One-Punch DxD: Legacy

by ahsoei

Originally was titled, 'Dragons and Heroes: Legacy'. When the strongest hero alive gets thrown into the world with supernatural entities, his son got caught in it and gained lively companions. Would it be possible for his son to inherit his power as well? As the hero started another quest to find out the origin of his power. WARNING: OOC! Possible AU in later arcs.

13. Holy Sword (IV)

Dragons and Heroes: Legacy

Hello again, my dear readers! This might be the most difficult chapter I've ever made so far. I've tried to create my own twist on this arc for the first time, so I won't say I can make a good one right off the bat. But I hope you find it passable. So, without further ado, here's the climax of Holy Sword arc!

Disclaimer: I don't own Highschool DxD nor One-punch Man, as well as other franchise where I referenced from in this story.

Chapter 12: Holy Sword (IV) – Return of the Hero

(Flashback, many years ago, Grigori territory)

"So, how has this world been treating you?" a figure of man with long black hair, pointy ears and five pair of black wings sprout from his back, wearing a black suit, asked without looking at the bald-headed man behind him, as if he could sense the said man's presence from miles away.

"Mm, fine I guess…" the baldy known as Hyoudou Saitama only replied nonchalantly.

The ten-winged fallen angel only raised his eyebrows slightly, not expecting, yet at the same time, could tell that that was definitely the answer that would come from the man beside him.

"I see… Then, what do you think, exactly? About this world… The world where God, our Father, no longer exist?"

Apparently, Saitama was walking around the area around Grigori when he spotted the fallen angel with ten black wings was standing on top of the nearby cliff, looking at the faraway sky of the underworld. Saitama only approached the fallen angel out of boredom.

When he was asked the last question, Saitama only shrugged. "No biggie, actually. I never really believe in god or anything like that, but hearing about the death of God, who people always praise of, is still something you don't hear everyday…"

The fallen angel only chuckled at the answer. After knowing Saitama for quite a while, the fallen should have known that such a human would not be shaken by the fact he just stated through the earlier question.

"Then, what do you think about those who are inhabiting this world?" the fallen angel finally turned to look at Saitama.

"Nothing much, I think… In the end, I still need to do what I used to do from time to time…" Saitama walked to the fallen angel's side.

"A hero, eh?" The fallen angel returned his gaze to the sky. "Still, it's kind of strange for you to work with us, the fallen, who had been known deceiving the humanity you've been fighting for."

"I still have much to learn about this world", Saitama replied. "Your boss is the only one of few people I can ask for information… Besides, to be honest I can't play the hero forever, you know? Someone will have to take my place eventually…" Saitama said as he also gazed at the sky.

"Kukuku… You really are something else, Hyoudou Saitama…" The fallen angel chuckled again. "Everyone else would not put their trust to Azazel, not even a bit."

"Would you?" Saitama asked back. The fallen angel's expression remained unfazed, yet Saitama could notice a wavering feeling within the fallen angel's eyes.

"At first, yes. But now… After everything that had transpired, I can't agree with him anymore…"

Saitama's eyes narrowed at this. "Then what are you gonna do, um…"

"Kokabiel"

"Yes, Kokabiel. What are you gonna do?"

"You should learn to remember people's name properly. Otherwise you'll make enemies out of everyone else in no time", the fallen angel, now known as Kokabiel, the Star of God, replied with a sigh. "Tell me, Saitama… What is the path for humanity to achieve peace? Saving the world?"

Saitama only remained silent at the question, prompting Kokabiel to continue. Honestly for him, when Saitama first became a hero, every trouble, every disaster, every conflict could be solved with his punch. However, now that Kokabiel mentioned, he never really stopped all conflicts for good. All Saitama did was solving a conflict, and remained on stand by until his fist was needed again. He never contemplated how to prevent all those conflicts to re-emerge again for a long run. But he became curious, now that he had a family to care of, which was still felt somewhat out of character for him, he wondered if this world would ever no longer need his power. Everyone live in peace and harmony with so little, if not at all, conflicts.

However, Saitama was not naïve. He knew conflict will always comes up as long as humanity exists. That was why heroes and saviours were born and made from time to time. Even in his homeland, people always applied to be a hero in the association, whether for their personal gain or for a just cause, but because evil and conflicts always there, waiting for someone to solve them one way or another. The only thing he can do is to make sure that those conflicts will not come up as long as possible, and to make sure that its number to be as low as possible. But the question remains, how will he do that?

"There's only one path to peace… their destruction…" Kokabiel said with a smirk on his face.

(End of Flashback)

X

Issei and Irina were roaming around the hall of the mansion they just went in. One could say that the mansion they were exploring now was something out of a horror flick.

"So where's Kiba and Xenovia? Aren't they supposed to be with you?" Issei asked his childhood friend as he looked around the pillars.

"We're split up a moment ago. But I've contacted them to meet up here. They should be here any second from now", Irina replied as she scanned around the walls.

Issei hummed at the answer when he ran his hand on the pillar's surface. However, Issei found that, despite seemed to be abandoned, the interior was not as dirty as he expected.

"Someone's using this place…" Issei commented as he rubbed a speck of dust from one of the pillars.

"How can you tell?" Irina raised her eyebrows at her childhood friend.

"From the amount of dust. Someone had done half-assed job in maintaining this building", Issei said as he blew away the dust from his finger. "They only cleaned it enough to be used, but not for the long run. Whoever owns this place is only using this as a temporary shelter."

"And how do you know about that?" Irina raised one of her eyebrows this time.

"Trust me, my mom had pounded everything into my head when I was learning how to take care of my house since I was eight. She could tell when I didn't put my mind in cleaning up the house."

"Okay…?" Irina reluctantly accepted Issei's logic for the time being. "Then, who do you think is owning this place?"

Issei looked at Irina for a second, "Rather than asking who is owning this place…" then he looked up towards the staircase. "What the hell is that?"

Irina looked up at Issei's direction, she followed the staircase up and the stairs were divided to left and right. Right at the intersection, she saw a monument-like structure. From the size it was big enough for four adult men to carry.

"Indeed, what is that?" Irina asked as she was closing in, followed by Issei by her side.

When they were close enough at the monument, they found runic symbols written across its surface, glowing in blue.

Issei furrowed his eyebrows when his eyes ran through the symbols. Irina also narrowed her eyes as if she noticed something. That monument-like structure was definitely the one that lured them in.

"Irina-chan, are you feeling it?"

"Yes, I am… I sense… Something from this thing. It's not just an ordinary monument", Irina replied as she reached out her hand to touch the surface, but was suddenly held by Issei.

"Wow… Hold it right there, Irina-chan…" Issei said as he grasped Irina's fore-arm with firm, yet gentle hold. "Things usually turn ugly when you touch unknown things out of curiosity. We don't know what this is, after all…"

Irina only snorted at her childhood friend's warning. "Sheesh, Ise-kun… You've watched too much movies", she said with playful smile, but she still conceded as she pulled her hand back.

Issei snorted back at the remark as he eyed Irina sceptically. "Anyway, we might not have much time here. Should we split up, do a quick look around, and meet up here again?" he said as he took a step away towards one of the stairwells.

"No, no…" This time, it was Irina who held Issei's arm, stopping the pawn on his track. "Bad things always happen when people started to split up in places like this one. I'd say we stick together for the time being."

"And you're telling me I watch too much movies… Or is it our little exorcist here got a cold feet?" Issei said with teasing tone and a grin on his face.

"Of course not! I'm a seasoned servant of the Lord too, you know! I've already used to do things like this with Xenovia!" Irina retorted with slightly blushing face.

"And did you always stick with her around when you're in a place like this?" Issei asked with his teasing tone remained present.

"Well… While dangerous, splitting up sometimes can help to speed up our work too!"

"Then why don't you want to split up now?" Issei asked with one of his eyebrows raised up.

"Well… It's with Xenovia back then, but now I'm with you…" Irina muttered around the last part as she fiddled around her fingers.

"What? What are you saying again?" Issei leaned in slightly closer, not being able to hear what Irina said.

"Nothing! Anyway, let's start from that way!" Irina quickly ended the conversation and she pulled Issei around towards one of the stairwells. Issei himself could only blinked as he reluctantly followed behind her.

X

Meanwhile, Rias was on her way to regroup with Akeno and Asia after she gave her instruction towards her servants. It had not been long yet since she gave out the order, so she thought she could meet them if she went to the directions of Hyoudou residence.

Right on her thoughts, just when she took the last turn to Issei's house, she met her queen who was standing in front of the house together with Asia, who was wearing her nun outfit. The former was having an amused smile on her face, while the latter face was somewhat blushing.

"Akeno, Asia", Rias greeted them who turned to their king. "What's the status?"

"My familiar is still searching for Yuuto-kun and the girls from the church. I myself just met Asia-chan not long ago", Akeno said with her smile remained.

Seeing her queen and bishop's expressions, Rias raised an eyebrow. "Um… What happened?"

Asia's blushed deepened, while Akeno giggled in amusement. "Fufufu… Buchou, you should have seen Asia's attire when I came inside the house…"

Rias eyed Asia with calculative look for a second, then she dismissed the thought. "Now's not the time. We have a work to do." Akeno and Asia's expression straightened up at Rias' tone.

Suddenly, a hostile, familiar presence came upon them, making the three devils turned their heads immediately towards the source. Their eyes were met with a familiar white hair and clergy outfit, Freed Sellzen.

As soon as the three devils took their battle positions, Freed held up both of his hands. "Whoa! Whoa! Time out! I'm not here to fight! Not yet, at least…" he said with slightly surprised expression and it soon replaced with a grin.

"I'm here only to accompany my boss to talk to you", the rogue exorcist pointed his thumb upward, and right on cue, Rias, Akeno and Asia felt an overwhelming presence from the sky.

They look upwards, and they saw a figure wearing a formal black suit, raven long hair, and five pairs of jet-black wings sprouting out from his back.

"Greetings, heiress of Gremory. Your crimson hair really reminds me of your brother… Which I despise so much…" The fallen angel said with a smirk on his face. "I'm Kokabiel of Grigori… I'd be lying if I say I'm pleased to be your acquaintance…"

Even Rias could not help but felt nervous. The holy, yet impure aura that flared out from his ten black wings sent chills to her entire body. "Are you the one behind all of this fiasco?" Rias managed to let out those words.

Kokabiel only snorted in amusement. "Why, indeed I am… I'm the one who has stolen three Excalibur swords from the church…"

"And why would you do that, exactly?" Rias said as she tried to keep her composure.

"To save the world…" Kokabiel simply replied.

"Excuse me?" Rias asked with bewildered tone.

"This world…" Kokabiel said as he looked into a distance. "The humans living here don't even realise that they're advancing towards their own end. I'm here to stop it… To achieve peace!"

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm surprised that you managed to recruit someone like Freed Sellzen there to cope up with your… whatever you're doing now", Rias asked with sceptical tone as she sent a quick glance at scowling Freed.

"Oi, oi! Don't get wrong ideas! I don't give a fuck about peace or whatever my boss is plotting, I'm only looking forward to the chaos he's gonna bring out!" Freed pointed at Kokabiel, who was scowling as well.

Rias eyes widened after few seconds. "By chaos… Don't tell me…!"

"Yes, I will start a second war between the heaven and underworld. While there's an option for me to do this with my army alone, but I need a better 'catalyst' to achieve peace. Another great war between three factions would be a good one, don't you think?" Kokabiel smile returned.

"B-but!" Everyone's attention went towards Asia. "But the world is already peaceful, right now! Why wouldn't you just leave it be?" Asia had gathered all of her courage to speak up.

"Little girl…. I'm afraid you've mistaken 'peace' with 'quiet'", Kokabiel said with slightly sympathetic tone.

"I don't understand at all, how can a war lead the world towards your so-called peace?" Rias asked with incredulous tone.

"I'm glad that you asked… Let's talk over my 'evil plan' at your academy, shall we? After all, that school of yours and that little sister of Leviathan has been my choice of the stage to start the war." Kokabiel said before he looked at the rogue priest.

"Freed."

"What?"

"Do you still have them? As you'd like me to keep my word, I'd rather you to keep yours as well."

Freed sighed in slight annoyance, but he smiled nonetheless as he opened his robe, revealing four swords with holy aura radiating from them. "Yeah, yeah, I have them here. Now can we go already? I want to start the fun part!"

The three devils' eyes widened at the swords, especially one of them that looked familiar.

"Those swords… Are they the stolen Excalibur?" Akeno asked.

"Yep, yep!" Freed replied with distorted cheerful grin. "Hahaha! My boss here is really fucked up, no? That's the part of him that made me want to go along with this world peace bullshit in the first place. He even let me to wield these awesome swords! These here are Excalibur Rapidly, Excalibr Nightmare, Excalibur Trasparency, and this one is Excalibur Destruction I managed to get from one of that blue haired girl. I want to have that Excalibur Mimic from the other bitch too, but… Oh well, having to wield these four is already awesome enough for me."

Remembering that her knight was with the exorcist as well, Rias' aura flared up from anger. "You…! What have you done to…!" But her outrage was interrupted by Kokabiel himself.

"No need to worry about those two you think of, Gremory girl… While we managed to get our hands on the Excalibur Destruction, its wielder and your servant managed to get away. They're alive at least… However…" Kokabiel paused for a moment. "Your other servant… As well as the other exorcist girl sent from the Vatican… They're now inside my base of operations. I'll make sure that my subordinates will… attend to them…" Kokabiel smirked as he finished and disappeared in black feathers before Rias could have said anything.

"I'll see you later, bitches!" Freed also disappeared after throwing off his signature flash-bang.

"Ise-san…" Asia said in worried tone, her hands clasped together in prayer.

"Buchou, your orders?" Akeno asked to her king.

Rias closed her eyes in thought. Should she found her pawn first, regroup with everyone else, and charge towards Kokabiel with full power? But that might take too long, considering going inside Kokabiel's base might tantamount to suicide. She also had to look for her knight as well. Or should she focused on Kuoh Academy first?

Rias then summoned a communication link to contact Issei. "Hello? Ise? Can you hear me?" after waiting without answer, "Ise, do you hear me? Answer me!" but still no answer came out. The same things went with her cell-phone as well.

After a moment, Rias closed her eyes for a second before opening them again and addressed her servants. "We'll put our faith in Ise for now. We'll regroup with Koneko, Sona and the others at Kuoh Academy at once!"

"Are you sure about this, Rias?" Akeno could not help but asked back. Despite the grave situation, abandoning her servants was not how Gremory doing things, after all.

"Akeno", Rias said with tone of finality. "Believe me, if not for our current situation, I'd rather to charge towards Kokabiel's base head on and rescue him as soon as possible. But have you forgotten of Ise's power?"

Akeno blinked at Rias' eyes that showed unwavering conviction, then she smiled. "Yes, you're right. We're talking about Ise-kun, after all…"

The two Kuoh great ladies then glanced at Asia, asking of her opinion as well.

"I… I want to help Ise-san too, but… Buchou-san is right. Ise-san will come back to us!" Asia steeled her resolve.

Rias nodded in affirmation. "Very well… Now, let's go!" Then the three devils quickly proceed towards Kuoh Academy.

Few minutes later, Rias, Akeno, Asia and Koneko were regrouped with the student council.

"I understand the situation… First off, we the student council will set up a barrier to supress the damages to areas outside the school. However, if Kokabiel really wants to start a war, he may going to destroy this entire town as well", Sona said with grim tone, Saji and Tsubaki were standing by her side.

"In addition, it's safe to assume that Kokabiel has done with all of his preparation. My familiar has confirmed me the sighting of Kokabiel channeling huge amount of his power on the school ground. It seems that he's now waiting for the time to release it all at once."

"So he really intends to destroy this town to spark a war with the heaven and the rest of underworld… I won't ever let him to harm our territory!" Rias said with resolve in her eyes. "Thank you, Sona… We'll handle the rest from here… Somehow."

"That's recklessly confident from you, Rias…" Sona said as she shifted her glasses. "Your opponent now is practically a monster on a whole different level. Should you seek help from your brother?"

"Come to think of it, you also haven't called for your sister as well…" Rias simply replied.

Sona could not help but felt a bit peeved at this. "My case is different… Your brother loves you, Rias… I still think you should call for him."

"If that's the case, I've already informed Sirzechs-sama about this matter", Akeno spoke up.

Rias widened her eyes in slight betrayal upon her queen's independent action. "Akeno! How could you…!"

"Rias!"

Being called by her name instead of her title, Rias was halted of her words. "I understand that you don't want to stir up trouble for your brother from your family… But admit it, the scope of this matter has far exceeded your ability alone!" Akeno moved closer towards Rias. "Put your pride aside and let's borrow the strength of a demon king!"

Rias wanted to refuse, but she knew herself that her queen had a point. "Fine… I get it", Rias said with tone of resignation. Akeno only smiled in relief at the reply.

"I'm informed that the reinforcement from Sirzechs-sama will come in at least an hour."

"One hour, huh? Alright, I guess we have to be prepared for the school to be destroyed. But I swear in the name of Sitri that I'll hold up the barrier with my servants until the back-up arrives", Sona decided.

Rias nodded at her childhood friend. Then, she proceeded with her own peerage. "Alright, everyone. Our task here is to distract Kokabiel inside the barrier until reinforcements arrives. However, unlike the fight with Riser, this is an all-out war. We'll survive this battle, and we shall return to our daily school life!"

"YES!" All of her peerage shouted in unison.

"Buchou!"

Suddenly, a familiar voice came out and everyone turned their heads to see Yuuto and Xenovia arrived before them.

"Yuuto, you've come back!" Rias said with a relief. "Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm fine. Are we heading there to face Kokabiel?" Yuuto asked and he received a nod from his master.

Rias then turned to Xenovia. "I honestly feel strange asking you this, but are you okay? Can you still fight?"

"I only have a wounded pride here, for letting them to take away my Excalibur…" Xenovia replied begrudgingly, her hands balled into fists. "But I can still fight. I still have another ace up of my sleeve."

"By the way, buchou… Where's Issei-kun?" Yuuto asked after he looked around.

Rias looked downcast for a second before replying. "I… I don't know… The last time I heard he was trapped in the enemy's base along with Irina-san… I couldn't make any contact with him at all. I wish I could've helped him, but I also have to trust him…"

"It's alright, buchou…" Yuuto interrupted. "I understand the situation. If it's Issei-kun, I'm sure he'll be fine and return to us soon enough", Yuuto said with reassuring smile.

"I concede as well", Xenovia followed. "Irina is with him too. If they're alive, they'll find us."

"Knowing Ise-senpai, he's probably fighting his way back here now", Koneko put her two cents.

"Yes, you're right…" Rias agreed. "Now, let's go", Rias said as she walked pass the school gate, followed by the others, including Xenovia.

"Be careful there, Rias…" Sona said in her mind as she watched the back of the Occult Research Club.

X

Meanwhile…

"Thanks for the food…" Issei clasped his hands together as he just finished another canned food and gulped down his can of soft drink. "Man, this emergency rations didn't taste as bad as I thought…"

"Thanks of the food", Irina also followed-suit as she just finished her snack. "Whew… I agree. While it's wrong to eat at times like this, but I guess now I'm now fuelled up", said Irina as she wiped her mouth.

"You need to take it easy, Irina-chan…" Issei said, standing up from his sitting spot. "We didn't waste that much time, it's just a quick snack time. And we're quite famished after all those battle with Freed, no?"

"I guess I'll go along with you for now, Ise-kun…" Irina said, standing up as well. "But don't you think it's strange now? After a while we walked from the stairs, I can't feel anything from outside at all… As if all of our connection with the outside world had been severed or something…" Irina said with weary tone as she looked around.

"You're right…" Issei agreed. "Let's wrap this up and get outta here after we check at the study room you found earlier, shall we?" Issei said as he opened the door. Upon stepping out, Issei was met with a corridor filled with remains of suits of armour sprawled lifelessly on the ground. "Still… What's with those things? After a minute we walked in here, they suddenly attacked us… Good thing they're suck… But can Grigori do something like that? Making an army of hollow armours?"

True to his words, just a while ago, after Issei and Irina had walked pass the stairs leaving the strange-looking monument, they got themselves inside a long corridor with windows at one side and doors at theo other, with minimum lightings on the wall. Just when they took a couple of steps forward, suddenly the suits of armour that were set up across the way moved by their own and attacked them with their swords, spears, halberd etc. Their movements were rather sloppy, considering that Issei and Irina managed to dispatch them without trouble. But they had to admit, everything that had occurred so far were things that usually happened in a horror flick.

The room where Issei and Irina were eating at earlier was some sort of a storage room that Issei found right after Irina found the study room when they were looking around the hallway. The room was filled with weapons, rations, clothes and other necessities. While they did not have much time, Issei's persuasion and Irina's stomach managed to convince her to have at least a quick fill-in before she moved further with the mission.

"I don't know, but spells that can program and move inanimate objects are not uncommon to begin with. Let's go now, we've wasted enough time", Irina said as she proceeded first.

"Yeah, yeah…" Issei followed suit. "Come to think of it, isn't it like old times?" Issei asked, receiving a look from his childhood friend. "Remember, when we're kids? We tended to go around the neighbourhood and playing adventures like this one?" Issei asked with nostalgic smile.

Irina looked up for a second in though before she giggled. "Fufufu… Indeed, just like the old times… Anyway, we're here", Irina replied as she opened the door of their destination.

The study room they intended to look around was quite spacious despite the simplicity, a square-shaped room with two high shelves filled with numerous books and records, a coffee table and set of chairs in the space between the shelves, and at the other side of the room, a desk with a computer set and a window covered by a curtain behind the chair. Surprisingly, unlike the corridor, the lightings in the room was brighter, giving the two childhood friends a better visual.

"Alright, let's do this quick. Irina-chan, you can start with the records, I'll see what I can find in the computer", Issei took an initiative, while Irina quickly obeyed and started to look around the shelves.

Irina took a particular folder that caught her eyes out from the shelve and opened it, while Issei sat on the desk and started to rummage through the keyboards. However, when Irina was about to read the title, Issei suddenly yelled.

"WHAT THE FUCK!?"

Startled out of her wits, Irina snapped her head towards Issei who had his eyes almost popped out from its socket, glued at the computer screen with incredulous expression on his blushing face.

"What? What is it? What happened?" Irina asked wearily.

"There's… There's so much PORN!" Issei replied while gesturing his hands at the screen.

Irina's entire face reddened immediately at the 'p' word. "Por-! W-w-Why are you looking into the private stuff in the first place!?"

"But this isn't private anymore! It's all over the desktop!" Issei almost could not believe his eyes either at the number of the files showed up.

"Rather, why the hell am I still looking at it!?" Issei shouted in his mind, he supposed to have turned off the screen immediately.

[Perhaps you're starting to awaken to your inner desire, partner…] Ddraig voiced his opinion teasingly. [It's totally normal to be into these things at your age…]

"But- but! Look at this! Clockwise rim-job, reverse clockwise rim-job, and… My god (ouch!)… Chicks with dicks!?"

[What! There are no chicks with dicks, only guys with tits!]

"…What?"

[*Cough*… you didn't hear anything]

"Nooo! Stop iiiit! I'll never become a bride if you keep talking about those things!" Irina yelled with her hands covering her ears and her head shaking.

"R-right, sorry!" while Issei did not really get about the bride part, he still knew that he had to stop looking at the porn collections and change the topic. "Err… How's on your side?"

Taking a deep breath, Irina regained her composure before answering. "Well… Here, you should read it too", Irina said as she showed the contents of the folder after Issei came over.

"Holy Sword Project… by Valper Galilei?" Issei read it with slight disbelief. "I thought the church had confiscated all of his research files?"

"Judging from the ink, I guess he managed to make a copy before the church could take the original. Let's look what's inside…" Irina said as she flipped through the pages. After reading them for another while, Irina's eyes widened. "What the…"

X

Kokabiel was sitting on his floating throne above the Kuoh Academy's grounds, watching the battle beneath him. He was disappointed, albeit expecting that the top dog did not come right off the bat, instead their relatives, Rias Gremory and her peerage plus one exorcist from Vatican, came up to challenge him.

However, despite being rookies, Kokabiel admitted that the devils were doing pretty well against his Cerberus while the exorcist chose to remain on stand by while guarding the weaker devil one. He wanted to unleash two at first, but since he knew that there were other two intruders in his base, he decided to deploy just one and kept the other Cerberus for later.

True, Rias, Akeno, Yuuto and Koneko did not have much difficulty in dispatching a Cerberus. However, the tough part came up. Valper Galilei was standing at the middle of the field with a large magic circle written on it. Surrounding him, just above the ground, were the four Excalibur swords.

"It is done…" Valper said as the four Excalibur slowly merging into one single sword. "The ritual to fuse the four holy swords into one is complete", Valper continued his magic at work as the power of the fused holy sword was absorbed into the large magic circle on the ground. "With this spell from Kokabiel, and the power of my new Excalibur as its fuel, this whole city will be levelled in 30 minutes."

Everyone could not help but at least widened their eyes, considering that Excalibur could be said to have one step closer to be fully revived again.

"Hmph… So Valper's research of holy swords had gone this far, huh…?" Kokabiel looked at the new holy sword with passive gaze.

"If you'd like to cancel the activation of this spell… I'm afraid that you'd have to defeat Kokabiel first…" Valper said with a grin.

"30 minutes… Sirzechs-sama's reinforcements won't make it in time!" Akeno exclaimed with horror in her face.

"Kokabiel…" Valper calmly address his 'master'. "Would you mind if Freed to test the power of this new Excalibur?"

Kokabiel looked at Genocide Archbishop for a while, then he closed his eyes and gesturing his hands in permission. He would enjoy every sight he could get his eyes on as much as possible before the war began.

Freed grin maniacally as he stepped down from a tree where he watched everything so far. "My, my… I honestly don't understand what my current boss is thinking… But, but, but! I guess I can enjoy to have an honour to wield such an awesome sword!" Then the rogue exorcist held the new Excalibur with his hands. "Kehehehe… You all devils, I'll butcher you really good into itty, bitty pieces…!"

Seeing Freed moved the new Excalibur freely in his hands, Xenovia stepped up as she looked to Yuuto. "Our alliance is still valid, right? Let's destroy that sword together."

Yuuto raised his eyebrows slightly. "Are you sure?"

"That sword… I can't see it as a holy sword anymore. It's just a corrupted sword with holy aura. If the push come to shove, I'll just have to collect the shards."

Yuuto nodded, but before he engaged Freed, he turned his attention to Valper Galilei. "Valper Galilei…" Yuuto said with hatred in his voice. "I'm a survivor of the holy sword project… No, rather, I was murdered by your project, then reborn as a devil."

"I have a question for you! Why would you do such a thing in the first place?"

Valper only looked at the Gremory knight calmly, then he smiled in recognition. "I see… A survivor of that project, eh? Very well, I guess I can tell you…"

X

Meanwhile, Issei and Irina were reading stacks of folders that sprawled all over the table and the floor, most of folders are the copies of Valper's research of holy swords, particularly about Excalibur.

Issei flipped through pages of the draft in his hands, then he spotted a page that consists picture of children, boys and girls with small profile. All of the pictures of the children were stamped with 'deceased' in red. Issei immediately knew that these children were probably the failed test subjects of the holy swords project.

"Anastasia, Tyler, Erika, Letitia, Cristian, Alec, Malley, Kadan, Gilver, Tosca… Izaiya…?" Issei skimmed the name in his head until he found the last name had a familiar picture. A child with blonde hair and a mole under his left eye, the picture was also stamped as 'deceased' as well.

"How's your end, Ise-kun?" Irina asked as she peaked over, while she still had a folder opened on her hands.

"Does he look familiar to you?" Issei replied as he showed and pointed at the profile 'Izaiya'.

Irina furrowed her eyebrows for a second, then her eyes widened. "That face… Isn't that your knight friend?"

"Yeah. Although the name is different, but I can tell that he's Kiba…" Issei said while nodding.

"And how can you tell? There's a chance that he's just a child with the same face, right?"

"What are the odds? Besides, thinking back of Kiba's background, his current name is not necessarily his original identity, right?" Issei said. "Anyway, how's your side?"

"Here", Irina showed her folders this time. "This is Valper's research log… As well as his journal."

Issei started to scan the file together with Irina. They did not have the luxury to take in every single word, so all they did were skimming through sentences and connecting some key words into information.

My heart danced whenever I listened to those stories of holy swords ever since my younger days…

Then they changed to another sentence.

It was heart-breaking when I found that I could never hold a holy sword, thus I became enamoured with those that could wield them…

However, the number who were gifted to wield a holy sword since birth were scarce, so with all my heart, I indulge myself studying to create one…

Issei and Irina's eyes widened at the next part of the log.

After months since the project had started, experiment XX on subject 0XX code name Izaiya had concluded that a certain gene was required in order to wield the holy sword. Soon enough, another conclusion was reached that while these children did not have enough genes to wield the sword, it is possible to extract the necessary genes, crystalized them, and pass it down to another person, making that person to have enough 'genes' to properly wield Excalibur…

Irina covered her mouth in disbelief. "It can't be… But now I know… The thing that was put inside us during the blessing to wield Excalibur fragments… It was the genes of the failed test subjects? People…?"

"Valper, you old son of a bitch…" Issei said in anger.

X

"Thanks to this, my research was able to make a dramatic leap forward. But those from the church condemned me as a heretic and banished me…" Valper said as he showed the crystalized 'genes' from his research, then he looked hatefully at Xenovia. "When I saw you wielded the Excalibur… It seems Michael has a nerve to use the results of my research, even though Michael himself condemned me…"

"You're telling me, that you slaughtered me and my comrades so you could take our genes!?" Yuuto said gritting his teeth furiously.

"That's correct. In fact, I've used about three crystals on Freed for him to wield the holy sword. The one on my hand is the last one."

"Hyahahaha! Let me tell you that the other test subjects died during the trial of this power, you know? I'm awesome if I say so myself!" Freed commented with hearty laugh.

"You toyed with all of us… Our lives, just to satisfy your own desire! Valpeeeer!" Yuuto screamed as his anger peaked.

"Yes… Yes! While I found that Kokabiel's ploy for his so-called peace was rather foolish, but I'll gladly use this opportunity to show those damn angels and the other idiots who dared to condemn me, the fruits of my research! Soon, I'll create more Excalibur wielders and turn them to go against the heaven!" Valper said with a glee.

"You're insane… All of you…" Rias clenched her fist tightly, as her face also morphed to anger.

"Whatever, I guess I can give these dregs to you. After all, it's just a shadow of what it once was…" Valper replied as he tossed the last crystalized genes to the ground near Yuuto.

The knight slumped to his knees, his sword forgotten, then he slowly picked up the small crystal in front of him. He held it with such gentleness as he knew that the crystal was all that was left of his past comrades.

"Everyone…" Yuuto said with meek voice as tears started to build up in his eyes. "I'm sorry…"

X

Issei and Irina were still stunned about the truth regarding the holy sword project, with the latter took it worse. While Irina wished to use her Excalibur Mimic to fight for the her God and protect His creation and world, gaining a power with sacrifice of people who were killed mercilessly felt horribly strange for her. It was as if she was standing over the corpses of those children who had been subjected for the holy sword project.

While Irina still contemplating about her resolve, Issei caught a sight of a particular book in the shelf. The book looked old, and it did not look like other books with its much smaller size. Rather, the book was more like bunch of notes being compiled into a book. He picked it out, opened it and he ran through the pages as he found that the language written was very old, ancient to be precise. Even his gift of 'language' from his devil-hood could not help him deciphering its enterity.

[Want me to translate it for you?]

Issei looked at his left arm with his eyebrows raised. "Ddraig? You can read this?"

[Of course I can. I'm a heavenly dragon, remember? My body might be no more, but my thousand years of knowledge is still here]

"Then, what is this book all about? I can't really make out what it says…"

[It's a journal…. Kokabiel's diary to be exact. You still want to know what it says?]

"I… don't really like prying into other's privacy, but now's not the time. We may find an alternative to defeat Kokabiel from this."

Ddraig simply hummed in affirmation as Issei scanned through pages just like what he did with Valper's research log, with the dragon translating the words that went through Issei's eyes.

X

Meanwhile, Kokabiel just saw another amusing development. Few moments after the Gremory knight had been mourning for his crystalized comrades, suddenly the crystal in his hands glowed and the knight was enveloped in a blinding light.

However, while everyone else only saw a mass of light enveloping Yuuto, the said knight's view was all white, and his eyes caught the sight of several familiar figures.

"Everyone!"

Yes, all of them are the soul of Yuuto's past comrades that were subjected to holy sword project. Yuuto still remember all of their faces, which while showing regrets, none of their expressions were showing any anger or hatred towards Yuuto. In fact, their gazes were so warm and gentle.

"I… I…" Yuuto could not find any words to say. After stuttering for a second, he finally managed to let out more. "I always… I always kept wondering…." His words were choked by his own tears. "Whether… Whether it is okay for me to be alive…" Yuuto said between his sobs. "There were children who had dreams more than I did… There were children who deserved to live longer than me…! Is it really alright for me living a peaceful life, while all of you're dead saving me?"

The ghosts of the deceased children did not change their warm loving gaze, instead they circled around Yuuto and started to compose a song as beautiful sounds were coming out from their mouths.

While Freed and Valper grimaced in disgust, every devil and Kokabiel were mesmerized by the song.

"Hoo… How interesting… To hear this song after those centuries…" Kokabiel mused.

"Is this… The rumoured sacred song?" Xenovia said as she kept looking at the singing ghost, mesmerized by their voices.

"So warm…" Koneko simply commented.

Rias and Akeno did not say anything as they only listened intently to the sacred song, while Asia clasped her hands in prayer and tears pouring down from her eyes.

"This song… It's so beautiful… I can feel their love and warmth towards Kiba-san…" Asia said.

"E-everyone…" Yuuto said as he felt the warmth around him.

One of the souls, a girl stepped forward and she pulled Yuuto into a hug. "We're fine, now… So please, live on…"

The others also said their parting words of encouragement.

We might not be able to do anything alone…

But when we're together, everything will be fine…

We've accepted our past with the holy sword…

There's nothing for us to fear of any longer…

Even if there is no god watching over us…

Our hearts will always be one…

Yuuto smiled at their words as he felt a huge burden had been lifted up from his shoulders. Then, all the surrounding lights slowly absorbed into him, and the knight's body was radiating with power.

As the wind blew from Yuuto's aura, Rias and the others could feel his power even from their distance. "What happened!? Yuuto!" Rias yelled in worry.

Akeno's eyes widened as she looked at Yuuto's aura. "This power… Could it be…!"

Kokabiel could also feel the spike of Yuuto's aura from his floating throne at the sky. Then, he suddenly remembered some of Azazel's lecture during his Sacred Gear research.

A Sacred Gear will use its owner's thoughts and feelings as nourishment to grow stronger as it progresses. However, there exists an entirely different domain. What the owner's thoughts and feelings violently erupt against the flow of the world, the Sacred Gear will reach its peak. This phenomenon is known as…

"Balance breaker? So that kid finally achieved that stage…" Kokabiel said with somewhat proud smirk.

"Uugh…" A groan was heard from Freed Sellzen. "Can you cut all this creepy orchestra? That song really makes my skin crawl… Just get on with it already and let me cut you into pieces with this super Excalibur-chan!" the stray priest shouted with his sword ready.

However, Yuuto only remained silent and muttered few words after few seconds. "… I will become a sword…" Yuuto said with resolution. "My comrades… My comrades have merged with my spirit. Let's overcome Excalibur together. Our feelings that we couldn't say back then! The wishes that we couldn't fulfil back then! Right now! Right here!" Yuuto thought to himself.

"Yuuto, finish it! Surpass the Excalibur! You are the servant of I, Rias Gremory! My knight will not lose to a mere holy sword!" Rias shouted in encouragement.

"Yuuto-kun, I believe in you!" Akeno followed as well.

"Yuuto-senpai!" Koneko shouted at Yuuto with convictions.

"Kiba-san! Please do your best!" Asia also encouraged the knight as well.

"I shall become a sword for buchou and my comrades! Please respond to my feelings this time! Sword Birth!" Yuuto put all of his power into work.

Then, Yuuto's Sacred Gear and the spirits of his past comrades started to mix. The mixture started to align and form a shape as the demonic power of Sword Birth combining with the holy power of the children's spirits.

Soon, the new sword was completed. Yuuto could feel its sensation. His Sacred Gear, his comrades were telling him that it was sublimation. The sword gave out divine light from its blade and ominous aura from the red inscriptions on the middle of the blade. Holy and demonic aura could be felt radiating from Yuuto's new creation.

"Balance breaker: Sword of the Betrayer… You shall taste the power of this sword that has both holy and demonic powers with your own body!" Yuuto announced as he started to run towards Freed.

Freed's fused Excalibur clashed with Yuuto's holy-demonic sword as soon as they were in range. Thanks to Yuuto's speed from his knight trait, he managed to give the stray exorcist a hard time to grasp his movements. However, being a seasoned fighter from the Vatican, Freed could still keep up with Yuuto's speed and blocked the strikes from the knight. However, every time the blade made a contact, the holy aura that covered Freed's Excalibur was slowly erased by Yuuto's sword.

"Wha…! That sword surpasses my super Excalibur-chan!?" Freed said in surprise when he knew what happened to his weapon.

"If it were the true Excalibur, I would've lost. But that kind of Excalibur won't be able to cut the feelings of me and my comrades!" Yuuto replied as he continued to send relentless strikes towards Freed.

Clicking his tongue, the stray exorcist chose to step up his game as well. Using the power of Excalibur Rapidly and Destruction inside his sword, his movement suddenly became much faster than before and his blows created explosions every time it hit the ground.

However, due to Freed's uncontrolled killing intent, Yuuto had no trouble of reading Freed's movement and easily dodged each of devastating strikes.

"Come on! Why aren't you hitting!? You're supposed to be the unrivalled holy-sword-sama, aren't ya!? Ain't you supposed to have lots of legends of being the ultimate holy sword!?" Freed yelled in agitation.

As the two swordsmen remained on stalemate, Freed decided to use more of the power inside his Excalibur. Suddenly, his blade disappeared, Excalibur Trasparency had been put into work. But Freed's killing intent remained at large, so Yuuto could still tell where the attack would come from.

However, having the destructive power of Excalibur Destruction, Yuuto was forced to dodge, as he could not afford to risk his sword to be broken from the Excalibur's destructive powers. But he knew that he could not win if he just kept dodging.

"Leave it to me!"

Suddenly, Xenovia stepped in as she lounged with her right hand extended into the air. "St. Peter, St. Basil the Great, St. Denis, Holy Mother of Mary… Please hear my voice!" she chanted in prayer.

Then, the space around her right began to distort, revealing a pocket dimension. Xenovia put her hand inside it, then from the pocket she pulled out a sword, a uniquely-shaped broadsword with a blue blade and a golden edge. The sword had a semi-circular guard on the left side of the handle that extended to the bottom just above the pommel, with a small extension on the right side of the handle. Standing from the tip of the blade, the Durandal was slightly taller than the female exorcist, surpassing the latter's height by just a few centimeters.

"In the names of the saints whom reside within this blade, I shall release it… Durandal!"

Everyone, including Kokabiel, widened their eyes in astonishment.

"Durandal!?"

"So you're not the wielder of Excalibur?"

"No, not exactly. I was originally the wielder of Durandal. I was just chosen to wield Excalibur as well. That's all", Xenovia replied as she held her new holy sword with both of her hands.

"Absurd! My research has not reached the stage where Durandal can be wielded!" Valper retorted in disbelief.

"Of course you haven't. Even Vatican can't make an artificial wielder of Durandal."

"Then why!? How can you wield it!?"

"Simple. Because unlike those artificial holy sword wielders, I'm a natural born one."

Valper became speechless at Xenovia's words. He could not believe that he would be seeing face to face with the natural wielder of a holy sword.

"My Durandal is so powerful, giving me quite hard to control since it doesn't listen to its own wielder most of the time. That's why, I have to store it in a dimensional pocket, otherwise it would be dangerous. Now, Freed Sellzen… Shall we have the showdown between Excalibur and Durandal? Show me the power of your sword to its fullest. I'd be disappointed if you go down in one strike…" Xenovia declared as her holy sword was radiating with a holy power more powerful than Freed's own holy sword.

"This is a hoax, a fucking hoax, I tell you! I don't need damn situation like this, you bitch!" Freed cursed as he desperately began to attack Xenovia with his Excalibur.

When the two blades with high destructive power made contact with each other, the clash of power sent a shock wave to the surroundings, but Xenovia's Durandal prevailed as it immediately snapped Freed's Excalibur's blade in half.

Seeing the Excalibur had been broken easily enough, Xenovia sighed in disappointment. "As I thought… It's just a corrupted sword with holy power… Its destructive power is no match for my Durandal…"

Freed himself only looked at his broken sword with the look of despair. "You gotta be shitin' me… My great Excalibur-chan was defeated? Fuck! This is fuckin' horrible! Aaarrghh! How could this happen!? Just when I managed to lay my hands on it!"

While Freed was still distracted over his loss, Yuuto jumped into the opportunity. He ran straight towards the stray exorcist, and when Freed noticed the incoming attack, he quickly raised what remained of his sword to block the holy-demonic sword.

BAAAKIIIN!

The sound of crumbling metal was heard as Yuuto's sword cut through the remnants of the fused Excalibur, along with good part of Freed's flesh on his shoulder to his stomach. As Freed fell to the ground with blood coming out from his wound, Yuuto smiled faintly in pride.

"I won… We won… We've surpassed the Excalibur…" Yuuto thought as he lowered his sword and looked at the sky. However, despite his victory, Yuuto felt something big had lost inside him. It was his aim for life. Now that his long-life objective had been fulfilled, what would he do from now on?

Kokabiel smirked at the sight, as he knew that the things on his side had been developing, he quickly started preparing a spell to send some of his consciousness to attend things on the other side.

"Holy-demonic sword…?" While Kokabiel was still casting his communication spell, he heard Valper was talking with disbelief tone. "Impossible… The polar opposite of two things can't merge…"

Seeing that the source of the tragedy was still alive, Yuuto steeled himself and pointed his sword at the Genocide Archbishop.

"Valper Galilei… Prepare yourself!" Yuuto declared as he resolved himself to finish things once and for all.

"…Of course! I understand now!" Valper said as if he found something else. "Holy and demonic… It will make sense now, if the beings representing the two have become unbalanced! It was not only the demon lords, but the God has also-!"

STAB

Just when Valper looked like he had an epiphany, he felt a pain on his chest, and he saw a spear of light had pierced through him. Without a word, he fell to the ground after coughing a solid amount of blood. Everyone did not have to check things again as they were all aware that the Genocide Archbishop had finally died.

"Valper… You've done well. I'll take over from here…" Kokabiel said with his hand extended, no doubt that he was the one who threw that light spear.

The fallen angel cadre stepped up from his throne, he descended slightly, and looked over the devils and Xenovia who readied themselves for a battle. Kokabiel only smirked.

"Well done… All of you. I shall take you all on as I have acknowledge your potentials… But I'd have to ask first, do you still want to fight, even after both of your masters are no more?"

Hearing Kokabiel's words, Rias was the one who asked first. "What are you talking about?"

Kokabiel only snorted at the question, then he chuckled. "Kukuku… How could I forget? Of course you wouldn't know… yet. Very well, allow me to enlighten you… of the truth."

X

Meanwhile, during the fight at Kuoh Academy, Issei was frozen after few minutes he read the little book in his hands. He did not read the entirety of it, but he knew more or less of what was written so far. The pawn was frozen when he read one particular sentence.

"Ddraig… Are you sure that you didn't translate it wrong?" Issei asked inside his mind.

[As much as unbelievable it sounds… Yes, I'm sure. Besides… I also have a bit memory during the great war… The Biblical God seemed… Extremely exhausted when he was engaging us the heavenly dragons…]

Issei could not believe what he just read. Ddraig had no reason to lie to him. What terrified him more, the one who wrote this journal most likely did not lie either. Issei aware that the thing he just found out was something crucial, and letting wrong people to find out about it would only caused more trouble in the future. No, forget trouble. This information would change the relations between the three factions forever.

"Ise-kun?"

Suddenly, Issei's musing was interrupted by the voice of his childhood friend, whom seemed to have snapped out from her stupor. The pawn immediately closed the book, and tried to hide his earlier shocked expression.

"What is it, Irina-chan?" Issei asked in neutral tone.

"What were you reading?"

"Kokabiel's journal… Mostly rubbish, but thanks to this I now know that he wants to start another great war", Issei replied.

The pawn told himself that nobody, especially Irina should know about what he read just now. So, instead of lying to her, he decided to tell half of the truth. While the answer could satisfy her curiosity, Irina would not ask unwanted questions any further.

Suddenly, Issei and Irina's senses perked up as they felt a familiar aura signature was covering the entire surroundings, the entire building.

"This power…!"

"Yes, no doubt about it… It was from that weird structure we saw earlier!"

Issei looked around and he said, "Irina, we're done here. Let's get ou-…! … Irina-chan?" Issei was about to take his childhood friend outside when he caught his childhood friend was approaching the window.

When Irina felt the power, she caught a glimpse from the curtains, that the light that slipped through the gaps of the curtain seemed too bright considering it was already night-time. Curiously, she approached the window and opened the curtain, only to see something unexpected.

"Um… Ise-kun? I think you need to take a look at this…" Irina called out.

Issei, who was also aware of the abnormality when Irina opened up the curtain, approached beside her to get a better view. His eyes also widened in disbelief when he got a good look of the outside.

The sky was filled with many colours like aurora instead of being a night sky, everything else on the neighbourhood was similar, but the landscape and the surrounding buildings were twisted and more vibrant with some abnormal growth compared to the human world. In other words, Issei and Irina were sent to a different dimension along with the whole complex of the mansion.

"Um… Ise-kun, are you seeing this?" Irina asked as her eyes were still glued on the sight before her.

"Err…. Yeah, I'm seeing. But I'm still working on believing. Are- are we in a… You know?"

"A limbo…? Sort of?"

"I'll take a quick look outside", Issei said as he calmly walked towards the door.

He opened the door slightly to take a peek, and he saw that the entire interior structure of the building had undergone dramatic changes as well. In addition, numerous fallen angel soldiers and hellhounds were sighted patrolling in the hallway. He closed the door silently before the guards caught the sight of him and he turned back towards Irina.

"Yes, we're inside a goddamn limbo…"

Irina covered her mouth in further disbelief. "But… How? Could it be…?"

[Yeah. We have to do something about the structure you found earlier if you want to get back to our original dimension] Ddraig voiced his conclusion from Issei's left arm.

"But, why now? That monument didn't show any sign of activating earlier!" Irina asked.

"Because I just activated it…"

A foreign voice put them into alert while Issei remained calm and Irina prepared her Excalibur Mimic at the direction the voice came from. When they turned their heads, they saw the angel of stars was floating in front of them. Strangely enough, they did not feel anything coming out from the fallen, as if he was not there.

"I take that you're Kokabiel?" Issei asked after taking in the five pair of jet black wings.

"Indeed, I am… Though I'm not exactly here just for you know. You're also one of the devils of this town, as well as the exorcist that was sent by the Vatican, correct?" Kokabiel replied and he still asked, despite already knowing the answer.

Knowing that the fallen angel before them was just a projection, Issei spoke up. "Let's not beat around the bush, shall we? What's with your deal with stealing the holy swords and trying to restart the Great War? You of all people should've known that three factions will meet total annihilation if you people fight again", Issei said while Irina remained on guard.

"I guess I haven't explained them to you… Very well, I'll tell you. Everything is… For the sake of the peace."

"Excuse me?" Irina could not believe her ears.

"As I said, for the sake of peace… For the better world."

Issei furrowed his eyebrows. "Care to explain how? When everyone's dead?"

"Have you ever considered of how the current humanity fare themselves with the world?" Kokabiel started with a question. Receiving a look from the two, the fallen angel continued on. "Yes… I honestly feel sorry for this world… Those humans who inhabit it have lost their way, and only quickening their process to end themselves. I, being once the child of our Father, as well the watcher of humanity, it is my duty to ensure their survival… To prevent them to destroy themselves…"

"But what you're about to do now is destroying them through the war! Not only the three factions and the world of supernatural, human world will be devastated as well!" Issei said his point.

"Exactly! But know this, devil… Humans, despite how fragile they are… They always survive ever since the disasters in the dawn of time. I know very well, that humanity will survive from the war I'm about to start, even only one or a couple will remain, humanity will always find away to survive. And I'll see into it that fallen angels will survive in the end, since we are able to expand our numbers through conventional means, while angels and devils are not. And us, the fallen angels shall lead the surviving humans towards the new age of prosperity!"

"You're really are crazy if you think your scheme's gonna work out…" Issei spat.

"Yeah, he's right! Even if you managed to spark another war, Grigori and underworld won't survive another attack from the heaven and our Lord!" Irina added her two cents.

Kokabiel only chuckled at Irina's input. "You really don't know anything, do you, my dear?" Irina only narrowed her eyes in confusion. "Let me ask you this, then. Put the humanity aside, what do you think will happen to the heaven if another great war were to start again? Rather, what did the church teach you?" Kokabiel asked to Irina.

"Isn't that obvious? The heaven will suffer damage beyond repair if more angels were to die from the war!"

"Then think about it. There's actually a loophole in that statement. You know that devils had lost their original leaders and cannot afford to have another war due to the low number of pure-blood devils, right? Us from Grigori also had lost majority of our members while our leaders remain. So why would Heaven also afraid of another war so much? Even they don't want to have more casualties, as long as they have our Father on their side, sure they have nothing much to fear, don't they?"

Irina only got confused even further, while Issei's expression got bitter. After all, he knew what Kokabiel was trying to imply.

"It's simple, actually. Because they're trying to cover the truth away from you", Kokabiel said.

Irina widened her eyes and Issei clenched his fist even tighter. The latter was given a choice in his head, should he stop Kokabiel to say anything further, or should he let Irina to find out the bitter truth, knowing that she would learn that eventually?

"Tell me, girl. What do you think about the current Heaven's system for you?"

"What are you talking about? The system is doing just fine, as far as I can tell!"

"I see… So Michael has been doing a good job in maintaining the system up there… Then, do you know that long ago, the numbers of believers of the Lord were much more compare to these days of age?" Kokabiel asked before continuing. "There are other reasons why the numbers of believers had decreased. Some of them had lost their faith when they know the truth after the Great War."

"The truth? What are you trying to say?" Irina became more confused.

"Let me show you this, then…" Kokabiel pointed towards an empty space, and a screen manifested itself from thin air and showing the battle at Kuoh Academy between Yuuto and Freed. The Gremory knight was holding a sword with shining blade and red inscriptions at its centre. "That sword there… Is a holy-demonic sword. Your devil comrade just managed to achieve his balance breaker."

Irina and Issei were wide-eyed at the screen. Irina saw Xenovia was unleashing Durandal, while Issei could not hold back his smirk as he was proud inwardly at Yuuto's new achievement. But, that moment was ruined when Issei realised that Yuuto's balance breaker was what Kokabiel trying to emphasize.

"A sword that possess both holy and demonic power? How is that possible!?" Irina finally realised the events before her.

"Well, as much as I'd want to chat more, my time here is up. I need to go back to those at your academy. If you want to know more about the truth I spoke of, why don't you ask your devil friend over there?" Kokabiel said as he turned his gaze at the now stunned Issei.

"You've read that book, haven't you? You know everything I've written there, and you simply asked me again earlier only to clarify my points. And oh, if you want to rescue your comrades, be my guest. But only if you managed to find a way out from this dimension…" Kokabiel chuckled as his body disappeared along with the screen.

"Ise-kun?" Issei turned to see Irina. "What's he talking about? What did you read in that book?"

Issei's jaw tightened at this. "Nothing… Nothing at all", Issei steeled himself. His childhood friend did not have to know about this, at least not yet. "Come on, we gotta go back to the others", Issei said as he prepared himself before opening the door outside. Irina only stared at Issei's guilty expression for a second, then she chose not to pry further and followed him.

By the time they came out from the study room, all enemies immediately directed their attentions on them. Mobs of fallen angel soldiers and hellhounds began to lounge at them with their respective attacks, and Issei quickly summoned his Boosted Gear to counter them while Irina with her holy sword.

Fending off the enemy was not particularly difficult, given Issei's strength and Irina's swordsmanship. However, Irina felt her sword heavier than usual. Her mind was in turmoil. So many uncertainty and questions were swirling inside her head. As a warrior, she could come to terms about the sacrificed children from the holy sword project, but Kokabiel's words earlier bothered her to no end. As if to make matters worse, the enemy forces were not the only things that hindering them, the building itself had become their enemy as well.

Occasionally, the walls would try to squash them, the floors would unleash spikes to impale them, and pit-falls would appeared out of nowhere to trap them. Despite the dilemma she was experiencing, thanks to the team work between two childhood friends, the two youngsters managed to overcome the obstacles. And for some reasons neither of them could fathom, they somewhat could tell that while they still had a long way to go, they were heading to the right direction.

Every heavy swings she made, every steps she took as she ran across the presumably limbo, she could not stop herself from thinking about Kokabiel's words.

Numbers of believers of the Lord were much more compare to these days of age…

Some of them had lost their faith when they know the truth after the Great War…

If you want to know more about the truth I spoke of, why don't you ask your devil friend over there?

Irina took a glance at Issei. Did he hide something from her? If so, why did he not want to tell her so bad? Irina pondered as she recalled Kokabiel's words again.

A holy-demonic sword…

Irina was still curious about that sword. How come a sword could house two powers of oppose each other? If something had been tampered inside the sacred gear, it might be one thing, but as far as Irina remembered, Kiba Yuuto had not mastered his sacred gear when they first met, and the knight suddenly managed to achieve that stage in matter of days? What are the odds? Besides as the matter of fact, even with special tampering the balance between two opposing sides is absolute. Unless…

Michael has been doing a good job in maintaining the system up there…

Why did Kokabiel mention Michael instead of the Lord? While Michael also holds an important role in running the Heaven, the system is governed by the God himself. Then, when the matter about holy-demonic sword came to her mind again, Irina's eyes widened.

"No… Impossible!"

Irina might be ignorant and childish sometimes, but she was not a fool when the situation calls for it. Remembering her lesson back in her days in England about the war and three factions, she was taught that the original leaders of three factions were the ones who have been keeping the balance in check, and if the leaders were to be perished, the balance will collapse, making the merging between each side to be possible.

"Holy and demonic…! I know that devils had lost their original leaders, but… the angels? No, I won't believe it!" Irina thought as she felt harder to breath, her sword even heavier than before, and she felt her legs heavy as well, as if she was running on a mud.

Thankfully for her, there were no enemies in their vicinity for the time being, thus she converted her Excalibur Mimic into her wrist, feeling that it would ease the unknown burden somehow.

"Irina-chan?" Irina's anxiety was cut-off by the voice of her childhood friend. "Are you okay?" Issei asked in worried tone.

"Y-yes, I'm fine…" Irina tried to sound as fine as she could. But she could not deny the anxiety that had been building up in her heart. Irina was now terrified beyond her imagination of the information and the truth Kokabiel had spoken off earlier. She wanted to find comfort by asking the boy beside her, but could help herself to do so.

"Get ready, I think we're close now", Issei said when they arrived in front of a large door.

Irina let out a small breath of relief. Perhaps the upcoming battle beyond the door might be a good distraction for her worries. She nodded, brandished her Excalibur Mimic once again as Issei pushed the door open.

When they stepped into the room, they were glad that now they had returned to the great hall, which was now looked more spacious, where they found the monument in the first place. However, what they saw further ahead had shaken their entire core. What shook them was not the numbers of fallen angels and hellhounds, as well as a giant Cerberus that had been waiting for them, but the huge magical scriptures that appeared above the glowing monument that emitting power. The alphabets were floating and arranged into one sentence that was the cause of Issei and Irina's shock.

GOD IS DEAD

Issei widened his eyes at the floating sentence and he quickly snapped his head to check on Irina. Much to his horror, Irina was the one had it the hardest. At first, Irina's jaw was opened and her eyes like frozen, her body trembled from the shock she got from that particular sentence.

"Lies…" was the first word Issei heard from her mouth as Irina tightened her hold on her sword. "Lies, lies, lies, lies… LIES!" Irina roared her denial as she blindly charged towards enemy with her holy sword.

"Wha-! Wait, Irina-chan!" Issei was forced to join as well and another enemy mob engaged him as well. The pawn was left with no choice but to fend off the enemy in front of him before he could go to his friend.

As she was blinded with rage and denial, Irina had already felt exhausted after few swings of her sword. She could not believe the fact that just appeared before her. The Lord that she had put her devotion into had been dead before she was born. The Lord she had been fighting for never existed in the first place. At first she thought that it might be just some kind of trick to tip her off, but what convinced her was Issei's expression earlier.

Put Kokabiel's testimony aside, there was a reason why Issei refused to tell her anything. She had known Issei since little, hence she knew that the boy is earnest, kind and not the type who tells baseless lies. The reason his childhood friend did not want to tell such a painful truth to her was because it was the truth. She did not know how Issei could find out such a fact but she knew when Issei was being serious or not.

She barely able to block an incoming giant paw of the Cerberus directed at her. Her body was thrown away quite a distance and skid on the ground with painful thud.

"Irina-chan!" Issei said as he just blew away another hellhound with his punch. However, just when he was about to lounge in to help his friend, a mob of fallen angels had beat him first as they ganged up on him with their spears of light.

Groaning in pain, Irina slowly rose up and she only remained kneeling on the ground. While her sword was still on her side, she could not find any strength in her legs as her entire core had been overtaken by despair. She looked up with her teary eyes, only to see the Cerberus that struck her earlier was already opening its three jaws to mow her.

[WELSH DRAGON BALANCE BREAKER!]

"Dragon shot!"

BWOOSHH!

A massive red beam was shot forward and obliterated the Cerberus and the rest of the enemy in front of Irina. The female exorcist turned her head around to see a figure clad in red draconian armour with his right hand extended forward.

"Irina-chan, are you okay?" The armoured figure, known as Issei asked through his helmet.

"Ise-kun?" Irina said as tears were freely flowing on her cheeks.

Issei felt relief when he saw that Irina was more or less unharmed, his earlier transformation had blown away the mob of fallen angels through the sheer force of his explosive aura, leaving their current location free of the enemies for the time being. Of course, Issei was aware that it was only a matter of time until the next wave of enemies would storm into the hall.

"Irina-chan, you have to stand up! It's not over yet!" Issei encouraged as he offered a hand towards the girl.

"It's over…" Irina thought to herself. "Don't mind about me, Ise-kun…" Irina replied with a bitter smile as she looked down, her tears still flowing. "Just leave me here and go…"

Issei was taken aback by his childhood friend's reply. "What the hell are you saying!? We gotta get out of this place!" Issei yelled back as he kneeled down to help Irina.

[Partner, she's in no condition to even think rationally. That news about Biblical God really got into her] Ddraig said in his mind.

"Damn it…" Issei cursed. He had to do something about this quick.

Issei then cupped Irina's face with both of his hands, and he dismissed his helmet and levelled his eyes to hers.

"Irina-chan, look at me…" Issei's first sentence was not heeded as Irina remained down-casted. "I said look at me! IRINA!" at Issei's yelling, Irina flinched and her eyes finally met his. Her face was flushing from crying, and because she also noticed how close their faces were.

"I… I honestly don't know anything about God… I even don't know anything about the past demon kings as well…" Issei said as he struggled to find the correct words. "But so what if god is dead? Is that all your reason to fight? What about your friends, Xenovia? What about your parents!?"

Irina's eyes widened at the question. "I… I…" The girl was still shocked. Nobody could blame her, from her point of view, her main reason to fight, her purpose never existed in the first place. Knowing that only after years had past, of course someone like Irina would loose the sight in front of her.

"Those who are dead, god or whatever, only wish for the living to be happy! Even I, a newly reincarnated devil can tell that the past demon lords wish their kin to prosper even in their deaths! You should've known that your God also wishes for his creation to live in prosperity as well, am I correct? That's why you mustn't give up! If you give up here and now, everything will really over! Everything you've been fighting for, everything that your god had died for, will disappear forever! Do you want that to happen?!"

At Issei's words, Irina's lips trembled as tears flowing more from her eyes, but she did not cry it out. She looked to the ground again, as if thinking about something.

After few moments, suddenly Issei sensed something was approaching quickly from behind. He just turned around to intercept the enemy attack,

STAB

Only to see a holy blade ran pass next to his head and impaled a fallen angel that was about to stab Issei with his sword of light.

Of course Issei was startled at first, then he turned to see Irina was gripping her holy sword firmly, and when she looked up, her tears had ceased, and her yes were filled with a new-found determination. The female exorcist stood up as she wiped off the rest of her tears, and prepared her battle stance once again as the new enemy forces, now consisted of tens and hundreds of fallen angels and hellhounds, had re-organised their formation.

"I'll have to talk with the elders of the Vatican and Michael-sama after we stop Kokabiel…" Irina said. "But first, what do you think we should do with that monument and this dimension?"

[Just destroy it] Ddraig replied to her. [This dimension was created by that structure, if you destroy it, this artificial dimension should collapse and you'll return to the human world]

"Well, you heard the man", Issei said as he turned his gaze at the enemy ahead and his scale-mail helmet manifested back on his head. "Are you ready, Irina-chan?"

"Whenever you are", Irina replied, pointing her Excalibur Mimic at the enemy mobs. "Ise-kun…"

The boy glanced at his childhood friend.

"This really brings back memories, doesn't it?" Irina said with a wink and cheerful smile.

Issei chuckled at first, glad that his childhood friend had returned. "Damn right, it does…"

Then, as the two youngsters advanced forward with their battle cry, the enemies also retaliated with their battle cry as well.

X

Over fifteen minutes had past since Kokabiel's destruction spell had been activated. Currently, Kokabiel were looking at his opponents, who seemed to have seen better days.

After he told the truth about the death of Biblical God, everyone had various reactions. Most of the devils did not take it too hard. Asia however, was not believing at first and she questioned about the God's blessing and His divine protection that had been applied so far, but after Kokabiel replied with the similar words he said to Irina regarding the system, the former Holy Priestess fainted immediately into Koneko's arm.

Xenovia seemed like she had lost the strength to even wield Durandal properly. She had a panicked expression that was too unbearable to look at as she muttered that Kokabiel was lying all the time. The active believer, God's servant and a person who lived by serving God as her mission. If the existence of God was rejected and she lost the means to live, it would be natural to become like that.

Even Yuuto could only bite his lips, mulling over of what his life meant.

Afterwards, the fight had gone completely uneventful for Kokabiel. Even with the combined efforts of Rias, Akeno, Koneko, Yuuto's new balance breaker and Xenovia's Durandal, which the latter somewhat still chose to fight on, the shock they received from the truth he spoke earlier had affected their performance drastically. Yuuto's holy-demonic sword and the wielder of holy sword Durandal could only do so much to graze his cheek. Koneko could not even touch him as she was struck by Kokabiel's steel-hard feathers from his wings. Even Rias and Akeno's combined attack of thunder and power of destruction, Kokabiel could deflect them without much trouble.

However, Kokabiel had also found another interesting development. Judging from the lightning magic he had seen, Rias' queen is the daughter of Baraqiel, one of the fallen angel leaders in Grigori, much to the queen's displeasure.

Now, Kokabiel was standing not far from an injured Rias, who was already on her fours due to exhaustion and Kokabiel's relentless attacks.

"First, allow me to say this to you", Kokabiel said. "You lot have done well to get this far…"

The others, who had been brought to either their knees or got taken down, especially Rias, only gritted their teeth in irritation at Kokabiel's words.

"But rest assured… At least you won't have to see the destruction I was about to bring forth…" Kokabiel finished as he summoned a light-spear, large enough to destroy Rias.

However, when Kokabiel was about to throw his spear, he narrowed his eyes at another figure that stood up as a shield in front of Rias.

"What do you think you're doing?" Kokabiel asked.

"Asia, get out of there… It's dangerous…" Rias weakly ordered her bishop who was spreading her arms protectively, before she finally passed out. The latter's face shown fear, but mostly a resolve to stand up despite all odds were against her.

"Please… Stop this! Don't hurt my friends anymore!" Asia shouted out. Her legs were trembling from fear, but she still refused to stand down.

Kokabiel looked into Asia's unwavering look, then he only sighed and he smiled sympathetically. "Remarkable… If only you remained human instead of being reincarnated into a devil…" Kokabiel praised and said with regret in his tone at the same time.

However, his attack was halted once again when he sensed something was approaching from his side at high speed. Out of reflex and instinct honed from the Great War, he quickly hardened his five black wings as his shield. He managed to protect himself just in a nick of time when a powerful fist connected to his wings.

"THE HELL ARE YOU TRYIN' TO DO TO MY FRIENDS YA BASTARD!?"

BAM!

The force behind the punch was so great that Kokabiel was thrown away until he crashed into a nearby school building.

Everyone's eyes were widened when they saw a figure in red dragon armour suddenly appeared and pushed back a ten-winged fallen angel cadre with a single punch.

Asia was the first to react. "Ise-san!"

"Ise-kun/Issei-senpai/Issei-kun/Red Dragon Emperor!" everyone else along with Xenovia yelled out the name of the person who had come just in time.

X

Meanwhile, the student council was panicking when they saw a red blur had flew straight through the barrier they had set around the school.

"What the hell was that!? That red blur just heavily damaged our barrier!" Saji yelled out as he tried to maintain the barrier with the best of his ability.

Sona and the other student council did not bother to comment as they poured more power to repair the barrier. And a female figure with chestnut hair in twin-tails, wearing black tight suit, holding a holy sword suddenly ran passed through the barrier while it still in the middle of being repaired.

"Excuse me, coming through!"

The group only blinked several times as they kept trying to fix the barrier.

X

Issei, still in his scale-mail, turned his head to see the blonde girl and dismissed his helmet. "Asia, are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. But buchou-san is…" Asia looked at Rias worriedly.

Issei only nodded after he scanned around to see his friends' conditions. Then he carried Asia, receiving a light squeal of surprise from the latter, towards his king.

He put Asia down as soon as he arrived at his king's side. Rias was still unconscious although her wounds did not seem to be life-threatening. Asia quickly put her Twilight Healing into work on Rias' wounds. Issei brought Rias in his arms, shook her body gently to wake her up if possible.

"Buchou! Please open your eyes! Buchou!" Issei yelled, but Rias did not show any respond.

"RIAS!"

At her name being shouted, Rias groaned softly as her eyes twitched before opened slowly. When the girl got a good look at Issei's face, she finally fully awoken, albeit still felt rather weak.

"Ise…" Rias said in relief as she brought her hand to Issei's cheek. "You've returned…"

"Yes, I'm back. I'm terribly sorry for the wait, buchou", Issei replied with relieved tone when he saw Rias' wounds had started to close.

Rias herself only smiled back and closed her eyes again in order to recover her strength back as soon as possible.

The others, who had regained enough strength to stand up and walk on their own, approached to greet Issei and had their injuries treated by Asia. Xenovia also came with Irina by her side.

"Everyone…" Issei said addressing the others. "I'm so sorry for being late…"

"At least you've come before any casualties could be really made…" Yuuto replied with a smile. "Looks like you also had a hard time on your side too."

Issei only chuckled while scratching his cheek. Irina also smiled mirthfully as her body seemed a bit roughed up as well.

"Sure I did… And will you believe me if I said that I was trapped in a friggin' limbo with Irina-chan?"

Everyone only raised their eyebrows and Xenovia turned to Irina with a look that said, 'seriously?'.

"Anyway, we'll talk later of what happened while I was gone", Issei said as he turned towards the place where Kokabiel had crashed earlier. "You guys should rest up. I'll take care of the rest…" Issei said as he calmly walked towards Kokabiel, whom slowly emerged from the debris.

When everyone was looking at Issei's retreating back, Irina noticed that Xenovia was slowly gazing to the ground.

"Irina…" Xenovia called her name. "When you're gone… Kokabiel said…"

"I know."

Xenovia turned her wide eyes towards Irina who smiled bitterly. "He had told me too when I was in trapped in his artificial dimension. Let's talk about it after this battle, okay?"

Strangely enough, Xenovia also smiled back bitterly and she nodded, then turned to see Issei encountering Kokabiel again.

Kokabiel, who had almost half of his wings bent and barely usable due to Issei's punch, slowly floating to the air with an amused expression. There was also a bruise on the side of his face, blood also trailed from the edge of his lips.

"It's been a while since the last time I received such attack…" Kokabiel commented as he observed his damaged wings. Then he looked down to see Issei donned in his scale mail armour, minus his head.

"I see…! The Red Dragon Emperor! Kukukuku… Rias Gremory, you truly have a unique taste like your brother in choosing your servants! A survivor of Holy Sword Project who achieved Balance Breaker, daughter of Baraqiel, and the wielder of the Welsh Dragon too!" Kokabiel commented with a laugh.

Rias, who had regained consciousness as her wounds had mostly healed, only narrowed her eyes at Kokabiel's remarks.

"Oh, please don't misunderstand. I mean it as a compliment", Kokabiel said again before Rias could have made any comebacks.

Unknown to the rest, Akeno's body flinched slightly when she heard her father's name was mentioned in front of Issei.

"Daughter of who?" Issei thought questioningly.

[The Lightning of God… The 9th watcher of leaders of 200 fallen angels… I see now… Partner, I'll explain when we have the time, just focus on the fight] Ddraig said after he seemed just finished connecting dots.

Issei shrugged his thought as he heeded Ddraig's words, and he focused himself on the fallen angel floating above him.

"I remember you and your companion… Despite being this generation's Red Dragon Emperor, you have my praise to be able to get out from that dimension", Kokabiel said to Issei.

"Thanks…" Issei only replied dryly.

"Before indulging myself in fighting one of the two heavenly dragons, I, Kokabiel, one of leaders of Grigori, would like to know the name of the current wielder of Boosted Gear."

Issei stayed silent for a moment before he decided to comply. "It's Hyoudou Issei, this generation's Red Dragon Emperor, as well as the pawn of Rias Gremory."

Kokabiel's eyes widened at the mention of Issei's surname. "Hyoudou…?"

After another moment of silence, Kokabiel began to chuckle, which soon turned into a full-blown laughter. Issei and the others only furrowed their eyebrows at the fallen's sudden outburst.

"Kuhahahaha! Of course! Of course you are so strong! Hahahaha!" Kokabiel kept laughing while holding his sides. "Today has been full of surprises! From Gremory's unique servants, the holy-demonic sword and Durandal; the encounter with the Welsh Dragon, and to add, the wielder of the Welsh Dragon itself is actually his son!"

Issei blinked a couple of times at the mention of 'his son' before he replied. "What are you talking about? You speak as if you know my father…"

"It is because I do know your father, Red Dragon Emperor…" Kokabiel ceased his laughing at last.

"…What?" Issei asked in bewilderment.

[Wow… Your dad really knows lots of kinds of people…] Ddraig retorted, which only replied by a snort from his host.

"Your father, Hyoudou Saitama was one of the strongest people I've ever known. He drops by the Grigori to be Azazel's errand boy from time to time. It's strange though, despite his strength, only a handful amount of people who even know of his existence", Kokabiel mused. "As a matter of fact, I tried to ask your father to join me…"

"What?" this time, it was a shock that came from Issei and everyone else.

Knowing his father was acquainted with the Lucifer was one thing, but to be acknowledged from leaders of Grigori as well? What kind of person Hyoudou Saitama exactly?

"But no need to worry. Unfortunately, he declined. Although I didn't expect his son of all people will be the one to stand in my way, kukukuku…." Kokabiel giggled. "I wonder what he'd say if he ever found out you're a devil, though…"

Issei only snorted. "Well, it's not like he had a right to tell me what to do after he left me for more than fifteen years. Rather, why are we even talking anyway? I'm supposed to stop you here and now!"

"Well, can you stop me at this point? You only have less than five minutes before my spell destroy this entire town", Kokabiel pointed at the large magic circle on the ground.

"Five minutes…" Issei said before his head was covered by his scale mail helmet again. "That's plenty", then he suddenly disappeared from where he stood.

[Boost!]

Suddenly Kokabiel's faced was already bashed in by Issei's right fist, as the latter's Boosted Gear has started to double-up his power. The fallen let out a pained groan as his body was sent away towards the sky. Everyone else who was spectating the fight could only watch with astonishment when Issei landed another hit to Kokabiel.

"Angel of Stars… I won't let you destroy this town!" Issei said as he suddenly appeared behind Kokabiel while the latter still in the mid-air.

Issei used his elbow to hit Kokabiel's back, but his elbow strike was weaker compared to his punch, thus Kokabiel managed to regain his balance despite the pain across his back.

"Kuh…! Let's see what you got, then!" Kokabiel snarled as he summoned countless spears of light, and he threw them towards Issei.

[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]

Boosted Gear multiplied Issei's power by folds once again as Issei roared and destroyed the spears successively by his own blows. When the spears had been eliminated, both of Issei's gauntlets were smoking from the direct contact with the spears.

"Shit, this stuff really burns!" Issei whined as he tried to shake the pain off from his smoking hands.

[Of course it hurts! You just punched through pure light element with your devil body! If it's not for my power protecting you, your hands would have been charred black by now!]

"Impressive! What about this, then!" this time, Kokabiel summoned a massive spear of light.

"HAA!"

However, just when he just threw his spear, Issei already closed their distance and punched through the spear and square right to Kokabiel's right cheek. Before Kokabiel could have thrown away again, Issei's left hand grabbed Kokabiel's right to halt him, then using his right fist, Issei started to pummel Kokabiel's face relentlessly.

"Grrhh!"

Enduring the pain on his face from Issei's blow after blow, Kokabiel tried to retaliate as his right hand also grabbed Issei's left fore arm, and using his light power-coated left hand, Kokabiel also started to pummel back.

Soon their brawl turned into a simple hitting each other's face, while Kokabiel's light-coated fist managed to cause a crack on Issei's scale mail as well as hurting him, the fallen slowly got overpowered by Issei's dragon strength, as more blood was drawn from his face.

Suddenly, Issei stopped his attacks and chose to swing Kokabiel in the air and threw him towards the ground, towards the large magic circle to be precise. Issei threw Kokabiel so hard that the impact cause the ground to crack, as well as his bones, when Kokabiel hit the ground, but his spell was still active.

Weakened from Issei's relentless attacks earlier, Kokabiel failed to notice sooner that Issei started to gather power on his left palm. Issei tried to regulate his magical power so while it was strong enough to damage Kokabiel and broke his destructive spell, it would not be too strong to obliterate the rest of the surrounding. Soon, a red ball of demonic power glowed on Issei's hand, and the dragon shot his left hand towards Kokabiel, whom found himself could not move.

"Dragon shot!"

DOOONN!

Issei's dragon shot got a direct hit on Kokabiel, causing the ground to shatter into a crater and the magic circle to disappear along with it. Issei himself decided to take another measure as he dived straight head-first into Kokabiel, whom was lying inside the crater.

"OOOOHH!"

BAAAMM!

Issei's both fists collided with Kokabiel's body, causing the latter to cough a solid amount of blood, then Kokabiel finally knocked out from the impact.

Few moments later, the other devils and the exorcists only had their mouths opened at the fight before them. They almost could not believe it, their combined efforts could barely touch Kokabiel, yet Issei alone managed to defeat him in matter of minutes.

"He… He won…" Xenovia commented.

"Ise-kun just…" Irina said.

"Defeated a fallen angel cadre…" Yuuto finished where Irina left off.

"Our junior has become even stronger, hasn't he?" Akeno commented with her usual smile.

"That's our Ise, after all…" Rias said with relieved smile.

Asia and Koneko could not say anything until Issei was spotted coming out from the crater that he created earlier. His body was covered with dusts and burned marks here and there, but he was fine nonetheless. The pawn had already dismissed his scale-mail, knowing that the fallen angel would not be able to move anytime soon.

"Hey, guys", Issei greeted in laid-back manner as he walked towards his friends.

Asia was the first to run towards Issei, followed by the rest as well.

"Ise-san/Ise/Ise-kun/Ise-senpai!"

X

Meanwhile, the student council was almost done in repairing their barrier.

"What were those noise and explosion earlier?" one of Sona's pawn, Ruruko asked in wonder.

"I don't know, Ruruko… But somehow I can tell that the fight inside is over…" Sona replied when she felt that one of two powerful auras had dissipated.

Suddenly…

{Divide!}

A white blur came together with the sound when their barrier suddenly got distorted and shattered from the unknown power on the work.

"Oh, what now?" Saji whined as he finally let down his arms, knowing that the barrier had completely shattered.

X

Everyone inside the school ground sensed something powerful was approaching fast when they saw the barrier above them had been shattered. Issei, however, felt that the incoming aura was somewhat familiar, yet foreign at the same time.

Soon, a figure clad in white armour was seen descending from the sky. The armour was identic with Issei's scale mail, only the difference was the motive colour was white, the jewels on his body were blue, and a pair of blue shining wings were attached on his back.

Everyone who had learned about Longinus tensed as they recognised the light wings. Issei simply turned to face the white armour with his Boosted Gear ready on his left arm.

"Vanishing Dragon…"

"In flesh. I'm the host of Albion, the White Dragon Emperor", the figure in white armour replied in calm tone. "It seems I just missed the party here…" he said with slight sarcasm.

"I guess you did. Well, what do you want here, actually?" Issei asked. He was calm, but cautious at the same time.

"Hmph, I was sent here by Azazel to retrieve Kokabiel. I'm also going to pick up that exorcist over there, since I have few questions for him", the white armour said pointing at Freed's unmoving body.

*COUGH *COUGH

A noise was heard from inside the crater where Kokabiel was laying on. When everyone took a look, they saw Kokabiel regained consciousness as he coughed out another blood.

"You're soft, my rival…" the White Dragon Emperor commented at Issei. The latter only shrugged the comment as he kept looking at Kokabiel, whom could not move his body at all.

"…(sigh), looks like I've lost to the Welsh Dragon…" Kokabiel said weakly. "But from our fight, I could somewhat gouge your strength, Red Dragon Emperor…" Kokabiel looked at Issei.

"Compared to Saitama… You're weak…" Kokabiel commented while having difficulty to talk. "Unlike your father, who is an utter beast… You're nothing more than a cub that can't even bear its fangs and claws… Shackled in a cage like a little animal you are…" Kokabiel finished before he turned to the White Dragon Emperor.

"Vanishing Dragon… So you're the one sent here by Azazel, huh?"

"Yeah, I am. Although I'd love to have a bit fun in here… Too bad that the red one here had taken all the good stuff…" The White Dragon Emperor replied with disappointed tone.

[Well, sorry for spoiling your fun, white one…] Ddraig retorted from Issei's jewel on Boosted Gear.

{Red one… Looks like you got yourself a capable host here…} a voice came out from the White Dragon Emperor's light wings.

[Same goes to you. Say, you want to fight now? Although I can't sense any hostility from your host]

{Hmph, I also don't sense any hostility from your host as well… Let's put our fight for another time. We'll fight eventually sooner or later, this kind of things happened sometimes}

[Yeah, looking forward to it]

Everyone simply stared at the conversations between the two entities that were rumoured to be on par with God and Satan, when Kokabiel spoke again.

"Don't be so down, boys…" Kokabiel said with a smirk. "If you want to fight so bad, Vanishing Dragon… Let me give you, all of you here, the last entertainment from me…" Kokabiel finished.

Using his last ounce of strength, Kokabiel muttered a spell and suddenly, a giant magic circle appeared on the sky above Kuoh Academy. The size of the circle itself almost covered the entire school grounds.

"What the…!" Rias said with shock on her face.

And then, the magic circle glowed and something came out from it. That something is a fallen angel soldiers. Soon, another followed as more and more fallen angels, varying from two-winged until six-winged started to fly out from the magic circle.

"This is…! A mass teleportation magic!? That magic circle is acting as a gateway!" Akeno exclaimed with horror on her face.

Unlike normal teleportation magic that requires complex procedure to move things, what Kokabiel did was simply creating a portal in form of magic circle for anyone to pass through from another location. In this case, his army.

The White Dragon Emperor only smirked under his helmet as he saw legions of fallen angels started to pour down from the circle, while Issei widened his eyes in worry as he saw that all of his friends had been too exhausted to fight anymore.

"Kukuku…" Kokabiel's giggle could be heard. "Our numbers may have reduced greatly after the war… But my comrades, who share the same sentiment with me, will make sure to see through my plan! Now, humans, devils and two heavenly dragons! Can you face the might of 182,000 of my army!?" Kokabiel screamed in excitement.

The White Dragon Emperor quickly prepared to take flight, while Issei clicked his tongue as he prepared to summon his scale mail once again, until…

THUD!

"Eh?"

The first fallen angel who came through the magic portal simply dropped to the ground and did not move anymore, causing everyone to stop on their tracks. The same thing also happened to the rest of the fallen angels that followed. They simply dropped to the ground one by one.

"W-what's wrong? What happened?" Kokabiel himself could not help but baffled at the sight.

Then, Rias who also did not know what was happening, felt something wet drip on her skin. She inspected the wet stuff that was red in colour, then her eyes widened.

"This… This is blood!" Rias said and she looked up towards the giant magical portal.

When everyone looked up at the sky, the portal was not only pouring out fallen angels, but also something akin to a rain of blood.

The student council, who finally decided to go inside the school ground, was also shocked at the development, as fallen angels were falling (no pun intended) around them.

"Wha… What's happening from the other side?" Yuuto asked in confusion.

Kokabiel could not believe his eyes at the sight of his brethren fell one by one. "I-impossible! My whole army!? What could have…!" his bewilderment was interrupted and answered at the same time by one of the fallen angels that managed to stay awake after falling to the ground.

"Ko-Kokabiel-sama… Bad news…" the fallen angel soldier said weakly. "Our troops… have all been eradicated…!"

"What!? Impossible! What about the mercenaries we prepared as our back up!? Who could possibly have done all of this!?"

"We… We just found out that… Our mercenaries had been destroyed weeks ago… By one single man…!" the fallen soldier finally lost his consciousness.

"One man…" Kokabiel's eyes widened after a moment. "I see…! Dammit, so that's how it goes, Azazel…! Guhk…!" Kokabiel cursed until he finally passed out for real after coughing another mouthful of blood.

While everyone was still watching the fallen angels kept falling to the ground (again, no pun intended), one figure that stood out than the fallen army came out by the time the portal collapsed and disappeared from sight.

"Look!" Akeno alerted everyone else to direct their sights at the foreign figure among the fallen angels that was descending to the ground.

BOOM

The figure landed, causing the ground beneath him to shatter from the sheer force, and stood up.

Everybody stared intently at the new comer that most likely to be the one who had destroyed the entire army of fallen angels by himself. The figure was a man that looked in his late 30s, wearing a plain yellow jumpsuit with a short zipper at the collar and a belt. He was also wearing red gloves, red boots and a white cape that had few stains of blood on it.

However, his most noticeable feature was his shining bald head. When the stranger turned around facing the spectators, almost everyone showed reactions of recognition.

Irina and Xenovia only stared wide-eyed and their mouths gapping at the familiar man before them.

The White Dragon Emperor only snorted under his armour.

"Hmph, of course Azazel would send you out of all people…"

Rias and Asia immediately noticed the face from the old pictures they took a glance of in Hyoudou residence.

"Isn't that…?"

Akeno, on the other hand, only widened her eyes as she recognised a familiar sight of the man's back from her past before the bald man turned around.

Issei cringed his eyebrows as he tried to say something when he saw the face he only saw from pictures and old memories. His mouth was gapping up and down looking for a word, and only one word that escaped his lips.

"…Dad?"

To be continued…

Oh yeah, guess who has entered the stage, baby! So, what do you guys think about the twist and this chapter? No flame, of course. Special thanks for LordGhostStriker who had inspired me to create my own twist regarding Kokabiel! Ahsoei, over and out. m(_ _)m