High School DxD: Fox of Ill Omen

Rias

The white wings on Irina’s back folded neatly behind her as she stood in my club room.

I studied her as the rest of my peerage gasped and stared.

Shidou Irina had been wholly human when we had met before.

She had been able to wield holy swords thanks to the artificial holy element given to her by the church, but that had been the unique thing about her as a human.

Now she stood glowing with a faint, gentle light coming from the pair of pure white Angel wings on her back.

And Azazel apparently knew something about this.

He had mentioned an Angel transformation.

That sounded suspiciously similar to the Devil reincarnation used to transform humans and other beings into Devils. 

“Angel transformation? That’s a thing?” Ise asked, looking confused.  

Azazel gave a small shrug.

“No. Or rather, it was not a thing until now. It was only discussed as a possible theory between the scientists of Heaven and the Underworld. But it seems that they were able to make the theory a reality…”

Irina nodded at Azazel as he became lost in thought. 

“That's right, Governor-sensei. I received Michael-sama’s blessing and was allowed to become a reincarnated Angel. I heard that the Seraphim scientists were given technologies by the Devils and Fallen Angels that they used to make the transformation possible.”

So Irina had become a reincarnated angel.

One of the first. 

This was something huge.

Since God's death, no new Angels could be born in Heaven, and their numbers began to shrink.

With this, they would be able to regain some of the strength they had lost during the war.

The newly created Angels wouldn’t be nearly as strong as the existing ones, but like reincarnated Devils, they would be able to grow and expand their strength.

It seemed that Heaven was already reaping the benefits of the peace agreement between our factions.

This type of cooperation likely would have taken much longer to occur normally, but due to the threat of the Khaos Brigade, the sort of agreements that took time and trust between sides were accelerated. 

It showed how much of a threat the Khaos Brigade truly was. 

While a serious threat, the Khaos Brigade also was a catalyst for the creation and strength of the alliance.

The Three Great Factions went from being at each other’s throats to joining forces against a common enemy.

I glanced at Sona.

Her glasses caught the light when she adjusted them.

The look in her eyes told me that she had come to some of the same conclusions as me.

Knowing her, she probably connected things that I hadn’t realized.

I glanced at Yuki next.

Koneko was still seated in Yuki’s lap, settled there in a way that had become a common occurrence recently.

Yuki had one arm loosely around her.

Koneko looked calm and comfortable, but she couldn’t hide how much she enjoyed sitting in Yuki’s lap.

It made me think of how Mother had mentioned that she thought Koneko had a crush on Yuki and that Akeno may be interested in her too.

I pushed that thought away quickly as I noticed Yuki’s attention shift.

Yuki’s tails shifted next to her as her gaze moved to Xenovia and lingered for a few seconds before going back to Irina.

I looked at Xenovia, but didn’t see whatever it was that Yuki had noticed.

Irina continued, seemingly completely unaware of the political weight of what she had just said. 

“It was decided that the Four Great Seraphim and six of the other Seraphim each will have twelve subordinates who will be known as Brave Saints. The positions range from [Ace] to [Queen], with the [King] card being the Angel-sama who is the leader of the group. It was decided to base the positions off of playing card values due to how the Devil's evil pieces are based off of chess.”

Azazel looked interested immediately.

“Interesting. The adaptation of the Devil’s evil piece by the Angels has been realized. They used the Devil’s research of their Evil Pieces and the Fallen Angel’s research of artificial Sacred Gears,” Azazel said with a grin. “Hmmm… Heaven sure created something interesting after our information exchange. It’s funny that the Angels chose to have their system associated with gambling by basing their system off playing cards,” Azazel paused. “There is the existence of trump cards. I wonder if that is something that was worked into their system? Anyways, with this, the number of Angels will increase, and Heaven will be able to replenish their numbers. Which means there will be more Angels who will eventually Fall and join the Grigori.”

Azazel chuckled to himself evilly after he finished. 

Knowing him, there would probably soon be complaints of Azazel trying to tell Angels to Fall and become his subordinates.

And he would be doing it to get more people to push work off onto.

Ise looked from Irina to Azazel and back again, still trying to process everything.

Gasper had peeked out from his box to listen.

Asia looked ecstatic that there would be more Angels.

Xenovia looked at Irina with interest.

Yuuto leaned forward as she listened with a serious expression.

Akeno simply smiled and watched everyone.

Koneko’s ear twitched as she shifted on Yuki’s lap.

Yuki continued to watch Irina’s wings with narrowed eyes.

I caught her glance at Xenovia again.

Azazel continued.

He seemed to be talking more to himself than anyone else.

“But back to the card system. There are also jokers in playing card decks. That makes me wonder how that will work into the system. Perhaps they will be like mutation pieces? Will the Brave Saints have abilities like how evil pieces have promotion and castling? And more importantly, did the Angels manage to further the study of Sacred Gear as they developed their reincarnation system? I’ll need to talk to Michael and see if he will give me access to their notes and data….” Azazel trailed off and mumbled to himself for a moment. “This is all very interesting. Michael has come up with something entertaining.”

“So what card are you then, Irina?” Issei asked once Azazel’s small rant finished. 

Irina puffed up with obvious pride.

“I’m an Ace! Fufufu! As Michael-sama’s [Ace], I was given a very honorable position! Though the Lord is gone, I will continue to serve Heaven as Michael-sama’s [Ace]!”

She smiled brightly as she raised her arm, and the symbol of an [Ace] appeared on the back of her hand.

Her eyes sparkled so earnestly that it made me smile despite myself.

Isei let out a breath.

“So, the new pillar of your life is Michael-sama.”

Xenovia sighed and then answered before Irina could.

“It is better to find a new purpose than it is to lose yourself…”

Her face didn’t show anything, but her voice sounded off.

I saw Yuki’s eyes narrow on her as her tail shifted on the couch.

Yuuto also seemed to notice something.

Irina nodded at Xenovia and smiled brightly.

“Yes, exactly! Also, Michael-sama mentioned that he believes that there will be special Rating Games between Devils and Angels using Evil Pieces and Brave Saints in the future! Currently, only the Angels of the Seraphim have Brave Saints, but eventually high-level Angels outside the Seraphim will be able to use the system as well! One day, we will be able to have Rating Games in Heaven between Angels!”

That seemed to shock everyone.

The idea of competing in a Rating Game against Angels was something that I’d never thought of.

But with our alliance and the new Brave Saint system in Heaven, it was likely only a matter of time.

Though I could easily see how it could cause tensions between our groups to flare as well.

We had been fighting for so long, and it would likely be very easy to reopen old wounds.

They would need to be very careful with the initial matches.

Having the Underworld be represented by younger Devils would likely be for the best politically.

It would remove some of the concern of bad blood from the matches.

Azazel looked impressed by the idea.

“There is still some discontent on both the Angel and Devil side regarding our alliance. We spent far too long at war for people to just accept peace because their leaders said so. There is still hate and mistrust on each side. But it seems that Michael is preparing a way forward for us. A Rating Game between different factions would act as a way to vent rather than allow conflict to escalate internally. It will have to be handled delicately, but it’s not a bad plan.”

Sona nodded at that.

“A controlled expression of tension would certainly allow grudges to be settled beneficially. As entertainment and battlefield practice.”

“Yes,” I said quietly. “If it works.”

Azazel nodded at my comment. 

“Then... would it be possible for us to fight Angels in a game?” Ise asked.

Azazel tilted his head.

“Maybe in the future. But it would be a little while. Something like ten or twenty years from now. That seems realistic to me.”

Ise visibly deflated.

“T-Twenty years...”

I smiled at him and shook my head.

It may seem like a long time to him now, but for Devils and Angels, that timeline was not especially long.

For Ise, who still looked at things from the frame of a human boy, that was an extremely long time.

Yuuto, on the other hand, didn’t look discouraged at all. 

“Then it sounds like something worth looking forward to.”

Gasper’s box began to tremble.

“I-I don’t know if I want t-to fight Angels… C-C-Churches are still scary…”

I looked at him with concern.

We may be in an alliance with Heaven, but they still were carrying out hunts against vampires.

The last I had heard, the vampire clans had been approached to discuss their inclusion in our alliance, but those talks were still in the early stages.

In the meantime, the Church is continuing with its hostile stance against vampires.

They were still teaching their followers that Devils and Fallen Angels were evil and monsters, despite the fact that we were in an alliance.

It is only for the general public of humans and their bottom-level agents, due to it being very hard to change a religious doctrine overnight.

It would be very difficult for the Church to explain to its followers that the creatures they have depicted as evil and their enemies since the Church’s inception were now their allies.

Michael-sama had explained before that God’s system is in a delicate state, and if there was a large loss of faith, then it would be a serious issue for Heaven.

They would have to very slowly adjust their teachings to accommodate their new allies.

“That’s enough complicated talk. We can leave that for later. Right now, let’s start our welcoming party for Shidou Irina.” Sona said with a small smile.

“Everyone!” Irina said, drawing everyone’s attention to herself. “In the past, I had only looked at Devils as my enemies. I had four hot and even eliminated some of them. But with our new alliance in place and Muchael-sama requesting that I get along with all of you, I want things to be different now. I want to get along with all of you and hope that we can be friends! I will do my best as a representative of Heaven and the Church! So please take care of me from now on!”

She bowed after smiling brightly.

Any tension left in the room vanished. The rest of the student council came into my club room to join the welcoming party. 

The room quickly became louder and more lively. 

Before the peace summit, I never could have imagined an Angel bowing to me and asking to be friends.

It was a bit surreal to see.

But it was real, and she was a member of my club now, so I was responsible for her.

I looked around the room at my peerage.

Asia was already smiling more naturally now than she had all day as she spoke to Irina and Xenovia.

Xenovia remained close to Irina, and she seemed to want to spend time catching up with her friend.

Yuuto was talking to Shinra and Meguri-chan, Sona’s [Queen] and [Knight], about our Rating Game. 

Gasper had tried to retreat and hide, but had been caught by Sona’s [Bishops], Hanakai-chan and Kusaka-chan, and forced to talk to them.

Ise was talking loudly to Saji, who laughed and said something back with a sneer. 

Akeno was talking to Yuki and Yura-chan, Sona’s [Rook]. 

After saying something, she smiled widely at Yuki, who rolled her eyes at her while Yura looked confused.

Koneko was getting snacks while Nimura-chan, Sona’s other [Pawn], was doing the same.

When I had first taken the Occult Research Club as my base, it had only been a place for my peerage.

Now the leader of the Fallen Angels came and went.

And now I had my first member who wasn’t a part of my peerage.

It felt burdensome.

But at the same time it was difficult not to feel a certain pride.

I had been asked to shoulder something important.

Onnee-sama had said that this would be an example of how well the alliance was working.

A way to show people that we were and could work together and coexist.

He had said it only as an example and a way to keep me from complaining about the extra work he was giving me.

But he was right.

My club was a sign that our peace could last.

And I would make sure that it would.

I let out a quiet breath and smiled.

“Welcome to Kuoh Academy, Irina.”

She beamed at me immediately.

“Thank you, Rias-san!”

________

Yuki

I waited until Irina’s welcome party was over before I approached Xenovia.

She had something that had been bothering her since Irina showed everyone her Angel wings.

I thought I knew what the issue was.

She had been struggling with the fact that she had decided to become a Devil for a while.

It wasn’t something that she had been hiding.

She would occasionally mention that she had been too hasty when she chose to become a Devil.

And she viewed herself as a fallen member of the Church despite being the one who was cast out for learning the truth about God’s demise.

The consensus in the group had been to leave it be and to let her come to terms with her new life on her own time. 

But right now, I didn’t think that I could leave it be. 

Xenovia was the type of person to internalize her issues and not show her pain to others.

She would likely act normally and hold it in until it became too much and she broke down somewhere alone.

So as the party was ending and people were beginning to leave or clean up, I approached her.

“Xenovia, would you be able to come with me for a bit?” I asked as she was putting away some of the teacups that had been left out.

She paused while carrying too many teacups at once.

“I can after we finish cleaning up here,” she replied.

I turned to Rias, who was talking to Sona-Kaichou across the room. 

“Buchou, would it be alright if Xenovia and I left early before the cleanup is finished?”

Rias paused mid-sentence.

She looked at Xenovia before looking to me.

I know that she had noticed something going on with Xenovia too.

Hopefully she would let us leave so that I could try to help Xenovia, or at least understand exactly what’s going on with her.

Rias nodded.

“That’s alright, Yuki. We are almost done cleaning the club room,m so it would be fine if you two head out.”

I turned back to Xenovia.

“There, now we can go,” I said.

Xenovia shrugged.

“Alright, let’s go then.”

She turned to Issei, who was walking past, and handed him the stack of teacups that she was holding.

He struggled to take all of them without dropping any of them.

“Why do you guys get to leave before we finish cleaning?”

“Because we’ve both been helping clean since the party ended and weren’t goofing off with Sajin-san for the first fifteen minutes,” I replied in a dull tone. 

Issei shook his head and grumbled to himself about favoritism as he carried the teacups away. 

“…Where are you going, Yuki-senpai?” Koneko asked as she moved one of the sofas back into position.

“I just wanted to talk to Xenovia-san for a bit. We will meet you back at Issei-san’s house, so you don’t need to wait for us after you finish here.”

Koneko nodded and set down the sofa before moving to help Gasper-kun with cleaning up the snack table that had been set out.

I turned back to Xenovia.

“Let’s go then.”

She nodded.

We made our way to the door, and I held it open for her after stepping through. 

I began to lead her through the old school building.

We walked in silence for a short while until we reached a specific door. 

It was my old room.

The one that Rias had assigned to me when I first joined her peerage.

I opened the door and stepped inside, and Xenovia followed me in and shut the door behind her.

“I just need to grab something, and then we can talk about why I wanted you to come here with me,” I said as I walked to the bed.

I crouched down and grabbed a box from underneath my old bed.

I pulled it out and, after wiping off the dust that had gathered on it, stood and turned around.

When I turned back to Xenovia, she was finishing taking off her shirt and was reaching towards her back towards the clasp of her bra at her back.

She paused as she saw me staring at her.

She noticed the confused expression I was giving her.

“I figured I would get ready while you were busy,” she said casually.

“…Xenovia-san, why would you need to get naked?” I asked slowly.

She tilted her head.

“So that we can practice making babies. Unless you wanted to make one for real.”

I sighed as I realized that it was partially my fault for bringing Xenovia to a bedroom without any explanation.

I still shot her a glare, though.

“What is it?” She asked as she noticed the look I was giving her.

This wasn’t off to the best start.

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