D&Devils 3: Celestial Artistry: Chapter 2

Green hills pass by as I sit in the train car, head propped up by my fist as my eyes slowly trail the countryside, a smile on my lips. 

In the window I can see a reflection of, well, myself... and that has led me to a fairly interesting revelation... 

I look an awful lot like Lucemon. From Digimon. That is... a thing. 

If that's foreshadowing for my inevitable crash-out and turn to evil that would make even the old satan faction pause... that's to be determined. 

But... 

I don't want to be evil. 

While my body was abused. And these past memories I've received are bitter... I refuse to let them taint me or my desire to do good. 

There's a lot of evil in this world and... why should I add to it? What purpose would there be? 

What could I gain from being evil... that I couldn't gain from being nice but with a little more effort? 

If you need something that another person has? Just do something big enough for them that they'll give it to you. Do you want to bang a bunch of beautiful ladies? 

I mean... the commandment is no adultery... just marry them! Problem solved. 

Anyways, they let me have the window seat because I had been more or less confined to that church the entire time this body had lived there. That's rather nice of them. I've never seen Italy before in my past life, so this has been quite a nice experience. 

I've seen nearly two dozen vineyards during the trip. I guess Italians really like their wine. 

I've never had wine, actually... or anything Alcoholic. I wonder what it's like... 

"We'll be at the station soon." Griselda announces quietly, causing me to turn. 

"Hm?" I hum. "Okay. That's fine." 

"What is your opinion on this countryside, Luce, Sir?" Xenovia speaks, her voice still sounding awed and... mildly obsessive. 

"It's... beautiful." I whisper only to blink and turn. "I've also noticed a lot of vineyards... does Italy have an alcoholism problem? Oh. And don't call me 'Sir'." 

Irina lets out a snicker, covering her mouth. 

"Wine and grapes are one of Italy's largest exports." The adult of the trio informs. 

"Huh..." I note as in the distance I can see a large town. One we seem to be traveling towards quite quickly. 

The train squeaks to a halt as the three girls stand, I follow along after them as we step off the train into the city proper. 

"Welcome to Venice, young Luce." Griselda smiles at my genuinely awestruck expression. 

Back in my past life... I never really went to any large cities. I lived in the mountain. The closest civilization being towns more so than bustling cities. 

This... is bigger than anything I've ever seen. 

I follow after the three, taking in the sights. 

We eventually come to a large chapel. We travel through the large frontmost room. Multicolored light shining through stained glass windows. Numerous crosses line the walls. People mill about. Some more than likely having ties to the supernatural, others possibly not. 

We step into the back rooms. Making out way to a large portrait that almost reaches the floor. 

It swings out showing a hidden pathway that travels down into the earth itself. 

Our steps echo out in the spiral staircase, heading deeper and deeper. 

Eventually we enter a new room. Seemingly passing through a magical threshold. 

"What you just felt was a basic magical ward that should repel any mundane person who gets this far." Griselda informs. 

I look around the new room. It... 

My eyes freeze on the window. 

Wait... the outside? 

"We are currently within a pocket dimension. A sanctuary. Most of the larger churches in Italy have them." The nun continues. "We have an artificial sun, numerous rooms for our exorcists and priests, and a large training field." 

"huh..." I whisper, eyes growing wide. "That's neat!" 

"It is! I was just as surprised the first time I came down into one of these!" Irina beams. 

"Have you given any more thought to what you want to do, Luce?" Griselda asks. 

Back on the train, she had asked me what I wanted to do with my life here in the church. 

"I guess I want to help people... being an exorcist like you three sounds pretty cool. Beating monsters like that one thing. I can heal as well... but mainly I want to just get stronger... to make it so my life isn't in anyone else's hands." 

"You want to get stronger, hmmm?" The blonde nuns hums. 

Why do I suddenly have a bad feeling- 

"Then we should test your capabilities." 

There it is. 

"Come, Xenovia, Irina. Let's go to the training field." 

"Yes, ma'am!" The two nod. 

I slowly follow along, clutching my backpack slightly. 

"I have a pretty good grasp on where I am." I weakly begin. "I'm physically weak... more fast... I overly relied on my holy light to kill that stray devil." 

A quest has been received: 

"Yes. But I need to see you fight before I can figure out how to help you improve." 

Exorcism boot camp: {Ongoing Quest} 
So you want to be an exorcist, huh? Well. It's a tough job. Slaying vampires, werewolves, devils and fallen angels. How do we know that you'll be up to it? Well. Through some grueling training, of course! 

Current days of Training: 0 
Successful Duel Victories (Against Unique Opponents): 0 

Special Objectives: 
First Day of Training: [ ] 
Seven Days of Training: [ ] 
Two Weeks of Training: [ ] 
Thirty One Days of Training: [ ] 
Two Months of Training: [ ] 
Defeat Xenovia in a duel: [ ] 
Defeat Irina in a duel: [ ] 
Defeat Griselda in a duel: [ ] 
Defeat ? In a duel: [ ] 
Defeat ? In a duel: [ ] 

Rewards: 
100 Experience per day. 
200 Experience per successful Duel Victory (once per unique person) 

"Okay." I nod slowly. "Am I allowed to use magic? I've got a spell to increase my speed." 

"No magic." The woman shakes her head. "Wooden swords to prevent injury." 

"Okay!" I smile as we eventually step... outside... 

Still kind of weird. 

We are led over towards a large flat stretch of ground, the grass is trimmed in a large square shapes kind of like a chess board. quite a few seem occupied as distant figures blur to and fro, clashing with wooden weaponry. I can hear loud thwacks. In the distance I can even hear gunfire, but luckily it seems to be aimed entirely at a firing range. 

There's a large rack of weapons that stands before the steps leading down into the field. There's quite a few missing, but from what I can see there are spears, swords, maces, shields. All wooden, some with cloth wrapped around the ends to blunt them even further... primarily for the spears. 

Xenovia walks over and grabs a truly massive great sword... it's more a two-by-four instead of a weapon yet she seems to wield it effortlessly. Irina takes a smaller blade. Thinner. Much lighter. 

"I've... never actually held any weapon before today sooo uh..." 

I grab a simple wooden longsword. Not too big not to small. It should allow me to pivot to any sword I want as my fighting style improves. 

I look to Griselda "Who will I be fighting?" 

"Xenovia." 

"I-I see..." I mutter looking towards the blue haired girl as we make our way to one of the unoccupied fields. 

We each take a side of the field, I tightly grip the wooden blade in my hand as Xenovia bows her head slightly. "I hope you can learn something from this duel. I'm aware that you've been kept away from combat... so I'll refrain from hitting you in extremely painful areas." 

"Thank... you?" I weakly reply. 

"Begin!" 

The girl lunges forwards like a freight train, my eyes widen at the sheer speed she is showing off. It's about equal to my own... but I know for a fact she is far stronger than I am. 

I barely duck her first swing, stabbing my weapon upwards at her. 

She turns her sword, blocking the attack with the flat of her blade. I struggle against it briefly but... her weapon wasn't even justled by the attack. "You do lack strength... don't worry! We will fix that! And as an Angel I'm sure you'll grow in strength quickly!" 

"Well... I'm more of a magic user." I admit, eyes scanning her body.  

I break away from her, slashing wildly. 

Her white cloak billows slightly as she continues to counter and parry my attacks, slipping in a few swings of her own that I barely avoid. 

In my numerous strikes eventually I clip her side... then the massive slab of wood is shot towards me. 

"Oh..." 

THWACK 

My head snaps back. 

"Owwww." I wheeze from on the ground, cradling my head. My brain feels like it got smashed against the front of my skull. 

"I AM SO SORRY!" Xenovia gasps, bowing her head slightly. "Its just- you hit me and I acted on impulse. I am so sorry. You can hit me if you want." 

Healing light explodes from my fingertips, the ache disappearing. 

I take a deep breath, then exhale. "No... it's fine... I'm fine. I can heal no harm no foul... are you hurt? I clipped your side there and-" 

I blink down at her clothes which now have a rip. 

"..." 

"What are you wearing?" I whisper. 

"Oh... this..." The girl frowns. "This is a standard issue church body suit. It is tight fitting and allows us to move freely at high speeds. 

"It- It tore from my meager strength?!" 

"Oh, no it did not. Mine is just kind of wore out. You got lucky and struck a spot a stray devil had hit earlier. The stray you killed wasn't the only one in town." She replies. "It actually requires quite a lot of strength to tear them." 

"Why- Why is it so perverted?!" 

"Oh. That is simple. Most of the things we fight. Stray Devils. Fallen Angels. Vampires. Are all ruled by sin. It causes them to focus on our figures instead of our weapon." There's a slight tinge of red to her face as she says this.  

"Isn't that... kind of degrading?" 

"We do not have the advantages that other races have... the natural strength, the mobility of flight, nor sheer durability so we must make use of what we have." Her face is slowly reddening further. 

My gaze strays to Griselda. "Why are her thighs exposed? That's one of the most dangerous places you could be hit." 

The woman's eyes clench shut as she smiles, there's a slight angry twitch to her lips. "Because the armorers said that the thigh gap makes the outfit 'more enticing and distracting'." 

"Ugh." I scoff walking around Xenovia as I look over her outfit. "And the gap in the lower spine?" 

"Same reason." 

I let out a long loathing sigh, turning to face her with a deadpan expression. "If you expect me to wear anything like this, I'd sooner set myself on fire and toss myself off a bridge." 

"The standard issue male exorcist kit is a lot more armored." She supplies as I rub my temples. 

"The artisan in me is genuinely appalled. I'm not even an armorer and I bet I could do better." I admit. "Whatever. I'm a two-winged nobody. Who's gonna listen to me, a child who's only moderately better than a fallen angel." 

"That's not true!" Xenovia gasps. "You are the light of god! I-I-I don't know why they cast you out of heaven, but... but it must be because you can do so much more down here! God has a plan. He always has a plan! He must have foreseen the good you would do and placed you here!" 

"I guess." I note with a small sigh, eyes straying to Irina. "So do I fight her now?" 

"Yes." The nun nods once. 

[Split] 

Oww... 

My body hurts. 

After fighting Irina Griselda pretty much put me through the wringer. Running. Weights. Swimming.  

They have these strange density rooms where it feels like you're underwater as well. Today was an 'easy day' to show me around the sanctuary. Tomorrow is when my real training begins... and oh boy that's probably going to suck. 

Exorcism boot camp: {Ongoing Quest} 

Current days of Training: 1 
Successful Duel Victories (Against Unique Opponents): 0 

Special Objectives: 
First Day of Training: [x] 

Rewards: 
100 Exp Total 

Special Objective 1: 
500 Exp, Raise Physical Stats that are 10 or lower by 1 

Well... my strength is eleven now. That's nice. 

I'll just need to train for another fifty nine days and I'll level up. 

That's... not bad, honestly if my stats will continue to improve like this. 

I have no real expertise with the sword. Hell, I don't think White Mage gets any decent proficiency with weapons aside from maces, clubs, and staves. 

I should be able to learn how to wield them, right? Like... the system won't cripple me for not having that proficiency... right? 

I'll just give me longsword proficiency at some point... I mean, it should. 

A long yawn leaves my lips as I wipe an eye. 

Anyways, now that I've got a room and some time to myself... It's about time I spend that money I got on my first quest! 

What I want is quite simple... 

Magical. Reagents. 

I picked up "Craft Wondrous Item" at level three, thus I can make magical items as long as they're not a weapon, staff, golem, potion, ring, tattoo, Ooze, Rod, wand, magic plant- should really get that at some point- scroll, and rune. 

Now... that may sound like a very long list of requirements... buuuuut. 

Glasses. Gloves. Boots. Shirt- notably not armor or padded in any way- Bracers, belts, chalices, barrels that turn into a crab mech, PAINTBRUSHES! 

Yep. That's right. I'm making me a magical paintbrush to enhance my painting skill for my eventual paintings! 

I'm going to take this world by fucking STORM! 

A nigh unkillable army... all loyal to me! 

Now I just need to make this paintbrush. 

It'll take some time but I should be able to manage. 

With a flash a bunch of materials appears on my desk. 

'alriiiight!' 

[Split] 

I sit alone at a table, quietly eating a piece of bread. 

"Hello, Luce!" Irina beams as she sits a tray down across from me. "How are you enjoying the Venice Sanctuary?" 

"It's... large..." I reply, eyes slowly straying the room. "There's a lot more people than I'm used to." 

"Yeaaah." Irina nods slowly. "It's different, that's for sure. I still remember when I came to Italy... it's just... different than the normal town church you might find. So many people with faith in the lord. It's amazing!" 

"Hm." I hum as Xenovia sits down beside Irina.  

"Luce." She nods her head and begins eating her food. 

It's not what I would call luxurious or decadent, but it seems to have all the things she would need to strengthen her body. Yogurt with fruit and nuts, chicken and rice, whole wheat bread. 

"Once more." The blue-ette begins. "I apologize for striking you in the face. If you'd like, you may hit me instead." 

"It's- no it's fine Xenovia. That was training. I fully expected you to hit me." I quickly cut in. "It's sparring... I'm not some flower that will wilt just because you breathe too hard on me." 

We return to eating, but suddenly I get an idea... one of my cantrips. 

"Hey. Xenovia, Irina. Want to see a magic trick?" 

"Hm?" Irina hums. "Sure." 

I wave my hand casting a spell. "Abracadabra. Take a bite of your food please." 

Irina takes a bite of her bread, flinching back. "Woah! It's like it just came out of a bakery!" 

Xenovia takes her yogurt, eyes widening. "Did... you bless our food?" 

"I guess? It's just a little spell I know. I can push it further... but then it actually takes some of my magic. This was just a handwave. I could do this infinite times but with anything costly? I can at maximum cast only like... fifteen spells. Then I need a fairly long rest. 

I've noticed that my spells return even if I'm not taking a 'long rest'. 

Slowly but surely that magical power trickles back in. In the train ride I regenerated like...  two points of mana. My 'holy power' was regenerating at roughly the same rate. 

I go from zero to full in roughly eight hours. Slightly faster if I'm legitimately resting. 

"If I had to explain what it does, it basically makes the food seem 'one star' better. Like you're going from a three star restaurant to a four star one... the one that actually takes a bit of my energy improves it three... so two star to five star and theoretically five star to eight star... though... I really don't know what that'd be like." 

"A small part of me would like to try that one day." I admit with a small head-tilt. "But another part also feels that spending that much money on food would be nothing short of debauchery and might ruin normal food for me... that's why I don't really like to use this ability often. If I get too used to better food, well... I won't enjoy the food our cooks have so lovingly prepared for us. Coming in and changing to seems a little disrespectful, no?" 

I nod slowly. "I should only use this on special occasions." 

I look back down to the two who seem to have finished their dinner. "Oh! I appear to have rambled. I'm sorry." 

[Split] 

Sweat clings to my brow as I continue to lift weights, it's kind of hard because my attention is drawn to two large mounds hanging just above my face as Xenovia spots me. 

With one final push, I place the bench-press weight back on its holders and sit up. 

Xenovia offers me my towel which I use to wipe my face. "Thanks." 

After that I wipe down the place I had laid. 

Irina is nearby doing the splits seemingly training her fexibility. 

"So... uh... how long have you two been doing this?" 

"Since I was six." Xenovia notes. 

"Since I was Nine!" The strawberry blonde nearby replies. 

"Oh..." 

"Yeah! Don't feel so bad Luce!" Irina smiles. "You're doing really good!" 

"It is to be expected that an Angel of the lord would quickly surpass the strength of mere men." The blue-ette nods sagely. 

We've been going at this for about ten days. Well, I've been here eleven but we don't do anything on Sunday. That is the lord's day when we go to mass and afterwords do some team bonding by playing some- church approved- board games. 

It's better than what this body experienced for the past fourteen years... and I'll admit, having two hot girls around me is... quite... fun... 

The eye-candy is real nice. 

Anyways. The church is interesting to say the least... I mean the supernatural half of it. 

There's a few groups of exorcists around. Typically, people in the same age range stick together. Xenovia and Irina were actually a little unusual. But they're arguably better than all of the exorcists their age- not that there's many- due to the fact that they were being personally taught by Griselda." 

But since I showed up. Girselda thought it would be better to start an official group. 

Which means...  

Honestly? I don't know what that means... 

There's regular sparring against others, I guess? Sort of like a rating game, I guess. 

How Ironic. The church has a rating game expy. 

Well, less rating games and more 'duels and combat simulations'. 

Xenovia and Irina got more real world experience through Griselda taking them out for killing stray devils and stuff, while most other people have to train like that. 

Exorcism boot camp: {Ongoing Quest} 

Current days of Training: 10 
Successful Duel Victories (Against Unique Opponents): 0 

Special Objectives: 
Seven Days of Training: [x] 

Rewards: 
1000 Exp Total 

Special Objective 2: 
500 Exp, Raise Physical Stats that are 12 or lower by 1 

That pushed my strength up to twelve... but my constitution and dexterity remain unchanged. 

Realistically though? Those two points have changed a lot 

I'm able to lift around twenty percent more than I'm used to... or forty percent in comparison to what my strength was at the start of all this. 

Those are some impressive gains, especially when in basic pathfinder it's almost impossible to raise your stats. The only two options being a random book, magic items, and a single stat point every four levels. 

[Split] 

My breath comes out in sharp pants. 

This is by far the longest I've lasted against Xenovia. 

My offhand slams into her stomach, causing her eyes to widen slightly. 

I narrowly avoid her backhand by ducking under it her sword comes around and smashes into my guard my sword creaking ominously as my feet carve trenches in the grass as I drop low, fingers tearing at the grass and dirt. 

My eyes flicker downwards before returning to Xenovia. 

Should I? 

"..." 

Fuck it. I only need to get one win against her. 

I run forwards, fist clenching. 

I swing my weapon down with one hand. 

CLACK 

As she blocks, I fling my other hand forwards, dirt entering her eyes. 

"AGH- WH-" 

I swing upwards, my wooden blade striking her neck. Then I hop back. 

"Y-YOU THREW DIRT IN MY EYES!" Xenovia shouts. 

I pause as I feel energy fill my body. 

Exorcism boot camp: {Ongoing Quest} 

Current days of Training: 16 
Successful Duel Victories (Against Unique Opponents): 1 

Special Objectives: 
Two Weeks of Training: [x] 
Defeat Xenovia in a duel: [x] 

Rewards: 
1800 Exp Total 

Special Objective 3: 
800 Exp, Raise Physical Stats that are 14 or lower by 1 

Special Objective 6: 
8000 Exp, 1 Free Combat Feat, One magic item worth 10000 Gp. 

"Luce! An exorcist of the church shouldn't fight that way!" Griselda calls out. 

"Why not?" I ask. 

"The exorcists are noble defenders of humanity! We have no use for dirty fighting!" 

"Why not?!" I ask again. "Devils and other creatures of darkness won't give us the same courtesy! As you can see it's effective! If this were a real fight, right there I would have killed Xenovia despite the fact that I'm FAR weaker than her. This could have very easily happened in the field of battle! So realistically, learning to combat these dirty tricks should become a priority. If throwing sand or dirt in the eyes of a human-eating beast allows us to score a killing blow with no threat of bodily harm to ourselves?" 

"It still is not something we should do." Giselda frowns. 

Xenovia touches her neck, blinking her eyes and rubbing them. "No... he is right. Why must we limit ourselves like this? With one single action he easily defeated me... lured me into a false sense of security... when I was growing complacent... he struck and defeated me handily." 

The girl slowly clenches her fist. "I am unsure how I feel about an angel of the lord using such strategies, but... he does have a point that they are effective and that we shouldn't stray away from using them. Humans are naturally weaker than supernatural creatures. We should use every advantage we have in order to win... as loss means certain death. If not for ourselves, then the people we are supposed to protect." 

"There are no commandments against dirty fighting!" I beam. 

"Yes! There's no commandments against fighting dirty!" The girl exclaims causing her adoptive mother to let out a weary sigh and clutch her temples.  

I can hear a low whine leaving the nun's lips.  "Noooooo." 

I... 

Feel like I'm going to have dirt thrown in my eyes sometime in the coming months. 

Ah... 

The consequences of my own actions. 

But for eight thousand experience? 

FUCKING WORTH IT! AHAHAH! I'm so close to level five!