Don X Don (High School DxD Miracle Child SI Chapter 17)
Milo Donato (17 Years Old)
The town Marta, where the mission was located, was quite literally on the other side of the Bolsena Lake. Looking at the lake as we headed toward the church, I started to wonder what everyone back home was doing.
"What are you looking at the lake for?" Irina asked, before doing the same and having a eureka moment. "Are you thinking about Bolsena? We barely left."
"Yeah, but there's this feeling of leaving a place you've been living in for a long time, you know." I said.
"A little," Irina nodded. "But me and my dad had to move around a lot. The only place we stayed in for a long time was in Japan." She had a melancholic look on her face. "We were actually going to go back there, before we were assigned to Bolsena."
"Sorry for taking you away from your childhood love." I said with a grin.
"Eeeh!? Issei and I, um, well, we're not like that yet!" Irina said in a panic to which I could help but chuckle at. I didn't comment on the 'yet' part. For now.
"Can both of you take this seriously, please? We've arrived." Xenovia said as we reached the priest's house that sent the report about the vampires.
"Right," I said as Xenovia walked ahead of us in impatience, and knocked on the door, only to see it was open. "Say, Irina?"
"Hmm?" Irina turned her head to me. "What'd ya say we take a trip to Japan after this mission? We can see the sights and visit your friend."
"Eh, really? Thanks, Milo. It would be pretty cool, although there might be a small problem with that since-" Irina said with a wide happy grin.
"Father Elada!"
Xenovia's shout made Irina and I snapped forward to see into the small home. We saw what caused Xenovia to shout.
The priest we were meant to meet was lying dead in the messed up living room.
The three of us rushed forward, to examine the scene.
Looking around I noticed some damaged to the living room. A fight clearly had taken place here, but something felt off. Would fresh, newly born vampires go on their own to hunt a Church member like this? Older ones wouldn't bother either, they're too arrogant for that.
"He's been drained of all his blood." Irina commented, as she and Xenovia examined the body behind me.
While walking around, I stepped on something solid and looked down to see a cross. Likely the priests, only notice some small bits of charredness on it, and the smell of burnt flesh.
"They found out that he discovered them and hunted them down." Xenovia growled in anger.
"The blood seems fresh, we can start the tracking spell now and catch them." Irina said with grim determination.
I moved to the priest's body, snapping the girls out of their conversation, thrown off by how quiet I am.
"Milo?" Irina said.
"What are you doing? Why are you so quiet?" Xenovia said with a tone that said she wanted to hurry and hunt down the vampires.
"I'm quiet so I can focus." I said not taking my eyes off the corpse. I handed the priest's cross to Irina who took it and examined it.
"One of the vampire ended up grabbing it? So they got burned, good." Irina said, as I placed my fingers on the teeth punctures. I tried to compare it my own canines to see if it's the same distance between the teeth. "...You do know people have different jaws, thus different canines, right?" Irina explained.
"Oh right." Yeah, that made sense on why it was wider than the distance between my own canines.
"Milo, stop playing around!" Xenovia cried out.
What wasn't making sense thought...
"Girls," I spoke with a serious tone to shut Xenovia up, about me 'playing around'. "Can vampires mess up where they bite?"
"What?" Xenovia was thrown off by the question and thus calmed down.
"What do you mean?" Irina asked.
"I mean, can they miss the veins when sucking someone's blood?"
"Hmm," Irina closed her eyes for a moment, to recall the creatures manual. "No. It's an instinctive things for them. Even mindless ghouls would be able to bite into someone's veins accurately."
"Why are you asking that?" Xenovia asked actually sounding intrigued by where I'm going with this.
"So," I pointed at the bite mark. "Can a vampire only hit the vein with one tooth and miss with the other?"
The girls looked again at the 'vampire' bite marks to get what I mean.
"Wait, now that I look closely, the puncture wounds are the wrong angle!" Irina exclaim.
"Maybe the vampire had messed up teeth?" Xenovia added.
"Or maybe," Normally I would make some deadpan joke at Xenovia, but now was not the time. My intuition was screaming at me that this was a setup. "We're not dealing with a vampire at all." The girls' eyes widened at that. "Irina can you check that cross for Demonic Power?"
"Wait, you think devils did this? But why? Where are the vampires then?" Xenovia asked as Irina used her own cross to cast the Holy Spell.
Dark purple energy flared from the dead priest's cross, not the cold aura of Vampiric Mana but evil aura of Demonic Power, before dying out against the Light from Irina's cross.
"I don't think there were any vampires." I said standing up and cracking my knuckles. "The reports somehow were messed up for one reason or another. Or they were written by the devils to lure Exorcists here." Before the two could speak up I raised a hand. "The reason why, or what's actually happening, we can try to find out later. The point now is to hunt down the devils causing killings in town, and if they are planning to ambush us, then we counter ambush them."
The Exorcist girls answered with savage grins.
"Lord Jake, if you'd forgive my curiosity my lord, why are you leading this group rather than being by Lady Leviathan's side?" Asked a devil underling.
"It's Paimon, Frederik." Jake Paimon one of the many scions of a branch of the Paimon Devil Pillar family answered with the arrogant sneer, usual to one constantly needing to show their power, or just being in the Old Satan Faction.
He was a devil who always sought strength and influence, and the sophistication of times past when devils were feared by humanity, something which the Old Satan Faction promised him, and thus he joined their side, to advance their agendas in the background. One day he planned to even take over the Paimon Family and rise it to the level of fear and greatness it once hand in the Great War.
"Of course, sir." Said the Frederik, the current second-in-command devil of this squad.
"And to answer your question...it's revenge." Jake said with a clenched fist. "The decoy child we're after, Milo, was there when, Velda and Bully, my second cousins once removed, were killed. He knows who murdered them, and I will torture that information out of him before finally granting him the mercy of death."
"Sounds fascinating." Milo said.
"Ha! You have heard nothing yet peon." Jake answer back as if Milo was one of his subordinates.
"Yeah, it's pretty neat to know, that's how that plot thread is resolved. Glad to finally have that mini-conundrum fixed." Milo nodded to himself.
"Exactly!-Wait, what nonsense were you just saying, Frederik?" The Paimon Devil looked behind him.
"That wasn't me, sire." Frederik looked in the same direction as his leader, only to see an Exorcist in the midst of their camp, smiling and waving at them.
"Yo, I'm the ambushee, Wass'up?" Milo grinned.
In some competence for people in a combat situation, the two leader devils and the surrounding ones, lunged at the Exorcist that suddenly appeared in their midst.
And right then Irina activated four crosses laid out around the devil's forest camp, forming giant Light pillars , and then connecting to each other with Holy Power, and so the square shaped Light Barrier was formed, trapping all 300 or so devils within it.
"What in tarnation, they got the drop on us!?" Jake cried out as he jumped back from the blond Exorcist.
"Huh, you dodged that, I guess there's a reason why you're the leader." Milo said holding one fist up, and in his other hand, he held the second-in-command devil by the throat who struggled to removed his hand.
The Paimon Devil couldn't believe his eyes. He was sure-No. He saw how he and his minions' magic attacks connected to the boy, yet he wasn't even scratched. Not only that but all the Mid-Class and High-Class devils with him were killed with one hit. Sometimes the punch didn't even connect, just the sheer air pressure blow a hole in them.
One of the quirks of touki was that the larger one's reserves are, the more their physical capabilities increase to the point of being able to tank even, well, tank shells.
This is insane. How could the Church have a fighter of this level all this time without anyone knowing? Jake thought in a panic before trying to calm down. No, no it makes sense that the decoy Miracle Child would be at least this strong, otherwise there's no point to them.
"Heh, fool! Do you think this is group here is our full force? No, this is merely-" Jake began to brag.
Only for a giant explosion to fill the skies within the barrier as the flying devils that were the aerial attack force began falling from the waves of blade slashes made by Durandal.
Xenovia crash landed near Milo and the Paimon Devil, easily walking off her surprise air attack while having the leader of the devil's air force shish-kebabed on her Holy Sword.
"Ah, ah, impossible. Scarza?" Jake cried out in shock as fear began to fill him. Scarza Amon was part of his team for this mission to act as the trump card. An Ultimate-Class devil lent to them by the True Lady Leviathan themselves. "Durandal? No, it can't be! This can't be happening, you're just suppose to be a sacrificial decoy for Gabriel's Miracle Child, how are you this strong?"
"You!" Xenovia growled as her eyes darkened eyes. "How do you know-"
"Xenovia," Milo interrupted her, while throwing the devil Frederik, into an oncoming group of devils. "Leave the questions for later. Them knowing about a Miracle Child? Well, I guess the peace we had till now was good enough while it lasted." Milo's eyes narrowed as an unexpected killing intent slammed into the Paimon Devil surprising him that a human could hold such intense aura.
This human? Is he...is he more dangerous than the Durandal wielder? No, surely that's just my silly imagination. It was due to being surprised, that's all! Jake thought to himself, as he shook his head to regain his focus.
"Them knowing that it's Gabriel's child on the other hand. That is worth questioning." Milo looked around to assess the devils present and how much time it would take to slay them all. "It's likely that there's an attack on Bolsena so we'll have to be quick."
"Welp, guess we'll have to just slay all these filthy devils in the name of God!" Irina shouted cheerfully as she arrived in the group from where she set up the barrier. Now it was linked to her as such that it can only be taken down if she's killed.
"Y-You..." Jake's eyes widened before he calmed down, and his shoulders began shaking. "Hehehe, hahahaha! This is all there are of you!?"
"The three of us are enough." Xenovia stated.
"Would you please pull up whatever trump card you're gonna pull, so we can get this over with? I have some questions for you, top hat." Milo said referencing Jake's attire.
"You dare! You!..." Jake cried out before gritting his teeth, and smiling savagely. "Very well, then I'll grant your wish and show you worthless humans the depth of despair." He activated the magic summoning item that brought over three thousand devils to them, a mix of all power levels from Low-Class to High-Class. "Fine then, here's our whole power. All three thousand devils given to me by the True Leviathan!" He shouted.
However because of Jake's haste, all the devils are summoned within the barrier, causing some to end up hitting the magic walls of the spell and getting burned by Holy Light or dying.
"Oh cool, they're evenly lined up. Alright girls, each take a thousand, and no hogging each other's enemies." Milo said playfully, causing Irina to giggle and Xenovia to chuckle.
"Hmph, if you both fail to finish up your share in time, don't complain when I end up taking yours as well." Xenovia shouted as she jumped into the group of devils in the air, Durandal blazing with holy aura.
"Wha! Xenovia's not fair!" Irina shouted before she disappeared, right when a devil stabbed where she was standing with a spear.
Irina then appeared behind him and his friends, having cut them to pieces whole holding two daggers. Metatron's and Milo's training showing their fruits in her.
"Right," Milo looked up at the assortment of devils surrounding him. "Rachelle, just hold on till I get there." He muttered to himself.
Then Milo took a breath, assumed his combat stance, made a fist and drew his hand back.
Rachelle Donato (17 Years Old)
"Always be ready for the unexpected."
In all her training under Lord Metatron, these words were the ones he made sure she memorized and remembered the most.
In her training she had managed to unlocking touki a year ago after some intense physical training for years, and advice from Milo that she was truly thankful for. Physical training alone, and Holy Power exercises, as well as her growth with age more than allowed her to handle the power of the ten wings she now contained. Easily at that. The only problem she had left was just being restless from having too much energy.
She had also grown leaps and bounds in using her Sacred Gear, allowing her to manipulate the Holy Power exactly as a normal Angel would, and her blessing and healing had grown more potent.
She also found she had a surprise gift for the stealth arts, that she happily shared with Milo.
But more than those power and skills she gained, it was the sense for danger that Lord Metatron trained her on.
It's why the moment she felt something was off that day, along with this sense of premonition, that she immediately created a barrier to surround the entirety of her church, her home.
Ignoring the shouts from other church members, as well as questions with 'she'll answer later', she started casting detection spells to see if what was making alarms go off in her mind.
All too soon, a moment later, an explosion engulfed the ground and sky over the barrier, making Rachelle flinch from it's intensity, as she heard the devil's laughter.
"Hahahahaha, Gabriel's daughter has some strength to her." Said Katerea Leviathan, flying over the sky of Rachelle's hometown with a group of fifty Ultimate-Class devils with her. "Breaking you will be fun." She said licking her lips.
Yet Rachelle's focus wasn't on the Old Satan devils, as she ran outside but on her hometown, the one she grow up in and loved, the one she the people who had some to depend on her, the place she had known all her life. There was smoke coming from multiple buildings.
Ordinary people were running in the streets, men, women, elders and children were under the assault of the devils.
A strong feeling grew in her heart. Fear, worry, anger and pain at all the destruction before her.
"No, no, this isn't how it should have happened." Father Cornelius said near her, making her look at him.
"Father?" Rachelle blinked at his distress, but she suppose it's understandable.
"Rachelle!" She blinked in surprise as the old priest, who had been like a father-figure all her life, grabbed her shoulders, and looked at her with determined worry. "You must run from here. If it's you, you can manage it and survive. Go, find Milo and the others at Marta and-"
"No, Father," Rachelle said with a smile, gently but firmly pushing his hands away. The priest surprised at her strength couldn't stop her as she walked ahead joining the Exorcists to battle the devils. "Now is the time for me to fight. If I don't fulfill my duty here now, not just for him, but for everyone here, then what was the point of it all?" She glared at the Leviathan descendent as she released the angelic wings and activated her Sacred Gear to full capacity.
"This is!" Katerea Leviathan covered her eyes for a moment as a bright Light, that hurt her and the surrounding devils, shined from Rachelle, and when it was gone the Miracle Child stood with her ten wings fully on display, with the presence and power to match, while a solid yellow glow of her Sacred Gear overlapped with the wings. "Ten wings!" Katerea growled. "To think it would be this much of a pain." She then smiled, forcing herself to calm down since she had her trump card. "Very well, I suppose killing Gabriel's child should be this difficult. Attack!"
"Divine Sanctum, bless all!" Rachelle shouted letting her Sacred Gear's power cover the whole of Bolsena.
Rachelle flew out of the way of another blast of Demonic Power from Katerea, who was just laughing at the destruction she brought.
Yet for Rachelle the main concern wasn't the devils, but the humans. She couldn't protect them all or quickly enough.
Yes, her blessing healed them, and gave them superhuman strength, but most of the Bolsena townsfolk were just ordinary people without a concept for the giant violence that suddenly came upon them. Especially violence of the surpernatural kind.
Many of the non-combative church members went to evacuate and protect the civilians, and the Leviathan devils was reveling in seeing Rachelle trying to protect and heal everyone, while taking pot shots at her.
"Come on now, try harder to protect your little flock~." Katerea laughed as she launched dozens of energy blasts some at Rachelle and some at the town at random.
Rachelle had to fly back and forth, maneuvering and spinning out of a magic projectile's way. She focused on the feeling of who with her blessing was hit-which thankfully she managed to cover everyone alive after the initial attack-and reinforce them or heal them if the devil magic got through her blessing's aura.
Then a random devil using some spell to increase their speed appear at her, throwing a punch to her face, and her instincts from Lord Metatron's training kicked in.
She diverted his strike before making her Holy Power cover her hand and punched him in the throat. Rachelle did not know her own personal strength at this point, and so was surprised when she punched the High-Class devil's head clean off.
"Try and dodge this, child!" Katerea shouted with glee as she powered up.
In that moment moment she unleashed the power granted to her by the Infinity Dragon, from her partnership with Khaos Brigade, letting her Demonic Power rise to the level of a Satan, and unleashed a giant beam at the distracted Rachelle. Katerea knew that the moment Rachelle was injured, they would be as good as done.
Katerea didn't intend to kill the child yet. No, she had something better in mind. To break the girl so thoroughly and send her corpse to her mother, the Great Seraph, fabricating the evidence that it was Serafall that did it. And it would work too given how much that disgusting magical girl obsessed pretender exclaims how Gabriel was her sworn nemesis.
And in that moment one of the church members, Sister Eda used the boost from Rachelle's blessing to launch herself, jumping into the air to push Rachelle out of the way.
"SISTER EDA!" Rachelle cried out as the giant dark beam engulfed the nun and exploded.
From the cloud smoke Rachelle saw a body fall, and was instantly upon it, catching Sister Eda and lowering her to the ground.
"Th...ank... God..." Sister Eda was barely alive. Rachelle's blessing had took the brunt of Katerea's attack, but it till got through critically harming her. Rachelle could see how badly Eda was burned and charred, and even with her healing it was slow going.
"Sister, please don't speak, you'll be fine!" Rachelle reassure the nun while letting her Sacred Gear's aura envelop her.
"You're...safe..." Sister Eda crocked out. "Please...run!" She said with the last of her strength before falling unconscious.
"Oh, how sweet." Katerea said as she landed at the end of the field from Rachelle. "And disgustingly pathetic and worthless."
A group of thirty Exorcist finally gathered, putting themselves between the Leviathan and Rachelle.
"Lady Rachelle, please escape, we'll hold them here." Shouted one of the Exorcist.
"No! I'm not leaving any of you." Rachelle called back, as she flared her aura once more, covering the Exorcist that started battling Katerea and strengthening them.
Then a giant geyser of fire appeared at the edge of town, making Rachelle felt the evacuated people there being hit. Her blessing protecting them and keeping them alive holding, but fraying.
"So, what are you gonna do, girl?" Katerea said flying and weaving away from the Exorcist Light gun shots and arrows. "Are you gonna help your people fight me, or protect the worthless humans?" Rachelle felt her reserves fall down fast from how much she's using them. It was a miracle that no one on her side died thus far because of her, when she covered everyone in her blessing, but how long can that last? "Or should you do the sensible thing and...run." The devil smirked. "Leaving them all. To. My. Mercy."
The emotions that raged in Rachelle since the start of this battle coalesced, gathering into a ball in her stomach, at the helplessness she felt. For the first time she though her power wasn't enough. That she wished she had more of it.
That she could protect everyone.
BUT HOW!?
A single memory from training came to mind.
"Hey," Rachelle began. "Why are you teaching me Fighting Spirit? If I learn it...it won't be something unique to you anymore." She told Milo, who just laughed. "I'm serious."
"Because I don't care, it's not a competition." Milo smiled back. "Growing your personal strength, so you can be free to make your own choices, but more than using that strength to help other, I hope to give others the strength to help themselves. 'Give a man a fish, teach a man to fish', that whole thing."
"Hmph. Of course, you're doing it to be lazy." Rachelle chuckled and rolled her eyes.
"A little, but I don't actually wish to save people, because that's like hoping they're in danger. Rather I wish everyone was strong so all of us are free. And until then, if I see evil, I'll use my strength to face it, and raise others up to be strong enough to face it as well."
"Raise others up."
Milo's words resonated in her mind, and all the fear, worry, terror, anger, sadness, relief and acceptance condensed into determination, and Rachelle's Sacred Gear responded to that desire.
Light exploded out of Rachelle.
"WHAT!?" Shouted Katerea, the light being so blazing strong that she had to fly much high to get away from it's burning intensity.
"Divine Sanctum," Rachelle spoke. Her wings were now covered in the back with golden armor filled with jewels, and above her head was a floating band-like crown, with four crosses at each side, and ten rubies across the crown. "Ascension Bringer!"
"Balance Breaker! What bullshit convenient-"
"Ascend all!" Rachelle cried out and her Sacred Gear responded.
Light erupted from her hitting every human under her protection...
And angel wings unfolded from their backs.
And now Katerea was faced with over four thousand humans with the powers of angels.
Katerea dropped to the ground, groaning and cursing at everything, and everyone, and above all at Rachelle.
"Damn...you...you shitty fucking brat!" She cried out as smoke rose from her body from the holes dozens of Light Spears made in it.
With the reinforcement of hundreds of Bolsena's townsfolk, as well as the empowered and actually trained Exorcist, Katerea and her group were easily dealt with.
"You don't get to complain after attacking and killing so many innocent people, you damn monster." Rachelle said as she went up to the downed Leviathan descendant with a Light Spear in her hand.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it! Are you seriously not going to do anything?!" Katerea shouted. Her words Rachelle took as the desperate last cry of a deranged devil. "Kokabiel!"
Rachelle paused, shock and horror raced through her.
"Why should I bother? We're not allies. I simply gave you that information to see what you'll do with it, and so far...I'm disappointed. But I did get a good show."
Rachelle and the church members looked up to the sky in horror as they saw the Angel of the Stars, floating down, revealing himself from above the clouds. Rachelle flinched at the sight of the Fallen Angel, as she remembered Father Cornelius' as well as Lord Metatron and Lady Gabriel's story how Milo's father died, and his battle with the Cadre.
Kokabiel looked sickening and terrifying, his half-scarred face, and magical mechanic eye inspiring more fear than he originally looked.
And he wasn't alone, standing next to him was another Cadre who had brown hair and silver eyes. Satanael, who was observing Rachelle like a most interesting specimen.
"But fine," Kokabiel summoned his power creating a giant Light Spear and lazily threw it at Rachelle. "Here's my aid."
Rachelle jumped back, flying away. She avoided the attack, even she had to make a shield to protect her from the blast wave afterwards.
Katerea had no chance to move however and disintegrated instantly.
Rachelle felt some relief that one enemy was gone. She wasn't sure if she can take on two Cadres even with her newly awakened Balance Breaker, but-
Pain shot through Rachelle's side as another Light Spear had been thrown by Kokabiel, much small in size, hidden by the explosion of the first.
""Lady Rachelle!"" Many people shouted and ran toward her in concern.
"Stay back!" She ordered. The wound was easy enough to heal, what worried her was that due to her lost of focus, all the links she had to the people she gave angelic powers to was broken. She could see they still had angel wings and powers, but her direct blessings that were empowering them were gone.
"Kokabiel," Satanael said in an annoying warning tone. "We agreed, don't kill her yet."
"Yes, yes." Kokabiel waved him. "Go ahead do your studying or whatever." He said dismissively, before breaking out into a wide inhuman grin as he looked at Rachelle and the assembled humans. Almost all the Bolsena townsfolk successfully evacuated after Katerea's squad was slain. The only ones left were those of the church, and those who decided to stick around and help. "Now listen here, Gabriel's spawn." He raised a hand pointed at the humans present. "If you fulfill my brother's curiosity then your people get to live, but if you try that blessing of yours, I will kill them all before you can even blink."
"Fine!" Rachelle shouted. "Protect everyone you can!" She said to the Exorcists, while speaking under her breath, giving a message with magic to Sister Griselda and Father Cornelius to help everyone escape while she distracted the two Cadres. Many of the church members and townsfolk present protested, but the Exorcists held them back.
It looks like this is it. Rachelle smiled solemnly. This is where I die.
Satanael appeared before her in a burst of speed she barely dodged. The Cadre began launching attacks on her of all types and directions, even throwing different types of magic into the mix.
He was prodding her, wanting to test her abilities and power, her Sacred Gear above all.
Rachelle wasn't an expert in direct combat. She was good enough, but her role was always support.
She had enough power to match Satanael, such as when she met his launched giant Light Spear with her own, the two attacks cancelling each other out.
Their aerial battle kept going. Rachelle didn't know for how long, for all her power, and skill, she was still a 17 year old girl. Satanael was a being of thousands of years, his combat experience of course eclipsed hers.
And over a long enough period of time, her strength ran out before his did.
Satanael and Kokabiel floated in the sky, while Rachelle was down on the ground, on her knees panting in exhaustion.
"Well? Satisfied?" Kokabiel asked in a bored tone.
"Yes!" Satanael had a giant disturbing smile on his face. "Divine Sanctum. To think of all Sacred Gears, it would be that one that I find to first approach the power of a Longinus. It isn't there, not yet, not even close, but it's possible. I wonder why, how?" He turned to Kokabiel. "It's a shame that it's true power is in boosting others, but what can you do? Can't you please reconsider on killing her? If we get her into a lab, this would immensely help to my research."
"No." Kokabiel said point blank. "I had thought that she might not be Gabriel's kid, given that her and that accused human were both blonds, but I sense some magic in this brat's hair. Regardless, a Sacred Gear that makes angels out of humans? Like fucking hell, I'll keep her alive." He then chuckled out loud. "I wonder if God had known that the Devils will make the Evil Piece System, and prepared that to counter it." He shook his head. "Now then-"
"NO!" Father Cornelius rushed forward, past everyone and reach Rachelle standing between her and the Fallen Angels. "That wasn't our deal, Satanael! You said no harm would come to her!"
Shock rang out in the church members present.
"F-Father Cornelius, what are you saying!?" Rachelle cried out.
"I'm...I'm sorry, Rachelle. But I had to!" Cornelius said back.
"I said that I would aid you in awakening her Balance Breaker and the results speak for themselves." Satanael said back. "It's a shame but Kokabiel found out, so that's how this deal ends." He shrugged.
"Why?" Rachelle said in a low voice, tears falling from her eyes.
"I always held my duty to Heaven and the Church in the highest regard. That was all that mattered. If the results benefited the Church and Heaven, then no matter the means, it was enough. But you," he turned to her, his tears held back in his eyes. "I never expected to care about anyone more than my duty to Heaven, but you, my child," he kneeled down placed a hand on her shoulder, a familiar, comforting hand that she didn't have the strength to push away. "I never expected raise a child as part of my duty, I never expected to come to see anyone as family, but then my love and my duty warred inside me." He couldn't hold back his tears anymore. "You were always meant to die...but I couldn't help but want to save you."
Rachelle didn't have time to think on those words.
"And now you both get to die." Kokabiel formed a colossal Light Spear that looked like a tower in the sky. The church people and townsfolk tried to escape in panic, but the blast radius from that attack would surely hit them as well. "Now neither of you will experience regret, or get to see the Great War that will be reignite!"
Kokabiel laughed loudly and maniacally as he threw the spear, it's sheer power and heat hitting the people below before it even reached the ground.
Father Cornelius hugged Rachelle trying to protect her with his body.
All the while Rachelle could only close her eyes, and think:
I'm sorry, Milo, but today I return your birthright.