"Damn it! Is there really anything we can do?" Ise lightly cradled Asia's hands as fresh tears flowed down his face. "She did nothing wrong, so why did this happen to her?!" For a moment I considered bringing out the real Avalon to try and boost her chances, but Rias beat me to the punch by putting a hand on his shoulder and taking out a crimson chess piece, a Bishop if I recalled correctly.
Oh no, she can't be thinking of that method?
...
Several holy blades hit the ground where we stood, each one giving off waves of holy energy and murderous intent towards all the devils in its presence. "I take it that you are not going to let me help her?" Rias was one cool customer all right, even with the holy blades blatantly growling their intent to purify her to the core.
"Shirou, what are you doing?! Buchou can save her!" Ise sounded anguish as he saw me holding one arm out to protect Asia.
"Is she really doing that?" my voice got very grim as I noted the positions of the various Devils around me. "Because the way I see it, she is basically doing the same thing as she did the last time, resurrecting a soul from the dead without giving the girl a chance to be judged worthy to enter Heaven."
I guess those religious Executors got to me a lot more than I thought when we went on our missions to take down Dead Apostles, now I was actually talking about fair judgement and the chance to meet the big guy with a capital G.
"Before you counter my words, let me ask you this." I turned my head to keep everyone of them in view. "Does she have a choice in this matter whereby she could choose to have a peaceful death or be resurrected as A Devil? If she were alive and kicking when she agreed to your deal, I would be packing my stuff and be back home for supper. But considering her current state, I think she would soon be given a chance to have eternal peace with herself, and if that is her fate, then I would at least protect her wish until she passes through the Gates of Heaven."
That seemed to have struck a chord with the Devils in question, as they looked to each other with slightly uncomfortable faces. Guess they never considered how the individual in question might object to the idea of being resurrected.
"Ise-san?" A quiet whisper brought our attention to the girl who struggled to open her eyes and find the boy in question. "Asia!" Ise cried out in restrained joy as he lifted the girl's hand again. "I'm here, don't worry!"
"Ise-san, I am so glad you are safe." She let out a weak smile. "Somehow, I had the feeling you would be able to come back alive."
"Don't worry, I am pretty strong, I can take on anyone!" Ise tried to assure her to ease her worries. Asia lightly turned her unfocused eyes on me. "My Lord, is that you?"
'Again with that title?' I shook my head lightly to remove that thought. "Rest easy child, you are in safe hands."
"My Lord, I have a request if it is not too much to ask." She let out a tired sigh as her eyes started to drop further. She may not have much time left it seemed. I might as well grant her final words.
"What would your request be?"
"I… I would want to be with Ise-san a little longer." She lightly coughed as she struggled to make her words. "I would want to be his friend, is it too much to ask?"
"… It is not impossible to be his friend, but would you truly be satisfied with a moment in time?" I made a solemn tone as I asked, indicating to the others that this was the moment she would make her choice. "How about Ise? I believe he would want to know you a lot longer."
"I~ I want to be with him longer, I want to be his friend!" She struggled to say those words with tears flowing down her eyes. She clearly cared for Ise a lot.
"Then child, let me present you with a choice." I made sure to say this as plainly as possible to her. "You can be with him for a very long time, but there is a possibility that you may not have another chance to come to Heaven again. Would you be willing to do so?"
Asia paused as she looked at me, clearly torn between the prospect of staying on with Ise and the possibility of not going to heaven. Then with a deep breath, she made her choice. "I will stay with Ise, I want to be with him for as long as I can."
"I see." I laid a hand on her head to place a sleeping charm on her. "Then your wish shall be granted, and I will pray for your happiness." She let out another smile before she lightly dozed off into a deep slumber. With a sigh, I dismissed the holy blades in the area and turned to Rias. "Well she has made her choice, I will now hand her over to you then." I took back Avalon and stood a few metres as I observed Rias placing the chess piece on Asia, noting how the piece glowed brightly before sinking into her chest, making her body glow lightly and her taking a deep breath of her new life.
"Now that is done…" Kiba moved to face the last Fallen Angel in question, but this time I was ready for them, making my way quickly in front of him and projecting a katana in my hands.
Okay, this was getting very repetitive.
"Shirou?" Ise asked while looking conflicted as to whom he should be siding with.
"I have been lenient towards your actions regarding Ise's situation and Asia." I raised the katana lightly to reflect the moonlight off its edge. "But do not think that it is my weakness. Right now, I feel that much blood and tears have been shed, and we should not add more tonight."
"Admirable traits, but she is still an agent of Grigori and our enemy in our area, so…" Rias started to speak, only for me to interrupt.
"No." I cut her off. "She goes free. But if you really want clarification of her position…" I promptly turned around and knelt in front of the blond girl, noting her crouched figure and scared expressions resembled a lot like Illya's. "Mitelt, that is your name right? Do you have anywhere else to return to?"
"No, I don't." Miltelt spoke with a disheartened tone. "I have broken orders to take down the boy and the girl, and there is no way Lord Azazel would allow me back into the Grigori. Even if I could, it still means I can't go back home."
"I see." I paused while looking at her before I voiced out my alternative. "If that is the case, you can come with me then."
The reactions from that statement were pretty spectacular to watch to say the least: Ise openly gawked at me with his mouth wide open, Rias dropped her arms and looked at me like I was insane, Akeno and Koneko looked at me with raised eyebrows and slag jaws, and even Kiba actually dropped his sword in shock, his arm still in the air and an expression of absolute surprise on his face. As for Mitelt, she had stopped sobbing and was looking at me like I had grown an extra head on top of my first one.
Yup, that was pretty standard behaviour to my ideas, some of which got me introduced to Rin's Gandrs and Luvia's wrestling moves.
"Are you nuts?!" Mitelt voiced out the thoughts in possibly everyone present in the area. "You want to take me in, one of the few who tried to kill you and take the Sacred Gears from those two?"
"Oh of course, I have not forgotten what you guys have done." I let my tone indicate my deep displeasure for the whole matter. "Which is why I am going to lay out some ground rules. If you can follow them, you are safe, but if not, well…" I merely glanced at Rias to give her the idea of the consequences. "So are you ready to hear the terms?"
"… Fine." Mitelt restrained her outburst and looked at me with a disgruntled if somewhat amusing expression. "Name your terms."
"I have a few simple ones, but the main terms are these." I lightly tapped the blade on the ground with its tip. "Firstly you are not to wander around without some form of supervision. Strictly speaking, you have to be near me or someone I approved to watch over you within a set distance. Secondly, you are not to harm any innocent while you are here. And lastly, whatever actions you take do not endanger me, my friends or any other innocent parties during your stay."
"Seriously?" Mitelt looked at me again in disbelief.
"I don't see why not." I let out a light shrug. "I am willing to make some compromises just as long as you can follow these ones. Regarding the last one, if any one you have wronged in the past or have any justifiable reason to seek revenge on you, I would have to recede my protection, otherwise I am willing to aid you from overambitious killers, greedy fools and the occasional idiotic creatures." I laid it out as plainly as possible, this type of talk was more of Rin's forte. "I am not forcing you to take up my terms, if anything, you may even leave now or sometime later if you feel the terms are not fair to you in anyway."
"In short you are asking me to leave my judgement in your hands?"
"Nope, just to show you that my hands are not tied. As I said, I will not stop you if you wish to leave, but I would have not have my choices killed off, understand?" I projected a small dagger and started to carve some runes on a piece of broken stone, quickly finishing the task due to my long practice of writing these spells. I turned to her and asked her once more. "So what would be your reply?"
Mitelt looked at me with a complicated expression before directing her eyes at the Devils behind me, then with an exasperated sigh, she turned her tired eyes at me, clearly having no more physical energy or mental capacity to deal with the situation. "Okay, I accept your conditions."
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Hey guys I really need you to throw some power Stones ;)
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