Kiba looked at the chokuto in Sasuke's hand, then glanced at Sasuke's face. Save for the slight frown, it was as smooth as clear crystal. What could he possibly hope to gain by fighting him, preventing him from reaching Valper? He didn't know and didn't care.

He wasn't willing to hear some pointless lecture about some wrongdoing he might've done and he wasn't interested in fighting. None of that would help him kill Valper, so Kiba put some distance between him and Sasuke.

Before he could form a summoning circle, Sasuke was already in his way. Kiba turned around and sprinted, straining his senses to hear the slightest sound, and when he heard the rush of wind, he saw Sasuke appear about two metres in front of him.

Kiba clicked his tongue and tried again. This time, when Sasuke moved, he threw a dagger straight ahead. It didn't land because Sasuke was running next to him, and Kiba spun, springing to his left. Sasuke held his chokuto upright, waiting for Kiba to move.

One thing was certain: Sasuke wasn't teleporting, he was just that fast. Not only that, he was perfectly capable of adjusting his movements on the fly, which meant that he wouldn't fall for any bait Kiba tried to set.

There was a clear path that connected the forest to the city suburbs, and he'd make sure to stay on it. Trying to use the trees to shake Sasuke off wouldn't work, due to Sasuke's strong sensory abilities. Flying wouldn't work, either: Sasuke would just pull him down.

He wouldn't be able to escape unless Sasuke was knocked out or he let him leave. If only he was that fortunate: Sasuke letting him leave would require Sasuke to care about what Kiba wanted. He didn't know what Sasuke cared about, he barely knew him at all.

Asking him about his motives wasn't worth the hassle, not at this point. If it was a fight Sasuke wanted, he'd be more than happy to oblige.

Kiba brandished a chokuto of his own. If he was going to fight, it was going to be on his terms. Otherwise, Sasuke would control the flow of the fight and defeat him.

Closing the gap, Kiba brought his blade down with all his strength. His chokuto clashed against Sasuke's for a second, then Sasuke pushed back, knocking Kiba off-balance. Putting his back foot flush on the earth, Kiba lunged forward, but Sasuke nudged his blade aside.

He used the added momentum to twirl on the spot and take advantage of how Sasuke had to adjust into a side-facing stance to counter his thrust, leaving himself open. Instead of biting into flesh, Sasuke had blocked his swing merely by adjusting his stance.

Sasuke's foot came up, but Kiba jumped away before it could connect. He dashed forward. Sasuke wasn't willing to get so close this time, keeping enough distance to bat away his chokuto with the tip of his matching blade.

The tiniest of nudges were all he needed to make Kiba stumble, or deny him any advantage. Once or twice, Kiba would try to strike Sasuke's open left flank, but Sasuke would immediately parry and try to kick him.

He'd seen how hard he kicked, and wanted none of that.

"Is that all you've got?" Sasuke asked.

Kiba scowled. "I've only just begun."

Kiba was in Sasuke's guard in the blink of an eye, chokuto sweeping downward. Sasuke blocked, just as planned. He immediately thrust upward, aiming for his forehead, forcing Sasuke to push his blade up or get skewered. It left his left side wide open.

He bent his knees. A katana formed in his right hand, lightning surging through folded metal as it sliced through the air, screaming towards Sasuke. Closer, closer, and closer it went, until it was just about to cut into Sasuke's black coat.

Then Sasuke swept Kiba's legs from under him. Kiba hit the earth shoulders first, springing back up a second later, landing just as Sasuke completed his arc and stood up. He peered down at him with his mismatched black and gray eyes.

"Always coming up short, but that won't stop you. After all, you're an avenger."

More trash talk. It didn't matter what he said. The fight was far from over. Kiba dismissed his chokuto, replacing it with a knight's sword that thrummed with lightning. In response, Sasuke saturated his chokuto with lightning so bright that it hurt to look at.

It didn't surprise him one bit that Sasuke could use his sword as a conduit. It wouldn't stop him, either. Kiba poured everything he had and everything he felt into his body and his blades, trying to find a way past Sasuke's guard.

He never left his left side unattended, and never overextended on his parries, whirling around his attacks so fluidly that he could counter in seconds. Kiba brought both his blades on Sasuke and he blocked them, but Kiba pressed down on him until he was forced to bend.

Kiba slashed downward again. He finally had Sasuke on the ropes, but Sasuke met him in the middle, bounding away a second after. And then rage erupted from deep within, lava scalding Kiba's veins.

Sasuke wanted to rob him of everything he fought for, everything he tried to accomplish, just because he felt like it. Why was that, because he was making his own path? If he assumed his bonds were shackling him, breaking free was his choice to make, not Sasuke's.

He wasn't just a devil, he was an avenger, and if he stopped here, he'd be butchered like everyone else. The only solution was to gain more power at all costs, and if Sasuke wanted to stop him, then he'd die where he stood.

Rather than chase after him, though, Kiba took time to breathe and discard the strange emotions that had taken hold of him. He was mad at Sasuke, sure, but not to the point that he'd lose focus. That was something he had to keep in mind, if he wanted to win.

Swordtips carved trails along the earth as Kiba ran, gathering speed until he was fast as the wind. He attacked Sasuke from every direction he could, careful not to get overwhelmed as he spun like a tornado. Sasuke tried to defend, but Kiba piled on the pressure.

Finally, he cornered him, pinning him against the trees. Sasuke's glare was bone-chilling, but he still stabbed his stomach. He heard a soft gasp that was quickly drowned out by the crackling of their swords.

It was necessary. Not just necessary, essential. Sasuke dared to get in the way of his revenge because he thought that he understood his pain. And for a time, Kiba believed that there was someone else like him. In the end, though, he stood alone, for that was his cross to bear.

Kiba blinked, and shucked off the log that his swords had stabbed into. He was wrong to think he was alone. Issei and Koneko fought alongside him, and if he hadn't rushed ahead, they'd help him hunt down Valper.

Yet again, he was feeling emotions that weren't his. He turned around, saw Sasuke standing with a frown on his face. It made sense that he could swap places with more than just people. That trick wouldn't work a second time, though.

"You won't let anything hold you back," he said. "But will that be enough?"

Kiba smiled. "We'll see."

He flung his knight's sword at Sasuke, moving at the same time. Sasuke had to block or dodge if he didn't want to get hurt, and true enough, he stood his ground. Kiba appeared behind Sasuke, bent deep and aimed at his back.

Sasuke stepped to the side. Just as the sword Kiba threw sank into the aged bark of the tree, Sasuke swept his right hand to the left. An unknown force pushed Kiba along the clear earthen path, and to avoid knocking his head against the ground, Kiba curled into a ball.

He rolled to a stop, climbing to his feet a few seconds later, but Sasuke hurtled towards him, sword poised for an upward slash. Kiba blocked it, standing his ground just as Sasuke had. However, Sasuke wasn't willing to test his strength, and shattered his sword.

In that moment, Kiba realized that Sasuke was only humouring him. Why was it that Sasuke was strong and he was weak? He relied on his own strength, stoked his hatred and rose to dizzying heights in order to avenge his fallen comrades, but it was all for naught.

Kiba let the broken remains of his katana drop to the earth, gazed at nothing. His revenge was a farce this whole time. The Holy Sword Project was performed to protect the Earth from evil, and his comrades' deaths were merely an unfortunate consequence.

No, that wasn't true. The reason why that sordid project began was still unknown to Kiba, but it wasn't done for some higher cause. Valper was solely responsible and for that, he would die.

If Valper died, what would happen to Isaiah, to Yuuto Kiba? Would he be doomed to walk the earth for eternity, devoid of purpose? Or would he rip and tear through the Church and the fallen angels until they were done?

The choice was clear. Kiba's stare regained its life, and he formed a rapier, not unlike the Excalibur he just destroyed. Strange, how a fallen angel could wield a Holy Sword when he'd never mustered the potential to do the same.

"It's time I took what's mine," Kiba said. "Whatever it takes."

Sasuke frowned. "And then what?"

"That's for me to find out: on my own."

Kiba didn't have much skill with a rapier, but he knew how to thrust and parry with a regular sword, and that foundation helped him overcome any deficiencies in his stance or his movements.

White-hot flames burst off the tip of his blade as he jabbed at Sasuke. He blocked and parried, but Kiba didn't let up, thrusting at Sasuke with increasingly deft and sure strikes. Sasuke would make a mistake, for as strong as he was, he wasn't perfect.

Sasuke thrust his chokuto at Kiba's neck, but Kiba sidestepped and riposted. He dodged, to no one's surprise, but they made eye contact, and Kiba saw something that he never thought he'd see.

That lapse in concentration was all that Sasuke needed to punch him square in the mouth. He was knocked off his feet, bouncing off the floor. Kiba nursed his jaw, groaned when he felt his back ache, and when he looked up, Sasuke was above him.

He always wanted to help, even when Kiba never asked for it. It wasn't because he was just being a good person, or because he was worried on Issei's behalf, or for some other inscrutable reason.

It was that look in his eyes. He'd seen it before, seen it so many times when he looked in the mirror. Those strange emotions weren't his, and neither were those experiences his mind conjured up.

"You wanted revenge, too," Kiba said.

Sasuke's stare was unrelenting. Eventually, he blinked, and sheathed his sword. "I did."

It was the only thing that made sense to him.

"Who was your target?"

His lips shifted against one another. "My brother. He killed everyone in our clan, anyone who bore the name Uchiha."

"Except for you?"

A single nod was his answer.

"I didn't know why he spared me. Nothing I thought of helped me make sense of my brother's choice. I was still alive, though, so I decided to avenge my clan and kill my brother. It was my sole purpose, and then, I made some friends. For the first time in so long, I wanted something that had nothing to do with my ambition. I thought I could move on.

"Then I met my brother again. I tried to fight him, because he wanted to hurt one of my friends, but I wasn't strong enough to beat him. He was disappointed, so he reminded me about what I had to do."

Sasuke blinked, eyes flickering like ripples in a pond. "It wasn't pleasant."

Kiba frowned, feeling bile form in his gut. "What did you do?"

"Someone offered to train me and grant me more power if I left my home. I accepted his terms, because I had to kill my brother. There was no way I could move on without achieving my revenge."

"What about your friends? Did they stop you?"

A slight smile appeared. "My friends chased after me to bring me back home. One of them was like me, in a way. He never had a family, but he found strength in his bonds and overcame his loneliness. We fought, and I was just barely able to beat him."

He imagined fighting Issei or Koneko or anyone from Rias' peerage, but it seemed unfathomable. Not impossible, of course, just something he wouldn't do. It would hurt in a way that physical pain didn't.

"Did you just leave him there?"

Sasuke nodded. "At the time, I thought there wasn't much point in doing anything else, but I couldn't kill him. That was something my brother wanted me to do, and I wasn't willing to follow in his footsteps.

"After that, I gained strength, I defeated the man who offered me power, and set my sights on my brother. I fought him with all I had, but it wasn't enough. He only lost because he was on death's door."

Kiba frowned deeply. That wasn't a satisfying revenge, that was just tragic. "You were empty after that."

Sasuke frowned. "I was. My purpose for living was gone and I abandoned my home. That was when I met someone who told me the truth of what happened to my clan. My brother was ordered to kill them."

He sucked in a deep breath. "What? Why?"

"To prevent war from breaking out. My brother cared more about our home than our clan, but he cared about me even more. That was why I was left alive, because he loved me and fought to protect me, and couldn't bear to see me die. I was left with only one choice: to destroy the home that allowed my clan to die."

And in doing so, his lust for revenge would be everlasting. Could that happen to him? Probably not, but he was willing to become a monster to gain strength. It wasn't impossible.

"I had awoken to even more power at that point, and I'd fallen into a pit of rage and despair. My target had changed, so I could still seek vengeance. My friends interfered, but they were in my way, so they had to die. However, the friend I fought didn't challenge me, not then.

"Our fight wouldn't come for a while. By the time we came to blows, my friend was fighting me for a different reason. It wasn't just to bring me back. It wasn't only to atone for his failure. And he wasn't motivated solely by the chance to prove himself to me. He fought me so that I could see the error of my ways."

"What were you fighting for?" Kiba asked.

Sasuke's eye turned red, then the pattern transformed into a starburst growing from a pinwheel. "Revolution."

The pattern disappeared, and Sasuke closed his eye, grunting. When it opened, the eye was still glowing red, but the only pattern visible was three black tomoe.

"Revolution?" Kiba asked.

"Yes. I knew the complete truth that led to my clan's demise, and sought the destruction of the system that was defined by the infinite cycle of hatred, the system that made my brother value his home over his clan.

"My friend wanted to change the system as well, but he wanted to find peace, and did it by bonding with others and drawing strength from those bonds. We clashed, and our fight ended in a draw, but I lost the true battle. I realized that there was strength in true bonds, that I could share my pain with others without being weak.

"He never gave up on me, even when I wanted him to die and made things so hard for him. He felt my pain and wanted to show me that there was a way past it, so that I could hope and dream and see the world unfiltered by thoughts of revenge."

Kiba stared at the rapier he was holding. "Thank you, for sharing your story."

Sasuke nodded. "You told me about your past. It was time I returned the favour."

He let out a long, deep breath. Sasuke had gone through a lot, and he could easily relate to many parts of his story. But it didn't convince him that revenge was wrong, just that it could have unforeseen consequences if he didn't look underneath the underneath.

"Was that why you wanted to help me?"

"It was."

When he thought about everything Sasuke had said, he'd never actually told him not to get revenge. He was warning him what would happen if he kept on chasing after revenge until he'd abandoned everything he valued in his neverending quest.

"You said you'd help me get revenge," Kiba said. "Does that offer still stand?"

"It's why I wanted to meet you in the first place."

And then, all of Sasuke's actions finally made sense.

Kiba rejected help because he wanted no one else to suffer alongside him. In that regard, he was different from Sasuke. However, Sasuke understood what led someone to revenge: the helplessness, the fear, and the despair that led to someone making a stand and saying enough was enough.

Getting help from Issei and Koneko was something he genuinely appreciated, even if he didn't want them to risk their lives for his cause. But they were helping him because they wanted him to return home, and if he did get his revenge, he wasn't sure how he'd move on.

What Sasuke was offering was a way to do just that. If he was left empty and waiting for someone to give him a reason to keep on moving forward, Sasuke would be there, because he wanted to make sure that Kiba didn't end up like him.

He looked up, and saw Sasuke's earnest smile. His outstretched hand.

And this time, Kiba grabbed it.

For Kokabiel, repairing the damage done to his underground conference room was a mere trifle. A bit of magic to remove the cracks on the walls, a bit more magic to disintegrate the blood, and a finishing touch to bolster the foundations so it wouldn't collapse. When he was done, it was as if there hadn't been a fight at all.

All that was left was to gather the remains of the Excaliburs those two girls dropped. How disappointing. Reality was often disappointing, yet every time he felt its unwanted return, Kokabiel felt like killing something with his bare hands.

That Sasuke Uchiha was full of tricks, using explosions to destroy the Holy Swords while under the cover of smoke. It nearly made up for the fact that he was down to two Excaliburs, where he could have had five. Perhaps Valper could repair them, or make something of the cores.

"Where is Valper?" Kokabiel asked.

Sariel frowned. "He should have returned by now, with my daughter."

"Yes, he should have."

Kokabiel saw the appeal in mating with a human, but actively spending time with one to the point of being a father? He had the time, of course, but what would he teach his child, war and corporate management? Perhaps some skill of sorts that employed magic in some way.

Construction was not a skill he'd expected to learn ever, yet it had proved to be quite convenient. He wasn't obsessed with learning every little thing about a given subject like some people he knew, but he had to adapt to the changing times.

He could now build miniature hideouts to plan his next move without raising unnecessary paranoia. It had staved off the boredom for a bit, before it returned as boredom was wont to do. That was the problem with peace time: nothing exciting ever happened.

If they were at war with some faction, then someone would be willing to stake their lives for a glorious battle and test their might against his. But no one was interested in war, and travelling the world to find someone with talent was hard to do when the ones worth mentioning weren't willing to fight him.

And so, nothing he tried could satisfy his itch for an exhilarating battle where he could push his myriad powers beyond their heavenly limits. The droll monotony of daily life awaited him, and it was dire.

In his lower moments, Kokabiel had considered participating in one of the devils' Rating Games as his own team, to satisfy his bloodlust. He never did, because even if he was invited, why would he ever want to become a devil? Introducing sanctioned team combat to the fallen angels was an idea he floated around, but it never took off because there was no point to them.

Devils used the Rating Games to build their prestige and rise in the ranks of their garish society. Fallen angels had no need for that when they already possessed so much inner strength that grew with time and practice, and if they had no patience, they could mate with other humans to bolster their numbers.

The portal glowed and Valper stepped through, alone. As he was reaching an elderly age for a human, the so-called Archbishop of Annihilation had wisps of gray hair on the sides, a white cap covering the top of his head. He was dressed in a white priest's outfit embroidered with a golden cross.

"Where have you been, Valper?" Kokabiel asked.

Valper adjusted his glasses. His skill lay in producing Holy Swords, not optometry, so he could ignore the man's deficiencies as long as he secured results.

"I was compiling the results of my experiment," he said, projecting a rather dignified voice. "They were a roaring success. Young Marietta took very well to the transfer of holy energy, allowing her to wield the Excalibur of Nightmares with aplomb."

Sariel smiled. "Of course she has. Where is Marietta now?"

Valper shrank into himself. "She didn't return. The last I saw of her was her fighting a bunch of devils."

His subordinate scowled, and for a second, Kokabiel thought he'd get to see the anger that made Sariel such a formidable force during the Great War. Unfortunately, he didn't lash out at Valper, he just seethed.

"Tell us everything that happened," Sariel said.

Valper did, sparing no detail. Sasuke Uchiha was involved, working with a trio of devils: a girl with strength befitting that of a Rook, the swordsman Sariel had fought in his mansion, and a boy who could only be the Red Dragon Emperor.

Those devils must have belonged to either Rias Gremory or Sona Sitri, which was solid news. More importantly, now he knew where to find Sasuke.

Hearing that the Red Dragon Emperor was a devil was interesting, but it seemed like he couldn't even use the full breadth of his powers. Valper had risked his own life to obtain this information, but it was disquieting to hear that they weren't strong.

Sariel's young daughter had potential to become a formidable mage, but she'd only had a year or two of training. Defeating her was no achievement, even if she wielded an Excalibur, since she'd adopted her father's new and unnecessarily noble sentimentality.

"What of the Excalibur?" Kokabiel asked.

Valper frowned, but at least he didn't cower away. "Marietta was using it last, so its whereabouts are currently unknown."

That meant it was most likely destroyed. Less than a week after arriving in Japan's devil territory, Freed Sellzen was gone and the Excalibur of Rapid Movement was nowhere to be found. Hiring Freed had been a good decision at the time, as it led to Kokabiel appropriating the use of three Excaliburs with more to follow. Instead, he was forced to find a replacement.

It was a good thing that Sariel was spending a vacation in Japan with his daughter, because he could reunite with an old ally who'd returned from centuries of self-imposed isolation and give him an offer he couldn't refuse.

"Unfortunate," Kokabiel said, because Valper was a scientist, not a fighter or magician, and he could not blame him for something he could not do. "You're free to leave, Valper. I'll consult you in private later."

"Of course," he said, scurrying away.

Sariel was fuming, even though he had no reason to worry. Sasuke Uchiha appeared to be soft, and both the Gremory house and Sitri clan were filled with sentimental fools. His little girl would be safe.

"You were aware of what would happen if your daughter became involved," Kokabiel said. She was the one willing to subject herself to Valper's experiment, so what else was he expecting to happen?

"I am aware, so I will rectify my mistake," Sariel said. There was a purpling bruise lining his jaw, and a shallow cut in his shirt. Sasuke had overwhelmed him, and on top of his daughter's disappearance, he might actually do something reckless to satisfy his ego.

This wouldn't do, not yet. Timing was everything, and Sariel charging in would disrupt his carefully plotted plan. He could probably use this anger productively, it was merely a matter of finding out how to do so.

"Pull yourself together, Sariel. I have a proposal that might get you what you desire."

Sariel slowly relaxed. He'd gained exceptional control over himself, which was quite surprising considering how fallen angels tended to be swayed by their main vice.

In spite of his irritating change in philosophy, Kokabiel couldn't deny that Sariel still possessed a wealth of skill, even if his power wasn't as sharp as it was in the past. His time in exile had also kept him far from the politics that divided the Grigori. That was why recruiting him was an easy decision to make.

"What do you have in mind?"

"I want you to pay Azazel a visit. He's holed up in the same city as those devils, doing some profane research. Tell him that your daughter was kidnapped by devils."

Learning about Azazel's current whereabouts had been quite vexing, but he'd achieved it, allowing him to form a new plan, one where he wouldn't be the wiser.

Sariel rolled up his sleeves. "If he asks why she was kidnapped?"

Kokabiel smiled. "Make up a good story. Try and talk to him after he's finished his research, so he won't be too suspicious."

Research into artificial Sacred Gears had taken off, spearheaded by dear Azazel. They could have proved useful, but Azazel became very cagey when he asked about borrowing one. He was probably floating the idea for peace so that he could freely experiment on devils

How pitiful. How disappointing.

"Very well."

Sariel went through the portal, returning to his mansion. Kokabiel made his conference table re-appear, then collapsed into his reclining chair.

His original plan was to use the Excaliburs to draw Michael's attention, but sending two exorcists on a sentry mission to retrieve them was an insult. Destroying Kuoh Academy and the city with it might have borne fruit in a different time, but he was starting to doubt that it would do much of anything.

Fighting Sirzechs Lucifer or Serafall Leviathan would be a battle for the ages, and it was something he'd love to engineer, especially if it meant triggering another Great War. But a very tantalizing prospect had come about, almost out of nowhere.

Sasuke Uchiha, a man with no reputation or connections, fought with a certainty he hadn't seen in ages. His bag of tricks were certainly interesting, and he was sure that he had much more to offer if he could stand against Sariel. Best of all, Kokabiel merely had to dangle the mad bishop as bait, and Sasuke would follow.

In the meantime, Azazel would investigate young Marietta's disappearance and get in the way of the devils. If push came to shove and Azazel failed to do anything worthwhile, then Kokabiel would step in and help Sariel retrieve his daughter.

In the event that this resulted in war or a few dead devils, then all the better. For now, though, it was time to prepare, the perfect time to squeeze whatever he could out of Valper Gallilei.

There was the possibility that Sasuke would disappoint him as well, but on the slim chance that came to pass, Kokabiel would make sure that he got the fight he wanted.

After all, if there was one thing he'd honed in this time of peace, it was knowing when, where and how to adapt.

Author's Note: Shoutout to the guest who said "keep it up", because you gave Heart of an Avenger its 100th review. It's much appreciated. I've got some interesting things planned for the rest of this story, so stay tuned.