Where are you…

“Search Serenya!!” Bella ordered

A dozen nuns scattered, their sandals slapping as they ran to obey.

Her gloved hand crumpled the small note she had found upon the saint’s empty bed:

Afterall, I’m a girl too. I’m sorry.

Bella grits her teeth. “Serenya… You’re leaving without me?”

The temple bells tolled softly that afternoon. With their bare feet grazing the chilly stone, two little girls sat beneath the cloister's arches. Drawing circles in the dust, Serenya shaded her soft face with her ubiquitous wide-brimmed hat.

“This is boring… Let’s go around the world, Bella,” Serenya whispered. “I want to see many people, learn their stories, and… make them smile.”

Bella leaned back, arms crossed, her amber eyes sharp even as a child. “Then we’ll do it.”

Serenya’s smile faltered. “You know I can’t. They’ll fear me…”

Bella tilted her head, watching her best friend shrink into herself, hat brim lowering. She smirked, “Tomorrow, they’ll check our mana. After that, we leave. Together. We’ll find a place where no one cares about race, or rules, or power. A place for us. If we’re strong enough, we can leave this place.”

Serenya chuckled softly, shaking her head. “I doubt my mana’s that high to be able to live in the wilderness. But… yes. I’d like to find a place like that with you. Protect me, ok?”

“Of course I will. By my family’s honor!”

The next day, rows of acolytes gathered as priests laid their hands upon each child’s chest. Bella stepped forward first.

“...Five hundred thousand!” the priest announced, stunned. Murmur rippled through the hall. Knights turned, eyes gleaming, already asking her name.

Bella grinned, smug and unbothered, waving off the offers of recruitment like they were gnats. “I’m sorry but… I don’t want to be a knight…”

Then came Serenya’s turn. The priest placed trembling fingers upon her. Light surged. His eyes widened—then tears spilled.

“...Twenty million…?” he whispered.

The hall fell silent. Then erupted into a frenzy.

“Saint! The new Saint!”

“Chosen by the heavens!”

“Bow before her!”

Dozens dropped to their knees, their cheers echoing like chains. Serenya stumbled back, horrified, clutching her hat lower over her face. She looked at Bella, wanting help.

Bella got serious and walks towards them, “Back off! She’s mine!” But the adults were too strong, they simply pushed her aside to look at Serenya more closely…

Bella… What about my freedom…?

Days turned into months. Serenya’s door remained locked. The temple grew fat on her presence, their rituals powered by her unwilling divinity. She was forbidden to leave. Watched always and bound.

Until Bella decided she had seen enough.

Her blade sliced through the corridors of the temple. Priests screamed, guards fell, the air thick with dark liquid and blood. The white marble was now painted crimson.

“Y-You demon!!” one last priest shrieked, stumbling backward as Bella’s sword pierced his chest. “You’re the one who took her freedom. Atone your sins later in hell.”

His screams echoed but Bella quickly silenced him.

Breathing hard, Bella kicked the corpse aside and brushed the blood from her cheek. Her pink eyes turned red as she absorbs every last bit of their corpses, leaving no trace.

"It's her birthday, you must let me go..."

She opened Serenya’s chamber door. The girl looked up, startled, book falling from her hands. Her wide eyes softened in confusion as she took in Bella’s blood-soaked tunic.

“B-Bella…? What did I say about not killing humans?”

Bella shut the door behind her with a casual shrug. “I’m sorry... But I bought us a cake. Let’s eat together. Happy birthday..."

Serenya blinked, then giggled. She lifted the cake box from Bella’s hands, fingertips still warm from battle. “You really kill them for me, huh? I have to teach you how to be nice."

Bella flopped down beside her on the bed, smirking. “Now what, Lady Serenya, Saint of Minilon?”

Serenya chuckled, hat sliding to one side as she leaned her head against Bella’s shoulder. “Don’t call me that. Just… Serenya. Besides, I think I had an idea…”

“Idea?”

.

.

.

“Ars Caelus!”

Bella’s cry rang through the temple courtyard. She was barely fifteen, the ceremonial robe far too heavy for her slender frame, yet the holy weapon answered her call. With a single horizontal slice, the cloudy sky split, opening the radiant clear blue beneath.

Many knights fell to one knee in unison.

“Saint…” they whispered.

“She commands the heavens themselves…”

Bella stood tall, her lips curving into a smile. She raised Ars Caelus high, “I am Saint Serenya.”

A pause, heavy with awe. Then, softer, “Bow down to me.”

And they did. From hardened knights to trembling acolytes, every head lowered. Bells tolled, voices rose in chorus, and thus the Saint of Minilon was crowned—though not by truth, but by choice.

As Bella slipped down a side corridor with Ars Caelus peacefully in her grasp, the sound of celebration subsided. 

At the end of the corridor, she opened the little wooden door.

Serenya hummed quietly while sitting cross-legged on her bed within. Her face brightened up with a grin brighter than all the fake adulation outside.

Bella let out a breath and rested against the doorframe. “Thanks… for lending me the holy weapon.”

Serenya looked up, her eyes crinkling as she smiled. “You did so good nya! You’re not as stoic and scary as I thought.”

Bella face darkens, “What does that mean?”

Serenya smiles widely, “It means… It’s nice for you, humans trust you. You can walk among them now.”

Bella crossed the room and sat beside her, brushing her friend’s hat brim with the back of her hand. “Until when do I have to keep this façade?”

“Until we ran off of course. Or maybe? Until you start liking human?”

“Impossible. They killed our family, you should know better, Serenya.”

There was a beat of silence.

Then Bella asked, almost sheepishly, “I’m sorry… What do we do next?”

Serenya tilted her head, tapping her chin. “Oh yeah—Mr. Andrarox said his garden is filled with corruption again, right? You should purify that.”

Bella groaned, “Again?! That old man couldn’t keep a clean garden even if his life depended on it!”

“I mean he’s old, give him some rest…” Serenya returned to her knitting, then suddenly pressed something soft into Bella’s palm.

It was a little flower, carefully woven from thread, its petals uneven but full of charm.

“Here,” Serenya said warmly. “Give this to Bayrewa Silverleaf. He just got married—you should congratulate them as a saint of Minilon.”

Bella stared at the little flower then closed her fist around it.

“...Right. I’ll give it. Oh yeah, I haven’t told you but he also asked me what name to give to his daughter…”

“Name…? Hm… I think Runa is a lovely name, don’t you think?”

“Runa…” She said to herself, making sure to remember it. “Yeah, it is.”

But that was years ago…

-ooo-

Night had already drowned the city in shadows when Anna walked the street calmly. She couldn’t care less about the “missing saint” nonsense. That was someone else’s headache.

“What a waste of time,” Anna muttered, walking in the alley. “Search parties, prayers, bells... Shouldn’t people already be sleeping at this hour?”

Maren, dangling at her hip, sighed. “Then why are you even out here at midnight? One moment you were happily doodling on your book and then now whatever this is…”

Anna smirked. “Observation.”

“Observation?”

“Corruption thingy. Checking on the stuff that made anomalies.” Anna said, sharp eyes scanning everything around her. In the sky, there were like usual two moons. Her eyes narrowed, but she tried to act like it was normal.

“Bella can check for herself, I wonder why she give this task to me. I mean, it's good, I can see the corruption for myself, and I can’t sleep. But I think giving this task to me is a ”

Maren groaned. “Fine, I suppose we can do this. But why go through an alley? You know you could move roof to roof, right?”

“Safer,” Anna corrected smugly.

Maren floats herself beside her, “Look, just say you’re scared of height.”

Anna smiled, “That. And I’m not that athletic.”

“Come on! Just try to jump for once? Maybe sprint? If what you’re scared is meeting another human, then you’ve chosen the right time right?”

“Hm… I suppose you’re right… Let’s try dashing with this vampire speed. How do you do it again?”

“Um… Just run normally? Your mana will automatically go to what body part you’re using the most at that time.”

Anna looked down at her feet, “That’s convenient. Let’s try it then.”

Except she didn’t notice the tiny figure darting across the street.

BAM!

“AHHH!!”

Anna stopped quickly. A little girl had tumbled backward onto the wall, eyes wide, clutching a ragged bag of stone.

“i'm sorry! I didn't mean to...” Anna started, but the words froze on her tongue. The child’s gaze locked on her glowing white eyes.

The girl trembled. “Humans…”

Anna stiffened. “…Hu-mans?”

Before she could step back, a sharp voice cut through the night:

“DON’T HURT HER!!”

When Anna turned she saw a cat girl leap from the shadows and stopped between Anna and the young child. Her ears flicked, tail lashed, and eyes glimmered in the lamplight like molten gold. The young child trembled and sunk behind her.

The cat girl bared her teeth. “Back off, mortals!”

Anna blinked, deadpan. “…You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“KYAAAA! Anna! There’s two of them now!” Maren squeaked, shaking with panic.

The cat girl crouched low, arms spread protectively around the child. “If you so much as breathe near her, I’ll scratch your eyes out!”

Anna raised one eyebrow, unimpressed. “Scratch. My eyes. Out.”

“Yes!!” the cat girl snapped, ears flicking. “I am Uetum. The most dangerous Black cat girl person you’ll ever seen!”

“The what now?”