At Kuoh Academy, Rias stared down the Fallen Angel cadre who had materialized before her, taking a deep, steadying breath.
Around the perimeter, members of the Student Council worked frantically to construct a barrier, preventing the inevitable battle's aftermath from spreading beyond the school grounds.
"Rias, don't be reckless! I've already contacted Takeyo, we just need to hold out a little longer."
Sona glanced at her childhood friend, immediately recognizing that look in Rias's eyes. The Gremory heiress was ready to charge straight at Kokabiel.
Sona's strategy was simple: stall. Even if they had to talk Kokabiel's ear off, they just needed to wait for Takeyo to arrive. With his ability to completely dominate Riser Phenex, even if he couldn't outright defeat a Fallen Angel cadre, he could certainly hold his ground until Lord Sirzechs arrived.
Akeno had already sent a distress signal to Sirzechs moments ago.
What Sona didn't know was that neither Sirzechs nor Serafall would be coming.
Serafall had just barely escaped from Takeyo with her strength recently recovered, she'd be no match for Kokabiel in her current condition.
As for Sirzechs, after reading Akeno's report, he had only one thought: 'You want me to go somewhere Takeyo is heading? Are you kidding me?'
If this were an opponent at the peak Maou level, he'd go personally out of concern that Takeyo's injuries might worsen. But Kokabiel's level? Please. At minimum, it would take someone like Baraqiel or Shemhaza to warrant his direct intervention.
Though he'd received Akeno's plea for help, he had no intention of moving. His reinforcements would arrive in about an hour, and Takeyo should have things wrapped up well before then.
He'd already reviewed Ajuka's ability analysis report on the boy, after all.
Back at Kuoh Academy, Rias's voice was firm with resolve. "Sona, consider this my being selfish. Everyone else is fighting, I can't just stand here and watch."
Right now, Father Freed, having obtained fragments of Excalibur, was battling Xenovia and Kiba, who'd drawn Durandal. Koneko and Akeno were engaged with the three-headed hellhound Cerberus.
If at all possible, she wanted to fight too.
Perhaps it was because she'd recently ascended to High-Class Devil status, but Rias found herself eager to test her newfound abilities. Her attribute of Destruction magic power gave her a significant advantage in combat, often allowing her to fight above her weight class, far beyond what she'd been capable of as an Upper-Class Devil.
"Sona... my strength has improved quite a bit recently."
As she spoke, Rias manifested an overwhelmingly powerful magic circle.
"Haaaaaa!"
With a slight smile, she hurled a concentrated sphere of destructive magic at Kokabiel.
The Fallen Angel cadre, who'd been lounging on his throne of light watching the chaos unfold like theater, frowned as he saw the purest ball of destruction magic suddenly rushing toward him.
His throne vanished instantly as Kokabiel used his ten black wings to shield himself.
BOOM!
When the storm of energy cleared, Kokabiel examined his wings and noticed several feathers had been completely obliterated. He blinked in surprise.
Then,
A booming laugh erupted from him.
"HAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHA!"
"Rias Gremory! Sister of Sirzechs! You've been hiding quite the trump card! I never expected you to possess such strength!"
"You've surpassed the Upper-Class level, you're at the High-Class Devil tier now! Magnificent! Truly magnificent!"
Sensing Rias's true power, Kokabiel didn't feel threatened, instead, he felt unprecedented joy.
Ah, I haven't felt this alive in so long! This thrill of combat! This excitement of impending war!
"Rias! You... you didn't tell me..."
Sona stared at her best friend in shock, completely blindsided by this revelation.
Aren't we supposed to be close? You got promoted and didn't even mention it? Also, if you had this kind of strength, you wouldn't have struggled so much against Riser recently! Which means... you gained this power just in the past few days?
"I'll explain everything once this is over, Sona. Right now, the priority is dealing with this Fallen Angel."
Rias faced Kokabiel with steely determination.
She could already tell her attack hadn't caused any real damage, this would be a tough battle.
"Minister Rias! Let me help you!"
From outside the barrier, a brown-haired young man burst through and charged into Kuoh Academy. The aura of an immensely powerful dragon radiated from his body, he was practically a dragon in human form.
"Issei! Perfect timing!"
Issei, who'd been separated from Kiba earlier, had noticed the disturbance at Kuoh Academy and rushed over immediately.
"Minister Rias is my boss's woman! As his underling, I've got to protect the lady of the house!"
"Boosted Gear!"
Hearing Issei's declaration, Rias nodded with satisfaction. This kid knows how to talk.
Sona, however, cast a cold glance his way. Can't this idiot speak properly? Doesn't he see who the actual head wife is?
In truth, Issei had noticed, he could tell that Sona seemed to be in the primary position. After all, Rias carried a much heavier aura of "Boss Takeyo" about her than Sona did.
But Issei didn't concern himself with such politics.
"You bastard Fallen Angel! You're the enemy! How dare you interrupt Kiba's battle! Let's go, Ddraig!"
[Yeah!]
Ddraig responded with tremendous momentum.
This was indeed an excellent training opportunity. To distinguish victory from that white-scaled bastard, it was necessary to train against opponents of this caliber first.
[Welsh Dragon Balance Breaker!]
[Balance Breaker: Scale Mail of the Red Dragon Emperor!]
With a surge of crimson aura, the Red Dragon Emperor's armor encased Issei's body.
"Oh? Isn't this the Sekiryuutei? There really are many interesting characters gathered in this small town!"
Kokabiel's excitement intensified.
For a battle maniac like him, the stronger the opponent, the more exhilarating the fight. As long as they weren't at the level of the God of the Bible, his will to battle would never waver.
"Alright! Issei, lend me your strength!"
Rias's eyes blazed with fighting spirit.
Kokabiel wants to use Kuoh Academy as an altar to restart the Great War, that's something I absolutely cannot allow!
"Come then! The Crimson-Haired Ruin Princess and the Sekiryuutei! Please me to your heart's content!"
Facing Rias and Issei, Kokabiel's excitement reached its peak.
"Looks like things are getting pretty intense."
Takeyo arrived at Kuoh Academy at a leisurely pace.
He'd timed his arrival carefully, after all, he needed to wait for Kiba to awaken his Balance Breaker.
"Sona, good work. You can drop the barrier now."
He approached Sona, who was maintaining the defensive perimeter, and gently patted her head.
At the same time, his other hand extended outward as countless magic circles instantly materialized, completely covering Kuoh Academy in a far more powerful barrier.
"Takeyo, you should go inside first, Rias and the others are fighting the Fallen Angel cadre right now!"
Sona startled for a moment, enjoying the sensation of his touch for a few seconds before snapping back to attention.
Cough... though Takeyo's head pats feel really nice, I can't betray my best friend by getting distracted like this. She quickly spoke up, trying to redirect his attention to the urgent situation.
Sona's thoughts were quite naive, she had no idea that her best friend had already "betrayed" her first.
"I know. Everyone can take a break now. With my barrier in place, there won't be any problems."
Takeyo addressed the rest of the Student Council members.
"Yes, sir."
Tsubaki responded with perfect servitude.
From her observations, Takeyo had a very high probability of becoming her master's partner, essentially already the male head of household, so she used the appropriate etiquette.
"Don't be so formal, Tsubaki. Wait a moment, I'll have this wrapped up quickly."
Takeyo patted Tsubaki's shoulder with a smile.
"Y-yes... May fortune favor you in battle."
Tsubaki, caught off-guard by his sudden touch, trembled slightly before suppressing her reaction and offering traditional well-wishes.
"I'll head in now."
Seeing Tsubaki's response, Takeyo smiled and stepped lightly into the academy.
He'd already completed today's daily sign-in the moment he first made contact with Tsubaki.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations to the host for completing the daily location check-in! Sign-in level: Silver!]
[Sign-in location: Tsubaki Shinra]
[Congratulations to the host for receiving the reward: Divine Protection, Blood Enhancement!]
[Divine Protection, Blood Enhancement: The more injuries you sustain or blood you shed, the greater your combat power bonus becomes!]
Not a bad protection ability. Should be quite useful in prolonged battles.
Though... it seemed this particular blessing would have minimal effect on him currently. For opponents capable of actually injuring him, Takeyo usually preferred to instantly escalate his power level and obliterate them with overwhelming force, rather than letting himself get hurt to gradually build up combat bonuses through blood loss.
As soon as he entered the academy grounds, he spotted the souls gathered around Kiba.
"Oh? Has it already started?"
Those were the souls of Kiba's fallen comrades from the Holy Sword Project.
They chanted gentle hymns, sacred verses that could purify the soul and spread to touch everyone's hearts.
Intense longing and overwhelming emotion reversed the direction of fate itself.
He had successfully reached the forbidden realm through the Holy Sword factor casually tossed to him by Valper Galilei.
Balance Breaker!
[Sword Birth: Sword of Betrayer, Holy Demonic Swords of the Fallen!]
A black and white blade manifested in Kiba's hands, a sword imbued with the power to crush worlds, forged together with his departed companions.
"Kiba! Excellent work! Now finish off Freed for me!"
Takeyo cheered him on.
He hadn't forgotten that he still had two sign-in opportunities available with Kiba, one of the reasons he'd delayed his arrival.
Otherwise, he would've shown up the moment Irina was healed.
"Yes! Takeyo-san!"
Kiba also noticed Takeyo's arrival.
It seems things are essentially settled now. I just need to give my all and shatter this holy sword!
"Hehe! So Brother Kiba wants to duel me, a super-powerful holy sword user who's been gifted a four-in-one Excalibur package? That's really..."
Freed licked his lips, his perverse nature on full display.
"...really exciting! Come on, Brother Kiba! Let my superior Excalibur-chan smash that sword of yours!"
As Freed finished speaking, he collided with Kiba at astonishing speed.
Unfortunately for him, the Holy Demonic Sword, which incorporated both holy and demonic power, was incomparable to his incomplete Excalibur.
"What?! A Holy Demonic Sword?! How can such a thing even exist?!"
Valper clutched his head, his mind unable to comprehend what he was witnessing.
"Oh! So that's how it works!"
After pushing his brain's calculations to the absolute limit, he finally understood.
"I see now! As long as the balance between holy and demonic power exists, that means not just the Four Great Satans, but even God, "
THUNK!
Before he could finish his sentence, a light spear thrown casually by Kokabiel pierced straight through him.
Without the slightest suspense, the human researcher was instantly killed by the massive lance of light.
"Valper, you really were quite useful."
After twisting his neck to crack it, Kokabiel offered his praise to the fallen scientist.
Then, exactly as Takeyo had expected, Kokabiel spoke the words that would shake the supernatural world.
"That's right! In the last Great War, not only did the Four Original Satans fall, even the God of the Bible died!"
☆☆☆
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