บท 211: Battle's end

As they arrived back at the wall Alex apologized to Tio and summoned Ascalon once more to play the part of Gabriel's champion. He handed the still unconscious Shia to Tio, before turning to the crowd and raising his sword triumphantly,

"WE ARE VICTORIOUS!!!" There was a moment of silence, before a thunderous cheer exploded from the bystanders. As the people cheered they also said their thanks to the Goddess Gabriel for sending them her champion, as well as some of the personally coming to meet Tio and Yue. Both the dragon race and vampire race were supposedly wiped out hundreds of years ago, so seeing confirmation that they were alive was shocking to the people who watched the battle, especially since Tio completely dragonfied right in front of them. Alex chuckled slightly at the sight since Yue started getting a little flustered from all the people. As the entire town cheered their survival, Alex walked over to an anxiously waiting teacher.

"Is Shimizu with you?!" Aiko asked desperately. Alex sighed and said,

"Let's go somewhere quieter and we'll talk." Aiko was shaken slightly by Alex's words, and started drawing her own conclusions from them. She took a deep breath and nodded at him, indicating that she'll talk with him. Alex led the way back to the inn with Aiko and the students, with his group following behind after Tio and Yue extracted themselves from the crowd behind them. They gathered in Aiko's room which was one of the largest ones in the inn, since there were so many people. Since she was still asleep, Alex had Tio put Shia in their room before they started their discussion. As they all finally gathered and Aiko tried to close the door however David put his foot in it. Before Aiko could say anything he demanded,

"Aiko, why didn't you tell us you were the prophet of this goddess Gabriel?!" Though they weren't visible several other voices from the rest of the Knights expressed their similar sentiments. Aiko's face started twitching as she realized she had forgotten that little detail and glared slightly at Alex, instinctively knowing he was to blame. Hidden from their view however a magic circle appeared next to Aiko's ear to tell her what to say. With no other ideas coming to mind, Aiko grimaced slightly before putting on a performance and said,

"Um, I was afraid that David and the others would hate those who weren't with the church like Shia the other day, so I hid it from you. Please don't be mad!" Seeing a couple tears form in her eyes as well as their beloved Aiko saying she didn't tell them from fear of their reaction, the Knights immediately prostrated and begged for her forgiveness for making her afraid of them. She became dumbfounded at the exaggerated reaction and spent several minutes trying to calm them down before finally closing the door to talk wth Alex and the rest. Alex on the other hand smirked at the Knights reaction, now believing they wouldn't hesitate to follow the religion behind Gabriel since Aiko was so deeply involved. She took a deep breath then asked,

"I'll just say it clearly, did you find Shimizu?" Alex sighed and said,

"No I didn't, but with the way the monsters reacted in the end by turning on each other and fleeing, I would say he's either dead or ran away. He's got no where to go however since I doubt the demon race would take him in after failing, so if he ran away then I would think he wouldn't last much longer regardless." Aiko shuddered after hearing that one of her precious students might be dead, and said,

"I-I'll have the Knights help with searching the battlefield, if we can't find his body then I'll assume he ran away. If that's the case then I won't give up until we find him!" After she spoke the students tried to tell her encouraging words about how they'll bring him back, but Alex knew it was futile. Rias did send him a message saying she killed a human silhouette on one of the flying monsters, confirming that Shimizu was more than likely dead; and with the monsters fleeing Alex doubted they'd find evidence that he was killed by her attack from them trampling and possibly snacking on his corpse, he just hoped enough of it was left to find and identify. As the students were comforting their teacher, the entire room was suddenly filled with a blinding light. When it dimmed there were three people there, but before anyone could react one of them rushed forward and started pounding her fists on Alex's chest.

"How dare you make me betray the Father in such a way, how can I ever face Him again?" Aiko and the students couldn't believe their eyes when they recognized the person hitting Alex. She didn't have the twelve golden wings or halo, and she wasn't wearing her robes either; but none of them could forget the woman whose looks put many to shame, the same person whose name the entire town was chanting right at that moment, the Goddess Gabriel. Alex smiled at how she was acting and pulled her into his arms before saying,

"I already told you that there were several reasons we needed to do that, and your performance was beautiful." As his arms wrapped around her Gabriel settled down but looked away as if she was pouting. Everyone present couldn't help but think Gabriel was acting very cute at the moment. Alex smiled at how she was acting and gently grabbed her chin and kissed her, prompting her to melt in his embrace. The girls watching burned with jealousy, but let Gabriel have her moment while Aiko and the students burned with curiosity instead. Alex broke off the kiss and looked at the watchers before explaining,

"Sorry for the late introduction, this Gabriel; an archangel that's one of my lovers and in a few months she'll be the mother of my first child." Their eyes got wider with each word Alex said, before he got to the part that she was expecting a child. At his words they all looked at her belly to see that she was indeed starting to bulge out slightly, which also explained why her 'Goddess' clothes were so loose. As they tried to process this new information another girl with brown hair tied up in twin tails rushed Alex and cried out,

"Hey! Don't forget I'm here too!" Before clinging onto one of his arms. Alex pulled Irina close as well and turned towards the third person who was still standing there.

"Do you want to join us as well Griselda? I can make some room." Sister Griselda made a face at Alex's offer and said,

"I'd prefer not to, but I will say that the rest of the angels are hidden and waiting to return to Asora for right now, and though they understood the reasoning for it, they are less than happy going along with this scheme." Alex shrugged and said,

"Like I keep saying it's necessary, the god people currently believe in in this world is active in the affairs of the world, and so we would need more than blind faith to get people to turn from him to another divine." Sister Griselda sighed and said,

"We all understand that, but it doesn't mean we like it." Alex soon sent her, Irina, and Gabriel back to Asora along with the rest of the Angels that accompanied them. He then turned towards Aiko and the rest. He didn't mind them knowing the truth as they would find out about it eventually anyways, but his main concern was wether or not they'd keep their mouths shut.

"I don't think I'd have to say this but I'm going to anyways, what happened in this room is a secret to the world for the moment. Just know that what I'm working for aligns with what you all wish for." The students that didn't hear about the truth of the God of Tortus were even more curious about Alex, but Aiko who did know started arranging the pieces of what Alex was doing in her head. Though she didn't agree with some of his methods, she understood that if what he said was true he was trying to make the world a better place. Alex soon bid farewell to the group and went back to his room for the night, leaving Aiko and the others to think on the events of the day, and the first major battle the witnessed.

***

The next morning Aiko woke to find that Alex and his group had already left Ul with Will. She was mostly disappointed to find Hajime left with them but knew she wouldn't have to worry about his safety with Alex. Instead she was most occupied wth the questions her students barraged her with regarding what Alex was doing, and also repairing the fields where the battle took place. Her farming magic was a great boon here as she was able to steadily repair the torn up ground. The downside to this was that it didn't take long for them to find the remains of the first student casualty in this other world, Shimizu. A few days after finding his chewed up remains and burying them away from the town, Aiko was at his grave repeatedly saying 'I'm sorry' over and over again, blaming herself for his death. It was at this time that she recalled the things Alex said to her, the future that would be in store for them and his offer of a new life. She still hadn't mentioned any of this to the students as she wanted to think it through before bringing it up to them.