Starting with No Game No Life: Infinite Chests

At Kuoh Academy, Kokabiel was arrogantly sitting in midair above the sports field. Why sitting? Naturally, because he'd used his energy to create a throne for himself.

This attitude like he was desperate for everyone to realise he was the final boss.

Down on the field, a fierce battle was raging. Rias and Akeno were fighting against two gigantic three-headed dogs. The very image of the legendary Cerberus that guards the gates of hell.

Facing off against the hellhounds, Akeno and Rias both took to the air for ranged attacks. Akeno's palms crackled with yellow lightning, thick bolts smashing down on the Cerberus, while Rias fired balls of powerful destruction magic.

But these hellhounds weren't so easily defeated, so the battle remained deadlocked.

"Are those hellhounds? Even monsters like that? Kokabiel really is insane," Xenovia commented coldly, eyes fixed on the fight.

Without hesitation, Xenovia rushed into the fray.

"Hey, Xenovia!" Seeing this, Irina hurried after her, conjuring an ordinary light sword.

But then, aside from Riku and Schwi, everyone froze in shock. Xenovia's hand seemed to pass through space itself, gripping the hilt of a knight's sword wrapped in blue chains. She drew it with one swift motion and brought the massive blade down upon the hellhound.

In an instant, the hellhound that had been holding its own against Rias and Akeno was sliced clean in half, its supposedly impregnable defence crumpled like paper.

Rias and Akeno's eyes lit up; seizing the chance, they unleashed their powers. Violent lightning and crimson destruction energy fused together, forming a massive blast that obliterated the second hellhound, reducing it to ashes. The field itself was utterly ruined. Luckily, the battle was taking place inside a barrier, containing the destruction, otherwise half the town would have been wiped off the map.

"Hahaha! Not bad, you're making me more and more excited!" Kokabiel burst out laughing, clapping his hands in delight rather than disappointment at his "pets" being destroyed. "I thought only Rias Gremory and the Thunder Priestess would put up a fight, but even this church girl can cut down a hellhound with such ease. To think you can wield the fabled Holy Sword Durandal… Looks like I underestimated you!"

"Durandal?" Rias and Akeno both stared at the azure holy sword in Xenovia's hand, murmuring in disbelief. Durandal was one of the top holy swords, famed for its overwhelming power.

No wonder Xenovia had dared to negotiate with them earlier. Still, neither of them had expected their substitute teacher to be so protective, or able to seal their holy swords, forcing them to back down. Rias and Akeno exchanged a smile. As unreliable as Riku-sensei seemed, he was someone they could trust in a crisis.

With Riku here, surely Kokabiel could be defeated.

As Rias and Akeno entertained these thoughts, Irina glanced at her own plain light sword, mouth twitching in embarrassment, completely outclassed.

"Tsk tsk, a mere demon sword, and you dare cross blades with my holy sword? You really don't know your place,"

Elsewhere, Yuuto was battling a crazed priest wielding a holy sword. But things weren't looking good for him.

Behind them, a golden magic circle pulsed with holy power. At its centre were four different holy swords. In front of them, an old man in a white robe was chanting a spell in progress.

"Heh, then watch as my so-called demon sword destroys your precious holy sword. I'll cut down every last one of you," Kiba declared, battered but defiant.

Suddenly, a screeching, unpleasant laugh filled the air.

"Hahaha, it's finally done! Nick, hurry and toss the Excalibur Mimic over!"

Without hesitation, the priest named Nick fell back and threw his sword into the golden magic circle. The array warped, and the five holy swords fused together into a single, enormous blade. A blinding holy radiance shone across the school, making all the devils wince in discomfort.

"Hahaha! The Excalibur fusion is complete. The magic circle's energy is charged. In less than twenty minutes, this city will collapse! If you want to stop it, you'll have to defeat Kokabiel!" the white-haired old man, Valper Galilei, laughed maniacally.

"But before that, let me test out the power of this fusion blade. Nick!"

As he spoke, Nick, his eyes feverish, gripped the massive sword and stepped forward.

Seeing the priest approach, Kiba's eyes went cold with determination. He summoned a pitch-black demon sword with his [Sword Birth], gripping it tightly.

"Hold up, Kiba, let me give you a little buff first." Just as Rias and the others' faces changed, Riku suddenly appeared at Kiba's side.

Everyone blinked in surprise.

Riku's right hand flashed with red light, a familiar crimson gauntlet. The sight left everyone dumbfounded.

"The Boosted Gear? Are you the current Red Dragon Emperor?!" Kokabiel leapt to his feet, both wary and eager for battle.

The current Red Dragon Emperor?

That title left Rias, Akeno, Koneko, Xenovia, Irina, Kiba, Asia, and even Sona and Tsubaki who were maintaining the barrier completely stunned. Their teacher's identity was just getting more and more outrageous.

Galilei and the priest Nick were outright terrified.

"Ugh, another misunderstanding. Whatever, too troublesome to explain. Just believe whatever you want," Riku muttered, taking in everyone's reactions with a bored look.

Schwi chuckled quietly to herself. The Red Dragon Emperor? So what? Compared to Riku's true identity, that was nothing.

In Riku's own words, being mistaken for the Red Dragon Emperor was just dragging down his style!

[Boosted Gear Gift!]

At that moment, Riku didn't care whether everyone understood what it meant. He simply raised his gauntlet, and a mechanical-sounding voice rang out.

A moment later, a glowing green orb shot out from the jewel in the gauntlet, merging with Yuuto Kiba's black demon sword.

Clang—!

In an instant, the once ordinary demon sword began to vibrate wildly, letting out a clear sword cry as a torrent of demonic aura erupted from it!

"Thank you, Riku-sensei." Finally realising what had happened, feeling the surging power in his sword, Kiba bowed deeply, genuinely grateful.

"No problem. Go on, shatter that piece of junk Holy Sword, and take your revenge," Riku said, patting Kiba on the shoulder.

"Yeah!" Kiba nodded firmly, determination blazing in his eyes.

"Hmph, so what if you're the Red Dragon Emperor? Don't think that just by powering up some trash demon sword you can match my fused Holy Sword!" Galilei screamed hoarsely. "Nick, kill them all!"

"Heheheh, leave it to me!" Nick licked his lips, gripping the massive holy sword overflowing with holy energy as he charged at Kiba.

But Kiba's expression turned cold, and using the Knight's speed, he vanished from sight in a flash.

Clash—!

In the next instant, Kiba's demon sword and the fused Holy Sword collided fiercely. To everyone's shock, in that brief clash, Kiba's demon sword cleaved the fused Holy Sword in two!

"Impossible?!" Galilei and Nick both blanched.

"Hmph. The demon sword Riku-sensei enhanced, there's no way a mere fused Holy Sword could match it!" Kiba replied coldly. Only after receiving Riku's buff did he truly understand just how strong Riku was. Just a little boost had made his sword explosively stronger. Just as Riku-sensei had always scorned, Holy Swords really were so worthless, you wouldn't even bother picking them up off the ground.

After all, if Riku wanted, he could make as many of these as he wanted.

Splurt—! In the next moment, Kiba wasted no time. He cut the crazed priest in two with one stroke.

"No!" Galilei's face went pale, trying to say something.

But before he could finish, Kiba vanished and reappeared, slashing several more times, turning Galilei into chunks.

"I finally got my revenge…" Kiba murmured.

Just then, countless points of light emerged from Galilei's body, as well as from the Holy Sword, swirling around Kiba.

They were soul fragments. More precisely, the soul fragments of the children who'd been murdered during the Holy Sword Project years ago.

Valper Galilei had used those children's soul fragments to enable ordinary fallen priests to wield the Holy Swords.

This miraculous scene left Rias, Akeno, and the others stunned.

Even Schwi's eyes sparkled with interest; souls were something she'd once craved.

"May as well see this through to the end," Riku muttered, his eyes flashing.

Riku manipulated the system, altering some things. Normally, with the system repaired, the demon sword couldn't have fused with the Holy Sword as in the original story. But with Riku's approval as the current god, fusion was now possible.

Before everyone's astonished eyes, the soul fragments swirled around Kiba, merging into his body and transforming his demon sword into a Holy-Demon Sword.

"Impossible, his demon sword is giving off a holy aura?" Irina was dumbfounded, her voice shaking.

"Haha, how interesting. What a curious spectacle. Guess we should be glad the God of the Bible is dead, huh? Otherwise, there'd never be a chance to see a Holy-Demon Sword like this." At that moment, Kokabiel suddenly spoke up, looking thoroughly entertained.

"What? God is dead?!" Rias, Akeno, Koneko, and Kiba all of their eyes go wide. Even Sona and Tsubaki, maintaining the barrier, almost lost their balance.

Xenovia, Irina, and Asia, even more so, looked like they'd just heard the most impossible thing in the world, staring at Kokabiel in shock, bodies trembling.

Riku and Schwi just watched Kokabiel's performance calmly, as if they were watching a play.

"Haha, you really didn't know? Well, I guess that's normal, only the top brass of the Three Factions know the truth!" Kokabiel's voice was manic.

"That's right. At the end of the Great War, not only did the Four Great Satans fall even God died." Kokabiel's face twisted into a fierce sneer. "In the end, just as we fallen angels were about to seize victory, Azazel actually called it off! Said we'd already lost too much, that there was no point in fighting any longer. So they just ended the war, throwing away the spoils. Neither devils nor angels had the will to keep fighting!"

"That's why I wanted to reignite the flames of war. But Michael didn't even react when I stole the Holy Swords."

"So, I decided I'd just kill the sisters of Maou, Serafall and Sirzechs. If I do that, the flames of war will burn again. This time, the Fallen Angels will seize true victory!" Kokabiel laughed, eyes crazed.

"You're lying! We can still use the power of prayer!" Asia argued, her face pale.

"Heh, God may be dead, but as long as the [System] still runs, Michael and the others can keep things going. But compared to before, the number of believers and exorcists has plummeted!" Kokabiel taunted.

Hearing that, Asia nearly collapsed only Schwi rushed over to support her in time.

Xenovia and Irina sank to the floor in shock, their eyes empty. For the faithful, nothing could be more devastating than learning that their god was dead. At that moment, Asia, Xenovia, and Irina were all shaken to the core.

"The only reason that brat with the Holy-Demon Sword could create such a thing is because God is dead, and the system's got holes. Otherwise, how could a Holy and Demon Sword ever fuse?"

Kiba gripped his new sword tightly, face tense.

"The so-called God of Heaven is just a title. The old god is dead, but that doesn't mean the throne is empty," Riku suddenly said, making Kokabiel's smug expression freeze.

--

"Riku…" Everyone stared blankly at Riku, their expressions dazed. The old god is dead, but that doesn't mean the throne is vacant? Did that mean there was a new god in Heaven? As long as there's faith, you can still receive blessings?

"Heh, so you mean there's a new god in Heaven now? What a load of nonsense," Kokabiel sneered, his face twisted. "The God of the Bible is the only one! You think you can just replace Him? Michael? Him? He's just the strongest seraph that was created, nothing more."

"Not interested in wasting more words with you. This farce should end now, let's just erase you directly," Riku said flatly.

"Erase me? Aren't you arrogant!" Hearing this, Kokabiel's eyes narrowed, his killing intent surging. "Don't think you can act like you're above everything just because you're the Red Dragon Emperor!"

The next instant, Kokabiel stood, ten black wings unfurling as he raised his right hand, gathering energy.

A gigantic spear of light formed in his grasp, its energy so overwhelming that Rias, Akeno, Koneko, Xenovia, Irina, and Kiba all felt chills of fear.

That power was at least ten times stronger than any of them could muster! There was no way they could withstand it.

If that attack struck outside, it would no doubt obliterate an entire city.

"Die!" Kokabiel hurled the massive spear with all his might.

A blinding flash tore through the night sky, lancing straight at Riku.

"Rik—!"

Rias and the others tried to call out, but in the next second, their expressions froze in shock.

Riku had already reached out and, as if it were nothing, caught Kokabiel's gigantic spear with one hand. Then, as easily as snapping a twig, he crushed it into motes of starlight, which faded around him without even a ripple, as if that tremendous power had never existed.

"What?!" Kokabiel's face went slack, eyes wide with disbelief. He hadn't held back at all with that strike! Even a Maou-class devil would have had to take it seriously.

"So weak. You're so weak, I can't even work up any interest," Riku sighed, shaking his head in boredom. "Die."

As soon as he finished, the sky lit up.

A pale golden magic circle appeared above Kokabiel.

Zzzt—! Before Kokabiel could react, a pillar of holy light engulfed him, breaking his body down at a terrifying rate.

"Hahaha, so that's how it is, you really are—" In his final moment, Kokabiel stared at Riku in shock, but never finished his sentence before he was dissolved into particles of light, vanishing from the world as if he'd never existed.

Riku gazed up at the sky calmly, as if he'd done something utterly trivial.

Rias, Akeno, Koneko, Kiba all stared at Riku in absolute shock.

They knew Riku was strong, but not this strong. They hadn't even seen how he acted, and yet he'd instant-killed Kokabiel…!

…Xenovia and Irina, still shaken from before, snapped back to themselves, dazedly watching Riku. During that holy light just now, they'd felt a strange sense of longing and an urge to pray that they couldn't explain.

"…Riku…" Asia gazed at Riku, dazed, the feeling deepest for her.

With Kokabiel instant-killed, the entire scene fell into a strange silence.

"Riku-sensei, earlier you said the god was dead, but the throne isn't vacant… Does that mean you know about the new god of Heaven?" Rias couldn't help but hurry over and ask.

Everyone else perked up, except for Schwi.

"Actually, I'm the new god of Heaven," Riku said, shrugging with a grin.

"Oh, come on, Riku-sensei, don't joke about stuff like that," Rias said, rolling her eyes and folding her arms.

"Ara ara, Riku-sensei, you really shouldn't make jokes like that. It might make Heaven treat you as an enemy," Akeno added, still unconvinced. After all, in their eyes, how could the god of Heaven be living among a bunch of devils, getting along so well, even protecting them?

…Xenovia and Irina didn't say anything, but looked at Riku uncertainly. That strange feeling just now had shaken them.

"Um, Riku, are you really the Lord?" Asia ran over, clutching his sleeve.

"…I told you before. I am the new god of Heaven. Geez, these days, no one believes you when you tell the truth," Riku said with mock frustration.

Rias, Akeno, and Koneko all facepalmed. 'This is a pretty serious matter, you know. Once is enough for that kind of joke…'

"I believe Riku." But Asia nodded earnestly, her face full of sincerity. "When I'm at Riku's side, I feel fulfilled, as if I'm truly serving the Lord."

"Asia?!" Rias and the others were stunned.

"While I can't say for sure, I felt something similar just now," Xenovia murmured.

"Um, me too…" Irina said, looking lost.

"No need to guess. Riku is the new god of Heaven," Schwi said, stepping forward calmly. "To be precise, before transferring to Kuoh Academy, Riku brought me and Jibril to Heaven, fixed the [System], subdued the angels and Archangels, and became the new god, the 'Lord' you speak of."

As she spoke, Schwi glanced at Asia, Xenovia, and Irina with a smile.

"—!" That utterly stunned Rias, who stared blankly at Riku. Riku usually acted so nonchalant that she'd always assumed he was joking. But Schwi was never the type to joke about something like this.

So Riku really was the god of Heaven?! They'd been spending all this time with the Leader of Heaven and hadn't even realised it…

The members of the Occult Research Club felt their heads spin. This was too much of a shock.

As for Asia, Xenovia, and Irina, hearing this truth left them utterly stupefied. They'd suspected, but having it confirmed shook them as believers far more than it did Rias and the devils.