Landing next to a closed, rusted iron gate, Steliana turned back into her human form in one smooth motion. She didn't even need to reach out with her magical senses; her instincts as a Youkai, one who was a mutated form of Nekomata, screamed at her. Death, decay, rot, and festering darkness layered over what was once a holy building in front of her. The grounds behind the gate were not overgrown with rampant grass and weeds, but instead lay black and cracked. They had died in silence.
Tree branches were limp, not from being underneath the weight of snow or far too many offshoots and leaves. But instead, from an invisible pressure upon them as if something was laughing at the fact that even mere trees tried to grow upon Devil cursed land. Stained glass windows were cracked and shattered, and the two large wooden doors that were once a magnificent entrance to the Chapel were warped and dull.
While it would be invisible to a human, to her eyes, there was a low translucent purple miasma that covered the first few inches off the ground. This ground was thoroughly and utterly desecrated. Cruel, unneeded, and utterly barbaric. Even when she had ruined temples, it wasn't for the sake of desecration, but rooting out the rot that feasted upon her world, that suckled at its leylines and lifeforce. She had always struck with precision, taking out those closest to the parasitic gods of her worlds, or at the places of worship that actually housed them.
To do this, not for any reason besides cruelty and one's own amusement? She didn't find it horrifying, no. Steliana simply found it sad, an act of a craven coward with an ego too large, and a heart the size of an ant. If small dick syndrome had a person as its definition, well. Lots of people would be it, actually. But this one is definitely near the top.
She stepped forward, rusted iron gates swinging inward at a flex of her Youki. Small feet encased in a simple pair of boots landed onto the cursed ground, and instantly she felt the change. A subtle whisper that tried to creep into her mind, coiling around her memories to twist on her instinctive disdain for gods, and her disinterested belief in religion. It tried to warp her memories, what she believed, and disbelieved into hatred and disgust. Into something twisted, nasty, and pathetic. Steliana snorted.
Her Youki shifted, and light filled her. That whisper died in a pathetic whimper, her mind purified of the foul rot that had tried to take root. From there, the light radiated from her skin, with the reaction to this change immediate. In a foot around her, that purple miasma parted as if the colored fog was sentient enough to know to be afraid. Devil magic truly is curious. Is it afraid of the light? Or does it feel it?
It was a question she couldn't answer with access to an actual devil, so she didn't ponder on it long and continued walking. Her Youki left her in a gentle stream, a mixture of half-formed water and light spells slipped into the ground and danced through the air. It was an act that would have drained her almost immediately when she had just gotten to this world.
But she was better now. Her Youki had grown immensely, her tail had naturally purified it to greater heights, and six months of training had increased her efficiency and control. Such a thing that would have drained her dry was now barely noticeable, and was well both the effort and the expenditure.
For with every step, the miasma pulled back, the gloomy aura faded, and the cracks in the ground began to mend. A smile tugged at her lips for a moment before she shoved it down. Her time as a gardener in the woods all by herself had given her a fondness for the land she hadn't quite had before, and it was surprisingly nice to have a hand in fixing it just a bit.
But that wasn't why she was here. The worshippers who wanted their place of faith back could be the ones to truly endeavour to fix the grounds, the rust, and the decaying trees. It was her job to root out the curse. As she reached the stone steps leading up to the Chapel, Steliana pulled back on her Youki, no longer allowing it to leech out but instead layering the power around herself like an armor.
The whisper that had died out returned, but this time it was no longer soft but demanding and prying. The curse was no longer trying to be subtle as she reached the door, directly trying to imprint thoughts into her mind. It tried to twist her in more blatant and honestly insulting ways. For a brief moment, the memory of taking a wound to stop a blow that would have hit a child shifted to her deciding not to get in the way, to instead take the moment to strike. Disgust coiled in her gut at the mere thought of it, and the shifted memory and many others like it shattered.
The miasma that had receded at her light surged once more within a renewed vigor, revealing that it had instead been gathering and holding back its strength. Steliana chuckled as it tried to coil around her, attempting to bind her limbs to leave her at the mercy of the curse. I'm not just a Youkai, little curse. Her fangs grew as she tugged inside on a part of he powers she had mostly ignored so far. Her innate ability to create, control, and manipulate mist filled her veins as the constant hunger for blood roared its head at the much larger usage of vampiric powers.
Her hand was small, frail, akin to a porcelain doll's, yet filled with traditionally dark power as she curled two fingers in a 'come hither' motion. The miasma that had surged like a beast intending to attack her stilled for a second. Then, like a docile pet, a purple ball of warbling mist formed on top of her hand. How unlucky, Devil. Though I suppose I can't blame you too much, who would expect a Youkai Dhampir combination who can use light magic and has immense personal experience with curses?
Her hand glowed a bright white as her fingers wrapped about that purple ball. Her skin stung, and the ball of miasma formed by Devil Magic bulged as she clenched, forming a fist. There was a hiss, akin to a steak sizzling as flesh-infused with light crushed the ball. Five seconds later, she unclenched her hand, waving it through the air to cool it off and also revealing that the purple, hazy shroud that had haunted these lands was gone. Her fingers and palm were a faint red, with bits of skin boiled and slightly peeled off, showing that she wasn't completley untouched from the action.
Yet, no look of pain made its way to Steliana's eyes or in her movements. All that showed was just a continued steely determination. Now onto the main curse. What she just dealt with was just a simple defense put in place by the Devil to bind anyone while the curse worked its magic, while also conveniently looking quite ominous and demonic. I hadn't expected the first waves of attacks to be so blatant. Clearly, this Devil isn't the best strategist.
Then again, by how obviously the place had been cursed, anyone could have realized that. Even if she herself didn't dabble in the usage of curses, she had a dozen ways to improve what was already here, without even adding anything. Irrelevant, I really need to keep my head in the game and remember that I'm not unstoppable anymore.
Shaking her head, she got back into the proper mindset. With one part of her job done, Steliana stared at the doors for a second, intensely viewing them with both her eyes and magical sensing. Sealed and magically protected. Interesting. She waved her hands, and a wind Youjutsu spell spilled out from them. The change was obvious as the air compressed, a large ball of intensely vibrating greenish-blue drawing all the oxygen in. Then, it launched forward craking like a bullet.
The spell shattered the locked wooden doors and obliterated the magical seal that had been put in place, before perfectly fading once its job was done, revealing the exact power had been perfectly calculated. That helps explain why they were so hopeless. A curse, a binding miasma, and a seal on the doors would certainly make it hard for the ordinary person to break. It was something that should have been impossible even for the strongest of Low-Class Youkai and would have required an entire team working together.
Quite lucky that I know so much magic, and I'm so efficient. That wind spell alone, even though through skill she had made it so only cost her as much Youki as the average spell any other Low-Class would use, was far above Low-Class and most certainly reached the Middle-class. If that seal hadn't been her target, the entire front wall and a majority of the interior would have been absolutely erased. Not to mention that she had purposefully tuned the spell to use the exact amount of power necessary, or it would have done that even through the seal and magical protections.
Satisfaction at her newly-crafted spell working and her rapidly done calculations being correct, Steliana stepped inside. If I were the Devil, I would have rooted the curse in the basement and used a false-flag object. Something still tied to the curse, so that if it was destroyed, the real curse would deactivate temporarily. Her gaze landed on the back, behind the altar, where a gigantic inverted red cross was hung across the wall, a strange red liquid seeping from it onto the floor.
I am not the Devil who did this, however. Even from across the building, she could feel the magic imbued into the object and the disgusting intent and emotions coiling inside of the perverted and desecrated cross. Also, she had fucking eyes. Anyone with a half-functioning brain could realize there's something messed up with that cross. It's straight out of a B-rated horror movie.
The obviousness of where the curse was rooted made her job far easier, but it also made it simple for Steliana to examine it. Interesting. I'd have to get closer, but from what I feel, the person who did this curse had no idea how it worked. It probably took tens, if not hundreds, of times the magic required for such a low-powered curse. So they just wanted a curse to happen, thought up a few ideas, and boom. It worked. It was clear that whoever did this was a High-class Devil, likely from one of the Pillars, and one who coasted on natural born talent.
Still, it was impressive work, even if the person who did it likely wouldn't ever be able to truly realize it. Besides, of course, the most likely overinflated sense of pride the Devil inevitably had. Devil Magic is amazing. Walking down the aisle and past rotten pews, Steliana climbed the altar stairs and onto the altar itself. Yes, just like I thought. She stopped moving, lips curling up as the red liquid that was meant to mimic blood silently tried to coil its way across the ground toward her. This curse, although inefficient, is an absolute masterpiece. I can understand why Merlin would create such a horrendous bastardization just to try to mimic Lucifer's creation.
It was also startingly similar to the magic she was used to, much like her love had hinted at. The red liquid continued to seep closer as she stayed rooted in place, deep in her thoughts. Well, I should probably deal with this. Steliana's hand raised. Purify, cleanse, twist my Youki just like that to remove all negative influence… A dozen sparkling swords made up of white light formed.
Her hand fell, and with that motion, the swords launched forward. Two of them slammed into the cross, with ten blades and the true core of the attack falling on the lurching forward pool of 'blood'. A wave of agony slammed into her brain, a screech that wasn't audible, and then a popping sound.
The red inverted cross let out a hiss like a teakettle as her swords burned into it, red smoking leeching from the perversion of faith as it changed color from red to silver, revealing the Devil had indeed used an actual cross. I'll give you this, Devil, you did have at least one functioning brain cell. With a bit of a prideful smirk on her lips, she looked down. Unlike the cross, the pool of 'blood' had quietly burned out of existence.
Steliana turned around on a heel, walked down the altar, down the aisle, and out of the chapel. That was simple. Truly, the differences between Devils are immense. No wonder the New Satans were so desperate to reincarnate other species, if that was how pathetic the curses and traps of their 'Pillar' Devils were. Perhaps there's a reason why the older generation of Devil's was focused so little on. Perhaps this is why what was written and shown about the various Pillar Heads is so sparse.
After all, even people like Rias Gremory's parents, the parents of the strongest Devil ever? They were merely High-Class after over a thousand years of existence. How pathetic that with such an amazing magic system, with hundreds and thousands of years, Devils can be so disgustingly average.
She truly hoped that the Devil who had laid this curse was less than a hundred years old, or she'd be truly disappointed. No curse cast by a High-Class Devil should have been that easy, that full of holes, and so weak to light magic. Because yes, rooting the true curse into the 'blood' and using the cross as a fake showed a semblance of brilliance, it didn't hold up to the name, the title of 'Devil'. It didn't befit the scheming race that had corrupted every species besides the gods. It didn't fit the race handcrafted by Lucifer and Lilith to fight against the God of the Bible, and then eventually the entire world.
It was childs pay. In fact, I think I've met teenage witches who crafted better curses than that. Even if that had FAR less power. Outside once more, she turned into a bat and flew away, the sun already shining down on the holy grounds where before it shied away. That revealed a lot, particularly the weakness of Devil Magic. Skill and ingenuity.
It didn't matter how much power the Devil had, for it seemed that if they lacked in skill, anything they did would be full of loopholes and errors. If they did have a cunning mind, their magic would be bland and one-note. Even if their own stupidly broken Devil Magic desperately tried to do what the caster wanted, no matter how wrong the caster was trying to do their spell. Shaking a furry bat head, Steliana allowed her disappointed thoughts to subside and to enjoy the wind through her fur and across her wings.
Then again, that also makes me excited. How drastically different would that curse have been if cast by someone actually skilled and had been the one to lay it? Even if it was merely with the same level of power?! How magnificent would it have been if it were cast by a former Magician, reincarnated to be the Bishop of some 'King'?
Perhaps if a 'true' High-Class devil in both skill and power had done it, she would have needed to use that to deal with such a curse. Because even if she had experience with curses, experience with power far beyond High-Class, and was immensely talented herself?
The truth was, she was merely cannon fodder right now. A mere Low-Class Youkai Dhampir hybrid. Heh. That is an interesting and enticing thought. Not to mention, even if the curse was pathetic, it did give her a frame of reference for the curses of this world and a wide assortment of brand-new ideas. Looks like I'll have all sorts of fun things to test and try out, even if I get enrolled at school soon.
Steliana soared into the clouds and allowed her thoughts to fade away, to enjoy the breeze and the dampness of the air.