Prophecy and Settlement

Gremory Mansion (Rias's Room)

'I guess it's about time to get started. I'll make my first stop to get the Sephiroth Graal. Its karmic weight is the highest, so I imagine stalling would be a bad idea. Based on the feeling I'm getting, there's likely to be malicious parties targeting that artifact soon. Let's see, where do I start when hunting this artifact?'

Rias sat down on her bed and began to meditate. Invoking her power of prophecy and focusing it on the Sephiroth Graal, images began to appear.

A bleeding mountain. Blood flowing like lava from the continuous stream of sacrifices being made.

A sleeping blond haired girl, chained up to the center of a ritual alter. Blood being funneled from the mountain, to the alter, and finally to a glowing light in her chest.

The scene shifts and a number popped into her head 30 days.

The girl's soul is ripped apart and a great evil is revealed to another. The potential for world destruction becoming the focal point of his existence.

The Accumulated energy blooms from the sacred gear and the girl's form is disintegrated as a legion of evil is revived.

The scene shifts back to the present

Miles away from the bloody mountain, another blond young woman stands on a broken ledge. "They should be around here somewhere. I need to get to them quickly before it's too late" As she finished that line her green eyes narrow at the mountain.

With those words said, a final word popped in her head. Ally.

With that, the vision came to an end.

'From what I can tell, I'll need to go to that mountain tomorrow at the earliest. I'll likely need to meet up with that blood haired woman and go in together. Based on my understanding of the current world powers, she shouldn't be a necessity to break in. With Akame and Esdeath's strength, on top of my own, I shouldn't need her. While the new girl may be powerful, so are we. My best guess is that she's a pillar candidate. In that case, she would be extraordinarily useful.

What was concerning was the fact that another force is currently imprisoning the current wielder of the Graal. If I had to guess, she's being fed power to fuel a grand invocation of the its power, a mass resurrection and a search of some kind using the principles of life as a medium. The result would kill her, while the killer would have the knowledge he seeks and an army. Honestly, with the amount of power already in her, the only way I'd be able to safely disconnect her from the ritual would be to make her a pillar.'

Within her mind, an approval was given.

'Looks like I'm on point for the most part. This prophetic power is pretty useful. I'm honestly wondering how we Gremory's even lost the ancestors who inherited it.'

What she didn't realize was that the power of prophecy comes at the cost of lifespan. Each prophecy uses quite a bit and even the unconscious use in and out of battle requires years per use, depending on the duration. Even if the inheritor was being conservative, they would still run out quickly. Most devils who inherit this power don't live past 200 years. Not only that, but it's a very rare power to inherit; due to its great power, only 1 out of 10 pure blood Gremory devils would be expected to inherit it. Even then, it's not obvious for most. Rias herself had lost half her original lifespan by this point due to her excessive use over the course of her decade in the sin lands. She just hadn't noticed due to demons retaining their ideal form indefinitely regardless of remaining lifespan. She was just fortunate that her new-found divinity gave her an unending lifespan. As long as she isn't killed, she won't die or age. She is probably the only Gremory in history to have unlimited use of the gift.

'Alright, I'll head to the outskirts of the mountain and start searching for that blond haired girl.'

50 Miles South of Sanguine Mountain (Land of Pride)

Rias felt she was getting closer. Her 'vision' was telling that this girl was close. She had been walking and teleporting since daybreak. The convenient part of her 'vision' is that she basically had what amounted to a real-life mini map. Truly, her ancestors must be rolling in their grave for such petty use of their sacred power.

As she approached a settlement, she noticed something odd.

'They're all vampires. There's not a single other race walking around and based on their signature, they should be purebloods. Well, if the sacred gear holder's a Dhampir, it would make sense why her life didn't seem to carry meaning.' She mused. Vampires were creatures who valued blood purity even more than devils and that's understating the point.

Being pureblooded was the base requirement for citizenship. No matter how royal someone's blood was, if they had an ounce of another race's DNA in them, they were serfs at best. This primarily stemmed from both the power gained from blood purity, hatred for other races due to various cases of exploitation, and the fact that mixed-bloods have a strong compulsion to obey others in their line. The only way out of it is if they sell their soul to someone. Then, that person would be the only one who could command them.

The funny thing was, this effect actually stems from a curse delivered by the Biblical God. Vampires like devils weren't always as tame as they are today. In the past, they were a menace. Unholy abominations who preyed on those unlucky to be in their path. Over time, they mellowed out. That doesn't invalidate the curses issued during those darker days though. This would be a good race to free.

As she thought of this, she noticed her 'vision' was pointing her toward a compound in the center of the city. Deciding that detection was undesired, she decided that she may need some help. She thought back to a small clearing she passed by a few miles back and teleported to it.

Clearing a Few Miles away

Once she appeared out of the teleportation circle, Rias called Akame and Esdeath from their slumber. They had completed their reincarnation into pillars a couple of days ago. She just didn't feel like explaining their presence to everyone in Gremory mansion.

Raising her right hand, two small marbles emerged. One was pitch black with streaks of red and the other was snow white with streaks of blue. The two marbles hovered away from her and expanded until they were large enough to encompass the two stored inside. After a bit, the light from the large spheres was absorbed until the two girls could be seen. From what she could see, their eyes took on a reptilian appearance, much like her own, but with the same color they originally had. They also had the same horns she did. They must have reincarnated into the same species as herself, which made things easier.

Rias smiled and walked to hug her new pillars. "It's great to see you two again." As she reached the two disoriented pillars, her arms rapped around their shoulders, pulling them into a hug. "How do you feel?" Esdeath's face morphed into a shit-eating grin, while Akame's bloomed into a rare genuine smile.

"I feel so powerful! The battles we could have! They prey we could hunt! Becoming a pillar was probably the best decision I've ever made!" Esdeath exclaimed with obvious glee. The fact that she would be able to hunt for eternity was something she was glad for. The idea of some upstart beating her due to old age was nauseating.

"The pain is gone. The constant torment my body has suffered from reaping lives with Murasame is gone" Akame's smile brightened. "It's as if it's a part of me now, as if I've merged with it."

"That's actually not too far off." Rias explained. "From what I've come to understand over the course of the past week, Murasame's power has been infused into your body, your energy, and your spirit. The blade itself can likely be summoned as a focusing lens for amplification, but it's no longer needed. You'll have to work on binding the power to your intent and gaining control, especially if you want to procreate. It shouldn't be too hard; I've already stored most of mine in a small marble-like core. It should be even easier for your since it's your power to begin with." Akame nodded.

"Alright, what's the situation?" Esdeath asked. Akame turned to Rias for the answer.

Rias took the next 30 minutes to explain the situation so far.

"So Akame, do you know how we can get inside without drawing attention?" While she could ask both of them, Esdeath would've suggested a louder approach; an approach that wasn't on the table till they could find out more about the situation.

"If you can give me the approximate location of the target, I can move in myself and either bring you to my location or teleport them out. Although that has the potential to give away our position, it should give us enough time to get more details out of the target." Akame stated with her stoic persona in full effect.

"There is a compound in the center of the city. It has a more worn-down appearance than the surrounding buildings, and has a regular guard detail. My initial assessment is that they've been detained in a prison. Now, the target shouldn't be a vampire, but I didn't see what she was exactly; it's probably why she ended up detained here. She has golden blond hair and emerald eyes. She was wearing a silver suit of armor over what appeared to be a royal blue battle dress. From what I felt, there should be small traces of divinity in her aura. From what I could tell, she may be a demi-god, but we'd have to get more information to know for sure."

Akame nodded and proceeded to start toward the city. She wouldn't use teleportation to get there. Unlike Rias, she was significantly more careful. She was a trained assassin after all.