On the other side.
Just as Sai Akuto had said, Kokabiel was meticulously planning his move against Sai.
The reason was simple—if you want to trigger a war, the easiest way is to kill the younger sisters of Maou Lucifer and Maou Serafall.
To go after Rias and Sona, he first had to defeat Sai Akuto, who was stationed in Kuoh Town.
And to defeat Sai in Kuoh… Kokabiel had his own method.
He remembered the fallen angel Raynare who was stationed in Kuoh.
According to Headquarters, Raynare had started collecting intel on Sai some time ago—and had even become Sai's lover by leveraging that.
That "lover" relationship had even continued to the present.
So Kokabiel planned to use Raynare to lure Sai to a designated spot, and while Raynare "offered herself" to draw Sai's attention… he'd ambush Sai directly!
Ideally, obliterate Sai on the spot!
Then he could seize the current Maou's two little sisters and reignite the war!
…
Unfortunately, pretty plans tend to collide with bony reality.
Kokabiel wasn't the only one who wanted to exploit the "Yuma Amano x Sai" relationship!
Kokabiel had just gone to speak with Yuma Amano and the others when he ran straight into the very impatient former Maou—Katerea.
Katerea, a descendant of the previous Leviathan and the current leader of the Leviathan faction.
To retake the Maou throne, she and her comrades defected from the Underworld, formed the Old Maou Faction, and joined the Khaos Brigade, becoming the head of its Old Maou Faction and Leviathan line.
In the original plot.
During the Three Factions Conference, Katerea attacked alongside the other Old Maou in an attempt to assassinate the leaders of the Three Factions.
In her duel with Azazel, Katerea used Ophis's "Snake" to boost her power.
Even so, she was no match for Azazel.
In the end, she tried to self-destruct with him; Azazel severed three of his own arms to escape and then killed her.
What can you say.
Her "IQ + arrogance" earned precisely that result.
The leaders of the Three Factions are veterans of endless wars—how could a high-class Maou merely "amped by a Snake" be qualified to challenge them?
…
Katerea's idea was the same as Kokabiel's: use the Yuma Amano image to spring their preset trap.
Unlike Kokabiel, the Old Maou plan had long been decided. It was only because Yuma kept dragging her feet that it had been delayed until now.
After learning Yuma was neglecting the mission, Katerea chose to show up in person!
And then… she and Kokabiel ran head-on into each other.
After only a few exchanged lines, they both realized the other had the exact same idea.
Katerea originally wanted to cooperate with Kokabiel, but Kokabiel was the "Fallen Angels are supreme" type. He rejected the offer outright and stormed off.
After he left, Katerea gave Raynare a final ultimatum: she must execute the mission tomorrow—or Katerea would personally punish the one who shirked her duty.
Having thrown down her threat, Katerea hesitated a few seconds… and still followed in the direction Kokabiel went.
Kokabiel didn't want her around, but she wanted Kokabiel around.
Because… she, too, wanted to ignite a Three-Faction war! Only once that war began would the Old Maou Faction have a chance to overthrow the current Maou!
And then… Katerea saw several beautiful girls, as a party, engaging Kokabiel in a team fight.
…
Kokabiel hadn't even made it back to his base when he was blocked by several girls with differing hair colors.
Koneko, Yumi Kiba, Xenovia, Irina—and Asia. Following clues obtained from Valper, the group collectively came for Kokabiel!
Originally, Asia wasn't in Sai's plan.
But Asia is kind by nature; she volunteered to help Xenovia and Irina, her sisters from the same Church.
Of course… the more important reason was that Asia wanted to get along with Xenovia and Irina—ideally debuting formally as the "Church Trio."
Mm, debuting on the bed kind of "debut."
As time went on, Asia felt a bit of crisis.
Although the silver-haired saint Olivia had also accepted her, compared to Asia who joined later, the Saint-Maid group who had always lived together were far closer with each other.
So Asia decided… to form a team of her own, starting with clearing a raid!
…
Smack—
Right in front of Kokabiel, Yumi Kiba flung Valper's corpse to his feet!
After receiving Sai's assignment, Yumi immediately hunted down Valper and, with overwhelming strength, eliminated him and the Excalibur-wielding sword-saints under him.
After taking her comrades' holy-sword factors, and before handing them to Sai, Yumi "cashed in the XP," successfully unlocking the Holy-Demonic Sword.
At this moment, in front of Kokabiel, Asia stood at the vanguard; behind her, Xenovia, Irina, and Yumi stood with holy swords drawn; Koneko stood in the rear.
Clearly, the heals-and-tanks Asia was the absolute core; the highest DPS Xenovia and Yumi took main-carry, Irina used a holy sword and angelic halo as sub-carry, and Koneko provided mage-type pressure and support from the back line.
All told, thanks to Asia's presence, this party's ceiling was absurdly high.
Asia comes with invincibility and damage-nullification under the "Main God" tier, plus ultra-efficient healing. As long as Asia doesn't go down, no matter how many times the others get dropped—as long as they aren't one-shot—they pop back up fast.
If they're patient enough to grind it out, this party could even defeat a super-Maou-class opponent.
What's more, Kokabiel's strength was only near super-Maou, not at that tier. Otherwise, in the original plot he wouldn't have been casually one-shot by the White Dragon Emperor.
…
At this point, Kokabiel still didn't realize he faced a party far beyond spec. He just assumed they'd gotten lucky beating Valper and the sword-saints.
"Oh? You actually killed Valper and his Excalibur-evolved holy swordsmen. You're not weak."
"But to come knocking on my door with only that—your courage truly impresses me."
Kokabiel delivered the textbook villain monologue.
However, before he could finish the script—before he could finish frothing—Asia gave the order, and the girls rushed him together!
"Hey! Do you have any manners at all? Ever heard of letting a man finish his lines first?!"
…flowers please…
Irritated, Kokabiel hurled an omni-directional barrage of light spears at the golden-haired girl calling the shots!
The effect was… negligible.
#
Forbidden Hand—Holy Dragon Princess's Embracing Garden of Mercy!
#
Ding!~
The sound of light being knocked away.
Clad in crimson-gold armor, Asia effortlessly blocked Kokabiel's barrage—then surged forward with her companions!
"Impossible!?"
Kokabiel couldn't accept that—besides Sai—someone else in Kuoh could face him head-on!?
In truth, never mind his attacks—even super-Maou-class strikes can't so much as scratch Forbidden-Hand Asia.
If Asia weren't "a bit specialized," with her Forbidden Hand leaning entirely into defense and healing, she alone could have soloed Kokabiel!
"Durandal! Thou tyrant among blades—now, after utmost wrath, be sanctified!"
"Haaaaaah!"
Catching Kokabiel off guard, Xenovia blasted in with a holy-sword strike!
In a sense, holy swords are "artifact-like;" they can jack up their wielder's combat power.
Before reincarnating, Xenovia and Irina had the guts to carry holy swords on missions with only mid-class devil baseline bodies because they had the confidence to defeat even high-class—or "lord-class"—devils!
After becoming eight-winged angels, their potential was drawn out further; when wielding holy swords, their sacred power flares even higher!
"Riiip!!~"
Exploiting Kokabiel's opening, Xenovia carved a long, narrow wound across his wing!
"What!?"
A spike of pain hit, and Kokabiel staggered.
How could this be?!
Given a Church sword-saint's level, even with Durandal, she shouldn't be able to injure him—right?
Wait! Her power!
Kokabiel now noticed the potent holy aura roiling around Xenovia!
That sacred power had reached the level of a top-tier angel! With Durandal's sharpness and power buff added on, that's how she pierced the defense of his wing!
As Kokabiel froze, Yumi struck at the same time.
Twin-Tyrant Holy-Demonic Sword!
"Take this, Kokabiel! This is my resolve—and my comrades'!"
Riiip!~
Another slash—Yumi cut right along the wound Xenovia had already opened!
"Ghhhhh!!!~"
Targeting an exposed wound, the pain was vicious. Kokabiel hadn't felt anything like this since the war ended—who knew how many years ago.
"If that's all you've got… you're far from done!"
He poured power into his wings, forcing the flesh and defenses around the wound to resist Yumi's holy-demonic edge!
Then, as Yumi was checked, Kokabiel snapped his other wing in a vicious sweep!
"My comrades—leave the guard to me!"
Asia obviously wouldn't let that land. She blinked in front of Yumi and took the blow head-on.
Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom!~
While Asia held Kokabiel's strike, Koneko flashed in at the front, fists wreathed in immortal qi, hammering blows that dealt damage while severing his suppressive force at the same time.
(End of Chapter)
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