Chapter 51: A Batrayal and a Blessing

Wesker put away his desert eagles, and readied himself into a fighting stance.

"I've waited a long time for this," said Wesker.

"If you are looking for a defeat, I'm afraid you will be dissappoin-UGH!" Kokabiels head was jerked to the side as Wesker landed a lightning fast punch to his jaw, sending him stumbling back a step. "Y-you're a lot faster than I remember, but nowhere near strong enough to defeat me!" Kokabiel then readied a great sword of light, and prepared for another attack from Wesker. The former fallen vanished from view, only to reappear behind Kokabiel. The insane fallen spun around, aiming to slice Wesker in half at the waist, only to see him duck, and attempt a sweep kick at his legs, only for him to rise up, and send an exploding light spear at Weskers feet. The blast from the spear sent Wesker skidding backcausing his friends to take action. Rias summoned her dark energy, Akeno and Clavin summoned their lightning and electricity, and Katrina summoned Sektors gauntlets, firing a set of repulsor blasts at the fallen angel. Kokabiel skillfully caught all the blasts, merging them into one giant ball of darkness, and not hesitating to throw it directly at Rias.

"RIAS!!" Akeno practically teleported into the energy balls path, quickly putting up a defensive barrier, keeping the blast from hitting her best friend and master, but the force of the blast shattered the barrier, shredding part of her kimono, and sending her plummeting to the ground.

"Akeno!" Calvin quickly dashed for the dark haired queen piece, leaped up, and caught her bridal style, rolling so they landed with him coushioning her fall.

"Calvin?"

"You alright? That blast looked like it hurt like hell," said Calvin, sliding out from under her. Akeno blushed intensly.

"I'm sorry, I wasted all that power...!"

"Hey! Nothing to worry about!" Said Calvin with a smile. "Friends are supposed to look out for each other right? Even though one could say you, me and Katrina are a bit more than friends..."

"Hey! Getting off topic is my job...human cattleprod!" Yelled Damon. The former devil hunter turned his attention to Kokabiel, "Hey you feathered fucktard!! Be glad you missed out on going for the kill shot! Because if you got it, we would have to have killed you twice as hard!" Calvin turned to Wesker,

"Hey Wes! Would it be too much if we held him down while you pluck the feathers and bones out of his chicken wings like he did you?" Wesker didn't answer. Instead they saw someone approaching them; what was once white hooded robes now had red blotches of blood. The old man was carrying a metal object, and as he collapsed at Calvins feet, the metal object rolled out of his hands and to the feet of Adrian, who had joined Rias and Asia in healing Akeno. The object was revealed as a robotic head, one that Katrina recognized,

"Triborg...? But that means...!" Calvin approached the old man, and soon everyone recognized him,

"Kessler...!" Calvin strided up to him and planted a firm kick to the side of the old mans head, making him roll onto his back.

"Well now...this is an interesting turn of events," said Kokabiel, folding his arms with interest.

"You picked a bad time to pick a fight with us!" Said Calvin, removing the amp off his back and powering it up, only for Adrian to place a hand on his shoulder. Calvin looked to his best friend, and saw a look of understanding, yet he knew Adrian wanted him to restrain himself. Calvin powered down his amp, and stepped aside so Adrian could speak with the old man.

"You picked the worst possible time to show up..." said the Devil Virus, "...where's Mercer?" Kessler was silent, and after letting a mouthful of blood drip from his mouth, he finally spoke,

"M...M...Mercer...he...betrayed us..."

"Somehow no surprise," said Adrian humorlessly, "Where is he now?"

"Is that him right there?" Asked Kokabiel, and everyone saw Kiba about to approach Valper and the newly made Holy Sword, only to see Alex Mercer grabbing the hilt of the sword, while his other arm formed into his blade, quickly encased by hard light.

"Alex Mercer! A pleasure to make your acquaintance!" Said Valper.

SLICE!

Those were the last words Valper would ever say, as his head slowly tumbled to the ground, with Mercer quickly absorbing it and the body. Kiba stared in shock,

"Wh-wha?! What have you done?!!" Mercer held his head as the memories began to flood his mind, making him shout into the air, and finally, Mercer straightened himself up, a sullenly somber look on his face. He reached into his pocket, pulling out a small glowing blue crystal.

"Yuto Kiba...you were the one who escaped from the Holy Sword Project," stated Mercer, to which Kiba could only scowl. "It's a shame someone such as yourself has to live the remainder of their life as a devil, especially knowing now what Valper was really after." Kiba gave him a questioning look. "The Holy Sword Project...the one you escaped from...it was branded a failure, but it wasn't. It was a success, and this," Mercer held up the blue crystal, "THIS is proof of his success." Xenovia looked at the crystal carefully from afar,

"The crystal! Holy Sword users are given one at the church just so they can use the Holy Swords!"

"Ironically, the church modeled their crystals after Valpers design, even though they didn't dispose of the subjects in the same manner, nor did they do the same as the original project." He then focused on Kiba, and to everyones surprise, Mercer himself had a tear rolling down his cheek.

"A tear...?" Adrian murmured to himself.

"The children from the original project all had the gene to weild a Holy Sword, but not enough to weild it without killing them. Valper saw this, and simply took the gene out of them that had any of it." Kibas' eyes widened, and the others wore expressions of shock. "This crystal holds all that remains of them."

"We believed what we were doing was for God...he used us...and he threw us all away...like trash!" Kiba stated, half realizing it himself, to which Alex gave an affirmative yet sullen nod.

"I'm afraid so." Mercer tossed to crystal to Kiba, who caught it in his hands, "I believe that belongs to you, considering they were your friends." Mercer turned his attention to Adrian, "You see now, Adrian? It was people like Valper that I did what I did back in New York, and I was trying to stop them!" Adrian glared at Mercer, but said nothing as Kiba held that crystal, remembering his dear friends that died that day.

The light from the crystal began to shine brighter and brighter, until several more lights appeared behind him, taking human shapes.

"Are those...people?" Asked Calvin.

"The different magics on the field, in addition to Kibas' heart, must have set his friends souls free," said Wesker, half guessing.

"I prayed...and wondered...why me?" Kiba spoke to no one in particular, "It wasn't fair for me to have survived. They were kids who had bigger dreams than I did. Kids who wanted to live more than I did." Kibas' voice began to tremble, "It was a mistake! Someone better than me should have made it out of that nightmare!" Kiba choked back a sob, and his head shot up, now noticing the ghosts of his friends standing by him, the shortest of which began to pull on his sleeve. The girl looked up at Kiba, and gave him a warm smile before she and the other ghosts evaporated into a blue and white mist, circling him slowly at first and increasing speed.

"It's okay."

"Lets hold on together."

"Take us in. It's time."

"You don't need to be scared, even if there is no God."

"Even if he's not watching over us..."

"...Our hearts will forever be one." Kibas' eyes welled up with tears of joy from hearing from his friends once more, and tilted his head down,

"Yes..." The blue mist then entered Kiba, and the hearts of the ORC began swelling and breaking all at once, smiles being born and tears being spilt.

"That's so sweet," said Koneko, her blank façade vanishing. Asia had her eyes closed with tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Together at last," said Wesker, a sad smile crossing his lips as well. Rias, Akeno and Adrian simply bore smiles, while Katrina wrapped an arm around a teary eyed Calvin. The last three mentioned turned at the sound of an obnoxiously loud pair of sobs, seeing both Issei and Damon bursting into tears.

"I can't stop crying...DAMMIT KIBA YOU'RE BREAKING MY HEART!" Sobbed Issei.

"I haven't cried like this since 'Notebook,'" said Damon. The white haired devil grabbed the back of Isseis' shirt, and loudly blew his nose, making the Red Dragon cringe in disgust.

"Seriously?!"

"The Knight has peaked," said Ddraig, catching their attention, "It happens when the thoughts and wishes of its user oppose nature, when they go against the natural course of things in this world. The Sacred Treasure Piece...or as it is also known, the Balance Breaker." Right as Ddraig finished speaking, the blue light faded, and Kiba looked more determined than ever...