"YOUR HIGHNESS!! I CAN'T CONDONE SUCH ACTIONS. PLEASE RECONSIDER!"

Azrael looked frustratingly at the usually silent man who screamed his lungs out.

"Look. I can understand your worries. But frankly, I need to go there myself. I can deal with most threats, and if I meet someone I can't deal with then your presence won't help much."

"YOUR HIGHNESS…"

"Stop. I already made my decision. This is an order. You are to say here and assure the security of the place. Understood?"

Diethelm gritted his teeth, before slowly nodding in unwillingness. He couldn't accept that Azrael was taking such a risk.

No, basically no miracle children should be allowed to take such a risk. Even more so one of such a high standing.

The church was divided into three great powers, and Azrael, thanks to his mother and father's lineage, was practically a core member of two out of those three factions. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that even tens of exorcists weren't as valuable as one strand of hair of Azrael.

Sadly, he couldn't refuse the order. Shidou was an experienced Exorcist, but he wasn't a particularly strong one either. That only left him, in case something happened.

'Should I inform Lord Gesualdo and Lady Quarta?'

He knew that those two were ones of the very few people who could speak to his highness as equal in the church. Perhaps they could stop him.

"By the way, do not call Dulio and Griselda. Okay"

Diethelm lowered his head with a bitter smile. It seemed that his plan was already seen through. Then,

"Az! Az! Please let me follow you. Please. I never managed to use my skills in a true fight."

"NO!"

"IMPOSSIBLE!"

Diethelm and Azrael screamed at the same time. It was one thing for Azrael to go out. He barely had enough strength to care for himself. But Xenovia? She still didn't finish her training and didn't even receive [DURANDAL]. She would be of absolutely no use in such a situation.

"Hmph!!"

Being rejected so harshly stung Xenovia pride. As such she simply became silent and didn't speak anymore.

"Anyway Diethelm. My decision is made. Also, yesterday I put a barrier. A very strong one. I don't think it will be necessary but better be safe than sorry."

Now that this little interlude was taken care of, Azrael simply went back to his room after informing Diethelm. He had already made his decision and wouldn't go back on it.

Once he opened the door of his room, he was greeted by the sight of a panther laying down on the carpet, with the eyes closed.

It wasn't a particularly stunning sight anymore. Though he had to accept that it was rather cool.

He neared her and began to slowly stroke her head. Eve purred a little but otherwise didn't pay much attention to him.

'What a troublesome big cat. I wonder if I should be the one calling you your highness.'

Their relationship was an odd and distant one. Right now, he didn’t know what to do with her. He wanted to become closer to her and increase their synchronization but the truth was that he was a little scared of her.

He basically didn’t sleep a wink since he got her. Each time he closed his eyes, he could see it. That nightmarish battlefield filled with blood and gore. That place that showed death and only death.

His resolve didn't weaken. But yeah. It didn't mean he could sleep easily.

"Evermillion. Tell me. Do you wish anything apart from killing?"

Evermillion in her panther form simply looked at him. She did not even bother answering. As if this question was so stupid answering would made her stupider.

Weirdly this made him smile. At the very least this made him see that she wasn't completely emotionless.

"Tonight. We will go out. You should enter Dormant mode now."

Evermillion, even in her beast mode wasn't visible to ordinary people. But, where he was going, anyone, he met would be anything but normal.

His hand on her head trembled a little. Most likely he would have to kill.

What will he feel then? He didn't know. He didn't want to know.

But no matter what he would.

‘Let’s hope that everything will be alright.’

But, in the case everything went to shit, he still had a last trump card.

‘Let’s hope I never have to use them.’

------

The full moon hung high in the sky. It's light showering the world.

Under the moonlight, a young boy was walking quietly. His direction a little outside of the town.

The forest in which he was walking was silent. No sound of bugs or birds could be heard. Even his steps were totally silent. Matching the atmosphere.

Right now, Azrael was wearing his usual black priest robe. Even though the material seemed flimsy, it wasn't the case. All those clothes were blessed by his own light.

He didn't bring any of the usual weapons of the exorcist either. After all, he was a Miracle Child, a hybrid angel.

What was a miracle child? This question was somewhat hard to explain. But in short, the chances of one being born were extremely low. After all, the conditions were so strident any mistake would change the result.

Right now in the church, there was only a very limited number of Miracle children with only one of them near equal rank as him. He smiled a little bitterly when the image of that girl came into his mind.

‘She is really giving me a headache.’

Sadly, being half wasn't sunshine and rainbows. Hybrids were blessed but cursed at the same time. These rules hold true for all, except a very few exceptions.

The advantage, or the blessing of being a hybrid was that they didn't have the weakness of their half. For example, hybrid vampires, Damphirs, are able to walk under the sunlight with no problem. Something that only very high-level vampires could do and even then, with some difficulty. If their other half was human, it was even better since they might be able to get a sacred gear.

But… That was all. The negative on the other hand couldn’t be taken lightly

Firstly, outside of a miracle child, hybrids weren't viewed in a good way. They were generally bullied and treated as lesser beings by their respective faction.

The worst though wasn’t that. At the end of the days, people were pragmatic, no matter how they hated you, as long as your fist was stronger than them, they would shut up. But, for hybrid, this was a cruel reality. After all their talent was generally sub-par.

A pure race being born with a shitty talent was a great misfortune. The probability was extremely low. But for the hybrid? Being born with a good talent was a miracle.

The best examples were the demi-gods. During all history. The gods gave birth to hundreds of demi-gods. But only a very small number of them managed to become heroes.

'Sigh. Genes can be rather shitty. Thankfully mine are rather good.'

While he was musing about the inequality of this world, he continued to walk. He could have simply used his wings to fly but he would have been too conspicuous.

After half an hour of walking, he finally reached a clearing and, in the center, a beautiful mansion could be seen.

“Cleria Belial, I wonder, what kind of secret are you hidding.