User blog comment:Jopjopjop/Volume 19 Spoilers/@comment-16281343-20141122050035

New info.

Zenovia won the election and is apparently Zenovia Quarta (newflash, she has a surname?!). By doing so, the school politics between Zenovia and Asia would parallel the current friendship between Sona and Rias. Irina and Kiryu support Zenovia's bid and eventually Issei learns that Kiryu has found out the truth about devils. By the way, Zenovia kisses Issei early in the story, as opposed to near the end, as is the case from all the other girls.

Cardinal Bishop Vasco Strada leads the church warriors and is the key villain of the piece, and wields the replica of Durandal, though he is the previous wielder of the original blade. Ageless at 87, he in fact fought Kokabiel during WWII. Strada is aligned with Cardinal Bishop Teodoro Legrenzi, whose parents' deaths at the hands of a devil fuel this quest.

Seems that characters with swords figure heavily in this volume. The 2nd most important character to Zenovia is Kiba, who no doubt has his holy sword put to the test particularly against Ewald Cristaldi, Strada's ally and the wielder of the Excalibur replica. Kiba joins with Irina, Dulio and Griselda in this battle. Kiba develops a new technique with his holy sword; translation indicates he can absorb the power off another holy sword, an ability that leads to Cristaldi's downfall.

Helping out for the Gremory team is Arthur. Kiba is impressed by Arthur holding his own against Strada, and looks forward to the next time he and Arthur may cross swords.

Zenovia duels with Strada and divides Ex-Durandal so she can wield the dual blades of Excalibur and Durandal at once (reminding readers of her image in Volume 6). She ultimately fells Strada with a knee.

Tsubaki achieves Balance Breaker! It's called Nostalgia Mad Tea Party, which involves a triple mix of sleep, frenzy and hallucinations to wear down opponents.

Walburga arrives again, with an army of a hundred dragon replicas. But with a little help from Saji and Rossweisse, Issei makes her the latest victim of Penetrate, Bilingual and Dress Break....at once!

Vali will be the focal point of Volume 20. Doubt he'll make the cover, though.