Exorcists and Demons

'That's too bad for you... Because Regulus' desire is "to die."'

'I won't believe things that easily!'

Nagisa swiped at the table in front–it split in two with a single slice. The scythe was sharp. Incredibly sharp. Regulus felt nervous. Until now, it was always him who was holding the scythe that would kill him, and death didn't seem that frightening. However, Nagisa is holding the key to his death. Regulus felt even more fear than before.

«Was facing death... always this scary?»

Astoria pinched the cheeks of Regulus. He yelped because of the unexpected pain.

'Don't worry, I'll protect you. Anyhow,'

She made a circle with her index finger and thumb, then gave off a genuine smile.

'You can't die. Not from the likes of her, anyways.'

Regulus seemed to have calmed down now. The words from the closest to him had gone directly to his heart. Those words slowly depleted the fear inside of him. He didn't know whether the latter of what Astoria said was true, but he knew that the former was true. All he had to do was have complete faith in Astoria.

'If you're done, you both better get ready to get executed.'

The exorcist closed her eyes and stood, with her legs together and her scythe directly out in front of herself. She stayed silent for a moment then started speaking.

'Oh, holy father. Let your light shine upon your child and bless me with your grace. Please give me the power to smite the unholy. Holy Orison.'

Opening her eyes, her whole body suddenly became engulfed in a faint, white light. The prayer that she had done suddenly gave her a power boost. "Buff" would be the more appropriate word.

The demon looks at the exorcist, annoyed.

'Great. I wasn't able to touch her because of the holy mana flowing toward her.'

'That's why Holy Orison is the perfect trump card. Demons, no matter of what kind, can't interrupt an exorcist's incantation of Holy Orison.'

Nagisa charged toward the two of them and swung across her whole body, with her scythe in hand. Regulus was ready to jump back, but, instead, he toughed it out and closed his eyes. A major scratching noise rang through the air. The scythe stopped just before it reached Regulus. A barrier had been placed in front of the two.

Astoria's lower body slowly faded into the environment. The black mist disappeared and was replaced by legs, which were covered by robes.

She was at the disadvantage. Holy Orison was a prayer that drags in the holy mana in the atmosphere. Holy magic is the weakness of unholy beings such as demons. But Astoria had an advantage too. Shadow magic, unholy magic, has an advantage over those who possess holy magic. Because Nagisa is one of those beings, she also needs to be careful.

The barrier started to crack ever so slightly. At the command of Astoria, Regulus moved backwards. More cracks appeared in the barrier. Nagisa struggled as hard as she could to break through it.

The hands and feet of Astoria became shrouded in thick clouds of darkness. The barrier had finally shattered and Nagisa spun around. The scythe was now directed at the head of Astoria. Without any sort of hesitation, she sidestepped and held the scythe with her hand. There wasn't any backlash or anything. The demon kicked Nagisa off the scythe; she was sent flying into the next room over.

Regulus watched in amazement. Though, he was confused.

'I thought you said you can't touch her because of holy mana or something.'

Astoria looked back and raised her hands to show him. It looks like black liquid nitrogen flowing off of her hands.

'Shadow magic has an advantage over holy magic users. My shadow affinity is better than her affinity with holy magic, so the holy magic didn't affect me.'

The boy's expression hardened.

'Are you really Astoria?'

'That's rude!'

The sound of crumbling could be heard from the direction, where Nagisa was hit. She came out, stumbling. Her head was bleeding and one of her eyes were slanted.

'I made sure not to destroy your mana body, but I guess I'll have to kill you.'

'Do you have to kill her?'

['What?!']

As soon as Regulus asked the question, the other two yelled at him even louder. It was a given that exorcists and demons were natural enemies, however, Regulus doesn't know a single thing about both of them.

'Exorcists and demons are natural enemies, you know!'

Nagisa shouted like she was offended.

'That's not why Astoria attacked you, right?'

Regulus turned to Astoria. She looked at him with a surprised look, but then it turned into a cheek-to-cheek smile. Astoria's body turned back into the black mist form–she had no intention of continuing the fight. She got the table and severed the legs to make the table shorter, and she placed it on the ground. Regulus then placed two pillows down, on opposite sides, and he sat down on one of them.

Nagisa watched in confusion. Astoria was slowly moving toward the other pillow, but stopped after hearing Regulus' next words.

'What's wrong? Come sit, Nagisa.'

'Ah–oh. Okay.'

She moved slowly toward the pillow seat and shoved the demon out of the way.

'Hey, Regulus! Where do I sit?'

'Just keep floating in the air.'

Astoria started pouting and acting like a child, but Regulus ignored her. The injuries and cuts on Nagisa's body slowly disappeared and her clothes were reverted to her normal school uniform. This was something Regulus couldn't ignore.

'What did you do?'

'Remember what the demon was talking about before, about how she made sure to destroy my mana body?'

He nodded.

'Mana body is when one's body is enclosed in mana and after receiving a certain amount of damage, the mana body disappears and the physical body replaces it. As long as the mana body isn't destroyed, the individual can't be killed.'

Regulus nodded his head and muttered to himself, "okay," because he understood it. Nagisa noticed what she had just explained to him and her situation.

'You guys aren't going to kill me?!'

Her attitude completely changed; she slammed her hand on the low table. Nagisa's mind wasn't able to keep up with the sudden change of pace from battle to talking. Her delayed reaction is expected.

'No. Why would we?'

The boy sitting opposite her said. His tone was feigning ignorance. Nagisa couldn't believe his words.

'I tried to kill you. So, aren't you going to at least kill me in retaliation?'

'No, I mean, you were doing it with kindness in mind, right? You tried to get rid of my demon, but I declined. If dying was the only other way, then, I guess it would be natural.'

«You're so naïve...»

Nagisa thought. She settled down and attempted to see it from his "naïve" point of view. Still, she never thought that a regular human, who was dragged into the conflict, would see it from this type of rational thinking.

She sat down once more and asked him a question.

'I assume you want to know more about demons and exorcists, right?'

'Yes, I have a feeling that I'm going to meet more exorcists, so I'd like to know about them. While learning about them, I'd also like to learn more about demons too.'

Astoria didn't try to interrupt them. She simply laid in the air, as if she was laying on a bed, and picked her nose with her pink with an apathetic face.

'Okay, I'll tell you more about exorcists first. Exorcists are what you'd call priests.'

'Priests?'

'Yes, priests. As the name, exorcist, implies, they exorcise demons, who are evil and unholy spirits. Exorcists usually find demons in dark and damp places. We use an object called a Seraph to exorcise the demons.'

Nagisa's ring transfigured into the scythe once more.

'My scythe, Mori, is a Seraph. A weapon bestowed by God.'

Regulus lazily raised his hand in the air, like he had a question.

'So, if you find demons in dark and damp places–'

He then pointed to himself.

'–then what am I?'

The exorcist's scythe transformed back into a ring and it laid itself onto her left hand once more.

'You, Regulus, are a Demon Summoner.'

Regulus was baffled. He repeated the last two words Nagisa said to confirm whether what she said was a mistake or not.

'Demon Summoner?'

Nagisa nods.

'People who have strong desires are marked by the underworld. They then are sent a demon and that demon makes sure that they do not carry out their desire. Demon Summoners are rare. The reason we exorcists hunt even Demon Summoners is that if the desire isn't carried out, then the individual will eventually die. Speaking of which, what's your desire?'

'To die.'

There was a cold silence in the air. The two words had almost died away after they escaped Regulus' mouth. Nagisa didn't want to believe him at first, but her sixth sense told her that he isn't lying.

'I'm going to have to stay here a little longer then.'

She says while getting up. She rubbed her knees a little and then faced Astoria and Regulus. Astoria was the one to question her actions.

'What do you mean, "stay here a little longer?"'

'It means I'll live here.'

['Eh?!']

'I can't leave an unknown variable unchecked, can I? Besides, if you actually die, then it'll be on me, the exorcist of this area. It's better if you're always in my sights, then I'll be able to protect you.'

Astoria flew over to Nagisa and started shouting in her face.

'No! Regulus has me to protect him!'

'What if other demons attack him?'

The demon fell silent. She twiddled her fingers together and flew around the room aimlessly. Astoria seemed to accept this. Though Regulus didn't. More like he couldn't. His first roommate, and it's a girl, nonetheless, the most popular girl in his year. If people found out about it, he'd be the target of embarrassment and shame for sure.

'Don't I have a say in this?'

Regulus timidly asked.

'Nope! I'll go back home and get my stuff! You better make dinner!'

And the girl ran out.

Today, Regulus learned about exorcists, demons and Demon Summoners. He also gained a new roommate and protector, Kaiyo Nagisa. Even he knew that every day wouldn't be normal.