The Great Sage Equal to Heaven

by FireMonkeyDragon

After the events of Ragnarok. Jin Mori was too weak to continue, but a last-minute save from old friends allowed him to travel to a parallel world to recover. A world with Devils, Dragons, Gods, and...is that...himself?

17. Chapter 17 - Night of the Monkey Pt 2

Chapter 17 - Night of the Monkey Pt. 2

---

"ONE!"

"HA!"

"TWO!"

"HYA! TSYA!"

"THREE!"

"HA! HA! HRRAH!"

The sun had risen an hour prior, and Subhuti's Academy had awoken to begin training an hour before that. The courtyards were grand, with stone flooring cut from the sides of the nearby mountains. In the center rested the Taoist symbol of yin and yang, crafted from the finest and largest pieces of black and white jade. Gentle waterfalls from the tranquil streams nearby rippled on as a group of apprentices continued to practice their forms, overseen by a senior brother.

The apprentices' gray training robes flickered with each movement, big or small. Different types of punches, kicks, and palms were thrown, and in perfect unity, they would acrobatically bound from one side of the courtyard to the other while continuing the martial art form.

With a steaming cup of tea in his hand, Subhuti watched his disciples as he walked past. The senior leading the group spotted the grandmaster and respectfully saluted before focusing back on the class. Subhuti returned his gesture with a brief nod and continued on his path.

After a step of steps, through the entrance hall, and under the circular stone gates of the Academy, he made it to his destination.

It was the front entrance to his school. A long flight of steps leading down beneath the thick clouds. The altitude had cloaked his mystifying mountain academy, hiding it from the other realms and potential threats such as the unwanted rogue monster or cocky demon bandit groups. Of course, they weren't a problem for him, dealing with them regularly would simply waste time and it was better to simply avoid that situation altogether.

The clouds rustled and swirled lightly, acknowledging the master that stood before them. From the sea of clouds, a small tendril of condensed vapor floated slowly up to him. Subhuti smiled, raising his hand and allowing it to glide across his fingers, lightning cracked softly inside the cloud as it retracted back to the barrier.

Subhuti took a sip of his tea as he descended the stairs with the clouds parting a path for him.

It took a couple of minutes but the grandmaster eventually stopped. He leaned against the mountainside as he watched.

Growing on the side of the mountain, with roots digging deep into the stone, there was a large peach tree. The trunk and branches were a healthy dark brown and the flowers were in full bloom displaying the thousands of soft pink petals it had cultivated after surviving the winter snow.

Underneath the tree was a lone, dark-haired disciple, who was holding a broom made from the dried branches of willow trees, sweeping dirt and other fallen natural debris off of the steps.

"Wukong,"

The apprentice turned around, his blue eyes widening in surprise to see his master so early in the morning, and fumbled out a quick salute and bow.

"Follow me," Subhuti ordered before ascending the stairs.

"Yes master," the monkey replied as he paced after him, still holding onto the broom.

A nervous sweat was building up within him. This was the first time he had been summoned by his master, he wondered what the reason was. Had Subhuti reconsidered his decision to let him stay? Did he get into some kind of trouble again without him realizing it? But both options seemed improbable, he had been extra obedient and was careful about his words and actions for the past few months now. He even mended the mistrustful relations he had with his senior brothers and sisters.

'Am I finally going to be training full time again?' he wondered, as a small flame of hope sparked within Wukong.

As they reached the top step, Subhuti turned around and looked down at his disciple.

"Have you reflected on your actions?"

Wukong bowed his head, "Yes, master,"

"Good," Subhuti simply replied before heading through the front gates, "They've saved a portion of breakfast for you, after you've eaten come to the Lihua Clearing, we must catch you up to the lessons that you've missed, and to do that in optimal time, I will be training you, personally,"

Wukong's face brightened and cheered excitedly, "Alright! Thank you so much, master!"

Subhuti glanced back at his monkey disciple, strolled back, and extended his hand, "Give me your broom,"

The Monkey King happily handed the wooden object over, only for his expression to clench tightly and he winced as Subhuti smacked him on the head three times with the broom.

Wordlessly, Subhuti left, leaving a confused Wukong standing on the top of the stairs, clutching his head.

---

Present

The storm of battle raged on inside the barrier around Kuoh Academy.

Lightning flashed and red orbs of destructive magic zoomed by as the Occult Research Club battled for their lives against three, three-headed hellhounds. Kokabiel watched from his floating throne with a growing amused smile twitching on his lips. Below him, Valper continued the fusing ritual with the Excalibur fragments.

"Hey Valper, how much longer?" asked Kokabiel with a yawn.

"Almost done now, five minutes, eight at the most," the ex-priest replied.

"That's so long," the Cadre grumbled as he focused his eyes back on the fight.

From one Cerberus's three mouths, flames poured out like a rushing river. Issei and Koneko immediately leaped out of the way as Rias threw a volley of destructive orbs at the giant canine. The Cerberus yelped as its flank seared in pain and it fell onto its side. Suddenly, the second three-headed dog pounced from behind Rias, intending to rip her into three parts, fortunately for the heiress, Akeno was covering her from above and rained lightning down on the beast. The second dog twitched as its limbs were temporarily paralyzed.

"Koneko!" the Queen yelled, "Opening!"

The loli reacted instantly, she dashed over, leaping into the air, and came down with a heavy punch to its middle skull.

As Koneko jumped back, Akeno sent forth a second and larger wave of electricity. The Cerberus howled in pain as it shook violently from the lightning coursing through its body.

"Yes!" Issei cheered from the side, "That's two down,"

[ Not quite ]

"What do you mea—," The Pawn's jaw dropped as he witnessed the two hellhounds slowly pushing themselves off the ground despite the wounds they suffered. The creatures' blood evaporated into black smoke giving the two beasts an even more haunting appearance.

"Oh come on," groaned Issei.

"Focus Issei!" Rias suddenly yelled, "Behind you!"

Issei could already feel the hot breath on his neck, head, and back. He would've been eaten at that moment too if Koneko hadn't grabbed hold of its tail.

"Protect Asia!" ordered Rias as she took to the skies and joined Akeno, "We'll deal with this one!"

"Got it!" The Pawn sprinted around and away from the snapping jaws of the beast. Red and yellow flashes thundered behind him as he ran towards Asia, who was busy healing an arm wound Koneko had suffered at the start of the battle.

Issei's eyes suddenly widened as he spotted the second Cerberus charging towards the two girls, its wounds were not fully healed but it was more than battle-ready.

The Pawn flexed the muscles in his legs and sped up as fast as he could.

"Don't touch them!" he roared as he jumped into the air with his fist raised back.

His gauntleted punch collided into the side of Cerberus's third head. With the power of the Queen Promotion and three boosts, the dog was sent into a state of disorientation as it crashed into the ground close by.

"Are you two okay?" Issei asked as he jogged over to Koneko and Asia

"...Yes,"

"I'm alright,"

"That's good," the Pawn sighed in relief, then he looked down at the Boosted Gear.

'Ddraig, how many Boosts left before I can Transfer to Buchou and Akeno?'

[ Two ]

[ BOOST ]

[ Now one ]

'Great,'

"Issei watch out!" Asia suddenly shrieked.

The Pawn whipped around and saw the giant saliva-dripping jaws of a Cerberus head coming for him fast.

"Shi–!"

But before he could react a surge of smoke crashed into him. Issei coughed and waved the smoke away, he opened his eyes and saw that the Cerberus was limping away, and missing a head.

Standing in front of him, was the black-clad blue-haired girl with her Excalibur fragment at the ready.

"I've come to provide backup," Xenovia stated, her eyes glancing back at Issei, Koneko, and Asia before focusing back on the giant dog.

The three devils shot her a grateful look and she shot off into battle as Asia went back to fixing Koneko's arm.

"...Senpai, go," said Koneko as she gestured to the fights, "...I can feel my energy returning, 'll protect Asia, you go help Buchou and the others,"

"Right," Issei nodded as he dashed back into the battlefield.

His actions triggered the predatory instinct in the Cerberus that he had knocked away, and along with the thought of revenge, the beast rushed forward at blinding speed. The Pawn looked back at the intimidating creature and saw red hot fire generating in its three jaws.

"Sword Birth!"

Suddenly a wall of blades, each differently designed from the rest erupted from the ground and pierced deeply into the dog's hind legs, halting its pursuit as it fell forward onto its chins.

"Kiba! You're here!" Issei exclaimed happily.

Across the field, the Knight gave him a smirk before pulling his sword out of the ground, "Sorry I'm late Issei-kun,"

"Done reuniting?" said Xenovia as she flipped back next to him.

"No, but I can continue later," replied Yuuto, sliding into his stance.

"Wise decision,"

The Cerberus that Xenovia had been confronting scraped at the ground with its giant paws, hot air burst from its nose and a deep growl emanated from its throat. One thing registered in its mind, two meals, two heads, perfect odds.

Without wasting another second the three of them charged. Xenovia went high as Yuuto traveled low. The Knight struck first with his speed, slashing open each of its heels as the Exorcist followed up and tore a giant gash across its spine. With the dog crumbling to its knees the two sword-wielders dashed back to the front of the beast, leaped into the air, and simultaneously dropped down to plunge their blades into the dog's remaining two skulls.

"Woah," Issei murmured, awestruck after witnessing the synchronized assault of the sword duo.

[ BOOST ]

The Pawn looked down at his hand and whispered, "That's ten,"

[ Go! ]

'Right!'

With one hellhound dead, its corpse disintegrating into smoke, and another stuck to the ground by a giant crown of swords. Issei had a clear path and rushed over to his two seniors.

"Buchou! Akeno-san!" he yelled, gaining the attention of the two young women, "I have enough power to make the Transfer!"

"Issei, Transferred to both Holy Items during the fight with Riser, right?" asked Rias as she dodged a double fireball.

"Yeah? Why?"

"You can Transfer to both of us at the same time then!" said Akeno, caging the beast in lightning.

"Got it!"

[ Hold up partner. While this is within my power the drawback is that I can only Transfer about seventy percent of the Boosted power ]

Issei nodded then looked back up at his seniors and yelled over the bursting of flames, "Ddraig says that because it's two people at the same time, he can only Transfer seventy percent of his power!"

Rias landed next to Issei while Akeno temporarily paralyzed the beast before joining her friend.

"That should be enough," the heiress told the Pawn.

"Do it,"

With a nod, Issei placed his hands on their shoulders, "Boosted Gear!"

[ TRANSFER ]

A surge of red aura poured out of the crimson gauntlet and briefly cloaked the two young women. Their eyes suddenly widened, they exchanged glances, in awe at the new power overflowing their bodies.

"Would you like to do the honors, Akeno?" asked Rias with a confident smile.

The raven-haired devil returned the gesture with a grin of her own, "Ara, ara, you spoil me Buchou,"

The Queen raised her arm to the air, lightning cracked down from the clouds above and into her palm. The Cerberus's hairs stood on end as it recognized the electrical death in front of it. The decision was immediate and it turned tail to flee.

"You're not going anywhere!" Yuuto shouted as he all of a sudden dashed out from behind the Pawn, and sent forth a barricade of swords to entrap the dog.

Issei looked back in surprise to see that the second Cerberus had already been dealt with by the sword-wielding duo. Xenovia, Asia, and Koneko were making their way towards him.

"Yes! We did it!" the Pawn cheered, pumping his fist into the air.

"Disappear," Akeno sent forth her electricity, and a beam of lightning engulfed the three-headed hellhound, without even a dying howl it turned into nothing but ashes in the wind. The lightning kept going and crashed into the school building, taking off a good chunk of it.

However, no attention was paid to the collateral damage as their focus was instantly back on the Cadre in the sky.

"This ends now!" exclaimed Rias.

She fired off the largest orb of crimson destruction any of the Club members had ever seen. It was over ten times the usual size and could easily engulf a small truck. It shot up at blinding speed but only earned a raised eyebrow from Kokabiel.

The Fallen Angel stuck out his hand and caught the ball of destruction.

"...N-No way," muttered Issei.

"So this is the power of the Maou Lucifer's little sister, boosted by the Red Dragon Emperor," a malevolent smirk spread on his face as he inspected the offensive orb closely, "Not bad, not bad,"

With a flick of his wrist, Kokabiel sent the ball of destruction into the sky and away from the battlefield, his palm was smoking from the heat of the attack, but he lazily blew it away.

"But not good enough,"

Rias glared at him with a venomous blue gaze and clicked her tongue frustratingly, "Damn him,"

"Valper!" Kokabiel called.

"Yes, my lord?" the evil priest answered.

"How much longer now?"

"We would've been done if that maggot Freed didn't die and lose the fourth piece! But perhaps three more minutes,"

"Fine," Kokabiel shrugged.

"We won't let you, you bastard!" yelled the Pawn.

"Oh? Well, you did perform well against the dogs," Kokabiel sneered, "But how about against all of my followers,"

"For your crimes, we'll eliminate everything you throw at us and then you!" declared Xenovia who pointed her Excalibur at the Cadre.

"Well then…," the Fallen Angel Leader snapped his fingers, and a giant magic circle formed on the ground. From its glow, thirty armored soldiers fully armed, the Fallen Angel insignia had been crossed out of their armor signifying their allegiance to Kokabiel.

"Entertain me,"

---

'Guys whatever's happening, wait for me, I'm coming,'

Mori dashed across the rooftops until there was none left, but it didn't deter him as he simply sped through the streets towards the school.

As he closed in he spotted the Student Council by the front gate, some of them in the air, while the other half was on the ground, working tirelessly from within the barrier to keep it up.

"Sona!" he called out, coming to a skidding stop.

The Council President's face briefly flashed with surprise before nodding to the martial artist.

"Let him in!" she ordered.

Her peerage obeyed, opening a small hole for Mori to slip through and Sona descended to the ground.

"What's happening?" he asked restlessly.

"Wait, they didn't tell you?" Sona replied, brow raised.

"My phone was out of battery! / His phone was out of battery!" Mori and Saji answered in unison, the latter looking down from the air.

"Saji, focus!" scolded Tsubaki who to his upper left.

"Right sorry,"

"All I know is that something or someone is here," admitted Mori hastily, "Someone strong and full of malice,"

"Well you're right about that," said Sona before she began to explain the situation to him.

Mori looked at them in shock.

"A LEADER? Of the Fallen Angels?!"

"Yes,"

"And you just let them fight by themselves without providing backup?!"

"Our job is equally as important," Sona pushed up her glasses as it gleamed, "If this barrier falls, our world will be revealed to the humans but before that, all of Kuoh will be destroyed,"

"...Yeah ok, I'm sorry for my outburst but—,"

"We're wasting time here, go assist them,"

Mori nodded to the Council President before rushing towards the field.

Sona unfurled her wings and ascended to a position above her team.

"Do you think he can make a difference? Kaichou?" asked Momo, a white-haired bishop.

The Sitri heiress nodded, "Yes. At the very least he can prevent casualties until Maou Lucifer-sama arrives. Let's focus on our task at hand,"

"Understood!" the peerage exclaimed.

---

It was overwhelming. The pressure of thirty Fallen Angel soldiers upon them felt as if the gravity of the world increased tenfold.

Injuries were a given.

Yuuto, now wielding two swords, clashed his blades against a spear-wielding enemy. He parried it away and slashed to the chest, the Fallen Angel suffered a single cut before jumping back.

To his side Xenovia avoided a swing of a mace before bisecting a Fallen Angel soldier, blood sprayed out before her victim exploded into black feathers.

Issei and Koneko teamed up to guard Asia, who in turn would heal them up whenever she could. The Rook's strength and Issei's Queen Promotion was a surprisingly decent combination at fending off the Fallen Angel soldiers. However, despite the walking blonde health potion behind them, they were constantly suffering from damage.

Rias and Akeno were primarily locked in aerial combat as explosions went off at every second in midair. Occasionally, when given the chance, they would fly low to assist the other Club members and bombard the enemies on the ground.

The Knight ducked under a slash from a greatsword before plunging his two blades into the torso of his opponent. As soon as he tore out his weapons, another angel appeared from behind. With impeccable speed, he twisted around to block a downward smash by a hammer. Acting fast, he kicked out the fallen's legs and decapitated his enemy as they fell.

He looked around at the pile of feathers and weapons around him, somehow he had taken out seven already. Wiping the dripping sweat and blood off his chin, Yuuto looked around to see who he could help. Xenovia was holding her own thanks to her Holy Sword, Rias and Akeno were still Boosted from the Transfer earlier so they were fine, which left Issei, Koneko, and Asia.

Just as he was about to rush over, his eyes and the eyes of the evil priest met. Hateful flames instantly erupted in his gaze despite his calm and tired expression.

'You!'

"Valper Galilei. I am a survivor of the 'Holy Sword Project'," Yuuto dispelled the two weapons on hand before summoning a new one.

"Haha, I didn't know there were survivors. To meet you after so many years, so far away from that place, it must be fate," Valper cackled as he watched the Knight strutting over, "You know, I've loved the tale of Excalibur and King Arthur ever since I was a boy, you can't believe my grief when I found out I wasn't able to wield one. So I admired the ones who could, the Excaliburs are my passion so I created the project to create those who could, and now I have you and all your friends to thank for completing it,"

"Complete?!" Yuuto spat, "You disposed of us because you considered us as failures,"

"You see, boy, I realized that to wield an Excalibur there were two essential factors, number values, and elements. Most of you had either or but never balanced so it got me thinking what if I take those factors out to perfect them myself. And so we gathered all the holy-elements from the subjects who had them and crystalized them, like this,"

From his robes, Valper pulled out a shining orb about the size of a grapefruit and raised it in front of him for the Knight to get a better look.

"With this, the research on Holy-Swords and its wielders improved vastly. However, the fools from the Church called it a heresy, stole my reports on this research, and exiled me. It looks like Michael found someone to continue the project, seeing as that exorcist over there wields an Excalibur. He made me look like a criminal, heh, well he is an Angel, after all, killing the subjects would only make him human,"

A shadow was cast over Yuuto's eyes, "...You tortured and killed my friends, for this!?

"That's right, and three of them had been infused with Freed, but he went off and got himself killed by who knows what, and now this is the last one…for now,"

"Valper…how many lives have you taken to fulfill your greed?" Yuuto asked, staring at the exiled priest with disgust and intense anger in his eyes with his fists clenched to the point blood could be drawn.

"Heh, well I don't know, but now I have enough research to mass-produce these things so I'll give this one to you, think of it as your 'Congratulations in Surviving the Project' gift," Valper smirked as he tossed the orb akin to throwing away a piece of trash, "I will destroy this town with Kokabiel, next I'll gather all the Holy-Swords in the world and mass-produce wielders. Then I'll wage war against Michael and the Vatican with my new army, I'll show them what happens to the ones who have convicted me,"

The orb rolled across the ground and into the waiting hand of the Knight.

"...Everyone," he murmured as tears rolled down his cheeks.

"KIBA!" Issei suddenly yelled, momentarily snapping Yuuto out of his daze.

In his despaired state, Yuuto had failed to notice the gang of fallen angels rushing in from behind him. The words of Valper were weighing heavily on his mind, he turned around and saw that they were only three steps away. Too close to dodge, too far to block, Yuuto found himself on this unfortunate line.

Suddenly a foot rammed into the side of one fallen angel, who barreled into the rest of them, sending them flying to the side.

Mori landed on the ground after his flying kick.

"Reinforcements have arrived!" he announced with a confident grin across his face.

Mori placed a hand on the Knight's shoulder, "Hey, I heard what that creep said as I was running over, I'll cover you, go avenge your friends,"

Yuuto stared teary-eyed at the martial artist then flashed him a grateful smile, "Thank you,"

Mori bumped his elbow against the Knight's back, "You got this," before he sped off into the battlefield.

This single addition turned the tides in the Club's favor. The fallen angel soldiers both on the ground and in the air dropped like flies as Mori seemingly disappeared from their sight, only for him to be the last thing they see.

Yuuto had his sight set back on the one he had loathed for all of his life. He gripped the orb tightly.

Then the orb began to flash, tails of light began to shoot out of the orb, first, it was one, then two, then six. The lights formed a sort of barrier around the Knight before they started to take the shape of people, young boys, and girls were glowing a soft blue.

Yuuto looked at each of them in disbelief, he recognized each face smiling up at him and couldn't keep the tears from falling, "E-Everyone…I… I've always wondered if it was right for me to be the one that survived. You all had more dreams than me and wanted to live more than me… So why was it me who got to live peacefully in the end?"

A young boy looked at him and grinned happily "Don't worry about us anymore. We're glad that at least you lived,"

"We're happy for you, really, and we'll continue to cheer you on," An older girl giggled.

Yuuto wiped the tears out of bloodshot eyes and another spectral boy chuckled, "Come on, there's no need to cry, you're like the toughest kid I know,"

"We were no good alone. We didn't have the elements to wield the Holy-Swords but… It'll be okay if we're together," the spectral kids told him simultaneously as their bodies glowed an even brighter blue while they crowded around Yuuto.

"You have to accept it. It's not scary. Even if God is watching. Our hearts will always be… One!"

Like a sparkle of giant fireflies, the spectral forms floated into the sky and through the clouds.

Then, from the dark clouds above Yuuto parted a small opening and a pillar of light descended upon the Knight.

"What's happening?" Mori asked as he walked up between Akeno and Issei, having finished dealing with all of the fallen angel soldiers.

[ It's happening ] Ddraig spoke for all of them to hear, [ That Knight has reached it. When the feelings and the wishes of a Sacred Gear possessor change dramatically until it can change the flow of this world… Balance Breaker ]

"Valper Galilei!" Yuuto glared at the exiled priest with newfound resolve in his eyes, void of all tears, "If I don't kill you, there will be more who will suffer the same fate as us!"

Valper simply shrugged and replied nonchalantly, "Well it is said that research requires sacrifices, you should've realized sooner,"

Yuuto clenched his teeth, continuous rage surged through him and flared up at the former priest's response.

"Kiba!" Issei's voice snapped him out of his fury, "You're our Knight! My comrade! My friend! So fight Kiba! Don't waste their feelings and spirit!"

"Issei-kun," Yuuto murmured as he looked back, only to see the entire Occult Research Club standing behind him, supportive smiles on each one of them as they cheered him on.

"Yuuto! You have to finish this yourself! Surpass Excalibur! You are a servant of I, Rias Gremory and my Knight you will not lose to a mere Excalibur!"

"Yuuto-kun, I believe in you!"

"...Senpai, do your best!"

"Go get 'em Yuuto!" Mori shot him a confident thumbs-up.

"Heh, will do," the swordsman smirked, blinking the tears from his metallic blue eyes and turning to his target.

"You're crying again?" Valper scoffed with a spiteful expression, "Well it was my fault for expecting something from a Holy-Sword survivor. And to see all their faces again, I thought I'd forgotten but I guess not...and that pisses me off!"

Yuuto didn't reply and simply stared at him, eerily calm cloaking the fury as he dispelled the sword in his hand.

"So what's your next move, Izaiya?" the scornful priest taunted.

A gasp escaped Rias's lips, it had been a long time since Yuuto was called by his original name, and she never thought that she would hear it again.

However, Yuuto looked unbothered, almost as if he didn't hear it.

"...Izaiya is dead…but has been reborn as a sword. The Sword of Rias Gremory, and my comrades! My name is Kiba Yuuto! Respond to my feelings, Sword Birth!"

The swordsman extended his hands as light and dark crackled to life between them, stretching and pulling as they began to take an elongated shape that was shining a divine light while overflowing with ominous power.

With a final black and white shine, it materialized. A single sword. A blade of black and red, with a hilt and pommel of gold. Yuuto gripped the dark handle tightly.

[ BALANCE BREAKER: Holy Demonic Sword of Twin Supremacy - SWORD OF THE BETRAYER ]

Valper's eye twitched as he gazed upon the fusion sword, "H-Holy Demonic S-Sword, that's impossible…polar opposites cannot merge!"

"Let's finish this," Yuuto calmly stated, pointing his new blade at Valper.

But the man simply started laughing, "Now I see, now I understand! Holy and demonic, there's only one explanation for their mixture, it's unbalanced. Not only did the Maou die but…,"

A low vibrating hum started to resonate behind him, interrupting him. Valper looked back excitedly.

"It's done!" he yelled, "Kokabiel it's done! The Excalibur has fused into one!"

From within its golden glowing prison, something began to shine. The light surrounding it began to crack and shatter off like eggshells, slowly revealing the silhouette of the legendary sword within, complete once more.

Valper stared at it with glee, he spread his arms and proclaimed to the world, "At long last, the world! It has returned! The Excalib—,"

His words were cut off, as his decapitated head flew into the air. Blood poured out of the new orifice in his body as it collapsed onto the ground.

Yuuto stood close and flicked the blood off his sword, "...Finally,"

"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Most entertaining indeed–,"

Kokabiel's loud laughter suddenly echoed through the field.

"Ah shit, not gonna lie I forgot about that guy," Issei commented, looking up at the sky.

"You and me both," added Mori.

The Cadre jumped and kicked his flying throne to the ground. The solid stone chair collided with the Excalibur just as it was about to complete its reformation. The heavy disruption caused It to instantly shatter, as the fragments and the throne were lodged deep in the ground.

"-But the results show me that I could've done this all by myself, " cackled Kokabiel who was slowly descending to the ground.

"The Excaliburs!" Xenovia gasped, she was prepared to destroy them herself but she hadn't even predicted that the enemy would do it first.

"Yes yes, tragic," Kokabial waved her off, "Truthfully, I only planned to use those swords as a means to restart the Tri-Faction War, but that was before getting lucky and having both Lucifer and Leviathan's little sisters at the same place at the same time. You're not even half of a quarter as them, and killing even one of you would suffice. It would be less of a hassle too,"

'And I still have "that",' the Cadre inwardly smirked.

"We won't let you," stated Yuuto as he and the rest of the Club stood around Rias.

Kokabiel smiled fearlessly and released an intense pressure of killing intent. The Club members and Xenovia flinched from the sudden wave, even Mori shifted his feet in preparation.

"Hey, you! Dragon," the Cadre pointed a spiny, pale finger at Issei, "Increase your power and Transfer to someone else,"

His arrogant order struck a nerve in the crimson heiress, and she pushed herself to the front of the group, "Are you giving us a chance!? Quit messing around!"

Kokabiel snorted, "Me? Messing around? Hah! It's you fools that are messing around, thinking that you can defeat me,"

A current of silence washed through the battlefield.

"Issei," Rias finally said through gritted teeth, "Activate your Boosted Gear,"

The Pawn nodded.

[ BOOST ]

Beside them, Xenovia raised a hand to the air and began to chant.

"Saint Peter, Saint Basil the Great, Saint-Denis, Holy-mother Mary. Please hear my voice,"

A small void suddenly appeared and engulfed her hand.

"In the names of the saints who reside within this blade. Release. Durandal!"

From the small portal, the blue-haired swordswoman pulled out a giant broadsword with a brilliant blue blade and gold handle.

Kokabial raised an eyebrow in astonishment, "Oh? A wielder of the Durandal? I didn't know the Vatican produced someone who can hold that sword artificially,"

"That's because they haven't," she replied.

"Then how?"

"Because unlike Irina and the rest, I'm a natural-born wielder," revealed Xenovia, earning shocked looks from the Devils, with Mori quietly listening.

"Durandal is a sword that ravages beyond what people can imagine. It cuts anything it touches. I can't command it most of the time which is why I have to keep it somewhere safe, so it wouldn't endanger anyone. I still struggle using it despite being a natural-born, but if it's used to stop you, Kokabiel, I'll force it to listen even if it kills me,"

"Hah! Interesting, I can't wait,"

"Xenovia hold up," said Issei, "I'm halfway done, just hold on a bit longer,"

The swordswoman reluctantly nodded and as they waited for Issei to complete his power-up, Mori stepped forward.

"Everyone, go to the sides and heal up," he told them, crouching down to tighten his shoelaces.

"What? What are you talking about Mori?" asked Rias in a stern voice.

"You're all battle-damaged, your clothes are all torn, you're all bleeding and injured. Even with a Boost, what makes you think you can take a guy like this on?" replied Mori, standing back up, "This guy is a leader right? Then he's stronger than anything else you guys have faced in the past. Now I don't know how well he stacks up against Reiz but there's one thing I do know, none of you are healthy enough to face him at full strength,"

"Mori you can't, Kokabiel is a Cadre-class Fallen Angel, it's way too dangerous," pleaded Akeno, who held her exposed arm, her blood pouring out from a wound running down her shoulder to the elbow.

"I have to try, if he's as strong as you say then at the very least I can stall him until Sirzechs arrives,"

Rias stared at Mori, her sapphire eyes glistened with worry and hesitance but a small sigh released from her lips and she nodded in understanding, "Everyone to the side of the field, including you Xenovia if we stay we'll just end up as collateral damage,"

The swordswoman was about to retort but noticed that the heiress's eyes were steeled. She looked over at Mori, there wasn't anything too out of the ordinary appearance-wise, but her experience in the field told her otherwise. There was an aura about him that she couldn't place her finger on. Like Yuuto's sword, it felt as if divine and demon were mixing but only slightly. She shook her head, perhaps it was the residue from the Knight's Balance Breaker still floating in the air. She looked at Rias and gave her a nod before following the rest of the Club out of the field.

"Don't die," the heiress told Mori before joining her peerage.

He smirked, "I'll do my best,"

Soon, the field was clear except for the martial artist and the black-winged angel in the middle.

"You're either incredibly brave or incredibly foolish," mocked Kokabiel, "I think it's the latter,"

"So you're the guy releasing that evil energy huh?" said Mori as he began stretching his arms, "Y'know for a Fallen Angel, you kinda look like the generic vampire, has anyone ever told you that?"

Kokabiel's face turned sour at the comment and growled, "How dare you compare me to that filthy race,"

"First time then? Well, to be fair I've only met a handful of Fallen Angels so I don't know if the rest of your species looks like this," the teen shrugged.

"Silence!" The Cadre yelled as he hurled a light spear sped towards Mori, "I will tolerate your insolence!"

"Woah," Mori bent back as the shining weapon flew over him and sprung back up with a taunting grin, "So sensitive,"

"If you have a death wish, then let's make this quick," said Kokabie who had begun to fume, and summoned a large sword of light, "On second thought, I'm going to slowly tear the skin and flesh off your bones,"

"You say that but, you do know that a sword is more of a slashing and stabbing weapon right? Not a tearing one?" Mori pointed out, a smug expression growing more evident on his face, "You'll need a bear trap gauntlet or something like that…maybe a rake?"

"Shut up!" Kokabiel roared as he kicked off the ground and sped towards the azure-haired martial artist, "I'll take care of you in ten seconds!"

'Looks like I got into his head, not gonna lie that was easier than I thought,' Mori inwardly smirked, 'Dang it, but I was already thinking of a bunch of other stuff to say,'

With impeccable speed, he ducked under the swing of Kokabiel's light-blade.

The Cadre's sharp eyes widened in shock as he sliced the air, "The pest's faster than I thought,"

'Alright, time to gauge his strength,' Mori thought as he jumped away and repositioned himself.

Kokabiel spun around and released a flurry of light lances from his hands.

Mori quickly spotted an uneven area in the ground and zipped over to it. With a fierce stomp, he sent piles of the earth into the air around him.

[ RE - DDANG-GEUTGI ]

It was a kick with standing sweep-like motion, but powerful enough to generate gusts of wind that could send the ground debris flying forward.

The chunks of solid dirt and grass met the light spears in the middle and exploded on contact, causing multiple clouds of dirt to spread across the field.

Kokabiel drove forward and ripped through the clouds like a bull seeing red. In his hands were two swords of light.

Mori reacted swiftly as the slash barrage came. Turning, ducking, and twisting out of each one until he saw the opportunity he needed.

[ RE - BO-BUP ]

The Fallen Angel's eyes grew wide as his target disappeared in front of his eyes.

Mori reappeared closely behind him and dropped to the ground to sweep him off his legs.

The martial artist continued with the circular motion until he laid on his back and brought his knees to his chest. From the chambered position, he shot out his legs and kicked Kokabiel directly in the middle of his back as he fell from the prior sweep.

The Fallen Angel leader was launched into the night sky as a result.

With the kick's momentum, Mori was able to flip back onto his feet from his lying position. Without wasting any more time he kicked off the ground and into the air.

He quickly caught up with the black-winged angel and lashed out to kick once more.

Only for him to swipe nothing but the air.

Kokabiel had released his ten, long feathery wings that were darker than moonless midnight to escape further up.

Mori wordlessly dropped back to the ground with a slightly annoyed expression.

'Damn it,' he clicked his tongue as he watched for his airborne adversary's next move, 'He's got wings and I can't fly unless I'm in that other form that makes my body heat up,'

'I know exactly how to deal with you, and this entire place,' Kokabiel smirked and flew up to disappear into the clouds.

"The guy's not as fast as Reiz but he's not an amateur either," Mori commented quietly. He could still feel the Fallen Angel's aura moving within the clouds, he wasn't running from the fight, he was up to something.

It was silent on the battlefield, but Mori kept his guard, carefully surveying the skies and all around him, anticipating a sudden strike.

Finally, his eyes gleamed as he saw a lance of light nearly the size of a small tree come piercing through the sheets of fluffy vapor and rocket down.

Mid-fall, the lance suddenly split into tens of smaller shards and they rained down upon the field.

Mori weaved through the spears that detonated as soon as they landed, creating small craters across the ground.

'Aaand of course they explode,' he groaned inwardly at the sight of the growing dirt clouds.

Taking a risk, the martial artist leaped into the air to get a better view of the situation. Kokabiel remained in the clouds, grinning malevolently down at him.

"Run from this, brat!" he called as he summoned four more large pillars of light that split into smaller shards.

The clouds were littered with golden dots as the light-based weapons sped down.

"He'll blow up the entire school at this rate," he murmured and his gaze flicked towards where the Club members were standing, watching with nervous eyes. Then he looked over to where Sona and her peerage were by the gate.

Mori's eyes widened as he realized the strategy behind the attack. "He's planning to use the explosions to take out Rias and Sona!"

"Damn it! He used the first attack to divert my focus!" he cursed as he allowed gravity to take him back to the field.

The moment his feet touched the dirt beneath he slid his foot back and got into an attack position facing the general direction of the club and student council.

Blue and black flames erupted around one leg.

[ ORIGINAL - KICK OF THE AZURE DRAGON ]

Mori delayed releasing the kick for a split second, waiting for the opportune moment. Then he let loose.

The blazing spectral shape of the dragon roared as it traveled into the sky and towards the rain of light. It chomped down on the shining weapons above the Gremory peerage, detonating multiple spears in a show of blue and gold flashing lights.

The martial artist wasn't done yet. He spun his body around to gain an extra boost of momentum as his other leg became veiled in the signature cyan fire.

[ ORIGINAL - DOUBLE DRAGONS ]

A spinning hook was all it took to send the second flaming blue dragon in the direction of the student council. Sona took notice of the incoming threat above them and ordered her group to summon a second barrier around them, just as the dragon and spears collided.

Mori let out a relieved breath of air when he saw his improvised plan succeed.

Then he heard a fluttering whistle.

He immediately looked up and saw Kokabiel only a couple of meters above him. Grinning like a madman as he came down with a giant shining broadsword, intending to cleave Mori in two.

But he was a far more agile opponent than the Fallen Angel leader had expected, as he bounded out of the way in an instant.

Kokabiel swung his sword but Mori flipped over his head, landing behind him.

[ RE - RISING BACK KICK ]

The martial artist quickly dropped his torso closer to the ground as he shot a leg up, his body forming an acute angle as his foot smashed into the dark-winged angel's upper back.

"KAHH!"

Kokabiel coughed up blood as he was launched back into the air and crashed into the ground a good distance away.

"I'll flay you!" he screeched as he picked himself up, his teeth gritting in sheer frustration.

A bolt of lightning struck his back, the exact spot where Mori had kicked earlier, and the Fallen Angel seethingly hissed as he looked back.

Mori also glanced over to where the lightning had come from.

It was Akeno, all healed up and ready to fight once more. By her side stood the ORC and Xenovia, weapons out, in their combat stances, ready to strike at any time.

"How cute," Kokabiel growled, standing back up while creating dual light swords.

Akeno took the chance and pummeled Kokabiel over and over again with lightning. Kokabiel took several hits at the start but eventually gained enough balance to start dodging.

Mori couldn't help but notice that the electricity the Queen was producing looked stronger than usual.

The vampiric-looking Cadre sneered as he knocked away one of the raven-haired girl's lightning attacks, "So you stand in my way, daughter of Baraquiel,"

Akeno's purple eyes widened at the mention of the name and her pupils sharpened with rage, "Do not compare me to him!"

Suddenly her magic grew in strength once again but it wasn't making too much of a difference, Kokabiel laughed as he parried the lightning bolts away.

Rias and Akeno started to provide cover fire as Kiba, Xenovia, and Koneko rushed forward. Assaulting the Fallen Angel with all they had.

"Mori! Over here!" Issei called out waving to him.

The azure-haired martial artist dashed over to him.

"What are you guys doing?" Mori asked in panic and haste, "I thought I told you all to stay back until Sirzechs gets here,"

"No no no, you said to get healed up," Issei corrected him.

"That guy is seriously bad news, his combat experience is ten times as much as all of you guys combined, there's no way that they'll be able to do anything,"

"No, but we can buy us some time,"

"I–wait us, whaddya mean?"

"I can Transfer a Boost one last time before it completely strains my body," explained the Pawn, "It's Buchou's plan, you cover me while I step up the Boosts, while they stall for time. Five minutes, seven max, and I'll be good,"

"Seven minutes?!" echoed Mori and gripped onto his friend's shoulders, "They'll die, I have to go help,"

As the martial artist spun around, Issei snatched his wrist with his gauntleted hand, "Wait! They can do this, I was able to split another Boost between all five of them. They're all twenty percent stronger now if anyone can buy us those seven minutes, it's them,"

Mori looked hesitant. Biting his lip he glanced between Issei and the Club members battling the dark-winged angel fiercely.

"Mori, please, trust us, we don't want to stand on the side anymore, we're not letting you throw yourself into danger for our sakes anymore, this is our fight too,"

The martial artist stared at the ground with contemplation, then turned to face the Pawn again.

"...The other day you told me about getting your own combat experience," Mori released a small sigh and nodded, "...Seven minutes,"

"Seven minutes," echoed Issei, "Then you can take him down in a single shot,"

[ BOOST ]

Mori, Issei, and Asia watched anxiously with furrowed brows.

The rest of the team were surprisingly holding on rather well, albeit mostly due to Kokabiel getting used to the rhythm of the fight. Though bleeding and bruised from his scuffle with Mori, he was laughing with a face contorted by ecstasy as the pleasure of war got to his head.

Rias released a giant ball of crimson destruction towards the Fallen Angel.

Kokabiel smirked as he caught the demonic ball of energy with his hands.

He cackled, "I expected as much from a Maou's sister,"

The black-winged angel's hands shined bright and deflected the blast with the holy energy in his palms. Kokabiel looked down at his hands, bloodied from the counter but he paid it no mind and licked the blood clean while staring down at the heiress with a mocking gaze.

Rias's breathing became ragged, she had put all she had in that attack only for it to be futile. She could only glare as her knees started to buckle.

His warmongering laughter rang through the field as Kokabiel looked around at the injured peerage.

"You have a fun group of servants, Rias Gremory! The Red Dragon Emperor! A leftover from the Holy Sword Project who just achieved Balance Breaker! The Daughter of Baraquiel! A lost kitten! A random user of the Twilight Healing! And assisted by an exorcist with Durandal and a kid that knows kung-fu! What a weird taste, you and your brother are the same!"

"I won't forgive you for insulting my brother, the Maou," Rias threatened as destructive magic danced at her fingertips, "Moreso, you insulted my cute servants, and you'll pay with your life,"

"Then come get me, princess," Kokabiel taunted, "I've been an arch-enemy of your race centuries before you were born! If you don't take this opportunity, you won't have any reputation to save after this,"

Yuuto and Xenovia saw the opening and rushed in together, flanking the fallen angel. Their attacks were parried by dual swords of light that Kokabiel created at the last second.

"Hoo? Attacking me with a Holy Sword and a Holy-Demonic Sword at the same time? Interesting, now come, try and hit me,"

The sword-wielders grit their teeth vexed that their simultaneous barrage wasn't landing even a small, single, cut.

The repeating clanging of steel on steel thundered on as the three of them traveled across the battlefield, locked in battle.

Suddenly, Koneko dashed around and jumped, diving down from the air with her leg outstretched, aimed at Kokabiel's head.

"How naive," he commented.

Koneko let out a pained scream as Kokabiel's wings slammed into her. The feathers had been hardened into blades and badly sliced Koneko's body as the wing had scored a direct hit. The white-haired loli dropped to the ground bleeding profusely.

"Koneko!" Yuuto cried as his attention was diverted to his wounded teammate.

"Hey, hey, taking your eyes off the fight will get you killed you know," the black-winged angel stated as he kneed Yuuto in the stomach.

He coughed up blood and stumbled back. He only regained his footing thanks to planting his sword into the ground.

The moment she saw her ally go down, Xenovia doubled her slashing speed with a furious battle cry.

Kokabiel easily parried each one of her hits, "Disappointing girl, you still can't control Durandal! The previous owner is a roaring flame to a speck like you,"

His comment made the blue-haired swordswoman even more enraged. In her haste, she revealed an opening, and Kokabiel took the chance. He parried her giant sword away as he spun to elbow her in the face.

Xenovia was sent flying back and rolled across the floor. She coughed as blood flowed freely down her broken nose and a torn lip.

"Akeno!" Yuuto yelled before charging forward.

The Queen understood and started to shoot streams of lightning around him, akin to a moving shield.

The Cadre raised an eyebrow. They had already attempted this before without success and he began to casually knock the lightning bolts away.

Yuuto spun his weapon into a reverse grip. His blue eyes sharpened as he could feel the tingling of an incoming bolt behind him. When it caught up to his side, time slowed for a moment, and Yuuto swung his sword toward it, tilting the blade so it was on an angle.

*KA-PING*

The bolt of lightning deflected off his sword and changed course straight to Kokabiel's face with added speed.

The Fallen Angel Leader scoffed as he dispelled it.

Only to find Yuuto right behind it with his sword already in mid-swing, he had been shadowing the lightning and using it as a decoy.

However Kokabiel caught his sword with two fingers, Yuuto quickly created another in his free hand only for it to be caught as well.

"Is this it?" he sighed, bored.

Yuuto instantly reacted, he parted his mouth, and a third sword generated between his teeth, and Kokabiel widened his eyes in shock. With a quick jerk of his neck, Yuuto finally landed a hit. The swordsman speedily kicked off the fallen angel's chest and landed at a safe distance away.

Kokabiel took a few steps back to recover from the shock. He wiped his cheek and saw his blood staining his palm, but instead of frustration, or anger, he smirked.

'I could only do that much? So this is the power of a Cadre…damn it even with my Balance Breaker, I'm still powerless,' Yuuto cursed mentally.

Mori clenched and released his fists repeatedly as he watched his friends' desperate bout.

"Issei how much longer?"

"Just one more," The Pawn answered.

Like his blue-haired companion, Issei had beads of nervous sweat rolling down his face as he gulped worriedly.

"Even after losing your masters, you devils and followers of God can still fight on," Kokabiel commented loudly, unfurling his wings and hovering above the ground.

Each one of them looked confused.

"What do you mean?" Rias asked.

Kokabiel started with a snort that quickly became a fit of laughter.

"Hahahahahahahaha! That's right, I forgot! The truth wasn't revealed to the ones with low ranks! Don't worry I'll tell you. In the Tri-Faction War, not only did the Four Great Satans die, but so did God!"

Silence fell upon the battlefield, the club members' and exorcist's faces widened in shock.

Kokabiel continued, "It's normal for you guys not to know about it. Who can say that God has died? Humans are an incompetent race. Without God, they cannot control themselves, letting their carnal desires overtake them. Even the Fallen Angels and Devils couldn't tell this to those below us. It was classified information that only the ones of a high ranking and certain individuals knew. Though Valper seemed to find out somehow. After the war, what was left were the Godless angels, Maou-less devils, Fallen Angel numbers plummeted. All the factions fell to their lowest point that they had to use human help to continue their generations. Especially Angels and Fallen Angels that could crossbreed with humans. Us, Fallen Angels had a steady climb thanks to the number of Pure Angels that fell during that time. But Pure-Angels can't be created without God, and Pure Devils are just as rare,"

"...Lies…you…y-you're lying…," Xenovia stuttered. Her graceful features were twisted into one of unbearable panic. She hugged herself as she slumped to her knees, the information swirled like a cyclone in her mind as the realization of a false life at the Church dawned on her.

"Another war that big wouldn't happen unless the circumstances are right. All sides went through excruciating pain during that time. Everyone decided that it was meaningless to continue the war as the ones who started it all perished. Even that bastard Azazel declared that there'll be no second war… But you know what I say? I say fuck that! Don't fuck around anymore! Us Fallen Angels would've won that war if we continued fighting! And now we do nothing but take in humans that possess Sacred Gear! Do you know how infuriating that is!?

Kokabiel declared, his face clenched and his eyes bulged with fury.

"...G-God doesn't exist?" Asia whimpered beside Issei, her hands covering her mouth with tears brimming her shaking, wide eyes, "...God…is dead? Then the love we were given by him is…,"

"Hmph! That's right. It's normal that there is no love or divine protection from him, he is gone already," Kokabiel answered with a sneer, "Michael is certainly doing well though, I'll give him that. Taking the place of God and taking care of the Angels and Humans. Thanks to the 'system' used by God that Michael now operates, any prayer, blessing, and exorcism will still function. But if you compare it to back then, when he was still present. The number of believers has decreased exponentially. That leftover over there who can wield a Holy-Demonic sword can only do that because the delicate opposing balancing forces of God and Maou broke. If it was back, then this would've had zero chances of happening. Only when the ones who rule over Holy and Demonic power disappear, do these unique phenomena occur,"

Asia dropped to the ground, with a near lifeless glaze in her eyes. Issei held her shoulders and cupped her face with his hands. He looked into her hollow green eyes and called out desperately.

"Asia! Asia! Pull yourself together! Asia!"

Similarly, on the other side of the battlefield, Yuuto had his hand on Xenovia's shoulder as he shook her lightly.

"Xenovia, you have to focus, we're not out of danger yet!"

Mori glanced at each one of his friends across the field, each of them was just as disturbed and shocked as the next. His mind raced. He wasn't a believer, but he knew how much of a disbelieving reveal this was to the ones around him.

He turned and watched as Kokabiel flew higher into the air and raised an open hand in the air.

The Cadre chuckled as a ring of giant light lances, significantly bigger than any he had created before, formed around him.

"Hey, blue-hair!" He yelled down at Mori, "You recognize these?!"

"Oh no," Mori muttered.

"Time to restart this war!" Kokabiel roared, pouring even more light-based energy into his attack. The lances bulged into the size of rockets.

"No no no no no," Mori panicked and started to hastily assemble a plan, "How many Azure Dragon Kicks will it take to destroy them, twelve? But that's only if the lances stick together…if they split then it might take double the amount of Dragon Kicks, no triple, no quadruple, no… can I even produce that amount of Dragon Kicks in before they hit the ground. Will I be able to get each one? If they land, Kuoh and everyone here will no doubt be killed…I can't allow that…I have to try at least don't… I gotta—,".

"Mori!" Issei exclaimed, snapping the martial artist out of his inward rant, and felt a metallic hand on his back.

"It's ready," continued Issei, "Kick his ass for me, and for everything he's done! Show him what happens when he messes with the wrong people!"

Mori nodded confidently, "Let's get it,"

The Boosted Gear glowed an intense red.

[ TRANSFER ]

The scarlet aura seeped onto and cloaked Mori.

The martial artist sipped in some air as he felt his power rise. His muscles relaxed but they felt stronger than ever. He could feel his blood coursing through his body more freely like peaceful streams. He hopped on one leg to the other and it felt as if he was as light as a feather. There was something familiar about this sensation too.

"Now it's time to die!" Kokabiel yelled.

Mori instantly disappeared. Then the ground cracked into a crater where he once stood and a shockwave burst emitted from the same spot.

Just as Kokabiel was about to release the ring of explosive light lances, he felt something warm trickling down his torso.

His light attacks dispelled into dust as he looked down, confused at what had just happened. His vampiric eyes stretched when he saw an arm plunge through his chest. His blood drooled from the open wound.

Mori looked up at him calmly, "You chose this, remember that,"

"...Y-Y-You," Kokabiel hissed before coughing out blood.

Mori tore his arm out of his chest, revealing a clear hole running through Kokabiel's torso. Then the martial artist flipped forward and brought his leg down in a devastating kick to the Fallen Angel Leader's shoulder. A loud crack and pop reached his ears, as Kokabiel plummeted to the ground below with a trail of crimson liquid trailing him.

Mori gracefully descended with a series of acrobatic twists and landed softly on his feet, next to the crater created from Kokabiel's fall.

He walked up to the crater and gazed down into it.

Kokabiel was seen struggling to recover, coughing violently as he gripped his chest injury with his unbroken arm. Using his knees he somehow managed to push himself into a kneeling position.

"Last chance to walk away," Mori threatened, "Choose wisely Kokabiel, my next move will kill you,"

"...Fuck you…D-Damn...you…bastard," Kokabiel cursed with blood spurting through his clenched teeth, "Making me kneel like this…in front of a piece of shit like you…I was so close…fuck,"

The Fallen Angel allowed his arms to drop by his side. But just then, his hand brushed against something hidden within his torn and tattered robes. An epiphany when he remembered what it was, and the words he had exchanged with the one who gave it to him.

"...A Peach? Your Commander wants to repay me with a fucking Peach?"

"That Peach is more valuable than any treasures in multiple realms. You'd do well to respect the Commander's gift of thanks,"

"So what do I do with it? Eat it when I'm stressed?"

"No, not when you're stressed. Keep it with you at all times as it will help you out immensely. If you are planning to restart the Tri-Faction War, you will need all the power that you can get,"

Tired of his silence, Mori spoke, "Have you made your decision?"

Kokabiel stifled a budding malice-filled grin as he nodded and started to put on a facade.

"Yes! Yes, I will go. I enjoy living and I can't do anything like this anymore with strong people like you around. I'll return to base and report myself to Azazel," the Fallen Angel said with fake solemnity.

'Huh, didn't think that'd work,' Mori thought then said in a stern voice, "Go, if you ever return to Kuoh, or threaten anyone, or even try to restart a war. I'll finish you myself,"

"Thank you," the Cadre smirked and clapped his hands together.

And with the last of his strength, a blinding, searing light erupted from his palms.

Mori quickly covered his eyes with his arm, as did all the other devils in the vicinity along with Xenovia. But the devils screamed in pain as the light reached them, burning into their skin.

The martial artist started to rub his eyes and blink furiously until there was color in his vision instead of white and black sparkles.

'Shit! I can't believe I fell for it!' he cursed and began whipping his head left to right searching for the escaped Fallen Angel.

"Fuuu Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaa!"

Kokabiel's mad laughter rang through the night sky, revealing his position up in the clouds.

Mori tore his gaze from the ground towards the air.

"Don't think you're getting away!"

The ten-winged angel pulled out the cloth sack from his robes and dropped the peach into an open hand.

"I'm not," Kokabiel replied, "I'm just enjoying the view…before I destroy it!"

With that, the Cadre bit a giant chunk out of the peach. Its juices rolled down his blood-stained chin.

Mori looked and a vein bulged on his forehead, "...Is he taking a snack break? Now?!"

Kokabiel quickly finished off his bites and dropped the seed to the field below

…

…

…

"I don't…I don't feel anything," Kokabiel said to himself.

'Fine if you're not coming down, I'm going up,' thought Mori.

Kokabiel clenched his fists tightly, enraged, "That damned masked asshole! Piece of shit! That was just a normal peach! Power my ass! It did no—,"

Kokabiel suddenly felt his throat tighten, and tighten, and tighten. He grasped it and tried to rub it loose. Then he could feel his chest, beating, expanding larger and wider with each heartbeat. Unbearable searing pain traveled across his body through his veins, and his muscles started to spasm. He lurched back and forth through the air as if he were a puppet tied to many strings being violently pulled at the same time. His head felt as if someone was drilling it with a molten blade, and hammering it with serrated-spiked mace.

An agonizing scream erupted from the Fallen Angel's throat as he gripped his head tightly and clawed at his face. His black nails tore through his pale skin, dragging red lines across his vampiric-looking features.

Watching from the ground Mori halted his jump to stare at his opponent wide-eyed and very wary.

"What's going on?" he said quietly.

The devils and Xenovia all raised their heads to look at the Cadre who howled in pure anguish. The pitch in voice rose and fell from roars to shrieks.

His body started to distort like molding clay, his limbs would stretch before going back in place, and his torso would flatten then elongate then contort into a variety of shapes. Kokabiel's ten black wings flapped wildly in a hysteric flight. Then they stretched out to their widest and fluttered rapidly, almost vibrating like the flapping beats of an insect's wings.

The black feathers started to loosen and loosen and loosen until they began to shed. Presenting the ones below with a rain of dark feathers, leaving Kokabiel nothing but the skeletal frame of what was once a symbol of pride for his rank as a Cadre. Then the ligaments between those bones dissolved, allowing pieces of the white skeleton wings to plummet to the ground along with the feathers.

But yet, Kokabiel remained in the air.

"NYY-AAAAAAHHHH!"

His head started to distort, and his face began elongating horizontally. His nose shrank into slits, a glaze swept over his red eyes that had stretched a little along with his face and crystallized over them. His ears grew and sharpened into thin triangles. The edges of his mouth sliced open and the slits traveled further up until they reached closer to his ears. With another pain-filled scream, his jaw quite literally dropped open. His mouth opened so wide that it was almost as if no bones were connecting his skull to the bottom jaw. The only things holding them together were the skin and fleshy muscles.

His long dark hair wrapped itself around his head and neck like individual snakes. Then they melded into his skin, flattening themselves out and creating dark, lined patterning from his shoulders up.

His robes began to do the same, melting into his body first before forming dark patches underneath his skin.

Then his body started to convulse and bulge repeatedly like a rapid beating heart. One could see the bones inside moving around and poking out from within his body. His shoulder blades shifted and rippled like still water when a pebble was dropped in. Elbows and knees locked and unlocked out of place. Ribs seemed to have a mind of their own as they waved around, stretching the skin.

To adapt to this, Kokabiel's body started to enlarge, and enlarge until he was twice the size of his previous self, in both muscle and height.

"GGGRRAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

Then with a final roar.

He went silent.

Kokabiel had transformed into something unrecognizable and monstrous.

A beast with a humanoid body. Large hands and feet sported thick, long, fingers and toes, each one had pitch-black claws on the end. The colors black and white were weaved in harmony across his body almost resembling a penguin…a bloodthirsty, murderous penguin. With double his previous body size, his muscles were now much larger than before and pumping with veins. His head almost resembled some sort of reptilian creature, but it looked too alien to have a counterpart on Earth. It was long with a large mouth that supported hundreds of dangerously sharp teeth, his nose had become nostrils at the top of his snout. The eyes were still blood-red but were ovular pupilless, without irises, and with some sort of glossy hard material covering them.

With each breath, there was a rumble in his throat.

Kokabiel looked at his hands curiously, all signs and sounds of pain were gone. He moved his fingers over the air like a pianist on an invisible piano.

It was silent back down on the field as the devils and lone exorcist watched the newly formed Cadre with their breaths held. Mori kept his eyes on the enemy and cautiously shuffled his feet just in case he had to act quickly.

Then Kokabiel grinned wide, displaying a mouthful of dagger teeth. Suddenly a huge wave of malevolent energy imploded all across Kuoh and traveled even further. The Club members felt nonstop shivers down their spine, as did Xenovia. Asia and a weakened Koneko even slumped to the ground, unable to stand underneath the pressure. Even Mori started to sweat nervously.

This was a new threat he did not even consider.

It was a weird type of energy too, a bizarre signature of aura. Mori couldn't break it apart, but he could tell one thing. It felt familiar…and not the good, deja vu kind either, it was a dangerous familiarity. He knew that whatever it was, wherever he had countered it in the past, it was bad news that only brought him pain, despair, and suffering.

A bright sparkle weaved between Kokabiel's fingers, no bigger than the size of a ping-pong ball. Then he relaxed his fingers and allowed the sparkle to freefall down at an unrushed pace.

It was like a leaf in the middle of the fall season, unbuckled from its branch by a stray gust of wind. Fluttering down at its own leisure.

However, Mori picked up on something. That sparkle wasn't ordinary, he could feel it. Huge amounts of condensed light and unknown energy were all contained in that small sphere.

"Everyone! Get to Sona and the others! Now!" he yelled.

They didn't need an explanation, they all quickly felt it as well. The sphere began to pump out that hurricane of energy.

Issei picked up Asia and Yuuto held Koneko as the Gremory Team and Xenovia rushed over to Sona and her Student Council.

"What's going on?" the Sitri heiress asked. An expression of worry and puzzlement washed over her.

"Kokabiel…he's transformed," Rias answered.

"What?" Sona gasped.

The dark-haired girl stepped over and looked to the sky. Her expression of worry grew even heavier when she saw the monstrosity floating high in the air and the same shiver trickled through her body. They had been so busy holding up the barrier that they didn't bother to watch the fight going on behind them, they trusted the Club with the job of stalling for Sirzechs as much as they trusted them to keep the barrier up. But Sona cursed under her breath at the factor she failed to calculate.

"How did this happen? Was it after that strange flash a couple of minutes ago?" she questioned, stepping back to the two groups.

"It was a little after," answered Mori.

"How?"

"He…ate…a peach," the martial artist replied. He had to admit it, saying it out loud did sound quite dumb.

"What?" Sona's brows furrowed as her gaze narrowed.

"Look that's not important right now," said Mori, almost slurring his words from how fast he was speaking, "That sparky thing that's falling down over there, I am a hundred, no a hundred and one, no two hundred, three hundred percent sure that, that is going to go boom once it touches the ground, and if we don't put protective barriers around us right now, we are…all. Going. To. Die. Maybe broken, maimed, or seriously injured at best,"

Sona looked divided as she bit her lip and rubbed her chin as she tried to think up a plan. Sure she had enough power to create a dome of sorts around the Club, but then she still had to encase each one of her peerage in one of their own. While still keeping the larger barrier around school up.

"Sona-sama," Akeno said, "Can your group hold the barrier while you're all with us inside of another smaller one?"

Sona considered the idea, then she nodded, "That's possible,"

"Great," sighed Rias before she faced her peerage, "Everyone gather around me. We have to stick closer together to make a smaller but more condensed and stronger barrier. Issei when Asia wakes up, make sure she can heal Koneko as soon as possible. Xenovia you're with us once again,"

"Yes, Buchou!" the Club echoed.

Sona then called out to her group, "All of you quickly join the Occult Research Club, huddle in with them as much as you can,"

"Kaichou, what about the barrier?!" asked Saji.

"I'll hold it up while you guys group up with the others," Sona ordered, "Then form a smaller defensive field, I'll join you in a second,"

Her peerage obeyed her command and quickly made their way over to the Club. Within seconds, a second smaller barrier was created with Akeno and Rias pitching in to help.

Sona kept her concentration on the larger one as she retreated into the smaller dome to join them. She then gave out more orders, splitting the barrier upholding duty into two groups, one for the one over the school to protect the outside world, and one for their own safety.

"Everyone…" Mori started, watching the sparkle get closer and closer to the ground.

"Brace yourselves!" he exclaimed.

The Sitri and Gremory peerages stuck close to each other as they anticipated the incoming explosion. Xenovia and Yuuto shielded a slowly waking Koneko with their bodies, Issei protectively held onto Asia, Rias and Akeno had their backs to each other with their hands outstretched to keep the protective dome up. Sona's group circled around them pouring all of their focus into holding the barriers. Mori was seated between Saji and Momo, all three of them eyed the sparkle as it sank into the ground.

Nothing happened for a couple of seconds, but the instinct informing them of imminent danger hadn't faltered for one bit but instead increased tenfold.

Then it happened. The detonation.

A blinding flash of light erupted from the ground in the shape of a giant sphere, easily engulfing the school and everything within its vicinity. It even caused powerful tremors to course through the ground.

"...I…I don't think I can hold on…anymore," commented Saji as he visibly struggled underneath the pressure.

"M-Me…neither," Ruruko, one of Sona's Pawns, added.

"Kaichou…I-I'm sorry…," said Tomoe, Sona's Rook, before she collapsed to the ground from exhaustion.

Sona, and Akeno, who had been holding up the larger barrier, could feel their control over it weaken as one of the supporters had fallen.

It wasn't long for the next of Sona's peerage to collapse, then the next one, then the next one. Saji, who even brought out his Sacred Gear: Absorption Line for extra power but even then, the gravity of the energy explosion was too much for him and he dropped to the ground. Momo quickly followed and was joined by Reya, Sona's second Bishop. Only four people remained who could hold the barriers up, they were Sona, Tsubaki, Rias, and Akeno.

Akeno however was weakening, having used up a majority of her magic reserves in the fight earlier.

"B-Buchou…R-Rias…I-I can't…go on…I'm…I'm so…sor—," the Queen blacked out before she could finish her words.

"Akeno!" Rias called out but received no response, she could only grit her teeth and pour more strength into the protective dome.

"...Sona…Kaichou…" a thud was heard.

"No! Tsubaki!"

Only Rias and Sona were left. But with their faltering strength, they too eventually collapsed to the ground, with their breaths shaking.

"Oh shit," was all Mori could murmur and the growing light flashed once more followed by an ear-piercing explosion that engulfed all of them along with their surroundings.

The two barriers were shattered.

---

…

…

…

*GASP*

Mori sat up abruptly.

His heart was beating rapidly in his ears. He could taste something earthy on his tongue and spat out a small mouthful of dirt. He looked down and saw his legs buried under a pile of loosened ground.

Mori kicked the heavy soil off of him and scrambled to his feet. He hit his ears and shook his head rapidly in an attempt to stop the ringing inside, and when his senses came back to him, his eyebrows rose in shock.

Kuoh Academy was gone.

Replaced by a giant, deep crater in the ground.

There weren't even any surviving pieces of rubble. The blast had disintegrated everything in its path.

'If it weren't for the barrier… The others!'

When he realized he was the only one standing Mori whipped around to face the resting avalanche of earth and dove right in.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no," he repeated to himself as he frantically scraped away stacks of dirt.

"Issei! Rias! Asia!" he yelled while his fingernails went black from all the sediment, "Yuuto! Akeno! Koneko! Saji! Sona! Anyone!"

Then he heard a muffled cough and slid down the earth pile toward it. A mound slowly began to rise until all the soil fell off, Issei emerged from the dirt covered in bruises and gashes but then fell onto his knees.

"Issei!" Mori ran over to help his friend up, "You okay?"

"...I'm…fine," the Pawn replied between heavy breaths, "...The others, where are they?"

"Still in there,"

"...Fuck,"

"I'll keep digging, you stay here and rest," said Mori.

"No, I can help,"

"You're not in any condition to do any heavy lifting," countered the martial artist.

"Then perhaps I can be of assistance,"

Mori turned around at the sound of a new but familiar voice.

The first thing he saw was long red hair, then sapphire blue eyes, a tall male figure, and a majestic black and gold robe.

"Sirzechs-sama!" Mori and Issei's voices rose in surprise.

"You're here," said Issei as he stood up with wobbling legs.

"Yes, but I didn't think the situation would be this dire," the Maou responded, "For now let's get them out of there,"

Mori nodded, "Right,"

"No, both of you relax for a bit, let me handle this," Sirzechs stuck his hands out, then slowly raised them higher.

Multiple spheres of light red energy hovered out of the earth piles, each one contained the unconscious form of one of their friends.

"I'll meet you up there," said Sirzechs as he gestured to the top of the crater with his chin.

He didn't delay the rescue any longer and flew up to the edge with the red spheres following him.

Issei grabbed onto Mori's shoulder before the latter took a few steps and bounced to the higher level. Once he landed, the Pawn released his grip and staggered over to where Sirzechs was standing. Mori followed shortly after.

"What happened here?" The Maou-Lucifer asked sternly after performing basic medical magic on the fallen young devils and exorcist.

Issei and Mori proceeded to take turns in explaining the situation, from where it began with Yuuto's incident, to the arrival of Irina and Xenovia, to the bout with Freed, and concluding it with their most recent battle with Kokabiel and his newest transformation.

"I see," hummed Sirzechs, "This is certainly troublesome, I expected Kokabiel to use a last-minute method to gain the upper hand, but certainly not one this unexpected. To transform into a monster with an unbelievable rise in power,"

"Well, for now, it looks like he's retreated, he's no longer in the air, as far as I can see anyway," stated Mori.

"He must've thought we were all dead and then just left," added Issei.

Sirzechs, however, didn't look convinced.

"But from what the both of you told me, Kokabiel was set on destroying Kuoh before leaving, but as you can see," Sirzechs did a circular gesture with his hand, "The houses and other buildings around us look rather unharmed,"

"Maybe the new power got to his head, and he's out trying to find stronger people to test it on," suggested Issei.

"That's a possibility," The Maou-Lucifer mused.

"GYA-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!"

The one in question's laughter boomed through the night sky.

"You're finally here, Sirzechs Lucifer,"

The gray clouds parted and the Kokabiel descended through the hole they created.

Even Sirzechs had a look of surprise wash over his face at the sight of the new form of the Cadre.

"Kokabiel?"

"The one and only,"

"The last time I saw you…what have you done to yourself?"

"As much as I hate to say it, I'll admit it, I was weak, frail, powerless. But now, I have enough power to level countries and send tidal waves across oceans! Hahaha! If only I knew about this power before during the war, with it, I would've reigned supreme!"

"Kokabiel, you know I am a Maou that values fairness and second chances. I would've offered you a path to peace, but you hurt my baby sister, the sister of Serafall, and the ones they care about. For those reasons alone–-," A fierce glare sharpened in Sirzechs's eyes, "-You will die,"

"Come! Sirzechs! I have waited for this moment for centuries!" The Cadre roared with open arms, "And once I'm done with you, I'll turn this piece of land and the sea around it, into dust!"

"Stand back! Watch over them!" Sirzechs ordered to the two boys and generated a crimson ball of destruction in his palm, "I'll end this as quick as I can,"

"Yes sir!" Issei and Mori nodded and rushed over to their fallen comrades.

The martial artist glanced at the crimson orb. It was emitting a concentrated pressure of pure, potent demonic energy, and radiated a dangerous aura. Mori had no doubt, this ball of destruction was thousands upon thousands of times more powerful than Rias could conjure up as of now.

"Begone, Kokabiel," declared Sirzechs calmly.

The orb shot up at an incredible speed like a supersonic bullet.

Kokabiel snatched it out of the air with a sharp, toothy, smirk.

"What?" gasped the Maou who was taken aback. Based on what he had heard, the Cadre was nowhere near this level of power during the war and had fully expected for this shot to be enough to take out the arrogant Fallen Angel.

Kokabiel, still holding onto the destructive ball, brought it closer to the middle of his torso. Suddenly his abdomen opened up as a second, much larger mouth, black as the abyss and full of giant serrated teeth. The Transformed Fallen Angel tossed the orb into the mouth and it slammed shut.

Kokabiel's body tensed as he growled painfully and red stripes emerged underneath his skin, appearing as rings around his arms and legs.

The Cadre laughed, "Spicy," and raised his arm.

To everyone's shock, the Corrupted Fallen Angel created a similar crimson orb to the one Sirzechs had, only it had eerie purple strings of energy flickering and coursing around inside it.

"So this is the Power of Destruction, heh, now let's test to see if it lives up to the name!"

The destruction bullet rocketed down, frustration gripped Sirzechs who countered with another one of his own blasts.

The two orbs met in the middle, setting off a giant swirling explosion of red and bits of purple.

Mori shielded his eyes, but then he noticed something. The buildings on the side started cracking and shifting in the ground. The trees started wavering with instability, as did the street lights.

"The shockwaves, the town can't take them," realized the martial artist.

"At this point, Kuoh will be destroyed even with Maou-sama with us," said Issei who also noticed the battle's collateral damage.

Mori racked his brain trying to think of an idea. It was only a few seconds but it felt like forever before he came up with one.

"Sirzechs!" he called, jogging over to the Devil Leader who was still trading blasts with the Transformed Fallen Angel.

"What is it, Mori?"

"We have to evacuate the town! We have to evacuate Kuoh!" declared the martial artist who held his arm over his eyes to block the intense waves of winds shooting out of the magical collisions.

"The buildings nearby are already starting to break apart," explained Mori, "Kokabiel hasn't even reached full power yet, and neither has you, if you continue like this, they'll crumble, killing the people inside! The shockwaves will send quakes through the ground all throughout Kuoh! And that's just collateral damage! Kokabiel won't stop until this place goes up in flames and ground into ash! He'll kill everyone!"

Mori could see the idea running through Sirzechs's head.

"Sounds like a plan!" he finally said, "I can mass teleport the entire town but I need a clear chance to do so, and I'll need time to set up the spell!"

"Then let me take over!"

"Mori! I can't let you do that! I can't predict the summit of Kokabiel's new power and it'll be way too dangerous letting you fight physically against someone who can now copy the Power of Destruction!"

"It's the only chance we have!" retorted the martial artist, "I was winning against Kokabiel before he transformed, and I'm still Boosted from Issei's Transfer I can feel it! Sirzechs-sama you have to let me try!"

The Maou-Lucifer looked hesitant and pursed his lips, before he replied, "I'll need five minutes,"

Mori could feel a small smile creeping on his lips and nodded, "I'll tell Issei of the plan before coming back,"

The martial artist dashed over to the Pawn who was watching over the unconscious club members and student council.

"Mori, what'd you tell him? What's your plan?" Issei hastily asked, standing up as his friend skidded to a stop next to him.

"Mass Teleportation. We're evacuating Kuoh," replied Mori.

"Fuck, I thought as much," Issei angrily clenched his fists.

"We have five minutes, you stay here to help Sirzechs-sama prepare, he might call for extra help to arrive too,"

"And what about you, wait don't say, you're stalling again aren't you,"

Mori could only subtly bob his head as an answer.

"Good luck bro," said Issei, offering a high-five.

Mori accepted the gesture which transitioned into a fist bump.

"Stay safe," replied the azure-haired teen before he made his way back next to the Maou.

"I just notified Grayfia and Ajuka of the situation," Sirzechs told him as he held a giant crimson death ball struggle with Kokabiel who was grinning psychotically in the air, "Grayfia will arrive in a minute to assist me with the teleportation, Ajuka is locating a safe spot to send them and opening the gateway there,"

"Got it,"

"Are you ready?"

Mori chuckled, "Too late to back down anyway,"

Sirzechs smiled at his response before focusing back on the situation at hand, "Five minutes,"

Then the red-haired Maou clenched both fists, detonating the orb in the sky.

A crimson pulse spread across over Kuoh sending further shockwaves through the streets and sending waves of panic through the citizens oblivious to the life-threatening event outside and dangerously close to them.

Mori calmed his breathing before dashing forward. When he reached the edge of the crater he kicked off the ground and sped towards the Corrupted Fallen Angel.

"You again? Fine, as revenge for humiliating me earlier, I'll enjoy ripping you apart," snarled Kokabiel, beckoning the young fighter with his long, clawed fingers.

Mori ignored his words as both legs erupted into blue and black flames.

[ ORIGINAL: KICK OF THE DOUBLE DRAGONS ]

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Part 3 Will Come Out Soon