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Chapter 523:

Respect where it\'s due, it\'s hard to train that sort of combat awareness and intuitiveness even if it was weird seeing it in Children.

And I could better understand why Father Swole wanted me to talk to them. Because the world was changing rather quickly and this kind of behavior wouldn\'t help them once they started working properly as Exorcists.

What happened if they come across a Devil on vacation or something in more neutral territory?

"Be seated!" A voice boomed over the crowd of murderous munchkins. Vasco Strada glared at the group of kids. I hadn\'t ever seen him visibly upset before. Sure, I could feel it back at the conference, but he was apparently keeping it in check due to the situation. But here, well, he let his anger show.

Shit, I almost sat down.

Well once more, when Father Swole spoke, people listened.

"But Father Strada, he\'s a Devil!" One of the braver kids tried to argue, literally with his Holy Gun waving in the air, mostly pointed at me.

"John 8:7-11." He cleared his throat. "So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." His gaze swept the room, quieting them down. "Which among us is without sin and would like to go first? I know for certain that it will not be me."

I didn\'t speak, letting Father Swole do his thing, I would have a chance to say things in a second.

"Eliano?" His gaze fell on a younger kid who was sending out far more blood lust than a kid his age should. "Do you think I didn\'t notice you being heavy handed in the spars this week because your pride was hurt after being rejected by a girl you liked?"

He didn\'t give him a chance to answer. "Marco? Perhaps between thefts of food from the kitchens you would like to go first?" A slightly rounder kid winced and lowered his head. "Savino and Fiore, would you like to give the first stone throw after you come back from sneaking away for some alone time." He raised an eyebrow at a boy and girl who blushed in embarrassment together and sunk down in their seats.

Well, the actual desire to fight died down rather quickly, even if the kids didn\'t speak in response. I don\'t think any of them wanted Father Swole to single them out because clearly he knew what they were getting up to in secret.

"I asked him to speak because this behavior is precisely what is unacceptable. I have two jobs, children. One of them is to train you into the best Exorcists that I can and you have been doing wonderfully." He smiled warmly. "The second is to guide you to be the best people you can be, and I feel as though I have failed in that regard. I asked him to speak because I felt it would be beneficial to you all, to meet one of the supposed \'Devil Spawn\' that is toted around. To see for yourselves, for you to question for yourselves and to God what you should be fighting for and where your ideals lay. Now, you will behave appropriately, and if one of you attacks our guests, you will all receive a very harsh punishment. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Father Strada!" They all chorused together, lacking any bit of enthusiasm.

He really was a nice guy.

Yeah, his intentions are pure, and obvious. I didn\'t mind lending a hand to his attempts since they were nice enough to let me bring Jeanne to tour the Vatican.

The look from Father Swole basically told me that it was my turn.

I leaned on the podium, taking out an apple and loudly biting into it. "What he left unsaid was that you all are a bunch of idiots." I would do what I did best, make them angry enough to stop being idiots. "You, the kid glaring at me." I pointed at one in particular who had a finger on the trigger of his gun. "Where\'d your gun go?"

"What –" He looked down and it was missing.

Rather, I was spinning it on my finger. "Nice toy. Here\'s a question for anyone who thinks they can answer. Why did you all think raising weapons at me was a good idea?"

"You\'re a Devil!" One of them shouted.

"Half-Devil, but yes. And your point?" I bit into my apple again.

"You….you\'re evil!"

"Says who?"

"T-the Bible, God!"

"Really? Then why hasn\'t the towering muscle mass that is Father Strada over there not smite me down in the name of God? Am I stronger than him?" I asked.

It was about the age where they start developing critical thinking skills and think for themselves outside of simply being told what to do.

"No way, Father Strada is the strongest!"

"He could pop your head like a grape!"

"Beat him up, Father Strada!"

Well, to his benefit, Father Swole did look exasperated. It\'s funny how such powerful people are so helpless in front of a bunch of clueless kids.

"Then why didn\'t he smite me, hmm?" I proposed the question. "I\'ll give you your gun back if you answer." I looked at the kid who was visibly upset because I took his gun away.

"Because…..he asked you to be here?"

"Half credit." I tossed it back to him. "Yes, first off, right in front of you all, he very clearly asked me to come talk to you. Secondly – " I looked at Jeanne. "I came here with a literal Saintess. Thirdly, I announced I was a Half-Devil, while standing in the middle of the Vatican. Fourthly, you can ignore all of that and consider how strong Father Strada over here is and the fact that he hasn\'t made a single move to either smite me or protect you all."

I gave them a moment to ponder these.

Kids are fucking stupid, it takes effort to make them not fucking stupid. Something true for all kids, I was just as stupid as they were when I was their age. The difference was that I wouldn\'t be going into combat with my life on the line and potentially lose it due to that stupidity, well at least I didn\'t think I would when I was their age.

"Consider all of those, and perhaps there is a reason I was standing here at this moment, hmm?" I looked around. "I\'ve met the Archangel Michael before, and he offered to let me become an Angel."

"Liar!" One girl was quick to threw her hand up, pointing at me in accusation. "There\'s no way a filthy Devil could be an Angel!"

"Erica, he speaks the truth." Father Strada said softly. "Lord Michael offered the opportunity during the peace conference for various reasons. It could be said that Mr. Schweinorg here has the favor of God."

[He\'s technically right.] Ddraig agreed. [Hey, try shooting one of the priests with that Light Gun, I wanna see what it does.]

{Ignore him, please. You are doing a good deed by speaking to these children that have had their world views skewed, don\'t let Ddraig ruin it.} My Zanpakutō interjected.

Well, that certainly made them go quiet at the confirmation from Father Swole. Really went to show how much trust they have in the massive Priest.

"I suppose it\'s rare that you lot have a chance to just talk openly with one of my kind, so have at it. I\'m a Half-Devil. I\'m a Magic-user, I am a \'pagan\' that has relations with \'pagan\' Gods. I\'ve probably broken every rule of the Bible. So feel free to ask." I offered.

This is what Father Swole wanted, so lets have at it.

"You\'re a witch!?"

"He\'s a guy, you idiot!"

"Why can\'t a guy be a witch? That\'s sexist."

I found myself smiling. Kids were kids despite everything. "A witch is something specific. Witchcraft is its own branch of \'Magic\'. Like how you would consider Martial Arts to cover both Spears and Swords, yet Swords and Spears are different." I explained it well enough for them to understand.

"Then why does the Bible say that Witches are bad and not everything else?"

"Well, if I had to guess, it\'s possible that the ones who wrote it only knew about Witches in particular. And to be frank Witchcraft usually deals with the nastier side of things. Curses, pain, blood rituals, those are common in Witchcraft." I honestly explained.

"….can you show us some magic?" One kid shyly raised his hand.

Others looked at him, but I think there was a hint of…agreement, even if they weren\'t so bold to ask.

I glanced at Father Swole, and he gave me a small nod.

I held my hand up to produce a Fireball. I clutched it, snuffing it out, and let my spell change into a ball of ice and floated it into the middle of the group for them to feel the cold of it themselves and let them touch it.

They hid back their interest well enough as they gradually poked at it and tried to break it as they grew more confident.

One kid swung his light sword, cutting it in half. "Hah, it\'s no match for me!" He said proudly.

"What\'s it like being a Devil!?" Another kid blurted out after the tension disappeared. "Do you read the Bible backwards, do you go to Devil Church? Is hell filled with fire and screams?"

I smiled at his enthusiasm. "Truth be told, I only found out that I was a Half-Devil recently. For the first 18 years of my life, I thought I was a normal human. I went to school normally, and my biggest concerns at the time were getting good grades. I\'ve only been to Hell a couple of times and I\'m not associated with them outside of one or two people."

"How did you not know you were a devil?" One asked, raising their hand.

"Well, compared to normal Devils, I was…untalented. Do you know what power that Devils hold?"

"Don\'t devils use Demonic power?"

"That\'s right." I nodded. "Mine was so small that you couldn\'t tell me from a normal human."

"….that\'s sad."

"It wasn\'t all bad, it led to me being where I am now. I have a family, I have a daughter, I have friends and people I love."

"Devils can love people?"

"Of course." I answered and I nearly made a noise because there was a woosh in the air and someone touched down on the tiled ground.

Unbent to most of the people here, a woman draped in a cloak with blond bangs poking through appeared behind the pews.

And if it wasn\'t obvious based on the Holy Power I could feel, well….. the size of her bosom led some credence to a few guesses.

"Does that mean her too!?" The Not-Gabriel pointed at Jeanne.

"Ah!?" Jeanne\'s eyes widened as she too noticed Not-Gabriel hiding back there. "W-we\'re not!!?"

"Sorry, what\'s your name?" I decided to play along.

"Gab—" The Not-Archangel went stiff. "….Gabby."

Even Father Swole twitched slightly.

I chuckled. "To answer your question, her happiness is something I take very seriously."

It was always fun to see Jeanne flush at being teased.

The kids looked at the Not-Gabriel now identified as \'Gabby\'. "Father Strada, is she an Angel?"

\'Gabby\' nearly fell over. "I\'m just a random person that came to visit!" She squeaked. "D-don\'t mind me!"

Father Swole coughed into his fist and I had a feeling that \'Gabby\' wasn\'t \'supposed\' to be here at the moment. "Continue with your questions, children."

The whole reason we came here in person was to observe the common courtesies between factions to deliver a \'response\' without causing any problems, and here she wss in person.

"Do you have horns?" One person asked.

"I do infact have horns, but most Devils don\'t."

"And a Tail?"

"And a Tail." I nodded.

"Can we see them?"

Once more, I looked at Father Swole and he gave me an affirmative nod. I considered him the highest authority and obliged even though the \'rules\' we got stated otherwise.

I touched on the Hogyoku and let my Devil Features come out to play.

"But if you didn\'t know you were a Devil, then why do you have those?" One kid pointed out.

"They\'re a recent addition." I responded.

"How\'d you find out you were a Devil then?"

"A wandering Exorcist stabbed me one night when I was out and about." Oddly, the memory wasn\'t very traumatizing to me. I felt like…..I had outgrown it?

Huh.

"Ah!?" \'Gabby\' let out a squeaked of surprise. "Are you okay, do you need healing? I can look at the wound for you!"

"It was a long time ago." I awkwardly answered, surprised at her sudden concern.

"Did he kill you?"

"He\'s alive right now, you idiot!"

"But Devils can bring people back with their things, right?"

"I didn\'t die, but it was a close thing."

"Did you summon your pet monster to defend you? I heard that all devils get a pet monster when they turn 10!"

"Do you mean a familiar?" I questioned. "In which, I do have a Familiar, but I didn\'t get him until much later."

"Does it have 10 arms, lots of teeth and eyes?" One of them looked enthused as he rattled off. "Can we see it?"

Well, I didn\'t even ask permission for this one.

I summoned Sir Wiggles to the podium "This is my familiar."

"It\'s a rabbit!"

"It\'s so cute!"

"Can we pet him?"

"His name is Sir Wiggles." I smiled. "He likes to be rubbed on the head." Sir Wiggles didn\'t waste time hopping into the crowd of children, well to the ones who seemed intent on giving him some rubs.

Sir Wiggles hopped around and oddly enough he seemed intent to land into \'not-gabriel\'s\' arms much to the not-angel\'s surprise.

Though, she quickly became ecstatic and cooed happily.

No one can resist the Wiggles.

And it seems like their opinions flopped rather quickly and they no longer wanted to stab and shoot me anymore. I wasn\'t going to get upset because of our first \'introduction\', they were just kids.

Well, this turned out pretty well, all things considered.

"Any more questions? Feel free to ask me anything." I looked around.

"Who would win in a fight, a hamster the size of an elephant, or a thousand elephants the size of a hamster?"

"….."

"What, he said anything."

I used my tail to reach out and snag Jeane, forcing her to get closer. She let out a cute little yelp as she tumbled into me and I caught her. "Also any questions for Jeanne here."

"Are you two dating?"

"N-no." Jeanne awkwardly shook her head.

 "Is it because he\'s a Devil?"

"That\'s not –"

"Is it because he\'s a witch?"

"I\'m not a witch." I said dryly.

"That\'s what a witch would say!"

Well shit, he\'s not wrong.

"It-it shouldn\'t be bad even if he\'s a Devil, if you wanted…" Not-Gabriel held up Sir Wiggles infront of her face as she spoke. "There are a lot of books and – " You could see Gabriel flush behind Sir Wiggles.

….what kinds of books did she read?

"He\'s tempting her to sell her soul!" One kid pointed out though it felt less….malicious in tone?

"He\'s not!" Jeanne quickly denied.

"Actually, she\'s the one who tempts me." I pointed out.

"Neh!?" Jeanne\'s eyes widened. "Don\'t say something like that, they\'re going to believe you!" She started hitting my shoulder until she reached up and grabbed my horn, puffing up cutely as she did.

"Gentle with my horn, woman." I felt a strange shiver down my spine. My horns were oddly very sensitive. "Look upon your Saintess as she bullies an innocent Devil."

"Neh!" She grabbed both my horns and pulled on them. "Don\'t mislead the children!"

"If I\'m lying, may God strike me –"

She pulled harder and I think she was getting a certain satisfaction out of discovering a \'weak spot\' of mine because I was quickly losing my strength while she grabbed my horns.

"Hey, what\'s that Box floating next to you?" One kid asked.

"What Box –?" I was about to answer when I glanced to the side to see what he was talking about.

Very quickly, Jeanne let go and I turned very serious. Not only myself, I could feel Vasco Strada\'s gaze harden and even the Archangel Gabriel focus intently on it.

Why was Pandora\'s Box floating right next to me?

Why did I not notice it leave my ring until now?

And why was it emitting a malevolent aura like it was?

It had taken me completely off guard and I felt a strange sensation in my chest. A certain trepidation because it was pulsing with that same \'feeling\' and \'energy\' as it did back down in the Roots of the World Tree.

I reached out to grab it and it was as if it fell through my fingers and landed on the ground between the kids in the pews and us up on the podium.

I felt the silence that permeated the room as everyone stared at it for a brief moment. It was only until the tile cracked that I felt my instincts flare up and we all seemed to move simultaneously.

Before I could even register what happened, I had several kids between my arms as I moved far out of the way. Jeanne did so as well, as did Vasco Strada and Gabriel who had fully revealed herself, wings and all.

I could feel something bubbling below before I saw it. But before this moment, I couldn\'t notice anything at all. It was like the remnants of whatever was inside the Box reached out to something and resonated with it.

But we were in the middle of the fucking Vatican, what could it possible be resonating with!?

It came out all of the sudden, no warning other than just a moment ago as the cracks filled the ground and a malevolent and horrendous energy burst out of the ground shooting upwards and devouring everything in its path.

My Aura burst out as I propped it up in front of me to ward off this disgusting energy. It was vile, repulsive and utterly destructive in nature.

The Energy shot up to the sky and swirled around, turning day into night time.

Vaguely, I could see the silhouette of eyes as it solidified slightly more into the ghostly outline of something.

Seven Heads of differing shapes and sizes whipped around, and then they turned to look at me.

It sent a shiver down my spine and I didn\'t have time to contemplate it before the swirling malevolent energies burst outwards, destroying the building all around us. Several Holy energies shined through, forcing it back and I recognized them even if vision was obscured.

The \'outlines\' of the something I saw changed direction, pulling away from me and seemed to focus on something else.

They moved and crashed down on a single location with a strange roar, followed by a distinct scream that pierced over all the commotion around us.

From one side Vasco Strada\'s Holy Power erupted, blowing away the accumulated vile energies around us, letting us see what was going on.

Gabriel was on her knees, hunched over, screaming in pain as the Malevolent power enveloped her.

And ever so slightly, her wings began to flicker black.

@***@

A/N

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