24 Chapter 24: Faith Cracks

Mordred was currently looking at a katana that was wielded to slay Shuten Doji. Dojigiri Yasutsuna.

"Umu, a wonderful blade indeed... How in the world did you get something like that Mordred?" Okita Souji marveled at the national treasure of Japan.

"Kuu! Mordred sure is lucky." Rias was green with envy due to the Shinto faction giving him the Dojigiri.

"I just saved someone, no big deal. Just doing the right thing. No good deed goes unpunished." Mordred swung it and the blade was clearly magical.

He kept thinking if it was affected by Shuten Doji's blood or not. But he is just happy that he got a pretty nice sword.

"Umu, a suitable sword for my goon Masaomi. I should be carrying the imperial regalia, Kusanagi after all. So this will be his weapon." Mordred nodded in satisfaction at the sharpness of the blade.

It can also conduct his magic easily. Not like Kusanagi or Caliburn, but Dojigiri is a top tier sword that can compete with the others for sure.

"Ahhh, I sure would like to hold such a wonderful sword~" Rias kept on trying to make him lend his brand new sword.

"Rias, you do know that if you want something for Mordred. You should ask for it bluntly." Souji deadpanned at her and Rias remembered Mordred's personality.

"Mo-kun, can I hold the sword? Please?" Rias begged with puppy dog eyes and her servants just shook their heads at their master's attachment to Japan's culture.

"Hmm, it is pretty sharp. Don't let the blade touch you. Dojigiri might not like devils due to it being used to slay Shuten Doji." Mordred handed it to her and wondered if it could work as an anti-devil weapon that isn't strictly a holy sword.

"Oh my Satan... She's beautiful." Rias looked at it like it was her child and Mordred chuckled. "You got to have one yourself Rias. That's going to be Masaomi's sword, not permanently of course."

Rias laughed at his greediness with his treasures. Masaomi actually has to return to their home every few days in order to show Mordred that he didn't lose the Kusanagi.

"Mordred, you're too obsessed with your treasures you know?" Rias playfully teased him and he shrugged.

"What can I say? That's my hoard. And you know that dragons love their treasure. It's all sparkly and everything too." Mordred pointed at the hamon of the katana and it was a dazzling mirror finish.

Even Kiba looked at the sword with a bit of envy. Because they can actually hold it. Unlike Mordred's imperial regalia that would smite them with lightning. Because it has already picked him as its wielder.

"But wouldn't that be quite hard to get? Impossible even? That's a national treasure of Japan." Kiba was confused. Even if Mordred helped Yasaka by saving Kunou, it was a bit too generous for a faction.

There should have been a lot of politics before Mordred was able to receive the thing.

"I was informed by Yasaka that Amaterasu actually gave it away without much trouble. Says that it was a gift to the king of knights." Mordred gave them the reason.

"Ahhh, Amaterasu is buttering you up huh?" Souji smirked and nudged his disciple a bit. "Maybe instead of a godslayer that you would definitely turn into. You'll be the pussy slayer?" Souji laughed and the other kids blushed heavily.

"Souji! T-that's inappropriate!" Rias glared at him and imagined Mordred getting buttered up by different factions.

Due to Rias' birthday party when Mordred had his debut. The rumors around him were of course propagating.

Heaven hasn't made a move yet which was weird. But with factions as large as the deus trinity. They would definitely know of Mordred.

"Pussy slayer? I don't kill cats Souji. Mom even has the last two nekoshous with us." Mordred gave him a weird look and Souji chuckled.

But she suddenly shuddered when he felt a presence behind him. "So... You've been teaching Rias and Mordred these kinds of things, huh Souji?" Grayfia appeared.

Her eyes were ice cold and her pressure was steadily increasing. Souji was normally cool as a cucumber against Grayfia, which is quite amazing. Because even Sirzechs gets scared of her when her anger explodes.

"H-hello Grayfia. This is all a misunderstanding you see?" Souji chuckled nervously and Grayfia put a hand on his shoulder.

A crack resounded and the devils winced when they heard it. "Ahhh, was that an innuendo? Souji, you should know that I am still a child." Mordred deadpanned at him.

"We will need to have a little talk about your attitude and language Souji." Grayfia teleported themselves out of there and Rias smirked at him.

"Serves you right you pervert." Rias guffawed and Souji trembled at the punishment awaiting him.

"Come on Rias, I will let you use that for now. Let's have a nice little spar." Mordred offered and Rias beamed at him.

"Mo-kun, you're seriously the best!" She kissed his cheek and Mordred nodded. "You're welcome, now let's put your swordsmanship to the test with live blades." Mordred took Souji's sword and they trained.

Months pass and Mordred only focuses on training his skills to the limit. Albion and Ddraig prohibited him from trying to kill himself by absorbing Apophis.

So he didn't have much of a choice anyways. Meredith got used to her dragon magic and she also got added to Souji's swordsmanship teachings.

With the holy nails she was able to produce with Alphecca tyrant, the auburn haired girl will be a devil killing machine once she polishes up her skill.

"I'm getting too used to our routine Mordred. Aren't there other things we could do besides fulfill contracts and train?" Meredith was bored and honestly, he was too.

"I don't know Meredith... Ahh, how about I introduce you to my friend Rin and Jeanne? They're training to be exorcists. You might get along with each other." Meredith raised a brow at his words.

Mordred thought that Meredith would be able to bond with Jeanne as they were both sacred gear wielders. While Irina is simply a friend making machine.

"Now that I think about it, Irina is similar to Serafall." Mordred spoke his thoughts and Meredith paled.

"That crazy Satan? Isn't she always trying to whisk away Shirone and I to her magical girl show?" Meredith shivered.

"Well, Serafall is... How do you call it, more intense. Yeah... I doubt anybody could beat her in that regard." Mordred chuckled.

"Y-you're right, Serafall can't be topped. I'll pray for Sona's soul." Meredith clasped her hands and wished that Sona would stay sane.

Mordred chuckled. "They get along great you know? Sona might be embarrassed by her sister. But she loves her dearly."

"Anyways, so tell me more about Jeanne and Irina?" Meredith got curious.

"Let's teleport to Europe and meet them for yourself. I do not know if they changed. People can do that. And we've mostly communicated through letters. Blasted Touji, maybe I should've killed him back then." Mordred squinted his eyes.

They went to the Vatican and Mordred texted Jeanne. Phones were banned in the church, especially for Jeanne who was supposedly the reincarnation of Jeanne d'Arc. But she was devious and requested Mordred to slip her one.

Mordred took Meredith to a cafe and they ordered some food and drinks to wait for the duo. "Jeanne said they will be here in a few. They just have to give their overseers the slip."

He laughed after reading Jeanne's message. It was definitely like her to escape.

"Hmm, you've been happier lately Mordred." Meredith smiled at him. Thinking that Tiamat and the heavenly dragons' advice for him to grow more first did wonders to him.

"Is that so? I actually think so as well. I have to thank mom and the heavenly dragons for their wisdom." Mordred clenched and unclenched his fist.

He felt more relaxed ever since he stopped worrying about how to assimilate the evil dragons as quickly as he could.

Mordred was also satisfied with the number of his Longinus wielders. Lavinia, Dulio, and Ise still haven't reached their balance breakers yet. But they were making good progress.

Though Lavinia is a special case, because she can use Absolute demise's. But due to receiving Incinerate Anthem quite recently, she's still trying to figure that one out.

"Hi~ We escaped successfully!" Jeanne announced with pride towards Mordred. But her face changed when she saw Meredith.

"Who is she?" Jeanne gave her a look and Mordred introduced them.

"She's Meredith Ordinton, a friend of mine from England. Hi Rin, long time no see. Ise is quite busy so I wasn't able to drag her with me." Mordred greeted them with a warm smile.

He was glad that they were doing fine. And that Jeanne wasn't succumbing to the brainwashing of the church.

"Mordred, are you replacing me with that ginger!?" Irina pointed at Meredith accusingly.

"Excuse me, what? That ginger?" Meredith was scandalized and Jeanne laughed her ass off.

"No? You're one of my first friends. You and Ise have a special place that can't be replaced." Mordred tilted his head and Irina put a hand on her chest.

"Kuuu! You've certainly gotten stronger through the years, huh?" Irina received some damage from his fluffiness and Jeanne pinched her sides for being weird.

Mordred was pleased that she noticed his newfound strength. But he of course misunderstood.

"So, how's life treating you, your majesty?" Jeanne gave him a teasing smile.

"Same old, how about you? Have you been preventing Rin from being corrupted by the church's teachings?" Mordred raised a brow and Jeanne snorted.

"Of course, who do you think I am? I'm the great Jeanne, oui, oui." Jeanne had a smirk on her face.

"Wait, are we just going to ignore her calling me that ginger?" Meredith glared at Irina.

"What, it's true. And you're a stinking Englishman." Jeanne squinted her eyes. Being influenced by Joan's soul.

"Huhhh? How about you, ridiculous french girl. Saying oui, oui. Do you think that sounds cool?" Meredith fired back and they were going out of control.

"Now, now, we're here to introduce ourselves and become friends." Mordred put a hand on their shoulders and they reluctantly calmed down.

"Fine, but only because you said so!" Jeanne huffed and Meredith raised a brow. "That should be my line."

"Uhh, isn't Mordred more English than anyone?" Irina raised a hand and the other two froze.

"Y-you're right..." Jeanne blinked and she looked at Mordred. She always had that irrational dislike of English people. Irina didn't count though, she was too asian.

"Curious, I don't really dislike Mordred. Even when I first met you." Jeanne smiled at him.

"Maybe it's because he's from Camelot? Not really England yet?" Meredith hypothesized. Mordred already explained Jeanne's circumstances while they were waiting.

Because he expected that she might not like Meredith, especially because the redhead is a modern English royal.

They continued eating and chatting, after the little mishap. They quickly became friends with Meredith. Especially because all three of them are starved for friends.

"Jeanne! Young lady, you're supposed to be training with Irina!" A nun appeared with a blue haired girl with her.

"Ugh, sister Griselda..." Jeanne's face immediately soured and Mordred looked at her curiously. (pic)

'Hmm, she is almost at ultimate class. A human with great potential, too bad. She must be brainwashed by the church until she's like a cultist.' Mordred sighed.

"W-we were just spending time with our friends, sister." Irina's eyes were swimming around.

"My goodness, you two are such troublemakers. What will Xenovia think? Especially you Jeanne, I told her that you're a role model." Griselda massaged her temples.

"Don't be too harsh with them Griselda, after all. Humans are not machines." Mordred tried to lighten Jeanne's scolding.

"Hmmm, who are you?" Griselda looked at them suspiciously.

"As expected of a woman from the church, you do not listen. Jeanne already told you, we are their friends." Mordred looked at her like she was an idiot.

Jeanne, Irina, and Xenovia went wide eyed at Mordred's sharp tongue. They certainly did not expect that.

Griselda just raised a brow. "You are quite a rude young man, you should learn more about god's teachings."

Mordred scoffed. "And where did that lead your so-called followers? Did not Jeanne d'Arc get burned due to righteous servants of god? How about Valper Galilei that killed pious children and only got out with a slap on the wrist?" Mordred glared at her.

"Watch your tongue boy." Griselda squinted her eyes and the other kids were getting deathly nervous about the tension.

"You watch your tongue nun, you help in grooming children to be the church's lapdogs. You sinners even clone the dead to get more fodder. And you're training these young girls to send them out as your slaves. Disgusting." Mordred's temper was getting out of hand after remembering Masaomi's Intel about the church.

They send teenagers to fight against the supernatural. With what? A few guns and light swords.

The church works them to the bone for almost nothing in the name of god. And they most likely will die due to their suicide missions.

Not to mention with what happened to the fae. In his mind, he owed Viviane and their race. They are the reason he possesses Caliburn.

He formed a barrier around them and his aura was flaring. Meredith also prepared to fight. She hasn't been in a battle yet. But that doesn't mean the redhead didn't know how.

A crown appeared on her head and the holy aura around her eclipsed Jeanne's. A white sword appeared in her hand and she glared at Griselda.

With a growl, Mordred also adopted more draconic traits. "With your strength, your position must be high. And what do you do? Turn a blind eye. You even train them to be exorcists to throw them at your enemies. Jeanne did not want that, nor did Irina."

Griselda got alarmed and thought they would be having a death match right in the civilian area of the Vatican.

"Answer, slave of the church. All you do is yap that you are correct. What of your centuries of corruption and debauchery? And the priests who assault children for their sick desires?" Mordred took out Caliburn and it vibrated with divine aura.

As if it was also preparing to unleash its wrath due to the hypocrisy of the church.

"M-Mordred, please calm down... Sister Griselda isn't a bad person." Jeanne and Irina put a hand on his shoulders.

"You are lucky Griselda, even with your hypocrisy. They try to protect you. I would've given you your judgement already if it wasn't for them. You who know all of those are an accessory to the crime, always remember that." Morded spat on the ground from disgust.

Mordred left in a magic circle with Meredith and the members of the church dropped down on their knees. Relaxing after feeling Caliburn and Alphecca tyrant's divine auras.

"S-sister... Was all of what he said true?" Irina asked, doubting it.

She didn't answer though, only frowning heavily at the question and cursing Mordred in her mind for leaving her with a huge mess.

"It's true then... You even clone dead people? Isn't that a massive violation of the sanctity of life?" Jeanne sneered and her last vestiges of trust in the church shattered.

"So the church is that rotten from the inside?" The blue haired girl commented and she slowly stepped back from Griselda.

"X-Xenovia..." Griselda didn't know what to say. "You can't even admit it." Xenovia frowned and started to develop deep mistrust against the church.

"Let's go back." Griselda could only say that and they did not reply. They might be children, but children's trust is almost impossible to win back.

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Thanks for reading everyone, and to those that would say he is harsh. Remember that they sent Irina and Xenovia to die a dog's death against Kokabiel.

If you counter that Morded does the same. He does not push his agenda towards their respective peerages. He makes them as strong as possible to lead normal lives, which is the opposite of the church. They brainwash them so much, they're basically waterboarding kids' brains. It's a vicious practice, and it uses mostly orphans too.

As for why he hasn't told anyone his ambition yet? Well, they haven't asked. Anyways, ciao.