"...You should be all healed now." We heard a very familiar voice say as we approached the door.
"Thank you so much, my lady! I feel as good as new. Wait, I think I hear someone coming." A man's voice called out from inside.
It seemed we had been noticed. I shrugged and pushed open the doors. The squeaked and groaned loudly as Asia and I stepped inside. There were two people in the church. One was the spitting image of the girl next to me–except she was still wearing her classic nun attire.
…The other was a man who looked to be around 20 years old–with green hair. The man's eyes narrowed as Asia and I walked up to the pair of them.
Asia Alter smiled at us warmly. "Hello, are you here for healing?" She asked us.
I shook my head. "No, we were just here to stop by and chat if that's alright." I told her while eyeing the green haired man wearily.
Diodora Astaroth - Heir of the Astaroth Clan - Level 23
It seemed that we were too late to deliver a warning in time about him.
[That's just this girl's fate. The church was never meant to hold her down apparently.]
Asia Alter looked taken aback that we were just here to talk to her. "You came here just to talk with me?" She asked with a tinge of happiness. I could tell that she was suffering from the same type of loneliness that my Asia had been before moving in with me.
"I have someone here who would like to meet you." I pushed my Asia forward. She took off the thick square fake glasses she had on her face and the baseball cap she was wearing to hide her hair.
Asia Alter gasped when she saw an exact copy of herself standing next to me. I could even see a look of shock appear on Diodora's face as well.
"Hi Asia…I'm Asia too."
"What the hell is going on here!?" Diodora questioned.
"That's not for you to know." I told him. "Why don't you and I go and have a little chat outside. I can feel some other people approaching this church rapidly." I said.
"If it's all the same…I think I'll just take my leave now." Diodora said warily. A green magic circle lit up underneath his feat. He was trying to teleport away. That shouldn't have been possible here unless some traitor had keyed him into the wards!
I cracked my knuckles. "Sorry. It's not all the same." I blurred forward faster than he could react to and punched Diodora in the face! His head snapped backwards and a couple of teeth popped loose as he flew backwards and smashed into the dilapidated pews.
Asia Alter squeaked in fright at the sudden violence. She was looking between me and the man she had just healed rapidly with concern. "Why did you do that?"
"Sorry about that, Asia. I was just taking care of this Devil who was trying to trick you." I told her.
"He was a Devil!?" She exclaimed in fright!
"His name is Diodora Astaroth…I can tell you all about him." My Asia said. She took the other girl's hand and led them to the other side of the church so they could sit down together and talk.
I walked over to Diodora and picked up his unconscious body. I conjured a black metal collar and slapped it around his neck as well so he couldn't escape if he suddenly woke up.
With him slung over my shoulder, I walked outside to greet the group of people who were conveniently arriving just after Asia Alter had healed a Devil in the heart of the Vatican.
[What an amazing coincidence!]
There were about 20 people gathered in front of the church. Most of them were just generic priests and exorcists, but a few of the people gathered here I actually recognized.
Vasco Strada - The Violence of Heaven - Level 57
Xenovia Quarta - Wielder of Durandal - Level 30
Griselda Quarta - The Strongest Sister - Level 52
"Who are you, woman! Who is that you're carrying!" The priest in front of everyone shouted at me. He wasn't anyone important. In fact, he actually gave me a greasy feeling.
"Me?" I pointed at myself. "I was just passing through and thought I would take out the trash." I said while glancing at the Devil slung over my shoulder.
"This church is managed by me and you don't have permission to be here!" He retorted. "And is that man you're carrying a Devil! Did Asia betray the church and heal a Devil!?" He spat accusingly.
The others behind him gasped in shock when he said that.
"So it's true!? Asia Argento really is a witch!" Xenovia said while stepping forward. "Step aside! I will go inside and drag her out at once for judgment."
I held up my hand and stopped her. Xenovia glared at me. "Not so fast. My ward and future niece is having a pleasant chat with Miss Argento inside. No one will interrupt them." I told them and my eyes shifted to the Rinnegan. "You can try of course…if you think you're strong enough." Ten Black wings manifested behind me.
Xenovia jumped backwards with a look of alarm on her face. She quickly unsheathed the sword on her hip that was not Durandal. "Fallen Angel!" She spat with venom in her voice! "What are you doing here?"
"I just told you, my ward wanted to come and have a pleasant chat with Asia. I came here to look out for her."
Vasco Strada and Griselda Quarta stepped forward. "Move back, Xenovia. You cannot handle a Cadre yet. You're not strong enough." Griselda said.
Xenovia sheathed her sword and glared at me as she moved back towards the other priests and exorcists who were all looking at me with fear in their eyes.
The priest who had spoken first shouted at me again. "You filth! I bet the girl inside is an evil Fallen Angel just like you. Are you trying to corrupt the witch even further?" He accused me. "The lord will not stand for it.
"The girl inside is perfectly human and I can promise that she has more of the lord's favor than you…if he was you know…" I trailed it off.
Vasco and Griselda both frowned. They could obviously tell that I was implying I knew about Big G not being around here anymore.
"How dare you accuse me of having less favor with the lord than a witch!" The priest spat back at me.
I ignored him and turned to Vasco and Griselda. Neither had made a move to attack me yet. They were being cautious. "Isn't it strange that a Devil breaks into the heart of the Vatican, which is severely lacking in security right now for some reason, and just happens to stumble upon the church's Holy Maiden. Out of anywhere he could have gone, he ended up here? And then you all show up conveniently a few minutes later." I pointed out to them.
Griselda frowned at me. "What are you implying?"
I pointed to the annoyingly loud priest. "Obviously you all have a traitor who let the Devil in." I then casually tossed Diodora on the ground in front of me. He hit the floor with a loud thud and I shrugged. "Diodora here has an entire peerage that just so happens to be full of beautiful former nuns. I wonder how he got access to all those girls and never got caught?" I asked sarcastically.
Veins bulged on Vasco Strada's forehead as he spun around and glared at the priest in rage. The man was trembling in fear at my accusation. "It's not true! I would never betray the church! Not to some Devil!"
"You were the one who told us Asia was colluding with a Devil in secret and led us here. How did you know that in the first place? The timing was far too coincidental." Griselda said to the man. "In fact, now that I think about it…you have accused a few sisters of doing the same in the past. All of those accusations turned out to be true…or were they?" She asked with a look of horror dawning on her face. "Father Grisaine…what have you done?"
He started backing up slowly. "No…" He was sweating profusely. "I did nothing wrong! Those whores all ended up with Lord Astaroth anyway! I was right about them!" He tried defending himself.
"You treacherous pig!" Xenovia ran up behind the man and punched him hard. He let out a grunt of pain as he collapsed to the ground.
[A lot of drama is going on here today…]
'You're not kidding…'
"Good work apprehending him, Xenovia." Vasco said to her before turning back to me. "I thank you… Fallen. For pointing out the traitor in our ranks. Who knows how many victims he has at this point?"
"At least 14." I said. "Just short of a full peerage. Asia was to be his final prize."
"14…" Griselda repeated. She looked greatly saddened to hear that number. "Did you truly come here today just so your human ward could talk to Asia Argento?" She asked me.
"We were actually here to warn her about Diodora, but it seems that we're too late." I said. "Are you going to kick Asia out now? She did end up healing a Devil."
Griselda frowned. "I don't know…The laws of Heaven are absolute."
Vasco Strada stepped forward and picked up the unconscious devil with ease. Vasco was a huge man rippling with more muscle than anyone I'd ever seen before. His Strength was probably higher than even my own. "We will take custody of this trespassing Devil. As for you… A fight between a Cadre and myself could level the Vatican. You can go once your ward is done talking."
Xenovia spoke up. "But sir! She's a…"
"I have made my decision!"
Xenovia's argument against me was cut off by Vasco shushing her.
[Wow…I can't believe he's just letting a Fallen Angel go right in the Vatican.]
"Can I make a suggestion?" I asked him.
"What is it?"
"You should trade Diodora for his peerage." I suggested.
He frowned. "What good would that do? They are already Devils." He said with a tired sigh. "Their souls are corrupted…"
I shrugged. "If an Evil Piece can be put into someone, who's to say that it can't be taken out of them?" I posed the question.
His eyes widened in surprise. He turned to Griselda who was also surprised by the question I posed to them. "Are you saying that the Fallen Angels have found a way too–" He started to ask.
"I'm not saying anything." I cut him off. "I'm just saying, that if you get those girls back and leave them in a room with me, they might leave that room as humans again and not Devils." I told him.
To be fair, I wouldn't want to be a measly human again if I was an immortal devil that could do magic at will. Those girls have suffered tremendously under Diodora though and would probably want nothing more than to be human again though.
"We will see what we can do. We have many things to discuss here after what has occurred." Griselda said. "Might we have your name? It's rude to just keep referring to you as Fallen."
XXX
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