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In the middle of an abandoned church, where light seeped in only through cracks in the ceiling, the atmosphere was heavy. Unlike the welcoming air of a house of God, the structure seemed forsaken, not just physically, but spiritually as well.
And kneeling in the center of the hall, a man with white hair had his hands clasped together in a gesture of worship, even in that decrepit church.
"Hey, God…" In a soft voice, he began, his eyes opening as he raised his head to look up at the ceiling. "I have to thank you for this opportunity to kill those little devils and miserable worshippers!"
But quickly contrasting with his previously calm demeanor, his eyes filled with madness as a wide grin spread across his lips. "I always have fun listening to them scream!"
He seemed insane as he began to laugh.
"Stupid priest."
But his crazed state had to be put on hold when a voice called his attention, making him turn to see a small girl dressed in a gothic lolita dress. "What is it? Can't you see I'm in the middle of worship here?"
The girl seemed annoyed with the priest, and crossing her arms over her chest, she sighed in disappointment. "Raynare wants you to fetch the girl. It seems she got lost on the way."
"Huh? Babysitting? No way."
"If we had other options, we wouldn't be asking you, idiot. The demons are on alert, so we want to avoid being detected."
The priest's face filled with frustration, but just as he seemed about to refuse again, something made him smile. "The girl… I can do whatever I want with her as long as I bring her back alive, right?"
The girl's face filled with disgust, but shrugging, a pair of black wings spread from her back, revealing her as a fallen angel. "Do whatever you want, just be quick."
"Hehe~ I really need to let off some steam." Pulling out a hilt that formed a sword of light and a pistol in his hands, the priest licked his lips.
"Here I go!"
.
"This is so good!"
Far from the abandoned church, sitting on a park bench, Adam watched Asia praise an ice cream as she licked it nonstop, clearly hypnotized by the sweet, cold treat.
This brought a smile to Adam's face. Asia was a truly pure girl who didn't deserve what she had gone through in life. It irritated him how those who were supposed to be the most benevolent worshippers of God were capable of casting out such an innocent soul just because she couldn't turn a blind eye to the suffering of others.
If he remembered correctly, Asia had ended up healing a wounded demon, and because of that, she was mistreated and expelled by the church.
It was a bit embarrassing for him, after all, this was partly his fault. If he had dealt with all this worship from the beginning, perhaps humanity would be in better shape…
But in the end, there was no point in thinking about "what ifs." All that remained was to try to fix what was within his reach.
But before that, he had to deal with this problem of the fallen angels. The church was rotten, for sure, but he would have plenty of time to correct them.
"Mm… Can I know your name? I just realized we didn't properly introduce ourselves." Asia, who seemed to have noticed when she looked at him, asked with a bit of shame for having forgotten something so crucial. "I'm Asia Argento, nice to meet you!"
"Oh." Adam also realized his own mistake and bowed slightly. "I'm Adam… Just Adam."
Her eyes lit up with stars, a grateful smile spreading across her lips. "Thank you again for accompanying me, Adam-san."
"You're welcome." He returned the smile, his hand moving unconsciously to ruffle her hair. "Huh?"
He was confused for a moment. It seemed that Asia's innocent and gentle demeanor had made him act without thinking.
"Adam-san…?" But when he didn't remove his hand from the top of her head, Asia felt her face heat up, and he immediately pulled back.
"Sorry about that, Asia."
"...No need to apologize, Adam-san."
The atmosphere changed a bit, and Adam felt a slight awkwardness in the air, which led him to stand up.
"So, how did you end up in this city? It's rare to see a church sister wandering around."
When he asked, Asia seemed to hesitate for a moment, and this didn't go unnoticed by Adam's eyes.
"I was assigned to the church in this city." She said quite naturally, but Adam could detect the lie in her words.
"Ah… That's strange, I didn't hear anything about a personnel relocation in the churches." He said with suspicious eyes, which made Asia look at him nervously.
Of course, he had no contact with the church, so his words were just a way to make Asia nervous about her lie.
"W-Well, it's something that wasn't disclosed." She stood up and looked at him with a slightly nervous expression.
From what it seemed, the fallen angels must have threatened her not to reveal the real reasons behind her arrival. Poor girl. He wanted to get her out of their hands as soon as possible, but he felt that gaining her trust first would be the best way.
That's why he decided not to pressure her to be honest with him.
"I understand. Well, if that's the case, let's continue." He nodded, and turning around, he began to walk.
Asia sighed in relief and immediately moved to his side.
"Are they siblings?"
"What a cute couple…"
And as the two walked, some glances were directed at them. Some whispers followed, which wasn't strange for Adam.
Thanks to Adam's stoic face and mature aura, and Asia's cute face and gentle demeanor, the two could easily be mistaken for an older brother walking with his younger sister, or even a father walking with his daughter, although the latter was a bit difficult due to Adam's youthful face.
But the whispers about this blonde couple seemed to range from a possible romance to a familial relationship.
Adam could hear most of them, and he couldn't help but agree that he and Asia did look a bit alike… In fact, if Adam had to say, Asia looked a lot like Eve, his beloved wife.
Except for the eye color and slight height difference, they didn't sound or look that different… Which was a bit strange.
"Waaah!"
Adam blinked when he heard a cry, and turning toward a playground, he noticed a child clutching his leg while crying.
A small scrape was visible on his knee, which made Adam look around for the child's parents.
"Here, let me help you."
But before he could find them, he saw Asia approach and kneel in front of the little boy, a small, warm smile on her lips.
"You're a big boy, aren't you? You shouldn't cry over a small injury like this." Her words carried no mockery, only the purest kindness.
'Even her attitude resembles Eve's.' He couldn't help the smile that spread across his lips. It had been a while since he could think about his late wife, so this brought him comforting memories.
!
Asia, who comforted the boy, brought her hands to the injury, a green light covering the entire wound and healing it in seconds, a sight that seemed miraculous to anyone who saw it.
Even Adam, who knew she was a Sacred Gear user capable of healing, was surprised. The power radiating from her was something impressive, which Adam had seen very few times in his long life.
It was no surprise that the fallen angels wanted this power.
"There!" With a smiling declaration, she patted the boy's head, who stood up amazed at his healed knee.
And as the boy ran to show his healed scrape to his mother, Asia seemed to remember Adam's presence, turning to him with her tongue out in a silly expression. "Sorry, I acted on instinct."
Adam, who watched this with a gentle smile, nodded to her in understanding. "I get it."
"Thank you, big sister!"
The boy's mother, shocked by what she had just witnessed, quickly took her son's hand and began to walk away, but not before the boy shouted a thank you to Asia, who turned to Adam with curious eyes.
"He thanked you."
Asia nodded, satisfied with having helped the little boy. It seemed that even a gesture like this was enough to make her happy. Asia was definitely someone who found comfort in the happiness of others, and Adam could appreciate that.
There were few people in this world who could truly be considered pure, and Asia was certainly one of them.
Knowing this only increased his desire to save her. Someone like her didn't deserve to be just a stepping stone for a selfish fallen angel…
He wanted to save Asia, show her that the world wouldn't fear her for her wonderful power, and that she no longer needed to feel like an outcast.
He had already wasted too much time on revenge. Before, he didn't have the power, but now, he could defend humanity, his children, from beings like Lucifer. Asia was just one of the thousands of children in need of help.
Adam would no longer close his eyes to them with the excuse that there was nothing he could do.
He would act, without further hesitation.
"...Asia…"
"I'm sorry about that… I used my healing power, a power God gave me." But before he could continue, Asia immediately spoke, a tone of melancholy in her words as her eyes moved to the ground. "It's okay if you feel uncomfortable, I won't be sad if you leave…"
"Asia." But contrary to what Asia thought would happen, she was surprised when Adam held her shoulder, turning her to make her see those kind eyes looking at her. "Why would I leave such a gentle and kind girl alone? You have a wonderful power, so what's wrong with using it to help others?"
Asia's eyes widened in disbelief at his words, kind words that she hadn't heard in a long time.
And the most surprising thing was, they were sincere! Not just pretty words to get her to do what he wanted!
There was no malice in his gaze, only the purest kindness.
This… Shocked her.
When was the last time someone looked at her with those eyes? She… Couldn't even remember.
"Asia, tell me."
When he spoke again, she looked at him with trembling eyes.
"Do you really want to go to that church?"
This question… Asia might be innocent, but she wasn't a stupid girl. There was a knowing tone behind this question, as if he knew her whole story. Asia didn't know how he could know about the fallen angels, but she felt that yes, he knew about them.
This question wasn't simple. Adam was directly asking if she really wanted to join the fallen angels.
"If you don't want to, I'll take you home, okay?"
And again, that comforting tone, with the gentle touch on her shoulder that Asia only remembered feeling in her childhood.
"I…" This made her waver.
Could she really go with him? She, who was nothing more than a heretic? Did she deserve this?
"I…" Tears began to gather in her eyes, her lips trembling as she struggled to find words.
Yes, she wanted this more than anything. She didn't want to serve the fallen angels, but she had no choice! But now… This kind man was giving her a choice, one she desperately wanted to accept.
"I… I don't want to go there!" She just wanted to fulfill her dream of having many friends and planting flowers with them. Was it so wrong to dream of that?
Tears streamed down her cheeks like water from a waterfall, her body leaning forward as her face buried itself in Adam's shoulder, who hugged her gently while stroking her head.
This brought a satisfied smile to Adam's face, who comforted her as she wet his shirt with her tears. "Shh, it's okay. Let's go home, okay?"
But this only seemed to intensify her crying, as she clung to him tighter and buried herself deeper in his embrace. "It's okay, you can cry."
Adam felt a wave of satisfaction, and as he hugged her, he savored the moment. A fragile girl in need of help, that's what Asia was… And Adam was there to help her.
"..."
"Well, well, what a shitty situation I've found myself in."
But while they were in a moment of comfort and emotions, Adam narrowed his eyes when a voice filled with malice reached him, his head turning to see a man with white hair and priestly attire watching them with an irritated look.
"What's this? Did you decide to start dating on the way? I'm not surprised you're late."
Asia's eyes widened, the tears stopping as she turned to the priest with dread in her features.
"Alright, alright, come on. We don't have time to waste, the bosses are on my back because you didn't show up."
Asia's body stiffened, and about to follow his orders out of fear of what might happen, she was stopped by Adam's hand, which held her shoulder with confidence. "Wait here, okay? After this, we'll go home."
"..." Asia looked at him, her eyes shining with hope as she nodded shyly.
"Oh? Disobeying me? Are you sure? Maybe I'll have to cut off one of your boyfriend's arms to make you understand—"
"Hey."
The priest froze when a powerful killing intent exploded from Adam, his hands immediately pulling out his pistol and sword in alert. 'What the hell was that?'
"You're the lackey of those damn pigeons, aren't you? I have a message for them…
Tell them I'm coming."