Issei was writing in a notebook, the information he obtained from all the experiments with Father Ichirouta was interesting to say the least, he created a timeline of what he saw and what each event did.
He also planned on going to the church after, maybe go outside with the children for them to discover more, he talked about this with Father Ichirouta and he agreed with this plan. There wasn't any mission yet, which was pretty different to the story of the Literature Club giving him a mission one after another, but maybe it had something to do with Kiba's mission which he had yet to finish.
Going back to the timeline, after thinking about it, he knew that, Sophia created Yaldabaoth who then created the Garden of Eden as well as Adam and Eve, the angel who according to Ichirouta was Samael was convinced by Sophia to grant the apple known as The Fruit of Knowledge to both of the humans, by doing so it made Yaldabaoth furious and then cursed him to become a dragon, Sophia then gained a hatred for dragons after seen what was done to Samael.
Issei was unsure where Father Ichirouta got all of this information, but he didn't question it, maybe he had connections with the fallen angels, which was a logical reason since most of the items Ichirouta obtained were of biblical origin and demons didn't know who he was.
This whole mystery still needed more time to develop, all they knew was that Yaldabaoth was the fake God and Sophia was the real God, but for what reason did Yaldabaoth want to keep both Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden? or better yet, why was Samael turned specifically into a dragon? Maybe it was irrelevant to the actual resolution of the case, but it was something that he wanted to know, he in fact wanted to know the whole story of Yaldabaoth and his schemes.
Then the bell rang signaling the end of class, Issei got up and exited the classroom to go straight to the church, this time however he did not see Yuuto around, which meant that he took his advice and went to help Rias, or maybe he ended up thinking that he wasn't someone who posed a danger and left him alone.
Issei was at the door of the church waiting for the kids to get ready, he did not know where they were, but they more than likely had a place made as their bedrooms, he still didn't know much about the church and he was a bit hesitant to explore as it would be an invasion of privacy if he were to enter any restricted place without permission.
Snapping out of his thoughts he saw as Andric was in front of him. "Oh you're prepared already Andric?" Andric had a smile on his face. "Of course! Why wouldn't I? This is the first time I get to go out of the church to explore outside!" While Issei was happy to see Andric's enthusiasm, he wondered how long the kids haven't gone outside, heck that could actually be unhealthy in some cases.
"Well, what about the others?" Issei asked, Andric responded while pointing to where the others were supposed to be. "Well, Grizelda is waiting for the others inside the room, Ha Eun keeps looking through her clothes to see what dress she should wear while I'm pretty sure the others are mostly done."
He noticed that Jadon and Masako finished preparing themselves, Issei noticed that Jadon had a bag with him, making him ask "Uhm, Jadon why do you have a bag?" Jadon looked at his bag and pulled out a few items from it. "Well, I have money that Father Ichirouta gave us to spend on stuff we want, Ialso have pepper spray in case we find some dangerous people and I also have spare clothes in case Andric gets into a mess."
The last part seemed to offend Andric. "What?! Hey! When was the last time I got messy from playing?!" While Andric was loudly trying to get an explanation from Jadon, Jadon proceeded to laugh a bit while Masako was looking away.
"We're prepared!" Just then Grizelda came out of the room with both Tino and Ha Eun, Issei then asked the children. "Now then, we're all ready right? I'll be showing you all around the town so try sticking close to me when we cross through the road." As Issei was about to leave he saw Father Ichirouta coming out of his workshop.
"Well, this will be your first time going out, I hope you behave well children. Come back before night alright?" Father Ichirouta waved goodbye as they all finally went outside of the church. Even after going out, they were excited and asked Issei where they needed to go.
As they went to the park the kids dispersed around to check out the whole place, some of the calmer ones simply sat on a bench or near the fountain. Issei sat next to Jadon as they both sighed by how much they needed to do to make sure everyone was safe.
"Man Andric can be a handful sometimes." Issei sighed, slumping onto the bench to recover some energy from trying to catch up to Andric from crossing the road recklessly.
"Image taking care of him for years." Jadon laughed as he still looked at the other kids in case they were in danger. Issei saw that Jadon was not as exhausted as him. Issei proceeded to ask him. "So where do you think the kids would like to go? There are a few places we can look at but I'm not sure if they'll like the places."
Jadon hummed thinking about it and ended up saying. "We can ask them all later, I think we should first go somewhere to eat." Issei was convinced of Jadon's decision, as they continued to watch the other kids, someone asked something to Issei.
"Hyoudou? Is that you?" Kiba Yuuto was now making himself present, he looked at Jadon who looked confused at the fact someone looked too similar to him. "Oh hey Kiba, I'm just here taking care of the kids of the church." Issei was laid back right now, he wanted to rest a bit.
"I see, that is quite nice of you." Kiba continued to smile at him, Issei noticed that hadn't presented either of them to each other. "Oh, right, Yuuto this is Jadon, one of the kids from the church, and Jadon, meet Kiba Yuuto, he's an acquaintance from my school." He presented both to each other as they analyzed the other person.
"Well, I must say, it is quite bizarre finding someone who looks like yourself." Jadon scratched his neck while trying to make small talk awkwardly. "Indeed, but I hope we can both get along well." Kiba proceeded to try and get a handshake, of which Jadon accepted.
"Sorry to interrupt your conversation but I'd like to get your attention." Grizelda, who was accompanied by Tino, intercepted the conversation as she wanted to say something urgently. "Andric and Ha Eun got themselves into trouble with other kids in the park."
Issei sighed as he got up, Jadon followed and then asked. "Where are they right now?" Both of them had kept an eye on both for a while now, and just when they let their guards down, they ended up getting into trouble. Tino pointed at a place near a corner of the park.
"I'll go there, don't worry Jadon I'll deal with it myself." Issei put a hand in front of Jadon, he didn't refute and let him go ahead. This left the others silently waiting, only for Kiba to say. "So, how is the life at the church?"
Masako responded calmly. "Well it is quite eventful with Andric and Ha Eun, but truthfully I wouldn't change both of them for anything, they keep the place lively and can be fun to play with every once in a while." The other three nodded upon hearing this statement.
"Father Ichirouta is also very kind with us, he brings us stuff when he goes out to shop, tells us some stories about his time at a catholic church and also what he works on in the workshop." Tino said as he continued playing on his console that he brought with him. This interested Kiba more.
"Oh? I'm curious about what Father Ichirouta works it sounds quite interested." Jadon looked at Kiba with a bit of suspicion, Yuuto knew he was acting with too much rush, but he didn't know when would be the next time they met each other. Jadon continued to respond to him. "Nothing much, just trying to get evidence that a god that he believed was real."
Kiba would have continued asking more questions, but he was stopped when he saw Issei, Andric and Ha Eun coming back. "We're back, both of these ended up getting into a fight after Andric got too competitive over playing Tic Tac Toe."
"Can you blame me? They told me that you had to start in the middle! That is not true and they just wanted me to not use my winning strategy, just like you can't add a +2 on a +4 card in UNO!" Issei face palmed at the fact that he was even having this conversation, he was too tired and wondered how Father Ichirouta and Jadon could handle them.
Masako seemed a bit embarrassed and then told Kiba. "Please forgive him, he's currently too fired up, he's not usually this way... I think." Kiba simply continued smiling while saying "Don't worry, kids are supposed to be able to express themselves freely."
Jadon then got the attention of everyone there. "Anyways, I think it is time to search for some place to eat, it's close to evening and I'm sure you guys want to find a restaurant to eat." Most of the children got excited, Issei bid Kiba farewell as he tried catching up to Andric who, yet again, was running across the street.
"What an odd group." Kiba was a bit nostalgic, while his friends when he was at the church weren't like them, he knew what it felt to have close friends with you at all times, this feeling of revenge kept getting bigger as he saw more about the church.
It was the next day and Issei was currently in the Literature Club Room, Father Ichirouta didn't need him for today as he needed to get more of the apple that did have an effect. So Issei spent his time practicing forms of art by himself there.
He got canvases in the room and was currently drawing something, mostly stuff that came to his head. He didn't have any references to draw well, but he knew that it would be much better to try doing them without any support if he wanted to increase his Temperance.
As he did, he also wanted to try dancing, it was also a form of art that he could try, music, painting, dancing and writing were the things that could think of when it came to art, hence why he wanted to make the most out of Artistic Appraisal.
He continued painting while thinking about yesterday. He was tired at the end of it all and went to bed to sleep, but he couldn't forget the laughter and smiles of the children as they all continued to explore around.
A knock made him get out of his trance, when looked at the door, he saw Kiba Yuuto peeking through it. Just how many times was he going to have to interact with Kiba? At this point Issei didn't know if this was the work of the Writer's System or if Kiba came here by his own will. "I wasn't expecting you here Yuuto."
"Well, I simply came to check on the club, I see that you're still the only member, which is quite strange." Kiba looked around, seeing all the paintings that Issei had done. "There are quite a lot of paintings, are you sure this isn't an Arts Club instead of a Literature Club?" Kiba joked a bit.
"Well, I'm actually painting not because I want to make this an Arts Club, because I want to practice, it has nothing to do with the Club, but I can circumvent that if I end up drawing manga since that is still literature, also what do you mean that it's strange that I have no more members?" Issei was chatting with Kiba, he didn't want to tell him to go away as not only did he need to continue his quest but also because he wanted to know more about demons without telling him that he knew about them.
"Oh, no reason, mostly for the fact that you've become quite popular around the Academy." Kiba laughed a bit as he proceeded to say. "Mostly because there are people saying you're the Beast in Beauty & the Beast, becoming a handsome man yourself." Issei didn't really know what to say, he didn't expect his popularity to go up, but maybe he should look at his Justice stat later. "Oh, yeah I was not expecting that, I just changed because I found what I truly wanted to do."
"In fact I'm actually in need of a dancing partner." At this point Issei didn't know what he was saying, Kiba telling him he was handsome was not something he was expecting him to say and it threw him on a loop, he knew that what he said was incredibly suspicious and could be seen as something else without context, but he really needed a dancing partner to help him practice dancing.
"Well, if it's only dancing then sure." Kiba continued smiling, Issei had no idea what kind of situation he got himself in, but he really wanted to believe that this was the system's tricks to make him continue this BL story it made for him. Issei left all of the painting tools on a table nearby and got a small boombox with a CD, he was able to exchange his old alarm clock to someone who was really into that stuff for money that he was able to use to buy what he had.
"By the way, for what reason did you need a dancing partner?" Kiba was still curious about what Issei was doing, Issei responded calmly as he still processed the whole thing. "Well, I've been able to practice some dances by myself, but I also want to do some dances that need 2 people or more, just having one can help me understand more about it."
Issei knew this was simply to increase his Temperance, his stat of knowledge was incredibly high as he could avoid any sort of confrontation or even trouble by being knowledgeable enough to avoid it, heck even chance options were high enough that he wouldn't need to worry about certain decisions if it came to that.
"Oh, also, I'm not sure if you're good at dancing or if you have any idea of it, but I can help you a bit before we start." Issei didn't think about it at first but he wondered if Kiba had any idea of dancing. "Don't worry about it, I have a certain understanding of dancing." This wasn't a lie, as a member of Rias' Peerage who was a member of a house, he himself alongside others needed to have a certain degree of etiquette at least according to Rias since she treated them well, but even so his own swordsmanship gave him an edge when it came to learning his steps as he also needed to practice his footwork.
"Then there won't be any problem I guess..." Issei was nervous for some reason, it was simply to guys dancing together as one asked for help to practice, it was not something weird, he was more nervous over the fact that if others see them both dancing together, there would be rumors of him going around yet again. "Then I'll put the music on and I'll take the lead."
He played the music on the boombox, letting it start before they prepared themselves to dance. "Then lend me your hand now." Issei and Kiba intertwined their fingers as the music started to play.
This was weird for Issei, yet Kiba looked incredibly relaxed, he knew that this was simply to help him practice and there was nothing going to happen. Issei proceeded to explain what their steps would be as they continued to move from one side to another, making certain steps along the way.
If Issei had to confess something, it was that he was actually thinking of dancing together with Natsuki, he had been planning this ever since he got together with her, and he would have loved to learn dancing together. But reality was often different and now he was using this as a lesson and way to know Kiba more.
There was no exchange of words at one point as Issei told him every move he needed to do, they spent a long time practicing together. A thought came to Issei as he thought of doing a Pas de deux at some point, but he quickly scratched that thought away as he didn't want to do it with Kiba specifically.
At the very least this was enough to satisfy the system for continuing the BL story right? Issei seriously wanted to avoid any sort of interaction that could lead to romantic feelings with Kiba Yuuto, it was simply not what Issei liked, he loved Natsuki, he used to love Sayori in a romantic way, and he was not sure if he'd ever love someone else again, at least for now, and he still was attached to Natsuki, feeling like he was still not ready to move on with his romantic life.
"And that is it... I think that's enough for now." Issei had enough of dancing for today, it didn't feel wrong or anything dancing with Yuuto, it was his fear of people thinking differently of the situation and blowing it out of proportions. He'd continue having Yuuto as a dancing partner if possible since he noticed that he was incredibly skilled at it for some reason.
"Well then, is there anything else that I could help with?" Ah right, Issei remembered that Kiba was doing this to get information from him or get closer to him, but at this point it didn't matter, he knew that Kiba was not someone who would trick him into an evil scheme.
"No, that's it for today, if you don't mind I'd like to continue another day if possible." Kiba Yuuto nodded as he made his way to the door and bid farewell, Issei was left there as he sat on a chair while contemplating on what the fuck had just occurred during that whole interaction and why he was so nervous about it, he knew that there was no feeling involved but he was still trying to find a reason why he had his heart beating so fast.
The system also showed up, signaling the fact that he had finished his quest. Yet his heartbeat had yet to lower down, he simply tried to ignore it by looking at the quest.
Quest #1
Prince Charming
Condition: Raise your relationship over 25 with Kiba Yuuto
Failure: Your relationship with Kiba Yuuto falls to 0
Completed!
Reward: Weapon Appraisal
Perfect, he could now look at his revolver Justitia to see what it was all about, tho he wondered why it was specifically this quest that gave him Weapon Appraisal, but decided to ignore it, he went through his items to finally get Justitia, he then activated Weapon Appraisal to see what it did. What he saw did not disappoint.
Item
Justitia
Grade: Magnum Opus
Description: The bandages not only locks away the terrible memories locked away by the user but also the emotions and morals to continue giving true justice, for Heaven will punish good deeds while Hell will punish evil deeds, for one cannot exist without the other, hence the existence of a good deed means the existence of an evil deed. One good deed can lead to the creation of many evil deeds "for the greater good".
Effect: Deals increased physical damage to enemies based on how many sins they have committed. Deals increased psychological damage to enemies based on how much good they have committed. Does not need ammo.
This seemed an interesting gimmick, while unsure how effective it would be, it would certainly be much more effective against opponents that have lived longer or have done outstanding actions. He'd have to ask Father Ichirouta about the description however as it did seem quite interesting.
Issei had gotten knowledgeable enough to know what some of the descriptions said, in this case he knew well that this weapon was now related to what happened during the Literature Club story and he would like the memories to stay the same way, yet he was unsure about the justice part.
"So we're continuing right?" Father Ichirouta seemed a bit hesitant for some reason, he had the apples ready and Issei seemed ok with it, despite all that, he yet again asked if he wanted to proceed. "Yeah, just like last time, but make sure I have somewhere to stay safe from falling over."
"Alright, here's the apple." Ichirouta gave Issei the apple, as Issei took the apple, he took a bite out of it and proceeded to lay down on a table to make sure that if he did pass out again, then he wouldn't be in trouble.
The effects did start up again as Issei felt sleepy, unlike last time, the pain was less as despite it being similar to Epistemophobic's Nightmare, it started off weak, he tried to sleep as quickly as possible to avoid the pain as it got stronger.
As Issei closed his eyes, he opened them again only to be met with a crowd of people standing in front of what seemed to be three people hanged onto crosses. Issei knew exactly what it was, and he was not expecting to find himself in this place.
He looked towards the three who were going to be executed and saw that one of them was Jesus Christ. This was surreal, yet he shouldn't have been surprised by it. If he was able to see both Adam and Eve, what stopped him from being able to see Jesus Christ?
The voice of him was distorted yet he knew what he was saying, Issei just didn't know what to do he quietly stayed there to get every single drop of information, he'd then tell everything he heard to Father Ichirouta.
As he thought about it, he remembered the fact that according to Father Ichirouta, Sophia had used the body of the Messiah to show that she was the true goddess, he was about to get closer to see if he could contact her.
Yet he felt a hand on his shoulder, looking at who it was, he found a tall white creature without any recognizable feature of a human, as he looked at it, he could feel his heart racing faster, just like when he had danced with Kiba.
There was something wrong with what the fruit was telling him, he knew it, yet he needed to know what it was, he'd keep this a secret from Father Ichirouta for now, as he wanted to make his own investigation to make sure there was concrete evidence rather than throw a wrench that could not be useful.
He simply stayed silent as the hand from the entity was still on his shoulder, they didn't exchange words, and yet they didn't act hostile to each other, he didn't know what it was scheming, but he made sure not to act out of nowhere to alarm it.
As they both saw as the three men were executed the people around started to disperse, leaving only both of them there, he wondered when he would wake up, but just then, that same creature said. "I am Yaldabaoth, known as the false god that your companion, Kazemaru Ichirouta names me." Issei was not expecting it to talk, but finding out that it was in actuality the false god made him go into a cautious position.
Not only that, but also finding out about Father Ichirouta's name this way was not expected, Yaldabaoth continued to talk. "You may actually know me as... Samael." The whole time line that Issei and Father Ichirouta had created was completely destroyed by this statement, but then, who was the one who gave the apple?
"You see, I was weakened before, I went to battle after being betrayed by the angels that I have created, and proceeded to have part of me missing, that part was known as Samael, of which Sophia used to trick Adam and Eve to eat the Fruit of Knowledge." Yaldabaoth did not express anger or anything, but kept a calm composure during the retelling of his side of the story.
"In the end, I was labeled as a false god by Sophia after she got the support of all of the apostles and messiah, none of the angels knew that this had happened." Upon finishing, Issei did not know what to believe, the very creature known as a false god was telling him all of what happened, yet he didn't know what was true and what wasn't.
"Sophia is in actuality the Biblical God, I would say more about her, but her stories are quite long." But then that would mean that Yaldabaoth was the true god right? If this was its plan to convince him, then it was working, he didn't know what to believe, yet he couldn't let go of this opportunity to know more about the events.
He'd talk for the first time in this dream as he wanted to know more. "But you're simply a false god trying to tell me what is correct, how can I be sure that what I am telling you is correct?" Issei needed more evidence about this claim, he knew that it was possibly impossible to do so, but a god was known to be able to do the impossible right?
"I cannot, I am indeed not a true god per se, but I am not inherently evil, once you talk to Kazemaru Ichirouta, you'll find out the cruel truth about the reason of his research, after all, you are destined to find out as a self proclaimed Believer of Sophia... or should I say Sefirot?" The last word completely caught Issei off guard, how did Yaldabaoth know about his trait Unknown Sefirot? Did it have any relation to this whole story? His heart kept beating faster each time as more and more questions appeared.
"People say that history is written by the victors, yet that isn't correct, everything is controlled by morals, with morals you cannot have true justice, with morals you cannot have an objective answer, it is because of the existence of such morals that the world works as it is. Such a thing wouldn't be a problem if they never existed, had Sophia not intercepted my project of creating humans, the world would have been a different place without problems." Yaldabaoth started to sound quite frustrated, but not directed to anyone, Issei felt as if he was starting to wake up, of which Yaldabaoth noticed.
"You'll one day become the person who will carry my will Issei Hyoudou, as I can see within you that you have already decided on carrying out true justice." As Issei processed those words, he realized that he meant the fact that he had Justitia and that he was letting all of his emotions go away, in the end, the poem that he had written were actually coming true, but Issei didn't panic or feel helpless, no, he simply wanted things to continue, as right now all he could care about is find out the truth of the Writer's System, and what it had in store for him.
Issei woke up, as he slowly opened his eyes he noticed that he wasn't on the table, but instead he was hanging, he looked around only to Father Ichirouta and the children standing around him, he then finally noticed the sharp pain that was running through his hands.
As he looked at his hands he realized that they were nailed, his wrists were nailed to the wood, yet he was unsure for what reason, he wanted to stay calm and get an explanation from Father Ichirouta himself. "You've finally awakened Issei." Father Ichirouta was standing in front of him, they were at the highest part of the church where a single windowless space lit up the place.
"Father Ichirouta, could you explain to me why I am nailed to a crucifix?" Issei simply wanted to deny the idea that this church that he had spent so much time in was evil, he simply didn't want to believe so.
"It is because the time has come." Ichirouta proceeded to walk away as he continued. "I'll be telling you everything, since you need to at least know." He sat in the only place with a lightsource, the window that was big enough to have him stand on top of.
"The reason why I even made this experiment wasn't to prove that God was fake, I already knew that God was real, everything I told you? It was all fake." Issei opened his eyes, Yaldabaoth's words were making sense immediately after he said them to him. "Then... all this time... were my interactions with all of you fake?"
"No! It wasn't!" Ha Eun shouted, as she truly felt like she felt the best time of her life with Issei while cooking and hanging out with him. Jadon proceeded to clarify calmly. "Our interactions with you were genuine Issei, don't ever say otherwise please." Most of the children looked somewhat sad about the thought of Issei thinking it was all fake.
"Then why! ...Why are you guys doing this? What is all this situation about?" Issei was starting to panic, he was unsure how his Sanity was doing, but he knew that all this situation was too much for him after the revelation that Yaldabaoth gave him.
"Issei, none of this is in any way meant to harm you, it is simply our way to tell you... That we are never going to see each other again..." Ichirouta felt incredibly guilty his plan was going to succeed but did not want Issei to feel pain through the whole deal. "This was all because I wanted to make sure that you wouldn't try to do anything rash that could harm yourself or to stop us."
"But how bad is it? To the point that you need to put me on a fucking crucifix?" Issei felt exhausted, he was sure that none of the others knew how agonizing trying to hang on a crucifix was.
"Quite surprising actually, you see..." Ichirouta paused a bit to prepare himself for how Issei would react. "I am thinking of going to commit suicide." Issei exploded upon hearing that. "WHY?! You take care of the children here, you may have strayed from god but you still have good inherently inside of you. So why would you leave this world?!"
"Because Sophia is dead." Issei shut himself up after hearing this. "The God of the Bible is dead, and that is the true reason why I left the church. I've quit my promising career to become a football player to follow a God that was dead!" Ichirouta was starting to break down, the children around him were quiet as they knew it themselves as well.
"So I spent years researching to find if it was true or not... I actually did use the Fruit of Knowledge on myself before a few years ago actually, but the results of what I found out were not what I wanted, and I ended up having you tell me what happened during them so I could truly know that whatever the apples were showing me weren't just my own imagination." As Kazemaru Ichirouta continued to break, Issei was speechless, this whole time Father Ichirouta was in denial over Sophia's death, and tried to find any proof that denied it.
"Do you understand why I no longer have any will to live, I have nothing left in this world that would make me happy?" Ichirouta was standing on the window, ready to jump, but he then asked Issei something that he knew would be refused. "The children already agreed with me to end this life, would you as well Issei?"
Issei was mad at this point, he screamed at Father Ichirouta as he tried to move from the crucifix that was making him unable to move around. "Kazemaru you bastard! You're even making the children follow you with this twisted plan of yours?!"
While Kazemaru was surprised at the fact that Issei knew his name, he did not care and clarified. "Issei, you need to understand this, none of the children have any place in this world, they have no were to go, and they simply wanted to die when I first found them, I simply tried everything to make sure their last moments were happy, right now they are willing to follow me to the afterlife, and maybe there they will find true happiness."
Issei was exhausted as he tried to lash out, but he was left speechless at what was said, there was nothing he could do, just like the last times, he couldn't do anything, he felt helpless and was furious, but he responded to the previous question. "I am not going to end myself off, I have people that I promised that I would continue living, and I refuse to have the children go along with what you have planned."
But the other children simply agreed with Father Ichirouta. "Issei, we already thought about this before, none of us have a true meaning to our existence, I hate that we have to bid farewell this way, but it has to be this way." Masako said as she looked sad over the whole situation, she had already decided just like the others. "Hey, maybe I'll end up getting reincarnated in another world." Andric joked, it was a morbid joke that Issei knew was made without any purpose of being funny.
"I've been patiently waiting for this moment to come Issei, I will unfortunately have to say goodbye as well." Even Grizelda wanted to be gone of the material world. "Issei, we won't be gone from this world permanently, we will all see eachother one day in the world that Sophia had created us in." Father Ichirouta was convinced that he and the others were meant to go there.
Issei gave up, he couldn't continue arguing, he had his mind without thoughts as he looked at them all. Ichirouta saw this as the perfect moment to say his last goodbye. "It is time for me to say goodbye Issei."
As Issei looked at him, the system gave him a notification at the worst moment possible.
Mission #2
Last Will
Condition: Become the owner of the Church
Failure: Any of the members live
Just like with some of the more serious missions there was no accept button, he was simply forced to do them, which was ridiculous at some points due to the fact that he was forced to do them either way.
He then got another notification from the system.
A new image has been added to the Gallery
Spiritual Invitation
As he looked back to where Kazemaru Ichirouta was, he didn't see him anymore, he had let himself fall from the highest point of the church, hearing a thud after a bit, it had finally started, one after another the kids continued to follow the lead that Father Ichirouta had created.
"No... Please no... Stop...STOP" Issei's whispers started to turn into yells as he saw the people he had come to cherish end up ending their lives, but there was something different, each time they looked back at him and smiled, they wanted him to know that this was never his fault.
Everyone was telling him it wasn't his fault and he didn't like that, the feeling of being powerless kept getting higher as Jadon was left, he was expecting Grizelda to be the last one to jump due to being patient, but Jadon told her to go first.
"Issei, I wanted to tell you that every second we spent together was fun, I want you to know that you made each of our last moments happy, and that we hope that you can continue on." Issei didn't understand anything, he was still on the crucifix, being left there as they all left the mortal world behind.
Minutes passed and they all were gone. Issei screamed as he tried to get out of the crucifix, he ended up breaking his hand, it hurt, it hurt so much that he kept screaming as he wanted to be let go of that horrible position.
As his Sanity bar went down, so did his Health, but Poem Slash Your Wrists kept becoming much more effective. He ended up letting his own arm rip the nail off, as he got it loose enough to take his broken hand out, proceeded to take out the other nail.
He stumbled into the floor screaming out of all the pain he was feeling, he cried as the pain was too much for him to bear, yet what hurt him more was that, yet again, people he held dearly died.
He spent minutes upon minutes to finally calm down, as he did his ragged breath became slower as he looked at the ceiling, his vision was blurry at first from crying, but as his tears dried up he finally saw clearly.
Only to see Yaldabaoth looking at him back.
They didn't exchange any words, just like last time, they simply stayed silent, it seemed as if it was waiting for Issei to finally completely calm down. And when he did, he stood up, stumbling a bit as he accidentally used his broken arm as support to get up. When he finally got up he asked. "Why are you here?"
"Mostly to tell you that you're the owner of the church now." Yaldabaoth walked to the windows and held his hand out, Issei could hear something rising from the window, only to see 6 colorful spheres moving and hovering over Yaldabaoth's arm.
As he contemplated on what to do, Yaldabaoth explained certain things. "These are the souls of the 6 children, while their consciousness is lost to Sophia, their souls have yet to move towards her, I was able to take them out before Sophia could notice."
"But wasn't Sophia dead?" Issei asked as it seemed like there was a contradiction between what Ichirouta and Yaldabaoth said. "Well, yes, she is in the material world... However in her own world she is alive and well, in there everyone is alive and well."
Issei calmed much more, but his heartbeat was still going fast, Yaldabaoth then let darkness consume the room, making Issei unable to see what was going on, when light finally came back, Issei only saw a weapon being held by Yaldabaoth.
"Here, you can have this, take it as a memento for what has happened here." Issei was starting to suspect that Yaldabaoth knew about the system, yet he kept quiet as he was unsure if that was true. "You're still wary of me aren't you little one?" Issei was caught off guard by that question, but he admitted to it by nodding.
Maybe this form will make you more comfortable, Yaldabaoth was engulfed by darkness, only for its form to change into a humanoid male, he had white hair, white clothes, yet his arm was tattooed with black symbols. "Well, do I look much better now?"
"Uh, yeah... I guess." Issei was still hesitant to really do anything but ended up taking the weapon. "So what now?" Issei didn't know what would happen to the church but according to Yaldabaoth, he was the owner of it now. "Truthfully I simply came to tell you that, you can now use this church for anything you want, you're the leader now Father Hyoudou." This title was weird for Issei and he didn't like being called that.
"But I then decided on something, I want you to help me." Issei immediately said. "I refuse, I don't want to destroy this world for anything." Yaldabaoth was confused upon hearing this. "No, I do not want you to destroy this world, but rather protect it, this is the world that I created, and I want you to make sure no such dangers appear as well as fix it."
"Oh, I guess I can do that..." Issei scratched the back of his head, but he still wanted to know something. "But aren't I too weak compared to other biblical characters?" Yaldabaoth smiled at him and got even closer. "That is why I will be doing this."
"What do yo-?" Yaldabaoth touched Issei's head, everything went completely dark, only to find himself alone in the room, "Uh? Where did you go?" Issei was even more confused now.
"I am currently residing in your mind Issei." Issei could hear a voice from his head, this freaked Issei out a bit, but in the end it was expected from a false god. "I will be granting you my powers, similar to the Boosted Gear or the Divine Dividing, I reside within you while giving you powers that are now yours own"
Boosted Gear... Now that was a name he hasn't heard since he got that trait removed, it seemed like it would have worked similarly to what Yaldabaoth was doing, but Issei noticed something, in his back were 3 pairs of wings. They were the wings of Angels, Fallen Angels and Demons. "Why do I have a pair of each? How can someone have Demon and Angel wings?!"
"Devils actually, but that is because I can create any sort of creature that is similar to a human at visual levels, these three weren't even supposed to exist in my world." Yaldabaoth was explaining it to him, but then he saw as he floated around. "I can also get out and go around like this."
"So are you bound to me or can you leave me at any time?" Issei was curious about it. "Well just like Sacred Gears I am bound to you until you die, I was hesitant at first to do this but I ended up going through with this plan because I felt like it, at the very least I am able to leave your body physically but not mentally."
"Then what do I do now?" Issei was still unsure on what to do next, he knew that the system would give him the rewards and show him that he finished the story, yet after that he didn't know how to continue Kiba's story with his current mood.
"You do you, I'll just be hanging around your consciousness until you need me... And don't worry, if you ever end up having sex I won't be there to watch, I really don't want an Adam and Eve repeat from when I went to check on both of them after they got kicked." Yaldabaoth cringed a bit, Issei noticed that he was now much more laid back compared to their first meeting. "Were all gods like this?" He wondered. "Well most of the ones with power are, but there are also some that take their duty seriously." Well it was obvious that he could read his mind. Issei quickly went to look at the new messages the system gave him.
Mission #2
Last Will
Condition: Become the owner of the Church
Failure: Any of the members live
Completed!
Rewards: Trait (False God), Item (Blade Forged From Souls)
You have lost the trait (Believer of Sophia)
He expected to lose that trait, he also wanted to check on the rewards to see what they could do. But he also noticed that he got yet another image and a song.
A new image has been added to the Gallery
Adam's Apple
A new song has been added to the Gallery
孤独の宗教 / Religion of Loneliness by Syudou
(Unknown Sefirot): User deals triple damage against Biblical enemies. User is immune against Biblical enemies. Increases Stat gain.
(The Black Swan): User takes 25% more psychological damage from enemies. If User's Sanity is below 25% Deals double damage to all enemies.
(False God): User can recognize Biblical enemies. User is able to use attacks from the biblical factions. User will deal initial psychological damage to enemies based on the difference of power.
It in some way seemed like a downgrade due to the fact that the demons could now feel his presence as a false god, Yaldabaoth then proceeded to say that he could conceal the presence himself with no difficulty which calmed Issei a bit, but he didn't know how that would work, but proceeded to look at the Blade Forged From Souls.
Item
Blade Forged From Souls
Grade: Magnum Opus
Description: A Guandao with a gem that changes color depending on the power that the user calls upon. It is said that this blade has the power to even tame dragons with the mere presence of it.
Effect: Heals user when killing an enemy, can activate different effects depending on the gem color.
The effect itself was incredibly good, however, there was a problem with this item... Not only did it not say the effects of changing the color of the gem but also because Issei didn't know how to handle a bladed weapon, or even a blunt one, he'd need to practice, maybe using a weapon was an art on itself, so it could simply add onto his list of artistic activities.
But right now he needed to go home, he was no longer in danger, and his hands started to heal thanks to the system. There was indeed a regeneration effect, but he was unsure if he would regenerate a cut limb.
He put the weapon inside Mystery Storage as he finally got out of the church. He felt exhausted mentally over the events, but after what happened in the Literature Club, it seemed like he was starting to go numb over the events.
Kiba was now incredibly wary of Issei, last time he went to spy on him he didn't have any sort of feeling around him that showed he was part of the supernatural, yet seeing how each member of the church fell from the tallest part of the church one by one made him incredibly alarmed.
He didn't know what was going on, but he saw as each one of them smiled as they fell to their demise. He could hear Issei's screams of desperation, of which he himself felt like he could sympathize with.
As the last one finally fell, he waited a bit to see if Issei would come out, if not, he'd have to enter and help him out, worrying about what would have happened to him. But after a while he saw a strange entity in complete white was looking at the dead bodies.
This... creature was powerful, he could feel it as it seemed to take orbs out of each of the kids, he didn't know what it was, but he was making his own ideas of what was going on, he felt himself wanting to go ahead and attack it, as he believed that this was what the church wanted from the experiment, yet he didn't, he knew that he couldn't, not when the church sent 2 exorcists to get back the pieces of Excalibur that went missing, this was his chance to finally find the bastard that killed all of his friends, he had to finish his own revenge before helping Issei, but he still wanted to make sure he had every single drop of information to when he needed to report to Rias.
He saw as Issei finally came out of the door, but he now knew that Issei finally got into the supernatural, from the events that happened to his own aura that was going off, he knew that Issei could now sense him, yet he was unsure if Issei was an angel, which he did not see as possible, or a fallen angel, which was possible, and a devil, he didn't know which one was correct, but devil was the best case scenario, just a devil looking for a piece for their peerage and Issei Hyoudou ended up as such.
But he had to make his move, he needed to do his last act of revenge before finally being happy for his friends, he needed to get rid of Excalibur, even if he was disobeying the orders of his master, he didn't care, he'd accept any form of punishment.
Issei was now going towards his house, but he saw as the system gave him his next quest.
Quest #2
Revenge Act
Condition: Help Kiba Yuuto defeat his opponents
Failure: You don't help him
Accept
Well today was going to be too eventful for him, but this time he had Yaldabaoth's help to make sure nothing bad happened.
(A/N)
Too fast? Maybe, but after this is the last chapter of this arc, I realized that just having them as separate arcs, as I said before, could create a problem for the timeline, but also because both of them were extremely short.
So yeah a long chapter, not compared to some from the first arc, but a long one to say the least. Well get to the references later but now I wanna talk about something else. Also, I added a foreshadow here, you'll end up finding out in the fourth chapter lol.
Tbh I wouldn't be surprised if people didn't like the whole Kiba coming to the Literature Club Room to end up dancing with Issei, and trust me, it could have been something much more different, I needed to have some sort of reference to what I had envisioned when I first planned this arc, in fact I am pretty sure this is the first arc I thought of alongside another, so this might explain why it feels a bit off imo.
Next up, the whole philosophical talk, it's mostly there to have your head think a bit, but nothing meant to be thought of as facts or truths, just a way to grind the gears a bit.
Now the references, 6 souls, children? Oh why yes they were the 6 Souls from Undertale, the names were meant to represent their respective souls alongside the color of their hair, I didn't really add much to them as they were never supposed to be important characters, I'll tell you what I had as the first idea later on the next chapter when it comes out.
Kazemaru Ichirouta, yup Inazuma Eleven is present in this story, now you may ask, why the fuck is he here if he has no relation to this whole arc? Easy, the whole church arc was actually meant for another story, one where Issei was not present, it had both Kazemaru Ichirouta (Nathan Swift) and the Yo Kai Watch Protagonist (Nate Adams) as the two protagonists, I'll get into more details later on.
(SPOILER ALERT FOR LOBOTOMY CORPORATION & PERSONA 5)
Yaldabaoth, this character's first appearance is a mini version of the Persona 5 one who's basically the final boss, your average god opponent that a couple of misfits end up defeating lol, then the more human version is, coincidentally called, Adam who is from Lobotomy Corporation who depicts the much more powerful and godlike phase that Ayin (fuck you Ayin) felt during the precedents of the game's story
(END OF LOBOTOMY CORPORATION & PERSONA 5 SPOILERS)
The weapon, Blade Forged From Souls as well as the image's names don't have a real reference so they are mostly just normal stuff.
I unfortunately don't know the name of the artists of the art that I have used. Oh here is an image for Yaldabaoth's design, I won't be saying who the character is since if you end up searching for him, but if you read that spoiler section you know who he is, you might end up spoiling yourself for the game mentioned (Edit: Like mentioned before, an image would show up in this case, but the character's name is still in the Spoilers Section).
Scrapped ideas from the last chapter are the following.
Original version of this chapter didn't have Issei practicing other stuff, but I ended up adding it as I had added another arc that was going to be incredibly interesting for me to write if it ever came to that.
The chapter was supposed to add more conversation between Issei and the other children, but decided to go against it, since I didn't want to add much importance to them all, they were bound to die after all.
And that is it, now the song.
So the name of the song is 孤独の宗教 or Religion of Loneliness by Syudou. The version actually makes more sense if it is about Nate Adams and Kazemaru Ichirouta, but ended up being used for an arc for Issei, the lyrics don't have much importance, it was simply the concept of the visuals that made me create something based on it. Most of the earlier stuff that I write will follow this sort of thinking.
And that is about it, there really wasn't much to talk, but then again, next time, being the end of the arc, will have a lot of stuff to talk about this chapter, and then the start of the third arc, which I am really looking forward to, will explain the concept of this arc and what it originally was supposed to be, and trust me, it goes south, fast.