"Slice and dice, baby." Freed swung his wooden training sword.

Lint jumped back. "You're gonna have to try harder than that, brother." She let out her clear laugh.

Freed smiled. He raised his free hand and released a burst of holy power.

Because she was still up in the air, she couldn't evade it. The holy power hit her straight in her belly. His opponent hit the ground and rolled further. Her sword was knocked out of her hand.

Freed casually walked up to her. "You lost."

She rolled on her back. "You're cheating."

"Better luck next time, sis."

He held out his free hand.

"Hmph." She allowed him to help her up.

"Well done," their instructor said.

"But Father," Lint argued. "He cheated."

"Results are all that matters. Do you expect a vampire or a devil to play fair?"

She lowered her head. "No, Father."

"You did well too."

"I lost," she argued.

"But you held your ground against Freed for a while. That is key too. If this was a real fight, you would have been capable of running away and getting reinforcements. You don't have to do everything by yourself, Lint."

"Yes, Father." She bowed again.

A sound disturbed them.

Their instructor turned. The gates opened. A waggon pulled by four black horses rolled onto the domain.

"Go get Aria," he ordered. "Quickly."

They ran off to fetch her.

The waggon stopped. A servant opened the doors.

From it, a man emerged. He was small and round, with a thin moustache and some wisps of grey hair sticking out of his cap.

"What brings you here, Valper Galilei?" John asked. He bowed.

"Bad news of course. Where are they?"

"They'll be right here."

"They better be, I'm not a patient man."

John swallowed hard. Something bad must have happened for Valper to visit unannounced.

A few nerve wrecking minutes later, the trio arrived. They formed a line.

"Are these all of them?" Valper asked.

"Sieg has been sent to a different institute. These are the other three."

"Are we giving them names now?"

"They may not be born the natural way, but they are still human," John said.

"They are a bunch of genetic material," Valper said. "Nothing more."

He studied them each in turn. Short haired Freed with his red eyes, timid Lint with equally red eyes and white hair, and Aria. Somehow, Aria had turned into a gorgeous girl with green eyes and long blonde hair. She was well endowed, contrary to her 'sister' Lint.

"I'll keep things short," Valper said. "Karen is dead."

Their eyes widened.

"As such," Valper continued. "We no longer have a wielder for Excalibur Transparency. The Holy Sword Project is nowhere near finished, so it will have to be one of you. For the time being." From his tone, it sounded like he dreaded the prospect.

Valper turned to John. "Which one is the most promising?"

"I guess Freed shows the most talent, but-"

"Hold on a sec," Aria interrupted them. "Why should he be chosen? I'm much better than him."

"He wins two out of three matches against you," John pointed out.

"In a sparring match. What about a real fight?"

"It's settled then," Valper said. "Have them fight for real, I'll take the winner with me."

"As you wish," John said, bowing. "Lint, give her your training sword."

"With real weapons," Valper said.

John hesitated. "We don't have any of those here."

"That can be arranged," Valper said. He beckoned his servant.

They exchanged a few words.

"I will take a while to send them here," Valper said, he checked the angle of the sun. "We'll have the fight on the morrow. Show me the guest room."

Valper walked to the house without waiting for a reply.

John muttered where he could put his guest room as he ran after the Archbishop.

"Well then," Aria said. "I'll rest up for the big battle. Good luck, Freed."

She left them.

"I don't trust her," Lint said.

Freed shrugged. "No matter the outcome, she'll be gone tomorrow."

"You're not gonna kill her, are you?"

"No. I'm gonna lose on purpose. She'll go with Valper."

"But… why? As a Holy Sword wielder, you'll be rich and powerful. People will respect you. You'll get your own mansion with servants and-"

"But I would have to leave you behind."

"I… you can't waste this opportunity, brother. Don't worry about me."

"I'm not leaving you behind with her."

"You really don't have to worry about me," Lint said. "This is the only chance you'll get."

"Hm."

"Go to bed, you have to rest up for the battle."

"Yeah, okay."

They went to their rooms.

Freed got into his bed.

What should he do?

As failed experiments, they would most likely stay here all their lives. They couldn't be allowed to run rampant. Lint had a point. This was his one chance to go out there and actually do something. But then he'd have to leave her behind with Aria.

Someone knocked on his door.

Freed opened his eyes.

"What's wrong, Lint?" He opened the door. "Oh."

"Sorry to disappoint you," Aria said. She was dressed in a thin satin nightgown that was almost translucent. The light green matched her eyes perfectly.

"Uh…" Freed hesitated. What was going on here?

"Can I come in?"

"Sure."

He stepped aside so she could enter.

"I'm really sorry about today," Aria said.

"Huh?"

"I'll forfeit tomorrow. It was wrong of me to say that. You are clearly a much better fighter than me."

"But… what?"

"Don't worry. I'll take good care of Lint for you."

"I never knew you thought of me like that. You always looked like you hated me."

"I was jealous that you were better," Aria explained. "But… now that you're gonna leave us, I guess… I feel really bad about how I treated you. You're the better fighter, there's nothing I can do about that. It's time to accept it."

"Okay." This was a weird change.

"But before you leave, I have a request for you."

"What is it?"

"The Holy Sword Project is close to completion. And none of us could wield Gram or any other sword."

"I guess." Sieg was the only one who had shown some promising results and he had been taken away.

"Soon, they won't need us anymore," she continued. "Me and Lint will be stuck here forever."

"I'll come to visit if I can."

"Thanks. But… just in case. Would you mind… taking my virginity?"

"What?"

"The only man left here will be old John after you are gone. So… I want to become a woman, and this might be my only chance. And I always had a little crush on you. You don't mind, do you? We can do it any way you like."

"Uh…"

"You don't want to see them?" She lowered the straps of her nightgown a bit.

Freed hesitated. "I-I do, but…"

"Well come over here then and take it off. Or are you not a real man?"

"I-I am."

He had a hard time denying her request. A vague voice in the back of his head told him this was all wrong, but he pushed it away. What could she possibly gain by sleeping with him?

Unless she was hiding a weapon, but let's face it, there was hardly any room to hide one with that attire.

The blood was rushing to the wrong head to be thinking much more about it.

Freed moved closer. His hand reached out and pulled down her dress. Her breasts were uncovered. They were even more gorgeous than he had deemed possible.

"What are you gonna do with those?" she asked.

He reached down and sucked on her nipple.

"Oh my, you're not wasting any time, are you?"

He pulled her nightgown further down.

"No, no, rip it off," she said.

"Are you sure?"

"Show me how a real man takes a woman."

"Okay then." He pulled hard. The fabric easily ripped.

Freed discarded it.

"My panties too. Rip them off."

He obliged her request.

She kissed him on his mouth, hard.

While kissing, she moved back on the bed and lay down.

She opened up his pants and pulled them down. He stepped out of them.

"Put it in me," she pleaded.

He took off his shirt. "Don't you need a bit more preparation?"

"No. Please, fuck me hard."

"Alright then."

Unable to hold himself back, he aligned himself and pushed it in.

She suppressed a scream.

"Wow."

"Are you alright?"

"I said fuck me hard."

"Alright then." He pushed it in harder.

She embraced him. Her nails dug into his back, scratching him up. This drove him into a frenzy.

"Fuck, I'm not gonna last long like this," he grunted. This sensation was way too good.

"It's okay. We have all night. Release it."

She wrapped her legs around him so he couldn't pull it. Not long after, he shuddered and came deep inside of her.

Fuck that was good.

"Well done baby," she praised him. "Did you come inside?"

"Yes," he said. "Hey, hold on, is it safe?"

"Not for you."

"Huh?"

Aria let out a scream.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Securing my future," she said calmly. She screamed again.

The door burst open.

"What is happening?" John demanded.

He looked at the two. Aria on her back, stark naked with cum dripping out of her, and Freed towering over her, equally naked.

"Father."

Aria ran towards him and fell into his arms.

"It's Freed," she said. "He… He forced himself upon me."

"What? No, she… she asked me to…"

"He's lying. He tore off my clothes and pushed me down. I clawed with my fingers and I struggled, but he held his hand over my mouth and forced himself inside me."

She buried her head into John's chest and sobbed.

John's eyes fell on the torn nightgown and panties on the ground.

"No," Freed said. "I…"

"Look at the marks on his back Father."

"Turn around, Freed," John said.

"But-"

"Now!"

He obliged. The nail marks on his back were hard to miss.

More people arrived, servants and guards mostly.

"Arrest him," John said.

The guards cuffed his hands and pulled him outside. They marched him downstairs and tossed him into a dungeon. The door slammed shut behind him.

Fuck.

He should have known this was a trap. Why would Aria want to sleep with him?

How had he been so stupid? What would happen to him now?

Even though the bible did not explicitly forbid rape, the church was unlikely to go easy on him. All evidence pointed against him. He would certainly be banished or killed.

Fuck.

For a while, Freed was left alone with his spiralling thoughts. Then, the door opened.

"Fath-" It wasn't John. It was Lint. "I-I didn't do anything, you have to-"

"Shh. I know."

"What?"

"I'm here to free you."

She produced a key and unlocked his cuffs.

"How did you get that?"

"Don't ask too many questions, brother. You have to go."

"Go where?"

"Anywhere. It doesn't matter." She handed him a bag.

"What about you?"

"They'll try to chase you down. I'll stop them."

"But-"

She leaned in and kissed him full on the lips.

"You have to go," she repeated. "Now."

"Okay."

He slung the bag over his shoulder.

They ran upstairs.

"Go," she said, pointing to the doors.

Lint ran in the other direction.

She tried to forget the disturbing look in Freed's eyes. The look that made her concerned for his sanity.

Freed had never been outside this institute. Would he really be able to handle himself all alone?

But there was no time to think about that now. She had work to do.

Outside, Freed got on the waiting horse.

Just what kind of distraction was Lint planning?

Suddenly, flames shot out of one of the towers. He heard screams and people running around. The guards ran towards the burning tower, away from the gates.

He guided his horse to the unguarded gates. Once there, he had to momentarily get off to open them.

He looked back at the mansion one more time. "Goodbye, Lint."

Freed got back on the horse.

Digging his heels in its flanks, he spurred it into a gallop.

Stupid Aria. Let's hope he never saw that green-eyed bitch again.

"Freed? Hey! Wake up."

Someone roughly shook him awake.

"R-Raynare?" He narrowed his eyes on the ravenhead.

His mind quickly concluded he had been reliving the past in his nightmares, as usual. The mansion was long behind him. He was working for the fallen angels now.

"Get up," Raynare said. "She'll be here soon."

"Who?"

"The banished nun. Now get the fuck up."

"Coming, coming."

He quickly got dressed.

Freed had completely forgotten the sister was coming today. The one holding a powerful Twilight Healing. The church had banished her for healing a devil. Probably a misunderstanding. From experience he knew the church excelled at those. But they would take her in. She'd be a valuable ally. And he'd make sure she felt at home here. After all, they were both Exiles.

With a final tug, he pulled his belt in place. He checked up once more on the light weapons and then went outside.

Freed was just in time to see her step out of the magic circle.

His heart stopped for a second.

Blonde hair spilled from beneath her hood. A colour and length that looked very familiar. He of course knew it couldn't possibly be her. Even though the sister-outfit hid it, it was clear she was less busty and not as tall as Aria. Even so, her hair looked disturbingly similar. Hopefully, her face would be different.

"I'm Asia Argento," the girl said in a sweet voice. She removed her hood to reveal beautiful green eyes.

Something snapped inside of Freed.