A few days had passed since the incident with Kokabiel, I was entering the clubroom with Ray, Mitt, Leone, Hyōdō and Asia. I raised an eyebrow at seeing a foreign girl sitting on a sofa.

"Hey, Raiga-kun. Sekiryuutei." The girl with the green mesh, Quarta, is there wearing Kuou Academy's girls uniform.

"W-Why are you here?!" Hyōdō asked surprised as she pointed his finger at her. I noticed the change of her aura... So she's a Devil now.

The black wings grew out of Quarta's back, only proves my senses that my senses are correct "After I found out that God is gone. So I turned into a Devil as a self-abandonment. I received a [Knight] piece from Rias Gremory. It seems like I'm not that great, while Durandal is. So I was able to become a Devil with 1 piece. And I was also placed in this school. From now on, I'm a 2nd year student and also a member of the Occult Research Club. Lets get along, Raiga-kun." She made a cute noise while having a serious face.

"...Don't make such a cute sound with a serious voice and face." Hyōdō was nowhere near as amused as I.

Quarta sighed "I copied Buchou's attempts in the mirror this morning, but it looks like it's not easy."

I looked at Gremory, who flushed embarrassed at the revelation... That would be interesting to see "So trying to copy Gremory, huh? I'll admit it was amusing
at least."

"Screw that!" Hyōdō yelled "Reincarnated!? Buchou. Is it alright to use such a valuable piece?"

Gremory just seemed amused by everyone's interactions, judging from her smiling face "Well. Having a [Durandal] wielder feels reliable. With this, it's a birth of the 3 swordsmen along with Yumi and Kōjiro-kun."

If Quarta is here...

"So how are Shidō and Pendragon-san?"

Xenovia shook her head "Irina's... Hanging in there. I think God's death hit her even harder than it did for Asia, Artoria and I combined."

"...That bad?" Hyōdō asked with a pained expression. It understandable, as Shidō is her childhood and oldest friend and they obviously care for each despite being enemies.

For a brief moment, Quarta looked uncomfortable "She... She's just really emotional right now. I even think I made her mad at me."

I raised an eyebrow "I wonder how anyone could ever be mad at such a charming person?"

"Alright. I had that one coming." Quarta admitted, smiling bitterly to herself. Then her expression became serious again "But Irina... I admit I've never felt quite this useless. I tried convincing her to go back to the Church. If she played the good, obedient Christian girl and returned with the 5 [Excalibur] fragments' cores and Valper's corpse, she would be accepted back with open arms... But she snapped at me."

Hyōdō sighed "That sounds like Iri-chan. Stubborn as Hell. To have every last bit of her belief crushed in one moment... She's torn between what she's always believed in and the horror she was forced to face. She probably believes the Church to be heretical now that she knows that they cannot worship a God who no longer exists. Whatever they're worshiping now, it's not the God she swore her loyalty to. I guess it would be something like the servants and loyal subordinates of the original [Maōs] refusing to bend and serve the current [Maōs]."

"I already became a Devil, so I contacted our standby agent to come and collect the [Excalibur] fragments himself." Quarta explained "If we waited too long, they might take it out on Irina, Artoria and possibly even the Devils for withholding the [Excalibur] swords as an attempt to weaken the Church or something along those lines."

...So the Church was gonna forge new [Excalibur] swords so they could be used to kill Devils all over again. Good to know...Well we already destroyed them once, so it shouldn't be any more difficult to destroy them again.

"Was it alright to give them your [Excalibur]? More like, was it okay for you to betray the Church?"

There had to be SOME kind of repercussions.

"I have to give them the [Excalibur] back just in case. Unlike the [Durandal], there are other wielders that could be chosen. Having [Durandal] is enough for me. When I mentioned the absence of God to them, they became silent. So I became an outsider for knowing the absence of God. The Church hates outsiders and heresy very much. Even if that person is the wielder of [Durandal], they will cut them off. Exactly the same way as the incident with Asia Argento."

She laughed at herself... I felt my anger towards the Church increase. If a person makes a single choice they disagree with, they're cut off like a diseased limb. I didn't like Quarta much before, but she was still a person, not to mention a follower of their teachings. She didn't deserve such a fate any more than Asia did.

"I managed to deceive them into believing that Irina didn't know the truth."

I blinked in surprised and a bit of disbelief "You... You lied to the Church for Shidō?" I never heard something like that before, for her to lie at the Church for a friend.

Quarta nodded "Yes. That is what friends do for one another, is it not?"

...OK Quarta, you have gained more respect points from me. You have gone from enemy, to 'I don't-give-a-shit' ally, to 'I-might-give-a-shit' ally.

"But they may begin to suspect if she takes too long with her decision." Quarta crossed her arms, a pensive look on her face.

"What... Decision?" Hyōdō asked

"Whether or not she's going to return to the Church, of course."

"You mean she might not?" Hyōdō asked, frowning.

"For a devout Christian like her, it could go either way." I stated. I won't be surprised if Shidō started to call the people of the Church as liars for hiding the Biblical God's dead from the fellow worshippers.

"The Church made contact with us Devils. More precisely the Maou talk about this incident." Gremory started after all members of the [ORC] have gathered in the room "They said (We would like to make contact with you because of unclear and dishonest actions of the fallen-angels even though we feel unsatisfactory about this.) and they also apologised about Valper, because it was their mistake for letting him escape in the past."

"They can't seriously believe Azazel-sama had a hand in this!" Ray objected, outraged.

"Yeah! Azazel-sama was the first one to pull the Fallen Angels out of the war hundreds of years ago!" Mitt agreed "Why would he attempt such a thing now when the Fallen Angels are still in such a weakened state?!"

I raised my hands to calm them "Relax. It's a misunderstanding on their part. After all, Azazel-san never actually issued an official notice to the Heaven's faction that Kokabiel had been removed from his position of power. So it IS somewhat fair for them to suspect some foul play on his part. It will be fine just as long as everyone tells the truth."

Kala placed a hand on the other two's shoulders, whispering calming words into their ears. Mitt and Ray grumbled for a few moments, but seemed to grudgingly agree to my reasoning.

"The truth about this incident was sent to the God-side by the [Governor of the Fallen Angels], Azazel. The theft of the [Excalibur] was an action taken by Kokabiel only. The other leaders didn't know about it. He planned to break the tension between the 3 sides. If he had been alive, his punishment since he tried to start another war would have been for him to be put in the [Cocytus] for eternity in a frozen state. But apparently his fate was ultimately the death penalty."

"Yeah. That sounds about right..." Leone commented from my shoulder "We all know the truth as do many from the Fallen Angel faction. We'll all back that up as Boss beat the shit out of Kokabiel with that crazy power boost before eliminating him with that blast of fire."

"That's right." Gremory said with a proud smile on her face "Because Kokabiel tried to start another war and was stopped by Kōjiro-kun, they sent their thanks for killing him. The [Vanishing Dragon] appeared and retrieved Kokabiel's corpse."

"There would also be a meeting between the representatives of the Angels, Devils, and Azazel. Apparently there is something Azazel wants to talk about. I heard that maybe Azazel would be apologizing about Kokabiel then. Though it's suspicious if Azazel would apologise." Gremory said with disgust as she shrug her shoulder.

Kala sighed "It's amazing how little you trust the Fallen Angels even now, Rias."

I agreed with that. But then again, perhaps it's not Fallen Angels in general she distrusts, but rather the Fallen Angel Governor.

Gremory shrugged "We were also invited to that meeting. We have to report about the incident at the meeting because we were involved."

"Seriously?!" Hyōdō asked, shocked as all of us are right now. We're going to personally meet with big names from the Bible...

But there was something I wanted to know "The [Vanishing Dragon] belongs to the side of the Fallen Angels, right? What rank would the [Hakuryuukou] be in their group in terms of strength?" I asked Quarta, who nodded in response.

"That's right. Azazel is gathering [Sacred Gear] possessors who has a [Longinus]. I don't know what he is thinking, but it's definitely something not good. The [Vanishing Dragon] is the top fighter among them. I heard that she is the 4th or 5th strongest out of all the strong people there including the leaders of Grigori." Quarta explained before turning towards Hyōdō "At this point, she is far stronger than you, who is her rival."

"...That's right. I will apologise to Asia Argento. Since God didn't exist, then his love and help didn't as well. I'm sorry, Asia Argento. Hit me much as much as you want." Quarta bowed her head down. The Japanese way of apologising. Even though her expression didn't change, I could tell her words were genuine.

Asia gave a smile that was clearly forgiving. "....No, I don't intend to do something like that. Xenovia-san, I'm enjoying my current lifestyle. Even though I'm not part of the church now, I met someone... people who are important to me. I am happy because of the place I live in now and the people I have met." Even though she'd learned of the nonexistence of God like the rest of us, she still possessed the will to keep moving forward. That's what I liked about her...

Quarta turned to me as I saw a look of sadness and admiration briefly in her eyes "Then I will be leaving. There's a lot of things I need to know about before transferring to this school." Quarta started to leave.

"U-Umm!" Asia stopped Quarta "On the next weekend I'm going to go out to play with everyone. Would you also like to join, Xenovia-san?"

"Next time then. This time I'm not interested. Except..."

"Except?"

"Can you take me around the school next time?" Quarta asked with a smile on her face.

"Yes!" Asia answered with a smile.

I smile at watching the pair become friends. I'm happy for Asia that she's fulfilling her dream of making friends, it just gives me a warm.

"I will swear it in the name of my [Holy Sword], [Durandal]. I also would like to have a battle with the [Holy-Demonic Sword] user over there and a rematch with Raiga-kun as well."

"Alright. I won't lose." Yumi replied with a smile.

"If you want to spar again, I don't mind." I said with a smirk while crossing my arms.

Hyōdō sighed "Geez, we know some battle-hungry freaks."

"It's just a pride of a swordsman, Hyōdō. To always accept a challenge against another swordsman." I replied to the brunette.

[That's right!] Quarta and Yumi declared at the same time.

Quarta's not the only person who'd changed in such a short time. Since the battle against Kokabiel, I've noticed that Yumi had also gotten stronger.

*clap!*

Gremory clapped her hands to gather our attention again "Now. Since everyone has returned again, let's start the club activity again!"

[YES!]

- a few days later -

The day we were all going to hang out together had finally arrived. The promised day of bowling and karaoke. The day had been rather hectic so far with them playing numerous games of bowling and now take turns in singing songs in the karaoke room.

Hyōdō tried inviting Gremory and Himejima-san, but they had other things to take care of. I actually tried inviting Saji and Sona for all of the help they gave us, but both declined as they were busy.

Asia also seemed to be enjoying herself and she also looked incredibly cute in the gothic lolita outfit she wore. Because of that, I did not feel tempted to smack Kiryuu-san upside the head for further corrupting Asia into someone who wasn't her normal self.

Tōjō and Mitt were mostly eating ice cream and pizza while Yumi is still acting like a princess, sipping coffee in an elegant way. Leone is here as well in a human form, wearing a punk like outfit.

Ray and Kala are wearing a variation of a cross between a maid outfit and gothic lolita, both are sitting next each other while eaching some hotdogs... I'm not sure they're doing it to tease me on purpose or not

The [Perverted Duo] were glaring daggers at me since most of the girls seemed to be gathered in my general area but I didn't give a shit.

I stood on stage as it's my turn to sing a song...

15 sec Intro

Sei wo uke sorezore ga jinsei wo ouka
Nou no 'BLACK BOX' wo shiru sore wa kou ka?
You wa 'LIMIT LINE' wo subete ryouga
Saa ikou ka fumidasu sore wa kyou da

Yappa hibi wa ikan sen kou sotsu naku sugoshicha no no

'STOP'! nagare wo mikiwamena mazu mono to mo sezu ikou ze 'HERE WE GO'

Todokanu mono ya kagiri aru mono ni atsuku naru mune wo osaetsukeru no wa
Rikai mo sezu osaetsukeyou to shite kita
Kirai de yurusenakatta ano otonatachi to onaji jan ka yo
Dou shitatte kanawanai esoragoto darou ga

Mune wo moyasu hi wa dare ni mo kese ya shinai
Sora kara furu kuroi ame ga kono mi wo nurashi furiyamanakutomo
Mada kese wa shinai kono mune no hi sore ga 'PRIDE'

Yohou doori ni furidashita ame yosou ijou ni nakama wa atsumatta
Otagai no hibi ya shourai no hanashi de atsuku natte naguriai ni natta
Juugo no koro mo fuan kara nogareru you ni
Onaji you na koto de naguriatta koto omoidashite
Omae ga waraidasu kara kawatte nai na... tte ore mo fukidashitan da

Souyatte iji hatte
Funbatte ikite nakucha jikan no nagare sae mo kowaku naru
Hontou ni naguru beki aite wa sonna jibun darou
Tadaima wa maketakunai jibun ni makenai 'PRIDE'

'STOP'! nagare wo mikiwamena mazu mono to mo sezu ikou ze 'HERE WE GO'
'STOP'! nagare wo mikiwamena mazu mono to mo sezu ikou ze 'HERE WE GO'

18 sec Instruments

Dou shitatte yappa hitori no yoru wa jibun no koto sae mo wakaranaku naru
Sonna ore to wakariaou to shite kureru kimi ga iru nara motto tsuyoku nareru

Mou dou nattatte ii kakkou warukutatte ii
Shinimono gurai de mirai wo kaete yaru
Dou shitatte kaerarenai unmei da to iwaretemo
Mada ore wa kawareru jibun de kaete miseru

Kore ga sou 'PRIDE' sorezore no basho de...

Madamada kieru na kokoro no hi wo
Mada wasuretakunai mune no atsusa wo
Madamada kieru na kokoro no hi wo
Madamada ikeru zo ikeru zo

OH BABY MY PRIDE!!!

I let out a sigh as I listened to the ending notes of Core Pride by UVERworld, I put the microphone back into the mic stand as I looked over the karaoke room.

"Wow..." Hyōdō spoke with surprise while Kiryu, completely red faced, was looking through the book for her own song. Asia, Mitt and Yuma has blushing faces while Ray, Kala and Leone are cheering at me and the [Perverted Duo] were doing the exact opposite, booing at me mostly out of jealousy for my popularity with girls.

"I'm not that good..." I said while scratching my left cheek in embarrassment from all of the attention.

"I wouldn't say that." Kiryuu complimented while I went back to my sit.

"I'll start with reciting some prayer hymns." Asia said as she stood near the microphone, it was while I was sipping the juice I bought that I got 2 messages on my phone.

The first was from Gremory. It was a picture of her in a swimsuit. A little message asking 'Do you like this one?' was attached... Looks like she's making her move to make me fall for her, if she actually know she the way for me to fall for her.

Just before I could delete the photo, someone snatched my phone out of my hand and I looked thief to see it was Mitt. Tōjō was next to her, giving me a strange disapproving look.

Mitt was radiating a powerful, pink aura that spelled 'DEATH' "Oh. I'll save that for you, Rai." Then she threw my phone onto the ground, but I was able to catch it in time and gave a blank stare at Mitt.

"I was about to delete the photo, Mitt." I said before making her sit on my lap and held her close to calm her down. It seemed to work while I showed that I deleted the image before her, I noticed that Tōjō was staring at Mitt with jealously in her eyes.

Shortly after, I got a message from Himejima-san with another picture of her in an even MORE daring swimsuit... If you could call it that. It covered the bare minimum and prevented people from being able to say 'Why is she naked?'. The message said 'Ara ara. I hope you like this, because I picked it just for you.'

Mitt was once again radiationing that deadly aura, so I started petting her to calm her down while deleting the photo as well... Tōjō is now actually glaring at Mitt with jealousy, yet I can tell that Tōjō hasn't even realised it.

"...Were you thinking about Buchou? Or maybe Akeno-san?" Asia asked with an unpleasant expression. Her words were sharp. Almost sharper than my katanas "If you have such desires, you should do them with me and the others who are already your lovers."

I raised a hand in my defence "Calm down, Asia. I wasn't thinking of doing 'that' with Gremory or Himejima-san behind your and the other's back... I'm not the type to cheat on the girls that I love."

I gave her the most loving smile that I could muster and it seemed to do the trick as Asia spluttered for a moment, her cheeks darkening even further while Kiryuu grinned evilly but not TRULY evil.

"I'm going to the bathroom..." I said while giving a signal to Mitt to get off my lap, which she did before I stood up and walked away.

____________________________________________

Stepping out into the corridor doing my business, I ended up seeing a familiar blondie, sitting in a chair far from the singing and activities. She possessed her usual cheerful smile. I nodded at Yumi before I took the seat next to her.

"Oh, did something happen?" I asked with curiosity in my voice.

"Yeah. Something did."

"What's up?"

I noticed Yumi's face gaining a pink colour "Raiga... I can never truly express how grateful I am to you... Thank you."

I looked at her in surprise, at her calling me by my given name and reminded me of the promise that I made with her... This is certainly an odd time to bring it up "...It's alright. Your comrades got justice now for that madman, so it doesn't really matter."

Yumi nodded again, smiling to herself. Her face had turned slightly redder... Looks like I've unintentionally made her fall for me "Raiga... Thank you very much for everything." She said with strong feelings.

"Like I said, it's no big deal... So... What about we go sing a song?" I suggested with a small smile, making her nod in response.

"Hmm... What song do you have in mind, Raiga?"

"Drawing Days by Splay."

Yumi chuckled nervously "L-Looks like I need to be prepared for that."

...An idea suddenly came into my head "By the way, can you come to my house later? And no, we're not going to any ecchi stuff." I added the last part when I saw Yumi's face turned completely red from misunderstanding, but it looks like I was too later as the blondie [Knight] seemed to be lost in her own world.