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Chapter 13: Holy Clash

It was late at night when Keijutsu met up with Saji, Issei, Koneko, Kiba, and the trio of holy maidens. They had chosen their rendezvous point as being the abandoned church, and the time of arrival to be just after midnight. Issei was the last to arrive, and once he had, Suzuno handed each a set of robes.

"These priest outfits will enable you to be seen with us without appearing suspicious. No one will question a group of holy people wandering around, even if it is at night," she explained.

The Devils nodded and put them on. 'Wearing a priest's robes, working with members of the Church, searching for Excalibur, and meeting inside of a church… the number of anti-Devil things we're doing right now is amazing,' Keijutsu thought. Still, there was nothing to be done. Unless he wanted to risk Saji getting killed and having Sona get pissed at him for it, he had to remain a part of this.

Once they were all dressed up, Suzuno continued "We'll be able to search more efficiently if we split into two groups. There are eight of us in total, so each group will have four members. We'll be checking the east and west sides of town respectively."

"My fellow peerage members and I plus Saji will search the east side. You three and Keijutsu can search the west side," Kiba said.

"Then it's settled. Operation: Obtain Excalibur is a go!" Irina cheered, and the rest of us nodded.

Just before we could do that, however, Xenovia called "Wait. Hyoudou-san." Issei looked over at her, grunting in curious acknowledgement. She stepped closer to him. "I wanted to let you know that I appreciate the kindness you showed in feeding us earlier. Because of that, you deserve to know: The White Dragon Emperor has awakened."

Issei's eyes widened, while Keijutsu raised an eyebrow. Hold on. Wasn't the nickname for the creature inside Issei's Sacred Gear supposed to be the 'Red Dragon Emperor of Domination'? If that was true, was there another dragon out there like it that was referred to as a White Dragon? And was that dragon sealed in a Sacred Gear? Definitely worth looking into once he got back home.

As it was, once the eight of them split up into their groups, Keijutsu began walking down the street with the maidens. As they did, Keijutsu summoned more of his mechanical wasps to begin flying around and perform surveillance, flying above the town and searching from the air.

For a while, they didn't spot anything out of the ordinary, leading Irina to ask "So… do you guys have any idea about where to look? 'Cause I sure don't."

Xenovia hummed. "If Valper Galilei and Freed Sellzen are involved with the mess, as we suspect they are, then they'll likely be hiding somewhere with very few people living nearby. That would help them avoid being spotted," she pointed out.

"That's right. So, we need to think of a remote location where there aren't many… witnesses…" Keijutsu said, before trailing off.

The girls looked at him, and Suzuno asked "What? Did you think of a place?"

Hesitantly, Keijutsu nodded. "There is a warehouse over near where construction is being done. I once used it myself in order to trick Sona and her peerage into fighting some of my golems. I can't think of a better place for someone to hide," he told them.

Xenovia and Irina nodded, but Suzuno raised an eyebrow. "And why would you have done that in the first place? I was under the impression that you are also a part of Sona Sitri's peerage," he said.

"Um… that is correct. However, I wasn't a member yet at that point in time, and wanted to test their abilities in combat. Call it an experiment, if you will," he explained.

She stared at him for a moment, before shaking her head. "I can worry about it later. For now, let's go to this warehouse." Keijutsu nodded and led the way.

Once they arrived at the warehouse, he saw that it was the same as it had been after Sona's fight there. The door was lying to the side, having been torn off by Sona's water magic, and the interior was littered with pieces from his golems that he hadn't bothered to collect before.

However, it didn't seem as if either of the Stray Priests were in sight, or any Fallen Angels. "Aw, don't tell me it's a dead end?" Irina asked, pouting.

"It would seem so. Still, it would a good guess. But if they're not here, then we should continue searching elsewhere," Suzuno said, turning around to walk out with Xenovia behind her.

'Strange. I could have sworn that this would be the place to hide. Even if someone did come and investigate, they could have just turned off the lights and stayed up on the catwalks,' Keijutsu thought, before blinking. Quickly looking up, he was able to make out several shapes in the darkness, shapes that were somewhat humanoid.

And then one of those shapes leaped down, targeting the holy maidens while their backs were turned. "Shit! Suzuno-san, look out!" he yelled, running towards her.

Suzuno took his warning and, without even looking, called forth her hammer while spinning around. The hammer struck the unknown figure and sent it flying towards Xenovia, who drew Excalibur Destruction and hit the enemy with an explosion that literally blew it to pieces.

Not willing to let the others get a drop on them, Keijutsu ran over and flipped the light switch next to the door. When the light turned, he received an eerie sense of déjà vu. Standing on the catwalks were several wooden manikins, each of them with ball joins and featureless heads, who appeared to be looking in their general direction.

It was a trap.

'If I didn't know any better, I'd say that this Valper person stole my attack strategy,' Keijutsu thought. But rather than let the enemy come to them, he called "Let's get them!" and used a magic-enhanced jump to leap onto the catwalks.

Three of the manikins charged at him while the girls followed suit, each enemy carrying a simple broadsword in both hands. Keijutsu willed the seals on his arms to appear and he clapped his hands, sending a small shockwave that knocked them back.

A total of nine other manikins targeted the girls, three to each of them, and they were forced to split up. Irina summoned Excalibur Mimic and had it take its usual katana form, which she used to block all three of the manikins charging her when they swung in unison. "What in Heaven are these things?!" she called, pushing them away from her.

"They seem to be similar to my golems, except that they're much simpler in design and made of wood. I didn't think the Fallen Angels had anyone that was a magic-wielder, though!" Keijutsu replied, creating a small barrier over each hand that let him knock away any blows meant for him. When he did, he noticed that the swords were emitting a small amount of holy energy, causing him to frown. "Nor did I think that they had any other Holy Swords in their possession!"

Xenovia stabbed her blade into the chest of one of the manikins before blasting it to splinters, the force of said blast causing the other two she was fighting to stagger back. "Valper is an expert in Holy Swords, and also had training as a magician. He could definitely create bastardized Holy Swords like these, as weak as they are, and enchant these dummies to wield them," she explained.

"Wonderful," Suzuno flatly stated, kicking one manikin's legs out from under it and making it fall to the ground. Before it could get back up, she smashed her hammer into its midsection, crushing it while also severing its legs from the rest of it. However, even without its legs, the construct still tried to crawl forward and swing at her, forcing her to hit it again and crush its arms.

Keijutsu leaped backwards to avoid a slash that would have otherwise cut his chest open. Placing his hands on the rails, he leaped up and kicked one of the manikin's in the chest, forcing it to fall back. Then, channeling a current of energy into the rails through his hands, he willed them to move and wrap around the enemy like a pair of snakes, trapping the manikin in place. He finished it off with a small fireball, setting the wooden creation on fire while it was immobilized.

The manikin futilely tried to break free even as it burned, and tried cutting through the metal with its weakened Holy Sword. But not only was the attempt completely useless, but its comrades simply walked around it, leaving it behind while they attacked Keijutsu.

Irina cried out in pain from being cut by one manikin while she wasn't looking. It was a small cut to her side, and her being human meant that the pain wasn't magnified in any way. But it still stung something fierce, and she glared at manikin responsible. "Alright, that does it!" she called, morphing Excalibur Mimic into the shape of whip.

She swung at the manikin, and it raised its Holy Sword to block it. But the end of the whip wrapped around the blade, and it was jerked out of its grasp when Irina flicked her wrist. Irina caught the sword as it came towards her with one hand, while the whip changed into a similar broadsword in her other hand.

"You better get ready, because here I come!" she called, shooting. She struck with both swords and the manikin tried to counter with hand-to-hand combat. Unfortunately, not only had it not been created for such a thing, but Irina was far faster than it could hope to be. Over and over again she struck, until all that was left of it was a pile of fragments ready for a wood chipper.

Xenovia severed one manikin's head from its shoulders, and then turned to focus on her last enemy. However, while she had her back turned, the now-headless manikin attack gave her long cut across the back, making her use everything she had to resist screaming. Enraged, she turned back around and hit it in chest with Excalibur Destruction, creating an explosion powerful enough to cause the entire warehouse to shake.

Unfortunately, the explosion also had the side effect of complete destroying the section of the catwalk that the manakin had been standing on, which included a pair of support columns. The catwalk groaned metallically as the rest of the support columns struggled to keep the space aloft. An attempt that was not helped when Xenovia used another explosion, albeit a smaller one, to destroy the last manikin targeting her.

Suzuno leaned back to avoid another hit, but then the catwalk jerked beneath her and she fell onto her back. Before either of her enemies could capitalize, she got back to her feet and swung her hammer sideways, knocking one manikin into the other and sending them both into another support beam. The force of her blow actually caused the beam to buckle slightly, producing another groaning from the catwalk beneath her feet.

Still, the arms of both manakins were completely mangled, leaving them unable to attack anymore, and also unable to adequately block when she struck again and smashed one of them into the metallic floor, taking it out of the fight.

Keijutsu waited until one manakin was close before placing his hand on its chest and casting his implosion spell. Instantly, the construct collapsed in on itself as if it were inside a trash compactor, limps splintering and woods chips flying in all directions. He kept it up until al that was left was a vaguely spherical mass of wood, one that he set of fire and set at the last golem.

It ducked under the projectile and swung, forcing him to retreat further back. It pursued him, but then Keijutsu noticed that it was about to pass by a pair of support beams on either side of the catwalk. Smirking, he waited until just the right moment before willing the beams to bend and pierce the manikin. It tried to keep going, but then he set it on fire as well and watched with satisfaction as it was incinerated.

But then the catwalk jerked again, releasing its loudest groan yet. Suzuno's eyes widened and she looked around, seeing all the damage that had been done to the catwalk itself and all the supports. "Not good. Everyone, we have to get off this thing!" she called.

The others stopped and looked at her, but then the catwalk buckled beneath their feet and they understood. Keijutsu took the quickest route and jumped over the edge, using a burst of magic to soften his landing once his feet hit the concrete below. Irina did the same but managed to turn her landing into a roll. But the two manakins she had yet to finish off, along with the last one that had targeted Suzuno, moved and tried to block the way.

Xenovia growled and yelled "Out of our way!" before hitting one with yet another explosion. The move did destroy that one manikin and create an opening, but its also accelerated the catwalk's collapse, making it jerk again beneath them.

"Come on!" Suzuno called, rushing towards the ladder at the end. The last of the manikins pursed them, but they were ignored. At the other end of the catwalk, the supports finally gave out and it began falling apart, taking parts of the warehouse's roof with it. One almost hit Suzuno, but she knocked it away with her hammer. The reached the ladder and quickly began to climb down, while manikins kept running. But then the catwalk buckled again and both of them lost their grip, falling down to hit the floor below.

Or at least, they would have. However, Irina dived forward and managed to slide along the ground to just beneath where Xenovia would land, enabling the bluenette to land on top of her. Meanwhile, Keijutsu ran towards where Suzuno would land and caught her in his arms, grunting as the weight of her hammer nearly caused to fall over. Seriously, how much did that thing weigh?

Either way, the catwalk collapsed completely, taking the last of the manikins with it and kicking up a large cloud of dust.

A quick wind spell cleared it up, and Keijutsu helped Suzuno to her feet. "Well, I can safely say that that was a trap," he said.

Xenovia snorted and stood up, helping Irina up once she did. "That's an understatement. And what's more, neither Freed or Valper are even here. So, this entire fight was for nothing," she said sourly.

Irina managed to crack a smile, saying "Oh, don't be so gloomy, Xenovia. Instead of thinking of it as us having failed at finding out where they are, thinking of it as having found one more place where they aren't!"

"Maybe so, but that still leaves us unsure of where to search next. Let's hope Kiba and the others found something on their end," Suzuno remarked.

No sooner had she said that then Keijutsu's phone began going off, and he pulled it out of his pocket. Answering it, he said "Hello?"

"Keijutsu, it's me, Koneko. We found both Freed and Valper, along with Excalibur," Koneko told him, making his back go ramrod straight.

"Where?" he asked, and she replied "We're at this old manor where my peerage once took out a Stray Devil. I'll send the address in a second, so hurry." And with that, she hung up.

A few seconds later, he received the address via text, and he looked up at the maidens. "You were right; they were successful. Let's move," he said. They nodded, and the four of them ran out of the warehouse for where the enemy was.

The four of them arrived just in time so see Freed, who was wielding a sword made up of several Excalibur fragments, yelled "Why don't you all just stand there and let me kill you!" before jumping at Kiba.

The blonde Knight quickly pulled his sword from the ground and moved to block, but Keijutsu could see that he wouldn't be able to move quickly enough. Then Xenovia came in from the side and blocked the attack for him, causing sparks to fly as the two Holy Swords clashed.

"What the-? Xenovia?!" Issei called, apparently shocked at seeing her.

"Yoo-hoo!" Irina called, discarding her robe and running up to Saji and Koneko.

Keijutsu and Suzuno followed behind her, walking at a slower pace, and Keijutsu waved. "We got Koneko's message. Looks like we arrived right on time," he said.

Meanwhile, Xenovia glared at Freed and some old man that was standing on the ground. "You're traitors, the both of you. Valper Galilei and Freed Sellzen, in the name of God, I condemn both of you to Hell!" she said viciously.

Vaper simply rolled his eyes at the declaration, while Freed snarled. "How dare you? Don't ever spout His miserable name in front of me again!" he yelled, and his Holy Sword became cloaked in a golden aura. Xenovia pushed against him and Excalibur Destruction become enveloped in the same glow.

The two of them didn't give up an inch in attempting to overpower the other. However, that also kept Freed from moving, and Kiba just that moment to jump over Xenovia and swing down with a loud battle cry. "Sellzen!" he roared.

Freed's eyes widened, and he used the power of Excalibur Rapidly to move away, dodging the attack and landed next to Valper. Before the insane priest could attack, however, Valper told him "Freed, you're done."

Freed looked over at him in confusion, and Valper said "All that was required of you was that you kill the agents sent by the Church. A simple, task, really. Yet here they are, wielding Holy Swords of their own, and they have us outnumbered. It would be best if we retreated."

Keijutsu raised both eyebrows. So, he had no problem laying a trap where the enemy would be outnumbered, but he ran the moment the tables were turned? Such a coward.

Freed pouted. "Aw, and I didn't even get to kill any of them?" he complained, but obeyed nonetheless. Pulling a small pellet from inside he robes, he called "See ya, wouldn't want to be ya!" and threw the pellet against the ground. It exploded in a flash of light that left everyone temporarily blinded for several seconds.

Keijutsu grunted as the light seared into his retinas, before eventually fading. Once it was gone, both Freed and Valper were nowhere to be seen, having used the distraction to escape. Without another word, Xenovia and Kiba jumped down and ran into the woods, Xenovia calling "Let's go!"

"Right!" Suzuno called, and she and Irina ran off as well.

"Hey, hold on!" Issei called. He also jumped down from the ledge above and tried to pursue them, but ended up falling over from the strain of using his Boosted Gear.

It was at that moment that Keijutsu felt twin surges of magic behind him, and turned around. 'Oh, dammit,' he thought, seeing that the source of it was a pair of magic circles. One bore the Gremory crest, and Rias and Akeno appeared from it. The other one had the Sitri crest and, to his despair, brought forth both Sona and Tsubaki.

"Goodness gracious, look at this. I'm sure this is going to be one lively explanation," Rias said, her jovial tone and benevolent smile completely at odds with the aura of pure danger she was emitting.

Sona nodded, her own expression even more stoic than usual. "Whenever you two would like to begin, I'm all ears," she stated.

Keijutsu took one look at his King, then at Saji, and then decided to be completely honest while also offering the blonde up as the sacrificial lamb. "I had no desire or inclination to be a part of this. I tagged along with this insane idea of Issei's because Saji wanted to, regardless of whatever 'draconian' punishment you might deliver. I did not wish to see him killed for his idiocy."

Saji nearly face-faulted at that, and looked over at Keijutsu. "WHAT?!" he yelled, the fires of pure betrayal burning in his eyes.

While Keijutsu merely shrugged, Sona hummed before looking at her Pawn. "Is this true, Saji? You chose to disobey ours orders even though you knew the consequences, and cared not for the punishment that would entail?" she asked, stepping forward.

The Pawn gulped. Technically, he did say that he'd help Kiba regardless of Sona's punishment, but that was only after hearing his tragic backstory. "I… Um… Well, you see…" he stuttered, unsure of what to say.

"Saji," Sona began, and he immediately shut up. "You've been exceedingly reckless, and not nearly as cautious as you should have been. I'm highly disappointed," she said. She raised her right hand, and it began glowing with magic. "Now, turn around, and get down on your hands and knees."

"What? Wait, please-" he started, but shut up again when he saw the magic glow intensify. At a speed that would have made the fastest Knight jealous, he did as ordered and got on all fours, facing away from Sona.

Once he was in position, Sona called "I think this will be enough to make you reflect on your actions!" and slammed her hand against his rear end.

Saji cried out in pain, shouting "I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY!"

But Sona shook her head, replying "I believe that you are, and that's why I'll only be giving you one-hundred instead of one-thousand!" And then she swung again and Saji continued screaming, the magical energy causing his pain receptors to go into overdrive.

As he stood there and watched, Keijutsu internally sighed in relief. Nothing he said was false, the only reasoned he agreed to not run off the first chance he got was to keep Saji from getting killed. But now that the day of judgement had come, he had no qualms about stating that fact out loud.

Did this ruin whatever respect Saji might have for him? Yes. Did it also save him from the jaws of punishment once again? Yes to that, too.

Or at least, partially saved him, because no sooner had he thought that than he heard Sona say "As for you, Kei-san, while your willingness to get involved for the sake of Saji's safety is understandable…"

Then he felt something smash against the back of his skull hard enough that he fell to the ground, hitting his face against the floor. Pain flared to life on both sides of his head, and he simply thought 'Owwww.'

Looking back, he could see that Tsubaki was the one who had hit him, using her Queen-enhanced strength to do so. "…You are due some measure of punishment as well. As such, that will be the extent of your physical disciplining, while the rest of it will consist of losing access to my family's banks accounts for one month. For that time, you will perform your research using your own money," Sona finished, not pausing in her spanking of Saji.

Keijutsu mulled that over in his head. Well, it could be worse. He had been able to afford the materials for his experiment just fine before he got access to Sona's money. And while being cut off from it was unpleasant, it was a punishment he could live with.

The next day…

'Hmm, so it would appear that there is a Sacred Gear similar to Issei that possesses a being called the White Dragon Emperor. Divine Dividing, another of the thirteen Longinus, is the Boosted Gear's opposite in that, rather than doubling its user power every ten seconds, it instead halves the power of an opponent. How very interesting,' Keijutsu thought, reading the book Rasiel gave him that contained the list of Sacred Gears.

So, another powerful Sacred Gear existed that obtained its abilities and fame from having a powerful being sealed within it. Counting the five made from Vritra's soul, that made a total of seven that he had knew of already, probably more.

He was starting to see a recurring theme here. Maybe, once he resumed his research on Sacred Gears, the key would not be to make one with completely new powers and abilities from scratch. He could instead create a Sacred Gear with no powers at all, a 'blank state' as it were, and infuse the spirit of some other powerful being into it. If he did go that route, could he get it to work?

But first, he would still need to figure out how to create that 'empty' Sacred Gear to begin with. For all the knowledge the Archangel Raziel had, it seemed that the exact way that God made Sacred Gears was beyond even him. What a shame.

Still, he supposed that if was possible for him to find out how to do it himself, were he able to enter the section of Heaven where the Sacred Gear system resided. Such a place was likely to be heavily guarded and have also sorts of defenses, possibly including the archangels themselves.

'But…,' he thought, 'What about a Fallen Angel? If there existed a high-ranking Angel who did manage to gain access to that part of Heaven and then became Fallen afterwards, they'd have the knowledge I'd need and be much more likely to share it than the regular Angels. Could there be someone like that?'

If there was, they had to have been a very high-ranking Angel prior to their fall, narrowing the list considerably. Which meant that now, all he had to do was look up all the names of the high-ranking Angels who had ever fallen, and keep going through them until he found a match.

Deciding to put both the book and the thought away for now, Keijutsu placed the list of Sacred Gears off to the side and focused on the device in front of him. At first glance, it would have appeared to be a regular compound microscope, one that could be purchased at a regular store. However, etchings on the side of the microscope itself and around the lenses in the form of runic arrays enhanced the magnification of the device. With it, he was able to take a small piece of the sample of Rias's hair he obtained and view the cells comprising it through the microscope.

"Okay… So first I need to device the runic formula that will replicate these hair cells, then another that converts the replicated hair cells into an oocyte, which will then become an egg cell after undergoing meiotic division. Once I've accomplished that, I need to develop another set of runes that can take a sample of my own DNA, replicate it and then convert it to sperm cells. Those sperms cells then fertilize the egg cell, creating a zygote that will develop into an embryo."

Writing down notes with one hand while still looking through the microscope, he said "The replication of the cells should be relatively easy. What will be more difficult is the conversion of the hair cells into an oocyte and the conversion of the somatic cells into sperm cells. However, if I can figure out the formulae required for that, then I'm in the clear."

"The only real issue is that, while I can provide as many samples of my own DNA as needed, I only have one strand of hair from Rias, which means that I can only perform a finite number of attempts until I can make the replication arrays work. That's going to definitely make things harder," he said.

Still, at least he had an idea of what he needed to do now, which was the first step. Deactivating the microscope, he flipped a page in his note book and began writing jotting down ideas of the specific structures of the runic arrays he'd need, starting with the replication ones.

A few hours passed in this fashion, with steady progress being made on all fronts. However, just as he drew the first possible prototype for the replication arrays, he felt it. It was as if a large weight suddenly descended on his shoulders, nearly overwhelming him with the feeling of pure power that it gave off, as well as the amount of satisfaction and bloodlust that the presence gave off.

Just a second later, that presence vanished, and it was replaced by that of a large barrier. Alarmed, Keijutsu close his notebook and began to go outside. All he had to do was open his door to see that, near the edge of down, a large barrier had indeed sprung into existence. Whatever had conjured it, though, could not mean well.

'I have to warn Sona about this,' he thought. Trying to focus on Sona's presence so that he could warn her, he was startled to sense that she was actually in the same place as the barrier, which meant that she was actually inside it.

Not wasting another second, Keijutsu focused on the Bishop piece within himself and its connection to Sona, and used that as the connection he needed to conjure a magic circle. Stepping into it, he felt the usual sense of weightlessness replaced by a nearing crushing force, likely the barrier attempting to keep him out. But he would not be deterred, and willed the connection to remain open.

It worked, and a moment later Keijutsu appeared inside the barrier, where he was treated to a shocking sight. The entire Gremory peerage was present—minus Kiba, that was—along with Sona and Suzuno, and facing them was none other than Freed. Unlike last time, however, Freed was carrying his sword made of fused Excalibur fragments while he had Excalibur Mimic wrapped around his around, and two more Holy Swords in his robes.

But that wasn't what drew the majority of his attention. What did was the figure hovering in the air above Freed, and who was the source of the presence he sensed a moment ago. It was a Fallen Angel, one had a total of ten wings and long black hair, with pointed ears and red eyes. He wore a black cloak with a small amount of armor over it, and his teeth were all pointed.

Considering all that and remembering who supposedly stole Excalibur to begin with, this being could also be one person. The Carde-class Fallen Angel, Kokabiel.

"Someone want to tell me what the hell is going on?" he said.

Issei looked back at him, blinking in surprise. "Whoa, dude, I'm glad that you're here. Long story short, Freed nearly killed Irina and took Excalibur Mimic, and used her as bait to get us. And that Fallen Angel who just showed up is his boss," he explained shortly.

Keijutsu nodded and walked up to stand behind Sona, ready to act if needed. But it would seem that Kokabiel wasn't looking to fight immediately, as he said, "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, daughters of the Houses of Sitri and Gremory."

Rias crossed her arms. "The pleasure is ours, I'm sure. So, you're the one who helped co-found the Grigori? What a dubious honor," she stated.

Kokabiel grinned. "That crimson hair of yours remind me very much of Sirzechs. You even have the same facial expressions. To be frank, I find that sickening," he said, before looking at Sona. "You, on the other hand, are nothing like your older sibling. Whereas Leviathan is energetic and—how should I say it? —bubbly, you're the picture of professionalism."

"Coming from a Cadre-class, I'll consider that a compliment," Sona replied, adjusting her glasses. "However, you'll have to forgive me if I skip the pleasantries and get straight to business. Why are you here, Kokabiel?"

At that, the level of bloodlust coming off the Fallen Angel grew, which went perfectly with his next words. "I'm here because I plan on leveling that educational building you're both attending, and then moving on to do the same to the rest of this town. If I do that, both Serafall and Sirzechs will be certain to appear in order to protect their respective sisters," he declared.

My eyes, along with Rias's and Sona's, widened at the implications. Rias gave voice to them saying "If you do that, you know what it will mean. You'll be completely destroying the nonaggression pact that ended the Great War, starting it all over again!"

But Kokabiel merely laughed. "Exactly. I thought that just stealing the piece of Excalibur would be enough to convince Michael to retaliate and break the pact for me. But instead, all I got were three weak little girls."

Suzuno clenched her fist at that. It wasn't enough that this filth had attacked her, Xenovia and Irina. It wasn't enough that a Fallen Angel had put their hands on Excalibur. But to do it all for this? "You actually want to force the War to resume?!" she yelled in outrage.

"Indeed, I do! After the Great War ended the first time, I nearly went insane with boredom. No Devils to burn with my light, no Angels to tear the wings from… it was maddening. And both Shemhazai and Azazel were so concerned with how many numbers our side had lost, they wanted peace more than anything!" he yelled.

Keijutsu blinked. "Wait. Azazel and Shemhazai?" he thought aloud.

Without looking back at him, Sona nodded. "They're the other two Fallen Angels who founded the Grigori. Shemhazai holds the rank of Vice Governor General, while Azazel is both Governor General and Advisor of Special Technology," she informed him.

Keijutsu straightened. Advisor of…? No, that couldn't be Zel. But the he remembered how his client had mentioned being a part of group with certain characteristics, and that he hadn't meant what those characteristics were. And then there was his name. Zel… Azazel?

Deciding to fish for one other piece of information, he looked up at Kokabiel and asked, "Tell me, is this Azazel also obsessed with collecting stuff?"

Too focused on himself to question the suddenness of the inquiry, Kokabiel nodded. "Yes, he's always had a thing for collecting and doing research. I hear he's even spent a lot of time working on Sacred Gears, if you can believe it," he said, snorting in derision.

'Well, that settles it. He and I are definitely having a talk once this is over,' Keijutsu thought.

"In any case, this so called 'peace' between the Three Factions is so fragile, all it will take is one act of war on my part to send it all crashing down. And I think laying waste to the town that two prominent young Devils live in will do just the trick," the Fallen said.

On the ground beneath him, Freed burst out in laughter. "This is so great! Don't you just love it when he shows his psychotic side?! I can't wait for this War to start, because then I can kill as many Devils as I want!" he shouted, grinning psychotically himself.

"Same here! And now, let the war begin, Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri!" Kokabiel called, before conjuring bout a dozen spears of light and shooting them at the Devils.

Acting quickly, Keijutsu created a large barrier around them that several of the spears deflected off. However, Kokabiel kept up the barrage and a crack quickly appeared in the barrier. That crack spread until the barrier finally shattered. But at that point another barrier, this one stronger, was made by the combined efforts of Sona, Rias and Akeno.

What spears hit the ground exploded and created a cloud of dirt, blinding all the Devils. When the cloud cleared, both Freed and Kokabiel were gone, causing Issei to grit his teeth. "Dammit, where'd they go?!" he yelled.

Koneko pointed towards the Academy. "I saw them move in that direction. Probably to do just as he said he was going to," she said.

Keijutsu grimaced. "If Kokabiel follows through on his threat to destroy Kuoh, that really will spark a Second Great War."

"Then it's up to us to make sure that doesn't happen. No matter what," Sona said.

Chapter 14: Entertainment

"And… that should do it," Keijutsu said, standing up as he finished carving the last rune into the ground. The Student Council and ORC, along with Suzuno, watched as he clasped his hands together and released a pulse of magic energy.

In response, the runes on the ground, which formed a ring around the entire Academy, began lighting up while a magic circle appeared in sky above the center of the school grounds. From that circle, a transparent wall of energy began spreading out and arcing downwards, until it created a dome that sealed off everything inside. Acting quickly, Momo, Reya, Tsubaki, Tomoe, Tsubasa and Ruruko all placed their hands against the barrier, feeding a current of their own magic energy into it.

Wiping his brow, Keijutsu stated "This barrier is specifically designed to repel all energy-related attacks and supernatural beings that come into contact with it. Once we're inside, I'll finish the incantation, and nothing can get in or out after that."

Suzuno nodded. "And you're sure that Kokabiel won't be able to break out of it?" she asked.

"Unless he attacks the barrier itself with his full power, no. But if he does try that, or someone even stronger appears, then it will break down. Same goes for if it's not given a constant stream of energy," the Artificer explained, before shrugging. "This was the best I could do on short notice, but at least it prevents the entire Student Council from having to stay out of the fight to keep the barrier going."

"Then we'll take it, and try to stop Kokabiel with what forces we have," Sona responded, though he could tell that she was grateful all the same.

Issei waved his hand. "Hey, what if Xenovia or Kiba show up? Will they be able to make it inside?" he asked.

Keijutsu sighed. "If that happens, then we can deactivate the barrier for a few seconds in order to let them get through. Any longer, though, and it'll shut down completely."

Sona nodded, before looking over at the redhead. "Rias, there's still time. You can contact Lucifer-sama and ask for his help," she pointed out.

Rias raised an eyebrow. "And what about your own older sibling? Aren't you going to call her?" she asked.

"I… don't think that would be a good idea," Sona said. Indeed, while having Serafall here would greatly increase their chances of victory, the former heir to the Sitri house would not be happy to hear that her sister was in any kind of danger. In fact, Sona didn't even want to think about the kind of damage such a thing could cause, both to the Academy and her sanity.

No, far better to have Sirzechs come help instead. At least his sister complex could be controlled.

"No need to worry about that. I've already contacted Lucifer-sama. Once I explained the situation to him, he said that he'd be able to arrive in no more than an hour," Akeno said. Rias spun around and glared at her Queen angrily. However, before she could speak, Akeno continued "Whether we like it or not, the fact remains that Kokabiel is a Cadre-class Fallen Angel. We simply don't have the raw power to defeat him if he goes all-out. So, we just have to delay him."

Rias thought about that for a moment, before sighing. "Fine, you win," she conceded, before smiling. "This should make for an interesting fight, at least. Let's go," she said.

The rest of them nodded and began moving inside, with the members of the ORC taking point.

The moment they were on the other side of the barrier, Keijutsu finished the incantation and sealed the Academy off from the rest of the world. Saji and Issei both used Promotion to turn themselves into Queens, and those with Sacred Gears summoned them.

As they drew closer to the school, they were able to see a large golden seal hovering just above the track field. That seal was releasing massive amounts of both holy and magical energy, causing Suzuno's eyes to widen.

"This feeling… I can tell that it's Valper that causing this, and he's doing something with Excalibur. But what?" Suzuno thought aloud.

Before any of them could guess, they heard a familiar voice laughing from above them. Looking towards the sky, they saw that it was none other than Kokabiel, who was lounging on some sort of floating throne.

"If you're so curious, right now Valper is undergoing a ritual that will fuse all of the acquired fragments of Excalibur he has back into a single weapon. Once he does, it's power will be near that of the original Holy Sword," he said casually.

Keijutsu's eyes widened. He had already seen just how strong Excalibur Destruction and Mimic had been, and those were just two pieces of the blade. If what Kokabiel was saying was true, how were Devils like them going to withstand something with that level of strength?

Unaware of these thoughts, Kokabiel added "So, is Sirzechs finally on his way? Or am I waiting for Little Miss Leviathan?"

Sona and Rias both stepped forward, Sona with her usual focused expression and Rias with a smirk. "Right now, we're the ones you need to concern yourselves with," Sona declared.

That garnered a sigh from the Fallen Angel, who conjured a spear of light in one hand. "How boring," he replied, before throwing the spear in the direction of the gym.

The moment the spear hit, it exploded in blast that destroyed the gym much like how Akeno did during the Rating Game. But this time, rather than simply reduce the building to rubble, Kokabiel completely annihilated it, leaving only a massive crater behind.

All the Devils present stared at the place where their gymnasium had, until five seconds ago, still existed. However, they refocused on Kokabiel when he said "I need something to keep me entertained. And since you're here, watching you fight my pets should prove amusing!"

With that said, he conjured a pair of his own magic circles on the ground beneath him. Rather than wait and see what came out of them, Keijutsu willed the seals on his arms to activate, and unleashed twin steams of fire at the circles.

That attack proved useless when a pillar of flames erupted from each circle, and his attack merely combined with the flames being produced. After a few seconds, however, the fire dispersed, revealing what Kokabiel had summoned. It was a pair of dogs, each one as tall as a house and as long as a bus, with flames dripping from the mouths on each of their three heads.

It was easy to identify what these monsters were, but they did leave Keijutsu wondering something. "Since when was Cerberus more than one being?" he muttered.

Sona heard him though, and said "There are several entrances to the Underworld, so there exists a Cerberus at each one to act as a guard dog. But that's precisely where they're supposed to stay—in the Underworld."

"Then let's send it back!" Saji said, and fired his Absorption Line at one of them. He was forced to retract it and move to the side when that Cerberus breathed a column of flames at him, scorching the ground where the Pawn had been standing.

The other one released a trio of fire-streams at Akeno, but she responded with a blast of ice magic strong enough to literally turn the flames and surrounding water vapor into ice. The Cerberus bit down on the ice and shattered it, but that gave Rias the chance to hit with a wave of her Power of Destruction. The beast howled and staggered back from the hit. While the move hadn't disintegrated it, it was still injured.

Seeing the ORC focus their efforts on that Cerberus, Keijutsu turned his attention to the first one, and conjured a pair of pocket-watches in each hand. 'Never thought I'd use my failed prototypes for something like this,' before activating them and throwing the watches at Cerberus.

As expected, each one created their own isolation sphere and began building up heat. However, in the seconds it took them to fly through the air towards Cerberus, they quickly began destabilizing as the heat in them spiked, before exploding in a total of four blasts, one that hit each of its heads and the center of its chest.

The tri-headed monster snarled and its leftmost head spat a fireball at him, which he blocked with a screen of energy. Another one tried to do the same to Sona, but she merely created an equally large orb of water and shot it forwards.

The two attacks canceled each other out and created a large cloud of smoke. Cerberus was about to leap through that cloud when a large tongue, courtesy of Saji's Sacred Gear, wrapped around one of its hind legs. "Take this, you mangy flea-bag!" he yelled, and began draining its energy.

Cerberus growled and two of its heads faced him, but then Keijutsu created an orb of light within his hands. "Cover your eyes!" he yelled, and Saji and Sona did just that. Then he shot the orb at Cerberus, waiting until it was right in front of its face to detonate it. The effects of the blast replicated that of a stun grenade, blinding the monster with a flash of light and temporarily causing it to go deaf.

Suzuno used that moment to charge and deal a punishing blow with her hammer, hitting the center head and shattering nearly half of its teeth. The beast whimpered, and the other two heads instinctively belched fire at her, forcing her to move back.

Sona held her hands out to her sides, and a large mass of water began forming in front of her. In a matter of seconds, that water assumed a somewhat humanoid shape, barring the fact that it was as tall as Cerberus. She directed the construct to charge at the beast, and when it did, Cerberus tried to bite the water creature. But its fangs simply passed right through it. However, when the creation swung and punched it in the side, the blow was very much solid.

At that point, Cerberus decided that it apparently had enough, and all three heads roared in unison. It spun around and yanked Saji along for the ride. He shouted and deactivated his Absorption Line before he could get smacked into a nearby tree, freeing Cerberus to move. Then it unleashed three continuous streams of fire on Sona's water construct, reducing it to smoke. Finally, with its two biggest threats taken care of it, it leaped through the air at Keijutsu.

His eyes widened and he yelled, "Shit!" before using a magic circle to warp out of the way. Cerberus landed where he had been standing and looked around, trying to find him.

What it found was Suzuno, who had jumped onto its back and was running towards its heads. "This should keep you down!" she called, and swung down to smash her hammer into the tip of its spine. There was a muffled crunch, and Cerberus yelped in pain. It tried to turn its heads to bite at her, but it suddenly found that, with the injury to its spine, it could hardly move any of its heads at all.

"Great work, Suzuno-san!" Sona called, creating ten spinning discs of water. She threw them at the beast, each disc sounding very much like a buzz-saw as flew through the air. They cut deeply into Cerberus's flesh, leaving it with gashes all over its body.

Suzuno nodded and raised her hammer once more. She sung down and hit the leftmost head right over its brain, nearly caving in its skull. Cerberus whimpered and tried to reach over to bite her, but it still couldn't. Saji reapplied his Absorption Line and drained it of its remaining energy, forcing it to the ground.

That was when Keijutsu reappeared, having used the magic circle to transport himself behind a nearby tree and out of Cerberus's sight. "Well, looks like this thing's done," he said, holding up his hand and creating a spear made of ice to stab through its heart.

Just before he could, however, the ground beneath Cerberus suddenly erupted as almost a dozen different swords burst out of it, skewering the beast and killing it.

"What the-?" Saji said, before looking over to see Kiba approaching them, one sword in each hand. Quickly putting two and two together, he called "Hey, that was our fight!"

Kiba chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. "Right. Sorry about that. I kind of wanted to make an entrance, and that was the best way," he said somewhat bashfully.

Keijutsu sighed, tossing his ice spear away. "Well, at least you're here at all, which makes our odds of surviving a little better. Did Xenovia-san come with you?" he asked.

As if to answer his question, he both felt and heard an explosion going off behind him. Turning around, he saw that the other Cerberus was now missing a head, with a smoking stump where it had been, and Xenovia was on the ground in front of it. The other two heads roared in rage and tried to attack her, but then Rias and Akeno—both of them given strength from Issei's Boosted Gear—used their lightning magic and Power of Destruction to wipe it from existence.

With both monsters dealt with, Issei grinned. "That was awesome! We totally beat those things!" he cheered.

However, Kokabiel chose that moment to interject himself back into the conversation, saying "Just taking down my pets hardly qualifies as 'awesome'," he sneered.

Realizing that their true enemy had yet to move from his floating throne, Rias quickly fired a massive blast of Power of Destruction, made all the more lethal by the energy Issei had given her. It flew towards the Fallen Angel at blistering speeds, ready to destroy him so thoroughly that not even ash remained… and he simply batted it aside.

The attack flew off course and hit the school's tennis court, creating a massive explosion that enveloped both the court and the surrounding area. When the blast faded, all that was left was another large crater.

Keijutsu gulped. If Kokabiel could take an attack like that and push it away like a fly, there was almost nothing he had that could do anything. Focused as he was on trying to build things, he had never developed any uses for magic that were meant to purely destroy something. And even if he did, he wasn't sure that it would have worked.

Kokabiel grinned and rose to his feet. "So, you were able to become that much stronger just from having the Red Dragon Emperor lend you some power. No wonder Azazel spends all his time researching these things; I have to say I'm impressed," he stated.

But before the villain could go into a full monologue, they all sensed the holy energy in the area spike dramatically. Looking over at where Valper was still conducting his ritual, the saw that quartet of magic circles fade, and a pillar of golden shot straight upwards, passing right through the barrier and continuing on.

Valper cackled manically. "It's finally done! These four pieces of Excalibur have become one!" he cried. The light pillar began shrinking until it was eventually gone. In its place was a single sword, which did indeed look like an amalgamation of several other swords, and was releasing enough holy energy that it was saturating the air around it with a golden glow.

"Well, it's about time that we finished making that thing. Now I'll have more than enough power to remove this town from the map. And when I do, nothing will stop the Great War from being restarted. Unless, of course…" the Fallen Angel began, before spreading all ten of his wings and willing his throne to disappear. "You think you actually stand a chance! Freed!"

"You called? I'm right here!" Freed Sellzen called, popping up out of seemingly nowhere and walking over to stand next to Valper.

"This is my last bit of entertainment before I join the fight. Use this Fused Excalibur and try to kill these Devils," he ordered.

Freed grinned like a child in a candy store, and even saluted the Fallen Angel. "I would love nothing more!" he said, and pulling the Fused Excalibur out of the ground. The moment he did, the golden aura around the blade spread and covered his arms as well, causing Freed's own energy to begin increasing. "Now, who wants to get penetrated first?!" he yelled, making it very clear that he was aware of the innuendo in what he just said.

"The only one dying today is you!" Suzuno called, dashing forward and swinging with her hammer. Xenovia was right behind him, going for an overhead blow with Excalibur Destruction.

But then Freed blurred from sight and reappeared behind them, calling "Not fast enough!" They turned around, he waved his sword at them. "One of the swords that went into this puppy is Excalibur Rapidly. With it, I now have super speed!" he declared happily, before blurring from sight again.

Suzuno was ready this time, and swung her hammer into the ground in front of her. Freed was forced to stop to avoid being flattened, and Xenovia chose that moment to hit him with horizontal cut across his chest.

Freed shout in pain and staggered back, holding up a hand to his chest. When that hand came away red, he glared at both girls. "You two-bit bitches! You actually fucking cut me! I'm going to turn you to mincemeat for that!" he yelled, before the sword itself changed shape and turned into a set of four whips.

Those whips then swung at Xenovia and Suzuno, forcing them back to avoid the attacks coming from multiple angles. To make things worse, Freed then called "Now you see the power of Excalibur Mimic that I got from your friend. Next, let's see how you like Excalibur Nightmare!"

The sword's glow increased and Freed was surrounded flanked by several copies of himself, all illusions that the Fused Excalibur let him create. The real version and the copies began attacking the two holy maidens, forcing them to put everything they had into just staying on the defensive.

Keijutsu grunted. 'Increased speed, shapeshifting, illusions and—if what Sona told me is true—even invisibility. And that one sword enables them all. Even if getting hit by that thing could spell the end of me, I can't stand by and do nothing. If I do, not even those two will beat him,' he thought.

Apparently, Koneko and Issei were of similar thoughts, as Koneko picked up Issei and threw him at Freed. "Hey, you've still got use to deal with, you jack-wagon!" Issei shouted, distracting Freed long enough for Issei to kick him in the face.

Keijutsu joined in and sent a blast of compressed sound at the rogue priest, forcing him back and causing to cover his ears to stop the ringing. But when he tried to press the advantage, Freed sped away and stood near Valper, who in turn was standing in front of Kiba.

"I had heard that one of the test subject from my Holy Sword Project escaped. It is tragic to see that you survived only to be reborn as a piece of Devil filth," Valper stated, making Kiba grit his teeth.

"You bastard!" he yelled, ready to cut the man before him down and obtain his long-desired revenge.

But just before he could, Valper's next words caused him to freeze. "That said, I am grateful to you and the others. You gave me the data and materials I needed to complete the Project."

Kiba's eyes widened. "Complete it…?" he said.

Valper nodded. "The entire point of the project was to figure out how to enable more people to be able to wield Holy Swords. However, the reason none of the test subjects could was because they lacked the ability to generate holy energy on their own, which is precisely what's needed. Or rather, they could generate their own holy energy, but not nearly in enough quantities to wield a Holy Sword," he explained.

Then he grinned fiendishly. "So, I came up with a solution. I would just extract the energy from all the test subjects that could produce any amount at all! And once I did, I developed a method to crystallize the energy and make it possible for others to wield it!" Valper said, and pulled a medium-size blue crystal from his robes.

"This is the last crystal I was able to make before the Project was shut down. If I recall correctly, it was those same children you were with that I used to make it," he revealed.

The eyes of both holy maidens went huge. "That crystal… is that…?" Suzuno began.

Xenovia nodded. "Yes. Those of us that train to be Holy Sword users are given that same kind of crystal on completing their training. It's what enables us to use the swords," she said, shocked.

Valper heard them, and snorted. "So, after excommunicating me and branding me a traitor, they still used the fruits of my research? Why am I not surprised? Though, knowing how soft-hearted Michael is, he probably just had the Church start extracting the energy without killing the people they get it from," he said.

Kiba glared at him. "There was no need to kill any of us either! So why did you have it done?" he demanded.

The former priest shrugged. "You and the other children were material for the Project, no different than a test tube or bottle of acid. Once we had what we needed, we disposed of you like any other used equipment. It's as simple as that," he said.

Then he threw the crystal in his hand at Kiba, who quickly caught it. "Keep that one if you want. In the years since then, the Church has been developed methods for producing more-concentrated crystals on a mass scale. No more sacrifices required."

Keijutsu looked at Valper in disgust. While he could not fault Valper for willing to put his own career at risk to perform an experiment, everything else about the man struck him as heinous. The lives of others were not to be used for the sake of research without their consent, and they were to be given due respect for that sacrifice.

Not once, in all the research he ever performed, did Keijutsu waste innocent lives. Yet not only did Valper do this, but the people whose lives he took didn't even understand why they were being used. They thought that they had been 'chosen' by God, and endured untold agony for that one reason.

"That… is despicable," he said, walking forward. Both Valper and Freed noticed him, and he stepped between them and Kiba.

"Valper Galilei, you are a blight to all who would act in the pursuit of knowledge. Your vile methods and lack of empathy drag the very idea of research through the mud, and sully the image of those who would research for mankind's benefit. There will be no more debate, no more arguments. For now, you've given me no choice… but to exterminate you," he declared.

Valper frowned. "In that case, you can be the one to die first," he said, and gestured for Freed to attack. He gladly did so, and charged at Keijutsu with a battle cry. He swung down with his Fused Excalibur, ready to cleave him in two… and Keijutsu simply leaned to the side.

The attack passed right by him and, before Freed could react, he reached forward and grabbed the stray priest by the front of his robes. Looking into Keijutsu's eyes, he could see that there was no longer any compassion, any warmth. In its place, behind those lilac-colored eyes, was nothing but anger and steel.

"Stay out of my way," he said, and unleashed a point-blank blast of Devil energy strong enough to send Freed flying right out of his grip. Scraps of his robes were still held in Keijutsu's hands as he went sailing through the air, landing in front of Valper with a large, smoldering burn covering the entire front of his torso.

With Freed momentarily out for the count, Keijutsu was about to take aim at Valper when he sensed something behind him, and turned around.

Kiba was standing there, the crystal no longer in his hands but his entire body enveloped in a glow that matched the crystal's color. Masses of blue particles of light surrounded him, briefly taking the form of the children whose energy had composed it. The other children from the Holy Sword Project.

One, a little girl who couldn't have been more than five, smiled innocently at him before vanishing. Another girl appeared, this one saying, "It's alright," before she was replaced by a girl who said "We're together now." A boy manifested, who said "The time has come. Let us in." The same girl who smiled at him added on, saying "Even if God's no longer here, you don't have to be afraid."

An older boy said, "Though His gaze may not be watching over us…" before they all said in unison "Our hearts beat as one."

Kiba stared at them all, before smiling as tears ran down his face. "You're right," he said.

Keijutsu stared. The ghosts of the children vanished, as did the glow around Kiba. Even so, he could sense the blonde's power rising, and how reality itself seemed to be trying to act against it. But Kiba's will was great enough that it overcome that. 'Almost as if his own desires are breaking the natural order of the world. Wait. A breaking of the natural balance… His Sacred Gear's Balance Breaker,' he thought.

Kiba opened his eyes, looking straight at Valper. "My loved ones, they never wanted me to be an avenger. All they wanted was my freedom. But I won't be free. Not until I put an end to the evil I'm standing before. Then none will have to suffer as I did," he said, before looking over at Keijutsu. "And you're free to help."

Keijutsu chuckled. Leave to him to have his thunder stolen. Oh, well. As long as Valper died, he was fine with it. "Then let's make sure he suffers," he said.

Now realizing the trouble he was in—and highly doubting that Kokabiel was going to come to his rescue—Valper began backing away. Luckily, Freed was starting to get back up, even if breathing was getting difficult due to the injury to his front.

Keijutsu ignored that and began preparing the seals on his arms while Kiba summoned one of his swords. Said sword was wreathed in both holy and Devil energy, the two opposing elements acting in synch within one blade.

As the two of them closed in on Valper, they were joined by Suzuno and Xenovia. "As a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, it is my job to punish rogue priests like this one. I will help," Suzuno said.

Both Keijutsu and Kiba nodded, and Xenovia stabbed her sword into the ground. "One piece of Excalibur won't be enough against four others. I need something more," she said, reached out to her side with her right hand.

"Oh Peter, oh Basil and Denis, and the Virgin Mary, blessed is she. I ask that you answer my prayers," she said. To Keijutsu's surprise, a magic circle unlike any he had yet seen appeared. From that circle, a massive sword wrapped in chains emerged, one whose output of holy energy surpassed even the Fused Excalibur's. Xenovia grasped it, and called "In the name of the saints, I set you free!"

That last chant caused the chains holding the sword to shatter, and Xenovia pulled it free. "Now, Sellzen, you have to face the might of Durandal!" she said, moving into a combat stance.

'Durandal. One of the four great Holy Swords, alongside Ascalon, Caliburn and the original Excalibur. Not only that, but of the four, it's stated to have the highest potential for unleashing pure destruction. Impressive,' Keijutsu thought.

Freed growled. "It doesn't matter how many Holy Swords you bring to the fight. I won't lose to the likes of you!" he called, and had his weapon changed into multiple whips again before sending them all at Xenovia. But she simply swung and cut right through them, the power of her Holy Sword easily surpassing his.

Then the bluenette charged at him, calling "Your weapon isn't even the True Excalibur, just a pale imitation. It won't defeat me!" and swinging at me.

"Oh, just go die in ditch somewhere!" Freed yelled. He used Excalibur Rapidly to avoid the blow, and went after Suzuno. "I've decided that I don't like any of you!" he said, and swung at her.

But not only did she block the attack, but Kiba appeared behind him. "I can safely say that we share the feeling!" he said, and struck. But Kiba was not only able to keep up with him, but with a shout he slammed his Holy-Demonic sword into the Fused Excalibur… and Excalibur broke.

Freed fell back, staring at the stump that had just been his new weapon. "Are you fucking kidding right now? What kind of Holy Sword BREAKS?!" he screamed.

"No idea, but I do know one thing," he heard Keijutsu say. Turning around, he saw that the Bishop was right in front of him, and already had a spell ready to go. "I definitely recall telling you to stay out of my way!" Keijutsu said, and unleashed another blast, this time of both ice and wind.

Freed was sent sliding back across the ground, ice forming over his arms, clothes and parts of his head. The cold sapped away his remaining strength until he fell to his knees, at which point he glared hatefully at the four of them. "How could I be brought down by a pair of holy twats and two Devils…" he muttered, before falling over as his body finally gave in.

Meanwhile, Valper tried to think of how his plans went so terribly wrong. "How can this be? Not only are the odds of someone who can use Durandal appearing one in a million, but Holy and Devil elements should never be fuse- Ah!" he said, falling onto his backside when Kiba turned towards him.

But rather than be afraid, his eyes widened as he realized the truth. "Yes, something like that could only be possible if the balance between light and darkness were disrupted. Which means that not only did the original Lucifer die in the Great War, but so did- GAH!" he said, before he was interrupted once more, this time by a spear of light piercing him from behind.

Keijutsu looked towards the only one who could have done it, and saw that Kokabiel did indeed have his arm extended, as if he had just thrown it. "You really were a smart one, Galilei. Too smart, apparently," the Fallen Angel stated.

Sona frowned. "And what exactly were you trying to keep Valper from revealing?" she asked.

Rather than answer her, Kokabiel sighed. "You know, somehow I'm even more bored than I was before. Tell you what, I'll let you get a free shot in before I start killing you. I'm curious to see if you'd actually be able to injure me, being as weak as you all are. Go ahead, give it a try," he said mockingly.

The Devils collectively glared at him, but weren't going to reject an offer like that. However, while Rias instructed Issei to activate his Booster Gear as many times as he was able to, Keijutsu gestured for Sona and Saji to come closer.

Once they did, Sona asked "What is it? Do you have something that could defeat him?"

Keijutsu sighed and rubbed his head. "I have one offensive spell I've been working on. It might—and that's a really big 'might'-be able to destroy Kokabiel. But not only does it take almost a full minute to prepare, but it costs more magical energy than I have even when I'm completely rested and recovered. Plus, I need to directly place my hand on Kokabiel for it to work," he said.

Saji thought about that for a moment, before looking at his Sacred Gear. "Well I've still got some extra energy from when I drained that Cerberus. If I transferred that energy to you along with everything I've got, will that be enough?" he asked.

Keijutsu did a quick set up calculations in his head, before nodding. Sona added on, saying "Kokabiel said that we'd get one free hit, and Rias's Power of Destruction is still the strongest move our group has. But… should it fail, I can use the blast as a distraction to transport you right behind him, and that's when you can lay your hands on him."

"Sounds like a plan," he replied, and placed both of his hands together. The seals on his arms glowed brighter than ever before, and he began muttering a set of incantations. While he did, Saji had the Absorption Line wrap around his wrist, and the Pawn began transferring his strength to Keijutsu.

At the same time, Rias and Issei were walking forward. Kokabiel let them move as slowly as possible in order to give Issei more time to increase his power before he transferred it all to Rias. Once he finally reached his limit, he asked "Ready, Rias?"

"Always," the redhead replied, and he nodded. The Boosted Gear called out "Transfer!" and Issei squeeze Rias's hand, letting all his power flow into her. Once that was done, he only had enough time to step back before a large Gremory magic circle appeared beneath Rias, while a green glow appeared over her body and her eyes shined red.

To go with this change, Rias's power skyrocketed, shooting way past its previous level of High-Class and reaching into the ranks of an Ultimate-Class Devil. The abrupt shift caused the surrounding air pressure to almost double, and Kokabiel laughed at the feeling.

"Finally, this has gotten interesting! With the strength you have at this moment, you'd be on par with your own older brother!" he told her.

Rias didn't respond and crossed her arms, generating two smaller magic circles over each hand. Those circles began spinning rapidly as an orb of Power of Destruction appeared over both of them, before she combined those orbs to form a single massive one. She compressed as much of her own power and the power Issei gave her into the blast as she could, her entire body trembling as she struggled to keep it all compact.

"In that case, die!" she called, and unleashed it all in a single monolithic blast. It flew towards Kokabiel at a speed unmatched by any other, the mass of power actually taking the form of a dragon as it flew towards the Fallen Angel. Behind him, Sona readied to teleport Keijutsu behind Kokabiel, and waited.

Kokabiel simply hovered there and smiled as the attack flew forward and hit him dead-on. He held his hands forward and the Power of Destruction hit him like freight train, almost causing him to lose his balance. It enveloped him, and he laughed, yelling "Almost as good as Sirzechs!"

Rias growled and tried pushing more power into the attack, trying to overwhelm Kokabiel and destroy him. But… no mater, how much power she put into it… no mater what she did… Kokabiel still laughed.

Finally, once she had given him everything she had and more, Rias lowered her arms and collapsed to the ground. But she wasn't done yet, and called "Akeno!"

"Right! Take this!" Akeno called, and unleashed a large bolt of lightning at Kokabiel. But he folded his wings around himself like a cocoon, and the attack dispersed harmlessly along their surface. However, he did stop laughing and raised an eyebrow.

"This power… you wouldn't happen to be related to Baraqiel by any chance, would you?" he asked.

Akeno released a rather uncharacteristic snarl, and shouted "Don't ever say his name! I have nothing to do with that man!" Then she upped the amperage and increased the size of her lightning bolt, trying to fry the Fallen Angel alive. But much like Rias, not even she could deal a decisive blow.

"Ha ha ha! Truly, your house is an interesting one, Rias Gremory. The Red Dragon Emperor, a former Church test subject, and even Baraqiel's dau-" he began, before stopping when he sensed Keijutsu behind him.

Whipping around, he managed to grab the Artificer's left wrist before he could land a hit. And when he tried to hit Kokabiel with an open palm to the chest, he deflected the blow with his forearm. "Pathetic," he said, before turning and releasing Keijutsu long enough to kick him in the stomach.

Keijutsu cried out in pain and flew back, hitting the ground and skidding across it for another ten meters before stopping. "Kei!" Sona called, and she and Saji towards him.

Kokabiel grunted. "Truly, that was a sad display. If not even something like those last two attacks could hurt me, what makes you think you could?" he asked demeaningly.

The white-haired Bishop grunted and managed to sit up, ignoring how it felt like his chest just had an eighteen-wheeler dropped on it. "Because… I made contact," he managed to say.

Kokabiel frowned and was about to ask what he meant by that. However, at that exact moment, he became aware of a tingling sensation not unlike pins and needles on his left forearm. The same forearm he had deflected Keijutsu's attack with.

Looking down, he was astonished to see that not only as the section of his clothes over his forearm gone, but his forearm seemed to be… disintegrating?

"What in the world?!" Kokabiel yelled, channeling a current of holy energy to his arm. However, that did absolutely nothing to stop his arm from slowly breaking apart like a statue made of sand, causing him to glare at Keijutsu. "Explain this, now!"

Wiping away a trickle of blood from his mouth, Keijutsu smirked. "It doesn't matter if you're a God or a Devil, a human or an Angel. If you have a physical body, then that body is composed of the same elements as everyone else. Those elemental particles—or atoms, if you prefer—they're what make up all matter, not including subatomic particles. That spell takes the atoms making up your body and separate them from each other. In short, you're being atomized," he said.

Kokabiel's eyes widened. This little brat was taking all atoms that made up his body… and having them come apart. "I don't think so!" he yelled. Since the use of energy didn't stop the spell, he went for something more barbaric and grabbed the flesh around his forearm that was atomizing and ripped it off.

But not only did that fail, as the atomization had already reached his bones, but coming into contact with it caused the tip of the fingers on his right hand to also begin breaking apart.

"No!" he roared, and conjured a light spear in his left hand to slice the affected flesh off. But just before he could, the atomization in his left arm reach his elbow, and everything below that simply fell off.

"Dammit!" the Fallen Angel yelled. Starting to slightly panic, Kokabiel tried to think of something to do. If he didn't find a way to nullify this spell, it would spread until it reached his chest, and from there it could reach the rest of his body, until he was atomized completely. Not even he could come back from that.

But how? Looking at his right fingers and what was left of his left arm, an idea came to him. It would hurt, oh it would definitely hurt, but it would stop this damn spell from spreading and killing him.

With that in mind, he conjured another light spear in his right hand and, after taking a deep breath, stabbed down and severed the entire remainder of his left arm below the shoulder. Then, before the pain could catch up to him, he created another spear between his teeth and cut off his right hand.

That was when the pain caught up to him, and he screamed in pain at the sudden loss of his hand and arm. Everyone watching stared as he tried to stop the bleeding, and eventually succeeded. When he finally stopped bleeding and had his heartbeat back under control, he glared at Keijutsu.

"You… insolent… BRAT!" he roared, and flew down at Keijutsu. Before he could get there, he was stopped by Kiba and Xenovia, both of whom had yet to attack.

Kiba swung at him with his Holy-Demonic Sword and Kokabiel blocked it with his shoulder. But then Kiba conjured another one with his free hand, and Kokabiel leaned back just late enough for it to cut him across the check.

The Cadre snarled, starting to become well and truly pissed off. He created seven spears of light around himself and launched them at Kiba, who wouldn't be able to move fast enough to avoid them. Luckily, Xenovia ran between them, and cut right through the spears with her Durandal.

Glaring at her, Kokabiel said "You fight so hard, even if your side doesn't even realize that their Father is gone!"

Suzuno's breath caught as she raised her hammer, and looked at him. "What do you mean?" she asked.

Kokabiel blinked, his anger dissipating as he realized what he just said, and grimaced. "Well, shit. I wasn't supposed to tell you that," he muttered. He chuckled at that, before that chuckling grew into full on laughter.

He tried raising his hand to rub his forehead, but then stopped once he realized that he no longer had hands. His good mood going right back out the window, he frowned. "I killed Valper because he figured it out. But I suppose if I am starting a war, there's no reason for me not to say it," he reckoned, before looking at all of them.

"During the Great War, we all know that the original Lucifer, Leviathan, Beelzebub and Asmodeus were all killed. But what was kept secret was that the Biblical God died as well!" he declared.