Zelretch merely smiled while gesturing to the area they were in and Issei blinked as he saw an entire underground cavern beneath the café,
"how the hell did you make all this? Scratch that, how did the real owners of this place not notice it?"
"Magic," replied Zelretch with his annoying grin that once again caused Issei's eye to twitch uncontrollably.
Taking a deep breath the teen tried to put away his frustration for the trolling magician aside and smiled as he imagined chasing the old man around with Gae Bolg.
"So how do these cards work? You said they contain Heroic Spirits, does that mean that anyone could use them?" he asked, worried.
Zelretch just shook his head, "no the Heroic Spirits may reside in the cards but they are bonded to your soul now Issei.
You're connected to each of them in ways that even I struggle to comprehend."
"So could I use their abilities without the cards?" Issei replied, eagerly.
The magician just gave him a deadly serious look, "in theory yes. But in doing so you will likely suffer irreparable physical and mental changes.
These cards act as catalyst for you so you can easily activate the Servant's power but they are also your protection, preventing your mind from being consumed by theirs."
"Even with the cards, using Install still has major side effects," muttered the magician quietly.
"Install?" repeated Issei.
"Something you're nowhere near ready for yet boy, stick to Include for now," ordered Zelretch, sternly and getting a nod of understanding in response.
"Good now that we got that straightened out, are there any more questions before I send you back home?" asked the magician.
"Yeah if Cú Chulainn is in the Lancer card then who are the other six?" questioned Issei, only to groan as he saw a smug smile spread across Zelretch's face.
"Now why would I tell you that? It wouldn't be nearly as entertaining for me if I did that now would it?" laughed the magician.
"Fine then at least explain to me who the hell was attacking me earlier and why! You can do that much can't you?" growled Issei, his short patience long since expired.
"Fair enough," conceded the magician as a smile spread across his face. "Now listen up, you're about to hear a story courtesy of good old uncle Zelretch himself."
"Oh goodie," deadpanned Issei.
Ignoring his unenthusiastic listener Zelretch continued, "you see it all started with the three Biblical factions…"
Issei frowned as he made his way back home and sighed as he thought about how badly the day had gone, 'first time I get a girlfriend and she tries to kill me...damn Lancer luck.
Still who would have thought that Angels and Devils exist and that God is dead.'
The teen was quite shocked when Zelretch had revealed that little tidbit of information but just used it as a reminder that no one was invincible and that he shouldn't get cocky with his power.
'Raynare said she was after me for my Sacred Gear, did she just mistake the Class Cards for one?' he pondered as the teen approached his house.
"Man dad's going to be mad at how late out I was," he muttered with a sigh before opening the door to a sight he never thought he'd ever see.
There sitting in the middle of the room was his father, who was happily drinking a beer while sitting across from him was one of the three 'Great Ojou-samas' of Kuoh Academy,
Rias Gremory. Upon hearing the door open they both turned to see him walk in, his father smiling as he greeted his son while Rias just stared at him in complete shock.
"Issei come have a seat and join us, Gremory-chan apparently has something incredibly important to tell us," invited Mr. Hyoudou.
"Oh does she now?" replied Issei as he gave her a suspicious glare that caused Rias to squirm slightly before sitting down next to his father,
keeping one hand around the Lancer card should he need it. "Well Gremory-san, we're waiting."
Rias just nodded before staring at him, "Hyoudou-san did anything strange happen today?"
"You mean aside from finding you in my house? No," he lied, making Rias flush in embarrassment.
"So you didn't notice any strange people around or odd events throughout the day?" she continued.
A smug smile appeared across his face as Issei decided to channel a bit of Zelretch, "well there was this one person who seemed really odd."
Rias smiled happily as she continued the interrogation, "good Hyoudou-san now I need you to describe her."
Issei nodded, "okay first it was a woman, seemed about high school age or maybe older by a couple of years."
"That matches what we have so far, now did she have black hair and was she wearing a school uniform of some kind?" she replied with a frown.
"Well she did have a school uniform on but I'm afraid that the woman didn't have black hair," he answered.
Rias seemed slightly shocked at his response but the look disappeared quickly as she collected herself, "I see, Hyoudou-san could you please describe this woman to me."
Issei's grin just widened, "okay she had a buxom figure, blue-green eyes and bright crimson hair. In fact if you want I could give you her name right now?"
Rias' eyes just narrowed as she glared at him, "Issei Hyoudou this is serious and I don't appreciate these jokes."
"Issei she came all the way here by herself the least we can do is take her seriously," scolded his father.
The teen just sighed as he nodded, "sorry Gremory-san I've just had a very trying day today."
"Your date didn't go so well?" guessed his father, causing Rias' eyes to widen in recognition.
"That's one way to put it," laughed Issei.
"Issei Hyoudou does the name Yuuma Amano mean anything to you?" questioned Rias with a suspicious gaze.
'Interesting, so she does know about Raynare. Now the question becomes, how does she know about her?
As good as the Occult Research Club is I doubt they were able immediately identify her as part of the supernatural,' he thought.