Fallen to the ground, covered in blood, Kokabiel raised his eyes in complete shock. His gaze, blurry and dazed, overflowed with fear and an overwhelming hatred that was impossible to hide.
"Y-You bastard...! WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!?!" Kokabiel shouted, his voice full of desperation and fury.
"Cough, cough... Cough!"
Right after, he had a coughing fit. Blood dripped from the corner of his lips. The blood rose and fell in his throat, but he ended up swallowing it.
Meanwhile, almost at the same time, Shadow returned with someone held between his teeth, wearing loose white clothes with a yellow cross in the middle, in the style of a Christian priest with a zucchetto (skullcap on the head).
It was an elderly man, at least 60 years old. When Shadow returned, he threw this man in Kiba's direction.
And, practically at the same time, the white blur that had flown into the barrier appeared in front of Kokabiel.
"Vanishing Dragon?" Kokabiel muttered.
"Vanishing Dragon?" Rias looked at Shizue as she repeated.
Wearing full-body armor, Vali appeared.
His flashy wings extended behind him as he hovered just above Kokabiel.
"My name is Albion," he said in a neutral tone. "I'm here to take this guy. Well, he's more finished than I expected... But it doesn't matter."
He grabbed Kokabiel by the collar, who didn't even fight back when caught—in fact, he even seemed happy.
"Wait, wait..." Suddenly, Kokabiel screamed in desperation: "He did something to me, I can't feel my powers anymore... Do something, Vali!"
"Huh?" Vali looked at Kokabiel more closely. Then, he simply shrugged: "Well, it doesn't matter. I don't know what he did to you, but that has nothing to do with me."
"White." In Shizue's hand, a red gauntlet appeared, and soon the ethereal female voice of Ddraig echoed: "Are you going to ignore me?"
Vali turned toward Shizue: "Red." A deep male voice echoed from Vali's forearm: "So, you're still alive, Red."
"And we had to meet again like this," Ddraig said.
"It doesn't matter," White said. "We're destined to fight each other someday. That's just how it is. See you again, Ddraig."
"Yes, Albion. But before you go, I have a small warning."
"Oh?"
"Don't let your host challenge my partner of this generation or things might go very badly," Ddraig said, without explaining further.
"Oh? Interesting... For you to say something like that, I presume it must be because of this young man, right?" His finger pointed in Zaydas's direction.
"Yes." Ddraig didn't deny it.
"Interesting!" In turn, Vali's voice echoed again as he said: "I knew he was strong, but to be seen that way by the Sekiryuutei... He must be very strong, right?"
"Strong..." Ddraig sighed. "I suppose you could say that."
His answer was rather vague, leaving both Vali and Albion confused.
"Your name is Vali, right?" Zaydas, who had been silent, suddenly appeared before Vali.
Backing away, pulling Kokabiel with him, Vali asked: "When?"
Ignoring his question, Zaydas said: "Tell Azazel he owes me. If he doesn't compensate me for what happened here... Hehe, I'll go to him myself."
Zaydas's smile was so friendly as he said this, it didn't even seem like his words were full of velvety threat.
...
Initially, Zaydas intended to steal Albion from Vali, but gave up. Up to that point, they weren't enemies and Vali hadn't done anything against him or had any kind of feud between them. Although there was something between Ddraig and Albion… That was between them.
However, he still left room to replicate Albion. The cost wasn't that high, with a relatively high success rate of 66% for 100,000 AP. And, with what happened there, he earned a total of 93,397 AP. Almost enough for an attempt to replicate Albion.
"I'll pass your message to him," Vali replied, then began to fly away like a white comet.
"You're going to let him go like that?"
Shion felt her fingers itch as her intent became clear; she wanted to fight Vali.
The reason was simple, the fight she had against Kokabiel… It didn't satisfy her.
However, someone who could be seen as Ddraig's equal, whose strength she acknowledged... She was interested in knowing just how strong he was.
...
"Don't kill me!"
Meanwhile, Kiba had a sword to the neck of Valper Galilei—the man from earlier who had been captured by Shadow.
"This is for my friends!" With bloodshot eyes, Kiba ignored Valper's pitiful state as he begged for his life, and sliced off his head with his sword.
Gulp...
Not far away, Raynare, who had witnessed all of this unfold, began to sneak away, thinking that her existence had been ignored and that she could escape.
Just as she was about to breathe a sigh of relief… A black wolf swallowed her.
"No!!!!!"
Her scream didn't last long—after the 'wolf' devoured her, it returned to Zaydas's shadow.
[18,001 AP!]
Heading over to Valper Galilei, Zaydas had 'Fenrir' come out and devour him too.
Of course, his real objective was: the crystal with the sacred will that, in the original plot, Kiba fused with and became stronger—even able to create demonic sacred swords.
After analyzing the crystal, he took it back.
"Here, this is yours." Zaydas handed the crystal to Kiba.
"What?"
Confused, Kiba looked at the glowing blue crystal in his hand.
"This is...!"
Xenovia and Irina recognized it instantly.
Xenovia thought: 'This is the sacred will from that time. It's the thing that's placed inside the body when a sacred sword wielder is ceremonially blessed. Why did he have this?'
"This is something that was with that despicable guy. It was made by absorbing the sacred will of your companions from that time. I believe that rather than letting it fall into someone else's hands, you'd rather have it with you, right?" Zaydas said.
"Their will..." Kiba trembled from head to toe.
"So this is made from the countless sacred wills of others?" Xenovia murmured in disbelief.
"Yes." Zaydas looked in her direction, stopping at Irina: "I presume you know this very well, since you received one, right?"
"Yes..." For the first time, Irina's voice carried not the slightest hint of joy.
She, who was an incredibly cheerful girl no matter the situation, after hearing that, wanted to deny it: "No, you're wrong, you..."
"Haha, don't fool yourself, girl." Zaydas interrupted her, saying: "I don't need to lie to you and, if you investigate just a little, you'll know the truth, won't you?"
He laughed coldly as he continued: "Heh... Isn't it funny? Those hypocrites say they're the good guys and we, devils, are the evil ones, yet they expelled this guy, letting him live freely, committing evil while using the experiments they carried out with human sacrifices."
Of course, Zaydas knew Michael did that without the need to kill, but why would he tell them that?
Xenovia's expression grew complicated, while Irina—who was an extremely devoted believer—still didn't fully believe him and clung to some hope. But it didn't matter.
Things ended somewhat anticlimactically, however, this was merely the prelude of what was to come...