Chapter 65

The desire to shield his sister from witnessing the death of someone suppressed his urge to kill the nun. At the very least, Igor would make sure Asia would not bear witness. But right now, he had to comfort and reassure her. 

So giving her a brotherly smile, he pressed her head into his abdomen.

"Sia. Big brother is here, and he will get rid of whoever made you cry."

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|DxD|

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Igor picked up Asia and held her in his arms. He allowed her to cry into his shoulders, her hands clasping around his neck tightly. The blonde turned around so that she wouldn't have to look at one of the people responsible for her sadness. But that gave the blonde a direct view of the nun, and he did not hide his displeasure.

He looked at Miriam deeply, not breaking eye contact in the slightest. Meanwhile, he was also soothing Asia, gently scratching the back of her head in comfort. The little lass was slowly calming down, her breaths steadying and her stream of tears ceasing.

All this time, the blonde maintained a serious gaze on the nun until Asia fell asleep. When he felt the little blonde's breaths fall into a steady rhythm, he finally uttered his first words towards the nun.

But instead of being laced with killing intent, they were calm…dangerously so.

"Tell me. Why is my precious little sister crying like this? Are you not supposed to take care of her?"

Miriam could not answer. She was shaking from complete fear, Igor's presence having completely messed up her mental state. The burst of killing intent she received before, killing intent earned through multiple wars had caused her state of mind to deteriorate.

But Igor did not care about her state of mind. All he wanted were answers and names.

So extending his hand forward, he spoke.

"I will kill you if you do not answer."

He was deadly serious. He would truly and utterly kill her if she did not answer. He would not allow someone who caused psychological harm to his precious little sister to continue breathing the same air as her. He was confident he could erase her corpse without giving her the chance to scream so in a way, Asia wouldn't bear witness.

Unless Miriam showed complete repentance and sincerely apologised to Asia, the blonde was willing to kill her. Him asking her for answers and names was to gauge her sincerity. If she even once tried to lie or hide information, he would execute her on the spot. Liars around his sister were absolutely not allowed.

Igor was capable of detecting any lies and falsehoods due to his ability to read aura fluctuations. If she told a lie or hid information, her aura would fluctuate. As long as there was even the tiniest shred of a falsehood, he would pick it up through her aura suddenly fluctuating. If that happened, her fate would be sealed and she would have no place among the world of the living.

So with his hand extended, a small golden sphere the size of a stress ball formed.

"Five…four…three…"

"?!"

Hearing the blonde count down finally jogged Miriam's brain. Instantly kneeling on the ground, she clasped her hands together, tears streaming out of her eyes. Such dangerous threats were something completely new to her. Being so blatantly shown that she would be obliterated within the next few seconds completely scared the wits out of her.

The last thing she wanted was to lose her life.

"P-please spare my life! I'll talk-"

"Sshhh. If she wakes up because of you…" 

Miriam immediately covered her mouth after hearing the subtle threat. The blonde did not want Asia's rest to be interrupted so meaninglessly.

So moving forward, he went past Miriam without sparing her a glance.

"Follow me." 

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|DxD|

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Igor walked slowly with Miriam trailing behind him. A circle of thoughts were running around his head, yet his expression did not change. The blonde had never trusted the church. If it were up to him, Asia would've never stayed there. The only reason he never brought up the issue was due to Vasco being there and him being swallowed up by training with Sun Wukong as well as fighting for Indra as tuition fees.

But seeing that his sister was clearly unhappy here made him feel shame.

"She was always treated like this."

It was  a statement, not a question. And Miriam had far bigger things to worry about than try to defend the church. As for Igor, he continued walking until he reached the house and opened the door. 

Once he entered, he felt like he had just walked through a bubble. He recognised that feeling as the high-level wards installed around the house. Brushing off the feeling, Igor continued to walk through the house with familiarity until he reached Asia's room.

Typical of a girl's room, there was lots of pink and a set of dolls and other toys in a basket. This room was the only place where Asia could be normal and dress normally without being force-fed scriptures. This was the only measure Vasco could currently take to normalise her life as much as possible.

Walking through the carpet, Igor neared closer to the bed. Peeling open the blankets, Igor placed Asia under the covers before blanketing properly. He then caressed her hair with a smile, gently removing the strands that were hovering over her eyes. 

Whenever he looked at Asia, his blue eyes somehow darkened, almost like a black hole.

"You know, nothing in this world is more precious to me than family. And right now, Asia is my only family."

The nun behind him had her head lowered, her face covered in sweat and her body trembling from fear.

But the blonde paid no attention to her current state. Right now, he just missed his sister after not having seen her for so long. It felt like an eternity to him and just basking in her presence was enough for him.

Looking at her chubby little face caused him to continuously smile.

"I will do anything to protect Asia. I will kill anyone to protect Asia. If it means protecting the radiant light inside her, I will destroy anything that threatens to darken it. After all, that is my basic duty as an elder brother. Don't you think so, sister?"

His words were dark and laced with absolute conviction. When he turned towards Miriam, his smile was kind. But in the eyes of the elderly nun, she could see a dark silhouette manifest around the blonde that truly scared her.

"Y-yes…"

Miriam shivered again at his words. She had a feeling that the blonde meant everything he said. She could see it in his eyes, just how willing he was to act on those words. Already nearing seventy years in age, Miriam had seen a lot and what she saw in the blonde terrified her.

[H-he's crazy! He's a madman!]

She couldn't fathom how Asia had such a terrifying brother. There was absolutely no news of his existence at all in the church. But she was sure of one thing. The person responsible for killing her nephew three years ago was him. But any thoughts of avenging him were squashed after feeling just a hint of Igor's power.

It was also because of recognising his power that she came to a decision. She decided to reveal everything she knew. She had no choice after all. She had a feeling that if she didn't take proactive action soon, she wouldn't live to attend the evening prayer in half an hour.

So calming herself down, she spoke with fear-induced respect.

"People…people are envious of Lady Asia."

Igor's movements paused.

"Oh?"

The blonde turned around, his face completely serious.

"Tell me why."

Faced with those glowing blue eyes, Miriam had no intention of concealing anything.

"It's because of her sacred gear. Her ability to heal people made the upper echelon take great care of her, allowing Lady Asia to receive many benefits that others aren't entitled to. They are envious because even after serving for decades, none of them have personally drank tea with the Pope or Father Strada."

She respectfully delivered her observations on the matter, being careful not to leave out anything. The threat of death made her not even consider the thought of lying.

And that was apparently a good choice since the pressure on her lightened slightly. But it was not over yet. Igor walked over to her, his eyes staring directly into hers.

"Aren't you envious as well, sister?"

Miriam tensed slightly. She could feel his breath on her neck. Yet what she felt was far from arousal, because even though the blonde smiled, there was a subtle trace of killing intent within his gaze. Miriam knew that this was the true defining moment. She couldn't lie, yet she feared the truth was what would get her killed.

But the blonde was not willing to give her more time. Placing his hand in front of her face, he began counting down.

"Five…four…"

Watching as each finger lowered, Miriam no longer hesitated. As much as she wanted to lie and say she also envied Asia, she was almost certain that her lie would be spotted immediately.

So gritting her teeth, she uttered her first sentence.

"You killed my nephew! I resented Lady Asia because my nephew died because of her. If it wasn't because of Lady Asia, my nephew would still be alive and my household wouldn't fade out of existence."

She immediately shut her eyes in preparation for her doom. She already knew she would die, but as long as she released this last resentment, then at least she would be able to move on to the afterlife.

But contrary to her expectations, Igor didn't kill her. Instead, the blonde walked around her while stroking his chin in thought.

"By nephew, do you possibly mean the person who tried to kidnap my little sister three years ago?"

Miriam widened her eyes in shock.

"K-kidnap?! No no no no no. That's not right. What do you mean by he kidnapped Lady Asia?"

Miriam couldn't bring herself to so easily believe the blonde. As far as she knew, her nephew was one of the best exorcists the church has ever had. There was absolutely no reason for him to do so.

Yet Igor repeated his statement.

"Black hair, brown eyes, large nose, mole under right eye. I remember the features of that exorcist scum clearly. If your nephew matches my description and he indeed was an exorcist who died three years ago, then he was the same person who dared to kidnap Asia. And that is why I killed him. Is there a different story I am not aware of?"

Miriam brought her hands to her face, tears in her eyes. She had never imagined the story would be like this. According to what she knew, her nephew died after trying to protect Asia from the demon who invaded the Vatican. It was the news that was delivered to her as an explanation for the loss of her nephew's life. Eventually, it was due to Vasco being able to drive away the demon that the Church won with her nephew being the only casualty.

But after hearing Igor's point of view, she couldn't help but be shaken. Although she was terrified of the blonde, she was sure he wouldn't lie to her. There was absolutely no gain in lying to someone he could easily kill. So she was sure that he was speaking the truth.

Furthermore, she wasn't naive. She knew the church had a tendency to label incidents differently in order to preserve its reputation.

Therefore…

"I apologise."

She got down on her knees and lowered her head in front of Igor.

"I truly apologise for my recent actions on Lady Asia. Until she wakes up, I will remain here until I can apologise to her."

There was no other option now. She had no choice but to display a complete change in attitude if she wanted to continue living. Now that things had come to this, sincerity was the only way she could make it out alive.

But Igor wasn't focused on her.

"..."

Far in the distance, he could sense the energy signature of Vasco rushing towards here at high speeds. Although he was not sure why the old man would be running this quickly, it was an opportunity for him.

"Save your apologies. I have a feeling that Signor Strada will give us the answers we both need."

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AN

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Well that's quite a change in Igor's personality. Wonder what happened that caused him to seem so…cold? We'll just have to see in later chapters.

I haven't gotten the drill. Hope you enjoy the next three chapters.