If we reach 180 Power stones today I'll drop another chapter, enjoy!
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To Xenovia Quarta,
By the authority vested in us by the Holy Church, we hereby deliver this formal decree.
You are to be excommunicated effective immediately and stripped of all titles, duties, and protections granted to you as a servant of the Lord. From this moment onward, you are to be regarded as a heretic.
This judgment is passed upon you for two grave transgressions.
First, you have acknowledged and accepted the claim that God is no longer present, a statement that stands in direct opposition to the doctrine that sustains the faith of countless believers. Whether born from doubt or misguided conviction, such acceptance is a betrayal of the teachings you once swore to uphold.
Second, you have failed to reject and suppress this knowledge. Instead of casting it aside as falsehood or temptation, you allowed it to take root within you. In doing so, you risk spreading uncertainty among the faithful, weakening the very foundation of the Church and the order it protects.
Understand this clearly: faith is not measured by what is seen or proven, but by what is believed despite uncertainty. To abandon that belief is to abandon your duty.
From this day forward, you are severed from the Church. No sanctuary shall be offered to you, and no authority shall recognize you.
May you reflect upon your actions, even if redemption is no longer within reach.
By decree of the Holy Church.
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Around one in the morning, Xenovia sat on a bench by the street, staring at the asphalt road as her mind wandered far away.
She had sent a message to the Church in the Vatican—the same one that had sent her here—telling them about what Kokabiel had said. In response, they branded her a heretic and excommunicated her. Her whole world had been turned upside down. The reason she had fought for all those years was gone, and the place she had once called home had cast her out.
"You got the same letter too, right?" Mary's voice echoed through the empty street.
Mary had also sent a message to the Church, and she had received the same response Xenovia did. The same message, the same words, only the names of the recipients were different.
She walked over and sat beside her comrade—her former comrade.
"Have you talked to Irina?" Mary asked.
"I can't bring myself to."
Mary stayed silent for a moment before speaking again. "I think it's better if we don't tell her."
Xenovia gave a small nod. "I agree. I don't think she'd be able to handle the news."
"How are we supposed to explain why we won't be going back with her?"
"I don't know... I don't even know what I'm supposed to do from now on."
Mary stayed silent for a moment. Then she raised her head and looked straight into Xenovia's eyes. "I'm thinking of changing sides and becoming a devil."
Xenovia's eyes widened. "What are you saying? Have you lost your mind?!" she shouted.
Mary did not look away. "What other choice do we have? I'm a Sacred Gear user, and you're the wielder of Durendal. We could never live a normal life. What are we supposed to do, become stray exorcists and be hunted forever? That's out of the question. That leaves only two choices: work with the Fallen Angels or with the devils. And as ironic as it is, I would rather join the devils who saved my life."
Xenovia fell silent. What Mary said made sense. They could not become stray exorcists, since that would make them enemies of everyone. The Fallen Angels were the reason she was in this situation in the first place, and one of them had almost killed her. That only left the devils.
"She's not wrong." A sudden voice came from behind them.
Both girls jolted and turned around. Adrien was standing behind the bench, eating fries with a drink in his other hand.
"When did you even get there?!" Xenovia shouted.
"I've been here for like forty-three seconds."
The two of them fell silent. They had not felt him standing behind them at all. Both of them were trained warriors, yet neither of them had sensed him. But after seeing him fight Kokabiel, they could at least understand how that was possible. He was in a different league after-all.
"Why don't you both become my knights?" Adrien said with a smirk.
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On the rooftop of a tall building overlooking Kuoh Town sat a man with black hair, golden bangs, and a black goatee. He sat cross-legged on the edge of the rooftop, resting his chin on his hand. He looked bored as he watched the empty streets.
Next to him, leaning against a pillar, was a handsome young man with light silver hair and hazel eyes.
"So, he killed him, huh..." the black-haired man said.
"Yes. He killed him without hesitation."
"Not long ago, he stopped a disaster when a Mother Lich appeared, so I thought he was at least Ultimate-Class. But if he were only that, he could never defeat a ten-winged cadre. That means he has to be at least Satan-Class."
"I don't think so," the young man said.
"Why?"
"I couldn't sense any energy coming from him. There was no leakage at all. That means even if he's only Ultimate-Class, he could still defeat a ten-winged opponent. If he's truly that skilled, he might even be able to fight a twelve-winged."
"You're joking... only God was perfect"
"You're free to believe me or not," the young man shrugged.
The man thought for a while, resting his chin on his fingers. "Interesting... he's now in Kuoh you said..."
"Yes. Do you plan to go see him?"
"Yeah... I might pay him a small visit before the meeting."
"And you're expecting me to attend that boring meeting, right?"
"That's right, Vali. After all, you're the White Dragon Emperor."
"So, Azazel. What are the odds that all of us will go to war again?"
"Ha! That really does sound like something the White Dragon Emperor would say. Are you trying to live fast and die young?"
"Why not? There's no point to anything anymore. I hate this place. I hate the era I was born into. A world where God is dead. I just wanted one chance to face him... but there's nothing left in this boring world that interests me."
"Doesn't Adrien's appearance interest you? You said his body is perfect, just like God was."
"He might be interesting, but he's still not God. He wouldn't stand a chance against me."
"I think you might be wrong about that..." Azazel replied.
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Mahiru, Saeko, and Celia sat in the living room of Adrien's apartment. They were not forced to stay in Kuoh like he was. Adrien was going to sleep at the shrine where Akeno lived, but the three girls still had to go to school. They could not just fly from Kuoh to Seijo High, and they still could not make a teleportation spell to travel back and forth whenever they wanted.
To use teleportation magic, they needed a magic circle linked to another one. Only then could they move from one place to another. Since they did not have that in Kuoh, they had no choice but to come back home.
"So annoying! Why couldn't we just stay with him and skip school?" Celia practically shouted. "What if we're the ones who get attacked?"
"He'd probably sense it and appear out of nowhere. I'm pretty sure he left marks on all of us, but I can't find mine," Saeko said.
Mahiru nodded, though she felt a little lonely. Lately, aside from training, she had not been spending much time with Adrien. Since Celia arrived, she had been the one sleeping next to him, and as much as Mahiru did not want to admit it, she was jealous.
Celia rested her head against the back of the couch and stared at the ceiling. "It's your first time seeing him fight, right?"
"I've sparred with him a few times before, but it was just kendo, and he definitely wasn't going all out," Saeko answered. She was the first one to duel him in the kendo club, and she had lost pathetically.
"What about you, Mahiru?" Saeko asked.
"Yes, it was my first time," Mahiru said with a nod.
"Andy's the reckless type. He uses his strength to do all kinds of insane things that catch his interest in the moment. But I'm scared..."
"Scared of what?" Saeko asked, tilting her head.
"I'm scared that one day he'll fight someone even stronger than him and get killed." Celia's face was full of worry.
Both Mahiru and Saeko fell silent. Celia's fear was understandable. It was not impossible that one day they would meet someone overwhelmingly strong. After all, Kokabiel was so powerful that they could do nothing against him and had to rely on Adrien to defeat him. And on top of that, the Vanishing Dragon felt even stronger than the Fallen Angel, and he had not seemed intimidated by Adrien at all.
Adrien was definitely the type to fight anyone who stood in his way, even if he knew he might lose, and that worried Celia more than anything.
"Then let's get stronger so we can help him," Saeko said, determination shining in her eyes.
Mahiru nodded. "Let's focus on training and getting stronger."
Seeing her friends' renewed determination, Celia smiled. "I guess I have no other choice. As your senior devil, I'll lead you," she said, puffing out her chest.
"Aren't you just a Pawn?" Saeko asked with a smirk.
"Shut up! I'm still more experienced than you!"
"Ah... please, you two, don't fight..." Mahiru said awkwardly, trying to calm them down, which only made Saeko and Celia laugh.
"Fine then! Let's see who improves faster!" Celia declared, her eyes shining as she challenged the others.
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In a dark room, a tall woman leaned against the frame of an open window at the top of a skyscraper. Below her, the busy streets of the Underworld stretched far into the distance, filled with common devils moving beneath the purple sky.
A thin puff of smoke slipped from her lips as she watched the city with a bored, distant gaze.
Then the door behind her opened, and a messenger stepped inside. His face was hidden beneath a hood that shadowed everything down to his nose.
"Did you receive any new reports?" the woman asked. Her cold voice spread through the dark room as she turned her eyes toward the hooded messenger.
"Yes, my lady," the messenger replied. She was a woman as well. "Apparently, Kokabiel was defeated by a young devil named Adrien Agares, the son of Archduke Valerius Agares."
"Is that so...?" the woman murmured, a faint note of interest entering her voice. "So the Agares house has someone like that. Were they hiding him?"
"It would seem so. We tried searching for any files or records about him, but nothing useful came up. All we found was that he's known as a troublemaker, and nothing more. All other information about him has been hidden."
The woman let out another slow puff of smoke. "What did he tell you about him?"
The messenger gulped. "Adrien Agares… has perfect energy control. Not a single point of leakage."
The woman's eyes widened for a brief moment—then she burst out laughing.
"The Red Dragon Emperor, the White Dragon Emperor… and now something close to a god, all gathered among devils?" she said, a twisted smile forming on her lips. "It seems the era of demons has finally begun. What else did he tell you?"
"A three-faction meeting will take place in eight days, in Kuoh."
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Character that appeared in this chapter:
Mary Leroy
Xenovia Quarta
Adrien Agares
Azazel
Vali
Mahiru Shiina
Saeko Busujima
Celia Agares
Mysterious Woman (?????)
Hooded Woman (?????)