Welcome to the next chapter of The Twin Dragons, but before starting. Let us answer some reviews:
altajir95: Thanks. Yea, there was a three-on-three battle against Kiba, Issei, and Kazuki vs Xenovia, Irina, and Xenovia to make things more unique. So, things are proceeding as expected with their alliance with one another to find the Excalibur.
Streetlife34: Thanks. Well, there was one scene that I didn't add at the end, but planned on putting in this chapter instead. We'll have to see what happens when that fight comes up.
The Excalibur Searching
Inside the same location where the Vali Team has taken up residence and acting as their base, which basically hidden in another space by their team's two magic specialists. All their members aside from Le Fay found it one of those boring times where there wasn't a battle either of them could include themselves in. But, two who could be considered the most battle-focused found themselves sparring against each other outside.
However, due to the level of magic and techniques utilized to reinforce their residence, and the additional barriers around the training field, any aftershocks couldn't be felt.
"Hmmm~ Hmmm~ Hmmm~"
Said magician found herself performing her usual housekeeping duties as the sole member who bothers to do so and without complaints. She was humming a particular song, whose lyrics couldn't be determined from her hums, but that didn't stop it from sounding cheerful.
"Le Fay, that sound wouldn't be from an anime or something?"
Her older brother, Arthur, who had been sitting down on the couch, drinking high-class black tea and also reading a book found himself asking. Right beside him were two holy swords, one of them being the famed Caliburn, the holy sword his ancestor wielded; and the second being fragment of the original, which he managed to find.
"Yes, Onii-sama~ But, there's a chance that you wouldn't be able to guess where it's from," Le Fay stated as she finished cleaning up the dishes before moving onto others. "I wonder if Kazuki-sama would be able to guess the anime that it came from."
"You seem to be mentioning Kazuki-san a lot lately. Do miss talking to him?"
Arthur asked as he turned to another page.
"Well, I do love talking to Onii-sama and Kuroka-san," Le Fay started before pausing. "But, I feel that having a normal conversation with Kazuki-sama, and Asia-san was a lot of fun. Besides, when I talk to Kuroka-san, she's normally talking about naughty things."
"Yes, that sounds like her," Arthur noted with a light mused laugh escaping from his mouth, but he found himself closing the book in his hand after placing a bookmark in it. "You know, Le Fay, instead of staying here, you could move, and attend the same school as Kazuki-san."
"Huh?"
Le Fay was momentarily surprised after hearing those words from her older brother, which was basically saying it was fine for her to leave the team. She understood the reasons since her brother wasn't too keen on the idea of Le Fay becoming a member of the same group he previously joined.
"It might not be possible for you to return to the Golden Dawn. But, I'm sure that Kazuki-san wouldn't mind taking care of you there. And at least, there you can at least have a more normal life."
"Onii-sama, I appreciate it. But, I'm happy here on the Vali Team," Le Fay tried reassuring her brother on that fact as she smiled brightly. "I might not be in the Golden Dawn anymore, but here I get to go on several adventures, and learn more about the real world. Besides, I don't think that anyone here would be able to survive without me here to cook and clean."
"Yes, that's true," Arthur didn't deny that it was because of Le Fay that most of them were even eating this well at all. If it wasn't for her, their members would eat ramen noodles. "But technically, we're considered terrorists."
"Hehe, yeah, that's a downside."
Le Fay replied cutely as she stuck out her tongue lightly, which alone was enough to catch Arthur to laugh. She then turned her attention over toward the clock, causing a surprised gasp to escape from her mouth.
"Oh, look at the time. I have to prepare the snacks for our special guest."
"Ah, right."
After recalling their "guest" who was being occupied by Kuroka in another room upstairs, then Le Fay headed into the kitchen to prepare their snacks. Arthur couldn't help wanting his sister to have a better life than living inside of the dangerous lives as a terrorist.
Minutes later, both Vali and Bikou came inside the living room, the latter being more tattered than the former, a lot of sweat came from the forehead of the monkey youkai as he fell forward. Vali, on the other hand, wasn't even at worse as Bikou aside from the notable signs of battle, but casually took a seat on the couch.
"I see that our leader got a good workout."
"Well, Bikou is one of the few people able to survive sparring with me."
Vali commented as he leaned forward.
"Hah, you almost killed me this time around Vali. I can't wait for the time where the Hakuryuukou became strong enough for you to focus on instead if you fight like this all the time."
"Well, Kuroka did mention that he was progressively getting stronger. I wonder how long it would be until Kazuki achieves Balance Breaker."
Vali wondered out loud as Bikou seemed to have been circulating his ki using senjutsu meant to cover his mental and physical stamina. It wasn't long until he managed to pick himself up from off the ground letting breaths leave his mouth before sighing.
"Huh?"
"What?"
Arthur seemed to have taken Bikou's sudden utterance.
"I felt Kuroka's ki becoming erratic for some reason upstairs, I think that she's panicking."
Bikou revealed as several erratic stomps could be heard upstairs, causing Vali, Arthur, and Bikou to all look up at the ceiling and following the direction of the sounds.
"Nyaaaaa!"
It wasn't long until Kuroka could be heard running down the stairs before running and pouncing behind the couch and hid behind it.
"She's going to kill me?!"
"What did you do to her?"
Vali stoically asked his panicking teammate, wondering what she could've done to their guest, which could end in several different ways based on the situation. Everyone in the room looked worried as there wouldn't be the slightest thing that either of them could do if their "guest" was angry about anything.
"I didn't do anything! I said one thing, and she looked as if she was going to kill me for some reason!"
Kuroka replied still feeling terrified and using the couch she hit behind as a shield, but considering the strength of this person, it could be compared to hiding behind a wet paper bag.
"Well, it was nice knowing ya. Kahahahaha!"
"Shut up, monkey boy!"
Bikou started laughing out loud after hearing her reaction to this person attempting to kill her. Neither Arthur nor Vali looked as reactive as Bikou. Le Fay, on the other hand, seemed to have been too focused on cooking at the moment to listen. It wasn't long until, the four of them started hearing footsteps from upstairs, which for Kuroka is the same as hearing funeral bells as she hit behind the couch and hid her presence.
Soon enough, someone started coming down the stairs as Kuroka tried remaining as silent as possible without a single breath leaving her mouth. Walking down the steps was a beautiful black-haired who looks seventeen-year-old with a slender build, her gray eyes looked like a dragon's, and showed almost no emotions. She was dressed in fashion typical for a Gothic Lolita and carried around a pillow along with her.
No one said a single word as her emotionless eyes seemed to have scanned the entire living room before going to the area where Kuroka hid. She extended her finger, causing even Arthur, Vali, and Bikou to flinch thinking the girl was going to release a blast from her finger. For this young girl, erasing the entire region that their residence was located would be as simple for her as swatting an insect. But, thankfully, that didn't happen.
"I, know you're there, black cat."
She uttered in an emotionless tone that matched her expression.
Immediately, Kuroka came from her hiding spot, then bowed her head to the ground, surprising the others inside the room as she was feeling the utmost fear. No one in the room blamed her that reaction seeing that no one in this world proved a challenge to the girl.
"Nyaaa, please don't kill me! I have a lot to live for! I haven't even seen my adorable Shirone yet! And I haven't gotten the chance to ride on a certain someone's dragon! I'm a wonderful and kind nekomata who just wants to have adorable kittens. Whatever I did, I'm sorry!"
Two men, Arthur, and Bikou cringed knowing who and what Kuroka was referring to.
"Knock it off, Kuroka, we don't want to hear that! I don't want to hear anything apart of the Hakuryuukou."
Bikou exclaimed but was silenced as the black-haired girl looked at him emotionlessly as he shuttered in almost a manner similar to Kuroka herself.
"I, never said, I would kill you."
The girl revealed causing Kuroka to let out a relieved sigh as she lied on the couch's back.
"But, you looked as if you were going to kill me."
"…."
"See, that's the look!"
The girl stared at Kuroka with an emotionless expression, reminding her of the look she had given her prior. After seeing that look again, the nekoshou move back behind the couch and use it as a shield. Coming outside the kitchen without a care in the world as Le Fay was still humming peacefully.
"Kuroka-san, what're you doing behind the couch like that," Le Fay asked almost unaware about anything that'd been going on outside, but turned around to see the black-haired girl standing there. Instead of being afraid, she instead smiled and approached her. "Oh, Ophis-sama, I wasn't expecting you yet. But, I prepared your snacks."
Le Fay stood in front of Ophis holding a platter of chocolate chip cookies right in front of her.
"Witch girl, who was in my room?"
Ophis asked stoically, but Le Fay didn't seem as reactive to that as Kuroka was.
"Your room," Le Fay asked wondering what Ophis was referring to before realizing something. "Oh, I remember! I'm sorry, Ophis-sama. But, I allowed someone else to sleep inside your room since we didn't have another one prepared! Is there something wrong with your room? I was sure that I returned everything to how it was before."
"This pillow smells like someone I met before."
She revealed surprising them.
"Eh?"
"Hmm?"
"Wah?!"
"Huh?"
"…?"
Le Fay, Arthur, Kuroka, Bikou, and Vali gave their own reactions to hearing that from Ophis.
"Wait for a second, that nun girl was one of the only people sleeping in that room. She was from the Church, so the chances that Ophis would be interested enough to approach the Church in slim," Bikou surprisingly surmised as their group stared at him before turning over toward Vali. "So, the only person she'd be interested in would be the Hakuryuukou. So, Vali, how does a kid who grew up in a normal family run into a Dragon God?"
"Well, this is getting interesting. Kazuki wasn't aware of the supernatural until he tried protecting Rias Gremory's Rook, then after meeting Azazel and me. So I doubt that it was he knew who and what exactly Ophis was."
Vali said interesting in hearing about how Kazuki knew Ophis.
"I'm leaving."
Ophis said as she seemed prepared to go at the moment.
"Wait, Ophis," Vali called out to her. Despite it being impossible for him to force her into remaining Ophis stopped as requested, and turned to face him. "I've been planning on heading out in the same location to deal with some personal business for Azazel. So, you could come with me when I depart as well?"
"…," Ophis was in thought after hearing that suggestion from Vali, then nodded her head. "I, accept."
"Then please enjoy your snacks, Ophis-sama."
Le Fay said as she passed the plate of cookies to Ophis who took a seat on the couch, then started eating from it without a care in the world.
No one, not even Kuroka or Bikou said a single word at all, since it might end up interrupting the literal strongest being in the world would be deadly. However, the people there wondered about the connection between both her and Kazuki, a normal human who has no familial connection to the supernatural.
"We've been going out for several days, and nothing."
Kazuki found himself sighing as he sat in his bedroom, sighing as he held the altered light sword in his hands as he called the recent events the past couple of days. Him, Issei, Koneko, Saji, and Kiba agreed to assist in breaking one of the stolen Excaliburs. To accomplish that goal, the first thing their group needed to do was lure out Freed, who became the wielder of one of them.
And since he was assaulting priests from the Church, he and the others disguised themselves as priests, but as devils, the crosses Issei and co wore were fake. In addition to disusing themselves, the priests clothing kept their powers down to convince him. However, despite all that, neither of them was able to find anything let alone gain Freed's attention.
"I doubt that psycho is being discreet. The moment that he sees a priest or anyone for that matter, he'll attack at a moment's notice. More so, if he's getting cocky because he's wielding an Excalibur."
Kazuki surmised as he tried thinking about the situation at hand, and how things might turn.
[This also involves one of the Cadres, Kokabiel, who survived a battle against the Heaven and Underworld forces. Even you, those Exorcists, the Gremory, and Sitri Teams, there might be a chance for either of you to make even a dent in him without receiving help from the Maou.]
"So, what would you suggest in dealing with him?"
Kazuki asked Albion, who seemed more talkative at the moment considering that this situation might result in his death, which would result in him moving onto another host. It might have been due to Albion becoming just a little bit attached to Kazuki compared to others.
[It might irritate me. But, the best option right now would be if you and your brother activated a temporary balance breaker, and fight against Kokabiel. If it was Ddraig alone, then he could give Kokabiel enough damage to stop him for almost an hour. But, if the Hakuryuukou and Sekiryuutei at their current level work together, then there's a higher chance that even an opponent recorded in the Bible could be defeated.]
Albion noted feeling almost irritated that he had to work together with Ddraig, his rival.
"Yea, I can see that you have a problem working well with your rival."
Kazuki seemed to have teased Albion, who responded to that by remaining silent.
"Well, let's see what I can do against that Excalibur Freed has used this."
He wondered out loud as he held the light sword in his hands, he channeled magic in the blade causing the light blade to manifest. Kazuki kept strengthening the magical energy flowing in the light sword as the blade gave out a greater shine as it seemed to grow larger. A sigh escaped from his mouth as he stopped pouring magic inside of the light sword causing it to deactivate.
"…no, even if I pour my magical power into the blade, then it'd be draining doing that. I need to think about a new tactic in dealing with Excalibur without draining too much magic, so deal prepare for the fact that I could end up in a fight against Kokabiel," Kazuki thought as he raised the light sword, before looking at his wrist and recalled one important fact. "Right, I almost forgot about that. Depending on the situation, I could always use…."
Grrrrr.
As soon as he was going to mention something else, Kazuki felt his stomach grumbling, causing him to recall he hadn't eaten anything yet.
"Right, I should eat something before trying anything else."
Kazuki stated as he stood up from his bed.
The moment he exited his room, he could already smell something cooking in the kitchen, causing his appetite to be enticed even more. It smells like what his mother would cook, which caused him to become a little quicker in his steps.
"Hey, Kaa-chan, I didn't know you were," Kazuki said as he arrived inside the living room, and could see the one standing inside the kitchen. Seeing the current state of the person in the kitchen, he found his mouth opening up as his jaw fell. "Waaaaaah!"
"Oh, Kazuki-san. I wasn't expecting you."
Asia spoke as she noticed him standing in front of her surprised and his face almost completely red.
It was because of what Asia was wearing at the moment, she was dressed in nothing but a whitish-green apron and leggings, meaning that she was naked underneath it. Due to the position she was standing in, Kazuki has a clear image of her smooth white skin, her developing breasts, and butt. In her hands was a steaming pot, which was the source of the smell.
"A-A-Asia-chan, what're you w-wearing?"
"Uh, I wanted to surprise, Kazuki-san by making him dinner since he's done a lot for me. And for a couple of days, you've looked a little stressed, so I wanted to do something for you," Asia replied, while she was fidgeting in her current position, obviously embarrassed. "I asked a friend of mine at school, and she told me that men would feel e-excited and better if a woman wearing nothing but an apron. Of course, I'm not wearing any underwear too, and it feels a little bit cold."
"This friend was Aika, right?"
Kazuki asked already knowing that women, in particular, have been giving Asia weird advice.
"Y-Yes," Asia said shyly recalling that Aika had to give her that exact advice. "Does it not look good on me at all?"
Kazuki looked as Asia continued fidgeting around in the same position after placing the pot on the stove, poking her fingers shyly. He couldn't deny that Asia looked almost too cute and beautiful in that for words to even begin to describe alone.
"I'm not like Nii-san, but looking at Asia-chan like this isn't really something that I'm able to overlook. She already has her own charm to herself from her blonde hair, green eyes, white skin, and most of all her pure personality. I could never find myself not being attracted to her," Kazuki thought in his words as he found his words leaving his mouth. "Of course, it looks great on you Asia-chan. There's no doubt about that."
Asia, who looked on the brink of tears at the thought of not seeming attracted by Kazuki, found herself finding the brightest smile gracing her beautiful face.
"I'm so glad!"
Asia found herself running to Kazuki before wrapping her arms around his waist, which he instinctively reacted to and placed his hand on her waist. But, he stopped his hand in an instance, realizing it was stopped at the curves, leading to her uncovered and soft butt. His face started heating up and turning red at the contact as Kazuki tried restraining himself, keeping a certain part from reacting.
"I haven't forgotten my faith in God, even after being abandoned by the Church. But, I gained so many things as soon as I arrived here. I gained someone so precious to me, like Kazuki-san. I made a lot of friends like Ise-san, Raynare-san, Buchou, and everyone in the club. Otou-sama, and Okaa-sama, who cares about me almost as if I were a part of their family. I never want to leave them, I want to remain here forever."
Hearing those heartfelt words coming from Asia caused him to realize that she must've still been thinking about the words she heard from Xenovia. Even if he realized what the current situation was, and even if he knew that it might be inappropriate at the time. Not being concerned about all that, Kazuki found himself wrapping both his arms around Asia, pulling her into a hug, surprising her.
"No matter what anyone else says, you'll always have a home here."
Kazuki's response was simple and short words, but it meant everything to her as she smiled and nuzzled against his chest. The two of them remained in the same position for what seemed like minutes until Kazuki felt as if he's being watched from behind.
"Ufufufu, I came here to see the reason that Asia-chan has been so quiet."
Kazuki didn't need to turn around to realize that it was his mother peeping from the corner, holding a hand right in front of her mouth as she laughed.
"I almost didn't believe that my darling little Kazuki could do something so bold. But, it seems as if he did inherit a thing or two from his parents."
"K-K-Kaa-chan."
Kazuki's face turned bright red after hearing his mother's teasing tone.
"Oh, this brings me back to when your father and I were young and in love. Now, I sound like a grandma, don't I," Miki said as she retreated inside of another room, but not before waving her hand. "Ufufufu, I really do love the idea of that. The kitchen can also be a rather romantic spot for doing things of that nature, just please be sure to clean up the aftermath. And don't be concerned about pregnancies, I'm a housewife, so I don't mind watching a child, while you two attend school. But, I think that Irina-chan would be upset if you ended having your first time with Asia-chan."
"Kaa-chan?!"
Kazuki called out flustered at his mother's words, which seemed almost like weights being dropped on his head from each word. Asia looked on in confusion about the words, causing him to feel calmer and calmer since it seemed as if she didn't understand those words. But, the idea of having Kazuki's child was something, which had remained on her heart.
"Should we eat, Kazuki-san? And maybe we could talk together…alone."
Asia asked cutely, causing him to feel calm, but not so much since he realized he was still hugging the blonde nun dressed in a naked apron.
"Yea, but maybe you should get dressed first," Kazuki said before Asia looked as if she thought, she really didn't, in fact, look good in it, but he shook his head. "Not that, I just don't want you catching a child."
"Then, okay."
Asia replied happily as she already left to get changed back into her pajamas, which was something that Kazuki was almost glad about. But, he still couldn't deny the fact it was almost enticing for even him.
After she returned dressed in her pajamas, Asia and Kazuki did, in fact, share some alone time as the two talked about a bunch of random things. It wasn't a serious conversation, but it was something that the two enjoyed doing together without interruptions.
At that moment, Kazuki and Asia found themselves in their shared room, Asia as always with her arms all around him as she peacefully slept. He was still awake just watching as the beautiful blonde slept beside him wearing a content smile, causing a smile to appear on his.
"You're almost too kind for this world."
Kazuki stated as he stared at Asia.
It wasn't long until, their father, Gorou returned home from work to find that Asia was kind enough to also make a portion of food for him too. To see such kindness from a girl, he and his wife allowed to live in their home almost caused tears of happiness to overflow.
'Kazuki, no matter what happens. You have to make Asia-chan and Irina-chan your wives, both of those girls are too pure for anyone else, and have feelings for you.'
Kazuki recalled the words he heard from his father.
'You don't have to be limited to one lover, because of your beliefs, you know. As long as you have feelings for them, then doesn't that make it alright?'
He also recalled the words that he heard from Kuroka before that, which really started making him think about a lot of things.
"I can't really deny that I have feelings for both Iri-chan and Asia-chan. But, both of them are strong believers, I'd think more than I am. So, would they even be alright with that?"
As Kazuki asked that to himself, he could hear that his cellphone went off, meaning that he received a text. While he wondered who'd be calling him at this time, he reached his hand out and picked it up. Kazuki glanced toward the caller ID and widened as it read: Irina Shidou.
"Iri-chan?"
Kazuki was surprised seeing that Irina texted him this late at night, but opened the message anyway.
[Kazu-chan, can you meet me at the same park that we used to play at as children?]
It was a simple and short request from Irina, but he didn't know whether it was a casual or serious meeting. But, Kazuki didn't want to ignore a request from his childhood crush. A more pressing matter was how he was going to free himself from Asia's grasps without waking her up, and making her feel lonely. Carefully, Kazuki started to snake his arm freed, but he found some issues as Asia seemed to have sensed that he was getting away.
As soon as he managed to free himself from Asia, he put a pillow in a position where she could hold onto it, and hug, which seemed to have somewhat worked. Relieved that he managed to free himself without waking her up, Kazuki put on a jacket, and slippers before sighing.
"…nnnn…Kazuki…san."
Asia seemed to have grasped the pillow believing that it was him, but there must've been some feeling within her that made her feel as if it wasn't. Seeing that caused him to feel guiltier than ever as he kneeled right in front of sleeping Asia. So, without waking her up, Kazuki brushed his hand through her blonde hair before brushing it behind her ear.
"I'll be back, Asia-chan. I'll never leave you behind."
As if hearing those words in her sleep, Asia settled down a bit and found herself sleeping peacefully.
Seeing that things would be alright, Kazuki opened his bedroom window, then activated Divine Dividing, causing him to float in mid-air due to the wings. After closing the window behind him, he used magic to seal the window at that moment just in case. Having finished doing that, Kazuki flew in the direction of the park at high speed that'd a normal person couldn't follow using their eyes.
Meanwhile, inside of the park, Irina found herself sitting on the swing, having sent that text to Kazuki a minute as soon as she swung a couple of times. She thought that she was going to wait there for minutes until he came there to meet her as planned. And decided to swing there to pass the time instead of doing nothing. It was a cold night, so Irina was glad that she was wearing the coat she'd normally wear to cover her combat outfit.
She found herself looking into the skies as she took one final swing, but then noticed that a trail of light looked as if it was heading towards her. Before Irina could even react to that, Kazuki appeared right in front of her stopping right in front of her.
"Waaaah?!"
Irina was surprised about what happened so much that it caused her to fall backward on the ground.
"Oh, I'm sorry about that, Iri-chan."
Kazuki said as he made Divine Dividing vanish, causing him to land on the ground, then approached her holding out his hand to assist her.
"N-No, I almost forgot that Kazu-chan could fly using his Longinus."
Irina replied as she grasped onto his hand, then was helped back to her feet, causing her to stand straight on her feet. He wasn't expecting that kind of reaction from her after seeing him flying using Divine Dividing, but it wasn't long until a smile appeared on her face.
"Hehehe, I still can't believe that my Kazu-chan is a Longinus user?"
"Your Kazu-chan, huh?"
Kazuki found himself teasing her after hearing those words leave her mouth. Causing her to blush faintly, starting to scratch her cheek shyly.
"Well, I like to think that I was the closest person to Kazu-chan since then."
Irina said flustered as she took a seat back on the swing, then Kazuki took a seat in the one right beside her.
"So, was there something that you needed?"
"Nothing, in particular," Irina stated as she poked her fingers together. "It's just that it's been days since I returned home, and I haven't been able to even talk with Kazu-chan for longer than a minute. I know that finding Kokabiel, Freed, Valper, and the Excalibur, but I can't help wanting to talk to Kazu-chan for as long as I can."
Kazuki could see that Irina was correct, in all the time that she's been here, they haven't really talked at all more than a couple of minutes at a time. And in most of the conversations, it had more to do with the situation at hand. Of course, it was more important to find Kokabiel before doing any real damage, but Kazuki wanted to talk to Irina a lot more and about more causal things.
"So, what do you want to talk about?"
Kazuki asked not finding anything wrong with that, which was something that Irina couldn't help smiling cheerfully about, and became giddier.
"I want to hear about what Kazu-chan went through first in his life," Irina replied not wanting to talk about herself first, and instead wanted to hear about what Kazuki went through. "For the longest time, I've always thought that Kazu-chan would live a normal life, and would be the smartest student in school. Instead, my precious childhood friend aside from already incredible all by himself is also the owner of Divine Dividing!"
"Heh, well, I don't mind talking about it."
Kazuki couldn't help laughing after noticing the stars in Irina's eyes, which showed a great deal of interest in all of the things that he experienced. He didn't think that she'd be this interested in hearing about something like that, if it was his request, he'd want to hear more about her.
"So, this is basically what happened."
He started what happened from the time after he "saved" Koneko from a rogue devil, leading to the time that he'd meet Azazel, Vali, and had Divine Dividing sealed for a time. It progressed to the first time he met Raynare under her alias, reawakened Divine Dividing, met and fought for Asia. Him training to become stronger (leaving out the Vali Team), sacrificing his heart to Albion, then fighting against Riser. And leading to this point.
"And that's basically a synopsis of all the things that I went through as the Hakuryuukou," Kazuki noted waiting for a response from Irina, who has been oddly silent the entire time. "It might sound weird to you, but I befriended a lot more devils than I thought that I would. One of the recent ones being Ravel-san, with who I share a lot in common since both our brothers are incurable perfects with the most overactive ideas of harems. Uh, Iri-chan, you've been quiet for a…."
"Kazu-chan," Kazuki was almost surprised about how low Irina was speaking in that tone before moving right in front of him erupting from excitement. "That's such an awesome story!"
"Eh?"
Kazuki was surprised as Irina appeared right in front of him similar to what he had done to her moments after he arrived there. Irina's beautiful violet eyes were staring at him with the greatest hint of interest and excitement that he has ever seen from her in a long time.
"I didn't think that Kazu-chan went through anything like that! In his first fight, he had fought against a four-winged fallen angel, and protected Asia-san! You fought against a Phenex' Queen, and won! You defended Asia-san for a second time against a dangerous person! I might not know much about the dealings of the Underworld, but my Kazu-chan says they can be trusted, then I can trust them until I see them for myself! Kazu-chan blew through all the expectations that I had! Kazu-chan is simply too amazing for words! But, even if Kazu-chan wasn't this kind of amazing person. I'd still love, Kazu…oops!"
Before Irina could even finish her sentence, she stopped herself from talking as she clamped her hands over her mouth. But, that didn't stop Kazuki from hearing that she was, in fact, in love with him, which caused his heart to race. Seeing it stopped from there, he stood up from his seat, as Irina turned away from him as her hands were still clamped over her mouth.
"I can't believe that I just confessed to Kazu-chan right here," Irina thought as she was panicking in her heart as a constant berating of herself continued inside her head. "Uh, this isn't the time and place that I wanted to confess to Kazu-chan. Uh, what am I going to do?! What am I going to do?"
Irina was embarrassed after realizing what she confessed right in front of her childhood crush. Said crush looked on as she continued to contemplate what she was going to do until she paused for a moment and finally allowed a breath to escape from her mouth. Kazuki waited to see what Irina was going to do next, but wasn't expecting at all her response. Irina took off at high speed without giving him a single glance, causing him to stare on wearing a confused and surprised look.
"Well, that was unexpected."
Kazuki said as he watched Irina leaving the park, then started running down the streets.
"I can't face, Kazu-chan! I can't face him! I can't face him! I can't face him!"
Irina chanting those words several times as she ran down the concrete street at high speed not minding making noise. She didn't care about how fast she was moving, which was already far above what most humans could do without special training. Irina already knew that she was far from the park, but she really didn't know where she was even going to go.
"You shouldn't yell this late at night, Iri-chan. It's rude to the people trying to sleep."
"Eh?!"
Irina turned her head to see that Kazuki was floating beside her using Divine Dividing keeping up with her speed without running. After seeing him, she made a sharp turn, then started running in another direction, but Kazuki at that point was following her every move.
"Kazu-chan, you're being unfair!"
Irina said as she started getting tired, while Kazuki wasn't working that hard to keep up with her.
It didn't make it better as Kazuki looked as if he was lying in a bed with his arms behind his head as he floated at the same speed.
"You know, this kinda reminds me of that one time that Iri-chan stole a Gundam model that I made when inside of my room," Kazuki reminded sounding as if he were teasing Irina. "You swiped it off my desk as soon as I made it, then made me chase you around my room to get it back."
"Uh, Kazu-chan, was being mean then since he wouldn't play with me at the time," Irina said pouting, not noticing that Kazuki had stopped moving for a little while, and continued running without realizing that fact. It wasn't long as he started speeding up behind her, before he swooped her off her feet, and holding her almost like a princess in his arms. "Huh?"
"Want to go for a ride?"
"What does that…iyaaaah!"
Before Irina could finish her question, Kazuki took off at high-speed upwards into the sky as she screamed from the surprise. It was at such speed that it looked as if they vanished like a trail of light that was traveling in a single direction. There wasn't much wind pressure since Kazuki made a barrier to block most of it, then stopped at one point in the air.
"I stopped scaredy-cat."
Kazuki teased as Irina opened her eyes, and looked around where the two of them arrived at.
"Wow!"
Irina opened her eyes wide as she looked around as the two of them were high enough to get a perfect view of the stars around them. It was such a beautiful sight that she couldn't utter a single word, and instead allowed just breaths to leave her mouth as she marveled at the sight.
"This is so beautiful."
"This is one of the benefits of having dragon wings instead of a gauntlet," Kazuki stated, but almost felt as if there was a slight pulse within him as if Albion felt a little bit of pride from those words. "I get to see sights like this each night whenever I want without being grounded. But, I never really took another person with me like this."
"Hehehe, I guess that means I took another one of Kazu-chan's firsts," Irina giggled before blushing faintly. "But, it means that you was my first and only too. Do you remember when w-we…kissed…K-Kazu-chan?"
Irina asked that as she pressed her fingers nervously since she was being carried in Kazuki's arms as the two of them continued floating in the same position. Kazuki blushed as he did recall that shortly before Irina moved from Kuoh Town to England, the night before, he and she did end up kissing. Their faces were bright red after doing it, but it was something that remained on their minds.
"Yea, I remember that."
"Uh, what does Kazu-chan feel about me now?"
Irina asked with a more wondering expression compared to before, feeling the air brush past them. It felt almost like several minutes as the two remained in the same position in silence as Kazuki in that instance was wondering what he was going to say. It wasn't long until he just answered.
"My feelings are the same as they were when we were kids," Kazuki replied much to her happiness. "I can never find myself not thinking about Iri-chan until now. I still love Iri-chan as much as I did before."
"I'm so happy to hear, Kazu-chan," Irina said, wrapping her arms Kazuki as she smiled as brightly as possible as if those words removed some hint of doubt that remained deep inside her heart. "I love Kazu-chan as much as I did when we were kids! No, I love Kazu-chan even more since it has been a long time since the last time that we saw each other! And he's become such an incredible person!"
Kazuki couldn't help laughing and almost tearing up as he heard those words from Irina, while she kept wrapping her arms around him. It was something that they wanted to get off their chests for a long time since the time they spent apart, and since their feelings started burning more since reunited. Soon enough Irina held her face right in front of Kazuki's face as the two stared lovingly and longingly at each other.
It wasn't long until their faces inched closer to each other, then their lips connected into a deep kiss, and meshed together. There wasn't a single person around them who would interrupt them, and there wasn't a single person in the entire area to interrupt them. Both had remained in the same position for what seemed to be several minutes before descending to the ground, then returned to their respective residences. Although, Kazuki and Irina could get what they wanted to say off their chests…it didn't change the fact, their faces were crimson red afterward.
The next morning, Kazuki, Issei, and the others continued attending school like before (aside from Kiba, who still couldn't face Rias) without mentioning their late-night outing. Of course, Raynare still hasn't returned to school or contacted them, causing them some concern. But, their classes continued as always with the usual perverse talk from the Perverted Trio + Aika. Kazuki could've gone without the comment from Aika about the "development" of a certain part of him compared to the first time she "measured" him.
The thing that made it worse was the fact that Aika whispered it to Asia causing the innocent nun to almost pass out in class. But, Kazuki did wonder if that had anything to do with fact that dragon blood was still flowing through his body due to his dragon heart.
After school ended, the group did their usual club duties to keep their Kings from behind suspicious before the group started searching again. Unlike before, Kazuki did split up from his usual group to better their chances at a lead being discovered. There was an issue since it meant that he would be alone without any kind of assistance if something were to happen. But, he promised to inform both groups if something happened since he did leave a means for him to inform them.
[Do you believe that this is a good idea?]
Albion asked Kazuki inside of his head as he continued walking down a road alone in a location that someone a lot Freed would stalk. The location itself didn't have a single person meaning that there wouldn't be the slightest chance for people to get injured in a crossfire.
"Well, Freed is the kind of psychopath who'd target a priest alone where no one can interfere instead of going at a group alone."
Kazuki replied quietly without allowing his voice to spread out, and someone might hear.
[Do you think that you can handle him?]
"Do you expect the Hakuryuukou to lose to an Excalibur fragment nowhere close to the original?"
[That's the response that I was looking for. I'd be worried for you if it was the original, but since it's nothing, but a fragment I don't expect you to lose.]
Albion stated in an almost laugh after hearing Kazuki respond to those words.
It was then that Kazuki stopped walking for a moment, then reached for the light sword holster at his side without making a single hint of his actions. He could vaguely sense killing intent being directed towards him preparing for an assault from behind. Acting as if he was taking another step, Kazuki could sense that someone was coming at him at high speed, and tightened his grip on the light sword.
"Hyahahaha, this makes another exorcist that I…eh?"
Freed was behind him laughing at the thought of killing another priest and/or exorcist, but stopped after noticing a light beaming through the cloak. Seconds later, a light blade tore through the cloak and was inches from piercing Freed's face. But, due to the Excalibur Rapidly in his hands, he enhanced his speed enough to where he avoided it and came out with nothing but a cut on his cheek.
"Graaah! You little shit, how dare you cut this face!"
Freed shouted as he stomped on the ground almost like a child throwing a tantrum.
"I'm going to do more than that in a minute or two."
Kazuki stated as he removed the hood that covered his face, causing a maniacal laugh to escape from his mouth as he realizing who he was.
"Gyahahaha! Well, if it isn't Kazuki-kun. Tell me, did you finally end up having a good old fuck session with Asia-chan? Did the blonde nun turn into your own little blonde slut," hearing that caused Kazuki to glare at Freed with extremely intense anger. "Did your dragon powers increase at all since the last time that we met?! So, is it fine for me to kill you now?!"
"I'm not going to be the one dying here."
Kazuki declared, discreetly activated the signal that he linked to Irina's and Issei's group of his current location as he drew out his light sword. But, instead of using the usual light blades, he used magic to generate wind blades.
"Hahaha, I see that Kazuki-kun attained new weapons too, but," Freed said before rushing at Kazuki using higher speed with Excalibur Rapidly. "It can't match my Excalibur Rapidly-chan!"
As soon as Freed arrived close enough to him, Kazuki moved aside and blocked it using the wind blades that he created. It was then that the psychopath rogue exorcist started laughing a series of slashes against Kazuki while laughing maniacally. He was managing to deflect most of the attacks being launched at him using his blades, but there were some slashes that he could, causing wounds to open.
"I guess this is Excalibur Rapidly. It's exactly as Yuuto-kun explained, it makes both Freed, and thus his slashes faster than usual. But, I don't think that it can handle this."
At that moment, two blue marks appeared on the back of Kazuki's wrists, causing an almost sacred presence to be released from them. It almost surprised Freed, but he continued pressing on with the assault believing that he couldn't do anything about it. But, just as he was going in to cut off Kazuki's head, there was a water wall, which slowed the blade down.
"Huh? What the fuck?!"
Freed declared as he struggled to remove Excalibur Rapidly from the water wall.
{{Fufufufu, I didn't believe that Master would call for our assistance this soon.}}
From both sides of Kazuki, the two Undine were laughing joyfully on both sides.
"Yea, but this situation is a little bit complicated. So, can I expect your assistance?"
{Hmmhmm, I will follow Master for as long as he desires it.}
Undine A replied laughing confidently.
{I, of course, will be of more assistance than this one.}
Undine B added almost snidely, causing Undine A to gain a tick mark and glare at her fellow Undine.
{Do you want to say that to my face?!}
{I'll say it as much as I want! But, it won't change facts!}
Undine A and B started smashing their face against one another, causing Kazuki to turn to face them.
"Uh, do I have to send you back so that you can resolve this?"
Kazuki asked confused.
{{No, please don't send me back, Master! I'm sorry!}}
Undine A and B replied sadly at the thought of being sent back despite just being summoned.
"Then please act as backup for this fight!"
Kazuki stated as he rushed towards Freed using his wind blades as the rogue priest rushed back at high speeds using Excalibur Rapidly. But, as he was rushing at him, the Undine spread water across the ground towards him, causing him to lose traction and later since he was running at high speed in a linear direction. Having rightly read the direction he was heading in, Kazuki moved forward and lifted his knee.
"Gah!"
Kazuki dealt a heavy knee strike to Freed's abdomen causing bile to escape from his mouth due to the force that was behind it, in addition to the fact he lost traction. He followed that attack using a slash by using his right sword with the intent of killing him. But, due to his own instincts, Freed managed to block the attack, but earned a deep wound on his shoulder.
"Fucker! Fucker! Fucker! Fucker!"
Freed kept cursing Kazuki as he tried slashing at him using Excalibur Rapidly to perform numerous fast slashes.
Kazuki avoided it by using Divine Dividing to move backward, then noticed that Freed continued pursing him by jumping at him instead of running at him.
{I don't think so!}
Undine B caused formed several sharp tentacles, which all charged at Freed from all sides.
"Tsk, I hate this shit!"
Freed cursed again as he continued using Excalibur Rapidly to continue speeding up his movements so that he'd be able to cut them apart. But, the speed that the water constructions continued forming was almost too much for him to handle, and watching out for Kazuki at the same time. At that moment, he noticed that he pointed both the wind blades towards him. Their blades lost their form for a moment, but then a wind burst from them releasing a blast towards him.
"Shit!"
Freed was crushed as he blocked the blast using Excalibur Rapidly, but was still pushed backward.
"Since the first time that I met you, you've always talked a big game. But, whenever things start getting even the slightest bit too tough, you always run with your tail between your tail," Kazuki taunted resulted in a tick mark on Freed's forehead as he glared at him leaking killing intent. "Aren't you acting like too much of a child who just got a new toy, but doesn't know how to use it? Don't you think you should go back a train for about another five years and you might become a proper threat?"
Kazuki was taunting Freed, and speaking in an obviously mocking tone as he appeared to have been looking at him as if he wasn't even a threat to him. His taunts looked to have gotten Freed off his game as he began staring at him wearing an enraged expression.
"You little shithead! After I kill you, I'm going to find Asia-chan, and…."
"There!"
A familiar voice soon arrived on the scene, then a line seemed to have been wrapped around Freed's leg, which caught his attention. He turned his head around to see that Saji had a black deformed-looking lizard appear right on his left hand, which had a line extending from its mouth and wrapped around Freed's leg. Because he was too focused on Kazuki, he didn't notice the others appearing.
Arriving on the scene beside Saji, was Issei, Kiba, and Koneko, who were all already prepared for a battle against their longtime and hated opponent. Without needing a single signal, Issei activated his Boosted Gear as it released its usual "Boost" announcement, then started building up power.
"Such a pain!"
Freed complained as he tried cutting off the line, but as soon as it attempted to do that, surprisingly the blade had bounced off the line. He attempted it several times, and it resulted in the same thing, even if it was a fragment, it was a powerful sword that could cut through Kiba's demonic swords almost casually. As Freed attempted to cut it apart, Kiba didn't waste time rushing at the rogue exorcist who was wielding his hated target.
He created two demonic swords in his hand as Kazuki had the Undine remove the water that covered the ground so that it wouldn't deter him too. At that time, Freed reacted to the attacks using Excalibur Rapidly, breaking both blades as casually as he had done before.
"Hyahahaha, when are you going to learn that your demonic swords can't beat my Excalibur-chan!"
Freed declared arrogantly, Kiba wasn't deterred at all he continued creating demonic swords, while he and Freed fought in the same spot. Kazuki, Issei, and the others could see that Kiba wouldn't be able to fight against him by using his demonic swords against a genuine holy sword, albeit a fragment. Freed started moving around, but he couldn't move around too much because of the line attached to him.
"This isn't working," Kazuki said as he looked over towards Issei who seemed to have charged up enough since their group arrived. "Nii-san transfer your power to Yuuto-kun! I know he's going to deny it, and he can complain about it later. But, we can't let Freed get away from here again!"
"Right, but if I move too much, then I might end up losing it!"
"Got it! Koneko-chan, do it!"
"…got it."
"Wait, do what," Issei asked almost worriedly, then stopped after noticing that Koneko wrapped her arms around him as if in a hug before glancing over at her. "Uh, Koneko-chan?"
"…Ise-senpai. Please help Yuuto-senpai."
"Of course, Koneko-chan. But, does Kazuki mean about…waaaah."
Before Issei could even finish his sentence, he was flung over towards Kiba, who was still fighting against Freed by Koneko. It seemed as if that was enough to break the tempo of their fight as both swordsmen seemed to have stopped fighting for a moment.
"Kibaaaaaaaa! I will transfer my power to youuuu!"
"Uwah! Ise-kun!"
Kiba was surprised as Issei almost landed on top of him, but managed to simply touch his shoulder before falling towards the ground.
[Transfer!]
Issei transferred the power that he had been building up since the battle started, causing a great deal of demonic power to cover his body. Seeing that his friends were all doing their best to support him despite putting their lives on the line, Kiba couldn't reject their assistance.
"Alright, let's do this! Sword Birth!"
From that announcement, Kiba created waves of demonic swords that bloomed almost like flowers all around the stumped Freed as he used his enhanced speed to avoid them all. There was almost no space where Freed could move freely, but Kiba didn't have that same issue. Using a great deal of quick thinking, Kiba began using his demonic swords as platforms to move around undeterred. He was moving at speeds that the befitting of Rias' Knight, different from his previous bout against Xenovia.
From all sides, he started throwing the created demonic swords in the same direction as Freed in an attempt to overwhelm him using numbers. Freed later increased his speed using Excalibur Rapidly to where its blade began to vanish from the speed enhancement. It was then that Freed moved in to attack Kiba using his holy sword, an attack that would result in critical damage.
As Kazuki was preparing to use Divine Dividing to cut Freed's power in half, Saji seemed to have pulled back the line attached to him causing his stance to break.
"Like I would let you!"
At that declaration, a line came from the line as there seemed to have been a change in Freed, who appeared to have become almost slower.
"…This is!? Shit! Are you absorbing my powers!?"
Freed seemed to have realized what Saji was doing as he felt his powers being drained from him, causing them to become surprised about that.
"Heh! How's that! This is my Sacred Gear, Absorption Line! As long as this line is connected to you, your power will continue to be absorbed by my Sacred Gear," Saji declared showing a great deal of confidence in his sacred gear. "So, yea, it'll continue absorbing your power until you lose consciousness."
"It seemed to be similar to mine, but not," Kazuki surmised recalling that Sona never did tell him what Saji's own sacred gear could do, and he didn't think that he would even tell him. It was faint, but through Divine Dividing, he felt an almost familiar presence. "It doesn't appear to be a run-of-a-mill one since even an Excalibur couldn't even cut through it at all. Could that be a dragon-type sacred gear too?"
Freed seemed to have become irritated after hearing that as he kept attempting to cut himself free from the line before losing all his power.
"Kiba, I hate to admit it, but Kazuki is right! I get nothing, but a dangerous vibe from this guy. If he escapes, then he's going to cause nothing but trouble for all of us! To defeat him now, and we'll worry about the Excalibur later."
"He's right. If Freed continues escaping from us, then there are going to be more victims. There are still two more Excaliburs are there. So, I hope the other users are stronger than you."
"Huh, I'm sorry to inform you, but the other two were weaker than I am. If you kill me now, then there wouldn't be another person for you to fight against."
"…."
After hearing that obvious taunt from Freed, Kiba narrowed his eyes at him as he summoned two more demonic swords in his hand. He still has a little bit of the power he received from Issei, and before it vanished, he wanted to make more use out of it before running out.
"Sword Birth, eh? Depending on the owner, that sacred gear can have an almost infinite number of uses."
There was a new voice that caught their attention.
Everyone suddenly turned around to see that an old man dressed in priest clothing suddenly appeared walking in their direction from another alleyway. It was clear enough for them that the old man wasn't normal since he was able to identify Kiba's sacred gear at a glance. But, after seeing the old man, Kazuki already came up with a guess based on the information that he knew at the moment.
"You're Balba Galilei, right?"
Kazuki asked turning his attention to the old man, who didn't deny that claim.
"Oh, it appears as if I've become famous if a young man like you know about me."
"Don't flatter yourself."
Kazuki stated, blowing down whatever ego had built within the old man who seemed to have narrowed his eyes in response to hearing those words.
"Freed, what're you doing?"
Balba asked curiously his attention to Freed, who seemed to have still attempting to escape from the line.
"Old man Balba! I can't run away because of this guy's weird lizard tongue!"
"Humph, it appears as if you still cannot use the holy sword perfectly yet. This is what happens when an artificial one is sent into battle without fully understanding their new abilities. Use the element that I gave you more wisely since that is basically my life's work. Gather the light element currently running throughout your power toward the holy sword in your hands. Using that, you might be able to cut even that line."
Balba explained what he was supposed to be doing to Freed in the most detailed manner possible.
"Yeah, yeah!"
Freed grumbled from being talked down to like that, but he listened to the instructions given to him as in that one moment, an aura started running across the blade.
"Like this! Horyah!"
Smiling cheerfully like a child, Freed managed to cut the line attached to his leg surprising Saji who noticed that it was going to get difficult from there.
"I will be escaping now! The next time we meet will be the time of our ultimate battle!"
Freed declared as he was preparing to escape from their location, causing Kazuki, and the others to start moving to keep him from doing that. At the same time, three shadows appeared on the scene just as he was preparing to escape from them. The first person to arrive there was the blue-haired swordswoman who freed out her sword of destruction from its bindings. It was Xenovia whose Excalibur Destruction clashed against Freed's Rapidly, which resulted in sparks between their respective blades.
"Yahoo! Kazu-chan!"
"I hope we aren't late!"
Irina came out holding Excalibur Mimic in her hands, and Mariah holding Excalibur Blessing in hers. After seeing the old man standing there, Mariah raised her killing intent in the same manner that Kiba had been doing through the entire situation.
"Oh, isn't that young girl familiar?"
Balba seemed to have recalled seeing Mariah from somewhere but stopped as soon as Freed stopped clashing against Xenovia for a moment.
"Old man Balba! We are escaping! We are going to report to the boss, Kokabiel!"
"There's no other way."
Balba placed his curiosity aside as Freed reached inside of his pockets, and pulled out an all too familiar object, causing Kazuki to immediately realize his intentions.
"This again?! Everyone cover your eyes!"
It was due to that sudden suggestion from Kazuki that all of them managed to close their eyes just as Freed had thrown a ball to the ground, which triggered a burst of light. As soon as all of them opened their eyes again, they realized that Freed and Balba weren't in the same area anymore.
"We are going after them Irina, Mariah!"
"Okay!"
"Planned on that anyway."
And just like that, Xenovia, Irina, and Mariah started chasing after wherever Freed and Balba escaped to while attempting to blind them.
"I'm going after them too! I won't let you escape Balba Galilei!"
Kiba declared as he followed behind them before Kazuki turned and looked a little sympathetic after noticing one thing that was always a possibility.
"I'll be following too, but before that," Kazuki said before pulling up the cross around his neck in an almost praying position without actually praying. "Nii-san, Saji, you two have my condolences!"
Just as Kazuki said that he activated Divine Dividing and flew straight up into the skies above without hesitating in the slightest. But, not before sending the Undine back to the familiar forest seeing that their tasks were finished there for the moment.
"Wait, Kazuki, Kiba!"
Issei tried calling out, but the two were already out of sight.
"What did he mean about his condolences?"
Saji asked confused.
Both the pawns stared at one another before feeling a sudden sense of unease behind them. Right behind them, were two women that neither of them wanted to anger as a red and blue aura covered them respectively.
"I thought that I could sense some irregular powers around here."
"What troublesome children we have here."
Issei and Saji shuttered hearing two familiar presence behind them, neither of them dared turned around fearing seeing what kind of expression where on their faces. Standing behind with their eyes almost glowing dangerously were their respective Kings, Koneko was standing in front of him looking as if she was going to accept whatever punishment without regret.
In the skies, Kazuki was flying at high speed, while looking around trying to ignore the screams could clearly see originating from the place he left. It hasn't been a minute since Irina, Mariah, Kiba, and Xenovia left to chase after the escaping Freed and Balba. Seeing that neither of them could have gotten that far in such a short span of time he thought it wouldn't be that hard to track their location.
"Alright, let's try this."
After stopping in mid-air, Kazuki used magic to strengthen his eyesight as he looked over the location that they'd came from before moving. He was scanning throughout the entire area that they could have gone through, even guessing the group must've split up to better their chances at finding them. Kazuki was up in the air for what look to be minutes before noticing a disturbance at a certain location at a distance from their original location.
"There must be something there."
Kazuki started to himself as he prepared himself to take flight, then ended up soaring down there at top speed.
It didn't take Kazuki a minute to arrive at the location, but as soon as he reached the space around the building, a sudden invisible force pushed him backward. There was a slight sense of pain originating from whatever he had come in contact with.
"Ouch, what did I just hit," Kazuki asked as he slowly started heading in the direction of the invisible force, then he reached his hand out to touch it. It was faint, but he could feel that there was something there, and it wouldn't at all take a genius to realize what it was. "A barrier, huh?"
Kazuki started looking at the building surrounded by the barrier, which was an abandoned building that wasn't in use anymore. But, it looked big enough to act as the base for someone without being bothered by anyone, and a barrier would make it difficult for anyone to sense their presence or know what they were doing.
"How am I going to get through this barrier? I could tell after coming in contact with it, it pushed me back as soon even the slightest bit of force was applied onto it. So, there's no way that I can use magic or any other attack on it without the chance of it bouncing off at either me or the surrounding area," Kazuki thought out loud as he tried to think of how to get through this barrier before a thought came to his mind. "That's it!"
Kazuki held his hands beside him before placing his hand on the barrier, then activated Divine Dividing.
[Divide!]
At that announcement, he halved and absorbed the barrier's power, feeling it becoming weaker. Kazuki stood in the same position for twenty more seconds before the barrier was dissolved. But, as soon as it vanished, he was able to hear a battle occurring inside of the barrier. Hearing that he dove down in front of the entrance slicing the door apart so that he could enter the base.
Kazuki prepared himself for the situation as he pulled out his light sword and gun, noticing that the inside of their base looked about as he would expect from an abandoned building. But, it looked as if some things around their base were either new or repaired. After looking inside one of the opened rooms, it looked almost as if it was used as a lab of some kind since several diagrams detailed the seven Excaliburs.
It was then that he could hear that whatever battle was commencing was close around his current position, then started heading in that direction. The closer he got, the more the vibrations from the battle continued increasing in magnitude. Soon enough, Kazuki arrived in front of a double door, but as soon as he touched the handle, there was a powerful presence standing inside of the room. Since training with the Vali Team, he became able to feel a lot of things that he couldn't. But, this was the strongest presence that he's felt so far.
[This presence is without a doubt, Kokabiel. Proceed with caution.]
"Well, it's not like I plan on charging straight at him."
Kazuki pointed out as he started to open the double door, which led inside of a massive room that seemed as if it was used as a ballroom. However, as soon as Kazuki entered the room, his entire thought process stopped in an instant as if it was frozen. Standing in the middle of the room was a black-haired man who didn't appear human, his skin was a paler white and his ears were elongated, dressed in a black suit, and ten black wings were unfolded from his back.
But, the thing that caught him shocked him was the person in his hands, held up by their throat, their battle outfit was torn in several areas, revealing their skin, and blood leaking from the wounds. It was Irina, who seemed to have if she fell unconscious, and stopped Excalibur Mimic. Around the ballroom, there were black feathers stabbed into a lot of the walls and floors.
"…!"
His killing intent seemed to have risen to the nth degree, which seemed to have attracted Kokabiel's attention. A looked of familiarity appeared on his face as he noticed Kazuki.
"Oh? If it isn't the Hakuryuukou Brat that Azazel has had his sights on for years," Kokabiel spoke without looking to be interested in the killing intent directed at him. "Is this one a friend of yours? She managed to find her way in this base following Freed and Balba first. So, as a common courtesy, I gave her a good welcome."
"…gah."
Irina seemed to have struggled even unconsciously as Kokabiel tightened his grip on her throat, which sparked a reaction from him.
"Let go of her!"
Kazuki activated Divine Dividing and propelled himself towards Kokabiel as a white aura covered him.
Kokabiel smirked, then tossed Irina toward Kazuki as he was speeding at him, causing him to reach his arms out, and caught her in his arms. He looked up to see that Kokabiel smirked wildly as he aimed a strong and fast kick in his direction. Reacting to this, Kazuki turned around so that his back was facing Kokabiel as he cradled Irina in his arms protectively. It was because of that maneuver, he ended up taking the kick to the back, causing blood to spill from his mouth.
"Gah!"
Kazuki was blown away like a cannonball toward the ballroom's wall, causing him to break through it into another room connected to it. Before coming in contact with that room, he used his feet to stop himself before landing on his back in pain. A single attack from the Cadre made him feel as if he was going to fall unconscious, but he kept himself from falling unconscious.
"Argh, that hurt."
Kazuki groaned as he sat himself up as he still held onto Irina, then gently placed her on the ground.
He quickly looked and noticed that there were several wounds on her body, causing blood to leak out from them, as her breathing seemed to be erratic, and uncontrollable. Kazuki knew from these kinds of wounds, she could die from blood loss if nothing was done. It was then that he caused the space near him to distort as he extended his hand inside his dimensional storage, and retrieved something.
In his hands was the vial of Phoenix Tears that he received from Ravel as a sign of friendship, before opening it, then sprinkled it on Irina. At that moment, a pale light covered her body as her wounds all started closing as if the injuries never occurred. However, despite her wounds being healed, Irina still didn't open her eyes, meaning that this item couldn't recover stamina or the blood that she already lost. But, she was stable, and that's what matters the most to him.
"I'll have to thank Ravel-san again for giving me this."
Kazuki stated as he looked in the ballroom as Kokabiel remained standing in the same position without moving or showing the slightest sign of defending himself.
Moments later, Kazuki shot out from the room using his light wings, then used the momentum to aim a downward kick at Kokabiel. Smirking, he blocked it using his forearm not caring about the force behind the attack, then saw Kazuki pointing a light gun at him before pulling the trigger. The light bullet shot him in the forehead as it seemed to have pushed his head back a bit since it was a charged-up blast infused with dragon power.
Not thinking that would be enough to take him out, Kazuki moved to make another attack but wasn't able to after feeling Kokabiel grabbing onto his leg. Before he could make a single move, he felt himself being swung down to the ground using a great deal of force. It caused blood to spill out from his mouth as Kazuki felt as if it was closer to losing consciousness. It didn't stop there as Kokabiel slammed him down on his back using the same amount of force behind the previous one.
"That one actually hurt me a bit."
Kokabiel stated noting the notable wound on his forehead from that attack.
"D-Dammit, I'm…he really is…out of my league."
That thought came to his mind as he was slammed on the ground again, once again on his face as the ground at the places where he was slammed cracked; his blood was also shown stained on the ground. His vision started to become blurred from the fact he was close to almost passing out.
"Hah, so this is the legendary Hakuryuukou! Pathetic!"
Kokabiel after picking Kazuki from off the ground a fourth time, later flung him at another fall at greater force than he had with him and Irina before. He's managed to recover somewhat of his awareness as he activated his light wings to balance himself, then used his feet to stop himself from crashing into the wall. Kazuki could feel that his blood seeped from his forehead, nose, and mouth as he coughed. The pain was traveling across his entire body as a result of the brutal assault.
"…!"
He gritted his teeth as he made several magic circles around Kokabiel before releasing various elemental magic attacks aimed at him. Kokabiel didn't look impressed at all as he simply used his ten wings to strike down each of the elemental attacks without injuring them.
"I was expecting something a little more since you were said to be a cut above most of the previous holders, but I guess that I got my hopes…."
At that moment, Kokabiel realized that Kazuki kicked the activated light sword at him at the same time as the magic attacks. It was already right in front of his face, meaning that it would be impossible for him to avoid taking one hit from it. He managed to move his head to the side, but the light blade still scratched the side of his face causing a light wound on his cheek. It seemed as if the light sword was also infused with his dragon power.
"Tsk, you're clever. I'll at least give you that at least."
Kokabiel said as the magic attacks ended, but he looked around the ballroom yet couldn't see Kazuki.
A thought crossed his mind, then looked up as Kazuki covered his fist in a white aura and brought it down toward Kokabiel. He used the elemental attacks and light sword as a distraction to get above his head, then managed to get a punch in Kokabiel after using his light wings to accelerate himself.
[Divide!]
Kokabiel felt half his power being absorbed by Kazuki who covered himself in a white aura, then later launched a second punch at his face. Like the first, he managed to get a punch in the face, causing some blood to leak out from his mouth. Kazuki didn't pay attention to the first hint of damage that he managed to get in on the fallen angel.
"I know that I can't defeat him, but I can at least deal as much damage and drain his power so that I can escape with Iri-chan."
Kazuki reasoned as he tried weakening Kokabiel as much as possible.
But, seconds later, a shockwave was released from his hand after Kokabiel placed a hand in front of his stomach and blew him backward. It was a strong close-range attack that caused a great deal of blood to be spill out from Kazuki's mouth. Before he could even hit the ground, Kazuki looked and saw Kokabiel appearing right in front of him before grabbing his face, and slamming him to the ground.
The force behind that was enough to crack the ground underneath him, as that seemed to have knocked him out, thus canceling his ability as Divine Dividing seemed to have vanished too.
"I didn't think that a human who had awakened their sacred gear could prove this much of an annoyance. I guess that's what you'd expect from Longinus users like the Slash Dog who was brought into Grigori years ago. Tch, I'm in no way interested in sacred gears, but Longinus like yours are a pain in the ass dealing with. I ended up losing half my power, so I might need some time to recover it all," Kokabiel stated as he started walking past Kazuki in the direction that Irina had been. "I guess that I'll be heading to greet Rias Gremory, and make my introduction before having a little fun here."
Kokabiel started heading in the same direction where Irina was resting, then returned moments later carrying the unconscious exorcist. He carried her underneath his arms before smiling down at Kazuki who still appeared to be unconscious himself from that last attack.
"I'll be borrowing your little girlfriend as a message for Rias Gremory, and her peerage," Kokabiel stated not even caring whether or not Kazuki could even hear him. "For a human, she's quite the piece. Do you think that I should wait for her you wake and rape her in front of you before…."
Grab!
"Huh?"
Kokabiel was surprised as Kazuki appeared to have regained consciousness in that instance and grabbed his leg using more strength than he intended. From his back, Divine Dividing seemed to have manifested on his back for a second time despite the injuries he suffered. He lifted his head from off the ground as blood covered portions of his face but glared at Kokabiel using intense eyes.
"If you…lay another…hand on…Iri-chan…. I'll beat…you down…until your soul is extinguished!"
Kazuki threatened as his grip continued increasing more than Kokabiel would have expected, the aura all around him seemed to have increased more than before. Despite the severe injuries he suffered, Kokabiel was surprised that he could still have and muster up this much aura.
[Divide!]
Kazuki activated Divine Dividing again, which halved Kokabiel's power again causing him to look annoyed about that fact. Seeing what Kazuki had done a second time, the Cadre looked irritated as he raised his foot in the air a second time before bringing it down on top of his head. It was an attack that drove him deeper into the ground as he fell unconscious again.
"Tsk, damn dragons are irritating. Now, it'll take longer to recover my powers."
Kokabiel unfolded his wings, then started blasted a hole in the ceiling so that he could fly out. As floated above the roof, he held out his hand and summoned a light spear, which held a great deal of power behind it despite the loss of his original strength.
"You've been an annoyance to me. And even had the nerve to kill one of my subordinates just to rescue an abandoned nun. So, this will be the last time that you'll lay a hand on me."
Kokabiel released the light spear downward toward the unconscious Kazuki as he flew off in another direction as Irina remained in his hand. Seconds after Kokabiel left, the space distorted near Kazuki as a figure stood beside him without making a noise. It was revealed to be Ophis who held out her hand, stopping the light spear casually using her opened palm without even the slightest hint that it wounding her.
"It's bright."
Ophis said almost annoyed about the light's brightness instead of touching her palm before dissolving it.
Ophis' expression remained without emotion, but her eyes looked to hold some intense emotions after seeing the state Kazuki was in the moment. She kneeled in front of them, then removed him from the ground seeing a lot of blood covering his face as he remained unconscious.
"I, know, you can hear me, Albion."
Ophis spoke as she placed Kazuki on his back instead of on his face.
[I didn't think that the Ouroboros Dragon would come here.]
Albion spoke almost sounding a little unsure about her intentions.
"I am aware, you were conscious back then."
[Of course, even someone who shows no care about the world would be aware of what happens. If it was a long time ago, then I wouldn't have believed that the Dragon God would care about some human. So, I can take it that you'll help out Kazuki here.]
Despite his usual logical and impassive words, Albion's tone in itself showed that he was concerned about him a lot more than his previous hosts. Ophis showed no reaction to his words, but at the same, he didn't disagree with them at all.
"I will heal him. He and I made a promise."
Ophis said as a power covered her hand before a snake seemed to have manifested in her hand, then placed an unconscious Kazuki on her lap. She placed her hand beside his cheek as the snake seemed to have entered him as an aura started to cover his body, then the wounds that covered him started healing.
A/N: And there goes the next chapter of The Twin Dragons, well, this showed the results of their attempts to locate the missing Excaliburs. But, before that, it was the official introduction of Ophis who was at the Vali Team's base and somewhat scared Kuroka. There were some bonding moments between Kazuki and Asia, then Irina who witnessed an incredible sight. Kazuki later had a confrontation with Freed before he called upon the Undine he bonded with, then Kiba, Issei, Koneko, and Saji joined in.
Near the end, Kazuki ended up meeting Kokabiel, who had already beaten up Irina, earning his rage as he went in to attack the Cadre. He ended up putting up a decent fight against Kokabiel, even dividing some of his power before being beaten down himself. Ophis ended up arriving to save Kazuki from being killed by Kokabiel and even started healing his injuries.
Issei's Harem: Rias, Akeno, Koneko, Xenovia, Lucia, Tsubasa, Kiyome, Aika, Elmenhilde, Yasaka, Kunou, Bennia, Roygun, Ingvild.
Kazuki's Harem: Sona, Raynare, Asia, Irina, Lucina, Mariah, Kuroka, Ophis, Rossweisse, Ravel, Le Fay, Gabriel, Jeanne, Lint, Tiamat, Lilith.