Scarlet 28

Scarlet 28

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Commissioned by Sivantic

Wordcount: 2500

…

I never had much contact with others in school, but now when it came to lunch I found myself surrounded.

“Say ‘aah’ Ise-kun.”

“W-wait, you fed him just a second ago, Rias-chan! It’s my turn.”

“If only you could be as aggressive when you play chess, Rias, you’d be much better.”

“Ne, Ise-kun, won’t you partake in mine instead? I made it just for you.”

Rias, Asia, Sona, and Akeno crowded me in the Occult Research Club’s room. Whilst Koneko and Kiba sat on one couch on the opposite side of the table at the center of the room, I was surrounded on all sides. Asia took to my lap. Sitri was on my left, while Rias was at my right, and finally Akeno sat on the back of the couch. Rias’s breasts pressed against my right arm. Sitri’s toned form was glued to my left arm. Asia sat across my legs and her thighs were soft, while the back of my head lay right on that spot where thigh-highs squeezed the thigh for Akeno.

I was losing my mind through sensory overload and could barely do anything but open my mouth, chew, and desperately try to control my libido whilst covered in incredibly cute and attractive girls my physical body’s age.

I bet all ecchi romcoms would have something like this, if mangaka wouldn’t literally die by having to draw this in every panel. LN writers could probably pull it off if they had the balls, though… but they wouldn’t be LN writers if they did have balls (lol).

A part of me wondered how Ddraig managed to get parentheses to exist in my brain. The vast majority of me was focused on not getting an erection in front of Koneko’s blank, judgmental stare.

For a few minutes, I was fed from multiple angles, very aware of the fact that I was being fed by everyone with their own chopsticks because of the blushes on their faces when they took their own bites of food. However, thankfully, I managed to find my tongue when I was no longer hungry anymore and frustration over needing to restrain myself overcame libido.

Thank god I wasn’t into denial play, or I’ll be stuck in that state of being bombarded in every direction until I cracked.

“Everyone… I really appreciate what you’re doing for me. I really want it. I really, really want it more than any of you think… but nothing is happening inside the school, during lunchtime.” I picked Asia off my lap and sat her next to Rias to block my girlfriend’s amazing features from making contact with me. I picked up Akeno, did my best to ignore her squeal of delight at being carried with ease, and placed her down on the sofa between me and Sona. Sona noticed what I was doing and was confused, until she realized that I was getting away from both her and Rias because they’d been plastered against me and doing the most damage. All sizes are good to my teenage brain, Kaichou, my libido is ludicrous. “And, we’re supposed to be talking about what’s happening now that the Church knows you’re here and that Asia is here, too.”

Rias nodded at my words and decided to stand after placing the lunch she prepared on the table. She summoned a simple blackboard from a magic circle and had some chalk fly to her hands. With deft movements, she wrote a simple diagram on the subject that I had questions for.

She tapped on a facsimile of the typical church, electing to not use a cross because that would harm most of the people in the room, and circled it.

“The Church has received the orphans that we rescued as well as accepted the Holy Swords that we recovered. We considered keeping them, especially since one of our own was harmed in the process of its retrieval, but that would’ve caused problems down the line.” Rias had drawn a simple high school’s outline with batwings to represent Kuoh. The exchange of swords from the school towards the Church was a simple arrow with the swords being conveyed away from one to the other. Another arrow was above that with the symbol for peace over it. It was simple, making me wonder why the blackboard was necessary, until Rias began to write some more. “However, as you said, Ise-kun… they know both the Pillar families of Sitri and Gremory and Kuoh are present here along with Twilight Healing.”

Rias drew arrows stemming from the school towards two towers and a set of angel wings and a halo, which Asia blushed at the sight of.

Sitri spoke whilst Rias drew.

“Even with our offering of peace, we represent an immense force on the mortal world with our bloodlines, influence, and peerages. As you know, we are beyond minor and Stray Devils in terms of power, which the Church is more accustomed to fighting.” I nodded at the bespectacled young woman’s words. A small frown was on her face and she crossed her arms as she thought deeply on the subject. “It’s the same as finding two armies on your doorstep with incredible mobility and might. Not only that, but those two armies easily work together and have two powerful, human Sacred Gear users at their disposal. One that can heal most wounds and the other a Longinus.”

Hmph. The modern Church is weak. They used to send entire crusades after me just because I burned down one village. Now they’re hesitating to attack two Pillar Families making their stand on Earth. You’d think that their God is somehow busy doing something besides trapping powerful creatures into weapons.

Ddraig groused to himself, but I took in the information that he relayed past his complaining about the passage of time. It did seem strange that the Church, despite being enemies with the Devils, didn’t have more threatening posture. If two rival powers existed on the same territory, even if both were neutral with one another, both would usually at least work to intimidate one another to make sure that they didn’t think they were weak.

“Yes, ultimately, even with all that we have done and what we have offered we still represent a threat to the church. Perhaps if we were only one Pillar family present, or if we did not have human Sacred Gear users working with us with such strength, then we could have some peace.” Rias’ decision to use the blackboard became apparent, as she divided the symbol of peace being exchanged for the Holy Swords into three fractions towards the Sitri Peerage, the Gremory Peerage, and myself and Asia. She sighed as she looked at the diagram that she created and shook her head. It did make for a worrisome sight. One that would’ve made anyone wonder if peace was even possible. “I haven’t heard from either of the Exorcists who came to our aid, but I believe they will return soon and we will know what has become of our relations with the Church. However, I feel that it would be best to prepare for a cold conflict and an increased presence of the Church in our territory… or perhaps outside of it.”

I nodded at that and so did everyone else besides Asia. She looked forlorn at the thought of her previous family coming to threaten and maybe fight against those who looked after her now. I placed a hand on her shoulder and she looked at me thankfully for a second, before nodding decisively with determination pure and clear upon her features. Though she may look weak on the outside, she had the willpower that many people lacked. Bet would’ve been a better place with a few people like her around, although I had to wonder how a conflict-seeking mind-parasite would’ve altered her mind… no… it wasn’t good to think about that sort of thing.

Sitri’s next set of words drew me from my thoughts and observations.

“I will be calling upon my sister. I believe that she is more than enough to dissuade the Church from making any foolish movements, however it would be best to call upon Lucifer-sama as well, Rias.” Sitri spoke prudently. It was best to have a form of deterrence against aggression another force. Cold wars only remained cold when both sides had weapons pointed at one another that ensured neither would have the nerve to make a conflict go hot. It was also the best way to facilitate diplomacy, because both sides would know that was their only way to advance the situation in any way. “I know that you wish to leave your brother’s shadow, Rias, but at times like this it is better to be prudent.”

Rias pouted at Sitri’s words and twirled a strand of hair in her fingers. She looked very cute and amazing while debating about calling her older brother for help in her current troubles.

Jeez. Geopolitical strategies and forced diplomacy right into looking at a Devil being cute. Sometimes, I forget how strong your libido is, Taylor.

Ddraig’s comment brought me back to the present and I cleared my throat.

“While they probably will see me as an affiliate to you, I can probably meet and make contact with them still.” My words were met with surprise and then nods. The fact that I wasn’t a Devil, even though I was in a relationship with two of them and being heavily teased by another, still meant that I wasn’t one of the Church’s mortal enemies. I was sure that I was entitled to more than a third of the “peace” that the Church was willing to offer because of the return of Holy Swords. I’d endured a lot of wounds, fought beside their two soldiers, and helped deal the finishing blow to a longstanding thorn in their side, while not being something that they believed was anathema to their worldview, even if I did work with Devils. “If they’re even vaguely reasonable, I’ll be able to talk to them… and if they’re not we’re prepared for that too.”

Sona and Rias both nodded at my words.

It was best to try diplomacy, but at the same time it would be best to still have a backup to stop violence in its tracks. If my attempt to reach out failed, then both of their older siblings can come in to stabilize the situation and maybe kick the Church out from being even near the territory. It was the most prudent move available to us, and there was nothing stopping us from making it, so both Sona and Rias easily agreed.

That should’ve been the end of the matter and things should’ve settled down.

But as a scream suddenly echoed through Kuoh Highschool, I came to realize that wasn’t the case.

…

Rias and all the Devils arrived at the source of the scream first, while I carried Asia and got the scene just a few seconds behind them.

It was a good thing that I did, because Xenovia had arrived and she stood before Irina protecting her with a massive sword in the middle of the soccer field. The Devils were quick to use their abilities to calm people down and see them back to school, as well as make them forget what they saw, and only when they left did the Exorcist lower her guard and allowed us to approach.

I felt a deep anger at the sight of Irina hurt, but I pulled away from it and focused on the situation, so that I could properly address it.

“Asia, go heal them both.” Xenovia’s guard went from lowered to nonexistent at my words and she fell onto the grass of the soccer field. She sported several gashes on her arms and legs, and the sword she used wasn’t the same as the last one she’d shown me, but she was in better shape that my friend from childhood. Irina sported a large wound to her stomach that would’ve been lethal to any normal person, but she somehow held on, and healed quickly with Asia attending to her with Twilight Healing. When I confirmed that she was going to be okay, I turned to the blue-haired Exorcist. “What happened?”

“An ambush and a betrayal by the Fallen.” Xenovia spat and growled out the worlds. As she relaxed and untensed some of her wounds began to run red. Trails of her blood spilled onto the soccer field. Sitri’s Queen arrived with a medical kit in hand, but she glared at her approach, so I took the box and approached her. The exorcist leaned against her blade, but nodded when I approached her. “The people we were supposed to meet weren’t who they were supposed to be. They took Valper’s body with them… and ripped out Excalibur Rapidly out of Irina by taking her Light Container. Someone strong is with them. I don’t know who.”

I cleaned her wounds and stopped the areas where bleeding was stronger. I was sure that she could last until Asia finished healing Irina, but we couldn’t take any chances.

It was possible that they were tracked.

Sona seamed to realize the same thing and looked to her Queen and a moment later her Peerage was coordinating with on another to use a detection system built into the Academy and contact Serafall Leviathan. It was a very good response to finding out that someone just defeated two Exorcists was in their territory.

Kiba, unexpectedly, spoke up.

“Light Container… so Valper’s research was finished already. You really did go after him simply to stop him from doing more terrible things.” Kiba had mistrusted the Exorcist’s motives from the very start. I couldn’t blame him, because he and his friends apparently suffered as orphans under the man’s treatment.  He’d treated me a lot better after I made sure to kill the man, but I hadn’t thought of the reason why. But that was unimportant at the moment, because his single-minded thoughts on the matter gave us the insight we were missing. “If they took his body, though, they must be the ones who funded him, supplied him, and wanted to see him succeed in the first place… and now they have a man’s body capable of wielding multiple Excaliburs.”

Rias and Sona both frowned at that thought, while Xenovia grimaced and nodded. She didn’t hiss, let alone show any sign of pain as I disinfected her wounds, but I could tell that she was frustrated by what happened.

“Yes and since they were where we were supposed to meet with the Church, I don’t know what to do next. I can’t contact my superiors and we’ve been beaten with one of our weapons taken.” Xenovia struggled to stand and levelled her gaze upon me. She did so in vain and settled on looking straight at me. “You. I don’t trust the Devils, but you fought beside me, you’re human, and you’ve yet to truly fall into temptation. Please… I’ll give you anything for help.”

Under normal circumstances, I would refuse or charge a price too high for her to afford, so I wouldn’t involve myself in the political shitshow that was forming.

But Irina, my friend, had been hurt.

So, I wanted to make the person who hurt her die