Arthur didn't waste time.
He knew that the moment Irina Shidou recognized Issei Hyoudou, the strictly political negotiation Rias had intended was dead.
The situation was too emotionally charged and Xenovia was too zealous.
The stolen Holy Swords were a spark, and the last thing Arthur wanted was a full-scale clash in Kuoh Academy.
He stood up from the couch, causing both Kuroka and Koneko to let go of him.
"I've got to cut this short,"
Arthur stated.
"The Church is making their move with the Holy Swords, and it's about to get messy. I'm stopping it before any of my people get hurt."
He didn't wait for a response.
Drawing on his power and his perfect command over space, he focused on the highest density of demonic and holy energy in the academy—the Occult Research Club room.
In the ORC room, Issei was still staring at Irina, grappling with the shock of recognizing his childhood friend.
Xenovia was starting to rise, the cold conviction in her eyes hardening.
Rias Gremory and Akeno Himejima were preparing to deploy their own demonic power.
The air crackled with a brewing magical storm.
Then, Arthur arrived.
His arrival wasn't a teleportation flash, which would have been too crude.
Instead, the air in the room compressed and shimmered violently, feeling like a single, crushing conceptual force.
Arthur didn't just appear; he displaced the atmosphere and suppressed the ambient magic.
He materialized directly between the two opposing forces—the Devils and the Exorcists.
The sheer, overwhelming surge of True Dragonic Aura instantly quenched the other powers. Xenovia's readying Holy energy recoiled, sputtering out.
Rias's aura vanished entirely.
The dimensional stability of the room suddenly felt like it was resting entirely on Arthur's will.
He stood there, perfectly composed, radiating the quiet, immense power of a cosmic being annoyed by a petty squabble.
He looked squarely at Xenovia, his eyes carrying the weight of his Alias: The Reality Blending Cosmic True Dragon.
"Seriously? Fighting in a school club room? That's just rude,"
Arthur said, his voice casual yet carrying a conceptual echo that made the floor subtly vibrate.
"We're going to stop right here. I'm the one who runs the biggest show, and I say we're sitting down and talking this out like civilized people. Now."
Xenovia, armed with holy conviction but utterly dwarfed by Arthur's presence, felt the cold reality of her sword-hand growing numb.
She didn't know who he was, but she knew, instinctively, that the only thing keeping her soul from being vaporized was his momentary patience.
Arthur's True Dragonic Aura had already smothered the ambient magic in the room.
He didn't focus on Rias Gremory or Akeno Himejima, who were accustomed to political maneuvering.
Instead, he concentrated the pressure entirely on the newest arrival who posed the greatest threat of starting a physical fight:
Arthur didn't need to attack. He simply used his Authority of Sloth and his Reality Blending to conceptually remind Xenovia that her holy power was merely a localized phenomenon.
Her immense Holy energy, which had been pulsing beneath her uniform, suddenly felt heavy and slow, like trying to run through wet concrete.
She tried to move her hand toward her sword, but the effort felt monumental.
"Look, the swords are cool and all,"
Arthur said dismissively, walking past Xenovia and leaning casually against a wall near Issei.
He glanced at the struggling Exorcist with bored, teenaged impatience.
"But before we get into the whole, 'who's a villain and who stole what' thing, let's talk about the human cost. You almost started a fight in a high school club room over what amounts to a glorified treasure hunt."
He then focused his attention on Irina Shidou and Issei Hyoudou, his gaze softening slightly.
"Irina, right? You used to be best friends with my junior here. Issei,"
Arthur said, nodding toward the still-shocked Red Dragon Emperor.
"Tell your friend who you are now, and why this mission of hers is seriously messed up."
Irina, though visibly intimidated by Arthur, still carried her cheerful resilience. She smiled at Issei.
"It's me, I-kun! I'm an Exorcist, and I'm here on a mission from the Church."
"Wait, Irina... You're really Irina?"
Issei stammered, his mind reeling from the contrast between his beloved childhood friend and the fierce warrior standing before him.
Arthur spoke directly to Xenovia, his voice casual but carrying the weight of cosmic authority.
"See that, Xenovia? You're not fighting some faceless monster. You were about to attack my junior—the guy I pay to be a hero—in front of his childhood best friend. That's not righteous zeal, that's just reckless stupidity."
Arthur straightened up, his eyes meeting Xenovia's frozen, furious gaze.
His lesson was delivered with chilling clarity.
"I am the True Dragon. I can end your mission, your entire Church, and this continent with a word, and none of your Holy Swords could do a damn thing about it."
"If you move, if you fight, or if you ever prioritize your zeal over the actual people in the middle of your mission again, you'll find out just how irrelevant your God-given power is to me. Next time, think about the collateral damage before you draw a weapon."
The lesson was complete.
Xenovia was utterly humbled, her face pale with the realization that she had just crossed a being whose power operated on a scale she couldn't comprehend.
Arthur had protected his junior and established an overwhelming deterrent against future recklessness.
....
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