Last of the Line
I do not own Highschool DxD or any its characters. I own only Vale Beleth.
Chapter 12- Excalibur Of The Moonlit Schoolyard
Vale looked around and once again found himself inside the white room. About ten feet in front of him the black and gold dragon slept peacefully once more. Except now, it was the size of a large jungle cat, when standing on all four feet it's large horned head, its horns extending from the back of it's lustrous, black head, probably stood even with Vale. It was sleeping coiled up in a circle covering its head with one of its leathery black wings. Bone white spines ran down its neck to its back continuing to the end of its thick, muscled tail, running opposite to the glorious golden scales covering its underside. It continued to sleep peacefully until it removed its wing and its eye flew open revealing its blood-red iris once more.
"Hello father, you seem to be smaller than I remember." it said as it shook itself awake, stretching its great wings as it did. Before giving its guest its full attention.
"I have a sneaking suspicion that you have, in fact, grown instead." Vale commented as he examined the dragon in front of him.
"Perhaps you are right. What brings you to my humble abode this time? Perhaps you are troubled by the earlier scene with Akeno." the dragon replied with a deep, rumbling chuckle.
"How did you see that?" Vale asked, in an alarmed tone.
"I see everything you do. Also, the one you call Rias-hime seems to care a great deal about you, a feeling I believe you reciprocate, no?" the dragon replied with a hint of smugness.
"My feelings for Rias are of no concern to you. On another note, I believe I have decided a name for you. After all, what kind of father would I be if I didn't name you?" Vale replied with a small smile.
"Hmm, interesting. It would be nice to finally have a name to call myself. I have been giving the matter some thought, but I would be glad to have any name you choose to give me." the dragon responded happily.
"Well then, I hereby name you, Erasmus. Now, while I would love to stay and talk, I feel I must take my leave as I think I feel my phone buzzing. Goodbye, Erasmus." Vale replied as he felt a distant vibrating sensation on his thigh. He looked around to see the room fading away , along with Erasmus drifting off into a white fog.
"Goodbye father, I eagerly await our next meeting." Erasmus said as he drifted out of sight.
Vale's eyes fluttered open as he reached down and fished his phone out of his pocket and turned off the alarm. It was 4:30 in the morning, he'd set his alarm early so he could work out and practice with the new power he'd acquired from Issei. He had taken to calling it an Abyssal Gear and named it Abyssal Draining. He rolled over to see Rias peacefully asleep, naked, next to him. Her hair was splayed out under her, giving her a kind of wild allure, like some savage, crimson-haired goddess. Vale smiled at her before he silently slipped out from under the covers and headed toward the old auditorium.
He opened the old wooden doors to reveal the deserted rows upon rows of seats before starting down the aisle towards the large dais at the back of the auditorium. He walked up the short staircase onto the dais, his footsteps sounding unreasonably loud in the old auditorium. He always liked to imagine that the footsteps were the applause the auditorium could never voice itself, hence their unnatural volume in the deserted room.
He walked up on the stage he walked to the center of it before widening his stance and closing his eyes and retracing the path the power had taken to activate the armor during the fight against Riser. The fun thing about Drain Zero was that it worked on himself too. It let him basically track any ability used by him, which let him selectively tweak how he activated the power, which gave him the useful ability of mastering techniques in weeks that normal people would take months or years to master or even attain. The only person better who was probably at learning and mastering other attacks and techniques was Ajuka Beelzebub who instead had to use a complicated of equations and calculations. Which unfortunately required a complex series of magic circles probably too complex for him to copy or memorize.
He materialized the dragon tail that housed Erasmus once more before activating the Balance Breaker countdown. He had been messing with it every day since the fight with Riser a few weeks ago his current record for sustaining the armored form was three hours, though using his elemental forms drastically shortened the duration. His best form, which wasn't technically his, it belonged to his master's previous student, only let him sustain the Balance Breaker for a minute and a half, less then one percent of his normal duration. Though in all fairness, his three hour duration was attained when wasn't using any spells or exerting himself at all. The countdown took 45 seconds to activate the armored form, but that was cool, he was a deadly opponent with or without it anyways. A few seconds later the countdown finished and the tail called out,
"ABYSSAL DRAGON BALANCE-BREAKER!" the tail called as the armor spread out once more over his muscled form.
Two hours later...
Rias awoke with a yawn to see that she was alone in the bed in Vale's room. She sat up, casting her eyes round the room for any hint of where he might be. She scanned the room, but located hide nor hair of her betrothed. She got up and headed over to the door and peered out into the hallway before calling out,
"Vale, where'd you go?" she called down the empty hallway.
"In the clubroom." she heard Vale reply from back in the clubroom. She wandered down the hallway and out into the clubroom to see Vale doing push-ups, shirtless with sweat pouring down his face and torso.
"Hey, good morning. When did you wake up? I didn't see you in bed this morning." Rias replied as she looked down at Vale doing push-ups on the ground, dressed only in her lacy, black underwear.
"Got up earlier to train and work out. Gotta stay in shape, you know." he grunted as he continued his push-ups.
"Well don't work too hard, we've still got school today." Rias replied as she turned to leave.
"Nah, I'm gonna skip today and take the day to help Kanda investigate the missing Excalibur fragments." Vale replied from the floor.
"Oh, well I'll see you after school then I guess, I'll miss you though... and I'm sure Akeno will too." Rias added after a long while.
"Well, it's just for today, a few days max. I'll be back within the week." Vale said as he stood up and headed towards the shower before he left for the day. He wandered out of the shower a half hour later and dressed in a snug pair of blue jeans, a black t-shirt before throwing on a designer label black leather jacket. He grabbed a pair of expensive sunglasses off of his nightstand and headed to the park to meet Kanda. He arrived at the park half an hour later and took a seat on a bench and waited patiently for Kanda to arrive.
"Why are you wearing a leather jacket in the middle of spring?" Kanda asked as he sat down next to Vale on the park bench,
"Says the jackass in a black trench coat." Vale replied casually from beside his friend.
"Touche. So any ideas where to start?" Kanda asked.
"A few, you ready to get started?" Vale replied as he scanned the park slowly.
"Whenever you are, Vale." Kanda replied from his seat.
"Let's get started then." Vale said as he stood up and began the first steps of the investigative process that was old hat to him. They spent the rest of the day wandering the city and looking for any signs of a Holy Sword while Vale also kept an eye out for any signs of Fallen Angels, he still thought Kokabiel was behind this , the man was a psychopath bent on all-out-war between the factions. Which would actually be great for Vale. Mercenaries were highly sought after in wartime. But, he liked the way the world was right now. Just the right amount of peace and distrust between the factions. The day's investigation turned up little evidence of either of Vale's objectives. Though they got quite an eyeful as they passed by the old Kuoh Academy school building. They saw Kiba and Issei fighting against Irina and her blue-haired companion, Kiba was doing fine against the blue-haired one. Or rather, he would have been if her sword hadn't been cutting through every single Demon Sword he tried to use against her.. Irina was taking swings at Issei who was just barely holding her off.
"Hey Yuu, what Excaliburs did you say Irina and her cohort had been supplied with?" Vale asked as he watched the battle rage on with interest.
"Irina has Mimic, while Xenovia has Destruction. Though I don't see why, seeing as Xenovia is the current wielder of Durandal." Kanda replied nonchalantly.
"Huh, is that so? Wait here, I'll be right back." Vale said as he activated his Lightning Mobility form before disappearing in a blur of movement leaving a trail of electricity behind him.
Xenovia was halfway through a slash that would've separated Kiba's head from his shoulder when she saw a blur of black leather and purple hair interpose itself between herself and Kiba, followed a solid-sounding THOK! The blur remained still just long enough to resolve itself into the shape of Vale Beleth with several lightning-like marking running across his hands, limbs, and torso, and purple hair, blocking her swing with the Excalibur Destruction with what appeared to an oriental-style trident. He remained still for a fraction of a millisecond, before bringing up a foot in a powerful rear-leg front kick that sent Xenovia hurtling into a nearby tree, and sending the Excalibur Fragment tumbling up into the air before Vale launched himself skyward before spinning in midair and delivering a powerful kick to the pommel of the sword, sending it whistling through the air before embedding it into the same tree Xenovia had collided with, embedding it less than two inches from her neck as Irina turned to face him before he dismissed the trident and flew towards Irina and slammed his lightning-covered fist into her stomach, delivering a stunning electric shock to her nervous system before he swept her legs out from underneath her and extended a rope of demonic power and bound Irina in a Japanese shibari bondage tie.
"Ouch! Lemme go Vale-kun! Why are you doing this?" Irina whined as he pulled the rope around her taut.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU TWO ARE DOING? YOU COULD HAVE KILLED ISSEI AND KIBA JUST NOW!" Vale roared as he released the Excalibur Mimic. He saw Xenovia pick herself up and yank the Destruction fragment from the tree and begin to advance on him.
"K-Kiba challenged us to a fight, so we decided to settle it out here." Irina replied from the ground.
"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't realize the Church taught you to kill every single person who antagonized you! Irina, I expect you to use some common sense for crap's sake! Or did you learn nothing from your training in the Church that was SO damn important to you! And you!" Vale roared as he turned to face Xenovia.
"What the hell does the wielder of Durandal need with the Excalibur Destruction? More to the point, why were swinging that thing with killing intent at the the servant of the sister of a Satan?! You could've sparked another Great War if you succeeded in killing him!"
"I don't have to explain myself to a lowly devil like you." Xenovia growled as she narrowed her eyes at Vale.
"That's true, you don't. But I've worked for a lot of people in my time as a mercenary, Heaven and the Church included. I'm equally disavowed by all of them. So, it loses me nothing to say that if I see either of you two swinging those Excaliburs at another Devil at any point during your stay here, not even your church connections will save you from me." Vale said before disappearing once more in a flurry of movement.
Vale spent the rest of the day investigating with Kanda, but not before tasking Mil-tan with keeping an eye on Kiba and to warn him if Kiba antagonized Xenovia and Irina again. Vale skipped school the next day as well to continue investigating. They were on their way through town when Vale heard a familiar voice saying,
"Good Lord Irina, how could you waste our entire budget on a stupid painting? Who's this supposed to be anyways?" Vale heard Xenovia ask exasperatedly. He and Kanda turned to face the source of the voice and saw Xenovia and Irina praying by the side of the road. Vale turned and began to stride towards the pair, Kanda right behind him.
"I think it's... Saint... Peter?" Irina replied uncertainly, causing Xenovia to sigh in exasperation. Vale chuckled loudly as he approached them, causing Xenovia to quickly unsheathe Excalibur Destruction and assume a battle pose in a remarkably short amount of time, for a human.
"Turn around Xenovia." Vale said, thoroughly unimpressed.
"Why? So you can stab me while my back is turned like the cowardly devil you are." Xenovia said with narrowed eyes.
"Um Xenovia, you might wanna do as he says" Irina replied nervously. Xenovia turned just enough to see the blade Vale had made of the Power of Destruction pointed at the base of her skull.
"If I wanted you dead Xenovia, you'd be dead. Now put the sword away." Vale replied flatly, Xenovia hesitated a few seconds before stowing her sword.
"W-what brings you here Vale?" Irina replied unsteadily from the ground.
"Irina, you're many things, but you've never been especially bright. Something Xenovia has no doubt-" Vale began when he was cut off mid-sentence by Issei calling from down the street,
"Yo Vale-san, Koneko-chan and I had a plan to help destroy one of the Excaliburs and help Kiba get over his hatred of Holy Swords."
After that, Issei, Koneko, and Vale went inside a nearby restaurant with Irina, Xenovia, and Kanda. Issei had formulated a plan to help them retrieve the Excaliburs on the condition that they let Kiba destroy one of the fragments to help Kiba get over his hatred of Holy Swords, Irina and Xenovia reluctantly agreed,
"So whaddya say Vale? Will you and your friend help us out on this mission?" Issei asked as he turned to face him and Kanda. Vale turned to look at Kanda as he asked,
"Kanda, I did not hear a word Issei-san just said about destroying a highly prized Church artifact and disobeying the orders of the two High-Class devils who run this town, did you? Because if we did, we would be honor-bound to report the incident to the proper authority."
"I believe you're right, I heard no such thing. Now, I do believe we must be going."
"I believe you're right." Vale said as he stood up and left the restaurant. The rest of the day was uneventful Mil-tan reported a few hours later that Issei and Kiba had run into Freed Sellzen and Valper Galilei later that day, Freed had been armed with two of the Excalibur Fragments but had been unable to injure Kiba and Issei thanks to the help of Saji, Sona's Pawn.
It was around 11:30 that night with a full moon high in the sky, when Kanda and Vale were about to give up their search and call it a night when Vale's phone began to ring,
"Hello?" Vale asked as he flipped his phone open, thoroughly tired of the nothing their search had turned up.
"Vale, it's Rias! One of the leaders of Grigori, Kokabiel, is the one who stole the Excaliburs! Irina and Xenovia tried to assault his base alone and they both lost their Excaliburs to him and his men. Xenovia escaped, but Irina fell behind. Kokabiel beat her within an inch of her life and dropped her off at the clubhouse while I was scolding Issei for interfering with Church affairs. He challenged us to a battle and he says if we don't beat him he'll destroy the town. We need you back at the clubhouse ASAP!" Rias replied urgently, she was obviously extremely worried.
"Alright Rias, I'll be there in ten. See you then." Vale replied calmly.
"Sona erected a barrier around the schoolyard so you'll need to use your magic circle to transport you and your servant here. Please hurry, I need all hands on deck for this." Rias replied as she hung up on him with a click.
"Kanda, change of plans. The thief has appeared on campus and I've gotta go help Rias stop him, It's Kokabiel so I need to be quick. This means of course that I can't take you with me. Sorry man, all things considered, I'd like to have you with me; but the magic circle only works with my servants." Vale replied as he began the magic transportation spell.
"WHAT?! No! You can't just leave me here, there has to be someway you can bring me with you!" Kanda protested gruffly as he saw the black magic circle appear under Vale's feet.
"Well... there is one way. Hey man, you still thinking of quitting the Black Order?"
"What?! Why are you asking me that now of all times?" Kanda asked incredulously.
"Answer the question." Vale shot back.
"Yes, I'm still thinking about it. Not that it'll be easy" Kanda responded tiredly.
"Fantastic." Vale said with a grin as he fished out a plain black case from his jacket pocket.
Back at the old Kuoh Academy schoolhouse...
Rias turned to see Vale, Kanda, and Mil-tan appear from inside of a shadowy vortex of magic that accompanied his use of the Beleth clan transportation magic circle.
"Vale, thank goodness you're here! Sona and I were just making plans for the battle." Rias said as she gestured to Sona.
"Yes, my servants and I will continue to maintain the barrier around this school. While damage from a battle with an enemy of this magnitude is unavoidable, we should be able to keep it contained to this school." Sona said as she turned and glared sharply out the window at where Vale guessed Kokabiel had made his stand.
"You and I will take the offensive." Rias said as she turned to face him. Vale nodded in agreement when Sona cut in,
"Rias, its not too late to call your Oni-sama. I know you don't wish to cause trouble for him, especially after the incident with you family a few weeks ago, but we can't do this without him."
"You also didn't call your Onee-sama, I noticed" Rias replied diplomatically.
"My Onee-sama is… Your Oni-sama loves you. Sirzechs-sama will definitely move. So…" Sona replied apprehensively, when Akeno interrupted
"I have already informed Sirzechs-sama." Akeno said plainly.
"Akeno!" Rias criticized.
"...and he seems to think Vale-kun has a handle on this situation." Akeno replied in the same plain tone. All eyes in the room turned to face Vale.
"We don't need to beat Kokabiel, we only need to hold him off for 20 minutes before reinforcements arrive. Also, while I'm on it, Ise put this on and promote to Bishop." Vale said as he tossed Issei a bracelet inscribed with several magical symbols.
"Uhhh, okay. Promotion: Bishop!" Issei exclaimed as he put the bracelet on.
"That bracelet acts as the sacrifice necessary to force the activation of a Balance Breaker. With a Bishop promotion you should be able to maintain it for an hour. Now come on, let's go." Vale said as he turned to leave,
"Wait, we're coming with you!" Xenovia said as her and Kiba burst from one of the doors, Vale shot Rias a questioning look before she reluctantly nodded,
"Alright, come on. But you will be punished for your behavior behavior later." Rias said as they all turned to leave.
A few minutes later, Rias, Asia, Vale, Akeno, Xenovia, Mil-tan(in full Mahou Shojou gear), Koneko, and Issei stepped out onto the middle of the school field to see an elderly priest with gray hair and glasses standing next to a glowing Holy Sword that Vale assumed was the reunited Excaliburs forged anew. Up in the air, Kokabiel was wearing a decorative robe with ornamental accessories along with his normal evil grin and pointy ears. He sat resplendent on a floating throne with Freed Sellzen standing about five meters from the priest with a psychopathic smile on his face.
"Well, well, I must confess I didn't foresee running into Vale Beleth, one of Grigori's best agents here. This should be entertaining while the spell that was completed when the Excaliburs fused together finishes, destroying the entire town in an enormous blast. Freed, why don't you use that Excalibur there to entertain me while I wait for the spell." Kokabiel said lazily as he gestured towards the Excalibur with one hand.
"Actually, I'll be taking that. Double Illusion Sword: Eight Flower Mantis!" Kanda exclaimed as he and Kiba appeared out of nowhere at what Issei would later refer to as Godspeed and slashed Freed with Mugen in one hand and a pure energy blade in the other, while Kiba took care of the priest before either of them could react, obviously earning Vale's compliment of the Black Order's best Exorcist. The Excalibur was in Kanda's hand before Freed's head hit the floor. Kiba had stopped and was in the middle of examining a blue orb that he had found on the priest's corpse as blue shapes began to manifest around him.
"I think you'll fine me and my attractive fiance's servants plenty entertaining." Vale sneered at the Fallen Angel.
"Hmm, I think I'll enjoy watching you fight my pets." Kokabiel said as he summoned two ten-meter tall, three headed dogs from underground. They stomped on the ground before launching fireballs at the Occult Research Club, before they could reach the members Kiba had intercepted them and absorbeded them with a Flame Delete sword. When he came to a stop Vale noticed he was surrounded by what appeared to be several bluish-white ghosts.
"I will not allow you to harm my master and my friends! With this power I found I will protect my friends and comrades from you, Kokabiel! So take this and witness the power of my fallen comrades of the Holy Sword Project! [BALANCE-BREAK!] Glory Drag Trooper!" Kiba shouted as several knights in dragon themed armor rose from the ground and stood at attention, each held a Holy Sword and stood ready to attack at their master's order. The entire scene all looked very imposing.
"Amazing! That's the Balance Breaker of Blade Blacksmith! A Holy-type Sacred Gear that now belongs to a Devil! I never saw such a thing during the Great War, Even among the Devils who mated with Humans, I guess that's just proof that the system really has changed with the original Satans' and God's death. We weren't allowed to tell our subordinates, but it seems Balba noticed it earlier. Oh well, I guess the secret's out now." he said with mock guilt dripping from every word.
"...Th-that's a lie!" Xenovia growled as her grip on her Durandal began to shake. Her expression began to look panicked as Asia said,
"…God doesn't exist? God…is dead? Then the love we were given by him is…"
"Asia, it's not exactly hard to notice. The only way to explain you being excommunicated is if he was dead. If he was alive, he never would've let that happen to a wonderful girl like you." Vale said as he looked back at the former nun.
"B-but that means..." Asia said as her eyes began to tear up.
"It means that all three-sides went through hell in the past war. Everyone decided that it was meaningless to continue having a war if the start of it all, God and the Satans, were dead. Even that bastard Azazel declared that "there will be second war" after losing the majority of our men in the war! It truly is hard to accept! To lower your gun once you already shot it!? Don't screw around! If we kept pushing, we could have won! Even so, he...! Is there any value in fallen-angels who can only live by inviting humans who possess Sacred Gears!?" Kokabiel declared from his seat.
"Oh for Pete's sake, shut up! No one cares if your a racist who disagrees with Azazel's policy! You're too weak to take him head on so you're trying to rekindle a Great War. NO ONE CARES! Asia, I'm sorry you're upset but we need you focused now!" Vale exclaimed as he looked back at Asia again.
"R-right!" Asia said, reaffirming her resolve once more.
"And Xenovia... Well honestly, you're kind of a bitch, so I don't care one way or another how you feel." Vale remarked
"Vale, you and Ise should activate your Balance Breakers as well. You, Yuuto, Akeno, and Ise will take on Kokabiel. Leave the Cerberus to the rest of us." Rias proclaimed as she called the Power of Destruction to her hands.
"Right! Akeno take up the rearguard and bombard him with your biggest spell. Issei, you and Kiba wile charge Kokabiel. Kiba, use your knights to keep him off balance! Ise, boost 4 times and transfer your power to Kiba, then repeat on Akeno! I need forty-five seconds to activate my Balance-Breaker and cast the appropriate spells. Also when I say move, you guys move, this is gonna be big!" Vale called as he summoned his dragon tail and began the countdown.
"Hai!(Yes)" Kiba, Issei, and Akeno replied unanimously
"Let's go Ddraig!" Isse called as he summoned the Boosted Gear.
[WELSH DRAGON OVER-BOOSTER!] the boosted gear called as the red aura spread over Issei's body before solidifying into red dragon armor. Vale began to chant the incantations he needed to execute his plan.
[BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST]
[TRANSFER!]
[BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST]
[TRANSFER!]
"Attack, my Knights!" Kiba exclaimed as he and his knights leapt toward Kokabiel, disappearing in a blur of motion Kokabiel summoned two swords of light and began to parry the attacks, he was able to prevent any damage from Kiba and his knights, but they were too fast for him to mount any counter-offensive moves. Akeno scored Kokabiel with several lightning bolt but they seemed to only do negligible damage. This all distracted Kokabiel pretty thoroughly, which provided Issei enough time to mount his attack. Issei extended one hand and shot an enormous Dragon Shot at the Fallen Angel, it slammed into Kokabiel, knocking him to the ground.
[JET!] the Boosted Gear called as it fired the magic jets on the back of Issei's armor Issei rushed Kokabiel and buried his fist in Kokabiel's stomach, knocking the wind from him as an enormous bolt of lightning struck Kokabiel while his guard was down, leaving him thoroughly charred as Vale's tail called,
[ABYSSAL DRAGON BALANCE-BREAKER!] as the black aura covered his body once more as he saw Xenovia cleave the head off of one on the Cerberus with her Durandal before the armor finished forming.
" Alrighty everyone, outta my way this is gonna be big!" Vale shouted as his tail called,
[ABYSS PHYSIQUE LEVEL 5 FORM ACTIVATED! THUNDER IN HEAVEN, GREAT VIGOR!] causing his entire body to change into a mass of electrically charged particles, Issei's magic jets fired, distancing himself from the Grigori leader before Vale took off at a speed no eyes in the universe could actually follow(about 150 kilometers per second) as he slammed Kokabiel in a full body tackle, carrying him across the campus before throwing him to the ground and chanting,
"Heed the Contract and Serve Me, O Queen of Ice! Come, Everlasting Darkness, the Eternal Glacier! Bring Death to All That Has Life, Eternal Rest! Frozen World!" he exclaimed, causing the entire 150 foot square area in front of him to drop to absolute zero(-273°C) and sealing Kokabiel in a pillar of ice, a look of pure rage on his frozen face.
Vale wasted no time in dispelling his form and firing his magic jets and heading back to the Occult Research Club. He dispelled his armor before landing shakily in front of Rias,
"Vale, that was incredible. He'll be hard pressed to survive that!" Issei exclaimed as he landed.
"No, he won't. I just used up all my magic power and he's probably only sealed for an hour at most. Rias?" Vale asked unsteadily as his legs began to shake.
"What is it Vale? You don't look too good. You're really pale right now!" Rias asked worriedly.
"I'm not doing too good, you're gonna have to catch me." he replied weakly as he fell forward onto Rias, who just barely managed to get her arms around Vale in time to keep him from face-planting spectacularly onto the ground. His eyelids began to feel uncommonly heavy and he felt slow and sluggish, the last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was a brilliant white figure streaking toward the ground at an extremely high speed.
"Hey look, Vali's here." Vale said weakly with a smile as his eyes closed and he passed out...
Author's Note: Alrighty, here it is. This'll be my last chapter for a while I'm taking a break to get ready for Anime Crossroads and catch up on some gaming. You guys might get a little omake/wrap-up chapter if I feel inspired enough. Speaking of inspiration, if you guys who haven;t reviewed much wouldn't mind I'd appreciate it if you could take some time to find just on chapter in the story and tell me exactly what you liked about it and what you feel I could improve on. Think of it as a Christmas present or whatever to me. Remember, you scratch my back I scratch yours. Reviews, as always are greatly appreciated. This is the 19th Angel, signing off...