Chapter 2: A New Beginning

He found himself standing in line.

In front of him, there were millions, billions of people.

Behind him, there were millions more, billions more.

It was pure white - the surroundings, that was.

The people were all white as well, though he could see several exceptions, himself included. Everyone seemed to be carved out of the same mole, with such average features that made communism jealous.

The majority, about 99.999% of them, were pure white, with a faint whitish-yellow glow around them. The intensity of the glow around them differed from person to person, though most of the light shined brightly enough to be noticed but sufficiently dim such that it didn't hurt while looking at them.

About 0.001% shined too brightly, and he could clearly notice it due to the prominent out-of-place bright spot on the horizon.

Frau didn't know what it meant, and he was curious, but as much as he tried, he couldn't get out of line.

He could, however, turn on the spot, taking in all 360 degrees of his surroundings.

"Are you new here?" A voice suddenly appeared, and Frau jumped on the spot from fright.

"Relax, boy."

His voice was deep, calm, soothing. And it made Frau comfortable.

"Who are you?" Frau turned behind to engage in conversation with the man directly behind him.

"Me? I have no idea. I've been here long enough to...to...to what?"

Frau was weirded out. The man didn't know anything, but he could at least be good company.

"I don't know. I'm also new here. Where is this place?"

"I have no idea."

"What are we supposed to do here?"

"Wait, I suppose."

"Wait? Wait for what?"

"I have no idea."

Contrary to his soothing voice, the content which came out of his mouth didn't sound soothing at all.

"You are one clueless adult, aren't you?"

"Don't blame me. Nobody here knows what is going to happen, when it will happen, or if it is even going to happen."

"I understand." Frau lied as naturally as he breathed. He didn't understand a thing.

"No, you didn't. But it's no problem. Just wait here. Perhaps something will happen soon enough."

But nothing ever did.

∞

Frau had been in this place for a long time already. "Time" was a very...what is the word? Ah, yes, an abstract concept in this space or place.

Frau knew he was once human, perhaps still human, but apart from that, he could remember nothing. It wasn't much of a problem as everyone he knew, which included two people, was the same.

The person who initiated a conversation with him was named Bob. It was a 'name' that Frau made to differentiate him from the others. He had forgotten his name after not speaking with anyone for a long time.

How long? It wasn't a question Frau wanted an answer to.

He was a white human that glowed an average intensity of yellowish-white light. He was basically one of the 99.999% that existed here.

Like everybody else here, he didn't have any feature that made him stood out.

On the contrary, Frau himself stood out quite a bit, though no one said anything about it.

He wasn't pure white in color; he was white tinted with grey fog-like swirls around his limbs and more notably, his abdomen. It made him seem...tainted, dirtied. But having seen some rare colors like pink and orange around others, he didn't bother about his own color for too long.

These two people stayed together for quite some time, having nothing else to do. It was boring here; it was dull, but there was nothing else better to do.

They didn't eat, sleep, or drink. The two didn't go to the toilet, nor did the two ever felt the urge to go to one. Frau tried to hold his breath for as long as possible, but he didn't feel the need to breathe physically. It was as though he could live just from existing.

It was a weird feeling, but they quickly got used to not breathing in this empty space.

Frau and Bob couldn't remember anything from their lives, but they knew they had died. After all, if they hadn't passed, they wouldn't be here, would they? But then again, they wouldn't know if they had experienced "life" in the first place, so everything was merely speculations.

Thus, unlike any normal human would have done, the people here all shared speculations rather than sharing old "memories". Speculations about what they are now, assumptions about where they are now, speculations about everything they could possibly speculate about.

The person in front of Frau didn't say anything for the longest time. Frau thought he was just ignoring them, but they only realized later that the "person" in front of Frau was merely a shell. A shell to hold a soul, just like them. It was pretty creepy to see a face exactly like yours not do anything for a long time, but like anything else, time seems to dilute those feelings as well.

Thus, one speculation was confirmed - there weren't millions of billions of trillions of people present. Most of them were empty shells, waiting for a soul to inhabit them just like Frau and Bob did.

The shell in front of them was finally occupied after a very, very long time.

Surprisingly, the person in front of him was named similarly, Rob.

"Are you my twin?" Those were Bob's first words to Rob, to which Rob only softly shriek as Frau did the first time Bob spoke.

Now, both of them were good friends. Strange how fate works in mysterious ways.

Unfortunately, fate was also cruel. It wasn't long after Rob appeared that Bob disappeared. His body remained, but it never spoke anymore.

And that was how another one of their speculations was confirmed. The souls inside them get summoned somewhere at a random point in time. As for the where or the when, Rob and Frau both had no idea.

Rob could not truly replace Bob's presence, but Frau didn't have as much time to spend with Rob as he did with Bob before he too disappeared all of a sudden.

And now, from the original group of three, only Rob remained behind.

Rob was now lonely.

∞

"Welcome, Frau."

The moment Frau appeared, he heard those words. Looking at the being who uttered them, Frau was surprised.

Their current space was a small office-like room, though Frau didn't know that as he had never heard or seen an office room before. It was still white, but other colors made it more...human than the former place where he lined up for an unknown number of years.

It was a blessing that none of the people had gone insane from the wait. Like, literally, God's blessing.

"Um...can I ask why you are?"

"Sure, but before that, please take a seat."

Frau looked around him and spotted several details he did not know anything of. A pair of long, soft-looking seats behind him, a transparent table between them, a shiny wooden table in front of him, and a chair.

The being who replied to him seemed like an ordinary old man, but Frau knew better than that. Even though he didn't display any sort of authority, nor did he radiated with some random aura-thingy, his presence alone ensured that everybody who ever arrived in this room remained well-behaved.

Following the old man's words, he took a seat and stared at the old man. The old man also stopped doing any paperwork and faced the younger boy with a small smile.

"Well, now that you're comfortable, let's move on to our actual business. You're going to be my last, let's say...patron before I retire, and I couldn't be any happier."

"Patron?"

"Ah, you don't know that word, do you? But pay no attention to it. You should focus more on your future."

Frau was curious but chose to remain silent and continue listening to the old man.

"Well, first things first, you're going to be reincarnated, like everybody else who makes it into rooms like this."

"There are people who don't make it into rooms like this? Did Rob and Bob make it here?"

"For your first question, yes, but you don't have to worry about that as well since you'll be forgetting everything that happens. For your second question, I'm not sure, but the two you mentioned likely did. It is rarer to disappear after arriving here, after all. Back to you, you'll be reborn in a completely different world. And since your soul is a bit special, your new life would also be quite special."

"Can I know why my...soul is special?"

"Well, I'm not allowed to divulge any sensitive information, but you can know that your previous life plays a significant role in determining your type of soul. Intense hatred would result in black; anger, red; sadness, dark blue; kindness, yellow, and so on. As for the special, even among the specials, grey represents bitterness. No hatred towards anything, no anger nor blame. Just pure bitterness."

The old man ruffled through a few papers and confirmed it, "So that's what happened. You're one weird person. I never guessed that my last patron would be this unique."

"Bitterness?"

"Yes. Bitterness is quite rare, even amongst the many I have seen. Most just convert bitterness to anger or sadness. Hardly anyone stay bitter without anger or sadness. Of course, the time of your death also plays a role in this, but you need not need to know this. And although emotions play a significant role, it's only one part that makes up the color. Another important part that determines your soul type would be karma."

"Karma?"

"Think of it as good or bad luck, but instead of viewing it as resulting from one's action, it results from actions done to you instead. After all, you can only control other's actions towards you to a certain extent, so it plays a more crucial role in your karma rather than something that self-control would be able to do." He paused for a while, "If I might add, manipulation of others towards yourself still counts as 'your' action, not others."

"You have suffered quite a bit, both emotionally and physically. But that is not too much of a surprise. Almost every child who arrived that came from your time would be similar. But rarely did anyone have such a greyish grey. Most would be tinted with either red or black."

"I see..." Frau nodded his head. It was all fascinating and all, but now, he was more curious about his current position.

"So, what's going to happen to me now?"

"Now that I have explained everything that I needed to explain to you, I'll send you off. As for your final details, everything would be based on God."

"God is real?"

"It depends on your definition of 'real', but if you mean he exists, then the answer is yes. After all, I'm part of God, just like the billions of other me's in billions of other rooms like this one. You can think of me as God's fragile ego, a billionth of even a fraction of God's power. It's a hive system, not that you know what it means."

Frau nodded, though he didn't really like the fact that he was indirectly being called stupid.

"You're not stupid, just uneducated. And you're not the only one." He continued speaking, as though reading Frau's mind was your everyday thing, "Everyone that arrives in that waiting line has already been purified. Thus, any color you saw was just too intense to be purified away, which is also why you mostly see white. Not everybody has an intense color like you, after all."

"Oh, no wonder." Now, that's another speculation confirmed. The colors do play a part in determining the type of person you were. He would not remember all his assumptions after this, but it was nice to gain more knowledge.

"It was nice having you as my last patron, but unfortunately, your time here is up. Please stand here," The old man said and snapped his finger, causing a black portal to appear on the empty side of the wall.

"Hm?"

"After you enter this portal, you will be reborn, and a new 'me' will be replaced. I pray that you will have a good life this time."

"Thank you. Although I have no idea what the previous me was like, I hope I'll not be like me in the past. Having bitterness doesn't seem like a very good thing to have."

The old man merely smiled as he watched Frau enter the black portal, leaving for his new life.

His job was finished, and now...he waited for his "death" patiently. It wasn't really "death" to begin with, as all he is doing is just returning to his creator's side. And for the old man, it was considered to be the greatest honor that he could have.

Still...the old man looked at the still-open portal as he started fading.

"Let's give him a gift. Hopefully, you'll be able to use your powers more efficiently with this gift."

He flicked a small ball of white light at the closing portal with a smile. As soon as the portal closed, he had too wholly disappeared. Immediately after, another old man replaced the previous old man's position and started doing the paperwork.

This was the never-ending cycle of God's egos. A process that cannot, and will not, be stopped.

*****************

"Frau!"

"..."

"Frau!"

"..."

This time, the older man didn't even bother screaming anymore and directly lifted the four-year-old Frau off the bed and carried him to the toilet. Sometimes, the best way to wake someone up was by force.

As for the fact that the child was merely four years old? Well...if no one knows, it means that it is legal.

Stripping him naked, the old man then tossed Frau into the bath. The freezing cold water immediately woke Frau up, causing him to shriek in surprise.

"Good morning, Frau. I'm glad you're awake."

"Yaegaki-san!" Frau wanted to cry, but due to his body being too cold, his tear ducts had frozen, not allowing any tears to come out.

It was all just an exaggeration, of course.

"Haha, sorry, sorry." Yaegaki apologized, though it was evident that he wasn't genuinely sorry about his actions. Frau couldn't tell and forgave him after being offered a sweet later on.

His full name was Masaomi Yaegaki, a simple man with an even simpler life. He has long black hair and not many distinct features to differentiate him from other men.

He is an exorcist from the Protestant Church, the church where Frau was currently living.

"Come on, hurry and get dressed after you wash up," Yaegaki smiled as he turned on the hot water, warming the younger boy up, "It's time for our morning run."

Frau was very healthy. Well, he was forced to be healthy. Everybody in this church was healthy, from the youngest exorcist to the oldest one. It was strange, but no one questioned it. So Frau just followed their example and thought that it was all normal for priests to be healthy.

"Okay!" Frau did not enjoy the sensation of running as much as other kids. Mainly, it was due to the end goal. Other children run for fun, and Frau ran for the sake of getting healthy.

And while health is a great goal, it wasn't exactly the best motivation for a kid of his age. But due to Yaegaki's influence, he had learned to turn off his brain and just run.

It was still early in the morning, where old aunties and uncles came out of their houses to do some cardio exercises.

"Good morning, Frau. Running today again?"

"Yep. Yaegaki-san just dumped me in cold water today, so I need to warm my body up."

"Haha, good job with that. Keep it up!" They encouraged as Frau jogged past them. Kuoh was a huge town, and fortunately for Frau, Yaegaki didn't force him to run around the entire city. After running about 1.5 kilometers away from the church, they returned to the church, running another 1.5 kilometers.

It wasn't much of an exercise to the fitter Yaegaki, but to Frau? He felt like dying.

By the time they returned to the church, other exorcists had already started arriving for their daily jobs. Frau had no idea what their job was supposed to be like, but he only knew that they were killing something.

"Ghosts" were their primary targets. That was the reply Frau got when he asked. And since no one disputed that fact, nor did anyone gave him an alternate answer, Frau believed them.

He believed that they were out there killing something evil, not the fact that they were killing ghosts. After all, all the children he played with said that ghosts don't exist. And since he couldn't see any ghost with his own eyes as well, he was naturally more inclined to believe his friends.

Though, he didn't plan on telling that to the adults' faces.

Frau entered the bathroom and, this time willingly and knowingly, took a nice cool shower.

Nothing beats the feeling of cold water soaking down his hot body.

After the lovely shower, he changed into his "work" clothes before entering the kitchen. The church has almost everything for the people who lived here, and a kitchen was essential for survival.

It wasn't much; his breakfast merely contained two slices of bread, an apple, and a glass of milk. It was healthy, nutritious, and sweet for a child, the perfect breakfast for Frau.

"Good morning, Frau."

"Morning, Frau."

"I see you and Yaegaki are working hard as usual."

"Thank you for opening the gates, Frau."

As various exorcists entered the church, they greeted Frau enthusiastically. None of them were surprised by Frau's appearance early in the morning - they already knew who was in charge of miscellaneous jobs like opening the gates.

"Morning, ojii-sans!"

"Hey, this guy might be an old man, but you can call me nii-san."

"Oi! You're older than me, and you have the face to say that I'm an old man?!"

Two exorcists started arguing, while the rest just looked on with amusement. It was a daily occurrence, and without this argument, Frau would feel as though his day was incomplete.

"It's time for morning prayer, ojii-san! Let's pray first before you guys continue arguing, alright?" Frau checked the time before breaking up the "fight".

"Tch." Both parties clicked their tongues but listened to Frau. They were faithful believers of the Biblical God, and while their argument was "important", it still fails to measure up to praying to their Lord and Saviour.

There were about ten or so exorcists present, alongside two priests. Frau was still a child, so he was given no official position. But everybody knew that he was growing up and raised to be a future priest.

Together with the exorcists and priests were a few devout civilians, mostly elderlies, who woke up early for morning prayer.

Sitting on the wooden benches closest to the front, everybody closed their eyes as the hall fell into silence.

"In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen."

The first priest paused for a while to allow everyone to recollect their thoughts and focus before the second priest spoke.

"Lord, may nothing separate me from You today. Teach me how to choose only Your way today so each step will lead me closer to You. Help me walk by the Word and not my feelings. Help me to keep my heart pure and undivided."

"Protect me from my own careless thoughts, words, and actions. And keep me from being distracted by my wants, my desires, my thoughts on how things should be. Help me to embrace what comes my way as an opportunity rather than a personal inconvenience."

"And finally, help me to rest in the truth of Psalm 86:13, 'Great is your love toward me.' You already see the ways I will fall short and mess up. But right now, I consciously tuck Your whisper of absolute love for me into the deepest part of my heart."

"I recognize Your love for me is not based on my performance. You love me warts and all. That's amazing. But what's most amazing is that the Savior of the world would desire a few minutes with me this morning. Lord, help me to forever remember what a gift it is to sit with You like this."

The two priests alternated themselves, and when it was finally finished, they paused once more to allow everyone to recollect their thoughts and reflect upon themselves.

"And all God's people say,"

"Amen." The word resounded in the halls of the church, and the morning prayer was finished. Frau also opened his eyes and watched as some remained behind to relieve the quietness that would arrive once everyone leaves, while others left for their jobs.

"Good luck, and stay safe." Frau waved goodbye to the exorcists who were leaving to do their rounds. Although it wasn't true that the exorcists exorcise ghosts like they said they do, but it was true that they are killing supernatural beings. Fallen angels, stray devils, and occasionally some strange monsters that threaten the town's peace were all targets of the exorcists.

Frau did not know any of this, but it did not stop him from blessing them.

The exorcists smiled and waved back but almost tripped when they heard Frau's following words, "Don't let the ghost possess you."

The two priests smiled and let out a small laugh hearing Frau's words, while the exorcists just grumbled something about Frau being a brat.

Since Yaegaki was also part of the exorcists' group, Frau would be alone with the two priests until they return to the church.

"Let's do some training, shall we?" The first priest asked as he took out a wooden sword. They might have the title of priests, but they were strong.

Don't mistake them for some old man in their late forties - they were amongst the strongest compared to ordinary citizens.

"Alright..." Frau agreed, not very enthusiastically. Because unless one was a masochist who enjoys being beaten up, no one would truly enjoy training with an old man who would constantly wallop him with the flat side of the sword.

One's butt can only last so long before it cracks. The other priest was in charge of the church's daily needs, such as giving advice, hearing confessions, having prayers with other devotees, and more.

Only after lunch did the two priests swap their duties, while Frau continued training with the sword with the priest.

∞

Upon entering the church's main entrance, he was greeted by a man in his late twenties, a woman around the same age as the man, and a small girl who was around his age.

The girl had light brown hair and had slightly violet eyes. And despite her being female, the first impression that came to Frau's mind was, 'What a shy boy.'

"Touji-san, how was your day?" Noticing the man arrive, Frau greeted.

Touji Shidou had light brown hair and wore a priest robe, albeit modified to differentiate him from a regular priest.

"Not bad. I don't think you guys ever met before, so let me introduce you." Touji changed the topic and pointed towards the woman and girl beside him, "Grace Shidou, my wife."

"Nice to meet you, Frau-kun. My husband often talks about you. It's finally glad to see the subject of our many talks in person." Grace bowed slightly and introduced herself with a smile.

Grace had brownish-black hair, but her most distinct features were definitely the violet-purple eyes.

"And Irina Shidou, my daughter."

Irina, however, didn't introduce herself as her mother did. She just hid shyly behind her father's legs and stared at him curiously.

"Nice to meet you, Irina-kun...wait." Frau noticed Touji's words and turned to face him, "Daughter?"

"Yes, daughter."

"You're not joking?" Frau asked seriously, and Touji replied back with equal seriousness.

"No, I'm not."

"So, Irina-chan, is it? Can I call you that?"

"Y-Yes. Nice to meet you, Frau. And I am a girl." Under her mother's encouragement, Irina went forward and bowed slightly. At the end of her introduction, though, she emphasized her gender once more.

"I got it. Well, it was nice seeing the girl that Touji-san always brags and shows off about. Let's head to the dining hall now, shall we? I will assume all of you are hungry?"

And as if to answer Frau's question, Irina's stomach raised its hand and growled as a response. Everybody looked at her, who was clutching her stomach in embarrassment. Her shy expression didn't help her in any way, and seeing her cuteness, everybody started chuckling.

"I'll take that as a yes. I'll ask priest-san to cook extra for you guys."

"Thank you."

Dinner was simple but delicious. The Shidou family left after dinner. But they made him promise to play with their daughter every once in a while before leaving.

Apparently, she did not have many friends due to her shy nature, and it was only after opening up did she become a lot more social. The first step was often hard to overcome, and that was where his promise came in.

Life as a four-year-old was hard, but it was fulfilling. Frau enjoyed this life a lot, and while everything about the church might be simple, it was home.

*****************

Just like this, two years passed peacefully.

"Hah!" Frau swung his sword horizontally but missed the priest by a few centimeters.

"Is that all you can do?" The priest taunted with a happy expression, dancing and wriggling his butt towards him. Honestly, it puzzled Frau more than it angered him. Why were the adults acting less mature than he did?

"No! I can do a lot more!" Nevertheless, Frau replied with vigor as he rushed towards the priest and swung his sword. It seemed random at first glance, but it contained a pattern that was hard to spot but easy to counter when spotted.

Every day, his sword arts improved by leaps and bounds.

Every day, his sword arts evolved.

The priest knew that, which was why he paid attention not to accidentally be forced to use too much of his strength against Frau.

"Hmm....interesting. A new pattern today?"

"Of course! I won't be able to beat you if I keep using the same old pattern, you know?"

"Hohoho, you still won't be able to beat me even after a million years."

But immediately after saying that, he slipped on a wet puddle of mud. He quickly regained his balance, but that fatal one second was enough for even a child to take advantage of.

"Ha!" Frau swung his wooden sword down with all his might, hitting the priest straight on his head.

"Yay!" Frau dropped his sword and jumped about, excited about the fact that he had finally beaten the priest for the first time. Granted, it was by luck. But he believed that luck was part of one's skill.

"Tch, you used too much strength against an old man like me. Not only that, you aim straight for my head? How ruthless..."

"Now that you're injured, you play the old man card? How shameless..." Frau immediately countered. But seeing the old man on the ground rubbing his head with a frown, he quickly went closer to him and checked upon him. He might play around with the people around him, but if he accidentally injured the old man too severely, he wanted to apologize for it. Even if it's because of a spar.

"Are you okay, old man?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a small headache, that's all." The priest gave a wry smile, "More importantly, did that number increase?"

"That number" referred to the number shown on a blue game-like screen which only Frau seemed to be able to see in front of him.

"No. It's still showing [1/1]."

"Well...this is unfortunate. I have no way of knowing how to increase that number or what it even represents in the first place." The priest sighed as he stood up. His facial expression stiffened for a second before returning to normal, though his hands constantly rubbed his own temples.

"Is your headache severe?"

"I just need to take a quick nap, and everything will return to normal. Don't worry about it too much, Frau."

"...well, I'll just bless you first. It is my fault that you got that headache after all."

"This...fine..." There would be no actual "blessing" done, but since it was just a child's whim, the old priest gave in and bent his head towards Frau.

"Pain, pain, go away~," Frau spoke in a sing-song manner, but as soon as he did that, he suddenly tumbled forward into a panicked priest's arms, going to sleep.

"Frau! Frau!"

"..."

∞

The priest had already been surprised by the fact that he was beaten. It was with luck, but he wasn't so petty to say that it didn't count. As a retired exorcist, his abilities, while not at his prime, were pretty good. And even by luck, not many people could hit him. Of course, this was only applicable to non-supernatural citizens. His head hurt from the impact, but it was nothing he couldn't happen.

He was happier about the fact that the boy he raised was growing stronger day by day.

But that happiness quickly disappeared, and it was replaced by anxiousness after Frau fainted in his arms after attempting to "bless" his wounds.

He quickly did a quick scan of the boy's body, health, and mind, and fortunately, there was nothing wrong. Everything about him seemed normal, and while further check-ups might be needed, he wasn't in any danger for now.

Frau even had a smile as he slept, causing the old priest to smile as well as he carried him to his room. After the initial shock, he finally realized his own condition - he was perfectly fine. Too fine, actually, that he seemed more alert than he ever was before the spar. It was as though...

'No, is this Frau's work?' The priest looked at the sleeping boy and wondered.

Pulling ordinary people into the supernatural world was something the priest did not want to do.

It could not be denied that the fun, the thrill, the adventure, and everything one could imagine would be found in the supernatural world. The various fetishes of tentacles, magical girl, and furries would be fulfilled; the legendary magic and cultivation would be in an arm's reach away and, of course, the generally much higher lifespan that existed.

No one could deny any of its excitement. But the danger that came along sometimes made the priest wished that he didn't know that the supernatural existed in the first place.

The cost of all those excitement would be death. A place where strength ruled and where might makes right, an ordinary human like himself would find himself lucky to even survive until seventy years old.

Most, despite sacrificing various things to gain a higher lifespan, never lived till the end. Dying before even making it half of their lifespan was common.

Yes, there was peace in the supernatural world now, but that is only applicable on the surface. Very much like an iceberg, the depth of the supernatural world was much, much darker and dangerous.

Illegal experiments, poisons that could destroy cities with one drop, slaves stripped of all rights, and so many others that it could only be imagined.

"Akira!" A loud voice entered the room, and before he could even react, the door burst open, revealing a few exorcists, with Yaegaki and Touji at the forefront, "I heard about Frau's condition, how is he now?"

Yaegaki was very concerned. He did not have any children himself and took it upon himself to raise Frau like his own child.

"He's fine, Yaegaki. He just fell asleep." The priest stated his current condition, reassuring him that Frau was going to be okay.

"I see...thank you for thanking care of him, but what happened? I can't imagine that you would train him until he faints..."

The old priest was slightly embarrassed, but he proceeded to explain the circumstances leading up to their current event.

"He fainted after healing you? Are you sure about that? Because if that is true, that means..."

"Yes, we have two ways to deal with it. I would very much like to apply the first method, but a healer is..."

"A blessing for us Church faction members."

The room fell into silence with the occasional snoring of Frau. No one knew what to say to continue this conversation.

Eventually, Yaegaki sighed and said, "Let's until he wakes up. If something about him changes because of this, then we'll react accordingly."

The rest nodded. The group expected Frau to wake up after a few more hours, but surprisingly, Frau was already starting to stir.

"Yaegaki...san...?" Frau's drowsy grumble drew everyone's attention to the bed.

"Frau!" Immediately reacting to the call of his name, Yaegaki immediately went to his side and patted his head, "I'm here. How are you feeling? Do you feel anything wrong or bad with your body?"

"Hm...?"

"Yaegaki, don't rush him. He just woke up." The priest chided him lightly, causing Yaegaki to feel embarrassed for a moment.

"Yaegaki-san? I thought you were busy killing ghosts?"

"You...sigh, never mind. If you can joke like that, it probably means you're fine. So, how do you feel?"

"What do you mean how I feel? Normal, I guess. More refreshed than usual? But that's probably because I slept. And..." Frau didn't get to finish his sentence as he noticed a difference within himself.

It wasn't anything obvious. It couldn't be seen by anyone except for Frau. The familiar light-blue screen that followed Frau since the time he could remember.

[2/2]

"The number changed."

Hearing this news, Yaegaki and the priest stared in surprise.

"Really?"

"What does it say now?"

"[2/2]. Why?"

'Both numbers changed, but what does that mean? Going by the normal way of thinking, it should be something like a percentage. In an FPS game, it would be like ammunition...'

While Yaegaki debated internally, Touji approached the boy and injected some mana into the boy, checking for something.

"As expected...his mana increased."

"So the number represents his mana?"

Touji shook his head towards his subordinate's question and explained, "Mana is a type of energy that has no quantitative measurements. There are no 1 mana or 2 mana, two drops of mana, or anything like that. Even when we say 'a ball of mana', it doesn't actually represent the amount of mana present. After all, depending on the individual, the mana could be much potent or much weaker."

"But we can roughly measure the amount of mana instinctively. So to put it into more quantifiable terms, we just refer the mana levels by how strong you are. A mid-class mage has more mana than a low-class mage, and so on. It's not the most accurate, but this classification works most of the time, so it stuck till today." After giving an answer to his subordinate, Touji noticed Frau staring at him with curiosity shinning in his eyes, "Do you still want to listen to this, Frau?"

"Touji!" Yaegaki quickly stopped him.

"No, it's time for him to know. After knowing the fact that he can heal, his fate would completely change. It's only fair for him to know and decide for himself for his own future."

"He's only six!"

"And he's already mature enough compared to other children. Yaegaki, enough. I know you treat him as your own child, we all do, but this isn't a matter where you can just decide for him."

"..."

Yaegaki didn't like this at all. He knew how cruel the supernatural world can be. And if the child enters at such a young age...

"It's fine, Yaegaki-san. Let me hear more." Frau smiled. He wasn't stupid to know why Yaegaki was so vehemently against him hearing since he had long inferred that what they were killing weren't "ghosts". He didn't know what, but now that they are finally telling him something, Frau wasn't going to let the chance go away.

"You...sigh, do whatever you want." Yaegaki was already exasperated. Since he couldn't really stop him, all he could do as Frau's parent figure was to at least pave the way for him.

Getting Yaegaki's permission, Frau happily turned towards Touji and stared at him with expectations gleaming in his eyes.

"First thing first, the 'ghosts' that we mentioned were not exactly wrong. Just compared to your imagination, they aren't as common as they say they are. Rather, we deal with more serious things, such as stray devils, strange monsters, and many more."

As Touji began to explain more and more about what being an exorcist meant, Frau absorbed everything in like a sponge. From the current state of the supernatural world to its past wars and connections with other mythologies pantheons.

From the beasts that appeared in the nine circles of hell to the tree of life, Frau learned it.

From the items that cursed its users to oblivion to the items that helped the weak humans survive against the stronger beings, Frau understood as much as he could.

The Longinus, the Sacred Gear, the existence of magic and cultivation, and how the world was generally ranked.

And most importantly, Yaegaki and Touji ensured that Frau absolutely understood one thing about the supernatural world.

"While the supernatural world has its own laws and regulations, it all boils down to strength in the end. If you have strength, the rules do not matter anymore. After all, who would be there to arrest you if you're the strongest?"

"I'm not going to stop you if you want to enter after hearing everything, but are you willing to risk your life to grow strong, ensure that you will not give up no matter what torture or training you go through?"

It was scary to hear that for a six-year-old child, but Frau was no ordinary child.

He was scared, yes. After all, even his current training was tough. But even then, the adults said that this was but a warm-up? Anyone who wasn't masochistic would obviously be afraid.

But Frau was also excited. Excited for a whole new world he would be able to experience. Excited about the things he would be able to do.

"Yes, I'm willing! So train me until the brink of death, Yaegaki-san, Touji-san, Priest-san, but I'm never going to give up." Frau replied confidently with a smile.

"Hahaha, good!" Touji smiled, "But remember, always use your power for good, and never to bully someone else, alright?"

"Un!"

"Before we get into your training, I'll have to give you the strength hierarchy in the supernatural world. It is divided into various levels, from weakest to strongest, they are: low class, middle class, high class, ultimate class, seraph/satan class, and super class. After these six main categories, it is followed by Gods. Usually, we just add their race after the level: low-class devil, middle class fallen angel, high-class angel, and so on."

But they had already taken up most of the afternoon and evening talking about the various things in the supernatural world, so they decided to have dinner before continuing to talk about it.

Frau was dissatisfied about the sudden stop in the story but had no other choice but to wait.

"The Archangel is the highest-ranked angel that was closest to the God of the Bible and His favored creation. We do not know about Lady Gabriel, Lord Raphael, or Lord Uriel, but Lord Michael is definitely an Archangel. Various myths have definitely been passed down, even recorded inside the bible, but nothing is certain.

They are then followed by the Seraph (plural Seraphim), also known as Burning Angels, guardians of the Throne of Heaven. Lord Michael, Lady Gabriel, Lord Raphael, and Lord Uriel are titled the "Four Great Seraphs", and they are the pride of our Church Faction. Of course, this doesn't mean that the other Seraphim are weak.

After the Seraphim are the Cherubim. If the Seraphim are the ones who protect Heaven, then the Cherubim would be the ones who judge and attacks opposing faction. But after the Great War, due to a state of extreme exhaustion and all three factions losing their main forces, neither of the three sides wanted to continue battling. So while there was no peace between the factions, outright battles did not occur either. They represent the four domains created by God: wild animals (lion), domestic animals (ox), humans (man), and birds (eagle).

As far as we know, all the seraphim are ten-winged angels, while the Cherubim are eighter-winged. It isn't confirmed, but Lord Michael might be a twelve-winged angel, an angel that surpassed the limits of a regular angel. These angels make up the top brass of Heaven."

Frau was very interested in all of them, and he listened intently without interrupting Touji's words.

By this time, only Touji, Yaegaki, and the priest were left behind. The other exorcists have already heard this story countless times, and most of them had their own families to go back to.

"The Virtues are a special class of angels. They have only 8 wings throughout their entire life, and they are unable to improve at all. Despite them having 8 wings, their fighting power is usually lesser than even six-winged angels. They represent the seven virtues of humanity: Chastity, Temperance, Charity, Diligence, Patience, Kindness, and Humility, and their main job are to exist. Without them, the seven virtues in humanity wouldn't exist, and everybody would only have the seven sins within them.

The Powers and the Watchers are opposite sides of the same coin. The Powers are mostly seen as the warriors of God. They protect all of the cosmos from outside threats and remain in order. They act as officers of Heaven, managing lower status angels and supervising them. The Watchers were the first angels to be sent down to earth and watch over them to protect humanity from outside threats. They are the opposites of the Powers, and both of them share a rivalry."

"So one defends Heaven, and the other defends humans?"

"Essentially, yes. But in case of a world-ending event, both would prioritize Heaven."

"Eh...if every faction has their own protectors, who would be the ones protecting the human race?"

"No one. And that is why humans were given the ability to reproduce quickly while the denizens of the supernatural world cannot. It is still unfair to humans, of course, but we can't really do much except to get stronger..." Touji smiled bitterly.

"But going back to the angels. Dominions and Ophanims mainly regulate the duties of lower-status angels, and they could be anywhere between 4 winged to 6 winged angels. If compared to a military army, they would be considered generals, commanders, and so on.

Regular Angels lowest rank of the celestial hierarchy. They either serve as messengers, soldiers, or work under the order of Higher Angels. These are usually two-winged angels, and in times of war, they would be considered as regular soldiers."

Frau had no particular reactions to the lower ranking Angels apart from a shine in his eyes. To an ordinary human like him, anything that relates to magic would make him excited.

He couldn't wait to stand beside those supernatural beings.

"I know you're excited, but go to sleep now." Touji stood up as he looked at his watch, "It's already 9."

"Eh? Why?" Frau pouted and whined, "It's still early..."

"Haha, no, it's not. In the future, you would be begging to sleep at this time." Leaving ominous words, Touji smiled and left the room, "Good night, Frau."

The priest and Yaegaki both looked at the frightened Frau with pity and shook their heads.

"This is your choice, Frau. Good night, I'll look after you tomorrow." Yaegaki patted Frau's head and tucked him into bed while the priest just left.

∞

"This is awkward..." Frau muttered as he accompanied two foreign priests one week later.

"Don't worry about it. You'll only have one thought once we start training, and that awkwardness will disappear." The first priest spoke with a kind smile.

Introducing himself as Castor Hausen, he could be considered a handsome young man. Castor's face is somewhat round for his age, making him look much younger than he is, and he has a thin, long, pointed nose, a small mouth, and thin lips. His skin tone is quite pale, with a slightly orange tint to it. He stands at 180 cm with a tall, willowy frame, with little muscle and long limbs.

"Um...I'll achieve the so-called enlightenment, and my abilities would increase by leap and bounds?"

"No. You'll just achieve zen and improve your efficiency." The second priest opened his mouth and spoke.

Ilyusha Krat, like Castor, could be considered as another handsome young man. Well, it could be regarded as beautiful as well, depending on the perspective you see him from.

Ilyusha's face is boyish and youthful, somewhat androgynous in appearance, and very round with a small nose and a small mouth with full lips. His eyes are very large, with no discernible pupils and dark eyelashes. His eyes are a dark purple in color and are usually not fully opened, giving him a sleepy look. Ilyusha's hair is wavy, cropped neck-length, pale-purple in color, with a fringe that stops just above his eyes and longer bangs at each side of his face.

And very much like Castor, his build was on the slender side, but he stood at 10 cm shorter than Castor, at 170 cm.

Both of them were wearing their church attires - a dark blue cassock with white trimming on the collar, under a long white outer cassock that hides their arms.

Both of them were priests that were dispatched to assess Frau after hearing about him in their reports. Since they were in training to become apprentice bishops, this also doubles as their own assessment.

"I've already heard everything about you, so let's get straight to it. We can bond after determining your worth." Castor smiled, though his smile didn't convey any positive feelings at all.

"For starters, strip!" Ilyusha's hands were raised in front of him, and suddenly a wine wrapped around Frau and tore his shirt to shreds, reducing Frau into his underwear.

"Huh? Hey!" Frau was utterly confused when he was suddenly stripped and became angry at the two adults.

"Well then, run!" Ignoring any shouts of protests or indignation, Castor released his killing intent and mana and pressed them both on Frau.

"I'm going to die!" It was Frau's first thought.

It was too sudden, leaving him with no other reaction. Frau's pupils shrank, and he started breathing heavily. A six-year-old child that has been exposed to neither wind nor storm was suddenly hit by a wave of killing intent; it was no wonder that Frau couldn't move at all.

He was too afraid. It was embedded into every living being's DNA to cower and surrender in the face of death. Only a selected few could ignore their instincts knowingly, while most of the others who could forget their instincts were because of various reasons that transcend their own survival, like family.

"Nooooo!" Frau started screaming and wailing as tears pooled in his eyes.

"Run..." 

"I-I can't..." Frau's limbs were trembling to no end. Much less run, he couldn't even move from his spot from the pressure of the mana on his body.

"Run..."

This time, Frau couldn't ignore that voice in his mind. Like some hypnotic words, Frau stood like a newborn deer, his limbs still trembling, albeit to a lesser degree than before.

"Run..."

The effects of those words were now more prominent. Whether it was because of fear or just plain use of magic to converse telepathically, just hearing the voice in his head filled Frau with strength.

And no, it wasn't some power of friendship or love.

Frau started to walk away from the two priests, already forgetting that he was only wearing his underwear. His speed was slow; it was like a snail.

"If you don't run...you'll die." In his eyes, the two priests had turned into pure black mist, with only the outline of their eyes and mouth, showing off a snicker.

His walk then started to speed up. It was only after hearing the threat that his danger instincts were fully blown wide open. From a walk to a jog to a full-blown sprint, Frau made his life's mission to do only one thing, to run away from these two demons.

Frau had no thoughts as he ran. He couldn't think of anything else apart from the fact that he would die if he didn't run.

But a six-year-old child's stamina, as much as he had trained before, wasn't that much. Only after running about 1 kilometer, he started to slow down his run.

But before Frau could go back to his jogging pace, he suddenly felt a sharp blade at his back. It wasn't too obvious at first, but as he slowed down more and more, he could feel those blades sink into his skin.

"Argh!" Frau cried out in pain as he turned to see what was stabbing him, and it turned out to be a plant that was filled with nothing but thorns.

"If you don't take this seriously like you said you will, you might just really die. Yaegaki and Touji had already warned you of all the possible dangers last week, and it was you who chose to be trained, and I quote, 'until the brink of death'. We might have just met, but we won't half-ass anything when it comes to your training."

'After all, our promotion depends on this...' Castor and Ilyusha thought.

Then, just as Frau heard those words, another wave of thorny plants appeared, and this time, it was much closer to a more sensitive spot - his butthole.

His thinking had also returned upon the pain in his back.

It scared the Heavens out of him, and coupled with another wave of mana pressure on his body, Frau felt like giving up already. He was running and crying with all his might, and he was already dead tired.

'But what about my promise?'

Just last night, he was so confident about enduring the training till the brink of his death, but it was barely fifteen minutes, and he already wanted to give up?

Never. Frau was but a six-year-old, and like any other child, he was really competitive and hated losing. He started running with more speed again, returning back to his original full-blown sprint.

Although Frau was still wailing and was completely tired from the sprinting, it didn't stop him from screaming at the top of his lungs.

"NOOOOOO!!"

*****************

Castor and Ilyusha were continuously applying pressure on Frau's body while he ran almost entirely naked across the entire town. Of course, the two priests had already casted illusions around them as they run, so the only one who could see him naked was them.

But noting that Frau was still a child, in the end, they ensured that they didn't overly pressurize Frau's body while he ran; they didn't want any detrimental things happening to Frau when his body was still in his developing phase, after all.

Ilyusha wasn't just pressurizing Frau. He was still a bishop apprentice in training, and a kind heart was needed to be suitable for this job. Using his special ability to continuously heal any injuries he might have incurred from running without a care in the world, Ilyusha also ensured that his stamina would also be restored every once in a while to ensure that Frau kept running.

The point of this training was not to just give Frau a boost in stamina or to just train his body. They were also giving Frau close to death experience so that he could get used to it, preventing him from freezing in the face of an actual life-or-death battle that he would most definitely encounter later on.

Once he enters the supernatural world, he'll be fighting with his life on the edge 24/7. Merely announcing that he'll leave the supernatural world isn't going to do anything to change that fact.

Once entered, Frau would never be able to escape.

Of course, as far as training goes, Castor and Ilyusha wouldn't push it to the point that Frau would be utterly indifferent to the concept of death as that would create more problems for himself. They weren't training disposable soldiers, after all.

Healing magic was rare; even if they seemed to come by so often, it wasn't easily accessible to the church faction. Ilyusha was valued highly solely because of his ability to heal, and so would Frau once he learned how to master his own powers.

Apart from that, Castor and Ilyusha were also laying the groundwork for Frau not to have any emotional distress. To be able to continue in his top mental condition when in a fight or flight situation, even if his clothing was accidentally stripped, was their goal. 

Granted, he might be a boy and might not mind being stripped, but one would never know...

Additionally, they were also taking the opportunity to observe his body structure, planning for more future training.

Castor and Ilyusha only planned to continue this for the latter part of the morning as they didn't want to overtax Frau's fragile mind. Once he grows up, however, they might change.

That's, of course, assuming that they would still be training the young child.

Furthermore, Frau also had to explore and learn how to actively sense mana later. He might be able to instinctively use mana right now, but that wasn't enough - it was neither cost-efficient nor effects-worthy.

Control was crucial when it comes to magic. Otherwise, hurting yourself becomes a very high probability.

Plus, they were very interested in Frau's healing.

During their two-hour sprint, Ilyusha's thorny plants had accidentally scratched deeper than he had planned to twice as Frau had slowed down unexpectedly. But before he could even heal Frau, he had already healed himself.

The first time he did that, Castor and Ilyusha expressed interest for one reason and one reason only - it didn't look anything remotely like healing magic. There were no magic circles nor the distinct feature of a green, yellow, or white glow that most of the orthodox church healing magic emitted; even Ilyusha's healing wasn't an exception to that.

Instead, it looked like the wounds closed by themselves, making him look as though he wasn't injured in the first place.

And when the second time came, after Frau had "healed" himself, he immediately fainted. The sight of the falling boy caused both Ilyusha and Castor to immediately rush towards him and carry him gently before his face could meet the ground.

"What an interesting boy..."

∞

[4/4]

The two numbers on the familiar blue game-like screen that had followed him since he could remember were the first thing Frau noted when he woke up.

"It changed again?"

"What changed again?" A voice came from his right, causing Frau to jump slightly.

"Yii!" Frau immediately jumped out of bed with his back pressed against the wall, "Who?!"

"Relax, Frau. It's us." Castor smiled. In his hands was a bowl of porridge, and beside him, Ilyusha held on to some drink Frau had never seen before.

"I-Ilyusha-san...C-Castor-san..." Even though he could only barely remember what had happened during his run, his body remembered it all too clearly.

These two were dangerous.

Instinctively, his body trembled.

The two priests noticed that but didn't directly point it out. It was understandable; anyone would be afraid of someone who tried to kill them before. Of course, the two didn't plan to even harm him in the first place, but...

"Relax...you've lost consciousness for about 30 minutes. Here, have your lunch." Castor took the bowl towards him, and Frau slowly relaxed, knowing they would not put him through that hell training again. For now, at least.

Frau took the bowl of porridge and immediately gulped it down.

"Hey! It's still hot!" Castor warned him, but it was too late. Frau had already filled his entire mouth with b̶o̶i̶l̶i̶n̶g̶ hot porridge, and while it wasn't hot enough to cause burns, it was definitely hot enough to make Frau feel the pain.

Watching Frau silently endure everything as he tried to gulp it down with some cold water, Castor and Ilyusha watched in amusement.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm perfectly fine. I don't feel a thing." Frau replied, and Castor's eyebrow was raised.

"Did you burn off all your nerves in your mouth?"

"No? I can still feel the heat OW!" Frau tried another bite of the porridge and exclaimed."So you've healed your own mouth. Is this an automatic defense or something?"

Ilyusha thought of something and asked, "What's the number you see now?"

"[3/4]."

"Let me check..." Ilyusha raised his hand to touch Frau's head, but Frau instinctively dodged. Seeing his reaction, Ilyusha could only smile wryly before trying again.

"I won't hurt you."

This time, while Frau didn't dodge, it was apparent that he was still uncomfortable with his touch.

"Your mana reserves doubled...and your number previously was [2/2]...so is this a new way to quantify mana levels?"

"Mana...levels?"

"Yes. You've already heard from Touji about that, but mana allows us, humans, to use magic. While devils can use demonic energy, angels and fallen angels can use holy energy, humans can only use mana to use magic."

As a demonstration, a magic circle appeared on Ilyusha's open palm, and a small plant grew, quickly blooming into a sunflower.

"While everyone is born with mana, they vary in levels. It's only after utilizing your mana for the first time that you can start to actively increase it. There are several ways to improve your mana levels, like drugs, training, and natural talent. The first is usually banned, and you haven't gone through any real training yet, so the only reason why your mana levels can increase so much in one go is probably because of natural talent."

"I'm talented?"

"Yes, but don't get cocky. There are people like you everywhere, including us." Castor warned.

'Though they don't suddenly double in mana capacity after sleeping,' Castor didn't need to add that. It was better for Frau to not know lest he becomes arrogant. An arrogant person without strength is always the first one to die.

"I see..." Frau seemed slightly down but quickly recovered when Castor spoke once more.

"So, this will just be a taste of what is going to happen to you. All of it is just the beginning, and now that you've personally experienced it, I will ask you again." Castor faced Frau at eye level and asked with complete seriousness, "Do you want to stay in the supernatural world? It's still not too late to back off now, but any more than this, you'll be forced to live in here whether you like it or not."

"I-I..."

Remembering the training, the torture, the death incorporated in training, Frau wanted to shake his head so badly and agree with Castor. It would be so much easier to give up and live a perfectly ordinary life.

But he also remembered his own feelings as he ran like his life depended on it - the thrill, the excitement, the fear, the sense of accomplishment as he dodged those spikes by a hair's breadth.

"I want to stay," Frau softly muttered.

"I can't hear you."

"I want to stay." Frau's volume increased slightly.

"I still can't hear you."

"I want to stay!" Frau shouted, and Castor and Ilyusha smiled.

"Good. The church wasn't wrong in telling us to train you. And with your consent, I look forward to the next few years we have together."

"Y-Years?!"

"What? Did you think your training will last for just one year or something? Did you think you will master everything at one glance like some genius?"

"I was actually thinking more towards a month or something..." Frau muttered so softly, but the two priests still managed to hear it.

"With that said, we'll take good care of you," Ilyusha spoke.

"Very, very, good care of you," Castor emphasized.

Frau didn't like his tone very much.

∞

Arriving at Frau's training grounds, Touji and Yaegaki heard a wail of despair.

"Forgive me!!! Castor-sama!!"

Hearing those words the moment they entered the forest, Yaegaki and Touji faced each other and gave a wry smile.

"It seems like Frau is still suffering as much as in the past, huh?"

"Yup..."

It wasn't the first time the two men had gone to visit Frau. Yet, every time they arrive, the training never seems to get easier for Frau.

The first time they observed Frau's training, they understood that they had underestimated how hard Frau's training was by a large margin. They thought Frau would be trained like any other exorcist, with the standard combo of stamina training, weapon training, and magic training.

But it wasn't.

The training regime hasn't changed much over the two years. That is if you didn't count the almost 24/7 training time and the training intensity.

A nearby forest close to the church was Frau's "playing field". It wasn't very large, occupying only about 1000x300 meters of relatively even ground, save for the occasional holes.

And currently, Frau was playing dodgeball.

The game resembles the regular dodgeball that children play, except that it wasn't humans who threw the ball but automatic baseball pitcher machines. And instead of "soft" baseballs, it threw iron balls of the same size.

These machines were side-by-side and around Frau. They were meant to shoot those deadly iron balls at Frau, and he had to do his best to dodge all of them. Otherwise, a broken bone would be the least of his worries.

At first, Frau got hit multiple times in various areas, like his head, genitals, ribcage, and spine, that even Ilyusha and Castor needed to pray to God that Frau wouldn't get any trauma from his injuries.

And thank God, he didn't.

Of course, he healed every time, and each time he fainted, he would be able to last even longer the next time around.

If Frau's progress were to be plotted on a graph, it would be an exponential graph.

After those incidents, Frau became so allergic to anything shiny and round that he would immediately destroy all the iron balls if he was even close to one.

"Who the hell invented this dodgeball of death?!"

"My, how many times have you asked this the past two years already? It's invented by a cool dude known as "Amari Mandela". Unfortunately, he died a few centuries ago, so you'll never have a chance to take revenge on him." Castor casually replied to him as he read his book.

"Don't lie to me! If he died a few centuries ago, he wouldn't be able to invent these training regimes that require modern devices!! And dodgeball was only ever introduced 200 years ago! I searched it up!"

"Ah...busted."

Frau turned towards Castor's direction like a vengeful ghost, grabbed one of the iron balls, and threw it at him.

"Then die!"

"Nah~."

A huge dragon mouth that seemed to be made up of pure mana appeared from the ground and swallowed the iron ball with ease before returning back to the ground.

"Tch!"

If Ilyusha's specialty was to control plants and heal, then Castor's specialty was to attack. These two worked together really well, with one defending and supporting and the other attacking. Even some of the denizens of the supernatural world with high-class strength cannot beat them when they're together, much less Frau, who was just an eight-year-old kid.

Frau then continued dodging the death balls with relative ease because, after two years, even the stupidest person would know how to get used to it. What's more, Frau was also using the detection skills that Ilyusha taught him two years ago, and it has never stopped improving ever since he learned it.

"Tch." Frau clicked his tongue once more as he felt the presence of life underneath his foot, and sure enough, immediately after he changed his position, and thorny branch appeared and stabbed out of the ground.

But it wasn't the end.

More and more thorny branches began to appear, and with the limited designated space for death ball, Frau soon ran out of empty spaces to walk on.

"How is this fair?!" Frau yelled with all his might before an iron ball hit his stomach and two branches pierced through his feet.

"ARGHHH!"

"Ouch, that must have hurt," Castor commented.

"Don't just comment on my pain so casually and nonchalantly!"

As Frau healed himself, Ilyusha and Castor went forward to check up on Frau's condition.

Ilyusha and Castor were initially supposed to train Frau just for the sake of being promoted to Bishops. But under the regular training, Frau became so resilient that even though Castor and Ilyusha kept pushing and pushing the level that it is basically just torture to see where exactly was Frau's breaking point.

But he never buckled. Something which surprised the two priests. Sure, Frau wailed, complained, grumbled, cried, almost died a few times, and was always just one push from giving up, but he never gave up.

Now, the two recently promoted Bishops have started to enjoy training the young child because he'll take in whatever they threw at him. Though Ilyusha, the one with more self-control, had to remind Castor to not go overboard and actually kill Frau from time to time.

"I see your training is as absurd as always."

Hearing that familiar voice, Frau almost cried once more. Such a soothing sound, how he had missed it!

"Yaegaki-san! Please, those bishops are abusing their powers and authority on me!"

"You could be sued for slander. Everything I did was with your consent."

"I didn't remember giving you consent for the 'Jump rope of death', 'Obstacle course of Death', 'Stress ball of Death', 'Treadmill of Death', 'Swimming of Death', the 'Swamp of Death', the 'Blender of Death', and..."

"Okay, chill. We get it. But the various training of death are all included under your promise of 'training you to death', so you could still be sued for slander."

"Tsk..."

"Haha...I was worried that you would eventually break, but looking at you now," Yaegaki rubbed Frau's head and smiled, "I'm glad I didn't stop you."

"Maybe you should have..."

"Anyway, now that you've rested enough, why don't we move on to the next part?"

In between the "Death Sentences", Ilyusha would teach Frau the essential magic needed everywhere and how to train his powers.

With two years' worth of time, Ilyusha discovered something that he didn't tell anyone apart from Castor, his trusted partner, and Frau, the user of that particular magic.

"It's not just a healing ability or sacred gear that made your powers possible, but something else entirely..."

And this was how Frau had spent his last two years.

∞

"We usually don't start this early, but since we would be leaving within the next year or so, we decided to step it up."

"Huh? You're leaving already?"

"Why, are you sad by our departure?"

"Not exactly...but it's so sudden."

"Aww...how cute." Castor patted Frau's head and smiled, enjoying the rare tsun-side of his apprentice, "But don't worry too much. You already know how to train on your own once we're gone. So, you don't have to worry too much."

"Plus, we've just become bishops, and we have other responsibilities forced upon us as well. I also want to continue staying with you, but the Church in the Vatican wouldn't like that." Ilyusha continued.

Frau had his head down and had indescribable feelings.

"Well, it's still quite far off, so let's focus on today's mission first."

"What are we going to do today?"

"A so-called rite of passage."

"What is a rite of passage?"

"A rite of passage is a ceremony or ritual that occurs when an individual enters a group. It involves a significant change of status in society, which, in this case, confirms that you will be officially joining the supernatural world, and not just have one foot in that door." Ilyusha explained.

"What do I have to do?"

"It's really simple. Kill."

Hearing the word "kill" out of Castor's mouth, Frau paused for a while before continuing his walk. It was certainly unexpected, but it was understandable.

Although he was left out of the supernatural world for as long as possible, he wasn't exactly raised with human laws and rules. He may not have seen killings before, but he had heard of it when some exorcists came in bragging how he had killed a monster here or some stray devil there.

Thus, like any other supernatural denizen, he wasn't afraid to kill.

Or so he thought.

Thinking about killing and actually doing it was two separate matters. It was much easier to do the former than the latter.

Standing in front of an incapacitated stray devil, the blade that was pointed at his neck trembled.

This was his first-ever actual combat, and Ilyusha was happy to say that Frau's talent in mana wasn't the only thing this genius excelled in.

Despite it being his first battle, the mistakes made were minimal, and even those mistakes were quickly rectified once he realized what he was doing was wrong.

Plus, coupled with his ability, he could easily win a battle of attribution since the opponent was, like any other devil, overly confident in his use of demonic energy.

But in the end, Ilyusha and Castor had to intervene to prevent the devil from exploding a sneak attack that would have killed Frau before he could even react.

In this area, Frau lacked any experience in and the area in which he needed to improve significantly.

In the end, the devil's limbs were cut off, leaving a bloodied torso on the verge of death.

It was like a stage - a stage prepared for Frau to have his first kill.

"Must I?"

"No, you don't." Castor replied, surprising Frau before he continued, "But if you don't, he'll definitely find you for revenge and kill everyone you love. By that time, it would be too late for you to do anything to reverse it."

"Unlike what all the blind-faith followers of the Church say, not all devils are bad. Perhaps in the past, but now, it represents more of a 'race' rather than a negative connotation. And like any other race, they have good people and bad people, like how humans have rapists and saints." Ilyusha explained, "But for this particular one, he killed his own master, plus a few more men during his travel here, and showed no particular remorse for his actions."

"Hehehe...that's right...I'm evil, but so what? Who told them to piss me off? Just because I was forced to reincarnate as a devil, then constantly being abused by them, does that mean I have to listen to their commands?! Where is the fairness in that?!" The devil yelled out with bloodshot eyes, "I didn't even want to become a devil! And now that I've become one, I can't even reincarnate now since the angels and devils are enemies! All because of a bloody devil!"

Frau was shocked to hear the circumstances of the devil. He never imagined that he was hunting a devil who didn't want to become a devil.

"And since I can't reincarnate anymore, all I can do is just make use of the rest of my life to do whatever I want. So just kill me now; losing to a few brats like you really makes me wonder why there are still devils existing."

"To kill him or not, it's up to you, Frau," Castor said as he made his way outside.

"We can't force you to do anything, so after hearing the circumstances of the devil, make your own decision. Does his tragedy of the past forgive his sins of the present and possibly the future?" Ilyusha inserted his own word as he followed Castor, leaving Frau alone with the devil in this empty warehouse.

A heavy silence fell upon the two in this empty room filled with the stench of blood and various bodies everywhere.

The victim and the culprit.

A prisoner and his warden.

The weak and the strong.

In front of death, nothing else matters anymore.

"Do you still want to reincarnate."

"I wish I could...I don't even care if I go to purgatory or the nine circles off health to meet with Yama." The devil spoke with a self-mocking smile, "But do you think I can?"

"Devils are inherent enemies with the angels, who are in charge of Heaven and, in turn, the reincarnation system. Naturally-born devils are still part of this world cycle, so they can reincarnate, but people like me...I don't know how long you've step foot in the supernatural world, so I'll give you a bit of advice, little brat. Don't ever fall into the hands of a title-less devil. Otherwise, you'll end up just like my other friends and me..."

"We were supposed to be enemies, so why are you giving me advice?" Frau was curious, but his blade didn't lower. It was trembling, yes, but Frau didn't lower his sword in front of the devil's neck.

"You're just a kid. I don't know what those two did to make you like this, but killing at such a young age doesn't bear well with me. Even with my criminal mindset, I do have my standards, and children are something I would never touch." He hesitated for a moment before adding, "Monsters like you don't count."

"You're surprisingly kind, aren't you?" Frau paused and added, "Hypocritical too."

"A natural trait of most people with power." He admitted it in between spitting out blood.

Frau looked at the blue game-like screen and noted his numbers.

[2,097,100/2,097,152]

Ensuring that the devil couldn't move at all or chant any magic to launch a surprise attack, Frau lowered his blade and went towards the devil.

"What are you doing?"

"Don't resist. I have never tried this before, so let's hope it will work."

"Huh? What haven't you tried before? What do you-" But before the devil could finish his sentence, he felt an intense pain coming from every inch of his body.

"ARGHHHH!"

A palm laid on the devil's chest, and Frau had muttered something.

[2,090,100/2,097,152]

[1,000,100/2,097,152]

[97,100/2,097,152]

[7,100/2,097,152]

The number stayed at that number, signaling the end of whatever Frau did to the man.

"Y-You...?" The man, despite all the blood loss and the intense pain that he had just felt, his face had a huge smile on it.

"Yes." As though confirming the man's excited guess, Frau opened his palm, and in there laid two white pawn pieces that shined a slight red.

"T-Thank y-you..." Using 2,000 mana, Frau erased the two pawns into dust, and the devil, no, the ex-devil shed tears as a huge smile plastered across his face, "Finally, I'm freed! I could never thank you enough...Can you grant me one final request?"

"Yes?"

"Kill me with your hands. I could not think of a better way to go than in your hands."

Frau hesitated slightly before nodding. He had planned to let the man bleed out to death after removing his evil pieces since he wanted to delay the inevitable as long as possible. The act of killing was never a comfortable action, after all.

"If that is your wish, may God bless you and your soul..."

Placing his hands on the ex-devil's head, Frau muttered once more.

[5,100/2,097,152]

[1,100/2,097,152]

[100/2,097,152]

[10/2,097,152]

[0/2,097,152]

The ex-devil had a peaceful smile on his face as he departed from this world. Whether it was the purgatory or Heaven, Frau did not know. But as long as he could one day reincarnate once more, the ex-devil didn't care where he would go.

"Human life is really so cheap, huh?"

Frau muttered with a wry smile as his vision slowly turned black.