The Holy Man of The Church Creek

28

Honestly speaking, she couldn't understand why it was that she had been so careless.

A sigh escaped Sona's lips, the subtle motion producing a warm breath that became a misty vapour in the cold fall-season air even if it had only lasted for a moment.
It was inconceivable to her.
Her past actions weren't how her usual self would have had reacted, especially considering the confidentiality and significance of the matter she had so carelessly handled. The name Marbas was iconic in the Underworld. Practically no Devil born before or after the Civil War wouldn't have had heard of that name. More so for her and the Sitri family, because it was personal.
If Marbas hadn't died in the end of the Civil War to save the Underworld from the unimaginable power of God's Light, then more than likely, he would have had become the son-in-law of the Sitri family, no;
Sona shook her head.
He already had.
The proof of that itself existed in the form of the Magic Crest of the Lion and Keeper of Truths marked on the back of Serafall's hands. For all intents and purposes, Marbas was a Lord of both his family and the Sitri Family. It was why Marbas's name was enshrined by Allon in the Sitri Family's ancestral tomb.
Marbas had been Serafall's husband, and that alone was enough to validate such an action. However, what it meant was that a young widow had been left behind. One who hadn't even passed her teenage years by the end of the Civil War.
It was enough to get Sona to despair.
No matter how annoying Sona found her elder sister to be, they both wanted what was best for the other. In which case, both sisters already knew without asking what would make the other truly happy. For Sona, it was the accomplishment of her dream to be a teacher amongst Devils and in turn, help foster the next generation. This was something that wasn't out of reach and could be accomplished with the Sitri family's resources and the backing of one of the New Four Great Satans, her elder sister. However, Serafall would never again have a chance to attain her happiness.
Serafall's dream of creating an Underworld Sona could live in had already been achieved and more. The current Underworld was an Underworld that all Devils could be proud of, and yet it was an Underworld without him. Serafall's situation could be described in a simple sentence. Her dreams had been achieved, yet her happiness was forever gone; all her efforts going to protect what he had left behind and meddling in the business of her younger sister.
Yet perhaps more important than everything else was the fact that Marbas was the undisputed and recognized future heir of the Underworld that mattered.
He should have had been a King.
A Sovereign that would have had ushered in an age of prosperity the likes of which had never been seen since the original Seventy-Two Pillars as said by her sister.
Although she was skeptical of such words considering the violent temperaments of Demons, she still trusted her sister more than literary works.
Though Marbas had died, he had still been the Leader of the Underworld if only for a moment.
A leader that had had no opposition to his rule even on the side of the Old Satan Faction. Therefore, like the original descendants of the Four Great Satans, the descendants of Marbas also had a right to rule, given the approval of the majority of all Devils.
She stared at Shirou's stiff expression after her words were spoken but didn't think too much about it as he was probably just concerned about any implications. As such, she would never have had known that he himself was the root of the problem.
After all, when Sona had first sent the Family Registry to the Underworld to her Sister's office, it was in the pretence of discovering a member of a deceased Noble Family with no further trivialities. Subsequently, with Shirou's meddling in the time line, the action Sona had done which shouldn't have had created any implications, suddenly had many.
Sona pinched the bridge of her nose and lamented in silence. It wouldn't be long before her elder sister would discover the information she had sent, and by then everything would become unpredictable. Considering the importance of the upcoming Peace Talks to all factions, unpredictability was the least favourable of all outcomes and she knew this.
Luckily, Sona had only sent the Family Registry and had yet to write a letter on the matter. Thus, even if her elder sister obtained the family registry she had sent, it wouldn't inform her elder sister of anything substantial about the person it was related to unless her elder sister got the answer from Sona herself.
"C-Complicated?" Shirou's voice appeared to be in a fluster, an unease appearing in his eyes.
She nodded her head, the motion carrying a trace of solemnity.
"Admittedly though, I am partly to blame for this which is why it is fortunate that we've met at this time," Sona bowed her head, a frown on her face evident as she speculated of what was to come.
"I'm sorry," she then said, confusing Shirou greatly.
"What's there to be sorry for?" Shirou asked. To be fair, he didn't know what Sona had done before his trip to the past Underworld.
Instead of replying through words, Sona pulled out another Family Registry and rolled it open. The thing about Duke Dantalion's Family Registry was that when one Family Registry was updated, all would be updated to maintain efficiency and reduce misinformation.
There on the Family Registry was the glowing Magic Crest of Marbas. Something Shirou knew all too well for he was the one to constantly use it.
"…" He had no words, perhaps because he had nothing to say, but more likely because he wanted to deny what was in front of him.
"During the end of our chess game together, you had accidently laid hands on this Family Registry," Sona began, a finger tapping against her crossed arms. "Subsequently, your touch reacted with the Magic Crest of Marbas, a Noble Family of the Seventy-Two pillars of the Underworld that had gone extinct after the Wars."
Shirou's expression fell, his eyes drooping and mouth opening subconsciously.
"You are very likely a descendant of Marbas, the very same Family and Noble Pillar that the Hero and Lion of the Underworld belonged to," Sona stated without blinking, the surety of her tone unmistakable. "That, or you were a love-child of the Hero Marbas no one ever knew about, but it's unlikely."
No, Shirou almost said. For he wasn't a descendant of himself. He was Marbas.
But he couldn't voice any words of opposition. He simply had no explanation that was believable.
Seeing that Shirou was remaining silent, Sona continued with her words.
"Generally, this fact shouldn't have been something so complicated. In fact, it would have had been a moment of rejoice for the Underworld due to the return of another Noble Pillar, but unfortunately this situation is different."
Sona's eyes narrowed, the gentle knitting of her brows a clear sign of the storm brewing within her.
"You are God, or at the very least, are a part of him. His image that appeared on that day against Kokabiel was unmistakable. No one other than God would ever have had been able to make the battle-crazed Morning Star of Heaven yield along with his followers with simple words and actions. But this is the problem in itself."
Sona closed her mouth and uncrossed her arms, a thumb placing itself beneath her chin as she clicked her tongue.
"Heaven will not allow the Underworld to take you, and the Underworld will not allow Heaven to keep the descendant of a Family belonging to a National Hero," Sona's hands fell to her side and balled into fists. "More specifically, my sister would never allow it. More so if she ever saw your face."
Shirou was the spitting image of Marbas. Everything about his appearance was the same, and if not for Shirou's lighter skin tone and lack of black tribal marks, then the two would have had been identical.
This was dangerous.
Too dangerous to leave alone.
Shirou had already come in contact with Sirzechs and the man was bound to notice the sheer resemblance. However, Sona was also certain that Sirzechs wouldn't reveal it to anyone else other than perhaps Ajuka. Knowing Serafall as Sirzechs did, he wasn't certain that she would be able to see the bigger picture in leu of the emotions that seeing Shirou's face would bring. In which case, Heaven and the Underworld would never be able to come to an agreement and the Peace Talks would be ruined as a result. Worse, a war may even start.
The followers of Marbas born during the Civil War of the Underworld was not a small number. In fact, their numbers were overwhelming as it was composed of the numerous low-class devils of the time period of the Civil War in which many of them had ranked up through the years.
Adelina Swiftblade was one example, and she was of an Ultimate Class among many others.
It wasn't an underestimation to say that over half of the Underworld was under Marbas's influence, giving them a means to start another war. And Serafall would lead it when confrontation eventually came with Heaven.
Therefore, Sona knew that it would be best if Serafall either never saw Shirou, or that she would only see him after the Peace Talks had concluded such that no decisive actions could be taken.
Of course, all these precautions could prove unnecessary.
Sona pursed her lips, an unwilling expression on her face.
A part of her wanted to believe that her sister would understand what it was that she should do, but the rational part of her mind didn't want to leave anything to chance. Not when it concerned everyone she cared about. It was why she hadn't even told Rias about her conclusions.
Yet perhaps more than anything was the part of her that had come up with her own conjectures.
Something that was entirely possible, but untestable.
When Serafall had described to her about the death of the Underworld's greatest Hero, it had been a clashing between the power of God and the power of a Demon.
A light of purity vs the darkness of malice.
A power that cleanses, and one that taints.
Sona had assumed that Shirou was a descendant of Marbas solely because she had excluded the possibility that she had first devised. What would happen should a Demon be cleansed by God's Light? The obvious outcome was death, but in her readings of the other various pantheons including Buddhism, another means could exist.
Shirou was human.
Not a Demon, and not a Holy Angel.
From a certain perspective in Catholicism, to be human was to be neutral considering that the Earth had always been the middle ground between Heaven and Hell. Thus, if she took God's Light as the strength of Heaven, and Marbas's Demonic Taint as the strength of Hell, then the clashing of polar opposites would end in neutrality.
Thus, a Human.
Shirou was a Human.
And Marbas had been a Demon bathed in the Light of God.
Their appearances were identical, their selflessness similar based on the stories Xenovia had shared and the stories Sona had grown up listening to by her elder sister.
Therefore, just what if, by some chance, Shirou and Marbas were the same person?
Buddhism spoke of Reincarnation, and all pantheons that existed in the present era had power in their beliefs. Odin the All Father, Zeus of Olympus, and even Buddha were all examples of the powerhouses of the various pantheons that currently existed.
Power existed in belief.
Reincarnation was a possibility.
Yet it was a possibility Sona couldn't accept. For Reincarnation was in the jurisdiction of Buddhism and other pantheons, and they wouldn't overstep their boundaries by meddling into the affairs of Heaven and the Underworld. Even then, if they truly had overstepped their bounds, it would be a nightmare of complications and heated emotions.
She shook her head despite the unease she was feeling in her gut.
Shirou was simply a descendant. That had to be what it was. For if he was actually Marbas, she wouldn't know how she would be able to meet her sister's gaze and lie to her the sake of the Peace Talks.
"You have to hide," was the only conclusion Sona could come up with in the end despite knowing it wouldn't be solving anything.
"You expect me to hide?" Shirou asked incredulously.
Ever since Heaven had discovered God's existence, they had always kept him in constant care and supervision such that nothing would ever happen to him. It was an overprotectiveness born from the feeling of regaining something thought to have had been lost forever.
"Yes, just until the conclusion of the Peace Talks and now would be your only chance," Sona said with confidence. "Most of the Angels under Michael and Gabriel are currently occupied with another matter that you don't have to concern yourself with. Now go."
Without even giving Shirou any time to agree, Sona patted his back and pushed him forward towards the direction of a side alley and quickly ran off in another direction; her expression strained as the Sitri Magic Crest flashed before her eyes.
She didn't need to answer to know who was calling.
She paused near a park a kilometer away from Kuoh Academy and tentatively touched her glowing magic crest after a breath.
"Sona," a voice spoke directly into her mind, gentle yet forced. "We need to talk."
Generally speaking, the city around Kuoh Academy was actually fairly large with buildings of steel and concrete spanning the majority of its urbanized zones. Furthermore, the alleyways and backends of numerous establishments created a winding network of uncharted pathways not recorded on mainstream maps, making it easy for one to get lost in them.
This was the current case for Irina.
She sighed for the umpteenth time today and heavily regretted her decision to leave by herself after Michael had asked Xenovia to stay for a moment in Kuoh. She had just been so excited over the words Gabriel had said to her that she just couldn't keep still, and low and behold her current situation.
Her lips quivered from her anxiety. She was sure that she had already passed this same alley almost an hour ago after she had decided to take the shortcut through the business areas that Issei had told her about in passing.
Japan, O Japan. Why did everything have to be so complicated?
To be fair, she had been just like Xenovia and had grown used to spending her life in small isolated churches built alongside nature in Italy. As such, the crowded streets and blaring lights in the night and day of the Urbanized world were still a tad jarring for her to navigate through.
She almost felt like crying for just like a child, she had gotten lost due to her own excitement and impatience. If she had just taken the main road full of people then she could have had just asked for directions.
Yet in these dark alleys, there was barely anyone, and even then, they were gruff and would shrug of her questions without much care.
"O Lord, grant me deliverance," she finally prayed, her hands clasping together as she fell onto her knees.
Silence, a black cat with two tails staring at her oddly from atop a dumpster can before slinking off into the shadows.
She simply looked too pitiful, and in her time of need, a saviour then appeared.
"Irina?" Shirou called, causing Irina's eyes to brighten and face to flush red.
"O thank you Lord for answering my prayers," Irina said, scrambling onto her feet and clinging onto Shirou like a lifeline.
Confused, Shirou could only wrap his arms around Irina until she composed herself enough to finally let go and laugh awkwardly at her own behaviour.
"Sorry," Irina apologized, the redness of her cheeks flaring as she recalled her actions, her lips pursing together.
"No, I didn't really mind it," Shirou said absently, his thoughts still preoccupied by Sona's words.
It wasn't the words themselves that concerned him. It was the thought of what he would do when he eventually met with the face of the woman who had cried for him in his supposed death. How exactly was he supposed to react to that other than realizing that his life may have had been more importance than he believed?
No answer was coming to him at the moment. Therefore, Sona's proposition was actually being considered. He would just hide it out until the end of the Peace Talks and delay the matter. Michael and Gabriel shouldn't to too concerned either as he had left a note of his absence for them with Xenovia. Or at least when Xenovia eventually got to it.
After Sona had pushed him into the alleyways and urged him to hide, the first thing he did was return to his residence to leave a message for Xenovia to convey for him on the countertop. He had then returned to the alleyways looking for a suitable place to hide in a manner similar to what Taiga had once taught him about the back streets of Japan.
Unexpectedly, he had run into Irina.
He scratched his head, not knowing what to do anymore as he couldn't just let Irina leave and reveal his location. With God within him, he should have had been untraceable as God could counter whatever means the Devils or Angels had of tracking him down by magic, and yet if Irina were to tell anyone of his location, detection magic wouldn't even be necessary anymore. Instead, the search would turn into something more traditional: building up a group of individuals and having them search a designated area.
By then, it wouldn't matter if God could hide his presence from detection by magical means or not. Sight would work just as well.
"I-Irina," he began in a stutter. "What exactly are you doing here?"
Silence, one that was only disturbed by the muffled sound of scurrying rats.
"I got lost," Irina said eventually, head lowered. "I was supposed to cut a straight line through somewhere here to get to the main street on a task from Lady Gabriel."
Shirou raised a brow before pointing behind him.
"You mean the one over there?" He asked.
Irina lifted her head, and her face almost instantly grew rigid at the sight of a bustling street filled with cars and people in the direction specified.
"A-All this time," she muttered, lips trembling pitifully. It was almost as if she was about to bawl.
Shirou shook his head, still undecided about what he was going to do, but suddenly forced into action anyway.
A girl stood before him and Irina, her head tilted and long black hair framing the sides of her face. Her arrival was as if she had appeared from out of nowhere, yet Shirou knew otherwise.
The girl had been there from the very start. There was no indication of an arrival, no sound, and no tremor in her steps. From the moment Irina had clung onto him, to the moment the girl finally decided to reveal her appearance, the girl was almost undetectable.
An existence that was hard to comprehend.
Although the black Goth-Lolita dress she wore gave her a cute appearance, something told him that the girl in front of him was exceedingly powerful. Her ability to hide her presence alone was enough of an indication, and yet, the same thing could be said for him.
The girl stared at Shirou up and down in curiosity. To her, Shirou felt familiar in some way, and anyone she thought was familiar could only be an individual with a power and lifespan similar to hers. Yet looking at him, she didn't feel the slightest indication of a mighty aura. Then again, her own aura was the same with it being suppressed.
"Who are you?" She asked, the naivety of her voice catching Shirou off guard. However, it was all God needed within Shirou to understand just who the girl before them was, a dim aura of light revealing God's surprise.
The girl's eyes narrowed sharply, the Holy Aura she had felt for but a moment solidifying her feeling of familiarity.
Yet she didn't have any companions in her life of solitude, let alone any names that came to her mind.
Still, she waited hopefully for an answer.
"Be weary. This is not an individual you can currently face," God's voice entered Shirou's head, causing him to grow serious.
Uncaring of Irina's reaction, he pulled her behind him and stood opposed to the girl in Goth-Lolita whose head still remained tilted to the side.
"You won't tell me?" The girl's face was expressionless yet it appeared as if she didn't want to attack.
His brows knitted together, yet seeing that there was no hostility between them, he answered.
"Shirou," he said, causing the girl to nod in satisfaction.
"Are you strong?" She then asked next.
He felt Irina's grip on his arm tighten as she was sending him questioning glances, she, unsure of what exactly was going on. Still, he ignored her. He had to put all his attention on a being that may be more than his match, for his current strength wasn't something to laugh at. If she was stronger than him, then all the more reason for him to be careful.
He didn't answer her question, but the girl seemed to have had already come to her own conclusions.
"Will you help me?" She asked, the tone of her voice making it evident that she was pleading.
"Help you?" Shirou's lips thinned as hesitation flashed across his eyes.
The girl shook her head and didn't answer any further. Instead, she began to walk away at a pace that made it clear that she wanted him to follow.
"I just want to go home," were the only words she said; the sadness in her tone more than enough to cause Shirou's feet to move on their own, Irina right behind him.
It didn't matter if God said to be weary. What mattered was that he understood the honesty in the girl's words, and that she didn't appear to be an individual that was evil.
In fact, she was better described as someone honest yet naïve enough to turn her back on a person she deemed powerful.
He paused in his steps, Irina bumping into his back and releasing a muffled grunt.
There was still something that he needed to know.
"Who are you?" He asked.
The girl in black Goth-Lolita froze mid-step, her emotionless face parting into a smile that could be described as beautiful as she could sense that Shirou wasn't denying her.
"I'm a Dragon," she said. "One of infinity, and the Dragon of Ouroboros,"
"My name is Ophis."
Agreeing to help was one thing but being left alone with a friend in a place he had no idea about whatsoever was another.
Shirou's lip twitched as he and Irina stood in a place that neither of the two understood how they had gotten into. It was an entirely separate dimensional space that contained a villa situated upon a high cliff and surrounded by growing vegetation and trees.
His brows furrowed.
There was no changing his decision from the moment Ophis latched onto his arm in delight. It wasn't that he was disturbed about shattering the happiness he could feel from Ophis's aura, it was just that once she had latched onto him, he couldn't get out.
Her appearance was simply too deceiving, her arm strength alone making it impossible for him to shake off her grip.
It was in that state that Ophis had lead them around the alley until they reached a location with a faintly glowing magical circle that all three of them had stepped into. However, when next he got a hold of his senses, it was only him and Irina in their current location at the base of the cliff; the villa a long distance away with a path paved from stone leading up to it.
"Where exactly are we?" Irina's voice came from his side.
It was evident that she was nervous, but her expression was still composed.
He had no answer for her and simply shook his head, watching the way Irina pursed her lips and asked nothing more. There was no use in asking questions that neither of the two could answer anyway.
Instead, the two just readied themselves, Irina placing a hand on the pommel of the sword she kept strapped to her waist and hidden beneath her white cloak.
It wasn't a Holy Sword on the level of an Excalibur Fragment, but it was because of this that she ended up placing more time on technique rather than power in her sword style. Something that Shirou noticed almost immediately from the history he was able to see from any sword.
His impression of Irina went up. After not being able to obtain a fragment of Excalibur in the Holy Sword Trails, she had not given up in finding other ways to grow stronger. Unlike Xenovia who had two Durandals to wield, Irina's equipment was vastly inadequate in comparison. Yet Irina was still able to be partnered by Xenovia's side, the two even complimenting each other in the missions that they had done.
"You've worked hard," he couldn't help but blurt out such words in admiration because in a way, he could see himself in her.
A time when he was striving to become strong enough to fight by Saber's side, unwilling to see someone he cared about being placed in danger on his behalf.
Perhaps understanding what exactly he was complimenting, Irina glanced down at the ground demurely, unwilling to meet his honest gaze and fingers fiddling with the hem of the skirt she wore beneath the cloak.
"T-Thank you," she said, feeling a warmth within her for having her perseverance acknowledged.
In a way, she had always seen Shirou as God after his show of Holiness against Kokabiel but looking at him now without a single trace of heavenly energy around him, she realized that he too was human.
She glanced away, aware that she had been staring at him for too long, the task Gabriel had asked of her long forgotten.
"We can't just stay here," Shirou said after a quick surveillance of the area around him. "I think I can see others over there."
In the distant trees not too far off from the Villa, he was able to spot figures walking in organized groups that caused him to realize that there was something more in play than what he had realized.
His eye narrowed, his enhanced eye sight able to determine that the figures he had spotted were in fact a group of Fallen Angels armed with spears of light and swords. From what he knew of Fallen Angels, the more wings one had, the stronger the Fallen Angel was. And in this case, the majority of the Fallen Angels in the group in front of him possessed at least eight wings on average.
Kokabiel possessed ten wings and he alone was enough to effortlessly defeat Rias and the others, let alone a group of eight-winged Fallen Angels. It was a firepower not to be scoffed at, and he made the decision that he didn't want to risk getting located at the moment.
"We need to move Irina," he called behind him.
No reply.
"Irina?" He tried again.
"Uhm, uh, Shirou," Irina said slowly, a finger tapping onto his arm and drawing his attention. "We have company."
His eyes widened as a four-winged Fallen Angel stood in front of him, expression scornful.
"Humans?" The Fallen Angel spoke, not recognizing Shirou for who he was since the events that occurred in Kuoh were strictly contained.
In fact, not even Kokabiel and the Fallen Angels following him had spoken a word of it to any other Fallen. It was only Heaven, and a few representatives from the Underworld who knew his identity.
The Fallen Angel stared at him and Irina for a moment longer before revealing a mocking glower.
"Jealous, are we?" The Fallen Angel began. "You human from the Hero Faction sicken me. Tell me, did Cao Cao send you because he was unsatisfied about being left out in the attack in the Peace Talks?"
He felt Irina's breath hitch, but he covered her reaction from sight with his back. He knew all to well that showing any surprise would land them in a situation out of their control. Moreover, they were currently safe with the assumption the Fallen Angel was making about them and the so-called Hero Faction.
Therefore, silence was the best answer.
The Fallen Angel grunted. "We don't welcome your faction here, now go before I make you."
The Fallen Angel shoved him and Irina away before heading towards the other Fallen Angels in the distance.
Left alone, the first thing he did was lead Irina away to a location without anyone present. The only reason the four-winged Fallen Angel had been able to get so close to him was because he had been preoccupied. Now though, he was being attentive with everything around him. What he and Irina had just heard was too important to dismiss.
"They're going to attack the Peace Talks," Irina said heatedly.
The situation wasn't good. Especially considering what he knew of Michael and Gabriel's current condition. After all, it was through their power that God had been able to send him back to the time period of the Underworld's Civil War.
If an attack was already pending, then he had to warn them at post haste or stop the attack all together.
The only problem was that he didn't have enough information. Just informing Sirzechs, Azazel, and Michael of an incoming attack on the Peace Talks wouldn't be enough for them to make an adequate defence against an enemy whose means of attack nobody knew.
Still.
"You have to go back somehow and warn them," he said to Irina.
"Then what about you?" She asked back.
"I'll stay here and find out what this is all about," he began, gaze focusing elsewhere before shifting. "This space has a collection of Humans, Devils, Fallen Angels, and even Angels," he concluded when his attention refocused on Irina.
"This Hero Faction we were mistaken for must come from the other Humans congregated over there," he pointed towards a clearing in the woods.
Irina placed a hand on her arm. "Just what exactly is going on here? I thought we were only helping Ophis get back home."
"Yes?" A voice called.
His lip twitched. He knew that at this moment there was only one individual he knew who had the mean to sneak up on him.
"Ophis," he greeted the girl who sat upon a tree branch peering down at him. "Just who are these people?" He asked gesturing towards the direction of the Fallen Angels.
Ophis shrugged. "Khaos Brigade," was all she said, her expression vacant.
He noted the name Ophis had said but grew unsettled at the next moment.
"Didn't you say that you just wanted to go home? Then why are you associated with this Khaos Brigade?" He questioned.
Ophis blinked, her innocent appearance hard to attribute to a group plotting to attack the Peace Talks.
"But I do want to go home," she said lips thinning.
"Then what's the Khaos Brigade?" Irina asked.
Ophis shrugged.
"I don't know. They said they would help me get back home if I helped them first."
"And you just did as they asked?" He said incredulously.
"Was I wrong?"
Ophis's expression broke into a frown, her body tensing subtly before she shook her head. "They're strong and they promised that they'd help me after," she reasoned.
This, this person.
Looking at Ophis, he quickly realized just what kind of personality she had. She was way too naïve to believe that this Khaos Brigade would honour the terms of their agreement. It was like a child being fooled by an adult.
It was wrong even if the person being fooled was a being with a power unimaginable.
Yet, before he could even try to reason with her, Ophis disappeared with another frown.
"She's gone," Irina spoke.
He nodded his head before turning to Irina.
He had asked her to go back and warn Michael and the others of the pending attack on the Peace Talks but looking at how Ophis had just left as if she was informed of something, he took back that idea. It was likely that someone was freely in control of this dimension and could discover anything abnormal that may occur. If Irina attempted to break out the way they came, it was likely that she would be detected and put in danger.
"Stay with me," he said.
Irina didn't raise a complaint, she knew the gravity of the situation.
"With us being human, the safest place for us in here is in the Hero Faction that the Fallen Angel had talked about. I'm sure we can blend in with the amount of people I saw up ahead."
Just by numbers alone, the Hero Faction appeared to be the second-largest faction of the Khaos Brigade. Therefore, it would be unlikely for anyone there to know the appearance of every member of the faction.
Still, he was cautious as he didn't want to see Irina or himself get into a situation that they couldn't deal with. As such, he made himself and Irina a rudimentary disguise using the white cloak Irina wore which he tore into strips that he wrapped around their faces. In the end however, they looked more conspicuous with them on so he eventually discarded the idea and then simply wasted an ample amount of energy to trace a pair of featureless masks.
By the end of it, he was left panting as he was never good at tracing anything other than swords and weapons. Even mundane things like the masks had cost him a considerable amount of his own energy which he wanted to save for emergencies.
Despite the inconvenience in creating the masks, he had done so anyway just to be safe.
With a destination in mind, the two quickly made their way, only to real in shock when they eventually arrived.
W-What is this?
Bodies were strewn around, haggard and pale.
Some even had festering wounds and sores that were puss filled and oozing.
They called themselves the Hero Faction, but this wasn't the appearance of heroes, but that of corpses.
It almost made one feel like gagging.
The lifeless eyes that stared at him, the blankness derived from emptiness.
The Hero Faction of the Khaos Brigade was a faction that consisted solely of humans tasked with fighting against 'Evil Beings.' And yet, seeing the sight in front of Shirou and Irina, who were the ones truly evil?
Shirou's hands balled into fists, his expression murderous.
This state of existence wasn't what a hero was.
Many in the Hero Faction were humans possessing Sacred Gears who were either abducted, brainwashed, or followed willingly. Yet what was the result?
Nothing but meaningless pain and death.
In silence, he walked up to them, Irina watching his every move even as a Holy Aura extended from him, its intensity increasing with every step.
Irina swallowed, reminded once more of the person Shirou was.
A man whose origin stemmed from a simple creek no bigger than a stream.
He who was baptized in water and lived in the forests of the wild.
A Holyman.
He simply just didn't care about hiding anymore. The Holy Aura around him was like a never-ending torrent. After God had assimilated Michael and Gabriel's power, and then reclaimed his own in the Underworld, the strength of God's Heavenly aura was unimaginable.
Ophis blinked her eyes in the distance and many from the other Factions that composed the Khaos Brigade grew startled. More so for the few Angels who suddenly felt like weeping in remorse. For it was a power too familiar to forget.
The light of the Father.
Regardless of the commotion the energy around him was causing, he reeled it all in, concentrating it all on his palms. Inadvertently, this action caused many who were sensing for the origin of the power to fall short.
He didn't care.
Under Irina's gaze he continued to move forward, kneeling by the sides of the injured and plagued.
As the wielder of the Power of God, he could feel the emotions of despair and anguish from the hollow faces of those in front of him. The unwillingness born from being forced into a situation they couldn't change.
He would be their salvation.
His palms fell upon them.
A power of Healing.
The Might of God.
He who took up infirmities and bore the diseases of man.
"Be cleansed," God's voice echoed with his own words, the concentrated light in his palms banishing away all injury and plague.
Irina gasped behind him, but he simply moved on to the next person.
Those that had grown blind became able to see.
Those that had grown deaf became able to hear.
It was the power of God's miracles.
The hands and very power that had cleansed the face of the leper and healed all the sick; the true power God had attempted to store within the Sacred Gear called Twilight Healing but was only able to store a fraction of.
One by one, the people were healed. Their complexions grew flushed, their breathing even, and even the vacancy of their eyes returned.
And what they all saw in front of them, was a man who had appeared in their darkest moments.
A Healer.
A Hero.
One not in any way similar to the supposed descendants of Legendary Heroes that had reduced them to such a state in the first place to achieve Balance Breakers with their Sacred Gears.
"T-Thank you," they said even as they wept, yet they passed out in the next moment, their bodies still too weak.
Shirou stood up, fully knowing that his actions had made him stick out, but he had no choice in the matter. He would never allow others to suffer in front of him when he had the means to save them.
And indeed, his actions had made him stand out, he the only one standing in an entire mass of people that were healed
"Who are you!" A stern voice called out.
A man appeared a short distance away from Irina, pushing past the crowd of other Hero Faction members talking in a murmur. One who was handsome and had silver-white hair and red eyes that contrasted with the black priest coat similar to Freed Sellzen's that he wore.
"A Hero," was all that he said.
At the moment, no one could tell that he had been the source of God's power as once again, God was concealing his aura, frustrating many.
The man's eyes narrowed at Shirou's answer. For all intents and purposes, Shirou's answer was like mocking him for all member of the Hero Faction could call themselves heroes.
"Enough games. My name is Siegfried, a leader of the Hero Faction under Cao Cao. Now who are you?"
Siegfried's voice was cold. He could see that there was a change in the eyes of the Hero Faction members around him. They had a sort of devotion in their eyes that not even Cao Cao had been able to earn from them.
"A Hero," Shirou simply repeated once more.
Siegfried grunted. "And I too am a Hero, one who carries the blood of the Hero Siegfried."
Shirou fell silent, anger welling up from within him. The man before him was in no way comparable to the selfless hero he had once glimpsed form the history of Balmung. More than that, how could Siegfried call himself a Hero while letting such atrocities occur?
Shirou couldn't understand it; a part of him even wished to just fight it out with the Leaders of this so-called Hero Faction. Yet God was warning him of something.
"Do not fight here. There is a man nearby who has the means to defeat you with a single attack. This man is your bane. No matter how strong you are or become, one stab of that spear, and your strength will become nothing. You will understand why once you see it."
Shirou frowned, but relented, moving to stand in front of Irina, yet he couldn't leave Siegfried's words unanswered.
"You are not a hero, none of you are," he said.
Siegfried's lips thinned, but he held his temper despite his pride feeling like it had been slighted.
"And why are we not?" Siegfried gritted out the question, drawing out his Demonic Blades and pressing them under Shirou's neck in a single motion.
Shirou shook his head firmly.
"Your swords will not reach me," he pressed a hand against the sword by his neck and pushed.
The sound of metal grating echoed out, accompanied by Siegfried's widening eyes.
"Your swords will not cut me,"
The hand he had used to push away Siegfried's Demonic swords was left unscathed. Yet perhaps more shocking than that, was the fact that Siegfried had felt his connection with his Demonic Swords weaken from just that touch alone.
Siegfried swallowed, looking at Shirou in trepidation.
There was only be one reason why his connection with Balmung, Nothung, Tyrfing, Dáinsleif, and even Gram would weaken from Shirou's touch, and that was because his swords found Shirou worthier than he.
Impossible.
The word played endlessly in his mind, even as Shirou's words continued.
"For they understand that my words are true."
Balmung and Gram began to vibrate softly as if agreement, causing even further turmoil in Siegfried's mind. More so when he stared at Shirou and the image of a long silver-haired man whose body was covered in woven plate armour superimposed with him.
The gaze of the Hero wished upon by others.
One who didn't care if he was acknowledged or praised by anyone.
One who simply wished to fight for the Justice he believed in.
The Hero of the saga of Völsunga
Siegfried the Dragon Slayer.
Balmung and Gram trembled, and Siegfried had to actively fight to prevent them from flying into Shirou's hands.
"A true Hero is not one who simply saves,"
A voice that was strong and filled with conviction.
Irina, Siegfried, and everyone else was now paying rapt attention.
"A true Hero is one who fights for the sake of the benevolence they believe in."
"The Loyalty they believe in."
"The Love they believe in."
Irina saw Shirou in a different light, the admiration within her no longer stemming just from the fact that he held the power of God, but in the type of person he was.
"They fight for the ideals they hold in their hearts, enduring hardship to protect them."
His eyes narrowed fiercely, the anger he felt evident and forcing even Siegfried to shrink back.
"To call yourselves Heroes at the expenses of others, you all are far from Heroes," he said disdainfully.
"For Heroes are not made by force, but by will."
Many gulped, the many who had been healed waking up to hear such words and making them grow fervent. Siegfried noticed this immediately and realized what would happen if Shirou wasn't dealt with.
A New Faction would appear within the Hero Faction.
One that did not follow Cao Cao but this person whose name he didn't even know.
But it was impossible to stop, for this man's words were swaying even he himself.
"And if you all can't see that, you will understand that when one day in the pits of your despair,"
Shirou paused, staring at everyone present.
"A Hero will rise."
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NOTE: Sorry for delays. I got caught up in something I had to deal with first after the end of my co-op which delayed this update by several hours. For that I must apologize sincerely