"Satan… literally the devil."

"I have to admit… I thought we would be fighting the Devil, but not so literally."

"Pray tell why that is?"

"We are always fighting the devil's influence. Jealousy, rage, envy, doubts, all of it. We rise above him by staying on the Lord's path, doing as he wishes. This is a little more… literal."

"I find myself unable to find hypocrisy in your words, for once." Olga leaned back with her words. Ritsuka let her.

They both stared out the window of Chaldea, the many that dotted the surrounding walls of the grand structure, showing nothing but snow and twinkling lights. Ritsuka had asked what they were, only being cryptically told it was what remained when the world was ruined over the course of centuries. When asked what that meant, Olga had told her to consult the bible.

Unfortunately, he hadn't found a passage for what would remain of the Earth when Mankind was called to heaven. He had a feeling this wasn't the same.

"Why do you think they turned to him?" Olga finally asked. "Kadoc said it was because we failed them… but that can't be it."

"It isn't." Ritsuka's answer must have surprised her, because she stared at him, amber eyes blinking. "They might think we did, and that false faith is all the devil needs. Then he whispers temptation, and they fall. Just, again… it isn't usually a literal whisper."

"I thought you'd say all feelings like that are his whispers."

"Yeah," he admitted to her chuckle. "But just because I know of God doesn't mean I can't tell the difference between a feeling in my chest and a literal whisper in my air."

"That's a fair point," she relented. "Though I hope you have a manner to which to fight the devil?"

"Hold true to the commandments and the Lord's teachings, then Satan will fear you."

"Nothing, got it." He stared at her as she looked away. "I'm not about to change my ways for him, so that doesn't mean anything to me."

"You said that no Mage-"

"Magus"

"-would fall like that, but Kadoc just said they all did. The other six members of Team A at least." She was silent. "I don't agree with them, and some blame is on them, but I understand why it happened."

"You do?" Her surprise was genuine.

"The Devil found them in the pits of despair, and promised them false salvation." It was the obvious answer. "Many flock to the devil to have such things, power, wisdom, wealth, because they can't stand to suffer."

"I thought the Lord was about freeing you from suffering."

"Once you leave Earth," he pushed. "But so long as we are here, we will endure the sins of the world. Keeping ourselves clean is how we endear ourselves to the Lord, and spite the Devil."

"Good to hear," she spoke back, combing her alabaster locks. "If only that were enough to turn back the machinations causing the Incineration of Mankind's Order."

"It will be."

"And why is that?"

"Because Jesus is helping us." She didn't respond. "It also answers to me why Jesus returned now. Because he is always there to assist us in times of trouble and temptation, but now that the devil is having literal pawns of his destroy the world, then the Lord is-"

"Don't call them that." Ritsuka stopped. "Pawns… don't call them that."

"… What should I call them?"

"I… I don't know." She squirmed. "But pawns means they'd rather be his slaves then prized members of Chaldea. It means they'd literally chose him than me."

"He promised them everything they could ever want."

"You think it was a good deal?"

"No, the opposite." He was quick to add it. "But there's a reason why we can only pray against the Devil. He was the favored Angel of God before his fall. The highest of all Heaven. If he can fall, than any favored man can, too."

"… That is a good way to reconcile betrayal."

"It's mean to make it clear that none of us are above temptation."

"Or jealousy." She added. "I know the story of Lucifer's fall." She curled her legs up. "Prideful, hateful of humans, rebelling against God for favoring them with his Son over the Angels. One of many stories of creation. And now we are fighting the next chapter in it."

"We are." He agreed. His eyes looked out the window again. Nothing had changed. "I'm almost happy about it."

"That's because you can keep your mind on what you do know. I can't."

"What?"

"You don't have to think and wonder. You can just follow what Jesus or I tell you, though I know who you prefer." He didn't argue with it. "I can't do that."

"Why not? Hasn't he shown you he knows all?"

"Without telling me." She shot back. The fire was in her amber eyes again. "He knew it, it was obvious he did, but he couldn't tell me. Me, you, Da Vinci, or even Solomon. None of us knew that Kadoc was going to stab him or that the devil has literally contracted with Team A." Her head fell between her legs. "If he had told me… this would be easier."

Ritsuka said nothing for a moment, watching the young woman, mewl over the facts she'd told him, breathing deeply in the otherwise barren halls. He let her, seeing nothing else more important than this.

"He couldn't tell me facts, only demands. Demanding things of me using his authority as the Son of God, something unrecognized by the Magus Association. Something I'll be criticized for latter. Briefings and recordings that will show I put the future of humanity on the whims of a Servant, and not measurable facts."

"That's how God often works. Usually I'd say."

"But why?" She asked back. "I was right there, I was wiling to do what he told me, I did. I just… risked everything for it to happen." Another harsh sigh left her lips. "It worked, but now what? Even when we restore Mankind's Order, I'll be criticized and roundly mocked for it."

"Really?" Ritsuka couldn't believe it. "If we defeat the Devil himself, you're going to be spited? I thought you'd be named a Saint." He was only so hopeful he could be, after his death of course.

"Sainthood has nothing to do with the Magus Association. They'll wonder why I took rash action as a Director, rather than the objective choice of patience."

"Wouldn't that have killed us?" He was rather sure it was.

"… Probably." The admittance ushered in no joy. "Doesn't matter." Her body adjusted against the window. He wondered for a moment if she was cold leaning against it, breath frosting the pane. "If Jesus had just told me what and why… it would have been fine. Why didn't he?"

For that, he had an answer. A partial one.

"I think he kept it from you on purpose, so that everything could work out." She groaned in response.

"What does that even mean?"

"I mean… the teachings of Jesus are often self reflective questions, because like any lesson, you have to learn it yourself." He put a hand to his chest, thankful it was still free of the crimson stain. "Just being told something doesn't mean much, unless you experience it. It's why Jesus wished for twelve disciples, so that they could experience him and show others how the lessons were true, even with different methods. Thomas the doubter, Peter the denier, they all had a different moment of reflection."

"And Judas?" The name made him twist.

"He… learned too late." He shook his head. "B-But that's not the point. The point I'm trying to make is he wanted you to learn to trust his word. Trust something that couldn't be measured. It's the same thing priests often have to teach first to children. There is no answer they can give to God's questions."

"I don't think I'm God. I don't think my father was either." Not her direct father. "But I'm asking also not for empty curiosity, but because the Order of Humanity, our literal future depends on us succeeding. If I tell everyone who comes back that I did it just by following a Servant who wouldn't give me answers, they'll assume I'm unfit for the role."

"Why would they think that?" He was genuinely curious. "You just said you'd succeed."

"God would succeed. I'd be following him." Olga sighed, leaning back on the wall. "And no Lord of the Clocktower will permit me to be in charge of Chaldea if I am beholden to a power they can't study or measure."

"Because you listened to someone else?"

"Because I listened to someone else who wouldn't be open with me." She shook her head until her alabaster lock shook. "I'm not supposed to be a subordinate like you. As the Director, I am meant to make decisions based upon all information given to me. The moment I start to act in a manner of faith-based decision making over intellectual deferment, I'll be seen as a compromising force."

"Why?"

"Because anyone could play off of me." She pointed at him. "I know your ignorant of the world, but even you have to admit there are actor out there who take advantage of the religious." Ritsuka held his mouth shut. "The other Lords would see me the same. Someone with a potential to be taken advantage of."

"I don't think that." He answered immediately.

"No, because you saw me arguing with Jesus Christ, the man who saved me, because he kept asking more and more ludicrous things without uttering a word as to why." She let out a long sigh, almost heavy enough to be seen. "If he had told me the Servants were the French army, led by the currently alive Gilles de Raise, or that Kadoc was expected to be a betrayer you would have to show the evil of, or that Jeanne was a false creation by the actually corrupted Gilles, then I'd have no issue."

"Didn't he say that third one?"

"No…" she relented. "I wouldn't let him. And I didn't believe him." She wiped at her face. "But the rest stand. I gave into information because everyone else around me accepted it."

"The King of Israel, a famous inventor, and me?" He had to laugh, even if it got her to glower at him. "Sorry, but I think all of us are used to listening to God. It's like what the father told me. It's easy for us to follow God's will because we're used to listening. You aren't."

"No, I'm not."

"Right?" She gave him a side-long look. "I just mean that when I'm with the sisters, they always remind us to have patience for others who aren't aware of the Lord's grace or wisdom. They think lowly of us, and don't understand us."

"You aren't Jesus. Please tell me you have a point."

"Sorry, I just mean that you're like those people." Her face looked as if her worst rival had called her a truly spiteful name. "Not like that. I meant as in you don't know how to listen to God, so you're afraid of what it will mean when you start to listen to him. Solomon and I… well at least Solomon, are used to hearing him all the time. I've only just started to truly hear him."

"He did have ten rings to his name." Ritsuka laughed at her side comment.

"He did, and I had him when I had nothing else. No bed, warmth, or even food. So I listened to his every word." She stared at him. "He lifted me up when I had nothing, so I will listen to him no matter how much else the world blesses me with, or the devil tries to tempt me from."

"… You really did, didn't you?" She stared at him. Her gaze went far beyond him. "I didn't think you were lying, but I honestly believe you now. You really had nothing. So all of this… it must be something else."

"It is."

"But what does that have to do with Jesus's lesson to me?"

"You didn't learn how to accept him." Wasn't it obvious? "Everyone else knows how to, or has. You though." He pointed at her with an upside-down hand. "You were just saying you care more for the opinions of people above you, but not for the one sits above them all." She stared at him.

"Jesus didn't tell me," she repeated. "Because he wanted me to learn to disrespect my superiors?"

"I think the better way to put it is, Jesus didn't tell you, so you could learn to trust me. Trust him, when you have nothing else to lean on." He pointed out the window now. "There's nothing and no one out there to judge you now. So why not lean on him?"

"After everything I said to him." Now Ritsuka had to smile.

"That fake Jeanne did much worse, and said far crueler things. And yet, Jesus was still offering his hand to forgive her." He made sure Olga stared at him before he spoke on. "Why do you think he will not forgive you?"

She didn't answer him. Her head leaned back against the window. Ritsuka gave her the moment.

Olga stared out the window for some time, the window outside a dull throb that was barely louder than his own heartbeat. It echoed down the halls in the silence between them, and he had no intention of interrupting it. He pulled his own leg up, relaxing in the window's alcove.

Somewhere else in the facility, Da Vinci was going through the information on Team A to discern what else could tell of them falling to the Devil. Solomon was pouring over all that God had given and blessed him to see on how to push back against the fallen Seraphim's influence. And every other member of Chaldea was rushing to ensure the chambers housing the members of Team A were stable, secure, and fit like Iron Maidens. The building was both the last bastion of humanity, of God's will, and it housed in it the bodies of seven souls resigning themselves to Hell's call.

Kadoc's final warning still itched at his mind, the swear that they would ensure the fall of Humanity, that the Devil had given them Lordship over times on Earth, and they'd be kings among the ruination of man. If hell was coming that meant burning. Their souls burned the Order of Mankind, and the destruction of their bodies here would open a burning pit in Chaldea. A single wrong move, and the Devil would open up the burning pits of hell.

And yet, by the words of Jesus, nothing burned around him. There was only still metal, cold snow, and a young woman curled up in front of him. Nothing was burning.

That was Ritsuka's peace.

"Thank you, Ritsuka." She didn't look at him. "Thank you for helping me."

"I always will." Now she gazed at him. The softest smile underneath her lips.

And there was Olga's.

[break]

The ground shook as another explosion rattled the air. It muted the screams of panic. Only for a moment.

When it returned, the cries of men were echoed by the clashing of steel, weapons hammering at one another with a desperate bid to slay the man holding the other. Sweat and blood coated an already dew covered ground, with tears following only as the men's souls gave from their bodies. The men who fought as hard as they could, against an enemy that was more prepared for them.

Even behind and atop a wall, in the lands they had been birthed and grew in, they saw the army that stretched beyond the river of their sanctuary, and were desperate to topple the sole barricade of their protection. An army, with more tools at the hand then they had men to spare. Were it in any other circumstance, in any other time, they would have folded their hands and prayed for God's swift embrace.

One man did just the same as a trebuchet's ball descended upon him, too fast for him to move.

BOOM!

The violent boom made his legs give and blew the air from his lungs.

But wet eyes opened to see he was still of the Earth, and a giant was holding the flaming ball above him.

"Pray for safety and God's strength!" He commanded with a shout to him. One given as he held fire in his palm. "But do not pray for death! Death comes only when the Lord calls for you!" His gaze turned back towards the wall. His foot lifted and fell, making the fallen soldier bounce.

Boom! With a lighter boom, but no less devasting to watch, he threw the ball back over the wall. The flames were nearly snuffed out with the speed at which it was thrown.

The dull boom of its impact was muted amidst the echoing war cries.

Cries that had the giant moving again, walking towards the wall, pointing and calling to the men.

"Keep the walls manned! Do not be scared of the foes below! They scream to make you blink!" Each man blinked for a moment as his cries, before steeling themselves to continue the attack. "Fight as your family needs it, and live as God demands it! Live for more than yourself, and fight knowing you have more give!"

Shouts echoed from above and below, a stone wall, lacking the mortar of a patient build rumbled as he held his hand against it. Men above shouted as their bows strummed with arrows, and then screamed as their comrades fell to the ground below.

The man of large build caught two of them, hands out and easily grasping the pair of them. A careful eye looked over the pair of them, before sliding shut as he laid them on damp grass. His hands combed their faces, sliding lids shut even as their hands desperately clutched their weapons.

"Another pair?" He looked up to see a red dressed woman standing above him, brazen in appearance. "A pity they put too many words to their God and not enough on themselves. This is what happens to weak men." Her attire matched her words.

"Turn that vile tongue on the enemy. The dead have no need to bear your slander."

"I've already given it to them!" The woman cheered, even as others screamed. "The men who dared to accost me and swear my flesh was theirs by sight have now found their blood to be the same to my blade!" She laughed as she held aloft a long red and jagged sword. He did not care for the name of it. Only the knowledge that no blade bled, but hers was dripping. "Do you have curiosity for where the others have gone?"

"I know the Mad Traitor is the one keeping these men to a semblance of survival." Hard eyes looked beyond the fragile wall. A thing he prayed he would have the days to repair, but never had the time with the assaults and rest the men needed.

He only heard the far-off cries of a mad man, matched by the shouts of others roaring around him.

"You don't care for his own well-being?"

"The man is likely to put lance to my neck for a chance to test his mettle. I would rather he fight for God's glory in the shade then scream into the light." The woman laughed at his words.

It was a horrendous sound to him, one thankfully cut off as the roar of more flying balls rolled through the air. Trebuchets that were aimed at the buildings beyond the wall, and too many for him to catch. The woman, still with a brilliant smile, threw her sword and beat one out of the air. The blow had forced it to shoot away, landing on some other side of the wall far away.

The two others soared over the minor housing available, and to the giant's growing horror, began to fall towards the grand hall.

One that opened with helms of gold, with long pillars that were built to stand the test of time, with an entrance shaped to matched the messiah's forbearing cross, and held deep within the tombs of the great leaders of the church's past. The flaming balls were small in comparison, but the damage they could create would ripple through time.

SHINK! SHINK! The pair of them stopped in mid-air their flames flickering with the change in momentum, before gravity took hold of them again. They began to descend, and he was running for them.

With a great leap, he fell beneath one, catching it with haste and caring not for the fire that tried to crawl down his arm. He reached to grab the other, but found it unnecessary.

"Do not fret! I will not let these beasts of men skin tear upon their mother!" A bronzed man with a figure almost the size of the giant's called joyously, dark red eyes staring past him. "These great buildings of Roma will not be destroyed by her mislead children!" The man let out a cry to surpass any of the other soldiers.

And then threw the ball forward. It rolled a short distance in damp grass, puttering out.

The giant took another step and threw his over the wall again. The boom it made was as well heard as the first.

"The power you have is truly Roma's boon!" The bronzed man returned. "But I must return! The men of Roma are in need of me!" He ran forward again, vaulting to the wall with his spear at his side. The gnarly thing more akin to a tree's branch, but the giant knew of the oak it was made from.

He did not follow him, instead, he turned towards the immaculate building again. Normally so grand, and in the future something worthy of the Earth's attention. But for now, marred by the cries of battle, stains of soldiers running up and down its steps, and the care for the injured within. He saw a man in red approaching him, wearing a calm smile unbefitting a war, framed by alabaster hair.

"You have my thanks for stalling those balls," he spoke to the man. His response was the man, flicking his wrists, letting blades appear in out-stretched palms. "Are you to join the fight?"

"There would be no use. The Servant beyond those walls is beyond me." He shrugged with a casual smile. "It's better I wait here and keep some parts of this place standing. Long enough for the men to wise up and gather what they need before they leave."

"They won't do that." The giant responded. "All that they care for lays behind you."

"And if they stay, they'll live long enough to see it burn." The words made him scowl. "Better to save their life when a city is already doomed. There's nothing to gain, dying for a losing cause."

"What is to be grown from the life of a coward?" The giant returned. "What can a man who runs from convictions hope to grow?"

"More than the dead one."

"Nonsense!" The red-dressed woman returned. "If they die here, they at least will make the ground fertile to regrow. Perhaps the forests of Rome will return. If they run off then Rome will be for nothing, and all the memories of my greatness with it!" The giant did not offer the conceited woman a glance.

"Where is our leader? The faithful who summoned us?"

"Within the church of course." His head bobbed behind him. "Would you really think a man of the cloth would be out here?"

"All these men dying are men of the cloth! They are great men who saw an enemy raise against them and said no! They are Roman!"

"Umu! So true! Roman as they can be even with a backwards religion. But they can still be turned around once these barbarians are dealt with. You can make a seed bloom, but you can hardly make waste sing~." The accusation of an incorrect path was a step too far.

"There's nothing to turn when they already face heaven." His eyes stared down at the woman, hardly at the height of his hips. "They gaze upon the Gates of the Lord above, and fight with the fury only the faithful can!"

"Hmm." The red-coated man returned. "All the good that fury does them. They die faster than the trained soldiers."

The giant grabbed by his collar, hauling him forward.

"I do not judge them to be soldiers made for the armies of Earth. I see them as souls that will be fill the Gates of Heaven with the pure souls matching God's devotion. Would you have a speck of their faith, perhaps we would not be losing the men that we have."

"The hundred or so lost in the month is a grand accomplishment, for a raid so long." The man easily followed. "Most armies would have given up by now. A pity 'God' seems to think this place will fall."

"It will not. The Lord will send us his strength, for the Church he adores is in peril."

"Be sure to tell me when that strength arrives." The man put his black blade to the giant's hands, prying the fingers off. Not a nick was left on the giant's skin. "I'll be sure to applaud it." He walked casually beyond him, approaching the fragile wall.

"Me as well! I'd love to sing the glory to something trying to save Rome~. UMU, I would wager my voice would be sufficient payment for their grace." The equally callous woman laughed as she skipped off the bareness of her legs doing little to calm the fragile men.

It left the giant alone, before the large building, listening to the destruction around him. His hands combed his beard, long enough to scratch at the edges of his chest, and let his deep sigh flow through it. His body was fit, but his min tired. A month and he had received little to no rest. He did not ask for any.

A Servant needed none. He had enough when he was alive.

But a Servant of the Lord had called for aid, and the Lord had given him new life to fulfill his command. He fell to one knee, praying up to the God that watched the perils below.

"Lord of Hosts, I thank you for the strength of body you have given me, and the soundness of mind to be aware. I thank you for the strength you have gifted to others, and pray they will see the majesty of your kindness. I ask now only for what must be due to this Church, so it may carry on as your Son intended."

The battles, the cries, the war around him raged, but the giant prayed on. He had only a few words left to utter, before his breath would be used to rage a defense over a battle, to defend a wall built with desperate hands, and to keep safe a home for the holy.

"Send us the one to guide us. Send us the one to deliver us. Send us the one to heal your Holy City."

Author's Note: Okay, now the bad news. I'm not sure when Arc 2 is going to be out. I had a lot of this written already and decided to force it to completion so I didn't leave on the half-finished arc. I still have the next six arcs all made up in my mind and most on notes, but putting pen to some 800,000 words of paper is a lot. I also have several OTHER stories in the same boat as this one, that being mostly written and ready to ship out.

IF I put out another story first, I can only promise that it'll be a story I write to completion. Something about having a newborn daughter just makes you want to see things to completion.