Irina looked at Kiba carefully. "You really hate the Holy Sword Project, don't you? And the Excaliburs too. Even the Church."
Kiba's eyes hardened. "Obviously."
She looked troubled, but still spoke. "But Kiba, that project pushed Holy Sword research forward by a huge amount. Because of it, Xenovia and I were able to become compatible users."
Kiba's voice turned sharper. "And does that make it alright to kill all the children who failed?"
What happened to Kiba and the other test subjects was an act of terrible cruelty. That kind of inhuman behavior was the complete opposite of everything the Church claimed to stand for.
Even Irina looked shaken by his words. Xenovia broke the silence. "We also despise that entire incident," she said in her usual calm tone. "The man behind that project acted against the Church's teachings. He was judged a heretic, and now he serves the Fallen Angels."
Kiba immediately focused on her words. "The Fallen Angels? Tell me his name."
"Valper Galilei," Xenovia answered. "These days, he is known as the Massacring Archbishop."
There was a new resolve in Kiba's eyes.
"I suppose I should give you some information as well. The other day, I was attacked by someone using an Excalibur. He had just killed a priest. That victim was probably one of your people."
"—!"
Everyone there went tense the moment they heard that.
"The one who attacked me was Freed Sellzen. Does that name mean anything to you?"
"I see. So it was him," Irina muttered.
"Freed Sellzen is a former Vatican exorcist who once served directly under the Pope," Xenovia explained. "He was called a genius and became a full exorcist at the very young age of thirteen. He is known for killing countless demons and even legendary beasts."
Irina continued, "But he went too far. He did not even hesitate to kill his own allies. Freed never truly had faith. The only thing he cared about was brutally killing any monster he came across. That, and his obsession with fighting. So it was only a matter of time before he was branded a heretic."
After they finished talking, the two girls left after exchanging phone numbers with the others.
"…Issei. Why are you doing this?" Kiba asked quietly.
"We're friends, right? We're part of the same Familia. Besides, you helped me before too. Don't think I'm doing this to repay you or anything. I just wanted to help."
"If I lose control, it will cause trouble for the President. Did you think about that too?" Kiba asked.
"Of course I did. If you go crazy, the prez will definitely get mad. Though yeah, me deciding all of this on my own might also cause some trouble. Still, that's way better than you becoming a stray, right? And anyway, we managed to come to an agreement with Xenovia and Irina, so it all worked out in the end."
"…Yuuto. I would feel lonely… if you disappeared."
Her face looked unusually sad. Since she was almost always expressionless, that sudden change shocked the three boys sitting with her.
"…I'll help too. So please don't go."
Kiba let out a troubled chuckle.
"Now you've really put me in a difficult spot. If that's how you feel, Koneko, then I can't just go off on my own and do something reckless. Alright. I'll go with your plan."
--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>
Adrien was sitting in the bathroom, submerged in the bath with hot water up to his neck.
Click!
The bathroom door opened, Celia walked in a bathrobe. She slowly untied her bathroom and it dropped to the ground. Her body wasn't voluptuous but it wasn't flat either. Adrien's eye turned to her, he didn't react at all, it wasn't his first time seeing her naked. He'd already made her his a long time ago.
Celia, took a quick shower then entered the bath and sat on Adrien's lap, she leaned her body against his. Adrien grabbed her right tit unconsciously and squeezed it in his hand, she squirmed slightly rubbing her vagina against his leg.
"Andy..."
Adrien did not answer. His mind was completely somewhere else. When he was like this, Celia knew he was inside his mind palace and should not be disturbed. She leaned her back against his chest and rested her head on his shoulder.
After a few minutes like that, Adrien looked at Celia. He ran a finger through her wet hair, then gently caressed her cheek. Adrien was still deep in thought. The problem in front of him was something he had never faced before. He could not sense Kokabiel at all. Light power, just like demonic power, always leaked from the body, and as far as he knew, Kokabiel was not an exception to that law. So why could he not sense even the slightest trace of light residue?
"If you wanted to hide Holy Swords in a small town, where would you hide them?" He asked.
Celia shifted her position so she could be face to face with Adrien, then she tilted her head and puffed out her lips.
"Well, if it was me, I'd hide them in a basement with a magic circle that hides empty spaces."
Adrien shook his head. "That would work against humans, not devils. Kokabiel definitely knows I'm here by now. He can probably sense the Demonic Energy coming from this place."
"Because of me and the other girls right?"
Adrien nodded, "Yeah he could probably sense your Energy leakage."
A few days ago, after Adrien finished talking with Xenovia and Irina, he told his girls that a strong Fallen Angel was nearby and brewing trouble.
Celia lowered her head a little. "Sorry... maybe if we weren't here, you could come up with a plan he wouldn't sense or predict. But to him, we're like walking billboards. Especially me, I tr—"
Adrien cut her off by lifting her head and pressing his lips against hers, after a few seconds, he leaned back. "Did I ever say I didn't want you here?" Adrien asked.
"But—"
This time, he placed his index finger on her lips. The corner of her mouth slowly lifted into a smile.
"No buts, do you trust me?"
Adrien's finger was still resting against her lips, so Celia only nodded. Adrien then pulled his finger away, moved a few wet strands of hair from her forehead, and tucked them behind her ears.
He leaned in and kissed her.
--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>
Somewhere in Kuoh, Issei, Koneko, Kiba, and Saji were walking through the streets dressed in priest clothes they had borrowed from the two exorcists.
Their plan was simple. They would walk around town dressed like clergy and stay in places where there were not many people. Freed had been killing priests one after another, so they thought that if they acted like priests, they could wait for him to come after them.
Saji sighed. "Another useless day."
Suddenly, Kiba stopped walking.
"…Yuuto." From her voice alone, it was clear that Koneko had sensed something too.
A cold wave of fear washed over them. Suddenly, someone dropped down right in the middle of the four of them, leaving small cracks on the ground.
It was a young man with short white hair. In his right hand, he held a long sword-like weapon. His red eyes swept over the four of them in less than a second, then a smirk appeared on his face.
"God bless a group of wandering priests, yeah?!"
The tip of his sword sliced through the air and went straight for the throat of the tallest one among them.
CLANG!
Kiba blocked the attack with his demonic sword.
"Freed!" Issei shouted.
"—! That voice! Is that you, Issei?! Ha-ha-ha-ha! What a miraculous reunion! So, how is it? Has your dragon power gotten stronger yet? Can I kill you now?"
They all tore the clergy robes off their bodies.
"Boosted Gear! Boost!"
Everything happened in seconds. Kiba knocked Freed's sword upward with a parry. At the same time, Koneko and Issei moved in from both sides to flank him.
But Freed suddenly sped up out of nowhere. He jumped and threw out a split kick at both of them, even adjusting for the difference in their heights. Issei was hit right in the face, while Koneko raised her arms and blocked the kick, though the force still made her slide back.
Kiba thrust his demonic sword toward Freed's neck, but the tip of Freed's holy sword moved so fast it looked like it disappeared and reappeared an instant later. It crashed into Kiba's thrust with a downward vertical strike, and to everyone's shock, Kiba's demonic sword shattered into pieces.
"Not against my Excalibur!" Freed screamed.
Using that opening, he swung a diagonal upward slash. Kiba instantly leaned back and avoided the blade by a hair's breadth.
Koneko moved again. She gathered demonic energy into her hand and slammed it into the ground, using the full strength of a Rook. Shards of earth shot toward Freed in large numbers. Freed's eyes followed each shard one by one, and with incredible speed and precision, he deflected every single one.
"Extend, Line!'
What looked like a thick black tentacle shot out from Saji's arm and rushed straight toward Freed. A strange device shaped like a deformed lizard face had appeared on the back of Saji's hand, its mouth wide open.
Freed had just finished deflecting an attack, so he could not react in time to the one coming from behind him. The tentacle-like line wrapped tightly around his right foot.
Freed swung his sword again, trying to cut through the restraint, but the blade passed through it like it was slicing empty air. Clearly, Saji's attack had no physical form.
"What a pain!" Freed shouted.
"You're not cutting through it that easily! Kiba! He can't run now! Get him!"
"Boost!" Issei's Sacred Gear echoed.
Kiba rushed forward, charging straight at Freed with a new demonic sword in each hand.
"Tch! So you have more than just the Holy Eraser, huh?! Having several demonic swords means you have Sword Birth! Wow, you must be pretty sinful to have such a rare Sacred Gear!" Freed said with a wide grin. As a battle maniac, he was clearly enjoying himself.
Kiba swung both swords at the same time from opposite directions, trying to behead his oponent. Freed twisted his body and swung his sword at incredible speed, blocking both attacks. The Holy Sword clashed with the demonic swords and shattered them again. Kiba quickly jumped back and avoided an upward slash.
"Kiba! Do you want my power now?" Issei shouted.
"No! I can still fight!" Kiba snapped, and his voice made it clear he was irritated.
"Ha-ha! What's with the way you keep staring at my Excalibur like that? Do you hate it that much? Are you really that angry? I don't know what your problem is, but once this blade hits you, nothing will be left of you! You'll die! Dead!"
Freed jumped into the air, and as he came down at Kiba again, his body suddenly sped up in midair. He brought his sword down with all his strength. Kiba raised a demonic sword to block it, but it shattered again.
Koneko suddenly picked Issei up and threw him toward the two sword fighters.
"…Issei, go help Yuuto."
Whoosh!
"Aughhhhh! Konekooooo!" Issei screamed as he flew forward at high speed. "Kibaaaaa! Transferrrr! Nowwwwww!"
"What? Issei?!"
The moment Issei reached Kiba, he activated his Sacred Gear.
"Transfer!"
The moment Issei's dragon power was transferred to Kiba, demonic swords of every size and shape burst out from the ground, from the streetlamps, from everywhere around them.
Freed instantly slammed his holy sword into the ground beneath him, destroying the swords that were about to stab through his feet.
The moment a small opening appeared, Kiba grabbed one of the newly created demonic swords and vanished. Using different blades as footholds, he moved from place to place at incredible speed. Even so, Freed was still able to follow Kiba's movements.
Swoosh!
Kiba sent broadswords and falchions flying through the air, all aimed straight at Freed. As he jumped from one blade to another, Kiba pulled swords out from the ground and hurled them at Freed from every possible direction.
"Devil scum!"
Freed's eyes moved all over the place as he watched every sword flying straight at him, deflecting each one.
Clash! Clang! Ching!
Koneko moved into Freed's blind spot, grabbed a nearby car, and hurled it at him. Freed's eyes widened in a frenzy, but it was too late. The car smashed into him head-on, and both of them crashed into a nearby shop. It was the first clean hit they had landed on him.
"He's still alive!" Saji screamed.
Kiba jumped into the store through its broken window. Inside, it was dark. The car that had crashed into the shop was smoking heavily. Kiba walked in slowly.
Then suddenly, a sword was pressed against his neck from behind. Blood dripped from his neck, and a trail of smoke rose from the cut.
"Gotcha, bitch!"
Then Freed felt his energy drop a lot. He shifted his eyes to the black tentacle-like rope wrapped around his foot. A faint light was snaking down the length of that tongue, passing from Freed into Saji.
"Tsk!"
The lizard on Saji's arm suddenly pulled back its tongue, and Freed's foot was violently yanked backward. Kiba broke free and delivered a spinning kick to Freed's stomach.
Freed crashed into the wall of the shop and burst right through it, landing in the next street. Blood trickled from his mouth. He was badly injured. The car crash had burned him and broken a few of his ribs, and now the kick had hit him hard too.
But the grin never left his face.
"My Excalibur will lead me to victory!" he screamed.
He looked at his right foot again. That tentacle-like rope had been absorbing his power for a while now, and he was close to his limit.
"Heh! How's that?! This is my Sacred Gear, Absorption Line—the Pulse of the Black Dragon! As long as it's latched onto you, it'll keep stealing all your energy!"
Freed had already guessed that.
"…A dragon-type Sacred Gear?! What a nuisance!... but what if I do this?"
An old man had given Freed some kind of factor that helped him wield the Holy Sword in his hand, but it should not only do that, right? Freed moved that energy through his body until it reached his Holy Sword, using it like an external energy point. The Holy Sword glowed slightly.
Freed swung his sword, and this time it cut clean through Saji's rope.
Freed's grin widened even more, and he adjusted his grip on the hilt of his sword. Kiba did the same.
The two of them dashed at each other. Freed pulled a dagger from his waist and hurled it at Kiba, but Kiba kept moving forward and knocked it away. Koneko had already moved again and was chasing after Freed.
Then suddenly, a long blade shot out from the shop behind them. The blade kept stretching farther and farther, almost like it was made of rubber, and it flew forward at incredible speed.
Clang!
Freed's Holy Sword crashed against Kiba's Demonic Sword again and shattered it to pieces, but he did not have time to block the extending blade. It pierced through his side and burst out the other end tearing flesh out.
"AAAARGHHH!" he screamed.
Freed lost focus instantly. Kiba drove a punch into his wounded side, making him spit out even more blood.
Then suddenly, someone swept Freed's legs out from under him. He fell backward, and his head slammed hard against the asphalt.
In the next instant, three swords were pointed down at his neck.
Standing above him were Xenovia and Irina, each pointing a Holy Sword at him. Kiba's Demonic Sword was pressed against his neck, and a thin trail of blood ran down. Koneko was standing beside them too, holding a stop sign in her hand.
Xenovia looked at the Holy Sword in Freed's hand. "Excalibur Rapid. You must be very fast to keep up with it, Kiba. This blade boosts speed, flexibility, and senses to an abnormal level."
Kiba was panting as he looked down at Freed with intense hatred.
"So that's why he was way faster than last time," Issei said as he ran up to them with Saji beside him.
"Freed Sellzen, I will cut you down in the name of the Lord," Xenovia said.
"Ha! Don't say the name of that hateful God in front of me, bitch!" Freed spat out through heavy grunts.
"Any last words?" Koneko asked in her usual calm, unbothered tone.
Freed smirked. Then some kind of Luminous Ball rolled out from the sleeve of his jacket, and before anyone could react, he crushed it in his hand.
A blinding light exploded out from him, making everyone shut their eyes. By the time they could see again, Freed had disappeared.
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Characters that appeared in this chapter:
Adrien Agares
Celia Agares
Xenovia Quarta
Irina Shido
Koneko Toujou
Yuuto Kiba
Issei Hyoudou
Freed Sellzen
Genshirou Saji
Do ya'll prefer the long chapters or should I make them shorter?