Chapter 9

The Emiya residence. The basement.

A couple days later. Evening.

Did I visit the Club? Nope. They've had enough of my explanations. They certainly tried to find me and my home, but alas and alack, it is impossible. At least not for someone like them. Why? The Touch of Heaven is a very useful thing if you know how to use it. Like lore Nasuverse said, it allows you to manipulate the soul itself, and by extension, the mind, as was seen in Reynal's example.

I have slightly "tweaked" the perception of the minds of both Club and Student Council members, thus disabling their ability to notice the presence of me or my house. The closest analogy to this is Nurarihyon's ability from the anime of the same name. What was it? "The eyes will see, but the mind will not perceive." Heh. Poor bastards.

Right now I'm wondering who I should send to Azazel. A promise is a promise, after all. Hmm... Da Vinci? Definitely. But who else? Paracelsus? Blavatskaya? Hyde, maybe? Heh. That's a lot of options. Think, Romani. Think.

I pondered for quite a while... Half an hour for sure. Until a certain thought occurred to me. The second Servant may not know science, but Da Vinci is enough for him.

- Heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee.

- Stop giggling so creepily, Master," Emiya's voice came from behind me. I turned around and glared at him and stopped giggling.

- What?" he asked.

- What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be cooking dinner?

- I would if I had food. One hungry lion ate all our supplies and I had to send some Servants to the store," Emiya replied. - And anyway, why should I cook if you possess the Denial of Nonexistence? You can just create food, can't you?

- Ho? Am I hearing the first signs of rebellion, Shirou-kun? - I asked, and a wide grin appeared on my face. When he saw it, he jumped up and took on the appearance of a frightened cat.

- N-no! I'm...

- Artoria! - I shouted, not letting him finish. - Shirou said you're fat and eat too much!

Not a second later, a certain "King" of the Knights burst into the basement with Excalibur at her side. She found Emiya with her eyes and began to slowly move towards him. Emiya, unable to find an escape route, began to cautiously back away until he hit a wall. He raised his hands and his body trembled with fear.

- C-calm down, Artoria! I didn't say that! - He shrieked, looking at her with frightened eyes. - Let's just sit down and talk about it!

Did Artoria listen to him? Nope. Excalibur flashed with golden light every now and then, and its owner came closer and closer to him.

- 'By my Command Seal, I command you, Emiya Shirou, use your Innate Bounded Field on yourself and Artoria,' I chanted and later added. - I have no desire to deal with the aftermath of your lovemaking. Sort it out, lovebirds.

Emiya, activating the Unlimited Blade Works, looked at me with very, VERY furious eyes. And me? I just smiled sweetly and waved goodbye.

- I will have my revenge, Master! - He let out a fierce scream and disappeared with Artoria in a ring of flames.

- You should have kept your mouth shut, Queen Shirou," I said into the void and returned to the matter of summoning.

Well. Where was I? Oh, yes. Da Vinci and "someone." After pumping the summoning circle with mana, it lit up, and two female figures appeared before me.

- Pleased to meet you. Caster class servant, Leonardo da Vinci. You can call me Da Vinci-chan~

- You can rest easy now that I'm with you. Let's save everyone's lives.

- Uh-huh. It's nice to meet you both. And you can use the "you" word," I said and headed upstairs. - Let's go. I'll explain everything upstairs.

They nodded and followed me. Heh. I think Azazel is going to have a lot of fun.

-0-

Kuoh Academy.

Next Day.

After dropping an explanation on the other Servants, and getting a good night's sleep, I headed to the Academy the next day. As soon as I passed through the gate, my senses picked up on something. Or rather, someone.

- My descendant is around. Two even," the demon Phenex said mentally.

О? So today's the day, then? Heh. Lucky, lucky.

Without a second thought, I went to the Occult Research Club. Upon reaching it, I canceled the influence on their minds regarding me and, without knocking, opened the door. Instantly, the gazes of the demons present in the Club focused on me. Surveying the situation in the room, I was able to realize from Issei lying on the floor and Riser's entourage present that they had already reached the point of threatening each other.

- Geez, are you busy? I apologize for the interruption," I said, smiling, and entered the room. Reaching a vacant corner, I produced a chair and a cup of coffee, pretending to be a casual listener.

The demons, upon hearing me, grimaced in pain for a moment and fell silent, not commenting on my next actions in any way, aside from already having a look in my direction. And, of course, the silence was interrupted by the well-known "Chicken".

- Who are you? What's an inferior human doing here?

- J...

- Please stop using that word in our presence, Romani-sensei. - Akeno interrupted me. I looked around, and realized that the demons were ready to pounce on me. Except for Greyfia, who had been trying to understand my motives all this time.

- Only f...

- Who are you?! How dare you interrupt a meeting with my fiancée?! - Riser has jumped in.

- Is this really my descendant? - I heard the Phenex demon's surprised voice.

My eye twitched, and I stared at him.

This is starting to get on my nerves. Should I lay siege to him a little? I think I should.

I used 3rd magic on him and was about to temporarily erase his demon abilities when I suddenly noticed something. Namely, his current thoughts in his head. There was only one word: 'Tired of it'.

Ho-ho-ho-ho. Yes, we have a case of impressive acting here. Digging deeper into his memories, I was able to discover that he didn't like his current circumstances either. The family contract forces him to marry Rias, which Raiser doesn't want. He has enough of his own entourage. But he can't just break off the engagement, even if Rias is all for it. To do so would be to jeopardize their families' authority. And in demon society, there would be rumors of one family's superiority over the other. And this whole mess is about the desire to merge the power of Destruction and the "invulnerability" of the Phenex.

Riser's hands are tied, too. If he simply marries Rias, he will fall into Sirzechs's disfavor. Which is actually suicide. So he decided to make an asshole of himself to make Rias hate him and make her look for all sorts of ways to break the engagement, since he didn't have any.

- How silly," the demon Phenex said. - The consecrated weapons will still be effective against them. They can't get rid of their strongest weakness.

- They don't want to gain effectiveness,'' Gremory spoke up. - They want status. Status among themselves.

- Apparently, the demons of this world are too much like humans, - I heard the demon Bael already. - Too human, too... dependent.

Well, they're right. This world is more focused on the bright side of everything. The Nasuverse, on the other hand, is darker and more realistic than DxD in that regard.

Well, based on all this information I've gotten, I'll proceed in a different way.

- It's a pleasure to meet you, honorable sir. May I have your name? - I said to Riser and stood up and bowed.

At this scene, the Rias Club members opened their mouths and stared at me with a mute question, "Why?" The eternally stoic Greyfia also stared at me. Raiser's entourage didn't react, but Raiser raised an eyebrow.

- It's nice to know that someone knows about manners and respect," he said confidently. - I guess I was wrong to take you for a mere low man. My name is Riser Phenex. Remember it well.

- Thank you for satisfying my curiosity, Lord Phenex. My name is Romani Archaman, humble Magician. May I know the reason for your visit?

- Lord Phenex is my father. You may address me as "Mr. Riser." And I've come here to visit my fiancée, Rias Gremory.

- О? Then congratulations, Mr. Riser," I said, and noticed that he stood up, getting ready to leave. - Before you go, can you fulfill my humble request?

When he heard me, he looked at me and hesitated, still not removing his haughty expression. After a couple of seconds, he decided to answer:

- What is the request, Romani Archaman?

- Can you give me some way to contact you or your family? I have always admired the Phenexes' ability to regenerate and would like to learn more about it.

- Hmmm..." he pondered and after a bit of thought, he turned to his younger sister. - Ravel, give him your appeal flyer. Since he has shown us the respect we have, he may get a small reward.

- Okay, brother," Ravel said and walked over to me and did as Raiser had asked her. I took the flyer and, bowing, kissed her hand.

- Thank you, Lady Ravel," I said and smiled.

- N-not at all," she said nervously, a slight blush appearing on her cheeks. - I-I only did it because my brother said so.

Heh. Can we please not do this? I don't want to go to jail. Uh-huh. The Ophis is good enough for me. Although, when you think about it, she's a legitimate loli. But she's got the mind of a child. Uh-huh. It's complicated.

- Ravel, are you done? We're leaving," Riser asked her.

- Y-yes! I'm coming! - she shrieked and ran up to him.

As soon as Ravel stood next to him. A fiery teleportation circle of fire lit up beneath the entire group.

- You have ten days to prepare. I will meet you at the game, my beloved Rias," Riser said one last time.

And with those words, he and his entourage disappeared. The room was silent for a few more minutes. And, of course, I decided to break it.

- He's not bad, is he?

And, of course, the reaction to my words was nothing but stares at me, as if to ask if I was an idiot.

-0-

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