hey guys I'm back with another chapter for you guys. Before that, I would like to announce that this story has reached it's 4 year since it's creation and I would like to thank each and everyone of you for sticking with me throughout these years and supporting my story with your favorites and follows. An extra thank you to all of those who have joined my discord. It is an absolute pleasure to have you. There are no words to truly describe how happy i am that i have such a devoted fanbase of people who have enjoyed reading my story. I am beyond amazed that my story had such a success and i hope to continue to meet each and everyone of your expectations. I'll admit, i thought i would have been bit further in my story than i am now. i thought by now i would have been at the peace conference arc or even the Deidara arc but real life never goes the way you want it. Hopefully, i can update much faster chapters but in any case thank you all for another year of your support and i hope you keep sticking with me until the end.

Speaking of follows and favorites, I am beyond happy to see that we have exceeded our goal of 3000 and it still is growing. I cannot thank you guys enough for this. If things keep going like this we might be able to reach 4000 or even 5000 by next year. Wouldn't that be crazy?

As usual, special thanks to Azemption who has been proof reading my chapters. As usual, I would recommend you guys to read his story which I posted the link in my profile. I'm sure you will not be disappointed.

I do not own any of the High school dxd characters. That honour belongs to the original creator of High School DXD.

Without further ado, let's begin.

Matsuda had no idea what to make of this situation. Here was this beautiful bishoujo who was saying that she knew him but he kept racking his brain trying to figure out if he ever met her. He doesn't remember meeting such a beautiful girl. He would most certainly remember this bombshell of a girl especially considering her... assets. Matsuda shook himself. This isn't the time for his perverseness, he needed to figure out who these people were and what they wanted in his house. The fact that it seems they may be related to the church does not ease his worry one bit especially after what happened with Asia.

That goes double with Issei who had positioned himself in front of Asia. Based on what he could sense, they were indeed weaker than him but starting a fight in front of Matsuda's mother and in her house was the last thing he wanted to do. So right now, the best solution is to find what out who they are and what they want. It seems the chestnut-haired girl knows Matsuda if his mother's reaction is any indication.

"Who are you?" Matsuda asked which seemed to puzzle the young girl.

"Eh! You don't remember me?" her eyes started to look sad. His mother seeing this, sighed.

"Come on Matsuda-kun, I can't believe you already forgot about her. This is Shidou Irina-chan. The girl you used to play with all the time when you were a kid. They were even our neighbors in case you have already forgotten. We even have multiple pictures of the two of you playing together at their place." She scolded her son.

Now that caused Matsuda eyes to spread to wide it seemed they were coming out of their sockets.

"EHH, YOUR RIN-SAN?" Matsuda shouted, not believing that this was the same GUY he hang out with during his childhood.

"YOU'RE A GIRL?" he couldn't help but remark. She most certainly didn't act or even look like any girl.

"hehe, so you did mistake me for a boy. I did act like a tomboy back then so it's understandable that you would mistake me for one." She playfully stuck her tongue out. Irina seemed to be a very outgoing and easy person based on her behavior. She doesn't look like she is trying to cause any issues in Issei's opinion. The problem laid in her companion who unlike her counterpart looked extremely serious and was looking at them with nothing but suspicion and contempt. She probably already knows that none of them aside from Matsuda's mother are humans. At the very least, she was smart or rational enough to not cause a scene in from of Chelia. Issei presumed that Irina had also figured out their identity but was either to much caught in nostalgia to notice or she was good at hiding it.

"Can you stop pointing your finger at Irina-chan, you idiot! It's very rude" Chelia smacked the back of her son's head who was still in shock at the revelation.

"Sorry about that Irina-chan. I'm sure my son didn't mean to be rude" She gave Matsuda a glare as she apologized on his behalf.

"Oh, it's alright. You don't need to worry about that Chelia-san. It's good to see while some things seem to have changed, some stayed the same. You really can't tell what can happen in a reunion" She smiled at Matsuda's mother however the way she said it made Issei realize that Irina does in fact know what they are.

"Thank you. It's so good to see you after all these years. You have really grown up to become such a beautiful lady. I hardly recognized you when you first walked in. If it wasn't for your chestnut hair and violet eyes, even I would have been as clueless as my son" she pointed her son.

"Hey!" he retorted at the insult.

"Are you here for long? I'm just about to make dinner and would love for you to join us as well as your friend... I'm so sorry I never asked for your name" Chelia looked towards Irina's companion who lifted her own cloak revealing another beautiful girl with short blue hair and brown eyes.

"My name is Xenovia Quarta and while your offer is very kind miss, Irina and I will have to pass on it as we have important business to attend to. We came here because Irina said she wanted to visit you as she had known you during her childhood but unfortunately, I believe it is time to go." Xenovia stated with a hint of contempt which was obviously directed towards the devils in the room.

"Chelia-san, would you mind letting us talk to the two. I believe we may be able to assist them in their endeavor. Plus it will give time for Matsuda and Irina, was it to catch up." Issei stated wanting to speak with the exorcists about subjects that should not be heard by a human. Xenovia sneered at him knowing what he was trying to do, but it was missed by Matsuda's mother.

"Oh, that's a great idea Issei-san. I need to go grab a few things upstairs anyways so I'll let you kids catch up." Chelia nodded however before she could go, she was interrupted by Issei.

"Chelia-san, would you mind taking Asia with you. You could say we had a long day and I would like her to get some rest upstairs." Issei looked towards Asia who was clutching at his shirt. His real reason was because he didn't want Asia to get involved with anyone related to the church after everything she had gone through. No way was he letting anything happen to her. Chelia looked towards Asia.

"Oh my! She does look a bit pale. In that case, I'll take you upstairs. Come along Asia-chan. Perhaps at the same time I'll recount some more embarrassing tales about my son to you" Chelia smiled towards Asia. She looked up to Issei who nodded before she followed Chelia upstairs. Xenovia looked towards the girl, thinking she had seen her somewhere before however it was interrupted as soon as the two disappeared upstairs.

"Now that they are both gone, I believe we can speak plainly to each other" spoke Issei who wanted to forgo all pleasantries.

"I have nothing to say to you devil scum." Xenovia glared at Issei and Matsuda.

"So you have indeed become a devil Matsuda-kun. Oh Lord, how can this be!" Irina held her hands together as she prayed to the Lord. Matsuda flinched upon hearing the name of the lord as all devils do.

"Unless your side has forgotten, this territory is owned by the devils and you coming here could be seen as a sign of war or have the forces of Heaven decided to go to war against the devils." Issei stated the facts. Every single faction should already know that Kuoh falls under the protection of Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri who are the little sisters of two Maous, Sirzechs Lucifer and Serafall Leviathan.

You could tell that Xenovia was not pleased with the fact that the humans in Kuoh were under the devils. Humans are meant to be protected from devils as was their duty.

"Let's calm down, please! Xenovia, please no not start trouble here especially in Chelia-san house." Irina tried to calm down her partner. The last she wanted was to cause trouble to Chelia who is an innocent person.

"At least one of you has a good head above their shoulders" Issei stated which only served to aggravate Xenovia further.

"Please do not make the situation worst. I believe your name was Issei-san correct?" Issei nodded. "To answers your question, we are not here to cause the start of any war. We have been given a mission by the Church which required our presence here." Irina started to explain before being interrupted by Xenovia.

"Irina! You can't just reveal that information to these devils" shouted Xenovia.

"why not? It's true we are here on a mission. Besides, we are also on our way to talk with the two high class devils who have been placed in charge of this place in order to avoid any conflict" Irina explained.

"If that is the case then we would be able to help you. Matsuda's king is Rias Gremory, one of the two devils in charge of Kuoh. We can help you get an audience with her and I'm assuming Rias would call Sona as well." Issei offered to Irina

"Thank you! That would be wonderful." Irina thanked Issei on their behalf since there was no way Xenovia would do so.

"Alright, can you come over tomorrow after school in the ORC clubroom. I'm sure Rias and Sona will meet you there." Issei told her the meeting place/ Irina nodded.

"very well. We will meet tomorrow then. Matsuda-kun, despite you becoming a devil, it was nice to meet you again and your mother. Hope you don't forget me this time" she playfully stuck out her tongue and winked as him causing him to blush. The two exorcists left the premises. Matsuda quickly called Rias and explained the situation. Rias almost freaked out when she heard that exorcists had appeared at her beloved pawn's place as well as was concerned for Asia's safety when she realized that Issei had been with them so there was no chance of anything bad happening to them. She breathed a sigh of relief. However, she quickly teleported to Matsuda's place and upon seeing Asia and Matsuda quickly went to hug them. Feeling his beloved Buchou's breasts on him caused Matsuda to turn bright crimson while shouting in happiness in his thoughts.

"Are you both alright? They didn't do anything to the two of you did they?" You could tell how concerned Rias was from her tone of voice.

"We-We are fine Buchou. N-Nothing happened" Matsuda stuttered as he was still in bliss from feeling Buchou's assets on his chest. Damn it, he should have lifted his hands towards his chest that way he could have felt those gorgeous breasts.

"Y-Yes, we are fine" added Asia. Rias then hugged them tighter.

"Thank Maou. I know that with Issei being here, you two were going to be alright. But the thought of losing the two of you scared me to death. I don't know what I would do if anything happened to the two of you." Rias seemed to be on the verge of crying which was something Matsuda didn't like.

"Buchou, I swear nothing will happen to us so long as I'm here" Matsuda stated with as much bravado as possible. Rias released the two of them and chuckled at Matsuda's claim.

"fufu, I guess I'll take your word for it Matsuda-kun! Now speaking of the exorcists, you told them to meet us tomorrow at the clubroom?" she directed her question towards Issei who nodded.

"Correct! They said they were here on a mission from the church. One of the two exorcists turned out to be Matsuda's childhood friend Irina Shidou and she turned out to be the more reasonable of the two so we managed to come to an arrangement without any trouble." Issei explained.

"I see. I'm thankful for the fact that nothing happened but I'm also surprised that your friend is an exorcist, Matsuda-kun."

"I'm honestly shocked about that. I didn't even know that. I mean I guess it should have been obvious considering her father had all kinds of church relics in his house but I thought those were just his hobbies." Matsuda said.

"Well can't expect much when you thought your friend was a boy this entire time." Issei chuckled.

"H-Hey, how was I supposed to know that when Rin kept acting like a boy the entire time I knew her?" Matsuda tried to defend himself.

"In any case, it would seem that we have a meeting with those two tomorrow after school. I'll notify Sona-san about the arrangement and see if she wants to attend or leave it to me. As long as one of us is present to represent our side, we should be good. Issei, feel free to attend if you would like to. You might not be part of my peerage but you are most certainly our friend" Rias asked Issei that we were free to join if he wanted to.

"Sure I don't mind. My parents are out so don't have much to do." Issei nodded as he accepted her offer.

"Do you have any idea what they have come here for?" Matsuda asked his king wondering if she had any idea why they came here. Unfortunately, she shook her head.

"Unfortunately, I don't know. The fact that they came here to request something from devils, when they have a kill on sight when it comes to devils shows that something must be happening on their side and it somehow arrived at our doorstep. I have a bad feeling about this. All I can hope is that the situation can be handled without issue." Rias stated.

"Based on what they were carrying, I highly doubt this is a peaceful mission. I could tell that they were carrying holy swords with them based on the energy I sensed coming from them." Issei pointed out indicating that their mission was certainly not a simple one. Not a good sign at all.

The next day, everyone including Issei had gathered in their clubroom ready to welcome their two guests. Sona had decided to let Rias take care of the meeting as she was the main person responsible over Kuoh so there was no reason to be there. If she needed her, Rias could simply call her and she would come.

Eventually, they heard someone knock on their door.

"Come in" Rias stated as the door then opened revealing the two exorcists. Seeing Matsuda, Irina greeted him with a wave and smile, something he nervously returned.

"Welcome to our humble abode. Please take a seat" Rias welcomed them with a smile as she motioned towards the sofa in from of her

Irina being the less prejudice of the two thanked her.

"Thank you" she said before she and Xenovia took a seat in the sofa in front of Rias and Akeno.

Other than Rias and Akeno who were seated right in front of the two, the other members were seated in different corners of the room. Asia, Matsuda, and Issei were seated together while Koneko and Kiba were seated in separate parts. Koneko didn't really care much about the meeting and just kept eating her sweets. Kiba, however was an entirely different story. He was glaring at the two exorcists grudgingly. He looked like he was going to start slashing at them at any moment. The only reason he didn't was due to the fact that Rias had ordered him to cause a scene. Whether they liked it or not, the two exorcists are emissaries of the church and have yet to cause any sort of trouble.

"Alright, may I ask why two exorcists are trespassing on a devil's territory?" she immediately asked her question, only for Xenovia to scoff.

"I'm sure your damned servants have already told you why we are here." Xenovia stated causing Rias to glare at her.

"All I was told was that you were here on a mission and that you requested a meeting with me. That is not enough information for me to permit you access into my territory. I need more details on this mission of yours considering that the dangerous weapons you carry indicate this isn't a simple one. Also, let me tell you two things. One, never insult my precious servants again or we will have problems and two, only Matsuda and Asia are members of my peerage. Issei isn't part of my peerage or a devil for that matter, but a friend." Rias corrected Xenovia who looked towards Issei.

"Then what are you if not a devil. I can tell you aren't human." Xenovia asked. Seeing no reason to hide it, Issei answered truthfully.

"I'm a dragon" he revealed causing both Irina and Xenovia to go wide eyed.

"A dragon! What is a dragon doing with the devils?" Xenovia couldn't help but ask. Issei shrugged.

"Like Rias stated, we are friends. On top of it all, her queen is also my girlfriend." He pointed towards Akeno who giggled. That was when a lightbulb lighted up in Irina's head.

"Wait a minute. If you are a dragon. Are you by any chance the Crimson Calamity dragon?" she asked him causing Issei to look at them in shock that they knew of him.

"hm, can I ask how you know of me?" The only people who should know of his title are the devils who had seen him throttle Riser in a beatdown which resulted in this new title.

"The higher ups had warned us that there may be a dragon under the employ of the devils that was residing here. I can't believe the rumors were true. I've never met a dragon before. Oh, my Lord, this must be blessing from the heavens to be able to meet one." Irina's eyes sparkled in awe looking at Issei who was surprised at her exuberant personality.

"Despite being an exorcist, you have a very outgoing personality." Issei couldn't help but remark.

"She has always been like that for as long as I remember. Back when we were kids, we used to pretend that we were heroes on quests to rescue a princess from a vicious dragon like the stories" Matsuda exclaimed as he recalled his childhood with Irina.

"Now that the pleasantries are over with, can you please tell me the contents of your so called mission?" Rias wanted to know the details before she did anything.

"Right!" Irina took a breath to calm down and became serious "Recently, almost all of the Holy Sword Excaliburs that have been placed under the Churches care have been stolen." Irina revealed.

"As you probably know, Excalibur broke a long time ago and now looks like this." Both Irina and Xenovia took out their weapons which was wrapped in cloth to reveal 2 swords.

All the devils present in room felt a chill down their spine at the sight of the swords filled with Holy aura. That is normal, considering it is a weapon designed to kill devils. Only Issei didn't feel threaten by it. While Excalibur can be used against dragons, it is not a dragon slayer so it didn't pose a threat to Issei especially broken as it is.

"The sword I'm wielding is called "Excalibur Destruction" and is one of the swords that is under the Catholic Church's care" started Xenovia as she showed her sword before she put it away, wrapping it back in cloth.

Next was Irina who took out a long rope which confused the majority of the people inside since they expected a sword until they saw the rope move and then quickly shifted it's appearance to a katana.

"Mine is Excalibur mimic and as you can see, it's power allows me to change its shape into anything I desire. It's a very useful ability. This sword is the only one remaining in the possession of the Protestant church" she explained with pride.

"Irina, there was no need to explain how your Excalibur works to the devils?" chided Xenovia.

Irina just shrugged. "Xenovia, I did so because we need to form a trustworthy relationship with them. Explaining my weapon's abilities is a show of good faith. Don't forget we need Rias Gremory permission to be able to perform our mission. Besides, even if I explain its abilities, I'm confident that I would not fall behind any of the devils here" she said confidently. Rias admired Irina's confidence even though she didn't show it. She would have loved to add her into her peerage if she wasn't part of the church. Issei was impressed with Matsuda's friend.

"You could learn a thing or two about confidence from her, Matsuda" he told Matsuda.

There was of course one person who was absolutely infuriated with the situation and that was Kiba. You could tell from his expression that he was staring at the sword as well as the exorcists with absolute hatred due to his grudge against Excalibur. If it wasn't for Rias order, he would have probably attacked the two already and tried his best to destroy Excalibur. The fact that he had met with Freed earlier who possessed an Excalibur fragment did not help the situation.

Rias coughed in order to get back to the discussion at hand.

"As grateful as I am for your courtesy, let's get back to the discussion at hand. What does the stolen sword fragments have to do with my territory?" she asked. This time it was Xenovia who answered.

"Those who have stolen the fragments have brought them here." Her answered was what Rias and Issei expected otherwise there would be no reason for the two to even be here. She sighed at this headache.

"Goodness me, so many incidents are happening here. Too many for my liking. So I'm assuming you already know who the perpetrators are?"

"Yes! The likely culprit is someone from Grigori. More specifically, one of the Fallen Angel Cadre, Kokabiel" Irina revealing causing Rias and everyone else to go wide eyed.

"What? Kokabiel, as in the general of the Fallen angels!" she exclaimed in shock never having expecting a Cadre to be involved. This just made things a lot more dangerous. Even Issei was surprised to hear about this. He had heard of Kokabiel from Barakiel in the past. He remembered him stating that Kokabiel was stirring up some trouble but never could he have imagined it was something like this. He would have to warn his uncle about this because this could become the catalyst to another war.

"We had sent covert priests and exorcists to try and reclaim the swords but they were all slaughtered easily which brings us to our request... no our order for you Rias Gremory!"

Rias raised a brow at the usage of the word "demand" but Xenovia didn't seem to care and continued.

"We demand that the devils do not interfere in the affair between us and the Fallen angels over the theft of the Excaliburs. Just stay out of our business and we will have no problems" Xenovia stated.

"It sounds like you believe we would team up with the fallen angels in regards to Excalibur"

"Our Headquarters have indeed thought of the possibility. We do not trust devils and Fallen angels. For all we know, you devils might take advantage of this situation and collude with the fallen angels so as too weaken the forces of heaven which is why we came to warn you not to intervene or we will eliminate you even if you are the sister of a Maou" Xenovia threatened Rias so casually. Rias definitely looked pissed. This exorcist has the nerve to come into her territory and demand that they do not intervene in their affairs. Not only that, she has the gall to threaten her and her family. This did not sit right with her. If it wasn't for the fact that Irina was super courteous, she would have booted the two of them out of her territory as fast as she could. She took a deep breath to calm herself down.

"While I don't appreciate being threatened in my own place" she glared at Xenovia "I can promise you under the name of Gremory that we are not allied with the Fallen angels. I will never do something that will besmirch the name of my clan or the Underworld. However, you know that this means we will not provide assistance should you need it and considering who it is you are after, you would most certainly need assistance" Rias stated.

"Do not underestimate us Rias Gremory. We won't need assistance. Besides, teaming up with the forces of Heaven even temporarily would affect the balance of the three factions." Responded Xenovia.

"Is the church planning to send you reinforcements to take on a fallen angel cadre?"

"No. Too many have needlessly lost their lives. The church has sent the two of us to retrieve the stolen Excaliburs from that fallen. After all, only an Excalibur can counter another Excalibur."

"Hmf now who is underestimating who" Issei spoke for the first time.

"Excuse me?" Xenovia turned her attention towards Issei.

"Do you truly believe that two exorcists can take on a Fallen Angel cadre? This is someone who survived the Great War, fighting against seraphs, Maous and even the Heavenly Dragon and come out alive. You are either severely underestimating his strength or severely overestimating yours." Said Issei. This pretty much felt like an insult to Xenovia.

"We will accomplish our mission."

"Such confidence, do you have a secret weapon to use against a Cadre?"

"Hmf! I'll leave that to your imagination."

"Even if you possessed the most powerful weapon in the world, it still wouldn't be enough to take on someone of Kokabiel's caliber. That's not even taking into account the forces he has under his wing. The two of you would probably be killed before you even reach him. Are you trying to die?" inquired Issei.

"If our death is required to accomplish our mission then we don't mind dying." Xenovia stated without fear. Issei looked towards Irina who also nodded resolutely.

"We don't mind dying in the service of our Lord. This is the life we chose to lead." She stated.

"Exactly and no one, not even a dragon will deter us from our beliefs" added Xenovia.

"How noble of you. However there is a difference between being noble and being reckless. The former means that you stand a chance of accomplishing your task which considering the circumstances clearly shows you do not especially without any backup. All you will be doing is throwing your lives away while effectively delivering Kokabiel your Excalibur on a silver plate" This time it was Rias who spoke causing Xenovia to turn back her attention towards her.

"We don't intend to die in vain. At the very least, we will retrieve the Excalibur from the fallen angels by any means necessary even if we have to destroy them." Stated Xenovia.

"Oh, I'm surprised the church is allowing the destruction of one their most holy artifacts to be destroyed" said a surprised Rias.

"The church has decided that it would be better to destroy all of the Excalibur than allow them to fall into the hands of the fallen angels. Anyways, it's time we took our leave since we did what we came to do. Let's go Irina." Xenovia stood up from her seat. Irina sighed and also got up from her seat. She thanked the devils on both of their behalf for their time and consideration before she stood up herself. However, as the two were about to leave, Xenovia spotted Asia.

"Hey, you" she called out to Asia who almost jumped in surprise since she didn't expect it.

"um, yes" she answered.

"I thought you looked familiar when we saw you at the Red Dragon Emperor's place but aren't you the 'witch' Asia Argento?"

Asia's face started going pale at being called that name. That word brought a lot of unpleasant memories for her. That was when Irina took notice of her.

"Oh, are you the former rumored holy maiden? Someone who was said to have the powers to also heal devils and fallen angels? I have heard that you were exiled from the church but I never expected that you would become a devil."

"ummmm... ... I" Asia didn't know how to answer the two. She was still a bit shaken from being called a witch. Issei and Matsuda didn't like that as they both frowned upon Xenovia.

"It's alright! We won't let the higher ups know we spotted you here since it would simply cause problems for both sides and that is the last thing anyone needs. It would honestly shock or even horrify the people who had been healed by the "Holy Saint Asia" to see that she has become a devil."

Asia was clearly perplexed at Xenovia's words however Xenovia continued either way.

"However for the one who was once known as the "Holy Saint" to fall so low as to become a devil leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Tell me, do you still believe in the Lord."

"Xenovia, there is no way that someone who has become a devil would still hold the same beliefs in our religion" Irina stated with an bewildered expression.

"No Irina, I can tell that she still has some form of faith left in her. I am quite sensible to these things. There does exist people who betray their core teachings and still have guilt within them due to the fact that they couldn't forget those same teachings. I get that feeling from you Asia Argento." She pointed towards Asia. Irina looked towards her with interested eyes.

"Really? Is it true that you still believe in God despite the fact that you turned your back against your faith and became a devil?"

Asia responded with her head towards the ground as tears dropped to the floor below her feet.

"I... I have always believed in the Lords teaching even after I became a devil. I could never put it aside. It's... It's what I have been taught my entire laugh. How can I give it up?". The poor girl was crying and that did not sit well with Matsuda.

"What gives you the right to criticize Asia-chan about her beliefs. She is free to believe in whatever she likes" he came to her defense. Xenovia simply scoffed at his remark.

"She gave up on her beliefs, the moment she decided to become a devil however since you still carry faith in our Lord" Xenovia then took out her sword from her cloth and pointed it at Asia. "Then perhaps I should kill you now in the name of our Lord. Even though you may have sinned, I'm sure the Lord in his infinite mercy and grace will forgive you"

Matsuda looked enraged "Don't you dare fucking touch her" He placed himself in front of Asia ready to defend her. The others were also about to act when suddenly the pressure around the atmosphere begun to get heavier. It didn't take a genius to figure out where this sudden chill came from. It was even worst for Xenovia who was the direct target of a certain's dragon's wrath.

It became much worst when she stared into the abyss of those draconic eyes.

"You will wish you kept your mouth shut, girl."

Chapter end

That's the end of this chapter. I'm sure a lot of you will be roasting me for leaving it at such a cliffhanger but that's how it is. I thought it would be a good place to end things.

Also I forgot to mention at the start but please come and join my discord where we talk about many random things but I hope to see you all there. The link is in my profile so feel free to join like minded people and hopefully we will be able to form a community of it.

Anyways, until next time my friends.

Stay safe and Healthy

Mairsarmy321 signing off.