"Shirou was much weaker than me when he stopped my rampage on my island." Medusa revealed without fanfare, silencing Rias. "He was just skilled enough, fast enough, to keep up with my monstrous form because I was insane. A true Berserker if you will." The purple haired goddess's eyes met Rias and the devil felt small before the amethyst eyes. "Power is not everything, it is about how you use it. Kokabiel is a far older entity than I am." Medusa felt pleased by the notion despite the dread she was feeling but she showed neither. "His experience far outshines how much power you can acquire and that is not even counting his own power."
Rias bit her lip hard enough to draw some blood which she cleaned with her arm. "I am not quitting."
"I am not telling you to." Medusa replied with a nod. "But you must start thinking of methods that won't just throw your life away for nothing."
"Can't you do something, Medusa-san?" Asia asked nervously and the goddess turned to her before looking ahead again.
"Ten years. That is how much time I need to recover enough power to face Kokabiel in equal ground." Medusa replied honestly. It was always a reality she had to face, the return of her power, which was something she didn't want.
"Even if I Boosted you? Maybe that can cut the time!" Ise realized with enthusiasm but the goddess shook her head.
"It isn't a matter of pure power or mana, the body you see before you now is my real body." Medusa held her hand to her chest. "Do you think that it could resist much of your power?" She gave no chance to anyone to reply. "No, it couldn't. With other methods I could have accelerated my growth but… I got careless."
Medusa was used to be the protector, not the protected. Even as a monster with 'retainers' she was always guarding her cave and mirror with an extreme degree of vigilance born from her insanity. Even as her mind was practically gone and only instinct remained, her guard was always up. That was why the Gorgon left its cave to kill any 'Divine' presence that dared to invade her territory.
Upon arriving with Fuyuki with a guardian strong enough to defeat her, Medusa felt relief. Finally she would no longer be the one needing to fight or protect and could just be a small goddess. That was what Medusa wanted, to be small, cute and have no problems. That meant giving up most of her power.
For that meant she wouldn't have to grow up.
Unfortunately for her, reality made sure to show how being weak wasn't a good thing and her rejection of Athena's words turned back to bite her as the situation looked hopeless. If she had dedicated herself, even if just a little, to recover some of her power swiftly, then maybe she could be more helpful.
Indeed during the year she was in Fuyuki some of her power did return but the goddess was stalling it away by not trying to recover or use it in small doses. To recover faster she would only have to exercise her Authorities and Domain which she avoided for the most part with the exception of creating snakes from time to time.
"I am sorry." Medusa looked down in shame as she felt sincere guilt over their situation.
For now she finally realized that Athena was right; she was supposed to be a Protector, a Warrior and a Queen. By rejecting those parts of herself and not trying to recover, Medusa found herself completely helpless. She found out that hated the sensation more than she expected.
At Medusa's sincere apology, Rias began to calm down. Kokabiel was still patiently waiting for them, just standing there with a smile.
It wasn't like the fallen angel needed to hurry up and the devils knew it, they could feel the Holy power pulsing as the magic circle surrounding the swords grew stronger. At that point they were the ones who needed to do something to finish the fight. Time was running out and soon Kokabiel would have Excalibur and Rias feared what he might do with it.
"Boost everyone." Koneko's whisper reached everyone's ears and they turned to a determined Koneko who was looking at Ise. "Boost everyone that can fight. If one isn't enough, we attack together."
Rias wanted to reject the idea because of the risks but chuckled instead, walked towards Koneko and gave her a fierce hug. "That is a great idea, Koneko-chan." She rubbed her head against Koneko's sofly, making the white haired devil blush.
"Buchou…" Despite the circumstances there were few who wouldn't find Koneko's blush cute.
"That is right! We can do that!" Issei announced with a smile. "Can't we, Ddraig?"
[It will take a good time to have enough Boosts for everyone.]
"That is fine." Kiba said while getting up with the help of his sword. "It doesn't look like Kokabiel is going to attack anyway. But if it takes too long we are going to have to deal with Excalibur."
"Is that why you got up?" Rias separated from Koneko and glared at Kiba. "You may be healed but that doesn't mean you are in any condition of fighting."
Kiba gave his King no reply as not even he knew if he stood up because of his desire to destroy the sword or his wish to help his friends. Rias let out a sigh before shaking her head and placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Can I trust my Knight?" Her question caught him by surprise. "Can I trust my Knight?" Finding himself unable to lie, Kiba shook his head and looked down but Rias made him look at her. "I understand that you want revenge and you can have it, I promise." Rias wanted some too. "But wait for the right moment when the fight is over. Until then; can I trust my Knight?"
Determination returned to Kiba's eyes. "Yes, Buchou!"
"Hell yeah! You better not screw this up, pretty boy." Hyoudou locked Kiba's neck with his arm and the Knight didn't try to fight back. "You hear me? No more of that scary fire bullshit."
"Issei-san, don't be mean." Asia's words managed to calm the Pawn slightly but he was still upset at Kiba.
"No can do, Asia-chan. This pretty boy needs to remember that he has friends." Hyoudou tightened the grip around Kiba's neck just enough for it to be annoying. "Don't you?"
Chuckling a little, Kiba let out a sigh. "I do."
"Good." Hyoudou let the blond go and he smiled
"You better have not stopped Boosting on my account." The Knight commented.
"Who do you think I am? I'm Hyoudou Issei, Red Dragon Emperor and future Harem King!"
[Boost!] His declaration was punctuated by another call of his sacred gear.
Watching the members of the Gremory group together like that prompted another one to join. "Hey! Don't forget about me! You guys have another dragon in this fight!" Sona wanted to stop him but Saji wasn't paying attention as he raised his sacred gear. "Just give me an opening and I will suck that bastard dry." A moment of silence came as many devils looked at the blond Pawn.
"Pft!" Ise barely managed to hold back his laugh as Saji realized the accidental innuendo in his words.
"You know what I mean you bastard!" The two Longinus holders began to struggle as the morale grew higher among the still capable devils.
But the Student Council didn't share the sentiment, at least those who were awake.
Beaten and bruised all they could do was watch as their allies found a second wind and got ready to fight again. Most of them wanted to join but were too wounded or exhausted to keep going.
Except one of them. 'This is useless.' Sona's mind kept telling her with absolute certainty. 'Even if Hyoudou can Boost everyone he will be mostly out of energy and even then Kokabiel will still be too strong. We have no one stable enough or strong enough to beat him.'
Those were facts that Sona couldn't deny and she was well aware that Rias must have known them all too. Both of them were raised as children to lead and if her strategic mind reached that conclusion then she had no doubt that the redhead must have realized the same.
However there Rias was, sharing a smile in an impossible situation with little care in the world. 'Is this for Akeno? Or her duties? Maybe her peerage?' Sona loved her peerage too and maybe if it was her Queen in danger she would be more ready to act. 'Get up! Your friend is going to fight and you are just going to remain sitting? Get up!'
But no matter how much Sona tried, she found no strength and with a closed fist that no one noticed she cursed her weakness..
For her part Rias turned her focus back to Kokabiel, her smile gone as plans ran around her mind only to be discarded in seconds. Sona was right that the Heiress of Gremory realized the size of the task at hand but the redhead found herself unwilling to quit.
'All we can do is wait and then… we throw everything we have left.' Rias didn't want her peerage to die, she didn't want to die either but they remained her focus as prepared whatever resolution she had left.
Meanwhile the Boosted Gear charged for the last attack, Kokabiel patiently waited for the devils. As far as he was concerned he had already won and all that was left was to finish his plan. Sure he was being patient for the sake of his allies, but in reality it was to give his enemies a chance to make things fun.
With the sword about to be reforged Kokabiel knew the devils were in an even more strict timer as the blade itself, full of Holy Energy, was more dangerous than him from a certain point of view.
He also knew that Freed would want to play with his new toy and Valper would be all for an experiment so if the devils didn't prepare fast enough the fallen angel would lose any chance of a proper fight.
'The things you do for your family.' Kokabiel thought after a small glance at Akeno. If he risked his plan a little he could have as much fun as he wanted but that would mean risking his newly discovered niece's life. 'Even if Baraqiel ends up agreeing with me, he is going to kill me out of principle if she suffers under the sword's effects.'
To avoid an unpleasant interaction, which he was sure would be unpleasant anyway but was trying to stop it from getting worse, Kokabiel would have to be careful about Akeno's safety.
'Why couldn't the Boosted Gear charge faster naturally?' Kokabiel complained as he began to shake his head. 'Even if the Balance Breakers were a 'bug in the system', as Azazel called it, there is no denying that it fixed a lot of issues that Father let pass.' His patience was at its limit as he knew that if he didn't wait for the devils they would have no chance of surviving him. 'Can't kill the Heiresses by mistake but maybe I can provoke one or two to attack? Just to pass the-'
With his high vision that allowed the former Watcher to see Earth from Heaven itself, Kokabiel saw more people enter the Kuoh territory and a grin began to form on his face.
"Just what I needed; something to pass the time." Kokabiel's comment had Freed looking in the same direction that the fallen angel was looking. "Say Valper, can you add another Excalibur to the ritual?"
The question surprised the Archbishop of Genocide. "Only if I restart the whole ritual from scratch, and that includes the entirety of the magic circle and the spell you wanted, lord Kokabiel. Why are you asking?"
On seeing Kokabiel paying attention to something and talking to his allies, Rias also turned her head to the side and noticed the new arrivals. "This can be either really good or really bad."
"Looks like Emiya-san was right, Xenovia." Shidou Irina commented as she showed up running with her blue headed partner at her side.
Xenovia didn't reply immediately, first taking stock of the situation. 'We are too late.' She clenched her teeth at noticing the ritual and feeling its Holy Energy which made her irritated. "Irina, don't lower your guard. Those bastards are corrupting the Excaliburs."
Irina didn't doubt her fellow Exorcist's words and nodded in understanding before both of them stopped close to the devils. "We came to help, Gremory-sama." Upon seeing how tired and wounded some of them looked, the Exorcist couldn't help but respect them for having held out this long.
"Where is Shiro?" Upon hearing his name that was the first thing Rias focused.
"He stayed behind to deal with the rest of the Order of Pendragon that tried to stop us from coming here." Xenovia informed and Rias felt relief as the Order proved itself for being mostly weak in comparison.
With her lover relatively safe, Rias took note that the Exorcist looked slightly tired with Irina having some wounds while Xenovia looked completely fine. "Where is your sword?" Knowing where the last Fragment was in Fuyuki was paramount.
"Right here." Irina opened her cape to reveal Destruction. With the others Fragments around the devils weren't able to feel it until now. "Unfortunately Freed managed to steal Mimic from me." She admitted with a good dose of shame before she gave a determined look to Kokabiel's position. "But Xenovia gave me Destruction to get it back."
"It probably won't be enough." Sona commented out loud. "Do you recognize who is leading them? The real brains of the operation?"
Noticing the long haired man in the front lines, both Exorcists failed to identify him immediately. "Dangerous."
"Are you sure, Xenovia?" Once again trusting her partner's words, Irina held Destruction in front of her.
"And so the last cast for our play has arrived!" The Cadre announced outloud, his wings opening fully once more. "Welcome Exorcists! Allow me to introduce myself for I was one of Heaven's angels and a leader of its Hosts. My name is on the scriptures, the Bible and brings terror to all my enemies." He extended his wings fully but none of the Exorcists showed reaction as he continued. "You know me, even if just by name. You fear me, even if this is the first time we met. I am Kokabiel, the Angel of the Stars."
Kokabiel stood still and allowed everyone to bask in his power as he let it spread out all around Kuoh. He felt good revealing himself, the mastermind and director of the play who had them all dancing under his tune.
"It really loses a lot of the impact on the second time." Rias couldn't help but comment.
That made the fallen angel pause, his power and wings retracting as if he was ashamed. "Wait, really?"
Everyone was silent and staring at Rias, even Xenovia and Irina couldn't believe she just said that to Kokabiel of all people. "Are you out of your mind?!" Sona managed to ask after her brain rebooted.
"I already decided that between me or him, one of us isn't leaving this place alive." Rias shrugged. "When you are resolute to do something then fear stops being a factor on some levels."
"She's mad. Completely and utterly mad." Freed commented both impressed and horrified.
"But were you telling the truth, right? That wasn't just to provoke me?" Kokabiel asked with his hands together close to his face, patiently waiting for Rias' response.
Once again Rias shrugged. "Meh, it was too long for everyone that already saw it. Great impact for the first time but on the second…" She waved her hand in a' half and half' gesture. "I would have cut the 'Hosts of Heaven' part out. Just saying."
Taking a look at Rias' face, Kokabiel pondered a little before smiling. "You hate me… but you aren't lying. I will take that into consideration." He turned back to the Exorcists. "Introductions aside, my dear Exorcists, yes I am Kokabiel, the Angel of the Stars and yes I am the one who brought all of us here together for those swords." He pointed at Destruction. "Now I don't care that much about it but I promised my allies to do my best to restore Excalibur so if you surrender it I promise you all a quick death."
Being the first to recover after the odd interaction, Xenovia stepped forward. "Are you aware of what you are doing, Cadre Kokabiel?" The blue haired Exorcist asked firmly. Despite the fallen angel's demonstration of power she remained fearless. "That you are about to start a war?"
Kokabiel chuckles sinisterly before replying. "That, my dear, is the whole point."
The reveal put everyone on guard but Xenovia, who lacked any weapon, remained at ease. "I won't allow it. In the name of God there shall be no war without His say."
Kokabiel snickered at Xenovia's words, opening his arms invitely. "Then get your sword and come at me. Valper must be anxious to get his hands in Destruction."
"That I am, lord Kokabiel." The old man didn't turn or stop his work but everyone could hear his excitement.
"Xenovia, what do we do?" Irina knew they would have to work together with the devils. The reason why only both of them had been sent to Fuyuki in the first place was to avoid a war and Kokabiel was clearly everyone's enemy.
"Saint Peter, Saint Basil, Saint Denis, and the Blessed Virgin Mary." Xenovia began to pray with her hand extended to the side and those awake became aware of something changing as a magic circle emanating true Holy Energy stronger than any they had ever felt, appeared close to her hand. "I ask you to please hear my prayers."
Like water from a pond of light the magic circle began to make small waves as something started to slowly emerge from it.
Bound by four chains that held it tightly was the handle of a sword, a semicircular guard on the left side of the handle that extends to the bottom just above the pommel, with a small extension on the right side of the handle. It belonged to a blue sword that was unlike anything that anyone besides Xenovia and Irina had ever seen.
Then one of the chains broke and suddenly the place was covered by power, a power that was both Holy and familiar for two people.
'Noble Phantasm.' Rias realized what it reminded her of.
"Durandal." Kokabiel named what actually was with some interest.
"Saints, please lend me your aid." All chains break apart and Xenovia fully pulls the sword from the circle to reveal its large uniquely-shaped broadsword with a blue blade and a golden edge. With a confident smile Xenovia took hold of the handle with her hands and held it close both for defense and offense. "Even if it changed you recognize it, the blade that forced you to retreat once."
While the sword seemed to have one side and if not by the size could be confused with a one sided blade, the fallen angel knew that was far from the truth. He could feel his skin tingle both from the considerable power the sword was releasing as well as the excitement of facing it.
Taking tip to toe the sword was slightly taller than its owner but Kokabiel knew it was her preference. "I see… So Vasco Strada retired?" He questioned with a scowl. "He must have since I doubt that we wouldn't have heard about his death or anything of the sort." His interest in Xenovia rose as he analyzed both the girl and the weapon. "And you are his successor."
Everyone got the distinct impression that Kokabiel wasn't impressed. 'I can't blame him.' Rias also was giving Xenovia her full attention to try and discern how strong she was. 'Compared to the absolute monster Vasco Strada was said to be, she is sorely lacking.'
"Yes, I am his successor." Xenovia announced proudly but respectfully as she was speaking about someone she deeply respected. "Cardinal Strada unfortunately can't stand in the front lines any longer. He may still be able to fight but felt that the time had come for him to pass Durandal to another."
"Impossible!" Valper shouted with all the strength of his lungs. He made to move but the fallen angel gave him a warning.
"Valper, you stop that magic spell for any reason, I will kill you." It was the only warning the old man was going to have.
Still, without moving from his spot or looking at Durandal, no matter how much he wanted to look at Excalibur Destruction instead, the Archbishop tried to say his piece. "If she was in the Church at the same time as I, there was no way that I couldn't have found her for my project. I know those hypocrites used my research to create Holy Sword Users but it is impossible for it to be enough to even hold Durandal! Not even close!"
"That 's right. Unlike Irina and your stray priest, I'm a natural born Holy Sword wielder." Xenovia's declaration just seemed to make the man rage further. "And the reason why I didn't join was because my guardian didn't allow it. She never liked you."
"'Your guardian'? Who was she? How did she dare to disrupt my research?" Valper could only imagine how much progress he would have made with someone like Xenovia in his garps. "Answer me!"
"My name is Xenovia Quarta!" She introduced herself fully to her adversaries, her blade pointing at Kokabiel as she held it above her shoulder. "And in the name of God I shall take you down, Kokabiel!" Kokabiel snickered again at the declaration.
"Griselda!" Valper screamed in anger, lamenting the lost opportunity for his research. "I will-"
"Finish the spell or die." Kokabiel finished the statement as his wings revealed themselves once again, his power directly competing with Durandal's presence. "Things just got more interesting."
For the first time since he arrived in Kuoh, Kokabiel formed a construct of Light in his hand. It was a golden spear that carried enough power to destroy a building with ease, a signal that he planned to take this fight seriously.
"Kaichou… What is going on? What is Durandal?" Ryuudou asked in a panic as he felt the power in Kokabiel's hand. 'That spear is stronger than anything he threw at us today.'
Sona looked at her Pawn before replying "Durandal is one of the Holy Swords of the Church that once belonged to the Strongest Human, the Violence of Heaven, Vasco Strada." She swallowed a lump forming on her throat, fighting to stop herself from shaking. "It is stronger than all the Excalibur Fragments by a huge margin."
"You are forgetting something, Sona. During World War Two, Kokabiel fought Vasco Strada." Rias crossed her arms and prepared to watch the fight. "The Cardinal Priest was so strong that he cornered and almost killed Kokabiel then and there."
"Really? Then Xenovia can win?" Hyoudou asked his King with some excitement but Rias didn't reply.
Taking a few steps forward, Xenovia began to prepare as Durandal's Holy Aura began to cover her. "Stay back, Irina. I don't think Destruction will be able to hurt him."
By the light brown haired Exorcist face it was clear she didn't like the suggestion. "I can still serve as a distraction."
"Not for this fight. That spear can easily break Destruction's aura in a flash." Xenovia informed her partner as she prepared to launch herself. "Protect the devils just in case, that is the best way to avoid a war."
Neither knew how well Irina would do trying to block any stray shot from the fight but she nodded. "Understood… Good luck, Xenovia."
"I need no luck, for God is with me." Xenovia reassured her friend with a smile that turned into a glare as Kokabiel snickered again. "Something funny?"
"Oh, you know, this and that." The fallen angel replied casually. "But do you really know how to use Durandal?"
"Cardinal Strada took some time to train me himself." Kokabiel's smile grew at Xenovia's declaration but had no time to comment as she charged at him at full speed.
The fallen angel quickly raises his spear to block the attack and the two weapons clash as the massive aura of Durandal fully manifests itself and slams its full might against Kokabiel's spear.
For a second the fallen angel saw himself back in Italy facing a 'mountain of a man' whose body looked to be made of pure muscle.
That lasted barely a second as he easily repealed Xenovia and paid more attention to his surroundings to notice some of the earth around him was crushed by something with Freed picking Akeno up and taking a few steps back.
"Durandal is still dangerous no matter who uses it." Kokabiel noticed the Exorcist landing and this time he didn't wait for her and charged.
Thanks to Durandal's powers Xenovia was capable of seeing the attack and block the spear before it pierced her midriff. She fixed her foot to stop herself from being pushed back as the fallen angel moved to cut her face.
Durandal's Holy Aura saved Xenovia's eyes as Kokabiel kept the attack going for a few seconds and the devils couldn't help but admire her resistance. "Kokabiel attacked, he legitimately attacked." Sona pointed out.
"Of course he did, staying in place against Durandal is suicide." Irina pointed out like it was obvious but many devils couldn't fully grasp the sword's power.
"Another damn Holy Sword." Kiba said bitterly but did nothing as all he could do was watch.
"She is being pushed back." Koneko pointed out and all could see who Xenovia was struggling, moving Durandal in dozens of directions to parry Kokabiel's slices and stabs.
"She is still doing better than us." Momo commented as she felt her fear diminishing at someone fighting against the Cadre.
"Yes. She can do this. Get him, Quarta!" Hyoudou may not like Xenovia but couldn't stop himself from rooting for her.
"Please Lord, give Xenovia strength." Asia said in prayer, ignoring the pain that it inflicted on her and surprising Irina who turned to the former nun with a smile.
Hearing the pleading and support of some devils made Xenovia chuckle at the irony of facing an angel to protect them. "Truly God acts in mysterious ways." Once he heard her comment, Kokabiel locked his spear against her sword and stared at her.
"More like he doesn't act at all." The fallen angel commented, enraging Xenovia.
"What do you know? You who abandoned him?" From her anger she drew more strength and Durandal answered by giving its owner more power.
"Ha! More than you!" Kokabiel takes flight to retreat a couple of steps as the Holy Aura grew stronger and created a crater when the sword slammed in his former position. "And you know what? I bet Strada knows too." The man commented with a laugh. "The question is; do you know the truth about your precious God?"
Seeing the distance between her and her opponent, Xenovia channels even more Holy Aura on Durandal. "Your words won't deceive me." She takes a swing and the blade unleashes a Holy blade at her enemy whose eyes grow wide. "Durandal!"
Realizing that he couldn't retreat or risk the people behind him, Kokabiel threw his spear at the blade of Holy flying in his direction. The explosion created by two Lights colliding blinded most of the present on the battlefield but Kokabiel didn't allow himself to be fooled.
"You truly were trained by Strada!" As the maneuver was one he recognized from his past. "But you aren't at his level yet!" He turned to look up but failed to see Xenovia approaching how her predecessor did.
However his instincts kept telling him that an attack was coming and Kokabiel easily made another spear and used it to block Xenovia's attack from his left. "I just need to hit you once!"
"Huh, you really believe that." Kokabiel pointed out as they clashed. Xenovia tried to push his spear to the side but the spear held firmly as her feet touched the ground, her momentum gone.
Kokabiel didn't have the same issue as his wings gave him more mobility and his defense turned into a push as the Exorcist had to recover her balance. Then the fallen angel decided to press further with his power and Xenovia could feel the Cadre's presence as he allowed more of his energy out.
It was ancient, truly a power that existed for eons but Xenovia focused on her training from Griselda's more than Vasco's in this situation. 'Don't be intimidated by their age, an angel takes a long time to gain power for they were already close to perfect from birth.'
So Xenovia did as she was taught and wasn't moved by the age of the presence as Durandal covered her body with its Aura and kept any negative effects from it at bay.
"Their powers are evenly matched!" Momo commented from the side. As a Bishop she was better at measuring the mana than the majority.
"No, Kokabiel is slightly stronger." But she still loses to the Kings who have lived all their lives surrounded by magic. Sona shook her head, trying to ward off any negative thoughts. "To think a Noble Phantasm could really allow someone to keep up with Kokabiel."
"She is going to lose." Rias shocked everyone around her by declaring Xenovia's defeat.
"Ise, your King is a meanie." Irina complained with a pout but Rias ignored the Exorcist, her focus on the fight. "Hey, don't underestimate my partner, Gremory-sama. She is stronger than you think." Still no reaction from Rias. "Besides, she has Durandal, Vasco Strada-sama 's former sword. It has beaten Kokabiel before."
Rias threw barely a glance at the Exorcist before her eyes returned to the fight. "And you all forgot that Kokabiel has ten wings and so far he hasn't shown his full power yet."
None could really disagree with Rias' observation but Irina had a retort. "That is his mistake. Durandal has already proven to cut him and can do so again."
Rias waited a moment before replying, Shirou and her experience helping her reach a conclusion. "There is a difference between having a Noble Phantasm and using a Noble Phantasm."
Once the two sides were relatively equal, Xenovia made sure to press her attack again by disengaging and spinning, Durandal going for a swing on the fallen angel's arm. The aura around the sword was strong enough to beat Kokabiel and Xenovia was sure that once the edge reached him the fight would be over.
But the man didn't allow it to get that close, his spear was in front of the weapon before Xenovia even noticed. However Kokabiel felt his aura being hit and the area around him pulsed with a shock wave as Durandal tried to cut him even when the weapon had failed to reach its target.
Sword and spear clash repeatedly and the phenomena keeps happening as Durandal freely damages the area around the fighters even if Kokabiel remains unharmed. Huge gashes simply appeared on the earth every time Xenovia missed or Kokabiel redirected her swings. Fast moves meant that hundreds were already surrounding the area.
With a fast movement Kokabiel slid to the blue haired woman's side and Xenovia tried to keep up only to tumble. One of the gashes that Durandal made was her ruin as had to stab the sword down to avoid fully falling but that still left her open for a hit as the spear of Light traveled to her head.
Using all the strength in her arms, Xenovia pushed herself to the other side but Kokaible spun in place while making his spear grow, its back aiming where Xenovia was going to stop.
He was proven correct but Xenovia nullified most of the damage to her shoulder with Durandal's aura and planted her feet down once again, jumping back the moment she found some ground, to save herself.
The wound stung but Xenovia didn't allow that to delay her when Kokabiel attacked again. "God, give me strength." She prays as Kokabiel keeps pushing, the terrain not affecting him as his feet never met the ground.
"Father can't help you anymore, he can't help anyone." Kokabiel's smile was wild and wide as he landed for a kick that Xenovia failed to block as she was launched away. She felt her ribs aching but quickly used more of Durandal power to strengthen herself and take a hard swing that unleashed energy. Kokabiel easily dodged before asking "How long have you had that sword?"
"Not your business! Durandal!" Calling for its name unleashed more of the sword's aura as Xenovia began to swing madly in Kokabiel's direction. Eight strikes in succession unleashed eight blasts of Holy Energy consecutively.
Now that he wasn't with Akeno or Valper at his back, Kokabiel easily dodged the hits while flying in Xenovia's direction. The first two he dodged left and right before elevating himself just enough to dodge another three, going lower for the sixth and flying between the horizontal seventh and eighth.
The distance of them had shortened enough that Kokabiel was confident that the fight was over and moved to throw a punch with a lot of power behind it. He was sure that the blue haired Exorcist wasn't going to have enough time to dodge.
Energized by Durandal, Xenovia didn't have any intention of running and instead used the power of her sword to power her arms and the blade itself for a counter swing from her left where her last attack was unleashed.
Only when he was closer was that Kokabiel noticed the position he placed himself in and how Durandal was coming straight for his head. He realized that Xenovia had placed the last slash of her sword in a great position that she could keep attacking if she managed to dodge like he did the first ones.
Fist and blade collided as Durandal's Holy Energy contested the fallen angel's and Kokabiel smiled as he felt that this was a strike of similar strength to Vasco Strada's. "Not bad but not good enough." He opened his hand and placed it on the sword before pushing himself up, dodging the energy and letting it run wild until it hit Kuoh Academy.
Easily as butter the Holy Energy cut a section of the school that included several classrooms before existing on the other side and disappearing after a second. None of the combatants dwelled on it as Xenovia quickly raised Durandal over her head to block a kick from Kokabiel.
The fallen angel used his wings and began to deliver a fast sequence of stomps on the sword, almost as if he was dancing above Xenovia's head. "Come on! Come on! Come on, Xenovia Quarta! Show me what Strada 's successor can do!"
"Durandal!" Xenovia quickly powers herself up and releases a huge wave of Holy Energy that had Kokabiel flying higher. She didn't allow him time to say anything else as she quickly threw another slash in his direction.
Once again Kokabiel dodged, not willing to take any of Durandal's attacks. The cut goes higher and higher but while the blows are potent they lack reach and disappear even before touching the boundary field, just as Kokabiel expected.
He was already done measuring Xenovia's power and potential. "Not even close, Xenovia Quarta!" Kokabiel called out loud and the Exorcist clenched her teeth.
"I just need to hit him once. Just once." Which was proving to be extremely difficult in the open area of Kuoh.
However she didn't understand what Kokabiel really meant and the man chuckled. "Compared to Strada," two Light spears form on his hands and Xenovia spreads Durandal power all over her body, "you are just a CHILD!"
Kokabiel throws both spears as Xenovia expected and the Exorcist quickly runs to the side to avoid them. Explosions follow on her wake as the blue haired woman doesn't stop running and the Cadre keeps creating more and more spears to throw in her direction.
"They are going to the school building!" Sona shouted in a panic as she saw Xenovia running to that area for cover and several of them flinched as their student council president lamented what was about to happen.
Because Xenovia needed cover and she didn't hesitate to jump inside the building by the hole she made before, immediately rolling to the left as spears of Light start to blow up that area.
"You think you can hide?! Durandal is like a beacon of Holy Energy!" Kokabiel keeped throwing spears and Xenovia kept moving inside the school building, blowing up a wall herself to exit a classroom and escape a couple of explosions.
Xenovia jumped to a wall and used it to stop herself before running through a hallway as fast as she could with Durandal powering her up. The whole school was practically falling apart around her as every step she took was followed by an explosion close to her location. When she found a window and saw Kokabiel she quickly shot back with a slash before running again.
Meanwhile Xenovia was running from him, Kokabiel was having a lot of fun, quickly shooting down her counter with some spears before firing at her again while smiling like a lunatic.
"He is playing with her." Rias realized with a frown. "If he wanted, Kokabiel could just have blown up the whole building with Xenovia inside. For him it would be easy."
"What? You can't be…" Irina tried to protest but by the smile on Kokabiel's face, she could believe it, he was having too much fun and his power wasn't diminishing in the slightest. Irina started to move to help Xenovia but Rias grabbed her shoulder. "I need to go help Xenovia!"
"Can you attack someone that can fly with Destruction?" Rias' question made Irina pause but she insisted. "You know you can't because your sword isn't strong enough to deal with someone at range. Durandal is far superior to a Fragment anyway." When Irina nodded her head, the Gremory King let her go. "Then the best thing that you can do is what for Ise."
"'Wait for Ise'?" Irina turns to her childhood friend and sees the Boosted Gear with its green gem showing an ever increasing number. "You are planning to send him there?!" She asked coldly.
"I am planning to have him Boost all of us so we can kill that bastard." Rias' reply was just as cold and the Exorcist calmed down as she understood her friend wasn't going to fight alone. "We already tested that Gift doesn't work in weapons unless Ise is holding them but I bet you can use it better if you are stronger."
All that Irina read about her sword agreed with Rias' words and while the devil sounded reasonable, the Exorcist didn't want to leave her partner alone. "Xenovia needs help now."
On most days Rias would be admiring Irina's loyalty to her friend about fighting against someone like Kokabiel while not having any chance of winning. Today wasn't one of those as the Heiress of Gremory knew they needed all the firepower they could get against the man and Excalibur Destruction was an asset she shouldn't dismiss.
"That brings us back to the original question: Can you hit him?" Rias pointed at Kokabiel, the fallen angel still throwing spears at Kuoh without a care.
"No." Irina hated to admit it.
"Then wait." Rias then stepped back and all watched as the Exorcist stabbed her sword on the ground in frustration.
Xenovia wouldn't blame Irina by the decision anyway, not only was she too busy to realize such discussion was taking place but the bluehead Exorcist fully believed she was the only one with a shot to take out Kokabiel.
'A clean hit! How do I get a clean hit?!' Xenovia asked herself as threw another Holy Energy slash at Kokabiel which was easily shot down half way. "Damned!"
While his prey was languishing on how to take him down Kokabiel was just having fun by letting Xenovia run around. Already he had determined that she lacked the skills and experience to use Durandal properly so he could take his time in killing her. He was pretty sure he had time to kill since Valper supposedly shouldn't be done for several minutes.
That was why he felt really pissed when his senses told him that something changed in the Fragments' direction and he turned to look at a single sword being fully formed inside the magic circle.
Took a moment for the fallen angel to realize why the sword was reforged so fast. "It is because there is one less sword for the spell." Kokabiel snarled as Holy Energy began to pulse inside the circle, noticing how the devils reacted with panic. "And they also know their time is up. Looks like the fun is over."
While Kokabiel was distracted by the reunion of the Fragments, Xenovia took her chance and jumped through a window as fast as she could towards the Cadre. Holding Durandal high with both her hands, the Exorcist felt the mana of the sword accumulating for one last attack.
Xenovia commanded Durandal to convert every scrap of energy it had for one great slash while Kokabiel was distracted by the end of the ritual.
Not that Xenovia noted that the sword was about to be reforged. 'One hit. One hit. One hit…' Kept going in a loop on her head as she fought to focus Durandal's power on its edge. 'One hit!' Kokabiel still had not turned back in her direction. "DURANDAL!"
The roar of its owner has the blue sword unleashing its true, uncontrollable, power in a single direction and a huge pillar of blue traveled towards Kokabiel.
The fallen angel felt the spike of energy coming but his distraction cost him the milliseconds he needed to react against Durandal's might, only giving him enough time to look at the energy coming at him before it hit.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"
Kokabiel felt the crushing power of Durandal on his skin despite his natural resistance and power. His wings flap uselessly as the light covered his body completely and he felt like his very essence was being ripped apart.
That was still far from being the worst hit he ever took or the worst pain he ever felt. Kokabiel fought against the pressures to keep his body stable against the might of Durandal and soon managed to push back enough to deflect some of its power.
"STILL TOO WEAK! XENOVIA!" Kokabiel declared as a wall of light formed around him and undid the power of Durandal, much to Xenovia's shock.
"Impossible… That power… I used all of Durandal's power. I pushed it to the limit." Xenovia felt exhausted starting to set in as Kokabiel's light diminished and all could see the damage he took. "At least… it wasn't for free."
The Angel of Stars had several burns all around his body and his expensive suit now was damaged with patches missing everywhere, the biggest one was on his left shoulder and the sleeve of that arm was also missing with no undershirt visible on those areas, only burns.
All things considered the fallen angel couldn't deny that Xenovia managed a good hit on him and the pain his body was going through would be excruciating to a lesser man. However he was no lesser man and throughout his long life that pain would only reach top 100 and barely. In fact Durandal itself in the past made him suffer much more.
Looking back at Xenovia, Kokabiel could only chuckle. "Congratulations, you managed to use all of Durandal's power. Pity you don't know how to use it." He saw the blue haired Exorcist's teeth clench and wanted to play with her some more but time was up and he had a schedule to keep or risk his plans falling apart to predictable and unpredictable factors. "All things considered I have nothing to complain about. Today was fun."
An aura of Light involved Kokabiel as the man slowly touched his face and fixed his hair, Xenovia noting that the wounds slowly disappeared. "No, wait! His whole body is healing."
It wasn't perfect and cost a lot of energy for him to fix himself but that was only superficial. Once when he had his Father's support the fallen angel could heal himself much better and more efficiently. Kokabiel had some ideas on how to fix that issue but didn't felt the need to test them out at the moment.
The blue haired Exorcist saw as the Light restored Kokabiel and tried to raise Durandal for another offensive only for a spear of Light hit the area close to her feet and throw her off.
"Unfortunately I can't keep playing with you." A pillar of Holy Light emerged behind Kokabiel and the fallen angel flew in its direction. "Because 'Excalibur' is about to be reborn."
"IT'S HERE~!" Freed shouted in celebration and all devils in the area felt a chill run in their spines. "It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here!"
Inside the magic circle was a sword that the Mad Exorcist could feel was the most powerful weapon he had ever laid his eyes on, short of Durandal. However, unlike the Pereless Sword, its power was tamer and inviting.
Freed, a man who had rejected God and fell into madness could hear its call to him, asking to be used and the white haired man was anxious to deliver.
"It is done. Excalibur is reborn!" Valper celebrates but doesn't step over to take the sword as he knew that would be impossible for his lack of Light and weak body. Instead he turned to Freed and waved him to do the honors. "Here it is, young Freed. A weapon like no other."
"Thanks a lot, your Grace." Freed actually showed Valper some respect before rushing towards the sword which looked like it was fully made of gold. "Uh~ Just getting close I can feel the shivers."
Rias knew now they were out of time. "Issei, how many?!"
"Not enough for everyone." The Pawn knew for sure that he wasn't even close.
"It will have to do." Kiba commented as he got up and prepared.
Only for Irina to shake her head and raise Destruction. "It is too risky for all of you. Run as fast as you can."
"The rules still apply." Kokabiel announced as he landed in front of Akeno and scooped her in his arms like a bride. "But now your opponent is a different one." He turned to watch Freed approach the blade with excitement.
"So you are going to have Freed of all people kill us all? You think he can do it?" Rias sounded insulted but Kokabiel didn't blame her.
"That was the plan from the very beginning." The reveal surprised some but Rias fought the grimace that threatened to show on her face as Kokabiel smiled. "You see, Rias Gremory, I don't like the state that the world is in, in fact I hate it. Do you know why?" Freed reached the sword and got ready to pull. "Because you devils should already be extinct!"
Kokabiel took flight high above the skies of Kuoh when Freed pulled the sword and everyone felt the power of the weapon wash over the place. Xenovia saw it and considered Kokabiel's words before rushing towards the devils and positioned herself to defend them.
While Freed laughed like a manic as he held his sword and felt its golden aura wash over him. Took a few seconds for the power to settle around him as the white Holy Energy of the Fragments was converted in gold by the sword's new form. The Mad Exorcist didn't care about the color of the power or the reason for the phenomena that Valper mumbled about curiously.
Only the power itself.
Raising his new sword higher above his head, Freed celebrates. "Here it is! My Excalibur~!"
Its blade looked distorted or like it was composed of various other swords pulled together with a smaller sword on the middle of its back and far too big, taller than Freed by a few heads. The guard also seemed an amalgamation of some kind but had protection for its owner's fingers with the handle being big enough that two people could hold it together without troubles.
Yet, despite its huge size, Freed could hold the sword without worries and the man even threw it up a few times in a juggle before playing with it a bit, noticing how it kept hitting the ground when he was in the middle of testing it.
"Oi, Valper. You made this thing a bit too big."
The Archbishop of Genocide was too euphoric to care about Freed's complains. "It has Mimic. If you don't like its size, make it smaller."
"Oh~ I can do that now." In a second the sword shrunk to the size of a small knife before growing just as big as before before shrinking again until it was as tall as Freed. The man did some more sequences with it, finding the size manageable and efficient while Irina glared at the use of her sword's ability. "Not bad. Not bad at all."
"Freed!" Kokabiel's voice earned everyone's attention. "Time to finish the plan! Kill all the devils and witnesses!"
"Also collect Excalibur Destruction!" Valper added to the order and Kokabiel rolled his eyes but nodded.
"Aye, aye, sir!" Freed said in a salute that had Sona fuming.
"Kokabiel!" The Heiress of the Sitri called for the fallen angel with anger. "Why are you doing all this? Just to get us killed? You could do it yourself!"
Rias was surprised by the sudden outburst from her friend but saw it as Sona trying to rationalize her way out of the situation. She didn't necessarily disagree with the idea but by the way that Kokabiel was acting and the glean of murder on Freed's eyes, Rias was sure that the odds of convincing any of them to stop were close to nill.
Pondering for a moment the fallen angel decided to reply, if only to tell the devils why they had to die. "Freed, killing you with a Holy Sword, Excalibur nonetheless, has far more chances of reigniting the Great War in favor of the Grigori than if I just did it myself."
"All of this really just to have a war?" Sona asked incredulously before shaking her head. "You stupid game was all to keep us around. Your goal is to provoke our siblings!"
"Congratulations, you got half of the equation right." Kokabiel said mockingly before turning to Rias. "Tell me, did the Order of Pendragon do a good job in their attempt to stop you?" The redhead was surprised by the question. "So determined, so loyal for a king that can't return."
"Because Avalon is closed… and only the sheath can open that realm again." Rias suspected as much.
The Cadre burst out laughing. "Nothing of this realm can get into Avalon, things could get out but the body of King Arthur has been dead for a long, long time now." He would know, he checked the real grave. With a snicker looking at Valper he added. "The real Excalibur can do nothing about that fact either."
"Yet you still attracted them here…" Sona may not have all the details but with a name like Order of Pendragon and following the conversation between her friend and enemy she could make a good deduction. "They were just bait to the Exorcists."
"More like they are the 'fall guys' in this situation. A misdirection that will be the cause for war." Kokabiel could see that most of the devils didn't understand but Rias and Sona did. For the sake of his audience he decided to elaborate. "Think about it, an organization that had prior ties with the Church got the exact amount of intel needed to strike where the swords would be vulnerable with just two Exorcists to guard them, they made sure to set everything up in devil territory where two heiresses of the 72 Pillars resided and set everything up so they would have most of the city covered before the conflict began." His eyes grew maniacal as he established the scenery he concocted. "During the battle, tragedy strikes and the two heiresses die because of Holy Swords. Question; Who killed them? The Exorcists from the Church? The organization with prior ties? Nobody will know since there shall be no witnesses."
Rias now understood why the Order of Pendragon was spread so thin around the town. "You wanted us to notify everyone of the invasion."
"Ding ding ding. Correct, Rias Gremory!" Kokabiel opened his wings wide in celebration. "Once you are dead, someone needs to notify what happened to the poor siblings of the victims, the leaders of the Underworld. I can't even phantom how Sirzechs and Serafall are going to react." Then he burst out laughing again. "Hahahahaha! Of course I can! Grief and a wish for vengeance will take hold and the devils will declare war against the Heavens once more."
"But the Order of Pendragon is going to be considered responsable! They also haven't been part of the Church for years!" Irina pointed out.
Kokabiel just laughed more. "Do you think this would be the first time a huge organization like the Church haven't 'excommunicated' their undesirable members but kept them in their payroll to do any undesirable jobs? There are things that even Executors could refuse to do, so it is better to always have alternatives." He was liking the expressions of anger from the Exorcists.
"The Lord wouldn't allow things like that to continue." It sounded weak for Irina but she was growing desperate. Kokabiel snickered at her statement and said nothing, just smiled about it. "He worked for this peace and would stop another Great War without doubt."
"You would be surprised what dear old Dad would allow if he was around. Free will and all that."
Xenovia's anger was reaching its peak at that point. "You lost any right to call Him Father when you Feel!"
"Ha, to be so innocent. Maybe that is why you can't bring out Durandal's full potential." Kokabiel was having so much fun provoking everyone while revealing his plans. It was the most fun he had in ages. "Either way, the heiresses die, war happens. It is inevitable."
Neither Rias or Sona could disagree with that, they knew how much their siblings loved them and the lengths they would go for their protection. "It won't work." Rias still found herself saying. "My brother won't let things devolve like that. He may love me deeply but he takes his responsibility as Lucifer, First King of the Underworld, equally as seriously."
It was the reason why Sirzechs hadn't interfered in her engagement and could only watch as Rias struggled to escape it. As a leader Sirzechs knew how to separate the good of his people and the good of his family and while she knew he would be sad she hoped that in the worst case situation he would stop any wars from happening.
However Kokabiel had a counter argument for that. "Are you telling me that the Underworld doesn't have some 'war hawks' that wouldn't want to finish the Great War?" He asked patronizingly and Rias had no retort. "Of course you have, every Faction has someone who wants to finish this little unfinished business. Just like me."
"You set us up." Sona said with a grim acceptance. "You set Heaven and the Underworld up for a fight while leaving the Grigori out of it." She then gave him a fierce glare. "But that won't last for long and the fallen angels will be involved sooner or later if a war starts."
"Of course we will. Didn't you hear me before? I want exactly that!" Kokabiel revealed in anger. "I want to finish the Great War once and for all! And why should we have stopped?!" He began to fly slowly from one side to another, Akeno still carefully in his arms. "We were winning! All of our main enemies were dead and we still had our main fighters! Azazel should have ordered us to attack!"
Some noticed something dangerous about Kokabiel's statement, something scary and almost unfathomable but besides Rias and Sona trading a glance while Valper's eyes almost jumped from his sockets.
None of them drew attention at their realizations and allowed it to be lost in Kokabiel's rant as he cursed Azazel's perceived weakness and his allies' lack of initiative.
"We were the strongest of the Three Factions! Our numbers were growing even if slowly and we had everyone else on the back foot! Then the Underworld Civil War started! That was when we should have ATTACKED!" Kokabiel glares at the devils full of rage. "The devil race should have been extinct and the Heavens should have been brought low. Instead Azazel sued for peace." The Cadre spitted to the side in disgust. "Peace? After all that, peace? What a ridiculous notion! Yet the other idiots on the Grigori followed Azazel like a bunch of sheep, as if all the blood we spilled was for absolutely nothing!"
For a moment everyone felt fear as Kokabiel's power, the power capable of decimating a city easily, began to spiral out of control. His form looked bigger and wings seemed to completely cover the sky as the darkness began to fall around Kuoh.
It was evident that if the boundary field around Kuoh didn't exist then the whole Fuyiki would have been affected by his rage. Just by being furious Kokabiel was letting out enough power to crush the city accidentally if no one else moved to stop him. Rias even wished that those boundary fields weren't there, she knew they needed reinforcements.
One other thing was certain to all; Kokabiel despised Azazel's decisions.
"Then came the ceasefire, a ceasefire! We were the winners of the war! It should have been a surrender!" More and more power escaped Kokabiel until he noticed the discomfort on Akeno's unconscious face. He took a deep breath and the darkness began to recede until his wings were at their normal size. "But today it will be the first step to right this wrong. Today it will be the beginning of another war that won't end until all devils are exterminated and the Church reduced to rubble."
"Can he do that?" Medusa, who managed to keep calm despite all things, asked a nervous Rias who looked back at her in confusion. "Would the other Factions, other gods, allow him to get that far?" She didn't give much credit to her fellow Greeks but there were others. "I doubt the Japanese Pantheon would let something like that start in their backyard.
"Normally they wouldn't but that is why this ritual was so important." Kokabiel talked before Rias could even process Medusa's question. "You see the magic circle where the blade was reforged? Notice that it hasn't disappeared yet."
Indeed it was still there, pulse with power and mana in quantities that surpassed every devil present.
"Valper… why don't you explain the rules of the new game?" Kokabiel offered with a chuckle but the old man looked confused. "Tsk. Explain the magic circle's purpose, I shall give them the rules."
"Ah, of course." After all he had heard, Valper was having some problems to keep his composure. Not that he cared about starting a war or anything but the secret he realized could be enough to kill him if he wasn't careful. "The magic circle is fully connected to the ley line of Kuoh which is a branch of all of Fuyuki's territory. To revive Excalibur, a great quantity of mana was necessary, more than any mortal could conceive and with its many Cores there is no god capable of helping the process." He began to smile as he felt himself entering in his element. "In that case the magic circle worked as a filter similar to your Evil Pieces, turning normal mana into Holy Energy, or Light mana to fuel the spell and restore the weapon properly without using simple tools which failed to revive the Excalibur before." The smug grin he was letting out showed the man's pride. "After all, a heavenly weapon like that could only be made through Divine will."
Xenovia made to glare at the man and was tempted to take a swing at him but Freed was still guarding the Archbishop of Genocide and the blue haired Exorcist wasn't going to underestimate the man holding Excalibur, even if he looked to be taking a nap while they talked.
'No. He is just pretending his guard is low.' Xenovia was sure of it as the man was still standing, his weight supported by the sword. Kiba came to the same conclusion and just glared at the old man, both unable to stop him.
Therefore Valper got to speak with impunity, regardless of how many wanted to kill him. "But transforming a ley line's mana into something more… agreeable with one person or object is something complicated and even annoying. More than one magician died in the attempt of creating a proper workshop by not paying attention to the ley line's needs." No devil liked where that was going. "So I forced it to adapt and through a lengthy ritual kept the ley line of Fuyuki itself connected to Excalibur."
"That… is insanity!" Rias now feared the sword more than ever. "Do you realize what you have done?! That kind of ritual would-"
"Destabilize the whole city while also empowering the Excalibur more while in the area? Quite right! It was the only way of reforging such a legend!" Valper raised his hands to the skies. "Such was the challenge before me, to repair a Gift From God Himself! Many fools failed because they all believed that skill was enough but power was what was missing!" He waved to the sword in Freed's hands. "That is right! Power to reach the level of a god! Something that the whole ley line of a city was capable of helping me reach and surpass!"
"That doesn't sound good." Momo commented.
"It isn't. That connection means that the mana of the ley line is still being sapped to Excalibur through the magic circle." Sona informed with an irritated scowl. "He is risking the whole city with that kind of stunt."
"Then he has to stop the spell or else Fuyuki will be in danger." Ryuudou realized, making Kokabiel laugh.
"It is more than that. This city is so connected with the ley line that just forming the sword initiated a chain reaction that will unleash an earthquake of devastating proportions." The Cadre turned to Valper. "How long do you believe it is going to take for it to start? An hour? Less?"
"Give or take thirty minutes, lord Kokabiel. That is why Freed needs to focus on getting Destruction fast so we can still use this magic circle to finish the sword."
Kiba was beyond furious at Valper by the reveal. "You tricked the Order of Pendragon for this?" Deep down the Knight felt sympathy for the Order as they were as manipulated as his family was before being discarded.
The Angel of Stars actually looked offended by the notion. "Tricked? I did exactly as I promised: 'With my help, all Excalibur Fragments can be reforged into a single sword and you all can decide what to do with it after'." Kookabiel quoted himself smoothly. "Those were my exact words and it was always clear that either they would kill Freed to take the sword back or Freed would kill them to keep it."
"Not our fault that those wimps aren't around anymore." Freed said, revealing that he was aware of the betrayal from the start. "The boss didn't lie."
"And now we come for the last part of our play, the Tragedy of the Overseers of Fuyuki and the Destruction of the City." Kokabiel words had everyone nervous again as Freed laughed out loud. "You can run, if you want. I won't chase you all anymore, that is Freed's job."
"Let me guess; this will only be worth it if we die by the Excalibur?" Rias asked sarcastically.
If his hands weren't busy, Kokabiel would be applauding. "Correct again, lady Gremory. This way the Church will be at fault one way or another. You see, I never really cared about the whole sword in the first place and only reforged it for my allies." Kokabiel made himself sound benevolent, as the Cadre felt he was doing a favor for Valper and the Order. "I always just needed one of the Fragments and someone to use it and Freed already agreed to kill all of you."
"Can't pass out the chance to deliver some righteous justice, boss."
"That you can't, Freed." Kokabiel complimented. "So that is how this is going to be; you can try to escape, warn your superiors, or just outright run while Freed tries to kill you all." The fallen angel explained. "And once he has done it, and the right amount of time has passed, any and all evidence about the Grigori's direct involvement is going to be under the rubble and bodies of Fuyuki, destroyed beyond the point of recognition. There won't be witnesses or enough for anyone to fully understand what happened here except what I want them to understand. That you died bravely, defending your town against the mistakes of the Church." He chuckled. "A better death than most."
That was the point of spreading the Order and hiding in the first place, to give the devils and Exorcists a sense of security that would make them believe all that was happening was routine in a way or another.
Except that it wasn't as Kokabiel spread the equivalent of an army all around the town and after the earthquake hits and the bodies are found anyone that discovered the armored warriors that had invaded Fuyuki would believe that a battle happened and the earthquake was the result of the combat.
Then the bodies of the Heiresses of Fuyuki, killed by Excaliburs, would be found and that would set off the conflict Kokabiel wanted with the Heavens and the Underworld at each other's throats with the Grigori, once ready, to come in later and finish the survivors.
If everything went according to plan Kokabiel knew his last challenge would be to convince Azazel to do what he wanted but with Akeno in his hands he would have Baraqiel to help him with that part.
"And so another war can begin." Rias could admit it wasn't a bad plan. Callus and destructive sure but unless one of them manages to escape, the Underworld and Heaven would be marching to war coming Monday. "And we fell right into his trap like ducklings in a pond by following procedures and not treating Excalibur seriously."
"Exactly as he planned. He used all rules the ceasefire established to his advantage." Sona got up, having recovered enough strength to fight. "Despite hating peace, he used it as he wanted and it seems we are doomed." Yet she felt confident because Kokabiel wasn't their opponent anymore.
"But we may be able to defeat Excalibur." Rias added, turning to the Exorcists who nodded back. "Ise?"
"Almost enough for everyone, Buchou!" Another advantage of letting their enemies talk was that the Red Dragon Emperor got to work unimpeded.
Xenovia and Irina got ready as many devils moved to stand behind them. "Supposing that Kokabiel is telling the truth." The blue haired Exorcist commented.
"He hasn't lied so far." Medusa pointed out. "Besides, he has no need to lie."
Kokabiel was happy that everyone looked ready to fight and turned to the Mad Exorcist. "What about you, Freed? Ready to have some fun?"
"Not my favorite kind but the second best by just a smidge." Freed pulled the golden sword from the ground and pointed at the devils. He heard Rias and Sona instructing some of them to run and call for help but he smiled and lowered his sword close to the ground before beginning to pray. "Oh Holy Father, bless this land to make it your Holy home."
Irina recoginived the prayer and panicked as Blessing was also part of the golden sword. She was already running when she screamed. "We have to stop him!"
Took the devils a moment to process what the Exorcist had shouted but Xenovia was already right behind her partner, any question could be left to after they stopped Freed.
But it was already too late. "Accept all travelers and banish all evil!" Freed stabbed the fused Excalibur on the with maniacal glee. "Sanctuary!"
From the golden sword an aura of Light began to pulse and spread faster than anyone could react to. Soon it had covered all the area of Kuoh and motes of light began to escape the land.
Irina barely managed to reach Freed but he easily raised his sword and stopped her attack. It was too late as every single devil present felt fatigue, weakness and vertigo assault their senses. Some tried to stay standing while those already sitting or on the ground found themselves unable to move.
"What is this?" Kiba asked while trying to move something but even a finger was too much.
"Buchou…" Asia felt the weight on her body bring her to a knee before she fully fell on her front. "I can't- I can't move."
Right above their heads, the devils began to hear something sinister; it was an evil laugh, enjoying their suffering. "Hahahaha! Do you all really thought that you had any chance of escape!" Kokabiel laughed more this day than he did for centuries. "From the very beginning there was no running, either from me or Freed!"
"You bastard." Saji managed to raise his body before falling down again. "What did you do to us?" The fallen angel said nothing, just smiled and watched. "You motherfu-"
"Ise, use the Boosted Gear now!" Rias ordered in a panic as she found whatever power she had leaving her body.
"I'm sorry, Buchou, but…" Raising his hand, Hyoudou revealed that his sacred gear was missing. There were tears in his eyes when he revealed "I couldn't hold on."
Xenovia struck Freed's side but the man was already retreating, the Fused Excalibur Holy Aura covered him and the area but she only felt something sinister coming from it. "Irina, what is going on?"
"Blessing ability can be used to bless the territory to make churches." Irina revealed while she nursed her side where Freed had kicked her. "This whole area is now-"
"A CHURCH~! HAHAHAHA!" Freed's laugh covered the area as more gold seemed to prompt itself from the ground. "That is right~! The worst place for devils to be! All thanks to Excali-tan and its blessing~!" The man embraced the sword and Xenovia took it as an opening to finish the fight faster, jumping to stab him.
The tip of Durandal didn't even get close and Freed had already dodged to the side as the the place where he was blew up even before Xenovia landed. She turned and tried to swing to take off his head but all the Mad Exorcist did was run to the right despite her body being covered with Durandal's power.
She continued the chase but the Mad Exorcist was fast enough to avoid her easily.
"That is also thanks to the magic circle." Seeing an opportunity to talk more about his success, Valper began to explain. "While connected to Kuoh's main ley line, it isn't impossible for Excalibur to turn all of it into a proper church. The area may not be as strong as the defenses of the Vatican but as you can see, they come really close."
With that in mind the solution was obvious to Irina as she surrounded herself with Holy Aura and jumped in Valper's direction to first cut down the old man and then destroy the magic circle.
Only for Freed to just show up in front of her and cut her chest easily, throwing the Exorcist to the side. "Irina!"
"Oops! Hope she doesn't die. I wanted some more fun. Kakaka." The white haired man raised his blade to stop Durandal, gold and white clashing as their auras collided. "Oh~ I can stop you too."
"Tch." Xenovia began a fast sequence of attacks but Freed blocked each and every one. From the side Irina recovered, Destruction's Aura and her combat uniform saved her life even as her left breast had some blood and her skin grew red from a bruise.
She saw how her partner was trying to stop Freed and tried getting to Valper again by going around them only for the Fused Excalibur to suddenly grow and pierce her thigh before retracting and blocking Xenovia's next strike.
While Irina cried out in shock and pain, Xenovia began to throw more of Durandal's power around in rage. Only for it to fail due to her lack of focus and Freed's use of his superior speed to retreat every time an attack too strong came close to reach him.
Medusa saw the situation develop with anger. "This was rigged from the start." She glared at Kokabiel. "This game of yours was always a farce, you never really gave anyone else the chance to win."
"Does that upset you, goddess?" The fallen angel held Akeno firmly, far from the ground level. Since he knew Freed was going to use Sanctuary he had flown just high enough to avoid the negative effects of it for both himself and the girl in his arms. "I always described this more as a play than a game and in any good play both heroes and villains alike are shown to have an equal chance of victory." When he smiled, every tooth on his mouth looked similar to a shark's. "But it would have been a bad plan if I really gave you a chance to win. Instead, giving you false hope is the best strategy to keep you around, fighting and struggling, not realizing that it isn't a solution but exactly what I wanted."
Once again Medusa cursed her weakness, especially when she turned and saw some of the devils come close to perishing because of the Sanctuary's power. From Rias' peerage only Asia seemed to be suffering as the others seemed to be mostly fine even if struggling. But the real problem was Sona's peerage who had been fighting for longer and had little mana to spare.
The new Holy Ground seemed to be about to sap them of their lives.
Coming with a decision and a quick solution, Medusa produced a snake from one of her hairs, much to Kokabiel's surprise, which took a bite from her wrist. "So you are really Medusa? This is where you ended after the destruction of your island? Interesting."
But the goddess didn't acknowledge his comment, her friends needed help and her divine blood, which turned into small red snakes, ran around to make a circle around the devils before she proclaimed. "Blood Fort Andromeda."
A red barrier surrounded the small piece of land that the devils were occupying and immediately they felt an immense wave of relief as it slowly expanded to encompass them all and the still bleeding goddess who was protecting them.
Slowly they recovered enough for some of them to stand up and look at Medusa who stood firm despite the signs of effort on her face. "Medusa…" Rias could see the golden aura trying to penetrate the red barrier as they pushed each other back. "What is this?"
"My own 'temple'." She slowly turned to look at the redhead with a smile and Rias noticed how intense her amethyst eyes looked before Medusa looked ahead again. "This can only buy you all some time but don't try to do anything or I may end up turning you all into stone."
"Stone?" Koneko was wondering what was the mana trying to enter her body but now she understood, that wasn't a defensive boundary field at all.
"Indeed, so please just…" Medusa felt every reserve of mana she accumulated over the last year being strained as Sanctuary kept poking her barrier. "Just don't move too much, alright? I can protect you but if you use too much mana I am going to start absorbing it and if you leave I don't think you can survive."
Forcing Blood Fort Andromeda out so fast actually hurt more than her snake's bite but Medusa held it firmly and the boundary field felt stable for her. There were still consequences for her rush and desperation as it was far from its full potential and she couldn't really control it properly, that was why she warned them to be careful.
'If they were normal humans I think just looking at them now would have turned them to stone.' Medusa lamented her weakness once again as she fell to her knees but refused to let the boundary field fall.
Kokabiel watched the event with a chuckle. "Trapped like rats." He taunted, earning some glares but he didn't mind. Holding Akeno with one hand he created a small spear of Light before throwing it against Blood Fort Andromeda only for it to fizzle and disappear before even getting close to its target. "Not that I can do much. Lucky you."
"Looks like Sanctuary is affecting him too." Rias realized with a smile before it disappeared. "Not that it changes anything."
Hyoudou thought about calling for the Boosted Gear again but Medusa's warning stopped him. "We need to trust them." Looking at Irina with worry.
"It seems, ah, we don't have much of a choice." Ryuudou added and Kiba glared at him but said nothing.
Both Xenovia and Freed saw the red barrier show up and one felt relief while the other felt irritation. Now that the devils had a few more minutes, the blue haired Exorcist managed to calm down and worked into controlling Durandal some more.
'Irina is out but the Heiresses are safe, for now. I need to focus on defeating Freed.' Brown eyes glared at the gold sword as Durandal's energy became sharper. 'I just need to retrieve Excalibur. Focus on that!'
With a wordless shout Xenovia charged and Freed ran away as fast as he could since Durandal looked even more dangerous than before. 'Well this is a pickle.' He had already realized that his sword wasn't a real match for Durandal and fighting directly against it was stupid.
Instead he hopped to pressure Xenovia by using the devils' time limit with Sanctuary but that avenue was blocked by Medusa, however temporarily, which meant he needed a new plan. He retreated a few more steps with his speed and quickly came up with an idea to stack the odds back in his favor.
Despite his madness Freed wasn't an idiot and he knew that the Fused, incomplete, Sword on his hands couldn't defeat Durandal so he changed gears. "Grow!" He ordered and using Mimic's power the Fused Excalibur traveled in a blink of an eye to spear through Irina. 'Come on, come on, block it you bitch!'
With Durandal's aura it wasn't fast enough that Xenovia couldn't react by moving herself close to the golden sword and pushing it up and away from Irina's direction. Quickly the blade receded to a size Freed was comfortable with and the white haired man began to run around Xenovia's position, making it grow again to skew the fallen Exorcist.
And once again Xenovia moved to protect her partner, Durandal easily repealing the Fused Sword by redirecting it to the side. This time the golden sword didn't return to Freed as it moved to stab Xenovia instead but the bluehead wouldn't move and held her sword to stop the stab.
Only to see the sword harmlessly pass through her without giving any signs it really existed. "What?" Xenovia turned to look at the running Freed going in the devils' direction, the Fused Fragments on his hand and accumulating energy. "Nightmare." She realized before running to try and save the devils, pushing Durandal as much as he could.
Freed was laughing as he approached the goddess and the devils, Medusa knew she couldn't protect them and they all realized they were at the mercy of the Mad Exorcist. Panic began to spread around them but they were too slow to move to protect their Kings and had nowhere to go even if they could.
For his part, Freed felt happy to join the history books, the excitement of starting another war practically filling him to go faster. "Time to d-"
Something invaded the Sanctuary and the madman quickly shifted his momentum to jump back and avoid an explosion where he was running before. He kept moving, running as fast as he could as explosions kept following him all the way before he got past a stunned Xenovia, losing all ground he had made.
The spectators watched Freed's retreat, confused by what was happening. Only Kokabiel could see that the arrow shots were coming from the side of Kuoh's territory and with his vision he saw someone entering the area, dressed in red and black.
While frustrated that the completion of his plan was interrupted, Kokabiel couldn't help but comment. "A guest actor?"
When the clouds of dust had settled down everyone saw the metal arrows that almost hit Freed and all of the ORC and Medusa recognized immediately. "I am sure you felt the power around this place the moment you stepped foot on it so you shouldn't be here." Rias' face didn't hide her worry. Then she smiled full of hope. "But I am happy you arrived."
Shirou approached his friends calmly with a playful smile in his lover's direction. On his left hand was his black bow with another arrow on his right as his eyes dared Freed to try attacking again. "Happy to arrive in time. DIdn't want to miss the party."
"The worst kind of party." Hyoudou added and some of the ORC chuckled while the student council didn't understand why Shirou's presence cheered them up so much.
As far as the Sitri team was concerned the situation was quite dire and even if Kokabiel's power was suppressed by the Sanctuary the fallen angel still proudly displayed all his wings.
'Emiya may be strong but even he can't defeat Kokabiel.' Sona though, looking at the Fused Fragments. 'However, if he breaks Excalibur, then Kokabiel's plans would be ruined.'
That was their best bet in Sona's opinion but the confidence that Shirou and the others were displaying so much confidence felt wrong for the Sitri Heiress.
The redhead magus nodded to his friends as he took a look around the area and analyzed the situation. Upon seeing Freed he grew angry but upon seeing Akeno unconscious in the fallen angel's arms he was furious.
Took a good deal of self control for him to not try anything harsh as he studied the situation carefully. Just by seeing how Medusa was protecting the devils and the land around Kuoh was shining like gold it was enough for Shirou to infer that there was something extremely wrong going on.
And when Shirou's eyes landed on the golden sword on Freed's hands and his mind was assaulted by hundreds of pieces of information at once-
A familiar field and a familiar blonde that looked like a fairy, a man in white and some words.
*Static*
Hundreds of battles with hundreds of different swords, some familiar, some not. Blood everywhere.
*Static*
An ambitious man trying to revive an ancient treasure, his gentle smile hid the monster within as his obsession would take hundreds of lives.
*Static*
The man was old now and a ritual was made, an abomination was born and delivered at the hands of a madman who now stood before Shirou.
-he understood most of what was happening.
Shirou kept calm and focused as he stopped close to Blood Fort Andromeda, his glare resting on the golden sword which he refused to call Excalibur as its owner kept screaming at him.
"Red! Can't you give a guy a break?! This is the second time you have blue balled me! The second time!" Never before Freed felt so mad with anyone.
Shirou just chuckled as his bow disappeared and his arrow changed back to his Muramasa. "Don't worry, there won't be a third."