Chapter Eleven - Bloody Destiny
"You guys think that Griselda's back yet?" Vanessa asked as the group walked towards the entrance of the Vatican.
"Nah," Ethan chimed in, "Probably not. It takes a little while to get to Heaven and back, so maybe around another hour or two?"
"Hm, you're probably right."
Jafar stepped to the front of the group, reaching into his pockets and pulling out a key that he used to unlock the front door. As the group wandered in, Vin took note of how the main cathedral of the Vatican looked hauntingly beautiful in the dead of night. People who would have milled around on the main floor long since left for the night, letting the sounds of their footsteps clack against the still May air.
Standing there, awed by the sight in front of him, looking as the moonlight cast a beautiful glow through the stained glass that lined the halls. Vin froze in place, his allies walking by him, as his sight was transfixed on the stained glass before him. Why was he so captivated by it? Why did it feel like the longer he looked at it, the more something shifted in his memory, like a thrashing of some nagging ideas buried deep under the mire and ilk of his brain.
He kept staring at it, and before long, Vin became aware of the fact that he couldn't move his body anymore… Something was wrong… Something was whispering forth from the back of his mind, like a phantom of a memory that Vin didn't even know he had. It was too quiet to hear, but every time it repeated, it grew in intensity and volume within his own head.
[...Get Away…]
"Uh, Vinny? Is everything alright?" Irina questioned, "You're kind of spacing out."
[...Run….]
"...I'm… fine…" Vin droned out, his gaze growing befuddled as he kept his eyes locked on the glass.
[...Something's coming…]
[...IT'S ALMOST HERE…]
[RUN YOU FOOL!]
The voice screamed out throughout his entire nervous system with such intensity that Vin visibly jumped.
And at that fleeting moment, as if to defy nature itself, the world glowed alight, as if the raging midday sun had returned to the sky. All around the glow pierced through the windows and murals, the group, caught off guard by the display, drew their weapons in an instant.
His Sacred Gear manifested on his fingers, while Vin's ears were filled with the sound of buzzing, like the sound of a television being switched on.
One second, everything was ominously quiet, only the sound of a faint buzz carrying across the midnight air.
The next, the roof exploded in a rain of stone all while a piercing light shone through, down onto the group, illuminating them like a spotlight on a stage.
Everyone looked up, as their faces contorted from confusion, to panic, to absolute horror; as the silhouette of a figure cut through the light, descending down on ten abyssal wings. Like a perverse imitation of something holy, the being continued it's descent, until it hovered several feet from the ground.
Vin finally managed to sneak a good look at the winged-man, his long black hair streaking down his body, his blood-red eyes peering down at the group, scanning along their rank and file, his eyes pausing on each glimpse of the four Excalibur Fragments clutched in the hands of Vin's allies.
But it wasn't his appearance that caused every nerve in Vin's body to shoot out in alarm, no, it was the man… Nay, the creature's aura… Despite being a practical man, never bothering to consider anything religious, even when he was put under the church's jurisdiction, but despite that, even Vin could feel the pure amount of killing intent radiating off the figure; piercing through his entire being like a knife.
At long last, the figure spoke, "Transparency, Nightmare, Destruction, and Rapidly… My, it seems like I've hit the jackpot."
Xenovia was the first one to press forward, ever determined, that one.
"Fallen Angel. You have committed a vile transgression against the church… State your intentions now."
The fallen waved his arms out theatrically, "Greetings, humans, and rejoice! I, the Fallen Angel Kokabiel, have come here to… relieve you of your Excalibur's. For a good cause, I assure you."
Xenovia grit her teeth, her entire body shaking, "You've made a grave mistake, Fallen Scum, prepare to face the wrath of the lord's chosen warriors!"
"How adorable," Kokabiel finally touched down on the ground before them, "A group of humans, standing bravely against a power far greater than they could ever know…"
Holding out his hands, as light coalesced in his palms, Kokabiel summoned two crude swords made out of what could only be described as pure, condensed, golden energy. Crackling raw with power.
"I'd like to see you try…" Kokabiel smirked.
And the bloodbath began.
With a shout, both Xenovia and Ethan rocketed towards the Fallen Angel, their swords at the ready. Each one swung at Kokabiel, only to be knocked off their feet and sent flying backwards by a simple beat of the crow's jet-black wings.
Wasting not a second, Jafar levelled his pistol at the Fallen's face, and began to fire, only for Kokabiel to idly wave his light-sword around in a small twirl, catching all the projectiles with the sizzling edge of his weapon. In retaliation, Kokabiel hurled his sword at Jafar like a javelin, only for Ezekiel to block it with both Excalibur Nightmare and the Judgement Sabre.
Even then, the resulting explosion caused by the light-weapon blasted Ezekiel and Jafar backwards towards the exit to the church. The two looked up, before immediately diving away as the other light-sword struck the space the two were just occupying, leaving another blast, and a large crater in the floor.
Finally snapping out of his reverie, Vin swipes his hands upward, launching two massive waves of crystals heading right towards the enemy, only for Kokabiel to idly catch one of the stalactites with one hand, stopping one of the spires, and stopping the flow of the other with just his foot.
Kokabiel's gaze burned at the crystals, and then back to Vin's fingers, narrowing, "So you're the one that Azazel wouldn't shut up about."
Suddenly, Kokabiel stopped whatever he was going to say next, twisting his body, and grasping something right out of the air. Slamming whatever he grabbed into the side of one of the crystals, shattering it completely from the force, a pained Vanessa flickered bay into sight. She landed on the ground in a heap, blood already seeping from where her body was smashed through the crystals. Faintly, Vanessa lifted her head up, trying to grasp at something, before losing her strength, and falling unconscious.
Suddenly, something flickered into sight within Kokabiel's hands, "Hmmm, Excalibur Transparency… Probably the one I could do the most without, but who am I to be a picky eater?"
The space around Kokabiel's hand distorted, as a rift in the air opened up, absorbing the holy sword before closing again. As Kokabiel's eyes returned to the children before him.
"Now, how about we play some more?" The fallen licked his lips.
"Take this!" Irina yelled as she ran up the remaining crystals, leaping off the structure to swing her light-sword at Kokabiel.
However, he didn't budge, instead swiping one of his wings to the side, knocking the sword right out of Irina's hands, before delivering a spartan kick directly to her stomach, causing the girl to go shooting to the ground in a heap of blood and vomit, knocked out before she could even hit the ground.
"Irina!" Ezekiel ran towards his downed ally, before Kokabiel, in a flash, arrived right behind the chuunibyou swordsman.
"Nightmare's a little more my speed."
Ezekiel's eyes went wide in surprise. Pivoting around on his heel, Ezekiel swung his Excalibur at Kokabiel, and in a flash, twenty copies of Ezekiel, all of their swords at the ready, appeared in the air, diving towards Kokabiel's unguarded back.
All ten of Kokabiel's wings unfurled from his back, moving independently of each other in a blur of motion, as they parried and sliced through all of the clones in mere moments. Seeing no other option, Ezekiel tried to dive away from the monster, only for Kokabiel to wrap a hand around the boy's ankle, and swing him like a ragdoll across the room.
Xenovia managed to catch him just in time, her skin and clothes feeling oddly warm. Looking down, Xenovia's eyes widened when she saw that Ezekeil's left hand was no longer present on his body, a bloody stump left in its wake.
Looking over, the current group saw Kokabiel gingerly shake Ezekiel's severed hand out of it's limp grip on Excalibur Nightmare, a bloodied light-sword held in Kokabiel's other hand. The fact that no one ever saw the fallen slice through their friend's arm until they caught the body made one thing ring true.
They were fighting a battle they had absolutely no chance of winning.
"What do we do, guys?" Ethan said, breathless, and holding Excalibur rapidly in an ever tightening-grip.
"I don't know," Jafar admitted, verbalizing all of their thoughts.
As Vin kept his gaze locked on the figure across the room from them, the bodies of his friends littering the floor, blood smeared against ornate tile, a unique paralyzing fear seized him. No this wasn't fear...fear was being scared of something, and sure, the thing in front of him terrified him, but no. This wasn't fear, this was dread. Dread was the knowledge of an impending doom.
Dread was the knowledge that no matter what they did, none of them were going to make it out alive.
Vin stood there, frozen with dread, his eyes shaky, unfocused… His mouth dry, and his throat burning with vomit that his body was barely holding back.
He could barely make out his comrade's words…
"We need to keep fighting… Hope that Griselda gets back soon with the powerful angel from Heaven."
"Oh? A powerful angel, coming here?" Kokabiel asked from across the room, the rift that had just swallowed up Excalibur Nightmare closing, "Well, that wouldn't do… Even if we had a fight, it wouldn't nearly be enough to stir the pot. Guess I'm on a timer, then."
Kokabiel smirked darkly, "Oh well…"
The next moment, he was above everyone' heads, two blades already in his hands.
Quickly everyone scattered away as Kokabiel dove to the ground at their feet, his blades hissing out like vipers as they tore through the air. One of the blades licked against Vin's left leg, as Vin screamed out, the feeling of the blade slicing and burning his wound as it effortlessly separated flesh.
"Vin!"
The boy looked up to see the impossibly tall Fallen Angel bearing down on him, one arm already raised, a blade humming in lust, lusting after nothing more than to end the boy's life.
Right as Kokabiel was about to swing his weapon, Ethan darted behind him, Excalibur Rapidly already cocked back and ready to deliver a swing to sever the man's neck.
What happened next would be a memory that was forever burned into the front of Vin's subconscious...
All around, time seemed to slow, as Kokabiel turned his gaze of his shoulder to lock eyes with Ethan, the determined and ferocious expression on the ginger's face shifting to absolute fear, as the hand meant to swing at Vin was brought over the Fallen's shoulder to point at Ethan's face. The light sword rapidly deforming into a pool of energy, before quickly reforming into a spear that shot out from Kokabiel's palm.
Excalibur Rapidly was fast, but at that moment, neither it nor Ethan were fast enough…
The light spear burst through Ethan's head, exploding his entire upper torso like a fleshy balloon, spraying blood and grey matter all over everyone. Ethan's deformed corpse hit the wall with a splat, an impossible amount of red streaking everywhere.
Vin stared down in abject horror, his voice failing him in that moment, as an animalistic wail bellowed out from beside him.
"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!"
Jafar blitzed towards Kokabiel, his ever-calm, collected, relaxed face torn to splitters, showing the raw, guttural fury lying under the surface. His light-sword flickering to life, as he swung with all his might…
Kokabiel stopped it with his fingertips, flicking his finger up, and sending Jafar shooting into the wall, the young man hitting his head on the wall, a trail of blood streaking down the wall alongside his unconscious body.
Vin could barely sense the world around him at that point, his vision gaining dark, hazy edges, and his hearing becoming muffled. At one point, Vin heard the muffled, tearful scream of Xenovia as she charged in, only to be thrown across the chapel, landing near the entrance of the church, Excalibur thankfully still gripped in her hands.
Vin looked down at the blood at his feet... so, so much blood… That was what his friend was reduced to… His friend... Ethan... Sweet, happy, little Ethan…
Vin's eyes welled up with tears, his pupils shaking in horror, but also with something more…
Rage.
An anger that he never felt before, he wanted nothing more in the entire world but to make this bastard pay. He wanted to rip the sneering, evil man in front of him to bloody fucking shreds, inflict the same brutal death upon him that he did to Ethan…
[Then why don't you?]
Vin stopped for a moment, taken aback by the intrusive voice in his head.
[He killed one of your kin, no? Should you not fight back? Should you not inflict a thousand deaths upon the vile creature in front of you?! Do you not desire the power to do so?]
Yes. Yes he did. More than anything…
[Then I shall heed your call, child.]
Vin looked down at his blood-stained hands, and saw that his rings began to glow, quickly, that glow overtook their entire form, as they began to change shape, the lift faded from his fingers, and the same burning sensation as ever began to cover his feet and shins. A final burst of light roused something within him, a flood of memories cascaded into his brain all at once, nine months of dreams, all breaking through the surface of his mind, and making their way back into his memory.
In that moment, it nearly drew him to insanity, but nevertheless, as the Sacred Gear finally took complete shape, as a pair of knee-high, crystal-armored grieves and boots, each outside ankle adorned with an amber gem, Vin knew exactly what to do.
Raising himself to his feet, Vin let loose a barbaric howl, and slammed his foot into the ground.
The next moment, every surface in the cathedral was covered in crystals, countless stalactites shooting out at Kokabiel from all sides making the Fallen use all his appendages to slice away the iridescent barrage of minerals.
Eventually, Kokabiel managed to slice through most of the attacks, but at the very last moment, a single small shard sliced it's way across Kokabiel's cheek, leaving a flush, shallow cut across the Fallen Angel's cheek.
Kokabiel froze, and raised a hand to his face, looking at the tiny amount of crimson on his fingertips, the Fallen's killing intent doubled.
For a moment, it seemed like the Fallen Angel was about to kill Vin straight away, his sword already prepared to finish the job, but at the eleventh hour, another bright white projectile flashed across the arena, forcing Kokabiel to leap away from Vin, using his swords to defend from an arcing blade of light shot at him.
Looking towards the front entrance to the church was Griselda, a handful of men with white wings, and floating on twelve wings of glittering gold, was a man with long, flowing blond hair, his arm held foreword, and his expression calm, but hardened.
"Ah, Michael, how kind of you to join us…" Kokabiel shot a look at Ethan's corpse, eyeing the blood-soaked Excalibur Rapidly that laid amongst the viscera, "I wish you arrive a few seconds later, though."
"Kokabiel, surrender peacefully, and we can talk this out like civilized people," Michael bargained, to which Kokabiel scoffed, his wings unfurling, as he took into the air, and flew off into the night.
Several of the other angels unfurled their wings, preparing to pursue the fallen, but Michael put his hand out, sadly shaking his head.
"Don't pursue him. He's likely to have teleported away at this point, and truthfully, Kokabiel will overpower you all easily," Michael scanned his gaze around the room, frown deepening at the carnage, "Come, we have injured to tend to."
Griselda quickly fell to her knees, clutching her blue-haired ward in her arms, "Xenovia?! Can you hear me? Xenovia!"
Cracking open her amber irises, wincing in pain.
"I-I'm alright…"
Griselda pulled her deeper into a hug, "Oh thank god…"
A sound drew everyone's attention, as they all looked across the room, the twilight glistening and refracting off of the crystals, to the sole standing member of the exorcists-in-training; Vin, with his new crystal grieves, his body covered in blood and viscera, as he looked to the moon with tear-filled eyes, and right as the last of his strength began to fade, and he slowly lost the will to keep himself awake, he let out a hoarse, harrowing wail of despair.
"AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Well, here we are. That was the dramatic conclusion to this first story arc, but we do have one last chapter to go before we delve fully into the next story arc. Think of it as an epilogue, except it's actually important for bridging the gap between the two story arcs.
I know this chapter was a lot shorter than some of the others, but that was mainly because this entire chapter was one fight scene, and if I tried to do anything more than that, it would've taken away from what happened in here.
I would also like to say thank you everyone. As of writing this, we've just hit 12,000 views on this story. You all… You're the best.
Now, let's move on to the chapter notes.
CHAPTER NOTES
[Kokabiel Stealing the Excalibur's:]
This is what I was referring to when I said in the last chapter that I would be adapting something that happened offscreen between DxD's volumes. The actual theft of the Excalibur Nightmare and Transparency by Kokabiel was something never shown in DxD, and I thought it would be a really cool 'oh shit' moment that could help establish how much of a threat Kokabiel is, while setting him up as the first concrete big-bad that the group has to go after.
This entire chapter's premise was actually inspired by the final scene of Star Wars: Rogue One, y'know the one, where Darth Vader shows up at the last minute, and slaughters everyone in the movie? Yeah, I wanted this chapter to have that same effect.
[Ezekiel Loses His Hand:]
Originally, I actually wanted Vin to lose a limb either during this scene, or at one point in the next story arc, but I realized that it would be a little better suited for Ezekiel, as it would be both a long-standing reminder of how these other exorcists aren't invincible, and also, it helps provide justification as to why Ezekiel isn't going to Kuoh with the others.
[Ethan is Dead. Permanently:]
The idea to kill off one of the group-members was one that I had floating around in my mind for a while, and only until around the writing of chapter five did I decide it would be Ethan who bites the dust.
Shoutout to Crestowl, who sort of caught it as soon as these guys were introduced in chapter three, as they eloquently put it: "But why is my 6th sense telling me these guys are gonna be cannon fodder?"
Maybe that ended up not being in the way Cretowl thought it would be, but yeah… Sort of got it.
Ethan's death sort of also marks the death of 'innocence' in the group. I think the gravity of everything has sort of become clear to everyone remaining in the group, and starting in the next chapter, we're going to see how Ethan's death changes everyone, more specifically, a lot about the church is going to be called into question, and the characters are going to have to draw lines in the sand over it.
[Vin's New Sacred Gear:]
So Vin finally reached an emotional state powerful enough to awaken his Sacred Gear proper. It's design is a lot more reflective of the crystal motif than the rings ever were. From a power point of view, you could see in that first showcase that the crystals have grown a lot stronger, and are able to be made faster, and in much higher quantities.
More will be explained soon, but now I can confirm both the name of the Sacred Gear, and the identity of the creature living inside of it.
The new Sacred Gear is a newly-minted Longinus, a sub species that's finally reached the level of power to be considered Longinus-class. It's on the lower end of that spectrum, as it's just cracked that tier, but that's my solution to the whole, 'Can't break the 13 Longinus' rule, and like Azazel has mentioned in canon, under the right conditions, there is the possibility of more Gears evolving into Longinus-tier Gears. This is one such example. The Sacred Gear later on in the story, will come to be known as [Crystal Weaver].
The creature living inside [Crystal Weaver] is the Scottish Dragon Bheithir. Now, I know a lot about its current depiction in the fic doesn't line up with it's depiction in actual legend, for instance, Bheithir doesn't really have any connections to crystals. The justification is long, but simply put, there's a bit of alternative history going on here. Basically, Charles kills Bheithir using the spike pit like in legend, except what's not known is that Charles was a wielder of Midas' Rings, which he used to make the spikes. Bheithir's body dies, but in order to live, she merges her soul into Charles' copy of Midas' Rings in order to reconstruct herself a new body. Over millennia, that possessed copy of Midas' Rings is passed around from person to person, and accumulates power over time, as Bheithir's soul begins to grow in power, and construct a new body to house itself, hence the crystal body we see her in in the beginning of chapter one. This slow recovery of power is also what's caused the steady accumulation of power that led to the sub species being created when it reached Vin.
Alright, now onto the…
REVIEW ROUNDUP!
Sakiv Says:
"Loved the chapter probably my favorite battle so far loved Kaiser's entrance not sure if this was the intention but the rook's death at least implied to me this was a suicide attempt for the stray devils which could be the reason the humans were left alive lure exoticism's out to kill them in battle like they wanted. Loved the creative battle with the rook sadly due to the power scale of dxd it kinda feels like you won't be able to use creative environment stuff like that the higher the power level gets the flamethrower or electric trick wouldn't really affect anyone higher than a stray power wise so I'm interested in how your Gonna write Vin using his Brain in the future. I also imagine shits gonna go down when he realizes what the holy sword crystals are made of and what exactly is gonna give him the ability to wield holy swords. I'm eagerly awaiting the finale of the arc."
You are exactly right, my friend. Kaiser and Howitzer both chose to become stray because they were disgusted by the idea of having to die slowly in a domestic life where they could never see combat again. They wanted to have one final fight to the death, and go out on their own terms against the hardest opponents they could find, hence, they looked to fighting people with holy weapons.
In a similar manner to Kuroka, Kaiser and Howitzer were able to keep most of their individuality intact because they had a sole drive that was incredibly strong. It's not explicitly stated, but the reason Kaiser never speaks is because he's the one out of the two that's further along in his slow mutation into madness.
Like you said, a lot of the challenge with the increasing power-scaling of DxD is that eventually little tricks won't work anymore. Rest assured, Vin's brain is going to translate into these bigger fights more, mostly through some very clever use of his powers, and the powers of others.
Oh god, even if the modern holy sword crystals are artificial/ethically made using only gene clusters safely harvested, when Vin finds out, he is not going to be happy… Maybe I'll give that revelation a bit of a body horror twist.
I hope that you're enjoying this finale! Next part is going to be slower, and more character focused compared to this one, but I hope that you enjoy it too nonetheless. Have a great day, rock on!
The Black Kraven Says:
"Hmm, are they gonna die? Cause if that's who I think it is, none of them are even close to being able to fight off that guy (unless Vin gets his BB but even then he will lose). Or maybe I'm blowing all this up and he will just sneakily steal the Excaliburs. The only dragon I know of is Fafnir which would make a lot of sense due to him being the greedy dragon and having something called Fool's gold or fake gold. And by Charles do you mean the Knights of the Charlemagne (the successors to KotRt from Camelot). Hmm idk, but I'm henching my bets on Fafnir (though, he should be a dragon king due to him being fkin fafnir)."
Well, you got one of two guesses right.
You hit the nail on the head about a character death in this chapter, although if you've seen my Instagram account for this story, then it may have tipped you off a bit.
Your guess about Fafnir being in the Gear was a good one, and I mean a really good one. I seriously never expected that you could read into the details that much. Fafir could have been a choice at one point, but there's one problem, which is that Fafnir is already in DxD, he's the dragon that's inside Azazel's artificial Sacred Gear, the Downfall Dragon Spear.
Still, mad props to you for coming up with a great theory! I hope this chapter lived up to your expectations, and I hope you have a great day!
pairogerio512 Says:
"This story only gets better, I'm still trusting you.
I listened to the songs you told me and I really enjoyed it, although Divide my heart left me a little scared about the story...in a good way, anyway, my expectations are in the right place now, thank you."
I'm glad that you liked the songs! I love music, and love to share my music tastes with people.
Divide my Heart is the perfect song lyrics-wise for this story arc, especially how we just saw in this chapter the person who 'dies unfairly', now I wonder who's going to be 'burnt to soul by vengeance'?
I'm glad that I've been able to meet your expectations, and I hope that this chapter, and the many more to come do the same! Have a great day, and rock on!
So yeah, that's all for this chapter! If you want to get your questions, critiques, comments, anything answered by me in the next chapter, make sure to leave a review! Even if I don't get around to typing an answer to all of them, I do make sure to read each and every one, so rest assured, your reviews are seen.
Make sure to leave a follow or a favorite on this story if you liked what you read and want to be updated when new chapters come out. We're actually really close to passing some milestones there as well.
Also, follow my Instagram, which you can find by looking up dxd_alternate_official on Instagram! I'm pretty active on there, and post behind the scenes stuff related to this story, story-related memes, updates and sneak peeks about chapters, and a lot more!
Anyway, have a great day everyone! Rock on!
