Chapter 56 - Chuunibyou Saint?

"Does this church also have a basement I wonder…" Cebrail questions to herself as she stands in front of a small church somewhere in Italy. "Who am I kidding? There's always a basement."

"What are you mumbling about Cebrail?" Elmenhilde asks from the Angel's shadow.

"Just about how I don't like churches. They seem rather sketchy no matter how you try to look at them." Cebrail answers honestly.

"I don't think that's how an Angel should be talking about a church." Elmenhilde couldn't help but laugh a bit at the funny expression on Cebrail's face as she spoke, it almost looked like she was holding in a piss or something.

Cebrail not hesitating began walking towards the front entrance of the church. "Remember not to interfere."

Cebrail warned Elmenhilde once again not to get in the way of her talk with her aunt.

"Yes, ma'am~!" While Cebrail couldn't see it herself Elmenhilde gave a playful salute.

Touching the doorknob Cebrail suddenly felt a huge amount of killing intent from behind the door and dodged to the left just as a thin blade came through the door where Cebrail's head used to be.

"…"

"Is this how your family usually greets each other???" Elmenhilde said in shock. That attack was without a doubt meant to kill Cebrail, such ruthlessness, the Vampire was rather certain that this isn't how a family is supposed to act.

"This isn't my aunt." Cebrail stated simply before turning around and walking away from the door as though she wasn't almost just skewered.

"Huh? Then who was it?"

"…" Cebrail doesn't answer because she doesn't have one and turns back around to face the door as it slowly opens on creaky hinges.

Behind the door is a girl likely around Rias' age and therefore older than Cebrail herself. She had long blonde hair tied in a single thick braid going down her back and pretty blue eyes that seemed to enhance her untouchable beauty.

"Hey~ Hey~"

"Hello."

"So like what are you doing here?" The blonde girl asks holding her rapier up.

"I came to find my aunt." Cebrail answers simply.

"Right~ Right~ and what would this 'aunt' be doing here of all places?"

"Why would I know that?"

"Yeah~ I don't buy it!" The blonde girl charges at Cebrail stabbing at her with her rapier.

"I'm not understanding at all." Cebrail responds clearly confused and dodges the blonde girl's attack with ease.

"My names Jeanne! The current incarnation of the Maiden of Orleans and the Saint of Chaos Darkness!" Jeanne introduces herself cheerfully as she backs away tossing a dagger at Cebrail.

"My name is Cebrail Caritas, the only daughter of the Seraph Gabriel." Cebrail introduces herself in turn politely not minding the dagger as she caught it by its hilt just as it flew past her head. "I am also known as the Seraphim Princess."

"Daughter of Gabriel? You mean that old 10000-year-old virgin Angel?" Jeanne asks in surprise.

"Wait, you're the daughter of Gabriel?!?!?" Elmenhilde yells from Cebrail's shadow in shock.

(What's with my luck? I ended up attaching myself to another person called a Princess?!?! Am I just attracted to authority figures???) The Vampire discovered something about herself upon this discovery. It seemed it was her destiny to always be a bottom and honestly she had no problem with that.

"Yes, indeed that is my mother." Cebrail, while not reluctant to admit it, held a slight bit of what could possibly be embarrassment in her voice.

Jeanne rather than charge Cebrail once again took slow and steady steps towards the Seraphim Princess.

(She's faster than me. Probably stronger too since she's supposedly the daughter of Gabriel of all people…) Jeanne didn't actually know how she might win against Cebrail. Her opening attack and her dagger throw were to test Cebrail and gauge the difference in power between them.

Cebrail wasn't simply faster than her but also had no clear and exploitable openings.

To make matters worse Blade Blacksmith, a trump card she could usually whip out as a sudden attack from the ground, as her variation created holy swords in the form of stakes in the ground, it was fast and surprising to most. Against an Angel, it was all but useless given their obvious resistance to all holy powers.

Effectively Jeanne would have to rely solely on her skill, though if push came to shove she may have to rely on Joan of Arc's spirit taking over.

Just as she had the idea she suddenly felt her heart skip a beat.

"W-What?" Jeanne was a bit confused. The soul of Joan of Arc was reacting quite poorly to the news that Jeanne was up against Gabriel's daughter. Something told her that Joan of Arc didn't have a great opinion of the Seraph.

"Is something the matter?" Cebrail questioned with a bit of curiosity.

"Maybe she was stunned by your beauty?" Elmenhilde jokes lightly.

"I see, that does seem quite valid as an explanation." Cebrail not understanding it as a joke however and liking compliments about her appearance took the vampire's words quite seriously.

Jeanne, not missing this opportunity and feeling urged by her very soul, attacked Cebrail once again stabbing directly for her heart.

Jeanne's speed was much faster than before so her rapier's blade was within centimeters of piercing Cebrails chest seemingly before the Seraphim Princess could react.

Jeanne smirked and Elmenhilde was just about to jump out of Cebrail's shadow to save her when Cebrail brought up her hand allowing it to be impaled and pulled the sword to the side.

Jeanne, caught off guard by such a reckless move, wasn't ready when Cebrail stepped into her guard with the rapier's blade still in her other hand. Raising her hand in a fist the Angel threw out a punch that would have connected with Jeanne's jaw if the future saint's body didn't suddenly move on its own, backing off while pulling her blade out. The rapier had only gone in enough that when Cebrail attempted to close her hand to grab it she wasn't fast enough.

(This chick, she actually just ate that without batting an eye! Is she too contracted with the void!?!?) Jeanne thought in disbelief. Cebrail had quite literally not reacted at all to being stabbed through the hand and had clearly done it intentionally in order to create an opening but such a thing was…

Elmenhilde in her own mind was having the same sort of thoughts as Jeanne however she watched as Cebrail's wound closed on its own and even the blood seemingly evaporated. It was as if she hadn't even been wounded at all.

"Holy… water…?" Jeanne was shocked by this. It was basically cheating, wasn't it? If her blood was holy water she could literally just keep healing as she takes damage and not only that she was clearly immune to the detrimental effects of using too much holy power!

This is untrue of course Cebrail isn't technically immune as her very blood is the thing that is keeping her from using Light Power and is effectively killing her slowly by constantly trying to purify her mana, but from Jeanne's perspective, it makes sense that it would seem like a win-win ability.

"All of my bodily fluids are holy water."

"All?"

"All."

"Hehehe~ this doesn't seem like it'll end well for me~" Jeanne admitted that she was at a massive disadvantage here and likely could not win. She was being rather casual about it and the reason wasn't that she was ignorant. It was because she had not felt even the slightest twinge of killing intent from Cebrail, the Angel was not fighting seriously and was not planning to fight seriously either. Even her try at punching Jeanne lacked any proper will to fight. That was right, Cebrail had no reason to fight Jeanne so, of course, she couldn't care about trying her best.

"At least you're strong enough to be capable of understanding the difference between you and me. My title isn't just for show." Cebrail complemented Jeanne surprising her a bit. "Why are you even trying to fight me anyways?"

"Well, this church is a prohibited area owned by the Church of Necessary Evil. I'm supposed to repel any intruders."

"I see… but I told you that I was here to see my aunt. Also, I'm an Angel, how can I be turned away from a church?"

Jeanne shrugs nonchalantly, "I don't make the rules, I just follow them. Don't hate the player, hate the game!"

"I'm not sure if you used that quote correctly, however, I like your attitude." Cebrail turns toward the front doors with those few words and begins to walk away from Jeanne without a care in the world.

"Wait a sec, I never said that I'd just let you leave~" Jeanne stops Cebrail who turns around in confusion.

"Since you're a strong opponent I'll be forced to awaken the darkness within me. The power of chaos which had been sealed away when I was born for fear that it would destroy the world!"

Cebrail narrows her eyes at this.

(She can't possibly be taking this seriously…) Elmenhilde wondered in her head upon seeing Cebrail's serious expression.

Cebrail frowns seeing Jeanne seemingly powering up as she stuck her rapier into the ground and began holding her arm painfully.

"Sealed power you say…" Cebrail sounded genuinely intrigued by the idea and watched as the blonde girl seemed to continue building up energy.

"That's right… I hope you don't piss yourself in terror as you gaze into the abyss and as the abyss GAZES BACK!"

"Jeanne, there's no need to use that here." The sound of a somewhat lazy yet aggressive voice came from the doorway of the church. The voice was quite close to Cebrail's own except with a far more mature and tantalizingly sultry reverberation.

"Ah! Right Ms. Marilyn I'll save that for later then…" Jeanne dropped her hand and the energy immediately dissipated.

"Wait, are they actually serious???" Elmenhilde shouted out in disbelief, she was sure that Jeanne was just a chuunibyou or a trickster trying to pull out one final play from her dump truck.

The woman that had shown up, Marilyn, was of course Cebrail's aunt. With an unearthly beauty to her, she seemed more like a Fairy than she did a Human with perfect proportions and an aura that simply held a black hole-like effect drawing in both the eyes and lust of all those nearby.

Cebrail however wasn't impressed; she had met Roygun in person already after all. Not a single woman, even herself, could beat Royguns' all-encompassing and absolute beauty. Calling it an impossibility would be an understatement.

"Hello, auntie." Cebrail greeted Marilyn blandly.

"Hello, niece." Marilyn greeted back just as blandly.

Indeed it was easy to tell that the two were family, neither was particularly interested in exchanging long sentences and small talk.