Chapter 12

Arisa walked through the cathedral doors and stepped to Kira's side, she stood next to him with apprehensive eyes.

She couldn't bring herself to look at him so she simply averted her gaze to the floor.

“Arisa I trust you know why you have been summoned, correct?”

The man in robes spoke very firmly with her, his words were gentle but the tone of voice didn’t match at all.

“Yes… father.” Arisa muttered.

Kiramaru was baffled by what Arisa had said.

‘Did she just say father…is this guy really her family?!’

Kyosuke parted from the man’s side and gripped over the shaft of his bow, making it clear that he was upset by her words. He shot a menacing look and spoke clearly.

“On your knees.”

Arisa dropped down to her knee without hesitation; clearly the archer was someone important in this group.

Not only was he always standing beside the leader but also spoke with a lot of confidence, both these guys were the type that Kira hated the most. Cocky people that expect others to know their worth.

“That’s better; I believe the others will be arriving shortly. We all know they like to be late but no matter we will have to proceed without them.”

The man in robes clapped his hands together somewhat joyfully as he proceeded to make his way up onto the highest step.

A stage stood at the end of the room at the top of the stairs, where a large pedestal made of ivory stood.

A large banner marking the same theme as their clothing hung from the front of it with a symbol plopped in the centre.

Kiramaru wasn’t familiar with many things outside of his life in Sator but his sister often told him stories from the books she read and people she spoke to. Those stories sometimes mentioned churches and groups that followed religion but he was so small at that time that he could barely remember any of it.

It all sort of blurred together but would sound familiar if it was brought up.

The symbol depicted the same pentagram that appeared on Arisa’s talismans and Kyosuke's bow. It appeared to be their group’s symbol of strength.

“Arisa do you know that you’re quite lucky. You’ve avoided death; you see I have ordered Kyosuke not to shoot an arrow through your chest. However after that disappointing display out in the hills I have no idea why I did…”

Arisa became distressed and nearly let out an objection; it took a lot of will to hold her back.

“That is mercy, not luck. You’re lucky because you have received the possibility of a second chance.” The man in robes said coldly.

She lifted her head hastily without realising it and let out a smile of gratitude, relieved by those simple words of his.

Kira’s chains began to rattle as he tried to break free, no matter how much struggling or resistance he wasn’t able to budge. It felt as if his strength wasn’t returning, similar to when he was attacked by the parasite.

The man in robes turned to address Kira almost as if he had forgotten he was there.

“Don’t bother; the seal on your back is keeping you from fully recovering. To be able to stand after experiencing the full might of Thunders judgement you must be quite vigorous.”

Kira hated the man’s face; no matter how much he spoke the only thing that he had noticed was the victorious glare that the man shined down on him.

“Sister Arista, for you to be graced with a second chance you must- kill this demon.” The man in robes said clearly.

‘What the hell was this bastard talking about, did he just call me a demon?! Can’t he see that I can talk and think just like a regular person??’

At that thought, Kiramaru began to recall what had happened at the hills when facing the bear. He remembered when he had summoned his flames and pushed the bear back.

At that moment he did not have much control and felt more like he had been operating on autopilot, but that was the case ever since he was brought back. Before he was brought back to life by Ko, Kiramaru had always been a calm guy and quite rational thinking.

He had begun to suspect that maybe that the source of all the rage and uncontrollable anger stemmed from his powers? But this was all simple thoughts that ran through his head when faced with the words the man in robes spoke in front of him.

‘I don’t remember much of what I was acting like but I remember the bear being scared…its expression was terrified but did I really- enjoy it that much?’ Kira thought deeply.

Kiramaru wasn’t the only one deep in thought, Arista who had received word of a second opportunity to prove herself- something that seemed important around there; was deep in thought as well.

Her face had become drastically paler than before, not to mention that her teeth were being clenched down on so hard it looked as if she was running a hundred scenarios in her mind.

That wasn’t true at all; she was running the same one in her head over and over. When she looked down on Kiramaru chained up and struggling intensely, she could only recall when he jumped in to fight the demon without even knowing who she was.

The man in robes stepped forward and gave off a light sigh before speaking to her.

“Is there a problem my child, chances like these do not come by very often? I thought that you wished to follow in the steps of your brothers and sisters and become a child of the order?”

Whenever he spoke about their group a little flicker of pretentious self-satisfaction shone from his eyes.

“I do…my dream has always been to become a child of the order and follow the path you created for us father Demen. To serve our-”

Before she was able to finish her speech of loyalty Father Demen cut her off with his cold words and an uninterested stare.

“Then this is not a choice for you.”

‘Father Demen? She called him by his first name- he might not be her actual father then? Is it some kind of weird grooming thing or is that just how this group works? I cant stay around these freaks for much longer.’

Father Demen lifted his hand and gestured towards Kira with a calm motion.

‘Do these bastards really think I’m just some lowly demon that will sit down and take this?’

Kiramaru was growing even angrier than before and felt the mana that was circulating in his core being supressed.

When hearing father Demen’s words he grit his teeth and brought out a flicker of flames. This alerted Kyosuke and caused him to grab his bow and readied it for a vital shot at Kira's heart.

It appeared that Kiramaru was the first person to cause Kyosuke to behave so skittishly, a fact that made father Demen less cocky.

“If you think I’ll just sit here and let you call me a filthy demon then prepare yourselves! Cause then you can expect me to break out of here and burn this place down-”