Chapter 79: Stance
"I don't like this..." muttered Vahn, staring up at the hazy, nearly blood-red sky encompassing Kuoh Academy and the three distinct groups of winged soldiers occupying it. He could feel the animosity between them like a thin sheet veiling them. It wasn't particularly heavy, but it was perceptible and gave the impression it could smother them at any moment...
"They're just posturing. Don't let them bother you," said Rias, feeling even more anxious than Vahn but putting on a brave front as she led the group to the meeting room where the leaders of the Three Factions were waiting in the New School Building...
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tok tok
"May we enter...?" asked Rias, knocking on one of the two heavy wooden doors marking the meeting room's entrance. Shortly after, Grayfia opened the door, adopting a faint smile but not speaking as she moved aside.
"Allow me to introduce my younger sister, her Peerage, and our honored guest," expressed Sirzechs, sporting a smile of his own as he stood next to Serafall around one of the most extravagant and well-made tables that many present had ever seen, primarily comprised of red-hued wood with a top segmented into three sections of obsidian black stone with a gold pattern. Around the table were four individuals, three standing and one seated in an equally extravagant chair carved from dark wood with green cushions and gold needlework, one of five present.
"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintances. And it's an honor to meet you in person, Vahn Mason," said one of the four people around the table and one of the three standing, an extraordinarily beautiful man with long and pale blonde hair, eyes as blue as the sky, ornate golden armor atop a crimson robe, and, most notably, twelve golden-hued wings and a faintly humming, luminous yellow halo.
"So you're the one they say can do just about anything. Nice ta meetcha," said the last person seated at the table, a man who paradoxically seemed to be in his mid-twenties and late forties simultaneously, sporting stylish, windswept hair that was primarily black with golden bangs, a goatee, and twelve black wings, reminiscent of black velvet.
"What the—what are you doing here...!?" exclaimed Issei, shattering the tension within the room as he pointed at the twelve-winged Fallen with a shocked expression, ostensibly recognizing him.