Rias and Akeno gather fire magic in their hands while Koneko unleashes white-flame-coated wheels, her Kasha, to follow us into battle.
Interestingly, Koneko hasn't entered her full Nekomata Level 2 (Adult Mode); she's just using Kasha, which makes sense. What we need now is raw firepower, literally.
Cerberus's heads snap toward us, lunging to bite down, but I duck and weave past them, slashing at their necks with precision.
Then, in perfect sync, Rias and Akeno unleash their combined flames while Koneko presses both Kasha against the severed stumps to burn and seal them shut.
Yes! No signs of regeneration!
But maybe because we've now truly damaged it, Cerberus seems to recognize us as serious threats and begins to attack more aggressively.
Still, with my speed, I can intercept and slice off its heads the moment they move to strike.
Some of the heads regenerate again, but we just keep repeating the cycle, slice and burn. Each time, we successfully reduce the number of regenerating heads.
At one point, one of the heads tries to bite off the burnt part to heal again. That was a surprise, but just barely, we stopped it.
Finally, all of Cerberus's heads are severed at once!
"Just to be sure, take this!"
I slice its remaining body into a cross pattern. That should finish it… right? I stay on guard just in case, but there are no signs of revival.
Looks like we did it.
At that moment, Ittou Shura wears off.
"Ugh..."
My knees nearly give out, but I manage to stay upright, just barely. Then Koneko's sharp voice rings out:
"Ikki-senpai!"
Out of the corner of my eye, I catch it, a spear of light from Kokabiel heading straight at me!
"I won't let it hit!"
Koneko rams her Kasha into the side of the spear, knocking it off-course. But even if it doesn't hit directly, the explosion's going to do some serious damage...
Just as I think that through my hazy, post-Shura fog, someone grabs me and dashes away in an instant.
"Sorry I'm late, everyone."
"Yuuto!"
"Yuuto-senpai!"
"Kiba!"
Everyone greets him with joyful relief.
Apparently, Yuuto used his knight-speed to save me, yeah, I'm super grateful, but...
"Hey, thanks for saving me, but… can you put me down now? A princess carry is a little much..."
Sure, I can barely stand, but still, getting carried like this in front of the academy girls is asking for trouble. (In many ways.)
"Huh? Why not?"
Don't give me that innocent look! He's probably one of the reasons our school is crawling with fujoshi. This handsome prince radiates pure gentlemanly charm to both boys and girls alike!
"Yuuto-senpai, I'll heal Ikki-senpai with Senjutsu. Please hand him over."
"Of course, Koneko-chan."
And just like that, I'm passed from Yuuto's arms to Koneko's… still princess style.
"Koneko-chan! Can we not do the princess carry thing!?"
"...There's nothing wrong with a guy being carried like this by a girl."
"No, there is! Normally the guy carries the girl, not the other way around!"
"Is that so? My previous employer always had me carry him like this..."
What kind of requests were those!?
"You Gremory devils sure seem relaxed for the situation."
"Xenovia! You came!"
Issei calls out in surprise.
Well, considering the current tension between the Three Factions, it wouldn't be odd for Xenovia to sit this one out while devils and fallen angels fight it out.
"I may be late, but I'll join the fight from here on."
With those words, Xenovia draws her sword, Excalibur Destruction, and glares up at Kokabiel, who still floats on his throne in the sky.
"To think mere humans could take down Cerberus. Completely unexpected, but delightful! This is why I live for battle!"
Laughing, Kokabiel stands and makes his throne vanish, floating on his own wings.
As everyone's attention shifts to him, another voice cries out joyfully from another direction:
"It's finished!"
From the magic circle spread across the ground, four beams of light converge into one and coalesce into a single sword.
"I made a deal with him. When the four swords merge, the overwhelming power created becomes mine."
"You used that power to cast a world-ending spell!?"
"Hahaha! Run while you can. The power will keep echoing inside the magic circle. In about 20 minutes, the holy sword's aura will reach critical mass."
The man dressed like a bishop, Valper Galilei, grins wickedly as he offers this insincere warning.
Yuuto steps toward him, murder in his eyes, sword in hand.
"Valper Galilei… I'm a survivor of the Holy Sword Project. No, technically, I'm one of the ones you killed. I live only because I was reincarnated as a devil. I couldn't afford to die… not until I avenged my fallen comrades. I'll end you, here and now!"
Yuuto raises his sword and charges.
"No, don't!" Koneko yells.
She senses Kokabiel readying another light spear. Yuuto hesitates just enough that the spear pierces the ground before him, exploding and blowing him back.
"Tch. So he avoided a direct hit. Thank your friend… Freed!"
"Yes, boss!"
"Use the merged Excalibur. Wield its power however you see fit!"
"Roger that Man, boss sure works us hard, but if it means I get to play with this beautifully corrupted Excalibur, it's worth it~!"
Freed takes the sword floating above the magic circle.
"Hmm, mass slaughter is a given, but where to start? Decisions, decisions~"
As Freed begins choosing his victims, Valper casually walks toward the downed Yuuto.
Still unable to move from the explosion's impact and holy energy backlash, Yuuto can only watch as the man approaches.
"So you're the survivor. Though you've fallen to a devil's level, I must thank you. Thanks to you and your fellow sacrifices, the experiment succeeded."
"Succeeded…?"
"All of you had the genetic factor necessary to wield Holy Swords, or at least fragments of it. In truth, most humans have traces of it. But I couldn't amplify those factors through normal means. That's when I reached a conclusion: I simply needed to extract the factors and combine them!"
He pulls a glowing crystal from his pocket.
"This is the last remaining crystal from that experiment, made from your extracted Holy Sword factors!"
Yuuto stares at it, wide-eyed.
"Ahahaha! At first, there were others, hosts for nightmare versions like Excalibur Nightmare and invisible ones like Excalibur Transparency. But their bodies couldn't handle the burden and they died~"
"You're saying… you killed even your own allies in the experiments!?"
"Whoa there, hold up, Issei-kun. There's more to the story~ I thought it was a waste, y'know? So I had Valper gramps transplant their sword factors into me! I nearly died, sure, but hey, I've survived worse. Just another durability test! Now I'm more special than ever☆"
Yikes… I feel like we just got a glimpse of a deeper church conspiracy...
So that's why Freed's gotten stronger, he's got three sets of Holy Sword factors inside him!
"If you want it, take it. My research has already advanced enough to create purer crystals than this one."
Valper tosses the crystal carelessly at Yuuto's feet.
"So those implants we received upon being chosen as Holy Sword users… they were to compensate for missing factors…?"
"You hypocrites exiled me as a heretic yet still used my results… I bet even Michael didn't kill those I extracted from, right?"
"Then… you didn't need to kill us! If the experiment succeeded, we would've supported it! So why!?"
"Hmph. You were just test subjects for a top-secret experiment. Once used, you were disposable. After extracting your sword factors, you were nothing but useless scraps. There was no reason to keep you alive."
With a wicked grin, Valper finishes.
This guy… all he cares about is the Holy Swords!
Everyone listening clenched their fists in rage. Asia even teared up.
"How could you be so cruel!?"
Yuuto picks up the crystal and slowly rises to his feet, still shaky.
"We believed we were helping the Lord, the Church, humanity… and endured unspeakable pain. But now we're just garbage to be discarded!? That's not what we suffered for!!"
Clutching the crystal to his chest, Yuuto shouts through tears.
As if in response, a warm light begins to glow from the crystal, gently illuminating the battlefield.
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32+ Advance Chapters Available on Patreon.com/Veltoria
100 Power Stones = Bonus Chapter
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