"Okay, can someone explain to me, what is really going on?" I directed that question at Ise with a glare that I have managed to create after my time with Saber and Rin. It was not as effective as theirs, but it got the intended effect, as Ise started to squirm under the pressure of my gaze and after a while, buckled into submission.
"The church wanted to find and take back the stolen Excalibur blades, otherwise destroy them to ensure that the enemy does not have them. Kiba also wants to destroy the blades to have his revenge for his time being experimented at the church. So I figured that we can work together on this while ensuring that Buchou does not know about it and gets into trouble." Ise went into a bit of a panic as he said this while looking at the master in question who has a very disturbing smile on her face.
"Then how did the others get into this mess?"
"…I just want to help Yuuto-senpai." Koneko said it with an expression that would make any men around her beat up anyone else who dared to make her cry.
"I am here because Hyoudou dragged me into this mess." Saji directed his glare at Ise while lightly cradling his butt, likely due to the punishment that Sona had inflicted on him, whatever that was.
"The Red Dragon User had suggested the plan and I deemed it a probable solution to both of our problems." Xenovia replied as she crossed her arms. "Of course, due to the high possibilities of failure, we did not mention this to Sister Griselda." Xenovia shuddered slightly as said person smiled at her in a manner that would make Rin proud.
"I am tagging along since it is Ise-kun." The girl called Irina replied cheerfully as she munched on one of my emergency creations. She seemed to like the salty ones more, I would need to stock up on water then.
Great, now I was just running away from reality.
We were currently in one of the old warehouses by the canal, roughly a few miles away from the Academy. This was one of the few places I had designated as one of my safe-houses and one I was reluctant to show, but the situation was something which we could not ignore, and considering the amount of mess we made and the fact that Rias and Sona were reluctant to let the exorcists back into the academy meant that I have to bring them here to ensure that we were safe.
I would need to find a new safe house.
After that, it was a matter of them filling me in on the situation and understanding the enemy. Quite frankly I was quite disturbed about Kiba's past, but at the same time I could not help but feel irritated that Kiba had ignored my teachings from the training camp and rushed headlong into the fight without considering the innocent bystanders around.
I was getting too old for this.
"Young man." I directed my attention to the sole adult around here, aside from me at least. Even in this situation, I had to admit she was a very beautiful woman who could possibly pass as a model or an actress. Despite being dressed very modestly compared to those girls, the clothes hugging her shapely figure left little imagination to any guy who laid their eyes on her. I could only imagine how some of the more hormonal males in the academy would react to her.
I don't need to look at Ise to get the idea.
"Young man, thank you for your assistance." The woman called Griselda bowed her head towards me.
"It is fine, madam." I bowed my head while answering back. "I was in the area when they showed up, so I ended up getting dragged into it."
"Clearly, some lessons would need to be reinforced." Griselda turned to flash a smile at Xenovia and Irina who cringed fearfully and moved their bodies backwards. "I believe that I left very specific instructions that no one was supposed to get dragged into any operation and that you should at least ensure you are nowhere innocent bystanders. Not only did you fail to do that, you got carried away and got caught up in the enemies' pace, and you did some significant damage to the surroundings that it was a miracle no innocent lives got hurt."
"Yes, that's right. God is with us!" Xenovia tried to make a comeback and sat proudly with her head up high. "He is able to help us in our mission to deliver justice!"
"Yeah right." I turned to the Fallen Angel who snorted and looked away, no doubt sensing the irony of the exorcist praising the actions of a god not among the living anymore. "More like sheer dumb luck."
"What did you say?" Xenovia directed her head at Mitelt who merely stuck out her tongue.
"The former angel has a point. You girls were just lucky." Griselda crushed Xenovia's confidence mercilessly. "There is no divine intervention during your fight with Lyle Wallner and Creed Diskenth, you let yourself get pulled by the nose and clearly you lacked the ability to restrain yourself when it comes to dealing out attacks. If anything, it was probably Lyle Wallner who considered the possibility of civilians nearby and so moved the fight elsewhere. It is shameful that one of the enemies cared more for innocent lives than my own students." I could not help but let out a small smirk at the manner she handled the two exorcists so easily.
"Somebody got whipped~" A slightly mischievous tone was evident in Mitelt's words as she purposely whistled while looking away with Xenovia and Irina glaring at her with slightly tearful eyes.
"By the way, I understand if everyone is busy with everything else." Sona pointed with her finger. "But shouldn't you try to do something about that?" We looked at the object in question, then as one, let out a tired sigh.
Due to the fight taking place in a residential area, we had to vacate the area quickly with one big issue: Excalibur Destruction being stuck in the boulder. At least with Rias's and Sona's help, the area was sealed off with a barrier long enough for them to teleport the boulder to the spot I indicated. Then it was just a matter of transporting it to my hiding spot with a levitation spell and getting it out right?
Root be damned wrong.
The sword was particularly resistant to being pulled or removed from the stone in any way. Trying to blast the boulder did not help whatsoever as it seemed to be protected by some holy energy that was resistant to even Rias's Destructive Power or Sona's water attacks. Even now the sword was just sitting there in the boulder, the light glow seemingly taunting the rest of us for being unable to remove it.
It was in essence 'The Sword in the Stone.' Oh the irony.
"Yeah well, nothing we can do about it." I remarked as I stretched my arms. "This damn sword doesn't want to be let out of the rock, so for the time being we have to leave it."
"Ha~ honestly there are way too many things going on at once." Ise scratched his head in frustration. "And on top of all that, the damn handsome decides to go after those guys and disappear on us!"
"Kiba is getting too agitated by them. I can only say that he is getting blinded by his thirst for revenge. We may have to prepare for the worst and assume that he is dead or MIA for the moment." I folded up my arms as I said that.
"Emiya-kun, I would prefer you don't think that way." Rias directed her gaze while her scent seemed to have intensified greatly. "Yuuto-kun would never be beaten by those people."
"Princess Gremory, despite your faith in your knight, I believe the boy here has a better sense for fighting than you." Griselda crushed Rias's comments easily. "He might have a chance if he were of sounder mind, but considering his erratic behavior, it would be a little naïve to believe he can still function properly."
"At the very least, they might hold him hostage to deprive us of our fighting strength while trying to extract information from him. That would be the second best scenario for us, since the possibility of him escaping would be low." I continued on with my explanation without caring too much about Rias's expression.
"You may not like hearing this, but if what I was told is true, Kiba got his ass kicked by the two girls here despite having less fighting experience than him and somewhat average in their handling with the Excalibur Shards.
The two fallen exorcists we fought are on a different level, since one was able to hold back Kiba and those two easily while the other played cleanup and support for the others.
Despite giving Creed an injury, it hardly impeded them and the person called Lyle seems to be the most level-headed and the one who calls the shots."
...
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