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Overlord of biblical proportions: The new Three-Sided War (15)
🕑 Added 2024-07-21 09:08:22 +0000 UTCAlthough many lay people outside the church would criticize the Holy Church and the Holy See for its dogmatism and ossification – this was not the case at all. Or, to be more precise, not entirely so for the whole of it.
The Church was certainly ossified in its religious dogmas and rituals, how could it not be, if their religion was originally created as it was presented by the angels according to their Lord’s will? What was the point of changing the order of His veneration, in liturgies and prayers, if all theological questions had long been resolved with the participation of almost the highest authority on this issue, Michael himself? Some even by the word of the One True God.
Of course, the various denominations and heresies that periodically seem to multiply with each passing decade put a question to the immutability of the faith and the preservation of it in its original form. But of course, the unbelievers and heretics would complain and insult the Scripture. It is in their nature after all.
No, the New Testament did not mention genetic engineering not because the New Testament did not have an opinion on it, and, of course, not because the One God did not know about the possibility of it. But simply because this question did not require an answer at the time when the New Testament was being written as Holy Scripture.
To put it rather mildly, the world had a tendency to change with the passage of time. And, such was the nature of life, that at least some denominations of the unshakable faith had to change with the world.
As for the offshoots, some of them were even tolerable in the church paradigm after many debates between not only church hierarchs, but the denizens of the Heavens themselves, or even from the Commandment of the Most High.
Wasn't the miracle of free will precisely so that humans had the right to choose for themselves which path they wanted to use to come to Him? All roads lead to Rome, after all.
Despite doubts, and even the breakout of violent schisms, where the prospect of saber-rattling becoming literal over many issues, in many more the church acted as a united front. It could not help but act as a united front.
In a world where most people were like helpless cattle for the pagan gods, and for monsters, an almost inexhaustible supply of resources – the church did the dirty but necessary work of protecting humanity. Not perfectly and not at all as idealistically as it be to satisfy the naive youths who imagined modern crusaders fighting monsters of darkness for the sake of defenseless people.
But besides the church, there was no alternative to protect humanity. The majority of it at least.
That is why, although the rituals and customs of the church remained largely unchanged through the centuries, some of its more ‘mundane’ departments have requisitioned the latest and most expensive and advanced toys of humanity at an alarming rate. Not all of them were eventually useful or even effective against creatures capable of violating all laws of nature at will, but it should not be forgotten that the church was very old.
And where there was age – there was experience and connections.
That is why, having left his office empty and almost sterile, almost looking like it was uninhabited, as if new, only returning to his post the next morning, Ewald still found it inundated by stacks of reports. And all of them varied, from the least serious, such as the petty intrigues of bishops trying to get money for their next mistress, to those of the highest importance. One of such serious reports, which Ewald's experienced and tenacious gaze plucked from the general mountain of written noise in one instant of a glance.
A report on the current ongoings of the Devils…
Ewald slowly sat down on his chair, reaching for the small pair of glasses, before reaching for the cup of strong black coffee left at the corner of his desk. He could take his time for this, while it was indeed important, it was not something that was quite urgent. The most urgent messages were not delivered to him by faceless reports anyway, and Ewald always tries his best to keep his composure in all things.
Still, even with the thousands of magical and technical abilities available to every self-respecting agent of the modern world, one should never discount the human factor.
In the end, the outcome of millions of events in history was predetermined by a successful action of a general or an unfortunate word of a king. The human factor is the linchpin of most events, even when people seemed the least of the parts, when acting with a single purpose. All that is required to turn satellite images that could win a war into scraps of useless paper is the inattentiveness of the person who will view them.
Therefore, taking a small sip from the coffee cup, Ewald pulled the report on the current state of the Devils closer to him, internally noting a small blot in the upper left corner of the report. The agent had been discovered and eliminated… How sad… It is good that they could at least do their last duty in sending the report back to the Vatican.
Now someone would need to look for a new agent among the Devils, even if reading the report, it was things that Ewald already mostly knows. These past movements of the Devils were not something that could be hidden after all, but it’s always good to have corroborating information.
The fallen angels were destroyed, the madness of Sirzechs was expected. The three Satans had left the Underworld minutes just before Kokabiel's attack, because of family problems?
Instantly, Ewald's mind put together all the relevant information in his head, coming to a conclusion. After which, making an internal note in his mind to pay attention to the report of the Japanese cell of agents, he continued to read the report.
Perhaps he had already received the most important information at the moment, but that did not mean that he could now simply ignore the less important ones. Information about the weddings of aristocratic Devils families may not have been so important in determining the fate of the world, but no information was superfluous. At least in the opinions of the old agent, the smallest bit of inconsequential information could prove useful in the most unexpected of times.
Having carefully read the report, once, and then twice, and then thrice just to make sure that he didn’t miss anything, Ewald set the report aside before reaching for the next one. This time concerning Japan.
A corruption scandal in the government, the intrigues of the rich men, all mundane things… Kuoh!
“What is going on in that cursed place again?”
Ewald's gaze did not flinch when he read a report about the rather memorable city that the Devils had forcibly taken over, and yes it was a hostile takeover, no matter the veneer of ‘diplomacy’ the Devils plastered all over the ‘negotiations’, taken from the Youkai.
It's not that Ewald burned with an excessively great love for the youkai, they were pagans and heathens alike, but at least they were not indirectly connected with His death. That and they were a much weaker faction, almost entirely located in the human world, and in Japan to be specific.
They were much easier to control, and much easier to protect Humans from their influence and their reach. The Devils, on the other hand… The Devils were much more problematic, and that was putting it very mildly.
Not to mention that the youkai at least had an excuse for their location, emerging on distant islands that had not yet heard the Word of God when they began walking the Earth. The Devils, on the other hand, took control, conquering it basically, of an entire city simply because some up jumped noble Devil children wanted to put tens of thousands of living human lives in their personal terrarium and observe them from up close.
It was an unpleasant situation to stomach, but what could the Vatican do? The representation of Christianity in Japan was quite weak, certainly not zero, of course, farthest from it in fact. Only the most idiotic of lackwits could think that the oldest intelligence service in the world did not have its agents in all reaches of the world.
But, there was a stark difference between old Europe, the seat of Christianity’s strength, and the distant shores of Japan. Many higher-ups of the church wanted to change that… But well, history has proven that that would be much more difficult than just wanting it.
The Shinto might be weak in comparison to the Church and the Heavens, but putting any resources in Japan, meant letting some to slack somewhere else, and with just how many enemies the Church have, just how many monsters that wanted to prey on God’s flocks? Any strength the Church could give to bring Japan deeper in the flock, meant risking more of the Church’s already endangered flock.
And so the current paradigm had stood, with the Church lacking a clear foothold in Japan.
A weak presence meant that at best, all they could get was just news, inactionable information with the Church hardly capable of interfering in the internal vicissitudes of the country. And the Devils who had decided to take their own piece of it for fun.
But, despite the feeling of helplessness that could arise in him from reading more of God’s flock being played with by the Devils with him unable to do anything, Ewald continued reading. It was what the Lord would expect his Servants to do, after all.
Information streamed into Ewald's mind, a surprise appearance of an unknown third party, fallen angels, conflict…
Agitation in the ranks of the Devils?
Another piece of the puzzle fell into Ewald's head, but, as usual, he did not make any hasty decisions, instead choosing to read the report until the end, who knows if any information in the last pages could change the situation completely. And after reading the report cover to back, a further two times just to be sure, he finally set it aside before reaching for the next report.
With his position in mind, he could not make any mistakes, and any decision he made needed to be made with a clear picture of the situation in mind. This time the report is on the heartland of the Faith, Europe.
Italy, routine work reports… Nothing interesting, which is good. The last time anything interesting was stated in the reports, the Bishop of Genocide had just committed one of the worst blasphemies. Ritual children sacrifices… One has to wonder if the Bishop worships Moloch or Baal instead of the Lord.
Next, Germany. Then, Sweden. Hungary. And Romania…
“Oh?”
Ewald, reading the first pages of the report on Romania, with just a glance, could instantly note that he was slightly wrong about the location of Azazel. He assumed that the Fallen Governor would be hiding the remnant of the Fallen Angels in the former state of Yugoslavia, but Romania?
Thinking back on it, it was the second option that he had thought of, and it seems that Ewald had come close to the correct answer. Unacceptable of course, his position demands perfection, no matter how impossible that ideal might be.
Reading the report, it was just as he had expected. A series of panicked escapes after huge losses, the Fallen Angels were on the brink of extinction. And the [Longinus]…
“A [Longinus]?”
Rereading the report once again just to make sure that he had read it correctly, Ewald almost frowned in disapproval, but he refrained from doing such a base action. The Fallen Angels have gotten their hands on a [Longinus], hmm… What does this mean?
The thought of the Heavenly artifact, even if it bears a rather blasphemous name, as the weapon that had killed the Son of God, Ewald evaluated his feeling on the [Sacred Gears].
The Almighty Father truly loved humanity, Ewald knew this not only thanks to the covenants of the church, but also thanks to the actions of the Father Himself. While other pantheons preferred to operate with the help of mythological monsters, demigods, or entire races of beings alien to Humanity, the Lord was the only one who had tried to make Humanity stronger as a whole.
Something that was sorely needed if Humanity was to survive in this world of Devils and Dragons.
Despite his pride in his fellow Humans, Ewald could not argue with the fact that even a newly created Valkyrie or a Reaper of Souls was much stronger than the average human. Incredible exceptions like, for example, Dulio or Vasco Strada, asides of course.
Most Humans were ridiculously weak.
However, the Holy Father never abandoned His lost children. His armies of Angels protected the righteous, His [Heaven’s System] gave even the weakest of His children the opportunity to perform miracles. And the [Sacred Gears] were created in order to level the chances of humanity and the paranormal forces that threatened them, the thirteen [Longinus] its ultimate weapons, capable of even killing heathen gods.
In the creation of the [Sacred Gears] God had also gotten rid of the more dangerous elements of other religions and monsters. Rather than being a continued threat to Humanity, instead using their power to give Humanity the opportunity, and ability, to resist the most powerful of even the strongest supernatural forces?
Couldn't this be called a brilliant strategy on the part of the Almighty?
“So, to see these same weapons in the hands of those that would prey on Humanity… No, losing hope and faith is perhaps the worst thing I could do.”
It was no wonder then that the other supernatural forces would covet the possessor of this heavenly Weapons very deeply, with the Devils being the worst offender with their [Peerage} system. How many champions of Humanity had been preyed on and turned into a tool for its destruction?
Too many to count, and the Church could only watch as the bulwark of Humanity be turned against their fellow humans. Doing otherwise would mean open War.
Ewald always hated reading such reports.
And now, the Fallen Angels have gotten their hand on a [Longinus], the strongest of the [Sacred Gears], the sharpest spear and arrow in Humanity’s quiver, to fight back against the monsters of the night. To see it on the hand of the Fallen Angels, and as if to completely mock Humanity and the Heavens itself, for it to be wielded by the Great-Grandson of Lucifer himself?
It would have been funny, if it was not so sad, and not only to see Humanity’s greatest weapon be wielded by its enemy, but for the soul of the woman that had borne Lucifer's great-grandson. Just what kind of hell did this innocent soul go through to betray Humanity this completely?
At least, this was the conclusion that Ewald had come to after analyzing the disparate information reported by the Church's, and his, agents. The great-grandson of Lucifer, born from a human woman and demonic blood, and it was thanks to this human part that he became the owner of a [Longinus]…
The bitter irony, however, did not end there. As it turned out, this half-Devil was in the service of the Fallen Angels, Azazel had perfectly covered the presence of Lucifer's scion, the veil of secrecy only lifted due to Sirzechs’ sudden and complete assault on the Fallen Angels.
It proved completely insufficient to handle the Strongest Devil, of course, but it was still usable and useful information nonetheless. Ewald was not sure what he would have wanted more.
Thinking on what ifs could wait, however, as Ewald collates the information he had read. The Fallen Angel was in a disarray, as expected, running like a chicken with their head cut off, hiding in whatever tight crevice and hole they could, to hide. Again, completely expected, with just how weakened they have become, they are on the precipice of complete extinction as a race, if the Devils decide to finish the job Sirzechs has started. Of course, even with their full strength, they had actually always been on the precipice of extinction, as Sirzechs has proven,
Perhaps that was why Azazel has been the most vocal in proposing a peace between the Three Biblical Factions. A dream that was impossible now.
Right now, the fallen were hastily trying to regroup, desperately shaking with fear, after all the Devils could try to finish what they started. And if not them, the weakness of the Fallen at the moment could lead to their death at the hands of many other players.
For example, the Holy Church itself…
However, Ewald did not think too long about this. Of course, he would pass on the information to his superiors with his own assessment of it, but it was not in his competence to take steps that could cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. At least, proactively. The decision on this issue would remain on the conscience of the Holy Michael and the other Seraphim, they were the ultimate authority of the Church.
What attracted Ewald's attention more, however, were the ongoing events in Japan. Perhaps what next step the Holy Church should take could not be found there, but the country definitely contained some kind of answer to the question of what exactly had created the conditions for the attack on the Devils. It was what the trails of information had led to after all, Japan was the place where the Satans had gone to, leaving their homes woefully undefended. An opening that Kokabiel had taken full advantage of in his overabundance of arrogant confidence.
Azazel must have been cursing his fellow Cadre daily for the fact that he hadn’t killed his ‘brother’ long ago, before he had left the remaining Fallen Angel, to put it very rudely, up shit creek without a paddle.
A new danger, in fact, an extremely significant danger. And, apparently, not at the hands of the youkai, unless they suddenly gave birth to a hitherto unknown god… A god that had just crippled a faction that had seemed so unassailable just days before with one simple move.
Ewald thought about the matter more for a moment, recalling all the possible threads that connected the distant country and the Holy See, before nodding internally. It seems that the excommunicated heretic Valper was going there, wasn't he? Hoping that by doing so, he could hide from the gaze of the church. His ties with the Fallen Angels also meant little at the moment, given that his patron, Kokabiel, was already dead.
Of course, Valper would not even go to Kuoh, the seat of the Devils in Japan, instead, he would probably try to hide in the farthest outbacks of Japan.
Ewald originally had chosen to leave him alone as he could do little damage with all his research confiscated, and with all the pieces of [Excalibur], the subject of his research, safe in the Church’s hands. To go after him after he had gone under the umbrella of the Fallen, and under Kokabiel, it was determined that making sure that his excommunication was not only the matter of the afterlife as his way is barred from the Heavens, but one in the material world as well. By means of lopping his head off of his neck. Was too costly.
He was simply not a profitable target of recruitment by the other factions or the youkai, while the cost of his capture promised to become a significant expenditure for the not so large Holy Church in Japan. If he had taken something with him in his excommunication or at least got involved in a fight with local exorcists while under the protection of Kokabiel, then his murder would have become a matter of honor.
But since he hadn’t, then… Then the Holy Church could use the pretext of his capture to get into Japan and get more information about the events in Kuoh and this unknown enemy of the Devils.
As for the Fallen Angels…
Ewald thought about the plan for a moment, trying to see whether Michael would and could make the decision to destroy his traitorous former Brother or prefer not to interfere once again in the ongoings of the human world, before shrugging his shoulders inwardly.
Be that as it may, everything was the will of the Lord.
***
At first, Katase thought that she was delirious. Perhaps she was undergoing what all parents in the world were worried about, that some mind-affecting substance had found its way into her food after all. Seeing the fact that she was not seeing any unicorns or dragons like in all those Public Safety videos, Katase next assumed that in her Kendo practice, someone had hit her on the head too hard. So hard, in fact, that she was right now heavily concussed, and was just observing the consequences of this fact.
Then came the idea of a sudden onset of grave illness that had given her a huge fever before she could even realize it happening. A fever so high that it had begun to boil her own brain inside her skull. And then her brain, heavily damaged, finally ceased trying to understand anything about the world around her, stopped paying attention to such unimportant things as ‘rationality’, ‘common sense’, and ‘self-evident truths’.
Humans cannot fly without going on an airplane. They cannot breathe underwater without air tanks. Oh, and there are no such things as dragons, angels, and Fallen Angels.
Fallen angels, magic, saints, gods, yes, what's the difference between them? They’re all mythical beings that don't exist.
And yet, she could not disbelieve her own eyes… Well, she could, but at that point, questioning her own perception of reality, she might as well actually be insane, it would look the same from the outside anyway.
Yes, what she’s seeing in front of her, with her very own eyes, was the truth, and the truth remained the truth, whatever form it took. And if this newly found truth contradicted all the facts previously known to Katase. Well, then these previously known facts must be false.
She wondered if this is how Cults get started…
Katase had spent a considerable amount of time with Raynare and Asia, the first a Fallen Angel, and the second was a saint excommunicated from the church. And both had magic, clear, undeniable magic that violates all the laws of physics and biology. Just seeing Raynare fly, with her black wings flapping behind her, was enough to make her believe what Asia and Raynare were telling her.
After which, after having her whole understanding of life turned upside down, together with Murayama, she left the church. Oh, and they had met the director of the Academy and some guy from her school who had introduced himself as Saji Genshiro on the way out of the church. Seeing the two diametrically opposed people, a director, and a normal student walking side by side, did not even raise an eyebrow from Katase at that point.
It was all so monumental and so surreal at the same time that Katase simply stopped asking useless questions and clogging her brain with thoughts about what would happen next, and began to go with the flow.
Murayama's chirping also stopped annoying her, generally speaking, at least. What was the point of being indignant at her best friend’s chirping about the most out there conspiracy theories like aliens and whatnot? The whole world was unreal, with literal gods walking the earth, so what if the little gray men seemed so ridiculous to her not hours ago? Her entire understanding of the world had just been turned upside down, everything is possible now!
And Katase could do nothing and was left to simply accept it as a fact.
Returning home, Katase talked with her parents, rested before school, and then got up to go to a new school day, just like she was always done before. Yes, her school was blown up by the demons, in the near future the Apocalypse would engulf the entire world, and the guy with whom Katase kissed on the way to the church was God and the creator of all things.
But should Katase worry about this?
Katase's world was filled with blissful acceptance. If someone at the moment told Katase that under her feet, gnomes were extracting mythril in order to establish trade with aliens, Katase would just shrug her shoulders and ask if she could somehow go on an excursion to the underground mines. After all, she had never seen such a thing before, it might be an interesting destination for a holiday.
To no surprise to herself, Murayama turned out to be stronger than Katase. When Katase got out of her house to meet her friend, she had immediately begun asking questions, theorizing about the world around her, just like she always did. Murayama was not shaken at all in finding out that the world was much stranger than she thought before… Though, then again, finding that fact out would probably only embolden her more.
Just like always, unable to get a word in edgewise, Katase simply walked next to her best friend, occasionally nodding her head when Murayama asked her for her opinion. Indeed, if you don't try to ask questions about the world around you and just take it for granted, life becomes much easier.
"And I also met with Mittelt, and she agreed to give me a lecture on world history! Can you imagine the real history of mankind, only with magic, cool battles and epic explosions!?" Despite the fact that they were told to keep this information to themselves, Murayama managed to shout even as she tried her best to whisper, currently unable to hold her excitement about finding out that some conspiracy theories were true.
"Sounds good, but it would be better if it were a movie instead," Katase did not think about the changes in the world around her, history, all the ‘facts’ that were now put into question. A Fallen Angel, one that had probably been alive since the start of written Human history, and probably even before that, wanted to tell the real history of the world? Fine!
It sounds pretty fun, actually! She’ll get the popcorn!
"Hm?" Murayama, walking in step next to Katase, suddenly stopped, blinking, forcing Katase to stop as well, looking at her friend in confusion, trying to see what she had stopped walking.
"Is something wrong?"
"Not exactly…" Murayama blinked, suddenly sounding unsure, looking at Katase with a critical gaze, as if she could know the answer.
"That's exactly what I said to Raynare yesterday…"
"Great?" Katase just nodded, unsure why Murayama suddenly was saying something so banal while looking so confused. Of course, being familiar with that feeling as well, Katase simply gave her best friend a reassuring smile.
"Then… What's the problem?"
"Well, your response… It doesn't sound like what you would usually answer with," Murayama, looking at Katase’s smile strangely, just shrugged and began walking again, walking forward in front of Katase by several steps. An unsure expression still on her face.
"I was expecting that you would contradict what I was saying, or just chastise me for screaming in the middle of the road about what we’ve just learned yesterday… The truth of the world."
Katase shrugged off the knowledge that Murayama herself knew perfectly well that she should speak quietly, but just chose not to. Instead, continuing to whisper as loud as the turbine of a plane as it takes off, choosing instead to respond to the content of her words. "What's the point?"
"The… point?" Murayama, slowing down so that she could walk step to step next to her friend again, could only frown, as she heard her response, looking at her friend, worried. "Katase, you're scaring me a little…"
"Really? It seems to me that everything is quite normal, no?" Katase only smiled at her friend, not even putting a halt on her steps.
"Yes, definitely… Sure, everything is normal, and you’re not scaring me" Murayama muttered uncertainly, before, with a start, grabbing her friend's elbow and pulling her back from where she was going
"Katase! What are you doing? You're about to walk on the roadway!"
"What? Huh, I didn't even notice…" Katase just nodded, choosing to ignore the clear worry written on her best friend’s face. Strange, so walking on the roadway in this strange world was still not allowed? It's amazing that some old facts about the world were still true, even as the most fundamental parts of it were not.
"Katase? Are you all right?" This time, Murayama was only a step away from outright panicking, seeing her friend acting so strangely. Acting on a hunch, she put one palm of her hand to Katase’s forehead, only to pull it back immediately.
"Katase! You're burning up!"
"Hm? No wonder? So my brain really is melting… Interesting to know," Katase jerked forward, still trying to walk even as it became even more likely that she would collapse at any moment, only being stopped because Murayama wouldn’t let her.
"Katase?" Murayama, taking a closer look at her friend, as if trying to see what was wrong with her friend with only her eyes, could find nothing wrong, Which only made her even more worried.
"Are you… Are you all right?"
"No," Katase answered easily, without even needing to take a moment to think about it, smiling slightly at her friend.
"How could I be? My whole world has been turned upside down, nothing in life makes sense, Devils, and angels are flying outside the window. The guy I kissed turned out to be the creator of the world. And the principal of my school practices magic!? Which part of what I just said hints that I'm okay!? Murayama, what can even be okay with me right now? Moreover, what does it even mean to be ‘okay’? The apocalypse is approaching, all the world's constants turned out to be false, and you're asking me if I'm okay!?"
Katase kept talking, keeping a slight smile on her lips, even as she bordered on becoming hysterical, the fire of madness blazing behind her gaze. It served as an excellent indication of how deceptive that smile actually was.
And here Murayama was excitedly exclaiming her interest in hearing about the true history of the world, pushing her best friend further to the brink unknowingly.
"Murayama, this isn't like in your silly manga about ‘cool guys with cool abilities’ who beat up bad guys and save the world. Our entire world turned out to be part of an immeasurably larger and immeasurably stranger, scarier and more dangerous world! The existence of which we didn't even suspect an inkling of it before, and you're asking me if my existential crisis is something normal!?" Now it wasn't Murayama holding her friend by the elbow, but instead now wincing from as Katase dug her own arm into hers, smiling all the while.
Though, with each word spoken by Katase, something that evidently has been building up all the while ever since the revelation the two of them had since yesterday, her smile seemed more and more strained.
"Okay, okay! I got it, existential horror and all that… Could you please let my arm go, now? It’s getting painful." Murayama tried to pull Katase's gripping hand away from her, managing to do so only on the third attempt. Casting a look of support, and uncertainty, at her friend at the same time, clearly wanting to support her, but barely an idea on how exactly she could do so.
Before, after a second, as if a small light bulb had lit up over her head, Murayama tried to pat Katase on the shoulder encouragingly, wincing as the movement caused her still trapped hand some pain.
"Don't worry, Satoru will help you come to your senses!"
"Satoru?" Katase seemed to suddenly become more aware, less the scary Katase as before, at the mere mention of the name. Satoru, or whatever his actual name was, would be able to help Katase settle into her new life… The young man, from the moment of his appearance, Katase's life absolutely ceased to make sense… Will help her figure herself out?!
"Murayama…" Katase clenched her teeth so hard that she literally felt the enamel cracking under the force of her chewing muscles, hissing at her friend, "How can Satoru even help me in the current situation?!"
"Well, he's like God, right? So he should know," Murayama tried to distract her friend, instead unconsciously driving the spike only deeper into her crumbling mind.
"Yeah, that's the problem!" Katase grabbed her friend's head, making her hiss and jerk to the side.
"Murayama, none of this makes any sense at all! It's all crazy nonsense, a schizophrenic episode, hallucinogenic mushrooms, anything but reality! How can you not understand that something like this, events and revelations like in your manga… Doesn't happen!"
Murayama was really glad that the early morning commute means that there’s a clear lack of pedestrians walking alongside the two, she doesn’t really know how to explain Katase’s actions. Though there are probably people inside the houses, Murayama needs to calm Katase down before the commotion the two are making would attract any undue attention.
"Katase, if you're going to be such a skeptic, you'll never get back to normal!" Murayama, now successfully pulling away from her friend’s grasp a little, could only hurriedly put her hands on her friend’s shoulder. Not as a start to a fight, or to get even with her best friend, but because as soon as she made Katase let go, she had seemingly lost all the strength in her body, falling down limply.
Murayama didn’t know what to do as Katase started silently sobbing from the rush of emotions that overwhelmed her. Emotions so complex and self-contradictory that there would be no description for them in the entire human language.
"It just… Doesn't happen… Like that… It doesn't happen…" Katase sobbed, as if with all her might trying to force her body to squeeze out a tear, which would at least bring Katase a little relief and some miserable fraction of normality into her life. But she was deprived even of this small opportunity for normality.
After all, there was no fear, or sadness, or happiness in her head, only… Some kind of dissonance, it was an existential crisis. The desire to close her eyes and loudly begin to repeat what was already completely clear and logical, so that with some small effort her whole world would make sense again.
“It just doesn't happen like that!”
However, after a moment, Murayama pulled Katase back up, allowing Katase to bury her face in her friend's chest and, silently shaking, to stop for a moment in this insane changing world. It felt like she could no longer trust the ground under her feet, and only in the grasp of her friend did she feel any sense of safety and surety.
"I… I have no idea what to believe in now… How do I live? What about my parents? School? Life plans? Kendo? Even breakfast… It's unclear now whether it even makes sense!" Katase clung to her friend, desperately trying to hold on to the remnants of her past life, trampled yesterday by the iron boot of the incredible truth about the world around her.
"I just don't understand anything anymore… What should I do, Murayama?"
Murayama, pulling her friend into a tight hug, ran her hand over Katase’s head several times, trying to calm her down.
"There, there… Why don’t I remind you of much happier times? Remember how we beat up the Perverted Trio?"
"Uh-huh…" Katase, knocked off her thoughts about her existential crisis, answered on autopilot.
"And now they're not even your problem anymore, right?" Murayama, however, grasped at this thread and pulled on it, with force if necessary. Smiling at her friend, pulling away from her a little so that she could look her in the eye, Murayama continued.
"See? Already not bad, isn't it? Tell me you're not happy about that!"
"I’m h-happy about it, of course… Not having to deal with the peeing anymore…" Katase blinked, then smiled a faint smile at her friend.
"Heh, I guess… Some plus from my new life."
"Yeah, and who exactly took care of them?" Murayama instructively raised a finger up, like a teacher explaining an important topic.
"Satoru! So you see, it means Satoru did something very good, didn't he?"
"I suppose…" Katase blinked, forced to agree with her friend's logic. Maybe she was concentrating on strange things and jumping from topic to topic, but… Under the current circumstances, Katase simply had no choice but to agree with her words. It was true after all.
"And what does that mean? It means the new world and Satoru aren't so bad after all!" Murayama finished her little speech with a big smile directed at Katase. "Isn't that right?"
"Heh…" Katase only smiled faintly at her friend's words and antics, she then mechanically ran a hand over her face, trying to wipe the tears off of her cheeks that never came out on her lashes,
"I guess so…"
"And what does that mean?" Murayama finally released her friend from the hold of her arms, happy to see that Katase was now standing surely on her feet, unlike before, nodding to her happily.
And just as expected of the girl that seriously considered the existence of aliens before the reveal of the supernatural, the next words that came out of her mouth were almost completely random.
"We need breakfast!"
"Breakfast?" Katase, completely knocked off her line of thoughts by the non sequitur, could only blink at another topic jump by her friend.
"Of course! Let's go quickly, before everything is sold out at the corner store!" Taking her friend by the elbow, Murayama dragged Katase forward, smiling a little to herself.
That's it, this is the way to solve her friend’s problem. By not giving Katase time to get tangled up in her own thoughts, it was better to confuse her than to let her think too much about the reality of her surroundings and other such silly things.
After all, Murayama wasn't lying at all, as she truly believed that a world without the Perverted Trio couldn't be a bad world. And so Satoru, who had put an end to their evil deeds, also couldn't be a bad person by definition.
And as for the fact that Satoru wasn't one of those cool guys who defeat bad guys…
They'll see about that!
***
Many people were walking the streets of Cologne, tourists and locals alike, men and women, young and old. So, the passage of yet another random passer-by through the city streets didn't raise a single eyebrow among the other pedestrians hurrying about their business.
Perhaps the only thing that could catch the eye of passers-by was the fact that the slightly plump man was staring very intently at the Cologne Cathedral. But such a thing was also very familiar to the inhabitants of the tourist city. Whether the person was a tourist, an architectural enthusiast or a local resident who decided to enjoy the sight of living history and gothic architecture in front of him. None of the passers-by paid a second look at the person.
Just as, they were not interested in the fact of how closely this man looked at the flickering figure of a church pastor that moved along the crowds, before he himself moved from his spot. After all, the man looked like the most ordinary visitors to their city, just like the thousands who moved around the city every day.
He did not look at all like a stereotypical villain or secret agent. The most ordinary person, moving somewhere on his own business, known only to him.
"Ah, so this is what the ‘house of God’ looks like in the minds of inferior beings?" Issei, who had abandoned his old disguise at the behest of his Father upon achieving the desired result, had taken on a new look in accordance with his new sacred mission.
"It reminds me for some reason of Lady Shalltear's style of dress… Hmm, should I call her ‘mother’ now? Or would it be ‘stepmother’? Hmm, I should probably find out about that from Father later… I’m looking forward to hearing more of Father’s wisdom."
Pandora’s Actor, unceasingly directing his feet forward, smiled to himself. An invisible shadow in the crowd, continuing to follow the agent who clearly thought himself much smarter than he really was.
Wasting church funds, what a… geschmacklos sin.
That same priest, one of the lower links in the extensive and powerful intelligence network of the Holy See, dove into a nondescript alleyway, quickly followed by a middle-aged man of unremarkable appearance…
After which, only the priest left the alley. Or rather, the thing who only looked like a priest.
"Well, my dearest brothers and sisters in faith," Intercepting the last thoughts about his contact from the priest's head, Pandora Actor directed his steps forward to his new-old acquaintance, smiling a little to himself.
"Let's see how exactly you honor the covenants of my Father in this world. Are you still worthy to say that 'Gott mit uns'?"
Comments
NOBADI
I did not like this chapter much, I feel like I learned nothing. As if I skip it by accident I would not have missed anything.
clagann
Nice
Abaddon Lucifer
xd nice
