DxD : Emiya Shirou

He slowly shook his head had at me, a fond smile still adorning his face, "Then I'm sorry my friend but that is something I cannot do."

I nodded in understanding, not having expected anything else. "So we fight?"

"We fight." He nodded in response.

...

Then he took a moment to look me in the eyes and I stared back in turn. There was no need for us to say anything. We both understood without words that this will be last time we'll ever meet. Then as one we turned away from each other and began to walk away.

As I made my way forward, striding past the calf high grass that brushed against my legs as I did so, I sensed him taking flight behind me. When I had reached a reasonably distance from everybody else, I turned around and faced the fallen army that had were still soaring in the sky, just in time to see Kokabiel take his rightful place at the head of it.

Kokabiel hovered in the air for a moment, doing nothing but gazing across the sword filled landscape beneath him. He turned his eyes skywards, towards the colossal gears the continued to toil and turn in near silence before turning to look towards the distant horizon the hid the sun from view. "Yes," even with the distance between us I heard as clearly as if I stood next to him, "this would do. This isn't such a bad place to die."

He turned around to face his army of Fallen, all of whom stared back at him expectedly. "BROTHERS," He called out to them, "in the time beyond counting that we have known each, fought by one another, we have faced many foes. From the accursed Devils to our fellows Angels in the Great War, and even the servants of other pantheons in the time before that."

A sword in the ground before me began to rattle for a moment within the grip of the earth that held it, before it was slowly lifted out of the ground, pulled up into the air by an invisible hand.

"But tonight, we face an enemy unlike any other. What stands before us brothers is not a Devil, but a man. Though his soul has been bathed by the depth of their corruption it has emerged untainted, his spirit remains unbroken and pure. In that soul brothers, I see hope. For the first time since our Father's demise hope exists for mankind."

A second sword off to my left was raised off the ground and joined the first in the air. Then a third off to the distance began to rise and another from behind. Then they rose in their twos, then threes then in their dozens.

"But is it enough? Will the spirit of a single man be enough to survive the coming storm, to lead the rest of humanity to prosperity in these dark times, or will this hope be extinguished like the many that came before it? "

By their hundred, by their thousands, the swords continued to raise, filling the sky with their steel and still more kept following after them, in never ending numbers.

"That is why we shall test it. Here and now we shall test the steel of his soul and judge its worth. We shall strike it with all of our might and see if it can emerged unscathed. And if it does, if it is we who break and fall on his steel, we can die knowing that at long last our solemn duty has been fulfilled. 

That the day has finally come that man no longer needs us to guide and protect them, and we can at we can at last put down our arms and let our weary souls rest."

No matter how many swords were pulled from the earth, there were more to replace. Soon the sky filled with swords, numbering more than the land beneath them could possibly had held, and still more came.

"However if he loses, it means the time for us to lay down out burden has yet to come. That we must still continue to fight on in order to fulfill our duty, to see out Father's final wish fulfilled." Kokabiel turned around and stared unflinchingly at the sky full of swords that greeted him.

"But no matter the result, whether we win or lose, this will be our final war. By its end, be it on this day or another, we will all be dead." He look on without fear at the swords before, even as they continued to rise in number. He and those that followed him were limited yet still he would dare face the unlimited.

"So I ask you," He turned back to face his men, "knowing this, will you still fight?"

A thousand and more spears of light erupted to life into hands of the Fallen was their answer.

Even from as far away I stood I could still see the expressions on the faces of the Fallen as they were illuminate by the light of their spears. Not one among them faltered as they stared resolutely at both me and up towards the swords the filled the world around them, they were committed to the last.

"I see." There was no dissuading them was there? All of them were willing to surrender their life, all to honor a Father's final wish.

One's life is a treasure, a gift beyond all measure. I truly believe that. But that doesn't mean that it is the most valuable thing you'll ever have. It is far from surprising that sometime during the course of your life, in this world filled with so many wonders, that you'll eventually find something you'll treasure even more. 

Be it a cause, an ideal or even a friend, for that most precious of treasures you'd willing give your life up a thousand times over. And do it with a smile every time.

I can't even ask them to stop can I? Not without insulting even more. Any mercy I show them will be unwanted and unneeded. If that's the case then I will offer them none. These people have done too much, sacrificed themselves too many times only to be insulted by someone like me. They deserved far better than that.

So instead I will grant them the only thing I could.

I raised my left hand up into the air and as I did so every sword that filled the sky rotated in place, moving in time with my arm, until they were all pointed point first at the Host of Fallen before me.

I will grant them their journey's end, so that they may find rest at last.

I tried to think of something profound to say but nothing came to me, nothing but meaningless platitudes. So instead I uttered a simple, "Goodbye." and brought my hand down.

Then the swords descended.

And then they died.

It fell upon them in number beyond continuing, beyond numbering, a limitless rain of sword and steel. So many that they matched all treasures held within the Gates of Babylon and more. So powerful that they can bring down even the mightiest of Servants to their knees.

It could destroy the vastest of armies, this rain of swords and steel. Numbers against it held no meaning. Be it one or a thousand, before the unlimited all is made equal.

And at the face of such an onslaught-

Not a single one ran.

Even as their spear shattered in their very hands when they clashed with the torrent of steel, they fought on. Calling forth another spear when they could, or fighting on with their bare hands when they could not. A dozen and more swords would pierce their body yet still they would continue flinging their spears ahead, trying to fight back the unending tide of swords.

Some laughed in wonderment and joy at the power of the foe they face, while other screamed out in rage and unwavering defiance as they swung their spears but till the last they fought on, never surrendering nor despairing.

And when they were forced to the ground, dragged down by the sheer weight of the steel that clung to their flesh, still they fought on. Dragging their broken body across the ground, staining the grass with their blood, and forcing themselves to their feet, only stopping when another barrage of swords tore through their body and even then they only did so when the hearts in their chest stopped beating.

From a thousand that they began with, their numbers quickly dropped down to their hundreds and then dozens. The dead bodies of the defeated rained down around the still defiant living, and yet still they did not falter.

But defiance and spirit meant nothing against the hard unforgiven edge of cold steel. And so they continued to die until there were only a handful left, barely clinging to life as the swords continued to fall in unending numbers.

And in the heart of it all was Kokabiel.

It was like grace given form, talent personified. Though it was like watching a whirlwind, there was no chaos, no disorder. 

Every move had a purpose, every action a goal, not a single motion wasted. I thought I had seen talent during the Holy Grail War, that I had seen the pinnacle of skill in arms that can be achieved, but I was wrong. For in the end Servants, as mighty as they are, were still human. Mortal.

Even Assassin, who had spent a lifetime honing his skill, had only spent a fraction of time training that this Angel had. This was a being that have lived for eons and dedicated the entirety of the last Millennium honing his skill in arms and it showed.

The spear in his hands blurred, leaving trials of shimmering white, afterimages even my eyes cannot dispel. It was like a perfect dance, how each move flowed seamlessly to the next as all around him steel continued to crash with light.

Spears of light formed in the air by their thousands, hurled forward by unseen hands and crashing against the swords that threated to drown them. They created a sphere around him, where sword and spears clashed, while he fought on in the heart of it all.

And through it all he laughed.

The spears could only hold back the tide but an instant before they failed but an instant was all he needed. When the swords broke through, as they inevitably did, he would be ready for them. He danced and weaved around them as he whooped with joy, his laughter filling the air even as he barely avoided death only to face it once again.

Ducking under high blows and flying over the low, spinning and side-stepping the ones that came at his sides, he avoided the swords that broke through his barraged. When it was not possible for the strike to be dogged, even for one of his ability, he would deflect them with the spear in his hands.

Against a swords of legend, a Noble Phantasm in their perfect form, even his spears would be no match. They shattered in his hands but even with their destruction their purpose was fulfilled and the sword would be diverted, flying harmlessly away. He would then promptly conjure another spear in preparation to deflect the next sword.

And still it wasn't enough.

Skill can only do so much in the face of endless steel. All around him the rain of steel continued to fall, steadily pushing forward even as his spears vainly tried to hold them back. They kept closing in all around him, shrinking the space he had at the heart of his formation, as all the while the number of swords that broke through his spears would steadily rise.

Then the inevitable happened. He slipped up.

He had positioned himself incorrect, placing himself in the line of fire of two different swords that broke through his spears. They came at him one after the other, blocking his line of escape, and they did so at his most vulnerable moment. He was unarmed, having lost his previous spear deflecting a sword and did not have enough time to conjure another before they were upon him.

He could have avoided one sword but not the other. Not without throwing himself in between the swords and spear that battled all around him. He could neither evade them nor deflect them.

So instead he intercepted them.

It was one of the most remarkable example of swordsmanship I had ever seen. Moving so fast that even with my reinforced eyes I could barely see him move. 

He spun in place, counterclockwise, allowing the first sword to fly through where his left shoulder would have been as he turned. But before the sword could fly out of his reach his hand reached out and snatched the sword out of the air.

Using the momentum of his spin to carry the sword with him, he brought it overhead and swung it down onto the approaching second sword, intending to deflect it with the first.

It was a brilliant maneuver, one that would have impressed even the most experienced of fighters. It should have been impossible to achieve during the chaos of live combat, yet he pulled it off seamlessly. It was something I had never seen before and may never see again.

It was a shame that I couldn't allow him to complete it.

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Hey guys I really need you to throw some power Stones ;)

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