Uriel stood in the middle of a small clearing with her arms crossed. Her eyes were closed as she listened to her surroundings. The sound of a creek rushing nearby where fish occasionally broke the surface of the water caught her ears. The noise of a bird chirping as it flapped its wings to take off and soar through the fresh air of the Alps. She also heard the sounds of wolves howling in the distance.

Her lips curved into a small smile when she heard a small huff of effort and the sound of small wings beating.

Lucia dashed past her and leaped into the air, using her wings to keep herself aloft as she zipped from branch to branch.

The young girl landed on a rock before launching herself into the air once more. She dashed past her mother and landed on a tree branch, eyeing her mother carefully. With one push, she jumped and began running toward her mother.

Uriel opened her eyes and extended her leg to kick her daughter.

Lucia's eyes widened as she grabbed onto her mother's leg, using it as a bar to flip over. She jumped into the air to kick her mother in the face.

Uriel's eyes widened slightly in surprise. She smirked before smacking Lucia away, sending her crashing into a large rock. The rock exploded, sending dust everywhere.

Lucia sat up, rubbing the back of her head but looking no worse for wear aside from the dust on Lucia's small clothes. A large rock sat atop her head. "Owie…"

Uriel walked over to her daughter, looking slightly worried. "Are you okay?"

Lucia looked up at her mother and smiled, removing the rock from her head.

"Yeah!"

Uriel smiled at her daughter's enthusiastic tone. Normally, Lucia was a quiet child but whenever she trained her, her daughter's smile broke through. "Alright, that's enough for today."

The two sat on a large rock by a stream, watching as the birds flew and grabbed unsuspecting fish that were foolish enough to swim near the surface of the water. Lucia ran over to her backpack, reaching inside and pulled out two water bottles.

"Mama!"

Uriel's gaze at the stream broke as she turned to see her daughter offering her a water bottle. She smiled and took it, unscrewing the cap and taking a sip. She glanced out of the corner of her eye to see her daughter eagerly drinking from her own water bottle.

She never would have guessed it. Lucia's training had started when Lucia was 6 years old. It mostly consisted of exercises a child could handle along with some basic combat skills. She had tried to hold it off for as long as possible however, the child had seen Griselda sparring with some of the other Exorcists at the compound and soon, Lucia began begging in her own quiet way until she gave in. But the results were something she had never expected. The girl had an aptitude for combat.

Such a thought made her want to look into the girl's biological parents. Uriel made a mental note to ask Raphael or Michael to see which priest was stationed at that town in Ukraine.

"You did good today, Luci," she reached out to ruffle her daughter's black hair.

"Waahh! Does that mean I get to start shooting light from my hands like you, Mama?" the 7-year-old asked.

"Or do that thing Selda does where she swings her sword and makes things go booom and dokan! Or that other thing Griselda does where all these letters appear and then, bam!" Lucia continued.

"What has Griselda been showing you? Maybe I need to talk to her about bringing you to the training grounds," Uriel mused.

"Come on, Mama. You haven't showed me anything new yet," Lucia said.

Uriel sighed and set her water bottle down. "I told you, Luci. You can't start learning light or other things yet until you get the basics down. You can't even use Holy Power yet."

"Then teach me!" Lucia begged.

"Maybe later—"

"You always say that," Lucia said, looking down at the ground and prodding the grass with her shoe. "But then Auntie Sandy or Uncle Raphy come and take you away again…"

Uriel's eyes softened. She smiled and reached out to stroke her daughter's head. "Dear, why do you want to learn so badly? You just turned 7 this year. There's no need to rush. Are you that desperate to get away from your Mom so badly?"

"Mama…," Lucia groaned.

Uriel chuckled at her daughter's whining. "Alright, alright. I'll begin teaching you the basics for now. We'll do this slowly, okay?"

Lucia's face lit up in a bright smile.

"But!"

Lucia's smile faltered.

"No light blasts. Nothing dangerous. No floaty letters until you get the basics down, got it?" Uriel said sternly.

Lucia's arms fell to her side and she let out another groan of frustration. "Mama! That's not fair!"

"How about this?" Uriel said as she got up. She pointed to a large boulder by the stream. "I'll teach you how to make simple light weapons and simple Miracles. But until you can cut that boulder in half with pure holy power, I won't teach you anything more."

Lucia turned around to see a boulder twice her size sitting proudly at the water's edge. She clenched her tiny fists and nodded. "I can do that."

"Okay, I can do it because I'll be strong just like Mama!" Lucia chirped as she bounced giddily.

Uriel smiled and reached over to ruffle her daughter's hair.

Lucia giggled before turning to the rock. "I'll make you go boom too, Mr. Rock!"

"Alright, alright. Let's get started. There are two types of powers that an Angel can use. Holy Power or Divine Power and Light Power. All of them come from one source inside of an Angel. You see, Angels are different from Humans and Devils. Humans can use magic by using Spiritual Power, Magical Power, or Ki. Devils use Demonic Power to cast their magic and to fuel their powers. Angels use a Holy Power, which is a form of Divine Power we inherited from God.

"Holy Power is the opposite of Demonic Power. It lets us use Miracles to bless the lands and objects, heal the sick, and it lets us destroy Demons and Creatures of Darkness. For us Angels, Holy Energy also allows us to use Light Power to do various things like make objects and create illusions."

She held her hand out and a translucent dove made of light appeared in her hand. The dove flapped its wings and took off, flying a lap around Lucia's head.

Lucia grabbed the dove, only for it to disperse into a shower of light particles. She smiled in awe. "I want to learn to do that!"

"Patience," Uriel chopped the top of her head lightly.

"Owie," Lucia whined, rubbing her head.

"Now. You need to learn how to access your Holy Power. Doing so will let us know how strong it is. Then we can see" Uriel said.

Lucia nodded excitedly.

"Now. Sit down." Uriel gestured for her to take a seat.

Lucia nodded and took a seat in front of her mother.

"Close your eyes. Focus. You should be able to feel it inside of you. As a Miracle Child, you have the blood of an Angel inside you. Learning to control it is like controlling your breathing. Your body automatically knows it's there but you have to be able to use it for yourself," Uriel guided.

Lucia closed her eyes like her mother said. She felt it. It was like a friend that never left her side. Her Holy Power felt warm. It felt comforting. She felt like nothing bad would ever happen to her as long as she remained wrapped in this feeling. A shimmering red aura came out of her body.

Uriel smiled. It's as I expected. Her mother must have only had 4 wings at best. Still, there's room for improvement there. But still, I feel like she can use more than she can pull out. Maybe in the future when she gains more wings but for now…

"Good. Good. Now draw it out and make a ball. Just imagine in your head that a ball is forming between your hands."

Lucia furrowed her brow as the aura of red light around her grew stronger. A light breeze began to blow outward from her and the grass rustled.

"Don't force it. Will it. Do that and your Holy Power will naturally flow. Unlike humans, you don't need to do anything to use it," she said.

Lucia took a deep breath and opened her hands. A tiny marble-sized ball of red light appeared above the palm of her hand.

She cracked an eye open and gasped. Lucia jumped up, holding the ball between her hands. "I did it! I used Holy Energy! Look! Mama, look, look, look—" But her excitement was short lived. The marble of holy light between her hands dispersed into tiny sparkles of light.

"Aww."

Uriel chuckled and patted her head. "Don't worry. It'll take time. Enough time for you to break that boulder in half. Remember, nothing else until you can do that."

Lucia nodded and focused on remaking the ball of light.

"I'll let you use this creek. Just come with Griselda whenever you do. I'll be out dealing something with your Auntie Ellie and Uncle Mikey for the time being," Uriel said.

"Okay!" Lucia said, not even paying too much attention due to her newfound powers.

"Remember. No boom and no floaty letters until you can break that rock in half, okay?" Uriel asked.

Lucia looked up at her mother and nodded. "Mmm! I'll break it, Mama! Just watch! When you get back from your grown-up stuff, I'll break that rock and then you have to teach me how to use the floaty letters and light magic!"

If anyone asked Griselda Quarta where she saw herself in 5 years, as a 13 year old Exorcist fresh out of academy, she would say that she would be the world's top Exorcist, serving under one of the Seraphim. She especially wished to serve under Lady Helel or Lady Gabriel, the top Seraphs in Heaven with the former being the leader and the latter being one of the Four Great Seraphs.

However, if someone told her that she would be serving as the guard (babysitter) to the daughter of one of the Four Great Seraphs and her job was to make sure she didn't wander off, she'd have laughed in their face. But it had now been 4 years since she had been assigned by the Church to this sleepy mountain town near the Alps and 8 days since Lady Uriel had left for Heaven.

"My Lady, it's getting late. We should head back," Griselda said, brushing her silver hair aside.

Yes, her Lady had been at this for 8 days.

Lady Uriel had given the child a difficult task.

Break a rock in half using pure Holy Power. What the child didn't know was that the rock was reinforced with a thin layer of Holy Power, making it far more difficult than originally anticipated. However, Griselda could sense it.

Lucia huffed. Sweat dripped down her forehead as she glared hatefully at the rock, or as hatefully as a 7-year-old girl can. "No, I can do this, Selda! Just watch!"

A wispy red and black aura formed around Lucia. She clasped her hands together before splitting them apart. A small crackling ball of holy power sat between her palms. "Take this!" Lucia screamed with all her might as she threw the red ball of holy power.

The orb traveled as fast as it could and struck the rock.

Griselda whistled as an explosion shattered the silence, creating a dust cloud the size of a pickup truck. When the dust and smoke cleared, the rock remained unscathed. A small crater formed around the rock, drawing water in from the nearby stream.

Lucia groaned and stamped her foot on the ground. "Why isn't it breaking!?"

"Perhaps you should take a break and come back tomorrow, Luci," Griselda said, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder.

Lucia puffed her cheeks and harrumphed. "Mama did something to the rock, didn't she?"

Griselda smiled sympathetically and pulled some candy out of her pocket. Lucia didn't even hesitate to take the chocolates and stuffed them into her mouth. "Mama's so mean, Selda."

"I'm sure she wants you to break it. It would be too easy if the rock broke on your first try, Luci," Griselda said as she watched the 7-year old stomp off.

Lucia stopped and turned around. She glared at the rock with all the anger she could muster, as if staring at it hatefully would cause it to explode into a million pieces. If it were that easy, then her mother would have taught her how to shoot cool energy blasts or make fire. But no, she had to find a way to beat her Mama at her own game. She needed to blow up that stupid rock so her mother can teach her how to be an angel. The intense desire welled up within her as she glared as hard as she could at the rock.

As she did, the world around her flickered as if a glitch had occurred. Lucia blinked and the visual anomaly vanished.

"Selda, did you see that?" Lucia asked.

"See what?" Griselda asked.

Lucia rubbed her eyes and blinked. The visual distortion didn't come back. "I thought I saw something."

"Mmm?" Griselda glanced over her shoulder and scanned their surroundings. She didn't feel anything nor see anything out of the ordinary. Her guard went up slightly. If Lucia could see something she couldn't, then she needed to stay alert.

"Can we get ice cream?" Lucia asked.

Griselda looked down at the small girl, who tugged on her cloak. "Lady Uriel said I shouldn't buy you too many sweets—"

"I won't tell, Mama. I promise!" Lucia said.

Griselda sighed. "Okay but just this once, got it?"

Lucia nodded vehemently and grabbed Griselda's hand before dragging her out of the woods.

The town by the Church's Institution was a small European Hamlet. It had all the modern amenities but still had that rustic countryside flare. In the distance, the Alps stood proudly, their peaks scraping the very edge of the skies and the rolling green hills surrounded the town on all sides. Old buildings were mixed in with the new ones, some of them being centuries-old stone structures while others were more modern concrete and wood. It was a place that looked as if the past and the present had all mixed in at a nexus in time.

Griselda stood in line behind some other parents and their kids. Luckily, there was someone selling ice cream at a nearby park. While she went to go buy some, she left Lucia to play with the other children.

Griselda fought the urge to groan when she heard some mothers whispering behind her about how young she looked and how she had a child that looked as old as Lucia. She looked up to check on her.

As always, Lucia sat down alone on the swings while the other kids around her ran around and played. She really needed to bring this up to Uriel. Lucia needed friends her age so she can learn how to socially interact with other kids. Being around adults who could barely understand her needs as a child was not good for her upbringing.

"Next."

"Ah." Griselda blinked when she heard the ice cream vendor call out to her. She ordered two chocolate ice creams before walking over to Lucia, who swayed listlessly on the swing.

"You don't want to play with the other kids?" Griselda asked as she handed Lucia her ice cream.

Lucia shook her head as she began to eat the icy confection. "I don't think the other kids like me."

"Well, have you tried talking to them?" Griselda took a seat on the swing next to her.

"I showed them a worm and they all ran away."

Griselda almost face-planted. "You can't just show kids worms and expect them to befriend you."

Lucia said nothing and continued eating her ice cream. "I don't need friends. Selda and Mama are enough for me."

Griselda sighed. "Kids need friends, Luci." She ruffled Lucia's hair. The girl continued eating her ice cream without a care in the world. If only Lucia could smile outside of things such as training, maybe she'd make some friends as a result.

"Come on, let's go home."

Lucia nodded and hopped off the swing to follow Griselda. As she did, her eyes throbbed and the world glitched again. "Huh…?" Lucia looked at her ice cream and saw something odd.

[Generating object data]

[Object appraised: Chocolate ice cream.]

[Ingredients are as follows…]

"Selda! Selda! Look!" Lucia tugged on Griselda's sleeves.

"Huh? What is it?" Griselda turned around to see Lucia showing her the ice cream. "Are you offering to share your ice cream? This truly is a day blessed by the Lord. Milady is offering to share her sweets with me."

"Huh? What? Selda don't say dumb things! There are words floating around the ice cream!" Lucia said. "It says that the ice cream is made of something called caoca- cacaco- cacao and vanilla extract!"

Griselda raised an eyebrow. "Luci, I don't see anything."

"But it's right there! Look!" Lucia pointed at the air around the ice cream.

"Um…"

Griselda's ears picked up on the whispers of the parents around her. "Let's go back home first and have someone check you out."

"What? But Selda! The words are there too on your head! And some numbers!" Lucia said as Griselda dragged her away.

"Hmmm."

Lucia sat on an examination chair in the infirmary of the Church Institute. She licked her ice cream while a middle-aged priest walked toward her with light and an opthamaloscope. Lucia blinked as a priest shined a harsh light in her eye. She shied away from it and went back to eating her ice cream. The older priest sighed and pulled back.

"So?" Griselda asked.

The priest shook his head. "There seems to be nothing wrong with her physically. Are you sure she just wasn't pretending like most children do?"

"No. What? Lucia's not the type to play pretend. You should know this by now," Griselda said.

The priest sighed as he took another look. "Maybe. Hold on. Let me grab the detector from the cabinet really quickly."

"Detector?"

"Miss Lucia is a Miracle Child, meaning she is half human. That means there's a chance she could have awakened a Sacred Gear. It's the second most likely explanation as to why she seeing words and numbers that no one else can see," the priest said as he pulled out a small device with a screen on it.

The priest waved the device around Lucia, who sat blissfully unaware as she scarfed down the ice cream cone. The device went off as a positive reading appeared on the screen.

"I see. So my second hunch was correct," the priest said.

"A Sacred Gear? Her?" Griselda said.

"Yes but in order to identify it, we'll need to gather more data. You said she can see numbers and words around objects. How about we test her here and now?" the priest offered.

"That shouldn't be too bad. If it is just things she can see around objects, then putting her in mortal danger isn't a requirement," she said.

"Miss Lucia."

Lucia looked up at the old priest and Griselda.

"Tell me. Do you still see the words and numbers around me or Miss Quarta?" the priest asked.

Lucia nodded. "Yeah. It says your name is Ferdinand Giordano."

"She knows you by your name card. Ask something else," Griselda said.

"What else do you see?" Ferdinand asked.

"Ummm…" Lucia squinted. Her eyes glowed and the usual black of her eyes changed colors. Her pupils lost their dark coloration as it lightened to a light-violet pink. Her irises became a swirling mixture of colors consisting of white, pink, and purple.

"Woah." Griselda almost dropped her ice cream

"Umm…" Lucia kept staring at Griselda.

[Generating data on target…]

[Griselda Quarta]

[Estimated Combat Level:... …. Unable to Generate Level. Target out of current scanning capabilities. Strength: ? Speed: ? Durability: ? Magic: ? Skill: ? Overall Combat Capabilities: ?]

[Age: 19, Gender: Female, Race: Human, Marital Status: Single]

[Special Traits: Natural Holy Sword Wielder]

[Current Equipment: Failnacht, Light Sword]

"It says your name is Griselda Quarta. Um… you have something called… uh, Failna— Failna—"

"Failnacht."

"Yeah, that, and a light sword. You're 19 years old and single—"

"Okay, okay! You can stop there," Griselda said, cutting her off.

"I see. A low-tier Defensive Sacred Gear," Ferdinand said.

"Low Tier?"

"Yes. What she's describing matches the abilities of a Low-Tier Defensive Sacred Gear called Warning System. However, a more appropriate description would be Appraisal. It allows her to display information on a heads-up display like in a game," Ferdinand said.

"That sounds useful. Why is it Low Tier?" she asked.

Ferdinand glanced at Lucia, who was looking at everything in the room. He sighed. "Like I said. It only displays information. It doesn't give her anything on what to do with it. It's like reading an encyclopedia. The book is useless if you don't know what to do with what you learned inside it. It's a somewhat common low-tier gear but a little bit rarer than something like let's say Twice Critical. There are a few Exorcists that I've come across that have it but almost all of them have gotten killed because they…"

"Got overconfident and misinterpreted information," Griselda sighed.

"Mmm. The one survivor I knew said that it doesn't display information on people far stronger than the user," Ferdinand said.

"I have to tell Lady Uriel this," Griselda said.

"Indeed. By the way, is Miss Lucia still having bad dreams?" Ferdinand asked.

"Not in a while no. She's just a kid. I doubt she remembers her dreams. Though, she did tell me my kid would have blue hair," Griselda laughed.

Ferdinand shook his head and chuckled. "I see. Well. I believe we should get her Gear under control. I fear that her awakening a Sacred Gear like that at such a young age, she might suffer from sensory overload."

"Selda! Selda! My level is 125!" Lucia beamed as she ran over to Griselda.

"Eh? Really? That's amazing, Luci. Come on. Let's get some rest. Tomorrow, I'll start helping you break that rock by the creek, okay?" Griselda smiled.

Lucia nodded as she grabbed Griselda's hand. "Goodnight, Mister!"

Lucia giggled as she lay in bed. She held her hand out toward the ceiling. That rock might still be there but at least she got something today. Her fist closed into a tight ball. She'll become stronger and a super cool angel like her mother was what she thought.

If she was strong, Lucia could beat all the monsters in her dreams.

Mama says they're just dreams but monsters are real. Selda told me one will take my socks if I don't get to sleep on time.

Even so, with her cool powers, she'd beat them all up. Her lips curved into a small smile as she called out to it again.

"Status!" Lucia said.

[Lucia Reid]

[Estimated Combat Level - Strength: 30, Speed: 25, Durability: 20, Magic: 20, Skill: 30. Total Combat Combat Capabilities calculated to be at 125.]

[Age: 7, Race: Nephilim, Gender: Female, Marital Status: Single]

[Special Trait: Twilight Reincarnation]

[Equipment: Warning System; Balance Breaker - Locked]

"Hehehe, 125 is a big number. That means I'm pretty strong, right?" Lucia wondered. "Selda and Mama's numbers are probably big. I need to get stronger too to protect them from the monsters."

She got out of bed and walked over to her desk. Lucia opened the drawer and pulled out a notebook. She flipped through it, bypassing her childish scribbles and homework she had to do from her teachers. After a few seconds, Lucia stopped at a page.

There was a drawing there or rather what could be best said as a drawing. In reality, it was nothing more than a series of scribbles mixed together to form a tall dark figure. On its head were two white circles that served as its eyes. She grabbed a black crayon and began coloring again.

"The Epilogue."

Lucia hummed as she spelled the word as best she could. With a hum of satisfaction and a childish grin on her face, she drew herself shooting lightning bolts at the large black shadowy figure.

"Hehe, just you wait," she said as she drew two more stick figures in. When she was done, Lucia left her notebook on the desk and scrambled onto her bed before Griselda made her rounds to check on her.

Her notebook was left open and a new addition was drawn onto its pages. It was the stick figure of a boy with brown hair and a red arm fighting with a group of girls. In front of them, there was a stick figure of Lucia standing next to six more stick figures.

But among them, there was one that stood out. It was the figure next to Lucia. A stick figure of a girl with long red hair.

If you wonder why there is a chapter so fast, I have a backlog.

Alright, to clarify one thing.

Lucia does not have a Gamer System. She has a HUD Sacred Gear that works like an Appraisal Skill in Isekai or a Scouter in Dragon Ball Z. She does not have an Inventory. No Leveling System. No cheat codes. No skill trees. This is not a Solo Leveling/Gamer type Sacred Gear System where the person gets stronger and gets EXP points. This is literally just the Appraisal Skill and lets Lucia scan people within her combat range to identify their abilities, traits, and equipment. This will play a role later, especially after she fights against stronger opponents and she unlocks her Balance Breaker.

Anyway, since this is a fic focusing on the Church side of the Three Factions, expect me to go more in-depth with Heaven and the Church.

Drop a review and make sure to come back and read the next chapter when it comes out.