I grasped my new sword in my hand and faced down Freed and Valper.
I will show them justice for what they did to my comrades… with my Balance Breaker!
"This is impossible," Valper exclaimed. "Holy and Demonic energy can't mix!"
"You can do this, Yuuto!" I heard the President call out to me. "Show them what the Knight of Rias Gremory can do and defeat that Excalibur!"
That was what I was planning to do from the beginning. Thank you, President, for your approval.
"Make him bleed!" I heard Koneko call out.
"I agree with the midget, I'm done with the heartwarming, lovey-dovey crap!" Freed said. "Let's get on with the murder!"
I leapt at him as he caused another quake with the sword.
However, his Nightmare piece created three more duplicates that attacked Makoto, Irina, and I.
"Now let's just sit right back and…"
However, as Freed was saying that, another person confronted him, with a new, dangerous holy sword of her own!
"Xenovia! You made it!" Makoto exclaimed.
"Ooh. What's that thing?" Freed asked. "Is it a worthy replacement for the one you graciously loaned me?"
"It's more than worthy. This is the Holy Sword Durandal!"
I've heard of that blade before! It rivals the full Excalibur in power and is said to cut through anything!
"Durandal? But how!?" Valper exclaimed. "My research hasn't reached to the wielding of a holy sword of that power!"
"That's because I didn't need your research," she said. "Just like Makoto, I was born with the affinity to wield a holy sword!"
"Enough of that already! I've heard that spiel the first time!" Freed exclaimed in frustration.
"Then maybe you need to hear it again. This blade is still unruly in my hands, but I have no choice but to use it because you have something that belongs to me… and I need it back!"
"Well, you can't have it!" he replied. "I've grown attached to Excalibur-chan!"
That put her over the edge and she charged at him as we continued fighting with the duplicates he created with Nightmare.
He tried to conceal his blade with Transparency, but the size of Durandal pretty much made it a moot point.
By this point, we had overcame those copies that he made. Mere cloned afterimages are no match for my Holy Demonic Sword, Irina's powerful holy sword, and an Excalibur Piece in the hands of an Angel.
"Let's help her out," I told Makoto.
"Nah," he told me. "It looks like she has it in the bag."
"The original wielder of that sword was the friend of the original wielder of mine," Irina commented, holding up her sword. "It's almost fate that we are chosen to wield Durandal and Hauteclere together."
Sparks flew as the two blades collided. It was obvious from Freed's grimace that he was struggling against Durandal.
I can see why, Durandal is giving off way more holy energy than even that Fused Excalibur. As a devil, I would be terrified to go against that thing. It's a miracle she's on our side.
He made another last-ditch effort to attack her, but she made the first move and the blow knocked him back and cracked the blade!
"Give it up, Freed Sellzen! Your broken holy sword is no match for Durandal!"
"Y- You're broken!"
He struck the ground, momentarily keeping her back with the Destruction aspect.
However, that gave Makoto an opening. He used Excalibur Mimic to wrap cords around his Fused Excalibur.
He exclaimed, "Yoink!" as he ripped the sword right out of Freed's hands.
"Excalibur-chan! No!"
Now's my chance! As the blade was flung through the air, I slashed right through that cursed blade!
My Sword of Betrayer had shattered the Fused Excalibur into pieces.
"Thank you, comrades, my own strength has overcome Excalibur!"
"You're welcome," Makoto said, "Oh wait! You're actually talking to the friends who are inside of y- I need work on the phrasing of that."
"Actually, Makoto, you helped me a lot. You helped me focus more on the present. Even if it is the present opportunity to get back at our old foes."
As I said that, the three of us joined Xenovia in confronting Freed.
Who was currently passed out on the ground, likely due to the shock of the Excalibur breaking.
"Maybe we should wake him up before getting revenge on him," Makoto said.
"There's no sense of justice in kicking him while he's down," Xenovia added.
I nodded.
"I realize now!" Valper exclaimed. "The ability to combine Demonic and Holy powers may be linked to the death of the old Demon Lords. It could also mean that-"
As soon as he said that, Kokabiel flung a massive spear of light in Valper's direction.
Hagane rushed to get between them. She donned her magic armor and took the direct hit.
Xenovia and Irina gasped as they thought she was about to be killed. However, the attack merely caused her to skid back some and shattered her armor, leaving her completely unscathed.
"Yuuto isn't through with him yet! Wait your turn!"
"I heard you had impressive defenses, Hagane Sasaki," Kokabiel said. "I am almost scared of you."
"Are we just going to ignore the fact that he was able to break her armor with a light attack?" Aika commented.
"Even though she's immune to light, the physical force of the attack was likely what shattered the armor," Ravel commented. "Without the amor she would have been pulverized!"
"But that was foolish of you to throw your armor away like that! You're defenseless now!"
He then summoned another spear to attack Hagane, but then Akeno attacked him with a fierce lightning attack. All it really did was interrupt the attack as he used his wings to deflect the attack.
"I'll give you credit for one thing, you definitely inherited Baraqiel's power!"
"Don't you dare compare me to him!"
"Both you and your brother have odd tastes in allies, Gremory! Between the White Dragon Emperor, the Holy Sword Project reject, the Stray of the House of Amon, and Baraqiel's daughter!"
"You will regret insulting my brother like that!" the President responded.
Meanwhile, Makoto and Xenovia were having a conversation.
"What did she say?"
"She was right behind me."
"Then I'll have to stall for time."
After saying that, Makoto then stepped up to confront Kokabiel.
"You will also regret attempting to trash talk Akeno like that!"
I could tell she was blushing from his bold statement.
"Also, if that statement about her father was supposed to be some sort of plot twist," he added, "then you're a bit late to the party there!"
I don't know what he's talking about, the fact that the Vice President is the daughter of a high-ranking fallen angel is news to me…
"Oh! You want a plot twist, huh!?" Kokabiel jeered. "It amuses me that you all fight for the Demon Lords and for God even after losing your masters!"
"Go on! I'm listening!" Makoto continued.
He has way too much confidence. Does he know who he's talking down to!?
Kokabiel cackled and landed on the ground.
"Not only were the old Demon Lords killed in the three-way war, but God was killed as well!"
"What!?" Makoto exclaimed. "Impossible! There's no way that God is dead!"
Hang on a second. Didn't his mother already tell all of us this? Why is he making that dramatic reaction?
Everyone was looking at him odd, except for Akeno and the President, who were smirking, is there some method to his madness that he isn't telling us?
Kokabiel then began ranting.
"Azazel insisted that because God and the Demon Lords were dead and the numbers on all sides were all but exhausted, that there would be no point in continuing the conflict…
BULLSHIT! We should have defeated them when they were down! We could have WON!"
"This can't be!" Makoto continued moping. "And to think that Halja has overthrown Heaven as well!"
He said that last part, however, with a sudden shift to confidence.
"WHAT!? IMPOSSIBLE!"
Makoto laughed. "And you thought we were under a rock about God being dead!"
"The Vatican had already told us two," Xenovia said "It's normally a church secret, but because of the urgency of our mission to stop the Goddess of Death, the fact of God being killed was disclosed to us exorcists."
"It was a rough truth, at first. But I have come to accept it," Irina said.
"Somehow I knew that your lust for continuing that damn war from centuries ago has made you blind to the present reality!" Makoto said.
"Shut up!"
"You forget that God was technically killed once before that, when the humans killed Christ. And that didn't stop him!"
"SHUT UP!"
"Plus, the Father has been killed, the Son has been killed, but what about the Holy Spirit?"
Okay, now Makoto's just messing with him at this point.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"
Kokabiel launched a light attack at Makoto in retaliation to his taunts.
However, the attack Makoto made with his Power of Retribution as he charged right at him cut right through Kokabiel's attack with ease.
"How did he do that!?" I exclaimed.
"Kokabiel must be unhinged and can't focus on his attacks," the President explained.
"All thanks to Makoto's genius," Akeno added.
"More like Makoto's insanity," Koneko commented, "But, hey, whatever works."
Kokabiel pulled out two massive swords of light as Makoto charged at him with his Excalibur.
Their blades clashed.
"Y'know. You really piss me off!" Kokabiel said to him.
"The feeling is mutual!"
He swung at Makoto wildly, which he avoided, following with a swing at Kokabiel's head in return.
He frantically attempted to dodge the attack by Makoto but ended up getting nicked in the cheek.
"DIVIDE!"
"So, you managed to Divide some of my power, huh!?" Kokabiel jeered, beginning to float back in the air. "Then bring out your Balance Breaker, I'm ready!"
"Nah," Makoto replied. "I'll only have a few seconds to use it. I'd rather save the energy to transfer to someone else."
"Who then!? Rias Gremory!? Baraqiel's brat!? One of the Holy Sword users!?"
He pointed his Dividing Gear in Kokabiel's direction.
"TRANSFER!"
"Oh. I see. You think I'm weak and transferred it back to me!"
"No, I did not. You are about to lose because you made two mistakes.
1 – You let your anger get the better of you and went berserk.
And 2 – You pissed her off."
I looked further up. Ms. Gabriel was right behind Kokabiel with ten wings of her own! She was surging from the energy Makoto transferred to her.
"You broke the wrong woman's window, Kokabiel…" he added.
"I told you, Kokabiel!" Ms. Gabriel said, "You're the one who's past his prime!"
She then fired off a massive attack at Kokabiel. He attempted in vain to shield against it, but when the smoke cleared and her attack dissipated, there was nothing left of him other than dust.
Kokabiel was no more.
"Remind me never to piss her off…" Aika commented.
"She's the Strongest Woman in Heaven," the President said. "You need no reminder."
"Sorry, I'm late…" Ms. Gabriel said to the President and Makoto.
"No, you're actually early," Makoto said. "He said the town would be destroyed in twenty minutes and you arrived within…"
He looked at his watch.
"17 minutes and 43 seconds of that."
"Well, a lady is always punctual!"
"Okay, where were we before Kokabiel rudely interrupted us?" Makoto said.
We went back to confronting Valper Gallilei.
"I knew it. God really is dead!" he said. "Well I guess you can't blame him then for what happened, can you?"
"No," I said. "But I can sure as hell blame you!"
"What are you gonna do? Kill a harmless old man?"
"I considered it, but I decided it would be better if you spent the rest of your pathetic life in a jail cell knowing that you were at the mercy of a boy you murdered, and you were only sitting there because I decided to spare your lif-"
I then heard a gunshot and he was shot point blank in the head!
"Or, you know. He could be anticlimactically killed," Xenovia said.
"Right in the head!" a shrill girl's voice said. "Take that, Genocide Archbishop!"
"What is she doing here?" Irina asked.
The girl in question had silver and black hair and red eyes. She also posed a striking resemblance to someone.
I noticed Freed was waking up. "Okay. What did I miss?" he said.
He then noticed Valper's dead body. "Oh. Gramps died. It looks like that crazy fallen angel is gone too. Angelface probably did that."
"Hey, big bro!" the girl said, before pointing the smoking gun at him. "You're under arrest~!"
"Allow me," Makoto said, before he summoned ropes around his hands and feet.
"You shouldn't be so reckless, Lint-nya! You nearly killed my precious dragon!"
"Kuroka!" Koneko exclaimed.
It was the Nekomata stray devil from earlier.
"Long time, no see, Shirone."
"Oh. So that's who you were referring to," Makoto commented.
"That was an impressive display earlier," Kuroka said to him. She was getting dangerously close to him. "Do you want to make a child with me? I really want the child of a dragon and angel!"
Okay, what!? Is she trying to seduce him?
"Unless you're fine with the child of a dragon and fallen angel, then I must decline."
"I would be fine with that~"
"Hey, back off!" Koneko said as she suddenly got between them.
"Ah~. Shirone has a crush on the dragon-nya!"
"I would listen to Gremory's Rook if I were you, Kuroka."
That voice! It was the fallen angel that kidnapped Asia!
"I thought you said you killed Raynare!" I said to Makoto.
"I said that she wouldn't be causing us any more problems," he replied.
"I heard from my brother how you saved Makoto's life," the President said to Raynare. "I want to thank you,"
"Think nothing of it…"
"So why are you all here?" Makoto asked her.
"We're a special team organized by Lord Shemhazai," Raynare said. "We were sent to dispose of Freed Sellzen and Valper Gallilei."
Freed then noticed her. "Hi Lady Raynare~"
"Well if it isn't the Priest of Sexual Harassment," she said. "Looks like betraying me wasn't enough for you."
"Well, you see…" he said.
"Freed. We're done here."
It was Milcom Amon and his two servants!
"Nice to see you, again, Yuuto Kiba!" Jin said to me.
I waved back nervously as Jin suddenly cut the binds off of Freed.
"Freed Sellzen was working with us as a double agent," Milcom said, "Unless you want to deal with Lady Halja herself, don't get in our way."
"Yeah, more like a triple agent" Makoto said. "Also, calling me a 'devil-sympathizer' is rich coming from him."
"I lost Excalibur-chan, sorry," Freed said.
"Don't worry, our goal was to eliminate Kokabiel and Valper Galilei for defying Lady Halja's request to join us. Which the Occult Research Club and the Grigori seemed to have accomplished for us by you luring them here."
Raynare and the President both looked mad.
"Hey, Lady Rias, I would very much like to make an arrangement with you about my Rook sometime!" Milcom said to the President.
"I would appreciate it," she replied.
"Bye bye, suckers!" Freed said as they teleported out.
"Well there goes our chance at revenge," Makoto said to me. I nodded.
"Well, we must be leaving, too," Raynare said. "I'll be seeing you soon, Makoto!"
They then left. Hopefully that will be the last of third parties popping in.
"Well, Yuuto. I'm so glad you returned to us," the President said to me. "Unfortunately, you still need to be disciplined for going rogue."
I knew this would happen. Defeating Excalibur and Valper is worth the 1000 spankings, though!
"Your punishment… is to go karaoke with Makoto. You said some harsh things to him, so you must make amends!"
Well, that's a surprise, but a relief as well. Thank you, President, you're the best.
Back home, later that morning, I was resting on the couch after a long night of screwing with a fallen angel.
I had contacted Sirzechs and Serafall earlier about our victory.
"Were you able to take care of Kokabiel, after all?" Sirzechs asked me
"Yes. Thanks to my Mom."
"Ah man~!" Serafall exclaimed. "I really wanted to swoop in and save my little sister from being violated by that beast!"
"Sorry to disappoint."
"Well, see you soon at the Open House, Makkun!"
"See you," Lord Sirzechs added. "Say hi to Rias for me."
Both of their holograms vanished.
Good grief, I told her to stop calling me that.
Back to now, I felt my head being shifted onto someones lap. The giggling gave away the culprit.
"Thanks, Akeno…"
"You're welcome, Makoto. You were so brave last night."
I could hear Rias talking with Sona near me.
"You were just in the nick of time," she said to Rias. "By then, me and Tsubaki were the only ones able to maintain the barrier."
"Well, we have Ms. Gabriel to thank for that," she replied.
"Though, later. Saji began apologizing profusely to me saying he accidentally let a stray devil and fallen angel inside the barrier after letting Xenovia and Ms. Gabriel in."
"And…"
She sighed. "I wanted to punish him for failing to close the barrier in time, but I remember what you said earlier. I told him it was fine. They didn't cause any additional harm to us anyway."
"Glad to see you've grown a heart."
I couldn't see as I was resting my eyes, but I knew Sona was pouting.
I then heard someone open the door.
"Is Xenovia Quarta and Irina Shidou still here?"
"Oh, Supervisor!" I saw Irina run up as I quickly got up from Akeno's lap.
Xenovia soon followed.
"The Church wanted to say that they're planning on having your assignment extended for the forseeable future based on your performance in the defeat of the Purist Faction."
I could see glee visibly showing on Irina's face and she began repeatedly yelling "Yes!"
"Does that mean we're continuing our schoolwork in this town?" Xenovia asked.
"That is correct. The Church is willing to pay for your tuition at Kuoh Academy."
"That's awesome!" said Irina. "We already have uniforms, so we're all set!"
"There's one more thing, Lady Gabriel," the Supervisor said. "We've decided to move the Conference from the Vatican to your school. I hear the Sitri family was top-notch at securing the place."
"I appreciate the compliment, sir," Sona replied. "We will not disappoint in your service."
"I will take my leave now," he said. "Goodbye."
"I'm so glad!" Irina said, "That means we get to go to school with you, Makoto!"
This gives me an idea.
"Since you're here for the duration, I have a proposition," I said.
"How would you two like to be my Knights?"