Rias Gremory was the one who was supposed to be the true heir to the Gremory Clan. I knew about that. No one doubted it. She worked harder than anyone else, from a very young age, to deserve that position.
The proof of this was that when I arrived at the Occult Research Club Building that morning, I was much earlier than usual, and yet she was the only one there. Rias was already behind her desk in her office, drafting documents.
I could hardly believe it. The sun was still out, and I'd even left a letter on the dining table for Asia and Makima so they wouldn't worry that I'd only gone to Kuoh Academy a little early.
"Nee-san?" I asked as I entered. "What are you doing here at this hour?"
Rias was wearing red glasses and raised her head to look at me, but the glasses had slipped down to the end of her nose, and she was looking at me over them.
"I could ask you the same thing."
I approached her desk. "Well, I thought you were coming to campus early, so I came to talk to you too. I just didn't imagine you'd be SO early."
She laughed, putting a hand in front of her mouth. "Well, it's just that I've had a lot of work recently. The number of contracts unexpectedly increased this past week." But sit down, please." She pointed to a chair in front of her desk. "What I'm doing is nothing but work. We can talk while I do it."
Following her request, I sat down and put my hands on my stomach as I leaned back in my seat.
"So...? What do you want to talk about?" she asked.
"Well, Nee-san, you know I'm in the middle of two complicated things at the moment."
"Two? I know about your Rating Game against Diodora... Do you have a second 'complicated thing'?" Rias continued to sign papers and form a small pile with them.
"That's one reason we need to talk. Last night, Makima and I left the house in the wee hours of the morning. I was teaching her to fly around the city, and you know how buildings at night can be good obstacles. However, we ended up meeting someone we didn't want to."
My last sentence finally captured her attention enough to make her take her eyes off the papers and straighten her posture.
Her half-closed eyelids and her serious tone made it clear how much she was focused.
"Please don't tell me you interfered with Xenovia and Irina-san's work."
"It's worse than that. A man called Freed Sellzen attacked us," I revealed, and the name of this exorcist made her raise her eyebrows.
"He's the..."
"Yes, I know. He's the man you and Issei defeated in the chapel that night you saved Asia... Issei told me about him when I asked for a situation report, and I asked Kiba and Koneko to search the entire region for him. Unfortunately, we didn't find him, and he ran away."
"That's what I thought... Besides, during that attack on me and Makima, he was carrying one of those Excalibur fragments."
"A fragment? How did you know it was one?"
"The aura. Remember, I asked you to analyze Irina-san's Excalibur? I will never forget the aura I felt when my hand came near that sword."
Rias's eyes seemed a little lost where to look, probably because her mind was wandering between various possibilities.
"Right, but you look pretty good to me. So, what happened?"
"Freed Sellzen is dead," I said directly. "Thanks to Makima, his sword never touched me. I still tried to get information out of him, like the connection between the Fallen Angels and former Church members, but he revealed nothing. At least, not directly."
"That he has an Excalibur more than confirms the theory I had, right?"
"If he was working with the Fallen Angels and was now carrying an Excalibur, there's definitely something to link them. As far as I know, this Freed Sellzen is — I mean, he WAS — an exorcist who was excommunicated from the Church because of his cruelty not to devils, but to humans. The one we suspect is behind the disappearance of the Excalibur fragments, Valper Galilei, may have taken advantage of this similarity to recruit Sellzen."
"Anyway, it's good to know that you came out of that attack unscathed," she continued, now meeting my gaze.
"Neesan, you can ask whatever you want."
Rias's cheeks turned pink. "You caught me this time... What happened to the shard Sellzen had when you killed him?"
"The shard is with me." I raised my right hand, palm up, and summoned the Big-Headed Bag through a teleportation circle.
The bag, made of brown leather, landed on my palm.
"A magic bag?" Rias asked.
"Yes, I got it some time ago on one of my escapades to the Castle Town fair... Anyway, that's not important. The Excalibur fragment is here because I'm afraid the aura of that sword would be detected if it were simply stored in a scabbard."
Rias put a hand to her chin, pondering. "It's a possibility. For us, the auras and sensations that Holy Swords emanate are the same as those of a Sword of Light, probably because the danger is similar. However, those who are familiar with items like this, such as Irina, Xenovia, or even Angels, could detect it."
"I figured as much, and it would be terrible for me to have an Angel come and retrieve that sword," I said and made the All-Headed Bag vanish just as it had appeared.
"Wait, what have you done? We need to return the shard you recovered to the Church."
"For it to be used against us? No way. I'm not doing that." Rias's jaw dropped a little, but before she could say anything or scold me, I continued: "Rias-neesan, I don't know if you've realized it yet, but it's obvious that something big is happening in Kuoh. Think about it: first, Fallen Angels collecting Sacred Gears; then excommunicates like Asia and Freed showing up; now Church exorcists carrying and searching for Excaliburs. Isn't that a lot for such a small town?"
"Kuoh City has always been the center of many supernatural activities. That's why Sona Sitri and I stayed here to bring order."
"Exactly. They all know. The Fallen Angels, the Church and even other Devils. How do you think Irina and Xenovia knew exactly where to find us? They're doing something in Kuoh, neesan. What it is, I don't know. But I'm afraid there are traitors and benefactors, even among the Devils."
From the tension in my voice and the way I looked at her, Rias Gremory knew I was convinced of what I was saying. It wasn't something said out of the blue but a real suspicion.
She took a deep breath and stepped back, seeming to understand the situation we were in. We couldn't help Xenovia and Irina on their mission, nor could we ask Sirzechs and the other Maous for assistance. After all, there was no way of knowing for sure which Devils were traitors and which weren't.
Of course, I knew who these traitors were. I would recognize the members of the Khaos Brigade even if I were blind. They were the greatest antagonists in the entire DxD universe.
However, I had no proof to incriminate them.
"Right, but we can't just be at their mercy."
"No, we can't. However, something also tells me they're waiting for the right moment. If I were to guess, I'd say that their main aim at the moment is to gather all the fragments of Excalibur."
"If that's the case, it wouldn't make sense for the Church to send Irina and Xenovia here unless..." Rias finally got there. She looked at me with wide eyes, and I nodded.
"You've finally realized what kind of trouble we're in. Someone sent Xenovia and Irina into the bear's den. Whether or not on purpose, it's logical to think their fragments were the last ones missing. However, they handed a fragment on a platter to us by throwing Freed Sellzen out after his failure last time... They won't act until they find out who defeated Freed. That means it's our turn to play."
"Something tells me you already have something in mind," Rias said, smiling.
"Do you trust me?"
"Of course I do. You're my family."
"That's all I needed to hear. This weekend, in the Rating Game against Diodora, the traitors of our race... No, not just them. Everyone on this plane will know that we're onto them and that they can no longer act in the shadows."
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