Kuoh Academy, Kuoh City.
Currently, Kuoh Academy was enveloped by a large barrier in the form of a crystalline blue dome, a creation of Sona and her peerage.
The barrier had been formed because a battle that could decide the restart of the Great War was about to take place within Kuoh Academy.
Rias' peerage advanced through the school building, reaching the courtyard in the center of the school.
In the middle of the school, there were four swords emitting a tremendous amount of light while floating. With these swords at the center, a magic circle spread across the school.
At the center of the magic circle stood an elderly, short man with glasses, gray hair, a mustache, and black eyes, dressed in priestly robes.
This was Valper Galilei, the mastermind behind the holy sword project, who conducted human experiments on children, like Yuuto Kiba, to find individuals capable of wielding the seven pieces of Excalibur, eliminating those who could not. Because of this, he was excommunicated from the Church. Seeking revenge against the Church, he allied himself with the Fallen Angels.
"What is this?" Issei asked, confused, as the rest of Rias' peerage approached.
"I'm going to combine these four Excaliburs into one," Valper replied, as if he found it amusing.
"Valper, how long will it take for the Excaliburs to merge?" a voice asked.
When all the club members looked up, there was Kokabiel, with the moon as his backdrop. He was seated in a chair in the sky, looking down at them with his legs crossed and a confident expression.
"It won't take even five minutes, Kokabiel," the old man replied.
"Then that's that. I'll leave the rest to you."
Kokabiel turned his attention to Rias.
"Is Sirzechs coming? Or perhaps Serafall?"
"In place of Oni-sama and Leviathan-sama, we…"
With a snap of his fingers, the man conjured a massive spear of light. It was easily as large as a two-story building, and the energy emanating from it was incredible, powerful, and mesmerizing. Everyone immediately went on guard.
Then, with a swift motion of his hand, he sent the massive spear toward the gymnasium. The spear pierced through it quickly, infused with the powers of the Fallen Angels, exploding the gymnasium and making it vanish into nothing.
It was erased in seconds, leaving everyone pale at the sight. The spear of light was the only thing that remained, along with the massive crater it had created. Most people paled again at the sight of the spear.
Kokabiel rested his face in his hand, wearing a bored expression.
"Well, it seems the Paladin isn't here either. How dull," Kokabiel said, sighing.
What no one knew was that Gilgamesh was already there.
Seated atop the school building, Gilgamesh watched everything with amusement.
No one had noticed his presence, not even Kokabiel could sense him, and that was something Gilgamesh himself had orchestrated.
Using his Longinus [Telos Karma], Gilgamesh created a [Deflection] effect, making it so people couldn't see him or even sense his presence.
The moment someone looked at him and was about to notice his presence, the [Telos Karma] ability would activate, diverting their attention so they wouldn't perceive Gilgamesh.
It was as if he were hidden in another dimension where no one could sense him.
With this power, Gilgamesh could enter the battlefield and kill Kokabiel without anyone noticing—a frankly terrifying ability.
Gilgamesh essentially commanded his Sacred Gear to create a cause-and-effect scenario where all attention was diverted from him.
Though Gilgamesh had no interest in joining the battle just yet, after all, interesting things were about to happen in this fight, especially Kiba's demonic holy sword, which Gilgamesh wanted to see with his [Unlimited Weapons Works].
Gilgamesh could also sense the power of hundreds of Fallen Angels heading toward Kuoh, along with his friends moving to intercept them, as well as the thousands more hiding, awaiting Kokabiel's orders.
Gilgamesh's attention returned to Kokabiel, who began to speak.
"Now, I'll make you all fight my pet that I brought from hell. Keep me entertained for a while. I doubt you'll get through something like this, but it's always an amusing thought, to say the least."
Kokabiel snapped his fingers, a playful expression on his face.
Then, from the depths of the darkness, the sound of the ground rumbling approached. It was something that far exceeded the demons' expectations. Ten meters tall. It had a massive body. It had four legs, each one thick. Claws grew from each leg. Its eyes, glowing in the darkness, were red. From its mouth came dangerous-looking fangs. The fangs were close together, and from the gaps, white breaths escaped. The creature it most resembled was a dog, but this dog had three heads, all of them leaking fire from their mouths.
"Cerberus!" Rias said with a voice full of disgust.
"Cerberus?" Issei asked, uncertain.
"Yes. A famous creature known as the Guardian of the Gates of Hell."
"Guardian of Hell…?! So this dog is that terrifying of a monster?!"
"It lives at the gates of Hell, not in the Underworld. But to bring it to the human world…!"
"Is that bad?"
"We have to do this! We're going to blow it up, Issei!"
"Yes, Buchou, Sacred Gear!" Issei shouted as he summoned his Sacred Gear.
Shadows emerged around Issei, forming tentacles at his side, while white flames appeared in his hands, and a [Twice Critical] materialized on his right hand, doubling his power.
Gilgamesh gave a slight look of surprise at the fact that Issei could command three Sacred Gears.
"Issei, you'll protect us with your shadows," Rias said to Issei, who nodded.
Rias and Akeno quickly spread their demon wings, resembling bat wings, and flew above the Cerberus.
The Cerberus growled as one of its heads unleashed a massive jet of flames toward the two Devils.
"So naive," Akeno said with a malicious laugh.
Akeno advanced and quickly summoned a magic circle, creating a blizzard that completely froze the flames of the three-headed dog.
"Take this!" Rias shouted, appearing behind Akeno and firing a wave of her [Power of Destruction]. The impact was so immense that it destroyed everything it touched due to the nature of her demonic power.
Quickly, one of the Cerberus' heads unleashed another jet of flames against Rias' [Power of Destruction]. Not stopping there, the other two heads spewed additional waves of fire at Rias, who struggled to resist.
"Opening!" Koneko said as she leaped toward the Cerberus.
Koneko was enveloped in a dense orange aura, representing her Sacred Gear given by Gilgamesh, the [Variety Detonated].
Koneko swiftly advanced and punched the Cerberus' head. A massive explosion occurred as her aura struck the immense creature, forcing it to retreat.
This was the power of the Sacred Gear [Variety Detonated], which allowed its user to cause explosions wherever their aura touched.
"Take this too!" Akeno shouted, pointing her hand to the sky.
Thunder rumbled in the sky as a massive flash appeared in the form of a lightning bolt that struck the Cerberus at full speed.
The Cerberus recoiled as black blood oozed from its wounds and it growled.
The demons were already considering themselves victorious until a massive wave of darkness emerged from the ground. When it dissipated, another Cerberus was revealed.
"Another one?" Issei said, startled.
The second Cerberus quickly turned its attention to Issei and charged toward him.
Issei's eyes widened before he waved his hands, producing white flames from his Sacred Gear [Flame Shake] and firing them at the Cerberus.
Unfortunately, the flames didn't stop the Guardian of the Gates of Hell; in fact, it only charged at Issei with greater fury.
Issei summoned his shadows, which in a few movements became chains that momentarily bound the Cerberus.
"That's it!" Issei shouted joyfully, but his joy quickly faded.
In a swift motion, the Cerberus broke free from the shadow chains and advanced toward a startled Issei.
But before it could reach him, one of the Cerberus' heads was severed and disintegrated, to everyone's surprise. When the head was separated from the body, it turned to dust and vanished.
Everyone turned to see who had done it and saw Xenovia with her Excalibur Destruction in hand.
"I came to help," Xenovia said confidently.
After saying this, Xenovia sliced through the Cerberus' torso. The dog howled in pain, having lost one of its heads.
The Cerberus' torso split in two after receiving a fatal blow. Smoke rose, and the Cerberus began to vaporize. It was the effect of the Holy Sword.
"The strike of the Holy Sword. It deals critical damage to creatures," Akeno said, surprised.
Xenovia pierced the Cerberus' chest to finish it off. At that moment, the Cerberus' body turned to dust and disappeared.
Akeno and Rias, deciding to finish their enemy, maximized their powers, causing a crimson aura to envelop Rias and a yellow one to surround Akeno.
"Akeno!" Rias shouted.
"Yes! Thunder, resound!" Akeno said, raising her hand.
Akeno pointed her finger to the sky and began controlling the thunder. Her fingers were aimed at the Cerberus.
The Cerberus tried to move after sensing the thunder coming its way, but it was immobilized when countless blades pierced its legs! The swords were coming from the ground!
"I won't let you escape," a voice shouted, revealing Kiba using his Sacred Gear to create swords and trap the Cerberus.
The thunder struck the Cerberus after it lost its mobility, thanks to the demonic swords. The thunder was so massive it couldn't be compared to the previous one! It covered more than half the school!
The Cerberus' howl was drowned out by the sound, and its body was reduced to nothing by the thunder.
The moment the massive dog disappeared, Rias pointed her hand at Kokabiel!
"Take this, Kokabiel!" Rias shouted angrily.
A massive mass of demonic power shot from Rias' hand.
Gilgamesh shook his head in disapproval at the sight. If Rias had combined her power with her comrades, it would have been much better, but her arrogance got the better of her.
Kokabiel simply extended one of his hands.
"Is that it?"
He was blocking Rias' shot with just one hand. Gilgamesh saw that the light was in his hand, so it made sense now. He was pushing back Rias' power with his light, so he wasn't even really touching his palm.
Kokabiel looked at his palm toward the sky. The shot fired by Rias changed direction, soared into the sky, and disappeared.
"Pretty disappointing power, Gremory," Kokabiel said, earning an angry growl from Rias.
"… It's complete."
Perhaps because they were absorbed in the fight and didn't pay attention, Valper spoke, revealing that he had completed the four Excaliburs.
Then the four Excaliburs, placed at the center of the school, began to emit an incredible amount of light. Kokabiel started clapping.
"The four Excaliburs will become one," announced the Lord of the Stars of Grigori.
A divine light began to spread across the entire school grounds. Due to its brightness, most covered their faces with their hands, except for Gilgamesh, who stared at it all as if he didn't care.
When the brightness faded, there was a Holy Sword at the center of the school, emitting a bluish-white aura.
"Because of the light created when the Excaliburs merged, the magic on the ground was also completed. This city will be destroyed in less than 20 minutes. The only way to cancel this magic is to defeat Kokabiel," Valper announced, shocking everyone.
The magic circle spread across the entire school and began to glow and gather power.
Everyone was speechless. The city they lived in would explode in twenty minutes, and fighting Kokabiel was already difficult. Now they had a time limit, and it wasn't helping that the limit was so close.
"Freed!" Kokabiel called the name of the priest almost everyone hated.
"What's up, boss?"
A white-haired priest boy emerged from the darkness.
"Use the Excalibur in the circle. It'll be the final entertainment. Fight. And while you're at it, use the Excalibur that emerged from the fusion of the other four."
"Right, right. Geez. My boss sure knows how to use people recklessly. But I'm honored to be able to use Excalibur-chan, which has become marvelous! Something like that? Uhehehe! I'll just slice up some demons now!" Freed gave a sinister smile while holding the Excalibur.
Xenovia turned her gaze to Kiba.
"Hey, 'Knight' of Rias Gremory. If you're still up for it, let's destroy that Excalibur together."
"Will that be okay?"
Xenovia laughed when she heard Kiba.
"It won't be a problem if I collect the 'fragment' of Excalibur that's acting as the core. Since Freed is using it, that's a holy sword that isn't a holy sword. Even if it were a holy sword, it's like any other weapon. It changes depending on the person wielding it. That's a sword of heresy."
"Kukuku…"
Someone was laughing at their conversation. It was Valper.
"Valper Galilei. I'm a survivor of the Holy Sword Project. No. I'm someone who was killed by you, to be more precise. I kept living because I was reborn as a demon."
Kiba said to Valper calmly. But his eyes were filled with flames of hatred. Depending on Valper's response, this could become a very tense situation.
"Hou. A survivor of that project. What a misfortune. To meet you in a country like this. It's fate, fufufu," the old man said with an arrogant laugh.
"Understand, I love Holy Swords. I love them so much they appear in my dreams. Probably because I was fascinated by the legend of Excalibur since I was a child. That's why when I found out I couldn't wield Excalibur, I fell into despair."
Valper suddenly began talking about his life. Gilgamesh sighed; he didn't come here to listen to the stories of foolish old men. Gilgamesh was almost opening his [Gate of Babylon] against the man.
"I admired those who could wield it, since I could never do so. That feeling became so strong that I began conducting experiments to create those who could wield it. And so it's complete, thanks to you and the others."
"What? Complete? You discarded us after finding out we were failures."
Kiba raised his eyebrows in doubt.
"They weren't discarded because they ended up being failures?" Xenovia asked. But Valper shook his head.
"I realized that a specific factor was needed to wield Holy Swords. So I used the numerical value of these 'factors' to investigate their potential. Many of the test subjects had the 'elements,' but they didn't have the numerical value necessary to wield Excalibur. So I came to a conclusion. Is there a way to extract the elements and combine them?"
"I see. I understand now. What's placed inside the user of the Holy Sword when they receive a blessing is…"
"That's right, holy sword wielder girl. We extracted the holy elements from those who had them and crystallized them."
Valper pulled out an orb emitting light.
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