A bit of a warning considering what is happening in the world. I promise this chapter is not inspired by current events and the chapter and the ending of this story arc were already planned out last January.

TRIGGER WARNING: WAR

Highschool DXD is not my property only this fanfic.

I need balls of brass to face people to publish my work if DXD is my property.

"You know that the device is not ready!" Clara screamed

"We know! But this is an opportunity of a lifetime!" Anderson argued back as we three marched within the hallways of the research building. "Call me cold, but the results will save thousands more, and even their lives if it works."

Clara was about to say something, but I cut her off "I know you are concerned about the what-ifs, I am too." I stressed the last part, "But like what Anderson said, this is an opportunity of a lifetime and that there is a 50/50 chance of success."

"It is not 50/50 Asia!"

"No, but with my gear, it at least will," I said as Clara gave a look like I gained another head.

"ASIA! This is not like you, especially where life is at stake." She said to me dead in the eye, "You must rest; you were nearly killed or worse, kidnapped by that filth not an hour ago."

"Yes, but we need the results fast, now¸ what that son of a devil did to us and them will start a biblical war! We need an edge!" I argued back.

The three of us are by the doors that will lead to our special project, even though we have different opinions on this test/operation, we all feel the tense air; we know what this operation will do for our entire faction if it is a success, and the consequence it will do to us personally if it fails.

I was about to push the doors open when I heard a shout

"ASIA!"

I turned and saw a tall and thin teen with copper skin and black hair, but the most notable thing about his appearance are his eyes which are glowing green.

"Joseph?"

The teen stopped before and bowed

"I am so sorry for not seeing those magic circles!"

"Joseph, we know the limitations of your Sacred Gear, please lift your head."

"Yes, but you were the priority target, and I was supposed to guard you the most."

I sigh at his turmoil and say, "What were you doing when I was stomping the devil?"

Joseph looked to the side and said, "I was watching over the others."

I smiled and said, "See, you were looking out for everyone; I know you want to protect everyone, especially with the nature of your gear, but please know your limits and that we can handle ourselves" I lift my arms to present myself, "see? I am here and still kicking."

Joseph remained looking at me and sigh with relief.

"He could have taken you too you know. The Ajuka Beelzebub had you in his grasp"

"Yes, but he is smart enough to know that action will start a war," I said with some authority getting tired of Joseph's defeat, and maybe the things happening in one night will happen. "Listen, Joseph, it is okay, but I am sorry, but we have to cut the conversation short, we are about to do something that might prevent a war." I turned and entered the laboratory with Clara and Anderson following leaving Joseph alone.

-LineBreak-

I watched the Terminator in this life and was very impressed with the acting skills of Arnold; in being a completely lifeless imitation of life. But this look in front of me gives me, even more chills considering that I could have been like that.

I stare at the lifeless face of Diodora's Queen as she and her peers were tied up by special chains provided by Heaven for our experiment.

"Asia" I turn to meet Clara who called me, "Angel Raphael and Uriel will not be with us regrettably; Heaven said that they are having an emergency meeting with the Underworld and Grigori as we speak."

I turned back to the white-haired queen and maul over the info; this will turn everything to our favor if it works.

"What is her name?" I asked as Clara looked at her clipboard.

"Her name is Sister Angelica; she was an important member of the Catholic church stationed in Germany. She was considered a Holy Maiden not due to a Sacred Gear, but her proficiency in Cleansing Rituals with incense and fire, she cleaned many areas potent in negative energy due to two world wars which occurred around and in Germany.

So, she is proficient in fire magic, which explains her fiery personality during the fight and her fire magic.

"Attach her to the device," I commanded two other doctors in the laboratory with us. They both grabbed and carried her to a metal cross laying horizontally with a bed a couple of inches above it; they attached her to the bed and stepped away.

The cross is the Sacred Extractor the Grigori developed but now is modified with multiple wires drilled to it and connected to the bed and computers.

Once she "settled" on the cross, a tense air developed in the lab on what we are about to do.

Anderson took the initiative and typed a few codes, and a hologram displayed an energy cloud; it is very dark as if we are just staring at empty space with little light glowing on some clouds. Anderson typed some more then the hologram zoomed in to the center and display what looks like a black hole.

"This is the Evil Piece in her represented by energy." Anderson said will still looking at the display, "Our goal is to take it out without destroying the soul attached to it."

Yes, that is right, we are trying to remove evil pieces from reincarnated devils without killing them, basically freeing them from their slavery and potential to be a stray.

If we can do this successfully, we can save thousands, free people like Angelica, and even destroy the morale of the devils.

We waited and observed the cloud for a while and I commanded, "Start it."

Anderson nodded and typed in some codes as the cross started to glow.

We observed her and the hologram as bright lines appear on the cross and the hologram; slithering their way to the blockhole of the energy cloud, it did not take long before they attached to it.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Angelica started to scream and thrash on the device, trying to get out of it but failed; veins started to show on her skin and demonic energy spiked.

The lines in the hologram surrounded the blackhole making it look like an outline but is seemed to be consumed by it.

"The Evil Piece is fighting the process," Anderson said in a grim tone, "like a safety measure for the servant; we need to more power."

"Will the increase of power be dangerous?" I asked

"More like adding more force on a crowbar" Clara replied

They both look at me for a command; so, the decision is on me now. I summoned my gears and stood beside the woman in paid. "Do it."

Anderson typed a few codes and the lines on the cross and hologram glowed brighter; in the hologram, the lines started to invade the blackhole like a virus, possibly trying to consume or break the Evil Piece.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! DIODORA-SAMA!"

I placed my gear on her and started to heal her, trying to mitigate the pain as I see bloodshot eyes stream off tears. Her skin got pale, and her nose started to bleed.

"WE ARE ALMOST THERE!" I heard Anderson exclaim, but I remained my eyes on our test subject.

"DIODORA-SAMA! HELP ME!"

She is crying for help from the filth that destroyed her life. We are doing something good for her, but it looks like we are the monsters in this scene; he destroyed her life, we could destroy her soul.

I placed both of my hands on her chest and felt her frantic breathing, and my Sacred Gear is telling me that her blood is exactly 247 decrees, has a 340 bpm and her tissues are destroying from the inside out.

Her demonic energy started to shine brightly on her skin, and I felt something emerge from her chest to under my palm.

I raised my palms while continuously healing and see a cracked grey Queen Piece, devoid of life.

Her breathing slowed down, and her vitals returned to normal. I felt the presence of the other scientists and looked at our subject with shock.

"We, did it?" Anderson said carefully

"WE DID IT!" Clara suddenly exclaimed and hugged Anderson tight.

I smiled in relief as I observe the devil in front of me; yeah, we did it.

ALARM

The hologram that I ignored suddenly turned red and showed an image of the cloud collapsing.

"We are losing her!" Someone shouted as everyone scrambled to find an answer.

I, who was still continuously healing her, stare at the now dying eyes of Angelica as a single, but a painful tear fell. And then one moment I saw Angelica, then I saw myself in a white dress and dead eyes. I stepped back in shock; when I lifted my gears, I saw that they were on black leather gloves.

Then I saw the image of Asia hung on the device with Raynare laughing. But it then turned to Angelica on the cross and a doubleganger of me was laughing.

No, no, no, No!

I am no better than those filth of the supernatural! I am no longer the victim but the tormentor!

Why!? Why!? Why!?

Why Lord?! What does it have to come to this?! I begged to the sky for an answer. I started to cry and feel my exhaustion hit me like a wave.

Then an answer came from a realization; I came here to change things, and I can still change things for the better if I keep going forward! GOD gave me Twilight Healing, the Smile of the Holy Mother! The Sacred Gear that was inspired by Jesus's healing power!

I stepped forward and pressed my Twilight Healing on her chest.

Canon!Asia healed Issei from this coma with only pure love, I can do better with study, practice, desire, and pure drive!

I took a deep breath and felt the energy, I did not spend any of it and to more deep breathes to fill my tank even more as prayer circles appeared below Angelica.

My gear shined brightly as I saw actual waves of power emit from them like heatwaves for a great bonfire!

"The soul! Whatever you are doing Asia, give more!"

I wanted to make miracles for everyone; for the people who are left in this cruel world with no God. To protect the world God loves so much that He died twice for it.

The shine got so bright to the point it almost turned white; I think I was seeing things considering that my gear looks like emitting flower petals and leaves from different plants.

"Holy Shit, EVERYONE GET BACK TO THE BARRIER!"

"ASIA GO!"

"ANDERSON GET BACK!"

I have a Miracle, I Will Make a Miracle, I WILL BE THE MIRACLE!

[BALANCE BREAKER! EDEN'S TWILIGHT BLESSING!]

The last thing I saw was ten gold rings replacing my silver ones, with one per finger and gold bracelets on my wrists with small chains attach to a flat rectangle emerald on the center of my backhand. Then everything turned green.

-LineBreak-

I stand in the middle of the farm and breathe in the air to calm me down; I look up and see the blue sky and it reminded me of the barrier protecting us. I question if it can protect us when the biblical war starts.

I heard footsteps and turn to see Mother Anne.

"You are supposed to be asleep."

"I am not tired."

"Might be the adrenaline from everything last night, you will be knocked out sooner or later." She joked and stood Infront of me. She gave me a comforting smile and we enjoyed each other's presence. "You know you need to rest up for your meeting with Archangel Seraphiel; you need to demonstrate what you did last night to confirm the state of your Sacred Gear."

"What did Heaven say about the meeting?" I asked to shift away from that complicated topic as her face turned to a complicated one, with a mix of relief and worry.

"Well…" she paused, "We won't get to war anytime soon."

I would have snapped my head at her answer, but I was too tired to have any explosive reactions, "Wah?"

Mother Anne sighed and said, "The Three Factions also had a busy night and made some breakthroughs like you." She turned to look at the garden. "Our proof of the Holy Maidens basically had the devils on the edge considering the applications of Astroth's Heir has done; the Noble devil abusing the Evil Pieces which his brother created to defile the church and in extension, humans. The acts will paint Beelzebub and his old clan to be bad as the Old Satan Faction in the eyes of the reincarnated devils, which will create more tension in their society, so what happened last night cannot be used as a reason for war, and is now top secret ." She paused for a while and continued, "Satan Beelzebub offered Heaven the blueprints of the Evil Piece as a show of goodwill, all we need now is to reverse engineer it and materials, and testing. Diodora Astroth is officially, but quietly exiled from the New Satan Government, if not beaten to blue by his brother."

I felt some shock to that, but I felt droopy.

"There is something I want to tell you Asia; I did not tell you sooner because it might drive you to do more unhealthy all-nighters, but it is now important considering what you have done last night." She continued without looking at me, maybe from guilt, I don't know, "Your study on faith changed so many things in the supernatural world, but the most prominent is how it contributed to Heaven. Since Adam and Eve, all faith were directly sent to God and his system; faith from us, the faith from a child to a parent is so potent in power that it made the Him the most powerful being in the universe. The faith stored in Heaven will then be used on prayers, rituals, and objects that God see fit to bless, and the stronger the faith, there will be a stronger outcome."

"Yeah, that is Faith Theory 101…" I commented

"What do pagan gods like Odin or Zeus use? Do they also use faith?"

This somehow feels like an interview or test suddenly. "No, faith for God Almighty is strictly for Him and only to Him; pagan gods use their version of faith if it can even be called faith in the first place, which are the desire, imagination, and raw emotions from desperate and lost people who only pray for selfish reasons and want selfish outcomes that disrupt the natural order and law God made to his creation, like seafarers praying to Poseidon for unrealistic catches or lustful deviants praying to Aphrodite for lustful encounters. That is why pagan gods have domains like God of the Sea or Goddess of Love because it is most efficient to target a set of people with a specific set of desires." I took a deep breath and think about my research, "But gods still want Heaven's faith because 1) we have the most followers in the world while they basically have none, and 2) Our faith in Father is somewhat akin to the innocent devotion, love, and reliance of a toddler to a parent making it approximately 10 to 20 times more potent than the selfish intention, that is why it is important that it only goes to Him.

"Yes, but now you found a way for it to be used directly on objects or rituals without going through God, and pagan gods are now able to use it as well making new threats to the Three Factions; so, war is a bad idea. But there is another reason why war is a bad idea for the devils."

She then turned to me and had a stoic expression and asked, "We believe in God, but we also know that his angels will protect us, right? To guide us to His path and do God's work. For the glory of Heaven and us, God's Children."

"Yes." I answered, both in this life and last.

"He who is like God, Strength of God, Healing of God, Light of God, Love of God, Voice of God, Face of God, Speed of God, and Thunder of God; the Ultimate Beings and Defenders of God's throne, beings believed to hold the different principles of God, and beings how only rank below God." She announced

"The Archangels are acknowledged by the Abrahamic faiths as God's strongest beings, the Earth's and Heaven's protectors; we believe that they are the hands and messengers of God and has done great deeds for His mission that seven of them are worshiped as saints by the Catholic church, and both the faithful and media see them as mighty celestial beings that can destroy all enemies of God; be it other gods, dragons, and the devils." she then looked at me, "And because of your research that acknowledgment and faith by us believers turned the Archangels of Heaven, especially the Four Great Seraphs, to be among the Top 10 Strongest beings in the world, although it is unofficially so considering that they did not show off their new might."

"War will be the end of the devils by the new firepower of Heaven, and let's not mention on the reports of the Fallen getting back a little bit of their grace after experimenting with your findings and conclusions" she then looked at me again, "and again and the worst-case scenario, is if war goes on, the other mythical factions will attack to take out the Three Factions, and if our reports are right, the mythologies are now able to harvest a bit of faith meant for God. Although speculation by the higher-ups of the Three Factions, Athena might want revenge, Odin might be hungry for your research, and the gods of the Underworld might start a conquest in Hell."

"In a nutshell, everyone not just in the Three Factions, but possibly every mythology is in a Cold War-style of a stand-off because of your research."

WHAT?!

"Wait, wait, wait… why can't the Archangels and their armies just exterminate all threats if they are that strong?" Call me cold, but that is the logical path to secure everything for Heaven.

"In what cost? Remember Asia that any war will have collateral damage, and we are talking about Satan Lucifer and chief gods like Zeus and Odin; anyone of them can destroy a continent within minutes, killing countless people in the process the moment Michael smites anyone of their allies or territory. And the worse of all, Heaven's ammo will run out if a big chunk of their believers turned to collateral damage." She then gained a very tired look, "Cold War; every side has nukes that will not benefit anyone and just cause genocide, especially for humanity. Sorry Asia, but your pain is not worth it."

There was a quiet moment as I maul over the complicated politics the supernatural world has; well it is a trade-off; prosperity cannot happen when there is war: Butter vs Gun.

As I maul over this, I failed to see that Mother Anne started crying.

Suddenly all my exhaustion disappeared, and I rushed to hug her

"I am so sorry Asia. I wish I could have done more!"

"You have," I said as I felt tears slide on my cheeks, "I have grown strong to fight the other side because of you. We are strong because of you."

Mother Anne, my mother figure continued to cry as we embrace each other. And maybe, I am her daughter figure to consider all the things we have been through and the time spent.

"I am proud of you Asia. 14 and you have done so many great things" She embraced tighter, "and let's not forget your New Longinus."

"Yeah", yes. I have done it; I have done a divine miracle and turned the reincarnated devil back to a whole human being with little to no damage from our operation and from Diodora's doings.

I have finally completed the first set of goals I had for myself, now I need new ones for the mess I indirectly made.

"I will need readings and findings on the effects of faith towards Heaven."

"Why?" she asked without letting me go.

"Because I will perfect my Miracle for Heaven."

-[ARC: MAIDEN'S FAITH/COMPLETE]-

This Arc is finally finished, and we can go on to Canon with a time skip to 2009 or 2010.

I also want to disclaim that this chapter and Asia's and Anne's conversation was planned before I even posted the first chapter, so the themes of War and a Cold War are not inspired by current events. And for those who always encourage me to continues, I basically got three more arcs mapped out and need more polishing; just gotta figure out the Crimson Queen Promotion v. Golden Lion King fight.

I also felt some misunderstood the Faith System of the story, which is understandable because I place so much mystery in it to make it a soft-magic system (systems with not very defined rules), so I hope their conversation clears up some things.

And boy the next Arc will be exciting, especially when a certain someone almost got what he wanted, but did not: spoilers (or not), he is pissed.

This entire arc was designed to show that the balance of power in DxD is now different from canon with faith in the equation and let's say some enemies and allies of the canon characters got an upgrade. There is a reason why I place the "He who is like God, Strength of God…" part.

Also, Archangel Serapiel is chief of the seraphim which are the angels in charge to guard God's Throne and sing "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord…" Traditionally. Yes, Seraphim has a different meaning in DxD and traditionally he/she take care of the Seraphim Choir (Raphael is noted to be the chief of Virtues, a choir/type of angel with specific duties.), but she is important in this fic and her duty is also will be minorly explored.

What do you guys think of this chapter and the story as a whole? Please Fav, Follow, and Review! Also to those who did, thank you for your support!