Chapter 52

Castiel P.O.V.

As me, Issei and Saji faced off against the three exorcists I made a prompt decision, launching myself against Allen. He is the most dangerous one in there, mostly due to Xenovia don't take out whatever weapon she is trying (and failing) to hide.

He responded to my approach by liberating many white tendrils at my direction from his white-hoodie. Evading them is hard since they were like a living spider web, it quickly got everywhere. In the end, he managed to catch my ankle and pulled me to launch me far away, and that was his mistake. Despite being sent flying I am far from out of the game, I proved that by releasing a small mana burst from my left foot so as to counter the force he used while sending me flying.

I normally would change for Gandiva at this point, but Clarent is sending me multiple messages saying that it wants to defeat the Excalibur fragment. I might as well do what it wants.

While all this seems to have taken a while it barely took 3 seconds, and thus both Issei and Saji were still on their way towards the exorcists.

"Saji, go after Allen. Your gear must be a natural counter to his." I said and Saji did just that. He was originally going for Xenovia, but he changed directions mid-sprint so as to go after Allen. He then released his gear, Absorption Line, and launched a thread from it directing it to Allen.

Seeing the attack coming towards him Allen released many threads of white energy to stop it, but the tread of absorption line did not need to enter in contact with him, to begin with. When the two threads came in contact with one another the one from Saji glued itself to the ones from Allen and started to absorb Allen's power. He tried to shake it off, but he failed as the thread from Absorption Line is extremely adhesive and removing it is easier said than done. In the end, Allen frustratedly cut off that part of the thread from his own gear before deciding to go for physical attacks only, probably out of fear of going after someone else and be ambushed Saji.

Meanwhile, Issei reached Irina and the two started exchanging attacks at high speed, but looking carefully it was possible to see that both of them were 'pulling their punches' as neither aimed at anything vital and despite the high intensity of the fight there was not a single drop of blood being shred. What is that all about? It is almost like when I spar with the twins or Kuroko, both refusing to actually hurt each other.

Choosing to ignore that I focused on my opponent, which was coming towards me with a battle cry and swinging a giant sword. It is like the subtlety of an elephant in a porcelain store. She moved fast towards me, but not fast enough for me to be unable to use some of Caster's magic bombing or trying my hand in space control that witchcraft allows.

But I choose to not use either since there was only one way to convince the headstrong and warrior types, a direct clash. It is what I heard from Saber, and she managed to convince my father to not go on suicidal missions every day by beating some sense into him with Excalibur. Instead, he used to go every three days. It is a proof of concept good enough for me.

With my course of action decided I reinforced my legs, ignoring the pain from my magical circuits that were still too weak due to its bad quality, and sprinted towards Xenovia with Clarent. The clash was very simple, she used her Excalibur Destruction in an overhead strike, I used Clarent in a horizontal slash, the two swords clashed, one of them got a huge crack spreading from the point of impact and the other one was perfectly fine as before the impact, my Clarent was releasing satisfaction at the result and Xenovia looked at complete lost at what happened.

It must be a shock for her, to see her prized 'powerful' sword cracking with just one clash. This is simply the difference in specs, my sword was made with energy straight out of a ley-line, thus supplying power from the world, the materials used were all of the superior quality when compares with the Excalibur Destruction and the forging process was simply perfect.

The forging technique used for Excalibur Destruction was mostly just based on the alchemy they 'confiscated' from the magicians they killed throughout Europe during the middle ages due to it being 'too dangerous'. The fun part is that they only got to kill the incompetent magicians as the others escaped almost unscratched, thus the forging techniques used for the Excalibur fragments were all sub-par at best. The only exception being Excalibur Ruler, but now that one was destroyed to make Excalibur Galantine.

"Now, do you still want to continue?" I said, pointing my Clarent straight to her. She looked like she wanted to continue but knew that Destruction was out since it was in no condition (not that it being in perfect condition would make any difference).

Seeing her feeling lost and feeling the wish for battle from Clarent still unfulfilled I decided to propose something.

"Why don't you take the other sword out?" I said, much to her shock.

"H-how do you know of it?" Xenovia asked, still on the defensive. Not that I would attack someone unarmed while it is not an actual enemy.

I smirked at her question and said.

"Simple, because the space you guarded it is far from completely isolated. I can feel this sort of energy fluctuation very clearly when in a 75 meters' radius." actually 100 meters, a little deception that could be helpful in the future as giving away exact data about me is against my training. "Now stop wasting our time and take this fight seriously!" I said in a commanding voice. She shocks hearing that voice and said something that I could not understand before putting her hand forward.

Following that action, a ripple in space appeared and she shoved her hand in that distorted space. From there she started releasing a sword that was covered in chains, chains that disintegrated when she started to chant.

"Saint Peter. Saint Basil the Great. Saint Denis. Holy-mother Mary. Please hear my voice. In the names of the saints whom reside within this blade, I will release it."

And with one powerful pull breaking the last chain locking it she declared.

"Durandal!"

Wow, this is even more interesting than I thought.

This is a beautiful blade. It is a two-handed weapon with a handle, guard, and edge of blessed gold while the rest is made of pure holy ore, the mineral that possesses the purest and most perfect holy energy there is. According to Zelretch the most any world has f this mineral is around 50kg, but Durandal alone seems to carry at least 5kg. It just serves to show how immensely powerful and precious this blade really is, a blade that is said to be comparable to an Excalibur.

Lucky me that my Clarent doesn't lose in any way when compared to it, as it also was made with 5kg of said ore and was created by the use of the most perfect techniques that my father had, and he had a reality marble that is a weaponsmith wet dream.

When Clarent felt the energy from Durandal I could feel its excitement for a good battle, if I were to bet the defeating of the Excalibur Destruction was just to spite that failed work. But now is different, what it is after is not destroy its opponent, instead, it wants to fight.

As we pointed our blades to each other Xenovia decided to talk.

"Before we begin, I need to ask you something." She said with a serious face.

"Go ahead." I said, watching her every movement so as to react accordingly. And considering how tight her clothes are (whoever designed it must be a pervert, that is what happens when you said that all priests must be celibate, they do 'clothes' like those), it is possible to see her every muscle and when you know how to observe well enough you can even predict your opponent's movements with certain certainty.

"How can you use a holy sword comparable to Durandal? And what is that sword in the first place?" Xenovia asked. Looking at her it was clear that she was ready to react to any attack, but was not planning on starting one now. If this was a battle to the death I would already have launched myself at her, but as this is a spar I might as well entertain her.

"This blade is called Clarent, a sword of equal level to the true Excalibur and is also known as the Radiant and Brilliant Royal Sword. The one that is to be wielded by a future king to show that he is the one that deserves to rule." As I said that Xenovia seemed to comprehend that this was not such a simple sword that she could defeat easily by just using her own. But she still exuded confidence, that was quashed with my next words. "And I can wield it because I am a natural holy and demonic sword user."

It was not just her, Irina and Allen also sopped in their tracks and looked at me dumbfounded. I can understand, I really can, it was supposed to be impossible for one person to use both holy and demonic swords. It was against the common knowledge of the world, but so is being capable of using blessings and curses at the same time and yet here I am.

As Xenovia continued looking at me incredulously I got tired of it and said.

"Do you want to continue admiring or to fight? Come on!" And with that, I moved, and it was like a gong for the fight to continue as Issei and Saji started their fighting as well (at least Saji was holding up, even if barely due to how much better Allen was in CQC).

Moving at high speeds I started trading blows with Xenovia, and it was exhilarating. Fighting like this, openly and directly was quite good. The feeling of strength against strength, destruction against destruction, it was all fantastic. She tried to change things up by doing a mighty slash from below, and I simply moved to the side to avoid it.

The energy liberated by Durandal on this slash was strong, too strong in fact as it went out and continued in its trajectory. And its trajectory was… towards Irina.

Alarm bells rang in my head when I saw this, especially when Issei shoved Irina to the side and entered Balance Breaker to protect himself.

The clash resulted in an explosion of high proportions, so much so that Issei flew away with his Balance Breaker breaking into pieces. It probably could not stabilize properly before the impact, thus resulting in the armor breaking.

Forgetting about this stupid match I ran together with the others toward Issei. Luckily he was thrown on a patch of leaves cushioning the impact. As everyone approached him we realized that he passed out. I stopped Koneko from trying to heal him, it would take too long before she managed to do anything effective and the light element of a sword like Durandal was too toxic to him as a devil. I also stopped Okuyasu as I knew what was needed wasn't his powers, as the damage caused by this sort of attack is not that simple.

I put my left hand over him to devour the light energy that was hurting him. Luckily thanks to the dragon energy that his sacred gear put in him he was not as damaged as other devils of his level would be. In the end, he still was a mid-class devil, surviving even ten seconds after receiving an attack from Durandal would be impossible without the dragon energy protecting him.

After I finished Devouring the light energy from him I inscribed a rune of healing at him and also casted a blessing made for healing. I turned to Lugh, that I knew would be here as soon as Durandal appeared (she is just that fanatic for treasures), and said.

"Lugh, go and fetch Miku here. We need her to help Issei in restoring his magic circuits before the damage becomes permanent." She nodded and did as I said. She may normally be a royal pain in the ass but she did know when to listen.

While she was gone I asked Okuyasu to heal him of his bodily damage, as it was the limit of his sacred gear, and then continued putting more energy in the blessing I was using on him. I need to stabilize and protect his circuits or it might damage not only his fighting power but also his very soul due to how connected the magic circuits are connected to the soul itself.

In less than a minute Miku entered the area together with Lugh, when I saw her I said.

"Miku, please help him. He needs your help." Hearing this she nodded and started singing a beautiful song, I needed to concentrate on not being lost in her songs. Damn, why is it that when she put her all in her songs they become so good?

My face must be showing how intoxicated I am hearing the song as Miku smiled and started purring even more energy into the music. At the end of the melody, I did a structural grasping of Issei and confirmed that his circuits are all back to how they were before.

I then turned to the others and said.

"He is fine now, he just needs some time to wake up so no worries." And I was rudely shoved aside by two females that ran straight to Issei to check if he was okay.

"Issei-sempai, please wake up, nyaah~." Koneko said, purring nature energy into him while embracing his side.

"Issei-kun, why did you do that? Please get up, I don't want you to get hurt for me." The other one, surprisingly as it is, was Irina that was looking at him full of worry.

Seeing this everyone did not know what to do, and thus I said.

"You guys take him inside." Rias was about to go with them, but I then followed it up by saying. "Rias, Sona please stay here. We need to finish our discussion with the church right now."

Sona nodded and did not look to be surprised at my comment, she probably expected such since she did not even attempt to move from the spot she was. Rias looked torn, but also remained here. She learned well during her training and now seems to have understood how to act in this sort of situations.

Nodding to them I turned back to Xenovia, Allen and Caren.

Allen was stealing glances at Issei, clearly worried for his well-being. He is probably good at heart and the type that likes to protect, my hypothesis proved by how he did not use the sharp claws from his sacred gear on Saji and tried to contain others instead of hurting them.

Caren was mostly looking at me, a look of respect in her face. She probably approved of my actions on how to best treat Issei. She is an expert in healing and treating others so her approval means a lot more than most.

Xenovia looked like she did not know what was happening exactly. She was also with a face full of guilt for almost attacking her own teammate and frustrated. I had this conjecture since she released Durandal, but after that last attack and how she is reacting, I got my confirmation.

God, what does the church is thinking about sending her to the field like this? Are they desperate now that their dogs (A.K.A. Iscariots) were excommunicated or are they brain dead? If you ask me it is the second option, but who really knows?

"Xenovia, you don't control your weapon yet, right? Or at least not fully controls it." I did not much say as I declared the obvious. How can the Church in good consciousness (if they have any, they did allow for Iscariots to work under its protection for decades after all) send someone with an unstable blade with incredible powers to devil territory when said person is not fully in control of it?

And to a city full of innocent and unrelated civilians at that. How is that a good idea? Do they prize those useless toys that much? It really is how I thought, while the religion itself is good the people spreading it are not that good, and in this case, the no good part is on the head.

"I suppose this proves that you guys are NOT ready to deal with all of this alone. And even if you could, you would be more of a threat to the civilians than anything else." I said. Xenovia started talking, probably the only one that will disagree with me after this last display.

"B-but I was trained to protect the weak and-"

"Almost killed your comrade, failed to control your sword, and would possibly damage buildings and other structures that might have civilians inside. Girl, you might be chosen to carry that sword around but you definitely are not ready to use it inside a city." I said, cutting her own words.

"But we need to retrieve the Excalibur fragments." Was what she said, still unconvinced.

"Answer me this, what is more important for you as a follower of God's teachings: a weapon to kill or the lives of the innocent?" I asked.

And THAT shut her up. God, why is it that talking to those one track minded people is such a difficult thing? If she wants to be a Cristian her first priority should always be the well-being of the innocent, not the power to hurt others.

God did NOT put anything about killing on his ten rules, quite the contrary in fact, and the Church can say it is fine depending on the 'circumstances' as much as it damn wants and it still will never be fine.

"That is what I thought. At least you understand how absurd it is for you guys to work alone. Now, here is my proposal to everyone here. We will make a team to deal with this whole shitstorm we are dealing with. We can send some from each of the devil's side, us from the Tower and you exorcists. The total capacity of those looking to retrieve those overhyped toys from the church before they can be used against the devils to kick-start a new war. I mean, using a holy sword that the church lost to kill the heirs to two great devil clans is a great way to start the whole thing again, especially when the one that could be targeted are the little sisters of two Maou siscons from a race that almost 40% wants to see a new war."

At the end of my words, both Sona and Rias got a lot paler. The reality that they are probable targets finally sinking in. I suppose I should do something to alleviate their fears.

"Don't worry you two. You just got to remember that your lives are more precious now than in any other time and that you should try to maintain your peerage as close to yourselves as possible at all times. As for the ones to go help us look for those precious sticks, for Rias' side I would recommend Issei, due to his obvious proximity to Irina and the fact that he has some draconic energy on him making him more resistant to holy energy. For Sona's side, I think the best option is Tsubaki as she trained with me more the teamwork is better and her sacred gear can be very useful to us that are going out of our way to find an ultimate-class being." I said.

The two were somewhat better, but the worry was still visible on their eyes. I suppose I might as well sweeten the deal some more.

"If you two are that worried I will ask for the Tower to send in some reinforcements to work as bodyguards for you two. Would that make things better?" I proposed.

The two of them thought for a while before agreeing. The two probably understand how professional the Tower's agents work so their worries are lessened somewhat. Normally I would recommend calling in some devil's support as well, but considering how Rias provoked the governors in the rating game and how the risk of someone that the devils send be trigger happy and try to do something stupid is quite high, yeah better not get them involved at all.

At the very most we can inform Syrzechs and Sona's older sister, Serafall, so as to make then ready to move in case of extreme need.

After that Xenovia, Allen and Caren agreed to my proposal as well. And thus now it is time to inform the others of our decisions and see who the Tower has to offer for helping out our allies. I just hope it ends up fine.

///---///

3° Person P.O.V.

In an expensive room in a penthouse in Kuoh, there were four being sitting down enjoying some wine while looking at a crystal ball that was connected to a familiar positioned in the Gremory's training ground. It has been planted there for over a week now and no one from their 'opponents' was any the wised.

As they looked at their opponents planning how they would face them the leader of those four had a battle-hungry smile that was mirrored by the other three on lesser degrees, the thoughts of how the next few days would be different to the absolute boredom that was like after the great war filled their minds.

And the key factor to make their next great war campaign even more exhilarating, even more bloody and wild was right there. Taking command of the enemy forces that would stand against the next war.

The smiles grew even wilder when they thought that. Now it was time to test who will victory chooses in the end, and they would be the ones chosen. After all, they had 3 ultimate-classes and one super-class fallen angel on their side.

That is what was on the mind of Kokabiel and his three generals as the next step of their plan was close to being taken.