Chapter 174: Old Habits Die Hard

–

"That is, he will not touch you if he wants to keep all of his limbs attached to his body."

Joan said menacingly while glaring at Kokabiel, who gulped at the intensity of the glare.

Kokabiel was scared. He didn't know exactly why, but he was scared of the human woman in front of him. Right now, he felt like he was a piece of meat on top of a chopping board. One wrong move of his and he would be cut, period. To add offense to the pile, he could feel an immense quantity of Holy energy coming from the woman.

"Good job, Joan! Now he is afraid of you."

Erik said to his wife while Asia ran through the side, being sure to keep a good distance from the Fallen Angel. Not that she didn't believe in Joan's words, but better be safe now than sorry later. As Asia arrived where the students were, she immediately ran to the knocked-out form of Irina Shidou, because, right now, she was the one that needed more immediate care. And for it, she summoned her Sacred Gear, Twilight Healing, and started to heal Irina. Xenovia, seeing the use of that specific Sacred Gear, immediately remembered some gossip that she had heard.

"You are Asia Argento, aren't you? The witch that healed a Devil and got excommunicated for it. I heard some of the instructors talking about you. Of how a saint fell and healed a Devil."

Xenovia asked bluntly. The question could appear aggressive for some, but it contained no malice. It was just her lack of social skills in action. The 'past' Asia would have flinched hearing someone call her a witch, but the 'now' Asia didn't and focused her eyes on her 'patient'.

"Yes. I am Asia Argento. And no, I am not a witch."

Asia replied calmly to Xenovia while continuing to heal Irina Shidou's wounds. Xenovia raised an eyebrow at that answer.

"How could you not be? You used your Sacred Gear to heal a Devil. One of the enemies of God."

Xenovia replied in a more heated way. Her lack of social skills was getting the better of her again. Asia sighed at that.

"Because witches are the female counterpart to wizards. They are born with magic inside them. While I was born with a blessing and a Sacred Gear, something very different from a witch. And I used to think just like you, but someone asked me a question that made me change my mind and now I will ask you the same question: do you really think that a tool made by God would work on his enemies if he didn't want it to work?"

Asia replied calmly to Xenovia, whose eyes widened when she heard that question. And it made sense. It made total sense to her. A tool made by God would not work on anyone that he didn't want to work with.

"And about my ex-communication. You must not have heard about what happened to the priest who was the head of the place that I lived in."

Asia said while continuing to heal Irina Shidou, attracting Xenovia's attention back to her.

"He got sent to the church's jail for colluding with a Devil. Apparently, he accepted money from the Devil to have my protection on that specific day to be busy with other things. He was the one that conveniently saw me healing the Devil."

Asia said to Xenovia. All this information was something that she had learned from Gabriel and Erik. And to put a metaphorical cherry on top of the cake, she continued.

"And the Devil that I healed likes to 'collect' Holy Maidens. I was targeted because I was a nun with a high chance of becoming a Holy Maiden in the future. And apparently, I was not his first 'victim' too. He had done the same thing to a lot of other nuns before me."

Asia said, making Xenovia's eyes go wide again. She had, indeed, heard about how a lot of future Holy Maidens had been excommunicated lately because of something or other. People had blamed the influence of the media for that.

"Teacher Ravenclaw said that likes to break the holiness out of the future Holy Maidens, by turning them into nothing more than his playthings."

Asia said again, with some disgust dripping from her voice tone. Xenovia almost gagged at that. She was an 'innocent' maiden too, but she had been taught about the matters of men and women. It was something that was considered basic in her education. But, just the fact that someone would purposefully break a person for his amusement was sickening for her.

*BAM*

Suddenly, the sound of a strong impact was heard, making Xenovia forget what she was thinking about. She turned to look at what had caused the loud sound and saw Erik Ravenclaw in the middle of cracked concrete while lazily holding a silver sword up high, blocking an overhead strike from Kokabiel's incomplete Excalibur, like it was the easiest thing in the world to do. It was just them that she realized that there was another person near them. It was the woman that arrived together with Erik Ravenclaw and Asia Argento and threatened to cut off the limbs of Kokabiel. When she had arrived where they were? Xenovia had no idea.

–

A few minutes before, just after Asia left Joan's side to heal the teens.

"Good job, Joan! Now he is afraid of you."

Erik said to his wife who just shrugged it. It took a few seconds for Kokabiel's brain to reboot and think about what he had just heard.

"I am afraid of nothing, and certainly I am not afraid of a human woman."

Kokabiel replied haughtily while raising his nose into the air as if to show some air of superiority to the others.

"Oh, really? Then why did you not move, and stood still like a statue, when the 'human woman' said to you not to?"

Erik asked Kokabiel with a strong mocking tone in his voice. That question had gotten to Kokabiel. The Fallen Angel froze while thinking about it. It took some seconds, but, eventually, he came up with an excuse.

"Because it would be better if they got healed again. This way I got more time to play with them."

Kokabiel replied while, again, raising his nose to the air in a show of superiority. Erik sighed after listening to that. Kokabiel certainly had some screw loose inside his head.

"And I ask you again: You and which army?"

Erik asked again, remembering Kokabiel of his initial question.

"I don't need an army. I have Excalibur with me."

Kokabiel replied to Erik. He was very confident in the power being granted to him by the holy sword. Erik looked again at the sword being held by Kokabiel, but this time with a more critical look.

"You mean that faulty sword?"

Erik asked Kokabiel. And he was right in saying that. The sword was faulty. Faulty and unstable at that. It was not like the hasty alchemical job of a single person could create anything good. The union of the five pieces of Excalibur could have been made, but it was extremely unstable and could be broken at any given moment with the excessive use of the sword. But Kokabiel didn't seem to think like that.

"Faulty sword? Ha! Now it is you that is the one afraid. This Excalibur is the perfect combination of five pieces of the original Excalibur."

Kokabiel said to Erik in a haughty tone again.

"So you were afraid before."

Erik said while smirking, getting Kokabiel by his words.

"But that aside, do you really think that a person could make in minutes what took the best alchemists in Heaven weeks to do and do a good job? And alone at that? You are overestimating old Valper Galilei there, huh?"

Erik said to Kokabiel. The last part with some mocking in his voice. Kokabiel was frozen again by those words. It made sense. Erik's words made complete sense to him.

"Don't listen to him, Lord Koabiel! My work is perfect!"

Valper Galilei said from the place that he was hiding. He had complete faith that his work had been perfect and the incomplete form of Excalibur had no flaws beyond being incomplete. Erik looked with a poker face at the old man.

"Look, Joan. Old Valper Galilei has not run away yet."

Erik said in a mock shocked way, playing with the fact that the old man was as slippery as one could get.

"I saw it, dear. And I will make sure that he will not escape this time."

Joan replied to Erik and waved her hand in the direction of the old priest. Immediately, a white magic circle appeared under the position of Valper Galilei, who got frightened by it. But before he could move away, the magic circle flashed with a strong white light and in the next instant, Valper Galilei was bound and gagged on the ground. What Joan had used was something that she had developed through the years. It was a mix of magic and her Sacred Gear. Normally, her Sacred Gear would only target her, but with the increase in her experience with it, she developed a piece of magic that forcefully changed the target of the Sacred Gear to another person. In the case of allies, she could, in an instant, arm them with something from her armory, be it armor or a weapon. In case of enemies, if he was weaker than her, she could, in an instant, force an 'outfit' over him. It was what happened with Valper Galilei. The old priest had been forced to 'wear' ropes and a gag ball by Joan's magic. At that, Kokabiel turned to face Erik again. The haughty look was back on his face.

"Perfect or not, it will be enough to kill you, Ravenclaw."

Kokabiel said while gripping the incomplete Excalibur handle with both hands and pointing the sword in Erik's direction.

"I told you that I would make you pay for everything that you had done to me in the past. Ready or not, here I come."

Kokabiel announced and disappeared in Erik's direction in a burst of speed.

Joan, seeing how things were becoming, disappeared from her place in an even faster burst of speed and reappeared near where her 'pupil' was already healing a teen.

On the other hand, Erik, seeing that Kokabiel was coming at him, lazily raised one of his hands over his head while making a grabbing motion with it. In his hands, answering his master's call, the sword of Gryffindor appeared in all of its glory. And while reinforcing it with his magic and vital energy, Erik used it to block the incoming attack from Kokabiel, making the rubies that encrusted the sword shine with a wondrous glint.

*BAM*

The sound of the two 'legendary' swords clashing was loud. On one side was Kokabiel, a Cadre Fallen Angel who was wielding an incomplete Excalibur made from five of seven pieces of the original sword. On the other side was Erik Ravenclaw, a High Human who was wielding a Goblin-made sword reinforced by his energies. The first one had a somewhat constipated look on his face, not believing in what he was seeing with his eyes. The second one had a lazy look on his face, like what he was doing was just something very natural for him and could be done all day long.

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