Apocalypse

Chapter 5

Meeting New People

The Occult Research club was in the club room celebrating Acnologia's win against Riser, Rias's enslavement of Riser, and finally Rias getting out of the marriage fully, it was great since they were just standing around and drinking a little wine, except for the dragon who drank sake. Akeno and Tsubaki were talking with Raynare about what they're going to do now that some of the weight was off while standing behind the window facing couch, Koneko was talking with Sona's peerage in the back, Rias was standing near her desk with Sona talking about her single life. With Rias being single now, she was free to find whoever fit her fancy and finally fall in love, but she should probably do that after convincing the apocalyptic dragon not to destroy the people of the world, probably help if she tried to convince him not to destroy all dragons as well. Speaking of said dragon, Acnologia was sitting on the windowsill while drinking his sake looking over the horizon as the sun began to set, it was unclear to Rias if he was just staring off into space or listening in on their conversations all at once, could be a little of both.

"So, where is your new familiar anyways," Sona asked the redhead while taking a sip of her own wine goblet, they may be underage, but what the adults don't know won't hurt them and this was a low grade alcohol content anyways, so as long as she doesn't over drink she should be fine.

"Oh, I have him tied up on his knew bed waiting for me to come home," Rias answered with a pleasant smile, unknown to all but her, it was actually a slab of board he was forced to lay on face down, his limbs strapped to it while it magically spun him like a gyro sphere in astronaut training.

"That's all, I would have figured you castrated him by now, as punishment for everything he put in that copy of the marriage contract should some god-sent miracle actually allowed him to win," Akeno mentioned from her and her current companion's spot, their subject was related to the king's.

"I have my plans," Rias answered cryptically as she took a nice shallow drink of her red wine, the others just smiled pleasant yet evil smiles, they couldn't wait to see the finished product, if Rias would let them see the finished product, but then again, maybe a final audience would be fun.

"I can't wait until Sirzechs and the other satans try and get information out of the apocalyptic asshole over there," Raynare said jabbing a thumb over to said asshole who gained a tick mark on his forehead and just flipped her off without looking, "no thanks, I'll find someone else."

"Oh, that reminds me, I thought of something that might help convince him," Akeno stated happily, the other peerage that was in the room had no clue what they were talking about, but chose not to interrupt, "what if we find that black dragon a mate, maybe that would turn him."

"Don't bother," Acnologia stated standing up, "I'm no longer able to feel romantic love anymore, I traded it in for power, I still feel love for family and I guess friends and stuff like that, but I can't feel that kind of love, the power boost I got from it more than makes up for it though."

"That's… unfortunate," Sona said trying to find the right word to describe that, it wasn't often you get told that it's pointless to find a possible love interest, then she thought of something, "wait, what does that mean when you have certain urges," she asked delicately, well, as she could.

"Oh that, I'm able to get those urges like anyone else, but I can control it and suppress that side as long as I wish, so if you were hoping to see a sex crazed black dragon, tough luck," he said casually, it probably wasn't why she was asking, but he didn't really care, no reason to care at all.

"I wasn't hoping to see one but it would have been interesting to see what you had," Raynare mentioned casually with a shrug as if to say, 'oh well', "we could show what he'd be missing out on if he did destroy everything, like how far we've come in the technology department."

Sona was confused, but also a little panicked at hearing how he wants to destroy everything, but before she could say anything, Rias spoke up, "that could work, show him the internet, give him full access to historical records that would paint all of us in a worse light, that'll help our cause."

Raynare thought about it, and now she agreed with Rias's sarcastic remark, but didn't like the way she said it, "fine, what's your brilliant idea, princess of ruin," she remarked back with her arms over her chest, she knew that Rias had no better idea than hers so she didn't worry.

"He says that he's given up his ability to feel love for power right, all we have to do is restore his ability to love and then find him someone to spend the rest of his days with, that has to be a good thing," Rias said as if it was obvious, and it was to her, but thankfully Sona saw the hole in it.

"He said he traded it in for power, wherever he traded it in with is probably long gone by now, so unless you want to spend the rest of your days looking for it and not something else, I don't think that's a good idea," Sona stated and shot down Rias's hope, "but what about finding a hobby."

"A hobby," Akeno repeated before turning to stare at the big dragon, "we could get him into anything really, take his mind off of destruction," they all thought about it, what could interest a black dragon known throughout his home for destruction, "what about becoming a masochist?"

"I don't think we need you to have a partner in your little… tastes Akeno," Rias shot that down no problem, "what about seeing if he can draw, or write," she suggested instead and got strange looks, "you never know, he could have a talent and I've been told both are therapeutic."

"Not a bad idea," Sona commented with a hand to her chin, she's gotten over questioning them on what they meant, obviously they have a limited amount of time to convince the dragon to not destroy everything, what a tricky situation, "let's focus on what he's good at and go from there."

"You mean you're going to help, if we fail that doesn't mean that you'll be saved from his destruction either you know," Raynare stated because she thought that was why she was helping, and it could actually be possible, but who said another deal couldn't be made for someone else.

"I'm well aware, and I'll only help in my free time, I still have my own duties as well you know," Sona said as she took another sip of her wine, "by the way," she started by getting Rias's attention, "a boy has gone missing, Saji Genshirou, I suspected him to being a sacred gear user."

All at once, they all turned to look at Acnologia who was grabbing some heavy scotch, stopped as he was pouring the glass and slowly turned his head their way, "he was a dragon, I killed him," he stated as if that was all he needed to say, and to him and the Rias's group it was enough.

Sona seemed to be about to say something when Rias put a hand on her shoulder, "I don't think you'll get anywhere with him, he's adamant about killing every last dragon he comes into contact with, even those who have dragon souls in their sacred gears," she took her hand back.

"Yes, but what I want to know is why he feels the need to kill every last one of the dragons, it can't be just because he can," Sona said with a glare towards the dragon who finished pouring the drink and paused with the cup in a pouring position, he tipped it back on its base and set it down.

"The day that I tell why, if I decide to tell anyone at all, we'll need so much more to drink than this," Acnologia said before downing an entire glass of scotch in one go, "also we'll need to get much closer to each other before I reveal all my secrets, have to have some fun while here." Rias and Sona's peerages just shook their heads at his refusal to share why he killed dragons, he could tell it was out of disappointment, and was that a hint of shame that he was seeing, no matter, not his problem until he was given lip about it, then he'd take care of it when it was time. He took the rest of the bottle and turned before walking over and out the door, that brought up a few bad memories that he refused to go over them with, at least not until they've earned his trust and he earned theirs, but he needed to go somewhere to think, think and drink.

Rias and Sona looked on with a bit of concern since that was a very strong scotch that he just took with him, but they figured he'd be alright and turned to the matter at hand, "I have to go to the familiar forest to notify the familiar master of the change, cover for me while I'm gone."

"Why would we need to cover for you," a member of Sona's peerage asked before she thought about who it was she was talking to, "apologies, it's just that I don't understand as to why it's any of his business if you're going to the familiar forest, no dragons live there, right?"

Sona sighed, she was wrong about that, "no, I apologize, there are many things that are common knowledge to us who were born a devil that we forget to tell those that have been reborn into the life," she said as she turned to face the rest of the peerage, Rias doing the same.

"In truth, there are not only small, insignificant dragons that live there, there is also one dragon that is currently regarded as one of the five dragon kings, the chaos karma dragon, Tiamat," Rias revealed and let it sink in with their gasp at the realization of why she needed cover.

"We'll cover for you while you're gone, I don't think we'll need to worry about him for a little while though, but please be careful," Akeno told her king before the red head smiled and nodded, creating a magic circle she left to the forest, "if you plan to leave, don't worry, I'll clean up."

Sona nodded and left with the rest of her peerage and not even trying to stay and help, even if she was told that it would be taken care of, but when they were gone, Raynare spoke up, "well, let's get to cleaning," the other two just looked at her, "what, like we've got better things to do."

With Acnologia

Acnologia was currently using his advanced speed technique to move quickly, it wasn't long before he made it up the mountain close to town overlooking the horizon, being asked such a question as why he hates dragons brought up some old memories for him, some very old memories. How he started his journey, how he gained all his power, what he's done, what he's seen dragons and humans and all kinds of monsters do, what happened to his family to make him the way he was, and many other tragic things that he's never told anybody, since they were before his power. Then he started to lose track of time and before he knew it, everything was taken from him, his true name lost in the countless memories of slaughter and bloodshed, the only name he knew was Acnologia, so he took it as his name, but he never forgot his life before he gained power.

Not all of it at least, true there were names and faces that he knew were important, one faint imprint of a little girl, that he knew must be important to him for some reason, of course there were dozens of reasons as to why she would be, a daughter, a sister, a childhood friend. There were faint memories of shadows of people who might be something similar to what might be a mother and a father, people who might have taken care of him when he was a child, a childhood long lost to him and the him that was so weak to let his past tragedy happen like so.

"Whatcha thinking about stud," a new voice spoke up a few yards away from him, he didn't bother to look at the female voice, "awe, don't be like that, I just want to talk with you a bit," she walked closer to him and tried to get a reaction by pressing her bust against his back, didn't help. "Come on, won't you talk to me, I promise I don't bite, not unless you want me to," she said while trying to wrap her arms around him to hug, or trap him, he didn't know or care, he vanished from her line of sight in a single moment and appeared behind her and got a look at her appearance.

She was dressed like a slut, black hair and large bust with black cat ears and twin cat tails coming out of her rear end, she stood and walked with her butt and chest out to accent them for seduction, the kimono she wore was absurdly small on her and hung off like it was about to fall. She turned around to face him and came face-to-face with his glowing clawed hand that overshined the sun behind him, she could feel the power that he wielded just from looking into his eyes, but could sense nothing else coming from him, so she was both awed and confused by him. After a minute or two he put the glowing clawed hand down before speaking, "your sister sends her regards cat, now leave before things turn dangerous for you," he turned himself and began to leave before a mist appeared around them, it wasn't magic though, more like a touch of nature.

"Why did you mention Shirone," Kuroka demanded with a glare, she knew for a fact that her sister was taken under the wings of the Gremory's, not the worst people to have as her protector, "I did not go through that hell just for her to be back to being held hostage by someone else."

Acnologia blinked for a single moment as a memory rushed to him, of a little girl crying for his help, yet he couldn't do anything as she died, the memory faded as he turned to look at the cat, "I don't have her hostage, I'm staying with the Gremory heiress right now, so I know her."

The mist didn't let up, and neither did her glare at him, "I don't like that you know my sister, you're dangerous, very dangerous," the mist started to condense as it got thicker and thicker around them, "and I didn't want her to know about what I did, not for a long time at least."

The mist grew so thick that it covered her form and let her blend into it with ease, sadly it didn't cover her sent so he appeared behind the cat that was hoping to disappear, "yeah, she already knows, or at least suspects that you didn't lose your mind," he stated as he walked forward. He didn't even need to see her as he began walking forward, she turned to strike at him but the clawed hand was smacked away with a quick left hand before her throat was grabbed with his right hand, he paused for a single moment as he smelled something on her. Acnologia brought his nose down to her neck and inhaled her sent, "you reek of dragon," pulling her neck away from him, he threw her back to the ground before putting his right foot to her stomach, putting just enough pressure to cause pain, "where is the dragon?"

Kuroka looked on in only fear as the sun shown high above him and cast a shadow over her, normally this demanding attitude would turn her on, especially from one so powerful, but her instincts weren't telling her to breed with him, they were telling her to run, to survive only. "We're part of a group," he pressed down hard on her stomach now, "but not a group I want to die from," she added thinking he thought she'd deny based upon loyalty or something, "I'll show you where he is, just don't kill me," he bent down to where his face was an inch from hers.

It was unclear on what exactly the black dragon was looking for, unclear to her at least, for Acnologia he was looking for a hint of a lie, he said only one thing as he raised his foot off her stomach and straightened, "coward," she stared at him wide eyed as he insulted her fortitude. "Putting your own life above your fellow comrades, even I know that's immoral," the dragon cracked his neck a bit before going silent, neither of them spoke, Kuroka out of fear, Acnologia because he was waiting on something, "what are you waiting for, take me or bring him here."

"No need," Kuroka heard the most chilling sound she could right now, looking up they saw the form of the white dragon emperor in his white armored glory just floating in the sky with his wings on full display, "it seems that you have my attention mister unknown, what do you want?"

"Vali, run," Kuroka ordered her fellow Brigade member before he was caught up in whatever this dangerous man had planned, the white dragon just rose an eyebrow at her before Acnologia shot upward at him with a clawed hand ready to take the dragon out, only for it to fly to the right.

Vali thought he'd be safe thanks to his air maneuverability, he was wrong as Acnologia stepped off the air and grabbed hold of one of his wings, with a quick act the white dragon flipped them while in the air broke his wing off while Albion's voice called out it's signature, "Divide," calling. The two Brigade members knew they had the dragon when it was called, now whatever power he had the sacred gear of Vali would get and even the odds, except, "Vali, his power is too great," Albion's voice out to him, "my functions are overloaded, the system is going to force a shutdown."

Albion shut down and his wing disbanded, only reason he stayed in the air was thanks to his devil wings now being displayed, Vali was about to say something when Acnologia charged again and swiped at the silver haired devil, who tried his best to dodge, sadly it wasn't fast enough. Vali lowered himself to the ground to hold his wound of a taken eye while the black dragon also landed on the ground, holding the ripped out eye of Vali, "is that all you can do, what a disappointment," the black dragon tossed the appendage away behind him uncaringly and charged.

Vali charging as well, knowing that he can't run, so he charged up his fists with blue lightning and tried for a one two combo, but the only thing the black dragon did was bring up his right leg and block both jabs before striking at the air, the air pressure alone was enough to blow Vali away. He recovered though kept attacking away, a left cross was just dodged to the right, a kick coated in lightning was ducked under before a random punch in frustration was sidestepped to the left, this time Acnologia actually did punch the devil, sending him soring back while coughing up blood. In an effort to get some distance he shot out three separate lightning orbs to try and weaken him, but he took it with no strain at all before appearing behind the silver haired devil, and kicking the small of his back to send him flying into a tree at the far edge of the clearing they were in.

"You must have realized it by now, right," Acnologia walked up to the downed devil calmly as he tried to rise, "I'll tell you my name so you know the one who killed you," he stopped just in front of him, "I'm the black dragon of the apocalypse, the dragon king, Acnologia, the destroyer of all."

"Spare me the titles," Vali shot up and punched at the black dragon, his fist easily caught by Acnologia's hand, the silver haired man tried a punch with his other hand, it was blocked as well before a high kick hit Vali in the chin and a headbutt knocked the boy to the ground now.

"I can't let a single dragon left alive to continue to contaminate this world, you understand of course," Acnologia slammed his hand into stomach of Vali, making him spit up more blood, "this is what it means to be a dragon slayer, this is what it means to be the true dragon king." He pulled his hand back and stomped his foot onto the devil boy's chest now, "I'll give you this though, you lasted far longer than most have against me, so I'll give other dragons a good show of my power, by using you as an example," he immediately grabbed Vali's face after that.

Acnologia stepped off the boy before tossing the him into the air, it seemed like he began to suck something in, the air around him and even Kuroka began to warp and bend as an unknown force was being absorbed into the black dragon, making his cheeks puff up a bit as he aimed at Vali. It was just now dawning on her though, that even though it was clear the white dragon wasn't floating, he had yet to even reach the apex of the casual toss, which must be why the dragon aimed slightly higher than if the white devil was falling into the blast in the first place. With a large exhale of breath and power beyond what she's ever seen, a pale blue-ish white light shot forth from Acnologia's mouth, not a small one either, she was sure that it was even bigger than an atomic bomb mushroom cloud twice as powerful, it shot farther than the clouds.

Then only reason it cut off, and she was sure it was the only reason, was because Acnologia closed his mouth, the dragon closed his mouth and the power just shut itself off, the rest of it continued on through the heavens as if it was now a permanent marker to show his power. When the end got past where Vali was supposed to have been, the only thing left was a pile of ash falling to the ground, ash and dust with barely any white particles in it, the remnants of his sacred gear Kuroka guessed, and it was with some searching that she noticed something else. There was no longer a spirit of Albion, there was no prime force or power now, this black dragon just killed one of the heavenly sky dragons and he didn't even look winded, and that's not an exaggeration, he simply stood proud of himself for killing the vanishing dragon with such ease.

"Too bad I didn't get to taste his blood, would have liked to bathe in dragon blood again," Acnologia mentioned offhandedly as he turned in her direction, normally that wasn't a huge cause for alarm, but whenever a dragon just killed another with ease, she was automatically weary of it. "Don't look at me like that," he ordered after noticing her glare and uneasiness, "like I said, your sister says hi, and you're off limits to kill for me, though if you don't give her a good reason, she might just forgo that, I'd work on my heart to heart if I were you," he gave her a toothy grin.

Kuroka didn't react at all until after he walked past her and bumped her shoulder, it was then that it hit her, she was going to have to report to Ophis that Vali was dead, that not only was Vali dead but so was Albion as well, and that wasn't even the end of the report she had to give to Ophis. Someone was claiming to be a new apocalyptic dragon, a title reserved only for the strongest of the strong, the top two contenders for the end of everything, Great Red and Trihexa, beings that not only were never heard from, but were so strong no force anywhere could stop them. Yet this being was claiming to be another one, tipping scales into bringing about the end of every single last thing, and yet she could only feel a tinge of joy and nervousness because he said she's off limits, so now she has to remain off limits by talking to Shirone, and telling her the truth.

Later

Acnologia wasn't seen by most around school, a few sightings of some random individual casually walking along the back road was reported, but Rias knew that the black dragon could hide if he felt like it, problem was that he never felt like it so Sona had been coming to her for a reason. Being a friend to a being that was too strong for his own good had perks, but that paled in comparison to the drawbacks of the apocalypse incarnate saying, "fuck you," to everyone that questioned him about what he was doing, and to make matters worse, the church was here. Which was why she asked him to come in so that if things went too far south, they had someone who could take on holy objects, he was only running a few minutes late but that could mean any number of things, he probably found a dragon and was killing the poor creature right now.

When he did finally walk in was to see Rias sitting on the couch closest to the window, Akeno, Raynare, and Koneko standing behind her, and across the table on the other couch was a blue haired girl and a chestnut brown haired girl, both held holy auras and both clad in white cloaks. "Ah, Acnologia, thank you for coming this way," Rias said politely to the black dragon of the apocalypse as he stepped into the room and saw that a meeting was underway, then she looked to the two girls, "this is my associate Acnologia, known as the black dragon of the apocalypse."

The blue haired girl only nodded at the information as the dragon sat next to Rias put his feet on the coffee table, "thank you for agreeing to speak with us today, my name is Xenovia," the blue haired girl spoke up first professionally, though she looked to her partner in pity when she spoke.

"My name is Irina Shidou," the chestnut brown haired girl introduced in a sad tone as if she had been depressed from something she heard, nobody really knew why but was sure to keep it in mind for if it was needed for psychological warfare for later on, but hopefully it won't lead to that.

"It's fascinating to me why followers of God would want to meet with a devil," Rias commented with a smile as everyone remained silent and behind her, oh she had no idea how fascinating it is, Acnologia nudged her a bit though, "and the dragon king, can we proceed now," she asked him.

Those form the church continued on anyways "It does seem random, here's the thing, there are six swords we can account for, three are still with the church, however, we happen to know that the other three were stolen by fallen angels," Irina informed them, everyone else was shocked.

Xenovia spoke up again and motioned to her wrapped sword, "these are from the ones we have left, they're made from Excalibur, this sword is mine, it's called the sword of destruction," the way she introduced it so casually screams at her own self-confidence with the weapon.

"Then there is the one that I have here," Irina began and showing her armband, "it's known as the holy sword of mimicry, it's also an Excalibur mimic," Acnologia yawned, briefly wondering what an armband could do before remembering that it could be a cover for a sword of some kind.

"So, what is it you would like for us to do for you today," Rias asked while still having a smile on her face and trying to be professional as well, though the supposed dragon king and black dragon of the apocalypse yawning at their words and information didn't help, but she held firm.

"Stay completely out of it, this is between us and the fallen angels, let's keep it simple, shall we, we don't want the devils in this town to intervene," Xenovia told her, so this was just to make a statement, a statement telling them not to get involved with their business, too bad.

"That sounds like an accusation, are you afraid that we will side with the fallen angels and keep you from obtaining the holy swords," Rias said ominously, though she tried to be polite about it as well, shows the world at large still doesn't trust some groups based solely on race still, sucks.

"We know for devils, a holy sword is a detestable thing, wouldn't it make more sense for you to support the fallen angels," Xenovia retorted just as ominously, "and if that is true, we would have no choice but to completely annihilate you, even though you are the great devil's sister."

"If you already have me figured out, then let me share something with you: there is no way I would ever even think of joining the fallen angels, I would never do anything to besmirch the name of the house of Gremory or my dear brother" Rias commented with a prideful smile.

Now the bluenette smiled and said, "it's enough for me just to hear you say that, I was only relaying the thoughts of headquarters, I honestly didn't think the little sister of Lucifer would be that stupid," she closed her eyes as if she was praising herself for thinking correctly.

"Good to know, then I also hope you understand that I will not provide aid to your side either," the Gremory heiress stated, though Acnologia was trying his best to hide a snicker that was obviously not being hid very well, "you have something on your mind," she asked him.

"Yeah," the black dragon didn't seem to care all that much, what with him cleaning out his ears as well, "I don't suppose you two will be going against any dragons in town, would you," he asked the two and the rest of the peerage wanted to facepalm at what he wanted to know about.

"Not a single dragon that we know of is working with the Fallen, so it is unlikely that will be the case," now she chose to address Rias again, "I trust that we will prevail if you promise not to intervene in anything we do in this town," Xenovia commented to the princess for confirmation.

"You have my word on that," Rias promised gracefully, the talks were going well considering that the rest of the meeting could have been worse if Acnologia thought their overconfidence was misplaced, thankfully he was in a good mood ever since he killed Vali, easily he added afterwards.

"We won't take up any more of your time then, we'll let ourselves out," she said as she got up to leave, and as she was walking out, she stopped and turned to Raynare, and noticed that she was wearing the Twilight Healing sacred gear, "you are the one that took Asia Argento's power?"

"Yeah," Raynare replied carefully, she didn't like what this may lead to, it's not really like she cared about the girl, but they will run into her somewhere down the line, and she was a former nun, so maybe they were friends of hers, though she was excommunicated from the church.

"I was wondering who it was that took the sacred gear from her, but I guess it does make sense that a witch was betrayed for her own sins, do you know where her body is right now," Xenovia asked the fallen angel who now realized what was happening, the body was going to be burned.

"Nope, was gonna have some of our own priests burn it, but than a devil knight came in and took it to be revived, not that it mattered to me, I got what I wanted," Raynare showed off her sacred gear by uncrossing her arms and held it up like it was a nice engagement ring she showed off.

Xenovia narrowed her eyes at the comment, "under normal circumstances we would demand the sacred gear be returned," Raynare got a dark look in her eyes at the word demand, "however as a show of good faith, we will let the loss of such a precious treasure slide," she turned to leave. Irina followed after her, her eyes remained on Acnologia a bit longer than intended as there was a strange feeling from him, but she chose to ignore it and walk away, and ignoring the pain in her heart from learning of her friend's death, not that they would ever be able to know that.

When the doors finally closed and the two left, Rias got nerve in her, for some reason more nerve when dealing with the dragon then she has ever shown before, and she doesn't know what possessed her to do it, but she smacked him in the back of the head, the slap echoing. Acnologia turned to look at her with the look asking if she wanted to die, but she turned to him and said, "I thought you were supposed to be the king, at least act kingly when in a meeting," the black dragon growled at what she said before rising from his seat to tower over her.

"She's right you know," Raynare commented too, making the dragon turn his glare on her, "what, you openly cleaned your ears in front of them, lounged on the couch as if you didn't care and I'm pretty sure you flicked the earwax on the table in front of them," she pointed to the speck.

They all turned their heads to look at the speck, then turned to look back at the fallen angel, "fine," he vaporized the speck of earwax from existence, and still glared at both of them, "maybe I'm out of touch with the manners of the court, happy, I admit it," he admitted to them openly.

"Ecstatic," Koneko sarcastically replied in her monotone voice, Acnologia flipped her off, "no," she replied to the gesture before bringing out sweets for her to eat while they waited for whatever was going to happen to happen next, the others going about their own business as well.

"By the way," Rias mentioned while crossing her arms while moving to her desk, "can't you just lay low and come in without any noise, Sona keeps on coming to me because you keep on refusing to sneak in," she asked the black dragon while he began to leave, he need to eat.

"I'm not a devil so I don't have a teleportation circle, I only have legs and wings, so unless you want a giant dragon flapping about, deal with it," Acnologia left them with a wave as he walked through the door, nobody asked where he was going since he just wandered around the area.

When he was gone Rias let out a sigh as Akeno brought her some tea, "by the way, Yuuma," the queen of Gremory got her sister's attention, "you never mentioned if you knew anything about this plan of the other fallen angels," she wondered aloud and hinting to let them all know.

"Oh yeah," Raynare got herself in a thinking pose before shaking her head, "I wasn't told anything, in fact, the only thing I might know is a tidbit of information on who might be behind the theft," she turned to face the window and stare outside, "the warmonger, Kokabiel."

The other three were shocked by the statement, he had a reputation for being strong, just how strong since the great war ended none of the four could say, "we may need to keep an eye on those two from the church, I'll leave that to you Koneko," the rook nodded to Rias's order.

"Let's hope we don't have to involve Acnologia, we don't want a bloodbath on our hands," Akeno's statement was met with shivers to go up their spines, that would have been the worst possible outcome to have, "and now I hope I didn't just jinx us," she walked away with a hand to her cheek.

Later on

It wasn't really a good time, it took about a few nights before things got out of hand, Xenovia and Irina somehow ran into a rogue priest by the name of Freed Sellzen, they both took him out easily enough, the same with Valper Galilei who had no backup after Freed was taken out of the fight. Without many others going in a large crowd, they went in undetected and was able to take Freed and Valper by surprise, retrieving the Excaliburs that had been stolen and the only thing left was to take out the one who orchestrated the theft in the first place, the leader class fallen, Kokabiel.

So what did they do, knowing that the town was run by devils and since they have shown to be cordial and responsible, at least a bit when the wild haired dragon wasn't around, they informed Gremory of what they have accomplished so far in their mission, and brought a warning. The situation was worse than they had originally thought and so knew things may come to a point a large fight would break out, thus warning the devils that have proven to be responsible for the town, the warning was appreciated, but they didn't have to wait long for Kokabiel.

A glass like barrier was forming around the school when they arrived, and it looked like Sona's peerage was the one responsible, "we've covered the entire school in a protective barrier, if nothing drastic happens, then it should be able to keep anything in it from getting damaged," Sona stated. "Understand that this will only work if the conditions remain the same, I'll keep the barrier up, but I might not be able to keep the school from collapsing, as much as I'd prefer to avoid it, Rias it's not too late to contact Acnologia," she told her old friend in what could be remorse

Rias closed her eyes and shook her head, but before she could respond Akeno did, "I've already tried just in case we needed to," Rias glared, "I understand you don't want to have him among this potential bloodbath, but regrettably I've been unable to locate him at all," she informed.

"Fine," Rias said with a small huff before they entered the barrier and walked to the training field of the school, they stopped in the school for a quick meeting though, "Raynare, I want you to be support, the last thing we need is our resident healer to be taken out of this," the girl nodded. "The rest of us can take him if we all work together, we have much more power than we ever had before let's use it," Rias motivated her team so that they could win this fight, "let's concentrate on being on the offensive for this battle, we have to keep Kokabiel from releasing his power, whatever that may be. Unlike with how the fight with Riser could have gone, most of our lives will be on the line, but I won't allow us to die today, we will survive my dear servants, we will survive this fight so we can come back here and go to school once more," Rias stated with conviction.

Rias led her peerage and family out onto the field and saw nothing wrong except the sky is a different color then what it should be, but that was more than likely because of the barrier Sona erected, then they heard a voice, "so, is big brother coming yet, or is it Serafall instead."

They looked over and up in the sky set a throne-like chair hanging there and watching them, it was a large red throne on top of an upside down castle tower by the looks of it, "right now, we're the ones here ready to fight, that's all that matters," Rias radiated the confidence to back it up.

Kokabiel's response was to generate a light spear and getting ready to throw it at them, but decided to throw it at the gymnasium instead, it was obliterated and left nothing but a crater, "ugh, this is so boring, I need a diversion, but since you came all this way to see me." That is when he seemed to have gotten an idea, "I might as well let you play with my favorite pets," Kokabiel said as he sent a beam of light to the ground and from it a magic circle was formed before a large hole with fire at the bottom formed, spitting out fire in a large wave.

It is from this torrent of flames that a large beast came out, at first it seems to three separate creatures, but then it stepped out of the flames and revealed a large three headed dog "Cerberus, living at the gates of the underworld, it's the watchdog of hades," Akeno introduced the creature.

"Bringing him to this world is forbidden, let's send him back," Rias ordered as everyone got ready for a fight, Akeno changing into her miko attire, Koneko brandishing her gloves to get ready for the fight, Raynare changing from her school clothes to her leather outfit she first dawned on.

Xenovia and Irina brought out their holy swords and got in ready stances as more and more dogs got out of flaming circles, "Kokabiel, it's time to pay for what you've done," Xenovia ordered as her and Irina charged to break through the line surrounding them first, not that they got far.

One of the Cerberus went after Akeno and Rias, who easily dodge the attacks by using their wings to avoid their fire spewing, Akeno used some ice magic to freeze a stream of fire headed towards her, then Rias sent a wave of destruction magic to the creature, grounding it. Another one went straight for a charging Koneko who just jumped up to deliver a devastating leg drop to its middle head, Akeno only needed a second to charge up her attack and delivered a large thunder strike to the same dog in a strafing motion, it howled in pain as it fell to the ground. Another Cerberus tried to attack them from behind, but that was guarded by Xenovia, and Irina, who fought with their own swords blocking their claws and fangs with their skill in parrying, Xenovia and Irina struck at it with their holy swords, making quick work of them with their help.

Raynare decided that she was going to go for a cheap shot and send a multi-wave spear barrage for Kokabiel, he dissolved his chair and blocked with his wings wrapping himself in them, which didn't seem to take any damage from all of them, it barely left a mark on his person now. "How about this," Rias called out as she sent a large wave of destruction aimed for him as well, it didn't work as he simply knocked it away and it went right back to her, she dodged just in time for it to go past her and impact the ground just to the side of everyone else.

"If you want to save this place, you'll have to defeat me," Kokabiel spread his wings out and let them all be shown as if they were to signify their doom, "ready, Rias Gremory," he called to the red head and prepared to take whatever it was that she sent his way, he knew it would be work.

"I'm ready," Rias called out as she sent another large wave of destruction for him again, and like before, it didn't work, but this time he caught it and formed a sphere of it in his right hand just as Akeno also came in and sent out lightning attack for him, he caught that one with his left hand. With a slam of his hands forced both energies together in a larger sphere of power and sent for Rias, but Akeno got in the way and put up a barrier, but sadly, it shattered upon impact and she took the brunt of it, Rias was blown back some but was able to right herself in order to not fall. Akeno started to fall until Raynare jumped in just in time to catch her sister before she hit the ground, they immediately got up from their spot and got ready for another round of fighting, but that was going to be a longshot unless they all go all out, they won't survive from him at all.

Xenovia was ready to finish this fight and so did something unexpected, stabbed her Excalibur in the ground, "oh Peter, oh Basilius and Dionysius, and the Blessed Virgin Mary, I ask you to please hear my prayers," an intricate magic circle shimmered and focused into existence beside her. Out came the handle of broadsword with a blue blade and a golden edge, the sword has a semicircular guard on the left side of the handle that extends to the bottom just above the pommel, with a small extension on the right side of the handle, wrapped in chains as it exited. Xenovia gently rubbed her fingers along the hilt of the sword, "in the name of the saint living within this blade," she now grabbed the blade firmly, "I hereby set you free," the chains all snapped and she pulled the blade out holding it up with ease, "this is called Durandal."

Rias and Akeno were amazed at seeing her able to wield such a thing, Irina just cheered her on silently as she took on a serious face, if Xenovia was using Durandal, then she couldn't act any other way than serious as well, so they both looked to each other and nodded before charging. Koneko charged with them, this fight was going to be against someone able to take on the devil king, fighting in a great war is no small feat, so they needed all the help they could get, but they were alone in this on the ground, so they had to divide and let the other three fight in the sky.

Rias began to charge a large spell of destructive power while Akeno did the same with her lightning, when they released it created a large destructive and electrified vortex aimed for the fallen leader, who wrapped himself in his ten wings and let the attack hit him yet was protected. Irina, Xenovia, and Koneko all three charged, two with holy sword, Xenovia attacking from his right while Irina attacked his left, and finally Koneko from the center each were blocked by quickly constructed swords of light, well the first two at least, the third was blocked by his wings. Then he twisted himself in a quick spin and all his wings attacked the three attacking him at once a knocked them all back as Raynare came up behind him with some of her own spears of light, they did just about as good as the holy swords did, except there was a little more char on the wings. Kokabiel was starting to get mad now though, so charged up an attack now before others could get any more bad ideas and let it loose in a large crossing wave of power, that was only barely blocked in time to thanks to Xenovia and Irina's holy swords, and thankfully they all survived it.

"Why fight so hard for a group of losers who don't even know they've lost their master," he questioned the blue haired girl with contempt, though he probably shouldn't have said that, because that is when things seemed to have gone straight to hell for him, in hindsight at least.

"What," Xenovia asked dumbly before adding more force to it, "mind clarifying by telling me what 'lost their master' is supposed to mean," it was starting to make since to those who could think about it and didn't really think religiously like the others, so his eyes widened a bit though.

"Woops, that just slipped right out, though I guess since I am starting a war, you might as well learn the brutal truth on the matter," this was about to be a big reveal, "in the previous war, God was killed along with the four great devil kings," he said with actual happiness in his tone.

Now everyone was completely freaking out, Xenovia stared on in horror at the information, Irina looked ready to fall down and die from the shock, and Raynare didn't like the news either, "god is dead, how is that possible, your lying, I've never heard anything about that," Rias accused of him.

"Back then the devils lost all their kings and high level devils, the angels and fallen angels lost almost everyone except for their leaders, pure angels could not increase their numbers and pure bread devils are just as rare, aren't they," Kokabiel informed, nobody could dispute this fact. "All sides have been ruined to the point where they have to rely on humans to survive, angels, fallen angels, devils the leaders of the three factions had to seal away this information, and that way the God fearing humans will keep on fearing."

Xenovia looked to be about to pass out because she dropped to her knees in shock of it, Irina though, she was now staggering and looked ready to faint at that exact moment, "no, it's not true," Xenovia refused to believe it, she didn't want to, Irina was about to pass out now.

"Now try to remember that I couldn't care less about any of that, what drives me crazy is the fact that after God and those devil kings died, it was decided to stop the war, why would they do something like that in the middle of winning," now he just began sounding like a lunatic. "How dare they try and keep me from squashing my enemies just as it was getting fun, we could have won, even that bastard Azazel declared that they would never be another war, what the fuck," Kokabiel exclaimed in absolute furry at being denied a war. "Heh, Michael has been holding his own so far, he's the one who's been keeping the angels and humans together in God's stead, but as long as the system works, prayer and exorcisms will endure to a certain extent, I'm sure someone has been listening," Kokabiel didn't sound helpful.

Irina fainted at that moment and Koneko was right beside her so she caught her, Raynare staggered and Akeno stabilized her sister, Koneko who had been right beside her, "it's a natural," Xenovia was struggling, "a natural reaction, I'm surprised I can still think right now."

"Well I suppose knowing the number of believers in God has drastically dropped probably doesn't help anything, does it, but without anyone to manage the balance between good and evil, who knows what might have happened with the Excaliburs and other holy swords," he informed. "This means the war must continue, and I'll keep it going by taking your heads if I have to," he growled out and made ready a charge of his own they all got ready, those that were left and ready to take the guy on, mainly Rias, Akeno, Raynare, Koneko, and Xenovia, all ready to face him.

A humanoid figure burst down from the sky, destroying the barrier around the school and kicking up an absurd amount of dust around the impact area, "I'd like to see you try to take my friend's heads," the one voice everyone wanted to hear right now reverberated throughout from the dust. Out walked the black dragon of the apocalypse, in all his caveman looking glory, "sorry I'm late, some asshole put up a barrier around this place," he didn't even sound sorry going off of that manic grin that he was wearing, he calmly walked to stand between the fallen and the others. "I hear that god's dead, well," Acnologia laughed like a madman as Kokabiel got actual light spears ready to fight the one who was obviously stronger than the others, "meet your new god," blue-ish white magic enveloped his clawed hands, "and just so you know, I do take blood sacrifices."

Acnologia charged and slashed down a left claw and struck at the spear of light, the reverberation creating a loud shockwave of energy, it barely left the impact point when his right foot was imbedded into the gut of the fallen angel, causing blood to spill out of his mouth from the impact. The black dragon grabbed the top of his hair and slammed him into the ground before stomping on his left leg, breaking it, "oh, I'm sorry, didn't see that leg there," yet the dragon stomped on the other leg, that one was because you didn't scream," the left arm was grabbed now.

With a quick rip of flesh and bone, he finally got what he wanted, "AAAHHHH," Kokabiel screamed in pain before his right arm was also destroyed with a ball of pure magic obliterating it, "AAAHHHH," he screamed again, now the black dragon obliterated his crotch to bits, "AAAHHHH!"

"Now that's music to my ears," Acnologia raised his right clawed hand and with a final wave of magic, not only obliterated all of Kokabiel, but also a large portion of the ground and school from the blast, and all the rest of them could see was the silhouette of a man with glowing red eyes.

ORC room

"Hello, to all of you, I hope we get along," Xenovia said as she and Irina walked into the room in Kuoh academy uniforms, Xenovia with her usually cool expression and Irina with a depressed expression that seemed sadder then when they were first introduced to her, way sadder.

"Good you found us, well welcome to the club new knight of the house of Gremory, Xenovia Quarta and my rook Irina Shidou," Rias announced to everyone when they all finally arrived, the last being the two formerly mentioned new additions to the peerage, very new additions as well.

"I know it's unexpected but after we found out that God had actually died, we were desperate so Xenovia was the one that begged her to take us in," Irina told them, her voice sounded horse from crying non-stop from the point she woke up until just this morning, such is her faith.

"It'll be nice to have the Durandal user added to our ranks, with this, you will be the swordfighter covering our right and left flanks while Irina and her still usable Excalibur Mimic will be with Koneko protecting and front and back from enemy attacks, should be fun," Rias informed.

"We also transferred to this school as a second-year student earlier today, it looks like we get to work together," Irina tried to sound cheerful but it still came out all horse and came off as an almost choked sob, but she fought and held back her tears and decided not to try that again.

"Without God, we have no meaning, and we honestly don't know if becoming our old enemy is the best thing, but for the little sister of the devil king she's been shockingly kind, oh I hope I made the right choice, I feel like I have but there's so much doubt, please help me, O lord," Xenovia prayed.

Yet after she prayed she felt pain, though Irina also prayed with her out of instinct and felt pain as well, that seemed to brake the damn though, because after that she banged on the floor, "it's not fair *bang*, first Issei is brutally murdered after a date now I can't even pray to a dead God." She continued to bang on the floor as she began to cry and wail, her life was falling apart faster than anyone should have to go through, so much tragedy and still so young, and all she could do was lay on the floor and cry into herself as her friend tried to comfort her the best she could.

The attempt to sooth took a little while, but she finally calmed down and was to fatigued, "as you can see, her faith is deeper than mine, and she's not taking the news very well, so I ask that you please help us to find a new path to focus on, maybe after she focuses on that she can be helped. As for the church side, we are now dangerous people who found out the truth about something we shouldn't have, so the church has declared us as heretics, but we were able to send back the cores of the remaining holy swords and even destroyed one's fragments," Xenovia informed.

"Listen to my voice Irina," Rias called out from her seat, it was firm but at the same time gentle, "you will get through this, I don't know how or what you're goal will be after this, but I promise you," she rose from her seat and walked to the downed girl, lowering herself to her level. "We will all help you to heal from this, you will get out stronger than you can imagine," she wrapped herself around the two on the floor, "we will all help you," on que everyone else went in and wrapped their arms in a big group hug as well, everyone that was there at least.

All of them silently agreed to not tell either of them that Acnologia and Raynare were the ones that were with Issei the night he was killed, or that the black dragon was the one to kill the boy, the man was barely seen around them for a little bit since his little rampage on Kokabiel's corpse. So they didn't want to push anything at the moment, especially since the black dragon of the apocalypse was responsible for the death of a childhood friend, they also decided to wait on informing the two of them that they have a limited amount of time until the world ends as well.