Chapter 51: DxD : A New Hero : Chapter 51
"Yeah that's sound like them." Despite herself she allowed a smirk show for a moment before it disappeared.
"Please stop this Kokabiel. You can't win anymore. Just give up." Her words were not empty bravado either.
...
He was trapped in the middle of two opposing forces. With one hand he held back one of the strongest exorcist alive who was wielding what was perhaps the fastest sword on the planet.
With his other hand he held back two of her students, both of whom wielded Holy Swords themselves, and a Devil with the strength and speed granted to her by the Queen Piece.
And behind them all stood her King. Above her she gathered a giant globe of water that was slowly shrinking as it was pressurized into a smaller ball, ready to release all its gathered power in one single attack.
Even for one such as he, victory without serious injury would have been difficult.
Yet none looking upon him would have believe he was in any danger as he gave his friend an amused smile.
"Remember how we used to spar all the time?" He asked, "How you and the others kept pestering me to stop holding back in our fights until I finally agreed to always go all out?"
"Yes." The instant after the words left her mouth, dread appeared on her face as she began to understand what he implied.
He nodded at her comprehension, "I lied."
They had no warning before they felt it come crashing upon them, almost bringing them all to their knees.
Power, unadulterated power came pouring out of him in a level incomparable to before. From his back a new pair of wings erupted to join the ten others as he finally revealed his true strength. The light of his spear grew in intensity, to the point that none can looked directly upon them, as the blade pushing against them glowed a cherry red.
They were Swords of legend, whose name is known by the people of all the lands. Wars were fought over them and men willing died for them. Heroes longed to prove worthy to hold them while bards sang of their majesty for a thousand years.
Yet before the might of his spears they were nothing. In an instant the metal of the blades melted then vaporized, destroying them beyond the repair of mortal men. The swords did not go quietly as they died, as the remnants of the power they held exploded outwards no longer contained by their metal shells.
All four were sent flying and even Sona, the farthest away, was completely knocked off her feet by the wave of holy energy that crashed through the courtyard, causing her to loss control of her spell. The watered she gathered fell to the ground, spilling over its hard surface uselessly.
He twirled both spears in his hands once before he began to make his way to Griselda, his twelve wings draped over his shoulder like a cloak, as she weakly tried to push herself off the floor but only succeeded in lifting her upper body.
"It has been a thousand years since I witnessed my Lord's demise." He spoke as he approached her.
"Can you understand how it felt to witness my Lord and Master, my beloved Father struck down before me during the Great War? Do you understand how I felt as I stood by and watch, too weak to do anything to help, as I watched God die?"
Exclamation of shock echoed throughout the courtyards as the few conscious among the fallen combatants comprehended his words. He paid them no mind, his eyes upon his fallen friend as he approached her before stopping only a few yards away.
"I failed him." His eyes shining with unshed tears as he looked upon her, "I had one true duty, one single purpose and I failed. And the world has paid the price for my failure ever since.
Mankind has suffered under the rule of the Devils and Fallen alike for a millennia because they no longer had God to protect them, all because of my weakness."
"Kokabiel," Sadness and understanding coloring Griselda's voice as she looked up to him, "It wasn't your fault-"
"IT IS!" He bellowed out, dismissing his spears as he threw out is arms.
"I AM KOKABIEL THE LORD OF THE STARS AND ONE OF THE GUARDIAN OF THE HEAVENS THEMSELVES! I HAVE THE POWER TO OBLITERATE NATIONS AND RAZE CONTINENTS WHOLE AND YET … and yet I lacked the power to do anything at the time it mattered the most.
Truly, what use am I when I can't even prevent my own Father's death?" He stared at his empty hand, as if they held the answer before he clenched them into fists.
"But rejoice." His voice has regained his previous strength. "For a thousand years I had planned, for a millennium I had trained and prepared for this day. And at long last my efforts have begun to bear fruit, as at long last the time to enact Father's final wish has finally come.
I shall free man from the shackles that bind them and create a world where they shall roam unrestricted, free to forge their own future."
"And you're going to do that by obliterating the entire the city?"
In reply he strode up to the Earth-Breaker, then with a single sweep of his leg he shattered the four remaining Holy Swords from where they were planted in the middle of the Magic Circle. The runes and sigils flickered for a moment before extinguishing completely, bringing the spell to an end.
"The Earth-Breaker was nothing but bait to draw the Maous' sibling out into the open. Even the scraps of metal that you have hunted me for is nothing but bait to me." He turned around and approached the two girls in question.
Rias had apparent regained consciousness but was barely able to stand as she had her arm draped over Sona's shoulder for support, who didn't look to be in any better state due to the backlash of her own magic.
Still, even as the drying blood dripped down her face she continued to glare with utter venom at the approaching Fallen, "And with their death I shall ignite the flames of war and in its fire I bring the demise of the Three Factions."
"By the four saints that live within your steel, heed my call and come to my aid." A voice called out, drawing the attention of Fallen and Devils alike.
Though her legs trembled and shook, threatening to buckle at a moment's notice, Xenovia stood tall and defiant as she glared out at her enemy. Her eyes never once leaving Kokabiel's as she held a hand straight out to her side, palm wide open ready to grip a weapon that wasn't there, she yelled out.
"I beg of thee, grant me your might to defeat the foe that stand before me."
The space before her hand distorted, reality bending causing the air rippling like water, illuminating one side of her face as the distorted space began to emit a dim golden light. Without any hesitation she plunged her arm into the distorted space, shoulder deep, before pausing and reversing her course while yanking something out.
And what she pulled out …
… was Hope.
It shone with a golden light, its divinity unmistakable. The entire battlefield was flooded with its presence, outshining even Kokabiel's oppressive strength, as unending waves of its blessed power washed upon them all. It was a weapon of divine origins, sent down from the Heaven's to aid mankind in their darkest hour.
Durandal.
A Gift from the hands of God himself given to Roland, his most worthy of children. With it an army of a hundred thousand was brought to halt by a single man and in the hands of one worth to wield it, there lies nothing in existence that it cannot cut.
It laid shackled and bound by chains of purest iron, but what chains can hold back such a sword? What works crafted by mortal hands can hope to bind such an existence. A single twist of its blade shall rip it from its fragile confinements and it will be free once again.
She reach out and grabbed its hilt, ready to break though it's binding but then-
-Hope was extinguished.
A hand harder than any iron clamped onto her wrist like a vise, halting all movement. Xenovia found herself staring into the saddened eyes of an Angel.
"You had such a weapon all this time and you only draw it out after you had been defeated?" Sounding so much like a disappointed father that, despite herself, she felt herself flooded with shame. He shook his head sadly, "It seems you despite all your skills you still have much to learn child."
He then snapped her arm like a twig.
A wail of absolute agony tore out of Xenovia's throat as she collapsed to the floor, cradling her broken arm to her chest. Kokabiel turned away, not giving her so much as a second glance as he made his way to back to his two targets.
"Do you truly think that this will start a second war, just because a one Fallen decided to act on his own?" Sona yelled out him as he approached them.
Even to her own ears her words held no certainty, no convention, just fragile desperation. "The Maous won't consider this an act of war from the Fallen Faction but the actions of a single madman.
The rest of the Fallen leaders will denounce you and what you have done. You will accomplish nothing tonight but the start of a manhunt, your own. There is no way you can start a restart the war alone Kokabiel."
"Alone?" Kokabiel asked with genuine amusement a shadow fell upon them, blocking out the light from the moon for a moment before it was gone, "Foolish little Devil, I have never been alone"
Another shadow drifted over them, then another and another, drawing the eyes of all on the courtyard to the sky.
"My god." Griselda muttered, sounding like her true age for once. She shut her eyes in resignation, "We're doomed."
They circled over the defeated party like vultures, their wings blocking half the moonlight from reaching them, before they descended upon the school. Black feather drifted to ground by the thousands, falling down upon them and coating the earth like black snow.
"Even in my Fall they have followed me, ever faithful." His feet was pulled backwards off the ground. "These are my loyal comrades, my truest of friends." His twelve wings continued to gently lift him into the air until he hung in the middle of the descending flock.
"Thirty-five thousand we numbered once before the war. Though only twelve hundreds of us remained afterwards, not one had ever abandoned me, the fought by side to the last." He smiled down upon them. "So you see little Devil, I have never once been alone."
They continued to drop from the skies above, descending onto the roof and grounds of school in ever growing number, until there was simply no room remaining. And still there was more, drifting in the air above them blotting out the very skies with their numbers.
He held out his arm wide open as he hung above them, backdropped by the sky filled with a legion of Fallen. "And tonight, after a thousand years, we shall fulfil our Father's greatest wish. After tonight, the fate of all that lies under the Heaven, will be determined by MAN." He yelled out as he raised a single arm above him.
The darkened skies above them were illuminated by the birth of a hundred and more spears of light. Though only a fraction of the Fallen had called forth their spears it was more than enough, as what had been called filled the entire night sky like stars.
"And all of it will start with your deaths," He looked down upon the two girls, and for moment his eyes was filled with genuine sadness before they hardened with resolve. "Goodbye Devils." Then he brought his arm down.
Hundreds of spears of light fell upon them from the skies, streaking down like a shower of burning meteors, more than enough to kill them a dozen times over. All of them aimed for the two girls.
The two could do nothing but watch as their death came to them. Too weakened and injured to run, they knew that even if they could that there was no shelter than could shield them from such a barrage of attacks. So with no hope in their hearts, they shut at their approaching end even as their ears was filled by the screams of their friends begging them to run.
The Spears detonated upon impact, illumination the night with the light of a morning's dawn.
These were spears crafted from light itself. Its heat was such that it was capable of burning thought the flesh of Devils and humans alike with the utmost ease. One alone had enough power to pierce a wall. A hundred was enough to bring down a Fortress.
Yet all of them combined lacked the power to reach their mark.
When she had finally realize that she was still alive Sona, body still shivering from instinctive fear, slowly cracked open her eyes only to gape in surprise as she found herself staring a flower.
Five petals, each as large as grown man, hung in the air before her and Rias, standing between them and the fallen. It was iridescence and translucent, and looked as fragile as glass, yet it stood before the might of a Fallen army and did not fall.
Everyone looked upon the shield in confusion, unable to comprehend what happened. Even Kokabiel looked surprised before realization dawned and a rueful smile graced his face.
"Why," he question with a voice filled with amusement, "do heroes keep insisting on arriving at the last possible moment?"
His answer came in the form of a dark streak that shot down from the sky, tearing thought the mass of Fallen the filled the sky and crashing among the ones on the ground. The paved floor collapsed under the force of its impact, sending up a thick cloud of dust in the air.
The Fallens closest to it leapt away in surprise as it crashed down among them, before they regained their composure and surround it. The darkness of the night was pushed back by the light of the dozen spears that they held, all pointed towards the silhouette of the figure that was just beginning to appear as the dust settled.
"Who in heaven's name are you?" A four-winged Fallen called out as he took a step forward, spear pointed in warning at the emerging the figure.
"Who am…I?" A familiar voice drifted out from the dust cloud as the figure within stood up, revealing his red colored hair to the world.
"…I…"
Golden-brown eyes peered around the courtyard, ignoring the dozens of spears point at him. Those eyes hardened as they caught sight of his injured and fallen friends.
"…I…"
He repeated again as he glared out at the smiling Kokabiel before he chanted the words that would signal the death of a thousand this night.
"I AM THE BONE OF MY SWORD"
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