"It reminds me of your troublesome brother, though, so pardon me if it makes me sick to my stomach." The Fallen Angel chuckled as he looks down on the Devils.
"How do you do, Kokabiel, leader of the Fallen Angels?" Rias instantly guess his identity and greeted him back with pride.
"That's Kokabiel?" Issei became very vigilant and went in front of both Rias and Asia as he takes out his Booted Gear.
Unfazed of this, Kokabiel threw the person he is holding towards them, "I have a present for you."
Issei hurriedly dashed towards the falling person as she's very familiar to catch and just as he guessed she was someone he knows, "I-Irina!"
Irina is unconscious and wounded allover with her battlesuit torn apart revealing some parts of her body, "Asia!" Seeing the situation, Issei immediately asked for Asia's help.
"That one made it all the way to our stronghold, so we gave her a fitting welcome. The other two managed to get away." Kokabiel chuckled at their reactions.
"Tch!" Rias turned away her attention from Issei and face back Kokabiel, "The Devil King may be my brother, but he no longer shares a political connection with the rest of my family! If you're looking to make some sort of diplomatic deal, your efforts are wasted!."
"As if I would try something so stupid as negotiating with the Devil King. Still, if I ravished and killed his little sister, Sirzechs might turn his fury on me, which could have its own merits."
Rias was peeved by his words, "... What are you after, then?"
Kokabiel then proceeds to cackle and explain his motives behind his actions. What is want is another three-way war and prove that the Fallen Angels were the supreme being. He was dissatisfied that Azazel pulled out from the war when they are practically winning. At first, he tried to ease his boredom by collecting and studying the Sacred Gears like most of the Fallen Angel bigwig is doing now, but he got bored of it soon too, so when Valper approached him with his research on Excalibur, he found his chance. He planned is to provoke Heaven by stealing the Excaliburs but the Church only sent some puny priests and Holy Sword-wielders.
He then switched his plan to mess up the territory where two little sisters of the current Devil Kings to provoke them into sending their forces, effectively initiating the war.
There is only one question remaining in Rias' head, "Why are you still collecting the Excaliburs, then!?"
"Come after me if you want to know so badly! Let's start a war! You and I, Rias Gremory, sister of Devil King Sirzechs Lucifer!" Kokabiel then flew off towards the Kuoh Academy with almost instantaneous speed. Freed on the other hand used his flashbang to escape again.
"Shit!" Issei stomped his foot in frustration, "That bastard pulled one on us again!"
Rias then immediately instructed the two, "Asia, when you're done with the first aid, bring her somewhere safe to rest."
"R-right!"
"I'm going to contact Sona and Akeno. Issei, go get Koneko, we're going to meet outside the school. Don't be late!"
"Understood!"
"We've got to protect this Academy..."
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"First, we on the Student Council will try to abate the damage to the barrier over the school. But to be completely frank, if you Kokabiel releases his full power, let alone the school, he can instantly destroy the whole town. And it would appear that he already made some preparations to do just that. My servants spotted him releasing some of his powers on the schoolyard." Sona narrated the situation.
"T-the whole city...? He'll destroy our homes and school just to start a war!?"
Sona nodded at Issei's words.
"We can't let him! He picked the wrong Devils to mess with!" Even though he said that he isn't exactly optimistic. Even if he charges his power until the limits of his body, he's only capable of destroying a mountain and he would be completely drained after. He's only trying to rouse everyone's morale in this bleak situation.
"In order to reduce the potential destruction to the outside world, we will be reinforcing the barrier from appropriate spots. I hate to think of our Academy coming to harm, but our foe is an elite among Fallen Angels. We have to prepare for the worst..." Sona and her servants started backing up to go to their positions.
"Thank you... Sona... Leave the rest to us." Rias declared.
But before all of them could leave, a voice from afar resounded, "Don't you think this is too stupid?" Aika came walking from the shadows. She has been doing her own survey of the situation and it isn't looking good for her. So before she came to the school where everyone is gathering, she first let her parents leave Kuoh Town for a period of time, "Why don't you call or wait for enforcement? Aren't you all too confident? Or are you just that confident to die? And Sona-kaichou... What's up with you?" A bunch of questions came from her and the last one is directly confronted Sona who can't seem to look at her eyes when she asked that question.
"Oi! Kiryuu! Don't talk to Kaichou like that!" Saji immediately flipped out to defend his master.
"What? Are you thinking that this is some incredibly smart move? Are you an idiot?"
"Guh!" Saji has nothing to say back as what they planning is really too reckless. They couldn't possibly go against someone who survives a war with the Biblical God and Devil Kings.
"I understand why you don't escape because you don't want to abandon this town, but from what I just heard from your conversation, none of you seems to bother calling for reinforcement... Are you mocking an enemy of that caliber? Or do you think that this is some shounen manga that can be solved with the power of friendship? Get real!"
Aika is getting really frustrated at their actions that seem too childish, and she isn't done yet, "I got it that your older sibling won't make their move personally as it might escalate things quickly, but don't you think that you should at least call an army that is capable of at least repelling that guy in the name of self-defense? And you're from influential families from what I heard so something like this should be doable! Or are you thinking that you want to be independent of your families? That's bullshit! Please choose another time to act like that when there is an actual need for it if there is one!"
Aika is panting hard as she finishes her words and nobody could say anything back at her outburst.
2/2
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Heads up!
I might miss some days in posting since I transitioning from one Arc to another and I want to clean and set everything up in this Arc for the future Arcs since it'll be a pretty big change at the end of this Volume.
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Each time I outline how it would end, I'll recall some things and change it depending on how that thing will affect the story and I'm having a bit of a hard time doing it. Though this is also enjoyable as I feel like I'm crafting, not something amazing, but something that will satisfy my craving.
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Well, Enjoy~
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Advance Chapters here:
pat reon.com/goyya00
From the quiet crowd, Akeno slowly took a step forward, "You don't have to worry, Kiryuu-san... I've already called for reinforcement from Sirzechs Lucifer-sama and they should arrive in an hour."
"A-Akeno?" Rias looked at her in disbelief as she did this without telling her anything.
"Rias, what she just said is right. I understand your reluctance to bother him after the recent troubles with your family... But this is clearly isn't something we can overcome on our own. At most, we could only buy time for the reinforcement." Akeno gave her a grave look. As her Queen, she just can't be a servant, but someone who can be her right arm. Since Rias didn't want to get help, Akeno has to do it on her own for everyone's safety.
"Haah... I'm sorry for my outburst, then... With all of this happening, I'm pretty stressed out. Add the fact that I can't seem to contact both Kisuke and Yoruichi." Aika held her forehead and sighed. On her other hand is the token that can be used to contact both Kisuke and Yoruichi in an emergency. She kept inserting her Reiatsu-Ki as they instructed in it, but there is no response.
Koneko, who kept quiet all this time, also took out her own token. She also has been trying to contact the two of them as she knew they could fight off Kokabiel. She even wanted to call for her sister, but she left a few days ago for some mission in her organization and won't be coming back anytime soon. Since she can't contact all of them, she chooses to secretly contact the Gremory Household for help. So while indeed Aika just had an outburst, it's not directed to her, as she knew Koneko knew the right thing to do in this situation. After all, it wasn't just her who receive training from Yoruichi.
Although Koneko contacted the Gremory Household, like the Devil King, they are tied and won't be able to move personally, so they can only send some help. But it's still a lot better than the one-hour arrival of the Devil King's forces as they could come as early as thirty minutes if they ignore some of the sanctions that they would incur later, and Koneko is pretty confident that Venelana Gremory would do just that.
Aika's words, however, caught someone's attention, "...Can't contact them? What happened?"
Aika looked at the source of that question and saw Sona's haggard face with a trace of worry, "I don't know... I'm only sure that something happened on their side that they can't respond to any call..." Aika saw Sona's face become visibly paler. Not only her everyone around noticed this too. Saji in particular pouted and started muttering some unknown things.
"You don't have to worry about him though. Knowing him, he's probably messing around somewhere and someone probably isn't having a good time." Aika shook her head and comforted Sona, 'Is this really the Sona that I know... It seems that all her silence is just a brave front...' Heaving a huge sigh again, she continued, "What you should be worrying about is the current situation. We can't afford to worry about that pervert."
"N-no... I'm not exactly worried about him. I'm just thinking that should really have contacted my sister." Sona faked a cough and turned around, "Tsubaki, we're going. And while you're at it, please contact Leviathan-sama and tell her the situation, but also make sure to tell her that doesn't escalate anything. If it's her, she'll probably disregard everything and come here and by then, we'll have bigger problems than Kokabiel."
"Yes, Kaichou!" Tsubaki then immediately opened the communication line directly to the office of the Leviathan.
"Rias... We'll do our best to hold the barrier. So I leave everything else to you."
"Got it..."
Sona and the rest of the Student Council surrounded the whole school and set up a huge barrier that will contain the inevitable destruction that would occur.
Rias then faced those who remained, "Are you going to help us, Kiryuu-san?"
"What else could I do? I want to take Koneko-chan away from here but I doubt she would agree." Aika shrugs her shoulder and Koneko gave her a gratified glance.
"...Thank you..." Rias expressed her gratitude, "With Sona defending the town, that leaves offense to us. We have to keep Kokabiel busy so he wouldn't direct any kind of attack outside... This isn't the same as our fight with the Phenex. Our life is on the line this time. But I don't give you any permission to die! We're going to survive and protect our beloved town!"
"Yes! Buchou!" Akeno, Asia, and Issei answered with enthusiasm. They then started walking towards the schoolyard.
"WAIT!!!" Aika shouted at the leaving figures. She and Koneko stood at their spot dumbfounded.
"What is it, Kiryuu-san?" Rias asked. Akeno, Asia, and Issei also has a puzzled expression.
"What do you mean by what is it!? Do you plan to charge ahead without even having a concrete plan!? Or is it that your 'concrete plan' is to deal with whatever that Kokabiel throws at us!?" Aika stomped the ground in frustration, 'Dammit! They're really acting like some shounen manga protagonist!' Aika shouted at them in frustration, "That Kokabiel dude can push the 'Game Over' button anytime he wants and we won't be able to do anything about it, you know!"
"What else can we do then? We can only respond to what he has for us..." Rias gritted her teeth as she can't also think of any strategy against Kokabiel.
"A strategy doesn't have to be complicated. A simple framework is a lot better than just 'responding' to what is happening.
" Ahem. First of all, our goal is to buy an hour until reinforcements arrive, but we have to remember that his goal is to start a war so he just has to kill you all for it to happen.
"Then what do we do?" Asia asked nervously.
"I must say that Valper whatever his full name is presence is our luck."
"What? Why? Isn't an additional enemy suppose to be bad?" In their group's behalf, Asia kept asking the questions they wanted to know.
"Normally, it is. But Kokabiel is someone who doesn't need help to annihilate us. And the fact that he's just letting this guy do whatever he wants means that we won't need to face him in the first round."
"How can you be so sure?"
"What do you think is his other reason aside from wanting to prove that Fallen Angels are supreme?"
"...H-he's bored?"
"Exactly. He wants some amusement and we could use that to gain some time so don't go finishing the minions off. Just put up a flashy struggling fight."
"So that's it. Let's go!" Issei clenched his fist and got ready to charge.
"Hold up, dimwit!"
"What? I thought we already have a plan?"
"Don't take what I just said as something that would surely happen. Heck, that guy might just blast us into oblivion the moment we enter his sight!"
Issei went silent for a moment before crying out loud, "Then strategizing is useless!"
"It's not, you idiot. That's just the instant 'Game Over' that I talk about earlier. Ahem... Anyway, my point is, there's also a chance that he'll only give us a limited time which won't be enough for the reinforcements to arrive."
Everyone is having a headache now.
Next chapter might take some time, but enjoy~.
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Advance Chapters here: pat reon.com/goyya00