10 Chapter 10

Through fire and brimstone, Sizerchs Lucifer made himself known.

The glory child of house Gremory, the Crimson-haired herald of destruction, a kind-hearted philanthropist and incorrigible sis-con all wrapped into one neat parcel; someone who commanded the forces of hell with but a word, and whose being hid strength of unimaginable proportions.

He who named himself Satan appeared from glowing runes with an amicable smile.

Hate him or love him, he was an iconic figure in the supernatural world, his visage on the front cover of magazines more often than it was not, and his likeness used to sell many a product marketed by the underworld.

Through a field of blood and fallen corpses he strode, never once blinking or batting an eye.

Many were blinded by his titles or his accolades, cowering in his presence or supplicating themselves upon the dirt at his passing.They saw him not as a simple devil, but an almost godlike being, undefeatable and possessed of wisdom beyond his years. A great leader, a generous lord, harsh when needed but also capable of merciful jurisdiction.

Closer and closer he drew, until he stood right infront of his target.

Many thought Sirzechs Lucifer as someone larger than life.

'Hah, what fools!'

Gilgamesh smirked with the arrogance of a thousand kings.

For where they saw a god, she found only a man.

The devil reached out his hand, a showing of mutual respect and acknowledgement, although he knew it was a vain hope.

The King of Heroes eyed the offending limb as if it were ridden with disease.

The offer was quickly retracted, the man acting as if nothing had happened, although behind kind eyes lingered the barest glimpses of irritation.

"What a timely rescue! I was worried for a second there - my dear sister means a lot to me, you know - but imagine my surprise when Gilgamesh herself appeared from thin air to save the day! Truly, your actions today have done me, and devilkind as whole, a great service!"

His tone was suave and his words honeyed, but the gold-clad woman was able to discern his underlying meaning easily enough.

'What are you doing here?'

Gilgamesh smiled, although it wasn't a pretty thing, full of malice as it was.

'Wouldn't you like to know, mongrel?'

"I was simply on vacation with a dear friend of mine when we overheard the commotion. Our interference was nothing but pure happenstance, I assure you."

Blue eyes narrowed into slits, and the devil's mouth opened, ready to tear apart the woman's story- although he was stopped mid-thought by another voice.

"Ah, hello! Who are you?"

As if summoned by the mere mention of the word 'friend', Enkidu materialised behind Gilgamesh's back from thin air, bulldozing through their subtle conversation like a battering ram.

Sizerchs was caught off guard only for a second, years spent navigating the political climate of the underworld doing wonders for the man's composure.

"Ah, forgive my manners, I didn't see you there until just now! Correct me if I am being presumptuous, but are you perhaps the friend of this lovely lady over here?"

"Indeed I am!" The boy responded, faux haughty tone in sharp contrast to his blinding smile.

"I see…If you wouldn't mind, could you enlighten me on why exactly the two of you were here today? Not that I'm ungrateful of course, hahaha, no, I am simply…curious, you could say. You must admit that it was quite the unusual coincidence."

If Sizerchs thought that the green-haired boy would crack or crumble under pressure in any way, then he was sorely mistaken, for Enkidu's smile only seemed to brighten under his scrutiny.

"Mmm, no worries Mr red, I understand, but me and Gilgamesh were only in Kuoh to do some sightseeing. Ahh, just yesterday we visited the local museum of historical-"

The devil stared on in bafflement as the boy proceeded to ramble on about the Edo period and kabuki masks, unable to shake what he had said before. His brain worked overtime, attempting to decipher the hidden subtext behind the boy's words - if even there was any - before he finally gave up and bit the bullet.

Sizerchs interrupted the dialogue with a polite cough.

"And all of that is extremely interesting, I assure you, but I do have another question to ask. Do you, perchance… not know who I am?"

Enkidu paused, staring inquisitively at the finely-dressed man. For a second, Sizerchs could almost swear that the boy's eyes turned gold, although it may have just been a trick of the light.

"Err, no… should I? Sorry if I offended you with that nickname, it's just, umm, you're very… red?"

The boy gestured at the devil's form in vague motions.

"Which is a good thing, you know! I happen to rather like the colour red. It reminds me of the sunset, and the, uhh…"

He trailed off, eyes scanning their surroundings with hopeful gaze, although the only examples that he found were the bits and pieces of Kokabiel and his minions that lay strewn across the dirt.

"...Grass?"

Gilgamesh palmed her face with an exasperated sigh.

"The grass isn't supposed to be red you idiot."

Enkidu gripped at his heart as if struck, swaying to and fro in an overdramatic manner.

"Alas! The maidenly Gil-chan doth once again besiege me with her barbed tongue. Oh how cruel the fates must be, to saddle me with a friend such as this!"

"If you're going to keep acting like that then we're never going to another museum again! And I've told you a hundred times, stop calling me Gil-chan in public!"

"Ah, I know, but you always make such a happy face when I do that it becomes hard to resist the urge sometimes!"

"I-I do not make any 'happy faces'! You are very much mistaken, in fact, so shame on you for perpetuating such obviously-false rumours about me!"

On and on they went, sniping and bickering with each other without pause nor consideration, totally heedless of the figure beside them attempting desperately to get their attention.

Sizerchs tried many times to direct the conversation to something else, using every tactic in the book and even some outside it. Sadly, however, nothing seemed able to break the two from their own little world.

He grimaced in poorly veiled frustration.

As one of the four Satans, many were the times in which his personage had been insulted. Subtle insinuations, bold declarations, people that looked down on him as something lesser, or those that truly hated him to the core. In truth, he had become so inundated with such things that he was hardly even bothered by them anymore.

Yet…

Tightly suppressed demonic energy fluctuated by the tiniest amount.

He had never once been ignored.

The devil could, of course, resort to more overt means of communication, but when dealing with someone as volatile as the King of Heroes it was best to tread lightly and measure your words, lest you end up offending her.

The woman was notoriously hard to get a hold of, so throwing away any chance they might have at civil conversation was foolhardy in the extreme.

So Sizerchs stood there like a statue, a strained grin seemingly carved onto his face, as his pride grated and chafed at every word they said to each other.

He would not have to be there long.

"Nii…san?"

Sizerchs whipped his head towards the source of the sound, and his gaze locked onto the battered form of his dear sister, teary-eyed and exhausted as she was.

His blood ran cold.

The devil looked back at the King of Heroes, still embroiled in conversation, and decided that they could come to an accord another day. Right now, his sister's well-being was paramount to anything else.

How could he call himself a big brother otherwise?

With quiet steps he made his way over, and wrapped Rias in a tight hug.

"It's all going to be okay, little sister. Let me take care of everything."

When he was finally done comforting her, both Gilgamesh and the green-haired boy had disappeared.

///

It was strange how easily life went back to normal.

He was back at school, twiddling his thumbs as his maths teacher went on about something-or-other, Matsuda and Motohama sat beside him swapping pictures of barely-dressed anime girls.

A regular morning on a regular day, and if one were to look at the scene they would find nothing out of the ordinary.

He held his pen in a white-knuckled grip, eyes staring sightlessly down at his textbook.

They would never know that he nearly died a few days ago.

They would never know that this school had been a battlefield, they would never know that this town had been besieged by fallen angels, they would never know anything, for they lived in blissful ignorance, going about their daily lives without a thought towards the monsters that might be lurking in the dark.

Some nights, Issei wished he could claim so too.

Yet, for all that the supernatural world was haunting and full of eldritch horror, it also contained beauty of a sort that was unfathomable to the regular human.

"Hey, Issei?"

The hazy image of two figures danced upon his mind's eye; one clad in shimmering gold and haughty grin, and the other green and pure, with eyes that seemed to twist in ethereal patterns.

"Issei?"

From certain doom he had been saved, and he hadn't even the time to thank them, for like ghosts they disappeared as quickly as they came.

To even see that green haired girl once more… He would do anything.

"WAKE THE FUCK UP ISSEI!"

"Argh!"

The boy startled, pushing his stationary off of the table as he jumped up in fright.

"It's lunch time, buddy, did you forget? You've been staring at that textbook like a zombie for like 15 minutes straight! I don't think algebra is that interesting dude, are you okay?"

The concerned voice of Matsuda cut through the silent classroom which, now that Issei was looking at it, was completely devoid of people other than themselves.

"Ah, It's nothing guys. I just… didn't get much sleep last night, trying to get the harem ending on that new princess sparkle game had me up until like, uhhh, 5AM."

Issei let out a weak chuckle as he looked into the unconvinced faces of his two best friends.

Thankfully, however, they didn't question him any further.

"...If you say so, dude. Anyway, let's get going, we gotta rush or the table next to the kendo club is gonna get taken!"

Issei got up and followed the two boys, although his mind was once again wandering towards verdant hair and beaming smiles.

///

A weary sigh left ruby lips.

"You know why I have called all of you here, correct?"

The rest of the occult research club sat around her in a semicircle, each face either grim or conflicted.

"What happened with Kokabiel on sunday… we need to get to the bottom of it. I have consulted with my brother, and we have gathered the identity of at least one of the people involved on that day."

Rias flicked the button on a remote, a projector screen lighting up with a grainy image of a foreign battlefield. Within the chaos a woman stood, and although Issei could hardly see her face, it was clear to all who it was, for the figure was clad in that memorable golden armour.

"This is Gilgamesh, or more commonly known as her epithet 'King of Heroes'. A particularly elusive character amongst the supernatural world, she is renowned for being extremely hard to track down, and for her obsessive hoarding of weapons and magical items."

Rias paused to take a breath, before flicking to the next slide and carrying on.

"Her intentions in Kuoh are currently unclear. Whilst she hasn't shown any hostility towards us, it should be noted that both me and Sona were never alerted to her presence within this town, which is a worrying sentiment. Gilgamesh is definitely aware enough of the supernatural to know that Kuoh is devil territory."

The room was silent for a few seconds, before their newest knight spoke up.

"I don't understand, what is the point of this? Shouldn't we be thanking these people for saving us?"

Although he didn't say it out loud, Issei secretly agreed with Xenovia's blunt assertion.

"It is not that simple. Whilst her actions may seem benevolent on the outside, my brother warned me of her presence. It is said, apparently, that 'Upon whichever land the King of Heroes may tread, destruction soon follows in her footsteps.'

Asia, who had been staring at her toes the entire time, suddenly perked up.

"A-ah, you said her name was Gilgamesh, right?"

Rias nodded.

"I r-remember now… It was rather lonely when I was still housed by the church, cut off as I was from the outside world. There was never much to do outside of healing people, so when I had the time the only thing I really did was read books. Fantasy, Romance, bible scripture; whatever it was, I had surely read it once. My absolute favourite, though, was history."

Asia's eyes seemed to lighten up for the first time since the incident.

"I'm not sure what it was, but history always fascinated me. Maybe it was simple childishness, but whenever I read about the lives of heroes long past, it always felt as if my spirit was being uplifted by their deeds, even if only a tad."

"Arthur Pendragon and the round table, Joan of Arc and the siege of Orleans, King Charlemagne the holy roman emperor; all of their stories I read hundreds of times, along with many others."

Issei's eyes widened. He had thought he knew Asia fairly well- they even lived together! - but every word that came from her mouth was information unknown to him. Did she just not want to tell him before? Or…

Did he just never ask?

"There was an uncountable number of historical figures that were later named 'heroes', and one day, after reading the same pages time and time again, I had a thought. 'Who was the first hero?' I scoured the church for days on end, searching through every nook and cranny, but my efforts eventually proved fruitless, for the libraries seemed only to contain information pertaining to their religion."

Asia's previous smile seemed to dim, her features pulled into a frown.

"And I knew that Christianity hadn't been around forever."

Xenovia seemed to pale at her words.

"I remember asking one of the nuns about it, desperate as I was, and in her kindness she one day left something at my doorstep. An encyclopaedia about the ancient world, and within it lay the information that I had been seeking."

Issei was sat spellbound, for the Asia he saw before him now was nothing like the usual.

"Writ upon a stone tablet nearly four thousand years ago, the oldest story known to mankind, the first and founder of all heroes; King Gilgamesh of Uruk, unsurpassed by all."

"But…"

The world seemed to almost pause at her behest.

"I never experienced that same feeling of contentment whenever I read about it. For all that the tale was grand and full of intrigue, it was almost missing something. I think that, maybe due to the erosion of time, the name of Gilgamesh's companion was lost to the ages. It may seem to most a minor detail, and it is, but to me, it felt as if something important was lacking."

Asia trailed off into silence, the rest of the occult club shocked by the usual reticent girl's uncharacteristic behaviour. Seeing all of the eyes on her, Asia seemed to shrink in on herself, and the illusion was broken.

Rias gave a polite cough.

"That was… very well put, Asia, and brings us nicely to our next topic. Tell me, what do you know of reincarnation?"

///

Wine-red eyes looked down with barely-veiled disgust.

"What a farce! How the church has the gall to call this thing Excalibur is honestly shocking. Have they truly fallen so low?"

Within a lavish hotel room Gilgamesh stood, glaring at the hunk of metal as if it had personally offended her. From around the door a mop of green hair emerged, carrying with him a plate of food.

"Hmm? What's wrong, Gil-chan? Stuck on Rodrick again?"

She snatched the plate from his hands, eyeing it, before placing it at her side.

"Stop going on about that, will you! That boss was bullshit and you know it!"

Enkidu overloaded his spoon with rice, and then proceeded to shovel it into his mouth.

"Awwh, I liked Elden Shouls though!"

She gave him a dark look, and the boy swallowed his food in a guilty manner.

The King of Heroes flicked at the blade with a single finger.

"This pile of shit and disappointment can hardly even be called a sword, much less Excalibur. That, my dear Enkidu, is what's wrong."

Blue eyes cast a quick glance at the blade, before turning to Gilgamesh with a small smile.

"That may be true, but first, ask yourself this: Did you at least enjoy your time in Kuoh?"

Gilgamesh paused, thinking back to Kokabiel's stricken face, to Sizerch's palpable annoyance, and the beginnings of grin began to etch itself onto her features.

"A little. Hey, What did you think of that devil?"

Enkidu cocked his head in curiosity.

"Devil? There was a devil there?"

"Mr Red, or whatever it was you called him."

She had to suppress a snort at the memory.

"He was a devil? That guy had more in common with the fallen angels than that wolf-looking thing we saw back in Kyoto."

The gold-clad woman hummed, before summoning golden cutlery from thin air and digging into her food.

"Strange. Still, he was certainly a devil, one of the most powerful ever to live in fact."

Through the open window flew a small bird, which gave a little squawk before resting on Enkidu's outstretched hand.

"He seemed pretty friendly. I find it hard to correlate him with that stray devil, it almost seemed like they were from an entirely different species."

The bird snapped up a small morsel of rice, swallowing it like it was the last meal on earth.

"The world is often never as it seems. Most people aren't like you, Enkidu; they lie, cheat and deceive without thought, for that is what comes easiest. Even I am guilty of it to some extent, although to a far lesser degree than the prince of lies himself."

A slender finger pet at the avian, which gave one final trilling goodbye before leaving from whence it came.

"I think I always knew that, deep down, but I always want to see the best in people, you know? Why can't everyone just get along?"

Gilgamesh's smile was bittersweet.

"If anyone knew the answer to that, then there would be no need for either me or you. For heroes."

Moonlight filtered through the shutters, as Enkidu pondered upon the nature of the world.

///