The area around us was too quiet, but just one move could be fatal and I planned on going all out against Kokabiel. Down below, Hyoudou and the others were no doubt watching the scene of Kiba accepting the feelings of his former comrades play out, but my attention was solely focused on Kokabiel who had yet to move an inch after we had decided to duke it out.

It was nerve wracking to be honest, but from here on out I needed be careful and not waste my stamina.

"What's the problem? What happened to all that bravado you had before?" Kokabiel smirked, waiting for me to make a move.

Looks like I had no other choice but to make the first move.

"Try and block this!"

Releasing a surge of demonic power and Touki, I launched them at Kokabiel as a great column of pure-white and black energy, ripping through the sky.

"Not bad."

Kokabiel thrust his hand forward, intercepting the attack and forcing it to curve to the side, causing it to crash into the barrier put up by Sona and her peerage.

"Is that all?" Kokabiel grinned, showing a fearless smile.

"Tch."

Lunging forward, I lashed out with my fists, causing shockwaves to reverberate around us as I tried to land a hit on Kokabiel, but he easily evaded my attacks.

"It would seem that the Sekiryuutei's power used on you is starting to wear off. Now you are nothing, but a High-Class Devil. And here I was hoping for a challenge."

Kokabiel threw his fist forward, causing me to reel my body back, barely avoiding it as a burst of light was released from his palm.

I then swung my fist upwards in an uppercut, but Kokabiel easily pulled back, avoiding the surge of pure-white and black energy that shot out of my fist, piercing the sky above us.

"You can't dodge my attacks forever!"

Kokabiel kneed me in the stomach, causing me to cough up spit and blood before I was sent soaring through the air. Damn, at this rate I wouldn't be able to land a single hit on him and it was only a matter of time before my Satan Force reached its limit.

Spreading out my wings, I kept myself from crashing into the barrier before launching myself back at Kokabiel.

Let's try this.

With my body cloaked in Touki and Destruction, I propelled myself at Kokabiel, straight for his stomach, causing the air around me to ripple and crack.

"Are you serious?" Kokabiel laughed, swinging his arm into the air then bringing it down, slamming it onto my back, causing my to cry out before crashing into the ground.

"Zeroth/Senpai!"

The voices of my comrades could be heard as I struggled to get out of the crater that had been formed upon my body crashing into the ground. To my surprise a spear of light shot down from the sky, hitting not me, but Valper, causing him to throw up a solid amount of blood. Kiba approached his body to make certain that he was dead.

"Valper. You were remarkable. The reason you went up to that conclusion proves that. But, I don't mind whether you are with me or not. I could have done it by myself from the beginning."

To think that he could hear what was going on down here while fighting was incredible, even though I knew from my past knowledge what had just happened.

Kokabiel laughed while looking down us.

"I can tell just by looking at you that you are almost at your limit, Zeroth Bael. Sekiryuutei, increase your power and transfer it to him."

This guy sure was confident of himself, but given the situation I couldn't blame him. After Hyoudou's power had been completely used up, I could barely land a hit on him even when using my Satan Force, which was my true form. I couldn't help but envy Vali, who had managed to easily defeat Kokabiel even though he was in his Balance Breaker state.

A familiar green light hit my body, slowly healing my injuries, but Kokabiel did nothing, watching in amusement.

"Thank you, Asia."

"This is the only thing that I can do, Zeroth-san."

"Hyoudou, activate your Sacred Gear."

"Y-Yes!" Hyoudou answered my order.

[Boost!]

While Asia healed my injuries and Hyoudou continued to power up, no one made a single move. The others all understood that they wouldn't be able to hit Kokabiel for he showed no openings while waiting patiently for the power of the Sekiryuutei to increase.

"It's here!" Hyoudou's emitted a bright light, indicating that it had reached it limit.

"Now transfer it." Kokabiel smirked.

[Transfer!]

Compared to before the amount of energy that flowed through my body was enormous, causing the ground underneath me to shake an the air to crack as pure-white and black energy surged out of my body. With this power I would be able to defeat him!

Kokabiel laughed after feeling the pressure coming from my body. "That flow of demonic power! The demonic power I can feel right now is that of a Maou-Class Devil. Looks like you have a talent equal to that of your cousin's!"

"All of you, stand back."

Clenching both my fists, an overwhelming amount of pure-white and black energy glowed around them, causing ripples in the air. The ground underneath me vanished as I leaped at Kokabiel, releasing a blast of energy at Kokabiel.

It made a shockwave that ripped apart the ground underneath while Kokabiel blocked it with both of his hands.

"Interesting! Interesting indeed, Maou's cousin!"

A power of light then gathered around Kokabiel's attack to slowly push my attack back, but that wasn't what I was aiming for. I appeared behind Kokabiel, surprising him while he tried to hold back my attack.

"Don't underestimate me!"

Slamming my fist into his back, a stream of energy shot out through his body, causing both attacks to explode while Kokabiel crashed into the ground.

"Now!"

"Lightning!"

"Disappear!"

A wave of lightning and a mass of demonic power shot to where Kokabiel had crashed, but the smoke was dispersed with his wings before using them to disperse their attacks.

"Will you stand in my way!? The one who inherited her power from Barakiel!?"

"Do not put me in the same group as him!" Enraged, Akeno released a fury of lightning bolts at Kokabiel, but they were all deflected by his wings.

Kokabiel laughed. "For you to become a devil! You have pleasant servants, Rias Gremory! Sekiryuutei! The left-over of the Holy-sword project who reached Balance-Breaker! And the daughter of Barakiel! You have weird tastes, just like your brother!"

"I won't forgive you for insulting my brother, our Maou! More than that, the insults you made to my servants will require your life!"

While Rias and the others kept Kokabiel busy, Hyoudou's Boosted Gear continued to increase its power. Hopefully after that it would be enough to take him down.

Xenovia, Irina, and Kiba then attacked at the same time, slashing at him, but he parried all of their attacks with a sword of light.

"Hmph! Durandal huh! Unlike the Excalibur that was already broken once, that light is the real thing! Buuuuut!"

The air shook, as Kokabiel emitted an air wave from his other hand and made Xenovia's body float. Then Kokabiel kicked Xenovia's stomach before doing the same to Irina.

"It depends on the wielder. Girl! You still can't control Durandal! The previous wielder was someone who had unrivalled strength!"

Xenovia and Irina adjusted their stances in the air and landed on the ground before continuing their attack along with Kiba.

"Kokabiel! I will eliminate you with my Holy-demonic sword! I'm not allowed to lose anyone any more!" Kiba shouted.

"Ho! Attacks at the same time from a Holy-sword and a Holy-demonic sword! Interesting! Good indeed! Come! You can't defeat me unless you do that much!"

What was taking Hyoudou so long?

Landing beside Hyoudou, I waited while gathering all of my energy into my fist.

"How much longer?"

"Almost there, senpai."

"But. Seeing that even after losing the masters you serve, you devils and followers of God can still fight, huh!" Kokabiel smirked.

Might as well let him have his moment before finishing him off.

"What do you mean?" Rias asked, with doubt in her voice.

Kokabiel burst into laughter. "That's right! I totally forgot! The truth wasn't revealed to you lower guys! Then I will tell you. In the war between the three sides, not only the Yondai-Maou but also God died. It's normal for you guys to not know about it. Who can say that God has died? Humans are an incomplete bunch. Without God, they cannot control their hearts and obey the laws, you know? Even us, the fallen-angels, and devils couldn't tell this to those below us. You won't know where the information about God will be leaked from. Even among the three-powers, only the people at the top and certain people know about it. Though it seems Valper noticed it earlier."

It was now or never, Hyoudou.

"After the War, what was left were the angels who had lost their God, the devils that lost their Maou and the majority of high-class devils and the fallen-angels who lost most of the fallen-angels apart from the leaders. So it wasn't a mere exhausted state. All of the factions fell so low, that they had to rely on humans to continue their generations. Especially the angels and fallen-angels that could only continue their generation by mating with humans. Fallen-angels can increase if the angels fall. But pure-angels can't increase their numbers after losing God. Even pure-devils are rare, right?"

"Lies, it's a lie."

"That can't be true."

Slightly further away from me, Xenovia and Irina looked like they were starting to lose strength.

"The truth is that another big war wouldn't happen unless you do it on purpose. It means that all three-sides went through hell in the past war. Everyone decided that it was meaningless to continue having a war if the start of it all, God and the Maou, were dead. Even that bastard Azazel declared that "there is no second war" after losing the majority of his men in the war! It's hard to bear! It truly is hard to bear! To lower your gun once you already shot it!? Don't fuck around. Don't fuck around! If we continued on from there, we could have won! Even so, he...! Is there any value in fallen-angels who can only live by inviting humans who possess Sacred Gears!?"

Kokabiel roared in anger.

Asia covered her mouth in shock, her eyes wide open while her body shook. "God doesn't exist? God is dead? Then the love we were given by him is…"

Kokabiel chuckled. "That's right. It's normal that there is no love from God and no divine protection from him. God is gone already. Michael is certainly doing well. He's taking the place of God and is taking care of the angels and humans. Well, if the "system" used by God is operating, then the prayer to God, the blessing of God, and exorcism would function. But if you compare it to the time God was present, the number of believers decreased. That Holy-demonic sword brat over there was able to create the Holy-demonic sword because the balance between God and the Maou broke. In reality, Holy and demonic powers cannot merge. If the ones who rule the power of Holy and demonic powers, God and the Maou, disappear, then lots of unique phenomenon's occur."

"From here on out, I will start a war! I will take your heads as a gift! Even if it's only me, I will continue from where we left off! I'm going to show Sirzechs and Michael that we, the fallen-angels, are the ultimate beings!" Kokabiel continued.

"Zeroth-senpai, make it count." Hyoudou placed his hand on my shoulder.

[Transfer!]

Kokabiel's eyes widened in surprise and he turned his attention on me as my powers were doubled again. The ground underneath me rumbling like an earthquake as my aura surged around my body.

"So that's what you were planning."

"Kokabiel, you talk too much."

With this amount of power flowing through my body it was more than enough to take him out.

Dashing forward the ground underneath me split open as I appeared in front of Kokabiel while a burst of wind shot around us. The air around my fist rippled as massive amounts of energy flowed around it.

Clenching my fist, I could feel the wave of power flowing into it as my Touki and Destruction combined together.

"As if that attack will work on me!" Kokabiel roared, raising his hand into the air, generating the power of light. "I will not lose to the likes of you."

"Then prepare yourself!"

Swinging my fist forward, it crashed into Kokabiel's face, causing his bones to crack while waves of energy surged around us, shredding the ground and causing cracks to appear around the barrier until it shattered. Blood splattered out of Kokabiel's body as my fist released all of the energy that was building up into him.

"Great King Smasher!"

Putting all of my force into the attack, I then forced Kokabiel's body downwards, slamming him into the ground, whipping up a cyclone that swirled around us while the ground was completely obliterated.

Sweat dripped from my body as I collapsed to the ground soon after, reaching my limit with my demonic power and Touki dispersing.

Underneath me, Kokabiel's body had gone cold, his body going limp from the impact of my attack.

Looks like I overdid it and killed him though it would seem that he would be the one not seeing my dream come true not me.

Looking around at my surroundings, it was hard to believe how much destruction had been caused from my attack. The pavement and parts of some of the buildings had been blown away while the barrier that surrounded the school was obliterated.

"Is it over?" Rias wondered.

"A-Awesome!" Hyoudou cried out in awe.

The sound of someone clapping could be heard, putting a halt to our celebration as we all looked up into the sky. A being with eight white wings of light growing from the back hovered in the sky. There were jewels across various locations on the armor. It would seem that Vali had finally arrived.

"V-Vanishing Dragon," I gasped, breathing heavily from exhaustion.

"Amazing. It would seem there was no need for me to come after all." Vali descended from the air and landed on the ground in front of me, looking down at Kokabiel's corpse.

"Get away from him!" Kuisha shouted, glaring at Vali.

"Relax, I haven't come here to fight any of you." Vali reached down and picked up Kokabiel's corpse, throwing it over his shoulder. "I never thought there would be someone among you who would be able to defeat him. You have my respect, Zeroth Bael."

"Luckily for you I did all your work for you."

"Indeed." Vali then walked over to Freed and picked him up as well before looking back at me. "I look forward to fighting you someday." He then tried to fly up while spreading his wings of light after retrieving the two.

[Are you ignoring me, huh, white-one.] Ddraig's voice rang out from Hyoudou's gauntlet.

[So you were awake, red-one.] The jewels from Vali's armor then began to glow in response.

[We finally meet, but in a situation like this.]

[That's all right. It's our destiny to fight one day. Things like this happen.]

[But white-one. I can't feel the hostility from you like before.]

[Red-one. Your hostility is incredibly low as well.]

[Looks like both of us have things that interest us more than fighting.]

[That's how it is. We should be having fun by ourselves for a while. It's not bad like this sometimes, right? Let's meet again, Ddraig.]

[That would also be fun, huh. See you then, Albion.]

The conversation between the Hakuryuukou and Sekiryuutei then ended and Vali took his leave, turning into a white light and flying into the sky.

After that it was truly finally over as Kuroka approached me and began healing my injuries.

"Looks like you overdid-nya, but that is to be expected of my King."

"Yeah, but it's finally over."

This was just the beginning though for peace would soon be made between the Three Factions and the Khaos Brigade would make their presence known.

"You sure do know how to make us worry." Kuisha sighed in relief as she came over to us.

"Sorry, but at least we all made it out alive."

"Is it over?" A familiar voice interrupted our conversation and I looked towards the source. Sona and the rest of the Student Council strode onto the field, staring in awe at the destruction caused from my fight with Kokabiel.

"It is, and it's all thanks to Zeroth and his Satan Force," Rias replied, smiling at me.

"I told you did I not, that we had a chance at beating him."

"Indeed."

While everyone then began to congratulate each other, I slowly recovered from my injuries with Kuroka's aid until the Maou's reinforcements arrived thirty minutes later, surprised that we had ended the battle all on our own.

"So I will be working alongside you all as Zeroth Bael's Rook. I have also enrolled in this school as a second-year student. Let's get along." Xenovia introduced herself to the rest of my peerage.

"Is this alright, Zeroth-sama?" Kuisha asked me. She clearly had not forgiven Xenovia for insulting me nor did she take it kindly of being referred to as a maiden of the Church.

"Why not? Having a Durandal wielder feels reliable. By the way has Irina accepted my offer yet?"

After learning of God's death, I had offered both Xenovia and Irina a place in my peerage, with Xenovia accepting it right away, but Irina needed time to think about it.

"She still needs some more time to think about it. I think God's death hit her harder than it did for Asia, Jeanne, and I combined."

"What about the Excalibur fragments?" Jeanne asked.

"I contacted one of our agents on standby in the area and had them come to collect the Excalibur fragments themselves. If we had waited too long they might have taken it out on Irina and possibly even the Devils for withholding the Excaliburs as an attempt to weaken the Church or something along those lines."

"And your Excalibur? Was it alright to give it back to them, and betray the Church?" Kuisha asked.

"I have to give them the Excalibur back just in case. Unlike the Durandal, there are other wielders that could be chosen. Having Durandal is enough for me. When we mentioned the absence of God to them, they became silent. So Irina and I became outsiders for knowing the absence of God. The Church hates outsiders and heresy very much. Even if that person is the wielder of Durandal or a strong believer, they will cut them off. Exactly the same way as the incident with Asia Argento."

I couldn't help but wonder how Irina's family would take it when they learned their daughter was exiled from the Church. Well, everything went according to plan for me and now all I had to do was wait for Irina's answer.

"I would also like to apologize to you, Zeroth Bael. I realize now that you are not the Devil responsible for luring the Holy Maidens away from the Church."

"Don't worry about it. That's all in the past now."

Another member from Rias's original peerage and Hyoudou's future peerage added to mine was enough for me. My peerage was going to get even stronger from here on out and when the time for my Rating Game with Rias came her peerage wouldn't stand a chance against mine.

Sure she might be able to find replacements for the original members that would have been part of her peerage, but they would not have the same level of power that her original members would have.

Remembering my conversation with Rias and Sona, I then decided to inform the others about the upcoming peace conference between the Three Factions.

"By the way, the Church made contact with us Devils. More precisely, the Maou talk about this incident. They said, "We would like to make contact with you because of unclear and dishonest actions of the fallen-angels even though we feel unsatisfactory about this". They also apologized about Valper because it was their mistake for letting him escape in the past."

It was finally beginning; the peace between the Three Factions, but that meant enemies from the Khaos Brigade would appear next. However, with my Satan Force I would be able to take on anyone who got in my way.

"But this school is truly terrifying. Not only the next Great King, but the sisters of two Maous also attend this school." Xenovia said.

"The truth about this incident was sent to the God-side and the devils' side by the viceroy of the fallen-angels, Azazel. The theft of the Excalibur was an action taken by Kokabiel only. The other leaders didn't know about it. He planned to break the tension between the three sides. If he had been alive, his punishment since he had tried to start another war would have been him being put into Coctyus for eternity in a frozen state, but since well I killed him that doesn't matter anymore."

I should have felt some kind of guilt for killing somebody, but this was Kokabiel we were talking about, a battle freak. He was going to try and destroy all that I held dear and for that he needed to die.

"We were also invited to that meeting. We have to report about the incident at the meeting because we were involved."

Rias and Sona would also be attending along with the members of their peerage.

That's right. I will apologize to Asia Argento and Jeanne. Since God didn't exist, then his love and help didn't as well. I'm sorry, Asia Argento and Jeanne. Hit me much as much as you want." Xenovia bowed her head.

"No, I don't intend to do something like that. Xenovia-san, I'm enjoying my current lifestyle. Even though I'm a devil now, I met someone, people who are important to me. I am happy because of the place I live in now and the people I have met." Asia smiled brightly, causing Jeanne to sigh in response.

"If Sister-chan says something like that then I have no choice but to forgive you as well."

Though her psychological state was at danger after hearing the rejection of God, it was because of me and the others that she was able to return to normal.

"So the three of us and Irina are the only Christians that found out about the absence of God. I won't be able to say something like a divine punishment to you now. So a heretic huh? I was a holy sword user who was admired, but now a heretic huh. I can't forget about how their eyes and attitudes changed when they saw me." Xenovia said, with a sad look in her eyes.

"Then I will be leaving. There's a lot of things I need to know about before transferring to this school. Zeroth, thank you for letting me join your peerage."

"It was nothing."

Xenovia then tried to leave the room, but was stopped by Asia.

"U-Um, on the next weekend I'm going to go out to play with everyone. Would you also like to join, Xenovia-san?" Asia asked with a smile.

Xenovia's eyes widened in shock before giving a bitter smile. "Next time then. This time I'm not interested. Except…"

"Except?"

"Can you take me around the school next time?"

"Yes!"

Xenovia then left the room after receiving Asia's response.

"Now then, let us all celebrate our victory!"

[YES!]

I was only going to get stronger from here on out to the point where I would not need to rely on others for help. Khaos Brigade, Rizevim, Hades, my future enemies wouldn't know what hit them when they made me their enemy.

That's right, because I was Zeroth Bael, the future Strongest Devil of the Underworld and the Hero who would prevent the revival of 666 (Trihexa).

"Are you sure about this, Irina?"

"I don't know, it's just that God has been dead this entire time and everything I have believed in up until now has all been for nothing."

I was currently in a room at my house with Xenovia and Irina, watching her debate about her decision and become a Devil, serving me as my Knight. She was still distraught over learning about God's death along with being exiled by her superiors. The only one she could put her faith onto now was me and that was just what I wanted.

Irina bit her lip while staring at the Knight piece on the table in front of her.

"If I accept this I will serve you for now on, correct?" Irina asked me.

"That is right, though I won't force you to do anything you won't want to. You can always back out, I won't blame you if you don't want to become a Devil."

"But Xenovia has already become one." Irina glanced at her friend, noticing that she no longer wore her cross around her neck.

"Yes, I am a Devil now. There is no turning back, and since God is dead, my life was a failure. That was why I decided to serve Zeroth, the Devil who defeated Kokabiel."

"Only because of Hyoudou's Boosted Gear."

My victory over Kokabiel was all thanks to Hyoudou, without his Boosted Gear there was no way that I would have been able to defeat him with my Satan Force. I needed to train even harder to reach the stage where I could fight strong opponents without relying on Hyoudou's Boosted Gear. Plus it was still too soon to reveal my Longinus so my Satan Force was the only thing I could rely on at the moment.

"I wonder what my family would think if they learned that I became a Devil."

This was going to be a lot more difficult than I thought to convince Irina to join my peerage. Her father was a former Exorcist though and with Irina being exiled from the Church she would have no choice but to join my peerage to rely on me for support after learning of God's death instead of Michael.

"They would want you to be happy. And it's obvious that you are not with your current situation."

"Will I be happy though as a Devil?"

"I will do everything within my power to ensure your happiness if you join me, Shidou Irina. Just as I have been doing with Asia and Jeanne."

They were also former members of the Church and Irina could use them as an example to see that they were happy being a part of my peerage. Still, Irina was making it difficult to get her to accept my offer. There had to be some way to convince her to abandon the Church and get her to join my peerage.

Great, now I really was starting to sound like Diodora, seducing women of the Church to become my servants. Unlike him though I didn't rape them afterwards.

"Happiness, huh."

Irina picked up the Knight piece and stared at it, twirling it in her hand while her other hand clutched the cross around her neck.

"Irina, you don't have to go through with this if you don't want to. You may regret this for the rest of your life if you do." Xenovia tried to convince her.

"I've already been abandoned by the Church, where else do I have to go?" Irina took off her cross and placed it on the table. "The God I have believed in this entire time has been dead, then I shall serve the Devil whom you have chosen to serve as well."

"Irina." Xenovia's eyes widened in surprise.

Irina smiled. "We're friends after all. We should stick together and since you chose him as your King then that means he can be trusted."

"Then I take it that you have made your decision?"

I interrupted their conversation, pleased with the results. It would seem that having Xenovia on my peerage worked in my favor to get Irina to join me.

"I have and will serve you as your Knight. I will be in your care for now on so you better take responsibility."

Irina accepted the purple colored Evil Piece and soon after, devil wings appeared from her back.

"Welcome to my peerage, Shidou Irina."

And just like that the Church Trio were now mine.

And done with the Kokabiel/Excalibur arc.

Let me know how I did with my first real fight scene in first person. I will admit that I didn't really enjoy it, but hopefully you guys did.

As for getting Irina into his peerage, man I know there are going to be some of you who don't agree with how I handled that, and it was difficult for me as well writing that scene. Ugh, well this is all being written for fun and as the writer of this story I am the god of this universe, lol.

Lame excuse I know, but well this is fan fiction where canon is thrown out of the window.

And that will be it from me for the time being. Got to focus on irl issues so there will definitely be no more updates from me for a while. I'll probably come back once I've got my issues settled with, no promises though.