Kokabiel's proclamation filled Akeno and Koneko with despair.
With their current strength, defeating him was impossible.
Their only hope lay in Rias's friend.
Realizing she could fight no more, Rias turned to Rosen.
He smiled and nodded. "Then let's end this farce."
"Indeed, my patience is exhausted."
Kokabiel gave a cold smile.
A mere human daring to out-arrogant him—unforgivable!
This insult would not stand!
Kokabiel raised his right hand; a Light Spear formed in the air, both ends tapering to razor points, then shot toward Rosen.
The next instant, the spear that could slay a high-class devil dispersed like smoke, scattering silver motes beneath the night sky.
Kokabiel straightened in shock.
His attack had been nullified—impossible!
Even a top-tier devil might fail to stop his light, yet a lone human had erased the Light Spear?
"Who are you?!"
Kokabiel felt he had misjudged the identity of the man before him.
Perhaps he wasn't Rias's Familia member at all, but rather a Church assassin sent to hunt him down.
After all, the two Sacred Gear Users approaching were so weak he felt no urge to rouse his Battle Intent.
Yet now, looking at Rosen again, Kokabiel sensed something off.
He still couldn't gauge the man's depth.
To his senses, Rosen felt as powerless as any ordinary human.
But dispelling his attack just now had been undeniably real!
Rosen offered no reply; he merely stretched a hand toward Kokabiel and pressed down.
A crushing weight instantly slammed onto Kokabiel's body.
The stone throne collapsed, and the lofty Fallen Angel cadre was flattened to the ground in a heartbeat by an invisible force.
All ten black wings snapped; bones shattered beyond count.
Yet the physical pain paled beside the sheer disbelief now blanking Kokabiel's mind.
He had no idea what had just happened to him.
He was a Fallen Angel cadre, the mastermind of this scheme; his foes should be the Four Great Demon Kings of the Netherworld, or Heaven's Michael and Gabriel!
So what was this farce?!
Pinned like a dead dog, unable even to twitch!
Still, the pride of a Fallen Angel drove Kokabiel to struggle wildly.
"Damn it! I'm a Fallen Angel who fought God Himself—how could I be brought down by the likes of you!"
He thrashed, but it was useless.
Rosen chuckled. "Tossing a Light Spear from eight hundred li counts as 'fighting'? Is that the engagement you mean?"
With that, he asked the Bible Loligoddess inside the quanta if she remembered Kokabiel.
"I have some impression of him, yet the details escape Me."
"Still, as a Fallen Angel cadre he must have joined the ancient war—yet hardly one worth remembering."
The Bible Loligoddess spoke calmly, her tone placing Kokabiel on par with nameless foot-soldiers.
To a deity at her Peak, Kokabiel had been little more than cannon-fodder.
Back to reality.
Those words nearly drove Kokabiel insane with rage.
As if his bluff had been exposed, he could only writhe on the ground in futile fury.
Finding him noisy, Rosen sealed the Fallen Angel's mouth with a Word of Power.
The battle—if one could call it that—ended in an instant. (Read the most explosive novels at Feilu Novel Network!)
Himejima Akeno and Koneko stared at Rosen as though he were a heavenly being.
They had imagined countless ways Rosen might defeat Kokabiel, certain he would win, yet never dreamed it would be this effortless.
This wasn't a fight; it was as simple as crushing an ant.
Rias, however, took it in stride.
She had seen Rosen fight before—he had even revived the divine will within the mightiest God-Slaying Artifact, Twilight Healing.
Had the Governor-General of the Fallen Angels, Azazel, come in person, the result would differ little from Kokabiel's.
After all, for God to smack these Fallen Angels is as easy as a father spanking his sons.
"Kokabiel is yours to handle; capturing him is a colossal feat—enough to annul your betrothal to the Phoenix Family."
Rosen said.
Only then did Rias recall the engagement still hanging over her.
That Rosen considered even such matters proved he saw her as a true comrade.
"I understand. Thank you, Rosen."
Rias drew a deep breath and bowed solemnly to Rosen.
Thus the anxiety that had gnawed at her was finally laid to rest.
Himejima Akeno's expression turned complicated at those words.
Of all people, she harbored the deepest hatred toward Fallen Angels, never sparing one if she could help it.
Kokabiel, who had deliberately invoked Barakiel's name, was one she longed to slay.
Yet this battle had nothing to do with her.
Since Rosen had spoken, she could only bury that desire in her heart.
Meanwhile—
Inside the abandoned factory, the Stray Exorcists saw their boss sprawled like a dead dog, life or death unknown, and panic seized them.
They had rallied to the Fallen Angel cadre's name, ready for a grand campaign—only to watch their new leader drop to his knees at the first blow.
How were they supposed to keep playing this game?!
Realizing things had gone south, they scattered like startled birds, but Rosen granted them no chance to flee.
A single word—"Stop"—rewrote reality, freezing every would-be escapee in place.
When Xenovia and Irina Fujiwara neared the factory, this surreal scene was what greeted them.