The Holy Man of The Church Creek

16

"Ms Quarta, for the last time, I think you have to understand that there's a problem in your application as a student."

Within the principal's office of Kuoh Academy, the principal, a young lady with curly brown hair and short stature pinched the bridge of her nose before sighing. The silver short-rimmed glasses she wore were soon placed back over her face, and she then leveled a cursory glance back at the object of her latest migraine.
Xenovia furrowed her brows in consternation, seemingly not understand the concept the principal had already explained numerous times.
To be fair, this was actually Xenovia's first time attempting to attend an educational facility, and it wasn't even because she wanted to. It was because she had to in order to keep Shirou company.
Shirou would be spending his day in Kuoh Academy, and all formalities were already settled for him with the cover Griselda had provided previously. As for her, she had none, and thus had to take a more formal approach to temporarily attend the Academy. Irina though, had it the easiest; having had a residence near Kuoh in her youth, she was quickly accepted already. Thus, Xenovia was the only one left.
By attending, Kuoh would give Xenovia a reason to stick close to Shirou, and at the same time, avoid being 'politely' asked to leave by Kuoh Academy's staff for visiting on school hours.
Besides, with the location of the peace talks between the factions to be held in Kuoh, Shirou had to attend as he held a very distinct position. His presence there alone would be far more than enough to reveal Heaven's sincerity as it was quite clear for Xenovia to see just how reluctant the Angels still felt about it. Yet they still did so anyway. To them, Shirou was the most important, and if not for Michael's decision to leave him in Kuoh, Heaven and the Church and its representatives would have swooped in and relocated him to some place else. An area heavily fortified with the strongest of defenses with even twelve-winged angels to act as guards.
With so much protection, Irina had already joked once that nothing could hurt Shirou now. Yet to others who heard it, it was to be taken as a warning. Just the fact that Heaven would go to such an extent for a single individual could mean that if even so much as a hair were to be lost from Shirou, there would be a world of trouble.
"Now, Ms-"
"Mrs." Xenovia coughed into her hand, interrupting the woman.
The principal no longer bothered to reply to such comments and instead clasped her hand in front of her.
"You have to understand Mrs. Quarta, but you can't become a student with this kind of loose background."
Xenovia rose a brow.
The principal held up the file in her hand and slowly read some content.
"Under Previous Education, you filled out 'by a Demon,' under Past Accommodations, you filled out 'Hell.'" The principal paused, seeming to look for a reaction from Xenovia, but just from Xenovia's expression alone, it didn't seem as if she found anything wrong with her answers.
A twitch nearly formed over the principal's mouth, but she persisted in schooling her features.
"Care to explain?" The principal asked.
Taking a moment to think, Xenovia furrowed her brows before replying. "I took lessons from my mother. Her method of teaching could have had only come from a Demon, so I put down Demon. As for Past Accommodations, I was perpetually under my mother's care and every day was spent in suffering training at home. The only escape was at a little Church by a creek in Italy."
"…Okay then," the Principal was on the verge of just giving up. Still she persisted.
"Alright then, lets just move on." The principal took a breath, taking off her glasses to rub her eyes. "The fact that you only want to attend Physical Exercise courses while skimping the rest of the academic courses is troubling. Do you not wish to enter any sort of career?"
Xenovia nodded her head sagely in all seriousness, thinking of the life ahead of her. "I'll take my chances," she spoke with conviction, balling her hands into fists.
Silence filled the room as the principal just stared.
This silence didn't break until a new voice entered the room.
"I can take it from here," the voice spoke.
"M-Ms. Shitori," the principal seemed to exhale in relief, quickly giving way to Sona who was more in charge of Kuoh than even the principle. After all, the principle knew just who owned the facility. "Then if you'll excuse me," the principle quickly left the room.
Sona walked in under Xenovia's gaze, and then promptly took a seat where the principal had once been. Sone then picked up Xenovia's file in her hand and abstained from questioning any of the other material written.
Instead, Sona just looked carefully at Xenovia whose shoulders had become tense from the silence.
It was evident that Xenovia was feeling awkward as she wasn't exactly the most disposed towards Devils, but after the previous events she was at least warming up to them. However, she hadn't exactly had much dealings with Sona, thus, her expression was somewhat strained.
This was why it came off as a bit of surprise when Sona approved Xenovia's application.
"Devil's aren't actually like the monsters in the movies. We're people too," Sona spoke, handing Xenovia her required papers.
Staring at the papers, Xenovia accepted silently.
"Thanks," Xenovia eventually whispered when Sona was almost out the door.
A small smile tugged on Sona's lips. In which case she then whispered,
"Welcome to Kuoh."
The gazes of those around Shirou were beginning to affect him.
He was currently in Kuoh walking around its campus right after class hours, and he had to admit that he somehow missed this kind of setting. Groups of youths and students crowded the campus in a youthful sort of vigor; some of the girls nearby were even whispering to each other in heated conversations, their attention on him. Fortunately, he was too busy feeling sensitive to the 'other' more intense stares on his person.
From the edges of his vision, he could see the flutter of white wings fading in and out of sight. Elsewhere, he spotted the metal visages of the Twelve-Winged Sentinels now located throughout Kuoh Academy. In this way, they were acting as twenty-four hour sentries, keeping watch for any enemies.
They were in plain sight, but it was fortunate that Kuoh Academy's students thought of them as new statues to revamp Kuoh's image. Some were even lining themselves up to take photos, much to Irina's ire who was in a fluster attempting to persuade the students to stop. It didn't have much effect though as Irina was wearing the Church's white cloak. In which case, many of Kuoh's students assumed she was cosplaying and began posing with her as well. This left her in a desolate state, but at least there was someone else to share her pain.
Asia Argento had a hand over Irina's shoulder as the both of them lamented the fact that such distinguished Twelve-Winged Sentinel were being reduced to photo props. It became even worse when Shirou noticed how agitated the Angels in the background were getting. Some not even caring if they were seen by Shirou anymore in their indignance.
Luckily, someone else moved before them.
"You bastards, go away!" Issei yelled, spurred to action after seeing the expression on Asia's face.
Running forward, Issei's shouts seemed to have no effect until his original honest intentions shifted towards staring hard at the bosoms of the women posing by the winged sentinels.
"P-Perv!"
Shirou couldn't identify just who shouted out first, but since Kuoh mainly consisted of girls, the response was immediate. All the women that had once been posing by the winged sentinels gave chase to Issei who quickly ran away. This left behind just the male students, and with Asia's and Irina's insistence, the guys were quick to leave, a happy and dumb look on their faces after talking to two beauties.
Seeing this, Shirou only paused in his steps towards Irina for a moment before deciding that she was in good hands and resumed towards his intended location.
It was towards the Occult Research Club of Kuoh Academy.
Rias Gremory was waiting for him at the front.
Her arms were crossed under her chest, and she was still looking at him with a bit of caution. Yet different from before, she had a sense of respect in her eyes that wasn't there before. Before it was fear, thus, it was a significant improvement.
"Kiba's in the back room," Rias said politely. "Akeno, if you would."
Akeno Himeji nodded from inside the building.
"If you would follow me," Akeno beckoned towards Shirou.
Shirou complied with a nod, entering into the Occult Research building as Rias closed the door behind them. She then followed by his side afterwards.
He had come to the occult research club at the request of Kiba who seemed to have something in his mind these days. Even Rias had taken notice, and this was why she along with Issei had urged for Shirou to meet with Kiba under the scrutinizing gazes of those Angels Michael had subtly planted. That alone showed their courage as even he could feel the intimidation from more than four ten-Winged Angels.
"So," Akeno began in the silence, earning a sharp glance from Rias who was demonstrating the demeanour of an heiress.
Akeno ignored Rias instead, smiling. "Does the attention feel nice?" She said knowingly.
"No. Not at all," Shirou readily admitted. "It's a bit stifling."
Akeno nodded towards Rias, who ended up sighing and reverting to her normal attitude.
"Admittedly its hard to keep up this demeanour," Rias said. "I hope the leader of the skies of above could forgive me?"
"No, no, I prefer it this way," Shirou said scratching the back of his head. "It still hasn't sunken in yet about how everyone now views me. Was my discomfort that easy to tell?"
Akeno only nodded, while Rias finally cracked a grin.
Rias and Akeno eventually lead Shirou into the back-room Rias had specified, only for Shirou to realize that this back room was more of a training space. Everywhere was devoid of furniture, all that was left were a few wooden targets and training equipment on the side.
At the room's center stood Kiba, holding in his hands a sword of Light and Dark. This should have had been impossible, but it was right before him due to the absence of God now residing within the necklace.
Kiba met Shirou's gaze, and almost instantly the guy knelt on his knees and bowed his head.
"Thank you. Y-You saved them," he spoke lowly, his eyes moistening. "I swear that I will repay this debt someday."
Rias moved towards Kiba and placed a hand on his shoulder, prompting him to get back up on his feet, but Kiba refused. This was Kiba's show of sincerity, yet all it did was make Shirou uncomfortable.
He knew exactly what Kiba was thanking him for. It was because of the girl and the others he had set free from the light crystal he had obtained in the battle against Valper Galilei. Not only did setting them free help those souls find salvation, but they had aslo given salvation to Kiba who was tormenting himself for their sake.
However, Shirou would never hold anything over anyone's heads. He could take Kiba's promise of repaying the debt at face value, but he wouldn't actually want Kiba to feel obligated to. Be that as it may, just by staring at Kiba, he could deduce that any answer other than a yes may very well keep the teenager on the ground.
"I understand," Shirou eventually spoke. "Please, stand up on your feet. It was only the right thing for me to do."
Hearing his words, Kiba stared up at him, and nodded in determination. "By this sword, I swear an oath."
Raising the sword of Holy and Demonic up into the air, Kiba stabbed it into the ground in front of him.
Afterwards, Kiba's gaze landed squarely on him, seemingly at a loss for what he wanted to say next.
"Excalibur," Kiba eventually muttered. "It's in your hands now?"
Shirou nodded his head but didn't elaborate anymore. By this point, Excalibur was almost completely fused back together, just missing a single fragment before completion. By then, anyone would be able to tell the sheer amount of Holy Power the sword contained. At that point, it was just the specifics involved in how to unsheathe it from its scabbard.
"Good," Kiba's expression showed visible relief. "At least with you, I wouldn't have to worry about any misuses."
"Ahem," Rias cleared her throat. "You're talking about the man that's caused another sort of disaster, but it wouldn't be appropriate to address it now." She shook her head towards Shirou's questioning expression. "Perhaps after the peace talks," she finished.
The matter Rias was referring to had to do with the Divine Construct of Sumerian Origin that had been felt by the God's within Babylon that Shirou was ignorant of. However, Rias knew that it would be brought up eventually, and there be better representatives to explain such a complex political thing to Shirou.
With Kiba's matter done, Shirou spent the rest of the time talking about various other matters within the Occult Research Club, much to the ire of the Angels assigned to be guarding him.
When Shirou eventually got left the Occult Research Club, it was already nearing midnight. The clouds over head were like wisps of smoke, streaking slowly across the moon-lit sky.
Xenovia and Irina weren't with him at the moment as Xenovia had excused herself for her own matters and Irina had taken it upon herself to bring up the matter of the Winged Sentinels to Rias and Sona.
This left him alone to walk home with an escort of Angels he knew were just keeping their distance from him.
Ever since the events caused by Valper Galilei concluded, he hadn't seen hide nor hair of Ayakoji. The man seemed as if he had just disappeared, and that he had never even lived in the modest home Shirou was currently staying at.
Because of this, he had even gone to inspect the warehouse he had last seen Ayakoji at, but there were no traces of anything there. No blood, no damage, just an empty room no different from all the others in the area.
It left him feeling a tad dumbstruck that the man would just leave without a word, but he supposed that Ayakoji would have his reasons. And besides, he could bring the matter up with Griselda if the time came.
For now, he just wanted to rest.
The peace meeting would be in a couple days, and in that time period he had been spending most of his time getting adjusted to all the new people he met in Kuoh. One of which he almost instinctually decided to stay away from when he noticed the difference in her gaze compared to the rest, for it was fairly below the belt.
He would stay away from that girl. That was a point he could agree with with Issei, and his two other friends that composed the Perverted Trio.
Just as the home he was staying within appeared in sight, an odd fluctuation in the air caught his attention. It was a difference in magical energies, an acute one in which he had picked up due to the sensitivity of his nose.
However, he acted as if he didn't notice. After all, if he was the target, any sudden movement may incur a reaction from the other party.
Meanwhile, the necklace around his neck was still silent. After its past action of taking him into that cave with the burning bush, he was told that God would be entering a silent state to gather his energies together and fortify his foundations. In this way, God would, for the most part, recuperate from his injuries incurred in the battle between the four Satans.
This meant, that though everyone now viewed him as the next coming of God, God himself would not be able to reveal himself until a certain time. From there, he could ask God on any leads on this Evil he had unleashed. Till then, he would just have to adapt to whatever's throne his way.
Walking down the road, he saw a man appear walking on the opposite side. Spiked, but soft locks of silver hair jutted out from a handsome looking face. The facial features glowing in the moonlight: narrow jaw, high cheek bones, and stunningly blue eyes.
The man wore a black hoodie with a high collar on his person, a black v-neck beneath leading towards faded and baggy pants.
From the way that this man was looking at him, he instantly felt the battle intent the other person was releasing even without words of acknowledgment.
As he drew closer, this feeling only grew stronger, reaching its peak when they were just about to cross each other's paths.
"Can a Dragon Kill a God? We'll have to see someday," the man whispered while walking past.
For a moment, he just stood there trying to decide if what he had just seen was an illusion or not. After all, for a moment, that man's shadow seemed to extend itself into the appearance of a large winged reptile.
He shook his head. Now wasn't the time to ponder over the meaning of the man's words. Instead, he picked up his pace towards his temporary home.
Once at the front of the household, he already knew something was wrong from the moment the Angels assigned to protect him stopped concealing themselves and appeared in front of him, blocking his path.
Thereafter, they looked cautiously towards the half-open front door of his temporary home.
A trace of anger filled his gaze when he realized that the elderly couple sharing their home may have had gotten involved in something that was unrelated to them. Because of this, he insisted he go in.
He expected for such a request to be refused at first, but he didn't expect just how much influence he had gained with the Angels that had seen the ending of the incident caused by Valper Galilei. They easily buckled beneath his insistence, but there was one point they refused to give up on.
Who got to go in first.
In which case, all those Angels sent to protect him were adamant that they would act as the Vanguard.
Cautiously, the Angels entered in as one, only to suddenly freeze when they got a good look inside the main living space; the colour of their wings shifting violently from white to black.
Feeling as if something big had happened, Shirou readied himself for action as he then pushed his way into the house.
What lay before him though, was a man staring fixedly at a the T.V. screen located at the center of the living room.
The man was tall and appeared to be in his twenties. He had an average build, black hair, golden bangs and a black goatee, making him appear like rugged gentleman. On his person he wore a casual blue yukata as he relaxed and made himself at home on one of the recliners. Yet, perhaps what was the most eye catching at the moment was something else that only Shirou knew of.
Ayakoji's stash of home edited videos was to this mysterious man's left. The video playing on screen causing Shirou's and the Angels faces to flush red.
Shirou didn't know how Ayakoji had done it, but he had somehow taken Gabriel's face and superimposed it onto another actresses'. Already, Gabriel was known as Heaven's top beauty, and to see her face in such a movie, many of the Angel's were heavily being tempted to fall.
"Whoever made this was a fucking genius!" The man praised in worship as he noticed the room was no longer empty with just himself.
At that moment, the man turned around and saw the shifting wings of the Angels, and his smile couldn't be anymore gleeful.
"Come brothers and sisters, Fall. You'll all never get enough of this life, I swear!" The man encouraged.
"Y-You, shut up!" One of the Angels spoke in outrage. "T-To watch such a fabricated thing, how immoral."
The man rose a brow hearing the Angel's words. "Then why are you watching?"
"…"
The man laughed roaringly, throwing an arm over the shoulder of the Angel that had spoken. Said Angel's wings were already stuck at a shade of grey that was nearly black.
"Y-You stop!" The other Angels spoke.
Fortunately, Shirou ended the entire matter by pulling the plug on the T.V.
Sighing in relief, the Angels all glared dagger at the man in the room.
Based on their expression, Shirou deduced that both sides already knew each other. This left only himself out of the loop. Therefore, he asked the question that had been on his mind since the beginning.
"Who are you?" He asked.
The man paused after hearing the question.
Soon after, the man slicked back his hair, and stared straight at Shirou.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," the man spoke jovially, a suave smile on his face. "My name is Azazel, Governor General of the Fallen Angels."
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