Before You all get reading, I made this chapter extra long as a sort of Christmas special, so don't expect all chapters to be this long.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas, or whatever holidays you celebrate

:D

The Awakening

"Issei Hyoudou" - Talking

'Issei Hyoudou'- Thought

"Issei Hyoudou" - Communication circle/phone

*Sounds*

[ Issei Hyoudou ] - Heavenly Dragons.

"Issei Hyoudou" - Draconic voice

The most annoying sound I have ever heard, and most likely the most annoying sound I will ever hear. That's the best thing to describe what I am waking up to right now. Through the cracks of my arm, I could see my fellow students packing their things to leave.

The ear-piercing sound of the school bell continued for what felt like forever, the sound and sudden waking causing my migraine from this morning to return. The damned bell seemed only to amplify the pain of the migraine even further than it already was.

My teeth gritted together as the migraine pounded within my head, and a low growl came from me. My hand that hung over the edge of the desk gripped onto its side, and began to tighten as the bell continued to ring. That was until the sounds of cracking wood began to emit from my hand.

[Stop it, your peers are going to notice!] Inanis mentally shouted as the bell finally silenced.

I loosened my grip on the desk, setting up from my sleeping position, stretching my body as I did. Looking back down with my hand now moved out of the way, I could see that the wooden desk was indeed cracked. I didn't pay it any attention, leaving it just barely together, so that the next person who sat there would accidentally finish what I started.

As the students all left the classroom, I turned to see that Asia and Wynter were not where they usually were. Just then, I remembered the two said they would be busy with something, but I don't remember what it was specifically. Now that I think of it, I could barely remember anything that happened this morning.

I slowly turned my head back over to look down at my desk, resting my head within my hands as I rubbed my temples in an attempt to ease the pain. All other outside sounds being blocked out entirely.

[You know, you wouldn't be going through this if you got some sleep instead of thinking about Kokabiel all night]

'That fucking bell didn't exactly help either,' I mentally responded.

[You know as well as I do that a dragon losing sleep has a more significant effect than other races]

I ignored the voice within my head.

After a few moments of resting my head, the pain slowly receded, along with the beating in my ear, and the pounding of my head. It didn't entirely fade, but it was much more manageable compared to earlier.

I glanced up for a moment, noticing that the room was now completely void of people, as not even the teacher was still within the room. I must have been sitting there longer than I anticipated.

I slowly stood up, avoiding fast movement to keep my head from hurting again, despite my efforts, my head felt light as I stood, causing me to stumble slightly. My pocket began to vibrate for a brief moment, as well as my ringtone rang from the same place.

Pulling out my phone, I saw that it read a message sent to a group chat from Rias Gremory. The other numbers in the chat were all those of us who were in the peerage together.

It reads,

"I apologize for the late notice, but Akeno and I will be busy, and since Asia and Wynter are busy with school projects, Akeno and I figured it would be better just to cancel today's meeting entierly,"

Thankfully her message reminded me of why they were actually busy, but more importantly, it was actually a significant relief to hear this. I didn't feel like meeting today, and it sounds much better just going somewhere alone and sleep. I certainly need it.

I walk out of the slowly make my way out of the classroom, my vision tunnel-visioned slightly with my light head as I began walking, the migraine returning to a lesser degree than before. With one hand rubbing my head, I clumsily walked out of the classroom, my balance being throw off my by tiredness.

The halls had students walking down each direction of me, most of them with small groups of friends talking about their day. A few of them would give me a concerned glance every now and then, mainly the girls that looked up to me, the guys who stared usually have more harmful intents.

That was until two girls who appeared to be my underclass mates walked up to me, both of them wearing somewhat concerned expressions.

"Hey, are you ok?" One of them asked.

"You look like your hurting, do you need us to take you to the nurse's room?" Her friend asked.

"I'm fine, I just didn't get enough sleep, so I just have a headache," I explained, trying to be polite as possible, wincing slightly again as a sharp pain just hit my head randomly.

"Are you sure? It looks like a little more than just a headache," one spoke.

"You look like your about to die," The other majorly exaggerated.

"I said I'm fine, thanks," I spoke, much more sternly than before, walking past them as their persistence to help me was getting annoying.

The two girls stared at me for a little while, seemingly taken aback from the sudden tone of my voice. Regardless, it got them out of my way as they continued down the hallway on their own path.

[You know they were just trying to be nice]

'And bothering me with something that isn't worth worrying about. I can get more sleep later,' I responded, ending the conversation there.

As I walked down the corridor of the school, the aroma of food from the cafeteria became evident to my senses. Yet, even with the aroma of food in the air, I didn't feel hungry in the slightest way.

I simply shrugged off the odd behavior, paying to no mind as I walked out of the school building, and quickly spotted a nice patch of shade positioned beneath a lush tree. I made my way under the tree, claiming the spot as my own to lay down and rest within the comfort of the grass.

As I rested beneath the tree, one could say that was a perfect day, the blue sky filled with puffy white clouds, the sun's rays piercing through the branches of the trees, and a gentle breeze sweeping across the schoolyard.

The peace and quiet was quite relaxing for my head, no more noise being provided to fuel the pounding migraine that I had earlier, and the comfort of the soft grass provided a much better cushion than that hard wooden desk. It wasn't gone, but it was much better than when I was abruptly woken up.

With all the relaxing surroundings, my eyes began to shut on their own with no resistance from me, slowly falling into my slumber again. That was until the sound of two people running past me nearby disturbed me. I simply shrugged it off as two people in school messing around, there's no need to scare them off, not like this is my area solely.

However, what did catch my attention was the sound of several girls shouting and running together, following the path of the previous people I heard, stopping relatively close to me. I opened my eyes, turning my head to see them within my peripheral vision.

The girls that were all grouped together seemed to look familiar, though I couldn't precisely place why. They all seemed to be searching for something, though it's hard to tell what it was. That was until one decided to speak up.

"Damnit, we lost them," She shouted, stomping on the ground in anger.

They all began chattering like a flock of birds, all of them talking at the same time was making it practically impossible to pick out what was being said by any of the individuals.

"Well, we can just wait for them to show themselves again. Those perverts will have to come out eventually," One of the girls loudly declared.

The others agreed with her and began to leave the area, some more willingly than others. The lesser willing ones were still complaining that they shouldn't have to deal with this, even though they left with the others regardless.

Then, it dawned on me. They were chasing someone, or a few people. I heard two people running by me a little while ago, two people from the sounds of it. If they were chasing perverts, then it was no doubt that it was the perverted duo.

As this thought dawned on me, a new sound was present that wasn't here before. The sounds of light rustling from the bushes behind the tree I was under, which was either covered up by the girls talking, or they just started moving around when they left.

With my migraine somewhat relieved, at least to a much more manageable point. I lifted myself up from the ground that I was laying on. Thankfully, the act of standing up didn't cause the migraine to re-emerge to its previous pain.

With myself now standing, I made my way over to the area that the noise was coming from, hoping to see what these two perverts were up too. Most likely nothing good, as it seems that every time I meet them, they get the shit knocked out of them.

As I slowly approached, attempting to be as quiet as possible, I managed to spot them within the bushes. They were both there, monkey and four eyes, as usual. It seems that four eyes managed to buy a new camera, though, as they were looking through the photos of one, and I broke the last one.

I was just merely looking at them sitting in the bushes, and yet I was already getting pissed only from that. It doesn't help that I'm already in a bad mood with everything going on, but their actions to my mates in the past haven't been forgotten. They better hope they don't give me a reason to be angry.

"What the hell are you to doing out here?" I asked, looking down at them as the scrolled through photos.

Motohama and Matsuda both screamed loudly like girls, four eyes threw his arms into the air from the panic of being caught, along with the camera which was sent flying over their heads to me.

I winced slightly, covering my ears with my hands. The high pitched screams that they produced pierced my much more sensitive ears, causing a sharp pain to be sent directly to my head. They already made one wrong move.

A bush cushioned the camera's decent as it plummeted to the ground, and it rather gently rolled off the bush right next to my feet. The screen of the camera was clear and visible to me as it showed where they stopped as they threw it, which just happened to be a picture of one of our classmates undressing.

"Tsk, really, this again?" I questioned, removing my hands from my ears and picking up the camera from the ground.

As I looked at the camera, I could see that the storage was already almost filled to the brim, most likely filled with pictures of our classmates similar to the one on-screen now.

"Why the hell do you keep bothering us?" Matsuda yelled, thankfully in a much more masculine tone than before.

"You two are the ones who ran by me, and if it weren't for that horde of girls you two pathetically spy on, I wouldn't have even had a second thought," I exclaimed, starting to scroll through their pictures.

"You say that, but you're looking through OUR photos right now! You're no better than we are!" Motohama shouted along with his friend, pointing to their camera that was in my hands.

"Yeah, but not for the same reason as you dumb asses do," I fired back, continuing my search for photos of anyone in particular.

"If you're looking for anything on your precious Akeno and Rias, then forget it, the last time you beat us, we learned to avoid those too," Matsuda quickly spoke, crossing his arms in frustration.

I continued scrolling, as while it wasn't those two in particular, though it didn't seem like they were lying, at least not yet. What was odd was that the cluster of photos was of all the girls in our grade. Though there is a lot of pictures, and I've only made it through a small portion, it's possible that they could just be lying, hoping the sheer mass of photos would detour me from looking.

Then I see it, pictures of all three of the people I was looking for, Wynter, Koneko, and Asia. Each one of them was pictures of them changing in the girl's locker room, not only that, but a few more photos down, and there were the pictures of Rias and Akeno.

I was beyond pissed. I was infuriated. They dare to spy on my friends, and then try and lie to me about taking pictures of my mates.

I went silent, letting go of the camera and letting it fall to the ground. As it landed, both of the perverts got a good look at the screen, and their faces quickly switched to fear as they saw all the pictures of my loved ones.

"I thought you deleted those!" Matsuda shouted at his friend as the backed across the ground away from me.

Motohama didn't respond, as there was nothing to say about what just happened. Both of them continued backing away from me across the ground as I approached them. My foot crushed the camera as I made my way to them, and then Matsuda got on his knees.

[They aren't worth it, you know that] Inanis tried to sway me from attacking. I ignored him.

"Please, we're sorry, we'll do anything you want, just don't please don't hurt us," He began to grovel to me, nearly crying from the shakiness of his voice.

It didn't work. I jumped forward in a burst of speed, slamming my fist at him. Blood spewed from his mouth as he slammed against the ground, no movement coming from him, neither screams of pain.

I reared my foot back, firmly planting it in his gut, a loud cracking noise echoed from him as he was launched back from the sheer force of my kick. I could even feel his lower ribs snapping as I made contact with his limp body.

Matsuda rolled against the ground, rag dolling as he slowly came to a stop from the violent rolling, blood dripping from his mouth into a pool of blood. Motohama was paralyzed in shock and fear, unable to do anything as he stared at what just happened. He barely was able to see what happened, as it was all so fast.

[Issei calm down... you're getting to.. extre...] Inanis's voice began to fade until I could no longer hear him.

I let out a low growl as I gripped the side of my head, the sudden movement sent a sharp pain to my head courtesy to my migraine. My vision began blurring out, causing me to stumble backward.

I could hear my heart pounding as if it was in my ears, and my head matching its beats with waves of pain. I could see blurry visions, and nothing was clear to me anymore. With each and every blur, my surroundings darkened until it was completely black.

Slowly opening my eyes, I looked around my surroundings, completely lost to what was happening, my intense anger filling me as I searched for that other pervert. Yet, when I turned to look where he last was, I wasn't met with his sight. No, instead, I was met with the murderer of my parents.

He was lying on the ground, covered in the blood of my parents, pointing at me as I could hear his echoed laughter seemingly come from everywhere at once. Smoke filled the air, and my house lit ablaze. Just a short distance from us was the bodies of my parents.

His laughter, his mockery, just the sight of him. It filled me with pure, unadulterated rage.

Losing all my sense of reason and filled with rage and hatred, I lunged at him, no other thoughts running through my head other than the desire for revenge. Kokabiel didn't even make an attempt to dodge or move, letting me lift him by the collar of his shirt.

With him now in my grasp, I slammed my fist into his face repetitively, slamming my knee into his gut every once in a while, completely brutalizing the blurry Cadre. He didn't retaliate or block. He only laughed as he coughed, spitting his blood in my face.

I reared my arm back, releasing my claws, preparing to slice at him until he screamed in agony for the suffering he caused, or until he died from the shock or from bleeding out, doesn't matter so long as he suffers for every second of it.

[ISSEI WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!] I heard Inanis's voice shout, surging my head in pain again.

The sudden surge in pain caused me to drop Kokabiel onto the ground in front of me as I stumbled back slightly. I grabbed onto the side of my head, trying to soothe the pain in my head, my eyes shut tight.

[WELL?]

'What the fuck are you yelling about, Kokebiel's right...' I began to mentally yell back, only to open my eyes to no longer see the darkness or blurred Kokabiel that I saw before.

What I saw in front of me was no longer Kokabiel, but the two perverts lying limp. Motohama was far more injured than the other, as his face was drenched in his own blood that poured from his mouth and nose. Looking down at my hands, I could see that my knuckles as well were covered in blood.

[Issei, you took this way to far!]

As Inanis continued to shout and scold me, and my once-powerful rage was replaced with confusion, it became clear what must have happened. Yet, I don't feel guilty about this, not one bit. Instead, my mind ran through thoughts on how to cover this up, and if need be, keep them from dying. Then an idea hit me.

I summoned my sacred gear, causing Inanis to halt mid-sentence. With my index finger extended, I formed a small void hole in front of it. With it now formed, I moved my hand closer to the scene, sucking up the blood on their faces, and the little specks on the grass.

Inanis stayed silent, seemingly silenced by seeing me cover up the scene, something I haven't done since I stopped my rampage on the fallen angels.

Once the blood was gone, I deactivated my gauntlets and checked if they were still breathing, not that I would be disappointed if they died, but for my sake, they need to be alive. Thankfully, they were, and even better, it seemed that Matsuda already stopped bleeding. He definitely got off lucky compared to the other.

Motohama, on the other hand, well, his mouth and nose were still bleeding and covered in bruises from the beating that I gave him. He probably had a broken nose, but it still looked better than before I cleaned him up.

I quickly sat Motohama in an upright position, leaning him against a thick and robust bush so he wouldn't drown in his own blood. If even one of them died, the devil council may agree that if I couldn't control my anger, then I may be a more significant threat than they initially thought. Sirzechs may not be able to cover for me if they all come to the same conclusion.

With everything in check, and being sure that they are cleaned up and both alive, I leave the scene. My hands pocketed until I could get to a bathroom to wash the blood off, as I couldn't exactly clean then with my gauntlets on.

[Issei, I know you want to protect the others, but your starting to act as you used too, like when you were obsessed with Kokabiel, this path your taking is starting to feel like revenge more than protecting the others. Are you sure this is-]

'You told me to focus on the problem, right?'

[Yes, but-]

'That's what I'm doing. Kokabiel, he took everything from Akeno and me, and now, he's threatening to do that again,'

Inanis fell silent on my words.

'I won't lose this family too, I won't let them get hurt, and I won't let Akeno go through losing people she cares about again either. Kokabiel, he won't escape me, not this time, and he will suffer my wrath,'

Inanis didn't say anything, and so long as he didn't, I wasn't going to either.

I continued to make my way to the bathroom, washing my hands thoroughly with soap to remove any possible stains from the drying blood. I did this for nearly a minute, make all assurances that the blood was not visible to anyone in the area.

'Maybe when class starts again, I can get more sleep,' I thought to myself as I flicked my hands to remove the water that was dripping from my hands.

"Issei Hyoudou!" I heard a voice shout at me.

I let out a low growl as I felt someone shaking me slightly to wake me up. Out of instinct, I grabbed the person's hand tightly, moving it off from my body. The person quickly yanked their hand back out of surprise. As I opened my eyes to see who dared to interrupt me in my nap, the sight of the teacher appeared next to me.

"Ah, my bad, it just happens when people wake me up," I quickly apologized, covering my irritation and annoyance to avoid getting into trouble.

"Yes, well I'll have to remember that the next time I have to wake you up like that,"

"What do you need, then?" I asked, impatiently cutting straight to the point.

"You were called over the announcer to go see Ms. Shitori," The teacher simply responded.

This came as a slight surprise to me, as nobody gets called to her unless they're in trouble or own a club, and seeing that I don't lead the ORC, then I must be in trouble. I'll just have to hope that it's about the supernatural world and that I'm not actually in trouble.

"Oh, all right, excuse me then," I spoke, sluggishly getting up from the desk and taking my leave. Thankfully, the teacher didn't say anything about sleeping in their class, but I guess that's a perk of being an A student.

I dropped my fake attitude as soon as the door to the classroom shut behind me. Being waken up like that was just irritating, but at least the headache as receded from the sleep I managed to get from these last classes, and it's a lot better than that damned bell.

I quickly made my way through the halls with a speed walk, as if I am in trouble, then it's best not to keep Sona waiting. I definitely don't want to make this worse than it already could be.

I opened the doors to Sona's room, her peerage standing behind her at her desk similarly to what we do when Rias has visitors. My first thought was this might sign that I wasn't actually in trouble, but that was blown out the window when I noticed her poorly hidden anger.

"Please, take a seat so we can begin," Sona spoke, to which I gladly took it. Better than standing up the entire time.

"So, I want you to try and explain why you thought doing this would be a good idea," Sona asked, her eyes sharpening.

'Yeah, she's definitely pissed,'

"Sorry, not sure what you're talking about, be a little more specific," I responded.

Sona responded by harshly placing two photos in front of me. One of them was a photo of the perverts after being beaten. The other was a photo of them being carried by some paramedics to an ambulance on a stretcher.

"All right, so two people got beaten up. How do you connect all this to me?" I responded, looking back up to her from the photos. My comment seemed to only anger Sona further.

"Well, aside from the fact that you have come to blows with them several times over the time you've been attending our school. There were no signs of a weapon being present, yet they sustained injuries that would be exceedingly difficult for an average person to pull off. They both had several broken ribs, and one even had his skull severely fractured in multiple places," Sona ranted.

"All right, I'll admit it. We got into a scrap that went a little overboard by accident," I admitted, having no other fall back plan.

"How the hell do you do this by accident, Motohama was lucky he didn't die and will be even luckier if he doesn't suffer brain damage!" Sona shouted.

"It just got out of hand, and it's not like they didn't have this coming,"

"I'll be the first to admit. They were low and scummy with the things they did. However, I don't think they deserved to be hospitalized and damn near killed!" She continued her ranting.

"Tsk"

I bit my tongue as her yelling was beginning to piss me off. I'll admit that what I did wasn't intended, but I won't apologize for beating some asshats who refuse to stop perving on my mates. If they were anywhere else when I caught them, they would have been killed outright. Their lucky I didn't kill them the first time I found out.

"Issei, I am the president of the student council, and I have a hard enough time covering for you with their usual beatings. However, if this continues to get worse like it is, I won't be able to cover for you," She continued.

I had nothing to say, nothing kind anyway.

"Your lucky that Rias loves you, Issei, because she is the only reason I'm covering for you this time. You know as well as I that the Devil Council already doesn't trust you, and if they found out this happened, it may tip the opinions of the ones who do to a more negative appeal that Sirzechs may not even be able to cover for," She continued her rant.

I continued holding my tongue, refraining myself from snapping back at her despite my desire to do so. Anything I wanted to say now would unquestionably make it worse than it already has gotten, and I don't need that to happen.

"Well, if you're not going to say anything, then I'll cut to the point. For today, we're sending you home. We don't need you causing any more trouble while were trying to clean this mess up, but if you do it again, you're on your own," Sona spoke, beginning to calm down to her more usual self after that rant.

"Gladly," I simply spoke, standing from my seat to walk away.

As I was walking away out of the door, a hand grabbed my shoulder, stopping me from leaving. Talk about mixed messages, first, they wanted me to go, which I was actually looking forward too, now they are trying to keep me here.

"What?" I asked with irritation, turning my gaze over my shoulder to see Saji.

"What's going on, your acting differently," Saji spoke.

"Outside of the small tips I gave you too use your dragon, we've never talked, so how the hell would you know I'm acting differently?" I sharpened my eyes, the irritation within me growing even more.

"I can just tell somethings bothering you. You know you have friends to talk to, right?" He continued his push to find out what's going on.

I didn't respond, and simply tried to walk away. Yet, he didn't let go, and only tightened his grip on my shoulder to keep me from leaving.

"Is it about your past?" Saji suddenly asked. All other sounds faded as I heard him ask this question.

I sharpened my eyes to their draconic slits and released my draconic aura as I turned slightly and shoved him away from me, causing him to stumble backward into the chair I was using while talking to Sona. My instinctual fear being instilled within him, and without his dragon being awake, he had no resistance to it like Irina could have had.

"Stay out of my damn business,"

The others in the room ran over to help Saji back up while he was shaking from the fear I was triggering within his body. They all gave me angered looks, yet none mustered the courage to say anything, not even Sona was bold enough to say something, or maybe she was smart enough to stay quiet.

I staunched the flow of my aura and reverted my eyes to their more human appearance. I slammed the door as I walked away, the halls echoing with the slamming sound. Even if Saji doesn't know the full extent of what happened with Kokabiel, he hit a nerve without a doubt.

I didn't waste any time, quickly walking out of the large school building. Instead of walking home, I opted to make my way to the old school building to use my shadow movement to get home much quicker.

Thankfully, I couldn't feel any of the others within the ORC room, so I wouldn't wave to worry about them seeing me through the window. Although, Rias and Akeno will catch wind of this eventually, probably today, as I highly doubt that Sona and Rias don't talk to each other about things like this.

Hopefully, they won't bother me about it, or that could cause some complications.

As I made it a reasonable distance down the path to the old school building and out of sight of the current school building, I stopped and checked for any others on this path with me. With no others there, I allowed the shadows to surround my body.

As my vision faded from me, I closed my eyes. When I reopened them, and the shadows began to disappear from my sight, I could see the furniture that I have in the living room. The room dimly lit, as the lights were still turned off from this morning.

I let my body go limp, falling back directly in one of the chairs, pulling my phone from my pocket, and opening the clock app to set an alarm for about ten minutes before I'm supposed to meet the others at the church. This way, I would get at least the minimum amount of sleep to catch up from last night, and just enough time to get ready before I have to leave to meet them.

With that done, I placed my phone on the counter next to me, closing my eyes as I let out a sigh of relief. This chair was much comfier than those hard desks at school, and it was relaxing to actually get some peace in quiet, something I have properly had since the girls moved into the house. I forgot how much I liked the silence.

It didn't take long for my exhaustion to catch up with my mind and body, as just shortly after putting my phone away, I could feel the irritation fade away as my consciousness began to fade away.

Sona and I walked into a rather sizeable personal sauna made for Sona herself, both of us accompanied by our queens, Tsubaki and Akano. An ornate pillar was standing within the center of the rounded room, seats were built into the wall, as it followed the curvature of the room.

"I haven't been here in, well, it feels like it's been forever," I spoke, allowing my towel to drop to the floor. A somewhat nostalgic feeling coming to me from the memories Sona and I made together here.

"Did you used to come here often?" Akeno questioned, dropping her towel as well.

"In the past, when we were younger, Rias and I would come here to share secrets. Since this place is directly connected to my stronghold, it is impossible to enter so long as the space is closed off, " Sone spoke from behind me, her towel and her queens dropping to the floor.

"No wonder you two could tell your secrets here," Akeno giggled.

"Well, all I did was complain about being scolded by my mother, and other childish things. If I remember correctly, Sona only complained about her bigger sister," I giggled, teasing my fellow King.

"Yes, but that's all in the past now," Sona simply spoke.

"I assumed you didn't call us here to simply reminisce Sona, what is it that you need?" I asked.

"It's about Issei," Sona spoke, her expression adapted quite a serious look.

"My my, that boy can be quite the handful..." Akeno sighed.

"I would be more serious if I were you, this could end poorly," Tsubaki spoke up, surprising both Akeno and myself.

Aside from Issei's encounters with the perverted duo, he was relatively a behaved individual, so to hear that he could have gotten in serious trouble was more than just surprising.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Issei, well, he nearly killed those two perverts today. Don't worry, I already tried to clear up some of the damage. The humans are alive, and no one should remember what happened to them. Even so, the fact that Issei did this warrants a talk," Sona bluntly spoke.

Both Akeno's and my own eyes widen upon hearing Sona speak. It's shocking to hear and hard to believe that he would suddenly do something like this out of the blue, but then again, maybe it has something to do with that enormous sense of rage I felt from him earlier today.

I know Akeno felt it too, but at the time, Akeno and I were busy, so we couldn't have run out to see what was going on. Even then, it was only short-lived, as that feeling faded from him about as quickly as it arrived.

"What, why would he do that? It's not like Issei to kill someone without a good reason, so why now?" Akeno quickly spoke.

"Do you know why he did this?" I asked, hoping to find some reason for his actions.

"Nothing confirmed, but I think it has something to do with revealing photos of his friends or mates as there was a crushed camera near the scene," Sona spoke.

"That's odd. Issei has beaten them before for the very reason, so why did he almost kill them now?" I questioned, placing my hand on my chin in thought.

"That's not all either. There's more that happened when he arrived at my office," Sona spoke, shaking me from my thoughts as she grabbed my attention.

"I'm sorry if he caused you two any trouble, but please, what happened?" I asked.

"I think Saji needs your apologies more than either of us do," Tsubaki spoke, confusing bothe Akeno and myself.

"He was quiet and refused to talk about what happened out there, so he's obviously trying to hide something. The main thing is, though, is that when Saji stopped him from leaving and asked if it was about his past, it seemed like he hit a nerve," Sona spoke.

"What do you mean?" Akeno asked.

"Don't worry, he didn't hurt Saji, at least not physically, but his pride might be a bit damaged," Tsubaki reassured, giving us some slight relief.

"When he asked that question, Issei knocked Saji's hand from his shoulder and shoved him away. Then a significant amount of aura began to flow from him, scaring Saji senseless," Sona elaborated.

"I can't blame him for being scared. Issei's aura had so much force and pressure, even though it wasn't even directed at me," Tsubaki spoke, her hands shaking slightly from remembering the feeling of his aura.

I went silent as I thought about everything that was going on. Why was Issei doing this so suddenly, distancing himself, being more brutal than he needs. It's almost like he's reverting to how he acted when he first showed up too us.

Then it hit me, a realization that must be why this is happening. Saji's question, and how he reacted to it. Issei might be getting involved with Kokabiel again. Mixed emotions began to fill me, anger that he lied to us, but even more so worried that he's now putting himself in danger like this.

"...I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to cut this meeting short. I need to go talk to Issei," I spoke, suddenly standing from the seat to leave and re-dress. Akeno hastily did the same, as she was just a worried as I was.

"That may not be such a good idea right now," Tsubaki spoke up, causing me to stop in my tracks.

"And why not?" Akeno asked, her gaze bore into the other Queen.

"We've received several reports from teachers that Issei has been severely more irritable today than usual, and if that incident with Saji and those other two are any evidence, then it might be best to leave him be, for today at least," Sona reasoned.

"Well, we can just pretend this isn't happening, if he's doing what I think he's doing, then I need to speak with him now," I spoke, Akeno nodding ina agreement.

"I understand Rias, but he's clearly irritable today, and he's already snapped at three people. I don't think he would snap at you two, but I also doubt you'd get anything from him with his mindset that he has right now," Sone explained.

Akeno and I stayed silent. We both knew that there was some truth behind those words.

"Why don't you two wait for today, and you can ask him about these things tomorrow when he has hopefully calmed down," Tsubaki advised.

"I just... he knows we would help, so why wouldn't he tell us?" Akeno asked. No one had an answer.

.

.

.

"As much as I don't want to, I agree, we should wait for tomorrow," I spoke.

"...I guess," Akeno sighed. She clearly didn't want to wait, but she couldn't deny that talking to him now would get us nowhere.

*Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep*

I slowly opened my eyes, the continuous beeping waking me from my deep sleep. I looked around confused as to where I was, and why it was and why the sun seemed not to be raising over the morning horizon.

After a few moments of thought with the alarm going off, the memories of why I set it hit me. I quickly reached for my phone, turning it off. I looked over to the couch to see that Wynter seemed to be still asleep. I expected her to be woken from my alarm, guess I just got lucky.

With a stretch and a yawn, I rose from the chair where I was sleeping. Then another idea hit me, why didn't they wake me up when they got home? I figured Sona would have said something to Rias and maybe Akeno, and they would have come in furious with me. Well, they didn't, guess it doesn't matter why they didn't.

Looking at the surroundings in both the living room and the kitchen, it seemed that nothing was really touched, excluding the cookware. Maybe they were letting me get some sleep, and didn't even come out of their rooms besides to eat.

It doesn't matter, so long as they don't know whats going on tonight, they won't be in danger.

I made my way to the laundry room as quietly as possible. Entering, I found my coat as well as my other combat attire. They were clean, but far from perfect, showing several spots of damage from my previous fights. I should get a new one sometime.

I put on all of my combat attire, leaving the clothing that I wore today in the dirty clothes bin to be washed later.

I slowly made my way back out of the laundry room, attempting to be quiet as the boots made much louder steps than what I was previously wearing. Then, I was met with a surprise as I entered the kitchen of my house.

I froze in place as I saw Wynter standing next to the front door, her arms crossed as she stared at me. Yet, she didn't seem the least bit surprised by my combat attire, and almost looked like she was waiting for me to show up.

"I thought you were asleep, sorry if I woke you up," I spoke, pretending to act like nothings going on.

"Do you always wear that to bed?" She sarcastically remarked.

"I already slept, so I figured I'd go look at some futons for you," Wynter rose an eyebrow at my words.

"In your ass-kicking suit?" She sarcastically asked.

"Tsk, what do you want," I asked, dropping the act.

"I want to go with you,"

"Not a chance," I quickly responded, walking past Wynter too the door.

"Why not? You let Kiba in on this little plan of yours, so why won't you let me? I'm your familiar. It's my job to guard and serve you," She retorted.

I stopped, turning over my shoulder to look at her with a sharp gaze.

"How do you even know I'm doing something?"

"I can just tell, you're my master, and I'm your familiar," She spoke.

'So it's her animalistic instincts, and with her bond through me, she managed to pick something up. Damn, I was so focused on keeping Rias and Akeno in the dark I didn't think she would pick up on it,' I thought to myself. My hand clenching in annoyance.

I stopped at the door, turning to look at her from over my shoulder with a sharp gaze.

"How much do you know? Did you tell any of the others?"

"Not much, and I didn't tell them anything, I figured you would have told them if you didn't want this to be a secret," Wynter reasoned.

"Good, keep it that way by staying here and not saying anything, got it,"

"But-"

"You said familiars are supposed to protect and serve their master, right?"

"I did, so let me-"

"Then you can start by staying here where it's safe and keeping your mouth shut about anything you know. Protect the others for me while I'm gone, this could get out of hand,"

"but I-"

"That's an order,"

She went silent, her ears hanging down in a flat position. With no further objections coming from her, I made my exit, shutting the door behind me with her standing there as I left.

As I walked to the back of my home, the cold air hit me, my breath easily visible. It was indeed suitable weather for the events that could expire tonight, almost like a bad omen.

Upon walking in my back yard, I stopped. With me now being out of sight to those around me, both in my house and other houses, I allowed the shadows to morph around my body. My vision faded as the shadows surrounded me, completely engulfing my body.

As the shadows faded, I could see the large wooden doors to the church tower before me. I could hear three voices faintly from within the stone building, assumably the two girls and Kiba. I showed up precisely on time, so make sense they would be here before me.

I gave a push to one side of the dual wooden doors, just enough to make my way through the crack between them. The sounds of my footsteps echoed through the stone structure, as well as the creaking of the large wooden door being opened.

"Hey, Ise!" Irina shouted, giving me a wave with a big smile.

"Ah, finally decided to arrive. I was about ready to start without you, but your friend said that you wouldn't miss this for anything," Xenovia spoke, glancing over to me.

"Yeah, there's n-... very little I would miss this for," I responded, making my way over to them to see them with a map and some boxes.

"Good. Now, if we're all ready, let's get caught up on this plan of yours," Kiba spoke.

"Well, currently I'd like you two to point out some locations that a relatively devoid of people, you know this town better than us, any place that lacks a public eye will be a good location to search in," Xenovia spoke, rolling out the map of Kuoh.

"After we get these locations marked, we'll split into teams of two and search the areas individually. Since we exchanged numbers, we can call each other if we find them," Xenovia explained.

Kiba and I proceded with her plan, pointing out any location on the map that lacks a significant human presence. Kiba did more than I though, as I was absent from this place for so long that a lot of the area has changed. However, a particular location caught my eye.

"Hey, isn't this where we killed that stray devil?" I asked, pointing to the area on the map.

"Yeah, it is, you think he could be there?" Kiba asked.

"Well, that stray killed a lot of people there, so I doubt any other humans would have moved in with all the deaths. It's been long enough that the police either falsely arrested someone or they closed the case. Sounds like a good hiding spot to me," I reasoned.

"Well, you've been hunting Kokabiel for most of your life, so if anyone is going to guess where he's at, it'll be you," Kiba agreed. Xenovia circled the area with a red marker like the others.

With that concluded, we had three locations circled with a red marker, two of them being rather large blocks of abandoned warehouses or factories that haven't be bought by another company. The last and third location was the area where we killed that stray devil.

"Good. Kiba and Issei will be part of one group and search this area, while Irina and I will be part of another group and search this area. After you search your area head to the final location, Irina and I will do the same. Sound good?" Xenovia spoke.

"Yeah, I get the gist of it. What weapon are you going to use, though?" I asked since she was down a weapon since I broke the Excalibur destruction.

"I have to use a normal light sword, thanks to you. The Excalibur Destruction was sent back to the church for repairs," She responded with slight anger, pulling out the light sword to show me.

"Is that all the questions?" Xenovia asked, putting away her sword.

"What are the boxes for?" Kiba asked, pointing over to the two boxes behind Xenovia.

"Our disguises, of course," Xenovia answered.

Irina opened the lids of the boxes with a broad smile, revealing to Kiba and me what was inside. Upon seeing the clothing that was folded inside, I almost lost it from the irony.

.

.

.

.

.

.

"I never thought I would be wearing something like this. I mean, devils in priests' clothing, this has got to be one hell of a sin," I chuckled, buttoning up the last few buttons on my collar.

"I figured you two would be a little more hesitant to put them on," Irina spoke.

"Nothing will stop us from achieving our goals," Kiba spoke, a shine of determination flickering within his eyes.

"Just remember the plan, you two search your area, and Irina and I will search ours. Then we'll both head to the third spot, and if you find them call Irina's cell phone," Xenovia spoke.

"Yeah yeah, we'll do that. Just remember to do it if you find them," I responded. I wouldn't have a single ounce of trust for her if it weren't for the fact that they'd die without our help.

"Oh, and before we leave, I have something to tell you, Issei," Xenovia spoke.

"Tell me?"

"There are rumors that the white dragon has awoken, and is emerging in the world," She spoke.

I was surprised to hear this leave her lips. I don't know how she would have heard rumors of it, nor do I care, though it isn't too surprising for her to learn this with her relationship with the red dragon. I do know there is some validity from her words, as I heard this rumor myself some time ago before I joined this peerage.

Regardless of who or how she heard of this, she should be more concerned with her partner. Irina being the red dragon will naturally attract the white, to where they are destined to battle. There's no way to tell who is stronger as of now.

Even so, I'll have to keep ready for an encounter with them. Even if they don't have a feud with me, we are bound to meet me eventually. Without knowing who they are, there's no way to tell what they will do upon meeting me, so even if the white dragon doesn't have a quarrel with the black, the host might want to fight.

"Consider it repayment for you taking care of us. Now let's go," Xenovia spoke, walking towards the door with Irina follow shortly behind.

'I mean, that was to get on your good side after breaking your sword, but whatever,' I thought to myself watching her leave.

"Come on, we better get going too," Kiba spoke.

"Yeah, let's get moving," I nodded.

Kiba and I walked through the entire area, searching every nook and cranny of every abandoned building we found, only to be met with nothing. There were no signs of any activity here outside of some stray animals. This place looked like it hasn't been touched for quite some time.

'Damnit, I was hoping we find something tonight, I don't care what, I just want some kind of lead,' I thought to myself, clenching my fist at the thought of Kokabiel getting away.

"Hey, why don't you go ahead and text them. we aren't that far, so we should be getting there soon," Kiba spoke.

"Yeah, yeah," I rolled my eyes, pulling my phone from my pocket.

I wrote a quick message reading, "We're on our way to the third spot,"

As I hit send, it was already received as read. A little chat bubble appeared at the corner of my screen, so she must have had the phone opened as I sent the message. Talk about timing.

After a few moments, I received a message from Irina reading, "Same, we just finished up so we'll meet you there,"

"They just finished looking around their area as well, so we'll probably run into them when we get there," I spoke, pocketing my phone.

"Good, the more people we have, the better," Kiba responded.

While he's right, I wouldn't have minded if they were behind. Irina's fine, but Xenovia, she still gets on my nerves. Threatening Asia like that, it still pissed me off even now, though it wasn't near as bad as when it happened.

Then another thought came to me. I haven't heard Inanis since that incident with those perverts. I know he worries about me, practically like he's my father. I don't blame him for that, but I can't let this opportunity pass, and I won't wait for Kokabiel to take everything from me again.

"Ise!" I heard Irina's voice call out to me, shaking me from my thoughts.

Looking over, I could see Irina running towards us, waving with a grin across her face, Xenovia following behind her. Kiba wasn't lying, though. We did get here pretty quickly.

"I assume that since your here, Kokabiel wasn't there. Did you two get any form of leads?" Xenovia asked.

"Nothing, aside from stray animals," Kiba responded.

"That place was as empty as it looks. What about you, guys?" I sighed.

"Same here, there wasn't a single lead in our area," Xenovia responded, much to my dismay.

"Don't get so down you guys, he could still be in the last location, so let's go look," Irina.

"You better be right. I wanted to find something at least today," I sighed, turning to walk down the path to our next location with the others.

"As do I, the longer we leave those swords in their hands, the more damage could be done," Xenovia agreed. Finding Kokabiel is something that we can at least agree with.

We continued to walk down the path in silence, each of us keenly aware of our surroundings, anxious for anything to happen. The building came into view, and the memories of using killing that stray were still fresh in my mind.

Then suddenly, Kiba stuttered in his movement slightly, seemingly stunned by some presence that hit him. As he balanced himself, he created a sword from thin air into his hands.

"Issei, you feel that?" Kiba asked, tightening his grip on the hilt of the blade.

*BA-BUMP*

Within that instance, I felt it too. A chill ran up my spine as the same feeling from my meeting with Freed gave me surged within me. It was undoubtedly a holy aura, and a strong one at that. It wasn't just that, as I could feel an intense killing intent being direct towards us.

"NOTHING LIKE SOME DIVINE PROTECTION FOR FELLOW PRIESTS!" A voice shouted from above us.

As we all looked up, the sight of a white-haired priest was rapidly descending upon us. In his hands was a large blade shaped like kris, and it was practically drowning in holy energy.

Xenovia and Irina both dove out of the path of the swinging sword, even though the sword was heading directly for me. Within an instant, my draconic features riped the priest's clothing off of my body, revealing me in my usual combat attire.

My scaled tail raised above my head, intercepting the strike to me. A loud metallic screech echoed through the area as the blade slammed into my tail. The sword bounced off of my tail, causing the white-haired priest to jump back onto the roof of the building.

The sword didn't leave any cuts on my tail, but it did leave a small burning sensation. At least now I know I can take a hit from swords with this much holy power without any severe damage.

"Damn, your one tough bitch, aren't you. Damn hybrid freak," He angrily spoke.

"So, you remember me? I'm surprised you recognized a devil with priests' clothing on," I sarcastically spoke.

"As if I could mistake that disgusting aura of yours. Your leaking droves of it, can't imagine what kind of fear I would get if I killed a monster of your class," Freed manically chuckle to himself with a wide grin.

"Kill me? Don't you remember what happened the last time you tried that, or did I strike you so hard that you forgot," I mocked him, releasing my claws for the upcoming fight.

"Shut the fuck up! You may have beaten me then, but now I have a shiny new toy to play with," He shouted, showing off the blade for all to see.

The others ripped off the priest's clothing, throwing it to the side. They all ran up to my side, pulling out their own weapons, Xenovia replacing her Excalibur with a plain light sword that Freed tried to use against me in our first encounter.

[BOOST]

"Oh my! Is that the Red Dragon Emperor that I hear? What an honor to be confronted by two Heavenly Dragons, I can't wait to hear her scream," He laughed, looking at Irina's red gauntlet.

"So just a guess, but is that an Excalibur he's holding?" I asked.

"Yes, it's Excalibur Rapidly. It grants the wielder incredibly enhanced speed, fast enough to create after images of oneself if used properly," Xenovia responded, tightening her grip on the light sword.

"Well, which one of you am I going to get to kill first?" He asked, licking his sword.

"Leave them out of this. Your only opponent is me!" Kiba shouted, dashing up towards him.

Kiba slammed his sword into the Excalibur with an overhead strike, only for Freed to quickly block it effortlessly. Xenovia wasn't exaggerating, Freed was able to keep up with Kiba easily.

"No matter how many devils muster the courage, THEY ARE NOTHING COMPARED TO MY SWORD!" Freed shouted, vanishing from in front of Kiba and reappearing in the air behind him.

Kiba quickly spun around, raising his sword into the air, blocking Freeds strike. As their swords locked, Freed began to push back on Kiba, gaining ground on the roof.

"So how do you like it? It's super fast right, right?" He asked, clearly enjoying himself.

Freed and Kiba both began rapidly vanishing and reappearing with their swords clashed, as they were having a high-speed battle on the roof. The screeching sounds of metal clashing echoed through the forest every time their swords collided.

[BOOST]

Ddraig's voice called out from Irina's gauntlet, which sparked an idea in me. With my claws still ready to strike in case of a surprise attack, I jumped back to Irina.

"How much longer till you've got that dragon of yours ready?" I whispered to her to keep Freed from hearing.

"Eh, two or three more times and I'll have a decent amount of power built up, why?"

"The Red Dragon Emperor has the ability to transfer energy right? When there's an opening, I want you to give it to Kiba," I responded, my gauntlets forming around my hand with a violet glow.

"Got it, I'll let you know when I'm ready, but how will I get up there?" She asked, throwing her dragon gauntlet forwards.

"I'll cover that when we get to it, for now, focus on charging up. Xenovia, can you cover Irina while she's trying to charge up?" I requested, turning my attention to her from Irina.

[BOOST]

"No problem, but what are you going to do?" She asked, moving to stand in front of Irina with her sword ready.

"I'm going to try and slow Freed down so Kiba can recover from this setback," I responded, moving closer to the fighting.

"Ooooh, what's wrong, are you three feeling left out? Don't worry, when I'm done with this one, I'LL HAVE PLENTY FOR YOU ALL," He yelled from the midst of his battle with Kiba.

I stopped once I was close enough to do something, and now all I had to do was think of what to do and when. I watched Kiba and Freed dash through the air, and while the others may have had trouble keeping up, I could see them both with ease.

I patiently waited, allowing a pool of shadows to form on the roof with them. Thankfully Freed didn't notice, or this may not work.

[BOOST]

It was no doubt while watching their fight, Kiba was definitely the better swordsman as Freed was sloppy in his form, but that damn sword made him so fast it didn't matter. Within those mistakes Freed made, I could see small openings to strike, and they happened rather consistently.

Kiba jumped over my pool of shadows into the air, quite possibly perfectly setting Freed up for my plan as he jumped after Kiba, following directly in his path. I took this opportunity graciously.

"You can't dodge mid-air dumbass, now enjoy being chained!" I shouted, my shadow chains shooting out from the pool of shadows, wrapping themselves around his legs.

"FUCK!" Freed shouted in anger as the chain quickly dragged him to the roof, stifling his movements entirely as he could no longer move from that spot.

[BOOST]

"How does it feel to have chains digging into your legs?" I asked, smirking as I watched him struggle to break free.

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" He shouted, repeatedly hitting the chains on his legs, progressively getting angrier with each strike that he made.

"Issei, I'm ready!" Irina shouted.

I didn't waste any time, throwing my other free arm back. Small shadow platforms formed in front of Irina, each one hovering off the ground, leading her directly to Kiba on the rooftop. Irina dashes forwards at full speed, leaping from platform to platform.

On the last platform, Irina flipped over Kiba, boosting herself off of him by pushing herself off of his shoulder with her dragon gauntlet. As her gauntlet made contact with Kiba's shoulder, the green gem began glowing brightly.

[TRANSFER]

Her sacred gear declared loudly, as she finished the flip over him by landing gracefully behind him. The boosts green aura began to encompass Kiba, his aura multiplying several times over.

"Thank you. I will use this power to my greatest!" Kiba shouted, his sword began glowing as he raised it above his head.

Freed turned and stared at the determined Knight, shocked by the power boost that he has received.

"GET UP!" Kibe demanded. Freed quickly turned back around to strike at the chains around his legs again, only to be met with the same time-wasting results.

"WHY CAN'T I GET THIS OFF!" He shouted in anger.

"SWORD BIRTH!" Kiba shouted, slamming his sword into the ground, funneling all his extra power into this one attack. Swords began to shoot out of the roof all around Kiba, slowly making their way over to the chained Freed.

Freed quickly began to panic as his imminent death approached. Initially, he tried to run, but with those chains, he wasn't going anywhere. So instead, he resorted to swinging his Excalibur around him wildly, breaking any sword Kiba created that got too close.

"My, is that Sword Birth? That's quite the rare sacred gear. A sacred gear that can have an infinite number of powers, depending on the possessor of course," A mysterious voice spoke from within the building.

From within the dark building, a figure walked out, being revealed by the light of the moon. What was revealed appeared to be a short, bespectacled elderly man with gray hair, a mustache, black eyes, who wore a priest outfit.

"It appears your use of Holy Swords could use some improvement as well Freed," He continued, looking up with a smile at the insane white-haired devil hunter.

"Oh, is that you old man Valper?" Freed asked.

Everyone in the area was shocked to see him here. We knew Valper had a chance to be here, but we never expected to find him, none the less in a situation like this. Kiba seemed to be the most shocked, as his swords stopped shooting the ground as his identity was revealed.

"So, this is the old man that killed those children, right?"

"That's right," Xenovia responded, her grip tightening around her sword as hatred began to leak out through her aura.

"VALPER GALILEI!" Kiba shouted from the rooftop. His eyes glaring at the old man with rage and hatred.

"The one and only," Valper responded with a smirk.

"Damn it, make yourself useful, and help me break these chains!" Freed shouted.

"Tsk, you still aren't using the holy-sword correctly? Use the element I gave you more wisely, gather the holy element that's coursing throughout your body, and move it to the blade of your sword. That should increase the sword's effects and strengths," Valper explained.

"Oh, is that all? One holy cocktail coming up!" He shouted, the aura began to expand around his sword rapidly.

Freed began to laugh maniacally as the aura encompassed his body. With a burst of power, the golden aura began forcefully emitting from him, breaking the chains around his legs.

"I got an idea! WHY DON"T YOU ALL STAY STILL SO I CAN CUT YOU DOWN WITH THIS SWORD!" Freed shouted, dashing towards Kiba.

Kiba was still focused on Valper, just noticing Freed as he already closed the distance between the two. Just as Freed was about to cut down Kiba, a sword blocked for Kiba, stoping Freed's sword in its tracks.

"The fuck?" Freed spoke, looking at the blade that blocked him. Following the stretched blade led to Irina, who used its ability to change shapes to stretch it out in front of Kiba and block despite the distance.

At that moment, Xenovia ran up the platforms just as Irina did, raising her sword above her head to slash Freed across the back. Unfortunately, he heard her coming, and with his increased speed, he dodged her easily.

"You are both traitors! Hear me Freed Sellzen, and Valper Galilei! I condemn your souls in the name of our God!" Xenovia declared.

"How dare you! Don't you ever croak that disgusting name in my presence ever again!" Freed shouted.

"Come now, Freed, don't you think it's time we leave to report back to Kokabiel?" Valper Galilei spoke.

"Tsk, I suppose your right, and I was having so much fun too," Freed whined, reaching into his coat to grab something.

"No need, I'm already here," A deep voice spoke.

I shot up from within the bed cold bed, Issei not being there to warm it up with his abnormal body temperature. This feeling, it was bad, and it was strong.

Looking over, I could see that Akeno was also woken up by this power, as she was sitting up from the bed just as I was.

"You feel it too?" I asked.

"Yeah, I do. Where's Issei, he should've been here by now," Akeno asked.

"I don't...," In that instance I felt more presence out there by the first, the others being of divine origin. The other two were unmistakeably Kiba and Issei.

My stomach instantly dropped as if an anchor weighed it down upon realizing whats happening. Akeno seemed to have the same realization if her worried expression had anything to say.

"Get ready, we're going after them, call Koneko when your done getting dressed," I instructed my Queen.

"Of course," Akeno responded.

The voice drew everyone's attention instantly, and upon looking up, we all seen the same thing. A dark figure floating in the sky, nine feathered wings adorning his back, the tenth wing only appeared as a stub with severe burn marks.

Their appearance, and the pressure that they were emitting made their identity unmistakable. That was Kokabiel.

The others jumped off the building to put distance between then from Kokabiel, each of them gathering together next to me back on the ground.

"My, this is quite the reunion, isn't it boy," Kokabiel spoke, his glowing red eyes staring down at me.

Just hearing his voice pissed me off beyond belief. I could feel my anger boiling from inside as I clenched my fists, my hands bleeding from my claws stabbing into my own palm.

"Boss, why are you here?" Freed asked.

"There are more than enough holy swords gathered in this one location to enact our plans, so we are going to take them," Kokabiel responded.

"What do the repulsive likes of you want with the holy swords?" Xenovia shouted up to Kokabiel.

" I was thinking about doing some damage while I'm here, starting with that institution and them the rest of the town," Kokabiel responded.

"Why would you want to destroy our school?" Kiba asked.

"In doing so, I might be able to drag out Sirzechs and make him help that crimson haired sister of his,"

Then his grand plan hit me.

"You really are trying to start a great war, aren't you?" I asked, struggling to suppress my overflowing rage.

"Obviously! I was so bored after the first war ended, but Azazel and Shemhazai were so passive about when the next great war would start," Kokabiel explained.

The others were shocked to hear that he wanted to start another great war. The idea of that happening was horrific. It would devastate all life that exists in the world.

"We three factions are barely in a state of equilibrium, and this town is a powder keg just waiting for a spark. I've got Rias Gremory, the devil king's little sister, and on the other side, I've got Sona Sitri, Sitri-Leviathan's sister. Accompany that with the holy swords that I've stolen and how much power that must be hanging over that school, and I could start a war any time I wanted!" Kokabiel declared with laughter.

"...Dear God," Irina muttered to herself, the full gravity of the situation hitting.

"Freed, before you head the school, pick up that Excalibur mimic from the Red Dragon Emperor, by any means necessary," Kokabiel instructed.

"Gladly," He laughed, dashing our way with his sword glowing its golden hue.

"I'll butcher you so bad that you're going to look like Issei's family!" Freed shouted, raising his sword for a strike at Iriana.

At that moment, with those words, I could no longer hold my rage. Something within me snapped. My aura violently shot out of my body, the force shoving the others out of the way of Freed and myself.

As Freed was swinging the sword down, I slammed the palm of my hand into the side of the blade with unrestrained power. The sword snapped in half in Freeds hands, causing him to stumble forward.

"WEAK,"

As he stumbled, I readied my claws to cut off his head in one fell strike. However, my attack was interrupted as I sensed powerful holy magic fly at me, and out of instinct, I defended against it by forming a shadow barrier with the hand I was going to use to kill Freed.

The explosion destroyed the ground beneath me, sending dust into the sky, blocking the sight of me from the others.

"... Issei's family?" Irina muttered to herself in confusion, as both she and Xenovia began to realize why the hatred for him was intense for me.

The dust cleared, revealing Freed laying on the ground behind me. A black a violet aura violently flowed from my body, hatred and rage flowing out in droves from my aura. My slitted violet eyes were bearing into Kokabiel, all of my killing intent direct towards him.

"Tsk, seeing that you lost rapidly, I'll let you use these to finish what you started," Kokabiel spoke, throwing two more Excaliburs at Kiba.

"Oh my, what a gift from the boss himself, I'll gladly kill them using these," Freed grinned once again, picking up the two swords the landed next to him.

He was now holding two different Excaliburs, yet one was already seen to us before. In one hand, he was holding what appeared to be a regular sword with the power of an Excalibur, and in the other was unmistakably the Excalibur Destruction that Xenovia used.

"Excalibur Transparency," Irina spoke.

"That's Impossible! I sent that back too the church how did you get it!" Xenovia shouted.

"You may want to improve your security. That priest that you had take this toy back was pathetic, and boy did he scream when I had fun with him," Freed laughed.

"Damn it," Xenovia gritted her teeth in frustration.

"Issey Hyoudou, come, and I will send you to see your weak and pathetic parents," Kokabiel mocked, throwing his arms wide open as he flew away from the area.

"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU! YOU HEAR ME!"

My aura flares even more, and I launch into the air in a blind rage after leaving a violet and black streak as I chased after Kokabiel. The ground where I once stood was utterly destroyed, nothing but a crater of rubble remained of that path.

"Looks like we're going have to deal with this one," Irina spoke, getting back up from the ground with the others.

[BOOST]

"Issei can beat Kokabiel, and in the meanwhile, I'll get my own revenge," Kiba confidently spoke, swords jolting out from the ground beneath him.

"Oh, I'm glad you're all so anxious to die!" Freed shouted, the blades vanishing from his hands. With one hand raised, he slammed the indivisible blade into the ground, destroying it even further.

"This isn't going to be easy. He's using Excaliber Transparency and Destruction in tandem," Xenovia spoke, gripping her sword.

Freed let out a cry of maniacal laughter, charging headfirst to the group with his invisible swords.

Kokabiel has been on the run for some time now, and I continued on my chase after Kokabiel, clenching my fist as he kept managing to avoid me with maneuvres. The longer I chased him, the more pissed I got.

"IS RUNNING ALL YOUR GOOD AT!"

I dashed forwards, making multiple attempts to slice his wings to immobilize him, yet all of them failed to hit the intended target as I either missed, or he barely managed to move out of the way. They either knocked feathers off of him or sliced through his baggy robe.

With every failed attempt, Kokabiel laughed, mocking me as he continued to fly away. It only filled me with more anger, growling to myself as my aura increased from my rage.

Shadows began forming in my hand, slowly morphing into the shape of a small scythe connected to a chain that wrapped around my arms. With a mighty swing, I let go of the scythe, sending it flying at the fleeing Kokabiel.

In an instant, Kokabiel turned around to face me, his arms outstretched with a powerful holy javelin sent flying towards my scythe from his hands. Upon contact, both of our attacks exploded, filling the air with dark smoke, blocking my line of sight to him completely.

I didn't waste any time to move around the smoke. Instead, I charged ahead on through it. There was no reason to fear a smokescreen. If I managed to catch him, he's finished, if he didn't know that, then he would be running.

As I exited the smoke, it seemed as if time slowed down as I saw a dark blast of energy heading directly to me. Behind the blast was Kokabiel was facing me with a dark sword in his hand, pointing directly at me. I ran straight into a trap.

I quickly tried to extend my wings to act as brakes, but my actions were far too late, as before I could even fully extend my wings, the blast slammed directly into my face.

I closed my eyes out of instinct as the blast slammed into me. The shot knocked me off balance, causing me to hurl through the air blindly. With my eyes closed as I fell from the sky, my sense of balance and direction was entirely shot.

As I tried to extend my wings in an attempt to catch myself, I felt myself slam into the trees of the forest beneath us, my momentum carrying me as I broke through each tree that I hit. I then slammed into the ground, forcefully denting the ground as I slid across it.

As I slowly came to a stop, I tried to peer out my eyes, and yet when I opened them, everything was blurred beyond belief. The sky was entirely dark, lacking the stars that were previously there beforehand, even just a short distance into the forest that surrounds me was just as dark.

"What did you do to me!" I shouted, stumbling to stand from my disorientated state. My voice echoing throughout the dark forest.

"It's called the Excalibur Nightmare, a sword able to cause illusions and alter the dreams of others," Kokabiel laughed, his voice seemingly coming from all directions at once.

'Where is his voice coming from, and why can't I pick up his scent or energy anymore? Is this all because of that damned Excalibur he's using?" I thought to myself, slowly standing up as I regained my balance while using a tree to prop myself.

I couldn't fly into the dark sky, nor walk aimlessly through the forest or risk leaving myself open to attacks. With no other options left, I raised my arm and formed a sphere of Extinction while propping me up with the other.

It was then that I heard the sound of a branch breaking echo throughout the forest. Immediately I turned over to look where the sound came from, and from within the darkness peered two red eyes staring directly at me.

Without hesitation, I shot the sphere from my hands at the red glowing eyes. Much to my dismay, the sphere passed right beneath the eyes without exploding, and instead exploded against a distant tree. The eyes then vanished from sight as Kokabiel's voice began laughing from all directions once again.

"Pathetic, you didn't even come close to hitting me, though I don't know what I expected. You may be strong, but your nothing but a child throwing a temper tantrum," Kokabiel mocked while laughing.

I let out a low growl in response, forming another sphere within my hands. Yet, before it could ultimately form, I felt another shot of the same dark energy from before hit me once again. As it hit and its effects took hold, my world completely faded to nothingness as my attack dispersed. I fell from the tree to the ground as it vanished in front of my eyes.

"What's going on?" I shouted, looking around the darkness.

"Don't piss yourself lizard, I'm not going to kill you. At least not yet anyway," Kokabiel laughed.

"Then what are you doing this for?"

"I have plans, and since you decided to take my wing, I figured I'd make sure you suffered greatly while I executed said plans," Kokabiel explained.

"If you hurt anyone, I will make sure you suffer a thousand lifetimes of torment when I get out of here!" I shouted, remembering what he said his goal was from earlier.

"I'd be more worried about your self than them, but try to have fun until I come back," Kokabiel spoke, his voice fading away.

"Get back here damn it! I'm going to kill you, you hear me!" I continue shouting into the darkness.

Kokabiel didn't respond.

I was about to shout once more, but the sudden appearance of my shadow surrounded by orange light emanating from behind me caught my attention. The light was shortly accompanied by the smell of smoke and blood and the crackling sound of a large open flame.

Looking up, I was no longer met with pure darkness. Rather, I was met with the sight of a familiar dark neighborhood loomed by dark clouds. It was my neighboorhood.

Slowly turning around, I was met with a sight that was oh so familiar to me. A sight that has haunted me throughout my life.

Akeno, Asia, and I have been trying to leave for some time now, but Wynter has been blocking the door by standing in front of it and refuses to move. We've tried to convince her to let us pass, but she won't budge and hasn't responded to anything we say. She would simply stand there looking down with her hair covering her eyes.

As we've been stuck here, Sona was out investigating the strange anomalies of fluctuating power with her peerage. We were supposed to meet up and look around together after my peerage, and I left, but we've obviously hit some roadblock.

"Wynter, what's going on, why are you doing this?" Akeno asked.

Wynter didn't respond.

I don't want to hurt her, so forcing her out of the way isn't an option. Besides, Issei said her physical strength was comparable to Koneko, so even with our mating marks added strength, I'm not sure we could get her to move. We could use magic to move or also risk her getting hurt.

"Wynter as your master I order you too-"

"SHUT UP!" She suddenly screamed, surprising Akeno and me.

She was gritting her fangs as she now stared at us, her eyes filled with mix emotions. Her eyes were bordered with tears like she was about to cry.

"You're not my master, Issei is! Do you think I don't want to help him, I would gladly sacrifice myself if it meant he was safe! He wouldn't let me protect him, and now he's out there in danger, and I can't do a damn thing about it!" Wynter shouted, the tears beginning to leak from her eyes.

Wynter's sudden outburst surprised all three of us. I knew Wynter had a high opinion of Issei, but she was always so quiet that I never knew it went this deep. The bond of an intelligent familiar and her master, though I guess I should have known she would respect him like this. Wynter respects strength, and there aren't many stronger than Issei.

"O-oh don't cry," Asia ran over to her, hugging her. Wynter was taken back by Asia's actions, tears still leaking from her eyes as Asia wrapped her arms around the familiar.

"Issei is strong. I'm sure he'll be fine," Asia reassured, rubbing Wynter's back.

That moment, we all felt something. The strongest of the energies that were out there, it vanished, and the second strongest was now moving towards the school at high speeds. It felt as if my stomach twisted and sank in weight from the rising worry inside of me.

We all knew what it meant, yet none of us wanted to believe it. Something happened to Issei. A few moments of silence passed, and then another surge of magic happened. This time it was originated from our school.

Before any of us could say anything, a magic communication circle appeared next to my ear.

"You feel that?" Sona asked through the circle

"...Yeah, what's going on out there," I asked.

"I'm not sure yet, but just now, there was a powerful surge of magic at the school, my peerage, and I are going to check it out. Considering its power, we may need your help too,"

"Understood, we'll meet you there shortly," I spoke, closing the communication circle.

"Akeno, start preparing a transportation circle to the front of the school," I Instructed.

"Yes, Rias," Akeno responded, making her way to the living room.

Wynter was still silent, seemingly in shock from feelings Issei's vanish power like that. I can understand that she's worried, so am I, but I also know Issei's strength, and it will take a lot to bring him down. I think the only thing keeping Wynter calm right now was Asia's comfort.

"Wynter," I spoke, getting her attention once again.

"I understand you feel like you have to follow Issei's orders, but you're an intelligent familiar. While following your master is indeed a priority, in times like this, you have to decide whats the best way you can help your master. I and my peerage are going to confront what's going on, regardless if you come. So it's up too you, are you going to come and protect Issei, or are you going to follow his orders blindly?"

The park across from Kuoh academy slowly came into vision as the crimson red light from the teleportation circle faded. Akeno, Asia, Wynter, Koneko, and I were all present. Kiba and Issei, however, I couldn't get into contact with either of them. The two church members were missing as well, although, if this is who I think it is, then they will show up for their property.

Looking in front of us, I could see a substantial barrier formed around the school grounds. Surrounding the barrier was Sona and her peerage, each of them with their arms outstretched as they continued to sustain the large sphere with their magic.

"Rias, glad to see you've arrived," Sona spoke, glancing at us from over her shoulder.

"Have you heard from Issei or Kiba yet?" I asked, only for Sona to glance over to Saji.

"Unfortunately, no, we tried everything we could think of, and nothing worked," Saji responded.

'Damn it, Issei, Kiba, where are you?" I thought to myself.

"So, what's the plan for this situation, and what are we going up against?" I asked, walking towards Sona.

"Currently, we've covered the entire school in a protective barrier, which should protect everything outside of it from damage so long as nothing drastic happens. Inside there are three beings, two of them unidentified humans, and the last one being Kokabiel, the Cadre class Fallen Angel," Sona explained.

'Why am I not surprised,' I thought to myself, fully expecting the other immense power to be that of Kokabiel.

"Thank you Sona, this means a lot to me," I spoke, thanking her for their effort.

"Don't thank me yet, remember that this is only the minimum requirement to keep the town safe. If Kokabiel were to fight seriously, this town, along with this region, would be destroyed. Adding to that, my servants spotted him releasing his power in the school grounds, he preparing for a fight," Sona gravely spoke.

"Don't worry, I won't let that happen," I spoke, sharpening my eyes as I stared into the barrier.

"Rias. I know you don't want too, but you could still contact your brother. I'd advise you to consider you've lost your strongest member,"

I shook my head.

"You know, I don't think I see you trying to contact your big sister either,"

"With good reason. If we called her, things would get out of hand. Your brother loves you. If you called him, he would undoubtedly come and help," Sona spoke.

"There's no need for that. I've already contacted him," Akeno spoke before I could respond to Sona.

"Akeno, how could you do that without asking me first?" I began to scold her, angry that she called him.

"Rias. I know you don't want to cause problems for your brother unless you have too. This happened in your territory, in your base, and it happened after the family problem. However, our enemy is a Cadre class Grigori, and without Issei, his strength far surpasses ours combined. I think this qualifies as a must," Akeno reasoned.

I wanted to retort, but I knew she was right. This was something far beyond what we could handle without Issei, or someone of his power. I simply took a deep breath and nodded. Akeno gave a smile in return to my understanding.

"Thank you for understanding, Rias. Sirzehcs said that he would be gathering forces and some Pheonix tears just in case. He will be here within the hour," Akeno spoke.

"One hour, huh... that's longer than I hoped. Regardless, within that time, we, the student council vow to hold these barriers in the name of Sitri," Sona declared.

After hearing Sona's dedication, it felt as if a spark of determination lit within me.

"Now, my servents! We are going to head into the barrier, and go on the offensive to draw Kokabiel's attention. This is a battle of life or death. Even so, we will live on and continue going to this school!" I declared.

"Yes, Rias!" The others spoke in unison, our goals aligned.

'I don't know what happened to you two, Kiba, Issei. Don't worry, we're coming to help,' I thought to myself.

-(Doing a sudden POV switch to 3rd person)-

We marched straight through the main gate. The moment they entered, they could feel the pressure emitting within the barrier, giving Rias new respect for the amount of power Sona and her peerage are trying to contain within this zone.

As the four were walking into the school grounds, they were met with a most bizarre scene. In the middle of the field, four swords were floating while releasing droves of power and light. Surrounding them was a suspicious magic circle spread across the whole area.

"What the..." Rias muttered to herself.

Standing in the middle of the magic circle next to the floating swords was an old man. His arms were stretched out as it appeared as if he was saying something. Was he performing some kind of ritual?

"Valper, how much longer till the four Exclaibers merge into one?" A deep voice came from the sky.

We all looked up to see who the voice was, and what we found was a powerful fallen angel sitting upon a throne, behind him shone a moon. As we entered, he looked down upon us with a wicked grin, almost as if he's been expecting us.

"It won't even take 5 minutes, Kokabiel," The now identified old man spoke up to Kokabiel.

"In that case, I'll leave the swords to you," Kokabiel spoke, now shifting his gaze from Valper to us.

"Well, if it isn't the Princess of the Gremory family and her lackeys," Kokabiel laughed.

"What did you do to Issei! Where is he!" Wynter shouted out. We all wanted to ask the same question, but she did it before any of us could.

"Issei, well, he's..."

"NO! STOP IT!"

I hit the invisible wall as hard as I can over and over again, to no effect. I couldn't run, my body wouldn't let me. All I could do was sit there, helpless as my house burned to the ground, my parents dying in gruesome ways. Pools of their blood splattering across the area, their bodies being ripped apart.

Over, and over, and over, again and again.

"This isn't real. This isn't real. This isn't real, it's all an illusion," I repeated to myself hyperventilating as I tried to calm down.

Only for all my progress to be lost as I watched the faces of the parents I loved so dearly get brutally murdered, covered in blood repetitively.

"... He's suffering a fate worse than death,"

"Where the hell is Issei and Kiba! What did you do to my servants!" Rias shouted out.

"I would worry about yourself if I were you. Now tell me, who's coming to stop me? Is it Sirzechs, or maybe its Serefall," Kokabiel asked, a wide grin coming across him at the thought of one of them arriving.

"In place of the devil kind Sirzechs, and the Lady Leviathan we-"

Rias was interrupted by the sound rushing violent wind accompanied by a massive explosion where the gym is, or where the gym used to stand. After the dust cleared, the area was revealed with nothing left standing of the gym, and in its place sat a crater full of rubble.

"How boring. Though, I could at least entertain myself until one of them does arrive," Kokabiel spoke.

They all stared dumbfounded at the display of power he put on. An entire building meant to hold large amounts of people wholly wiped off the school ground in one blast. He wasn't just beyond us, he was a whole level above us.

Issei could have easily done the same, and managed to blow away the entire school with an attack like that, but even still, it was astonishing to see power like that be used so casually. It never clicked with us the real strength of those that surround us. They were true towers of power.

"Fighting you myself would be far too quick, so I think I'll have you fight my pet's that I brought from the depths of hell," Kokabiel snapped his fingers.

The ground began to shake as it rumbled beneath us, slowly the rumbling sound came closer as if it was approaching. Then from the ground, flames spewed into the air as the beast crawled its way out of the depths of hell.

"Cerberus... the guard dog of hell itself," Rias spoke, looking at the massive creature.

"He's real, what are we going to do," Asia muttered, staring at the massive beast crawling out of the giant flames, it's three heads snarling viciously .

It stood at least 10 meters tall, its massive body being built with nothing but muscle. Each one of its taut legs was thicker than us, each one holding razor-sharp claws on the paws. Its eyes were burning red with hell flames, and its fangs were just as sharp, each one of its three heads being lined with the teeth.

"Bringing it to this world is forbidden, so we're sending it back! Akeno, Koneko, you're with me! Wynter, protect Asia while we deal with this dog," Rias instructed.

"Right!" The three shouted.

Akeno's close disappeared as they were replaced with her with her white and red combat attire, shortly after taking to the air with Rias as Koneko made her way around the beast looking for an opening. Wynter and Asia backed away from the fight. Wynter had her claws ready facing the creature at all times, prepared to follow her orders, and protect Asia with everything she's got.

The Cerberus immediately began to spew flames into the air at its attackers. Yet, with their improved speed and strength from their marks, Rias and Akeno both dodged the fire easily, weaving in between the blasts.

Rias then halted her movement, letting the Cerberus have an easy shot, which it immediately took.

"How naive," Akeno spoke, jumping in front of Rias, freezing the flames just as it was about to hit. Just as quickly as she moved there, she jumped out of Rias's way, revealing her with two large blasts of her Destruction energy.

"Now, take this!" Rias shouted, throwing her attacks of Destruction at the beast.

One of the blasts slammed into the oversize dog, causing it to yelp in pain, while the other was intercepted by a steam of flames spewing from the third head's mouth as the other two heads writhed in pain. The stream of fire from the third head slowly grew stronger and stronger, eventually starting to push back Rias's blast slowly.

"...An opening," Koneko muttered, jumping at the third head on the Cerberus.

She slammed her leg into the third head of the Cerberus with a powerful ax kick. The thud from her forceful kick echoed through the battlefield. The force of her strike forced the jaw of the beast shut, halt its spew of flames, letting Rias's attack once again fly unrestrained at the creature.

Koneko then quickly flipped off the head of the dog, moving out of the way of the blast of Destruction. With nothing in its way, the blast shot at the Cerberus slamming into the third one's head, causing the beast to yelp in pain once more.

"How bout some more!" Akeno yelled, pointing her finger into the sky. Her finger began to spark with streaks of lighting as she held it up, after a few moments of it sparking and gaining power, she pointed it down to the injured dog.

At that moment, when her finger reached it's point to Cerberus, a flash of lightning shot from her, slamming into the side of the dog. Their pain was only intensified from Rias's previous strike. The three heads yelped in even more pain is it squirmed on the ground.

While it didn't kill the dog, the impact area was smoking as the smell of charred flesh filled the area as a pool of its own blood poured from its stomach onto the ground. Even still, the hell flames still shone within its eyes. It wasn't even close to defeated just yet.

Wynter and Asia both looked on at the girls fighting expertly, working together with near flawless perfection. It was almost astounding how well they played into each other's strengths and weaknesses.

However, Wynter's astoundment was soon cut short, as the sound of rapid, loud thuds became evident to her, followed by a loud howl and Asia's screaming. She looked over to her side to be shocked. A second Cerberus was now charging straight at them from the flame torrent spewing from the ground.

"Asia, move!" Wynter shouted, charging jumping in the way while shoving Asia out of the path of the dog's open maw. The second Cerberus, instead of hitting it's the intended target, attacked Wynter, who was now inside the mouth of the beast.

"WYNTER!" Asia screamed from the ground.

Wynter quickly placed her hands on the roof of its mouth, and her feet in between the gaps of its teeth, pushing against the bite force of the massive dog with all of her strength just to keep from getting eaten. After a few moments, her arms and legs began to shake from the strain as she pushed herself to her limit.

[TRANSFER]

[BOOST]

Wynter heard the call out and felt a gauntlet touching her shoulder, a newfound strength surging through her body as she was now easily holding open the Cerberus's mouth. Turning around to look over her shoulder, she saw a girl with chestnut hair in twin tails.

"...Irina?" Wynter muttered to herself.

"Thought you could use some help, so I gave you some power. Have fun," Irina spoke in her usual bubbly voice, backflipping away from the jaws of the beast.

"Oh, so they finally arrived. Freed did say that he wasn't able to kill them. At least he got that dragon girls Excalibur," Kokabiel spoke to himself, intrigued at her arrival.

With this surge of strength through Wynter's body, she gave one powerful push up down on the Cerberus's jaws with her legs. The jaws of the head echoed with a loud snap and tearing as she broke the jaw hinge and ripped through its muscles. The mouth then fell limp hanging from the Cerberus, allowing Wynter to simply fall free of its maw.

[BOOST]

Wynter back fliped away from the beast that was now writhing in extream pain as blood poured out from its mouth.

Just as quick as she got away, she saw a blue-haired figured charge in with a sword of light, piercing the chest and heart of the now weakened Cerberus. She then quickly withdrew the blade, jumping back as the creature fell limp, exploding into flames after it died.

"Xenovia too?" Wynter spoke in shock.

"I figured you all would appreciate an extra hand," She spoke.

"That's about what I'd expect from a sword imbued with holy powers when used on evil," Akeno spoke, looking over at Xenovia standing in front of the now dead Cerberus.

"I'd rather we didn't need the help, but I definitely won't reject it," Rias spoke.

[BOOST]

"Get closer, you two. I got some power left over for you two!" Irina shouted into the air at Akeno and Rias.

"Gladly,"

"Oh, fun,"

They spoke, backing away from the Cerberus as they lowered themselves from the air and closer to the ground.

Irina ran at Xenovia full speed, jumping at her once she was close enough. Xenovia then caught her feet and catapulted Irina into the air towards Rias and Akeno. Irina flipped over the two girls placing her hands on their shoulders as she moved through the air.

[TRANSFER]

Irina landed on the ground from her flip with precision, quickly running back away from the Cerberus over to Xenovia.

An enormous amount of power flowed into Rias and Akeno, causing their power to skyrocket. Both of them were shocked by the amount of power that began to circulate within their bodies as a green aura encompassed their bodies entierly.

I'm surprised you had enough power built up to do it again, Irina," Xenovia spoke.

"I was powering up the entire time we were running here, remember? I had more than enough power to do that," Irina responded.

"Ready Akeno?" RIas asked, flying back into that air above the Cerberus.

"Right behind you, Rias. Now, bring out, THUNDER!" Akeno shouted, her finger pointed towards the sky as a yellow magic circle appeared above her.

"Taste my DESTRUCTION!" Rias shouted, massive amounts of Destruction energy morphing around her hands, slowly turning into a sphere.

Realizing its danger that it was in, the Cerberus immediately tried to run from the powerful lightning that Akeno was summoning. However, before it could run, sword shot out from the ground stabbing the Cerberus's legs immobilizing it and trapping it in its spot.

"You're not escaping dog..." A voice spoke.

The Lightning shot into the sky rim Akeno's fingers. Rias's blast shot from her hands in a beam of pure Destruction. Akeno's lightning came crashing down right as Rias's beam reached the Cerberus, both attacks completely engulfing the massive beast as they met together.

Their combined attack was so powerful that the ground its self began to shake from the sheer force of their attacks. The howls of pain from the Cerberus were overshadowed by the thunder and rumbling that RIas and Akeno were causing. Their assault continued until there was nothing left of the Cerberus and the swords that Kiba used to trap it.

The second that the dog turned to nothingness, Akeno seemed to have used all her gifted power in that one blast. However, Rias raised her hands, shifting her attack and aimed it directly towards the Fallen Angel atop his throne.

"THIS IS FOR ISSEI!" Rias shouted in anger, releasing even more energy than she was at the Cerberus. The blast she just released was easily ten times the size of her regular blasts.

Kokabiel simply stood from his chair, and held out both of his hands, catching the blast from Rias. Everyone looked on in shock as Kokabiel laughed with the attack Rias just released within his own hands.

"Interesting. I didn't think Rias Gremory's power would increase this much from the Red Dragon Emperor. This is fascinating indeed," Kokabiel laughed to himself.

He raised his arms into the sky, releasing the blast of Destruction, allowing it to fly into the air away from the battlefield. The attack slowly dispersed as it flew away. Kokabiel hands were smoking from the intensity of her blast, yet it didn't seem like it even bothered him.

"I don't understand why Issei would align himself with such weak people," Kokabiel began laughing at the peerages shocked expressions.

"...It's completed," Valper spoke in exhilaration as he began laughing in joy.

The swords in the circle began glowing a bright glowing light as they merged together with one another, a pillar of holy energy shooting into the sky. The light eventually grew so bright that it became blinding, forcing the others to cover their eyes.

"Finally, it is done!" Valper shouted as the light died back down.

The attention of the entire battlefield was drawn at the sword that was encased in a pillar of golden energy, Valper laughing in joy as he saw its creation. The four swords that were once there were now gone, replaced with a single sword that looked like all four of them merged into one.

"Now I get to have the massive power of the combine swords, that's our trade-off. A sweet deal, isn't it," Kokabiel spoke.

"So that was what that magic circle was for," Rias spoke.

"I'd leave if I were you because now that the sword was completed, it's powerful aura it completed the spell that we cast on the ground as well. This entire town will collapse in less than twenty minutes, and the only way to deactivate it is by beating Kokabiel," Valper spoke.

Everyone there became speechless. The entire town that they live in and everyone here will be destroyed in less than twenty minutes. The magic Circle spread across the entire school field, and it began to glow, gathering power as it counted down for its final activation. It hasn't even been half an hour. The town will be destroyed before he can even arrive.

"Before you can fight me... FREED!" Kokabiel shouted the name of that damned insane exorcist.

"You called!" Freed shouted, jumping out from the shadows.

"This is the last bit of our entertainment. Use the four-way fused Excalibur to finish what you failed at earlier," Kokabiel instructed from atop his throne.

"I would looooove to," Freed spoke with excitement, picking up the Excalibur.

"...Four? What happened to the fifth one?" Xenovia asked.

"You're talking about Excalibur Nightmare, right?" Kokabiel asked, pulling it out from within his robes.

"Why does he have it, and why didn't he fuse it with the others?" Kiba asked.

"You see, I have your little pet dragon locked in an illusion of his worst nightmares with this sword right here, the longer he's in it, the more he's going to suffer..." The blade began to glow in Kokabiel's hands.

"I'm going to fucking kill him," I growled to myself in anger. I punched the wall again, and again in an attempt to find some way out of this nightmare, but nothing happened.

Then, for the first time, the vision stopped. The smell of smoke and blood, as well as the crackling sound of flames, it all faded away. Even the area around me returned to its previous state of darkness.

"You could have won brat," Kokabiels deep voice echoed throughout the darkness.

Hearing that voice, just hearing it instantly scent anger through my body. I raised my arm, forming a sphere of Extinction, ready to blast a hole in him the second I see him. He may not even be here, for all I know, this voice could be a damn illusion.

Then the darkness began to shift, another illusion by that bastard taking shape around me. I was now what appeared to be floating above the forest, looking up the stars now clearly visible.

My attention was then grabbed by two figures flying by at high speeds in front of me. One I instantly Identified as Kokabiel, yet the only reason I didn't shoot was because of the figure behind Kokabiel. It looked like a clone of me.

"What are you up too," I asked myself, watching the chase Kokabiel and I had carefully.

I watched my clone do the same thing I did, lunging forwards at Kokabiel, slashing at him with my claws. Yet instead of the wild strikes I did, the illusion showed me slicing once, instantly cutting through his wings, causing him to slow down to where I could catch him.

Then it faded back into darkness.

"Oh, I get it. He's showing me all of my failures," I growled, clenching my fist as the surroundings began to change once again.

"But your just an arrogant child, lacking any experience to win against a truly powerful opponent," His voice echoed.

I didn't respond, merely letting out a low growl as I clench my fist even tighter, his taunts making my rage grow even more.

The surroundings now changed to me chasing Kokabiel once again. My scythe's chain was now wrapped around my arm, and as it played out, he destroyed it, causing a smokescreen. I didn't need to see this to realize my mistake this time. I fucked up.

This time it showed me going around the smoke, instead of charging through it like an idiot. I managed to dodge his blast in the replay because I actually thought.

Then like last time, the vision faded away.

"You're like a wild animal, trapped by the hunter," He continued to gloat with his confidence.

"Shut up," I let out a low growl once again, the sound of blood dripping from my hand echoing inside the empty void. My claws once again stabbed into the palm of my hands, causing it to start bleeding again like earlier.

"Look at what you caused. Behold my victory," Kokabiel's voice confidently spoke.

The darkness shifted once again, showing another vision.

This time, there was nothing around me, nothing but a barren wasteland of broken buildings. A cold wind blew across the wasteland, nothing in sight, no matter how far I looked. Everything was destroyed.

'Is this...'

"This is what will be left of Kuoh after I finish my mission, you will be dead. The Princes of Ruin and Sona Sitri are now dead. Another great war will be going, with me leading the victory, you let me win boy," His voice echoed throughout the windy wasteland.

I fell to my knees as I heard him. Rage boiling inside me as I raised my fist, slamming it back down into the ground, shattering the ground beneath my fist. Shadows slowly began to encompass my body.

'He's going to destroy everything,'

*BA-BUMP*

'He's going to take everything from me again,'

*BA-BUMP* *BA-BUMP*

'He's going to kill everyone, My family, MY LOVED ONES!'

*BA-BUMP* *BA-BUMP* *BA-BUMP*

"He won't take anything from me again... I'LL FUCKING KILL HIM BEFORE THAT HAPPENS!"

[BALANCE BREAKER]

The shadows exploded from within my body, shattering the illusion that trapped me. The explosion blew away the trees around me, breaking them into nothing but splinters, leaving a massive crater and scar on the forest.

"KOKABIEL!" I shouted in rage. My aura was violently leaving my body as I could now clearly sense the holy energy radiating from the school grounds.

With another burst of energy and a flap of my wings, I shot through the sky , breaking the sound barrier as I left a violet streak in the air. I was flying full speed at the school, rage-induced and ready to make Kokabile suffer a thousand lifetimes over for what he did, just like I promised.

"I'll FUCKING KILL YOU!"

"I figured I'd hold onto it rather than fusing it, didn't want risk letting him get out after all," Kokabiel confidently spoke, not worried about revealing what's keeping Issei from getting here.

"Now who wants the pointy end of this badass first?" Freed asked, pointing it at the peerage members with a deranged smile.

"Valper Galilei! I am the survivor of the Holy Sword Project. No. I am a survivor of those who you killed!" Kiba shouted at the old man, gathering the attention of the entire battleground. Depending on Valper's response, this could become a dangerous situation.

"Ah, yes, I've heard of you. They did say one of the subjects managed to escape. How unfortunate, surviving only to live as a lowly devil. I must admit, I am grateful to you and the others, you all taught me what I needed to know to complete the project," Valper spoke, walking towards Kiba.

"Complete it?" Kiba asked.

"Thanks to you and the other subjects, I realized an essential factor needed to wield the holy swords. So I used the numerical value of these, factors, to investigate the capability of holy swords. I found that there was a particular element required to wield holy swords, and while most people had it, very few had the numerical amount required, which brought me to my conclusion. Was there a way to perhaps remove this said element and store it to instill others?" Valper explained.

"I see. Now I understand. Those things that are put inside the holy sword wielders during the blessing is..." Xenovia and Irina both came to the same realization.

"That's right. We take out the holy elements from those who have them and crystallize them. Just like this one, it was the last one made from those brats you were with," Valper spoke, pulling out a blue crystal from within his robes.

"With this, the research on holy sword wielders improved drastically. Even so, you two are perfect examples of how that damned church works. Those fools banished me for heresy, taking away my reports and findings, only for it to be continued by another in my absence. That damned Michael. He made me look like a criminal, and this is the result? Then again, it is that angel we're talking about, so even if he takes the elements out from the test subjects, he wouldn't ever go as far as to kill them," Valpe pleasantly laughed as he concluded his explanation.

"... You killed my comrades and took out the elements required to use the holy swords?" Kiba asked, his voice dripping with hatred as his aura began filling with killing intent.

"That's correct. Like I said, this one is from the same group you were part of, though I used three of them on Freed already. This is the very last one," Valper spoke. Freed began laughing.

"The other guys these were tested on all died halfway through because they were too weak to syncronize with the elements! If you think about it, that means your fight someone special, a true one of a kind!"

"... Valper Galilei. How many... how many lives have you sacrificed for your experiments," Kiba asked, his hands beginning to shake as his hateful aura grew.

"More than enough to complete our research," Valper responded.

"How could you... there was no need to kill us, or any of them!" Kiba shouted.

"You were nothing more than leftover resources from a secret project. We had what we needed. What were we supposed to do?" Valper asked.

"... We believed what we were doing was for God. We bore everything because of our faith, and then you- you- you just threw us away, like trash," Kiba spoke, clenching his fists as he was on the verge of tears.

"Since your so passionate, why don't you take this. I no longer need it, we've gotten to the point where we can mass-produce higher quality crystals, no martyrs required," Valper spoke, tossing the glowing blue onto the ground in front of Kiba.

Kiba silently leaned down, gently picking up the orb with care. As the orb was within his hands, he almost embraced it dearly. His expression filled with sadness and anger as a tear made it's way from his eyes to his cheek.

"...Everyone..." Kiba spoke, slowly standing back up from the ground with the crystal in hand.

The orbs' light began to spread around Kiba's body, and eventually, it covered most of the school field. Slowly, this light began to form into clusters of energy, taking a similar shape to people. There were boys, girls, and they were all surrounding Kiba.

"...What's happening," Asia asked.

"...There are so many powers mixing and clashing on the battlefield, and Kiba. Our powers on top of his heart must have freed the souls from the Crystal," Akeno spoke.

"... I prayed, and wondered. Why was I the only one to make it of there alive? Why me? It wasn't right for me to be the one to make it out of there... There were kids there who had bigger dreams than I did, kids who wanted to LIVE more than I did. It was a mistake, someone better then me should have made it out of that nightmare," Kiba softly spoke, his heart trembling from sadness.

Then Kiba's eyes shot open, and he made a gasp of surprise. With wide teared eyes, he looked around him, the spirits of his comrades surrounded him. Then, one little boy, with a smile on his face. He tugged on Kiba's sleeve, and smiled at him and began to speak.

"...Don't worry about us anymore. We're just glad you're alive," The voice echoed.

Kiba chocked up at hearing this, unable to say anything as the tears within his eyes began to flow freely downwards. The spirits started to move around Kiba, all synchronized as they started singing a beautiful song.

"...That's..." Asia mumbled.

"The sacred song," Irina finished her sentence.

The spirits began to glow even brighter as they moved around, with Kiba at their center singing along with the sacred song. When they were going through a painful experience, this was the only thing they knew to keep their hopes high. This singing was the only support they had during that harsh life.

"We didn't have enough elements to use those swords, but,"

"It's ok... let's gather together,"

"You have to accept the holy sword,"

"Even if God is watching us,"

"You don't have to be sacred,"

"Our hearts will forever be..."

"ONE"

The spirits then flew into the heavens as balls of blue light, then shortly after, a blue light fell down from the sky, surrounding Kiba in its energy. The others watched on, crying from the heart touching moment as Kiba spread open his arms, accepting the words of the spirits without hesitation.

[Irina] A deep voice echoed. The green gem on Irina's gauntlet began to glow.

"What is it, Ddraig?" Irina asked, unable to turn her gaze from Kiba.

[Watch closely, this is what you need, to be able to control "It" as the Knight of Gremory has]

"It? What do you mean?"

[It happens when the Sacred Treasure peaks and changes, when the thoughts and wishes of the user changes, when it goes against the natural order of things in this world. When this happens, the Sacred Treasure peaks, this is... his Balance Breaker]

"Oh?" Kokabiel voices his interest from the air.

"My comrades, they never wanted me to hunt for vengeance. They wanted me free, but I'm not. First, I need to destroy this evil that stands before me. Then no one else will have to suffer," Kiba spoke, forming a sword in his hand as he approached Valper, a newfound gleam of determination shining like a star within his gaze.

"No one but you," Kiba spoke, pointing the blade to Valper.

"...FREED!" Valper shouted.

"YEEEESSSS!?" Freed then jumped over in between Valper and Kiba.

"Tsk, what a fool, you should have let yourself die with the others," Valper taunted, now confident with his protection in front of him.

"You can do it!"

"We believe in you!"

"I wanna see blood,"

The others cheered onwards for Kiba.

"Kiba! You are the Knight of Gremory, and my Knight will not lose to a mere Excalibur! Finish this with your own two hands, and surpass Excalibur!" Rias spoke.

"...Thank you, all of you," Kiba spoke to himself.

"Oh, give me a break! How many pathetic emotional moments is this house of gag me Gremory going to have? Now my skin is starting to crawl, and it's creeping me out, I CANT TAKE IT! I should hurry up and kill the lot of you. YES! THAT SHOULD MAKE ME FEEL MUCH BETTER!" Freed shouted.

"...Time for a new sword," Kiba spoke, raising the blade he was currently wielding above his head. A blue light began to glow around his body as he closed his eyes.

"Dear comrades, who have become merged with me. We shall overcome this together. All our dreams that were stifled, the feelings that we couldn't say then, it can all happen right here, right now," Kiba spoke, dark and light energy shooting from the sword in a spiral.

"I will create a sword that will make my master and friends proud. Please respond to my feelings. SWORD BIRTH!" He shouted.

The dark and light energy that was spewing from his blade then merged together into the blade as the blue aura around me quickly made its way up to the sword itself, almost as if those spirits were helping guide Kiba with making this sword.

"Balance Breaker, the Sword of Betrayer, a sword invested with both holy and demonic powers. Try to stop it!" Kiba shouted, gripping both of his hands around the hilt of his new sword.

The sword took on the appearance of a black steel, yet while it had the guard of a short sword, if it was even able to be called a guard, it still had the length of a longsword. It was decorated with golden details, and in the center of the blade lit up red glowing markings.

"A holy devil sword? That's Impossible! Two opposing elements cannot mix together, something like that is an aberration," Valper spoke in shock.

"So tell me, Knight of Gremory, are we still in an alliance?" Xenovia asked, jumping over next to Kiba with Irina.

"I'd like to think we are," Kiba responded.

"I have a thought then, why don't we destroy that Excalibur together," Xenovia suggested.

"You two don't have a problem with that?" Kiba asked, surprised by the proposal.

"Well, what we're technically looking at is a holy sword, but with Freed using it..." Irina spoke.

"There's nothing left holy about that," Xenovia continued.

"We can always take the fused fragments back. It won't be a problem," Irina spoke.

[BOOST]

"Good to know we're on the same page then," Kiba agreed.

Xenovia tossed the simple light sword she was using earlier over to Irina, and then stretched her arm out to the side. With her eyes closed, she took a deep breath, preparing to say something.

"Oh, peter. Oh, Basilius and Dionysius, and the Blessed Virgin Marry. I ask you to please hear my prayers," Xenovia spoke, a golden circle formed in front of her hand, and out came a blade wrapped in chains.

The sword that came out of the magic circle appeared to be a uniquely-shaped broadsword with a blue blade and a golden edge. The sword has a semicircular guard on the left side of the handle that extends to the bottom just above the pommel, with a small extension on the right side of the handle.

"In the name of the saint living within this blade..." Xenovia slowly spoke, gently wrapping her hand around the large hilt.

"I hear by set you free!" She shouted, grabbing on the hilt as the chains that once wrapped this blade shattered.

[BOOST]

"This is called Durandal!" She shouted, pointing the blade to Freed and Valper, who were both astonished at seeing this blade appear before them.

"Durandal?" Kiba muttered to himself, looking at the oversized weapon.

"A holy sword on par with the Excalibur, said to cut everything in this world," Akeno spoke, her voice filled with shock.

"That's... That's impossible! My research didn't go into how to use Durandal. No one should be able to use that thing!" Valper shouted.

"Of course, even in the Vatican, they haven't made someone who can wield this. However, unlike Kiba or Irina, I didn't need to be given a crystal to use holy swords," Xenovia confidently spoke with a smirk.

"...A person who is perfectly suited for holy swords, or a true holy sword user!" Valper spoke, still in shock.

[BOOST]

"Durandal is a sword that ravages beyond what people could ever imagine. It cuts anything it touches, and it doesn't even listen to me all the time, which is why I keep it in a separate dimension, it's too dangerous to leave it here after all. Now, Freed Sellzen, we can finally have a decisive battle between Durandal and Excalibur, though try not to die in a single strike," Xenovia Confidently spoke.

The blade of Durandal began to produce even more holy aura, and it was increasing rapidly. Soon it even had more holy aura than the fused Excalibur does. It's was incredible.

"Kill me in a single strike? DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH!" Freed shouted, his Excaliber stretched across the field over to Xenovia in multiple points.

Xenovia gave a mighty slash, shattering the five points of the Excaliber with a single strike. The extended sword then retracted back to its original form in Freed's hands.

"What you have is nothing more than a broken sword, and it's nothing compared to my Durandal!" Xenovia shouted, lunging at Freed for an overhead strike.

"KISS MY ASS!" Freed shouted, using rapidly's superior speed to jump into the air out of the way of Xenovia's strike.

"I've decided I don't like you!" Freed shouted as he flew threw the air from his great leap.

"The feelings mutual!" Kiba shouted, appearing right behind Freed with his Knightly speed.

The two then clashed swords together at rapid speeds so fast the other began having trouble keeping up with the two. Kiba was striking from all angles, forcing Freed to be on the defensive with his relentless, aggressive attacks and superior swordsmanship.

"IT WASN"T ENOUGH FOR YOU TO SEVER OUR HOPES!" Kiba shouted, repetitively slamming his blade into the Excalibur.

[TRANSFER]

Irina gave the small amount of energy she managed to gather up once again and transfer it to Xenovia, whos physical abilities then increased as the green aura surrounded her body.

Xenovia took the opportunity of their stillness and her gifted power, and she launched herself into the air at the two. With a combines attack, Xenovia's and Kiba's blade broke the Excalibur in half. Freed promptly lost all of his strength and speed, causing him to fall on his ass as he hit the ground.

"Are you fucking kidding me! How could I be taken out by a damn devil like you!" Freed shouted.

Kiba then launched himself at Freed once again, and now with the Excalibur broken, Freed could no longer keep up with Kiba's speed. Before Freed could even react to Kiba's charge, Kiba already slashed his sword across Freed's shoulder, causing blood to spew from the white-haired priest, along with blue energy left over from the sword, causing Freed to yell in pain before passing out on the ground.

"Did you see that, my comrades. This power, our combined power overcame the fused Excalibur," Kiba spoke to himself.

"H-How, is this possible? In theory, the fusion of holy and devil powers its-" Valper was promptly quieted with Kiba now pointing his sword towards him.

"Prepare yourself, Valper Galilei!" Kiba shouted.

"...Wait, I-I understand now! If the power between holy and demonic powers were disrupted, it could actually be possible! This means not only the Devil King but God also-" Valper was silence, this time by a light spear piercing through his body.

Valper threw up pools of blood from his mouth before finally going limp, the life leaving his body. The light spear then vanished in then air, allowing blood to gush from the hole in his stomach, staining his robes a red color.

"Valper Galilei, you really were a talented one. The conclusion you had stood to prove it. Unfortunately, you weren't supposed to figure it out," Kokabiel spoke, floating down into the air from his throne.

"All right, Kokabiel, what are you hiding?" Rias spoke.

"Now I'm even more bored than before," Kokabiel sighed, ignoring Rias completely. Then Kokabiel looked down at Irina, and sneered as an idea entered his head. His aura increased, releasing an overwhelming pressure.

"Hey, twin tails. Raise the power of the Red Dragon Emperor, and transfer it to someone," He confidently ordered, fearlessly smiling.

"Are you trying to give us a chance?! Don't take us lightly!" Rias shouted, angered by his confidence in his strength, and their weakness.

"Don't take us lightly?" Kokabiel started laughing wildly as he heard Rias say that.

"Don't take us lightly? If you think you can beat me, then you're the one whos taking things too lightly. You're going to need more than a little power up to stand a chance," Kokabiel laughed, mocking them as he descended down to the ground in front of them.

Just being stared at with those glowing red eyes, it felt as if you would get pierced. The pressure of the Fallen Angel recorded in the bible since ancient times. Their palms became sweaty from the nervousness of facing someone this strong in a battle to the death. This pressure couldn't be compared to Riser's. He was in a whole different league.

"...Irina, please activate your sacred gear," Rias gulped down her nerves and pride, requesting that she be the one to receive the power.

Irina understood the situation they were in, anyone could with the pressure that Kokabiel was releasing. With this understanding, despite Rias being a devil, Irina activated her sacred gear.

[BOOST]

Kokabiel sneered at the call out of the Boosted gear. The bright green gem shining through the area. Their final challenge to victory standing before them.

[BOOST]

The others all stood in silence as they watched Kokabiel and Irian closely. They could have tried to attack Kokabiel after he let his guard down, but the fallen angel didn't show a single chance for that to happen as he stood there watching the group.

[BOOST]

The others could only imagine what would happen to them if they attack, and he countered them. It would almost be guaranteed to be a fatal mistake. They could only wait for the Red Dragon Emperor to increase her power, swallowing their nerves and trembling from Kokabiel's pressure.

[BOOST]

'Will this be enough?' Rias thought to herself.

[BOOST]

'Even if it does work. I can't kill him yet. We need to know where Issei is,'

[BOOST]

The gem began glowing far brighter than usual with this last call out. Irina walked up beside Rias as they both looked up at the Fallen Angel.

"Are you ready?" Irina asked.

"...Absolutely," Rias confidently spoke, clenching her hands into a fist.

Irina placed her gauntlet on Rias's shoulder.

[TRANSFER]

All of the power flowed from Irina's hand and intro Rias's body. Everyone around the amount of power that began pouring into Rias, and it was enormous. It felt as if a blast was made from that, not even a speck of dust would remain where it hit. Even so... this isn't your average opponent.

RIas's aura flared dramatically. It's crimson color mixing with the Green aura of the Boosted Gear. She began floating as a Crimson circle surrounds her, her hair flowing up from the intense aura. Her eyes glowed that of her color of Destruction as Kokabiel smiled.

"Now things are getting interesting! Yes, what you've got there is a devil's power to the highest degree! I'd say your ultimate-class now at the very least, but it's more likely to be within the level of Maou-class now!" Kokabiel laughed as if he was genuinely enjoying himself, his expression showing that of pure ecstasy.

Rias closed her eyes, throwing her arms out to her sides. High-density spheres packed with her power of Destruction, forming in each hand. The spheres within the palms of her hands were so intense that they even began sparking with black and red lighting.

"In that case... TAKE THIS!" Rias shouted.

Rias then threw her hands together, launching a blast so massive that it could have consumed Kokabiel in it entierly. Her attack roared throughout the sky, echoing within the barrier.

"YES!" Kokabiel shouted in excitement, throwing his hands forward to deflect the blast. As Rias's attack connected with Kokabiel, a shock wave was sent out, shaking the ground beneath our feet.

"SO MUCH BETTER AND FAR MORE INTERESTING!" Kokabiel yelled, laughing like a mad man.

Within Kokabiel's hands, the energy of fallen angels and angels began to take shape, the power of light gathering in his palms. Rias's shot started to get pushed back and started to lose its shape. While Kokabiel was pushing this power back, his robes were being torn to pieces, and his hands were bleeding from her attack.

Rias quickly used up all the power she was gifted in that one attack. She fell back down to the ground, landing with a thud as she didn't even have the energy to move. Kiba and the others quickly ran to her side to help her up.

"AKENO!" Rias shouted.

Akeno then shot into the air from behind Kokabiel. They must have been preparing for an ambush from the begging. Akeno raised her finger to the sky, sparks shooting out from it as she gathered her power as quickly as possible.

"Now! Bring out thunder!" She shouted, throwing her finger to Kokabiel as she flashes of lightning shot from her into the fallen angel. Yet her attack failed, as Kokabiel defended himself entirely just by surrounding himself with his wings.

"My, you inherited much of Barakiel's power, to think his daughter would become a devil," Kokabiel mocked, laughing from within his protection. Akeno's eyebrows furrowed as he said that, her power increases even more.

"...Don't you DARE lump me in the same group as that creature!" She shouted, her lighting growing even more intense.

Even with her increased power, Kokabiel laughed as he protected himself with his wings. It didn't take long for the already exhausted Akeno to burn through her energy, the lighting fading away.

"Oh, say that all you want, but you are his flesh and blood. Tell me, why choose so far as to become a devil," Kokabiel continued taunting her.

"Let's go, you and me together," Xenovia whispered to Kiba.

"you think we can hurt him with our swords?" Kiba asked.

"I'm not sure, but at the very least, we can buy time for Irina to charge up again and boost someone else," Xenovia spoke, tightening her grip on Durandal.

"Look at her. I doubt Irina can even power up now with how many boosts she went though," Kiba spoke, glancing over at Akeno, Rias, and Irina. Each panting as they were all exhausted beyond belief.

"Then the more time we buy, the better, we don't have a choice," Xenovia responded.

Kiba formed a small smile from her determination, his own determination lighting up as well. Kiba then pushed all of his power into the Sword of Betrayer. Even still, with all his strength, he would only be able to give him a minor injury, maybe if he had more time to master his Balance Breaker, but not just after learning it.

Kiba, Koneko, and Xenovia all charged at the fallen angel, surrounding him as the preparation for the attack. Wynter stayed with her job of guarding Asia because if she went down, they wouldn't be able to keep getting up like they are.

Xenovia launched the first assault, raising Durandal over her head for a strike. Kiba followed quickly behind, the two of the attacking Kokabiel from different sides.

Kokabiel merely laughed at their attempts, forming a light sword in each of his hands. As their swords collided, it was evident who was superior even with swords. Kokabiel blocked their attacks with ease, not even struggling to keep them at bay.

"You still have so much to learn, girl. You still can't control Durandal nearly enough to access its full potential. The previous wielder was someone who had unrivaled strength!" Kokabiel spoke, mocking them even as he toyed with them.

"There," Koneko spoke, leaping at him from behind, believing he has left himself open.

Kokabiel only smiled, and didn't even turn to look at Koneko. In a split second, his black wings lashed out, slamming into Koneko and the others. The three of them were sent flying away, slamming into the ground as they rolled across it, leaving small trails of blood where their skin was torn.

Wynter and Asia both ran out to their three injured teammates, healing Koneko first as she was the most damaged. Kiba and Xenovia stood up, lifting themselves from the ground with their swords.

"We're not through yet!" Xenovia shouted.

"Oh, so you still want to fight? HOpe to it already then!" Kokabiel shouted, looking down at Kiba and Xenovia.

"SWORD BIRTH!" Kiba shouted as he stood up from the ground.

Kokabiel was now surrounded by swords covered with both holy and demonic energy. The swords then rose into the air, flying at Kokabiel. He once again surrounded himself with his wings, blocking the attack easily.

"Fascinating, but please tell me this isn't all you've got," Kokabiel spoke, his wings opening up at rapid speeds. One by one, his black wings broke the swords with ease.

In anger, Kiba charged at Kokabiel once again, swinging his sword at Kokabiel with full force. Even so, it was worthless, as Kokabiel caught the blade mid-air with just two fingers. Kiba was shocked to see how easily Kokabiel stopped his sword, every other time he blocked them in some grandiose fashion, but this time, he didn't even look as if he was trying.

Kokabiel sent his knee directly into the Knights gut, causing Kiba to spew blood out from his mouth as all the air in his lungs was forced to leave his body. Kokabiel then grabbed onto the sword and threw Kiba back where he charged from, skidding across the ground.

"Seeing that you still fighting even after losing your masters, you all must be pretty determined," Kokabiel spoke, looking over to Xenovia and Irina.

"...What?" Irina asked, her breathing labored from the exhaustion.

"Mind clarifying?" Rias asked, only for Kokabiel to laugh.

"Kokabiel, tell us what you mean by lost their master!" Xenovia shouted, trying to stand with her sword propping her up.

"That's right! I totally forgot that only the higher-ups were told about this, the truth wasn't revealed to you underlings! Since I'm trying to start a war, I might as well tell you. In the first great war, not only were the four great devil kings killed, but God also died along with them!" Kokabiel shouted.

The battlefield went silent, shock hitting everyone there. No one could believe what they just heard. Especially those linked to the church were hit, as their reality was shattered before them.

"That's... that's... god can't be dead," Xenovia spoke to herself, collapsing back down to the ground, her knees buckling from beneath her.

"God has been dead. How is that possible? Your lying! I never heard anything about this!" Rias shouted.

"Obviously! Lower underlings such as you were not permitted to know the truth, even among the three powers, only the people at the top were allowed to know of this information," Kokabiel explained.

"... I-Its not true... it can't be," Irina spoke to herself, stumbling back.

"All sides have been ruined to the point where they have to rely on humans to survive. Angels, Fallen Angels, Devils. The leader of the three factions had to seal away this information that way the God-fearing humans would keep on fearing," Kokabiel explained.

"...Lies... They're lies," Xenovia repeated to herself, kneeling on the ground shaking.

"Now try to remember that I don't give a damn about any of that. What pisses me off was that even after God and those Devil Kings died..." Kokabiel paused, clenching his bleeding hands in anger.

"IT WAS DECIDED TO STOP THE WAR! Why would they do something like that in the middle of winning?! How dare they try to stop me from squashing my enemies from beneath my feet right as it was getting fun! We would have won! Even that bastard Azazel declared that there wouldn't be another war! What the fuck?!" Kokabiel went off on a long rant seething with anger.

"... If God doesn't exist anymore... then where is the love that has been given to us been coming from?" Asia asked, slowly standing up.

"From what I know that Bastard Michael has been holding his own so far in trying to keep the angels and humans together," Kokabiel explained after calming himself back down.

"... Archangel Michael is acting in God's stead? Then all of our prayers..." Irina spoke in disbelief.

"So long as the system used by God is still operating, then the blessing of God, the prayers to God, and exorcisms should still somewhat function. Though I doubt that the rapidly decreasing number of believers has helped. That holy devil sword brat over there is a perfect example, as something like that would be physically impossible if they were alive, but with the balances thrown off like they are, who knows what kind of phenomenons can happen," Kokabiel spoke.

With that said, Asia and Irina, both fell to the ground, unconscious from the sudden shock. A large portion of their life was dedicated to serving a man that they just learned died a long time ago. Even Kiba was filled with mix emotions, as all of his comrades and himself suffered and were killed, bearing faith that they were working for God.

"... A natural reaction... I'm surprised I haven't passed out myself," Xenovia spoke to herself.

"Seeing that you all have given everything you've got, I think I'll end this now. The sooner your heads are claimed, the sooner I can show those fools that the great war will go on. I'll start with you two," He spoke, a large holy javelin forming within his palm as he stared at Rias and Akeno.

"Come on, Rias. I don't know how much longer we can hold this," Saji spoke to himself.

"Pull yourself tgether. We'll hold this as long as we have too," Sona scolded her Pawn.

'As much as I deny it, we are running out of energy, come on, Rias,' Sona thought to herself.

"Uh, Sona, you might want to look at this," Tsubaki spoke, pointing to a bright violet light shining in the sky.

"What is, we need to..." Sona was about to scold her Queen for getting distracted from keeping the barrier up, but lost her train of thought once she saw the abnormal bright light.

'...What is that?' Sona thought to herself. Saji, and then eventually the others took note of this, all of Sona's peerage now staring into the light. The light seemed to be getting brighter the longer they looked at it.

Then, as Sona stared into the violet hue, she could feel something within this object. What she felt was pure unadulterated rage, and an immense overflow of power. At that moment, she realized what it was, and that it wasn't growing brighter, but it was getting closer, and fast.

"GET DOWN!" Sona shouted at her peerage members as she dove to the ground.

Initially, they were confused by Sona's sudden instructions, but it didn't take them long to figure out why she shifted her orders. As soon as they came to realize that the light was happening to them as Sona did, they followed her instructions, diving down onto the ground.

As they hit the ground, the violet light flew over them, a loud sonic boom following it due to its speed. The wind was moving so fast behind its path that Sona and the others could barely hold themselves down from being picked up into the current.

The air was soon filled with the sound of shattering, as the violet light slammed right through the barrier as if it wasn't even there. The peerage members were in shock, the barrier they worked so hard to make was just broken as if it never even existed.

As they looked up, they could see a figure in the darkness. What they saw was Issei in his Balance Breaker armor, his helmet removed as his eyes pierced through the dark aura with his bright violet eyes. With the barrier down, they could now see and sense everyone inside, and the energy Issei was emitting dwarfed what Kokabeil's.

"KOKABIEL!" Issei roared in his draconic voice.

The sudden noise and immense power woke up Asia and Irina, and gathered the attention of everyone around him. As Irina and Asia both woke up, they couldn't help but look in confusion at the dark enraged figure of a person they called a friend.

"Issei!?" Rias shouted, looking up to the dragon surrounded by darkness.

"H-How did you break free?" Kokabiel stammered as he looked up at the enraged dragon.

Issei looked down at all the destruction, his anger, and aura rising as he looked at all the damage Kokabiel caused, all the suffer and pain. Then he spots one thing that grabbed his attention. Issei's eyes went wide as he saw Rias holding an unconscious and bloodied Akeno, her energy barely existing at all.

Within Issei's vision, he could see flashes of his parent's dead bodies lying in the exact same position as his mates.

At the moment, something within Issei snaps.

A pillar of darkness with violet streaks violently shot out Issei's body, forming a pillar of energy that shot into the sky. The ground started to shake fiercely, rumbling from his overwhelming power. He was releasing so much pressure that the earth actually began to crack from beneath him, and the trees were blown over from the violent gusts of wind Issei's power was generating.

"What's going on?!" Wynter shouted, trying to keep herself from being taken by the violent tempest Issei's energy was creating.

"His aura and power, it's incredible!" Xenovia shouted, holding herself by stabbing the ground with Durandal.

"Answer me right now, what's going on?! Issei!" Rias shouted into the sky.

The ground then stopped shaking, and the wind calmed back down, allowing the dust to settle. As it did, everyone could clearly see a pillar or darkness surrounding Issei, two violet eyes piercing the veil as one phrase was said that scent chills down Kokabiel's spine.

"I, who shall awaken"

Thanks for the read every one, remember to leave your comments and opinions, I'd love to hear them.

Thank you for the reads :D