GBK 10
I didn't want to put off the next chapter for long, so since this was already beta'd, I figured I'd update a bit quicker than I have in the past. Hopefully I'll be able to upload more this year. Anyway go on and read.
Disclaimer: I still don't own DxD or SAO.
"I know this place." Issei said when Kiba stopped in front of a large, rundown house, "Isn't this the place we fought that stray devil, Viser?"
"You guys have fought stray devils?" Saji asked, and all of the Gremorys nodded.
"This one must've been before my time though." Kirito responded, "But the last one wa-" He stopped talking as soon as he felt a chill run down his spine, and on instinct drew both his sword and spun around. It was just luck that he managed to deflect a slash aimed at his chest.
"Aw…" The white-haired man in priest's clothing whined, taking a step back and licking the blade of his sword, "And here I was hoping to make it quick… I guess God doesn't like it when I try and show filthy devils mercy!"
"Freed!" Issei cursed, bringing out his boosted gear. At the same time, Kiba had already created a sword for himself, clashing sword with Freed in a shower of sparks.
"You okay?" Koneko asked, running over to Kirito and taking out her cell phone.
"Yeah, I'm alright." He answered, "let's get in there."
"Oh?" Freed grinned, reaching his other hand into his coat, "So you all want to play?! Don't worry, I've got toys for everyone!"
A flash of silver caught Kirito's eye, "Kiba get out of there!" He shouted, sprinting forward. The second sword swung at Kiba, but thanks to Kirito's warning, he had a split second to avoid the second blade.
"You lowly devils might have the speed to keep up with Rapidly here, but let's see just how good you really are." Freed grinned before he completely vanished.
"Everyone, be careful!" Kirito shouted, looking around the area as quickly as he could.
"It's got to be Excalibur Transparency!" Kiba added, "Stay on your toes!"
"Kiba, cover me!" Kirito said, kneeling to the ground. Kiba nodded, searching desperately for any sign of Freed. A few feet away, he could here Kirito chanting something softly, but he couldn't quite make out the words. When he stopped, there was a flash of light, and he chanced a look over his shoulder. Three pitch black imps were dancing around in Kirito's palm.
"Find him." Kirito ordered, and the imps flew through the air. Kirito drew back his sword and the blade started to glow. As soon as they stopped about two feet away from Issei and Saji, he charged with the full force of his knight enhanced speed and the Sword Skill Rage Spike. Even Kiba couldn't keep track of him.
"Fuck!" Freed hissed, jumping back as he became visible again. His arm was covered in blood from a very deep cut across his forearm, and the sword dropped to the ground, "What the fuck is wrong with you?!"
"Sorry about that." Kirito responded, kicking the sword away and standing between him and the stunned pawns, "But I couldn't see where I was stabbing. Believe me, I was trying to make it quick."
"Are you mocking me, shit for brains?!" Freed growled, taking up Rapidly again, "Because the great Freed Sellzen can still destroy you!"
"There is nothing 'Great' about you!" Kiba roared, cutting him off before he could get away, "Now take up your sword, because I'm going to destroy the both of you!"
"How embarrassing, Freed." Someone said from the entrance to the house, "To be defeated by such inferior creatures… You should have no problem defeating twenty devils of their level."
"Shut it, old man Valper." Freed hissed in pain, his eyes still darting from Kiba to Kirito, "You might not have noticed I've only got one arm left, asshole!"
Valper shook his head and stepped out of the house, "Have you already forgotten what I told you about that new sword? Even in a situation like this, repairing such a minor wound is child's play."
"Oh yeah!" Freed grinned, taking out another sword from his coat. Unlike Rapidly, it didn't appear to be at all more than an ordinary sword, but the holy aura that was pulsing from it was even stronger than the other fragments. A faint golden light surrounded the hilt, running up Freed's arm and running across his chest. The wound in his arm started to close quickly, and almost before they could even react, it had already shrunk to barely more than a scratch. Passing Blessing to the newly restored arm, his cocky smirked returned, "So sorry, but now I'm going to kill you all!"
"Go ahead and try!" Kiba retorted, dashing forward to attack him, only to have his sword stopped by rapidly before he could get more than a few inches.
"Get away from him!" Kirito said, rushing to his aid. Freed casually dodged his attack and stopped a few feet from Valper, picking up the fallen Excalibur Transparency as he went.
"Now, hurry up, Freed." Valper ordered, "They've no doubt called for backup already, so please eliminate them before the others arrived. Even for you, fighting the four of them would be too much with your current armaments."
"You got it, gramps!" Freed replied, turning invisible again. Kirito went to summon his searchers again, but this time there was a deep cut to his side. Pain the likes of which he'd never felt coursed through his body, and he let out a scream of agony as he fell to the ground.
"Kirito!" Kiba shouted, rushing to his aid, but Freed had already disappeared again. The remaining four cautiously gathered around Kirito, who was still cursing at the pain ripping through his body. It felt like every cell in his body was burning up. He couldn't even think of anything else...
"Irina and Xenovia should be here any moment." Koneko said, her eyes darting around the area to try and find any trace of the stray priest,
"Hey, Kirito-" Saji said without turning around, "That thing you did earlier? Can you do it again?"
Kirito shook his head, "I can't use my Sacred Gear like this…"
"Koneko, I know you don't want to, but-" Kiba started to say before he was forced to parry a slash that came out of nowhere.
"This bullshit can't be fair!" Saji said as soon as Freed vanished again, "Can someone please tell me how the hell we're supposed to beat this guy?!"
"You're not!" Freed replied, appearing a few feet in front of Saji. Everyone moved to attack him, but before they could, three more of him appeared around them, "What's wrong?" All four Freeds asked at the same time, in the same mocking tone, "Having a nightmare?"
"Four of you sounds like a nightmare to me." Kiba answered, charging ahead at godspeed. His sword passed harmlessly through two of them before the third was forced to block.
"Did you really think I'd make it that easy?" Freed asked, putting a bit of distance between himself and Kiba. All around him, no less than a dozen clones appeared, and before long the real freed was lost in their midst.
"Kiba, just like the rating game." Issei said, putting a hand on the back of his friend. Instantly, the red gauntlet cried out, 'Transfer!'
The red aura around Kiba was immediately focused into his sword, which he stabbed into the ground. The ground started to shake, and countless blades emerged from the ground beneath the group, skewering each of the illusionary priests. Each one disappeared as soon as it was hit, and within a second, none remained.
"Where is he?" Kirito asked, trying to spot him without any luck.
"Right here." A voice whispered in his ear, and he felt the blade to his back.
"Kirito!" Kiba shouted, spotting Freed reappearing just behind him, but none of them were going to make it in time.
Freed laughed maniacally, swinging his sword for the lethal blow, but before it could land he was forced to retreat.
"Everyone okay?" Irina asked, standing between Kirito and Freed with Xenovia right beside her.
"You saved me." Kirito said gratefully, and Irina gave a smile.
"Now we're even, okay?" She giggled, her eyes never drifting from Freed.
"Freed Sellzen, I presume?" Xenovia said angrily, stepping forward and drawing her sword, and she looked to the doorway where Valper was standing there emotionless, "And Valper Galilei. For your crimes against the Church and God, both of you will meet your end tonight! I will end you myself!"
"You really did screw up, Freed." Valper said, still smiling despite the change in circumstance, "Thankfully, we still hold the advantage."
"How do you figure that?" Kirito said, getting back to his feet and picking up his swords again, "You're outnumbered, and we've got a handle on your abilities this time. You won't be able to use Transparency anymore."
"Certainly, that is unfortunate." Valper smiled, "But you're a little too late, I'm afraid."
Irina let out a scream of pain as a flash of light ripped through her stomach, sending blood flying in all directions.
"Is this really the best Michael could send?" A deeper, much more sinister voice said from above them, and everyone looked up, "Don't get me wrong. I'm sure your skills are passable, but you two are no threat to me even if you had a lifetime of training."
"Kokabiel!" Xenovia growled, jumping into the air and swinging the massive blade of Excalibur Destruction down on him, but he grabbed it with one hand.
"I didn't think it'd be that easy." He said, twisted the blade until Xenovia was forced to let go. "Freed, the other one."
"Gotcha boss!" Freed said, sprinting forward and praying the Excalibur Mimic from Irina's hand, despite her weak attempts to keep it from him.
"Kokabiel!" Xenovia growled, holding out her hand, but Kokabiel didn't even seem to notice her existence anymore.
"And the guests of honor have finally arrived." He smiled, "Welcome, little sisters of the devil kings."
The group turned around and saw Rias and Sona, along with Tsubaki and Akeno appearing from a magic circle. "The pleasure is all ours, Leader of the Fallen Angels Kokabiel." Rias smiled, walking to the front of the group, "I must say, I would appreciate it if you and the church could settle your little squabble outside of my town."
"I'm terribly sorry." Kokabiel said in an obviously fake voice, before grinning and returning to normal, "But this wouldn't be worth anything if I did that. Michael's already written these two off as dead, and I doubt that he'll send anyone else. If this was the only fighting, it'd hardly be a war, now would it?"
"Is that what you're after?!" Sona asked, voice shaking, "You actually want a war!?"
"Of course, I do!" Kokabiel responded like it should've been the most obvious thing in the world, "I can't accept this so called 'peace'! That fool Azazel pulled back even knowing that we were winning! Another push and victory would've been ours!"
"You're a warmongering beast." Rias said harshly, and Kokabiel even smiled at her words.
"Well, maybe I am." he admitted, gathering an enormous amount of power into a spear of light above his head, "But tell me, little sister of Lucifer. Would brother dearest come to the rescue if poor little Rias was taken by a beast? Would Serafall join the fray if dear Sona were left rotting on the ground? I'm simply dying to find out!"
"We need to leave. Now." Rias said, picking up the critically wounded Irina, "Will you come or not, Holy Swordswoman?"
Xenovia grit her teeth, but staring up at the massive spear of light, she relented and joined the group atop the Gremory Magic Circle.
"Running away?" Kokabiel asked, but he hardly seemed surprised, "Well, that's fine. If you don't care about this town, feel free to run home to your brother. But if you still want to save these people, you'd better come to the school. A night class, if you will. I'm sure you'll all love it to death!"
Lobbing the spear at them, Rias quickly teleported all of them away. From their new location, he could see a tower of light in the sky, nearly as large as a skyscraper. Looking around, Kirito saw that it was his and Asuna's place.
"This was the closest place I could think of to get us away." Rias sighed, leaning over Irina to try and stop the bleeding from her stomach.
"Kirito?" Asuna asked from the back room, poking her head out, and she gasped at the sight of all of them, particularly Kirito who was still covered in blood.
"Hey." He waved with a smile, but clearly it didn't help any. She rushed over to him, wrapping her arms around him.
"I'll take over." Sona said, taking Rias' spot healing Irina, "You'd better call your household."
"I understand." Rias nodded, creating another magic circle and disappearing.
"What happened?" Asuna asked, wiping the tears away, "Why are you covered in blood? And what about her?"
"We found them without too much trouble." Kirito responded, "First place we looked, actually, and there was a fight, but as soon as Xenovia and Irina showed up, that Kokabiel guy took her out. And they made off with their swords too. We barely got out of there with our lives."
"The more pressing concern is Kokabiel's last threat." Akeno responded, her hand glowing green while she treated the wound on his side, "If we don't deal with him, this entire town will be a casualty."
"I find it hard to believe it'll stop there." Sona responded candidly, "If he put his mind to it, he could annihilate most of this country without even utilizing his full power."
"That's awful…" Asuna whispered, "But how can we...?"
"We can't." Sona answered grimly, "Even if we fight him as a group, we'd all die without anything to show for it."
"How are you feeling?" Akeno asked once the wound was mostly closed.
"I'm fine." He answered, concentrating on creating a healing crystal, "I'll take care of the rest."
"Thank you." She smiled, getting back to her feet, "Then I have a call to make."
Over the next half an hour, Rias and Asia, along with the members of the student council teleported into for an emergency meeting. With Asia's help, Irina's condition stabilized, and everyone suited to battle gathered in their living room.
"Now, we need to come up with a plan of attack." Rias said, first and foremost, "We need to defeat Kokabiel before he makes good on his threat to destroy our town."
"You realize that there's no chance of victory, correct?" Sona said, "Unless you're willing to call your brother for help, that is."
"Well, your sister would be just as capable of helping." Rias retorted.
"I'm not sure that 'helping' is what she'd do." Sona answered, "Sirzechs is reasonable, at least. Just call him."
"That won't be necessary." Akeno chimed in, "I've taken the liberty of informing Sirzechs of the situation. His forces are gathering as we speak, and they'll be mobilizing in less than an hour."
"And why did you do this without informing me?" Rias asked her angrily, but Akeno stared right back without fear.
"I understand that you don't want to bother Sirzechs unless it's absolutely necessary, but in this case, it is. If we go in there alone, we will all die. There's no hope of victory. If that happened, there WILL be war. At least like this, we have a chance of maintaining the peace."
Rias looked at her for a few seconds before sighing, "Well, I can't really argue with that. Alright then. At least that solves the issue of our game plan."
"The forces of the student council will maintain a barrier around the school. We can't keep him in if he tries to escape, but at least the effects of the battle won't cascade to engulf the entire town." Sona said, and Rias nodded in approval.
"Meanwhile, the members of the Occult Research Club will go in and hold him off until they arrive." She said simply, turning to Xenovia, "And you? You're not exactly in a position to fight now that you lost your sword, so it'll be fine for you to remain here and guard your comrade."
"No." Xenovia answered, "I'm not as helpless as that, and I will fulfill my mission to the end. I'd like to join with your forces for the time."
"Alright." Rias nodded, "Then, we'd better get started. We can't expect Kokabiel to stay quiet for long."
"Rias, I want to go too." Asuna said immediately, drawing the attention of all of them.
"No." Kirito said immediately, not recoiling even from the resulting glare, "Absolutely not."
"I have to agree." Rias replied, "I know that you won't like it, but right now, it's simply too dangerous. This isn't a battle with a stray devil. We can't guarantee your safety if you come."
"That's fine." Asuna replied confidently, "Give me a sword and I'll take care of myself."
"Miss Yuuki, I'm sorry in advance." Tsubaki said, stepping between Rias and Asuna. Raising her hand, a magic circle appeared in front of Asuna's face, and she collapsed to the ground.
"Not the most elegant solution, but we don't have the time to discuss this, and we can't allow her to come with us." Sona said, picking Asuna up and setting her on the couch beside Irina, "It might be harsh, but this is our only option." Turning to Kirito, she asked, "I assume that you're alright with this?"
"...Yeah." he nodded, "I'll talk to her later. For now, we have a fight to win."
"Good attitude." Rias smiled, "Now, let's go kick butt."
"Yes ma'am!"
The door to Sugou's cell opened late at night, and his head perked up. The guard's expression was entirely blank, like he was being controlled.
"Let's go…" He said, turning away from him and leaving the cell wide open, "You're being summoned."
"About time." Sugou smirked, getting out of bed and following a few steps behind him. The rest of the prisoners were either sleeping or had open cell doors, which meant that they were busting him out under the cover of a mass break out. The guard led him into the basement, but rather than a magic circle, he found a large group of prisoners all looking around in confusion.
"It's almost time to begin." The guard said from the center of the room, "The last two left standing will be freed. Now begin." Just like that, he pulled the gun from his holster and shot himself in the head.
Sugou and the rest of the prisoners stood in shock for a few moments before someone picked up the gun.
"I'm getting out of here!" He shouted, opening fire in the crowded room, and one of the bullets lodged itself in Sugou's chest.
...Ouch. As they say, karma's a bitch. Still, there's more important things going on. Like the epic battle with Kokabiel next chapter. I didn't want to break it apart, so it'll be over 7k words, and things might not end as you'd expect. In the meantime, as always, review to your precious little heart's content.