Chapter 6
Solomon sat in his living room in the dark. Asia had gone to bed a little while ago leaving just him awake in their house. He glanced once more over to the open doorway into his dimensional closet where Excalibur Mimic and Excalibur Destruction were sitting leaning against a manikin stand. It turned out that weapons counted as accessories as far as that particular power was concerned. Who knew?
He felt a slight amount of regret over his actions earlier against Xenovia and Irina. Especially against Irina. She was honestly a pretty good person. It was Xenovia that had pissed him off. Maybe he'd give Irina an apology the next time they met. That was only a sliver of his regret though. The majority of it was reserved for the swords sitting in his closet.
Why the hell did he steal the fucking swords from them?!
It had been a spur of the moment decision fueled by his anger at the girls and his desire to fuck Kokopuffs over. However, it was also a terrible fucking idea. It painted a huge target on his back and definitely made him a straight up enemy of the church. He'd literally stolen two of their most powerful weapons. They would already kill him on principle for his race but that was just business as usual and only if they happened to come across him somewhere outside of Kuoh. Now? Now they would know him by name and target him specifically no matter where he was.
He covered his face with his hands and groaned. Goddamn hormones mixing with anger making him think he was doing something cool when it was just stupid! He was male, he did stupid shit enough just from his gender, hormones just made it so much worse!
Then there was Kiba! That bastard. Sure, Solomon stole the swords, but at least he didn't damage them! He definitely needed to punch that blonde pretty-boy in the face for using his Sword of Destruction like that. The only bright side is that maybe it would be looked at as minor compared to the theft?
Wait.
That wasn't a fucking good thing!
Solomon groaned louder and stomped his feet repeatedly. He needed to do something about this shit! He lifted his head and dug out his store of Rare Candies. He had fourteen left but four of those were reserved for Rias, Akeno, Koneko, and even Kiba. That left him with ten, the equivalent of five full years of training progress. If he ate all of them right then, he would become a lot stronger. His growth was pretty consistent and he always learned a lot.
Hell, he'd planned to take four at once back when he'd discovered how to use the Power of Destruction through his Sacred Gears. However, his excitement over learning that fact had distracted him so he'd only eaten that single one. He could eat those three, get eighteen more months of training his abilities in, and see where that left him?
…
No. He stuffed the rare candies away with a sigh. He needed to save them for when he had an opportunity to potentially learn the powers of other devil clans or even abilities from the fallen or angels. He had no ideas what opportunities he might be presented and he didn't want to waste the few rare candies he had left.
He clasped his right hand in his left and began twisting the Operational Support Ring he wore on his right hand. It was the item he would be counting on to get through what he expected would be coming soon. It was, by far, his most powerful item. The eighty percent spell casting cost decrease alone was a game breaker. Add in the six hundred percent mana recovery speed and the ring practically gave him unlimited mana to use in his spells. He'd have to cast some seriously mana intensive spells to even feel a dip in power.
He was as prepared as he could be. That was what...
“Solomon?”
Solomon jerked at the sound of Asia's soft voice. He'd been so in his head over his stupidity that he hadn't even noticed her arriving. He lifted his gaze and found Asia standing in the doorway leading into the room. She looked concerned while standing there in a sleeping gown that covered her from the neck down, even sporting long sleeves that covered her arms. Even when sleeping, she dressed modestly.
He gave her a warm smile, “What are you doing up Asia? You should be sleeping.”
She didn't answer him, instead she asked softly, “Are you okay?”
Solomon chuckled, “It's nothing Asia, I'm just not tired yet.”
Asia walked further into the room, her green eyes practically glowing in the dark as she looked at him with concern, “It doesn't seem like nothing. Is it about earlier today? With... them.”
Solomon sighed and leaned back letting his head flop against the couch, “No, at least not directly. I don't regret what I did to those girls. They had no right to talk to you the way they did, or to talk to Rias like that either. I do, however, kind of regret...”
He gestured to the side where his closet was open and the two Excalibur swords could be seen. Asia glanced at the hole in the air filled with clothing and understood. She walked closer and knelt in front of him while placing her hands on his knees, “I think you did the right thing.”
Solomon's head jerked up to look down at Asia in confusion. She looked into his blood red eyes and smiled warmly, “While you were harsh to them, I think you were also being kind, in your own way. I believe you were right that if they stayed, they would have died. By sending them away, you were protecting them from harm. By taking their swords, you took the target off of their back.”
She smiled warmly, “I know what a good man you are. You protected them in your own way and took all the danger onto yourself.”
Leave it to Asia to see him in the brightest light possible. None of what she said was true... But with her looking up at him with absolute faith in his goodness, he wanted it to be. He was a selfish asshole who just wanted to live his life enjoying himself. To spend his spare time playing with his magic and building his Harem while ignoring the impending threat of the Apocalypse Beast.
But...
He let out a sigh while reaching out to gently stroke Asia's golden hair, “I'm not as good as you believe. But I want to be.” He stood and offered her a helping hand, “C'mon, lets get some sleep. Tomorrow is a new day and will bring a new adventure, I'm sure.”
Asia took his hand and used it to climb to her feet. He led her to her room while closing his closet and hiding the two Excalibur blades in a place no one could find. After guiding Asia to her room, the master bedroom, he started toward his own but stopped and let out a bone weary sigh. His direction changed so he could make his way down to the first floor and toward the front door. On opening it his bland gaze fell on an annoying sight.
Floating in the air was a fallen angel who was slamming his light spear into the ward that Solomon had set over the property. He studied the eight winged fallen, who hadn't spotted him yet, and tapped into the wards to check their energy levels. Given how much was being drained per hit of the spear, the guy should be able to get through in...
“Carry the four...”
The fallen stopped attacking the ward at the sound of Solomon's voice and focused on him, “What are you saying mosquito?”
Solomon gave the fallen a bland look. He was honestly getting fed up with being called a mosquito. Not because the word itself bothered him, but because EVERYONE seemed to use it and it was getting boring. Couldn't they come up with a better insult to his blood sucking ways? Besides which, he'd still never drank anyone's blood!
“Seven hundred and thirty-two.”
Now the fallen looked annoyed and floated down to be closer to the ground and Solomon, “Seven hundred and thirty-two what, mosquito?”
“Years. At the current rate you're attacking my wards it will take you seven hundred and thirty-two years to break through.”
That wasn't a lie or an exaggeration either. He'd been living in the house for weeks. Weeks in which every night from midnight to three, he had access to infinite mana. Weeks in which he'd spent every night channeling that infinite mana into the wards for three hours at his maximum output.
He lifted his arm and checked the time on the watch-monster that his his power from people, “And all the damage you've done so far will be negated in a little over twenty minutes.” It was twenty-two minutes to midnight, “Then they will become even stronger and likely take you closer to seven hundred and fifty years to break through.”
The fallen laughed at Solomon, “If you're going to bluff, at least try something more believable you leech.” Oh! A new insult! Nice! “We know you have only lived here for a matter of weeks and are far too weak to possibly have built such strong defenses! When I break through I shall enjoy making you suffer for wasting my time like this.”
Solomon punched the bridge of his nose, “I don't have time for this shit. There's school tomorrow. I take it you plan to attack until the wards fall?”
The fallen snorted, “Of course! You have property that belongs to Lord Kokabiel. I will not leave until I have it. Give me the Excalibur swords and I may let you live. Force me to continue to waste my time and I will make not only your suffering last for days, but hers as well.”
Solomon's expression fell completely flat as he asked in a dead sounding voice, “Excuse me?”
“That little blonde slut of yours.” His grin turned cruel, “Nuns are just the best after they lose their faith. They turn into such wanton needy whor...”
The fallen didn't get to finish as Solomon's fist slammed into his face with the force of a speeding train. Bone cracked and blood flew while the fallen blasted through the air and slammed into the street causing an explosion of pavement to shower the area. A groan of pain came from the crater in the road, though Solomon paid it no mind, he was far too enraged.
Movement disturbed the shattered ground as the fallen slowly pushed himself up. His face was a complete wreck. The right side of his face was completely battered and blood flowed freely from his shattered nose. His eyes focused on Solomon with something new, fear.
Solomon prowled toward the fallen, an aura of magic erupting around his body and killing the monster meant to hide his aura. The fallen's eyes widened as his fear rose to all new heights. To him, he saw a monster bearing down on him. A blood red aura of magical power surrounded Solomon while his eyes glowed an even brighter red in the darkness. In the shadow of his face moonlight glinted off of his extended fangs.
Solomon stared at the fallen in the dark. He could smell the fear, the terror, wafting off of the man. He didn't care. He'd threatened Asia and for that he would die. Solomon tilted forward slightly on his next step and vanished from where he was only to appear in front of the fallen. His arm lashed out and grabbed the man by his throat to lift him off of the ground.
Curiosity blossomed in Solomon when he caught a whiff of the fallen's blood up close. His mouth watered at the scent. He wasn't interested in feeding off of guys but, maybe just this once, he could make a nexception. With a primal roar, he pulled the fallen into his embrace and forced his head to the side. Solomon's fangs had no issue spearing through the fallen's flesh and releasing the glorious font of red liquid life flowing through his veins.
The moment the first spurt of hot blood hit his tongue, Solomon let out a deep moan of pleasure. It was the single most delicious thing he'd ever tasted. The blood didn't taste like copper or metallic at all. It tasted like light, power, life, and something a little sour but not off putting. He drew deep, swallowing mouthful after mouthful of fallen blood. He could feel it empowering his body, making him stronger. He could even feel a small spark of the fallen's light sitting within his chest, ready for use. That spark grew with every swallow until it became a ball of power.
Solomon was suddenly jerked out of his feeding frenzy when the fallen was violently ripped out of his grasp. Before he could even comprehend what had happened though his blood haze, a searing pain shot through him. The pain instantly grounded him and cleared his mind. His head jerked down and stared at the golden spear of light piercing through his chest, directly through his heart, and currently singing his skin around the wound.
Right, that had to go first. He grabbed the spear, ignoring how it burned his hands, and ripped it out of his chest. He immediately began funneling mana into the wound which caused it to steam and rapidly heal.
“Hoh? You should be dead. How... intriguing.”
Solomon turned to the voice and finally understood what had happened. Floating in the air with the drained fallen in his arms was Kokabiel. All ten of his black wings were spread wide while he stared down at Solomon with his yellow eyes and their red sclera.
The steam faded leaving blemish free skin. The only sign of the previous attack being the hole in his clothing, “You must be Kokopuff.”
Without his mind being clouded by blood lust, Solomon felt he could focus enough to at least survive against the fallen. If Kokobiel stuck around for... well he didn't know how long it was until midnight, but it should have been any moment, then he knew he could win. Three hours with infinite mana would be more than enough to kill the fallen and put and end to this whole incident.
Kokabiel's eyes narrowed at the deliberate butchering of his name, “I am Kokabiel, the Star of God. You would do well to speak my name properly.”
Solomon waved a hand dismissively while conjuring a spell circle on it that repaired the damage to his clothing making it as good as new, “If you say so Kokatrice.”
In a split second Kokabiel summoned and launched a spear of light without even lifting a finger. Solomon, no longer distracted by the glorious taste of blood, easily slapped the spear away with the back of his hand. It earned him a little burn, but the burn was gone moments later. In response to Kokabiel's attack, Solomon aimed a finger gun at him, “Bang.”
Kokabiel swiftly dodged to the side, avoiding the invisible attack. Moments later the clouds far above him were blasted apart leaving a perfect circle in the center of them. Kokabiel glanced at the result of Solomon's attack, then focused back on Solomon, “I see. We've been greatly underestimating you. I won't make that mistake again.”
In a bright flash of light, Kokabiel and the fallen he'd rescued vanished, teleporting away. Solomon frowned at the retreat, but let it go. Of course, seconds later, he felt a flood of power as his unlimited mana perk kicked in. He rolled his eyes, but used the power to clean up all the damage from the battle, then began funneling it into his wards while walking back into the house. He'd get some sleep in a few hours. It wasn't like he needed a ton of it to function properly.
As he lay in his bed empowering the wards, he wondered how the encounter tonight would change events going forward.
-----Line Break-----
Solomon sat in the ORC room on a love seat next to Asia with his leg bouncing and his nerves on edge. It had been a week since he'd run into Kokabiel and there had been no sign of the fallen since. Everything had been quiet. The stereotypical 'too quiet' it would seem. He expected something bad was just around the corner and he wanted it to be over with already! The wait was killing him and grinding on his nerves.
On the bright side, he'd learned some things about himself. For a start, drinking blood did give him a good power boost, but it was mostly temporary. Only mostly because he did keep a tiny bit of power after draining that fallen, permanently. It wasn't much in the grand scheme of things, but he saw how it could easily stack up if done daily.
The exception to the power loss was the ball of light energy he had stored inside of himself. It was still there and it allowed him to use the same light power that the fallen had. However, it was a limited supply and did not recover naturally. Not even his special powers allowed it to recover. The only bright side was that his ring did work with the power meaning he could really stretch it out a lot. Thanks to the ring he could make three spears for only twenty-percent the usual cost that would be twice as strong as they should be. That little bundle of power would definitely last him a long time.
The other thing he'd learned was that he now wanted to drink blood again. It wasn't an overwhelming need, or an addiction, or anything similar. It was just really damned tasty. It was like eating the most premier steak. He didn't have to have it and normal steak was still good, but he would much prefer the premier steak. So, yes, he very much wanted to drink blood again, but he planned to save it for his enemies. No way was he going to ask Asia, Rias, or any of the other girls for a taste.
Frankly, he was worried they would taste even better than the fallen and he would actually become addicted to it. He couldn't allow that to happen.
Other than learning about his desire for blood after getting a taste, nothing else interesting had happened. He'd trained, practiced, and over all gotten more experience in spars all after going to boring ass classes.
But now? Now things had changed! They were expecting a guest from the church at any moment. He'd been specifically requested to be present for the meeting. Three guesses why and only any idiot would need more than the first.
It was only a few moments later that the door to the ORC room opened and three people stepped inside. All three were wearing the same cloak that Xenovia and Irina wore. In fact, the two shorter ones were very clearly Xenovia and Irina. That left the question of who the third was. All he could tell was that it was a woman. As they stepped into the room, they lowered their hoods. It was no surprise, to anyone, when both Xenovia and Irina fixed heated glares on Solomon.
The third person was a beautiful woman who appeared to be in her twenties, maybe her early thirties, with bright blonde hair and blue eyes. Her gaze swept over the gathered devils, then focused on Solomon for a brief moment. After assessing him, her gaze shifted to Rias. She gave Rias a polite bow of the head before addressing her, “Lady Gremory, I am Grisleda Quarta.” She gestured behind herself, “I believe you've met Irina Shidou and Xenovia Quarta.”
Holy shit! That was Xenovia's mom? Solomon glanced between them. Aside from both having an impressive bust, he didn't see much in common with their looks. His attention was drawn to Rias as she replied to Griselda, “It is nice to meet you Grisleda Quarta. As you have surmised, I am Rias Gremory.” She gestured to the three people standing behind her, “These are the members of my peerage.” Finally she gestured to him, “And that is Solomon Payne.” She gestured to the couch across from her, “Please, have a seat.”
Griselda accepted the invitation and sat down across from Rias while Xenovia and Irina took up positions behind her. After straightening the skirts of her habit, Grisleda addressed Rias, “Thank you for agreeing to see us, especially after the unpleasantness of the last time you hosted members of the Church.”
He might have been imagining it, but he thought he saw Xenovia and Irina both shudder. She continued, “First, I must apologize for their behavior on their previous visit. Both Irina and Xenovia are young and inexperienced. They were sent here to gain some and learned a valuable lesson.” Her voice got harder, “Didn't you girls?”
Both Xenovia and Irina straightened up with their arms tight to their sides and their heads held high, “Yes, Sister Griselda.”
She turned her head to look over her shoulder at the pair, her voice still hard, “Isn't there something you both need to say?”
Both girls dropped into ninety-degree bows and recited simultaneously, “Please forgive our rudeness on our previous visit. We have reflected on our attitude and learned from our mistakes.”
Asia, looking extremely uncomfortable, managed to stutter, “I-I forgave you already.”
Rias sat in silence for a moment before she responded as well, “I am willing to let the matter lie.”
Both women straightened up but remained silent. Griselda looked between Asia and Rias before choosing to focus on Asia, “After Xenovia and Irina returned, and explained what happened. I personally looked into your excommunication. It would seem that the devil you healed, bribed a bishop to clear his way to you. The bishop in question has been stripped of his rank and titles, and excommunicated from the Church.”
Solomon snorted derisively, earning him a sharp gaze from Grisleda, “You have something to say?”
He just waved his hand dismissively, “Plenty, but there's no point in saying it to a minion. Please, continue relaying the excuses of the Church.”
That last bit earned him a stern look and a pinch to the side from Asia. He gave her an apologetic look but didn't say anything, instead focusing on Griselda. She didn't look happy but she continued, “I believe that brings us to our final bit of business, the return of the Excalibur blades.”
There was a long silence as Griselda and Solomon stared each other in the eye. Finally, Solomon broke the silence, “That wont be happening until Asia receives her apology from the Church.”
Grisleda's eyes flashed with anger, “The girls apologized already and I explained that the perpetrator had been punished.”
Solomon pointed at Xenovia and Irina, “Do they represent the Church? Do they speak for it as a whole?”
“No, they... don't.”
Solomon nodded, “While the punishment to the bishop, no matter how pathetically light a slap on the wrist it was, is a good start, it is not an apology from the Church leadership or an admission of wrongdoing on their part.” His eyes bored into Griselda's, “I will not be returning the swords. In fact, since they failed to follow even the most basic instructions, you may tell your bosses that if they want them returned, they will not only offer Asia an apology directly from Micheal himself, but they will offer up a piece of the Holy Grail in exchange.”
There were gasps from the Church trio, as expected, but he was mildly surprised that Rias had gasped as well. Griselda quickly got over her shock and quickly began seething, “They will never agree to such an arrangement.”
Solomon shrugged, “Then they will never get the swords back.” His lips curled into a smirk, “And if they think they can just kill me and hunt the swords down, they are mistaken. I've placed the swords in a pocket dimension only I can access and my death would destroy it, and thus the swords.”
Griselda grit her teeth but chose the wiser course of action, “I will relay your words to my superiors.”
“Good. I look forward...”
He stopped as daylight suddenly turned to darkness. Everyone's heads turned to the windows behind Rias. Outside, a massive barrier had been put up around Kuoh Academy and dimmed the sunlight drastically. A moment later there was a blast of golden light and the ground shook while a pillar climbed into the sky. Holy magic filled the air sending a shiver down the spines of all the devils. Even Solomon felt his hair stand on end.
Solomon climbed to his feet while his clothing shifted from casual jeans and a tee shirt into something far more geared toward combat.
“What's happening?”
Solomon glanced to Rias after she asked the question. He answered with one word, “Kokabiel.”
-----Line Break-----
Kokabiel sat in his throne, floating in the air. He was not happy, but he also wasn't too upset. The little Dhampire had put a small damper on his plans by hiding away Destruction and Mimic, but it was fine since he'd managed to get his hands on the other four swords, Nightmare, Transparency, Blessing, and Rapidly. Blessing had been a pain to get his hands on and was what had taken him almost all of the last week.
But it was worth it.
Blessing was considered by most to be the weakest of the swords due to its lacking ability. The people who thought so were fools. Blessing enhanced the powers of Excalibur proportional to the faith of the person wielding it. In the hands of a true believer it was an extremely powerful tool. His gaze moved to where Valper was guiding the ritual to combine the fragments into a partial whole. Next to the man was a younger one with white hair and a psychopathic gleam to his eyes, Freed Sellzen. The man was batshit insane, but he was a true believer.
Just not in his dead Father.
Kokabiel smirked and looked out over the school he'd surrounded in a barrier. He lifted his hand and snapped his finger. At his command, dozens of teleportation circles appeared in the air spawning his comrades. Over a dozen angels with anywhere from two to eight wings floated in the air around him. His gaze flickered to Douma, one of the few eight winged ones. The man had a crazed look in his eyes. Not that Kokabiel blamed him given the wicked scar he now sported on his neck, thanks to that blood sucker. If Kokabiel had been a moment later Douma really would have been drained to death.
Such a thing did not sit well with the prideful fallen angel. Douma had sworn revenge and had eyes only for that Dhampire now. He would be hard to control until that need for revenge was paid in full. Not that it was an issue, the Dhampire needed to die. It wouldn't push his agenda further, but it would make him feel better.
Besides, there was something wrong with that... thing. It should already be dead but had survived its heart being obliterated by his light spear. Very very few things should be capable of living through that, and Dhampires were not on that very short list.
The last teleportation circle faded, it was time. He sat up straight and amplified his voice with magic, “Heiress Gremory, Heiress Sitri, the time has come. Step outside and face us, or cower away and die regardless. Either way your bodies will be left here for your siblings to find.” His lips curled into a wicked grin while his heart beat increased at the thought of their rage at finding the corpses, “Let's get this war started with a proper slaughter!”
His words were met with the loud cheers of his companions. Every last one of them longed for the days they fought on the battlefields, just as he did. Life without war was dull, boring, and worthless. Only when fighting for his life did he feel alive! It was time to return to those glory days and crush not just the devils, but his stuck up siblings as well!
Yes, it was time for war!
-----Line Break-----
“Let's get this war started with a proper slaughter!”
Solomon groaned and shook his head, “What a moron. Then again, if his goal was suicide, he's going about it in a remarkably roundabout way.”
That earned him some disapproving looks, but he didn't care. He waved his hand and opened his closet. The devils flinched at the holy aura that the opening emitted. He casually reached in and pulled out both Excalibur swords. His actions earned him a raised eyebrow and considering look from Griselda. The girls had reported his ability to hold the swords without harm, but seeing was believing, after all. Even among those of faith.
Solomon held the swords out toward Xenovia and Irina. His gaze flicked over the perfectly whole and undamaged Excalibur Destruction. It turned out that his closet had an automatic repair function. Any clothing or accessories that were damaged, were automatically repaired. The repairs took energy from him but considering how much he had... Well, Destruction had been repaired the first night he had it.
His gaze bored into the church members one by one, “This is a loan given the extenuating circumstances we find ourselves in. You will give them back when this is over, or I will take them back by force.”
The two younger girls looked to Griselda for guidance. She gave them a slight nod of her head. The girls took the swords, though Xenovia immediately offered Excalibur Destruction to Griselda, “I have my other sword.”
Griselda took Destruction while everyone else watched, shocked, as Xenovia retrieved Durandal from a pocket dimension it was stored in. Solomon examined the sword and smirked when Xenovia glared at him. He doubted anyone else could tell but himself and Xenovia, but Durandal was practically begging for Solomon to wield it.
Like many great swords of power in history, Durandal had a sort of spirit to it. How that spirit felt about the person holding it determined how well that person could wield its power. In canon, Xenovia had been accepted by Durandal, but always had trouble wielding its full might. Right now, if Solomon took the sword, he would be able to wield its full might with ease.
CYOA ability fiats were total cheats. His 'The Swordsman' let him wield any sword, hol, demonic, divine, or other as if it was specifically made just for him. He was the ultimate prodigy sword wielder and Durandal knew it. The sword wanted to be wielded by him and Xenovia, holding the sword in her hand, could feel that.
Griselda noted the byplay, but didn't understand it. She would have to find out later when there was time to talk.
While Solomon had been arming the church folk, Rias and her peerage hadn't been idle. Akeno had called Sirzechs directly and reported the situation. It would take time for him to arrive though, which never made sense to Solomon. The motherfucker could teleport. The hell did he need time to do? It had to be politics because there was nothing else that could possibly keep Sirzechs from coming to protect his precious Ria-tan.
After all, it was politics that kept him from just saying 'no' to the contracted marriage between her and Riser. He was motherfuckin' Sirzechs Lucifer, a devil said to be even more powerful than the original Lucifer. Who the fuck could tell him what to do without him LETTING them do it?
“I'm getting bored! You have one minute before we just lay waste to everything!”
At Kokabiel's shout, Rias firms her resolve. If it had just been Kokabiel alone, she would have felt a lot more confident in holding their own against him. Kokabiel and a bunch more fallen? They were in deep and she knew it. Still, she held herself with pride and didn't let her fear show too much, “Let's go everyone.”
Solomon followed at the back of the group as they exited the ORC building and made their way toward where Kokabiel was lounging in the middle of his men. Solomon laced his fingers behind his head and walked casually without a care until they met up with Sona's peerage. The moment Sona spotted him she spoke up, “Solomon, do not forget the requirements of your community service.”
He grunted. He didn't need a reminder. One of his mandates was to protect Sona, Rias, and their peerages to the best of his ability. His gaze swept over the field before it focused on Kokabiel sitting on his massive and gaudy flying throne, “I can handle Kokabiel and keep him in check. It will mean I can't do much to help with everyone else. I also need you to swear to protect Asia, she's only human but she has her Twilight Healing and can act as the pocket healer for all of you.”
His gaze left Kokabiel for focus on Sona, “If anything happens to Asia I will hold you personally responsible.”
Sona nodded seriously in acceptance. Solomon taking Kokabiel off the field would help tremendously. Much like devils with their class ranking system, the power difference a single set of wings could make for a fallen was rather large. Kokabiel with ten wings was significantly stronger than even those with eight wings.
Solomon glanced around and noticed Kiba was missing. Having a very good idea of where the guy had gone, he turned his gaze to Irina, “Go help Kiba.”
He pointed in the direction Kiba had definitely gone. Irina looked to Griselda and left when the nun nodded. Solomon then glanced around and noted everyone forming up. They would be on their own but it was fine, he'd take care of the strongest fallen.
Solomon refocused on Kokabiel and ignored the eight winged fallen practically frothing at the mouth while glaring at him. Of course he recognized the idiot he'd nearly drained to death. He was kind of hoping the guy would attack him. Not only would feeding on him give Solomon more light energy, it would also make a tasty snack. Though he would have to make sure he didn't lose himself in the moment as he had that night.
Kokabiel grinned like a madman, “Good! You've come! Originally I planned to monologue and explain my desires, but I realized something.” His tone turned hard, “The dead don't care.”
Kokabiel snapped his finger and the battle immediately began. Solomon had no time to pay attention to the others due to the eight winged fallen blitzing toward him the moment Kokabiel let him off of his leash. All he knew of the others fights was the sheer number of light spears that had been summoned and fired in a moment.
Mana flooded through his body causing glowing red lines that looked similar to circuitry to appear beneath his skin. He grinned as he used Reinforcement, an idea he stole from the mages of the FATE universe and perfected during one of his Rare Candy fueled training sprees a while back. He'd had no call to use it and even now it was overkill for handling the eight winged fallen. However, he wanted it active so he would be fast enough and durable enough to intercept any sneak attacks Kokabiel might try. Though the man did seem content to sit and watch, for now.
Douma let out an incoherent scream of primal rage as he blasted through the air directly at his quarry. He saw, and didn't care about the glowing lines. Whatever they were wouldn't protect him! Light swords appeared in both of his hands glowing golden and sparking with raw power as he dumped a ton of energy into them, “You will pay!”
Solomon summoned a katana with a black blade that changed to silver at the hamon line. As he held it, the red lines on his hands spread onto the sword enhancing it. His lips curled into a grin at that, he'd been so happy when he first used reinforcement on a conjured blade from Sword Birth. The added power from Reinforcement damn near made the sword as durable as a real one would be. Not to mention the standard enhancement to the sharpness of the blade.
His right arm moved like lightning, the sword in his hand a black blur with light shining off of its razor sharp edge. Both of Douma's light swords were deflected to opposite sides leaving him wide open. Solomon's body twisted, his left hand curled into a fist while his right foot stomped on the ground. His fist slammed into Douma's chest with the weight of a mountain. Bone shattered and organs were crushed. Blood erupted from Douma's mouth as his body was bent in half while a shock wave erupted from his back.
Solomon dismissed his sword, the magical power to conjure it long recovered, and grabbed Douma by his hair with his right hand while his left snakes around the mains torso and locks his arms in place. Douma has no time to recover from the devastating punch before Solomon's fangs tear into his neck once more.
Douma screams while Solomon feasts. This time though, Solomon does not fall into a blood haze. His gaze is still sharp, his senses still alert, and Kokabiel never left his sights. He needn't have worried since Kokabiel made no move and had no intention to do so. He calmly watched as Douma's body quickly withered as he was drained to the last drop.
Solomon dropped Douma's corpse and reveled in the feeling of the fallens power in his veins. The small ball of light power had grown dramatically while he drank, but it was as Douma died that it experienced its largest growth. What had once been a ball was now more akin to a small sun. He now held all the light power an eight winged fallen could contain. It still wasn't permanent, but it would last him for a very long time. Time enough to study it and replicate it for himself.
If you weren't cheating you weren't trying, and Solomon was the biggest cheater in the world.
He kept the majority of his attention on Kokabiel but let his eyes flick around the battlefield to take in the current scene. He was rather happy with what he saw. The devils were holding their own rather well. There were minor injuries here and there and Asia was healing a rather nasty looking gash on Ruruka's leg that had ruined a perfectly good pair of white and green striped stockings.
As seemed to often be the case in the series, many of the girls had sustained damage to their tops that left either their bra, a breast, or both breasts on full display. It was... a rather enchanting sight if Solomon was honest with himself. He might not be interested in the majority of them, but that didn't make them any less physically appealing.
Aside from Ruruka's injury, the devils were fine. The same could not be said of the fallen attacking them. All of the fallen with four or less wings were down. He didn't know if they were dead, but given some of the injuries he could see he bet they wished they were.
Sona's peerage seemed to be focusing on defense and taking pot shots to distract the fallen. Rias's peerage, on the other hand, were taking the offensive actions. Thanks to sparring constantly against Solomon all of them had improved dramatically. During their spars, Solomon would grow stronger and more competent forcing them to think of different strategies. Or, as in the case of Akeno, flat out 'steal' ideas from him.
Case in point, he watched as Akeno tossed a single yen coin into the air and captured it inside of writing electricity that was generating powerful electromagnetic fields. With a flick of her finger the coin shot off so fast that it near instantly became molten slag just from wind friction. The glowing molten coin left a streak of light in the air as it blasted through a six winged fallen at speeds in excess of mach five.
Meanwhile, Rias was coping his use of fire bullets with his Power of Destruction. She was constantly summoning small compressed balls of her deadly power and firing them at high speed from the tips of her index fingers. Solomon had personally experienced being hit by one of those bullets and did not envy the fallen she nailed with them. Those bullets passed through matter like it wasn't even there. Everything they touched just ceased to be leaving gaping wounds that only began to hurt once the body managed to process that something was actually seriously wrong.
Then there was Koneko. The tiny nekoshou was a nightmare on the battlefield. She used her small stature to her advantage making her a small fast moving target that was hard to hit. Anyone she got close to ended up suffering from at least one broken bone. Solomon had lost count of how many times she'd managed to break his bones in their spars when she completely stopped holding back.
Solomon was honestly the perfect sparring partner for them. They never had to hold back against him since none of them would truly kill him. Only Rias potentially could and only by erasing his entire head in an instant. Something he wouldn't just let happen. Not that anyone went for head shots in their spars. He was a powerhouse with the ability to recover from any injury.
Sound familiar?
He'd become the perfect stand in for Riser in their training giving them all the experience they could need to grow more competent, skilled, and powerful. He felt rather proud of what they were accomplishing against their current enemies.
The extra forty plus hours off of his community service helped as well.
His gaze moved to the final group, though pair was more accurate. He wasn't too surprised to see Xenovia fighting with Durandal and holding her own against a four winged fallen. Not too long ago he wouldn't have been able to tell if she was good or terrible with a sword. Now? She was good, but it was clear that she was struggling to use Durandal's might properly. The sword just did not care for her much.
Then there was Griselda. He obviously expected her to be a decent fighter, she was Xenovia's mom after all. What he was not expecting was just how good she was. She wielded Excalibur Destruction as if it were made for her. In a show of skill she disarmed a six winged fallen, literally, then decapitated him in one smooth motion. She wasn't even using the swords destructive power and she was still dancing around the fallen like they were children.
“They are doing rather well, given their youth. Still, they will fall in the end, even if I have to be the one to end them.” Kokabiel's gaze focused on Xenovia, “Though I did not expect to see that sword in the hands of another.”
Solomon focused fully on Kokabiel once more, “Oh? You're familiar with Durandal?”
Kokabiel in turn focused on Solomon, “Indeed. The girl is a gnat compared to the last man to wield it. I will take great joy in showing him the broken pieces of the blade once she is dead. Let him lament to his dead God about his failure once more.”
Unknown to Solomon and Kokabiel, his words had echoed across the battlefield. Everyone fighting the fallen paused in shock at the news. The devils recovered quickly, God being dead was a bit of news to them, but not exactly relevant. The church folk, on the other hand, were not given time to voice their denials as they were beset by their enemies once more. The words were said so casually, but the consequences of them would come.
Solomon chuckled, “I doubt you'll have the chance.” The glowing red lines under his skin brightened as he fed them more power, “You've got to get through me first and that's going to present a problem for you.”
Kokabiel smirked and cocked an eyebrow as he spoke in a condescending voice, “Oh? And why is that, leech?”
Solomon grinned and licked his fangs, “Because I'm thirsty.”
Before the words even finished echoing, Solomon was in front of Kokabiel where he was still lounging. Kokabiel's eyes widened and his arms started to move. He was fast, faster than anyone Solomon had ever seen before, but not fast enough. His cocky sitting position put him at a disadvantage allowing Solomon to deliver a punishing right cross to his cheek. A shock wave blasted out of the other side of Kokabiel head while his entire body was lifted off of the throne and launched through the air.
Seconds later Kokabiel's ragdolling body slammed into and then through the roof of the gym. There was an earth shaking boom when his body collided with the floor inside of the gym, out of sight of everyone else.
The whole battlefield seemed to fall silent as everyone gawked that Solomon standing proud on Kokabiel's throne while the Cadre level fallen had been blasted into a building with a single blow. Solomon was riding a high with his current level of power. His base state was pretty strong already so adding in the majority of an eight winged fallen's strength and the boost from his Reinforcement took him to a whole new level.
He stared at the hole in the gym's ceiling while tilting his head from side to side to crack his neck, “Ya done playing?”
A roar echoed from the gym followed by an explosion of light that transformed the building into splinters. Standing in the new crater where the building had once been was an annoyed looking Kokabiel. He spit a glob of blood from his mouth then used the back of his hand to wipe away a trickle of blood, “I hope you enjoyed your cheap shot. It's the only one you'll get.”
Kokabiel lifted his hands into the air and conjured a massive spear of light that dwarfed even the giant floating throne that Solomon was standing on. Solomon gazed at the massive spear with a fair bit of awe, but no fear. With a roar, Kokabiel threw his arms forward. The spear followed an instant later. It transformed into a golden blur that moved through the air faster than anything that size had any right too. Kokabiel laughed with a taunting tone as the spear closed in on Solomon, who hadn't moved a muscle.
“Too scared to move?! THEN DIE!”
Solomon did, in fact, not move. He just stood on Kokabiel's throne with his arms crossed over his chest and a smug smirk on his face. The moment the massive spear touched him, everyone watching knew why he hadn't moved. The spear did nothing. In fact, it just seemed to fade out of existence like fog fading before the sun. Those who had seen the event, including Kokabiel, stared with slack jaws.
Still smugly smirking, Solomon raised a hand and casually wiped some imaginary dust from his shoulder, “I'm sorry, was that an attack of some sort?”
Unlike the night Kokabiel had stabbed him, today Solomon was wearing his Mage's Trappings from his CYOA. The greatest feature of the clothing was it's ability to absorb any type of energy of his choosing. While limited to one type at a time, it could be set to anything. In this case, it was set to light energy. On top of absorbing the energy and making him immune to Kokabiels greatest power, it also converted the absorbed energy into magical power that was funneled right into his core.
Sadly, it couldn't be used to refill the store of light magic he'd drained from Douma. It would only refill his natural reserves. Which was still pretty damned nice.
He uncrossed his arms and hopped off of Kokabiel's throne. Wings erupted from his back letting him float gently to the ground until he was facing the fallen, “Attacks like that will do nothing to me Kokopuffs. If you wanna beat me...” He lifted his hands and curled them into fists, his knuckles cracking loudly as he did, “You'll have to do it the old fashioned way.”
This was the biggest reason why he didn't fear the ten winged fallen angel before him. Kokabiel's biggest advantage was his light magic and the weapons he could make with it. Without that power, he was reduced to having to fight with his bare hands. Knuckle to knuckle, Solomon knew he could win that fight!
Kokabiel growled and closed the gap in an instant moving at speeds that human eyes couldn't even track. It didn't give him any advantage against Solomon. With his Reinforcement magic flooding his body everything was enhanced to a massive degree, including his vision. To Solomon, Kokabiel was practically moving in slow motion. Solomon moved his left arm in a circular motion to brush Kokabiel's attempt at a right cross to the side which left the fallen wide open. With a grunt of exertion, Solomon buried his right fist into Kokabiel's stomach. A shock wave blasted out of Kokabiel's back as he was forced to bend over Solomon's fist.
Before Kokabiel could recover, Solomon's left fist came flying back and slammed into the side of the fallen's head. Another shock wave blasted the air while Kokabiel's entire body went spinning off to the side to slam into the ground. Solomon arched an eyebrow as he stared at Kokabiel's prone form. That... had been significantly easier than he'd expected. Solomon knew he was a prodigy in fist fighting, his CYOA enforced that. But this...
Solomon scratched his cheek as he looked at the groaning crumpled form of Kokabiel, “Uh, you okay over there?”
Kokabiel's response was to flip to the side and launch a small light spear faster than a bullet could move through the air. The spear struck right at Solomon's heart, and did absolutely nothing as his clothing absorbed it. Solomon glanced down where the spear hit then to the heavily breathing Kokabiel still laying on the ground, “I thought I told you that wouldn't work.”
Kokabiel pushed himself to his feet, the right side of his face already bruising and his eye starting to swell while blood dripped from the corner of his mouth. He took a shaky step forward while glaring murderously at Solomon, “I am going to rip you apart and feast on your heart you filthy animal!”
Solomon stared blandly at Kokabiel then grunted, “Well, at least you have the proper teeth to make a threat like that. Seriously, I've got fangs but you... Was your mom a shark or what?”
Kokabiel let out an incoherent shout of pure rage and launched a massive light spear at Solomon. Naturally, it did nothing. Kokabiel wasn't one to give up trying though. He summoned over a hundred light spears in an instant and sent them at Solomon in an unending barrage as he continued to summon more and more. They still did nothing.
Well, not nothing. The constant influx of magical energy had long refilled his reserves and was keeping them topped off. That would have been a problem, if Solomon wasn't calmly feeding all of the excess energy into a spell circle behind his back. He calmly crossed his arms over his chest and weathered the rain of light spears until Kokabiel got it out of his system.
After several minutes, Kokabiel finally calmed down enough to see his attacks were doing less than nothing to Solomon. When they finally stopped, Solomon arched an eyebrow and blandly asked, “Finished with your temper tantrum?”
Kokabiel, breathing heavily from his exertion, scowled at Solomon, “Enough playing around. It's time for you to die.”
Kokabiel summoned a sword made of light and held it out while grinning madly, “Your clothing might protect you, but your neck is out in the open.”
Solomon lazily clapped his hands, “Bravo. You do have a brain. But does that information do you any good?”
Solomon uncrossed his arms and held his hand out and summoned his favorite weapon. The cylindrical hilt flashed into existence in his hand and a push of a button had the glowing red plasma blade leap to life with a glorious hum. Kokabiel's eyes widened at the sight of the weapon. He might be a warmonger, but even he liked good cinema.
The lightsaber hummed while Solomon grinned at Kokabiel's stupefied look. It was time to show the fallen just how out matched he truly was. With a grunt, Solomon unleashed a wave of oppressive power that sent dust flying. A crackling aura rippled around him as he used his Mana Burst ability on top of Reinforcement to further enhance every aspect of his body.
He'd already outclassed Kokabiel physically with just Reinforcement. Now he left the Cadre in the dust. He lamented the fact he hadn't learned how to use Touki yet or he would have added that as well. Who knew how strong he would become when using all three enhancement abilities at once. Mana enhancement from Reinforcement, further enhancement from Mana Burst, then using life force for even more enhancement.
Was he draining a huge amount of mana every second? Yes. Did he care? No. Why? Not only was his personal mana recovery ungodly fast, he was also draining energy from the spell circle at his back that had stored all of the power Kokabiel had so generously donated during his temper tantrum. In short, he was enhanced to hell and back while still completely topped off on magical power.
Poor Kokabiel.
Kokabiel glared hatefully at Solomon, but he didn't get to do so for long. Solomon simply vanished from sight by moving at a speed so fast no one on the battlefield could even see so much as a blur. Kokabiel was instantly alert, his head on a swivel as he looked for Solomon's avenue of attack. He lifted his right arm in preparation to defend himself...
He lifted his right... arm...
Why wasn't his light sword in sight anymore?
Slowly, his gaze drifted away from looking for Solomon and to his right arm. Or, at least, where his right arm used to be. He stared, baffled, at the sight of the lightly smoking stump where his right arm used to be. He hadn't felt anything and it didn't hurt so... Ah! It had to be an illusion. Crafty bugger!
“You alright over there?”
Kokabiel's gaze snapped away from the illusion of his missing arm and focused on where Solomon's voice had come from. Even if he couldn't see or feel his arm, he knew it had to still be there, it was just a cheap trick. Although... he frowned. Why was there an arm that looked suspiciously like his hanging from Solomon's mouth while he sucked on the wound like it was a Capri Sun?
Solomon calmly drained the blood from Kokabiel's arm while looking at the bamboozled face of the Cadre. It took a lot of effort on his part not to moan in pleasure at the taste of Kokabiel's blood. The eight winged fallen had been tasty, probably the tastiest thing Solomon had ever ingested. Kokabiel's blood blew that out of the water entirely. Even just the small amount he'd drained from the severed arm had given him a noticeable boost in power and added even further to his store of light energy.
Now he really wanted to drain Kokabiel of every last drop.
He was brought to focus by the sound of Kokabiel screaming in agony. Ah, there it was. He was wondering why it took Kokabiel so long to feel what had happened. Must've been shock. He watched as Kokabiel fell to his knees while his remaining hand hovered over the cauterized stump where his arm used to be.
Kokabiel's blood red eyes glared hatefully at Solomon, “What have you done?!”
Solomon gulped down the last drop of blood in Kokabiel's arm and tossed it to the side, “I disarmed you.”
There was a beat of absolute silence on the battlefield followed by the sound of a cricket chirping. Solomon blatantly ignored how reality itself was judging him for his bad pun.
“I am going to make you suffer! I am going to find everyone you care about and rip them to shreds! I will make your life nothing but suffering and agony until you beg me for death! ONLY THEN WILL YOU HAVE MY PERMISSION TO DIE!”
Kokabiel panted heavily after his manic shouting at the top of his lungs. He glared hatefully at Solomon until a question popped into his mind, 'where did that second arm come from?'
Solomon finished draining Kokabiel's second arm and tossed it to the side. The whole time he ignored Kokabiel's break down at discovering he had no arms left to get a look at the battles going on around him. Or what was left of them. While he'd been playing with Kokabiel, the others had dealt with the rest of his forces. Only a couple of the stronger six winged fallen still remained combat ready but even they were wounded.
Meanwhile, the people Solomon cared about, plus the church folks, looked exhausted. They were all a little beaten up and clearly exhausted, but no one looked seriously injured. His eyes focused on Asia, who was currently being guarded by Koneko, and saw she was on the verge of passing out from over using her Sacred Gear.
After dismissing his light saber, no longer needing it to deal with Kokabiel, he lifted his hands and aimed a pair of finger guns at the last two Fallen. Small white spell circles flashed to life and set off small sonic booms before fading. A moment later the heads of the two living fallen vanished and their bodies collapsed to the ground.
He returned his gaze to the insensate Kokabiel and opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by a sound like shattering glass. Kokabiel's ward shattered revealing a man in a set of pure white armor with blue orbs acting as accents. Solomon looked up at the White Dragon Emperor floating in the air in a dramatic pose and snorted. All of his enhancements faded away leaving him back in his base state.
Vali, in his Balance Breaker crashed to the ground and examined Kokabiel's current state. He'd come as soon as Azazel had realized something was up, but it looked like he wasn't needed to prevent war from breaking out. Kokabiel was dealt with and all his allies were dead. Azazel was not going to be happy about that. Nor would he appreciate what had happened to Kokabiel.
Oh well, not his problem. He grabbed Kokabiel and launched himself into the air. Time for him to play delivery boy.
Solomon watched Vali grab Kokabiel and take off with him only to vanish in a teleportation circle shortly after. He shrugged and turned to walk toward his companions. It wasn't his problem anymore. He wondered how many hours he'd manage to get taken off his community service for his work here. He grinned happily at the thought of being free sooner.
-----Line Break-----
AN
9.9k words, not bad eh?
So, there's chapter 6, I hope you guys liked it! I had fun writing it. And it very clearly looks like I will be writing another chapter of The Phenex Rises. Man, you guys REALLY like that one huh? I'm going to hold off on the next vote for a bit, I want to expand something else. I'm leaning toward Boomtown or a new idea that's been sticking in my head the last few days. Either way, the next chapter will definitely be The Phenex Rises. After I publish it I'll do another vote while I write something of my choosing.
Anyway, let me know what you think of this chapter!