Chapter 5: First Mission (1)

Something has gone very wrong. I think I jinxed myself quite badly this time. It was the following day, and I was standing in front of the bishop in his I wasn't the only one in front of the Bishop because a girl with blue hair was standing beside me.

"So, Tristan Beatrice, you're one of Anna's students, right?"

"Yes, Your Excellency, I've come to get my first mission," I replied tensely.

"Okay…then here… your mission is to eliminate a stray devil spotted in Ciampino." The Bishop explained as he handed a folder over to me.

Taking the document, I immediately flipped through it and read the more detailed information about where they were sighted. After I finished reading through it, I handed the document back to the Bishop.

The Bishop then looked at me and gestured to the girl beside me, saying, "And this girl will be your partner for this mission. She's a fairly new exorcist but she already has some experience from completing a couple missions with her mentor."

I nodded at the information I was given and asked him the important question I had in mind.

"Your Excellency, may I ask how we would get to our destination?".

The Bishop opened a drawer on his desk and pulled out an envelope. "Hmm... take this; there's no need to return it. There are some funds to get you started now, and from now on if you need more for your other missions, you'll need to ask Bishop Johann.

"Thank you very much" I said, bowing in gratitude.

"No need to thank me... If that is all, you can depart now," the Bishop said as he went back to his paperwork on his desk.

I walked out of the office followed by Xenovia, who seemed to be very quiet for some reason.

…

"Hello, my name is Tristan Beatrice. I just got promoted as an Exorcist recently, so this'll be my first mission," I said as I introduced myself to the quiet person behind me.

"Hmm…" I heard her mutter something.

"Umm… what did you say?" I asked her, cringing at this awkward situation.

"I said nothing," she replied.

"So, what is your name, might I ask?" I questioned her once more, my eyebrows twitching.

"Hmm…my name is Xenovia Quarta… I'll just say this now, don't hold me back or I'll beat you down," she shot back aggressively, irritation crossing her face.

'It seems like she didn't like me that much. I wonder did I offend her someway or is she just irritable towards everyone.' I thought in mild indignation.

"Haha, it was nice meeting you as well, I guess," I retorted back at her under my breath.

"What did you just say!?"

"N-no, it was nothing, I was just saying we should meet up in front of St. Peter's Basilica after we get our stuff."

"Okay, we'll meet there in 30 minutes," Xenovia informed me as she sternly walked past me.

"Yeah, I'll see you in a bit," I replied awkwardly.

…

What kind of crime did I commit to end up with this sh*tty luck?! This girl's attitude is even worse than what I saw when she was introduced in the anime.

Those were the thoughts running through my mind as I packed for my little trip. I picked up all the equipment I needed and outfitted it. It consisted of a light sword, an exorcist gun, a cross, and my Black Keys. My outfit that I wore was a simple black vestment, which looked similar to a clergyman's jacket, and a cross hanging on my neck.

After I was done preparing, I looked at the mirror I had in my room. What was reflected in the mirror was a teenager with neck-length brown hair and brown eyes. I pretty much looked like a miniaturized version of my favorite villain, Kirei Kotomine. I had no idea why since I didn't really choose this appearance, but I wasn't going to complain since my looks were much better than in my previous life. Looking into the mirror, I fixed my hair a bit before picking up my sword, which lay against the wall, and left my room.

I checked the watch on my hand and saw that it was almost time, so I quickly ran to the meeting spot and found Xenovia standing there with a greatsword hanging from her back.

"Yo, shall we get going?" I greeted her as I walked up to her with a smile.

"Hmph…let's go." She snorted as she saw my face.

"Haha…"

…

We left the Vatican together and went to a train station. We used the money we got from the Bishop to get a train from a station near the Vatican City. Getting on the train wasn't that difficult, and Xenovia unexpectedly cooperated and stayed silent the entire time, so the small journey was quite peaceful. The ride only lasted for an hour, so we reached our destination relatively quickly.

As we got off the train, I stretched my arms a bit and looked at Xenovia. She still stood like a stone beside me and had a pretty massive scowl on her face. It seems like the long train may have made her quite grumpy.

"Hey, Xenovia, do you want to split up to gather information, or should we look around together?"

"Let's go alone" she instantly replied.

"Okay, then let's meet back in front of the station when it starts to turn dark," I told her and quickly walked away.

Thank god she chose to split up. I felt like if I had been near her even a second longer, she might have tried to beat me up to relieve her frustration.

…

I mostly spent my time walking around and observing people. There were a few times I went up to some people to ask if they knew about any usual happenings, but they didn't say much.

The only thing I found out was that four people had died last week due to a supposed gas leak accident. Being the weeb that I was, I could tell that this was absolutely suspicious.

Locals did provide me with some locations for gas leaks, but I couldn't get much more than that. As a 13-year-old, nobody treated me seriously enough to actually fully answer my questions. I also wasn't familiar with any hypnotic spells, so I had no way to convince anyone.

After trying to ask some people a few more times, I gave up. I just decided that I should investigate the location where the gas accidents happened.

What I saw upon arriving at the gas leak location was a half-burned-down building. The walls were completely blackened, and some had already crumbled. The entire house was just covered in black ash from the many burned things. There was also yellow tape put around the building by the police to block civilians from entering.

I ducked under the yellow tape and looked around the building for anything suspicious because I wasn't exactly a normal civilian. I spent a good hour or two just looking around, but I found nothing. Understanding that I wouldn't find anything else here, I went to a different location I had heard about.

This new building I went to was supposed to be some sort of art supply shop, but it definitely doesn't look like that now. It was scorched just like the other building I saw before, and there was yellow tape surrounding the building similarly as well. I went inside once more to look for clues, but it was pointless because there were none left.

I sighed in derision as I left the site. Sitting down at a nearby bench, I pondered how we would find where the strays would be. The stray devils usually never come out into the public, and they mostly come out at night.

'Perhaps we would have more luck if we searched around after it turned dark.'

My stomach began to grumble as I sat there contemplating. I sighed again before getting up to go get something to eat. It was way past lunchtime, but there should still be some restaurants or food stalls open somewhere.

After getting some sushi at a nearby store, I ate as I kept walking all around the city. I kept exploring the city until the evening, when the sky started to turn dark. Looking at the sky, I thought it was a good idea to go back to the station.

Sitting outside the station, I waited for Xenovia to come. I sat there for an hour before I finally saw a familiar figure appear in the crowd.

"Hey, over here," I said, waving my hand in her direction.

Once she found me waving at her, she immediately walked over to me.

"So, how was your day? Did you find anything?" I got right to business.

"No, I couldn't really find anything. The people wouldn't cooperate," she grumbled, clearly dissatisfied.

"Haha, no worries, I didn't really find too much decisive information either," I reassured her.

"So, what are we going to do now?"

"I was going to suggest that we check around some of the abandoned and old buildings at night since I think there should be a higher chance of finding them there," I answered seriously.

"Hm…fine"

The only reason I came up with this plan was because popular villain theory states that the bad guys are usually either underground or in some abandoned building.

…

As night fell, me and Xenovia scouted out some of the abandoned buildings. We scoured through a couple locations before we finally hit the jackpot. I had found a stray devil happily munching on a dead person. It had grotesque spider-like legs and a disfigured upper body. Just looking at that scene disgusted me.

Xenovia, who saw that, went to charge in, but I stopped her. I held her back and closed her mouth with my hand.

"Shh! Keep quiet. That person is already dead; we can't help them."

"Let me go!" Xenovia muttered, struggling against my grip.

"Alright, cool down. We should sneak up on it and take it down. That's the best idea right now," I whispered to calm her protest.

We waited a few seconds before I hid my presence and slowly snuck around inside the building without making any noise. I had told Xenovia to wait for my signal to take it down from behind while I distracted it. When I got to a close enough distance, I took out the Black Keys hidden in my sleeves. Gripping them in my fingers, I decisively threw them at my target.

"Grrrggghh…wwhoo?!" The stray screamed in pain as its skin started to burn from the cleansing effect of the Black Keys. Without giving it time to react, I grabbed the light sword on my back and shouted.

"Xenovia, do it now!"

As soon as she heard the signal, she charged at the stray devil with her greatsword in hand. She quickly slashed at its body multiple times, making it bleed immensely. I used that opportunity to cut off its arms with my light sword as well. Then Xenovia ends it by severing its head.

"Fuh… I guess we are done," I sighed. Just as I thought we were finished, we heard a loud scream.

"Kyaaaaaa!"

'Shit, is it another stray?!'

I left Xenovia behind, reinforced my legs, and dashed out of the building, going after the scream I heard. What I found in the alley was a stray devil that looked like a human-lizard hybrid monster holding a woman in its arms.

"Oi, stop right there, you bastard!" I yelled, trying to stop the stray from eating the woman.

"Who dares to interrupt me?!" he shouted while turning to me.

"Let that woman go, or else I might have to kill you," I demanded as I pointed my sword at him.

"Gahahaha… A mere human thinks he can beat me. I'll make you dinner tonight. You'll only be able to scream for mercy when I'm done with you." He laughed at me as he tossed away the woman in his arms.

"Is that so? I'd like to see you try." I grinned in response.

And so started the toughest battle I had ever faced until now.