Xenovia Quarta, a Church Exorcist and Holy Sword wielder of Excalibur Destruction and Durandal. Currently a student in Kuoh Academy.
For the past few days, Xenovia had been attending the school due to her mission of investigating the Holy Sword Excalibur and its wielder, Artoria Pendragon. She didn't attend just for fun. In fact, she didn't want to attend at all and rather not deal with schoolgirl's bullshits. But, the Kuoh Academy is the only way for her to get closer to Artoria through Asia Argento. However, dealing with Asia is like walking on eggshells with landmines underneath.
If she accidentally offended Asia, her guardian will make sure everyone involved gets buried with empty coffins. However, the problem is Xenovia is a rather straightforward person and talks her mind out most of the time and she once almost called her a witch and that very same moment she can feel multiple eyes from the shadows stared at her and squirmed. That same night, she had a very traumatic nightmare.
"Xenovia? Xenovia!" Asia called and lightly tapping Xenovia's shoulder.
"Uh! Huh? Asia? What's the matter?" Xenovia was pulled back into reality after hearing someone calling her name.
"The class already ended a few minutes ago and everyone already left except us." Asia explains before showing the empty class with just the two of them.
"Are you alright, Xenovia? You had been in a daze and staring off into space the entire day. Also you have bags under your eyes." Asia pointed out worriedly.
Xenovia wanted to lash out on Asia that her exhaustion and lack of focus is because of that demonic entity inside her shadow. But just a mere thought of it made her shivered as the presence appeared again and stared at her from the shadows.
"Its n-nothing… I just had a busy schedule lately and couldn't catch much sleep." She answered while sheepishly rubbing the back of her head.
"Busy? Busy doing what?" Asia sounded very confused. "There shouldn't be any Stray Devils around because Miss Artoria regularly eliminates them." Asia said which shocked Xenovia.
"Wait, this Miss Artoria regularly comes out to deal with Stray Devils? But I had never seen her before." Xenovia was incredibly confused as if Artoria usually came out to deal with Stray Devils, why did she never meet her before?
"Ray gives Artoria power to teleport. She rarely takes more than a minute to eliminate a Stray Devil." Asia explained and then talked about how great Ray is.
Xenovia sighed at the ridiculous reason why she had never encountered Artoria. But now that she knows, she can use Stray Devil as bait to lure Artoria out.
"What is Ray anyway? There wasn't much information about him and his feat up to this date was incredibly ridiculous even for god's standards." Xenovia wondered curiously as she was done packing up and left the class with Asia.
"Hm, Ray? He said to me he is a god. But honestly I feel like he is my Guardian Angel besides being my best friend and familiar. But he does admit he is a god." Asia eagerly shares Xenovia who she considered as best friend since they were both raised by the Church even if Asia right now is in exile.
"I know that part, Mo— Sister Griselda explained to me that much. I just wonder if there is other information about him like what god he is or from which pantheon.
"Oh, you want that kind of information?" Asia immediately apologized and unsuspectingly shared sensitive information about Ray. The more Asia talked, the more Xenovia felt something wasn't right.
"Wait, hold on. What are you talking about Asia?!" Xenovia suddenly felt an intense amount of dread rising from the depths of her soul.
"Ray is an Eldritch God. You know, the Eldritch God. Didn't we learn about it in the church when we study about heretical beliefs? I thought Exorcists should have learned about this since they regularly deal with heretics and cultists." Asia said calmly with a smile before she looked surprised and worried when Xenovia suddenly dropped her bags and caught Asia's shoulders, causing her to yelp a little due to surprise.
"Xenovia?"
"Asia! Snap out of it! Do you not realize what you just said! An Eldritch God is here in the world! We are in danger!" Xenovia screamed at Asia who looked confused and unable to understand why Xenovia was panicking.
Xenovia let go of Asia's shoulder and immediately took out her phone and called Lady Gabriel who entrusted her with the mission in Kuoh and her superior.
"I must inform them immediately…" Xenovia hastily finds Gabriel's contact info and dial it while sweating heavily in cold sweat.
"Ah! I remember that Ray said I should tell anyone about this and I forgot!" Asia remembered and immediately snatched the phone from Zenovia. "Uh… Sorry, but I cannot let you tell Heaven or Church about Ray's secret." Asia immediately ended the call before it could get connected.
"You! You are colluding with an Outer God! This is the highest order of heresy!" Xenovia immediately turned hostile and summoned Excalibur Destruction and Durandal to attack Asia.
With a lightning fast speed, Xenovia instantly slashed at Asia, aiming to cut off her neck and execute her on the spot. However, instead of digging into flesh and bone. Her swords hit something hard with a loud *clang* and sparks flying.
From Asia's shadow, a knight cladded in platinum and white plate armor appeared with twin platinum and gold coloured saber to block both Excalibur Destruction and Durandal. Behind the knight's back, Xenovia can clearly see five pairs of pitch black feathered wings that indicates the status of a Fallen Angel Cadre.
Xenovia quickly able to piece together the puzzle, the clear use of Holy Power but tainted which is proof of a Fallen Angel, wielding twin saber and the five pairs of pitch black feathered wings.
"Kokabiel?" Xenovia exclaimed with shock as she gritted her teeth harder as she was fighting against an opponent that outclassed her by two power levels and each level was an insurmountably wider gap than the previous.
It would already be a miracle if Xenovia can win against a true High Class opponent, not to mention Ultimate Class like Kokabiel.
"Uhm, Mr Knight. Just knock her out. Xenovia is still my friend and asking Miss Ravel to wipe her memories is enough." Asia said and the knight nodded its head before suddenly vanishing.
Xenovia sensed the danger coming from behind her. She immediately dived forward and turned to her back mid-rolling before she slashed with Durandal, crashing the greatsword on to Kokabiel and unexpectedly causing his armor to shatter due to the unique ability of Durandal to break stuff.
What Xenovia saw under the armor immediately caused her to gag and retch her bile.
Under the shattered armor, it reveals Kokabiel's eyes and mouth which was sewn shut but the eyes that filled his face are just too horrifying. Then the slash that almost cut off his left shoulder off, shows numerous s small terrifying eldritch creatures that made the inside of Kokabiel's flesh their home and replaced his organs. But his injury quickly healed back and his broken armor regenerated.
Xenovia couldn't help but wonder why Asia hadn't realized what this abominable creature is. She also looked at the creature, cheering and rooting for its victory and healed it with Twilight Healing when it was injured. It was as if her eyes were veiled and couldn't see and realized the truth before her eyes.
While Xenovia is in daze after the shock and puking, the puppet took the opportunity and disarmed Xenovia literally. Then her legs when she tried to escape.
"Don't worry, after Miss Ravel wipes your memories again. I will heal your arms and legs and you will be back to normal again." Asia comforts Xenovia genuinely but Xenovia is too shocked by what she just heard.
"Again? What do you mean by again! How many times have you defiled my mind!" Xenovia screamed agitatedly and in horror which painted all over her face.
"Ah! Around eight times. I was too clumsy. Last time I accidentally talked about God being dead and you went crazy too and tried to kill me for heresy."
"God… is dead?" Xenovia asked with her still shell shocked state.
"Yes. He died after the Great War apparently, Ray told me and Lord Michael had been lying to us all the time." Asia made a sorrowful look as even till now, she still loved God but not as much as Ray who is stronger, better and most importantly is there for her which made her love Ray more than Big G.
Ravel arrived another moment later with a tired sigh and scolded Asia for being too clumsy before wiping Xenovia's memory again and putting her to sleep while Asia healed the amputated arms and legs.
When Xenovia woke up several minutes later, she woke up in a confused state and wondered why she was resting on a park bench.
"Ah, you woke up, Xenovia." Asia said when Xenovia woke up.
"Wa… what happened?" Xenovia held her aching head while trying to recall why she was at the park instead of going straight home like she usually does.
"You suddenly passed out. You should take care of yourself more and get proper sleep. Thank goodness I was here with you today." Asia sighed, looking genuinely worried for Xenovia who didn't suspect Asia since she is a very kind and saint-like girl that wouldn't ever lie to anyone.
"Ah, right. I hadn't had a good sleep for a whole week. Sorry that I troubled you, Asia." Xenovia looks ashamed that she actually passed out from exhaustion due to the nightmare that prevents her from getting proper sleep for a week.
"It's no trouble at all. After all, Xenovia is my best friend and I am glad to help." Asia smiled and reassured Xenovia it's not a problem.
After that, Xenovia sent Asia back home first before she returned to her own apartment that is two block down the street.
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