Chapter 7

One thing that always bothered me about the original story was that the church and the angels in general seemed like a VERY weak race. I mean, Michael we never see him fight, Gabriel is only used as fanservice, the other 2 archangels are useless and better not to talk about the church.

The only interesting one was Dulio Gesualdo and at the end of the day he didn't do anything relevant to the plot. With that frustration one of the first things I did when I started taking classes was to ask about the sky faction.

I didn't know the exact facts of what is involved in this world in accepting the position of pope. But if there was a strong rumor or theory that those who became pope received the blessing of the 4 seraphim. They were still human in theory so I never thought much of them.

"Today you will be purged of the sin of your existence, you filthy demons" But the pressure exerted by the 'normal human' with the office of pope was completely abnormal, as if I was in front of Serafall after I made Sona cry unintentionally.

"W-What do we do Tino?" I looked at my brother in despair, my hands couldn't stop shaking.

Edmond didn't seem to be fully aware of the situation but I could see him sweating profusely. Kiyohime was no better but she seemed to be ready for the approaching combat.

"We have to escape from here... soon" I nodded and took Shambhala out of my pocket, I detected the multiple seals I left in various parts of the human world, but the important one was the one at home.

"They're not leaving here!" The pope pulled out a rosary and a red light covered the entire lawn, just as the Shambhala symbol was beginning to appear it immediately went out and he could not activate it again.

"I can't use the family portal, something is blocking it" Tino said to me, in his eyes I could see the fear and helplessness that I was also feeling.

I swallowed my breath and looked carefully at Pope Paul, he didn't look too old, he was almost bald and his head was covered with something like a Kippah. He had a red robe with golden ornaments that showed the image of Christ and several other religious symbols.

"What do we do?" Edmond asked me and I looked at him not knowing what to do, without the possibility of fleeing with the teleportation circle we had no choice but to fight.

"Edmond didn't know the power of a pope against a demon, but Kiyohime and my brother did, but they didn't seem too sure about my plan.

"It's impossible little brother, we can't defeat a pope, not the 4 of us" I looked at Paul and saw that he had his eyes closed while praying to his rosary.

"Still, we must try! We can't just resign ourselves to die" I couldn't just stand still waiting to be exorcised, if I am to die here I will die fighting.

Enough talk" The prayers ended and he called our attention, tired and beaten we got ready to face him "Soon we will be done".

I manifested the Star Platinum with what was left of my magic and prepared myself for whatever would happen, out of the corner of my eye I saw Kiyohime once again open her fan, her flames more muted than normal. Edmond still had energy as he struggled the least but he still looked tired.

"I'll cover you" was what Tino told me.

"The plan is simple, we join forces and defeat him, then we escape from here!" I prepared to launch the first attack but the Pope was no longer in front of us. 

"It will all end here" I looked to my side and saw the Pope grabbing Edmond by the neck, in his right hand he had the rosary and was holding it by one of the beads.

"Edmond!" I threw the first blow but when I hit him everything vanished into thin air, the Pope was again far away from us and Edmond was breathing heavily beside me.

"Don't worry little brother, I'll take care of covering them!" Illusions, so that's how he was going to cover us.... "Kiyohime!"

"You don't need to tell me anything Anchin-sama" Kiyohime waved her fan and a wave of fire covered the pope. 

"Your fire can't touch me" Paul appeared behind me and I swiftly threw a blow at him, but he didn't even move "Your blows can't reach me" His hand touched another bead of the rosary? "And his power is insufficient" Shit!

I didn't manage to dodge, but Tino's illusion was enough for him to miss me. Edmond came quickly to my rescue but his lightning claws didn't hurt him, Kiyohime also threw a fire cut but again, all useless. 

I had no other choice, I didn't have enough mana but the only way to have a slight chance to finish him off was to use what I had been preparing for so many years.

"Jujutsu Kaisen was the last manga I read, of course I didn't read much but without a doubt something that always enchanted me was the concept of the most powerful ability of that world "Domain expansion!" I put my fingers together and behind me and around me the most powerful domain expansion began to manifest.

Sukuna's. 

"Little brother watch out!" Or at least that's what was supposed to happen. Sometimes I tended to forget that I wasn't in an anime or a movie, this was my real world.

"GAAAAAAAH!" 

"I don't know what you were trying to fucking demon, but your life ends here" Burn, I felt intense pain as if my body was in the middle of a bonfire, especially in my neck which was held by the Pope.

"Leave him alone!!!" I heard Edmond scream but I couldn't see him, I tried to remove his hands but they were burning me.

"Creatures like you will never be able to end the light conferred by my lord" I can feel him lift me up and throw me against the ground, the screams of the others are ignored by my brain because of the pain. "You should never have entered this sacred place."

The intense pain stopped for a moment before I felt my body being dragged across the grass at full speed, I tried to free myself now that I could but every time I felt the speed slow down the burning momentarily returned.

"We..." I was trying to speak as I was dragged until I was through a marble column "No... we came in here....for our will...." I opened my eyes and watched as the Pope approached me again to grab me. I immediately appeared in my brother's arms.

"Are you okay little brother?" Of course I wasn't okay, my neck felt like someone had passed me a hot iron "This will definitely leave a mark..."

"That's what girls like, isn't it..." I reassured his concern with a little joke.

"Ha! That's not true little brother!" He smiles at me but in his eyes I still see worry.

"Master!" Edmond? He has never called me that before... "Our attacks don't affect him, it's like he's Andrei all over again" No... this was different.

Our attacks did hit Andrei, but his power made him incapable of taking damage internally, but I could notice something.

"No..." I look at him and get up with difficulty, in the distance I see Kiyohime attacking the Pope "It's different, I don't know how it works but every time he does something his fingers touch a different bead of the rosary, I saw him for a moment while he was being dragged away."

"I could also notice it" Tino spoke "When he received different attacks his magic signature changed for a while, as if he stopped being him".

"Tino, you've recovered enough, haven't you?"

"My magic increased and I no longer feel like I'm lacking blood. But why do you ask...:? AH!" As expected from my older brother, he understood me perfectly.

"That's right, if we hit him with 2 noble ghosts at the same time even if he protects himself from one thing the other will surely hit him!" Besides in theory it was a power based on a concept. Dantes was able to use his by remembering his hatred and rancor against those who put him in that prison.

"But if it doesn't work we won't have enough power to keep fighting, it will be certain death" My brother pointed out the obvious, but it was the only solution.

"If we keep fighting like this he will eventually kill us too, he is our best weapon against him" I pointed to Kiyohime who was coming out of a wall that she went through when she was thrown by the Pope "Kiyo won't last that long either". 

"...It's okay, I trust you little brother" He looked at me and smiled, my heart warmed with happiness at the sight of Tino.

Many times I missed my family from my old world, and although Father and Mother made it excellent, I could not forget the feeling that they were not my real parents, but this did not happen with Tino.

Don't get me wrong, I still miss my siblings every day but he was different, he felt like real family. As if one of my real siblings had reincarnated with me.

"Kiyohime! Come!" She turned around and quickly came back to us "Get ready to use it!"

"Edmond! You too, you've used it before so you know what to do" He didn't say anything to me, just nodded with a wild grin.

"Little brother, we have to do this at the same time" Tino walked over to me and raised his hand "When I count to 0"

The Pope looked at us, clearly angry and was coming towards us, but Kiyohime and Edmond already came out to face him "3!"

Yes, this would work, we would defeat a Pope and get out of here alive "2!"

I look at Tino and smile, for years I wanted to become an Arbitee and fight on his side, fight for justice and the welfare of diablo society. I never thought it would happen so soon "1!"

Thank you brother "0!" 

The seal on my hand glowed and Tino's too, immediately what we expected happened.

"I will burn all the liars of this world." 

"All my hatred and resentment, take it!" 

"'Enfer...'" Edmond was the first to attack, moving at a higher speed than even the Pope he attacked him with his claws, obviously Paul protected himself from that.

"Tenshin..." From Kiyohime's legs blue flames began to rise, until it began to take the form of an oriental dragon "Kansho Zanmai!" And the dragon formed whole and began to head towards the Pope and Edmond.

"Chateu D'IF!" The clawing ended and Edmond split into many copies that surrounded him, and before the Dragon hit him all the copies of Edmond fired a blue laser beam. 

*BOOM*

Inevitably we both sat on the floor breathing hard, our magic reserves were exhausted and we were totally drained.

"It worked little brother.." Was the first thing Tino said, Edmond came out of the smoke and both he and Kiyohime approached us. "You really are a genius."

"Yeah, I must admit I didn't think that would work so well, now we should go before..." "Anchin-Sama!!!" 

"You demons, as perceptive as ever" Eh...? "But it wasn't enough" I heard Pope Paul's voice, but all I could see was with horror as a hand went through Tino's chest, in that hand was the rosary "The games are over".

N-No, this can't be happening "T-Tino...?" He looked at me but couldn't say anything, the hand came out of his chest and my brother just collapsed. 

[Mission failed] N-No it can't be true.

[Objective: Prevent Valentino Barbatos from going on that date.

Punishment: Only the death of Valentino Barbatos]

The screen went away and everything seemed to stop around me, I think I saw Kiyohime trying to hit the Pope but he sent her flying like it was nothing. 

"H....How?" It was not clear to me, I was unable to understand what happened, how did he dodge that?

"Hm, as you are about to die I will be merciful to you" I looked away from my brother's body and saw the Pope glaring at me, he held up his rosary "This rosary was a gift made by God Himself to St. Peter at the dawn of the Great War, each bead possesses a different property" He now held it up by the chain of beads.

"The cross has the ability to freeze time momentarily" I didn't know what to think, even at that revelation my mind was not able to process anything.

"Now, I will have mercy on you" Heh, was I facing the pope or the first hunter? "I will knock you out, and then disintegrate your body with light, you will feel nothing for a single blow".

Edmond... Where was Edmond?

Just as the Pope said, I only felt a blow and as if I dared a wall, the sun was hitting my face.

[Alert! The Host is on the verge of death, the system suggests to get out of danger as soon as possible] That's easier said than done stupid system...

I can hear the footsteps approaching me, my time has come eh? I didn't know how to go, I didn't know where Edmond and Kiyohime were or if they were dead. I wasted my life, I didn't even do my homework to write down the things I remembered from my previous life ....

Come to think of it, how is my family? My real family, did they mourn my death? Will they have moved on.

[Warning! The Host is on the verge of death, the system suggests that you get out of danger as soon as possible] There is no way to escape from this system, it is impossible.

[The host can use the rescue token obtained from a secondary mission] Rescue token...? What was that?

[Rescue token. Obtained only through side quest rewards, by using it the system will grant a wish to the Host in exchange for something of equal value]. 

The Pope grabs me by my hair and lifts me up "You are more resistant than I thought" And after saying that he pulled me to where I was, I fell close to Tino's body, I could also see Edmond unconscious a few meters away, I believe he was alive.

"C-Can you turn back time?" Maybe I can go back to the day before all this, try harder to save my brother.

[Using the rescue token for something like turning back time demands the Host's life in return]...I couldn't, if I die the day will simply repeat itself and without me there Tino will die at Andrei's hands.

"Use it to revive Valentino Barbatos!" Maybe that...

[Using the rescue token to revive a person demands the Host's life in return] Damn it! It's impossible... 

I crawl over to where Edmond is.

"You're gonna pay for me!!!" I hear Kiyohime's voice scream in anger, at least she was still alive.

I continued to approach Edmond and touched him, he didn't react and I feared the worst, but when I touched his neck looking for a pulse I found it.

"At least you're still alive..." I let out a sigh of relief "System! Can you get us out of here?"

[The field is covered by something that prevents teleportation, to remove the seal the rescue token demands a trait of level S- at least]

"Sacrifice my reincarnated human trait!" 30 lucky to get out of here?

[The system can't take that trait since it would imply that the user stops being a reincarnated, so his whole life would be meaningless] AAAAAGH!!!!

"THEN SACRIFICE MY ILLUSION GENIUS TRAIT!!!" I shouted in desperation, my survival instinct started to hit hard.

[Exchange accepted! The seal will be removed in 30 seconds]

"*Sigh*" I let out a sigh that I didn't know what I was holding back "Kiyohime!!!! I need you!!! I wasn't going to leave her here, not like this."

She reappeared as if by magic near me, her gaze full of anger [Alert! The seal has been removed] "Grab Edmond, we're out of here..." 

I don't know if it was Tino's will for her to protect me or what, but she listened to me, I took Shambhala out of my pocket and prepared to use it...

But I saw Tino's body and I just can't leave him.... Not here, not for him to be reduced to ashes by a damn religious man. I pulled my strength from wherever I could and got up to walk towards Tino, but I stumbled and fell on top of him.

"You will all die together!!!" I hear the Pope yell, but before he comes near us or Kiyohime activates I squeeze Shambhala and activate it "Come here Demons!!!" The last thing I saw was his despicable face and then I appeared in a familiar place.

"H-Sons!?" I hear my mother's voice and I know I'm safe now "What happened...!?"

I ignore her and stand up to look at Tino's face, his eyes devoid of life "I-I'm sorry..." The adrenaline wears off and I feel my eyes fill with tears.

"Forgive me!!! I should have tried harder... I should have been stronger..." My mother approached me and when she touched my man I couldn't stop myself from crying like a baby.

I clung into Tino's body as I cried loud enough for everyone to hear me.

THANK YOU FOR READING, ANY COMMENTS, RECOMMENDATIONS OR CRITICISMS ARE WELCOME AS LONG AS THEY ARE RESPECTFUL.

First arc finished! There is only 2 Time skips left until we arrive the canon! 

I've seen that some people have said things like "That doesn't happen in canon" or "That's not how it is according to the story" Dear readers, understand that this is a FANfic, made by a fan of the series for fans of the series. I will take some liberties if it is for the benefit of a better story I want to present.

I will not make any changes that are too crazy like "Look! Rias' power is no longer destruction, now it's making ice cream!" But there will be changes, if you don't like it anyway I invite you to give the story a try!