18 Cadre - 6

"You didn't have to come you know."

"No offense," Kaito prefaced, side-eyeing the girl he was walking along the streets of Kuoh with, "I kinda did."

"It's sweet of you to worry, but I'm not weak Kaito-kun," Irina puffed her cheeks up and pouted at him, "I'm a holy sword wielder y'know, I even have an Excalibur with me!" she lifted her arm out of the cloak she was once again wearing and wiggled it in front of his face, specifically the floral bracelet she had tied around her bicep.

Which was of the good.

"I never said you were," he shrugged, "I just didn't feel like letting you go off to face a Cadre of all things, heavily weakened or not without some help."

Also, he might have been a total sap for this. But, he'd taken a liking to Irina over the past few hours. He didn't want to see her die.

Not to mention, if she died here, it would butterfly things out of his general knowledge scope for sure.

He would like to keep things on track, at least until he could get his affairs properly in order or become strong enough that he didn't really need to worry about unexpected weirdo's popping up as much.

"You said you didn't want to get involved with the supernatural side of things though," Irina pointed out, "Now it's my fault you're getting involved."

"Technically, I guess," Kaito conceded, though it was a lot more complicated than that. Not that she could understand though. He gave the girl a teasing grin, "Well if it bothers you so much, once we're here you can just pay me back with a kiss."

"…A kiss?" Irina echoed blankly.

"Yup, a kiss from a girl as pretty as you? Pshaw, why not bring Kokabiel over as well, and Azazel while we're at, I'll fight all three of them for one those from you." he replied with a laugh.

But only because Azazel would get a laugh out of and then most likely side with Kaito himself and clown on the other two for him.

Irina sighed and shook her head, but she couldn't hide the way her cheeks warmed up even under the night sky hiding her complexion, "Okay, in return for helping me beat Satanael, I'll give you a kiss." the older twin tailed girl accepted.

"Awesome," Kaito grinned, "Before that though, fill me in. What do I need to expect from this Satanael guy beyond the standard light energy package that all angels get?"

"Just that and Arondight I think," Irina tapped her chin after regaining her composure, "Arondight will be the real problem I think. It's a holy demonic sword that got tainted the the madness of Lancelot in ancient times. Usually a holy sword wouldn't be any extra effective against anything but devils and such, but with its holy power tainted by demonic power, it'll have a corrosive effect on any it wounds."

Well now, wasn't that pleasant.

Actually, now that he thought about it, didn't that sound like prince boys balance breaker? "Anything beyond that?" he asked.

"Oh, of course, that's just the holy power in it, any holy sword can do that!" Irina nodded, "Arondight has its own special abilities after all. From what I'm told, it has two abilities. The first, is that it enhances the users physical abilities, making them stronger, faster, more durable and the like. But the second, is that it can apparently absorb attributes or something like that and use them itself. So if it absorbed say, Rias Gremory's Power of Destruction, Arondight would be able to use that power itself until it was replaced by a different attribute."

….Wait, what?

"Isn't that stupidly powerful?" Kaito couldn't help but ask.

"Well…I mean, it's a sword that could rival the full Excalibur after all, of course it would be powerful silly!" Irina pointed out with a giggle.

"Point." Kaito conceded.

It was no wonder the church side of things were taking this chance to try and reclaim it while Satanael was weakened so heavily.

Granted, it was still a shoddy attempt, but then that seemed par the course for the holy faction in this world. Seeing as they, you know, sent Irina and Xenovia alone after a full power and not at all weakened Kokabiel.

Though, that did bring up a question, "Why aren't the Grigori after him as well then?" he wondered.

Honestly, he was a bit confused why the devils weren't after him as well. It was a chance for them to make sure such a powerful weapon disappeared from the hands of their enemies.

"Dunno," Irina tapped her chin in thought for a moment, before shrugging, "I never bothered to ask to be honest. It didn't seem important honestly. "

No, no, no questioning something like that should be common sense. After all, what reason would an enemy have to not care about losing such a powerful weapon.

But then…Irina was a bit of an airhead.

___________________________________________

Following the sigil on Irina's hand that led them to their target, Kaito was perhaps not surprised much at all to find that they ended up near the outskirts of town.

Specifically, at the large forest that lay on the outskirts. Where, above the tree tops, he could make out the form of an incredibly large, gothic looking mansion.

He knew the place.

He'd played here a few times as a kid, and it had been here for as long as he could remember.

And it had been abandoned for that long as well.

Not many people strayed towards it to be honest, and he'd heard quite a few wonder why it had never been torn down.

All Kaito knew, was that the place always made his hair stand on end whenever he came when he was younger and totally wigged him out.

Even now as he approached the building, he could feel something in the air, the same something that had always been there, yet at the same time, not something Kaito could pinpoint at all.

Irina didn't seem to notice it though, which was weird considering earlier she could feel he wasn't a devil, so she could detect supernatural beings or power in some form and he couldn't.

"Looks like he's in here," Irina noted, as she inspected her hand. The sigil on her hand had started to rapidly blink and pulse with bright light. The twin tailed girl looked to him, "You can still back out, y'know."

"And give up that kiss?" he raised an eyebrow at her and gave her a challenging smirk, "As if."

Her cheeks flushed a bit, but she smiled back, "Well, alright then." she giggled lightly, before motioning for him to follow her.

He did so, and she took the lead, walking forward and pushing the large and heavy twin doors leading into the mansion open.

They opened with a rickety echo despite their weight and they entered. Kaito's eyes drifted from side to side as they found themselves entering a familiar foyer.

It alone was multiple times the size of his entire apartment, wide and most likely once lavishly decorated, but now, only containing the remnants of smashed and destroyed furniture and a few ruined paintings hanging askew from the wall.

Mould grew along many of the physical surfaces, while cracks and holes littered the ground and walls and a decrepit chandelier hung precariously from the ceiling, looking as if it could fall at any moment.

'Eeesh, it's gotten even more trashed since I last saw it.' he winced, eyes coming to rest at the end of the room where a large, once grand staircase stood, now a shell of its former self.

"What a terrible host," Kaito's mouth worked faster than his brain, "Not even coming out to greet us."

"Really rude, yeah!" Irina nodded in agreement, "Satanael, come out! We know you're here, there's no use hiding!"

Probably not how he'd go about things, but honestly, calling the guy out instead of looking through the entire place for him, was probably a better idea.