'Gee~ thanks for the big vote of confidence and appreciation.' I grimaced for a brief moment before turning to the others while keeping a subtle eye on the mind-controlled knight. For the moment, it seemed that Galilei was content enough to hold him back, wanting to see what would be our attacking strategy.
...
"Well, as it stands, we cannot hope for a prolonged battle. With him now at full capacity, it would be hard to deal a heavy blow that could take him out quickly." Griselda gave that blunt analysis while sneaking glances at the fallen angel. "And I am not sure that Galilei would not use that opportunity to get the rest of us while we tackle Kokabiel."
"He won't, he is that confident." They looked at me with surprised expressions at my comment. "As you said, Kokabiel is currently at full capacity while we are battle-worn. Logically Galilei should order Kiba to wipe us out at the first opportunity he gets, but he is very certain of Kokabiel's victory so he would not send Kiba after us. Besides…" I turned my head to peer at Kokabiel. "I know Kokabiel's type, he would make sure that Galilei does not interfere with this."
"If you are certain…" Griselda hummed as she looked at us. "Okay, how shall we go about?"
"Who are the ones with the heavy attacks?" My question brought forth mostly everyone from the devils, Xenovia and Griselda. "Okay this is going to be a bit tricky. Do you know any spells that might ground him for a short while?" I turned to Momo and Reya for confirmation.
"We do have some spells, but against someone like him it would only be a few seconds." Momo answered with a worried expression. "Maybe with help from Akeno, we could make it last longer?"
"That would suffice. Ise, that ability called [Gift], how long do you need to transfer to any of them?"
"Considering the big boss is willing to let us do whatever we want, I think I can put in maybe a couple of minutes, but I would only have enough charge for two people at once." Ise said with a grim expression. "Maybe more if I had the chance, but I can only do so when I have both hands."
"Okay." I nodded as I turned to the exorcists. "What little I have seen, Xenovia is the one who is the major hitter, Irina is someone who deals with speed, and Griselda is the precision."
"Indeed. Our styles are as such." Griselda motioned to the two apprentices. "For the time being, Irina is borrowing Excalibur [Destruction] from Xenovia because she would need a shard to at least last against Kokabiel. Xenovia is already a natural user of Durandal so at least we have two Holy Swords on our side."
… Okay, I would not comment about the counterpart of Roland's sword and just focus on the situation.
"Okay, then you guys will have to go in waves. When he gets down to the ground, Momo, Reya and any other spell-casters will use their spells to temporarily ground him, giving time for the Rooks and the exorcists to lay the attacks while giving Ise the opportunity to give the power to the Rias and Akeno, and if possible, Sona and Tsubaki. The four will be the ones to deliver the final blow."
"What about you?" Sona asked noting my lack of involvement.
"I will be taking the first wave." I held up my hand to stop the possible arguments to come from them. "Right now Kokabiel is very eager to fight me and as such would ignore you guys for the time being. I will fight him and try to ground him. When that happens you guys will take over to give me a bit of time to set something up. If it goes well, we should be able to hit him hard."
"Wait, in that case you should be getting a bit of power from me as well." I mentally nodded at Ise's attention to detail, if only because this is not a perverted situation.
"I would be fine, I got an idea to help my with the power issue. You should save that Gift ability for the girls." I looked at all of them with a steady glance. "So any more questions or words before we start?"
"One thing." Before I could react, Reya grabbed my metallic ear and tried to pull it fruitlessly but nevertheless got my attention. "You need to be careful okay?" Despite her fierce expression, there was a notable tone of uneasiness in her words.
"…" I looked to her for a moment before giving off a gentle smile. "Don't worry, I will be watching myself, and each of you. So that you don't get hurt" I raised my arm to light touch her hand. "That's a promise." Reya lightly blushed at the contact but relented with a smile.
"Do you two need a room to yourselves?" Ise's amused voice cut through the moment, and I suddenly remembered that we were in a midst of a dire situation with a Fallen Angel, a mind-controlled devil, a demented priest, one senior exorcist…
And a group of teenagers who were looking at us with various expressions of amusement (Rias, Ise and Momo being the most obvious), exasperation (Sona, Xenovia and oddly enough Meguri who had an angry pout at me) and glee (Akeno, Tsubasa and Irina).
"Right then, big fight with bad boss. Heading out now." I stepped away from the group and made my way to Kokabiel a few feet away, all while berating myself for getting caught up in the moment.
I would need to correct that later.
"Well, are you done with your preparations?" Kokabiel looked down on us with a slightly impatient tone.
"Yeah, we got something." I readied [Black Lotus Custom] as I looked up. "I will be your dance partner for the first round at least."
"Haha~ Now that I don't mind." Kokabiel let loose a very nasty smirk as he spread his wings wide and flew higher in the air. "I am hoping you got more tricks up your sleeve boy."
"Let's find out then." I spun the spear a few times before stabbing the tip into the ground, the dark energy spreading out on the surface like the threads of a spider's web. "Second Illusion, Hell Hounds!" The lines glowed a bright purple before dark mist came up and took form into something one would remotely call a canine, if a canine were to have a head that was half-flesh and half-skull, while the body seemed to be made by poking spikes through half-rotten flesh and the paws looked to be relatives of Edward Scissor-hands. They let out a chilling howl before directing crimson eyes at Kokabiel, each one emanating the scent of death around.
"Damn, those guys are ugly!" Ise yelled out with a baffled tone. I ignored his comments and directed my intention to the hounds, to which they responded by rushing forward and leaping high into the air, continuing to move in the air to attack Kokabiel.
"So earlier were insects, now you send out dogs?" Kokabiel called forth his spears and fired them at the hounds, only to be stopped by them biting on them and breaking them with their teeth. Then with a howl, the hounds let loose a stream of blue flames at him.
"OH SHIT!" Kokabiel flew out of the flames path, with a few catching fire by their tips. His concern grew more pronounced as the little embers on his wings quickly blazed to life, forcing him to use his spear and removed a huge portion of his feathers to avoid getting caught on fire. That was the distraction I needed to start the next part of the plan.
"Bakuya and Kanshou!" I called the blades in both my hands and crushed them, their essences getting absorbed into my blade-mail and the properties merging as I kept an image in my head. With a grimace, I felt the blades on my back to move somewhat sporadically, before swords erupted from two spots, elongating and forming two wings of white and black.
"Whoa!" I couldn't help but grin a little at Ise's voice as I grabbed [Black Lotus Custom] and looked to the sky. Silently commanding the married twins, I flexed my wings and flew straight into their, levelling at Kokabiel in no time. I guess I made quite a sight; a figure clad in steel blades while wielding a dark spear, with wings of black and white, the metal shining in the moonlight.
A literal angel of death.
"Oh, so you fancy being an angel yourself?" Kokabiel raised an amused eyebrow. "Well then, allow an elder angel to show you the heavenly combat!" Calling forth a spear into his hands, he dashed forward to me, dodging and taking out the Hell Hounds in his path. I gripped the spear tightly and focused my mind to move the wings as I bid. I only got some general idea from one of my templates during the world travelling between dimensions, so I could only do so much.
But I only need enough to distract him.
I met his spear midway in the air, parrying his weapon and trying to grab his wings, but Kokabiel showed me why he was a dangerous opponent as he maneuvered in a manner that spoke of his years of avoiding such attacks and use his momentum to kick me in the head. Spitting a bit of blood from my mouth, I directed the Hell Hounds at him while calling out a certain item in mind.
"Come on little man, you can do better than that!" Kokabiel seemingly hugged his body with his wings before spreading them out wide, letting loose an array of feathers that rained down on the spectres and somehow managing to turn their bodies to shreds, likely due to the light energy in the feathers. No matter, thanks to their distraction, I was able to call out the item I had in mind.
After all, this was one of the weapons that wanted to come out for a while due to this situation.
"Come forth, [Sudarshan Chakra]!" I held my hand high above my head to project the celestial weapon of Vishnu, the golden tips of its serrated edges glowing deadly in the moonlight as it started spinning quickly to the point of letting out a light hum. With a quick of the wrist and a thought in my mind, I let loose the weapon right at Kokabiel.
"So now you are bringing in Eastern Cultures, huh?" Kokabiel flew upwards to avoid the blade, but with uncanny reflexes, the spinning disc twisted at a weird angle and continued chasing after him like some heat-seeking missile.
"HAHAHA! Now we are getting somewhere boy!" Kokabiel crackled as he let loose another set of spears at the blade while dodging the spectral hounds, all while maintaining the demented smile on his face. I ignored him for moment and looked down to find the others in position, awaiting the order to take Kokabiel down.
Time to set the plan in motion.
...
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