"Two"
Kokabiel created multiple overlapping magic-circle barriers in front of himself. The dragon rushed toward him, its jaws wide open, tearing across the battlefield and sweeping everything in its path.
BOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!
The explosion sent a massive shockwave through the entire area. Violent winds blasted across the school grounds, forcing everyone to shield their eyes and struggle to keep their balance.
"One."
Issei dropped to his knees, breathing heavily, his face deathly pale. The Scale Mail armor around his body had vanished completely.
Rias and Sona stood in front of him, both staring ahead at the destruction their attack had caused.
"Did we… do it?" Rias muttered under her breath.
"As if." Kokabiel appeared between the two of them like a bolt of black lightning. "You really thought you had a chance of beating me?" he asked, almost amused.
Both of them froze instantly. Kokabiel reached out and caught a lock of Rias's crimson hair, slowly twirling it around his finger.
"You're both strong. I'll give you that. But this? This is nowhere near enough."
Then he grabbed a fistful of Rias's hair and yanked her toward him.
"ARGH!" Rias cried out as her face was pulled close to his.
Sona spun around to attack, but Kokabiel caught her by the face and lifted her off the ground with one hand. Holy energy wrapped around his hand at once, and Sona let out a scream as the burning force scorched her face and melted her skin.
"AAAARGHH!" she cried in pain, struggling against his grip.
"It's complete," Valper's voice rang out.
At that moment, the four Excaliburs floating in the middle of the schoolyard released a tremendous burst of light.
"And just like that, five Excaliburs become one," Kokabiel said with a smirk.
The burning divine light of the swords spread across the entire area as the five Holy Swords overlapped. Then the blazing glow slowly faded, revealing that only a single Holy Sword remained, wrapped in a bluish-white aura.
"Now that the five Excaliburs have become one, the technique is complete," Valper declared. "This entire town will be destroyed in ten minutes. And the only way to stop it… is to defeat Kokabiel himself!"
"Freed," Kokabiel called, his voice light and amused.
The white-haired exorcist had been locked in battle with Kiba, but little by little, he was starting to get pushed back. The Holy Sword he had been using earlier had still been in the middle of the fusion process, so he had not been able to fight at full power.
"Yeah, boss?" Freed replied, grinning like an idiot.
"Go on. Pick up your new sword. Let's make this last act a little more entertaining. Show me what you can do with all five Excaliburs fused into one. Valper go bring me some popcorn."
"Of course my Lord!"
"Right, right, I got it," Freed said, rolling his shoulders. "Man, you really do love ordering people around, don't you? Ah, whatever! Using some super-amazing Excalibur like that to carve up a bunch of demon trash? Now that sounds fun!"
The sword Valper created was not a simple fusion. It was a forced convergence of four Excalibur fragments into one unstable Holy Sword. Speed, illusion, shapeshifting, invisibility, and destruction were all compressed into a single blade, turning it into a weapon with no clear pattern and almost no openings.
Kiba shifted his gaze around the battlefield, his eyes trembling. All his comrades were laid defeated, his eyes landed on his Master, who's hair was still being pulled by the Fallen Angel, anger flashed across his eyes.
Freed grabbed the sword, and the bluish-white aura spread through his body. The exorcist grinned like a devil.
Then he dashed forward at incredible speed. To Kiba, it almost looked like he vanished and reappeared in the next instant. Freed swung his new sword down at him.
Kiba blocked the attack and twisted his body, already expecting his demonic sword to shatter. Just as he thought, it broke apart. But at the same time, he created another sword in his free hand and slashed at Freed's side.
CRACK!
Suddenly, the Holy Sword's blade thickened to an absurd degree, and Freed used it like a shield to block the counterattack. Kiba's second sword shattered as well.
Then Freed stepped between Kiba's legs and threw off his balance.
Kiba tried to steady himself, but Freed shoved him again and thrust his sword forward. Kiba leaned back to avoid it, but the blade suddenly stretched like rubber.
Kiba tried to shift his body and dodge, but the attack still cut across his face, leaving a thin burning slash that instantly began to spread. It was Excalibur Destruction's special ability that unleashed pure destructive power. Anything it touched could be broken apart with terrifying ease.
Kiba was still standing, half his face was burnt off and even bone was showing in some places, his left eye was gone and so were his lips and half his nose, but he was still standing.
"YUTOOO!" Rias screamed, tears filling her eyes. One more hit like that, and Kiba might not survive.
Issei tried to force himself up, but Kokabiel stepped on him again and pinned him to the ground. Sona had already lost consciousness, her face badly burned. Rias herself was on the ground, barely able to move, while Kokabiel held her by the hair and forced her to watch. She knew that if she tried to attack him now, he would kill her before she could do anything. Koneko had been down since the very beginning. Akeno was also out of Demonic Power and badly injured. Xenovia had regained consciousness, but she was still hanging upside down on the cross, a grim look on her face.
So Kiba stood alone on the battlefield, his one remaining eye fixed on Freed and the Excalibur in his hand.
Suddenly, Freed dashed forward and began circling around him at incredible speed. To Kiba, it looked as if six Freeds were running around him at once. Then all of them attacked at the same time, each one striking from a different direction with a different swing.
Kiba chose the wrong one and moved to block it—
"Too bad," Freed's voice came from behind him.
WHOOOOSH!
An invisible projectile shot through both of Freed's arms at the same time.
Kiba's eyes widened as he saw a figure with long silver hair flash past him at incredible speed, so fast he only caught a silver blur, and a sword sliced straight for Freed's neck.
Freed gritted his teeth and leaned back at the last second. The tip of the blade still cut a thin line across his forehead. The girl did not stop there. Using the momentum of her swing, she twisted her body and drove a spinning kick into Freed's side.
Bang!
Freed was blasted away, his body bouncing across the ground before he rolled to a stop.
A tall girl, around 177 cm, stood in front of Kiba. Her long silver hair reached all the way to her waist and flowed down her back like a curtain. She wore light black armor that fit close to her body—the same one Xenovia and Irina wore—and in her hand was Excalibur Rapid.
Kiba stared at her back for a second, still shocked by how suddenly she had appeared.
Freed slowly pushed himself up, a crooked grin spreading across his face despite the blood running down from his forehead.
"Oho? A new girl?" he said, laughing under his breath.
Kokabiel shot her a curious glance, then his gaze shifted between the fused Excalibur and Excalibur Rapid in her hands. Valper, who was walking toward the Fallen Angel with a bag of popcorn, also noticed what was happening.
Freed was the last one to notice, even though he used to wield that sword.
"My name is Mary Leroy, and in the name of the Lord, I will cut you down, Kokabiel," she said coldly.
"Mary! What are you doing?!" Xenovia shouted.
"The plan has already failed. He did not just fuse the three Holy Swords he had, he fused yours and Irina's as well. Like I promised, I will be the last line of defense, now that neither of you can fight anymore."
"He'll kill you. He'll cut you to pieces!"
Mary ignored Xenovia's warning and looked back at Kiba. "Can you still fight, Devil?"
Kiba nodded slowly. The two of them turned their eyes toward Freed. He had already pulled out the invisible projectile that had pierced his arm.
"We kill those two traitors first," Mary said coldly. "Then we move on to Kokabiel."
Kiba looked slightly taken aback. He had not expected an exorcist like her to ask him—a Devil—to fight by her side.
Apparently, she had read his thoughts. "Let's just say I once met a Devil who changed the way I see your kind."
Her silver eyes shifted toward Kokabiel, who was eating popcorn and watching everything as if he were sitting in a cinema.
"Kokabiel doesn't look interested in interfering," she said. "He just wants us to fight and entertain him until the countdown runs out."
Several thoughts flashed through Kiba's mind. How did she know about the ten-minute countdown? How long had she been watching? But he pushed those questions aside, walked over to her, and took his place beside her.
"Who's that old man?" Kiba asked.
"That's Valper Galilei," Mary replied. "He was the one in charge of the Holy Sword Project."
"THAT'S HIM!?" Kiba's anger flared up at once, drowning out the pain that had been screaming through his body.
"Heh-heh-heh-heh…," came a chortling voice at Kiba and Mary's exchange, It was Valper.
"Valper Galilei. I am the sole survivor of the Holy Sword Project. No, strictly speaking, you murdered me. But I was reborn as a demon." Kiba's voice as he addressed Valper was calm, but his eyes raged with hatred.
"Oh, so you're the survivor?" Valper said with a crooked smile. "What a strange coincidence, meeting you again all the way out here in the East. Perhaps fate really does have a sense of humor. Heh-heh-heh-heh."
"You see, I love Holy Swords," Valper continued, sounding almost like he was telling an old story. "I love them so much that I even dream about them. When I was young, nothing moved me more than the legend of Excalibur. So you can imagine my despair when I learned that I had no talent for wielding a Holy Sword myself."
His grin widened.
"And because I could not use them, I became obsessed with finding someone who could. That is why I devoted my entire life to that goal. And now, at last, that dedication has borne fruit. I owe it all to you… and to the other test subjects."
"What?" Kiba demanded, his brow tightening in anger and disbelief. "You completed it? After throwing all of us away as failures?"
Valper slowly shook his head.
"I had already realized that a certain Factor was needed to properly wield a Holy Sword," he said. "The purpose of that project was to measure how much of it was required to ensure compatibility. Almost all of the test subjects possessed that Factor, but none of them had it in a sufficient amount."
His smile deepened.
"So when I reached that dead end, I came up with another idea. If one person did not have enough, then I would simply combine the Factors extracted from multiple people."
Mary's teeth clenched.
"I see… so that's what it was," she said, her voice tight with disgust, "That thing Holy Sword wielders receive when they are given their blessing… that was it."
"Exactly, my little swordswoman," Valper replied. "What you received was the crystallized essence of that Factor, extracted from countless donors."
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If we reach 150 power stones I'll drop another chapter today.
Characters that appeared in this chapter:
Kokabiel
Freed Sellzen
Valper Galilei
Rias Gremory
Yuuto Kiba
Sona Sitri
Issei Hyoudou
Mary Leroy
Xenovia Quarta