Tale of Discovery

The blonde nun's complexion seems to lighten up as she comes over to us.

She bows with grace before me and says delightedly,

"Thank you for your assistance, Your Holiness."

What the heck did she just call me? Did I suddenly become the pope without being aware of it? Am I really in Tokyo and not in Vatican City?

Clearing my throat up, I ask her with curiosity while maintaining a cool composure,

"What did you just call me?"

I'm making her repeat it just to be sure that she didn't blurt it out by mistake due to her using it a lot.

"Your Holiness," she responds, confused.

So she meant what she said, huh... Could it be that she refers to whoever helps her with such an address?

Sora who's beside me seems to be curious about the girl and her way of addressing me as well. For both of our curiosity's sake, I ask the nun,

"Why?"

She seems to be a little more confused as she tilts her head to the left before saying in a matter-of-factly tone,

"Your Holiness has the aura of light around you. I've been taught in the church to refer to someone that has the aura of light around them in this way."

Aura of light? What the hell is that? Could it be... my Holy Essence?

She can see or feel it, somehow? This is getting a little complicated. If she can see through it so easily, she ought not to be a normal nun.

"Who are you?" I bluntly ask her.

She beams a smile as she introduces herself, "I'm Asia Argento, a former Holy Maiden."

Noticing the sadness in her voice when she introduced herself, I inquire,

"Former?"

The atmosphere suddenly turns a little depressing as she looks down at the ground and begins to tell us about her past.

It was a fairly short story of how she was abandoned in front of a church by her mother when she was an infant, and how she found out that she could heal other creatures when she one day wanted to heal an injured cat.

The discovery of her healing ability was what had led to her being appointed as a Holy Maiden, and also the reason she had very few friends, as they thought of her as a freak that could heal others.

Why though? Is there something wrong with having an ability to heal others? According to how the world worked in my past life, they would've began worshipping her on the spot. I mean, some guy who claimed that his piss could drive away all diseases was praised and believed by many, so I don't understand how they wouldn't care about a real miraculous ability.

One day, she ran into an injured man in front of the church, so she used her ability to heal him. However, it turned out the man was a devil, which made her an existence to be despised as she is capable of healing heretic beings.

Just like that, she was banished from the church and labeled as a "witch". Now, she's wandering around looking for a place that would accept her despite her "flaws".

"You can heal people?" Sora asks her as she glances at me.

"Yes," Asia replies.

Intrigued, I use Organic Constructs to slightly sharpen the tip of my index finger and scratch my arm.

I keep the wound from going away by focusing on Regeneration to prevent it from working.

Asia flusters a little and hovers her palm above where I had cut as it begins to glow in green.

I immediately notice that the injury seems to close up.

Impressive. Her value would've been much higher if I didn't have Gift and Regeneration.

This has gotten me curious about one thing. Am I able to sense the powers of others if I use Location?

I activate Location and immediately it detects something.

It works as I am immediately able to detect that she has an ability called "Twilight Healing". Interesting name.

Suddenly, I detect something other than that close to us. I focus and a name pops up in my head: Boosted Gear.

There is someone with a special ability close to us right now. That's as suspicious it could get. I need to investigate it.

I use my senses and Clairvoyance to scan our surroundings before heading in the direction that I detected the special ability in.

After a few seconds, I come across a boy that by his looks seems to be a high schooler, as he is wearing a highschool uniform.

Now that I think about it, I need to immediately enter a school with Sora, or else our sudden transfer would seem suspicious.

Leaving that aside, this guy... He doesn't seem to be a smart one. I mean, he's eating some weird food that I have no memory of and is gawking at hot girls that pass by him. Heck, he's straight-up staring at their boobs.

Wait... Now that I think about it, he's one of the guys that I sent away using Indoctrination for staring at Sora. Hmm... Should I just pluck his eyes out and be done with it?

No, I should first deal with that ability of his - Boosted Gear. Is it some kind of ability that gives the user a mental boost of sorts or is it a multipurpose device that increases the efficiency of certain organs and items?

Either way, it seems like an interesting special ability... or device. I don't know how to categorize it. Whatever, I'll just use Plunder and examine it myself.

Immediately upon the activation of Plunder, a severe headache hits me and my body loses all energy as my vision grows hazier by the second.

For fuck's sake... not again...

-------

Suddenly opening my eyes, I find myself in a white space. The Mete? Did I like, die in the Rift, and come to the Mete or something?

That doesn't matter for now. What matters is that there is a huge red dragon sleeping right in front of me. I should be courteous in such a situation, I guess,

"Hello! I've come from Earth to visit you."

Yep. That's a proper way to introduce oneself.

The dragon doesn't respond to my words, almost making me think that it didn't hear me, however, the next moment its left eye opens.

Immediately, I am faced with a dark-red vertical-slit pupil. It seems to be... glaring at me?

"What is it that has made a god decide to intrude in my dwelling and awakened me from my slumber?", a loud voice resounds all around me.

Is it addressing me? When did I become a god? I assume that he thinks of me as such because of my Holy Essence.

It does have a "godly" feel to it, the Divine Retribution, and all. Oh, right, I think I should reply to him.

"I have no idea what it is that you speak of. I was outside minding my own business when I suddenly found myself here."

Could this be related to the Boosted Gear? Most likely is. So I definitely can't tell him that I wished to plunder it...

The dragon raises itself up from the comfortable position it was in and faces me directly. It sure is weird to be facing a huge dragon head-on.

"Do you think that I, The Red Dragon Emperor, would fall for such an obvious lie?!", the dragon suddenly bellows, even though it's mouth stays shut.

Did it just call itself an emperor? I wonder if I should hope for it to be a self-proclaimed title or a genuine one.

Either way, this has gotten interesting. Hey Irene, are you there?

Several seconds pass and I still get no response. I expected as much, so I'm not that surprised. What I'm curious about now is that if I'm able to use my Code Essences.

The moment I decide to use one, the dragon suddenly breathes scorching flames in my direction.

I instinctively utilize Godspeed and move out of the way, making the flames miss me by a few centimeters. So hot...

It seems like I can use my Holy Essence if I'm able to deploy Godspeed.

I need to get out of here, somehow, for all I know, something could happen to Sora outside. I have a feeling that beating up this dragon is the fastest method for doing so...

{Berserk: God's Wrath utilized.}

The mechanical version of Irene's voice resounds within my head as I feel my awareness waning.

"You shall die here, foolish god."

Those are the last words I hear before a great deal of energy surges within me as rage takes over my mind.