Chapter 22 - Fallen Angels
"Kalawarner, what did you find? Is there a ghost here?"
The blonde gothic lolita fallen angel, Mittelt, asked.
She glanced nervously at the moonlit church hall, its shadows deepening her fear.
"Mittelt, you're a fallen angel. Is it really okay to be scared of ghosts?" the male fallen angel, Dohnaseek looked confuse.
"I'm still a girl! Being afraid of ghosts is totally normal," Mittelt retorted matter-of-factly.
Her expression turned timid.
"Besides, an abandoned church like this is prime territory for them."
"Dohnaseek, why don't you scout ahead? Check if any ghosts spawned while we were gone. I heard people died here, and that's why it was abandoned," Mittelt added.
"That's what you get for binging human horror movies. You're embarrassing us fallen angels," Dohnaseek muttered, shaking his head.
As wielders of light-based power, fallen angels were natural counters to ghosts.
The idea of a fallen angel fearing a mere ghost warped by negative energy was mortifying to him.
"Kalawarner, is something wrong?" Dohnaseek asked, turning to the statuesque fallen angel in the tight leather jacket.
"Someone's been here," Kalawarner said, her eyes fixed on the floor.
"We used this church as a rendezvous point, so I cleaned it thoroughly before we left."
"Kalawarner, you cleaned to keep intruders out? That's brilliant!" Mittelt exclaimed, her eyes sparkling with admiration.
Kalawarner licked her lips, tempted to clarify but ultimately nodding.
She couldn't admit she'd cleaned simply because her angelic instincts—buried deep from her pre-fallen days—compelled her to tidy the filthy church.
It was less strategy and more compulsion.
Admitting that would shatter her carefully crafted image, so she let Mittelt's assumption stand.
"You're so meticulous, Kalawarner," Dohnaseek said.
"Kuoh Town isn't our territory, so we have to be cautious," Kalawarner replied, lowering her gaze to hide her embarrassment.
She pretended to study the floor's traces, inwardly pleading, 'Stop praising me! I can't take it!'
"Well, Kalawarner?" Mittelt prompted, intrigued by her investigation.
"There are only a few faint footprints, likely from a few days ago," Kalawarner reported.
"And then?" Mittelt's eyes gleamed, captivated by the detective-like process.
Kalawarner's mouth twitched. 'And then? What do you expect?'
Footprints from days ago were the extent of it.
No other clues remained.
"It's probably just humans. This is an abandoned church, but people still wander in occasionally," Dohnaseek said, inspecting the footprints.
They were unremarkable, with no other signs in the church.
The cameras Roy had planted required no specific power, just simple battery, making them undetectable to the fallen angels' senses.
"Likely," Kalawarner agreed, her expression neutral as she regained composure.
"Lame. I thought it was something exciting, but it's just humans? What a letdown," Mittelt huffed, disappointed.
"You seem awfully relaxed. Have you finished the tasks I assigned?" a sultry voice called from above.
A scantily clad fallen angel, dressed in a barely-there outfit that accentuated her voluptuous figure, descended from the night sky, landing at the church's entrance.
"Lady Raynare," the trio said in unison, turning to greet her.
"How did things go in Europe?" Raynare asked, sauntering past them with a sway that made her presence impossible to ignore.
She settled onto a pew, crossing her legs and smiling at the three.
"The stray exorcist, Freed Sellzen, signed a contract with us. He's agreed to serve," Dohnaseek replied calmly.
According to fallen angel intelligence, Freed Sellzen became an exorcist prodigy at thirteen, racking up kills against Devils and monsters.
His obsessive hostility, bloodlust, and warped fixation on combat defined him.
That twisted personality led to his expulsion from the church.
It made him a prime recruit for the fallen angels, who traveled to Europe to secure his allegiance.
"Just him?" Raynare asked, raising an eyebrow.
"He also brought his former team. They're loyal to him and willing to join us," Kalawarner added.
"Where are they? I don't sense them," Raynare noted.
"Hi! Lady Raynare, let me answer that!" Mittelt chirped, raising her hand. Raynare nodded.
"Freed's trying to recruit a saint expelled from the church as his offering to prove his loyalty," Mittelt explained.
"He's still persuading her and forging documents to get her out of the country."
"A saint? The church has those by the dozen," Raynare sneered.
"An expelled saint sounds worthless."
A current saint might have piqued her interest—corrupting the devout was a fallen angel's delight.
But an outcast? Hardly worth the effort.
"Lady Raynare, this saint is different," Kalawarner said, her voice firm.