The Holy Man of The Church Creek

18

It was with an odd sort of premonition that Shirou stared at his outstretched hand reaching towards the handle of a particular door of a home situated near Kuoh. It was this very same door which was the property of the old couple he was currently in a room-and-board sort of relationship with.

Then again, he wasn't actually paying for anything which weighed on his mind almost as much as a distinct feeling that he'd somehow landed himself into unnecessary trouble. Of course, this was only his intuition, but it didn't help when he considered every bad situation that he had ever participated in had the involvement of a different woman. Not that they were evil or anything, but it was always because of one reason or another that he was dragged into numerous situations.
Rin Tohsaka, for example decided to have a Master-Servant battle in the middle of Homurahara School grounds, resulting in a spear through his heart.
Illyasviel von Einzbern, a little girl who called him 'brother' with a smile on her face, sent him a massive present in the form of a brute.
Therefore, his 'intuition' was more in line with his sense of peril regarding women. In which case, it was imperative that he seclude himself indoors and never step out again until the feeling subsided.
For such a means, his grip that he had on the door's handle tightened with purpose. To not get caught up in another woman's pacing and eventually lose himself in another troublesome situation.
Opening the door, he was barely able to walk in before catching sight of both Xenovia and Irina preparing themselves to leave. The two were currently putting on their shoes, the white cloaks they generally wore, replaced by the Kuoh Academy females uniform. It was a different sight than what he was used to back in Italy, but on some levels, he had to give credit to the design of this particular uniform. It accentuated all the natural curves of a woman and gave it this sensual sort of property that if he were any less of the man he was, he would have long lost himself staring.
Not that Xenovia would have had minded, for he was sure that the girl had got it into her head that so long as it was him looking, it didn't matter. He was already being pressured to stop her from walking out of the shower without a towel, therefore, he wouldn't know what would happen if he acted on his hormones and actually indicated his interest.
Clearing his throat, he composed himself before leaving the door propped open behind him.
He raised a brow thereafter.
"I thought class ended a couple hours ago," he commented while taking off his jacket and then draping it over Xenovia's shoulders.
She stared blankly at him for his actions, before a warmth spread across her face that nearly caused her lips to form into a smile. However, she was able to maintain her calm, but it was clear that she was exceedingly happy from how bright her eyes seemed to be.
She was practically beaming even as he pulled out another one of his spare jackets and similarly draped it over Irina's shoulders.
The poor girl didn't how to respond other than a small "thank you." After all, the majority of her interactions with boys centered around her youth when she played alongside Issei. Therefore, Irina didn't know how to react to his unconscious actions and considerations towards others.
For him at least, his actions were dictated out of thoughtfulness. He had been walking the entirety of the way back from Kuoh, and it was exceedingly cold out with the wind blowing over his face. Thus, when he saw that both Irina and Xenovia were going to leave with only their uniforms on, he immediately moved into action without much thought.
As far as he was concerned, the two of them had not brought any luggage containing their clothes and instead brought a pile of 'junk,' Irina claimed to be Holy Objects of devotion. It was truly all junk though. It was a fact. A fact he knew all too well would cause Xenovia to explode on Irina should she ever find out. In this way, it had sort of became a taboo subject that would form dark clouds over Xenovia's head should she ever think back on it.
But that was beside the point. What mattered was that they really didn't have anything warmer to wear other than those white cloaks they brought, yet he would rather they wear his spare jackets then walk around in something so eye-catching.
"We were called on a sudden summons," Xenovia explained slowly, her complexion radiant as she could still feel the lingering warmth in the jacket. "We weren't told what it was about, just that all available personnel from the church are to meet up at Kuoh."
"And after we just got back too," Irina said in a defeated tone that only Xenovia could relate to. After all, only the two of them knew that he had baked desserts the night before.
And apparently, what the two loved more than the food he made, were the desserts he created under their watchful gazes.
Considering that he had made a type of angel-fruit-cake and a trey of assorted cookies, the two had been looking forward to satiating their cravings.
Of the two, it was Xenovia who was the most eager. After all, in the Holy Sword Trials, she had her fill of the types of food he could make, and she hadn't let him off since.
Unexpectedly, when Irina voiced her complaint, Xenovia didn't seem as troubled as Irina was expecting her to be. Instead, a ferocious light exuded from Irina's eyes when she suddenly zoomed in on the presence of crumbs around Xenovia's lips and a tiny portion on her chest.
Sensing the murderous aura suddenly erupting around Irina, Xenovia was quick to act while looking slightly guilty. Of course, he was quick to understand the source of her guilt. Knowing her character. It probably wasn't that she took a bite of the dessert before Irina, it was infinitely times more likely that she ate all of it.
Pursing her lips awkwardly, she quickly gave him a hug before running out the door, Irina chasing after her in a fluster.
"Bye!" She called back to him, a smile blooming on her face that left him dazed.
No matter how he tried to reason with himself, he knew that Xenovia liked him a lot. Why else would someone so cold to others only show a smile in his direction? Even more so when she had never been one good with interacting with others. It was to the point that she was genuinely happy to have had first made a single friend with him at the church in Italy.
When Griselda suggested a baby, he was even more sure that Xenovia was only trying to follow the wishes of the woman who raised her. Yet, looking at her now whenever she stared at him, he couldn't fool himself into believing that any longer.
Mulling over his thoughts, he entered in the living room of the home and quietly sat onto a recliner staring at the seat opposite of him. It was where Ayakoji used to sit while languidly staring at the T.V. screen. However, it was empty at this moment as it had been since the end of the Excalibur incident.
The man was just nowhere to be found. Therefore, even he had to give up on searching and just wait to see if Ayakoji would turn up sometime. In the meantime, he had to deal with the sword strapped firmly to his waist.
It was a sword made out of the combination of six out of the seven shards of Excalibur, and no matter what he did, he couldn't pull it free from its strap by his waist. It was only fortunate that like the necklace around his neck, others couldn't see it. Although in Excalibur's case, he knew that others with a stronger perception would be able to perceive it just from its sword-like Holy Aura alone.
This left him in a bind as he knew that it wasn't good to give himself away in battle, but there was nothing he could do about it for now.
Sighing, he craned his neck to the side as his eyes focused on something that he knew was not there when he had left in the morning.
Two pale white feathers only about the size of his palm were in sight and illuminated by the light of an open window.
Upon sighting them, the necklace that was hanging dormant around his neck shook violently.
"!"
He muffled a groan. He didn't have a choice as the necklace all but dragged him towards those feathers.
"Michael, Garbriel…"
The voice in the necklace was trembling.
"You, both, you would even?"
"What's going on?" He asked urgently.
From what he knew, the voice in the necklace had conveyed that it would have to rest to make up for the strength it had lost previously, but clearly something was wrong with that statement. After all, the strength he could feel pulling on his neck now was not something that a weakened necklace should have had been able to achieve.
Instead of answering, he was forced to watch in disbelief as the two feathers in front of him virtually exploded in a shower of unending divine light that filtered directly into the necklace around his neck. And as it did so, the necklace around his neck was gradually shifting transparent as it finally seemed to sink directly into his body.
Moments later, the light died down, and the room was still.
Perplexed, he patted around his own neck but couldn't feel the familiar outline of the necklace any longer. All that he could feel with his finger tips, was the smooth skin of his neck.
"The Divine Light of Angels. It alone is connected to an Angel's divinity and very lifespan."
The voice echoed within his head, letting him know exactly what he had just seen. The Divine Light of Angels was something of a representation of an Angel's power and standing in much the same way as their wings; the stronger the Divine Light, the more probable that the Angel would maintain self prosperity. For Michael and Gabriel to give a portion of it up, it went to show just how much they wanted to help in the necklace's recovery.
"Michael and Gabriel, they sacrificed so much, yet how can a father bear to burden his children?"
The tone of which the voice spoke was anguished, but he could relate to the feelings Michael and Gabriel probably felt. If he could have had been able to help Kiritsugu with his affliction then he wouldn't have had even minded sacrificing his own life.
If a parent loves their child, then a child loves their parent just as well.
There was a certain resoluteness in the voice's tone that he knew came from a hardened resolve.
"Shirou Emiya, my strength has been greatly restored, therefore I no longer need to spend excessive amounts of time in hibernation. The time to act is now."
His body grew tense, but he had already come to terms with himself with what he had to do. God said that something like what had come out of the Holy Grail in Fuyuki was lurking within this very world, and thus he had to stop it from emerging somehow. In this regard, he would give his full support.
"Will you help me?"
His only response was a nod for words were no longer necessary.
"Then we must start where the traces begin."
Dim flecks of blue light began swirling across the room.
Iridescent and moving erratically like fireflies in a dark evening.
A door was formed from the ether.
A rectangular portal that led through the fabrics of space itself, distorting the air around it.
And with a single step forward, he disappeared through it.
A man who would later be known by all as a being spoken of in reverence.
By now, Xenovia was fairly sure that Irina's anger had simmered down enough that it was safe to start walking beside her without fear of getting jumped on. But don't get her wrong though, she was more than prepared to dash off should her estimates be less than accurate.
Wind striking against her face, she pulled in the jacket Shirou had given her and immersed herself in the soft fabric. She could even smell the lingering scent he had left behind. He was actually quite considerate. It was something she really liked about him as she could tell from the steadiness of his actions that he didn't even think before he acted.
She smiled when she was sure that Irina wasn't looking.
He really was a man who knew how to treat a woman.
And because of this, it was almost unbelievable that she had first met him by the Church Creak. Yet know that she saw first hand who he was and represented, she felt a vague sense of acknowledgment for his origins. Even the most important of individuals stemmed from humble beginnings. Christ was the same, and perhaps the creak served as a symbolic symbol. John the Baptist for example cleansed people of their sins using water from a stream. As for Shirou, he aided the swordsmanship of the young sword trainees by the Church. She was the same when she sought him out, and through it, she discovered a part of herself she never believed she had.
He was a true Holy Man in every sense of the title.
And he was the one she wanted to make a child with not just because the child would be powerful, but more because she had developed strong feelings for him.
Humming to herself, she adjusted her pacing to fall just beside Irina who was now only glaring at her.
"Sorry," she offered, but clearly, Irina noticed that she didn't feel any regret. "They tasted too good," she then added thoughtfully.
Irina's expression darkened without her notice, but she reasoned that there was no point starting a fuss about events that had already occurred.
As such, Irina grumbled piteously as she walked with her head bowed.
Xenovia paid no notice, the bright expression on her face yet to fade.
When the two arrived at Kuoh Academy, the majority of the students were already gone, leaving behind only those belonging to a devil's peerage. Tsubaki Shinra so happened to pass by at that moment, and from the look on her face, Xenovia felt slightly odd about this urgent matter from the church.
Still, when Tsubaki met her gaze, the girl herself seemed to freeze awkwardly. Her mouth had curved into a strained smile, and her eyes had darted completely away as she quickly hurried along.
Xenovia frowned and was just about to ask Irina about her thoughts, but realized that Irina had missed the entire scene since her head was still bowed low.
Therefore, Xenovia herself was forced to mull over the matter as she felt a bad premonition that only grew worse when she and Irina reached their destination.
Several rows of Angels were stationed just outside of the Occult Research Club Building, and even some Devils she had never seen before were among their ranks. Then again, the hostility between them was not something that could be hidden.
It was as if all it would take to break out into open conflict was a minor argument.
She wouldn't be surprised if this was the case at all. However, once she and Irina approached, it had an unexpected effect. Both Angel and Devil alike guarding the premise stared at them, but more specifically on Xenovia herself.
She pursed her lips from the attention but gave nothing away as she stared back blankly. The feeling that something was wrong had long ago sky-rocketed out of proportions, making her hands grow clammy.
In the Angels view, she was somewhat of a special case. If Shirou was viewed as the re-emergence of 'he who rules in the clouds,' then her relationship with Shirou was something to be taken seriously. God had never had a wife, but it was clear that Shirou wasn't fully the same God the Angels worshipped. Instead, he was more akin to a reincarnation, an individual that was the most suited for the role of leading the world to salvation.
He was the second coming of God, but not everything about him was the same as God. This was evident in the change in disposition Shirou showed when the heavenly light around him in the battle with the Excaliburs faded. He shifted from a godly being back into a mortal who had no definite recollection of the events that had transpired.
In which case, it could only be speculated that God was him, and he was God.
Because Xenovia spent so much time around Shirou, the preconception around her shifted in the eyes of Michael and the Angels to potential matriarch.
And this was why everyone was staring oddly at Xenovia, because something ground breaking was currently occurring within the building.
Ushered into the Occult Research Building, both Xenovia and Irina stared at each other in confusion before walking towards the designated room.
On the way, Xenovia was growing increasingly perturbed. Everyone she passed by, be it Angel or Devil would glance at her direction.
"Do you think you did something wrong?" Irina asked perplexed. Irina was being oddly meek because of all the attention falling over her and Xenovia.
"No," Xenovia answered curtly, brows furrowed. "I have no idea."
Troubled, Irina shut her mouth and looked on ahead without another sound.
Up around the next corner, both Xenovia and Irina knew that it would lead to the hall in front of the Occult Research club room and already they could hear the sounds of voices.
Yet, it wasn't until a single sentence entered the two's ears that the two froze in their steps; Irina even went the extra length to stare incredulously at Xenovia like she couldn't believe the words that she had just heard.
Xenovia's reaction was far more telling. Her breath quickened, and it was almost as if she had been stabbed in the chest with how pale her face had become. There was even a quiver on her lip that trembled ever so slightly from her widened mouth.
It was a single sentence.
Something that should have had been no more than a fleeting jumble of words.
Yet those words continued to echo in Xenovia's ears.
~I propose to have Shirou married to my sister, Sona Sitri.
No.
NO.
Everything that had occurred before her eyes recently seemed to finally connect in her mind. The reason for Tsubaki's awkwardness, the stares from both Angels and Devils alike, it was all because of this.
Because in both the Angels and Devils perspectives, she was a woman exceedingly close with Shirou. Therefore, to have another woman propose marriage to Shirou, it was completely out of the Angels and Devils predictions.
More than that, Xenovia wouldn't stand for it.
Mouth closing, her eyes narrowed as she directly entered the room without so much as a knock.
Inside, she saw Michael smiling wryly at the woman in front of him. A woman who was currently in the attire of a magical girl complete with a pink dress and matching head-piece. Sirzech's was right beside this woman, and similar to Michael, he had a strained smile on his face as he knew Shirou's weight in the Heaven Faction.
Xenovia didn't care about anything else. Not even status. Before Irina could catch up to her to dissuade her, she was already sweeping a glance into the room.
Seeing the woman, and recognizing her voice to be the one she had heard in the hall, the first words that came from Xenovia's mouth was,
"I am the main wife."
When next Shirou opened his eyes, it was to see a familiar background. The scent of charred wood and glass permeated in the air, and the fires that had once plagued the area had long since died down, leaving only ashes that covered his feet.
This was the very place he had first arrived at from Fuyuki. Here, he was tasked to gather the red chess pieces which had then morphed into various stone monuments that were kept stored somewhere by God.
Now that he was back, there was nothing left of the building he was in. Staring up at the sky, he was stupefied when he realized that it was purple.
"Where is this place?" He asked.
"This is the Underworld, and you best move before the Devils spot you."
Shirou raised a brow. The Devils he knew weren't the Devils they were described to be in his world. Instead, they were far more human. Thinking back to his reaction when Devils were first mentioned, he was a tad bit ashamed that he thought badly of them.
"Is there a need to hide?" He asked. "Devils don't seem to be bad people," he reasoned.
"That was then, and this is now. What you know already will be different from what you will see today for we are in the era of the Great War Between the Factions at the time just after my confrontation and 'death' alongside the original Four Great Satans."
Shirou's eyes widened when he heard the words God spoke. Thereafter, he chose to heed God's words and hid himself within the burnt rubble of the area around. Soot covered his body from head to toe, giving him an ash like complexion as patches of burnt dust clung to him. However, he was thoroughly hidden as a result.
Almost as soon as he had hidden himself, several winged devils appeared in the sky. Their eyes were blood-shot and the murderous intent around them was unmistakable.
Shifting in the ash, he was able to move his head just enough to see something that immediately ignited his anger.
Flying in the sky, the devils each carried thick ropes of twine that stretched down to tie up an entire group of beaten people. Just from the characteristics of the people tied in rope, it was clear that they were also Devils. But then why were the Devils treating each other in such a way?
His Body shook from sheer fury when his eyes landed on the final bundle held in the hands of one of the flying Devils. It was composed entirely out of women and children, and not even they were spared from the beating. There was even child whose face had become unrecognizable due to swelling, and still he was bound in rope and suspended in the air.
Shirou's hands balled into fists, ash and debris splintering as the magical energy within him was threatening to explode. It was to the point that he nearly got caught when he was about to forsake his position and jump out. However, a heaviness in his body forced him to remain on the ground.
"Be still, now isn't the time."
Shirou cursed as he could do nothing but watch as those Devils flew off in the distance. When God eased the pressure on him, the first thing Shirou did was rush off in the direction he saw the Devils flying in. And when he got there, he stood rooted staring at a tower of bodies piled high into a mound over the remains of what was once a small town. And beneath that pile, was an assortment of wood and branches that could only possibly serve one purpose.
"They're going to burn them alive!"
He was beyond infuriated, he was seething.
"What is going on!?" He immediately questioned.
A sigh echoed into his ears before the voice spoke.
"It was well known that after the fall of the Four Great Satans, the Devils split off into two distinct branches, the Old Satan Faction whose purpose was to continue the war for the world, and the New Satan Faction which opposed it. Because of these two beliefs, a Civil War broke out within the Underworld leading to the loss of numerous Devils."
Shirou remained silent as he digested what he was just told, but it did nothing to appease his restlessness.
"The Old Satan Faction was too keen on continuing the war. Those that had other opinions were silenced just like what you are seeing now, but even then, this case is probably one of the darker ones. It seems that they aren't even going to spare the civilians."
The Old Satan Faction, looking at them, Shirou only knew that he would never be able to get along with them.
"Why are we here?" He ended up asking after a long moment of silence.
"Because this is where we pick up the trail before returning to the present. Our time spent here will only be a moment spent there, so we should have plenty of time. But on to the actual topic. The moment after my fall with the Four Great Satans was when the malefic power stored within that corrupted Grail poured its contents out into my world. My battleground shouldn't be far from here, and if the malefic power left any trails to give us a lead in the modern century, then we can only find it here in this timeline. The timeline when the Holy Grail first appeared."
Shirou nodded his head, but then asked a different question that was bothering him.
"If we are investigating this place now, then why did I appear here first after leaving Fuyuki, and then have to leave?"
"It was all a coincidence. At the time, I was short on strength and only barely managed to get you across by using the distortion the Grail had already made in this world. From there I…"
The voice fell silent for a moment before continuing resolutely.
"From there I tapped into another source of power to send us to the present time where it was safer so that I could regain some of my strength. And before you ask, this 'other power source' is probably what you've already assumed when you first laid eyes on the Evil Pieces in Sona Sitri and Rias Gremory's hands. Yes, I used what the Devils call the Evil Piece System."
Shirou nodded his head. "Then the King piece that was missing?"
"Melded into you." God confirmed. "However, because of my presence, the Evil Pieces were changed into something that is far different from any of the Evil Pieces in the hands of Devils. Rather, they are more akin to vessels. This is why you didn't become a Devil when I integrated the piece into you to improve your constitution and magical power. Instead, you retained your human form, neither Devil nor Angel, the two energies balancing themselves out."
Shirou didn't need to hear anymore. At this point, he knew enough about himself, and he wasn't interested in such things anyway. Instead, he was moments away from bursting into the scene in front of him and putting an end to.
It didn't matter if he was back in time and may skew the future with his actions. If others were suffering in front of him, would he just stay back and watch? That wasn't the way of a hero. That wasn't something Shirou Emiya would do.
"You must understand that you may not be able to change anything. If you charge in there as you are now, then not only would you not be helping, but you may only invite more trouble as a human with Holy Attributes. At the moment, the Factions are still at war, and if you were to appear now, those you save may not show gratitude, but instead give you scorn for taking away their loved ones in the war."
"Then you expect me to do nothing?" Shirou scoffed. "I don't care if they scorn me, what matters is that I save them."
"Then perhaps I can be of help?"
The voice that spoke was unlike the gentle and serene one of before. Instead, this one was dark and callous.
Shirou knew who it was, and without even thinking, gave his consent.
Dark tribal patterns suddenly appeared over his body, his complexion and skin tone shifting to a dull bronze while his hair blackened. Pain immediately flared within him, but it was a familiar pain that he had already experienced in the second phase of the Holy Sword Trial. The pain of the boy who was forced into a position of which he had no control.
Hairs standing on end, narrowed eyes stared at the sight before them, a boundless aura of dark power surging up like a torch.
What is a Devil?
A single step forward, and the ground beneath him caved in.
Was it not a being whose power dwarfed others?
The next step sent a powerful shockwave out in all directions, black tribal marks glowing in a red light.
He was no Devil, but right now, the other Devil's in the area grew stock still in bafflement.
A suffocating pressure.
A feeling that crushed any notions of resistance and demanded submission.
The power of the King piece in his body melded completely with him, a towering surge of Devil Energy shooting up into the sky.
The shirt he was wearing ripped to pieces, revealing toned and defined muscles that rippled with every action.
Devils submitted to power. The Four Great Satans being the strongest of all Devil kind.
And he who was exuding a power that enveloped the entire area appeared to be a Devil greater than any other.
A sovereign.
Nobility.
A Pillar.
The eyes of the Devils piled into a mound grew exceptionally bright as a magic symbol suddenly stretched from the ground beneath Shirou's feet to the entirety of the territory around him.
The Great President of Hell governing thirty-six legions.
And the House that stemmed from it.
It was the magic circle of Marbas, of the Seventy-Two Pillars.
When the magic circle lit up beneath her feet, the young Adelina was too busy weeping in the arms of her mother to notice. She was a resident of the towns under Lord Marbas's jurisdiction, and the man was adamant that he wouldn't support the Old Satan Faction. This was what lead to the current situation.
The bruises on her body still stung from the beating she had endured from the Devils belonging to the Old Satan Faction. But, she wouldn't mind bearing such pain over and over again if it meant that it could bring back her father.
He was killed before her eyes because he refused to leave her and her mother alone to fight in a war that would only lead to more death. It was the same for all the other men living in the territory of Lord Marbas of the Seventy-Two Pillars.
After an entire group from the Old Satan Faction attacked the Lord's mansion, everyone was sure that their Lord who had been protecting them had died. This was only proven when the Old Satan Faction hauled out a battered body from the rubble of the Marbas Mansion thereafter, but clearly, a descendant of the Marbas line still lived.
And he had arrived just in time to. Otherwise, she knew full well that she and everyone else loyal to the Marbas line would be burned to ashes in the wind.
Adelina couldn't stop the tears from rushing down her face when her mother coaxed her out of her arms to stare at the glowing magic symbols on the ground.
It was over, everything was finally over.
The new lord would take care of everything.
Looking at that figure who walked steadily down the worn path of the Lord's mansion, the image burned itself into the eyes of everyone present. For the Devil that appeared in their gaze was a Devil like none other.
Black tribal marks ran across his entire body, and the frigidness of his gaze sent shivers down her spine. Nevertheless, Adelina pushed herself out of her mother's arms and ran in the direction of this Devil. After all, unlike everyone else who were to injured to move, her condition was fairly better. Because of this, she needed to act.
None stopped her approach, for none dared to move on the Old Satan Faction's side.
Met with no resistance, Adelina still succumbed to her injuries and fell on the ground. Yet even then, she stared at the Descendant of Marbas and prostrated in his direction.
"Lord Devil, please save us!" She pleaded, not daring to meet this descendant of Marbas's gaze.
After all, she had no idea if this descendant was anything like the Kind Old Marbas that she and many of the townsfolk knew.
Unexpectedly, a gentle hand appeared over her shoulder, and the face that met hers ended up moving her to tears. It was an expression of care and concern, something that other High-Class Devils rarely showed to low class-Devils like herself.
"Rest easy," were the only word whispered into her ears.
And then he walked past her, straight to where the Old Satan Faction members were standing.
For each step taken, the Old Satan Faction took a step back.
"Y-You, don't push your luck!" One of the Old Satan Faction members muttered. But even then, it wasn't very convincing for a threat when the man himself was trembling.
And in that moment, a sword suddenly stabbed through the man who looked down with widened eyes. Blood pooled around the wound before the man collapsed to his knees, the other Devils from the Old Satan Faction watching in horror.
For the sword just appeared out of nowhere.
W-What the hell was this?
What just happened was impossible.
Choking on his own blood, the man that had spoken would never again utter a single word.
A dead silence quickly fell with only the sound of feet pressing against the ground to be heard.
Adelina herself was thoroughly stumped for words for nothing could explain such an inexplicable sight. It was too powerful and unheard of. Lord Marbas had never shown such a magical ability, and yet this descendant was capable of it? Was it some sort of new family magic?
She closed her mouth and watched riveted. She didn't care what it was, for that sword represented her vindication. The men and women who took her father away from her were finally going to experience retribution.
And indeed, this was the case.
The Devils in the Old Satan Faction panicked and immediately fled, but many still stayed. And the ones that did were able to experience first hand the means of this descendant of Marbas.
A spear wrought with pulsing vein like inscriptions pierced all with unerring accuracy. One stab at the heart, and that was all it took.
And when a two-meter-long blade appeared in the young Lord's hands, it was like he suddenly transformed.
Gentle and serene.
The disposition of one who had spent a lifetime honing their skills with a sword.
As for the Devils rushing at him, they couldn't even be compared in the same sentence.
It was a multi-directional attack.
Something invented by a man who simply had too much time on his hands and a single-minded devotion to slay a swallow mid-flight.
The sword whose edge strikes three times.
"Tsubame Gaeshi,"
It was a show of swordsmanship she and many other Devils had never seen before. It was too overwhelmingly strong that it could only be described as perfect.
When that sword swung, more than just one devil was caught by surprise when at that moment before cutting down the enemy, three swords existed.
Her mouth dried when she saw the result. All that were caught within that blade's swing were reduced to nothing more than tiny pieces.
Her mouth opened then after.
"Hail Lord Marbas!"
It was a feeling and an urge that welled from her very being for the individual who was fighting on hers and everyone's behalf.
"Hail our Lord Nobility of the Seventy-Two Pillars!"
Her voice was hoarse, but still she cheered for his name. The mournful tears on her eyes only continued to stream as she thought back to her father's dead body.
It wasn't fair.
It just wasn't fair.
Her expression dropped as her lips trembled.
Why didn't you come sooner?
She pursed her lips as she knew that it wasn't his fault. It was just how the situation played out. Still, for a low-class Devil like her and the current inhabitants, the kindness the Lord was showing was already more than enough.
"Hail Lord Marbas!"
The sound of her proclamation, was the signal for the shattering of whatever resolve those on the Old Satan's Faction had. All suddenly began to flee, yet their nightmare was far from over.
In the young Lord's hands appeared a pitch-black bow almost as long as he was tall. And on that bow, countless arrows were fired. Twisted swords that moved much faster than any Devil could fly.
They soared in the sky, piercing into fleeing Devils one by one. The sheer penetrating power was enough to pierce even mountain bed-rock.
The Devils in the sky fell like flies, wings unmoving as they landed on the ground.
She didn't pity them, for they got what they deserved.
Turning her gaze away from the young Lord, she crawled back in the direction of her mother using whatever strength she had left. Her legs refused to work, so all that she could do was force herself forward by using her forearms. Even then, she was forced to wince as bits and pieces of dirt and gravel dug into her skin.
It was then that she felt a pair of arms wrap around her to hoist her up.
She was powerless to resist, but there was no point in doing so when she realized that she was being taken in the direction of her mother. Her mother had her hands over her mouth, and it was clear that she was stuck in a state of indecision.
It was only when she was passed over to her mother that she would realize why. The person that had been carrying her was none other than the Lord who had already driven off the Devils from the Old Satan Faction.
A man who could be nothing other than a hero to her and the other Devils.
For he had appeared to grant them salvation in their time of need.
And that was a gift that no one would be able to repay. Yet it was because of this, that fierce loyalty began to bloom.
When Adelina stared at the face of the young Lord, she knew then that she would devote her entire life to him. For a High-Class Devil, a Lord that could smile at her just because she was safe, was a Lord like none other.
But to the fleeing Devils from the Old Satan Faction, they would know him as something far worse. Something that they couldn't even report properly to their superiors when interrogated.
He was a member of the Seventy-Two Pillars, the nobility of Devil-kind which possessed the strongest of all Devils.
He was known as Marbas the Unfathomable.
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Next update: Vasto of White Tomorrow evening if all goes well for this double update