The silence after Kokabiel's fall lingered. Everyone still can't believe and fully understand what just transpired.
Hajime stood in the same place from the beginning when he accepted the challenge of Kokabiel. Even though the fight had ended he didn't even move from it. His gaze sweeps on all the fallen angels and stray exorcists as golden chains still bound them. His expression didn't change.
Slowly the others regrouped around Alice and Anisphia. Issei, Kiba, Koneko, Irina, Xenovia, Griselda, Sagiri and Asia.
Despite the victory they did not celebrate as still both Hajime, Alice and Anisphia are still observing the grounds for any change.
Then it happened.
A weak pulse at first, then slowly getting stronger. Hajime's eyes narrowed.
Kokabiel moved. Madness in his eyes.
It wasn't over.
The air around Kokabiel cracked apart like splintered glass. From his chest, a core emerged, its surface throbbing with warped energy that leaked of otherworld power.
Alice flinched, her eyes wide as she saw it. "That's—! The Stellaron...!"
Kokabiel's voice came low and broken, laced with something that wasn't fully his. "Did you really think this was over?" His laugh was hollow. "The heavens turned their back on me. Fine. I'll rise without them! I'll build my throne from the stars themselves!"
The Stellaron flared to life inside Kokabiel's chest, its twisted light ripping free in a violent burst. Energy exploded outward, trashing the chains and shaking the very ground beneath him. The bindings shattered, unable to hold against the rising force.
The earth buckled. Cracks split across the academy's barrier, each one sending a jolt of tension through Sona and Rias as they struggled to keep it stable.
Kokabiel's wings twisted, no longer black but streaked with a pulsing, abyssal glow. His presence expanded, unstable and wrong. It felt like it was something that shouldn't exist.
Issei stumbled back, instinct overriding reason. "What the hell is that?!"
Kiba's voice was tight. "Is he... merging with it??"
Griselda watched closely, her tone grim. "No. He's being swallowed by it!"
And in the center of the storm, Kokabiel laughed—ragged and hollow.
"Look well! Witness your end! I will tear this world apart and rise as god!"
Hajime let out a slow breath, shifting his stance as Authority gathered again around him.
"Round two, huh," he muttered, sounding more annoyed than impressed.
The ground trembled beneath them.
With a flick of his hand, the Chains of Heaven erupted once more, streaking through the air toward Kokabiel. They moved fast, precisely meant to end it.
But the moment they struck, they broke.
Kokabiel, twisted by the Stellaron, raised his malformed wings and sneered. The chains hit then shattered like glass.
A shockwave burst outward, shaking the battlefield to its core. The Chains of Heaven crumbled. Whatever Kokabiel had become, he wasn't divine anymore.
The other fallen angels and stray exorcists, still trapped by Hajime's previous strikes, were not spared. The Stelleron corrosion devoured them one by one. Their bodies transformed into fragmentum monsters.
A new terror flooded the battlefield, as Hajime's gaze hardened.
"... well at least it became a little more interesting," Hajime murmured, his tone almost lazy, as if Kokabiel's monstrous transformation was nothing more than a mild inconvenience.
Kokabiel let out a manic laugh, louder and more unhinged than before, the sound cutting through the chaos like a jagged blade. His wings, now fully twisted by the Stellaron's corruption, stretched wide as he rose above the battlefield drunk on his newfound power.
Then came a sharp crack louder than thunder as the barrier crafted by Sona and Rias's peerages gave in. The dome splintered apart like shattered crystal, the shockwave from its collapse throwing defenders off their feet and scattering debris across the grounds.
Panic rippled through the defenders as the last barrier shattered. Their strongest shield was gone, and for a second, it felt like the ground beneath them had vanished too.
"The barrier's down!" Rias shouted, her voice thin with disbelief.
"Stay sharp! Regroup!" Sona snapped, doing her best to hold firm even as tension flickered in her eyes.
Above them, Kokabiel hovered with a cruel grin, drinking in their fear.
But before dread could settle, a flash of light tore through the corrupted sky a spear slammed into the ground ahead, throwing up a wave of broken earth.
From the fading light stepped Azazel, wings fully spread, his expression all business.
Right beside him stood Vali.
"Hmph," Vali muttered with a faint smirk. "Didn't want to miss the fun."
Azazel cracked his knuckles and nodded toward Hajime. "Figured you might want some company, Godslayer."
Hajime glanced their way, tone flat. "Took your time."
Vali shrugged, lips curling slightly. "Didn't want to miss the finale."
Azazel gave a short laugh. "Hey, better than not showing at all."
As they stepped in beside Hajime, the rest regrouped quickly, Issei, Kiba, Koneko, Irina, Xenovia, Griselda, Sagiri, Alice, Anisphia, and Asia. They formed around them without any hesitation.
Moments later, Rias and Sona arrived with their remaining peerages. Their eyes flicked to Azazel and Vali, still feeling the blow of the shattered barrier, the impact not yet gone from their thoughts. Rias stood close, wary. Sona adjusted her glasses once, her focus locked on what came next.
They turned to Hajime almost in sync.
"What should we do next?" Rias asked, her voice steady but tight, carrying more urgency than doubt.
"Your call, Nagumo-san," Sona added, firm despite the tension, placing their next move in his hands.
Above them, Kokabiel hovered in the corrupted sky, wings warped by the Stellaron's power. He let out a low, broken laugh that echoed like static.
"Bring whoever you want! It won't change anything!" he shouted, his voice fraying at the edges with manic confidence. "You're nothing to me now!"
Stelleron corrosion pulsed outward in waves, forcing them to brace themselves against the force pressing down on them.
Kokabiel's sneer widened as he saw them strain. "Bow before your new god!" he roared, feeding off his own delusion, as if the outcome was already decided. The former fallen angels and exorcists now fragmentum monsters step forward.
Everyone tensed up, tightening on their hold on their weapons. Azazel and Vali even narrow their eyes looking at the enemies.
And yet Hajime didn't even spare Kokabiel a glance.
Hajime didn't even bother acknowledging Kokabiel raving. Instead, he turned toward Azazel, eyes half-lidded, and his tone was dry.
"If I take him out now, is that going to be a problem?"
Azazel blinked, thrown for a second by the casual delivery. He scratched the back of his head with a tired sigh, lips twitching into a faint grin.
Seriously, kid... even now, you sound like you're asking whether to take out the trash," he muttered under his breath, before speaking louder, "Nah. If anything, you'd be doing everyone a favor."
Without a word, Hajime raised his hand. The air shimmered with golden energy as another Authority activated. One of the powers he had claimed: the Gate of Babylon.
This Authority, a legacy of the King of Heroes, granted Hajime access to a near-infinite treasury of legendary artifacts and divine relics, each summoned at his will and mastered as if they were extensions of his own soul. It was a symbol of supremacy over the powers of gods and legends.
From that golden vault, Hajime pulled forth a weapon. It was the Ninth Divine Key, Star of Eden. This weapon was not part of Gate of Babylon, it was originally stored in the Hyperion's weapon arsenal under Noah's direct care. During the time when Hajime awakens as the Herrscher of Reason. Noah entrusted this divine key to him before he went to fight Gilgamesh to save Alice.
The orb-shaped divine key releases a soft pulse on his palm. Acknowledging Hajime as it's user. Although it is not yet activated, its immense power can be felt, sending shudders to those around Hajime.
Alice and Anisphia froze the moment they recognized it. They exchanged a panicked glance, their eyes open wide, twitching in disbelief. They knew exactly what Hajime had taken out and what would happen after.
Without a hint of urgency, Hajime held the Star of Eden in his hand and looked toward Kokabiel.
"Hey, Kokabiel, you were once known as Angel of Stars, right?"
He lifted the orb a little higher. The Star of Eden flickers a light as if joining Hajime's in mocking Kokabiel. A faint smirk tugged at Hajime's lips.
"So let me ask you..."
His voice didn't rise. His eyes gave Kokabiel a challenge.
"Have you ever seen the stars... shatter??"
Kokabiel's laughter faltered, a flicker of confusion crossing his twisted face as he finally registered the enormous energy building around the orb on Hajime's palm.
"What... what are you doing?" Kokabiel barked, his voice laced with sudden unease.
Azazel, sensing the shift, called out sharply, "Oi, Nagumo Hajime! What exactly are you—"
Rias took a half-step forward, sensing it as well. "Nagumo-kun, what is that thing?!"
Sona's glasses slipped as she hurriedly asked Hajime just what he was planning to unleash, "Nagumo-san, just what are you planning to do inside the academy grounds?!"
Even Griselda raised her voice in alarm. "everyone brace yourselves!"
Alice and Anisphia, finally snapping out of their stunned stupor, whipped around to face the others, panic flashing in their eyes.
"GET DOWN!!" they both shouted in unison, voices urgent and absolute.
Without hesitation, Alice and Anisphia moved at once. Channeling their Emblem and magical prowess, Alice conjured a layered dimensional barrier, while Anisphia unleashed a flurry of kinetic shields intertwined with fiery warding spells. Their emblems glowed vividly, Anemo and Pyro energies swirling together forming a protective dome around their entire group.
Hajime gave a small, almost amused exhale, then thrust the Star of Eden forward.
"Witness how the stars shatter!" his shout nearly drowned by the rising roar of energy.
The Star of Eden Flared unleashing the singularity.
"STAR OF EDEN, Zeroth... Pseudo Black Hole."
From its core, the Star of Eden answered. The Zeroth Form: Pseudo Black Hole activated with a deafening roar. Tearing the very fabric of reality a miniature black hole appeared, devoring light, matter, and space itself with terrifying force.
The sky above warped and twisted, as the gravitational anomaly pulled everything toward its center, swirling debris and fragments of the damaged academy grounds.
Around Hajime, the others who had heard Alice and Anisphia's desperate warning threw themselves to the ground or behind the shattered remains of the academy structures. The immense pull of the black hole made the very air howl with raw violence.
Issei flattened himself against the rubble, eyes wide and mouth agape. "W-What the hell is that power?!"
Kiba gritted his teeth as he shielded Koneko, who remained crouched low but visibly shaken.
Asia huddled close to Griselda, clutching at her tightly as light shields sprang to life around them.
Rias and Sona, despite their panic, shielded their peerages with layers of desperate magic, their faces pale with disbelief.
Even Azazel, a seasoned fighter against supernatural calamities, narrowed his eyes in grim astonishment while adding shields to protect all of them. "Damn kid... that's not power. That's a cataclysm."
And through it all, Hajime stood alone with a smirk, unmoving, his silhouette illuminated by the swirling chaos.
Kokabiel's triumph turned to horror. "No…! What is this?!" he screamed, his corrupted wings thrashing wildly as he struggled against the pull but it was useless. The fragmentum monsters he had spawned were torn from the earth and shredded mercilessly as they were devoured.
The Stellaron embedded within Kokabiel's body pulsed violently in protest, but even its might could not resist the relentless drag.
Within moments, half of Kuoh Academy became ruins, the fragementum monsters, the very ground Kokabiel stood upon was swallowed whole into the black maw of annihilation.
And in the eye of the collapsing chaos, Hajime stood unmoving as the former the Angel of Stars was erased from existence along with the Stellaron.