Chapter 176: Ashes of Betrayal—The Fall of the Ten-Winged Angel
In the next breath, Azazel lunged sideways, desperate to evade what he sensed—but he was a moment too slow.
BOOM!
The impact landed hard. His body was flung like a ragdoll, crashing straight through the gymnasium walls of Kuoh Academy.
"Vali!" he gasped, pain sharp in his ribs.
"You... are with them now?"
Across the battlefield, the expressions of Michael and Sirzechs twisted into grim disbelief. Of all betrayals, this was one they hadn't foreseen. Vali—the White Dragon Emperor—had turned his back on Azazel, the man who had once rescued him from darkness, raised him as one would a son.
The betrayal reverberated through the bystanders as well. Rias and Sona exchanged startled glances. But doubt still lingered in their eyes. Was Azazel truly the traitor, or was this some gambit, a misdirection buried within layers of pain?
Even so, something about the presence of "Ba'al" tugged uneasily at their thoughts. This being was no mere descendant of the Ba'al lineage—it bore a twisted design, a shadow summoned from Solomon's foul artistry.
BOOM!
The gym collapsed behind Azazel, dust and debris scattering as the shockwaves parted stone. He emerged slowly from the rubble—not crippled, but undeniably wounded.
"You've got nerve, Vali," Azazel muttered, wiping blood from his jaw. "To betray me... I don't remember raising you to be this kind of man."
His face contorted, not with pain, but with fury—a fire that wasn't aimed at the traitor before him, but at another.
"Cadileya Leviathan... descendant of the Old Demon King Leviathan—you've really stolen away my child!"
That was his rage's true source.
"Hmph. Then it seems you've failed spectacularly as a parent," Cadileya sneered, her voice laced with venom.
"I apologize, Azazel," Vali said, descending beside her. "My path is power—and there was no future in staying by your side."
Azazel stood, his body trembling not with weakness, but the bitter sting of realization.
"Now do you understand?" Cadileya laughed, voice rising. "Your illusion of peace, your sentimental ideals—they're dead. Even your closest follower has abandoned you. You deserve this!"
"Enough idle chatter," came a snarl from Kokabiel nearby. "Hand me the serpent's power. I'll deal with him myself."
Annoyed, Cadileya tossed one vial toward him. Another she kept—and without hesitation, uncorked it and swallowed the black serpent within.
The skies cracked.
Instantly, a surge of malignant magic erupted from her body, shaking the barriers over Kuoh Academy. Her power doubled, tripled—tenfold and rising.
Only then did Kokabiel follow suit, gulping down his own share. He had waited, fearful of deception—a coward, Cadileya thought with a smirk.
"This power... it's magnificent! No wonder it belonged to Ophis—the Infinite Dragon God!"
There was no need for Azazel to ask; Kokabiel had already exposed the truth. The serpents they consumed were manifestations of Ophis's power.
In the next instant, Kokabiel summoned a spear of radiant light—dense enough to vaporize the unprotected academy.
But Kuoh was shielded by a spatial barrier. The school would not fall easily.
Flash!
The Light Spear vanished—then reappeared—caught in a single hand.
"What...?!"
Kokabiel's face contorted in shock. His ultimate strike was crushed by fingers alone.
The spear, forged of condensed energy strong enough to wipe a city from existence, should have exploded on impact. Instead, the light unraveled into flickering particles and dispersed harmlessly.
The figure before him had neutralized the spear's energy—an impossible feat.
Then came the thunder.
The stranger raised a hand, a black sphere of lightning forming in his palm. Its glow devoured the light around it, swallowing brilliance and plunging the field into darkness.
Kokabiel shuddered. The enemy had waited—had allowed him to bask in a false paradise of newfound strength, only to cast him into hell seconds later.
This wasn't Ba'al as he had known. This was something far worse.
Not demon.
A true god of destruction.
Sweat poured down Kokabiel's brow. Death loomed close. He summoned a magic shield at once.
But it was too late.
The sphere erupted.
SHHHHHRRRAAAAK!
A column of black death tore through reality, colliding with Kokabiel's shield.
The light of his barrier—his final defense—glimmered like crystal... and cracked.
Crack. Crack. CRACK.
"No... NO! My power—it's ten times stronger than before! This can't be!"
Kokabiel roared, desperate. But his screams turned shrill. Even the true Ba'al wouldn't wield such force!
CRASH.
The shield shattered.
"Noooooooo—!"
His final cry was a howling wail as he was consumed. The death beam engulfed him, vaporizing body and soul.
BOOM!
The force slammed into Kuoh Academy's barrier, shaking the dimension itself. Cracks spiderwebbed through space, threatening collapse.
Only Michael and Sirzechs—through sheer force of their own divine magic—held the protection together. And even then, the death beam had surpassed expectation.
A Demon King could not withstand it.
Even a god might fall.
They estimated Michael could endure for ten times as long as Kokabiel had. But if the death beam kept pressing onward, that would be his end too.
Which meant the question remained—who was this destroyer?
Certainly not the Ba'al they knew. This being was more formidable than that lineage ever produced.
"His form... his power... it's like he's showing us that the Ba'al we knew was just an imposter," Azazel murmured, landing beside Michael and Sirzechs.
The others didn't laugh—his words were not spoken in jest.
Compared side-by-side, this being dwarfed the original seventy-two pillars. His magic, his destruction—it was beyond the demonic.
He was a true god of calamity.
As the death beam vanished, the figure began to walk away, indifferent to the mayhem left in his wake.
Cadileya attempted to speak. This man, surely, wasn't aligned with Azazel either. If they pinned all blame on Kokabiel, they could manipulate him.
But she was met with silence. The being ignored her. Her pride flared, her cheeks burned—but now was not the time to earn a new enemy.
Then came a streak of white lightning across the sky.
Vali.
The White Dragon Emperor could not tolerate letting such a powerful foe walk away.
BOOM!
Lightning collided with destruction. A clash of titanic wills.
"Let me test your strength!" Vali declared, white armor encasing his body. Behind him, eight radiant wings pulsed like reactor thrusters.
He thrust a clawed gauntlet forward—intending to tear through the divine wall of magic before him.
In response, the Destroyer raised a hand again. A new sphere of lightning formed, larger, darker, more potent than before.
This time, even the light from Vali's own magic began to collapse inward, devoured by the abyssal glow.
FLASH!
The death beam surged forward again, aimed to swallow Vali whole.
But—
"Divide!"
A crystalline chime echoed from Vali's armor.
Azazel's eyes narrowed. He recognized the ability—Vali's sacred gear had activated. The God-Slayer's core function: to halve the opponent's power.
The death beam shrank instantly, sliced down in force.
Then Vali's own power spiked—the severed half transferred directly to him.
But the influx was overwhelming. His wings began ejecting surplus energy, unable to absorb the flood of strength.
The death beam stopped in place—pushed back inch by inch.
Could he last the full ten seconds?
Vali needed one thing: time.
Every ten seconds, the Divide function would activate again. If he lasted that long, he would half the death beam once more.
The Destroyer raised his second hand.
Lightning danced into a shape—a writhing spear, bound in black lightning.
But the lance wasn't merely shifting shape. Its presence distorted space around it, twisting the visual field like ripples in clear water.
"No, Vali!" Azazel shouted. "You must not receive that blow!"
What came next... could eclipse even Kokabiel's death.