Chapter 48

Castiel P.O.V.

"Castiel-sama, it is time to wake up." I heard a sweet voice saying very quietly. I then opened my eyes and saw Serenity's face looking at me. Is it this late already, I don't even remember when I went to sleep last night. "The Sitri's peerage is almost here."

At THAT I jumped in a startled fashion. Sona and her peerage are coming here? But this is my ho… forget that, I am still in the bunker/training area of Sona.

"What time is it?" I asked, dreading the answer.

"It is close to 7 PM, you went to sleep just three hours ago." Was what she said.

Did I really got so lost in my training that I did not even realize the time? Really? Wow, this has not happened since when I reached the mid-class when I was 10 (a few weeks before I met Seryu and understood how weak I was and am).

After that, I decided to prepare myself for all the nonsense that Sona is going to give me. Knowing her she will be overly pissed by the fact that I missed school, again, and this time without a good explanation. Oh well, I will only say the truth to her and hope for it to be enough.

I doubt it will.

I went home and in the way could not help but ask Serenity.

"Since when were you there, I did not even notice you?"

"I was there since the start. I hide myself using presence concealment, an skill that I absorbed after the fusion between me and Hassan of Serenity was completed. I am not capable of reaching her level yet, but I am working on it." She said, and I must say that it is impressive.

Presence concealment is a skill that every assassin-class heroic spirit has, and it allows for an assassin to hide in plain sight. It makes it so that it is virtually impossible for someone to detect you when you activate said skill, but killing intent is still possible for others to feel so it is better suited for sneak attacks and spying… or so was what the teachers back in the Tower taught me.

As heroic spirits, they have a set of skills that all of them have by simply existing and one such skill is this one, the only one that has it is Assassin-sensei and he always made it appoint for me to understand how dangerous it is.

If Serenity can use such skill now it means one thing above all else… I am so RELIEVED that she is my ally. I mean, having a fighter such as her is great but having a fighter such as her as an enemy NOW that she knows presence concealment is simply horrifying. I feel bad for the next bastard she wants to kill, and I am honestly tempted to send her to 'go see' one such being (green hair, narcissistic pervert piece of shit that I want to kill one of this days, he likes to Sully holyH maidens for sport, the classic devil bastard).

Anyway, I decided to ask her further.

"And about this fusion, are you sure you are feeling alright? There isn't anything painful, nothing to worry about, is there anything I can do to help?" I asked a bit distressed. Anything related to the soul is dangerous to an abnormal degree and if there was something like that happening to me I would be terrified and I cannot help but feel the same for her.

She looked at me and a healthy tint of pink colored her cheeks when she said.

"N-no need to worry. I am doing just fine here, seriously no need to worry yourself."

As she said that I calmed myself. If she truly felt fine then ok, but at the first sign of anything going amiss I will take her to the Tower and not let her get out until she is healthier than me!

After that we walked in silence, just enjoying the moment. That is only until we got home and were bombarded by a thousand questions non-stop by Miku as Emily and Lugh already imagined why I did not appear earlier and Okuyasu was used to this sort of thing from his own training as well.

Apparently Miku was feeling down because I was not there, which caused a bunch of students to react to try and make something to make her happy, which caused problems throughout the school, which caused Sona to call in Miku and Lugh (which was selling compromising pictures of the other girls in exchange for money, no overly compromising poses but enough for her getting quite a hefty sum and becoming an idol for the perverted trio).

At the end of the day, there was barely any actual studying throughout the school and Sona was pissed at me. I-I think I will not go to the training area of theirs today, if I leave things to calm down it will probably be better for everyone.

I just hope I don't piss Sona off even more right no… shit! I forgot to fix her training area. I don't remember how I left there, as when I woke up I was close to the exit door and I just stood up and left and was so focused on practicing and testing my theories that I did not really see what happened around myself.

Will it be a problem? Meeh~~, it will probably be fine. How much damage could I have even caused anyway?

///---///

Sona P.O.V.

This day has been awful! Just a bit more and the school would have gone down in an inglorious fie, all due to some student trying to make something ridiculous, not that there wasn't an explosion or two so I suspect some of the students wanted to burn down the school. Apparently, the students in chemistry class were not paying attention to what they were doing due to their talk about 'how to make Miku-sama happy again!'.

Bunch of morons that don't think about the problems they will create.

At least now I have somewhere to release some of this pent up rage and discomfort I felt throughout the day.

As I opened the doors to the training area I already have some ideas that I need to test about how to combine some of those runes with my water elemental magic. The effects are very promising and if everything goes well I and my peerage will have a much better debut in the youth gathering in one month.

However, such thoughts were completely ignored after I saw the state that my training area is now. There are dozens of holes, many scorches and frozen areas, a huge three right in the middle, and some areas that are full of gashes that could come from claws or swords.

In the name of Satan and all that is evil, how the hell did things turn out like this!? What happened here? Who could do such a thi… CASTIEL!

///---///

Castiel P.O.V.

Yep, definitely no problems at all.

After I managed to calm Miku down I went to make dinner, and have my first meal of the day. As I was cleaning the dishes before start cooking (because everyone refused to clean A SINGLE PLATE) I decided to talk to Miku due to being the only one around. Emily and Lugh are watching a movie, Serenity went to take a nap (she did not sleep at all so as to guard me) and Okuyasu is taking a walk outside so as stretch his limbs.

As I was talking with Miku she asked a question.

"How was your life when you were younger?"

I stopped to think a bit and then I started talking.

"It was a complete and utter mess. There were so many things that I needed to know and understand, from fighting bare-hand, to different forms of magecraft, survival, miscellaneous items and their uses, monsters anatomy in case I had to fight them in the future, and also learn about politics and etiquette. I had to visit all sorts of places and meet with many people, some were good while others were terrible to even be around. But if I was to put the one thing that has always been nagging at me since I was little, it would be my mom." I said, the last part leaving my mouth without me even noticing.

"Now that you mention it, who is your mom?" Miku asked as she is probably curious in knowing who is her 'mother-in-law'. Well, she will be disappointed.

"Never met her. As soon as I was born she left and never bothered in communicating with me again. I don't even know who she is as no one wanted to tell me, which is probably for the best since I might have done something like look for her and if she rejected me back then I would be devastated." I said shrugging my shoulders.

Miku stared at me with a shocked expression, but after a while, she calmed down and asked.

"Do you feel lonely?"

I looked at her as if she was an idiot for even asking.

"No, no I don't. I admit that when I was little whenever I saw Yuno or Emily with their mothers I would feel sad, even envious, but I had long since ended that. I had others that looked after me and cared for me, who cares if my own mother did not bother with me if I had someone else that did. It is her loss, as I will make the Tower so big, so strong that even her will have to look up to me and regret that she turned her back to me." I said my innermost desire, no, not a desire. The ultimatum I made for myself years ago.

Seeing Miku distressed face I could not help but say to her.

"Sorry, it seems like I was to direct with you. It is just that, this is very personal for me and I rarely ever say this to anyone. I myself don't know why I decided to tell you this, but you don't have to worry. I will take care of this myself so as to not let you or the others to get hurt because of my decision." I said with what I believe to be a reassuring smile.

And I will do it. No matter how hard it will be.

And the next step is who is showing up right now from the Gremory teleportation symbol.

From it came out Rias (who was clearly distraught and with many bags under her eyes) and Grayfia. Well, I can't really expect Syrzechs as it would put the Japanese Pantheon on high alert if a high Leader-class came, it would be an overall bad idea to say the least.

"Emiya-sama, it is good to see you in good health." Grayfia said giving an elegant bow that was mimicked by Rias.

"And it is good to see you both in good health as well, but even though you must have come for serious issues would you two give me enough time for getting changed and ready." I pointed to the sink that was clearly being used right now. "I was just finishing to clean the dishes to make dinner, but that can wait for some time." I said so as to explain my attire. I mean, I am all wet and there is soap still on my hands so I am clearly in no conditions to start this talks about the alliance.

Grayfia nodded her head, and Rias did to even if much more rigid in comparison.

I then went to my room to get changed. I put a formal clothing since my combat clothes are still under repair (that fight with Magma Dragoon really put my uniform on bad conditions/fully trashed). Following that I looked myself in the mirror so as to use some of those Buddhist mantras to better focus my mind, it may seem like a joke but the Tower does have some connections with a few Buddhas and they did share these mantras that helped to calm and clean the mind.

For other factions and groups, such mantras would be seen as secrets to not be shared, but the Buddhas are really great guys, honest, simple and love to share their teachings of peace and love… as long as you do not overly provoke them. When they turn into Asuras, well there IS a reason why such peace-loving group is considered one of the groups that no one dares to go against.

As I finished reciting one of those mantras my mind was clean and peaceful again, I no longer was with the talk I had with Miku about… THAT in the back of my head. I need to be better, to make this alliance work and to make absolutely sure that the Tower get the biggest amount of benefits out of it.

After that was done I went to see our guests. The two were sitting on the couch and Rias was doing some small talk with Lugh, Emily, and Miku while Grayfia was doing her best imitation of a statue (and quite a good imitation at that), but as soon as I entered the room things took a more solemn turn. Now was the time to finish the talks and conclude the procedures of the alliance, the Tower did give its part of the deal and now it is time for the Gremory clan to give theirs.

And so they did, quite easily in fact. No need to haggle as I thought would happen, they just did as they had agreed previously without any complaints. They even marked a day to the members that offended the Tower to make a public apology. It is amazing, I thought it would be so much more difficult but with this, I can be relieved that the Tower will get stronger.

As the political discussions and agreements came to an end Rias, that was mostly quiet throughout all of this, blurted out.

"Please help me." She said bowing her head.

.

.

.

.

What is happening? What did the fuck happen to make Rias so desperate as to blurt out this words right after the alliance was validated?

"What is it that you need?" I asked, 70% worried about whatever happened and 30% curious about what is the problem.

Rias looked at me with her eyes turning slightly red.

"It is about Gasper. He has not woken up since the day of the match. No matter what we do he continues unconscious and all he does is a grunt of pain from time to time, but even that is getting spaced out more and more." She said in an almost crying voice.

Hearing that I also got worried. If this keeps up who knows what is going to happen to him.

"Do you know anything about what is happening exactly?" I asked. The others barely even know the little guy so it is mostly me that is worried.

"All we could identify is that it is something pertaining his soul. The reason for this to happen and what exactly is happening is beyond what we can understand. Even though we as devils do know quite a lot about souls we are more focused on turning souls and there are even some that know how to damage them we, in the end, know next to nothing about healing a soul, but the Tower is different! You guys have experts in all areas of the study of the soul so if there is any place that can help my precious Gasper is you guys. Please. Pleas-" She was about to go on her knees from how desperate she was, however, I stopped her.

"There is no reason for so much pleading. We are allies now so it is natural to help one another." As I said that Rias face expressed so much relieved that it was painful just to watch.

Afterward, I went together with Rias and Emily to Rias place so as to go see Gasper (Grayfia returned to the underworld as she was here just for the necessary procedures and could not stay here much longer in fear of provoking the Japanese Pantheon).

Normally Gasper should be on a proper clinic in the underworld while receiving the best treatment, however, since Rias talk about making her own decisions for herself Syrzechs considered better to keep her and her peerage in the human world as much as devilish possible.

As we entered the room we were called to the room where the patient was. Gasper was in bad condition. He was sweating a lot and his face was in a grimace that would just not leave his face. I approached him and did some structural grasping to see how his condition was going, and it was truly bad. It was like his soul was divided into two sides and instead of fusing one was fighting the other. I also noticed that while one soul had much greater vitality the soul itself is quite weak, meanwhile the other soul barely had any life force but the strength of that soul was many times greater.

If this continues this way for much longer he may create some permanent damage to his soul that in turn would not only stop him from ever growing stronger it would also be possible for him to never wake up.

"There is no time to lose! Let's transport him right away." As I said that I started drawing a magic circle on the floor. The objective of it is not for teleportation directly to the Tower, the seals put around the town would block that, but it serves to something else just as good.

This magic circle is a signal, one to make the identification of the exact coordinates much easier. I then took out my phone and dialed for someone that could help us right now.

"Onii-sama, I missed you." A happy voice said on the other side of the line. I had to contain a slight smile that threatened to appear on my face, she is just so herself at all times that it makes her cute to me… even if her clinginess could see some work.

"Kuroko, I just draw a location identification circle here in Kuoh. I need you here as soon as possible." I did not even hear a response just the sound of… something, there is no good way to describe this sound except for the fact that there is something.

And in under three minutes, she was already here, hugging me. Normally I would react in a disciplinary fashion, God knows her father indulges her and her mother is normally too busy to discipline her in modesty or good sense, but considering how fast she came here all just because I asked I could not help but smile at her. She did not even need to know my reason for asking, she just needed to be asked and she dropped everything for me.

She is also very pure; in her own particular way, she is extremely innocent.

She then started rubbing herself at me and her hand approached certain regions that she should not approach until we are in a proper relationship AND she is older. My eyebrow started twitching when I saw that.

You know, she might be pure. I will give her that. But of innocent she has nothing. At. ALL.

As I stopped her movements in trying to feel me up I hide my slight amusement to her antics and took a more serious face.

"Kuroko, I need you to teleport Gasper and us to the Tower as quickly as possible."

Kuroko looked at me and all the mischief and pervertness evaporated from her face. Replacing that was a serious and focused eye as she nodded and started drawing an extremely complex magic pattern that would combine with the powers of her sacred gear so as to let her teleport from here to the Tower.

Normally such thing is close to impossible due to the bounded fields surrounding the Tower and Kuoh, but Kuroko's sacred gear is just that useful. The only reason why she even needs this magical circle is to better locate the spatial coordinates and to help energize her sacred gear, otherwise, she simply isn't capable of moving more people at this distance all at once as she doesn't have enough energy reserves.

As she was finishing this I went to the side of Gasper and started using some blessings on him. Nothing too powerful as I don't know what effects it would have, just some to pacify the soul inside him. I could not chant the Buddhists mantras as they need to be chanted by the person himself. If he was awake and could chant this it would probably help him.

When the blessing (Calm Mind, Clean Spirit) was put in Gasper it was clear to see that his condition got much better. Rias relieve when seeing Gasper's face no longer on a pained grimace was clear to see. She probably saw this as hope for the best.

A few minutes later Kuroko completed the circle and started focusing on the teleportation while me, Rias, Emily (that was talking with Rias and calming her down), and Gasper (that I put on my arms as I am constantly putting blessing power on him) entered the circle. Instants later the space around us was distorted and right after we were all on the Tower.

We rushed to go see Illya as she is among the very best in treating souls (she was the head of the Sister's project of creating artificial interlinked souls after all). Getting on the homunculi department we saw Illya doing what anyone could expect when on a Thursday night, watching anime with a bucket of popcorn. Normally I would not dare to interrupt her (I know how she reacts when someone does that, and I am not interested in being beaten up by Berserker), but desperate times call for desperate actions.

"Illya-Onee-sama, please help us!" And that was all I needed to make her leave the anime and run toward me with sparkling eyes.

She LOVES to be called Onee-sama, and whenever I need something from her I call her that. But it only works when it is not training time so there is that.

Now, all we need to do is let Illya look after Gasper to see what is going on exactly. If there is someone that can help him is her.