Chapter 16: A Jumping & Unpleasant Reunion

A/N:

" " : Dialogue,

' ' : Thought,

"Italicized text" : Telepathy,

[ ] : Spells, Techniques and Sacred Gear Casts,

"Bold text" : Ddraig & Albion.

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Haruki POV

Before I can continue scolding Issei for his shenanigans, she dashes towards Kiba as she pulls out a sword with a heavy holy aura emanating off it, but it doesn't have the intensity of the Excaliburs. I would imagine that this is her innate Holy Sword, so that brings up the question; Where are the Excaliburs?

It seems that question won't be answered for the time being, so we'll just have to make do with subduing her for now. Speaking of which, Saji interrupts her dash by latching two tentacles from Absorption Line onto her waist and leg. Immediately after we notice she had been slowed down, we ditch the clergyman habits to begin the assault.

She tries to slash at the tentacles, but her sword simply slips past them without cutting them, as they didn't have a true physical form. "You won't be able to cut it so easily. Kiba! She can't escape from it, so take her down!" Saji shouts as he tightens the hold on Angela.

"Thanks." Kiba says as he quickly rushes in to attack her with his Freeze Mist sword. First he releases a cold wind that slows her down a bit, then slashes at her. She slashes at the sword and it breaks.

"Issei, now!" He shouts as he dashes back. Issei, with 4 Boosts ready, flashes to Kiba and taps him. [Transfer!] Kiba immediately begins channeling the energy he has received from Issei into his sword, and as he does so, a black aura emanates from it.

But instead of settling on the standard form of a katana or conventional longsword, the sword goes a bit longer and broader, and its form sets as a greatsword. [Holy Devourer!] Kiba calls out, unveiling the supercharged form of Holy Eraser.

As the sword finishes forming,he quickly dashes to attack Angela, but I notice that her eyes are following him, a bit too easily. "Ah, so that's it." I say to myself and flash to her, hitting multiple pressure points on her limbs, paralyzing them mid motion.

Kiba, still moving to attack, slashes at her sword. The darkness on his sword begins to literally consume the light of Angela's sword, but rather than try to kick at him, she chooses to cast a spell, as she says the first words we've heard her say.

[Take Over: Istariel.] Her body shines with a holy light for a few seconds, and her clothes change. The skin tight suit and small skirt remain, but she gets steel gauntlets, greaves and a steel breastplate, and her wings become slightly larger.

She quickly releases her sword as well as the sword that had improved her speed, Excalibur Rapidly, and they begin moving, most likely through mental control.

Kiba, noticing this, jumps backward and sends two two demonic swords to slow down the Holy Swords. Meanwhile, I grab onto her left gauntlet and rip it off her, then hit her on her solar plexus with a lightning charged fist, sending her a flying few meters away.

Taking her gauntlet, I toss it into my mouth and chow down on it, and I feel a light prickling sensation in my mouth. She, surprisingly, pushes her hand forward, causing the two Holy Swords to fly towards me. 'So her physical condition is drastically improved after a Take Over. Noted.'

Dodging the blades once more, I quickly close the distance between us and hit her solar plexus, this time leaving a small surprise. Kiba quickly dashes behind her with Holy Devourer held over his head, then slashes downward.

Pushing through the pain of having the wind knocked out of her twice in quick succession, she controls both her swords to intercept Kiba's slash, only to spit out a mouthful of blood when his sword impacted them.

Seeing the remnants of the spiraling force that I had injected into her via my earlier palm strike taking effect, I dashed to her and placed a tracking beacon on her, then hit her on both her temples while lightly channeling some lightning, knocking her out.

Immediately she went unconscious, I spread my senses around the area, keeping my guard up to detect any helpers that may be hiding atound us.

For the first few seconds, nothing really catches my attention, until I notice something off about a certain place within the building that isn't far from us. It feels like there's nothing there. Almost as if, everything there has been carved out from that place, even atoms.

Looking towards the area, I squint my eyes as I prepare a plasma ball. "Whoever's there, come out. Or I'll kill you." Saji, Kiba and Issei look at me, wondering who I'm talking to. Then I point the plasma ball in the direction of the discrepancy.

"Two dragon type Sacred Gears, a human mage and martial artist, and the Sword Birth. I must say, it's quite a treat to see so much potential in one place." We heard the voice of an older man coming from that direction, as what seemed to be an stealth barrier came down.

An old man wearing a priest's habit comes out of the building with a sly smile. It is none other than the Genocide Archbishop himself, Valper Galilei. He looks at the now unconscious Angela and clicks his teeth in disappointment.

"I was hoping I wouldn't have to activate this, but it seems that it's the only way out of here." He says as a small magic circle on the back of his hand activates. Saji and Issei immediately go on guard, leaving Angela's form unguarded.

As it activates, Angela's body spasms for a short second, before she flies towards Valper in a frantic pace and begins carrying him away.

Taking advantage of the momentary confusion, Valper uses what is essentially a magic flashbang, hoping to hide their path of retreat. Irina and Xenovia, who have just arrived, begin chasing after the two of them, in an entirely assumed direction.

Kiba gets ready to chase them as well, but I stop him from moving to do so. This of course, irks him greatly, as he turns to glare at me.

"Don't forget, Kiba. While getting to kill Valper is one of the goals we have, he isn't the final target that we have, Kokabiel is." I tell him, then look in the direction that Irina and Xenovia had gone.

"Their Excaliburs will be the bait for Kokabiel, and if things work out, we'll be able to get rid of both of them in one fell swoop." I tell him, and he grits his teeth and nods.

[Doppel.] I say and create a clone. "Follow them in stealth and rescue them after their swords have been taken." The clone nods and flashes away. Kiba, on the other hand, looks at me strange gaze.

"Why after the swords are taken? If we get all the swords, won't that foil their plans and make it so that they won't have much to use against us?" He asks me, with his argument making a good degree of sense.

"That would definitely work, but don't forget that one of the main aims of this is to destroy the Excaliburs, or at least make it so that they aren't usable by themselves. If they have the Excaliburs, then those two would be forced to use whatever secret weapon they have up their sleeves to destroy the swords. So by the time it's over, they'll have completed their mission, the swords will be destroyed and I'll have helped Grigori get rid of a highly problematic member. It'll be a win-win situation, especially for you." He nods after hearing my rationale for my seemingly cold decision.

"Okay, then. Let's head back home for now. If all goes well, the tracking beacon I put on Angela will help us find out where Kokabiel is." I tell the three of them and they nod in agreement. However, I do notice that Issei is feeling a bit uneasy.

"Don't worry, Issei. I can guarantee you that neither Irina nor Xenovia will die. They are much too useful for Kokabiel to use as bait for us." I tell him, trying to calm him down, but he just looks at me with a deadpan expression.

"*Sigh.* Let's hope so." As he says that, we all teleport back to my house, and we forego the training session for tonight in favor of us being in tiptop shape for the battle against Kokabiel.

To make sure we all got enough rest, I asked Mom for some help in creating duplicates of her Somnus Necklace. And thank goodness I did that, because that bastard Kokabiel has no semblance of decency or empathy.

Basically, what had happened after we had finished making the necklaces was this: I had headed up to my room and seen that Rias, Akeno and Koneko were asleep with their necklaces on, so I joined them to sleep on the massive bed.

Less than 2 hours passed, and I woke up, to be presented with a sight that would have sent most men to heaven. Rias, Akeno, Koneko and surprisingly enough, Sona were all waiting in my room, with Rias and Koneko in naked aprons, Akeno in lingerie, Sona in... a succubus outfit.

Since Koneko had accepted her heritage and been using senjutsu and learning yojutsu, her body had filled out pleasantly, making her considerably more voluptuous . Her regular body seemed more similar to her Shirone mode.

*Koneko's present body*

But before I could even begin to indulge myself in the feast presented before me, I and everyone within Issei's house and mine, except for his parents, felt the presence of an Ultimate Rank being press down on the environment.

I noticed the things one would sense in a fallen angel's aura, as well as the very strong hatred that was transmitted to all of us. Safe to say, I was pissed, and I was going to make absolutely sure that Kokabiel would rue the fact that he was foolish enough to make me so.

Despite all that, we knew that he had only placed a bounded field around our entire neighborhood, so I took the time to create some metal threads and sew them into the layers of the girls' clothes to serve as an extra bit of defense, before we eventually stepped out to deal with Kokabiel.

...

As if sensing our presences, Kokabiel flies over us, his 10 black wings unfurled. He is still wearing that tacky black robe of his that he put all kinds of jewels and accessories on, as if he was trying to compensate for something.

As he sees Rias and Sona, he smirks mockingly. "This is our first time meeting, daughter of the house of Gremory. The crimson hair is beautiful. So much so, that it reminds me of your brother that I hate enough to make me vomit. And the daughter of the house of Sitri. Well, I'm sure that you're annoying as your braindead sister." He says with unmasked hatred and disdain.

I, of course, am not going to let his disrespect slide. "You may be meeting them for the first time, Kokabiel, but we both know that we aren't meeting for the first time." I say with a hand on Rias and Sona's shoulders. "Or are you going to just act like you don't remember me, Crooked Eared Geezer." I say, calling him a nickname that I had given him the first time I saw him, one that particularly irks him.

Looking at me, a glint of recognition flashes through his eyes, as his expression becomes marred with disgust. "To think that this filthy human still lives. Well, I'm sure Azazel will thank me for correcting the mistake he made by letting you live." He says, but doesn't make any moves to attack us.

"Hmm, I see. By the way, how incompetent are you that two Holy Sword wielders that haven't even reached the High Rank escaped from your grasp?" The realization that I had something to do with Irina and Xenovia escaping from his custody irks him even more.

"Hmph, no matter. It's not as if I came here to fraternize with filthy beings such as you. After all, I'm here to start a war, so what better way would there be than killing the sisters of 2 Satans. To start us off, I'll destroy this entire town, starting with your base, Kuoh Academy. With that, Sirzechs will appear, won't he?" He says with a deranged laugh and he flies away towards the school, but not before dispelling his bounded field.

"Well, you heard him. Are we going to allow that idiot to get away with running his damn mouth, or are we going to foil his plans and enjoy it?" Before I even finish talking, Akeno had unfurled her fallen wings, Koneko had brought out her cat features, Kiba had Holy Eraser in his hand, Issei had called up his Boosted Gear, and Sona had a few orbs of water flying around her, with Rias having her PoD in the shape of gauntlets around her forearms.

"Sona, gather Saji and your girls and take them to the school's gym. My clone is there with Irina and Xenovia, and it seems that Xenovia was able to keep Angela and Valper from taking her Excalibur Destruction. So she'll most likely get back into the fight." She nods and heads down to the training room where her peerage had chosen to sleep in futons.

"As for us, we're the vanguard. I'll take on Kokabiel personally, while you all try to subdue Angela. If my thoughts about the magic circle that Valper used earlier are correct, she's under some pretty strong mind control." I say as I begin making preparations for the barrier I will place over the school.

""Got it."" ""Understood."" "Roger that." They say in acknowledgement. "Kiba, Valper's all yours. Asia, keep an eye out for any injuries and keep your guard up. Kokabiel might be crazy, but he's not stupid, so he'll definitely try taking you out if he notices you healing them." As I say that, the front door of the house opens, and I see Mom and Dad walk out of the house.

Mom looks at us with a slight bit of worry in her eyes, but I can tell that she and Dad are both quite angry at Kokabiel. Mom walks up to the girls and hugs them, as if she's sending them out for war, which she kind of is. "You girls better come back okay, understand?"

While that's going on, Dad just looks me in the eye and nods, and I return the nod, fully understanding his message. To give Kokabiel hell.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go prevent a war." I snap my fingers and a teleportation circle encompasses all of us, while Mom and Dad had stepped back to the front of the door, and we're teleported to the old school building.

Chapter End.

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Word Count: 2,506