Kuoh city- night
Deep within the city of Kuoh under the cover of darkness, stood an abandoned looking church. The Church looked like it had seen better days, and it looked like nobody had bothered to visit the building in years, hence why it had been reduced to the horrendous state that it was currently in. The majority of it looked to have either been blown to bits like someone had set off demolition charges in its structure, or eroded by the lack of care.
Despite this, there was still a lack of disrespect for the place throughout Kuoh's citizens, mostly brought about by the religious figures who remained within the city and knew to respect things of divine origins due to the dominant shinto religion. To the people, places like churches or shrines to their gods were not places meant to be disrespected, for those who did would then suffer God's wrath themselves.
That was the general consensus for the people… outsiders however, were a different story.
All of a sudden, the church's quiet atmosphere and dark, downright gloomy appearance lit up like a Christmas tree when a bright light started to shine before it's main entrance. The source of that light turned out to be a magic circle that was conjured on the floor, one that slowly elevated itself upwards. This allowed the forms of three figures to gradually materialize into being, their transportation being concluded.
The first of the trio to completely materialize, set their sights upon the Church with a calculating gaze. "Well here we are, this is the place." a middle-aged-looking man with short black hair and dark blue eyes remarked, puffing out through his nose. His attire consisted of a pale gray trench coat over a white dress shirt with a matching ascot, black pants and shoes, a pair of black gloves, and a black fedora. One could see the European influence in this person especially with some of the more outdated clothing he wore.
Briefly tearing his gaze away, the man turned towards his companions, one of them not looking too fondly at the church itself.
"Ugh, why do we even bother coming here? Wouldn't it be better to be somewhere other than this abandoned place.'' That companion complained like a whiny brat. Not a bad comparison considering that person being a girl with blonde hair styled into twintails and blue eyes. She wore a Gothic Lolita attire, which consisted of a black Lolita dress with white frills, a large black bow on the front, and a green jewel embedded on the collar, white thigh-high socks, and black shoes. She also wore a large black bow on top of her hair.
...Yeah, whiny little spoiled brat. Though then again she could be a woman trying to look younger than she actually was.
Their last companion gave an especially stern glare towards the smaller girl, irritation seeping from their features. "You better watch your attitude Mittelt. We are already here and you accepted it." they said, revealing themselves to be a tall and buxom woman with brown eyes and long, navy blue hair that obscured her right eye. Her attire consisted of a maroon, trench coat-like top with a wide collar, a matching miniskirt, and black heeled shoes. The trenchcoat top was open at her chest, giving a view of her breasts and cleavage. She also wore a gold necklace around her neck. She appeared to wear a white shirt underneath her top, but it can only be seen from the bottom. She narrowed her eyes at Mittelt. "And what other place would you prefer to be in? Maybe a children's arcade or a children's playground that actually suits you." she taunted Mittelt with a smirk.
Taunts that worked wonders, as Mittelt growled in anger before she hopped backward into a battle stance. She threw her right hand out and a bright light flashed briefly, a second later a massive glowing spear of light in her hands. "How dare you-"
"Enough."
Their arguments got cut off swiftly however, when feminine voice echoed throughout the church's interior, causing the trio to turn towards the source. This allowed them to see a figure slowly stride out of the church's entrance with a hand on their hip, moving like they owned the place.
Before their eyes the figure came out into view, revealing themselves to be an attractive young woman of similar-looking physical age to the one with the miniskirt, sporting violet eyes and having a slender body. She had long silky black hair down to her hips and possessed two black feathered wings. Her clothing choice consisted of black, strap-like objects around and under her breasts, a thong-like piece held around her hips by three thin straps, gloves that ran right up her arms with small lengths of chains hanging from them, shoulder guard-like objects on her shoulders with three large spikes sprouting from her right shoulder, and black thigh-high heel boots.
Judging by the annoyed look on her face, she did not look too happy right now. "I will not allow you two bickering on which one to choose. And this is where we'll continue our mission, so don't ruin this chance. Shut up, both of you." she narrowed her eyes at the middle-aged woman and the small petite girl.
The latter of the two still had some fight left in her despite the glare however, and quickly puffed out her cheeks before proceeding to argue back with the woman while pointing her spear of light at her. "Just because Azazel assigned you the job doesn't make you our leader. Unlike someone who wants to get closer to his dick." Mittelt argued back to the BDSM woman.
Sensing that there would be a confrontation brewing, evidence being how the woman looked ready to launch herself at the girl who would likely fight back just as hard, the man quickly reminded them of their priorities while playing peacemaker. "Alright alright everyone calm down." the man put his hand up in an assuring gesture. He got in the middle of their circle, stopping their shenanigans before it could be worse. "Now it's not the time to bicker around. We just got here so let's not make a mess here."
This made the three women (including the petite girl) eventually heed his words and calmed down, remembering the complexity behind their situation and this mission. After all, this was not the time for them to be bickering like little girls.
The blue-haired woman put her hand on her forehead, exhaling in relief at the crisis being averted while the BDSM woman stepped back. The feeling of power being suppressed came from her, telling the onlookers everything they needed to know about the bullet they'd just dodged.
"Fine, we'll go your way, Dohnaseek." The black haired woman finally decided, relenting to the fedora man named Dohnaseek.
"Good." He nods his head before taking out a file. He went to the cathedral desk, put it on the ground before opening it. "Now let's discuss our agenda." The women gathered up around the desk and gazed at the mission file. Dohnaseek read through the files. "Our mission is to observe the future identity of the newly discovered red dragon emperor." He turned the page, showing a picture of a high school student of average height with short spiky brown hair, with two short locks of hair behind his head, and light brown eyes. "Issei Hyoudou, one of the pervert trio of Kuoh Academy."
Immediately the mood source once more when the name 'pervert trio' got mentioned, most of the negativity coming from the women. Though if one thought about it, that was kind of hypocritical given their exotic appearances. "Ugh great, first this place and now we have to spy on a damn pervert? Disgusting." Mittelt complained while looking in disgust at the picture of Issei. Worse still, he hardly looked like anything special either, just some lazy lonely incel who would likely whine about not getting the female attention he 'deserved'.
The sole uncovered eye of Kalawarner looked just as disgusted at the picture as her comrade, agreeing with her which didn't happen very often. "I'm pretty sure our leader wants him to be in his club of Oppai. I mean look at this…" She briefly paused to shift to another page on the file telling them a summarized version of their target's childhood. "When he was a child he made boobs out of sand on a beach, as a teenager he regularly tries to see girls changing, one could assume that he's a natural born one."
After a while of looking at the photo, the gothic girl raised her gaze to her male comrade and arched a suspicious brow when an idea formed within her mind. "Are you sure he's not one of the boss's children or his ancestor?" Mittelt asked Dohnaseek suspiciously, knowing their leader's reputation for forming harems over the thousands of years he had been alive for. It would explain a lot about their particular target if that was the case.
However, their theories got blown up by their sole male comrade who poured ice on such things with his next words. "I checked his lineage and ancestry. He is a pure blooded human. But believe me I wouldn't be surprised if he actually is." Dohnaseek dryly responded to the blue-haired woman. He then glanced at the black hair woman. "What do you think Raynare?" He questioned the black haired woman. However, Raynare remained silent as she gazed on Issei in a rather intense manner, one which raised his curiosity alongside the rest of them. "Raynare?" He tried to get her attention from her but she wasn't even listening at all.
"Leave her, she's just not paying attention at all." Mittelt waved her hand, not caring about the woman named Raynare at all. "And speaking of which, is this guy even this generation's red dragon emperor?"
"Oookay then. Leaving that aside." Dohnaseek shifted his gaze to the file. "(CLEAR THROAT)! Anyway yes he might or might not be. Some of the fallen angels detected draconic energy from the boy so he might or might not be."
A brief shudder traveled down Mittelt's back at the thought of someone like this guy reaping the benefits of being a dragon. Dragons were known to attract members of the opposite sex to them, so she did NOT want to think of what this pervert would do with such a benefit. "I hope he's not."
Neither did Dohnaseek, but nonetheless he continued with their mission briefing. "There have also been other reports of humans potentially possessing sacred gears, mostly in this country. Sooner or later they might awaken these sacred gears, so first we observe Issei for a while. If he does show some sign of his gear awakening, we must report it back to our leader." He turned to the other page, showing some people's school pictures. "Other than that this amount of sacred gear possessors require observation. We need to make sure none of them turn dangerous or rogue."
"Damn." Kalawarna picked up a random picture of a school boy and observed it intently, though nothing close to Raynare's level. "Sacred Gears are appearing more frequently than the last one hundred years ago." She commented on the mission. She really wondered what was so special about Japan, such a small insignificant island that was a shell of its former imperial glory. She preferred its imperial self rather than this degenerate trash.
An agreeing nod came from Dohnaseek when he heard his colleague's words. "Appears so Kalawarna, which is why Azazel wants to make sure they don't cause any problems. Though if you ask me, I'm pretty sure he wants to either study their gears or recruit them." he remarked rather annoyedly at the end, knowing how their leader tended to be when it came to new Sacred Gears.
"Wouldn't be surprised if he did." Mittelt sarcastically said to the male.
"One other thing is we need to be absolutely careful." He leaned forward to the women (except for Raynare who ignored him). "And I mean this seriously. Over the past couple weeks I have looked through the news for any intel that our scouts may have missed, and it's a good thing I did because I found out something different. Kuoh has become a bit of a haven all of a sudden."
"So? Does this mean the humans have gotten better security or something? If so why does it worry us?" Kalawarna questioned Dohnaseek, a bit put off by the grave tone of voice he was using. A tone which she didn't think suited him especially considering his tendency to be a bit of a battle maniac.
Nevertheless, he continued to display such a tone while giving out the answers. "Because this amount of investigation would leave them famous. It could mean that the devils have suddenly increased their activity or something else has been working in the shadows, someone or something very powerful." He explained, forming a magic circle the size of his thigh next to him which he then reached into. Moments later he took something out from it, which soon got revealed to be a newspaper, one showing a picture of Kuoh's weather being abruptly chaotic. The date looked rather recent too, so this was not something that had happened weeks ago, either.
The two girls looked at the newspaper for a while before they realized the fedora man was actually right. There would be a STUPIDLY high amount of power needed to change the weather to the degree shown in this photo, prompting them to wonder who the culprit was.
It couldn't be a human, not even those magicians from those said factions were here nor were many capable of using such power without external factors helping them. Plus, it had been stated by the Magician faction that they didn't have any representatives in Japan at this time, casting further doubt on them. Other than them, there weren't any humans aligned with the supernatural here from what their intel had told them, and it was unlikely that one with a Sacred Gear had awakened by performing such a feat since they'd know if that was the case plus there weren't many Sacred Gears, if any at all, capable of such feats. Sacred Gears in their awakenings were weak, not yet reaching their full potential, that stuff was only accessible through training and hard work.
From their research, it didn't seem likely that the two Devils in Kuoh had the power levels required for such a feat either, something which relieved them since a Devil who could do this with their magic had to be someone from the Great War. All survivors of that war no matter their race were regarded as living legends to the current generation who didn't experience such an event, or as the kids would say 'they were fucking badasses'.
Whatever the case may be, it seemed to be true that someone powerful enough to pull off that feature resided within this city, so they really DID need to be cautious. Each of the trio showcased complicated expressions about this development and what it would mean for their mission, whereas Raynare… still kept gazing at that photo of Issei, an unreadable expression on their face that should have worried her comrades. That is, if they didn't give a shit about her mental state at the moment.
Unbeknownst to the three of them, two familiar figures shadowed by the moonlight above stood in crouched positions on top of the church building, overlooking them. These two revealed themselves to be Vali and Kuroh who were currently watching the trio like night owls searching for their prey. Kuroh had managed to hear them with his magic whereas Vali had his devil enhanced hearing.
"Looks like we got ourselves two stray fallen angels... or should I say intruders?" Vali remarked under his breath although his companion could hear him as clear as crystal. The half devil smirked in bloodlust while looking down at them.
His companion shook his head, knowing that he had to keep the silver haired male in check in place of Theseus otherwise they may share in his punishment if they caused an incident. "We don't know if they are strays or not Vali." Kuroh said to him while mentally preparing for another argument with him, knowing how competitive and aggressive he was from experience. "They said they are on an observation mission."
"Uhhh in case you're wondering, those weak ass fallen angels came here, trespassing on OUR territory and we have enough evidence to take them out." Vali rebuked Kuroh while gesturing at the group of fallen angels who remained unaware of their presence due to the two using their own means to conceal themselves from detection. In his eyes, there was more than enough ground for them to punish these wenches and their goddamn manwhore of an idiot simp.
"And you always head to action instead of thinking." Kuroh dryly rebuked again, raising an arm to gesture to their observation targets. "They haven't taken any actions now or even started. But you are indeed correct on the assumption that they need to be dealt with. We need to contact Meredith, tell her about this and our new targets for observation." Kuroh said to Vali while taking out his phone and taking a picture of the pictures of the possible sacred gear users.
Vali growled at Kuroh. "Fine, but if they do spill any blood on this city?"
"….then you are free to do whatever you want." Kuroh responded with Vali, giving him an answer to the fallen angel's possible action. Which made the white dragon emperor smile in bloodlust as shadows envelop him, his smile and eyes glowed in the dark.
Back to Hellsing manor
"Do I really, REALLy have to do this?" a furious familiar blond hair boy whined to nobody in particular, looking like he would explode anytime from the sheer discomfort, shame and frustration building in his chest right now. Just one more push and he'll explode so much, not even a few gods would dare to stand in his way.
And just WHY would someone as broody as Theseus would be behaving in such a manner?
"And who are you to complain, Theseus? Might I remind you that you are the reason why you're in this situation in the first place?" A certain stoic aristocrat-looking girl responded to the shark king. She didn't show any of her emotions to him, her face that of stone, but hidden inside of her was the feeling of smugness, somewhat sadistic in nature while she watched the male's suffering. She definitely found herself enjoying this suffering now, more power over this rambunctious rascal, more pain and misery towards her rowdy subordinates to let them know who is in charge.
It actually surprised her that she was enjoying this so much. Maybe this wasn't necessarily healthy, but she had to take what she could get.
Right now, the two were within the girl's office without anyone else, them being the only two in the room. It was about early morning with the evidence being the rising sun outside of the window on the horizon, which had a bit of irony considering what country they were currently residing in.
The sweet smell of tea filled the air thanks to the cup that sat next to a pile of documents on the office desk, it's smell whiffing into the air and the light steamy trail rising from it indicating it's recent creation. It had been a cup of tea that had been recently brewed by the woman herself when Theseus had entered the place, having been summoned by her early on. If there was one smell the two of them rather liked it would be that of tea, something about it reminded them of their homeland which they had been away from for a significant timeframe now.
Of course, one could say that Theseus had been away from his 'homeland' for years now, but then one could also counter with the fact that his original homeland no longer existed, and that the UK became his new one the moment that he had been adopted by the Hellsing organization.
However, such a serene scene got marred by the fierce tension in the air… a one-sided tension considering the sheer fury rising from Theseus like the steam from Meredith's teacup compared to the cool and composed demeanor the woman sported.
"You understand what you're getting into here, don't you Ordinton? if I get out of this alive…...Hell will not stop me from enacting my wrath towards you." Theseus declared with a fierce blaze in his eyes. The male looked to be close, so close to summoning his trident and then stab her with it before shooting her corpse with his Bolt Pistol until the corpse was so full of holes it's nothing but a mangled, twisted husk. He'd then feed those remains to his beloved sharks and piranhas for good measure.
The girl, Meredith Ordinton, merely waved a dismissive hand however, not too fussed about it. "Oh you're being so dramatic, what's the harm of just doing some simple tasks?" Sir Integra's apprentice remarked casually like she was talking about the weather. Though inside she did find his rants somewhat childish and a bit humorous… as much as those words could be applied to Theseus anyways.
Though one could wonder if there was something wrong with her finding promises of vengeful wrath and probably horrendous murder the way she did.
"Simple task? This is a fucking nightmare! Look at me!" Theseus screamed at Meredith's face, his own red with anger, fury, irritation and humiliation. As for why this was, Theseus gestured to his apparel which… wasn't what he usually wore. Nope, instead of his usual dark and broody edgelord getup, Theseys wore a high collared Trench coat that split into two coattails at the waist, exposing a purple interior. The coat had a series of golden pins down it's center that could be fastened together if needed, alongside the large white cuffs the arms ended in, whereas beneath it was a white dress shirt and a dark grey jacket, a purple cravat similar to British nobility. Over his legs were a pair of black leather pants with golden lines down their centers, tucked into a pair of brown knee-high boots.
(Hunter: think the getup MC from 'I'm the evil lord of an intergalactic empire' light novel wore)
Essentially, he looked like a goddamn wimpy ass nobleman who hadn't worked hard a day in his life. So yeah, he was NOT a happy camper right about now, even as he pointed his hand at her with his index finger aimed straight at the center of her forehead. "I will kill you in your sleep one day Ordinton." the No-life king apprentice threatened her with his finger pointed at her.
On her side of things, Meredith still kept her stoic face but let out a small smirk. "We'll just have to see if words are proven by your actions." she remarked, and seconds later her smirk got replaced by a flat line when she strolled up to him, reaching out with her white gloved hands adjusting his dress shirt collar. She straightened it out as well as his coat's lapels, making sure the outfit looked perfect in every way possible for the things to come. "Now quit your whining and start acting like your age." She chastised, her eyes firm and lips pressed firmly together.
The male in question released a sharp hiss when he felt a sharp pain nick at his neck when she had caught some of his flesh. "ACK! Watch it, woman! You're making this getup way too fucking tight!" he complained, one eye closed and a feral snarl escaping his lips.
"That's how it's supposed to be and it's not a dress, it's a suit." Meredith rebuked him before she continued her actions to the male's chagrin. Once she saw his suit was well fitted. She stepped back and faced him, clapping her hands together with a chipper grin spreading across her lips. "Now that that's over, let's begin your training." she declared with closed eyes and a beaming expression.
A deep contrast to the look of abject horror building in the male's eyes.
What was she so happy about, and why was he dressed like a British nobleman one might ask? Whelp, this was to be Theseus' 'punishment' for his actions regarding the Hero Clan, the one he has to go through a living hell which he cannot even stand for. Something he doesn't want to do.
Etiquette training.
A noble aristocrat's training. Something that was fit for a member of the high class like Meredith. A word filled with prim, proper and high quality behaviour, in other words everything which was the exact OPPOSITE of one Theseus. In fact, one would not be wrong if they assumed that he hated the word 'proper' in its entirety. It was even more accurate to say that such a word didn't exist in his dictionary.
It didn't matter to him that thanks to Theseus being well known throughout the UK faction, under the queen's record and recognition (having been knighted by the queen herself) as well as being Alucards apprentice, he had met many of the qualifications to become a noble.
Thus, the prospect of being trained to act like such people sounded like proper nightmare fuel to the Shark King. Under normal circumstances, Theseus would never go through the regime of the nobles, he would never have fit in their world, ever. He wasn't someone who enjoyed lavish luxury or the confines of those overly priced mansions, he wasn't a fan of being all stiff and hypocritical, none of that came close to his true self. He much preferred to go around the world, slaughter vampires, monsters, devils, train and hunt for food for his beloved pets, and essentially be the beast that he knew himself to be.
But right now, he was tied to a metaphorical leash, disciplined according to the owner's desire.
He could be comparable to a dog at the moment, something he despised. Worse still, was that he couldn't' escape it no matter how much he wanted to, and it wasn't like any of his 'friends' would bail him out and he couldn't blame them. Last time they had tried to intervene in one of the punishments dealt by Meredith or worse Integra, they had to be pulled into it despite not being guilty of the same crimes.
And if Theseus hated being a Noble, then Vali and Kuroh LOATHED it despite the latter having more of an affinity for such a life.
As for why this was happening, and what he was being punished for… well, nearly exposing the supernatural world and losing his cool during an ambush by the Hero Clan would do that. Meredith had chosen this punishment because she KNEW it was something that Theseus hated with a passion, she and Integra knew fine well how much Theseus despised the nobility with a passion, there being a few exceptions.
Unaware of his thoughts, Meredith continued with her speech with the woman gesturing for him to finally take a seat, of which Theseus did so reluctantly. "Now, in order to act like a proper man you need to fix your attitude and behaviour, two most important things for a noble." she began in a lecturing manner, standing with her arms crossed under her chest while peering down her nose at her subordinate.
Said subordinate internally bristled at being literally looked down on by someone who was weaker than him, although he didn't try anything with her. "Uh huh and where does a proper man path lead to?" he questioned with a sarcastic snort. Before Meredith could put out an answer however, the male did so for her in a more physical sense. By that, he didn't try hurting her or anything (despite really wanting to so he could escape this incoming torment) but instead he put a single hand to the side of his head, having shifted his fingers into a gun gesture at him before tilting his head. He even made the appropriate sound effect the moment he did so. "Boom, headshot. Killed and left for dead. In case you hadn't noticed, almost all high class people always have a bounty on their head for money, reputation and finally revenge." he remarked in an equally lecturing tone.
One just had to look at history to see just how often the members of the high class fell to assassination plots from either their own or rival nations. Being a member of high society had a surprisingly high mortality rate and, like a lot of things humanity had done, the supernatural world imitated old style traditions. The Devils were an extreme example of this considering they still used marriage contracts in the modern age, and those who were of the high class weren't looked on very favorably which was made even worse in the said world when these people sometimes could blow up entire cities out of rage.
Yeah, it was actually a good thing the supernatural were constrained by the need to keep humanity in the dark about their existence.
However, one thing that a lot of high class folk had was that they had sharp tongues, and Meredith was no exception to this. "If that's the case, how does Sir Integra still live then? Can you tell me about that? She fits all the categories you listed yourself." she asked Theseus about his own claim.
Theseus opened his mouth before closing it… and then an answer popped into his head. "You DO realize she has ALUCARD with her almost 24/7 right? Even if it looks like he's not around the No Life King's mere name can scare people away from killing her. It's more so in the supernatural world since they fear that guy so damn much and for good reason." Theseus countered. Hey, let it be said that a beast can learn to trick it's prey to gain an edge on the battlefield.
"Uh huh and what about the times where Alucard wasn't there for Sir Integra,or perhaps the times when even Walter or any of us weren't around her?" Meredith once again asked, flawlessly rebuking Theseus' claims which made him grit his teeth behind his lips though she could still notice it through some outlines on his jaw.
Meredith stood firm against the vicious onslaught of pessimism from her subordinate. She knew what he was doing and she won't let it get it through her head. Throughout the years she had spent knowing this guy Meredith had learned quickly how the guy thought and what his general character was, it had been somewhat of a project set up by her mentor Sir Integra. She had told her that a true noblewoman would be able to suss out someone's character just from exchanging a few words and paying attention to the finer details about them. It had been something she'd used a LOT to help mitigate some of Theseus's more destructive tendencies or at least put them to better use so they would be more of a pro than a con.
From her analysis, Theseus was someone who had pessimism as part of his very nature, someone who didn't see the 'white' in people in favor of seeing a more 'black' perspective. There was no good, everything was dark and depressing with there being little to be actually happy about. It sounded like a damn childish mentality to her, but she could imagine that many people had these ideas of the world's workings if they had shitty lives, of which she bet there were many unfortunately. She herself could be counted among that number as well before she'd joined Hellsing.
Yet, there were signs of improvement in his ideals Meredith had noticed and they mostly surfaced whenever he was around Vali and Kuroh ironically enough. It was like they brought out who he truly was deep down inside, a side that he had been repressing for years now aside from certain instances like Mio… Meredith wasn't so sure if she herself had such fortune though.
Seeing he wasn't talking anymore and concluding that she had won this short battle, the noblewoman turned around to her desk, strolling around it while eyeing the white silk sprawled over the table. Aside from her finished work documents from the previous night which rested on one side of the desk, the desk's center had an antique tableware set consisting of plates filled with some bread, a silver tray with all this on, and finally what all aristocrats would have, a teapot with cups beside it.
"Back to my point: to become a proper man..." She began, continuing from her previous point before the male had inserted his pessimistic outlook. She soon sat down on the velvet chair behind her desk, crossing one leg over the other while clasping her gloved hands atop the table itself, just barely touching the tray with her knuckles. "You must know the basics of every aristocrat and what they do to make them a proper noble." She explained, grabbing a teapot before proceeding to pour some warm tea into two of the cups. After lowering the teapot once she was satisfied with the amount in the cups, Meredith put in some tea leaves that rested beside the teapot as well as a couple small glasses of milk, before proceeding to stir the two cups with a teaspoon. "Now, usually butlers or maids would serve us with tea but in this case, I'll let it slide since we don't have a butler. Wish Walter was here. Anyway, this one requires you to be on your best behavior, no insults, no argument and no rude comments."
Once again, Theseus got reminded of his current situation and the extreme discomfort it brought him, every instinct in him yelling at him to get away. One could easily imagine how, he really wanted to get out of this fucking especially when one considered how this was all about holding one's anger back and Theseus never could restrain his anger all that much. Hence why Theseus would keep on going out to vent all that anger he held inside by killing vampires and other monsters. If this… this posh, proper and restrained demeanor was how nobles would rather act, he would rather date a vampire than being with a noble. "And just like that you officially lost me. Literally and figuratively, if you think this will make me become like those rich snobs then forget it, it's not working." he spat, his gaze vicious and bloodthirsty while grumbling like the beast that he was inside.
Meredith did not show any reaction at all upon hearing his tone, but her eyebrows could be seen minutely twitching from the annoyance she felt inside. By no means did she not expect such resistance from the male before her, she'd known since the beginning that Theseus would be a tough nut to break or crack open, it usually served him quite well on the battlefield since it kept spurring him to pursue the path to victory.
Though it also made him seem like a dick in a lot of other things as well.
Nonetheless, she had decided on this course of action and she was a woman of conviction just like her mentor. Meredith respected his decision about not becoming a high class noble, in fact on some level she too shared some of his frustrations and sentiments about them especially their laziness and lack of a spine (something which she was thankful that Sir Integra showed herself to be the exception to).
However, what she HATED about the blonde-haired boy was his behavior and attitude. If the nobles were meant to be prim and proper, he was the exact opposite. Theseus had no chains to restrain his foul language, he would not read the room and say what he thought or even if he did he would be as blunt as a hammer anyways. If there was someone weeping over the loss of their family he'd simply tell them to stop being a wimp and move on with their lives, to which they would try to attack them in their grief only for Theseus to smack them like little bitches. Calling him rude, insensitive, uncaring, cold etc would be an understatement.
There was also the fact that he wouldn't show any mercy although that was something she didn't mind as much since their foes didn't deserve such mercy anyways. His ruthlessness and merciless dispatching of their enemies was something of which Hellsing saw as an indispensable asset.
So yeah, Theseus would be indeed as far away from a proper noble as possible. Nevertheless Meredith refused to let that stop her from confronting this challenge. Even under the furious and crazed glare he was giving her, the woman wanted to try and fix his attitude and make him become at least a bit of a reasonable person instead of retaining all that bad boy, delinquent, and bloodlust which dominated him.
Now that she had gotten this opportunity, albeit at the expense of many lives and possibly innumerous political consequences, she wouldn't back down and give up until she got it through his fucking thick sku-.
KNOCK-KNOCK!
….Just like that, a loud knocking sound broke the woman out of her thoughts as well as her stoic mask, making her divert her gaze towards the door in question. Good thing too, since she had almost exploded in anger with the male before her who would likely respond in kind leading to a fight that would ransack her office.
'Ugh, now of all... Who the hell...?'
While grumbling to herself internally, Meredith got up from her seat and walked to the door which left the blonde male on his seat before her desk. Once she had approached her door, she reached for it's knob and twisted it, hearing the familiar sound of mechanics unlocking it before she opened the door to look at who it was behind it. As a result, she saw a serious-looking Kuroh to which Meredith raised her eyebrow before letting him in. She closed the door behind her, looked at Kuroh while Theseus had his arm at the back of the chair. "Kuroh? Why are you here?" she questioned while he had done all this and idly noted the Shark King eyeing their newest arrival.
Without missing a beat or minding that they were being watched by Theseus, Kuroh placed a hand in his coat pocket while addressing his superior. "Meredith, I know I'm interrupting something but this is something you need to know that is of high importance. Me and Vali found intruders at the abandoned church of Kuoh. They are fallen angels from Grigori." he reported with a stern tone, his gaze seemingly neutral although anyone with proper eyesight could see intense emotions shimmering beneath the surface.
Meredith's gaze matched his at hearing this information, her prior business temporarily pushed to the back of her mind as she processed this information.
"Fallen angels you say?" Theseus queried with intrigue while turning his body around and sat in front of the chair's back side. Learning forward as his hands were at the chair back side. If it weren't one force in the supernatural world causing trouble it was another, it seemed. This almost started to feel like one big hotspot for supernatural activity. "Interesting..." He muttered in his breath.
"Have you made any moves against the fallen angels?" Sir Integra's protege asked the samurai boy, wanting to know what the overall scenario was. That would allow her to see what she had to work with, in order to minimize potential casualties… though she would also have to make several phone calls and make some appointments if she wanted to sort this out.
"No we have not." he shook his head negatively. "It would be irrational because they haven't made any moves at all. Not only that, but they haven't killed any humans here." he reported. Him and Vali had spent a couple hours observing the Fallen Angels and monitoring their movements. So far they had decided it a priority to remain inside their HQ for the moment, but how long that would be was anyone's guess hence why Kuroh had returned here to deliver the news as quickly as possible. He had known that Meredith was busy at this time too hence why he hadn't used any communication circles, favoring a more direct approach.
"Good." she said to Kuroh, acknowledging his decision to have been the necessary one. Right and wrong were honestly quite subjective in nature let alone in politics and governing places, so Meredith didn't really bother with such things. Instead one had to let logic and common sense do the talking for them, and if they're done right one could expect to have done a decent job running the place.
Speaking of which, going straight to the fallen angels when they haven't harmed anyone in their territory seemed to be a logical decision. It wouldn't be wise to kill them because of diplomatic reasons, if they belong to the Grigori then killing them would be a waste of time but if they were stray fallen angels then they would have a legit reason to exterminate them with typical Hellsing ruthlessness.
"But it does not stop there, me and Vali overheard them talking about there being multiple unawakened Sacred Gear holders they're intending to keep an eye on." he explained, taking out his phone to show her the pictures he had taken of the Fallen Angel documents. His phone had a quality camera to it, which had helped him take such photos in the first place. "Seems that they have one target in particular, however, a person who possesses draconic energy in Kuoh Academy, a potential red dragon emperor."
Meredith's expression hardened with seriousness, now realizing Kuroh had a legit reason to interrupt her. A potential red dragon emperor, something Vali had been waiting for for years now, having been searching the globe in-between missions for Hellsing to find his rival. If Kuroh was right then the possessor of the red dragon needed to have a close eye kept on them in case they show any signs of the awakening of that Sacred Gear. If they don't awaken it for a few years then they'll leave the host be, since they do not pose a threat to the respective factions. There have been multiple cases where the two heavenly dragon emperors fighting each other caused catastrophic events around the areas they fight in, which isn't good for anybody.
One case happened during WW1 when a German soldier was the host of the red dragon emperor and his rival the white dragon belonged to the Japanese army. They both were at a stalemate but the damage was so great it almost destroyed the battlefield, killing both sides of the war. The Japanese wanted to expand their influence back in WW1, the red dragon emperor German soldier had eventually managed to defeat his rival thus stopping Japanese from expanding their influence, though the German Soldier had to retire from the army due to all the wounds he got dealt by the Japanese soldier.
This type of raw power between the two heavenly dragons was not to be reckoned or messed with, even Theseus' teacher Alucard had told him how it would take him many days and nights to defeat just ONE of the two heavenly dragons. Something that can force Alucard to fight for days was something that Theseus would not underestimate.
After processing this information, Meredith lowered her gloved hand from her chin and closed it into a fist, nodding her head at her subordinate. "I see, thanks to your intel we have more targets to be observed. That includes the one in Kuoh Academy." She declared while she gave Kuroh his phone back, turning on her high heels and strolling back to her seat. "Continue with your mission, I will report to the directors of the Hijirigasaka Academy that you'll be spending a few days off. During those days Kuroh, you are to head to Kuoh Academy, observe the target for a few days, report to me when you see any of the fallen angels making their move on… whoever this person is, understood?"
Kuroh nods his head in acceptance before heading towards the door, opening it and closing it behind him. Meredith gazed at the door for a while before sighing, things were getting too complicated and difficult nowadays, all too rapidly at that.
But first thing is first.
"Don't even try. We are not leaving until I say so." Meredith declared in her previously firm voice, not even glancing behind her at the Shark King who had made a grunt of frustration, the sound of earth shifting briefly being heard. She didn't need to look backwards, as she could tell that he had tried conjuring a hole in her office's wall to escape from his punishment.
"Dammit." Theseus cursed under his breath, lowering his arm and returning to slouching on his seat like he had been previously before Kuroh had shown up. He should've turned to mist instead of conjuring a rock hole, that would have been much more discreet.
Now that the interference had been taken care of, Meredith turned around which caused her outfit's skirt to flutter briefly in the direction she turned, the tapping of her heels filling the room. She then looked at Theseus with a stoic expression before returning to her explanation from previously. "Now as I was saying…."
Later
"Uhhhh, question: why did we have to come all the way out here, Shizuku?" a girl questioned her friend as they wandered down a street within Kuoh's outskirts.
Both of these two girls looked to be quite beauties, with the one who had spoken being a beautiful young woman in her early twenties, with waist-length black hair that was tied back in a half ponytail by a dark-colored bow, big bangs hanging on the right side along with small bangs hanging on the left side, and a pair of brown eyes.
For an outfit, she wore a dress that had its primary colours being seemingly white, blue and golden, with there being a healer's cap on top of her head. A pair of brown belts crossed over one another like an 'X' around her waist, connecting to two large pads which covered her hips down to her feet as a form of protection. The outfit exposed her shoulders whilst having a long skirt which split into three trails via two long slits to show off her legs when she moved. This also allowed one to see the white stockings she now wore, with her feet being concealed by some heeled boots similar in appearance to a knight's.
"Did you not remember what Azazel said to us?" The other girl known as Shizuku questioned back with one eye closed, the other on her hip while she addressed her companion.
Shizuku looked to be a beautiful woman of similar age to her said companion with waist-length black hair tied up in a ponytail with bangs hanging over her forehead, and a pair of red eyes. Her outfit looked a lot more form-fitting than Kaori's by comparison, meant more to show a mix of practicality and femininity. She wore a white waistcoat which had an ovular chest window, exposing her cleavage as well as the black sports bra underneath it. Around her waist was a dark green belt which had a silver buckle holding up a pair of dark blue form-fitting jeans, whilst on her feet she wore a pair of black high heeled Sandals.
Briefly looking affronted, Kaori searched through her memories to come up with a suitable answer to her question… but then came up blank, much to her chagrin. "I uhhhh…. I forgot." the girl nervously replied eventually to Shizuku, smiling nervously.
A pang of guilt erupted in her chest when her companion sighed, placing a hand on her forehead while shaking her head in a 'why am I not surprised?' kind of way. "(SIGH) sometimes I just wish you weren't that much of an airhead Kaori." She remarked, not amused in the slightest by the other woman's antics.
While most of the time she wouldn't mind stuff like this as much, having gotten used to it a long time ago, sometimes when it came to important things like this, Kaori tended to be an airhead and forget what they were doing. It was probably why Shizuku had been assigned to her as her partner for the majority of their missions, since they could keep one another in check while completing the mission at hand. It probably helped that their mission success rates doubled when they worked together, although between them Shizuku had a higher individual success rate.
Putting those thoughts aside like the hand she let hang by her side, Shizuku shook her head before turning her gaze to Kaori. "Our mission from Azazel is to monitor those three fallen angels to make sure they are doing their assignments." she told her flatly, gesturing over to the direction that the abandoned church had been in. Something which would have given her some weird stares if they weren't mostly alone at the moment.
For a moment, Kaori blinked owlishly in confusion with her mind struggling to recall such intel. However, this didn't last as like a balloon popping, the forgotten memories of such a briefing rushed back to her causing her eyes to brighten in realization. "Oh! You mean Raynare, Mittelt, Dohnaseek and Kalawarner?" She queried for extra clarification, stars shining in her eyes at having remembered the names of those they were assigned to hunt.
To which Shizuku nods her head. "Yes."
At that point, her starry eyed wonder gave way to confusion once more when a thought popped into Kaori's head which tilted slightly to the side, a matching expression on her face. "But why do we even have to watch them? It's not like they would get into any trouble. I even met with Dohnaseek and Mittelt a while back, they seemed to be nice." Kaori argued a bit with Shizuku since she met with the two fallen angels. Dohnaseek seems to be a calm and mature person and Mittelt easily got along with her due to him not teasing her about her age or height.
Her companion once again shook her head but this time out of a lack of surety about their colleagues' situation. "That would be the case usually, but we aren't sure about their chances in this one, Kaori. Just remember what we have to do and don't worry. We just have to see if they're doing something suspicious, if they aren't then this op should go rather smoothly with little concern. However, if they do start acting out of line like some others have lately, then we need to do something before it gets out of hand." she explained, gradually turning grave at the end with grimmer implications in her tone.
Such things caused the other girl to furrowed her brows while the flowers of worry blossomed in her chest. Her friend usually remained composed and proper when on missions in the past, but whenever they involved more complicated issues in the background that could negatively impact the situation her tones would shift onto the pessimistic side… like right now for existence.
Nevertheless, she didn't try to think about her words too much beyond getting the job done. That was what she had always done in the past, and it had helped her develop to the level she was currently at. "Ohhh ok." Kaori said deflating while her head was looking at the ground.
Beforehand, Azazel had them to this city as an insurance policy commissioned by him should things get out of hand. As a precautionary measure if they do something out of hand, then he'll have no choice but to label them as stray fallen angels. The reason for such a measure to be implemented hadn't been told to them by their higher ups, but out of the two of them Shizuku had been the more studious one hence why she knew a little more about things happening behind the scenes.
Like for example the recent shift in Kuoh's governing body from the Devils to the Hellsing organization and the various incidents that took place ever since.
Nevertheless, Shizuku brought herself out of her musings upon hearing an… actually intelligent question come out her usually airheaded companion's mouth. "But where should we go, Shizuku? We do sorta need a place to crash don't we? Do you have anything in mind?" Kaori asked Shizuku when she got out of her deflated expression.
For a few moments Shizuku adopted a thinking pose while trying to come up with a decent solution to that problem, one which needed to be addressed first and foremost. In the end though, disappointment filled her when she could only come up with one such measure. "Hmmmmmmmmm, we'll look for a hotel that is nearby. Though I don't know which one is good or which one is better." Shizuku decided, a bit annoyed at herself for such a simple oversight. Everyone made mistakes in their lifetime, she tried to tell herself, but such a simple error on her part did not bode well for the rest of the mission.
Unaware of her companion's thought process Kaori looked around for a bit before spotting someone in front of them. Someone who looked to be focused on something on his phone, but Kaori didn't pay attention to that in favor of seeing him as a source of information. "Oh I know! Why don't we ask someone around here!" she suggested, not waiting for Shizuku's response before breaking off into a quick sprint towards the walking figure she had spotted.
"Wait Shizuku!" Shizuku called out in an attempt to stop her, but she was too slow and had almost tripped had she not kept her balance at the last moment. After retaining such an essential thing, the blackette raised her head and gazed at Kaori's fading figure before shaking her head in frustration. "I swear one of these days….." she didn't finish her sentence and instead walked fast towards where the other blackette was going, hoping to at least catch up with her.
A short moment later, the air headed woman caught up to the figure, managing to halt herself before they could collide like in one of those cheesy anime scenes. "Excuse me sir?" Kaori asked the figure.
Looking up from his phone which had images of some online website on it, the figure known as Kuroh heard someone calling him and lifted his head from his device's screen to the direction of who called him. "Yes, how may I help you?" Kuroh queried upon noticing the approaching Kaori.
After halting herself and catching her breath, Kaori lifted her head up into the man's eyes. "Um, pardon me but are you familiar with Kuoh?" She asked, hoping the person she'd spotted was someone who resided in this city and not some kind of visiting tourist.
"Hmmmm." Kuroh pressed his lips together as he thought for a while before shrugging his shoulders. "Can't say I am, but I have lived here for a few months." he answered, which was true since he originated from the UK faction,
Hearing this quickly washed away the woman's previous worries that had just been born the moment she had approached him. "Oh, that's great!" Kaori beamed up with joy before continuing to ask the male in front of her for intel. "Do you know what places you would recommend staying for a while?"
Kuroh thought for a while before he answered Kaori's question. "Well there is-"
"KAORI!"
BONK!
"OWIE!"
"What did I tell you about running off?!" Shizuku angrily growled, having bonked Kaori's head which resulted in a comically large bump forming over her head which Kaori attempted to nurse with her hands by rubbing at it with teardrops in her eyes. "And you can't just ask strangers for directions, we don't even know who they are." she glanced at Kuroh who had his eyebrow raised at their antics. Looking embarrassed, she bowed a little to Kuroh. "I'm sorry for my friend Kaori, she tends to do reckless acts and sometimes she's an airhead."
"Eh no problem, and I can relate that you don't trust strangers like me. I can understand your worries. She just came straight up to me and asked me for directions."
"See? Even he knows the dangers of stranger dangers!" She stated in a reprimanding tone towards Kaori, berating her for her reckless actions which could have gotten her in some deep shit. Especially if the person she'd talked to had some malicious intentions.
Kaori pouted cutely at her friend while still holding her head. "But Shizuku, he knows some places where we can stay for a while. And besides, he seems nice." she protested, trying to counter-argue with Shizuku.
"That doesn't-(SIGH) you know what forget, we'll talk about this later." She shifted her gaze to Kuroh's stoic one. "If you don't mind me asking sir but like what my friend said-"
Instead of letting her finish, Kuroh raised his hand in a silent gesture, assuring her that he was not mad or annoyed. "No worries, like I said, it's fine. As I was saying, I know a few places. If you don't mind me asking, do either of you possess a phone? I can give you a few places that I think recommend you."
"Sure!" Kaori put her hand on her pocket before giving him her iPhone 11 much to her companion's ire if the glare she shot at her resembling two cold daggers was anything to go by. Luckily or unluckily depending on one's perspective, Kaori seemed too excited at the prospect of a place to stay to notice.
Kuroh took her phone and tapped on it for a while, a few minutes or so before he gave her back her iPhone. "Here are a few places I listed for you that might spark your interest."
"Thank you mister!" Kaori cheerfully thanked Kuroh for his help.
Shizuku again bowed a little to Kuroh, thanking him for helping them. Seeing he was a pleasant, nice and a good person. "We are in your gratitude sir. I'm sorry for my yelling earlier."
Kuroh shrugged his shoulders again. "Just remember to keep your distance from strangers. You won't know if they are planning something behind your back or doing something. That goes for your friend as well," he spoke in an advisor-like tone, a tone he had perfected over many years of dealing with a certain pair of battle maniacs he knew.
This had been aimed at both of them, but Shizuku had been the one to respond first. "Oh, I will." she stated, shifting her head to glare intensely at Kaori who shuddered when she felt a chill on her back.
"Alright then, good luck you two." Kuroh turned around and was about to walk away, had Kaori not tried once more in getting his attention.
"Wait mister!" Kuroh turned around again, looking at Kaori with a raised eyebrow. "Can we know what your name is? So we can remember if we meet again someday?" She asked Kuroh for his name, a hopeful gaze being directed at him while her lower lip trembled slightly.
Kuroh was silent for a few minutes as he thought for a while whether he should reveal his name or reprimand her for asking a stranger's name. In the end, he decided to go for the latter and revealed his name to her. "It's Kuroh, Yatogami Kuroh." With that said, he then turned his back and walked away from them.
Kaori glued her eyes at the man's retreating figure before she repeated his name under her breath. "Kuroh Yatogami…" briefly trailing off in a rather mystified tone, Kaori soon formed a small smile of happiness on her lips while thoughts of the helpful man filled her mind, leaving a deep impression on her. "I have a feeling we might meet again." she whispered once more...
"Then you have a feeling about this?" Kaori turned chibi when she heard Shizuku's tone behind her. A low, ominous tone accompanied that question which really didn't need to be answered since it wouldn't be changing any outcomes. She shook wildly like a leaf in the wind, before slowly turning around to see her friend looming over her like a dark shadow, having a burning aura around her while cracking her knuckles. She lifts her fist in preparation for what was about to happen, before saying. "Next time, don't ever try to run away from me!"
BONK!
"OOOOWWWWIIIIIEE!"
Kuroh, who wasn't that far from the duo, heard the small girl named Kaori getting bonked on the head by the other girl hard. He let out a small smirk of amusement when he heard her squeal (kind of made him sound like a sadist a bit…), a small chuckle being repressed by him. "I think I might get along with them quite well."
Somewhere
Several figures cloaked in darkness convinced in a dark, dimly lit area like any anime wanting to hide their villains' forms.
"Is this accurate brother?" one of the large shadowy figures questioned another figure cloaked in darkness, seeing clarification of this information that it had been brought.
"Yes, it is." the answer. This made his fellow large shadowy figures shake their heads and scoffed at this act.
At once, a bunch of chatter erupted throughout the dark room whilst they all added their opinions to the mix, each one between revulsion and disappointment in the topic of discussion.
"Bunch of hypocrites."
"Bloody heathens."
"The church has gone so low to the bottom of the abyss."
"They are dishonoring and disrespecting the Lords!"
After a short while consisting of things like this alongside curses and other bits of profanity that would be blacklisted on mainstream media, one of the figures put its hand up, stopping their rants. Now that there was silence once again, the figure which could be seen as their leader began addressing the group as a whole. "Brothers, I know that the church would excommunicate their holy priestess when she only healed a devil in distress-"
One of them interrupted his speech. "I find it hard to believe that one of those devils would get so close to the church while being wounded by one of ours. It just seems a bit off, makes me believe that it's some kind of ploy. Those pathetic bats do so love their ploys, especially when recruiting the gullible for slavery." the figure remarked, earning some mutters of approval and agreement throughout the room. But the figure, which was male due to the masculine voice used which was the same for the rest of the figures, continued on regardless. "But there is equal scrutiny for the church. The leaders were acting like proper fools, they didn't even TRY to investigate why the devil was there in the first place."
"My guess is that the devil happens to be one of the 'pillar devils'." Another figure voiced his opinion, using a seemingly obvious reason why the church wouldn't investigate the matter. The church would ignore the matter of the pillar devils just because of their status, basically bending the knee to them due to their wealth, power and status throughout. They viewed them similar to those of the pillar devils during the great war even when there was ample evidence to the contrary.
Instead, they would shove the blame onto other victims and have them take the fall for something they had no hand in. A shameful piece of behavior that mocked the teachings they all followed.
Still the one who stopped their conversation had more to say, even though he agrees with their reasons, hence why he continued to address the group. "I know all of you are sickened by the church's actions but we cannot take any actions right now. At the moment, she is out of our reach and those up top will have already covered their tracks at this point. Instead we must be rational, and never waver to the sins we would commit."
His tone, a tone filled with charisma and dedication, filled the room with a sense of resolve and purpose which infiltrated the ears and souls of those who heard it, even the seemingly leader of the group. This could imply that this speaker had a high ranking to him like the leader, say some kind of vice leader or something, but nonetheless his charismatic tone convinced the others to calm down, the room's tension slowly evaporating till it was non-existent.
Seeing that everyone had calmed down and were no longer arguing about the church's actions, once again the leader began to speak. "Now as I was saying, the moment their holy priest was exiled by the church, leaving her alone out in a world which would make her life hell. Her life indeed was hell for years, until recently when she turned to the fallen angels. Though she is a unique case, as she had done so out of necessity and not for the common reasons those heretics usually validate their worthless lives with." Briefly the fires of rage lit up in each of the figures that temporarily illuminated the room they resided in, before they forced themselves to calm down under their leader's gaze. "She therefore has indeed been accepted into their ranks, however do not be alarmed brothers. For she has proven herself to have never lost her faith in the Lord."
The shadowy figures did not show any emotions at this, but internally would be a different story with each of them having varying levels of… curiosity, intrigue one could say, about this former sister of the church. According to their leader, this former sister had a powerful faith towards God and always prayed to him despite her fellow worshippers practically abandoning her to be alone in the world, to fall into the heretical hands that had tainted her in their eyes.
But that just begged one question for the group, a question which needed an answer.
One of them stepped forward and put out that same question which populated their minds. "If that's the case, then why do you speak of their former holy priestess?"
As for their leader, someone whom they all respected highly, the answer he gave sent ripples of shock throughout the room. "I am saying we should recruit her into our organization. She is a pure Christian. Even though she was tainted by the sins caused from the church and heretics. Despite having grown through multiple years of hardship, her heart remains pure." he explained, incurring a bunch of hushed whispers from his subordinates at this plan of action.
Recruiting this sister into their ranks was something that was not heard of. No, it was more accurate to say that recruiting her without her going through the proper trials of their order was unheard-of thing, but some could see why this was their leader's plan. After all, they say that experience is the best teacher and thanks to growing up alone in the world for years, this sister will have demonstrated the mind and resolve needed to live such a life.
Soon enough, one of the figures protested the idea with others aligning with him. "But how will we recruit her? Tell me if I'm wrong, if we approach her, saying the lord wishes you back that would mean she thinks the church decided to give her a chance. She would likely be unaware of our true identities since we no longer associate with those hypocritical fools." he questioned, wondering how such a thing would even work. Their group was somewhat of an independent organization which had similar practices to the biblical faction, in that they punished heretics and had their origins in christianity.
That was when their differences became apparent however.
It didn't help that none of them felt it both practical or ethical to manipulate such a maiden the way their leader seemed to insinuate.
However, such fears soon got put to rest when the leader addressed the speaker with a firm yet understanding tone, indicating that he had figured out the source of their concerns even if they didn't voice them. "We do not have to worry about that brother, for you see a group of those filthy fallen have encroached themselves within Kuoh City, the very same one which the former holy priestess is heading to, and will likely have a large gathering soon enough. A small group of fallen angels and a small army of stray exorcists is nothing to be scoffed at. One particular heretic of noticeable renown that they have recruited is the heretic priest." his eyes seemed to glow when he announced the following name. "Freed Sellzen."
This sparked a sharp increase in alarm throughout the listers, hushed yet frantic murmurs passing through the room. Freed Sellzen was a name all too well known throughout the supernatural world, there were even those in the human world who had gotten suspicious of this person before their memories of their interactions with him had to be erased. Out of their entire faction, that man had been one of their worst mistakes bar a few others, a filthy soul who should have been extinguished long ago had it not been for his impressive combat record and love of killing monsters.
Ever since he went too far by killing innocents alongside the demons he had been sent to kill however, the church had finally no choice but to excommunicate him which seemed to have only made things worse, for in the months that had followed sightings of the man had appeared throughout the neighboring lands… with more and more bodies piled in his wake. Men, women, children (each of these people looked to have had signs of defilement as well even the children, further emphasizing the sickness that was Freed Sellzen) there were seemingly next to no limits to the man's depravity.
This plus the fact that such a monster had been noted to be headed for Kuoh with a bunch of stray exorcists, put the man's paranoia into a more understanding light for the figures. They would have to act swiftly when the time came, otherwise this town may become a bloodbath or worse, that sister would be added to his many victims.
"We must make haste then. If what you say is true then I will follow you." one of them stood up. His actions were followed by his fellow brothers as well. It might be selfish to even use this chance to recruit the former holy priestess after she had been discarded the way she had, but the way they saw it being with them would be better than siding with filth like the Devils at least. Not only that, but according to their leader this sister possessed one of God's instruments for protecting humanity, a Sacred Gear, which was likely how the sister had been able to heal the Devil as effectively as she had in their reports.
There was also the fact that her strong faith towards the Lord had held out in the years following her excommunication in the church. This wasn't as uncommon as one might expect since there had been cases where heretics still held some semblance of faith towards the almighty despite their status, however one with faith as strong as hers did not deserve to be tainted by the heretical hands that she was thrown to.
Instead, they would step in and take care of her as if she were one of their own, a sister in arms who would have a whole slew of honorable comrades she could rely on in times of need. Something that the Church should have given her had it not been for their hypocrisy and corruption.
Just then, one of the figures stepped towards the leader, the same one with that vice leader-like aura. The leader and vice leader seemed to almost have a non-verbal conversation before the former simply nodded and procured a photo from his cloaked form. After receiving it from the leader, the vice leader looked at it intensively a little more closely before he gasped in shock and leaned back.
"(GASP)!" This shocked gasp caused the attention of his fellow brothers when they turned around to look at him with confusion. The man holding the picture flipped the picture showing all of them the picture of the former holy maiden.
In the picture was a young woman of 16 to 17 years of age, being about 5 foot 8 in height, her blonde hair falling down to her waist with split bangs over her forehead and a single strand sticking out from the top and sloping backward. Her eyes showed themselves to be a vibrant green color resembling emeralds, and in the picture she seemed to have a serene look to her like she was happy despite that probably not being the case.
Her outfit looked to be a dark teal nun-like dress with light blue accents that covered her from the neck down to her knees, exposing her calves, Over her head was a white veil that had light blue accents and covered the majority of it, her right hip sporting a brown satchel which likely had a book inside, a bible if he were to guess judging by the shape within it, it's straps around her shoulder. On her feet were a pair of brown boots with black straps in an X-shaped pattern. Lastly, she wore a gold cross necklace around her neck to further symbolize her faith in the biblical god…
Although the moment he saw her a flashback got triggered in the vice leader's mind, which had helped cause the gasp that had erupted from his mouth without him even being able to stop it.
All of this pointed to one thing, and he could hardly believe it. "Her eyes and her hair, I recognize them!"
"What do you mean brother?"
Upon hearing the leader's confused question, the vice leader gazed at everyone when he made the following announcement. "Brothers, she is not but a simple sister or a simple nun. She's HIS daughter." he proclaimed slightly frantically, although all he got in return were more confused and dumbfounded stares.
They didn't even know what he was trying to say until one of them realized what he was saying. "Brothers! I know what he is trying to say, do you not see her cross? It's golden, few other priests have a golden cross. And we know of someone who has one!" These words succeeded in getting them thinking for a while, though only after a couple of minutes as their memories finally came to fruition.
He was right, only a few would wear a golden cross.
The leader soon realized the situation they were in, as well as how it had now become increasingly deeper. To the point where the gravedigger would have to dig up a massive hole for the body to be buried in. If what his vice leader had claimed was true, then they needed to act right fucking now. "We need to leave now. If anything were to happen to his daughter... God will never rest his soul or mine in peace."
His vice captain, agreeing with him, turned to the others. "You heard him, let's move! Gather your belongings and move quickly!" The men quickly left for their rooms, getting their belongings and stuff while the vice captain and the leader were looking at the picture.
The vice-leader turned his gaze to the leader and spoke. "I still do not like manipulating her into joining us. You know as well as I do what will happen if something terrible happens to her, even a single strand of hair. You've known HIM more than I did."
The leader did not speak to him for a while, gazing at the picture of the former sister who was smiling with pureness. "I don't either, Sabazius. She's young and pure, we had only hoped that her spending time in the church would free her from this cursed side of the world's darkness. But now, she's been thrust to it because of the schemes, the manipulation those people have thrown at her. Her chance of survival is slim, Sabazius, if keeping her close to us will preserve her life then we need to be the same as those heretics."
The vice leader, named Sabazius, looked at him for a moment before he turned around and was about to gather his belongings, but before he did he made another comment to the leader. "If HE finds out about this, he will resent you for eternity. HE will never forgive you, are you willing to take this chance? To be something you swore to never become?"
The leader did not turn around nor did he even acknowledge the dreadful tone Sabazius he made towards him. He understood very well what his vice captain had been trying to tell him, for he'd been of the very same mindset. His gaze fell to the ground, apprehension and grim resolve swimming within his shadowed eyes. "...if that's what it takes, then I shall take it to the bottom of my heart and soul."
Sabazius still had his back facing him, so his expression would remain unknown to the leader even if he did try to look at him. The vice leader did not make any movements, before he started heading for the room's exit to do the same as the rest of their subordinates. Just when he reached the exit however, he made one last comment. "I hope you know what you're doing, only God knows what will happen in the end." With that said, Sabazius left the premises which left the leader alone within the room to whatever was going through his mind.