I, Kiba Yuuto, came with the swordsmen group comprised of Xenovia, Irina-san and Lint-san to support Ise-kun and remained in the ruined church to fight against the newly created Devils that were birthed by the mother of Devils, Lilith. I cut down a number of enemies at once with my Holy Demonic Sword while Xenovia turned the enemies to dust with the powerful holy auras from her Durandal and Excalibur using her dual-wielding style. Although Xenovia was the present user of Durandal, she was also the user of Excalibur. It looked like the dual-wield style was what she was best at, since she wielded two legendary Holy Swords at the same time.
Irina, on the other hand, threw out the power of an Angel in the form of rings of light to the Devils while also lashing out holy aura with her Hauteclaire. Irina would save Xenovia whenever an enemy came from behind her, and Xenovia would blast away enemies with her holy aura whenever she saw them coming to Irina"s side. The teamwork of those two swordswomen was so perfect that they compensated for each other"s openings and also created chances for attack. The other church warrior, Lint-san, was, as usual, leaping around acrobatically as if she were a gymnast. She defeated all the Devils with the sword that was made out of purple flames and the light-gun while moving around.
Everyone here, including me, was raised by the church. We studied the knowledge and techniques to fight Devils, Fallen Angels, Vampires and Beasts. As things progressed, while some became Devils and Angels, everyone here was used to fighting Devils. We"d fought various strong enemies, but we also continued to train at the same time. An enemy of this level wouldn"t matter to us as no matter how many of them teamed up. Also, even though the enemies had the power of High-cla.s.s Devils…their abilities didn"t feel that way. It was because they only fought using the intensity of their demonic power alone. It meant that they only fought by charging in and using their demonic power barbarically. It was like fighting against a kid who didn"t have any fighting experience and knowledge. Normal Devils — especially the n.o.ble High-cla.s.s Devils, didn"t train themselves. They fought using their own talent, knowledge, and experience. And while at that, they also remembered some techniques.
Although these Devils had talent, they didn"t have enough knowledge and experience to fully utilise it, focusing only on their Demonic power. I could only see some who were able to use it defensively. If this was the case…handling them would be easier than Middle-cla.s.s Devils. If this were one-on-one, a bunch of experienced MIddle-cla.s.s Devils and Angels would be enough to deal with them. We wouldn"t have any problems as long as we could dodge their simple, but powerful Demonic power attacks. We could also get on the offensive as soon as we saw an opening as they didn"t really have any means to defend themselves.
—Newborn Devils, huh? That was my judgment. My master Rias-oneesan and my comrades must"ve realised the essence of their power. We were really lucky that we could fight before they matured. And then, it was their bad luck that they had to fight us. From my experience, we had no choice but to defeat them without mercy. If we let them escape, they might turn against us. That"s why we had to defeat them. It looked like the Devils that came into the church had understood our abilities as they hesitated and escaped.
"s.h.i.t! Why are these guys so strong!"
"Just what in the world are they!?"
It was their bad luck that the rulers of h.e.l.l didn"t tell them anything about us. Why didn"t Nyx and the others tell them about the strong people? Did she have any other intention? Or was it just mere entertainment?
It was when we thought about such things while fighting that we heard the Devils making a ruckus at the church"s entrance.
"To think that an old priest would come to this abandoned church!"
"Is it really a priest? Just what the h.e.l.l is with that body!?"
Old man? Priest?
As we looked that way, an old man with a spectacularly muscular body, His Eminence Vasco Strada, came in through the entrance. Rather than your usual priest clothes, the clothes he wore were the clothes that the higher-ups would wear… But these Devils couldn"t tell the difference as it seemed like they didn"t know anything. While we church swordsmen were dumbfounded by His Eminence Strada"s appearance, we also felt rea.s.sured at the same time! Although Rias-oneesama said that she couldn"t get hold of His Eminence, it looked like he came to this island of his own accord. His Eminence smiled as he said to the Devils.
"Did you come to repent?"
A Devil then jumped towards him!
"Die! You old geezer!"
The moment the Devil jumped out, a single punch was all it took for them to be blown away and a wall destroyed. His fist was — enveloped in a holy aura. —Holy fist. It was one of His Eminence"s attacks. Just by endowing his trained fist with holy aura and throwing a punch, Devils and various other beings were knocked down. The Devil that destroyed the wall must"ve been turned to dust by His Eminence"s holy punch. I said to His Eminence.
"Your Eminence, you don"t have to do anything."
Irina-san and Xenovia with Lint-san continued as they attacked.
"These ba~d Devils!"
"Will be cut down by us!"
"That"s right!"
His Eminence laughed in response to our words.
"Hmm. What reliable people. Looks like there"s no need for me to use my sword."
His Eminence Strada looked satisfied with us, the swordsmen raised by the church, fighting as he punched the Devils that came from the sides—.
We could finally catch a breath after defeating all the Devils that were inside the church. Yep, we should have cut down quite the number. I think that should cut the enemy"s battle power down significantly… As I looked around the ruins of the church, something popped into my mind. Around a year and a half ago, I also fought in this kind of place, huh? Lint-san asked me suspiciously.
"What"s wrong, Kiba-kyunpaisen?"
"Yeah, I remembered fighting your older brother in a ruined church."
Freed Selzen—. We fought him several times in Kuoh town. Especially against me… I must"ve been his toughest opponent. I was the one who delivered the final strike after all. Despite knowing that, Lint-san didn"t blame me for it. Instead, she apologised to me.
"I see. I did hear how something like that did happen. No, sorry for the trouble that my brother caused."
"No, it"s fine. However, I just feel like it"s fate we got to fight together in a place like this."
Not even the Devil himself would understand the reason why I fought together with his sister. Xenovia shrugged her shoulders.
"Well, I guess those things just happen. Ise and Master Rias"s relationship, these kinds of things just happen you know."
Irina continued on.
"Yeah, all these crazy things are happening. Even His Eminence is here after all."
They considered each other enemies the first time they met after all. But they were now cla.s.smates that could be depended on. His Eminence Strada laughed cheerfully.
"Hahaha, It"s impossible for us to know how this thing called "fate" works. —Anyway, Isaiah Kiba Yuuto"
Suddenly, His Eminence asked me.
"Yes?"
"You were called Kiba-kyunpaisen by your junior. Why is that?"
"No, uhm…I also want to know that…"
I was also troubled by the answer. I was somehow called that by my first-year juniors… Lint-san also started to call me "Kiba-kyunpaisen"… What"s with the "kyun"…? But it"s just been like this, so I didn"t really think about it.
It was at that moment. When we relaxed for a moment, a human figure flew down from the ceiling! As we looked up, one Devil clad in its aura flew down! I didn"t feel any presence! It was the same for everyone else too! Did that mean that there were also Devils who could hide their presence!? The Devil charged at Lint-san!
"Die!"
It was at the moment Lint-san tried to dodge and attack with her sword made out of purple-flames. The Devil"s abdomen was pierced by a spear! A moment later, it overflowed with holy aura, annihilating the Devil. The person who thrust the Devil with a spear was — Cao Cao. It looked like he came to this island as our backup.
As he rotated the Longinus he was proud of, True Longinus, he tapped his shoulder with the handle of the spear. It was his habit. The Holy Spear was top-cla.s.s even amongst the holy relics. Even a High-cla.s.s Devil and Ultimate-cla.s.s Devil would incur a fatal injury if they received a direct attack. It had that much power that even a Maou can"t let his guard down.
"You still have many openings, Lint Sellzen."
So said Cao Cao to Lint-san. Lint-san shouldn"t have spoken with Cao Cao before. Actually, there was a bit of a fateful connection. Someone from the same inst.i.tution as her was Cao Cao"s old comrade.
"You"re…a friend of Sieg-sensei."
Cao Cao smiled and answered Lint-san"s question.
"Yeah, I"m Siegfried"s friend."
"…Then, I presume it is okay to call you Cao Cao-sensei?"
Cao Cao pat Lint-san"s head and said.
"I don"t really mind. Do what you like."
Although Lint-san didn"t show it on her face, she somehow looked happy about that. Despite their interaction, everyone felt a large number of malicious auras coming closer. Cao Cao said.
"It"s better if we go outside. That way, we can do an AoE attack."
We agreed to his opinion and everyone prepared to exit the church. Ise-kun, leave this to us. You and Rias-oneesan are going to defeat Nyx!