9)Voice of the Almighty: Ch.9

'“Hey.”

“Were there any other traces of Fallen in the area?”

“No sir. We found no trace of any Fallen other than the corpse in the library.”

“Hey.”

“What of the barrier? Was it taken down from the outside?”

“From the scans made by our magic specialists, it appears that the runes were deactivated from the inside, but the residue found at the site is too little to narrow down which exorcist did it.”

“Touji.”

“I'm guessing our little spy is also how they were able to find out about Issei & his status as an-!”

“Touji!” For the first time, Gorou raised his voice & silenced the room, Touji turning his head before frowning at the glare in Gorou's eyes.

“Either you start explaining what the hell is going on or I'm taking my wife & son and we're leaving right now.” Miki nodded in agreement as she held a sleeping Issei on her lap, Touji sighing before nodding as he gestured for the room to be cleared.

“Do you need help?” Reina whispered with a concerned look as she stood up and her husband shook his head with a smile as he gestured for her to sit down.

“No, I got this. So, I'm sure you want to know the whole story, right?”

“That's the idea, so start by telling me how the hell Issei disappeared for a full minute & then reappeared in the library.”

“From the looks of it, it was a dimensional spell made by a human wizard. It seems that the wizard made it in order to seal off Issei into another dimension, but since he killed the Fallen who he was sealed with inside the dimension, the spell broke & sent him back.”

“…You expect me to believe that crap?” Gorou asked with a frown and Touji sighed as he scratched the back of his head.

“Not at all. That's why I'm doing this.” Before he could speak, Gorou's eyes widened as Touji lifted his hand right as a pure white energy became visible around it, Miki looking just as shocked as Touji clenched his fist & made the air pop.

“Before you get mad at me for not telling or start calling me demon or something like that, your father knew about us, Miki.” Touji spoke while looking at the woman in question, who froze as Gorou frowned.

“W-What?”

“Yeah, that's why I first waited for a while to show him that we meant no harm before I finally started talking with you guys.”

“H-How do you…how do you even expect us to believe all of this?” Miki asked with a doubtful look before blinking as Issei opened his eyes, surprised to see her son faking being asleep as he sat up with a slightly hesitant look.

“Mr. Touji is telling the truth.”

“Issei, don't believe everything this man sa-!”

“He is.” Instead of letting his father finished speaking, he decided to simply activated his voice & unleash a shock wave throughout the room, both his parents & Irina's looking surprised as his voice echoed & reverberated inside the room.

“You're aware of your origins?” Touji asked with a surprised look and Issei gave a smile & nodded as he sat up on his mom's lap.

“Yeah, Gramps told me a few years ago and has been helping me on how to control my voice. When I first used it, uh, it was pretty bad.”

“I see. That would make sense given how your holy energy kept as calm as it was despite the fact that it's not awakened yet.”

“Wait, what is even going on here?! What do you mean holy energy? Like a priest?” Gorou cut in and Issei looked just as confused at the term as Touji frowned before pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Hah, right. Well, Issei here was attacked because he is what we would call a Miracle Child, a child of a human & an angel.”

“G-Gorou?” Miki asked with a hesitant frown at Gorou, who looked surprised at her look as he shook her head.

“We both know if I was an angel, I would have been a fallen angel a long time ago. Don't suppose you have something to tell me, right?”

“None of you are the angel just as none of you two are his biological parents.”

“I think I'll go put Irina to sleep.” Reina whispered to Touji as she stood up with Irina in her arms, her husband smiling & nodding as he watched them leave before turning to the confused Hyoudou couple sitting in the room.

“Touji, I'm…I'm giving one chance to explain what you mean by that last part of your sentence.” Gorou spoke with a confused yet angered frown, the priest sighing as he scratched his head while sitting down on the chair in front of them.

“What I mean is that when a Miracle Child is born, it is usually with the sacrifice of the mother dying as her life-force is extracted to make sure the child survives birth. The fact that Issei was still stuck in the hospital until he was two means that his male parent was a powerful Seraphim, which means that there was no way that Miki should still be alive.”

“S-So, what if he's not our biological son? Issei is still the young boy we raised, right sweetheart?”

“Without a shadow of a doubt.” Gorou agreed instantly, Touji smiling as he saw Issei's surprise at his parents' words.

“Your granfather told you his true heritage, didn't he?” He asked, drawing the Hyoudou's attention to their son as he looked hesitant & gave a shy nod.

“He wrote a letter before he died and hid it in between my manga books.”

“Which is the one place only you want to touch to make sure no one messes them up. Hah, the crafty bastard.” Gorou muttered with a shake of his head, Miki smiling at his words before turning to Touji as she watched the man stand up.

“So, what now? Are we just supposed to ignore what happened?” She asked and Gorou frowned as he looked at the man he thought he knew while Touji sighed as he looked up at the roof.

“If you guys still want to leave tomorrow, I'll arrange for three tickets back to Japan. However, if you still want to stay, I'm going to take you three as well as my family to the main attraction of Vatican City to see if he has what it takes.”

“For what?” Issei asked before his eyes widened as Touji smiled & grabbed the cross around his neck.

“I want to see if you got what it takes to be an exorcist.”

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“Absolutely not.” Miki denied her husband once more, Gorou sighing as the two of them were together on a sunbathing chair on the balcony connected to their room while Issei slept away in the bedroom while the moonlight shone down on them.

“You heard Touji, Miki. Even if we do go back, Issei & his grandpa unleashed his…holy energy? Yeah, they released his holy energy and he's now basically a beacon for anyone like the fallen guy that kidnapped him during the library incident. Do you really want to wake up one day and found him gone from his room, knowing that we could have done something to stop it?” Gorou asked and Miki glared up at her husband from where she was sitting on his lap before grumbling as she laid her head back down on his chest.

“I know, but…putting him in constant danger? Making him go through training and stuff like that when he's barely 11 and not even 12 years old? I couldn't put my baby through that.”

“Well, Touji did give us until tomorrow to figure out what we want to do so why don't we sleep on it and decide in the morning?”

“No, because if we do this in the morning, I'd want to kidnap Issei and run away.” Miki answered with a huff, Gorou rolling his eyes with a smile before tilting his wife's head up to look at him.

“Okay, then I'll ask you this. Either we go home back with Issei & risk him getting attacked or killed or we go with Touji & we see what protection he's going to give us. Which sounds better?” He asked, smiling as Miki looked at him before nodding with a groan.

“Fine~ But just because we're doing this option doesn't mean I have to like it.”

“Never said you needed to, dear. Now, let us not have this one incident ruin your time here, okay?” Gorou asked as he laid back, Miki smiling softly as she nodded and felt her husband wrap an arm around her waist.

“Okay.”

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“From the smile on Issei's face, I'm guessing you guys decided to stay & listen to my proposal, hmm?” Touji asked with a smile as he watched the Hyoudou family walk out of the elevator, chuckling at Issei's happy nod before looking at his parents as the boy rushed off to where Irina & his wife were waiting at the entrance.

“I'm also guessing there's going to be some conditions, right?”

“You guessed correctly. Firstly, if I feel like you're grooming as some kind of sacrifice or something, Gorou & I are taking away Issei as soon as possible. Secondly, Gorou & I are staying at his side no matter what. If we can't, he comes back. Thirdly, you're not allowed to let him near any dangerous stuff until he believes he is ready and if you try to force him, exorcist or not, a mother's wrath will make the world burn, understood?” Miki spoke with a glare and Touji smiled & nodded.

“I understand, Miki. Are you in agreement?” He asked while turning to Gorou, who snorted as he nodded in agreement & crossed his arms.

“100%.”

“Very well. Then, let's join the others and I can take you three to the first destination.”

“Which is?” Gorou asked with a frown and Touji chuckled as he turned around & began walking away.

“The holiest place in Vatican City and the place where all prospective exorcists are surveyed: St. Peter's Basilica.”

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As soon as they climbed out of the SUV, Issei's eyes widened and he froze in his steps as he looked at the beautiful cathedral in front of his eyes, drawing everyone's attention as Miki knelt down besides him.

“Issei sweetie?” She asked, but Issei wasn't even paying attention as he stared at the sheer gargantuan amount of holy energy he could feel around him, tasting its sweet & elegant flavor while taking a deep breath & smiling at the variety of fragrances that impacted his sense of smell.

“Issei? Are you okay?” Finally hearing his mother's voice dimly amongst the symphony of quiet voices singing around the church, Issei blinked a few times to knock himself out of his state of shock to see both his mother & father kneeling in front of him.

“Um, yeah? Is everything okay?” He asked and his mother simply reached under his cheek and wiped something off, his eyes widening as he finally felt the tears flowing from his eyes.

“I knew the Basilica had a powerful holy presence to exorcists, but what did it feel like, Issei?” Touji asked with a look of awe and Issei wiped the tears away before surprising his parents as he smiled & pointed at them.

“Like those times I used to sleep on their bed when I was younger. It felt…amazing.” He whispered as he looked up at the cathedral, his parents sharing a smile as Touji & Reina chuckled while Irina giggled.

“Sounds like you two are wonderful parents.” Reina said to Miki with a smile and the Hyoudou woman smiled & nodded as she stood up & nodded.

“Looks like it.”

“Mom, can we stay here?”

“I don't believe we can…right?” She asked while looking at Touji, who chuckled & shook his head.

“Unfortunately not. Many exorcists, including myself, feel like you do whenever we look at the cathedral, Issei. To all of us, it's like a home where we can be closest to our Lord & Father.” Touji muttered softly as he smiled at the building before shaking his head & beginning to make his way up the stairs.

“Come, the acceptance ceremony will start soon and I want to make sure you two are not late.”

“Do you really think I'll be accepted, Daddy?” Irina asked as she took her father's hand and Touji smiled & nodded as Issei looked eager while following the man up the stairs.

As they finally walked out onto the top, Issei was surprised by the two statues on both sides of the entrance, watching as a light gold aura around both pulsed and sent a flash of energy over him & the others as they walked past.

'Did they scan us? Oh, man, that's so cool~' Issei thought with an excited smile as he tuned back to the walking, watching as Touji stopped in front of one of the guys in silver armour at the entrance before showing his cross to them & whispered a few words.

In response, the young Hyoudou looked on in awe as the armoured man nodded before nodding towards the entrance behind them, Touji turning to them with a smile before gesturing for them to follow as they began walking down the path shown.

As they kept walking, Issei felt at peace as the energy in the church reached out to his body & touched his 'aura'/'light', smiling as he reached out & grabbed one strand of the energy touching him.

He could feel the pureness of the energy as it flushed through his body, confusing his father as he smiled & let it go before looking up at him with a happy smile.

“Something wrong?” He asked and Gorou simply smiled & shook his head as they continued walking.

“Not at all. I'm just glad to see yourself enjoying it.”

“Oh, if he's enjoying this, then he's going to enjoy the next part.” Touji said with a smile as they stopped in front of another pair of guards, who were guarding a bronze door that had numerous sigils & symbols on it.

Unlike with the books written in other languages, Issei was surprised as he couldn't understand the language no matter how many times he tried to translate them, frowning a bit in frustration before shaking his head as the guards bowed to Touji before opening the doors & letting them pass.

“Woah~” This time, Irina was the one who spoke in awe and Issei had to agree with her as they looked at the vast cavern they walked into.

A dozen gold chandeliers shone brightly from the ceiling and yet, Issei didn't feel himself growing hot & sweaty from the heat of the dozens of lights as it instead felt like he was standing on a hill while a cool breeze blew over his body.

'Just like with Gramps.' Issei thought with a wry smile as he followed his family & sat down besides them on one of the many chairs that surrounded the closed-off amphitheatre, Reina & Irina sitting down next to them while Touji walked down the steps next to them & toward the ground of people covered in hooded white cloaks waiting at the bottom of the steps.

He was half-surprised at the rather short child-like figure that stood with a hood next to the other adults but also half-surprised at the elderly man with his bald head that was also built like a behemoth.

Even with the white & gold cloak around his body, Issei would have to be blind to miss how big the guy was compared to everyone else as even uncle Touji, who Issei knew to be one of the bigger guys in Kuoh Town, looked like a kid next to him.

Then there was the absurd amount of Holy energy the man was radiating, Issei in awe as he watched how peaceful the man's aura was externally while also watching how chaotic his energy was in the centre, like a tornado but in reverse.

“That's one big old guy.” Unlike him, Irina didn't have a filter & spoke her mind freely, her mother shaking her head while trying to hide her giggles as his parents did their best to stifle their laughter.

However, Issei was surprised as he heard the man let out a soft chuckle while looking directly at them, his gaze focused on both him & Irina for a moment before he nodded & looked away to the crowd once more.

'Okay, that's one big, old & scary guy.' The more & more he was in the Vatican, the more he found out that the world he knew was rather small compared to the real world outside Kuoh.

'Maybe staying in our small town wasn't such a bad idea.'

A/N: And more world-building, but next chapter~ The true story begins!!

…As in Issei & Irina get assessed and we see if they have what it takes to become exorcists.

Also, sorry for the late upload. I woke up with a headache, went for a nap & woke up with it being even worse, so I decided to rest a bit before I finally wrote this chapter.

Another also, just to clarify something, Issei is strong in terms of pure power & potential, but in terms of actually being useful in battle, he's as good as a wet paper towel. Just wanted to say this before people got mad at me for saying that they wanted to see him being better than he is.

He's still 11. Give him time.

As always, read, enjoy, review and until the next one…

Ba-bye~!!