Ok, probably not the best but I wanted to get this chapter sorted to link into the next chapter. I've already planned the next one but I didn't have a plan for this one. I really decided to do this to introduce a character of importance to the story.
Silence ruled over the group as the news that had just been revealed to them sunk in. No one would believe it. Astarte watched Cassandra closely, ready to respond should things start turning foul. Cassandra just stared at her in shock. But what was worse for Astarte was the look of betrayal behind her eyes. She knew all of them would be feeling the same thing. Shock, disbelief and betrayal over the face that she had hidden this from them that the three of them had expected them to trust them when they hid that. Mikzuki chuckled from where she knelt.
"Did I just let your secret slip?" She asked innocently. Astarte glared at her with a look that spoke volumes. At that very moment, Astarte just wanted to tear that smug look off of her face. The only thing stopping her was the fact Mephisto held her in an iron grip and her leg throbbed in agony with even the slightest of movements.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't send you straight back to Gehenna with your tail on fire." She growled at Mikzuki. Rin stepped between them and crouched down.
"I thought you said you didn't want another's blood on your hands." He asked her.
"If it is preventable. I'm willing to make an exception here though." She snarled in response.
"Let her stay then. You could use her to show how successful the training of those of Gehenna can be." He said. She raised an eyebrow at him before letting out a long sigh.
"A trail period. That's all. She's got one chance to prove herself. If she tries anything, I'm going to let Ben and Eric deal with her." Astarte threatened.
Rin nodded rapidly in agreement. It was the best deal he was going to get from her. She let out a long sigh and got to her feet, grimacing as pain shot through her leg, the wound slowly healing. She glanced at the students and rubbed the back of her neck.
"I suppose we need to explain ourselves don't we?" She asked. Many nodded, but some just glared at her. "You weren't ready to know the truth. Our plan was to tell you eventually but when Cassandra turned up, we couldn't tell you." She explained.
"Why couldn't you tell the rest of us even with Cassandra here?" Saturn asked.
"Because of whom Cassandra's father is. Cassandra is the daughter of Zarathos, a fallen angel who was tricked by Samael. His hatred for my brother runs in her veins. It burns in the hearts of all his children. If she had known before we had given her the pendant, none of us would be standing here." Astarte explained. "In order to protect you all, we hid this from you."
They all just continued to glare at her. "It's not like we've never hidden our identities before." She stated, desperately grasping at strands of the webs of lies she had spun through the years to find a reason for why she did this. "Loki, Geb, Nephthys. You name the god or goddess; it's actually been one of us. It's just part of a demon's nature to lie." She said.
"Well, I never hid anything from anyone." Jenna said. Astarte clenched her fists.
"Well you're what? Nine years old? What would you ever gain from hiding anything from anyone?! Stupid child!" She snarled as her control of her abilities beginning to slip. Her flames flickered at her feet when suddenly Astarte was struck by an unknown object. She snarled at the woman who now knelt upon her stomach, a gun aimed at her forehead.
"Don't you dare try to harm my master. I don't care how powerful you are. You harm a hair on her head, I'll tear you apart." The stranger growled at her. Everyone stared in shock as all sense of humanity left Astarte and she used her tail to grab the woman's wrist before head-butting her. As the stranger rolled back, Astarte leapt on her and began trying to tear into her. It took both Amaimon and Mephisto to pull her off, but she still fought and roared. They stared in horror at the animalistic creature that kept trying to attack the stranger. Mikzuki chuckled lightly.
"You see, that is your teacher's true nature. An animalistic chimera that holds no sense of loyalty." She said. She leant forward, close to Astarte who had let her anger take over. "Aren't you? You're a monster." Astarte went to grab her, pulling Mephisto and Amaimon forward slightly. The class backed up as her flames struck randomly. The woman meanwhile, turned to Jenna and bowed before her.
"Are you alright Master?" She asked her. Jenna nodded, watching the scene of them trying to bring Astarte back with mild disinterest.
"I am fine Sayomi." She said. When she spotted the class staring at her servant she realised. "This is Sayomi Matsumoto. My loyal familiar. She's a top class succubus." She explained. Sayomi nodded towards them, ignoring how every male was now staring at her tiny black bra that barely covered anything and the short black skirt that left little to the imagination. A growl disturbed them and they turned to see a large number of exorcists along with Ben and Eric had gathered. The Paladin walked towards where Astarte was pinned to the ground by the earth.
"So your mask of control has slipped demon?" He asked. She snapped at him, her flames lashing at his legs in anger as she strained against the bindings. The Paladin sighed and looked at Mephisto. "Use that punishment." He ordered. Mephisto shook his head.
"I will not do that to her. Not in front of Sora and Chikyuu." He said. The Paladin glanced at the two boys before nodding to two female exorcists.
"Escort that spider away from here whilst we bring this...thing back under control." The two exorcists nodded and began to force Jen to move. As they did, Sora and Chikyuu growled in the language of Gehenna for Astarte who began to call back to them, now fighting her bonds fully to get to them. "Oh do calm down. You'll see them once we're done." She glared at him.
"How did you know this had happened?" Ron demanded. Nao and the others moved forward, determined to get an answer. Despite the behaviour they had just witnessed, she was still their teacher.
"Eric over there informed me that the limitations on her abilities were starting to slip. She can't be allowed to lose control again. The world does not need another incident like her last loss of control." He turned to Mephisto as the class turned to Eric, many of them shocked but some such as Kaito and Eda glaring in anger.
"What? I was merely carrying out my duties as were my orders." Eric said calmly, as if this were merely a case of someone being bullied and he was informing a teacher.
The Paladin looked at Mephisto again. "Now, use that punishment." He ordered. Mephisto sighed and turned to Astarte who looked at him briefly. He muttered something briefly and the hands of clocks suddenly erupted from the ground and impaled her at random points throughout her body. But she did not die, instead she merely looked at him in shock. The Paladin walked over to Cassandra. "Give me the bottle you have with no markings." She looked at him in shock. "Moreau told me about it after some gentle persuasion. Now give me it." She slowly handed him the flask and watched as he walked over to Astarte, unscrewing the cap. "This should bring you back under control." He said.
He tipped the flask and poured the holy water over the injuries. Inhuman shrieks of sheer agony echoed through the air as she writhed where the blessed poison hit. She tried to force herself off of the spikes that held her but her flesh had healed around them. She screamed and writhed and cried, her flames lashing out in her agony.
"STOP!" Meiko yelled, the class trying to surge forward but being held back. They looked towards Amaimon for assistance but he was being held at bay by a barrage of blessed weapons. Even Mephisto was being held back by chains. The Paladin turned to them.
"Why? It is our job as exorcists to eradicate threats to Assiah and humanity." He said.
"But you're killing her!" Saturn cried. The Paladin laughed.
"That'll be the day. She's had every blessed defence we have against demons thrown at her and still she stands here. Even when she was younger and stabbed with a blade of blessed silver, or having ingested large amounts of holy water on several occasions, she still stands." He said. They stared at him.
"But...this is inhuman." Noel said, trying to block out the screams.
"They're right, you're going too far this time Engel!" Shura growled.
"But you all witnessed the dawn of the purple flames first hand did you not?" He asked the older class. "You all know exactly what she is capable of doing. What atrocities she can perform without a hint of morale or shame. What acts she engages in on a regular basis and still you would stand by her?" He asked them.
They glanced at one another, leaving the students staring at a loss of what to do. He did have a point to them though. How could you count this as inhumane when they had to consider what Astarte had done in the past? As they did, Jenna glanced at Sayomi.
"Sayomi, sort this out." Jenna said simply.
"Of course, my lord and master." Sayomi bowed before sneaking up beside the Paladin as the exorcists watched the torture and holding her gun against his head. "My master wants you to let her teacher go." She said calmly.
"And if I refuse?" The Paladin asked.
"You'll find out why they call me the reincarnation of wrath when I paint these cliffs with your brains." She growled. The paladin chuckled before holding his hand up and signalling for the exorcists to back off. He looked at Mephisto.
"You can release her." He said. Mephisto muttered a phrase and the spikes vanished, leaving her to collapse on the ground, her breaths shallow and harsh and her body shuddering and bleeding freely. "The Vatican wants to talk to her. As soon as she is able to stand alone and talk, bring her to them." The Paladin stated before leading the group of exorcists away. As they did, Amaimon instantly moved to her side and began to help her to her feet. Mephisto moved and helped as well.
"I...Itai." She murmured before slumping forward in their grips. They rushed forward.
"Is she...?" Noel began to asked.
"She's not dead. She's simply passed out." Amaimon said. A collective sigh was passed amongst the group. Mikzuki let out a long yawn and placed her hands behind her head.
"Kinda ironic really. She's trying to train this lot control and she loses hers so easily." She mused aloud.
"You made her lose control by winding her up. You know exactly how temperamental those other sides can be. And calling them a chimera when they are separate is guaranteed to piss them off." Amaimon growled. Rin stepped between them, causing Mikzuki to look at him in confusion.
"It's not all her fault. For a queen of an entire realm, she should have much better control over herself." He said. Before any arguments could begin, Astarte spat up a black glob of some sort of foul concoction.
"The holy water's gotten into her body. Looks like only a small amount did though. She should heal so long as she gets peace and quiet." Yukio said after examining the odd thing on the ground. Most of the class just looked disgusted at the fact the thing even existed, let alone that it had come from inside someone.
"The hell is it?" Drake asked.
"If I'm correct, it is burned flesh." Yuki answered. "Demon flesh can't cope with holy water and burns. It's like throwing acid on a human." Everyone stared at the glob that congealed before them.
"I think I'm gonna throw up." Autumn muttered.
"Shiemi-san, will you go and inform Jen to bring the boys back to the academy, we will take Astarte to the medical wing and leave her to heal." Mephisto said. "You will all be informed of when your class will resume, but for now...you are temporarily free from expectations and training. If you want to continue training, I will have a room set aside for you." He explained to the class. As both he and Amaimon took her away, the class watched silently.
"What did he mean?" Takao asked to no one in particular.
"I think he meant that because we don't know what is going to happen to Astarte, we don't know if we're going to have any more classes." Ame murmured.
"But, what happens to us?" Saturn asked. But no one knew the answer. They struggled to believe that all this had happened due to a simple secret about one of them. It seemed that some secrets could cause greater damage then many could even begin to contemplate.
Astarte: *Sits glaring at me*
She's sitting glaring at me isn't she? *Turns to her* Look, it's your fault for not having control. You should master your own soul.
Astarte: Impaled on spikes and then having holy water poured over me? Do you not think that was a bit too extreme?
Nope.
Astarte:...you...you are really twisted aren't you really? You must be insane.
I have yet to have a psycho analysis by a trained professional to prove I am insane. So far, I am sane enough to be let out amongst the general public. Anyway, the new cover art is a sketch of Astarte by the amazingly wonderful Dougall Dragon. Go check out her stories, they're good.
Astarte: They sketched me? Awesome
Anyway, yeah that's all for now. I should state that if my updates start to slow down, it is simply a case of my time being devoured by external circumstances. It's not me giving up on my fictions. It's just that there are some things that are simply eating away at my time. But I am still managing to fit in my fictions so my updates may remain regular. So, until the next chapter this is sayonara from me the psychotic author.