Chapter 25: Attack on Kuoh Town Part 2

Issei is stunned by the brutal scene of blood and gore spilled on the street. His previous anger towards the stray exorcists now turn into pity as he hopes they all pass away in peace after looking at their current state.

Issei saw with his own eyes how terrified those stray exorcists looked when his uncle suddenly arrived and started blasting his gatling gun on them. All died without a complete body. Issei even doubts they can piece back together the corpses to give a proper burial since their bullet wound literally exploded by the sheer impact each bullet carries.

When Issei broke out of his stupor, he quickly requested medical help for Saji that had been roughed up quite badly. One of the blue highlighted operators went to tend to Saji's wound. The operator shoved a few medkit into Saji before he recovered instantly.

"Follow me." Ray ordered with an authoritative voice.

His uncle feels like a whole different person than usual. He didn't stay for long before walking toward the abandoned church, with or with Issei and Saji.

Along the way, any stray exorcists Ray or his operators meet will all fall to the same fate and join their comrade in the afterlife.

The entire area around the abandoned church descends into chaos as operators open the way up to the church. Koneko and the other members of Sona peerage meetup with Ray, Issei and Saji on the entrance of the abandoned church.

The stray exorcists that retreated now make their last stand within the church until the basement where Kokabiel and Valper Galilei fused the Excalibur Destruction and Excalibur Mimic that they took from Irina and Xenovia using the holy ground of the church as a ritual site.

There is a barrier made of holy power, surrounding the church complex that prevents the devil's entry. Only Ray can enter the barrier without consequence since he is still a human.

The rest of Rias and Sona peerage stayed outside while Ray and his operators stormed into the abandoned church with guns blazing. Every corner of the church is swept through and through with guns and grenades before they enter the basement.

When he arrived, he saw Irina and Xenovia badly injured with a circular hole on each of their chests. Kiba is also present and also in a ragged state but without any life threatening wounds.

Irina and Xenovia look weirdly lifeless and given up. Xenovia especially looks like she has given up with life. Irina fared a little better as she was still able to keep her cool.

"Mr Ray, please! Help Xenovia… she is dying and… and… she *cough* need healing quick… I cannot- Eh!"

Irina is begging me to help Xenovia with a desperate look on her face while she is applying pressure on the gaping wound on Xenovia's right chest. The wound looks like it hit her right lung and is bleeding profusely. However with a quick shove of the medkit from Medic operators quickly fixed that problem.

"Quickly escape with Xenovia, Issei and his friends are waiting outside." Ray said after also healed the bodily injuries on Irina.

"Ah, okay… Miss Rias' knight, Kiba, is ahead and he is fighting a guy that wields the fused Excalibur fragments that Kokabiel stole from us."

Irina provides information to her benefactor before she supports Xenovia on her shoulder and escapes. Only now that he realised that both Irina and Xenovia are wearing a skin tight suit as the church's battle uniform. The body suits are showing every curve of their bountiful body and the bodysuits are now in tattered state, revealing an enticing… Shit! Focus Ray… Focus!

Pulling his mind out of the gutter, he prepares himself and barges into the room where Raynare previously going to use to extract Asia's Twilight Healing before Raynare joined him.

"-was the failed test subjects of the Holy Sword project."

"Hmn, we have another intruder, Lord Kokabiel?" A kind looking old priest reports unhurriedly to the hideous looking man with pointy ears like an elves.

"Another interloper. An interesting one that I wanted to meet and a strong one to wipe out all 500 stray exorcists that I brought with me."

The man who I guessed is Kokabiel sat on a stone throne looking at us while smiling amusedly. He didn't look like he cared or not if I arrived.

"A human devoid of magical presence that wields mortal weapons yet as strong as a middle class…" Kokabiel appraised Ray with an amused smirk.

"Say… human, why don't you join me and I will forgive you for ruining my plan twice before. Refuse and I will kill you here and how. Hahahaha" Kokabiel offered me choices while creating a spear of light bigger than my body for threatening me into agreeing.

I can feel that this one is definitely going to hurt a lot. I told myself before mentally ready to activate the Die Another Day skill.

…

Issei and the others are waiting for Ray's return after Irina and Xenovia have retreated. Sona's peerage had their teleportation spell ready for immediate retreat but Ray still didn't exit with Kiba yet. The atmosphere is dead silence without the sound of gunfire and explosion that previously filled the area.

Suddenly, a bright ray of light exploded and almost blinded everyone. Half of the church turned into a crater by the explosion.

"CATCH!" Issei heard and he saw his uncle yeeted Kiba to him.

Issei was a little slow to catch Kiba but thankfully Koneko reacted faster and caught Kiba in princess carry.

"Everyone retreat NOW!" They heard another shout that told them to use the teleportation magic.

Issei is unwilling because his uncle isn't within range of the teleportation magic. If they retreat now, Ray will be left behind to whichever enemies' mercy. He stopped Momo Hanakai from activating the already casted teleportation magic.

"But-"

"Leave NOW! Kokabiel is here and you all aren't his opponent. I promised your parents, Issei… I promise them to take care of you while they are away."

Ray didn't give Issei a chance to refute his order and Momo activated the teleportation magic immediately when Issei wasn't disrupting her. The devils and two exorcists left from the abandoned church leaving only Ray and his 17 surviving operators. The Medic quickly resuscitated the downed operators to regain their numbers.

"I applaud you for staying behind and buying time for the devils to escape. Bravery, a trait that I rarely see in the newer generation. Much less a human without any supernatural power… You are someone worthy of my respect." Kokabiel reappeared in the sky, aloft while sitting on his stone throne.

"I feel disgusted by the current generation. They all lack the quality a warrior should have. The trait that vanished after the three factions experienced peace. For that, I wanted to reignite the flame of war to baptize them with conflict and bloodshed. To regain the superiority of the fallen race that lost after that imbecile, Azazel got hooked to sacred gears." Kokabiel explained without being asked but it gave Ray some time to recover.

"So, I will be generous to you, the human who caught my eyes. Join me to reform this world and remove the corrupting peace that degraded the supernaturals. I grant you the right to be my right hand man." Kokabiel arrogantly offered Ray his offer.

"No thanks, first and foremost… My sexuality is straight. Second, I don't care about your view of peace."

Kokabiel looked confused for a moment after hearing Ray's first answer. What does he mean his sexuality is straight?

It takes a few moments for Kokabiel to understand that Ray thinks he was caught by Kokabiel's eyes as Kokabiel finds him attractive. He rarely indulge in sexual act but even him find it offensive and immediately enraged by Ray's statement.

"You! …" Before he said anything, he realised that he was being played as Ray looked at him with a wide smirk.

All the downed operators had been resuscitated and Ray was mounting a counter attack. Previously Ray was afraid to fight the stronger supernatural because he didn't know the effectiveness of his weapons against them. However, now he dares after knowing that his weapons indeed can injure the supernatural.

Before he was blasted by Kokabiel's spear of light, his operators opened fire on Kokabiel and Kokabiel sustained injuries although easily healed. To Ray now, Kokabiel is nothing more than a stronger boss but an enemy that he still can injure and potentially subdue or kill.

…

"Issei! Kiba! What happened to Kiba? Issei? Issei!"

"Ah, Buchou… Kiba is alright, Uncle Ray probably just knocks him out to subdue him." Issei replied unenthusiastically as his mind kept thinking about his uncle.

There is no way his uncle can survive Kokabiel, an ultimate class fallen angel. Issei thought that his uncle sacrificed his life to save Kiba and them all by delaying Kokabiel for them to escape.

Looking at his cousin, Cheshire made his heart feel like being gnawed by guilt as he cannot look her in the eyes. He is the reason she lost her adoptive father and her only close family in this world.

"Ohh papa is fighting the weird winged uncle!" Issei heard Cheshire cheering along with Raynare and Mittelt. Only Kalawarna is looking worried that Ray is fighting Kokabiel.

"Eh?"

Issei expresses his confusion before running to the table where most are gathered. He even ignored the call from Rias as if he cannot hear her voice.

He looks at the magic screen that shows the abandoned church where Kokabiel is currently fighting Ray and his operators. Every devils that is watching exclaimed in disbelief that Ray is challenging Kokabiel in this suicidal battle.

At first, his bullets mostly ricocheted and deflected by the steel-like wings that Kokabiel used to shield his body but Ray suddenly glowed in a light orange glow. The bullets that previously couldn't pierce the wings now start to dent and pierce the wings and force Kokabiel to evade.

The other operators also glowed in light orange or red as they attacked Kokabiel. Only the operators highlighted in blue refrain for attacking and instead giving medical help or buff to Ray and other operators.

"This… how can a magicless human fight an ultimate class like Kokabiel? This is impossible… I must be dreaming." Saji said and many others nodded in agreement.

"Whether it's real or not, he is doing us a favor and delaying Kokabiel. I already contacted my sister and Satan Lucifer after you all returned with Kiba. Our reinforcement will require half an hour to arrive unfortunately and we must hold out until they arrive." Sona told everyone the good news before she corrected her glasses which produced a glow that blinded her glasses momentarily.

Meanwhile everyone is watching the battle between Kokabiel and Ray. Asia at the corner is helping to heal anyone that is injured which gains her a thank you from Rias especially when Kiba suffered quite a lot of internal injury when Rias is checking on him.

"However, we cannot just let him fight Kokabiel alone! We- no, I must go and help him too!" Issei said after knowing that Ray is still alive. Issei is indebted to Ray for helping him just now and he didn't plan to let Ray fight alone.

"No Issei! I cannot let you go. Not when you are just a low class devil. The opponent is an ultimate class fallen angel Issei, Kokabiel can easily kill you if he wanted." Rias immediately shot down Issei's request to assist Ray out of fear that Issei would die if he did.

"Rias is correct. Kokabiel is also called the Star of God, the former angel who led a legion of more than 300k angels during the Great War and a frontline leader. He is a veteran that can match up to a Satan class opponent. But!" Sona stated dramatically at the end that indicates she had yet to finish her talk.

"But, Issei is also correct. We need to stall time for reinforcement to arrive and letting Mr Ray fight alone is definitely ineffective. We should help him if he… by chance or not able to incapacitate Kokabiel. We must participate to-" Her explanation was cut short when sound of large explosions interrupted her.

*Boom!*

*BOom!*

*BooM!*

*BoOM!*

*BOOM!*

…

….

...

Continuous explosions went off from the direction of the abandoned church and not from the spying magic.

Silence permeated the clubroom as none of them were able to comprehend what just happened until…

"Hahaha, papa uses orbital strike again! Look look, sister Mittelt, sister Raynare. That winged uncle's face looks funny like burnt wings." Cheshire excitedly points at the screen and prompts Raynare and Mittelt to look at the charred and livid Kokabiel while also salivating when food is spoken.

Everyone in the room felt cold sweat down their back and neck that felt very uncomfortable. Most did a double take after hearing the complicated vocabulary that shouldn't come out of the mouth of someone that looks like a 5 year old.

Even the fallen trio is surprised because they never knew Ray hid such a secret all this time.

For weapons created by mortals, guns and knives that are only effective on a personal level or small area are very much ignored by the supernatural as they are completely ineffective toward decent supernaturals. But missiles? Large bombs? Nuke? These weapons can harm mid class supernaturals or a careless high class. Still not something that can outright kill them helplessly. They still can resist with magic shields, barriers or other defensive magics.

To Kokabiel, Aerial Bombardment is nothing but annoyance that he can shrug off but 6 simultaneous Aerial Bombardment from Ray and the Heavy operators isn't something that he can shrug off without consequence. Especially when Hold The Line skill does affect the bombardment.

Kokabiel initially put up a quick defensive barrier magic to defend from the unidentified projectiles. He didn't expect his barrier to break halfway through and distracted him from Ray. This gives Ray a brief window of time to inflict his best assault on Kokabiel that he also summoned the Elite Squad to join the fight.

"Reload On Fire"

A brief chant of the aria caused an ominous crimson magic circle to appear behind Ray before coating his body with pulsating red veins.

(Note: Ray never notices the magic circle or the red vein because he is always alone in the Mission when he uses it.)

—————

(Note: Time to kick the battle up a notch.)

(Should I lend Ray the Crucible Sword to fight Sirzech in exchange for his lifespan?)