I do not own Highschool DxD.
For a few seconds, Issei took in Raynare's horrified visage as her blood ran freely from the split that his sword, still embedded in her skull, had created. His clothes were spattered with drops of his killer's blood, yet his own eyes reflected nothing. No happiness, no anger, no peace, no regret. They were simply… vacant.
Kiba looked on in shock, the Gremory Knight shaken by the gruesome and merciless efficiency with which his schoolmate had dispatched Raynare. He knew Issei as a mostly friendly, affable Angel with a surprising amount of skill with a sword and a hatred of violence; to see him cut down a person without any ability to fight back, even as she begged him for mercy, was genuinely rattling for him.
Xenovia, while not particularly distressed by the act itself, found it unnerving for different reasons. Within her own mind, she remembered when he had met them in the church and treated them as equals and friends. How he had let them stay at his home. How he had arranged the meeting between Devils and exorcists and managed to keep it from exploding into violence. How he had prioritized their safety over the success of their holy mission.
But then the blue-haired exorcist looked over the scene before her, of Issei's sword of light skewered through the middle of his defeated opponent's brain, and found something inherently irreconcilable about the his handling of those situations; it was as though in the instant it had taken Issei to form his sword, the kindhearted teen who wanted only peace had vanished, and had been replaced instead by a vengeful, ominous winged figure, utterly without even a shred of mercy or sympathy. She did, of course, understand the clinical aspect of his reasoning, but it was shocking for her to witness Issei's personality switch so suddenly.
Rias stared at Issei, horrified not by Issei's heartless act of killing, but by the sheer coldness with which he had done it. The crimson-haired Devil had heard the genuine terror in Raynare's words, and known that Raynare's offer to "do anything" might well have been legitimate. Rias herself, of course, had had to deal with strays before, but she remembered the first time she had had to kill one, and how frightened and hesitant she had been. Issei, by contrast, had been the exact opposite; with barely a moment's hesitation, Issei had ended his helpless opponent's life.
Akeno had felt her breath freeze in her throat as Issei brought the sword down, and it was only after several seconds of watching the blood flow down Raynare's face that she remembered to breathe again. She felt little horror or disgust at what Issei had done; she had seen far more gruesome sights when dealing with strays. Rather, she was consumed by curiosity about Issei's sudden change in demeanor, not to mention Kokabiel's words. The Fallen Angel cadre had referred to something "sick" Raynare had done, and how Issei was welcome to "his revenge".
What happened between him and her…? The thought was infectious, and she knew she would have to wait to find out, if she ever did.
Koneko, in contrast to her normal quiet and unemotional demeanor, was wearing an expression that made it clear she was on the verge of vomiting. The Gremory Rook was no stranger to violence, but something about what Issei had done hit a twinge in her mind that nauseated her. She could only imagine what was going through her senior's mind to put him in a state where he could slaughter a person begging for their life.
For a moment, Issei held his sword in place, taking in his dead killer's final expression.
Then, he unceremoniously tore his sword free from her skull, bone and blood splattering him as he did so.
Raynare's body, which had been on its knees, slumped forwards and began to stain the grass a cold crimson hue.
As Issei pulled his sword loose, Kokabiel began to chuckle. After a few seconds, this chortle morphed into full-blown laughter.
"I honestly didn't think you'd have the balls to do that," Kokabiel cackled. "I thought I'd have to run her through myself, but you showed you've got some guts! Rather interesting for a change!" Kokabiel let himself drop to the ground as Issei turned to face him, the cadre not acknowledging the landing with so much as a bend of his knees. "You know, you really ought to join me. I could use someone who's got some ruthlessness to them. I could certainly toughen you up."
Issei promptly bolted towards him, light sword held in one hand, in reply.
Kokabiel's response was something Issei would not have believed possible had it not happened right before his eyes.
As Issei's light sword swung down towards the Fallen Angel's head, Kokabiel raised a palm.
When the sword of light hit it, it was simply stopped. No cuts were made in Kokabiel's hand, and even using his other arm afforded Issei no progress whatsoever.
He had barely two seconds to attempt it before the cadre's free fist lanced out and crashed into Issei's face.
The Jack of Hearts saw stars as the blow hit him, his nose smashed in by the impact and he himself being knocked back several feet. Pain flooded his skull as he was struck by the ten-winged Fallen Angel, then more as he felt himself hit the ground.
"I suppose I shouldn't have been so optimistic," Kokabiel sneered. "I guess those self-righteous bastards in Heaven already have their claws in you. "Cut your wings off rather than fall", is that what they tell you?"
Issei felt rage pour into his mind at those words, and he struggled to push himself to his feet. As he looked down, he could see his own blood leak onto the grass.
How the hell can he hit so hard?
"Issei!" Xenovia cried as she rushed over to him and helped pull him to his feet.
"I'm okay," Issei got out between coughs.
"So then, Kokabiel," Rias snapped. "You want something interesting, right?"
"If you're all thinking of attacking me at once," Kokabiel said dismissively, "I could kick all of your asses at the same time without straining myself." He gave a sadistic grin. "But if you want to waste your time anyway, I'll oblige you."
"Why don't you prove it!" Rias screamed as she folded her arms in front of her. An instant later, the energy she had used on the Cerberus flew towards Kokabiel. Akeno quickly followed suit with a crackling thunderbolt.
Kokabiel's response was to simply put up his palm once more.
Both attacks struck his hand, but they, like Issei's sword, inflicted no damage whatsoever. Instead, they simply dissipated, to the shock of both girls.
"Partner!"
Issei was wrenched back to reality at those words, and he reactivated the Boosted Gear. An instant later…
"BOOST!"
Xenovia and Kiba, meanwhile, had taken the opportunity to sneak to Kokabiel's sides, without realizing that this would not help one iota.
This was made abundantly clear to them when they attempted to strike both sides of the Fallen Angel at once; their target simply formed a sword in each hand and easily stopped both of their blades, before tossing them backwards with barely an effort.
Koneko had attempted to use the chaos to get a strike in on Kokabiel's head. She, however, did not anticipate him blocking her, the Rook of Rias Gremory, with a single finger and then literally flicking her away; the strike of his finger sent her flying several feet through the air.
"BOOST!"
Issei began to form small spears, similar to the ones he had impaled the first Cerberus with, and tossed about a dozen of them at Kokabiel at once.
Kokabiel communicated the effectiveness of this maneuver letting the spears strike him; to Issei's utter dismay, the thin spears did not even pierce the cadre's skin.
"Going to have to try harder!" Kokabiel said, his voice a cold singsong.
"Sword Birth!"
Kokabiel looked up to find more than a dozen swords racing towards him, about a meter off the ground and perpendicular to it; the cadre snorted and simply folded his ten wings around him, allowing the swords to strike his wings and disintegrate harmlessly.
"BOOST!"
"He counters everything we throw at him..." Xenovia muttered as Kokabiel countered her with ease a second time. "So this is a leader-class Fallen Angel's power..."
For perhaps the first time in her years as an exorcist, the blue-haired young woman had no idea what to do. They had no options, no escape from the conflict, and no way of gaining either. Kokabiel would eventually grow bored and kill them all if they stayed; they would die in the town's destruction if they fled.
Unbeknownst to her, all of Kokabiel's opponents had the same emotion coursing through their veins.
"BOOST!"
Issei, perhaps, felt the helplessness most strongly. He had not just his life, but his own honor riding on the result of the battle. The Jack of Hearts had made a promise to Griselda that he would protect Xenovia and Irina, and he knew he had already failed at the latter.
I've gotta stop this fucker… I've gotta keep Xenovia safe… but how?!
"BOOST!"
In a surge of frustration, Issei ignored agony and leaped towards Kokabiel, attempting to strike his face with his bare fists.
Kokabiel, as one might expect at this point, easily caught his fist in a palm. Issei attempted to strike with his other fist, and the cadre blocked that as well.
In desperation, Issei attempted to slam his head into Kokabiel's, despite the injuries he had already suffered. And to his surprise, Kokabiel let the strike go through, sending fresh agony through Issei's skull.
It took only a moment for Issei to realize that his headbutt might as well have been against a brick wall for all the difference it made.
Kokabiel then, even as he deflected more sword and magic strikes, struck Issei in the chest with a knee, sending Issei flying back and a horrible crunching sensation through his torso.
The Fallen Angel cadre folded his arms and let out a sarcastic sigh. "I don't get you, Angel. Why fight so hard for a pack of Devils and an exorcist you aren't even allowed to be truthful with?"
At those words, everyone froze, and Issei felt his blood run cold.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he heard a voice cry through the blood pounding through his ears. It took a moment to realize it was Xenovia yelling.
"Whoops," Kokabiel said sarcastically, turning his head slightly to the side. "Sorry, that just slipped right out."
"Shut up..." Issei muttered. He, unlike everyone else, knew exactly what bit of information Kokabiel was dancing close to and was desperate to make sure it didn't escape.
"Kokabiel!" Xenovia screamed. "What are you trying to hide?!"
To everyone's surprise, Kokabiel covered his face with a palm and began to laugh a cold, mocking, bone-chilling laugh.
"I guess I really am trying to start a war!" Kokabiel cackled. "Oh, who am I kidding? There's no point in hiding it any more. I suppose I might as well just tell you the brutal truth."
"Shut up!" Issei tried to shout, but the pain in his chest was so severe that it was little more than a loud groan.
Ignoring him, the Fallen Angel cadre's hand pulled away from his face, and his eyes turned and focused directly into the blue-haired exorcist's.
"In the previous three-way war, God was actually killed along with the Four Great Devil Kings!"
Eyes flew wide. Mouths dropped open. A large sword hit the ground, and Xenovia fell to her knees.
"No… it can't be..." she stammered helplessly, horrified beyond reason as Kokabiel's words played over and over within her mind. "God's dead…? Then… all of our prayers… It has to be lies… no..."
"No!" Rias shouted. "You're lying! I've never heard anything about that!"
Kokabiel shrugged, a cruel and satisfied smirk on his face. "Oh, if you won't take my word for it..." He gestured to Issei. "Why not ask your resident Angel?"
All eyes flew to the Jack of Hearts as he struggled just to get to his knees, blood flowing freely from his mouth and nose.
"Issei..." Xenovia said, barely able to string a coherent sentence together. "Issei… it's not… it can't be… he's lying..."
"Isn't he?" Rias demanded, her voice far clearer.
For a moment, even as the gauntlet on his left arm shouted an incantation again, Issei said nothing.
Then, almost inaudibly, the brunette responded.
"No… it's all true..."
Rias and her peerage were merely shocked by Issei's words, none knowing how to respond.
Xenovia, meanwhile, felt the world fell apart around her, her entire worldview shattered with one sentence.
"You've…" Xenovia spluttered. "You've been… lying to us..." Tears ran freely from her face, her eyes as vacant as Issei's had been. "I… what have… our prayers aren't heard… it's all for nothing…?"
Kokabiel gave a cold chuckle at that. "Well, no. Michael's taken the system over. So long as that works, prayer and exorcisms will continue to a certain extent. I can assure you that someone's been listening. Of course, the Three Factions had to seal away that little detail, just to make sure the God-fearing humans kept on fearing."
"BOOST!"
Eyes flew to Kokabiel as he continued ranting, ignoring the chant from the Boosted Gear. "Now try to keep in mind that I don't give a shit about any of that! Just that when God and the Devil Kings died, they decided to stop the war! Why would they do that and keep me from crushing my enemies just when it was getting fun?! Even that bastard Azazel said we'd never have another war! What the fuck?!"
"BOOST!"
As soon as he'd managed to push himself up to his feet, Issei formed one final sword of light, an insane idea running through his head. Then, with anger, frustration and desperation overruling even the immense pain he was in, Issei summoned a ball of flame in his hand. As he did so, Issei felt the utterly horrible sensation of his magical reserves running completely dry.
He, however, refused to allow this to cause him any uncertainty, instead focusing all of his will, all of his anger, on the fireball in his hand.
You will obey me.
The flames danced, as though uncertain of what to do.
You will obey me.
The flames began to lean this way and that, towards his arm and towards Kokabiel, towards the Devils and towards the exorcist.
You will obey me.
The flames held almost perfectly still.
Obey.
For a single heartbeat, the flames did not move.
Then, they jumped from his hand – but not to his arm.
The blaze crawled up the blade of his sword of light.
Kokabiel had been so busy ranting that he didn't notice Issei's movement, nor his summoning of a sword or flames.
What turned his head was yet another shouting of "BOOST!"
The Fallen Angel cadre took in the sight of Issei's inflamed sword with a slight interest, before grinning. "You're a glutton for punishment, boy."
It was then that Kokabiel noticed something that Issei himself had not.
"Hmm? Seems you've crossed a power threshold."
Issei comprehended none of Kokabiel's meaning, and the short burst of pain that raced through his back was lost amid the suffering his body was already undergoing. Instead, he forced himself, through torturous agony, to run towards Kokabiel, sword poised to strike point-first.
The cadre shrugged and closed his wings once more, and Issei's sword stabbed them a heartbeat later.
"Don't know what you think you're going to accomplish with that, little boy."
Issei, however, was not listening as he watched the flames dance on his blade. His vision swimming, he had only one thought on his mind.
Come on… come on…
For several seconds, Issei watched helplessly, the ability to speed along the process completely out of his reach.
Then, right of the corner of his eye, he saw his hopes become a reality.
A single feather had caught fire, independent of the blade.
"If you're done, boy, I can just ki-"
"TRANSFER!"
The tiny, insignificant flame roared to a small inferno, Kokabiel letting out an uncharacteristic scream at the sudden pain lancing through his wings.
The flames burned for but a few seconds before extinguishing and Kokabiel shoved Issei back, the brunette only barely able to stay on his feet.
But when Kokabiel attempted to flap his wings, he was treated to the horrific sight of three of them disintegrating into ash.
Issei allowed himself a small grin, before he locked eyes with Kokabiel.
Before, there had been sneering contempt and condescension.
Now, there was fury unlike anything Issei had seen within them, and Kokabiel's next words were not the boastful, arrogant tone he had used before.
Now, they were a chilling, cold calm as he formed his own sword of light.
"Tell me, boy. Would you prefer I tear your chest or throat open first?"
Issei was caught in a whirlwind of agonizing pain as Kokabiel illustrated very clearly just how much power he had been holding back. Everywhere the teen's head turned, there was the cadre, slicing his skin in another way or delivering another blow with his fists or legs.
The wounds were not deep, but they were excruciatingly painful, for that was the Fallen Angel's only goal: To torture him. To make him suffer for burning the cadre's wings.
Blood seeped from dozens of wounds, and several times Issei felt the awful sensation of bones cracking.
The Devils and Xenovia tried to come to his aid, but they had been knocked back the moment they drew near. Instead, all they could do was listen to Issei scream in pain as Kokabiel inflicted his vengeance upon the poor boy.
Issei had no idea how long it lasted. All he knew is that he became vaguely aware that he was lying flat on his back, Kokabiel standing over him with a massive sword, poised to end his life even as blackness tugged at the edges of the teen's vision.
"Don't worry," Kokabiel sneered. "I'll be sure to personally deliver the news of your death and what's left of you to your King."
Slowly, he began to lower the sword, Issei refusing to shut his eyes despite his terror at the prospect of dying once more.
Xenovia… Griselda… I'm sorry… I failed you…
Just before his vision went black, however, he became conscious of something.
What was that light in the sky?
And cut.
