DXD: Inconvenient

Sorry, I tried but couldn't, I'll see if I can post the next one on Thursday, until then

Enjoy reading, rejoice and...

See you all on next time

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(...Continuing)

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[Friday, Hours after Hector and Francis escaped]

[Location: Italy, Base: Unknown, Time: 9pm]

Inside a spacious room, silence reigned.

With the chandelier on the roof glowing with candles, the light spread across the gray walls to the vaulted ceiling.

And at that moment, on the black marble floor lit by candles, a different light source appeared.

Just below the chandelier, a magic circle began to form, it rotated and expanded as it glowed brighter and brighter until it stopped and with that, a luminous humanoid shape appeared.

With the glow fading, a man with asian features appeared and soon after that, the magic circle beneath his feet dissolved.

With a neutral expression, the man began to walk in silent steps, the hem of his long white button-down overcoat moving slightly with his steps over his white pants.

Leaving the spacious room, he passed through the doorless entrance and walked down a long corridor until he reached a large hall.

Continuing his steps, he walked out of the long corridor and walked across the hall on the same black marble floor.

Passing between the pillars that led to the same vaulted ceiling, the man passed other people wearing black clothes that resembled priests.

"Archbishop Shinra."

A man spoke as he passed, with the man bowing and placing his fist on his chest.

Without responding or stopping, the man continued walking.

"Archbishop Shinra."/"Archbishop Shinra."

This time it was a man and a woman who bowed while placing their fists on their chests.

And again, without responding or stopping his steps, the man in white robes continued walking until he arrived in front of low steps that led to the base of a statue.

His gaze was focused exclusively on the statue, specifically on the face of the man crucified there.

Looking into the statue's shining eyes, he knelt down, raised one hand and closed his eyes, his hand then went to his eyes and touched them, one at a time.

His hand then reached down to touch his side, tracing a line to the other side of his torso, he finished by balling his hand into a fist as he placed it on his chest and lowered his head, saying weakly.

"Praise be to the firstborn."

With his stoic, husky voice reverberating through the hall, he stood up from his kneeling position as he spoke.

With his stoic, husky voice reverberating through the hall, he stood up from his kneeling position as he spoke again.

"High Priest."

At that moment, the man who had been kneeling all this time on pillows in front of the statue hummed in response.

"Hmm."

After that, the man called Shinra didn't say anything else, just waited in silence.

The kneeling man then performed similar acts as Shinra before muttering the same thing, then slowly stood up.

Turning around and placing his hands behind his back, the features of an elderly, white man facing Shinra appeared, his gentle green eyes looking at him calmly.

And in a calm tone, the eldest spoke.

"What happened to bring an archbishop like you here?"

The man called Shinra responded immediately. — "There was a complication in Japan." — As he said this, Shinra reached into his pants pocket, taking out an object and offering it to the older man. — "Two of my direct reports, Hector Romano and Francis Moreau, ran afoul of someone who managed to do this."

In Shinra's outstretched hand, a disc-shaped object with a red jewel in the middle, however, the notable thing is that there were cracks in the disc, starting from the jewel and going through the body of the disc.

Without saying anything, the older man referred to as the high priest approached as he walked down the steps, catching up to Shinra and silently took the object.

Looking at the broken disc with a curious gaze, the high priest then turned and walked towards a corridor, while still looking curiously at the disc as he spoke.

"What exactly happened?"

Following behind him, Shinra began to explain succinctly.

"The two got into a conflict with a teenager, it all started when they went looking for another subordinate of mine, Toshiro Nakachi, who had disappeared for more than a day."

Keeping pace, the two men walked down the long hallway as one spoke and the other listened.

"They found him dead, then began the search for the culprit, finding out about a teenage student at a local school under the control of the devils, eventually discovering that he presumably had a deal with them."

After a few more steps, the two soon arrived in front of a door and meanwhile, Shinra continued to speak.

"After finding the culprit and discovering that he had a relationship with devils, the two began to come up with a plan to attract him, but this was not necessary, as the boy used himself as bait to attract them."

With the high priest opening the door and entering, Shinra followed close behind, the two men then found themselves inside a room with three large screens on the wall.

And in front of each screen there was a priest manipulating them, mouse and keyboard along with other equipment on the long table at which they were sitting.

Upon entering, both were greeted.

"""High priest/Archbishop.""" 

The three seated priests greeted them by bowing slightly before quickly returning their focus to the screens.

Without responding, the High Priest and Shinra approached, standing a little behind the three priests, and with the disc still in hand, the older one hummed lightly. — "Hmm" — With his eyes focused on the screen, he spoke.

"So that means the kid is smart." — The high priest's gaze moved from the screens back to the disc.

Beside the high priest, Shinra looked at those screens for a moment before switching to him. — "Yes, the boy is smart and acted confidently, but the source of his confidence is not just the devil he has a contract with."

Looking away from the broken record, the high priest turned to Shinra as he asked curiously — "Is that so? What do you mean?"

"The nature of his abilities, according to Hector's account, does not appear to be a Sacred Gear or even magic, it appears to be something completely different." — Shinra replied in his neutral tone without missing a beat. — "I have already prepared a file describing all the details of the confrontation between them, sir, for you to see."

"Well, thank you very much." — The high priest said as he thanked him, the wrinkles on his face accompanied his grateful smile.

Looking away from the disc one last time, the high priest muttered weakly. — "Neither Sacred Gear nor magic...how curious." — Shifting his gaze to the screens, he folded his hands behind his back again as he asked. — "Is this kid that strong?"

"It's not that he's strong, he just managed to catch Francis by surprise, Hector said that after that attack the boy was seriously disabled, if Hector hadn't been focused on saving Francis he could have killed him." — Shinra responded, keeping his eyes on the high priest.

Humming, the high priest nodded, then shifted his gaze to Shinra, he smiled calmly as he spoke in an easy tone. — "So, they just need to be more careful from now on, we can't let our priests be incapacitated like this, can we?" — But even though he was smiling, his eyes weren't.

Faced with that expression and gaze that conveyed contrasting sensations, Shinra just nodded stoically.

Receiving Shinra's nod, the high priest silently returned his gaze to the screens, a faint smile now on his face.

With his gaze following the same, Shinra asked with his deep voice reverberating through the room along with the sound of occasional clicks and keys. — "Should I go to the boy myself?"

"No, the situation with this kid looks like it's going to be complicated, for now leave it at that, tell your subordinates to focus on recovery." — The high priest responded calmly, the light from the screens reflecting in his eyes. — "And more importantly, your presence will be needed elsewhere."

The high priest then spoke, addressing the priest sitting in front of him. — "Show the image we captured on Wednesday, please."

"Yes, high priest."

The images on the central screen are no longer images of random locations, as if they were looking for something for a specific image.

In the image that appeared to be the entrance to an airport, the sarcedote zoomed in, focusing on one person among all the others in the image.

And the person in question looked at them, as if they knew they were being filmed at that moment.

And the person in question was a young white woman who looked to be in her twenties, with curly blond hair and piercing blue eyes, and on top of that she looked at them through the screen with a frown as if she knew she was being filmed at that moment.

"So, she finally showed up." — Shinra spoke as he saw the young woman's image on the screen.

"Yes, the last image we had of her was at an airport, and from the images I imagine you recognize the place." — The high priest replied while still having a slight smile, he looked amused for some reason.

"Yes, I recognize it, she is in Japan." — Shinra understood the high priest's apparent amusement, after all that was where he was based, and even looking for her he never found her, despite her apparently being there.

"Don't get frustrated, if there's one thing she's good at, it's hiding, anyway, that's why you should ignore the boy's situation for now, focus on finding her." — The high priest spoke while looking at Shinra from the side.

"Understood." — Without another word, Shinra bowed with his fist to his chest before turning and walking towards the exit.

As he reached the door, his hand came within inches of the doorknob when he heard the high priest speak.

"Basara." 

Upon hearing his name called, he turned to the high priest.

"Do not fail, whether in the search for the girl or in the situation with the boy."

With the high priest looking at him over his shoulder, smiling slightly but looking emotionless again, Basara bowed once more before opening the door and leaving.

Click— 

With the sound of the door closing, the room returned to stillness, with the sounds of occasional clicks and keys filling the room.

Looking at the screens for a moment, the high priest patted the shoulder of the priest in front of him as he said. — "Keep looking."

"Yes sir."

Having already turned around, the high priest went to the door and opened it, leaving the room.

Click— 

Continuing his steps, he walked left in a straight line towards another location.

Accompanied by the sound of his long robe swaying with his footsteps, the high priest walked a little, increasingly arriving at a more secluded area.

After a relatively long time, he arrived at what appeared to be the end of the wide corridor he was in, with a door in front of him.

Without knocking or calling anyone, he reached the door and opened it directly.

Click— 

Entering and leaving the door open, the high priest stopped at the entrance without moving any further, and in front of him was a completely dark and cold room, to the point that even a light fog was visible.

And in the middle of that dark room, the outline of what appeared to be a sitting person was visible.

"How are you? I assume you've already received the news?" — The high priest asked calmly, his tone sounding polite.

"I'm fine, so, do you want me to go to Japan?"

The voice that came from the figure was a young male voice, his tone sounded casual.

"No, it's not necessary for you to go, at least not now." — Came the answer from the high priest

"Come on, old man, you don't want to leave me here waiting for a long time without doing anything, right?"

"No, you will have your time, but don't forget what happened last time, you attracted a lot of attention, besides, call me Enrico, or high priest, not old man." — The high priest, in this case Enrico, responded without being affected by the other party's excessively casual and familiar tone.

"Nah, Enrico is boring and only your subordinates call you high priest, old man is better, besides, is that in your hand one of your toys?"

Upon hearing the figure, Enrico brought the broken record to the front looking at it before placing his arm behind his back and responding. — "It's not a big deal, some bribes had some complications, this will be resolved in due course."

"Huh, fine then, but back to the previous topic, you know how old I am, I get bored easily, don't keep me still for too long."

Saying this, the figure seemed to stand up and in front of him was a sword stuck into the ground.

Because it was completely dark, its details were not visible, but the blade, a surprisingly light blue, seemed to emit a vague luminescence.

The figure then seemed to grab the sword as it broke free from the ground, then the figure seemed to turn around, his calm voice ringing out.

"So, old man, unless you want to see me throwing a tantrum like a child, you better get this over with, right?"

Although his features were not visible, his blue eyes seemed to glow faintly in the darkness.

Looking tired for a moment, Enrico imagined the smile on the figure's face at that moment, but without talking about the matter he replied.

"I know, don't worry."

Then, smiling slightly, Enrico continued.

"After all, I can't keep our Lord Firstborn waiting too long, can I?"

And in response to his words, the figure called Firstborn just laughed.

"Heh."