Not Really Monotheistic

San Gimignano, Italy

During twilight, at the countryside of Italy, a group of exorcists was scouring around the place. Few days ago, a local priest reported a sighting of a strange creature which was followed by the discovery of several dead bodies. After that, the Vatican relayed the message to the nearest exorcist base and tasked them to investigate the report.

However, when they arrived, they found out that the priest had joined the victims. Since he was the only one in the church when he gave the report and was killed before he could spread the news to other priests and nuns, the exorcists basically had to start from square one.

"So, remind me again, why do we bring one of Excaliburs with us, despite the fact that this is a simple monster extermination mission?" Asked one of the exorcists.

"Because I am not experienced with the sword." Replied blue-haired exorcist. "I might be able to wield it. But it doesn't mean much if I can't be skillful with it."

It was true. While the fragments of Excalibur can only be wielded by people with certain characteristics, like other weapons, one had to use them constantly to be able to unleash the swords' greatest potential.

The exorcist with an Excalibur, Xenovia Quarta, had only be able to even wield the sword a week ago and was pretty much a newbie with it. She needed to train herself while using Excalibur and what better way to do that than field experience?

There was also the fact that in case she got killed in this mission, her partners could prevent Excalibur from falling into the wrong hands. As unlikely as it was, Xenovia still remembered that one time when she almost lost her life in what was supposed to be an easy mission.

Her thought was interrupted when an exorcist at the rearmost screamed. Xenovia and other exorcists immediately went towards their weapons and turned around. Xenovia was not the only one who carried a special weapon; three exorcists in the team of twelve also carried one as well.

Unfortunately, the screaming exorcist was one of the carriers.

When they looked at him, they saw the exorcist was being dragged by a really large dog. The dog then threw the poor person and made him hit a tree. The dog turned its attention towards the still-standing exorcists.

"Hellhound!" Shouted one of the exorcists.

Without warning, Xenovia immediately ran towards the hellhound, intending on finishing the monster as soon as possible. When she tried to slammed Excalibur Destruction on it, the hellhound jumped back. It was about to pounded on her when a shot hit the right side of its face. It looked right and saw an exorcist pumping a shotgun. The hellhound ran towards the shooter, just in time to avoid another attack from the blue-haired exorcist. The exorcist with shotgun ran away from the monster and letting two others to fight it.

"Hey, err…you sure this is a good idea?" Asked one of the two as she nervously stare at her light sword.

"Well, it's not like we have more celestial bronze available." Replied her partner.

The two exorcists fought against the hellhound with the standard light-based weapons. While they were effective against beings such as stray devils and vampires, they were near useless against Greco-Roman monsters.

Despite their attacks merely angering the creature, the two exorcists managed to avoid retaliations from it. Xenovia and two more exorcists ran towards them, with the rest taking care of the wounded or making sure there was no other threat.

When the three of them almost arrived, the hellhound immediately dug in. However, it didn't dig the ground, but rather a shadow of a tree on it. Seeing that, the two exorcists who were attacking the hellhound started to attack it more ferociously. The hellhound whimpered in pain, yet it remained digging as it knew that the attacks weren't a danger for the hellhound.

Xenovia jumped and intended to bashed the hellhound with Excalibur Destruction. However, it managed to escape into the shadow and the holy sword hit the ground instead, sending shockwave that caused the four exorcists near her to fell.

"Real smooth, Xenovia." Commented one of them with sarcasm. "Real smooth."

The four of them stood up and now the exorcists were looking around nervously. The sun almost sank on the horizon and night almost came. They didn't need more shadow that can be used by the hellhound to ambush them.

When they heard a sound of something moving among the bushes, the exorcists drew their attentions towards the source. Cautiously, two exorcists – one of them armed with celestial bronze weapon – slowly approached the bushes. When something came out from there, they almost struck it until they saw that it was merely a squirrel. They relaxed and let out a sigh of relief before becoming cautious again.

Suddenly, there was a sound of a dog barking. Judging from the loudness, it was very likely that it was from the hellhound. The exorcists ran towards the source of the barking which changed into a whimper. When they arrived at the location, they saw that the hellhound was lying on the ground and disintegrating as it was surrounded by a group of people.

"Identify yourself!" Stated Xenovia as she pointed Excalibur Destruction at them.

When the group turned their attention towards the blue-haired exorcist, her and others noticed that they were wearing Roman-era armors. They had the famous gladius in their hands to accompanied their shields. One of them approached the exorcists as she removed her helmet. When she took of her helmet, the exorcists could see her face clearly and were surprised.

"You…!"


The next day…

The Vatican City

With the Vatican only possessing an area of 44 hectares, and there were areas opened to the public, one would think that there would be minimum supernatural-related activities in the City. Well, not counting the prayers, the Pope looking at the latest reports of important missions, and things that can be disguised as normal activities.

It was incorrect. If one look at one of the restricted areas, one could witness a spar between a Roman legionnaire and a Pontifical Swiss Guard. There was also the fact that the map of Vatican was slightly wrong; there were several areas purposely not being put on the map. And that's not getting into the more supernatural covering.

Back to the spar, it was clear that the legionnaire and the guard were on an even ground. The halberd wielded by the guard gave him a range advantage compared to the gladius and shield combination of the legionnaire. On the other hand, those combination can be used to pass through the minimum range of the halberd and put the guard at a massive disadvantage. Namely, being unable to retaliate.

The legionnaire and the guard moved sideways, making a circle as they kept their eyes on each other. The latter raised his halberd and struck the former, who raised his shield in defense. The guard withdrew his weapon and the legionnaire decided to moved forward. The guard tried to stab him, but the legionnaire dodged the attack and decided to do the same attack with his gladius. The guard jumped back to avoid it. But when he did, he managed to trip himself and fell.

Seeing the opportunity, the legionnaire quickly put himself above the downed guard and put the tip of his gladius on the chest armor of his opponent. After a while, seeing that the guard was still holding the pain, the legionnaire dropped his weapons and checked the guard's foot.

"Well, looks like you sprained your feet." Informed the legionnaire as he held the sprained feet.

"Just my luck." Commented the guard.

"So, draw?"

"…yeah, let's just call it a draw."

Several minutes later, the guard was carried into the infirmary while the legionnaire joined with his fellows. They gave him a towel and a bottle of water. On the other side of the sparring area, the watching Pontifical Guards and exorcists started to disperse, with only few remaining.

"Enjoying the spar?"

Xenovia, who was one of the spectators, looked at the speaker and saw that it was her legal guardian and mentor, Griselda Quarta.

"Ah, Griselda!" Said Xenovia as she immediately stood straight.

"Calm down. No need to panic." Said Griselda calmly.

Xenovia tried to do so but found it difficult. The time when she managed to make her made left an…impact on her.

"Come on, now. This won't be the first time that you're not tense when talking to me." Said Griselda.

"I-I know. It's just…that…you know…my latest mission…" Said Xenovia nervously.

"Oh, that? Don't worry. You're still new with Excalibur Destruction, so I did have expectation of you…not being too successful with it."

"I…see…" While she was relieved that her mentor wasn't dissatisfied, it still hurt that Griselda actually expect her to fail.

The conversation between them was stopped when Xenovia's stomach grumbled. She blushed a little as Griselda let out a giggle.

"Let's continue this after a lunch." Suggested the older exorcist.

"Yeah…let's…"


Half an hour later…

Inside a cafeteria, Xenovia silently munched on her food while also observing the legionnaires who were eating several tables away from her. Her eyes though were focused at a certain brunette female with bun hairstyle. Her armors looked to be of better qualities compared to other legionnaires.

"It's not polite to stare at people, Xenovia." Said Griselda with a stern voice.

"Sorry." Said Xenovia immediately. "It's just that…"

"I know. Not everyday a former top exorcist come to the Vatican and being affiliated with another faction."

The subject of their conversation was the female legionnaire that was being stared at by Xenovia. That female was Antoinette Pétain, one of two centurions of the Second Cohort of Camp Ravenna.

And just as what Griselda said, Centurion Pétain was a former exorcist of the Roman Catholic Church.

Several years ago, Antoinette Pétain was a rising star among the exorcists of the Church. A natural wielder of "true" Holy Sword and had the honor of being trained by the legendary Vasco Strada himself, she possessed an impressive track record and it was thought that she would be a legendary exorcist. Wouldn't be as strong as Dulio Gesualdo of course, but she would still be a force to be reckoned with.

That was, until suddenly, out of nowhere, she was exiled from the Church. It was a shock to almost everyone in the Church. When asked about her exile, those who gave the punishment only said that Pétain "dug forbidden knowledge." Shortly after her exile, she disappeared and no one knows what happened to her.

Until now.

Yesterday, Pétain helped Xenovia and her team in eliminating a hellhound while leading the legionnaires of the Second Cohort for a…training through Italy. Recognizing the centurion as the former famous exorcist, the leader of the exorcist team asked Pétain on whether she could give an explanation on her disappearance, in which she agreed. They were going to Rome anyway.

At the Vatican, Pétain told the Church the events that transpired after her disappearance. She went to Camp Ravenna. It turned out that Pétain is the daughter of Mars, the Roman God of War. At the camp, she went through the legion training and managed to become a centurion of the Second Cohort.

As for Camp Ravenna itself, little was known about it. The Church knew that it was a protection and training center of Roman demigods in Europe, but that was it. There were a lot of rumors surrounding the place.

Some said that Camp Ravenna was one of three Roman demigod camps, with two others being Camp Caesar and Camp Gemina. Some said that Camp Ravenna, Caesar, and Gemina were one and the same and the three names was to confused other factions. And there were some who said that Camp Ravenna was merely a meeting place, with the training itself being carried out in the United States, the center of the Western Civilization.

As expected, Pétain did nothing to clear up the rumors.

And then there was the Greek demigods to think about. All in all, the Church knew little about the camps of the Greco-Roman demigods.

"You don't look happy with her being here." Stated Griselda.

"Of course not. Centurion Pétain turned her back from the God and joined the Pagans. While I know that she was exiled rather than resigned, she could avoid it by not looking at forbidden knowledge. The Church forbids some knowledge for good reasons." Said Xenovia in return.

"Well, at least it isn't because she's a demigod."

"A son of Athena managed to become a Pope. That means they can choose to be a faithful Christian. That's why I don't like Centurion Pétain."

Xenovia turned her attention back to Pétain when she heard her suddenly speaking in Latin. The centurion seemed to be delivering some sort of speech, which received a cheer from the legionnaires.

"Xenovia." Once again, the blue-haired exorcist's attention was taken from the Second Cohort. "After this, meet me at the usual place."

"Ah, yes, ma'am."


Several hours later…

London, United Kingdom

Inside a two-story house so common among the neighborhood, a family of three was currently having dinner. The daughter, Irina Shidou, almost finished her meals when a phone suddenly rang. The mother and her looked at the only male, who was blushing as he took his phone out. He excused himself before accepting the call.

"So, Irina, I heard that you are chosen as a wielder of an Excalibur?" Asked the mother, Kelly Shidou.

"That's right, Mom! Thanks to my devotion, God has deemed me worthy to wield one of the Holy Swords under His name!" Answered Irina excitedly, causing her mother to giggle.

"Ah, sorry about that." Said Touji Shidou, who had just finished the call. "It's from work. It seems that I will have to leave earlier."

"Oh, dear. Is there nothing that you can do?" Asked Kelly, rather worried.

"I am afraid not, my love." Replied Touji. "Oh, how I wish to spend more time with my family."

"It's OK, Dad. I understand. I am sure that in the end, the Lord will give us a nicer family time in return." Said Irina, though her voice contained sadness.

"I always like your optimism, Irina." Said Touji as he rubbed his daughter's head. "Before I go, there's something that I want to give to you. A gift, so to say, for being chosen as a wielder of the Holy Excalibur."

Touji took a hairclip from his pocket and gave it to Irina, who looked at it curiously. She wasn't exactly fond of wearing an accessory. So, for her father to gave her one was rather odd.

However, Irina soon noticed that there was something strange with the hairclip. There seemed to be a part that was out of place. She rubbed said part with her thumb. Suddenly, the hairclip changed into a backsword. Irina almost dropped the sword but managed to prevent that from happening. She inspected the sword and realized the material used to make the blade.

"Celestial bronze." Said Irina with a mix of fascination and grimace. Fascinated by the design and grimaced by the origin.

"Yes, celestial bronze. A weapon that marked the hardship and the changing of time." Said Touji with a sense of nostalgia.

Irina knew what her father was talking about. It was a story that he had told her several times.

During the Second World War, many exorcists around Europe were conscripted by the warring nations of Europe or volunteered for the armed forces and temporarily resigned. Those who weren't involved in the fighting were still affected by the war. Many experienced German exorcists were killed by Allied bombing campaigns.

The weapon-producing facilities of the Church were also hit, especially in territory controlled by the Axis and later the Soviets. The Axis destroyed them due to believing them to be resistance weapon factories and the Soviets did the same to prevent an uprising from the local populace.

After the war, with so many exorcists killed and their facilities destroyed, the Church found itself unable to effectively and efficiently fight against the supernatural threats in Europe. The Angels of Heaven were still recovering from the Great War and thus there wasn't much that they could do.

Enter the Greco-Roman Pantheon.

The Pantheon, who had moved to the United States and building their power there, offered a support in term of manpower and weapons. The demigods would help the remaining exorcists fighting the threats and the celestial bronze weapons, which were more effective than the light-based weapons owned by the Church, were given in a large number.

Of course, those supports came with a price.

Irina pushed what appeared to be a button on the backsword and it returned to its hairclip form.

"Thanks for the gift, Dad. It might be a Pagan weapon, but since I am using it, that means it will serve a greater purpose." Said Irina.

Touji let out a small laugh as he gave a kiss on Irina's check before doing the same to his wife.

"You still have a lot to learn, Irina." Said Touji.

The brunette couldn't help but looked at her father confusedly as the man walked towards the door.


Answers to some reviews:

Toaneo07 Ver2.0: I will be using the Percy Jackson version.

CRUDEN: There will be other characters beside the gods.


And this chapter is done.

If you have question or suggestion, feel free to tell me.

Review please!