Their help may be needed!

"Honestly... It's quite likely the Church wants to negotiate something with us," Rias said carefully. "While I don't doubt that your friend was genuinely interested in catching up, Exorcists wouldn't come here, and into Devil turf just for that. Especially given that she had a companion who is also an Exorcist with her, if she really did just want to catch up with an old childhood friend, she would have much more likely come alone, as that would be less risky in regards to provoking us."

"Wait, do you think they know about the Lamp already? Azazel mentioned he would share the info with Heaven's higher ups, so all three factions would have a seat at the negotiating table in regards to its use," Issei reasoned. "Is it plausible that this is some preliminary action, like wanting to know more about it, or letting us know their initial stance on it regarding the negotiations?"

Rias cupped her chin, and took a moment to consider it. "...that is possible," she mused. "But unlikely. Azazel only got the details regarding our situation this morning. That's not much time for him to have gotten ahold of Heaven, told them, and then for Heaven to round up Exorcists of a high enough level to handle something that important and send them here. It's possible that Azazel was pretty quick about informing the Angels, and that the ones they picked happened to be in Japan in general, but the odds of both being true, while one of the ones they sent had a connection to one of the Devils they sought to negotiate with are low. So it's more likely something else they want entirely."

"...guess the only way we'll know for sure is to wait..." Issei said slowly.

Asia nodded, a bit nervous. "Hopefully, they remain non hostile..." she added.

"... there's no reason for them to start a fight here," Rias assured Asia. "We're still technically at peace, in a cold war at worst." Her phone suddenly buzzed, and she fished it out, and looked at it, seeing a text. "...looks like I was right on the money. They want to talk and meet with us in the club room tomorrow afternoon."

"I hope things stay cordial," Issei sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "And that they don't have any unreasonable demands..."

...

The next day, after classes, things were tense in the club room. Rias and Akeno were sitting across from Irina and Xenovia, while Issei, Koneko, Kiba and Asia were standing off to the side, ready to intervene, should things go sour. Raynare was in the corner of the room, just watching. Issei glanced towards Kiba, who had a stormy expression. Yep, he was definitely not fond of having two members of the Church around, and he was mostly looking at the wrapped weapon Xenovia carried, no doubt suspecting a Holy Blade was in the wrappings. Even if his main grudge was against Excalibur, holy swords in general were clearly enough to set him off. Issei mentally sighed, hoping that this didn't set back Kiba's brooding time too much.

"...alright, you have your meeting," Rias began, crossing her arms. "Now, if I may ask, just what is this about?"

"We won't beat around the bush. The other day, three of the Holy Swords, all of them an Excalibur, were stolen from Church storage," Irina informed them, and Issei froze, before looking at Kiba, who looked on the verge of snapping, hearing that name. So much for not setting back his brooding time... Fuck.

"...there are seven Excaliburs, right? So you guys lost almost half of them?" Issei questioned, hoping to get this conversation over quickly.

"Half the ones we had were lost, to be exact," Irina corrected. "The seventh was lost during the Great War, and has yet to be located. And of the six we possessed, only two have suitable wielders. The three stolen were, as I said, in storage, and the guards barely managed to prevent the theft of the final one, but the three mentioned were still taken."

"...so, who are the two wielders of the ones in use?" Rias inquired slowly, shooting Kiba a warning look, wordlessly telling him not to act if their suspicions that they already knew the answer were correct.

"That would be us," Irina replied.