Chapter 13: Madness for Knowledge

After agreeing to a somewhat tense alliance, Issei walked home, having concluded his business with the two Exorcists.

Suddenly, he found a familiar person limping weakly. Normally, he would deem that it was someone normal but it wasn't. There was steam-like vapor hissing from the person. Taking a closer look, he recognized the blonde hair on the apparent male.

"Kiba?" Issei walked over as he got a proper look at the wounded young-man.

"Issei…" He winced.

Recognizing the type of wounds to be a result of a holy weapon attack, Issei decided that he needed to heal his injuries before they could get worse. Then he needed answers.

Taking the injured Knight to his home to recuperate, he went to one of his closets to get a magical healing kit. Inside, he had remedies for most known magical ailments and injuries, courtesy of everyone from Grigori.

Opening the box, he took out a magical green liquid that gave off a slight luminescent glow. Pouring a bit of it onto a cloth, he dabbed the cut on Kiba's arm and his left leg. While only injured there, the cuts needed treatment.

Kiba grunted and hissed at the burning sting of his lacerations but persevered through the experience.

After bandaging him, Issei looked at him with a questioning expression.

"What happened to you? Did Irina and Xenovia hurt you?" He asked with a small hint of suspicion.

Kiba shook his head.

"No. It was that bastard, Freed." He grimly admitted.

Issei was taken aback. Freed Sellzen was supposed to have been imprisoned. There was no way the sick-minded monster was still running around.

"That's impossible." Issei replied with disbelief.

"He was alive and kicking, I assure you. He was using an Excalibur fragment too." Kiba spoke with a bitter tone.

Knowing that Kiba wasn't one to lie about such a thing, Issei pondered how this situation came to be.

"Where did you meet him?" Issei continued his questions.

Kiba's eyebrow ticked in irritation.

"This has nothing to do with you, Issei. Please don't get in my way of revenge."

Issei sighed in exasperation.

"I'm not trying to stop you or get in your way. I'm trying to help you out."

Kiba looked at him in a perplexed way.

"Why?"

"Because I always help all of my friends when they need it." Issei sported his usual toothy smile.

Shaking his head in defeat, Kiba recounted the previous events that led to this moment. When he was done, he saw to it that the Knight had gotten home safely and promised to help him tomorrow in his quest to find peace.


The next morning, he had laid out a massive map in his room, scouring the entirety of Kuoh's satellite image.

Now knowing that there was another place where Exiled Church members were concocting schemes, Issei began to narrow down what places would be likely. There was a multitude of churches around Kuoh. With two reduced to rubble and all others being public and functioning, he concluded that there was one place that was still valid enough to be used by the schemers.

"The abandoned church South of Kuoh." He said to himself.

Staring at a map of Kuoh, with marks and lines crisscrossing in different colors, he noticed that the three churches were arranged to form something of a perimeter.

Immediately contacting Irina, Xenovia, and Kiba that afternoon, he arranged for a meeting at the Town Square.

Not very long after, the three others came face to face with each other. Kiba immediately became hostile and was extremely tempted to draw his sword on the two. Likewise, Xenovia had her hands on her weapon.

"That's enough, you three. As I explained, we're in this with mutual interests. The balance of the treaty is as delicate as is. We don't need more trouble." Issei warned, his tone much more commanding and sterner than anyone was used to.

Deterred, they retracted their battle-oriented intentions and began conversing.

"Anyways, I've narrowed down that the Church that is South of Kuoh, is the most likely place for Stray Exorcist activity. Also, that church forms a triangular perimeter with two other churches. This can't be a coincidence." Issei noted.

Xenovia then thought of an idea.

"The Stray Exorcists use the same clothes that members of the Vatican wear. We can sneak in using that. We just need to be careful with how we behave." She suggested.

Not wanting to cause another massive incident of destruction, Issei agreed.

"However, what is your play in this?" Xenovia then turned to Kiba.

"I merely want to destroy the Excalibur fragments that ruined the lives of those close to me. That's the only reason why I'm here." He darkly retorted.

Satisfied with this answer, Xenovia had no problems with another (temporary) ally.

When they arrived at the church, the four were already dressed in the clothes of the Church. Issei noticed that the church in front of them was built like the others, making him arrive at an eerie feeling regarding the churches in Kuoh.

Before they could even get to the front door, they felt a strong intent to kill descending on them. Looking up above, they saw a familiar white-haired ex-priest brandishing a long sword.

(Bleach OST – Sakkaku. Play Song.)

"Kakakaka." He cackled.

Issei really didn't have any patience when it came to dealing with Freed.

"[Dragon Shot]." He pointed his finger at the exiled maniac.

A thin red beam of energy sailed through the air, but the madman merely moved to the side, dodging the dangerous ray.

Not very surprised, Issei merely raised an interested brow.

"An Excalibur fragment." Issei muttered.

"Right-o. This little sucker lets me move more than five times a normal human can. Let me introduce you to Excalibur Rapidly." Freed licked the edge of his curved sword with a feral look.

Issei was honestly bothered that a piece of a once noble sword of Britain's one true king had become a mere butcher's knife. King Arthur was probably rolling around in his grave.

"You're going to be dropping that weapon." Xenovia stepped forward as she unwrapped Excalibur Destruction, brandishing it with a deadly glow lining the blade.

"What are you gonna do about me using this? I doubt you'll be able to scratch me before I carve you into pieces. C'mon. Try your luck." Freed cackled, trying to goad her into a fight.

Knowing his game, Xenovia charged nonetheless. That weapon had to be removed from the scum's grasp before it could do more harm. Raising her weapon high, Xenovia gathered holy energy into Excalibur Destruction, enveloping an orange-gold aura around it.

"Repent for your sins!" She bellowed before slamming her weapon down onto the ground.

The resulting wave of energy tore into the earth, rending whatever was in its path before dissipating into particles.

In the nick of time, Freed had managed to narrowly dodge the destructive wave, though it came at the cost of his left arm. Sneering at Xenovia and glaring at her with widened and frenzied eyes, he growled and barked at her with hate.

"Fucking bitch. I'll teach you to mess with me." Freed staggered up straight before seemingly disappearing from sight.

Losing sight of him, Xenovia scanned around for his presence, using her intuitive sense to try and locate his killing intent. However, the holy energy radiating from Excalibur Rapidly was masking his aura to a certain degree.

Kiba, who had become familiar with his attack pattern, had adapted to this and zeroed in on Freed. Materializing a Holy Eraser, he dashed to meet Freed's attack. With a loud clang of metal, Freed's frenzied expression became gleefully mad.

"Well, look who's back for more punishment. Did you enjoy getting cut up? Huh?" The exiled priest spoke as he pushed his weapon against his opponent.

Kiba looked at him with eyes of hatred and disgust. Just how did such a bloodthirsty bastard become a priest?

Pushing him back, the Knight lunged at him. With a skillful twirl of his strangely shaped sword, Freed knocked Kiba's attack off-balance. Now that he was a disoriented and angry person, Kiba was unable to fight as best as he should have been able to.

With a struggle, Kiba managed to maintain his grip on his sword.

Before Freed could do more, a whip came lashing at his wrist, wrapping around it before tightening.

"Now, Xenovia!" Irina hollered.

Readying her sword again, the blue-haired swordswoman came bearing down on her target.

Realizing his predicament, Freed took out a glowing capsule from his pocket. It gave off an unnatural light that just seemed menacing more than soothing.

"Get away from him!" Issei called out.

Throwing the capsule on the ground, it exploded and unleashed a powerful pulse that just made everyone's brain pulse violently with a severe headache causing everyone to grasp their heads. While a bit discomforted, the pulse barely effected Issei.

Lunging forward, he punched right into Freed's chest with his bare hand. Hearing a loud crunch and a gargling gag, he knew that he had hit his mark.

Looking at who had injured him from the smoke, Freed looked at Issei in utter fear. With their last encounter, he had almost killed him. Now that this threat had returned, Freed's psychotic tendencies vanished with traumatic reactions taking him over.

Seeing the glowing green light in his eyes, Freed instantly knew who Issei was.

"Y-Y-Y-Y-You're the Red Dragon Emperor?!" He shrieked, remembering his past experience with him.

"Die." Issei growled.

With his left hand shining, energy gathered into his hand, giving off more light as it prepared to fire off. Suddenly, a golden-brown magic circle wrapped around Freed, transporting him away to the top of the church's roof.

(Bleach OST – Sakkaku. End Song.)

Turning around, he saw a robed figure in priest robes. He had glasses, bushy grey hair, a bearded mustache, and a smile that seemed friendly but gave off nothing but a mad feeling.

Kiba looked up from his position on the ground and his eyes widened seeing the man.

"Valper Galilei." He spoke with disbelief.

"Indeed. Tis I, Valper Galilei. The man that came closest to recreating the proper requirements for creating Holy Sword Users." He chuckled.

Issei remembered reading into an archive about him. A former researcher in the Vatican's secret organization. He had been placed in charge of the Holy Sword Project, which was an experiment that was meant to turn normal humans into people that were capable of wielding Holy Swords through the use of drugs and artificial enhancements. However, his inhumane methods and cruel treatment had come to light and the project had been shut down, with him being banished from the Vatican. Of course, this happened after his murder of the children that he had been using as test subjects, with Kiba being amongst them.

Issei felt an itch in his left arm that just made him angry.

'I know, Ddraig. I want to tear him apart too.' Issei growled in his mind. He hated people like Galilei, who disregarded lives for their own selfish goals without any sense of morality.

"What's your end game?" Issei called out with a loud but calm voice.

Valper eyed him with interest.

"So that's the current Red Dragon Emperor? I expected to see an intimidating man but I only see a small child. Hah." He scoffed.

"Get down here and I'll show you how much of a threat I am, you jabbering oaf." Issei retorted.

Instantly charging a [Dragon Shot], he fired it at Galilei before he could do anything else. Unfortunately, it had been blocked by a barrier that was surprisingly powerful for someone of his abilities, which weren't much outside of research.

"You will see and learn the truth. However, it isn't time for you all to witness such a grand sight yet. Until then." He bid them farewell as he and Freed disappeared through a magic circle.

Before he did, he tossed a ball of glowing green light. The moment it exploded, nausea and disorientation washed over everybody. Cursing under his breath, Issei turned around and helped his three allies up to their feet.

"What was that?" Xenovia grumbled while grasping her head. The nausea that was overwhelming her was just unbearable.

"It's something like an EMP wave for organic beings. It disorients our brain and nervous system, causing us to either faint or get nausea and splitting headaches. It'll wear off in an hour or so." Issei explained.

He'd been hit by it too many times to not know.

"What do we do now?" Irina asked.

"At this point, it's unlikely that we'll be able to do much since we're low on knowledge. Also, the enemy knows that we're on their tail now, so they're going to be much more careful with how they proceed. As bad as it is, I can only say that we gather what information that we can before planning another move." Issei suggested.

Xenovia nodded.

"I see. If that is the case, Irina and I will depart now. We'll keep in touch if we find anything." She noted before walking away with her partner.

Issei turned to Kiba, who had vanished from sight. With a click of his tongue, Issei was exasperated at the fact that vengeful people just couldn't stay still.


The next day at the Old School Building, Issei was confronted by two women that practically lived with him. Vali was elsewhere, having been called by Azazel to talk about something important. That left only Akeno and Raynare to stomp right up to him.

"Where! Have! You! Been?!" They both shouted with upset and worried looks.

"Geh!" The young man retreated a few steps when they boomed and stomped up to him.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" He shrieked as he noticed that they were sprouting particularly menacing auras.

"Where were you all night yesterday?! You were gone until midnight!" Akeno shouted.

His face becoming serious, Issei turned to Rias. He knew that it was more prudent to notify Rias of what was happening since all things considered, she would be severely impacted in coming events since she was in charge.

"There was a big incident yesterday." He started.

"I noticed. I knew that gigantic energy laser was from you last night." She replied with a knowing tone. People just loved to disregard subtlety in her territory.

When Issei had finished explaining the incident with Valper, Rias was exasperated and troubled. Kiba had just gone off and done what he wanted, Issei helped, and they had gotten involved in the Vatican's affairs. All of them were lines that weren't supposed to be crossed.

"Goodness, Yuuto. Why did you just go and do that? And you, Issei. You should've known better than to just barge in." She reprimanded him.

Even though he wasn't her servant, she just had an odd sense of connection with him, as if she knew him from a different time or place.

"I'm sorry but I had to do something. Also, Valper Galilei, who was responsible for the cruel Holy Sword Project, is actually on the wanted list for the Vatican. He showed up to rescue Freed Sellzen. From the way he was talking last night, he had something more planned." Issei replied.

Rias sat quietly as she thought about the words that Issei had quoted from Galilei, about how something was coming soon. She didn't want to enhance the hostility between Heaven and the Hell, but she knew that she just couldn't let someone like Valper go around causing havoc in her territory, therefore harming her second home. Thinking for a little while, she came to a decision.

"Very well. We will investigate the matter with Valper Galilei under the pretense of illegally entering Gremory territory with malicious intent along with making no contact of permission from me. That should keep the Church from throwing any reasons to fight at us while we ensure the safety of this town." Rias reasoned.

"Yes, President." The ORC acknowledged her orders and prepared to move.

Suddenly, Issei's magic com started to ring, causing a miniscule magic circle to appear next to his ear.

"Issei…" A weak voice groaned from the other side.

"Irina?!" Issei exclaimed.

"Outside of the school…I need…help." She groaned.

With his sense of danger kicking into overdrive, Issei rushed out of the ORC Clubroom and headed to where the signal was coming from. Just South of the Academy's Tennis Court, Issei came to a halt as he saw Irina's wounded body lying on the ground. Smoke was smoldering from burn wounds and cuts were found all over her body.

"Asia!" Issei looked at the former nun, who wasted no time in healing her.

"Who did this to you, Irina?" Rias asked.

"Valper Galilei…he…let some chimeras loose. I got separated from the others when I chased after some. The others ran after Valper. I don't know what's…happened to them…but I know that Valper…he's not human anymore. He's stronger than when he was in the Vatican." Irina weakly talked as the pain of her injuries kept interrupting her.

"Now, now, my dear. It's rude to spoil the fun and blabber secrets." A husky voice echoed from above.

Looking up, Issei was a bit surprised that the seemingly weak scientist was floating on a magic circle, allowing him to levitate in the air.

"Valper, just what did you turn into?" Issei growled. The wounds that he had inflicted on Irina were by no means light, stopping just short of severe.

"I achieved higher knowledge and transcended past the boundaries of being human. Through the Holy Sword Project, I learned of what allowed humans to even touch Holy Swords. The Holy Essence that is bonded to the soul, that is what gifts humans the power to use Holy weapons. By harnessing it and extracting it from others, I integrated it within myself and have now become a Holy Being!" He explained.

"So, you decided to go deranged just for power?!" Issei snapped.

"Deranged…Deranged? Deranged?! Do you not understand how valuable true knowledge is?! With this knowledge, I have unlocked gateways into limits that are far beyond that of what a normal human is capable of! How dare you insult me with the word 'deranged'!" Valper bellowed.

"People like you really piss me off. You screw people over and then toss them aside like they're nothing. You think just because of your religion, you can do and say anything; using God to justify yourselves. It's time you got put in your place." Issei spat back.

Materializing the Boosted Gear, Issei readied himself for battle.

"Let's put an end to your little game, Galilei."

The ORC were a bit surprised that instead of an outright fight, the two had launched into a philosophical argument. This was certainly different from the battles that they had learned of in history.

"You say that, but do you truly understand that there are forces out there that seek to devour us and drag us into Hell?! Those fiendish Devils only want to crawl back into the Human World to whisper venom in our ears, masquerading as civilized individuals when they only seek to twist us to their ways. Those Fallen Angels are no different. Even Angels are useless. They allow so much misfortune to befall Man and they do nothing but let us suffer. That is why Man must pave their own way. And I, will be the one to lead humanity!" Valper announced.

"Power to kill all off all that is different from you. Pathetic false human logic." Issei sneered.

Opening his hands in front of him, magic circles sprouted in Valper's hands, causing larger ones to appear on the ground.

With a bright light erupting from the ground, lava seemed to boil out of the circle before a black-furred claw reached out. When the mysterious creature had completely exited the magic circle, it was revealed to be a canine with three heads and stood at least twenty feet high.

"Cerberus?! What's the guard-dog of the Greek Underworld doing here?!" Rias looked at it in alarm.

"That's actually not Cerberus. I managed to sneak a sample of DNA from that mutt and crated my own wolf of war." Galper then aimed a magic circle at it and fired.

The magic circle disappeared into the creature's flesh before a massive mutation came. The Cerberus clone began to shudder as its red eyes became green. Suddenly, bladed bones erupted from the sides of its limbs and a blade tore out of its tail. The fangs of the creature lengthened and gave off a shining glow that just made everyone's hair stand on end. The black fur of the clone then turned white before golden rings appeared as tattoos on each of the tri-headed hound's foreheads.

"Meet my pet: Triberos. The Hound that will soon hunt my enemies." Valper spoke with a sense of pride.

Everyone looked at it warily as it glared at all of them with a low growl.

"That thing isn't as bad as Fenrir, but it's still pretty dangerous. Be careful." Issei began to observe the creature as he boosted.

The Triberos eyed Issei and reared its legs, getting ready to pounce, clearly targeting him as the largest threat.

"I'm not done yet." Valper then repeated his summoning magic.

This time, a massive, winged creature appeared from the magic circle: The Quetzalcoatl. And just like the Cerberus Clone, this creature began to mutate as well. Sprouting another pair of wings, totaling in four, the monstrous bird's talons elongated and hooked while blades replaced its feathers. With its beak stretching forward and becoming sharp and pointed, its feathers turned a sinister grey and its caw became a menacing screech.

"There goes another one." Rias sighed.

"We'll split into three groups at this rate. I'll take on the Cerberus." Issei ordered. He never intended to make his voice sound so commanding though. He really just aimed for a statement and not a command.

"Akeno and I will deal with the bird. Asia can stay by the sidelines and heal Irina. Koneko and Raynare will protect her." Rias added on.

"Don't forget about us." Another voice called out.

Turning around, Rias was relieved to see the Student Council sprinting towards them.

"Sona!" She said.

"We'll split up and help as well. As things stand, I doubt this can be settled quickly. I've already contacted the Four Satans. Their reinforcements will arrive within an hour. We need to hold on until then. I've already had the other Student Council members create a barrier so that damage can be minimized more." Sona pushed up her glasses as she observed the situation.

"Sorry for being late." A familiar voice came in.

Looking to the side again, Xenovia and Kiba were suddenly standing at the front of the group.

"Make that four groups, then. The fourth group will deal with Valper and Freed." Issei commented.

(Bleach OST – Invasion. Play Song.)

Splitting up to do battle, Issei was grouped with Saji Genshirou and Tsubasa Yura.

Saji had messy blonde hair and grey-blue eyes. He had an average build and height but he had a different feeling around him. Issei felt an incredible similarity to him but dismissed the thought.

Closing the distance between himself and his target, Issei gathered ki into his fist, causing it to glow red. Sending a powerful blow into the monster's abdomen, he knocked the Triberos back several yards, making it roll and skid along the ground as it went.

"Go [Line]." Saji he commanded his Sacred Gear, which materialized as a black and gold bracer that resembled the head of a lizard. When it opened its mouth, a blue wire came firing out, wrapping around the Triberos' leg, making the glow of energy zoom back to Saji through the line.

"That's one of Vritra's Sacred Gears." Ddraig remarked.

"This my Sacred Gear, [Absorption Line]. It lets me absorb something from my targets with a near-unbreakable wire. Let's see you shake it off." Saji noted.

Tsubasa Yura, who had teal hair and grey eyes, had already closed in on the Triberos. She had an athletic body and looked generally attractive to a large degree.

"Hah!" She punched right into the Triberos' snout, causing it to stagger as it tried to regain its bearings.

Snarling at her, it lunged, slamming its bladed tail into her, knocking her skidding across the ground, however, she was able to quickly recover from the blow. Standing up again, she gathered a mysterious energy in her right fist, which Issei noticed was different from regular Devil magic.

Punching the air, a massive blast of power slammed into the Triberos, sending it flying across the grounds of the Tennis Court.

Issei charged a [Dragon Shot]. He boosted four times for good measure. He was going to kill it in one shot, not wanting to waste time. Firing it from his palm, the red blast obliterated the Triberos, without even a single particle of dust remaining.

'Well, that was easy.' Issei chuckled.

'That's because that was an undergrown clone of Cerberus. If it were the real thing, the fight would have been a lot harder.' Ddraig made his own remark.

With the battle against the Quetzalcoatl, things weren't faring as quickly.

Akeno raised a finger at the creature and blasted it with a powerful bolt of thunder magic, causing it to howl and screech in pain as the electricity jolted it around. Adding along to her attack, Rias fired small orbs of Destruction that impacted its wings and legs, severely damaging the feathered shell of armor on it.

Before the Quetzalcoatl could retaliate, a large twister of water began to swirl to life around it. Wrapping it in clear magical liquid, Sona mentally commanded the water to encircle and drown the creature.

Suddenly, the massive bird desperately whipped its wings out of the sphere of water, lashing out at whoever was close to it. With its razor sharp feathers, the Quetzalcoatl fired several lasers of light that razed the ground as it traced along the rumbling earth.

"Take this!" Akeno and Rias both aimed their magic at the mutated bird and fired concentrated beams of thunder and destruction.

Being much nimbler than the Triberos, the Quetzalcoatl flew high into the air before the attacks could connect but the explosion that ensued had knocked it off balance, sending it whirling into the air for a few moments.

Charging a bright yellow light in its mouth, the metal bird let loose a large beam of light energy that barely struck the two, plus Sona and Tsubaki, lightly singing them with stinging burns. Quickly countering, the four Devil women fired concentrated blasts of demonic energy, dissolving and obliterating the mythic bird while it was disoriented.

(Bleach OST – Invasion. End Song.)

As for Valper and Freed, there was a definite struggle. Valper and Freed had done something to themselves to be able to match the two sword-wielders.

Freed was wildly attacking with a misshapen sword that had the same aura as a holy sword. He was able to reshape it and increase his speed so it could only be concluded that he was using a sword made from Excalibur Fragments.

Kiba was lunging at Valper, but he would use magical runes to block and defend, sweeping from left to right as he toyed with the vengeful boy.

"When will you ever be satisfied with your atrocities?" Kiba roared as he created another demonic sword in his left hand and rushed at him.

"All I have done, is in the pursuit of knowledge for the betterment of the world. One or two lives is miniscule to the greatness that can be attained from their sacrifice. Do you not see that without my research, humanity would be even more vulnerable to those insufferable supernatural creatures?" Valper retorted.

"The people that you sacrificed for that Holy Sword Project; I don't see any benefit coming from it! You're just a xenophobic parasite!" Kiba shouted in protesting rage.

Valper then reached into his pocket and revealed a blue crystalline gem. His lips curled into a grin as if he had a delicious idea.

"Hmph. Indeed, all of you children proved useless in that experiment. Your abilities were incompetent so we found other uses for you. Here. You can take this useless piece of junk then. After all, we only needed you fools to extract your Holy Sword genes, all of the other things we did were simply tests. Considering how you were part of a secret project, I couldn't let you all walk away." Valper laughed as he tossed the gem at Kiba's feet.

"Even after all of that unnecessary cruel training and treatment, we always held onto our faith, and yet, you trampled all over that and killed everyone for such a small thing!" Kiba cried out in outrage.

"Those fools at the Vatican excommunicated me and then had the nerve to use my research in their modern efforts to create Holy Sword wielders. Well, no matter. I am now more than capable of creating new gems that are of higher quality."

Kiba held the gem close to him as he stood up. Upon laying eyes on it, his expression softened.

(300 OST – Tonight We Dine in Hell. Play Song.)

"For so long, I've wondered if it was fine for me to continue living while you all died for my sake. Surely, your desire to live was stronger than mine and yet, you sacrificed yourselves to let me escape. When I think back on it, it must have been so excruciating to have made that choice. I bet you all were terrified." Kiba tenderly spoke to the gem, as if the spirits of his fallen friends could still hear him.

"It's fine." A voice spoke from the gem.

Kiba opened his eyes in startlement as the spirits of his fallen friends appeared around him. Blue particles swirled around him as the gem gave off a bright light.

"Even if our faith was originally misplaced, we chose to put it in you."

"You're the one who will live for our sakes."

"No matter what, we'll always be with you."

"There's no need to feel guilty. We want you to keep living."

"Because we'll always be in your heart."

The spirits of Kiba's allies faded into particles and fused into him, covering him in a bright blue aura.

"That's right. No matter what, I'll keep living for your sakes. I will make sure that this man pays for what he's done. I'll make sure that he never commits such atrocities again." Kiba spoke with powerful resolution as he raised his Holy Eraser into the sky.

It broke into black wisps of energy as white streams of particles swirled together and solidified into one sword.

"Looks like he reached Balance Breaker. It's quite a special one too." Ddraig announced.

"He's fusing holy and demonic energy." Issei was gobsmacked by the phenomenon.

Valper stared in disbelief.

"That's impossible! Those two elements are complete opposites. There's no way they can fuse!"

"That's the point of the Balance Breaker, fool. It creates the impossible." Ddraig snarled back.

Within Kiba's hands, a sword of silver, gold, and black was made, though it had red markings in the middle section of the blade. It glowed with a blue aura, radiating power that was comparable to a Holy Sword.

Kiba readied his weapon and dashed at Valper. Freed jumped to his defense, brandishing his Holy Sword made of fused Excalibur Fragments.

(300 OST – Tonight We Dine in Hell. End Song.)

Xenovia planted her Excalibur into the ground and opened her hand into the air.

"Saint Peter, Saint Basil, Saint Denis, Holy Mary, please hear my voice." She chanted as the area around her hand was distorted.

Ripples formed as she reached inside and pulled out a gold and blue sword.

"Durandal!" She brandished the large sword as she eyed which opponent to go after first.

"Impossible! We weren't even in the process of finding a candidate for Durandal!" Valper became slack-jawed in shock.

"That's because I'm a natural-born Holy Sword Wielder. As much as I hate to admit it, I still haven't mastered the blade though, so it tends to get rowdy." Xenovia grinned slightly.

"Che! No probs. I'll just hack it to pieces with my super-duper Excalibur!" Freed lunged forward like a typical madman with his misshapen Holy Sword, running at high-speeds using the power of the Rapidly Fragment.

Xenovia, deciding not to spend excess energy on this crazed opponent, readied her blade and slashed a destructive wave of energy at Freed.

Quickly zipping out of the way, he manipulated the shape of his sword to create several sharp tendrils of metal that sailed towards the blue-haired swordsman. Prompted to use the same attack again, she slashed another wave, destroying the burst of metal in one attack.

"That thing may be a good attempt at recreating the original, but it's still too much of a shabby knock-off." Xenovia growled an insulting remark.

With one final swing, she brought down her gold and blue sword, bashing through the Excalibur sword in one attack.

"No way! It broke?!" Freed cried out in disbelief.

Valper clicked his tongue. The situation had turned against him. He was also being forced to remain here due to the barrier that the Sitri Peerage had created.

"If that is the case, then so be it!" He roared as a unique magic circle appeared on his chest.

Freed froze as he felt something go wrong. His skin paled and hi body went limp and numb. He wheezed and clawed at his chest as he glared at Valper.

"What's going on?!" He cried out.

"You've served your purpose Freed! Now, give yourself up for the sake of humanity!" Valper made a triumphant smile as his eyes began to glow a yellow color.

Danger was clearly escalating as Valper's body radiated light that illuminated the entire area in bright light as Freed's body dissolved into nothing.

When the light died down, everyone was shocked to find that Valper was covered in light, his skin glowing and transparent. He was covered in an aura that was similar to that of Holy Swords, which made it clear about what he had done to himself.

"Don't tell me…" Kiba snarled.

"Indeed. I have infused all of those gems into myself and have used additional life force to reinforce my strength. Now, let us end this farce. There is much work to be done." Valper bellowed.

He stretched his hand forward and blasted several powerful rays of holy light, tearing clean lines across the grounds of the Academy with ease.

"He's too strong to just be any kind of human. Did he turn into something close to an angel?" Issei mused.

"That's plausible. With all of that concentrated holy energy, one can transcend human boundaries and obtain greater strength. What a hyprocrite." Ddraig sneered.

Kiba charged forward, steeling himself as he weaved between the beams of light.

"I'm going to show you that your twisted beliefs and mad research will never surpass the power of bonds! This power that my connections with my comrades made, I'll use them to shatter your ambitions!" He declared.

With his bolstered morale and emotions powering his Sword of Betrayer, Kiba slashed at Valper, who blocked the attack with a magic circle. However, it was clear that he was struggling against him.

"Such insolence! I have transcended human boundaries! I have reached a pinnacle fit for a leader of humanity. I will not be defeated by the likes of you!" He roared.

Pushing Kiba back, he slammed his palm into the ground, creating multiple spears of light that sprung from the ground, tearing along the earth as Kiba dodged each attack.

"You've deluded yourself through pride in your research. In the end, you're nowhere near fit to be anything." Kiba retorted.

In response, Kiba impaled his sword into the ground, creating various Holy Demonic blades that razed the stone pavement. Shredding through the arsenal of light weapons that Vaper made, the blades advanced like a serpent slithering to its prey.

Valper growled. He created a light barrier that contained a massive portion of his power.

Taking his sword and ramming it into the barrier, Kiba used the Holy attribute of his sword to bypass the barrier, puncturing through with ease, while the Demonic attribute eroded away the protection.

"Impossible!" Valper wheezed out.

With a mighty swing containing all of his pent-up aggression and emotion, Kiba slashed down on Valper's chest, rending him apart as his glowing blood spewed forth.

The mad scientist crumpled to his knees as he stared at Kiba.

"I see now. To begin with, it's impossible for those two attributes to coexist…that proves it then." Valper wheezed as he laughed.

"This means that the Holy Creator…is dead." He cackled in mad revelation.

Everyone stared at him in disbelief.

Deep down, they saw the logic of this but Irina and Xenovia refused to accept it. They shook their heads slowly in disbelief, staring wide-eyed even though their intuition was telling them the truth.

"That's a lie." Xenovia paused.

"Is it? Why do you think so much has happened and nothing of consequence occurred?" Valper sneered.

"No way…" Irina weakly spoke up as tears formed in her eyes.

"Now, that's something I like to see. The sheer look of utter despair as I dispose of my enemies." Valper laughed weakly as a magic circle appeared underneath him.

"A self-destruction spell?!" Issei's eyes widened in alertness.

"Balance Break! Scale Mail!" Issei called out, instantly covering himself in his red armor.

Suddenly, the barrier around the school shattered, exposing the full moon and blue night sky.

Everyone looked up, stunned as a figure floated in the air, adorned in white armor with blue wings of light.

"What now?!" Rias gave an exasperated shout.

Within a split second, Valper was slammed further into the earth, creating a massive crater. No one clearly saw how it happened as they looked in awe.

"Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide!" A series of one command echoed.

That was enough to tell Issei who it was.

"Vali?!" He called out in surprise.

Before Valper's spell could go off, Vali quickly took what little strength he had left to power his spell, leaving him a weak wreck.

"Dad got worried, so he sent me. Uncle Kokabiel's here too." She pointed upwards into the sky.

Looking up, a 10-winged Fallen Angel was looking down from the sky.

"Uncle?! What're you doing here?" Issei incredulously called out.

"I wanted to see my niece and nephew in action. I'm impressed and also disappointed." He passively chuckled.

He softly descended to the ground and walked over to Issei.

"Sirzechs sent word to us, since we were in the area so we thought we'd come and straighten the mess out." He smiled.

"Before that…Uncle…is it true? Is the He really gone?" Issei asked.

This was something that he had never even once heard about, not even a reference had been made to it in the past.

Kokabiel made a cast-down expression. He recalled the memory and nodded solemnly.

"So that spot of news came out, huh? Yeah…it's true. During the ending days of the war…the Four Satans and God were lost." He confessed, deciding that the news was no longer worth keeping secret.

Kokabiel then turned around to everyone else.

"I'm certain that you all have questions. I can promise you that you'll get answers. For now, it's best to quickly erase evidence of all this and retreat for the night. And keep this to yourselves." He sternly spoke.

"Wait! I need answers! What did you mean when my brother contacted you about this?" Rias demanded.

"Like I said, you'll get answers soon. Some things are best left unknown until later. With that said, we'll take custody of that vermin. See ya, kids." Kokabiel said as he grabbed Valper with a detesting look and disappeared through a magic circle.

This left Vali behind as she dispelled her armor.

"Well, that was pretty hectic." She ruffled her hair as she walked over to everyone else.

"Is everybody okay?" She asked around.

Everyone was too shocked to do much responding as they replayed what she just did. The ease and power she exerted earlier made it clear that she was in leagues above several people here.

"I think we're all okay now." Issei spoke conclusively.

"Seriously, Issei, you could've ended that so easily and yet you let things get out of hand." Vali became instantly stern as she narrowed her eyes at him, making him retreat.

"I didn't want to cause unnecessary damage!" He replied with urgency.

"There's something called necessary force. The situation warranted it." She put her hands on her hips.

"I know." Issei sighed.

Vali then sighed.

"At least you're okay, though I was more than certain that you wouldn't have much trouble. Now come on, we've gotta head home." She pointed at the Academy grounds.

"Now then…it's been a long day." Issei suggested.

"Wait…who are you?" Rias walked forward, looking at Vali.

"I'm Vali Lucifer, the great grandchild of Lucifer." She modestly spoke as she sprouted 8 demonic wings, shocking everyone.

"What?!" Several cries of surprise came from everyone except for Akeno and Issei.

"Akeno? You knew?" Rias asked in response to her calm demeanor.

"Yeah. It's a long story but basically, Issei, Vali, and I are childhood friends." She admitted with a fond smile.

"Okay, enough. We shouldn't linger or we'll gather unwanted attention. We'll pick things up tomorrow." Issei silenced all subsequent inquiries that were impending to come.

"Fine." Rias sighed, her brain was already spinning from all of the news that she had gotten this evening.

When Issei returned home with Vali and Raynare, he didn't hesitate to ransack his fridge for food as he prepared a quick number of foods to satisfy his hunger. Raynare joined him, munching on a sandwich as she gave a sigh of relief.

"That was a close call tonight." She sighed.

"I hope we can get a nice long break now." Issei stretched, hoping to take a shower and go to bed.

Just then, another magic circle sparkled into the house. It was Akeno, carrying boxes and bags.

"Wait, what?" Issei's jaw fell agape.

"I told her she could move in." Vali shrugged.

"But this is my house!" Issei didn't mind, but lines had to be drawn. The house was supposed to be his. The final say should've been his!

"You mean…you don't want me here?" Akeno stared at him. Tears were dotting the corner of her eyes.

Akeno started to hiccup, wiping her eyes as the tears continued to flow.

"I didn't mean to intrude. I just wanted to spend time together like we used to. If Issei doesn't want me, then I'll leave."

"Wait, wait, wait, waiiit! I never said I didn't want you here! Just why didn't you ask me?! I own the place!" Issei waved his arms in a panic.

"I never got the chance." Akeno sniffled.

Issei groaned. The situation completely spiraled downward, out of his control.

"You can move in, but we'll have to mess with the living arrangements…"

"Thank you, Issei." Akeno dried her tears.

To his obliviousness, Vali and Akeno traded victorious glances with each other, complete with a thumbs-up.


Changes made from the original Chapter 13:

1. Grammar fixes

2. Changed some dialogue, shortening some of it. Added another scene of Akeno at the end

3. Akeno moves in at the end of this chapter, instead of Chapter 14.