"The Sacred Gear extraction plan?"
Taking the recording crystal from Roy, Rias's face turned thoughtful.
This could be big or small, depending.
On the grand scale, these fallen angels breaking the rules and stirring trouble in Kuoh Town were begging for a reckoning. On the small scale, she didn't even know the targeted Sacred Gear holder—easy to ignore and move on.
"Roy, how do you think we should handle this?"
"Strike hard, obviously."
Roy replied matter-of-factly. "They've handed us their weakness on a platter. Why let them run wild?"
He'd been eyeing those fallen angels in the old church for a while now.
With the perfect chance finally here, Roy wasn't about to let it slip.
"Very you."
Rias nodded in agreement.
As a Gremory devil, Rias had a kind streak. Even if the Sacred Gear holder was an exiled priest, she couldn't just stand by.
Since Roy was on board with saving him, she'd lend a hand.
"By the way, what's the deal here?"
Rias glanced at Issei Hyoudou, freshly healed by Roy.
"I recognize him—he's from our school, right? Why's he on the fallen angels' radar?"
"He's a Sacred Gear holder."
"That explains it."
Rias probed further. "Do you know which Sacred Gear?"
"One of the Longinus—the Boosted Gear of the Red Dragon Emperor."
"Eh?!"
"But not for long."
Roy hoisted Issei up. "I was planning to train him up, but now I've got a better idea."
A better idea?
Rias seemed to catch on, asking, "You want to use the fallen angels' Sacred Gear extraction ritual to strip the Longinus?"
"Yep. He's got no drive to get stronger, so I'll take it for myself."
"That could kill him."
"Nah, I've got it covered."
"…Got it."
A Longinus was the pinnacle of Sacred Gears, packing enough punch to take down Devil Kings and gods. Once exposed, its wielder—willing or not—became a target for every faction.
Rias had already sized up Issei. He was just a regular guy.
Rather than let him stumble into chaos with a Longinus, better for Roy to claim it.
As for Issei's own opinion? Rias didn't care much.
She had her biases.
Compared to a stranger like Issei, her loyalty leaned hard toward Roy.
"When do we move?"
"Now."
Roy, still holding Issei, spread his wings and took to the sky.
Rias followed suit.
The old church sat on Kuoh Town's west side. Flying at full tilt, they reached it in no time.
"Who's there?!"
"You're… the Gremory heiress?"
"Get lost—this isn't your place!"
Sensing their approach, three fallen angels burst from the church.
But as they barked threats to drive Rias and Roy off, Roy summoned a black demonic sword and flashed forward.
The blade sliced through the air, its ruthless edge piercing all three fallen angels in an instant.
Green entries +3.
"Not one worth a damn."
Roy's lip curled in disappointment.
He'd hoped these fallen angels might at least cough up a blue entry.
"You're just too strong."
Rias sighed.
Back when she first met Roy, he was mid-tier devil at best. In no time, he'd broken through to high-class devil.
Since then, his growth hadn't slowed—it had accelerated, pedal to the floor.
Even now, with her own entries awakened, Rias couldn't pin down Roy's true strength. She just knew it was terrifying.
Landing beside Roy, they entered the church.
Beyond Raynare and the three fallen angels, the place crawled with priests and exorcists.
Like Asia in the original story, these were church outcasts, scooped up by the fallen angel faction.
"Filthy devils! Die!"
Cast out or not, these priests and exorcists hadn't fully ditched their faith.
Spotting Roy and Rias, they drew weapons without hesitation, devils their sworn enemies.
"Admirable guts."
Roy raised his demonic sword and swung lazily.
A blast of sword aura, dripping with menace, erupted.
With a crisp tearing sound, every standing priest and exorcist in the church evaporated in a flash.
White entries +21, green entries +5.
New entries piling up in his inventory, Roy's mood lifted.
Giving those fallen angels time to recruit grunts had paid off.
If he'd hit them day one, he'd have snagged just four green entries—a fraction of this haul.
"Hm? Where…?"
Just then, Issei, dangling from Roy's other hand, stirred awake.
"Perfect timing."
Roy dropped him to the ground.
"Argh!"
Issei hit face-first, yelping as the landing jolted him fully conscious.
Looking around, his eyes landed on a familiar figure.
"Roy? What's going on? Why am I here? And those wings—what's up with that?"
"You talk too much."
Roy shot him a look. "Instead of asking, why not remember?"
"…"
Issei fell silent.
Remember… He'd left home that morning, met his girlfriend, and then…
"Yuuma said I had a Sacred Gear, then out of nowhere, she stabbed me."
Glancing at the gaping hole in his shirt, it clicked for Issei.
"Did you save me, Roy?"
"Yeah."
Roy led the way to the church's basement.
On the way, he gave Issei a crash course on the world's truth and the deal with Longinus.
"There's a way to remove the Sacred Gear? Awesome!"
Issei's eyes lit up. "Roy, please!"
"Take this so-called Sacred Gear away—I don't want it!"
Unlike the original, where he was forced into devilhood and slowly adapted, this Issei saw the Sacred Gear as a curse.
It got him targeted by creepy fallen angels and nearly killed him.
This time, Roy's save was dumb luck. Next time, he might not be so fortunate.
Better Roy take the dangerous thing than keep it himself.
With that naive thought—unaware of the extraction's risks—Issei trailed Roy into the church basement.
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