章 12: Chapter 11- Church Battle

"I dislike killing children." The older man said with his sword held up in front of him pointing directly at Cebrail.

"Does that mean you've killed them before?" Cebrail prods goading the man into dropping his guard but her words fail to get any response.

(Definitely more experienced than any of the people I've fought in this life so far.) Cebrail notes before changing her stance from a relaxed to a far more serious one.

Her whip shot out in an attempt to grab the old man's leg however as if anticipating the attack he shoots forward and in a single bound is directly in front of Cebrail surprising Reginleif enough to make her look away from the other man that was meant to be her own opponent.

Mark took the opportunity presented to him and just as the old man had done he dashed straight towards Reginleif who had no time to use any runes. Just before the man's fist connected with her face she found herself being forcefully pulled back.

As she landed she was directly next to Cebrail and white feathers were falling around them, it seemed the Seraphim Princess had released her wings for a moment while grabbing Reginleif to fly away temporarily and gain some distance.

"Don't look away from your opponent unless you need help from me." Cebrail stated flatly before throwing Reginleif behind her and dodging two of the old man's sword swings before putting her hand on his stomach and blasting him back with silver light power.

Not allowing her a break Mark charged her, throwing a few powerful punches her way which she also managed to dodge before blowing him away.

(There's no doubt, she's definitely an Angel.) The old man thought, dusting himself off and putting away his sword.

"Mark, holy attacks won't be effective."

"I could've guessed that already old man." Mark despite the back talk took off his holy empowered gloves letting his bare fists free.

(Damn it, I wanted to keep them using holy weapons for a bit longer.) Cebrail had been planning rather liberally due to their usage of holy weapons as they weren't ever going to be able to actually damage her with them. Especially the sword made of pure light power. Her eyes darted to Reginleif on the ground who looked back at her for a few seconds with wide eyes.

(She's already sweating?) Reginleif didn't think Cebrail was tired as of yet however based on the sweat beginning to accumulate on her forehead she could tell the Angel princess likely wouldn't be able to actually throw around blasts like that many more times. She was far more suited to magic than she was to light power, but in the short time Reginleif knew her she could very much tell that Cebrail didn't actually know much about magic.

"I-I'm alright!" Reginleif exclaimed only to get a skeptical look from Cebrail. Steeling herself properly, Reginleif said once again, "I'm alright!"

Seeing the Valkyrie stand seemed to put Cebrail's worries at ease but still, she gave Reginleif a reminder, "Look at me only when you need help."

Cebrail began walking forward towards the old man; her confidence despite having given up her resistance to holy weapons, was still clear to the old man.

Slowly he reached into his left and pulled out a black hilt similar to his first and it produced a red beam of raw demonic power.

"Isn't that heresy?" Cebrail questioned genuinely perplexed by his usage of demonic power.

"In my old age, I've come to terms with the fact that some evil is necessary." The old man responded genuinely with a somber tone.

"I see, you don't seem like a bad guy."

"Thank you." He seemed truly pleased to hear that and charged Cebrail attempting to close the distance in the same way as he did before, however even before he could finish his second step forward he was forced back by her whip.

"As a wise man once said, 'surprise attacks only work once,' that is to say you won't get so close again." Cebrail said her words with such confidence the old man paused for a moment.

He didn't sense the same youthful arrogance that came from a lack of life experience but instead, there was a certain power behind her words. It was as if simply by her stating it the words had become a universal fact.

He couldn't back down so he decided to shift his foot forward only slightly and as he expected Cebrails whip came straight for his face forcing him to narrowly avoid having his eyes cut.

You could tell a great deal about a person based on the way they fight and after years of experience the old priest could tell Cebrail wasn't the type to play around. Any opportunity to win would likely be one she takes no matter how underhanded it may seem.

Seeing that the old man was thinking about his next move Cebrail decided to step it up a notch and unleashed a barrage of whip slashes forcing the man to parry continuously as the attacks seemed to come from every angle.

Cuts began appearing on his body slowly but surely as the odd movements of the whip proved too unpredictable to properly parry. The way she wielded her whip almost felt like she was randomly swinging it around however the old priest knew better. The way it bounced off the floor or curved itself to hit him even when he parried was simply too precise.

The old priest's eyes widened slightly as he noticed the speed of the whip slow down for just a moment, but a moment was enough as he slipped past the ruthless assault.

He was just about to take another step to attack her but upon looking into her eyes his instincts screamed at him to retreat forcing him to jump back.

(Her eyes… she wasn't troubled at all by my approach…) The man thought to himself as a bead of sweat began falling from the side of his face. He felt as though she had definitely had some kind of trap planned and his suspicions were confirmed when she struck at him again without any loss to her original speed.

Unfortunately just as he parried this strike a thin beam of silver light struck him in his shoulder staggering him for just a moment, a moment that Cebrail was happy to take advantage of as her whip ripped itself across the old man's chest leaving a nasty, bloody wound.

"Ugh…" The old priest grit his teeth at the pain but still let out a small noise.

"Why is it that you're fighting me right now?" Cebrail asks pausing her attacks.

The man looked at her with surprise but still answered her honestly, "I'm fighting you for the Church."

"I see, only for that?"

"Despite your strength, you really are a child, I was beginning to think you were just short." The old man joked with a painful chuckle.

"What do you mean by that?"

"What sort of answer were you expecting? Some grand ambition to rule the world? Some wish for world peace? I'm just a man. And while men dream and fight for those dreams, we have to be rational."

"Then what dream are you fighting for?"

"I'm far too old to have a dream child. However, in the past, I believed I truly could make the world a better place by working as an agent of the church. Unfortunately, there is no peace without war, and after the new cardinal bishop took over the Church of Necessary Evil nothing was ever the same." His tone was bitter but at the same time filled with the sadness of a man that had abandoned his own dream.

"That's quite unfortunate."

"And how about you child? Why is it that you're fighting me?"

"I'm mostly only fighting to protect Reginleif…"

"Is that your friend over there?"

"Indeed."

"Then what about your dream?"

"I have none." Cebrail responded to the man's question resolutely however he didn't feel the same confidence in her word as he did previously.

"Everyone has a dream child, no matter how ridiculous it may be."

"Dreams are impossible for someone like me… I'm far too rational." Cebrail denied the man's claim, truly believing that she had no dream to speak of.

"I see…" The man smiled a bit and in an instant he was charging towards Cebrail however just as Cebrail had stated previously he couldn't even get close to her as she slammed her whip into his stomach sending him back just as quickly.

As he flew back he smirked however. Indeed he was right to have assumed his charge would fail, in fact he was right to think that Cebrail would make sure to make good one her word.

He had bet on it.

He changed his grip on his sword's handle and threw it like a spear straight for Cebrail's head.

(I believe I had a dream at some point in my past life. Though I also somehow feel like I probably lost it long before my eventual death.) For some reason as the sword got dangerously close to embedding itself into her skull she had this very depressing thought, yes since she was rational it only made sense to give up on her own selfish dreams.

"Cheeeeeep!" Epis cried in fear for her master. It wasn't as though if Cebrail died Epis would as well in truth living Sacred Gears could just go off and find a new host when needed. But Epis was a lady of character, when Cebrail fished her out of the Dimension Gap, when they met on that fateful day she had sworn to stay by the girls' side as her Sacred Gear. Plus not many people would put up with a Sacred Gear like her which couldn't even remember its own name or origins.

As Epis wished to protect its master a barrier formed around the two and just as quickly the sword which seemed to be on the verge of ending Cebrail disappeared.

Cebrail blinked for a moment then looked behind her to find the sword's blade stuck into the ground.

(How interesting.) She comments in her head, she had known Epis was capable of producing barriers but the creature had never produced one of that size. Cebrail had thought that there had to be more to the barriers as well based on the fact that they don't actually block anything as objects and even attacks can just pass through it.

"Epis…"

"Cheep!" Epis was expecting to be complemented for her efforts however she should have known better when it comes to dealing with Cebrail.

"I was going to dodge that attack anyway so you shouldn't toot your own horn too much."

"CHEEP! CHEEP!" Ungrateful master, indeed she should have known her efforts would be seen as troublesome more than anything else. However Despite her master's words she felt a very interesting emotion leaking from her sealed heart. She felt as though her master was genuinely proud of her and may even reward her for her efforts in the near future!

"Cheep!"

The old priest stared at Cebrail in shock, that was his last chance. While he was certain he could beat her in hand to hand combat without his weapon he wouldn't be able to parry a holy weapon like Rance. The fact was members of the church were equipped normally to combat heretical arts such as magic, curses, and demonic power. Since of course members of the church never expect to fight against Angels of all things they had nothing to go against light power.

The only reason he even had a demonic energy sword to accompany his light one was simply because he was a part of the Necessary Evil branch of the church which often dealt with a great deal of unexpected situations. In his younger years he even fought a vampire princess that was completely immune to holy weapons and symbols, not being prepared for that fight was how Mark got his scar.

As he stared at her thinking of a way to get out of this situation, to at the very least report back to the church or call the young man in the basement he was suddenly startled by Cebrail lifting her hand and pointing her finger toward where Mark was fighting Reginleif the tip of it slowly gathering silver light power.

"Mark! Watch out!" He yelled the warning to his companion but it was much too late.