With the fused sword Excalibur shattered to pieces, silence returned to the courtyard, but it was an icy silence. Valper Galilei, watching his dreams of "perfection" crumble into scrap metal, began to scream at the sky, beside himself.
"It's impossible! My creation! Kokabiel-sama, give me more time!" the old man pleaded, crawling through the rubble. "I can rebuild it! I just need more souls!"
Kokabiel descended slowly. His face showed not pity, but profound disgust. He observed Valper as one looks at an insect that no longer serves its purpose.
"You're no longer of any use to me, Valper," said the fallen angel in a voice that chilled everyone's blood. "Your usefulness ended the moment those swords broke. But before I send you into the void, I'm going to give you the gift you sought so desperately: the truth the Church hid from you while using you."
Valper stopped, staring upwards with wide eyes. "The... truth?"
Kokabiel let out a laugh that echoed like blasphemy throughout the campus.
—Why do you think there was no divine intervention during the Great War? Why do you think your "miracles" required soul fragments instead of pure faith? It's simple...
God is dead.
The impact of the news was devastating. Asia, who was kneeling beside a still-unconscious Irina, let out a strangled cry and covered her ears, trembling as her tears fell to the floor. Xenovia dropped the Durandal , staggering as her world crumbled; her face showed utter despair as she felt her entire life had been a lie.
"Lies! It's a lie from a fallen angel!" Xenovia cried, her voice breaking.
"The God of the Bible and the original Lucifer annihilated each other at the end of the Great War," Kokabiel continued sadistically. "Valper, you die serving an empty throne."
Before Valper could process the news, Kokabiel reached out and pierced the old man's chest with a spear of light, reducing him to ashes. The leader of the Fallen then turned to Issei, expecting to see the same look of horror and despair.
But he encountered something he didn't expect.
Issei stood with his arms crossed and a look of utter indifference. There was no trace of shock on his face. For him, the death of God was not news; it was a historical fact that no longer had any power over his will.
"Is that all, Kokabiel?" Issei asked, his voice dripping with dangerous boredom. "It took you too long to say something I already knew."
Kokabiel narrowed his eyes, his smile disappearing for the first time.
— Did you know? Impossible... Who do you think you are?!
"I'm the man who's going to end your ridiculous war fantasy," Issei replied, taking a step forward as his gauntlet began to emit a stifling heat. "I don't care if the throne is empty up there. I'm down here, and so are my friends. That's the only thing that's real to me."
[BOOST] [BOOST] [BOOST] [BOOST] [EXPLOSION]
"Scale Mail!" roared Issei.
The emerald light exploded, and in the blink of an eye, Issei's body was encased in the red plate armor of the Red Dragon Emperor. It was a sleek and imposing form that emanated a heat that evaporated any remaining rain before it touched him.
Kokabiel, sensing the danger, created a dozen massive light spears.
—I don't care who you are! Disappear before my power!
Issei didn't dodge. With a speed that left a red trail, he launched himself forward, deflecting the spears with fluid movements. In less than a second, he was facing the fallen angel.
"Slow," Issei declared.
He delivered a punch to his solar plexus that resonated like thunder. Kokabiel spat out dark blood and was sent flying backward, but Issei was already behind him.
"This is for Asia," he said, connecting with an upward hook that fractured the fallen man's jaw. "This is for Irina," he continued, grabbing him by one of his ten wings and hurling him to the ground with the force of a meteor.
The impact created a crater that shook the entire academy. Rias, Akeno, and even Xenovia watched the scene, holding their breath. It wasn't a fight; it was an execution.
"It's... incredible," Akeno murmured. "He's dominating a fallen angel leader like he's a child."
Kokabiel tried to get up, his wings battered and his face distorted by panic.
—Impossible! Who the hell are you?!
Issei descended slowly, landing in front of him. The red armor gleamed in the moonlight.
"I am the result of your mistakes, Kokabiel," Issei replied in a metallic voice. "And I am the one who will end your war before it even begins."
Just as Issei charged his gauntlet to deliver the final blow to Kokabiel, who was begging for mercy amidst the rubble, the sky turned silvery white. An icy, electric pressure, far more refined and vast than that of the fallen angel, descended upon the courtyard.
A complex magic circle appeared in the air, and from it emerged a figure enveloped in organic, pearly-white armor adorned with blue gems that glowed with an ethereal light. Its wings of light unfurled, eclipsing the moon.
"Well, well... What a pathetic sight, Kokabiel." The voice, distorted by the helmet of the armor, sounded young but brimming with boundless arrogance. "A leader of the Fallen groveling at the feet of a human. You have truly sunk low."
"The Vanishing Dragon ?!" Rias exclaimed, recognizing the imposing white armor.
Vali Lucifer, the wielder of Albion, descended slowly until he was just a few meters from Issei. He completely ignored the demons and the Church's envoys; his eyes, behind the visor, were fixed solely on the red armor.
"Hyoudou Issei..." Vali said with a tone of genuine interest. "The reports said you were strong, but what I just saw... that technique, that way of moving... it's not the work of a novice who's just awakened his Sacred Gear . You've robbed me of the fun of humiliating this crow myself."
Issei did not deactivate his Scale Mail . Thanks to his memories of the future, he knew that the man in front of him was his destined rival, and he also knew that at this moment, Vali was an ally sent by Azazel to clean up the mess.
"You're late, Vali," Issei replied calmly, maintaining his fighting stance. "I've already finished the dirty work. If you came for Kokabiel, take him before I decide I'd rather turn him to dust."
Vali let out a metallic laugh, pleased by Issei's attitude.
"I like that confidence. Azazel sent me to collect this traitor and take him to the center of Cocytus for his eternal punishment. But I admit that now I'm much more curious about you than about the mission."
With a careless movement, Vali kicked Kokabiel's battered body into his magic circle. Then, he looked back at Issei, and the tension in the air became suffocating.
—Prepare yourself, Hyoudou Issei. The world is becoming too small for two Heavenly Dragons. Very soon, you and I will have to decide which of us is the true ruler of this era.
Ddraig roared from Issei's gauntlet, recognizing his eternal rival: [VANISHING DRAGON...]
"Whenever you want, Vali," Issei replied. "But next time, try not to arrive when the party's already over."
Vali smiled beneath his helmet and, in a burst of white light, disappeared along with Kokabiel, leaving behind a ruined courtyard and a silence that marked the end of a battle, but the beginning of a legendary rivalry.
Issei's red armor vanished into particles of crimson light. The danger from Kokabiel was gone, but the truth the fallen warrior had uttered before dying remained, hanging like poison in the night air. Issei turned to face his group. The sight was desolate.
Xenovia was on her knees, her hands resting on the ground, her gaze lost in the void. The wielder of Durandal , always so resolute and proud, seemed to have broken inside. For someone who had surrendered every fiber of her being to the divine will, knowing that the throne of heaven was empty was a spiritual death sentence.
"If God isn't here... why are we still fighting?" Xenovia whispered, her voice breaking. "What was the point of all the sacrifice?"
A few feet away, Asia sobbed silently as she finished stabilizing Irina, who thankfully was still unconscious. Asia had always maintained her pure faith despite the excommunication, and now she felt that the last refuge of her heart had been demolished.
Rias walked over to Issei and placed a hand on his arm. Her touch was cold. She, as a demon, should have felt relieved, but her face showed only deep concern. She glanced at Sona, who was adjusting her glasses with trembling hands.
"If the news gets out, the balance of the three factions will collapse," Rias said quietly. "Not only will the churches fall; the demons and the Fallen will lose their reason for being. Issei... how can you be so calm?"
Issei looked into her eyes. There was no despair in his gaze, but the wisdom of someone who had already accepted reality.
"Because God may have died in the war," Issei replied with a calmness that brought a little peace to the chaos, "but what you feel, what we stand for, and the love we have for each other... that doesn't need a system to be real. He's gone, but we're still here."
Kiba, holding his new sword of light and darkness, nodded slightly, finding in Issei's words the answer his deceased friends whispered to him.
The group remained under the moonlight, surrounded by the ruins of the academy. They knew the supernatural world would never be the same again, and that Kuoh was no longer just a city, but the epicenter of a truth that could set the universe ablaze.