Chaos ensued. Kokabiel's attack swept away everything in its path; it was chaos. The man was angry, and it showed. Rias managed to protect her nobility, and Katerea protected Lavender. The blonde girl had a minor cut on her arm.
"That... was unexpected, sister of Sirzechs," said the man from the sky. "There is no doubt that your power is equal to his." His clothes were tattered, like a vagrant who had just been robbed.
"I am nowhere near him... You know that... even if war breaks out, the fallen won't stand a chance," said Rias. Her peerage were severely injured, and they had no doctor to treat them. If only Asia had joined her peerage, everything would be better.
"The war... we would have won if it hadn't been for the truce... even HE was already..." He paused, as if he shouldn't say something.
"He?" asked Xenovia Quarta, wielding a massive sword: Durrandal.
She was one of the exorcists who ventured to Kuoh in search of the holy swords. They didn't find them; instead, they only found Kokabiel. The man admitted he knew the location of the swords, so she and her companion decided to fight to capture him.
"Ah... if I'm going to start a war, what does it matter?" he rambled a bit to himself. "God is dead. He, along with the four original Satans, died in the war... if it weren't for Azazel," the man looked like a bitter old man reminiscing about times past.
"You're... lying!" said Xenovia, attacking with Durrandal. Kokabiel summoned a sword of light and easily repelled her. "If it weren't for God, everything would have collapsed!" she shouted, convincing herself.
"He created a system to control everything in his absence. As long as the system works, his absence will not be noticed," Kokabiel said with a smile before kicking her in the face. Xenovia flew away, this time not getting up.
Rias watched everything from afar. The news was shocking, but it wasn't a concern for her. Her primary concern was getting out of there alive. She didn't want her death to be the catalyst for a war between devils and fallen angels.
Crack!
It was in the sky. A sound like a shell about to break: Kokabiel had previously raised a barrier to prevent anyone from entering or leaving. That same barrier was now destroyed. Rias watched a figure descend from the air. It had no wings, but its hand glowed red.
It appeared right above Kokabiel. A burst of fire engulfed them both. Rias sweated from the intense heat, even from her position.
"Lavender!" Altair appeared right next to his girlfriend. A yellowish potion in his hand. Lavender drank it, and the wound on her healthy arm healed in seconds. Altair caressed the spot where her skin had previously been damaged and pressed his lips to her forehead. He looked at Katerea; he was mad.
Rias felt a little jealous when she saw this, but she couldn't blame him; Lavender was the most vulnerable in that situation. She seemed to see his lips move in a "Everything's fine now, Lav." The blonde hugged him tightly for a second before letting him go.
"Can you take care of them, Rias?" he asked, handing her a bag full of vials. Then he kissed her forehead just as he had done with Lavender.
"Are you going to fight alone?" she asked.
Altair nodded.
------------------------
From a distance, he could see that Kokabiel was a monster. Much stronger than Ruval, he gripped the staff in his hand. He wasn't just a powerful guy; he was a general who fought a war of literally biblical proportions.
"And you... Altair, right?" Kokabiel said with a smile, as if preparing for a show. The first attack Altair sent didn't deal much damage. "The Flying Eagle... but you can't fly, right?" Altair frowned at his words.
The flying eagle was the etymology of his name, its meaning. It was strange for Kokabiel to point it out.
"And The Star of God... but I'm afraid God doesn't look at you anymore, right?" Altair sneered. "What are you doing here? A war? A tantrum? Do you want to see if God will come to see you?" he asked. The man's smile did not change.
"No... It's not a tantrum, it's to give the fallen what they've always deserved."
"Extinction?" Altair interrupted him. "A war would not end any other way," he added.
"No... victory. The war was ours; it was only Azazel's weakness that prevented us from winning the Great War," the man said, vehemently denying Altair's words.
"I see... you're crazy. Azazel is an idiot, but he wasn't wrong about that," Altair said.
"He was... the Angels and Devils without leaders, it was a perfect opportunity... but that doesn't matter now. I'm more curious about you. Saint Sinner," the title was a contradiction.
It reminded him of the title Asia gave him. Was it The Devil Chosen by God? Something like that. They weren't words that should go in the same sentence.
"What are you talking about?" Curiosity got the better of his urge to defeat him quickly.
"You are an experiment... God wanted to prove that even if power came from sin, it could be turned into goodness if love existed in that person. God died... during the first war. So he didn't live to carry it out, but apparently his system detected you and gave you that ability... the more you sin, the stronger you become, isn't that right?" said Kokabiel.
Altair laughed out loud.
Not out of disbelief; Kokabiel's words could explain a few things. No, it was because of the experiment's results. Did he become kind? Did he give goodness? Of course not. It was a failed experiment; God's hypothesis failed.
"Good to know," said Altair.
He cast a killing curse without hesitation. Kokabiel dodged it with his eyes wide open, and when the lightning curved, he took flight.
"Why were you chosen?" Kokabiel asked as he put his foot on the ground. His wings disappear on his back.
"The 'system' doesn't work?" Altair shrugged, didn't know anything about that system. But if God is dead, it's quite possible that the system hasn't been maintained for centuries. No matter how good it may have been, it will eventually fail. "How many centuries ago did God die? And only now is his experiment being carried out? It's a bug," he explained as he created a whirlwind of flames around them both. A dome was made—no space for running other than passing through the fire.
These were no ordinary flames; they were sacred, blue in color, like fire with perfect combustion. He had reduced the battlefield. Now they were only a few meters apart. Altair could touch the flames without suffering any damage, but the Fallen could not.
Kokabiel looked at the fire cautiously. It wasn't that a simple touch would kill him, but it was still weak to her.
"You created it yourself, didn't you?" he asked. "What do you want?" Kokabiel asked him. "Women, money, fame? Power?" He spread his arms as he spoke. "Join me—"
"And I'll give you everything, puaj!... you're all the same. Was God like that? Is that why they say he made everyone in his image and likeness?" Altair sneered.
Kokabiel summoned a sword of light from the air. Altair materialized sacred flames around his staff.
Then they began to fight. Each blow echoed in the air. Altair did not doubt that Kokabiel was more skilled than he. But in the confined space, he had to be careful not to touch the wall of flames. Altair slowly brought the fire closer and closer to them. He wasn't sure if Kokabiel would survive rushing through the column of fire, but he wanted to roast him slowly just to be sure.
Kokabiel fought with two swords, and Altair was unable to avoid injury. His arms were decorated with red lines, but he just gritted his teeth and kept fighting. As long as the wounds didn't immobilize him, the pain wasn't a problem. The man didn't attack the body or look for a vital point; he focused on looking for an opportunity to tear off his arms.
"ARGH!" The fallen man's back touched the fire. He tried to fly away, but as soon as his raven wings emerged from his back, they burned, causing him tremendous pain. Altair seized the moment and launched a Sectumsempra, aiming to sever his head from his neck.
The cut did not hit his neck, but severed one arm and four wings. A man in white armor arrived at the scene. He dispersed the flames.
Altair cast the killing curse this time at the man in white armor. He wanted to kill Kokabiel and didn't need a damn meddler to stop him. The unknown man dodged the green ray, which struck Kokabiel instead.
It wasn't his intention to kill him with that. But it worked for him.
"Ups... I didn't want to kill him, I aimed at you," Altair said, looking at a young man in white armor.