chapter:8 Kiba snarled

"Kakyoku Sanren!" Shirou snarled, the reinforced married blades, now resembling a pair of black & white wings, descending on Freed like the wrath of the God he so despised, the Exorcist's eyes widening in alarm as he brought his Holy Sword up to block the attack, the clash of steel coinciding with a sudden flash of lightning.

Kiba's POV...

'Damn!' Kiba cursed, the Knight of Rias Gremory shielding his eyes from the flash of light with Holy Eraser, his teeth clenched as he FELT the preceding impact even standing where he was 'Just what the hell is going on here?!'

As much as it chaffed, Kiba would be the first to admit that he'd underestimated Freed earlier. As insane as the Stray-Exorcist was, he hadn't been hailed as a genius prior to being excommunicated for nothing. True, Kiba had managed to hold his own against him during the Twilight Healing incident, but he'd had the advantage of a Knight's Speed and a Demon Sword that devoured Light Energy on his side, not to mention the fact Koneko was literally hurling parts of the building at the freak whenever she saw an opening.

Still, genius or not, there was no way in hell, pun most certainly intended, that a monster like Freed would be qualified to wield a True Holy Sword like Excalibur. Putting aside the sheer magnitude of difference between a True Holy Sword & the mass-produced 'Lightsabres' all exorcists carried, the number of people with the innate ability to wield a True Holy Sword could be counted on one hand with room to spare, a fact Kiba was all-too-familiar with.

How then, had Freed, who'd been excommunicated for being too bat-shit crazy for even the church to effectively control, managed to get his hands on one of their most sacred relics, a Holy Sword whose very name could give High-Ranking Devils pause for concern?

Were it any other Holy Blade Kiba would have probably laughed it off as a bluff even as he took the precautions to avoid being hit. But the moment he'd laid eyes on the priest's blade, once he'd felt the intensity of its Holy Aura, he'd instantly realized it was an authentic Excalibur, and then the rage had taken over.

Never in his wildest dreams had he ever imagined an Excalibur appearing before him. Oh he'd fantasized about destroying them often enough, but he'd never once harbored any actual intention of storming the churches they were stored in and actually carrying out the deed. For one thing the resulting fallout would most certainly reignite the war between the Three-Biblical-Factions…for another there was no telling what Rias would do to him for worrying her like that."

And so, faced not only with the root of his grudge, wielded by someone the Church would probably thank him for killing, albeit backhandedly, Kiba had let his emotions get the best of him and wound up paying the price, as the still burning cut on his arm could testify.

Simply touching a True Holy Sword was enough to hurt a Devil, and Low-Class Devils often died to the smallest of Scratches from them. While Kiba wasn't weak by any stretch of the imagination, he was still leagues below a Pureblood like Rias or Sona, so it was a miracle he'd only been brought to his knees the moment the blessed steel bit into his flesh. Even now, he could feel his Demonic Power escaping from the wound, unable to properly heal it due to the lingering touch of the Blade's Holy Aura.

That he hadn't dropped Holy Eraser was probably the only reason Freed hadn't decided to follow up the attack right away. Well, that and the fact someone had literally leapt from the shadows to intercept the mad-exorcist mid-taunt, driving him back with a beautiful pair of Chinese Dao-Swords.

'An Exorcist from the Church?' the Gremory Knight wondered, eyeing the corpse of the priest Freed had murdered as the light died down 'No. I can't be certain, but it looked like he was wearing our school uniform…'

"Are you okay, Kiba-san?" a familiar voice inquired, the Gremory Knight's eyes widening in disbelief as his night-vision allowed him to make out the features of Emiya Shirou, the elusive Brownie of Kuoh who had been driving Rias up the wall due to his penchant for running away whenever she tried to say hello "You were cut earlier, is it bad?"

"Ah…no, I'm fine." Kiba stammered, the pain from the Holy-Sword's cut having lessened, though his left arm still stung if he flexed the muscle. "It's barely a scratch; he just caught me off guard earlier." His eyes widened as he realized they were alone "Wait, where's Freed?!"

"He got away." Emiya admitted, an annoyed frown marring his features "He used some sort of flash-grenade the moment his sword broke. By the time my vision cleared, he'd already disappeared."

"Damn it!" Kiba snarled, slamming his left fist against the wall, heedless of the flash of pain in his upper arm "And I'd finally managed to track one down…" he muttered, only to trail off, looking up at the redhead in surprise "Wait…broke?"

"Well…shattered would probably be more appropriate…" Emiya admitted, Kiba's eyes widening as the redhead held up what was clearly the hilt of Freed's Excalibur, the knight only now noticing the plastic bag the redhead was carrying in his free hand, which upon closer inspection contained the rest of the blade "I figured leaving the pieces lying around would be a bad idea, even if that guy didn't come back for them." He glanced at Kiba curiously "I take it this isn't the first time he attacked you?"

"Huh…?" Kiba murmured, shaking his head to clear it, his mind seemingly unable to process the sight of the destroyed Holy Sword "I mean, yes, we've crossed swords before. He threatened two other members of my Club some time ago." He grimaced at the memory of the Twilight Healing incident "We'd assumed he'd been taken care of, looks like it was just wishful thinking."