It would not be an understatement to say that Sona Sitri was feeling the urge to drop into a deep hole and crap her pants with all the tension that was going on.
Admittedly, there were some bits that went over her head in terms of the technical aspects of the meeting, but at least there was a lot of information that helped clued her in on the other factions. For one thing, she found out about the few splinter groups of Grigori that had similar ideas like Kokabiel regarding the current state of the world and hated the part where they were regulated to taking down Strays in the area. She found how the council from the church's side was giving more issues than she had anticipated due to the older sects' influence restricting too much control on the respective groups. Combined with their pride and lack of urgency, they ended up letting the Excalibur Shards get stolen and tried to shift the blame to one another.
Boy was she glad that she hadn't started on devil politics. Suddenly her Student Council work did not seem so bad.
But all of that took a back seat when it came to talking about what each faction wanted. It seemed all wanted peace which was good, but oddly enough it was Azazel who proposed the idea. Primary reason being the decline in numbers, but there was the issue of security and the spillage of blood that got them thinking to stop the cold war between them and move on.
After them, the two Longinus users were asked for their opinions regarding that choice. Much to their embarrassment, Issei did not understand the topic of the meeting well enough and it took the perverted mind of Azazel to tell him the issue, to which he agreed to peace so that he could bed Rias. That embarrassment then turned to worry when Vali gave his answer to the question. A battle maniac who wanted to only seek out strong opponents to fight was not someone who would thrive in the setting the leaders were proposing. She could not help the feeling that he could be a source of trouble in the future.
Again, that portion got placed on the back burner when Azazel decided to direct the question at Shirou who had been looking on the meeting with a poker face that could earn him a lot of cash in a casino if he tried. Sona and the others would admit they were a little curious to his reaction for this meeting, but the lack of expressions he had during the meeting was admittedly more worrisome than Vali's reply.
Then he gave his reply which was not out of Sona's expectations of his view on the normal folks' safety, but it did however prompt a comment by Vali that seemingly made the room go colder, and it certainly made her, her peerage and Rias's group bristled at the hint of Shirou being less than human. It was not to say that Shirou was normal, but the manner in which Vali had worded suggested that Shirou was a monster who should only seek strong fighters to go against. After all that had happened, something like that was enough to piss them off.
Especially Reya, Meguri and apparently Tsubasa now. When did that happen?
Her minor curiosity got pushed back when Azazel asked about Shirou's comments on enforcing his protection against those targeting the normal folk. For that brief moment, Shirou let loose a smirk that reminded her of the time he helped Rias and her group for their match with Raiser. A smirk so natural and scary, it made them remember the horrifying portions of the training and get sent into a whirlpool of despair, at least that was the case with Hyoudou Issei who kept going into some sort of shock each time he recalled the training.
"I was hoping you would ask that."
'CHING!'
Without warning, silver chains appeared out of nowhere and wrapped themselves around the different leaders, Grafyfia and Vali to their chairs, leaving them very little room to move.
"What the?!" The leaders look shocked at the suddenness of the move and Grayfia started to attempt moving her way out only for the chains to get tighter. Vali on the other hand was examining the chains with a curious eye, a glint in his eye that made Sona feel very wary of him as he looked on with a smile.
"Shirou Emiya, may I ask what you are doing?" For her part, Sona had to commend on Griselda's self-control; despite not being bound, she was still sitting with a neutral expression, though it was clear that she was restraining herself quite a fair bit.
"Azazel wanted an example, so I am illustrating it." Shirou gave that answer before turning back to the others, whom for their part were quite calm except for Grayfia who looked ready to burn his face off. "I suppose you have heard about Prometheus's punishment?"
"The Titan Prometheus who gave fire to mankind in Greek Mythology?" Michael asked as he leaned back no longer trying to resist his confinement. "He was turned into a human and chained to Caucasus for the eagle to consume his innards, but he would keep on resurrecting by midnight. A very cruel punishment made by Zeus at that time."
"That is true, but in this case." Shirou held up the chain that was encircling his arm. "This is the chain that was used in the punishment. This is [Prometheus Chains], an item used to bind the immortal Titan to his fate."
"This is the actual chains?!" Azazel looked down on the one around his body, his initial discomfort now forgotten and replaced with academic curiosity at the prospect of examining the chains. "Perhaps this is another conceptual weapon?"
"Short version, a bit of both." Shirou replied as he lifted the chains slightly, the lighting revealing runes along the links of the chains. "These chains were made from the metal used for Prometheus's imprisonment, and its powers are enforced from the legends and stories."
"Interesting…" Azazel looked at the chains very closely, his eyes dancing around the links to study the runes.
"That is interesting, but I doubt that this is all you have if you wish to reinforce our promises." Sirzechs spoke as he looked at Shirou. In response, Shirou projected a sword to hover by his right shoulder, the pulsing of power drawing Sona's attention to the weapon. It was a straight two-edged sword that was indented along the length of the blade, its handle simply adorned with a single green gem embedded in it and a small hole at the tip. Unlike the other weapons she had seen before, this gave off a rather weak presence but it was something oddly foreign to her.
"This is the [Sword of Shannara], otherwise called the Blade of Truth." Shirou gestured to the blade in question. "On the surface, it does what it is supposed to do, make both the user and the intended target tell the absolute truth. However, it does have an additional side-effect where it comes in the form of oaths. On its own, not much." He lightly tugged on the chains while moving the sword to link it by the handle. "But if accompanied with [Prometheus Chains], it actually enforces the power of that side effect, meaning…" Shirou paused for a moment before continuing.
"I just need to link the chains to the target in question and make them swear an oath that needs to be enforced, with the punishment ranging to any sort, the highest penalty being instant death."
'WHAT?!' Sona's thoughts ground to a halt at those words that came out of his mouth, further evidenced by the expressions on everyone else's faces besides the leaders who were looking at him with an intense stare, and Vali who had a disturbing expression of hunger.
"That is a pretty bold claim." Azazel remarked as he continued both his smirk and stare, while the feeling of pressure increased around him. "Care for a demonstration?"
'No you fool!' Sona screamed internally as she watched the smirk on Shirou's go even wider. If she had learned one thing from her working relationship with Shirou, if you try to force Shirou's hand, he would do so with a royal straight flush and a smile on his face as he bitch-slapped you all the way to Santa Monica.
"All right then." Gripping the handle so that the blade was pointing towards the ground, Shirou turned to the Fallen Angel and looked at him in the eye. "The witnesses are as stated: Sirzechs Lucifer and Serafall Leviathan of the Devil Faction, Michael of the Heaven Faction, The Dragon Emperors of White and Red, the heiresses of the Gremory and Sitri Clans and finally Griselda Quarta, Xenovia Quarta and Irina Shidou for the humans.
The oath to be enforced: Truth regarding the recent thefts and attack with the Excalibur Shards. Upon failure to tell the truth, the person in question will suffer damage accordingly to the lies that is told. This oath is hereby active as of this moment."
The moment the words left his mouth, the chains around Azazel glowed brightly and for a brief moment loosened before tightening and seemingly sunk into his flesh, making the fallen angel shudder from the transition.
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A/N : The Story Needs More Power Stones ;)
PS : if we can reach 400 Stones by the end of the week, I will throw you an extra chapter
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