Chapter 24: The Nun's Predicament
Shatter!
Freed's body catapulted through the air, landing him back-first on a glass table in the apartment's living room, causing it to shatter as a few shards dug into his skin.
"What's wrong?" With a faint ringing sound polluting the Stray Exorcist's ears, it had become rather difficult for him to distinguish Takauji's words. "I thought you were supposed to be a genius, but you're hardly even putting up a fight anymore."
"Cough! Cough!" Freed shook his head, trying to regain his balance and adjust to whatever had just happened.
All he had received was a simple, untrained punch to the midsection.
But the speed and force that the punch carried were unlike anything he had ever experienced. Even if Takauji was undeniably inferior to Freed's martial prowess in every way, the raw strength he was capable of exuding rendered Freed's training obsolete.
It was like he had been struck in the stomach by a full-speed bullet train.
"I guess I've learned all I can from you," Takauji sighed, crouching down and taking the handgun and light-sword from Freed again.
But this time, he had no reason to return it.
'I suppose this is the part where I kill you.'
Now that he understood how the handgun operated, he loaded it in the same manner he had observed Freed do it, and pointed it towards the Stray Exorcist's head while he was down.
'It doesn't really feel any different from when I killed that Stray Devil, well, getting rid of an impostor genius is a little satisfying, I'll admit that.'
"Wait!" But right as he was about to pull the trigger, a high-pitched, feminine voice called out from behind him.
He turned out, causing Asia to flinch as she was met with his cold, indifferent gaze. The color of Takauji's pupils had noticeably darkened, even if the Magician himself hadn't realized it.
"What do you want? Sacred Gear Gaijin Girl?" He still hadn't moved the barrel of the handgun away from Freed's head.
His eyes narrowed as he observed Asia's hesitant face, curious about her role in everything that was occurring at the moment.
"You know, you don't really have the face of a killer. Are you sure knocking down doors like this is really the right profession for you?" Comparing Freed and Asia, even just glancing at them alone, would give one the impression of a night and day difference.
"I didn't know Father Freed planned to do something like this! I swear!" She pleaded, earning an intrigued hum from Takauji in return.
"That doesn't sound like a lie to me, unless you're secretly a lot more skilled than I thought." Of course, after seeing Asia's clumsy effort to navigate Kuoh, he didn't peg her for the brilliant type. "Setting that aside, I don't understand what you stopped me for, you disapprove of his actions, don't you?"
He moved the handgun closer to Freed, watching as Asia's apprehension grew, the pressure of the situation weighing down on her.
"Well? Now that you've interrupted me, you might as well say your piece." But he continued to push her, as per his infuriating attitude. "Why should I stop? Especially when he was about to kill a perfectly innocent Japanese citizen—" Takauji took a look back at the apartment owner.
'Damn, you're pretty ugly dude.'
He cleared his throat. "Especially when he was about to kill this rotund creature?"
Still, Asia couldn't bring herself to come up with an answer; she had also made a fruitless attempt to stop Freed when he initially attacked the man, but an attempt nonetheless.
This was the first time she had found herself in a true life-or-death situation, albeit one where another person's life hung in the balance. As if fate were playing a cruel game with her, Takauji, of all people, happened to be the person in charge of it.
"Father Freed wouldn't do something like that!" In the end, all she could do was mutter words that she herself didn't even fully believe.
The only thing that was on her mind was the hope that no one was going to die in her presence.
Her personality, curated by her time as the Church's "Holy Maiden," had conditioned her to think in this manner, even after they had cast her away.
Takauji raised his brow, his expression asking Asia if that was really the word choice she wanted to settle with.
"Shame, I was hoping for something more interesting—"
"That's enough," a much more authoritative, clearly irritated, feminine voice intervened.
One which caused Takauji to immediately drop his head and roll his eyes, recognizing the origin of the voice within a matter of seconds.
'Can't have shit in Kuoh.'
"I wasn't even going to do anything," he insisted.
"Yeah? So the handgun you're pointing at him is just a figment of my imagination?"
It was none other than Sona, who had finally caught up to Takauji after he took off with his Tabby transformation. She stood in the apartment's doorway with her hands on her hips and an unimpressed expression on her face.
"Handgun?" Takauji immediately hit Freed with another strike, knocking him out before putting the handgun right next to his unconscious body. "I've never touched a handgun in my life; that would be illegal."
"Uh-huh, and that?" She then pointed to the ignited light-sword he was holding.
"This? It's just a toy, I got it online. Isn't that right, delinquent-looking Gaijin prie— Oh wait, you're unconscious."
Sona rubbed her open palm down her face, clearly uninterested in putting up with her Contracted Magician's shenanigans and tomfoolery.
"I have many questions, but here isn't a good place to have them answered, so we're going to take him back for interrogation." Sona glanced at Asia, "As for you, I also have quite a few things I'd like you to answer for me."
Asia could do nothing but nod, fairly intimidated by Sona's authoritative demeanor.
"One second," Takauji said, approaching the apartment owner. "This was all a bad dream, by the way, you didn't see anything."
He used his Blind spell on the poor individual, signaling for everyone to make their hasty departure while he was stunned.
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Once they returned to the Sitri Household, Sona decided to bind Freed with a water serpent, similar to what she had done to Raynare's stooges some time ago. She planned to question him after she was done with Asia.
"Have you eaten yet?" Sona asked her.
"No," she shook her head. "But I'm fine, you don't have to—"
"Go make yourself useful and cook something for her," Sona ordered her Magician.
"Do it yourself, I'm not your personal chef." He crossed his arms, looking at her with a mildly offended expression.
Him? Cook for a Gaijin? As if.
"Either you do it, or you'll end up like him." She pointed to the bound, unconscious Stray Exorcist.
Him? Cook for a Gaijin? Maybe on occasion.
"Hmph."
'I'll get you back for this one day.'
"So," Sona turned to Asia. "What's a Sacred Gear user like yourself doing here in Kuoh? From what I can tell, you definitely aren't a newly awakened one, and certainly not someone unaffiliated." She pointed to her Nun attire.
"Uhm," she hesitated for a moment. "I'm not actually affiliated with the Church, not anymore."
"I'm inclined to call you a liar, judging from your outfit, but since I don't think you've got much lying ability in you, unlike a certain someone," she purposefully raised her voice near the end. "I'm going to give you a chance to explain yourself."
Sona crossed her arms, giving Asia the floor.
"I used to be a part of the Church, but they, uh," again—she hesitated, dipping her head with an evidently somber expression. "They exiled me."
"The Church exiled a Sacred Gear user?"
Sona found it hard to believe, given how firm the Church's belief was that every Sacred Gear was supposed to be under its control since it was artifacts bestowed upon humanity by the Biblical God.
"Go on," she said with piqued interest.
"My Sacred Gear is capable of healing people." Sona's eyes immediately widened, but she chose not to say anything so Asia could finish her story.
Putting aside the extreme rarity of recovery-type Sacred Gears, recovery-type abilities in general were unimaginably rare and valued in the supernatural world; there wasn't a single High-Class Devil around who wouldn't want someone with such a skill in their peerage.
"At first, they seemed happy with it, and they even called me their Holy Maiden for a while."
"But you still ended up getting exiled."
Asia nodded stiffly, "One day, I found a Devil who had been injured, and I decided to use my powers to help, but the Church ended up finding out about it, and they exiled me because of that."
Sona furrowed her brow, "You healed a Devil? Why on earth would you do that?"
From what she assumed, those under the Church should be indoctrinated to loathe Devils on sight, if not attempt to kill them immediately.
"Because it was the right thing to do, God gave me this power to help other people, even if it got me exiled, I don't regret my decision." Even though her voice was timid, there was still an apparent sense of resolution laced in her words.
'I'm a Devil, and even I think you made a stupid decision.'
"What were you doing with him?" Sona motioned to the still knocked out Stray Exorcist tied up on the floor.
"He said he was going to help take care of me after I got Exiled, and that some person called Raynare would also be there—"
"Let me stop you right there," Sona had finally heard something from the Nun that actually seemed to check out. "Did you just say Raynare?"
"Do you know her?" Asia tilted her head.
"Oh, I know her alright, " she replied with a threatening smile, which only frightened the Nun even further. And I think I have a pretty good idea of what's going on now."
Sona looked at Freed, 'If he's affiliated with Raynare, a Fallen Angel, then that would make him a Stray Exorcist.'
Even with her knowledge of how malicious the Church could be, not even they would go hunting people so openly out of fear of ruining their reputation in the public eye, or getting caught overstepping the ground rules set by Kuoh's current oversight.
'To think I actually let her off that time, and then she not only tried to murder someone in my town, but smuggled a Sacred Gear user into it for Lucifer-knows-what.'
She started to rub her chin, already beginning to envision the things she was about to do to the Fallen Angel and her subordinates for having the audacity to ignore her warning.
"Takauji!" She once again yelled for her disgruntled employee.
He poked his head out of the kitchen door with an annoyed look on his face, "What do you want this time? I'm trying to make some Karaage so this Gaijin finally understands what good food actually tastes like."
"Remember when I said you couldn't visit the Fallen Angel base?"
"Yeah?"
"I changed my mind, we're going there now." She encased Freed in a water prison, causing him to levitate. "And we're bringing him with us; I don't want him trying anything while I'm not here."
Takauji raised his brow, both shocked and delighted at the same time.
'For the first time in 3 years, you finally made a good decision.'
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This series is a little challenging to write at times, since I need to balance out the power progression with plot progression—but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it, or so I hope.
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