Chapter 38 - Battle of Kuoh Part 2
Somewhere Just outside of Kuoh - Highschool DxD World - Same time as the end of the last chapter
(General P.O.V)
Valper Galilei rushes away from Kuoh town while driving a stolen car. The Aged Researcher sweating while in the backseat, are all of the Excalibur Fragments that were successfully stolen. Total fear drives his actions as he zooms down the road out of Kuoh Town limits in a bit to avoid being killed.
"Damn that wretched Anderson, dying so foolishly and never once trying to use these precious swords in favor of those blasted bayonets of his…" Valper says while cursing the mad displaced priest.
Oh, he fully believes his former comrade, unlike his now soon-to-be former leader as not only does the man lack a mundane record but also his sheer experience is something that would have been noticed by the church ages ago if he were from this world to begin with..
And if his suspicions are correct, that Goddess that appeared in Kuoh is much like his former comrade, something not from this world..
As he gazes forward on the road, his eyes widen as he slams on the brakes. In front of him on the road, looking far too casual while walking toward him, is the leader of the Grigori himself.
The Fallen Angel Azazel..
"So, under regular circumstances, I would have just sent Vali to pick the two of you up, but considering how eager for combat the brat is, I figured I'd go myself, and see if I can take a look at this new goddess herself~" Azazel says with a casual, almost friendly tone.
Valper immediately slams on the acceleration to try and run over Azazel but the Fallen Angel just gives Valper an unimpressed look and forms a spear of light, throwing it at the base of a large tree nearby and sending it tumbling down in front of him.
Valper has almost no time to react as he slams into the tree that's fallen onto the road and utterly ruins his stolen car, the airbags thankfully doing their job despite the man still being littered with cuts and bruises.
Valper groans in pain as his battered door is violently torn off its hinges by Azazel who has yet to drop that carefree smile, grabbing the man and tossing him painfully to the ground. Then Azazel checks the back of the car and sees the Excalibur fragments in the back seat and pulling off the back door and grabs the blades very carefully.
"So these are the blades that have got everyone panicking, oh the things I could learn by studying them.." Azazel says, making Valper look up as if thinking he'd be shown mercy. But his hopes are dashed by Azazel's next words which are..
"Unfortunately I can't keep them, especially since they were taken by traitors from my own faction…" With Azazel finally goes from a carefree smile to a cold stern gaze before wrapping all the blades with some sort of Holy cloth and grabs Valper Galilei.
"You are coming with me back into town, where those in charge there can decide your fate…" Azazel says ominously, knocking the man out before he can protest and unleashing his wings. He takes flight while holding the bundle of blades in one arm and Valper Galilei in the other.
"Although as of late I hear it's not just one goddess anymore but two and their Demi-goddess, either way, I really need to see if they're actually hot or not, especially with Yasaka-hime joining~!" Azazel says with a cheerful if slightly perverted tone.
He soon starts making his way to Kuoh Town, flying slow as to not drop his prisoner or the bundle of blades. Although he does worry slightly as he could sense a massive spike in Kokabiel's power a minute or two ago, although it settled back down to a more reasonable boosted level.
"I just hope Kokabiel hasn't done anything reckless.." Azazel says to himself before increasing his speed slightly to try and get to the battle faster.
Meanwhile - The streets of Kuoh
(General P.O.V)
"Ah at long last, the Goddess and her Demi-goddess arrive at last.." Kokabiel says, looking ever so pleased that the newcomer on the block has finally shown herself alongside the rumored Demi-Goddess..
Arturia just gives him a brief glance while gazing over the dead on the street before she spots the dead Griselda Quarta and sighs sadly as she watches the remaining three of the church grieve over the loss of their guardian.
Kokabiel snarls at being ignored by Arturia and unleashes yet another Ophis-empowered Spear of Light right at her. Arturia decides to do something surprising because as she doesn't even dodge the spear of light coming at her..
She casually grasps the head of the empowered spear of light just before it hits her and while it emits a grinding, screeching noise like before, she pays it very little mind before casually crushing the spear and forcing it to harmlessly dissipate.
"W-what?!" Kokabiel says in utter shock, unconsciously taking a step back as Arturia looks at him with an almost emotionless expression. The Fallen Angel grits his teeth and starts to siphon more power from Ophis as he creates two more Spears of light and charges right at Arturia.
Only to get slammed by Ritsuka Fujimaru-Pendragon, having forgotten about her briefly due to the stunt Arturia pulled, much to the Fallen Angel's detriment as the Demi-goddess Psuedo-servant effortlessly bats him away.
"H-HOW, I SHOULD HAVE THE POWER OF OPHIS AT MY SIDE!" Kokabiel cries out in sheer rage and confusion as he's flung into some buildings ruined by the fighting. He soon stands up from where he lay in the rubble of the building and tries to siphon excessively more power from Ophis.
Even as he feels power course through him like never before, he can easily tell the two above him easily outmatch him still. This infuriates him as he soars out of the ruined building, swinging both light spears as he tries desperately to land some hits.
As the two currently Pink-haired Goddess and Demi-Goddess continue to easily dodge his attacks, he can't help but wonder why he is still not strong enough despite having likely siphoned a ton of Ophis's power now..
It's then that Arturia finally decides to drop the bombshell..
"Hey Ophis, you can drop the act already, it's not fooling anyone anymore…" Arturia says, which initially baffles Kokabiel but suddenly the chains that were used to bind Ophis suddenly begin to violently crack and break like glass.
"W-what..?" Kokabiel utters as he feels his new power evaporate rapidly. Suddenly a black-haired woman appears right in front of him and has him by the throat, it is Ophis herself who has decided to take an adult-looking form for once and stare coldly at Kokabiel before saying..
"You talk too much…" After which she suddenly snaps Kokabiel's neck and drops him like trash. Both Arturia and Ritsuka are immediately on guard as the Adult looking Ophis stare right at the two.
The Gothic Lolita dress she was wearing prior is now replaced by a flowing black dress embroidered with patterns of faint glimmering snakes and of course, a snake biting its own tail while forming the symbol of infinity on the back of her dress.
While in her younger-looking form, she was probably just under Koneko in terms of bust, here she's flat out roughly about Yasaka's old size. The more elegant, child-like beauty is replaced with a graceful yet cold beauty instead, all while the black hair is now unrestrained by the gothic lolita headdress.
However, in this state, she's openly showing such raw power that was hidden by the more child-like appearance she had before. Although whether that was due to the form she took or just by choice neither Arturia or Ritsuka can tell.
Soon though, the silence is interrupted as the Fallen Angels following Kokabiel look utterly enraged and try to kill Ophis in revenge. Ophis just looks particularly annoyed and with a wave of her hand, manifests black snakes that are the size of houses that surge towards the advancing Fallen angels, killing many of them and seriously wounding others.
Once that is dealt with, she then turns to both Arturia and Ritsuka once more and asks.."Where is the other Goddess.." to which the two members of the Pendragon family look at each other briefly before Arturia says..
"She's currently not here right now.." To which Ophis just looks at the two blankly before soon asking the question that makes Arturia just facepalm despite expecting it somewhat.."Can you help me reclaim my home…?"
After having the moment to facepalm, Arturia takes the chance to think before answering with a question of her own.."What if we can give you a new one..?" To which Ophis just tilts her head innocently despite the mature form she's taken right now.
"Can you give me my silence…?" To which Arturia slowly nods while in her head she's frantically asking Merlin to ward one of the spare rooms with as many noise-canceling rune wards and whatever else as possible through the Ruler servant mental hub while Yasaka is giggling, knowing exactly what I am planning with this and finding it highly amusing.
"Yes, in exchange though I must ask you to join my family in order to access that place~" Arturia says while dropping from Super Saiyan Rose, confident in the chances of persuading Ophis. Meanwhile, Rias and Sona listening in through merlin's scrying are utterly baffled, surely this wouldn't work..
"I accept…" Ophis says, making many of the DxD cast in the Pendragon family back at the Academy find their jaws dropping. They can't believe it was that easy for them to get Ophis on their side.
Arturia merely chuckles while shaking her head at the absurdity of this world before giving Ophis one of the Tempest Jewel rings to put on. While Ophis is confused she puts it on, seeing no reason as to not do so.
"Hey, don't forget about us!" Someone from the remaining members of Kokabiel's forces says, while almost no fallen angels remain, there are still a ton of stray exorcists that could cause potential havoc if left alone..
"Oh don't worry, I haven't" Arturia says with a smirk before utterly flooding the entire row of streets with shadow clones, outnumbering the remaining stray exorcists by a ratio of 5 to 1. This immediately causes every last one of them to drop their weapons and surrender, none of them wanting to try and tangle clones of the goddess that bodied their leader and now has Ophis joining her.
And so the Battle of Kuoh finally ends, and the grim process of collecting the dead on both sides can begin…
Kuoh Academy - Several Hours later
(Arturia's P.O.V)
I sigh as I watch the remaining Youkai solemnly bring their dead through a portal back to Kyoto, while at least a few hundred Youkai came to assist in the battle, there is little more than 38 Youkai left, over half of them being Shinto Spiritualists who stayed behind to keep the barrier up while the fight occurred.
I soon slowly walk to the Occult Clubroom to see how the Church three are doing, but what I find is both expected and yet surprising. I see Griselda's body carefully set on the couch while Xenovia, Lint and Irina stare at both Rias and Sona who have particularly surprised expressions..
"You want us to…what..?" Rias asks, not sure if she's hearing this correctly before Xenovia slams her hands on Rias's desk before flat out shouting..
"We want you to bring her back, please…." Xenvoa says firmly at first before faltering at the end, the Bluenette looking particularly messed up right now as her usual demeanor is barely present in her movements.
I watch as Rias and Sona both look at each other before Sona responds with.."While we can potentially do that, I must ask why you would willingly become Devils–" Before Irina softly interjects with.."We've been excommunicated from the church an hour ago, having learned heretical teachings being the official reason…" Rias and Sona grimace as they know the real reason for it, everyone who was present at the battle having heard Kokabiel's declaration just before the barrier was hit.
The excommunication itself was too perfectly well timed with the mundane news getting reports of a mass gas leak causing major damage to several places in Kuoh, almost as if the church was alerted in advance as to what was said during the conflict, as to how it's not yet clear..
"Please, even if we must become Devils ourselves….please do this for us.." Xenovia begs, desperate to have her mother figure back in her life. Rias and Sona soon look to me, having noticed me standing at the door frame as they were talking and I merely give a nod.
The two Heiresses sigh and nod before retrieving their Evil pieces, Sona soon speaking up and saying.."I will revive Griselda Quarta as a Rook, in exchange I will bring on one Lint Sellzen, as my Next Pawn, although admittedly you will take up my remaining three pawn pieces Lint, while Irina Shidou will take up my remaining knight piece.."
This leads Rias to speak up next and finish setting up the terms of the deal with.."And I will take one Xenovia Quarta as my knight to finish the deal.." The Church Trio look at each other before nodding their heads and agreeing to the deal.
They even agree to become Devils first in order to show their commitment to the deal, something that both Rias and Sona are glad for. While Xenovia's reincarnation as Rias's newest Knight Piece goes off without a hitch, Sona grimaces as he realizes that Lint will require more pawn pieces than she has available due to her current level of strength.
I quickly kai kai to Sona and place a hand on her left shoulder before letting my power flow through her body. Her eyes widen as she suddenly has access to way more power than before but ultimately knows that simply borrowing power won't be enough.
"Even if you were to boost me temporarily sister, the Evil pieces won't accept it.." Sona says regretfully, however, I don't give up just yet and produce a caster class card. Sona's eyes widen before looking right at me as if asking if she's truly allowed to have this..
"I promised to bring the four of them into the family, and if you becoming a Demi-servant is the way to do so, then by all means.." Sona smiles warmly and nods, permanently infusing herself with the power of the Caster servant inside the card.
Caster Scatatch Skadi
As a long flowing velvet dress manifests on Sona's body, she can feel a large permanent boost to her power finally granting her the required level of minimum power to be able to successfully reincarnate Lint and Irina as originally planned.
And so, like in canon Xenovia becomes a devil under Rias, but Irina and Lint become Devils as opposed to their canon counterparts. Two knights and a pawn just under the level of Sayori when she was still Saji and reincarnated as such.
And soon the three wait anxiously as Sona moves over to the dead body of Griselda, looking at me only once before proceeding to revive Griselda as her newest Rook. For a brief moment, it is silence as it briefly looks like the reincarnation failed.
Then Griselda rapidly becomes healed before slowly at long last begins to breathe again, slowly opening her eyes as she wakes up to be surrounded by her beloved charges. "MOTHER!" The three cry out as they let out tears of joy and embrace Griselda while she briefly looks confused before just returning the hug with a fittingly motherly smile of her own.
I smile before walking away from the touching reunion, as I walk down the halls however I can hear Griselda scolding the trio for recklessly agreeing to become Devils, even if it was to try and bring her back..
I chuckle as I finally head out to the front of the Academy, where I see a rather unusual sight. My eyes widen as I see Azazel walking onto Academy grounds while having a carefree smile on his face, a certain researcher in a fireman carry in one arm while in the other he as a bundle of swords wrapped by his other arm and a cloth that feels strangely holy.
"Oh wow, when they said you were a blonde beauty they weren't lying!" Azazel says before leering at my huge breasts and then audaciously saying.."Definitely bigger than Yasaka, Nice!"
Before I even realize what I'm doing, I end up decking him and sending him flying into one of the ruined buildings nearby, making him drop his prisoner and the bundle of swords which, now that I get a good look at them, are the Excalibur fragments..
Surprisingly Azazel is particularly quick to recover and flies back over while nursing his jaw. "Fuck it feels like being decked by Yasaka all over again…" Azazel mutters to himself before landing back at the Academy grounds.
I can't help but find myself with my eyebrows twitching noticeably before I simply ask…"Why are you here Azazel..?" To which he gives a sheepish grin before saying.."To meet you of course, and to deliver the fragments and one Valper Galilei to you..while I would normally discipline him myself, he's yours if you want him.."
While at first, I consider letting him have Valper, I briefly remember some unfinished business and smile before saying.."Oh, I know one woman who would absolutely love to be the one to end him.."
Half an hour later
(General P.O.V)
Valper Galilei wakes up and realizes his been bound and restrained to a tree. As he tries to break from the chains that keep him firmly tied up, he spots two blonde women, one in a combat dress while looking at the second, the blonde woman that fought Father Anderson.
Artoria (Saber) and Yuna Kiba-Pendragon.
Artoria (Saber) wordlessly hands her sword, the noble phantasm Excalibur, to Kiba and she gives a brief, grateful nod before staring right at the man that ruined so many people's lives, her own life and the lives of those in the Holy Sword Project.
It is only fitting that the man dies at the hand of the Sword he so dearly idolizes and by a victim of his own project at that.
As Kiba charges up her prana through Excalibur, she can't help but marvel once more at the brilliant glow of the blade in her hands, for a brief moment she can't help but see the people that were with her in the Holy Sword Project appear around her as she cries out for the first and yet final time…
"EX-CALIBUR!" A Golden blast of power hits the bound Valper, who has a brief expression of pure, awe and rapture right before his death as a Brief pillar of gold flies into the sky before disappearing as if it were never there..
Kiba looks at the spot where Valper Galilei was prior and just sighs, at long last the man got justice and poetic justice at that. She hands Artoria (Saber) back Excalibur before silently walking back to the grounds, needing some time to think about what just happened and the things that have happened in her past..
Meanwhile - Occult Club room
(Arturia's P.O.V)
I stare at Azazel who is just drinking some wine as the two of us sit on opposite couches, the Excalibur Fragment blades on the table in front of us. Just looking at them I feel slightly insulted, mentally rejecting the idea of them being anything more than simply a Holy sword just given the name Excalibur rather than it being the actual Excalibur before it shattered.
As I take a sip of my Coca-Cola, I smirk when I see a portal opening from the Pocket Dimension Manor, and out of the portal comes Adult Ophis, making Azazel do a spit-take as Ophis says.."You kept your word, I am glad.." To which I chuckle and smile before handing a Can of Coca Cola to Ophis.
Ophis curiously, after needing help to open the can, takes a sip and finds it insanely delicious, especially since while waiting for her new silence she ate out most of the cookies and chocolates we had in the kitchen.
"More of this…" Ophis demands before I simply respond with.." Say please.." With a light-hearted tone to which Azazel is treated with Ophis of all people blushing and pouting before repeating her words with…"More of this…Please.." To which I smile and nod while giving the woman a gentle head pat.
Azazel just looks at his glass of wine before going to the window and flat-out pouring out the rest of the contents onto the ground outside of the clubroom window. I can't help but giggle at his reaction and watch as he sighs before simply going.."I can't believe you managed to tame Ophis of all things.."
"Eh, at least Khaos Brigade is now leaderless ~" I say which startles Azazel, he was not aware I even knew of their existence to which I simply say.."Hey, I got my own agents you know, you hired a bunch of them~!" To which Azazel realizes that the RED team mercs he hired actually answered to me and just chuckles..
"Oh the more I talk to you, the more I wish I could spend just one night in bed with you~" To which I merely smile and call Yasaka to come to me for a moment…the moment she enters the room I flat out kiss her right in front of Azazel who goes bug-eyed at the sudden turn of events.
And as Yasaka returns the kiss, Azazel is torn between feeling utterly downtrodden at no longer having a chance with Yasaka, who he does note has a younger look to her, and also feeling immensely aroused at two hot busty blondes kissing each other in front of him.
As I pull away and gently rub her ears and make her shudder with slight pleasure before I let her walk off, enjoying the sight of her hips swaying noticeably in my line of sight before turning back to Azazel with a smirk.
"Sorry Azazel, as you can see I prefer the fairer sex~!" I say with a mischievous grin which finally pushes Azazel into a brief bout of exaggerated depression. The wonder of being in an anime world everyone, an ecchi one at that.
"Anyway.." Azazel says, recovering seamlessly from his bout of depression as if it never happened before gazing at me with a serious expression.."What do you intend to do with these Excalibur Fragments.." He finishes, to which I just shrug and reply with..
"Give them back to the church, I have no need of them.." I say, surprising Azazel but he says nothing before wrapping the fragments back up in the cloth he stored them in before and deciding to make sure they get back to heaven directly after the meeting ends.
As Azazel briefly glances at Ophis who's enjoying the Coca Cola he decides that it's probably best not to inquire any further, while would prefer to learn more about this new Pendragon Family, he realizes that perhaps now is not the best time..
So the meeting ends although he does try to have me want to take part in the peace talks briefly, I end up telling him that my family and I will be leaving for a new world soon, seeing no way to really lie to someone like Azazel which catches his attention.
He does end up getting me to promise to bring stuff from said other worlds whenever I return so he has research material to study, something I agree to as I see no real harm in doing so..
And as I watch Azazel leave, I pull out my company phone and stare at the ESL app, looking at the progress bar being 100% complete for a while now and debating on whether or not exactly where I intend to go next..
Hopefully somewhere far less restrictive as to be quite honest, while I have enjoyed my time here and adding so many new members to my family, the need to play a double life with this world kinda got boring for me.
Regardless, I'll make sure to let everyone from this world know that we'll be heading out into a new world in a few days and make their preparations while they still can, be it getting family members on board, getting some supplies they won't have access to for awhile or simply some fond goodbyes..
Either way, our time in this world is growing short…
Author's note
And that's not only the Excalibur arc done but also more or less High School DxD done for now as well.
Azazel capturing Valper Galilei
Let's be honest, Valper is a man that lives for his research, the moment he saw things going south he kinda bailed knowing that Kokabiel would be too pre-occupied to notice him leaving with the Excalibur fragments
He just never expected to run into Azazel on the way out of town, who instead of Vali, came personally this time as he'd rather not try to let Vali potentially kick off yet more conflict.
So yea, Red Dragon and White Dragon don't meet…For now
VS Kokabiel
Yea the moment Kokabiel showed himself, he was never gonna be able to fight Arturia let alone her and Ritsuka both. Plus he was under the impression he had full control over Ophis, which as you can see, he never did in the first place.
Ophis practically used Kokabiel in order to meet with Arturia rather than being used by Kokabiel. After all, one doesn't really ever shackle something like Ophis, at least not truly..
Unless it's a company binding of course~
Church Four Becoming Devils
While Xenovia was always gonna end up as a Devil, this time she's joined by Lint Sellzen, Irina Shidou, and Griselda Quarta. I hope how this ended up occurring is believable, considering how drastic the change considering their canon counterparts.
Sona becoming the Demi-Servant of Scatatch Skadi
This was highly recommended to me by some of my readers directly to me, so after considering it I thought I might go with it, both to boost Sona and to make things interesting when we inevitably return to High School DxD for a second run.
Yea, we are most definitely returning at one point in the fanfic, as to how and why you'll have to find out
Kiba Killing Valper with Saber's Excalibur
While at first I was concerned it may be too much, I do hope that the scene fits both to put an end to Kiba's need to kill the man that put her and so many in so much pain and suffering, and to give a poetic and ironic end to said man.
And finally..
Ophis joining the Family.
The first True Tier X capture, as Angela only counts as such while utilizing her reality marble. I ended up deciding to pre-emptively change her looks to better fit with the aesthetic of the family plus she is a known shape-shifter anyway so I hope it isn't too jarring..
Anyway, tune in next time for when we tackle the next world
See you all then!
