Prologue

Cold. An unbelievably strong, bone-chilling wind. And the smooth, terribly calm, rhythmic rocking, as if he were in a huge cradle. And the sound of footsteps on the ground, they were just as calm and measured.

These were the first sensations of a man who had just opened his eyes, waking up from a deep sleep. At the same moment, he squeezed his eyes shut with force. The light was too bright and just terribly unfamiliar. It was as if he was looking through a kaleidoscope, pointing it at the sun. He reflexively tried to cover his eyes with the palm of his hand and open them again. However, to his great surprise, he felt that he simply could not move either his right or left hand. He tried to move his legs or at least lift his head, but the result was the same. His body was incredibly weak, incapable of even the simplest of actions.

Realizing that there was nothing else left for him to do, the boy opened his mouth, hoping to call for help. But even his tongue and lips were beyond his control. The necessary sounds refused to appear, and the few that were available to him, simply did not form into words.

- Hush, hush," suddenly, a tired male voice came from somewhere above. - 'We're almost there, little ones, just bear with us a little longer...'

"What the fuck?!!!!"

Although the language the man spoke was completely unfamiliar to him, he still clearly understood the meaning of the spoken phrase.

Finally, desperate to get a result from the body, the man simply fled to where he could still control himself, into his thoughts.

"Okay, okay...come on! Remember, damn you!"

Helplessly closing his eyes, he desperately delved into the various sections of his memory. And the more he did so, the more terrified he became. He couldn't remember his name, or any details of what had happened right before he'd gotten here. All other memories were completely fine, he knew perfectly well that he had just recently turned nineteen and that he was in his first year of university in his hometown. He also remembered all the other details of his quite ordinary life. However, there was one thing that kept him in suspense, other than the absence of his own name. Everything he remembered about himself and his destiny seemed extraordinarily distant. Even his most recent memories felt as if the events in them had taken place not this year or last year, but at least ten years ago.

Suddenly the sound of footsteps that had been following him all this time faded. The monotonous swaying went away with it. There was a loud sound, as if someone had struck the wooden door several times with his fist. A short time later, the door creaked open.

- Brother Gustavo," an unfamiliar male voice came from nearby. - We were beginning to worry!

- Brother Albo," the first tired voice became a little more animated, and I heard footsteps and the creak of the door closing behind me. - I was in as much of a hurry as I could, but I'm not young anymore.....

- Of course, of course," the second voice answered quickly. - Are the children all right? Abandoning them, in such a terrible cold.....

- Horrible, just horrible...

- God save these sinful souls.

- We must keep them warm...Sister Agatha!

Carefully listening to every word, the man was still helpless and practically blind. He only realized that there was more light around him, and then someone's gentle female hands gently lifted him up.

- A boy and a girl," the first extremely tired voice spoke again. - Twins...

- They didn't seem to freeze," the new voice belonged to a young woman. - Father Gustavo, warm the waters...how calm.

- The girl sleeps all the time, - a tired voice sounded especially gentle. - But the boy woke up when I was not far away. But he calmed down surprisingly quickly ...

- Calm children are very good," the second man's quiet laugh sounded much farther away and slightly muffled. - Do you remember how Lorenzo was a pain?

- Don't remember, Father! - sighed a female voice and the man felt his body being placed on something soft. - Speaking of which, what shall we call these two?

- We'll name them at their baptism," the first voice sounded a little displeased. - But if I may suggest, then...Asia and Alexander Argento, how about it?

...

From that moment on, Alex's life in a world new to him began. A few days later, he and his newfound sister Asia were baptized in the nearest church and given the names suggested earlier. As Alex found out later, their birth parents left their children a little after they were a month old. Since they were abandoned at the doorstep of the nearest church, the babies were picked up by one of the clergymen and reported to a nearby monastery orphanage.

The new home for the brother and sister was a small two-story building, and the new neighbors were three children about 5-6 years old. The orphanage was located near the city of Udine, which was in northeastern Italy, between the Adriatic coast and the Alps.

The first 4-5 years went pretty smoothly for Alex. He was re-learning everything that is inherent in a normal healthy person. Over time, elementary lessons like math, Italian and literature were added to the ability to speak and walk. Their teacher - father Albo, also did not forget about the development of fine motor skills, creativity, physical exercises, and other things that are necessary for a growing person in every sense.

For Alexander, studying did not become something burdensome at all. Physically, his brain was literally a child's brain and absorbed any information incredibly well. Add to this the consciousness of a young, but still an adult, and you get a real juvenile genius. In addition, this "genius" had an awful lot of free time, and since his adult consciousness did not allow him to play cubes for hours on end, he was engaged in things that could help him in the future. Along with Italian and Latin, Alex was also learning English, which, though hardly used in this country, was essential in the rest of the world. Math, physics, history, geography, and a lot of other useful and not so useful sciences. Being idle, Alex studied everything he could get his hands on. Since he had no personal phone or computer, and the government one was controlled quite well, Alex mostly used the Internet only for business. Thanks to that, in just a year he learned almost as much as he had learned in his entire not very long past life.

On the other hand, he tried not to forget about his newfound sister, who, unlike her brother, was quite an ordinary child. It would be more accurate to say, she was almost like any parent's dream. Not tearful, very obedient, diligent and honest. And most of all, not childishly kind and compassionate. She seemed ready to rush to help anyone she thought needed help. If, speaking of Alexander church servants usually remembered his extraordinary, as for a child's intelligence and abilities, Asiya was literally the embodiment of kindness and sincerity, which just a kind smile could melt the heart of even an adult. Golden-haired Angel with bright green eyes, that's exactly what Asia Argento was.

That name was what gave Alex a clue as to where he was. However, back then, when he heard it for the first time, it all seemed so crazy to him that Alex refused to believe it. However, time passed, gradually the "newborn" gained sight, and then the ability to control his body. New information came and went. Eavesdropped conversations of adults, analysis of their behavior, finally given him access to electronic devices with Internet access. It all added up to a very obvious picture, but Alexander stubbornly refused to believe it until he finally received direct confirmation of his hunches. On the same day he and Asia celebrated their sixth birthday, the church began their training.

- My children," the voice of the usually cheerful Father Albo was incredibly serious. - You are old enough to finally know the truth that is carefully hidden from most ordinary people...I have already read the Bible to you several times, and of course you are unlikely to understand its importance until you are older, but there is something you need to know right now...Angels, Demons, as well as Fallen Angels, they all exist. What's more, these three groups have been engaged in an almost continuous war for many hundreds and thousands of years. We, the church, on the other hand, have taken it upon ourselves to help Heaven in their eternal struggle as well....

While Asia listened to their teacher's words with obvious, though certainly childish interest. Alex was carefully trying to contain his emotions and not let them show on his tense face.

"So it's true after all!" - His head was shaken by hundreds of disjointed thoughts, but he still tried to focus. - "Okay, let's be honest, I knew before, it's just, it's just...oh god, being reborn in a new body in itself is mildly uncommon. And to be spawned in a world I saw on the screen back in my high school days...Dhd High School, is that what it was called? How ironic..."

The first 'introductory lecture' about that very world, inaccessible to ordinary mortals, was over rather quickly. Father Albo obviously didn't want to burden them with unnecessary information and let them go much earlier than usual. There were no more lessons that day.

The next day and all the days that followed added to the usual lessons those that were inaccessible to the simple uninitiated. Having denied one of the main principles of "blind faith," after about a week they were even taken with Asia to one of the large temples, where she appeared before them and a crowd of other children-a real angel!

An inhumanly beautiful girl with blonde hair and a frozen halo over her head. The moment she smiled kindly at the children looking at her, two snow-white wings appeared behind her back. None of those who had seen such a sight already could simply forget about it. The education of future servants and warriors of the Church had been honed by years of practice and experimentation. In Alex's opinion, such a demonstration served to solidify the already believing people's convictions, and those who still might have doubts finally dispelled their suspicions. His sister Asia was more of the former, but he was more of the latter. From that day on, he had finally accepted the fact that his new life would be different from his old one in every possible way.

In the world he came from, Alex had been in inner turmoil for many years. He really wanted to believe that there was some higher power or some of its manifestations. But harsh reality and natural prudence never let him accept the necessity of blind faith. He simply couldn't accept it. Alex refused to believe in what he had not seen.

Here, however, things were different. Angels with bright halos and snow-white wings. People with extraordinary abilities, many times greater than any ordinary person. In this world, he finally had what he'd been looking for for so long. Proof. That day Alex finally decided what he would dedicate his new life to.

- Exorcist? - Asia raised her bright green eyes at him in surprise. - Brother, are you sure?

Now the two of them were standing on the street outside the church where the "initiation" ceremony was taking place, waiting for their teacher's car.

- More than sure," Alex nodded. - Becoming him is the only way I see now.

- But... - the girl clapped her eyelashes excitedly. - It's very dangerous! What if... what if you get killed?!

- Don't be afraid, - Alex gently touched her head. - I'm not going to die yet, so I'll have to do it to those who will be my enemies....

- Then... - Asia quickly grabbed his hand. - Promise me you'll be very careful! Promise!

- I swear, - Alex grinned, looking into his worried sister's eyes. - I will be the most careful exorcist who ever lived!

...

Their special training program lasted for about three months. During this time, they gained all the basic knowledge of the world that was inaccessible to ordinary people. They listened to lectures, studied the holy scriptures, reinterpreted many events of the Bible, in general did everything to make a set of numerous books, stories, stories, parables and notes into one slender and more or less clear picture of the world.

At last came the last day on which this special lesson took place. Father Albo conducted a control test and after making sure that his students had successfully mastered the knowledge he had taught them, he gladly released them from their other lessons and activities for the day.

While Asiya was enjoying her freedom and looking for something to do in the yard, Alex was finally able to be alone and having collapsed on his bed, tried to comprehend absolutely all the information and compare it with the one he already had. The first thing he did was to take out a small notebook, in which he had written down everything he remembered about the anime series he had watched in his previous life a few years ago. And there was very little information. Mostly all he remembered was that there were demons and those demons had boobs. There were a lot of them. Both demons and boobs.

In addition to this, extremely important information, his mind also retained scrappy memories of the various abilities and magic of those on the screen. The plot, if it was there at all, Alex did not remember at all. The genre of anime and the age at which he watched it contributed to that. In short, he quickly came to the conclusion that he would have to learn the world practically from scratch. Other than the demons, their hooters, the clothes that were always ripping and the screams of the main character he hated, he didn't remember much of anything.

Realizing that the memory of his past life left him practically where he was, Alex started to analyze the basic information he had recently received. His notebooks were full of notes, because he carefully outlined everything their teacher had delivered to them.

In this universe, in addition to the familiar world of humans, there were at least several other worlds. Hell, Heaven, and Purgatory. Or, to use the terminology of the initiated people. The Underworld and Heaven. Yes, Purgatory was not a separate world, it was just another section of the Underworld.

However, before moving on to matters supernatural, it was necessary to outline the role of humans in all of this. Unlike what Alex was used to seeing in his home world, the Church was still an extremely active player in the socio-economic and social arena. Which, however, was not at all surprising given the other numerous differences. In fact, the human world itself was simply unaware of the existence of the others. Mostly because the Church and its faithful warriors served on the border between the human and the supernatural, preventing the former from learning the truth and the latter from influencing the state of affairs outside their territory. Of course, the Church was not the only organization involved in maintaining secrecy, the various colleges of mages and other supernatural creatures did not sit idle either. However, as for the second mission - preventing the world from being influenced by humans - the situation was fundamentally different. This one required more than just skills in hypnosis magic, memory magic, and manipulation of various electronic devices to destroy any evidence and confirmation. It took more than that to protect the human world. It took force.

Inquisitors, exquisitors, paladins and exorcists. Wielders of holy mechanisms, holy relics, and holy swords.

All these men in the service of the Church had but one goal. To confront the supernatural beings that tried to harm or simply interfere with people's normal lives. It didn't matter if the Church warrior was Protestant, Catholic, or Orthodox. If he came to a place where the enemy of humanity was waiting for him, he came out of there with proof of his victory or stayed there forever.

Who were those who opposed these brave warriors? The world of men was inhabited by an innumerable variety of creatures. The Church's struggle with them lasted for centuries, but the final victory was still a long way off. Vampires, werewolves, bruxes, woodsmen, zombies, ghouls, demons, nakkers, various spirits, and many more, about whom countless bestiaries told. And although most of these frightening creatures were crammed into the dark corners of the planet, not wanting to be exterminated at all. As soon as any kind of unclean creature was breeding and a little stronger, as among them began to appear those who go out to hunt in the human world. The Church would mobilize the nearest forces, and warriors would move in. Single skirmishes, massive battles, reinforcements approaching from both sides, and numerous casualties. The endless war continued while ordinary, unsuspecting people peacefully went to work.

Such was the case in the world of mere mortals, but beyond that, there was Heaven, where God and his Angels dwelled, and the Underworld, where Demons and Fallen Angels resided.

Once upon a time, there was a continuous war between these factions that lasted for an incalculable amount of time. However, at this moment, major hostilities had not been fought for at least a thousand years. It was an extremely shaky peace, with small localized skirmishes still taking place between the sides. However, the rulers of each side tried to prevent another war with all their might. Innumerable battles had exhausted each faction and the fragile peace, or should I say truce was still observed. The history of the emergence of the three sides in the publicly available sources, however, was rather skimpy.

Originally, the Angels were created by God as his warriors and helpers. Possessing almost infinite life, compassion and concern for people, and the power to create demon-smashing light, they were literally the embodiment of his image from the New Testament.

Subsequently, some of the angels "fell", succumbed to their impure thoughts and desires, committing the unpardonable sin. After which they were naturally cast out of Heaven. Over time, the number of Fallen grew, because their life expectancy was also almost infinite and at some point a few former high-ranking Angels founded Grigori - an organization of Fallen Angels, who took some territories in the Underworld, where the third party of the future conflict.

The history of the appearance of Demons was almost completely covered by the darkness of mystery. According to the most common version, Lucifer, used the body of Lilith - the first wife of Adam to create a military force to destroy God and the Angels, in which he greatly succeeded, laying the beginning of the whole species. However, whether Lucifer was an Angel, Fallen, or for some reason was originally a Demon, the story was silent.

It was in such a world that Alexander was to live. Already at the very beginning of this special training, he was well aware that in this universe, personal power meant too much. Those who were born as supernatural creatures already possessed powers that the average person could rarely do anything about. Strength, reaction, speed, durability. Such creatures were superior to humans in every way. Even an average vampire could take out a small town without much trouble. The power of truly strong creatures could wipe out entire countries.

Among humans, there were also sometimes born those who could be called lucky - owners of holy mechanisms and natural owners of holy swords. However, their number was not so great, and there was simply no method to accurately identify such a person. Alex reasoned in a similar manner. If it is impossible to know exactly if I am special, but I still want to protect myself and those I care about, then I should look for ways to become special. And surprisingly quickly, a way was found.

- So you want to be an exorcist? - Albo's usually cheerful father sounded surprisingly sad. - Alexander, you know it's not easy. And the job is extremely dangerous...have you thought about it?

- Yes, father, - Alex nodded. - Becoming an exorcist is the only way to get the blessing and become the owner of the holy sword!

- Not the owner," Albo corrected gently. - Only a bearer. Such swords belong to the Church and Heaven, and only the most worthy and talented warriors are awarded the opportunity to wield them...well, Alexander, I will ask Father Joseph to take care of your training. He will not make you a full-fledged exorcist, but he can prepare you to enter a special institution....

- Thank you, Father.

Nodding gratefully, Alex said goodbye to his teacher and went outside to join the ball game with carefree Asia. Watching the course of their "competition" only by the edge of his consciousness, he scrolled his further life plan in his head.

"So here I am for at least two and a half more years...then exorcist school - a four year program. At about thirteen will be my first chance, if I can prove myself by then, I'll get the blessing and the right to wield the holy sword. And then...well, given that the strongest exorcists have no problem defeating demons of the highest class and can even compete with the lords of the underworld, there are definitely prospects for development here. Well, then it remains only to swing and grow. The primary task - it is to survive, and that about relationships, money and other human things will think later. I'm biologically six, there'll be time for that!"