I ran through the woods, my heart pounding frantically in my chest. I stumbled over roots and fallen branches as I ran, trying to put as much distance between myself and the monster chasing me, but I knew I couldn't outrun her forever.

Behind me, a woman's chilling laughter echoed through the forest, and I could hear her light footsteps always behind me. No matter how fast I ran, or what path I took, she kept up. She was stalking me, enjoying the chase. I stole a glance over my shoulder as I ran, and I saw her eyes; two gleaming orbs shining malevolently in the darkness. I couldn't see her, wreathed in the shadows as she was, but I knew she was in pursuit. Occasionally I would feel a light touch, a loving caress almost, and I knew she was prolonging this encounter.

For years I had imagined this encounter; I would confront the monster from my childhood and kill her. But the moment I was confronted with her I panicked. I turned and ran, and I truly had no clue what I would do.

I knew this wasn't reality. Any exorcist worth their salt had heard of Excalibur nightmare. This was a dream sequence made reality. Your darkest thoughts dredged up and made real. If I died here, I would die in real life. Like the world's deadliest nightmare.

The forest was never-ending. I spent my childhood in these woods, learning it like the back of my hands. Yet, as a recreation, the forest just seemed to repeat. The same copse here, the same game trail there. I would have to find somewhere to make my last stand, because she would tire of this eventually. I wasn't sure how sentient she would be, since this was all essentially a figment of my imagination, but I figured that if I thought she would tire of this and attack, she would.

As I ran, I remembered one lesson from my training; when all else fails, escalate. Steeling myself I gathered mana. I stopped and turned around, searching for her. It took a moment, because instead of being right behind me she was now circling me. I anticipated her pattern and threw a fireball at her, causing it to explode when it drew near her. An inhuman screech echoed through the woods, and I turned and ran again.

I reviewed everything I knew about vampires as I ran; weak to sunlight, weak to holy symbols, weak to running water- as I thought of that I remembered my first encounter with her. She couldn't cross the river, and I'm sure that was the only reason I was able to escape her and reach my village. As I recalled that I saw that same river out of the corner of my eye. A plan began to form. I turned towards the river and ran as fast as I could, enhancing myself as much as possible with touki.

I was meters away from the river when something grabbed my ankle. There was a pull, and I felt a moment of weightlessness as she threw me backwards. I crashed into the ground, momentarily knocking the wind out of me and then something hit me on the side. I flew again until I slammed into a tree. I opened my eyes to see her in front of me when she lifted her leg and crushed me between it and the tree behind me.

"It was a nice chase little lamb," she said. "But playtime is over."

She grabbed each of my arms and pulled. I resisted, but she was stronger than I was. As she pulled my arms and pushed me away with her leg, I could feel myself losing. Then, with a snap, my arms were wrenched out of their sockets. She lifted me up towards her mouth which opened wide, far wider than any human mouth would be able to stretch. Her mouth became a gaping circular maw, not unlike a lamprey's, with an exceedingly long tongue hanging out. Two sets of arms emerged from her gaping mouth, grabbed me, and started to pull me in. As I was dragged in, I noticed a scar on one of the arms that looked familiar, and I remembered what this leech had done; she had murdered my parents and stolen my childhood. Everything I had done in my life from that point had been for the purpose of killing this bitch, yet when the moment came, I had failed. As the two sets of arms grabbed me and began drawing me in I felt an ember of hatred burn in me. The vampire latched down and I felt dozens of needles pierce my skin, then heard my blood draining away. As my vision darkened and my limbs grew heavy the chilling dread of my existence being drained away instilled a terror in me I had never felt before. Yet there was also anger. The small ember inside me grew as she drained me. Something else began filling in where blood used to be, filling me with strength beyond anything I had before.

I looped my arms around the vampire's head and began to squeeze. I felt her panic and try to bite down, yet her teeth were no longer able to penetrate my flesh. She flailed wildly as I continued to squeeze, my veins beginning to burn as the fire spread. I squeezed as hard as I could, realizing that I would have to kill her before I burned from the inside out. I squeezed because my life depended on it, and as her head began to give way she continued to flail. Yet nothing she did could hurt me; her teeth couldn't bite me, her nails couldn't pierce my skin. As the heat within me reached its peak I felt her head cave in, and with a sickening squelch it exploded.

I shut my eyes as a bright glow overtook the forest, and when I opened them I was once again in the chamber with Valper. He looked shocked, likely because I had escaped Excalibur nightmare and due to the aura that now surrounded me.

A silver glow surrounded my body, the exact shade as my hair. I felt stronger than ever before and knew that I had finally reached the next stage in Touki, manifesting it. Already I could feel the drain that maintaining this form required, so I sprung into action. I rushed towards Valper, grabbed the arm holding Nightmare and shattered it. As he screamed in agony I pushed him to the floor and grabbed Nightmare. I had never been able to wield a holy sword before, yet when I grabbed Nightmare it responded to me. I had an idea on how to use it, and I had a perfect volunteer here at my feet. I infused Nightmare with a sliver of power it greedily accepted and activated it. Its glow was silver this time, and as its power took effect Valper fell silent.

That was one threat dealt with. The fallen was still around. I activated my minds eye and searched for the Fallen and Charles. They were two floors up, still fighting. Yet before I could go up there to assist the Fallen pierced Charles through with a spear and left him impaled to the wall. It began to move towards this chamber, and I knew I had a few minutes at most before it reached me. I moved Valper and the girl's body off to the side and thought over what I could do. Few of my spells were offensive, something I would have to rectify after this if I survived. Expelliarmus wouldn't work, the Fallen could create more weapons at will. It would have to be an ambush. I shut touki off and my body grew heavier. I would only have one chance at this. A Wingardium Leviosa lifted me up to the ceiling, and a sticking charm kept me there.

The Fallen descended into the room, thankfully facing away from me. There were wounds all over his body and he was bleeding heavily. I was more tired than I had ever been. Hopefully this would be a close fight. As the Fallen landed and looked over to where Valper and the girl lay I dropped. I swung Nightmare and chopped off the Fallen's six wings, removing his air superiority. He screamed and jumped away from me, but I activated touki and chased after him. I ignored his screams and shouts, focusing only on killing him. Even if the Fallen was injured it was the toughest fight of my life. Thanks to Touki and his injuries I was stronger and faster than him, but he had experience over me. While I could clip him occasionally, he was able to dodge most of my attacks.

Our fight went on for what seemed like forever yet was likely a few minutes at most. This was turning into a battle of attrition, and I wasn't sure I would come out the winner. It was time to do something drastic. I didn't block his next blow, instead I redirected it to pierce me in the side, just under my ribs. For a moment he stopped, and I could see the relief in his face that the fight was over. That relief turned to shock as I pierced him through the chest with Nightmare. He fell, choking on his own blood and his spear dissipated. Already I could feel Touki working to expunge the light poisoning and close the wound. It would scar, but I would live.

I looked around the room as the adrenaline wore down. The girl was still unconscious, but Valper was beginning to stir. He locked eyes with me once he regained consciousness, and I couldn't quite make out the emotion behind them.

"A natural wielder," he said. "Ironic that a natural wielder would be the one to stop me, considering what I've done."

"And what is it you've done Valper?"

"You don't know? No, of course you don't. They wouldn't have told you. Secrecy is like a second skin to them." He stood up and I pointed Nightmare at him, but as he looked around the room, I got the feeling he wasn't completely here.

"This place was sanctioned you know. We had a mission, one of upmost importance; find a way to create holy sword wielders. Natural wielders are rare. No matter how strong your faith, if you aren't born with the ability you simply can't wield them. Hundreds line up, hoping to be chosen, to no avail. Even I….

I found those that could. Orphans, sons of prostitutes, thieves and murderers. Those no one would miss. We performed tests. Tried to find what would make them tick. Attempted to replicate our results, yet nothing worked. Day after day we would receive reports that the legions of hell had enslaved another human, that another was lost from the pearl gates forever. I grew desperate.

What right did these children have to this power!? Most were unwilling to use it, to stem the tide of darkness with a cleansing light! They were not worthy of this power, not when so many of us were desperate for the opportunity they squandered."

He was raving now, frothing at the mouth and staring everywhere and nowhere at once, lost in his mad ramblings. A pit of unease formed in my stomach as he continued.

"Sacrifice was the answer. How could anything else work, when sacrifice was how salvation was given to us? A ritual to crystallize their very essence. We gathered their potential and manifested it. Now we could distribute it to the worthy, those willing to do what they must to banish the enemy."

"You… killed them? Harvested them? For what, power?"

'Not power you fool; salvation. Those who can wield holy swords are touched by gods light, favored as his wroth made flesh." He pulled out a dark blue gem and stared at it like it held the answers to life itself. As he spoke his voice rose in volume and fervor, as if he had received a revelation from the archangels themselves.

"With this, humanity will finally reclaim our dignity! We will banish the unclean ones from god's planet! We will follow them into the bowels of hell itself and purify it! We will cleanse those who have been taken from us, so that they may be reclaimed by god's light! We will- gurk."

The rest of his speech was cut off as I rammed Nightmare through his neck.

"Whatever the future holds, you'll never see it scum."

As he fell I turned towards the girl. Still incased in her barrier, she looked like she was sleeping, as if none of the horrors of the world could reach her. Yet I knew they already had. Yet as I reached out to grab her my limbs grew heavy and my vision began to darken. I felt tired, more tired than I had ever felt before. I thought about sitting down to rest, but the floor was already coming up to meet me.

"Useless wastes of flesh," I growled as I stormed out of the cathedral, angry shouts trailing behind me.

After I woke up from my fainting spell, and wasn't that a weakness that needed to be addressed, I found myself on a train. Charles had secured the girl and I and we were on our way back to the Vatican. He congratulated me on killing the Fallen, assured me he had no lasting injuries, told me he had already checked and neither did I, and grilled me on what happened with Valper. After I relayed the story he agreed that the vile man deserved death, but warned me that the higher ups would not be happy.

Well, they weren't.

When I reported in the next day they grilled me about what happened for about an hour. They berated me, accused me of willfully disregarding orders and a myriad of other things before demanding I return the Excalibur. I threw it at their feet and stormed out of there in disgust. They had no idea what it was like. It was easy for them to judge others when they had never spent a day in the field, never stared at the face of evil. For there was nothing else that Valper could have been. I was glad I killed him, for who knows what else he was capable of.

Before I knew it, I ended up at the clearing that Lady Gabriel and I always met. Unfortunately, she wasn't here, but it was still a good place to unwind. As I relaxed there I began to think about my fights yesterday. That fallen was out of my league. The only reason I had been able to kill him was due to luck, stealth and his injuries from fighting Charles. And as I stretched, the sting in my side reminded me even then I hadn't come out of the fight unscathed. I needed more offensive options. Thinking about how my Ice shield failed to stop his spear, I realized I needed more defensive options as well. I needed more. It reminded me why I was going to Hogwarts in the first place; to learn more magic and become stronger. Most of them were civilians learning magic, but I knew they had just come out of a civil war not even a decade ago. The knowledge was there somewhere, I just needed to find it.

Touki was another thing I need to refine. It was useful, and I believe I had finally unlocked its full potential. But the fatigue needed to be worked on.

Footsteps interrupted my usings, and I turned to see Griselda walking towards me.

"I figured you came here," she said. "You always seem to when something troubles you."

"Those idiots are frustrating," I grumbled. "They have no clue what its really like out there."

"No, they don't," she said as she sat next to me. "They do the best they can, but they're unable to understand what we go through."

"Then why are they in charge? If an exorcist was in charge then everything would run smoother."

"Tell me Liam, what do you think the average age an exorcist retires is?"

I thought about it, but I couldn't ever remember hearing an exorcist retire. "I don't know."

"That's because few do; most die in action. Try as we might, exorcists fight things beyond the means of men. Devils, angels and most monsters are stronger, faster and outnumber us. Most exorcists die in their thirties, right as they start to fall from their peak. If exorcists were in charge then our leadership would be a revolving door. Intelligence would be a mess, because every exorcist has their own way of doing things. Not only that, I know few exorcists who would want to stay behind a desk all day while their brothers and sisters are off risking their lives."

"I hadn't thought about it that way."

"Of course you haven't; you're still young. Too young if you ask me, but you earned your rank. If you want to take command of your own group one day and contribute to changing things, then you'll have to start looking at the bigger picture."

I considered what she said and realized I still had a lot to learn. The only ones who could avoid politics are those exceedingly powerful. I wasn't there, not yet at least. I would have to play along unless I wanted to find myself excommunicated. A lone exorcist has few friends and many enemies.

"The Cardinals agreed on their punishment for you," she continued. "Despite your newfound ability, you're barred from Holy swords until they deem fit."

I snorted at that. I had been fine without one this entire time, and being a holy sword wielder gave one more limitations, not less.

"They also wanted to bar you from continuing your magical education, but I cut that short once I mentioned lady Gabriel endorsed it."

"Thank you for that."

"Of course, its my job to look out for you. Not that I think you would have listened to them. I swear, I don't know where this rebellious streak of yours started the last few years. What happened to the cute kid who followed me around every day and listened so well?"

I felt my cheeks heating up and looked away. That's not what I was like.

"However, your new ability did get me thinking. You were banned from wielding Holy swords, but that's all."

"And?"

"And, the church has more than just Holy swords in their possession. I'll start looking into it, I should have something for you next time you come by."

"Thank you, Griselda. I appreciate all you've done for me. Truly."

"Of course dear," she said with a smile. "Now, lets talk about something else. Tell me more about how your school is going."

An:

I am truly sorry about how long it's been since an update. I was insanely busy the last few months. And as soon as I got free time I got into Rimworld and starfield came out. I became obsessed, and suddenly had no free time. I have no plans to quit this, but if I do I promise I will inform you all. I will be posting any delays and current word counts on my profile, so keep an eye out there. Some of you may have to reread my story to find out what's going on, and I apologize for that. Next updates should be more frequent. Next chapter is back to Hogwarts. If you guys have any questions or suggestions, feel free to PM me or review. And any worlds you guys think sound good to visit, let me know. My current roadmap is Year four and five of HP, Overlord (The game, not sure if I'm doing one or two but I'm super excited for it) and then DxD. Don't really have any worlds planned for after that. Some ideas, but nothing set in stone. Also, any relationship requests will be considered. Not all the relationships I have planned out will be long term.