Chapter 4: Sadness of the Nun & Orphan
Inside the abandoned church was a tied up Raynare, covered in scars and bruises. She had been tortured for 2 days straight and had no food or water.
"You know if you had simply done your job than none of this would have happened." Dohnaseek said condescendingly.
"…" She was silent, her throat too hoarse from all the screaming.
"What? Nothing to say?" He asked mockingly. "Such a shame really for a child of a Cadre to fall so low like this."
"Must you continue on with your drablle?"
Near the door was the old priest staring at Dohnaseek in amusement.
"Since you're here I should assume that the ritual is all set?"
"Yes, the Artifact Devourer has been set. Now all we need is for Freed to bring back the nun."
The Priest than looked at Raynare.
"So the little banshee finally stopped screaming."
"Yes. A bit disappointing since I wanted to hear more."
Dohnaseek then left the room to attend to other affairs leaving the old priest and Raynare alone.
"Hmph." Making sure Dohnaseek was truly gone he let out a bit of his aura causing Raynare to look at him wide eyed.
"Devil…"
He looked angry and slapped her.
"Do not compare me to those weak imitations."
She looked confused at first but then realization came and then fear.
"… Demon."
"There we go!" He said cheerfully before resuming a more serious tone.
"For countless years my masters have been sending their servants after the young Alighieri in hopes that she would join us. However…"
His face gained a look of annoyance.
"No matter how many times they have tried to kill her, no matter how many time they've tortured and raped her, she never accepted her demon blood."
She looked at him in horror.
"My masters thought that the abandonment of the Scapegoat and the betrayal of she who carries the Morning Star would be the key, but no…" He placed a hand under her chin forcing her to look at his demonic red eyes. "The key for her to embrace her demon blood is you. You should feel honoured."
He let go of her and left while laughing, leaving Raynare to wallow in her despair knowing she was about to bring Seras' soul into the path of damnation…
It was late at night when Seras decided to take a breath of fresh air to calm her nerves. She was annoyed at how Rias wouldn't leave her alone and was even more annoyed at how she couldn't get any leads on Raynare.
'Perhaps she's in the church… Wait if that's so than they wouldn't have had a nun transfer to there… unless they're very stupid.'
She was getting frustrated with this.
CRASH
Hearing a crashing sound, Seras decided to check it out. The sound led her to some random house that didn't seem out of ordinary, if it weren't for all the crashing, breaking and gunshot sound coming from it.
'What the hell?'
She quickly headed to the entrance only to be halted by a barrier. At first it would seem that the barrier would not let her pass, until her body emitted a blackish crimson aura, without her even knowing, that broke through barrier long enough for her to get in.
Blood.
That was the first thing she smelled even if she couldn't see anything.
'Someone was killed.'
More gunshots could be heard alone with a cry of pain coming from the living room. She quietly made her way to the corner and peaked into the living room. What she saw was a badly injured Koneko who was bleeding from multiple wounds from her body, along with a young white-haired exorcist with a blood-crazed smile who was practically dancing circles around Koneko, all the while shooting and slashing at her.
"Looks like there's no fight in you left shitty Devil!"
"I…can… still… fight... you bastard!" Koneko breathed out.
His only response was to giggle and vanished in a burst of surprising speed for a human. With a downward slash with his light sword he created a large bloody gash across her torso, while also cutting her clothes off her, causing her to cry out in pain.
Seras was just about to go over there and help her until the next words that came out of the exorcist's mouth stopped her cold.
"Shhh. It's alright little devil-chan. No need to cry like a little bitch. I'll make you feel all better."
Koneko looked confused at first but that confusion quickly turned to pure terror as he started unbuttoning his pants.
"No… Stop! Get away!"
She crawled as far away as possible only for him to slap her across the face and pulled her back to him by the hair.
"Now don't be like that devil-chan. I'm about to give a ~wonderful~ gift!"
"P-please… don't…"
He pulled his pants down revealing his unholy glory to Koneko who could only flinch in fright and disgust.
He slowly rubbed it against her womanhood causing her eyes to widen and for her to struggle more.
'I don't want this! Please! Somebody! Save me!'
Just as he was about to rape her he was pulled violently off and thrown into the wall with enough force to knock out any normal human being.
Koneko looked up to see a furious-looking Seras standing protectively in front of her.
"… Seras-senpai, thank you." She cried tears of relief.
Seras turned and was about to say something until a blade stabbed through her heart from behind.
"SERAS-SENPAI!"
The blade retracted causing her body to collapse onto the ground.
"Ha! That'll teach that bitch not to interrupt my fun!"
He took a good look at the corpse and smiled perversely.
"You know after I'm done with devil-chan maybe I can have some fun with your sinful body."
Koneko's fear & horror quickly turned to unbridled rage hearing what Freed said. She lunged at him only for him to smack her to the ground.
"Just stay down and take it like the bitch you are!"
The two were currently unaware of Seras getting off the ground glaring at Freed hatefully.
She unsheathed her knives and stabbed him in a certain spot on his back, a spot that allowed her to stab his heart while sever his spine at the same time.
Freed simply turned his head towards her head in shock.
"Wha-!" He was cut off as she dug the blade deeper causing him to cough out blood.
She retracted the blade causing Freed to collapse on the ground dead.
She stared at the corpse emotionlessly for a sec before turning her gaze to Koneko. Her gaze soften seeing Koneko's state.
"Are you-?"
She was interrupted when Koneko lunged herself into Seras' chest hugging her tightly. Though no sound was made Seras could feel her body shivering as well as her shirt dampening from the shed tears. All she could do was hug her back.
"…Why? W-why did you… save me?"
She knew the answer as she had heard Seras state what her wish is. Though what Seras said ended up surprising her.
"I can't let someone innocent like you, suffer the same fate I did a long time ago."
Koneko looked at Seras' face in surprise only to see her give a sad smile.
"Seras… you-?"
"Father Freed, are you alright? I heard-"
Asia suddenly appeared interrupting Koneko. She trailed off when she saw Freed's body. She gasped and covered her mouth in horror. However when she took look to her right she actually let out a scream of horror. Curious Seras turned to where she was looking only to see an upside down corpse hanged on the wall by nails.
'How in the hell did I not notice that?'
"Asia what are you doing here?"
Asia snapped out of it and finally noticed Seras comforting a traumatized Koneko.
"Seras what happened here?"
"Your priest apparently came here to murder a devil's client just for the hell of it, and then he tried to rape said devil."
Asia stunned hearing this noticed how Koneko was naked and still bleeding from multiple scars. Asia quickly came over to them and started healing her with her Sacred Armament. Koneko was deeply surprised by this.
"Why…?"
"No one deserves to go through that."
Hearing Asia's answer caused Seras' melancholic smile to return. Koneko noticed this and she didn't like it, not one little bit. However before anything can be said a bright red light suddenly appeared blinding everyone for a moment. Dying down it showed Rias, Akeno and Yumi ready for whatever conflict they initially came to confront.
"Koneko! Thank the Maou you're okay!"
Rias quickly ran over to Koneko and hugged her tightly.
The 3 noticed all the blood along with the corpses.
"Oh my, seems like quite a mess was made here." Akeno pointed out.
"We were too late however it seems Seras was able to put down the killer." Yumi looked at the body of the priest named Freed with distaste.
"Seras what happened here?"
Seras looked at her for a moment before answering.
"The priest killed Koneko's client. He then tried to rape Koneko."
Koneko squirmed a bit hearing Seras mention that part.
"WHAT?!"
There was so much rage in that voice that Seras half expected the room to spontaneously combust. Yumi and Akeno also showed expressions of deep rage.
"Buchou, it's ok, Seras saved me in time."
Rias and the others calmed a bit hearing that however they were still understandably pissed.
"He's very lucky that he's dead. Otherwise I would've taken my sweet time with him."
Lightning sparkled in Akeno's hand to emphasize her point.
"How could someone so despicable even exist?" Yumi spat angrily.
"Buchou, everyone, it's alright. He's dead now. He can't harm anyone anymore."
Rias only proceeded to hug Koneko tighter.
An ugly feeling welled up in Seras' heart seeing that display of love and affection.
Rias turned her head to give Seras a grateful look, tears in her eyes.
"Seras, thank you so much! I'll never forget this deed you have done for us."
Seras simply stared at her with an unreadable expression before looking away.
"It was nothing."
Koneko gave her an accusing look and was just about to say something until Akeno interrupted.
"Buchou, I can sense fallen angels on their way here."
Rias frowned hearing that.
"Prepare the teleportation circle. We need to get out of here or else we'd be put in a disadvantage."
Everyone was getting to leave until Koneko realized.
"Buchou what about Seras?"
Realizing the problem Rias didn't know what to do about it as she could only teleport those from her peerage. Before she could say anything Seras walked forward and rubbed Koneko's head, surprising everyone.
"Don't worry about me. I'm not ready ready to die just yet."
This didn't exactly calm her however before she can voice her protests Seras walked over to Asia, picking her up bridle style causing her to squeak in embarrassment, and quickly ran toward the exist in a burst of surprising speed.
"The magic circle is ready everyone!"
Rias was conflicted on what to do though she realized that even if they catch her they still won't be of any help for her.
"All right let's go everyone."
"Phew. We made it."
Seras was panting a bit from the long run. Who knew her house was so far away from their previous location.
"Umm… Seras. You can put me down now."
She then realized that she was still carrying Asia who's face was now as red as Rias' hair.
"Sorry about that."
She chuckled seeing Asia's flustered expression. Seems that she found a new target for her teasing.
"It's late right now. Feel free to use the extra room this house has."
"Thank you."
Asia replied before heading upstairs. She paused and turn to look at Seras.
"Seras why…?"
She couldn't voice her entire question as she didn't know what Seras' intentions in bringing her here were. However Seras understood the question.
"I couldn't just leave an innocent and kind girl alone with a bunch of sadistic murderers."
Asia blushed when Seras called her innocent and kind. Though now she was worried for Seras' safety.
Sensing Asia's concern Seras waved it off.
"Don't worry; it's not my time to die just yet. I need to find someone important to me and I need to make sure that you're safe from harm."
Asia felt touched by her kindness. Other than that one fallen angel woman everyone else either treated her badly, took advantage of, or just downright ignore her existence. However here was someone that she met only once, risking her life and treating her like a long-time friend.
"Thank you Seras."
She bowed her head to her. Just as Asia turned around to go Seras caught sight of a single tear.
(She's just like you)
'… She's not broken… She's not a monster… So don't you DARE say she's like me.'
Again all Sparda and Ddraig could do was feel pity for her.
"So is this really the first time you ever seen a burger?"
When morning came she decided to take Asia out, to get her more use to the outside world since it was quite obvious she led a sheltered life. She found it quite amusing when Asia tried to order her own food despite the fact that no one can speak or understand Italian. She decided that the poor little nun had enough and decided to order their meals herself.
"…Yes." She said embarrassingly.
"Don't worry about it. You're not the first to be so sheltered and you won't be the last… Plus I'm pretty sure there are worse out there."
A certain damper suddenly sneezed out of nowhere.
Asia took a bite out of her food and gained look of surprise.
"It's delicious!"
She chuckled seeing her expression and continued eating her own meal.
The two ended up going to the arcade where Seras taught Asia how to play many of the games there, though she didn't win any one of them.
Seras then noticed Asia standing in front of a crane game.
"What is it?"
"Hau! N-No… I-It's nothing."
She tries to hide it.
"Is there something you want?"
When she looked inside there was a doll of "Rache-kun" inside. It's a cute mascot based on a mouse. This character came from Japan but it's popular worldwide. So that's why Asia also knew it.
"Asia, do you like Rache-kun?"
"Eh? N-No, t-that is…"
Asia's face gets red, and she nods her head shyly.
"Okay. I'll get it for you."
"Eh? B-But…!"
"It's fine, I'll get it."
She put the coin in to get started. It took her 3 tries but she manage to get it.
"For you m'lady."
She blushed a bit at the 'm'lady' part however it was over-rided with happiness as she hugged the doll tightly to her chest.
"Thank you very much, Seras. I will take care of this doll."
"If a doll like that makes you happy, then I can get you more next time."
She shook her head.
"No, this Rache-kun that you gave me represents the wonderful day I met you. Since today is the only day I met you, I will take good care of this doll."
Her words… something about them struck a chord in her heart.
"Come on. There's still plenty of things to do."
"Ah, we played a lot today."
"Y-Yes…I'm a bit tired…"
They were walking on the street laughing with joy.
It was already evening. She ended up skipping school today and had fun till dusk. Oh she just knew Sona was gonna make her regret it at some point, hell she barely got away with not wearing the school uniform.
"Hey Asia?" Asia looked at her in curiosity. "That power you used on the boy when we first met… That was a Sacred Armament wasn't it."
Asia's expression gets cloudy.
She knew that she was opening a can of worms however she wanted to find out why Asia is so sad… and to prevent her from becoming a monster like her.
"Yes."
"To tell you the truth, I also have a Sacred Armament."
She summoned the Boosted Gear.
"You also have a Sacred Armament? I didn't realize it at all."
"In all honesty despite its abilities I think yours is just as amazing. I mean it's not every day that you have something that can heal just about anything."
She put on a complicated expression, then a sad face. Soon after, a single tear falls from her eyes. Then, more tears starts flowing out from her eyes. She then got down and starts to cry.
Seras widened her eyes and quickly brought Asia into her arms comforting her as much as possible.
'So it's just as bad as I thought.'
They stay like that for a while before Asia stopped crying and decided to tell her story about the "Holy Maiden."
In a certain region in Europe, there was a girl who was discarded by her parents.
She was raised in a Church nearby by a nun along with other orphans.
The girl who was a strong follower of the Church received a special power at the age of 8.
She healed a wounded puppy, and a person from the Catholic Church witnessed it by chance.
From there on, her life changed.
The girl was taken to the main Catholic Church and she was symbolized by many as a "Holy Maiden" because of her healing power.
She used her power to heal many believers and they were told it was a power of divine protection.
Rumors brought rumors and she was respected as a "Holy Maiden".
Even without her approval.
She had no dissatisfaction for how she was treated. People from the Church were kind and she didn't hate healing people.
She instead was happy that her power was of use.
The girl was thankful to her power which was bestowed to her by God.
But she was a bit lonely.
She didn't have any friends she could open up to.
Everyone treated her nicely and was nice to her. But there were no one willing to become her friend.
She understood why.
She knew that they were looking at her power as something irregular.
They didn't look at her as a human but as a creature that could heal humans.
But one day, it changed.
By coincidence, there was a Devil nearby and she healed it.
A wounded Devil. The girl couldn't ignore it.
She thought that even if it was a Devil, she had to heal it if it was injured.
It was her kindness that made her take such an action.
But that changed her life forever.
One of the people from the Church saw that incident and notified others of the Church.
The ministers of the Church were shocked about it.
"A power that can heal Devils!?"
"Something absurd like that cannot happen!"
"The power of healing can only heal the followers of God!"
Yes, there were several people who had the power to heal.
But the power to heal the Devil was out of the question. The people of the Church thought it was common sense that the power of healing doesn't work on Fallen Angels and Devils.
Apparently, a similar incident had happened in the past.
The power to heal Fallen Angels and Devils that were not protected by God. But that was feared as the power of a "Witch".
So the people saw her as a heretic.
"Damn witch that heals Devils!"
The girl who was respected as a Holy Maiden was then feared as a "Witch" and the Catholic Church abandoned her.
She didn't have anywhere to go and the organization of "Stray Exorcists" picked her up.
In other words, she had to get divine protection from the Fallen Angels.
But the girl never forgot to pray to God. She also never forgot to thank God.
Even so, the girl was abandoned.
God didn't save her.
What shocked her the most was that there was not even a single person in the Church that was willing to defend her.
There was no one who cared about her.
"…It's because I didn't pray enough. It's because I'm clumsy. I'm so stupid that I can't even buy something for myself."
Asia, wipes her tears while laughing.
'… So it's just like I thought… Earth is just another form of Hell.'
"This is also a trial that the lord gave me. Since I'm a clumsy nun, the lord gave me this trial. So I have to endure it."
She was laughing as if she was talking to herself.
"I'm sure I will make lots of friends one day. I have a dream. I want to go buy flowers with a friend, buying books and…talk…"
She is full of tears.
"I'm a bit hurt Asia."
"Eh?"
Asia looked at her in confusion & a little bit of worry.
"Here you are saying you want a friend, and yet here I am giving you the time of your life. Aren't I your friend?"
Asia looked deeply shocked by what I said.
"You consider us as friends?"
Her eyes were full of hope.
"Of course silly."
She once again bursted into tears only this time they were tears of joy. Seras held her tightly once again. She could repeatedly hear Asia saying 'thank you' over and over again. Eventually Asia calmed and the two rested for quite sometime simply enjoying each other's company.
"Seras… why are you always sad?"
Seras was caught off guard by the question and stared at Asia who looked at her in sadness, however it was one for her rather than herself.
She bit the bottom of her lip thinking hard about what Asia asked.
'She's… a lot more observant than I thought.'
"I-I'm sorry I didn't mean-!"
She stopped Asia from saying anymore.
"Don't worry. You told me your story despite only knowing me for a day; it's only fair that I return the favour."
She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and started her tale.
A little girl who was buried alive by the ashes of the dead.
She escaped their clutches yet was forever marked by it.
Flesh & hair whiter than snow; people called her the orphan ghost.
Possessing speed & strength far greater than that of men.
Possessing power that can only be described as supernatural.
And yet because of this… humans call her a monster, a demon.
Demons saw her as their plaything.
Forever scorned and forever hunted.
Constantly trying to prove herself that she is human… that she is not the same as the monsters that hunt her.
Salvation came to her.
Though it was only a lie.
Abandoned, lied to, she could not take it.
She finally stopped running.
She picked up blades and she killed.
Over and over and over again until she and her blades were bathed in the blood of the innocent and guilty and yet…
She had one light of hope.
She was still human.
Seras finished her tale.
Asia looked at her, small tears dripping in her eyes before she hugged her. However this was not a hug seeking comfort, it was one meant to comfort someone else.
"Why do you cry for me?" She asked genuinely confused.
"B-because you don't… have to be alone anymore."
Her eyes widened. This… was not what she expected.
"Asia… please don't make promises you can't keep."
Asia was about to protest until Seras sensed something off.
"Well wasn't that a touching scene. So touching that I just want to barf."
Seras instantly got in front of Asia protectively, unsheathing her knives, glaring at Dohnaseek and the two fallen angel women.
"You know I've been looking, for you asshole."
"Oh is that so?"
"Yes… I want to know what happened to Raynare."
"Hah you actually cared about the little bitch?! Well since I'm a generous host I'll tell you."
His grin turned outright sadistic.
"For the act of disobeying orders we had no choice but to discipline her. I must say her screams were quite delightful, especially when we gave Freed his turn. I never thought the bitch could moan like that."
Kalawarner & Mittlet looked at Dohnaseek in disgust; Seras meanwhile had no emotion shown in her face.
"What's the matter? Are you going to cr-!"
He couldn't finish as Seras threw her knife at his throat, causing him to choke and spit out blood.
The fallen angel women were shock at the speed she threw the knife, but they quickly shook it off, summoned light spears and started attacking her.
Dohnaseek meanwhile had managed pry the knife out of his throat. He looked closely and noticed that bits of his flesh were stacked to the blade somehow. Without warning, all the flesh & blood was absorbed into the blade. He heard crunching noises coming from the blade before it let out an honest-to-god BURP. He would have examined more closely if he weren't trying to keep the blood from flowing out of his neck. Plus there was the fact that the blade didn't like him and was SOMEHOW eating his hand which forced him let go.
Meanwhile Seras was forced on the defensive as she only had one knife. However it didn't seem like she was tiring at all unlike the fallen angel women. She easily blocked all their light spears with her knife; somehow every time one of them broke off to go after the nun Seras will just suddenly appear in front of the attacker and almost kill her, which made them realized something… she was holding back. Under different circumstances their arrogance would have reared up their ugly heads however the torture of their best friend put them in too much of a sour mood to even really care about it. Seras managed to block an overhead strike from Mittlet while at the same time kicking another light spear from Kalawarner away from her. Deciding to go a little bit on the offensive she threw a punch at Mittlet's gut, causing her to cough out spit and being sent flying to the fountain in a much similar way to what she did to Dohnaseek during their first meeting. With Mittlet down and Dohnaseek still trying to heal his wound there was only Kalawarner left standing who was now still and looking for any weak spots in Seras' stance.
"Asia."
Asia looked at Seras questionably.
"I want you to run back to my house as fast as you can, and don't look back."
"W-what?! I can't leave you-!"
"Trust me, I'll catch up with you as soon as I can."
"But…"
She looked at Asia and gave her a smile.
"Like I said it's not my time to die just yet."
Asia, with A LOT of reluctance, finally turned and ran as fast as possible.
She once again turned her attention to Kalawarner who was looking at her a bit curiously.
"Before we continue this, can I ask you something?"
Seras merely rose an eyebrow but nodded all the same.
"Why are you so interested in finding Raynare? From what I know you two didn't actually hang out that long."
She simply gave her an odd look before answering.
"Even if we hadn't known each other for long, and have kept secrets from each other… she is still my friend and until the day comes where she will discard me like everyone else, I will stand by her side till the bitter end. Besides…"
She held up her fist and slowly opened it showing Kalawarner Raynare's golden locket.
"I have to return something precious back to Raynare."
Kalawarner looked surprised by her answer only to smile despite the situation.
"What are we going to do big sis?"
Mittlet crawled out of the rubble and had a noticeable limp to her walk.
"I… don't know anymore."
It was obvious the two no longer had the will to fight after hearing Seras' answer. Seras sheathed her knife before reclaiming the one Dohnaseek tossed away. She knew the fight has ended.
"Well isn't this touching?"
Startled all 3 turned to the direction of the voice. What they saw was the old priest holding onto an unconscious Asia.
"ASIA!"
She quickly unsheathed her blades and ran over to them, intending to get Asia out of his grasp while also hopefully slice his neck.
He merely dodged before backhanding her to a nearby tree.
'Dammit! How the hell is he so strong!'
"Kalawarner, Mittlet, we're leaving' Grab the deadweight."
Kalawarner flew next to him while Mittlet went to pick up Dohnaseek, who was unconscious from the blood loss.
"Don't you dare!"
But it was too late as they teleported away.
Seras could only stand there stunned, before she collapsed to the ground as if whatever strings were holding her were.
"Dammit… Dammit… Dammit. Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!"
With each word spoken she slammed her fist into the ground till there was a hole on the ground and her fist was a bloody mess. She widened her eyes when she saw her hand healing itself instantly. She sat on the ground stunned.
"What's happening to me?"
(You know why)
Sparda was glaring at Ddraig though he did nothing.
Seras simply sat there a look of near emptiness in her face.
"I'm running out of time"
Author's Notes
Well here's the 4th chapter. Here we get to see a tiny bit of Seras' past and once again the "priest" outmatches her.
And it seems something is changing Seras... something she doesn't want.