Forgetting is like a wound

The already dying church was in even worse shape today—broken walls now had gaping holes in them and the crumbling roof still sent one or two shards of broken stone onto the ground, producing a clear sound of it hitting the ground.

On the broken pews—except for the center part of the church that was completely destroyed—neatly sat priests with their heads down, not daring to look up in fear of angering the person sitting under the statue of Jesus.

A young man with black hair stared at them with a barely hidden disappointed gaze. He didn't radiate any suffocated aura yet everyone felt hard to breathe in his presence and gaze that bore into their very soul with its monotonousness.

"Say… You guys are one big bag of disappointment. Do you know that?" Noah said, staring at the priests and the Fallen Angels—sitting at the forefront of everyone. "Even a wild beast would fight till its last breath despite knowing it can't win, while you didn't even try and give up. At least put up some form of resistance so I can also enjoy myself a little."

Only silence answered him in return, making him release a bored sigh before he checked the clock on his wrist.

"We still have some time till Rias and Sona arrive, guess we will play a little game till then."

Everyone's body tensed as Noah's gaze passed by them with bare amusement.

"I just found a really cool thing yesterday. Let's give it a try, shall we?" Noah said with a soft smile before snapping his finger, a huge pot appearing beside him.

Standing up, he again snapped before liquid started to fill the pot, producing small bubbles within it—obviously, it was not just some liquid.

"Apparently, if you mix sulphuric acid and hydrogen peroxide, you end up with a solution called Piranha solution. It is a highly strong oxidizing agent capable of dissolving most organic matter."

After filling the pot to fill, he turned around with a dangerous gleam within his abyssal dark eyes, a grin soon taking over his lips as he said.

"Today's experiment is simple… we will see whether it can dissolve a human body into nothing but liquid or not? Don't you think it would be a fun thing to watch? After all, before I meet my esteemed uncle, I need to search all sorts of torturous methods so he and I, both of us can enjoy our reunion."

"EEEEE!" A highly pitched scared scream left from a priest's mouth as he stared at Noah with a face petrified with fear and horror.

"Oh! Calm down, calm down!" Noah smiled, waving his hands as if trying to calm the scared priest. "Thankfully, I don't kill innocent people just because I want to test a new form of torture. But I don't mind removing future troubles, so today's main guest will be Freed Sellzen! Give a round of applause for our brave soul who is willing to contribute to our little game!"

Clap clap clap*

He clapped his hand before gripping the unconscious Freed from his leg and started to walk towards the pot before taking a rope out of the <<Inventory>> and hanging Freed over the pot with it.

"I don't hear enough applause for our honorable soul? Should I consider that someone else wants to nominate himself in his position?" He pointed towards the hung Freed and asked.

A silence enveloped the church before it exploded into a loud sound of people clapping their hands and shouting with happiness. It almost made a smile appear on Noah's face seeing how supportive people were of him.

"Well then, calm down, I understand your enthusiasm and I appreciate it." He raised his hands and said. "So as to not waste any of your time, we shall start with our little game."

"Hmmm…" Staring at Freed, he loudly thought. "But we would need a name for the game… Let's call it: Time required before I meet my maker!"

"And I thought I was cruel enough… I feel like a child now. He is the biggest psychopath I've ever met." Raynare softly muttered under her breath but enough for Kalawarna and Mittelt to hear, both of them made a weird face.

They wanted to say it was not a time to admire Noah's work but they thought that it was better to stay quiet. People like Noah and her who had messed up brains, it was better to not enter into a debate with them.

It would either end up with a headache or death.

"How many innocent people do you guys think he has killed and tortured?" Noah suddenly asked, staring at the hung Freed as he slowly started to lower his body towards the pot and what seemed like boiling liquid in it—Piranha solution.

"I hate aimless killing the most, especially if it includes people who have nothing to do with the cause of it. Don't you think so too?"

No one dared to say so otherwise, supporting him with their enthusiastic nod of approval.

"Good. I'm glad there are still good people in this world."

As he finished, the leg of Freed entered the solution, releasing a dense vapor as the solution started to give an intense reaction. And to make sure none of it falls outside of the pot, he made sure to create a small barrier around Freed and the pot.

'Remember kids, safely before anything else.'

"Wha—AHHHHH! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING YOU BASTARD!? YOU FILTH THAT MINGLES WITH DEVILS! FUCKER! RELEASE ME THIS INSTANT!"

"Hmmm… Not a bad reaction… Don't worry. I'm trying to free you from your worries so you can truly be 'Freed'." While rubbing his chin, Noah stared at the Freed who struggled to free himself from the rope but found it impossible to do so.

The only thing he could do was shout and throw profanities at Noah as he screamed, pain taking over his sense as he perspired hard.

It wasn't long before his scream died and he entered into a short lapse, a silent shrouding church with only the sound of boiling liquid before he started to beg, in soft whispers, tears leaving his face as he cried for mercy and help all while Noah stared at him with a smile as if enjoying all of the processes of Freed entering different phases.

The rope kept on lowering his body down, and soon the soft whispers also vanished, left with only dead eyes as they stared into the void, saliva dripping from his lips.

More mixture of Piranha solution was added into the previous solution, creating another violent reaction, the body of Freed now fully drowned within it.

Seconds passed, turning to minutes, the whole church entering dead silence.

No one said anything… or more like, no one could say anything as all words seemed to be stuck into their throats, refusing to leave.

It was hard to breathe. It was hard to stare. It was hard to maintain their sanity as they saw the now liquid-filled pot with no sign of Freed's body or clothes.

Vanished… or dissolved would be the right term but nothing was left of his existence.

"Well, that was anticlimactic and boring, to say the least." The silence was broken by Noah's voice as he stared at the pot with a disappointed gaze. "It was fun at the start seeing his struggling and petrified face, but it soon became too quiet and boring. Guess I'll look for another method to make sure I fully entertain my esteemed uncle."

His uncle really should start praying to God — was the thought within the brains of the Fallens while most priests have already lost their consciousness due to high fear and the blood pressure that came with the increase of their heartbeat.

"We still have time…" The sentence alone made everyone shiver with horror and fear, all of them staring at Noah with small tears starting to gather in their eyes. "Guess I'll take a little nap then."

They all sighed in relief. Thankfully, he wasn't going to start another 'game' of his.

"But then I'm sure you people will be bored if I don't play a game with you, no?"

Everyone shook their heads crazily in denial of his statement, indicating that they would be alright without any game.

"Is that so? You guys really are a boring bunch." His gaze landed on Kalawarna and Raynare. "At least you got assets to be pleasing to the eye."

"Well, whatever. I guess I'll just wait then." Saying so, he sat back beneath the statue and closed his eyes, entering into what looked like sleep.

Despite him laying there without doing anything, full of openings, no one dared to even move a single inch from their initial position. It was like they were in love with their seats or something.

|—Rias Gremory—|

'What happened here?' She couldn't help but wonder, staring at the neatly seated priests with their heads down as if afraid to look up and the Fallen Angels who also sat silently, without causing any trouble.

"... They feel quite tamed."

Rias nodded at her best friend's wording since everyone in the church did seem like they were tamed—like how a wild beast is tamed and would become docile, that was the feeling she was getting from the people present in the church.

"Noah definitely did something… didn't he?" Rias turned her gaze at the black-haired young man sleeping under the statue, oblivious to everything in his surroundings.

He looked so carefree that one might think he was in his home.

"With how scared and terrified these people are looking, I would rather not know what he did." Sona added with a sigh before walking towards the sleeping Noah, Rias following after her.

Though she was also quite curious to know what Noah did to make them so docile around him, she could also understand what her best friend was trying to say.

So she also decided to remain silent.

As they reached close to him, as if detecting their presence, Noah's eyes quivered before he yawned loudly.

"You girls sure love to take your time, don't you? I was so bored that I played a game with everyone and fell asleep."

"Game?" Rias tilted her head, feeling that this game is definitely related to whatever made the people inside the church terrified.

"It was fun." Noah nodded while rubbing his chin. "Though I think there might be some modification that I require to make it last longer, isn't that right guys?"

"..." She and Sona stared at the priests that perspired hard while nodding crazily, afraid to deny whatever Noah was saying and make him angry.

"I don't even want to know what that game was about…" She tiredly said before turning to look towards the Fallen Angels, their eyes meeting with each other for a brief second before she asked. "What are you doing in our territory?"

"Humph!" Raynare huffed before turning her head away, the church entering a brief silence.

"*#*... Let's just kill them." Controlling her anger, Rias looked toward Noah and said.

"Well, chill." Noah chuckled before smiling at Raynare. "You guys, do corporate with them, okay? Or we might have to play a game."

Rias saw as the body of the Fallen trembled before they nodded, their body relaxing as the energy to resist leaving it.

"...We were ordered to spy on Noah Pendragon while also keeping an eye on potential Sacred Gear users. And if they are deemed dangerous, eliminate them."

"Then what about the killing of people dealing with Devils? I'm sure none of them possessed any Sacred Gear." Rias questioned, making Raynare's expression change into a scowl.

"It was not us who killed them. It was Freed Sellzen who did the indiscriminate murder in the name of God, saying stuff like 'cleaning the world from filth'." She answered with slight annoyance in her tone.

Rias frowned, same with Sona as both of them stared at Raynare before Sona asked.

"Where is Freed Sellzen then?"

"..." A silence answered them as Raynare—no, everyone stared towards the smiling Noah who looked as if all of this had nothing to do with him.

"Hm? Why are you staring at me? Tell them, where is he?"

"... He…" Raynare's expression showed that she was deciding something before she said. "He died, unfortunately."

"Did he?" Sona's eyes narrowed at her, making Raynare turn her gaze away.

"Well, none of it matters now anyway." With a clap, Noah said before sitting back on the stairs, looking toward Rias and Sona. "Whether he is dead or not, you can be sure that he will not make any more troubles."

"Did you kill him?" Sona inquired.

"Does it matter?"

"No. Just asking."

"We will leave it at that then."

Sona just shrugged her shoulders before looking toward Noah.

"So? How are you going to contact Azazel? I doubt these people have his private number." She obviously was pointing towards the Fallen Angels.

"About that… I might get in contact with him if I use a certain spell."

Even though curious, Rias didn't ask about the spell. After all, she was more excited to know whatever Noah was about to get from Azazel will help her during her fight with Riser.

That was all that mattered currently to her.