Chương 2: The Holy Trials 2

The Lord said to Moses, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'If a man or woman wants to make a special vow, a vow of dedication to the Lord as a Nazirite, they must abstain from wine and other fermented drink and must not drink vinegar made from wine or other fermented drink. They must not drink grape juice or eat grapes or raisins. As long as they remain under their Nazirite vow, they must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, not even the seeds or skins.

"'During the entire period of their Nazirite vow, no razor may be used on their head. They must be holy until the period of their dedication to the Lord is over; they must let their hair grow long.

"'Throughout the period of their dedication to the Lord, the Nazirite must not go near a dead body. Even if their own father or mother or brother or sister dies, they must not make themselves ceremonially unclean on account of them, because the symbol of their dedication to God is on their head. Throughout the period of their dedication, they are consecrated to the Lord.

"'If someone dies suddenly in the Nazirite's presence, thus defiling the hair that symbolizes their dedication, they must shave their head on the seventh day—the day of their cleansing. Then on the eighth day, they must bring two doves or two young pigeons to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting. The priest is to offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering to make atonement for the Nazirite because they sinned by being in the presence of the dead body. That same day they are to consecrate their head again. They must rededicate themselves to the Lord for the same period of dedication and must bring a year-old male lamb as a guilt offering. The previous days do not count, because they became defiled during their period of dedication.

"'Now this is the law of the Nazirite when the period of their dedication is over. They are to be brought to the entrance to the tent of meeting. There they are to present their offerings to the Lord: a year-old male lamb without defect for a burnt offering, a year-old ewe lamb without defect for a sin offering, a ram without defect for a fellowship offering, together with their grain offerings and drink offerings, and a basket of bread made with the finest flour and without yeast—thick loaves with olive oil mixed in, and thin loaves brushed with olive oil.

"'The priest is to present all these before the Lord and make the sin offering and the burnt offering. He is to present the basket of unleavened bread and is to sacrifice the ram as a fellowship offering to the Lord, together with its grain offering and drink offering.

"'Then at the entrance to the tent of meeting, the Nazirite must shave off the hair that symbolizes their dedication. They are to take the hair and put it in the fire that is under the sacrifice of the fellowship offering.

"'After the Nazirite has shaved off the hair that symbolizes their dedication, the priest is to place in their hands a boiled shoulder of the ram, and one thick loaf and one thin loaf from the basket, both made without yeast. The priest shall then wave these before the Lord as a wave offering; they are holy and belong to the priest, together with the breast that was waved and the thigh that was presented. After that, the Nazirite may drink wine.

"'This is the law of the Nazirite who vows offerings to the Lord in accordance with their dedication, in addition to whatever else they can afford. They must fulfill the vows they have made, according to the law of the Nazirite.'

Numbers 6:1-21

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The two companions stepped out of the train once they arrived at the Vatican station. Immediately, Adam was hit by the subtle and intoxicating feeling of the holy energy contained in this place. It was as if he was greeted by an old friend and comforted at the same time.

Adam's eyes were wide in admiration at the religious painting plastered against the walls of the buildings. The interior of the Vatican was sublime in Adam's eyes.

The prestigious establishment was doing wonders for Adam's morale. The centuries of history concentrated in this place nearly made Adam tear up in joy, so he nodded solemnly every time he saw a new piece of the history of Christianity.

Xenovia simply chuckled at his antics, considering it wasn't her first time stepping into the Vatican; as the adopted daughter of Mother Griselda Quarta, she had many occasions to enter the holy city in the past already.

"Follow me. I must show you the place where the Trials will take place," said Xenovia, breaking Adam out of his fanatic admiration. If he remained alone, there was no doubt he would visit and pray in front of every nook of this city.

Startled, Adam coughed in his fist before following the blue-haired exorcist who would be his guide in this city. Still, it didn't stop him from looking around with an explicit joy, even as they walked into the hidden parts of the Vatican.

After all, the supernatural was well hidden from humanity, and it was the case even in the holy city, just by precaution. The people responsible for the Vatican didn't want to be obligated to erase the memories of every visitor that would wander a bit too far from the authorized portions of the city. Therefore, they had hidden the more essential places in sub-dimensions, held together by the angels themselves.

The city had more than dozens of these places, disconnected from the mortal world. They served as the actual Vatican city, one for the people aware of the supernatural. And the biggest one, filled with the coliseum that the higher-ups decided to build for the Trials, was the one the duo was going to be entering.

Adam was amazed by the portals leading to these other dimensions as the scarce paintings and decoration of the various buildings in the holy city. After all, despite his knowledge of the moonlit world, he wasn't accustomed to magic in general.

"This is… Very impressive," commented Adam, gazing upon the blinding white substance forming the portals in the Vatican.

"You've never seen a portal before?" asked Xenovia, noting his apparent surprise, her arms crossed under her bust as they stood in front of the entrance of the coliseum.

"Never before indeed. My experience with the supernatural is rather… Limited."

"Really? Aren't you an exorcist?" questioned Xenovia, surprised by his words.

"I am an aspiring exorcist. Though I would not consider myself lacking in knowledge regarding the role, I did not follow a standard education," answered Adam while poking at the white substance, smiling when he saw the liquid-like material bounce at his touch. "I was taught by a retired exorcist well in his twilight years. He deemed fit to only teach me the practical aspect of being an exorcist and died before I could move on to the rest."

"I see," Xenovia said, impressed that Adam managed to have the qualifications for the Holy Sword Trials without the proper education. "So that means that you managed to come here only with your strength?"

"That could be a way to phrase it; I do not know any rituals or of the history of Christianity, for example. All I know is how to hit and how to hit hard. I guess the examiners saw something in me that would compensate for my illiteracy of the… finer aspects of being an exorcist."

"Indeed," Xenovia nodded. "When you mention hitting, does that mean that you're not a swordsman?"

"That is true," he sighed, taking his eyes away from the portal to look at the woman standing next to him. "I only know how to fight with my fists. Learning how to wield the sword is a rather recent thing for me, as I picked up a sword only a couple of years ago for the first time. Despite the usefulness of weapons, my late instructor never saw the appeal in them. He used to say that an exorcist should only require the body he was given by the Lord and his faith in him."

"Ah…" Xenovia blinked. "Your instructor must have been an interesting person."

"There's no need to sugarcoat anything," snickered Adam. "He was a kind person—when he wanted to. However, he was very stubborn in his ideals and would not let anyone talk into doing otherwise."

The look in Adam's eyes made Xenovia smile fondly. She knew how it felt to admire someone and want to live up to their expectations, "You admire him, huh?"

Adam beamed at his companion, "Yes, I do. His death was a tragedy for me, nearly as bad as my sister's death…" he trailed off, his smile disappearing as nostalgia settled on his face.

"I'm sorry for making you remember it…" said Xenovia, flustered. "I was never really good with… emotions. I was often told that I'm too blunt for my own good. I'm trying to work on it…"

"Don't worry," mirthlessly smiled the young man. "It was a long time ago—years even. Although the pain remains, I know that God has welcomed them in Heaven. I know that they are watching me right now."

Adam didn't wait for Xenovia's answer and stepped into the portal without fear, disappearing into the white substance. She sighed and followed her companion after a few seconds of thinking.

They both arrived in the other dimension at the same time, despite the lag between their entrances. Here, the atmosphere felt muted and somewhat unpleasant. To Adam, who was not used to entering very small and nearly empty dimensions like Xenovia, it felt like the air was limited. The divine energy floating everywhere was the only thing that counterbalanced the awkwardness.

"You'll have to get used to this feeling Adam. It was the same for me the first time I stepped into an angelic dimension, and the space isn't infinite in these dimensions—it's just an illusion." Xenovia explained, passing Adam.

"That," she stated, pointing to the big building in front of them, "Is the coliseum of the Vatican."

Adam's eyes widened a bit due to the sheer size of the arena constructed by the Church. He did not doubt that this one was bigger than the Colosseum, which they stared at in Rome while riding in the train to their destination.

"It's really impressive," commented absently Adam, whose gaze was fixed on the gigantic coliseum.

"It is," said the blue-haired exorcist before coughing to get Adam's attention. "Now let's go, you'll have all the time in the world to observe the building after—so long as you don't get eliminated in the first rounds. However, we need to hasten our pace if we want not to be late for the registration."

Adam nodded and proceeded to follow the young woman guiding him. As they entered through one of the entrances of the coliseum—a smaller one, Adam couldn't help but ask a question to Xenovia: "First rounds?"

"Yes," Xenovia affirmed. "Are you not aware of the rules of the Trials?"

"I'm afraid that I am not, Xenovia," winced Adam, wondering if he was supposed to know about them.

Xenovia looked at Adam's face for a few seconds before sighed and slowing down to take the time to explain to him what he would be doing in the next few days, "I don't know why you weren't told by your examinator how the trial would go, but it doesn't matter in the end-"

'That's because I purged the infidel,' darkly chuckled Adam in his head.

"-since I can just explain it to you right now," continued Xenovia, taking a big breath before starting the explanation. "The first part of the Trials will take place inside the coliseum due to the fights that will occur. There are around a hundred participants in the Trials, and only a couple will receive a holy sword at the end. Each participant already went through the energy test, which means that they each have the bare minimum amount of holy energy naturally required to wield a holy blade."

"The number of participants gets thinned down to around 50 through a tournament system, before going into the second part of the Trials. In this phase, only the ones with the best holy power potential are selected," stated the blue-haired exorcist while they reached the entrance of the living quarters.

"These are where you'll be sleeping and eating for the duration of your run in the Trials," she said, looking around the chambers. Following Xenovia into the austere corridor opening on the bedrooms dedicated to the Trials participants, Adam couldn't help but feel his curiosity rising a bit when he realized there were already plenty of people in the building. People that he would have to compete with.

Adam was used to checking the degree of impurities of anyone he came across. Since he didn't need to manifest his Sacred Gear to do that physically, he immersed himself in the familiar feeling linked to his Sacred Gear. However, one thing changed, instead of having the Sacred Gear slowly show its judgment of each person, a word appeared in Adam's mind.

'Truth,' he mentally commanded. At his word, a strange panel appeared in front of Xenovia next to him.

Xenovia Quarta

Race: Human

Level: 18

Faith: 89%

Impurity: 23%

STR: 186

CON: 148

DEX: 146

INT: 58

WIS: 114

CHA: 64

"What's wrong?" asked Xenovia, seeing his stunned expression.

"No… nothing is wrong. Please continue the explanation about the Trials, please," answered Adam after a short pause. While she continued to talk, Adam kept on nodding absentmindedly and following her even though he was focused on the little box that kept track of her.

Instead of lamenting how he didn't know what those numbers on the stats were meant to represent, he was only worried about one thing.

'Is 89% Faith low? Is 13% Impurity high?' he mentally asked himself. Adam had no way of judging Xenovia based upon those numbers since he had no way to compare them. He knew that Xenovia had been relatively clean when he observed her through his Sacred Gear before it evolved. Therefore he guessed that 13% was not that high. However, it all depended on what 100% meant since she was at more than a tenth of it.

Upon realization, Adam decided to try something out. 'Status,' he mentally called out to see if it would do anything.

Adam

Race: Human

Level: 1

Faith: 98%

Impurity: 16%

STR: 50

CON: 30

DEX: 20

INT: 10

WIS: 10

CHA: 10

Adam's breath hitched, and he couldn't help but sigh depressively, knowing that his faith wasn't at 100% and he had some impurity. Still, it only fueled the fire in his mind to progress even more in his path.

"-And that's how the Trials are ending. In the end, it's mainly fighting, whether it's against fellow humans or artificially created monsters," said Xenovia, unknowing of the fact that Adam didn't listen to half of her words. He, on his end, simply blinked and smiled sheepishly to his companion.

She turned around after realizing the silence that settled after her speech and sighed when she saw his expression. "What did you not listen to?" she asked, feeling a bit annoyed by his attitude towards the Trials. Not only did he come here without a single piece of information regarding the unfolding of the various steps, but he didn't even bother to listen to her when she explained it to him.

Adam coughed in embarrassment, "Well, what is the last step of the Trials exactly?"

Xenovia's shoulder dropped in exasperation as she explained to him once more that the last challenge they would have to overcome was a fight situation in a group against artificially created monsters developed by the Church. Adam nodded and thought about the philosophy behind all of those phases.

"Is there a reason why the Church thins down the number of participants over the potency of their holy energy?" blurted out Adam, slightly confused at the Church's method.

"I don't know myself. Everyone here is already the top of each Christian region in the world, and each is certified able to wield a holy blade, but I suppose that so long as there are enough participants, they're willing to raise the bar to get only a handful at the end," supposed Xenovia, shrugging her shoulders.

"That is not entirely the case," interrupted someone. The voice was oozing of strictness but without hiding the hint of fondness for Xenovia.

As for the blue-haired exorcist, she turned around immediately to where the voice was coming from with widened eyes. "Mother?!" she cried out in surprise.

Mother Griselda Quarta was a tall woman that despite being older than most higher-ups of the Church, looked not a single day over 20. She was beautiful, deadly, and pious to the extreme, a perfect role model for all women willing to let the idea of being an exorcist guide their path, Adam thought. He never hid his admiration of the woman.

However, his first reflex was to mouth the exact words he had used minutes ago.

'Truth.'

Griselda Quarta

Race: Human

Level: 87

Faith: 95%

Impurity: 8%

STR: 841

CON: 574

DEX: 780

INT: 1033

WIS: 946

CHA: 188

Griselda's Faith was slightly lower than Adam's, but her Impurity was a lot lower as well. However, this time, Adam was shocked by the numbers presented in front of him.

Compared to him or Xenovia, she was really in a different realm. But that only made him nod in understanding, realizing that someone as prestigious as Mother Griselda Quarta would have such absurd numbers.

He still had no way of really knowing what those numbers meant, but he now knew how high one of his idols was compared to him.

"The reason why we have to go through a second test regarding holy power is that the first one is not enough," Griselda said, walking towards the young duo. Compared to Xenovia, she was dressed in an actual nun habit, plus her calm demeanor and aura also fit the idea of a nun that Adam had—much more than the blunt Xenovia.

"W-What does it mean?" asked Xenovia to her mother, and he had to double-take the somewhat meeker tone the blunt young woman just spoke in. On the other hand, Griselda simply smiled at her child while keeping a slightly curious gaze on him.

"It is not very well-known, but the Church had to stop a lot of attempts to steal the Holy Swords. While we are in a period of peace, it wasn't always the case; therefore, a lot of time we had to properly raise the holy sword users to stop them from getting killed early in their careers. Even if it is less dangerous in today's age, holy sword users are not always deployed so easily. The Holy Swords are prized weapons for every faction in this world, and even those that cannot use them in the least would prefer to keep them out of our hands."

"For example, the devils?" asked Xenovia, her tone becoming solemn. While Adam had to calm down the burst of RIGHTEOUS anger he experienced at the cursed word being uttered.

"Yes, mainly," nodded Griselda. "Child, since I believe in you and your potential, you need to understand that the life of a Holy Sword user is not a simple one. It is a path filled with hardships since it effectively puts you at the forefront of the Church. You're essentially becoming a target for every other faction. After all, when properly wielded, each Excalibur's fragment can easily qualify for a very high-grade Sacred Gear."

"And… I think we all know what every single faction in this world is capable of for Sacred Gears."

Adam nodded, his fist squeezed tight. He needed to control himself, he told himself—it would be disgraceful to show his zealousness in such a barbarian manner. The beast needed to be kept under control until it could be unleashed against the rightful targets.

Xenovia meanwhile simply kept her gaze down, but her trembling made it clear that she had reacted similarly. Griselda sighed at the two hot-blooded youths, eager for justice. A long time ago, she was the same. Ready to walk in the world filled with faith and ideals.

Until reality hit her, she realized that even the people she prayed to were often powerless in front of the reality of the situation. Everyone from the Church that learned the truth felt like their burning faith had been doused by gallons of water after all.

A lot even suicided over it.

Griselda shook her head, refusing to allow such negative thoughts to fester in her mind, and focused back on the two younger exorcists in front of her, in need of her guidance.

"The reason behind the second test is simple. The first one that both of you passed at your respective Church only measured your current holy power, the one you could manifest at this exact moment. Every single human blessed with the light of the Lord since their birth expressed their blessing in some sort of way from the moment they enter the world, therefore it's an easy method to weed out those that are holy men or holy women from those that aren't. However, the device here is one of a kind, it measures not the current expertise with the holy element, but the potential hidden deep within one's soul."

"How is that linked to the danger of being a Holy Sword user though? Is it simply because the Church needs to ensure the people they give the swords to can grow stronger?" asked Xenovia as she tilted her head. Griselda shook her head in response.

"That isn't quite the case, child. Having the Holy Sword user able to grow stronger is a given, but that isn't a problem even if the people entrusted with the swords do not have a high potential in holy energy. The problem comes from the fact that the less potential one has, the more the sword compensates for it. It results in the users slowly being killed by their weapon."

"W-Wait," blinked Xenovia. "So the previous users of the Holy Swords died from wielding them?"

"Not all, those that had enough potential in holy energy, and by that I mean a substantial capacity in growing their natural reserves, were able to live well past their twilight years like a normal human. But those that didn't often died young and in the prime of their life. I don't think I need to inform you of how the prowling devils hidden in the dark reacted when they learned of that fact. They let the Church do the selection of the most talented humans, and snatched them when they died due to overuse of the Holy Swords."

"I see," commented Adam, stiffly standing still.

"It is the first time in history that the Trials will have so many swords available for the participants. It is truly a miracle from God that we still have all of the Holy Swords in existence to this day with how prized they are," said Griselda, putting her hand against her cheek and sighing in reverence.

With the mention of the holy swords, he remembered something very important. When comparing his stats with Xenovia's, he found himself lacking in every aspect, except intelligence.

Therefore, he knew that he had to do some training for the tournament tomorrow. While normally he wouldn't be able to make significant progress overnight, he played with his newly upgraded Sacred Gear enough to learn what his role would give him every time he would 'level up' and he also had an inkling of what one of his skills, [Dungeon Dimension] would do.

If other participants were as strong as Xenovia, then he stood no chance. Even if it wouldn't trouble him, since it would simply mean that worthier people were put in charge of the

Holy Swords meant to be the blades of Heaven, he wouldn't let an opportunity to elevate and grow stronger infinitely go when it was given to him by the Lord. He understood that his Lord had a mission for him, and considering the timing, that he was destined to possess one of the Holy Swords.

Adam clenched his fist, knowing that he had some work to do tonight.

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A/N:

The Dungeons won't be what you expect of normal dungeons, I have a very special surprise coming!

Also, classic tournament coming, exploring a bit of Church lore in DxD, since I felt like it was severely lacking in the original work. I'll try to explain how in this fanfiction they're tied and have a hard time answering the several other factions in the world. They have the most resources due to God being a creator before anything else, but they don't have the strength to necessarily defend it now that he's dead, so they have to make concessions after concessions...

And then Adam arrives.