Chapter 5 – Holy Unholy (Part 3)

Author's Notes:

So I had actually intended to release this chapter the day after I released part 2, but I made a really stupid and clumsy mistake that kept me from doing that.

Let's just say that water+laptop+clumsy hand = much rage and deep sadness

Anyway, after finally getting it fixed, I went back to look over the chapter one more time and then decided that I didn't like it. That's why I decided to just redo it. But considering that I'm pretty busy on the weekdays and that I don't get back home until fairly late, I'm just too tired to do any serious writing by that point. That means I only really have time to seriously write during the weekends, which in turn means that this chapter took way longer to write than it should have, especially given its short length.

Also, to those who pointed out the little continuity error involving Akeno in my last chapter... Oops.

I'll go back and fix it when I can/want to. It'll be soonish, hopefully. Honestly, I'm just kinda too lazy to go back and deal with that right now, especially since in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't even matter.

There's another thing that I want to address. There have been more than a few reviewers who have mentioned that Saito should be able to use pretty much anything to activate his Gandalfr powers because almost anything could technically become a weapon, or something similar to that.

I feel that for those people it is necessary to point out that the Gandalfr's runes do NOT work that way in canon. Only things that are specifically designed, created, and meant to be used as a weapon will activate his powers. It's why during the fight with Foquet early on in the series, the sword that Kirche bought for Saito does not activate the runes – that sword was not meant to be used for fighting, but rather as a beautiful ornament.

To put it simply, to use the Gandalfr's powers, Saito needs a weapon, not just something that could be theoretically used as a weapon. So while a gun will activate his powers, a fork won't.

Speaking of the Gandalfr's powers, I expect that there's going to be quite a bit of people who will disagree with my description of what it is capable of. To explain, that's just my own personal theory on what the Gandalfr's abilities and limits are. This is mostly to reconcile with how in canon Wardes explicitly stated that his movements were that of an amateur, and that all he really had was his speed, after they sparred.

Anyway, with this, the whole Kokabiel arc is finally over. Huzzah!

-Story Start-

"Saito," Rias said. "Are you sure you want to do this? It might be wiser to not proceed with this course of action."

Saito shook his head in disagreement as he looked with resolution at the door to his own home. To his left was Rias; to his right, Xenovia.

"No," he said. "They've been endangered once already. Now the safest thing to do would be to at least warn them of the threats that they might face in the future." He sighed with a hint of reluctance. "Let's go."

-Scene Break-

There were three specific moments in life that Yuriko rated as her saddest and most heartbreaking times.

The first was when she had been six years old. A neighborhood bully had stolen her favorite doll and ripped it to shreds. Although she had received some consolation by severely beating up said bully, it did not change the fact that her most treasured belonging at the time had been irreversibly destroyed. She never did end up forgiving that person.

The second was when her mother had died prematurely of disease. Yuriko had been thirteen at the time; her mother had only been thirty-eight years old. Although, as bad as it had been for her, it had been even worse for her father. He had loved her very deeply and with all its heart. When she died, it had almost broken him. Though he eventually recovered, he never did end up remarrying, choosing instead to remain a widow for the rest of his life. Even to this day, in his old age, he never failed to visit her mother's grave every weekend with a bouquet of flowers and fragrant incense.

The third, and by far the most mentally and emotionally exhausting time, was when her son, Saito, had vanished. On the day of his disappearance, Yuriko had initially not been too worried. Saito had previously informed her of his intentions to spend the day with his friends after picking up his laptop from the computer store where it was being repaired from when he accidentally dumped a cup of water on it. She had thought he had simply lost track of time and forgotten to notify her and Gennai, her husband and Saito's father, of when he would be returning home.

But as the sun set and the hours passed by without a single call or text message, Yuriko had become increasingly worried. When calls to her son's cell phone failed on account of it being out of range, she had begun contacting as many of Saito's friends or their parents as she could, asking if they knew where Saito was. None had been able to reply with an answer that was not some variation of "I don't know," and it was at that point that Yuriko began genuinely panicking.

No matter who she called, no one had seen him. The police had been contacted, but the furthest they were able to learn in their investigations was that the last known place he had been in was that computer store. No amount of searching, even with all the private investigators and detectives that had been hired, had been able to turn up a single clue as to where Saito had gone to. Even the nationally famous detective, Mouri Kogoro, had been unable to reach anything more than a dead end in his investigations. It was almost as if he had simply disappeared from the world.

Which, Yuriko knew, was definitely impossible.

The initial couple of weeks from thereon had been the hardest for Yuriko. She had been so paralyzed with fear and worry and shock that she had barely slept or ate or even moved. The only thing she did was weep for her lost son. Fortunately for the both of them, Gennai had been able to function far more properly than she had during this time. He had been the one to call her boss and inform him why she was unable to come to work. Had it not been for that, she probably would have been fired for not showing up to work without warning. He had also been the one to prepare the meals and make sure that she remained properly fed, so that she didn't starve herself to death. But despite that, it did not mean that he had suffered any less than Yuriko. If anything, he had likely been suffering even more. Even though his son had vanished, he had not had the luxury of being able to show his grief and worry. With Yuriko already doing just that, he had been forced to take care of her in their time of fear and sorrow.

However, it was the time long after those first few weeks that was the most frightening. By that time, Yuriko was once again on her own feet. She had mostly recovered from her shock and returned to work and her daily life, and she and Gennai had settled into a routine of sorts.

That routine was essentially everything they had used to do, but without their son in their lives.

At first, Yuriko had not realized it but for a dim awareness in the back of her mind. It was only when she had decided to clean off the dust that had collected in Saito's room that she truly became conscious of it.

She had become accustomed to living without Saito.

That scared her more than anything else in the world.

The fact that she had not only stopped grieving for her lost son, but also had reached the point where she had become used to living day to day without him was like a splash of cold water, and it nearly broke her heart all over again. It was at this point that Yuriko remembered that when Saito disappeared, it had been with his computer. Thus, in a desperate and very probably futile attempt to connect with her missing son in some way, she had taken to sending him at least one email every day. She would write about simple things. She would tell him that she had made his favorite food. She would ask him how he was doing and if he was eating well.

But most of all, she would ask him where he was. And she would ask him to please return home.

If nothing else, it helped to soothe her own tumultuous feelings, though not as much as she would have liked.

And then, after a year of emotional hardships that had left Yuriko feeling very much dead on the inside, her son had returned to her. Such feelings of joy and happiness were unlike anything she had ever felt before, and they had openly wept and celebrated Saito's return.

It was then that Saito had told them what had happened to him. He had been kidnapped by a foreign human trafficking ring and taken away to another country. After some time, he had managed to escape and slowly make his way back to Japan.

He had refused to go into any details further than that, for obvious reasons. Such a thing was clearly not something he would want to talk about freely, not even with his parents. Both Yuriko and Gennai had decided to be patient and wait for Saito to get over his trauma and talk to them about his past year. Whatever it was, it had clearly changed him. He was no longer the cheerful, happy-go-lucky boy that he used to be. Now he was closer to that of a retired soldier dealing with the ghosts of his past. He slept less easily than before, tossing and turning at night, and he no longer laughed like he used to. And though he was clearly attempting to readjust to a normal lifestyle, he was just as clearly having a difficult time of doing so.

He had definitely changed. He was hardened now, in some ways. Broken in others.

However, Yuriko would never have expected that such changes would also involve him coming home with two beautiful foreign girls on either side of him. The reason for their being here was as of yet unknown to both her and Gennai. Indeed, Saito had insisted that they sit down at the dining room table before he would explain. It was for that reason that Yuriko found herself sitting down with Gennai at her side, facing Saito who sat between the redheaded and the oddly blue-haired foreign girls.

What could this be about?

-Scene Break-

Saito wondered how to first break into what he was about to reveal to his parents. There was so much that he could talk about, and telling the entire story could easily take up the entire day and then some. On the other hand, there was much to that story that could be left out or truncated for the sake of expediency. Hm... How to go about this?

Ultimately, it was his mother that first broke the silence and who provided him with a way to ease into the topic.

"Saito," Yuriko said. "Why don't you introduce us to your friends?"

"Huh?" Saito blinked as he looked up at his mom. "Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's a good idea. Mom and dad, this is Rias Gremory," Saito gestured to the redheaded devil to his right. "She's my senior at school and president of the club that I'm in. And this" - Saito motioned to the blue-haired Knight - "is Xenovia. She's a transfer student from Italy, and she recently joined the club."

"Pleased to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Hiraga," Rias said with such polite manners, bowing her head as she did so, that her noble upbringing was clearly evident.

"Ah, me too," Xenovia added quickly, imitating Rias by bowing.

"It's a pleasure to meet you both," Yuriko replied, bowing slightly in greeting as well. "Thank you for taking care of my son. Now, I don't mean to be rude, but may I ask the reason for yours and Xenovia-san's visit today?"

"That's not rude at all," Rias smiled. "But I believe that Saito wished to explain that himself."

Rias glanced aside at Saito and gave him an encouraging nod. Saito sighed deeply and nodded back very slightly in response.

"Mom, Dad," Saito began. "There's no easy way for me to ease into this, so I'm just going to be really blunt about it: I'm a devil."

"Saito!" Yuriko said, looking shocked. "I know that sometimes you don't listen or do bad things, but you are by no means a devil. You're a very good boy."

"No, Mom," Saito shook his head. "I mean that I'm a literal devil. Like the kind from Christian lore."

Yuriko and Gennai both frowned at Saito and furrowed their brows in bemusement.

"You mean like the ones with the horns and pitchforks and batwings?" Gennai said slowly, using his index fingers to pantomime a pair of horns on his head.

"Yes," Saito said. "Well, sort of. That's a pretty bad stereotype. We don't have pitchforks, and I have yet to see any devil with horns. We do have the batwings, though."

"Some devils do, actually. The pitchforks, I mean," Rias interjected quietly, causing both Gennai and Saito to look at her incredulously. "They're very few in number, though," she quickly added defensively. "And they mostly live on the rural outskirts of devil territories."

"Right..." Saito said slowly, forcibly tearing his disbelieving gaze from Rias and back to his parents. "Oh, and by the way, Buchou and Xenovia are also devils."

Saito's mother stared at the three devils with a blank look on her face as she opened her mouth dumbly, then closed it. Then she opened it again and sighed as she leaned her head against one hand and shook her head.

"Saito," Yuriko said as she looked back up to gaze very evenly at her son. "What club did you say you were in again?"

"The Occult Research Club," Saito answered promptly, and then instantly regretted answering without prior thought.

"The Occult Research Club," Yuriko repeated. She looked towards Rias and Xenovia with a frosty expression. "I think you two ought to get going home. I'm sure your parents are worried about you." She looked back to her son. "As for you, Saito, I think it might be best if you go lie down and rest. We'll talk later about your choice of extracurricular activities, and about other more... wholesome alternatives."

Saito quietly groaned as this time it was his turn to rest his head against his hand. It appeared that his mother thought that he was being delusional and that it was somehow Rias's and Xenovia's fault. Technically, he supposed, she was sort of right, at least as far as Rias was concerned. The only catch was that he wasn't being delusional in the slightest.

"I had a feeling you'd say something like that," Saito said exasperatedly as he stood up from his seat and took a step away from the table. "So here's my proof."

From his back, leathery, chiropteran wings, jet black in color, sprouted with a sound reminiscent to that of a rushing wind. They unfurled in order to fully reveal themselves to the spectators, and then they flapped a few times in order to prove that he possessed control over them.

"S-Saito," Yuriko stuttered in shock, while Saito's father simply stared with jaw hanging open. "You have batwings!"

"Yes," Saito nodded. "Though I'm still not able to fly with them yet. It's really hard."

It was something of a stickler point for Saito. Flying was a thrilling experience and it was something that was beyond humanity's own physical capabilities. Precisely for that reason, it had always been one of mankind's oldest and fondest dreams. It was that dream that led to the advent of planes and other flying machines, after all. However, it was also because it was something humans were normally incapable of that Saito, having been up until recently a human, was having a difficult time learning how to fly on his own. It was such a strange and completely alien action that it was like suddenly having to walk with his head and talk with his feet. In short, it was weird, and he was unused to it.

Yuriko said vapidly, "You can't fly. Yet."

"Yet," Saito confirmed. He had resolve, after all. Even if it was difficult, he promised himself that he would one day be able to fly. The idea of it was simply too cool to ignore.

Yuriko fell silent for a moment. Then she said, "Saito, I'm sure that prop took-"

"Oh, come on!" Saito cried out exasperatedly, causing his parents to look at him with alarm. "Sorry. It's just that trying to rationalize something that doesn't make sense like that is so overdone. Face the facts, Mom. These are real. I'm a devil."

"B-But that's impossible!" Yuriko declared. "Devils don't really exist!"

"They do," Saito said firmly. "As do angels and monsters and magic and other stuff like that."

"Wait," Gennai said in a serious tone. "Son, are you telling me that the bogeyman is real?"

"Uh... Sure?" Saito said even as he glanced towards Rias for confirmation. She responded with an unknowing shrug.

"Shit. Father lied to me," Gennai muttered to himself. "Time to start checking under the bed again."

"I don't believe this," Yuriko said, shaking her head strongly, as if doing so would wake her up from some nonexistent nightmare. "Everything you're saying is not possible. I don't believe any of it."

"Mom..." Saito sighed wearily. "Fine. You want more proof? Buchou, could you give a demonstration, please? Actually, could you go ahead and bring those stuff that we were talking about before?"

"Of course," Rias replied.

Without even bothering to stand up, Rias held out a hand to the side, causing a large crimson magic circle to appear in a spacious clearing in the dining room. From there, as if somehow melting upwards through the floor, very large wooden crates began to appear one after another until there were four such boxes in the room with them. It was only once they had all fully materialized that the red circle beneath them disappeared.

"What's in those boxes?" Yuriko asked suspiciously.

Instead of answering, Saito walked over to one of the wooden crates and opened its lid. Filled to the brim inside of it, there were many smaller plastic boxes of varying shapes and sizes. Saito selected the smallest box amongst those that were placed on the top and brought it back to the table. Once more taking his seat, Saito opened the box for all those at the table to see.

"Saito!" Yuriko cried out with eyes nearly bulging out of her eyes. "T-That's a-"

"Yep," Saito said as he pulled out a pistol from the plastic crate, in which the dull olive-brown colored firearm had been set on a mold. "It's a gun. A Glock 22, to be precise."

Yuriko's eyes flicked from the weapon in Saito's hand, then back to the rest of the wooden boxes.

"A-Are you telling me that all those have guns in there?" Yuriko said in a surprisingly meek voice.

Saito shrugged almost carelessly. "I'm not sure, honestly. When I asked Buchou for some guns and weapons, I wasn't very specific on what kinds of weapons I wanted. Honestly, I didn't think that she would bring this many." He looked towards Rias. "Buchou, do you know what else is in those boxes?"

"The majority of the contents are ammunition," Rias answered. "But there are also many more guns of different types in there, as well several other armaments. Besides that, there are many explosives, as well as several kinds of nonlethal weaponry."

"Impressive," Saito whistled in admiration as he set the pistol back into its container.

"Impressive!?" Yuriko shrieked, her face completely pale. "Saito! You have guns and bombs! I did not raise my son to be a terrorist! How on earth did you even get your hands on those?"

"I'm not a terrorist, Mom," Saito sighed. "It's just that the kinds of enemies I'm going to fight means that I need more weapons. And like I said, Buchou got them for me. Her family is super rich and well connected in the Underworld, it seems, so obtaining these weapons was really easy for them. And since they can just teleport into the country, it's simple for them to smuggle weapons and other illegal stuff into Japan."

"You're not a terrorist," Yuriko echoed icily. "That's why you have guns and bombs in our dining room."

"Mom," Saito sighed exasperatedly. "You don't know this, but you and dad were both already taken hostage by a fallen angel, and you were nearly killed by her."

"We were what?" Gennai said sharply, breaking his period of silence.

"Yeah," Saito said. "To get at me, a fallen angel named Raynare took you two hostage. You don't remember because she put you guys in a comalike state. Also, another fallen angel named Kokabiel already almost destroyed the entire city a couple of days ago. We had to fight against him in order to stop him, and it's only through sheer luck that the people of this city are still alive." Saito let out a long breath. "Basically, what I'm trying to say is that I'm already facing very dangerous enemies now, so I need to be better prepared. And that means that I need more weapons."

At that, Yuriko looked positively terrified. "It's not your responsibility to face that kind of danger!" she declared.

"Maybe, maybe not," Saito said. "But I do have an obligation towards Buchou for saving my life. That's why if she chooses to face those kinds of danger, then I must also stand behind her and support her with everything I have."

"She saved your life?" Yuriko said, her tone surprised. "How?"

"Long story short, I was stabbed and dying of blood loss," Saito said. "So in order to save my life, she reincarnated me as a devil."

"Stabbed?" Yuriko said, horror clear on her face. "By whom?"

"The same fallen angel that took you and dad hostage," Saito answered calmly.

"That... Raynare, was it?" Gennai said in a much more even tone.

Saito nodded in reply.

"Fine," Yuriko said, suddenly sounding very exhausted. "I understand why you need weapons. But are you even able to use these? You've never had a chance to learn to use guns and weapons like this, have you?"

"I haven't," Saito admitted. "But that doesn't really matter."

"Doesn't matter?" Yuriko frowned sternly. "Saito, these are not toys; they're dangerous tools that can hurt you and others if you mess around with them without knowing how to use them properly."

"I know how to use them properly," Saito assured his mother.

"You just confessed that you've never learned to use those weapons before," Yuriko retorted.

"Yeah, but I have the power to be able to use any weapon I touch," Saito told her. "It's magic. Literally."

"Oh, so now you're a wizard, too?" Yuriko said sardonically.

"No, I'm not," Saito said. "The truth is, Mom, I kinda lied about what I told you before. About my disappearance, I mean."

"Lied how?" Yuriko glowered at him through narrowed eyes.

"I was telling the truth when I told you that I was kidnapped," Saito said. "It's just that I lied about who it was that kidnapped me, and how."

"And who was it that kidnapped you?" Instead of Yuriko, this time it was Rias that had spoken.

Glancing aside, Saito noticed that Rias was looking at him very intently. No surprise, he thought to himself. He had never really told Rias the truth of what had happened to him – not even a part of it. Here, then, was her chance to find out a little more of his past.

"A mage," Saito said. "Or a wizard, if that's what you want to call it. Although, it was on accident."

"A magician kidnapped you... on accident?" Rias said with skepticism in her voice.

"There was this ritual," Saito sighed as he resigned himself to explaining the circumstances behind his summoning to Halkeginia. Or at least a very abbreviated version of it. Honestly speaking, he wanted to spare his family from any more wild and fantastical stories than was strictly necessary, for the sake of their rapidly crumbling sense of reality. For as far as ludicrousness and unbelievability went, the existence of another world such as the world of Halkeginia was something that was even more outrageous than the notion that the Earthly legends and stories thought of as myths were actually true. "The mage that performed that ritual was quite... unique, I guess you could say. Anyway, because that mage was so different from normal mages, the ritual went awry. Instead of doing what it was supposed to do, it summoned me instead. In doing so, it also gave me the ability to use any weapon."

"Hm... So that's what happened," Rias murmured thoughtfully.

"So, to sum it all up," Yuriko said slowly. "You were 'summoned' by a wizard, made it back to Japan after a year, nearly died, became a devil, we've been taken hostage without realizing it by one of your enemies, and another one of your enemies nearly destroyed the entire city." Yuriko paused for a moment, before adding, "And you've acquired enough weapons to arm an entire troop of terrorists."

"Pretty much," Saito confirmed. "And I'm not a terrorist."

Yuriko groaned with disbelief. "This is all so unreal."

"I know," Saito said sympathetically. "But you have to accept it, Mom. Everything I said is true."

"So what are we supposed to do then?" Yuriko said, a hint of hysteria dyeing her tone. "Worry for you incessantly while you go off to get involved in dangerous fights? Live in fear while knowing that we might be targeted by your enemies?" She shook her head. "Saito, your father and I can accept being in danger so long as you yourself are free from harm. We cannot condone you fighting in life-threatening battles."

"Sorry," Saito said earnestly. "But you're going to have to let me do just that. At least, though, I can make sure you and dad stay safe."

"How?" Yuriko asked.

"Allow me to answer that," Rias said as she smoothly reentered the conversation. "The truth is, at the request of Saito, I have already established some rudimentary defensive measures for your family and your household. For now, a simple but sturdy barrier has been erected to prevent any casual threat from entering your home without resistance. Several familiars have also been positioned to keep an eye on you two as you go about your daily business. Furthermore, my family's people are currently at work designing and establishing a much more powerful and effective barrier, as well as screening for bodyguards to be used for yours and your husband's protection. Rest assured, the people hired will be totally reliable and able to work efficiently from the shadows. You'll never even notice that they're there. However, if there are any issues of privacy or whatever else, please contact me and we'll discuss some sort of arrangement to allay your concerns, or to compromise if that proves impossible."

"All that?" Yuriko blinked in surprise. "Just for us?"

"For the family of one of my Peerage," Rias said cheerfully, "this much is nothing at all."

"Peerage?" Yuriko shook her head tiredly. "Never mind. It's probably some devil thing."

"Indeed it is," Rias replied. "And before I forget, I was hoping to make a request – or rather, to ask of a favor."

"And what would that be?" Yuriko said with a weary voice.

"Xenovia here has only recently come to Japan from Italy as an exorcist, before becoming a devil due to certain circumstances," Rias said. "While it would be simple to find her her own house or apartment, I feel it would make it easier for her to acclimatize to her new environment, both as a devil and as a normal person of Japan, if she can live with you all. A homestay program, if you will."

"I don't know..." Yuriko hesitated.

"Aw, don't say that, Mom," Saito spoke up. "I nearly killed her before in order to save you and dad, so I'd feel bad if you said no. This much would be the least we can do to pay her back."

"You nearly what!?" Yuriko shrieked, slamming her hands on the table. "Saito! Did you just admit to nearly murdering someone!?"

"I had no other choice," Saito said quickly, hands raised defensively. "There were extenuating circumstances at the time."

With a groan, Yuriko buried her face in her hands.

"You know what? Fine. I don't even care," she sighed. "She can live here." Slowly, she rose to her feet and began wobbling away. "Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to go lie down and rest. Maybe once I wake up, things will start to make sense again."

Once she left the dining room, Saito's father looked towards the three of them with a vaguely apologetic look on his face.

"I apologize for my wife's reactions," Gennai said, smiling slightly. "I hope you won't blame her for it. You must understand that this is all extremely shocking for her. For both of us."

"You seem to be accepting this much more easily than your wife," Rias commented.

"Ah, well, when I was a younger, I was rather obsessed about fantasy books, especially the western ones, so it's been much easier for me to adapt, I guess," Gennai admitted sheepishly. "I mean, the whole thing is still surprising, but the basic premises of Saito's situation has been used in a lot of other books before."

"I see," Rias frowned thoughtfully. "And you're all right with all of this, then?"

"I suppose," Gennai shrugged. "I still need time to process everything, though. I think I'll do as my wife is doing and go rest for a while. It was a pleasure to meet you all."

"Likewise," Rias smiled.

Gennai stood up from his chair and began walking away. As he did, Saito heard him quietly mutter, "The bogeyman... Damn. Now where did I put my old nightlight?"

-Scene Break-

"Well," Saito said drily once both his parents were gone and out of earshot range. "That went pretty well, I think."

"About as well as could be hoped," Rias agreed from where she still sat at the table. "Your father took this all surprisingly well."

Saito snorted with amusement. "I don't know about that," he said. "I think we might have ruined his ability to sleep well at night."

Rias smiled lightly. "In any case, make sure to remind your parents that everything they have been told today must be kept a complete secret, for our sakes as well as their own."

"Of course," Saito nodded.

"Good," Rias said as she rose to her feet. "Now then, I should be on my way. I have a few things I need to discuss with my brother." She looked at Xenovia. "But before I forget, let me retrieve your things for you."

Once more, Rias held out her hand, causing a crimson magic circle to appear on the ground near the boxes of weapons. Like with Saito's crates, this time a large traveling bag materialized into the room. With that done, Rias looked to both Saito and Xenovia and smiled at them.

"Bye now," Rias said. "Make sure to show Xenovia around and help her to get used to living here, Saito."

"Yeah," Saito said. "And... Buchou."

"Yes?"

"Thanks," Saito said as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "For everything, I mean."

Whatever ill feelings he might hold for Rias, Saito could freely admit that she had still done so much for him in providing him with weapons and protection for his family. The very least he could do then was to at least express a word of gratitude.

Rias smiled beatifically back to Saito, looking entirely too pleased. "You're very welcome."

With that, Rias left the dining room. Several seconds later, there was the soft sound of the entrance door being opened and then shut quietly. For a while, neither Saito nor Xenovia spoke, as if both were unsure of what to do.

"Well," Saito finally broke the silence. "I should show you to your room so you can get settled in, right?"

"Yes," Xenovia nodded as she went over and picked up her bag. "Let's go."

Rolling his shoulders once, Saito turned and began leading Xenovia to where he knew an unused guest room was located. It was as they walked that Saito thought of a topic to talk about; a question he had been contemplating ever since Xenovia had first been introduced to the Peerage of Rias Gremory as the newest Knight.

"Say, Xenovia," Saito said. "If you don't mind, can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"Well... How should I say this..." Saito scratched his head as the two began walking up the stairs to the second floor of the house. "How and why did you, a Christian, become a devil? I don't get it."

"Ah, that?" Xenovia murmured softly. "That's a bit of a long story."

"Please, do tell."

Xenovia scratched her head in an almost embarrassed gesture, before nodding in acquiescence. "After the fight with Kokabiel, I started thinking about a lot of things about my life. Namely, I've been thinking about the fact that God is dead. For if God is dead, then what did that make my beliefs? When I prayed in congregations and before my meals, to whom was I praying to? In the end, my beliefs were a lie, and I was praying to no one at all."

The girl with chin-length blue hair sighed and shrugged resignedly. "From there, I went through what you would call an existential crisis, I guess. My life, which had been dedicated to God, was in truth meaningless. Everything I had done had been a lie. When I tried to talk to the higher ups in the Church about this, for guidance, they immediately excommunicated me. That's when I decided to just do whatever I wanted. I ended up becoming a devil."

Saito paused in the middle of the hallway they were in and palmed his face. "That doesn't even make any sense!" he hissed.

"Which part of that confuses you?" Xenovia asked quizzically, cocking her head.

"The part where you jump straight from being a Christian to becoming one of the things you had previously dedicated your entire life to fighting!" Saito said with a nearly strangled voice. "Just because you decided to stop being a Christian doesn't mean that you needed to become a devil! Even if God is dead, you could have turned to a secular lifestyle or something else instead!"

"Huh. I guess I could have," Xenovia mused thoughtfully. "I hadn't really thought about that. I wasn't really thinking all that clearly at the time, anyway. You know, with the whole 'object of my lifelong worship actually being dead' thing. It was pretty traumatizing."

Saito sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He decided to drop the topic, since whatever he said now wouldn't change anything. What was done was done. He wouldn't be able to change that fact. Still, he was curious about one other thing.

"What about that other girl, Shidou?" Saito asked. "What happened to her?"

"Irina went back to report to the Church of what happened," Xenovia answered. "And to return the pieces of that fused Excalibur."

"She doesn't know about the fact that God is dead?" Saito inquired.

"Yes," Xenovia said. "I wanted to spare her of that, so I didn't tell her. Because her faith is even stronger than mine was, I'm not sure how she would have taken it."

Saito arched an eyebrow. "You're a good friend, aren't you?"

Xenovia shrugged diffidently. "Irina and I have been through a lot together. It was the least I could do, since what I did was like betraying her." Xenovia then looked away sadly, with a distant expression on her face. "I hope I don't have to fight her one day."

Saito fell silent as the two resumed their walking. He would have liked to assure the girl that such a thing wouldn't happen, but they both knew that those would be hollow words. After all, Irina was still an exorcist, while Xenovia was now a devil. So long as one of those two facts remained true, the possibility that the two would one day clash was not all that remote.

The quietness was maintained until the two finally reached the guest room. Once there, Saito opened the door for Xenovia and showed her inside.

There was a single size bed lined up against the wall in the corner of the room, while on the opposite wall there was a small closet. An old but still functional desk, which Saito recognized as the one he used to use during middle school before his parents had replaced it, was placed underneath the lone window in the room, which had its blinds up, allowing the sunlight to stream in brilliantly.

Xenovia walked around the room without making a noise, surveying it with a look reminiscent to a child who had entered a candy store for the first time.

"What a large room," she murmured. "And I get to use it all for myself?"

Saito blinked at Xenovia's words. "This is large?"

In Saito's eyes, this room was fairly average, and actually closer to being small as far as bedrooms went. From wall to wall, it took him about four unobstructed strides to cross the breadth of the room. To call this large was an overstatement.

Xenovia shrugged. "Back when I was still with the Church as an exorcist, my room was half this room's size, maybe. Plus I had to share it with a roommate."

"That's kind of..." Saito trailed off. He had been about to say that it was rather sad or pitiable, but refrained from doing so. Back then, Xenovia had done all that, endured all her training, for the sake of something she truly believed in. Then, to call that experience sad or pitiable would be an insult to the blue-haired girl, even if she had drastically changed her beliefs since that time. And that was something Saito had neither reason nor desire to do.

"Kind of...?" Xenovia cocked her head.

"Never mind," Saito said, shaking his head. "It's nothing. Anyway, I'll leave you to unpack and settle in. I'm going to go look through the rest of the weapons for now."

"Oh, I'll join you for a bit," Xenovia said as she tossed her bag carelessly onto the bed, it landing with a soft thump. "I'm rather curious about them as well."

"If that's what you want," Saito shrugged.

The two quickly left the room and went back downstairs. There, Saito went over to the wooden crate he had opened before and withdrew three more plastic boxes from within. The first one was a small square-shaped box, while the second was similar in size, but more rectangular. He stacked these two on top of the third, which was much larger than either of the other two, and was also shaped into a long rectangle. Saito set all three of them on the table, next to the pistol he had carelessly left out.

As Saito took a seat on a chair, Xenovia perched herself casually on the edge of the table. Reaching out, she took the box with the Glock 22 inside of it, took it out, and carefully inspected it.

"You know," Xenovia said as she turned the gun in her hands. "It's rather interesting that you've chosen to use regular modern weapons."

"Why's that?" Saito asked as he opened the small rectangular box. Inside, set like eggs in a carton, was a dozen M67 fragmentation grenades divided into two equal rows.

"It's just that there is no one that is heavily involved with the supernatural that uses regular weapons like these, not even humans," Xenovia answered as she put the pistol back into its box. "Not that I know of, anyway."

"How come?" Saito said. Suddenly, a cold feeling of dread filled him as he looked up from the explosives sitting before him. "It's not because invulnerability to man-made weapons is a universal power, is it?"

Xenovia shook her head. "No, that's not it," she said. "There are some beings that a lot of these weapons probably won't work on, such as mature dragons due to their naturally sturdy scales, but on the whole, they'll work. It's just that other tools and weapons are more specialized to fit their task, and therefore more effective in what they do."

Saito let out a breath of relief. "What do you mean by that?" he asked.

"Hm..." Xenovia frowned as if struggling to find a proper metaphor or analogy to use. "Ah, I know. For example, have you seen the guns and swords that most exorcists use?"

"You mean the sci-fi blasters and lightsabers?" Saito cocked his head. "Yeah, I have."

"Have you wondered why exorcists use them instead of regular guns like you?"

"Not really," Saito said. "It's because light-magic based weaponry are more effective against devils, right?"

"Exactly," Xenovia nodded. "Even with the slightest graze, a strike from one of those weapons is enough to at least cripple the average devil. Compare that to normal weapons. Because devils are so much stronger and more durable than normal humans, it's that much harder to kill a devil with a mundane weapon than it is with humans, all things equal."

"That is good information to have," Saito murmured as he closed the box of grenades and carefully set them aside. Then he drew close the large box and opened it. "Too bad I don't have access to the Church's armory."

"It would have been useful, for sure," Xenovia nodded sagely. "What gun is that one?"

"This one," Saito said as he pulled out an assault rifle and an attachable scope, "is the M16A4 rifle – the fourth generation of M16 series. It can stay accurate up to an effective range of about 550 meters. Hm..." Saito put on the scope and peered through it as he brought up the rifle in a mock shooting posture. Then he nodded satisfactorily. "Yeah, I like this one."

"You know, I have to ask," Xenovia said idly as Saito stood up to better feel the weight of his new rifle in his hands. "I kind of get why you chose these weapons, but not really. I mean, you're in the same Peerage that Yuuto Kiba is in, aren't you? If you needed more weapons, couldn't you have just asked him to provide you with whatever and however many demonic or holy-demonic swords that you needed?"

"I could have," Saito agreed. "And you know, I might still do just that. Even so, I still want these weapons."

"Why?"

"It's because as awesome as Kiba-san's swords might be," Saito said, "modern weapons still have some advantages over them."

"Eh?" Xenovia looked surprised by the answer, as if the idea that weapons made from purely human science could match or surpass magical ones was simply preposterous. "How so?"

"Well, keeping the scope of the topic strictly to guns, the first and most important advantage is range," Saito explained. "I'm pretty confident that I can shoot a gun further and more accurately than Kiba-san can attack with any of his swords. I mean, yeah, Kiba-san can make swords that can create wind and fire and lightning, but can he shoot a target precisely from 550 meters out?" Saito snorted. "I bet not."

Xenovia simply nodded her understanding, prompting Saito to continue.

The second thing is the ease of usage," Saito said. "Simply put, guns are just a lot easier to use than swords are."

"I see," Xenovia said. "That makes sense. It certainly would be difficult and take a lot of time trying to master even a single demonic or holy-demonic sword. However, isn't that a moot point? With your Gandalfr ability, how easy or difficult it is to wield a weapon doesn't matter, since you can use it all the same regardless."

"That's not entirely true," Saito said. "And the reason for that is in the peculiarities of actually wielding a weapon such as a sword compared to a gun."

Xenovia cocked her head, silently gesturing for Saito to continue speaking once more.

"You see," Saito began. "To truly 'wield' a sword, you need to know sword techniques. Whether you create them on your own or learn them from others, it doesn't matter – techniques are a must. Otherwise, you're just blindly swinging a sword around. Unfortunately, the Gandalfr's runes aren't omniscient. They can't grant me the knowledge of techniques I don't even know about beyond those that are absolutely necessary in order to use the weapon. For a sword, that only means being able to swing it. Basically, on its own, the Gandalfr's runes lets me 'use' a sword, not 'wield' one, if you get what I mean. A gun, on the other hand, only really has one way to wield it: Point and shoot. Unlike a sword, I don't need a ton of different techniques to wield them properly. I just need to aim the gun and pull the trigger. That is why firearms are a much easier way for me to get stronger compared to using Kiba-san's swords."

Xenovia only frowned at Saito's explanation. "I understand what you're saying," she said. "But I'm not sure if I like it. I've seen you use the sword. I think that abandoning it just because you have an easier way to fight seems rather cowardly."

"Oh, don't get me wrong," Saito quickly said. "I'm not abandoning my sword." Not only had he and Derflinger had been through too much together, there was also the fact that the sentient sword was just too damn useful against magic to discard. "That's why I've been searching for a good teacher to help me get better with swords. In point of fact, just before I found you and Irina plotting to steal money from innocent people" - Xenovia blushed and punched Saito in the arm, causing him to wince and rub the spot - "I had been looking into a dojo owned by a fairly well known swordmaster," he said as he opened the third box. Inside the box was a strange steel contraption. Attached to it was a very small pistol. It was a .357 Derringer; a small gun that could hold only four rounds. Two leather straps were fitted onto the device, allowing it to be attached to the arm.

"And how has that been working out for you?" Xenovia said as Saito strapped the gadget onto his right arm and noted how the entire thing was of a size where it could easily be concealed underneath his sleeve.

"So far, not so well," Saito admitted. With a quick and sharp upward flick of his wrist, the springs built into the device prompted the pistol into Saito's awaiting hand. "Oh, that is so cool!" he exclaimed excitedly.

"What are you going to do then?" Xenovia asked, smiling at Saito's enthusiasm. "If you can't find a teacher, you're going to have to start searching for an alternative, no?"

"Maybe," Saito agreed. "But I did receive some promising information from that last martial artist. He told me that there's a master of weapons that lives in this city that no one in all of Japan can compare to. They say that she is so skilled that even in all the world, there are less than ten people who can compare to her."

"That sounds pretty impressive," Xenovia said. "Although, it also sounds over-hyped."

"It does, doesn't it? I'm just hoping that her skill matches at least half of her reputation," Saito replied as he unstrapped the sleeve gun and put it away. "I'm planning on checking out the dojo she lives in after I finish up here. Did you want to come along?"

Xenovia shook her head as she got off the table. "No. I'm going to go meet with Asia later."

"Ah," Saito nodded. "All right then."

"Now then," Xenovia said briskly. "How about we take a look through the rest of the boxes? I want to see what else you have in there."

"Yeah," Saito agreed avidly. "Let's do that."

With eager hands, the two devils then set about using the next couple hours to look through the rest of the crates' contents.

-Scene Break-

It had been during the sparring match with Viscount Wardes back in Albion, the floating island country of Halkeginia, that Saito had first realized it: Although the runes granted him the knowledge and ability, the potential necessary to use and wield any weapon that he touched, that was all it did.

In other words, the runes did not teach him how to fight.

Certainly, they granted him superior physical capabilities and instincts, tools he could use to fight on a much higher level than what would be normally possible, but relying solely on those was the same as brawling like a wild beast, rather than fighting like an intelligent and skillful warrior. Against normal foes, such a crude and primitive method of combat was enough, but against those who possessed much greater power than what was the norm, it was not.

That loss against Wardes had only reinforced that fact in a lesson of pain. For all the advantages of speed and strength that Saito had possessed over the mage, Wardes had still been able to easily predict and counter his attacks due to the fact that he had had too many unnecessary movements, thereby reducing the efficiency and efficacy of every one of his moves.

Over time, as he accrued more and more combat experience, he had managed to improve himself, filling in his deficiencies, or at least compensating them. However, that was only partially the case. Even with all of his experience, it did not change the fact that he was primarily self-taught, and that there was still so much that he could learn. For although he said he was "self-taught," all that truly amounted to in his case was him bumbling his way through one fight after another and learning for himself what did and did not work – an agonizingly slow process, especially given that he could not afford to take too many risks during life-and-death fights.

This had been even further impressed upon his very body during the brief amount of training he had received from Agnes Chevalier de Milan, Captain of the Tristain Musketeer Corps, after he had lost his Gandalfr's runes.

Without the benefit of the Gandalfr's powers aiding him, Agnes had absolutely demolished him in every single one of their spars, except for one. Even then, in that singular exception, Saito still couldn't help but feel that it was more due to the fact that the Musketeer Captain had been going easy on him, rather than him actually being the superior fighter.

The truth was that although they were both largely self-taught, Agnes had been on the path of a warrior for much longer than Saito had. As such, she was simply better than him. Even now, in terms of pure skill, he was her inferior by far. It was only with the power of the Gandalfr that he could be confident that he would be able to defeat her in a fight.

Thinking on it, that had always been the case in Halkeginia. As the Gandalfr, almost none of his enemies had possessed a physical advantage over him, or had even come close to being on par with him. However, in that other world, nearly all of his enemies had been humans. Humans that, no matter how much magical prowess they might possess, were still physically normal people.

Here, back on Earth, that was no longer the case. His enemies were no longer mere humans. Already, he had faced fallen angels and an immortal devil. Who knew what else the future would throw at him? As such, his current level of power was no longer enough.

So then, what was the best way to rectify that problem? There wasn't any one single answer to that. Learning magic was still a possibility. The only problem was that he had an extremely lacking level of demonic energy. To train it, strengthen it, and raise it to a practical level would take many long years. Saito simply did not have the patience for that, as he needed something that he could use either now or in the near future.

There were easier ways of solving that problem. Obtaining weaponry was one, and that was something he had already done. That was the immediate solution. The other was the solution that would take some time to reveal its fruits.

If what he lacked was skill and techniques, then all he needed to do was to work on improving his skill and techniques.

But this in turn begged the question: How? Now that he was back in Japan, what was the best way for him to become a better fighter?

After consideration, the answer had come naturally to Saito.

If what Saito had learned from Wardes was that he had much room for improvement, then what he had learned from Agnes was where he should direct the thrust of his training. That direction could be summed up in just two words.

Martial arts.

Japan was a country that was steeped in martial culture, both in the unarmed and weapon styles. As such, finding a teacher in order to receive a formal education in swordsmanship was not a difficult thing at all. The only real difficulty was finding a teacher that met his standards.

He had first started searching for a good master of the sword after the match between Xenovia, Irina, Kiba, and Issei. In order to do so, he had used the simplest and quickest, if primitive, method of testing each so-called master: dojo challenges.

In retrospect, it amazed Saito just how many of the masters had been willing to use real swords instead of mere wooden replicas when challenged to do so. The amount of masters that had refused to fight with one were few enough that he could count them on one hand.

By entering each dojo and challenging the master to a fight, Saito had taken the measure of each fighter. Unfortunately, none had met his expectations. Granted, he had cheated and used his Gandalfr's abilities, so it was only natural that they would be unable to beat him, even if he did hold back. But being able to defeat him in a fight was not what Saito was looking for. All he wanted was to find someone who was at the very least on par with Agnes in terms of skill. Only then could he be assured that he would be able to learn something worthwhile from them. Thus far, none had come close to matching the Musketeer captain.

However, after a string of fruitless dojo challenges, he had finally come upon what could potentially be just what he was looking for. It was in his last challenge, just before he had accidentally stumbled across Xenovia and Irina begging for money in the streets, that he had been informed by the defeated master that there was a true master of weaponry in the city. Though the man had told Saito of this in spite, as if to tell him that no matter how good he was, there was someone even better, it was only good news to Saito's ears. After all, something like that was precisely what Saito was searching for.

According to the man, that master he spoke of, although she was a woman, was nearly unparalleled with all weapons in all the world. In fact, there existed only seven other masters that were widely acknowledged to be on par with her. Amongst them, though, none matched her sheer versatility in weapons. Only one swordmaster was hailed as her better, though of him Saito had been unable to learn much of beyond stories and rumors.

It was for those reasons that she was called with respect that bordered on reverence as the "Prodigy of Swords and Mistress of All Weaponry." Ordinarily, Saito would have disregarded it as a needlessly long and flamboyant title, one that was all flair and no substance, but the more he heard of the weapon master's numerous exploits, the more hopeful he became.

Thus, it was in order to test that woman that Saito now found himself in front of the large and ominous wooden gate of a traditional Japanese home. The grounds of the residence was surrounded by an eight-foot tall stone wall that prevented any casual observer from spying on the inside. Looking up at the sign that was pinned above the thick and old oaken doors of the gateway, Saito read the single word that had been engraved onto it.

It read "Ryouzanpaku."

-Chapter End-

End Notes:

Yes. This is my answer to all those wondering exactly how Saito is going to power up in order to keep up with the rest of the DxD cast. It is something I've been planning to do since before I even began writing this fic, when this was still just a mass of congealed ideas. You see, at that time, a thought came to me: "How would Sairaorg Bael compare with the masters of History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi?" Simultaneously, I also thought "How would the Gandalfr compare to Shigure Kousaka?"

Instead of choosing just one to write about, I eventually decided to just use both of them.

I'm hoping this won't be seen as a huge jumping the shark moment, because I do have a plan in mind for how I want this to work. If it is, and if the fic ends up crashing and burning because of it... Oh well. That's just too bad.

Furthermore, I do in fact have canonical basis from HSDK for bringing it into a supernatural setting, such as the world of DxD. Admittedly, that basis is a simple, one-line throwaway joke early on in HSDK that wasn't even part of the main dialogue, nor was it ever meant to be taken seriously, but what if it wasn't?

That aside, here's a small spoiler: One of the main reasoning I'm going to use in-fic is going to use a story from the Bible, and also perhaps a few other religions or mythologies. Maybe. Bonus points to whoever manages to guess what story it is, though. Hint: it's from the Old Testament.

Next time, on Through the World Door: House of the Supermen

… Actually, that's a lie. That's going to be out on the chapter after the next, which will be titled: Halkeginia (Part 1)