A Demon Lord's Hero

by Fahad09

When I sold my soul to the Devil, I thought I was prepared for anything. I wasn't. I didn't expect him to be a her. Or dressed up as a magical girl carrying a pink wand tipped with a cheerful yellow star. Her being a prankster however didn't come as much of a surprise. You know, the Bible would have been a whole lot more interesting if they included stuff like this. Complete AU

9. Chapter 9: Why Angels fall

Author's notes:

Once again thank you so much for all the support you've given me.

Now this chapter was the hardest one I've ever written (longest too). Once you read it you'll know why so I won't spoil it but those of you waiting for action rejoice. For this chapter has it all, battle, mysteries revealed, character development, everything really.

And the great news is after this chapter the story will real start going. It's like pushing a boulder up a hill, I have finally reached the top and now the plot will move on at a fast pace as the boulder rolls down. I have spent all the previous chapters developing the world and characters, setting up the stage and now we can enjoy the fruits of my ground work.

Oh, and remember. I'm still a brand spanking new author of fan fiction so if I made any stupid mistakes that makes no sense in any of my chapters, I'm more than willing to rewrite it to fix it.

Thanks for Reading and I hope you enjoy the story.

---

*Story Start*

Why Angels Fall

The egg batter sizzled and popped as I poured it onto the heated frying pan. While the omelets were being cooked, I turned my attention to other pan and with a wooden spoon steady stirred the chopped up bell pepper, onion and mushrooms it contained.

It surprised me how much I missed cooking breakfast. I used to do it all the time back home but I didn't have the time since arriving in the city and even in the Underworld I wasn't able to cook as much as I wanted to. I lay the blame on Serafall's household staff.

I swear her Head Chef looked like he was about to have a heart attack when he caught me cooking one morning. Whatever respect or deference he had for as a higher class Devil went out the window the moment I set foot in his kitchen.

Naturally I ignored his repeated pleading and attempts to stop me until one day the poor guy just broke down crying. I think hearing Serafall absently mention that she loved my cooking better than anyone else's was the final straw for him. Turns out he had been cooking for Serafall ever since she was a little girl. There was nothing more awkward than watching a seven foot tall, five hundred year old Devil sobbing like a toddler.

Ever since, I had mostly avoided the kitchen. But now that I have moved into my own place that was no longer a problem. And seeing as today was a weekend I decided to make an extra-large breakfast as a welcoming present for Gasper moving in.

"Asia," I called out to her over my shoulder, "can you please set up the table? The food is almost ready."

"Sure thing Shirou. Table for four coming right up." She cheerfully replied.

I absently nodded as I checked the eggs again. I wasn't sure what kind of food Gasper liked so I decided to play it safe and make a western breakfast, he'd most likely prefer it to a Japanese one seeing he was raised in Europe.

It wasn't my specialty but it was a relatively simple dish so I was confident it would turn out fine. I also made sure cook extra-large portions just in case Gasper was a big eater so there was more than enough to feed him, Asia and me…wait a minute, table for four? There was only three of us.

My spatula froze just half-way through flipping the omelet as I turned and looked over my shoulder into a pair of amber colored eyes that were glittering with suppressed excitement as they stared back at me.

"Koneko, what are you doing here?"

"Hungry." She answered as if that explained everything. Really, what more did I expect?

She was seated on the table next to Gasper, while she held a fork in her right hand and knife in her left. She was wearing a black and violet shirt with a white skirt spotted with violet colored paw prints. A thin chocker was wrapped around her neck with a small plastic flower hanging off it.

Now that I think about it this is the first time I had seen her outside of her school uniform. I had gotten so used to it that I had trouble recognizing her out of it.

"Gasper," if I didn't have my hands full at the moment I would have pinched the bridge of my nose to stave off the building headache, "what are you wearing?"

"A paper bag!" He chirped excitedly. A pair of eerie pink glowing sphere shone out of two eyeholes cut into a brown paper bad that he had placed over his head. It gave the normally childlike Gasper such a malevolent appearance that I had to restrain myself from reflexively smashing him with one of my frying pans. "Koneko gave it for me! Isn't it neat?"

I just deadpanned towards Koneko who gazed back at me with her usually blank face –

Huh?

-Just for sec, I could have sworn that Koneko flashed me an evil looking smirk before it instantly disappeared. No, no I must have imagined it. There is no way Koneko could have made such a face.

After all, Cats aren't evil…right?

"And how do you expect to eat anything with that thing over your head?" I asked.

In reply, Gasper held out a fist before slowly extending his index finger upwards. He rotated his hand to that finger was pointed towards his face, in the direction of where his mouth was. With a quick thrust, he stabbed his finger through the paper bag and poked out a hole over his mouth.

"There," he said after setting down his hand, sounding rather pleased with himself, "now I can eat without taking it off." The newly made hole was being dragged in and out every time he spoke.

Why was every Devil I met insane? Cosplaying Maous, locker teleporting kittens and now cross-dressing paper bag wearing vampires. They just keep getting worse.

After flipping the eggs, I set everything down for the moment and approached Gasper. As I did so my imagination conjured a mini-Serafall, almost like one of the Angel/Devil conscious that you see in cartoons, over my left shoulder and she began to whisper something into my ear.

As I approached Gasper, I held out my hands and projected a particular set of clothing with a matching mask onto them. Crouching down once I reached him so I was eye level I held out the newly made bundle, "Here," I nodded towards my arms, "wear these instead. I'm sure you'd feel more comfortable in it than a paper bag."

Even through the paper bag I could see the way his eyes widened as he recognized what I was holding out. Quickly, he snatched the cloths out of my hands and rushed into one of the side rooms to change while throwing a quick 'Thanks Shirou' over his shoulder.

As the sound of the door slamming shut reached me I turned back to my cooking. Once I was sure Gasper wasn't to return for some reason I asked, "So Koneko, is food the only reason you're here?"

From the corner of my eyes I caught her shrugging as I prepared a new batch of eggs and bacon for Koneko. "Buchou wanted someone to checkup on Gasper," She answered, "I volunteered."

I grinned at that, "And I'm sure that it was Gasper's wellbeing that made you volunteer, not your hunger."

She simply pointed to herself in reply, "Devil. Not Angel."

A chuckle escaped me at that while I thought back to the events of last night. Truthfully what I did was reckless and stupid to say the least and I could have gotten into a lot of trouble for it. But I simply couldn't bring myself to care, consequences be damned.

I'm still surprised that I didn't get into any real trouble as it is. Rias Gremory was surpassingly tolerant once she got over her shock at the situation. Having caught me red-handed, all she needed to do was report me and I'd have been in a shit-storm of trouble.

Yet the worse she did was to give me a stern talking to about what she'll do to me if I mistreated Gasper even the slightest. She didn't outright say it but I had a feeling she felt more than a little bit guiltily for Gasper's situation and blamed herself for her lack of power to look after him.

Well, either that or the way she kept muttering how she was used to the Leviathan's brand of madness after all her sleepovers at Sona's and should have expected it from her Queen. What did Serafall do to those poor girls?

In hindsight I can clearly see her point. While interfering with someone else's Peerage is a serious offence, doubly so when said Peerage member was sealed away because he was too dangerous, can you image everyone's reaction when she reports this? Considering how much her reputation had taken a hit after the Boosted Gear fiasco, how will the council respond when she complains 'He broke his way into my Bishop's room to play video games with him. I caught him red-handed in the act as my bishop was in the process of teabagging him, repeatedly'.

Still I ended up a dodging a bullet there as even in the best case scenario I would have been pulled out from the city and both Serafall's and my reputation would have taken a hit, something we cannot afford right now, if she reported me.

"The table's ready Shirou." Asia called out from where she had been silently setting up the table.

"Perfect timing as I'm just about done." I turned and hollered over my shoulder, "Gasper, foods ready. You better get out here or else Koneko's likely to steal you share." The girl in question didn't even have the decency to look ashamed as she gave a nod of agreement.

A black blur streaked thought the kitchen's entrance and leapt onto the back of Gasper's chair where it perched there like a bird. A black cape that was being held in place by his hands covered Gasper's form from view for the moment before he yelled out and threw his cape wide open, "I AM THE NIGHT!" And revealed his Batman costume

Yes, I gave the Bat-boy a Bat suit.

The imaginary little Serafall that I still had sitting on my shoulder was cackling so hard she ended up falling over backwards causing her to slip off of my shoulder. Even as I heard the imaginary little thump as she hit the ground I could still hear her manic laughter all the way down.

---

"Ah~, that's better," she sighed out as she settled down on the sofa, "I apologies for being the first to sit down young Sitri, but these old bones of mine aren't what they used to be."

"It's quite alright," Sona sat across from her as she replied, "I don't believe that now is the time to worry about such things as protocol."

"Ha!" The old nun barked out, "If I was dealing with the old Sitri Heir, protocol would have been thrown out the window no matter what the circumstances may be." She turned towards one of her two companions that were standing on either side of her, "It's a shame you didn't get a chance to meet her Irina, I have a feeling you two would have gotten along."

"Whatever you say boss." The light brown hair girl replied with a cheery smile, though her hard violet eyes never relaxed as she watched the rest of the Council room's occupants. She stood next to the right of the nun and though there was more than enough room on the sofa for her and the other girl, neither opted to sit down. Instead both remained watchful and alert, a contrast to the nun's relaxed and amiable demeanor.

Despite being female, both of the girls that bracketed the nun like book ends were dressing up in black suits with dark blue dress shirt and neckties giving them a mature and professional look in spite of their young age.

The girl on the nun's left side was carrying a golf bag over her left shoulder, although going by how she made sure to keep her gloved hand near its open flap I'd wager that she was had a weapon of some kind hidden inside.

This second girl had chin-length blue hair with a streak of green on the right side of her bangs similar to my white one. Her yellow eyes calmly scanned the room while her entire demeanor projected self-confidence even though she was outnumbered three to one.

However it was the nun that stood out the most of three. Locks of hair, turned snow white with age, escaped her habit and fell down her face. Wrinkles edged her deep blue eyes and the corner of her lips, yet the rest of her face was remarkably smooth. Her hands that gripped the wooden cane before her was strong and hardened with callouses.

Despite her earlier words, it was clear that her age did little to slow her down. One just had to watch how she moved to see the obvious strength she still held within her small frame. And while her grandmotherly smile was genuine, it did little to mask how dangerous she was.

"You know my sister?" Sona politely asked.

"You could say that lass. I and my old friends ran into her a few times when I was just a little bit older than you are now. Of course more often than not we soon ended up running away from her as she started to rain down hails of spikes on our heads. We had an idiot in our group that couldn't resist comparing her to Gabriel and finding her lacking, of course he had to make sure to mention it to her each time we met." Though she was chuckling it was clear that she was being serious.

"Anyway, enough about ancient history. I'm sure you're wondering what we're doing here." Her smile faded a bit as the conversation began to take a more serious turn but it didn't disappear completely.

Sona ignore the tea that Tsubasa placed on the table as adjusted her glasses, "Yes, I admit I'm quite curious," She leaded forward and steepled her hands as she spoke, "for the church to send an exorcist into my territory is not a common event by any means, let alone one of your repute. Even in my generation the name Griselda Quarta holds more than a little weight."

While not as active as she used to be, Griselda Quarta was once of the most feared humans of her generation. Born with neither a Sacred Gear nor high magical potential, she was able to fight her way to the top with her sword skills alone, making her among most powerful exorcist in the Church's history.

Though that alone would have made her dangerous, the real source of her fame occurred about forty years ago when she and three of her comrades, fellow exorcists from the church, were able to take down a powerful Ultimate-Class Devil without a single loss on her side. That all four of them were only human beings without a Sacred Gear between the lot of them only made the accomplishment even more remarkable.

When the guards informed me of her arrival into the city, I drop everything I was doing and made sure to track her every movement from the sky. While I'm far from a skilled flyer and would be hopeless in an aerial battle of any kind, I was good enough to stay afloat from high-up and watch them, though I made sure to maintain my distance in case anyone one of them could sense me.

It quickly became apparent that they were heading towards the school so I decided to get here ahead of them and inform Sona that I happened to spot a couple of exorcists on their way here. And that's how we ended up here in the Student Council room, filled with Sona's entire Peerage, myself and three exorcists.

"Thank you dear." Griselda told Tsubasa as she took her offered tea and took a quick sip before setting it down. "Well, let's get straight to the point shall we? We came here as representatives of the Church to make a request. Well, two requests actually. The first and foremost we require any information you may have pertaining to the missing Excaliburs."

What? From the ripple of surprise that ran through the rest of the Devils in the room, it was clear that I wasn't the only one who was caught off guard.

"The Excaliburs?" Sona, recovering quickly questioned. "What makes you believe we know anything about them? Other than four of them being stolen a few days earlier we have no further knowledge about them."

Though Griselda's little smile was still in place she observed Sona with an almost frightening intensity when she was speaking, before she shut them and physically appeared to relax as some previous hidden tension seemed to leave her body. "So it's true then, looks like you Devils didn't have anything to with it after all." Though she muttered it under her breath is was loud enough for most of the Devils in the room to hear her, if barely.

Opening her eyes again she gave Sona an amiable nod, "In that case we retract the first request, and we'll move straight onto the second one." She paused to take another sip of her tea before continuing, "While I apologize if this sounds rather presumptuous of us, we the Church officially request permission to scout this city, including your territory of course."

"For the Excaliburs," Sona having quickly put the pieces together, "you think they're here?"

"Did you think that this was the first time an Excalibur went missing?" Griselda countered Sona's question with one of her own, "It is only natural for a valuable sword to be stolen if it's wielders were ever to be slain in battle, and yet the Church still fields the Excaliburs instead of storing them in the great vault underneath the Vatican, like all the other valuable but impractical treasures. Have you ever wondered why we do so?"

Sona didn't even need a moment to answer, "You can track them."

"Correct," Griselda beamed at her as if she was a student how got a right answer, "in the last one and a half millennia that the Church has possessed the Excaliburs we have lost them dozens of times yet never for long as you can see we still have all seven pieces. Well," she added with a sheepish smile, "had anyway."

"And you tracked them all the way from Europe to Japan, how?"

She simply gave her a cheesier smile, "We have our ways."

Makes sense why they wouldn't want anyone to know how they tack down the swords. You can't prevent it from working if you have no idea how it worked. Considering that no one has figured it out for over a thousand years it's possible for Griselda herself not to know and is only receiving instructions from the higher ups back in Church.

Sona remained silent for a minute as she digested all this before asking, "Hypothetically speaking, what would you do if I refuse your request?"

"Then the Church will declare you an accessory to the thief." She shrugged, "Sorry dear, but we're pretty sure that the swords are here and the higher ups are desperate to get them back after the embarrassment of having four of them stolen at the same time. Now I can tell you that has never happened before."

If Sona was upset over the implied threat she hid it well, "And you're confident that you can get the Excaliburs back, with just the three of you?"

"Oh don't worry dear," her perpetual smile never wavering, "we have our own trump cards just in case. Permit me to demonstrate you. Irina, Xenovia show them."

At her command the two girls on either side of her withdrew they weapons. The blue haired girl, Xenovia, reached into her golf bag and withdrew a sword. It was long two-handed sword, easily reaching the girls shoulder in length. A pair of axe-like guards bracketed its cross shaped pommel and the tip of the blade ended in three points. The steel of the sword was colored an ash black, with red designs carved into the blade.

The other girl, Irina, simply held out her right hand. A black band that was wrapped around her wrist rippled then slithered down onto the palm of her gloved hand like a snake. Once she took a firm grip on it, it began to shift again. This time it transformed into a golden hilted katana.

Griselda also took the opportunity to reveal her sword. Gripping her wooden cane with both hands, she gave it a quick twist then a pull. The top was of the cane was easily retracted, revealing the naked steel of the blade concealed within the heart of the wood, a sword-cane then.

All around me the Devils in the room visibly flinched and took a step back at the mere sight of the blades. Those of them that were seated pushed themselves back deeper into their chairs in an effort to get as far away from the swords as they could, even Sona was no exception, as entirely primal instinct within them urged them to run and flee. To get away from the things that could end them with so much as a single cut.

"It has always been the Church's policy to hunt down stolen Excaliburs with other Excaliburs." Griselda continued speaking with same friendly smile on her face, as if she hadn't noticed the reactions of the Devils in the room. "After all lass, even if they have gotten their hands on a couple of Holy Swords it doesn't mean that they have anyone capable of wielding them. Holy Sword wielders don't grow on tree you know."

"Pfft!" I clamped a hand over my mouth in an attempt to keep quite but it was no use. Even through my hands the sound of my muffled laughter was loud enough to capture everyone's attention, though I barely noticed. I tried I swear I tried, but I simply couldn't hold it in, "Bwahahahahahahaha!"

For the first time since entering, Griselda completely lost her smile as she shot my chortling frame a bemused look. I was seated on my own over to her left, perpendicular to Sona and herself. "Is something amusing lad?"

"I-I'm sorry," I managed to squeeze out between fits of laughter as I finally began to calm down, "I really am, I didn't mean to laugh. It's just that the way you all look so serious as you refer to those toys in your hands as Excalibur, I could not help but laugh."

It's true. Ever since I heard of the broken Excaliburs, I was worried how I'd react. The very idea of her sword being broken sent shaft of pain through me. What the sight of the fragmented remains would do to me I did not know. Would I break down at the sight of them, be angered at their angry fate or react in a completely different way entirely, I did not know.

But when I set my eyes upon these toys, and they were toys, what else could I do but that laugh at the absurdity of it all. That this entire mad universe I had found myself in would refer to these things as Excaliburs was ludicrous.

They were D rank Noble phantasm at best and that was if I was being extremely generous. Oh sure, their abilities were reasonably impressive and may have earned them a C rank if it weren't for the swords themselves being so very fragile. Strikes that even Kanshou and Bakuya, C- ranked Noble Phantasm, can endure with nothing more than a scratch would cause these toys to shatter in a single blow.

What can I do but laugh at a world that would name these Excalibur?

"Oh," She cocked her head to one side as she gave me the same scrutinizing look she gave Sona a moment ago, "and what makes you call them toys lad?"

"It's just that those swords you are holding are so fragile that I can crush them in the grip of a single hand. That the Church is so desperate for such meaningless toys that it sent some of its best exorcist to traverse half the globe for a weapon I can snap in two with nothing but my own bare hands, and to name such toys Excalibur on top of it all is so utterly ridiculous that I could not help but laugh."

"Stop bluffing Devil." A voice growled out at me. I looked up to find the blue haired exorcist glaring down at me. While the girl had reminded quiet and calm the entire meeting, her temper had clearing been building up since I first broke down laughing and it looked like it a had finally gotten the better of her. "No matter how hard you try to hide it behind false bravado, your kind can't do anything but cower in front of the might of these swords."

Then she swung her sword at me. It was clearly wasn't meant to hit me, the strike would fall short of my face by several inches at least. It was a feint, a weak but fast one-handed blow that was meant to make me recoil and scurry back in fear.

I can already see from the edges of my vision how the rest of the Devils tensed or jumped in reaction to her swing and even Griselda narrowed her eyes in disapproval but didn't otherwise react. Me, I didn't even bother to do anything but raise my right hand and snatch the blade just as it passed my face.

"Bluffing?" I questioned, ignoring her the way her eyes widened with disbelief and instead gave my entire focus to the naked blade I gripped in my hand. "Oh no, I wasn't bluffing. For you see, all I have to do to crush this mockery of a sword is squeeze." I then proceeded to do just that.

A horrible screeched reverberated within the walls of a Student Council room when the metal of the blade screamed under the mounting pressure of my ever tightening grip as hairline fractures began to form. With a single glance I could tell that the blade will shatter entirely if I squeezed just a little bit-

"Shirou!" a voice yelled out to me at the same moment a hand clamped into my shoulder. I turned to see Sona starting at me with half worried and half unsettled eyes, "Shirou," she spoke the words slowly, almost as if she was talking to a particular dull witted child, "would you please not destroy the very valuable and very important sword that our guests from the Church are willing to kill over."

I looked away from her towards the sword in my hand, and then up towards the wide eyed stares of not only the exorcists but the rest of Student Council. "Oh," I muttered lamely before letting go of the sword which was quickly pulled away by its unsettled wielder.

Alright, it appears that I may have been a tiny bit angrier over the Excalibur issue than I originally thought.

A slight stinging sensation drew my attention to the long but shallow cut that ran through the palm of my hand. I quickly disregarded it however after noticing how the cut had already begun to heal, no doubt a result from them combination of a Devil's mild natural regeneration and the passive effects of Avalon still inside of me kicking in.

I looked up to find most of the room still sending me unsettled stares, Xenovia's was especially wide eyed, expect for Griselda who sent me another of her analytical looks.

"I see," and just like that, her grandmotherly smile returned, "you must be Emiya Shirou. It seems like I have you to thank for being here."

"I don't understand," Sona jumped into the conversation, apparently happy to have a distraction from what happened, "what does Shirou have anything with being here?"

"It's quite simply really. The Church you see is quite aware that both you and the Gremory Heir reside in this this city, and that left the higher ups in a precarious position. As much as they wanted the Holy Swords back, they were unwilling to needlessly risk triggering an entire War over it.

"And that was exactly what they would have been risking if they sent a powerful and large force to a territory owned by not one but two heirs of Pillars and the little sisters of the Maous' to boot. At first some of the higher ups were actually planning on sending just Xenovia and Irina here. One to match you and the other Rias Gremory."

She shook her head in exasperation at that, "Not that I would have let them of course. While I have confidence in the skills of my girls here, sending two wet behind the ears teenager without back up or supervision against an enemy of unknown strength and capabilities would have been the height of insanity. Which meant it was also the most likely scenario to occur seeing that politics was involved.

"Fortunately the solution to our problem fell into our lap when it became apparent that there was another Devil in the city. An Ultimate-Class one at that. Thanks to you presence here I was given the green light to join this little expedition of ours." She finished while giving me a nod.

"Oh? I'm surprised that the Church was even aware I was here, I have been trying to keep a low profile."

Griselda chuckled at that, "Sonny, after all the things you've done since your arrival in the stage of the Three Factions, it would be almost impossible for us not to be on the constant look out for you. Setting aside your completely unknown past before you established yourself as the Leviathan's new Queen, your actions with returning the kidnapped children alone would have been enough to capture our attention." Sona shot me a questioning look at that.

"They were the victims of a Cthulhu Ritual that I stopped." I answered with a shrugged, "While most of them were the children from either from the Extra-Demon Clans and few from among the Low-Class Devil families, several among them were kidnapped human children. I just made sure to return them home afterwards, nothing worth taking note of."

"You'd be surprised sonny on how few Devils would have even gone through the bother of returning them to the human world, let alone personally delivering each child to their family." Amusement coloring her smile for some reason. "And you forgot to mention the fate of the Devils involved."

"Cthulhu Rituals are completely illegal in any form in the Underworld. By law anyone involved in or caught committing such a ritual is automatically outlawed, making them no different than Stray Devils. Again exterminating them was a part of my duty and is nothing worth taking note of."

"If our reports were in anyway accurate, there were almost three hundred Devils that were involved in the incident. Whether in the ritual itself or the kidnapping of the children. And unless all of our sources were mistaken, you personally hunted every last one of them while raining swords upon their heads."

Well, she wasn't wrong. They were already preparing to slice the throat of the first child when I interrupted. It was only thanks to pure luck that none of the children ended up dying. I felt no need to be merciful for those who were willing to commit mass kidnapping and murder for power, doubly so when I discovered a well-established child trafficking ring to be involved.

"A rain of swords huh? I guess your title of 'The Lord of Swords' isn't just for show."

My ear perked up at that. What did she call me? I could have sworn that I heard something really awesome. Does this mean for once I will have title I can be proud of?

"Actually," A voice that I was quickly beginning to learn to hate interrupted the conversation between me and Griselda, "Aniki's called the 'The Queen of Swords' not 'The Lord of Swords'."

"Oh, my apologizes. It seems that there was an error in one of the reports. I'll be sure to correct it and inform the rest of the Church of your proper title when I return."

Saji, you son of bitch!

"Still, to think that old Serafall would have finally gotten herself a Queen, I couldn't believe it when I first heard." She eyed me up and down for a second, "But I guess it was a good thing in the end. That girl needed to get laid for the longest time; I'm glad someone finally came around and popped her cherry."

Poor Sona had just begun to take a sip of her tea when Griselda's words hit her and she ended up doing a perfect spit-take as a result. After sputtering and coughing for a few seconds she managed to crocked out a, "What?"

Which was at least more than I could do, as all I did was gape at the sweet little old lady that just implied I was sleeping with my King. The two Exorcists were in no better state as they just stared incredulously at their superior.

"Boss/Griselda!" They exclaimed, red-faced.

"What?" Griselda didn't seem to be the slightest bit disturbed by how the rest of the room's occupants were staring at her as she calmly enjoyed her tea, "It's true. I don't know if Serafall ever had a man before but if she did it sure as hell was a long time ago. So long that I wouldn't be surprised if she grew her virginity back."

"Still," the twin tailed exorcists tried to reprimanded her, though the effect was ruined by her cherry red blush she was sporting, "you shouldn't talk about such things. You're a nun for Christ's sake."

"So? I wasn't always a nun you know. Did you think I came out of my mother's womb old or something? There once was a time when I was young and boy crazy too. Hell, I think it's you two with the problem here. You're going to be taking your vows soon; you girls need to live a little before them. Trust me there is nothing like riding a man or three to utter exhaustion to make you feel alive. One of the most enjoyable experiences in my old life I tell you." She finished with a nostalgic smile on her face and her eyes lost their focused as she lost herself in old memories.

…I am never going to be able to look at sweet little old ladies the same way again.

"Anyway!" Sona voice sounded a little bit too loud to be natural as she attempted what was a clearly blatant effort to change the topic, "you have my permission to enter my territory as long as you don't interfere in anything unrelated to your hunt for the Excaliburs and leave as soon as you're finished."

"Ah," Griselda nodded cheerful at that, "that's more than fair. Thank you dear for co-operating with us." Using her cane as a crutch, she pushed herself up to a standing position. "Before we leave, you wouldn't happen to know where we can find Rias Gremory. We expected to find her here in the school with you but as you can see she's nowhere to be found."

"If you head to the back of the school you'll find a patch of woods, in the middle of it is the old school building. You should find her there."

She nodded towards Sona, "Thank you again for hospitality. We'll get this whole mess settled out and be out of your hair as soon as we can." She was about to turn to leave before she looked like she remembered something.

"Oh and sonny," She turned towards me, "I'm sorry for how little Xenovia here acted. But don't worry, I promise you she'll be properly disciplined so that she'll never make the same mistake again." Xenovia froze rigid at her words and sweat actually began to breakout on her faces despite the coolness of the room.

"Still, I admit that this has gone a lot better than I hoped." Griselda stated as she began to make her way out of the room with the two girls trailing behind her, though Xenovia was walking far too stiffly to be natural. "If the meeting with Gremory goes just as smoothly we may have time to visit that boy of yours Irina. What was his name again? Is-shat?"

"It's Issei Boss." Irina corrected.

"Issei?" I interrupted when I heard the familiar name, "You wouldn't be talking about Hyoudou Issei by any chance?"

Irina turned and locked her violet eyes onto me. "Yes," she spoke cautiously, "do you know him?"

Well, this was gonna be awkward. While I wasn't sure about the details it was clear that this girl knew Issei and it was equally clear than she was unaware of his new statues as a Devil. How do you tell a girl that a friend of hers has been turned to one of the very creatures she has dedicated her life to slaying?

"Let's just say that you'll be seeing him sooner than you expect." I replied, decided that there was no point in hiding it, "Issei was reincarnated as Gremory's new Pawn a couple of weeks ago."

"…I see," Though she tried to hide it, it was clear she was saddened at the news, "What about the others? Did the same thing happen to them?"

I had no idea who she was talking about but I waved my arms to indicate the entire room, "As far as I know the only other humans that were reincarnated in this city are in this room."

She let loose a sigh of relief at that, "That's good, at least the others are OK." She turned back to Griselda, "Well boss, looks like I won't be able to hang out with Issei but my other friends should be fine. Maybe I'll go see how Kara-nee is doing after we're done."

"Sure we will, it's not often you get to visit your hometown in our line of work. You better enjoy it while you still can." Tsubasa trailed after them and shut the door behind them as soon as they stepped out of the Council room. The remaining occupants of the room physically relaxed and the atmosphere became less strained as soon as the unexpected guests had departed.

They weren't allowed to navigate the school unsupervised of course. Sona had already sent her Peerage's familiars to track them ever since they set foot on school ground and will continue to do while they remain in the city. I had no doubt that they, or at the very least Griselda, were aware of them but they could do a thing about them, not if they wanted things to stay peaceful between us.

"You know," Sona took off her glassed and massaged her eyes as she spoke, "this wasn't what I expected to do when I woke up this morning."

"That's what makes life interesting Sona," I tried to cheer her up, "can you imagine how boring life would be if you knew how your entire day would be the moment you open your eyes in the morning?"

"Better than waking up to find something like this dropped into my lap." She replaced her glasses and faced me, "And despite her cordial manner it was clear that Griselda was trying to warn us off."

"So you caught that too did you? Yeah, they wouldn't have revealed the swords to us so eagerly if they didn't want to scare us away. Though I have to admit that was perhaps the most polite way I had ever been told to back off before."

"Be truthful with me Shirou, how dangerous are they and what are our chances on taking them if they decide to get hostile? I couldn't get a good enough read on them from the swords they were carrying."

"They were strong Sona, Griselda far more than the other two." I decided to be frank with her. Sona was the type who functioned better with more information than less, no matter how unfavorable the situation was. "The two girls, you and the rest would have probably been able to take with little difficulty if they had ordinary swords. However going by how all of you reacted just by standing in the presence of the Excaliburs, you might only be able take one of them on at once, even then you'd risk losing a member or two of your Peerage at very least."

She grimaced at that before nodding, "And Griselda?"

"Run," I told her, "I'm not joking Sona just run. She isn't someone you can ever hope to face in battle and live. Old or not, as long as she had that sword in her hands she could take on both your and Gremory's entire Peerage at the same time and win without so much as a single wound to show for it."

I wasn't even exaggerating. Out of the three of them she was the only one to have truly mastered her sword, the other two have barely learned to use it beyond the basics. And the things she could do with that blade were almost frightening, even for by my standards. In some ways she reminded me of assassin, her speed of her strikes were simply that fast. Combined with the powers of Excalibur Rapidly and she was a speed demon.

Then there was the Xenovia, there was something off about that girl. As far as I can tell, the first time she had ever held that sword of hers was less than four days ago. Yet from what little practice she was able to squeeze in with it, it looked like she was already familiar with how her sword worked to an almost instinctive level. Even for a skilled swordsman you can't reach that level of familiarity with such an unusual sword unless you put in dozens of hours' worth of hands-on training, but that doesn't seem to be the case here.

"I see." She shut her eyes as she processed this, "And what about you? How would you fare against them if the worst occurs?"

I snorted at that, "Sona, as long as I'm not caught off guard I could take all three of them at once." Unlike the others I wasn't handicapped by the presence of the Holy Swords, so to me they are little more than ordinary humans.

Even before my transformation into a Devil I could have physically outperformed any one of them with reinforcement alone. As a Maou's Queen the gap in pure physical abilities would have made it almost impossible for them to have a chance. Factor in that they were swordsmen with blades inferior to my own and it'll be a massacre.

"We have that going for us at the very least. Still, what I don't understand is why the Excaliburs would even end up here. The influence of the Church may be weaker in Japan than the rest of the world but that applies to the rest of three-factions as well. Which means outside of Kyoto, there is nothing preventing the Church from sending its hunters here.

"So why did they try to hide out here. Politically there is nothing in Japan that can protect the thieves from the Church's wrath. That's not even tackling the issues of who stole the swords and why?"

I said nothing as I only half-heartedly listen to the rest of what Sona was saying as I came to a realization, one that I should have made days ago. I may not know why the swords were stolen, the who on the other hand was an entirely different matter.

---

Really?

I mean really? I know it was my fault for asking if it were possible for my life to get anymore insane that it already was but I didn't expect the universe to take it as a personal challenge. I swear if I didn't know God was dead I'd have been convinced that some higher power was trying to screw with me.

There sitting in the park bench before me was Asia, laughing and talking animatedly with the person she was sharing the bench with. She was so immersed in the discussion that she hasn't even noticed that I was here. Now that in itself wouldn't have been a strange occurrence. Asia always had a knack for starting up conversation with complete and utter strangers and in a matter of minutes they would end up talking like old friends.

No, it wasn't what she was doing that surprised me but who she was doing it with that was the problem

I turned to look at the person sharing the bench with Asia. Kokabiel. The Fallen Angel himself Kokabiel was sitting right next to Asia, less than an arm's length away. And the guy looked like he was having the time of his life. Have you heard an Angel laugh? No, not laugh but giggle. That was what Kokabiel was doing, giggling his little Fallen ass off as he swapped stories with Asia.

As Asia gestured enthusiastically with her arms, something that she held in her hands caught my attention. Is that a –

"Yahoo~, Shirou." She cheerfully called out to me, waving her hands in an attempt to catch my attention even though I was less than six yards away and staring right at her.

Yup, that was definitely a can of beer alright. And going by the other one in Kokabiel's hand it looks like she decided to share. Oh Joy.

---

"-And that is why you must never," Asia emphasized her point by pointing at him with her finger, "ever look up two girls and cup on the internet. Trust me, sometimes forbidden knowledge is forbidden for a reason."

Kokabiel nodded solemnly at her words, as if he was receiving the words of the gospel from the mouth of Christ himself. "I promise you I shall head your words and never...ah what did you call it again... 'google'? Yes google! I promise to never google that phrase."

And as I watched all of this from the park bench across from theirs I finally began to understand what drove people to drink.

When I first came looking for Kokabiel in the park on the off chance he may show himself, I planned to confront him on the Excaliburs. I had expected many things to result from our confrontation. From a peaceful discussion to an outright fight to the death. But this, I never expected anything like this.

What made this worse was the T-shirt that Asia was wearing. It had the caption 'Unlimited Blade Works: The Hype is Real' printed on it. I knew showing her my Reality Marble was a bad idea but I couldn't resist the urge to show off.

So as I sat there with my head cradled in my hands, I thought back and tried to figure out the exact moment that my life stopped making sense.

"You know, when I first heard that you left the Church I had been intending to recruit you." I was drawn away from my thoughts as the conversation between the two began to take a more serious turn.

"I must confess I was rather disappointed when I discovered your reincarnation into a Devil. Not only due to a loss of a potential ally but because I feared a question I had would remain unanswered." Kokabiel looked as peaceful and relaxed as he always did as he leaned back into the bench and watch Asia, "I never expected a chance of us to speak let this and it would be remiss of me to ignore this opportunity. So if you'll be kind of to permit me to question you on a personal matter."

"Sure," she chirped back cheerfully as she waved her fingers at him, "go right ahead."

"Thank you." He inclined his head slightly before his feature took a more solemn appearance, "Why did you leave the Church?"

…I had to admit I was curious too. Despite knowing about her history it was always due to the bits and pieces she let slip in her conversation or from second hand sources. I never talked to her about it, not wanting to pry, and she never brought it up.

"I am well aware that you had the option to stay. That the priests in the church were more than willing to cover up the incident with the Devil." Kokabiel shrugged with a disapproving frown, "After all it would not be the first time that they covered up a scandal. They had plenty of experience with the trouble their priests seem to find themselves in.

"And that was for ordinary members of the church, for a Holy Maiden I have no doubts they would have gone through great lengths for you to stay. So why, why leave when you didn't have to?"

"Hmm, why did I leave huh?" Despite of the seriousness of the question, Asia still looked as relaxed and cheerful as ever. Tilting her head back she looked up into the clear blue sky while she kicked her feet into the airs like a child. "Well, I guess you can say it was all thanks to these things."

She held out he hands and with a flash of green light, a pair of rings appeared on the middle finger of each of her hands.

"Twilight Healing?" Kokabiel sounded just as perplexed as I felt, "You left because of them?"

Asia nodded her head with a 'yup' before dismissing the rings and throwing her arms over the back of the bench. "I had always wondered," she mused, "did Twilight Healing make me the way I am or was I always like this and that was what drew them towards me.

"A Sacred Gear chooses its wielder, and they always select one that resembles them. So do you know what it means to become the bearer of Twilight Healing? What are the traits that a person needs to have to qualify for it?" She turned towards Kokabiel as she asked.

"A desire to heal and help? A kind heart?" He guessed.

Asia shook her head, "Nope, its understanding." she answered, "Understanding is the most essential trait. Kindness and wanting to help is merely a side effect that stems from understanding. It's not surprising if you take a moment to think about it. After all you can't heal what you don't understand.

"Twilight Healing simply doesn't work like that. I can't just walk up to a coughing man, wave my Sacred Gear over him and just expect him to get better. Even if the cough does go away that doesn't mean that his illness is cured. Often a cough is only a symptom of the problem not the problem itself. So how can I cure him when I don't know what I needs to be cured?

"To truly fix something you must be able to recognize what is broken, that is why understanding is needed. I spent years studying medical knowledge and all I the information I could get on the human body to learn how to use my Twilight Healing and it was only after years of effort that I am able to use it on the level I could now.

"At first I could barely fix even cuts and scrapes. It took me three whole years to learn how to properly fix shattered bones and internal bleeding, and another three years on top of that to finally learn how to cure illnesses caused from viruses and bacteria, and I have only recently reached the point of where I can regrow entire organs though I'm still not quite good at it. And I still have more to learn, I have no idea how to fix genetic disorders yet, among other things.

"But understanding the body is not enough. You need to understand people as well. Understand how they think and why they behave the way they do. After all there are more to ways to hurt a person than to wound their flesh or shatter their bones, and the right words or a kind smile can heal just as well as any medicine or magic could at times, sometimes even better.

"That is why I was always watching people. As I was looking over them from my place during mass I would watch the people prey, during the small breaks I had in the hospitable between healing of patients I would watch their families as they waited anxiously in the waiting rooms, or through the glass out of my room's window I would watch people pass on by as they lived their lives. I was always watching. Trying to understand them, to know them. Before too long I became very good at it, almost absurdly so."

She lifts her hands towards her face, the sunlight falling between her fingers and casting a shadow of her hand over face. She started intently at the spot where Twilight Healing would form if she calls for it, "That is why I'm not sure if it was me or these rings that gave me this ability. I need only to observe a people to comprehend them, even just a few minutes is enough for time for me to understand a person more intimately than their closest friends and family.

"A handful of minutes are all I need to learn exactly what I should say to help a person or to hurt them, to understand what makes them tick better than they know themselves. Keep me in their presence long enough and no one could hide their true nature from my eyes, not anymore at least."

"While rare there are times that I only need so much as a single glance to understand a person, especially when they're the straightforward types." She smiled at me then, "It was like that with you Shirou. I didn't even need a whole second to figure you out. You know underneath it all, you're an astonishingly simple person."

…Was I hearing things or did Asia just call me an idiot?

She turned back towards Kokabiel and said, "So imagine, what I saw as I looked upon my fellow people of the Church. What I realized as I looked upon the sea of clergies, priests and nuns. People who swore themselves to God, who promised to do only good and speak no lie, to abandon all of the world's vices and dedicated themselves in the services of their fellow man and to put their well-being above their own."

Ah, I can see where this was going and from the sorrowful look Kokabiel was giving her it looked like he did too.

"Liars. Liars and hypocrites the lot of them." She dropped her hand with a bitter laugh, something that sounded so wrong coming from Asia.

"You know when I was a little girl I lived in this little out of the woods orphanage. One of the caretakers there was a nun, and she was the sweetest little old lady you'd ever seen. Every night when she tucked us into bed she would tell us about all the places she's been to and the things she's seen.

"Her parents were hikers and backpackers you see, and as a young girl they would take her along in their trips to all around the world. From the peaks of the Alps to the Sahara plains to the grass fields of Africa, she would travel to all these places and see the wonders they held.

"And it was what she saw there that made her believe in god. She would tell us about how she would stand on top of a mountain peak, so high up that the clouds were beneath her and the entire world fell down around her like panting. So close to the roof of the world that it felt as if she only needed to stretched her hand out and stand on her toes she'd be able to touch Heaven's beginning.

Or when she camped out at night by the side of lake so large you cannot see the end of it. How the stars would reflect off its still surface as if it were a mirror, and when she would look across the lake towards the horizon she could not tell where the earth ended and the heavens began.

It was when she saw these wonders that she began to believe in God. She would tell us that God was everywhere, not just in the pages of a book or within the walls of a church, but out there in the world he made. You can find him in the light of a sunrise or in the calming sounds of a running stream or even in a field of flowers. That to find God all you must do is look at the world around us and you'll see him reflected in his work.

"That is why I have always dreamed of seeing the world. Even after I had been discovered as the bearer of Twilight Healing and taken to the Vatican I still dreamt of it. Even though they told me the good book is all I needed, I still believed to find God I must look for him out in the world and not in a church run by men.

She lowered her sights and looked at the park around us. "I mean look at this, look at this world. To me it's a wonder to behold, a treasure to explore, I never could understand how people can go on living their lives without just stopping and staring at it all the time. Look at how everything in the world fits together just right, at how everything need to work in tandem with one another to function, from the smallest ant to the largest mountains. How can someone gaze upon this world and not see that someone had a hand its design. "

"This world is so hideous yet so very beautiful; a world full of painful screams yet filled joyful laughter. Something like this cannot be made by mere chance. That is why I believed in the existence of God. Not because of a priest that tells me it so or because of a book that is a copy of another book that is a copy of another commands me to believe. I believe because I look upon the world and see him reflected within it.

"I truly believe that the best way to know God, that to learn of him you must not look through the pages of a book or the words of a sermon, but by traveling and experiencing his world. I wanted to see world itself, to learn of all of his creations that live within it so I can understand him more.

"Those were the thoughts that plagued me as I looked out of my window every morning. That God cannot be found within the covers of a book no matter how holy but can only be found out there in his world. Out past those glass windows and beyond the gates of the Vatican."

She looked back towards Kokabiel. "And those people that stood beside me in the church were not believers of god, not really, not in the way it mattered. Oh they said all the right things but the words out of their mouth did not match their actions. In one line they told us to love one another for we are all God's children, while the in next they spew words of hatred and reject those who are not like us. To turn the other cheek and forgive but then they punish any that defies them with an iron fist. They tell us that God loves all his children but then say he hates those who are not Christian or do not come to mass or, and here is the most important bit, are not generous enough to donate to the church.

"And that was not even the worst of the lot. Many among them didn't even care about God only pretended to for the power and influence it will grant them. As they back-stabbed and lied to one other in order to make their way up the ranks of the Church. The moment that I discovered that the inner workings of the Church, something that I had believed in to be run by the just and good, resembled a politic battle than anything I had imagined it to be was one of the most shocking experience in my life.

"Those people, they didn't understand that what they were doing wasn't religion. Religion is the relation between an individual and God. It was a one on one connection, and it is between just the two of them and no one else. No man, no priest has the right to get between them or say whether a person is good or bad in the eyes of the Almighty. Or to choose whether you are going to Heaven or Hell. Only God can decide that but they claim to speak in his name as if God had personally walked down from the gates of heaven and appointed them as his voice."

Asia lifted her beer to lips and took several long swallows before continuing. "All the while I was trapped among them. I was a teenager when I first realized that they didn't care for me. That all of their kind smiles and praises was nothing but methods to control me, like giving a dog a treat when they did good to train them how to behave. It was then that I knew that they didn't see me as a person or an individual, but a tool. One too important to ever let go of. I was nothing but a caged bird and didn't know it till then."

"Ah, but don't get me wrong here." She waved her hands at us. "It's not like they were all bad, there were plenty of good people in the church. The nuns and fathers in the catholic orphanage was filled with the most wonderful people I have ever met. It's just that," she lowered her hands, "well, not in the place where I was later taken to when they discovered I was the bearer of Twilight Healing. The Vatican is not a place people reach by being humble and modest after all. Most of the ones that rule there have more in common with politicians than true priests.

"It was then a question entered my mind, 'What am I doing here?'. I knew God could not be found in these tainted halls so why am I even here? Then that was followed by 'I want to leave, I want to leave this place'. Not the service of God but the Church. I haven't lost even a shred of my faith in my beliefs, not then or now, just my faith in the Church.

"But I knew I could not simply leave, that they would not allow me. After all, who will set free the goose that lays the golden egg simply because it wishes to fly? The preachers may tell the masses to be generous and do good, but no one had ever accused them of practicing what they preach."

"Then an opportunity appeared before me. It was as if God himself sent down a miracle to set me free from my prison. But it was not an Angel that God sent to save me but a Devil. It happened when I was walking in a nearby park to the hospital that I was working that day, one of many that was owned by the Church. He fell from the sky and landed practically on my feet in a pile of wings and blood, pleading for my help."

Asia shook her head, "And here I thought that Devils were supposed to be excellent liars. I only needed a single glance to tell that the Devil was faking. I am a healer after all and it was easy for me to tell a real wound from a self-inflicted one. I have been called naïve before but no had ever accused me of being stupid.

"Why would he ask me, a nun, for help when there was a hospital half a mile away? Why would he not bother to hide his true form but instead have his wings out in the open so that no one that laid their eyes upon him would doubt what he was? It was clear that he wanted to use me, for what purpose I did not know. In the end it didn't matter as I quickly realized that this was my chance to be free, so I decided to use him instead.

"It was incredibly easy too, I didn't even have to do a thing. The Devil must have somehow set the whole thing up for I had scarcely begun to heal him when one of the priests walked in on us. You would not believe the amount of uproar that soon followed and, well to keep a long story from becoming even longer I was excommunicated.

"Oh several people tried to get me to stay and offered to cover the scandal up, some who genuinely wanted to help me, others who just wanted to keep their Holy Maiden, while others who wanted…favors in return. I declined them all of course, this was what I wanted after all."

Asia sat up and shot us both a beaming smile. "At last I was free! Free to explore world and its wonders, to finally experience it rather than that watch it go by through the windows of an empty room. I walked out of the church with a skip in my step and a smile on my lips as I began my journey to discover God…then I found out that God was dead." Then she slumps back into the bench. "Well, Shit!"

I could not explain why but both Kokabiel and I broke out laughing at that.

"Surprisingly that was my reaction as well." She flashed us a weary smile, "When I realized that God was dead, I laughed. I just laughed and laughed at the absurdity of it all. In the end after all my efforts, despite my most fevered of wishes the one that I was looking for, that I wanted to meet so very much has already been gone long ago." She looked down into her beer can for a moment before she took another swing from it.

A gentle hand griped her shoulders in an attempt to comfort her. She raised her head to find Kokabiel looking down at her with an equal mixed of understanding and sorrow.

"And what about now?" He inquired, "Now that you are aware that God is gone, have you surrendered your faith?"

"No." There was no hesitation, no give in her words. The look she gave the Fallen as she stared back into his eyes had more than a little steel in them. "It makes no different whether he is here with us or not. I did not follow God for his strength or the promised rewards in the afterlife. I bent my knee and prayed to him to thank him for his kindness, for the love he gave us though we may not have been worth it at times.

"I followed him because I believed that his words, the message and teachings he bestowed upon us, are true. To do good even when it is hard. Be kind to others even when there is nothing to gain to from it. Help a stranger as you would a brother. Tell no lies even if the truth is a difficult burden to bear. To love and forgive one another, even when it is easier to hate. And above all else, remember, to always have kindness.

"I pray to him not because he is a God but because he is a kind God, one that tries to teach to love one another. And God's passing, no matter how tragic it may be, has made his words no less true."

It is easy to forget sometimes how strong this girl was. That behind her somewhat goofy exterior lays a person who lived a hard life yet still has the strength to face each day with a smile.

For the first time since I had met him did I see Kokabiel lose his composure as he stared wide eyed and astounded at Asia, his jaw hanging slightly open in his surprise. For a while he said nothing as he just stared at her. Then he threw his head back and laughed.

It echoed through the park like the ringing of bells and warmed me as if sunlight was shining upon my soul. It was a pure thing, like a child's first smile or the warmth of mother's embrace.

"You," He beamed down at Asia with more joy that it would have made even the most jaded of men smile at the sight, "are one of the most remarkable people I have ever met. Truly remarkable. At first I had wondered if you were like Shirou but no, I was wrong. You're not like him at all. You're like me!" He laughed again.

"Though we are both forever barred from wandering through Heaven's halls we still follow him. Even though your soul was stained with your resurrection, just like my wings were with my fall, you still haven't lost a shred of your faith. No, perhaps it has even grown stronger."

He shook his head in wonderment, "Truly, it is a shame that you two never met. I'm sure Father would have adored you. He had always feared that people had only followed him because of his might not out of their own desires. To know that someone would still choose to believe in him even though he no longer has anything to offer would have brought him nothing but unmatched joy."

Asia shot him a cheerful little smile at that, "That is perhaps the greatest complement you could have given me." She took another swing from her beer only to pause, confused. She lifted the beer can to eye level and peered inside. "Well it looks like I'm out of beer." She said before tossing the can into a nearby garbage bin.

She hopped out of the bench and gave us a wave, "I guess I'll take that as a sign that I've had enough for the day." She began to make her ways out of the park but not before calling out over her shoulder. "Now don't be a stranger Kokabiel. I expect you visit me whenever you're in the neighborhood, ok?"

Kokabiel shook his head sadly at her. "No, I apologize but I don't think we'll ever meet again. No matter how things play out it is unlikely that I will have much more time left to live." Then he smiled back at her, "Still, though it was just a onetime meeting I am truly grateful for the chance to get to know you."

Asia paused in her tracks, swiveled in place and narrowed her eyes as she stared at Kokabiel. The look she was giving him reminded me of the ones that Griselda had given me. Then her expression softened before turning to one that held an equal mix of sorrow and understanding. "Ah…I see. Well in that case be sure to die with a smile on your face, it'll be too sad an ending otherwise."

He graciously lower his head, "Now that is a promise I can keep."

Spinning in her spot again she resumed her journey, "It was fun meeting you Kokabiel." She waved with one last look behind her, "I'll be sure to keep you in my prayers."

As she walked away I saw her clasp her hands together and say "Dear heavenly father thank you- OUCH! Oh come on! Will you cut that out already, it's getting pretty old. Not to mention petty. What happen to all that forgive and forget crap you kept going on about?"

Kokabiel shook his head at the sight, "Remarkable," he turned to face me, "how did you ever find one like her?"

"I didn't find her, she found me." At his inquisitive expression I elaborated. "I had just finished returning some lost children to their parents when she just walked up to me in the middle of the street and straight out asked me if I had any Evil Pieces. When I said yes she asked me to make her a part of my Peerage."

"And you just accepted? Without even knowing who she was?"

"I just asked her why she wanted to join my Peerage and she answered 'To be happy'." I shrugged, "What could I do after that but accept."

"You didn't know she had a Sacred Gear did you?"

I shook my head, "Nope."

Again he smiled at me and it was as if the world had become a better place because of it. "See, this is why I can't help but like you two. No, why I like humans. You'd never meet people as foolish nor wonderful as you two in any other race." He lost his smile, "It is also why it's so sad to see so many of humanity's greatest lose themselves to the Devil kind."

"And what is so bad about being reincarnated as a Devil if they do so willingly?" While I had a feeling I knew why, I wanted to make sure.

He looked at me with knowing eyes that was filled with sorrow because of it. "Did you think that there was no to price to pay to becoming a Devil?" he questioned, "That you merely gain a pair of bat-wings, some magic and that was it?"

He didn't even wait for me to answer as he continued, "Humans are beings of infinite potential, though they start out as so little they quickly grow to achieve so much, immeasurably faster than any other race. But when they become Devils that potential, that glimmer of human ingenuity is lost.

"You would not be able to see at the start but give it time and it'll become apparent that something is missing. That something, that little spark of human potential which truly made you human is gone, put out like the flame of a candle. Meet an adult human every decade and they'll be an entirely different person at each meeting. Meet a matured Devil every decade and they are likely to be the exact same person they were a dozen meetings ago. That is what you give up in your reincarnation, your ability to truly change, to grow.

"Look at the Underworld and you shall see all the proof you need. Look at their cities, at their technology, at their greatest of monuments and you'll find that they are nothing but a reflection of human designs. That all of their immortality and eons of knowledge, they needed to imitate human science and relay on human discoveries to progress as a species instead of discovering them on their own.

"God himself command his Angels to kneel down to humans not Devils because he knew that humans were superior to both us and them. Yet look at the world now, people jumping in droves at the chance to become Devils as if they were becoming something more rather than something less."

He shook his head sorrowfully, "Why, why would they do it? They gave up their humanity, their immortal soul and for what? Power, eternal youth, carnal pleasures? For such worthless things they gave up something that would put them even above the greatest of Heaven's Angels? Truly I cannot comprehend why they would do such a thing."

"Then what about me?" I asked, "I did the same thing as the others but you don't seem to have a problem with that."

"And why did you it? Why did you agree to become a Devil?"

"…To save my sister's life."

Again he smiled. "And that my friend makes all the difference. You didn't do it for yourself but for others. I have met and heard of tens of thousands of Reincarnated Devils in my time but you would not believe how rare it is to hear of one that willingly surrendered their humanity not for their own gain but another's. I can count them all in the fingers of my two hands."

"And Asia?"

"Like I have said, Asia is like me. We are both Fallen but still we continue to follow his will."

I just shook my head, I had a feeling that there was something there that I was missing but I didn't have time to waste anymore. This wasn't what I came here for, I've gotten side-tracked from my original goal enough as it is.

"Kokabiel," I spoke with all the authority I could muster, "why did you steal the Excaliburs?"

He smiled fondly at me, not even trying to deny my accusation. Instead he held out a single hand before him and with a flash of light, he was now holding a sword in his once empty hand.

Anyone can tell in a glance that it was ceremonial sword, one unsuited for combat. It had an ivory hilt with sapphires embedded into the middle in the shape of a cross, while the pommel and the cross-guard were plated with gold. The blade was long and thin, and though it looked solid as it gleamed in the sunlight I knew that despite all the magic that courses through its veins it was no stronger than ordinary steel.

"Out of all the blades in existence," He twirled the sword in his grip as he looked on it with clear distaste, "there is none that I hate more than this one. It is a Holy Sword in name only, in truth it is an abomination. Something that twists then subjugates the mind and breaks the spirit. One only needs to gaze upon it see how far the Church has fallen from what it once was. That they would dare craft such a thing from the remains of a true Holy Sword then to call it holy," He shook his head, "I have no words to describe how sickening that is."

With another flash of light the sword was gone from his hands. He then turned his gaze towards mine and gave me his complete attention. "You ask me what my plans are." He held out his hands, "Truthfully even I'm no longer entirely what they are anymore."

"You expect me to believe that you stole the Excaliburs without a plan in mind?" Not bothering to mask my skepticism.

"Oh no," He shook his head, "I did most assuredly have a plan, a rather good one as a matter fact but I no longer believe following it through would be the best course of action." He gripped his hands together as he continued, "My original plan was to start a war by murdering both Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri."

I felt my blood freeze in their veins at his words and my heart turn to stone. Did he just…?

"Not fight them but murder them." He carried on speaking in the same tone of voice he used all day, as if discussion the murder of teenaged girls was just another normal conversation topic. "I planned to sneak into their homes as they slept, just like I sneaked into their city, and stab them through their cold black hearts with the broken blades of the Excalibur as they slumbered unaware of their coming demise.

"No theatrics, no melodrama, just ruthless efficient murder. And with the coming dawn I would have my war. When the Maou rush to their siblings' side and witness their corpses skewered by the Church's beloved blades they will grant me my wish. In their rage they will not wonder whether they were innocent of the deed or not, they will merely desire for someone to suffer their wrath and the Church will make for a convenient target. And when that happens I will lead all the Fallen I could muster to join in the battle.

"And just like that," He clapped his hands together, "the second Great War would have begun and no one would have been able to stop me."

I had never suffered from vertigo before, but I was sure if I did it would have felt something like this. Here we are still sitting in the same park that we were just having fun with Asia just minutes ago. The sun was still shining in the clear sky, it was warm beautiful day and now I find myself setting across from a monster.

The worse of it was he didn't look any different. His noble and inhumanly beautiful face didn't twist into a hateful sneer, his eyes kind eyes didn't turn blood red and fangs didn't sport from his peaceful smile. He look, well, he still looked like an Angel even as he talked about cold blooded murder in the same tone of voice he spoke to be about the wonders of the human soul.

It was surreal, as if for a moment the world didn't make sense anymore.

"And how did you even plan to get close enough to them?" I decided to attack the holes in this plan while I took the time to gather my wits, "The Bounded fields that warded their homes are first class, and I checked them over myself. It would have been impossible for you to break through them before they have a chance to teleport away, let alone slip by completely undetected."

In reply he raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

A cold steel blade was pressed against the right side of my neck, so close to my jugular that it only need a quick twist to slice clean through it. Another was placed on the base of my spine; a single thrust was all it needed to paralyze me from the waist down. A third blade was held horizontal to the ground and pointed tip first in the preparation to pierce through my armpit and into lungs from where it was located unearth my left arm. The last blade was located on the right side of my torso, positioned between my ribs and ready to plunge into my liver. I didn't even have time to blink.

When did he!?

Though I couldn't see them I could feel the light element running through all four blades, humming to my senses like high-powered electricity though a steel cable. Even with my Queen's fortitude, I was not sure if it would slow these blades enough to make a difference.

Fortunately I didn't have to find out. With another snapped of his finger, all four blades were withdrawn and the ones who were holding them leapt over the back of bench to kneel down beside Kokabiel feet.

"Emiya Shirou, allow me to introduce you." He indicated with a wave of his hands at the four kneeling figures who waited silently by his side, "These four are my personal guards. They are the Elite of my army, my most loyal of servants and above all else they are my friends. A truer bunch you'll never find.

"They have been with me from the very beginning. They stood by my side as I defended Heaven as one of its soldiers, and they never left it even after my Fall, leaving Heaven willingly to come to my aid." The love and affection he held for them was clear in voice.

I only gave him half of my attention as he spoke while the rest of my mind tried to puzzle out the four enigmas before me. Even when they were standing before me I could hardly even tell that they were there. I could see them with my eyes just fine but as far as I can sense them with my magic they may as well not have been there. Hell, I couldn't even hear them! Only by reinforcing my ears was I able to hear them move and even then they were hardly louder than the sound of their heartbeats.

Their heads and faces were wrapped with a bluish grey cloth, masking their features leaving only their eyes uncovered. They were dressed in varying shades of blue and grey clothing that covered from the neck down. Grey leather amour and gauntlets were worn over their clothing, and on their feet's were some kind of greyish moccasin.

Strapped to their sides where short Japanese styled swords, a tanto. The tiny blades may have not been best for heavy combat but they were more than suitable for killing. Though fragile the edge of the blades were sharp enough to pierce through armour, and they had just enough light energy running through them to pierce through a Devil's defense but not enough to make them easy to detect. Not unless you were actively looking for it.

"I wouldn't bother trying, for all the years I've known them even I can't sense them any longer. Not as they are now." He looked upon them with melancholy etched in his face, "Once they were powerful six-winged angels, with enough magic coursing through their bodies that you would have sensed them from miles away. Now in their wingless states however, you wouldn't realize they were there even if they hid in your own shadow."

"Wingless?" I never heard that term before.

"They ripped their own wings offs." He nodded sadly at my horrified expression when I realized that they had mutilated themselves. "At their current state they barely have enough raw magic in them match an average human mage or a Low-class Devil."

"But can't wings grow back? And even if they can't it doesn't explain how they losing them ties into them to losing their magic." I knew that the amount of wings an Angel or Fallen had symbolized that amount of raw power they possessed, it didn't mean that cutting off their wings would destroy their power.

"If they were merely cut off then you would have been correct, but the wings were pulled out by very their roots. The same ceremony they used to remove them had left their bodies' internal magic system and magical capacity undamaged and till functioning but it completely obliterated their magical reserves. In their current state the amount of Mana they can generate is so little that they are no longer capable of casting any powerful spells."

"Still, that doesn't explain why I can't sense them." Even though I was far from skilled in sensing magic I should have still been able to sense something. Kokabiel claimed they had they magic comparable to that of human mage but as far as I can tell there was nothing there. Every living being had some magic in them, even ordinary people had some, but these four had nothing. They were like the gravel of a road, equally devoid of both life and magic.

"It is rather simple if you thing about it. Their magic has been cut to a small fraction of what it originally was but they didn't lost any of their control over it. Right now these four possess a fully functional magic system that was meant to hold and manipulate thousands of times more Mana than it currently has running through it. With such a powerful system still in place, combine to their not inconsiderable skills in the craft of magic, and it was far from difficult thing for them to learn how to surpass they magical presence even more."

"They stole were the ones to steal the Excaliburs weren't they." It made sense. The thieves were able to break in and out of the Church without ever being detected. It also explained why only four of the seven swords were stolen. He didn't have enough people to go after the other three.

"I believe Asia put it perfectly when she said you can't heal someone when you don't understand what's broken. It's the same concept with the wards, how can you expect them to block something when they can't even recognize them as threats. Even the Church's Bounded Fields registered their presence as nothing more than a gust of wind, if they even registered them at all.

"Compared to that, the Bounded Fields protecting the Gremory and Sitri would have been child's play. They would have snuck into the just as easily as they had snuck past the guards that surrounded the city and completed their missions without anyone ever realizing they were ever there."

I wanted to deny it, but he was right. If they could sneak past all of the Church's security when they had dozens of exorcists guarding the swords what chance did the ones we had here have? I haven't been able to spot any of them when I was actively looking for them. It was entirely possible for me to have gone asleep one night and wake up the next morning to find Sona dead.

"Why?" That was the one thing I didn't get from all of this, what did he want a war for? From what I had seen of him Kokabiel wasn't the type to enjoy killing, maybe not even battle. He didn't seem to be a bad person at all. Hell if I was being honest with myself I even liked the guy. And I knew that there was no way he was putting on an act, between Asia and me we would have noticed if he had. So why? "If you restart the Great War, there will be no winners. All Three of the faction will die.""

His eyes locked onto mine, "That, Son of Adam, is the entire point."

"You…You want to destroy the Three Factions?"

He raises an open hand towards the sky, "Once, one only needed to look up in the sky to know that justice lived. That there was still good in the world. No matter how hard the times or dark the night, all you needed to do was look up in the sky and know that there just beyond your sights laid Heaven, and it was a place where the righteous lived, where they stood guards and watch over you and would give their life to protect you no matter how powerful the foe. And at its heart, seated on the throne of Heaven, sat a just God. A God whose kindness was unmatched, a God who loved you with all his heart."

He lowered his hand, "But that is no longer so.

"Heaven has forsaken its duty. Our beloved God is dead and his dying wish was to protect humanity, his children from the supernatural. To guard them from the beings that would hunt them in the dark, which would feast on the young and weak, and that would corrupt the good and strong among them. Just as they are doing right now.

"And yet where is Heaven's legions? Where are they when the innocent call out for help? Where are they when children are hunted down and killed like cattle? Where are the promised protectors, where are the shepherds to guide the faithful, the guardians to protect the weak in their time of need? Where are they?

"They sit within the gates Heaven, enjoying its spenders while the innocent suffer beneath their feet.

"Michael has abandoned humanity. No worse, that traitor has become the very thing that we were supposed to guard humanity from. He feasts upon their beliefs and exploits their faith in us, all the while claiming it is for their own good. Good? GOOD! He dare he call what he does good?

"He chains and control them by masquerading as God, it is a sin to pretend to be a God yet he sees nothing wrong with his actions? He is lying and deceiving them all the while he hides the truth of father's death, and for what? To protect Heaven? Heaven was meant to stand guard over its people, Heaven was supposed to be the home of the righteous and brave. Heaven was to fight back the darkness to protect the weak and innocent. Yet what do they do? They stand back and do thing.

"Heaven's legion sits back, their weapon lay untouched in their sheath and their rusted armour lay abandoned on the ground, as they watch the people they were duty sworn to protect are pillaged and exploited, all so that Heaven may survive. I ask you this, what is the point of Heaven when it serves no other purpose than its survival?

"Even as the faithful scream for help, they beg for God to save them, to save their children. And how does Michael answer them? He commands them to pray." A bitter and painful laugh broke out from Kokabiel. One made painful to hear knowing it came from an Angel. "Pray, that is what they have been doing the entire time you hypocritical fool. And when you do no not answer their prayers you wonder why people no longer believe in God?

"All the while this is happening, the Devils are exploiting Heaven's lack of vigil. They steal humanity's greatest and strongest with promises of riches and power, and the moment they get hold of them they turn them to little more than slaves. They promise to love and protect, while in truth they are the source of the danger that they need protecting from. You just need to look at that poor child Hyoudou Issei for proof."

"You know about Issei?" I don't know why it surprised me so much but it did.

"Of course I know of him. He is another one of my mistake, another innocent I failed to protect." Kokabiel eyes looked broken as he stared at me. "I was the one who sent the Fallen to watch over and protect him from the Devils."

"But it was the Fallen Angels that killed him!" There was no doubt about that.

"I know, such is the greatness of my folly that my actions had led to the events that I wanted to prevent." Though his face remained calm there was a hint of barely restrained anger in his voice. "Those fools seemed to have misinterpreted my orders. When I commanded them to 'protect the boy from the Devils who are after his Sacred Gear' they apparently heard 'prevent the Devils from getting the boy's Sacred Gear' instead.

"They were punished for their crimes."

At that phrase something clicked in my mind, "You were the one who killed them."

He nodded solemnly, "All Angels, Fallen or not, are meant to guide and protect people. For one of my own kind to kill an innocent child for their own gain is a crime I simply cannot forgive."

"To make matters even worse," he continued, "my original fears were confirmed. The Devils were lying in wait, aware that child would get killed yet sat back and did nothing. Only after he died did they reveal themselves. They resurrected him and enslaved him while they pretend to play the roles of the Heroes. All the while they hide the truth, that they had played just as much a role in his death as the Fallen that hurled her spear at him.

"And Issei was not the only child to suffer such a fate. Every day there are hundreds just like him, children that are tricked, exploited or coerced into Devilhood. Devils tend to prefer recruiting the young over the old when they are able to, as they find them easier to train and manipulate. And again what does Heaven do during through all of this? Nothing. For their own survival, they believe that such sacrifices must be made. As if it is much of a sacrifice to them when it is someone else who has to pay the price.

"What truly makes the situation bleak is how the Devils deliberately aim for humans with Sacred Gears. They were God's gift to humanity, bestowed upon your race to protect them, to give them the means to fight back the monsters that hunt them in the night. Sacred Gears belong to humankind and no other race.

"And what happens to them? They became tools for the Devil instead. The very thing they were meant to fight. If there is one good thing that came about with Father's passing is that he never lived long enough to see how his gifts were perverted in such away.

"And then there are the Fallen. Do I even need to mention them? Though they maybe my own kind I hate them the most of all. Out of all three they are the most selfish of the lot. Our lord has granted them the wonders of Heaven since the day they were created and they betray him for their own greed and selfishness.

"Look at Azazel, he surrendered into his own lust and in doing so he betrayed his wife just so he can procreate with a dozen different human women."

"Angels can get married?" I blurted out. I don't know why buy I thought angels were supposed to be eternal virgins or something.

The amused smile told me Kokabiel could tell what I was thinking. "Of course we can. Love is one of the many gifts God had bestowed upon the world and what is the marriage but the culmination of love. Did you think that our Lord will denied his Angels one of his greatest gifts? No, while it is rare I confess, Angels can fall in love with one another and marry."

"But Azazel," The smile slipping off his face, "he was one of the lucky few. He found a love so true and pure that even the Lord happily blessed his marriage. His wife adored him above any other, perhaps even more than she loved our Father. But Father did not care, so delighted he was in his children's happiness. And what did he do with that love? He betrays hers.

"Have you ever seen an Angel with a broken heart before? Be grateful that you did not have the misfortune to. In all my years I have never seen a more tragic sight, and I hope to never do so again. When something as pure as an Angel loves they cannot hold back, they give everything into their love. And when that love is betrayed, they die.

"After Azazel's Fall, Heaven's hall was filled with the echoes of Hadraniel's weeping. For a hundred days and a hundred nights her tears did not stop. And when the hundredth night came to an end, so did poor Hadraniel.

"There is a reason that Azazel is one of only two Fallen that God has never offered the chance for redemption. Some sins are to grave to ever forgive. That is why I hate the Fallen. That is why I hate all the Factions.

"The three-faction are no longer needed in the world. They are a relic of an age long gone, leaches who only continue to survive by sucking the life blood of others. Have you not wondered why human's prospered over the years but the three factions number continues to dwindle? Even centuries after the end of the Great War the Three faction continue to shrink while the rest of the world grows.

"It is because the Three Factions are nothing but the rotting corpse of a great beast that refuses to accept its demise. And in its desperation to survive it clings to whoever happens to be nearby, and by doing so they drag them down with them with them into their doom.

"That is why I cannot allow the abomination that the Three Factions have become to continue to exist. They are a diseased limb that needs to be amputated before they infect the rest of the world with their poison. That is why I planned to kill the two Heirs and bring era of the Three Faction to a proper end before they cause any more harm."

"But you changed your mind." I added.

"But I changed my mind." He nodded in agreement. "As something rather unexpected occurred. Something… that was truly remarkable. A Devil with a human soul had been discovered.

"Such a thing was unheard of, an impossibility. When a human is reincarnated into a Devil they must accept a Devil's magic into their body and no soul, not even man's, can accept so much of their foul magic into their being and remain untainted and yet, there you stand before an impossibility made real. A soul so whole and pure that is shines with all the brightness of a sun.

"Once again, the human spirit has achieved the impossible. Once again your kind as surpassed anything I could have dream of you achieving. It was then that I began to wonder, could I have been wrong? Was there perhaps another way? I didn't know, so I decided to make sure."

"And that's how we met for the first time, you came looking for me."

Kokabiel nodded, "I confess that it wasn't due to serendipity that we met, because as you had correctly guessed I actively sought you out. But can you truly blame me? How could I not look for you when all of my guards," he waved his hand toward the four fallen he remained silently kneeling the entire time, "swore to me that they had seen a Devil enter the sacred ground of a church yet grew no weaker for it, as if the church had welcomed his presence."

I cast my eyes on the silent four, and even now I still had trouble realizing that they were there, "They were still in the church when I got there, weren't they?"

"Yes. It shouldn't come as much of a surprise that they were able to trail you the entire time you were there without you noticing. But having a second-hand report is not the same as seeing it with my own two eyes, and when the fate of the world hangs on the balance of my decisions I needed to make sure.

"But it was after out meeting that I began to have doubts in my course of action.

"I did not foresee a Devil with a human soul and yet there you stand before me. So I had to question myself, if I could not predict such a development was there something else I did not foresee as well? Was it possible for mankind to still prosper even in the grips of the Devils? Could your kind's potential bring about another miracle, one that I, a mere Angel cannot even comprehend?

"Father had wanted the world to be free from the influence of both Heaven and Hell. He wanted to see a world crafted by man and man alone. That is why he fought the Great War, that is what he died for. Not out of hatred but love, not to destroy the Devils but to protect the humans from their influences.

"Yet here I am deciding the course of humanity, as if I was the almighty himself. How does this make me any better than the Devils? I could not help but wonder if my pride had gotten the best of me. That in my hubris I believed I knew what was best for the world. Did I even have the right to decide such a thing? And yet I cannot simply sit back and do nothing while the innocent suffer all around me.

"It was after many days of contemplation that I had stumbled onto an answer. One that can determine the fate of the world in a way that would not betray Father's will."

"Emiya Shirou," He turned his imploring eyes towards me, "Will you please kill me?"

…What?

Not even giving me enough time to gather my scattered wits he carried on, "I cannot stop, not after going so far, not while so many continue to suffer all around me. Yet I no longer believe I have the right to decide the fate of the world. Or at least, not by me alone. That is why the future will be determined between us, a Son of Heaven and a Son of Man.

"Tonight, I will enact a plan that will reignite the Great War. And this time, I will not stop until I had brought about the end of the Three Faction. And it will be at that moment, just before the point of no return, I shall give you a chance to kill me.

"I will not make it easy for you of course. I intend to fight you with all of my might; I shall call upon all of my magic and forces to strike you down Child of Man. I will hold nothing back and I expect you to do the same. And with that, I will let the potential of man determine the fate of the world. Just like father intended.

"Will the spirit of man that burns inside you emerge victorious and prove that even in the world's current hardship humans can still prosper, or will you prove that your existence was nothing but a fluke, a product of chance and that the future of mankind is doomed so long as the Faction continue to exist and exploit them.

"No matter what the outcome may be, I will make sure that man will have a hand in shaping in its own future." He folded his hands over his laps and calmly relaxed into his bench.

"And what's," I began when it became apparent that he had nothing else to add, "stopping me from ending you right now?"

His lips curved into a tiny smiled and he indicated with hands to the empty space on either side of him. I just stared at the spot for a few seconds before I raised an eyebrow at him. What exactly was I supposed to be looking at?

Wait a minute. What happened to the guards?

A blade was place on the right side of my neck. Ah, never mind, found them.

"What's stopping you? Simple, if you wait for tonight I promise you that I will fight you out in the open. No subjection or traps, just a clean open battle. And while I'll not be alone, my elite guards will not participate in our fight. They will sit it out and observe our battle as witness. Does that seem fair to you?"

"Fair enough." I would have nodded if I weren't sure I'd cut my throat on the guard's blade. Fortunately the blade disappeared the next second, but I still had no idea where his guards was hiding and I wasn't willing take my eyes off Kokabiel to turn around and look for them.

"Then it appears we have an accord." Kokabiel raised from his seat and gave me a single bow before leaving. "I wish you best of luck tonight Emiya Shirou."

"I won't need it. There is no way you're going to end up winning tonight. Not just for the sakes for the people I'm protecting but for yours as well." He stopped in his track and turned to look at me. "Kokabiel let me make one thing clear, I don't believe that you are wrong about the three Factions nor do I believe that you are a bad person. However that doesn't mean I'm going to sit back and watch you commit mass genocide, no matter how justified you believe it to be."

"Oh?" He didn't seem upset about my declaration, just curious, "And why is that?"

"Do you know what a hero is?" I asked instead, "I once met a man who thought himself a hero. He wanted to so badly save everybody. Even though he knew it was impossible, he tried to save everyone he could see anyway. No matter the cost he threw himself into the line of fire time and time again to save as many lives as he could. It did not matter to him if they friends, enemies or complete strangers, he would risk his life to save theirs without thought of loss or gain.

"Yet he could still not save everybody no matter how hard he tried, so he had to choose who to save. Should he save the three people to his left or the ten on his right? The decision may appear to be an easy one but to him, who wanted to save everyone, it tore into his soul. But the same situation propped again then again, and each time he choose to the save the many over the few.

"Then came the time where he had to face the same decision again, where he had to choose who to save, the many or the few. Only in this case among the few that needed saving was one of his dearest friends. In such a situation anyone would have hesitated on what to do but not him, oh no. He was a hero and to him a hero is someone who saves as many people as he could. And that was why he abandoned his single friend to save the lives of a dozen strangers.

"But that's wrong, completely and utter wrong. That's not being a Hero, not even close.

"A hero is not someone who simply saves lives, he is far more than that. Nor is he someone who defeats evil, that's what we have soldiers and the police for. To fight back the darkness is not enough to become a hero, a hero needs to be the bringer of light as well.

"What is the point of living for hundred years of misery? Wouldn't it be better to live a single day full of joy instead. What is the point of saving one's life if they end up crying to the end of their days? Would it not be better to the let them die happy instead.

"Listen Kokabiel, no matter what you do death comes to us all in the end. Whether it is a single day from now or a million, all of our time is limited. And when our time comes, and we look back upon our lives, we do not judge whether our life was a good one or not by the number of days that we lived but the number of times we laughed, the number of times we had smiled. That is how we decide if our lives were worth living.

If a Hero is simply someone that just stalls the inevitable that is death then what's the point of him? A Hero must be more than that. A true Hero is not someone who simply saves a life but someone who makes that life worth living, someone that bring joy to that existence. Or else there would be no point to it all.

"That is why Kokabiel I'm gonna save you. Tonight I will come and kill you, but when I do I'll make sure you fulfill your promise to Asia. I'll make sure you'll die with a smile."

"And why is that Son of Man?" He looking at me strangely, as if he was expecting to see something in particular but found himself being confronted by something else entirely.

"Simple," I jerked a thump at myself, "it's because I'm a hero. The real thing."

He just stared at me dumbfound, as if I had grew a second head, eyes wide open in surprise. Then he began to laugh. And I mean really laugh, as in 'he laughed so hard that he had to prop his hands on his knees to keep himself from falling over' kind of laugh.

I felt my cheeks burn as I watched the Angel hyperventilate from laughter. It was not the first time I had someone laugh at my dream, not even close, but it felt different this time. Not sure if it was because I'm a Devil now or because it was an Angel laughing at me but it was embarrassing.

After what felt like hours Kokabiel's laughter finally subsided, though he still let out the occasional chuckle. "Let me say it again," He said all the while smiling at me teary eyed," I can't help but adore your kind. And though our acquaintance may have been a short one. I am truly glad to have met you.

"So I guess this is goodbye Son of-… no. Goodbye Shirou."

"Goodbye Kokabiel." I replied and with one final bow he was gone.

Just the instant before he left I did something that I was always loathed to do, I looked into his soul. It was just for a brief instant but it was still enough for me to get my answer.

Why did Angels fall?

Some fell willingly, others fell unknowingly. I had been told there were only those two reason, yet today it seems I had discovered another.

Loyalty

When I looked into his soul, into the heart of his being that was the one thing that I could see. It eclipsed everything. To his duty, to his people, but most importantly to his Father. Enough loyalty that he had willing Fell to make sure Heaven remained safe.

By becoming a spy in the enemy camp.

Who had ever heard of such an absurd thing? An Angel who fell from Heaven to protect it.

He and all who followed him allowed their wings to be stained black, to be reviled and hate by their brothers and sisters by very people he was trying to protect, and yet he did it all with a smile.

Even after he saw his father, his reason for living, fall and die before him he did not stop. He still fought on, loyal though the one he was loyal to was already gone.

For a moment his back was imposed with that of an archer in red. Even when it betrayed them they still followed their Ideal to the bitter end. It looked like even if I did nothing, he had no intention of breaking Asia' promise. Just like him, Kokabiel will face his end with a smile.

---

Above me the full-moon hung bare in the cloudless night sky. What little stars that could be seen were faded little specks, their brightness dulled and diluted by the city lights. Propping myself up with my arms behind me I gazed onto the moon from the rooftop of my house as I waited for everything to begin.

Moon watching. Kiritsugu used to do it all the time though I never did understand the appeal of it back then, I still don't to be honest. Still, it's not bad to do it from time to time and it's not like I had anything better to do while I waited.

Gasper and Asia were asleep in bed. I didn't want them to get caught up in this mess so I made sure to not let anything slip on what was happening. I wasn't sure I could keep them away if they knew. I also activated the defensive Bounded Field that was placed around the house. It should stop anyone from entering or exiting the building, at least for a time, and hopefully prevent the two of them from sensing any magical discharge from the upcoming fight.

Now all that was left was to wait. That was one of the good things about the way I fought, I never needed time to prepare. I was more or less my own walking armory after all. Unfortunately it often left me with a lot of free time before a battle to think.

The Devils guarding the town aren't aware of the upcoming showdown simply because there was nothing they could do to help. If they got in the middle of a fight between Kokabiel and me they'd get slaughtered at best or get in my way at worst. There was going to be more than enough death tonight, no need to pile up the body count even more.

And as much as I trusted Kokabiel to keep his words, I didn't want to risk driving him into a corner. Seeing a horde of Devils converging onto the city might be enough to send him into a panic where he would either enacts whatever plan he has cooked up early or worse, he decides to go with the original plan of using his elite guards to assassinate the girls.

As much as I hated to admit it, I had no way of stopping him if he decided to do that. Those four guards of his, I couldn't keep track of them even when they were standing in front of me. They may have not been strong, I'm sure even Kiba can fight probably take two of them at the same time and win, but that didn't mean they weren't dangerous. It doesn't matter how skilled you are in battle or how much magic you can bring down at an opponent, a knife slicing your throat as you sleep will kill both the strong and the weak just as easily.

That was one of the things I never truly understood about the Holy Grail War. Assassin Class was perhaps the most dangerous of all the Servant Classes despite its reputation as the weakest. They can remain hidden whenever you're ready for them and attack when you're at your weakest. No matter how diligent a Servant guards his Master, there is no way they can keep their guard up indefinably. I was convinced that the Holy Grail War would have been won long ago if a competent and determined Master had ever summon an Assassin Class servant.

It was good thing that Kokabiel agreed to keep those four out of it. That was actually one of two reasons why I accepted his terms. The second reason was that he had offered me an all or nothing showdown, which was much better than anything I could have hoped for otherwise. In war, or even a skirmish, a true victory is a rare thing. Even if you win a battle or the entire war the losses tended to be catastrophic. There are always comrades to bury, friends that were lost.

But here Kokabiel has offered me a chance to avoid that. A way to win without sacrificing anything or anyone. If it meant that I'd lose everything if I was defeated well, how was that different from how it has always been? That has-

A wave of magic crashed over me, interrupting my thoughts. I looked towards the direction that I sensed the magic originate from, or at least the closest one. There were, as far as I can tell, at least a dozen sources and they were positioned all around me.

Most of them were too far out of my range to accurately sense but the nearest one was just close enough for me to tell it was located at the very edge of the city limits. Even from I stood on top of my roof it was still too far for me to see, and I was just as I was about to reinforce my eyes when whatever spell they were casting activated.

A wall of blue light, seemingly made up of a hexagon patterned slabs, emerged from the edge of the horizon. Not just at the point I was starting at but from all around me. They kept rising up like a curtain being raise all while curving inwards until they converged, forming a dome over the city. For a moment the dome appeared to grow brighter before fading away so it could no longer be seen, though I could still sense it was there.

So it looks like it begins.

While I was no expert, it was painful obvious that the dome was meant to keep anyone entering or leaving the city. I guess Kokabiel didn't want anyone interfering in our fight. And from the familiar sensation I'm getting, it looks like the dome blocked all forms of teleportation magic within the city as well.

"Emiya-sama."

I whirled around at the sound, instinctively summoning Kanshou and Bakuya in my hands as I did so. I barely resisted hurling them at the kneeling figure behind me, and that was only because I realized he was unarmed and recognized him as one of Kokabiel's guards.

What the hell were these guys, freaking ninjas? I knew they were good at sneaking around but did they have to give me a heart-attack every time they showed up?

He was kneeling with one fist one the ground while he had his other arm resting on his upright knee. He hadn't shifted an inch even after I had drawn my weapons, just staring at the ground before him as he spoke.

"Emiya-sama," He repeated. He has a surprisingly soft voice, one that belied his appearance. "Kokabiel-sama sends his regards and wishes to inform you that the he will be waiting for you in Kuoh Academy's courtyard. He also advises you to hurry, it appears that some of the Devils have already arrived earlier than we had anticipated."

I was already moving before he finished speak. Dismissing the blades I turned and leapt of the edge of the roof as far as my reinforced limbs would take me before unfurling my wings and flying as fast as I can towards the School.

Even from as far away as I was I could already flashes of light from the distant hill of the school. The battle had already begun.

---

It was a sword that devoured the light of the world. A demonic blade that embodied the end of the day and the beginning of the night. It is here where light comes to die and against a being of light, one both made from it and wields it, there exist no better weapon.

It was also utterly worthless.

A fist tore through the heart of the blade as easily as glass, shattering the sword to pieces. It continued on, ploughing through until it found itself sheathed in the boy's chest. Bones, ribs, sternum were devastated under the force of the blow, sending the boy flying across the clearing.

"What use is a sword that can devour my spears when I don't need them to win?"

It was a punch that can break stone and tear the earth itself. With just a graze it could kill a man, a direct hit will liquefy one. It slammed full force into his side, shockwaves erupted from the impact sending gusts of winds strong enough to topple trees.

It did nothing.

She looked at her fist in confusion from where it sat on his unharmed side before a hand latched onto her shoulder. She looked up to see eyes of startling blue staring down on her before a knee impacted her chin, lifting her clear off her feet and shattering her jaw.

"Your form is magnificent but you did not put your all behind your punch. You have the power within you to harm me and yet you won't use it? What an utter waste."

Lighting fell from the sky like rain, blinding bright, it lit the courtyard like the light of day. It tore the paved ground, scarring it with trenches that spit the courtyards in two and craters meters wide. It never stopped, falling in an unending torrent of power, radiating enough heat to melt steel beams to puddle.

He walked through it as if it was raindrops.

"Disappointing." He raised a hand to block the lighting and it split apart at his mere touch, like water before the cliff, pouring down at either side of him. "To think the daughter of that man is such a pitiful creature. I know your father girl, and compared to him you fall short in every measure."

"THAT MAN IS NOT-" a kick from above knocked the girl from the air before she could finish, sending her crashing into the hard ground. The earth fractured from her landing, spider webs of cracks forming all around her. She did not get up.

Kokabiel hung in the sky his ten wings spread out about him, surround his frame like a crown of shadows. "Why is it always the child that hurts the parent the most?" He question out loud before looking at his remaining opponent.

It was the end given form, destruction granted shape. Congregated into a sphere it was painted with the colorlessness of the void, for neither light nor shadow can survive its touch. It is here where existence dies, where mortal and immortal alike are made equal. It danced off the tips of her finger, bending to her will, while she glazed with eyes filled with utter hatred at him as she prepared to cast it

It never even reached him.

She doubled over as a knee found itself buried into her stomach. Folding in two over his leg, the back of her uniform erupted outwards in a mist of shredded cloth as the force of the blow tore through her.

"While the Power of Destruction is truly frightening," He looked down at the coughing girl as she collapsed to her hands and knees, "if I can kill you nine times over in the time it takes you to cast it then it becomes utterly meaningless."

"You won't get away-" her face was driven deep into the paved ground by the bottom of his foot impacting the back of her head.

"Devil, it is you that won't get away with your crimes any longer. Either by my hand or his, one of us will bring your accursed kind's rule of terror to an end." He did not quite sneer at her as he lifted his foot off of her head. She did not get up.

Behind him, in the heart of the courtyard that held the battle was a circle of shimmering light. Its borders were made from a series of sigils and runes that were carved into the ground. They shone with an inner fire of sky blue, painting the courtyard around it in a warm blue light.

In the center of the circle were four swords, planted point first into the ground in the shape of square, each corner was pointed in the four primary cardinal direction. A network of lines grew out of the point that the blade met the ground, marking the earth with veins that burned from within. They filled the inside of the circles completely, pulsing every few seconds like the slow beat of a heart.

That was Earth-Breaker, a spell that will bring ruin to the City.

Ribbons of water came to life in the air around him by the dozens, rising in number by the second. They slithered and twisted in the air like serpents as their numbers quickly grew before, like the vipers they so resembled, they struck.

An explosion of water filled the air from the impact, misting the area from sight, yet still the attack didn't end. More streams formed and rained down upon were he last stood, in ever growing numbers. And under the cover of the attack, three more appeared.

Legs coated in steel rained down blows from above, a sword flashed by as the air screeched from its passing, water vaporizing by the approach of a shield of burning blue fire; all three strikes fell as one, perfectly coordinated, the timing just right.

All of it meaningless.

Steel legs fragmented then shattered, the blade vaporizing by the might of the answering weapon, the blue flames burned away by heat of the spear of light. In an instant all three thrown back, broken, towards the feet of their master as he emerged into their sight.

Stepping out from cloud of steam, all what remained of the torrents of water after a single swipe of his spear. He strode calmly forward while steam clung onto his body, unwilling to release him for its embrace. It trailed behind him shifting with his every step, like a clock drifting in the wind.

"Your skill in shaping the water is impressive, I must admit. However if all of the strikes lack any real power behind them, then there is no meaning in it."

He paused in his approach as a tongue of shadow slithered on the ground before wrapping around his ankle. He released a sigh as he shook his head before uttering a single word, "Fool."

Screams of agony soon followed, echoing throughout the courtyard. All eyes turned towards the wailing form of Saji as he writhed on the ground, the tongue of shadow dissolving as he did so, the light element that it absorbed burning it away.

"Saji/Gen-chan!" The remaining members of the Student Council yelled out at the fate of their pawn.

"Sacred Gears were crafted for humans, did you think it will work perfectly now that you became a Devil boy?"

"KOKABIEL!" a voice of hatred roared out of the Bishop's throat. Lighting danced along her fingertips as she turned toward her enemy only to find the palm of his hand blocking her sights before it gripped her skull.

"Never look away from an opponent in battle little Devil." With a single push she found her head buried deep into the ground behind her, as unconscious took her moments later.

The second Bishop soon followed the first into unconsciousness. Before she could so much as cast a single spell or utter a word, she was brought down with a single backhand from where she stood protectively over Saji. Her King would have soon shared her fate if not for the halberd that barred his blow.

"Oh?" with a single hand he brought his own spear crashing against it, bring the wielder to her knees, yet the weapon held. "Remarkable, it withstood the full blunt of my spear yet it bears not so much as a mark to show for. I know the name of every weapon that is capable of such an achievement and yet, I have never heard of this one before." His eyes shifted from the halberd to Tsubaki, who was grimacing from the effort to sustain her guard, despite the utter ease he single-handedly held her down. "Tell me little Devil, where did you ever find such a treasure?"

Before Tsubaki had a chance to speak, Kokabiel leapt back as streak of steel shot through the spot where his has head had been just a moment before. It was a long thin bar of metal that had its end sharpened to a point. When it became apparent the attack had missed, it quickly retracted back to where it originated from, within the shadows beneath the archway of the school entrance, dozen of yards away.

Kokabiel looked over his right shoulder, eyeing the direction the attack came from, "This is why combating with humans, despite them being the weakest of all races, has always interested me." Without turning his head away, he lifted the spear with his left hand and blocked the blow that came from the opposite direction he was facing. "You always fight dirty."

He turned to look into the yellow eyes of the blue haired exorcist. Her blade grinding against his spear, sending blinding sparks into the night air. "There is no such thing as fighting dirty Kokabiel," She retorted as she leapt back, "merely victory and defeat. Anything else is just the whining of the losers."

"I agree." He pivoted in place as he dodged an attack to his back from the twin-tailed exorcist, "Yet the question remains my little humans, do you have what it bring about the victory you seek?" He question the two.

The swinging of their blades was their reply, beginning the battle of weapons users. In instant Tsubaki joined in the fight, adding her own blade to the fray.

It was beautiful to behold as sparks of blue and white erupting each time the light of spear clashed against the steal of the blades. Fireworks of the battle burned into the retinas of all watching, flashing and dimming with each exchange, as all four combats fought for victory. Yet all who watched knew the fight only lasted as long as it did because he was humoring them.

He held back the power of his strikes and the speed of his swings. Instead he held all three of them down with skills alone. His spear spinning and twirling around, blocking, parrying and redirecting all their attacks. His movements inhumanly smooth, the end of each action leading the beginning of the next, it flowed together with all the grace of flowing water and looked more like an elegant dance than brutal combat. And through it all he only used a single hand to wield his spear.

It was hopeless. The Devil among them continued to fight on for the unattainable victory because to lose would be to forfeit the lives of her friends, even though she held no hope in her heart she fought on. The humans on the other hand fought on because they cared not if victory was possible or not. It was not victory that they fought for after all but something else entirely.

All they wanted to do was to distract him.

It appeared in a flash. With speed too inhuman for the natural or even supernatural to perceive let alone match. It covered the length of the courtyard in a time too short to be called an instant, charging towards his unguarded side.

His spear was in his opposing hand, locked into place by the blades of the other three as they fought for dominance. Too far to bring to it around in time even if he had been free to do so, the unwavering strike flew to his side unobstructed.

It impact with a flash of light so bright in illuminated the courtyard with all the brightness of day.

"It's been a long time, Griselda." Kokabiel greeted his attacker warmly, a joyful smile gracing his lips, "I see you've gotten old. A pity, you were faster in your youth."

"We're can't all be unaging like you Kokabiel." Her Excalibur Rapidly pushed against his spear. Her surprise strike was blocked by the second spear he summoned in his opposing hand. Despite her failure her voice was equally warm as she smiled at her old friend, "Still, I can't say I would have it any other way. It would make this old woman cry to see that pretty face of your fade with age."

Her smile was replaced with a dejected frown. "It's a shame that I can't say the same for your sanity. I never thought you of all people will do anything like this. What would the others think if they ever saw you like this?"

"I believe Dianna wouldn't care as she continued her efforts to try and get into my pants. Ralph would be too busy trying to write line of poetry to adequately express his lamentation of facing a friend in battle, while Luka would tell me to stop being a dumb-ass wasting his time fighting when we can be spending it drinking."

"Yeah that's sound like them." Despite herself she allowed a smirk show for a moment before it disappeared. "Please stop this Kokabiel. You can't win anymore. Just give up." Her words were not empty bravado either.

He was trapped in the middle of two opposing forces. With one hand he held back one of the strongest exorcist alive who was wielding what was perhaps the fastest sword on the planet. With his other hand he held back two of her students, both of whom wielded Holy Swords themselves, and a Devil with the strength and speed granted to her by the Queen Piece.

And behind them all stood her King. Above her she gathered a giant globe of water that was slowly shrinking as it was pressurized into a smaller ball, ready to release all its gathered power in one single attack.

Even for one such as he, victory without serious injury would have been difficult.

Yet none looking upon him would have believe he was in any danger as he gave his friend an amused smile.

"Remember how we used to spar all the time?" He asked, "How you and the others kept pestering me to stop holding back in our fights until I finally agreed to always go all out?"

"Yes." The instant after the words left her mouth, dread appeared on her face as she began to understand what he implied.

He nodded at her comprehension, "I lied."

They had no warning before they felt it come crashing upon them, almost bringing them all to their knees.

Power, unadulterated power came pouring out of him in a level incomparable to before. From his back a new pair of wings erupted to join the ten others as he finally revealed his true strength. The light of his spear grew in intensity, to the point that none can looked directly upon them, as the blade pushing against them glowed a cherry red.

They were Swords of legend, whose name is known by the people of all the lands. Wars were fought over them and men willing died for them. Heroes longed to prove worthy to hold them while bards sang of their majesty for a thousand years.

Yet before the might of his spears they were nothing. In an instant the metal of the blades melted then vaporized, destroying them beyond the repair of mortal men. The swords did not go quietly as they died, as the remnants of the power they held exploded outwards no longer contained by their metal shells.

All four were sent flying and even Sona, the farthest away, was completely knocked off her feet by the wave of holy energy that crashed through the courtyard, causing her to loss control of her spell. The watered she gathered fell to the ground, spilling over its hard surface uselessly.

He twirled both spears in his hands once before he began to make his way to Griselda, his twelve wings draped over his shoulder like a cloak, as she weakly tried to push herself off the floor but only succeeded in lifting her upper body.

"It has been a thousand years since I witnessed my Lord's demise." He spoke as he approached her, "Can you understand how it felt to witness my Lord and Master, my beloved Father struck down before me during the Great War? Do you understand how I felt as I stood by and watch, too weak to do anything to help, as I watched God die?"

Exclamation of shock echoed throughout the courtyards as the few conscious among the fallen combatants comprehended his words. He paid them no mind, his eyes upon his fallen friend as he approached her before stopping only a few yards away.

"I failed him." His eyes shining with unshed tears as he looked upon her, "I had one true duty, one single purpose and I failed. And the world has paid the price for my failure ever since. Mankind has suffered under the rule of the Devils and Fallen alike for a millennia because they no longer had God to protect them, all because of my weakness."

"Kokabiel," Sadness and understanding coloring Griselda's voice as she looked up to him, "It wasn't your fault-"

"IT IS!" He bellowed out, dismissing his spears as he threw out is arms, "I AM KOKABIEL THE LORD OF THE STARS AND ONE OF THE GUARDIAN OF THE HEAVENS THEMSELVES! I HAVE THE POWER TO OBLITERATE NATIONS AND RAZE CONTINENTS WHOLE AND YET…and yet I lacked the power to do anything at the time it mattered the most. Truly, what use am I when I can't even prevent my own Father's death?" He stared at his empty hand, as if they held the answer before he clenched them into fists.

"But rejoice." His voice has regained his previous strength. "For a thousand years I had planned, for a millennium I had trained and prepared for this day. And at long last my efforts have begun to bear fruit, as at long last the time to enact Father's final wish has finally come. I shall free man from the shackles that bind them and create a world where they shall roam unrestricted, free to forge their own future."

"And you're going to do that by obliterating the entire the city?"

In reply he strode up to the Earth-Breaker, then with a single sweep of his leg he shattered the four remaining Holy Swords from where they were planted in the middle of the Magic Circle. The runes and sigils flickered for a moment before extinguishing completely, bringing the spell to an end.

"The Earth-Breaker was nothing but bait to draw the Maous' sibling out into the open. Even the scraps of metal that you have hunted me for is nothing but bait to me." He turned around and approached the two girls in question. Rias had apparent regained consciousness but was barely able to stand as she had her arm draped over Sona's shoulder for support, who didn't look to be in any better state due to the backlash of her own magic. Still, even as the drying blood dripped down her face she continued to glare with utter venom at the approaching Fallen, "And with their death I shall ignite the flames of war and in its fire I bring the demise of the Three Factions."

"By the four saints that live within your steel, heed my call and come to my aid." A voice called out, drawing the attention of Fallen and Devils alike.

Though her legs trembled and shook, threatening to buckle at a moment's notice, Xenovia stood tall and defiant as she glared out at her enemy. Her eyes never once leaving Kokabiel's as she held a hand straight out to her side, palm wide open ready to grip a weapon that wasn't there, she yelled out "I beg of thee, grant me your might to defeat the foe that stand before me."

The space before her hand distorted, reality bending causing the air rippling like water, illuminating one side of her face as the distorted space began to emit a dim golden light. Without any hesitation she plunged her arm into the distorted space, shoulder deep, before pausing and reversing her course while yanking something out.

And what she pulled out…

…was Hope.

It shone with a golden light, its divinity unmistakable. The entire battlefield was flooded with its presence, outshining even Kokabiel's oppressive strength, as unending waves of its blessed power washed upon them all. It was a weapon of divine origins, sent down from the Heaven's to aid mankind in their darkest hour.

Durandal.

A Gift from the hands of God himself given to Roland, his most worthy of children. With it an army of a hundred thousand was brought to halt by a single man and in the hands of one worth to wield it, there lies nothing in existence that it cannot cut.

It laid shackled and bound by chains of purest iron, but what chains can hold back such a sword? What works crafted by mortal hands can hope to bind such an existence. A single twist of its blade shall rip it from its fragile confinements and it will be free once again.

She reach out and grabbed its hilt, ready to break though it's binding but then-

-Hope was extinguished.

A hand harder than any iron clamped onto her wrist like a vise, halting all movement. Xenovia found herself staring into the saddened eyes of an Angel.

"You had such a weapon all this time and you only draw it out after you had been defeated?" Sounding so much like a disappointed father that, despite herself, she felt herself flooded with shame. He shook his head sadly, "It seems you despite all your skills you still have much to learn child."

He then snapped her arm like a twig.

A wail of absolute agony tore out of Xenovia's throat as she collapsed to the floor, cradling her broken arm to her chest. Kokabiel turned away, not giving her so much as a second glance as he made his way to back to his two targets.

"Do you truly think that this will start a second war, just because a one Fallen decided to act on his own?" Sona yelled out him as he approached them. Even to her own ears her words held no certainty, no convention, just fragile desperation. "The Maous won't consider this an act of war from the Fallen Faction but the actions of a single madman. The rest of the Fallen leaders will denounce you and what you have done. You will accomplish nothing tonight but the start of a manhunt, your own. There is no way you can start a restart the war alone Kokabiel."

"Alone?" Kokabiel asked with genuine amusement a shadow fell upon them, blocking out the light from the moon for a moment before it was gone, "Foolish little Devil, I have never been alone"

Another shadow drifted over them, then another and another, drawing the eyes of all on the courtyard to the sky.

"My god." Griselda muttered, sounding like her true age for once. She shut her eyes in resignation, "We're doomed."

They circled over the defeated party like vultures, their wings blocking half the moonlight from reaching them, before they descended upon the school. Black feather drifted to ground by the thousands, falling down upon them and coating the earth like black snow.

"Even in my Fall they have followed me, ever faithful." His feet was pulled backwards off the ground. "These are my loyal comrades, my truest of friends." His twelve wings continued to gently lift him into the air until he hung in the middle of the descending flock. "Thirty-five thousand we numbered once before the war. Though only twelve hundreds of us remained afterwards, not one had ever abandoned me, the fought by side to the last." He smiled down upon them. "So you see little Devil, I have never once been alone."

They continued to drop from the skies above, descending onto the roof and grounds of school in ever growing number, until there was simply no room remaining. And still there was more, drifting in the air above them blotting out the very skies with their numbers.

He held out his arm wide open as he hung above them, backdropped by the sky filled with a legion of Fallen. "And tonight, after a thousand years, we shall fulfil our Father's greatest wish. After tonight, the fate of all that lies under the Heaven, will be determined by MAN." He yelled out as he raised a single arm above him.

The darkened skies above them were illuminated by the birth of a hundred and more spears of light. Though only a fraction of the Fallen had called forth their spears it was more than enough, as what had been called filled the entire night sky like stars.

"And all of it will start with your deaths," He looked down upon the two girls, and for moment his eyes was filled with genuine sadness before they hardened with resolve. "Goodbye Devils." Then he brought his arm down.

Hundreds of spears of light fell upon them from the skies, streaking down like a shower of burning meteors, more than enough to kill them a dozen times over. All of them aimed for the two girls.

The two could do nothing but watch as their death came to them. Too weakened and injured to run, they knew that even if they could that there was no shelter than could shield them from such a barrage of attacks. So with no hope in their hearts, they shut at their approaching end even as their ears was filled by the screams of their friends begging them to run.

The Spears detonated upon impact, illumination the night with the light of a morning's dawn.

These were spears crafted from light itself. Its heat was such that it was capable of burning thought the flesh of Devils and humans alike with the utmost ease. One alone had enough power to pierce a wall. A hundred was enough to bring down a Fortress.

Yet all of them combined lacked the power to reach their mark.

When she had finally realize that she was still alive Sona, body still shivering from instinctive fear, slowly cracked open her eyes only to gape in surprise as she found herself staring a flower.

Five petals, each as large as grown man, hung in the air before her and Rias, standing between them and the fallen. It was iridescence and translucent, and looked as fragile as glass, yet it stood before the might of a Fallen army and did not fall.

Everyone looked upon the shield in confusion, unable to comprehend what happened. Even Kokabiel looked surprised before realization dawned and a rueful smile graced his face.

"Why," he question with a voice filled with amusement, "do heroes keep insisting on arriving at the last possible moment?"

His answer came in the form of a dark streak that shot down from the sky, tearing thought the mass of Fallen the filled the sky and crashing among the ones on the ground. The paved floor collapsed under the force of its impact, sending up a thick cloud of dust in the air.

The Fallens closest to it leapt away in surprise as it crashed down among them, before they regained their composure and surround it. The darkness of the night was pushed back by the light of the dozen spears that they held, all pointed towards the silhouette of the figure that was just beginning to appear as the dust settled.

"Who in heaven's name are you?" A four-winged Fallen called out as he took a step forward, spear pointed in warning at the emerging the figure.

"Who am…I?" A familiar voice drifted out from the dust cloud as the figure within stood up, revealing his red colored hair to the world.

"…I…"

Golden-brown eyes peered around the courtyard, ignoring the dozens of spears point at him. Those eyes hardened as they caught sight of his injured and fallen friends.

"…I…"

He repeated again as he glared out at the smiling Kokabiel before he chanted the words that would signal the death of a thousand this night.

"I AM THE BONE OF MY SWORD"

---

*Story End*

Gather around child, gather around one and all. Come, do you see this is? Do you know what it is? This my friends is… a curb stomp. And the official theme song of any and all curb stomp in this fic is 'Emiya', any version.

Now good news and bad. Good news is that the next release will be a double-chapter. It will be the fight itself and the aftermath, and I'll release them both together because they tie in so well. Bad news is that it will take me a bit longer time to release it for two reason. One it's a double-chapter. Two I'm on a vacation in London right now with my family. Don't worry I have my laptop with me so I still plan to write daily but not at the pace I was doing so right now.

Now the question of the week: How was the fight scene (my first!) and the discussion between Shirou, Asia and Kokabiel?

PS. A big thanks to 'Bigreader in The Omniverse' for all the help his given me. It's thanks to him that I was able to get this chapter out now and not a month later.