I finally got around to translating the section regarding meisters detailed in the aoex character guidebook. Lit. a decade later than promised LOL.
Translation Masterlist found here
Meisters represent the techniques one uses to exorcise demons
A Meister is a prerequisite for becoming an exorcist. It is a specialized title that represents the skills and knowledge of exorcism that one possesses. By obtaining one of the titles, one can be certified as an exorcist. Furthermore, many high-ranking exorcists hold multiple titles, allowing them to perform more diverse exorcisms.
These titles are divided into 5 different classifications. Paladin and Honorary Knight (Cancer) are titles too, but they are different from meister titles.
Knight
A front line specialist who wields melee weapons
A meister for those who fight demons in close combat with melee weapons such as long swords, katanas, khakkharas, and knuckles. Although the name suggests swordsmanship, the weapons applicable to this meister are not limited to swords. Many people with this meister use weapons that are possessed by demons, Magic Swords, and those particularly skilled in drawing out the power of these weapons are called "Magic Swordsmen." However, Magic Swords are an extremely scarce resource, so there are not enough of them available for all of those who are Knights.
Those who master being able to use Magic Swords wield offensive power beyond the limits of humans. This meister is essential in battle.
There are also knights who fight with khakkara staffs instead of Magic Swords. With good cooperation with the rear guard, they are able to excel just as well as a Magic Swordsman.
Key Points
They have physical combat skills such as swordsmanship and martial arts, and have high physical abilities.
They are able to unleash tremendous power using Magic Swords.
Those who do not have Magic Swords may be supplied with weapons blessed by a higher level member of the Order.
Dragoon
A shooter with a wide range of firearms
Unlike Knights who focus on close-quarter combat, they can fight at any distance, from the front line to rear support, depending on the firearm used. They mainly use holy silver bullets, but they can use bullets blessed by spirits depending on the enemy’s attributes. Since one can become a Dragoon by mastering how to use a gun, it is currently the meister with the largest number of members.
They are able to support Knights on the front line by using long-distance sniping
Key Point
Handles firearms such as handguns, shotguns and rifles
They are able to react to any situation, providing front line or rear support, depending on the firearm used
They can carry multiple types of bullets and use them according to the opponents they are fighting
Aria
One who fights against demons by reciting sacred purification chants
The Death Verses of demons come from sources such as the Bible and other scriptures from around the world. However, since the Fatal Verses differ for each demon, it is necessary to memorize the corresponding scriptures for each one to defeat them. Additionally, Aria are defenseless while chanting and there are many demons that have unknown Death Verses, so fighting alone is dangerous.
With the right Death Verse handy, it is possible to exorcise a demon without getting hurt.
Key Point
Demons are exorcised by reciting scriptures from various religious sects
An extraordinary memory and pronunciation are required to chant accurately
In addition to be used to exorcise demons, chants can also bestow protections on allies and power up weapons
Tamer
One who summons, controls and otherwise tames demons into serving them
Those who are able to make a contract with a demon and utilize their powers can obtain this meister. Depending on the abilities of the demons they command, their role in missions varies, such as fighting on the front lines, guarding the rear support, and conducting espionage. A more advanced level of this meister is also available called Tamer Type 2. Those who are able to summon demons and force them to possess specific people or objects are called Tamer Type 2.
Even without a contract in place, it is possible to get a demon to cooperate through their own will.
By summoning demons with offensive power, they can become a fighting force at the front line. They play an important role in providing an offensive power alongside Knights and Dragoons.
Key Points
Being able to establish a contract with a demon and use them as a familiar, making use of their powers
The terms of the contract and the range of abilities of the familiar vary depending on the extent of the Tamer’s own talents
The higher level member of the Order may assign a demon to an aspiring Tamer who does not have a familiar
There is a higher class called Tamer Type 2 who can summon demons and affix them to an object or person
The Tamer Type 2 also has the ability to act as breeders, raising and modifying demons.
The “natural talent” to simplify summoning
In order to use the power of a demon, one must make some kind of payment. However, if the demon likes its summoner, the Tamer will have an easier time summoning them, and the cost will be as minimal as offering up a strand of hair. That is what it means to have "natural talent."
For those with a high affinity
There are fewer summoning steps, such as a simplified magic circle.
The cost for summoning and using them is minimal.
Demons can exert great power.
For those with low affinity
The summoning steps must follow the correct procedure required.
A heavy price is paid when summoning.
The demon cannot use its full power.
The complex magic circle can be a necessary step of the process. If there is a high affinity, summoning can be done even through a simplified diagram on a piece of paper.
Doctor
One who supports their comrades with medical and pharmaceutical knowledge
In addition to general medical and pharmaceutical knowledge, exorcists with this meister also have unique knowledge regarding things like temptaints and the ecology of demons. Their priority is to treat those attacked by demons and support those with a more active role. Although they do not focus on having combat skills and do not serve on the front lines, they are expected to have skills beyond those of an ordinary doctor. It may seem like a more unassuming meister to have at first glance, but earning this qualification takes a tremendous amount of work.
They work on putting together and improving talismans and medicine on a daily basis. A Doctor’s office is filled with all sorts of items, just like a researcher's laboratory.
Key Points
Aside from having general medical knowledge, they also have plenty of demon-related and pharmaceutical knowledge.
In addition to providing healing treatment, they also develop talismanic charms and medicines to ward off evil.
They do not have combat abilities and generally serve as a support for other exorcists
An Exorcist's Basic Equipment
In order to face enemies beyond human comprehension, exorcists carry around equipment that help them deal with all types of situations. Below is an introduction of the most basic ones.
Weapons
With the exception of a few meisters, it is impossible to fight demons with bare hands. Exorcists usually carry multiple weapons that suit them. In addition to their main weapons, such as swords and guns, they often carry around others such as grenades and knives.
Medicine and Herbs
These are mainly carried by Doctors. Depending on the mission, they carefully select what they need to bring; but usually in huge quantities.
Coat
The black coat is considered to be the uniform of the Knights of the True Cross Order. Exorcists are free to wear it whichever way they like, and some even wear it directly on their bare skin to create a sexy look.
Keys
The mysterious keys created by Mephisto. They fit into any keyhole and connect the corresponding door to specific locations. Each key has certain restrictions such as the number of people who can use it, and particularly important keys can only be used by a limited selection of people.
Are you ready to transfer into True Cross Academy? Look no further! The exam has begun!
Below is the translation of the questions found in the Blue Exorcist Character Guide Book. Based on your answers, your final score will decide what class you will transfer into.
Good luck!
General Education
1. What is the term used to call the numerous people that can be seen in True Cross Academy Town wearing a black uniform? (The correct answer earns 5pts)
A. Demon Exterminators
B. Exorcists
C. Shinto Priests
D. Shrine Maidens
2. What is the name of True Cross Academy’s President? (The correct answer earns 5pts)
[This is not a multiple choice question, please write your answer down!]
3. Which ONE of these monja flavors is among the President's top three favorites? Choose from the list below. (The correct answer earns 5pts)
A. Beef tendon monja
B. Cheese and pork mochi monja
C. Bitter melon monja
D. Death monja
4. In the following list, choose ONE of the two answers, selecting the proper terminology. (Each correct answer earns 2pts)
A: Marrubium or Unauna-kun
B: Spirit Tree or Ent
C: Chuchi or Demonic Butterfly
D: Sylph or Wind Fairy
E: Angelic Legion or Angel’s Legion
4.5. For each of the following, please answer True or False if this Sanskrit symbol has appeared in the manga before. (Each correct answer earns 2pts)
F:
G:
Regional Knowledge
5. What is the official name of the popular destination known as Mepphy Land? (The correct answer earns 5pts)
[This is not a multiple choice question, please write your answer down!]
6. What is the name of the popular ride from Mepphy Land that met a mysterious demise? (The correct answer earns 5pts)
[This is not a multiple choice question, please write your answer down!]
7. Please arrange the following school facilities based on where they are located from tallest to closest to the ground floor. (The correct answer earns 10pts)
A: Mepphy Land
B: True Cross Academy Station
C: Johann Faust's Residence
D: The Academy’s Forest Area
8. Which of the following strange occurrences are part of True Cross Academy’s Seven School Mysteries? (Each correct answer earns 2 pts, while an incorrect answer earns -2 pts)
A: A form dressed in white that wanders the academy at night
B: A mansion you can never reach
C: A rotting figure staggering through the old boys' dormitory
D: A train that takes its passengers into Gehenna
E: A mysterious black cat that begs for food from anyone who approaches it
F: An empty streetcar that travels the streets at the night
9. In which of the following locations of the Girl’s Dormitory does Toilet Mayuko from the Seven School Mysteries appear? (The correct answer earns 5pts)
A: The east toilet on the 3rd floor
B: The south toilet on the 4th floor
C: The west toilet on the 5th floor
D: The north toilet on the 6th floor
10. Class 1-D Rice Ball Stand was a big hit at the school festival. Use the list below to select all the fillings that were sold. (Each correct answer earns 2 pts, while an incorrect answer earns -2 pts)
A: Bonito flakes & soy sauce
B: Salmon
C: Yuzu pepper
D: Seaweed
E: Tuna & corn
F: Spam
G: Grilled cod roe
Other Trivia
11. Using the list below, choose the word that best describes the smell of this creature. (The correct answer earns 10pts)
A: The smell of sulfur
B: The smell of rotten milk
C: The smell of burning meat
D: The scent of the sea
12. Using the list below, choose the dish that will be made using this creature. (The correct answer earns 5pts)
A: Fried squid
B: Squid rice
C: Squid yakisoba
D: Squid noodles
13. Using the following list, choose the correct picture that fits in the box labeled あ. (The correct answer earns 5pts)
14. Please name the flavor of the Matekiya instant noodles shown in this picture. (The correct answer earns 10pts)
Alright, pencils down!
Please check your answers below:
B (+5)
Johann Faust the 5th (+5)
B (+5)
Marrubium, Ent, Chuchi, Sylph, Angelic Legion [4.5, both answers are True!] (+2/-2)
True Cross Academy Amusement Park (+5)
GO TO HELL (+5)
C > A > B > D (+10)
A, B, F (+2/-2)
D (+5)
A, B, D, F, G (+2/-2)
A (+10)
C (+5)
D (+5)
Special Super Spicy Pork Ramen (+10)
Now total it up, and see which class you will be sorted in!
100 points: Second year, with Takara
An excellent student like you can start in the second year alongside Takara. Though it is unclear whether he's been attending classes or not...
90-99 points: Special 1-A, with Yukio and Bon
You have achieved outstanding results so we want to welcome you into this special class, which is geared towards getting into our highly competitive university! Let's aim even higher together with Yukio, Suguro, and other top students!
80-89 points: 1-A, with Izumo and Konekomaru
You have a very high academic ability, so you are more than qualified to enter the high school division! Have fun competing with Izumo, being comforted by Konekomaru, and focusing on your studies!
70-79 points: 1-B, with Shiemi and Paku
Your efforts have paid off and you've been accepted. Why not take a break and have some fun talking about love with your cute female classmates? It's a little hard to mingle with the boys though...
60-69 points: 1-C, with Renzou
Congratulations on passing! However, perhaps you should have tried a little harder... Let's try to improve alongside with the irresponsible Shima and aim to achieve results that matches up to Suguro and the others.
30-59 points: 1-D, with Godaiin and Rin
Thanks to the President's generous heart, you just barely made it in! It's all well and good to have fun at the school festival stalls, but please make sure to also study hard!
If you didn't make it in.... better luck next time!
Back again with a new section of the aoex character archive <3 Here are the profiles of Kuro, Nii-chan, Izumo's foxes, Yamantaka, Amaimon, Beel & Azazel.
Kuro (Cat Sith)
A possessed cat that is Rin's familiar
A cat demon with a split tail also known as a cat sith. He was once worshipped as a silkworm god, but eventually their regard for him faded and he went on a rampage. He was eventually saved by Shirou and after started living with the Okumura brothers. He is friendly and gets along well with Rin and the other members of the exorcist cram school. He sides with the Knights of the True Cross and provides support in the fight against Satan for the sake of his beloved Rin and the others.
Profile
Gender: Male
Age: 121 years old
Anniversary: September 6th
Blood Type: AB
Size: 56cm (tail included)
Weight: 4.2kg
Hobbies & Special Skills: Going on walks, napping
Abilities: Freely able to grow big
He can transform into a size much larger than human at his whim.
Personality: Loves being spoiled
He loves playing around with Rin and the other members of the exorcist cram school. He is very cute and affectionate. He also helps Rin train by playing with him.
The progress of opening up his heart
-Meeting Shirou
-Becoming friendly with Rin and Yukio
-Becoming good friends with the members of the exorcist cram school
Kuro was forgotten by people before and was once very wary of humans. But then he meets Shirou, and then Rin, and through Rin he ends up working with the other members of the exorcist cram school such as Yukio, Ryuuji and Konekomaru. Before he realized it, Kuro's wariness faded.
Q&A
What does Kuro's ranking list look like when it comes to which members of the exorcist cram school is he most fond of?
Rin
Yukio
Shiemi
Ryuuji
Takara
Konekomaru
Renzou
Izumo
Kuro was inside Rin's satchel during the One Cloth arc, but when did he get in there?
Although it was cold and Kuro was sleeping snugly on top of his fluffy bed, when Mephisto dressed Rin in his Special Patrol uniform, he put Kuro in the satchel around Rin's waist. Magically. You can see glimpses of Kuro inside of it through the chapter break pages of volume 24. He was basically sleeping the whole time.
For people who can't see demons, what do they see when Kuro becomes gigantic in size, and are they able to see his split tail?
Kuro will basically just look like a regular cat to them with a single tail and no horns. If he were to change in size, for example, depending on the level of ability of the person looking at him, and also depending on Kuro's own physical condition, Kuro may appear somewhat distorted or the person looking at him may catch glimpses of some unexpected afterimages.
Why is Kuro able to use public transportation?
Familiars registered with the Knights of the True Cross are permitted to use public transportation with advance notice.
What is his impression of Izumo?
He is not a fan of the way she approaches him slowly and then starts talking to him in a weird way.
Nii-chan (Greenman)
Shiemi's familiar who has the power to manipulate plants
This tiny version of a greenman is the first demon that Shiemi successfully summoned. It wears a round, leafy hat and can produce plant matter from its body. The name "Nii-chan" originates from the fact that it cannot speak the human language and only makes a "Nii" type of sound. When it was first summoned, it had a tiny body that could fit on Shiemi's shoulder, but as its summoner Shiemi's powers grew, it too gained the ability to grow its body to a much bigger size.
Profile
Gender: Unknown
Height: 6.5cm~298cm
Weight: 170g~320kg
Hobbies & Special Skills: Sunbathing, basking in cool water
Growth: Strengthened by Shiemi's power
As Shiemi's powers grow, Nii-chan's ability to grow in size and create plants also increases.
Ability: Creating plants
To protect everyone from Rin when he went out of control, it created a wall of plants strong enough to withstand Satan's blue flames.
Uke and Mike (Byakko)
Izumo's familiars who support her with their divine power
Divine servants of Ukanomitama. They look like white foxes and used to live in the Kamiki household with many others of their kind. They would often do household chores in the place of their master Tamamo, and Izumo considers them members of her family. They frequently answered her summons after she joined the exorcist cram school. As their bond with Izumo deepens, so do their combat abilities, such as being able to change into a more human-like form.
Profiles
Ukemochi
Gender: Male
Size: 120cm (tail excluded)
Weight: 32kg
Hobbies & Special Skills: Making sacred sake
Miketsu
Gender: Male
Size: 131cm (tail excluded)
Weight: 35kg
Hobbies & Special Skills: Criticizing shrine maidens
Abilities: Exorcise and purify evil
Recognizing Izumo's growth, the two performed a technique more powerful than the "Purification of Spirits" which defeated Gedouin.
Relationship: Their relationship with Izumo has deepened
When it seemed as though they had seized to exist, they returned at Izumo's beckoning call. They seem to be having a hard time hiding their embarrassment at the sight of Izumo's overjoyed expression.
Yamantaka
The flame of Gehenna that can burn away souls and demons
A high-ranking demon made up of black flames. It is the principal idol of the Shima family, and kin of Armumahel, Emperor of Nothingness. It has a cow-like face and a torso composed of flickering flames. It is capable of using Gehenna's "Black Flames" which are second only to "Blue Flames" and is a power valued by both the Knights of the True Cross and the Illuminati. After its previous master, Shima Takezou, died during the Blue Night, it became the familiar of his younger brother Renzou who was just a baby at the time.
Yamantaka's black flames are capable of burning away demon's bodies and destroy human souls.
Personality: Does not seem inclined to follow Renzou's lead...?
Yamantaka is a prideful demon and if Renzou behaves in a way that it does not like, Yamantaka can become threatening.
Amaimon
The 7th power among the Ba'al known as the the King of Earth
Mephisto's younger brother who is ranked as the 7th among the Ba'al. Because he was sealed away by Shemihaza a long time ago, his current incarnation only represents a small part of his original form. He cooperates with Mephisto and often comes in contact with Rin and the others as a part of Mephisto's schemes. Additionally, he has became a student at True Cross Academy. In the final battle against Satan, he also sides with the Knights of the True Cross as Shiemi's subordinate.
Profile
Gender: Male
Age: He's been using his current vessel for about 18 years
Title: King of Earth
Blood type: It's red
Anniversary: March 10th
Height: 174cm (It would be 168cm without including the horn)
Weight: 56kg
Hobbies & Special Skills: Sightseeing, eating while walking around, video games
[TN: Good to note that the previous 1,000 year vessel trivia we received before has been retconned.]
Siblings: Mephisto's younger brother
He possesses a clone body that was created at Asylum which closely resembles Mephisto. The horn at the top of his head has been there since his inception.
Abilities: He uses his own body to fight
He excels at physical combat using his impressive strength which is capable of easily destroying huge buildings. However, this isn't effective against the older version of Shiemi.
Personality: Wild disposition
Because he has an aggressive personality, he often butts heads with Rin. Mephisto has warned him to exercise restrained while at school.
His relationship with Shiemi
-He brainwashed and treated Shiemi like a puppet
-She pushed him around in return {TN: at school]
-She managed to make him bend to her will and make him her subordinate
In the past, he looked down on Shiemi for being timid, but when they met again, he was not only taken aback by the fact that she was no longer so easily cowed, but also by the revelation that she was a descendant of Shemihaza, his nemesis. He became Shiemi's subordinate after their match at El. Their positions are currently the opposite of what they were when they first met.
Q&A
What kind of food does Amaimon like?
He is a fan of the type of greasy junk food that has strong flavors.
What is he like at school?
He attends and skips class depending on what he feels like doing. And even when he does attend class, all he does is sleep or he sits on top of his desk eating snacks. Since he's the Chairman's nephew, the teachers don't scold him. The students are also intimidated by him.
His violent outbursts in the story so far
It is said that in the past, he rampaged to the point of plunging the earth into the depths despair, and his nature has not changed even after being sealed by Shemihaza. Even when he visits True Cross Academy Town under Mephisto's orders, he has caused trouble at every opportunity. Sometimes he earns a scolding from his brother Mephisto for having gone too far.
The fight at Mepphy Land
He attacks Rin after becoming interested in him. The rollercoaster ended up becoming completely wrecked.
The destruction of the school
The battle with Rin got out of hand and the school was on the verge of collapse.
Beelzebub
The megacute King of Insects, self-proclaimed weakest among the Ba'al
The 8th power in Gehenna who rules over all insect demons. They wear prince-like clothing, has a pair of antennae on top of their head, and wings on their back, making it clear that they are in charge of insects. Originally, they were neutral and did not side with either Lucifer or Mephisto, but fearing that they would no longer be able to eat their favorite yakiniku, they joined the Knights of the True Cross Order and led a large number of insects to the decisive battle against Satan.
Profile
Gender: Unknown
Height: 90cm (including the horn it would be 100cm)
Weight: 15kg
Anniversary: June 4th
Special Skills and Hobbies: Yakiniku and managing Yakiniku restaurant chains
Personality: Masculine yet cute
Whether this is a conscious aspect of them or not, their cuteness remains consistently present even in the middle of the battlefield. A large number of insects follow their lead, perhaps affected by this unexpected show of charisma.
Abilities: Command over insects
A large number of insects are always guarding Beelzebub. They are a nightmare for people who hate insects, like Renzou.
Favorite thing: Yakiniku is everything to them
Beelzebub is the CEO of a global yakiniku restaurant chain. For the sake of protecting their precious yakiniku, they will even challenge Lucifer and Satan to battle.
A collection of Beelzebub's notable scenes
-Siding against Satan's army
-Providing support with their spider
-Returning all bandaged up
The sight of Beelzebub's covered up in bandages and getting along with insects shows off their adorable appearance and behavior which is a source of their popularity that also makes it hard to believe that someone like them could be one of the terrifying Ba'al.
Q&A
What type of restaurant is the Belbel Yakiniku franchise?
It is considered a famous chain restaurant in Japan and has about nine overseas locations. About ten years ago, Mephisto took them to eat yakiniku and Beelzebub became infatuated with it; this love eventually led him to become a restaurant manager. Beelzebub originally received financial support from Mephisto to get their business off the ground.
Do the people around Beelzebub (such as their employees) know that they are a demon?
Employees at the executive level are aware.
What is Beelzebub's gender?
"Both, neither; either works!" - Beelzebub
Do they have a particular way they like to eat yakiniku, or a favorite cut of meat?
"No matter which cut, you can always have a delicious bite with the right length of cooking time and preparation. My preference is to mix a bit of Belbel's special yakiniku sauce with a raw egg, pour the sauce over the rice, and then top with yakiniku. I totally recommend it!" - Beelzebub
Among the Ba'al, Azazel got along well with everyone. They weren’t at odds with anyone. One could even say that demons who have crystallized have crystallized because they were unable to choose a side. That being said, in order to maintain the power balance in the world, Azazel is more inclined to side with the humans.
--
That's all for now <3 To return to the masterlist, click here.
The profiles of Satan, Egyn, Iblis, Astaroth, Amon and Asmodeus from the Character Archive. Enjoy!
Next up, some of the world building pages, to close up the Illuminati section <3
Satan
The origin of all things in the universe, who rules over all demons
He is Rin and Yukio's biological father and it is believed that all demons originate from him. After first appearing in Assiah as "Rinka," he possessed one of the clone bodies of the Ba'al in Section 13. His ego as Satan proceeded to awaken. He caused the Blue Night which killed a great deal of exorcists, and has interfered in Assiah ever since. He was able to possess a vessel again through Lucifer's efforts but has now lost his ego and body and is corrupting the earth.
Profile
Gender: Male
Age: Unknown
Height: 183cm
Weight: 78kg
Birthday: November 11th
Blood Type: Unknown
Hobbies/Special Skills: Reading, observing air currents, listening to activity of bacteria
Love & Hate: A love that turns into hatred
Yuri was the first person that Satan had intellectual contact with. As they spent time together, love blossomed between them. However, their feelings were not quite on the same page and that love turned into hatred.
Corruption: The search for a vessel that can withstand his power...
The body that he possessed most recently was thought to have finally been his perfect vessel. However, it too eventually fell apart. In search of a vessel for himself, Satan invaded the earth, becoming a gigantic fortress with his heart at its very center.
Satan's interaction with Assiah thus far
-As Rinka
-Through Gorou's body
-By possessing Abel
-By possessing Shirou
-Through Yukio's left eye
He would simply appear and disappear as Rinka at random times, but once he incarnated properly into Assiah, he became attached to it, and attempted to possess vessels many times.
Q&A
What were the two spirit-like things floating behind him when he flew into a rage (in chapter 134)?
That was the final form of Satan's horns. The shape of the horns changes depending on the output degree of his power and his mental state, so you can think of them as a way to tell when Satan's is most ramped up. These horns were first seen when he made his first appearance in volume 1.
Now that he has become one with the earth, has he still retained his ego as Satan?
The memories of the emotions, thoughts and feelings Satan had when he had a physical body remain around the fortress built around his heart (where Rin and the others are fighting) but he is no longer able to think as Satan.
Who designed Satan's outfit? I'm curious to see what it would look like underneath if you were to pull away the fluttering fabric in the front.
His outfit was designed by a famous designer on the Illuminati's payroll. If you were to pull away the fluttering fabric, you'll see that he's wearing skintight waist-high tights.
Satan once viewed Shirou as a rival, so does he feel some type of way about having his vessel being so similar in looks to Shirou?
When he first possessed Gorou, Satan didn't have any real awareness of what he looked like, and I don't think he felt anything other than elation over having a body at last and a need to meet Yuri. Once he had gained a certain level of intelligence and realized his desire for Yuri, he started to come to terms with the fact that he had a body similar to Shirou.
When Rin made fun of his outfit, Satan shouted "I don't like it either!" but is there a certain type of fashion that Satan actually likes?
He hasn’t given clothes much thought before.
Egyn
The King of Water who is a little shy but an excellent researcher
The King of Water is ranked as the 5th power in Gehenna. Egyn used to wear an octopus mask over the face of his vessel prior to the Blue Night. Currently, she has a different vessel than she did back then and always wears a shark costume. She cooperates with Lucifer as the assssitant director of the Illuminati's airborne research laboratory inside of the Dominus Liminis. When the Dominus Liminis crashed, she managed to protect the elixir that had just been completed, making a major contribution to the Illuminati's plans.
Profile
Gender: Female
Height: 124cm
Weight: 28kg
Birthday: August 1st
Hobbies: Studying, reading
Special Skills: Swimming
Research: Taking on Section 13's research
Egyn has taken over Section 13's research and led the elixir experiments. When Yukio arrived to the Dominus Liminis, she also performed his physical examinations to find out if he has any connection to Satan.
Q&A
Where did Egyn get her shark costume?
It was designed by a famous designer on the Illuminati's payroll.
When did Egyn start wearing mascot costumes?
At the time that Egyn was wearing the octopus mask, he was possessing a male vessel which was in the process of deteriorating, after which their next vessel was one of a girl, so she started wearing mascot costumes so that Iblis, who has a soft spot for boys, wouldn't find out and start to hate her.
Is there a reason to hide Egyn hides her face?
Because she has a lack of confidence in herself.
[TN: Fun fact, when Lucifer first introduces Egyn to Yukio, there are quotation marks around "younger brother"]
Iblis
One of the Ba'al, the King of Fire, who is ready to burn anything in her way
The King of Fire is the 4th power in Gehenna. She has incarnated in the body of a woman in Assiah. She has been by Lucifer's side from the start, but began serving Satan once he gained a vessel and took over Asylum. She continued to work alongside Lucifer and Egyn after the Blue Night with the objective of reviving Satan. And once Satan merged with the earth, she was seen fighting against Lucy and the other Taoist exorcists to protect one of the fortress' torches.
Profile
Gender: Female
Height: 185cm
Weight: 70kg
Birthday: May 28th
Hobbies: Skincare, hot springs, saunas, Egyn
Special Skills: Cooking
Source of Adoration: She loves her younger brother, Egyn
Iblis is often seen showering Egyn with affection, but she also seems to find Rin adorable. Her tastes are quite wide...
Q&A
Aside from Amon and Asmodeus, is she a source of popularity among male demons?
She is fairly popular.
When she first incarnated into Assiah, where was she and what was she up to?
Once she gained a vessel, she spent a long time using her beauty and abilities to curry favor with powerful people across many eras, occupying a privileged position where she could enjoy wealth and power.
Egyn is beloved by her, but what does she think of Beelzebub, who is similarly cute?
Because Beel is sassy and impertinent, she is not that fond of him.
Astaroth
The King of Rot who rushed into action for the sake of gaining the respect of his Father, Satan
The King of Rot is the 6th power of Gehenna. He feels a strong empathy for those who suffer the inability to maintain a vessel and acts according to Satan's will. During the battle against the Knights of the True Cross Order that took place after Satan was resurrected, he demonstrated his prowess by getting through their special grade anti-demon armor. After, he reincarnates once more by possessing Shiratori Reiji's body in Japan and reunites with Lucifer and the others in Satan's fortress.
Reverence: He gives his all for the sake of their Father, Satan
Astaroth is the most loyal among the Ba'al. When he learns that Satan has become a fortress that is destroying Assiah, he is moved to tears by the thought that their father continuing to lead them despite having lost his body and ego.
Profile
Gender: Male
Height: 175cm (Shiratori)
Weight: 63kg (Shiratori)
Birthday: October 15th
Hobbies: Crossbows, clay target shooting (Shiratori)
Special Skills: Using dual wielding guns (Shiratori)
Note: Astaroth's hobbies and special skills after fusing with Shiratori are still a mystery
Q&A
Is Shiratori Reiji's body capable of withstanding being possessed by him?
Yes, it looks that way.
What type of vessel did he have prior to possessing Shiratori?
Prior to possessing Shiratori, he created a vessel out of mushrooms to represent his own image. Although there have been times in the past where he has had a proper vessel, due to the nature of being the King of Rot, they do not last long.
Amon
The Sun King, Ra, who frequently reincarnates
Kin of Iblis, King of Fire. He harbors deep feelings for Iblis to the point that he treats her as if she is his alone, but that kind of claim got her to hang him for 100 years. He was waiting for the exorcist party at the front of the main gate of Satan's fortress, which has become a labyrinth, and engages in combat with Osceola. Since Amon had a spare body at the ready, he tried to use up his own heart to create a supernova explosion that would blow up everything within a 10km radius. However, he was defeated by Osceola who made up his mind to sacrifice his life and used his War Cry.
Profile
Gender: Male
Height: 175cm
Weight: 61kg
Birthday: November 9th
Blood Type: Unknown
Hobbies: He's got a smart phone addiction and likes to collect jewelry
Special Skills: Streaming games
Q&A
He gives off the vibe that he has middle schooler syndrome, is there a reason behind that?
That's because he does, thanks to being chronically online on social media.
Asmodeus
The King of Lust who is a sadomasochist
Kin of Iblis, King of Fire. As the King of Lust, he stays true to his own vices and was once sentenced to hang for 100 years for peeping on Iblis while she was bathing. He likes to give and receive pain in order to feel alive. In the battle that took place in front of one of the main gates, he cornered Shura, but fell into a crack in the earth that Osceola created, and was crushed as soon as that crack was sealed.
Profile
Gender: Male
Height: 195cm
Weight: 110kg
Birthday: March 19th
Hobbies: He's got smart phone addiction and is a suit aficionado
Special Skills: He's really into building up his savings and his investment funds
Q&A
What is his favorite type of porn?
He's happy to be well versed in all of them.
--
That's all for now, folks. To return to the masterpost, click here.
The quickest way to become a skilled exorcist is to become someone's apprentice! Below is the translation of the questions found in the Blue Exorcist Character Guidebook. Take the following questionnaire, and see which exorcist is most suited to train you!
Follow each question to the next number indicated next to your chosen answer!
1 - What meister are you aiming for?
Knight or Dragoon to fight in the front lines → Skip to question 3!
Aria or Tamer to provide rear support → Skip to question 4!
Doctor to provide support for my comrades → Skip to question 6!
2 - Why do you fight demons?
To uphold justice in this world! → 11
To protect someone important! → 20
To become stronger! → 23
3 - What was the first thing you did after finally becoming an exorcist?
Introduced myself to my superiors → 10
Confirmed what my upcoming duties were → 15
Practiced my special moves → 12
4 - Chanting is long and tedious...
But even so I’ll diligently study hard → 8
I'll try to see if I can make do without it → 5
I think I’ll change my meister to Knight after all → 12
5 - You were given a paper with a magic circle to see if you have the affinity to become a Tamer.
"Inari, I humbly beseech the to grant my request…” → 18
“Come, come, c’mere~"! → 13
“Go, Behemoth!” → 22
6 - In order to become an exorcist, you usually spend time...
Training to improve your physical strength → 8
Studying about demons and exorcists → 16
Conquering all of Pon-chan's monjayaki → 14
7 - After all your hard work, you've been promoted to the next rank! To celebrate...
You decide to have a small celebration with your friends! → 26
You start by telling your family back home! → 21
You decide to order an original custom-made uniform! → 28
8 - You're always prepared, but what is the one thing you always carry around a spare of?
Glasses → 22
Eyepatches → 19
Fishnet stockings → 2
9 - What type of special moves have you developed after going through rigorous training...?
Diverse magic sword techniques! → Type B
Ultra-fast aria recitation skills → Type C
Being able to continuously summon familiars → Type E
10 - You are working to master your skills. To do so, you are...
Using the Unlimited Mode on the training machines → 17
Using your special abilities to light candles on fire → 2
Taking extra supplementary lessons! → 13
11 - It seems like there's an enemy spy nearby. What will you do?
Send a trusted ally to investigate → 28
Mislead them by leaking false information → 9
Conduct an interrogation → 14
12 - All at once, there’s been an outbreak of demon incidents! Where will you head to...?
Kyoto is on the brink of destruction! You went to go help in the fight against the Impure King → 17
You went to suppress a former familiar rampaging in the suburbs! → 13
You went to help out the girl tending the rice ball stand! → 14
13 - The Order is assigning you a familiar. Which will you choose…?
A Cat Sith → 7
A Ghoul → 25
Isn’t there someone like Yamantaka…? → 14
14 - One day, your instructor told you that you weren’t cut out to be an exorcist… How did you respond?
I reflected on my actions and started from the basics once more! → 1
I strongly protested that wasn’t true! → 2
“Sure sure, I'll keep doing my best.” (deadpan) → Type H
15 - The Order will be providing you with a Magic Sword! What will you choose...?
A large sword around the size of a child → 2
A conveniently sized Japanese sword → 13
A standard all-purpose kitchen knife → 19
16 - You are heading to the Futsumaya to replenish your equipment. Holy water, holy silver bullets, and... what else do you plan to buy?
Aloe, which is highly effective for wounds caused by ghouls→ 22
Barberries, which help ward against illusions → 18
300 yen snacks → 14
17 - What is your strongest desire?
Greed → 7
Lust → 24
Knowledge → 11
18 - There are so many different pharmaceutical plants used on missions that it’s hard to remember the names of them all! What will you do?
Memorize them using mnemonics → 25
Give them original names → 24
I have incredible memory, so it'll be fine → 23
19 - Your Master has given you an unreasonable order! What will you do?
I'll try my best to fulfill it → 20
It's impossible! I'll refuse!→ 23
I'll try to think of a way to get around it→ 24
20 - Which of the following missions are you best suited for?
One where you can infiltrating a place while crossdressed → 9
One where you need to wait in a seiza position for a long time → 29
One where you can observe your allies who are wearing swimsuits → 14
21 - The Order has decided to utilize the power of demons. What do you think about this?
It's dangerous to rely on demonic power→ Type D
It’s best to use all the resources available → Type E
I don’t see it as a matter of good and evil, rather I’m simply interested in it → Type C
22 - You've been given a mission to defeat a demon of the Impure King class! What is your role...?
I’ll head to the front lines with a weapon on hand → 7
I’ll summon a Fire Demon → 25
I’ll treat the injured → 20
23 - You have a selection of Dragoon equipment available to you. What weapon will you get...?
A handgun for close combat → 28
A sniper rifle for long-distance support → 26
A flamethrower to wipe out Rot Demons → 21
24 - During a mission, you come across a demon and are tempted by their wicked words… What will you do?
Hurt yourself and use the pain to regain your senses → 21
Use healing medicine to regain your senses → 29
It is human nature to give in to temptation → 14
25 - The higher-ranked Doctor in your mission is absent, so you will be treating your allies. What treatment will you provide?
Treatment for surface level injuries such as burns, or sword wounds → 26
Detoxification treatment meant to cure poisons, etc. → 29
Wisdom tooth extraction! → 9
26 - Summon your familiar to face a powerful enemy! Who is your familiar...?
Ucchusma, who can call forth a purifying fire → Type D
A Naberius, who is an effective front line combatant → Type E
A Cat Sith that will fight alongside you! → Type F
27. What do you think about the name “Angelic Legion”...?
What a great name! → Type A
It's so horrible, I'll die of embarrassment... → Type B
28. In an unexpected turn of events, you find yourself facing a Demon King. What will you do?
Face them without hesitation! → 27
Defend yourself with all your might while looking for a good opening → Type B
Forsake your duties and just keep an eye on how things will turn out → Type C
29 - The Order has decided to monitor the bastard son of Satan. What are your thoughts on this?
I'm looking forward to seeing where this will go → Type F
It’s best to be a little cautious about him → Type D
He will be worth teasing → 30
30 - You consider the Knight of the True Cross Order to be...
A lively, homely institution →Type F
A chest full of toys →Type G
Type A - Angel A. Arthur
You seem to have great potential, so the current Paladin, Angel, would be a fitting teacher for you. Your training will be extremely rigorous, and it’s likely he’ll cram your head with irrelevant things like art theory and social etiquette… but you'll learn a lot and one day you may even become the next Paladin!
Type B - Shura Kirigakure
Since you have a high aptitude for being a front line combatant, you should learn practical swordsmanship from Shura. Although her training may seem random at first glance, it ends up being pretty effective. However, never approach her when she has just woken up or when she is drunk! You will definitely get blamed for strange things…
Type C - Lightning
You have a thirst for knowledge and exceptional skills in combat. Under the Arc Knight, Lightning, you will learn the very heart of Aria and Summoning skills! But his tutelage will be one laced with sarcasm, so you'll need an unflinching personality like Angel's…
Type D - Yaozou Shima
Aside from your talent as an Aria, your greatest asset is your ability to lead others. Work under Yaozou and see for yourself the struggles of being a branch director! That way, you’ll be prepared for the day where you will be the one leading a unit, caught in the middle of your subordinates and a useless boss…
Type E - Igor Neuhaus
You are determined to exterminate all demons, even at the cost of using dangerous methods at times. Under the guidance of Neuhaus, who shares the same mentality, you can aim to become an exceptional Tamer! However, Neuhaus is currently under suspension, so you will have to wait until he returns before you can start your training!
Type F - Shirou Fujimoto
On top of your incredible skill set, you also have an unprecedented talent. You would be best suited to study under the former Paladin, Shirou... but unfortunately he passed away in an incident. Work hard on your own until one day an exorcist who can take up his mantle appears!
Type G - Mephisto Pheles
You have great abilities and a bright future, but more than that, you are a truly exceptional, extraordinary exorcist! It would be fun if you could master Mephisto's secret techniques and surpass regular humans. And if that were to come to pass, you might be able to transform into a cute dog and win the hearts of all the girls in the academy!
Type H - You’re not ready for practical training yet! Start over as a Page again and try again!
At long last, I’ve defeated this little short story which really is tremendously long. It’s a fun one though, I hope everyone enjoys it!
This is a tale of a time when Shiro and a certain tagalong by the name of Johann wound up in a small little village in a corner of South America...
Part 1 (you are here) - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Masterlist
[A small translation note, just in case. “Señorita” is Spanish for Miss or the more Japanese-like “Big Sis”.]
******
Neither love, nor faith, nor loyalty, nor devotion, not even the fear of death can save me.
In that case, just what can save me from this ugly world?
******
La Buena Diosa—a small, unremarkable village tucked away in a corner of South America.
It was by sheer coincidence that I became aware of the existence of this village. However, the more I learned about it, the more I realized that this place was it.
In a place like this, everything I had ever wanted would finally be within my grasp.
The lonely cemetery at the center of this village was, undoubtedly, the toy chest that I dreamed of having since I was a kid. Driven by the desire to fulfill that wish, I started making frequent trips to this village. Telling them that I was interested in the religious artworks in the area was a stroke of genius, if I do say so myself.
The villagers were very closed off to my presence, as was often the case in remote places such as this; fortunately, one of the kids took a liking to me, which made the rest of the villagers lose some of their cold demeanor. I was able to move around the village a lot more easily by allowing a young girl named Anita to stick close to me. Thanks to her, I was able to set my elaborate plan into motion.
Many thanks, dear Anita.
“Señorita, I love you!”
As she walked at my side, she gently reached up to grab my right hand. Her hand was warm and a little damp, like that of a newborn puppy.
When I met her eyes, a bashful smile broke across her tanned, dark brown skin. I couldn't help but to give her a gentle smile in return.
And then, from within the confines of my heart, I whispered to this poor, admirable child—
Once you become a ghoul, Anita, I'll be sure to use you to make my finest Naberius.
Then I'll finally be able to properly love you as you so desire.
Until then, I'm sorry.
I just don't find you cute as you are now at all.
“—Stay calm, everyone! It’s going to be alright!”
During my tenth visit to the village, I arranged for some ghouls that I had brought back to life beforehand to attack the village.
As I deftly proceeded to guide the panicked villagers into the church that was at the center of the cemetery, I did my best to contain how much I was overcome with joy.
It was all going incredibly well.
Even though I had carefully planned all of this ahead of time, it was scary how well everything was falling into place.
Thanks to the shocking event of being attacked by the living dead, the villagers came to trust and rely upon Sister Maria LaMorte. It would be a simple feat for me to be rid of them by the time morning came. As easy as taking candy from a baby…
What concerned me more than that was deciding what would be the best way to dispose of them.
Should I poison them? Strangle them? Or perhaps—
As I pondered on what might be the best killing method that would cause the least damage to their bodies, I felt a tug on the sleeve of my tunic. When I glanced down, I saw Anita clinging on to the fabric with a trembling grip.
“A-Are… we all gonna… die?” she asked with a feeble voice, desperately trying to hold back her fear.
“…Oh, Anita. Don’t worry. It’s going to be alright. I won’t let that sort of thing happen.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I’ve made a barrier with holy water around us, so the ghouls won’t be able to come in. We’re safe here,” I told her without meaning a single word of it as I gave her a gentle hug.
“Now, go on. Run along and keep your mom company.”
Anita gave a small nod, but the window next to the door suddenly caught her attention.
“A light…” she murmured.
“Hm? A light…?”
I tilted my head to follow Anita’s gaze. Sure enough, up in the sky, in the southwest part of the village, there was a light shining as bright as the midday sun. It was coming from the direction of the village entrance, which faced the highway.
There was no doubt about what that light was. It was a flare.
Moreover, it was not a military-brand one. Rather, it was a custom-made product used by exorcists to fight against demons. I knew because I was carrying a few of them myself.
Surely those Vatican dogs couldn’t have gotten wind of what I was up to yet, right? No… It was far too early in the game for that to be the case.
After a moment of hesitation, I looked away from the window and back to Anita.
“Something may have happened. I’m going to take a look. Anita, you stay here with everyone else.”
At these words, Anita’s expression contorted.
“No! You can’t! Señorita, you’ll be killed!”
“Oh, Anita. It’s okay... It’s going to be okay.”
It was kind of her to worry about me, but honestly, I couldn’t find it more irritating. The way she had become attached to me was starting to become a problem. I inwardly let out a heavy sigh.
“I’ll have a weapon with me. If something happens, I’ll run away immediately, okay?”
After calming Anita down with a few well-chosen words, I left the church and headed towards the light which was still shining in the southwest direction of the village. It was a rather small village.
It did not take me long to get from the cemetery to the source of the light. Even so, by the time I made it, the light had already extinguished despite the fact that I had rushed over.
In the darkness, I felt the presence of a real flesh-and-blood human around which felt quite different from that of a ghoul, so I hid myself in the shadows of a nearby house. I was able to spot two men surrounded by my ghouls as I squinted through the darkness.
One was a tall, lanky, Caucasian man; the other, an Asian person of average height. They were both wearing a pair of black, imposing uniforms. It was the official uniform worn by members of the Knights of the True Cross Order of which I was also a member of. The Asian man was carrying a gun in the holster around his waist, but the Caucasian man seemed to be unarmed.
Oh dear. It looks like you two came ill-prepared to handle this…
I couldn’t hold back the urge to smile widely.
And here I thought they had been sent by the Vatican, but it looks like I jumped to the wrong conclusion.
I laughed at my rash assumption and decided to keep an eye on these two.
The Asian man threw a grenade filled with holy water at the group of ghouls which were beginning to recover from the shock of the flare.
As the holy water exploded in the air around them, the ghouls let out an agonizing scream.
“Gyyyaaaaaaaaah!!”
Tch…!
At the wretched sight of my ghouls’ anguish, a similar scream wanted to burst out of my chest.
However, I was able to calm down. It was only holy water after all. It would only have a temporary effect on them unless it was AAA grade. More importantly, they were only facing two opponents.
I had ten times as many ghouls.
As that thought passed through my head, several ghouls which managed to avoid getting directly hit by the holy water rushed to attack the Asian man.
Ah, I couldn’t wait to see the moment those beautiful claws tore into that man’s flesh. The thought filled me with ecstasy.
However, the man leaned backwards, the upper half of his body bending with a smooth movement as he delivered a strong kick to the jaw of one of the ghouls. From there, he jabbed another one with his elbow, jumped back, and started reciting a prayer in a steady voice.
His voice rang out with the unfaltering beat of a well-conducted orchestra, the savageness of a beast, and a power capable of gripping the hearts of anyone who listened to it with an engulfing hold. There was no kindness to it or anything pure about the way it ensnared you.
It was a prayer more intense than anything that I had ever heard before—it moved me to the very core.
And even as that man continued reciting such an impressive chant, he continued to beat back the ghouls coming at him from all directions.
While many Aria became defenseless when they were in the middle of chanting, the reflexes of this man were incredible. He moved like flowing water. Despite not being very knowledgeable about martial arts, even I could tell how skilled he was.
It made me wonder—was this the so-called kung fu that often appeared in Asian movies?
I became entranced by the man’s movements for some time before I realized I didn’t have the luxury to be doing that sort of thing. And come to think of it, how come only the Asian guy was doing all the fighting?
Where was the other guy?
I searched for the Caucasian man through the darkness and found him standing around uselessly well out of the range of all the commotion, not lifting a single finger to help. Maybe he had frozen up due to the large crowd of ghouls surrounding him. If that was the case, he was pretty pathetic.
“Amen,” the Asian man finished, making the sign of the cross in the air with a cutting motion.
At that moment, the demons possessing the ghouls’ bodies were exorcised, leaving the corpses to return back to just being an empty shell—
…or so it seemed.
But in reality, they had not truly been exorcised.
They continued swarming the two men as if nothing had happened.
The Asian man grumbled something in a foreign language and clicked his tongue. He was probably wondering why his chant didn’t work.
I leaned back against the worn wall of the house I was hiding behind and laughed silently.
Strange, isn’t it? Of course it is.
But that’s the thing, you see. That just isn’t going to cut it.
My condolences.
But go ahead, feel free to give it another shot though.
Once I was done laughing for a bit, I peered out again to look at how that foolish pair was doing and saw a ghoul lunging towards the Asian man like a beast.
The man avoided the attack effortlessly. In fact, he stopped the ghoul with his bare hands and mercilessly twisted its neck. He put every ounce of his strength into the movement. Like that, the ghoul’s head was torn off from its body with a nasty sound.
The man tossed away the decapitated head without batting an eyelash, tore off the arm straight off the shoulder of another incoming ghoul, and proceeded to slam the rest of the body down into the ground. The sole of his heavy boots proceeded to crash down straight through its chest.
“Gyaaaaaaahhhh!!!”
My entire body ran cold at the sound of that agonizing shriek of pain.
Apparently, he had decided to switch strategies upon realizing that Aria chants were not going to work.
He was efficiently defeating them one by one.
Watching that man tear through such an overwhelming number of ghouls as if it was nothing filled me with panic.
This is bad…!
At this rate, a large quantity of my precious parts would be damaged. I couldn’t stand by and watch any longer.
I slipped my hand under the hem of my tunic and took out a flare from the holster wrapped around my thigh. I quickly removed the pin on it and threw the flare over the heads of the two men and the ghouls.
It exploded in the darkness and the dazzling flash of light slowed down the ghoul’s movements.
“This way!” I called out to them in English.
The Asian man was the first to spot me. He eyed me carefully, wary by my sudden appearance.
He was naturally very suspicious of me. I had no other choice but to be insistent. I waved them over, urging them to hurry up.
“Hurry, this way! The light won’t last long!!”
I called out to them with a cry of desperation worthy of an Academy Award, if I do say so myself, and as a result, he soon rushed over to me.
I had not been able to accurately tell from the distance, but now that he was close, I noticed he was ten centimeters taller than me, and I was 170 centimeters tall. He was of about average height—no, actually, he was tall for an Asian person. His face was a lot nicer and manlier than I had thought. With his light colored hair, he looked like he could have either been a boy, a young man, or someone way older than me.
Not that I was any good at guessing the ages of Asian people in the first place.
“What are you doing here? Are you an exorcist?”
“Leave the introductions for later!”
I gave a short reply to the question he had asked in fluent English, grabbed the man’s wrist, and dragged him along with me as I broke into a run.
“Hey, you! Hurry up and come with us!!”
I called out to the Caucasian guy as I headed towards the church. He trailed along after us, looking as if he hardly had a care in the world.
I had parked my white car which I had used to get to the village within premises. As we reached it, I let go of the man’s hand.
I had gotten my ghouls to slice the front and rear wheels of my beloved car as soon as possible. This was to prevent the villagers from suggesting we use it to go and get help. For that same reason, I also had them attack the other cars in the village.
Naturally, I also made sure that the telephone lines had been cut.
As I silently patted myself over a job well done, the Asian man muttered something in a foreign language that was unfamiliar to me. “Kyou… kai…?” His brow furrowed. [TN: “Church” in Japanese.]
Most likely, he was wondering why his chanting had not worked.
Looking at his profile, the man had a face that resembled a well-honed knife. Sharp, cool, impeccable. I would have to be careful around him.
“It looks like we managed to lose them somehow,” I told them calmly, putting on a deeply relieved expression.
I was more than aware that this gorgeous face of mine and the radiant white teeth that peeked out when I smiled made a tremendous impression when I met new people—especially men. I liked to use every card that I had up my sleeve, so why shouldn’t I also take advantage of my appeal as a woman?
In any case, whether I end up disposing of them amidst all the commotion or using this body of mine to put one over them, I decided to pretend to be their ally for the time being.
“All of the villagers are hiding in here. There is high-grade holy water surrounding the grounds, so middle and lower level demons can’t get in. It’s safe.”
“Did you make this barrier?” the Asian man asked as soon as I finished speaking.
This time, he spoke in proper English.
“Yes.”
“I’m Fujimoto Shiro, from the Japanese Branch of the Knights of the True Cross Order,” he said, taking out his exorcist license from the inner pocket of his uniform and holding it out for me to see.
So he was Japanese, huh…?
To be honest, I was surprised.
With the way he spoke—without a hint of an accent, his English pronunciation like that of a native-speaker—and the way he looked straight into my eyes with a piercing gaze despite this being our first meeting, he frankly did not seem like a Japanese person.
When I thought of a Japanese person, the image that came to mind was that of someone who was indiscriminately all smiles but never met anyone’s eyes, who went about their day-to-day all hunched over, who carried around a camera which dangled from their necks, and who had a surprisingly poor grasp of the English language—not just the children, the grown adults too.
The only aspect of this man that fit my mental image were the formidable glasses that he was wearing…
“I’m Maria LaMorte. Upper second class. I’m an Aria.”
In any case, I went ahead and also showed him my exorcist license which was resting over my chest from the gold chain fastened around my neck. Letting him know that we were allies was an exceedingly effective method to get him to lower his guard.
“Maria, huh? Say, have we met somewhere before?” Fujimoto asked after taking a glance at my license, waving his index finger back and forth between us in a laid back manner.
“Hm? Sorry, but that doesn’t ring a bell.”
“Strange…” the Japanese man said, scratching his stiff-looking hair as he shook his head slightly.
“It’s my policy to never forget a beautiful woman even after having only met them once…” he said, his lips curving up into a smirk. It was the smile of a womanizer.
This was a japonés? I was astounded beyond words, impressed even.
As I let out a small snort instead of replying to him, the Caucasian man joined the conversation with fluent English.
“Fujimoto-senpai, may I introduce myself as well?”
I gave the second man a casual onceover.
To start with, he was terribly tall. Even I had to crane my neck up to look at him.
He was probably of some sort of Aryan lineage given that his skin was so white that even his veins were visible. I suppose it would be wrong for me to deny the fact that he had a beautiful, well-proportioned face, but he gave off a somewhat nervous vibe, an impression that I probably got due to the heavily dark circles under his eyes.
“I am his junior, Johann, lower second class. It’s a pleasure to meet such a lovely Sister.”
His audacious lips delivered that sort of pretentious remark with a baritone voice and a theatrical gesture. It was a peculiar manner of speaking which actually suited him.
If he was only a lower second class at his age, he probably had just recently become an exorcist.
If that was the case, it would explain why his brand-new uniform seemed so ill-fitting on him.
Moreover, he looked terribly weak.
It looked like I didn’t have to worry about him on my end.
After making a mental note of that, I turned my attention back to Fujimoto.
There was something I wanted to confirm as soon as possible.
“Do either of you speak Spanish?”
Spanish was still the predominant language used in South America. The people in this village communicated in Spanish as they went about their day-to-day lives and didn’t understand English whatsoever. Therefore, it would be troublesome if these two knew Spanish—but thankfully, they both shook their heads.
It was a sight that filled me with relief. Somehow, it appeared that luck was on my side after all.
“What are members of the Japanese branch doing here in the first place?”
“We were on a cross-border mission based on international goodwill.”
Fujimoto was the first to answer my question, but he did so while stifling a yawn…
To that, Johann cheerfully added: “After successfully completing our mission, we headed back to the nearest branch, but we ran out of gas while on the way. We walked the rest of the way here! That’s why we are so ill-equipped, you see. We’ve already used up most of our supplies.”
It was another unexpected stroke of good fortune. Fantastic, I thought, fighting back the urge to grin smugly. So that was the reason why they had so little equipment on them.
In that case, killing them wouldn’t be an issue after all. As long as I quickly dumped the bodies somewhere around where their mission had been, I would be able to fool the local branch. I was happy to find a silver lining to this situation.
“The rumors really are true after all, aren’t they? Exorcists are always so desperately understaffed. To think that they would even send out a novice like me…. My, my. It sure feels like I’ve chosen the wrong profession.”
Fujimoto ignored his junior’s cheery complaint and turned to question me instead.
“So what the hell happened to this village?”
Though he spoke in an easygoing voice, his gaze was as sharp as ever. Despite the frivolous attitude he displayed, the man didn’t let his guard down in the slightest. I couldn’t afford to let mine down either. With that thought in mind, I casually averted my eyes.
It was dangerous to make too much eye contact with the enemy. Especially one as sharp as he was.
On the other hand, avoiding his eyes too overtly was also a bad idea. Doing that was almost the equivalent of holding up a sign that said I was a suspicious person.
I was confident I could strike the right balance between the two.
“…When I arrived here this evening, the ghouls were already wandering around the village.”
I did my very best to play the part of being a pious, virtuous exorcist.
When I bit my lower lip a little in an attempt to look baffled, I really did begin to feel that way. Even the furrowed lines pulling across my brow began to feel surprisingly natural too.
“The villagers went into a great panic when we were suddenly attacked by all these corpses. Everything went completely out of control. I was the one who made the barrier around this church and brought everyone here. It couldn’t have been more than about an hour ago since then…”
I cut off the story there. “Anyway, let’s get inside the church for the time being,” I said so I could invite the two men into my domain.
The more I talked, the more likely that my story would begin falling apart.
I needed to limit the number of details regarding the current situation to a minimum.
“The ghouls may attack us again, so how about we leave the conversation there for now?”
The two of them readily agreed to my proposal.
I had to admit, although I had ended up with these two terribly uninvited guests, I was glad they were at least men. If they had been women, I wouldn’t even have the option to seduce them as a last resort.
The Japanese man, especially, seemed to be a womanizer. As long as I managed to deal with him, dealing with the weakling, Johann, would not be an issue.
Everything will be fine. They’re no big deal, I reassured myself as I led them towards the church’s front door and pushed it open. The door was unnecessarily heavy, perhaps due to its elaborate design, but Fujimoto casually reached out from behind me to help support it. At this uncharacteristically chivalrous display for a japonés, I looked over my shoulder and allowed my lips to curl into a grateful, flirtatious smile.
“It’s too bad for you two, but… Honestly, I’m glad your car ran out of gas.”
“Hearing such a beautiful woman say something like that makes the whole walk worth it,” Fujimoto said with a truly charming grin.
I gave him a slight grin in return.
Inwardly, all I was thinking about was how I was going to wrap this Japanese man around my finger.
At the very least, I was going to have to figure out tonight how to get rid of them.
Final bit! Many thanks to my bestie @yukiokumura for proofreading this for me! You’re the best!
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 (you are here) - Masterlist
Fourteen hours later.
After having the village's priest read the prayer found at the catacomb, it wasn't particularly grueling work to purify the ghouls that overflooded the village. Taking care of clearing up the rest of the village and decontaminating all the villagers holed up in the chapel, on the other hand, was a very time consuming task.
And naturally, as usual, Mephisto refused to do anything to help.
“Aah, I can’t wait to be back in Japan to check in on all the anime I set up to record while we’ve been gone. And now that I think about it, there’s a new magical girl anime that’s coming out the day after tomorrow~ ☆”
“Tch… Why did you even bother to tag along anyway?”
Shiro, who was already at the end of his rope, grabbed the attention of one of the exorcists that had finally arrived from the local branch.
“I’ll be leaving the rest to you then.”
“You have our sincere thanks for all the help you’ve given us, Mister Fujimoto. Rest assured, after we bring this woman back to our branch, we will make sure that the Vatican takes proper responsibility over this matter.”
He seemed to be the person in charge—the exorcist, whose face had distinctly Latino-like features, spoke in fluent English and bowed his head gratefully as if familiar with Japanese culture.
Maria was standing behind him, handcuffed and guarded between two other strong-looking members of the same branch. Her face was looking rather pale, probably because she had lost too much blood. As they led her away towards the patrol car, she didn’t look up, deliberately refusing to look at Shiro.
However, when she was finally getting inside of the vehicle, she lifted her gaze for a moment.
But it wasn’t Shiro that she stared at.
Her vacant gaze fixated on the figure of a young girl who was loitering around, her hands clasped tightly in front of her, her face pulled together into a lonely expression.
As a flash of anguish flashed across Maria’s face, she turned her head away and disappeared inside of the car.
A cloud of dust scattered in the air as the Jeep drove off.
The girl bit her lip roughly as her face twisted with an indescribable emotion. She stood there, staring after the car until it was well out of sight.
The sight filled Shiro with an unsympathetic flash of irritation.
“Forget about her.”
“…”
“Just file away the memory of that horrid woman as if all this was just a dream.”
Anita turned to look at him, startled by the brusque command. She stared at him with an expression that said that she had only just now noticed him for the first time. And as she looked at Shiro, she gave him a sad little smile.
It was a childish smile that looked like it ought to belong to someone far older than her.
Shiro turned away from her, reaching into the pocket of his uniform to take out a box of cigarettes, and put the last one that remained inside of it in his mouth. He lit it up using the lighter Maria had lent him. About half of the lighter fluid still remained inside of the worn silver object.
“…Huh. I forgot to give this back to her.”
Shiro sucked in a breath of smoke from his cigarette, allowing it to fill his lungs as he stood there savoring the sensation by himself.
“That woman really was just like a demon wearing the skin of a devout saint,” Mephisto said. He appeared at Shiro’s shoulder before the man had even realized it, murmuring those words with no end of delight.
“The incredible self-loathing and hatred she held towards demons, born from having stood by uselessly as her family was killed in front of her eyes, is what pushed her to become an exceedingly talented exorcist. The road that she took to get there was much harsher than what any ordinary person could probably imagine if I do say so myself. And yet, her plan to live only for the sake of "protecting innocent people from the cruelty of demons" was a mere short-lived dream once she was forced to confront the unexpected truth of her life choices. Her dedication was betrayed, the foundation of her loyalty crumbled beneath her, and her half-hearted will to live became completely meaningless.”
He spoke in a syrupy sort of voice, similar to the one typically used when reading a fairy tale. And here, the demon took a purposeful pause.
“And thus, as she continued to grow disillusioned by her fellow human beings, she began to search for a new source of mental strength in the face of her crumbling self-identity. It was rather ironic that thanks to her talents as a Tamer, she ended up growing an unhealthy form of attachment to corpses... It looks like that’s the main gist of her story, hmm?”
Knowing that Mephisto always went out of his way to talk in a roundabout way, Shiro gave Mephisto a searching look.
“Just what are you trying to say, Mephisto?”
“Nothing in particular. Just that I rather have a different perspective on the matter.”
Mephisto’s eyes narrowed. The dark circles beneath his eyes stood out as a thoughtful crease formed on each corner slightly.
“She spent two whole days surrounded by the corpses of her loved ones. She likely grew a kinship with them at that time without even realizing it, don’t you think?”
“….”
“I read through that incident’s report, and honestly, for a seven year old child to have to endure seeing her family’s corpses like that… One can hardly expect for someone in that situation to retain their sanity. I don’t find it strange at all that given the circumstances, she ended up morphing into something that was merely pretending to still be human.”
This was exactly why humans were so irresistibly fascinating.
Shiro only had one thing to say to the demon whose face had lit up with a grin.
“What a load of bullshit.”
“My, my.” Mephisto gave an exaggerated shrug. “It looks like you are not a fan of my view on things.”
“That stupid woman was just rotten to the core. Just because she ended up crying and apologizing to that kid after attempting to save her despite being utterly manipulated doesn’t make her any less of that.”
His blunt words only drew a laugh from Shiro’s irritably incomprehensible boss.
“Fairy tales often say that the tears of pure hearted, beautiful young maidens are the cure to all the world’s problems.”
“Well, fairy tales aren’t real, and I hate kids anyway,” Shiro said, carelessly picking one of his ears with one of his fingers.
At that, Mephisto’s eyes glimmered with amusement.
“Heh. Is that so?”
“…”
He put on an expression which was aimed to deliberately get on Shiro’s nerves, but it looked like he had no plans to say anything else on the matter. Shiro scowled at him, and Mephisto let out a faint laugh in response.
“Well then, it’s about time the two of us start heading back, isn’t it?” he said in an easy-going voice, holding his umbrella over his head as he headed towards the car that had been arranged for them by the local branch.
Shiro discarded the shortened end of his cigarette in silence, crushing it beneath the heel of his shoe, and headed towards the car’s empty driver seat under the glaring rays of the sun.
He roughly climbed into the car.
Suddenly, Mephisto who had already made himself comfortable in the passenger seat posed Shiro a question.
“By the way, Father Fujimoto. Do you happen to know the name of this village?” he asked in a playful voice.
“La Buena Diosa, isn’t it?”
As Mephisto let out a peel of cheerful laughter at the incredibly ironic name, Shiro clicked his tongue, started the car, and drove away, leaving the hustle and bustle of the village behind.
[TN: La Buena Diosa translates into “The Kind Goddess.”]
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 (you are here) - Part 4 - Part 5 - Masterlist
A few hours later…
The villagers continued to remain all huddled up together in one place as they admirably waited for dawn to come—and for this nightmare to end.
Shiro was sitting on a bench, cleaning out his gun. I wasn’t particularly happy to see him doing maintenance, but it would be too weird for me to ask him to stop.
It was then that Johann returned from his little reconnaissance trip—unfortunately looking as lively as ever—and began talking to Shiro in Japanese.
As I watched them closely from a small distance, I began to grow more and more irritated. I had no problem overhearing them. However, I couldn’t understand a thing they were saying.
What could they be talking about…?
Please speak in English…!
I didn’t realize it at first, but I’d begun biting on my nails out of sheer irritation. Not good, don’t do that, I told myself and quickly stopped what I’d been doing. Had anyone noticed? With the situation being what it was, I was practically giving myself away doing something stupid like that.
I could approach them and start talking to them in English—but that option felt a little bit abrupt to follow through with and it may raise suspicion. Given the expressions on their faces, it didn’t look like they were talking about anything important. It’d be better off thinking about how I was going to get rid of them. It was best to keep myself in a more constructive train of thought.
Should I summon a Naberius and have it attack?
But, if I did and I’m not present at the time of the attack, suspicion would surely be cast onto me. I should have taken my chance a short while ago when Johann had stepped out. I ended up being too overly cautious at that time, and now I was mourning the loss of that opportunity.
Come on… come on… Isn’t there some better option to pursue now?
As I agonized over it, I noticed Johann hand something to Fujimoto all of the sudden. I was only able to catch a glimpse of the object, something long and narrow that shone from the distance for a moment.
What? What did he just give him? Could it be a weapon?
I began to grow restless again as I was filled with paranoia.
But just as I was thinking of going to ask them what they were up to—
“Señorita,” a small voice called out.
Anita rushed over and wrapped her arms around my waist.
“I wanna go to the bathroom. But I’m scared. Could you come with me?”
She looked at me with an imploring expression.
For a moment, I was seized by a flash of irritation by her timing, but then I realized that this was my chance. This was the perfect opportunity to sneak away from here without looking suspicious.
While Anita was in the bathroom, I could use that span of time to summon a Naberius that I could send to attack this place, and while these two dealt with that, I could come up with a plan on how to deal with them.
I turned to Anita, putting on a particularly kind expression and soft voice as I spoke to her.
“Of course,” I told her.
“I love you, Señorita!”
Anita flashed me a blindingly trusting smile all too easily.
At the high-pitched sound of her distinctively childish voice, Fujimoto glanced our way. In his hand, his gun’s barrel was shining dully as a result of his maintenance. He’d just finished cleaning the magazine.
“What’s wrong?”
“She wants to go to the bathroom, but she’s scared, so I said I’d take her.”
Fujimoto gave a halfhearted nod at this and spared a glance towards Anita. She hid behind me at once, looking blatantly frightened.
“…Those people are scary,” she murmured as soon as we were out in the hallway.
Scary?
“By that, do you mean Shiro and Johann?” I asked, puzzled.
Anita nodded silently. A much too serious expression crossed her childish face.
“I hope they leave soon.”
“Anita…”
I let out a sigh in spite of myself.
She was probably frightened and saying that kind of thing because she wasn’t accustomed to seeing Asian people or Caucasians with such an unusually white skin color.
Silly girl. Those people are the real heroes here.
Not that it matters. I’ll kill all of you anyway.
“Come on, don’t say that. Those two are nice people, okay?”
I shoved down the desire to smile mockingly, and gave her a gentle rebuke.
“…But… They remind me of a huge void,” Anita said, growing even more frightened by what she was saying rather than cowed by my reproach.
“A void?” I frowned a little and observed as Anita nodded.
“That guy with the glasses… It feels like there’s a huge desert inside of him. A big, big dried up desert. And there’s a black wing towering over that tall guy.”
“….”
Anita clung tight to my right arm as she told me that, her body trembling fiercely.
A huge desert and black wings—
My brow furrowed unconsciously at those words.
They gave me a bad feeling.
Children were a bit like animals and often had sharp intuition.
However, I had a limited amount of time before dawn approached. I couldn’t let myself get distracted by what Anita was telling me.
In the end, I decided to not put much weight to her words.
******
“GYAAA!!”
“Anita!!”
Anita let out a shout that was much louder than what I had been expecting when, upon coming out of the bathroom after finishing her business, she saw me being attacked by a Naberius.
I skillfully dodged the massive pair of arms that swung down to strike me—which was all pretend of course, I wasn’t in any real danger— and hauled out of the hallway, holding a terrified Anita in my arms until I kicked open the door that led us back to the nave.
I tumbled right inside the room, breathing hard.
“Shiro!!”
“Get down!!”
My scream drew a firm order in response.
I knelt down at once and held Anita to my chest. The shot that was fired immediately struck the Naberius’ face like a bullseye. The bullet pierced right through the flesh my beloved child and blood spurted through the air. I desperately tried to maintain an unaffected expression.
But honestly…
That man…. To be able to shoot so accurately from that distance…
He was an unmistakably exceptional Dragoon. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to deal with that man all by myself. A flash of anxiety and irritation crossed my face.
“Guhhhhww… guuuugh….!”
The Naberius let out a pained, rage filled roar.
Immediately after, it jumped over me entirely and attacked Fujimoto. At the sight, the villagers let out a piercing scream.
“Gyaaahhhh!!!!”
However, Fujimoto merely maintained his ground without flinching. He grabbed the outstretched arm that was reaching towards him and easily flung the Naberius' enormous body away.
Then, without a single pause, he proceeded to empty a barrage of bullets into the Naberius' chest. The Naberius' huge body went limp.
The tragic sight caused me to close my eyes for a moment as I fought to stop myself from panicking.
So much for turning the tides.
I discreetly touched my left arm and gave the Naberius an order.
That’s enough, I instructed it.
The Naberius let out a roar that echoed through the nave before sprinting across the room and escaping outside by throwing itself at the stained glass window.
As the multicolored glass rained down on the altar, the villagers let out another panicked scream.
“Oh, what a shame. That beautiful piece of work is all ruined now.”
Johann, for his part, let out an exaggerated sigh that seemed very out of place.
He made no move to chase after the Naberius, nor had he lifted a finger to participate in the short struggle. Does he even have a single bone of usefulness in him? I wondered almost past the point of exasperation.
“Did you get hurt?”
Fujimoto did not seem interested in chasing after the Naberius and instead directed the brusque question my way as he turned to look at me.
“I’m fine,” I told him, still breathing a little harshly.
“Are you okay, Anita?”
As I helped a sobbing Anita back to her own feet, I noticed a bit of blood dripping onto the floor. The wound I had made on myself to summon the Naberius had not clotted yet.
Dammit… By the time I realized it, it was already too late.
Fujimoto had noticed it too. A suspicious look crossed his face.
I immediately jumped to make an excuse.
“No need to look so worried, Shiro. I just got a bit of that Naberius’ blood on me. She’s okay too, no injuries to be seen.”
It was a bit of a poor excuse, but God’s grace was on my side because Anita’s mother suddenly rushed in, crying out her daughter’s name. She wrenched Anita from my arms and into her own, crying heavily as she did.
Sheesh. What was up with that? Up until now, she’d done nothing but freeze up in terror.
A sour feeling rose in the middle of my chest.
However, I kept those feelings close to my heart and earnestly went to comfort them. “It’s alright, calm down, Anita is just fine,” I said.
Fortunately for me, the rest of the villagers, having endured such an extremely terrifying situation, followed their example and the room soon became a sob-fest as they all broke down crying as well.
And with all that happening, Fujimoto naturally could no longer afford to bother me with the conversation we had been having.
I allowed myself to enjoy the satisfaction this fortuitous change of tune filled me with while I continued comforting the villagers. But then, Shiro called my attention again with a gruff voice, deepened by his recent smoking.
“Oi. Is there somewhere else we move these people to so we can line up the entrance and exits with rock salt?”
His tone of voice was so unbelievably calm right now, one could hardly imagine he had recently been in a fight with a demon. It was so annoyingly unaffected. I held back a huff of irritation.
“Is there any by the way? Rock salt?”
“Yes… I think so. Hold on a second, I’ll go ask the priest right now.”
After telling him that, I went to ask the priest, who was currently trying to calm down the rest of the villagers.
As I posed the question to him, I snuck a glance in Shiro’s direction.
Though there was a faint frown on his face, I couldn’t tell what he was thinking at all.
I reached up to grasp my left arm. My fingers squeezed my upper arm through the cloth of my tunic.
I no longer had any time to waste.
If I didn’t hurry up and kill him already… He was going to be trouble.
“So was there any?” Fujimoto asked, meeting me halfway as he approached me, unaware of my current trail of thought.
“Yes,” I answered in an easy voice.
“And is there some other place to put these people in?”
“Yes. There is a small chapel nearby that will work. It’s not far from here.”
Just how am I going to kill this man? He doesn’t have a single chink in his armor for me to exploit.
A furious swirl of impatience and irritation spun in my chest.
And as for the other guy… he seemed happy to simply just cheerfully observe everyone from a distance with his boisterous, devil-may-care attitude.
******
“…Hey, got a moment?”
As I was observing everyone regain their composure after we finished moving them over to the chapel, Fujimoto called me over.
“Hmm? What is it, Shiro?”
Fujimoto gestured over his shoulder with his thumb, pointing over to the doorway with a somber look on his face. It looked like he wanted to talk to me outside.
It was another unexpected chance for me to strike. However, after having learned the extent of this man’s ability, I didn’t exactly find myself jumping at the opportunity with joy.
Hiding my trepidation, I gave him a quick nod.
I told the priest that I would be stepping out for a moment.
“But… what if we get attacked by demons again?”
And just like I anticipated, the priest did not look pleased by this piece of news. The villagers didn’t either. They couldn’t seem to think about anything beyond worrying about their own selves. They didn’t even bother to extend a bit of that worry towards me or our unexpected guests.
It made me blatantly irritated.
This was why I hated humans that were still alive. They were shallow, weak, and dastardly sly beings that did nothing to help themselves. They considered being protected as something to take for granted.
“I’ll be back soon. Plus, Johann will stick around.”
“But…”
I’d sooner rather yell at him for being so ridiculously complacent about the situation than bother having to say these kinds of things. However, that would ruin my image as a kind, good-hearted Sister, so I did my best to earnestly persuade him instead.
“Come on, you get it, right? We can’t just stick to being on the defensive. We have to figure out how to get out of this situation. I’m doing everything that I can do to save you all.”
“Alright…” the pale-faced priest said in Spanish with a thick South American accent, nodding as he tightly clutched onto the key hanging from his neck.
“Please be careful out there. And try to come back as soon as possible.”
“No need to worry. I will.”
I smiled in relief. Honestly, it would have been really troublesome if they had made that exchange any more difficult.
I made my way back to Fujimoto’s side, walking at an unhurried pace.
“Alright then. Let’s get going, Shiro.”
But a new obstacle presented itself as I tried to leave the room with him.
Anita escaped from her mother’s arms and stood in front of us, arms extended at her side. She was trembling in place due to the fact that she was scared of Fujimoto.
“Señorita… It’s too dangerous!”
“Anita…”
“Don’t go…!”
I was starting to get fed up with how much of a hindrance this crybaby of a girl was being.
However, I only had to blame myself for allowing her to get this attached to me. I told myself to accept the consequences of my actions and chided her in a troubled voice.
“It’s okay, Anita. This man is a priest, you know. And he’s real strong too.”
“Him being strong is no good! You’re going to get killed, Señorita!”
The girl’s genuine belief rang in her voice and surprised me in spite of everything.
My heart skipped a beat over her words, which were not completely far off the realm of possibility. Just what was I supposed to say in response? I once again inwardly thanked the heavens over the fact that Fujimoto didn’t speak a lick of Spanish.
“Why are you saying that, silly? This person is an exorcist. His job is to kill demons, not people, you know.”
“But…”
Anita did not seem reassured. But continuing this conversation would be a bad idea.
I gently patted Anita's head as if to say she was just being naughty, silly little girl, and exchanged a conspiratorial look with Fujimoto. I was careful not to step on the rock salt lining the entrance as I headed outside, and I closed the door on Anita's face just as she made a sound of protest.
“Just what was she saying to you? She looked pretty anxious,” Fujimoto murmured to me as we stepped out into the dim corridor.
His question had my heart skipping a nervous beat again, but I reassured him that it wasn’t anything to worry about.
“Ah, it’s nothing. She’s just feeling scared, so she wants to come with me.”
“She’s incredibly attached to you.”
“She is, isn’t she? I guess she looks up to me as an older sisterly figure. When I was her age, I used to stick to my older sister like glue too.”
There was something insinuating in Fujimoto’s tone of voice, but I merely smiled at him in response. I worried that the expression on my face was a little too fixed, but Fujimoto let the topic drop.
We just kept walking on in silence. Once we entered the nave, Fujimoto, who had been walking ahead of me, came to a stop. “Hey,” he said without looking back at me.
My shoulders went stiff at the unexpectedly loud sound of his voice.
“How many spare tires do you have in your car?”
“The roads in this area are pretty bad, so I always make sure to have at least two on hand…”
As I gave him that answer, I couldn’t help but to feel anxious about what he was going to say next. My throat began to feel uncomfortably tight.
“When that pest, Johann, went to scout things out earlier, he saw that none of the cars in the area appeared to be of any use. Yours too, of course.”
“Oh no…” I managed to say.
Fujimoto continued.
“But thankfully, Maria, it seems your car only has one of the front wheels and one of the back wheels slashed.”
I had to stop myself from letting out an annoyed growl.
I hadn’t expected that weakling Johann to be that observant. I thought he’d just wander uselessly around the church to avoid being found by the ghouls.
“Oh! Well in that case, we can use my car in the morning to call for help! Thank God! Everyone will be so relieved!”
“…”
I put on my best performance and acted like I was as delighted as one could be, but Fujimoto’s gaze remained as hard as ice when he looked at me.
Without saying anything, he proceeded to walk through the benches in the room. His boots clicked against the floor with each step.
I hurried after him, glaring at his back. A warm trickle of sweat ran down my chest.
Should I kill him now?
No. There was no way.
The way that he moved… Those arms… Even with the element of surprise, I would be no match against him. This would only work if I have a hostage… I should have brought Anita with me after all…
A rush of ideas began to swirl through my head.
Fujimoto stopped in front of the flight of stairs that led to the catacombs located on the left side of the altar and finally looked back at me.
That sharp, hawk-like look was there again. Those eyes looked straight through me and struck fear into me.
“I wanna show you something. Come with me.”
“Show me something? But that…”
While glancing at my confused expression, Fujimoto calmly climbed over the rope fencing the entrance and began descending down the stairwell.
“Shiro! Hold on a second! That’s under maintenance right now, the priest—!!”
“There’s no need to worry about that.”
Fujimoto ignored my loud protest and lit up one of the torches he found on his way down the staircase, taking it with him. Our surroundings became brighter at once. He’d used the lighter I had lent him earlier, and now, he was continuing to make his descent showing no sign of stopping.
Dammit.
I let out an irritated noise under my breath and had no choice but to climb over the rope and follow after him.
When I reached him, Fujimoto was examining a set of bronze double doors at the end of an open space that was about nine feet in width and length. The door was locked up tightly, so it didn’t budge when he tried to open it.
It was a sight that filled me with relief.
I was a little annoyed that I couldn’t see his face within the small confines of this space, but then again, I had yet to be able to get a good read on this guy since I’ve met him.
I let out a ‘what-can-you-do’ sort of sigh and gestured back towards the staircase.
“I’m sure the priest has the key and locked this place up to prevent anyone from going inside and getting hurt. Now come on, let’s get back, Shiro.”
I put my hand on the crook of his elbow, letting it rest in the fabric of his uniform as I urged him with a slightly flirty, placating tone of voice.
“Everyone’s probably getting all worried about us.”
However, Fujimoto did not budge. He produced a key from the pocket of his uniform and inserted it in the keyhole in front of us.
When he turned the golden key, a small resounding click filled the small space around us as the lock was disengaged.
“…”
I stood there frozen and at a loss for words.
When I had departed from the chapel earlier, I had been so sure I had seen the key to this door still hanging from the priest’s neck. And yet… how…?
Could he have stolen it? But at what point could he have possibly done that?
A thousand questions spun around in my head.
“What’s going on? Where did you get that key?”
“Calm down, I didn’t steal it.”
By his tone of voice, he seemed thoroughly unaffected by the accusation. He showed off the small key that was in the palm of his hand, bouncing it a little.
“This is called a Limited Key. It can open any lock in the world. But only just once.”
“…What…?”
Although it couldn’t compare to an Infinity Key, it was the type of high-level key that only the upper echelons of the Vatican would normally have.
In the dim darkness, the Japanese man was only illuminated by the flickering flame of the lone candle that had been lit up.
“My prick of a boss handed me this earlier.”
Earlier…? At once, I suddenly recalled that moment back in the nave. Johann had handed something shiny to Fujimoto.
That must have been…
My expression froze involuntarily.
“…But… Isn’t Johann your junior…?”
Fujimoto did not answer my question. After pushing one of the double doors open, he swiftly moved to place the torch down. Its warm flame illuminated the dim room, casting away its shadows.
As expected, there were no signs of repairs in sight on the old, musty cobblestone-paved catacombs. The purpose of the rope from earlier had been to discourage outsiders from discovering the truth behind this place.
“Well, well.”
Fujimoto’s gaze slid across the room as he took in the sight of the clay figures that decorated the altar in the back which were neither quite women nor bird-like, as well as the scriptures that had been carved across the entire wall.
I wrapped my fingers tightly around my exorcist pin which was resting over my chest.
He would not be able to read what it says. However, he wasn’t so clueless as to not be able to draw his own conclusions regarding the truth this church had been hiding after having seen all of this with his own eyes.
A bead of sweat ran down the back of my neck and my heart sank to the pit of my stomach. I swallowed down my unease, but it only made me more aware of how tight my throat felt.
“Ah, just like I thought,” Fujimoto murmured.
“The reason why the priest and older folks didn’t want to move to the chapel had nothing to do with wanting to stay upstairs. It was because they were worried about this place.”
“…”
He’d hit the mark right in the heart of the matter.
A few hours ago, when the priest and older population of the village had been advised to leave the wrecked remains of the nave, they had been reluctant to leave. Although they knew it would be dangerous to stay, they did not want to part ways with what they considered to be a most revered place of worship.
However, as I wondered how he had managed to get a clue about this, I grew irritated remembering the overly faithful way they had been acting.
“…What do you mean?”
Although I felt stupid pretending to sound confused despite already knowing the answer to that question, I continued to play the role of an innocent, clueless women.
“There's something more than meets the eye behind the religious faith in this village.”
Fujimoto spared me a cool glance.
“It’s likely that these people have devoutly followed some sort of indigenous religion for many generations. That explains why the prayer I used earlier had no effect on the ghoul that attacked us. It would need to be exorcised with their own prayers.”
As Fujimoto gestured over to the inscription on the wall, I had to suppress my desire to let out an irritated growl.
There’s no way that his instinct is that good…
A cynical smile began to surface on the corner of my lips.
Everything that he’d said had been right on the mark.
When the Spaniards invaded this village in the 16th century, the villagers put on the pretense of meekly converting to Christianity while in fact continuing to maintain their own beliefs underground. Using the mother tongue of their ancestors, of course. Incidentally, these days, virtually nobody knew anything about their unique prayers.
It was just by coincidence that I found out about it given that I tended to stop by this village between missions. But once I did, I thought I could make use of this information.
To think that there was such a remote little village that worshiped a secret religion that no one else knew about…
I thought I’d hit a gold mine and could create my own private laboratory away from the prying eyes for the thick-headed idiots in the Vatican.
But that wasn’t the only reason I chose this village.
The village’s layout and its landscape, its climate, and the way of life of people around here bore a close resemblance to the village I grew up in.
Back when I’d had a mother, a father, and an older and younger sister that I used to play with almost every day. Back in those days when I had still been happy…
Although this place was not the same accursed village where my family’s corpses, after having been defiled by demons, had been reduced to ashes right before my eyes before being put to rest, I wanted to build a laboratory for the dead here so I could fill this place with ghouls. It was my deepest, most innermost desire. If I could do that, then I knew I would finally no longer feel so lonely. The thought of having a brand new family had filled me with joy. I had felt so happy that tears had sprung up in my eyes.
If only…. If only this guy hadn’t shown up…!
I would’ve been able to fulfill my dearest wish.
“Oh… So that’s why.”
I had little time to waste lamenting over my poor luck and forced myself to appear to be in high spirits instead.
“Wow! Then that means… Shiro, with this, we’ll finally be able to get rid of the ghouls outside, won’t we? That’s great!”
As I gave him a beaming smile, Fujimoto responded with a thin one of his own. It was a smile full of disdain.
“You don’t have to put up that poor farce of yours anymore,” he said in a cold, scornful voice.
And with those words, he swiftly proceeded to aim a gun right to my face. As his low voice rumbled across the room, the muzzle of his gun shone dully in the darkness.
I was able to gather my voice after a long beat.
“…What kind of poor joke is this, Shiro?”
I furrowed my eyebrows together and purposely put on a confused and annoyed tone of voice. Fujimoto sneered at my continued attempts to pull the wool over his eyes.
“You planned this attack and turned around and protected them too. Aren’t you being too half-assed about all this?”
“What are you talking about, Shiro? I don't know what's happened to cause this sort of misunderstanding, but I—"
His hand reached out to grab me through the darkness before I could finish speaking. He dragged my wrist up roughly and exposed my arm with a movement hard enough to hurt me.
“The blood from earlier was due to this, wasn’t it?” Fujimoto said in a harsh murmur.
"I know a guy who summons Naberiuses too, so I get how this works."
That sharp gaze of his examined the multitude of bandages that covered my arm from the elbow down. There was nothing in his eyes that showed an ounce of lust or ulterior motives, just a cold gaze that chilled me to the core.
It was at this moment that I finally understood. This was the true nature of this guy.
A womanizer? Please. As if.
This man didn’t have the capacity to love anyone.
“There's a magic circle drawn under these, isn't there? You're using that awful perfume of yours to cover up the stench of blood and sulfur."
“Well, aren’t you being rude… This scent is quite popular with guys, you know.”
“Unfortunately for you, I have no interest in that kind of thing.”
“What a pity. I’m sorry it wasn’t to your liking.”
I aimed a sarcastic smile at Fujimoto, who in return tightened the grip of his fingers with considerable strength. My face twitched. I could almost swear that I could hear my bones creaking with the strain.
“That was your Naberius,” he said.
“…”
The accusation did not seem to require a response from me, so instead of saying anything, I merely wrenched myself out of his grip. Now that we had reached this point, I gave up on all attempts to keep up my pretense.
I let out a long breath.
He really was a lot cleverer than I gave him credit for. I’ll admit that much.
“Alright then, Shiro. I’ll reward you for managing to uncover as much as you have so far. But you did manage to get one thing wrong. I didn’t draw these—I carved them.”
Removing my bandages revealed a red tattoo that had been carved into my skin from my wrist to my elbow.
This was my favorite part of my body. The magic circle that I had personally carved into my skin with a needle connected me to the dead in such a profound way.
It was a symbol of love.
Through the darkness, I saw Fujimoto’s eyes take on a grim look.
“… How stupid. You’re a hell of a hopeless cause, aren’t you?”
“Oh? Whatever do you mean? Mere ink is a much dumber choice. I’m able to more properly display my love for them like this.”
As I lovingly traced a section of my tattoo with one of my fingers, Fujimoto tried to conceal his heavy frown.
“You know, that Naberius from earlier was my first attempt at making one, so I didn’t do a great job of it. But it was cute, wasn’t it?” I asked sweetly, seeking his agreement. He did not respond.
That gaze of his seemed intent in rejecting every inch of my being.
It looked like he, too, could not understand the purity or depth of my love.
He was just as insignificant as the rest of the living population in the world after all. As soon as I came to that realization, a sense of disappointment curled in my chest. The sensation sank deeper than I expected and tore out a part of my heart.
At that moment, it finally hit me.
I had fallen for this guy.
I’d become drawn to this man whose deadened gaze seemed to reflect a great apathy towards everything in the world.
“So. This is why you came to this village.”
“That’s right. I want to make many more Naberiuses. That’s why I’m doing my best here to take over this village. I want to build a lab here and make this village give birth to Naberiuses that cannot be exorcised by anyone!”
I gave him an amicable smile now that I have regained my bearings.
I didn’t tell him the real reason why I had chosen this village.
I wasn’t interested in sharing my feelings with someone who would not understand them.
“By making this a village of ghouls, I’ll be able to use them as parts as much as I want and create an endless amount of incredible Naberiuses. I’ll probably even be able to create a monster as grand as a watchdog of the underworld,” I deliberately told him, feeling daring.
“…Are you going to kill the people upstairs as well?”
Fujimoto’s reply to my grand speech was short, but there was no surprise there. It was clear that he understood the situation at hand very well.
He really did have a bright head on his shoulders.
Frustratingly so.
I gave him a sweet smile that was at odd ends with the turbulent feelings lurking in my heart.
“Yes, I am. And after, I’m going to raze this place to the ground. Then no one will have any knowledge of these prayers. I’m going to weave together their corpses to make a bunch of cute little Naberiuses.”
“Making you the queen of the land of the dead, huh?”
“That’s right. Brilliant, isn’t it?”
“That’s gotta be the dumbest dream in the world.”
The smile on my face became frozen in place at the depth of scorn held in his voice.
“When did you start growing suspicious of me?” I accused, taking on a hard tone of voice myself for a change.
“Sorry to disappoint your illusions of grandeur, but I’ve known since the very beginning.”
“What?”
Fujimoto’s lips twitched at the sight of my scowl. “You’re not the only one who was putting on an act,” he said in a cool voice. “You’ve been my objective all along.”
“Me…?”
“Remember what I said when we first met earlier? I asked you if we’d met somewhere else before.”
He had said that.
I thought it was just some cheesy pickup line at the time, but could it be that we were actually acquainted? I stared at Fujimoto's face intently.
But in the end… nothing clicked in my mind.
It was no surprise given that I had no interest in people who were still alive. I couldn’t even remember anybody from my own branch, whether it was someone I had interacted with in the field or someone I had greeted in passing. It was pretty much a waste of time to even try to remember.
“I don’t remember you at all. You’ve got to be mistaking me for someone else.”
Fujimoto let out a deep chuckle at my answer.
“Well, you’re right about one thing. We’ve never talked to each other prior to today. But I’ve had my eye on you for about half a month now after I saw you at that place in the South American branch.”
“That place…?”
“The morgue.”
His piercing stare dug into me through his glasses.
“Do you have any idea what you looked like as you stood before the corpses of your comrades who had died fighting demons?”
“…”
“Though you hung your head pretending to be grieving, you were actually looking at their corpses with a completely enraptured expression.”
His icy voice echoed within the dark catacombs.
A sarcastic smirk curled on my lips.
“So you decided to come after me since then? You sure are persistent, aren’t you?”
“To start with, I contacted my damn boss back at the Japanese branch and asked him to look into you. Maria LaMorte. Born in a small town in South America. Your parents, older sister, and younger sister were killed by demons when you were still young, and after you were put in the care of one of your relatives in Spain, you frequently attempted to kill yourself and were eventually shipped off to stay at a church instead. You were baptized under the name Monica. The church that took you in had some very strong anti-demon ideology, and thus you acquired your exorcist skills there.”
I listened to his report of me as if he was talking about some other person.
