So...I managed to write up a new chapter. Please enjoy the continuation of Beyond Zero.
Chapter 8
"I can't believe you three! I sort of expected something like this from Issei, but you, Lelouch?" Rias exclaimed, shaking her head with a disappointed expression evident on her face.
"Saji, you went behind my back." Sona added, with a similar tone as Rias.
"I'm so sorry, Prez!" Saji cried out in apology, falling to his knees.
"So Yuuto went after Balba?" Rias asked, trying to think rationally instead of indulging her desire to yell at the three. For now, the important thing was to figure out what exactly happened to her knight. If he was off doing what she feared, there was the chance that he could cause some sort of inter-faction crisis and possibly exasperate the current war, which was to be avoided at all costs.
"It seems that way." Lelouch replied, aware of the threat that Kiba posed as well.
Rias sighed, "I guess we can't changed what happened. But you three do know what you just did could change the entire balance of the Underworld, right?"
Lelouch nodded, "I'm aware."
"Okay. I sent my familiar out to find Kiba. We'll figure out what to do once we find him." Rias said, before pulling the three into a large hug, squeezing each of them tightly.
"You guys make me worry too much."
Lelouch walked into the club room after class only to find Rias sleeping on the couch. The light filtering from the windows perfectly illuminated her face, which Lelouch found flawless at the moment. A stray crimson hair lay across her face, and Lelouch felt a strange urge to brush it aside, before ultimately deciding against it.
"She really cares too much about her servants."He sighed before taking a seat next to her sleeping form. The sound that he made as he sat down was enough to wake the crimson haired girl up. Her eyes fluttered open as she took in her surroundings. Noticing Lelouch, she lifted her head up and rested it in his lap.
Judging by the fact that school had just ended, Lelouch assumed that Rias had probably been in the clubroom for the entire day. Gently stroking her hair, to which she sighed appreciatively, Lelouch looked down at Rias, "Did you even go to class today?"
She shook her head in response, confirming Lelouch's suspicions.
"I couldn't get any sleep last night. You three really scared me. What if you guys had been hurt?" Rias began rambling, spouting out the words quickly, making it clear that she was indeed worried.
"But we weren't. You don't always have to worry that much." Lelouch reassured.
"'Lelouch, I love you. Do you know what would happen to me if I lost you?" Rias whispered. Lelouch looked down in shock.
"I…" Lelouch could not finish. There was no way that he could say that he loved her back.
"What's wrong?" Rias asked, concerned.
What could he say? That he didn't really love her? There was no way that he could tell her the truth. What was there to say? The only people he had ever loved were dead because of him? That the realization that had overtaken him when he realized that Shirley was dead was the hardest thing he had ever experienced in his life? He had already lost Euphie, but he wasn't by her side when she had died. With Shirley, he was with her every agonizing second as her life slowly trickled away.
To see her eyes slowly drained of their life was horrifying. And it was all because she had loved him. Why couldn't she have just stayed away? She knew that he was trouble, and yet, she still got involved with him. He was indirectly responsible for her death and he refused to forgive himself. Even if Rias thought that he didn't feel the same way about her, it was worth it.
He could never let anyone come that close to him ever again. It may have seemed like a stupid reason not to respond, but it would be impossible for him to forgive himself if Rias got hurt because of him.
"Lelouch. You're really scaring me." Rias said, sitting up.
"I'm fine, don't worry about it." Lelouch replied slowly. Suddenly, he felt sick to his stomach and an eerie feeling came over his body. He saw Rias falter a bit too and instantly knew that she had felt it as well.
"We need to get to Issei's house." They said in unison.
"Buchou? Why did you and Lelouch come to my house?" Issei asked, confused by their erratic behavior, although his parents had been thrilled to see the two arrive.
Before he could say anything else, the window of his bedroom shattered and a familiar man jumped in, crushing bits of shattered glass.
"Freed." Lelouch growled, standing up.
"Oh, am I interrupting something? Sorry, timing's not my strong suit." The crazed man replied.
"Is something wrong? I heard glass breaking!" Asia dashed into the room, only to pause in fear at a feeling of dread.
Likewise, Lelouch could feel a sense of dread fill his entire body. A young man with ten black wings appeared in the open window.
"Ah, this is my first time meeting you, daughter of the Gremory Clan. And same to you, heir of the Murmur Clan."
"Kokabiel, nice to meet you. I am Rias Gremory, and I'll tell you something right now. If you're here to discuss politics, don't bother." She growled.
Instead of getting angry, the man only grinned in response.
"Here, a gift." He said, tossing a bloodied body at the two.
With some difficulty, Lelouch managed to catch the body, which belonged to Irina. The girl was badly beaten, and her eyes were shut tightly in pain as she took shaky breaths.
"Asia! Get over here!" Lelouch yelled, prompting the girl to run over.
"Do your best to heal her." He ordered, setting the body on the ground and allowing Asia to go to work.
"What exactly do you want?" Rias demanded.
"I will rampage through this town, starting with Kuoh Academy. That should be enough to make Sirzechs appear, right?"
"If you do something like that, the Great War will start again!" Rias exclaimed.
Kokabiel nodded, "Exactly. I thought it would start once I stole the Excaliburs, but I was proven wrong."
"You're insane." Lelouch growled.
"That's exactly right! I was so bored after the war ended. All Azazel and Shamza wanted to do was to collect Sacred Gears." Kokabiel lamented, with an over exaggerated tone.
"So are you interested in Issei?" Lelouch asked.
"Me? No. But Azazel might be. But still, that's not why I've come here. No, I've come here to start a war!"
"Ha! Isn't my boss amazing?" Freed asked before he took out two Excaliburs, with two more hanging from his hips.
"I have Excalibur Rapidly, Nightmare, Transparent, and I even took Mimic from that girl!" Freed said with a grin, "I can wield all of them. I'm invincible now! Invincible!"
He took out another ball of light, throwing it to the ground.
"Wait!" Lelouch yelled, but, despite his best efforts, he could not see past the light. Cursing, he rushed to the window as the light finally died down, witnessing Kokabiel descending upon Kuoh Academy.
"Rias, we covered the school with a barrier. That should limit damage to only inside the barrier." Saji explained as the entire Occult Research CLub arrived at Kuoh Academy.
"Well at least it'll try and stop some damage. If Kokabiel is intent on fighting, then not only the school, but the whole region will be destroyed." Sona added.
Lelouch nodded as he took the information in. He knew that the leader of the Fallen Angels was strong, but the ability to destroy an entire region?
"We'll try and keep the barrier up so we can minimize damage."
Rias nodded, "Thank you for the help. We can take care of the rest."
In a whisper Sona added, "Rias, we should probably inform your brother. We are facing an enemy whose power surpasses all of ours, except for Lelouch. But you know that Lelouch hasn't even begun to truly learn how to use his power, so we still won't be a match for him."
"There's no need, I have already notified Sirzechs." Akeno cut in.
"Akeno!" Rias said with an angry expression.
Lelouch knew that Rias was too proud to usually call for help, but even he knew that they would be in for a difficult fight if Sirzechs didn't arrive.
"Rias, you know this problem is beyond your jurisdiction. The leader of the Fallen Angels is here. Any way you look at it, this is no longer your problem alone. We need your brother." Akeno stated with a serious expression on her face.
Rias looked like she was about to retort, but instead, she took a deep breath and nodded.
"Thank you for understanding. We have one hour before Sirzechs is going to show up."
"All right then. We have to go on the offensive and draw Kokabiel's attention. This battle is one of life and death, so I won't forgive you if you die!" Rias yelled at the Occult Research Club.
With a yell, she led her servants in through the front gate. Lelouch and his servants followed behind, but they moved with far more caution, as did Xenovia, who trailed behind the rest of the group.
In the middle of the school field, four swords floating in the air were releasing a large amount of light.
"What's going on here?" Gino asked, trying to see with difficulty.
Lelouch was barely able to make out the figure of an old man in the middle of the four swords.
"Is this Balba? What is he doing?" He wondered aloud.
"I'm going to make the four Excaliburs into one!" Balba exclaimed in an excited tone.
"Good, I'll leave it to you then." Kokabiel said before turning to the group assembled before him.
He created a large spear of light that he flung at the gym, completely destroying it in a bright explosion of light and smoke. In its place stood only rubble around the large pillar of light.
Lelouch gritted his teeth as he watched the wanton destruction inflicted by the Fallen Angel. It was clear that the man was trying to do some posturing and intimidation. Lelouch had encountered such tactics before in the political world, although this time, the danger was far more imminent.
"Now then, I think I'll have you all fight my pets." Kokabiel shouted, snapping his fingers. As he did so, the ground began rumbling uncontrollably, and three pairs of red eyes suddenly appeared in front of the group of Devils.
The body of a large dog, albeit with three heads, began to form, with the heads all moving independently, snapping their jaws and snarling with foam in their mouths. It was at least three times the size of any of the Devils assembled, and it was clear that it was extremely powerful from the aura it gave off.
"Cerberus!" Rias growled, readying herself for combat by gathering crimson energy in her hands.
Likewise, Lelouch brought his hands up from his sides, crackling with electricity while Raynare and Jeremiah moved in front of him to protect him.
Kallen and Gino nodded to each other before they each summoned their Sacred Gears and pounced at the creature, a blur of red and blond hair.
"Absolute Demise!" Kallen cried out, and instantly, a large sliver claw extended from her right hand, and red armor engulfed her arm up to her shoulder blade.
"Blade Breaker!" Gino called out in turn, and two golden Master Vibration Swords materialized in each of his hands, and as he gripped them, they immediately began oscillating furiously.
"I'll take him from the right!" Kallen announced, slashing at one head of the fearsome dog in front of them with her clawed arm.
In response, Cerberus' closest head snapped back, and it took a step backwards, just in time to avoid the attack, kicking up dust behind it as it did so. With its other head, it sensed that Gino was indeed on the offensive as well, and the dog instinctively stepped out of the way of his Master Vibration Swords, right into the open claw of Kallen.
"He's all yours." Gino said with a smirk, knowing that they had trapped it.
Nodding, Kallen fired a pulse of pink energy from her claw straight into its muzzle, searing one of Cerberus' three heads, causing it to howl in pain and to begin stumbling around, now completely blind in one head.
"All right, Raynare, engage him as well!" Lelouch ordered, and with a nod of understanding, Raynare sprouted Devil wings from her back and rushed forward with a loud cry, flapping her wings vigorously. As she began picking up speed, Lelouch looked to Issei, who had been watching the fight with fascination up to now.
"Issei, use your transfer on her now!" He barked, and immediately, Issei nodded in understanding, complying with his order.
"Boosted Gear!" He cried out, and a dragon like gauntlet appeared on his arm, with a flashing green gem.
"Transfer!" The gem cried out, and Issei pointed the Boosted Gear towards Raynare, who was going at a blinding speed, and infused her with a green energy, effectively turning her into a green blur of energy, as well as increasing her speed, so that she rammed into Cerberus, meeting it with a violent and destructive power that instantly knocked the creature off of its feet, leaving Raynare, Gino, and Kallen standing over a smoking corpse that was rapidly disappearing from sight.
"Now, we have to end this." Rias whispered to Lelouch, who nodded in agreement, raising up his right hand to mirror Rias' current stance.
In her hand, a huge ball of crimson energy formed within seconds, while Lelouch summoned his strength to create a ball of violet energy of comparable size. Both of them released their respective blasts of energy at the same time, and instantly, all members of both peerages could feel the raw power radiating from their two kings.
The two balls raced towards Kokabiel, who simply put up one arm and blocked both attacks at once.
"Well, the power of the Gremory Clan is not to be underestimated, I suppose." He cackled before lifting his hand to the sky and allowing the two balls of energy to dissipate into nothingness.
"What? He blocked an attack like that with just one hand?" Issei cried out in surprise, having expected the strike to completely annihilate Kokabiel.
Frankly, Lelouch was surprised as well, although to a lesser extent. He had known coming into the battle that Kokabiel far outclassed him or Rias in terms of power, but he had hoped that by attacking together, they would have at least approached the Fallen Angel's power. But it seemed as if he was entirely and utterly incorrect.
"It's complete!" Balba said with a wicked smile, and Lelouch's heart fell as he realized that the odds were less and less in their favor. In a normal situation like this, he would have ordered an all out retreat, but considering that Kokabiel was in the process of wiping out the entire city, there was little choice but to stand their ground.
The four Excaliburs, which were all stacked upon each other by Balba, began to glow brighter and brighter, until they were nothing but a mass of shining light that was bright enough to force Lelouch to cover his eyes. When the light died down, Lelouch lowered his arms to see that in their place lay one singular sword that gave off a powerful blue and white aura.
"Freed!" The old man snapped, causing the insane priest to run up to his side.
"What is it, boss?" He asked eagerly.
"Take this Excalibur and wield it." He ordered, to which Freed nodded vigorously.
"I understand!" He cried out happily, picking the sword off of the ground and waving it around with the joy of a kid set free in a candy store.
"Knight of Rias Gremory. Knight of Lelouch Murmur. Let us destroy the Excalibur together, if our agreement still stands." Xenovia said, speaking up for the first time since the battle had begun.
"Are you sure we can do that?" Kiba asked, surprised by her request.
"Like I said. If it must be done, I have orders to destroy the Excaliburs, if necessary." Xenovia replied.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Gino said with a determined look on his face, causing all three sword bearers to get into a fighting stance.
"Balba Galiliei. I am the survivor of the Holy Sword Project." Kiba told the old man, who had been snickering at their conversation up to now.
He smiled, "So, the survivor has come to meet me? I can't help but feel that this meeting was fated somehow. You see, when I was a young boy, I always loved hearing the stories of the Excaliburs, and I always dreamed of wielding one. When I found out that wasn't possible, I had no choice but to launch the experiment to create those who had the capability to. And now, it is complete, thanks to you."
"Complete? You killed us because we were failures!" Kiba retorted angrily, causing the old man to shake his head.
"No. You see, I discovered that all of you had a part of the potential to wield one, so I merely took out all of your potential and mixed together to create a specimen that had the ability to wield an Excalibur. Or more specifically, this." Balba said, holding up a bright orb.
"I see, so that's the so-called blessing bestowed upon us Holy Sword users." Xenovia said through gritted teeth.
"Yes. It has all of the capabilities in a crystallized form. And I'm about to give Freed his fourth." Balba grinned.
"How many have you killed to satisfy your sick desires?" Kiba screamed, his hands shaking uncontrollably due to the anger coursing through his veins.
"Well, when you put it like that, I guess I can let you have this." Balba said, tossing the orb to Kiba, who caught it with his right hand.
He fearfully ran a hand across its surface, tears threatening to burst out of his eyes.
"Everyone…" He whispered, and instantly, pale lights were flung out of the orb and scattered all over the battlefield, turning from amorphous blobs into humanoid shapes.
"You're all here!" Kiba cried out in surprise, the tears flowing freely from his face now as he was reliving his memories and seeing his fellow test subjects for the first time in years.
Lelouch peered curiously at one of the closer shapes and found, to his surprise, that it was speaking to Kiba. No, it was doing something more. It was…singing.
To his surprise, he saw Kiba singing along as well, crying as he did so.
"We couldn't do it alone. We didn't have all of the elements. But together…" A voice belonging to one of the figures rang out.
"Don't be afraid. Accept the holy sword." The voice whispered before all of the lights were suddenly sucked into the sky, and descended back down in a bright light that engulfed Kiba, who was now releasing a new aura, the likes of which Lelouch had never seen before from the knight.
"I see then. It must be the Balance Breaker." Lelouch whispered as Kiba's eyes snapped open with a fiery determination.
"Mater Lelouch, should we stop him? If he attains Balance Breaker before any of our pieces do, it could prove to be troublesome in the future." Jeremiah whispered to Lelouch, who shook his head.
"No. Let it happen. Rias and I will be linked through marriage in the future, and Kiba should only prove to be an ally to us, if that does indeed happen." Lelouch replied.
Jeremiah nodded, content to follow his orders. He didn't know exactly what Lelouch was planning at the moment, but he knew better than to doubt the man.
"Balba, as long as you're alive, more incidents like the Holy Sword Project will only continue." Kiba stated with anger just underlying in his tone.
"The path to progress is not always clean." Balba retorted.
"Yuuto, take them down. We believe in you." Lelouch said, doing his best to boost the knight's confidence.
"I will become a sword." Kiba stated, "A sword to protect Buchou, and a sword to protect my friends, and Lelouch. Balance Breaker, Sword of the Betrayer!"
With those words, a sword began assembling itself in his hands, giving off both a holy and demonic aura, and shining a bright white, along with a pitch black darkness that devoured the light surrounding it.
With impossible quickness, Kiba disappeared from sight and reappeared right in front of Freed, who barely put up his own blade up in time to deflect Kiba's strike in a shower of sparks. Not dissuaded, Kiba pushed all of his weight into his sword, as it was locked with Freed's. As he did, the demonic aura of the Sword of the Betrayer began to drain away the holy aura of the Excalibur, causing Freed to frown in frustration.
"How can this be happening?" He asked through gritted teeth, doing his best to match Kiba's strength.
"This Excalibur cannot cut the feelings of me and my comrades!" Kiba replied as he began to slowly overpower Freed.
"I guess I don't have a choice!" Freed cried out as his sword's tip split into two, and began moving of its own accord, stabbing at Kiba at all directions, although he had little to no problem at all parrying the attacks.
"How can this be? How are you still blocking all of my attacks?" Freed screamed, fury boiling over at this point, as his blades increased in the speed and intensity of their attacks, but were still unable to break through Kiba's stance.
"Just keep him there a moment longer." Xenovia told Kiba, who nodded and continued to defend against Freed.
Xenovia chanted a few words under her breath, and instantly, a dimensional gap appeared in front of her, tearing apart the air and revealing a swirling plethora of colors. She stuck her hand inside, and smiled, signaling that she had found what she was looking for.
"Durandal!" She cried out, pulling out a large blade with a powerful holy aura surrounding it.
"Wait, but I thought you were the wielder of Excalibur!" Balba said in frustration.
"I can wield both Excalibur and Durandal." Xenovia replied without any emotion to her voice, contrasting heavily with Balba's passionate shouting.
"That's not possible! We cannot create wielders of Durandal yet!" Babla said incredulously.
"I am a natural wielder." Xenovia said without fanfare, shocking all those present.
"Even I, the natural wielder, have trouble with containing the power of this sword. But I swear now that I will use it to the best of my abilities, so don't disappoint with your Excalibur!" Xenovia said, bringing up the blade in front of her face.
"You bitch! I'll kill you!" Freed cackled, turning his attention away from Kiba to direct all of his focus on Xenovia, who geared up to swing her sword.
She raised the blade above her head for a moment before she brought it down with incredible speed and strength. Freed put up Excalibur to block the attack, but to his surprise, the blade completely shattered as it came in contact with Durandal, and he was thrown back by the force with which Xenovia had swung her sword, crashing into the ground.
"This is impossible. A sword that has both a demonic and holy aura? The only way that would be possible is if…" Balba muttered, before his eyes suddenly widened in realization. However, before he could saw anything, a spear of light pierced his chest, sending him to the ground in a pool of blood.
"To think that one such as you could have actually connected the dots is really remarkable, but even so, you are no longer necessary." Kokabiel said coldly as he allowed another spear of light in his hands disappear, making it clear that he was the one who had killed Balba.
"Now then, I want to see more of your power, Welsh Dragon. Same of you, heiress of the Gremory Clan and heir of the Murmur Clan." Kokabiel stated, a huge grin forming on his face.
"All right, then give me a boost." Lelouch ordered Issei, who nodded and pointed his Boosted Gear towards Lelouch.
"Transfer!" The gauntlet cried out, and instantly, Lelouch could feel his body become imbibed with newfound power.
Lelouch pointed his right hand forward and exhaled deeply in an attempt to calm his mind and to utilize all of his available strength. Beside him, Rias did much of the same and quickly fired off a large crimson ball of magic that Kokabiel flung aside with his right arm, leaving him somewhat exposed. As she saw him do so, Rias breathed a sigh of relief. She just had to create an opening for Lelouch to use, and her plan had succeeded.
Sensing the weakness in his defenses, Lelouch released all of the energy he had left in his body in one large stream of electricity. The purple bolts flowed from his hand like an endless river, pouring out in torrents that surged forwards with incredible speed and strength, an attack truly worthy of a powerful Devil such as himself.
From beside him, Kallen's breath hitched as she felt the tension in the air suddenly increase as Lelouch released his attack, making the hairs on her body stand at attention in response to the huge amount of friction that his attack was causing. The raw power of the attack was almost unlike anything she had ever seen in her life, the destructive force of the FLEIJA being the only comparison she could think of in that moment.
However, to her surprise, Kokabiel did not even flinch, instead merely holding his left arm in front of him lazily, blocking the entire strike without much effort on his part.
"That was excellent indeed, but you still have a long way to go before you can utilize your strength to its fullest." Kokabiel said with a smug smile on his face.
Completely drained by the energy he had exerted, Lelouch fell to his knees, causing Raynare to kneel down beside him immediately to try and keep him on his feet while Jeremiah stood in front of his king protectively.
"I'll protect you, Your Highness." He stated, extending the dual blades hidden underneath his sleeves.
"Ah! A lone servant has chosen to challenge me! Please, I am curious to see the exact strength of the servants of the Murmur Clan!" Kokabiel cried out with an air of confidence.
Gritting his teeth in anger, Jeremiah gave a loud shout and dashed forward towards the Fallen Angel, blades crossed in front of his face.
Relishing the moment, Kokabiel created a sword of light and held it in front of him protectively.
Jeremiah swung one arm forward, but found that Kokabiel blocked him without much effort. In response, he stabbed forward with his other arm, aiming to pierce the Fallen Angel's heart, but was quickly rebuked by Kokabiel's foot, which forced even him, armed with the strength of the rook, to step backwards.
Not to be stopped, Jeremiah pressed on, slashing this way and that, just looking for any weakness. However, Kokabiel kept his stance compact and grounded, giving his opponent no quarter and easily deflecting all of the rook's strikes.
"Jeremiah, I won't let you fight alone!" Gino stated, stepping forward to aid.
He charged in, swords drawn and swung them both forward at once, the Master Vibration Swords attempting to chew through the light sword, but to no avail.
"Don't insult me with an attack that weak!" Kokabiel sneered, blowing Jeremiah and Gino into the ground with a heavy gust of wind.
Not being one to stand around while her friends were being attacked, Kallen joined the fray, slashing forward with her clawed arm, which Kokabiel met with his light sword. The Longinus Gear and sword struggled with each other as the two locked blades, sending sparks flying in every direction as both attempted to gain the upper hand.
Kokabiel laughed heartily as he began to slowly overpower Kallen, pushing back her claw, "Come on, is that the best you can do?"
"Kokabiel, this isn't over yet!" Kiba yelled as he charged in with his holy-demonic sword. At his side was Xenovia, who charged forward, armed with her Durandal.
Both of them swung their swords at once at Kokabiel, who merely flapped his wings and flew above the two, landing on the ground behind them and sending both to the ground with a roundhouse kick that connected with both sword wielders with a sickening crack.
Kiba was driven straight into the dirt by the force of the attack, and, coughing up blood, he attempted to stand, only to be sent back down by Kokabiel's boot.
"So, despite the loss of your superiors, you all continue to fight. How interesting." He remarked, not even breaking a sweat.
"Wait, what do you mean, the loss of our superiors?" Lelouch questioned as Raynare propped him up with the use of her shoulder.
"Ah, I almost forgot that only the elite of each of the Three Factions actually know. The truth is that in the Great War, not only Satan, but also God perished. The three factions have continued on, but in a reduced state. Why do you think that we rely on humans to bolster our numbers? Because there is no longer a viable way to increase the number of pure Angels, Fallen Angels, or Devils." Kokabiel stated with a serious expression.
With those words, a silence suddenly fell over all present as they took in the information. God was…dead? Xenovia shook her head in disbelief. There was no way that everything she had lived her life for was a lie, there was just no way!
"That's a lie! It's a lie!" She screamed, unwilling to accept that her life had been devoted to serving a dead entity.
Kokabiel grinned madly, enjoying the sight of the girl breaking down in front of him. Eager to see more, he continued, "Everyone decided afterwards that our numbers were all too diminished to continue fighting, and so, another great war won't happen, unless someone prods it. And this time, the Fallen Angels will win. We could have won back then, and now, we will finish what we started!"
"God doesn't exist. He doesn't exist." Asia said, falling to her knees. Her eyes were hollow and blank, unable to register anything but the truth that was staring her right in the face.
"No, Asia!" Issei cried out, kneeling down besides her in an effort to comfort the girl, but to no avail.
"So I'll be the one to prod it. I will start the Great War again, and lead the Fallen Angels to victory!" Kokabiel said, causing Lelouch to shake his head in disapproval.
"I can't let that happen. I made a promise once to create a peaceful world, and I never break my promises!" He said through gritted teeth, pushing off of Raynare and standing on his own strength, ready to continue fighting, despite his exhaustion.
"Intersting." A voice suddenly called out from the sky.
Lelouch turned his head upwards to see a white blur fall from the sky and stop inches from crashing to the ground. As the white figure approached, he could feel a huge amount of power radiating from the figure, which he could now see was clad in white armor and had eight wings of light sprouting from its back.
"The Vanishing Dragon." Rias said aloud next to Lelouch, who had quickly deduced the identity of the figure already, despite the fact that he was clad form head to toe in armor that covered his face.
"And to think that he has achieved Balance Breaker already." Lelouch said, a bit of awe in his voice as he waited to see what the Longinus Wielder was going to do.
"So you've come to engage the Welsh Dragon. I swear though, if you interfere with me…" Kokabiel started, but before he finished, one of his wings was completely torn off of his body, and a small amount of blood went up in the air at the same time.
"My wing!" Kokabiel cried out as the Vanishing Dragon laughed.
"It is a sign that you have fallen. You don't really need such a thing anymore." He said, stifling a chuckle.
"Are you challenging me right now?" Kokabiel asked, anger rising in his voice. As he did so, he created a large assortment of spears of light behind him, ready to fire at his new opponent.
"Call me by my name. I am Albion." The Vanishing Dragon stated before blue jewels all over his body began glowing, giving off a pale glow.
"Divide!" They all shouted at once, and immediately, Kokabiel's spears dulled in their intensity and half of them disappeared altogether.
"You must know the abilities of my Divine Dividing, correct? I can divide your power in half every ten seconds, until you are weaker than a normal human." Albion stated, a grin forming underneath his armor.
"Divide!" The jewels called out again, and this time, all of his spears of light vanished, and Kokabiel looked physically weaker.
"I'll kill you!" The Fallen Angel screamed in fury, flapping his wings and flying straight at Albion, who merely moved to the side, dodging the weak attack in a manner that made it clear that he was toying with Kokabiel now.
"Divide!"
At this, Kokabiel's pace slowed even more, already a shell of his former self. He took a swing at the armor clad figure draining his power, but it looked far weaker and slower in comparison to his early attacks. Compared to his initial power, he was not even at half of the strength he had once possessed mere moments ago.
"This is a disappointment." Albion lamented before he responded to Kokabiel's attack with a lightning fast punch that drove straight into the Fallen Angel's stomach, forcing him to keel over in pain and to vomit up blood before he pulled it out, allowing Kokabiel to collapse to the ground.
"Impossible…" He managed, eliciting a laugh from Albion.
"Really? That's all you have to say? Then, let's hurry this along. I was ordered by Azazel to take you back with me. You were out of control and acted out of your authority."
"Azazel. I should have known." Kokabiel said through gritted teeth, and Albion responded with a kick to his face, knocking out the Fallen Angel.
With a sigh of annoyance, Albion took Kokabiel and hoisted him upon his shoulder and walked up to Freed's figure, grabbing the exorcist by the collar.
"I suppose I'll take my leave now. There are some things we must now discuss as a result of Kokabiel's actions." Albion stated, before turning his head towards Lelouch, "We will meet again, so please, don't be as weak as this pathetic man here. The same goes for you as well, Ddraig." He said, shaking Kokabiel's body.
He turned his head upwards towards the sky and morphed into a white beam of light that shot straight up into the sky before disappearing completely, leaving Lelouch standing with an expression of shock.
"Master Lelouch, are you all right?" Jeremiah asked as Lelouch felt exhaustion attempt to drag him to the ground, stopped only by Jeremiah's shoulder.
"Yes, but I fear that some great changes are about to occur as a result of our actions here today." He replied seriously, staring at the space where Albion, the Vanishing Dragon had once stood.
"Yuuto. It's good that you returned, and I'm proud of you for achieving Balance Breaker." Rias told Kiba, who looked to the ground, an apologetic look on his face.
"I'm sorry, to all of you, for my actions. I betrayed everyone to pursue my own selfish goals." He apologized, but Rias smiled in response.
"What matters now is that you're back." She replied.
"Thank you. I promise to carry out my duty as a knight of the Gremory Clan and protect all of my comrades." Kiba said with resolve in his voice before turning to Lelouch, "Also, thank you Lelouch. I have you to thank for helping to bring me to my senses. I also pledge to aid you in whatever you require, as the future spouse of my King."
"Thank you, Kiba. I promise to protect you as well, to the best of my abilities." Lelouch stated in response.
Although he was utterly drained from the day's events, he was glad to know that he had at least made some progress in that he had gained the loyalty of Kiba as well, which was all the more enticing now that he had reached Balance Breaker.
All in all, it was a productive day, he supposed.
Sorry for the insanely long time in between updates, and for the fact that the size of this update wasn't proportional to the time I actually spent working on it. I had really bad writer's block for the entirety of this chapter, and I struggled to just get this much out, as I find that this volume in particular was one of the least exciting ones, as it left really little opportunity to utilize Lelouch in an interesting way. Starting from next chapter, it should be better, in terms of my update speed, and Lelouch's overall involvement in the plot, as he's been a supporting character in these last two chapters.
However, over the last few months, if you guys don't know, I have also uploaded another Highschool DxD and Code Geass crossover, Of Queens and Emperors, which is taking an original path with Lelouch. Because I have been using that story as a sort of dump for my more original storylines concerning the DxD universe, I have decided that Beyond Zero will be closer to canon than my other story, so if you want a more different storyline, I would recommend checking it out.
Since my last update was last year, I feel like I need to ask again, in case some opinions have changed with the release of the newer novels. Are there any characters that you guys would like to see involved with Lelouch later on? I'll return to some more romantic development next chapter, and I would like to know who exactly you guys want him to be involved with. As usual, feel free to PM or leave a review if you want to make any suggestions or leave your thoughts on this topic.
Again, sorry for the long time in between updates. Hopefully the next one won't take me half a year. It should require me to work for a few weeks, if that, so please, if you've continued to read this story, I hope you will stick with me.