The church burned.
Kokabiel's army hit Kuoh Academy at nightfall - two hundred fallen angels descending like a plague of black wings. They came with light spears and hatred, centuries of grievances compressed into a single assault.
And we were waiting for them.
"Barrier holding," Sona's voice crackled through the communication link. Her peerage had erected a multi-layered shield around the academy - a dome of interlocking defensive spells that made the air shimmer. "Barely."
"Make it hold," Rias commanded. She stood at the center of the academy courtyard, crimson hair whipping in the wind, Power of Destruction coiling around her fingers. "Akeno, aerial support. Koneko, protect Asia. Xenovia, Irina - with me."
"What about us?" Kiba asked.
Rias's eyes met mine. "You two break their formation. Carve a path to Kokabiel."
Kiba's Balance Breaker flared to life - holy and demonic swords manifesting in perfect formation around him. His eyes were cold. Focused.
Ready for Valper.
"Together," I said.
"Always."
We moved.
The fallen angels swarmed the barrier like locusts.
Light spears hammered against the shields in continuous waves, each impact sending ripples through the defensive lattice. Sona's peerage held their positions, sweat beading on foreheads, magic straining against sheer numbers.
[COMBAT STATUS]
Enemies: 200+ Fallen Angels
Barrier: Holding (barely)
Alliances: ORC + Sitri + Exorcists
Ritual: 90% complete
```
Kiba and I carved through the horde.
The first wave met us at the eastern gate - thirty fallen in a tight formation, coordinated and vicious. Kiba's swords sang through the air, each blade finding its mark with mechanical precision. I followed in his wake, Enhanced Analysis tracking enemy positions, predicting movements, turning the battlefield into a chessboard I could read.
"Efficient," the Fragment noted. "You fight well together."
We do.
A fallen angel lunged from my blind spot. I pivoted, caught his spear on my forearm, and drove a light lance through his chest. The kill was clean. Professional.
Satisfying.
That thought isn't mine.
Too late to worry about it now.
"Push forward," Kiba called. His swords rotated - a grinding wheel of holy steel that shredded anything in its path. "I can feel him. Valper. He's near the ritual site."
"We're coming."
Akeno's lightning arced overhead, turning the night sky white. Fallen angels screamed and fell, their wings burning. She laughed - that familiar, terrible sound - and the thunder answered.
"Ara ara, there's so many~"
More lightning. More screaming.
The barrier flickered. Recovered. Flickered again.
We needed to end this fast.
The ritual site sat at the heart of the old church - a clearing surrounded by collapsed walls and desecrated ground. Kokabiel stood at its center, three Excalibur fragments floating around him in a slow orbit. Holy energy crackled between them, weaving together into something greater.
Something dangerous.
"Ninety percent," I breathed. "The fusion's almost complete."
"Then we stop it." Kiba's voice held no doubt. "We stop him."
We charged.
Kokabiel didn't even turn. "Children. Always children, rushing to their deaths."
A wall of fallen angels materialized between us and the ritual. Elite guards - stronger, faster, better trained than the fodder outside. They formed a shield wall, light spears at the ready.
Kiba's Balance Breaker tore through the first rank. Holy swords impaled three, demonic blades bisected two more. He moved like vengeance given form, grace and fury intertwined.
I followed his lead, but the Fragment was already calculating.
"Twelve enemies remaining. Four approaching from the left flank. Suggest - "
The vision hit without warning.
PSYCHIC ASSAULT: THE WATCHER
Rias. In my arms. Dying.
Blood on my hands - her blood. Her eyes, those crimson eyes I loved, dimming. Fading. Going dark.
No.
"Your fault," the Watcher whispered. "You brought this on her. You brought death to everyone you love."
I couldn't breathe. Couldn't move. The battlefield vanished, replaced by endless darkness and Rias's cooling body.
"Love makes you weak. 7 days, Ryder Cross."
The mark on my wrist seared with pain. Fire lancing up my arm, through my shoulder, into my skull.
[ECHO SPIKE: 48%]
[Integration threshold approaching]
[Behavioral deviation: CRITICAL]
"NO!" I screamed - externally and internally.
Pushed the vision away. Clawed back to reality through sheer, desperate will.
The battlefield reformed around me. Enemies. Allies. The ritual pulsing with unholy light.
But something was wrong.
The satisfaction of violence felt stronger than before. The contempt for my enemies, the desire to hurt them - not just stop them, but hurt them - burned in my chest like wildfire.
Dohnaseek's precision. Riser's cruelty. Both echoing through my synapses.
"Stay in control," the Fragment commanded. "You are losing coherence."
"I'm trying!"
"Try harder. Or you will lose everything here."
A fallen angel lunged. I caught his throat, crushed, threw the body aside. No thought. Pure instinct.
That wasn't me.
But it was. Partially. Increasingly.
Kiba appeared at my side. "Ryder - your eyes - "
"I know." My voice came out harsh. Wrong. "Keep moving. I'm fine."
I wasn't fine. But we didn't have time for fine.
We broke through the last line of guards as the fusion reached ninety-five percent.
Kokabiel finally turned. Ten wings spread wide, each feather radiating killing intent. His smile was a wound in reality.
"Persistent little insects." He gestured, and the Excalibur fragments blazed brighter. "You're too late. The fusion cannot be stopped."
"We're not here for the sword," Kiba said. His voice shook - not with fear, but rage barely contained. "Where is Valper?"
"Ah. The survivor." Kokabiel's grin widened. "Galilei! Come greet your masterwork."
A figure emerged from behind a crumbling pillar. Old. Balding. Wearing a priest's vestments stained with old blood.
Valper Galilei looked at Kiba the way a scientist looks at a failed experiment.
"Specimen 23." His voice was clinical. Detached. "I'd heard you survived. How... disappointing."
Kiba's Balance Breaker screamed. Every sword pointed at Valper, trembling with barely restrained violence.
"You murdered them. Thirty children. My family."
"I eliminated defective subjects." Valper adjusted his glasses. "The project required sacrifices. You simply weren't among them."
"I'm going to kill you."
"Doubtful." Valper stepped back, putting Kokabiel between himself and Kiba. "Lord Kokabiel, perhaps a demonstration of the completed weapon?"
The fusion finished.
All three Excalibur fragments merged into a single blade - massive, terrible, radiating holy power that made my devil flesh burn from ten meters away. Kokabiel lifted it, testing the weight, and laughed.
"Beautiful. Now then - " He raised the fused Excalibur. "Let me tell you why you're fighting for nothing."
"We fight for Kuoh," Rias said. She appeared behind us, Akeno at her side, power crackling around them both. "We fight for our families."
"You fight for lies." Kokabiel's voice cut through the chaos like a blade. The battlefield stilled. Even the fallen angels paused their assault. "You fight for a God who cannot hear you."
"Blasphemy," Irina whispered.
"Truth." Kokabiel's grin turned savage. "The Great War ended when the four Satans died. What no one tells you is that God died with them."
Silence.
Absolute, crushing silence.
"No." Xenovia's Durandal dropped from nerveless fingers. "That's... that's impossible..."
"He died in the Great War. Fell against the combined might of devils and fallen. Heaven is a corpse running on autopilot." Kokabiel spread his wings wider, basking in the devastation he was causing. "The Satans knew. The Seraphs knew. And they kept it secret because the truth would break EVERYTHING."
I felt it - the moment Xenovia's faith shattered. The crack that ran through her foundation, her purpose, her entire reason for existing.
Asia trembled. Irina's sword wavered.
And Kokabiel laughed.
"This war I'm starting? It won't bring God back. Nothing will. But at least it will be HONEST!"
He raised the fused Excalibur -
And reality tore.
[DETECTION: LONGINUS-CLASS SACRED GEAR]
[Divine Dividing: White Dragon Emperor]
[Threat Level: IMMENSE]
A figure appeared in the sky. White armor gleaming, wings of light spreading wide. Power radiated from him in waves that made even Kokabiel pause.
"That's enough, old man."
Vali Lucifer descended like a falling star.
He moved too fast to track. One moment he was in the sky, the next he was behind Kokabiel, one hand wrapped around the Cadre's throat.
"Azazel wants you alive." Vali's voice was casual. Bored. "Unfortunately."
"You - " Kokabiel snarled, swinging the fused Excalibur. "White Dragon - "
"Divide."
Half of Kokabiel's power vanished. Then half again. Then half again.
The Cadre of Grigori, one of the most powerful fallen angels in existence, crumpled like wet paper.
Vali caught him before he fell. "Weak. I expected more." His eyes - cold, predatory - swept the battlefield. They lingered on me for a moment longer than comfortable.
"You're interesting," he said. "We'll meet again."
Then he was gone. Kokabiel with him. The fallen angel army, suddenly leaderless, scattered into the night.
The battle was over.
We won.
It didn't feel like winning.
Xenovia sat in the rubble, Durandal forgotten beside her. Her eyes were empty. Hollow. The woman who'd walked onto the battlefield with unshakeable faith now looked like someone who'd lost everything.
Because she had.
Asia held Irina, both of them crying. Irina's faith had cracked but not broken - she muttered prayers between sobs, desperate to believe they still mattered.
Kiba stood over Valper's unconscious body. The old man had been captured in the chaos, too slow to escape when Vali disrupted everything. Kiba's sword hovered inches from Valper's throat.
"Don't," I said.
"He murdered them."
"I know." I put my hand on Kiba's shoulder. "But killing him won't bring them back. And you're not a murderer."
"Neither were they." Kiba's voice cracked. "They were children. They just wanted to live."
"Then honor them by living. By being more than what he made you." I squeezed his shoulder. "Brother."
The sword lowered.
Rias appeared beside us, exhaustion carved into every line of her face. "It's over. The barrier held. Casualties are... minimal, considering."
"God is dead," I said.
"Yes." Her expression didn't change. "I knew."
"What?"
"Devils have always known. The high-ranking ones, at least." She met my eyes. "I couldn't tell you. The treaty with Heaven demands silence."
I understood. I hated it, but I understood.
"5 days, little thief," the Watcher whispered. "Then you belong to me."
I ignored it.
The sun rose over the ruins of the old church.
Xenovia had requested to join the ORC. Rias accepted - a Knight piece for a broken holy sword wielder who had nowhere else to go. Her faith was ashes, but maybe she could build something new from them.
Valper Galilei was in custody, awaiting whatever justice the supernatural world could provide. It wouldn't be enough. Nothing would be enough.
But Kiba was alive. Still human, despite everything. Still my brother.
And I was at 48% Echo.
God was dead. Heaven was a lie. The Watcher was counting down to my extraction. And somewhere out there, Vali Lucifer was watching, waiting for a fight worth having.
But as I looked at my friends - broken, exhausted, alive - I knew one thing for certain.
This was just the beginning.