Hello, Vinzelles here. Welcome back to A Path to Freedom.
I have good reasons this time, I swear. I've been sick, then I stayed at my father's for the weekend, then a goddamn thunderstorm cut off electricity until this afternoon. Kinda ridiculous, if you ask me.
I'm also debating whether it's time I widen the gap between updates to 10 days or 2 weeks, since for one reason or another I never seem to make it in time. I'll think about it.
Today we've got the big reveal, and as you know, the absence of Kiba had forced me to think of something that could fit in this universe. Today, everything will fit back together and after this chapter we'll reach the final part of this arc.
I'll see you at the bottom.
Enjoy.
Arc 3 Chapter 7 - Reality Without God
"...What the hell is happening over there?"
"Don't ask me. I've never seen Raynare in that state before."
The light show that Raynare was subconsciously putting on had distracted even Kokabiel and Orochi.
"...What did you do to that girl?"
"Nothing at all. I have no reason to do so."
"That isn't something that just happens naturally!"
Kokabiel spat those words while pointing at the screaming girl, upset at the fact that he would have to clean up that mess after he was done killing the human.
"Care to explain what's happening then?" said the boy nonchalantly.
"She has somehow become one of those ancients weapons created by God. A Primal!"
"...And?" deadpanned the human.
'...Is he serious? Is he really unaware of what he might've done to her?' Kokabiel couldn't help thinking that, and he answered with a mildly alarmed tone to Orochi's surprise.
"And, something like this should not happen even to an old Angel, much less a young one! Something must be going on within her soul..."
The Cadre started to weigh his options.
"The smart thing to do would be to eliminate her, but allowing such power to go to waste would be unwise-"
"On second thought, Crow-man, I think I know what's going on."
"...What?"
"This power coming out of her... its signature is the same."
"Same as what? Speak clearly!"
"My Abnormality."
Kokabiel froze and looked at the human. This shitty magician was wielding an Abnormality? It sounded very much like a lie if the Cadre thought about their battle just then. After all, he only saw wind magic being used, and the only abnormal thing about the human was his admittedly great physical strength and endurance. However, seeing what was happening to Raynare made Kokabiel think that perhaps he should have considered the possibility.
"...Are you claiming to be a wielder of one of those obscure abilities?" he asked cautiously.
"I wouldn't mind showing it to you if it didn't interfere with my magic." explained Orochi calmly. "I don't have solid proof to give you. But more importantly, Raynare has been exposed to it in the past more than once, in a time when I couldn't control it properly."
"...Just what kind of power would allow a soul to reach its purest form, then?"
The Cadre was currently standing beside Orochi, both floating in mid-air with crossed arms and legs as they looked at what was unfolding. They had briefly forgotten about the fight, and they had even forgotten that they were enemies.
The boy looked at his hand and started muttering.
"...reaching the purest form. A power that expelles negativity and chaos from one's body..."
"Hm?"
"Every time I use it actively, my darkest thoughts are somehow suppressed for a period of time. I have also tampered with it in preparation for a different battle some time ago. Perhaps... Of course!"
The human seemed to have come to a realization.
"My Abnormality has mutated somewhere along the line, when I tried to modify it! But is that even something that can happen in the first place? That annoying Satan didn't tell me anything about that, damn it!"
The human was screaming at thin air again, to Kokabiel's annoyance.
"Get to the point already, brat."
"Ah, well... maybe I messed up when I put it back together ... And one piece of it has found its way into Raynare's soul, is what I was thinking."
"Seems quite farfetched to me. Why have you not reached a similar state then, being the main wielder of this ability? You're not making sense."
"Couldn't tell you, to be honest. Maybe it's exactly because I'm the main wielder, and the Abnormality has found meaning in residing within me or some crap." answered Orochi half-heartedly. "However, I tend to not believe such sickeningly religious banter when it comes from other people's mouths, let alone my own."
Yes. It was all conjecture and he didn't really believe in it himself, but it made a lot of sense.
Most likely, Orochi had not managed to restore his Abnormality to his previous state when he tried to modify it before fighting Riser. A piece of it had probably been staying afloat within his body without him noticing, and he never realized what was going on in time.
Because that piece had probably left his body the moment he opened the Gate the first time. That night, when only Raynare was present and had witnessed the phenomenon.
When the piece entered her body, it had probably merged with her soul, and had started to gradually purify it, eventually turning her into that thing.
Whatever it was (What did Kokabiel call her? Primal?), the Cadre had called her "an ancient weapon". In Raynare's case, thought Orochi, it would be more correct of a definition if the word "living" was added in.
Despite what one might have thought, adding that word was necessary to ascertain her threat level. After all, a "living" creature could be reasoned with on a certain degree as long as they were capable of at least basic thought patterns, and the respective values would change depending on the species of the creature. For example, a dog could be convinced to learn tricks, as long as one taught it that it would receive treats when it performed them correctly.
So, could she be reasoned with while in her abnormal state? That was the question Orochi was asking himself, but by the looks of things it wasn't all that likely.
Raynare was currently swinging around her translucent new wings as if they were whips, destroying everything around her as she tried to vaporize her former comrades, and screaming bloody murder all the while. The sounds he was hearing sounded more and more like those of an angry, snarling animal as time passed.
While Orochi didn't particularly care about how those other Fallen Angels were faring, he was still a bit worried for her companion. And then, a dreadful thought emerged in his mind.
...Was her brain receding or something?
'That would be disastrous on so many levels...' he realized.
While the boy was thinking all that, Kokabiel displayed his agreement with the boy's last statement.
"Indeed, I get where you're coming from, to an extent. Anyway, if I observe this situation with proper care, it isn't as impossible as I first thought."
"...What do you mean?"
"Allow me to demonstrate, Goenitz magician. Before we pick the fight back up, there is one thing that I wish to convey to these fools. The appearance of a Primal will probably make no sense to them otherwise. They wouldn't even understand what that girl has become, so I will shine light on them."
"...Well, as long as you don't do that in a literal sense, I don't care what you do. But remember that I'm your opponent, and hurry up. Someone has to deal with Raynare no matter how this fight ends."
"Of course. This is a fight between fellow showmen, fellow harbingers of Chaos."
'...Chaos?'
"I wouldn't dare break my agreement with you, as long as you still breathe, that is." continued Kokabiel. "Do take into account that hitting me from behind will not work though, human."
"...Whatever, just go do it. The earlier you return, the earlier I can kill you and solve this mess."
Some time before the Fallen's transformation, Anya and her peerage, together with the two exorcists, were busy fighting Freed.
And he had become a totally different opponent the moment he had picked up the partially merged Excalibur.
Not only was he incredibly fast, he could also cast illusions of himself, and even become invisible.
The only reason they were all still alive was because Anya was constantly using her Wisdom to keep her side from collapsing, preventing the priest from killing some of her allies whenever possible.
As expected, an opponent that was nearly impossible to hit was quite a handful for them.
Then, a purple flash of light some distance away distracted everyone from the fight.
"Woah! Now that's what I call "power"!" exclaimed Freed, a hand over his eyes. "I had a feeling that something was up with her when she revealed three pairs of wings, but this? Like hell I'm going up against something like that!"
"What even is that?" cried out Unryuu, who was trying to resist the energy waves emanated from Raynare.
"Shall I tell you?"
Everyone looked up. Kokabiel was above their heads and had started talking again, while a levitating Orochi was off to the side with arms crossed for some reason, observing the scene with an expression that said "I want to see where this goes.".
Both Unryuu and Soleil were somewhat relieved to see that he wasn't dead yet, and even mildly surprised at the fact that he seemed mostly unharmed, at least on the surface.
Kokabiel then continued.
"That," he pointed his finger towards Raynare, "is called a Primal. An ancient weapon created by God to fight against the great evils of the world a long time ago. Before I was even born, in fact."
He then faced the group below him.
"It looks like her transformation was caused by that human's Abnormality, which has purged the chaos within her soul somehow, and triggered a transformation that I didn't think possible in our present day. Truly, I have to admit that something like this was quite the unexpected event even for me."
"What's your point? Why would you interrupt the fight just to tell us this?" inquired Anya, mildly upset.
"I'm getting to it. You see, such a transformation should be completely impossible even if one meets all the requirements. That's because the secret to a Primal's power has always been guarded jealously by the God of the Bible. Despite that, a young Fallen Angel today turned into one of those weapons. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"
They didn't get it immediately however.
The exorcists knew very little about ancient legends that were never confirmed to the public. They didn't even know that such a being could exist.
Anya was in a similar situation. While fairly knowledgeable about several things of supernatural origins, a Devil couldn't have possibly known about the implications of a Primal appearing against all odds.
Orochi was pondering that little piece of information quietly, namely the fact that that power was guarded by God and should not have appeared in Raynare at all. If there was one thing that he knew about gods, it was that they couldn't just mess up at random, being unable to make mistakes due to their so-called "perfection" and all that. The entire situation was indeed suspicious.
But Valper Galilei had understood.
"A-Aaah! Unbelievable! Could it be?"
Kokabiel, however, was not too pleased at the fact that only that old man had arrived to the obvious conclusion. More important than that, he was about to steal his spotlight.
That was unacceptable.
"It has to be it, as I thought! The appearance of the Light of Order in these times means that not only the Four old Satans, but even God-"
He couldn't finish the sentence.
An enormous light spear was launched towards him. He was completely erased by it, unable to even utter a sound.
The only thing that remained of him was a minuscule, pale blue light that looked like a rock, which rolled over and behind the building where the man was standing.
"...You are not allowed to speak in my stead, Valper." commented Kokabiel in a low voice.
While that pale light wasn't noticeable very easily, Orochi's attention was for some reason drawn to it briefly.
The quiet buzzing in his ears had started again. He tried to ignore it for the sake of Kokabiel's little "lesson".
"Since none of you has arrived to the conclusion, there's no helping it. I will tell you."
Kokabiel spread his arms and spoke as if nothing had happened.
"The mere fact that a Primal appeared in this world is the ultimate proof of their demise in the Great War! Both the Old Satans' ... and God's!"
That turned out to be a harsh blow to both believers and traitors of God.
The Devils and the low-level Fallens couldn't believe their ears.
Asia and the exorcists almost had a breakdown right then and there.
"How utterly ridiculous is the fact that Heaven has to lie to its underlings just to keep them going! I wonder if you have even noticed that your prayers don't seem as effective as they should?" mocked the Cadre. "Granted, Michael has been doing a semi-decent job maintaining that system by himself, but seriously, it's just not the same. Not that small fries like you would know or notice though, am I right?"
Disregarding those ants' distraught faces, he then took his place back in front of his current opponent.
"So there is that." commented the Fallen, a sickening grin on his face. "God is dead, human. Before we continue, I would love to hear your opinion on the matter. ...Hm?"
His attempt at mockery had fallen flat. The human seemed barely fazed by the news.
"My opinion? If I may be blunt, I just don't care, Kokabiel."
The boy then went on to explain his point of view.
"First of all, I've known only one god all my life. It's not the same God you know, but I've never believed in it nonetheless, one reason being that it's not even an actual deity. The one true goddess I managed to meet is a prick that's trying to take control of my life by constantly invading my dreams. And as for the God of the Bible's death... how does knowing or not knowing make a difference in this situation?"
"..."
Everyone was listening intently to the boy's words.
"You are here because you want to start another supernatural war. We are fighting today in order to stop you. Knowing that God is dead does not change what we must do, does it?"
Kokabiel barely had time to click his tongue before hearing another unpleasant voice.
"I hate to say it, but he's not wrong, Boss!" exclaimed Freed. "Personally I never cared either. Whether He was there or not, I always just wanted to hack, slash and kill, and I never cared about His opinion!"
The priest readied his merged Excalibur once again, while his invigorated opponents also raised their own weapons in response.
"...Well, that should work for now. Oh, you seem upset, Crow-man. Don't tell me you actually thought you'd be able to break their spirits with something as minor as the death of a little, insignificant God?"
The boy's mockery hit Kokabiel very close to home. And he lost all the patience he had.
"ENOUGH! An inferior being like you should just keel over and die!"
Generating a huge light spear, he darted towards the human at incredible speed.
Even so, Orochi was ready.
While Kokabiel was monologuing, he had prepared what he planned to be the final strike. With his right arm's muscles bulging, and lightning circling around the limb, his last and strongest move was charged and ready to be unleashed.
Matching Kokabiel's speed with Rote Linie, he gathered as much air as he could around his right hand, enclosing it within a Himmelskugel.
"DISAPPEAR, MAGICIAN!"
"BERGSCHNEIDER!"
*CRAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSHHH!*
Their clash emanated shockwaves strong enough to easily destroy the barrier surrounding the academy.
And the clock was still ticking.
Welcome to the bottom.
The first part is an interaction I wanted to try out between Orochi and Kokabiel, where they get distracted by Raynare's transformation and they decide to just sit there and discuss it for a bit, forgetting they're supposed to fight. Not much to discuss here, it's another one of my experimentations and if you don't like it I won't get offended.
Following that is the reveal from Kokabiel. The potential threat of the Primals has been explored a bit last chapter, and having that power be bound to God, and then released upon his death, was the best substitute I could come up with in regards to "proof that God is dead". Also, the Cadre is immediately shot down by Orochi with an answer that pretty much amounts to "Irrelevant, stop wasting time.", which I find funny but that might be just me.
This is mostly another transition chapter, which is why I have very little to say, to be honest. You might notice that this is another low point of the story, and that this time I was unable to do anything about it. Sorry about that, I tried my best to figure something out and this time I came up short. :(
Next time, something actually interesting happens. I spoiled it by mistake last chapter, but I'll repeat it here for those that missed my fuck-up:
The fated encounter between man and god.
I kinda need to know how messy this arc is getting with these last few chapters. Please review, I actually really need it this time.
Anyway, thank you for reading, and see you soon.
Ciao!