112 [112] The Imperium of Man and its Doctrine in this New World
Chapter 112: The Imperium of Man and its Doctrine in this New World
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[Third Person Point of View]
The wielders of Durandal and Hauteclere, Xenovia and Irina, moved sneakily as they followed a group of students.
"I think we should have reached out to the church first," Irina said in a nervous tone.
"We will, after we confirm his address. It's better this way." Xenovia insisted. "Or else we'd need to follow him some other day, which will only delay things."
Xenovia and Irina were dispatched by the church to search for the lost holy swords. They knew it was somewhere in Kuoh City that's why they reached out to Rias and Sona, who were in charge of this city.
Who could have guessed that a Goddess from another religion would overshadow their meeting?
Excluding the conflicting emotion in their heart that came from the knowledge that Gods other than the God of the Bible existed in this world, they were further surprised by something else. A human, a boy who was younger than themselves, was strong enough to defeat a Goddess.
If men could kill Gods, were Gods truly worthy of worship?
So they decided to follow him. They had no real idea why they were following him, just a gut feeling.
After he defeated the Goddess, they were hoping to talk to him, but he was too busy with the others. The Satans asked the two of them about their reason for being there, but for some reason, they decided not to tell them. Their quest for the swords seemed meager in front of this bigger situation.
So they just took their leave silently and waited outside the school. Until he came out and they started following him.
Now, they were in a neighborhood that was reported by them by the church.
"Wait, isn't this the same neighborhood where Asia Argento has been suspected to be seen?" Irina said with a blink. Suddenly, their baseless stalking had a reason.
Was this the gut feeling they had? They were suspicious about Aqua suddenly.
Asia Argento was sent from Vatican City to Japan, under the Fallen Angel's shadow. The holy church itself didn't know that in the beginning. But they learned about it a few days ago that Asia was nearby. But the higher-ups, the Angels apparently, told the church to leave Asia be. That she wasn't worth finding, despite her power.
That's why despite having a location, no one had come to look for her again.
While Irina and Xenovia weren't here to search for her, they knew Asia was related to the Fallen Angels. Coincidentally, there was suspicion that the Holy Swords were stolen by the Fallen Angels. So could there be some kind of connection here…?
After a bit more following later, Aqua and his group stopped in front of a house. The gates were opened by a… white tiger cub? They entered the front yard without any surprise and rang the bell.
Xenovia and Irina watched in silence as the door opened and… Asia Argento was seen greeting them.
"Holy… this is it," Xenovia gasped while Irina hit her wrist for almost cursing.
"Let's back off now," Irina said as Aqua and the girls walked into the house, and the door closed behind them. "He is the strongest person near this area, so there is a high chance that he truly has one of the swords with him. We'll see."
"I don't think you will." A voice replied. It wasn't Xenovia.
Both girls paused, and then jumped back, turning around in the air as they took out their swords and faced the enemy.
They were in a small hill-like area, so all around them was visible from there. How did someone sneak up on them?!
"Ah… what?" Both of them blinked in shock as Aqua sighed, his hand resting on his waist. "H-how did you come here?!"
"Why did you follow me, you stupid girls," he sighed again as if he couldn't be bothered. "I'm really busy today, so I was going to ignore you. I hoped you'd stop when we got on the train earlier. But you just had to follow me to my doorstep? I can't just ignore that, can I?"
The two girls gulped. They were brave but they weren't stupid. They had seen him fight a Goddess and win; he could smother the two of them in a second's beat if they weren't careful.
"Will you let us go if we apologize?" Xenovia suddenly said in a serious tone, and Irina flinched. What was her friend doing?!
Even if she too knew that he was strong, how could they show this weak side of theirs? Wasn't it an insult to the church if its Exorcists were caught stalking people and had to flee after apologizing?
"Hmm," to Irina's surprise, he stroked his chin as if to consider that. That relieved her a bit. Right, he was still human and not a ruthless devil. As fellow humans, he'd not be too mad for being stalked.
"Fair, you two have potential, I can see it." He nodded as he checked them out. Both Irina and Xenovia blinked as his eyes seemed to scan them. Out of instinct, they covered their chests. "Killing you just for this isn't worth it."
His vibe was entirely changed by those words. The girls thought he was joking, but he was not. Since they were busy with their arms crossed around their chests, instead of properly wielding their swords, they were unable to counter when Aqua blitzed behind them and karate chopped on their necks.
Irina and Xenovia's eyes blurred as the world went dark, their swords falling out of their grasp.
They were defeated, just like that.
* * *
Arima Kana washed up in the washroom as she stepped out. It felt nice to freshen up after a long day of school, she would have preferred it if she didn't have work to do right away.
Stepping out into the hallways, she began to walk toward the living room. She let out a sigh as she heard chattering coming from there, chattering she couldn't relate to.
The Idol life wasn't for her. All the other girls had adapted to it already, even Shoko, but she was having a hard time. It's not as if she hated it, she was very excited about the incoming JIF too. But it still felt… weird for her.
Then there was the other thing too.
She was about to step into the living room when the house's door opened to her right. She turned her head around and froze as Aqua walked in with two white bags that floated by his side.
The contents hidden within weren't hard to see. A human body's shape was rather hard to miss.
"What the fuck?" she said as he raised an eyebrow, while politely taking off his shoes. "Are those human bodies? What the hell?!"
He tilted his head at her, making a face as if she had just overreacted, as he walked past her with a shrug. Kana stared at his back with an agape mouth while her head screamed for her to question her reality.
Those bodies were floating. This wasn't the first time she had seen the supernatural. In fact, she had known about it for the last two months, after Shoko joined this fray.
Ai Hoshino had looked at her and said, "Huh. So all the members know except for you…? I don't think that's quite fair. Aqua, I'll explain things to her. Is that okay with you?" Before she did just that; she explained to her how the world truly worked.
However, unlike Akane Kurokawa, Arima Kana hadn't felt a single ounce of doubt in herself even after finding that out. Some might call her dumb for that, but some saw that side of her as a sign of strength.
No matter how the world really was, her dreams didn't change. She wanted to be… famous. An icon to the people. Like Ai. In the form of an actress, hopefully, but the idol path worked too.
So, when the girls spent half their time training in magic instead of dance moves, she remained consistent. Even the little girl Yuzuru grew into a superhuman, but Kana remained stubborn on her path.
Now she knew why she was so stubborn. Aqua had once offered to teach her himself but she rejected him. She knew why.
Because the supernatural world was sick.
How could he carry two dead bodies like nothing was wrong?! Was he crazy in the head?! Did his mother know?
"...Psychopath," she grumbled and finally stepped into the room.
* * *
[Third Person Point of View]
I didn't really care about Kana seeing me at all. I didn't care about the negativity she felt toward me either. But I do hope one day she'd come to her senses and accept my offer.
After all, she had an extremely strong yet unawakened Sacred Gear: [Kingprotea]
Sacred Gears were rare. I didn't have one and neither did any of the people around me, excluding Shoko. So I'd like it if she joined me, especially for her gear's power of "growth" that I learned from a Reverse Soul Reflection. Only because I'm unsure how much growth it can provide have I not seduc- approached her yet.
"Hmm, I'll look into it later. After I deal with Mai," I dropped the two bodies in the dark basement and whistled loudly.
Responding to my whistle, Blue rushed to the basement right away, followed by the other cubs.
"Milord!" They greeted me with a kneel, aware that a job was about to come their way.
I nodded, snapping a finger to create an Instant Dungeon, only consisting of this basement. The world lost its sounds at that. I forced my Sage will upon this reality to make the dungeon very strong, so that it couldn't be broken or escaped by someone weaker than me. Unless I allow them.
"Take these two," I pointed at them, "and induce some light torture on them. Not any physical kind, just psychological. You see, they believe in the Biblical God, but that God is dead. So I'm thinking of converting them."
"Ohh!" Red seemed oddly excited. Was it that fun to convert people?
"Yeah, so pick up a bible, argue with them for a few days about its wrongs and false points, and tell them God is dead. They've seen a Goddess getting beat up by me just earlier, so they'd be easy to sway." I told them. "And no, I don't want them to follow Trigathar."
"W-what?!" The cubs appeared shocked by that.
"You guys are smart, you already know that I'm a big-time reincarnator. Although I am Trigathar, I am a few more people too. Don't find that as heresy, just take it as different moods of Trigathar. I believe that two girls are more suited to follow one of those said moods," I told them.
I was talking about the Emperor of Man, the All-Father of Humanity. Unlike Norse and Greek religions, Christianity was one for humanity and compassion. More than worshiping, it promotes the well-being and advancement of all mankind.
Although the doctrine of the Imperium of Man in my 7th life wasn't exactly that, it was similar. We were a more aggressive version of this. As battle officers of the church, these two girls would fit in well.
They just need to see the perspective from their side, and my side. They'd be greatly unsure and doubtful, and if my prediction is correct, would only accept my offer to get out of this basement, but that's enough for now.
Oh and, of course, they won't know that it's me. I didn't plan to let everyone know about my lives.
In the original timeline, Xenovia turned into a devil after finding out that God was dead. So in this one, it shouldn't be that hard for her to choose a new God to pray to. It was an easier choice than giving in to satan.
Though Irina might need a bit more persuasion since she chose the path of Angel after learning God was dead. The good news is, I could turn her into an angel too. Kind of. So she is approachable as well.
I knew my Tiger Cult enough to trust the cubs with this job. But since they didn't know about the Emperor, I should give them a summary.
"Here," I took out a notebook from my Void Storage. I kept them for times like this. Using Qi control to print layers into the papers, I handed them over to the cubs. The front page was marked with a picture of the Emperor.
[Image Here]
"This is a record of some exceptional parts of one of my lives. And you'll be happy to know that this life is right after the one where I was Trigathar." I said.
As I had expected, the tiger cubs looked immediately excited. They were seeing how I was living as a new person, as Aqua, even though Trigathar should have died in that explosion. Their ears were also sharp so they knew about the stuff Ai, Ruby, and I had talked about in the last few months about reincarnation and stuff. So they've known for a long time that I was a serial reincarnator, and naturally, it excited them to know about what happened to their Lord and God after his death.
They read the papers in glee where only a few achievements of my 48,000 years of life were recorded. It should be enough to counter these two girls' belief in the Bible.
Originally, the doctrine of the Imperium, also dubbed as the Imperial Truth, was this: The Emperor is extremely powerful, the rightful ruler of all mankind, and the perfect image of humanity, but no matter how supreme, is still a human being.
I enjoyed my 6th life as a Tiger God, and in my 7th I wanted a break for the divine life. That's why I said such stuff. But for my life was long, at one point the doctrine and its meaning were changed in people's heads.
I accidentally made a religion in my 7th life.
I only wanted to teach humanity to stop worshiping Gods, but they took that as a cue to start worshiping me. It was too late to go back by the time I realized. Before I knew it, the doctrine was changed.
All other Gods are false, unworthy of worship. All… but the God Emperor of Mankind, Great Sage of Humanity Himself.
Such was the final and ultimate doctrine of the Imperium of Man, the strongest race in the universe.
I hope these two human exorcists will see the logic behind that.
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