Hello, Vinzelles here. Welcome back to A Path to Freedom.

It's been a while, huh? The maximum of 3 weeks of time I had given to myself in order to finish the arc has pretty much passed, so I decided that it was time to finally upload.

The current state of the arc... I'd say it's almost finished. Only the epilogue remains to be written from zero, but everything else before that needs to be revised. This is the first chapter, already revised, of the Excalibur Arc and already I'm going to introduce someone new, as anticipated. Why? Because screw Irina, tbh. No other reason really, and also, sorry to those who like her. Xenovia is a personal favourite though so she stays. e.e

In the timeline five days have passed since the dream sequence I've shown in the teaser, by the way. I'm trying to spread the various chains of events over larger periods of time, because someone correctly pointed out that some of Orochi's newfound powers seem Mary Sue-ish. For those who haven't read that review, I answered by telling that someone that due to my inexperience I was pretty much throwing numbers around in terms of days/weeks/whatever, and since I tended to not overextend, it often sounded like "too little time to make sense", or similar things. So now I'm trying to address that issue in a somewhat acceptable way, although I'm still pretty sure that, as far as the events themselves are concerned, I'm still making everything happen too quickly. The in-between I should be able to handle easily, though.

That's it for now, I believe.

I'll see you at the bottom. Enjoy.

Arc 3 Chapter 1 - Exorcists

Two days before the end.

Orochi was just returning home after a walk. Recently he had been out of the house frequently, to ponder in peace what exactly was going to come for his life.

It certainly wasn't that strange Devil woman he had run into earlier that day. She had come out of some basement screaming bloody murder, and as it turned out her form was just as animalistic as her intentions. Her human half was naked, but her other half was that of some sort of four-legged monster, a snake tail on her back. She was carrying two spears with her, and had threatened to kill him and eat him.

Of course, lately Orochi had been particularly sensitive to the topic of his death, and didn't take the threat well. So, after tearing off of her hand one of those lances and cleaving her in two, he decided to go home to relax properly.

He didn't even stop to ponder whether it was fine for him to kill a Devil that looked like an animal. He was so distracted by his impending doom that he had forgotten to hold back and ended up killing her. His mind had refused to acknowledge the weight of his actions, and so he had kept going on his merry way.

Then he got an earful from Anya, who had called him shortly after that strange Devil's death to whine about "him stealing her job". He had no idea what she was talking about and couldn't be bothered to find out with everything that he currently had in mind, AND he didn't want to know who gave her his number, so he hung up on her and turned his cellphone off. Even after all that, he had not realized that he had carelessly taken a life.

As he closed in on the house he had been sharing with his adoptive mother and sister along with a Fallen Angel, he could hear arguing from a distance.

"I already told you I'm sure of it, Xenovia! It's definitely here!"

"And I told you I don't sense any Fallen Angels in there. Not right now, at the very least, despite the traces they've left. And even if there was, that isn't our main concern right now. Do I really need to remind you of that?"

"B-But, as members of the Church we have a duty to purify evil beings no matter what! Like you said, there are still traces of one of them here, and while he or she may not be here right now, this house is still worth investigating-"

"I think I heard "Church" just now."

The two girls, clad in dark robes, stopped their arguing. Someone was behind them, and it didn't seem like a Fallen Angel by presence alone. Yet, the tone in the person's voice was anything but friendly.

"I don't know what you two want but I suggest you leave my property. I don't care much for religion, I've been in a bad mood for days and I might snap at any given moment."

Despite the menacing tone, of course, they didn't sense any particular signature coming from the owner of the voice, aside from traces of magic. Both girls immediately reached the same conclusion: whoever was talking had been brainwashed by the Fallen into keeping away people like them, and said person was not powerless. So, with new resolve, they turned around.

"I apologize in advance for the harsh treatment you're going to receive, but it's for your own good!" claimed the blue haired girl, while putting her hand on the handle of the object on her back.

"We shall purify your mind from the evil thoughts of the person that plagues it-"

The other girl however had suddenly a flash of recognition on her face. The same went for the boy in front of her, who then sighed, facepalmed and started speaking in an exasperated tone, as if to say "why do I have to deal with this".

"...You better have a good explanation, Soleil. You know what I think about religions in general."

"B-B-B-B-B-B-BOSS?!"

"The one and only. So, what's this I hear about you being a member of the Church?"

"Waitwaitwait, I can explain, so please don't get mad Boss! No, more importantly, why are you here in the first place?!"

"I live here, you fool! Weren't you listening? Stop asking stupid questions and answer meeeeeee!"

"Waaaaaaaaahhh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please stop it huuuuuuuuuuuurts!"

Xenovia, the girl with completely blue hair aside from a single strand of green, had been watching silently, stunned by the fact that her companion knew the person in front of them, and by the fact she had been put in a headlock, her head being nudged fiercely by said person.

The victim of Orochi's merciless assault had wild and unkempt pink hair and a white headband, and panic was written on her face.

"...I'm sorry but I don't get what's going on." said Xenovia dumbfoundedly.

"Easy." Orochi started explaining while putting a finger on Soleil's forehead and drilling forcefully. "This little runt gave me a lot of trouble whenever she showed up in the past, and just by popping up here of all places she's doing it again, so I'm giving her what for."

"It wasn't my fault, please have mercyyyyyyyyy!"

The boy clicked his tongue and released his hold on her. Soleil immediately proceeded to massage her head, muttering something along the lines of "why is Boss mad, I couldn't help it back then."

"Well? What do you have to say for yourself?"

"...Um, I ran away from home, shortly after hearing that Boss had disappeared. I believe that the Goenitz household is still convinced that you're dead, and I swear I didn't know where you ended up so please don't be mad."

"...I don't get how you traveled from France to Japan on your own, but fine. What about the Church then?"

"They have taken me in in my moment of need. In exchange I'm working for them as an exorcist."

"Soleeeeeeeeiiiiiilllllll..."

"B-Boss, I know you don't agree, but I have to show my gratitude to the Lord for granting me the chance of experiencing a new and more fulfilling life!"

It seemed to Xenovia that Soleil knew exactly how to word her sentences to avoid angering the boy, because he became somewhat calm immediately after hearing all that; specifically, he seemed to settle only once he heard the words "fulfilling life".

"...Well, I suppose I should start behaving like a proper host then, since there's no need to get violent. Come in, I have some tea for you two."

Xenovia tried to object. "Ah, please don't worry about it-"

"Come in."

It sounded like an order, and Soleil seemed to have already surrendered.

"Let's just go in, Xenovia. Trust me when I say that Boss has his own concerns and won't let us leave until I soothe them."

"So, why do the two of you know each other?" inquired Xenovia, a steaming cup of black tea in her hands.

"Well, back when I was living in the Nagano Prefecture with my actual family, Soleil's father would come over occasionally all the way from France to talk business with my old man. They're great friends, those two, so I was often asked, or rather ordered, to babysit an overzealous and obnoxiously loud little Soleil as a favour to her dad. Technically all I had to do was to keep her away from... certain people, but it has definitely been one of my most tedious chores in the past, due to her making it difficult."

"You can't blame me for that! I didn't know any better back then!" whined Soleil.

She was referring to the blissful lack of knowledge about the Sect she had in the past, and the fact that Orochi had to keep the little girl of his same age away from his mother or from the cultists that visited her occasionally. That agreement was in fact kept hidden from the woman, and was purely the result of Soleil's father asking a favour to Orochi's. The young girl back then couldn't be left alone for reasons not properly explained to the boy, and so he was forced to keep her company during his father's meetings.

"A certain something?"

"Sorry, can't go into detail on that one. It's personal."

"...Right. In that case, what are you doing here? In a house that has traces of Fallen Angels?"

"I ran away from the prefecture myself, after a certain incident." explained Orochi. "I ended up in an orphanage in Kuoh Town, and I've recently been adopted by the Eisenwald family due to difficult circumstances on my end. As for the Fallen, well, there is one living with us, but she's not a threat."

"How do you know that? I hate to say this, but for all you know she might have brainwashed you all."

"A fair question... I think. And my answer is "because she's weaker than me". Of course it's up to you whether to believe me or not."

"I don't believe you." said Xenovia.

"I can't believe you, Boss." said Soleil.

"That's too bad, because I really don't care." rebuked Orochi.

"..." "..."

"Soleil. Are you aware now of how I spent my days in the Goenitz household?"

"...Yes. It must have been horrible, to go through all that effort to find out that nothing came out of you." answered the pink-haired girl.

"Hm." acknowledged Orochi gravely. "I had decided to put it all behind me, but as it turns out, something did emerge eventually."

"EEEEEH?! For real?! But how is that possible?!"

"I don't know actually. I believe it has something to do with Mother, but honestly I have no intention of finding out right now. Not until I become a match for her, that is."

Orochi had started practicing magic shortly after being released from the Underworld hospital, after being briefly taught by Anya the method to generate an artificial magic core. In particular, he was trying out several of the spells that his mother Annabelle had tried to teach back when he was, for some reason, physically unable to create a core. Even now it was a pain in the ass, because inevitably said core would always clash with Heaven's Gate. Every time he used his Abnormality actively in any way, shape or form, the core he had built would collapse, he wouldn't be able to cast anything from then on, and as such he would have to spend time recreating it. Luckily the Gate's passive form didn't interfere at all, which meant that the property of "building shock resistance" was still easily usable. However, techniques such as Abprall, which required him to open the Gate, would definitely rob him of the ability to use spells until he recreated the core.

As expected, the Brand forced him into learning wind magic, because nothing else would have worked even if he tried. Also, the Brand was seemingly not affected by the opening of the Gate for some reason. Nina had speculated that the protective seal he had on his body was so radicated in his being that even the Gate couldn't break its hold, which was fair enough considering he had the damn tattoo printed on him while he was still a fetus. It was probably within his mother's calculations, he had conceded that much.

However, in exchange for only being able to use wind magic, incantations were somehow completely unneeded, a fact that baffled him to a ridiculous degree. It had to be reiterated due to the sheer absurdness of such a statement: they were not required at all. Even his mother had to chant when casting! But he didn't need to. He only had to memorize the shape of the corresponding magic circles.

He had found this out the hard way when he tried to cast one of the most powerful spells he had learned in his time at the Goenitz household. He had drawn the circle on the sand while he was training with Raynare in the desert in Egypt, simply to show her that he truly knew some powerful magic attacks since she was skeptical about it all, and merely declared the name of the spell in a lighthearted way, not expecting it to work. The poor Fallen woke up after several hours in her bed in the middle of the night, and loudly demanded explanations from him.

That night was not a pleasant one for the boy.

"Ooooh, so you've finally managed to learn magic like Annabelle-sama? Good for you Boss."

"Ugh, I hate the fact that you made that comparison but I guess I can't exactly deny it. Mother's spells are all I'll ever be able to reproduce anyway."

"?"

"Nevermind. What about you two? Soleil certainly wouldn't come here without reason if she didn't know I was in Kuoh Town."

"We're on a mission." answered briefly Xenovia. "I can't say much more to uninvolved people though."

"Does it have something to do with the Devils?"

"...So you know that much. No, it does not. In fact, our intention was to head over to the supervisor of this territory in order to ask her not to interfere with our work, but then Soleil here got distracted by something unrelated."

"Sounds like her, alright."

"I'm still here you know?!" shouted Soleil.

""So what?"" echoed Orochi and Xenovia.

"Uuuuuuuu, I'm being bullied even by Xenovia..."

"Anyway, are you absolutely sure that the Fallen isn't a threat? Where even is she?" inquired Xenovia.

"Working. Apparently she didn't want to spend all her free time training with me, and she didn't want to sit around all day either, so she went and found a small part-time job at an antique shop close to here. And I'm completely sure that she isn't a threat. Hell, sometimes she even goes out of her way and plays with my adoptive little sister."

"...Did she brainwash the store owner?"

"No idea, I never visited the place. And why do your explanations for things you don't comprehend default to brainwashing?"

"You would be surprised at how often we've had to deal with hypnotized humans in our line of work."

Orochi sighed. "Why am I even trying to question an exorcist... Whatever."

He looked outside the window.

"Hm, it's pretty late, so I don't think you'll find the Devils at the academy right now. At this point I suggest you wait until tomorrow. Is this thing you have to do urgent, Soleil?"

"...Fairly urgent, but not unbearably so just yet, I'd say. I suppose we can wait a day before meeting the Devils?" asked Soleil to Xenovia.

"I suppose we have to at this point. Thank you for your hospitality, Kamakura Orochi."

"Don't mention it. If anything, I should be thanking you for taking care of Soleil all this time. I'm sure it's a handful to keep her under control."

"Could you please stop demeaning me, Boss? I may be part of the Church, but as a woman I will still feel offended by that, you know?!"

"Whatever, not interested. Get going now, don't hold back on my account."

"Why are you pushing me out of the door? Boss?! BOOOOOSSSSSSS!"

Orochi closed the door behind the two flabbergasted exorcists, and slid down on it. While he wasn't looking at anything in particular, his glare was powerful.

'Those things on their backs... I have a bad feeling about this.'

He knew he was being paranoid, but the words of the goddess could not leave his mind no matter how hard he struggled.

He was supposedly going to die in three days. Coincidentally, an old acquaintance of his had made her appearance as an exorcist, claiming to be on a mission of some sort. Whatever that mission was, it wasn't his business. But he had already realized that he probably wasn't going to ignore that matter.

People didn't die without a reason. His premature departure at that point could only be associated with whatever that mission was. Nothing else could hold that much power over him, for obvious reasons.

'Whoever will end up killing me will surely kill those two as well. In other words, they are not strong enough to complete that mission, so if I leave them alone even more people will die.'

He got up and clenched his fists.

'However, if I do participate in the next big battle, even if I end up croaking, there's a small chance. At the cost of my life, I might be able to defeat this unknown opponent. Yasakatome has not been very specific about the circumstances of my demise after all.'

A determined look appeared on his face.

'Even in death, I swear I will win!'

Welcome to the bottom.

There she is, Irina's substitute! As I said before, Soleil is from the Fire Emblem franchise. It you want to know exactly how she's supposed to look like, then Google is your friend. Although Google might spoil some of her character's traits, so you... might want to avoid that. I have plans for her, many many plans! *proceeds to laugh maniacally for no valid reason*

As for Orochi, I'm having him practice the spells he has learned during his reclusion in the Goenitz household in his free time (or in other words, whenever he trains with Raynare, which is every day lol. Also, this makes sense because he is unable to forget those lessons despite all the time that has gone by, due to how his brain works), mostly off-screen for now since he will show what he can pull off a little later.

I briefly mentioned Raynare working part-time. It doesn't seem relevant, and it isn't... for now. I'll give a few more details about her circumstances in the next chapter which will start from her point of view. Maybe I'll even throw a short filler chapter regarding that job once I'm done writing Arc 3, but I have yet to decide.

Finally, the most important plot point of Arc 3. Orochi, as you might have noticed, is already losing his grip. He has killed someone: it was just a Stray Devil this time (that was a shoutout to Viser btw, since she didn't appear in Arc 1), but already his mind is refusing to come to terms with what he did. His paranoia about the death premonition is only one of the reasons behind this behaviour, and we'll explore his brain at a later time, but for now keep in mind the fact that he somehow didn't recognize the act of killing Viser as "taking someone's life". Whether he has glossed over it, he refuses to admit it, or doesn't acknowledge it at all, you'll just have to wait and see to obtain that answer.

In fact, if I wanted, I could rewrite that part with a few more details, but I left the workings of his mind as vague as possible for the time being, which is reflected in how I wrote that part.

And that's all for now, I think. How was this first chapter of Arc 3? Leave a review!

Thank you for reading, see you soon.

Ciao!