Chapter 51

Castiel P.O.V.

"I don't know what you are talking about." Was the answer of this woman. Normally I am not good at being mad or attacking a woman, but she is an exception.

She used to go to the Tower quite a lot as she has come from the same world as the others there. She is also good friends with Bazet and usually looks like she is a good-natured person due to her drive to help others.

However, this is all superficial. She is the type that loves to see trouble happening and takes pleasure when treating others from serious injuries. She is a true sadist and most of all, she did not pay back the money she 'borrowed' from us. I still remember how she asked me for the password for my bank account once to take out some cash for helping her when she needed. I foolishly believed because I was but a kid and thought that she was one of my 'nice onee-sama's'.

The end result was that she took everything from my account, including what I had accumulated during my previous birthdays'. A whopping 100 thousand yen. The same happened with Lugh and Emily, it was before any of us understood what we had and the actual value of cash. Lugh was smarter, but all Caren had to do was throw to her a 'diamond' and the girl gave her the password. Fun fact is that the diamond was a fake.

This might have been what made us friends back then, nothing is quite as good to create friends as a mutual enemy.

"You owe us the money you stole. Now give it back!" Was what Emily said. Her rage is to do with the fact that without the money she had she was 'bullied' by Yuno as Yuno used to go buy her favorite ice cream and eat before her with me. The fun fact is that I used to eat it together with Emily that mark, but then I started eating it with Yuno instead. Nothing much has changed to me, but the amount of 'Aaahh~~'s I had to deal with was quite huge.

I still don't see how that was bullying her, even though Emily once told me it was.

"I still don't remember." Caren answered Emily, all with an uninterested face. "Would it be the money I got for my kick-starter?"

"I don't know anything about a kick-starter, but I do know that you owe each of us 100 thousand yen. Now GIVE. IT. BACK!" I said, all while glaring at her.

I want my money.

And that is what I got as she took out of her back her wallet and tossed 200 thousand for each of us.

Huh, that simple? But-

"With this, you will stop talking right? *Sigh*, if you don't have anything interesting like an arm broken in over 45 places please don't make such a scandal." Was what Caren said.

"I-if you have the money, why did you took it from us back then?" I asked, feeling a bit embarrassed as the others in the room were looking at us funny.

"Oh, I have this much money now due to the amount I got for the kick-start. My idea worked well enough and now I am the most powerful due to being filthy rich. Money is the true ultimate power in this world." Was what she said, losing the uninterested look for a sneer.

Well, at least I got my money back with interest. Receiving what she owed me calmed me down enough for me to take a step back. No point in fighting anymore, but I will NOT buy anything for her.

After that Rias invited me to sit down on a couch she prepared. Unfortunately, there would be nowhere to sit for the others, but that is easy to solve. First I asked for Lugh and Miku to go back to class as the two have very sensible positions (Miku is from a totally different Pantheon that is not allied or very friendly to either the devils or the church and Lugh told me she stole one of the Pope's hat, reason being that it was a treasure). Following that, I decide to use the alchemy I learned.

First I took out some metal strings made of a special alloy that is very conductive of magic, then I proceeded to use my alchemy to expand and transform those strings into a full sized couch made of interconnected strings. It even looked beautiful and majestic, making me prefer to sit on it with Emily, Okuyasu, and Serenity.

Now there were clearly three sides here. One being the devils, other the Catholic church and the last being us from the Tower. Let's see what is happening exactly.

"Huh, to even dare use that blasphemous magic in the presence of the church. You guys from the tower are clearly heretics." Was what a blue haired woman said. Hearing this made me get a tick mark on my forehead, but I choose to ignore it for now. I need to know why they came here before anything else (the money part excluded, that was simply justice).

Another girl, this time with chestnut hair in pig-tails (that I noticed that Issei has been staring at) decided to scold the blue-haired woman from before… sorta.

"Xenovia-chan, please don't create trouble for us." She said. The other two were just looking at it all with funny faces, or at least the man was Caren did not even bother to look at it.

"B-but Irina." Xenovia said, but was faced with a glare from Irina. The two started glaring at one another so I decided to do what any person in my position would do and say something to dispel this awkward moment.

"Don't worry about it, twin-tail-san. She is just acting like most high ranked Christians did throughout the history and being a hypocrite to others." And dispelled it by creating another even worse.

And THAT made the church group look at me, the only difference was how Caren was looking with mild interest in contrast to the offended and angry looks from the other three.

"What did you say? I think I heard it wrong, so do you mind repeating it again?" Xenovia asked

I looked at her with a refreshing smile and was about to open my mouth to express how much I admire the Catholic church's hypocrisy over history, but it was at that moment when Rias decided to give a loud cough and interrupt our discussion.

Shame, it is always fun to see how those indoctrinates assholes to deal with the facts.

"Let's stop right there and return to the subject from before, shall we?" Was what Rias said.

Xenovia kept her glare at me and then said.

"Sure."

Sighing in relieve Rias gave space for Sona to continue. Rias might have gotten better at diplomacy but she still is not that great at it.

"So, what is the reason for the four of you to enter this town even though it is Devil's territory. Just a warning, if the reason is not good enough or if we judge that you might be a threat you will be removed from here with prejudice." Sona said.

Nodding in understanding the one to take the lead was Irina (Caren is the most senior but she would probably let something offensive out, 'accidentally').

"We have information that a precious item from the church was stolen and the thief has come towards this town."

Is it just me or is everyone among the devils looking at us. And the cold sweat is rolling down my back while one thought plagued my mind: 'Please don't tell me it was Lugh, just please don't let it be her.'

Taking her eyes away from me Sona asked.

"And do you know who did it? And what is the item?"

Nodding at the question Xenovia was the one to open her mouth.

"The one who stole from us was the fallen angels" okay, that might be tricky to deal with. If a fallen angel did this, it must be quite powerful and be a warmonger as bringing some precious holy item here to Kuoh is tantamount to trying to make a war between the three factions detonate. "and the item stolen are four of the Excalibur fragments. The mightiest swords there are."

At that, I and Emily started laughing out loud.

The glare being sent to me by the others was intensified, but I couldn't care less. Especially when I just heard such a good joke.

"Hahahahaha, haha, haaa… that was a good one. I didn't know that you guys from the Church were so funny." I said, removing some light tears from the corners of my eyes.

"And what was it funny from what I just said?" Xenovia asked with a cold tone.

"The part of it being the 'mightiest', that lie was just so funny." I said, trying hard not to laugh again, and failing quite a bit.

Xenovia was about to open her mouth to yell at me when there was another cough, this time from Sona, so as to return the mood back to what it was.

"And what do you want from us exactly?" was what Rias asked.

Xenovia is the one to answer.

"We want you guys to not interfere with our actions when retrieving the Excalibur fragment" I snickered again, the joke is still funny. "And to not get in our way."

Rias and Sona were about to agree, but I interfered.

"Don't agree to it yet you two. You got to think carefully." The two looked at me confused, but seeing how I turned into my more serious persona the two decided to listen to what I had to say. I turned to the exorcists and said. "Can you tell us who exactly took the over glorified toothpicks?"

The tick mark on the three younger ones was quite fun to see. Then it was the male that answered.

"The one that stole it still is unknown but it is considered that it is at least a mid ultimate-class fallen angel. It would be necessary to be at least this strong to steal such an item from such a heavily guarded place." Well, that only applies if you exclude Lugh. She could enter almost anywhere and steal anything like it was nothing.

Now, focusing on what he said, there is even more reason to not listen to what they are requesting.

"If it is so, I must say that there is no way for us to allow for you guys to move as you want and not interfere at all." I said, causing both Sona and Rias to look at me interested. Well, it was just for a while as both of them understood my reasons soon enough.

"And why is that?" Irina asked.

"Simple, because you guys are too weak to deal with such an opponent and the risk of collateral damage for the town due to your failure would be simply too big." I said.

This time Xenovia stood up and took out her weapon, pointing a sword at me. I simply continued looking straight at her.

"I can tell you right now, this sword of yours is simply not enough. Even if you use the other is still would fall short of making you guys a match for a mid-ultimate-class. And that is the bare minimum of strength that your opponent will have, for all you know it might be a fucking super-class that did it. Do you really think you are strong enough to deal with it? And without causing massive loss of lives?" I said.

At that everyone else realized what I meant. The guys from the devil side understood and paled a bit, probably imagining how many lives could be terminated if they simply accepted such a proposal. Meanwhile, Irina and the male exorcist were looking nervous at my idea. The two probably did not think of that possibility. Caren is looking at it all uninterested, she knows how to handle herself and probably came here more to deal with the injured than anything else, she does like that after all.

"We will deal with it when the time comes." Was what the only one that did not seem to have understood my meaning said. Xenovia really seems like the impulsive type, and her next few words proved that. "And how could you guys help if you are weaker than me?"

The smile that was played by everyone excluding Xenovia, Irina, and the male exorcist was interesting. It was the type you use when you hear someone saying something stupid.

Me, weaker than her? Please, even when I was high mid-class I was still stronger than her. Now it is even more out of question, getting to high-class is a huge jump in power that is difficult to trespass after all. So much so that even though I reached the absolute limit of mid-class I was only capable of fighting high high-class enemies that were not particularly strong in the class.

"And what would I need to do to make you understand the facts?" I asked.

She smiled at me and said.

"A battle. It will be three versus three to see who is the stronger side. Each of your group will be sending one of yours to face us. What do you say?"

I turned to Rias and Sona, wanting to know what the two think. The two of them thought for a while and then said.

"I agree, the one to fight for our side will be Tsubaki." Was what Sona said. I nodded to her and then said to Tsubaki.

"I am happy to fight by your side, Tsubaki-san."

Her face went red and she could do nothing but look all around with an incredible interest in the wall on the side. Seeing this Sona released one of her frustrated grunts and decided to take some tea to calm down, she must be worried about Tsubaki's safety. Let's calm her down a bit. "Don' worry Sona-Kaichou. I promise to protect Tsubaki and not let anything hurt her."

Hearing this Tsubaki turned to me and stared very hard, before her nose start bleeding and she passed out, again. Sona saw all this and said.

"You are doing it on purpose, no other explanation. You are clearly doing it on purpose!" She said with an angry tone.

"It is always fun to see your handiwork Castiel. And this one seems easy to tease too, very funny." Said Caren with a slight chuckle.

I could only look confused. Was it my fault? How? I did not do anything much so why are these two saying that?

"So… who is going for your side Sona-Kaichou? Tsubaki has been bad for the whole day and she even passed out right now so I don't think it could be her." I said, trying to ignore the strange looks some of those in the room were giving me.

"Saji, I chose you." Sona said. (writer's note: if it wasn't clear enough I will say it now, I am a fan of Pokemon)

"Hai, Sona-Kaichou." Saji said, excited about doing something more instead of just training. I did not train him in particular, but if memory serves me right he had a very useful sacred gear and I taught him one of my curses to complement its skills.

Nodding towards him I turned to Rias, and she said.

"If there will be just boys on the other two sides, how about dear Issei?" Is what she said. The brunet put a smile on his face and the two of us did a high five. What can I say, the dude has made progress and is working hard enough to become stronger.

I can respect that.

As the decision was made we formalized the bet if they win we will not interfere. If they lose (which they will) we will interfere. With that set, we went to a backyard that the Gremory group was using for their training are. There we went to the two extremities, one being Xenovia, Irina, and the male exorcist and the other being me, Issei and Saji.

As we reached there Xenovia and Irina released their weapons, Xenovia with Excalibur Destruction and Irina with Excalibur Mimic. Those two were truly badly made, while it is true that the holy energy of a shard from Excalibur is amazing they barely seem to have touched it properly. Look at Excalibur Destruction, for instance, the energy of the shard inside it is the second biggest on the whole Excalibur but the energy transmission and use are as good as someone using a bazooka to smash things.

These holy 'swords' are a total and complete waste of materials, or at least is what my father used to say after analyzing it. He even proposed to forge them anew, back to what it was supposed to be and possibly even stronger to the point that it would be comparable with Saber's sword.

The higher-ups from the church refused due to it being a 'blasphemy to the great holy sword of the church', which is total BS since the sword was from the Pendragon family originally and when the sword broke the church managed to steal most of its shards.

Just looking at those blades makes me mad.

Interrupting my line of thought someone talked to me.

"Hey, why are you fighting? Shouldn't you be sending someone instead?" Was what Saji asked. I took a deep breath to calm my mind, looked at him and sad.

"I was planning to, but there is someone that is demanding for me to prove the inferiority of those badly made mystic codes that they dare put the name of Excalibur." I then removed my weapon for this fight. One that was transmitting to me one all too eager desire for showing off and declaring its superiority to any form of Excalibur.

Clarent really is too full of pride, huh.

As the sword appeared in my hand the pressure I liberated reached a whole new level. This sword was a holy blade much like the Excalibur from Saber, it doesn't hurt devils just by its presence so the devils had no problem due to me being close to them. It would be beneath it to hurt others when it is not needed.

This sword would never hurt those it considers allies or subordinates, it considers itself to be a king among swords and only to be wielded by someone it considers a king as well. This is why t normally resists me when I try to wield it, even though the resistance it is giving is getting weaker since this last mission I had. Normally I would not choose it to any serious fight like this (not because I don't want to but because it would try and go against me using it), but the eagerness of it is so that I don't think I have much of a choice.

Feeling the fluctuations of holy energy that the sword was liberating I felt calmer and more eager to this fight. The devils and the ones from the Tower were looking at me with some degree of awe or respect, such was the level of Charisma that the blade exuded and gave to its wilder. There was a different response on the church side.

"Since when did such holy blade exist? I don't remember hearing about it." Was what Irina said.

"I don't know it as well, but with this amount of holy energy… it must have been stolen as well." Xenovia said, almost making me trip on nothing. Is this what she is thinking? Seriously? "Irina, change of plans. We will retrieve the holy blade back to where it belongs!" The sweat drop on my back was even larger this time.

It 'belongs' to me from the start, so why is she looking at me as if I am a thief? Does she think that all holy blades belong to the church? Is she dumb, or is she innocent and foolish in how the world works?

Independent of that I turned to the male and said.

"Before we begging, can you tell us your name? We already got the names from Irina and the dumb-dumb there" "Oy!" "but we still don't know yours." I said, taking no small pleasure in how that Xenovia girl reacted to my words.

Serves her right for calling me a thief. Humph.

"Oh, did I forgot to introduce myself? Sorry about that, and about this fight. You guys saved my life earlier but here I am fighting against you, I am really sorry. And my name is Allen, Allen Walker." And as the male exorcist said that a sacred gear appeared forming a white-hooded cowl and sleeve of holy energy which covers his shoulders and right arm, while his left arm and hand become slender and black, clad in armor and razor-sharp claws. A masquerade-style mask is always affixed to the cowl, which takes on various configurations and appearances.

The energy that it liberated was quite great and I realized that this gear was powerful, and if the holy energy it is releasing is anything to go by it is probably a prototype Longinus like the ones from Kuroko and Yuno.

It seems that there will be some challenge after all, especially since he is not yet using a balance breaker. A predatory smile surfaced on my face as I thought one thing.

This will be fun.