At the top of a small hill, surrounded by trees, was a dilapidated, almost ruined church. With charred walls, broken windows, and a half-destroyed door, the place had clearly seen better days. The inside of the church was in an even worse state. The pews lay overturned and scorched, and a massive crack ran down the stone altar, with only half of the holy cross remaining.
Two figures entered the church, swinging open the broken doors as one of them hung on a single hinge. Stepping forward, the moonlight shining through the broken shadows illuminated their white cloaks lined with gold. One of them had what seemed like a massive axe wrapped in bandages strapped to her back. It was held in place by a belt that bore the insignia of the Catholic Church.
"It's quite run-down, no?" The one with the large axe-like item strapped to her back spoke.
"I heard that there was a fierce battle between some Devils and Fallen Angels here," the other woman said with a slightly high-pitched voice that had a cheerful, almost bubbly edge to it.
"Are you sure this is the spot?" The axe-bearing woman took off her hood, revealing her short yet unnaturally colored blue hair.
"Of course," the bubbly one spoke, taking off her hood to reveal two long ponytails of chestnut-blonde hair that went to her hips. "I used to live here after all, Xenovia. He should be here soon."
At the same time as the two women inside made themselves comfortable, a Devil woman was casually leaning against the highest spire while standing atop a part of the destroyed roofing. She had her eyes closed, half of her focus on maintaining her camouflage spell, while the other half was on the situation inside the church.
[He won't be here long, only a few minutes at most. Go in immediately after he leaves.]
[Who? A higher up from the Catholic Church?]
[Worse. A cadre of the Fallen Angels.]
[Azazel?] Orion immediately connected the dots.
[How'd you know?] Rias was surprised.
[Lucky guess… The Fallen Angel faction isn't exactly overflowing with Carde-class members equivalent to your Satans—at least on paper. I don't think any of them can hold a candle to your older brother.]
[They can't.]
Both Rias and Orion heard the flapping of wings at the same time and quieted down as a figure emerged from the darkness of the moonlit night. With six pairs of pitch-black wings that seemed to absorb any light that struck them, making them seem almost like an empty void, from which a male was slowly emerging. This was Azazel, a Cadre of the Fallen Angel Faction.
[Why is he here?] Orion asked as he looked at the relatively normal-looking man—discounting the abyssal black wings—entering the church. [Actually, why are any of them here? This is Devil territory. Why are Fallen Angels and people from the church here in the first place?]
[It's complicated. One of the Fallen Cadres defected and wants to kill me and Sona to incite another war. Those two are the bait and would definitely die if not for some special circumstances. If anything, you'll do them a favor if you act as some kind of divine intervention and distract them from their mission.]
I remember her mentioning Kokabiel before this as well… She is already aware of that whole event… Let's see how far ahead in time her knowledge actually goes. If only I'd actually bothered reading the novels instead of just going by the fandom summaries to get a gist, I would have a much deeper idea of the lore. That's assuming I would be able to sit through Issei going crazy over touching tits all the time… Ironic how my core power is now based on an expanded version of that premise.
[You've seen this stuff in other realities, right? What happens after that?]
[Are you asking for me to spoil things, Orion? Don't be naughty now. Where's the fun if nothing surprises you anymore?]
[Tsk.] He hadn't expected her to reveal the full extent of her knowledge, but that didn't mean he wouldn't express his displeasure.
The two of them didn't talk anymore, focusing on the output that they got from the reconnaissance spell that Rias had preemptively cast on the spire, letting them hear the conversation inside.
The gist was the same as what Rias had told him. Azazel was here to tell the two of them about Kokabiel and downplay the Cadre's strength to make sure that the two nuns willingly threw themselves into the suicide mission. And that's exactly what it would have been, if not for the outlier that was the Red Dragon Emperor and his boob obsession. Even then, Vali had been the one to ultimately take care of Kokabiel as far as Orion remembered.
The moment Azazel left, Orion separated a part of himself from Rias, forming into a black orb on her palm. She mumbled a garbled incantation and closed her eyes with a focused expression as a red magic circle appeared on top of the orb before being absorbed inside him.
"Get going," she whispered, tossing him through the broken window.
Goddamn, she is crazy useful. The more magic she shows me, the more I want to learn it all as soon as possible.
Entering the church, Orion quickly morphed into his human figure and turned his hair from black to shining gold while turning his eyes from green to an oceanic blue. Draping himself in a pure white cloak and even creating two pairs of pristine white wings on his back, Orion looked almost identical to an angel. If that hadn't been enough to sell his identity correctly, his entire body was radiating a holy glow that cemented his identity as a holy figure. That was the spell that Rias had cast on him. It allowed him to radiate a holy aura for as long as his magical energy lasted. With its efficiency, even his measly twenty-two units would be able to last him for more than two hours. More than enough time for him to start siphoning energy out of the two girls to continue maintaining his spell.
"Angel-sama," the chestnut-haired girl, Irina, spoke with widened eyes and immediately bowed respectfully. Xenovia mirrored her expression and bowed with a reverent posture at the figure's appearance.
"Lost children," Orion's voice came out deep and had a reverberating effect that made the air itself vibrate. It was an extra effect of the aura spell. "Do you wish to die?"
"W-what? No," Irina immediately shook her head, making her hair sway from side to side. "I definitely don't want to die, Angel-sama."
"Then why are you following the instructions of a Fallen Angel and willingly throwing yourselves into the mouth of a foe you cannot hope to beat?" Orion asked. "Do you think those were Michael's instructions for the church? For them to sacrifice their members…"
Both girls froze in place, unable to even raise their heads in front of the intense holy aura that the angel was radiating.
"You didn't even see Michael when he descended, did you?" Orion asked, his intense, suppressive voice growing slightly softer.
"Y-you are the first angel I have seen, Angel-sama…" Xenovia said.
"I once saw my father talking to an angel…" Irina said in a small voice. "He told me that this was the will of Michael-sama and the church. To take care of a Fallen Angel that has defected and needs to be dealt with."
"You poor children, being used as sacrificial lambs without even being aware of it…" Orion said. "Tell me, will you give your lives for the church and the angels?"
"Without question," Xenovia said with an expression of intense conviction.
"Then why do you think they felt the need to lie to you like that?"
"They lied to us?" Irina asked, seeming a little late on the uptake.
"That's what I'm scolding you two about," Orion landed with a thump in front of the two. "Without even knowing the true dangers, you travelled all the way over to Devil territory. Still, it's of no fault of your own. The church was also helpless in this decision. Why else would Shidou send his own daughter to be sacrificed?"
"What is going on, Angel-sama?" Xenovia asked.
"Call me Orion," he said. "Per the will of the Heavenly Father, I am here to give you a fighting chance against a cadre of the Fallen Angels. You didn't think we would leave you to die just like that, did you?"
Hearing the warm and almost playful tone that he spoke with, the two girls finally mustered the courage to look up at Orion.
"Make us stronger…" Xenovia said. "Will heaven provide us with weapons even stronger than the Excalibur fragments?"
"Something far better," he said. "We have devised a way to harness the potential of the soul. This enhancement is based on the intensity of the emotions that you experience, for which I will provide you with a crutch. We will spend the next few days in this church, empowering you. Only once I am satisfied, will you be allowed to step foot outside that door. Will you accept God's decree, Irina, Xenovia?"
"Always, Orion-sama!" Irina immediately saluted, causing her ponytails to sway around due to her abrupt motion. "Just give me the order."
"Likewise," Xenovia said, relatively calmly, but still filled with excitement
"Good girls," Orion praised. "Give me your hands."
He extended his hands toward both of them as they unhesitantly grasped his hands with both of theirs.
A white light flashed from the point of contact, and the two women saw a white substance emerge from Orion's hands and enter their bodies through their arms.
[I didn't know you could control your color now…] Rias' words came to him telepathically. She was still in the same place, observing the events transpiring inside the church.
[I didn't exactly sit on my ass for the last week while I played with Akeno's tits. I spent my time doing other things as well. I'd even found a nice spot to take you out on a date. If you didn't teleport us to that dinghy ramen place…]
[We both enjoyed that Ramen. And it's your fault for forgetting that I was starving.]
***
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