The two girls found their way to one of the three food courts in the mall within a few minutes. It took then considerably less time than it normally would have, thanks mostly to the fact that Melanie had been there so many times in the past that she knew the layout of the place like the back of her hand. Soon both of them were seated at a little square table near the decorative fountain that spouted out clear water from the top of a well crafted clownfish sculpture. "Are you sure you can finish all that?" Melanie said slowly as she eyed the array of junk foods Mia had spread out over the table with no small amount of uneasiness. Mia noticed her wary stare and laughed it off. "Oh yeah, you don't have to worry about that." Melanie looked like she did have a few worries about it, but she decided to simply shrug her shoulders helplessly. "If you say so. It's your figure you're putting at risk." "That's the great thing about being a witch," Mia said with a mischievous smile danc
"Rowan! Do you really intend to sit back and do nothing while your own wards are threatened like this?" "Was it not the duty of the Hunters to protect them? If they choose to fail on their one assignment, then that is no fault of mine." Minerva glared heatedly at the back of the aged Elder as he glided around the podium like an undying bat. The younger woman stomped after him in an effort to draw his attention back to the matter at hand. Just a minute ago, one of their commanders had come to the Chamber of Elders to inform them of the current developments in the state of affairs at the Starlight Central Academy. According to the report, a group of five assassins had infiltrated the school with the intention of eliminating several core participants of the Peace Program. Among those targeted were several of the best mages the Arcane Circle had produced within the past few years. The letter carrying the information had come from one of the two supervising Exorcists, Diana Stone.
After the still unexplained incident at the city mall, Mia and Melanie had left straight for the campus soon after. Although that had been at the suggestion of the former, Mia had actually intended to investigate the strange feeling that she had felt back then. But her blonde friend had been so spooked by the weirdness of the whole thing that Mia had decided it would be a better choice to take the girl home. Besides she had her own misgivings about the whole situation as well. That feeling had only lasted a mere instant, just long enough that she would have been able to detect it, but not a second longer. Had that been the case, Mia was fairly sure she would have been able to pinpoint the source, and even if she were somehow rendered unable to do that, it would have been at least possible for her to memorize the nature of that magical signature for the future. The whole thing reeked of a carefully crafted plan that had Mia on edge. Whoever had done that had intended it to be for
The professor's mouth was moving. Which meant he was probably speaking. This was History class, which in turn meant that whatever he was talking about was likely of relevant importance. And unlike some of the other participants of the Program, Mia actually gave a damn about her mundane life outside the supernatural. The implications of holding such a view were many, most of which were advantageous to get at least. But in turn it also meant that she could not afford to dare to slack off on her school work. This lecture had been going on for over an hour now, and with the professor's obvious interest in the topic being taught, it was likely to show up in the exams. And yet Mia Delgado found herself hard pressed to pay even an iota of attention to the middle aged man with a mustache who was lumbering around the podium down below droning on and on about a topic Mia could not even remember. Her eyes were fixed forward but they were glassy and unseeing, as if she was there
'Error code******identified...' 'Loophole*##**discovered...' 'Detecting alternative path*##***...' Vincent sighed tiredly as he finally broke through the maze of safety encryptions and traps that had been layered over the email he had received a few hours ago. The IP address on the message indicated that it had come from Starlight Central Academy, which meant that the sender was without a doubt Diana Stone. Vincent had been partners with the woman for over half a decade, their partnership being one of the longest among the various pairs of Exorcists in the employ of the Church. For such a connection to have lasted as long as it had in a business full of risks, dangers and the very real threat of mortality, both partners must have developed a level of instinctive trust in each other that went beyond normal human interaction. All of that were already present in the relationship Vincent had with Diana. Which was why the normally laid back man had such a pensive expression as h
Confession. The fourth out of the seven sacraments that formed some of the foundation upon which the Catholic Church had been built. It was in the nature of humans to sin, to fall victim to the ploys of the dark side whether knowingly or otherwise. The sacrament of confession offered a way out for the souls of the faithful who found themselves in such precarious situations. Gave them a second wind, a restart on their lives without asking for too much in return. And no matter how many times they returned, that gateway was never to be met closed off. The Vatican hosted multiple confessions at various points throughout the city every day of the week without fail. In a city that was the very center of the Holy Roman Catholic Church, there was bound to be more than a few churches and chapels than one was likely to find in a regular city. Though it was quite clear that some locations were more favored by both the locals and the tourists and visitors from the rest of the world. Som
The Word of God. That was the name of his Relic. Like every other Exorcist that was and had ever been working under the employ of the Church, Vincent had been granted the ability to wield the power of something called a Relic. Unlike a good majority of the threats they tended to encounter, the Exorcists of the Church were pure humans. This meant that they were naturally put at a disadvantage when it came to physical attributes such as speed, strength and durability since these supernatural creatures often possessed one or more of these attributes in abundance compared to a regular human being. With such a blatant disadvantage, it would not have been inaccurate to assume that the Church's forces would be on the losing side of each battle they found themselves in against other supernaturals. And yet time after time, throughout the annals of history, the Church had remained strong and unshaken from its position of power in this world. The sheer tenacity of humans more often than
For several moments a tense silence reigned over the entire area, one broken only by the string of foul curses that spewed forth from the vampire's mouth. The night walker hissed at he regenerated from the damage the holy fire had done to his body and turned to glare venomously at the Exorcist who was watching them blankly. Beside him, Rosaline found herself reevaluating her previous assessment of the man before them. Previously she had only thought that he would pose a moderately adequate level of resistance since she had not been able to sense much magic within him. But now it was looking like she might have been wrong. As despite being outnumbered and without having any prior information to the powers and abilities of his enemies, the man in the black suit had still managed to not only successfully prevent all of their attacks from touching him directly but even launch an effective counter offense at Ezra. Her eyes narrowed a little. It seemed they might actually have to try t