Replies to my Reviews

SpartanKing J: A nice idea but that's for later on.

Chapter 23: Peace in our Time

Of all things to expect, Issei Hyoudou hadn't expected to meet his enemy like this.

After saying goodbyes to the others in the morning and leaving Asia with specific instructions on how to contact him if Kokabiel showed up, Issei had stopped by a maid café he usually frequented for a quick cup of coffee only to run into him.

The Angel of Stars himself waving him over from a lone table. Now even if Ddraig hadn't identified him, Issei would've pegged him as supernatural right from the start.

No mortal man had any business looking that attractive.

With his long hair, exotic golden red eyes and handsome visage, Kokabiel was easily the most desirable man in the entire shop. It was easily apparent that every single waitress had taken at least one peek at him by the time Issei reached the table and took a seat.

"Good morning, Kokabiel. How are Raynare and the others?" Issei started off immediately.

"Hmm..." Kokabiel simply cocked an eyebrow before his bemused expression turned bright. "They're quite alright, even if rightfully terrified for their lives. By the way, I must give you my gratitude."

Issei frowned further. "Why?"

"When I put Raynare, Mittelt and Kalawarner through a forced Ascension, I almost expected them all to die from the strain." Kokabiel shrugged, his smile full of mirth. "However, thanks to the training you put them through, they actually thrived through it. I actually feel a bit admonished for thinking that they'd merely been reduced to sex slaves by the humans they'd failed to kill."

"I don't know about my friends, but I did treat Raynare like that for a while." Issei honestly admitted. "Do you feel angry about that?"

"Not in the slightest." Kokabiel instantly replied as he accepted his order from the blushing maid, who had bent low enough that both men could easily see down her cleavage. "Not only did they fail in my orders to prevent you in getting aligned with the Devils, Raynare tried to steal a Sacred Gear from some unfortunate nun. Azazel would've ripped her wings out for that alone. A Sacred Gear that gets stolen from it's rightful owner would promptly stagnate itself."

"Why did you do that anyway?" Issei asked the question that had been bothering him since he'd 'interrogated' Raynare. "Why did you send Raynare to kill me? Azazel apparently put me as a Target of Observation but you changed it to that of Elimination. Sending Fallen Angels to assassinate a Sacred Gear user within Devil territory is like waving a red flag before a bull. Were you trying to provoke a fight between the Devils and Fallen Angels?"

"Yes. Indeed, I was aiming to start up the war from this dreadful ceasefire." Kokabiel answered with a nod and a smile, as if he hadn't just admitted to wanting to reignite the Great Biblical War. "I thought that such a strike against Maou Lucifer and Maou Leviathan's little sisters would've provoked quite a response... but then they failed. I'm a bit amazed at how barbaric your response was. Killing the sole male while taking the women for yourselves... Don't worry, I won't judge. If anything, I rather admire how true you are to your vices."

Issei resisted the urge to shiver at Kokabiel's praise. It wasn't like they had planned for that outcome to occur, but from an outsider's perspective...

Rias herself had admitted that she hadn't mostly cared due to how they'd attacked and tortured one of her Peerage's clients...

"So your earlier plan failed, and now you're hoping for a bigger bang, drawing in the Church with the stolen Excaliburs." Issei surmised, to which Kokabiel nodded in affirmation as he took a sip of his coffee. "Why? Why are you doing this? If you do this, your faction might get wiped out this time."

"For the sake of peace."

[Huh?]

Issei blinked in tune with Ddraig. "Huh?"

"Do you know why I am called the Angel of Stars?" Kokabiel spoke up as he looked out the window, staring out at the people passing by. "It was a joke started out by Metatron. I was always fascinated by the stars Father had named me after."

Kokabiel lifted up his hands, as if grasping for one at the moment. "Those faraway lights twinkling in the darkness forever and ever... But even when ignored, the darkness was still there. In a way, they remind me of you humans."

Issei blinked. "How?"

"Even when surrounded by the limitless darkness, a star will forever shine until it's end. It may be seemingly brief, but you humans aren't that different. Now then, amongst the masses, there are always the ones that inevitably rise above the others. The stars that shine, that grant hope to others, that defy limitations..." Kokabiel reached forward to suddenly poke Issei's chest. "You are such a star, Issei Hyoudou."

Issei's jaw tried to work but failed for the first few initial moments. "But... Why... How does this connect to peace?! You want to restart a war!"

"A war between Angels, Devils and my kind." Kokabiel nodded. "Why do you believe that it will involve you? If it is your parents you're worried for, I can easily have them relocated to a safer area."

"If you succeed in your plans, there won't be any safer area." Issei pounded his fists on the table. "I don't know about the Grigori, but the Angels have the Church and the Devils have their various clients. If the Great Biblical War starts over, it'll easily become a mad stampede from all sorts of areas. There's no way any human with... any power... won't get... drawn in..."

A horrible sickening sensation filled Issei as a horrid thought occurred to him. "World War III could get kicked off from this."

As soon as he spoke that, Issei's fear was confirmed when Kokabiel replied with a smile full of amusement. "Exactly."

"[...Kokabiel, why are you doing this?]"

"Humanity is not as great as it used to be, Welsh Dragon." Kokabiel sighed heavily. "In this current era, there are almost no more Stars among the humans. Don't get me wrong, you all still pop up now and then, but you're also getting rarer and rarer. Do you understand how rare you are, Issei Hyoudou? An awakened Sacred Gear user who isn't bound by a Devil or snatched up by other forces? Azazel may be soft now, but he wasn't like this now like he was centuries ago. Back then, he would've kidnapped you right from your bed the moment you awakened your {Boosted Gear}. Of course, I'm no saint myself. Even now, I relish the days when scores of Devils were vaporized from every lance of Light I flung. But now, Azazel and Shemhazai are... invested in the modern era. And I... was so hopelessly bored."

"Y-You... were bored?!" Issei exclaimed.

"Indeed. Even if I protested against the ceasefire, nobody heeded my words." Kokabiel scoffed. "While it was true that I really wanted to get back to fighting again, there was no denying the fact that nobody was stopping the Devils from preying on the humans en masse. Then it suddenly occurred to me."

Kokabiel's face suddenly split into a wide smile, a smile that shook Issei at how ugly it was on his face as it almost transformed his visage into something hideous. "Why not start up again myself? Shake up the balance of the world permanently? Who will side with who? Who is going to betray who? Michael cannot ignore that Empty Throne for long-"

"Empty throne?" Issei suddenly spoke up. "What are you talking about?"

"Ah. Of course." Kokabiel calmed himself down. "You don't know what I mean, do you? Well, you will soon enough. After all, World War III cannot fully kick off without that being revealed."

"Well, I won't let you." Issei growled. "Millions of people will die from this. How can you believe that something like this would bring about peace?"

"Because every supernatural race will die off by the end of it." Kokabiel's answer knocked the air out from Issei's lungs. "Among all of the beings in this world, there are none who possess a stronger affinity for Survival like you Humans do. No matter the calamities that have occurred, your survivability as a species has always remained superior to all others. Even if it were reduced to a mere handful, I am completely assured that Adam's Children will survive World War III and none of the supernatural kin shall be around to enslave you all again."

True, humans were essentially like roaches to the supernatural. If you squashed one, you could almost be assured that there were ten more elsewhere. No matter how some would claim them as the weakest race, it was still an undeniable fact that they were the dominant species on the planet.

"E-Even if you say it's for us, I still can't accept this." Issei finally spoke up. "I was already going to stop you out of principle, but now I'm even more motivated."

"I know." Kokabiel responded. "Why do you think I'm telling you all of this? From the very moment I saw my underlings thriving under your care, I was already revising my original plans. Issei Hyoudou, the 57th Red Dragon Emperor. You awakened your Sacred Gear in defense of your junior friends; saved the nun Asia Argento who had entrusted her life into your care; refused to be bound by both the Devils and the Church, even if reaping off some benefits; and now tell a Cadre straight to his face that you plan to reject his plans... And to think that you aren't even an adult yet by your human laws."

Kokabiel started to chuckle, his face filled with joy before suddenly becoming serious. "In exactly 12 hours, I will attack your school and lay waste to everyone in it."

Kokabiel turned and glared, nearly making Issei stumble from the surprising force of it before he glared back, the temperature around him flaring up dangerously-

"And from there, I shall wipe the entirety of Kuoh clean from the map."

-He felt small, miniscule below billions of stars waiting to become fall and obliterate-

"Do you think I'd just stand by and let you?"

-and a Red Dragon roared up at the Infinite, rising in size and power with every second as it reared up to devour every star in sight-

The next instant, Issei resisted the urge to fall forward and collapse onto the table before Kokabiel, not unshaken but unbroken as the entire café was now silent due to every other person having escaped into sweet unconsciousness.

"Good." Kokabiel sounded positively feverish at this moment. "You're not quite there yet... but you're on your way."

Issei said nothing, still panting heavily.

"You have until tonight." Kokabiel spoke up. "Tonight, when you achieve what you left your comrades for, I want you to kill me."

'...HUH?! Kill him?! What does he mean by that?!'

"If you truly stand against my plan, it's only natural that you come at me with the intent to take my life." Kokabiel didn't give Issei a chance to speak up. "Good luck, young Star."

And then there was a bright flash that took Kokabiel away, leaving Issei alone as the people in the café slowly awakened.

"So let me get this straight." Tomoki Sakurai started out, rubbing his brow and all of the Cooking Club(Red Dragon's Horde) had gathered in their clubroom to update each other of the current situation. "In you guys' search last night, you all got attacked?"

"Yeah." Matsuda Takumi muttered as he pressed an ice bag against his black eye. "Kiba, Quarta-san and I got attacked by Freed himself along with Mittelt."

"While Hyoudou-senpai and Shidou-san got attacked by both Raynare and a mysterious Excalibur wielder." Sohara Mitsuki finished as she looked at the Snow Human for clarification.

"Maybe it was because I was surveying from a drone, but I didn't get attacked at the Den." Motohama Nakakuni revealed. "While this certifies Ddraig's belief that Kokabiel's got separate wielders for the stolen swords, this also means that our Fallen Angels didn't side with him willingly."

Asia Argento gasped in hope, knowing where Motohama was leading towards. "Because they haven't gone after our parents nor the Den itself."

Tomoki frowned as he crossed his arms. "So they got threatened into switching sides? Is that why Senpai left for the Strong World so early this morning?"

"Yeah..." Motohama answered. "Ise's believes that his Balance Breaker will really help out in the fight against them."

"Damnit!" Matsuda tossed away his ice bag in frustration, growling as it smacked against the wall. "Even so, it doesn't change how bad our situation is. After Ise got beat, there was nothing stopping them from taking Shidou away herself. Not to mention, if what both Ddraig and Shitori-kaichou said was true, Kokabiel's extremely out of our league just by principle of him having five pairs of wings."

"Add in the fact that he wants to start up their great war again right here..." Motohama trailed off, grumbling as he started to fidget with something in his bag. "If Ise hadn't told us to stay here and watch over things, I would've followed after him. I feel way too inadequate to deal with this..."

"I feel the same, you guys." Their clubroom door suddenly opened to reveal Genshirou Saji. "Which is why Kaichou's formally asking for you guys' help."

"Saji?" Matsuda raised an eyebrow. "We don't mind helping out but I honestly thought that you guys would've tried to keep us out of this or something."

"Even he's Fallen, this is still the Star of God we're talking about." Genshirou replied as he accepted a cup of tea from Asia while leaning against a table. "Thanks, Asia-chan. Kaichou's already making plans to shut down the school and send the civilians away. As much as we'd like to keep you all out of it, we can't afford to let another war break out."

Genshirou swallowed nervously, a bead of sweat trailing down his face. "This is... We're talking about an enemy who wants war. I don't think we have the choice of keeping away those who don't want to fight if they are capable of fighting in the first place."

"So in the end, we have to fight then..." Sohara's hands clenched before her eyes narrowed in determination. "Fine, then. I'll fight too!"

"If Sohara's fighting, then so am I." Tomoki spoke up. "I can't perv around in peace if the school gets blown up."

Genshirou gave off a sigh that was both solemn and relieved before he straightened up. "Okay, listen up. The Student Council as a whole will be focused on placing a barrier over the school. His targets are Gremory-senpai and Kaichou, so we're at least assured that he'll be starting things here. When Kokabiel does come along with his Excalibur wielders, you guys will join Gremory-senpai's Peerage in facing him while we'll focus on reinforcing the barrier."

Motohama frowned. "Why aren't you guys joining the battle? I don't know about the others, but aren't you, Shinra-san and Kaichou at least significantly strong, too?"

"All the more reason to maintain the barrier, as Kaichou ordered." Genshirou shrugged. "While you guys fight Kokabiel, someone has to be making sure that the released energies don't cause any collateral damage beyond the school. And if somebody as Kaichou does it, that means she won't be buckling from the backlash as badly as others would."

"I see..." Motohama crossed his arms before turning to address his comrades. "Well, then. All of you, get ready for tonight's battle. Asia, contact Issei and update him on the scenario. Let's surprise Ise by winning before he even shows up!"

""""RIGHT!""""

Tomoki whistled a little as they watched the multilayered barrier settle over the school later that night.

"Hey, you guys." Matsuda called out as he approached the Gremory Peerage. "Where are Quarta and Kiba?"

"We haven't been able to contact either of them." Rias Gremory shook her head. "But I believe Yuuto to be safe. Xenovia, as well. Speaking of which, how is Ise's friend?"

"I healed her to a stable condition, but she's been unresponsive to a degree." Asia revealed with a saddened frown. "She didn't even look at Ise as he bade her goodbye before leaving."

"Rias, our opponent is a Cadre who openly wants to kickstart the war anew." Sona Sitri called from above where she was maintaining the barrier. "Perhaps it would be prudent to reach out to your brother-"

"Oh?" Rias raised an eyebrow. "I don't see you reaching out to Maou Leviathan yourself."

"W-Well, you see... In my case..." Sona stuttered off, an unusual nervous tone in her voice.

"I've already contacted Sirzechs-sama about the situation." Akeno Himejima revealed, shocking Rias.

"Akeno, why did you contact him on your own?!" Rias glared at Akeno, who returned the glare just as hard.

"Rias, I understand that you don't want to be a bother to your brother... but this isn't the time for it." Akeno shot back. "Our enemy is a top member of the Grigori. And the only people in our school who could probably defeat him either aren't here at the moment or are not interested."

"Eh?" Genshirou called out from above. "What about Tiamat?!"

"I tried to get her to join in but she was disinterested in the whole thing." Motohama revealed the Chaos Karma Dragon's opinion. "Unless it's against a fellow dragon, Tiamat-sensei said that she didn't want to get drawn into this political mess. Honestly, if I could, I'd hide away with her..."

Matsuda idly dope slapped Motohama. "Anyways, we can still make do with what we have, although we'll still accept any help we can."

"Urgh..." Rias sighed. "...very well."

"Thanks for understanding, Rias." Akeno chuckled. "Sirzechs-sama's reinforcements should arrive in about an hour."

At that moment, a bright pillar of light shone from the school field before it split into five, all below a massive glyph. It was unsettling. A herald of the utter blasphemy being performed to the fragments of the greatest Holy Sword.

"An hour, huh..." Rias huffed. "That leaves us an uninterrupted hour of Kokabiel's attention. Even so, I believe that everyone here has every attention of not suffering defeat at his hands! Let us go!"

"YEAH!"

By the time they reached the field, Valper Galilei was visible at the center of the ritual, his smile wide as he singlehandedly focused on his work. "Just a little more! Soon, all of {Excalibur} shall become one again!"

"How much longer, Valper?" Kokabiel called from above, quite at ease in a floating throne of his.

"It won't be long now." Valper crooned. "Just for another five minutes."

"I see." Kokabiel frowned before diverting his gaze towards Rias. "Well, Gremory heiress? Will Sirzechs Gremory be coming? Or will it be Serafall Sitri that I shall face tonight?"

"We're here in their place." Rias answered, a small drop of sweat betraying her nerves.

Kokabiel's jaw dropped a bit in disbelief as he glared at Rias, before groaning as he swung his arm.

*BOOOOOOOOOOM!*

To compare Kokabiel's Light Spear to those of the other Fallen Angels they'd fought before would be insulting. The gym that the Light Sphere had hit had become a huge crater in an instant, the tree-sized golden lance with three satellite purple rings still present in the middle until Kokabiel himself dispelled it.

"This is boring. If not even the Red Dragon Emperor is here, then what's the point of even getting off my seat?" Kokabiel grumbled before sighing. "Well, be as it may, you'll provide some amusement all the same. Since you at least provided yourselves, I'll have you play with the pet I stole from Hades!"

Snapping his fingers, a large glyph appeared on the ground before them before unleashing a huge gout of hellfire. Loud growls preceded the appearance of a massive beast as it lumbered through the flames, all of it's three heads drooling lava.

"Cerberus?!" Rias exclaimed in shock. "To think he'd bring up the Watchdog of Hades up to the human world... Let's go, Akeno, Koneko!"

While Rias and her Peerage went ahead to deal with the hellhound, Motohama turned to address Kokabiel. "So what about us? Does this mean we personally get to fight you directly?"

Kokabiel gave the humans a mostly disinterested glance. "While you and that bald boy are significantly powerful, you're still too weak to survive a battle against me. Here, how about I instill a nice reunion between you all?"

Another glyph appeared before them as Raynare, Mittelt and Kalawarner appeared before them.

"Ladies, show your previous masters how well you've grown."

Kalawarner sighed before stepping forward. "Motohama, let's get this over with-"

Motohama stomped the ground, his Awakening transforming the earth beneath her into snow before it launched Kalawarner up into the air. "I'm off, then."

"Right." Matsuda nodded as Motohama flew after her, before turning to Mittelt. "Yo, Mi-chan! Wanna take this elsewhere?"

"Fine, then~" Mittelt curtsied before suddenly blitzing away. Not one to be outdone, Matsuda followed, leaving behind a small crackle of lightning.

"So, that leaves you three with me, huh?" Raynare scoffed. "Well, whatever. Let's get this over with."

Asia breathed deeply before stepping forward. "Raynare, I just want you to know that I have no intentions to hurt you. But even so, I can't always wait for Ise-kun to defeat my opponents for me."

"...what's with that self-righteous speech-?!" Raynare choked, bending over as Asia had swiftly closed the distance to slam her glowing palm into her exposed stomach. "What...?!"

Raynare's knees buckled as her vision swam, suddenly falling down to her knees. "What... did you...?"

"I inflicted a state of drowsiness into you." Asia explained as she approached and knelt before Raynare, her rings still glowing on her fingers. As she did so, snow started to fall down around them for some reason. "No matter how much I trained with Ise-kun and the others, I was never able to get the will to hurt others, especially with my Sacred Gear. So this was the best I could come up with."

"Oh? By acknowledging your lack of will to kill your enemy and experimenting with Father's Gift of healing, this was the conclusion you reached? My interest in you has grown sharply, Asia Argento." Kokabiel commented as he gazed down upon them. "Still, this isn't the time for you to lay down and sleep, Raynare. Get up."

At his order, Raynare stumbled to her feet, shaking off her drowsiness before kicking away Asia. Thankfully, Asia's landing was soft due to all the snow rapidly falling. Spreading out her arms, many of her Light Spears manifested in the air around her, all hovering and ready to be fired at a moment's notice despite the rising blizzard. "I'll kill you all as swiftly as I can, at least."

And then the lances of light became shooting stars.

*BAM!*

The air almost warped from how hard Matsuda and Mittelt's fists collided. Then it actually did so when the two continued to slam against each other again, Hardened claws grinding against Light Spear before they separated.

Gritting her teeth, Mittelt swung down to try and decapitate Matsuda to leap back out of range and rush back in, smashing a massive fist into her face. When he tried to land a second punch, his shin was kicked, rendering him flat footed and nearly unprepared for the Light Spear that would've pierced through his chest had he not crossed his Hardened arms for defense.

"And here I was thinking that my Ascension would've closed the gap between us a lot more than this. We're about evenly matched now." Mittelt panted as they disengaged, eyeing Matsuda as he was in a similar state even in his hybrid form. Around them, snow started to fall for some reason. "But now, prepare yourself. I'll be going into overdrive for a bit."

Mittelt's spear started to emit a pinkish aura before it spread to all over her body, her cheeks flushing as even all six of her wings flared out from her writhing body. "Here I come~"

Mittelt leapt forward, not quite increasing much in speed but slamming into Matsuda's guard with far more power than expected. With a strangled yell, Matsuda was sent flying into a nearby tree, his lightning having flared defensively to save him from being cleaved in half. "How'd you unleash that insane power with a build like that?"

Dodging away as her sudden strike obliterated the tree behind him, Matsuda circled around to Mittelt's back and punched the back of her head, his haki sparking as Mittelt skidded across the snowy earth and was sent flying through a tree herself.

Naturally, Matsuda leapt after her, his roars loud and enthusiastic.

"It was... It wasn't exactly like an evolution per say..."

Kalawarner almost regretted asking if Motohama had grown stronger since the last time they'd fought. The moment their fight had begun, he'd gone all out from the very start, abandoning his human form to instead fill the entire area.

"If anything, it was felt more like... when you've been operating a computer in low resolution for a long while and you never realize that you could've always increased it."

The cold wind threatened to rip Kalawarner apart, despite the effort of her wings working overtime. On another note, she made a silent promise to get thicker clothes if she survived this, because apparently, Motohama was making his snow cold enough to affect even someone like her.

"'Awakening'... Surprisingly accurate term. Maybe it was because I was fighting another ice-type at the time, but it was like... One minute, my body speaks the language of bullshit by transforming back and forth into infinite snow. The next, my body forces my very environment to speak the bullshit language too."

Kalawarner flailed as she was finally ripped away from her controlled flight, careening through the air with all of her forcibly Ascended power being rendered useless before the obsidian snowflakes.

After all, who ever heard of a crow trumping against a blizzard, especially one that happened to be sentient and had the actualized power of Will enhancing it.

"All of your best effort... for a drop of blood...?" Kokabiel commented as he looked at his bruised hand, his throne absent as he floated with his ten wings spread out like a shadowy regalia. His clothes were tattered, but only counted as superficial damage. What Kokabiel truly commended was that the Gremory Heiress had managed to damage his hand bad enough to make it bleed slightly. "That 'Gamory' form of yours was a surprising but welcome occurrence..."

Down below were his opponents he'd just finished dealing with.

The fake Angel had been felled swiftly, having required brutal methods just as he had remembered her model to be. Maybe he'd take her later to be reprogrammed.

The bearer of {Last Longinus} had lived up to his name, having taken on one of his more powerful Light Spears head-on. Of course, a second one had rightfully put him down.

As for the nun, she'd once more proven herself worthy of Father's Love when she stood defensively before the unconscious Fallen Angel behind her. A swift finger flick to her forehead was enough before moving past them. It wasn't like he'd needed the Fallen Angels who'd disobeyed and failed him.

The young catgirl had attacked with flaming punches strong enough to tear through stone and purify evil. The look of surprise on her face when he'd effortless caught her punch and shattered her ribs with his knee was one that joined a long line in his memory.

Baraqiel's daughter had rained down lightning and hail upon him, powerful enough to sear through the earth and leave gouging trenches. It was disappointing how much she'd restrained from using the power he knew she could access. "To think that the daughter of my comrade could be so pitiful. Baraqiel would weep if he could see you now."

"THAT MAN IS NOT MY-" A slap, powerful enough to shatter her jaw and cause a small shockwave, had sent the priestess flying into a nearby classroom. She hadn't flown back out since.

In the end, Kokabiel would admit that it had been Maou Lucifer's sister who had given him the most trouble so far. If Leviathan's sister was any similar, he'd have to do away with his belief that they'd been nothing but spoilt brats.

"With this, it's finally...!"

Valper's declaration drew him away from from the last two who he hadn't attacked yet. Behind him, in the heart of the battlefield glyph of shimmering light. Its borders were made from a series of sigils and runes that were carved into the ground while shining with an inner fire of sky yellow, painting the courtyard around it in a hot yellow light.

In the center of the circle were the five stolen Excaliburs, each planted point first into the ground in the shape of a pentagon. A network of lines grew out from the point that the blade met the ground, making the earth tremble with veins that burned from within and filled the inside of the circles completely, pulsing every few seconds like the slow beat of a heart.

This was Sanctum Forge, a spell that would fuse multiple weapons into one usable form, while the backlash would be unleashed into the earth. For swords as powerful as the Excalibur, their backlash would be more than enough to destroy Kuoh completely.

Now, instead of five swords, there was only one at the center.

But to call it a Holy Sword...

What had been born from the forced reunion of the Excaliburs was a distorted object. A massive longsword which had been dyed in unholy darkness while possessing a few corrupted Fae runes which glowed a sickly mix between red and purple. It was a Holy Sword born not from the physical actualization of pure wishes from the World to be wielded by an ideal King, but from the crazed wishes of a mad man to be wielded by an even madder man who wished for nothing more than a means to sate his thrill for violence

This was... an Aberration.

"With this, it's all done!" Valper declared as the Sanctum Forge dissipated into the earth and caused a large tremor. "This entire city may be reduced to rubble within the next twenty minutes... but that's such a worthy tradeoff!"

"Twenty... minutes...?!" Rias growled as she pushed herself back to her feet. "But that means..."

"Sirzechs-sama's reinforcements won't make it." Koneko grimly concluded as she stood up as well.

"If you wish to prevent that, you'll have to defeat me." Kokabiel commented. "Or rather, find a way to evacuate an entire city within that time. Whichever you find more possible."

"VALPER GALILEI!"

Yuuto Kiba's roar caught everyone a bit off-guard, as the young swordsman had finally found the ultimate target of his vengeance. "I am a survivor of the Holy Sword Project. Or more accurately, the subjects you had killed!"

"Oh? Another of you survived?" Valper's words were like an avalanche of ice slamming down into Yuuto's spine. "Freed?"

"Yes, boss?" Freed Sellzen answered immediately, the mad Exorcist dropping out of a Teleportation Glyph along with a hooded figure. "You rang? You finally done?"

"Indeed, he is." Kokabiel answered. "Use the {Excalibur} and annihilate all of these guys as your first opponents."

"It would be my greatest fucking pleasure!" Freed crowed before he grabbed {Excalibur Aberrant}, instantly shaking from how much it pushed through him. "O-Oh, yeah! What a ruuuuuush! Who do I kill first?!"

"Choose whoever you want but I'd like to continue speaking to this young man here." Valper patted Freed's back before turning to Yuuto. "I had heard that one of the subjects had gotten away... I guess dear Tosca wasn't as lucky as you were, huh?"

Yuuto stilled, his eyes widening in shock. "To... Tosca?"

"Yes, Tosca." Valper gestured over at the hooded figure who then approached and pulled down her hood after reaching them. "Thanks to you guys, I was able to complete the project."

"Tosca!" Yuuto cried out. "Why are you with him?! What are you doing?!"

"It's useless, I tell ya! She's our bitch in almost every sense of the word!" Freed skipped over to Tosca and slammed in a haymaker hard enough to split her lip and knock out a tooth. Without even a whimper, Tosca took it stoically, neither crying out, cringing nor attempting to comfort her wound. "See?! I can't tell ya how many nights she was willing to keep us nice and warm with this nice body of hers."

Yuuto shook, unwilling to comprehend what he'd just seen and heard. "What... What do you mean by that?"

"I know you ain't a dumbass, you shitty demon." Freed ripped off the front of Tosca's attire before grabbing one of her bared breasts tightly. "What do you think I mean~?!"

"How revolting...!" Rias growled, she and every other present female glaring death at Freed.

"You... YOU BASTARD!" Yuuto launched himself forward.

"What? You mad 'cause you didn't taste her first? That's Valper you gotta hate for that! But here!" Freed twisted and kicked Tosca at Yuuto, who fumbled his charge to catch her body in his arms. "I can be a nice guy, can't I?! After all..."

*SHINCK!*

Both Yuuto and Tosca flinched as {Excalibur Aberrant} stabbed through their stomachs, mixing Tosca's blood into Yuuto's.

"...I'm killing the both of you together, aren't I?!"

"Yuuto!" Rias cried out.

"Kiba-san!" Asia cried out before moving closer-

"Better stay back if you don't wanna get gutted first, bitch!" Freed ripped out the sword and pointed it at them, the blade slick with blood.

"Don't get in her way!" Koneko roared as she charged at Freed.

"You subjects didn't have enough of the factor to properly wield the Holy Swords." Valper taunted as he approached the bleeding duo. "Knowing that, I came to a conclusion. All I had to do was just take out the factor from you all and crystallize it into tangible forms!"

"What?!" Yuuto choked as he watched Valper fish out a small crystal from his vestments.

"This contains all of the genes from your dear comrades back then, although it's the last one." Valper declared as he held it up for Yuuto to see.

"Other than me and that cutie in your arms, all the other guys rolled over and died 'cause they couldn't handle that stuff!" Freed cackled before dodging another of Koneko's punches and kicking her away. "If you think about it, ain't we super-duper special?!"

"That's..." Xenovia gasped as she recognized the crystal once she got close enough. The crystal that had been Blessed into Irina's body before being granted {Excalibur Mimic}. 'When a Holy Sword user receives the blessing, something like that is put into their bodies...' "So that was to make up for those who didn't make the cut?"

"Those hypocrites!" Valper scoffed. "After excommunicating me as a heretic, they shamelessly still use my research?! Then again, this is Michael we're talking about. I'm sure that he didn't kill the ones who'd volunteered for extraction-"

*BAM!*

Valper's words became cut off as something invisible smashed into his body, sending his broken body rolling away while the crystal was flung into the air until it landed in Tosca's bloody grip.

Yuuto's eyes widened in disbelief and hope. "Tosca...?"

"It hurts..." Tosca's free hand clenched Yuuto's shirt. "But my head feels clearer than ever..."

"Tosca!" Yuuto sobbed as he hugged her. "I'm so sorry!"

"Isaiah... It's you, right?" Tosca weakly hugged him back. "Even if you're a Devil, I'm so glad you lived... As long as you lived, our efforts weren't wasted..."

The crystal in her hands started glow before emitting particles of light that grew and solidified into Isaiah's deceased friends.

"I thought about it for so long..." Isaiah muttered. "About whether it was right for me to have lived after leaving you all behind... Some of you had bigger dreams than mine... Some of you had greater wills to live... Why was I the only one to have regained a peaceful life? What right did I have to enjoy that?"

Tosca's hand gently patted Isaiah's cheek. "You have that right because we all wanted you to have it. None of us were strong enough on our own... But there's... no need to falter anymore..."

Tosca slumped into his arms, her body finally quitting-

-only for her soul to appear before Isaiah, far more at peace in her current form with the crystal firmly in her hands as she placed it into Isaiah's.

"We are together on this. Are you willing to fight?"

Isaiah wiped his face free of tears as he got up, gently setting down Tosca's body. "Of course, I am."

"Are you willing to let us join you in vanquishing our oppressor, Isaiah?"

The hole in Isaiah's stomach rapidly started to heal, steam emitting from his wound until it was completely gone. " Of course, we are all bound by the same bonds."

"And by those bonds, we shall empower you."

"What... What is happening?!" Valper took a nervous step back. "What did you just do?!"

"It's not just me, Valper." Isaiah breathed, smiling positively for the first time in days. "You're about to be vanquished by the combined forces of us all!"

"You have the right, Isaiah! Push forward as much as you can! Scream out as much as you want! Rage as much as you should!"

"Balance... BREAK!"

KingVessel: Are you not entertained? See you in the next few months. And leave a review please.