Commissioned by Connor Worsnop! Hope ya enjoy it bud, and thanks for the support on this fic!
Everything was swiftly going to hell, and then getting even worse.
On the way back to school, Xenovia and Irina had tried to contact Lord Vasco and Lady Griselda several times, but the calls never went through.
It could be an Array creating a communication black-out, but due to the united plan to contact each other once each group made contact with their Devil charges Xenovia had hoped that Lord Vasco would have noticed something wrong once they never received their call…
But alas, the man still hasn't shown up, telling her that perhaps their group are under attack too.
Already.
Not even an hour since they all arrived, and the enemies instantly pounced on them… Or at least, they tried to set an ambush.
Which Ataraxia easily saw through thankfully, else Xenovia doubted she and Irina would have survived it.
And now the skies were filled with enemies.
Stray Devils, Fallen Angels and even Angels themselves!
None of them were particularly strong, but their numbers? Their numbers blotted out the very sun above them.
Each swing of her Excalibur Destruction felled dozens if not hundreds, but more bodies soon filled the gap between the attacks.
Were it not for Irina's terrifying aim and constant head-shots with her Holy Light Gun, then Xenovia would have slowly been overwhelmed. Of that, she was sure.
But the others weren't so lucky, or even smart.
"Stick together, you dumbasses!" She hollers towards the Devils as she swings Excalibur Destruction down, unleashing forth a three story building sized wave of energy that pulverizes all enemies in it's path.
By the time they reached the school, the damnable place had already been torn asunder by the pot-shots and attacks thrown by the flying pests.
Luckily, she had manages to take control over the situation before any casualties took place.
But the dumb Devils refused to listen, or act smart.
The damnable Gremory kept shooting her Power of Destruction left and right in big and slow waves, only hitting and barely killing the enemies further back, while the majority at the front swiftly and easily dodged due to the idiot aiming her shots with her hands.
Were they at least quick and powerful, she'd be a lot more useful, instead she's wasting energy with each shot.
Her Queen is at least trying to aim and hit her targets… But effort doesn't excuse the sad results.
The Sitri instead moved her peerage into a formation of sorts. Not that it helped.
With their negligible power and the sheer number of hostiles present, even Xenovia great strength barely did anything, even when further enhanced by Excalibur Destruction.
And because of that, casualties started to rise after a few short minutes that felt as song as eternity itself.
With a quick charge and strike, two Fallen Angels sent the blonde slave owned by the Gremory flying away from their group.
"Kiba!" Issei – if Xenovia remembers right – screamed and rushed forward as his companion roughly bounces off the ground a few times.
Before four Angels slam down and skewer him through the guts and into ground, setting his very skin ablaze and making the Reincarnated Devil release a screech of pure pain.
"NOOO-!" His comrades barely manages to scream out their sorrows before Kiba's body was set ablaze by the Holy Light, then turned into ashes the very next second.
Xenovia bid the slave farewell, uncaring about his downfall, but deep down inside she already knew that his death just made her job harder.
His very brutal death led to his fellow slaves and Master to grow enraged, and their originally messy attack grew even worse and wild, with the Gremory even nearly hitting her fellow Heiress Peerage in her wild blast of energy.
Seeing that, Xenovia slowly drew closer to her, ignoring the rest of her peerage.
The Sitri was handling herself mildly well, and the majority of the enemies were clearly aiming for the Gremory Heiress due to how uncoordinated and easily breakable her group is.
Xenovia curses inwardly, hoping for Ataraxia to get back at them as soon as possible.
She could feel her battle all the way from the school, and she could feel how each blow from her friend tore through thousands of their enemies within seconds.
She was leading an utter massacre like no other. A one woman army, mowing through the terrorists like a farmer wielding a scythe walks through his fields of wheat.
The very town itself quivered beneath each of her blows, and she could feel the shock-waves rattling her bones all the way from where she stood.
"Have you noticed?" Irina suddenly speaks up, her eyes darting left and right together with her small guns, a constant barrage of bullets leaving them.
And nearly always hitting their targets, either fatally or not.
With a grunt and another swing of her Excalibur, Xenovia watches with narrowed eyes as some of the Angels throw themselves into the path of her attack, killing themselves. "Yeah… The hell are they doing?"
Irina hums, a spear of light flashing past her head and spearing through the leg of the Sitri Queen.
The ensuing scream that Xenovia heard told her everything she needed to know. Another slave fell.
"They've gone insane… so maybe a moment of clarity?" Her friend suggests even as scream of sorrows ring out from behind them.
Xenovia moves again, planting herself between the two peerages so to further assist the two Heiresses and make sure they don't stray off.
Her senses were already stretched thin, and her head swiftly starts aching as the battle keeps on going.
Though Irina's words make her hum lightly. "I don't know. Maybe." With that, the short conversation comes to an end, and their focus returns fully on the battle.
Suddenly, the flying terrorists pull back as one and draw their arms back.
Xenovia's eyes widen in horror as hundreds upon hundreds of spears and magical spells are fired down towards them, the very skies rumbling as the immense amount of Magic falls down like a roaring meteor.
"Xenovia!" Irina shouts, and the blue haired Exorcist turns just in time to catch the Gremory Heiress that was promptly throw at her from her partner.
Understanding the plan instantly, Xenovia grabs the Gremory by the hair – mostly because it was the closest thing she could grab without wasting time to find the collar of her school uniform – and swiftly dashes towards the stunned Sitri Heiress with Irina.
The Pure-Blood Devil barely has time to react as the Gremory Devil is thrown at her by Xenovia – who ignores their screams – and grabs her large broadsword with both hands.
Then, with a cry of power, she swings her sword upward, unleashing an enormous wave of destructive Holy Light.
Any spears or Magical Spells aimed at the four ladies were promptly destroyed while the rest hammered down upon the land with tremendous collective force that shook the air.
Xenovia could instantly tell that the Sitri's Peerage was entirely decimated by that attack. Had their King hung closer to them, then they would have gotten covered by Xenovia's attack, but alas…
As for the rest…
"Issei!" Irina calls out, and Xenovia glances towards her friend's childhood friend.
He was bloodied and missing an arm and eye, but somehow survived the onslaught and even seemingly took the brunt for the white haired girl.
The other Queen, Akeno… Well, Xenovia can't sense her anymore.
They took out the majority of the fighters with a single attack…
"No…" Xenovia ignores the whimper of pain from Gremory, the Sitri instead falls to her knees and numbly stares in the direction where her peerage used to be.
Now all that left were craters and loose burned limbs here and there.
Xenovia clicks her tongue and jabs her Excalibur into the ground, eyes narrowed at the floating enemies above them.
She couldn't believe that there were so many willing to restart the Great War.
There's literally tens of thousands of them, if not more than a hundred thousand!
That's when the gentle chiming of bells fill her ears, and the hair on the back of her head just stand on end as a massive feeling of Death and Danger chills her to the very bones.
"Xenovia, look…" Irina points in one direction, and the Exorcist looks at what her friend pointed at.
A woman, by the looks of it, wearing dark and torn robes. Her bony hand held a glowing bell, which she kept ringing.
And ringing.
But the sound came from multiple directions, and Xenovia soon realizes – much to her growing horror – that there were at least ten or more of these bell bearing women, all ringing their glowing bells as if on a certain rhythm.
A heavy stench of blood fills the air, and the two Exorcists can feel something in the air being gathered up and moved far behind them.
When they turn around, the two pale even more as they are faced with an enormous and constantly growing Mist Gate.
Each passing second, the gate shudders and grows.
The size of a door, then a tree, then a one-story building- then it kept growing and growing.
"We need to stop whatever they are doing!" Xenovia hollers, having the feeling that if this went on… Then all of Japan was surely doomed!
Irina manages to take the head off two of the bell bearing women before the terrorists swooped down from above, and Xenovia was forced on the defensive.
Either she lets Japan be doomed, or she protects the two dumb Heiresses and avoids the start of the Great War… Which she very likely doubted she could do.
This mission was doomed to fail from the start.
Damn it, if only she was stronger-
"Halvanhelev."
A powerful voice shook the very land.
A blast of horrifying force and scorching winds tore through the terrorists like paper, scorching the very dome of the skies.
Scorched red light falls upon the land together with ashes and embers, and the two exorcists find their lips and throat suddenly being very dry.
A massive golden figure smashes into the ground, body wreathed in crackling and roaring golden-crimson flames.
Twelve wings spread from the humongous flaming humanoid's back, and it's right hand was clenched around the hilt of a shimmering invisible blade, while the other held the hand of the Angel that previously held Excalibur Invisibility.
A low sigh sounds out from behind them. "Sorry for taking so long." The exorcist duo turns to stare at the armored and blood covered Ataraxia, her beautiful face holding an annoyed frown. "It took me longer than I expected to find their Teleportation Array." So that's how their numbers kept increasing…
Ataraxia's gaze soon lands on the growing Mist Gate before her, then her eyes flick towards the bell bearing women.
Then instantly impaled them all with lances growing out of the ground with a twist of her wrist.
"Any casualties?" She questions, drawing her gaze back to her partners and flicking her gaze towards the sobbing Pure-Blood Devils.
Xenovia sniffs, confidence and delight rising back in her chest at having her powerful friend back to assist them. "Sitri lost her whole peerage, while Gremory nearly lost all of hers."
This time Ataraxia is the one to sniff. "So nothing of importance to the mission was lost." Those words instantly make the Gremory Heiress snap.
"How dare you say that?!" The crying 'princess' screams as she stomps her way in front of the unfazed Ataraxia. "They were my friends! My family! They-"
"Died because of your idiocy." Ataraxia coldly cuts in. "My family is more important than my own pride, strength and life. I'd gladly throw away my life even to just give them one more day to live."
"Yet, you refused to go back home due to your pride. You thought you could handle all of-" Her armored hand waved towards the still and still flying enemies, who seemed to be waiting for something. "-this with your meager and pathetic strength."
Ataraxia gives the still Gremory one last cold glance. "You led your own family to their deaths. You deserve any harsh words and insults that are thrown at you, you imbecile."
And with that, the Gremory Heiress crumbles to the ground with an enraged and distraught wail, which the exorcists promptly ignore.
"What now?" Irina asks softly, narrowed eyes staring at the terrorists far above them.
The massive flaming 'Angel' draws back so to stand closer to the two Heiresses and the remnants of the Gremory Peerage, with Issei having dragged an unconscious white haired girl close to their Master before passing out.
Ataraxia hums softly at Irina's question. "The Mist Gate is about to open." At her words, said gate made out of mist shudders, an immense stench of blood flowing forth from within it's folds and making Xenovia and Irina gag.
"I'll see about destroying it before it gets out of hand, you two stay with Kerubiel and keep protecting the two Devils." Xenovia wanted to argue and offer her assistance, but she knew that her strength was better needed for protecting the two targets.
Hell, she might even get in the way of Ataraxia's horrifying attacks due to their massive scale.
So she jumps back and stands beside the massive flaming 'Angel' as she watches Ataraxia approach the shuddering Mist Gate.
"Why are they just quietly watching us?" Irina questions lowly, clearly talking about the quiet and seemingly frozen in place terrorists.
Their eyes were dull, devoid of anything within them, especially the mad glee they used to have plastered on their faces as they rained hell upon them just a few minutes ago.
Xenovia doesn't answer, because she has no answer for this unusual situation.
She's only prepared to act and fight. Thinking will only get in the way right now.
The Mist Gate quivers, and dense Mist instantly washes forth, a tell-tale sign that it's now open.
Ataraxia tenses, ready to slaughter anything that comes through the Gate, but…
Nothing comes through?
That seems to awaken the floating group of Fallen Angels and other dregs up from their weird daze, their eyes seemingly growing bloodshot in a split-second.
"The other Gates have opened…"
"Why is nothing coming through?"
"We followed our directives perfectly… Was our Blood Echoes offering not enough?"
They all start whispering among themselves, the sound akin to hundreds of buzzing wasps that swiftly grew annoying to Xenovia's ears.
"That's…" Irina starts with a soft gulp. "Good, no?" She soon came to regret her words as an enormous claw reaches out of the gate and slams into the ground.
Dangerously sharp nails dig into the earth and drag a massive body covered in pinkish fur through.
The enormous wolf like beast releases an ear-splitting howl as it drags itself out of the gate that barely fit it's size, and… Xenovia swiftly notices the horrid injuries upon the body of the beast.
It's right arm had seemingly rotted over and was a mangled mess, while patches of the beasts fur were covered in copious amounts of blood or had been set on fire.
Ataraxia stills at the confusing sight, before her eyes widen when a figure rushes out of the Mist and onto the head of the still howling creature.
A Saw-like blade swings down, tearing off a chunk of the creature's head before the figure jabs an old looking blunderbuss in the wound, right where the eye used to be.
Then pulled the trigger, and sprayed brain matter and skull pieces all over the place.
The beast falls down with a heavy smash as Xenovia gulps heavily.
That beast felt stronger than her, and maybe even on par with Ataraxia, to her senses… And yet it was brought down so fast.
The killer of the beast lands upon it's head and tosses her head back.
Long crimson hair wave in the wind, drenched and dripping with blood.
A cold face bearing beautiful azure eyes flick over the surroundings, until the land and freeze on Ataraxia.
The two women still and nearly drop their weapons at the sight of one another.
"Hunter?" Ataraxia calls out softly, voice oh so gentle and filled with hope.
The crimson haired figure trembles, then swiftly rushes forward to engulf Ataraxia in a tight hug.
Ataraxia eagerly does the same, uncaring of all the blood and chunks of flesh and bones sticking upon Hunter's black clothing. "I was so worried for your well-being…" The silver haired girl whispers, and Hunter tightens her hug with a sniffle.
"My bell shattered after I summoned you." Hunter grinds out through gritted teeth, faint tears lingering at the edge of her eyes. "I don't know why. That shouldn't have been possible…"
Ataraxia pulls back and wipes the tears off her friends eyes with a gentle and warm smile. "It's alright. At least you are alive, that is all I care about." Hunter nods and leans into Ataraxia's touch with a warm smile of her.
One that unfortunately did not last at Ataraxia's next question. "How's the little girl we protected back then?" Hunter stills, and Ataraxia's eyes widen in horror as realization sets in.
Slowly, the blood drenched woman lets out a shuddering sigh. "I couldn't protect her. I was too weak." Then, with a shake of her head, the crimson haired girl draws back.
"I'd love to catch up, but more beasts will swarm towards this portal, and I can't allow that." Ataraxia gulps down her sorrows and nods resolutely.
Breathing in, she offers her friend a warm smile. "Then I can leave that side to you?" Hunter grins and snaps her saw-like weapon open with a burst of sparks and a short metallic screech.
Samael, the weapon Ataraxia swiftly prepared and left behind before she left.
"I'm not gonna let anything walk through this gate." Her blue eyes flick towards the 'flies' above them. "So you can rest assured and go wild." And with that, she gives Ataraxia one last large smile before turning around and rushing back into the Mist Gate.
And Xenovia finally felt like she could breathe once that horrifying magical aura disappeared along with 'Hunter'.
Ataraxia was powerful, horrifyingly so… But that Hunter must be at least two or three times stronger than Ataraxia!
How the hell do those two know each other?!
Ataraxia sighs and sags her shoulders once her friend disappears past the mist. "You can show yourself now." Xenovia and Irina still at their friend's words.
Gentle and low claps fill the air as a black winged figure descends from the air.
Ten pitch black wings adorn his back, and dark robes enveloped his body as long pitch black hair cascade down and upon his wings.
"You are just as perceptive as I've been told." Kokabiel, the Fallen Star of God, muses softly as he lands down right before Ataraxia, a relaxed smile on his face.
"I thought the attack on Kuoh would have been the easiest, but she did tell me that you are a wildcard." The Fallen Angel Cadre muses softly as his horrifying magical pressure descends upon the city itself.
The others struggle to stand and breathe, but Ataraxia merely lifts her head up and stares at the smiling Fallen Angel straight in the eyes. "'She'?"
Kokabiel smirks at Ataraxia's question. "A fellow acquaintance of ours. She goes by Rosaria now, I believe." Ataraxia stills momentarily.
Before her full Magic pours out of her body in a wild, untamed storm that tears the ground around her and Kokabiel asunder.
The very skies darken as dark, rumbling clouds gather above their heads, and the earth cracks and dries up below their feet.
Her armored hand slowly clenches around Sandalphon's hilt in a tight, creaking grip. "If you did anything to her… Then may God forgive me for what I will do to you…"
Kokabiel actively shudders at Ataraxia's tone of voice.
That was no threat, of that he is sure of.
It was a promise.
Still, his smirk doesn't falter one bit, even though his eyes do widen in shock at the enormous amount of magic the girl packed. "I doubt I can even crack one of her nails even with all of my strength."
The Fallen Star of God shrugs. "She's the one that helped me and Sathanael set this whole thing up, you know?"
Ataraxia flares her nostrils, her blade glowing with righteous fury and blazing light that scorched the ground below it. "Lies. Do not slander my teacher with your filthy words." Kokabiel snorts at that.
So he steps to the side, letting Ataraxia's eyes fall upon a familiar smiling figure. "How sweet of you, to protect my name when I seemingly can't." Rosaria hums, cupping her cheeks with a sweet smile on her face.
A smile that usually would have made Ataraxia flush or roll her eyes, but this time… All Ataraxia feels is a chill to her very core.
Her hand trembles softly as Rosaria throws something at her, which forces her a step back.
And when her eyes fall down on what it her, the chill she felt turns into horror.
Amelia. Rosaria had thrown a heavily injured Amelia at her.
The girl she grew to call a dear best friend lay there motionless, covered in cuts and blood… And missing an arm.
Slowly and quietly, Ataraxia lowers to her knees while her hand comes up to check for a pulse.
Finding a very weak one, Ataraxia swiftly starts healing her injuries.
Her gaze never rises up as she rests there on her knees. "Where is Aponia?" Ataraxia demands, her voice devoid of emotions.
Rosaria sighs softly, then tosses something else at Ataraxia. A glowing golden jewel. "I did you a favor and kept her Soul for you." The woman shrugs softly, though her eyes narrow at the lack of reaction.
She watches as her student slowly drags her trembling fingers over the jewel she had just thrown, clearly feeling the familiar aura attached to it.
"God give me voice…"
Rosaria blinks as Ataraxia whispers those words.
"God guide my hand…"
Her originally crossed arms slowly unfold as Amelia's body disappears with just a touch from Ataraxia.
"God give me strength…"
The air shudders.
The sound of trumpets echoes from across the horizon.
"May God soothe my sorrow…"
Ataraxia's hands cup around the jewel holding the Soul of her beloved.
A pitch black crown covered in thorns falls upon her head, and a dark veil covers her visage.
"May God forgive thy sins and welcome you back in His embrace…"
Darkness fell upon the world as the sound of trumpets grew louder.
Rosaria shudders, her very blood boiling as a sound she holds oh so dear fills the world yet again.
The Trumpets of the Apocalypse, oh how dearly she missed their wondrous music!
"Kokabiel…" Rosaria breathes out, clear growing arousal in her voice as the world is cast into the deepest shadows ever seen. "You may want to withdraw back…" The woman advises as a flaming warhorse manifests behind her with a low yet almighty neigh.
But… Rosaria stills when she receives no answer.
Her head turns to the side, and her face is splattered by blood as Kokabiel's mangled corpse falls on the darkened ground below with a resounding and wet splat!
Slowly, Rosaria's eyes widen at the sight before her.
Her eyes flick back to Ataraxia-
"But may my hands cast your worthless self down the deepest pits of Hell."
War's Stigma appears within her hands just as Ataraxia's pitch black blade dripping with Kokabiel's blood slashes out at her-
Rosaria's eyes widen in shock and horror as she feels like an entire planet smashed into her.
The land is pulverized as a titanic boom makes all of Japan quiver and tremble.
Xenovia and Irina are hurled across the air, their bodies getting wrapped up and protected by Kerubiel's form.
The Devils are instead erased from existence by the shock-wave that smashes into them.
The insane clash of power gives birth to dozens of enormous tsunamies and earthquakes.
And Rosaria's body is hurled across the land like she weighted nothing.
Mountains crumble and burst apart as her figure is hurled through them at speeds that make her reach the horizon within seconds, leaving a dark purple streak of heated light on her passing.
Anything she hits melts on contact, and the wind screams in her ears as she tries and fails to stop her flight.
Until she manages to jab her blade into the ground, grinding herself to a halt and cutting a ravine across the land to do so.
Standing up and tossing her hair back, the woman lets out a whistle as she shakes her sore arm after that terrifying clash with her student.
"That power…" A breathy chuckle leaves her lips, and the heavy stench of brimstone and ashes engulf her being together with roaring flames.
The sound of the drums of war echo from within her fire, joining the sound of the trumpets in a fantastic crescendo of sound and might.
But slowly, the same pitch black darkness that swallowed Rosaria whole started creeping from across the horizon.
"Oh, how I missed that feeling…" Rosaria- No, War moans out as the wave of darkness reached her feet yet again. "To think your Balance Breaker would be Father's very own Divine Might!"
Omnireceptacle. That was the name of the power wielded by God, and the power War dearly worshiped.
In simple words, the power was the very Concept of Dominance itself.
God imposed his will upon the world, and the world obeyed his commands, shaping and shifting the terrain, the air, the skies, the Heavens and the Heavenly Bodies themselves to fit his will, and to assist him in battle.
Before, it used to be a Domain holding a blinding white brilliance.
But now, it was the darkest black in existence, which devoured all light.
Lifting her now glowing white-hot blade, War beckons her student forth as suit of rusty and ashes clad armor covers her whole body. "Come, my student. Let me see if you are worthy-"
"Silence."
War loses control over her voice as Ataraxia's appears from within the Domain of darkness.
Her figure, now clad in black mourning robes, stalks forward in slow and gentle steps.
Her hands remain cupped around the jewel holding her beloved's Soul, and her visage remains obscured by Keter's now dark veils.
"There shall be no more talking henceforth."
The Soul Jewel is held close to her heart by one hand.
The other one stretches out into the surrounding Darkness.
"Only repenting."
A roaring crimson steed smashes into the ground beside War like a meteorite.
The Horseman of the Apocalypse War instantly mounts Conquest, her almighty steed.
The roaring of the Drums fills the darkened skies, and the Flames of War wash forth like the Genesis Flood that once cleansed the planet under God's request.
Ataraxia pulls back her hand from the Darkness.
The roaring flames are quenched by the rising chill that rises from the deepest depths of Cocytus itself.
"May thy screams of mercy reach God's benevolent ears."
Conquest stomps forward, the clopping of it's hooves sounding like the blast of war-cannons.
It's neigh is like the roar of a million men.
And War's delighted war-cry is a release of eons of pent up emotions.
"'Cause mine ears hath gone deaf for thy suffering."
A blade holding heat and power greater to that of Nuclear Warheads slashes down.
And a blade that could freeze the Frozen Lake itself swiftly meets it halfway to it's destination.
"May God shut his benevolent eyes…"
"As the horrors I am about to inflict upon thy flesh and bones can make even the Almighty whimper…"
A.N. Man, did I love writing this chapter, and the end of it.
One thing I always hated about Canon DxD is how Kokabiel fucked restarting the Great War.
Dude's a fucking general with centuries if not thousands of years of experience, while the ones he wanted to kill were but flies upon his mug of coffee.
Dude just needed to fart in their direction, and Kuoh woulda been wiped off the face of the map.
But nope. Dude was made prideful, attacked mostly by himself, and spent too much time trying to 'have fun' when he could have had fun once the Great War started anew.
So, here, I changed that. Dude was prepared and sent mooks to do his job, and Rias worthless peerage definitely cannot handle the massive numbers he can throw at 'em.
Also, where the fuck was Sona when Kokabiel did his shit? Was she there too and I just didn't notice her, or was she… Dunno, off doing some shit? Or the author forgot about her existence?
Either way, hope y'all enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it!
If ya wish to support me, consider hopping on over to my !
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Lots of thanks and love to all of my new and old supporters, y'all are the best!
Toodles!