Thud! Buk!
In a dense forest filled with tall green trees, some of which had already fallen due to a hard stab from something like sword, a loud collision sound echoed between a sharp object and the hard bark of the trees.
If anyone were witnessing the event unfolding right now, they would surely be astonished wondering how a slender sheathed sword which currently held by a young woman could produce such a deafening stabbing noise when piercing a massive tree nearly a hundred meters tall.
Especially if the tall fallen trees surrounding the blonde-haired woman served as an indication that this was not the first time such an incident had occurred.
Thud!
"FUCK YOUR ANCESTOR MICHAEL! DIE YOU BASTARD DEVIL! FUCK TO HELL YOU SHIT BASTARD!!!"
The cursing shouts that should never emerge from a gentle woman like her poured out from the young blonde-haired woman who was now relentlessly stabbing her slender sheathed black sword attached by a chain that was tied from his hand to his neck, into the massive tree, producing enormous booms accompanied by earthquake throughout the dense forest.
If Michael saw this scene, he would surely realize that the blonde-haired woman currently raging while spewing curses from her mouth was his beloved wife, Jeanne.
Even though her hands and feet were not currently bound by the family chains that Michael usually fastened on her, Michael would be pleased to realize that even if she had escaped his grasp for now, she was still using other chains to bind herself, though now around her neck which making her look even hotter.
Truly a devoted wife who always remembering her husband's teachings.
Of course, that was merely a thought Michael might have if he saw this, while Jeanne who was still relentlessly stabbing the innocent tree as if it were Michael himself might die from a rage overload if she heard such a notion.
Twelve days had passed since she was rescued by strangers who called themselves part of a supernatural organization belonging to humans known as the Hero Faction.
And more than a week had gone by since she learned that her father had died killed by that bastard man who had held her captive for months, who turned out to be the infamous serial killer known as the Inverted Cross.
When she first heard the news after being taken away by them, she was highly skeptical about its truth. But her skepticism quickly turned into explosive rage and vengeance like a dam that had been sealed for months bursting open after reading reports about the death of a senior priest known as Calvin Pierre who was her adoptive father at a serial killer hands known as the Inverted Cross.
And what made the rage and vengeance she had suppressed for months explode even further was learning from her rescuers that the Inverted Cross true identity was none other than her cheap husband Michael, after they provided her with abundant evidence.
Her first thought after learning this was to grip tightly the black rapier that suddenly appeared in her hand when her rage erupted and chase after Michael to kill that bastard, she didn't even change out of her pink pajamas which she was still wearing without any underwear on her body.
But unfortunately, she was informed that that bastard had been rescued by some Devil shit who interested in his psychopathic personality and taken to a place called the Underworld after he nearly died when another part of the group that rescued her surrounded him.
Yes. Literal Devil from the books she had read.
When she first heard that, she wonder if she might have entered another crazy tiger's lair after escaping a psychopathic wolf's lair, but after witnessing how a little girl clearly threw her into a river through a strange hole that appeared in thin air with a wave of her furred hand fan and other evidence, she had no choice but to admit that the supernatural might truly exist.
And the slender black sword like a rapier still sheathed in its scabbard that she held now with chains wrapping from the sword to her hand up to her neck turned out to be a supernatural item known as a Sacred Gear.
A tool created by God, the one who recorded in the sacred scriptures of the Abrahamic religions, for humanity to face other supernatural beings on earth.
At least the God she had held faith in all this time truly existed... that was the only silver lining from the events of these past few days.
She didn't care whether the gods and mythologies recorded around the world were real, as the little girl who had been with her for these twelve days here had said, right now she only cared that Michael was currently in some godforsaken Hell waiting for her to kill him.
Though she couldn't help but wonder why God hadn't saved her when she was in that bastard devil embrace, was she not worthy of His attention after all the good deeds she had done? She didn't know... but one thing was certain... that bastard Michael had to die by her hand!
"FUCK!"
"I WILL KILL YOU MICHAEL YOU BASTARD!!!"
While shouting curses that would surely cause her to be scolded by her adoptive father and earn a spanking on her ass from her cheap husband, she stabbed the massive tree in front of her with her still-sheathed sword until it toppled.
BOOM!
Tuk! Tuk! Tuk!
She ignored the intense earthquake caused by the massive tree toppling, and shifted her attention to the source of the light footsteps behind her.
"Is there any news about that bastard?"
Jeanne stared at the source of the light footsteps behind her, which turned out to be a little asian-descended girl with cherry blossom-colored hair wearing unfamiliar blue traditional asian attire while holding a furred hand fan of the same color as her hair.
"Are you missing your beloved husband that much?" The little girl known as Zhuge Liang taunted while covering half her face with the furred hand fan in her hand. "Your only activities over the past twelve days have been stabbing and asking about your husband's news."
"Are you missing your husband's loving stabs?"
Swish!
Ding!
A stab is the response Jeanne give to the little girl's taunt causing a hard collision due to the impact with the strange furred hand fan that could withstand her sheathed sword.
"My sword might remain sheathed until that bastard appears, but it's enough to stab a brat like you."
While avoiding a small hole that appeared in the air around her, Jeanne withdrew her sheathed sword. She had grown accustomed to her taunts and the trap holes that appeared around her.
Nine out of ten times she had fallen into her traps, but now she was sufficiently accustomed to sense when they would appear and dodge them.
The last time she fell into one of her trap holes, she was teleported to a river that left her completely soaked and filthy, and that truly made her believe that magic and the supernatural really did exist.
"Hmm. You've learned a lot, Little Jeanne." While covering half her face with her furred hand fan, Zhuge smiled teasingly. "It seems you're ready to meet Caobro."
"Your leader?"
Jeanne had often heard this little girl in front of her mention the leader of their group, though she didn't know much about their group known as the Hero Faction; she knew from this little girl that the group consisted of humans descended from famous heroes in history or renowned figures who had etched their names in human history, and it was part of a larger organization encompassing the entire supernatural world.
Just like the girl in front of her who called herself the finest descendant of Zhuge Liang, though she was unfamiliar with that name, she knew there were other members who were descendants of famous figures like Heracles and Perseus.
And if what this little girl said was true, then she herself had a connection to the famous Christian figure known as the Maiden of Orleans, Joan of Arc.
"Yep. Caobro will explain more clearly later about your situation and your husband. He's also prepared a gift so you can catch up on your lag."
"You can't expect that only you will grow stronger, right? Your husband might already be stronger than you now because of the many ways that devil can use to make him strong."
While elegantly waving her furred hand fan, Zhuge created a hole in the air and walked into it.
"Come."
Jeanne also followed slowly from behind after watching that little girl enter the suspicious hole that suddenly appeared in thin air due to the wave of her furred hand fan.
***
While Jeanne was meeting with the leader and other members of the Hero Faction, Michael was currently walking along the bustling streets of Évry after visiting his usual coffee shop and the famous detective office located in front of the coffee shop.
Twelve days had passed since his last visit.
He didn't do anything strange to that detective during his visit, he just missed the detective while asking if there was any new information regarding the murder case of his priest friend and news about the priest's abducted adoptive daugther, but as usual, there was no new information according to the detective. The only new thing was that the surveillance camera in the detective's office had been replaced with a new brand similar to the new surveillance camera brand at his favorite coffee shop.
Huh… truly an extraordinary and suspicious coincidence. This only made him more convinced of the possibility he currently had in his mind.
And indeed, twelve days had passed since his encounter with the devil named Diodora Astaroth and nine days after he regained consciousness from his coma.
During those nine days, the only activity he engaged in was learning more about the supernatural world newly introduced to him through the help of someone named Georg.
From him, he also learned the devil name who had kidnapped his beloved wife.
Diodora Astaroth from the House of Astaroth. A pure-blooded devil who had the same blood flowing in his body as one of the Four New Satans ruling the Underworld, Ajuka Astaroth or now better known as Ajuka Beelzebub.
And if there were pure-blooded devils, then there must also be lower ranks devils, and from that bespectacled man, he learned that the lowest-ranked devils in the Underworld were called Reincarnated Devils.
A term for beings from other races who had been transformed into devils through something like chess pieces called Evil Pieces, and Georg mentioned the possibility that Jeanne might be turned into a Reincarnated Devil by Diodora to fulfill his fetish for collecting nuns and holy maidens in his peerage.
The reincarnation of Joan of Arc reincarnated as a devil? He truly hoped that news would divert the gaze that God along with His Angels might have for him toward that bastard devil.
If that didn't happen, he would make it sure happen.
Though this situation could fail if the possibility he was still considering right now turned out to be true.
But even so, gaining attention from powerful beings like that was truly not in his desires at this moment.
The only silver lining he gained during the nine days he spent with Georg was the abundance of information about the supernatural world crammed into his brain making him realize how dangerous the world he had been living in all this time without knowing.
Ignorance is indeed a bliss.
From supernatural organizations like Heaven and the Church led by God along with His Angels, Grigori led by a Fallen Angel named Azazel, and the Underworld where devils resided led by the Four New Satans after replacing the Four Old Satans.
From Georg's words, he learned that the leaders of those groups could destroy a country on this planet if they unleashed even a fraction of their power.
And those three groups were called the Three Factions.
And in additionally, he also learned that besides the Three Factions, out there were other factions consisting of many gods within their respective pantheons, no less than the combined Three Factions, and Georg even mentioned that some pantheons could defeat the united Three Factions.
While on the human side, there were only a few magician organizations like Golden Dawn, Rosicrucianism, and Grauzauberer who founded by Georg's famous ancestor Johann Georg Faust, as well as the Hero Faction led by Cao Cao, which according to his explanation was the strongest faction on the human side because they consisted of descendants of heroes possessing Sacred Gears, and their leader held the strongest Sacred Gear, the True Longinus, which rumored to be able to kill gods proven by how that spear pierced Jesus Christ until death.
Truly a strange group that he was forced to join, and nine brain-exhausting days he had spent.
If he could choose, he would surely shout bullshit and flip his middle finger at this chaotic situation he was experiencing, but what could he do? Especially after learning he might become the Big G target, and seeing how magic truly existed after Georg demonstrated it.
Ignoring his thoughts that had wandered everywhere, he exited the bookstore he had stopped by to buy several books recording occultism and mythologies found around the world.
Even if these books might be written with exaggeration, there was no harm in using them as references, so he still bought them to deepen his knowledge.
After he approached the familiar street indicating he was close to his home, he suddenly recalled a fleeting memory of the last time he passed this street after bidding farewell to his wife before all this bullshit began.
He remembered… previously when he passed this street, he crossed paths with a strange tourist dressed in a red feathered cape… and that red feathered cape now felt familiar after meeting Georg… because that man wore the same red feathered cape as that strange tourist he had passed before.
When that thought arose, he observed again the street leading him toward his home…
So he had met that man before without realizing it… and most likely, that man was heading to his home? He drew this conclusion because there was not a single thing that might attract that man to pass this street other than perhaps his home who containing Jeanne…
Feeling a strange sensation that was familiar from before, Michael walked to his home more quickly to prove the possibility he had been thinking about all this time.
This truly strengthened his hunch and the possible truth he was still deeply pondering.
When he arrived at his home, he immediately entered quickly and placed the books he had bought in the living room, then headed straight to his bedroom.
Upon first entering his bedroom, his nose was immediately assaulted by the smell of dried blood.
After observing his bedroom more closely, he noticed that nothing had changed since the last time he encountered that devil. The broken chains were still on his bed, the bloodstains from his ripped-out heart were still on the floor though dried.
Truly nothing had changed as he last saw it…
No… he walked closer to the wooden wall of his room that he had previously crashed into until it splintered when he was kicked hard by that devil… though the damage from his impact wasn't too severe, he could still clearly remember that the previous collision left marks on the wooden wall… but why was the wall he saw now still clean and perfectly fine without any signs of damage from the impact?
Had it been repaired when they rescued him? Then why didn't they clean up his blood while repairing the wall, as if they wanted to tell him that the previous event he experienced was real and not fake?
So… was it true as his hunch had said before that the situation he faced earlier was indeed strange and suspicious? And the possible truth that had been in his mind all this time… might be correct.
Previously, he thought that feeling was because it was his first time sensing a supernatural presence, but after thinking deeper, he first felt that strange and suspicious sensation when he met that blond man named Marsilio…
And Marsilio was Cao Cao's subordinate…
He had suspected that man named Cao Cao from their initial meeting, and his suspicion continued to grow as he spent nine days learning about the supernatural with Georg.
From his observations during their conversations, he knew Cao Cao was a selfish and arrogant person, seen from how he looked down on races other than humans and how the entire members of their group consisted only of humans if what Georg said was true…
Why would a selfish and arrogant person like Cao Cao allow a potential recruit like Jeanne to be taken by a devil to be made into a Reincarnated Devil without taking any action and instead hand everything over to him to retrieve Jeanne back from that devil?
As if he was deliberately pitting him against that devil, his conversations with Georg all this time also made him suspect a deeper rotten scheme without him realizing it.
Because during their meetings, besides sharing information about supernatural factions and brief tips on Magic and Sacred Gears, that man always emphasized the importance of him dealing with Diodora more quickly and urged him to grow stronger by awakening his Sacred Gear if he wanted to take back his heart and his wife.
Georg had even given him a suspicious item shaped like a snake in a box that he still kept in his pocket before parting with him due to important business and only instructed him to contact him again through the phone number he provided if he had finished preparing his things.
That man said that if he wanted to grow strong more quickly and awaken his Sacred Gear, he had to consume this Snake.
He would be a truly foolish person if he believed the bullshit coming out of that man's mouth.
They truly underestimated him if they thought they could lead him to do whatever bullshit they wanted him to do.
Moreover, that wasn't the only thing that made him suspect that all this time he might have been deceived by them and was playing in the palm of their hands.
There was one more thing that made him suspect everything that had happened to him all this time… which even Cao Cao and Georg didn't know because he had never mentioned this during their lessons.
He took out the box containing the snake given by Georg from his pocket and shifted his gaze to the transparent screen that had been in front of him all this time.
---
[Michael]
[Race: Human (The weakest race at the bottom rung of the Draconic Deus world) | (Requires 10 Souls for further evolution)]
[Soul: 0]
[Abilities: - (Everyday abilities or those still within human limits are not counted)]
[Magic: -]
[Power Scale: Mortal (An ordinary human who couldn't even scratch the weakest supernatural being)]
[Note: Your condition is truly pitiful. With a curse in your heart that can take your life instantly if the caster wills it, your perception is also in chaos due to the grand illusion given to you. RIP Bozo]
[A large energy source detected. Do you wish to use it to change the next evolution options?]
[YES | NO]
---
This transparent screen that Michael suspected as his Sacred Gear had been with him since his meeting with Cao Cao, during these past nine days he tried to ignore it so as not to seem too suspicious while attempting to communicate with this screen at night when he rested and no one was around.
The reason why he suspected this screen as his Sacred Gear was because according to Georg's earlier explanation, Sacred Gears came in many forms and had different powers with each existing Sacred Gear, especially since according to his words, Sacred Gears were created by God, which would awaken within humans if they received external stimuli like the mental trauma he had experienced before.
Though now he truly suspected that what he had experienced all this time might just be an illusion and the devil who kidnapped Jeanne was merely a false event created to manipulate him, though he believed that most likely a devil named Diodora Astaroth might truly exist out there.
And Cao Cao and his group wanted him to become cannon fodder facing Diodora and other supernatural beings.
He shifted his gaze back to the new choice display that appeared, which he ignored because he didn't dare gamble with the suspicious item given by Georg, especially the creepy aura he felt after opening the box a little.
From the brief communication sessions he got from this Sacred Gear, he learned that he needed souls whether from humans, devils, or other races to evolve, and according to the brief explanation it give to him, the energy contained in those souls would be used by the screen he suspected as his Sacred Gear to stimulate the growth of his soul and evolve it.
Each evolution also required an increasing amount because the need for energy began to grow, and since he was currently still an ordinary human, he only needed 10 souls that could help him evolve.
This was the reason he dared to confidently say that this might be his Sacred Gear that Georg kept urging him to awaken through the Snake he gave, because the abilities of this transparent screen truly matched his personality.
"Misfortune is always accompanied by fortune, huh."
While smiling cynically, he stared at the sun beginning to set through his bedroom window; it seemed it was time for him to try out how this Sacred Gear worked.
"Tonight's the night."
While raising his hand as if wanting to grasp the setting sun, he stared toward a future filled with heavenly hymns that perhaps only he could see and hear.
Let those bastards think they could control him as much as possible, he would use as much time as he had right now to truly prepare himself before stepping onto a bigger stage.
---
A/N: Chill bozo, don't pull out your plagiarized soul with those last words, you ain't tuff.
If you're worried the system has a personality, don't worry it won't happen, and that note is just my inner Gege kicking in.
The system only functions as his evolution path, maybe? I'm open to ideas.
Tomorrow (if my hands say yes to typing) we'll witness how Doakes the Bay Harbor Butcher takes action.
Btw if you like this fic dont forget to drop your 5 stars and power stones.
Adios.