Chapter 34: The Crimson Sky and the Hound's Howl
Kuoh Academy was no longer a school; it was a battlefield painted in the apocalyptic hues of crimson and gold. The sky, torn open by the sheer density of Fallen Angel mana, wept a torrential rain of magical light spears. Each golden projectile was the size of a pillar, carrying enough destructive force to vaporize a city block.
Bursting from the underground bunker like a crimson comet, Rias Gremory took the vanguard. Her beautiful face was twisted into a mask of pure, aristocratic fury. The Power of Destruction flared from her hands, not in sparks, but in massive, roaring waves of red-black energy that intercepted the light spears in mid-air. The resulting explosions sent shockwaves rippling across the city, shattering the already broken windows of the academy dormitories.
"Is that the best you can do, Kokabiel?!" Rias shouted, her voice amplified by her demonic aura. "You come to my territory, threaten my household, and hide behind a barrage of oversized toothpicks? Face me!"
High above, sitting comfortably on his throne of shadows, the ten-winged Cadre chuckled. The sound was like grinding stones, echoing eerily across the battlefield. "Such fire, little Ruin Princess. You have your brother's temper, but do you have his power?"
Before Kokabiel could summon another volley, a streak of blinding violet lightning tore through the sky, striking the edge of his obsidian throne.
Akeno Himejima floated slightly to the left of Rias, her shrine maiden kimono fluttering wildly in the gale-force winds. The air around her smelled sharply of ozone. She licked her lips, her violet eyes glowing with a sadistic, predatory delight.
"Ara, ara," Akeno purred, her voice carrying easily over the roar of combat. "It's very rude to ignore the Queen when she's offering you a spark of hospitality, Kokabiel-san. Though I suppose a relic from the Great War might have forgotten his manners."
Kokabiel's golden eyes narrowed slightly. "Baraqiel's half-breed daughter. I should have killed you when your mother died. You're a stain on the pride of the Fallen."
"Oh, I'm going to make you swallow those words," Akeno whispered, her smile turning entirely terrifying as the sky above her began to churn with a massive, localized thunderstorm.
The Ground War and the Perverted Pawn
While the "Royals" held the sky, the situation on the ground was a desperate, bloody melee.
Three massive Cerberus hounds—beasts composed of shadow and hellfire—were tearing through the courtyard, making a beeline for the physical anchor points of Sona Sitri's defensive barrier.
"Don't let them touch the anchors!" Sona's voice barked through their magical earpieces, strained and breathless. "Saji is already bleeding from his nose trying to hold the ley lines!"
"I'M DYING, KAICHOU! I'M LITERALLY DYING!" Saji wailed over the comms, followed by the sound of a violent magical smack. "OW! OKAY, I'M HOLDING IT!"
"Leave the dogs to us!" Issei Hyoudou yelled, charging forward. His left arm was fully encased in the crimson armor of the Boosted Gear, the green gem glowing with intense heat. [BOOST! BOOST! BOOST!] Issei leaped into the air, aiming a supercharged punch at the middle head of the largest Cerberus. However, just as he was about to strike, he made the fatal mistake of glancing upward. Through the chaotic flashes of magic, he caught a perfect, unobstructed view of Akeno hovering in the sky. The violent updraft had played havoc with her kimono, exposing a generous amount of her thigh and the perilous curve of her chest.
"Woah," Issei breathed, his momentum halting completely as his perverted brain short-circuited. "The Queen's angles are... absolutely divine!"
WHAM!
The Cerberus didn't share his appreciation for Devil anatomy. It swatted Issei out of the air with a massive, fiery paw, sending the Red Dragon Emperor crashing through the wall of the old gymnasium.
"Issei, you absolute degenerate!" Lucian's voice cracked over the battlefield, a mixture of exasperation and authority. Lucian was hovering just below Rias, his Red Eyes spinning frantically as he calculated the trajectories of Kokabiel's attacks. "Keep your eyes on the three-headed demon dog, or I swear to the Satans I will personally print out your internet browser history and hand it to Asia!"
"I'M UP! I'M FOCUSED! PLEASE DON'T TELL ASIA!" Issei screamed, bursting from the rubble of the gym, his aura flaring with renewed, terrified vigor. [BOOST! BOOST! BOOST!]
Beside Issei, Koneko Toujou sighed, her deadpan expression unwavering despite the hellfire raining around them. She darted forward, her tiny fists coated in white senjutsu aura. With a grunt of effort, she grabbed the charging Cerberus by its lower jaw and the scruff of its fiery neck, literally suplexing the three-ton beast into the concrete courtyard.
"Less peeping. More punching, senpai," Koneko muttered, delivering a brutal axe kick to the hound's snout.
The Knight's Vengeance
Up in the air, Kokabiel raised a hand, looking slightly bored by the display. "If you wish to play with dogs, I brought a rabid one specifically for your amusement."
He snapped his fingers, and a dimensional tear ripped open in the sky. From the purple void fell a figure screaming with manic laughter. Freed Sellzen landed on the roof of the main school building, his white coat stained with soot and his eyes wide with madness.
In his hand, he held a terrifying weapon: a massive, glowing blade composed of the fused Excalibur fragments. The Holy energy radiating from it was so intense it made the nearby Devils nauseous.
"Miss me, you demonic trash?!" Freed cackled, swinging the fused Excalibur. A wave of destructive holy light sheared the top floor off the science block. "The boss gave me an upgrade! Who wants to be purified first?!"
A streak of silver and black intercepted the next wave of light.
Yuuto Kiba stood on the edge of the roof, his Sword Birth creating a dense thicket of demonic blades around him. His face was pale, his eyes locked onto the glowing sword in Freed's hand. It was the culmination of his nightmares, the weapon forged from the souls of his dead friends.
"You're mine, Freed," Kiba whispered, his voice cold enough to freeze hellfire. "I don't care about the Cadre. I don't care about the war. I'm going to take that sword, and I'm going to bury it in your chest."
"Ooh, the pretty boy is angry!" Freed taunted, licking his lips. "Come and get it, survivor!"
The two clashed, a blur of silver light and black steel, their shockwaves adding to the cacophony of the siege.
The Elegant Prince's Dance
In the center of the storm, Lucian Gremory finally made his move.
He couldn't rely solely on raw power like Rias, nor could he output massive area-of-effect spells like Akeno. He was the Wildcard, the Bishop whose true strength lay in his eyes and his precision.
His Red Eyes—the tomoe spinning rapidly—locked onto Kokabiel. Lucian pushed his ocular power to the absolute 30% limit his current body could handle. The world slowed down. He could see the faint, golden threads of mana gathering around Kokabiel's fingers before the Cadre even cast his spells.
"Rias! Three spears, coming from your blind spot at four o'clock!" Lucian shouted.
Rias didn't even turn her head. She trusted him implicitly. She thrust her left hand out, unleashing a burst of Destruction that annihilated the incoming spears precisely where Lucian had predicted.
"Akeno! Drop a lightning cage on coordinates 4-Alpha, now!"
"With pleasure, Lucian-kun!" Akeno raised her hands, and a massive grid of violet lightning crashed down exactly where Kokabiel was attempting to shift his spatial position, forcing the Cadre to cancel his teleportation and raise a defensive wing.
Kokabiel's golden eyes snapped toward Lucian, a flicker of genuine annoyance crossing his face. "You... you can see the flow of my mana. What are those eyes, boy?"
Lucian didn't answer. Instead, he flickered out of existence, utilizing the high-speed movement techniques he had copied from Kiba during their sparring sessions. He reappeared directly above Kokabiel, his right hand coated in a dense, highly compressed sphere of the Power of Destruction.
"Destruction Impact!" Lucian roared, slamming his palm directly into Kokabiel's absolute defense—a barrier of solid light.
The collision was deafening. The compressed Destruction ate away at the holy light, the conflicting energies screaming in a violent, unstable reaction. For a brief second, Lucian's strike actually cracked the Cadre's shield.
Kokabiel's eyes widened in mild surprise, but it was quickly replaced by a cruel smirk. "A decent trick, Bishop. But you are out of your depth."
With a flick of his wrist, Kokabiel unleashed a point-blank shockwave of pure holy energy.
Lucian's Red Eyes saw it coming a fraction of a second too late. He crossed his arms, reinforcing his body with demonic mana, but the force was overwhelming. The holy energy seared his skin, tearing through his blazer and sending him rocketing backward like a meteor.
"LUCIAN!" Rias screamed, her voice cracking with terror.
Lucian crashed hard into the courtyard below, skipping across the concrete like a stone on water before slamming violently into the base of the academy's clock tower. The impact sent a cloud of dust and debris into the air.
For a moment, the battlefield went dead silent.
Rias hovered in the air, her crimson hair shadowing her eyes. The air around her didn't just heat up; it began to warp and distort. The Power of Destruction began to bleed from her very pores, turning the sky a deep, terrifying shade of blood red.
Akeno looked at Rias, taking a slow step back. The teasing Queen was gone. She knew exactly what was about to happen. "Oh my... the King is genuinely furious."
On the ground, Issei swallowed hard, ignoring the Cerberus in front of him. "Uh... guys? I think Rias-senpai is going to break the school."
Rias raised her head, her blue-green eyes now glowing with a solid, unhinged crimson light. She looked at Kokabiel not as an opponent, but as a dead man.
"You touched him," Rias whispered, her voice echoing with demonic distortion. "You touched my Bishop."
Kokabiel narrowed his eyes, finally uncrossing his arms. "Show me, Ruin Princess. Show me the power that makes the Underworld tremble!"
From the rubble of the clock tower, a low, strained chuckle echoed. The debris shifted, and Lucian slowly pushed himself to his feet. His blazer was destroyed, his shirt was torn, and angry red burns crisscrossed his chest and arms. But his Red Eyes were spinning faster than ever, bleeding a faint trail of crimson mist.
"Rias," Lucian coughed, spitting a glob of blood onto the concrete. "Don't hog all the fun. I haven't even used my King's permission yet."
He looked up at the ten-winged Cadre, a feral, wild grin breaking through his "Elegant Prince" persona. The pain was excruciating, but the adrenaline was intoxicating.
"Issei! Kiba!" Lucian roared, his voice cutting through the storm. "Stop holding back! It's time to break the limits! Balance Breaker!"
The sky cracked with thunder as the Gremory peerage prepared to push past their absolute l
imits. The true battle against the Cadre had only just begun.