perfect curves, she is wearing a sliver armor that can be seen on female knights from fantasy stories and blue colored clothing underneath (A/N: Artoria Pendragon Lancer, 2nd ascension). The younger one is a young woman on her adolescent years, she has the same blonde hair tied in high ponytail and same green eyes, she has a resemblance with the elder woman though her feature is quite tomboyish like a female yankee, she is wearing a full plate silver armor and red clothing underneath (A/N: Mordred Pendragon, 2nd ascension- helmet retracted). These two armor-clad women are the reincarnations of the people Merlin mentioned.

"We will… this mission is very important to us so we must prevail no matter who the enemy is." Was Arturia's calm response.

"Don't worry old man, Big sister and I will kick their asses to Sunday!" Mordred said with her childish excitement.

"Language, Mordred." Arturia calmly reprimanded her little sister which Mordred respond in a grumpy pout.

"We'll be on our way then, take care of yourself Merlin." Arturia bids the wizard her farewell which Merlin nods in response. The two female knights left the area leaving the great wizard standing by the lake watching their retreating forms.

"Now that they're gone, I can finally read this in peace." When the wizard is sure that his charges are gone, Merlin sighed and pulls out a book from his robe, he opens it to look at the contents and his face suddenly morphs into a perverted expression.

"Huhuhu! Bless the souls to those who created a masterpiece such as the porn magazines! They are the true pioneers for passionate men like me… Ah! To be able to capture a woman's bare body in just a page of this book." Merlin said as he continues to scan the reading material, since he could not stay longer in the human realm to bed some women… he just settles to steal porn magazines.

Far away from the wizard, Arturia suddenly shivered and felt a chill on her spine and stops her walk for a moment. Mordred notices her sister stop walking and ask her.

"Uh… big sister, what's the matter?"

"…It's nothing. It's just Merlin being Merlin that's all." Was Arturia's response, Mordred tilts her head in confusion failing to grasp the meaning of her big sister's words.

"Say big sister, do you think we are going to encounter some great resistance when we step our foot in this Kuoh town?" Mordred asked changing the subject.

"Probably from both the church and Grigori, the former is trying to retrieve the fragments while the latter were the ones who stole them. We should have no problem with the devils in that area, they are nothing that we could not handle." Arturia replied in a calm and even tone.

"Well they do not stand a chance against us since I have my Clarent here and you have your sacred lance, this mission will be just walk in the park." Mordred said with confidence.

Arturia did not say anything in reply but she just smiled on Mordred's childishness, she does not know the reason why but her little sister idolizes her and not to mention attached to her since their childhood. Their relationship was somewhat the opposite on how they were in their past life but Arturia did not linger to those thoughts for long, she prefers this kind of closeness anyway and nothing will truly change between them, their past lives be damn. The two female knights continue their journey towards the portal to the human realm deepening their family bond as they go further.

…

Chapter end

Act 6: Atonement and Redemption

(Background: Fate/ Apocrypha title screen- Sieg's command spell)

*Credits: Cue ending song- Desire by Garnidelia*

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

And that's it for this chapter… I will finish the Riser arc in two-part chapter then finally the most awaited Excalibur arc. Most of you already know this because this is the arc where Jeanne and her team will arrive in Kuoh in addition of the new characters; Arturia and Mordred… oh and don't forget about Shirou that appeared from Act 4, so rejoice Shirou x Arturia fans they are officially confirmed in the story. Just a reminder, Arturia's appearance here is her lancer variant, her most mature age same with Shiro's age which is about EMIYA's age.

About what I did with Asia Argento, I set her up to become one of Gabriel's brave saint because to be honest I do not know what I should do with her. The only thing that she did in her time with the three heroes is do some household chores then nothing… might as well give her to the angel's side as a deviation from canon dxd. This set up will also connect when this story proceeds to Diodora arc, which will have major changes due to what happen in the chapter, you are all free to guess what happened back there at Diodora's scene.

Anyway let's end the talk here, leave a review if you like.

CHARACTER STATUS:

NAME: Rias Gremory

ALIAS: Crimson haired Ruin Princess

GENDER: Female

POWER RANKING: A rank High class

ALIGNMENT: Lawful Evil

Strength: E

Agility: E

Endurance: D

Mana: B

Luck: B

NP: A

PERSONAL SKILLS:

Charisma - C

Demonic Power– A+

Instinct- E

Tactics- D

PASSIVE SKILLS:

Territory Creation – B

Item Construction- D

NOBLE PHANTASM:

Power of Destruction: A

Anti-Unit, Anti-Army type noble phantasm

A power Rias inherited from his mother's side of the family, the Bael house.

Annihilates everything that made contact with this power.

NAME: Akeno Himejima

ALIAS: Priestess of Thunder, Sadist queen

GENDER: Female

POWER RANKING: B+ rank high class

ALIGNMENT: Lawful Neutral

Strength: E

Agility: E

Endurance: D

Mana: B

Luck: D

NP: B++

PERSONAL SKILLS:

Holy Light (False) - C

Demonic Power– A

Disengage- C

Tactics- D

PASSIVE SKILLS:

Territory Creation – B

Item Construction- C

NOBLE PHANTASM:

Holy Lightning: B++

Anti-Unit, Anti-Army type noble phantasm

A power Akeno inherited from her father, Barakiel, a Fallen Angel Cadre.

A power sleeping insde Akeno which she avoids using out of spite.

NAME: Koneko Toujo (True name: Shirone)

ALIAS: Rook of Rias Gremory

GENDER: Female

POWER RANKING: EX rank middle class

ALIGNMENT: Lawful Neutral

Strength: C

Agility: E

Endurance: C

Mana: D

Luck: E

NP: B

PERSONAL SKILLS:

Senjutsu - C

Demonic Power– C

Disengage- B

Monstrous Strength- B

PASSIVE SKILLS:

Magic Resistance – D

NOBLE PHANTASM:

Youkai Transformation- Nekomata mode: B

Anti-Unit (self) type noble phantasm

A power Koneko inherited as a youkai called a Nekoshou, a rare and powerful species of cat youkai.

A power sleeping insde Koneko which she avoids using out of fear and trauma.

NAME: Yuuto Kiba (True name: Isaiah)

ALIAS: Knight of Rias Gremory

GENDER: Male

POWER RANKING: D rank high class

ALIGNMENT: Lawful Neutral

Strength: D

Agility: C

Endurance: E

Mana: C

Luck: E

NP: A

PERSONAL SKILLS:

Eyes of the mind (False) - D

Demonic Power– C

Disengage- B

Eternal arms Mastery- E

PASSIVE SKILLS:

Magic Resistance – D

NOBLE PHANTASM:

Sacred Gear- Sword Birth: A

Anti-Army type noble phantasm

One of the rare sacred gears which powers are just below the Longinus series.

Creates an arsenal of demonic swords and the counterpart of Blade Blacksmith.

NAME: Warrior dummy

ALIAS:

GENDER:

POWER RANKING: D rank ultimate class

ALIGNMENT: Lawful Neutral

Strength: B

Agility: C

Endurance: A

Mana: D

Luck: C

NP: -

PERSONAL SKILLS:

Tactics - C

Battle continuation– B

Disengage- B

Bravery- A

PASSIVE SKILLS:

Magic Resistance – C

NAME: Mage dummy

ALIAS:

GENDER:

POWER RANKING: D rank ultimate class

ALIGNMENT: Lawful Neutral

Strength: D

Agility: C

Endurance: C

Mana: B

Luck: A

NP: -

PERSONAL SKILLS:

Tactics - C

Magic– B

Disengage- B

Eyes of the mind (True)- B

PASSIVE SKILLS:

Territory Creation – B

Item Construction- B

Next Chapter: Prelude to Conflict…