Chapter 28

Having finished putting away all their equipment and setting up in the abandoned church the trio of representatives were at a loss.

"This place is... How to say it?" Milana said with a troubled expression, not knowing how to describe the abandoned church well.

"A trash bin." Lint said what all of them were thinking but none wanted to admit.

The abandoned church really was a trash bin, with no redeeming aspect to it besides the soil counting as holy ground. The walls were dilapidated, there was a thick iron scent of blood in the underground chambers, the trees and vegetation around were wild and had no beauty to it, and every symbol of the church inside was broken or twisted in some way.

It was a truly terrible sight for the three girls, and none knew what to do about it precisely or even knew how to interact well with one another.

That is because they each came from a different branch of the church, with Lint coming from the Vatican Holy Church, Irina coming from the Anglican church, and Milana coming from the Orthodox Russian Church. The church might be an organization working under Heaven, but it was not a singular monolith of strength, it had many internal groups and little communication between said groups.

How could these three interact well with one another? All they could do was try to be civil and learn about each other.

"So, we should decide the chores. If we want to see this place back in order we need to fix the church back up." Miriana said and clapped her hands. As she did so they heard and saw a group of rats passing by right behind them and they all shivered in disgust.

They might all be experienced fighters who had seen plenty of blood and death before, but rats are disgusting and no one can deny that.

"Sounds great, but I was thinking about the delivery for Mr. Hanakai. Gabriel-sama did tell us to deliver Excalibur Blessing to him and I know the town better so... cya." Irina said and tried to dart away, hoping to avoid for as long as possible having to deal with disgusting rats and cockroaches.

Unfortunately, she wasn't the only one with such a thought and the other two were quick to follow, none of them willing to take care of any of it by themselves. In their minds, they were complaining about having to fix such a place and wondering if they couldn't outsource the cleaning of the place.

They would prefer to fight a giant stray devil spewing acid over having to deal with this place, that was how much they didn't want to deal with the infestation of rats and other vermin in the church.

And, just like that, all three went together 'harmoniously' to Soma's house.

///---///

KNOCK

KNOCK

Knocking on the gates of Soma's house the three waited for a moment until someone opened the gate.

"Hello, who is it?" questioned Mami as she opened the door wearing a frilly dress similar to that of a maid.

After having had 'Trois' removed from her mind Mami still had the memories of what happened. After calming down, with the help of Kiyoharu, she thought about what she could do moving forward. On one hand, she did not want to remove her gear since she was afraid someone might come after her for what she, as Trois, had done. On the other hand, she did not want to be turned into anything else, as she had seen during her time as Trois how devil servants can be treated, or risk being captured by the Hero Faction again, which was likely to happen if she left just like that.

Due to the lack of better options, she asked Soma for help after Kiyoharu suggested it. After hearing her plea he gave her a similar deal to the one he gave Mittelt and Rintaro.

She would work for him in what she was suitable for only, never sent on suicidal missions, or those which go against her moral code or that counted as sexual in any manner, she would also always be given the best of equipment available and suitable for the mission. In exchange for working for Soma and following orders, she would have his protection, he would help her with what she would want, and he would make her stronger.

For her that was a great idea so she accepted the deal, now being a permanent member of this house.

And as for why she was wearing a maid outfit, well, in her own words 'I look cute like this'. She was not an actual maid of the house, she simply enjoyed cosplaying as one due to liking the look and taking some pictures before posting online on social media, she even had several thousand followers by now and took great pride in it.

"Hello, we are from the church and-"

"Sorry, not interested." Mittelt came from behind Mami, and closed the door in their face.

Mami turned to Mittelt and raised a brow.

"Mittelt-san, that was rather rude."

"Don't care, I don't like them." Mittelt said petulantly. She really didn't like people from the church.

She was hunted down by them many times and was kicked out of heaven simply because she followed all orders and questioned the why of the Great War. For an organization like it, she only has contempt and anger so having them inside this house that she was starting to consider more like a home than anywhere else for a long while.

"Even so, do you really want to risk irritating Soma-san? We should ask him what he thinks about these visitors, right?" Mami said and Mittelt looked irritated at her answer.

"Fine, do as you please. But they stay in the living room and you watch over them, if they try anything you kick them out." Mittelt said before turning and leaving the gates.

Mami shook her head at Mittelt's overreaction before putting on a gentle smile and opening the door.

On the street, all three church members were playing rock paper scissors to decide who would stand here in the shade for a chance to talk with Soma when he leaves the house, and who are the two unlucky ones that will have to go back to start the cleaning. One cannot understate how none of this trained fighters did not want to spend their afternoon cleaning rubble while breathing the stink of piss and blood of that church right now.

As the door opened the three tried to look dignified, but Mami just gave a 'kind' smile that felt mocking for some reason and invited them inside.

When they stepped inside they froze for a moment, none of them were magic users but they could still feel the magic energy in the air, it was so dense that it was almost visible, and with a breath they could feel their reserves of energy spent during the travel and tiredness of the day being refreshed.

"I didn't know a place like this existed here." Irina said in shock, her family was one of the ones responsible for the town in the past so she has lived here during her early childhood, but she had never heard of a place like this before.

Even the Vatican, when she visited, did not have this dense a magical energy in the air. It was somewhat close, but still not this dense and that was a place made by Heaven who did not shrink away from any expenses in making it.

"Ara, ara, it seems like it surprised you guys. Don't worry, this place was modified by Soma-san and it is perfectly safe." Mami explained and all three looked at one another, all three quite worried.

Anyone who could set up a place like this was not to be trifled with.

As the guests all sat down on the couch in the living room Mami excused herself as she went to inform Soma of the guests.

Unfortunately, that did not work as the workshop was closed for now with an actual 'do not disturb' sign on the door. Soma had made sure to tell everyone to NOT interrupt or try to enter his workshop when he put such a sign out unless it was a life or death situation, putting a special 'bell' to touch in such a situation to warn Soma about it.

The visit of these three was not a life or death situation, as such Mami simply left a simple message right in front of the door for when Soma got out, after doing so she informed the trio of the church about having to wait for now.

"Here, you can all watch some TV for now while you wait. He shouldn't take too long to come and see you." Mami said, giving them a remote controller. "If you need anything, press this and someone will come to see you." Mami said as she left the living room.

She then pressed the head of an idol on a shelf outside the living room and a complex bounded field surged to seal the living room. A precaution Soma made just in case there were guests in the house and there was no one available at the time to watch over them... he went overboard in his creation this time and was completely paranoid at that moment in time.

To be fair, he did consider he might be being aimed at by a leader of an entire race and whose power was greater than his own. As far as he was concerned, being cautious and paranoid would let him live longer. In hindsight, he could have not been quite as impulsive then, but this was about family and that was well below his bottom line.

The trio of the church could only stare at the tv for a time before Lint moved fast, catching the control and speaking.

"I call dibs in deciding what to watch." She said and Irina pouted while Mirana just looked slightly confused. She grew up in the church and was raised as a pure combat nun due to her abnormal light power being of higher purity than even that of most angels, one of the greatest geniuses in regards to light energy the church has ever seen, and to keep her purity anything 'dirty' was not let around her out of fear of weakening her light.

A stupid thing since one has nothing to do with the other, but even if it was stupid superstition the church higher-ups still didn't want to risk it. So having her vaporize two dozen vampires was fine, but watching someone swear on TV was not right and she only saw what could be called politically correct TV tuned for children.

So, she was quite shocked when she saw what Lint decided to watch.

"Oh, they have Netflix. Let's watch the original Nightmare on Elm Street!"

"I am not sure, I've heard it is quite scary." Irina said. "What you think, Mirana-chan?"

Mirana looked a bit torn, but wanting to fit in she just smiled and said.

"Sure, why not?"

///---///

Soma was covered in sweat, his body trembling in exhaustion even as he drank potions he produced that could bolster his recovery speed and being in a place like this where the air was so thick with mana.

But, if one looked at his face, they would see an almost maniacal smile on his face as he continued hammering away with his great hammer. Sparks flying and some even grazing his face leaving marks, with him not even noticing as he kept working.

It was a thing of beauty, a terrifying type of beauty. His hand holding the hammer was bleeding despite how incredibly tough his skin and hand had become, the heat from the forge was blinding, as if he had a sun in there, but Soma did not care about any of that as he kept on hammering it.

Compressing it.

Making something that even the Dwarves could only stare at it in awe if they saw it.

He was shining in golden light as he used Jacob Limbs to increase his power as he kept on pounding the metal, it was the power of a God but the technique and hands of man.

When he gave the final hammering, the iron was still hot. He had completed the third step of the forging, now it was time for the next one, annealing.

That stage was to cool down the sword to a more manageable stage for the grinding. To do so one must cool the sword to a more ambient temperature, normally one could simply bury it into sand for a while.

Soma buried it into the flesh of Albion to bathe the sword into the blood of the dragon.

When the sword reached its ideal point he began to grind it, using the fangs of Albion to help as it was resistant enough for the process.

After grinding the metal for an hour while chanting in the way of the Fairies, Soma put the sword back in the forge to heat it up again. It was a faster process this time, but all the hotter for it as Soma tapped into his reserves of energy to fuel the fires.

It was a veritable inferno, but Soma didn't mind. As the sword became white from the heat he removed it from the forge and put it straight into what he had prepared, a big tank filled with holy water, the blood of Albion, and powdered unicorn horns.

Light energy flashed as the sword entered the solution, and only after it stabilized did I take it out and begin to sharpen it properly and inscribe runes into it. On the pommel he wanted to use his alchemy to help fixate several rubies and diamonds, all having already been engraved beforehand, but his instincts told him otherwise at the last moment and instead of putting many of those he put a singular pearl underneath it. If someone asked him why he did it, he wouldn't be able to give a good answer, but his teacher Muramasa told him to listen to his hunches while forging if he wanted to do what was truly the best.

As he finished the whole process Soma was extremely exhausted, his mental energy and his energy reserves were exhausted and he could barely move. Resting against a wall for a few minutes the mana in the air helped him recover enough to at least move again, if barley and he stared at the sword in his hand.

"Hehe, now this is a sword I am confident with." Soma said as he stared at the sword.

Refined, it was a meter and a half long, the handle measured half a meter with the blade occupying the remaining meter. Its length was about four fingers wide.

The handle and the body blended into one another, as if forming the shape of an extraordinary metallic sculpture. Some meticulous patterns could be faintly seen on it, and its tip wasn't so sharp, being surprisingly covered by a simple and seemingly pointless pearl.

Looking at it Soma frowned for a moment before he almost burst into laughter as he realized what was going on.

"Well, I truly did amazing work this time. For a weapon like this to be formed, this must be one of the best works I've ever done even counting back in the Throne. To think that this is one of those weapons, the types that demand a name to activate."

In the forging with faery techniques, there are several stages for weapons. Not all faery forged weapons are the same in quality, there are the normal ones that can be named freely and the name doesn't help in anything, then there are the stronger ones that demand a name before the weapon can be considered complete and whose power is incredible, even most Noble Phantasms can't compare to this type.

The only type above it are those unique ones, the ones forged by the Faeries and given a name and power by the world itself. Weapons like Excalibur and Rhongomyniad.

So, for Soma to have produced a sword like this, how could he not be excited and satisfied?

Holding the sword in his hand he thought for a bit before deciding.

"You shall be named Aria, Goddess of Light, a 'goddess' made by the hands of man." He said and, as he did so, the faery enchantments activated and a blinding light flashed from his sword.

It was a powerful light flashed from the sword, as the light surged the sword seemed as if it was coming to life.

The originally dark sword shined and turned into a transparent golden, the previous dark patterns had the look of clouds now with several runes flashing with holy and light energy giving the sword a majestic feeling to it, like if it would be suitable to be worshiped in a cathedral.

The sharp pearl on the tip trembled vividly, and then the sword was held high above Soma's head. It was extremely sharp, as if it could cut even the toughest of metals like there was nothing impeding its advance. This sword was giving off the feeling of being unstoppable, the dragon-slaying properties adding to the feeling of supremacy caused by the sword and its weight. This was a sword that looked very light, but it weighed 800 kilos and even if it had no other power besides its weight and sharpness it would still be overwhelming to anyone trying to use it or that goes against it.

As Soma held it he could feel this sword's power and couldn't hold back a smile. He actually managed to make a Divine Construct! True, he was borrowing the power of the Christian God and had a lot of mythical materials, but it was still his hands that made this sort of item in the end.

This Goddess of Light Aria could be said to be one of the strongest blades of this entire world, one could even say that it was the absolute bane of dark entities, as well as the worst matchup for those who use light energy, and dragons in general!

It had an extremely powerful purifying power, in terms of danger to devils and other such beings; its purification was no lesser than the one from True Longinus. Even if a god appeared who had dark or evil attributes, like Angra Mainyuu or Nix, they would have to be extremely cautious of this blade.

But that is not all this sword was good for. When facing anyone using light attacks or any form of light energy, they all would be absorbed by the sword, becoming its nourishment. Even the strongest light attack would only become this sword's 'food' to make it more and more powerful.

And as for its Dragon Slaying aspect, it was at least as powerful as Ascalon and it can still grow by killing actual dragons.

If one was to say what weakness this sword had, it was that it was unable to launch blasts of energy like Durandal or Gram. It was a sword that needed close range to show its worth, but in close range it would be hard to find any sword in this entire world that was more terrifying.

Smiling as he held this blade Soma wanted to swing it around a bit, but felt a strong rejection from the blade as it heated in his hands as if trying to burn him away.

Putting the sword down Soma frowned and used Jacob Limbs.

As he did so the sword that seemed to be rejecting him instantly calmed down and seemed to be almost as if eager to be wielded by him.

"It seems like I will need to use that research after all. At least Azazel already sent it over so it won't be too hard to increase my affinity with holy blades." Soma muttered as he opened and closed his hand a few times after putting down the sword and sighed.

He wanted to make the other weapon he planned already, but decided against it for now. He should not be too hasty and instead focus on using the Holy Sword Project results to obtain a greater affinity to holy energy. He could still use this sword, but only when using Jacob Limbs and that is a limitation that he would rather not have. Besides, he was extremely exhausted physically and especially mentally.

Producing a Divine Construct, after he has already made a beast of a weapon like that hammer, his mind was already extremely tired and if he tried to make his other weapon it would most definitely not be as good as it could be.

He had to be at his peak if he wanted to make a weapon that would not compare badly to Aria.

Getting out of his workshop Soma carried his Aria with him, not yet willing to put it down as he was still very giddy from making it and wanted to swing it a bit under the sun just to see its shine. He was like a man who just bought a brand new sports car, no matter what he would want to show off a bit.

"KYAAA!" A shrill female scream sounded and Soma's eyes widened, his house should be a perfectly safe place, so what was going on that would cause a girl's scream as soon as he left the workshop?

Quickly going to where the sound came from Soma already had the sword in hand, only to come to the living room and see two girls huddled together with Aya, as Kiyoharu, Mami, and a black and white girl looked at them with amusement while the TV played the credits of a movie.

"... You know what, I am too tired to deal with anyone trying anything right now. Make some space on the sofa girls, I want to watch a movie too." Soma said and Lint stood up, realizing from the description that this must be Soma.

"Hello, we are from the church and-"

"Nope. Not now, I am too mentally exhausted to deal with any serious business right now. Movie first, talk politics later." Soma said. He was at his house and as long as he was there he was confident enough to act however he felt like.

While inside his house, anyone trying to attack him or anyone designated as a protection target (like Kiyoharu, Aya, and the others who lived here) would suffer severe and cruel punishment, that they will wish they were dead.

... Soma went way too overboard with the protections, but he did not care about that. Better to sin due to excess than to be harmed for carelessness.

Soon, they were all watching a marathon of Nightmare on Elm Street.

This was a good day.