NOVEL SIMPLE Is This What You Really Are?
[Somewhere in Kuoh - Penemue POV]
We knew that Kokabiel was going rouge, in fact, it was painfully obvious when he started disregarding us and directly disobeyed orders issued by Azazel himself, but even so, nobody paid much attention to it.
Why do you ask? Simply because we are fallen, and like it or not we all have a deep rooted hatred for command chains due to our father, so it's a given that our faction is maybe a little loser than it's perhaps needed to be, and the most lose of them all is Azazel our leader.
But even if Azazel is the worst of us all, he still makes an active effort to fight for our sake, and it's an unwritten rule that all fallen are to stick with each other, so Kokabiel's move to hurt Raynare, which is the biological daughter of the acting Governor of Fallen Angels himself, it wasn't something that was going to pass by anymore.
So it was announced that he was a criminal, and from that day on, he never got back to Grigori anymore, which confirmed that he has reflected, which didn't make us any happier, and we were forced to actively utilize a portion of our already lacking personnel to look for him and arrest him.
But wait...there's more. The bastard wasn't just some no name fallen angel, he was one of the original ones and had twelve pairs of wings, thus he held a significant position in Grigori and not only did he have a sway in matters concerning the entire organisation, he also had a significant portion of followers, who apparently had been altering documents and actively controlling what does and doesn't enter Azazels radar as well!
Which forced us to imprison 500+ defected fallen angels which nearly crippled our internal governing structure! We also have to fucking search for the fucker, with an entire fuckin squad of powerful fallen at that! AHHHHH!
‘I SWEAR I'll fuckin tear his wings off when I lay my hands on him!’
*SIZZLING*
“Penemue! Calm yourself!”
…..Oh….I almost let my fire out, it seems this habit of mine never left me after all, huh.
“I'm sorry Baraqiel, but just thinking about the fucker is enough to trigger me immensely, I always hated the smug son of a bitch”
Baraqiel just stares at me silently then nods and turns away….Honestly, I know you're trying to comfort me, but would it kill you to say it out loud, and what's with the stone face? I honestly wonder what Shuri thought about you, mister stone faced Baraqiel.
“....Did you say something rude about me?”
“....No, you're just imagining it”
What the hell? Are you an empath? What kind of bullshit is that?
“Ara~Ara~ Penemue, didn't you say that you've been reformed, and you're not the hot-headed, impulsive, kill first and ask questions later kind of woman anymore~?”
….I almost forgot about her, honestly, I hate that I find her voice pleasant despite her insufferable personality.
“....Kristiel, don't you have better things to do? Why are you even here anyway?”
Fiery red hair that extends until her buttocks accompanied by the most perfect form a woman can have, her breasts are not too big as to hinder her movement, and not too small as to be unnoticeable, just the perfect size, I believe she told me once that they were H-cup, her hips are very streamlined which end with a pair of legs that I'm honestly pretty jealous of, coupled with that seductive personality she always carries herself with…..sometimes, even I find myself a little dazed, despite my inner dissatisfaction.
Don't get me wrong, I like men, and I'm objectively considered very beautiful, so are all fallen angels, but when someone like Kristiel, who is considered the most beautiful fallen angel, and one of the most beautiful women to ever exist comes around, even a rock would find itself captivated.
‘I still think that she's annoyi-!!’
“Ooh~ my little sister hates me! I'm sorry Penemue! I won't make fun of you anymore!”
It suddenly turned dark!! What happened?!l And what are those two soft cushions I feel surrounding my head?!....Wait! Dammit Kristiel Let Go Of Me!!
“G’t Aw'y ’oM ‘E Y’ B'tch!!”
I try to get away from the wicked witch's grasp, but behind those soft snow white arms, there lays a grip strength of a thousand gorillas!! Stupid fucking macho woman, I couldn't move an inch! I hate you!
“Do we have any intel on the little girl called Asia?”
Both me and Kristiel suddenly fall silent, and she lets go of me, and we both look at Baraqiel who now looks noticeably sadder…. I'm honestly a little sad too, but there's absolutely nothing we can do about it.
I try to muster a reply for Baraqiel's question, but Kristiel beat me to it
“....Sorry Baraqiel, I know you feel guilty about the little girl, we all do, and Azazel even more so, but all we know is that she vanished the moment she entered Kuoh, and when we asked the devils about her, they said that they never even heard about her, so our best bet is to track Kokabiel and confront him about it”
She looked visibly saddened, which is quite like her, despite her seductive and overly sexual outward personality, she's quite kindhearted on the inside.
“....I see…then let us keep searching”
……..
[Student Council Room in Kuoh Academy - Third Person POV]
It was currently the weekend and all students were mostly absent from the schools, I say most, because there were still some clubs that have their more dedicated members even on the weekends, and that naturally includes the most dedicated of them all, Sona Sitri, accompanied by her peerage of course. To the dismay of some of them.
But their normal day of handling paperwork and scheduling tasks abruptly came to an end, when the literal Satan Leviathan suddenly popped in unannounced and invited herself to the president's seat.
Sona was understandably quite upset, and was just about to complain to her sister, when she noticed her sister's serious expression, which was quite terrifying to Sona, simply because of how utterly rare it is, and everytime she saw her sister looking at to her seriously, Sona knew that things weren't going very well.
So, after making Tsubaki serve Serafall tea and taking a seat opposite to her, while Sona's remaining peerage stood behind her, she decided the important things first
“....Sister, is there something happening that you should tell me about?”
Serafall didn't reply, and instead picked up the tea cup calmly and started drinking. She took a sip, and then looked down to put the cup back on the table and sighed heavily in annoyance, which was quite honest terrifying, and was drawing out goosebumps from all devils here, even Sona herself, but she held back, and like always, kept that ice cold look she always has on her face without flinching.
When Serafall looked back up again, and both sisters were eye-to-eye again, Sona didn't see her sister's usual blue eyes. Instead there were these unfamiliar sets of golden red eyes she didn't recognize.
They still held the love and obsession Sona recognizes from her sister, so she was undoubtedly still Serafall, but instead of the usual comforting blue eyes, these eyes were quite creepy. Not in the disgusting way of course, in fact they look quite captivating on her, but they felt terrifying in some way, Sona feels that she saw them somewhere before.
“You know I don't usually like to involve my little Sona-tan in grown-up devil business, but it seems that I have no choice but to tell you”
She sighs again, this time in resignation, and slumps her shoulders a little.
Sona of course, feels a little annoyed at not only her sister specifically calling her ‘Sona-tan’ which she quite dislikes, but also her specifically calling her a child, she was considered an adult in human years you know!!
But, she swallowed all the hard feelings down, she was a smart girl after all, it was honestly quite surprising that something forced even the mighty Satan Leviathan to do something that she actively disliked doing.
So to say that Sona was merely curious was an understatement, she was quite literally hungry to know, and it seems that Serafall knew what her sister was thinking from just looking at her and that drew out a sigh from her again.
*Sigh*
“....Long story short, Grigori announced that Kokabiel, which has twelve pairs of wings by the way, has defected from the faction, and is actively partaking in sabotage attacks here in Kuoh, and has requested assistance to aid in his capture, which is currently going on at this very second”
…..It's safe to say that Sona was quite surprised about the news, evident by the sudden tense atmosphere that surrounded her and her peerage in a matter of seconds.
It should be noted that Sona and Rias, along with both their peerages combined, they all didn't have a single individual that had more than a single pair of wings, and suddenly there was a threat that could practically squish them all like ants, and it was hiding here? In the same city they live in? It was quite nerve-wracking for the young devils.
Especially Ruruko and Saji, who had their human families here in Kuoh and didn't want to risk Kokabiel destroying the town and threatening the lives of their loved ones.
Of course, Serafall noticed their distress, and just shook her hands dismissively in the air.
“Don't worry Ruru and Saji-kun, you don't need to worry about your families being hurt. In fact, you don't need to worry about anything happening to this town at all, it might be even safer here than in the middle of the underworld capital”
After being addressed directly, both Saji and Ruruko were a little stunned, and after processing what they just heard, they were even more so.
And naturally, being the hot-headed muscle brain she is, Ruruko was the first to speak, quickly voicing her bewilderment to the Satan, with a particularly wired title one might add.
“....Miss Satan, how can Kuoh be even more safe, wasn't the underworld supposed to be guarded by the Satans themselves?”
“.....I see, it's because of him, right?”
It wasn't Serafall that answered, instead, the voice belonged to Sona, who had a look of understanding on her face as she nodded to herself a few times.
Which is why she didn't notice Serafall worming her way into her direction, and when she noticed, it was too late.
“Mmmmph!”
A bear hug that rivaled that of a 14-year old girl hugging her stuffed teddy bear was revealed to the world, and poor Sona was stuck between two very bountiful obstacles, with no known way of getting free.
“As expected of my Sona-tan!! She's very smart!”
Her smile was shining brightly on her face, as she was basically grinning from ear to ear, but as if suddenly remembering something, she pouted a little.
“.....But the big bad demon won't protect my Sona-tan if she's in danger….But worry not! For I! You're sister, shall protect you with all my power!! Just keep an eye out and call me when you feel something amiss, and magical Levia-tan will come to the rescue!!”
Her dazzling smile was soon gracing her face once again, and after letting go of Sona, she gets up and a magic circle glows under her feet, but before she teleported, she didn't forget to drop a bomb on poor Sona, which didn't even recover from the previous assault.
“Oh!! And Sona-tan! I forgot to tell you that Lord Xeron is now an honorary high-class devil with a custom evil piece set, but also has me! As his first peerage member and also a bishop!”
She looked up proudly and slammed her chest a few times, but her dignified image was entirely ruined by her breasts jiggling left and right due to the sudden motion, but no-one got to make a comment about anything, because Serafall was soon teleported out, leaving a very confused Sona along with her entire peerage, except of Saji, whose face was red for some reason.
……….
[Unknown Location - Third Person POV]
The cell was getting eerily silent, at first there was screaming, then there was praying, and now there was nothing, just silence.
So silent in fact, that when the warden priest came in to check of she was even alive or not, he found her balled up on the ground while shivering slightly, and after confirming that she's at least still alive, he threw the piece of bread she always eats towards her direction and shut off the cell's door again.
Asia of course, didn't even move, she didn't even look up when she felt something being thrown at her, she instead kept looking down at the floor, silently wailing at her misery, and her seemingly unending stream of horrible events befell upon her since she was first born.
She didn't even know her biological parents, she was told that she was found abandoned in front of the church's doors, without even a note that states her name or origin.
So, she was adopted by the church and raised as Asia Argento with the other orphaned kids of the church.
She doesn't recall much of the events, but she can vaguely remember the innocent happy feelings she felt when she and the other kids played together when they were still children, it could be said that these were honestly the happiest moments of her entire wretched life, and like any form of happiness that was ever present in the life of Asia Argento, it was cruelly stripped away when she turned 10 years old.
She awakened twilight healing, a sacred gear that can heal all physical wounds, regardless of their severity or affliction date.
So naturally, the main exorcists headquarters in the Vatican took note of this, and she was immediately transferred to the Vatican to officially start her life as the main healer of the church.
Well, main healer was the term they used, the more appropriate term would be healing slave.
Yes, healing slave, at the tender age of 10 years old, young Asia was not only tasked to tend to the wounds of various exorcists regardless of her mental or physical comfort, she was also being kept strictly ‘guarded’ and was not allowed to leave under any circumstances.
But even then, young Asia found happiness, happiness in being able to help the injured, happiness in meeting her now foster-mother Griselda Quarta, but also her two best friends and basically sisters Xenovia Quarta and Irina Shidou.
And just as it looked like fate was being kind to her, she was again reminded of how vile, this place called life truly is, she was branded a heretic, and was about to be executed if not for the intervention of her foster mother, and instead they settled on exiling her from the church, leaving her entirely on her own, and knowing for certain that after being sheltered for so long, she will ultimately die.
…..The reason for her exile? She healed someone she shouldn't have. A devil, who she found injured one day, presumably by an exorcist of the church. She of course didn't know that, and only wanted to heal the injured like they taught her at the very same church.
‘It was a gift of God! Thus, you should use it in his name!’ they said, they fed her honeyed words to make her do their bidding with no questions asked, and like the foolish little girl she was, she followed them blindly without questions.
And like the foolish little girl she still is, she’a now here, tricked by someone she met for the first time that day, and brought here to be confined in a cell until god knows how long. Maybe until they find a use for her, then they’ll probably dispose of her, it's the rule of the world after all.
She prayed….again and again and again and again, until her throat hurt and the words couldn't even leave her mouth, then she silently prayed again, this time in her mind, in her soul, but again, like lady time, and like all the times before that. Nothing happened.
And she was quietly wallowing in her sorrows by herself, she heard something.
A voice, in the back of her mind, a quiet low voice that seemed to speak to her very soul.
At first, she thought herself insane, she's probably hallucinating, she convinced herself. But, she heard it again.
'Is this what you really are, Asia Argento?’