Confession

(Author's Note: Umm... Hey, I am still alive. I already said I will never drop this but it took a lot of time to spare some time to write. F my life. Anyway, this is a huge chapter (more than 4000 words.) and a little bit informative and there might be some things you might not understand. So, if you didn't understand something, throw a paragraph comment there or throw a chapter comment asking about it. I will try my best to explain it.)

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Mike took a deep breath. Today is the day where he will meet with other high officials to discuss Asia's case. The final decision will be done through voting. So, if enough people are not convinced, Asia won't be able to become a holy maiden in the church again.

And so, most of the high officials came to the meeting. Mike explained the case to the officials. "And so, I killed Diodora Astaroth, his peerage committed suicide, and I brought Asia back. Asia never stopped believing in God. She even refused the offer to become a devil. And the only reason she helped is because of her kindness. So, I think she deserves to be a holy maiden again."

Murmurs started among the officials and of course, most of them are not convinced. "It doesn't matter if she was framed. She healed a devil and that's a sin. If she didn't, the exorcist would have been alive." One of the officials argued.

"Do you think Diodora Astaroth hurt himself so bad that he can't move? Do you think the person this cunning won't have a plan B? I think many understand what would have happened if Asia didn't heal him. He would have still killed the exorcist and abducted Asia on spot. So, you can't blame the exorcist's death on Asia. The only one you could blame is Diodora and I already killed him." Mike argued back.

"She went against the church's teachings. That's still a fact." Another one argued.

"Look. Do you know what kind of environment Asia grew up in? People around her just see her as a monster that heals. She doesn't have a single friend except me. If a normal person grew up in that environment, they would surely go to the dark side. But this girl kept believing in God, kept healing people, and didn't ask anything in return. Where can you find such a kind girl? Even the devil acknowledged her kindness and tried to frame her using that kindness. And she's just a child. Aren't you people expecting a lot from her?" Mike asked.

"The church gave her a place to live. It's obvious that she has to dedicate her life following the church's teachings..." When one of the officials said this, he received glares from Mike and Vasco.

"Well, you are right. The church gave her a place to live but at what cost? Her childhood was robbed of her. At the age where she has to play with her fellow friends, she heals people and stays alone. What a fair exchange." Mike mocked them. Everyone stayed silent.

"And there is also the case of those 5 girls in Diodora's peerage. These girls were also excommunicated similarly and they chose the dark side after being broken completely by Diodora. So, isn't church the one who helped Diodora make them into devils?" Once Mike asked this question, there were objections from a lot of officials.

"This is the reason I demand we change the rules for someone to be excommunicated. We will listen to the one who sinned and forgive them if their reasons are valid." Mike proposed.

"How can interacting with a devil be forgiven? That completely goes against the church's teachings! You can't just change the teachings given decided by God!" Most of the officials protested.

"What? You want the cases like those five girls and Asia to happen again?" Mike asked.

"It will just be fine if they followed the church's teachings!!" And so comes the absurd reasoning from most of the officials.

Mike sighed, "Well fine. It seems that most of you disagree with me. Fine then. I am done with the church. I quit being an exorcist from this moment." Mike took out the Ascalon and threw it on the ground and walked away from the meeting. The whole meeting became silent with what just happened. They were shocked and couldn't understand what took place. Even Vasco had the same expression. By the time they realized, Mike already disappeared.

And before the officials could do anything else, an announcement was given by Mike throughout the church (( Umm... hello, this is Michaelangelo Strada, I am here to announce that I quit being an exorcist. Thank you for having me till now. You need not try to search me because you will never find me. ))

It happened too fast. The officials couldn't react. And the church was a mess. All the officials immediately approached Vasco since he is the only one who can contact Mike. "Vasco-sama! Please bring Michaelangelo-sama back! He doesn't seem to be in his right mind!"

Vasco smiled at them. "Well, why should I? I am his grandpa and what grandpa would want his grandchild to sacrifice his childhood for the sake of others? I am glad! You managed to make him do something that I couldn't do for years! Thank you very much!"

And that was another shock for the officials. They tried to bargain. "That's right, Asia Argento. He did it for that girl, right? We can make her a holy maiden again."

"What about the change in rules that Mike proposed?" Vasco asked.

All of them became silent. One of them replied. "Well, making changes to church's teachings is not possible. But if it's only Asia, we will definitely agree to make her holy maiden again!"

Vasco smiled at them. "You know what. I quit too." Vasco took out the Durandal and gave it to them. "Well, I am already at the age of retirement. So, it's not a problem, I guess." And Vasco quit the church too.

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(After a couple of days)

The church is in chaos. A Cardinal Bishop and a Cardinal Priest quit the church the same day. What's worse is that the Cardinal Bishop Mike is considered as the inspirational figure of all the youngsters and the Cardinal-Priest Vasco is someone who is respected throughout the church. The church didn't understand what to do. If the church revealed that Mike went away because the church didn't agree to change the rules, they would have to explain why one of the high officials is trying to be kind to people who went against the church's teachings. It would make it look like Mike was trying to be kind but the church didn't accept it.

So, the church stayed silent. But some people who only have the half-knowledge of the events blamed Asia Argento. She was labeled as a witch for healing a demon, the death of an exorcist, and it was made to look like if Asia didn't exist, Mike would have still been an exorcist. Vasco kept Asia in his care to save her from the rumors. Even she started blaming herself for all the mess. Vasco told her that it wasn't. And during these moments, an announcement came to all the church facilities at once.

"Hello. 1 2 3, mic testing. I hope this is working. Well, hello everyone. I am Michaelangelo Strada, a former exorcist." Mike hacked the communications of all the church facilities. The church tried to get back the comms but Mike's hacking skills are too much for them.

"So, I think it's been a mess since I went away. I apologize for that. Well, I have an announcement. As a former exorcist, I would like to share my work experience with you. Think of this as my farewell to everyone. So, I will tell you some of the weird cases I encountered in my exorcist job.

Case Number 1: The forbidden love couple. This is supposed to be a top-secret mission but I think everyone should know this. So, there is this exorcist and a devil who fell deeply in love with each other. This can't be allowed according to the church's teachings, right? So, I went to solve the case. I asked them to break up if they want to live. They didn't. They understood that they are no match for me. So, they made a final wish to die while holding each other. And... I had no choice but to kill them. Now I would like to ask a question. All the devils are supposed to be evil, right? But this devil dedicated everything to her love and didn't even hesitate to die together with her lover. Can she really be considered evil?

Case Number 2: The Holy Sword Project. Most of you may not know but this is a top-secret project to make those who can wield Holy Sword Excalibur. Sounds cool, right? But here's the twist. The one who led the project, Valper Galilei, conducted some harsh experiments. But the children still went through experiments because they believed that they are chosen by God and followed the church's teachings. And finally, Valper Galilei decided to kill them to advance his research. Fortunately, I came in time and killed the researchers including Valper, and transferred those children to a facility. So, here are my questions. If I wasn't there, should the children let themselves be killed following the teachings of the church? And also, Valper was raised by the church, and yet, he decided to commit mass genocide. Can we really say that the church only raises good people?

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(The below is just a summary of Asia's case. It can be skipped till you get a line of '*' but I am still putting it here since it's a part of Mike's confession.)

Case Number 3: The case of Asia Argento, the one you call the witch. Ah yes, the case that became the reason for this mess. This is gonna be a long one. As most of you already know, this case is the holy maiden who was excommunicated for the sin of healing a devil. Before beginning this, I would like to tell you about Asia's life. She was abandoned at the church. The church took her in and raised her. She was made a holy maiden after the church witnessed her heal an injured dog. And from that point, everyone started looking at her as a monster who heals. No one really cared about her. She doesn't have a parent figure and friends. But she still healed people without complaining. I became her friend sometime after that and offered to transfer her because of how people there are treating her but she refused my offer for those people. That's how kind she is and I admire her.

Now the problem arose due to a devil. This devil has a fetish for holy maidens and nuns. His name is Diodora Astaroth. He would seduce the maidens with his passionate words to make them fall in love with him. After the nuns and maidens were cast out by their churches, which left them devastated, he would appear before to supposedly save them from the depths of their despair and eventually ravish and mentally break them in both body and heart. Diodora would then reincarnate them as his servants who slavishly pledged their loyalty to him. Before he set his sights on Asia, he already corrupted five innocent maidens.

And this guy's next target was Asia. You already know how kind Asia is, right? This guy understood that too. So, he purposefully injured himself so that Asia would heal him. Everything went according to his plan but an exorcist found them after Asia healed him. So, he killed the exorcist to make things worse for Asia. Everything went according to his plan and Asia got excommunicated. After she was excommunicated, she was captured by fallen angels who wanted to extract her sacred gears. And Diodora entered and killed the fallen angels as if saving a damsel in distress.

The devil tried to persuade Asia to join his peerage which Asia kept refusing. By this time, I already investigated the case from my end and found out that the exorcist was intentionally killed and I also tracked down Asia's whereabouts. So, I made my entry and tried to take Asia back. And I found out that all the five members of his peerage used to be holy maidens. I tricked him into confessing his crimes. He was confident that I won't kill him because he's related to Maou Ajuka Beelzebub. Well, he forgot that there is a crime of killing an exorcist. So, he is the one who did the first strike. Even if he didn't, I would have still killed him. He made me disgusted. He laughed at me and the church. He said that the church is the one that unreasonably cast out those girls and he just took advantage of the church's stupid policy. I killed him after that. And those five girls... they killed themselves after knowing the truth.

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Well, Diodora is not wrong, is he? He just took advantage of the church's policy to unreasonably cast out people who get into contact with a devil. I didn't want any more victims like these. So, I decided to change this unreasonable rule. Of course, the church officials didn't accept and I quit the church for that reason. But many people blamed everything about this on Asia calling her a witch. How is that fair? You know, among the devils, there are good people like the one in the forbidden love couple case. And among the church's people, there are people like Valper Galilei and also people who blame innocent children like Asia. So, what's really the difference between us and them?

So, after all this experience, I decided to choose what is right and what is wrong myself from now on instead of blindly following the church's teachings. I think you should do the same. You can also ignore me and follow the church's teaching. Whatever you choose, make sure that the choice is yours and you should feel that you made the right choice. I am sure God will accept your choice since he gave you life not to live for him but to live for yourself and the people you care for. And I am sure God will accept my choice. That's all from me. I finally apologize to the church for hacking their communication system without permission. With this, Michaelangelo Strada is signing off."

And it was chaos after this announcement. Many people started questioning the church's teachings. And most of the people who considered Mike as a role model agreed with his view. The situation almost led to a rebellion from the young exorcists. The church couldn't find Mike. So, the only person they could rely on is Vasco Strada. Vasco took back his position as a Cardinal-Priest and announced that his grandson wouldn't like a rebellion since he wants everyone to be happy and Vasco said that if people agree with Mike's opinion, they can stay with that thought and still work for the church since there are bad devils too like Diodora according to Mike's story. By the way, even though Vasco took back his position as Cardinal-Priest, he won't do any of the church's missions and will just take care of Asia.

The biggest pain was for Archangel Michael. He was shocked once he got the news. He never expected that this is what Mike meant when Mike said that he's going to do something that will affect the faith in the church. He first went to Gabriel to convey the news. He asked if she's okay with this. She nodded and said, "It's okay. Mi-kun promised me that he will come back to me in the end after all. But I will still be lonely while waiting for him. Mi-kun is such a bully..." She pouted but Michael can clearly see the sadness in her eyes. Even she understands that it will be a while before they could meet Mike again.

Fortunately, all the officials that know about the connection between Michael and Mike are open-minded about the devils including Vasco. So, they never wronged Mike's choice or questioned Michael about this. And also, Mike didn't reveal main secrets like the death of the forbidden love couple was to protect the status quo or else, it would be bigger chaos. Nevertheless, the situation is still a mess. Fortunately, only a few knew about Mike's appearance and none of them leaked it.

By the way, the chaos was not only on the church's side but also in the underworld because Mike revealed about Diodora's death and forbidden love couple case publicly. The fallen angel side was pretty relaxed compared to the other two factions since it didn't get directly affected but Mike was still a headache to many fallen angels. And so, Mike became the most wanted person for both fallen angels and the devils because a lot of them hate him and he's no longer under the church's protection. And of course, with all this chaos, the leaders of the three factions decided to have a conference.

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(After a few days, the conference of the three factions is held)

"Haa... It's been a long time, isn't it? Your little brother is full of surprise, Michael." Azazel said with a smile. The people in the room are Azazel, Michael, Sirzechs, and Ajuka. They didn't bring any bodyguards with them because they don't want anything that they discuss here to be known to others.

"Haa... I would have easily controlled the situation if Mike didn't publicly announce my relative's death. Why does this guy hate me so much?" The one who complained is Ajuka Beelzebub.

"Get used to it. Mike is just another Euclid. But in Mike's case, we know his goal, unlike Euclid." Sirzechs consoled his best friend.

"So, this means all of you met him already. As expected of Mike. He just acts too fast but I am not fond of the surprises given by my little brother." Michael doesn't like the fact that Mike keeps most of the things as secrets. "Anyway, I think we should begin..."

"Hold on! Hold on!" The one who stopped them was Azazel. "Before we start this boring conversation, I need to know something important. Is it true that Mike is dating Gabriel and he already sucked her breasts?"

The whole room was silent for a while. All of them gave Azazel a complicated look. Michael sighed, "Haa... You didn't change at all, Azazel. Yes, they are dating. And it's also true that Mike sucked her breasts."

"Goddamnit!!" Azazel kicked the ground. His final hope was crushed because he knows that Michael can't lie. Well, Sirzechs and Ajuka didn't know about this. So, they looked at Michael with a shocked expression.

"Well, let's just put that matter aside. Now, let's start the conference. I understand that Mike managed to meet everyone here. I won't ask the exact details but I think you understand Mike's goal is." As long as the three factions are at war, Michael decided that it's better to know as little as possible. So, he didn't ask any details about their meeting with Mike.

"Peace Treaty, isn't it?" Sirzechs said. "Well, I don't mind having a peace treaty today itself."

"Not yet." The one who stopped them is Azazel. "Our internal problems aren't over yet. And even Mike sent me a message saying that it's not the time for treaty yet." Mike sent the message to Azazel because the others will have a lot of questions that he doesn't want to answer and he doesn't want to worry them further in this mess.

"Haa... I can never understand why Mike does all of this even though I am his brother?" Michael sighed. "So, what are we supposed to do now?"

Ajuka started speaking, "About that idiot's case, I will take care of it. But Mike also revealed the case about the forbidden love couple. Zekram Bael-sama is a little bit angry about that. He already didn't like Mike because Mike invaded a lot of devil territories and most of them were Bael clan's territories. So, to cool him down, I think it's better if you give back all the Bael territories that were invaded by Mike. There are supposed to be about 15 of them. Damn, that's a lot. No wonder he's called ruthless against the devils." Of course, this was Mike's plan just to give Kuoh back to devils. Mike already guessed that Zekram will be pissed and used that in his favor. This is to make sure that the church can't investigate more about the forbidden love couple case. And it will be also a problem for Mike who will live there. He would rather hide in the devil's shadow. Touji Shidou and the church will still stay though. Devils won't interfere with the church in Kuoh as long as Touji stayed within his boundary.

"Granted. Let's say that the demand from our side to accept this deal is that if you found Mike, you will deliver him to the church. Although I am pretty sure you will never find him until he wishes to be found." Michael said with confidence.

"Deliver him to the church if he is found huh... I am pretty sure the devils and fallen angels will just try to kill him if they found him even though we give this order. But yeah, after what he did in the past, Mike will just be fine." Sirzechs said.

"Well, the fallen angels won't have any demands this time, and let's say I agreed that if Mike is found, we will deliver him to the church. Well, I wonder how they will find him if they don't even know how he looks." Azazel said with a relaxed tone. "With that, we conclude this boring conference. Now, let's get to the next main topic. Micahel, tell me about Mike." This time, Azazel became serious.

Michael sighed. "Haa... This is the main reason you came to the conference, isn't it?"

"Well, I want to know more about him too." Ajuka agreed with Azazel.

Michael sighed again. "Fine. I will confess. Mike is something out of the norm for this world."

"We deduced that a long time ago," Sirzechs commented.

"Mike appeared out of nowhere in the teleportation room of the church. Even now, I don't understand why it was that specific place. It's like someone put him there because they want me to find him. If that's the case, why did he not directly appear in heaven? And then, his power. When he first appeared he released an aura that rivals mine. But after that, I understood that it was not his full power. His aura could rival even God's aura. I took him in because I don't want people like you to find him." Michael said while looking at Azazel.

"Hey, mind you. Although I don't look like that, I am also capable of handling children. Mike would definitely be a better guy if I found him instead of you." Azazel said with confidence.

"Nah, you will just raise him into a chuuni like you." Michael immediately replied with a mocking smile.

"Damnit, Michael! I swear I will get back at you someday and I am pretty sure that the child I will raise will be an absolute chad!" Says the person who will raise a chuuni in the future.

"Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, let me continue the story. You all know that Mike's intelligence level is also above the norm, right? And he's this smart even though he's a child." Michael asked.

"Yeah. That is obvious. That's something that irks me." Ajuka commented.

"Well, this story will be the most interesting for you. Mike was acting like a normal baby until this incident." Michael said.

"Yeah, I remember Mike saying something like that. He called it special circumstances." Sirzechs always wondered about these special circumstances.

"The forbidden fruit of wisdom." Once Michael said this, everyone in the room froze.

There was silence for a while and the one who broke the silence is Sirzechs. "You are telling me Mike committed humanity's first sin?" Michael nodded at Sirzechs's question.

"How did he even get that?" Azazel asked. "There is a defense mechanism on people who try to get near it, right? You know, just like how I got yeeted to a faraway place when I tried to enter seventh heaven to look at Sacred Gear System."

"At that time, we didn't know that Mike could fly. So, we carelessly left him in a room with an open window. He got out and since the sixth heaven is close to the seventh, he easily reached there, found the fruit, and innocently ate it and as for the defense mechanism, it never got triggered." Michael explained.

"How can that be possible? The only one who can surpass the defense mechanism without doing anything is the God himself." Azazel asked with a confused face.

"Yeah. Only God could do that. So, how did Mike do it? I don't know. So, it's no use asking me." Michael said.

"But wait a minute" Sirzechs intervened. "Why didn't you banish him if Mike ate that fruit?"

"Well, I won't banish a baby for doing that without being aware. And also, this is where the case gets weirder. Even though Mike ate that fruit, it didn't work as it's supposed to. For Adam and Eve, it gave them the knowledge of shame and evil when they ate the fruit. But for Mike, all it did was enhance his IQ levels. After I found him, he just acted like a smarter kid but he still didn't have any sense of shame, or he never knew about the bad things about the world until I taught him." Michael explained.

"That's really not supposed to work like that," Azazel commented.

"Exactly. Many things don't work like they should in Mike's case. By the way, he can even hack the God's system to an extent." Michael gave out more information. Ajuka and Sirzechs were just silent because they need time to process that information.

There was silence for a while. But then, it was broken by laughter. The one who laughed is obviously Azazel. "Hahaha!! All this information can mean only one thing. Mike is somehow related to God or something that's above the level of God. This guy just keeps getting more and more interesting. Hahaha!!"

When Azazel reacted like that, the rest of the people in the room gave him a deadpan stare, and all of them had the same thought. "What a chuuni this guy is..."