"You really came, Sona."
"Of course. You called, I couldn't just ignore it. Argent-san, how's the treatment going?"
Sona knelt by Irina and asked about her condition.
"Yes, her injuries have been completely healed. But… Twilight Healing doesn't restore stamina. She's still very weak…"
"Indeed… her complexion isn't good. In that case, we'll take her to my house. It has a full medical facility., Tsubaki!"
"Yes."
Tsubaki gently took Irina from Issei and summoned a teleportation circle.
"I'm counting on you."
"Understood, President."
Once Tsubaki vanished, Issei finally let out a breath and stood up, the tension draining from him.
"If Irina's right, Kiba and Xenovia are safe."
"Sorry, Issei, but it looks like it's still too soon to relax."
"Yes. They're trying to hide it, but I can sense a faint aura of a Holy Sword coming from the shadows under those trees."
At Koneko-chan's words, everyone immediately shifted into battle mode.
"Whoopsie~! I've been found out? I thought I was pretty good at hide-and-seek, but now I'm totally shocked~"
As usual, Freed appeared with his typical mocking tone.
"Freed! You're the bastard who did that to Irina, aren't you!?"
"Bingo~! If you're talking about that twin-tailed girl, then yep, I'm the one who diced her up real nice Oh, and oho? Isn't that the human from the other day? You weren't around yesterday, but you're here today, huh?"
"Yeah, sorry about that. I had a killer stomachache. I missed out on a legendary battle that could've filled half a light novel… If it weren't for that, I would've beaten your face already."
"...Ikkie, just how intense was that stomachache supposed to be?"
Like, a one-on-one fight with a Maou?
"Well, well! Take care of yourself, okay? Anyway, as much as I'd love to slice all you devil bastards up with this lovely Excalibur of mine right now… I'm actually here to deliver a message to the redhead over there."
"A message? From who?"
"Not from me, silly, it's from our boss!"
The moment Freed said that, a fallen angel descended from the sky above us.
Talk about perfect timing. He must've been waiting in the wings for dramatic effect. Guy clearly has a flair for theatrics…
"A Fallen Angel… and with ten wings. That's the executive class."
"So then... he's the one!?"
"A pleasure, I suppose. Daughter of the Gremory family, is it? My name is Kokabiel."
The moment he introduced himself, tension surged through everyone.
"Greetings, executive of the fallen angels. I am Rias Gremory. Unfortunately, I don't have any tea to offer you, but I'll hear what you have to say, right here and now."
"I don't mind. Honestly, with that cursed red hair of yours, which looks exactly like your brother's, I doubt I'd enjoy tea even if it were the finest brew."
The two exchanged polite barbs as their conversation continued.
"I plan to use your little Kuoh Academy as a base for my rampage."
"Our academy!?"
"Of course. Knowing Sirzechs, I'm sure he'll come running the moment you're in danger. The Gremorys are famous for their strong family bonds."
"If you do that, the balance between the Three Factions will collapse, and we'll be back at war!"
"Fufufu! That's exactly what I want. At first, I thought stealing Excalibur would provoke Michael into action, but all they sent were weaklings. So now, I've simply shifted my attention to you a lot."
So Kokabiel is picking a fight with both the Church and the Devils at the same time. But wouldn't that just lead to a temporary truce between them, at least until they deal with the Fallen Angels? I mean, they might join forces for that, then go back to glaring at each other behind the scenes…
"You seem very enthusiastic about war. But what do you hope to gain from all this?"
"…I'm bored, that's all. Ever since the Three-Way War ended, life's been so dull I can't stand it. Azazel and Shemhazai have no interest in starting another war. They've buried themselves in research on Sacred Gears instead."
"Then why not join them? You might actually enjoy the research."
"Hah! A mere human dares to mock me? Don't be ridiculous. I'm a warrior through and through. I've got no interest in becoming some desk-bound researcher. Even Baraqiel, another warrior-type, is helping with the research, but not me. I've got no taste for such hobbies."
"Hobbies, huh?"
Issei asked, but Kokabiel offered no response.
Just imagining Baraqiel getting tied up and smacked with an iron ball while moaning "Muhhooo~" makes me feel kinda bad for him…
"I want war. With Lucifer's little sister, and Leviathan's too, all attending the same school, the place must be brimming with demonic energy. Not a bad battlefield, don't you think?"
"You bastard! You'd attack our academy for that reason!?"
"He's completely insane!"
"Yeah… mostly in the head, but especially where the brakes are supposed to be."
Even if the Fallen Angels did somehow win another Three-Way War, they'd be nearly wiped out and easy prey for the other mythological factions. What the hell is he thinking?
"Let's go to war, Rias Gremory!!"
With that declaration, Kokabiel hurled several spears of light at us.
Judging from how little power he put into them, he wasn't aiming to kill, more like making a flashy announcement.
The light spears struck the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. Under its cover, Kokabiel grabbed Freed and fled at high speed.
"Damn it! Where'd they go!?"
"They're heading toward the school."
"The school!? They really are going to destroy it!"
"Everyone, we're heading there now!"
"Right!"
"Right!"
====================
As soon as we teleported to the front gate of Kuoh Academy, Student Council President Sona Sitri gathered her entire peerage and proposed that the Sitri group handle the barrier.
"My peerage has more magic users. We'll set up the barrier to minimize collateral damage. Rias, you should contact Lord Sirzechs for reinforcements."
"It's alright. Akeno's already doing that… Though I wish we could handle this ourselves. It's frustrating."
"We don't have much choice. At present, there's no better plan."
Despite the shadow in her eyes, Sona quickly had her team erect a massive barrier covering the entire school.
Huh. So this barrier focuses almost entirely on containing the threat, rather than withstanding outside attacks.
Given the power gap with Kokabiel, that's probably the right call. Still, it feels a little shaky… Let's reinforce it just in case.
"President Sona. I'll have my familiar support the barrier, Izuna!"
I pulled out the bamboo tube and released Izuna, then created about sixty clones, keeping ten in reserve should be enough.
"Whoa! You can multiply them!?"
"My, my. Each one has the aura of a low-tier devil. Impressive."
"Akeno, were you able to contact my brother?"
"Yes. Lord Sirzechs's forces should arrive in about an hour."
Figures. Wasn't that… too late in the original timeline?
"An hour, huh… With Arima's familiar supporting the barrier, we should be able to deflect at least any stray attacks from Kokabiel."
"But hey, Arima. If your familiar split into copies, doesn't that mean it was originally just one? Wouldn't it be stronger if it didn't divide its power and just fought alongside us directly?"
Saji voiced the question on everyone's mind.
"It doesn't quite work like that. Izuna can store a ton of power, but each individual clone can only release a small amount at a time, kinda like a giant water tank with a bunch of tiny faucets."
"Ohh, I get it now."
"Exactly. So go ahead and use them as needed."
"Thank you. Much appreciated."
"Alright, we're heading out! Saji, you better bring your A-game for that barrier!"
SLAP!
Issei smacked Saji's butt with a satisfying smack.
"BUWAAAH!? Dude, Hyoudou!! You know my butt's still sore!! What about yours!?"
"Hehehe! Asia already healed mine~"
"You bastard, that's not fair!!"
"Now, now. Don't be mad, Saji. Let me give you a cheer, too… Here!"
SLAP!
"HRRRGH!? Not you too, Arima!!"
"Haha, sorry, sorry. I just thought I'd go with the mood."
"That's a terrible way to read the mood!!"
Must've really hurt, Saji was tearing up.
"You two, quit messing around. Let's move out."
"Yes, Prez!"
"Understood."
"Saji, it seems you haven't learned your lesson about horsing around during critical moments. That's an additional 500 butt slaps later."
"Wait, I'm the one at fault here!? You're kidding, right, President!?"
"Well… we'll see, won't we?"
"NOOOOOOOOOO, PREZ!!"
With Saji's soul-wrenching scream echoing behind us, we headed for the battlefield.
=============
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