They met again in the Occult Research Club.
Because of the other party's sensitive identity, Rias called in all her servants except the shut-in vampire back home. The moment Kiba Yuuto laid eyes on the two visitors from the Church, he glared at them like an enraged wolf.
In his past, he was one of the few survivors of the Church's Holy Sword compatibility experiments. After being captured by Valper, he and his companions underwent inhumane human experimentation. Ultimately, all who were deemed "unqualified" were secretly executed.
Kiba barely escaped with his life; as he was on the verge of freezing to death, Rias happened to find him and take him in. As a result, he hates the Church even more than devils do.
Even if, this time, the Church had sent two female Holy Sword wielders.
One was tall, with short blue hair and a green highlight in her bangs.
The other was slender, with distinctly Japanese features and her coffee-colored hair in twin pigtails.
The former was Xenovia; the local one was Irina Shidou.
Irina got right to the point:
"Not long ago, the Holy Swords kept by the Catholic Church in the Vatican, by the Protestant Church, and by the Eastern Orthodox Church were stolen during transport."
"According to intel from the Church's information department, the culprit is Kokabiel, a Cadre of the 'Watchers of the Son of God,' and he's hiding out in a city near here with the stolen Holy Swords."
Hearing that key name, Rias was momentarily stunned.
"Kokabiel? The fallen angel recorded in the Bible?"
The Bible: it records everything related to the God of the Bible. It includes countless names, but those who actually fought against God are in a category of their own. Even a devil like Rias knew Kokabiel was a powerful fallen angel who once fought the Biblical God, surviving since the ancient three-way war.
Other figures on record from that era include the four original Devil Kings of the Underworld and the four Seraphim who serve God in Heaven. Kokabiel's name stands on equal footing with theirs.
"Is that information reliable?" Rias asked, her heart tightening.
She'd only heard of such a being in legends. Now, hearing that Kokabiel had stolen items from the Church and was lurking near Kuoh Town, the area under her jurisdiction, was alarming. No wonder her familiars had reported more stray priests and ghouls lately.
"Absolutely. Otherwise, we wouldn't have bothered coming into a devil's city," Xenovia said coolly. "We're only here to ask that you refrain from getting involved."
Naturally, Rias wasn't pleased by their attitude. Although the meeting ended on a sour note, both sides left with the information they needed. The Church confirmed the fallen angels were acting on their own, not in league with devils; Rias learned it wasn't a combined plot by multiple factions to break the balance—and that was enough.
"Just two of them trying to handle a fallen-angel Cadre? That's suicide," remarked Akeno Himejima. "Should we notify Hikaru, Rias? We might not be able to deal with this ourselves."
"No, not yet," Rias answered, shaking her head. "Things haven't reached that stage. Besides, this enemy is nothing like what we've faced before."
"That fallen angel once fought the Biblical God. He's on a completely different level from Raynare, those lower-class fallen angels, ghouls, or even Riser. Even my brother would have to go all out against him. And anyway, this is far beyond the scope of the job we requested help for. I don't want…to drag him into this."
"We'll keep an eye on things for now. If Kokabiel really does try to stir up trouble in my city, we can't just ignore it."
Time passed, and soon it was late at night.
The night was calm and still—an hour when ordinary people would be sleeping. Yet two people were dashing through a forest, fleeing in disarray.
They had been investigating the Possessed and the stray priests acting abnormally. But under the cover of darkness, someone attacked their residence in the human world. Sona Sitri and Tsubaki Shinra initially meant to fight back, but when Kokabiel appeared, Sona immediately changed her mind and decided to run.
Their teleportation magic and communication spells had all failed, while Kokabiel followed at a leisurely distance. He had decided to make Leviathan's sister his first target. However, he wanted an even bigger spectacle, so he wasn't going to stop with just one.
If both sisters of two different Maous were killed, the Underworld would never sit still. And to keep Lucifer's sister, Rias, from being alerted and hiding away in the Underworld, Kokabiel was herding Sona toward Kuoh Town. He planned to wait until both sisters met up, then appear to take them all down at once.
~~~
Patreon(.)com/Bleam
— Currently You can Read 20 Chapters Ahead of Others!