Xenovia sighed. "You seem to know a lot about Kokabiel, devil. More than we do."
I nodded, accepting her observation. "You think you're the only ones with something to lose? If a new holy war starts, the consequences will be catastrophic for all sides. Angels, demons, humans... no one will emerge unscathed."
Irina crossed her arms. "A devil who talks about stopping a war and at the same time wants to get his hands on the Excaliburs? That sounds... contradictory."
"I'm not asking you to trust me blindly. Just to recognize that our interests are aligned for the moment. You want to keep the Excaliburs out of the wrong hands, and for now, so do I. I want to stop Kokabiel from getting them and using them to massacre this town. If we work together, we'll increase our chances of success."
Xenovia rested her sword in front of her. "Let's say we agree to work with you. What would be the plan?"
"First, we must prepare. The fight against Kokabiel will inevitably be brought forward. Kokabiel won't wait for us to tell the Sirzechs or, in your case, the Angels. I'm afraid he already has at least five of the Excaliburs. The other two are..."
My eyes rested on the sword Xenovia had just been resting on, then went to Irina.
"Our fragments..." Irina said with wide eyes.
"Yes... But we've got luck and a little time. We're one step ahead. If you had acted tonight as planned, at least one of you would have been captured. Then there would be only one sword left for Kokabiel to carry out his plan."
"If that's the case, all we have to do is get out of town and..." Xenovia was about to say when I interrupted her.
"And leave Kokabiel with the other five fragments of one of the most powerful holy swords? I thought you were here to get them back."
Xenovia's eyes dropped, disappointed in herself for forgetting her mission for a few moments.
"Besides, it doesn't really matter to Kokabiel whether he has all the parts of Excalibur or not. One of his servants will be able to put them together, if not all of them, and he wants to destroy this city in anyway."
"Destroy... the city...?" Irina asked in shock.
"Yes, and if we don't act now, it will happen today. Right now, Rias Gremory and Akeno Himejima are heading for the church at the top of the hill in Kuoh City. This is the territory of the Fallen Angels. I don't know who all of Kokabiel's allies are, but I'm sure he's working with Valper Galilei."
"Galilei is the Genocide Archbishop."
"Yes... Rias and Akeno will probably find Galilei in the basement of this church. In order not to lose their main pawn, Kokabiel will act and attack them, effectively starting the battle that may or may not precede a war between all races."
"So what are we doing here, still talking?" Irina took off her cloak, revealing her extremely short but effective outfit for an agile fighter.
I ignored Irina for a moment. "Xenovia, you have another sword besides your Excalibur, don't you?"
"Yes, I do. How do you...?"
"Give Irina your Excalibur fragment," I said.
"What?!"
"Irina, listen. I want you to accompany my friend Asia to the Kuoh Academy. She's waiting outside this chapel, and I trust you to keep her safe. You two must take the Excalibur parts. Inform Sona Sitri of this plan, and she will hide the fragments in a place that not even Kokabiel can reach. That's the only way he'll be able to complete Excalibur."
Irina seemed to hesitate for a moment, but when she saw me activate the Boosted Gear, she realized the importance of the task I had given her.
"Right. I'll do it. But remember, if you try anything against us..."
"Don't worry, if everything goes wrong, this city will cease to exist and I'll be dead."
Irina nodded to Xenovia, who hesitated for a moment, but finally handed over the Destroyer Excalibur. A soft glow emanated from the blade as it passed from one to the other, a sacred light.
"Guard it well," Xenovia whispered.
"You can leave it to me." Irina said and walked towards the exit. Before she left, she took a last look around.
"Now it's just the two of us," Xenovia said and turned to me. "Let's get this over with."
"{Boost!}" Ddraig yelled.
I suddenly picked Xenovia up, surprising her, and ran towards a stained glass window in the room.
"Wh-what are you doing? Put me down now!"
"We have to be quick. We can't waste any time."
"Then why not go out the front door?"
"Because it's in the opposite direction of where we're going."
We left the chapel through a shattered stained glass window and headed for the church at the top of the hill.
It was an early evening like any other, or so it seemed to the ordinary people, but to me the air was heavy, almost as if the city itself was holding its breath in anticipation of what was to come.
Many devils flew over the city, searching for Kiba. It would have been nice to warn Sona Sitri and Rias Gremory about what was about to happen, about Kokabiel and the plan to destroy the city, but they would have asked too many questions and I wouldn't have been able to answer them all without compromising myself.
As we quickly climbed the hill, the abandoned church with its small Gothic towers finally appeared before us. The windows were dark, but suddenly sounds came from inside the church, sounds of explosions, breaking glass and magical lightning. Akeno and Rias were definitely already fighting inside.
"It's happening... They've already started." Xenovia said.
Before I could answer, I felt a presence behind us. Still holding Xenovia on my lap, I jumped forward and turned around to see a woman with huge black wings, her feet gently resting on the ground. She was beautiful, with long dark brown hair, but she had an expression that exuded sadism. She wore an outfit that left little to the imagination, but her seductive appearance couldn't hide the threatening aura that emanated from her.
She was Raynare, or Yumma, as I knew her briefly before I discovered her true identity. She was the fallen angel who took my life when I came to this world.
"So it seems that the rumors are true... You really are alive, even after killing Raiser Phenex. It must be very nice to have a master with blood ties to Satan. That gives you privilege in the underworld, right?"
"Raynare... Have you come to finish what you started?"
"No, you are not my target today. I'm here for a much more important reason. However, there's nothing stopping me from having a little fun with you."
*
*
*
Support me to write more and read chapters ahead of all regular readers!
P-atreon.com/palmer1998
(Just remove the hyphen to access Patreon normally.)
In chapters R-18, there are original and exclusive images for the patreons!
Discord: https://discord.gg/2pn9Twxrng
NEXT CHAPTERS:
Chapter 87 - Demon of Lust (R-18)
Chapter 86 - Taking the Virginity of Rias Gremory (R-18)
Chapter 85 - The Depraved Innocence (R-18)
Chapter 84 - Jealousy
Chapter 83 - It's not that hard
Chapter 82 - Learning about Teleportation Circles
Chapter 81 - Sea Waves (R-18)
Chapter 80 - Hidden in the Rocks (R-18)
Chapter 79 - Bronzing Oil
Chapter 78 - Beach Volleyball
Chapter 77 - Juggernaut Drive
Chapter 76 - Against Kokabiel (Final Part)
Chapter 75 - Against Kokabiel (Part 2)
Chapter 74 - Against Kokabiel (Part 1)
Chapter 73 - Consequence of Evil Nature
Chapter 72 - My Battle against Raynare
Chapter 71 - Spear of Light