Gamer of the Void

by a-shifty-sword

After being rescued from the Void by a passing Love Fairy, Axton enters the world of Highschool DxD with the power of the Gamer. His life of adventures and a sexy harem start here! Lemons and a morally grey protagonist.

33. DxD: Weaving Threads 10

Patch Notes:
-Tweaked an old scene in Ch. 14 "DxD: Recruitment Week 05". See AN for more details.

---

The figure that blurred out of the tear in the fabric of space slams into me, and I feel another tear open behind me. Before I can react, both of us are through and my back hits ground that definitely isn't the hallway of the school. [Void Detect] confirms that we've changed location to some field.

As I hit the ground I roll, throwing my attacker off of me and getting back to my feet. The portal closes but I ignore it, I can travel back under my own power in a minute. But first, I need to figure out who the hell this is attacking me. I turn to face where my attacker landed, and my eyes widen as I get my first good look at him. I immediately use [Observe].

Avenger (Freed Sellzen)
Race: Origin Warframe
Level: 840
HP: 62,250
MP: 43,700
SP: 57,000
CON: 1,245
STR: 1,140
DEX: 1,448
INT: 874
WIS: 779
CHA: 356
LUK: 114

Freed has been transformed entirely. His body is gray, no longer covered in skin, but in something that looks half synthetic and half biological. His features have been wiped away and he is completely unrecognizable. He isn't a man anymore, but the weird mix of robot and living being that are the Warframes.

He's a relatively simple one, lacking much of the decoration Warframes usually have. But it isn't completely absent. There is a cross on his chest and on each of his shoulders, and above his head is a floating halo, though it's cracked and on fire with that same blue flame.

I'm not sure how this happened, but I have a suspicion. There was only one person, one being, who could have orchestrated something like this. But I don't have time to unpack that right now.

He charges at me, drawing my attention to his blade as I pull out Ouroboros and dodge out of the way. Excalibur Rapidly swings past me, barely missing me. Once again, its ability to triple the DEX of the wielder, vastly increasing their speed, has made him faster than me. But that's a gap I can easily close now.

I channel Arc-Light through my body and at the same time I pull on my soul, shifting to my Void Form. Once again, the world shifts, my senses geared towards where reality isn't rather than where it is, and now, thanks to Gasper, the world slows a little.

I dodge Freed's next swing easily, slipping into his guard and stabbing him in the heart, or where his heart would be, with Ouroboros. The dagger pieces easily into his chest, causing Freed to scream in pain. I'm not sure how that works when he doesn't have a mouth, but I don't have time to wonder as I'm forced back by another swing of his blade.

I watch as the wound in his chest smolders with a blue flame and closes up, removing any trace of the wound at all. While I didn't expect an easy win, that healing is going to be annoying. I use [Observe] on him again to check his HP. It's full, but far more worrying is that his stats have increased.

He charges at me, even faster than before. Why the hell are his stats increasing? What kind of monster has he turned into? The flames on his halo are burning brighter, but not any hotter. I dodge and shoot a [Void Beam] at him. It pierces him, but not as much as I would like, and the wound heals just as fast as the other one. Faster, actually.

Fuck this then. I can see what this is, a delaying tactic. Send the super regenerator at me to tie me up while Kokabiel attacks Kuoh. And I know for a fact that he's attacking right now because a moment before Freed jumped me I got a new quest, my first new one in ages.

Fury of the Fallen
Objective: Survive Freed's ambush and make it back
Bonus Objective: Have all allies survive Kokabiel's attack
Bonus Objective: Don't allow any civilians to die
Reward: Excalibur Rapidly, 1 Hate Crystal, 10k Hunie
Bonus Reward: 3 Gacha Tokens, 1 Crafting Skill Gems, 20k Hunie

Bonus Reward: ? Perk, 20k Hunie

This is why I was able to react and throw the girls away. But I'm not playing into his plans. With a thought, I [Void Travel] back to Kuoh. But it's not Kuoh I arrive at.

I look around in confusion. I'm standing on a dirt road, and the buildings around me are cheaply constructed. No, that's not quite right. They're made primarily of wood and none of them have electricity. Where in Kuoh am I?

Someone screams as they see me, still in [Void Form]. They point a finger at me, drawing everyone's attention to me, and drawing my attention to the people. They're dressed strangely, like they just stepped out of an old samurai movie.

A theory occurs to me, chilling me to my bones. The buildings, the people, my internal map telling me I'm at Kuoh, despite appearances. I scan around with [Void Sight], ignoring the people running away from me, looking for any hint that I'm wrong.

But there are no signs of modern life anywhere. The most advanced roads I see are made of stone brick, there are no vehicles not pulled by animals and no signs of electricity even being a thing.

Space tears again and Freed leaps out of it, following after me.

"What did you do?" I ask him. He doesn't answer, of course. I'm not sure if he's even capable of speech. He just screams again and lunges at me. Even with my speed increased by the Arc-Light running through me, I'm hard-pressed to dodge and counter his swings. His stats are even higher now, nearly as high as mine are, and Excalibur Rapidly is giving him an edge over me. For now, at least. There are a couple of things I could do, but I wait. I need to figure out what's happening, and I'm not in any immediate danger.

When he opens another blue portal behind me, I allow him to force the two of us through it. We arrive in a much more cramped space, and I feel water around us. It's hard to look around while Freed keeps up his assault, but it's clear to me that we're on a submarine. Which isn't good for whoever else is on here. Freed's swings cut through the steel around us like butter, and alarms start going off immediately.

Two soldiers rush around the corner to investigate the noise, to which the berserking Freed responds by rushing them and decapitating them with a swing of his sword. That buys me enough time to take a closer look, though it only takes a split second to spot the swastika on their uniforms.

I'm pretty sure Neo-Nazis aren't in submarines nowadays, and I can only accept my theory as accurate. Freed's portals aren't moving purely in space, they also move in time. This is most likely a World War 2 era German submarine. I'm no history or military buff, but the Nazi imagery is a pretty clear hint.

Freed returns to attack me, and I respond in kind. In addition to my knifework, I start casting spells at him. This has a pretty negative effect on the submarine, and water starts gushing in from the many holes we've put into it, but I ignore all that.

As the submarine collapses and floods around our fight, my mind is racing. I could kill Freed, but it would mean getting stuck in the past. A solvable problem, but not one I want to explore. Time travel is tricky, and there's always the chance that we're not even on the same timeline. I could wait out the years until I catch back up, only to discover I'm on the wrong timeline. This could be the canon timeline, instead of the modified one I made when I first arrived.

If I kill Freed now, I'd have to wait for over 60 years to get back to my time the slow way, and I'd have to make sure to not make any changes that could butterfly away things. That's assuming I'm on the same timeline though. If I'm not, I could wait that long only for Issei to be born instead of Atsuko. Unacceptable.

Annoyed at the water flowing around my feet, I use [Void Beam] in a circle in front of me, cutting the entire submarine in half and finally causing it to completely fall apart, leaving Freed and me swimming in the water. Another portal opens below us and he pulls us through.

We land with a deluge of water in the middle of a battlefield. Men in metal armor wielding spears and swords fight, though many are thrown to the ground as the ocean water rushes over them.

Freed and I ignore them. It's taking nearly all of my focus to defend myself from him. His halo is burning brightly, and his stats are now equal to mine. I desperately start chugging potions, but he's too fast for me, and I start taking hits. Thankfully, the damage isn't too bad, and with the aid of my potions, I'm healing faster than he can hurt me.

As our fight through time continues, what focus I'm able to spare is spent on trying to figure out how to get back home. I just hope that all my training, all the equipment I gave them, and all the plans I put into place are enough to keep them safe.

---

Raynare stood at the window next to Mittelt. Miss Sakuya had suddenly ordered everyone in the house to gather in the entrance hall, and once they had, she and the old man Wilhelm had gone outside onto the front lawn. All of them watched as the two of them approached the Fallen that had suddenly appeared.

"This is the private property of my master Axton, and none of you have been invited," Wilhelm said in a loud and clear voice they could hear even from inside of the house. "You are currently trespassing. If you do not leave the premises, we will take action in response."

Raynare looked over the Fallen in the air. There were a few dozen of them. Most had two wings, with only a handful of four-winged Fallen and a single six-winged one leading the bunch. From the looks on their faces, they didn't think much of a human telling them to go away.

Sure enough, moments later, the leader hurled a spear of light at Wilhelm. Raynare could barely track it, but she also had seen Wilhelm spar with the others and wasn't surprised when he simply sidestepped and dodged the spear, which threw up a cloud of dirt when it hit the ground.

"Very well then," Wilhelm said, drawing his saber. It looked like plain steel, but Raynare strongly doubted it was. There was nothing plain or normal about the Head Maid and Butler.

Knives appeared in Sakuya's hands, and the two of them nodded at each other. Then, in the blink of an eye, the Fallen started falling out of the sky, causing everyone in the room watching from the windows to react in surprise. Her eyes caught some of their wounds. Knives were embedded in vital spots for many of them, and others were cut in two, either at the head or torso.

The knives disappeared, and Raynare saw Sakuya nod in satisfaction while Wilhelm flicked his sword, removing the blood from the blade. Did they really cut all of those Fallen down that quickly? Even the one with six wings? Maybe getting caught by Axton and being forced to work for him wasn't so bad after all. It was certainly better than ending up on the side that had just been slaughtered in less than a second.

Sakuya turned to face them. "All of you, please come out, it seems that something is happening."

They exchanged looks, but as one, all of the inhabitants of Axton's house, at least the ones that were there at the time, filed out. Herself, Mittelt, the Phenex girl and half of her Peerage, the three members of the Church, Axton's cat-thing and his spider, the two dhampirs, and the nudist telekinetic.

They walked out onto the front lawn that had been turned into a scene out of a horror movie. Corpses lay scattered across the grounds, many not in one piece, and all of them bleeding heavily, staining the grass red where their blood pooled and sunk into the ground.

"What did you do?" The nun, Griselda, asked, looking at the corpses.

"Took care of the trespassers," Sakuya replied vaguely, not elaborating on what Griselda was really asking, about the how. "Yua, where is Master Axton right now?"

"I'm, I'm not sure," Yua said. It was hard to read the facial expressions of a bipedal three-foot-tall cat, but she looked nervous to Raynare's eyes. "Normally I can tell from our connection, it always points to him. But I can't figure out where it's pointing, it doesn't make any sense. I can't communicate with him either, the bond feels...weird. Like it's full or something."

Wilhelm frowned at that. "It seems that Kokabiel started his attack by somehow disabling or removing Axton then," he said. "But if the bond is still there, he is still alive, and he'll make his way back to us when he can. In the meantime, Miss Phenex, you are in charge."

Ravel blinks in surprise. "Me?"

Wilhelm and Sakuya nodded. "In the event that Axton is unreachable, he designated a chain of command. The young Sitri heiress isn't here, meaning it falls on you to lead."

"I-I see," she replied, a little surprised. For good reason too. She was just a girl that had been won as a prize by Axton, at least that was the story as Raynare understood it. She was sure the pervert just wanted to fuck her, but she'd also been involved in the potions business he'd started, so maybe there was more to her than a big pair of tits.

"I believe it's safe to assume that the Fallen traitor Kokabiel is launching his attack," Sakuya explained. "Axton warned us that this might happen. It is likely that, considering the time of day, they are also staging an attack on the school as we speak. We were likely a secondary target."

"Understood," Ravel said. Her nervousness was gone, and she was serious. She adjusted quickly it seemed. "In that case, we'll leave the defense of this house to the two of you. I'll take my peerage-"

As she's giving out orders, one of the corpses lunged at her, apparently not dead yet. The Fallen had a knife of light in their hand and reached out to stab the Phenex girl. But before they reached her, they blurred, and everyone's heads leaned back as the attacker was launched straight up into the air, quickly disappearing from sight.

"Can these black-winged guys breath or fly in space?" an annoyed voice said. Everyone looked at Tatsumaki, the speaker.

"N-no, we can't," Mittelt answered.

"Hmm," the green-haired telekinetic replied, tone now bored. "That's gonna suck for them then."

"Right, thank you Tatsumaki," Ravel replied politely. Tatsumaki shrugged and looked away. "As I was saying," Ravel continued. "I'll take my peerage and any volunteers to Kuoh to back up the people there. Many of my own Peerage members should be there already. Yua, you can take us there, right?"

"Can do!" Yua said enthusiastically.

Ravel nodded. "In that case, everyone who wants to come, gear up and meet me back here." Many of the others nodded and rushed back into the house to grab their equipment. The only ones who didn't move were Sakuya, Wilhelm, Gasper, Valerie, Yua, Tara, herself, Mittelt, and Tatsumaki. The first two were staying here to protect, the dhampirs were too weak to fight, the two familiars were pulling their equipment out of nowhere, and the telekinetic seemed lost in thought.

Mittelt approached Sakuya, pulling Raynare along with her. She didn't know what the other girl wanted, but she let herself be pulled. "We'd like to go to Kuoh to fight as well," Mittelt told Sakuya, causing Raynare's eyes to widen. What was she doing?

"Is that so?" Sakuya asked with a raised eyebrow, gaze piercing the two of them. Raynare looked away, her eyes falling once more on the corpses that lay scattered around them. She might have been one of them if she had kept following Kokabiel's orders. The thought scared her more than a little bit.

So she turned back to Sakuya and nodded. "I wouldn't mind the chance to get some exercise," she replied. Fighting against other Fallen...Well, she didn't have a problem with that. Not really. Especially these idiots who let themselves get used like that. It would be dangerous, but it was clear that Axton's side was the winning side, and she wanted to be firmly on his side. Mittelt, the little skank, was sleeping with him now, securing her position that way. She needed to secure her own position, and showing that she was willing to fight for his interests was a good way to start.

Sakuya stared at the two of them for a moment longer, before she nodded. She flickered in place, and suddenly she was holding a pile of clothes. "Axton prepared these enchanted outfits for you, based on your previous outfits. Please put them on before heading into battle."

It annoyed her that the smug prick had planned for this as well, but she took the outfit. It made her feel better about her choice, that this was definitely the right side to be on. She looked at the outfit in question. It was her fighting uniform, the one that Mittelt had called her dominatrix outfit. But it wasn't her old one, just one made exactly the same. The material felt slightly different, and she wondered what he used. It felt strong.

"When you get there, please give this to Asia-dono as well," Sakuya said, handing another bundle of cloth to Mittelt, who was already holding a copy of her lolita dress. Mittelt nodded, and the two of them started getting changed right there. They had learned a long time ago that modesty had no place on the battlefield. Wilhelm respectfully turned his back, his eyes on the sky.

A few minutes later, the others came back out, geared for fighting. They all gathered around Yua and Ravel and held hands. Ravel looked up. "Last chance for people who want to come." She looked at Tatsumaki as she said it, but the other girl just turned her head. No one else moved. Wilhelm, Sakuya, Gasper, Valerie, and Tatsumaki were the only ones not going. She wasn't sure about the telekinetic, but the dhampirs weren't suited for fighting, so she didn't blame them for not coming.

Ravel nodded. "Alright, take us to Sona," she said to Yua. As one, they took a step, and disappeared, headed to the battlefield.

---

Tatsumaki watched the group with conflicting emotions churning in her gut. Most of the ones who left had been teenage girls. Seeing them leave to go fight...it didn't sit right with her. Her life of hero work had left her with the need to be the one to fight so no one else had to put themselves in danger.

But the thought of facing more of those guys, of facing a horde of them coming after her-

She crossed her arms to hide how her hands were shaking. She hated this, hated feeling like this. If the corpses on the ground were any indication, she wouldn't even be in any danger. She has faced far worse. But that was the problem, wasn't it? She had faced worse, every hour of every day for a year and a half, never sleeping properly, barely scrounging together enough food. She still hadn't physically recovered from that, her sleep schedule was a mess.

The maid, the one who took care of the Fallen, approached her. "Axton also prepared an outfit for you, if you change your mind," she said, holding up the outfit. It looked just like her old one, her hero outfit. "He said you most likely wouldn't get much benefit from it, powerful as you already are, but he was already making things for the others and wanted to do a thorough job."

She looked at the outfit. It felt like ages ago that her old one had finally disintegrated under the constant assaults and lack of washing. This was a near-identical copy, and her stomach churned as she looked at it.

"...what are their chances of coming out of this okay?" she asked the maid.

Sakuya's expression didn't change. "I cannot be sure. Master Axton has taken steps to prepare them as best as he could, but I don't know the enemy they face."

That didn't sit well with Tatsumaki. "Can you tell how things are going right now?"

Sakuya nodded, showing her a ring on her finger. "Master provided me with an enchanted item to keep in contact with his familiars when he gave me my new set of enchanted knives," she explained. "I can receive live updates from Yua and Tara."

Tatsumaki was quiet for a moment before she made a decision. "In that case, if they...if it starts looking bad, tell me, and I'll back them up." Sakuya nodded, and Tatsumaki headed back inside.

She didn't want to fight. It pissed her off that even thinking about it threatened to send her into a fit, but it was the truth. But she didn't feel right not jumping into action to protect others either. The two desires conflicted, so she compromised. She'd help if things go poorly. But this isn't her world, this isn't her responsibility. She was basically a refugee. She'd leave it to them, hopefully.

In the meantime, she headed to the kitchen. She was itching for a drink.

---

Ravel and the rest of the group arrived to a scene of chaos. The school was half destroyed, many of the walls reduced to rubble and some parts of the main building had collapsed. And all around them were Fallen fighting with the Devils.

Ravel looked up to see the familiar form of Atsuko, flying rapidly as she clashed with a figure that could only be Kokabiel, seeing as he had 10 wings. She could see many of the others up there, fighting other Fallen with multiple pairs of wings. The fighting didn't look like it was going well, but they didn't seem hurt.

Sona was right in front of them and turned to face them. Ravel approached her quickly.

"Sona, we're here to back you up," she told her. "According to instructions Axton left behind, you're in command." Not only had Sakuya implied that, but Axton had told her to seek out Sona if she couldn't get in touch with him when it came to emergencies. This definitely qualified.

Sona nodded, accepting this. "Good. What do you know?"

"Very little," Ravel admitted. "A group of Fallen attacked Axton's home, but they were dealt with. We know that Axton was worried about an attack like this, and Yua and Tara can't contact him."

Sona frowned. "That's concerning. He was with Atsuko and Aika when something made a blue portal and pushed him into it, closing it behind them. He's still alive though?" Ravel nodded. "We'll hope he can handle whatever happened to him on his own, we have our plate full right now."

"Are- are we doing okay?" Ravel asked, concerned. Even with Axton's training, she was concerned about fighting any Fallen with more than two wings.

"Thanks to the gear that Axton made us, yes," Sona replied. "We managed to prevent any student deaths so far, and they've been evacuated to the basement level of the school. There were some serious injuries, but Asia is here and has been healing them. Momo and a few others are down there making sure they're defended. Everyone else is fighting the Fallen and the Exorcists. Those fights are a struggle, but their Light weapons aren't doing as much damage as they normally would, and we're healing quickly. Rias and I also have a stock of potions given to us by Axton."

"I have one as well," Ravel said.

"Good, you'll need it," Sona said. "There's a powerful barrier around Kuoh Academy preventing entry or exit. Fortunately, Axton's brand of teleportation ignores things like that, so now that Yua and Tara are here, we have some options. I want you to make a team and take out the exorcists maintaining the barrier. They should be on the outside, in groups around the circumference."

"I can find them!" Yua exclaimed.

Ravel nodded. "Understood." She turned to the others. "Yubelluna, Siris, Karlamine, and Isabella, you're with me and Yua. Tara, take Mira down to the students to help protect them. Everyone else, listen to Sona and go where she tells you to go."

Raynare steps forward. "I want to join the hunting team," she said.

Ravel looked her over. Axton had told her how Raynare was a spy for Azazel and to not let her near his office unsupervised. But he also said he wasn't too concerned about her, and it looked like he had provided her an enchanted combat outfit, which implied a certain degree of trust.

"Very well, that's fine with me," Ravel nodded. She saw the representatives from the Church talk to Sona before they rushed into the battlefield. She turned to Mittelt. "And you?"

"I want to protect the students, and I have something from Axton for Asia," Mittelt said, holding up what looked like a folded-up set of robes.

"Do you have any problems with that, Sona?" Ravel asked. Defending the students was important, but it would be one less fighter, and Raynare wasn't the only spy.

Sona briefly looked over Mittelt, no doubt noticing the enchanted uniform, before shaking her head. "Some of the Fallen are trying to get to them to use the students as hostages, more hands defending it would be appreciated."

A mirror suddenly appeared behind Sona as a wave of light crashes into it, being absorbed. Tsubaki, who was nearby, had her hand outstretched towards it. So that was her Sacred Gear, Mirror Alice. The light was absorbed by the mirror and then shot back out at high speeds towards the Fallen that had launched the attack.

"That's enough talking!" Sona barked. "Ravel, take your group and go!"

Ravel once again took Yua's soft furry paw in her hand and linked up with the others who were going with her. "Alright, girls be ready for battle. Yua? Let's go."

Yua nodded and with a step, they appeared in the middle of a group of exorcists. Ravel pushed on that switch in the back of her mind and blue fire exploded around her as she shifted into her Phenex form. The exorcists scrambled, panicking, but the others were already on the offensive. They'd take down the barrier, and then hold out for as long as they could. She just hoped Axton was okay.

---

Asia was feeling rattled. She had faced stressful days of healing when she was with the church. Whenever a group of exorcists came back from a mission badly wounded, that time a very contagious sickness had spread through the town, early days when she wasn't very good with her Sacred Gear and she had struggled to heal the people she wanted to help. All of those had been stressful, but they paled in comparison to today.

Axton was missing, the group that had tried to steal her Sacred Gear was attacking, and she was constantly healing her injured classmates, several of which she knew by name and had met while doing work for the Student Council. She'd had to ignore their questions of what was going on. She had no idea what was going to happen after this. Could Devils hide something this big? Should they? She didn't know, but she didn't worry about it. She focused entirely on healing everyone. Some of the students had been in bad shape, hit by rubble and debris as the fighting had kicked off. Aika had managed to block many of the light spears, but by no means did she block all of them. A few had been seconds away from dying before she healed them, and that scared her a lot.

She didn't have a very good idea of what was happening. Sona had ordered her to the basement along with the students to heal them. Momo had come with, but she was focused on maintaining the barrier to the door, where the Fallen were trying to get in. She had no idea what was happening outside beyond that, she just knew that Axton was missing, and that scared her more than anything else.

Tara suddenly appeared with two other people, Mira and Mittelt. A few students screamed and scrambled back at the sight of the large mossy spider, causing Tara to shrink down a little, but Asia reached out and pet her on the head. She liked spiders, especially cute ones like Tara. That seemed to calm the students down a little, so Asia turned her attention to the others. "What's happening?" she asked.

"Fallen are still attacking, no word from Axton," Mittelt explained. "A group attacked the mansion as well, but the Head Maid and Butler took care of them."

Asia nodded. She knew firsthand how skilled Wilhelm was, he was the one that was training her swordsmanship, and Axton had once told her that he wasn't sure he could even take Sakuya on in a fight, so she was very strong.

"We're here to help defend the students," Mittelt continued. "Also, I have something for you, from Axton." Mittelt handed her a bundle of cloth, and Asia unfolded it to reveal a set of heavy robes. They weren't exactly like her normal set, but they were pretty similar. She immediately understood that it was enchanted. He had asked her if she wanted enchanted equipment once, during the training camp with Rias, but she had declined. He must have made her some anyway, just to keep her safe.

She put it on over her school uniform. It was a little hot with that many layers, but she ignored it. "Thank you Mittelt," she said. She wasn't entirely sure how she felt about the Fallen Angel. On one hand, she was one of the four that tried to kill Axton and kidnap her. But Axton had told her how they had been tricked by Kokabiel, and that Raynare and Mittelt regretted their actions.

The end result was a slightly awkward tension whenever she interacted with either of them, but she had forgiven them for what they tried to do.

Asia shook her head. This wasn't the time to figure out her feelings. While the critically wounded students had been taken care of, there were still plenty more with lesser injuries left to heal. She had been starting to feel a little tired, but now that she was wearing the robe Axton made for her, she could feel her energy replenishing.

As she was healing another student, there was a bang above her. She looked up in time to barely dodge the rubble that fell, pushing the student she was healing out of the way as well. Before the dust even settled, a figure dropped down from the newly made hole. They landed on top of the debris, a pair of black wings on their back, a sword of holy light in their hands, and a cold expression on their face.

Time slowed to a crawl for Asia as she realized what was happening. A Fallen had broken in and everyone else was too far away to stop him from attacking or abducting one of the students. But she was close enough to do that.

Without hesitation, she reached inside of her and pulled out Axton's other gift to her. It appeared in her hands, larger and heavier than she was used to, but not so much that she couldn't use it properly.

As the Fallen swung their sword at the closest student, it was knocked aside by Excalibur Ruler. An expression of shock grew on the Fallen's face at the sight of Asia wielding such a powerful sword, one that only grew bigger as Asia repositioned herself and stabbed the sword straight through the Fallen's chest.

The Fallen looked down at the sword sticking out of them in disbelief before coughing up blood and slumping over. Asia gulped and pulled the sword out of the now corpse, noting that no blood stained the blade.

"Forgive me, Father, for this life I have taken," Asia prayed, even as her hands shook. "Know that I did it to protect innocents, and please have mercy on his soul."

""Asia!"" she heard two voices call out. She looked up to see Momo and Mittelt rushing at her. Mittelt's fingers were covered in pink light that formed claws, and Momo was moving and reshaping her barrier. She saw it disappear from the entrance only to reappear around the perimeter of the walls, fully boxing them in.

"I'm- I'm fine," she reassured them. "He didn't get anyone."

Momo grabbed onto her and pulled her into a hug. "Are you sure you're okay? I mean, you just…"

Asia understood what was left unsaid. She smiled and returned the hug. "I'm okay, I think," she explained. "I knew when I started learning how to use a sword that this is what it would lead to. I talked with Axton about it a lot, and I've decided it's worth it to protect innocent people and the people I care about."

Momo squeezed her tighter. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have let him get in in the first place."

Asia shook her head. "It's fine, no one was hurt."

Momo sighed but didn't argue further. She released Asia and stepped back. "Is that what I think it is? One of the Excalibur fragments?"

Asia nodded, holding up the blade. "Excalibur Ruler. Axton said he found it in a dragon's hoard, but he couldn't use it, so he gave it to me. He put an enchantment on it so I could store it. He said that was the only enchantment it would allow, all of the other ones were rejected." She smiled. "He seemed a little annoyed actually, like a kid who wanted a lot of candy who was only allowed one piece."

Momo sighed. "The most powerful Excalibur piece that's been lost for ages and he just casually finds it in a cave," she said. "He sure is something else."

A loud noise draws their attention to the entrance, where Fallen are pushing against the barrier, attacking it with light weapons in an attempt to get in. The students flinch back in fear, moving to the opposite side of the barrier.

"He'll be back soon, right?" Asia asked nervously.

"He will," Momo answered with conviction. "He won't let anything happen to us. We just need to hold out until then."

Asia nodded, reassured. She was right, Axton would protect them, even more so than he was already doing with the equipment and training he had given them. Those would be enough to protect them until he arrived here himself. And she had the utmost faith that he would.

---

Kiba's skills and speed were pushed to the absolute limit as he fought against his enemy. He wasn't sure what his enemy was though. It was shaped like a man, but its skin was entirely gray and smooth. It wore no armor or clothing, but it was also sexless, and its face was completely blank.

It wielded a simple-looking short sword, but Kiba recognized its appearance and its cross-shaped proportions. Not to mention the immense holy power radiating from it, threatening to overpower him just by standing in its presence. It was Excalibur Blessing, one of the Excaliburs stolen from the Church.

Whatever it was, it was fast and strong. Kiba's only edge over it was his skill, and only because of the training he'd done with Axton's butler, Wilhelm. Without that training, he would have been overwhelmed. He was barely keeping himself from being cut to ribbons as it was.

"You may as well give up now, you'll never defeat my creation," a voice from nowhere said, causing Kiba to grit his teeth. That was the other source of his problems. Watching their fight was a voice he recognized, the one he heard in his nightmares. Valper Galilei, the head researcher responsible for the project that led to the death of his friends.

He was skulking nearby, hidden by the power of Excalibur Vanishing. He wasn't a fighter, and he was too cowardly to even attempt to strike at Kiba while invisible, but he had no problem taunting him, causing Kiba's rage to grow and his focus to slip.

"I remember you, you know? The nuisance that got away," he said as Kiba used his sword to deflect yet another blow. He had one in each hand. In his left, a longsword made of gray metal that was growing darker as time passed, and in his right a short sword made of bronze. He used the left one to block, and the right one to attack when there was an opening, scoring glancing blows.

"Not that it mattered much," Valper continued. "You were hurt enough to die within hours anyway, and even when I discovered that you had reincarnated as a Devil I wasn't worried. Who cares about some Devil? Even your Sacred Gear is mediocre."

Kiba's grip tightened on his swords, but he didn't let himself get distracted. It was hard, so hard, to focus, to ignore the anger building inside of him. But he couldn't react, couldn't let his plan go to waste. He was close to finishing this, and Valper didn't even suspect a thing.

"Of course, the Church found out the details of my experiments not long after," he said. "They got very upset, the fools. I handed them the solution to their problem, and they called me a monster." Kiba heard a sigh. "Thankfully I had enough friends in high enough places that all they did was exile me, and Kokabiel was very interested in my research."

Finally, Kiba spotted what he was waiting for. The thing he was fighting stuttered, struggling to swing its sword. Valper was still talking, so he knew approximately where he was. This was it. He dropped the bronze sword in his hand, Medusa's Wrath. Its job was done.

Kiba immediately created another sword, a small dagger made of black metal, and he stabbed it into the ground before breaking the blade. Dark Descend only had one purpose as a weapon, and that was as a smokescreen. A cloud of darkness burst from the broken blade, covering a space about twenty feet in radius, enough to cover all three of them.

He quickly made another sword, Chain Snake. He swung it in the direction he last heard Valper at, aiming for his feet. He felt the blade extend, the segments coming apart as the sword transformed into more of a whip, with metal slivers held together by chains. He let the weapon go as soon as he felt it wrap around something, trusting that he managed to snare Valper before he could escape.

He then shifted the sword in his left hand, Light Eater, and held it with both hands as he rushed the automaton. Not even two seconds had passed since he had spread the darkness, and it hadn't moved much. Kiba's blade punctured its chest and brought it down to the ground.

Kiba stood up, leaving the blade pinning it into the ground, and summoned Wind Weaver to create a gust of wind that swept away the dark cloud.

In just five seconds, everything had changed. Valper's creation was pinned to the ground, weakly thrashing. Medusa's Wrath caused the area around the cuts it made to slowly petrify. Kiba wasn't able to deal much damage to it directly, so he settled for glancing blows that would stack up to slow the monster down and create the opening he needed. Valper himself was struggling with the serrated chain wrapped around his legs, hands bleeding as he tried to unbind himself. Transparency lay fallen a few feet away from him.

"H-how?" Valper gasped as Kiba approached him.

"My 'mediocre' Sacred Gear," Kiba replied coldly, creating another blade in his hands. This one was just named Suffering. It was a short sword made of rusted iron and its edges were chipped. In some ways, it was his most impressive sword yet because it had a conceptual power. At least, that was how Axton had described it. The sword just hurt more than it should. It didn't deliver poisons or have any magical mechanisms that would explain the increase in pain, it just did it.

He'd been unable to apply something similar to anything else so far, and this one was only because of his rage and desire for revenge. He had designed it specifically to use on Valper after all.

"No no no!" Valper pleaded as Kiba approached him. "Please spare me! What do you want? I can get it for you!"

"Vengeance for my friends, that's all I want," Kiba said, his voice surprisingly calm. He stood over Valper now, who had given up on freeing himself and instead had raised his bloody hands in surrender. "Any last words?"

Valper looked at Kiba's face, and he must have recognized that there was nothing he could say that would change his mind. "I regret nothing," he spat. "My research will outlive me, continuing my legacy. They may call me a monster, but they'll use what I've found. I'll live forever."

Kiba's rage flared, and he stabbed down, shoving Suffering deep into Valper's guts. "No, you won't, you piece of shit." He knew it was too late to destroy Valper's research, that too many people knew about it, but he also knew the conclusions he reached. The Church was corrupt, but even they weren't messed up enough to drain Holy power from innocents, killing them in the process. Once Kokabiel was taken care of, never again would someone suffer as he and his friends had.

Valper screamed in pain clutching at his stomach, but that only made his wounds worse. Kiba watched, cold anger burning inside of him as Valper slowly bled to death, screaming in pain the entire time.

Eventually, his body went limp, and Kiba turned away. He picked up the two Excalibur fragments, ignoring the way they burned as his palm, and strapped them to his back. It wouldn't do to leave them behind, though he had no intention of trying to use them either. Axton would want them, he was sure.

He unfurled his wings and took to the skies. His allies could use the support now that his job was done.

---

Siris rested on her sword, sweat streaming down her face. They had just taken out the third group of exorcists maintaining the barrier. According to Yua, there were 10 more, for a total of thirteen, but she was already starting to feel tired. Each fight was difficult, even with the element of surprise on their side.

Not to mention the mental toll. Siris knew why Ravel had selected the group she had. They were killing humans after all, and not every one of her Peerage members was going to be able to handle that. Siris was torn. It didn't feel good. She was used to hurting people in Rating Games, and Axton's training had gotten her used to killing monsters. But killing people? Her fists clench around the hilt of her sword.

She didn't like doing it. She felt sick every time she struck down one of the exorcists. But she didn't let it slow her down, and she didn't stop. This was just how it was. They were on opposite sides of this fight, and they wanted to kill them. Either way, someone was going to die, and she didn't want it to be anyone she cared about.

She wished she could go back to her new life as a secretary though. Working for Ravel was simple, paperwork made sense to her. And seeing her King flirt with Axton and fantasizing about office-themed erotic scenarios kept her happy and satisfied. But she knew she couldn't have one without the other.

She looked over the others. Isabella and Karlamine seemed to be in a similar state to her. Yubelluna's expression was unreadable though, but if Siris had to guess, she wasn't bothered much by what they were doing. Yubelluna had always been comfortable with violence. Raynare looked bored. It was strange, fighting Fallen forces alongside a Fallen, but it made sense. Within every group there were divisions. She had contributed a lot to the fighting as well.

Though so far the two best fighters have been Yua and Ravel. Ravel, with her new transformation, served as their shield. She zoomed around the battlefield, blocking dangerous holy attacks with her wings, to no apparent harm, and responding with harsh blasts of orange flame. She had also handed out potions to them, increasing their strength. They wouldn't last forever though.

Yua was deadly with her wands. She could perform a dozen different magical effects with a flick of her wrist. Beams of sunlight and fire, walls of ice, turning the ground into spiked attacks or swampy terrain. She was the main reason the fights had gone in their favor; most of their enemies had been thrown off by Yua's actions. None of the exorcists could fly after all, and turning the ground into a swamp as they attacked from the air was a very effective strategy.

She can hear the conversation between her fellow Peerage Members still within the barrier thanks to the enchanted necklace around her neck. It seemed as if the fight in there was rough, but they were still holding on.

Ravel looked over all of them, blue wings of fire spread behind her, before nodding. "Alright girls, that's enough resting. Gather around, it's time for the next group."

Siris straightened her back and picked up her sword. None of them complained as they gathered around Yua, ready for a teleport. They had a job to do, one they had prepared for. Now, they just needed to do it.

---

From the very start of the fight, Atsuko had been locked in battle with Kokabiel himself. She had to, she was the only one here that could keep up with him. More than that, at her maximum sustainable Boosts, she was actually stronger and faster than him. Though even then, she wasn't able to beat him.

There were two reasons for that. First was his skill. It didn't matter that she was faster and stronger than him, he could predict her every move, read every single one of her attacks, and deflect or dodge it with ease, usually putting him into a position to strike back at her.

The second reason was the black rapier he held. Excalibur Nightmare, capable of producing realistic illusions, something that Kokabiel was making good use of. Not only were there usually multiple illusions of himself all attacking her, but every now and then he'd show an illusion of one of her allies dying in horrible ways.

The first time that happened, when she saw Rias impaled by light spears from every direction, it had caught her off guard and Kokabiel had taken the chance to bury a sword of holy light in her stomach. That had hurt unlike anything she had ever felt before, but she survived it, barely, by using one of the health potions strapped to her waist. Unfortunately, Kokabiel had destroyed the rest of them after that, and she'd been forced to fight defensively since then.

She started ignoring the illusions of her friends dying. They hurt to watch, and there was that constant fear that maybe that one wasn't an illusion, maybe that was real. But she forced herself to treat them all as fake. She needed to keep Kokabiel busy, and needed to defeat him. No one else could.

"I'm impressed!" Kokabiel shouted as they fought. They were on the ground now, no longer fighting mid-air. Atsuko was grateful, she still wasn't very good at flying. "It seems the Boosted Gear has found itself a worthy host!"

"I'll show you worthy as I kick your ass!" Atsuko shouted back, swinging at him. He casually deflected the swing of her heavy ax.

"Most hosts would have activated Juggernaut Drive by now," he continued, ignoring her rebuttal. "Maybe if you did that, you'd stand a chance."

Atsuko frowned in confusion. Juggernaut Drive?

"A special move, it would temporarily release the seal on me, allowing me to express my full power," Ddraig explained. "But it would kill you, draining you of your life force in minutes, and once done, it would be near impossible for you to recover your senses. We would berserk until we die."

Atsuko grimaced. Not a good option then.

"No, it is not," he agreed. "Though it is how the majority of my hosts die. They are pushed to their physical or emotional limits, and they go out in a blaze of fury."

She couldn't afford to do something like that though, not when there's still hope, not when Axton still hasn't made it back. "I don't need a desperate move like that to deal with a punk like you!" Atsuko replied.

Kokabiel laughed. "Is that so? Then hurry and strike me down!" A dozen of him appeared around her, all of them laughing. She grit her teeth in frustration, but suddenly a massive spray of red and black orbs tore their way through the illusions, dispelling them. She looked back to see Rias and Akeno approaching them, followed by Sona and Tsubaki.

Now that she looked around, there were a lot less Fallen around. Atsuko grinned. While she had kept Kokabiel busy, her allies had thinned out the enemies and were coming to back her up. Though Kokabiel didn't look worried at all. If anything he looked even more smug.

"What is the meaning of this Kokabiel!" Rias shouted as she approached. Behind her came the three members of the Church, including Irina. It was still weird to think of her childhood friend, her fellow tomboy, had grown up to be a busty(no, she wasn't jealous) beauty that wielded a powerful holy sword for the Church.

Kokabiel smiled. "The meaning? It's simple. To end this farce we call peace. Our fight stopped, and never resumed. The higher-ups decided we could leave the job half done because continuing would be too much of a risk." He sneered at that. "Cowards, the lot of them. So it's up to me to light that spark to rekindle the flames of war, so we can finish the job and wipe you Devils out for good."

"And how does this do that?" Griselda asked. "Attacking normal humans? Not to mention that your forces are slowly being whittled down."

Kokabiel's grin widened. "My forces? No, you're quite wrong. Many of the Fallen that have died today are loyal Grigori, or at least they are as far as anyone else is aware. Azazel found many of the ones loyal to me, but not all of them. All I have to do is kill everyone here, spin a story about how those damnable Devils lured good Grigori Fallen here, along with important members of the Church, and betrayed them."

"That'll never work!" Irina shouted. "Even if people fall for your lies, God won't! He'll reveal the truth!"

But Kokabiel just started chuckling, and it quickly turned into full-blown villainous laughter. "God? God will reveal the truth?" He laughed more. "I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but dearest Father is dead, he died at the end of the last war, killed by the Devils."

Silence fell as shock ran through them at the revelation. God was dead? That was definitely surprising to her. But more importantly…

"You're lying!" Irina shouted. "There's no way that could be true!"

Kokabiel smirked. "Am I? Why don't you ask your mentor?"

Everyone looked to Griselda, who was grimacing. "S-sister Griselda?" Irina asked, her voice wavering.

Griselda looked down, sorrow on her face. "I'm sorry Irina. I was sworn to secrecy, no one can know."

Atsuko's heart broke as she saw her childhood friend's spirit break. "No…." she said, barely audible. "No no no no no no no," she kept repeating. Atsuko spotted Xenovia out of the corner of her eye, and the blue-haired girl didn't seem to be doing much better, her eyes vacant.

Kokabiel laughed. "So now you see, nothing is stopping me from enacting my plan."

All of Atsuko's sorrow turned to rage as she turned back to face the Fallen traitor. "You're wrong!" she shouted. "You aren't strong enough to kill us on your own, and Axton will be back any minute now, he'll kick your ass."

"Oh, I'm not worried about him," Kokabiel replied. "I sent Freed after him, and your precious potion maker is as good as dead."

Atsuko frowned. It was Freed that had taken Axton away? Wasn't he that punk exorcist Axton sent running back when he picked up Asia from the airport?

"Freed?" Sona said, confused. "Axton beat him before, and most of the Excaliburs have been accounted for except Rapidly. Even with that, there's no way he could beat Axton."

"The old Freed maybe," Kokabiel admitted. "But something happened to him, something changed him. The details of the how are a mystery to me, though it had Valper in quite the tizzy. But I do know that Freed has changed into an unstoppable killing machine. He cannot be killed, and he will not stop hunting until his prey is dead. Whatever strange abilities that man has will not save him."

Axton, dead? No, she refused to believe it. Axton has always been an untouchable figure, someone so much stronger than her. Even when she boosted to her limits, even those brief moments she seemed to grow stronger than him, she wasn't ever able to beat him. He'd always pull out some trick, or she'd fall into some trap he set up, and he'd just smile at her and tell her she did a good job.

"You're wrong," she said. "You have no idea what he's capable of."

Kokabiel paused. "I suppose it's true I've underestimated him before. Then perhaps I better finish you off quickly. I was enjoying myself, but the time for playing around is over." Kokabiel raised his empty hand, and suddenly the sky around them was filled with Light. Thousands of spears of Holy Light, all aimed directly at them. Atsuko knew they were real too, knew that they weren't illusions. She could feel their Holy power washing over her.

They completely surrounded all of them. Atsuko, Rias, Akeno, Sona, Tsubaki, Griselda, Irina, and Xenovia. Atsuko knew that if she boosted as high as she was, she could probably tank the attack. Maybe. But the others?

Ice flooded her veins. They wouldn't survive, not an attack like this. She saw them, moving in slow motion as her mind raced, start to take defensive measures, but it wouldn't be enough. The only way they could make it through the attack was if she Gifted them her boosts to increase their defense. But that would leave her defenseless, and she could only do it for one of them.

No, that was unacceptable! There had to be another way! But Kokabiel lowered his hand, a sneer on his face, and the light spears all launched at them. All she could do was watch, she couldn't think of any way to save them all. As she watched those deadly spears approach, something inside of her broke.

And through the crack that left, power surged outward.

She heard her Sacred Gear announce something, but she didn't catch it. Her body acted on instinct as the answer was granted to her. She focused on their rings; she knew Axton had enchanted them to resist Holy damage somehow. She mentally reached out to the closest one, and Gifted 10 Boosts to it.

There were no thoughts behind her actions, only instinct, and there was no surprise as she instantly Boosted back up to 10 and Gifted that boost to the next ring. She did that for each of them in a span of a second, though with the members of the Church she had to settle for Boosting their defenses. Then, with not even a millisecond to spare, she Gifted her boosts to herself, increasing her own defense.

The world exploded in pain and Light, and she grit her teeth, desperately hoping her attempts had been enough.

The barrage didn't last too long. Kokabiel had concentrated his attack instead of sending them in waves. So when it ended, she looked around and was relieved to see everyone still alive. They were on the ground, hurt, but they were all breathing and moving.

She collapsed, falling to one knee, and she desperately sucked in air. She felt more tired than she ever had before, even more than Axton's first day of training. She coughed and realized the sound of it was off, and finally, she looked at herself.

Her entire body was covered in red armor reminiscent of her Boosted Gear. Was this another feature of her Sacred Gear?

She turned to face Kokabiel and saw his expression of shock and surprise. "You-" he started to say, but he cut himself off and his face twisted into anger. "I admit, I didn't expect you to unlock your Balance Breaker at that moment, but perhaps that was my miscalculation."

Balance Breaker? So this wasn't Juggernaut Drive then?

"No, this is a step before that," Ddraig said inside her head. "A far less extreme option, and a powerful tool. The Scale Mail armor you now wear will increase your defense, strength, and mobility, and it removes the time limit for Boosts, allowing you to Boost to any level immediately."

Ah. So that's how she was able to save everyone.

"Yes. Your desperation brought out this power. I've never seen a feat like it. Gifting so many Boosts is such a short amount of time, immediately after unlocking your Balance Breaker?" She heard him huff. "Perhaps you aren't such a bad partner after all. Though it seems like the task drained your stamina considerably."

That was true. Her legs shook, and she was surprised she hadn't collapsed yet. She was getting better, slowly, but if Kokabiel were to do the same attack again, she didn't think she could pull a repeat right now.

"Atsuko!" she heard Rias call, and she looked over at her King. Her hand was outstretched and a metal crate was flying towards her. "Close your eyes!"

She didn't hesitate, not even taking the time to think, she just shut her eyes tight. She felt the box impact her chest as she caught it, and at the same time, there was an incredibly bright flash of light that she could still see through her eyelids.

Atsuko opened her eyes to see Kokabiel reeling. Some of her friends had been caught by it as well it seems, but it had done what it needed to and bought her time. Rias had explained earlier in the fight what his crate was, so she didn't hesitate to open it up and pull out a Stamina potion, able to recognize the familiar green coloration from her time training with Axton.

Before Kokabiel recovered his sight, she downed the potion and closed the box again. It disappeared as energy flooded through her and she stood up, ax raised and anger coursing through her. "It's time for round two, and you're not the only one done playing around."

Kokabiel stumbled back as Atsuko rushed him. She didn't know where Axton was, and she didn't know when he'd get back. But either she'd hold out long enough for him to arrive, or she'd take care of Kokabiel herself.

---

The fact that Void Form constantly drains my Soul isn't really that big of a deal when I'm in a prolonged fight like this, because each blow that I land might not do any permanent damage to Freed, but it restores some of my Soul. I get more for attacking with my knife Ouroboros, so I focus on using that rather than my spells.

I've thought of a dozen ways to end this fight already, but I'm hesitant to do any of them, as killing him doesn't solve the issue of the time-traveling we are doing. We've jumped a dozen more times, moving all over the world and throughout history. Seeing the pyramids as they were being built was pretty cool.

But none of the times we had jumped to had even been close to modern times. The World War 2 submarine was the closest, and since then we haven't even been to the twentieth century at all. So our fight was a stalemate. Freed couldn't deal enough damage fast enough to kill me, not with me actively defending myself at least, and I couldn't afford to kill him. So we just rampaged through time, scarring and destroying things in our wake.

But his inability to kill me formed the cornerstone of my plan. I just had to hope Freed was still cognizant enough to fall for it.

I let Excalibur Rapidly puncture my chest and use the chance to grab Freed's wrist, pulling him closer to me. "Don't you see Freed?" I say, my voice distorted by Void. "You cannot kill me. If you had attacked me in my home, where I keep my Heart safe, then you would have had a chance. But here, separated by time and space from it? I am immortal."

I'm one hundred percent bluffing. I haven't turned myself into a lich, there isn't phylactery for him to target. But I think I can make him think I have something like that set up. Hell, I probably could set something like that up if I focus more on soul manipulation.

But my plan banks on Freed being cognizant enough to understand what I'm saying and connect it to my rapid healing, but not so much that he doesn't fall for the obvious ploy.

As he yanks the sword out of me, it's hard to tell if it worked, but as another portal opens up, one that he pushes me through, I let myself have a sliver of hope.

The scene we arrive at isn't what I expected though. Void Detect gives me a clear picture of what's happening, and it fills me with dread. I don't hesitate to immediately use Kronika's Gem to pause time completely.

The world freezes around me, giving me a moment to think. Freed is thinking more clearly than I thought because I recognize where we arrived. It's the Kuoh airport, and Freed had shoved me through the portal and into a group of familiar stray exorcists.

I look around, time frozen, and see myself, the version of me from over two months ago, draining an exorcist. Asia is standing to the side, a frightened look on her face. In the distance is the past version of Freed, hidden under the effects of Excalibur Vanishing, running away.

We've arrived at the point in time where I picked up Asia from the airport at Azazel's request, where I first fought against Freed. It seemed appropriate that our fight would wind up here.

But I couldn't let it end here. The current Freed, or maybe I should call him Avenger for clarity? Avenger could kill my past self, no problem. Of course, the same was true for me. I could kill the younger Freed right now. With time stop it wouldn't even be difficult.

But I hesitate. I like to consider myself pretty good with time travel, but the problem is that I don't know the rules we are operating under. How would the universe resolve the paradox? Would the timeline change to one where Avenger never became a thing? Or would it branch? Or would something ridiculous occur to prevent me from doing it at all? Or maybe it would just implode?

I don't know, and I can't risk it. Right now, things are stable, no paradox has occurred. I remember this moment, where I felt space tear and two figures come out of that tear, only for them to speed back into it, and I remember the blue fire that was left behind.

So right now, the safest move is to make sure I close the loop, to make things follow what they did before.

While time is still paused, I pull a scroll out of my inventory. I have a bunch of them, but I haven't used them because they're one-use spells. But this is a good time to do so, to make sure Freed doesn't attempt to do what I've determined is a bad idea.

Scroll of Compelled Duel
Coerces a single target into focusing exclusively on you. Effect ends if you get too far away from them or attack anyone that isn't them. Can be resisted.

I use it on Avenger, and I'm relieved to feel that it settled onto him successfully. I wasn't too worried, there's no way someone that is berserking like Freed could resist a mental compulsion like that, but the doubt was there. Then, right as time resumes, I activate [Void Blood], increasing my stats to ridiculous levels, and shove Freed back through the still open portal before he could close it.

"You got close there Freed, but not close enough," I taunt him. "No, on that day I beat you because you were weak. I hadn't removed my Heart yet. I did that very recently."

He roars at me, and I allow his slash to cut through me. My Void body repairs the cut immediately, and my HP starts restoring at a rapid pace. "It's useless you idiot, just admit that you lost."

He screams, the discordant tones of it washing over the piece of farmland we were fighting in. Another portal opens, and he tries to enter it alone, leaving me behind. But with Void pumping through my veins, I'm so far above him that it's child's play to slip in before him. And when I arrive, a grin breaks out on my face.

Freed comes out of the portal only to find Ouroboros lodged in his chest. We've arrived back home, or close enough, and it's time to take off the kiddy gloves. I turn off [Void Blood] and activate [Void Drain], channeling it through Ouroboros, and targeting Freed's Soul.

He thrashes, screaming out, but I hold him down. I can feel his soul entering my blade and traveling to my own, and to my surprise, I feel my own Soul swell in size. I'm literally consuming his soul, using it to grow my own. I grin. I should have leveled [Void Drain] weeks ago.

It takes some time, nearly twenty seconds, but soon his Soul runs dry, and he stops moving. He's still alive, I think, but there are no signs of actual life.

Lightbearer Class has reached level 100
New Trait Added
[Paracausal] - Empowered by the Light, you have the ability to fight against normal causality and forge your own destiny.

Lightbearer Class maxed out, extra XP held

That would have been pretty helpful earlier. I could have ignored causality and risked the timeline shenanigans. Well, no. Without experimenting with it, it still would have been too much of a risk. But as an option, it would have been nice.

I feel Wilhelm approach me. Freed brought us to the front entrance hall of my home, falling for my bait entirely. "Report," I say to him, not wanting to waste any time. I can see fighting happening at Kuoh Academy using [Void Sight], and Yua and Tara are filling me in as well, babbling in panic and relief.

"Twenty minutes ago a barrier was erected around the school," Wilhelm started. "Presumably, that was right after your incapacitation.

I nod. "Fucker traveled through time, had to trick him to come back so I wouldn't be stranded in the past." I summon Solar-Light in my hands and use it to start reducing Freed's body to ashes. I can't store it in my inventory, it's still alive, but I can make sure it's dead. I'm not taking any chances, not again.

"Shortly after that a group of Fallen attacked here, but Miss Izayoi and I took care of them. I have taken the liberty of moving the corpses to your personal warehouse."

I'm not sure what I'm gonna do with a bunch of Fallen corpses, but I appreciate the thought. I nod, gesturing for him to continue as I slowly turn Freed to ash.

"After that, Ravel led a group to reinforce the people at the school. We have maintained contact with your familiars and they have been relaying the situation to us as it develops. It has been difficult for them, but so far everyone is okay."

I nod, Yua had just told me the same thing. I'm glad all my paranoia paid off. I do a quick scan of the house and frown. "Tatsumaki stayed behind?" I ask. I didn't really expect her to fight much, she had shown that she wasn't interested, but I was hoping that, in an emergency, I could count on her.

"She said that if things went poorly, she would intervene," Wilhelm explains.

"But only if they go poorly," I reply with a sigh. I guess eighteen months in what is effectively hell leaves deeper scars than I thought. "Sorry Wilhelm, I'm going to have to ask you to arrange to have the floor repaired."

Freed's body had been reduced to ash, but that isn't enough for me. I use [Telekinesis] to collect all of the ash in one spot, and then use [Void Collapse] right on top of it, reducing even the ash to nothing as it is absorbed by the Void. Sure enough, it also ruins the tiled floor below it, cracking it and sucking some of that up as well.

Wilhelm bows. "I believe we are lucky if that is the worst damage done to the house."

I nod, standing up. "I'm going to the school now. I need to put an uppity crow where they belong. In the ground."

I take a step forward and [Void Travel] to a position above the battlefield. The first thing my eyes lock onto is Atsuko, fighting Kokabiel fully armored. That means she was pushed far enough to unlock her Balance Breaker. My fists clench and the Void-stuff that makes up my body stirs, reflecting my emotions.

The battle below me comes to a halt as everyone notices me. My allies look at me in relief, their shoulders relaxing, while the Fallen tense and look up at me in fear. Though Kokabiel's only expression is one of anger.

"Kokabiel," I say, using [Sound Domain] to make it so everyone can hear me without me having to yell. "Nobody I care about has died from this little stunt of yours, so I'll give you a single chance. Surrender, and you might live." I want to kill him, but I need to give him the chance to maintain appearances.

Thankfully, he's just as I expected. He sneers at me, flying directly up to be at the same height as me. "Surrender?" Kokabiel sneers. "I don't know how you escaped Freed, but if you think I'll surrender-"

That's enough for me. I [Void Travel] behind him and my knife plunges into his back, between his wings and straight into his heart. That alone isn't enough to satisfy me though, so like I did with Freed, I use [Void Drain] to drain his Soul, but this time I empower it with my own Soul, increasing its speed.

In less than two seconds, Kokabiel dies, in body and in soul, and I stash his corpse into my inventory. I turn my gaze to the rest of the Fallen, and I feel their fear spike. I just assassinated their leader, a ten-winged angel, apparently without effort at all.

"Well?" I ask them, voice calm but unable to hide the cold rage I feel. "Do you all agree with your leader? Surrender, or be slaughtered."

They all instantly throw themselves to the ground, Light weaponry disappearing as they lose the will to fight. Not a single one remains standing, excepting the exorcists outside of the barrier that Yua and Ravel are still fighting. I'll have to take care of that soon, but there's something even more pressing.

"Sona, can you start restraining them?" I ask her, knowing that she'd do it right. She nods and starts organizing her Peerage to perform the task. I immediately [Void Travel] to Kiba, where he and Koneko are standing side by side, surrounded by dead and surrendered Fallen.

"Kiba, where is Valper?" I need to talk to him, but can't find him, and if anyone knows where he is in this mess, it's most likely Kiba.

"He's dead," Kiba answered, righteous satisfaction burning in his eyes. "His corpse is over there, a few hundred feet away. Axton, what-"

I didn't stick around to hear the rest of what he was saying, immediately teleporting to Valper's body. Him being dead isn't an issue, and in fact, it might even make this go smoother. I kneel over him and pull another scroll out of my inventory.

Scroll of Zone of Truth
Creates a 15ft radius zone that prevents lies from being told within it. Zone lasts for ten minutes.

A visible well of light springs to life around me and the corpse, and I feel the compulsion try to settle onto my mind, only to fail. Next, I direct my attention to Valper and use [Speak with Dead] for the first time ever.

[Speak with Dead] - Level 100
Imbue a corpse with the ability to speak. The corpse must be less than 100 days old. They are not compelled to tell the truth or listen to you.

A ghostly copy of Valper's face appears layered over his body's actual face, but this one has its eyes open and is looking around. I feel the compulsion of the Zone of Truth settle into him though, which is relieving. I'm pretty sure this combination doesn't work according to the rules of Dungeons and Dragons, the origin of both of these spells, but their descriptions aren't quite the same, so it works here. Good, I would have been annoyed if I had wasted something as valuable as a Scroll of Zone of Truth.

"The Helminth, where is it?" I ask him. It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened to Freed. The Helminth virus, the one I was worried about when I discovered it missing on the Orbiter I salvaged, had somehow made its way to Freed and turned him into a Warframe.

I know how it happened, but that's a problem to deal with later.

"I don't know what you're talking about," the ghostly face of Valper says in a monotonous voice.

I sigh. No, he wouldn't. "The virus or creature or whatever that turned Freed into that thing," I clarify. "Where is it?"

"Gone, unfortunately," Valper explains. "It suddenly appeared one night, latching on to Freed. I watched as it changed him, turned him into something different. It took days and Freed screamed in pain the entire time. I was so excited to study it when it was done, but it disintegrated into golden dust as soon as the process was finished."

Thank the gods for small mercies. At least he cleaned up his own mess before it became an issue. Though it only makes me more certain who the culprit is.

Kiba and Koneko arrive, but they stop outside the dome of light, looking in at me with expressions of confusion on their face. I ignore them for now, and I look over at the other corpse nearby, with one of Kiba's swords stuck, through its chest. Its skin was smooth and gray, almost like a Warframe, but...less. It was like a cheap toy compared to a true Warframe.

"That thing then, the one that Kiba fought, how did you make it?" I ask.

"I collected so much data during the process," Valper's ghost answers. "More than I could understand in a thousand lifetimes. It was far beyond me. But I was able to just barely comprehend a small piece of it, and apply it to my previous research, to make the ultimate Holy warrior. What the boy fought was merely a prototype, but it came out splendidly."

I'll have to work with Azazel to make sure that's destroyed and no one looks at it. I'm not going to let that kind of dangerous tech get loose in this world. I look back at Kiba, who has a strange expression on his face. He has two Excalibur fragments strapped to his back, presumably from his fight here. Did he achieve Balance Breaker as well? No, I don't think he did, I think his emotions would be different if he had. I wonder if I can still make that happen.

"Your research," I say, addressing Valper. "Your original research. Your findings were that you could remove the Holy energy from one person and give it to another, artificially strengthening them so they could wield a holy sword, correct?"

"An oversimplification, but yes."

"What did you do with the holy energy extracted from your original test subjects?" I ask, causing Kiba to stand up straighter.

The ghost of Valper chuckles. "That is where my true genius shined. Using what I learned from Freed's transformation, I created an empty shell of marvelous strength. I used the crystallized holy power I extracted from those children as its energy source, allowing it to wield Excalibur Blessing."

Ah. That makes sense. It's a pretty natural evolution of his original research to make soldiers who can wield Holy Swords. I stand up, moving over to the corpse, and remove the blade from its chest. It disappears from my hands, Kiba no doubt dismissing it.

I look over at him, and I can tell he's conflicted. His emotions are a mess. He finally got his revenge, which settled him, but now here I am, revealing that there's still one last thing to take care of before he can have complete closure.

I take out my knife and carefully carve a hole in the thing's chest. It doesn't bleed, thankfully, but it's still grisly work. It doesn't take long, Ouroboros's edge is more than capable of slicing through its skin, and I find what I'm looking for. A light yellow crystal, deep in its chest. I carefully extract it so I can [Observe] it.

Crystal of Holy Power
A crystal composed of the Holy power removed from a group of test subjects. Some of their spirit still lingers.

Perfect. I stand up and walk to the edge of the barrier, where Kiba and Koneko still are. The others are busy taking care of the Fallen. I want to talk to them, but right now, Kiba needs this. I hold it out for him, and he takes it with shaky hands.

"There's nothing I can do to help your friends," I tell him. "But you should have this, the last thing they have left to give you."

The crystal glows in Kiba's hands, and his eyes widen. "I- I can hear them," he says in a soft voice of disbelief. "I'm sorry everyone, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have been the only one to make it out." He falls to his knees, tears streaming down his face.

I drop Void Form and kneel down next to him as I put a hand on his shoulder. He clutches the crystal to his chest as it glows brighter and brighter. "You may not think so, but they chose you, and I doubt they regret that," I say to him.

He shakes his head. "No, they don't. I don't understand it, but they don't."

"Then live on, for them," I say. "Don't let their sacrifice be in vain, and carry them with you wherever you go."

He nods, and as he does, the crystal shatters, turning into an orb of light. There's a moment of despair from Kiba, but it turns to wonder as he feels the emotions coming from the light. Love, acceptance, gratitude. The orb then moves into Kiba's chest.

"I will," he promises, though whether he's responding to me, or some unheard message from the spirits of his friends, I'm not sure. Either way, the end result is the same.

+10 Affection with Yuuto Kiba
For giving him closure

Skill rewarded for 100 Affection with Yuuto Kiba

[Advanced Swordsmanship] - Level 1(0%)
Passive skill that determines the quality of your swordsmanship.

That's nice, but not that useful. I'll stick with my knives. Maybe I'll be able to do something with this though? I'll look into it later, there's still a lot I need to do.

"Koneko, can you stay with him, and explain things to Rias?" I ask her.

She nods but then looks into the Zone of Truth. "What about that?"

"The bubble of light will disappear shortly," I say. "Valper…" I shrug. "I got what I needed from him," I say as I drop the [Speak with Dead] spell, the ghostly face disappearing. I step back to the other corpse, the corpse of the thing that Valper made, and store it in my inventory. "This needs to be disposed of. Valper's research cannot be allowed to exist, trust me."

I activate Void Form and then teleport to Yua. It's time to take this barrier down so we can start cleaning this mess up.

Quest completed!

Fury of the Fallen
Objective: Survive Freed's ambush and make it back
Bonus Objective: Have all allies survive Kokabiel's attack
Bonus Objective: Don't allow any civilians to die
Reward: Excalibur Rapidly, 1 Hate Crystal, 10k Hunie
Bonus Reward: 3 Gacha Tokens, 1 Crafting Skill Gems, 20k Hunie
Bonus Reward: [Defender] Perk, 20k Hunie

[Defender] - Causes people who you have saved or defended to view you more favorably than they normally would, even if they don't remember it.

---

Cleanup is a long process. After subduing the Exorcists maintaining the barrier the Satans arrive, save for Falbium. The two older siblings immediately rush to Sona and Rias, making sure they're okay and hearing the story from them.

What followed was the boring minutiae. I was worried that such a large-scale attack directly on the town and the students would be impossible to hide entirely, but it seems that underestimating Ajuka Beelzebub is a bad idea. He was able to alter the memories of the entire town, and apparently any electronic recordings had already been scrubbed clean.

The hypnotized students were sent home with memories of a gas tanker ramming into the school when the driver fell asleep and blowing up a good chunk of it. It was a little cliche, but I couldn't think of a better scenario. The official story was that it hit a section of the school that was empty at the time, and the driver himself was protected by the cab of his truck, so miraculously, no one died. But the school would be shut down for the rest of the week while they did repairs.

Apparently, there was a second layer to their mind-altering magic as well, and that over the next few months, the event would quickly become more insignificant in their minds, until they were barely able to remember that anything happened at all. It was clever and honestly made me a little afraid of Ajuka. Thankfully, he's an ally, so I won't have to worry about staying on his good side. Hopefully.

They then threw up a barrier around the school to make it look more like a tanker exploded, and then a group of Devil contractors started repairing it. Of course, as these things happened, all of us had to explain what had happened multiple times, and I had several talks with Serafall and a few phone calls with others. Kokabiel's actions were going to force us to advance our plans, and I didn't like it.

But that day finally ended, and I was able to spend some time with my girls, comforting them, explaining things to them, and congratulating them on doing such a good job. At this point, there isn't much in this world that actually scares me. The list of people who could take me in a fight and were likely to actually try to do so isn't very long.

But my girls are vulnerable, and that scared me more than anything. Today proved I can't be everywhere at once, and when I'm distracted they can be attacked by people that can definitely hurt and kill them. Granted, today it took actual time travel to separate me from them. But it showed that it was doable.

Not to mention Momo, still pregnant with my unborn child. Cold dread flooded through me when I realized she might've been hurt, and the baby lost. I insisted on several independent health checkups for her before I was satisfied she and the baby were okay. Apparently, it was too early in her pregnancy for her to be at serious risk for that sort of thing, it would take a lot of damage to even affect the process right now.

But after a few days, things finally settled down, to a degree. I still had lots to do, but the stress and fear were behind us. Now I'm treated to a most amusing sight, one I've been looking forward to. The inevitable meeting between Sakuya and Grayfia.

Grayfia finally arrived today, and I chose Sakuya, for obvious reasons, to greet her and bring her into the fold. The two of them are now staring at each other, sizing one another up, and seeing them like this really shows off just how similar they are.

Grayfia is a little taller than Sakuya and has a significantly larger bust compared to Sakuya's modest one, but otherwise, it's like a mirrored reflection. Even their outfits are nearly identical. There are subtle differences between what they're wearing, but the design is nearly the same. They even have their hair done in the same fashion, though Sakuya has green ribbons in her hair compared to Grayfia's blue ones.

"It's flattering that I have a fan so dedicated that they made themselves look exactly like me," Grayfia finally says, annoyance hidden behind a polite mask.

"On the contrary, I never heard of you before accepting Lord Axton as my new Master," Sakuya replies smoothly. "And I have looked this way since before you were born."

Grayfia's eyebrow twitches. "Oh? Even though I'm a Devil almost a thousand years old?"

"Is that so?" Sakuya says. "Allow me to correct myself then. I have looked this way since long before your parents were born."

I can tell Grayfia doesn't believe her. "Oh?" she asks, her mask of politeness barely covering her actual emotions. "That's very impressive for a human."

Sakuya just nods. "Thank you, I've worked hard to get to where I am."

I'm afraid if I let this continue, Grayfia might just snap, so I step in. "Why don't we just call it a coincidence and leave it at that?" I say.

Grayfia doesn't look fully satisfied, but she doesn't push it. "Very well," she agrees. "Stranger things have happened."

Good enough for now. "Sakuya, why don't you get her settled in? Show her to her room and start explaining what duties she'll cover while working here, and what working for me entails."

Sakuya nods. "Understood. If you'll follow me Ms. Lucifuge." The two of them head off deeper into the mansion, and I turn to face the person who had approached me while I was dealing with Grayfia.

"Sister Griselda," I greet her, noting that she's carrying two swords radiating Holy power. "What can I do for you?"

"I've come to give you these," Griselda says, holding out the two Excalibur fragments Irina and Xenovia wield. "Lord Michael asked me to."

I nod and take them from her. "After the battle, I wound up with most of them, and I believe that I can forge them back into their true shape. Michael expressed interest, and has given me his blessing in doing so." I'm not quite sure how I'll do it, I can only combine groups of five items using [Alchemy], but I have some ideas. It must be doable, I still have the quest for it after all.

"Ah, I see," Griselda replies. "It's a shame to take these from those two girls, but for a cause like that, it's worth it."

"Speaking of which," I start. "How are they doing?" Apparently, things went similarly enough to canon that Kokabiel ended up revealing the death of God, but this time Irina heard it directly.

Griselda grimaces. "Irina is still barely eating and responding. She spends all day curled up in bed. Xenovia...well, you know how Xenovia is doing."

That I do. Yesterday, the two of them got into a rather loud argument, one that ended with Xenovia declaring that she was leaving the Church. She'd come to me, looking for another room, one far away from the others. I granted it to her of course.

"Don't worry, she can remain a guest here as long as she wants, even if she's not part of the Church," I say. "She'll have the time and space she needs to work through her feelings and figure out what she wants to do."

Griselda's shoulders relax a little. "Thank you for your understanding."

+10 Affection with Griselda Quarta

Lewd Skill Gem rewarded for 69 Affection with Griselda Quarta

Huh. Nice. I'll have to use that later. But honestly? This whole situation is a boon for me. Xenovia doubting her faith is the catalyst required for her to become a lot easier to seduce as she seeks to try the things the Church forbid her from doing.

It didn't really help with Irina, but I'm not sure how to get her anyway, short of my original plan to seduce Griselda first and use her to grab Irina. It's such a slow plan though, and I'm still not sure how to handle the consequences. Waiting for a better opportunity might be the better plan, even if it pains me to not have Irina in my harem sooner rather than later.

I suddenly feel something weird from a room not too far away. "If you'll excuse me, there's something I need to take care of right now," I tell Griselda.

"No, I didn't mean to hold you up," she replies politely. "By all means. We can talk more another time."

I nod and [Void Travel] to the room where I felt the weirdness, and there I find myself, or something that looks just like me.

"Congratulations, Champ," the Man in the Wall said to me.

"Fuck off," I spit at him, angry. "I know it was you who gave Freed the Helminth. That's probably the entire reason you wanted me to have that Orbiter."

"It was part of it," he responds. "But I was telling the truth when I said I wanted it out of my Void."

"Why though?" I ask, frustrated. "Why even bother with all of that? I appreciate you cleaning it up, making sure it didn't spread, but why do it in the first place?"

"To push you, to make you stronger," he said plainly. "You may only pull a fraction of your power from my Void, but as you grow stronger, so do I. I saw an opportunity to help your growth, and I took it."

"If that's your idea of help, then I don't want it," I tell him. "In fact, I'll go one further. If you ever do anything that results in my girls being placed in danger, even incidentally, I'll make sure you regret it. You may think you're untouchable, but I'll find a way to make you suffer."

The Man in the Wall shook his head. "So shortsighted. We could be friends, you know?"

"Suck a dick," I retort. "And get the fuck out of my house. I don't remember inviting you here."

He frowns but silently disappears. Hopefully that means he took my threat seriously. I meant what I said. It was one thing when he was being a creep and a minor nuisance. I don't even mind if he wanted to throw challenges at me to make me stronger. But putting my girls at risk is unacceptable.

I make a note to look into potential ways to deal with him and then teleport to another room. I have a meeting with my girls later today. The recent incident made it clear to me that I can't delay. It's time for some explanations, and for me to enact a plan I've been working on for the past day or so.

---

I look around the large dining hall at all the people gathered here. I wanted to talk to everyone I cared about, but the number of people surprised me. Sona and the seven members of her Peerage, Rias and the six members of her peerage, Ravel and the fourteen members of her peerage, Asia, Valerie, Hibiki, Tatsumaki, and even Griselda. Sakuya, Wilhelm, Raynare, Mittelt, and Grayfia are also here, partly working, partly here for what I have to say.

My original plan was to have a more intimate conversation, not make a big deal out of it. But the guest list is far too large for that, so turning it into a dinner party was my next best bet. We just finished eating, food that I cooked of course, and now everyone is chatting.

I'm a little nervous, but there's no point in delaying any longer, so I stand up and immediately catch everyone's attention. I already told them I wanted to explain some things to them, and that I'd do it after we eat, so I believe that they're eager to hear what I have to say.

"I have a few things I want to explain to all of you, but first and foremost, we should talk about the recent attack," I start. "Primarily, why it was doomed to fail from the start." Some people perk up at that, notably Sona, Rias, and Griselda. Hibiki just looks confused. She hadn't finished moving into my home when the attack occurred, and in fact, she'd been working on her computer, totally unaware that anything was happening.

"Kokabiel was a former part of the Grigori," I start explaining. "However, he wasn't content with the current state of peace. He believed it wasn't right for Devils to continue to exist. So he sought to spark a war by setting up a scenario that looked like the Devils broke the peace, drawing the enmity of the Fallen and Heaven. However, three things were preventing this from coming to fruition."

I look around and smile at them. "The first of those is all of you, the ones who fought. You defended your own lives, the lives of the students, and most of all, you prevented him from controlling the narrative."

"The second is that…Well, Kokabiel was a great general and a competent fighter," I say. "But he was not a spymaster, and subtlety wasn't his strong suit. Azazel was clued into his goals and motivations pretty early on, and likely wouldn't have believed Kokabiel's falsehoods."

"The third one is the biggest though, and the most secret," I continue. "The others don't mind me telling you, since we'll be announcing it soon, but until that point, I have to ask that you don't spread this information until we finish preparations." I look around and see nods along with expressions of confusion and curiosity.

"For the past month or so, I have been working with the three factions to achieve actual peace," I say. "Not just an uneasy powder keg of non-aggression. No, what we've done is taken that several steps further. We have founded the Global Supernatural Coalition, or GSC for short, with the intention of uniting as many of the supernatural factions as possible with the goal of peace and cooperation between them."

Many of them react pretty strongly to that, most of them widening their eyes in surprise. Not surprising, considering how bold this plan is. Nothing like it has been attempted before, not that I or anyone else involved has heard about at least. But I've been putting more effort into this than even my potions shop, which I could do thanks to Ravel.

This is important to me though. My knowledge of canon is running out, but I know there would have been a peace treaty signed shortly after this even without my interference. But that's not enough, and it only involves the big three factions. My goal is to do exactly what I said, bring every faction together in a more official way. It'll fuck up the timeline, but I can only consider that a good thing.

So I proposed the idea to Serafall, and she liked it so I brought it to Azazel and Michael. All of them were interested, so we started working on that. It was both easy and really hard. There was no precedent, and therefore no established paperwork, for this sort of thing, so we had to figure a lot of things out.

"It was decided that I would lead the GSC as the Chairman of the Council," I continue explaining. "I'm impartial and have ties to many of the factions already without being officially part of them, and my pre-existing political position makes me the only real candidate for it." Not to mention it was my idea, and that I was the one to put myself in this political position with a similar idea in mind.

"Any faction that joins will elect a Council member," I say. "Not a leader, simply someone to represent that faction's interests. And, right now, the Council has four members, because the Devils, the Grigori, and even Heaven have already joined." We haven't had a proper meeting yet, but they've signed the paperwork, even if Azazel took his sweet time doing so.

I can tell that several people really want to speak up and ask questions, but they wait, watching me closely as they absorb everything I'm saying. "We're still ironing out the kinks in the exact wording of the duties of the GSC, but one of the primary ones is handling incidents between factions. Investigation, judgment, and punishment are all handled by the Council. In other words, me and the other factions."

"And Azazel, as the leader of the Grigori, formally told the GSC about Kokabiel, about what he believed his intentions were, and officially declared him not part of the Grigori anymore," I continue. "So even if he had managed to accomplish the worst, to kill any of you, we would have quickly discovered the truth. Even in the case of him successfully deceiving us, war is a last measure for the GSC, and under our agreements, the punishment for the Devils would have been severe, but not lead to war. So no matter what, Kokabiel would have ultimately failed in his goal."

I knew his attack was coming, but not when, which made it difficult to arrange for Serafall or Sirzechs to interfere and shut it down. Not that I was too worried. I'm already so much more powerful than I was in that dream those months ago. I hadn't even maxed out Void Mage in that dream, which was sad. But also scary. I can definitely see myself getting too comfortable, too content, and letting my training fall to the wayside entirely as I spent my days having sex with my girls.

However, being successfully separated from them and not being able to put down Kokabiel immediately was something I didn't account for. I didn't think it was possible. So I couldn't put a stop to things myself, and I couldn't contact Serafall. Neither could Sakuya. There was a physical barrier over Kuoh Academy, but there was also a communications jam. When I asked Sona why she hadn't sent Yua to the Underworld to find Serafall, she became a little depressed. She admitted to the idea not even occurring to her. It was understandable, it was a pretty chaotic situation from what I've heard, but it also could have turned out really bad.

"So the three big factions are at peace now?" Sona asks.

"Not officially," I reply. "Unofficially, yes. But none of this officially goes into effect until we announce it. Which brings me to the other two things I want to explain tonight. My powers, and my plan." Everyone perks up at the mention of me explaining my powers. They'll be getting an edited explanation though.

"Before I came to Kuoh, I was involved in some sort of incident," I explain. "Truth be told, I don't have any memory of how it happened. One night I fell asleep, the next moment I'm floating in nothingness. No body, no senses, barely able to think. Somehow, someway, I ended up in the Void, the infinite nothingness that separates the worlds."

Once again I feel a wave of surprise, this time accompanied by soft gasps. Some are confused though, primarily Atsuko and Hibiki, who don't really understand what I'm talking about.

"Are you saying you were dumped into the Dimensional Gap?" Rias asks, concern on her face. "And survived?"

"No," I tell her. "Not the Dimensional Gap. I was...further? Deeper? It was a place beyond the Dimensional Gap in a way that's hard to put into words. But I've been calling it the True Void, the Void that connects all Voids. Which I know only because of Kyu." I raise my glass to the Love Fairy herself. "Kyu's the one who found me and pulled me out. Without her, I might still be out there."

There's a lot of surprise at that statement. Most of the others here probably considered her nothing more than a slutty fairy who stuck around because she liked the sex. Declaring her my savior probably put her in an entirely new light for most of them.

I preempt any questions by continuing. "Shortly after I got back, I started developing my powers." Technically the truth, but it implies a more mysterious origin than Kyu making me a Gamer. No way am I explaining all that.

"So when we asked you if you had a Sacred Gear..." Momo starts, trailing off.

I shrug. "I had no idea. I thought that my powers came from my time spent there, but it was possible a Sacred Gear was what brought me there in the first place. That being said, I've since confirmed that I lack a Sacred Gear.

"So that's why we can't detect your magic," Sona says. "And why you can't form familiars normally. And why your soul is like...that."

"I call it my Void Form," I say. "My connection to the Void is a lot stronger in that form. But yes. My very soul has been touched by the Void, but it seems that the effects have been entirely beneficial. Or at least, not actively harmful. Nuisances at worst."

"Is that why you never taught any of us your teleportation?" Aika asks.

I nod. "Void is usually pretty harmful to living beings. I'm a little more resistant to it, enough to use it in a lot of ways without harm, but you wouldn't be." Which is something I need to figure out. Maybe a bit of Void in a race change potion? I'll experiment later, I'm still not sure it's safe to use on someone in a Peerage.

"Why didn't you tell us this before?" Atsuko asks.

"I didn't think it mattered," I reply. "And a dash of paranoia. But you all seemed to accept that I can do what I can do, and that was enough. But I'm explaining now because of what I have planned. Because you see, there's one more aspect to my abilities, and there was one thing I was able to perceive while I was stuck in the Void. I dreamt of other worlds."

Tension spreads through the room. "What do you mean, other worlds. Like the Underworld?" Akeno asks.

I shake my head. "I mean worlds like this one, many of them even called Earth, but all of them very different. Different races, different kinds of magic, different technologies, different continents. Imagine if every book you read, every anime you watched, all of them were real worlds. I saw them all. And I plan to go to one of them."

All of them started asking questions at once, but I raised my hand, and they quieted down. "I know, I know," I say. "Let me explain. The creation of the GSC is going to draw a lot of attention, both good and bad. And with the recent attack, we need to announce it soon, to reassure everyone. But I'm not ready yet for that. You were all in danger, and that's unacceptable. So I need time to prepare, and visiting one of those worlds is the perfect way to do that."

"How?" Sona asks.

"Time is...weird, in the Void," I explain. "According to my research into it, I can go to another world and be there for years, and barely any time at all will pass here. Seconds, maybe minutes at most." Kyu and I had hashed out a plan already, with her telling me everything I needed to know about jumping to a new world.

"So you plan on visiting one of these worlds, preparing, and then coming back, with no time passing here?" Asia asks. "All by yourself?"

And there's the part that sucks. "Not quite by myself," I sigh. "I would love to take all of you with me. I've picked out a world, and compared to this one, it's pretty safe. The worst threat is something you could handle with only slight difficulty. But I can't bring all of you. I can bring Yua and Tara, as they're part of me and I don't need to protect them from the Void. Kyu can come as well since she already can travel to other worlds. But for everyone else, I can only bring one other person."

There's a moment of silence at that, one broken by Atsuko. "So, who are you bringing?" she asks. "You've already picked someone, right?"

"I have," I reply. "It was both a really difficult choice, but an easy one as well. Momo," I say, turning to look at her. "I want you to come with me. The world is safe, and we'll have as much time as we need. I want you to finish your pregnancy there, in that place, so you're not forced to fight for your life while pregnant with my unborn child again."

Realistically, with how many other steps I've taken and plan to take, the chances of her getting into another fight anytime soon are incredibly small. But not zero. I can't predict what's coming, so even if it's redundant, even if it's paranoid, I want to do this. I won't be able to do it with every girl I impregnate, but since I'm still establishing my power, and since I plan on visiting another world anyway, I'll take advantage of it while I can.

There are a lot of emotions in the air. Disappointment, confusion, excitement, uncertainty, and a little bit of jealousy. But the biggest one is compassion. They understand why I'd pick her, why I would want to take her to a safe place.

Momo is composed as ever. "I'll go with you," she says. "But there's something I want too."

"Name it," I reply immediately, wondering what it is she could want.

"When we get back, I want to get married," she replies, surprising me. "I know that either way, I'm yours. But I want to be able to call myself your wife. And this sounds like it will be a nice honeymoon. A little out of order maybe, but I'd rather have an early honeymoon than a rushed wedding."

That causes me to pause. Marriage, huh? I mean, she's right. It's not a step that would change anything in our relationship, and legally speaking, it won't affect much. She's a reincarnated Devil, so I don't need to worry about Clan politics and heirs and things like that. And I've already knocked her up. If she wants to call herself my wife? Well, that does sound pretty nice.

"I'll gladly agree to that," I say. "I want to leave sooner rather than later though. Collect as much information as you can, and we'll bring it with us and start planning for it while we're gone." Momo beams and nods.

"You can't come back and ferry us over one at a time?" Aika asks.

I shake my head. "No, the trip would take too much out of me for something like that, and it might mess with how time flows between the two worlds." Or at least, that's my excuse. Without explaining the arbitrary limitations of the System, that's the best explanation I can offer.

"You've put thought into this," Sona states.

"It's what I've been thinking about since the attack," I say. "And it's not a decision made lightly. For all of you, it'll be an exciting afternoon. But for me and Momo, it'll be months away from all of you. But for the safety of everyone, I think this is the best course of action."

No one immediately replies to that, but I can tell they're mulling it over. I did hit them with a lot of revelations and information in a short amount of time.

"When do you plan on leaving?" Rias asks, getting everyone's attention.

"Tomorrow afternoon," I say. "The sooner the better. I just need to arrange for people and facilities to be ready for when Momo and I get back in case she goes into labor while we're still over there and we have to rush back while that's happening."

"So soon," Ravel comments. "But I can make the arrangements."

I smile at her. "Thank you, Ravel," I say. She blushes and nods, sitting up straighter. I turn to the others. "Any more questions?"

"Too many to count," Ruruko replies, and several of the other girls nod their heads in agreement. "But none of them really matter. Are you really okay with this? That's a lot of time."

"It'll be fine," I say. "I won't be alone, and it's not like it's an empty world. If anything, it's going to be like a vacation. A honeymoon isn't a bad way to describe it, though it certainly won't be a traditional one."

"I kinda wish I was the one going with you, I'd love to travel to another world like that, but I agree with picking Momo," Atsuko says. "If you think this is the best way to do it, then I support that. You haven't steered me wrong yet, and I don't think you will." The other girls nod in agreement.

I smile at all of them. "Thank Atsuko, that means a lot. But enough serious talk. For the rest of the night, it's time to celebrate our victory!" I raise my glass. "Three cheers to defending Kuoh!"

Everyone joins me in my cheer and the mood shifts to something lighter as we start celebrating. It's a grand time, and that night my bed literally overflows with girls as they send me off with one big orgy.

---

Ravel came through, and late next afternoon I'm standing in a room filled with medical equipment and a few Devil doctors. With me are everyone I plan on bringing with me on the world jump, Sona, Asia, Atsuko, Aika, Sakuya, Ravel, and Mihae. Sona is here as Momo's King and friend, and also to see me off. Atsuko and Aika are here just to see me off. Sakuya is here to provide whatever she can. Ravel is here as the one who arranged it and as a tertiary healer, with Asia as the primary healer and Mihae as the secondary one. Mihae is also now officially my nanny, so she's here because of that.

Everything we need to deliver a baby is prepared. Devils take this sort of thing very seriously, though doing it in your own home is also pretty standard, so there have been no issues arranging for that.

"I know it's going to just be a few seconds, but it still feels like I'm going to miss you while you're gone," Atsuko comments. "Maybe because I know it'll be a while for you?"

"Probably," I reply. "I know I'll definitely miss you, and all the others."

"I'm sure you'll find a way to distract yourself," Aika says with a grin. "Just make sure you bring them back, so we can meet them."

"I'll see what I can do," I say with a laugh. "By the end of it, I should be strong enough to handle a few people on the return trip."

"Your love is so strong it can even spread to other worlds," Asia comments. "I think that's amazing."

Yes. My love. Definitely not my lust. "Not even reality can contain me," I agree.

"You're gonna bring back souvenirs, right?" Atsuko asks.

"Sure thing, I'll bring back some cool stuff, and I'll take a bunch of pictures on my phone," I reply. "It's a fantasy-esque world, so there are all sorts of wacky things."

"I guess all that's left to say is to have fun and try not to get up to too much trouble," Aika says as she hugs and kisses me. The other two then hug me as well, and I wrap my arms around all three of them.

I give Sona a similar hug and a kiss, and I bring in Ravel for one as well. I'm not that close to Mihae, but she goes for the hug as well, so I return it.

After I say my goodbyes, the others gather around me, Momo, Kyu, Yua, and Tara. Tara is on my back, and I'm holding Yua's paw and Momo's hand, my fingers intertwining with hers. Kyu is holding Momo's other hand, though it isn't strictly necessary.

"Remember everyone, in just a few seconds, Momo might be going into labor," I say. "Be ready, but don't stress. Everything is gonna be fine." They nod, and I smile at them. "In that case, I'll see you guys again soon."

I mentally choose the World Jump option on the window in front of me. Kyu and I prepared it already this morning, making our choices.

With no sensation of movement or travel, the five of us disappear, headed for the beautiful world of Konosuba.

---

In a bar located in a seedier part of the Underworld, a Devil whistled from behind the bar as he cleaned some glasses and served his guests. He was a well-known fixture to the regulars at the bar, the kind but slightly mysterious bartender. He didn't speak much, but he knew the value of discretion, and he did a good job. It was hard not to like the man who gave you booze.

The Devil himself enjoyed the work. It was simple, and it passed the time. And he heard all sorts of interesting things. Rarely was it of any use to him or his master, but it was worth it for those occasions where it was useful.

His exceptional ears picked up a conversation further down the bar. "I've been trying to get my hands on some of them potions, but they're all so fuckin' expensive."

"Still better than paying for what the Phenex pricks charge," the first man's friend replies.

"True," the first man replied. "Speaking of which, I heard a pretty interesting rumor about the guy making those potions."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. He's apparently become some sort of big shot, and guess who recently became his newest maid? None other than the Strongest Queen."

The bartender's hands froze in his actions for just a split moment before he caught himself and forced himself to keep going like normal.

"Bullshit," the second guy replied.

"Nah, he's friends with the Gremory whore, so that's probably why."

"Still though. This is the Queen of Sirzechs-fucking-Lucifer we're talking about. She's just gonna serve some human as a maid?"

"That's not even the craziest part," the first guy continues. "Rumor is that he's already got a maid that looks exactly like her."

The other one scoffs. "Probably some human girl he forced to look like her. He's probably obsessed with Grayfia, now he's got his dirty little hands on her."

"Maybe. According to the rumors, that's not the case, but he'd never admit it if it was."

"I know I wouldn't mind a Grayfia clone serving me. Oh, the things I would make her do."

The first man chuckled darkly. "It wouldn't be my house she was cleaning, that's for sure."

As the two Devils descend into laughter, the bartender tunes them out, his mind racing. If those rumors were true…

Euclid Lucifuge smiled. Maybe it was time to visit the human world and do some investigation of his own. Right after he poisons those two men for daring to talk about his beloved sister like that.

---

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AN: Super long end-of-arc Author's Note incoming!

First things first, the scene I tweaked. It's the airport scene, the one where Axton picked up Asia, when Freed attacked. I tweaked a few lines in it to match what happened here, from this perspective. But why? Well, if you read the AN of that chapter, I say there that it was originally meant to be a reference to another Gamer. Just a fun little thing to give a shoutout to another author I like. The plan was for him to have a corresponding scene in his next chapter. But that chapter never came, and the fic was abandoned/rebooted. So rather than having that just standing out there, a loose thread with no connection point, I decided to repurpose it with Freed. It's why the imagery is a little weird. Blue flames and time isn't a natural connection, but I wanted to change as few things as possible.

Speaking of Freed. Was his power-up an asspull? A little. I did set it up a while back. But this is the only way the Kokabiel fight would be satisfying. If Axton was there for the fight...well, you saw what happened when he got back. It ends instantly, and without fanfare. So I needed to pull him away from the fight. It makes sense too. Kokabiel recognizes him as an anomaly who ruined his plans and could ruin his bigger plan too. But then Freed turns into a monster, and he becomes the perfect bait, the perfect way to separate Axton from Kuoh, and a good chance of him ending up stuck in the past permanently(though that wouldn't have worked out for him, time travel is wack yo). I did want this fight to happen though, to show off the progress of the different characters. Not just in terms of strength, but in their role and personality as well.

I saw some concerns over Tatsumaki being present, and while those are valid, they're also something I foresaw myself when deciding to add her. It's part of the reason why she was introduced in the way she was, I didn't want her to become an easy "I win" button. I just wanted to write smut with her, and as I worked on her storyline more, it became more entangled with the plot. Not heavily so, but it's not completely unrelated, even if it'll take some time to get there. Anyway, I included a bit of PoV from her to try to explain my reasoning on why she doesn't just stomp out Kokabiel's army. Going through what she did fucks you up mentally. If you don't think that's enough, then just accept that I did it for the good of the story.

I don't have much to say about the actual fighting, other than to offer a reminder that I've visually redesigned the Excalibur fragments. If their descriptions don't seem to match with what you remember, that's why. Otherwise, everything was pretty straightforward. No, no students died, which I acknowledge as being a little bullshit. But killing off some students, and also revealing the supernatural, would change the tone of the story to something I don't want. It's a happy ending, sue me. Things will pivot from here, from a focus on looming threats, to more political action as Axton builds up the GSC and gathers allies. But that's after Konosuba.

I'm actually surprised no one guessed who he was bringing with him. Momo is coming so she can be safe while she finishes her pregnancy. She and his unborn child were in danger, and that's unacceptable. She'll be safer once she's given birth, and can fight and use her barriers to protect the two of them. Though the Konosuba trip is also a way for him to get even stronger so he can protect them better as well. But redundancies are good, they are what saved the lives of his girls during the Freed thing.

Anyways, on the future stuff. I'll actually be taking a small break from this. I haven't finished the Konosuba light novels yet, which I need to do before I start plotting things out. However, I will be working on Villain of the Void in the meantime, so expect a few chapters of that while I read and plan for this one.