Chapter 18

Originally posted on 23/9/2018.  

Several hours later, at night-time on the very same day as Grayfia and Serafall had come to Kuoh to assist with the Kokabiel situation, and Isane, Koneko and Kiba were walking around Kuoh, as a tight group. As they walked, their senses were strained to breaking point, in order to try and find any scrap of activity in the town that could lead to a possible location of Kokabiel's forces, whether they be Fallen Angel or Vampire. 

Koneko's senses, in particular, as she had her Nekomata ears and tail out (thanks to occasional training in Senjutsu from Kuroka, she had become more comfortable in using it), were straining hard, as her cat-ears moved, trying to pick up sound other than the sound of her, Isane's and Kiba's footfalls. 

Speaking of Isane, she couldn't stop herself from glancing at Koneko's cat-like form every couple of seconds, as she found it immensely cute. Also, Koneko was beginning to grow in certain areas, which Isane appreciated very much. 

"You sure you know where you're going, Isane?" Kiba, who had his Sword of Betrayer under the coat he was wearing, asked, as he adjusted the position of the sword. 

"Positive." Isane replied. "I know my way around here like the back of my hand." 

"Fair enough." Kiba replied, as he noticed Koneko's ears pricking up. "What's up, Koneko?" 

"I can smell something." Koneko whispered. "Down there." she added, pointing down a dark street which, Isane knew, led to a warehouse that had been abandoned since, as far as she knew, the end of World War 2. "It stinks. Of Fallen Angels and Vampires." 

"Should we call Roxas?" Kiba asked, referring to what Roxas had told them (referring to them, the rest of Rias' peerage, Sona and her peerage) to do if they come across anything that might lead to Fallen Angels or Vampires in Kuoh Town. "Or Serafall? Or Grayfia?" 

"Yeah, I think-" Isane replied, but her voice was cut off by the voice of another. A voice that she recognised. 

"Oh, hey look! I've come across some shitty Devils and a cute cat-girl!" 

Someone jumped down from the roof of one of the buildings on the street, and Kiba dashed forward, pulling out his sword from under his coat, and clashed with the person, as they swung their own sword (which glinted in the light of the moon) down onto him. 

"Freed!" Isane shouted, activating her Boosted Gear and getting into a battle-stance, as she recognised the sight of the Stray Exorcist that had nearly killed her on two separate occasions. 

Freed Sellzen was a young man with short white hair and red eyes. He was dressed in clerical clothing, and had a smile that conveyed simultaneous psychosis and perverseness on his face. 

He wielded a sword that was shaped like a long version of a Kris (a dagger strongly associated with the culture of Indonesia). The blade was wide with a diamond-shaped gap through it, and spikes on both edges. Freed wielded the sword easily as he clashed with Kiba. 

"Oh?" Freed turned to Isane, while still clashing with Kiba. "Hello there, you sexy Dragoness? Back for a third round with your old pal Freed?" 

"Shut up!" Isane replied, trying to dash towards Freed (despite the ominous feeling she got from the sword Freed held), but her path was blocked by the sudden appearance of several individuals that were all dressed in the uniform that the German soldiers wore during World War 2. Even in the night, Isane saw that they all bore vampiric fangs. 

"Sorry, I should've told you earlier!" Freed shouted, as he dashed backward, Kiba in hot pursuit. "I brought some friends in case you came to play! Have fun~!" 

Isane growled as her Balance Breaker armour appeared around her, in response to the Vampires trying to dive on her. 

["Boost!"] Ddraig called, as Koneko dashed forward and started fighting one of the Vampires herself. ["Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!"] 

While Boosting, Isane created a medium-sized amount of flame in front of her, and as Ddraig cried ["Transfer!"], all the power Isane had built up went into the fireball in front of her, which she sent at the Vampires with a push of magic. 

"Look out, Koneko!" Isane shouted, but Koneko didn't need the warning. She had already jumped up and out of the way of the huge fireball that incinerated the Vampires as soon as it touched them. 

"...Nice one, Isane." Koneko complimented her friend as she landed next to her. 

"Thanks." Isane replied, spreading the four Dragon wings that came with her Balance Breaker armour and flying forward, directly towards the warehouse from where even she could sense Fallen Angels and Vampires. Koneko followed on her own Devil wings, though Isane was travelling far faster. 

As she broke into the warehouse, Isane saw dozens of beings who all wore the same attire as the Vampires she'd killed outside, but this time, some of them had the black, feathery wings of Fallen Angels, with others having Vampiric fangs. 

"KILL THAT SEXY DRAGONIC BITCH!" Freed screamed at them, while continuing to fight Kiba (Isane could barely see the two of them zipping around the warehouse at speeds that would make even Super Sonic jealous). As soon as the command left his throat, the Vampires dashed at Isane, trying to tear through her Balance Breaker armour and get to her, while the Fallen Angels created light-spears and began to throw them at Isane. 

The light-spears harmlessly bounced off Isane's armour, which left her to battle against the Vampires, hand-to-hand. She sent them flying away with punches and kicks, while batting away the ones that tried to get to her from behind with her Dragonic wings. And all the while, her power built up and up thanks to Ddraig's continuous Boosting. 

["Boost!"] Ddraig cried, for the seventh time. ["Isane, I can't Boost anymore without you falling unconscious!"] 

'Got it!' Isane mentally replied to the Welsh Dragon as she created two magic-circles, one in each hand. "Kiba, Koneko, get down!" she shouted, through her amour, as she activated the magic-circles in her hands. 

From each one, a large laser of demonic energy fired, and Isane span around and around, using the lasers to cut apart any and all of the Vampires and Fallen Angels around her, clearing the room of all but one hostile, who had heard Isane's call and ducked along with Kiba and Koneko. 

"Hey, that's not fair!" Said hostile, that being Freed, childishly yelled as he jumped into the air, diverting his attention from Kiba to Isane, who had dropped to her knees, exhausted, as her armour disappeared from around her. "I'll kill you twice over for that!" 

As Freed flew through the air, preparing to bisect Isane, a silver magic-circle appeared on his chest, and as he came metres away from her, he became encased in a block of ice, which was attached to the ground by a large pillar of more ice, leaving Freed unable to do anything except be frozen in place. 

"Nice one, Roxas." Isane heard Grayfia's voice praising her son, and she looked up to see Grayfia, Roxas, Serafall, Rias and Sona, along with the rest of the peerages of the latter two Devils, arriving at the warehouse. 

"Thanks, Mom." Roxas replied, his red eyes flicking up as he saw someone else coming into the warehouse, looking around, and making to run. 

The person had the appearance of a short, bespectacled elderly man with grey hair, a moustache and black eyes. He wore a priest outfit. 

"O-oh, shit." the person whispered. "Looks like Kokabiel's gonna be mad." As he got out of the warehouse, a long loop of rope flew past everyone and wrapped around him, binding him in place as he landed on the ground. 

Everyone else looked around and saw Griselda, Pit, Xenovia and Irina, the latter of whom was holding a lasso in her hands, and using it to pull the man back towards them. 

"We got your call, Koneko." Pit explained, holding up a phone. "Though it looks like the action's over. Even if we managed to get Valper before he got away. 

"Sure is." Koneko replied. 

"Valper?!" Kiba growled, looking at the man whose feeble attempts to escape might as well have been non-existent, for all the good they did. "Valper Gallilei?!" 

"Looks like it." Roxas replied, as he walked towards Valper, picked him up, and slammed him against the ground, breaking his nose. "Alright, then." he addressed Valper. "I'll get to the point. "Where is Kokabiel?" 

Everyone got a shiver down their spine as Valper screamed in pain from his nose being broken. 

"I-I don't know!" the Archbishop of Genocide shouted as Irina transformed her Excalibur Mimic back into an armband, since Roxas already had Valper pinned down. "I have no idea where he is!" 

"Oh, really?" Roxas furrowed his brow, as he picked Valper up and span him around, slamming him onto his chest, before placing a foot on his back, grabbing onto one of his arms. "Then I'm sure you have no idea where your arm will be once it comes out." 

"I'm serious!" Valper shrieked. "I don't know! I'll tell you anything else!" 

"We don't need anything else." Roxas replied, beginning to pull on Valper's arm. "Where is Kokabiel hiding? Don't try to lie." 

Valper screamed in pain as Roxas continued to pull on his arm. As the silver-haired Nephalem felt it leaving its socket, Valper snapped. 

"Okay, okay!" he screamed, tears pouring from his eyes. "I'll tell you! Just please, stop!" 

"Not until you tell us." Roxas replied. "Where is he hiding? If you tell me, I'll let you go. I promise." 

"He's... he's in the old military base, on the outskirts of Kuoh!" Valper shouted. "Th-there, I told you! Please... let me go!" 

"Alright." Roxas replied, stepping off of Valper's back and picking him up by the back of his outfit. "I'll let you go." he looked over at Kiba, giving him a questioning look. Kiba looked like he was considering something for a second, and then shook his head. 

Roxas then silently pushed Valper forward with enough force for him to stumble and fall... straight into an ice-spike that Roxas subconsciously created, right at the spot where Valper's head would be when he fell, letting the life of the Archbishop of Genocide end by impalement through the face. 

Line Break  

Not even a minute later, everyone was back in the ORC room and discussing what had happened at the warehouse. Or rather, Kiba and Koneko were explaining it to everyone while Mirajane took an exhausted Isane back to her house, allowing her to rest for the night. 

"So Freed jumped away from me and tried to attack Isane while she was down," Kiba finished. "And, well..." 

"And we know the rest." Roxas, who was sat on one of the sofas with Rias and Pit, while Serafall, Sona and Griselda (Roxas noticed that Serafall was holding Sona so she was closer to her than Griselda) were on another sofa. Grayfia was stood behind Roxas, while the rest of Rias' and Sona's peerages were stood behind their respective Kings. 

Xenovia had gone back to the apartment that she, Irina, Griselda and Pit had gone to, and Irina had gone with Mirajane and Isane to the latter's house, so neither of the two young Exorcists were present. 

"So, what do we do now?" Roxas asked. 

"Go to that military base Valper was talking about, of course!" Serafall replied. "We've got to see if anything's there!" 

"Agreed." Rias replied. "I know the military base Valper was referring to. Even if it isn't in Kuoh, I don't want it being part of something that poses a threat to this town. The town I govern." 

"Now, hang on." Griselda spoke. "I'm not sure that's fully wise. Though it is possible that Kokabiel and his forces are hiding out at this base, there's something else to consider. Valper could've been lying." 

"No way!" Serafall glared at Griselda. "Valper would've just told Roxas the truth to get him to stop-" 

"How do we know what Valper said was the truth, though?" Sona spoke up. "There's no real way of discerning whether what Valper said was the truth... or if he was just blurting out the first place he knew of, just to make Roxas stop torturing him." 

Even though she was being held so close to her that it could've been said that she phased into her and one would've believed it, Sona stared right back into the shocked face of her older sister, as Serafall expressed her non-verbal dismay that her darling little sister had just directly disagreed with her. 

"Your little sister is right, Serafall." Grayfia replied. "Though we know that Kokabiel is working not just with other Fallen Angels, but with Vampires-" 

"Nazi Vampires." Roxas added. "I saw the Nazi logo on the uniforms of those Vampires Isane decimated. Someone remind me to go and praise her for that later." 

"Go and praise her for that later." Koneko replied, bluntly. In reply, Roxas calmly reached into a pocket-dimension, pulled out a scratching post that one usually buys for their pet cat, and threw it at Koneko's head. 

It scored a direct hit. 

"Nazi Vampires as well," Grayfia continued. "We don't know whether or not that's the extent of it. For all we know, he could have... revived an Evil Dragon and coerced it into following him, while keeping it as a potential ace in the hole, as the saying goes." 

"That's really unlikely, though, Fia!" Serafall replied, hotly. "I-" 

"I never said it wasn't!" Grayfia retorted. "What I said was that it COULD have happened, not that it DID happen. For all we know, a Dragon like Yamata no Orochi could be waiting at that military base Valper blurted out, and we could walk right into an ambush if we treat his torture-induced confession as fact, and go there!" 

"That's true." Pit, who hadn't spoken at all since everyone had made it back to the ORC room, spoke. "But that's the point. The military base that Valper spoke about does exist. Rias confirmed that it does exist, did you, Rias?" 

"Yes, it does!" Rias replied. "Here's a picture of it!" Rias snapped her fingers, and a magic-circle appeared, which depicted a picture of a group of buildings that looked like it hadn't been inhabited for a century. 

"Well, then." Pit spoke to everyone, who remained silent. "The fact that Valper knows that the military base in question even exists should be a pretty big point towards Valper telling the truth, right? Therefore, shouldn't we at least check it out, rather than go in all-guns-blazing?" 

"You'd know a lot about going in all-guns-blazing on things, wouldn't you, Pitty?" Roxas replied, from his seat. "But anyway, apart from the fact that I'm shocked that something so mature would come from someone who, nine times out of ten, is such an idealist that most of the time, he sounds fucking retarded-" 

"Thank you." Pit replied, looking slightly sheepish. 

"I'm not sure that it's totally worth going to that military base." Roxas continued. 

"What?!" Serafall and Rias both spoke up, together, both shocked that Roxas would say what he'd just said. 

"Hear me out." Roxas continued, holding a hand up. "Though I see merit in both options, I'd like to put my two souls in." 

"Two souls?" Pit looked confused. 

"It's the Underworld's currency." Grayfia explained to Michael's Queen. "Used by Devils and Sex Demons. Not to be confused with the actual soul." 

"Or the AMAZING game series of the same name." Roxas added. "Anyway, while talking to Azazel, I asked him about Kokabiel, since I hadn't met him in person, and I though that the very Governer-General of the very organisation Kokabiel used to belong to would be able to provide some insight into how to combat him effectively." Roxas explained. "One thing that that perverted yet intelligent great-uncle of mine told me was that Kokabiel wasn't the type of person who would take a setback, like getting some of his forces decimated by beings he considers inferior to Fallen Angels, in stride. He told me that he was the type of person who would go to any lengths possible to try and take impulsive vengeance on the causer of the setback, a.k.a. us." 

Everyone remained silent as Roxas continued talking. 

"Therefore, thanks to the fact that we've done just that, Kokabiel will come after us, and as long as we're prepared for him, we can take him out, and kill this problem at the source." 

"That does sound like Kokabiel." Grayfia replied. "I'd know, since I fought him in the Great War, along with a huge number of Fallen Angels that were at his command. After losing just a few of them, the bloodthirsty bastard got pissed off. REALLY pissed off." 

"Let's put it to a vote." Sona spoke up, to everyone, including the two peerages. "Those for going after Kokabiel?" 

Serafall, Pit, Kiba and Ruruko Nimura (Sona's (so far) sole Pawn) raised their hands. After a second, Momo Hanakai and Reya Kusaka (Sona's two Bishops) raised their hands as well. 

Ruruko was a short girl with brown hair in long twin ponytails, and green eyes. She wore a pair of green clips in her hair, and also wore striped green stockings. 

Momo was a beautiful girl with white hair and blue-green eyes. 

Reya was a slim girl with long brown hair that ended in two short braids, and eyes of matching colour. She also wore a blue hairband. All three girls, along with the rest of Sona's peerage, wore the Kuoh Academy girls school uniform. 

"Those against?" Roxas, after counting the people who'd put their hands up (all six of them) spoke up, raising his hand. Grayfia, Griselda, Sona and Tsubaki raised their hands instantly, and after a second, Tsubasa Yura, Sona's so-far only Rook, and Tomoe Meguri, Sona's so-far only Knight, as well as Rias herself, raised their hands. 

Tsubasa was a tall girl with the basic appearance of a tomboy. She had blue, shoulder-length hair and matching eyes. 

Tomoe was a beautiful girl with shoulder-length, reddish-brown hair and brown eyes. Her hair featured swept bangs and a single strand of hair sticking out from the top. 

"Okay..." Roxas counted up the people who had placed their hands up after he'd spoken up. "That's nine against six." he shrugged. "Sorry, Serafall." 

Serafall pouted. 

"Well, I dunno about the rest of you, but I plan on going to bed." Roxas replied. "Mind if I crash with you, Rias?" 

"N-not at all." Rias replied. "I'll see you later." she stood up and left via magic-circle. Kiba and Koneko did, as well. 

Sona and her peerage silently filed out of the room, as did Pit and Griselda, leaving only Serafall, Grayfia, and Roxas himself. 

"Roxas, don't you want to come and spend the night with me?" Serafall asked. "Please? We can snuggle up together, and cuddle, like we used to do..." 

"I've already said I'm gonna be with Rias tonight." Roxas replied, firmly. "Don't try and change my mind, Serafall. Unless you don't want the date I said I'd go on with you after all?" 

Serafall gave a squeak, and after a second, left via her own transportation-circle, leaving Roxas alone with his mother. 

"Roxas, before you go," Grayfia addressed her oldest son directly. "I wanted to say that after your Rating Game with Imogen and Sairaorg, I took the time to actually watch that wedding video you gave me." 

"What?" Roxas blinked, before he seemed to catch onto what Grayfia was talking about. "Oh, yeah. That. What did you think of it?" 

"Well, it was good. If a bit short." Grayfia replied. "I mean it was literally nothing but you and Palutena exchanging vows, and you and her... um..." she went slightly red, as she recalled how passionately Roxas and Palutena had made love on their video-ed wedding night. 

"Well what did you expect?" Roxas shrugged. "One of those publicity-stunt weddings with hundreds of thousands of hours of unnecessary prep time, literally millions of photos, a ceremony where the whole fucking world's watching, an artist that no-one's ever heard of performing when they'd rather be doing anything else, and a reception with more toasts given than actual slices of toast I've eaten in my entire life, and dancing to shitty music instead of an actually good song like Sweet Child O' Mine?" 

"Well, no." Grayfia admitted. "But-" 

"Good." Roxas replied. "Because I wouldn't be caught dead at one." 

"Fair enough." Grayfia replied, remembering how, despite having enjoyed the day immensely, upon reflection, she absolutely LOATHED, WITH A PASSION, how extravagant and time-consuming her wedding to Sirzechs had been. 

With her hair and makeup taking nearly four hours to do, a two-hour-long ceremony, post-ceremony photos that took way longer than they needed to be (especially when the photos were only of eight people: herself, Sirzechs, Zeoticus, Venelana, Alice Gremory, her then-husband and Zeoticus' father Donovan Germory (nee. Belphegor (uncle of second-ranked Rating Game champion Roygun Belphegor)), Zekram Bael and his husband, Ryouko Buné, Venelana's mother), and the reception... 

Fucking hell, she thought that reception would never end. 

"Though that wasn't the point, Roxas." Grayfia replied. "After the video of you and Palutena marrying, you included a video of you and her... uh..." 

"Fucking?" Roxas finished, simply. As his mother went further red, he chuckled. "Hehe. You jealous, Mom?" 

Grayfia didn't answer, so Roxas walked out, shutting the door behind him. 

Line Break  

"Okay, I'll have two chocolate ice-creams, please." Roxas spoke to a good-looking young woman, as he ordered some ice-cream for himself, Rias and Sona (who were out together, looking for more signs of Kokabiel's forces (not just in Kuoh, but all around the surrounding area), as was agreed an hour before. Pit had taken it upon himself to fly out in the early hours of the morning and overlook the military base that Valper mentioned while Roxas tortured him, and concluded that there was, indeed, nothing there worth noting). "And one mint-choc-chip ice-cream as well." 

The woman gave Roxas the ice-creams he ordered for (they came in little tubs, which Roxas thought was nice) as he paid for it, and Roxas left, walking over to Rias and Sona, who were sitting on a bench and talking to each other while Roxas came towards them. Roxas noticed that what Rias was talking to Sona about seemed to be making her blush heavily. 

"Here you go, you two." Roxas handed Rias and Sona (Serafall had tried to insist that she come with Roxas, Rias and Sona as well, but Roxas had threatened her with no date, which got her to back down) the two tubs with chocolate ice-cream in them, and then sat down next to Rias with his own. As he started eating it, he noticed that his tub of ice-cream had a phone number written on it. 

Rolling his crimson eyes, he ignored it, ate the ice-cream, and just played on his phone for a while Rias and Sona ate their ice-cream, as the day was rather hot. 

At around the same time as Rias and Sona finished their ice-cream, Roxas received a call on his phone. 

"Hello?" 

"Roxas!" Roxas heard Xenovia's panicked voice. "We need your help! We got separated from Griselda, and-" he heard Xenovia's faint scream of "IRINA!" 

"What's going on?" Roxas asked, urgently. 

"We're in an ambush!" Xenovia shouted. "Irina's down, and-" In an instant, the phone cut off. 

"Rias, Sona." Roxas whispered to his aunt and his aunt's best friend, after quickly sending a text to the other groups that were around Kuoh Town, those being Tsubaki and Mirajane, Tsubasa, Momo and Ruruko, Reya and Kiba, and Koneko, Tomoe and Isane. 

Grayfia and Serafall were stationed back at Rias' apartment. 

"What's up?" Rias asked. 

"We've got to get going." Roxas replied. "Irina and Xenovia are in trouble. They've apparently been ambushed." 

"Oh, fuck." Rias got up, with Sona quickly following. "Where were they supposed to be, again?" 

"Around by the forest, at this point in time." Sona replied. "The forest that you'd pass through if you're going on a train to Kyoto from Kuoh. You remember that, Rias?" 

"Oh, yeah." Rias replied. "It gets pitch-black when you go through the forest, the trees are so dense. Anyway. Let's go." 

"Way ahead of you." Roxas replied, creating a quick magical barrier to stop anyone from looking at him, Rias and Sona as he created a transportation-circle, then pulled Rias and Sona through it. 

Seconds later, they arrived in the middle of an extremely dense forest, and upon entry, Roxas immediately snapped his fingers, which summoned a number of spheres of light, which spread themselves in the air and bathed the surrounding area in warm, inviting light. 

"Hey, look." Sona looked down at the muddy ground, and pointed. "Footprints." 

Before Rias could reply, Roxas had sped off on his ten white Devil wings, pulling his hairband out of his hair and transforming it into Excalibur Galatine. Rias and Sona did the same with their six Devil wings apiece. 

Almost immediately after taking off, as Roxas was flying at great speed, he heard the sounds of battle, which caused Roxas to reflexively speed up. 

After a moment or two of flying, Roxas came into a very small clearing, and saw Xenovia, who had cuts, which ranged from just light graizes to very deep cuts, her Excalibur Destruction in hand, trying her absolute hardest to fend off a group of Vampires and Fallen Angels (all of whom were wearing Nazi army uniforms) and to protect Irina, who was lying on the ground, unconscious (to be fair, Xenovia looked like she was gonna fall unconscious at any moment), with far more grievous wounds than Xenovia on her body. 

"Kept you waiting, huh?" Roxas shouted, as he landed on his feet and ran towards Xenovia, just in time to block a light-spear, thrown by one of the Fallen Angels, from piercing her side. 

He threw his sword like a large throwing-knife at the Fallen Angel in question, and as soon as it hit him, the unfortunate black-winged Angel exploded. Roxas then jumped forward, caught Excalibur Galatine as it flew towards the ground, and saw Rias and Sona arriving as they helped in getting rid of the Fallen Angels and Vampires. 

Roxas thought Alice would be particularly impressed at the sight of Rias using her Amalgamation to combine the Light from a light-spear that was thrown at her, with her Power of Destruction, to create something that would annihilate all of the remaining Vampires in the area, while Sona dealt with the remaining Fallen Angels, with the help of Roxas. 

"I'm glad we got here in time." Roxas remarked to Xenovia. "Else Heaven would have lost two pretty damn talented Exorcists." 

"Th-thank you." Xenovia replied, as she accepted Roxas' silent invitation to lean on his shoulder. "Roxas..." 

"Hm?" 

"I want to..." Xenovia coughed, and Roxas saw blood exiting her mouth and landing on the ground. "Apologize for what I said. About calling you pathetic, that is. And for what happened to Irina: one of the Fallen Angels stole Excalibur Mimic." 

"Eh, it's fine." Roxas replied, though he ground his teeth at the news that Irina had lost her weapon. "What's important is that you're alive. As is Irina." 

"She is." Sona confirmed, after leaning down and placing a couple of fingers on Irina's neck. "There's a definite pulse there." 

"Good." Roxas replied. "I'm gonna have the two of you taken back to my place so you can be healed, that okay?" 

Xenovia could only nod, and as Roxas nodded himself, he snapped his fingers, and after a couple of seconds, a large transportation-circle opened, revealing a creature that looked extremely strange to Rias and Sona. 

It had the body, hind legs and tail of a horse, but the front legs, wings and heads of what seemed to be giant eagles, with a cruel, steel-coloured beak and large, brilliant orange eyes. The talons on its front-legs were half a foot long and very deadly-looking. 

As Roxas looked directly into the creature's eyes, it bent its scaly front knees and sank into a bow, before him. 

"Roxas, what exactly is that?" Rias asked, as Roxas helped Xenovia walk towards the creature. 

"That, Rias, is a Hippogriff." Roxas replied, raising one hand to pat the beak of the Hippogriff several times, as it closed its eyes lazily, as though enjoying it. "One of my familiars. Close cousin of the Griffin." Roxas whispered something unintelligible to the large creature, and it nodded. "Also, someone pick Irina up and bring her here." 

Sona obeyed, picking Irina up and walking towards Roxas, who had lifted Xenovia (who seemed to have fallen asleep on Roxas' shoulder) onto the Hippogriff's back. Sona handed Irina to Roxas, and he did the same with her. 

Snapping his fingers, Roxas created two long ropes, made of light, and with a few hand movements, bound them around the Hippogrif's back, with one rope in front of its wing-joints and another in front of the wing-joints, binding Irina and Xenovia to its back, at the legs and chest. They looked reasonably secure. 

Roxas walked towards the Hippogriff and whispered something else to it. The beast nodded again, bowed its head to Roxas, and spread its wings (Rias was sure that the wingspan of this huge creature could be measured at at least twelve feet), before flapping them in order to get itself into the air. 

The Hippogriff gave a loud screech, and disappeared through a transportation-circle. 

"What did you just do, Roxas?" Sona asked. "If you don't mind me asking." 

"I sent him to my place." Roxas replied. "With any luck, Asia should be able to heal the pair of them up so they're good as new. And if not her, Palutena will." 

"That's a relief." a new voice spoke up. Roxas, Rias and Sona all span around, and saw a new person, who had certainly not been there a second before, standing right behind them. 

This person had the appearance of a young boy of around 14 years old. He was dressed in what Roxas recognised as a Hitler Youth uniform, consisting of black shorts, a yellow dress shirt, black knee-high socks and a black tie. He also wore white gloves and black dress shoes. He had platinum-blonde hair and blue eyes. 

"Even if they're allied to the Vatican, it can't be denied that those women were very beaut-" Rias and Sona immediately prepared to blast the creature out of existence, while Roxas readied Excalibur Galatine. 

" Warten Sie!  (Wait!)" the young boy spoke. "I'm just the messenger. I'm not here to fight anyone." He spoke with a very distinct German accent. 

"Who the fuck are you?" Roxas growled. 

"I am Warrant Officer Schrödinger." the catboy replied. "It is a great honour to be in the presence of the being known as 'The Angel of Hell', or 'The Devil of Heaven', whichever you prefer." he inclined his head to Roxas. 

"Whatever." Roxas replied, still keeping his weapon out. "What are you doing here?" 

"Well," Schrödinger replied. "I was sent here by my commanding officer, the glorious Major, as an ally of his wishes to talk to the governors of Kuoh Town, the Heiresses to the Gremory and Sitri Clans." 

"And who would that ally be?" Rias replied, as she and Sona cancelled their magic-circles. Schrödinger merely smiled, and pointed upward, as through a yellow transportation-circle came... 

"Kokabiel." Roxas growled. 

"Indeed, Nephalem." Kokabiel replied, looking distainfully upon Roxas. "Though I'm not here for you." 

"Yeah, I got that." Roxas replied. "Your catboy fucktoy said so." He looked down at where Schrödinger was, but saw that he had inexplicably disappeared. "Anyway," he continued. "A little birdie told me that you're in the mood for some destruction, is that right?" 

"It is." Kokabiel replied. "I'm thinking of causing a little damage here, starting with this place." 

"Why?" Roxas replied. "Aren't there bigger places around here that would be more significant if you attacked them? Like Tokyo, for example?" 

"That's true, but the little sisters of Lucifer and Leviathan don't reside in Tokyo, now do they?" Kokabiel replied, smirking. "That, and it would only be significant for the rest of those useless humans if I were to destroy Tokyo, whereas here... 

"If you were to try and lay a harmful finger on this town, you'd be starting the Great War all over again!" Rias cried. 

"Better than what I got after stealing Excaliburs Rapidly, Nightmare and Transparency." Kokabiel retorted. "I was sure that someone more important would have come after me. Any of the Ten Seraph would've done nicely. But all I got was a defect, an impure bitch and a pair of children. Honestly? It was disappointing." 

"You want to start the Great War on purpose." Sona surmised. "That's your goal?" 

"Yes...!" Kokabiel grinned maniacally. "After the first war ended, I was so fucking bored. There was nothing to do except to screw the living hell out of any female Fallen Angel that'd get on my dick, but even that got tiring after a while. With Azazel and Shemhazai so opposed to the idea of a second Great War, and even kicking me out of the Grigori for only being an advocate for wanting to prove to the Devils, Sex Demons and Angels that us, the Fallen Angels, are the true superior race-" 

"ENOUGH, YOU FUCKING MONOLOUGING PIECE OF SHIT!" Roxas, having had enough, yelled, cutting through Kokabiel's monologue. "SHORTEN YOUR STUPID CLICHE'D FUCKING SPIEL TO 20 WORDS OR LESS OR I'LL CUT YOUR ASS UP HERE AND NOW!" 

Right as Roxas' words left his throat, several transportation-circles opened, revealing Tsubaki and Mirajane in one, Tsubasa, Momo and Ruruko in another, Reya and Kiba in another, and Tomoe and Isane in another. 

A second after, Grayfia and Serafall arrived through their own transportation-circle, and Pit and Griselda came flying over on their wings. When they landed, Kokabiel grinned. 

"Oh, my. Looks like you're off the hook, Sona Sitri." Kokabiel grinned. "Since Serafall's decided to show her vomit-inducing magical-girl-obsessing ass. But anyway." He opened a transportation-circle, and floated into it. 

"THE SECOND GREAT WAR WILL BEGIN TOMMORROW NIGHT, AT THAT SHITHOLE YOU CALL A SCHOOL! WITH YOU DEVILS, A FEW NAZI VAMPIRES AND NAZI FALLEN ANGELS, AND MYSELF, THE GREATEST FALLEN ANGEL, AS THE ONES WHO THROW THE FIRST PUNCHES OF THE GREATEST FIGHT IN HISTORY!" Kokabiel roared, loudly, as he disappeared, leaving the one Nephalem, one Nekomata/Devil Hybrid and thirteen Devils alone in the forest. 

"So..." Mirajane spoke up, after a second. "What do we do?" 

"Only one thing TO do, Mirajane." Grayfia replied. "Prepare for tomorrow night." 

As everyone concurred with Grayfia's statement, and all left through their separate transportation-circles, no-one noticed that there was a woman standing in the shadows of the forest, concealing her presence from everyone there, and who had watched the entire thing. Or rather, just one person. But she had been watching him for the entire thing. 

The woman grinned, as she watched her future mate leaving through a transportation-circle. Now was her chance to impress Roxas Gremory. 

Line Break  

It was the next night, and there was a slightly tense atmosphere amongst everyone as they walked, as a single, silent group, towards Kuoh Academy, where the oncoming battle would take place. 

Due to the severity of the situation, Serafall had gone as far as to call her own Peerage (which was considered to be one of the strongest Peerages in the Underworld), and ask them to meet them at the school right now. 

As they made it there, Serafall noticed a transportation-circle opening up, with eight beings coming out of it, only one of which Roxas knew: Serafall's Queen, Glynda Goodwitch, mother of Lavinia Reni. 

"Hey, gang!" Serafall greeted her peerage cheerfully. "Glad you could all make it!" 

She then looked at everyone else. "For those who don't know, this is my peerage. My Queen, Glynda, my Rook, Behemoth, my Bishops, Kazane Kagari and Silver Fullbuster, my Knights, Hange Zoe and Kurome, and my Pawns, Cocytus and Ziz." 

Behemoth had the appearance of a muscular young man, around the same age as Roxas, with short, copper-red hair and brown eyes. He wore a loose-fitting t-shirt and pants. 

Kazane's appearance was far more eccentric. Her most obvious trait was her hair, which was dyed red on the left side, and dyed light pink on the right side. Her hair was styled so her right eye was constantly covered by her hair. She wore a business suit and high heels, and also smoked a cigarette. 

Silver was a tall, well-built man. His eyes were black and so was his hair, which was kept short and styled into a number of spiky strands pointing backwards with some prominent spikes topping his forehead; his thin sideburns reaching down to the stubble covering the majority of his chin. He had a sharp face, marked facial features and slight wrinkles below his eyes, as well as a long scar extending from his hairline to his lower left ear. Both of his ears were adorned by silver-coloured earrings, consisting of a ring with a little chain ending in a cross pendant. 

He was wearing a black, closely fitting shirt, with a thick, grey fur collar, as well as light grey over-sleeves reaching to his upper arm with hems secured by two sets of double stitching; the back of his shirt bore a light motif consisting of a circle with a segmented, upwards arc below it. Hanging from his waist and covering his sides were two dark yellow, tasset-like cloths, he wore brown gloves over his hands and forearms and had his dark brown, baggy pants tucked inside brown boots. Over his shirt, he donned a grey, segmented metal chestplate, bearing the writing "Absolute Zerø" on the left pectoral. Secured to it by two round, golden clasps was a long, brownish white cape hanging over the man's shoulders. His armour was completed by two blue, rounded pauldrons, possessing metal-coloured edges and squared protrusions on the upper and lower edges. 

Hange had wide, light brown eyes and medium-length dark brown hair that she kept up in an unkempt high ponytail with bangs parted down the middle. She wore square, thick-rimmed glasses that had bands strapped around her head to keep. Her attire, as far as Roxas could see, consisted of a green cloak and knee-length boots, though he presumed that she wore something over her front. 

Kurome, when Roxas got a look at her, looked rather similar to Akame, the Tengu Youkai who was escorting Yasaka to the Rating Game he'd had with Imogen and Sairaorg. She had short black hair in a twintailed-style and black eyes. She wore a sailor uniform and wore a red belt that had a red side-skirt. She also wore red gauntlets. She kept a long, katana-like sword in a scabbard by her side. 

Cocytus had an enormous body, reaching two and a half metres in height. He had the appearance of an insect (or rather, a fusion of two insects, a mantis and an ant) walking on two feet. With a tail twice as long as his height, Cocytus was covered in sharp spikes like icicles, and had a strong-looking jaw. He held a silver halberd in two of his hands, while the other two hands held a mace emitting some sort of demonic energy, and a crooked-shaped sheath that looked like it was for some sort of broad-sword. He was covered in pale-blue, hardened bone-armour, and seemed to emit an ice-cold atmosphere. 

Ziz had the appearance of a girl in her late-teens, with long jade-green hair, and gray eyes. She wore similar attire to Behemoth, though it did little to conceal her generously large bust. 

"Nice to meet you." Glynda greeted everyone. "Serafall, what do you want us to do?" 

"Hmm..." Serafall thought for a moment. "You, Kazane and Silver set up a barrier around Kuoh Academy. That should keep the destruction we're bound to cause inside, right?" 

"It should." Silver replied. 

"We'll help, too." Sona immediately volunteered. "Me and my peerage." 

"Thank you." Kazane replied, inclining her head to Sona. "Your help is appreciated." 

As Glynda, Kazane and Silver flew off with Sona and her peerage, and began constructing the barrier, Serafall turned to Roxas. 

"Roxas..." she said, reaching into her magical girl outfit (she was wearing her favourite outfit, just for the occasion) and pulling out a small vial. "I asked Fianna to make this. Use it, if you need to, okay?" she added, in a softer tone." 

"I will." Roxas replied. To the surprise of everyone watching, he walked over to Serafall and pressed his lips against hers, in a short, but lingering, kiss. "Give that kiss to Fianna from me, okay?" 

Serafall could only nod, dumbfounded that her first real kiss with her godson had happened, just like that, as Roxas turned around, and addressed everyone still there. 

"Alright, everyone. You know what needs to be done." he said, simply, before opening the gates of Kuoh Academy with magic, and walking into the courtyard. 

Everyone who stood behind him, including Serafall (who had recovered from her brief shock) followed suit.