Chapter 22: The Speed of the Sword and the White Divide
The battlefield was a storm of static and holy residue. While the others recovered their breath, Yuuto Kiba became a blur of silver light. His speed had transcended the limits of a standard Knight; he was no longer just running; he was flickering through space. Every time he moved, he left behind a trail of after-images that confused even Kokabiel's six-winged perception.
Kiba's blades—manifested through the souls of his fallen comrades—clashed against the light spears with a sharp, metallic ring. He moved like a dance of death, spinning through the air, his feet barely touching the cracked concrete before he launched himself again. His eyes were fixed on the goal: the destruction of the synthetic Excaliburs. With every stroke of his Demonic Eraser, the air screamed as holy magic was unmade. It was a masterpiece of kinetic violence; a Knight finally reclaiming the pride that had been stolen in the dark.
Kokabiel: "So fast! But speed is nothing against the weight of a star!"
Kokabiel roared, unleashing a barrage of spears. Akeno stepped in, her priestess robes fluttering. Her holy lightning struck from the heavens, intercepting the spears in a series of blinding explosions. She wasn't just supporting; she was raging. Her lightning was more violent than usual, fueled by the sight of Motohamaru bleeding in the dirt.
Akeno: "You will not touch them again, Fallen Angel! Feel the strike of the thunder!"
The Internal Void
While the sky burned, Motohamaru drifted in a cold, silent space. His stomach felt like ice, and his breathing was a distant echo. Crom Cruach's massive eye loomed over him in the darkness of his subconscious.
Crom Cruach: "Look at you. Broken and leaking. Your nobility is crying out, Motohamaru. Your bloodline is humming in the face of death, yet you still haven't realized what you are."
Motohamaru: [Internal] 'Shut up... just... keep me awake. I need to see how this ends.'
Crom Cruach: "The Devil nobility you carry isn't just a title. It's a legacy of shadows. If you survive this, I will tell you the name of the house that was erased from history—the family that even the Four Satans feared to mention. But for now, watch. The real monster has arrived."
The Vanishing Dragon
Suddenly, the pressure on the battlefield didn't just increase; it vanished. The air became thin, and a chilling silence settled over the academy. Kokabiel stopped laughing. Rias and Akeno looked up, their eyes widening in terror.
A figure descended from the moon, encased in white, sleek armor that gleamed with an iridescent light. Blue wings of energy sprouted from his back, and the atmosphere itself seemed to shrink away from him.
[DIVIDE!] [DIVIDE!] [DIVIDE!]
With every pulse of the armor's voice, Kokabiel's massive aura was cut in half, the energy literally vanishing into thin air.
Kokabiel: "You... The Vanishing Dragon! Vali!"
Vali: [His voice distorted and cold through the helmet] "Kokabiel. You've made a lot of noise for someone so weak. The Governor-General sent me to collect you. You're a nuisance to the peace."
In a move that even Kiba couldn't track, Vali appeared in front of Kokabiel. A single punch sent the six-winged General crashing through the school building. The power gap was so immense it made the previous battle look like a children's game.
Rias: "The White Dragon Emperor... Albion."
Vali turned his head slightly, his gaze falling on the crater where Motohamaru lay.
Vali: "An Evil Dragon's host? And a survivor of a 'Dead House'? Interesting. I'll be watching you, Motohamaru. Don't die before I find a reason to fight you."
With a flick of his wrist, Vali gathered the broken Kokabiel and vanished into a magic circle, leaving the ORC in the wreckage of a battle they had barely survived.
The barrier fell, but the silence that followed was heavier than the war. As Vali vanished into the moonlit sky with the broken Kokabiel, the adrenaline that had kept Motohamaru upright simply evaporated. Asia and Irina, barely standing themselves, rushed toward the crater where he lay, but they were intercepted by a wall of crimson and violet pressure.
Rias and Akeno didn't speak. Their faces were masks of pale, focused determination as they lifted Motohamaru's limp body.
Crom Cruach: [Inside Motohamaru's fading mind] "The debt is collected, boy. I told you I wasn't a thief, but I am a businessman. I'll take the fingers now to seal the contract for that 'Booster' you summoned. You're on your own... I can't hold your heart together any longer."
The dragon's power retreated like a receding tide, leaving behind a sharp, agonizing void. On Motohamaru's right hand, the two fingers he had sacrificed didn't just break—they were consumed by the draconic aura, leaving behind a hand that looked scarred and alien.
The Restricted Zone
Motohamaru was taken not to a hospital, but to a private recovery wing in the Gremory estate. Rias personally hung the sign on the door: "SPECIAL CARE RESTRICTED. NO ENTRY." Even Asia, whose healing was the best in the group, was barred from entering. Rias claimed it was to prevent "magical interference," but her eyes told a different story.
She wanted him all to herself.
For the first two days, Motohamaru drifted in a coma. Whenever Rias left to handle the political fallout with the Student Council, Akeno would slip into the room like a shadow. She sat by the bed, her usual "Ara, ara" mask discarded. She traced the lines of his face, her fingers trembling slightly.
Akeno: [In a whisper, leaning close to his ear] "Thank you for saving me... you reckless little devil. You took a hit that would have ended me... why?"
She didn't wait for an answer. She pressed a hand to his chest, channeling a strange, purifying energy into his body—not to heal the flesh, but to stabilize the dragon's curse—before slipping out just as Rias returned.
The King's Guilt
When the door clicked shut, Rias approached the bed. She looked at Motohamaru's right hand—at the missing fingers and the draconic scales that refused to fade.
Rias: "You idiot... how much of a blow can you even take? I thought you were the 'Refined' one. I thought you would manage on your own..."
She scolded herself silently, the guilt eating at her. She had relied on his competence so much that she had forgotten he was still her Pawn, still someone she was supposed to protect. She climbed onto the bed, snuggling close to his unconscious form, burying her face in his shoulder.
Rias: "I don't know what I'm going to do with you, Motohamaru. You've sacrificed too much for me."
She pressed a soft kiss to his cheek and tried to use her Power of Destruction to "shave" away the draconic deformity on his hand, but the energy resisted her.
Rias: "I'll have to ask Akeno... she understands these seals better than I do."
The Awakening
Hours later, the room was bathed in the orange glow of sunset. Motohamaru's eyes flickered open. The first thing he felt was the heavy, warm weight of Rias fast asleep against his side, her red hair spread across his chest like a silk blanket.
He looked at his right hand.
Motohamaru: [Internal] The fingers... they're back?
Visually, his hand was perfect. The scales were gone, and his fingers were intact, though he could feel a strange, humming heat beneath the skin—a "Small Booster Gear" that could now manifest at a thought. It wasn't the massive gauntlet Issei wore, but a concentrated, hand-sized engine of amplification.
He realized then that the air in the room smelled faintly of ozone—Akeno's signature.
Motohamaru: (Thinking) Rias is sleeping like she's been through a war herself... but Akeno. She did something while I was under. Something she didn't want the President to see.
Crom Cruach: "The Priestess used her lightning to cauterize the dragon's seal. She hid the evidence of your sacrifice from the King's eyes. You've got two women fighting over your soul, boy. I hope your 'Refined' brain can handle the aftermath."
Motohamaru let out a tired sigh, resting his head back and closing his eyes, enjoying the warmth of the sleeping King while the mystery of his own survival deepened.