15

Chapter 15: Aftermath

The first thing Keijutsu noticed was the silence.

In the wake of Kokabiel's big reveal, not a single person said a word. After all, what was there to say? According to the Fallen Angel before them, God was dead. And not 'dead', as in he was absent, but 'dead' is in truly dead. Deceased. No longer living. Et cetera.

Normally, upon hearing such a revelation, a person would be horrified. Deny it. Accuse Kokabiel of lying. Or simply suffer a nervous breakdown. In Keijutsu's case, it had the opposite effect. His shock was so great that his mind didn't have any room for any other emotion. And without any emotion to occupy his mind, it went to the very thing he had become most accustomed to doing over the years. Analyzing.

'God is dead. Heaven has no leader. This was kept secret. If God is dead, there would be a power vacuum in Heaven. There would be no one to command the Angels. But Angels are still alive. And Sacred Gears still work. Someone must have taken God's place. Michael. Michael was the strongest of the Angels. He would take God's place. But he's not a strong as God, which is why something like a Holy-Demonic Sword can exist,' he thought, simply sitting there.

However, while his mind had become so used to analyzing things that it was what he did when shocked, his mind was not the same as others. Indeed, one of the Devils in attendance did take the well-trod path of denial. That someone was Rias.

"You're lying! I've never even heard of such is thing! How is God being dead even possible?!" she shouted.

Kokabiel, temporarily returning to his smug demeanor, explained "During the Great War, the original Satans were wiped out along with most of the 72 Pillars. That's why, nowadays, pure-blooded Devils are a very rare thing. Likewise, the Angels and Fallen Angels lost almost every single one of their members, except for the strongest of them. And without God to make new Angels, their numbers have only slowly dropped since then."

"No way… It can't be…" Saji muttered, completely blown away. No surprise there though, considering that Saji himself had a Sacred Gear. Something that, if Michael hadn't taken the job, would theoretically be impossible.

Kokabiel kept going. "All three factions were decimated to the point that we now have to rely on humans to survive. But if those same humans were to find out about God being dead, they'd stop believing in Him, and the Angels would be doomed. So, the leaders of the Three Factions decided to keep the news of God's death a secret," he told them.

Suzuno fell to her knees, dropping her hammer. "I can't believe… I… I…" she muttered weakly.

Oblivious to her horror, or simply not caring, the Cadre continued "Now, bear in mind that I don't give a rat's ass about any of that. What upsets me is that, after God and the Satans died, everyone decided that then was the perfect time to end the War! And the Fallen agreed to that, even though we were clearly winning! What kind of assholes would call for a cease-fire just when things were getting good!? What the fuck, Azazel!"

He yelled that last part at the sky, now back to being pissed off.

Sona gently laid me on my back and stood up. "Wait a minute. If God is dead, then how are humans still being born with Sacred Gears? Without Him to keep things going, that should have ended a long time ago," she pointed out.

Kokabiel scoffed. "Michael has been doing a passable job at keeping things together. He's been leading the Angels since the Great War. And as long as someone keeps the Heavenly System and Sacred Gears systems running, humans will still be born with Sacred Gears and prayers will still work," he told her.

Apparently, that proved to too much for Asia, as she fainted and would had fallen over had Koneko not caught her. Xenovia looked back at her, before ahead at Kokabiel. "And that's why you want to restart the War. Not just to satisfy your own bloodlust, but because you know that Heaven is weakened, and wouldn't be able to survive if the Great War resumed," she said.

Kokabiel nodded, and Keijutsu considered the situation. All in all, unless someone really strong burst onto the scene and defeated Kokabiel for them, they were through.

Asia was unconscious, Xenovia and Suzuno were one step away from joining her, and Kiba was exhausted from both the emotional toll taken on him today and unleashing his Balance Breaker for the first time. Rias and Akeno didn't have enough power even when Issei transferred his power to them, and Saji would get killed before he could drain any significant amount of energy. Plus, he was running completely on empty after having destroyed Kokabiel's left arm and right hand.

Really, the only ones who could still fight would be Sona and, thanks to his strength constantly being brought back up due to being doubled, Issei himself. And even together, they wouldn't be strong enough to take down Kokabiel.

Said Fallen Angel grinned and spread his wings. "Well, get ready, because here I come!" he called, and flew forward.

It was at that exact moment that Keijutsu sensed something try to break past the barricade. It held for a brief moment, before the strength of the barrier was strangely cut in half, and then whoever was trying to get inside promptly shattered the barrier into a million pieces.

Looking towards where the culprit was, everyone in attendance saw that their unexpected guest had taken the form of a bright orb of light, one that slowly descended towards them. That orb glowed before resolving into suit of armor. It completely covered the user's form, giving no indication if they were male or female.

Meanwhile, the armor was composed of shining white plates of segmented metal, as well as several glowing blue gems along the chest and legs. There was a set of artificial claws and a spiked tail, and the whole outfit was completed by a pair of bright blue wings that extended from the wearer's back.

"Wait a minute. Haven't I seen that before…?" Keijutsu muttered trying to think of when he did.

He got his answer when Kokabiel grimaced, saying "The Vanishing Dragon. Why is he here?"

'Ah, that's where. That armor is very similar to the Scale Mail that Issei used to defeat Riser. Which makes sense, I suppose, given that the Boosted Gear and Divine Dividing are supposed to be mirrors of each other,' he thought.

Deciding to put the thought away and watch, he was treated to the sight of the Vanishing Dragon shooting forward at speeds that would have put a jet to shame. Only instead of targeting the Red Dragon Emperor like one would think, he went straight for Kokabiel. Before he could react, the newcomer grabbed two of his wings and ripped them right out of his back, creating a shower of blood, gore and black feathers.

Kokabiel screamed in pain and landed back on the ground, while the Vanishing Dragon looked down at him both figuratively and literally.

"Those wings of yours are like a crow. Black, but vile and filthy. Nothing like Azazel's, whose wings evoke the image of an eternal night sky," the stranger said, their voice confirming them to be male.

The Cardre snarled and rose back into the air. Raising what was left of his right arm over his head, he created a massive spear of light with several rings around it. "You bastard! I'll rip to pieces!" he roared, and fired the spear. Those watching gasped; a spear of that size could wipe out the entire school if it hit.

The Vanishing Dragon's response to the incoming attack was to extend his left hand, which began glowing the same blue as his wings. A deep disembodied voice called "Divide!" and the spear suddenly shrank to half its size. This process was repeated, over and over, until it was hardly larger than a toothpick. The spear hit his armor and promptly fizzled out of existence, leaving Kokabiel gaping.

"What in all the hells have you done?!" he yelled.

Deciding that such a question was worth a response, the wielder of Divine Dividing said "This is the power of my Sacred Gear. After I've made physical contact with an opponent, it can reduce their power to a half every ten seconds. That power is then used to restore my own reserves, restoring my strength at your expense."

Keijutsu hummed. So, it truly was the Boosted Gear's opposite. Instead of multiplying the user's power by two and then giving that accumulated power away, this Sacred Gear cut the power of enemy by halve and retained it for the user alone. Fascinating.

"Tell me, are you still bored now? Azazel told me to take you in for your disobedience to the Grigori, so let me make this more fun for you!" he called, and flew forward again. Like last time, he was too fast for Kokabiel to react, and the he paid for that with a punishing blow to the stomach.

Kokabiel spat out blood and flew back, creating a large magic circle. "In that case, let me send him your corpse as a present!" he yelled, and unleashed a barrage of light spears. Not that the move did any good, as the Vanishing Dragon simply halved each of their power again and again until it was like getting hit by a storm of dull needles.

Then he went on the offensive, pummeling Kokabiel with armor-covered fists, occasionally adding hits with his tail to the mix. Then, once he was done having fun, he grabbed Kokabiel by the wings and threw him towards the ground. The Cadre landed hard enough to add another crater to the growing number. Only this time, he didn't get back up.

The Vanishing Dragon nodded, seeing that his work was done, before flying over and grabbing the unconscious body of Freed. "Azazel will have some questions for you, too," he told the rogue priest, who subconsciously groaned in response.

From there, the spirits of the two Sacred Gears began talking, which Keijutsu tuned out in favor of looking over at Sona. "Well, I'll admit that this was more anti-climactic than I would have expected," he said.

Sona nodded, but managed to smile somewhat. "But we're all alive, and that's something to be thankful for," she pointed out, before looking around and taking in the wrecked state of the Academy. "Still, taking care of the school is the job of the Student Council. So, we'll have to get all this cleaned up before class tomorrow morning."

Keijutsu chuckled. "I'd love to help with that, but I'd be surprised If I could even stand, much less be of any use right now. I don't think I'll be using that atomization spell again for a long while," he said.

"Oh, I think we'll manage. In the meantime, you just rest. You did well today, Kei-san. Don't forget that," Sona told him.

Deciding not to argue, the Artificer nodded, and closed his eyes.

One week later…

"Add that rune to here, adjust the energy flow over here, and… done! Ha!" Keijutsu said, pumping his fist as he walked down the street.

About seven days had passed since the incident with Kokabiel, and things were finally getting back to normal. From what he had heard, Kokabiel was now imprisoned in one of the deepest cells the Underworld had to offer, and his actions had in no way resulted in the cease-fire between the Three Factions being dissolved.

The damage to the school had been repaired overnight, just like Sona predicted, Kiba had gone back to being Rias's Knight, and Keijutsu was free to continue his research. All in all, life went on.

And in that time, he had managed to perfect the runic array he would need to create a copy of his sample of Rias's DNA out of pure magic. Now all he needed was one to convert the hair into an oocyte, and one more that would turn a sample of his own DNA into sperm cells to fertilize the oocyte. 'Everything's running smoothly,' he thought.

So focused was he on writing down his notes that he didn't even notice when he bumped into someone. At least, not until he heard that person say "Oh, Hatsume-san, it's you."

Turning around, he blinked in surprise. Standing before him was Suzuno, but she looked as if she had seen better days. There were bags under her eyes, her normally-pristine kimono was dirty and had a few tears, and she even smelled slightly.

Deciding to let subtlety exit stage left, Keijutsu asked "Kamazuki-san? What the hell happened to you?"

He immediately felt a patch of guilt when Suzuno flinched, looking away for a moment in shame. Then, after taking a deep breath, she said "Let's take this inside. Do you know somewhere that would be nice to eat?"

Nodding hesitantly, Keijutsu lead the way through the streets until they arrived at the Sushi Shop, the same restaurant that he and Sona had once eaten at.

The two of them were able to get their own booth and both placed their orders, ignoring how the waiter wrinkled their nose once they got close enough to smell Suzuno. Keijutsu let her eat before asking any questions, waiting patiently.

Finally, once she was done, he asked "Okay. Rephrasing my initial question, what are you doing here? I would have thought that you and Irina would have returned to Vatican City by now, and taken the pieces of Excalibur with you."

Again, Suzuno took a moment to respond, and then she said "Irina did go back to the Vatican, and took the Excalibur fragments to be restored. However, Xenovia and I… we… we can't go back."

Raising an eyebrow, he asked "And why is that? Did Irina spend all of your money again, and you couldn't afford plane tickets?"

"No, nothing like that. Moreover, we aren't allowed to go back," she replied, looking down at her finished bowl of rice.

That only confused Keijutsu further. "Not allowed? But why would the Vatican not allow you to come back? The only reason they would do so is if you both went rogue, and I know neither of you would be willing to that. Right?"

Now Suzuno began trembling slightly. "No, we wouldn't do that if we had a choice. If we had a choice," she managed to get out.

"But then I don't understand. If neither of you went rogue, then the only other possible reason that you couldn't return to the Vatican…" Keijutsu began, before trailing off as his eyes widened. Suzuno's trembling increased, anticipating the words. And he gave them. "…Was if you were excommunicated."

Barely holding back tears, she silently nodded.

Keijutsu simply sat there for a moment. Now it made since. If she and Xenovia were both excommunicated, that would be a perfectly legitimate reason to stay in Kuoh. What was more, if that were the case, it wasn't hard to imagine that they weren't left with any money either. Alone, out on the streets, the life she had known taken from her in the blink of an eye… It was no wonder she looked like the mess she was now.

But that didn't answer one question he had. "But why would the Church excommunicate you in the first place? You both did your job in getting back Excalibur. Especially given that there should have been no way for you to get them back from someone of Kokabiel's strength at all," he questioned.

Suzuno sighed. "It's because Xenovia and I heard the truth. The truth about the death of God," she answered.

'Oh… Right. God is dead. I forgot about that,' Keijutsu thought. You would think that would be something he'd remember. After all, the very idea of God being DEAD was almost inconceivable, and an immensely strong psychological blow to any devout Christian. Then again, he had never really been a devout believer to begin with, both before and after having learned to use magic. And with him being as focused on his research as he had been, it had honestly just slipped his mind.

Evidently, however, Suzuno could not claim nearly the same. All her life, she had believed in God and His grace, and pledged her life to the Church. Hell, as an Inquisitor, it had been her job to promote faith in God and punish heretics. Now, however, the Church had branded her as a heretic herself, and all for simply knowing something she wasn't supposed to. No small source of mental agony there.

Asking the obvious question, Keijutsu said "And it's because Irina was already injured—and thus couldn't be there to hear what Kokabiel said—she was allowed to return, correct?"

Suzuno nodded. "Yes. Everyone involved has been sworn to secrecy, as the death of God is still being kept a secret. Even I could see that it would cause too much panic if the truth were to get out. So, rather than be killed, we were declared heretics to ensure that, even if we did decide to let the truth out, no one would believe us," she explained.

"I see…" he responded, and the two of them lapsed into silence.

Neither of one of them broke it for a long while, the two of them absorbed in their own separate thoughts. Keijutsu was going over the situation in his head, while Suzuno was questioning herself. Her entire life had revolved around her place in the Congregation and her duty to it. With that taken away, who was she? What was she?

Eventually, Keijutsu spoke up, asking "So, what will you do now?"

Looking down at her hands, Suzuno said "I honestly don't know. I never even imagined that this might happen to me, and now I have no idea what to do. I have no living relatives or acquaintances, no job, and no money. I've been living at the abandoned church on the edge of town, but I know I can't stay there forever."

Grunting, he replied "Well, what about Xenovia-san? What has she done?"

At that, Suzuno actually scowled. "Xenovia approached Rias the day after the incident with Kokabiel, and promptly begged to become her servant. She agreed, and reincarnated her as her Knight. However, I don't wish to so casually sign my life away simply to have a new purpose. Not like that," she said heatedly.

Nodding his head, Keijutsu pointed out "But you don't have a purpose right now. And no place to truly live or provide for yourself."

That took the heat right out of her, and Suzuno slumped forward. She could still vividly remember when Irina left, and both of them were treated to the news of what Xenovia had done.

Both Irina and Suzuno stood there, shocked at seeing Xenovia in the Kuoh Academy uniform. What was more, they could sense that her energy output, which had only been pure before, now carried a taint of darkness. Both factors put together it meant one thing. Xenovia Quarta had become a Devil.

Not noticing their expressions, Xenovia said "You have all four of the cores used to make the Fused Excalibur. As long as the cores remained undamaged, they can be used to make new Holy Swords. Such a thing should be no problem for the Church's alchemists."

Suzuno nodded, but her expression did not change. "Still, that is not the issue here," she stated.

"How do you mean? You should be proud. The mission has been finished," Xenovia said.

Irina grunted, her normally cheerful expression gone. "I know, and I am proud. I just wish you two had finished it with me."

"Yeah… I feel the same way," Xenovia replied.

"Then why?!" Irina countered, nearly shouting in despair. "Why did you choose to become a Devil, Xenovia? And why did you choose to just quit, Suzuno? I can't believe that the Church would just accept that like they did!" she said.

"Irina-!" Suzuno began, but the brunette cut her off.

"No! Do you know word is used for people like you?" she asked. Xenovia remained silent, and Suzuno sighed.

Turning away, Irina said "You're both traitors," and walked away.

Hearing Keijutsu sigh, Suzuno broke out of her recollection and looked up.

"Well, if you have nowhere else to go, I suppose that you can stay at my home for the time being," he said.

Suzuno went stiff, and her eyes widened. "W-What?!" she said.

He shrugged. "I see no reason why not. You need a decent place to sleep, and I have room to provide it. You don't strike me as someone who would take advantage of generosity. What's more, it would only last until you've decided what you're going to do with your life, and then you'll be on your way," he told her.

She simply stared at him. Just like that, and he was offering her lodgings? A warm bed, clean water, everything? There had to be some sort of catch.

Remembering what Xenovia did, her eyes narrowed, and she asked, "And I suppose that, in return, you want me to become your own servant, is that right?"

"Not at all," he said, stunning her even further. Seeing her expression, Keijutsu continued "You are correct in believing that I'm not offering this for free. In exchange for staying at my home, I want you to assist me in any experiments that I perform. An extra set of hands can always come in useful, and having someone that can actually thinking for themself is far better than any of my golems."

Still somewhat suspicious, Suzuno said "That's it? Help you with your experiments, and I can stay at your home? For as long as needed? Forgive me, but I find that a little hard to believe."

Sighing, Keijutsu leaned back and looked up at the ceiling. "You know, I'm not a huge fan of television in general. But I once heard an expression on it that could easily be paraphrased here," he said, before looking at her. "Maybe, just maybe, life has no purpose. But if you remain in this world for long enough, you might find something valuable in it. Like you found your faith in God… or how I found you," he said.

Suzuno's breath caught, and she looked at him but said nothing. Apparently having said his piece, Keijutsu rose to his fee and placed enough on the table to cover both of their meals. "As I said, while you becoming my servant is not a requirement for staying at my home, becoming my assistant is. If you can bear that, you'll be free to stay as long as you like. Feel free to think it over, Suzuno-san."

With that, he began. Suzuno stared at where had had been, before replaying his words in her head. Over and over, she thought of them, until she spoke just as he was about to open the door.

"…Crestia Bell."

Keijutsu paused with one hand on the door and looked back at her. "I beg your pardon?" he asked.

She slowly got to her feet, looking at him with renewed determination. "Suzuno Kamazuki is a cover name, one that I use when on missions. My real name is Crestia Bell," she told him.

He stared at her for a moment, coming to grips with what she had just told him. Eventually, however, he smiled. "Then I'm pleased that you've chosen to trust me with it. It's a pleasure to meet you, Crestia," he said.

Crestia nodded, and when Keijutsu turned to leave, she followed.

Keijutsu knocked on the door to the apartment and waited. He didn't have to wait for more than a minute before it opened, showing Zel on the other side. Or rather, Azazel.

Really, the fact he hadn't caught that before astounded him.

As it was, Azazel lost his trademark smirk the moment he saw Keijutsu, and raised an eyebrow. "What, no one else is here with you? No other members of your peerage, no mechanical creatures? Nothing?" he asked, not even bothering to hide anymore.

Keijutsu shrugged. "If you had wanted to kill me, you would have done so during any of the almost dozen times we've been together before now. And even if you did want to kill me now, I don't have anyone to bring that could stop you," he pointed out.

Azazel bowed his head, conceding the point. He stepped back and enabled the Artificer to walk inside, closing the door behind him. While Keijutsu sat down at his usual place on the couch, Azazel fetched a pair of saucers and a bottle of sake.

After the two of them downed the first drink together, Azazel asked "So why are you here?"

"I was curious," Keijutsu stated simply. "And I had a few questions that I was hoping you could answer."

At the Fallen's grunt of acknowledgement, he asked "Why is it that you came to Kuoh in the first place? And why are you still here?"

Azazel sighed. "Well, the answer to that first question has to do with an incident that occurred before you became a Devil, between a group of Fallen Angels under my command and Rias Gremory."

"The debacle with Raynare. I remember hearing about," he responded.

"Right. After hearing about how a member of the Grigori so blatantly went against my orders, I knew I had to do something drastic. Several members of my faction have become more restless as of late, and they're not happy with the cease-fire as it stands now. If I wanted to calm them down, I needed set an example. So, when I heard about what Raynare had done, I came here to deliver her punishment myself," Azazel explained.

"I see. Though I'm sensing a 'but' in your next sentence," Keijutsu said.

"But," Azazel began, nodding. "by the time I got here, Miss Gremory had already taken care of the issue for me. Which was all well and good, seeing as they weren't supposed to engage Issei Hyoudou to begin with, only observe him. But not only did that still leave the issue of making an example unresolved, I also became interested after I heard how the Hyoudou kid that defeated her, even though Raynare was also stronger from stealing Twilight Healing. So, I decided to stick around long enough to satisfy my interest."

Keijutsu looked at him. "And has that interest been satisfied?" he asked.

Azazel grinned. "For the most part, yes. But then I also heard about you. Another new Devil on the scene, one who was good at magic but, more importantly, was also a scientist like myself. I decided to learn more about you as well, which was why I requested to form a contract with you. And since then, I've only become more intrigued," he said.

Now it was Keijutsu's turn to raise an eyebrow, and Azazel elaborated. "Mechanical golems, high levels of skill in runic magic, artificially creating life and, most important to me, creating Sacred Gears," he said. "You've already got an impressive number of accomplishments and future accomplishments under your belt. And trust me, the longer you do work like this, the more likely that people besides myself are going to start paying attention."

Keijutsu didn't respond, thinking. The idea that others might be interested in his work wasn't all that surprising. However, he didn't think that people would start looking so soon. People becoming interested in his research inevitably led to offers, such as more funding in exchange for investigating a specific issue. Or people trying to recruit him for some sort of goal or ambition that he wasn't interested in. Then he had people who he made upset by saying 'no', they came back with threats or new offers… it was all a hassle.

That train of thought led back around, and he asked "So is that what you want? For me to help you research Sacred Gears in the hopes of making one?"

"On the contrary, I've already made at least one artificial Sacred Gear," Azazel replied, making Keijutsu sit up straight.

"You've… You've made one?!"

Azazel grinned and held out his hand. There was a flash of flight, and then a golden dagger appeared in it. The dagger itself was shaped like a very small lance, and there was a spherical purple jewel at the end of the handle. More importantly, however, was the energy that Keijutsu sensed from it.

Handing it over for him to examine, Azazel said "I call this one Down Fall Dragon Spear. It's a pretty strong Sacred Gear, all things considered. But then again, it does have the soul of Fafnir, one of the Five Dragon Kings, sealed inside of it."

Keijutsu turned the dagger over in his hands, marveling at it. He couldn't sense a speck of magical energy coming from it. Rather, if he focused enough, he could sense a flicker of the dragon's soul, and traces of holy energy. The latter part surprised him, but then he reckoned that it must have at least a small amount if it was going to function as part of God's Sacred Gear System.

'Still, that makes things more complicated. If being able to manipulate holy energy is necessary to create a Sacred Gear, then I'll need to find a way to create it and safely control it without actually coming into contact with it. That last part will be especially important, since being a Devil would make being affecting by holy energy potentially fatal,' he thought.

Looking back up at Azazel, he couldn't help but ask "But if you already can make artificial Sacred Gears, why tell me? What would you need me for?"

He sighed. "Well, as strong as I can make the Sacred Gears I create, even the strongest of them are still inferior to real Sacred Gears. I only use Down Fall Dragon Spear if I'm ever in the need for a power boost, but not beyond that. I was hoping that you would help me close that gap. And in exchange, I would give you copies of my research notes up to this point," he explained.

Keijutsu looked at him, then back down at the dagger. What Azazel had been able to accomplish was years ahead of where he was at in his own research. If the Fallen Angel really was sincere about sharing notes, then that would cut down the time he needed to do further investigation. And in return, he'd be required to make sure that the Sacred Gears he made were as strong as the real ones. Something he had intended to do anyway.

Still, this would mean literally working alongside the leader of an enemy faction. And with what had just happened with Kokabiel, he very seriously doubted such a thing would go over well.

"I'll… need some time to consider your offer," he said, getting to his feet.

Azazel shrugged. "Fine by me. I'm not going anywhere for a while, so I'm in no rush to get an answer," he said.

Keijutsu nodded and began walking for the door, placing the Sacred Gear on the table. Once he had it open and was about to walk through, Azazel added "One, and more thing."

Looking back at him, the Fallen Angel stated "As far as research is concerned, I believe in a free and open exchange of scientific ideas, regardless of whether we're on different sides or not. Hopefully, you can understand that."

Keijutsu stared at him for a moment, before nodding and leaving.