"My Durandal is so powerful, giving me quite hard to control since it doesn't listen to its own wielder most of the time. That's why, I have to store it in a dimensional pocket, otherwise it would be dangerous. Now, Freed Sellzen… Shall we have the showdown between Excalibur and Durandal? Show me the power of your sword to its fullest. I'd be disappointed if you go down in one strike…" Xenovia declared as her holy sword was radiating with a holy power more powerful than Freed's own holy sword.
"This is a hoax, a fucking hoax, I tell you! I don't need damn situation like this, you bitch!" Freed cursed as he desperately began to attack Xenovia with his Excalibur.
When the two blades with high destructive power made contact with each other, the clash of power sent a shock wave to the surroundings, but Xenovia's Durandal prevailed as it immediately snapped Freed's Excalibur's blade in half.
Seeing the Excalibur had been broken easily enough, Xenovia sighed in disappointment. "As I thought… It's just a corrupted sword with holy power… Its destructive power is no match for my Durandal…"
Freed himself only looked at his broken sword with the look of despair. "You gotta be shitin' me… My great Excalibur-chan was defeated? Fuck! This is fuckin' horrible! Aaarrghh! How could this happen!? Just when I managed to lay my hands on it!"
While Freed was still distracted over his loss, Yuuto jumped into the opportunity. He ran straight towards the stray exorcist, and when Freed noticed the incoming attack, he quickly raised what remained of his sword to block the holy-demonic sword.
BAAAKIIIN!
The sound of crumbling metal was heard as Yuuto's sword cut through the remnants of the fused Excalibur, along with good part of Freed's flesh on his shoulder to his stomach. As Freed fell to the ground with blood coming out from his wound, Yuuto smiled faintly in pride.
"I won… We won… We've surpassed the Excalibur…" Yuuto thought as he lowered his sword and looked at the sky. However, despite his victory, Yuuto felt something big had lost inside him. It was his aim for life. Now that his long-life objective had been fulfilled, what would he do from now on?
Kokabiel smirked at the sight, as he knew that the things on his side had been developing, he quickly started preparing a spell to send some of his consciousness to attend things on the other side.
"Holy-demonic sword…?" While Kokabiel was still casting his communication spell, he heard Valper was talking with disbelief tone. "Impossible… The polar opposite of two things can't merge…"
Seeing that the source of the tragedy was still alive, Yuuto steeled himself and pointed his sword at the Genocide Archbishop.
"Valper Galilei… Prepare yourself!" Yuuto declared as he resolved himself to finish things once and for all.
"…Of course! I understand now!" Valper said as if he found something else. "Holy and demonic… It will make sense now, if the beings representing the two have become unbalanced! It was not only the demon lords, but the God has also-!"
STAB
Just when Valper looked like he had an epiphany, he felt a pain on his chest, and he saw a spear of light had pierced through him. Without a word, he fell to the ground after coughing a solid amount of blood. Everyone did not have to check things again as they were all aware that the Genocide Archbishop had finally died.
"Valper… You've done well. I'll take over from here…" Kokabiel said with his hand extended, no doubt that he was the one who threw that light spear.
The fallen angel cadre stepped up from his throne, he descended slightly, and looked over the devils and Xenovia who readied themselves for a battle. Kokabiel only smirked.
"Well done… All of you. I shall take you all on as I have acknowledge your potentials… But I'd have to ask first, do you still want to fight, even after both of your masters are no more?"
Hearing Kokabiel's words, Rias was the one who asked first. "What are you talking about?"
Kokabiel only snorted at the question, then he chuckled. "Kukuku… How could I forget? Of course you wouldn't know… yet. Very well, allow me to enlighten you… of the truth."
X
Meanwhile, during the fight at Kuoh Academy, Issei was frozen after few minutes he read the little book in his hands. He did not read the entirety of it, but he knew more or less of what was written so far. The pawn was frozen when he read one particular sentence.
"Ddraig… Are you sure that you didn't translate it wrong?" Issei asked inside his mind.
[As much as unbelievable it sounds… Yes, I'm sure. Besides… I also have a bit memory during the great war… The Biblical God seemed… Extremely exhausted when he was engaging us the heavenly dragons…]
Issei could not believe what he just read. Ddraig had no reason to lie to him. What terrified him more, the one who wrote this journal most likely did not lie either. Issei aware that the thing he just found out was something crucial, and letting wrong people to find out about it would only caused more trouble in the future. No, forget trouble. This information would change the relations between the three factions forever.
"Ise-kun?"
Suddenly, Issei's musing was interrupted by the voice of his childhood friend, whom seemed to have snapped out from her stupor. The pawn immediately closed the book, and tried to hide his earlier shocked expression.
"What is it, Irina-chan?" Issei asked in neutral tone.
"What were you reading?"
"Kokabiel's journal… Mostly rubbish, but thanks to this I now know that he wants to start another great war", Issei replied.
The pawn told himself that nobody, especially Irina should know about what he read just now. So, instead of lying to her, he decided to tell half of the truth. While the answer could satisfy her curiosity, Irina would not ask unwanted questions any further.
Suddenly, Issei and Irina's senses perked up as they felt a familiar aura signature was covering the entire surroundings, the entire building.
"This power…!"
"Yes, no doubt about it… It was from that weird structure we saw earlier!"
Issei looked around and he said, "Irina, we're done here. Let's get ou-…! … Irina-chan?" Issei was about to take his childhood friend outside when he caught his childhood friend was approaching the window.
When Irina felt the power, she caught a glimpse from the curtains, that the light that slipped through the gaps of the curtain seemed too bright considering it was already night-time. Curiously, she approached the window and opened the curtain, only to see something unexpected.
"Um… Ise-kun? I think you need to take a look at this…" Irina called out.
Issei, who was also aware of the abnormality when Irina opened up the curtain, approached beside her to get a better view. His eyes also widened in disbelief when he got a good look of the outside.
The sky was filled with many colours like aurora instead of being a night sky, everything else on the neighbourhood was similar, but the landscape and the surrounding buildings were twisted and more vibrant with some abnormal growth compared to the human world. In other words, Issei and Irina were sent to a different dimension along with the whole complex of the mansion.
"Um… Ise-kun, are you seeing this?" Irina asked as her eyes were still glued on the sight before her.
"Err…. Yeah, I'm seeing. But I'm still working on believing. Are- are we in a… You know?"
"A limbo…? Sort of?"
"I'll take a quick look outside", Issei said as he calmly walked towards the door.
He opened the door slightly to take a peek, and he saw that the entire interior structure of the building had undergone dramatic changes as well. In addition, numerous fallen angel soldiers and hellhounds were sighted patrolling in the hallway. He closed the door silently before the guards caught the sight of him and he turned back towards Irina.
"Yes, we're inside a goddamn limbo…"
Irina covered her mouth in further disbelief. "But… How? Could it be…?"
[Yeah. We have to do something about the structure you found earlier if you want to get back to our original dimension] Ddraig voiced his conclusion from Issei's left arm.
"But, why now? That monument didn't show any sign of activating earlier!" Irina asked.
"Because I just activated it…"
A foreign voice put them into alert while Issei remained calm and Irina prepared her Excalibur Mimic at the direction the voice came from. When they turned their heads, they saw the angel of stars was floating in front of them. Strangely enough, they did not feel anything coming out from the fallen, as if he was not there.
"I take that you're Kokabiel?" Issei asked after taking in the five pair of jet black wings.
"Indeed, I am… Though I'm not exactly here just for you know. You're also one of the devils of this town, as well as the exorcist that was sent by the Vatican, correct?" Kokabiel replied and he still asked, despite already knowing the answer.
Knowing that the fallen angel before them was just a projection, Issei spoke up. "Let's not beat around the bush, shall we? What's with your deal with stealing the holy swords and trying to restart the Great War? You of all people should've known that three factions will meet total annihilation if you people fight again", Issei said while Irina remained on guard.
"I guess I haven't explained them to you… Very well, I'll tell you. Everything is… For the sake of the peace."
"Excuse me?" Irina could not believe her ears.
"As I said, for the sake of peace… For the better world."
Issei furrowed his eyebrows. "Care to explain how? When everyone's dead?"
"Have you ever considered of how the current humanity fare themselves with the world?" Kokabiel started with a question. Receiving a look from the two, the fallen angel continued on. "Yes… I honestly feel sorry for this world… Those humans who inhabit it have lost their way, and only quickening their process to end themselves. I, being once the child of our Father, as well the watcher of humanity, it is my duty to ensure their survival… To prevent them to destroy themselves…"
"But what you're about to do now is destroying them through the war! Not only the three factions and the world of supernatural, human world will be devastated as well!" Issei said his point.
"Exactly! But know this, devil… Humans, despite how fragile they are… They always survive ever since the disasters in the dawn of time. I know very well, that humanity will survive from the war I'm about to start, even only one or a couple will remain, humanity will always find away to survive. And I'll see into it that fallen angels will survive in the end, since we are able to expand our numbers through conventional means, while angels and devils are not. And us, the fallen angels shall lead the surviving humans towards the new age of prosperity!"
"You're really are crazy if you think your scheme's gonna work out…" Issei spat.
"Yeah, he's right! Even if you managed to spark another war, Grigori and underworld won't survive another attack from the heaven and our Lord!" Irina added her two cents.
Kokabiel only chuckled at Irina's input. "You really don't know anything, do you, my dear?" Irina only narrowed her eyes in confusion. "Let me ask you this, then. Put the humanity aside, what do you think will happen to the heaven if another great war were to start again? Rather, what did the church teach you?" Kokabiel asked to Irina.
"Isn't that obvious? The heaven will suffer damage beyond repair if more angels were to die from the war!"
"Then think about it. There's actually a loophole in that statement. You know that devils had lost their original leaders and cannot afford to have another war due to the low number of pure-blood devils, right? Us from Grigori also had lost majority of our members while our leaders remain. So why would Heaven also afraid of another war so much? Even they don't want to have more casualties, as long as they have our Father on their side, sure they have nothing much to fear, don't they?"
Irina only got confused even further, while Issei's expression got bitter. After all, he knew what Kokabiel was trying to imply.
"It's simple, actually. Because they're trying to cover the truth away from you", Kokabiel said.
Irina widened her eyes and Issei clenched his fist even tighter. The latter was given a choice in his head, should he stop Kokabiel to say anything further, or should he let Irina to find out the bitter truth, knowing that she would learn that eventually?
"Tell me, girl. What do you think about the current Heaven's system for you?"
"What are you talking about? The system is doing just fine, as far as I can tell!"
"I see… So Michael has been doing a good job in maintaining the system up there… Then, do you know that long ago, the numbers of believers of the Lord were much more compare to these days of age?" Kokabiel asked before continuing. "There are other reasons why the numbers of believers had decreased. Some of them had lost their faith when they know the truth after the Great War."
"The truth? What are you trying to say?" Irina became more confused.
"Let me show you this, then…" Kokabiel pointed towards an empty space, and a screen manifested itself from thin air and showing the battle at Kuoh Academy between Yuuto and Freed. The Gremory knight was holding a sword with shining blade and red inscriptions at its centre. "That sword there… Is a holy-demonic sword. Your devil comrade just managed to achieve his balance breaker."
Irina and Issei were wide-eyed at the screen. Irina saw Xenovia was unleashing Durandal, while Issei could not hold back his smirk as he was proud inwardly at Yuuto's new achievement. But, that moment was ruined when Issei realised that Yuuto's balance breaker was what Kokabiel trying to emphasize.
"A sword that possess both holy and demonic power? How is that possible!?" Irina finally realised the events before her.
"Well, as much as I'd want to chat more, my time here is up. I need to go back to those at your academy. If you want to know more about the truth I spoke of, why don't you ask your devil friend over there?" Kokabiel said as he turned his gaze at the now stunned Issei.
"You've read that book, haven't you? You know everything I've written there, and you simply asked me again earlier only to clarify my points. And oh, if you want to rescue your comrades, be my guest. But only if you managed to find a way out from this dimension…" Kokabiel chuckled as his body disappeared along with the screen.
"Ise-kun?" Issei turned to see Irina. "What's he talking about? What did you read in that book?"
Issei's jaw tightened at this. "Nothing… Nothing at all", Issei steeled himself. His childhood friend did not have to know about this, at least not yet. "Come on, we gotta go back to the others", Issei said as he prepared himself before opening the door outside. Irina only stared at Issei's guilty expression for a second, then she chose not to pry further and followed him.
By the time they came out from the study room, all enemies immediately directed their attentions on them. Mobs of fallen angel soldiers and hellhounds began to lounge at them with their respective attacks, and Issei quickly summoned his Boosted Gear to counter them while Irina with her holy sword.
Fending off the enemy was not particularly difficult, given Issei's strength and Irina's swordsmanship. However, Irina felt her sword heavier than usual. Her mind was in turmoil. So many uncertainty and questions were swirling inside her head. As a warrior, she could come to terms about the sacrificed children from the holy sword project, but Kokabiel's words earlier bothered her to no end. As if to make matters worse, the enemy forces were not the only things that hindering them, the building itself had become their enemy as well.
Occasionally, the walls would try to squash them, the floors would unleash spikes to impale them, and pit-falls would appeared out of nowhere to trap them. Despite the dilemma she was experiencing, thanks to the team work between two childhood friends, the two youngsters managed to overcome the obstacles. And for some reasons neither of them could fathom, they somewhat could tell that while they still had a long way to go, they were heading to the right direction.
Every heavy swings she made, every steps she took as she ran across the presumably limbo, she could not stop herself from thinking about Kokabiel's words.
Numbers of believers of the Lord were much more compare to these days of age…
Some of them had lost their faith when they know the truth after the Great War…
If you want to know more about the truth I spoke of, why don't you ask your devil friend over there?
Irina took a glance at Issei. Did he hide something from her? If so, why did he not want to tell her so bad? Irina pondered as she recalled Kokabiel's words again.
A holy-demonic sword…
Irina was still curious about that sword. How come a sword could house two powers of oppose each other? If something had been tampered inside the sacred gear, it might be one thing, but as far as Irina remembered, Kiba Yuuto had not mastered his sacred gear when they first met, and the knight suddenly managed to achieve that stage in matter of days? What are the odds? Besides as the matter of fact, even with special tampering the balance between two opposing sides is absolute. Unless…
Michael has been doing a good job in maintaining the system up there…
Why did Kokabiel mention Michael instead of the Lord? While Michael also holds an important role in running the Heaven, the system is governed by the God himself. Then, when the matter about holy-demonic sword came to her mind again, Irina's eyes widened.
"No… Impossible!"
Irina might be ignorant and childish sometimes, but she was not a fool when the situation calls for it. Remembering her lesson back in her days in England about the war and three factions, she was taught that the original leaders of three factions were the ones who have been keeping the balance in check, and if the leaders were to be perished, the balance will collapse, making the merging between each side to be possible.
"Holy and demonic…! I know that devils had lost their original leaders, but… the angels? No, I won't believe it!" Irina thought as she felt harder to breath, her sword even heavier than before, and she felt her legs heavy as well, as if she was running on a mud.
Thankfully for her, there were no enemies in their vicinity for the time being, thus she converted her Excalibur Mimic into her wrist, feeling that it would ease the unknown burden somehow.
"Irina-chan?" Irina's anxiety was cut-off by the voice of her childhood friend. "Are you okay?" Issei asked in worried tone.
"Y-yes, I'm fine…" Irina tried to sound as fine as she could. But she could not deny the anxiety that had been building up in her heart. Irina was now terrified beyond her imagination of the information and the truth Kokabiel had spoken off earlier. She wanted to find comfort by asking the boy beside her, but could help herself to do so.
"Get ready, I think we're close now", Issei said when they arrived in front of a large door.
Irina let out a small breath of relief. Perhaps the upcoming battle beyond the door might be a good distraction for her worries. She nodded, brandished her Excalibur Mimic once again as Issei pushed the door open.
When they stepped into the room, they were glad that now they had returned to the great hall, which was now looked more spacious, where they found the monument in the first place. However, what they saw further ahead had shaken their entire core. What shook them was not the numbers of fallen angels and hellhounds, as well as a giant Cerberus that had been waiting for them, but the huge magical scriptures that appeared above the glowing monument that emitting power. The alphabets were floating and arranged into one sentence that was the cause of Issei and Irina's shock.
GOD IS DEAD
Issei widened his eyes at the floating sentence and he quickly snapped his head to check on Irina. Much to his horror, Irina was the one had it the hardest. At first, Irina's jaw was opened and her eyes like frozen, her body trembled from the shock she got from that particular sentence.
"Lies…" was the first word Issei heard from her mouth as Irina tightened her hold on her sword. "Lies, lies, lies, lies… LIES!" Irina roared her denial as she blindly charged towards enemy with her holy sword.
"Wha-! Wait, Irina-chan!" Issei was forced to join as well and another enemy mob engaged him as well. The pawn was left with no choice but to fend off the enemy in front of him before he could go to his friend.
As she was blinded with rage and denial, Irina had already felt exhausted after few swings of her sword. She could not believe the fact that just appeared before her. The Lord that she had put her devotion into had been dead before she was born. The Lord she had been fighting for never existed in the first place. At first she thought that it might be just some kind of trick to tip her off, but what convinced her was Issei's expression earlier.
Put Kokabiel's testimony aside, there was a reason why Issei refused to tell her anything. She had known Issei since little, hence she knew that the boy is earnest, kind and not the type who tells baseless lies. The reason his childhood friend did not want to tell such a painful truth to her was because it was the truth. She did not know how Issei could find out such a fact but she knew when Issei was being serious or not.
She barely able to block an incoming giant paw of the Cerberus directed at her. Her body was thrown away quite a distance and skid on the ground with painful thud.
"Irina-chan!" Issei said as he just blew away another hellhound with his punch. However, just when he was about to lounge in to help his friend, a mob of fallen angels had beat him first as they ganged up on him with their spears of light.
Groaning in pain, Irina slowly rose up and she only remained kneeling on the ground. While her sword was still on her side, she could not find any strength in her legs as her entire core had been overtaken by despair. She looked up with her teary eyes, only to see the Cerberus that struck her earlier was already opening its three jaws to mow her.
[WELSH DRAGON BALANCE BREAKER!]
"Dragon shot!"
BWOOSHH!
A massive red beam was shot forward and obliterated the Cerberus and the rest of the enemy in front of Irina. The female exorcist turned her head around to see a figure clad in red draconian armour with his right hand extended forward.
"Irina-chan, are you okay?" The armoured figure, known as Issei asked through his helmet.
"Ise-kun?" Irina said as tears were freely flowing on her cheeks.
Issei felt relief when he saw that Irina was more or less unharmed, his earlier transformation had blown away the mob of fallen angels through the sheer force of his explosive aura, leaving their current location free of the enemies for the time being. Of course, Issei was aware that it was only a matter of time until the next wave of enemies would storm into the hall.
"Irina-chan, you have to stand up! It's not over yet!" Issei encouraged as he offered a hand towards the girl.
"It's over…" Irina thought to herself. "Don't mind about me, Ise-kun…" Irina replied with a bitter smile as she looked down, her tears still flowing. "Just leave me here and go…"
Issei was taken aback by his childhood friend's reply. "What the hell are you saying!? We gotta get out of this place!" Issei yelled back as he kneeled down to help Irina.
[Partner, she's in no condition to even think rationally. That news about Biblical God really got into her] Ddraig said in his mind.
"Damn it…" Issei cursed. He had to do something about this quick.
Issei then cupped Irina's face with both of his hands, and he dismissed his helmet and levelled his eyes to hers.
"Irina-chan, look at me…" Issei's first sentence was not heeded as Irina remained down-casted. "I said look at me! IRINA!" at Issei's yelling, Irina flinched and her eyes finally met his. Her face was flushing from crying, and because she also noticed how close their faces were.
"I… I honestly don't know anything about God… I even don't know anything about the past demon kings as well…" Issei said as he struggled to find the correct words. "But so what if god is dead? Is that all your reason to fight? What about your friends, Xenovia? What about your parents!?"
Irina's eyes widened at the question. "I… I…" The girl was still shocked. Nobody could blame her, from her point of view, her main reason to fight, her purpose never existed in the first place. Knowing that only after years had past, of course someone like Irina would loose the sight in front of her.
"Those who are dead, god or whatever, only wish for the living to be happy! Even I, a newly reincarnated devil can tell that the past demon lords wish their kin to prosper even in their deaths! You should've known that your God also wishes for his creation to live in prosperity as well, am I correct? That's why you mustn't give up! If you give up here and now, everything will really over! Everything you've been fighting for, everything that your god had died for, will disappear forever! Do you want that to happen?!"
At Issei's words, Irina's lips trembled as tears flowing more from her eyes, but she did not cry it out. She looked to the ground again, as if thinking about something.
After few moments, suddenly Issei sensed something was approaching quickly from behind. He just turned around to intercept the enemy attack,
STAB
Only to see a holy blade ran pass next to his head and impaled a fallen angel that was about to stab Issei with his sword of light.
Of course Issei was startled at first, then he turned to see Irina was gripping her holy sword firmly, and when she looked up, her tears had ceased, and her yes were filled with a new-found determination. The female exorcist stood up as she wiped off the rest of her tears, and prepared her battle stance once again as the new enemy forces, now consisted of tens and hundreds of fallen angels and hellhounds, had re-organised their formation.
"I'll have to talk with the elders of the Vatican and Michael-sama after we stop Kokabiel…" Irina said. "But first, what do you think we should do with that monument and this dimension?"
[Just destroy it] Ddraig replied to her. [This dimension was created by that structure, if you destroy it, this artificial dimension should collapse and you'll return to the human world]
"Well, you heard the man", Issei said as he turned his gaze at the enemy ahead and his scale-mail helmet manifested back on his head. "Are you ready, Irina-chan?"
"Whenever you are", Irina replied, pointing her Excalibur Mimic at the enemy mobs. "Ise-kun…"
The boy glanced at his childhood friend.
"This really brings back memories, doesn't it?" Irina said with a wink and cheerful smile.
Issei chuckled at first, glad that his childhood friend had returned. "Damn right, it does…"
Then, as the two youngsters advanced forward with their battle cry, the enemies also retaliated with their battle cry as well.
X
Over fifteen minutes had past since Kokabiel's destruction spell had been activated. Currently, Kokabiel were looking at his opponents, who seemed to have seen better days.
After he told the truth about the death of Biblical God, everyone had various reactions. Most of the devils did not take it too hard. Asia however, was not believing at first and she questioned about the God's blessing and His divine protection that had been applied so far, but after Kokabiel replied with the similar words he said to Irina regarding the system, the former Holy Priestess fainted immediately into Koneko's arm.
Xenovia seemed like she had lost the strength to even wield Durandal properly. She had a panicked expression that was too unbearable to look at as she muttered that Kokabiel was lying all the time. The active believer, God's servant and a person who lived by serving God as her mission. If the existence of God was rejected and she lost the means to live, it would be natural to become like that.
Even Yuuto could only bite his lips, mulling over of what his life meant.
Afterwards, the fight had gone completely uneventful for Kokabiel. Even with the combined efforts of Rias, Akeno, Koneko, Yuuto's new balance breaker and Xenovia's Durandal, which the latter somewhat still chose to fight on, the shock they received from the truth he spoke earlier had affected their performance drastically. Yuuto's holy-demonic sword and the wielder of holy sword Durandal could only do so much to graze his cheek. Koneko could not even touch him as she was struck by Kokabiel's steel-hard feathers from his wings. Even Rias and Akeno's combined attack of thunder and power of destruction, Kokabiel could deflect them without much trouble.
However, Kokabiel had also found another interesting development. Judging from the lightning magic he had seen, Rias' queen is the daughter of Baraqiel, one of the fallen angel leaders in Grigori, much to the queen's displeasure.
Now, Kokabiel was standing not far from an injured Rias, who was already on her fours due to exhaustion and Kokabiel's relentless attacks.
"First, allow me to say this to you", Kokabiel said. "You lot have done well to get this far…"
The others, who had been brought to either their knees or got taken down, especially Rias, only gritted their teeth in irritation at Kokabiel's words.
"But rest assured… At least you won't have to see the destruction I was about to bring forth…" Kokabiel finished as he summoned a light-spear, large enough to destroy Rias.
However, when Kokabiel was about to throw his spear, he narrowed his eyes at another figure that stood up as a shield in front of Rias.
"What do you think you're doing?" Kokabiel asked.
"Asia, get out of there… It's dangerous…" Rias weakly ordered her bishop who was spreading her arms protectively, before she finally passed out. The latter's face shown fear, but mostly a resolve to stand up despite all odds were against her.
"Please… Stop this! Don't hurt my friends anymore!" Asia shouted out. Her legs were trembling from fear, but she still refused to stand down.
Kokabiel looked into Asia's unwavering look, then he only sighed and he smiled sympathetically. "Remarkable… If only you remained human instead of being reincarnated into a devil…" Kokabiel praised and said with regret in his tone at the same time.
However, his attack was halted once again when he sensed something was approaching from his side at high speed. Out of reflex and instinct honed from the Great War, he quickly hardened his five black wings as his shield. He managed to protect himself just in a nick of time when a powerful fist connected to his wings.
"THE HELL ARE YOU TRYIN' TO DO TO MY FRIENDS YA BASTARD!?"
BAM!
The force behind the punch was so great that Kokabiel was thrown away until he crashed into a nearby school building.
Everyone's eyes were widened when they saw a figure in red dragon armour suddenly appeared and pushed back a ten-winged fallen angel cadre with a single punch.
Asia was the first to react. "Ise-san!"
"Ise-kun/Issei-senpai/Issei-kun/Red Dragon Emperor!" everyone else along with Xenovia yelled out the name of the person who had come just in time.
X
Meanwhile, the student council was panicking when they saw a red blur had flew straight through the barrier they had set around the school.
"What the hell was that!? That red blur just heavily damaged our barrier!" Saji yelled out as he tried to maintain the barrier with the best of his ability.
Sona and the other student council did not bother to comment as they poured more power to repair the barrier. And a female figure with chestnut hair in twin-tails, wearing black tight suit, holding a holy sword suddenly ran passed through the barrier while it still in the middle of being repaired.
"Excuse me, coming through!"
The group only blinked several times as they kept trying to fix the barrier.
X
Issei, still in his scale-mail, turned his head to see the blonde girl and dismissed his helmet. "Asia, are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine. But buchou-san is…" Asia looked at Rias worriedly.
Issei only nodded after he scanned around to see his friends' conditions. Then he carried Asia, receiving a light squeal of surprise from the latter, towards his king.
He put Asia down as soon as he arrived at his king's side. Rias was still unconscious although her wounds did not seem to be life-threatening. Asia quickly put her Twilight Healing into work on Rias' wounds. Issei brought Rias in his arms, shook her body gently to wake her up if possible.
"Buchou! Please open your eyes! Buchou!" Issei yelled, but Rias did not show any respond.
"RIAS!"
At her name being shouted, Rias groaned softly as her eyes twitched before opened slowly. When the girl got a good look at Issei's face, she finally fully awoken, albeit still felt rather weak.
"Ise…" Rias said in relief as she brought her hand to Issei's cheek. "You've returned…"
"Yes, I'm back. I'm terribly sorry for the wait, buchou", Issei replied with relieved tone when he saw Rias' wounds had started to close.
Rias herself only smiled back and closed her eyes again in order to recover her strength back as soon as possible.
The others, who had regained enough strength to stand up and walk on their own, approached to greet Issei and had their injuries treated by Asia. Xenovia also came with Irina by her side.
"Everyone…" Issei said addressing the others. "I'm so sorry for being late…"
"At least you've come before any casualties could be really made…" Yuuto replied with a smile. "Looks like you also had a hard time on your side too."
Issei only chuckled while scratching his cheek. Irina also smiled mirthfully as her body seemed a bit roughed up as well.
"Sure I did… And will you believe me if I said that I was trapped in a friggin' limbo with Irina-chan?"
Everyone only raised their eyebrows and Xenovia turned to Irina with a look that said, 'seriously?'.
"Anyway, we'll talk later of what happened while I was gone", Issei said as he turned towards the place where Kokabiel had crashed earlier. "You guys should rest up. I'll take care of the rest…" Issei said as he calmly walked towards Kokabiel, whom slowly emerged from the debris.
When everyone was looking at Issei's retreating back, Irina noticed that Xenovia was slowly gazing to the ground.
"Irina…" Xenovia called her name. "When you're gone… Kokabiel said…"
"I know."
Xenovia turned her wide eyes towards Irina who smiled bitterly. "He had told me too when I was in trapped in his artificial dimension. Let's talk about it after this battle, okay?"
Strangely enough, Xenovia also smiled back bitterly and she nodded, then turned to see Issei encountering Kokabiel again.
Kokabiel, who had almost half of his wings bent and barely usable due to Issei's punch, slowly floating to the air with an amused expression. There was also a bruise on the side of his face, blood also trailed from the edge of his lips.
"It's been a while since the last time I received such attack…" Kokabiel commented as he observed his damaged wings. Then he looked down to see Issei donned in his scale mail armour, minus his head.
"I see…! The Red Dragon Emperor! Kukukuku… Rias Gremory, you truly have a unique taste like your brother in choosing your servants! A survivor of Holy Sword Project who achieved Balance Breaker, daughter of Baraqiel, and the wielder of the Welsh Dragon too!" Kokabiel commented with a laugh.
Rias, who had regained consciousness as her wounds had mostly healed, only narrowed her eyes at Kokabiel's remarks.
"Oh, please don't misunderstand. I mean it as a compliment", Kokabiel said again before Rias could have made any comebacks.
Unknown to the rest, Akeno's body flinched slightly when she heard her father's name was mentioned in front of Issei.
"Daughter of who?" Issei thought questioningly.
[The Lightning of God… The 9th watcher of leaders of 200 fallen angels… I see now… Partner, I'll explain when we have the time, just focus on the fight] Ddraig said after he seemed just finished connecting dots.
Issei shrugged his thought as he heeded Ddraig's words, and he focused himself on the fallen angel floating above him.
"I remember you and your companion… Despite being this generation's Red Dragon Emperor, you have my praise to be able to get out from that dimension", Kokabiel said to Issei.
"Thanks…" Issei only replied dryly.
"Before indulging myself in fighting one of the two heavenly dragons, I, Kokabiel, one of leaders of Grigori, would like to know the name of the current wielder of Boosted Gear."
Issei stayed silent for a moment before he decided to comply. "It's Hyoudou Issei, this generation's Red Dragon Emperor, as well as the pawn of Rias Gremory."
Kokabiel's eyes widened at the mention of Issei's surname. "Hyoudou…?"
After another moment of silence, Kokabiel began to chuckle, which soon turned into a full-blown laughter. Issei and the others only furrowed their eyebrows at the fallen's sudden outburst.
"Kuhahahaha! Of course! Of course you are so strong! Hahahaha!" Kokabiel kept laughing while holding his sides. "Today has been full of surprises! From Gremory's unique servants, the holy-demonic sword and Durandal; the encounter with the Welsh Dragon, and to add, the wielder of the Welsh Dragon itself is actually his son!"
Issei blinked a couple of times at the mention of 'his son' before he replied. "What are you talking about? You speak as if you know my father…"
"It is because I do know your father, Red Dragon Emperor…" Kokabiel ceased his laughing at last.
"…What?" Issei asked in bewilderment.
[Wow… Your dad really knows lots of kinds of people…] Ddraig retorted, which only replied by a snort from his host.
"Your father, Hyoudou Saitama was one of the strongest people I've ever known. He drops by the Grigori to be Azazel's errand boy from time to time. It's strange though, despite his strength, only a handful amount of people who even know of his existence", Kokabiel mused. "As a matter of fact, I tried to ask your father to join me…"
"What?" this time, it was a shock that came from Issei and everyone else.
Knowing his father was acquainted with the Lucifer was one thing, but to be acknowledged from leaders of Grigori as well? What kind of person Hyoudou Saitama exactly?
"But no need to worry. Unfortunately, he declined. Although I didn't expect his son of all people will be the one to stand in my way, kukukuku…." Kokabiel giggled. "I wonder what he'd say if he ever found out you're a devil, though…"
Issei only snorted. "Well, it's not like he had a right to tell me what to do after he left me for more than fifteen years. Rather, why are we even talking anyway? I'm supposed to stop you here and now!"
"Well, can you stop me at this point? You only have less than five minutes before my spell destroy this entire town", Kokabiel pointed at the large magic circle on the ground.
"Five minutes…" Issei said before his head was covered by his scale mail helmet again. "That's plenty", then he suddenly disappeared from where he stood.
[Boost!]
Suddenly Kokabiel's faced was already bashed in by Issei's right fist, as the latter's Boosted Gear has started to double-up his power. The fallen let out a pained groan as his body was sent away towards the sky. Everyone else who was spectating the fight could only watch with astonishment when Issei landed another hit to Kokabiel.
"Angel of Stars… I won't let you destroy this town!" Issei said as he suddenly appeared behind Kokabiel while the latter still in the mid-air.
Issei used his elbow to hit Kokabiel's back, but his elbow strike was weaker compared to his punch, thus Kokabiel managed to regain his balance despite the pain across his back.
"Kuh…! Let's see what you got, then!" Kokabiel snarled as he summoned countless spears of light, and he threw them towards Issei.
[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]
Boosted Gear multiplied Issei's power by folds once again as Issei roared and destroyed the spears successively by his own blows. When the spears had been eliminated, both of Issei's gauntlets were smoking from the direct contact with the spears.
"Shit, this stuff really burns!" Issei whined as he tried to shake the pain off from his smoking hands.
[Of course it hurts! You just punched through pure light element with your devil body! If it's not for my power protecting you, your hands would have been charred black by now!]
"Impressive! What about this, then!" this time, Kokabiel summoned a massive spear of light.
"HAA!"
However, just when he just threw his spear, Issei already closed their distance and punched through the spear and square right to Kokabiel's right cheek. Before Kokabiel could have thrown away again, Issei's left hand grabbed Kokabiel's right to halt him, then using his right fist, Issei started to pummel Kokabiel's face relentlessly.
"Grrhh!"
Enduring the pain on his face from Issei's blow after blow, Kokabiel tried to retaliate as his right hand also grabbed Issei's left fore arm, and using his light power-coated left hand, Kokabiel also started to pummel back.
Soon their brawl turned into a simple hitting each other's face, while Kokabiel's light-coated fist managed to cause a crack on Issei's scale mail as well as hurting him, the fallen slowly got overpowered by Issei's dragon strength, as more blood was drawn from his face.
Suddenly, Issei stopped his attacks and chose to swing Kokabiel in the air and threw him towards the ground, towards the large magic circle to be precise. Issei threw Kokabiel so hard that the impact cause the ground to crack, as well as his bones, when Kokabiel hit the ground, but his spell was still active.
Weakened from Issei's relentless attacks earlier, Kokabiel failed to notice sooner that Issei started to gather power on his left palm. Issei tried to regulate his magical power so while it was strong enough to damage Kokabiel and broke his destructive spell, it would not be too strong to obliterate the rest of the surrounding. Soon, a red ball of demonic power glowed on Issei's hand, and the dragon shot his left hand towards Kokabiel, whom found himself could not move.
"Dragon shot!"
DOOONN!
Issei's dragon shot got a direct hit on Kokabiel, causing the ground to shatter into a crater and the magic circle to disappear along with it. Issei himself decided to take another measure as he dived straight head-first into Kokabiel, whom was lying inside the crater.
"OOOOHH!"
BAAAMM!
Issei's both fists collided with Kokabiel's body, causing the latter to cough a solid amount of blood, then Kokabiel finally knocked out from the impact.
Few moments later, the other devils and the exorcists only had their mouths opened at the fight before them. They almost could not believe it, their combined efforts could barely touch Kokabiel, yet Issei alone managed to defeat him in matter of minutes.
"He… He won…" Xenovia commented.
"Ise-kun just…" Irina said.
"Defeated a fallen angel cadre…" Yuuto finished where Irina left off.
"Our junior has become even stronger, hasn't he?" Akeno commented with her usual smile.
"That's our Ise, after all…" Rias said with relieved smile.
Asia and Koneko could not say anything until Issei was spotted coming out from the crater that he created earlier. His body was covered with dusts and burned marks here and there, but he was fine nonetheless. The pawn had already dismissed his scale-mail, knowing that the fallen angel would not be able to move anytime soon.
"Hey, guys", Issei greeted in laid-back manner as he walked towards his friends.
Asia was the first to run towards Issei, followed by the rest as well.
"Ise-san/Ise/Ise-kun/Ise-senpai!"
X
Meanwhile, the student council was almost done in repairing their barrier.
"What were those noise and explosion earlier?" one of Sona's pawn, Ruruko asked in wonder.
"I don't know, Ruruko… But somehow I can tell that the fight inside is over…" Sona replied when she felt that one of two powerful auras had dissipated.
Suddenly…
{Divide!}
A white blur came together with the sound when their barrier suddenly got distorted and shattered from the unknown power on the work.
"Oh, what now?" Saji whined as he finally let down his arms, knowing that the barrier had completely shattered.
X
Everyone inside the school ground sensed something powerful was approaching fast when they saw the barrier above them had been shattered. Issei, however, felt that the incoming aura was somewhat familiar, yet foreign at the same time.
Soon, a figure clad in white armour was seen descending from the sky. The armour was identic with Issei's scale mail, only the difference was the motive colour was white, the jewels on his body were blue, and a pair of blue shining wings were attached on his back.
Everyone who had learned about Longinus tensed as they recognised the light wings. Issei simply turned to face the white armour with his Boosted Gear ready on his left arm.
"Vanishing Dragon…"
"In flesh. I'm the host of Albion, the White Dragon Emperor", the figure in white armour replied in calm tone. "It seems I just missed the party here…" he said with slight sarcasm.
"I guess you did. Well, what do you want here, actually?" Issei asked. He was calm, but cautious at the same time.
"Hmph, I was sent here by Azazel to retrieve Kokabiel. I'm also going to pick up that exorcist over there, since I have few questions for him", the white armour said pointing at Freed's unmoving body.
*COUGH *COUGH
A noise was heard from inside the crater where Kokabiel was laying on. When everyone took a look, they saw Kokabiel regained consciousness as he coughed out another blood.
"You're soft, my rival…" the White Dragon Emperor commented at Issei. The latter only shrugged the comment as he kept looking at Kokabiel, whom could not move his body at all.
"…(sigh), looks like I've lost to the Welsh Dragon…" Kokabiel said weakly. "But from our fight, I could somewhat gouge your strength, Red Dragon Emperor…" Kokabiel looked at Issei.
"Compared to Saitama… You're weak…" Kokabiel commented while having difficulty to talk. "Unlike your father, who is an utter beast… You're nothing more than a cub that can't even bear its fangs and claws… Shackled in a cage like a little animal you are…" Kokabiel finished before he turned to the White Dragon Emperor.
"Vanishing Dragon… So you're the one sent here by Azazel, huh?"
"Yeah, I am. Although I'd love to have a bit fun in here… Too bad that the red one here had taken all the good stuff…" The White Dragon Emperor replied with disappointed tone.
[Well, sorry for spoiling your fun, white one…] Ddraig retorted from Issei's jewel on Boosted Gear.
{Red one… Looks like you got yourself a capable host here…} a voice came out from the White Dragon Emperor's light wings.
[Same goes to you. Say, you want to fight now? Although I can't sense any hostility from your host]
{Hmph, I also don't sense any hostility from your host as well… Let's put our fight for another time. We'll fight eventually sooner or later, this kind of things happened sometimes}
[Yeah, looking forward to it]
Everyone simply stared at the conversations between the two entities that were rumoured to be on par with God and Satan, when Kokabiel spoke again.
"Don't be so down, boys…" Kokabiel said with a smirk. "If you want to fight so bad, Vanishing Dragon… Let me give you, all of you here, the last entertainment from me…" Kokabiel finished.
Using his last ounce of strength, Kokabiel muttered a spell and suddenly, a giant magic circle appeared on the sky above Kuoh Academy. The size of the circle itself almost covered the entire school grounds.
"What the…!" Rias said with shock on her face.
And then, the magic circle glowed and something came out from it. That something is a fallen angel soldiers. Soon, another followed as more and more fallen angels, varying from two-winged until six-winged started to fly out from the magic circle.
"This is…! A mass teleportation magic!? That magic circle is acting as a gateway!" Akeno exclaimed with horror on her face.
Unlike normal teleportation magic that requires complex procedure to move things, what Kokabiel did was simply creating a portal in form of magic circle for anyone to pass through from another location. In this case, his army.
The White Dragon Emperor only smirked under his helmet as he saw legions of fallen angels started to pour down from the circle, while Issei widened his eyes in worry as he saw that all of his friends had been too exhausted to fight anymore.
"Kukuku…" Kokabiel's giggle could be heard. "Our numbers may have reduced greatly after the war… But my comrades, who share the same sentiment with me, will make sure to see through my plan! Now, humans, devils and two heavenly dragons! Can you face the might of 182,000 of my army!?" Kokabiel screamed in excitement.
The White Dragon Emperor quickly prepared to take flight, while Issei clicked his tongue as he prepared to summon his scale mail once again, until…
THUD!
"Eh?"
The first fallen angel who came through the magic portal simply dropped to the ground and did not move anymore, causing everyone to stop on their tracks. The same thing also happened to the rest of the fallen angels that followed. They simply dropped to the ground one by one.
"W-what's wrong? What happened?" Kokabiel himself could not help but baffled at the sight.
Then, Rias who also did not know what was happening, felt something wet drip on her skin. She inspected the wet stuff that was red in colour, then her eyes widened.
"This… This is blood!" Rias said and she looked up towards the giant magical portal.
When everyone looked up at the sky, the portal was not only pouring out fallen angels, but also something akin to a rain of blood.
The student council, who finally decided to go inside the school ground, was also shocked at the development, as fallen angels were falling (no pun intended) around them.
"Wha… What's happening from the other side?" Yuuto asked in confusion.
Kokabiel could not believe his eyes at the sight of his brethren fell one by one. "I-impossible! My whole army!? What could have…!" his bewilderment was interrupted and answered at the same time by one of the fallen angels that managed to stay awake after falling to the ground.
"Ko-Kokabiel-sama… Bad news…" the fallen angel soldier said weakly. "Our troops… have all been eradicated…!"
"What!? Impossible! What about the mercenaries we prepared as our back up!? Who could possibly have done all of this!?"
"We… We just found out that… Our mercenaries had been destroyed weeks ago… By one single man…!" the fallen soldier finally lost his consciousness.
"One man…" Kokabiel's eyes widened after a moment. "I see…! Dammit, so that's how it goes, Azazel…! Guhk…!" Kokabiel cursed until he finally passed out for real after coughing another mouthful of blood.
While everyone was still watching the fallen angels kept falling to the ground (again, no pun intended), one figure that stood out than the fallen army came out by the time the portal collapsed and disappeared from sight.
"Look!" Akeno alerted everyone else to direct their sights at the foreign figure among the fallen angels that was descending to the ground.
BOOM
The figure landed, causing the ground beneath him to shatter from the sheer force, and stood up.
Everybody stared intently at the new comer that most likely to be the one who had destroyed the entire army of fallen angels by himself. The figure was a man that looked in his late 30s, wearing a plain yellow jumpsuit with a short zipper at the collar and a belt. He was also wearing red gloves, red boots and a white cape that had few stains of blood on it.
However, his most noticeable feature was his shining bald head. When the stranger turned around facing the spectators, almost everyone showed reactions of recognition.
Irina and Xenovia only stared wide-eyed and their mouths gapping at the familiar man before them.
The White Dragon Emperor only snorted under his armour.
"Hmph, of course Azazel would send you out of all people…"
Rias and Asia immediately noticed the face from the old pictures they took a glance of in Hyoudou residence.
"Isn't that…?"
Akeno, on the other hand, only widened her eyes as she recognised a familiar sight of the man's back from her past before the bald man turned around.
Issei cringed his eyebrows as he tried to say something when he saw the face he only saw from pictures and old memories. His mouth was gapping up and down looking for a word, and only one word that escaped his lips.
"…Dad?"
To be continued…