Issei Hyoudou is not having a good day. More like he is having the absolute worst day of a pretty bad week.
He groans as his crack-ridden armored form slowly pushes itself off the ground to look at the surroundings. Koneko, his cute little kouhai, is knocked out lying against a cracked concrete wall, clothes torn, blood pouring from a wound on her head, right arm bent in an unnatural angle, and severely bruised in multiple spots. Kiba, that stupid pretty boy he calls a friend, is doing better than Koneko, having activated his Balance Breaker to beat the shit out of that deranged priest Freed and fatass archbishop Galilei, which he did, while shattering the recombined Excalibur. Sporting many deep cuts and sliced clothes for his trouble, Kiba is kneeling on the ground, panting heavily and completely exhausted from his fights, barely able to stay conscious and keep the Balance Breaker running. Xenovia, having mentally broken at the news of the God of the Bible's death (Ow), is completely incapacitated, staring off into space with a blank expression on her face. On the other hand, despite hearing the world-shattering news of His death, Asia, the most faithful and least wounded of the group, is still moving strong, solely focusing on her healing. A fatigued Asia is kneeling over a broken and comatose Irina, who despite having the most severe wounds of the group and in need of healing the most, luckily avoided having to hear the news. His beautiful and sadistic senpai and his beautiful and caring King, Akeno and Rias, are currently holding off the lazily thrown attacks of that shitty crow Kokabiel, who despite his apparent lackadaisical attitude, had enough power in those attacks to almost completely overwhelm the battered and bruised Queen and King.
Seeing the state of his friends, Issei tries to get up faster, only for him to collapse and his Scale Mail to completely disappear. He tries to Boost one more time to hopefully at least Transfer it to the King and Queen of the peerage to give them a greater edge in the fight, but the dim glow in the gem of the Boosted Gear shows that he lacks the stamina to double his strength anymore. He tries and struggles to get up regardless, but it's a pointless endeavor.
"[It's pointless Issei.]" The voice of Ddraig, the Heavenly Dragon of Domination, states about the current situation. "[You cannot hope to combat the Watcher of the Stars without Scale Mail, and you do not have the strength or energy to even try to resummon it, or even use the most basic of the Boosted Gear's abilities.]"
"That doesn't mean I can't try Ddraig," Issei says through grunts of pain and fatigue.
"[Just give up, Issei. You can't continue as you are now.]" Ddraig sighs. "[You fought well, Issei. Despite being one of my weakest hosts, you grew quickly, even achieving Balance Breaker in such a short time without any shortcuts. You were able to go toe to toe for a short time with one of the oldest and strongest beings in the world, a cadre class Fallen Angel that ranks in the top 10 strongest beings in the world. With your minimal training, the fact that you were able to achieve such a result is mind-boggling. It's time to rest though, Issei. You've done enough.]"
Issei collapses again in exhaustion, his mind whirling on Ddraig's words and the circumstances that brought him here.
Issei was just your average 17-year-old boy, with the only exceptional thing about him being his extreme perversion, degeneracy, and ultimate desire to become the Harem King. Attending the previously all-girls school of Kuoh Academy, he gained an infamous reputation as one of the perverts part of the Perverted Trio, a group formed with him and his two other friends that committed various degenerate and despicable acts. However, after an encounter with one of the beautiful onee-san's in the school, he realized the error of his ways and tried to curb his and his friends perverted tendencies with some moderate success. Although they still spout out their perverted thoughts and lack restraint, they stopped their previous acts altogether as a way to show greater respect to their female classmates. This change actively worked, with Issei one day getting asked out by a cute girl, named Yuuma Amano. Issei was over the moon, thinking things were only looking up, only for everything to come crashing down when Yuuma, actually a Fallen Angel named Raynare, tried to kill him. That day his life changed forever, as if out of nowhere, he activated the Boosted Gear and felt an unknown feeling of strength wash over him, allowing him to stall long enough for Rias Gremory to appear, one of the Great Onee-San of the school, and in reality a high-class Devil. With Raynare fleeing, he passed out and woke up the next morning in the otherworldly beautiful and naked arms of Rias in his bed to his absolute surprise. Later that day, he would learn about the existence of the supernatural world and the Boosted Gear, one of the 13 Longinus capable of slaying Gods. His in particular housed the soul of the Red Dragon Emperor, Ddraig. There, Rias would propose reincarnating as Devil in her peerage, with him eventually agreeing seeing that as he rises in the ranks, he can eventually have his own Harem. After that, his life became a new normal of crazy: training and learning more about Devil Society, dealing with Raynare and the other Fallen Angels and meeting Asia, even harsher training and the subsequent Rating Game to beat that stupid chicken so his King wouldn't have to marry the bastard, unlocking his Balance Breaker in said fight, to now, fighting to survive against one of the oldest Fallen Angels who's trying to restart the Great War between all supernatural factions.
Issei's life became one crazy event after another, but despite that, he was always able to push through and overcome the challenge. Was he really going to stop now after everything he's been through? Was he going to let the people he cares for die to this shitty crow? HELL NO!
"[BOOST]" The gauntlet of the Red Dragon Emperor flares to life, declaring the doubling of Issei's power.
Issei shakily rises to his feet, energy gathering in his palm to fire everything he got into this last Dragon Shot, willing to even use his life force to power it even further.
He's suddenly stopped when a hand appears on his shoulder, all adrenaline and dregs of energy evaporating in a puff of smoke, collapsing into armored arms. Craning his head to look at the owner of the arms, he is completely dumbfounded at the sight.
Although Issei and his friends know that he often gets completely spellbound at the sight of a beautiful woman, this time his frozen gaze was the result of shock, not lust, which is fitting given the individual holding him was often a target of his lustful gaze. Holding him, was one of the Great Onee-San's of Kuoh, Arturia Emiya, completely decked out in full plate mail, holding a lance that despite emitting an absurd amount of Holy Light, did not trigger his devil instincts at all, in fact, actually giving him a warm feeling inside instead.
Arturia Emiya is an 18-year-old British transfer student at Kuoh Academy. Despite it being her first and only year at Kuoh Academy as a Third-Year, she quickly obtained Great Onee-San status due to her exceptional beauty, extreme wealth, and noble and knight-like personality. She excelled at nearly everything, garnering her popularity amongst guys and girls alike. Due to her regal and upright demeanor, she was given the nickname Queen of Knights, a nickname that stuck with her despite her efforts to shut it down. She was actually the Onee-san that convinced Issei to change his ways, by telling him about her husband who naturally gathered girls around him like a Harem Protagonist by just being his kind self. She saw a similar kindness inside of Issei and told him that if he just showed more respect to women, he could likely achieve his dream. Having someone believe in him for the first time in his life, made him vow to change and make her proud, and as he slowly reduced his perverted actions, he refused and actively wrangled his friends from any perverted actions against Arturia out of his respect for her. Although he was completely jealous of her husband for getting such a beautiful and kind woman like Arturia, he couldn't help but admire the image she painted of the man and actively inspired to be like him.
So it's only shocking for Issei to see Arturia geared up like this and especially the normally kind emerald eyes of the senpai he respects turned piercing and stone cold. It's like he's being held by an ancient hero, ready to fight against the evil before them.
"Relax now Issei." She says gently, a little warmth returning to her cold eyes as she looks at him. "You fought valiantly. Do not worry, I will handle the rest."
She gently places Issei against the dirt, and rises, walking over to ongoing fight, lance in hand. Issei tries to raise his hand as if reaching out to stop her, but he can't, his tank is truly empty.
"[Partner, watch.]" The deep voice of Ddraig speaks out to him. "[That woman...she's stronger than she looks. I can normally gauge how strong an opponent is, but she is a complete unknown to me. However...there's something about her that feels familiar. This feeling...it's telling me that she's strong. Incredibly strong. Something that's telling me you shouldn't be worrying about her safety, but the Fallen Angel she's about to decimate.]"
Issei listens to Ddraig's words shocked. How strong is Arturia to even disturb the mighty Heavenly Dragon of Domination?
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Kokabiel. One of the Watchers. The Angel of the Stars. One of oldest supernatural beings in history and one of the few survivors of the Great War. He has knowledge incomprehensible to Man and power of unfathomable depths. Why then, is a big of such a level present in this backwater town?
He's bored. Not bored exactly, but rather sick of the current affairs. After the successful sealing of the Heavenly Dragons, the Great War was essentially over. Nearly all mythological factions suffered severe losses in the conflict with the Red and White Dragon Emperors, even the Fallen's greatest enemies the Angels and the Devils suffered severe losses, losing his father the Biblical God and the Original Maous respectively. The Fallen Angel's on the other hand also suffered severe losses, but not to the same extent as the other factions, they still had the Supreme Fallen and their leader Azazel after all. With their current forces, they could have easily fought and won against the weakened Angels and Devils, possibly even moving on to the other factions, Kokabiel at least, was sure of their success. But to his utter surprise, his leader did not take action, and offered a cease fire, which all the other factions accepted, ending the war.
Kokabiel felt like he was just slapped. Azazel just threw away their winning chances like trash, while spitting on the graves of their fallen brethren who fought with their lives for the cause they believed in. Kokabiel just couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe it when the war ended. He couldn't believe it when Azazel mocked their brethren's sacrifice in his speech at the mass funeral dedicated to those slain in battle. He couldn't believe it as they remained passive when the Devils weakened further during their Civil War and the Angels were in chaos with the rapid decline of Father's system. He couldn't believe it when Azazel met with the Archangels and the new Maous to hopefully create a more solid peace treaty than the fragile one made during the war. And he definitely couldn't believe it when Humanity, the beings his Father loved and created, the beings he was tasked to watch over as an Angel and especially as the Angel of the Stars, the beings he loved and continued to love even as he fell, completely stagnate and lose the potential that made them shine so bright during the great war. The potential that made them shatter limits to challenge even the gods. The potential to reach the Stars. The potential completely snuffed out by the agreement of the entire supernatural, out of fear that Humanity would usurp control of the world and rid the world of the supernatural completely.
His disbelief eventually rotted into rage. Humanity stagnated and robbed of their light, his coward of a leader was breaking bread with the enemy instead of capitalizing on their weakness, and here he was wasting away behind a desk, while the screams and laments of his fallen brothers and sisters echoed in his ears their despair at not being avenged.
That's when he decided enough was enough. If Azazel wasn't going to continue the Great War, he would. He would reignite the conflict to avenge his fallen siblings, hand the Fallen Angels the victory that slipped from their grasp, and spark the potential of humanity again that was suppressed by the secrecy agreement made after the Great War.
Which is how he came to be here. He stole the Excalibur fragments to excite the church, working with that deranged, but admittedly brilliant priest to reforge them and use them to kill the Devil heiresses in Kuoh town, pissing off their Maou sibling and the Devils by proxy and connecting it to the Church. Of course, his own participation wouldn't be disregarded, thus dragging the Fallen Angels into the conflict, which will eventually grow large enough to drag the other mythological factions in, culminating in the restart of the Great War.
Not the most elegant plan if he is to say so himself, but it gets the job done. He would rather not have to resort to these methods, bullying Devils that haven't even had the chance to grow into their powers yet, but such is life. The little Nekoshou is of a species with great potential, and if her sister is anything to show about it, the rook has a lot to grow. The knight also was surprising with his holy-demonic Balance Breaker, given enough time and creativity he could also be a force to be reckoned with. Those exorcists have potential, especially the wielder of Durandal, but if she could break so easily at news like that, she is better off hanging up her swords then becoming a liability as she is right now. The daughter of Baraqiel also possess immense potential, if only Baraqiel's daughter would give up that foolish pride of her's and utilize her true power, she could easily become cadre level, if not a Supreme Fallen. Then there's the sister of the new Lucifer. The resemblance can be seen between the two, as despite the daughter of Baraqiel slowing down, the sister of the new Lucifer is picking up the slack in defending against his attack--half-hearted as they may be--just as fatigued as her queen. Truly, if he didn't have to end her life here, there would be another Super Devil in the making, and he would've loved to fight her at her full potential. The same could be said for this generation's Red Dragon Emperor. Although significantly weaker than Vali, his growth is absolute astounding, achieving Balance Breaker in under a month. As he clashed with the new Red Dragon Emperor, at one point he saw a glimpse of the dominating presence that terrorized the battlefield and crippled the supernatural world, when it's main focus was purely on its battle with its rival. But as quickly as it came, it left, and the Red Dragon Emperor succumb to fatigue.
'Such a shame.' Kokabiel sighs, lazily dodging a lightning bolt, and smacking away an orb of ruin.
"Alright little girls, playtime's over." He says cracking his neck and hands. "I've let you stall enough. Can't let that dear brother of yours come before I can kill you."
He unleashes the full might of his aura, and the daughter of Baraqiel and the sister of the Lucifer, collapse to the ground under the pressure. He raises his hand above his head, creating a boulder-sized light spear, aiming it towards the two girls.
"If it's any consolation, you and your peerage fought valiantly sister of the Lucifer." He says honestly. "It is always a shame to snuff out blossoming potential so early, but I must do what I need to do. As a reward for reminding me why I'm doing this, I will end all of your lives quickly and painlessly, as well as the lives of the sister of the Leviathan and her peerage. May you find peace in death."
Kokabiel then chucks the light spear at the devil heiress, spear blitzing through the air at the speed of light, it's impact creating a flashbang in the surrounding area. Once the scene became visible again, he is shocked to find that what is before him is not the incinerated form of the Gremory heiress, but the untouched armored figure of a golden blond human woman; piercing emerald eyes stabbing directly into his soul.
Kokabiel didn't even sense her presence until then. In fact, he can't even sense from her a single bit of the strength it would need to completely defend against his blow. She feels like a normal human in all sense of the world. Yet, something is off to him. Maybe it is the humming glow of her Lance or her experienced posture of a warrior that has fought countless battles. Maybe it is her eyes that show the fire that he thought was lost in modern Humans. Whatever it may be, his instincts, honed from centuries of countless battlefields, are screaming at him that he's in danger. This human woman is strong. Unfathomably strong. When he looks in her stone-cold eyes he sees the eyes of a predator, and he is the prey. Deep down inside of him, a forgotten spark of excitement begins to burn.
"Who are you, human?" He asks utterly perplexed and enthralled with the human girl.
"I'm a student at this school, Angel of the Stars." She says, her majestic and stoic voice ringing in his ears. "A student of this school that you have destroyed, as well as friends and classmates of the people you dare to kill."
"A student at this school...a friend you say...HAHAHAHA!" Kokabiel bursts out laughing at the absurdity of the answer, but an answer he felt like he expected from someone like her.
"So why are you here, student of Kuoh Academy and friend of the Gremory." He says after his laughter subsides, genuinely curious about her response.
"What a foolish question." The woman says, stone-like facade broken with a raised eyebrow in confusion. "I'm here to end your life."
She said it so simply and bluntly, like it was an inevitable fact, a chore she had to take care of. Her matter-of-fact manner threw Kokabiel for a loop, but despite his confusion, a small grin worked its way up on his face.
"Ah, I see. Quite foolish of me to ask indeed." He says after a pause at her words, smile growing wider. "An what is the name of the warrior who dares to take to my life?"
Like clockwork, she crosses her lance across her chest and bows before speaking, like the knights of old.
"My name is Arturia Emiya, a third year student of Kuoh Academy." She declares resolutely. "However, before I adopted the name of Emiya, I was once called Arturia Pendragon, the King of Knights."
Once again, shock spread across his features, but it disappeared more quickly this time, pieces of the puzzle falling into place that explained the demeanor of the mysterious woman, or rather the reincarnation of the King of Knights.
"I see." Kokabiel says, his grin even wider and bowing as well. "Well met Arturia Pendragon. The man who stands before you is one of the Watchers of Humanity, the General of the 101st Battalion, the Bloodstained Angel of the Great War, Kokabiel, the Angel of the Stars."
"Well met, Kokabiel." She says stoically, returning his bow.
Kokabiel's grin turns animalistic.
"Have at thee, Arturia Pendragon!" He yells in excitement. "Show me the might of Humanity that I thought was lost."
He charges and the thrumming light of a Lance hums in response.
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Rias Gremory thought she was dead after Kokabiel fired that spear of light.
She put everything she had into holding him off, banking on the fact that he would play around with them long enough for her brother to come to the rescue. Unfortunately, Kokabiel is not the Angel of the Stars for nothing, seeing through her plan and letting her go through with it anyway, because what did it matter to him? He had plenty of time. All it would take is a single snap of his fingers and she and her poor peerage would be atomized just like that. Yet she still tried anyway, hoping for a miracle.
Of course it didn't work out. Kokabiel eventually stopped playing and just unleashed his aura, the pressure forcing her to her hands and knees, making it hard to breathe. He lamented having to kill her, but in her eyes, all it felt like was mockery of her weakness, of her failure as a King to protect her peerage.
When he summoned that pillar of light, it's immense heat and power even at a distance sizzling her skin, she closed her eyes and accepted her fate. She apologized to Sona for her failure as a friend. She apologized to her parents for her failure to forgive them and her failure to reach out after breaking off the engagement with Riser. She apologized to her brother for not being a better sister, thinking that next time she would not hide the invitation for Class Observation Day. She apologized to little Koneko for not helping her grow out of her shell. She apologized to Kiba for failing to protect the new life he gained, free from the shadows of his past. She apologized to her cute Asia for not trying to make her feel more welcome after everything she knew was turned upside down. She apologized to Akeno, her sister in all but blood, for not being there for her more, for not helping her love herself, for breaking the promise of creating a safe haven for her. She apologized to Issei, her sweet Issei, the silly and perverted boy that achieved the impossible in unlocking Balance Breaker to save her from an unhappy marriage, looking at her as Rias the girl, not Rias the Gremory. She apologized to the kindhearted boy that earned her heart and love for not telling him her feelings when she had the chance. Most of all, she lamented her weakness in failing to protect the things she cared about.
As the atomizing light grew closer, she prayed with all her to heart, for someone to hear her prayers and protect her loved ones. She prayed, and hoped, and wished with every fiber of her being. She didn't care what happened to her as long as the people around her were safe.
Like if her prayers were answered, the light of destruction that she expected to spell her doom never made contact, instead what her eyes opened up to was the gallant figure of Arturia Emiya in front of her, lance pulsing with warm light.
Her appearance shocked Rias. Arturia was a transfer student into her class that she got along with pretty well. While she couldn't exactly say they were the best of friends, Arturia was a friendly face that she could talk to about mundane things without having to worry about the dealings of the supernatural. A normal friend for the school life she wanted to live.
Arturia gave no presence or acknowledgement of the supernatural. She acted and felt like a normal human in any sense of the world. So of course it was a shock that the normal friend she thought was completely uninvolved with the supernatural, was able to casually block a full-power attack from a cadre-class Fallen Angel.
Rias could only stare dumbfound at the interaction between her friend and the Angel of the Stars. Kokabiel was acting completely different than when he was playing around with her. His eyes were alert and his body was tense as if ready to fight or flee at any moment. He had a grin of excitement across his face, as if his long dampened battle spirit regained it's fervent passion in the face of a powerful opponent. Meanwhile her friend, was as cold as cucumber. No emotion was present on her face and her demeanor was both rigid and relaxed. She gave off an aura of an oppressive Queen, while at the same time, the warmth of a gentle knight. It perplexed her to no end to see the stark contrast between the two.
When Arturia revealed her true name, things made slightly more sense, but also confused her even more. Pendragon. That was her previous surname, the name belonging to that of King Arthur and his descendants. She also used the title of the King of Knights, the title given to King Arthur. This explained a lot of her noble and knightly behavior, if she was a descendant of the King of Knights. However, if she was this strong, surely she wouldn't have gone unnoticed by the larger supernatural world. Rias was sure that she read that King Arthur's reincarnation appeared a while ago in the son of the Pendragon Family's Main Branch, with no mention of a strong appearance like Arturia being born into the Pendragon Family. So how did she go underground for so long and why was she in Kuoh?
These thoughts brought her back to the present, to the battle between the two giants.
The initial shockwave of Kokabiel's and Arturia's first clash shook the entire grounds of the school, shaking the barrier Sona was trying so hard to uphold, and blasting both her and Akeno back a couple feet. Each consecutive clash got only stronger and stronger, her eyes barely able to keep up with their movements. The few things she was able to grasp was the expression of pure joy on Kokabiel's face, the unfazed apathy on Arturia's, and the most important thing. The complete and utter dismantling Kokabiel was facing at Arturia's hands.
Rias' observations proved true with the sound of a sharp clang of a parry and cracking bones, reflecting how Arturia parries away Kokabiel's light spear into fragments and slams her lance into his ribs, punting Kokabiel into the ground. The impact creates a massive crater and shakes the schoolgrounds once again.
Kokabiel coughs up blood through chuckles as he rises up from the crater and faces Arturia, who is casually walking towards him, pristine and unmarked in contrast to the battered and bloody Kokabiel.
Kokabiel coughs up blood into his hand and says something that only the stoic Arturia could hear. She raises an eyebrow in response, but nods her head seemingly out of agreement and begins to walk a distance away.
When Arturia is a good distance away, she faces Kokabiel once again. Kokabiel's full power is unleashed, likely for the final time, as he puts everything into a massive spear of light, chanting words that Rias cannot hear.
Arturia raises her lance in response, and chants words that Rias can hear.
"Seal Thirteen Decision Start." Arturia chants.
"Granted." A gentle woman's voice echoes out, then preceding to call out many names.
"Palamedes." This battle is one-on-one.
"Lancelot." This battle is not against an elemental.
"Galahad." This battle is not for personal gain.
"Gaheris." This battle is not against Humanity.
"Gareth." This battle is not inhumane.
"This is a battle to save the world." Arturia calls out in a normal tone of voice, but her words echo loudly in Rias' ears.
"Arthur."
With each name that is called, a clanking sound can be heard coming from the lance as the light emitted grows brighter and brighter. With the call of the last name, the lance transforms into a golden pillar of brilliant light. Any Devil would typically run in fear of such a light, but Rias only feels warmth and comfort in its presence.
Completely enraptured by the scene before her. She watches as both Kokabiel and Arturia pull back their arms and prepare their attacks.
"LIGHT OF-" Kokabiel begins to scream out.
"RHONGO-" Arturia yells back in response
"RUIN/MYNIAD!"
Their voices overlap as the attacks are launched. A spear of light of scorching ruin clashes with the golden pillar reflecting the Tower that Shines at the End of the World. The impact of the clash spreads a blinding luminescence beyond anything Rias has ever seen, and the resulting shockwave blows her back several feet, completely obliterating the remaining standing school buildings and breaking Sona's barrier like it was made of brittle glass.
After a certain amount of time, Rias groans and her eyes flutter open, her body aching and spread out on the ground. Realizing where she is, Rias jolts up, seeing that she fell unconscious after being thrown back by the collision of the two attacks. Frantically looking for the outcome of the battle, her eyes finally make their way to scene of penultimate clash.
At the scene of the final battle, Kokabiel is no where to be seen, as if he was completely atomized by the clash of the attacks. The only evidence of his presence ever being there was a lone, pitch black feather in the hands of one Arturia Pendragon. Her figure and armor are completely untouched and she stands there like an unwavering knight, though now knowing the truth, of course she would be.
Arturia turns and meets her gaze, the familiar warmth returning to Arturia's emerald eyes. Smiling, Arturia walks over to where she is laying, kneeling down beside her and placing her head on the soft thighs of Arturia's lap, with a comforting, un-gauntleted, hand stroking her hair.
"You can relax, now Rias." Arturia says soothingly. "The battle is over and the enemy is defeated. Please rest. I shall watch over and protect you and your peerage while you recover."
With those words, her remaining completely disappears, knocking out completely on Arturia's lap, reassured that she and her peerage are safe.
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To Be Continued...
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