Chapter 6

Standing in front of Kokabiel, I admit, I am slightly nervous. This is my first real battle in this world and while I do know that my raw strength is dozens, if not hundreds, of times higher than the fallen in front of me, there is still the fact that I only ever tested myself properly in training.

Closing my eyes I think about the words of my combat waifus (yes, I divide the ones that are fighting capable and the new ones I bought that are just normal humans for the moment). Olga, Celestine, and Mavis all gave me some advice regarding what I should do when in an actual fight.

Celestine told me:

"Try your best and if you need help come to me for healing."

Olga said:

"If you are nervous or don't know what you are doing, just act as if everything is under control and the enemy is beneath you in every way. That can get under the skin of most, and with time you will actually get the confidence."

And Mavis just...

"Fighting is fun! Fight, fight, HO!"

... Sometimes, when she isn't being an adorable piece of ass, I can see how she founded a guild that was world-famous as troublemakers prone to cause trouble and a lot of collateral damage everywhere they appear. I might need a minder of sorts just to be sure she doesn't do something particularly stupid.

Regardless, I go in front of Kokabiel.

First, let's practice in close quarters.

Opening my wings I dart towards Kokabiel, my speed not being nearly as high as I could get but the objective here is not simply to defeat him, it is to learn from the experience.

PUNCH

PUNCH

PUNCH

I deliver several punches in his direction, but he parries them with a light spear he conjured.

He did not hesitate, the light spear moved quickly and pushed my right arm to the side, and pierced my body with his light spear.

"... Tickles." I say unironically.

Kokabiel growls at my response to his strike, his spear breaking in the impact with my body.

You see, while it is true that I look like a human, this is still the body of a two hundred meters tall dragons compacted to human size. A probing attack from Kokabiel has no chance of actually injuring me, and I even felt it is a testimony to his strength if nothing else.

The fallen moves his hand to in front of my face, his fingers pointing at my eyes and I see some light gathering there.

Idiot, even my eyes are not that easy to injure with hasty atta-

FLASH

GAH! My eyes, why did you use a fucking flashing light bomb just like that.

I felt an impact on my torso and was pushed back a bit, putting my arms in front of my face I feel a sword slicing at my arms right where I protected my neck. My vision starts to recover but I am pushed in the defensive as Kokabiel uses the Excalibur to attack me.

The sword can only do skin deep injuries and nothing more, but it is still irritating as I can't get out of the defensive as Kokabiel is constantly aiming at my face and eyes.

"Insolence." I say, trying to act tough (this is my first showing and I want to make an impression). "Gravity Magic: Dragon King Presence." Yes, I took inspiration from Dante of Black Clover, sue me.

I increase gravity all around me about by about two hundred times. Kokabiel's attacks stop as he is pushed to the ground hard due to his own weight.

"The hell are you? Sirzechs' watchdog?" Kokabiel asks in anger as I roll my eyes. In terms of pure power I have several times Sirzechs' power and my potential for growth is much larger, why the hell should I be his 'dog'?

"No, I am not someone's 'dog', you blind fool." I say easily as I turn around and began taking some distance. "I am just a dragon who took residence in this town and decided to become a teacher as it seemed like fun, but your plans are ruining my fun." I said easily.

"A teacher?" Kokabiel asks in doubt at my statement to which I shrug noncommittally.

"And I am a hell of a teacher." After having taken enough distance I speak in the direction of the others while trying to calculate how much must I take from here. "Miss Sitri, if I destroy the school grounds a bit, could you give the bill of reconstruction in the Grigory? You don't pay me enough to fix the collateral damage."

And it was true, my salary wasn't that rich to pay for the destruction I kinda already caused with my last spell, much less what I will be doing next.

Not hearing an answer I turn to look and see that I kinda went overboard and my spell's periphery reached the others. While they didn't take the full brunt of my magic, they were still affected by it.

Seeing everyone pressed on the ground made me feel a bit bad so I undid the magic around them and just concentrated it further around Kokabiel who was trying to get back up. Needless to say, he went back to the floor when his gravity increased further.

"So?" I ask, wanting confirmation from Sona.

She coughs violently as she gets up, the gravity must have injured her body's insides but it shouldn't be anything she can't handle... probably.

"Yes, just do what is COUGH COUGH needed." Sona says and I nod my head. I can see that I am not that good at fighting hand to hand right now, trying to challenge Kokabiel to it when I have no experience was a bad idea.

If so, then this should work.

With a move from my finger, I pull up from the ground around two hundred cubic meters of stone, creating a huge hole on the school grounds. Focusing on it I create in the center of the stone a figure of a sword and increase the gravity there, forcing the large stone to compact over and over until it became the size of the sword I had originally in mind.

It looks like a katana, nothing fancy about it but as I swing it a few times to test its weight it is satisfactory. Every cubic meter of rock weighs about one and a half to two tons, considering how many cubic meters I used on this katana, it should weight around three hundred fifty tons, all compacted to the size of a simple long Katana.

It feels comfortable to use as the weight isn't that much to me, but it does at least feel like it weights something so I like it.

I position myself in a basic kendo position like what I've learned in the kendo club, my Martial Talent has long since helped me learn most of what I could easily learn from simple practice, and now what I lack is the experience of actual combat more than anything else. I smile at Kokabiel as I deactivate my gravity magic locking him inside.

I wait until he gets his bearings back and stands back up, Excalibur in hand as he glares at me.

"Ready when you are, crow." I said easily.

3° Person P.O.V.

Kokabiel was frustrated. His powers had returned to his peak stage, now being equal to any regular Satan Class fighter when using Excalibur. This, however, seemed near meaningless by now as he finally could estimate the situation clearly.

He could see, clear as day, that in technique and experience he completely dwarfed his enemy. The number of holes in his stances and small mistakes he would make is laughable, however, the difference in raw power was just as large, if not more so.

Having survived through the Great War and fought many battles before and since, Kokabiel was not any sort of fool. He had only seen this sort of overwhelming power like what Ivan was showing when the two heavenly dragons interfered in the Great War, and it still terrified Kokabiel. Who knows how many died at the time and the cooperation between all three factions was needed to kill those beasts, Kokabiel was also there in that fight and it took everything he had at the time just to tie down one of the arms of Albion before Gabriel, Michael, and Lucifer could strike at it's heart. And even with his heart pierced the beast could still fight and nearly killed Kokabiel before God intervened and ended the monster.

The power of a Heavenly Dragon was NOT something most truly understood, it was a power that even most Gods would perish from as even the Evil Dragons, who are weaker than the Heavenly Dragons, could kill Gods and Satan-Class fighters, so one needn't say much about those in Draig and Albion's league. Hells, just the raw energy of the sealed souls of the heavenly dragons was enough to power weapons able to let normal humans kill Gods, that alone shows how absurd these beings were.

So, facing someone with the raw power of a Heavenly Dragon, Kokabiel had already reached a conclusion.

His plan to start a war was a failure. If this dragon wanted to intervene then there was no way that he could kill the heiresses, and Kokabiel did not think he could kill this beast, much less in a short amount of time since Sirzechs and Serafal should be arriving any time now and he did not like his chances in case they besieged him.

As such, Kokabiel now just wanted to do a tactical retreat and find other chances to start his war. His main objective of healing himself was completed anyway, so risking his life for no gain wasn't something he wanted at the moment.

Using the Excalibur Nightmare aspect together with Excalibur Transparency Kokabiel created a replica of himself to attract Ivan's strike. This wouldn't last for even a single strike, but Kokabiel never expected to manage more than a surprise attack as he crouched under his illusion and when Ivan struck at the illusion, thus Kokabiel got the opening he wanted.

The Excalibur in his hand has six aspects: Ilusion (Nightmare), Invisibility (Transparency), Transformation (Mimic), Power (Destruction), Speed (Rapidly), and Light Amplification (Blessing). Using those in tandem Kokabiel's versatility increased considerably, like now as he concentrated his light energy in the sword, amplified it using Excalibur Blessing, and then used Excalibur rapidly to make his striking speed faster as well as used Excalibur Destruction to increase the destructive power to a higher degree than what he might otherwise be able. The sword moved up in a clearly well-practiced motion as he put his whole weight and energy into it.

It wasn't like where he was aiming his strike would make deadly damage by any means (he lacked the strength to actually do deadly damage no matter how much he might try to push it), but the armpit was a weak point and shouldn't be as tough as most of his body or as well guarded.

PUCHI

The sword's tip penetrates and Ivan grunts in pain. The sword didn't actually go that deep, stopping after penetrating just the tip, but it was the first true injury he caused to Ivan as all the small cuts were healed visibly due to a dragon's absurd vitality.

Opening his wings Kokabiel did not think twice, moving straight away from this place as to open some distance before teleporting. With some luck, the dragon would be distracted by his injury long enough to not catch him before it was too late.

"And?" A smooth feminine voice rang out as Kokabiel took flight, going to the barrier around the school grounds. "Do you really think a barrier I set up was so easy to breach?"

Olga looked on in amusement as Kokabiel flew head-on at the barrier she had set up. Having been in a war with paladins and holy warriors for centuries, the dark elf queen had long since been able to cast barriers that would especially counter the holy and light elements.

Kokabiel was strong enough to breach this simple barrier she put up, no doubts there, but that would take some time before he could do so. At least around five minutes of concentrated effort, Olga estimated considering his energy output. Not that Olga thought that Kokabiel could actually keep trying for twenty minutes like that considering the many curses she set in the barrier.

There was a reason why no one could breach or even bother trying to breach her barriers in her homeworld, she was a great necromancer and dark wizard and her barriers all carried several curses in them. Breaching them would never be so simple as just hitting it without any sort of preparation.

Feeling several curses and debuffs covering his form, Kokabiel used the Excalibur Blessing aspect to empower the Holy Element in him to counter the curses, stopping them from causing damage as well as purging them from his body. However, he no longer thought that he could simply escape from the barrier just like that. No, he needed something that could help him in escaping.

Something...

Something...

Something... or someone.

Kokabiel sensed the location of Ivan and created a simple magic trick he had developed during the war, three magic circles appearing before him as they started to charge attacks at different tempos. When the first circle attack was launched the would follow soon after, then the third, and during the time the second and third had launched the attack the first one was charged again, and thus the three kept in a constant cycle of attacks.

With his aim in Ivan's location, Kokabiel felt that the dragon would waste some time defending himself or counterattacking, this wouldn't be enough to actually defeat Ivan, but it would buy Kokabiel enough time at least.

A time that he used to dart directly to the group that just stood at the back. He needed a hostage, if he had one he could negotiate an escape from this barrier and to get the fuck away from here. Defeating anything with Heavenly Dragon level, only an idiot or someone equally powerful would think that such a thing could be done without any sort of plan. If he had an army or at least a few useful helpers he might have taken the shot and tried to keep fighting, but his help was a simple exorcist and an old man who couldn't fight.

No, he could only do this himself. He would not die against an overgrown lizard while not managing to cause the war he desired!

Reaching the group Kokabiel looked at all the people there and reached a fast conclusion. The people there, most were from either the Sitri or Gremori Peerages and as such wouldn't be good hostages since they shouldn't be that close to the dragon. The other three should be his entourage, the dark elf was clearly dangerous and her energy was similar to that on the barrier, taking her hostage wouldn't be easy. The other, the high elf had a strong holy aura to her that was purer than his own, she might be a healer or a white mage but she might be able to resist him even if for a short time so defeating her wouldn't be as practical.

No, the best target is-

"Come over here!" Kokabiel said, his arm moving towards Mavis, confident he could defeat her.

FWOSH

Before his eyes, however, the small target he was about to touch disappeared and it was only centuries of battle experience that saved his life as he created a light barrier on his back just in time as an explosion happened above her.

"Mizuwari!" Mavis says excitedly, having used the Crush magic that was later popularized by Gildarts. The shield of light Kokabiel cast barely held as he was pushed to the ground.

A gasp of pain came out of his lips as he hit the ground, however even then he was ready to move and used light energy to propel himself forward and dash at the High Elf this time, Excalibur Rapidly accelerating his movements further. Mavis, in that one exchange, proved to be too strong so he had to try his luck with another one.

However, how could Mavis just let him do that? Using speed magic she caught up instantly with the fallen angel.

"Take over: Dragon arm." Mavis said as her arm turned into that of a dragon as she punched at Kokabiel, throwing him high in the air with the force of a dragon. Not letting up she continued as she waves their arms, releasing a torrent of energy needles composed from concentrated dust. . "Fairy Machine Gun: Leprechaun."

Dozens of energy needles fly at Kokabiel who was disoriented, piercing his flesh in several places and pushing him further up as he hit the barrier above and the curses in it impacting him again.

"You are quite rude." Ivan said as he got to Kokabiel, smacking the fallen down with the flat side of his sword.

Kokabiel fell close to where Celestine was located and groaned in pain.

"Heal him up, would you? I still need him to help my practice." Ivan said as he descended too close to where Kokabiel was.

"Very well." Celestine said serenely, obeying as she was ordered. Chanting an incantation white light covered Kokabiel's form and his injuries were quickly restored fully.

As the healing completed, Kokabiel could only show an ugly face.

"I am not getting away from here, right?"

"... Not really, no." Ivan said with a shrug. "Even if you could take distance from me, you can't bypass the barrier we set up. And even if you try to get to the others..."

"I know Letter Magic, setting up a defensive field is easy." Mavis said with a wave of her hand.

She may not seem it, but from everyone here, she might be the most dangerous and the only one who might be able to defeat Ivan as she knew ALL magics from Fairy Tail guild members from either having seen them in use enough times on the guildhall to figure out how they worked (she IS a genius, after all) or the magic from the members having been taught by Fairy Tail's library. And that was not to say about her ability with Law, Death, and illusion magics as well as her having infinite energy. Setting up a barrier using Letter Magic like the ones Freed could do, only stronger due to her infinite mana pool, was very easy.

Kokabiel chuckled sadly at that.

"I must be getting old, I even forgot the most basic aspect of any war. In war, nothing ever goes as planned." The fallen said as he went back to his strongest fighting stance, his powers flaring to his peak as he pointed the Excalibur at Ivan. "Come then, I will give you the fight you want."