章 24: DxD : A New Hero : Chapter 24
"That is the kind of humans they grew up with and it is also the image they have of them inside of their minds. While intellectually they know that is no longer the case, emotionally the still believe humans to be little more than intelligent apes.
I also discovered that they have received reports on Issei, and well, let's just say it didn't do much to dissuade that impression."
...
I thought back to my first meeting of the Perverted Trio and the memory of them running away while being chased by the Kendo team…I had to admit put it that way and I couldn't completely blame them for thinking Issei would be an idiot.
"I have talked to Issei before and he's not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed so I doubt he'd figure it out at first, but given enough time even he will eventually put it all together.
"Now comes the second reason." Sona took a moment to adjust her glasses before carrying on, "They didn't want to give him an opportunity to refuse."
I just stared at her for a second before face palming, "…What?"
"Think about it, Issei is the wielder of the Booster Gear. While they may not like it, it makes him a serious threat to them. Worse, in their mind, he could become a weapon to be used against them if any of the other faction or even other pantheons got a hold of him."
"And seeing as how the Fallen had already discovered him, they were afraid that the others would soon follow." I finished for her.
It made sense, the fallen had already gotten hold of Divine Dividing and the Angels had the Zenith Tempest. Now they find out that they all the while had been sitting on hands concerning the Boosted Gear issue the Fallen had come closing in.
If the Elder Council was as ruthless as Sona implied it only makes sense that when pushed they'd be willing to do whatever it takes to get absolute control over the Boosted Gear.
"Then what about Sirzechs, why did he agree with this madness?"
"Shirou, Sirzechs a monster." She looked me dead in the eye as she said this. "He's a likeable monster, one with a heart but that doesn't make him any less of one. Don't forget Shirou that Sirzechs is the Maou, not just a Maou, but the only one that really matters.
No matter how much you sugarcoat it, when people think about the leader of the Devils they don't think of Ajuka, Falbium or my sister. They think of Sirzechs.
"You don't get that kind of power or recognition by asking nicely. Sirzechs is the one true Lord of Devils because is he the best of us. Not just in power but in charisma, cunning and ruthlessness.
He fought his way to the top leaving battlefields full of corpses in his wake and was able to hold his position unopposed for two hundred years.
"And I guarantee you, whatever reasons he appears to have for supporting this plan, they are completely different than his real reason. In many ways he and my sister think alike. They always have plans within plans and you can never tell what they're truly thinking."
"That much at least we agree on," I told her while feeling mildly relived that someone else shared my opinion on Sirzechs, "Still even after hearing all their reason doesn't make me feel any better about the situation."
At my words, a smile began to grow on Sona's face. "Well, if you're still upset about how Rias handled Issei then you'll love this news."
I cocked an eyebrow at that, "Does it have anything to do why you were in such a good mood when you came in and why you wanted Gremory to 'feel the burn'?''
Though she faintly blushed at that her smile didn't diminish at the slightest, "You have to understand that while Rias is one of my dearest friends and that I truly love her, she has been driving me insane over the last week.
"She took every opportunity to rub it in my face that she was about to get a Longinus user in her Peerage. How even though I searched the school from top to bottom for Peerage members three times over, I ended up missing the wielder of the Boosted Gear and how she didn't.
Or how wrong I was for wanting to expel the Perverted Trio and how she was right for wanting them to stay." Sona reached out with her hands and held them before her as if was about to throttle something.
"It reached the point where I just wanted to strangle that pretty throat of hers." Her smile looked more than a little bit strained as she said that. It was actually starting to get scary to look at.
"But then," her smile did a 180 and became far more genuine, "I heard the most wonderful news before I arrived. I just ran into Kiba on his way to his morning training and I found out what happened to Issei."
"What?" I asked, more than little worried for the kid. "Did something go wrong? They didn't fail to resurrect him did they?
"Oh no no no," Sona's smile grew into a wide Cheshire smile, one that made her remarkably like Serafall moments before a prank, "nothing went wrong. Quite the opposite as a matter of fact.
Everything went according to plan down to the letter. The Fallen killed Issei, Rias popped in the last second and successfully resurrected him into a pawn just as she wanted."
"I don't see why you so happy about it." Though I was relieved that Issei was fine at least, I was still didn't like how things played out.
Sona's 'Serafall smile' was still firmly in place though, and she continued, "Ah, but I didn't tell you the best part yet. It seems that the shock and pain of his injuries has caused Issei to waken his Sacred Gear before he died."
"He awakened the Boosted gear?"
"No."
"No?" I repeated dumbly, "What do you mean no? You just said he had awakened his Sacred Gear"
"Yes, he did awaken his Sacred Gear." Her smile, if possible grew even wider as her glasses seemed to flash in the sunlight.
"It just happened to be however, that the Sacred Gear he awakened wasn't the Booster Gear." She paused, clearly trying to draw out the moment before she carried on, "It was Twice Critical instead."
I took me the better part of five second to process what she said but when I finally did I dragged my jaw off the floor and murmured out in disbelief, "No way." Then more loudly.
"Are you sure it's Twice Critical? It could be an incomplete awakening. While rare it does happen sometimes."
She held up a single finger, "One pawn piece," the vindictive glee in her voice was unmistakable, "Rias suspected the same thing and when she tried to revive him with all of her pawns, she ended up needing only one to make it work."
I gaped. I was so flabbergasted that I couldn't do anything but let my jaw fall open and gap at her.
Sona let out a cackle, an honest to Satan witch's cackle, at my reaction before speaking, "One pawn piece, one measly pawn Shirou. It wasn't even a mutated one, but a completely regular pawn.
That's even worse because Twice Critical should automatically double a person's value, which means Issei's base stats isn't even valued at half a pawn – well screw you my rival, now you can finally feel the burn.
"Oh Rias rubbed it in my face that she was getting a Longinus for so long, making me burn with envy and self-rage at how I could have missed it, only for it to turn into Twice Critical. Worse, she ended up with one of the Perverted Trio in her peerage." Sona threw her hands wide open in joy.
"I'm so happy with that boy I'm not expelling the other two. They'll be a reminder of this day, and every time I'm in a bad mood I'll just look at them, think of this moment and laugh." Which she then proceeded to do just that.
I couldn't help it, I broke down laughing and joined her.
Truth be told, I was planning on finding a way to get back at the Gremory for what she did to poor Issei but it looks like I didn't have to. Issei ended up doing it all by himself. And this is by far worse than anything I could have done to the Gremory.
Oh what I would pay to see the look on the Elder Council's faces when she has to go up to them and announce that the Boosted Gear that she claimed to have found ended up being nothing more than Twice Critical.
That she wasted the entire Elders Council time on what was nothing but a wild goose chase. She was never going to live this down.
God may be dead, but Divine Justice is alive and kicking after all.
The best part is, she may have actually ended up saving Issei's life after all. If she had approached him in the first place and discovered that Issei didn't have the Boosted Gear but Twice Critical instead, she would never have bothered to recruit him.
This meant that if the Fallen Angels made the same mistake of believing he carried the Boosted Gear, there would have been no one there to resurrect him when they killed him.
But now that he's part of the Gremory's Peerage he's safe.
To top it off, her Gremory Greed would not allow her to surrender Issei no matter what. Even if she wouldn't have wanted him in the first place when it comes to their Peerage, Gremorys can resemble a Dragon hording its gold.
It doesn't matter whether they even want the gold or not or even if they have nothing to spend all they gold on, they will not let so much as a single coin go without a fight. Their Greed would demand nothing less.
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