Chapter 91
“……You came here to Japan prepared to die? The belief in your teaching is extreme like always”, said Buchou.
“Don’t talk ill of our beliefs, Rias Gremory. Right, Xenovia?”, said Irina.
“Right. Also the Church decided that it would be better to eliminate all of the Excaliburs rather than letting them get used by the fallen-angels. Our minimum objective is to get the Excaliburs away from the fallen-angels. To accomplish that, it’s okay for us to die. The only way to fight against the Excaliburs are Excaliburs”, said Xenovia.
As if you guys will be able to get them even if you get killed. But yes, this destroying the swords is what I wanted Kiba to hear. This will be helpful in convincing everyone of my plan.
“Is it possible with only the two of you?”, asked Buchou.
“Well, we won’t die in vain”, Xenovia said fearlessly to Buchou’s question.
I had to hold back my laughter at this but I did as my turn to speak hasn’t come.
“You seem confident. Do you have a secret weapon?”, asked Rias.
“Maybe. I will leave it to your imagination”, said Xenovia.
Huh? What weapon could she possibly be talking about? Hmmm…… Ah, is she talking about the “Holy Sword Durandal”? Possibly, yes but that still won’t be enough.
Buchou became quiet and as well as all of us.
After that, the two of them just stared at each other and the conversation stopped. Shidou Irina and Xenovia looked at each other and stood up.
“Then we will take our leave now. Let’s go Irina”, said Xenovia.
“So you won’t drink your tea? I can prepare a snack for you”, asked Buchou.
“I don’t need it”, Xenovia declined Buchou’s offer with her hand.
“I’m sorry. See you”, Shidou Irina also apologized with her hand.
As they were leaving their eyes fell on Asia.
“Wait, you look familiar. Are you the “Witch” Asia Argento? I never expected to meet you in a place like this”, said Xenovia.
Sigh, this part is going to get ugly but I have to endure this a bit so I can properly dish out what I wanted.
Asia’s body shook after she was called “Witch”. That word is something painful to Asia. Irina seemed like she noticed as well and stared at Asia.
“Are you the rumored “witch”? The former holy-maiden? You are said to have the power that can also heal devils and fallen angels, right? I heard that you were sent somewhere after getting exiled, but I never thought you became a devil”, said Irina.
“……Ummmmm……I……I………”, said Asia as she didn’t know how to react to Irina and Xenovia.
“It’s okay. I won’t tell the higher ups what I saw here, so rest assured. People who were around the “Holy-maiden Asia” will also get shocked as well”, said Xenovia.
Asia made a perplexed expression at Irina’s words.
“But to become a devil. The one who was called a “Holy-maiden”. You fell to the lowest place you could. Do you still believe in our God?”, asked Xenovia.
“Xenovia. There’s no way that she, who became a devil, still believes in God”, said Irina with an amazed face.
“No, I can smell the “belief” from her. It might be an abstract way of saying it. But I’m sensitive to these things. There are people who betray the teachings and still have guilt within them because they couldn’t forget the teachings. I can feel something similar coming from her”, said Xenovia with sharp eyes and Irina stared at Asia even more with interested eyes.
“Is that true? Asia-san, you still believe in God even if you have turned into a devil?”, asked Irina.
Asia replied to that question with a sad expression, “……I just can’t put it aside. I believed in it for my whole life……”.
Hearing that, Xenovia took her sword out from the cloth and pointed it at Asia and said, “Is that so. Then you should be cut down by us this instant. If it’s now, I can cut you in the name of God. Even if you have sinned, our God will forgive you”.
Yep, that’s my que. As Xenovia approached Asia, I immediately got in between as said, “Hey stop. What the heck are you doing?”.
Xenovia stopped moving but she stayed quiet. I then continued, “I have been hearing you guys spot bullshit for some time, I think now is the time to stop”.
Xenovia frowned and angrily said, “Bullshit? How dare you. We speak nothing but the truth in the name of god”.
Irina added, “Yes, what you are saying is blasphemy”.
I calmly continued, “You call Asia a ‘Witch’ just because she can heal devils ignoring the fact that the sacred gear is what makes her able to do so. She doesn’t have any powers of her own or had when she was a human. And we all know that God made the sacred gears so if you wanted to blame someone for that blame God”.
“What? How dare you? I will cut you down to pieces right now”, growled Xenovia as she pointed her sword at me.
I got a really bad feeling but I held on. I continued fearlessly, “I speak on facts but you don’t seem to have the capacity to understand them. Also, when she was the ‘Holy Maiden’ none of you guys bothered to help her, understand her, she was alone without any friends”.
“Do you think the ‘Holy-maiden’ needed friends? What’s important is the charity to others. The ‘Holy-maidens’ are finished when they seek friendship and love from others. She could have continued to live with the love from God. So Asia Argento didn’t have the right to be a ‘Holy-maiden’ from the beginning” , spat Xenovia.
“Who said that?”, I asked with a smirk. “What?”, Xenovia asked, clearly confused.
“I asked who said a ‘Holy Maiden’ doesn’t need friends? Did God personally come and tell you, ‘OOOH Xenovia, you know, being a ‘Holy Maiden’ means you don’t need to have friends’”, I said.
“Why you. You dare insult our God. Looks like I will really need to cut you down”, said Xenovia.
Irina took out her sword as well. It formed a shape of a katana as it came out of her clothes, she said, “Let me join in as well”.
“You insult and threaten to harm my family and you think I will stay quiet. Not just you, if anyone else dares to, even if it’s the church, I will speak up and even fight if I have to against them as well”, I said.
“Is that a declaration to us……all of those in the Church? Something big coming out from a single devil. Gremory. I think you didn’t educate him enough?”, said Xenovia.
“Akira, sto…”, Buchou tried to stop me, but Kiba stood in front of me and said, “That’s good timing. I will be your opponent”.
Kiba was carrying his sword, and there was an enormous aura of intent to kill coming out of his body. Looks like he isn’t fully over his hate yet or maybe this conversation angered him but that’s ok for the current situation.
But Kiba, why did you steal my opponent? I wanted to fight Xenovia as she is the stronger and more malleable of the two. Instead, I am stuck with Issei’s childhood friend but well that’s better than nothing.
“Who are you?”, asked Xenovia.
Kiba smirked at Xenovia’s question and answered, “I’m your senpai. Though I apparently was a failure”.
Now, you may be asking me, what’s new in what I did? This fight was supposed to happen and it would have been different if I stopped this fight.
Well, you see I considered the possibility of not fighting but if that occurred I would have to seek out them on a day I wasn’t exactly sure of. So I had to wait everyday, until they appeared hungry.
I didn’t want to work that hard if an easier solution awaits me. The easier solution is defeat both of them and convince them that they cannot do this alone and convince the join us.
This is beneficial in various ways, firstly their arrogance would decrease and they would be more bearable, secondly we would have an advantage of being superior and hence our words will carry more value.
So overall a win-win situation for us.
Now the question arises, can we win. Kiba surely can’t with this mind in chaos. Yes, you are correct, Kiba has less chance of winning but I will face Xenovia once he loses and defeat her to convince her.
And yes, I think I am strong enough to defeat both of them. This is not overconfidence, I have faith in my current level which is higher than everyone in the team and I know how the both of battle.
So, let’s get this done.