Ortho looked at the Excalibur recreation with open disgust.
"Really? You only gathered the bare minimum to create a working replica, and you can't even be bothered to do it right?" said Ortho incredulous.
Valper glared at him.
"Like you can do better, you unintelligent brat! I bet you got that armor from Azazel!" he shot back.
Ortho very calmly (and pointedly) hooked a thumb at Idia who was already attacking the next poor bastard who made the ill-advised move of attracting his attention. The screams were incredibly cathartic.
"IDIA, activate 'Dear gods, why the light sabers' protocol," he said flatly.
Idia's look of glee was almost rapturous. The expression of "OH HELL NO" on the stray exorcists there was particularly delightful.
Issei took one look at IDIA abandoning his many, many knives to pull out a familiar light based sword. He had a rather hilarious expression when it made the all too familiar (and trademarked) sound of a light saber being activated.
"I call so much bullshit!" said Issei. "Why the hell does he get a light saber?!"
Ortho gleefully clenched his fist twice in short order, and Issei's nerd heart nearly stopped when a thin blades made of pure energy formed just above the wrists, leaving a thin margin of error.
"OH COME ON!" said Issei irate. "It's bad enough you're literally ripping off freaking Star Wars, but you had to bring Big Hero 6 into this too?!"
"All's fair in love, death and nerd culture! Don't bitch if you can't pull off over the top bullshit because your skills suck!" Ortho catcalled back.
"Fuck you!" Issei shouted.
"No thanks, you're too ugly!" Ortho shot back, causing Rias' peerage to do their best not to laugh hysterically. Even Kiba was holding back a slight grin, despite the situation.
"That's totally Ortho-san, isn't it?" said Akeno amused, as Issei got into a verbal fight with Ortho while the other teen took on exorcists like it was nothing. It was clear the two Shroud brothers were playing with them at this point.
"Has to be," said Rias, amused beyond belief.
Seeing the sword being complete, Irina and Xenovia attempted to retrieve it. The Shroud siblings were already doing their part by keeping the heavy hitters away from the weaker group, so now it was there turn.
Irina was taken out, as her sword was being used to create the replica and Xenovia's had been stolen as well. However she had a back-up. Asia was at Irina's side, doing her best to heal the other girl. It was all she could do to keep the concussion from doing too much damage, and Irina had been knocked out cold.
"What are we going to do? At this rate, that thing will be completed!" said Kiba angrily.
"I think Ortho is waiting for that," said Rias, after observing. He wasn't even attempting to stop the ritual.
"Why?" asked Kiba, confused and hurt.
"Because I have no idea what side effects stopping it at this juncture will cause!" Ortho called out. "Easier to wait until his MP gauge is drained before I wreck his shit up...besides, you're owed a proper hit!"
Seeing the completed 'product' made Ortho's inner inventor weep. It was so half-assed and barely qualified as a holy sword at all.
What he found more interesting was the odd crystal containing the soul of Kiba's friends. His eyes narrowed on the priest in absolute disgust.
"Just so we're clear, I'm gutting him in as messy a fashion as possible regardless of how this turns out. No one should mess with the souls of the dead," said Ortho flatly.
"No argument from me!" said Kiba with equal fury. He wiped the tears from his eyes after reconnecting with his friends for so long.
Then something happened that made everyone's brains glitch, just a little bit. Ortho took hold of the replica...and activated one of the special abilities of the fakes that had been used as it's base.
"Wait...did he just use the Holy sword properly?" said Xenovia, dumbfounded.
Ortho snorted.
"You do realize the only thing needed for someone to use one of these things is divine ancestry and a proper affinity towards holy or divine magic, right?"
"So how are you using it then?" demanded Issei.
"That...is a secret," said Ortho, with an all too familiar finger waggle from a certain older anime series.
"...Did you seriously just copy Xellos from Slayers?" said Issei incredulous.
Ortho stared at him.
"When this is over, we have having an anime marathon and I will be challenging your nerd knowledge," said Ortho.
"Bring it," said Issei, grinning.
"Impossible! Someone not affiliated with the church is able to use that sword?!" said Valper.
"You make it sound like Micheal's side has a monopoly on divine power," said Ortho with a snort.
"First that boy's Holy Devil sword...now this... I see! It all makes sense!" said Valper, almost deranged. "Not just the Satans, but God as well!"
Kokabiel looked darkly amused as Valper came to the correct conclusion. Still, he didn't hesitate to waste the ex-priest who ceased to amuse him.
"Don't think having that sword will save you. I'll destroy you and those devils here and now," said Kokabiel.
"First off, I could care less about god and the original Satans being gone. Just because I live with that perverted old crow doesn't mean I actually follow that book," said Ortho. "Secondly, you're overlooking one thing."
"And what's that?"
"I don't need this piece of trash to deal with you permanently. Think about it carefully...there's a reason those two pups obeyed me without question despite having no previous bond with me," said Ortho.
Ortho had no need for a trash weapon like this. Valper's crafting skills were beyond terrible and he couldn't even merge the swords properly. It was a miracle he managed to forge this trash blade, and that was only because the fragments wanted to be part of a whole again. And the resonance rate between abilities was beyond poor.
Without any second thought at all, Ortho shattered the fake holy sword with his armored hands.
"What are you doing?!" shrieked Xenovia. Everyone was in shock over the act, her most of all.
"I highly doubt your bosses will want their precious blades in this shape, and this thing barely qualified as a holy sword to begin with. Besides, the durability on this piece of crap was terrible, since it was rejecting the manufacturing method used to make it into a single sword. Better for the church to start fresh," said Ortho simply. "He only succeed in that ritual through pure luck."
Ortho then turned to face the floating fallen above. He definitely looked interested, and had the same look Vali had when Ortho got serious in their fights.
Outside the battle area...
Vali was waiting for the moment to retrieve that idiot fallen. If there was anything left of him that is.
It was always a treat to see Ortho fight, but seeing him go all out properly outside of a mock battle was even better. For one thing, Ortho tended to hold back (less so since Asia came) so as not to end Vali too early.
Vali sensed Ortho's signature magic kick in, and his grin widened.
This was it. A trick Ortho had only pulled off once around Vali during a mock battle after much harassment from him.
Game, Set, Match...Path of the Underworld
Shadows enveloped Ortho, and he suddenly disappeared, before reappearing behind Kokabiel, spearing the man with his special light blades.
Path of the Underworld. It was a useful ability in general, allowing Ortho to travel through any shadow in existence. If a place had a connection to death (which pretty much everywhere did), then he could travel via a shadow portal and appear anywhere.
Azazel suspected it was how Ortho survived whatever attack had nearly killed him. He had been badly injured when the Grigori had found him originally and nursed him to health. While he had recovered some of his memories, which had lead to IDIA's creation, most of it was still a blank. He knew that his parents were scientists, but not even Azazel's extensive network had been able to find anyone fitting the limited description Ortho could give of them or his brother.
It was like they didn't exist.
Ortho grabbed Kokabiel...and dragged him into the training ground outside the city. Just in case, he didn't want to have any civilian casualties because there was no way the barrier would be able to contain the energies the fallen was capable of.
"What just happened?" said Xenovia in shock.
"He used his signature spell," said a voice. It was someone in white armor that had Issei's hackles raised on sight.
"Signature spell?" said Rias.
"Certain mages can develop a spell unique to them alone. Ortho's allows him to teleport to an extent," shrugged the figure.
Fifteen minutes later...
Ortho's return was met with very little fanfare, and Sona was looking at him with renewed interest.
"Where's Kokabiel?" asked Sona.
"Currently being slated as the test dummy for any new artifacts we create for combat," said Ortho flatly. "He's not getting off with that stunt he pulled with a slap on the wrist, I can promise you that. Even Raynare's group didn't fuck up this bad."
He not only broke into the Church, but he actively threatened the two younger sisters of TWO Satans who would take it very poorly if their siblings were harmed. Worse, he conspired with an ex-priest to make a fake Excalibur to restart the great war.
So yeah, the perverted old crow was beyond pissed and fully planned to kill Kokabiel for daring to pull this stunt.
~*~*~*~*~*
Rias found herself in the awkward position of her older brother, Azazel, Ortho, Koneko, and Kuroka sitting at a nice restaurant. The reason for it was simple...Sirzechs had come to discuss Azazel's presence so close to his sister, as well as Kuroka's legal status as a "stray".
Considering how close they had come to a near disaster thanks to Kokabiel, Sirzechs wanted to show a sign of good faith to keep Azazel firmly on the 'helpful' side of things. Even if the most he did was send Ortho and his little brother to help.
Sirzechs opened up discussion once the food had been brought out by sliding a file over to Ortho. Ortho opened it up to reveal some sort of legal paperwork.
"Kuroka has officially been removed from the Stray devil's list, and has been reclassed as a familiar for the magician Ortho Shroud," said Sirzechs. "And while she's not going to be welcomed with open arms around other Devils, no one is really going to stop her from visiting her sister."
Kuroka perked up at that and looked at Koneko hopefully. Koneko was still coming to terms with the real reason her sister became a Stray in the first place. While she could tolerate her sister's presence, it would take a while before things could be like they were before.
Ortho knew this was mostly a 'thank you' for all the help Ortho had given Rias and her peerage recently.
Ortho barely paid much mind to the dinner, he was just happy for Kuroka that she was finally able to see her sister openly again. It had sucked having to deal with all the cloak and dagger nonsense just for her to try and reconnect with her sister.
Rias felt relief when Sirzechs and Azazel subtly hinted they have a smaller party while they discussed business...specifically the potential aid Azazel could give Rias and her peerage, as well as to Sona if she was interested.
"So. Are you planning to join any clubs next year?" asked Rias.
Ortho snorted.
"Not really. I've already gotten an invite to Night Raven College for next year," said Ortho.
"Night Raven?" asked Rias.
"It's an all-boy's college that focuses on a four-year curriculum, with the final year being a paid internship," explained Ortho. "Each student is sorted into one of seven dorms through a ceremony that is kept secret. I'm hoping to get into Ignihyde, which was founded by Hades, who embodied diligence."
"Hades...as in the Greek god of the Underworld Hades?" said Rias in surprise.
Ortho nodded happily.
"I'm already filling out the paperwork to allow the pups I took in, and to allow Kuroka the ability to visit regularly to keep me updated...and to deliver the videos Azazel has me edit all the time," said Ortho. "Familiars are allowed, but you have to get prior approval to it. Besides, there's no way I'm leaving IDIA behind."
Filling out the paperwork to allow his cybernetic little brother was more of a pain than it was getting permission for Kuroka to pick him up and to deliver new videos to edit.