Everyone looks at the light.
But Issei said. ["Huh? What's going on?"]
From his midair perch, Kokabiel clapped in applause.
Kokabiel said. ["And so four Excaliburs become one."]
The burning, divine light of the swords spread throughout the area. It was so powerful that we were forced to shield our faces against the glare.
But I look at it with amazement because of the shape of the four Holy Swords overlapping.
The seven Excaliburs had originally been one blade.
Now four of those pieces were being reunited.
The blazing glow subsided, revealing that there was indeed now only a single Holy Sword. It was encased in a bluish-white aura.
Valper said it out loud. ["Now that the four Excaliburs are one, the technique is complete. This whole town will meet its end in twenty minutes. And the only way to stop it is to defeat Kokabiel himself!"]Valper exclaimed.
Issei "POV"
Issei mind. What…? I was left speechless. How could I not have been? This town, my home, was about to be reduced to rubble!
The magic circle stretching over the school began to increase in brightness and power.
Is it activating?! Seriously?! Everything I know is about to be annihilated! This has to be a joke! It can't be real!
Sona says ["We couldn't afford to just hold our position until Sirzechs arrived! There wouldn't be a town left to save by the time he got here!"]
Kokabiel called out to the psycho priest. ["Freed!"]
The white-haired exorcist approached from out of the shadows. ["Yeah, boss?"]
Kokabiel said. ["Take up your new sword. This shall be our final piece of entertainment. Show me what you're capable of with four Excaliburs combined into one."]
Freed said. ["Take up your new sword. This shall be our final piece of entertainment. Show me what you're capable of with four Excaliburs combined into one."]
With a deranged grin, Freed took hold of the Excalibur in the center of the schoolyard.
Xenovia mind.
Can he wield that thing? I recalled that Freed had said something earlier about Valper having given him a Factor or something that let him handle Holy Swords.
Xenovia called out to Kiba.
Xenovia said. ["Knight of Rias Gremory," If we're still working together, what do you say we destroy that Excalibur?"]
Kiba said. [Are you sure you're okay with that?"] Kiba asked.
Xenovia flashed him a fearless grin. ["At worst, I'll just have to recover the fragments of the weapon's core after we smash it. It might be a holy weapon, but if Freed's the one using it, it isn't a real Holy Sword. These things are only as strong as their users. His hands on that weapon make it nothing but a sword of heresy. He may as well be using a regular blade."]
came a laughing voice at Kiba and Xenovia's exchange look.
After that Kiba said to Valper in a loud voice.
Kiba said. ["Valper Galilei. I am the sole survivor of the Holy Sword Project. No, strictly speaking, you murdered me. But I was reborn as a demon."]Kiba's voice as he addressed Valper was calm, but his eyes raged with hatred.
Depending on how Valper responded, Kiba seemed liable to explode with blind fury.
Ballet said. ["Oh, so you're the survivor, are you? What a strange coincidence, finding you again in this eastern land. We must be bound by fate. Heh-heh-heh-heh."]
It is like the anime, Novel. I said in my mind.
After that.
Ballet said. ["You see, I love Holy Swords," Valper began as if reciting some old story. "I love them so much that I dream about them. In my youth, nothing touched my heart more than the tale of Excalibur. You can imagine my despair after discovering I had no aptitude for wielding Holy Swords myself. And because I couldn't use them, I longed to find someone who could. That desire was so powerful that I devoted my life to researching how to create an individual capable of using one. At last, my dedication has finally paid off. I owe it all to you and your fellow test subjects."]
Kiba says. ["What? Have you completed it? Didn't you dispose of us all as failures?"] Kiba demanded, his brow furrowed in anger and disbelief.
Rias and Xenovia had said the same thing; Kiba and the other test subjects had been considered failures. That's why Valper had killed them.
Contrary to everyone's expectations, Valper shook his head.
Ballet says. ["I had already realized that a certain Factor was required to brandish a Holy Sword properly. The point of that project was to estimate its necessary quantity to ensure compatibility. While almost all the test subjects possessed the Factor, none had it in sufficient-enough quantity. Faced with this obstacle, I hit upon the idea of combining Factors extracted from different people."]
Xenovia said. ["I see. So that's it,"] Xenovia began, grinding her teeth as if having learned something damning.
Valper answered. ["That thing that Holy Sword wielders receive when they take their blessing, that's what it was…"]
Kiba said. ["Wh-what is she talking about…?"] asking Xenovia's
Valper said. ["Exactly, my little swordswoman,"]
Valper says. ["What you received was the crystalized essence of that Factor, extracted from countless donors. Like this one here."]Valper pulled what looked like a small glowing orb from his pocket. It shone brilliantly and was likely filled with a holy aura.["With this, my research took a dramatic step forward. And yet those fools in the Church branded me a heretic and banished me, usurping my research materials in the process. Looking at you, I can see that they must have passed on my knowledge to someone else. That bastard archangel Michael. He condemns me and then goes on to use my research anyway? He probably isn't killing those he takes the Factor from, though. He's an angel, after all. Ironic as it is to say, I suppose that makes him more humane than I am. Heh!"]Valper gave a bemused chuckle.