GBK 11

Gonna have a longer than usual A/N at the bottom, but I won't talk much here. Yes, I'm back, yes it's here, and yes, I'm going to stop talking after the disclaimer.

Disclaimer: I don't know DxD or SAO, and I am making no money from this story.

As soon as they arrived at the front of the school, all of them could feel the overwhelming presence of the fallen angel and the chill of the Holy Sword.

The student council took flight, and with Sona and Tsubaki leading them, formed a barrier in the air around the school.

"This is the best we can do." Sona said calmly, "Unfortunately, all we can do is leave the fighting to you."

"That's perfectly fine." Rias replied confidently, "That's what we agreed to. You handle the maintenance and I deal with the strays and other threats. This might be a bit more dangerous than most, but we'll handle it."

"Thank you, Rias." Sona smiled, "Then I'll leave it to you."

"And we'll leave concealing the battle to you." Rias nodded, turning back to the rest of them, "Now, my dear servants, it's time for the single greatest battle of all our lives. But I'm not giving any of you permission to die. We are all going to make it back and come back to school again. Understood?"

"Understood!" They answered, following her into the barrier.

Once on the other side of the barrier, the anxiety in the air became even more real. Every one of them was on edge. Both Kirito and Kiba had their swords out immediately though Xenovia refused his offer to create one for her.

"Issei." Rias said once they were all prepared for battle, "You're the lynchpin of our plan. While we hold them off, you need to focus on charging up as much power as you can. Then, transfer it to the rest of us. It's the only chance we have of dealing any kind of meaningful damage."

"Got it." Issei nodded.

"Before we go, here-" Kirito said, passing out a handful of healing crystals, "They're not the best, but at least these should be enough to heal minor wounds without going back to Asia."

"These'll be a great help." Rias smiled, accepting them, "But there's only one for each of us, so please use them wisely."

"Yes ma'am." they said, each placing a crystal into their pockets and Rias led them around the school to the main courtyard.

"Finally." Kokabiel said from the sky, "Honestly, I nearly destroyed this town out of boredom. Please tell me you at least called in your dear brother. Otherwise, I'm liable to just get this over with now."

"I don't need my brother to fight my battles for me." Rias answered, "Now prepare to face defeat."

"Oh, I'm shaking in my boots." Kokabiel grinned, blasting one of the buildings into dust with a spear of light, "Why, I'm so scared, I think I need my puppy to comfort me."

The ground beneath him tore open, and three dogs the size of large trucks poked their heads up, but as they emerged, it became clear that it wasn't three separate dogs, but rather one with three heads.

"You're summoning Cerberus to this world?!" Rias sighed, "That's forbidden for a reason. Let's send it back where it belongs."

Kirito ran forward, swords drawn while Akeno and Rias took to the sky behind him. Cerberus' three heads each looked to one of them before breathing three separate torrents of fire. Rias and Akeno erected magical barriers to deflect the attacks while Kirito was forced to jump to the side to avoid it. As planned, Asia and Issei are standing back with Koneko as a guard them. Kiba had broken off from the others and charged towards the light in the back of the schoolyard.

"What're you going to do?" Issei asked, placing himself between Asia and the three headed dog spewing fire ahead of them. "I thought that you could take care of yourself."

Xenovia looked at him and smiled slightly, "You've got a lot of guts, considering that we're still enemies. Regardless, i was curious how well the devil king's sister could fight. But it's time I took this seriously. " Holding out her right hand, a pale blue circle appeared in the air beside her, "Saint Peter. Saint Basil the Great. Saint Denis. Holy-mother Mary. Please hear my voice." The space in front of her hand became distorted, and from it, the hilt of a sword appeared wrapped in chains, "In the names of the saints whom reside within this blade, I will release it. Durandal!"

The chains shattered as she spoke, and with ease, she pulled the sword free. In one hand, she held out a massive broadsword that gave off enough holy energy to put the shards of Excalibur to shame. Above, Kokabiel clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"Durandal… I hadn't expected trash like you to possess it."

Xenovia's response was to smile and swing the blade. A shockwave of holy aura sliced the cerberus in two, and the pieces burst into flames and disappeared.

"This blade can cut anything in this world." She smiled, "I hope you're not so foolish as to think that a mere dog of the underworld could stop it."

Kokabiel scowled, but only for a moment. Then, he grinned, "Well, this should be amusing. Let's pit Holy Sword against holy sword and see which comes out on top."

"It that my cue, boss?" Freed grinned, jumping into view with a bizarre sword in his hand. It was larger than even Durandal, but in three separate places, the blade branched off into small spikes, and the hilt was protected by a bladed handguard.

Valper walked out from behind the fence Freed had appeared from, wiping the sweat off his forehead as he went, but he was looking at the sword with awe and satisfaction, "After all these years, to think that I would be the one to recreate Excalibur…"

"That thing is Excalibur!?" Kiba growled, gripping his sword tightly while sending a loathing glare at both the Archbishop and the blade in Freed's hand.

"Naturally." Valper admitted with a wide smile, "My entire life has led up to this moment! The creation of the greatest Holy Sword! Do you have any idea how much I've sacrificed to achieve this goal!?"

"I'm well aware!" Kiba roared, charging straight towards him, but Freed snapped his sword with a swing of the massive blade once it was an inch from his neck, "I was there!" He shouted, creating two more swords to try and end the Archbishop, but he was once again stopped by Freed.

Valper actually seemed somewhat surprised, but not particularly bothered, "Sword Birth is it?" He asked, looking at the swords Kiba created in his hand, "I knew a child once who possessed that sacred gear. To think you've fallen so far, Isaiah. I suppose it was only natural that you would be unable to wield the blade if your faith was so fragi-"

"Shut up!" Kiba hissed, trying to force past Freed, but his blade shattered on contact with the holy sword, leaving him no defense from the horizontal slash Freed delivered across his chest.

"Honestly, I don't see what the big deal is." Valper said with a taunting smile as Kiba fell forward, blood dripping from his wound despite him trying desperately to find the strength to fight. "I discovered the secret to wielding Holy Swords for them. It was I who finally made it possible for the Holy Swords to return to the battlefield! After so long, Devils were finally made to fear the church again because of me! And what thanks do I get for my trouble? Excommunicated for simply disposing of the unnecessary traces of a top-secret project."

"Unnecessary...?" Kiba growled, anger feeding renewed strength into his limbs so he could stand, sword in hand. "You say that my friends are unnecessary?!"

Sighing, Valper stuck a hand in his pocket and took out a small light blue crystal, "If they mean so much to you, take them." He smirked, tossing the crystal into the air, "I took the required amount of light energy from those brats and created quite a few of these, though sadly the rest have already been used up."

Kiba snatched the crystal in his hand and started to cry, "Just for something like this, my friends were murdered? For some stupid crystal?"

"Boy, this is the real world." Valper responded, turning away from him and walking back towards the gym, "Did you actually think that your life or theirs ever had any value to begin with? You were only ever research materials. At least they served their purpose, unlike you. Still, I would be rather sad if you were forced to live with this guilt, so I'll do you a favor. Freed, end his suffering."

"You got it boss!" Freed grinned, swinging the sword at Kiba who was still crying on the ground. The blade was knocked aside not just by one sword, but three.

"Heal." Kiba heard Kirito say beside him as a gentle green light covered him. The wound on his chest closed slowly, but it was enough for him to regain his strength.

"Thank you…" Kiba said, clutching the crystal created from his comrades lives' in his hand.

Kirito smiled, standing in front of him beside Xenovia, "Your fight is with us too. Don't forget that."

"Am I supposed to be scared?" Freed asked in a mocking baby voice, "Do you think that your little toys or that oversized butter knife are worth shit when compared to my Excalibur!?"

While the swordsmen clashed, Rias was busy glaring daggers at the retreating form of Valper, "I won't allow anyone to toy with my servants like that." She said, creating a ball of her power of destruction, "Die, Valper!" She said, throwing it towards him. His head snapped around in horror, but the attack never hit. A streak of light collided with the ball, causing an explosion about twenty feet from him.

"I don't actually care if he lives, but I just can't stand being ignored." Kokabiel said, floating down from his throne and standing in front of Rias and her group. "Well, I hadn't expected for three of them to fight instead of one, but no matter. Come, Rias Gremory. Let's see just how much you take after your brother."

She took a step back, "Issei?" she asked calmly without taking her eyes off of the fallen angel leader.

"I'm only at five times." He answered, staring at his gauntlet.

Rias grimaced, "It'll have to d-"

"Thunder!" Akeno shouted, dropping a bolt of thunder down on Kokabiel, but he didn't even seem to notice for a few seconds and dispersed it with a wave.

"You know, I've seen something very similar from someone else, girl." He smirked, taking flight to meet her in the air, "Looking at you up close, you do so resemble hi-"

"Shut up!" Akeno roared, blasting him again and dealing just as much damage as the first time.

"Akeno, stop!" Rias ordered, but Koneko grabbed her arm and shook her head.

"Leave him to me and Akeno." She said, stepping in front of Rias and Issei, "We'll hold him off. You guys focus on powering up."

"Koneko…" Rias said softly, but she didn't argue when Koneko jumped into the air to assist Akeno.

"They'll be okay." Issei said, patting her on the shoulder, "Just need to buy us a bit more time, right?"

Rias nodded, but took his boosted gear into her hand, "Issei, can you be ready to boost me at a moment's notice?" She asked, "If one of them is in danger, then…"

"Understood." He nodded with a smile, but his expression turned serious, "If that doesn't work, I might have to do it…"

Asuna's eyes slowly opened, and she looked up at the ceiling, but it took her a few seconds to remember what had happened. "Kirito!" She shouted, jumping to her feet and running for the door, but she ran straight into a barrier about a foot from it. After a few seconds of pounding on it pointlessly, she finally gave up and collapsed to the ground.

"I feel so useless…" She said tearfully, and just behind her, she heard someone groaning in pain. The girl from the church who had been patched up was trying to get out of bed despite not being even close to fully healed. The bandaged wound on her side was already starting to bleed, but she was still trying to get to her feet.

"You can't get up right now!" Asuna said, trying to stop her, but she kept trying.

"I have to help." She answered, "My friends need me. Issei and Xenovia… I can't let them die like this."

"I know…" she admitted softly, "But neither of us can do anything."

Irina shook her head to clear the tears, but suddenly her eyes grew wide and her hand shot into her pants pocket. A sigh of relief passed over her face when she pulled out a cell phone.

"What's wrong?" Asuna asked, and she didn't answer. Instead, she opened it and immediately dialed the first number on the speed dial.

"Good evening." A male voice said from the other end, "Church girl, so good of you to call. How's things going? Retrieve the swords yet?"

"Azazel, please, you're the only one who can help." Irina pleaded, and after a few seconds, the other voice sighed.

"Tell me the situation." He said in a much more serious voice.

"Kokabiel's fighting with Xenovia and the Gremory group. "Irina said quickly, "But they…"

"Where?" Azazel asked quickly, and Irina looked at Asuna with a silent plea.

"Kuoh Academy." Asuna answered for her, "he said that he'd destroy the town if Rias and the others didn't fight him tonight. They can't have been gone long, so the battle might still be going on."

"Got it." Azazel responded, "Happy to be of service. I'll be heading out now. Just sit back and relax for a bit. I'll be in touch."

Just like that, he ended the call, and Irina closed the cell phone.

"Who was that?" Asuna asked, sitting directly next to her.

"Azazel, the governor general of the fallen angels." Irina answered, laying back down, "He approached Xenovia and I a few days ago, but we were too stupid to let him handle it. I just hope it's not too late."

Kiba's hands had already left his swords, grasping the small light blue crystal Valper had thrown away. This crystal was all that remained of his comrades. And even with their murderer just a few feet away, he couldn't even do anything to avenge them…

Every few seconds, he heard the sound of swords clashing just above his head. The black shadow of Kirito hadn't left his side since the battle had begun, and it was pretty clear that he'd be dead if Kirito wasn't warding off Freed's strikes.

'It's always like this.' he thinks bitterly as he clasped the crystal in his hand, 'No matter how much I try, I'm always saved by others. My friends, Rias, and even Kirito…'

"What's wrong with that?" A soft voice said from just behind him, and he looked back. Dozens of small blue lights were starting to group up into vaguely human shapes. Slowly, the shapes became more distinct, until he could make out the faces. Faces he knew. Faces he saw every night when he slept. And the tears that had been threatening to escape couldn't be held back anymore.

"What the fuck is this?" Freed asked, his blade locked with Xenovia about a foot away.

"Oh?" Kokabiel smirked in between casually fending off attacks from Akeno and Koneko, "Now this is interesting. Valper, any groundbreaking theories about what we're seeing here?"

The old man's eyes were wide in shock, and he shook his head, "It shouldn't be possible… Somehow the souls of those children have broken free of the crystallized light? The chances of that happening are… No, it's simply not possible. There must be some other explanation."

"Everyone…" Kiba said softly, and each of his dead friends gave him the same sad smile.

"It's alright." A girl at the front said, kneeling beside him and placing her own ghostly hand on his, "Helping each other is what friends are for, right?"

"She's right." One of the older boys said, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, "That's why we did what we did. We're still your friends, no matter what."

"And we always will be." Another said, and the entire group started to dissolve into lights.

"Even if God's no longer with us, we'll always be with you. "They all said at the same time before fading away. The lights didn't diminish, though. Instead, all of them gathered around him. He felt stronger than he ever had before, and for the first time since the battle began, he was ready to fight.

"My friends… it was never vengeance that they wanted." He said calmly, concentrating all of his power into the hands, "They just wanted for me to survive, even if it meant that they couldn't. They gave everything they had for me. Now it's my turn."

Freed recoiled at the sharp gaze from the knight's eyes, and both Kirito and Xenovia gave vicious smiles.

"About damn time." Kirito sighed, swords finally ready to go on the offensive instead of just protecting Kiba.

"Yeah, I'm back." Kiba nodded, creating a new sword, "This time, it won't be for me. This time, I'll create a sword for myself and all of my friends! Sword Birth, give me your strength!"

"The Knight has peaked." Ddraig said to Issei within his mind.

"Peaked?" Issei asked, causing Rias to look at him funny.

"The boy's desires have forced the Sacred Gear over the edge. His wish overcomes the bonds of the world at large, giving rise to unimaginable power. This technique is called the Balance Breaker." Ddraig explained, "This is the true power of the sacred gear."

"Issei, what is it?" Rias asked him without looking away from Kiba.

"Ddraig said that Kiba's 'peaked'." Issei replied, "This is his true power. The Balance Breaker."

The newly created sword felt overwhelming in his hand. He could already tell it was stronger than the Excalibur Freed was wielding.

"This is the sword of betrayer!" Kiba shouted, pointing the blade at Valper, "A blade blessed by my friend's faith and my own nature. It's a Holy Devil Sword!"

"That's not possible!" Valper scoffed, "The two elements cannot be merged. That's a simple fact of the world. If you're going to lie, try and make it believable. Freed, kill him."

"You got it"! Freed giggled, charging at Kiba. Turning his gaze back to the priest, Kiba dodged the holy sword and swung his Holy Devil sword down. The spikes jutting out of the side of Excalibur were sliced clean off with a single swing, and it even cut off one of Freed's fingers at the same time.

"You fucking kidding me?!" Freed growled, putting some distance between them while he used Excalibur Blessing to stop the bleeding, "What kind of bullshit is this? How the fuck can he cut my sword like that!?"

"Could it be true...?" Valper said, staring at the sword with renewed interest, "Of course it couldn't. As long as the balance is being maintained, such a thing could never occur…"

While Kiba stared down at the minuscule fragments of Excalibur on the ground, he tightened his grip on the sword. 'I can do it.' he thought to himself, 'I can destroy that sword!'

"Tell me, Knight of Rias Gremory." Xenovia said, taking her stance beside him with Durandal held in front of her, "Are we still considered 'allies'?"

"I'd like to think we are." He admitted, and Xenovia smiled.

"Then let's break that sword together."

"You sure that's okay?" He asked after a moment of shock, "Wasn't your goal to retrieve them if at all possible?"

"MY job is to retrieve the holy swords." she replied, staring at the blade in Freed's hand with disgust, "But there is nothing holy about that monstrosity. I will make due with retrieving the cores."

"Then let's do this." He smiled, looking back at Kirito who was watching them with interest, "Look out for Rias, alright?" He asked, and Kirito nodded.

"Sure. Take him down for me." Kirito waved, going to regroup with Rias.

"I'll keep him busy." Xenovia said, taking a step forward, "When you see an opening, break it."

"...Thank you," He said when she offered him the chance to fulfill his revenge himself.

"I'll kill you both!" Freed shouted, "I'll chop you into a dozen pieces and feed them to that bitch you call a master! Doesn't that sound fun!?"

"You wish." Xenovia said, blocking his wild swings with one of her own and pushing him back in the process. The two holy swords clashed multiple times in uncountable showers of sparks, but no matter which ability Freed used, he couldn't get close to her. The ground around her was littered with broken pieces of the sword, though none of its abilities were at all affected by the loss.

Finally, after nearly a minute of watching the battle intently, Kiba saw his moment. Freed gave a wild swing with the power of Excalibur Destruction, and Xenovia knocked it upwards.

Immediately, he took off running, and Xenovia must have known exactly what he had planned. Flattening her sword, she launched him into the air.

"Freed!" Kiba shouted, putting every ounce of strength into the attack, "This ends now!"

"Good try!" Freed chuckled, raising his sword to block, but Kiba's Holy Devil Sword cut straight through it, delivering a deep cut on his chest in the process.

With the priest down for the count and the sword broken in his hand, Kiba wiped the tears out of his eyes.

"Everyone, we did it. "He said softly, "We defeated Excalibur."

But that was only part of it. Without Freed, there was nothing to stop him from his final objective.

Valper was muttering to himself, almost oblivious to the fact that his only guard was defeated, but as soon as Kiba approached him he let out a laugh.

"I see! Now it all makes sense!" Valper shouted, "The decline in Holy Sword wielders, the breakdown of the crystal, and the existence of a Holy Devil Sword… The only possible explanation is that we were wrong. It wasn't just the Devil Kings, but Go-"

Before he could finish, a spear of light tore through his chest, and whatever he was going to say was replaced by him vomiting blood,

"Sorry Valper." Kokabiel said while still grinning like a maniac, "But you're a bit too smart for your own good. It makes no real difference to me what you do, but that's something I probably shouldn't have let you find out."

The former Archbishop's body dissolved away, and the entire group turned their attention to the final threat.

Kokabiel's smiled widened as he landed on the ground again, "So, now that the distractions are out of the way, it's time to bring this tiresome business it an end." Looking at Rias, who was still grasping Issei's boosted gear, he added, "Tell me, Red Dragon Emperor. How much longer until you're fully charged?"

"...about a minute." Issei answered, staring at the sacred gear on his hand. The sweat on his brow, though, told a different story. Everyone in the Occult Research Club could tell that he was already over the limit. There was only so much he could take at this point.

"A minute huh?" Kokabiel sighed, "Well, I suppose I can take my time with killing your friends. Let see, six of them… So, I'll kill one every ten seconds. Sound fun to you, Rias?"

"You bastard!" Rias growled in frustration.

"Such strong words." he replied, looking at the rest who had surrounded, "So, do any of you want to play the part of the hero?"

"I'll be your opponent." Kirito replied, stepping forward despite Rias' pleas.

Kokabiel actually looked surprised, "I hadn't expected anyone to actually take me up on the offer." He admitted, "Boy, what's your name?"

"Kazuto Kirigaya." Kirito answered, taking his stance.

"Kazuto Kirigaya…" Kokabiel repeated, creating a sword of light in his hand, "You have my respect, Kazuto. So just this once, I won't hold back. Show me your warrior's spirit."

Without responding, Kirito charged at full speed, a dual sonic leap with both swords, using the full speed of the 'knight' piece.

[Boost!] Issei's sacred gear called out behind them, and at the same time, the two swordsmen clashed.

Kirito's blades shattered as the sword of light pierced his chest.

"One down." Kokabiel said, letting him fall to the ground.

"Kirito!" The entire group shouted, rushing forward to help him, but Kokabiel didn't even bat an eye at their attack.

"Now!" Rias roared furiously.

"Transfer!"

Rias' aura exploded, sending Akeno flying out of the air. The ground around her was already starting to dissolve away just from being in contact with her, and Kokabiel turned his attention back to her.

"So, you did it early?" He smirked, "No matter, this is good. Your aura's strong, just as strong as his was back in the day. So, avenge your fallen servant, if you can!"

"I will not let this stand!" Rias growled, forming a massive ball of energy above her head, "You bastard. You've hurt my family for the last time! This ends now!"

Kokabiel's laughter increased even further as the ball grew, and when it was finally released, he flew right into it. The explosive force knocked them all back, and it actually seemed like it was doing damage, but with a triumphant cry, he blasted it at point blank range with a spear of light, dissipating it completely.

"Anything else?" He asked, dusting himself off, and though Rias tried to create another, her aura had fallen back to normal. It was over.

"President." Issei said, standing between her and Kokabiel, "I've got a plan."

"Issei?" She asked, and he gave a small smile.

"Don't worry." he said, staring down at the gauntlet on his hand, "Ddraig, you hear me?"

"You know full well that I can hear you." The red dragon replied for all of them to hear.

"Ddraig, it's been too long." Kokabiel said as though greeting an old friend.

"It has, Kokabiel." Ddraig responded, "The years have not been kind, I see."

"Ddraig, that thing you mentioned, can you do it?" Issei asked quickly.

"I meant what I said." the dragon replied, "You're sure about this? Once paid, a price cannot be restored."

"Whatever. Just do it." Issei said, and the jewel on his sacred gear started to glow an intense green.

"Welsh Dragon Over Booster!" The sacred gear shouted, and it started spreading across his body, encasing him with red armor.

"Balance Breaker Boosted Gear Scale Mail!" Issei said once the armor was complete, "I'm taking you out, Kokabiel!"

"So, this is the Boosted Gear Scale Mail." Kokabiel nodded, looking him over, "It is quite similar, though you'll never be able to land a blow on me in that incomplete form, even if you do have the power to actually do something now."

"He will if we keep you busy!" Kiba shouted, charging in with a holy devil sword in both hands.

"Red Dragon Emperor, boost your power and wait until you see an opening!" Xenovia added, joining Kiba in a furious melee with the Fallen Angel leader. But even with both of them, there was never any meaningful opening.

"Ddraig, how long can you hold this up?" Issei asked in frustration.

"Just maintaining the armor is child's play." Ddraig answered, "But you overtaxed yourself earlier. With your current stamina, your body will only last for three attacks at full power. After that, there's nothing left I can do to give you a chance."

"Three times, huh?" Issei sighed, "Fine. Then let's go."

[Boost!] the Boosted Gear called repeatedly, and Issei's aura exploded.

"Promotion to queen!" He shouted, forming a mass of energy in front of his hand, "Kiba, Xenovia, get out of there!" He called out to his allies before the sacred gear called out, "Explosion!"

"Dragon Shot!"

A colossal beam of energy tore through the air a split second after Kiba and Xenovia got out of the blast zone, hitting Kokabiel square in the chest. Unlike with Rias' attack, he was thrown backwards coughing up blood, but righted himself almost immediately.

"Excellent!" He beamed, taking flight and creating a massive spear of light, "This is a fight! Com-" For a second time, he vomited blood, this time from a sword sticking through his chest.

"You should've been more careful." A weak voice said from just behind him, and a second sword pierced his chest and arm, "Don't turn your back on an enemy who can still fight."

"Kirito!" Rias sighed in relief, but he shouted over her.

"Issei! He can't move for three seconds! Take him out!" Kirito yelled.

"What have you done?!" Kokabiel hissed as he tried to move his body but nothing was listening to him, "Boy, what have you done?!"

"Dual Blade sword skill, Impalement Prison." Kirito responded, "It's not a particularly useful debuff for a solo player, but when I've got backup, it's a different story. Three seconds isn't long, but right about now, it's more than enough, isn't it?"

"Kirito, get out of there!" Issei shouted, jumping off the ground fully boosted by his sacred gear.

"I can't, just do it!" Kirito responded, and Issei nodded.

"Drop dead, you fallen angel bastard!" Issei roared, blasting Kokabiel's head with a brutal punch that sent both of them crashing to the ground. "Ddraig, again!" Issei shouted, boosting his power as soon as he saw that Kokabiel was still dazed and Kirito was thrown out of the line of fire. The intense light of the sacred gear grew until it was literally blinding, and Issei drove his fist into Kokabiel's stomach, causing the fallen angel to scream in absolute agony, coughing up blood the whole time. The force of the punch almost seemed to cause an earthquake, shattering the windows of the school building behind them, and a crater formed around them.

The entire Occult Research club gathered around it with the exception of Asia, who had already run to treat Kirito's grave injuries. The dust finally cleared, and Issei staggered forward. The armor was starting to come apart, and he almost seemed like he was too weak to even move, but he was grinning and waving towards him.

"We did it guys." He said slowly before collapsing forward.

"Issei!" Rias shouted, running to grab him, but she was forced to dodge a spear of light halfway there.

"Oh, you've done it alright." Kokabiel said, getting back to his feet despite the front of his body being almost entirely covered with blood, "Congratulations. Now I just don't care anymore. Every one of you is dead." He said, forming another spear of light and tossing it towards Asia and Kirito, "Starting with you."

"No!" Rias yelled, trying to erect a barrier to stop it, but the spear ripped through it without even slowing. All of them were forced to watch helplessly as the spear flew towards Asia, who could only look on with horror.

In an explosion of light, all of them cried out, dreading what they'd see when the dust cleared.

Instead, there was nothing there.

"I'm glad I made it in time." a voice said from just beside Rias, who looked down and saw both Asia and Kirito on the ground beside her. Standing just in front of her was a man wearing a simple light blue kimono with a sword strapped to his waist, and though he was facing away from her, she knew exactly who it was.

Collapsing to the ground, she started to cry, "Souji, thank god…"

"It seems useless to offer your thanks to the dead." Kokabiel scoffed, looking at the new arrival with loathing, "And who might you be?"

"Souji Okita." He answered, taking a single step forward and vanishing completely before reappearing back where he was standing with Issei safely behind him as well, "Knight of the Devil King Sirzechs Lucifer."

"You've done extremely well, Rias." Another new voice said from just behind her, and she didn't even need to turn around, "Leave the rest to us."

"Brother…"

Kokabiel's expression at the latest arrival could only be described as true joy, "Sirzechs!"

Azazel flew through the skies of Kuoh towards the school, accompanied by the white dragon emperor.

"You really don't need to come along, Vali." He said for the umpteenth time.

"You mean that you don't trust me to not start a fight with that one?" Vali said, casually stating Azazel very fears, "You don't have to worry. This is hardly a stage fitting for a battle between dragons."

"Gee, isn't that comforting." Azazel sighed before he felt something in his pocket vibrate. "Oh, for the love of Gabriel's heavenly tits…" He groaned, stopping mid-flight to withdraw his artificial Sacred Gear, "Now is really not the time for this shit…"

"What's wrong?" Vali asked, stopping as well, and Azazel just shook his head.

"Something I need to take care of." He answered, "Go to the school and bring back Kokabiel whatever the cost."

Vali's curiosity was clearly piqued, but he still nodded and took off flying toward the school. With the white one gone, Azazel landing on a nearby rooftop and approached the girl staring out over the city with a bored expression on her face.

"So, this is the body you've chosen for the current age, Ophis?" He asked, sitting just beside her.

"Azazel." She said casually, "And Fafnir too. It's been quite a while."

"It has." Azazel nodded, "I'm guessing that you being here isn't a coincidence. So, either you've gone out of your way to come see little old me or you were the one spurring Kokabiel on all this time. I'm inclined to say the latter. But what I want to know is what exactly is it that you're after? You're more than capable of starting a war yourself is that was what you were after."

"I'm after what I've always been after." She answered, "All I want is to return to my home to swim in peace. Nothing else matters to me."

"And what about what would happen to this world as a result of that desire?" Azazel asked, and she merely repeated herself.

"Nothing else matters to me."

Kiba couldn't help by sigh in relief at the arrival of some much-needed backup. As always, his sword master was too fast to be seen, and thanks to that speed, all of them were no longer in danger. Additionally, Grayfia and MacGregor Mathers were seeing to Issei and Kirito's injuries, helped by Asia. There wasn't any sign of the others, but for even three of them to be able to come on such short notice was nothing short of a miracle.

Sirzechs took a step forward to address Kokabiel, "I will give you a single chance to leave now." He said calmly despite a look of absolute outrage on his face, "I have no interest in starting a war. We still have a chance to settle this incident diplomatically."

"Don't give me that bullshit, Sirzechs!" Kokabiel laughed loudly, "You want to kill me as much as I want to kill you, so let's dispense with the formalities and get things started!"

Sirzechs sighed softly, but immediately the presence changed entirely. His eyes glowed blood red, and even from a distance, Kiba could feel his skin starting to sting. Most likely every one of them realized that if they were anywhere near this battle, none of them would last for longer than a second.

"My lord." Grayfia said, leaving the healing to Mathers and Asia, "If you were to do battle at your full strength without a reinforced barrier, this town will not survive. I will fight until Mathers can erect one."

The aura he was giving off calmed as Sirzechs took a step back, then turned in Kiba's direction, "Yuuto, over here." He ordered.

"Yes sir." Kiba said, dashing over to him and the rest of the club, along with Xenovia. With a wave of his hand, a barrier was erected between the group and Kokabiel and Grayfia.

"I'm sorr-" Rias started to say, but Sirzechs raised a hand to stop her.

"Allow me to say this to all of you now." Sirzechs said without even acknowledging the catastrophic battle going on just outside, "Thank you. This battle was many times greater than anything you should have had to deal with, and you've all done admirably. As both the devil king and Rias' brother, I won't forget the loyalty you've showed tonight. I'm sorry that it took me so long to arrive. Rest assured that your fight is done."

"Thank you." They all said softly, sitting on the ground and letting the fatigue set in. The only one who didn't was Xenovia who hadn't taken her eyes off of Sirzechs, though he didn't pay her much mind.

"How are they doing, Mathers?" Sirzechs asked, staring at Issei and Kirito who were still unconscious.

"Miss argento and I were able to heal the Red Dragon Emperor without too much trouble. He'll be exhausted for several days, but physically, his wounds were minor." He answered, "But this one's pretty bad. What on earth happened to him?"

"He tried to take Kokabiel alone and took his attack at full power." Rias answered bitterly, "We all thought he was dead, but…"

"He still managed to not only create an opening for Issei, but also survive the impact." Kiba added, "I don't thin- No, I know I wouldn't have survived it."

"You shouldn't be able to." Sirzechs said softly, "Even if he was holding back, no low-class devil should be able to take a hit from Kokabiel and survive. But he did. You have two good knights, Rias."

"Speaking of, I believe this should about do it." Mathers said, as Kirito's wounds stopped bleeding, "He's in critical condition, but he's stabilized, and the bleeding's stopped. Miss Asia's treatment should be enough to keep him from getting worse until he can be taken to somewhere more suited than this.."

"Yes sir!" Asia nodded, redoubling her efforts to heal Kirito.

"Okita." Sirzechs said, dissolving the barrier. Immediately, they were hit by the sound of thunderous explosions and shards of ice. Before any of them could be hit, the shards were vaporized by an uncountable number of sword slashes from the knight. The courtyard had been utterly destroyed. Craters the size of cars littered the area, all the trees were uprooted, and the entire gym had been reduced to smoldering ashes.

"Finally came out of your little barrier, have you?" Kokabiel asked, looking much worse for wear from his battle with Grayfia, who likewise looked like she'd gone through the ringer.

"Mathers, the kids." Sirzechs said, taking several steps forwards as Grayfia landed beside Rias, "Grayfia, the school."

"Understood." Both said, raising their hands. A barrier was once more erected around them, and a second, much more stable barrier was created around the school.

"Finally!" Kokabiel said as Sirzechs took to the sky.

"You can't win this fight." Sirzechs said simply, his eyes glowing again, "My sister and her household have already dealt you too much damage. Even Grayfia would've been able to defeat you in your current state if she did have to concern herself with causing excess damage to the town around us."

"Oh, indeed, I can't beat you at the moment." Kokabiel admitted, "But only for the moment."

A black snake that appeared to be made of smoke slithered out of his clothes and wrapped itself around his neck.

"But with this-!" He roared, and the snake bit his neck. His entire body convulsed as the smoke entered his body. The countless wounds covering his body closed in the blink of an eye, and the aura he was giving off more than tripled.

Even as all of them watched in horror as the monster they'd been fighting got even more terrifying, Sirzechs didn't even flinch.

"Certainly, this would've been a difficult fight." He admitted, "I'm glad that Akeno contacted me instead of Serafall."

The power of destruction started leaking out of his body, and the strength of his aura was literally suffocating even with a barrier created by one of the most skilled bishops in the underworld. The ground beneath him started to shake, and the barrier didn't stop the result earthquake from spreading to the rest of the town. Portions of the school collapsed and what little remained dissolved to nothing from his aura.

Floating in the sky before Kokabiel was a human shape mass similar to Rias' power of destruction, but many orders of magnitude greater. Kokabiel was visibly shaking.

"This must be some sick joke…" He growled, "This isn't right. There's no way you're ten times stronger than the first Lucifer!"

"Ten times is my limit for the moment..." Sirzechs answered, "Otherwise, Grayfia's barrier wouldn't be able to contain it. Not to mention Rias and her servants would not survive. You can increase your power as much as you wish, but you cannot defeat me."

"That's bullshit!" Kokabiel roared, summoning a spear of light stretching from one end of the barrier to the other, and swung it down on Sirzechs, but it crumbled to dust before it ever touched him.

"Goodbye, Kokabiel." Sirzechs said, waving his hand and sending a wave of power towards the fallen angel leader. Countless spears of light rained down upon it, but nothing could impede its progress, and all Kokabiel could do is scream as he sunk into the mass of destruction.

An absolute silence fell on the school. The mass of power slowly dissolved, turning back into Sirzechs without a trace of the transformation beside the destruction of his shirt.

An overwhelming display of force that had transfixed all of them. It was clear, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the reason that Sirzechs Lucifer had been able to maintain control of the underworld for so long without any real challenge to his power.

Because no challenge existed.

"I'm surprised." Sirzechs said calmly, walking into the crater, "So that snake was able to absorb the bulk of the damage? Clearly something is at work here."

"Go ahead and kill me, Sirzechs." Kokabiel's broken voice said harshly, "Go on, do it. I know you want to. I can see the contempt in your eyes."

"Indeed, it would bring me quite a bit of joy ending your life." Sirzechs admitted, dragging Kokabiel's body out of the crater. "But I won't do your dirty work. I'm sure you still have your share of allies in Grigori. Killing you would only embolden them."

Once Kokabiel was out of the crater, they all saw the extent of the damage. The entire left side of his body was gone, along with most of his arm and even half of his face had melted away. How he was still alive was a mystery. Both his legs were disintegrated at the knees, and just about every inch of skin on his body looked burned.

"You've grown soft." Kokabiel coughed.

"Say what you will." Sirzechs said, making a fist and conjuring chains around the leader's body, "But the battle is over."

With that proclamation, the barrier around them came down.

"You think that this is over?!" Kokabiel growled, "This will never be over! I won't stop until I've sent all you devils to meet your 'kings' and the church to meet the rotting corpse of their god!"

"Kokabiel!" Sirzechs hissed, and Kokabiel just smirked in satisfaction.

"Oops, I didn't mean to let that slip." He grinned with an obvious lie.

"...It can't be true, can it?" Asia asked, looking around for someone to reassure her, "God can't be dead, can he?"

"Wake up, little girl!" Kokabiel laughed, "He's been dead since before any of you were alive! That was what Valper discovered earlier. Without the paragons of good and evil, there's only so much that the System with Michael as its core can do to prevent things like a Holy Devil Sword from appearing. Even then, the system's already starting to reach its limits. The number of believers is decreasing by the year. Before long, who knows what could happe-"

"That's enough, Kokabiel." Someone said as a pillar of white light collided with the chained fallen angel. The one standing when the light cleared was wearing pure white armor with blue gems embedded into it. Green wings of pure energy radiated from its back, and under one arm, it held the chained form of Kokabiel.

"Lord Lucifer, I presume?" he said to Sirzechs, who nodded in acknowledgement, "I am Vali, of the Grigori. Azazel sent me to retrieve this piece of trash. Rest assured that we'll met out his punishment. I'm sure that Azazel will be in touch to provide formal proof that he's dealt with the matter."

"A moment, Vali." Kokabiel grinned despite the fact that he was being manhandled, "There's just one more thing I have to say. Haven't you wondered why there hasn't been any fighting since God died? Well, it's quite simple, you se-" Kokabiel's voice faded as blood ran down his throat from a hole in his neck. His eyes widened, mouthing continuing to move without giving off a sound.

"My apologizes, Vali." Sirzechs said lowering the arm he'd used to launch a ball of destruction, "However, there are some secrets that cannot get out, so I've taken the liberty of destroying his vocal cords. Feel free to let Azazel know what happened."

"That's fine." Vali responded, "If anything, that makes it easier to carry him. It won't have to listen to him complain."

Without another word, Vali took to the sky, and the longest night of the Occult Research club came to an end.

In the distance, Azazel saw Vali leaving the school, and given the amount of power they'd just felt, the battle was probably over before he even got there. So Gremory called in backup.

"So that's Sirzechs…" Ophis said, standing up and turning towards him, "What will you do, Azazel?"

"...You know exactly what I will do." He answered slowly, well aware that if Ophis actual tried to attack him, he would never have a chance of winning. Even if the entire military might of the threes combined, she was an entity they couldn't hope to match. Even the power Sirzechs showed with little more than a drop in the bucket compared to her.

"That's unfortunate. "She said with a smile, but she didn't lash out at him. Instead, she jumped off the building.

Though he could've followed her, it wouldn't do any good. Provoking her here would just destroy everything needlessly. So, he took off and followed Vali back to the safe house he'd maintained.

"What took you?" Vali said, glancing over at him as soon as he walked in.

"I had to deal with someone troublesome." Azazel shrugged, looking down on the floor. Vali certainly hadn't made any effort to make Kokabiel comfortable, as his wounds were untreated and simply thrown on the ground and bound him with a magic circle. "Sure did a number on him." he sighed, healing some of the less serious injuries and restoring his voice.

"It wasn't me." Vali replied, "Sirzechs had him at death's door before I got there."

"Figured that would've happened." Azazel nodded, "So, what exactly did you say, Kokabiel? Must've been quite the dozy if Sirzechs had to ensure that you couldn't say any more."

"Oh, nothing much." Kokabiel answered with a hateful glare, "I just let slip that God is dead."

Vali's eyes actually shot up in interest, and Azazel just sighed.

"Damn it. So that's your plan? You couldn't start a war with force so you tried with words?"

"Oh, that was the plan." Kokabiel admitted with a savage grin, "But he didn't let me tell the church girl about that little backroom deal between you, Michael, and Sirzechs." Azazel stared in him in shock for a few moments before the weight of what he'd just said sunk in.

"God damn it, Kokabiel!" Azazel growled angrily, "How did you even find out about that?!"

Kokabiel broke out laughing at the livid expression on Azazel's face, "Do your worst, Azazel. You might've stopped me tonight, but I will have my war, no matter how long it takes!"

After a moment of glaring at each other, Azazel's expression grew cold, "This is goodbye, Kokabiel." He answered.

It's been a while (which is weird to say given this chapter was done before I posted the last one, but...), but here's the long awaited big fight with Kokabiel. I'd like to apologize for taking too long with it, as I've had to neglect writing a fair bit due to my work, but while I might not be able to reply to Pms as I used to, or respond to reviews, know that I still read every single one of them, and they do drive me to keep going on my few days off.

I tried to make things as believable as possible while still keeping things as action packed as the original. One of the few complainants I have with DxD is that Kokabiel is just casually crushed by Vali in the span of a minute after toying around with the entire ORC. It just seemed a little...anti-climatic. And with Issei fighting on par with Vali five episodes later, it makes it seems like Kokabiel was... well, a lot weaker than he really was. So I gave him more of a fight with the ORC and then beat him with someone who really could casually bitchslap him into the dirt.

Some of you are going to complain because Kirito didn't do much besides stop Kiba from getting killed during his whole character development scene and somehow not dying long enough to get the drop on Kokabiel, and while that's fair, the reason I didn't have him play a larger role is that there really wasn't a place for him to do much else. Sure, he could interfere with Kiba's scene, but that just seems wrong to me, and a gamer-turned-devil actually fighting against a leader class fallen angel is utterly ridiculous at this point in the story.

Kirito's skill is getting closer to what he could do in Aincrad, but none of that makes a difference if the enemy is just a few leagues higher than that. More importantly, I wanted to drive home the fact that this isn't a game. In Aincrad (as Kirito showed in any of his numerous attempts to solo a boss), as long as you had 1HP and no status effects, you could fight the same as if you had max hp, but in the real world, the state that your body is in does, in fact, have an effect on your combat ability. That's something Kirito had to grasp in the story from experience, and coming pretty damn close to death should do that.

Now that I've got that out of the way (to silence those who are going to be saying 'What's the point in making an SAO crossover if the SAO characters do nothing?'), as always, leave your thoughts in a review and let me know what you think