(DxD x Tony Stark) Iron & Myth: Chapter 8 - Unholy acts

Chapter 8 - Unholy acts

Summary: Unexpected tensions rise as plans take a dangerous new turn.

Gremory raised an eyebrow at him and asked "What exactly do you mean?"

Tony smirked and explained "Once we sign the contract I will promise to come to your help one time at your request and do my best to resolve your situation."

The red-haired devil did look interested but tried to mask it behind an indifferent voice "And what makes you think we will require your services?"

Tony leaned back in his chair and his smirk widened slightly "Considering you recruited Hyoudou at the first chance you got without knowing anything about his sacred gear. I think you need the manpower, probably because you are expecting something big to happen and soon."

He noticed the girl's face grew paler, and Himejima gave her friend a worried look. Tony raised his hands in a placating gesture "I'm not going to pry, it's none of my business."

Gremory sighed in relief before eyeing him with new interest "You really are clever aren't you Stark-san?"

Tony shrugged with a smirk "You haven't seen anything yet, I assure you. So how about the deal?"

Gremory smirked a little herself "Your services huh? You know what Stark-san, you have yourself a deal."

Tony's smirk turned into a smile and he clapped his hands "Great."

In short order the contract was signed. Tony demanded a copy of his own which he had along with a couple of books in his bag now.

As he stood up to leave the Occult club building Tony said "It was a pleasure doing business with you Ms. Gremory."

Gremory smiled at him "Indeed it was Stark-san, well mostly. I will expect those books back."

Tony shot her another smirk "Why of course, after all I won't be able to get my next delivery until I return those."

With that Tony left. He wished he could say he sat in his lab to decipher the teleportation code, or even that he began going through the books he got from Gremory, but considering he spent the entirety of last night awake, and that was after a pretty nasty fight. So the moment Tony got home he said hello to his mom and then fell asleep in his bed.

The next morning he felt much more refreshed and was cheerful while heading out to school, or as cheerful as a genius could be about wasting his time in high school.

He stopped in his tracks when he heard a female scream just behind him. He turned to see a girl about a year younger than him with long blonde hair, and was she wearing nun's clothing...

Tony's mind screeched to a halt when his eyes found the panty clad bum sticking in the air.

Tony quickly shook his head and reached down to help the girl stand up. The moment she was on her feet she began brushing off her skirt while speaking in Italian "I'm such a klutz tripping over the air. Thank you so much for the help."

Tony was surprised by her choice of language but answered with fluent Italian—his mother was one after all, it wouldn't do for him not to embrace the culture "It's no problem. Though you don't seem to be from around here."

The girl seemed happy that someone else could talk in a manner she could understand "I have been assigned to the local church, but I am not sure where it is."

Tony looked at the nun. She looked innocent and pure, but there was something else in her blue eyes, something that reminded Tony of someone else he once knew. "I only know about one church in the area, how about I show you the way."

Not like he would miss something important in school anyway. The girl smiled brightly "I would like that. My name is Asia Argento."

Tony gave a small bow and introduced himself in return "Tony Stark."

With that Tony began leading Argento toward the church.

They only managed to take a few steps toward the church when they heard another cry echoing in the street. Tony and Argento both turned to see a little boy sitting on the ground holding his bleeding knee.

Tony sighed and began to step toward the boy when the blonde girl he was escorting ran past him and kneeled in front of the crying boy.

Two rings appeared out of nowhere on her fingers and she held her palm in front of the boy's bleeding knee and a green orb of light began to shine in the space between them.

Tony watched in amazement as the wound closed completely, leaving no mark and only dry blood. Tony tuned out what she was saying to the boy in order to analyze what he was seeing.

"JARVIS?" Tony asked his AI.

The British accented voice replied at once "It would appear to be a sacred gear, Sir. Her magical signature was very weak until a moment ago."

Interesting. And she belonged to the church—that seemed rather convenient. What fascinated him even more though was her sacred gear, which obviously was meant to be a healing tool, but how did it achieve it?

Did it rewind time before the injury? No, if that were the case it would require a lot more energy than Tony could detect, and the blood would have vaporized as well. The reverse method of accelerating the time in the area would encounter the same difficulties.

So, the most logical answer would be that the sacred gear was accelerating the healing factor of the body itself by injection of magic. Another thing for Tony to look into later—this list really got long in the past few days.

The nun ran back to him with the largest smile on her face, the boy screamed back to her in Japanese "Thank you sister!"

Argento looked at him with confusion, so Tony supplied the translation "He said thank you." And the nun looked ecstatic with the news.

They returned to walking up the hill when the blonde spoke again "You are probably wondering what that power was."

Tony smiled at her "Quite the useful sacred gear you have there Sister Argento."

The nun seemed surprised that he knew what it was before smiling brightly—damn she was far too innocent, not even questioning where he learned that term from.

Tony deciding he wanted to learn a little more about her asked "So why did you get assigned to this town? With talents like yours surely you are highly sought after."

The blonde girl looked down in sadness before replying "Well, a few years ago a devil appeared at the entrance of the church I lived in, injured. I healed him, and the church declared me a heretic for it, so I ended up here."

Tony could only frown—he knew this girl reminded him of someone. Peter Parker. The pure kid that no matter how much shit life fed him he never stopped wanting to help. Asia Argento was just the same and that fact made Tony grow protective over her.

When they reached the entrance to the church Asia turned to him and bowed "Thank you so much Stark-san. Would you like to come in for tea as a thank you?"

Tony was about to agree when a feeling of dread washed over him after a glance at the doors of the church. He shook that off quickly and with a masking smile "I'm afraid I need to go back to school, so I will take a raincheck, but remember Asia I always protect my friends, so you don't have to worry."

The nun blinked before giving a large smile "Am I your friend?"

Tony smiled widely at her and for a moment he saw Peter's smiling face and he answered in a faraway voice "You always will be."

Asia nodded with a bright smile "Then I shall wait to see you again Stark-kun."

With that the two parted ways. As Tony walked back down the hill JARVIS decided that moment to inform Tony of some worrying news "Sir, I have detected five fallen angel signatures in the church as well as a dozen other thermal bodies."

So five fallens and a dozen humans. Sounded like quite the welcoming ceremony for Asia—Tony was getting really bad feelings about that. He was really glad of his decision to bug Asia with a GPS chip while they were walking.

He was in the middle of class when JARVIS spoke again "Sir we have received a signal from Ms. Raynare, please listen."

And while Tony pretended to concentrate on the English lesson going on he listened as an unfamiliar deep voice spoke "So the heretic sister has arrived?"

Another male's voice, this one less deep responded "Indeed Zakariel-sama."

Oh, so that was the one Raynare mentioned as the head of the group. His voice spoke again "And the ritual?"

The same male voice responded "Will be ready in a couple of days Zakariel-sama."

The deep voice hummed pleasantly for a moment "Good. Once the heretic's sacred gear is ours we shall inform Kokabiel-sama and await further instruction."

The other voice replied again "What about the devils sir, they might choose to interfere as it is their territory."

Tony could hear the smirk in Zakariel's voice "This will serve our grander purpose well. After all tonight's mission for the heretic and the priest should leave quite the impression on the devils. Setting the stage for Kokabiel's next phase and the start of the new great war."

The deep voice then turned sharp "Raynare the heretic must remain untouched and unharmed for the ritual. It is your duty, do not fail me again."

Raynare's voice shook a little as she replied meekly "Yes, Zakariel-sama."

With that the audio was cut.

Tony leaned back in thought. It seemed like it was time for him to take some action—he could no longer protect Asia and Raynare from afar, he would have to hide them in his house for a while.

The moment classes were over Tony went out of the room and said under his breath "JARVIS, let me know the moment Asia is out of the church."

"Yes, Sir." Was the instant response.

Tony was working on one of his cars. He still didn't have anything close to the collection he had in his old life, but then again there were some cars in his old collection he found out just didn't exist in this world, which was a shame.

He just closed the hood of this newer model car—its design was silver and slick with some bright blue highlights—when JARVIS informed him calmly "Sir, Ms. Argento has left the church and is currently heading toward the heart of town."

Tony frowned—Zakariel's words echoed in his head, he wanted to begin a war and today's mission would send a clear message to the devil faction of that and drop the first domino in the set ending with a lot of death. Something Tony simply couldn't allow.

And then there were Asia and Raynare to consider. Protecting them was his first priority as well. Zakariel also mentioned taking Asia's sacred gear, but if Raynare was right and the sacred gear was part of one's soul he could only assume the process would kill Asia, which was not going to happen.

With a small smirk Tony got in the car and called out "Fri, if mom or dad are looking for me, tell them I took my new ride for a drive."

The Irish voice responded immediately "Sure will Boss."

With that Tony drove off toward where Asia's signal was coming from.

When he parked his car at the area Asia stopped he saw a couple of buildings, not knowing which one was their target Tony was forced to wait until they would make their move. Or that was what he thought until JARVIS informed him "Sir, I detect demonic magic use in the right building, though I do not feel any demonic presence."

Tony was confused himself, still he went inside the building, noticing on his HUD that Asia was still in the same location as she was for the past couple of minutes he picked up his pace—it would be best if he could manage to just pull Asia aside for a moment, talk to her and get her out of here before a fight broke out.

Once he entered the building what he saw was a group of teenagers, wearing black robes and gathered around a slip of paper with a familiar symbol on it that was glowing crimson.

That's when Tony's mind clicked. It was like when Hyoudou managed to summon Gremory back in the park! They were trying to summon a devil, so the church sent Asia and that priest to kill those people to send a message about summoning devils.

That was bad. Since when was the church going for murder?! Then again, there was no better way to start a war.

JARVIS shook him out of the shock "Sir, Ms. Argento is approaching the building."

Tony stepped out of the shadows and immediately ordered "Get out of here, now!"

The teens turned to him with shock and one of them blurted out "W... Who are you?"

Tony glared at them "Right now there are people coming here to kill you because you tried to summon a devil—if you want to stay alive get the fuck out of here! Use the back entrance."

The teens looked pale, and a few of them tried to stutter. Tony rolled his eyes and screamed "Follow me if you want to live." Tony wouldn't lie, he really liked saying that.

As Tony began to lead the way toward the back door the teens, still shocked, all chose to follow him out of the building, leaving behind only the still glowing slip of paper.