Silence
The entire battlefield fell into a silence that it felt like a vacuum. Everyone from the devils to the fallens, none dared to breathe as the colossal crater in the middle of the school field smoked and crackled with power.
Dust slowly settled, revealing a single man standing tall, his eyes burning with an unholy gold, his aura dark, thick, and suffocating.
This was Kenji Takahashi.
The ground immediately around him was spiderwebbed with deep cracks, and the very air seemed to hum with immense, restrained power and fury.
Rias Gremory and her peerage stood frozen, bloodied and exhausted. None of them recognized him, but the sheer pressure rolling off his body screamed danger. This unknown man, He had shattered Sona's barrier, something only an Ultimate class being or greater could accomplish.
But right now, it didn't really matter who he was, the only question that mattered right now was, was he Friend... or foe?
Then, a weak voice broke the stillness, cutting through the fear like a thin, sharp blade.
"D-d… Dad…"
Ayaka.
Everyone snapped their heads to the bleeding girl. Rias's eyes widened in disbelief. Dad? Her classmate was the daughter of this monster? Rias had never once suspected Ayaka's family was part of the supernatural world, let alone that her father was a terrifying force of nature. She knew all her classmates' families were investigated by her brother when she came to Kuoh Academy, so how didn't she know this.
Kenji's burning golden gaze snapped from the general field of battle to his daughter. The moment he saw the dark, spreading patch of blood staining her uniform, the world went impossibly cold and still. The restrained power in the air doubled in intensity. He took a single, slow step toward her, the ground vibrating with the motion, but a cluster of Fallen Angels dropped down, sneering as they blocked his path.
"Oh, so you're the girl's dad, huh?" one sneered, spinning a light spear with arrogant confidence. "Guess that makes this more fun. We were getting bored. Maybe we should have some fun with her and see you scream and beg." The others cackled.
Kenji's fury, already beyond boiling point, hit an absolute, unbearable limit. Killing intent exploded from him. His killing intent exploded outward, a wave of raw malice and overwhelming force that instantly paralyzed those mere insects, these winged pests that were nothing but fodder. The laughter died instantly, replaced by choked silence. The Fallen froze mid-air, eyes bulging in utter, paralyzed terror as Kenji's will crushed them.
A flash of purple light flickered in his golden eyes, then nothing.
They were gone, their bodies gone, all that was left was just blood.
Dozens of Fallen Angels instantly turned into crimson mist, their remains raining down like macabre, sickening confetti. The sight froze everyone else on the field. Even Kokabiel, who had been lounging on his floating throne, straightened up, his infuriating smirk finally fading into a narrow-eyed stare as he studied the intruder who had decided to interrupt his fun.
Kenji didn't bother anyone there. He ignored the horrified looks, ignoring the faint System Ping from the system and the notification that popped up at the edge of his vision.
He walked forward, hurriedly, his boots crunching on the vaporized remains of those who dared block his path. The sudden gap in the Fallen forces allowed the exhausted Devils to catch their breath and rush to Ayaka's side.
Kenji ignored them all.
He knelt gently beside Ayaka and lifted her small, bloodied form into his arms. "It's okay," he whispered, his voice trembling only slightly with restrained emotion. "Daddy's here."
He honestly didn't know what to be feeling right now, obviously fury was one, but that was at the others around him, she shouldn't have been here. What had she been doing here. No, this was not the time.
Rias, seeing her opportunity and acting on instinct, hurried forward, clutching a crimson chess piece in her hand, a knight piece. She'd have preferred a bishop, but she didn't have any free bishops left. "Mr. Takahashi, she's dying! I can save her if we reincarnate her as a—"
The air exploded with pressure.
The Devils dropped instantly to their knees as the Gravity around them spiked impossibly, the ground cracking beneath their sudden, immense weight crushing them.
Kenji's eyes glowed brighter than before. "Bring that accursed thing close to my daughter," he said, his voice cold and flat, a promise of total obliteration, "and I'll kill you, Gremory. Satan's sister or otherwise."
The piece in Rias's white-knuckled hand trembled violently under the strain. When the pressure eased, Rias gasped for breath, sweat dripping down her forehead, utterly humbled and terrified.
How could a human have this much power. It felt like she was standing next to one of the four satans.
Kenji ignored her. From thin air, he pulled a simple, clear vial shimmering with emerald light, a high-grade Health Potion. He poured it gently into Ayaka's mouth. Her wound, which had been bleeding and glowing with light energy, closed instantly, the scorched skin knitting together as if it had never been cut.
"P-Phenex tears?" someone whispered, confused by the speed and quality of the healing.
Kenji didn't bother correcting the whispered assumption. Once Ayaka's breathing steadied and she was responsive, he laid her down carefully beside Akeno and Rias. "Watch her," he said quietly, his gold eyes locking on Rias's. "I'll be back."
If she tried anything, he'd kill her. He wasn't joking when he said that. he had already reached a level of power that, while he couldn't defeat her brother, he could survive to come back and win later.
Right now, if someone couldn't kill him in an instant, then they wouldn't truly win against him.
Then he turned.
He faced Kokabiel, who was sitting on his throne, his ten black wings flaring behind him, the smirk finally starting to creep back onto his face, a look of arrogant amusement mixed with genuine curiosity. "And who might you be, human?" he sneered, his voice arrogant. "You break into my battlefield and kill my soldiers. Do you even understand who I am?"
Kenji simply stared at the overgrown crow in silence for a few seconds. He had no patience left for the "two-bit heaven reject." In his left hand, his katana, yamato, suddenly appeared, the striking black scabbard featuring intricate gold inscriptions, a dark blue with a white-wrapped handle, and a distinctive cross-shaped guard glinting under the blood-red moonlight.
Kokabiel scoffed. "A sword? You think a lowly creature like you has the right to point a stick of metal at a fallen like myself? Foolish mortal."
From the side, Freed, the deranged Exorcist, cackled manically and raised his weapon. "Tell him, boss! Leave this devil cock sucking bastard to me!" he screamed, charging forward with the combined Excalibur, roaring in his hands, jumping high before coming down in a maniacal slash.
Kenji inhaled deeply. His left foot slid back, turning the katana to a reverse grip, his right hand settling on the sword's hilt.
Time seemed to slow.
Freed descended onto the still man. "Die, trash—"
Shink.
A single flash. A whisper of movement, so fast it was barely registered as light.
Then Freed's manic grin froze. Thin, perfect lines traced across his body, and in the next instant, he exploded into thousands of tiny cubes of meat. Flesh, armor, blood, everything vaporized in one clean, incomprehensible motion.
Kokabiel, who had been sitting a moment ago, was now floating up in the air. The old crow had sensed the danger and instinctively dodged, but even that was barely enough. A thin line of blood now marked his cheek.
'What the hell was that?' Kokabiel thought. He was suddenly reminded of an old memory.
The memory of Vasco Strada, the only other human who had made him fear a sword in the last millennia, flashed in his mind. The man who had cornered him and defeated him during World War 2.
Oh, the humiliation he had felt was something he had sworn to repay.
Kenji exhaled softly, his blade gleaming faintly purple. He didn't bother sheathing it yet. "Enough talking," he said, his voice cold and devoid of emotion. "I am going to pummel you down into the earth and then I'm going to rip those feathers of yours out, and only when you beg for death will I allow you to die."
And then, without warning, he moved.
The ground shattered beneath his feet. Fallen after Fallen turned into red mist before they could even scream. Rias was utterly shocked, he had cubed Freed and a dozen or so high-ranking Fallen in one fluid, terrifying burst. She hadn't even seen him move, only the hand on the sword, then the cubes. She felt a chill run up her spine.
It hadn't even been over twenty seconds, but the sky was clear, dozens dead, the battlefield silent again.
Rias trembled, the thought screaming in her mind, He did all that with just his sword. He had not once used any visible magic or power since he pulled the blade out.
She shook her head. No matter how impressive he was, he was still human, and eventually, he'd tire, and Kokabiel would defeat him, they had to be ready to help. "Asia, can you heal us".
Meanwhile, Asia, having been directed by Rias, had rushed over and started healing the Devil peerage, who were now watching the fight with a mix of awe and terror.
"Enough!" Kokabiel bellowed, enraged that none of his men could even land a scratch on the human. He conjured hundreds of light spears. "You dare mock me, human?!"
The sky filled with blinding, divine light as he unleashed them all at once.
Kenji sheathed his blade. His right hand settled on the hilt, ready. His voice was barely a whisper.
"First Stance… Sword Draw."
Shing.
A blinding streak of purple light flashed, every single spear vanished, sliced apart midair. The night sky exploded in a harmless storm of scattered energy behind him.
"What! Impossible! Impossible!" Kokabiel roared, wings flaring as he charged, unwilling to believe his attack was nullified so easily.
He created another spear of light as he saw Kenji charge at him. His spear of light clashed with Yamato in a blinding explosion of sparks. They traded blows, but as they fought, Kokabiel suddenly felt his body increase in weight, his movements sluggish.
"Wha—what is this—?!"
He didn't even have time to think about what was happening as Kenji kept pushing him back, before he got a strike on Kokabiel.
The katana pierced through his left arm. Kokabiel screamed and retaliated, summoning hundreds more spears, firing them wildly.
Kenji didn't move this time. He stepped through the storm, the blades of light glancing harmlessly off his gravity shield. He vanished in a show of speed and reappeared behind Kokabiel in an instant, the blade plunging through his back.
The Fallen's scream shook the air as he crashed to the ground, wings flailing. Kenji landed beside him, grabbed a handful of black feathers, and ripped them off the bastard's back.
He had told the crow he would, and he was nothing if not a man of his word.
Kokabiel's roar of agony echoed through the night as blood sprayed across the destroyed school field. His remaining wings were torn free one after another, ripped out with inhuman strength.
Kokabiel had tried to stand and do something, but for some reason, something, some invisible weight had kept his limbs pinned to the ground, and he couldn't move.
His limbs twisted unnaturally, bones breaking under invisible weight, pressed into the ground by Kenji's gravitational command.
"Pl-Plesa-please stop, please just kill me!" Kokabiel whimpered, tears mixing with blood.
Kenji stared down at the broken, pathetic form of the Fallen Angel. Really? Was that all? Just a bit of pain and the pest was already begging to die. His face twisted in an ugly grimace of disgust before he sighed, the interest in torture lost. He called back his sword and made a single, clean motion.
The blade sang once more, then silence.
Kokabiel's head rolled away, his body still twitching before slowly stopping.
Kenji exhaled slowly, flicking blood from the blade before sheathing it. The faint purple glow around him dimmed slightly, though the golden light in his eyes still burned with terrible intensity.
He turned, facing the stunned Devils and exocist. Rias, Akeno, Issei, Koneko, Kiba, and Xenovia, all of them flinched back as his terrifying gaze swept over them, with Asia even trying to hide behind Issei.
For a heartbeat, the air seemed to weigh a thousand tons.
"Well," Kenji said at last, his voice calm, cold, and utterly terrifying. "Which of you is going to explain why my daughter was bleeding out in the middle of your battlefield?"
No one dared to answer.
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