Disclaimer: I do not own Fate Stay Night, Highschool DxD or anything else.

Fate: Devil Night

Chapter12: Excalibur I

Human World
Japan: Kuoh
Kuoh Academy

Rias Gremory was a High-Class Pure-Blooded Devil and the heiress of the Gremory clan, one of the seventy-two Pillars. She was also the little sister of the current Maou Lucifer, a man by the name of Sirzechs. Though many considered him to be the Devil instead of a Devil like everyone else. Unlike her brother however, Rias had not grown up fighting in the Great War against the Angels and Fallen Angels nor had she grown up fighting in the Civil War that followed it.

She had inherited her family's bloodline which was that of the Power of Destruction, an ability that could atomise anything it touched in an instant. As the heiress of the Gremory clan her parents in their infinite wisdom had selected the arrogant Raiser Phenex to be her husband, and she was determined to get out of the marriage one way or the other. She had until she finished high school in the human world to gather a peerage strong enough to challenge Raiser and defeat him.

It was her only hope…

Kuoh city was Devil-territory, and fell under the jurisdiction of herself and her friend Sona who also had her own peerage. Sitri Sona had been her friend for years and together they effectively owned the city. Like herself Sona was also the little sister of a Maou but hers was her older sister Serafall, the current Leviathan. Between Rias and Sona, there was very little happening in the city that they could deal with. Usually a Stray Devil would try and setup camp in the city but they would be dealt with quickly.

However today wasn't what they would call normal by any stretch of the word…

"Excuse me?" Rias blinked in surprise as she eyed the person standing in front of her.

Rias, Sona and their peerages all stood in the Student Council Room looking over at the group of strange people standing before them. Their presence was noticed the moment they entered the city since the new barrier the two heiresses had setup to track supernatural signatures had picked him up immediately. Of course they'd received a message notifying them that the group was coming and had sent their peerages to escort them all to the room they all currently occupied.

And now here they stood…

"You heard me," Issei responded simply.

"The Excalibur fragments have been stolen?" Rias asked the question. "And you believe that they're here in Kouh city?"

"It seems that way Gremory-dono," Ravel replied honestly.

Rias eyed the Phenex heiress warily knowing exactly who she was and more importantly, who she was related to. It was no secret that Rias despised her fiancé and was willing to do almost anything in order to get out of the marriage contract that she'd been forced into by her parents' years ago. Still, she was willing to give the younger woman the benefit of the doubt since Ravel didn't seem to act anything like her brother Raiser.

"With your permission, we'd like to conduct a search of the city for the missing Excalibur fragments," Issei spoke clearly with a small hint of respect in his voice.

While he was a priest—an Executor—he didn't have a fanatical hatred of all things nonhuman like many of the others in the Holy Church. Not only that but he knew that to antagonize the local devils here would likely result in the Fallen Angels escaping in the confusion and taking the Excalibur fragments with them. That was another reason Issei had chosen to contact Shirou and Ravel, because they would likely be better at getting them free reign to hunt down the Fallen Angels before they disappeared again.

"This is very a serious matter," Sona spoke calmly as she pushed her glasses up to her nose. "Simply stealing the Excalibur fragmentscan lead to war, but to bring them into devil-territory like this? Who is it that would do something like this?"

"…Kokabiel," Xenovia answered.

The silence that followed was thunderous not only among the devils in the room but also Issei as well, after all Caren hadn't told him just which Fallen Angel had stolen the Excalibur fragments. Kokabiel was one of the leaders of not only the Fallen Angels but also the Grigori organization, a group of Fallen Angels that acted as their government. They had assumed it was a rogue group of Fallen Angels that had been responsible, not one of the Grigori leaders.

This was worse than they'd thought…

"Why would he do such a thing?" Rias questioned with narrowed eyes. "Is he hoping for a war?"

"We don't know," Caren replied. "We'll ask him when we see him."

"For now finding the Excalibur fragments are our top priority," Xenovia stated clearly. "Facing Kokabiel isn't something we want to do but if the situation calls for it, we will deal with him accordingly."

"You sound confident," Sona commented.

"We have a right to be," Xenovia responded simply.

Issei had to bite back a chuckle at her words as he looked over at the blue-haired woman and nodded firmly. Xenovia may have been confident in her skills but she knew that there was no way that she, Irina and Caren could possibly defeat a Fallen Angel with five-sets of wings. That was the reason that they'd come to him, after all, since he was the current wielder of the Boosted Gear, a Longinus-class Sacred Gear capable of even killing a god when fully unleashed.

Now this was a fight that he was looking forward to…

"Regardless we cannot let you go around our territory unsupervised," Rias spoke up sharply. "That's why we'll be sending four of our people with you, not only to aid you but also because I doubt you know the area very well."

"…Agreed," Issei nodded at her terms.

"Momo, Saji, you two go with them," Sona gave the order.

"Koneko, Yuuto, you as well," Rias added sending a nod at the two.

Kiba Yuuto was a low-class devil reincarnated years ago by Rias using a 'Knight' Evil Piece after he nearly died in Russia. He was originally a nameless orphan that was taken in by the Church and experimented on along with dozens of other children. The people in charge called it the 'Holy Sword Project,' a series of experiments designed to create artificial Holy Sword Wielders capable of using the Excalibur fragments and other Holy Swords. The project failed and the test subjects were all disposed of leaving only Yuuto as the sole survivor of the horrendous affair. Since then he'd swore revenge against the ones responsible for the nightmare he had endured and the fate of all those that didn't make it out of there alive.

He also swore to destroy the Excalibur fragments…

"Do the Excalibur fragments have to be intact?" Yuuto asked the question causing them all to look at him.

"Yuuto…" Rias trailed off looking worried.

"No," Xenovia answered him. "Why? What is it to you?"

"My goal is to destroy the Excalibur fragments," Yuuto replied with no small amount of hatred in his eyes. "Even just destroying one will do."

"Who are you?" Issei questioned. "Why do you want to destroy them?"

"Because if it wasn't for them, then my friends wouldn't have died," Yuuto responded with a glare.

"…You're a survivor of the 'Holy Sword Project' aren't you?" Issei sighed sadly as he closed his eyes.

Of course he'd heard of that project, after all there wasn't anyone in the Church who hadn't at least heard about it passing. It wasn't like it was kept secret for long once news of the project was leaked and the entire Holy Church was in an uproar over it. Valper Galilei had not only experimented on innocent children but also slaughtered them once he deemed them failures and had been on the run ever since. Naturally he was excommunicated and all Executors had been given a 'kill-on-sight' order if they spotted the rogue priest.

He'd gotten the name 'Genocide Archbishop' because of that incident…

"Yes I am," Yuuto confirmed solemnly. "I will not let this chance slip by."

"A survivor of the 'Holy Sword Project' that Valper Galilei was running?" Irina mused as she looked over the blond knight. "I thought that all of the test subjects were eliminated?"

"I'm the only survivor," Yuuto declared simply. "You say this 'Valper Galilei' is the one responsible for that atrocity?"

"He escaped when it became known that he was experimenting on children before the Church could take him into custody," Issei explained. "The last anyone had heard of him, he had joined a group of Fallen Angels to try and continue his experiments."

"Valper Galilei…" Yuuto trailed off.

"It's possible that someone under Kokabiel's command might know something about him," Caren suggested. "But we first have to find them."

"One thing at a time," Issei told her. "First we find the Excalibur fragments and the Fallen Angels. We'll worry about Kokabiel and finding out information on other issues later."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Ravel asked them all. "Let's go already."

Human World
Japan: Kuoh
Kuoh Church

The allied devil-exorcist group set off into town soon after and they began their search of the city. Hours passed and night fell by the time they had tracked down the lingering prana in the air that was not coming from the local leylines. It led them to one single location, a place that the exorcists should have guessed was the Fallen Angels' base of operations in the city, the local church. It had long since been abandoned by the Holy Church after the Gremory and Sitri heiresses moved to Kouh from the Underworld, opting to completely withdraw from the devil-controlled city without incident.

"Does anyone else feel that?" Ravel asked as they drew closer to the church.

"A Bounded Field has been put up around the area," Shirou nodded in reply.

"It's a low-level detection ward," Miyu explained simply. "We haven't tripped it yet but if we get any closer then it will go off."

"This is definitely the place," Issei said as he stared at the church before him. "We should have checked here first and save us all the time."

"Fallen Angels using an abandoned church as their base?" Caren mused with a small amount of amusement in her voice. "I didn't think that they would be so cliché."

"What do we do now?" Asia asked the question. "They'll know we're coming if we go any further."

"I can get us passed the Bounded Fields," Shirou answered simply. "But once we're inside, then what?"

"We find the Excalibur fragments and kill anyone stupid enough to get in the way. That's all we can do," Ravel replied with a nod. "Sakura, you stay outside for now, okay? I don't want anyone to escape…"

"Okay," Sakura nodded in understanding.

"Okay then," Issei nodded and looked back at everyone. "Caren, Asia, you two stay here and provide support. Asia, I know that you've been practicing at using your Twilight Healing at longer ranges so please heal us from outside the church. Caren, I leave her safety and your own to you, okay?"

"Don't worry about us," Caren told him. "Worry about yourself, you need the help more than we do."

"I don't like this," Saji spoke up warily. "Shouldn't we report back to Kaichou and Bochou?"

"I've already sent my familiar informing them of the situation," Ravel responded simply. "Besides, they wouldn't have sent you with us if they didn't believe you could do the job."

Genshirou Saji had just been a normal human before his reincarnation into a devil using four 'Pawn' Evil Pieces after his King—Sona Sitri—had taken him under his wing as part of the Student Council at Kouh Academy and helped him awaken his Sacred Gear Absorption Line holding a piece of the Dragon King Vritra's soul within it. While he was admittedly perverted most of the time, Saji was dedicated to aiding Sona and fighting for her dream which was to create a school for all devils, pureblood and reincarnated alike. He would do anything for her, however that didn't change the fact that this was his first real combat situation and he wasn't sure what to do. He'd hunted down Stray Devils with his King and other members of their peerage, however he'd never been assigned a mission like this.

At least he had Momo there with him just in case…

Not to mention the other devils in the group…

"I should hang back too," Momo said clearly. "I'm a 'Bishop' and I know quite a bit of magic. I would be better suited hanging back and providing long-range support."

Hanakai Momo had also been a normal human before she joined the Student Council and Sona's peerage. However unlike Saji she was not born with a Sacred Gear and so had begun to experiment in other ways in order to gain some semblance of usefulness to her King. Her answer was her 'Bishop' Evil Piece known for its magical capabilities and her own thirst for knowledge. She started learning how to use devil-magic and eventually managed to create her own spell before teaching it to others in Sona's Peerage. Reverse was a spell that could change the effect of almost any power and invert it on itself turning it into its opposite. Light became dark, dark became light, and so forth.

She could also use it at long range too…

"A Bishop huh?" Ravel mused before nodding. "Very well, you stay out here and cover the rear."

Momo nodded and walked over to the two nuns a moment later. Saji would have gone with her but his own support abilities with his Absorption Line were mid-range at best so he would need to be far closer to his target than the others were. Kiba and Koneko were frontline fighters, as were Issei, Xenovia, Irina, Shirou, Ravel and Miyu. Between all of them, they were confident that they could deal with any 'surprises' that the Fallen Angels had up their sleeves.

Or at least they hoped that they did…

"Come on," Shirou waved them forward. "Stay close to me."

The thing about Bounded Fields was that none of them were perfect, there was always some flaw in the ward scheme that could be exploited. Kiritsugu had become a master at getting around them in order to kill his Magi targets, either by slipping through the cracks and killing them while they slept or simply blowing up the Magi's stronghold from long range. Either way he had passed on this particular skill to his adopted son and Shirou had no problems putting it to good use. It was how he'd gone mostly undetected when investigating the Hyatt Hotel until Angelica and Beatrice had tracked him down.

Still…

It was a lot tougher guiding a group of people through the matrix of Bounded Fields than it was with just himself, something that he found to be quite aggravating at times. It took him twice as long to lead them around the interconnecting Bounded Fields covering the local church than it would have if it had just been him by himself. Eventually they reached the front doors to the church and stopped, making sure that everyone was accounted for.

"Who would like to do the honours?" Issei asked the question.

"I will," Koneko answered as she stepped forward.

She reared her fist back and then threw it forwards, striking the large stone doors with all of her Rook-class strength. The stone doors were blown straight off their hinges and sailed through the main hall of the church, crashing down a number of men and women in black priest robes. The devil-exorcist group walked inside and looked around at the darkened church. There were dozens of priests wearing black robes dotting the inside of the church and at the altar stood a single man with white-grey hair carrying a sheathed sword at his side.

It was an Excalibur fragment…

"You shitty devils!" the head priest sneered in anger. "What do you think you're doing coming in here like this?!"

"Is he really a priest?" Shirou asked the question.

"My name is Freed Sellzan you shitty devil," the head priest glared back in disgust. "Now kindly die."

The priests around him all charged at the group of devils and exorcists, each one holding a Light-sword. They were low-level Mystic Codes that were inferior to the Burial Agency's Black Keys and were usually give to regular priests instead of Executors. Because of that they didn't really stand a chance when the devil-exorcist group launched themselves at them and started cutting them down one after the other. Issei was the first with his Black Keys out and cutting straight through their Light-swords with Shirou following close behind, Kanshou and Bakuya in his hands. Ravel was next, her flames dancing around her fists as she incinerated everyone she touched.

Miyu hung back, a Calico M950 submachine gun in her hands and firing into the mass of priests, gunning them down. It was a weapon that used to belong to her father before he died and had been sitting in the Emiya shed-workshop ever since along with a large amount of ammunition. She wouldn't even think of using it against the likes of Fallen Angels because it was less than effective against beings of that calibre however she had chosen to bring it with her in order to deal with any human accomplices the Fallen Angels had with them, such as these priests.

Yuuto was next, his Sacred Gear Sword Birth activating in order to form a long double-edged blade in his hands. Being a devil he was more than a match for the priests that got in his way and he quickly cut them down. Koneko was trailing behind him, her fists punching clean through whoever managed to survive Yuuto's assault. Finally there were Xenovia and Irina, both of whom were wielding their Excalibur fragments against the renegade priests.

"He has an Excalibur fragment!" Irina yelled over the sounds of fighting.

Freed hadn't been idle as the battle raged and had chosen to launch himself into the fray. His Excalibur Rapidly accelerated his speed enough that he appeared to be nothing but a blur as he assaulted Xenovia only for Yuuto to intercept him using his own Knight-class speed. Yuuto's sword splintered and broke under the force of the blows that Freed reigned down upon him forcing him to create more. Irina suddenly rushed in from the side with her Excalibur Mimic in hand as Xenovia attacked from the opposite direction with her Excalibur Destruction. Freed saw through it however and jumped back before either of them could catch him resulting in both swords striking each other with an echoing boom that left a crater in the center of the room. The three skidded back and stopped a few feet away from the impact zone a moment later.

"Xenovia, Irina, I'll leave him to you," Issei gave the order as the last of the rogue priests fell. "We're going on ahead,"

"Understood," Xenovia confirmed with a nod.

"We'll finish up quickly," Irina nodded with a smile. "And join up with you later."

"Most churches like this have a basement or something similar," Issei said as he approached the altar and slipped his hand under the table. He grasped the lever hidden there and the altar opened up to reveal a staircase leading to the underground chamber. "The rest of the Excalibur fragments are probably being kept there."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go already," Ravel spoke as she descended into the abyss below.

Shirou, Miyu and Issei followed a moment later leaving only Yuuto, Irina, Xenovia and Freed alive in the main hall. Freed made no move to stop them knowing that they were going to die down there considering what awaited them leaving him to have some fun with these three. Freed Sellzan was someone who despite being called a genius exorcist, he was also someone who didn't believe in God from the beginning. He had only joined the church in order to hunt and kill monsters like the devils. That's why he had no problem working for the Fallen Angels, because as long as he was with them then he could kill as much as he wanted to.

"That sword…" Yuuto trailed off as he glared at the Excalibur fragment in Freed's hands.

Yuuto charged forward again, an ice-covered sword forming his hands as he did so and swung the blade down at the renegade priest. Freed was faster though and quickly raised his Excalibur Rapidly to parry the blow. Freed laughed as the ice-covered blade broke apart upon contact with the far stronger Excalibur Rapidly and slashed back at him. Yuuto's Sacred Gear activated once again and a dozen swords formed in front of him, deflecting Freed's attack long enough for Yuuto to jump back.

"Grr…" Freed snarled out. "What is this?"

"Is that Sword Birth?" a new voice spoke up from the side door at the back of the church. "Not that it matters, it's no match for Excalibur, not even a fragment."

"Old man Valper?" Freed blinked in surprise at seeing him before he grinned. "There's no need for you to be here old man, I've got this."

"Hurry up and use the Holy Element more wisely boy. Gather the holy energy from your body to the blade and finish them off," Valper Galilei ordered calmly.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it," Freed waved back and suddenly flooded his Excalibur Rapidly with his own Holy Element. "See? Now then shitty devils…"

Freed disappeared in a burst of speed, launching himself across the room and slashed at Yuuto. Despite his 'Knight-class' speed he wasn't able to evade the strike and ended up being flung into the row of chairs with a large red slash across his stomach. He bit back a scream of pain as the holy nature of the blade burned away at his very being, both body and soul. Thankfully it only lasted for a moment before a green aura settled on his body and the wound healed.

'What just happened?' Yuuto thought as he stared down at the now unblemished skin.

He'd definitely been cut…

He knew that he had…

"What?" Freed said in shock at seeing a devil recover from a holy wound. "How did you heal that?"

"Asia…" Irina realised in surprise.

Asia Agento was a Holy-Maiden and was known to possess the Sacred Gear Twilight Healing which had been gifted to her by God in order to heal the sick and dying. Irina had seen her use it before and knew what it looked like when she used it on single patients over long distances. Even so Irina hadn't thought for a second that Asia could heal devils as well as humans, after all they were natural enemies and as such what Asia had just done could easily get her excommunicated.

Looking over at Xenovia, she saw that the blue-haired Executor had already come to the same conclusion and shook her head. Irina nodded in response and turned her attention back to their opponent. They'd worry about Asia later when they linked up with Issei and could talk about it. In any event they had bigger things to worry about than dealing with Asia's ability to heal devils, namely preventing another Great War between the Three Biblical Factions and retrieving the Excalibur fragments.

"What are you planning, Valper Galilei?" Xenovia asked the question.

"I plan to re-forge the Excalibur fragments into one," Valper answered honestly.

"You…" Yuuto trailed off in rising anger.

All of his friends had died for those damn Holy swords…

And this bastard wanted to remake it?!

"Of course I only have four of the fragments at the moment but they'll do for now. I'll add the other ones to it later," Valper shrugged before turning his attention to the blond male of the group. "What is it boy?"

"I won't let you!" Yuuto snarled angrily as he surged forward.

Sword Birth answered his call as he poured his demonic power into it and created a pair of scimitars in his hands. Freed laughed as the devil-swordsman came at him and moved to intercept, his own Excalibur Rapidly swinging from the side. Yuuto was able to parry the first blow and had to evade the return swing before he lashed out with his second scimitar. Freed just kept laughing at his attempts and sidestepped the swing using his sword's speed-enhancement.

Irina and Koneko attacked from the sides only for Freed to move around Yuuto and kick him towards the Neko-devil. Freed turned swiftly and knocked Irina to the side mid-swing before kicking her away as well. Xenovia ran over the row of chairs and jumped at him, her Excalibur Destruction raised over her head. She swung down forcing Freed to back off and the blade struck the ground with an echoing boom, cratering it upon impact and nearly bringing down the entire church.

This wasn't working…

"Devil, listen very carefully to what I have to say. I understand why you hold such hatred for Excalibur, however that blade is more than just a Holy-Sword. It is the embodiment of the prayer named 'Glory' and was once wielded by the greatest of kings that humanity has ever known. The blade itself is not evil so stop thinking of vengeance against a weapon when you should really be thinking about how the people that died for you would feel if they saw you now," Xenovia spoke clearly despite not taking her eyes off of their opponent. "What would they say if they saw what kind of person you've become?"

"They would…" Yuuto trailed off as a thought suddenly struck him.

His friends from back then when he was a part of the Holy Sword Project had died for him in order to allow him to escape. He'd become a devil to get revenge on the people behind that atrocity and avenge the friends that he had lost that day. However it was only now that he wondered, what they think of him now? What would they think if they saw what he had become? He already knew the answer, they wouldn't want him to drown himself in hatred and vengeance. They would want him to live his life and carry on where they couldn't.

They would want him to let go of the past…

"…I will become a sword, I shall become the Sword of Gremory and continue moving forward. But I will never forget what is important to me, of that I swear as a Knight of the Gremory! Sword Birth!" Yuuto's voice echoed through the destroyed church as he brought his hands together and felt his Sacred Gear break within him. A sword formed in his hands, this one black with a white outline and a grey hilt. "Balance Breaker: Sword of the Betrayer!"

A Holy-Demonic Sword…

"That's more like it," Xenovia smiled before grasping the hilt of the blade sheathed at her side. "Saint Peter, Saint Basil the Great, Saint Denis, Holy Mother Mary, Please hear my voice. In the name of the saints whom reside in this blade, I will release it, Durandal!"

Durandal: The Peerless Swordwas an A-Rank Anti-Unit Noble Phantasm once gifted to the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne by an Angel and wielded by the Paladin Leader Roland. The blade itself was blue in colour and had a golden hilt that had a semi-circular guard. Xenovia as one of the few natural-born Holy-Sword wielders in the world was given the blade years ago though she had yet to master its full capabilities.

"That's-" Freed paused in surprise at the sudden turn around.

"How can you wield Durandal?!" Valper demanded in shock"Weren't you an Excalibur wielder?"

"I was originally a wielder of Durandal and was chosen to wield one of the Excalibur fragments because of that fact. I'm also a natural-born wielder," Xenovia explained with a smirk.

"A natural-born Holy-Sword wielder in this era?" Valper asked with wide-eyes.

"Durandal is a sword that ravages beyond what people can imagine, it cuts anything it touches. It doesn't even listen to me most of the time, that's why I have to keep it sealed away, otherwise it would be lead to massive amounts of destruction. Even I, its holder, have a hard time with it. Now, Freed Sellzan, prepare yourself. Right now, I'm shaking with enjoyment so don't die in a single strike," Xenovia smiled as she raised her blade.

"You had an ace like that up your sleeve this entire time?" Yuuto asked her cautiously.

"I hoped that I wouldn't have to use it but the situation calls for it," Xenovia replied honestly.

"Alright then," Yuuto nodded as he raised his own sword. "Let's go!"

Irina and Koneko hung back as both Xenovia and Yuuto rushed forward once again. Freed glared hatefully at the two of them and raised his Excalibur Rapidly high over his head as they approached. Xenovia was the first to meet him, her Durandal striking the Excalibur fragment with a deafening boom and cracking the blade itself. Yuuto was next, his Holy-Demonic Sword swing down towards the rogue priest. Freed hastily backed away and raised his Excalibur Rapidly to block only for it to shatter as the two blades connected with an echoing smash.

The core of Excalibur Rapidly fell to the floor a second later...

Author's Notes:

Well here is Chapter 12 and the first part of the Excalibur Arc. I know that this is a bit late getting posted but my laptop has kinda died and I only get access to my computer once a week so writing has took a backseat for me lately. Still, I should be back on track now and will be posting chapters once a week again I hope you enjoyed this chapter and though it is a bit rushed, it's still fun to write, especially the fight scenes.

Please Read and Review.

See Ya Later…