12)Voice of the Almighty: Ch.12

In the city of Rome in the ancient fortress known as Castel Sant'Angelo, one of its occupants groaned as light shone from the curtains of his windows and onto his face, pulling his comforter over his face while the rustling of the book he was busy reading last night could be heard besides him.

“Issei! It's time for school~!” Unfortunately, fate had other plans for him and he groaned as the door to his room burst open, glaring from below his covers at his best friend who grinned cheekily as she stood with her hands on her hips to show off the new uniform.

Other than the dark grey skirt she was wearing, Irina was wearing the same black boots and a long-sleeved shirt under her bodysuit while she carried her cloak over her right arm.

“Mom wanted me to wear it. Don't know why, though.” She said as Issei looked at the sleeves and back at her, to which he blinked before shrugging as he stood up and stretched with a groan.

“Wait, you're not ready yet?” She asked in surprise and Issei shook his head as he put his bookmark on the page he was busy with before placing the book on the large bookcase that also had all of his important manga and books that his dad had thankfully shipped over, with the others arriving over the next couple of weeks along with the furniture and other things they had at the house.

“No, it's 10.00 am and class is only at midday, remember?” He said as he walked over to the bathroom, shaking his head as he saw Irina giving him an incredulous stare before sighing as she plopped face first onto his bed.

“Are you going to stay here until it's time?”

“Can I?” Her voice came muffled from under the bed, but he heard it and smiled as he opened the door to the bathroom while answering.

“Yokai Hunter's on the middle shelf behind Drag-So-Ball.” Her cheer made him roll his eyes before he walked into the bathroom to get ready for their first day at school.

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'I can see why auntie Reina told Irina to put on a shirt underneath.' Issei thought with a frown as he adjusted the black tank top he had on before putting on the bodysuit over it, frowning at just how tight it sat on his body.

Don't get him wrong. It was comfortable, breathable and very nice to move in, but it was less of a bodysuit and more of a second layer of skin around his body.

It wasn't too tight that it looked like a second skin and more of a thin plastic sheet around his body, plastic that could stop a stab from a pair of scissors with ease.

“Issei?! You done yet?!” Irina shouted and Issei just shook his head as he put on the pants and boots, throwing the cloak over his shoulders before walking out right as Irina looked up from the Yokai Hunter book on her lap.

“Ooh~ You look like a nerdy superhero.” She said with a happy smile and Issei just smiled and nodded before looking around to make sure everything was right in his room.

“We didn't get books to bring with, right?”

“Nope. Apparently, there are no books for the students to need to carry around.”

'Ah, that kind of makes sense considering we're supposed to be the best so we would probably have the most privileges compared to the other students.' Issei thought with a hum before tuning back in right as Irina stood up and placed the manga back onto the case.

“You ready to go?” She asked and he grinned and nodded as they made their way out of the room, Issei's thought filled with anticipation about the day ahead while also listening to Irina talking excitedly about everything they might do.

But first, to see if their classmates are still up.

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“Hey, everyone~!/ Good morning.” Irina and Issei greeted everyone respectively as they walked into their classroom for the next year, Siegfried nodding back while everyone else waved.

“Don't worry, Nero and Freed still aren't here.” Jeanne said as Irina looked around, to which the girl blinked while Issei frowned slightly towards Siegfried who snorted as he crossed his arms.

“No, I don't know what the hell that goofball was up to. He and Nero wanted to play some card games, but he never got back to his room so I went to sleep because today was an important day.”

“…Fair. Are you guys ready for the day?” Issei asked as he sat down at the desk in-between the ones Siegfried and Jeanne sat at, to which the girl nodded excitedly while even the stoic white-haired boy couldn't help the smirk of anticipation from growing on his face.

“Yep! I hear we're going to start straight off with combat training.”

“That would be stupid considering none of you have ever held a blade before.” Xenovia chimed in from behind them and Jeanne huffed as Issei turned towards her to see her having her usual stoic look on her face.

“Have you?” He asked and almost felt his heart stop at the affronted glare she gave him, as if he was asking a stupid question.

“Of course. As the daughter of the regional manager of the Vatican, I was allowed to train with other exorcists in the basics.”

“Wait, you could do that? Why didn't daddy let me do that then?!”

“Mostly because of your immaturity, dear daughter.” Issei turned back around as he heard uncle Touji's voice from the front, turning around to see the man walking in before hiding his snickers as he saw the disgruntled Nero and Freed being carried by the scruffs of their necks.

“By the way, trying to sneak into the kitchen before lunch is punishable by fifty laps around the fortress grounds…but since you two are new, you'll get off with a warning this time, understood?”

“R-Right.”

“S-Sure.” Nero and Freed said with shaky smiles, Issei smirking as Touji put them on the ground and let them rush off to the only two seats left with Nero sitting down besides Xenovia and Freed besides Asia before nodding as he looked at the eleven kids seated in front of him.

“Firstly, let me start off by introducing myself. If you didn't hear me yesterday, I am Touji Shidou, former regional manager of the churches in Japan and now your teacher for the first year. No, Irina, just because I'm here doesn't mean you'll get perfect grades.” Touji added with a smirk as he saw her raising her hand, to which she grumbled and crossed her arms as the others snickered.

“Now, as I'm sure you all noticed, some of you are Protestant, some Orthodox and the rest are Catholic and there is a reason for that. We have noticed that whenever exorcists of these three different churches are sent out on a joint mission, the synergy and teamwork between them is all but non-existent and this could cause problems on very important missions. Therefore, it was decided by our leaders that our new group of graduates will be studying and growing up together to ensure that you all can be send out on missions and not struggle to work together.”

“Is this how it's going to be for all the other ranks of this year's group, Mr. Shidou?” Mirana asked politely and they all frowned as the man smiled and shook his head.

“No, Mirana. The students ranked 'Page' and 'Squire' are to be divided into their separate church groups as we don't have that many exorcists to spare to teach them about the different groups. However, we also felt it was unfair to force you all to do so and not them so if you wish to join that group, you'll have until the end of the month to contact your guardian and tell them that you want to lower your rank. Just remember that doing so will lengthen your time as a student from three to five years and you'll have to move out of the Castel Sant'Angelo.”

“So, we're getting treated better than everyone else because we have to go through that training, right?” Freed said and Touji nodded as he crossed his arms and sat down on the desk behind him.

“Precisely that. We decided that since we're forcing you all out of your comfort zones, it would only be fair if we gave you all the best of the best in terms of accommodation and necessities. Now!” Issei nearly jumped along with the group as Touji stood up from his desk, all of them glaring at the amused smile on the man's face as he chuckled before walking over to the door.

“I see you all are in your official gear so we're out for the first test of the year.”

“Wait, there's a test already?” Nero asked in surprise and unease, Touji noting the others doing the same before putting their anxiety to rest as he chuckled and shook his head.

“It's more of a starter test to see where you all lie in terms of class rankings and stuff like that. Firstly, however, we need to go to the one place where we can test this.”

“And where is that, sir?” Xenovia asked before they all grew excited as the man smirked and answered her question.

“Where else but the training fields behind the fortress? Now, let's get going.”

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“So, does everyone know the five different things that a trainee must have to be called an exorcist?” Touji asked as he paced in front of the eleven kids, not surprised to see most of them looking surprised and confused before looking over and pointing at Mirana as she raised a hand.

“Mastery of one's weapon, Marksmanship, a Holy affinity, the ability to recite Bible verses under stress and hand-to-hand combat capabilities.” She answered, blushing as everyone looked at her in awe while Touji clapped politely.

Very good, Mirana. Yes, those five things are what one needs in order to become an exorcist, but you don't have to be the best at all five if you want to get stronger. For example, you all noticed how none of the higher-ranking exorcists were wearing any firearms nor did we have a Bible besides us. That's because bullets strong enough to take out Ultimate-Class monsters or higher are very tough to make and reciting Bible verses during battle is quite tough when your foe isn't giving you anytime to breath.”

“So, we just have to have some skill in each of them and then pick one route to master?” Asia asked before they all smiled as Touji smirked and nodded.

“That's right. However, I will say that mastering more than one path is the best for each of you seeing as sticking to one path may lead to you becoming predictable and thus easy to defeat in battle.”

'I see. Well, I know weapons are out of the way since I still can't use a sword like gramps could.' Issei thought with a frown as he paid attention to uncle Touji continuing to talk, remembering the times he struggled with his grandpa to try and at least learn some basics of the blade only for their attempts to end in failure each time.

It's why the old man decided that him mastering the control of his voice was the best step forward for them and it was a good thing too seeing as now he could shout out loud sounds and words like everyone else without creating a monstrous shockwave to destroy everything around him.

“Now, since we don't have much time left, I'll believe we'll do both the weapons mastery and the hand-to-hand combat trials at the same time. Pair up in groups of two.” Issei blinked at that and looked besides him only to see everyone having already picked a partner, finally remembering that they were only eleven kids.

Looking back forward, he groaned as he saw uncle Touji holding twelve wooden swords in his grasp, handing one to each of them including a disgruntled Issei before he tapped the last one against the ground.

“Asia against Mirana, Xenovia against Siegfried, Irina against Jeanne, Nero against Freed and Issei against me. A blow against an arm or leg is one point and a blow against the chest is three points. We shall fight until one side scores five points. You are to then place the wooden swords down and then go hand to hand against each other. You are free to surrender at any point in the match and no low blows or fatal attacks to the eyes, neck or grapples that could lead to something being broken is allowed. Chokeholds however are allowed. Anyone have a problem with that?”

“Yeah, me.” Touji simply looked at Issei as the boy raised his hand before looking at everyone else.

“Correction. Does anyone other than Issei have a problem with this.”

“Nope.” Everyone said in unison, Issei grumbling as he realized that none of them wanted to go against their teacher.

“Don't worry, Issei. Against me, you are free to use anything you want as long as it's not deadly or lethal in any sort of way.” Touji said as he saw Issei's hesitant look, smiling as Issei sighed and nodded before turning to the rest of the class.

“Then, without further ado, split up into your teams for the matches.” Touji said and Issei stood still as he grasped his sword with both hands, Touji waiting until everyone was ready with a 5 meter space between the groups before nodding.

“Begin!” The cries of battle erupted from the kids' mouths as the matches begun, the sound of wood against wood echoing in the air as Issei took a deep breath before rushing towards uncle Touji as fast as he could.

Admittedly, it was not very fast as uncle Touji followed his every step with an amused smirk while keeping track of the fights happening on both sides of them.

“Xenovia, no going for low blows.” Issei glared at Touji as he blocked Issei's leg attack while not even looking at him as the man looked at where Xenovia and Nero were fighting, hearing the girl's grumbles before being surprised as he was abruptly pushed back.

Yelping as he felt a tap on his head, he glared up at uncle Touji who smirked amusedly as he held his sword at his side once more.

“That's one point for me.” Issei didn't say anything, but he did answer with a loud click of his tongue, kicking up a dust cloud that made Touji close his eyes to avoid getting sand in his eyes and that's what Issei needed as he rushed forward.

Stabbing at the man's feet, he was surprised to see him lifting the foot that was being targeted before stepping down on Issei's wooden sword, the boy in question wheezing as he had gone too fast and ran chest first into his hilt of his sword.

“Oof~ We'll count that as a point for you and a point to me. You good?” Touji asked with a concerned look before he knelt next to Issei, who was coughing right before Touji's eyes widened as he felt a tap against his chest as well as a graze against his right arm.

“Tha-Urgh! That's five…for me…” Issei groaned as he dropped his sword, trying not to throw up while Touji blinked bewilderedly before bursting out into laughter and nodding.

“You're right. You win, Issei.”

“You can take the second part of the match, uncle Touji. I can't feel my lungs right now.” Issei said as he sat down, taking a few slow and deep breaths to stop the nausea while Touji simply looked amused and nodding as the boy sat down to catch his breath.

“Mirana, Asia, you two need to fight or else, you're both going to get a zero.” Issei heard uncle Touji say as he laid down, looking up at the sky and waiting until it stopped spinning before he wanted to stand up.

“So, you won and lost, huh?” Issei felt his silence fading away as he looked over Irina before frowning at the slightly disappointed look on her face as Jeanne sat down besides them, which Irina noted as she giggled and shook her head.

“Lost both. Three-five on the swords and four-five on the hand to hand.”

“Right, you were always the more physical one out of us two.” Issei said with a smile and a pat on her shoulder, to which Irina rolled her eyes before they looked over to Jeanne as she spoke up.

“She really was a hard fight, though, especially when she doesn't keep moving.”

“Yep, she's like a rabbit on hallucigens.” Issei said, smirking as Irina punched him softly on the arm with a huff while Jeanne giggled before they looked up to see a smug Xenovia and a frowning Siegfried sitting down next to them.

“From her face, I'm guessing she won?” Jeanne asked before giggling as Xenovia nodded while Siegfried sighed and nodded.

“Yes, but only by one point.”

“A win is still a win.” Xenovia said as she looked at Siegfried, smirking as he rolled his eyes before Issei blinked as she nodded at him.

“I saw what you did. Good way of using your weakness to your advantage.”

“Uh, thanks?” Issei answered and she nodded as she turned back to the fights, the boy just giving Irina, Jeanne and Siegfried a confused look to which the girls giggled while the other boy just gave a helpless shrug.

It took a few minutes before they all finished their matches, some of them looking satisfied at their results while the rest looked disappointed, Touji humming as he pulled a clipboard from nowhere and jotted down something.

'Our results most likely.' Issei thought with a frown as he watched the man look up with a smirk before nodding as the notepad disappeared.

“Good work, you all. Unfortunately, we can't test marksmanship as your training pistols have not yet arrived along with the equipment to test your Holy Affinity. Therefore, we have but one thing left to do.”

“Back to the classroom?” Freed asked before everyone other than Issei, Mirana and Siegfried groaned while the three looked excited as Touji smirked and pointed at the large building off to the side.

“Nope. Time to go to the library.”

A/N: And that's this chapter done. I was going to do the timeskip in this one, but I've decided to move that along with another timeskip in the next one.

I've decided to do half a year to a year a chapter, but two of the years are going to be filled with a little something-something to extend the chapters and spice up Issei's school life.

No, it's not him gathering love interests for anyone wondering. Just a little filler arc to do some world building and boost the story.

Anyway, as always, read, enjoy, review and until the next one…

Ba-Bye~!!