Kiba's tragic past! And Raynare gets something to mull over!

"So what the hell do you even want?" Freed scoffed. "If I can get back to killing shitty Devils sooner by answering your question, then hurry up and ask!"

Raynare crossed her arms. "The time that Peerage escaped with Asia... what exactly did Issei say to Rias?" she asked him.

Freed scoffed. "The hell does THAT matter?" he groused.

"Just humor me for a second," Raynare rolled her eyes.

Freed scratched his head. "Honestly... I barely remember. The exact words escape me, because I didn't think they were important. One of them told the shitty noob that the portal only worked with Devils, and he didn't like that, and told the red haired whore that he wished he could kidnap pretty girls through the portal or something like that. And somehow, she did something that allowed him to do just that, or at least, I assume so, considering that next thing I knew, they, and the witch were gone." Freed shrugged. "That's as close as I can tell you to what happened."

"That's all you can tell me? ...wait, did Issei specifically say he "wished" for that ability, and Rias somehow did it?" Raynare asked Freed, who paused to think about it.

He crossed his arms and tilted his head. "...yeah, come to think of it, I think I do remember the exact word "wish," but don't quote me on that. It happened fast, and I didn't particularly care anyway. Now, we done here?"

Raynare sighed and waved him off, before flying away. Well, that was a whole lot of nothing! If Azazel hadn't suggested it, she wouldn't have bothered trying to get the exact wording, and she barely got that at all! The only thing even remotely of use was that Issei... made a wish... and... Rias granted it... "...no way," Raynare grumbled, pulling out her phone, and began looking up some old folklore she had heard of during her time going undercover. What were the odds that any of it was in any way, shape or form, accurate?

.....

"Holy weapons are, obviously dangerous for Devils," Rias began to explain. "So needless to say, the Church was very interested in finding potential wielders. If not one of the Excalibur fragments, then at least lesser Holy swords. Even if they didn't compare to the "True Longinus," arguably the strongest Holy Weapon, they would take would they could get."

"True Longinus?" Issei questioned.

"A Longinus is a rare weapon classification," Rias summed up. "It encompasses potential God Slayers. Like your own Sacred Gear. Your Boosted Gear is considered a Longinus." Issei paused, and looked at his left hand, which was currently in his dragon form. That sounded kind of awesome, he wouldn't lie. "The True Longinus is the Sacred Gear that impaled Jesus Christ while he was on the cross. In fact, the term Longinus is derived from it."

"I see..." Issei nodded. "But back to the topic of Holy Swords?"

Rias nodded, and stated, "As I said, Holy Weapons don't just let anyone wield them, the wielder has to be compatible. Kiba was part of the project to try to train candidates to be capable of adapting to the Holy Swords. But the project was ultimately a failure, and Kiba was disposed of, along with everyone else in the project."

Issei looked absolutely horrified, and Asia did too. "That's not an acceptable act for those who claim to serve God to commit," she whispered from behind her hands.

"...the Church calls us Devils evil, and against the will of God, but many of their own clergy are so much worse than what they claim we are," Rias asserted. "When Kiba's Sacred Gear caught my eye, I invested a Knight piece to ressurect him. When he returned to this world, he was already swearing **** for himself and his friends. His talents for swords and his Sacred Gear were abused since he was born. I had hoped to use his talents effectively as a Devil, instead of wasting them obsessing over Holy Swords. But he wasn't able to forget... or let go of his hatred for Holy swords, or the priests involved in the project."

"...I see. So that explains a lot then," Issei sighed, suddenly unable to fully blame Kiba for being distracted. He had gotten an unexpected reminder of his hatred, and wasn't able to just brush it off overnight.